Oh, and if they didn’t have the empty sites and the “Looking for Writers” ad, I wouldn’t have noticed the vacancy.

– Brandon Hopkins

I lived and did business in Asia for nearly 20 years…mostly Japan. But, my wife is a native Chinese with an MBA from an American University.

Needless to say, we often talk about the differences between these three great countries in terms of business and culture, which reflects how you do business.

In a week or so, watch for the launch of an Asian Business blog (the name is TBD).

Thanks for letting my drop in.

Notice that I said SOME and not ALL complaints are good for business.  Face it – not every business is perfect, especially in the beginning when you’re trying to work out all the kinks.  There’s usually one aspect of the…

Just had to pop by and add my two cents to this conversation (convention?). I was originally referred to the Know More Media network by a friend who passed on a link to a New Year’s post by Easton Ellsworth over at KMM. She then forwarded me the link to SmallBizMentor.com with a note that I should apply for the writing spot.

Conveniently enough the company that I was working for at that time eliminated my position a few days later and the first thing I did was apply for that SmallBizMentor blog writing opportunity since my contractual “non-compete” obligations were gone. While I, too, prefer not to see a lot of “this site coming soon” or “this page under construction”, having the blog visible as an open opportunity sure worked out well for me.

Since training with Dan and Easton at KMM (don’t even get me started on the excellent job they did creating training materials and starter files!), I’ve enjoyed both the building of the blog itself and getting to know the rest of the team. One day near the end of January I happened to see a new blog created to appeal to women in business. When Workerette.com popped up as an available blog, I requested the opportunity to apply and received that blog address…and couldn’t be happier!

These folks know what they are doing, and I’m excited to be rubbing elbows with colleagues who are sharing information and taking the time to build not only their own blogs but to network with each other. Planning is everything when it comes to creating and maintaining a successful business, and I believe KMM has done the trick. They are finding fantastic writers and I get to read them all. Woohoo!

As promised yesterday, here is my answer to the simple question, "What do you do all day long for work?"I couldn’t answer that question the same way every week.  The exciting (and sometimes scary) truth is that my job is…

Nice to have you all here and responding. I really do wish you all the best with it and hope that the network flourishes. Would love to explore how we can support each other more at some point.

First, I’d like to say that you have a great website here with many helpful resources :) I’ve been blogging for about a year now and have come to realize that writing has always been one of my passions in life.

I’m very grateful that KnowMoreMedia has given me the opportunity to write about another passion in my life: customer service. I know that KMM will go far. If they hadn’t advertised the need for writers, I probably wouldn’t be part of their team.

~Maria Palma
http://www.customersarealways.com

I really valued the feedback and input that you gave in the KMM post. Your points on making topics more clear as well as not showing coming soon blogs are valid. No question these comments will be seriously discussed next week in our meetings. Thanks for your insights and best wishes to you.

Will you be at SES conference in NYC? I would love to meet you.

As a long-time reader of ProBlogger, I am pleased to see your advice regarding Know More Media. I am the author of Marketing Blurb for their network. As this blog title implies, I cover marketing with brief and entertaining commentary. I hope you and other ProBlogger readers will enjoy my effort, and explore other sites on the Know More Media network as well.

Sincerely,
Rich Ottum

Thanks for all those helpful comments about Know More Media (KMM)! I’m now working to make my blog’s purpose clear from the very first moment new readers arrive. I also agreed with your speculation about the future of niche blog networks. Along with some of my writing friends, I’m urging my readers to zoom in on niche audiences.

I just wanted to add one more magic ingredient to your recipe: blogging voice. I joined KMM after reading AdHurl.com and ExPatFacts.com. I’d spent a lot of time lurking around marketing sites looking for story ideas, and the words “Business Blog” made me think about cookie-cutter posts and press-release prose. Both these blogs sounded different. KMM had a couple genuine voices, and these bloggers were building new communities from the ground up.

That’s what I appreciate most about my blog network—they took risks on less established voices, allowing us to create new web families. Over the last two weeks, established writers have tracked me down to work with the site. I’m learning that a quality voice can trump buzz, Technorati ratings, and page rankings. I think the business blogosphere needs more creative writers to explore uncharted places, and that’s why I joined KMM.

Jason Boog
ThePublishingSpot.com

How can I be adequately expert in all three? Thanks to an eclectic career as a diplomat, traveling the world, learning languages, translating, organizing conferences, dealing with international procedures and clients, I have gained insight in many fields.
I guess I’m the least business-y of all the KMM blogs, but they’re happy with me, and I’m happy with them. If niche networks are the future, let’s hope they are all as pliant and savvy as KnowMoreMedia.

We are thrilled to even be noticed by you!

I responded to your post in an open letter at Know More Media.

Would love to meet you – maybe in October?

Ps. BTW its Internet Salsa not Internet Sales…No big deal.

Thanks for your feedback. “Unsolicited feedback” is often a frightening phrase, but from all I’ve read of your posts and from the kindness and attention you’ve showed me personally (folks, this man is extremely busy, yet he takes time to respond to emails from little guys like me), I’m actually excited to get any feedback from you on the Know More Media network.

I’m the Know More Media assistant editor, which means I get to know all the bloggers personally and work with them on their blogging. What’s so amazing to me is that we’re getting top-notch writers who really care about their niche subjects, and that there are so many people interested in writing for us. I agree with you – 2006 looks to be a big year for niche blog networks. I can’t think of a more enjoyable and thrilling job than Web publishing.

(Yawn – must go to sleep) Thanks for your two main points of feedback, Darren, and to Carl as well for his thoughts. Hopefully we can use this and any other comments here to improve our network. It’s obviously in its adolescent stages, but I think it will fun to watch it grow into full maturity during this year and beyond. We’re grateful to get words of wisdom for free from such a great source.