Perhaps, my personal highlight of CES 2009 was the “Blogging in  Troubled Times” Q&A with Robert Scoble (Blog | Friendfeed | Twitter | Wikipedia) and Gary Vaynerchuk (Blog | Twitter | Wine Library TV | Wikipedia) on Friday January 9, 2009.  The room was cozy (half full, maybe 70 people, sign of the economy?) which made the fireside chat that much more intimate.  To have two “keynote” speakers in a small room dishing out priceless advice for two quality hours for no money is a treat indeed (see sponsor thanks below).  There were brief pre-ambles, but the session was dominated by Q&A.  A couple quick thoughts about each speaker (1) Scoble is much taller in real life (I think that heavy tripod makes him look smaller in the Scobleizer picture).  He’s also just as nice and genuine as can be. (2)  Vaynerchuk is as advertised and more.  He is like a modern day R-Rated business Confucius (straight shooting, entertaining, every sentence uttered a quotable quote)…Oh yeah, it’s pronounced VAIN-ER (rhymes w her)-CHUCK (rhymes w his favorite word).

Without further ado and in true Scoble “sharing” fashion, here are the highlights of the talk:
(please note: I took furious notes, but there’s probably some paraphrasing here.  I saw about 5 bloggers (including Pelotonics) videotaping the session, so look out for those transcripts. S=Scoble, V=Vaynerchuck)

The Economy

• Blogging was born in the last recession.  Unemployed software engineers built platforms for themselves and friends to rant about the state of their “f*d company” world.  They started blogging just for fun, but it unwittingly started the next revolution in media and direct to consumer communications. S
• Everything is cheap right now: labor, real estate, bandwidth.  ROI is easy when the expenses are nominal.  “Real Money” and “Real Good Sh*t” gets made in the next 2-3 years of this downturn.  While the other bears are in their caves hibernating, you should be out foraging for food (sure, less food but a lot less competition).  Anyone willing to work and hustle during this period will gain marketshare. V

Corporate America

• Blogging/Twitter is changing everything.  Many companies just don’t get this “real-time feedback” world and are getting their “asses kicked” because of it.  Best Buy executives were following Scoble around that day and seemed awe-stricken by his constant communication with his readership and friends. S, V
• Best Buy being surprised is “f’ing awesome.”  While the slow moving corporations figure it out (”it’s phenomenal they don’t understand”), the nimble little blog can jump on opportunity….However, the gap is closing.  “When I see FoxNews talking about Twitter, I get sad.” V

Virgin Blogger Advice

• Get to know how traffic gets to your website.  (for Scoble, 2% comes from Twitter, 60% Google). How do people find you? Use Google’s Keyword Search tool. Basic SEO is a prerequisite but don’t be consumed by it.  The best SEO strategy is simply making a useful site for your community. S
• Try a niche. Don’t try to be Michael Arrington (all things to all people).  Become a market authority/trusted source about your particular market. S, V
• Read everything/get obsessed about the subject matter you’re interested in blogging. (When Gary decided to go into wine blogging, he tore down the Pamela Anderson posters on his wall replacing them with K&L ads :-)). Join communities (be part of communities by interacting, not just sending one way links).  If you are a real two-way contributor, other members will be linking to you unsolicited. V
• Write about what you love.  You must have pure passion/emotional attachment for your subject matter for it to work in the long term.  In the end, if it makes you happy, then that’s really the only thing that matters (traffic, monetization be dammed). V
• Follow best practice blogs for ideas, networking, and a blueprint.  Suggests popurls.com (bloggers with the highest RSS subscribers) to get a lay of the land. V author’s note: Take Wine Library TV as the perfect example. Create a WLTV equivalent for your niche blog.
• Empower your community.  Building a community and audience takes a “sh*tload of time but so does making money.” V
• Treat everyday people with courtesy (cites a Tim Ferris anecdote). S If you treat people differently based on their level of influence, then “you are broken.” V

Monetization

• Get sponsorship (a la Seagate and Scobleizer), Leverage advertising (affiliate ads, Adsense, etc), or vertical distribution (a la Wine Library TV) S
• The only way to maximize any of these strategies is to gain readership, and that’ll be a seemingly slow process, initially.  Eventually, good blogs rise to the top and a traffic “tipping point” occurs. S
  • I’d rather have a business that slowly double pennies rather than an early large payout for something that starts quick then fizzles. V
• Leverage new tools like Facebook, Friendfeed, Twitter, and Mobile Apps to get the message out. Build brands around new paradigms.  S
• Don’t worry about money.  When people care about you and you become relevant, the money follows naturally.  V
• Once blog relevance is established other avenues of revenue automatically open up like public speaking, consulting, books, etc. S, V
• Takes margin over volume anytime.

Followers

• Definition of blog relevance is the power to make sh*t happen (you could have a million followers or just one, ie, Bill Gates).  S
• “There are people with zero followers that can move more people than this room combined”. S
• Rather have 1500 quality followers over 30,000 any day.

Facebook

• According to Scoble’s sources, 5000 friend limit is going away. S
• Facebook weakness = closed system.  Difficult to share with the outside world. A “walled garden.” S
• Facebook strength = closed system.  “Normal people” want a closed private environment. V

Robert Scoble

• Dubiously claims 8 hours of sleep. Ha!
• How does he keep up with followers? Media snacking (like a newspaper, don’t read every page or every word).  When you have time, interact.  Always appreciate the effort.
• Built his brand because all he wants to do is share. “Shine flashlight away from me.”
• Goal in life is to have one meaningful conversation every day.
• Tipping point was when he got a coffee shop to show up on Google via his blog.

Gary Vaynerchuk

• Spends an hour a day working on blog content/video.  Spends most of his days answering emails and interacting with his customers.
• Uses Search Twitter and Google Alerts to track his company’s coverage.  Proactively will reply.
• Sure, he’d love to be LeBron James, but (know thyself) he’d rather execute and leverage his own DNA.
• When he wakes up, he asks himself two questions (1) What do I want to do every day for the rest of my life (2) What is my legacy?
• Chose wine blogging over the NY Jets because he wanted to go after the “big nut.”
• De-emphasizes stats.  It’s more a feeling.
• Tipping point was literally when he got his first comment on WLTV.

UPDATES!

• ?Fouroboros: Blogging was born in a recession. Good ideas always are.
• Pelotonics: Robert Scoble and Gary Vaynerchuck - a great pair to learn from (VIDEO)
• Woot!: CES 2009, Day 2: Scoble and Vaynerchuk Speak!

Monster

• Special thanks to Monster Cables (Twitter) for sponsoring this talk.  Kevin “Little Monster” Lee and his team were on hand giving out free gifts to the audience (”Best in CES Show” Schwag: Monster Outlets to Go 3 USB Power Strip, Monster ScreenClean, and tickets to their Diana Ross concert party!).
• The Outlets to Go will be my new favorite traveling companion. A super compact/portable multi-strip outlet with a USB charging port.  As someone mentioned in the audience, you will make instant friends in the airport with this cool  little device.
• Kevin was also demoing a “Fettuccini” inspired headphone set.  Fettuccini doesn’t tangle up, and neither do these headphones.  Really nice concept.  Can’t really confirm the sound quality (just not comfortable demoing earbuds, yuch), but, hey, it’s from Monster and Dr Dre…