Because this post began as a comments-section Q&A, we’ll continue it in the same vein:
What Is Community Management?
Community management is the art of creating something by allowing it to create itself, then nurturing it by creating an environment in which it nurtures itself. Community managers conduct an orchestra of hundreds or thousands as a community forms or sustains itself, but the credit for a successfully developed online community belongs primarily to its members. Continue Reading »
Today’s guest post is by Nate Riggs. It is a long one; to address all the unanswered questions from last week’s webinar. We designed it so you can skim through any questions that are helpful to you.
Late last week, I was jazzed to have the opportunity to lead a Spin Sucks Pro webinar on the Art of Blogging (as opposed to the science and data of blogging). We discussed how we style our content on the screen to help your readers.
This topic is so important to me, that I’m writing an entire book about it that’s due out early next year.
The webinar was an outline of one of the style chapters that will be published along with 20-30 other blog post styles that you can use as a framework. This will allow you to expand, experiment, and add variety to your blogging discipline.
If you’re interested in learning what we discussed during the webinar, you can buy it on-demand by clicking here. Continue Reading »
I’m not a person who gets writer’s (or blogger’s) block. The challenge of writing daily, however, sometimes leaves me less than enthusiastic about the content I’m creating. Hey, we all get a little stuck for fresh ideas every once in a while, right?
I’ve been paying attention to what gets my synapses firing again when it all gets a little stale. I thought I’d share four helpful actions to help myself and others find inspiration, again. Continue Reading »
This afternoon’s post is a slight diversion from our typical schedule. We wanted to share with you the importance of blog styling and how you can learn more about it this week.
How many times have you landed on a blog post that was made up of nothing but large blocks of text on your screen? What happened? Did you read on or simply glance and then click away? Each and every one of us has very short attention spans. Right? Yes, I’m talking to you.
With volumes of new content being published online every minute, our attention spans will only begin to grow shorter as times passes.
Because of that, we’ve invited Nate Riggs to share his knowledge and help us all get some style in our lives blogs. Continue Reading »
Dear blogger, we need to talk. Sit down for a second, ’cause I really want you to hear what I am saying.
You are taking yourself too seriously. No, don’t argue. Take a moment. Think about what I’m saying here.
Sure you take the work seriously, and that’s great. Sure, you have a blog that gets people’s attention and you’ve earned it. But at a certain point, a switch flipped (or a bit, for you geeks out there). You pushed yourself ahead of the work. What you were trying to say took a backseat to who you are trying to be. Continue Reading »
“Hey Gini, happy Friday from Australia! I have a blog Q for you (and anyone else who feels like chiming in) Q: Are there any truly successful blogger ‘partnerships’ out there? I mean, two ppl working together on the one blog with the one vision. Sure, more hands, more contacts, more content = great! But I’m I just realized I’m about to start a blog with a colleague/friend and… well… I can’t think of an example of a similar blog or the potential issues they’d face. Am I missing something?? Alex” Continue Reading »
A few months ago, Jack Monson, who is the programming chair (and good friend) of the Chicago chapter of PRSA, asked me to do something that hadn’t yet been done at one of their monthly lunches: Take questions from the audience the entire hour.
At the time I said, “Sure!” without really thinking it through. All I thought was, “Great! I won’t have to prepare a speech two weeks before we launch Spin Sucks Pro.”
But taking questions from an audience, for an entire hour, is pretty nerve-wracking because you have NO idea what is coming and you have zero time to prepare. It’s completely on the fly and, I learned yesterday, that you have to have a whole bunch of confidence (which began to diminish the closer to 12:30 we got) in order to do that.
Afterwards, I was scrolling through the Twitter feed to see what people tweeted the most, in order to give you some of the key points. I don’t know what we did before Twitter. I guess we didn’t blog about it the next day! Continue Reading »
I just noticed I have been running The Top 10 Blog for almost 12 months so what a good time to review, and share, the main lessons I’ve learned.
I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a technical expert so, while I know that there are many excellent blog advice articles out there, I hope that you may benefit from this simple common sense approach. Continue Reading »
Broken into eight different areas – design, tips, topics, social bookmarking, social networking, theme review, videos, and WordPress – you can get information on just about everything you need. I say just about everything because I’d love to see a robust section on organic search, but that’s because it’s something I need to do more efficiently, not because I think it’s a gaping hole. Come on, guys! Don’t you know this is all about me?! Continue Reading »
It’s the Arment Dietrich Facebook question of the week time and this week’s question comes from Elizabeth Shelby. Elizabeth is a student at NYU, but is from Houston. All that snow is probably killing her right now (and I’m insanely jealous)!
She asks, “I have a question for your weekly Spin Sucks video post. How do you (Gini, or any of your staff) manage the amount of time you spend reading new blog posts, catching up on Twitter feeds, reading news stories, etc.? As a student, it’s hard for me to find time to be both productive and good at my work AND be aware of what’s happening in the blogosophere each day. I’m sure the same goes for you as a PR professional with your own clients whose needs must be met each day. Any tips?”
My answer is in the video below (or by clicking here). What are your tips for Elizabeth?
Don’t forget…if you have a question or want to pick my brain, go to our Facebook wall and ask it there!
Mark your calendars! On February 23, join Deidre Breakenridge and the Spin Sucks Pro team to begin thinking strategically.
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Today’s guest post is written by Jelena Woehr.
This afternoon’s post is a slight diversion from our typical schedule. We wanted to share with you the importance of blog styling and how you can learn more about it this week.
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