On December 14th, Chris Brogan launched his new site design based on the Generate template from StudioPress.com. (Affiliate Link) Were you expecting fanfare, sirens and confetti?  You didn’t hear much except a tweet from Chris and Brian. But Chris’s new site design reinforces the difference between design and content.

The Debate

There was some Twitter chatter about how Chris and developer Brian Gardner of StudioPress were fine-tuning the call to action and minor CSS issues on the site in realtime.

@twohourblogger sounded:

@bgardner It’s hilarious that the designer is playing with the CSS on the fly like that. My clients would kill me if I did that.

To which Brian said:

@twohourblogger @socialtriggers It’s all about @chrisbrogan being laid back and understanding it’s easier to do it this way.

Yes, the thought of editing CSS live on a popular website may horrify web developers, but it was interesting to see just how transparent Chris was being with his site launch.

The Perfect Theme Design

Many people search for the perfect theme, endlessly installing, tweaking, then installing another theme trying to find the right theme to convey “professional but fun,” “passionate but soft” or some other kind of feeling through their design. I, myself, have installed countless StudioPress and free themes on this blog alone, each carefully customized then thrown away in a couple of months because something just doesn’t look right or professional enough.

Some people were shocked to find that Chris was allowing his theme to be turned into a template by StudioPress.  But in fact, according to Brian Gardner:

For what it’s worth, Chris wanted to have his new theme based on something he could sell.

And from Chris himself:

The theme before Generate was a bit more custom. I like that I’m using an “almost” off the shelf theme to good effect.

It’s All About The Content

Chris shows us not to be concerned with another blog having a similar design. The subtext of basing his site on a released theme is quite simple: “I’m using a modified theme. My blog may look like hundreds if not thousands of others.  It’s not the design, it’s the content.” (My words, not his.)

As you may notice, I have also switched to the “Generate” template, and am liking it so far.  I know I’m no Chris Brogan, and while everybody running the theme may be accused of “copying” Chris, each blogger has a unique voice.

While presentation is nice, YOU make your blog unique.

Send me one of your “techy” T-shirts, literature about your company, and I will blog about it and post a photo of myself wearing the shirt on my Flickr account with a link (thats 2 links) and maybe even podcast about it (3 links!). That will be at least a PR4 (used to be a 5) link from me to you, reciprocal link is not necessary. Again, this is for technology, Internet, web companies only please. Examples include Podshow, Viddler, etc.

Today, Jason from I Wear Your Shirt is on the Today show.

Good for him!

It would be easy for me to sit and whine about “But I thought of that first!”  Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. (He says he came up with the idea in 2005.)  But the undeniable fact is this:

He took action.

Those who take action are 100% more likely to accomplish a goal than those who don’t.   It’s true. The leading cause of  thousands of businesses never being successful is the inability to start.

Fear is a great un-motivator.  What if I fail?  What if I lose all my money?  What if my parents think I’m crazy.  What if my friends say its a stupid idea?

What if you never take a chance and DO it

As I was driving home from Minneapolis Sunday, something was going through my head. I had heard time and time again that “The bigger the chance, the bigger the payoff.”  As I was thinking about this, I passed a casino.  It is one of the smallest casinos in Iowa, and when I went in, finding a slot machine I liked was difficult. People say the slots are a waste of money, but I kept thinking, “the bigger the chance.”  I put $20 in and played all “lines” on the machine.  $20 gone in 10 seconds.  Another $20.  Same deal.  Finally, I realized what I had to do, I slipped the $100 I had into the machine, played all lines. First pull, nothing, second nothing, third… it wasn’t a jackpot, but I made the initial $40 and then enough for gas money for the road trip. I cashed out.

Risk Does Not Equal Money

Not all risks have to be monetary things, it can simply be stepping out of your comfort zone. In 2005 I had just published a book on acting, with an entire chapter dedicated to auditioning. The local community theater was havign auditions for “The Fantasticks” – a musical, and I thought about trying out.  Not because I wanted to, but because I thought “I wrote a book on acting – how hypocritical would it be to be scared of auditioning.  So I did it.  The next year I was on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, and then served 2 years as President.  I have seen a lot of great shows, met a lot of great people and have made a difference in a few people’s lives.  That’s my “big reward.”

Consequences of never starting

If you have an idea and never start it, you will always be on the lookout for someone who “stole your idea.”  It’s human nature.  In reality, for every new idea you think of, chances are somebody else thought of something similar.  What makes your idea unique is simple.  You! Never underestimate the unique value that you, yourself, bring to a seemingly simple idea.  The trick is taking that idea, making it yours, and doing it.

Otherwise, just sit back and tell your family and friends “I thought of that first!”  They are the only ones who will listen.

I bought his book at the Wiley booth, and at the end of the conference vowed to read it, “Get Seen” by Steve Garfield and “ATTENTION!” by Jim Kukral as quickly as I could. Well, things didn’t quite happen as I predicted and they sat unread on my shelf for almost a year, until this week.

I’m a skeptic. If you read through these blog posts you will find that I am very critical of the “hype” certain “social media experts” tell their followers. Followers is actually a pretty good term for many Twitter users, by the way. Just saying.

Anyway, I started reading the book, which I expected to be the same, dry social media book I am used to. I was again surprised and delighted to find the book was not only entertaining, but a quick read. When writing this post I hesitated on using the term “quick read” because that should not at all be linked with “unengaging” or “useless” information. I got it. And it was clear Scott “gets it.” The tone of the book had me curious, and later I found out he partially used a text-to-speech program to write the book. I could tell, as the book closely resembles his in-person personality.

The chapters are short, but memorable. There are several parts I immediately related to. First, it may sound like something simple, but if you aren’t going to promote and be a cheerleader for your brand (or yourself – or maybe you are your brand) then nobody will. How true! You can’t expect the disgruntled employee in cubicle 512 to be your social media presence and be engaging if they hate their job, hate talking to people and hate hearing people complain. If you aren’t willing to speak up for your company 100% or 200%, then just don’t do it. Don’t expect others to refer you if you wouldn’t even refer yourself.

Another comment that I identified with was one I have posted here on my blog and causes a ruckus every time I mention it – that a large percentage of the social media experts make money only by selling a product on how to make money. Every time I mention this to my friends who have IM products, they get all fidgety and say I’m just paranoid, or Im just a natural skeptic. But its true. “For only $5 I can tell you how to make a million dollars on the Internet, $5 at a time.” that is the subtext of a good majority of information on how to make money on the Internet.

I have bought ebooks, online teleconferences, attended real-world conferences, and even spent close to $1,000 on a series of DVDs – and I am still in the same boat as I was before I bought them. The exception being Joel Comm’s Elevate Seminar, which is always valuable and inspirational to watch. It isn’t on the elevate seminar DVD’s, but if you haven’t yet, you have to see Joel’s “penny” demonstration from back in the day when he was talking about Adsense. Classic demonstration, and there is also a sub-story about Wells Fargo and ACQUIRING the pennies for the demonstration that is valuable in and of itself.

If there is a downside to this book, and many others it is that it assumes the reader is actually empowered to make changes at a company. In fact, many of these types of books are written for entrepreneurs or solopreneurs (when is that going to be in the dictionary?) and are not written for the average worker pulling the 9-5 at a company.

I highly recommend “Unmarketing” if you are serious about rethinking your social media mindset. I know that sounds like a pitch or the back of the latest guru book, but it is true “Unmarketing” will get you to reconsider all the “push and pray” marketing your company is doing. Goodbye yellow pages, goodbye trade shows with flyers on the counter, goodbye 30 second spot, goodbye mass mail (or even email). We’ve all heard about engaging customers, this is about engaging fans.

Get it.

(note, I have been an Amazon affiliate since 1996, and I will receive a small, minuscule commission if you buy the book through my link.)

Last year it snowed in Iowa.  A lot.

I remember the first few times part of my sidewalk was already cleared.  The next time I was out shoveling and the neighbor across the street was using a snowblower to clear his sidewalk.  Deep in concentration, I continued shoveling.  The next time it snowed,  my sidewalk wasn’t cleared.  As I finished shoveling, he was finishing his driveway.  I went over and said hi, asked him about his snowblower, and asked if he had previously cleared the sidewalk for me.  After he said yes, I thanked him and said how much it really helped, especially since I have a corner lot.  As I went back to my house, I thanked him again.

After that, the one sidewalk was always cleared.

A simple thank you works wonders.

So my list of “social media” thank-you’s follows.  Not trying to “name drop” – but giving my sincere thanks for those who have really made a difference in my blogging, podcasting, etc. trials. In no particular order:

• Adam Curry – podcaster and entrepreneur extraordinaire.  First played my promo for Rutter’s Ramblings, then started the Troy Needs an Ipod Contest, and later became a great online friend.
• CC Chapman – met through Adam Curry, later became a good online friend and met at Podcamp Boston 2 and Blogworld. Worlds nicest guy.
• Chris Brogan – Knew the name when we had lunch at Podcamp Boston 2, but not much else about him. Later he sent out a few retweets for my site here.  Someone I always go to for inspiration. And heck of a nice person.
• Joel Comm – A mentor, friend and inspiration.  What more can I say?
• Crew at Central Iowa Bloggers – you guys rock.  Always a source of inspiration and learning
• Bitmethod (Daniel, Neal and Igor specifically) – setting a high bar for doing the awesome
• Chris Pirillo – fellow Iowan, full-time video streamer… and good friend.
• Jim Kukral – First started talking about 2 years ago, now working on rebuilding one of his websites into a great resource for bloggers (see below)

And to everybody else Ive met at tweetups, barcamps, #cib, or just a cup of coffee someplace.  You all make a difference, I’m grateful for having such creative people as friends and colleagues.

Please

I have started rebuilding a blogging tips web site called “Ask The Blogger” – please take a look, subscribe, comment, interact, whatever.  I would love to build on the conversations I have at #CIB and develop it as a place for blogging tips and tricks.  There are a lot of websites out there offering the same thing – but this one is the place I finally feel “home” – and I’m inviting you in.

Have a wonderful holiday and great 2011!

I attended BlogWorld Expo this year, and finally met one of my acquaintances, Jim Kukral.  Jim and I have been talking here and there over the past couple of years ever since I discovered his Online Video Toolkit instructional videos.  We also have a common friend in Joel Comm.

At BlogWorld, I first met up with Jim at a party in the Luxor suite on Wednesday, where I made a joke about a tuna appetizer being bacon (someone overheard and tried to correct me, and I just rolled my eyes – it was a JOKE!) and then we ran into each other over the course of the conference.  I went to the Wiley booth and bought a copy of his book, and saw that Steve Garfield (whom I met at Podcamp Boston 2) was also there, so I took the goofy picture of me, them and their books.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago.

Jim sent out a tweet about a web site he was interested in partnering with someone – or outright selling it.  And it hit me.  This is what I was looking for.

With this blog, and also with my podcast, I have a tendency to talk about the medium instead of the niche I am trying to talk about. For instance, on my blog I blog about blogging, and on my podcast I podcasted about podcasting.  This can turn off readers/listeners who found your content because of your main niche, and don’t really care how much you know about the technical side of creating the content they are looking for.

So – what better way than actually doing a blog about blogging?  I had always resisted because Darren Rowse is such a powerhouse in that arena.  But this site is different in that visitors actually ask targeted questions, and those are the main basis of the content.

We are still getting things revamped and re-organized, but the new site is:

http://www.asktheblogger.com

I hope you check it out.

I get frustrated by the success others have within their niches, but truth be told I don’t really HAVE a niche.  Not so much anyway.  Let’s face it, unless you are Wil Wheaton (hi, Wil!) having a “personal blog” is never going to reap the monetary or statistical rewards of one focused within a personal niche.  The entire category of “personal blogs” is not filled with many success stories.

I have struggled over the years to find my “niche.”  So much so I sat in a room with Joel Comm, Dan Nickerson and Joel Ownby in the offices of InfoMedia in Colorado asking them “am I just boring?”  Their response was swift and decisive: “You have a book.  You’ve sold over 2,000 copies.  Leverage that – there’s your niche!”  Yes, I could do that.  But I am so far removed from the niche living here in Iowa, that I don’t feel what I say would actually matter.

So I have struggled in finding that niche.  Maybe it is “filmmaking in Iowa” and I can blog about the state of the film’s film industry, etc. since the incentives dried up.  But there is already a blog on that. Besides that, there is really only one other niche I am willing to devote the amount of time to:

Making money on the Internet

And try to break into THAT. It is one of the “no no’s” of trying to start a blog.  Everybody tries to get into that and everybody fails. Besides, I don’t have a product, list or network built up that would support that.

Attending Blogworld was inspiring, but it still did not yield many ideas for my “perfect niche.”  I am still looking for that one “thing” that will hold my interest (and readers).  I admit I was very jaded about blogging a few months ago and was resigned to the fact that the only people making money on the internet were people selling products on making money on the internet.  While I know there is room for “real people” to be successful blogging… I still wonder at times whether I am “interesting” enough to do so.  It isn’t a lack of knowledge on the fundamentals – perhaps it is a lack of understanding and knowledge of MYSELF.

Definitely something worth investigating and cause for more introspection.

Dartboard photo by Loutsu

I sat down, and for the first time that weekend did not take notes. I wanted to hear what CC had to say, and didn’t think any of the actual “topics” would appeal to me, or warrant writing down (for me).

Boy was I wrong!

Immediately at the start of the panel, the panelist expressed their distaste for the term “daddybloggers.” I have known CC a long time, and despite being a really smart social media maven, he has always blogged about his kids in an entertaining way. I heard he was starting up this new site/network called Digital Dads, but I figured it was just going to be a bunch of dads talking about parenting.

Yeah, I believed the stereotype.

As CC and the others explained, Digital Dads is not just about parenting, its about guys being guys. It’s a far cry from The Man Show, but just because they are guys, and they happen to blog once in a while about parenting, that doesn’t mean every post has to be so.

But the panel also ended up being an example of what not to do.

During the Q&A session, a representative from Disney who worked with the mommybloggers  recently, asked a question to the panel.  After it was answered, another attendee of the session got up and started pitching the Disney rep while the session was still going on near the front of the room, just feet away from the panel.  I could feel the tension rising, and each of the panelists shot looks of disdain in the direction of the man, but he persisted.  Rude, unprofessional and BAD FORM.

So what did I learn from a panel on daddybloggers?

- Don’t pigeonhole yourself or others based on a specific blogging “label”

- Don’t be a DB and interrupt a panel to pitch yourself to someone else at the panel

- Wearing a dress, wig and high heels isn’t for everyone

Did I mention CC also has a book coming out called Content Rules? More on that later…

After a while, the newness wore off, and I started to notice something. A lot of what I was tweeting I really didn’t want or need archived on my blog. While my blog was more of a professional tool, my tweets bordered on the stereotypical “what I’m doing” messages.

So, I took the daily digest of Tweets off my blog.

I was wrong.

As you can see on the home page of my site, I include the latest tweet on the right hand side.  The lesson I eventually learned was this:

If your tweets are too personal and you don’t want them posted on your blog – maybe you shouldn’t make those tweets in the first place.

Anything you put out there contributes to your brand.  If you don’t think your Twitter stream is worthy of including on your blog, I would consider making a personal and a professional Twitter account, and separating the two.  This doesn’t affect your transparency, but it could bring up your blog’s professionalism and help your image.

How do you separate between your professional and personal tweets?

The article I am referring to is this one, announcing the arrival of a new social media firm: One Social Media. With this addition, Des Moines has almost as many social media firms/consultants as the birthplace of social media: Boston.

Whereas Boston has CC Chapman, Chris Brogan, Chris Penn and others, Des Moines now has Lava Row, One Social Media and Catchfire Media – and others.  A lot of others.

What is it about Des Moines that is a breeding ground for so-called Social Media Experts? Is it the corn?  Can the city support three social media firms, and countless wannabes who think they have all the answers?

I don’t think so.   Something has to give.

But more importantly, I want you to look closely at the comparison above.  Notice the names from Boston, then notice the names from Des Moines.  See anything… different?

I do.

CC Chapman, Chris Brogan, Chris Penn.   Bam Bam Bam.  Three powerful names.  If you had those names on a conference (which I was lucky enough to meet all three at Podcamp Boston 2) you would have a great event.  Period.  CC Chapman is presenting at Blogworld this year, I wouldn’t doubt Chris Brogan makes an appearance as well.  Chris Penn is one of the co-founders of Podcamp (along with Chris Brogan.)  There must be something in the water, besides tea, that makes Boston the hub of social media.

Then there’s Des Moines.  With one social media expert per 1,000 population, it remains… stagnant.  Full of inbreeding, and mutual pats on the back, its social media leaders stay close to home, giving lectures to college business classes, attending or throwing tweetups (drink-ups) / and meetups on a local scale.

Boston – takes their leadership in social media to a global scale with big conferences, keynotes around the world, writing books and being leaders in the industry.

Des Moines… you get the drill.

But why is this?  Why can’t Des Moines with its 3 (at least) social media firms, step up into world-wide recognition and first-class status?  The answer is hidden above, but I’ll recap it below in a nice form that can be quoted.

Answer:

The Des Moines social media scene is concerned more with being local leaders than global.  They fight with/over each other to be the definitive “expert” while simultaneously patting each other on the back to make themselves feel good.  They throw tweetups for the sole purpose of getting wasted (no real networking happens there anymore) and care little about what is really going on in the world around them.

The Boston social media scene thinks globally.  They write books.  They give keynotes around the world.  They go to conferences like SXSW to actually network and not to party.  They aren’t trying to one-up each other, they are just trying to move themselves and their businesses forward.  If anything else, they are collaborative and supportive of each other.  Plus they extend that collaboration to others through their blogs, talks, and books.

Maybe that’s the biggest difference.  The Bostonians give back to the social media community, not really looking for their own accolades.  While Des Moines experts seem bent on making a name for themselves any way they can.

And they are.  I just don’t think it’s the names they want.

What do you think?  How can Des Moines hold so many social media “experts” like Boston, but not be known as a hub for social media like Boston is?  Is there a Chris Brogan type “expert” in Des Moines ready to break out and actually be a leader?  Thoughts?

In the beginning, people earned the equipment and money they used in game fairly.  Killing monsters, going on raids, etc.  Then all of a sudden virtual items appeared on eBay.  Bam!  The makers of Everquest came down hard on people who sold virtual goods for real money.  Networks sprung up around the world and “farming” became commonplace.  You could go onto one of these sites and pay $20 real money for 100 platinum (money) or $5 for a robe of quickening, etc.

But better yet, an entire character, say a level 57 necro dark elf for hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

We are entering that era for Twitter accounts very soon.

Who can forget Drew Carey offering Drew Olanoff $25,000 for @drew?  That is just the beginning.

As more and more companies are still thinking “i better jump on the Twitter bandwagon” they find their company names taken, maybe unused, or sometimes even heavily used – it doesn’t matter.  What are you to do if you own the business “harisson sports” and @harrisonsports is taken?

Buy it.

Make no mistake about it, Twitter squatters are here, registering every singly twitter name they can think of, hoping companies will buy them out (instead of merely suing them).  So what do you do if you just HAVE to have that @ name of your choice?

#1: Follow the account of @name you want to purchase.
The user will usually receive an email letting them know you have followed them.  If they follow you back, you will then be able to direct message them.

#2: Make them an offer
Most Twitter accounts can probably be purchased for under $1,000, so start low.

#3: Make arrangements to purchase the domain
I would recommend you ask the seller to put the auction on eBay for the amount agreed upon with a buy-it-now price of the agreed upon price.  That way you will be covered by all of the eBay seller/buyer policies.

#4: Complete the sale
You give them the money via PayPal or other, and then you should get the username and password.   If something goes sour, follow through with a complaint on eBay. (see why I recommended that avenue?)

Selling a Twitter account us going to be more and more common as we enter in the next phase of Twitter users.  Expect “power users” to create and grow Twitter profiles with thousands and thousands of followers only to sell it to the highest bidder, or on a “per-follower” basis to an advertiser.   As selling your twitter account becomes more commonplace, people will begin to be more careful about the people they choose to follow.

Think of MySpace and Facebook.

Remember when the buzz was getting thousands of followers on MySpace?  People had “adder programs” that would go through and automatically ask to be friends with each other.   Then, the account would be sold to an advertiser, or they might use it themselves to market products and services to you.

People got tired of this, and Facebook began.  People were more careful about whom they selecting as friends.

Twitter – you are next.

How close do YOU think we are for selling of Twitter accounts to be commonplace?   Are we there already?