Team FamilyLearn – Last week, 14 Sept 2006, we had a substitute teacher, Phil Whindley. He spoke on Blogs. He was perfect for the job. If you google “how to start a blog” he is the first person to come up on the list. Just so you know you can watch lectures that Paul has given at BYU. You can view the following lecture’s slide show on Windley.com.

My edited notes:

Phil first heard about blogs in the 90’s. The guy who invented spreadsheets told him about weblogs. This idea appealed to him. So he started a blog and would write random events, pretty much just writing an online journal. He found it boring, without appeal, and he gave up. It was later that he was listening to another blogger and it clicked. He needed to become an expert on something. He blogged on his expertise—technology—and he never looked back.

A weblog is a reverse chronology ordered…?

Best Blogs are always stories. They carry on a conversation.

Don’t be a Splogger (spam blogger)

Technorati is a place to get info about blogs

RSS Feeds. What is an RSS Feeder? When you get on the web each day you probably spend some time on several different websites checking out what is new; e.g. you might check the news, or a blog you like, or movie reviews. Sometimes these sights have nothing new on them but you had to check anyway just to see. RSS feeds basically make a “feeder” that brings in new info off of each site whenever it is posted. Rather than going from site to site, you can now just go to one site and check your Feeds. It is a great time saver.

The “virtuous cycle”

He explained what he called “the virtuous cycle” of blogging—or “the conversation” There are four steps to this cycle.

1. You make a post to your blog on something you are knowledgeable about.
2. Online friends read your post.
3. When you hit the right cord with your post, your friends then comment on your blog.
4. Often you will learn things from their comment that you didn’t know.

This inspires you to write another blog or possibly visit another website and the cycle starts over.

Links Rule

A blog just starts with you telling family members and friends to come and look at what you wrote, but if you actually write something of substance then you will get a following. These people will link their weblogs to yours. They will refer your expertise to others just because they know that your blog will help them in their lives. When loads of people link to you then you build “Google Juice” because Google can see that people are looking to you for what you know. When a blogger with a lot of “Google Juice” links to you or your website, suddenly you will get an influx of traffic. This is why blogging commands the vast majority of traffic on the web. It is the linking networks. Look at MySpace, a smut filled website but powerful because of the size of its network.

As you build your blog you will build a personal handpicked group of experts on the subject(s) that you write on. Soon you will be an expert as well.

Why Blog?

1. Write to learn—you find where you’re thinking is fuzzy either by writing it or by the comments of others on your blog.
2. Soap Box—you now have a place to vent. It is like writing letters to the editor in the newspaper. Phil said that he thinks we influence a much broader group of people by the web. I love Neal’s idea. If you are writing good blog entries why not just post them on both the web and in the newspaper?
3. Meeting your network.

There are two questions to ask when wondering who to blog with.

1. Do I want to blog FREE? (consider the benefits of paid services)
2. Do I want my own host?

Steps to creating a successful blog:

1. Don’t type in a text box—get an HTML editor. Good spell checkers and editing tools make all the difference.
2. Get your own domain. (Ben said the other day that a domain name is like real estate. There are people who have gotten rich off buying domain names and reselling. The internet is a new dimension to this world, but what many don’t realize is that it is just as real as anything else in this world. Investing in your own domain name is like buying a piece of real estate online)
3. Don’t use your employer’s equipment—(would you use your companies real estate to through a family party? You would get fired)
4. Topic—become an expert on something. Focus will bring in a stronger following. This is a general focus. Paul Allen and Seth Godin both focus on Marketing, Phil Whindley is on tech stuff.
5. DON’T SELL! – you don’t want to sound like a salesman on your blog unless you are writing to help others become better salesmen. (So if your purpose is to build your business with your blog, then prove in your blog that you are an expert on what you do for a living. People who are interested in reading your blog will also be interested in your product. When they go to your website, then turn up the sales process, but only on your actual business website)
6. Tell a story—make it interesting just like a book. No one will read it if it is not interesting or at least helpful.
7. Demonstrate Passion
8. Link Out—practice the virtues cycle. I know that not many people come to my blog yet, but when you link to me I notice and I come to see who you are. If I like you I might link back. We could start a conversation.
9. Get web Analytics for your blog—This will tell you if what you’re doing works. (plus it is an ego building experience to see your traffic go up)
10. Tell people to read your blog—Tell your mom to read it, she will read anything you write. Don’t Spam your friends to read your blog, only send emails that link to your blog if you really think they would like to read what you wrote.
11. Solicit feedback—each blog has a comments section at the bottom of the page. Tell people that you would like them to comment on what you wrote. You will learn from their comments.
12. Enable and make available RSS Feeds—have someone show you how to do this.
13. Make an “About Me” Page—I wrote “My condensed life history”.
14. Make sure your boss knows you’re are blogging—If you work for a public company use digression in what you say; i.e. trade secrets, gossip. Transparency is great and the best blogs are transparent, but still be careful; i.e. your mother’s maiden name…
    

Ways to get a little more traffic:

1. Pick a good name.
2. Choose a good Domain Name.
3. Use meaningful titles.
4. (Read others blogs and see what clicks or sparks ideas of how to write your blog. Just copy an expert until you know how to be the expert. That’s what I do.)
5. Post often (now I have a quandary with this. Phil and Paul spend hours each week on their blogs. If bloggers wrote a little less in quantity and a little more in quality—I am not saying that Phil and Paul are low quality—I bet in time you would have a larger following. Just a thought)
6. Be linky
7. Be controversial—Mark Cuban is the perfect example of this. He is a powerful blogger. I think he is so controversial on purpose just for traffic.
8. Use Tags.
9. Once again, be an expert.

My comments are found in the () and here at the bottom:

Phil Windley is an expert blogger and very insightful, I loved the lecture he gave, it is the most valuable lecture I have had in this class yet. But throughout the lecture he was asked multiple times, “How does a blog bring business to me?” Phil would ramble for a moment and then change the subject. I have taken the liberty to interpret a lot of the lecture into my own language so you cannot qoute Phil Whindley from my notes, but for the most part it is pretty much just what he said. Phil is a blogger and a Professor (a fantastic teacher), not a marketer.

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