All Keyed Up
By bstewart • Sep 9th, 2009 • Category: Cover Stories|
Not only do they post clever content and marvelous musings, they wield virtual power at their fingertips — and use it for good. Plus, these keyboard kings and queens include the “first family” of Utah Valley’s blogosphere — Phil Windley, Paul Allen and Kelly King Anderson. “I started blogging because of you,” Allen said to Windley at our August photo shoot. “And I started blogging because of you,” Anderson said to Allen. To which Windley concluded: “So that makes you my blogging granddaughter!” Talk about a blog roll. WINDLEY’S TECHNOMETRIA Why did you start the blog? In 2001, I attended a conference where Dan Bricklin, the inventor of the spreadsheet, was the keynote speaker. The first thing he did when he stood up was take a picture of the audience and say, “This will be on my blog later today.” That was the first time I had heard the word “blog,” and I immediately went out to his Web site to see what he was talking about. I was fascinated, and even went so far as to buy the same software Dan was using (which wasn’t well suited for the purpose) to give blogging a try; but I couldn’t figure out what to write about and I didn’t understand why anyone would want to read it. So, after one entry, I stopped. Fast forward to May 2002. I’m the CIO for the State of Utah and looking for a way to better communicate my thoughts on eGovernment with citizens and my ideas about IT to employees of the state. I was reading an article by Jon Udell where he mentioned his blog. This time, I immediately saw the utility and understood what to write about — my work. I started my blog and even bought 100 licenses to Radio, an early blogging tool, and gave them to anyone else who worked for the State of Utah and wanted to start a blog. I love the idea of people narrating their work. Why do you keep blogging? As I get older, it’s the only way I can remember what I was thinking about and working on last month. That may sound flip, but it’s the truth. I blog for me. It’s a selfish act that hopefully has some utility for others. I’ve met hundreds — maybe thousands — of people because of my blog. I go to conferences and run into people who I’ve never met in person, but nevertheless know well, because we read each other’s blogs. I know more people and have a richer life because of my blog. Finally, I blog because it’s a good way to make money. I’ve never made a dime on my blog, but I’ve made quite a bit of money because of it. There was a few years when I was mostly consulting, and my blog was a great way for me to meet and engage new clients. Now that I’m CTO of a startup, Kynetx, my blog is a great way to tell people what we’re doing. Favorite comments you’ve received on your blog? The ones that teach me something and lead my thinking in new directions. Key to a reader-friendly blog? Don’t put ads in my face. Be interesting and write well. Biggest mistake bloggers make? Thinking it’s a place to put press releases. Send press releases to the press — not your customers. Blogs need to have a human voice and be interesting. STARTUP PRINCESS Blogger Kelly King Anderson —”The Princess” Blog Focus A networking and educational forum for women entrepreneurs Blogging Since July 2006 Why did you start the blog? I wanted to reach out to other women entrepreneurs and learn how they were balancing life, family and startup. At the time I had a new baby and two other young children and wanted to launch a startup (which I had won recognition for at national business plan competitions), yet I was seriously struggling to raise funds for it. I wanted to create my dream business but didn’t know what to do next. Then I went to a brainstorm lunch with Paul Allen and other entrepreneurs in startups. Paul talked about the power of blogging for marketing purposes and I was intrigued, so that night I read his blog and was inspired. I wanted to write about my experience as a first-time entrepreneur and share with other women in the startup phase, and I hoped somehow we could help each other succeed. As I started thinking about the blog and what it could be, I had the idea to develop the concept into an organization rather than just an online resource/blog. And then the name came, which has since become our magic … StartupPrincess.com. Why do you keep blogging? We have momentum now, so that helps! We have a wonderful, tight community that I love serving and sharing insights with. How do you come up with post ideas? After two years of blogging, I started to learn about having guest bloggers — and I’ve never looked back. I love our team of 30 Fairy Godmothers who write for us and share their expertise. Now I get to write when I feel passionate about a topic or motivated by a presentation, book, concept or resource I want to share. Favorite post? My favorite post was my very first one because I didn’t know what I was doing and it was such a moment of joy and fear all wrapped up in one when I hit “publish” and shared it with the world. I’ll never forget that moment. Best comment you’ve ever received on your blog? I wrote a post last Fall called “How to Get Someone To Review Your Book,” and I mentioned that people like Seth Godin or Guy Kawasaki don’t have to ask top bloggers to review their books, but for the rest of us we need a strategy to know how to properly approach bloggers. Shortly thereafter, I received a comment from Guy (who must have been notified from his Google Alerts) requesting I review his next book, “Reality Check.”Very smooth and endearing. Favorite blogger? If I had to pick one that would be tough. I always read Courtney Kendrick’s blog, blog.cjanerun.com, and her sister Stephanie Nielson’s, www.nieniedialogues.com. But for business-related topics/inspiration, I love Seth Godin and ZenHabits.net. Key to a reader-friendly blog? Great headlines, interesting images, bullet points in posts, clean design, a friendly image of the author and a clear niche. Advice to bloggers? Answer your readers’ e-mails or questions. Your readers want to be heard — they hear you. Don’t hire someone to write your blog for you (or to do your updates in social media). The point of blogging is to share one’s voice, to be authentic, and to encourage and foster a community. If you need to hire someone to work with you in your blog, then share the space together and give them recognition as a blogger for your company. SHMULA Blog Focus Technology, business and operations Why did you start the blog? I needed an outlet for my overly-busy mind, so I started the blog as a hobby. Why do you keep blogging? My mind remains quite busy, and I haven’t found a better outlet than blogging. How do you come up with post ideas? Lean and design thinking principles can be applied in any situation — my ideas come from everyday experiences. Best comments you’ve received on your blog? The mean comments — I learn from them the most. Number of blogs you follow? Less than 10. Favorite blogger? My wife — www.angieabillablog.blogspot.com. Keys to a reader-friendly blog? Be interesting, accessible and help the reader quickly apply the concepts in order for them to be successful. Biggest mistake bloggers make? Businesses sometimes view blogs as another public relations channel, when they are clearly not. PR is asymmetric communication; blogging and other social media are symmetric — a conversation. Unless a business is ready to speak with their customers, businesses shouldn’t blog, use Twitter or Facebook. PAUL ALLEN Blog Focus An Internet marketing blog with splashes of religion and politics Why did you start the blog? I was inspired by Phil Windley. Why do you keep blogging? 1) It creates conversations with readers who make me smarter, because they often know more than I do. 2) It creates transparency about who I am and what I think, which leads to trust from people I do business with. 3) It generates business opportunities as like-minded people find my blog and contact me about working together. 4) It is the best recruiting tool we have. 5) Forcing myself to write makes me think more clearly about important topics. How do you come up with post ideas? I have them all the time while reading or having conversations. I write them into a memo on my Blackberry whenever they pop into my head, and then I review them later. I usually have 10 ideas for every one that I actually write about. Favorite post? May 2007, the day of the launch of Facebook Platform. I wrote for about two hours on how Facebook was going to be the largest social network in the world. I got more readers on this post than any other as well as a link from Marc Andreessen, who founded Netscape and more recently founded and funded Ning.com. He’s a Silicon Valley legend, and it was amazing that he read my post and linked to it from his blog. Number of blogs you follow? I subscribe to 110 blogs, and I actually pay to get three important blogs delivered wirelessly to my Amazon Kindle every day, even though they are free online. Favorite blogger? Fred Wilson from A VC and Nick O’Neill from Inside Facebook. Key to a reader-friendly blog? Stay on topic, which is something I don’t do, because I cover too many personal interests on my blog. I ought to split it into three or four topical blogs, but I don’t write enough to justify doing that. So I ought to categorize my posts better. My readers about Internet entrepreneurship probably don’t care about my political or religious posts. Biggest mistake bloggers make? Boring. Corp-speak. Not from a real person. GIVE AWAY TODAY Blogger Emily Cushing — “The Giver” Blog Focus Highlights local companies by hosting daily giveaways Why did you start the blog? I liked visiting a popular site, which hosted giveaways every now and then. One day while visiting this site I thought to myself, “It would be cool if there was a site that gave something away every single weekday. You would check the blog each day to discover the new giveaway item, receive a discount from the featured company and see if you were the previous day’s winner.” I started sending e-mails to companies and wah-lah! Give Away Today was born. Why do you keep blogging? I love discovering new products and sharing them with the readers of Give Away Today. I also enjoy working with the companies I feature. It’s rewarding when I feature a company and they sell out of a certain item or the total visitors to their shoppe triples the day they are on my site. And of course, I love the readers of Give Away Today and all of their great comments. How do you come up with post ideas? My posts coincide with the product or the company that is being featured that day. With each company I feature, I work hard to write a post that will show their products in a way that will be appealing to the readers of Give Away Today. Favorite post? One of my favorite posts was about Hand Picked Daisy — it is a local company that makes cute journals. In the post I explained how each night before going to bed, I write my five favorite things that happened to me that day in my journal. I asked the readers of Give Away Today to share in the comments section their five favorite things that happened to them that day. The responses were really positive and fun to read. My sister later told me that her friend ordered some journals and gave one to her mother-in-law, who has terminal cancer. She asked her mother-in-law to do the “Five Favorite Things” journaling method. I was happy to know that a simple idea I shared was adopted by someone else. Favorite Comment? I often ask the readers of Give Away Today to answer questions about themselves. Their answers are my favorite comments to read. Some answers that have made me laugh were when readers shared their most embarrassing moments, bad clothing and hairstyles they’ve worn in the past, and the one beauty product they would want if they were stranded on a deserted island with a really hot guy. Favorite blogger? Why CJane and NieNie, of course. I also love The Pioneer Woman. So witty, so real, so well-written. What makes for a reader-friendly blog? A blog that is so witty, so real, so well-written. Biggest mistake bloggers make? Businesses need to make sure their overall blog design and the images of their products are of high-quality and appealing to the readers. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MAGAZINE ONLINE Share |
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