Hello From Your New Blog Chair

By Jay Campbell
[I know the site looks different. I had to update to a newer theme to do what I hope are some interesting things with this blog, and the old one just wasn’t working for me. Plus, I’m new to ASBPE so I don’t know whose toes to dance around. If anyone with design and WordPress skills could volunteer a few minutes to at least help me sync up the colors with the main ASBPE site, I’m here. I’m ok with technology, horrible with design.]
That’s right … a bracketed lede. You got a problem with that? I’m from Brooklyn!
But seriously, I have spent the past few weeks gathering thoughts and comments from ASBPE blog contributors and current and recent leaders, and soon I will update our official Contributors roster. Among the nicest things I heard was “ASBPE has got to be the very best trade association I’ve ever been associated with.”
Cool!

But from what I understand, blog chair is a bit of a thankless job.

What is this blog for?
I’d like to ask ASBPE members and non-members to help shape where it goes from here.
Thanks to Tonie Auer for this link to a post that asks whether blogs are dead.

The author’s conclusion is no, and she describes goals for a blog that could be applied here as…

• sharing ASBPE’s expertise with existing and prospective members
• boosting its website in search engine rankings
• helping it build a community

These all sound like fine goals for the ASBPE blog and I would also note that a couple longtime members also have suggested the following functions:

• promoting ASBPE’s resources and other offerings

• tales from the front lines, or tips and tricks (I wouldn’t recommend a bracketed lede)

What are your thoughts on these goals? What’s missing?
And now on to topics…

Screen shot 2012-12-28 at 10.56.24 AM

This word cloud, courtesy of Wordle, gives us an idea of where we have been in terms of topics discussed on the ASBPE blog. It is based on the most common terms in all the historical posts.

Here I boil down these terms a bit, and add some observations …
Editorial: objectivity, ethics, practices

Content: what should it be, where to find it, quality
B2B (Trade, Company): what makes us different from mainstream media
Industry (Audience, Business): vertical expertise is the defensible asset
Data (Research): how to make it, what to make of it
Social (LinkedIn): make it work for you
Media (Article, Show): how to package content
Valuable (Time): ROI for the reader
Important (People, Position): Don’t let them give you the ‘Who do you think you are, the New York Times?’ … these are your readers’ livelihoods you’re talking about!

Other broad topics with some overlap, of course: Careers, Freelancers/Staffing/Management, Tools, Education

What did I miss? Got thoughts on what you’d like to see here? Please reply in comments or to me. Thanks!

Photo of Jim Romeo
Jay Campbell

 

Jay Campbell is editorial director of The BTN Group at Northstar Travel Media. He has no idea where the bodies are buried.

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