Comments on: 10 Lessons in Blogging Learned on a Shopping Expedition

By: Jeannette

Jeannette — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:16:02 +0000

Had to laugh when I read the title… I live in Brussels, where there’s one real mall, and I live in dread of having to go to it. But in the name of blogging I’ll give it a go….

By: iCan't Internet

iCan't Internet — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:38:35 +0000

I love the way you learned all these things just from going to the mall! As I said before, life is a lesson.

By: Elizabeth Kaylene

Elizabeth Kaylene — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:55:51 +0000

I was just at the mall yesterday so it was too late for me to do this today, but these are great observations and I think I’ll put some of them to use.

By: Cattie

Cattie — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:55:56 +0000

Interesting perspective. Maybe I’m just a bit too suspicious, or maybe I should stop watching the news, but if someone handed me a free hot chocolate, I’d be afraid to drink it. Who knows what it could be laced with!

I agree though that the best inspiration for blogging comes from the offline world, I get a lot of inspiration reading magazines that have nothing at all do to with what I blog about.

By: Dane

Dane — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:19:55 +0000

It is true that much can be learned when we stop talking and start listening-and-looking.

I find I learn a lot by not only observing customers, but by being one.

Many times I have left comments on blogs, sent emails to bloggers, or tweeted somebody with a specific idea or question, only to never hear back.

What good is The Cloud if everything goes in, but nothing comes out? In that case, it’s not a Cloud at all, but a Black Hole!

Your post has inspired me to re-commit to: responding and interacting to my viewers whenever I can. Thanks!

~Dane
http://www.BionicButler.com

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:11:51 +0000

One of the best stores that I’ve ever encountered was AVEDA. They have an incredible campaign for selling you the entire experience and not just the product. When you first walk in, you are always offered a free tea. Most of the time, after you buy something, they will offer you a free back and shoulder massage. They also have a mailing campaign that I LOVE. You regularly get cards for free products, which is a great way to keep you coming back and to eventually buy the products, which I have done.

However, my all time favorite mailer campaign is the card they mail you on your birthday every year. You can bring the card in for a free scent experience where they personalize an oil based fragrance for you.

I love AVEDA because they have an aggresive sales technique but you have no idea!

Amy

By: Sama

Sama — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:09:26 +0000

What a great post!
I really like #10 and it sure is true, I’m at work right now and was just wandering the web checking out what other people was doing. This would also apply on why Twitter is interesting.

By: Di

Di — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:06:04 +0000

I’m an Aussie currently in Korea, so I do a lot of window shopping – and I had an amazing time exploring a Korean department store. I found a refrigerator with Swarovski crystals in the door. I came away a little tinged with envy green – I want one. An interesting exercise to explore a shopping centre and seek inspiration. Thanks.

By: grokthenet

grokthenet — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:14:58 +0000

Dude, you are the best blogger going. Great advice from a real person working in the real world, no condescension, good sharing. I am so happy to promote you to my colleagues and customers. This is a perfect example of solid content coming from an actually lived life.

By: MadelineJ

MadelineJ — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:26:08 +0000

What a great, insightful post. Connects blogging with “the rest of the world” with relevant lessons. Thanks.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:18:07 +0000

What I love about this post is that it makes you think about how to bring the real world into blog posts. The more bloggers, parents, children, teachers, and other individuals find ways to look at things from different points of view, the better off the world will be!

As a new blogger, I struggle with finding time to network and “market” my site, while at the same time trying to focus upon creating the very highest quality of content. I’ve never been very good at selling myself, or anything else, but I’ve quickly learned that the content itself is simply not enough. Marketing is, and always will be, my greatest challenge.

Thank you for sharing such fantastic content. You really are an inspiration to many of us!

By: Booktin

Booktin — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:12:20 +0000

These points are really useful – thank you!

By: Palma | Buddha Trance

Palma | Buddha Trance — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:54:44 +0000

Darren, I have learned more from reading your post, than if I had gone to the mall myself!

It’s late afternoon here and about to rain heavily, so I’ll skip this assignment. But the points you are making are extremely valuable. I shall keep them in mind. Thank you!

By: Kathy O'Reilly

Kathy O'Reilly — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:20:25 +0000

I actually carry a little notebook around with me everywhere and have post-it notes in the car. I scribble down one-liner ideas which 1st turn into Tweets or Facebook updates and then blog posts. I got into this habit when producing TV before moving into PR. Great post today! This 31 day challenge is terrific. Thank you!
@kathyoreilly
http://startuppr.wordpress.com/

By: Mary E. Ulrich

Mary E. Ulrich — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:53:17 +0000

Darren, each day gets better and better. Can’t wait for tomorrow.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:11:12 +0000

I understand the difficulty of the sensory experience in this medium. But, great description can certainly bring in the taste and smell factor. Not directly, of course, but think of a cooking blog that has mouth-watering descriptions of the dishes. Or a teacher’s blog that describes the nails on the chalkboard sound (and gives you shivers reading it). Aside from photos, audio and video, bloggers should consider that what they write can convey a great deal – for all of the senses.

By: Katrina Hall

Katrina Hall — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:17:47 +0000

Those are great observations! I’m remembering that #1 when ( or if) I get my Amazon store up and running. I’d been leaning toward a discreet box that simply said Katrina’s Amazon Store, so the blog doesn’t look cluttered, but I’ll rethink this. Thanks! Always great information!

By: Clear Card Printing

Clear Card Printing — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Sir in each post you give us useful ideas for increasing business,in this post you also share us beneficial techniques i will follow them and also suggest to my friends for the growth of the business.

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:20:30 +0000

What a fantastic idea. I found myself at the mall a few days ago and instead of rushing through my errands I grabbed a pen and paper and observed some very interesting things that relate to blogging. To name a few:

1. Stores make it easy and inviting to enter – and a son of a b#@&! to get out. Now, you may not want to take the same approach, but thinking about it is helpful

2. Stores purposefully direct the pattern of traffic. You can do this as well on your blog. Related posts, popular posts, recent comments, etc

3. Demographics vary by time – early morning you find elderly walking the malls, mid-day will be families and the evening is teens looking for dates. Think about how this may be similar to the traffic on your blog – what can you do to utilize it?

4. Stores selling similar items or to similar demographics (ie competition) clutter around each other to pick up on each others traffic, rather than trying to distance themselves. The same should be true of blogs.

By: Sinklar

Sinklar — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:17:56 +0000

That’s 10 good remarks, I didn’t know it’s possible to learn something while shopping.

I still have a question for which I can’t find an advice :

Is it better to let the frontpage with articles in full lenght (visitors having to scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, …, scroll the page) or to use the famous “read more” thing so all the articles/posts are in summaries, meaning only one mouse scroll is needed (to have an overview on the whole most recent content).

No offense, but a web surfer is always a little bit lazy (I dond’t know the right word in english)…