I know a lot of other folks you read are posting stuff like “Here’s what I’m thankful for this year” etc., etc. I’m not going to do that. I’m grateful for most of the same things everyone else is. Big whoop. What’s more fun for me is trying to draw an analogy between cooking a Thanksgiving turkey and blog marketing. I hope you enjoy reading these points as much as I enjoyed writing them. 
- You have to plan in advance. You cannot just throw a turkey in the oven and have it come out well, nor can you wing it with your blog marketing efforts.
- Having a great recipe helps tremendously. There are thousands of ways to prepare and cook a Thanksgiving turkey, and there are just as many ways to market a business with a blog. Choosing the right recipe is crucial.
- You have to have the skill and the equipment to carry out the recipe. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, you won’t know when it’s reached the perfect temperature. If you don’t have a big container and enough salt, you can’t brine your bird ahead of time (hey, there’s that planning/recipe thing, too). Any dork with a knife can hack some meat off the bird, but the difference is great when you really know the right way to carve a turkey. It’s the same for your blog. Your tools are WordPress, Headway, Facebook, Twitter, HTML, and digital media such as audio & video. Do you know what you’re doing? Do you have the right tools?
- To really do an outstanding job, you have to be skilled and confident (and imaginative) enough to deviate from the recipe in ways that delight people. This is about taking creative chances and having them pay off. It’s the same for blogging: can you be the one lone guy who says, “to hell with Facebook, I don’t care if everyone uses it, I’m going to do something different because of _________”? (Whatever your reason is.)
- Creative use of your leftovers means you don’t have throw food (and money) away. With blog marketing, you’re creating a ton of content. Are you finding creative (and, more importantly, profitable) ways to reuse it? If not, you’re not getting much of a return on your time. You’re leaving easy money on the table.
If you can think of any other ways blog marketing is like a Thanksgiving Turkey, I’d love to see ‘em in the comments!
Happy Thanksgiving, America! (burp…)
