PROCESS: How I blog

How I blog, usually under 20 minutes – the process, the pain, the glory. Heh. Maybe it’s interesting, maybe not.

First, most ideas have been lurking in my brain for a while. Some years – I’m a bit slow. If you are a regular reader, you’ll see I approach the same questions from different angles time and again.

• How do we monetize (show value) for user generated content?
• How do I balance a business need with a customer need in social networks?
• What happens when people with similar purpose but different value systems meet online?
• How do companies so easily turn their campaign into an anti-campaign by pissing off customers that have a voice?
• How are the customers learning to have a voice – mimicking and then authentic?
• How do I explain that this ‘new’ stuff is actually in our DNA and has been since time immemorial?
• How do I (Laurel Papworth) share my knowledge yet make enough money to live?

Once an angle hits me I go to work. The ‘eureka’ moment might be in the middle of the night, in the shower, or when playing World of Warcraft (thereby legitimizing thousands of wasted hours inworld). I write it as I think it. With umm y’know, that word that errr. Seriously. I go back and edit it later.

Then I go searching. Usually I use Google normal search (not blogsearch, not news search). I know that nothing is original under the sun, that the zeitgeist will prevail, so I look for something similar (or opposite) of what I want to say, and that I can dovetail my few paragraphs into. I keep ONE thought uppermost in mind. Otherwise it becomes (even more) of a jumbled madhouse.

It is orgasmic when I find EXACTLY the right blog post or news article. Can I say orgasmic on my blog? Umm probably not. Remind me to change “orgasmic” to “bliss” will ya?

Then I go looking for funny pictures. I like funny pictures.
Who needs tape recorders when you have a blog? (Cartoonstock or gapingvoid usually have the goods).

I use Image Search by Google and often put CARTOON in as the first word. I like MarketingCharts.com for those cool charts. Like this one:
Example of a chart: Marketing Charts should have an embed function, then they would be the “YouTube” of charts.

By now the post is something that I would want to read again, and maybe something that adds to the story arc of my workshops and presentations.

Unfortunately, I don’t read a specific set of blogs on anything like a regular basis. I never got into the habit of it, I don’t RSS, I’m slack. I graze my way across the ‘net, occasionally coming across people I know in real life, on Twitter, from conferences. But if I were to read blogs, and I do from time to time, these guys are good. Which reminds me *taps ’em on the shoulder* how do YOU decide how/what/when to blog?

• Gavin Heaton (Servant of Chaos)
• Lee Hopkins Better Communications
• Gary Hayes Personalize Media and real life squeze
• Kate Carruthers Aide Memoire
• David N Wallace LifeKludger
• Stephen Collins AcidLabs
• Priscilla Brice-Weller Solidariti
• Steven Noble Life in Chippendale
• Mick Liubinskas Micksup
• Mashable Mashable (hate the ads slapped all over it, though)

Back on topic – my title is usually the keywords I want to be found, not fun ‘tabloidy’ stuff. Unfortunately. I make sure that my cartoons and charts are credited. I check to see if I can link to a few more sites – such as wikiepedia. I always forget to deeplink further into this blog. I make a lot of ‘mistakes’ that SEO would yell at me for but seriously, who wants to quote themselves all the time, or have heaps of links out to other sites? Not me.

This is a self indulgent post – like the rest of my posts are not? *snorts* – on how I decide on what to write about. Unfortunately, inspiration rarely comes from unsolicited emails and press releases. Just lettin’ ya know.