Archive by Author

Incredibly Humbled

Incredible Maria Palma has honored a armful of bloggers with entry into the CustomersAreAlways Hall of Acclaim.

I’m humbled to be included with such a great group of customer-lovers because I read each of their blogs — you see they (including Maria) help shape my view on customer service.

If I could, I’d gather this group around a Panera coffee table now and again so we could brainstorm about customer service. Since that’s not yet physically possible, I do so by reading their blogs.

You see, while blogging may be a tech-centric tool, part of the business case for blogging is to build meaningful relationships through conversations with your prospects and customers.

It sounds like Maria is about to launch a portal view of customer service blog posts. Great idea! 

Thanks, Maria. YouAreAlways….Incredible.

Did You Get the Memo? CGM in WDM

Pete Blackshaw is coming to Des Moines next week. And he’s bringing some CGM knowledge with him.

The originator of the term "CGM" and co-author of a recent Whistle Stop, Why Blogging Matters… will be in Iowa for the AMA luncheon on Wednesday, November 1.

CGM has long been a passion for me, having operated the AOL Real Fans Network Team Clubs in the late ’90s prior to the Sportsline purchase.

It’s a good time for CGM in Des Moines too, as the Des Moines Register blogging efforts grew with the launch of Urbandale Community page (more on that another time).

If you’ll be joining me in attendance at AMA, RSVP by Friday. Maybe we can get Pete over to the Panera University experience.

The Business of TAP Dancing

I‘m fortunate to be known in these parts as the "go-to-guy" for business blogging. And while I really dig that, I’m more astonished at another comment I often hear:

"Mike, You know everybody."     Not yet, but I’m (net)workin’ on it.

When they find out I’ve been in Iowa for a short 2.5 years, they are surprised. It’s more a testament to the nature of Iowans than to me my nature. They just embrace people they meet. I like that. But it’s more than that – and yes, there’s a blogging lesson in here…

It’s what I call The Business of TAP Dancing.

  • Transparent – Transparency fosters a participatory environment. When I was preaching full-time (not retired, just out of season), life was in a glass house. But you know what? It became part of my strength. And people are more apt to share when they sense nothing hidden.
  • Accessible – Always be accessible. Though I don’t answer the phone when I’m in meetings, my voice mail says I return calls in 90 minutes or less…and I’m hitting that 90% of the time. The more accessible you are, the more available your resources become, the more folks will talk about you.
  • Profitable - Being profitable isn’t just about bank deposits. I like it when people walk away from our meeting together with a higher energy, a deeper thought, an improved outlook – and yes, even a richer account.

So whether you’re at Panera Bread, sitting in your cubicle, or blogging on your site…do some Business TAP Dancing and watch what happens.

A SlideShare Mantra

My friend and business partner, Sandy Renshaw turned one of my "cornerstone" posts, A Blog Posting Mantra, into a SlideShare presentation:

Very nice! It’s a great way to bring some of your best posts back into the public eye. Need some help? Sandy threw out an offer to assist.

HOF Conversation Conductor – Liz Strauss

Conductorcap_1It just makes sense. Doesn’t it?

Tonight, in celebration of Liz Strauss’ Successful Blog birthday bash, we have our charter member of the Conversation Conductor Hall of Fame.

Liz continually gives of herself unselfishly, sharing her love, ideas, technique and contagious energy with everyone.

Those S.O.B. buttons you see all over the blogosphere – Liz hands them out. So it just makes sense that she wear the initial cap. Who knows – we may retire it right here!

Thanks Liz. Though I’ve found many positive things, ideas, people and friends via blogging – you are one that stands out! Stay contagious.

More:
- About Liz
- LizStrauss.com
- Letting me be…

Didn’t Your Mechanic Warn You About the Brakes?

Collision Imagine you take your car in for its scheduled oil change and wheel alignment. You love your car. You’d like to think your mechanic loves your car too. Right?

A few days after you take your car in, you begin hearing a metallic scraping sound. You take the car back to the mechanic and ask about brakes. You need new pads. Why didn’t he tell you?

"You didn’t ask for new brakes – you only asked about the oil and an alignment."

Wait a minute!! Who’s the expert here? What kind of mechanic would only fix what you ask for. Is that good customer service? He’s supposed to be an expert and alert you of such things, no?

Of course     if you developed the mechanic’s web site       and didn’t tell him about RSS feeds and blogging…

Flickr photo by kenney r1

Whistle Stops – 10/23/06

Whistlestops_38 Tomorrow, we’re beginning a new Meetup group, The Creative Ideas Exchange (C.I.E.). Not a lot of promotion yet, but we’ll create some:-) Here’s a night-time snack to get us thinkin’:

  • Flex Your Risk Muscle by Roger von Oech at Creative Think: Love this line: "Bulls-eye every time? If so, you’re standing too close to the target." How can we measure our successes if not against our failures? Time for a Risk Workout?
  • Why Blogging Matters: 6 Degrees of Perspective by David A, Peter, David C, Dan, Eric and Will at each of their respective sites: Where does Improvement fit in? At the core of the discussion? Or does it reside within each perspective without needing mention?
  • Small Ideas are Fast by Gavin Heaton at Servant of Chaos: Gavin offers his take on The Tyranny of the Big Idea and nicely ties into the previous two stops.

Need a Blog Massage?

- Is your business blog helping build your business?
- Have your blogging efforts become too tense — or worse, too relaxed?
- Do you not give a dog’s hind knee about writing a blog, but know you should be tracking them?
Now, for a limited time…(
enough with that commercial).

As part of the BIZolution package, we’ve been using web conferencing tools provided by Zane Safrit and his Conference Calls Unlimited team to work with companies, associations and universities in Iowa. Saves us travel time and expenses.

Now, I’m offering these services to businesses anywhere. Easy-to-use, affordable and most of all – productive.

One association has plans to use this service simply so we can teach their reps how to Search Once and Subscribe to feeds. Remember, blogging has two roles.

If you’re interested in building up your business blog muscles – check out the calendar and drop me an email or phone call. Back to the commercial…

Now, for a limited time, you can schedule two coaching sessions for the price of one. Visit www.GetStartedBlogging.com for more details.

Blogging With TypePad: Uploading Images

Uploading images into TypePad blog posts is really quite simple…

Let’s look at this screenshot from our previous post on Blogging With TypePad:Gsb_post3a

To insert a photo or image, find the Insert Image button Gsbpic . When you click on this button, a pop-up screen will appear in a separate window like this:

Tpimage1_2 If you’re using a photo from Flickr or similar service, you’ll need to save that image to your computer and remember what you named it and where you saved it.

The first step is to upload the image into TypePad.

The second step is where you can get creative. I always choose "Use Custom Settings" because it allows more freedom in sizing and placement of the image.

When you click on Custom Settings, the screen changes to this:

Tpimage2

Here we have more choices. If you want to wrap text, like I’ve done here, choose either Image on Left or Image on Right. If you don’t want any wrapping (like I did with the menu bar screenshot above), uncheck Wrap Text.

I always use Create Thumbnail. I rarely use the Pop-Up Window option.

You can size the thumbnail to anything that will fit in your main blog section (usually no more than 500 pixels).

When your readers click on the image, the original file will show on the browser, and they’ll need to click back to finish reading (here’s where the Pop-up option may be handy for you). Try it with one of these images — just make sure to hit the back button to continue reading:-)

A couple of guidelines of practice and etiquette:

  • It’s a good idea to place images appropriately within your post. Your image will be placed at the point of your cursor, so if you write your post before inserting the image – make sure your cursor is where you want your picture.
  • In A Blog Posting Mantra, #5 is Image Above the Fold. As more users begin reading your site in a feed aggregator, you’ll want to make sure the image is seen.
  • If you use an image found on another site, make sure you have permission (usually stated on the site) and give attribution with a link back. Flickr has Community Guidelines that we need to follow.

Here’s an example of a photo found on Flickr with the attribution at the bottom of the post:

Beachfishing

By clicking on the photo, you’ll see a larger version. The links and credit below go to the Flickr page where I found the photo – then also to the "photostream" of the Flickr member who originally uploaded the photo (and he’s got a lot of great photos there).

Photo on Flickr by acampm1

Related post here –
Blogging With TypePad: Easy as Email

Related elsewhere -
WordPress users: FAQ for Uploading a Picture…
Blogger users: How do I post pictures?

SEJ2006 Blog – Not Just for Journalists

The Society of Environmental Journalists Conference is about to get underway in Burlington, VT this week.

One of my favorite bloggers, Amy Gahran, is spearheading the SEJC2006 blog and asks a very important question: What Do You Want to See in this Blog? 

I’m confident the question is directed at members, speakers and attendees – but also to those who are interested in the environment and how the media covers these issues. I know several readers of this site are very much interested in these things, so I encourage you to visit the blog and chime in.

Personally, I’d like to suggest the use of photos and video (and using Flickr and YouTube) within the blog. Another suggestion would be the use of SlideShare for some of the presentations.

As more conferences begin to understand the value of live-blogging and use it as a tool of extended communication, I hope the SEJ2006 blog will prove to be an example.

I’m also pleased that SEJ President, Perry Beeman of the Des Moines Register, will be an active participant in the blog.