Ravi’s Rants

If I had to pick just one blog, and could read only one blog for the rest of my life - including my own blog (the one you’re reading right now) - I would pick Seth Godin’s blog.

Seth’s blog is (hyperbole alert) amazing, educational, informative, remarkable, mind-blowing, extraordinary, purple, eye-opening and goose-pimple-raising good.

Seth’s books, his blog and his words have become such an integral part of my life, that I ended up creating a separate category here. I still have to go back and tag some of my older posts, but you can read all of the posts where I’ve written about or referred to Seth Godin, by going here.

But don’t read just Seth’s blog. You don’t have to.

Read some of the best blogs out there, along with Seth’s, all on one page by clicking here.

It’s not really purple in color. But I did mean that it is Purple.

Why?

It’s because of the way it was successful in creating an entirely new industry of “athlete marketing” like never before. Because of how it created a frenzy among consumers. Because of the innovative ways Nike marketed it [for instance, they paid $5,000 in fine for every match that Michael Jordan wore these banned (then) shoes on court].

Not even Apple - to this date - has been able to match the hysteria that these shoes created (have you ever heard anyone getting mugged or killed for an iPod or iPhone?)

And yes, I was a teenager when I read and watched news about people getting mugged and killed for Air Jordan shoes.

Now go make your own Purple shoes.

Going by the PageRank (PR 6), you can guess how many sites are linking to this post on JoelOnSoftware. The content is that powerful.

Here’s the summary:

1. Fix everything two ways
2. Suggest blowing out the dust
3. Make customers into fans
4. Take the blame
5. Memorize awkward phrases
6. Practice puppetry
7. Greed will get you nowhere

Post: 7 Steps To Remarkable Customer Service

“The _____ swept down from the hills like a dark and hungry wind.

The first thing anyone would notice would be the _____, its long white hair flew wildly in the breeze generated by the two swinging katanas that had been enchanted to draw blood from anything, even lamp posts and cheese.

Raised in a school for ninjas who also did kung fu and kickboxing as a hobby, the _____ was …. but also possessed the secret skill of being able to ….”

I challenge you to fill in the “_____”. What do you think the text is about?

Well, then I guess you probably haven’t heard about Woot.

The passage above, is the product description of a “HP 3210 All-in-One Printer”. Yes, a printer!

Woot sells exactly one product a day - at a pretty good price. They’re not the cheapest, yet they almost always sell out the same day. Within hours, sometimes. And they don’t carry the same product more than once.

The product descriptions are remarkable: they give you the highlight, and are incredibly funny. These guys have a great sense of humor, and everything about their site has a Wootouch to it.

Today, they’re partnering with a big company. And like most other companies, they could’ve written a plain, boring press release like this one (yawn).

But Woot is different, of course. They had to do it in style.

Woo Woo, Woot!