Observe & Report

‘People talking about you is far more effective than talking about yourself.’
(- Seth Godin )

Seth Godin recently discussed this truism of the web in a post:
Boingboing’s ‘Cory and Mark both have terrific books out. And as co-editors on the world’s most popular blog, you’d think that they could use boingboing to sell a ton of books. But it doesn’t happen. Lucky for bloggers, if you write a good book, a few other bloggers will write about you and then the sales start happening. It takes patience… it’s one thing causing something else, which leads to a conversation and then, maybe, a sale.‘

An interesting and totally true statement.

I am forever removing myself from many blog feeds as the blogger is just constantly self-promoting! I would have originally signed up for their insight, knowledge and wit. I understand that they may be excited/proud/entrepreneural and love their creation/gaget/work. And an update as to what they are working on now and then is great but… if their blog is being used solely or constantly used a direct-sales/promotional thing – its just boring… and sneaky… and misleading… and not what I was signing up for!

Seth Godin also gives us an interesting insight: ‘Last month, I posted excerpts from my new book. I also wrote a glowing post about Garr’s new book on presentations. Guess what? My stats show that I sold more copies of Garr’s book than mine.‘

(Note: I totally recommend Seth Godin’s book, ‘Small is the New Big’ – clever, funny, easy to read riffs and relevant for anyone with who needs to remember what life is all about! )

Image credit: Image of the Kind of Blue album cover by the original trumpet player Mr Miles Davis.