Category Archives: Writing/Blogging

Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit – No. 4 of 4

October 27, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 1 Comment

This is the fourth and final post in the series I began on the 6th October 2012. The first post argued that you need to determine if your blog needs comments to succeed – instead of worrying about what others say. Note that I refer specifically to blogging for business purposes, with emphasis on earning income via sales of products and services.

The second post discussed five questions you can ask yourself, to decide if your blog type needs comments to succeed (especially in financial terms). Going by my personal experiences and observations, if you avoid needless sentiment, these questions WILL help you choose right. In the third post (preceding this one), I discussed six different measures that can be used to evaluate the performance of a blog.

Now, this final post returns attention to the point I’ve made all through this series that my focus is on the use of blogs to earn income – directly or indirectly – for the owner. It explores what my checks suggest are three relatively underutilised strategies for making money with the help of a blog, which ANYONE can take advantage of.

**********

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Post 1: Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments?
Post 2: Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself)
Post 3: Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others)
Post 4(Final): Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit

Why this series? There’s a lot of debate surrounding the value of comments. Many blog owners are not sure what to think or do as a result. This series offers ideas to help interested blog owners decide if their kind of blog needs (or does not need) comments to succeed – and steps to take in either case.

Introduction

All through this series, I have made it clear that my focus is mainly on blogging as done by persons engaged in business to enhance their ability to make money.

Making money from blogs is a fairly hot topic going by what the search engines reveal. And the topic has been quite thoroughly treated by many well qualified and accomplished blog owners. Most use conventional and popular strategies (E.g Adsense, adverts, affiliate marketing, information products, membership sites etc) to make hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

It would therefore be a waste of time to attempt discussing any of the methods they’ve already touched on. (See the Reference/Further Reading list at the end of this post, to read some of them).

My purpose in this post is to suggest relatively uncommon – but highly effective – strategies through which a blog can be used to make money (or facilitate the process).

First Establish Authority Status

For best results in using the techniques described in this post, I suggest you aim to establish authority status for your website or blog. Very rarely, especially in a field that involves writing to build credibility, will a total newcomer be able to instantly command authority status. It will take some time.

However, your commitment to relentless creation of unique and original content on your blog; and to syndication of your content (e.g. via guest posting, social media marketing etc), will gradually get you there.

Begin by building a distinct and recognisable blog presence. Add to that a no-nonsense commitment to regular publishing of high quality content on a carefully chosen subject area or theme. And you’ll eventually have a good foundation on which to launch your income generation efforts.

You need not however wait to become THE king of the (blogging) ring to get started. Once your efforts have begun to yield decent traffic results and possibly some level of return visits, it would be time to explore ways to reap some financial rewards.

What follows below are three relatively little discussed strategies that ANYONE can use to make money through (or with the aid of) his/her blog

1. Making Offline Sales

Did I hear you say “Huh?”. Well, that’s understandable. Like I said this post is about little used strategies. So, bear with me as I explain.

The idea is to use your blog to facilitate making money offline. All you need is to be quick thinking and a smart sales person, to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. If you run a brick and mortar business, explore ways to turn potential clients or customers’ attention to your blog e.g. when one walks in to make enquiries and appears to be in a hurry.

If you’ve diligently created content to make yours an authority blog, you’re likely to find something s/he says that you can relate to your blog’s content. Refer him/her to a PDF report or blog post you wrote to address a similar concern to the one s/he is raising.

If you have an Internet ready laptop within reach (which you could make a permanent feature on your premises) use it to show him/her what you mean. This can boost your credibility in the eyes of that individual. Sometimes that alone can convince an undecided buyer to place an order right there and then.

Even though I work from home, I’ve made this happen many times in the past, while in a client’s office, and using his/her laptop!

One example: Few months ago, I visited the office of an old client for a meeting. In the course of our discussions, she complained about poor service from her internet provider. This made me mention that I’d written a new report on my blog, about a massive cost-saving method I discovered, which involved using my smart phone as a modem on my laptop. 24 hours later she had paid for the e-book, and I’d sent the PDF to her.

In some cases, apart from getting paid in cash for a $40 PDF report I showed a client on my website/blog, I also got hired on the strength of that showing, to do the major project we originally came together to discuss!

I hope you see what I mean. This is about using your blog to facilitate the marketing and sales process in offline, one-on-one or group situations. And why not? Not everyone is a freelance writer who blogs for a living. Some business owners run blogs for use as marketing tools, to build market place credibility.

It only makes good business sense to “talk up” their high content quality blogs to prospects they meet, in a way that generates sales leads and ultimately income. Of course this may not happen often, or the same way every time. But if/when it does, the benefits can be multiple, and would come with minimal effort.

If you sell products, the fact that your store is online should not stop you from making sales if you physically come across people who need them. You (and members of your team) should be prepared for all possibilities – within reason.

In my part of the world, that’s not an unrealistic thing to do. Even in developed societies, a blog setup with this kind of mindset could be used to generate sales during say, a 3 day conference, if the owner provides a purchase processing equipment (e.g. credit card swiper) for dealing directly with interested attendees.

That’s better than asking them to place their orders when they get back to their homes or offices(which can result in some forgetting, or even changing their minds)!

If the product is physical and you have it on you (or in a sales truck at the venue) many people who meet you in person are likely to place orders, knowing the “shipping/handling” expense and waiting period will be eliminated.

Depending on the level of interest you perceive, a sales terminal linked directly to your blog’s payment processing system could be installed in a strategic location. Visitors to your premises would then read signs announcing such blog based offers and if interested simply make their purchase at that terminal.

That’s how a strategy of selling information products related to your business can make customers and clients who come in to place orders for them. It will earn you extra income without the overheads. And you’d also have the email addresses of buyers added to your mailing lists etc.

In summary, the fact that you display products online should not stop you from ALSO taking orders offline. Depending on what part of the world you’re in, NOT all your potential buyers will own PCs or have Internet access. So, when they visit your physical premises, or run into you in person, if you’ve prepared yourself as explained above, both you and such buyers will be happier at the end of your interaction!

If the product is electronic, they’ll get it in their mail boxes as soon as they complete payment right there and then. And YOU would get home with money in the bank. No need for follow ups or reminders.

How Do You Accept Credit Cards Offline?

To really make the most of this strategy, especially when dealing with large numbers of people in a physical location, you’ll need a purchase processing device. This tends to be a bit more complicated than the online system. But once setup, it can bring useful flexibility to your ability to make sales anywhere you are.

Thankfully, with advancements in technology, today’s providers continue to offer improved options. It is now possible to use a standalone credit card swiper linked to your mobile phone to take orders from offline customers. Other variants exist. Even Pay pal offers an offline merchant account option. If you are willing to do some creative thinking, it’s likely this strategy can yield some useful financial rewards for you. Read “this ehow article ” for useful details.

Here in Nigeria, Interswitch and other prepaid card swipers are increasingly becoming available in physical stores and business premises. The problem I see is that most owners fail to think beyond the conventional use these tools were setup for.

If you already use such a device on your premises, what stops you from encouraging customers or clients to use the card swiper to purchase information products from your blog? Basically, you could use your smart phone to email the download link (or file attachment) to the customer while s/he stands right in front of you AFTER making payment with his/her card. That would be passive income earned – which can add up over time.

2. Generating Pre-Qualified Leads For Sales of Your Products/Services

You can be more deliberate when you write posts for your blog – with the aim of getting potential buyers for products and services you offer, to contact you.

As I’ve explained on the About This Blog page, THIS is a multidisciplinary blog. I decided to focus all my content publishing in one central location on my domain, to ease the process of promoting different products and services I offer different audiences. Some of the these groups share similar overlapping interests – and that’s what makes it possible for me to do this. For instance a number of my web marketing clients have at one point or the other ordered a custom spreadsheet solution or PDF information products from me.

So, when I write new posts based on my blog publishing schedule, I’m actually doing so with deliberate marketing intent. And it works. Indeed, I have found that my newsletter subscription rates have risen since I launched this blog.

You could setup a separate contact form for each area of service you offer. The forms should be customizable – and must work with a script that will send auto responses with download links to needed documents etc. The script should also send YOU custom email messages that let you know which products and/or areas of your service are being requested from the SUBJECT line alone. This can make you well informed about your most in-demand product or service.

But what’s really important is the useful information the above setup can help you gather. In my case, the reports help me determine much more accurately, what those who contact me are looking for. That guides me to better tailor subsequent posts published in each blog category.

A good example of how I write posts with deliberate intent to generate sales leads for a product or service can be seen in my recent post(based on a pre-existing article) in the public speaking category titled “I Flopped Badly At The National Finals! (A True Story About How NOT To Prepare For/Deliver And Important Presentation). Note the 3D ebook cover(shown below) of a special White Paper inserted at the post’s bottom. That FREE download offer links to a squeeze page offering an additional FREE PDF report download. In the PDF white paper, this one page flyer announcing Burt Dubin’s speaker mentoring service is included.

***********************

BOOST YOUR BIZ MARKETING!

Speak Professionally. Inexpensively Attract New Clients/Customers. Tested And Proven System. Get repeatedly invited, acknowledged – and even paid – as an “expert-who-speaks”. Market your products, services or yourself to numerous potential individual or group clients at once. Step up to Smarter Business Marketing™.

This PDF report tells you how. It’s titled “To Win NEW Customers Repeatedly & INEXPENSIVELY, Use Your Public Speaking For Biz Marketing System(PSBM) ™!” Click here to download your FREE copy.
***********************

Write posts with timeless useful content, that can help potential buyers gain insights to address needs they have. They’ll come to regard you as a competent authority. And when they see an offer to get more content from you in form of a report or book, there’s a good chance some will take up your offer. If you go on to play your cards right, say through your newsletter and e-mail marketing, some will eventually take buying action.

3. Subscriber Web Contact Form Data Mining:

This strategy builds on what happens in 2. above. Success in the latter implies you’ll gradually build a mailing list of potential buyers. That mailing list CAN then be “mined” for three key purposes:

a. To gain insight for new post titles and website content you can create that will interest visitors

b. To understand the demographics of those who make enquiries e.g. job titles, occupation, area of interest, etc.

c. To determine the frequency of enquiries relating to a specific product or service: It was this that helped me discover an overwhelming majority of visitors to my Farm Biz Ideas website were keenly interested in learning about Livestock Feed Formulation. And this has been reflected in the repeat sales I’ve made of my Feed Formulation Handbook and also via one-on-one coaching of clients on the subject.

Each time a request form on my website is used, the script that is executed auto-updates a text database with the information submitted by the prospect.

Whenever I need to do a comprehensive review, I simply download the text database from my website’s cgi-bin and import it into Excel.

Each database field is placed in a separate spreadsheet column. This makes it easy to access what you want. Basically, I use a small MS Excel app I built to review enquiries sent in by visitors over time, to get ideas for new topics to write on. And since the enquirer is already on my mailing list, whenever the resulting new content is published, s/he gets to know as well.

The point being made here is that you can analyze the visitor contact information collected from 2. above, and use it to refine your content marketing efforts via your blog. That’s where the “mining” of your data comes in. Believe me, when you put that data into a spreadsheet it can really open your eyes to useful trends in the requests and “characteristics/profiles” of those who respond to your content.

For instance from “studying” my form data, I’ve discovered that over 80% of sales I’ve made of my Farm Business products and services have been to people from a specific region of the country. It’s so uncanny that I’m planning to visit that location to see if I can understand why that is so – and possibly make it happen more often!

Final Words

The strategies I’ve described above provide potentially viable complementary alternatives a blog owner can adopt. They would probably appeal to people just starting out or at least in the early stages of running their blogs – until they can build enough recognition/authority to facilitate access to more popular channels.

Having said that, even blog owners who already enjoy financially rewarding returns from using the popular strategies may find it beneficial to ADD these strategies to boost their blogs’ ability to generate financially rewarding returns.

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Post 4(Final): Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit

Career Development, Public Speaking, Self-Development, Short Stories, Writing/Blogging

I Flopped Badly At The National Finals! (A True Story About How NOT To Prepare For/Deliver An Important Presentation)

October 26, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 1 Comment

The lessons I share in this article are based mainly on a true-life experience I had, in 1997, at the age of 27. I was delivering a management research paper at the National Finals of the (now repackaged) Young Managers Competition, organized by the Nigerian Institute of Management(NIM). I provide graphic details of how my inexperience made me take certain important preparatory steps for granted.

You will learn how that eventually led to a botched presentation that earned me considerable embarrassment, and a 5th place position that I would have bettered on a good day.

Ironically, the “equivalent benefit” of that adverse experience came to my rescue about 5 years later (in 2002) – during my first year in self-employment as a Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist.

Then I used the lessons from my failed presentation to deliver a successful presentation at the Center for Management Development(CMD). This, despite being told midway through my presentation to finish in one (1) instead of two(2) hours. And in spite of the fact that a power cut occurred that forced me to fall back on my printed speaker notes to finish my presentation.

Read this article. It provides a comprehensive summary of useful learning points, and also offers very practical ideas about what can go wrong. Plus, how you can improvise to STILL deliver a successful presentation.

Background: It all began in November 1997, while I was observing my annual leave from work(as a 27 year old brewer in Guinness Benin Brewery)

After coming across the call for entries in a national daily, I wrote and entered a paper titled “Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Target Setting” for the 1997 edition of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s Young Manager’s Competition.

Invitation letter - After coming across the call for entries in a national daily, I wrote and entered a paper titled "Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Target Setting" for the 1997 edition of the Nigerian Institute of Management's Young Manager's Competition. — Invitation letter – After coming across the call for entries in a national daily, I wrote and entered a paper titled “Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Target Setting” for the 1997 edition of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s Young Manager’s Competition.

The paper was based on work I had done(mostly in my free time) in setting up various process control/reports computerization systems in departments(Production/Brewing and Packaging/Bottling) where I worked.

The paper discussed the use of CUSUM(Cumulative Sum Deviation) charts, and other simple Statistical Process Control(SPC) tools that I had used in real-life projects I had carried out at various times during the course of the year(1997).

Entry form for the competetion - inside — Entry form for the competition – inside

Entry form for the competetion - outer side — Entry form for the competition – outer side

One of them was ” Total Waste Unaccounted For(TWUF)™” – a statistical process control index I developed by myself…

Regarding TWUF™, I had returned to the brewing department from another secondment as Packaging Shift Manager to the Packaging (bottling) department in February 1997, when I was recalled on the request of the Packaging Manager – Alex Okorodudu.

He asked me to carry out a beer waste investigation on one of the bottling lines.

In the course of that investigation, I developed the concept of TWUF™, which through mass balancing made it possible to quantify beer losses that could not be traced to a known waste point.

Eventually, I used TWUF™ to identify the startup and shutdown operations at the bottle filler machine as being responsible for creating an apparent(i.e. false) beer waste situation. Modification of the mentioned filler procedures led to an immediate normalization of waste values recorded.

I intend to publish a formal paper on TWUF in a few weeks from now. It’s a concept that can be used in ANY process.

You can read my article titled “Achieve Recognition and Attract Career Advancement Opportunities By Being A Change Agent” to learn how I used my knowledge of these tools to influence positive changes in the workplace.

Deciding To Enter For The Competition…& Getting Approval From Management…

My decision to enter for the NIM competition was influenced by a need I felt, to share the experiences I had gained in the practical application of statistical tools for useful purposes in a business.

Prior to entering that paper for the competition, I had given out copies of it to senior managers in the company’s Lagos office, like Alistair Reid(then Operations Manager, Lagos), and Abiola Popoola(Head of Human Resources).

Apart from seeking their input, I did this to get their consent and be sure it was okay to use the company information I had included.

Important Note. If you plan on using any data from your current workplace in an activity outside the company, it is imperative that you consult competent officers of the company to advise you on how to go about doing it. Play safe by getting the responsible person(s) to give you the go-ahead, before you send out any information or material regarding the company’s activities. That way, you are unlikely to make the mistake of giving out sensitive information that could get you into trouble.

You may not have plans to enter a paper for a competition like I did, but you might want to send out an article for publication in a newspaper or other media.

Check with those concerned to be sure that all you have put into your write-up is “safe for public consumption”.

Presenting The Paper At The Zonal Finals In Ibadan, Oyo State

On 15th November 1997, I presented my paper before a packed audience in Kakanfo Inn (Ibadan, Oyo State) at the Western Zonal finals. By the end of the day, I was announced as runner up, which meant that I had qualified for the Lagos national finals along with the winner of the zonal competition.

Looking back, I recall feeling very confident during the delivery of my paper on that day.

Not long after I resumed work from my annual leave, I informed my boss – Greg Udeh – of my outing at the NIM zonals, and the fact that I would have to travel to attend the National Finals in Lagos.

He was naturally pleased to learn of my initial achievement at the zonals and the next day, announced my achievement at the brewery meeting for departmental heads.

I soon found myself – midway through conversations – getting asked about the competition and being wished best of luck etc. Maybe all that attention got to me, and made me “forget” to at least mentally rehearse my presentation.

Traveling from Guinness Benin Brewery, in Benin City, Edo State to Lagos For The National Finals

Due to limited number of brewers available that day, I had to cover afternoon shift duty on Friday (2.00pm till 9.00pm) before I could take off on my journey to Lagos.

It was nobody’s fault really – just one of those unexpected developments that shift workers have to deal with.

The finals were scheduled to hold from 9.00am prompt on the morning of Saturday December 13th 1997. So I knew I had to get into Lagos before 7.00am, in order to pick up a cab in time to reach the Victoria Island “Management House” of the NIM – venue of the finals.

Within thirty minutes of arriving at the ever busy Benin city’s Iyaro motor park, the Peugeot station wagon I boarded took off with six passengers for Lagos.

This was at about 10.30pm(Yes – at night).

Some four hours later, we arrived at Ojota park in Lagos. All the cabs and buses had retired for the day by this time(this was approx 2.30am Saturday morning)

So there was nothing else to do but plead with a taxi driver to let me catch up on some sleep in the passenger front seat of his cab.

Suddenly I heard the loud chanting of a bus conductor calling passengers for Palmgrove.

The time was about 5.45 am.

I quickly thanked my “sleeping companion” and picked up a taxi heading towards Pedro/Shomolu. Arriving at my parent’s house in Gbagada Estate, I hurriedly took a shower, changed my clothes, and explaining to my surprised mother that I had little time left, jumped back into the taxi, which sped off towards Victoria Island.

At about 7.30 am, the taxi dropped me off in front of the NIM Management house on Idowu Taylor street.

Feeling relieved, I quickly went in and confirmed that start time was 9.00am. That was when it dawned on me that I had not eaten anything since the night before.

One of the security men at the gate kindly directed me to a “quick-snacks corner”, where I “quickly” downed some, with a bottle of soft drink.

Returning to the NIM premises, I found a place to sit that enabled me observe preparations being made for commencement, while I opened my folder and began studying the paper copies of my presentation (projector) transparencies.

Presenting At The Lagos Finals – The Unthinkable Happens!

Not long after, following some welcome speeches/opening remarks and introductions, the competition commenced.

When the 3rd (of eight) finalists – Mitchell O. Elegbe – finished presenting his paper (titled “Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Information Technology In Emerging Economies”), I heard my name being announced. Minutes later, I was standing in front of the packed auditorium introducing my self and paper.

Based on hindsight, I now realize that the unavailability of a projector at the zonal finals (which caused the organizers to ask us to dispense with our transparencies and speak freely referring to any speaker notes we had) probably blinded me to the need to rehearse for the National finals with a projector.

As “luck” would have it, the projectors had been made available at the National Finals and I found myself having to pause intermittently to slot in the appropriate slide for the next set of points I wanted to make.

This went well initially, but since I had not really taken time to rehearse since the zonals, especially following from the fact that I had found no need to use the slides back then, I struggled quite a bit.

I cannot be certain, but it is possible that THAT also contributed to my not thinking “clearly” when I later experienced a little setback during the presentation.

To cut the long story short, about ten (10) minutes through my presentation, I turned to pick a slide containing charted data depicting the use of the CUSUM concept, but found it was missing.

Feeling my heart skip a beat, I lifted the other slides up by the edges to see if the CUSUM chart was there but it was not.

Speaking into the microphone, I apologized to the puzzled audience, explaining that I was missing a slide. One of the judges, after some seconds had passed, said “Mr Solagbade, your time is fast running out”.

I nodded, but kept on looking – convinced I could still find it in enough time to use it and finish the presentation!

Unfortunately when it was about 1 minute left (out of the 15 minutes allowed) I still could not find it. I had wanted so badly to impress the judges and audience like I had done at the zonals, that I could not help feeling at this point, that the mishap would have killed any chance I had of getting anything better than last place!

I felt so bad about my blunder, that I declined to take up an offer from the judges to allow me three(3) extra minutes to do a decent round up of my presentation.

Instead, I told the audience – in a very serious tone – that I was convinced the paper had a lot of useful information for companies in the manufacturing industry.

Then I encouraged them to take time to visit the NIM library and read through it in future.

Dropping the microphone, I returned to my seat as muffled applause/murmuring from the audience continued.

Surprise! Despite My Blunder, I Still Get Placed 5th Overall

But I was in for a shocked when the judges announced the final results later in the day.

They pointed out that the verbal presentation(which I had flunked) only carried 20% of total marks, while paper’s “quality” carried 80%!

However, before they announced the results, they also read out other criteria for rating the contestants, one of which they defined as “the confidence demonstrated by a contestant in his/her paper”.

Looking back, I believe it was the confidence with which I had recommended my paper to the audience, that led the judges to award me enough points to place 5th, despite my bungled presentation.

So it happened, that despite an aborted presentation, my paper which was adjudged to be of high standard (with the concept of Total Waste Unaccounted For – TWUF™ – being singled out for mention) eventually placed me 5th out of eight(8) finalists.

Speech and announcement of winners by a management representatieve of the sponsoring company - makers of NESCAFE...I think NESTLE. — Speech and announcement of winners by a management representatieve of the sponsoring company – makers of NESCAFE…I think NESTLE.

Dignitaries present (and I think the judges too)

As the results were being announced, my mind went back to what one of the judges had said to me during lunch after the last contestant – Friday E. Eboh – had completed his presentation(titled “Public Relations In Management: Issues and Challenges”).

He had said “Solagbade, you should have simply continued with your presentation when you could not find the slide quickly enough. You were doing well up to that point, and to be honest, I don’t think anyone would have noticed if you did not show THAT particular slide.” I realized he was right. I alone knew the slide existed – they did not! So, if I had chosen to skip it during my presentation, they would not have known better!

I learnt a painful but useful lesson that day, to always rehearse my presentation well ahead of time, no matter how well I think I know it.

The experience also impressed upon me, the importance of running through a checklist of all the items I need to take with me for a presentation so as to avoid missing out any important ones – like I did the CUSUM charts slide.

Final positions of the contestants at the National Finals

Finalists - we took a picture together at the request of the media photographers who were present, AFTER the event ended. — Finalists – we took a picture together at the request of the media photographers who were present, AFTER the event ended.

Back At Work – A Senior Manager Tells Me Where I Went Wrong

When I returned to work the following week, I sent a little note about the outcome of the finals to one of the senior executives in Lagos: Ian Hamilton – who had been particularly supportive.

In it, I told how bad I felt for not having done better etc. He sent back a post-it note attached to my note, on which he wrote:

“Tayo, 5th place overall in NIgeria! You should be proud of yourself “

Then regarding the mishap during my presentation, which betrayed inadequate “practice” on my part, he wrote: “Even the members of the (Guinness) board rehearse their presentations many times before they have to deliver them!”

I took his correction to heart and used it to drive myself to become proficient in delivering presentations subsequently.

I believe an indication of how proficient I had become was evident during a presentation I was invited to deliver at the Center for Management Development, in Lagos.

This event took place in September 2002, about 9 months after I had voluntarily resigned my appointment with Guinness to go into business for myself. (Read my article Should You Quit Your Job Or Start Your Business Part-Time? to learn why I decided to quit my job despite the promise of a bright career future in the company.)

On that day, less than 15 minutes after I was introduced/began delivering my paper, the following happened within about 5 minutes of each other:

a. The center’s Training Manager slipped me a note asking that I “Please finish in 1 hour” (instead of the two hours I had been originally told I would be making the presentation in).

b. An electric power cut suddenly occurred!

Both potentially disturbing/unexpected “changes” however did not bother me.

When the lights of the PC projector went out that afternoon in the CMD’s main auditorium, I was fully prepared in every way.

I simply picked up the printed power point speaker notes I had put on the table while preparing to start my talk, and flipped to the page containing the points I was making before the lights went out.

Then, after making a joke about the loss of power supply – continued, and eventually concluded, my presentation well within the revised one hour time slot.

At the end of the day, over 100 attendees who returned my speaker feedback form to me, scored me an average rating of approximately 4.0 (on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 = Excellent).

Three of the many notable comments on speaker evaluation feedback forms returned to me by members of the audience read as follows:

—————————————-

“Good insight for the much needed human revolution to drive creativity in this nation”

Oma Williams O.W. – Director, Center For Management Development, Lagos.

“A very worthwhile exercise. The package can however be improved by making it organization specific”

C. I. Okeke – AD/Research & Consulting, Center For Management Development, Lagos.

“The Speaker, Mr. Solagbade is an authority in his field. The Speaker is an achiever who is able to carry his audience along with him in his message/speech”

Confidential Secretary, Center For Management Development, Lagos.

—————————————-

Letter of Appreciation from the Center for Management Development (in response to one that I sent them AFTER the event).

Useful Lessons You Can Take Away

Choosing to go for this competition enabled me connect with top managers in my workplace, on an informal level – and I got noticed/establish potentially useful relationships. If nothing else, my actions got them thinking of me positively, and probably played a role in many career advancement opportunities that later got sent my way.

Another benefit was that I got considerable attention across the brewery for getting that far in the competition. All of these would have made me get noticed by a larger number of decision makers – which would NOT have been the case if I had not gone for that competition.

I say the foregoing in light of the fact for instance, that a year later, in 1998, I would be nominated twice – first time for four weeks, and the next time ten weeks – to relieve the substantive Technical Training & Development Manager(TTDM) – on a management grade one-step above that which I belonged to.

The point I have tried to make above, is that you can intelligently create opportunities to showcase your unique abilities to decision makers, by engaging in activities that afford you the desired exposure.

However, it might be wise not to make impressing your superiors the main objective of venturing into such an activity as the one I took up for instance.

Towards improving your presentation skills, and taking needed actions/precautions, you may find the following lessons I learnt of some use:

1. Get Adequate Pre-Presentation Time:

I should have sought the support of my boss/brewery management to get away from work earlier so as to be able to travel for the event and arrive on time. This might have helped to get myself organized and I could have discovered the absence of the slide BEFORE the presentation.

2. Practice, Practice, Practice!

I would have fared better if I had made conscious effort to rehearse my presentation well ahead of the finals. The achieved familiarity with my presentation might have made me more confident to carry on despite being unable to find the slide.

3. Coaching Tips From Experienced Others:

I could have sought tips about handling hitches or problems during presentations. Experienced speakers – like many of the company’s senior executives may have been able to share their personal ideas about how to prepare with me.

Some may have prompted me to be ready for when things go wrong – drawing on their personal experiences.

For instance, today, if I have to coach anyone on making presentations, one of the most important topics I would cover is “What Can Go Wrong, And What You Can Do – In spite Of Setback(s) – To Ensure You Still Deliver A Good Presentation“.

4. Quitters NEVER Win:

If I had remained calm, and carried on with my presentation without letting on that something was wrong, I could probably have earned enough additional points to eventually do much better than winning 5th place.

Instead I let myself get upset upon discovering that my slide was missing.

You will want to avoid making the same mistake if/when you find yourself in a similar situation.

Final Words: Adversity ALWAYS Comes With Benefits …Which We Can Harvest If We Pay Attention!

Overcoming temporary defeat(i.e. failure) or adversity; recovering from setbacks, or correcting and learning from mistakes we make, will ALWAYS make us improve in our abilities to do what we do.

It is for this reason that I end this article by saying:

Even if you DO have a bad presentation outing, know that the experience presents you with a potential learning opportunity to become BETTER at delivering presentations.

Simply make up your mind to identify where you went wrong, and learn what you need to do differently in future, to make your presentation successful.

Do this as/when necessary, and you will eventually achieve your desired goal of being able to deliver successful presentations repeatedly and consistently.

Good luck!

PS: This article is based on excerpts from a write up first publshed online – in April 2006 – by Tayo K. Solagbade, via www.spontaneousdevelopment.com (his former 9 year old primary domain) and later on Ezinearticles.com.

General, Writing/Blogging

Can Competitors Trick Google Into Penalizing Your Website Wrongfully?

October 23, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Can a competitor (e.g. the “friendly” chap next door, who just launched a similar outfit to yours) harm your website or blog rankings using the rules set by Google and other engines? If you said NO, you’re in danger of getting a rude shock one of these days, because it could just happen to you.

The Internet generally provides a level playing field for competition to happen. Those who use it must however play by the rules for the benefits to be consistent.

A good example is the very important matter of achieving search engine visibility. Too many occurrences of manipulation by naughty SEO specialists have recently created the need for an overhaul of search algorithms used.

Sadly, Innocent High Quality Content Websites – Like YOURS – Can Now Get Wrongly Penalized!

With Google’s Panda (content quality) and Penguin (links quality) algorithm updates, so much has changed in terms of what works in getting a website to appear on Search Engine Results Pages(SERPs).

Websites that used to dominate top positions in first pages of search results now languish way down on other pages.

But the annoying thing – and my reason for writing this piece – is that not all of those websites are guilty of wrong doing. This implies that other innocent high quality content websites are probably getting hurt too!

This has led me to a conclusion that may be at variance with what so-called experts will say about SEO that: No one really knows what will happen next. No one is really sure what will continue to work and what will not. NOT EVEN THE EXPERTS! The only people who seem to be able to consistently make headway towards their own goals these days, seem to be those willing to break the rules as they are re-written by Google!!

And this is why (if you are not already aware) I’d like to impress upon you the importance of dedicating quality time, effort and resources to monitoring your website.

Monitor your web logs etc to see what’s being done by “visitors” who stop over. Also stay on top of what’s happening in terms of back links to your website: This is important because Google now ranks websites based on the perceived quality of websites linking back to your website.

Why It CAN Happen To Anyone – Even YOU!

Can you imagine what would happen if someone got say hundreds of porn (and similar low quality) websites to link back to different pages on YOUR website? (Keep in mind that you would NOT be aware this was happening.)

Actually, don’t bother to imagine it. It’s already happening. In other words, Google’s efforts to punish bad guys (the ones I call SEO Provider Scoundrels) has created a line of business for them called NEGATIVE SEO!

And some dirty minded business owners do not mind hiring such individuals to apply negative SEO techniques against their competitors. But these guys may not even need to get hired to implement negative SEO against a client’s competitor.

I have a hunch that they profit from doing it in other ways:

For instance, they could choose a specific website or blog to DO IT to, and let the drop in search engine visibility persist for a while. Then they would contact the owner to offer their paid services in helping to get into the top of SERPs. Sound unbelievable? I say, you never know! Anyway, it’s a theory I have. I cannot prove it. But careful reflection on my recent experiences suggests I could be right.

NB: Those I believe operate in the above manner typically send their offers via gmail and yahoo email addresses, and NEVER offer a website address you can check them out on. But better established providers who lack ethical restraint could also choose play dirty out of greed.

But you could ask, “Why would ANYONE want to do that to MY website? After all, I haven’t done anything to offend anyone!”

My response: In a recent post titled “Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance” (see item no. 2) I mentioned that my website has already been a victim of negative SEO. And I’ve been forced to embark on specific corrective measures prescribed in certain quarters. Hopefully, by the time you read the rest of this piece, you’ll have learnt why it CAN happen to you, and that if it does, it won’t be about YOU!

Preventive Steps You Can Take

Like I stated earlier, I honestly do not believe anyone knows exactly what to do to achieve consistently stable visibility under the new search engine dispensation.

I’ve done a lot of reading up on this subject. At the end of this piece there’s a list of hyperlinked articles and blog posts that you can explore for further reading.

The strategies I outline below (based on my research) have stood the test of time as valuable ways to simultaneously win share of mind, and attract search engine “favour”. You therefore have more to gain, than lose, by putting them to use – like I’m doing already

I believe it is reasonable to expect that a competitor or two may decide they need to "fight" you for search engine visibility. Some may choose to fight dirty. Others may not.

Whatever happens, be prepared to defend your turf.

1. Aggressively Create Quality Content

Aim to establish yours as an authority website/blog via aggressive content creation and multiple back links building on high profile websites in your niche or market. That will minimize any negative SEO impact.

If competitors who turn to Negative SEO lack in-house expertise, they’ll outsource to SEO Provider Scoundrels – and most of the latter can be quite cheap.

So, you must commit to a rigorous new content publishing schedule by way of new posts/articles, videos, slideshows, special reports, white paper, and even pod casts.

Believe me when I say your creativity/passion is crucial to defeating negative SEO!

Everything I say here is from personal experience. Resolve to turn your website or blog into a relentless content publishing machine that Google and other engines will be unable to resist – even if negative SEO is done by competitors. Work hard at it now, and you’ll be able to rest easy later

I now publish at least ONE new post per day on my blog – apart from my weekly newsletter on Public Speaking Ideas. My email subscription rates, website traffic have grown over time as a result. And that’s apart from sales leads for products I offer.

A minimum of one 500 to 1,500 word quality content article per week is good. But MUCH MORE (like four per week) can dramatically attract useful interest from people and friendly search engine bots!

Decide who’s going to be responsible for researching new topics or for publishing content on your website or blog. Your posts or articles, as mentioned above, must capture the attention and interest of potential clients.

Without good quality new content produced regularly, this strategy may not work for you.

Work towards achieving "critical mass” to feed the search engines with good "index-able" material. The results won’t happen overnight, so you must apply tenacity.

2. Diligent Search Engine Optimisation & Backlinks Building

Proper keyword research, and use of meta tag descriptions can get your website/blog found/visited by more of your target audience. Backlink profile building is also another. As you successfully guest post on decent ranking websites, your domain’s backlinks status will be further enhanced. Quality content will also eventually get other sites to link to your posts or pages on their own, over time.

Google’s webmaster tools offer a useful starting point to coordinate your efforts. Do a search to learn how to carry out keyword research. Then apply what you learn to publishing new content on your website and/or blog.

Make sure to read the most recent articles that come up in your searches to be sure you are up to date. I used to be lazy about this before, because I saw a trend in which it seemed not to make much difference for small players.

But with recent developments from Google and others, keyword research has become much more influential in dictating where one ends up in search results. One hint I’ve gotten is to find a niche that’s not as actively competed for, as others, and dominate it.

Search engine results are not static. The reality is that you’ll continually have to work hard to maintain your position or improve on it for keywords you choose. It’s a learning process. But like any other skill, if you keep at it long enough, you’ll get the hang of it.

If/When You Discover Negative SEO Against You

We all hope to be spared the agony of this nasty experience. But just in case it does happen (and with the due diligence advocated, you should detect it early enough), here’s one powerful step you can take where it matters most i.e. with the search engines:

Use the DISAVOW services provided by Bing.com, and more recently (due to popular demand) by Google.com.

Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others) – No. 3 of 4

October 20, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 8 Comments

This is the third post in the series I began on the 6th October 2012. The first post argued that you need to determine if your blog needs comments to succeed – instead of worrying about what others say. Note that I refer specifically to blogging for business purposes, with emphasis on earning income via sales of products and services.

**********

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Post 1: Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments?
Post 2: Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself)
Post 3: Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others)

TO GET THE NOTIFICATION IN YOUR E-MAIL CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY MAILING LIST (You get multiple gifts – instantly!)

**********

Introduction – WordPress Third Party Plugins

After you’ve decided on whether or not comments can help your blog succeed, you need a reliable means of measuring its "success". In this third post, I review six performance indicators that you can consider.

I love WordPress because of the elaborate array of third party plugins that developers continually create (in free and paid versions), to enhance its features and functions. The six potentially useful performance indicators I will be discussing can be easily monitored using nifty plugins available online from a variety of developers.

You just choose the one that suits your needs best. Be sure to check for compatibility with your WordPress blog version. Also make sure there are reliable reviews/ratings to indicate it delivers what it promises. And that the developer offers active support to address user problems – even if for a fee.

A visit to the WordPress plugins directory will get you started in your search. Note that in using any of the plugins mentioned in this post, you will be acting on your own conviction. Nothing I say here can be taken to be an endorsement or recommendation. Your due diligence is therefore advised and encouraged!

1. Comments

This multi-post series arose from a need to determine if the presence or absence of comments on a blog was a significant indication of performance in any way.

What answers did you settle on for the questions posed in my second post? It they indicate that comments provide a reliable measure of goals attainment for your blog, then you will want to track relevant comments related statistics over time.

For instance, number of comments per post would be a useful stat to track. Measuring the "quality" of comments would also be useful, where relevant. But the question of HOW to measure it would present a bit of a challenge! However, it’s up to you to find a way to do that, or develop relevant alternatives e.g.via a sticky comments plugin.

Plugins exist to record/report total comments and ratings per post, for instance. The more comments (and say the higher the number of facebook likes e.g. via a Facebook comments for wordpress plugin) – by readers – of the posts on your blog, the better the blog would be doing – in theory anyway. However, that could depend on whether you’ve already established that blog comments have a significant impact on your blog’s ability to succeed.

Many plugins exist for managing blog comments. A plugin that reports the Most Commented Posts can be useful to have. So would a Threaded Comments Numbering plugin.

2. Blog Traffic (Incl. Number of Returning Visitors and/or Hits Per Visitor)

Traffic to your blog should also be a useful performance measure. You can track and use it as a guide to decide what content type to produce more or less of, to move faster towards your goal.

Again plugins abound to automatically generate relevant stats for this parameter. The one I use comes pre-installed as a " Statistics" widget by default in WordPress. It displays a report panel on the side banner showing daily, weekly, monthly summaries; total posts and other stats. For now, this plugin serves my purpose. So, I do not see any reason why I should go hunting for any other.

Traffic stats can give you a decent impression of the progress (or otherwise) of your blog. It can also be useful to monitor stats for number of returning visitors which is used by the statistics widget I mentioned above to compute number of hits per visitor in a day, week or month. Returning visitors are a useful measure of your blog’s ability to build a loyal readership. The higher that value is, the better your blog is performing in this regard.

When I started with this new blog back in mid-June, I recall seeing about 50 visits per day – sometimes much less. Now I get as high as 490 to 800 per day.

(This is in spite (or even because?) of distinct Negative SEO activity I recently discovered to be targetted at this domain – more on this in a future post.)

I’ve also noticed that the nmber of views per post fluctuate based on the blog post topics. Indeed, I have found that most of the posts in which I told true stories quite often attract MUCH higher views than all the others.

This trend is replicated on my Public Speaking IDEAS blog – which happens not to be WordPress based. (It was recently the victim of a hacker attack, and I’m now planning to integrate its future content into this SD Nuggets blog, under the already existing "Public Speaking" category. More on that in the near future).

3. Bounce Rate and Number of Views Per Post

It’s great to see traffic. But you need to know what happens AFTER they get to your blog.

The "bounce rate" is a good measure. Estimates I’ve come across suggest that blogs generally have about 75% bounce rate – and that you can aim for 20% reductions by making effort to setup your blog and create content in a way that draws visitors in, so they do not exit from the same page they come in.

One thing on this: I like to drill down and analyze data trends, so as to make better sense of them. The blog type comes to play here again – in a powerful way. A news service blog is likely to maintain fairly high bounce rates even after it puts in measures to increase visitor time spent. And that’s because majority of people can follow a specific news headline, and once they’ve read it may not stay around to see what else there is to offer.

Some would. But a larger majority of web users are "click-happy" and often in a hurry to move on (or back) to others things they had their minds on BEFORE the news item caught their attention.

However, for other blog types, efforts to create interesting content that’s relevant to the post being read by the visitor can produce useful results. This blog for instance has benefitted from my installation of a plugin ( wp-category-posts-list plugin) early this week. That plugin now automatically displays a list of additional posts from the same category as the one being viewed by the visitor. This increases the chances that s/he will get drawn to read MORE of the other posts from the same category.

Over time, this is likely to produce a drop in bounce rate, and an increase in time spent on the blog per visitor.

The need to introduce this feature became apparent when I used hitsniffer. There was a distinct trend in which when I added consecutive posts from the same category, they seemed to get viewed in succession by visitors. On the other hand, when I posted one post per category in succession, visitors tended to leave from the same post that they arrived on.

The value to be had from tracking views per post are obvious. I actually consider this more important as a performance measure than traffic in a way. It tells you WHAT your visitors show a preference for in terms of your post topics, titles or themes.

That makes it easier for you to instantly see where they went in terms of posts viewed. Apart from a general interest in reading "stories" (no surprises there), I have also discovered a distinct interest shown by my visitors in subjects relating to handling clients or dealing with client issues.

I’ll be tracking the bounce rate and number of views per post over the next two weeks to see if there’s a marked improvement.

4. E-mail Subscription Rates and RSS Feed Size

These two parameters have to be monitored together. Again, it depends on your blog type. But generally it helps to provide an email subscription form on your blog. Offer latest update notifications to those who signup. Entice them to give up their email addresses in exchange for some useful gift e.g. an e-book that offers them good value.

NB: I’ve found the MaxBlogPress Optin Form Adder Widget to have amazing integration capabilities on my blog. It directly links a signup form to my website contact form script, while presenting my "offers" on every post/page (based on my specifications) to the visitor. All in pretty HTML format I have control over.

People like to stay in touch with developments on a blog that offers content they find appealing. They want to get more of that content. That will make them look around on your blog for the signup form or RSS feed link. Don’t make those tools hard to find!

You will gain subscribers over time. And you will definitely lose some via attrition. It’s a natural process that will happen – no matter how awesome you are. People will get bored or have a change of preference or interest, and choose to unsubscribe. What is important is that you keep generating new content to attract more subscribers than you lose. That way, your list grows.

And that list CAN be "mined" for useful financial returns later on. As I emphasized in the first post, that is the preferred measure of success I’m looking at in this series (I discuss this along with other ideas, next week, in my fourth and final post).

You need to keep in mind, that some visitors will however prefer to receive your content through the less intrusive RSS feed. As a result they might skip subscribing to your email list. That implies you will not gain access to their email in boxes. But they will receive your blog posts.

Feedburner offers useful variations to their default feed service that allow you to capture email addresses from your feed subscribers. You may wish to check it out.

Whatever happens, your best bet here will be to track stats for both email subscription (using a reliable mailing list management system) and RSS feed size (feedburner automatically generates this value for you).

Important Note: Beware of the danger of focussing on more obvious performance indicators to the exclusion of more subtle, yet equally, if not more powerful ones. I recall reading a list ranking top blogs in which some of those featured tended to have relatively unimpressive Alexa traffic stats .

This grossly understated the huge following they enjoyed in form of hundreds of thousands of RSS feed subscribers (some up to 500k!). Without access to this less obvious but very important latter measure of performance, a casual observer would have concluded those blogs were not doing as well as others boasting more impressive traffic stats (Subscriptions rank greater in terms of potential value compared to traffic).

5. Volume/Type Of Contact Form Enquiries

This can be a useful indicator of sales leads generation by your blog – depending on the content/subject of the enquiries, and of course the sender. But it’s relevance may also depend on what kind of blog you run (see the second post in this series). Sometimes your blog might attract persons offering to sell YOU a product or service, more often than it generates queries from potential buyers! That said, you should explore ways to make more of the latter happen, as often as possible.

One good way would be to include calls to action for as many of your products or services as may be relevant to each post a visitor reads. I have had noticeable jumps in web form enquiries whenever I’ve done this. And it’s a continuous process – with constant testing and tweaking required, until you arrive at an optimal rate of return.

I use the extremely flexible Contact Form 7 and it has served me quite well. It comes with a feature that enables you create fully customized forms, with ability to indentify the page they were submitted from. This guides you to measure the leads generation capacity of the different pages on your blog that you place the form. That way, you know what works and can then work towards getting better results.

Fourth and Final Post: Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit – Coming on Saturday 27th October 2012

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Post 1: Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments?
Post 2: Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself)
Post 3: Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others)

Post 4(Final): Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit

TO GET THE NOTIFICATION IN YOUR E-MAIL CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY MAILING LIST (You get multiple gifts – instantly!)

Writing/Blogging

Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself) – No. 2 of 4

October 13, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 2 Comments

This is the second post in the series I began last week. The first post titled " Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments? argued that you need to determine if your blog needs comments to succeed – instead of worrying about what others say. Note that I refer specifically to blogging for business purposes, with emphasis on earning income via sales of products and services.

In this second post, I suggest you find your own answers to the following five questions, to help you decide if your blog needs comments to succeed.

1. Will Comments Help You Achieve Your Performance Goals?

As already stated, I’m talking blogging as a strategy to facilitate earning financially rewarding returns for products and service you offer. Traditional indices for measuring business progress apply here. Marketplace name/brand recognition, leads generation, and sales are examples.

If getting blog comments will significantly improve the results you record for the above indices, then it could mean your blog needs them to succeed.

2. What Is Your Target Audience’s Preference?

Is your target audience the openly "chatty" kind? Or are they mostly people who prefer not to be visible (even though they appreciate the content your “serve”)?

The latter usually favour communicating less publicly e.g. via email or phone. Examples are corporate types in sensitive positions who need your "consulting" know how to enhance their work performance. But they do not wish to draw undue attention to themselves, or their employers, by engaging you "publicly".

Your answer(s) will influence your decision about how to “chase” comments.

Defining your target audience profile is a basic requirement in business. Even if you’re not worried about comments, you need to do this. It will guide you in creating new, targetted content to attract pre-qualified prospects traffic.

In addition, knowledge of your target audience can help you decide how to present your sales offers. People react to being sold differently. Also, what you’re selling may sometmes influence how you sell.

Once you understand your audience, you’ll have a feel for how best to engage them. Of course there will always be need to try new things, and even test old ones, to ensure you’re getting the best possible results.

The above reasoning applies to comments as well.

3. How Are Other Blogs (In Your Niche) Doing With Comments?

Study other blogs in your chosen niche. Take care to ensure you’re comparing like with like. Otherwise, you’re likely to arrive at misleading impressions.

Who are the owners?

If the blog you are comparing yours with, is owned by a celebrity of some sort, be careful. What you see may not represent a normal situation. Except of course you’re one as well (in which case I’d be truly at a loss as to why you’d possibly need to read this post!)

How long have the other blogs been around?

An older blog may have started out with "quiet" followers who over time became clients/customer via sales facilitated by email and telephone interaction.The owner may then have over time subtly used the established trust to encourage them to comment visibly on the blog. Even then, comments volume on this kind of blog may still be low – though possibly high quality in nature.

Now, even if you find blogs in your niche boasting volumes of comments, you still need to ascertain IF (and how) getting those comments benefits them.

If "popularity" or the impression of "busy-ness " is the main benefit they seem to be getting from having many comments, you should pass!

4. What Will Managing Comments Cost You?

Your answer to this will depends on the kind of work you do. Like I said earlier, some people (me, for example) run blogs to complement other marketing they do both on and off the web. Some may lack time that can be devoted to managing high volume of comments, if such a situation develops.

The above becomes pertinent in light of a "rule" in the blogosphere that recommends responding to every comment posted – to at least say "thanks!".

Doing so can however become a demanding maintenance chore at some point, especially if/when comments volume grows. For those with other legitimate business building tasks to attend to, a conflict emerges about how to prioritize.

If blog comments do not directly generate a potentially beneficial return for you, managing them becomes a productivity drain you can do without.

You could of course hire someone to do it…but that option would only be viable, if the cost of doing so, can be justified by the ROI you expect to reap.

If Steve Pavlina’s published reasons for closing comments on his site some time ago are anything to go by, you’ll probably want to think carefully over this one!

5. Will Comments On Your Blog Be (Directly or Indirectly) Cashable?

Can you set your blog up in a way that attracts visitors to post (a) request for your order page URL or account details to make payment or (b) testimonials/useful buying advice for other intending buyers? If YES, then comments on your blog could be considered “cashable”.

I recently visited a popular expert’s blog, and noticed something like the above. Some visitors posted enquiries that prompted him to insert a link to his book’s sales page, or to recommend they signup for a paid consultation or coaching.

Interestingly, others who followed read the earlier entries, and promptly commented that they would also be registering for the expert’s coaching or buying his books. In this case, the commenting system inadvertently facilitated sales for the blog’s owner. Whether you can reliably control the outcome of that process on your blog is, of course, an entirely different matter!

Final Words

At the end of the day, it’s really all about strategy. Technology was made for us, and not the other way round. We just need to establish what works for us. So, think carefully about what you currently offer (or plan to) on your blog, based on this post’s five questions. Then decide how comments fit into the picture.

Next Post: Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others) – Coming on Saturday 20th October 2012

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

TO GET THE NOTIFICATION IN YOUR E-MAIL CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY MAILING LIST (You get multiple gifts – instantly!)

Tayo earns multiple streams of income providing clients with personal development training/coaching, custom MS Excel-VB solutions, web marketing systems, freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners).

Writing/Blogging

Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments? – No. 1 of 4

October 6, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 2 Comments

This is a potentially controversial topic, going by the trends in discussions I’ve come across on a number of blogs. Some bloggers argue that a blog without comments might as well be dead. Another group points out that many excellent content blogs go for weeks with few or no comments. And yet, the owners get quality engagement and more importantly, sales through them!

Views on this subject can be fairly wide ranging, and in some cases extremely polarized. I know this, because I have spent weeks sorting through threads discussing this subject. And I have encountered compelling arguments for and against.

However, despite reading those different perspectives, my views on the subject remain the same. And I have felt this way from the day I launched my first attempt at a blog back in 2009. My thinking derives from over 7 years of monitoring statistics for my web marketing efforts (more on this).

IMORTANT NOTE: This is the first in a multiple post series. I decided it would be impractical to try covering everything in one post. There are different perspectives. And this is why many people struggle to decide what to think or do. So, I aim to end up with a comprehensive “guide” to help interested blog owners decide if their kind of blog needs (or does not need) comments to succeed – and steps to take in either case.

Not Everyone Needs Blog Comments To Succeed!

Yes. That’s my view. And it’s based on my personal observations – guided by data evidence. The operative words here are need and succeed. You can want comments – maybe so you can be like other blogs and brag about your large active "community"

But you may not need comments on your blog to achieve success at it (read: financial success – especially)!

It’s important to make this distinction. People sometimes get focussed on the wrong goals. That can lead to needless waste of time, effort and even money. We’re talking blogging by results focussed business persons here, and not people on ego trips, who want to look/feel good. The former usually want results in form of sales and quality leads. So, some sell direct advert space while others use Google adwords. Another group sells services and products. While for others, a mix of different strategies works best.

But not all of these blogs will be better able to achieve their goals, if they get a large volume of blog comments – no matter how interesting!

It does not matter what industry you serve. As long as you blog with a business (especially income earning) focus in mind, then what I’m saying here applies to you.

So, let me repeat myself: No matter what anyone says, the FACT remains that not every blog will need comments to succeed (especially financially).

How Can I Be So Sure?

For a start, many online arguments I’ve found not to be in support of chasing blog comments (during my online research), do not exactly oppose placing importance on getting them either. They simply challenge the blog owner to look carefully at choosing the right metrics for evaluating his/her blog’s performance.

And that assessment would have to be done with the desired business GOAL of the blog owner in mind. So, if getting more comments moves you closer to your blogging goal, then by all means do what you can to get more (ethically of course – more on this). Otherwise, don’t stress yourself!

This aligns perfectly with what I know from carefully monitoring reliable indices for my work online.

Here’s another reason I’m sure: I checked comments volume and quality on blogs run by some high profile – and highly successful – experts in certain relatively "quiet" business fields (e.g. consulting, coaching/mentoring etc). Then I compared with what I saw on blogs owned by people with followers who tend to be more "expressive" (e.g. writers/bloggers).

Guess what? The blogs in the less "chatty" disciplines tend to get much fewer comments. And yet, going by what the owners reveal in the email newsletters they publish (which I subcribe to), their rate of engagement by way of sales conversions can be quite high. Indeed, it would appear that the little "commenting" that does happen on such blogs mostly occurs via emaila, online chat or telephone. And the quality of interaction tends to be much higher.

In other words, "activity" or "busy-ness" in a blog’s comments section may not translate to "higher profitability" of a blog!

We Have More Opinions Than Valid Statistics/Data!

That’s my view – but then it’s also an opinion! Having said that, the truth is different people have different reasons for emphasizing the importance of blog comments.

The PROBLEM I see, is that no one has put up any comprehensive statistics (as far as I know), that shows a distinct positive correlation between the volume of blog comments received and the success (especially financial) of a blog (s).

It would be nice to do that – I’m toying with the idea of a questionnaire survey to blog owners. (Email me via tayo at tksola dot com, if you’re interested) One could publish a table of data with charts showing blogs from different industries comparing their average comments per blog post, with other perfromance criteria(especially sales made or pre-qualified leads generated). It would be great if anyone who has such data already can beat me to it, of course…do drop me a line so I can check it out (Or maybe I’ll design a simple spreadsheet template that people can download, and use to monitor their own blogs…we’ll see.)

Without hard data to back up our claims, whatever we say or think about this subject really amounts to conjecture at the end of the day.

That could mean that I’m wrong in saying not everyone needs blog comments…right?

Well, no, in the sense that I’m saying each person should test and find out what works in his/her case..like everything else we do online. Check your stats – and be sure you’re measuring what you think you’re measuring (In statistics it’s called ensuring the "validity" of your chosen measure).

What you learn will help you decide how much of a premium to place on getting comments on your blog.

"Some people make the mistake of equating consensus with truth. That you, and others who think like you, agree among yourselves that a centipede is a millipede wearing a metal coat, will not make the centipede become a millipede." – Tayo Solagbade

For now, let’s be clear about one thing: You need not bother yourself about what anyone – – expert or critic – with contrary opinions say. If they visit your blog and announce that something is wrong because your have too few – or no – comments, don’t take it to heart.

That’s just their opionion.

So, What Can You Do?

Set up your blog with tools that help you reliably measure the progress you make (I’ll be sharing details of very useful ones I use for this blog in the next post on this series). And so long as you see your performance indices improving, you have nothing to worry about. Remember that what most others express are just opinions. Even experts can be wrong! And when it comes to the Internet and what works, no one can claim to know everything.

Why not find out what works for YOU? You already have most of what you need…and through this series, you should be able to get everything else…hopefully

I’ll be going into more specific details in my next post in this series, which comes up next Saturday (in line with my new blog content publishing schedule). I want to exhaustively treat the different aspects of this subject that have occurred to me. So, stay tuned!

Next Post:Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself)

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Post 1: Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments?
Post 2: Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself)
Post 3: Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others)
Post 4(Final): Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit

TO GET THE NOTIFICATION IN YOUR E-MAIL CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY MAILING LIST (You get multiple gifts – instantly!)

Career Development, Excel-VB Solutions, Farm Biz, Writing/Blogging

Why Schools Should Teach CV Writing (True Story)

October 4, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

It was a good day to visit. They both welcomed me excitedly. We had not seen each other for months. The Muslim holiday presented me a perfect opportunity to keep the promise I’d made to visit them eons ago (after they moved to their new house).

Hakeem teased me about my timing, since they were just getting ready for lunch. We all laughed, as Sheri – his wife – left us to set the table. Later, as we ate, Hakeem asked about my new CV writing service (now discontinued). He was a seasoned HR professional, and few weeks back had pointed out an unattended niche market that he felt badly needed the service.

I replied that my checks on the “untapped” market showed the prospects were good. And that was why I put my plans on hold: To re-write my copy to accommodate prospects from there.

Someone needs a CV/resume “makeover”…

Just then Sheri said they had a friend’s son who was looking to get a better job. He’d graduated four years earlier and had since worked in two different companies. She picked up an envelope from the side board next to the dining table, and slid it across to me.

In it was a two page resume. She explained that it was for the young man, and that Hakeem would be helping him submit an application in response to a large company’s advert closing in 3 days time.

After looking through the resume however, they’d both told him that it needed to be completely re-worked. It was therefore interesting that by some strange coincidence, I had chosen that day to visit!

I scanned the document, and immediately saw they were right. This one certainly could do with a makeover. So many things were not right. I would have to re-write the resume, within the next 48 hours.

But he’s unavailable to provide critical details…!

Now, this would not have been a big deal if the job seeker (and owner of the resume to be worked on!) had been within reach. Unfortunately, I was told he was away on an urgent trip and would not be back before the submission deadline.

1. Reaching him via e-mail or phone was not a viable option because he was at a retreat in a remote area, where connectivity was poor.

2. To make matters worse, neither Hakeem nor his wife had details I wanted – for the standard questionnaire I would normally administer to a client I’m preparing a resume or CV for!

3. Another problem was that I did not know what specific job or position he was applying for. All they could tell me was that it was in the area of Information Technology, which he had acquired multiple Microsoft level certifications in, but which he did not study in the university.

The real question that therefore tugged at my mind was whether I could deliver anything close to satisfactory – the goal being to WIN an interview invitation – if I could not get any input from him.

Getting no answer to my silent question, I realized that I was, in effect, on my own. Not being one to back away from a challenge – and really wanting to do my bit to help – I agreed to do the re-write. It was the least I could do for my friends.

Less than 48 hours later, I dropped off a printout of the “pimped” resume at their place. My work schedule since our last meeting had been tight. But I had eventually managed to spend about 4 hours working on it. They both looked through it and said it “read” much better.

I told them to keep me abreast of the job application progress. I’m thinking it would be interesting to see how this “blind” job I did turns out. I’ll be sharing whatever news they send me as soon as I get it.

Below: Screenshot of the resume BEFORE the re-write…

Below: Screenshot of the resume AFTER the re-write…

Your Comments: I know there’s not much to see, but if you’re keen, post your comments about the differences you can see between both resumes shown above. Let me know which one you feel would command more attention from the decision maker looking to shortlist interview candidates. And share your other thoughts on the subject.

GET THE FULL RESUME IN PDF: If you want to see a comparison I’ve done of the BEFORE and AFTER versions of the CV, fill and submit the form here and I’ll send it to you.

But for now, here’s a potentially serious issue thrown up by this incident…

Why don’t schools teach resume writing, if it’s so important to “job-hunting” success?

Getting back home, I could not help thinking about how so many young people finish from school and have to endure this CV/Resume writing ordeal.

Proper preparation of this document is so crucially important to job search success.

Yet our schools do not include it in their curriculum. What is that so?

Is it wrong to expect society will run schools that equip its young to emerge as COMPETENT adults, capable of meeting society’s requirements to compete effectively?

That question needs to be answered not just by educators, policy makers and administrators, but also by PARENTS.

The young man who had the CV problem already had internationally recognized IT certifications. Yet, when it came to creating an instrument with which to sell himself, he failed – due to no fault of his.

From nursery classes till we complete higher education, many life skills and competencies we need, are not formally taught in most institutions of learning. That’s why so many young people find themselves at a loss as to why their schooling seems not to be enough to do well in certain areas of life.

Some school leavers/graduates are lucky to have relatives who know enough to help them fill in the gaps. Others are forced to find out by painful trial and error.

But should we let this happen? I say NO. Is it not possible to do it better? I say YES!

I believe education via formal schooling can be made more complete and rounded. Some societies and institutions already do this or are working towards it. Some already do – but many more parents need to realize the importance of getting involved.

Not everyone will choose (or be able to afford) the option of paying for a writing service.

And even when you use such a service, knowing what makes a good CV or resume can help you in assessing the quality of work done for you by a CV/Resume writing service provider!

Your Comments: Post your comments about the differences you can see between both resumes shown above. Let me know which one you feel would command more attention from the decision maker looking to shortlist interview candidates. And share your other thoughts on the subject.

==

IMPORTANT NOTE: What you have just read is based on a true story. However, I must state here that I have made very deliberate efforts to disguise the identity of the young man whose CV is the subject of this story, in order to protect his privacy.

For instance, I’ve employed creative dislocation of REAL events in terms of their period and sequence of occurrence. Indeed, I went as far as weaving narratives involving people from a totally different social event into the story, for effect.

One FACT however remains intact: I was requested by certain “people” to help re-write a CV for a young man, towards a mass recruitment of some sort, they got news was being planned by a large organisation.

And I agreed. No lies have been told. The message being passed in the post about for schools not teaching basic resume writing remains valid. And I look forward to your feed back in the comments – if any

Click the links below to view latest posts in each category on the SD Nuggets™ blog

Entrepreneurship [Tuesdays]

Self-Development [Wednesdays]

Career Development [Thursdays]

Parenting [Fridays]

Writing/Blogging [Saturdays]

Public Speaking [Mondays]

applying for a job career development cv/resume writing service how to write a resume interview invitation job search schooling Why Schools Should Teach CV Writing?

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Farm Biz, General, Parenting, Public Speaking, Self-Development, Writing/Blogging

How To Use The Self-Development Nuggets™ Blog

September 29, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 14 Comments

SD Nuggets™ (i.e. http://www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets) is a multi-disciplinary blog.

As a result, you may find that not everything published on it interests you.

This is why I would suggest you use the links provided below to subscribe to the category you want.

That way, when new content is published on the blog, only those belonging to your preferred category will be dispatched to you via RSS feed.

1. Entrepreneurship [Tuesdays]

Posts in this category will include all my write-ups on Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas, Web Marketing etc. Entrepreneurship is hard enough as it is. Whatever you can do to reduce the number of “hard knocks” you get while practicing it, will make your life easier. Experience based tips, and insights gained from years of heart breaking struggles and triumphs as an entrepreneur in a particularly harsh socioeconomic environment. They come in form of true stories and straight advice e.g. the thorny issue of getting paid for work you do, or product you sell. I tell it the way I see (and have seen) it!

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/category/entrepreneurs/feed

DOWNLOAD MY FREE FARM BIZ RESOURCE WORKBOOK

It contains the different computation formats (complete with formulas) used in the article titled 5 Powerful Tools for Accurately Measuring Your (Farm) Business’ Health

2. Self-Development [Wednesdays]

Posts in this category are for persons (regardless of discipline or interest) looking for ideas to make themselves more productive than they already are. It’s as simple as that. Anything that can help you become better, more capable, more competent, more efficient. New, ready-to-use, and sometimes unconventional ideas about how to get more out of 24 hours; or how to handle yourself around others better; how to organise yourself to achieve smarter outcomes etc. Examples will include my new powerful series titled: MS Excel Quick Tips For Getting More Done At Work And In Life!

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/category/self-development/feed

3. Career Development [Thursdays]

Posts in this category are for persons in paid employment – from junior staff to top executive and even CEO/MD. I weave hard won experience based wisdom gained from excelling in a variety of demanding roles within a fast paced multinational organisation. Insights I gained from working closely with, and observing top level decision making by high performing management executives are also used to provide guiding instruction that you can adapt to suit your unique needs.

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/category/employeescareer-persons/feed

4. Parenting [Fridays]

Through posts in this category, I offer what you could call parenting best practice ideas. The objective being to help others give their kids the best possible start in life. My approach is to use true stories of my personal childhood experiences, in conjunction with insights gained from “parenting” my own kids over the past 10 years. For those who are interested, I offer special coaching programs for kids (and their parents). The approach to “parenting” that I advocate for use with kids is based on a coaching technique I developed 15 years ago, which I call “Multi-Dimensional Peer Pressure (MDPP)™“.

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/category/parenting/feed

5. Writing/Blogging [Saturdays]

Posts in this category will feature my unique take on various aspects of writing as well as blogging. For instance, what is it about blog comments (or the absence or presence of blog comments) that seems to attract so much debate and controversy? I bring my capacity for objective analysis to bear on such issues, to offer clarity and give people a sense of what works, and what to do. You can look forward to some unconventional ideas based on my experience

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/category/writingblogging/feed

6. Public Speaking [Mondays]

Posts in this feed will link to my weekly Public Speaking IDEAS newsletter, published since September 2011 to promote Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring to experts on the African continent. I began representing Burt as Sole Agent in Africa in May 2011. But I actually began following his work way back in 2000 while still in paid employment. Don’t be fooled by the fact that his website features mainly public speaking training offers. A closer look reveals it also houses an intimidating wealth of business marketing wisdom that can be profitably applied in ANY kind of business. I know because I’ve used them to successfully reap profitable returns in various business endeaours, that had NOTHING to do with public speaking. The “messages” in my posts will sometimes be woven into real life stories. Hopefully, you’ll learn enough from reading my stuff to understand why choosing Burt Dubin to mentor you would be a wise thing to do!

http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/category/publicspeaking/feed

TO GET E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS FOR ALL POSTS, CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY MAILING LIST (You get multiple gifts – instantly!)

Self-Development, Writing/Blogging

Why You Should Write To Share Your Knowledge

September 26, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

For centuries, ideas that influenced societal happenings have been communicated in written form for others to read and reflect upon. Religious and political bodies use the written word to propagate their messages. You may not believe it. But there is something you know which some others NEED – if you would only write about it. In this article, I explain how – by writing to share what you know – you can make the lives of others better. And by so doing, you’ll contribute to the development of people in your society – and even beyond! .

(Published online: Aug 18, 2006)

What If Napoleon Hill Had Not Written Think And Grow Rich?

What would this world have been like if Hill had not written that wonderful book? Think back to all the successful people you know who have mentioned that reading THAT book transformed their lives. Imagine if they had never read the book i.e. it had not been written. The implications would be multiple fold. Let’s consider a few examples.

Maybe today, Dr. Walter Doyles Staples would not be the accomplished person whose works have been a source of education and inspiration for thousands of people worldwide. Robert Kiyosaki would probably not be the person we know today, whose personal childhood stories and reflections have influence a thousands to rethink their approach to the education of their kids. And the need for a reform of our traditional educational system, to help their kids succeed in life.

You Can Change Lives Through Your Writings

By writing, we give others the opportunity to embark, more intelligently, and therefore with greater chances of success, on a journey that we have made. Anyone who has applied honest and diligent effort to a particular cause, can write competently about what s/he has done. And it would benefit others who desire to pursue a similar goal.

Now here’s an interesting poser about Robert Kiyosaki. Millions of adults worldwide have bought his books and followed his advice about how to educate kids to achieve financial independence. And they did this even though they knew Robert and his wife(Kim) had kids of their own. Have you ever wondered about that?

Well, I have. And the ONLY logical explanation for what should have been an unreasonable action on that part of the parents is this: They (wisely) chose to look beyond Robert NOT being a parent. Instead, they focussed on the intuitive common sense logic of the ideas he presented. As many stated in their written testimonials about Roberts books, those ideas resonated with those they had themselves battled with, during their own childhood years!

When I read those commentaries/testimonials by people (including kids), I could not help wondering: Would they have ever taken any corrective action for their own kids’ sake, IF someone like Robert had not written about his experience? So again, we’re back to the questions with which I started this article: What if Robert had never written his books? One thing at least is certain: our thinking about how children should be educated to achieve financial success in life, would be worse han it is now. That is the value that Robert’s writing has added to millions of lives the world over – mine inclusive (the distance between our continents of residence notwithstanding).

Many People Who Should Write Are NOT Writing

In many societies, people undergo unique experiences of all kinds on a daily basis. For each person, the learning acquired through those experiences literally shapes who they become over time, and ultimately determines whether or not – or better still how well – they succeed.

Each one of us can draw upon such experiences, to teach others how to deal with them successfully, should they encounter similar challenges in their lives.

Each one of us has a distinguishing trait or quality that sets him apart from others who do what s/he does. Therefore if you were to write a (non-fiction) book or article based on your area of competence or experience, there’s a good chance that someone will find it useful.

It might help to inform (or remind) you, that even Napoleon Hill was initially plagued with self-doubt, when Andrew Carnegie first asked him to write "Think And Grow Rich". Hill worried – among other things – that he was not "qualified" or "competent" enough – at the time – to write it. But thankfully, he eventually brushed those fears aside, and did us all a favour by writing the book that today has changed millions of lives for the better.

You Don’t Need A Teaching Qualification To Share What You Know With People Who Need It!

Let’s say a person who survived years of isolation as a prisoner of war, decides to write a book about what he went through. Do you think he would need to get a writing degree to do that? Or indeed to speak to audiences in seminars about (a) what it feels like and (b) how to survive under such situations? Of course not. We’re talking about personal experience here. Nothing beats that. Not even the biggest academic qualifications in the world!

Now, even if you feel you cannot write the story by yourself, you can engage the services of a freelance writing professional. It is worthwhile to note however, that developing your writing skills would ultimately enable you do more spontaneous writing than you could if someone was doing the writing on your behalf.

You Can Write While Still In The Process Of Acquiring The Experience(s)

Incidentally we need not wait until we have achieved the goal we pursue, before we can write for others to learn from us. A person who never won the gold as an athlete at the olympics, could draw from his/her "failures" to coach a younger athlete with potential to win the gold.

Taking this further, a person who has "failed" in a bid to achieve a goal could, with a positive mental attitude, articulate a set of learning points about what caused him/her to fail. S/he would then use them to teach others (one-on-one or through a book or article) about what to do to increase their chances of success.

You do not need to wait till you become the Managing Director of the company you work for, before you begin to share the useful learnings about achieving career advancement, that you pick up along the way. This is because while you are busy "climbing", others coming after you will be in the process of taking the decision to start "climbing". And compared to you, they will be less experienced or knowledgeable about what to expect.

Many of them are likely to appreciate hearing from you, up front, some hints about what they will face during their journey. And how you dealt with the challenges that cropped up – including what you think they can do to make good progress.

In my case, I am sharing insights gained from my experiences as an entrepreneur, through writing articles and books, and in daily interactions. Begin documenting as much of your own experiences as possible. This will equip you over time, to share useful learning with others, and make their journey less difficult.

No one person has the duty of teaching others about how to succeed in life. Every one of us can teach what s/he knows to those who need to know. And one effective way to do it is by writing. And unlike speaking, it is also more enduring: once you’ve written it, you will not need to write it again. And all who want to read it, will always be able to do so, when they go to the library, bookstore or website where it is available to get their copy.

I Found Supporting Evidence That "You Need To Write", In Dr. Spencer Johnson’s Book: "Who Moved My Cheese"!

Who better to tell you what it feels like(or takes) to survive as a start-up entrepreneur, if not someone currently in the struggle – or recently out of it?

If you wanted to get an authentic update on the socioeconomic situation in Nigeria, would you ask your “Professor Uncle” who travels once-a-year to Lagos on official visits? Or would you ask your Aunt who lives in Lagos, and visits New York on business every other month? The latter of course.

The above is why I chose to start writing about my experiences early in my entrepreneurial career, rather than wait till I get “up to the very top” before doing so. But I got even more convinced that this was the right thing to do, when I read the little book titled “Who moved my cheese?” written by Dr. Spencer Johnson.

The Book’s Parable About Hem & Haw(2 little people) As Well As Sniff & Scurry(2 Mice)

The book narrates an engaging parable about 4 characters – Sniff and Scurry (2 Mice) and also Hem and Haw (2 little people). The parable illustrates the various ways different people react to unexpected changes/setbacks that occur in their lives on a daily basis.

It admonishing us to learn to laugh at ourselves, and the mistakes we make in life – so as to be able to learn from them and “move on” with our lives. Dr. Johnson uses the analogy of “moving cheese” to illustrate how our circumstances/situations in life will inevitably change. He argues that we all need to be prepared for those changes when (not “if”) eventually they occur. If we’re prepared, and we respond quickly and intelligently to them (instead of protesting and complaining), we will often find that we end up being better off in the long run.

Dr. Johnson takes the reader through a series of scenarios in which the 4 characters employ various methods to deal with the unexpected changes. The 2 little people – Hem and Haw – unlike the mice, had major problems getting over the setback (not surprising is it? A typical human reaction!) and moving on with their lives. Hem in particular remained adamant that it was “unfair” for the cheese to have been moved. And he prevailed on Haw (who over time became more disposed to trying to find a way out of the fix they were in), to stay with him till things “returned to normal” – or until “someone gave them an explanation” for moving their cheese.

Remember! It’s a parable. If you think about it, sometime in the past(or possibly even now) some of us may have been just like Hem. Never seeing any good in a change that affected us (in our opinion) “negatively”. An example: a lateral movement from your job to another seemingly less glamorous one in your company.

"Haw" Starts Writing To Share What He Learns BEFORE He achieves Success

And here’s the lesson I picked up from the book: At a point, Haw decided that since the mice had taken off in search of another cheese almost immediately the initial cheese had moved, he would do the same. So, he left Hem, (after trying without success to get him to go along), sitting and complaining, and began his search.

As he journeyed, he made a lot of new discoveries, gaining new and fresh insights that excited him a great deal. In fact, he found the learnings he picked up while trying to find new cheese so profound, that he decided to write each learning on the wall (in form of a short phrase). This was so that anyone who was coming along after him, would benefit from the knowledge he had discovered.

Examples of the phrases he wrote are: “If you do not change, you can become extinct”; “When you move beyond your fear, you feel free”; and “Imagining myself enjoying new cheese even before I find it, leads me to it”.

I have chosen to adopt the method used by Haw, by writing to share my experiences even before I get to the "top" as an entrepreneur.

Even before he found new cheese, Haw began to share the little knowledge he was picking up along the way/during the journey.

He felt (quite rightly too) that there was no point waiting till he got to the “end” of his journey, and found new cheese, before he shared the little he already knew.

This was because he recognised that he was experiencing useful – though sometimes painful – lessons that could benefit others tremendously, if they knew them before facing similar challenges.

Summary

I personally believe that it takes strength of character and tremendous self belief, to repeatedly share painful lessons learnt in the pursuit of a challenging goal(s), especially while still working to achieve it(them).

Another lesson we can take away from Dr. Johnson’s book, is that we can each move our own cheese (become “masters of our fate”), instead of waiting for others to do it for us.

Years ago, I chose to move mine by leaving the comfort of what should have been a comfortable job in a corporate organisation, to follow my longstanding vision of running my own businesses. I also decided that I wanted to spend much of my time, sharing with others my achievements in various areas of my past, present and future endeavours.

We need to share information/knowledge and discoveries about life, and how to live it better, with each other. We need to do so regularly, and with passion. Our actions in this regard must be borne out of a genuine desire to enrich the lives of others, and help them get ahead like we are doing.

A society where this happens continually, and spontaneously, would be a very successful one. Many developed countries are already on the path toward attaining this state.

Developing countries which desire to achieve similar progress, will need to challenge many more of their members to share more often – and selflessly.

Writing is a powerful and cost-effective way to do this. Any society that wishes to develop fully, MUST encourage her members to write – and read – as frequently as possible (especially non-fiction). You can play a role today in the development of your own society. Do this by acquiring qualitative experiences in the pursuit of worthwhile goals, and writing to share what you learn to help others do the same .

Comments?

What do you think of the above post? Share your thoughts in the comments – or send me an email via tayo at tksola dot com.

Share this story!

Do you know anyone who might benefit from reading this post? Why not share it using the social media buttons provided on this page? Thanks in advance

blogging Performance Enhancement Pre-2012 Article (Relocated from static page)writing

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, Farm Biz, General, Parenting, Public Speaking, Self-Development, Writing/Blogging

NEW PAGE: Tayo’s Guest Posts

August 25, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

I’m a multipreneur, and SD Nuggets is designed to be a multi-disciplinary blog. So, expect to see links on the new Tayo’s Guest Posts page to my guest posts published on blogs in different niches.

If you run a high profile blog, website or print publication, and would like me to write for you, get in touch via my Writing Service page.

Corporate Decision Makers freelance writing General guest blogging guest posts Writers/Bloggers

Posts navigation

← Previous 1 … 61 62 63 Next →

My Momma Told my Brothers: If a Woman is Man Enough to Hit You She Man Enough to Get Hit Back! – Mum

2 Life Changing Stories of Domestic Violence You Need to Hear: Relationship 360-99.3 FM Nigeria Info

…a multi-disciplinary blog for people passionate about reaching their goals!

Subscribe to Tayo Solagbade on YouTube

Buy my Ration Formulator – Over 53k Views

Click here to contact me

Buy my Poultry Farm Manager – Over 25k Views

Click here to contact me

Advanced Payslip Generator DEMO – Over 16k Views

Click here to contact me

Farm CEO Returns to Buy my Poultry Farm Manager 16 Months Later

Click here to contact me

This CSI series is a public service to give CEOs, & those aspiring, ready-to-use experience-based information & education. The purpose is to promote experience-sharing amongst CEOs, about Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are tried and tested practical techniques/methods developed by active players in a venture to get improved results, often through application of creativity and innovation.

No. 1. Guest: Roseline Imoudu

...a retired senior manager from a popular multinational, now - owner of a Recirculating Aquaculture System (aka RAS) based Seed Catfish Production Farm Business in Nigeria's Ibadan.

Click here to continue...

No. 2. Guest: Burt Dubin

...renowned US based veteran mentor of international speakers, Creator of the Speaking Success System...and author of "How to Bust Loose: and use Mental Alchemy to take command of your life."

Click here to continue...

No. 3. Guest: Efe Ohwofasa

...a UK Based Nigerian born Professional Speaker, Business Growth Coach and Marketing Consultant with an amazing rags to riches story.."

Click here to continue...

Archives

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

December 2023

November 2023

October 2023

September 2023

August 2023

July 2023

August 2022

July 2022

June 2022

May 2022

April 2022

March 2022

December 2021

November 2021

October 2021

September 2021

August 2021

July 2021

June 2021

May 2021

April 2021

March 2021

February 2021

January 2021

December 2020

November 2020

October 2020

September 2020

August 2020

July 2020

June 2020

May 2020

April 2020

March 2020

February 2020

January 2020

December 2019

November 2019

October 2019

September 2019

August 2019

July 2019

June 2019

May 2019

April 2019

March 2019

February 2019

January 2019

December 2018

November 2018

October 2018

September 2018

August 2018

July 2018

June 2018

May 2018

April 2018

March 2018

February 2018

January 2018

December 2017

November 2017

October 2017

September 2017

August 2017

July 2017

June 2017

May 2017

April 2017

March 2017

February 2017

January 2017

December 2016

November 2016

October 2016

September 2016

August 2016

July 2016

June 2016

May 2016

April 2016

March 2016

February 2016

January 2016

December 2015

November 2015

October 2015

September 2015

August 2015

July 2015

June 2015

May 2015

April 2015

March 2015

February 2015

January 2015

December 2014

November 2014

October 2014

September 2014

August 2014

July 2014

June 2014

May 2014

April 2014

March 2014

February 2014

January 2014

December 2013

November 2013

October 2013

September 2013

August 2013

July 2013

June 2013

May 2013

April 2013

March 2013

February 2013

January 2013

December 2012

November 2012

October 2012

September 2012

August 2012

July 2012

June 2012

Recent Posts

UNCOMMON MONEY MAKING IDEA THAT GIVES FREE CONTENT: A Platform Most People DON’T Use But YOU Should

How Wrong Use Of AI Can Hurt YOUR CHILD (& EVEN YOU!)

YOU NEED TO BE HUMBLE: This Can Happen To You, If You Look Down On Others

Lessons I Learned As “Sole Marketing Agent for Africa” To Burt Dubin, Creator Of The Speaking Success System™ & Mentor To Some Of The World’s Highest Paid Speakers

A Day In Abeokuta With Beautiful Nigerian Female Baker – Iyabo Oniyide Former Chairperson Ogun NNEW [FAUSAT’S ENTREPRENEURS SHOWCASE #foseshow ]

Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home1/tayoswdg/public_html/sdnuggets/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399

Latests Comments
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | TayoSolagbade.com on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 2 of 3
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | TayoSolagbade.com on No. 119: How to Achieve Success in Any Field (True Story)
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 3 of 3
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on Why I Relocated from Nigeria to Benin Republic (Hint: A “Poor” Country Where Even Poor People Live Well!)
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on No. 119: How to Achieve Success in Any Field (True Story)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 2 of 3
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix (TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Why I Relocated from Nigeria to Benin Republic (Hint: A “Poor” Country Where Even Poor People Live Well!)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on How to Sell ANYTHING to ANYONE – ANYWHERE!
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Real Life Ration Formulation Demonstration Using Tayo’s Solagbade’s Excel-VB Ration Formulator (Based on data supplied by an Algerian PhD Student Enquirer)

Tweets by @tksola

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Introduction

First Establish Authority Status

1. Making Offline Sales

How Do You Accept Credit Cards Offline?

2. Generating Pre-Qualified Leads For Sales of Your Products/Services

BOOST YOUR BIZ MARKETING!

3. Subscriber Web Contact Form Data Mining:

Final Words

Further Reading

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Ironically, the “equivalent benefit” of that adverse experience came to my rescue about 5 years later (in 2002) – during my first year in self-employment as a Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist.

Background: It all began in November 1997, while I was observing my annual leave from work(as a 27 year old brewer in Guinness Benin Brewery)

One of them was ” Total Waste Unaccounted For(TWUF)™” – a statistical process control index I developed by myself…

Deciding To Enter For The Competition…& Getting Approval From Management…

Presenting The Paper At The Zonal Finals In Ibadan, Oyo State

Traveling from Guinness Benin Brewery, in Benin City, Edo State to Lagos For The National Finals

So there was nothing else to do but plead with a taxi driver to let me catch up on some sleep in the passenger front seat of his cab.

At about 7.30 am, the taxi dropped me off in front of the NIM Management house on Idowu Taylor street.

Presenting At The Lagos Finals – The Unthinkable Happens!

To cut the long story short, about ten (10) minutes through my presentation, I turned to pick a slide containing charted data depicting the use of the CUSUM concept, but found it was missing.

I felt so bad about my blunder, that I declined to take up an offer from the judges to allow me three(3) extra minutes to do a decent round up of my presentation.

Surprise! Despite My Blunder, I Still Get Placed 5th Overall

So it happened, that despite an aborted presentation, my paper which was adjudged to be of high standard (with the concept of Total Waste Unaccounted For – TWUF™ – being singled out for mention) eventually placed me 5th out of eight(8) finalists.

Back At Work – A Senior Manager Tells Me Where I Went Wrong

I believe an indication of how proficient I had become was evident during a presentation I was invited to deliver at the Center for Management Development, in Lagos.

Both potentially disturbing/unexpected “changes” however did not bother me.

At the end of the day, over 100 attendees who returned my speaker feedback form to me, scored me an average rating of approximately 4.0 (on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 = Excellent).

Useful Lessons You Can Take Away

Towards improving your presentation skills, and taking needed actions/precautions, you may find the following lessons I learnt of some use:

Final Words: Adversity ALWAYS Comes With Benefits …Which We Can Harvest If We Pay Attention!

Sadly, Innocent High Quality Content Websites – Like YOURS – Can Now Get Wrongly Penalized!

Why It CAN Happen To Anyone – Even YOU!

Preventive Steps You Can Take

If/When You Discover Negative SEO Against You

Further Reading

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Introduction – WordPress Third Party Plugins

1. Comments

2. Blog Traffic (Incl. Number of Returning Visitors and/or Hits Per Visitor)

3. Bounce Rate and Number of Views Per Post

4. E-mail Subscription Rates and RSS Feed Size

5. Volume/Type Of Contact Form Enquiries

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

1. Will Comments Help You Achieve Your Performance Goals?

2. What Is Your Target Audience’s Preference?

3. How Are Other Blogs (In Your Niche) Doing With Comments?

4. What Will Managing Comments Cost You?

5. Will Comments On Your Blog Be (Directly or Indirectly) Cashable?

Final Words

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Not Everyone Needs Blog Comments To Succeed!

How Can I Be So Sure?

We Have More Opinions Than Valid Statistics/Data!

So, What Can You Do?

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Someone needs a CV/resume “makeover”…

But he’s unavailable to provide critical details…!

Below: Screenshot of the resume BEFORE the re-write…

Below: Screenshot of the resume AFTER the re-write…

Why don’t schools teach resume writing, if it’s so important to “job-hunting” success?

But should we let this happen? I say NO. Is it not possible to do it better? I say YES!

Click the links below to view latest posts in each category on the SD Nuggets™ blog

SD Nuggets™ (i.e. http://www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets) is a multi-disciplinary blog.

1. Entrepreneurship [Tuesdays]

DOWNLOAD MY FREE FARM BIZ RESOURCE WORKBOOK

2. Self-Development [Wednesdays]

3. Career Development [Thursdays]

4. Parenting [Fridays]

5. Writing/Blogging [Saturdays]

6. Public Speaking [Mondays]

TO GET E-MAIL NOTIFICATIONS FOR ALL POSTS, CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY MAILING LIST (You get multiple gifts – instantly!)

What If Napoleon Hill Had Not Written Think And Grow Rich?

You Can Change Lives Through Your Writings

Many People Who Should Write Are NOT Writing

You Don’t Need A Teaching Qualification To Share What You Know With People Who Need It!

You Can Write While Still In The Process Of Acquiring The Experience(s)

I Found Supporting Evidence That "You Need To Write", In Dr. Spencer Johnson’s Book: "Who Moved My Cheese"!

The Book’s Parable About Hem & Haw(2 little people) As Well As Sniff & Scurry(2 Mice)

"Haw" Starts Writing To Share What He Learns BEFORE He achieves Success