But there’s a third question that I see rarely answered. That question…how! How do you actually do what and why?

For instance, if you have a business, you need to market your business. Perhaps you learn what types of marketing would work best for your business. You even learn why those types of marketing can help you be successful.

But when you get to the most important part – how – often it’s not as clear. Yet how is about implementation. How are the detailed steps you take to put into action, measure, assess and refine your efforts. So how is about getting it done – it’s about actually accomplishing in your business what you set out to do. It’s about taking your vision, your dream, your ideas and making them into reality.

So why is so little spent these days on how?

If you could ask Seth Godin, Tom Peters, Andy Sernovitz, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan (insert any name you consider an expert) any one question – wouldn’t it be ‘how? Wouldn’t that one question be – ‘how do I do…(whatever)?’

So what are the questions you’d ask about how to implement some piece of advice in your business or on you blog? Perhaps we can find some answers together.

(note: image from TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ on Flickr)

Ever since I built Dave Schoof’s Engaging the Disquiet, I’ve had this question. To date, most of his readers are not blog savvy. They’re prospective clients who want to know more about what Dave can do for them. But often, they’re uncertain what to do with his blog. Interestingly enough, his page about How to Use RSS is among his most read posts. So I’ve been pondering this question for quite some time.

Then last week Wendy Piersall decided to ask if we’re all just members of huge blogging clique. Wendy’s posts asked the right questions so I jumped in with Bloggers, Are We Just Blogging To The Choir? We must have touched something, because for both of us these quickly became one of our most read and commented on posts. Wendy even followed up with The Risks of Growing a Blog Too Big, writing about what she calls a ‘welcome mat:’

Lay Out the Welcome Mat on your Blog

• Set up a section with top posts, a site introduction, and a VERY basic intro to how to navigate and comment on a blog
• Occasionally write a “Welcome New Commenters” post
• Always respond to the really thoughtful comments – somehow!
• Write posts in an “approachable voice”, inviting participation from everyone

Soon, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger was writing about The Balancing Act of Where to Pitch Your Content (Darren’s got some greater beginner content, by the way). Mike, who commented on ProBlogger, followed up with his own idea of creating beginner and advanced content.

The conversation this started is great. And some really good ideas were spawned like Wendy’s ‘welcome mat.’ or Darren’s idea of beginner and advanced feed content.

I’m also intrigued with Alex Shalman’s homepage. Check it out. When you get to his homepage, he has a quick, couple of paragraph introduction, followed by the five major sections of his site and then a brief intro to RSS. It’s very clean and his content is very well written. I’m curious, though, what type of effect that has on his traffic flow. And one thing I don’t see are any services he’s offering. I’ve asked Alex for a little feedback.

But what do you think? Do you like the ‘introductory home page?’ Or maybe Wendy’s ‘welcome mat?’ How do you think we should best meet new and non bloggers to our sites?

Even better, have you found a method for educating inexperienced readers about what your blog can do for them? Please share.�