BlogCast Your Brand by Vipin Singh: Chapter 1, Why we blog?

Chapter 1 - Background: Why we blog?

If you can’t answer the why you love what you do, you know you will need to find something else to follow your passion. I can’t force this enough, I love to write, and that is why I am doing this. Please find what you love to do, not how much money you want to make. Money will follow, if you want it bad enough you will be successful, love it or leave it now. This is the base of everything we do, and that is why you will want write, blog, and promote your passion - which hopefully is also your business. At the core, this is what Blogcast your brand is about, promoting your passionate business via blogging!

So we are going to cover more about blogging, blogs, writing blogs, and why we blog. The main answer is to talk about our passions, to educate people, to build community, and to promote our brand. If you are the small business owner, the entrepreneur, or the executive, your brand is your business, and your business represents your brand. Branding has been around for decades, and the art and science of brand building is not the focus, though we do talk about promoting it. So to develop or define a brand is your business, our’s is to help you blogcast or promote it online. Here is a poem from James Allen from his book “As a Man Thinketh” he wrote it in 1899, and it’s still one of my favorites. So answering the question of why is the most important question to answer, other wise you will never promote it with the passion required.

Cherish you visions, Cherish your ideals

Cherish the music that stirs in your hearts,

Cherish the dreams that form in your mind,

The music that stirs in your heart,

The loveliness that drapes your finest thoughts,

Because of these, if you stay true to them,

Your world will at last be built.

Heres is an article from our blogging coach section at MyTypes.com

Writing Tips For Bloggers: Embrace Your Passions

For many bloggers, one of the reasons they blog is because they’re passionate about something and they want to share it with the world. They want to make an impact on their readers’ lives

Passionate writing leaps off the screen and into the hearts of your readers. Writing without passion is like a plain hamburger - yes, it’ll silence those hunger pangs, but once you add your favorite toppings, your basic burger turns into much more satisfying meal. Think of passion as your writing’s secret sauce that turns a serviceable post into something memorable (and linkable).

Passionate writing can cause fireworks, I’ve found that many bloggers worry about disagreeing with established authorities, offending someone, or simply being incorrect. However, I’ve found that worrying about being wrong tends to paralyze people - and when it comes to blogging, nothing is worse than inaction. Don’t be afraid to generate some fireworks.

First of all, if you’re going to write something controversial, make sure that your post is very well-thought-out and that you’re prepared for a debate. Be able to back up your opinions with facts and solid reasoning, and be ready for potential fallout - use logic to deal with dissenters. Passion backed up by logic is one of the best ways to really make your blog stand out.

If you think that something should be changed, or you disagree with a popular viewpoint, explain your beliefs. Tell your readers why you feel the way you do. On the flip side, your ideas may not be as controversial as you thought, and your passion could garner you even more loyal readers.

There’s much more to gain from showing your passion and pushing boundaries than there is to lose. Questioning authority, challenging popular views, and asserting your opinions in a logical manner tends to be rewarded in the blogosphere. After all, passion is what stirs people’s emotions and generates discussion, and besides, fortune favors the bold.

Last but not least, writing with passion means showing your readers the real you, and isn’t that at least part of the reason why you’re blogging?

*It’s important to remember that you should never accuse anyone of anything in your blog with iron-clad proof - obviously, libel, slander, and defamation have no part in smart business blog. Depending on your niche and community, I’d also recommend avoiding any particularly polarizing political or religious views as well.

Why YOU need a Blog

Yes, I’m talking to you. Do you have your own business? Are you an expert on your particular niche? Do you have a product to sell or something to market? Are you a freelancer in any field? Do you simply want to interact with a community of like-minded people and learn about new, interesting things? Or do you just want to share your knowledge and opinions with the world?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you need to get a blog. Thanks to the rise of many excellent (and free!) blogging and social media platforms (including MyTypes, hint hint), you don’t need tons of technical know-how or be a brilliant writer to start one. You just need to have something to say and willingness to learn and participate in the internet community.

Many businesses and individuals think they need websites - and it’s true that a presence on the net can be incredibly valuable in the age of Web 2.0. However, they usually also assume that they need to hire webmasters, designers, and assorted techie types to build and maintain it. This results in an expensive site that is difficult to keep timely - these sites often become quickly outdated and tend to stagnate as the costs of keeping them current outweigh the benefits. These sites are part of the “static” web, as opposed to the “live” web (encompassing the blogosphere and the social media).

The static web can be looked at as real estate - people build, design, and construct sites and give them addresses along the information superhighway, where they get traffic in the form of readers. However, the “live” web is more of a dynamic publishing system, based on chronology, syndication, and tagging. We create content that others view through browsers, feeds, and aggregators, and participate in global discussion about everything under the sun. Naturally, blogs are a major part of the live web community, and most people who think they need a website really need a blog. Why?

1. It’s relatively easy to get started - once you choose your name, set up template and get the hang of the (quite simple) technology, you’re in blogging business.

2. You can update it yourself. Instead of waiting for your webmaster to change your site, you can write new posts as often as you want and publish them yourself. You can also edit it yourself easily and quickly. Your business and your life changes constantly, so your web presence should be able to keep up.

3. You can interact within the live web and position yourself as an expert; you can share your knowledge and learn something from the other bloggers in your niche.

4. You are searchable and findable - a blog that is SEO’d (search engine optimized)and updated often will get on the radar of potential customers and clients. After all, the web is increasingly the first place people turn when they need information on, well, anything.

The static web is not completely out of date, however, you can and should still include static pages within blog (the About page, your contact page, and other flagship content can be static - or kept outside the chronology of the rest of your blog. An example of a static page would be the Blogging Terms 101 page on my header).

So what are you waiting for? Head to the main page and get started on your own blog this weekend.

You can read more on the live web vs. the static web here, and for something more recent, it’s also mentioned in this interview with Doc Searls by Shel Israel.

Web 2.0 and You: Social Media Explained

Chances are you’ve heard the terms “web 2.0″, user-generated content, and social media networks being thrown around before, and you probably have a decent idea of what they mean (if not, check out my dictionary of blog related terms). However, you may not be sure how to use the social media networks for your business - to blogcast your brand, because the blog is the center of it all.

Think of your brand/business as a solar system - your blog is the sun, and the rest of the social media sites and applications as planets orbiting around it. You may have profiles on the other networks, videos on YouTube and photos on Flickr, and use social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and digg, but it all revolves around your blog (be sure to put links to your blog in all your profiles, but you already knew that, right?).

There are two main forms of social media that can be quite useful for bloggers - networking sites (Facebook, Myspace, Linked In) and bookmarking sites (Stumble Upon, Reddit, and my personal favorite, del.icio.us).

The networking sites are kind of self-explanatory; they are not that far removed from your actual network of friends, associates, and colleagues, except that they are virtual and you can see everyone else’s networks too. Besides the fact that it is simply convenient to have everyone’s profile info at your fingertips, these sites can also be useful when it comes to reconnecting with old colleagues and acquaintances, and for learning more about new friends. While you don’t need to maintain a presence on every social networking site on the web (you wouldn’t have time to do anything else!), it’s helpful to be involved in one or two that are popular in your business’s niche, e.g. fashion types with Iqons and anything music or entertainment related with Myspace.

Bookmarking sites are useful for bloggers in the both the promotional sense (having your content listed on the sites brings in readers) and in the personal sense - you can bookmark and tag your favorite sites and articles and access those bookmarks from anywhere, and if you work from multiple computers your bookmarks will be synched. I personally like to bookmark and tag any articles that would be good blog fodder, so bookmarking sites can help beat blogger’s block as well. Social bookmarking sites are also excellent tools because they enable you to check out what others in your niche are reading and what they thought of it. Popular forums can function in a similar fashion (be sure to put a link to your blog in your signature line!)

Last but not least, there is Technorati, the blog index that has become so much more. Technorati lets you see who has linked to your blog and how recently, what other sites they have linked to, who they have favorited, and so on. There’s also an authority ranking (how many sites have linked to a particular blog). It’s a good way to keep track of which bloggers are saying what, and how other bloggers are reacting to it.

The key idea to remember is that the social networks are a community - you have to participate, learn the mores, and in some cases, follow the rules (for example, many forums have certain codes of conduct and behavior, so check out the regulations before you jump in and post). Even if you’re a natural rebel, you have to learn the rules before you can break them. Like any other community, virtual or not, you have to learn to listen as well as speak.

Bloggers and Columnists: Lectures vs. Conversations
New to the blogging world and wondering what it’s all about?

Here’s a hint: blogging is like writing a column. Think of the web as a giant media organization, sort of like a community driven, open source version of the Associated Press that is constantly churning out new content. Each individual reader composes their own local paper of their favorite sites and blogs that they read regularly (and bookmark or subscribe to).

So really, maintaining a blog is not entirely unlike having your own byline and column in your reader’s newspaper. Like a columnist, you have a dedicated topic -your niche - that you give your own personal spin. Bloggers and columnists both have personal brands that they promote, and they usually write in their own voices, in the first person.

You may reply, “but I want to use my blog to market something, not to write a personal column.” Yes, but the basic idea is still the same - your blog is simply an advertorial or advertising column instead of an editorial one. You are still blogging to promote your brand, just in a more conversational, interactive sense.

But that’s about where the similarities end, because as everyone knows, the web is fundamentally different from other media - it’s dynamic, it’s constantly updated, and it’s much more democratic in the sense that anyone who can get a hold of a computer and an internet connection can participate in the conversation.

If the web is a conversation, traditional media is a collection of lectures. You can listen and even take notes, but you can’t respond. This what makes blogging such a powerful new form of marketing - it breaks down the walls and lets businesses speak directly to customers, experts directly to their audience in the form of authority blogs, and allows virtually everyone to promote their personal brand.

The level of reader participation is a big part of what makes blogging different from print publications - readers can comment, other bloggers can link to your posts, and you can instantly respond to questions. Blogging is dynamic, print is static. Like the rest of the web, it is also much more community based, as it is important to interact with and link to other bloggers in your niche - to participate in the discussion.

Blog versus a website, who wins?

This is a great debate that started for me well before we started MyTypes.com blogging platform. If you don’t have a business, do you still need a website? Does a website address have to make it a website there? What is a website, and how is that different than a blog? Is a blog just a journal or can a blog website actually replace your website? My answer is simple, yes, yes, and yes.

A blog is no longer just a journal, and a blog website is what you want. We recommend that you get a Wordpress blog website on any URL that you choose. Well, and if you don’t need to waste your money on a URL, for non business reasons, don’t waste it. Get the blog website on MyTypes.com/”your name here” or on “yourname”.wordpress.com or “yourname”.blogspot.com. Why am I recommending our competitors here? Because they are the best, options and we are really here trying to help you.

So every website in the future should have a blog system built in it, or every blog should have all the features a website should have. Every website should have the ability to build community and make the content easy to upload and add. Every business website, needs to do that. And, every business blog and blogging platform should be customizable to your brand. Most importantly, every blog and website should be able to promote your content to your audience. And the content either business or not, for a non-profit cause, should be search engine optimized (SEO).

To summarize, I want to recap that the most important aspect of your business will need to be promoted, and we can help you do that through blogging and promoting your blogs. But, you have to be in the business you love, other wise you will not do it in a successful way, you will just drift along like most people do. So no matter what your business, your passion or lack there of, will show up. And whether you are in the business of SEO and Internet Marketing like we are or in the business of marketing Italian foods or you sell clothes or anything else. The more you love what you do, the easier it will be for you to share your insights, your experiences and help others see your point of view, and the more you will succeed.

Related Posts

• The New title for The Book: “Marketing is a Contact Sport”
• Build your Brand first than SEO your blog
• Twitter, not just a cool name
• SEO: Metrics That Matter, But Not A Comprehensive List
• blog baby blog.. and Top 10 Web Sites
• Blogcast your Brand by Vipin Singh: Chapter 3, Secrets of eSuccess and eMarketing
• Secrets of eMarketing Part 2: Blogcast your brand