Learning from the Voices of WordCamp Dallas

Charles Stricklin, the host of WordCamp Dallas 2008 and The WordPress Podcast has released The Voices of WordCamp Dallas, a collection of quick interviews and questions I asked during the event.

I was so amazed at how open everyone was, willing to share their thoughts on WordPress, WordCamp, blogging, and the magic of the web today. I talked to bloggers who had been blogging for years and newbies, with only a few weeks under their belts. It was a collection of the whose who and whose upcoming in the blogosphere and thank you to Charles for sharing the magic that his efforts brought together in one place.

Some of the interviews are excerpted and I hope to bring them to you in their entirety soon, so stay tuned. In the 30 minute set of The Voices of WordCamp Dallas, you will hear:

00.10 Bill Sholar of Webfratelli
00.37 Dan Bates
00.59 Jonathan Bailey of Plagiarism Today
01.45 Ptah Dunbar
02.34 Bryan Lee
03:14 Cory Miller of iThemes Media
03:44 Henry Pugsley
04:07 Kerry Webster of WEBsmith internet consultants
04:44 Wendi McGowan of Wendistry, LLC and Scott Ellis of vsellis.com
05:36 Dave Curlee and Katherine Curlee of RealCookN.tv
06:28 DB Ferguson of No Fact Zone
07:48 Alexander Frison of Not a Niche
09:18 Tony Cecala of Holistic Networker
10:04 Mike Borschow of MetroQ.com
11:55 Mark Ghosh of Weblog Tools Collection
12:30 Dorian Karthauser of DK Enterprises (beginner blogger)
17:35 Charlene Mullenweg (sister of Matt Mullenweg)
23:15 Jim Halloran of AlcoholismDiseaseFree.com
24:13 Ryan Joy and Michelle Greer of Volusion and Michelle’s Blog
26:41 Kathleen Ratliff
27:14 William Addington of Williamedia
28:31 Doug Smith of smithsrus.com and Hide a Pod
29:25 Ronald Huereca of Readers Appreciation Project and Weblog Tools Collection
30:23 Dimitri (blog not public - biotech)

I look forward to repeating this fascinating dialog in future WordCamps and blogging events I travel to and speak at. It’s a humbling experience as I come to teach and come away learning more than I ever expected. Thank you to all for sharing your thoughts and passions with me!

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• What You Need To Know About WordCamp Dallas
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• WordCamp Dallas Videos
• Liz Strauss at WordCamp Dallas Transcript: 60,317 Comments
• WordCamp Dallas 2008: Lorelle’s Gallery of Images
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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Writing Better Blog Post Titles

I’ve written a lot about writing and creating powerful, effective, and attention-getting headlines and post titles on your blog, but more needs to be said on the subject, especially for blogging teachers and students.

The following are not effective nor attention-getting post titles:

• March
• March 2006
• March 17, 2006
• Today’s News
• Homework
• Today’s Homework
• In Class Today
• I’m Okay
• Today
• What am I doing?
• What am I doing today?
• How are you?
• Whatcha doing?
• New Post

Post titles like “March” make sense if you are the one writing the post and know that it’s actually March 17, 2006, but it makes no sense to someone who stumbles upon your blog from a search or reading down the line of Most Recent Posts or Most Popular Posts. Did something special and memorable happen on that particular March?

Dates hold power when there is something powerful associated with the date, such as 9/11. The symbolism in the date and the national emergency phone number in the United States, dialed by thousands on that day, is powerful. But “March” doesn’t mean much without a serious association. It could also mean there is a peaceful rally followed by a march to the courthouse or something. We don’t have enough information from which to draw conclusions on what “March” means.

There are a lot of student and teacher bloggers out there using post titles like “Homework” also not helpful nor informative. Homework for what? “Homework for Science Class” is helpful, but what do you call it next week? “Homework II for Science Class” or “Another Homework for Science Class” - all not good choices.

SOBCon 2008: FuelMyBlog Pre-Conference Meetup Friends

Tonight was the first event of the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference (SOBCon) in Chicago at the pre-conference meetup hosted by FuelMyBlog.

It was a great opportunity to socialize with many of the return participants to SOBCon, but also to meet new people. It is clear that SOBCon is going to be the event of the year for myself and many of the participants in Chicago this weekend. And you still have a chance to join the fun. There is still time to register for this powerful blogging event, The Biz School for Bloggers, which begins Friday night with a boat cruise and open mic night, and then Saturday and Sunday turns the tables on everything you thought about the business side of blogging, social networking, marketing, promotions, advertising, monetization, and more with the masters of the blogging world.

From the hugs everyone was handing out, it was clear that Wendy Piersall summed it up perfectly:

SOBCon is like entering a room filled with your best friends whom you’ve never met.

The energy was powerful and the expectations for the weekend’s conference were amazing. Bloggers are here from all over the country and the world to take their blogs to the next level, investing in their blog but also in their social capital. They will learn about how to maximize the return on their investment in social media, networking, blog community building, and increasing their brand identity and visibility within their niche - and beyond. They are eager to learn, but also eager to share the lessons they’ve learned as bloggers, whether they have been blogging for a few weeks, months, or years. It’s clear that everyone is here to learn from each other as well as to share.

Here are some of the pictures of the meetup - where no one was a stranger.

Photographs copyright Lorelle VanFossen

Photographs copyright Lorelle VanFossen

I’m so looking forward to this weekend’s conference. If you are in the Chicago area and want to jump start your blog business, get down here! If you are not, then check out the amazing discounts on Southwest Airlines for flights to Chicago, or my favorite flight search, Kayak for cheap last minute flights. Trust me, it will be worth every nickle it takes to come here.

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• What Gives You The Right To Tell Me?
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Woopra Pre-Approved Invites Selling on Ebay

Someone is selling Woopra invites on ebay.

Announced recently at WordCamp Dallas, this new web analytics program called Woopra was the talk of the conference. Word spread like wildfire as it was by major tech blogs and everyone wanted access. Unfortunately, since the program is still in development, while sign ups were overwhelming, approvals were slow as new servers were brought online and some sense of control is needed through the trail stages of the program’s development. The number of people eagerly awaiting approval is shrinking, but new people are signing up daily - but it’s first come, first serve, and Woopra could cut off the invitations at any time during the development stage due to technical issues.

A pre-approved invite by-passes all that and gets the user right in the door of this fascinating web statistics program. I’ve been using it since WordCamp Dallas and it is better than television! I love watching people come and go and explore my site live, but more importantly, I, the non-statistics watcher, am fascinated with the ability to look beyond the score card of the numbers and really get a clear picture of who is using my blog and why. I’d love to have this same feature on Lorelle on WordPress, but currently WordPress.com members are unable to add Javascript, thus can’t use Woopra. Maybe soon, if enough people ask.

I can talk for days about how amazing this new statistics program is, but I’ll let others share their enthusiasm:

• Weblog Tools Collection - Unofficial Coolness Guide
• I stepped in some Woopra
• Ayyas - Woopra
• Woopra - Freaking Great Site Analytics
• Woopra Analytics Software Initial Thoughts
• dotNet Wizard - Woopra in Action
• Cali and Neal of GeekBrief.TV - Woopra in action
• GeekBrief.TV - Introduction to Woopra
• Techcrunch - Stats Junkies Get Another Fix: Woopra
• Mashable - Woopra
• TechAU TV - Podcast Episode #28 on Woopra
• Charles McKeever - Getting Realtime Analytics With Woopra
• Johnny - Woopra Live Web Analytics in Action
• Blog Herald - New Version of Woopra Released

And yes, this reminds me of the selling of invites to WordPress.com on ebay, which was exciting and did change the world, and honestly, I think Woopra will change how we blog, and how we communicate on the web…so this is every exciting and if I hadn’t gotten my pre-approved invite at WordCamp Dallas…that invite on ebay might look really good.

Would you buy a pre-approved Woopra invite?

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Blog Challenge: Symbols

Symbols Dictionary is an online encyclopedia of “Western Signs and Ideograms” which makes the Da Vinci Code look like child’s play.

Your blog challenge this week is to find a symbol from among the thousands of symbols in the Symbol Dictionary and write a blog post that incorporates the meaning and history of that symbol. You can related it your blog’s focus, design, or make it personal, writing about a symbol that means something special to you.

A favorite of mine is the infinity symbol, which Symbols.com describes as the “snake biting its tail” and representative of the similarities of the circle, denoting double endlessness, eternity, infinity, or infinitely great. They also say the image was used in meteorology to represent heat haze or sun haze.

Personally, I love the idea of the never-ending, the continuity of the whole.

As George Carlin says:

I say life began about a billion years ago and it’s a continuous process! Continuous, just keeps rolling along! Rolling, rolling, rolling along!

And say, you know something? Listen, you can go back further than that! What about the carbon atoms, huh? Human life could not exist without carbon! So is it just possible that maybe we shouldn’t be burning all this coal?

What’s your favorite symbol? Do you know the history of it? We use symbols in the form of letters and numbers every day. How much do you know about how these shapes were created and developed over the years to become attached to our keyboards?

Blog about a symbol and its history and share your personal connection with it.

These blogging challenges are published weekly and are an attempt to kick your blogging ass. They serve to challenge your thinking and efforts in blogging and blog writing. To participate, start challenging yourself now. Today. Go for it.

Past Blog Challenges

• Blog Challenge: Have Blogs Changed the World?
• Blog Challenge: How Do You Blog?
• Blog Challenge: Testing Your Blog Clicking Experience
• Blog Challenge: Testing Your Blog’s Development
• Blogging Challenge: Blog About What You Know
• Blogging Challenge: Blog The Opposite of You

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

I Love My WordPress Mug

Have you seen the new WordPress mug?

For ages, while the WordPress Shop began their offerings of WordPress logo items with t-Shirts and hoodies, I kept telling the powers that be that I wanted a coffee mug. A big mug for my frequent cups of daily tea. A product that is useful and reusable, and it cleans up easily. Something I can display in a workplace environment that says “I love WordPress.”

I finally got my request! Now you can join me for a cup of tea…or coffee or whatever hydrates you…and proudly display the love you have for WordPress on your desk or in your home.

The mugs are dark blue with the small WordPress “W” circle and are designed for serious drinkers. The mug is great for soups. Even my picky husband loves the large handle and big size. We’re thinking about replacing all our tea mugs with WordPress mugs.

The WordPress Shop is produced by Indigo Clothing Ltd.

HOW TO BUY THE MUG

To buy the WordPress Mug, order it from the WordPress Shop online from the WordPress mug order page.

To order anything from the WordPress Shop, go to the WordPress Shop to order online.

WordPress products and schwag will probably NOT be available at a store near you unless Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, succeeds in his dream of world domination…with WordPress, of course.

Order Problems: If you are having problems with the order of anything from the WordPress Shop, contact the WordPress Shop. Do not leave a comment here. They won’t see it and no action will be taken.

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

WordPress Security Prevention, Reactions, and Scares

Matt Mullenweg spoke out recently on the recent bogus “SecurityFocus SQL Injection” fear spreading across the web. There is a huge perception today that WordPress is a security risk. This is not true.

As Matt discussed, fears of SQL server vulnerabilities and other security issues have gotten out of control, for WordPress as well as other open source and proprietary programs, which he likened to “running into a crowded theatre and yell ‘fire’ and the less basis there is in fact the more people link to them. It’s not uncommon to see crying-wolf reports like the above several times in a week…”

Jeff Jones, a software security expert, dug into the history of a recent SQL server issue and reported:

Last week a web-based news story comes to my attention which asserted that last year SQL Server had “…most vulnerabilities last year of any commercial database…” That prompted me to do some fact checking and I thought it worth documenting the real (really good) story of SQL vulnerabilities and what commercial database had the most vulnerabilities last year…

So. One thing is clear from the rudimentary investigation I’ve performed here - SQL Server was not even close to having the most vulnerabilities last year of any commercial database.

In fact, though SQL 2000 Server may have had a rough track record up through 2003, the SQL team has certainly turned a corner since then and SQL Server 2005 has had one of the best security track records of any commercial database ever.

In a report on his Security Blog, Internet Explorer and Firefox Vulnerability Analysis (pdf), Jones reported that FireFox has had more security vulnerabilities than Internet Explorer, even though it is a widely held belief that FireFox is the “better” browser.

When a security issue came up with WordPress.com, it was fixed within 10 minutes of being reported. Yet, the news spread around for days that WordPress.com was a security risk.

Perception is everything. In another report and analysis, Jeff Jones reports on the increasing number of disclosures influencing the perception of security issues and vulnerabilities as they catch the public eye.

The Challenges of Creating an Interactive Blog

By Rachelle Chase

Last week, I used my Sex Lounge Finding Derek Contest - an online contest where hunky guys competed to be the hero of my book - to show the importance of interactive web sites. I focused on the why and how to make your site interactive. This time, I’d like to get more personal and share the reasoning, implementation, challenges, and successes of the project.

The Idea for Interactivity

I wanted to do something different to market my book on the Internet. I wanted to expose it to potential readers in a way that did not shout, “Me, me, me - now buy my book.” Instead, I wanted visitors to stop by my site for a memorable experience. In order for it to be ‘memorable,’ it to had to be fun. In order for it to be fun and an ‘experience,’ people needed to participate.

The challenge was how to present my book in a unique, outside-the-box kind of way that was fun and participatory for visitors?

Like many of my ideas, the solution came to me in the shower, and the “Sex Lounge Finding Derek Contest” was born.

• Visitors would get to see, hear, and read about sexy guys competing to be Derek - then leave comments, vote for their favorites, and win prizes.
• Dereks would bask in the adoration of women, get exposure, and compete for prizes.
• Celebrity judges would get exposure for their product or service.
• And the my book would be experienced by visitors through the actions of the Dereks and judges.

I needed to set up the blog, add in the ability for readers to cast their vote, and make it as easy as possible for entrants to submit their photos and information. I wanted the site designed to accommodate as much interaction as possible.

I knew I could do this. I had some experience and familiarity with WordPress, so I knew it was a good foundation, as it was easy to work with and already had the tools to incorporate voting and submissions.

Alert: Possibly Related Posts Feature on WordPress.com Blogs

WordPress.com has activated a feature without warning that has many up in arms of protest, making it one of the least welcoming additions to WordPress.com.

Since the beginning of WordPress.com, one of the most requested features has been the ability to showcase related posts from our own blogs. WordPress.com has activated this ability, but the links link to WordPress.com blogs, not our own.

This is bad for many reasons, which I’m sure you’ve already thought of. No control. Implied recommendation or endorsement. Inappropriate links. And a lot of confusion for our readers who believe we choose these links or that they will lead to links on our blog related to what we blog about. I’m sure I missed some other bad reasons for not liking this new feature.

It’s important that we link to other bloggers, especially others within the WordPress.com community to support and encourage them. It’s wrong to do so without some control.

You can read the announcement, Possibly Related Posts, on the WordPress.com blog.

My apologies to those who have been led astray by these links in my own blog posts. Thank you to everyone who brought this to my attention, worried something was wrong. I even had a couple people warn me that my blog had been hacked as the links were definitely inappropriate. Thank you for worrying and watching out for me and my blog.

Note: According to a comment Matt Mullenweg made on a forum post:

In the next few days we’ll have an update that allows you to block specific blogs from showing up, and eventually that setting will also apply to the tag surfer, blog surfer, and top blogs so when you block a blog you should never see it again.

With 3 million blogs - albeit less than a million active - I don’t have enough life to block all the blogs that show up as “possibles” in every list on every blog post. I cannot imagine the implementation of such a process. I’d rather choose who I link to than have to exclude them.

Among the links on my blog posts here that I tested before turning off the feature, the average was 2 in seven links per post having a vague relationship to my content. The majority of the links went to non-English blogs, blogs no longer updated (since 2006 in several cases), and totally unrelated content, such as an article about a WordPress Plugin for creating, among other things, related posts, linking to A Third of Patients On Transplant List Are Not Eligible from the Washington Post. I just learned that the Washington Post has blogs on WordPress.com, but what transplants have to do with WordPress…well, it’s anyone’s guess. Either way, 28 percent average “success” rate isn’t good enough for me. Nor is adding to my workload.

To Turn Off Related Posts on WordPress.com

To turn off the new related post feature on WordPress.com blogs:

1. Go to the Administration Panels > Design > Extras.
2. Check Hide Related Links.
3. Click Update.

Have Your Say on the New Possibly Related Posts Feature

If you are not a fan of the implementation of this related posts feature, let your voice be heard. Many are reporting links to inappropriate blogs and content, and some worry about where these links are sending their readers.

You can comment on the following WordPress.com Forums discussions:

• I DON’T WANT POSSIBLY RELATED LINKS ON MY POSTS
• OMG! Not MORE WP Changes!
• Possibly related Posts
• Possibly Related Posts and trolls/attacks
• link that is not mine is on my post! not visible in editor
• “Possibly Related Posts” Suddenly Showing up for One Post Only w/NSFW Content

Create Your Own Related Posts Feature on WordPress.com Blogs

I share how I manually create my related posts at the bottom of my blog posts in Which WordPress Plugins Does Lorelle on WordPress Use?, Adding a Signature To Personalize Your Blog Post, and WordPress.com Blog Bling: Signatures and Writing Code.

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

What Inspires Your Readers to Interact With Your Blog?

By Rachelle Chase

Static content that talks to readers is not enough today, especially with the meteoric rise in popularity of online communities and social networking. Good content is still the key to attract and compel people to return to your site, however giving them more than static content and blog comments for interaction gives them even more reason to keep coming back.

Even large companies are starting to realize this. Take Wells Fargo Bank’s Hands on Banking, for example. The site has games to help kids and adults master money skills, such as budgeting and home-buying. G2 Direct and Digital is another example, where interactivity through the use of text, sound, animation, and video adds value to their site with added services for their clients, such as Liberty Mutual’s Be Fire Smart community service.

How do you get people to interact with your blog? How do you add interactivity to your blog if you don’t have the big bucks of a large company? I’ll tell you how I did it as a romance author and blogger.

Blog Challenge: Unusual Blog Subjects

This week’s blog challenge is:

What’s the most unusual subject for a blog you’ve found?

There are a lot of bloggers out there, but who have you found blogging about the most unusual subjects? Please do not list yourself. Let’s celebrate the diversity of others in blogging.

So much of the time we spend studying our little niche in the world, focusing on blogging about blogging, about WordPress, about cars, sports, and typical things. Look beyond the most common subjects. What would you not expect a blog to be about? An odd hobby, subject, animal, person, job, some off-beat subject you would not think about having blog value. Go find those bloggers.

I’m not looking for bloggers blogging about these things in unusual ways. I’m looking for blogs about odd ball subjects, topics you would not expect to find much to talk about on a blog.

How are they blogging about the strange subject? Are they writing, podcasting, video, or sharing photos? Do they make the subject interesting? Do they make you think about what you blog about and how you could blog it better? What makes their blog fascinating, making their unusual subject matter compelling?

Remember, all comments or trackbacks that feature your blog will be deleted. I want you to think about other people blogging on unusual subject matters.

I run across all kinds of strange blog topics all the time. It’s your turn to go hunting!

These blogging challenges are published weekly and are an attempt to kick your blogging ass. They serve to challenge your thinking and efforts in blogging and blog writing. To participate, start challenging yourself now. Today. Go for it.

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

WordCamp Dallas 2008: Lorelle’s Gallery of Images

WordCamp Dallas in Frisco, Texas, began Friday night with a bang of social fun at a local restaurant, with a lot of the participants and speakers talking WordPress and blogging, and getting to know each other while competing with the loud volume of the announcements for diners.

The beers were huge and the people were wonderful. The organizers, Charles Stricklin and John Pozadzides, welcomed everyone and we all got a chance to get to know each other before we buckled down for a long weekend of WordPress.

Saturday and Sunday were jam-packed with terrific speakers. Laptops were everywhere in the audience, along with video cameras, and everything else to help live blog and capture every moment - or at least check in with blog comments and email while waiting for the speaker to get to the point. Kidding.

Every speaker was distinctive and brought something new and exciting to blogging and WordPress. The highlight for most was the announcement by Matt Mullenweg, the first speaker on Saturday, of the release of WordPress 2.5 only a few minutes before he walked on the stage.

John Pozadzides worked with the Frisco City Hall facility and has uploaded the videos of the conference.

WordPress.com Banned Again: Why Aren’t You Concerned?

According to Brazil: Bloggers united against WordPress.com ban by Global Voices, WordPress.com blogs are or soon will be banned due to a judge in Brazil ruling against a WordPress.com blogger featuring a YouTube video embedded in the blog of a couple having sex.

The details of the blogger and content in question is a bit vague, but this is not the first time, nor the last, that international courts have made a sweeping judgment against WordPress.com due to the actions of an individual blogger. This ban blocks not only blogs in that language, but all WordPress.com blogs, which is currently approaching 3 million.

There are two issues I want to address:

1. What responsibility does WordPress.com have towards its banned blogs and the international courts?
2. Why aren’t more bloggers talking about blogs and bloggers being banned?

I’d love to say a lot more about how senseless such legal rulings are, but let’s address the issue of common sense and responsibility.

Lorelle versus Jeffro2pt0 on WordPress Weekly This Friday

Get ready for Friday. Lorelle and Jeffro2pt0 will duke it out on the WordPress Weekly Show!

Due to a variety of unfortunate circumstances, including tornadoes, last week’s WordPress Weekly live show was rescheduled to this Friday, April 18, 2008, with myself and host, Jeffro2pt0. You have no excuses now to join us Friday at 9PM EST!

To join the live party online, check out the instructions on the WordPress Weekly show instructions and get on Talkshoe.com to join the fun.

We’ll be talking about WordPress, blogging, WordCamp Dallas, other WordCamp events, WordPress Plugins, Themes, FireFox Greasemonkey Scripts, and a lot of WordPress tips. Do you have a WordPress question for me? Or a question about blogging, my book, WordPress Wednesday on the Blog Herald, or my WordPress Power Tips from WordCamp Dallas? We’ll be ready! Come join us for the fun on the WordPress Weekly show on Friday.

To help you catch up with the live show, I’ve looked up the time in your area. Here are some of the starting times for the show so you can jump on board the WordPress Weekly chat and talk to Jeffro and I live.

Friday, April 18, 2008 at 9:00 PM New York time

Anchorage	Friday 5:00 PM
Boston	Friday 9:00 PM
Brisbane	Saturday 11:00 AM
Budapest	Saturday 3:00 AM
Buenos Aires	Friday 10:00 PM
Cairo	Saturday 3:00 AM
Caracas	Friday 8:30 PM
Chicago	Friday 8:00 PM
Copenhagen	Saturday 3:00 AM
Darwin	Saturday 10:30 AM
Denver	Friday 7:00 PM
Dublin	Saturday 2:00 AM
Geneva	Saturday 3:00 AM
Guatemala	Friday 7:00 PM
Hong Kong	Saturday 9:00 AM
Honolulu	Friday 3:00 PM
Jerusalem	Saturday 4:00 AM
Kuala Lumpur	Saturday 9:00 AM
London	Saturday 2:00 AM
Los Angeles	Friday 6:00 PM
Madrid	Saturday 3:00 AM
Manila	Saturday 9:00 AM
Melbourne	Saturday 11:00 AM
Mexico City	Friday 8:00 PM
Minneapolis	Friday 8:00 PM
Montreal	Friday 9:00 PM
Moscow	Saturday 5:00 AM
New Orleans	Friday 8:00 PM
Prague	Saturday 3:00 AM
Rio de Janeiro	Friday 10:00 PM
Riyadh	Saturday 4:00 AM
San Salvador	Friday 7:00 PM
Sao Paulo	Friday 10:00 PM
Seattle	Friday 6:00 PM
Seoul	Saturday 10:00 AM
Shanghai	Saturday 9:00 AM
Singapore	Saturday 9:00 AM
Tehran	Saturday 5:30 AM
Tokyo	Saturday 10:00 AM
Toronto	Friday 9:00 PM
Vladivostok	Saturday 12:00 Noon
Warsaw	Saturday 3:00 AM
Zürich	Saturday 3:00 AM

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Liz Strauss at WordCamp Dallas Transcript: 60,317 Comments

The Reader Appreciation Project has a transcript of Liz Strauss at WordCamp Dallas, along with the video. Her presentation was about the blog conversation and social networking, her claim to fame. She cemented that fame with the number 60,317. That’s the number of comments on her blog.

One of the points she made resounded with the participants like a bell. Many talked about it through the rest of the weekend:

You know, and the truth is we really can’t talk without talking about ourselves whether we’re talking about how we like this vase, or how we like Lorelle, or how we like WordPress. We’re talking about ourselves.

Whenever we say we’re talking about ourselves, we’re revealing something about ourselves. But it’s how we reveal it.

But when we ask our readers, “How’d you like this blog post we just did?” “How’d you like what I just did?” “How did you like what I just wrote?” We think we’re asking them about them. But we’re really asking them about ourselves.

And we need to be really careful that we know the difference.

Bloggers across the room sat back and realized that their blog is all about “them” and not the reader. It’s all about, as Liz explains, asking about how we are doing rather than turning things around to put the reader first.

Liz is the producer and founder of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference (SOBCON). The next event is May 2-4 in Chicago, and there is still time to register for her Business School for Bloggers theme.

Go read, listen, or watch her WordCamp Dallas talk. Liz was recovering from a disease left over from SxSW (I guess everyone got sick there), but lean in and listen to her husky voice to get your ears, and brain, open about why you are really blogging and how to make it work for you. 60,000 comments is a high goal to achieve, and she’s the one to mentor you towards your goals.

Related Articles

• Lorelle in Chicago Next Week at the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference
• Lorelle in Chicago at Successful and Outstanding Blog Conference
• SOBCon 2007 Remembered and Recommended
• Liz Strauss Guides Lorelle on a Quest To Find Her Passion
• SOBCon: Be There for the Business of Blogging!
• 24 Reasons Why You Should Attend These Blog Conferences
• Authority Blogger Contest - Win Free Trip to SOBCON08
• Looking For New Places to Take Your Blog Out
• $2,000 in SOBCon+Consulting Prizes to be Won
• What Do You Bring to a Blog Conference?
• How to Talk to a Blogger
• What Gives You The Right To Tell Me?
• Business School for Bloggers: How to Make Money With Your Blog

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.