Recently I was able to catch up Ted Demopoulos, author of the new, exciting book What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting, due out November 1st of 2006. Ted interviewed me for a chapter titled Building Great Business Relationships through Blogging, and I'm really looking forward to reading the whole book. Other experts contributing to the book include Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, and a host of others. You can read the whole list here if you're interested. If you enjoy this blog, I think you will really enjoy this book, from what I've seen and heard. My copy is coming soon, and yours can to. Keep reading to find out how!
To keep it short and relevant for you, I limited myself to asking Ted only 5 questions. If you read all the way to the end, there's a contest that YOU can win a free, autographed copy of Ted's book. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, your mileage may vary, past performance is not indicative of future growth, yadda yadda yadda.
Q: Your book features 101 experts. Why 101 and not 50 or 100?
A: I wish I had a better answer, but the book is part of a series of biz books called "What No One Ever Tells You About . . ." and they all have 101 people in them.
To celebrate all 101, I went for a 101 mile bike ride recently - you got mile 24, pedalling through historic Portsmouth NH.
[NOTE: I've never been to Portsmouth, NH. One day, I'll travel there and let them know their town is really Philsville. I'm sure they won't mind! :)]
Q: Which chapter (other than the one you interviewed me for) do you feel would resonate with the readers of Make It Great! the most?
A: Maybe "Blogs and Podcasts, Where do We Go From Here?" by Jeremiah Owyang. He talks about democratization of information and it's effect on society.
Or perhaps "Blogging for Business Relationship Quality" by Robert Rosenthal or "Great Bloggers are Great Conversationalists" by Stephen Turcotte
Q: What "new blog" has popped up on your radar recently that you wish would post more frequently?
A: Actually I wish many people who used to blog still did - and didn't feel they had to blog extremely regularly or not all!
Q: Do you think videocasting will take off? What's "next" for blogging?
A: Videocasting will take off, but not like blogging. Video is great for some things, for example "how to" applications. Some people love video, but others prefer audio or text. We have different learning styles as well as preferences. For example I love audio and text -- they both work well for me, but rarely watch video.
Also video can't be scanned like text-based blogs and it demands total concentration unlike podcasts. Videocasting is taking off, although somewhat slowly, but it won't replace blogging as we know it today.
I think blogging will continue to grow, but the idea that a blogger "needs" to post several times I week will fade from prominence. Sure, some of us will blog daily or close to it, but if someone blogs only once a month are their ideas less valuable? Or course not, and I think we'll see a growth of "occasional bloggers." They may even not have dates listed on their posts. Incidentally, I just removed dates from my blog The Ted Rap and wrote about it here.
Q: Where can we get more of Ted Demopolous?
A: My first book,
Blogging for Business, was published last February and is
available most everywhere. I'm blogging most regularly at
Blogging
for Business, I'm also at The Ted Rap, & I
might start my Santa Shenanigans at www.SantaBlog.org again, and my website is www.demop.com.
Very cool, thanks Ted!
[End interview, begin contest]
And now for the moment you've ALL been waiting for...
For those of you who skipped ahead to try to win this book, shame on you! You should read the interview. It's really good. :)
Ted is such a great guy, he's agreed to give away an autographed copy of his book, sent to you, at no cost, for the best answer to this question:
What is the best way you've found to build relationships on your blog?
You didn't think it could be anything else, did you? This is the chapter I contributed to, so I'm curious what your thoughts are on this topic. You can respond with a comment or a trackback here. Please be sure I can contact you to get your mailing address, or you can't win.
Simple enough. Good luck to everyone. The contest will run until October 29th, which will give you 3 weeks to put your thinking cap on and win you a book!
[Phil Gerbyshak works hard every day to respond to all of his e-mails and blog comments before he goes to sleep for the night. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, he sleeps better. Send him an e-mail and see how quickly he responds to you.]
Phil – First off, great interview. I enjoyed Ted's book "Blogging for Business" and it's one of the few blogging books I recommend to my small business clients.
As far as building relationships, the key IMHO is to get out in the "neighborhood" and talk with your neighbors. Spend time on blogs in your niche and visit forums as well. Then contribute, contribute, contribute! Add value with your comments.
Another important thing I share with folks wanting to blog to promote their business is to forget old thoughts about "competitors." I wrote about this recently on my blog. Creating partnerships and developing mutually beneficial relationships will do wonders for getting your message heard. Viewing the world from a lens of "lack" versus one of "abundance" causes people to think of others in their field as rivals. I feel there's plenty to go around, and we all have a unique voice, so why not embrace that?
Posted by: Tony D. Clark | October 09, 2006 at 11:00 AM
"Philsville" - I like that!
Thanks for your kind words and insight Tony
Posted by: Ted Demopoulos | October 14, 2006 at 10:31 AM
Phil, like Tony, I have found commenting on related blogs very helpful in fostering relationships with those I read and admire.
I really like Tony's idea of abundance and creating partnerships, rather than thinking of blogging with others in a business like you as a zero-sum game. It's often hard to think partnership, especially if that person might be a competitor, but I'm starting to see there is a lot of work to go around (if that's your goal) and often partnerships can be an outlet valve should you get overbooked and need a hand.
Ok, here are my 3 ideas:
1. One technique I've used is to send a personal email to a blogger I read and admire, including an encouragement and why I love their blog. I know that when I get these kinds of emails, I am inspired to keep going, especially on the hard days.
2. Write a post about said blogger and tell the world about their blog and why you love reading it. This public variation on idea 1 goes a step further in sharing your enthusiasm with others and sends readers to that person's blog to check it out for themselves.
3. If the person is someone local, I offer to meet for a coffee sometime to talk. So often bloggers want to talk shop, but spouses, friends and co-workers often on't *get* blogging and lose interest in the discussion quickly. When two bloggers get together it's a chance to talk to your heart's content, knowing the other person *gets* why you blog.
Hope this is helpful so someone else out there! :-)
Posted by: Mike Rohde | October 14, 2006 at 02:22 PM
I wholeheartedly agree that competition comes from notions of scarcity, not belief in abundance. I have not found much of the competitive outlook amongst bloggers. With only three exceptions, any blogger I have ever contacted has been gracious and kind. The other three did not reply.
One way I have found to network in the blogosphere is to introduce people to each other when I think they are in some way aligned. For example, I think you will find this post of great interest and related to the topic here:
http://workfromwithin.typepad.com/weblog/2006/10/reaching_out_to.html
And I think you will like this blog:
http://businessnetworkingadvice.com
It is also related to the topic at hand.
Posted by: StephanieWestAllen | October 15, 2006 at 01:58 PM
Great interview Phil and excellent idea for a contest! Thanks for pointing me over here from my interview with Ted. I particularly like the chapter recommends Ted provides for your readers, it really brings home how with a book like this we can all get something of value out of it.
Cheers,
Tamera
Posted by: Tamera Kremer | October 17, 2006 at 09:39 AM