When I speak to CEO organizations, I typically run through a series of quick slides that show where technology is right at this moment.

For instance: There were 107 trillion emails sent last year, Facebook is at more than 900 million users, Pinterest is closing in on 15 million users, and there are three billion videos streamed on YouTube every day.

I do this to show how many people are using the web, to preempt the “My customer doesn’t use the Internet” conversation (yes, I still hear that).

But the stat I want to talk about today is the number of blogs on the Internet. According to Technorati, there are 158 million blogs floating around, which is partly why I’m so surprised to keep reading that blogging is dead. Continue Reading »

Last week, Mitch Joel wrote a blog post called, “Watching Me Blog.”

It was in response to Chris Brogan’s piece, “Watching Mitch Joel Blog,” which he wrote while we were all in Norway and, literally, watching Mitch blog.

In his post, he details how he blogs – from his philosophy all the way through publishing and distribution. But the reason I’m mentioning it here is because, at the end of his blog post, he calls a few of us out and says he’d like to see how we blog.

And, let’s be real, it’s a pretty easy blog post for me to write. One that doesn’t require a lot of research or time. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Brent Carnduff.

Ahh voice – that mystical, alluring, and evasive quality that defines successful writers and defies the rest of us.

Where does it come from? How do you find it? As near as I can tell, its much like what Supreme Court Justice Robert Stewart said about pornography, “It is hard to define, but I know it when I see (read) it.”

I am certainly not an expert on voice, but I recognize a good use of voice when I read it. That’s probably true of most readers – we know what we like and how we would like to come across as writers.

I know I enjoy Marcus Sheridan’s passion and conversational tone, the playfulness and energy of Gini Dietrich and the Spin Sucks community, John Falchetto’s calm yet inspirational words, Ryan Hanley’s humor and encouragement, the honesty of Craig McBreen, and the sincerity of Jeff Goins.

Continue Reading »

Nearly two months ago, we talked about 10 content ideas that generate comments and shares.

Apparently the seventh idea in that blog post (lists) worked because it had 190 comments and a gazillion shares on all of the networks.

The moral of the story? Write lists!

But that’s not my point. In the comments, there were a lot of really good additional ideas and I promised to do a second post (maybe the comments here will get us a third post!).

Without further ado, 10 additional ideas to generate comments and shares. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Jayme Soulati.

What the heck is voice? The honest-to-goodness answer is … I have no idea!

I’ll attempt a few tips and provide examples of bloggers’ styles that contribute to voice. Afterwards, I hope you’ll have a better understanding on the quest to find yours.

It takes the better part of a year to get comfortable in your own skin. Attaining voice is part of that 12-month blogging journey. (Hints 1 and 2: Have confidence and be time-tested.)

For me, I write the way I speak and I do it with snark and flowers. Is writing the way you speak considered “voice?” Absolutely, if you can pull it off naturally. (Hint 3: Be natural.)

There’s pressure to find it, have it, and keep it, and how does that work? With consistency. (Hint 4: Practice!) Continue Reading »

As I was trolling the web for a topic for today’s blog post, it occurred to me I haven’t covered many tips or tools lately.

I hereby commit to change that.

Therefore, today I have created a list of 10 types of content you can use for your blog. When you have writer’s block (cough, Lindsay Bell and Jason Konopinski, cough), you now have something to jog your brain.

It’s not just a list, though. Obviously my examples are PR, marketing, or social media relations. But you can easily turn these ideas into something for your industry, blogging niche, or particular interests.

And now let’s see if I’m right about seventh tip. Will this blog post get commented on and shared more than some of our more popular blog post (Pinterest!) in January?

I’ll report back! Continue Reading »

And we’re back! I’m not sure our being dark yesterday had any effect, but we made a statement darn it!

Plus, I got a day off of writing. Which, I have to admit, made me a little off kilter. No Spin Sucks to check multiple times a day. No crazies commenting. No getting my own personal writing accomplished the day. I expected to enjoy having the day off. I was wrong.

With that, I have a special treat for you today!

During the Facebook question of the week, Jennifer MacDonald asked: Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have spoken.

Your clicks have told us your favorite guest blog posts for 2011 and we have compiled the Top 10 here for your review, and, for 10 of you, for your bragging rights.

We started working with guest bloggers on Spin Sucks around the middle of 2010 for a few reasons: To involve the community, broaden the expertise offered here, grow beyond Gini Dietrich, and increase engagement and traffic.

We think it worked, and we all had some fun along the way. Our guest bloggers have become an important part of our community, and we wanted to dedicate today to you guys by sharing this list, based on pageviews. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Jay Pinkert.

Dear WordPress Expert,

Thank you for helping me migrate my blog from WordPress.com to my own self-hosted site. You satisfactorily met all the deliverables enumerated in our service agreement.

If you infer from that statement a recommendation or endorsement, please don’t. It’s a shame, too, because with a bit more transparency and salesmanship on your part, I gladly would have paid for additional work, and given you a full-throated endorsement (I’ve been known to blog about the power of positive Yelp reviews).

Here’s some unsolicited advice on simple, easy touches to add to your sales and customer service repertoire that can transform an OK client experience into a WOM-worthy one, generating more leads, higher revenue per engagement, and more/better ratings and reviews. Continue Reading »

It’s Facebook question of the week time (clap, clap, clap!).

Christina Huerta works for Keymark Enterprises, a company that creates 3D modeling software for engineers.

I have a friend who is the CFO for an aeronautics company and they use 3D modeling software to show clients and prospects what something will look like once it’s been produced.

It’s. So. Freaking. Cool.

Neither here nor there, but I wish we had a way to show, in 3D, what something will look like when we’re finished with it.

Alas! There is no such thing in a service business. So I’ll be envious of those who can show it.

Christina is blogging on behalf of the company (check it out by clicking here) and she wants to know whether or not she should create a committee to review blog posts. Continue Reading »