PowerBlog Review: Warren Greshes Talking Success

Editor's note: Welcome to the eighty-fourth in our regular weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews. This week's review is being guest-blogged by Lynne Meyer.

By Lynne Meyer

Warren Greshes multi-tasks as a professional speaker, author and talk show host who blogs from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. He established his blog -- Warren Greshes Talking Success -- this past July with efficiency in mind. He says:

"I'd been sending out an email newsletter to thousands of subscribers every week for the past two and a half years. People are bombarded with emails, with more and more emails going into the spam folder. I want my information to be read. I felt a blog was the next step beyond email because it enables me to deliver information to my subscribers and listeners without having to email them."

Warren is part of that growing number of radio show hosts and professional speakers who also blog. In today's world, customers want it "their way." Offering his messages through multiple media is a way to touch as many people as possible, reaching them through whichever communication format they prefer: in-person, live radio, podcasts, emails, or the blog.

Warren's goal is to build his audience to the point where he can attract sponsors, increase his brand awareness and increase his speaking business. "I want to use it as part of a marketing mix to enable me to cross promote my radio show and upcoming book. I want to give my readers an abundance of valuable free information to help them be more successful in their lives, careers and businesses."

Warren successfully accomplishes these goals. In fact, I give his blog an enthusiastic two thumbs up for both style and substance.

Content wise, his postings are interesting and succinct. Even though he addresses many typical business concepts like customer service, attitude, preparation, motivation and persistence, he brings fresh insights to these topics with lots of practical tips and illustrative personal anecdotes to convey his insights. Two good examples are titled "Encourage Your Customers to Complain" and "What's the Best Return Policy?" He also covers topics like rebalancing your busy life.

Particularly fascinating to me is Warren's series of postings based on the teachings of former Chinese general Sun Tzu's 2,000-year-old "The Art of War" text and its relevance to today's business world.

In terms of appearance for readability -- something to which every blog should aspire -- Warren's blog is simply outstanding. That's because Warren's blog is very inviting to the eye. His postings occupy 2/3 of the page on the left side, and there's a continuous color bar on the right 1/3 of the page. Because there aren't a lot of individual ads or other graphics all over the page, the result is nice and clean. In addition, the line length and font style and size are comfortable for readability. He consistently numbers the specific points he wants to emphasize and puts them in boldface as well -- another plus for readability. I'm a fanatic about having adequate white space in anything written, and Warren gives readers generous white space with lots of paragraph breaks.

Another thing Warren does well is the user-friendly organization of his archives. The archives are listed on a separate page, in three separate lists -- by date, category and title.

One final point that Warren has done with his blog that every business blogger should do in order to attract and retain as wide a readership as possible: he has established a series of FAQs. These are posts that describe what the blog is about and how to use it -- something that those who are unfamiliar with blogs will find helpful and considerate. This is especially important for business blogs, whose readers may well be business owners who are unfamiliar with the unique features of blogs.

In summary, visit Warren Greshes Talking Success blog.