Just out today is MarketingSherpa's 2006 Marketing Wisdom report. It's a great example of using your customers to create content for you. The Sherpa folks sent out a survey link in December asking the 100,000-plus readers of their email newsletters to submit a lesson learned or useful anecdote from 2005. The results - from 110 readers - are compiled in a nifty looking PDF report.

Also clever, the report has an upscale sponsor, search

Just out today is MarketingSherpa's 2006 Marketing Wisdom report. It's a great example of using your customers to create content for you. The Sherpa folks sent out a survey link in December asking the 100,000-plus readers of their email newsletters to submit a lesson learned or useful anecdote from 2005. The results - from 110 readers - are compiled in a nifty looking PDF report.

Also clever, the report has an upscale sponsor, search marketing firm Omniture. This kind of "free" download is a win-win all around. Passalong or word-of-mouth marketing for Sherpa, in addition to sponsorship revenue. The glory of being published if you're one of the contributors.

The readers who contributed are from small companies and big, including American Red Cross, CompUSA and…

Well it's that time of year... time for a "Best Of" list! So many free guides, so little time to cull through them. Here's my quick pick of the most informative on this year's hot topics: blogging, RSS and podcasting. Plus the most notable stat of 2005 and of course the best new blog.

AND let's not forget email. Oh, and white papers themselves. They're both still in play as powerful marketing and communications tools for companies large and

Well it's that time of year... time for a "Best Of" list! So many free guides, so little time to cull through them. Here's my quick pick of the most informative on this year's hot topics: blogging, RSS and podcasting. Plus the most notable stat of 2005 and of course the best new blog.

AND let's not forget email. Oh, and white papers themselves. They're both still in play as powerful marketing and communications tools for companies large and small.

Update: this blog entry also appears in the current issue of my e-newsletter, WordBiz Report. If you're not already a subscriber, please do sign up!

I generally publish once a month although the schedule has been interrupted the past few months because of writing the book. Subscribe now and you can…

Read the Q.  & A. with Seth in E-consultancy.com’s December 2005 briefing. As always, he boils it down. Real simple. Incisive. (Scroll to the bottom of the interview for a good explanation of Squidoo, Seth’s new venture.) I like this sound bite:

Q. (Chris Lake) Should every business use the internet to communicate? What are the basics of an internet communications strategy?

A. (Seth Godin) You should only use the internet if you want your

Been meaning to post this. I love the way Seth Godin writes. He inspires me to... just say it. Take out all those clauses and that clutter.

From the intro to his new e-book: "This is not a faq and it's not the blogging bible and it's incomplete... " Of course he packs plenty into 45 pages.

Interestingly, (for those of you out there wondering what to do with all that stuff you write in your blog) he pulls a fair amount of this e-book straight

Been meaning to post this. I love the way Seth Godin writes. He inspires me to... just say it. Take out all those clauses and that clutter.

From the intro to his new e-book: "This is not a faq and it's not the blogging bible and it's incomplete... " Of course he packs plenty into 45 pages.

Interestingly, (for those of you out there wondering what to do with all that stuff you write in your blog) he pulls a fair amount of this e-book straight out of his blog. As well he should. A blog is the perfect place to test out your ideas and just "get it down."

Included are his riff on CEO blogs and his riff on why "small is…

Get 'em here:

The Content Factor's To Blog Or Not To Blog (download page)

Edelman/Intelliseek's The Rise of Employee Bloggers (download page)

Get 'em here:

The Content Factor's To Blog Or Not To Blog (download page)

Edelman/Intelliseek's The Rise of Employee Bloggers (download page)

Hey, your copy of this 15-page guide is FREE when you subscribe to my e-newsletter, WordBiz Report. Here's what online copywriting guru Nick Usborne says about the guide: "It's a brief and useful introduction for those who are about to start a business blog, and for those who have been blogging for a while, but have lost track of what they first set out to achieve, and why." Click here to download your copy (value $14.95) now! Hey, your copy of this 15-page guide is FREE when you subscribe to my e-newsletter, WordBiz Report. Here's what online copywriting guru Nick Usborne says about the guide: "It's a brief and useful introduction for those who are about to start a business blog, and for those who have been blogging for a while, but have lost track of what they first set out to achieve, and why." Click here to download your copy (value $14.95) now!