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John Dodge

The practical side of blogging

Bloggers are always looking for ways to grow traffic. That's especially important for my new "If it ain't broke" blog. People don't know about it yet. We haven't begun to promote in DN print or the web site. We don't even have RSS feeds on our blogs! Stay tuned for all that, but frankly I can't wait.

So what better way to attract attention than to conduct a conversation with the PR community. So I made an announcement in my blog that I am no longer going to Consumer Electronics Show Janaury 8-11 in Las Vegas. I had signed up to go when I was editor-in-chief at Electronic Business. But I made the switch  to Design News in early November so going to CES was no longer an imperative. BTW, we're sending our electronics guru, technical editor Chuck Murray.

Still, I've gotten upward of 100 requests via e-mail to meet with companies at CES. My way of telling the PR community that I am not going is via my blog. I have religiously steered them to that blog post with the simple e-mail: Bill, Please click on this link: /blog/130000213.html

And you know, they all do, and I've heard from many again, wishing me well in my new new job. Not only did succeed in telling them I am not going, I also let them know I have switched to Design News. Plus, they didn't feel ignored. And I generated some traffic and buzz about my blog. Come one. Come all. Happy holidays, everyone.