Spreading the Word
Still a little reluctant to launch, wide scale, but I have been discreetly showing my site to friends and sympathetic colleagues. Of course one brutally honest reviewer told me, "It looked like I used a template." Full disclosure. I did, and I am certainly all right with that. I am sure that I tested the patience of my dear friend who helped with its creation. The choices were infinite. Do I use wordpress, typepad,
blog.com, blogger.com? Should it be two columns or three? What colors should it be? You get the point.
The abundance of choice brings me back to a panel at Esther Dyson's most recent PC Forum in chilly San Diego. Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, was on stage to discuss the increasing complexity and dissatisfaction generated from too many options. In the end, I made a leap of faith and used my gut.
And so I am spreading the word. Expanding my universe and contacting PR buddies and reporters -- known and unknown around the country -- and hurling them my url. I am learning about trackbacks and deciding when to comment on others' blogs. Curious to know how others felt at launch time -- excited, nervous, proud, concerned about being attacked, dismissed, or worse, totally ignored. Silence can be deafening. Putting yourself on the line. Or in a twist from the Godfather trilogy. This isn't professional. It is personal.
Taking the blogger's plunge reminds me of a story my father often tells. I was five maybe six and on a family vacation. I climb the sun baked aluminum rungs of the high dive at the swimming pool. I walk down the plank, look down below into the chlorinated abyss and proclaim, "Me jump mardo (sic)." (Translation: As all PR flaks have been known to say: "Let me get back to you on that.") Well I am happy to report that tomorrow did come, and I did make a splash off the high dive.
And "mardo" is almost here for this blog. Opening day is days away. The urge to engage is just too great. If you have a passion, you have no choice.
I've been with Blogger but am moving to MT (and a standalone URL - http://www.pr-squared.com.)
Colors, format, etc. won't matter as much as the content. Check out Mike's Points and Phil Gomes' sites: templates bland as ice-water but good writing always wins.
Good luck! (Comment this)
Thanks for the tip on philgomes and mikespoints
As for ELNK's blog platform. (Full disclosure -- speaking now on the record for EarthLink as a spokesperson) Fair question, and the real answer is that we continue to look at blogging platforms. At this point we think there a lot of great products already on the market. I suppose EarthLink's strength has always been its ablity to help consumers integrate applications both ours and others. I hope that doesn't sound PRish, but it is true. Talked to our blogger Dave Coustan. He says stay tuned for more details in the near future at earthling (Comment this)
I think that up-and-coming PR newbies are checkin' out YouTube, GoFish, et al., for fun, not for educational purposes. And anyway I'd suggest that they might be a small fraction of your intended audience(?)
Do this right, and you'll garner the attention of an entire industry, not just the young'uns.
Surely you have oodles of subject matter, in your position: everything from next-gen tech stuff to more mundane but challenging items such as, "how does ELN measure its own PR effectiveness?"
p.s. - I'd also humbly suggest that "doing it right" might include posting with more frequency. ;) (Comment this)
I look forward to hearing your perspective. (Comment this)