Well, I thought the Minnesota Twins were back on track, but they’re being derailed by the Brewers tonight. Looks like I’ll have to provide some excitement of my own and highlight some great posts from this last week.
- Questions to ask BEFORE you hire a web partner: Drew threw out a great list of questions for hiring a web partner. With the exception of search engine optimization experience, it’s very complete.
- Linking Mistakes Frequently Encountered On Blogs: For those of you interested in taking advantage and playing the linking game correctly, Andy’s post covers it all.
- I wanted to highlight Lewis Green who celebrated his one year blogging anniversary and Becky Carroll who celebrated her six month anniversary and 100th post. I also wanted to highlight a post written by CK. She talks about one of her European readers who had his perceptions of the US changed by her writing. I think this highlights the power of quality blog writing. You can find plenty of that at CK, Becky and Lewis’ sites.
- The Problem with Feedback: I liked the topic that Valeria threw out. She says of feedback, “…we rarely know how to give it, and seldom learn how to take it. Why is that?”. Very thought provoking post!
- One site I’m reading often is Matt Dickman’s Techno//Marketer. Check out his Buzz Friday feature where he offers links to great content and also video commentary of recent tech news. Awesome stuff!
- The (bloggin’) times they are a changin’…: Mack highlights his company blog series (also worth checking out!) and how companies are more and more responsive to his posts. I’m also noticing that companies are eager to join the conversation when they hear their name talked about on blogs.
- Engaging Users on the SERP – How Google Universal Search Changes Everything: Jonathan Mendez talks about Universal search adding applications to the search engine results page. This means people might be spending more - not less - on the page that has their search results. This has big impact on optimization and marketing!
- Does Punctuation Matter to Google or SEO?: Michael Jensen talks about punctuation and its play in the game of SEO. He also includes a link to a similar post he did about capitalization and what role it plays. These were some topics I thought were great to cover!
- New Blogger Story Chapters: Toby highlights a site she created called Blogger Stories. I just spent a half hour reading some great stories. You have to spend some time there!
Wow - alot of great writing this week! Thanks to all of you on the list who put so much effort into the quality information.
Until next week….
Patrick:
The subject of feedback seems to have hit a nerve. Thank you for the inclusion in your excellent list of resources. Matt’s buzz Friday feature is one of my favorites, too.
One advantage that small business owners have is the ability to capture feedback in a way that can potentially be profitable to them, in addition to being meaningful.
Patrick, I so appreciate your appreciating that post in particular. It absolutely made my week/month/year of blogging. Better practices and better people are the ROI I seek from all the sharing we’re doing ;-).
Have a great week and much gratitude–CK
Valeria,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Quality, well-gathered feedback helps direct the course of a small businesses. Being smaller, SMB can be more agile in implementing feedback. Thanks for covering the topic!
-Pat
Hey CK,
We’re definitely on the same page as far as what we consider ROI from blogging. That’s why your post struck a cord me! It’s responses like you received that make this type of communication so powerful and gratifying. Nice work!
Patrick,
Thanks for the shout out. Have a wonderful week!
Hi Lewis,
No problem….I enjoy highlighting other people’s successes on their blogs! Have a good week yourself.
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for highlighting my blog among such other great resources! Mack’s new “column” on corporate blog reviews is a great one that I have referred others to go read as I coach them on blogging (a new skill for me!). Plus, Andy’s on linking is a very good resource.
You rock!
Thanks, Becky!
As I said to Lewis - I really like highlighting blogging acheivements. This isn’t easy work and milestones should be celebrated!
Patrick - Thanks for the shout out about Blogger Stories. It’s been a joy creating a space for people to understand the whys and hows of what encouraged people to step into social media. Would love to add your chapter!
Hey Toby,
I thought it was a fantastic site. Very nice work! There are some fun and unique stories in there. Thank you for the invite - I’d absolutely love to participate.
Patrick — I’m glad you like the Buzz Friday posts, they’re fun to do! Also, thank you for sharing these other great posts. I’m always excited to find a new blogger.
Hey Matt,
You obviously put alot of time and effort into those and it shows! Thanks so much for doing that - keep up the great work.