DISQUS

Nice one Scott,

I like #7 face-to-face networking. I've used that in the past to good effect - both for myself: because networking and introverts don't go together... ;) and to get to know a fuller picture of the person I'm about to meet. It really does break the ice.

Also, in such an over-saturated business world, character is not a commodity, so one can rise above the clutter by working hard on all the aspects of character.

Hey there Wendy - I've been twittered-out these past few weeks so didn't catch it.

Thanks for the hugs - not that I do these things for hugs ... or do I ;-)

And knowing how much hard work (body/mind/spirit) goes into what you've achieved (so far) you've got my respect and friendship for as long as you want it.

Now, I really gotta get over to the States so that we can finally have a "real life" hug.

Kansas - You're spot on when you say is a really nice looking blog. Wendy has worked damn hard to get to where she is, thus from my point of view I feed read every post written across the portal.

Fear: ??? In a online business sense: yep, maybe - competition is everywhere. It's a crowded place.

Personal: There should be no fear of web 2.0: Just use/consume what you need and nothing more. You don't have to be on top of everything - this coming from personal experience. :-).

Hey HeadAlienst - spot on with everything you say

When you say it's an "amateur move" - right on, but these two company's are definitely not amateurs, they're fairly big in their fields which is what surprised me the most.

Go figure!!!

To try and gain media coverage (and in such a way) on the back of such a horrible disaster is in the poorest taste and insulting - These fringe groups are nothing but wacked out idiots with crazy agendas crying for attention. Sad.

testing

As a Chaddy regular (coffee and the library ... I mean Borders ;-) is my oasis while the wife and 7y.o daughter shop) my guesstimate is that it's about 30% down from the last few years. Still busy, but not like it was 2-3 years ago (aka: utter mayhem).

I'm wondering how the New Year sales will pan out - personally, I'm waiting for that time to buy a 126" Plasma TV - the best buys are always after Xmas and the New Year.

BTW, Merry Christmas, Duncan - am I still allowed to say that? ;-) or have we finally beaten the PC tools down...

Duncan: don't get your media news/opinions from Ernie Sigley's afternoon tripe - wouldn't even place him in the top 1000 for any serious media debate.

I think they can see it coming but they'll get dragged into it kicking and screaming and throwing hissy fits. :-)

The foundation to a good interview is research. I think from there you just have to go with the flow.

Always end a serious interview on a light tone, and be quick to go down (new) paths that may be hinted at by the person being interviewed.

The thing with "entertainer" interviews is they usually have something to sell. Example with the Motley interview: You notice that they totally "suck up" to Larry King because he IS Larry King. I've seen them do some shockers over the years.

With business people, it's a different story. They're usually trying to gain publicity but at the same time not do any damage to their brand. Sometimes you have to lead them along, make them feel at ease or you'll get a dull interview.

Politicians are the worst: You never get a Yes or No answer. They waffle along to waste time so that they don't get caught in a bad sound bite - and, the more waffle (time wasting) the less questions.

A good interview is one where you let the guest have their say/views, question them, bring out some of their personality and doing all that should end up with a positive for both interviewer and interviewee.

Just my 2 cents.

It's sad that they're ruining a good reputation (as a band, their music) by continually fluffing how they go about life on the Internet

They should take a look at bands like Motley Crue and see how they've embraced today's media.

@reddknight - No I haven't read the book - have got it on my To Do list to read one day ... might move it up my list.

Does Guy interview a bit? If so, would be good to know where to see/read him.

I like Guy's interviewing style - not the tired old same-old, same-old questions. There's some meat in them questions ... enough to spark more conversations.

Good stuff.

Yes, you've been too long in the game, Jim. ;-)

It doesn't surprise me what's in store with BlogRush. This is valuable data that they're getting off the backs of many bloggers.

I wouldn't expect anything less as they're in this to make money (fair enough) - it's just that bloggers should better understand the ins-and-outs of this system.

After reading so many "hype-filled" posts on this launch, this is a refreshing take, Jim.

And I tend to agree with your views.

I too don't just want "more traffic" - I want targeted traffic.

Also, as with Anita, I'm trying to run a professional online magazine (via a blogging platform) so this is just too much real estate to give up, when it could be better utilized for a an advertiser or sponsor.

And like you Jim, I testing it out but it will probably be gone by the time I launch.

I believe in some ways it is a reviewer's duty to try to give good value to an advertiser as well.

That seems to be the problem here. I don't believe it is so. A traditional review is (or should be) totally unbiased and the reviewer has full editorial control over what he thinks and says about the products.

The problem lies in that it's a "paid for" review.

The blurring of the lines between what is a review and what is an advertisement is a fine line.

If a paid-for-review is nothing more than a puff piece article (aka: an advertisement) hiding as a review then the concept of a review will quickly lose its effectiveness.

In this instance, it also depends on what the buyer wants from the review: some branding and exposure or click-throughs and actual sales.

For me, unless the reviewer falls in love with the product and says "you must buy this" to his readership then you shouldn't really be counting on actual sales coming from the review but see it more as exposing your product to a wider audience and build from that.

And as Yaro says, Alvin would have done better if he had gone into a j/v with John Chow, such as an affiliate deal, even if it means giving JC a higher commission to push the product.

On the subject of those sales letter, don't get me started... :-)

But at the end of the day, they do work if the intended target is hungry enough. For those in this business, we're jaded because we've seen and know all the tricks - but we're not the intended audience with this sales pages.

I can go through dozens upon dozens of these sales pages and pick out so many cheap tricks being used. I dig around in the source code and it's even worser. But that's an ethics things and each one of us has our own values.

Though I do think more and more of the general internet public are getting savvier to the techniques being used.

Sheesh, long comment :-) - I might have to write about it at my own blog.

Kevin - well, reading JC's review in the report I came away from it as an eBook that was very thin in all areas.

In fact, in a nice sort of way (that's more to do with the $400 review payment), John really tore it to shreds, imho ... I mean, you had half the ebook about buying a domain and setting up a basic WP install, a few free plugins and a freely available theme and a Yaro interview thrown in. No wonder so many are cynical with these info products!

Add add to that the very gimmicky sales page and what do you expect ... :-)

Are you kidding me, Andy. Hardly an informative report - more like sour grapes to me.

What did he expect. He sent what reads like a very basic ebook on blogging to a blogger with a more advanced mindset (as well as more advanced readers) on blogging and expected a glowing review. John would have lost credibility if he had off written a positive review only to be found out that he was pushing inferior stuff onto his readers.

I think he fell for the trap that with his $400 he thought he was buying John's favor and influence, and not an unbiased review.

That's why I like ReviewMe - you can't buy a glowing review. If that ever changes, then ReviewMe will loose all credibility.

Nice way to go about predicting.

Wide Monitors - yep, already seeing it.

Zune - Hmmm, I'm on the tipping point of buying one.

Nice podcasts guys - you went through a lot of topics. You two sound like a natural pairing, should do more podcasts together.

And the intro and exit music: cool !

Good set of tips there.

I'm a big jotter. I have between 20-30 ideas saved at any one time and I go through them every so often and see if something clicks.

Hey it's not as bad as it seems. I'm a fully trained journalist. You go through the ladder starting at the bottom but I can tell you it's an experience. It's a lifestyle.

Yes the foodchain can be gruesome at times. Lots of egos invovled, especially in a big paper. But if you love getting into the nitty gritty of research like I do then you'll love it.

But then again, why bother. I got out because of the games and politics of it all and headed to blogging and my own business - and I'm never going back. :-)

Blogging is the new journalism in many respects and I can satisify my journo's desires by doing what I want - the audience will judge if I'm above board.

Lets wait and see how the guys deal with it. From my background such an assignment I would take 2-3 weeks of solid full time research before I even ventured there. I'd do the basic google thing and get in touch with who's there on the ground and make contacts. I'd set up interviews and make appointments with officials. I'd do more background work than anything that would appear in the presses (or on my blog).

But that's just me.

Let's give these guys a shot at it and hope that the rubbish over the last few days has been put to rest.

Aaron, don't be modest, mate. I actually showed this post to a few seasoned journalist buddies of mine and they were mightly impressed by the way you put forth your arguements - of course, we were drinking at the time. :-)

Many laughed, because they get these memo's such as yours when they are being sent on assignment from their editors. They kept asking me : "Is this guy an editor, a former investigative reporter ... because he sure thinks like one."

If I were the guys going out to N.O I'd print this post out as a guide on what to do, where to look, what to ask ... and more importantly rid myself of any preconceived ideas.

I really hope they do a good job and cover it from all sides. Lots of credibility is at stake.

Aaron ... this is by far the best post I've read on this issue.

I've leanred more from this post than from the more than 50+ I've read so far - from both sides.

You sure you're not a joournalist? :-)

Aaraon,

Being 99.99% sure I know who you're talking about ;-) Sean's comments hit the mark:

"how tough is it to publish a blog? Nobody checks up on you or your identity, credentials, and background"

Any crackpot can start up a blog and fool us all for a while.

I guess that's the good and bad of blogging. It makes it fun, free and open. Each individual has to find out for themselves who is credible and who is not.

Nothing wrong with Collingowood, mate :-)

And yup, it was me. It's an opinion that's all. we are allowed to have an opinion. Obviously I don't hate you personally, I don't know you. I'm just writing what I see and feel from the work I see you do online. It's an observation.

It's also a blog to just let off steam and say whatever I want - hence no link outs, no comments, nothing. What the fuck is a Gnoos anyway? :-) See it much like a ranting blog after a long day in the office and one too many Jim Beam and Cokes.

Let me scrape the oreo ceo's comments and that hits exactly with what I'm doing with this blog...

This site is my therapy. It helps get those damn voices out of my head. It helps me express myself in ways I wasn’t allowed to do before because I restricted myself to professionalism and other handcuffs. Why don’t I open up comments on this site? Because I don’t need anymore voices in my head telling me what I am doing wrong or how stupid I am.

See, it's my canvas for my crazy thoughts. I'm not hiding it I just don't advertise it.

Simpy jump on a jet from Melb to Syd for some brunch - No doubt over a scotch or 4 I'll like you, but Melb to Syd is more like $130 at best and I'm not shelling out that much for a lunch. :-)

Once again, I don't hate you (in fact, I'm guessing that we're of the same political persuasion, just my intuition) I just don't like what you write. It's a general observation over the long haul. Doesn't mean I'm right.

Example: The Seth thing. A possible failure. Big deal. business ideas fail everyday. You're falling into that ugly Aussie trait of tall Poppy syndrome by doing that. With Scoble it's that muck raking thing I hate about bringing in child services etc., If you're really concerned then approach the appropriate authories rather than taking a cheap pot shot. Again: just my opinion.

#3. Blog Herald. Jealousy! Um how do you see that. You mean all those years of hard work building up a decent brand only to see it go for such a low figure. C'mon Duncan, if you knew what you were doing (publishing/editorial/journalism) you could've (and shoud've) added another zero to that.

Sorry, but it's pretty hard to be jealous - seeing I can and do earn that in 6 months.

So there you go: I'm nuts and you're nuts. The whole blogosphere is nuts (hi David).

If you're ever in Melbourne (Forget Syndey: I just don't like Sydney at all) drop me a line and I'll take you to a Collingwood match.