(As in past years, I will only be posting once a week in July and August.)

Many bloggers suggest seeking inspiration for post ideas in the posts on other people’s blogs.  This, of course, is just an extension of doing the same from articles and books.  They are what Greg Knauss calls referential bloggers.  As Kevin O’Keefe points out referential blogging also increases the visibility and influence of your blog.

Referential blogging is easier if you remember to write with PRIDE, an acronym which stands for Promote, Rant, Interpret, Disagree and Elaborate.

1.    Promote

You can promote someone else’s idea, post or blog by citing and endorsing it.  Ian Brodie’s Rainmaker Resources blog does that for blogs addressing the subject of selling professional services.  Individual posts highlight a specific blog and its author.  A different approach to promoting other people’s posts is the blog carnival, exemplified by the highly successful blog Carnival of Trust started by Charlie Green, which highlights ten posts a month dealing with trust.  I know from first-hand experience how having a post chosen for this carnival can create a spike in readership. (Thank you, Charlie.)  The Hidden Business Treasure’s post, proclaiming Charlie’s Trust Matters blog as the Blog of the Year, is yet another example of promoting on a blog.

2.     Rant

Someone else’s post can set you off on a rant, as one of Margaret Grisdela’s did me, resulting in the post Many Reasons Not to Call vs. One Reason to Call.  I enjoy reading a short, well written rant.  I like the author’s passion, conviction and seeming abandonment prudence.  A good one makes me cheer, or, better, laugh.  And writing a rant helps you get something off your chest.  It feels great to just let it all go!  The relief one feels after pushing the publish button on your host page is palpable.  And, well . . . don’t get me started.

3.    Interpret

You can interpret someone else’s post, book or article for your audience.  Liz Strauss does this in her post, Can Social Media Change the World, applying concepts from a favorite book on inovation to her field.

4.    Disagree

Reading controversy is often more fun than reading agreement and disagreement, can be fun to write.  Sims Wyeth and I had an exchange over the use of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and GOG (greed, opportunity and glory) in selling (see FUD or GOG and More Debate over FUD and GOG), Suzanne Lowe and I had one over the role of a Chief Marketing Officer in a professional services firm (see What Does a CMO Do?)  Alan Weiss and I locked horns over the value of LinkedIn.  I found these exchanges challenging, and they resulted in a spike in readership for all parties.  If you are worried about the other person taking offense at your disagreement, call and explain what you want to do.  Chances are he or she will welcome the exchange.

5.    Elaborate

You can elaborate on a point found on someone else’s blog.  Mark Buckshon does this well in a recent post that builds off of a Mel Lester post.

Keeping PRIDE in mind will help you generate ideas for posts when reading other people’s blogs, articles and books.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 6:18 am and is filed under Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.