Martin Koss – Internet Marketing Strategy Coach

Blogging

Looking around the web, if we take all the ‘expert advice’ too seriously, then we would reach the conclusion that most of us know bugger all about how to write and present content via websites and, most relevant to this post, blogs, and only a select few really know how to be what some of us think we are; content creators… bloggers.

A great post by Mr Brogan a few months ago reminded us (and believe me, there are many who desperately need the reminder) that “your blog is not your job” but then the folks at ‘Copyblogger’ would have us convinced that we’re not a true bloggist unless we blog 5 times a day, every day – while abiding by ‘their’ published ‘rules’ of course – ‘cos they know best, of course.

Anything less than the consistency and regularity that one achieves with an All-Bran diet is a clear sign of a ‘bad attitude’ apparently.

So, with my non-scheduled, niche jumping, random sporadic approach to blogging, I have a bad attitude, apparently.

Oh gosh – who is right?

Well, in some ways – both and neither. Read the rest of this entry »

I got a criticism the other day – yep – criticised for doing what I love – the way I feel most comfortable doing it.

You see, I love writing (some will have already noticed that). But, believe me, I don’t love scouring the web for the perfect complimentary ‘royalty free’ photo from Flickr or Big Stock Photos – just to add the obligatory photo alongside a blog post.

Some may say, and, I suppose, they’d be right by saying that I can’t be arsed. Fair enough – I can’t. All that techy stuff gets in the way of my ‘flow’ and that stresses me out. I don’t want to get to the end of the day regretting that I didn’t write xzy post because I lost so much time looking for, saving, editing, uploading, embedding, (not forgetting linking to the photo ‘owner’) the ‘must have’ photo on the other post I wrote.

Does that make me lazy? Apparently. But not in my game. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been said by pretty much everyone at one time or another that ‘content is king‘ – but what really is ‘king’ in the eyes of the Google algorithm is new, fresh content.

Here’s the bottom line: The more your create, the more your content is indexed. But, the more up to date, the newer and more ‘fresh‘ your content is, the higher your content ranks – but not forever – hence the need for new and fresh content added consistently.

Look at the way Google’s new algorithm ranks the latest content above older, stale, content… That’s a good thing for you, me and everyone relying on the mighty Goog for what is relevant to ‘me’ right now. Afterall, when you search for some info you don’t want some old regurged content from 5 or 10 years ago (that’s been said before, many times).

We all want, need and get much more use from what is, in fact, new – relevant right now. Read the rest of this entry »

I visited a factory up the road the other day and the MD was showing me this wonderful switchboard. He said he could hit any of those switches and his company would instantly transform what colour his frontage was, what colour the bricks were, it changed the style of the roof and added some shadows to the left with this switch and a moonlit kind of overcast shadow with this switch – but – he hastened to add – it doesn’t change a darn thing about whats inside…

He was joking around of course about how easy so many people think they can transform their business with a lick of paint or a new ‘theme’… It’s what’s inside that counts. What the company produces, how well it produces there widgets and how well it adds value at every stage for each and every customer.

It’s all about the content and creating value.

Just being bright and shiny and showing off the latest and greatest ‘whatever is hot right now‘ doesn’t guarantee great content and great value.

Read the rest of this entry »

More channels = Repeats… More social channels = more cross-posting and more ‘duplicate content’. Where’s the future in that? Seriously. If you were looking in the TV guide and at 10am there was 17 channels all showing the same repeat of the same program, how cool would you think that is?

If at 7pm you tuned in and skipped through all 400 channels to find different presenters all saying almost exactly the same thing about the hot topic of the day, how cool would that be. Nothing new. Nothing different. All the same?

The web is full of repeats – Who wins?

The winners are: 1. The person who breaks the news and writes the first, truly inspiring and interesting version of the story or event or trend. 2nd winner is the one who tells the story from a clearly ‘human’ stand point. The one who adds some history and some interesting viewpoints.

In the ‘duplicate / cross-posting’ war, the outright winner is the one who Read the rest of this entry »

Over at www.shelleypalmermedia.com/blog/ I was watching a recent edition of ‘Digital Life‘ which included an interview with Dr Ruth Westheimer about how parents should know about their kids’ online activities…

Dr Ruth Westheimer, in her long career writing books and making countless TV appearances, has previously said that any kind of ’snooping’ on what our kids are up to is a big No, No. However – she now has a completely different view. Basically wiping out a lot of what she has said in the past.

Okay so what the heck has this got to do with the question I asked in the title? A lot.

Times have changed – New world – New challenges

Dr Ruth knows that the world we live in has changed. Read the rest of this entry »

So much to do and so little time. Well, that’s my problem and I’m sure we’ve all been there many times and will be there again and again…

Anyway, the point of this post is to say I appreciate your time popping by the blog but it is going to take a back seat for a while as I am snowed under with client work and many projects right now.

Blogging can be fun. But, as many have discovered, can also be extremely time sapping so, along with Twittering and Facebooking and all the other time sapping online activities… It’s all being shoved aside to make room for more important projects that enable me to add value to my client’s businesses and several new websites etc.,

With so many blogs, so many authors (is that what we should call them or is it bloggists or bloggers or just journos?)… What gets your attention? Who’s blog would you jump to no matter what they wrote? Read the rest of this entry »

With so many authors sharing their knowledge and experiences, 17 zillion blogs about blogging and everyone and their dog sharing opinions – who should you listen to? Well, for me, Chris Brogan stands head and shoulders above most Read the rest of this entry »

A week ago I became a paid subscriber at Third Tribe, expecting that by now I’d be raving about it and writing a 100% positive review – with no intentions of canceling my subscription. However – things didn’t pan out as expected. Read the rest of this entry »