My post today is in regards to a recent Search Marketing Guru's blog post that I happened to publish just yesterday. The post is titled "My First 'Sphinn' Submission", and while it wasn't anything too grandiose... just a few notes on my recent experience with the Sphinn platform, I found the comments to be quite interesting.

Debra Mastaler says:

"Karl - I've found you need to get a submission "hot" so it's taken to the first page of the site where it has potential to take off. Giving it a little push by contacting friends to Sphinn helps get that process going. Good content should take it from there."

Lyndon Antcliff says:

"Sphinn is interesting because I think people use it in different ways. As a way to drive targeted traffic and raise profile in the industry I think it's very useful."

"However, there is a bit of manipulation going on with friends voting each other up, which is fine and dandy. But when it pushes sub standard content to the fore it reduces the quality of the whole site."

In both cases, Debra and Lyndon alluded to the idea that one has to game the Sphinn system in order to be successful - or in this case generate a large number of "spins". I have a few thoughts that I'd like to share in regards to that.

First of all, Sphinn, as most of you know, is a pretty big deal for us in the search marketing community. While the idea of submitting a story and having a community vote on its worthiness is not exactly an original concept - need I mention Digg or Slashdot - Sphinn is unique in that it is a social community specifically for search marketers.

With that said, my question is this: Why would there be a need to "game" Sphinn for votes? For the sake of a little extra traffic... a few extra spikes in one's Google Analytics report? It just doesn't make sense. Granted, Sphinn traffic is indeed targeted, no doubts there, but in the end it doesn't lead to any sort of monetary conversions. Well, that is unless stroking one's ego is some how profitable.

Sphinn is our community, and while the fact remains that we are a community of marketers and have a natural desire to leverage such social mediums to gain maximum exposure, doing so in a community filled with other marketers just doesn't seem necessary. For search engine marketers, attaining traffic from Sphinn is the equivalent of buying booth space at SMX. Sure you're probably going to have a lot of visitors stop by and shoot the breeze, but at the end of the day you're not going to sell search marketing services to a group of search marketers. My point being... there is no really benefit for getting one's stories spun, other than to contribute to community, so there shouldn't be a need to "fix" the voting. It should be understood that if a story merits a "spin", than the community will provide it.

I think Lyndon was dead on when he said a community where friends voting each other up pushes sub standard content to the front and reduces the quality of the whole site. That maybe ok for Digg and other social communities, but not for our own. Sphinn is a relevant resource... we should do our best to keep it that way.

Sorry for the profanity, but there really is no other way to say it.

Quick Sprout is among my absolute favorite reads, and I just wanted to take a quick second and share it with you all. With this being a search marketing blog, I'm sure most of you have either heard of it or are subscribers yourself. However, for those of you who haven't... this is a great day for you.

Quick Sprout, authored by Internet Marketing Consultant Neil Patel, is a blog on "Personal Branding" - a "how to" on branding oneself for success. Neil is a highly reputable leader in the search marketing industry, and I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't personally and professionally benefited from his insights on personal branding.

Let me be clear and say that this isn't a blog for search marketers; rather it is a read for anyone looking to improve their own personal branding efforts.

Check out Quick Sprout... you'll be glad you did.

I just finished reading "Naked Conversations", a book by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, and before moving on to my next read I wanted to take a few moments and share with you my thoughts on it.

From the title alone you might expect that I had been reading a romance novel or worst yet a pornographic periodical of some sort, but I assure you that isn't the case. Instead, Naked Conversations is a book on the effectiveness of blogging and, more importantly, how businesses are now utilizing blogging as a way to carry on conversations with their customers and target audiences. The term "naked conversation" simply implies that a conversation is open and free, as opposed to one that is hidden behind corporate barriers.

I decided to pick up Naked Conversations for a couple of reasons. First, it came highly recommended (from some of my search marketing buds) as a must read for business-bloggers. Second, I thought that by reading this book I would be able to leverage ideas from it and improve upon my current blogging efforts. I'm happy to report that I was right in my thinking, and that there were lots of gems worth finding in this read.

Here's a small excerpt from the book:

"Whatever happened to honesty in business? That's what your clients and customers are asking, even if your company's integrity is above reproach. Because, for decades, corporations have talked at their customers and called in communication. Now comes the blog - an opportunity for you company to talk with customers and let them talk back. Using more than fifty interviews with people at all levels in all types of businesses, these experts demonstrate in a fresh and though-provoking way how blogs can repair corporate image and rebuild lost trust. And they show you how to do it right."

"Can your organization afford not to blog? Read this book and then decide."

Overall, I thought that "Naked Conversations" was a fantastic read complete with well-rounded tips and advice. In the early chapters, Scoble and Israel go so far as to point out the dos and don'ts when blogging and then progress in later chapters with examples of how blogging has changed the way businesses communicate. Their approach is pretty simple and straight-forward... meaning I see no reason why anyone, bloggers nor non-bloggers, will have trouble grasping the concepts presented within this book.

Take this advice from Scoble and Israel: Blogging will not necessarily solve all your marketing problems, but properly used as they suggest, blogs can have a positive impact on your company. It can be fun, too.

The other day, Jacob Wolfsheimer of WolfTrust.com "tagged" me with what seems to be the latest in blogging memes. However, unlike the few memes I've seen in the past, this meme is about "blog improvement", and encourages participants to critique their own blogs for ways they may improve them. This being a somewhat interesting topic for me, I figured I would play along.

While I could simply say that my blog is absolutely perfect and that there is nothing more I can do to improve it, I would just be kidding myself. The truth is, as much as I enjoy my blog, I know of a few things that I'm not currently doing and should be. On that same token, I also know of a few things that I am doing, but not doing nearly as well as I could be. Any guesses on what these problem areas are?

Here are 4 ways I can (and eventually will) improve my blog:

1. Updating my Design and Layout
Let's face it... I've been pretty much rolling with the same design and layout since first appearing on the scene back in '05. Granted, there have been some minor graphic and layout changes here and there, but nothing too grandiose.

As a designer, I know how important it is to maintain a fresh and original looking website... I have to explain this to my client's daily. For me on the other hand, it is something that gets overlooked often. I guess when it comes down to it my time and efforts are spent on designing and rankings client websites, and not cleaning up the mess that is my own blog. Hopefully, some day soon the Klog will be sporting a new look.

2. Blogging Inconsistencies
As Jacob mentioned in his post, I'm too have yet to find my blogging rhythm... which is quite sad really. There are those weeks where I'll blog 3 - 5 times, and others where I'll blog only once or worse yet, not at all. These inconsistencies in my blogging provide a horrible user-experience for my readers and feed subscribers.

In order to correct this, I am hoping to one day put forth enough effort to blog on average of 2 - 3 posts per week. It's not a difficult goal to meet by any means, and I think doing so will improve the overall quality of my blog.

3. Adding the Sphinn Wheel
And why shouldn't I? I am a search marketing blogger, and therefore my posts are on-topic and highly relevant to the Sphinn audience. It makes perfect sense to me.

The truth is that I've always been a little slow when it came to "socializing" my blog, and it's certainly something I need to work on. Expect to see the Sphinn wheel sometime real soon.

4. Beefing Up My Readership
This is one of those elements of blogging where I'm putting forth an effort, but not the kind of effort that I could or should be. There are many ways to build a readership, and for the most part I've been kind of slacking on this front. What I need to do is allocate some time to participating on industry forums and blogs, and find new ways to leverage social media and networking sites for traffic and potential readers.

And that's that. Thanks to Jacob for the tag... I appreciate it. Now, for the best part of the whole meme process, I get to tag 5 other bloggers in hopes that they'll keep this meme alive and share with us their insights on "blog improvement". I hereby tag: Rhea Drysdale, Kid Disco, Matt McGee, Ian McAnerin, and Tamar Weinberg. Have at it guys!

Last week I received yet another marketing / business related book in the mail titled "Fire Them Up!" (pro bono of course - man, I love freebies). However, this time the read came courteously of Carmine Gallo, a communications coach for many of the world's most admired companies... literally!

After a little bit of research I found that Carmine's client-portfolio includes such companies as Intel, IBM, Chase, Nokia, The Home Depot, and Hyundai with many more top-notch brands to boot. As if all that wasn't "kick-ass" enough, the man is an Emmy award-winning journalist and has worked as a television anchor, host, and correspondent for CNN, Fox, TechTV (remember that?), CNET and CBS.

A small excerpt from the cover-jacket states:

"Regardless of what you do or what you position, influence is an important and powerful key to achieving professional success and getting what you want from life. Fire Them Up! Reveals seven simple, profound secrets for using your vision and your values to motivate and influence the people you work with, or share a community with."

"These seven secrets will give you astonishing communication skills that will help you enjoy more successful and fulfilling relationships with colleagues, clients, employees, or anyone else in your personal or professional life. Plus, Fire Them Up! is full of stories and tactics from some of the world's most influential people. More than two dozen of today's most inspiring business leaders share their secrets - from top companies including The Ritz-Carlton, Google, and many other big-name brands."

The best part about receiving this book in particular is that Carmine thought enough to personally autograph it. His message reads: "Karl, I hope these ideas fire up your readers!". A quick shout-out to Carmine... thanks for the book man. Thus far it sounds like a stellar read and I'll be sure to share my thoughts with you and my readers just as soon as I have a chance to read it.

Just a quick FYI to anyone into Social Networking / Marketing... I finally got around to creating a "LinkedIn" profile this past week and am looking to build up my network. I know, I know... I'm like a million years behind the rest of the SEM world when it comes to social mediums, but that's just how I am I guess... a late adapter.

If you're interested, hit up my profile and link up with me.