Entries Tagged 'Blogging' ↓
July 2nd, 2008 — Blogging
Would you like to see how your blogodream might look like? Would not you like to know how your eBook feels like?
I am not a magician but I think I might be of help.
by Bohman |
Below are sample eBooks I’ve generated automatically from the few blogs I read. I did it using my gold nuggets collection method. All I needed is subscribe to the blogs’ RSS feeds and then press the “Magic” button. This type of modeling is useful for me in order to test wether I am ready to publish a book or not. Are you? Do you like what you see? No? Tell me, please. Be honest – help me to improve. |
The quest
If you want to have such sample eBook – just leave me comment with the link to your blog. I’ll add your eBook generated from your RSS to the list below.
The right prices of the service - FREE
No strings attached. I’ll do it for free – ABSOLUTELY free, so the price is just right. It is limited time offer. Hurry up 
Ask
If you like what you see – spread the word on your blog. If you do not like it – leave me a comment on what to improve – no obligations. I might consider insightful suggestions as a next version feature set ;).
Why?
Why I am doing it? I just love experiments (blogrdoc must know the feeling). I am testing the technology, I am testing myself for effectiveness. Once I test it I know what to improve and where to take it next. I need QA (quality assurance) team. I ask You to be my QA team. How do I reward you? I produce the eBook for you .
Disclaimer
If you would like me to remove the PDF file of your blog – please let me know and I will do so. Only good intentions.
The eBooks
Below is the list of eBook I’ve generated automatically from your blogs. Click on the <<file name>>.pdf below and the download will start immediately. If you click on the image, it will take you to my Sky Drive where I host the eBooks. You can grab there the script and embed it on your blog so it shows exactly the way it looks below. Have fun.
June 30th, 2008 — Blogging, Getting results
What do you, me, John Lennon, and Gerald M. Weinberg have in common? Short answer – we all writers.
Longer answer – we collect materials for our writing in very similar way. John was stuffing his pockets with papers, Gerald collects fieldstones, and I dig[g] for gold nuggets. What about you?
by Ryan McD
Most of the bloggers are after writing a book. I am sure you too. I am no exception. Then how do you build up your book?
John Lennon’s way of writing a book
I put things down on sheets of paper and stuff them in my pockets. When I have enough, I have a book. — John Lennon
Gerald M. Weinberg’s Fieldstone method
Gerald M.Weinberg has written a great practical book - Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method
. He compares collecting materials for your writing with collecting fieldstones for building a fieldstone wall. The book packed with practical exercises and with healthy dose of humor which makes it very enjoyable for reading that gains results too. It is hard to argue with Gerald’s success– he wrote ton of books…
My gold nuggets collection method
I am no different from John and Gerald (ha-ha-ha-ha!!!). Well, may be a bit – I use different tool for collecting gold nuggets for my writing, I use Outlook 2007. There are primarily three sources of gold nuggets:
The result is well ordered pipelines of items that can be quickly processed for any purpose, including writing books.
I took my Outlook 2007 even further and developed Outlook 2007 add-in that grabs all the items and generates a document of it - Generate Documents Out Of Mail Items Directly From Outlook 2007.
Too freaky? Guess so… checkout the book I generated from several latest blog posts of mine - download PDF file and see yourself. Does not it look like a book? Few clicks-to-done. [I am aware of few freaky characters in it – call it a bug that I need to fix].
Self Test
- Are you collecting your stones?
- Are your stones easily can be fit into a book?
- Why didn’t you write a book yet?
- Want clear answers and prescriptive guidance on writing a book?
Read Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method and implement the techniques that suits you best – papers in your pocket, Outlook 2007, or other habit.
May 28th, 2008 — Blogging, Communication Skills, Influence Without Authority
How do you convince your boss to buy in with new idea? How do you carry out the main message of your presentation? How do you make your blog readers read your blog?
You make your messages sticky.
by Or Hiltch
I was reading J.D. Meier’s Six Principles of Sticky Ideas that he distilled from Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. And it related to me a lot. The principles are:
- Principle 1. Simplicity
- Principle 2. Unexpectedness
- Principle 3. Concreteness
- Principle 4. Credibility
- Principle 5. Emotions
- Principle 6. Stories
It related to me since I was blogging on Basic Skills For Effective Public Speaking and on Glue Audience To Your Presentation With ZoomIt that are just about that - how to make your message to stick.
It related to me since I am on my quest to reach the Tipping Point. Sticky Message is one of the main ingredients to reach the Tipping Point according to Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. The ingredients are:
- The law of a few. Which is about getting to know:
- Connectors (think of Darren Rowse).
- Mavens (think of Leo Babauta and Skellie for writing and Chris Pearson for WordPress and SEO - OMG, just seen he has Google’s PageRank of 7!).
- Salesmen (all of us, the underdog bloggers, who comment on their blogs, and link to them from ours).
- The stickiness factor. Read this post from the start.
- The power of context. Context matters. You can be connected, backed by good mavens, and armed by an army of salesmen. Out-of-context-ness will kill you.
Continuing blogging theme, the recipe for killer blog would be:
- Make friends with Darren.
- Follow Leo’s and Skeillie’s tips on writing and Chris’ tips on SEO.
- Pick your niche and stick with it.
Nothing new but it only proves that The Tipping Point theory works and that there are recipes for each ingredients. Here is a live example. Shilpan has made it in 3 months with Success Soul blog. The blog has rank of 42 on Technorati. I think it is very nice achievement for such young blog. Have you seen the number of comments there?
Got sticky message?
April 25th, 2008 — Blogging, Influence Without Authority
How to become an underdog blogger’s Superhero?
You subscribe to her blog, leave helpful comments, and give her link love - just like Hare Krishna does.
This post is a response to comments left on my 3 Easy Steps To Become A Superhero.
@ Jason Rakowski
I am using Copyblogger template by Chris Pearson. It was long road to this one. Check on JD’s comprehensive research on templates - How To Choose an Effective Blog Template or Theme. Jason, I liked a lot your blog’s focus on customer service.
@ Vered - MomGrind
Vered, first off - thanks for warm words on writing. What is the hardest part for you? Seeing everybody as a customer or these:
- Decide what you want. <- This one is hardest for me.
- Discover what the customer wants and…
- … deliver plus one.
Seeing everybody as a customer was for me a wake up call. Especially with my kids. It hit me when I yelled at my daughter “stop bothering me - I need to work!” Duh! Work for what purpose? Who’s the first and the best customer? My family. Would I yell at my customers at work? No. Then why I yell at my most important customer?
Same with my boss, co-workers, reports, and any other around me.
Me and my wife never fight - we do have tense situations though. Too often. We cope with this. Just like any unexpected situation with the customer. No one will benefit just accusing the other side. We all manage our business. Fighting never helps. Do you think these doctors see their patients as a customers? - Medical Mistakes Kill 100,000 Americans Each Year.
@ J.D.
No, JD. I won’t be wearing a cape when we meet - cape is so passé. I am trying something less common, how’s this one?
Working hard to visit the US this summer and meet you once more. BTW, the “work” is totally based on Performance Frame.
@ Shilpan|successsoul.com
Thanks for warm words. The main idea behind the post is not mine. I just digested what I read in the “Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service” book. Hard to believe but I was both laughing out loud (like LOL, you know…) and crying with tears in my eyes when reading it. It hit me with its simple and true content, content that resonated with so much. I truly believe it is all about value - a match of the value I offer and the value the customers seek. Your latest, 4 Fallacies of Myth about Wealth, resonates with it a lot. Here is another quote by Einstein that leads me “Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.” Another one is more recent from 10 Golden Google Design Principles : “Focus on the user and all else will follow.”
@ blogrdoc
Thanks for warm words, buddy. I like your way of unleashing a hero inside by sharing human errors and the way to avoid it at http://dohe.blogrlab.com/. BTW, I have a nomination in the end how not to set up FeedBurner feed on the blog. Read on.
@ Mike King
Thanks for warm words and for the Stumble. I liked your recent Sharing your opinion reinforces your beliefs. One of my blog goals is just about that. It is easier to believe in something that is written. Judaism is one of the oldest religions and it comes as written and oral (which is written too). It is ton of complex read. Although I am agnostic, my favorite is 82. Each male must write a Torah scroll. I saw another interpretation to this one, and it goes like this - “each one must write his own Bible” - which I like best.
We *All* Made This FeedBurner Mistake
- How do you manage your subscribers? You use FeedBurner.
- How do you set FeedBurner feed on your blog? You add fancy image linked to your feed burned on FeedBurner.
- What you forgot to remove? Built-in feed that comes with WordPress or other blogging platform.
- How your potential subscriber usually subscribes? She hits this button in Internet Explorer or FireFox
- What it shows when your potential subscriber hits it? Built in WordPress feed. Ouch!!!!
- What I’ve done to fix it? Found this line in Header.php:
<link rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml”
- The I replaced <?php bloginfo(’rss2_url’); ?> with hard coded URL of my FeedBurner feed.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/PracticeThis?format=xml
Got better solution? Share.
