Many of you noticed that I added a little icon on the sidebar yesterday. I made the metrics cut for the Top 25 Marketing blogs maintained by Mack Collier at Viral Garden. My debut was at number 23, so technically there are only 22 blogs separating me from Seth Godin.
Talking about Seth, I had the pleasure of attending his first appointment on the book tour for The Dip at the World Cafe' Live in Philadelphia this week. Some choice thoughts to consider from my favorites:
- find ways to learn what it feels like to be the best at something;
- bigger is almost never better;
- seek craftsmanship through high quality customer base and your business will evolve into sustainable and profitable;
- seek to develop mastery;
- DNA is transferable;
- love the product.
Seth's self-proclaimed goal is to spread ideas. What is your self-proclaimed goal? Do you have one? Does it match your brand? We talked about the power of story, approach and experience to define what "best in the world" means -- the definition of 'best' changes all the time. To learn more about the seven reasons why people quit, follow the link to the book's blog -- and buy the book. Better yet, buy a dozen copies to give to colleagues and peers.
The truth is we need something to be the best in the world. "We have a superstar shortage," said Seth. And this brings me to one more reason for this post: heroes, even if just for a day. Today I inaugurated my new relationship with The Blog Herald as a contributor for the publication.
I will be blogging about the integration of online with offline opportunities to market and sell your products and services using a blog; Web sites and online tools as influence makers to address the secondary benefits of blogging and building an audience; and blogging as a powerful branding tool. My first post -- Do You Follow the *Heroes* Model in Your Blog? -- talks about using the power of story and language to create an emotional connection with your readers.
It's been pretty quiet so far... let's jump over there and see what I'm talking about. I know you have opinions, let's build on the page. I'm planning an extension to that post with the next, when I will talk about how people find you. This is very exciting for me, a new audience and community. I am honored to be joining powerful writers and connectors Lorelle VanFossen and Liz Strauss, and a little nervous. I met Tony Hung via ProBlogger when he was guest starring there several months ago. Tony has been the driving force behind the redesign and renewal of The Blog Herald.
Dulcis in fundo, Conversation Agent has been selected as Typepad Featured Blog today. This has been a week filled with stories, heroes and opportunities to be hero for a day.
How was your week?