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5 Influential Books All Bloggers Should Know

Posted: 16 Jun 2008 02:04 PM CDT

Today Chris Garrett (my co-author from the ProBlogger Book) shares 5 influential books that bloggers will find useful - all of which heavily influenced me (Darren) in my blogging).

Blogging is relatively new in the scheme of things, but even so, there are some conventions and ideas that are already well embedded in blog “culture”.

For example, how many times have you heard the phrase “content is king”? It’s pretty clear where that idea is meant to lead, for some other phrases some more context is required. The following five books have become not just best sellers and famous, but actually launched whole new ways of thinking about what we do and their titles have become mainstays of blogging conversation.

I am not saying you should go run out and buy these books right away, but knowing about the books and the concepts they put forward can help you understand better when someone tells you that “your blog needs to be a Purple Cow and leverage the Long Tail”!

1. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable

Seth Godin could have appeared on this list quite a few times. He is the bloggers blogger, the guru of gurus and the master of the short, strangely titled, mind expanding best-seller.

Whenever you hear someone talking about being unique, saying you should aim to be “remarkable”, you can almost guarantee they have read and absorbed this book.

Seth’s advice is to stand out, be noticed and memorable, make being remarkable the core of what you do. That’s basically it, the book is pretty much a long essay to get that point across. While I have summed up the entire book in not many words, reading the book helps you understand and inspires you to take the idea and run with it.

2. The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

Before Tim Ferris there was the E-Myth. You hear about “passive income”, “outsourcing”, “working on your business and not in it”, and you can bet at some point E-Myth (the Entrepreneur Myth) will pop up. He says that many people considered entrepreneurs are really technicians and craftspeople creating their own “jobs”.

In some ways Michael E Gerber, Mr E-Myth, is the anti-Seth. Rather than saying you should be remarkable and hire remarkable people, he says real success comes from creating systems that remove the need for you to be present and working 24/7.

People try to do everything, achieve their goals through their own efforts. Equate success with “hard work”. Great systems mean you maintain quality and can take vacations.

The E-Myth books basically teach you that you don’t have to work yourself into an early grave. That with good systems and shared load you can achieve more by working less.

3. The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual

“Markets are conversations”

“It’s all about the conversation”
“join the conversation”

You can blame the Cluetrain for these sayings. I actually asked if Cluetrain was still relevant and got some interesting answers (http://www.chrisg.com/cluetrain-social-media/). It seems most fondly remembered by old-timers (those who started blogging in the 90’s) but you still see the phrases used over and over.

Unlike the others you can actually read Cluetrain online and for free so you have no excuse for not at least dipping in and seeing what you are missing.

4.The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

This phrase turns up everywhere now. At one time I only heard it in SEO circles, now I hear it on TV business bulletins. Chris Anderson has created a monster!

He says that we are increasingly turning away from the mainstream and instead going further and further into our own niches. The Long Tail is used to justify and champion the cult-favorite book that isn’t going to be a best-seller, the band that never charts but does OK live, and the blog about obscure 1960’s pulp science fiction with ten readers. Unfortunately the premise can be stretched further than was likely intended. Don’t give up your day job for that blog about walrus polishing just yet.

The idea for is that you can make money from many seldom searched for phrases or rarely purchased items. In aggregate these long tail pages or products match or beat blockbusters and best sellers. So Amazon, with their million-strong inventory, can make real money from selling a lot of items a few times, as much as selling Harry Potter over and over. A blogger can have one or two super-performing pages that bring in hundreds of thousands of page views, or millions of visitors by having thousands of pages that bring in fewer visitors each.

5. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

We use the phrase “Tipping Point” to indicate when our fortunes seemed to transform, that instant when everything changes for the better (or worse). The book is about how tiny changes, sometimes seemingly unrelated, can have big knock on effects.

Malcolm Gladwell basically wrote the book on Memes that everyone could follow. He talks about other subjects you might recognize, such as “Mavens”, “Connectors” and “Stickiness”. If you ever wanted to read more about why “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” is important, this is the book for you.

Summary

As I say above, the main point of this article was to show where some popular and much-used blogging sayings came from. Understanding how the ideas originated helps you work out when and if they apply to your situation. Some phrases are thrown around just because “everyone knows it’s true”, which is as you know something we should always be wary of online!

Should you read these books? While they are absolutely not “essential” purchases, I think any one of these books would both give you some fresh ideas and perspectives, and be entertaining light reading.

Have you got any suggestions for influential books I have missed? Please share in the comments.

Solution:

The solution is pretty obvious - if you want a vibrant blog - you do need to post to it.

While your archives might contain a lot of great content and people will find them via search engines - if you’re wanting to grow your blog you will only be able to do that if you add fresh content on a regular basis.

I know it’s not easy - all successful bloggers go through patches where it’s challenging to keep things rolling - however if you put your mind to it you can definitely get things back on track. It is never too late to get your blog rolling again!

9 Tips to Get Posting Frequency Higher On Your Blog:

1. Set Goals and Deadlines - If you’ve let your blog go through lack of posting - set yourself some goals this week to pull yourself out of your rut. Don’t be too ambitious - but set yourself some achievable goals to get yourself going again. Perhaps your goal will be simply to post once this next week. The week after ramp it up to twice, the week after aim for three times….

2. Try Something New - one of the tactics that I find most helpful in getting my posting frequency back up is to try something new on my blog. Whether it be tackling a topic I’ve not looked at before, starting some kind of project or competition, starting a series of posts or writing in a different style or voice - sometimes doing something ‘new’ can not only give you energy but your readers also.

3. If you’re suffering from Bloggers Block - I’ve written a series of posts on how to battle bloggers block and have compiled it all into one page here. One of the tips in that series is to try a new blogging environment. I regularly get out of the house to do some blogging (cafes are my favorite place) but really any change can be helpful. If you’re not able to actually take your computer out of the house (you don’t have a laptop) then grab a notebook and head out with that to brainstorm topics, write or do some planning of your blog.

4. If you’re simply feeling apathy towards Blogging - I’ve written a post on Declaring War on Blogger Apathy which has a few practical suggestions on how to get through that challenge. One thing that I mention in that post is to try writing shorter posts. I find that sometimes I get quite uninspired if I set myself the task to write a long post. It all can seem a little overwhelming and a little too much like hard work. So why not break down the topic into something more bite sized? I find that when I do this I can get a post written quite quickly and also find that readers sometimes appreciate something a little more focused and able to be read quickly.

5. Develop a Points System - Last year I posted about a points system that one blogger developed to keep their blogging moving along. While it might not be perfect for you - I like the idea of it and it can easily be adapted to suit your situation.

6. Set Rewards - some people respond well to rewards and incentives (I know I do). Once you’ve set some goals or made your points system - set yourself a few rewards that you’ll give yourself when you reach certain milestones.

7. Find a Blog Buddy - I mention in a couple of the links above about how I find it motivating to work with another person in my blogging. Share your goals with another blogger (or non blogger if you want) and ask them to keep you accountable to them. If you’re looking for a blog buddy you might even like to ‘advertise’ for one in the comments below this post. Pair up with another ProBlogger reader for a week or two and see what you could achieve together.

8. Repurpose Something from Your Daily Life as a Post - a few weeks ago I shared how one great way to come up with new content is to look at something you already do in your daily life and work out how to capture it and repurpose it as a post. Video yourself doing something, record a conversation, use an email interaction etc. So many things that you do each day are potential content for your blog - the key is to be aware of them and find a way to collect and use them.

9. Start Blogging

OK - I could talk about how to get yourself going for paragraphs and paragraphs - but in doing so I’m probably just distracting you from the task at hand. So now it’s time to go and do it. Step away from the distractions that might be stopping you from blogging and go and do it. Go on - I know you can!!!