Book Review: Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
This book, by Michael Hyatt, read much like Rework did—in short, quick bursts—only Hyatt’s book crammed in a lot more knowledge sharing. The incredible amount of information he stuffed into this book is alone enough reason to buy it.
Reading through Platform, I kept feeling like I was stealing from the author. I think I paid about $14 on Amazon, and because I bought it so early after its launch, I also received access to several bonus items as well, including:
- Digital and audio files of Platform
- 7 videos that complement the book’s content
- Writing a Winning Fiction Book Proposal e-book
- Writing a Winning Non-Fiction Book Proposal e-book
Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World has another subtitle: A step-by-step guide for anyone with something to say or sell. Honestly, my only negative feeling about this book comes from these titles. I feel like it should’ve been named something else, but I’m not quite sure what. He didn’t get into the whole platform thing right away, and that kind of threw me.
Who is this book good for?
If you’re trying to build a presence in social media and/or readership for your blog and are hoping this parlays into speaking engagements and more, read Platform. You will not be disappointed.
I was familiar with much of the instruction included in Hyatt’s book, but even so, each chapter kept giving me more and more info and energy. I wished Hyatt had released this book when I first entered social media (thank God for MarketingProfs instead). Pretty much everything you need to know as a blogger is in this book.
There’s even a bit of Marketing 101 built in as well. You’ll get great tips on product naming, using different branding tools, creating an elevator pitch and more. Here are some sample chapter names:
- Define Your Platform Goals
- Set Up Your Branding Tools
- Develop and Online Media Kit
- Protect Your Intellectual Property
- Avoid Common Blogging Mistakes
- Use Twitter to Promote Your Product
- Set Up a Facebook Fan Page
- Develop a Comments Policy
Hyatt is also very generous in offering up some of his own copy for your use. His advice on using disclosures and certain disclaimers to protect yourself, includes giving us the actual disclaimers he uses. So, we don’t have to start from scratch.
Don’t believe his take on proofreading
Oh yeah, one more slight negative—his opinion on proofreading. I agree with him that you don’t have to hire a proofreader, but then he says, “…crowdsource your proofreading. Your regular readers are happy to do it.”
No, we’re not.
In my opinion, a sloppy blog post shows you don’t care enough about your audience. Yes, errors here and there are forgiven, but you will lose readers if you consistently publish blog posts with errors in them.
Write your draft, let it sit for at least an hour, then go back and proofread it. If you’re not good at proofreading, then scan it once forward and once backward to help you catch more typos.
But I digress…
Back to the book review
In Chapter 29, “Create a Better About Page,” Hyatt offers up 13 tips on how to make this page better and also includes his own About page as an example. Thirteen tips on just the About page. That should give you some idea of how the whole book goes.
Hyatt is more than generous in sharing his knowledge and giving advice. And almost every chapter uses bullet points or lists to help you cruise right through. As if his book isn’t enough, he even provides a list of more resources at the end.
My suggestion? Buy the book. Maybe even buy two and share it with a friend. This is one you’ll keep going back to refer to, even after you’re out of the beginner stage.
In the crowds 
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