Instigator Blog

It’s human nature to seek out the opinion of others. And soliciting feedback can be extremely valuable in the process of vetting and developing your startup idea. But be careful how you react to everyone’s opinions.

When asking people for their opinion on your new startup idea, you’ll get a variety of answers:

• Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?!?
• Very, very cool. I totally get it.
• Hhhmmm…Seems interesting.
• Say what now?
• Um, that’s stupid.

Hopefully most responses are positive, but no matter how great the idea, you will get some lukewarm and flat out lousy responses as well. And those less-than-stellar opinions can be damaging.

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Standout Jobs (my startup) is hiring a CSS & Web Designer.

This is a full-time position in Montreal.

Please take a look at the full job listing on the Standout Jobs blog.

To apply, we’ll need to see a portfolio, and you can email us at csswebjob@standoutjobs.com.

Instigator Blog has been entered into the 1% Army - Canadian Marketing, Media & Digital All-Star Tournament.

There are 128 blogs in the competition.

In the first round I’m pitted against 3 other blogs:

• A Frog in the Valley
• emergenceweb
• yveswilliams.com

To compete, I need to submit my top 3 blog posts of 2007, including one that’s been written since August 11th.

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When Copyblogger steps up and says, “Hey! Participate in this project. I am, and it’s worth it…” people listen. Including me.

Blog Action Day is set for October 15, 2007. On that day, the organizers hope everyone talks about one issue: the environment.

“Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.”

The initiative is the brainchild of Leo, Collis and Cyan Ta’eed.

Currently, there are over 2,200 blogs participating. You can too.

I’ve already got my thinking cap on in terms of how the environment fits into this blog. There are any number of directions to go, and it will prove very interesting to see how people extend their own niches into the subject matter as well.

Most social bookmarking, social media and social networking sites allow you to include a thumbnail image (or avatar) to go with your profile. For example, when you submit a story on digg, your image appears with it.

The best example is MyBlogLog. It grew to huge success, in part because it showed people’s faces. For the first time you could see who was visiting your blog.

Most people take a thumbnail image of their face and use that as their avatar. You can see mine to the right.

But as Cheezhead points out, those images are essentially small banner advertisements for you. He provides an example on his site, where The Employment Guide uses a small logo instead of a face. It’s a great example of trying to differentiate oneself from the crowd.

In the past, MyBlogLog allowed animated avatars, but a few months ago those were removed. They became too distracting and annoying.

But lots of people are getting creative with their avatars. And we’re seeing more people talk about standing out with unique ones.

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