• If you don’t love it. Don’t do it. Or quit now and save yourself the trouble.
• Go outside your comfort zone once in a while. Put up some visuals or a video post. Go way off topic.
• Just because you think someone else has “said it better” doesn’t mean you can’t add your take on things.
• There is absolutely nothing wrong with a link-baitey post every once in a while.
• Someone will always say it better. But someone will also always say it worse.
• It takes a long, long time to get a decent sized audience. Those people who have 10k readers in a week are like people that lose 100lbs on diet pills.
• Decide why you want to blog before you start, but keep in mind that it’s a fluid concept.
• Don’t be afraid to talk about whatever the hell you want sometimes.
• Put a picture of yourself on your front page.
• Use bold, headlines, bullets, etc. to make your stuff more scannable.
• Don’t get caught trying to perfect an idea before you start writing. The inertia will kill you.
• Do your best not to take yourself to seriously, get self-righteous or self-important.
• If you want people to give you their time and attention, they have to get something back in return.

Get better at understanding design with Whitney Hess
If you’ve every been “out there” on the internet, you know there’s a lot of really bad user experiences to be had. Sometimes its a simple “Now, where’s the button to…” and sometimes it might be better if they scrapped the whole thing and started over. Check out Whitney’s Pleasure and Pain and learn how to avoid those situations yourself.

Get better at mastering the Jersey shore with Jen A. Miller
I’ve been going to the Jersey shore since I was 2 years old and I still don’t think I know 1/10 of what Jen Miller does. Shes got a great book covering all things Jersey shore and an accompanying blog that goes even more in-depth.

Get better at gourmet meals with Jaden’s Steam Kitchen
I’m not going to lie to you friends, I like cooking. Especially Asain food. Not sure why or how, but I think it’s the most fun. And I get a lot of recipes and ideas from Jaden. She puts a great sense of humor and personality into a place you don’t usually find it. Check out her site and blow your wife/husband/great uncle’s mind tonight at dinner.

Get better at maximizing your gym time with Strong Lifts
I love the gym, it’s sort of like my Zen place. Apparently for Mehdi at Strong Lifts it’s his place to kick ass and take names. Check out his site for easier ways to get stronger, lose weight, and just be healthier over all. Almost 28,000 rss subscribers can’t be wrong.

Get better at incredible customer attention with Frank Eliason (@Comcastcares)
Frank is one of the brightest spots in customer service today. Personally, he’s helped me 3 separate times. And I’m sure if you just start asking people on Twitter, you’ll really see how big his impact is. If you’re a brand, sit back and take notes.

Get better at picking the best wine with Gary Vaynerchuck
If you’re reading this blog, you probably know about Gary V. If not check out the interview I did with him and then go spend some time at Wine Library TV. Simple.

1. See what people are saying about you already.
This one’s easy. Odds are, people are probably talking about you already and it’s just up to you to see what they’re saying. Fortunately, there are a lot of great (and free) tools out there to monitor the chatter on the internet. Start with Google Blog Search, Twitter Search (formerly Summize), and Technorati.

2. Comment on blog posts.
Now that you’ve found all these wonderful conversations already in play, it’s time to make like Joe Jaffe and join those conversations. Take a look at what people are saying, and if you feel like you can add something to the discussion, go for it. Just make sure to identify yourself as a representative of your brand or company, and don’t come off sounding like a press release.

3. Set up a profile on a social network.
Go to Facebook. Create a profile for your company or brand. Put the relevant facts and contact info on there. Respond to people who reach out to you. Simple.

4. Subscribe to some feeds with a RSS Reader.
First things first, set up and account with Google Reader or Bloglines (or many other tools out there). Then, using the tools listed above, find some blogs that you think you’d like to read on a regular basis. Look for the big orange “subscribe” button (like my circular one) and follow the instructions to add them into your reader. This way all the content comes to you, making it easy to stay on top of the conversations that matter.

5. Set up a Twitter account.
Neal Stewart once said “I try to post at least one…update per day because I believe that there should be at least one thing we want to tell our consumers per day.”

If you don’t know what twitter is, you can check out it’s wikipedia entry here. Once you’ve got a decent handle on it, check out these awesome posts from a lot of smart people on how to use Twitter effectively. It’s quick, easy, and a lot of fun.

So there’s my five. What did I miss?