Josh Bernoff, the author of Groundswell, has some interesting thoughts about why Seth Godin’s blog is so successful…and there are some lessons to be learned.
“At least once a day, every day, there’s a little homily on marketing, or brands, or quality, or something else that makes you say “hmmm” or “that’s right” or even “that’s wrong” — but something that’s worth your time.”
Josh goes on to write the following in AdAge.com about what Seth told him:
I’ve carefully curated a voice in my head that blogs in a way that appears to resonate with people. I’m guessing (though I have no talent) it’s a lot like curating a sound on the saxophone. Training helps, listening to records helps, but mostly you blow a lot until you resonate and then repeat, prune, experiment, prune, repeat, prune until a groove occurs.
One reason I encourage people to blog is that the act of doing it stretches your available vocabulary and hones a new voice. You won’t get it for a while, but you’ll get it.
I write at least one a day. I queue up the extras, and replace ones I don’t love with a new one. This discipline does two things… first, it treats each post as a precious opportunity (which it is) and second, it cajoles me into overcoming whatever little voice in the back of my head says “nahhhh.”
Digital 3000 