What every blog needs to be great...

Below is an interesting poll trying to measure what makes a blogger successful.   The breakdown is interesting: 

Which of these qualities is most important to a blog’s success?

The responses to this poll make a lot of sense from both a bloggers and readers perspective.   When looking at the blogs that have become the most successful (at least within their categories) they have build a unique personality and are relevant and interesting.   What drives people to come visit the blog?  Something that is unique, new, interesting, fresh...   What has them come back to the blog?  They find the information to speak to them and connect with them.   What encourages readers to engage on the site or share the content on the site?  The blogger encourages the visitors to share and develops a 'virtual relationship' with their visitors.   All of these attributes are building blocks to what I believe you could call a 'Distinctive or Fresh Voice' in the category.

If you were to untangle the definition of a distinctive voice you would probably find it is actually a composite value of the niche or area of focus and the ability to have unique and not regurgitated content.    I really believe that a distinctive voice is a composite value metric that includes many of the other measures  for success for bloggers.   These metrics include focus or relevancy (unique niche), compelling/interesting (compelling exclusive content), active voice (multiple channels such as social media, search, etc...), and of course the byproduct of this is the ability for the blogger to build their own brand via personalities or larger brands/marketers.

The only driver to success that I think is missing is past success (could be also known as luck, tenure, or personal brand).  I know this is self-fulfilling, but blogs that have built an audience and following in their categories are much more likely to grow and continue their success than a site that has not had success in the past and is trying to drive past the threshold to reach a continued success mark.  I know this is a convoluted concept, but due to the social nature of blogs it is clear that the blogs that have a following (the A-blogs) are in a much better spot for future success no matter what other components are at play. 

I think the poll is really interesting and telling.   I am glad you do these polls and hope you continue to ask these questions of bloggers and marketers.   Love your site.  You have all of the pieces needed to be successful.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What every blog needs to be great

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social-media practices and issues.


Last week’s poll question: Which of these qualities is most important to a blog’s success?

• A distinctive voice –  43.41%
• Compelling exclusive content — 35.66%
• A unique niche – 11.63%
• Strong promotion via social-media channels — 5.04%
• Excellent SEO — 2.71%
• Connections to famous brands, personalities — 1.55%

The results of this week’s poll took me a little bit by surprise. Given that this question was answered by 295 SmartBrief on Social Media readers, I would have guessed that most people would have favored the niche answer. After all, social media is about building community, and communities thrive in niche environments. Think about your favorite blogs for a second. I’m wiling to bet most of them cater to a pretty specific audience. Niche blogs are lean, focused and easy to pitch to their intended audiences.


But then again, the question was, “Which of these qualities is most important to a blog’s success?” And a solid 43% of you say it all about the voice. I can see why so many people feel it’s so important for a blog’s success. It creates a cohesive feel and a sense that you really know this person. It makes that online connection feel that much more real.


But voice is a tricky thing for a writer. It can be a calling card or a fatal flaw that one refuses to correct in the name of style. For some very distinctive writers, the same characteristics that attract some readers may repel others. It takes time and a lot of practice to develop a voice that really clicks. The good news is, if you’re a regular blogger, you’re going to have plenty of opportunities to practice. If you’re diligent and thoughtful about your writing, developing a voice is something anyone can pull off.


In fact, all of the most popular options are things I feel comfortable saying most people could achieve, given a little inspiration and a healthy work ethic. The most specialized attributes — self-promotion, SEO and access to big names — garnered less than 10% of the vote. SmartBrief on Social Media readers clearly feel that blog success is all about the content, and I have to agree. If you can take care of your voice, your niche and your content, the rest should be easy.


What defines a great blogging voice? Who are some bloggers whose voice you admire?

Whitepaper: Paid, Earned & Owned Media

Attached is an interesting deep dive into the different forms of media. The analysis drills into the expanding media forms that reflect dramatic changes in the way consumers perceive and absorb marketing messages.

Many marketers use this framework to distinguish different ways of interacting with consumers, forms of financing, and measures of performance for each contact. Yet the paid, owned, earned framework increasingly looks too limited. How, for example, should a marketing strategist for a company react to requests from other companies to purchase advertising space on its product sites? How should a company deal with online activists when they take hold of a product or campaign to push a negative emotional response against it?

The changing role of older media and the emergence of newer ones extend the marketer’s role well beyond the allocation of budgets and channels. Marketers today require a deep understanding of how consumers engage with different types of media at each stage of the journey toward a purchase decision. What’s more, these different kinds of media are related and interact with one another (Exhibit 2), so marketing plans and capabilities must adapt and evolve. Paid, owned, earned, sold, and hijacked media are evolving in four primary ways.

Read the attached to get the details from David Edelman and Brian Salsberg who are both principals at McKinsey.

I hope you find this useful.

McKinsey Beyond Paid Media

History of Playboy...

So it is a cool company and the story is pretty cool. Here are some facts you might like to know...

Playboy, first published in 1953, is the world's best-selling men's monthly magazine, and launched one of the world's most successful entertainment empires. Almost 10 million American adults read Playboy every month, and the magazine's U.S. total paid circulation of 3 million is larger than that of Esquire, GQ and Rolling Stone combined.

Fast Facts:

- The first issue, published in December 1953, did not carry a date, as Hefner was unsure whether there would be a second edition
- The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, from a picture originally taken for a calendar.
- The first issue was an immediate sensation; it sold out within a matter of weeks.
- Known circulation was 53,991.
- The cover price was 50¢, the same issue in near mint condition is worth about $5,000 today.
- The famous logo, depicting the stylized profile of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie, was designed by art designer Art Paul for the magazine's second issue and has appeared on every issue since.
- A long running tradition involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph.
- Hefner said that he chose the rabbit as a mascot for its "humorous sexual connotation", and because the image was "frisky and playful".

Anyway - pretty cool company and cool story.

Finally some good news for video gamers...

This is an interesting study from the scientists at University of Rochester start to find some socially redeeming values from playing video games.   Thinking about what video games require and train you to do does make you think that there should be some value to playing games, at least some of them.

I realize playing games non-stop can be a bad thing, and I am sure the downside of playing video games could be more than the upside, but finally there is some positive news out of the researchers in Rochester...

Looks like those four months you spent bingeing on coke and playing GTA IV weren’t a total loss after all! Bludgeoning all those pretend hookers actually made you better at making snap decisions, and no less accurate than those real-life having schmoes:

“Cognitive scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered that playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster. The researchers found that video game players develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, and this benefit doesn’t just make them better at playing video games, but improves a wide variety of general skills that can help with everyday activities like multitasking, driving, reading small print, keeping track of friends in a crowd, and navigating around town.”

So, after spending years after school playing XBox Live or wii has made you a better person!   Navigating? Check. Keeping track of heads in a crowd? Got that. Marksmanship? You better believe it. It’s time to show the world what you’re made of, highly-trained potential mass murderers and mercenaries!

Customer Attrition Stats

I ran across this interesting article on Customer Attrition and I thought I would pass it along. As I think about customers, this was a jarring bit of information, hope it might be of interest.

Why Customers Leave Their suppliers in Business Relationships

1% of the time they die.

3% of the time they move away.

5% of the time they are simply lured into new relationships with competitive suppliers for no other reason than the persistence and persuasiveness of their sales reps.

9% of the time, they leave for better pricing or terms.

14% of the time, they leave due to product dissatisfaction.

68% of the time, they leave because they sense indifference from their suppliers.

Source, UPSIDE DOWN MARKETING by George Walther.

Cashing Checks...

I was cashing a check this weekend and realized the amount of time it was taking the teller to count and recount the cash was primarily the reason for the long lines at the bank. How can you blame them, they are dealing in cash and if they lose count or miss one number it could end their career.

The gal behind the teller booth counted out all the twenties and then stacked them up and recounted them again. She even used the automated bill counter to check the numbers one last time. On average the teller would take about 20 seconds or so to count about $1,000 in cash. This would then be doubled when she counted it again (though the second time took a fraction of the time, usually another 7-10 seconds at best).

I started to think about the big checks the government uses to operate the day to day. What if you had to cash one of these checks? For example, the photo below is an actual check that was sent to Morgan Stanley when the banks were failing to help them from going under. This is a check for nine-billion dollars.

According to Andrew Ross Sorkin's website - 'Morgan Stanley received a $9 billion investment from Mitsubishi UFJ in the fall of 2008 that kept the firm from collapsing. The payment was supposed to be wired electronically, but because it needed to be made on an emergency basis on a holiday, Mitsubishi cut a physical check, perhaps the largest ever written.'

If Morgan Stanley decided to cash this big ass check, the teller would still be counting. How much time would it take? Assuming the teller worked every day the bank was open, and would work on average an 8-hour day (with only one break and a lunch), the counting would go another 4 years.

To count and check $10K would on average take about 4-5 minutes, with checking and re-checking. Now check out the teller that is cashing the $9,000,000,000.00 check... This would be:

• Start with: $9,000,000,000.00 total check
• Spend 4-5 minutes per $10,000.00 in cash
• Estimate about 75,000 hours to count the $9,000,000,000 cash

Then you have a teller working about 22 days per month (with weekends and holidays), working on average 8-hours per day, they are going to be able to count about $20MM per month, which means the full 9,000,000,000.00 would take about 38 years.

The teller counting and cashing this check would be finished with cashing the check by November 20th, 2046, though the teller would probably be around 65 or older, assuming he/she was about 30 years old at the time the guy cashing the check showed up.

Now imagine how long it would take to cash the check on the two stimulus checks, which I think is somewhere around 40,000 years to cash out.

Mapping the 2008 Olympics...

The program for the Beijing 2008 Games is quite similar to that of the Athens Games held in 2004. The 2008 Olympics will see the return of 28 sports, and will hold 302 events (165 men’s events, 127 women’s events, and 10 mixed events).

Which 2008 sport is the most awesome? A guy with too much time on his hands created this chart...