That got you reading, didn't it? Earlier this week I had an interesting email exchange with Lewis Green at bizsolutionsplus about blog comments and links. In response to one of my posts, Lewis stated that in everything we do of importance, asking why should be a regular agenda item. This prompted me to ask him a why of my own: "why do I have so many links to my posts, yet so few comments?"
We both blog about broader business issues and often use a marketing lens to weave our personal take into our posts. We agreed that my posts are generally longer and less chatty than other bloggers'; hence the title of this post. Let's take a journey through the posts of some of the bloggers who tell their stories in a way that pulls you right into the conversation and stimulates comments.
From our correspondent in Berlin, California-based Creative Think Roger von Oech writes about Berlin's Holocaust Memorial and Berlin Film Festival. Although he tells two very different stories, the commentary and images are vividly portrayed -- I was walking those rows and feeling walled in with Roger at the memorial and mixing it up with the stars at the festival. These posts will give you a sense of the style and person; all the others you will read at his blog will prompt a new way of thinking about something using creativity. Roger tells his stories with the readers and what you experience is your ideas on creativity.
Canada is fertile ground for interesting thinking and conversations. Two of my favorite bloggers produce their work there.
Mark Goren at Transmission Content + Creative talks about how Being Nice is Cheaper and gets into how it's done. Mark himself is clearly nice and shared his thoughts on why he liked some of the things others had said in I Wish I Wrote that a few days ago breathing life into a series. Look at how Mark organized his side menus to share his favorite links: clean, clear, and concise. Here's a good visual storyteller to experience.
I read Tony Hung first when he guest-starred at ProBlogger -- Darren Rowse is an expert on blogging and a real talent scout. So it was Canada via Australia, do you see how blogging and social media are changing the game?
A medical doctor interested in blogging, wordpress, web 2.0, and web design, Tony is the new editor of The Blog Herald. Want to know about one of those topics? Say Digg's Uncopiable DNA -- And It's Got Nothing to do With Voting; go to Deep Jive Interests. What makes Digg unique is its community. What makes Deep Jive, The Blog Herald and the ProBlogger articles interesting and unique are the communities that the writers rally around them. If you've been reading those blogs, you are familiar with the stories and the experiences you take away.
What do these people know that you don't? I'm part of that you, by the way. The core of your idea and value offering must be clear so it comes through in the stories you tell and in the experience that others have of your blog. So what is core to Conversation Agent? To me what is important is the connecting of ideas and people -- whether that happens here or elsewhere, online or offline, is just a technicality. Do I keep my brand promise?