The (old) Alpha Mind

Over on the real Alpha Mind blog, I gush and slosh (you’ll understand when you get there) about Dan and Chip Heath’s book, Made to Stick.  It’s about crafting ideas and messages that stick.

Kami Huyse:

Connie has appointed herself the champion of the vowel “E”,
which we have seemed to drop in our haste to appear that we “get it” –
or was it because all the best URL’s were already taken?  I still love Flickr, but Connie has a point!

Actually, the reason for all those missing “E”s is, as Kami’s link (which I copied) suggests, that we overused them in the 90s. It’s called E Fatigue, and researchers at Johns Hopkins are looking into it quite closely.

For your new blog to go big, you want people to link to it. It helps if they are important people, but every link, from whomever, helps.  Here’s how to use Google Alerts as a tool in getting links to your blog.

1. Think about things you are interested in writing about that are both a) subtopics of your blog’s core topic, and b) not too commonly blogged about.
2. Create a Google Blog Alert which looks for your search terms. (Did you even know Google now lets you ask for alerts that search only blogs?)
3. Wait.
4. When you receive the email alert that someone has blogged about your subtopic, go read their post.
5. If it is a good post, immediately blog it to your own blog, adding your own thoughts. (Tie it to your core topic if the tie isn’t obvious.) Trackback and/or pingback if it is allowed.

Here’s an example of how I’m using this technique:

Thought leaders (my core topic) have a stake in seeing ideas through to realization. Groups of various kinds will be involved in the process.

Therefore thought leaders need to understand group dynamics.

Therefore, “Kurt Lewin” and “Wilfred Bion” are sub-topics which thought leaders ought to know about. Therefore, now and then I will write about them.And what’s a good way of deciding when to blog about Kurt Lewin? If your blog is well established and widely read, any old time is good. But if you’re new, stow away some of your thoughts on Lewin until someone else opens up the topic. Your Google Alert will tell you when this has happened, and that’s the time to blog, linking your own thoughts to the other blogger’s post.

Chances are good that the blogger you link to will ego-surf (as we all do) and find your post. Chances are decent that he or she will link back to you. Even if it stops there, you’ve gained a link and possibly a reader. But you’ve also greatly upped the likelihood that your post will be part of a real conversation that will involve others. The Holy Grail!

On March 1, I will shut down the old Alpha Mind blog here at www.maxhansen.net/alphamind . Between now and then, most of my posts will be cross-posted to the new Alpha Mind blog at blog.alphamind.biz/ .

I am doing this because, in addition to RSS subscribers to the old blog, I’m aware there are some non-subscribers who look in now and then to see what I’m up to. I want them to have some time to find the new blog and subscribe to it.