unreclaimable

One of the lies I've not realized I was believing - but which I picked up from every school I've attended - is that time is never really lost.

Perhaps it was a late paper I could turn in for no penalty.
Perhaps it was the all-nighter I used in place of daily diligence, daily study, and daily review.
Or perhaps it was the right mix of compassion and charm.

Regardless - I learned that time is a resource; much like sleep, I gained awareness that time could be shuffled, re-distributed, re-assigned.  And I valued this because my day was filled with events - many of which were things I thought were important, or that I could not cancel, or that simply took away from time I'd have preferred to spend on other things.

My solution was to sacrifice sleep, quality, and memory.

I didn't mind the sleep sacrifice - at first it was hard, but with sufficient allocation of caffeine and sugar, sleep seems like a simple manageable resource.  It creates the illusion that lack of timely sleep is reconcilable; and so I became a sleep bank expert - and lost the ability to recognize when I truly needed sleep and when, instead, I was just weary.  But the ongoing sacrifice of sleep gradually diminishes your ability to recognize the damage it does.  Kind of like an addiction.


Which led to not minding the quality sacrifice - initially it is painful to admin (if ever) that performing at a diminished capacity is horrible.  If you do it long enough, you migrate from a desire to perform well to a kind of pride that "your quality didn't diminish even though you didn't get enough sleep."  This was also an illusion - the illusion that lack of timely sleep has no true impact on quality; and so I became an expert on the appearance of quality - and lost the ability to genuinely identify my own quality while it was being generated.  I can still submit and create value and earnest worth; however, I stop sooner, develop less depth, and have a shorter-quality-attention-span than I had known myself to possess.


When these both were in place I realized I'd been experiencing diminished short-term memory; short-term memory loss is sneaky because, when you really have it, you don't remember you have it.  You'll note that your ability to recall things is "generally" diminished - but without some kind of intentional evaluation, you'll ignore and perhaps completely disregard the fact you no longer store things as easily as you had in times past.  If you were good with names, that can easily go; if you were good with sounds/songs, then your recall might be only things that were roughly when you started losing the memory.  In all cases, the true impact is scary.  How much of who we are is our memory of ourselves?

Time is not reclaimable.
Don't waste it.
And get some sleep!

Bounty

One of the more interesting differences between paper books and web pages is trust.

We trust paper books to have a fairly well-defined kind of information.
Books usually have a quite well-known manner of presentation.
Given cover/jacket, Summary, and marketing, the book is effectively static.
You can trust a book to be and do what a book is.

Blogs are different; there are far less constraints to presentation.
Content, too, has no guarantee of consistency.
And, although both receive marketing, blogs get less of it and for good reason.
Blogs are more of a gamble.


You can, then, think of your readers as seeking buried treasure.
Marketing simply becomes a treasure map.
And your job is to reward them for finding you blog.


Be bountiful!

Apprise

Part of your daily challenge is nicely captured thusly:

Your job is to inform your readers.

In fact, a best-case scenarios would be to provide a crucial piece of information.

Presuming you've

• read up on your niche's state-of-the-art
• learned of any active bargains
• identified something distinctive worth sharing

Then your task is dissemination.

A well-connected blog will necessarily be part of a network.

Part of that will be links to and from your blog.
Others can be other forms of media (video, audio, and the like).
And you will find many, many readers by apprisal through social network.

Thus posting on twitter, tumblr, LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc will also help apprise.

And remember:
Without value-laden content, apprisal will often discredit you.
With value-laden content, apprisal will increase your portfolio.

Abbreviation

A powerful component to your posts is brevity.

Learn what to say with the least words is a powerful tool.

From a screen real-estate perspective it
* draws attention
* reduces scrolling
* promotes information absorption



This can be as simple as using short sentences.

It can also be the number of sentences.

In the end: optimize.

Your readers will thank you by visiting.

Access

At a most rudimentary level, information is about awareness and access.
As previously discussed, awareness speaks of knowing your niche.
One can also approach awareness from the other end.

Reaching the point where you have more content than your distribution means,
you have the potential for duplication of attention.

And if you've monetized your blog, this transfers to sales.
Access, then, becomes relevant.

And one of the most effective salability tools is offered through trade.

Simply do the following:
i)   Take seven or nine of your most relevant and useful bits of information.
ii)  Add details, format, and collate into a ten-page pdf.
iii) Add a cover (to summarize and present the value contained therein)
iv)  And offer this as a product, in exchange for the viewer's email.

This funnels access and gives you the opportunity to recognize your core audience.

It also gives you something exceptionally useful in the niche-sphere:
an email mailing list.

Done well, you have a list of trusting customers and they have a reputable resource.

Aware

One of the challenges you will face is simply awareness.

Being aware of your niche-specific

• current trends
• active history
• unspoken presumptions

will help you understand what to broach and what to drop.

It will also aid in identifying what your niche will value.

Part of this can be solved by immersion.

Another will be to try thinking in unusual ways about your niche.

Your earlier preparation will help identify what questions have been asked.
It will also help you realize what questions still need to be asked.

Become aware.

Apathy

One of your greatest informational foes will be apathy.

This can come from site visitors.

Whether due to excessive information
- or lack of apparent relevance -
you can most-easily lose viewers through their lack of interest.

Likewise, this can come from YOU.

There will always be moments when you

• don't wish to contribute
• no longer care about your niche
• find other things more important

Your single-greatest asset is regular, genuine, fresh content.
Your voice is created, daily, through your shared thoughts.

Choose never to be apathetic!

Accent

Languages can be said to be groups of phonemes.

Groups of people can be identified by the pronunciation of those phonemes.


Of interest is how those phonemes are heard by others.



This is where accent comes in:
                     
Accent is what someone, familiar with a phoneme, hears when it sounds different.

Said another way - if you know a language, you can hear when someone sounds different.


Learn the language of your niche.

Simply being passionate about the niche will give you some of the basic words.

Studying it will give you more.


Your goal is to speak the language of your niche with no accent.

Mastering this will contribute to your being seen as a legitimate source.


Be without accent!

Argue

This is the last in the series of posts on innovation.

Looking for a way to promote creativity and stimulate the neurons?
Talk!

All four of the other innovation tools are solitary in nature.
This one is social - find someone to speak with!

Pick a topic about which the both of you are passionate and share.
Nod your head and engage them about aspects with which you both agree.

Stand your ground about points upon which you disagree.
Be considerate, speak your position well - but engage!

The point here is that innovation can come from impassioned interaction.

Let today be an opportunity to get energized and excited about your niche!
Communicate with peers, neighbors, friends, and others.

Argue!

Sing

Today's source of inspiration is singing!

One of most common ways to improve one's writing is simply to write.

Another, not often disclosed, is to speak.

This is because most of us write similarly to how we speak.

The better we speak, the better we write!

That is where singing comes in:

singing draws out the ability to speak and naturally engages ones passions.

Singing has been long known to help people who stutter.

Some, who are unable to simply speak, can sing melodiously.

Breaking out in song can help draw out your creative spark.

Sing!

Dance

Day three in sources-of-inspiration is all about motion!

A solid reason why many lack inspiration is due to lack of movement.

Faking it until you make it is a well-known example.
If you're having a bad day - smile!
Simply engaging the muscles associated with smiling can cause happiness!

In the same way, simply moving around can get your brain juices flowing.

This can be simply:
Going out for a walk.
Visiting a dog park, breathing, and enjoying the scenery.
Putting on some back-beat and moving!
Or running around a few blocks.

The key is to get out there and move!

Dance!

Sleep

A few weeks back I mentioned several sources of inspiration.
Today's topic is actual sleep.

It has been called various things; basically, your brain needs rest.
The opportunity to:

• reset the clock
• parse and evaluate your day
• consider the ethical and moral implications to your life
• heal
• and mix it up.

It is that last bit that we take for granted.

Genuine innovation is remarkably difficult.

Genuine inspiration is as well.

But - you can learn to do it better.

And you can learn to do it on purpose.

Experience will teach you how to filter out the circular inspiration.

And joy will teach you how to appreciate the great.

Go take a nap!

Read

A previous post spoke about ways in which one can be inspired to blog.
Today's post will be one of several breaking those items down.

Reading was recommended as a useful source of inspiration.

The challenge, then, is in identifying what should be read.

The glib answer is: everything!

In reality, each niche will have specific sources of value.

Part of your job, as information provider, is to know these sources.
If you do your job well, your niche will see YOU as one of these.

As for ways to find relevant sources, there are many:

1. Popular niches always have books and magazines
   There is a reason there are dozens of magazines dedicated to sports
2. Popular social niches also have twitter-feeds and blogs
   The desire to share, collaborate, and grow is universal
3. Popular technical niches tend to have Linked-In posts and such
   Many, many sources exist for technical niches.
4. Lastly, don't forget everything is connected.
   Most niches have other parallel subjects from which to draw

So go read - then share what you've learned!

Hide

Take a look at the image above; then look again.

See the "hidden" man near the center.

A key component to a well-written blog is shown above:

Get out of the way of your niche!

One of the most-effective ways of destroying your own credibility and relevance is ego.

As much as you are able:
* ensure each posts adds distinctive value

* be comfortable drawing attention to your niche instead of yourself

Note:

Full credit for the photo goes to this site:
http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/photos-of-invisible-man/

Spacing

One of the more subtle aspects of presentation is spacing.

This can be as simple as ensuring sentences are only a certain width.
It can incorporate space distance between clauses, paragraphs, etc.

Do your best to have text not wrap.

Too, although this clearly isn't a deal breaker:
sentence-wrapping is dissonant.
Dissonance can detract from comprehension.

Certainly it can reduce reading speed at the least.

Take the time to choose the right spacing:
It will increase readibility by something like 5%.

And each of these small improvements will, aggregately, bear fruit.

Niche

Numerous previous posts have made mention of "niche".

In summary, niche is:

* Your over-arching blog focus
* The core theme of each blog post
* The general category to which your posts add value

Thus, if most of your posts are about cheese.
Then perhaps your niche is just "cheese".
It may, instead, be about cheddar.
Or, it may be "about cheddar that has been aged fifteen years".

Having a niche isn't difficult.
Knowing your preferred and precise niche can be.

This is especially true if your blog migrates topicality.

Tools exist which can help identify desirable niches.

Regardless - know your niche!

Timing

One of the hardest things to master in presentation is timing.

It can, in fact, be argued that anything well-timed will be well-received.

The same is true for a blog: a well-timed post can sometimes make a blog.

From an immediate-impact standpoint, content that best matches your audience is ideal.


And this is the secret to giving your blog the appearance of having well-timed content:

Have content.


It really is as simple and powerful as you may think.

The more content you've created (and the better it is tagged) the more you'll sync.

The more you sync, the more you'll appear to be providing just what your customer needs.


Remember:
It can take 10 years to have an overnight success.

Value

Implicit to the point of blogging is the idea of value.

There are different kinds of blogs; some are public, others aren't.

The ability to draw eyes is specifically associated with the value provided.

You could simply be journaling your own thoughts.

Value there would be the capture and dissemination of your voice.

You could be reviewing car dealerships.

Value there would generally be found in your offering a distinctive, useful perspective.

Again, it would be the capture and dissemination of your voice.

You could be sharing yarn and knitting patterns.

Value might be in how the patterns fit together and perhaps unique kinds of thread/yarn.

So, too, would value be provided through asserting your unique identity.

It is also true that the absence of voice removes value.

Without a reason to stand out, to identify and provide a unique voice, value is lost.

One could even say that genuine value ceases to exist when voice absent.

Provide value.

Sticky

One of the words mentioned throughout numerous posts is "sticky".

I first ran across the term in the book above.
It may be purchased by clicking the image or [this] link.

Being sticky is that elusive character that makes something memorable.
It is why urban legends survive but your remembered grocery list is incomplete.

It is an effective means of ensuring your core message is remembered

• by your customers
• by your staff

And clearly this is what makes branding and product-placement work millions.

Make your posts sticky!

Aught

One of the more tempting blog hobbies is to produce aught
 - that is, the intent to provide the absence of value.

It is commonly delivered in the form of a null statement.

The graphic above highlights this nicely:
using the same picture, phrase, or thought to respond to nearly everything.

It is the semantic equivalent to circular reasoning; done well it has the added bonus of being

• entertaining
• of null-value
• an excellent tool to provide the absence of commitment.

It is most tempting when a lackluster attempt is made to provide content.
And is most commonly necessary when there is a misalignment of niche and core audience.

Thus - if you do find yourself saying nearly identical things in successive posts ..
     Please consider ensuring you are still providing genuine value.

Graphic-courtesy note:
When making use of graphics found online please attribute/give full credit to their source.
It provides aforementioned back-linking and broaches the social net in which you exist.

Disclosure:
This graphic comes from the comic xkcd; it is linked there as well.

Relevance

It has been said, "For want of a nail, the kingdom is lost".

One of the most potent aspects of this phrase deals with meeting needs.
So too should your blog be satisfying a need.

The challenge, of course, is accurate identification of your niche and its associated lack.

Without knowing your niche, you will not appreciate its scope.
You also will not be able to gauge relevance.

Gladly, numerous tools exist that can offer help.

Too, this ties into tags.

As noted, tags can help your content be discovered.

Tags can also be used to identify the content for which others seek.
In that context, tags are referred to as keywords.

Etiquette

One of the most powerful aspects of the Internet is the lack of walls.

This creates an opportunity for vast groups of people to connect.
It also creates a useful and convenient excuse for being rude.

Your challenge as a blogger is simple:
To create useful, relevant, and unique content for your niche.

Being considerate of others augments the value your content contains.

This doesn't mean to subsume your voice into political-correctness.

But it does mean that your target audience is bigger than you know.

And part of your challenge is to honor that core audience.

Tags

You may have noticed that each of these blog posts has several tags.

These are important:
Search engine discovery is impacted through their use.
Blog users can identify those posts associated with their own interests.

In addition, they can be thought of as an opportunity to establish two lists:
Collections of posts associated with specific content
Areas of interest that have not yet been given their own write-up.

Ultimately tags help organize information.

Please use tags each time you post!

Voice

Voice is that aspect to writing or speaking that uniquely identifies.

It is what helps you:

* pick a person out of a crowd

* identify a loved one

* recognize yourself

In blogging, voice sets you apart from everyone else.

It is, thus, important; it can also appear to be difficult.

There are several aspects to retaining your voice.

Most can be summarized as follows:

* Change

  Most topics are not static: try to stay current on yours.

  Do your best to read other blogs and grow daily (even if only a little).

* Don't lose sight of yourself

  Copying others can be tempting.

  Doing it too much can make it difficult to recognize your own voice

* Don't lie

  Advertising content you don't believe in can destroy your integrity.

  So can advertising content you don't understand.

  Losses to integrity tend to be accompanied by a detriment to voice.

  

Paring

One of the other things that blogs are about is the absence of content.

Paring, as an expression of focus, is important:
Choosing what NOT to include has a direct impact on your message.

Another aspect of paring is word-choice.
Each of the posts on this blog are titled with a single word.

This helps with post-focus.
It helps filter my idiolect, establish my scope, and direct my post.
It also helps YOU, the reader, prepare to absorb the post.

I will leave you with the standard business-case joke/riddle conveying this:

There are two rules to succeed in business.
1. Never tell everyone what you know.

Awesome

The following link is an excellent example of a great graphic:
http://www.syfy.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/heinlein/heinlein1.html

This is a placeholder for other points; but the message is important:

well-designed blogs have excellent graphics.

Enjoy the link!

~ Jason

Inspiration

As this week comes to a close, I wanted to provide a list.

Here are some things I do to help generate content:

1. Read
As mentioned previously, much content is rehashed.
This isn't bad - as long as you're not copying without providing credit.
Likewise, if you read enough, you'll often become newly inspired.

2. Sleep
I believe everyone has experienced the sensation of delayed resolution.
This is when, after some time, the solution just "comes to you".
One of the ways in which this can happen is simply sleeping.
You may also note that being well-rested can help the creative juices too.

3. Dance
Moving about can be a mental lubricant.
The key here is to simply get up and move about without forethought.
As much as you are comfortable and able: dance!

4. Sing
Voice is tied to thought.
This is why one of the most effective ways of improving speech is through improved writing.
The reverse is true as well; learning to speak more effectively can bear fruit in your writing.
And singing can help get the lingual juices flowing.

5. Argue
Another useful tactic is to engage in a mental dialogue with someone.
The easiest and most efficient method is through argument.
Be sure that disagreement does not result in offence.

Have a great weekend!

Blocked

Most of us tend to experience an occasional inability to form words.
This experience is affectionately known as writer's block.

In my experience, the primary cause is associated with focus.

The most common deals with a distracted focus.
This kind of focus is usually lost due to other things.
This often happens when one is expected to write and finds other things more interesting.
It can also happen when your mind is focused on things other than your writing topic.
Incidentally, it is also why, under pressure, this form of focus-loss often dissipates.

The second most common cause is that of the absense of focus.
This kind of focus is usually lost due to lack of discipline.
This often happens when one lacks a definitive timeline.
This form of focus-loss can often be resolved through writing more-often.

Note:
One common way to recapture the ability to simply write down everything.
Called "stream-of-consciousness", the goal is to allow your mind's tongue an outlet.
After a small season, the mind will often return back to the desired focus.
It will, of course, require some degree of editing.

Content

As mentioned previously, blogs are all about dynamic content.
If you've taken the trouble to ensure your blog has a focus, content should follow.

Content comes in several categories:
New:

     Most-rare, this is information simply unavailable elsewhere.
     This is blog-gold.
     This is usually the hardest to make sticky.

Extended:

     This is repackaged information that is found elsewhere.
     It is how genuinely useful information stays atop the pile.
     It is also a way to ensure your own relevance.
     This is also the easiest to make sticky.
     Often this includes linking to other sites.

Referral:

     This refers to information predominantly provided by another source.
     Excellent for relevant points that do not directly tie to your blog's focus.

One last content note:
All blogs have a voice; selecting a focus for your blog gives it that voice.
Be sure to include this voice in each post (and for all content types).

Focus

The core to a well-crafted blog is focus.

The blog itself should have an over-arching theme (a meta-focus, if you will).

Each post should also have a specific focus (though it can be comprised of different elements).

In addition to focus, posts should:

• be recurring (providing regular content adds highly-desirable value)
• have your voice (people visit YOU, not your posts; so put YOU into it)
• have an occasional call to action (powerful engagement of readers is powerful)
• be sticky (this helps readers retain information)

Declaration

Welcome!

This will be an aggregation of information about blogging; you should find helpful tips, ideation recommendations, and details about becoming known.

In addition, notations on branding and presentation, both for this platform and otherwise, will be raised.

My goal is to provide unique and distinctive value.

Thanks!

Jason