blogging | Ian M Rountree

Consistency is King

March 18, 2011 by Ian 12 Comments

It’s easy to write one awesome post on your blog.

It’s easy to spend five hours doing research, creating relevance where none existed before. It’s easy, relatively, getting an interview done with your hero.

It’s easy to write ten awesome posts on your blog.

What you can do once, you can do again, right?

What’s hard is writing ten awesome blog posts, in a row, on a schedule, and following that with ten more posts, on the same schedule.

That’s hard.

When you know how to create content, creating content becomes the easy part.

Whenever people say content is king, I feel the inexplicable urge to giggle like a school kid. Content, as king, is dead. Long live the new king, consistency.

Being on time, every time, takes a lot of practice and hard work. It means building habits you may feel challenged for building, and doing work that might not otherwise be up to your standards all in the name of hitting the almighty Publish button every time you say you’re going to. It means asking for help when you need it, and not treating failure quite the same way as you used to.

But, in the end, if you can become consistent, you’ve won.

Because, if for every ten blog posts you publish you only have one gem, publishing eleven posts is a great way to improve your changes of finding that gem.

Remember: Repetition is the motor of learning.

Repetition is the motor of learning.

Repetition is what?

The Digital Migration

November 17, 2010 by Ian Leave a Comment

Where is the future?

Online.

How do we get there?

We don’t know.

There’s a movement going on, if you haven’t noticed. Business is moving on the web. Not just onto the web, but on it – in great virtual caravans, from idea to idea. Marketing is there. Communication, as a business, is there. All manner of creative work is moving online.

There isn’t just one caravan. There are legion – for they are many.

Moving your business online – creating change in your model, building an audience, even revolutionizing your industry – doesn’t by any means require a set path. We’re all pilgrims here – in fact, following the footsteps of others is often the way to failure. But you don’t have to blaze a trail either.

There are a lot of cases being made daily for collaboration in the name of a common destination. I look at projects like Mark Dykeman’s Thoughtwrestling (to which I’ve contributed a number of times) and Chris Brogan’s Escape Velocity (your second favorite blog). I look at what Liz Strauss does on the Successful Blog as well – all of these machinations stand as proof that collaboration and common effort is alive and well on the web – that caravans still work.

First, get a wagon. Then, find others with wagons aimed in the same general direction.

I’m going to be making some strides towards building my wagon in the next few weeks – I’ve mentioned this. I want to help others do the same. So, I’m going back to my roots (for starters), and I’ve got a few questions to ask about how you can get back to yours and build your own wagon too.

What do you do online that’s worth moving?

How can moving along side you benefit others?

Strangers are quickly approaching: what do you do – circle the wagons and heft your rifles, or offer greetings?

If you can answer any of these, I suspect you’re ready to get moving.

Image by Horia Varlan.

The Ubiquitous Office – Tools for Personal Brands

September 15, 2010 by Ian 5 Comments

I read a blog post a few days ago listing must-have approaches for personal branding has really gotten me thinking.

We do a lot of work to supplement and implement our personal brands – we change our avatars, we work on our websites, we blog, we tweet. We self-censor. It’s a lot of emotional labour. But what about the tools we use to do these things? How are we getting where we profess we want to go – especially with so much of the personal branding focus relying on being the job from anywhere we are?

So – I have a request.

I’d like your help developing a list of blogging tools, which will eventually become a resource page here on this site – and which any contributors (which will be listed with their proposed resources) can feel free to repost – assuming they include a link to the original page.

Now – I know a lot of bloggers out there put together resources, so I’d love those too – links to pages or blog posts with lists or groups of tools, tips and tricks… These things help too!

And of course, there is fine print. It’s thus;

These are not intended to be productivity or process-related tools, though those will not be excluded. If you want productivity, 43 Folders has some great productivity resources.
These are not intended to be problem-solving tools – see ThoughtWrestling’s myriad resources for creativity and problem solving (I’m a contributor there, when there’s time).
The tools list can be anything from writing resources, to programs, to physical gadgets, clothing – whatever you’ve found that helps you do the work. Favorite computer model? Really love Evernote? Preferred hosting solution? There’s a lot of possibility here.

The list I’m looking to collate, ideally, should be everything a blogger needs to make sure they can be effective from post 1 to post 10,000.

I’ve already got what I think is a fairly good list – but if I get a suggestion for something that’s already on the list, I’ll be happy to give some more credit.

So. Whatcha got? What do you need to keep your Ubiquitous Office running smoothly from dawn to dusk?

Notes From #blogchat – Who Are You Writing For?

September 13, 2010 by Ian 4 Comments

Audience? What audience? I thought blogging was self-indulgent – or. Right. That was livejournal in the late nineties.

Now, blogging has almost risen simultaneously to both science and artform – and, of course, the question always comes up when you confront either of these methodologies: who are you serving, by doing this work? Yourself? Or someone else?

Tonight on #blogchat, we talked about how we can define our audiences, and what impact that has on our blogging skills, technique, and the reception our blogs have by our visitors. (Hello there, visitor!)

Some good leading sentiments:

@ahockley – everyone blogs for themselves first – smart bloggers write based on reader reaction second.

@MarkDykeman – use the word You more often

@MackCollier – reader interaction helps improve writing

@NotAProBlog asserted assuming a high intelligence level was a mistake. I agree, with a corollary: It’s always a mistake to assume any level of intelligence – high or low – in an audience.

So – do we write for ourselves first? Yes – a lot of people asserted that the writing comes before the audience. I’d have to agree.

But which comes first, the topic or the style? @SbuxMel says blogging for readers means more selected topics than selected style. What do you think?

Information without style is Wikipedia. Style without information is entertainment.

So, aside from who we’re blogging for, we also need to ask what we’re blogging for. Not all audience-focused blogs are business-focused as well.

Killer quote time:

@davidspinks Write for who you want to read your blog…not necessarily who’s reading now.

Brilliant, David. Absolutely brilliant. I can’t help but think focusing on the end-result will be better than focusing on the present. We can’t walk into the future looking backwards – or sideways. (Wow, sorry for the metaphorical bent tonight – apparently listening to classical music during #blogchat makes one a bit quixotic.)

Working toward an audience, or a specialty, is an onerous task. The general consensus seemed to be that no matter your aim, if you have a purpose behind your blog, you’re writing both for your audience and for yourself. However, as @davidspinks said later on – confidence trumps everything else, for writing style. Security in the knowledge of your knowledge is important.

Another awesome quote:

@antwizzel Blogging is about conversation. Your thoughts should trigger criticism, agreement, joy or any other emotion. #blogchat

It’s a good night, apparently.

8:32pm, Consensus confirmed – sincerity is a good idea. 🙂

@prosperitygal proposed we need more criticism – I agree. tell me my posts suck. We’re all sick of seeing all variety of “Great post!” comments. Sheesh.

And then @JustinKownacki jumped in with “Before you decide who you’re writing for, decide why you want to write in the first place. Your audience is a bonus, not a reason.” – too right, Justin.

Think about it. Your audience is a bonus – it’s earned, not deserved. No matter how good your content – the why is paramount. Breeds confidence that your work is worth doing.

Had a little back-and-forth with Nic Wirtz about changing audiences within a blog, versus beginning a new blog. What do you think? Where does the line get drawn – especially for ego-blogs, like ones run under your own name? (Mine, as an example? Or Chris Brogan‘s, or John Chow‘s?) When you are the blog, how do you approach changing the topic without alienating the audience? Worth further discussion.

Part of the question for the night was who should you write for – yourself or an audience.

I hate the word should in this kind of context. There aren’t any stringent requirements for blogging – even with a business-centric blog, perhaps it’s useful for some to blog only to develop their own thoughts about a topic, rather than expanding their own business. Growing your knowledge base – and firming it up as a record of trajectory – can be just as personally valuable as growing your business through communal interaction.

So what’s the result? You tell me – there was a lot of talk about why you should blog for yourself, and why you should be blogging for an audience. Still comes across as a personal choice. What do you think?

Participants’ List for #blogchat September 12, 2010

Transcript for #blogchat September 12, 2010

Image by CarbonNYC.

3 Reasons Being a “New Media Expert” is Silly

August 27, 2010 by Ian 3 Comments

Of all the buzzwords out there these days, the idea of New Media is perhaps one of the most ill-defined, nebulous concepts in the mix. At the same time, it’s one of the easiest words to use. For this reason among others (especially with the backlash against Social Media as a term recently), the profile of the New Media Expert remains fairly high.

But don’t call yourself one. Why? Because:

1) There is Too Much New Media!

How many more varieties of communication do we need to fit under one hat? Blogs, online video, podcasting, media production, even “old school” online activity like email marketing, forums and chats. The length of the list plays a big part in determining the amount of raw information an expert has to internalize before taking action on behalf of a client. When you bill yourself as a subject matter expert, part of your job – your basic value – relies on your ability to keep up with changes in trends, capabilities, and capacities regarding your subject area.

Without specificity in your designated area of expertise, your liability is massive – just try explaining to a client why you don’t know about something THEY perceive of as New Media, when you’ve already told them you know All Things New Media. Awkward!

Also;

2) There is No Measurable Qualification for Expertise in New Media!

You can get a degree in journalism. You can’t get a degree in blogging. You can get a degree in graphic design or web design, but not in new media. There are even degrees relating to information architecture, public relations and marketing – but not a usable certification for social marketing.

The lack of standardization is what provides the agility the new media sphere needs to continue being what it is. What this does is take away any reasonable explanation (without tremendous spin) for calling yourself a Guru or Expert or Overlord – without someone else calling you that first.

Pro tip: Even when someone else calls you a guru or expert, never use it in your job title.

3) There Are Too Many New Media Experts!

If you’re already billing yourself as a New Media Expert, consider getting more specialized! While some of us are lucky enough to be real polymaths, not everyone is – and even if you are, using your diverse skills as a backing for a specialty can become a kind of superpower over others with the same specialty!

Alright – so what do we do instead, then?

The most longed for job titles lately involve being experts, knowledge workers, or consultants. But what do you want to consult on?Defining your specialty can be just as helpful for your professional development as building a strong business plan can be for your adventures as an entrepreneur. Being specialized isn’t a drawback – it’s a strategy.

But what do we do about the “expert” part?

Before being called an expert, you need three things: knowledge, experience, and trust. If you think you’re going to become an in-demand consultant right out of high school, college, university, or wherever else you’re doing your training – good luck.

Knowledge you can get from schooling, or in the grit experience. Knowledge always comes before experience, though – even with on-the-task experience, what you do before your understanding of a job counts as education only.

The biggest difference between a 20-something natural and a 30- or 40-something expert is a long history of execution and decision making. Making decisions – and handling the mix of success and opportunity for improvement that comes from those decisions – is the bulk of what we call experience.

Trust – I can’t help you with. Trust is built on the transmission of success. What I can tell you is that without the ability to execute in reliable ways (experience) strategies and tactics that are meaningful (knowledge), trust has a very limited utility. My friends trust me. But that doesn’t mean they’d do business with me.

We can do this better. What does your designation look like now – and what would you rather it be, knowing why we need to shy away from nebulous over-expression?

Image credit – The US Army.