The Secret to Writing a Successful and Outstanding Blog

I just scanned an article called Seven Blogs You Must Read by Mitch Joel (hat tip Chris Brogan) -- are the top social media strategy blogs (written mostly by men or group blogs founded by men).  There's an 8th blog (written by a woman) I'd add to the list: Liz Strauss

If don't have Liz in your reader, you are missing out on a rich conversation about social media, networking, and blogging.  I've been a fan of her blog for a long time, but if you're just discovering her work and want to catch up, I suggest getting a copy of her "The Secret to Writing a Successful and Outstanding Blog"

Comments

[Mitch Joel - Twist Image]

Hey Liz,

This is the second post/comment where people have asked "where are the women?" on my short list. To be honest, I didn't base my choices on the sex of the Blogger - it never even crossed my mind. I don't really care what the race, religion, sex or sexual preference is of a Blogger (or anyone for that fact). I care about the quality, quantity and personal impact their content has on me. In fact, I would think that TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb and GrokDotCom - all multi-authored Blogs - have female Bloggers adding content? Right?... see, I don't even know because I don't pay attention to that.

I'm sure if you check out my Blogroll, there's a fair distribution amongst the sex, racial backgrounds, etc...

My intent wasn't to choose a "bunch of guys", it was to choose a small handful from the hundreds of Blogs I read that really get me excited.

I've gone and subscribed to Liz' Blog - thanks for the lead.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone... not my intention.

[Mitch Joel - Twist Image]

whoops - I got all excited to check out Liz' Blog that I called you "Liz" - sorry about that Beth :)... yikes... I need to get some sleep!

[Liz Strauss]

Hi Beth!
Thank you! It's quite a list that you put me in and I find it a "one-in-a-million" honor to be shouted out by you in this way!

Today I was just talking about you to a non-profit social media person in Chicago . . . you have a new subscriber. :)

[Beth Kanter]

Well, all us women bloggers look alike -- hard to tell us apart.:-)

You didn't offend me .. I was just making an observation - I said "mostly written by men"

I work in the nonprofit sector and do a lot of work in developing countries and raise money for poverty reduction -- so I do notice stuff like gender and race .....

And by saying that you don't and only include mostly male bloggers and a few token women as part of a group blog - might mean that you think women's blogging in not the quality of men's blogging? I'm sure you don't - as you mentioned you're tired.

Here's a list of the 50 most influential female bloggers - perhaps there are one or two who you feel write quality blogs. Liz is on the list (and so I am)
http://northxeast.com/general/nxe%E2%80%99s-fifty-most-influential-female-bloggers

But congrats on your article ..

[Mitch Joel - Twist Image]

You're absolutely right Beth, I don't think that it's male or female quality thing... it is the overall quality regardless of gender, race, sexual preference. That being said, it was also a personal choice. The context of the article wasn't all quality - it was what a business should be checking out if they haven't started looking at any Blogs yet.

I follow brilliant people (all who are on my personal "best of the best" list) like Kate Trgovac, Christopher S. Penn, Jackie Huba, Joseph Jaffe, Arianna Huffington, Garr Reynolds, BL Ochman, Hugh McGuire, Amber Mac, David Weinberger, Charlene Li, C.C. Chapman and more. I just don't follow them for gender equality... I follow them because I like what they do.

[Judy-on-the-go-Reid]

Hi Beth,

Thank you for introducing me to this list of fantastic bloggers. Wow. You and Mitch have me thinking about who I would include in my top 7.

Now... how to say this... I don't know if it was your intention, but the tone of your last response to Mitch seemed mean-spirited. Or I could just be misinterpreting a sarcastic sense of humour. It's difficult to tell over the net.

In your response you question whether Mitch might think "women's blogging in not the quality of men's blogging" or after reading the list of 50 most influential female bloggers he would find only "one or two who you feel write quality blogs".

I think it's quite a stretch to interpret one individual's list of 7 must-read bloggers to mean that he believes women's blogs aren't the quality of men's blogs.

Again, maybe I'm misinterpreting, but as a reader who doesn't know you or Mitch, it looks like you're twisting another bloggers' words. Or maybe I'm just tired too. :)

[Beth Kanter]

Hi Judy:

Thanks for your very thoughtful comment! It is an excellent reminder about how reading text without body language or hearing the tone of our voices or knowing one another in a face-to-face context or as humans makes it easy to misinterpret each other's intentions and meanings.

In reflection, I think that fourth paragraph in my comment should have ended with an emoticon to indicate that it wasn't intended to be mean spirited. Really, it wasn't.

My intention was to clarify my understanding of Mitch's first comment. When I talk to people face-to-face and we may have different points of view, I want to make sure that I understand the other person's point of view. It is a form of respect - even if I don't necessarily agree.

So, I rephrase what I hear as a clarifying question - did you mean xyz? This gives the other person an opportunity to say yes I did or no I didn't or your understanding is correct or no it is only partially correct, etc. In a face-to-face context, this sort of exchange can blossom into wonderful conversation

Some people call this active listening. I try as much as possible to do that in the comments of my blog posts and other people's blog posts - because I think of the comments as conversations. And what usually happens is some learning and reflection leading to understanding and new insights. But it is hard to do that with text only and not knowing people -- Again, projecting tone and intentions that may or may not be there.

I'm not sure I'd describe our conversation in the comments as "twisting words" -- merely a dialog for better understanding. Do you have a better method for doing this?

If you want to get a sense of who I am and where I am coming from, I invite you to visit my wiki space http://bethkanter.wikispaces.com. One of my passions is using social media to raise money for social causes - specifically Cambodian orphans and helping young women life themselves out of poverty. I've raised small amounts - for example $2,000 to send a young woman to college - http://tinyurl.com/3b6g96 and more recently $93,000 to support many Cambodian children (http://gsp4good.wikispaces.com)

Judy, I see your email address is from canada.com which the same domain where the article by Mitch was published. Do you have a formal affiliation with the Gazette?

[Judy-on-the-go-Reid]

Hi Beth,

I've got a long list of "thanks". :)

Thanks so much for your response. I have to say I'm a little in awe of how responsive you and other bloggers have been to feedback from readers.

You're right that it can be difficult to interpret a person's tone without body language and face to face interaction. Thank you for explaining your intentions... and no I don't think I have a better suggestion than yours of using an emoticon.

Thank you for pointing me to your wiki. I'm especially interested in the information you posted to help new bloggers.

No, I don't have anything to do with the Montreal Gazette.... although YEARS ago I was a student journalist for the DALHOUSIE Gazette. :) Canada.com offers free public e-mail service which is provided by CanWest Global. I think they own or represent a dozen newspapers throughout Canada and a TV station, including the Montreal Gazette. The e-mail address works for me (easy for others to remember) but their site is soooo slow to load.

I'm working as a civilian contractor on the Kandahar Airfield base in Afghanistan and eventually (any day now... as I keep saying) I'll be starting a blog to let my family and friends know what I'm up to. I've been reading Chris Brogan's blog for a while and it was his post about Mitch's article - and Mitch's response to a comment I made - that led me to your blog.

And wow, am I glad I found it. The list of 50 most influential women bloggers alone would have done it. But I've also been looking into some fundraising projects here on the camp and I know your site will provide solid info and needed inspiration.

So thanks again for your response and all your information. I hope I can provide you with a link to my own blog soon.