WordPress is the software that this blog runs on.  It is free, although you need a web host to run it.

While I tell people all the time that they can do 90% of what they want in wordpress themselves, many people still have trouble.

The good news is WordPress just launched WordPress.TV which has tutorials.

This kind of public video is increasingly important for you to make complex sales.  For example, look at WordPress Wishlist.  I would have not bought the software had they not had the video tutorials on the right side  I bought it because I was confident it would solve my problem after watching every video.

I like the software so much, I launched a whole new website dedicated to helping people build membership sites with the same low-cost membership website software tools I use.

WordPress is an Open Source Blog Package.  I write about it occasionally, but really should more often.  I spend a lot of time playing with WordPress, customizing it, setting it up, etc.

One challenge is always to find good Free WordPress Themes.

WordPress Themes are a package of templates, images and style sheets that you upload to a specific folder and unzip.  Then you can activate it and customize it via the admin interface of WordPress.

So via Twitter I found this Free WordPress Theme called Apollo today – please note that I have not installed it yet, but is looks very clean and nice.  I am looking forward to giving it a try.  Go look at all the great layouts and they even provide a bunch of generic logos.

I have paid for good themes in the past.  I do not mind doing that, but with more and more quality free themes coming out, the days of paying for a theme seem numbered.

Blog Blazers is a new book by Stephane Grenier, although he wrote few of the actual words.

Instead, he went out and interviewed 40 top bloggers and assembled their interviews into a book.

If you are looking for the one secret that will take your blog to the next level, it might be in there, but it will not be crystal clear.

I find this book fascinating because of the diversity of the answers.  One blogger will say adwords does not work, another says he makes $20,000 per month from Google Adwords.  Some say the headline of a blog is important, while others stress the content.

Sure, there are some things they all seem to agree on – good writing is fairly obvious.  But it is in the areas that these bloggers differ that I find more interesting.  And it shows how diverse the topic is.

If you are thinking about blogging, you are blogging but no one is reading it or if you want to rethink your blogging strategy, you should pick this book up.  No, it does not give you a clear blue print, but it is a feast of information to think about and find the pieces that apply to you.

Here is a list of the successful bloggers interviewed in Blog Blazers

1. Aaron Wall – SEO Book
2. Abdylas Tynyshov – AdesBlog.com
3. Al Carlton – Coolest-Gadgets.com
4. Alex Papadimoulis – The Daily WTF
5. Andy Brice – Successful Software
6. Anita Campbell – Small Business Trends
7. Asha Dornfesh – Parent Hacks
8. Ben Casnocha – My Startup Life
9. Benjamin Yoskovitz – Instigator Blog
10. Bob Walsh – 47 Hats
11. Dan Lyons – The Secret Diaries of Steve Jobs
12. Dane Carlson – Business Opportunities Weblog
13. David Armano – Logic + Emotion
14. David Seah – David Seah
15. Derek Semmler – Derek Semmler
16. Dharmesh Shaw – On Startups: A Community for Entrepreneurs
17. Eric Sink – Erik.Weblog()
18. Ian Landsman – UserScape
19. James & Alex – Google SightSeeing
20. J.D. Roth – Get Rich Slowly
21. Jeff Atwood – Coding Horror
22. Jeff Clavier – Jeff Clavier’s Software Only
23. Jennette Fulda – Half of Me
24. Jennifer Perry – 101 Reasons I Hate Being Fat
25. Jessamyn West – Librarian.net
26. Joel Cheesman – Cheezhead
27. Jonathan Snook – Snook.ca
28. Manolo Blahnik – Manolo’s Shoe Blog
29. Neil Patel – Quick Sprout
30. Pamela Slim – Escape from Cubicle Nation
31. Patrick McKenzie – MicroISV on a Showstring
32. Penelope Trunk – Brazen Careerist
33. Ramit Sethi – I Will Teach You To Be Rich
34. Rob Walling – Software By Rob
35. Rohin Bhargava – Influential Marketing Blog
36. Seth Godin – Seth Godin
37. Stephane Grenier – Follow Steph
38. Steve Rubel – Micro Persuasion
39. Trent Hamm – The Simple Dollar
40. Yaro Starak – Entrepreneur’s Journey

You may want to bookmark this page and come back after you by the book, Blog Blazers, to check out each blog quickly after reading the interviews.  Combining the interview and the blog visit is very insightful.

Blogs are a great way to Demonstrate Your Knowledge.

In fact, outside of becoming a regular guest on big TV shows and writing columns in a newspaper, I would say that it is the next best way.  And the blog can certainly land you those kinds of opportunities in the future.

Many people think they have to come up with new, creative articles for their blog every day.  Instead, you have to remember that the people that are reading your blog probably know less than you and are looking for insight into your topic.  All you need to do is demonstrate your knowledge on the topic by writing good, informative posts about thing you already know.  You may even find it a bit boring, but your readers will not.

By demonstrating your knowledge in a clear, professional manner, you will be building your visibility and personal brand.  The result will eventually be:

• Sales
• Invitations to speak
• Partnerships
• Job Offers
• Other writing opportunities
• And many other things

There are a huge number of opportunities to build your personal brand online.  However, if you want to build expert status, a blog is the best way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise, coupled with email integration. (You want to build your list as well as build blog traffic)

Don’t get hung up on writing.  Just look around at what you are currently doing and write about it for someone that has never done that before.  Your blog will be packed full of valuable information in no time.  To demonstrate your knowledge you only have to be consistent writing the things you already know.

I just wrote a post over on the Virtual Buzz Assistant blog called Internet Marketing Assistant.

It is very relevant to this group as well and includes a link to John Cow, where they are discussing the virtues of using oDesk to hire virtual assistants – and the challenges that it poses.

Go take a look

The new social media platform Twitter has taken many bloggers by storm. We’ve found a lot of practical ways to use it, like for note-taking, time management, and setting up meetings. However, we’ve also found out that you can maximize its use for your business. Imagine, a free micro-blogging website doing wonders for your business. Not bad, eh?

Believe it or not, there are already plenty of companies who use Twitter in their business. For example, Cisco Systems and Whole Foods Market use Twitter to provide product or service information. You can also do the same for your business. If you have a new product that you’re about to launch in the market, you would want people to get excited about it. So, satisfy your customers’ cravings by letting them know what your product is about and when it’s going to be available. This is the modern way of spreading the news, so give it a shot!

You may also use Twitter for emergencies. In fact, the Los Angeles Fire Department used this technology during the California wildfires in October 2007. In the workplace, you will also experience emergency situations that need to be blasted to the right people immediately. Say you have a presentation with a client but the file on your thumb drive becomes corrupted ten minutes before the presentation, you would need somebody to send you a backup file ASAP, right? Through your mobile phone, you can blast a message to your team and let them know that you need a backup file sent to your email ASAP. That one simple message will be immediately sent to those who are subscribed to you or your group. One message sent to the rest of the team. No need to whip up your phone and make phone calls. No need to show your panic to your clients.

There’s a daily deal store called Woot that used Twitter to provide their customers and potential clients with snippets of information about their latest deals. You can actually do the same for your company. Is your company planning a big sale? Or will there be a conference or event where you want to invite potential customers? Blast it in Twitter and get their responses! You’ll be amazed by the replies that you will get, because some users might even give you an idea on how to make your product better.

Know what your customers want through Twitter. When you create a product, of course you want to make something that people would buy. And what else should help you figure out what your customers want? By asking them! A simple question that’s easy to answer should do the trick. For example, how much are you willing to spend for a career coaching session? That way, you’ll gain an alternative perspective of what people really want to spend their money on.

Finally, another great way to use Twitter is during your brainstorming with your team. Remember that you can opt to send a message to a particular group privately by using the direct message function. If you’re in the middle of your product development phase and an idea or concept pops in your mind, you can easily “tweet” this idea to the rest of the group so they can begin testing or analyzing its feasibility.

There are many other prominent uses of Twitter, these are just some of them. You can use Twitter as a business advantage. It’s free, convenient, and easy to use. Maximize the use of this free service today!

Guest Post By:

Maria Elena Duron, CEO, Buzz to Bucks, helps you build compelling connections through career upgrades, business growth and increased influence. Re-Invent, Re-Brand, and Re-Design YOU!

Buzz to Bucks provides online profile management services, social management and reputation management – helping key employees to establish higher visibility and provide consistency in branding as well as establishing the expertise in their industry for entrepreneurs.  Maria Elena Duron focuses on building visibility and a broader network for busy people who just don’t have the time to do it well.

Maria Elena Duron is Chief Buzz Agent™ and Inspiring Identity Coach with Buzz to Bucks Connections.  The agency focuses on visibility, credibility and profitability for individuals, professionals and small businesses with programs designed to Re-Invent, Rejuvenate and Re-Brand. To claim your FREE gift, Crafting Your On Brand Intro Toolkit, visit her site www.buzz2bucks.com . Join our online growing community of people inspired to develop their identity at www.inspiringidentity.com

Due to some family issues I will be taking a little time off.  Just letting you all know that I have not abandoned the blog. 

I already have some new fodder for some posts that will be interesting, but you are just going to have to stop back.

Thanks,

Ron

PS:  Ever wanted to do a guest post on this blog, this would be a good time.  Just email me a marketing article that you would like to post and as long as it is not too salesy, I will be happy to post it.

This weekend two very nice things happended.

#1 We went from Google Page Rank 5 to Google Page Rank 7

#2 I moved the wordpress blog to a new server with upgrades of all the software.

You are probably looking at it and thinking nothing has changed, but from my end a lot has.

I know one truth about financial advisers. They have extremely strict rules on what they publish.

I have had many Financial Advisers call and want to hire us, and they always ask what we would recommend for the issue around the strict rules of approval. Publishing one blog post could take 6 months to get approved.

This got me thinking. I understand that the financial sector was regulating what their associates could say for what they thought were good reasons.

But maybe if they did not have the restrictions more people could have had an honest opinion. Maybe people working in the same company would have had differing opinions on what was going on. And maybe some of those people would have been smart enough to publically question the practices that have lead to these problems.

Then again, maybe many of them were just jumping on the easy money bandwagon and they would not have even though twice about it.

No, this is not a post about a blog that tells you how to dress.

I actually was helping someone roll out a new blog and they wanted to post a lot of promotional things. They could not quickly grasp that the blog posts should be more conversational and less promotional, yet never forgetting that there was a goal.

Then I used the analogy that websites are formal business attire, and blogs are business casual.

She got it right away.

Business Casual in the land of blogs means:

1. Letting people get to know you without disclosing your party behavior.
2. Talking about topics without selling.
3. Creating a give and take, less formal way to communicate.
4. Putting a face on the stogy business identity.
5. Showing real people’s success are behind the business.

Your business blog should be business casual to be effective.