I went to the second meeting of the Akron Bloggers Group and met some great people.  Also had some nice conversation about blogging.  I think this is my favorite type of group to go to – I meet genuinely interesting people and no one tries to sell me anything.  Ahhh

Read what Stephen Hopson had to say at Adversity University.

From left to right (top to bottom):  Ron McDaniel (Buzzoodle), Stephen Hopson (who?), Deborah Chaddock Brown (Bizinformer), Ivana S. Taylor (Strategy Stew), Mark Pinto (Mark Pinto Group), Deb Estep (Deb_Inside), Patti Renner (Copywriter) and Chris Brown (Branding & Marketing Blog).  (Not in photo – Ron Finklestein).

We made the list!  Business opportunities and ideas published a list of the top 100 business blogs and we are in the 50′s.  I will take that.

[10/27/2007 Correction - Top Business Blogs, not marketing - I have marketing on the brain!]

Chris Brown had the great idea to post the list herself and challenge the rest of us to do it.

So here is the list – and congratulations to everyone that made this great list.

The blogs are listed in order of their Technorati rankings (T), their Alexa rankings (A) are show as well. The rankings are correct at the time of posting.

1. Copy Blogger T: 36 A: 7,825
2. Seth Godin T: 47 A: 10,314
3. MicroPersuasion T: 169 A: 33,643
4. How To Change The World T: 180 A: 14,709
5. Freelance Switch T: 312 A: 10,638
6. A VC T: 1,226 A: 27,737
7. Rough Type T: 1,253 A: 69,429
8. Successful Blog T: 1,432 A: 44,935
9. Small Business Canada T: 1,517 A: N/A
10. David Allen, Getting Things Done T: 1,549 A: 53,592
11. Springwise T: 1,913 A: 23,858
12. Small Biz Trends T: 2,155 A: 63,364
13. Fast Company T: 2,310 A: 12,141
14. Instigator Blog T: 2,477 A: 58,816
15. Occam’s Razor T: 2,548 A: 45,541
16. Smart Wealthy Rich T: 2,879 A: 79,415
17. eMoms At Home T: 3,443 A: 27,125
18. Escape from Cubicle Nation T: 3,467 A: 202,751
19. The Marketing Technology Blog T: 3,496 A: 47,038
20. Business Pundit T: 3,724 A: 114,669
21. The Engaging Brand T: 4,404 A: 433,644
22. Influential Marketing Blog T: 4,779 A: 98,886
23. Drew McLellan – The Marketing Minute T: 4,820 A: 129,669
24. The Digerati Life T: 4,873 A: 53,353
25. Success From The Nest T: 4,908 A: 95,008
26. Business Blog Consulting T: 5,186 A:237,901
27. Church Of The Customer T: 5,576 A: 250,201
28. Todd And T: 5,643 A: 161, 019
29. Net Business Blog T: 5,936 A: 36,107
30. Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing T: 6,583 A: 92,784
31. Bootstrapper T: 7,497 A: 50,304
32. About.com Entrepreneurs T: 7,797 A: N/A
33. Blogtrepreneur T: 7,897 A: 53,011
34. Branding & Marketing T: 8,200 A: 710,326
35. Duct Tape Marketing T: 8,985 A: 31,714
36. Simplenomics T: 10,252 A:288,753
37. Freelance Folder T: 10,543 A: 63,590
38. Business Opportunities Weblog T: 11,018 A: 16,213
39. HELLO, My Name Is Blog T: 11,395 A: 422,218
40. Self Made Minds T: 11,704 A: 39,719
41. Sox First T: 12,894 A: 994,161
42. Young Go Getter T: 14,239 A: 45,373
43. Trust Matters T: 15,462 A: 58,403
44. Small Biz Survival T: A: 18,074 A: 875,069
45. The Personal MBA T: 19,207 A: 142,649
46. The Entrepreneurial Mind T: 21,958, A: 155,166
47. Blog Business World T: 23,025 A: 252,405
48. Working At Home On The Internet T: 23,247 A: 423,900
49. Biz Informer T: 24,631 A: 904,745
50. EmpowerWomenNow T: 25,837 A: 117,085
51. Biz Plan Hacks T: 27,048 A: 1,335,732
52. CreateBusinessGrowth T: 32,949 A:197,290
53. Business Opportunities and Ideas T: 33,205 A: 282,805
54. The KISS Business T: 35,496 A: 621,082
55. Startup Spark T: 35,747 A: 386,949
56. Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing Blog T: 41,092 A: 467,418
57. MindPetals T: 41,714 A: 128,487
58. Marketing Deviant T: 43,764 A: 281,072
59. Go Big Network T: 44,842 A: 25,303
60. Cool Business Ideas T: 49,679 A: 187,126
61. Neville’s Financial Blog T: 52,048 A: 140,296
62. Atlantic Canada’s Small Business Blog :T 52,589 A: 795,253
63. College Startup T: 53,143 A: 184,398
64. Reflections Of A Biz Driven Life T: 79,365 A: 361,398
65. Branding Blog T: 93,462 A: 1,110,518
66. Carnival Of The Capitalists T: 93,462 A: 1,897,375
67. Young Entrepreneur T: 104,933 A: 26,491
68. Marketing Genius T: 132,066 A: 2,222,119
69. Better For Business T: 137,774 A: 590,797
70. The Small Business Blog T: 140,824 A: 577,490
71. Focused Mind T: 162,356 A: 520,971
72. Small Business Tips T: 166,367 A: 74,005
73. Lifes Perspective T: 194,358 A: 179,801
74. Business Opportunities Blog T: 199,700 A: 832,678
75. The Savvy Entrepreneur T: 224,227 A: 391,147
76. Egg Marketing Blog T: 231,062 A: 740,867
77. The Franchise King Blog T: 273,240 A: 520,732
78. Small Business Entrepreneur T: 317,977 A: 883,094
79. The Great Startup Game T: 331,293 A: 421,492
80. Work At Home Start Up Guide T: 345,597 A: 1,190,178
81. Dorm Room Biz T: 360,865 A: 957,072
82. Startup Blog T: 377,609 A: 2,552,189
83. Open Inovators T: 395,824 A: 1,230,257
84. Get Entrepreneurial T: 437,475 A: 446,085
85. Bplans Blog T: 437,475 A: 1,373,525
86. Stuff4Restaurants T: 461,534 A: 298,982
87. Canadian Entrepreneur T: 484,461 A: 237,901
88. Strategize T: 487,964 A: 2,856,731
89. The Marketing Spot T: 587,893 A: 2,550,840
90. The Ravings Of A Mad Entrepreneurial Scientist T: 587,893 A: 566,836
91. More Than We Know T: 871,446 A: 2,964,420
92. Solo Entrepreneur T: 1,212,405 A: 471,491
93. Stuff4Business T: 1,391,575 A: 298,982
94. Consultant Journal T: 4,262,598 A: 667,342
95. Startup Addict Musings T: 4,446,976 A: 1,03390,690
96. Edith Yeung T: 8,911,336 A: 125,290
97. Boostrap Me T: 8,911,336 A: 550,348
98. The Selling Sherpa T: Not Listed A: 772,292
99. BizzBangBuzz T: Not Listed A: 1,484,797
100. The Freestyle Entrepreneur T: Not Listed A: 1,519,518

John defines a Business blog as “one that provides business ideas, advice, commentary or feedback on business in general.” He’s excluded sites that he feels are primarily a news based site or that is merely posting content from other sources and sites that are too new or have not been updated for over a month.

If you think he’s left an important blog out then contact him with a reason and he’ll consider making the changes.

How do you get 100′s of comments on your blog in one day?

Start an award and spend years giving it out.  Then invite all the winners to your birthday party.  See the SOB Blog

Matt Heinz is a marketer in Seattle and he follows this blog.  He is one of those people I have gotten to know because of the buzzoodle blog, which makes the effort very worth while.

 He just published an article on iMedia Connection called Create Brand Buzz in Force.

 He mentions me on the third page and I want to say thanks to him and point you all to his excellent marketing blog and the article.

By the way, did I mention he lives in Seattle?  I did at one time, and I am insanely jealous because I miss the mountains and the west coast.

Creating buzz with your workforce is a radical idea that many people bulk at.  This post is even more radical, and you should not read this post unless you are capable of thinking beyond the entire concept of employer/employee.

If you have a good job, you probably have a 401K or some other type of retirement plan.  You may have financial training and services available to you.  You may even belong to an investment club with people from work.

This is great.  You invest money and it usually grows and eventually you have enough to retire and stop working.

Don’t you think it is odd that your employer ever wants you to stop working?  What is in it for them?  They lose your many years of experience and get nothing in return other than the hassle of hiring some green employee and training them, and crossing their figures that they are 10% as good as you were.

New Retirement

The fact is, retirement is not in the best interest of the business, other than an argument being made that new blood and new ideas keeps the business growing.  It is a perk that is expected by employees and businesses have grown used to the idea.

So if a business is going to consider asking every employee to create some buzz, why not add the training and skills to generate online reoccurring revenue to the mix.  Think of it as an addition to your other retirement plans.

People are already doing this on the side anyway.  Why not help them get there?  Why not provide the stability of a regular paycheck along with the training and knowledge of buzz and online income?  Wouldn’t an employee be that much more loyal to an organization that has helped them build an extra $500 monthly residual income (Essentially a free car)?

And employers can do a lot to help ensure that most of these people are more likely to stay vs. more likely to see an opportunity to leave. 

Here are some ideas on what organizations can do:

• Hosts the websites, blogs, etc.  Employee gets it free, but cannot take it with them
• Pay for regular classes, newsletters, resources
• Honor and recognize monthly best buzz creator
• Form an after-hours online revenue group
• Pay for editors to help put together great eBooks, books, etc.
• Provide access to legal resources

This is a much bigger win for the business than typical retirement.  It is like getting free advertising in the 401K.  The entire time an employee works building their online visibility, expertise or business, the employer can set some - very un-intrusive - requirements.  Things like sponsor links, access to audience for special announcements, etc.

I strongly believe that as we live more and more of our life online, the physical location we are at will matter less and less.  So we will be interacting personally at work, and doing work tasks outside of normal locations and times.  Instead of seeing this as an intrusion, why not build a win/win for everyone and lets break down the barriers a bit.  Online Buzz - and how to monetize that - will give every employee the opportunity to secure faster and better financial independence.

I got an automated email from Amazon today saying based on my previous purchases, I may be interested in … Duct Tape Marketing.  See this image and read the review….

You would think that they would have some way to put in a 5-star comment instead of one that calls the book tepid and disappointing.  I already own the book, and I found it a very good marketing overview that would be a very good tool for any business owner trying to get the whole marketing picture.

Then I read this review and started thinking…. maybe I am wrong and the book is not that good.  Certainly marketing people do not benefit much from it….

The fact is, most reviews are written from the point of view of the reviewer, and do not consider what the target market is.  One bad review Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing got was from an advanced marketer that was disappointed the book was filled with easy things to do, even though that was exactly my intention.  Oh well.

The real point of this post is to keep an eye on all those automated things that are out there.  Your Linked In profile, reviews, blogs, etc.  You can’t always control them but at least keep an eye on them and make sure they put your best face forward.

Every day, especially Thursday, Friday and Saturdays, people get their hands stamped.  The creators of Handvertising are looking to turn that black splotch into an advertisement that stays with you and is in your face every time you raise your mug.

You can take a look at more samples at their website: http://www.handvertisingusa.com/

Where could you advertise that has not been thought of yet?

As of today I have a Blogrush widget on this blog.  (See lower right)

I would like to bring readers these kinds of things as quickly as possible when they come out.  Yet there is a problem – I like to test things before I tell people about them.

The problem comes in because when these things are new, they do perform well.  Over time, they usually die out and do not produce anything spectacular.  They just chug along, maybe providing steady traffic but not really changing your life.

So I am stuck with two choices -

1)  Tell you I have not tried it yet but it might be good

2) Try it and tell you how you missed out on a couple weeks of good traffic.

With that in mind, I will start talking about these things more – along the lines of #1.

Blogrush is interesting and I hope it succeeds.  They experienced a lot of growing pains in the beginning, which is also when I experienced the most traffic.  Now it seems steady but limited.  Blogrush lets you install that widget on your blog and you get “Credits” when it is displayed.  The credits are then spent displaying your posts.  You also get extra credits when you refer people.

They have done a very good job of updates, eliminating cheaters and communicating with customers.  The only thing that was said that rubbed my the wrong way was a comment about making sure the Blogrush widget was prominent.  Sorry guys, I am not building my blog around your widget, it will move up if the results blog me away.

Otherwise, if you are trying to increase traffic to your blog it is worth a try.  The better your blog titles, the better your results are going to be.

More toy recalls… does it really matter still?

I have an older child and a younger child.  With the first one, we spoiled her and spent a lot on toys every year.  One thing we learned from this is that more is actually bad.  She would usually like one or two things and the rest would rarely get touched.  The swamp of toys we had in the house, I believe, actually discouraged creativity because it became a blurry mess.

My goal now is to throw things away every week.  The bad buzz from the toy industry has made us ruthless when it comes to toys.  I don’t care who’s fault it is, toys are for suckers (said Ron McDaniel A.K.A. Herr Meisterburger)

So, what are some other alternatives this holiday season for little kids.

• A new car – Did you know if you invest $500 each year for your kid and earn 8%, at 16 they will have roughly $17,000?
• Video Games, Board Games, Puzzles
• Pottery Classes
• Martial Arts Classes
• Horseback riding lessons
• Books that they are likely to read more than once (Otherwise, Santa can bring library books)
• One toy they will really love – See, I am not pure evil.

My goal is to create great long-term skills, endulge interests and create fantastic memories, not a big present count under the tree.

Please use the comments area of this post to let everyone know how the bad toy buzz is effecting your buying habits this holiday season.

I am not going to tell you who yet, but last night I saw a CMO of a Fortune 50 company speak.  I was uncertain if I should wait in line after and ask to interview him for this blog.  There was a crowd and it took a while for me to get access, but I got up the nerve to ask him for an interview – thinking a few questions on the spot.

Instead, I got an invitation to corporate and access to the studio where I will be able to interview him and later add it to this blog.  Big companies understand and respect new media.  This guy goes to the Oscars and flies all over the world talking about his products.  Knowing we have a marketing blog that is above average in popularity gave me access to him.

It is going to be especially interesting because of the companies strong commitment to Employee Ambassadors.  We call them Employee Advocates and Employee Evangelists, but we were talking the same language.

Keep an eye out for his interview in the coming months.