motivation

Innovators are always pushed into action when problems affect their personal lives. A frustrating experience with an existing product or service creates the opportunity to find a better way. Many of the greatest innovations in history came about because someone asked, “How can I improve this?”

“The best place to succeed is where you are with what you have.

”

Charles Schwab

In 1953 Malcom McLean was the owner of one of the largest trucking companies in the United States. One day he learned that oil tankers usually carried no cargo above deck. His mind flashed back to a scene that had been etched in his memory 16 years earlier, when he was making a living hauling cotton and tobacco from North Carolina to Hoboken, New Jersey.

McLean wasted a whole day waiting for his used pickup to be unloaded. All day long, he watched dockworkers hoist boxes, crates, and bundles onto slings. Each sling lifted its cargo into the hold of a waiting ship. Inside the ship, workers unloaded the slings and put each item in its place.

“What a waste of time and money!” thought McLean. “Wouldn’t it be great if my trailer could simply be lifted up and placed on the ship without its contents being touched?”

Nineteen years after McLean’s frustrating experience on a New Jersey pier, his first container ship sailed out of Port Newark. The era of containerized shipping had begun.

As early as 1929, a company named Seatrain was rolling railroad cars loaded with cargo onto its sea vessels. But McLean envisioned a system in which trailers without wheels could be stacked on top of one another.

To make his idea work, McLean redesigned trailers: His container would be independent from the trailer bed, so that it could be lifted on and off. He patented a corner-post structure that allowed containers to be gripped for loading and unloading, and which made them strong enough to be stacked.

In less than 15 years, McLean built SeaLand Industries into the biggest cargo shipping company in the world. But it wasn’t a corporation that reinvented the centuries-old shipping industry: One man’s vision did that.

Organizations that have a stake in the status quo are always the least likely innovators. As the owner of the largest trucking company in the southern United States, McLean had a stake. If container shipping became an important form of transportation, it would cut into the profits of his trucking business.

How did McLean handle the situation? He sold his 75% interest in the trucking company and staked everything he had on the future of containerized cargo.

Today 90% of the world’s trade cargo is transported by container shipping. It is a tribute to one man’s focus: The frustrated truck driver who asked, “How can I improve this?”

It's something that has been talked about many times and something that the majority of bloggers appreciate receiving against a post they have written about. Comments provide blog owners feedback of what their visitors think in relation to a particular topic or subject and at the same time, both the blog owner and their visitors may learn a thing or two from the comments left behind.


image:bizmac
This post intends to convey to our readers my experiences of commenting on other people's sites and receiving comments back in return.

Personally, I believe you need to network with other bloggers and market your blog/website so that other people know about it. If people do not know about your blog, they will not be able to find it and hence, cannot leave you a comment against any of your posts.

As you may all know already, there are many social media or networking sites out there that can help you do this. This post will not address how you can network and market your blog, I will try and cover this in another post. Rather, the assumption is that you have done this already and are getting people visiting your site each day.

How do you get people to provide you with feedback about your content or posts?

Below is a list I came up with, based on my own experiences:

1. Give your thoughts and ideas freely - When you comment on someone else's site, acknowledge what the author has already written and if you have an expertise, experience or can relate to the area or topic being discussed offer your ideas. These ideas are not only helpful, but it will also add to the content and strengthen the discussion. For example, we had a post about innovation and idea discovery and one of our readers added a comment about the story on how Walt Disney approached his business and implemented his ideas which lead to his success. Not only did this add to the content of the blog, but we all learned a lot more from this story.

2. Provide constructive comments on other people's blogs - Read the article carefully and if you have something genuine to say, leave constructive comments. When I say 'constructive' I mean comments that:

• Will help the blog owner or other readers in some way or another. It will also allow them to understand your point of view and where you are coming from.
• Are thought provoking, so other people can atleast reflect on your comments or allows for further discussion to take place. Therefore, you do not need to agree with what the author is saying, just as long as you express your views clearly and with conviction.
• Make sense and address the issue/topic discussed. The blog owner will generally know when someone has not read the post properly, when the comments left behind does not make sense or has been answered in the post already. This can be a bit embarrassing, especially if a lot of other people have responded to the article and your comments are out of place! This will also influence your credibility and whether the blog owner or other readers would want to reciprocate and comment on your site.

I have found many times that when I leave constructive comments on other people's sites, other readers also notice and they actually come to our site to visit. I know this after we have analyzed our google analytics and we can see a few people coming to our site from the blog I recently left a comment on. An example of this, was when a particular site had a meme and I basically responded to one of their question/answer about an age old question on "What is love?" Now, I am a romantic at heart, so how could I resist? :)

3. Don't be desperate for a link back - This point ties in with point 1. If you are genuinely interested in a post you have just read, offer your comments freely. Do not expect a link back. Recently, I went to a site to thank the blog owner for their support and feedback for our other site. He/she thought I was after a link back because I left a comment against their latest post about getting a backlink, but I had not followed the instructions properly. I commented on the latest post as it was the newest and I wanted them to receive as many comments to help conversation moving. A day later I visited the site again and informed the blog owner that I was only stopping by to show my appreciation and was not after a backlink. To my suprise, the blog owner was very generous and kind enough to actually do a review of our free125cards.com site on their blog. I was really touched by the gesture as I was not expecting it.

4. Go back and visit the site you left a comment on - I understand it might be difficult to remember the websites where you had left your comment. But if you left a comment that had a question or you wanted a response from the blog owner, it's good etiquette if you were to go back and visit their site again. This is important, particularly if the blog owner has taken the time to answer your question. By doing this, you also get an answer to your question. I will generally acknowledge the blog owner's response by leaving another comment so that they are aware that I appreciate their help and response.

If you apply this to a real life conversation such as an e-mail, isn't it nice when someone responds back to your question? Likewise, isn't it nice when you also receive feedback from the other person thanking you for taking the time to answer?

5. Leave a valid e-mail address - Ensure that you leave a valid e-mail address as some blog owners have setup notifications to thank you for stopping by and commenting on their site or they may have a question about the comments you had left behind. If you do not leave a valid e-mail address you will not receive these responses and you will not be able to respond back if a question was thrown your way.

6. Leave a valid & appropriate URL - Like I have said in point 2, if you leave a comment and it is constructive and creates interest, other readers will certainly want to visit your site, so make sure you leave an appropriate URL. This means that, if you are reading about blogging tips and advice, you may want to link to an article about blogging related topics on your site, so that there is a shared interest and this may help enable conversation on your site. Otherwise, just make sure you link back to your own blog so other people can visit you and in turn helps to provide exposure for your own blog.

7. Controversial topics - If you need to address controversial topics or issues, make sure you present it in a professional way.

State your point of view clearly and back it up with your reasons. Be prepared for any feedback that may conflict with your own. If you can accept this, you will be professional and mature enough to accept other people's perspectives and respond to them appropriately.

8. Respond to comments - I recently have decided to respond back to comments left on our site, when I think the conversation needs to continue or to thank someone for something they have done. Generally, I will also allow the conversation to flow between our readers and this will not require my input. It is good to acknowledge your visitors, but it is also good to let the conversation take their natural path. It is up to you how you want to manage your site and find this balance.

9. Content - I am not going to harp about this one, but basically your blog needs to have relevant, interesting and appropriate content for your target audience that will get people talking and encourage them to make a comment.

10. Catchy title or image - Lastly, make sure you put a catchy title or image on your post so that it grabs your readers' attention as soon as your site loads. Once you get their attention, it's a vital start to get them to start reading your post or article. As you know, people are in a hurry so try and get their attention so they stop and read what you have to say.

How does any of this help you?

It is really up to you to find what works for you and your blog. These are my own experiences and what has worked for me and our sites. If you can take anything from this post, I hope you can appreciate that leaving constructive comments helps to promote your own credibility and your blog. This in turn, can bring people to your site and may bring you constructive comments in return.

Have you used some of these methods I've described above? Or do you have your own methods for bringing readers to your site and leaving a comment?

If You Want to Find Your Niche, Look For the Gap

“Give people a choice and the tail always gets longer.

”

Seth Godin

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin showed why it’s important to be remarkable. In Meatball Sundae, he shows why “New Marketing” and “Old Marketing” don’t mix.

Old Marketing, explains Godin, was about organizations—corporate giants like General Motors and IBM. The New Marketing is about starting a movement. Google, eBay, and YouTube aren’t organizations in the twentieth-century sense. They’re movements: Their growth is driven by users that are passionate about the choices that these Web sites add to their lives.

Although the Web makes it faster and cheaper than ever to spread an idea, the idea that choice matters is as old as the Old Marketing itself. Henry Ford amassed a fortune by making a car that ordinary people could buy. His Model T was affordable because it was a “one-size-fits-all” solution. In Ford’s words, it came in any color, “as long as it was black.”

By the mid-1920s Americans were more prosperous. They wanted better cars and more choices. Under Alfred Sloan Jr., General Motors offered people “a car for every purse and purpose.” Sloan’s company moved to the forefront of the automobile industry because Henry Ford, one of the greatest innovators of his day, stopped innovating.

The lack of foresight that almost destroyed the Ford Motor Company in the 1920s and 30s would undermine Sloan’s own company several decades later, after GM executives decided not to develop smaller, more energy-efficient cars. By failing to provide more choices, American companies lost customers and revenue to more innovative Japanese manufacturers, just as Henry Ford once lost markets to General Motors.

What Alfred Sloan did at GM is no different from what Daniel Neal is doing today at kajeet. Neal used gap analysis to create a pay-as-you-go mobile phone service for kids. How did he do it? It was all a matter of “homework”: He thought about the kind of cell phone he wanted his own children to have.

“Our story,” says Neal, “began with three dads (Neal and his two co-founders) figuring out how technology, kids and parents work best.” Their success reminds us that the best way to be remarkable is to give people more choices.

Over 80 years ago, Alfred Sloan discovered a gap between what Henry Ford was selling and what buyers wanted. That’s the same way to find a gap today: Analyze what the leaders are doing. Then ask yourself what they’re failing to do.

If the answer is something that people want—and something you’re passionate about—you’ve found your niche.