Two very smart men conducting one very smart phone call… What’s not to love?

But there — and here — it is: TopRank’s “5 Reasons Why Business Blogs Fail”

1. No clear objectives. 
2. Unrealistic expectations and resource allocation.
3. Not sourcing content for the long term.
4. No feedback mechanisms.
5. Do it yourself syndrome.

The post is fairly in-depth, and should be required reading for any entrepreneur thinking of adding a blog to the marketing mix.

First, from Chris Brogan, a list of 40 ways to deliver “killer” blog content.

I agree with all of Brogan’s points — except this one:

“Never write the me-too blog. Look to be ahead of the wave and feeding backwards, not behind the wave and eating someone’s wake. “

Brogan here is talking about precisely the kind of blog you’re reading now.

If I can choke back the tears for a second (sniff…) I’ll admit that I appreciate what he’s saying. It’s important to add something original to the blogosphere, because who has time to waste time on reading a copycat?

On the other hand, I honstly feel I’m providing a service.

By sifting through blogs and posting what I like or what I feel is important to read, I’m saving you the trouble of having to do the same yourself. Think of the Beamline blog as a one-stop shop.

And if these posts don’t do anything for you,  you can easily stop reading. That’s the beautiful (and frightening) thing about the internet.

In any case… If you’re not tired of “me-too,” here’s the other link:  how to stand out as an online retailer, from BetterRetail:

“If your store has none of these qualities I guarantee you’ll never pay off that loan you took to build the estore.”

There… Did that little teaser make you want to read the BR blog?

Then, me-too or not, I’ve done my job.

There are a wealth of insights here, and I suggest you take the time to read the post. For example:

“Awareness as a meaningful market force has long been obsolete, and differentiation will be critical for success, i.e., sales and profitability. Those who primarily rely on “flavor of the month” promotional tactics will quickly find that they are creating a lasting perception among their consumer base that only price (or price cuts) differentiates their products from the competition. Do that often enough and your product and service will move away from being a “brand” and will come to be regarded as a “category placeholder” and nothing more.”

and

“Consumers are searching for and demanding simplification. In some categories this is showing up strong, such as cell-phone plans, search engines and laundry detergent. Who has not looked at switching cellular carriers and bemoaned the task of comparing one complicated plan to another? Simplification is also showing up as a driver in online travel sites for itinerary planning. Yet as the competition has heated up brands still continue to compete on price, and not what will engender positive
consumer behavior – simplification.”

What will you be doing to differentiate yourself in 2009, and how will you be making it simpler for your customers to buy from you?

“When organizations look at the paths leading to sales and income (a critical analysis whenever budgets are under scrutiny), the web almost always comes out with one of two assessments. Either it’s a leading sales channel (especially from an ROI perspective) or it’s deemed to be an area with the greatest opportunity for growth. In both scenarios, web marketing and, in correlation, SEO, takes center stage. “

And more:

“A high percentage of companies are asking the big questions – “how do we get new customers?” and “what avenues still offer opportunity?” Whenever that happens, SEO is bound to show up near the top of the “to be investigated” pile. “

As a rule, I don’t like to be alarmist, but in this case I’ll make an exception: your competitors are waking up to the power of the search engines and how properly optimized content is a magnet for web visitors.

Are you?

Read more at “Why Companies Are Investing in SEO During the Economic Downturn.”

Today I came across a post with more general relevance.

“6 Simple Ways to Promote Your Online Business Offline” could just as easily be called “6 Golden Rules of Marketing Yourself”:

1. Introductions
2. Friends and family
3. Business cards
4. Advertise
5. Join a group
6. Direct mail

Common sense stuff, but Laura Spencer, the post’s author has a way with words and makes a good read.

“A growing number of companies are keeping track of what’s said about their brands on Twitter. Comcast, Dell, General Motors, H&R Block, Kodak, and Whole Foods Market are among a handful of companies [using] Twitter to do everything from burnish brands to provide customer service.”

The magazine also profiles 18 CEOs using Twitter, the applicable to your business being Johnathan Schwartz, Chief Executive at Sun Microsystems:

“Communication is a key part of leadership—as CEO, I need to engage the market, inside and outside Sun, with whatever technology affords me the greatest possible reach. Through blogs, online news, social networking sites, or Twitter, the Internet has fundamentally changed how we communicate with one another. Today, we have thousands of employees participating, engaging customers and developers across the world, 24 hours a day. And whether it’s via a half-hour streaming video or a 140-character Tweet, we need to reach everyone in the forum and format they choose—not what we choose.”

Schwartz says a lot in a short paragraph, but you could do much worse than to model your social media strategy on his outline.

Actually, to be honest, I’m just as frequently asked about what the hell Twitter is in the first place.

Here’s the crash course from Wikipedia:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Anyway, when asked, my short answer is ususally “It’s as good as you want to make it; if you have the time and energy to dedicate to using social media tools like Twitter, then go crazy.”

But that answer is usually followed by another question: “Yeah, but what do you do with it? What’s the point?”

Here’s the point — anything that fosters weak ties is a good thing.

For example, imagine this scenario:

1. A potential customer visits your blog and sees an invitation to follow you on Twitter.
2. She uses Twitter herself, so she clicks the link and checks out your feed.
3. She likes what you have to say and decides to follow you. Now she can stay up-to-date on everything you tweet.
4. Three months later you happen to tweet “Just finished helping Customer X with Problem Y.”
5. She reads the tweet and sits up in her seat. “I’m having Problem Y right now!”
6. She heads back to your site, using the link you’ve added to your Twitter profile and calls you. Twitter’s value suddenly hits home.

Convinced yet? Here’s more on using Twitter as a tool and how to pick up more followers from Guy Kawasaki.

And incidentally, you can follow my tweets at http://www.twitter.com/aaronwrixon

Fortunately, in “How to strike a balance between giving content away for free and earning a living,” she lays out a step-by-step action plan for doing just that.

1. Find your passion. “The key here is that you must find something that you care enough about to devote a substantial amount of time thinking and writing about it, and you must have a hunch that there are real, live humans somewhere on the planet who have enough dollars or euros or rupees or pesos to pay for it.”
2. Identify your target market. “When you create a really clear picture of the kinds of people that you would love to work with, it makes it much easier to decide what kind of content to develop for them.”
3. Plan out your content. “Good content can be re-purposed, repackaged, enhanced, digitized and/or turned into a book or workshop or presentation. When you share great information freely with the right people, it becomes your research, marketing copy, sales collateral and branding material.”
4. Choose your vehicle — blog, podcast, newsletter, etc. “The way to choose your best vehicle(s) is to think about the consuming habits of your People. Do they spend a lot of time on the internet? If so, a blog may be the answer. Do they own iPods and commute long distances on public transportation? Podcasts may do the trick. ”
5. Lay the groundwork for sales. “Once you build a list of subscribers, feed them with good stuff, nurture them, ask their opinions and be of service. Just don’t become the internet version of a jewelry salesperson on the beaches of Acapulco.”
6. Ask for the order. “Don’t be embarrassed to tell people what you sell! If you have been delivering good content over an extended period of time, most people will be more than happy to support and promote your business as thanks for all the great stuff that you provide for free.”

And finally, she repeats a formula favored by Robert Middleton, another marketer I regularly read: give away 80% of your information and charge extra for the remaining 20%.

Not necessarily a magic number — you may find you’re comfortable with giving away less — but it’s hard to argue with the experts.