SOBCon Update: Saturday

By Sonia Simone

My head is so overstuffed with ideas that I couldn't possibly write them all down, but here are some selected scribbles from today's workshops. I've got notes for about five years of blog posts.

Brian Clark:

• A lot of the keys to good blogging are the keys to good business. What used to work won't be tolerated any more.
• Thinking of ourselves as entrepreneurs, not as bloggers.
• Your revenue model should be: "Yes, please."
• Attention by itself is not the game. It's a critical part of the game, but once you have attention, there is more work to be done.
• You have to know what you want to say, even if you end up hiring someone to help you say it.
• Build as much authority as you can on one "hub" domain, with satellite pages or additional sites around it for side projects, promotion, etc.

Chris Garrett:

• If you don't work out what you want to get out of it, you'll get the wrong things out of it.
• A really good question can be better than a really good statement.
• Create an editorial calendar for the blog. [I didn't get why this was cool until he showed us what that would look like. Figuring out how often to do linkbait, when & how guest posts fit in, etc.]
• Flagship content is an ambassador for what you do.

David Bullock: (supergenius who I didn't know before I came here):

• "I do blogging wrong.  I just do stuff that works for my business."
• No money will move before the conversation line is in place.
• What kind of systems do you have in place to pay attention & act on what you learn?
• How does your story match the story of the marketplace? If the conversations don't mesh, you get no action.
• The good stuff is you. Your uniqueness and your experience. Essentially, it's your thinking people will pay for--the doing can be outsourced, the thinking is yours alone.
• You will find the language of your market in the testimonials of your clients.
• The Internet is links and pages. That's all it is.

Chris Brogan:

• The big secret is that businesses are full of people.
• Build stories humans want to tell.
• Give your ideas handles.
• Make it useful.
• Hack--make things your own.
• Do more than you talk.

Liz Strauss:

• Come up with something they want (not something they need).
• Create your message with head, heart and meaning.
• Blog your experience.
• Leave room for your community. Don't wrap everything up so damned neatly.

Wendy Piersall:

• Everyone is doing business stuff and heart stuff at the same time.
• It's not pretty getting outside of your comfort zone.
• We need a BS filter for the stuff in our own head.
• Create micro "success for today" goals.
• There is no more time. Give me more you.

Oh, and a P.S., I met the brilliant Cliff Atkinson, who created Beyond Bullet Points. BBP is required reading not just for creating PowerPoint that isnt awful, but for sharpening and clarifying your thinking so you can create a message that actually conveys something. Very hard to do, but it's work that has a huge payoff.

Comments

[Suzanna]

Sonia, cooool, thanks for giving us this big breezy window into the goings-on at SOBCon. My writing brain is overloaded just reading your post. I can't imagine actually being there. Well, okay, I can imagine it. Next year for sure. What's next?
cheers
Suzanna

[sikantis]

Great! I feel a lot of esteem coming from you. I think this is what keeps us going on.

[Chris Brown]

What a great summary of Saturday! My head is still spinning with all the ideas. I added your blog to my feeds. Look forward to reading more.
Chris

[Michael Martine]

Sonia, a most excellent and concise recap of the presentations! It was such a pleasure to meet you, hang out, and talk about blogging and marketing. I suppose I can overlook that you're on TypePad! :D

[Sonia Simone]

Fabulous to see you here, Michael, even if you are a little snarky. :) (Everyone, if you don't know Michael Martine already, please click his link and check out his Remarkablogger site, which is excellent.)

I don't know that I learned a lot at SOBCon exactly--I got a lot of enthusiasm & energy to act on stuff I already know. For me, where I am today, that is more valuable. Killer stuff. I'm already working on pitching them a presentation for next year. :)

[Gary Fletcher]

Sonia,

Thankyou for posting these thought-bites. There's a lot to reflect on in those few sentences.

I feel glad I didn't actually go to SOBCon; I don't know what I missed, but that summary is already a lot to work on :-)

Regards,
Gary

[Lorelle]

I was an amazing experience and thank you so much for being a special part of the experience for me.

It is about the community an translating your intent to connect with that community. SOBCon made that so clear, didn't it?

[oyunlar]

Sie hier zu sehen, Michael, auch wenn Sie ein wenig snarky sind. :) (Jeder, wenn du nicht weißt, Michael Martine oyunlar bereits, klicken Sie bitte seinen Link und lesen Sie seine Website Remarkablogger, was hervorragend ist).

[Miley Cyrus]

Hello,

I am use it (tips on read), good post.

Also i am share this page, my social account.

I am following you, since today :)

Good luck man !