Tony blogging-tips-itso30-v1310e

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© 2013 IBM Corporation A dozen blogging tips from an experienced blogger Tony Pearson IBM Master Inventor, Senior Consulting IT Specialist, Blogger, Chief SME at Tucson EBC, Forward Thinker, Worldwide Center of Competency for Cloud across all 12 STG EBCs, Published Author and Filmmaker Tony Pearson – IBM Master Inventor and Senior Consulting IT Specialist October 2013 : http://www.webseoanalytics.com/blog/10-tips-for-developing-a-successful-blog/

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12 Blogging tips from an experienced IBM blogger for the 2013 October Cloud Computing Social Media ITSO residency

Transcript of Tony blogging-tips-itso30-v1310e

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© 2013 IBM Corporation

A dozen blogging tips from an experienced blogger

Tony PearsonIBM Master Inventor, Senior Consulting IT Specialist, Blogger, Chief SME at Tucson EBC, Forward Thinker, Worldwide Center of Competency for Cloud across all 12 STG EBCs, Published Author and Filmmaker

Tony Pearson – IBM Master Inventor and Senior Consulting IT Specialist

October 2013

Source: http://www.webseoanalytics.com/blog/10-tips-for-developing-a-successful-blog/

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Tony Pearson – The “Kevin Bacon” of IBM System Storage

● Ranked Top 10 Blogger

● Two Liquid Brand awards for IBM System Storage

● Have been invited to blog and/or speak at various conferences and events

● International readership: USA, India, Canada, UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, France, Russia, China

● Published over 860 blog posts, five books and two films

● Received many compliments from readers

● Helped close over $4B in IBM revenue

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My Social Profile

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Blog: http://ibm.co/Pearson

Books:http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/99Ø_tony

Diigo:https://www.diigo.com/user/az990tony

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/tony.pearson.16121

LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=103718598

SlideShare - IBM Expert Network:http://www.slideshare.net/az99Øtony

Twitter:http://twitter.com/az99Øtony

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I started blogging September 2006

http://www-07.ibm.com/systems/includes/pdf/SoftwareStrategiesIBMSystemsAgendaFullReport.pdf

eServerTotalStorage2000 - 2005

To raise awareness of newIBM System Storage®

Why? What? How?

Start either a podcast or blog

Initially a joint effort with Jennifer Jones

Launched on 50th Anniversary of Disk Systems

1. Convince management and legal dept

2. Learn audio-editing tools

3. Read books on blogging

4. Find “hosting” website that would be externally visible -- IBM developerWorks

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Tip #1 – Read the Book “Naked Conversations”

• “Naked Conversations” by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, both experienced bloggers from Microsoft

• Each chapter highlights Do’s and Don’ts illustrated with examples. Consistent with IBM Social Media Guidelines

• Key Lessons:1. A blog is the unedited voice of a single

person2. Blogs can provide a “human face” to an

otherwise faceless company3. Blogs should foster conversations

between IBM, Business Partners, clients, suppliers, prospects, and other bloggers

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IBM developerWorks – Top 10 Blogs

Rank Blog Author(s) Visits past 36 months

1 Inside System Storage Tony Pearson, Jeff Antley

8,953,681

2 developerWorks Podcasts and Videos Scott Laningham 3,865,347

3 Todd “Turbo” Watson Todd Watson 3,162,925

4 Build your skill on IM Products, DB2 Susan Visser 3,131,857

5 Notes from Rational Support Kelly Puffs 2,615,840

6 iMasters (Spanish Language) Group Blog (36 authors)

2,589,283

7 AIX Down Under Anthony English 2,584,119

8 Smarter Collaboration insights Antony Satyadas 2,423,735

9 Software, Open Source, SOA, Innovation, Open Standards, Trends (Portuguese)

Group Blog (19 authors)

2,120,189

10 Benchmarking and systems performance Elisabeth Stahl 1,840,630

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Tip #2 – Treat Blog Posts as Works of Art

http://www-07.ibm.com/systems/includes/pdf/SoftwareStrategiesIBMSystemsAgendaFullReport.pdf

Why? What? How?

1. Entertain, Poke Fun Smile, Laugh

2. Inform, Educate Bookmark

3. Warn Prepare

4. Celebrate Congratulate

5. Bleg Contribute

1. A single idea

2. A structure

3. Supporting Details

• Still Life• Portrait• Landscape• Incident• Vision

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Tip #3: Use Mind Mapping to prepare blog posts like a presentation –

single idea, appropriate structure, and F.L.O.W.

IBM has approved use of “Freemind” open source mind-mapping tool.

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

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Tip #4 – Use Social Bookmarking to save ideas, facts, and links to other resources for future blog posts

Inspiration for blog ideas Facts, Links,

Opinions, Words

https://www.diigo.com/user/az990tony/to-blog

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Tip #5 – Choose an appropriate structure for your Blog post

Follow the AIDA formula

A – Attention

Grab attention in title and first paragraph

I – Interest

Identify who should be interested in this

D – Desire

The benefits of buying this product, attending this conference, using this approach, etc.

A – Action

Next steps – call your sales rep, schedule meeting with your boss, etc.

A story includes the following elements:

Setting

When and where does the story take place

Character

Who is involved in this story

Conflict

What challenges do the characters face

Resolution

What did we learn from this?

A list should have an opening to introduce the items on the list, and how they are all related

People to know Products to buy Timeline of events Step-by-Step

instructions Sessions of a

conference Resources Question and Answers

Close your blog post with final thoughts, your perspective and opinions

Profile Story List

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Tip #6 – Use Snowclones for Titles, Catch Phrases for Introductions

Snowclones are templates based on popular culture

If Eskimos have N words for snow, X surely have Y words for Z.

X is the new Y The X to End All Xs To X or not to X? We’re gonna need a bigger X X, X Everywhere I, for one, welcome our new X Overlords The X is Too Damn High! A few X short of a Y yes Virginia, there is an X

However, ensure your post slug is appropriate

I have adopted some catch phrases of my own, that I repeatedly use:

“It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means? IBM Announcements!”

I use this to introduce blog posts that summarize IBM announcements

“I am still wiping the coffee off my computer screen after reading …”

I use this to introduce blog posts when I have read something so outrageous that it requires a response

“We are still picking up confetti off the floor from the time when …”

Reminiscing about a fond event

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/InsideSystemStorage/entry/aperi_is_viagra_for_smi

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Tip #7 -- Write what you know, in a conversational tone

• Blogs are the unedited voice of a single person– Do not go through rounds of

reviews like a Press Release– Are not written by a committee– No deadlines

• Imagine you are sitting next to one of your target readers, explaining a concept, showing how to do something, or retelling a sequence of events

• This is how your blog should read, or podcast should sound

"The murals in restaurants are on par with the food in museums.“--- Peter De Vries

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Tip #8 – Blogging is like jogging, blog on a regular frequency

Do it often enough to make it count

If you quit for a while, it is hard to get back into it.

Stretch yourself, read other blogs before you write

Try new routes, explore adjacent spaces• 70% Focus topic• 20% Adjacent spaces• 10% Personal

Pace yourself – Limit yourself to 2,000 words per week or less• 20-40 tweets on Twitter• 5-8 short posts (200-300 words each)• 2-3 medium posts (600-800 words each)• 1 long post (1200-1800 words)

Make time for it – a 700-word post takes me about 4-6 hours to write, edit, format and post

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Tip #9 – As with any conversation, if you cannot add value with something new and different, contribute with your silence

Show Restraint - While the most interesting blog posts are written under the influence of drugs, alcohol, anger, frustration, sadness or depression, don’t post

until you are clean and sober during normal business hours.

Avoid the Echo Chamber

Read the blogs of others in your industry, analysts, competitors,

and clients. Don’t waste time with posts that say “I completely

agree”.

Don’t Let the Wookie WinEveryone is entitled to their own opinions, so agree to

disagree. However, if facts are wrong, set the record

straight.

Be ResponsibleBe the first to admit

being wrong, apologize and correct your own

mistakes

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Tip #10 -- Identify who you are and your relationship to the people, products and companies mentioned in your blog post

Identify if people you mention in your post are related to you, in your management chain, or have similar job title. Example “Fellow blogger Barry Whyte (IBM) writes…”

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission requires bloggers in the United States to disclose who they are and if they were paid or compensated in any manner. Example FTC disclosure:

(FTC Disclosure: I am both an employee and shareholder of IBM, so the U.S. Federal Trade Commission may consider this post a paid, celebrity endorsement of the IBM SmartCloud Enterprise service offering. IBM has working relationships with Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft mentioned in this blog post. This blog post is based on my interpretation and opinions of publicly-available information, observations and personal experience. My friends at ENC Security Systems provided me an evaluation license for their latest software release so that I could confirm the use cases posed in this post. I do not have any financial interest in EMC, HDS, HP or Dell mentioned on this blog post, do not endorse any of their products, nor has anyone paid me to mention their company names, brands or offerings.)

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Tip #11 – Live a life worth writing about! Incorporate Rich Media

• Photos– Post pictures you take yourself, or have

someone take picture of you– Get permission -- “May I take a photo

for my blog?”– Do NOT link to other websites– Store my photos on Flickr.com– First photo left-justified, then alternating

right and left– Use GIMP tool to crop, fix photos

• Slides – Use Slideshare.net• Pie/Bar Charts – Use Google Chart• Audio – Native HTML or link to MP3• Video

– Native HTML– Screenshot image plus hot-link

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Tip #12 – Well-behaved bloggers seldom make history

Pink it and Shrink itThe new SVC Entry Edition, available in Flamingo Pink* or traditional Raven Black. (*RPQ required. Default color is Raven Black.)

IBM Watson - How to build your own “Watson Jr.” in your basement104,209 downloads!

EMC Electrocutes the Elephant If you thought fear mongering like this was unique to the IT industry, consider that 105 years ago, [Edison electrocuted an elephant]. In an effort to show that A/C was too dangerous to have in homes and businesses, Thomas Edison held a press conference in front of 1500 witnesses, electrocuting an elephant named Topsy with 6600 volts.

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2012 IBM Global CEO Study

Employees who connect more with each other and with the outside world to innovate continuously reinvent themselves.

By learning from each other, they stay ahead of the skills curve, open to change, and in effect become "future-proof."

Source: 2012 IBM Global CEO Study

Employees who connect more with each other and with the outside world to innovate continuously reinvent themselves.

By learning from each other, they stay ahead of the skills curve, open to change, and in effect become "future-proof."

Source: 2012 IBM Global CEO Study

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The “Four R’s”

• Relevance– Identify yourself by name, and

when relevant: your role and employer

– Ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients

– Add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective

• Responsibility– Be personally responsible for your

content– Be the first to admit and correct

your own mistakes

• Respect– Respect copyright, fair use and

financial disclosure laws. – Use disclaimers like…

“My views are my own, and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer.”

• Restraint– Don't use ethnic slurs, personal

insults, obscenity– Don't pick fights, but set the

record straight as needed– Don't provide confidential or

proprietary information– Don't cite or reference clients,

partners or suppliers without their approval

Source: http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.htmlSource: http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html

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About the Speaker

Mr. Tony Pearson IBM System Storage

Tony Pearson is a Master Inventor and Senior managing consultant for the IBM System Storage™ product line. Tony joined IBM Corporation in 1986 in Tucson, Arizona, USA, and has lived there ever since. In his current role, Tony presents briefings on storage topics covering the entire System Storage product line, Tivoli storage software products, and topics related to Cloud Computing. He interacts with clients, speaks at conferences and events, and leads client workshops to help clients with strategic planning for IBM’s integrated set of storage management software, hardware, and virtualization products.

Tony writes the “Inside System Storage” blog, which is read by hundreds of clients, IBM sales reps and IBM Business Partners every week. This blog was rated one of the top 10 blogs for the IT storage industry by “Networking World” magazine, and #1 most read IBM blog on IBM’s developerWorks. The blog has been published in series of books, Inside System Storage: Volume I through IV.

Over the past years, Tony has worked in development, marketing and customer care positions for various storage hardware and software products. Tony has a Bachelor of Science degree in Software Engineering, and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, both from the University of Arizona. Tony holds 19 IBM patents for inventions on storage hardware and software products.

9000 S. Rita RoadBldg 9032 Floor 1Tucson, AZ 85744

+1 520-799-4309 (Office)

[email protected]

Tony Pearson

Master Inventor, Senior Consulting IT Specialist

IBM System Storage™

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