Via CNN but from Oprah.com, an article that may seem targeted to day time talk shows but is just as important for those of us working during the day.

If you want to create buzz, you have to live large and have confidence.  If not in person, then through the web.  I found this article facinating and I challenge you to read it and find ways to bust past your own artificial barriers.

Lately I have been doing some testing with frequency and type of blog posts.  I have not come up with any definitive answers, but here are a list of things I have noticed so far.

• Blogging less frequently (2-3 times a week vs 6 times per week) does increase comments, but not a huge number.
• The same cutback does not reduce traffic as much as I expected.
• The top of your blog (before the first post) is a great place to make a sales pitch.
• Pillar articles – such as 99 Bottles of beer on the wall… have a long life and are worth the effort.
• A series, such as Do you have a living, breathing web presense, keeps people coming back.
• Poor spelling is sure to get an email or comment.
• Blogs produce much more traffic than regular websites but far fewer sales, probably due to the lack of focus on what you are selling and because of more diverse search engine traffic.

These are just some of the things I am noticing.  They may give you ideas on what you can do to increase your blogging effectiveness.

Some small businesses don’t care about developing leaders.  The owner is the leader and everyone else just tries not to piss him or her off.

Organizations that are serious about growing do need to develop key staff into leaders that can take on complex challenges and understand that their effort is measured by results, not hours worked.

 Don’t overlook obvious slackers as potential leaders.  Maybe they have not been inspired yet, or are just bored on the job.

One way people slack is wasting too much time on the computer. 

• News (Shark attacks surfer, critical news in Oklahoma….)
• Personal emails (Hi Honey…. do we have milk?)
• Celebrity Gossip (Britney Spears is losing kids!)
• Fantasy Football (I am still undefeated)
• ad infinitum (With billions of websites, you can find something to do!)

Now I want you to tell them to spend more time on the Internet.

That is right.  Pick one of those slackers and we are going to put them to the test.  Try to pick one that, had the Internet not been invented, might have amounted to something.

Now lets elevate them to a newly created leadership position: Employee Evangelist Coordinator.  Let me be clear on one thing first, we are not devising a clever trap for them.  We want them to step up and make an impact with the same kinds of skills that have been big time wasters in the past.

The responsibility of this person is to do the following:

Coordinate online evangelism with a team of employees that increases website traffic by 100% in 6 months without any dip in productivity.

Before you turn them loose, you will have them write a plan, write guidelines for what employees can and cannot say and test various approaches for performance.  Then they can choose a few people and put together a team that will have clear goals and guidelines.

Let them know exactly what you want to see each month, including ways they have increased productivity for the team so that more time can be spent being online evangelists.  Quarterly, have the team, lead by the slacker, I mean Employee Evangelist Coordinator, do a presentation to senior managers on the results.

If this works, you are going to have increased sales, increased visibility and new leadership skills developed with key staff members that were underperforming.  If it does not work, it has put the slacker on notice that they must report their online activity to you and show results, which will make them very uncomfortable.

Not sure how to get started?  This eBook has all the worksheets and tips you need, and a copy of Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing for each staff member will make it super clear.