While I don’t usually cover social issues on my blog, I do care about them.

And with so many people today talking about global warming, I thought it important to touch on a subject that affects each of us who spend our days in front of the computer. Bloggers, business owners, web and graphics designers - all of us can take something of value from this video…

And, it’s hilarious…

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What does it take to have a successful blog for your business?

Denise Wakeman of Blog Squad fame asked that question of Chris Garrett. The conversation that grew created a bed of blogging tips. Watching the interview (5 1/2 minutes) Chris makes it pretty clear that a successful blog, like a successful business, is built on planning, focus, clarity and knowing your audience.

Whenever a client or prospective client ever asks me about marketing, I always begin my answer by finding out what they’re clear (and unclear) about in their business. I’ve learned the hard way of the years that you can only market, hence you can only sell, that which you’re clear about. And the greatest clarity I’ve found has come through understanding what problems my prospective clients face.

From the interview…

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Most of us at SOBCon08 are bloggers, right? So you had to know that we blogged the event. Now I say we collectively as I was too busy jotting notes to live blog and too engrossed in conversation to blog at the event.

So what about the evenings…well, if I was getting to bed before 2am, perhaps. But I wasn’t.

Yet plenty of people either wrote reports from SOBCon08 or were live blogging as it happened. We even had a Twitter feed going at one point. The conversation behind the event didn’t stop - even during it.

So if you missed something or lost your notes at least you can find what you need from the vast resources below.

And if you couldn’t make it to SOBCon08 this year, you’ll find a great list of content that was written during the event. Having gone through all of these posts, photos and videos, there’s enough content here to make it feel like you were there - just without the smiles, hugs and handshakes.

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First off, I love Christine Kane - the person and the musician. Though, truthfully, they really seem to be one and the same.

Anyhow, I find Christine’s music full of witty lyrics (free song download) and tons of emotion - like she’s singing from her soul. I’ve only seen her play live twice - once on a rocking boat. And each time at least one of her songs has brought tears to my eyes (no kidding). Spending time with her it’s obvious she’s found an inner peace and a grounded depth that gushes through her personality.

Yeah, I could go on. But let’s leave it at - she’s quite a lovely person and an excellent singer/songwriter. If she’s playing near you, it’s worth a evening to see her play.

Beyond Christine’s music, however, you’ll find a savvy and knowledgeable a niche marketer. She’s learned over the years that she can serve an audience’s needs while maintaining a music career. And like any niche marketer, she’s had to learn how to position herself correctly to reach a market who’s interested in her. In other words, she makes is more possible for people who like her type of music to find her.

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A couple weeks ago I got into a nice, heated debate with a friend over how manipulated we are by media - specifically commercials.

My friend’s position was that you’re manipulated only if you’re ‘weak of mind.’ He believes that if you’re aware that someone’s trying to manipulate you with subliminal messages, it doesn’t have any affect on you.

My opinion is quite the opposite. I feel that advertising companies are highly advanced at subtly manipulating us through constant subliminal messaging. Those subliminal messages, then, set us up for being highly suggestive to whatever stimulus is meant to get us to buy. Think about the last time a simple conversation with someone brought up the desire to have a Big Mac.

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I’ve seen this happen a number of times…

You work real hard to position your business just right in your target market only to find that the people buying aren’t in your target market.� What do you do?

Well, some businesses decide that should reposition their business to reach their intended target market. MISTAKE!

Why do this? If you already have customers buying, who cares where they come from. Perhaps you miscalculated with your target market. Perhaps you didn’t see how your product or service would benefit a different market. So what!

The difference between success and failure in your business comes down to are you talking to the people who are listening? Or, are you talking to people who aren’t?

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Why? Why not?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since David Armano talked about it at SOBCon last year. His basic point was that “blogging is a commodity. Anyone can do it. We are human beings with passions and interests that come out in our blogs—not the other way around. Stop calling yourself a blogger. You are a… (designer, businessperson, marketer, artist, baker, mother, grandfather, etc). Calling ourselves bloggers takes away from what makes us unique.”

I have to say that I agree. I think the term blogger is overused and often misunderstood. When I talk with businesses about blogging, they often, even after all this time, think of journaling. They haven’t fully appreciated the breadth of what the term blogger can mean.

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