Happy and Blue 2

Focus on getting people to guest post. With a big enough build up it doesn’t even matter if they are qualified or not. You look current and helpful and don’t have to work on it.

A good example of this may be:

Jim is a powerful brick builder and loud speaker. He is known for his innate ability to tear down the barriers between people. Please welcome Jim as talks about 10 barriers he has smashed for his clients. Learn from Jim how you can apply his principles to smash through your walls and into success..

With todays tendency to skim posts almost anyone can be a great guest post..

I just read a post on Ari Herzog’s site about comments. Ari is somewhat annoyed that people either respond to what he has written on Twitter or they email him with a comment. He wants them to comment on the actual post..

Part of this amuses the heck out of me because in another post Ari wrote asking if anyone would like him to critique their blog he indicates that he gets 30,000 readers a month.

Ari has 30,000 people reading his posts each month and by my completely unscientific calculations he gets about 8-10 comments on each post he writes.

He also responds to his comments. Which is important to note because conventional wisdom from the blog gurus is that you have to respond to your comments to build a community. Very few of the people spouting this wisdom actually do respond to comments but we know that if they say it’s true it must be. Just not for them I suppose.

So, by my rough calculations, only 1% of his readers actually take a moment and comment on his site. And that includes people who say “nice post” instead of leaving a thoughtful comment which also adds to the discussion and knowledge of the community. Which is another thing that the blog gurus say a comment must do even though a well thought out comment that adds to the discussion seldom ,if ever, receives a follow up comment from said blog gurus.

Anyways, why does this amuse me.

Because my posts get about 2-3 comments each.

And according to Google Analytics I only receive about 300 page views each month.

So, about 10% of the people who stop on my site actually comment..

I’d like to say something like “In your face Herzog” but the blog gurus also say we should treat other writers with respect. Since they don’t comment back I guess we should just take their word on this as well.

So instead of gloating I’ll just offer my assistance to Ari. If he would like to contact me I would be more than willing to share my expertise.

Not because I’m such a nice guy.
But, because the blog gurus say I have to. Even though they seldom seem to follow that advice either..

So, what do you think of comments or the lack thereof?
If someone comments back using another form of social media are you happy with that or do you wish they had left a comment on the actual post?
And if someone sends you an email regarding your post are you just as happy or do you wish they had commented so everyone could see it?

Editors note: I really like Ari’s site. He is funny, and brilliant and is a must read for anyone interested in improving their social media skills. And for people like me who like to laugh as they learn..

Something about me that very few people know is that I’m really smart.

According to this site, which is so smart it doesn’t even have a real name, I’m in the higher average of smartness.

Anyways, due to my smartness I guess, I recently asked myself to take part in a prestigious speaking thing.

Of course I quickly accepted my offer because smart people know that marketing is everything and I read lots of what smart people say.

So, after the usual back and forth contact, using a couple of email accounts I have, I agreed to my terms and set off to my first unpaid speaking engagement.

It took a while to find the other chair in my room where the conference was to take place.
I’m doing some home renovations at the moment and I’ve moved everything around in my room.

After some brief banter with myself (when you are smart usually the only person you can hold an intelligent conversation with is yourself) I found that I was being asked to speak on Blog Promotion.

I don’t really know anything about Blog Promotion but being smart I knew I could just fake it and get away with it. It’s a gift that smart people and spammers have.

And I read stuff by other smart people like Mitch and Sire and Rose and Skye and Anthony.
And I can name drop with the best. Like Seth and David.

I read stuff that Ari Herzog writes. And Mr. Herzog, if I may be so bold to call him that, appears to know lots of stuff about stuff as well. Another probable genius.

Of course I read everything that Jordan Cooper writes as well. And Jordan reads lots of even smarter people, which saves me lots of time, and makes me even smarter.
Plus he is the inspiration for many of my posts, including this one, because he does video on his site all the time and like all smart people I want to do video.

Anyways, the speaking engagement was a smashing success.
So much so that I received several standing ovations from myself.

And, I was even asked by myself to come back and speak to myself again in the future.
Which, being smart, I promptly accepted.

At this point I was going to share a video of my speaking engagement but unfortunately me is not as smart as I am and me forgot to turn on the high end Flip video camera during the presentation I made.

So, I’ll just have to leave you with the review I wrote following the event:

Glen Speaks On Blog Promotion
On January 22, 2010 Glen gave a speech to a sold out audience on the benefits of blog promotion.
The speech achieved unparalleled parallels in magnificence and the crowd was on their feet at the end not just once but several times.

Don’t miss Glen’s next presentation, tentatively slated in for February where he will share his brilliant insights on a different topic.

Tickets are limited so get yours early..

I have written over 300 stories that are for the most part family friendly. It’s enough for a book. Several short books actually.

The point is that we all write book loads of information every year. Several short books worth.

Writing Styles
My writing is simple. Most of the people I currently read would call it crap but because I had a bigger audience in the past I know there is a group interested in reading it.
I just create a character and a situation and let them lead me wherever they want to.

Technical articles seem hard to me. You have to research. And there are new information and new studies done all the time.

My stories are timeless. I only have to watch for jargon.
Actually, I recently looked at a few books that I read as a child and I still understand and enjoy them. Timeless..

Technical articles date quickly. So new ones have to be written just to replace old information.

If I were to market my stories there is a limited audience. And there are a mass of stories for children out there.

Technical writers also tend to have a limited market. If you write about making money you are competing with lots of other people who have written about it. Or if you write about how to use Twitter you are competing with lots of other people who are writing about how to use Twitter.

Why You Should Write an Ebook
There is a mass of everything out there.
If you don’t believe me just go to a grocery store and count the number of different kinds of boxes of cereal.

Or count the variations in automobile or bicycle models, clothing, food, housing, et.al.

The point I’m trying to make is there is room for everyone. There is room for you.

What Should I Do With My Ebook
If I were to package and market my stories to the right audience I could probably sell them. I may not ever get rich but who really knows.

The thing is that becoming rich wouldn’t really matter to me. Money is fleeting.
Being read by someone is forever.
Even longer if you are Shakespeare or Galileo..
Which you probably aren’t but who knows….maybe you just don’t know it yet…

If you have thought about doing an ebook then do it. If you don’t want to create an ebook do it anyways.
I don’t really think you have anything to lose.

I plan to do one of some of my stories in a few months. I’ll probably just give it away.

But, if you create one and charge for it there isn’t anything wrong with that either.

And if only a few people want what you produce does it really matter. Does Ford care if you buy a Focus or a Expedition. They make a sale either way.

You will have done it. It will sit on your site. Available for anyone who comes later.

And it will make writing the next one easier.

So the question for you is:

What is holding you back from creating your own ebook or book..
What do you feel you would have to lose in doing so.

“What a dork” said Daisy as she sat sunning herself.

“There he is is again walking around with a coffee in his hand and he doesn’t even offer me anything to drink.”

“HELLO DUFUS” Daisy yelled “I COULD USE A DRINK HERE!!”

But Doofus, or Fredrico, as he liked to be called didn’t pay any attention.
He just sat down in his chair, picked up his newspaper and started reading the stock pages.

Fredrico, didn’t really understand stocks, but when confronted by rudeness or potential rudeness, he liked to pretend he was monitoring all his pretend investments.

At one point in his life he used to pretend he was doing the New York Times crossword puzzle but ,as everyone who has ever tried that puzzle knows, it’s impossible to do.
So it doesn’t really make a good cover story if you just want to ignore rudeness.

And at the moment Fredrico sensed that there may be rudeness afoot.

“I’m sure thirsty over here Mr. Greedy Pants” said Daisy who had learned of Fredrico’s real name by reading it on a letter he once received.

“Hmmm…SGZ is up 30 somethings” said Fredrico not looking up from his paper. “Might be time for me to flip my earnings into turnapples and buy into something”

Frredrico had no idea what he was talking about. But it made him feel smart.
Which is a good thing I suppose.

Over the course of the next hour or so Daisy kept nattering and Fredrico kept pretending to read the stocks page until eventually he had enough.

“Criminy” he said. “That’s it..I’m going out.”

And with that off he went leaving Daisy sitting in the house dumbfounded and appalled.

Mostly dumbfounded I think. Appalled seems like a pretty strong word for just not getting a drink.

After all, she was in a house, not the Sahara desert..

So, Daisy did what anyone in that situation would do.

She rustled her leaves and complained to the rhotodendrum next to her on the shelf.

The life of plants is full of disappointments. And thirst I suppose..

So the question for you is:
1) Do you ever fake reading to avoid rude people?