Wow, I can foresee these weekly link love lists becoming way long at some point 
But I promised to spread the “good stuff” I’ve been reading, so below you will find my list of shared items from google reader for the week ending December 11th, 2009.
First a quick aside …
One thing I have noticed upon compiling this weeks picks, is that unlike my friend Sire, I actually do still read and share quite a bit of stuff from so called “A Listers”. That being said, Sire’s post last week about why he No Longer Links to Problogger and John Chow was a great example of the “rule” that apparently the easiest way to get the attention of “big name bloggers” is to write a controversial post about them. Honestly though, I don’t even think that was Sire’s intention … none the less, his little rant definitely generated links, traffic, and even several visits to the wassup blog comment section by Darren Rowse himself.
Definitely interesting. Ok now on to the good stuff …
- The very first section in my google reader is labeled “A1 – Daily Reads”; and no daily reads section would be complete without Seth Godin’s blog. This week I actually shared 3 of Seth’s posts. Here are my thoughts (lol, as if I could actually “add value”) …
- The Magic of Dynamic Pricing – I know with my own buying habits, especially online, I purchase quite a bit of stuff when it “on sale”. One of these days when I get around to selling my own stuff, I definitely do Not plan on using the one price for all model.
- How to Protect your Ideas in the Digital Age – Not to give the plot away or anything, but the gist of it is: “Don’t”. The winners in the digital age will be those who figure our how to profit from the free spreading of their ideas … rather than those who figure out how restrict their thoughts only to “paying customers”.
- What’s it like? (The sad story of the hot pepper) – How do you describe your product or service?
- Another blog right there near the top in my daily reads is Blog Maverick (aka Mark Cuban). If this isn’t already a “rule of life”, I propose we make it one … if a self-made Billionaire is sharing his thoughts on success and business, it’s probably a wise idea to listen in. I shared two of Mark’s posts this week …
- The Sport of Business – Is business the ultimate game? Are you competetive enough to come out on top?
- Success & Motivation: What Will You Remember When You are 90? – Hmmm, ok so what I’m getting out of this is that for each decision I make now, I should imagine how “old Todd” would look back and feel about the opportunities that I chose to pursue (or not pursue).
- I’ve been reading CopyBlogger for a couple of years now. One of these days I may actually start applying more of what I’ve learned. In the mean time, maybe you’ll appreciate 10 Secrets to More Magnetic Copy. Seriously though, this post contains some advice that I’ve acutally been trying to follow latey. lol, especially the part about writing “informally”.
- I just started reading Blogussion pretty recently. Early in the week they put out a summary post that tied together a series they’d been doing on How to Blog with your Users in Mind. This is subject I’ve been thinking about a lot myself lately; and looking back, this post probably somewhat influenced/inspired my little rant about Why Do You Blog?.
- Speaking of subjects I’ve been thinking about lately. Sy over at Hospitalera’s Blog shared her ideas on The Best Use of Blog Ad Space. I won’t speak for her, but my impression is that she’s of pretty much the same mind as me when it comes to advertising … “less” can actually be “more” if you do it right.
- Ok, so an SEO Wizz writes a post about how Social Media is Overrated, and how your time could be spent more productively on other activities. Think it might be worth investigating?
- Sticking with the Social Media theme, Make Money Dyanamo shares some universal Thruths about Twitter Marketing that you you can learn without having to pay $27 for some “gurus” ebook.
- The easy winner for this week’s most interesting blog post title (even though apparently it was rejected by Facebook as “too offensive:) is definitely Erica Douglass with Top 10 Signs You May Be a Social Media Douchebag. The title says it all … don’t be “that guy” (or girl).
- This looks like a good place to slip in a couple of links not about blogs or marketing. The first is my friend Lin from Tellin it Like it Is who recently quit smoking and has shared several recent posts that may help others who are looking to kick the habit. The latest entry is What Happens To Your Body When You Quit Smoking Cigarettes.
- Why go to Google and do a search the next time you need a cute little picture to use in your sidebar, when Vandelay Design has a whole gallery of free and premium icons called Icon Fever where you seek out the perfect twitter bird or RSS button.
- Sire’s post actually brought to my attention a blogger I’d never heard of (even though he’s apparently pretty successful) … David Risely. This appears to something of a hybrid teaching/personal blog (kind of the vision I actually have for this site in the future). There are plenty of useful “how to” type articles, as well as pictures and stories about David’s family (cute little girl). The post that I shared this week was written by one of David’s students about how he blogged his way to 1000 visitors on his Daily Shot of Coffee site.
- If we follow Mike’s advice above, and get those thousand visitors, what are we going to do with them? Josh comes to the rescue with a post about how toIncrease Your Marketing ROI by Building a Community.
- And then Naomi reminds us about the importance of Loving Our Customers … of course in the form of an entertaining story, sprinkled with the obligatory couple of F bombs, I’ve come to expect when reading anything on IttyBiz.
- Finally, last but not least, for the past week or so, I’ve been having comment discussions with Sire, Mitch, Heather and a few others, about the “best” way to monetize. An explanation about what I consider to be the “best” long-term solution to this problem, came from somewhere that I might not have expected (but shouldn’t have been surprised about). Darren Rowse from Problogger wrote about The Importance of Having Your Own Product to Sell.
- … and as coincidental as it may seem, my friend Josh Spaulding (who must be a pretty persuasive marketer, because I’ve bought every ebook he’s ever written), just came out with a new one called Info Product Success Formula <<<---- Affiliate Link Alert !!! (should you choose to purchase the product through this link, I will earn a commission).
Ok, that’s what I’ve got for this week. Hope you enjoy.
Til next post … Keep havin FuN!
Todd
Hi Todd, thanks for the mention.
After reading your last post I took down most of my ads. Not because you came out and said, “What are you trying to do here? THINK woman, THINK!”, but because you made me think that. I’m not against trying to reel in some dough for my family, but considering the present state of my blog as mostly a personal one by me and for me, ads really make no sense. I may try my hand at some of the other writing sites like Cheryl Phillips does, or try crafting again, or selling patterns, we’ll see where it goes.
At this point I need to concentrate on honing my writing skills – learning how to be a better, more effective writer, and networking with those who interest me and make me think. I should be focusing less on monetization at this point (that doesn’t include SEO, which is always important) and more on self-improvement via persistence and good old-fashioned plugging away. I will have to consider the time spent as an investment, hopefully leading to some sort of writing career down the road. I will start small, and work my way up. Thanks for reminding me to avoid distractions and keep my eye on the golden ring.
Off to read “Social Media is Overrated” and the err… douchebag one. That word totally cracks me up. It’s very specific in describing a certain type of jerk. Love it. Have a good weekend!
Anyway, thanks for all the great links.
Heather Kephart´s last blog ..A Puppy, Not a Guppy Virtual Book Tour & Contest!
Twitter: whoistodd
Hi Heather,
I like your writing … especially the humor. And I’m glad you said I’m not “responsible” for you taking down most of your ads. Actually, I have nothing at all against ads … as long as we’re showing them to the “right people, at the right time”.
That being said, I think you already know that I’m 100% in agreement about making an investment now, with the plan of a bigger payoff in the future … lol, the “golden ring” … I like that.
I hope you have a great weekend too, and don’t let the move stuff stress you too much … one way or another, your family and (at least most of) your stuff will make it to Dallas; no matter how unprepared you think you are.
Hi Todd,
Gotta say you thanks for the great list. Copyblogger has been one of my favourite sites for sometime now and I would recommend it to everybody. Likey you say,y the article about the magnetic copy is great. I think even wrote a comment on that one…
Bloggeri @ Blog Guide´s last blog ..How to Speed Up Blog Load Time
Twitter: whoistodd
Hi Bloggeri,
lol, fortunately for copyblogger, they probably don’t actually “need” my recommendation … but, on the very slight chance that someone who reads my blog, might not have already seen that article yet, I thought it was worth sharing.
Hi Todd,
Thanks for the link! Enjoyed your roundup.
I’ll be writing more about creating my own product and selling it via my blog, as well. Should be an interesting 2010!
-Erica
Erica Douglass´s last blog ..Top 10 Signs You May Be a Social Media Douchebag
Hi Erica,
I just read your post “They’re All Going to Laugh At You”. Wow……… I am sooo subscribed.
See Todd? It’ll be your fault if I don’t have time to write posts anymore, cuz I’m too busy reading these other blogs. LOL!
Lin´s last blog ..Zhu Zhu Pets Toxic? Zhu Zhu Pets Investigation by CPSC for Antimony
Twitter: whoistodd
Hi Lin,
LOL, that is the general idea …
Not to make you read so much that you don’t have time to write. That would be bad. But, if I’m actually “introducing” my current friends to potential new friends that they haven’t met yet, then these link posts are already a rousing success!
Twitter: whoistodd
Hi Erica,
Thanks for dropping in … and thank you for writing fun articles that are worth linking to
I too am looking forward to 2010 … hopefully a prosperous year for all of us.
Twitter: hospitalera
Thanks for the mention Todd! My idea of “less is more” when it comes to blog ads is actually inspired by Lou What-ever-his-name-again from zenhabits. By the look of your blog, you follow the same “zen habit”, perhaps we should call it “blog feng-shui” = how to design your blog to attract business, SY
hospitalera´s last blog ..How not to win a SEO contest
Twitter: whoistodd
lol, blog feng-shui … I like it.
I do like the nice simple look … and I hate, hate hate, flashy banner ads (even though I have to admit they probably still work on some people). That being said, it’s kind of easy to be simple on a blog like this; who’s purpose is mainly for me to rant, share, and hopefully meet some cool new people.
I’m not opposed to throwing a relevant link or two in my posts, but in all honestly, I don’t even care whether or not anybody buys. This blog is about “the long game”. Over time, creating a few good solid relationships with like minded people, will be much more valuable than any affiliate commissions I might be able to earn.
… and besides, I’ve got other blogs/websites that Do make money from advertising. But for the most part, I only want you to see those sites if you arrive via a search engine … and once you’re there, I really don’t care whether you bother to leave a comment or not
Twitter: hospitalera
Todd, we are more similar then you think: “creating a few good solid relationships with like minded people, will be much more valuable than any affiliate commissions I might be able to earn” Yes!
“I only want you to see those sites if you arrive via a search engine” Double yes!
SY
hospitalera´s last blog ..How not to win a SEO contest
Your right Todd, that wasn’t my intention at all. I was actually quite surprise by the stir it caused. Strange that I wasn’t notified of this post, not even a trackback, lucky you left a comment on my blog, and commentluv did the rest.
It’s good that you share the good stuff mate, and it’s obvious that you spend a lot of time on the net gathering this stuff, time that I’m sure David would tell you is better spent making money
Still, you are providing a service, and once people realize this, that can only be a good thing. Knowing you, I’m sure you’re also leaving quality comments at all of those sites and that is a great form of marketing.
Sire´s last blog ..Update On Probloggers And Commenting
I found the controversy with Sire and Risley and the like recently too. It seems as if the “A-listers” who preach the value of social media, have somehow forgotten the very basic premise of it, and that is being social on their own blogs.
Funny how these guys love to talk on Twitter (a platform they don’t own) but won’t take the time to converse with their communities in the spaces (their blog) they took so much time to build.
AL
Allyn´s last blog ..Boddington’s Pub Ale Review, English Ale
Somehow I totally missed the pingback. Thanks for the props and nice collection. I am all over the Daily Shot right now, I love coffee.
The Real Josh´s last blog ..Step by Step Guide on How to Make Money With Twitter