Hat tip to Brad Feld for pointing me to this great video on failure…

When it comes to blogging, Seth Godin is an SEO disaster.

So, why’s his traffic and readership so massive?

Does Seth spend hours loading up his content with meticulously researched keyword phrases and patterns? If you’ve read him for long enough, it’s a safe bet the answer to that question is no. Then, what’s his secret? It has to do with a little thing called HEO…

Human Evangelist Optimization

It’s time for another every-other-Wednesday drive by book review!

This wednesday, I’ve got two new books on tap for you:

• The Bounce Back Book by Karen Salmansohn
• Escape From Corporate America by Pamela Skillings

Now, for the drive-by details:

The Bounce Back Book by Karen Salmansohn (disclosure - Karen’s a friend):

What’s it about? Getting past adversity in all areas of life.

What makes it different? Two things–design, brevity and pith. Okay, that was three things. The moment you pick up this book, you know it’s different. Why?

I found this on Michel Fortin’s blog over the weekend and was blown-away.

No need for explanation, just watch it, then pass it on…

I knew it was bad the moment it happened…

Three months ago, I was running on a little trail in the woods nearby my apartment (yes, we DO have woods in NYC). I hit a muddy patch on the train with a steep downward slop, wiped out, rolled over my foot and heard a loud crunching sound, before being sent abruptly to the ground.

It hurt like hell, but I made my way back home.

I’ve been getting more and more e-mail from people I don’t know asking for things.

But, I just have to share this one with you. It’s from someone I’ve never heard of who wants to JV or joint-venture with me, translation, get access to you, my amazing family of readers:

Hello Jonathan Fields,

I came across your site while browsing the articles at [site I've never heard of].com. You’ve got a terrific website and I especially like your article “[article I never wrote]”

Seriously, I can’t believe I missed this…

The blogosphere has been engaged in a heated debate for months now about whether it’s better to niche blog or spread your topics wide. I published a round-up post on niche versus broad-scope blogging. And I’ve read a number of other articles on it recently. Which is why I can’t believe I missed the answer.

It’s been sitting in front of my face the entire time.

After all the discussions, all the blog posts, all the banter, tweets, IMs and e-mails, a single irrefutable fact led me to conclude…

Here it is, the keys to the blog-growth castle…

It’s not uber-networking, commenting on every high-traffic blog you can find, sucking up to big bloggers to get links, befriending social-medialites, installing plug-ins to get people to subscribe or thank them once they do or building your profile and family of friends.

Do those things help? Yes, but…

Only if you do one much more important thing really, really well. What’s that one thing?

Be insane.

• Insanely interesting
• Insanely entertaining
• Insanely informative
• Insanely useful
• Insanely provocative
• Insanely kind/compassionate

I literally passed out when the news came my way…

Since joining the blogging community, I’ve become privy to a growing feed of scandalous information about major players in the blogging arena. And, until now, I’ve kept my mouth shut, but this latest round of news is just too good to keep to myself.

So here goes…

Time for another Friday afternoon best-of-the-web, where I filter out a bazillion things to bring you the coolest stuff I read and seen online this week. Enjoy…

• Family Guy Matrix Trailer - Epic, watch it and start your weekend with a smile
• Why leisure matters in a busy world - Interesting article about the importance of taking time off
• Twister bedsheets - No need for explanation here
• Become an expert with the power of deliberate practice - Steve Rubel applies greatness theory to the process of becoming an expert authority. Interesting read, especially for bloggers