DISQUS

You severely handicap yourself when you limit your output to someone else's user-generated content. You should spend more time on blogging as a way to deliver substantial value in conjunction with realtime microcontent.

Chris, is it helps... I liked your snack analogy. ;-)

Hey man, I was there too!

Thanks again Graham, you're awesome.

It's cool, but I agree with Steve... embed on your own site would be perfect. Still could have link backs to Squidoo, so everyone wins.

I guess you could always screenshot the results, though.

>>kind of gets me all chocked up the way it works...

Yeah, you're crying about it. :-)

John, thanks for the mention as an example. I'll just point out that the value you offer "between" your "advertisements" on Twitter is as important as the value of your blog content itself. That's the one-two punch to having followers not only tolerate links to your own content, but looking forward to them.

You, my friend, are a maniac. I don't know how you do it, but I'm glad it's you and not me. :)

Nice post buddy.

One point... you seem to be using "content marketing" in a very narrow sense, and this concerns me. Content marketing is much broader than "paid" (sponsored) content, and I'm uncomfortable with that narrow association lodging in the heads of your massive legion of followers.

Cool? :-)

Social proof... and in this case, if you're the sales leader in a commodity market like this, that's about the absolute best thing you can say.

If you're *not* the sales leader and make that specific claim, the FTC will come pay you a visit. :-)

Take a look at the most entertaining, engaging and provocative ABOUT PAGE I’ve ever encountered.

Wow, thank you. I'm a pretty big advocate of "about" pages... one of the most (if not the most) important pages on a site. Still, it's nice to hear that someone thinks I did a good job. :)

I can't believe Jane's reunited with Avery again, and I missed it. I would have flown to LA to see that.

Chris, great post. Here's something to try... flip it on its head:

Rather than selling to your community, think of it as creating new or sub communities of buyers.

For example, with Thesis, we're not really selling a WordPress Theme... we're selling support and community that revolves around that theme.

Sometimes charging money in a predominately free environment builds even stronger (albeit smaller) communities thanks as much to who is excluded as is who is included.

Seth's new book Tribes nails this.

>>>Brevity and originality trump well-crafted copy any day...

Brevity and originality *is* well-crafted copy. :-)

Not to mention that (despite different voice inflection) the last four words are "I am Iron Man" and the movie cuts to Black Sabbath,

Thank god everyone sells out these days! :-)

Stumble brings some of the worse traffic on the web unless you're selling page views, in which case it's great (except for your advertisers).

Which means it (eventually) sucks then too. :-)

Hey Ben, thanks for the mention! This is an awesome elaboration.

I think it blows people's minds to know how much there is to discuss about bullet points. Who knew? :-)

Great post Jim. I think the one point you don't address is that tech used to = blogging. Now it doesn't (not even close), but the tech guys don't realize that most people could care less about geekery... blogging is not about technology, it's about people. The more "normal" the blogging demographic looks, the less relevant the nerd herd.

This is a very interesting perspective beyond standard metrics. Glad to see Copyblogger hanging on to third. :-)

Velocity... I like that. We all need momentum to reach our marketing objectives, and that's an excellent way to characterize when you've finally hit the slipstream of influence (and sales).

Hey man, thanks for the mention. I'm glad I finally got to meet you in Vegas!

I struggled with this very issue as well, and since I've embraced who I am in the last three years, my business has exploded and I'm happier than ever.

Digesting huge amounts of information and then taking the time to process it (also known as thinking) is a huge part of what drives my business. I used to feel guilty about it until I finally realized that this is my "work" even though it doesn't look like it to others (and doesn't feel like it to me).

Florida's been talking about physical location and creativity since 2003's Rise of the Creative Class, and he really hammered on it in the follow-up Flight of the Creative Class... good stuff.

I think we've resolved to remain based somewhere like Austin, but spend summer's abroad (or at least in a different state). Good for the kids, and great to get away from the Texas sun. :-)

Great post, and a topic I think about often.

It's interesting that connectivity and tools allow us to work and live anywhere, but Richard Florida's findings say that it matters where you live and who you see face to face.

So, even though I could be in Boca del Toro Panama permanently, Florida says it's better to be somewhere like Austin, Texas for the interaction with other creative people.

Look, up in the sky, it's...

Copybrogan!

:-)

Imagine that... charging for stuff. :-)

You know you'll get no arguments from me on this issue. And I hope to take a closer look at Trackur this week... I'm way behind!

Brian Clark's last blog post..A Cranky, Skeptical Loudmouth Looks at Social Media Marketing

Chris, the people who found your invitation to be spam are not your kind of people. This is a positive thinning process. Don't regret it, but rather realize that your community is in better shape than it was yesterday.

Oh, I see. That was your point. I should read slower. :-)