What 100 Posts Has Taught Me About Blogging: Part 3

by Scott

This is the third and final post on things I’ve learned about blogging over the course of 100 posts. Parts one and two focus on continuity and the process. In this post, I want to highlight a few things I’ve learned about content and audiences.

Creating a Destination is Tough

The greatest challenge for anyone looking to cultivate a vibrant content destination is that you’re only as good as the last piece of content you put out. When I first started blogging, I thought that a viral post was all it took to be off to the races. That’s far from the truth. Sure people might venture to your blog that one instance, but that doesn’t mean they’ll ever come back or …
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What 100 Posts Has Taught Me About Blogging: Part 2

by Scott

This post is the 2nd part of series that outlines things I’ve learned post 100 notches on my blogging belt. Pun, anyone?

The first post provided insight into what I’ve learned about continuity and how to avoid heading to the 19th hole after 4 posts. Here I’ll outline the process I’ve arrived at and why I’ve found effective.

Before Writing the Post:

My workflow is heavily reliant upon a moleskin notebook and google docs.

Everywhere besides places I have to wear fancy pants, I carry a moleskin notebook to record ideas, thoughts, and observations. A lot of this serves as ammunition to store in my blogging war chest. Every 2-3 days I review and transfer my notes from my moleskin to a series of …
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What 100 Posts Has Taught Me About Blogging: Part 1

by Scott

This is my 100th blog post. I thought I’d take this as an opportunity to share some things I’ve learned about blogging. I previously wrote on why I think everyone should blog here which speaks to a lot of things I’ve picked up about the benefits of blogging. In this series of posts I’ll focus on what I’ve learned about continuity, process, audiences, and a few other things.

Continuity: 

Don’t Make It About the Outcome

Feedback loops are important to creators. They allows us to refine our work. They helps us identify which audiences our creations resonate with and why. They confirm that the work we do is worthwhile, thus motivate us to continue creating.

In the blogosphere, the main feedback loops are comments, …
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Blogging: The Best Posts Are Shortcuts

by Scott

My belief is that most (not all) successful consumer web products do an excellent job of feeding your ego, saving you money, or saving you time. I was taking a look at some of my most popular posts and noticed a clear trend that is in alignment with this thesis; at a high level, the most popular blog posts are shortcuts. They save readers time.

Originally I noticed that many popular posts contained a personal anecdote as part of a non-obvious, overarching insight. Posts fashioned in this way are like cliffnotes to writers’ lives.

But even these posts can be encapsulated under the more ubiquitous theme of shortcuts:

Stories or Perscriptions that Contain a Personal Anecdote – a shortcut to wisdom forged over …
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10 Reasons You Should Consider Blogging

by Scott

I’ve grown to love blogging and it’s served me well, but it wasn’t always this way. I started blogging because someone in tech I respected told me “I needed to have a digital presence.”

This rationale for blogging doesn’t sound all that compelling. Maybe that’s why there’s far more cheerleaders on the sidelines than players on the field.

Here’s 10 reasons I advocate starting a blog in no particular order:

1. Crystallize Your Thoughts

Often the best way to master a skill is to try and teach it to someone else. When it comes to mastering your thoughts, I’ve found attempting to communicate them in a concise, convincing manner to be highly effective. When we write, we dwell on our thoughts. And when we …
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Hacking Quora

by Scott

If you think of Quora as just a Q and A site, odds are you aren’t getting as much out of it as you could be. In addition to a playground to satiate my curiosity, I use Quora as a channel to create value in my life. Below are some of the less obvious way that you can leverage Quora to your advantage.

Content Syndication:

Quora is a great place to re-syndicate content you’ve already created. Every time I write a post, I check to see if I’m unknowingly answering a question on Quora. If I am and can provide some unique insight, I will insert content I’ve already created while linking back to the full post for additional context. Here is …
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I’m Starting A Blog…About Tech!

by Scott

I was one of those guys who thought they needed a thesis when I started blogging. Why? Because people told me I did. After a few hearty sips of kool aid, I remember deciding to keep it tightly focused on entrepreneurship and tech.

A year later, the contents on this here tablet stray pretty far away from the theme I originally proposed….and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Here’s why I blog about more than tech and why you might also want to consider doing so:

Purpose:

The primary reason I publish things is that I believe others might derive value from it. Taking an introspective look at my own life and career, the greatest catalysts for growth weren’t …
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List of Some More Life Hacks

by Scott

Some readers told me they liked the life hacks section of my old blog, so I decided to publish some more.

Engage Awesome Founders by Reporting Bugs – I encounter bugs in products all the time. Actually take the time to screenshot and document the actions that lead to a bug then send it to the founder. I use my rapportive hack to find their email if I don’t have it.

 This is a great beachhead for building a relationship because it indicates that you’re interested in their success. People appreciate that. Leverage this point of contact to build a relationship by continuing to add value in the form of feedback, connections, etc.

Identify Tech Talent for Hire Amongst Your Network – In …
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