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How To Leverage Social Media Into An Asset For Blogging

November 11, 2010 By 9 Comments

Last night, I gave a presentation at the Atlanta Bloggers Meetup on social media and blogging as part of Atlanta’s Social Media Week. I was one of three presenters of the night and the only one that fully relies on blogging for income. I brought along the Kodak Zi8 to record the session and the video came out ok. The small sensor camera really struggles in low light and I wasn’t wearing a mic, but the quality was good enough to publish.

One word of warning…apparently I REALLY talk with my hands. It is funny what you realize about yourself when you have to watch it on video.

How To Leverage Social Media To Grow Your Blog

In the video, I talk about basic principles in regards to social media, blogging and how you can combine the two to increase your business, traffic and bottom line and then I answer some questions from the audience on generating income and increasing traffic.

Text Summary On Social Media Presentation Video

Everyone already knows the most popular social media spaces online. We all use them on a daily basis to converse with friends, keep in touch with family or to follow our favorite celebrities. When we do this act, we are functioning within the core, fundamental purpose of social media.

Entertainment.

99% of users of social media have zero interest in blogging or starting a blog. However, they have a great amount of interest in conversing with other like minded individuals online who share their same interests. That need to communicate is what we can leverage into our blogging to pull readers back into our content.

All of these social media spaces (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.) in and of themselves do not generate revenue or traffic. They are their own separate sites with defined purposes. The blogger has to tie all these separate entities into something usable and measurable by giving them a common home base. That home base for the blogger is the blog.

By going out and pulling potential customers and readers back to your content, you are bringing value back to social media by turning it into something that can be measured and converted.

With Facebook fan pages, branded Twitter accounts, LinkedIn groups and other aspects of these social media sites, we are able to create a consistent branding atmosphere, a consistent voice and a consistent purpose that all increase our traffic and revenue.

If Only It Was That Easy!!

The theory of “if you build it and they will come” applies as little to social media as it does to blogging. The trick for the blogger is to go out and converse with members of social media sites to pull them back to your content.

However…there is one major mistake I see most bloggers and businesses do when they are looking to expand into social media to increase their web presence.

They do ZERO market research.

Just because Joe down the street told you Twitter is the next big thing or you believe you have to be everywhere at once does not mean that is the right plan of attack for your blog or business.

Most bloggers and business owners like to do what I call the shotgun affect. They spread themselves out really thin across all aspects of social media just hoping something sticks. The result…nothing does and they become another person that says Twitter or Facebook doesn’t work. It isn’t that they don’t work, it is your approach that failed.

Your job as the blogger or business owner is to go where your core audience interacts and bring your content and brand to them. It is not your job to convince them that Twitter is better than Facebook.

For Bike198, I find that Facebook is a much higher converter as cyclists could really care less about Twitter. My Facebook likes and shares are very high on that site and it serves a great purpose in my blogging. However, in the blogging niche, Twitter took off like wildfire and bloggers across the world are using it as an easy way to spread content and connect with other bloggers. It all depends on your target audience and how they are already communicating. Once you figure that out…you go there and set up shop. If you do that, your chance of success is much higher than if you just recklessly hope something sticks.

That is the key to making social media successful for increasing your profits and expanding your brand’s reach on the web.

Filmed with the Kodiak Zi8 and edited with iMovie and Keynote

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media, Tutorials/How To, Videos Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Three Ways You Can Build A Great Online Brand

November 2, 2010 By 3 Comments

The following article on building an online brand is a guest post by Vik Tantry from There Is Money Everywhere dot com. Online branding is essential to success in blogging as you strive to set yourself apart from the rest of the noise.

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a fellow blogger. He was frustrated because he had been blogging for more than a year and hadn’t achieved any real traction. He wanted to understand what he could be doing better. It’s never easy to build a brand, but there are definitely things you can do to help. Here are three tips to help you on your way to a stellar online brand:

Tip #1: Be Credible

Explain why people should listen to you

A good example is Jim Cramer from Mad Money. Although he is highly entertaining, he makes sure that people know about his prestigious investment background: top of his class at Harvard, investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and manager of a profitable hedge fund. I doubt he’d be as successful if he didn’t advertise these impeccable credentials

What if you aren’t a proven expert? That’s ok, but be sure to admit that you are willing to learn. Pat from Smart Passive Income does this very effectively. He is very upfront about the fact that he is learning how to make money online, and is extremely transparent with his process. This level of honesty has taken him exceptionally far and will continue to serve him well as he builds his user base.

Demonstrate value time and again

Glen Allsopp at Viperchill has some of the most detailed, thoughtful articles on web marketing. While most content on the web is only 300-500 words, Glenn typically writes long, rich posts that are anywhere from 1500-3000 words long. In just over a year, he’s built up a tremendous following and many of his posts are seen as “authoritative guides” on various topics.

Tip #2: Be Likeable

Stay positive

S^%t happens, but people will like you all the more if you can take it in stride. An exceptional example of this is Pat Flynn over at Smart Passive Income. In 2008, Pat was laid off from his job at an architecture firm. Instead of getting down on himself, he took it as an opportunity to build his own business and grow his personal brand. Around the world, thousands of readers (including yours truly) listened to his story and took inspiration from his outlook on life. Today, Pat’s blog is a major brand in the “making money online” space.

Be Responsive

There is no bigger turn-off than apathy. If you come across like you don’t care, people won’t care about you. The opposite is also true. If you go out of your way to respond to people, they are much more likely to keep your on the radar.

Be Humble

Neil Patel from QuickSprout is one of the more successful entrepreneurs at his age. He’s accomplished more at 25 than most people do in a lifetime. And yet, he never misses an opportunity to tell people that he’s not that smart and he’s actually made a lot of mistakes. He’s always willing to learn and never comes across like he’s “above” other people. This humility is par t of the reason that he has one of the most successful blogs in the world.

Tell a story about your past

Many successful “gurus” come from humble origins. Robert Kiyosaki was homeless in 1985, living out of his car. Real estate guru Dean Graziosi was raised by a single mother who made $90 a week. These “rags to riches” stories are inspiring and contribute heavily to your personal brand.

Tip #3: Be Funny

Humor sells. It also has a lot of value in drawing in people’s attention. Ramit Sethi at I Will Teach You To Be Rich does a masterful job of integrating humor within a traditionally boring topic: personal finance. His lighthearted, witty approach brought in a younger audience that was curious about personal finance but couldn’t get through the boring material.

But be careful: being funny isn’t the same as being mean. If you constantly poke fun at others, you risk coming across like a jerk. A better approach is to poke fun at yourself; things that you do wrong, mistakes you’ve made, etc. If you are going to make fun of others, try to use fake names to protect their identity.

Have you had success using these techniques? Please share in the comments.

Vik Tantry blogs about making money online to lead a better life at theresmoneyeverywhere.com.

Image by Mike Chen aka Metalman

Filed Under: Blogging, The Web, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , ,

What You Should Know About Hosting on a Managed Private Cloud

October 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

First and foremost, let me start off with a working definition of a private cloud. A private cloud (also known as an enterprise cloud) is “a cloud computing infrastructure created by an organization for its own internal use.” Organizations may develop such a private cloud instead of using other infrastructures, this is a convenient way for an organization to store sensitive data and host internal information. You can identify a private cloud verses a public cloud mainly by their use of an independent server and network infrastructure with internal data centers that are set up within a firewall.

Within the different forms of cloud computing, there are different deployment methods whether it is public, private or a hybrid, private clouds have been able to address the disadvantages of public cloud computing. It is my goal throughout this entry to give a brief overview of the strengths and weaknesses of hosting on a managed private cloud and what you need to know.

Strengths of Hosting on a Managed Private Cloud

One great thing about hosting on a private cloud is the available control. These clouds may also be called on premises clouds being that they are hosted on site rather than by a separate vendor. Organizations using a private cloud have a large amount of control of the software used to create the cloud, implementation of its security, the network set-up and the available operating systems. Organizations therefore also have full control of their data and information. Maintaining their own data gives them complete responsibility. Using someone else’s infrastructure, or public cloud, one loses that amount of control that is available when hosting from a private cloud.

Location is another strong advantage of a private cloud verse public clouds. Having direct access to the server makes it easier to move data in or out of the cloud. Locations to the server, keeps your information tangible and close at hand and reduces the need for outsourced IT support. The internal location also increases the performance and transfer rates. As the private cloud functions within a firewall, it allows for these higher transfer rates.

A third strength of hosting on a private cloud would be security. Assuming the network is closed to outside, it is a great deal easier to secure. Going back to the control issue, you are able to control the network’s security with your own judgment.

Weaknesses of Hosting on a Managed Private Cloud

The largest weakness to hosting on an enterprise cloud is the work put into creating and maintaining the cloud. As building a cloud is an intricate process, it may be easier to use a different, pre-existing, infrastructure.

Another weakness would be the shear cost of hosting on a managed private cloud. There are hidden costs involved in complying to regulations, IT support, backing up data, recovery or restoration, and troubleshooting. With the new technology, these costs may fluctuate while the practice gets perfected.

Hopefully I have addressed your issues with a private cloud and have left you with a clearer knowledge of the topic. If you are interested in private clouds but are concerned more of its weaknesses, I encourage you to look further into hybrid clouds as they have been designed to address the weaknesses of both public and private clouds.

This article was written by Sebastian Brown, a technology veteran and hosting expert. For all your hosting needs, check out Rackspace.com. Rackspace is a company that delivers enterprise-level hosting services to businesses of all sizes. Check out Rackspace by clicking here.

Cloud image by unifiedphoto

Filed Under: Technology, The Web, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bringing The Community Atmosphere Back To Your Blog

October 19, 2010 By 1 Comment

One of the top reasons blogs are successful online over top news and informational sites is the growing, active community that breeds around the words that go live when you hit the publish button.

That personal connection between blogger/reader and reader/reader is what keeps your subscribers coming back for more time and time again (in addition to your kick ass content). This uniqueness of community within blogging is the driving force that continues to create traffic and profits in the blogging industry. However, while there is a ton of information out there on building community in your blogging, there are several things that you need to keep in mind when you are trying to build community in your own corner of the web.

Not All Communities Communicate In The Same Way

While the blogging niche is known of commenting on blog articles, the rest of the online world is not necessarily going to communicate in the same way. I see a lot of bloggers in sports, technology or other niches that try to force the blog commenting down the throats of their readers to find only one or two comments on an article that is getting thousands of pageviews. The reality…their readers want to communicate and form a community around a different online asset.

When you are looking to form an active community around your blog, you need to take a serious look at how members of your niche are communicating online in other areas. Here are a couple of examples to look for…

  • Online Forums and Bulletin Boards
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Special Interest Sites – Flickr.com, etc.

When you figure out how your audience wants to communicate online, you have to either bring your brand and your blog to them (Facebook Fan pages, Twitter lists, etc.), or create your own asset on your blog (example: add a forum to your site).

Building Communities Takes Serious Time And Effort

To bringing the community atmosphere to your blog takes a lot of time and effort. Luckily, this investment pays off in a big way as you create dedicated and loyal readers in the process that will promote your blog and increase your bottom line. If you are serious about building up this asset in your blogging, you have to be ready for the long haul as it is not an overnight process.

Commenting On Articles – If your readers like to comment on articles, be prepared to answer as many comments as you can to foster that connection between blogger/reader. Also, tailor your content by asking questions and having a defined opinion to breed more comments on articles and between readers. If you have a handful of regular subscribers that provide feedback, reach out to them and ask for some help with getting comments started on articles. The first comment is sometimes the hardest to get…

Jump Starting Forums - Online forums are one of the hardest resources online to get started. However, they can be a HUGE resource in your blogging for repeat visits, pageviews and traffic to your blog articles. You are going to need the help of contests, active moderators to start topics and constant replying to topics within your forum to create the stickiness that successful forums require.

Creating Online Profiles and Driving Traffic To Them – If your readers prefer communicating on social media sites like Twitter for Facebook, you have to build up credible online profiles in each of these online resources. This means you have to have professional looking avatars and background, onsite promotion tools to drive traffic to the profiles and constant/consistent updates to keep fresh content following. One of the easiest ways to create community around your social profiles is to ask questions related to your niche (also great for spurring blog content ideas), but you have to put in the effort to attract followers so you actually have people that will answer!

Strong Communities = Success Online

The most successful blogs online have some version of a community asset on their blog. In most cases, successful bloggers combine multiple community assets to further increase their spread online and attract different kinds of internet users in the process.

If you are serious about making a serious run at online success, your involvement with communication and interaction is key to fostering a community atmosphere around your online real-estate.

Filed Under: Blogging, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

How I Increased My Adsense Earnings 266%

September 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Over the past week, I have increased my Adsense earnings 266% on Bike198.com. Really…no lie. I made some serious changes on the site over the past week and the results have been staggering.

It all started with the idea of a complete overhaul and redesign that changed the way my readers interact with the content. As we took a look at how readers were interacting and how we wanted them to interact…we saw room for improvement. The fun part…we were absolutely right and all of the stats are through the roof. Now, let’s take a look at the subject of this article specifically as it relates to other forms of advertising on your blog as much as it does Adsense.

I Use Adsense As A Litmus Test

First, let me start by clarifying that I use Google Adsense as a Litmus test on my “non-blogging” blogs to see how direct advertising and other forms of banner style advertising will perform given certain designs and locations. Why do I do this? Adsense provides you with real time feedback on certain ad locations and sizes will perform. In certain niches, it can also give you some insight into how much you should be charging for a given location. In markets where Adsense performs well, advertisers could have to beat what Adense is generating for a given location.

For these reasons, Google Adsense is a great way to test out specific locations in terms of performance, but it does not mean that it is the best means for maximum revenue generation in all niches.

How I Increased My Adsense Revenue 266%

As mentioned before, this all started with a redesign project that was based around user interaction with Bike198.com. The #1 goal was to integrate the various subdomains into a more seamless design that allowed for ease of movement among the content. During this process, I saw a real need to extract more performance around the banner advertising sections of the site. Who doesn’t like to make more money?!

Let’s take a look at the before and after with Mountain.Bike198.com as the example…

Before: Mountain.Bike198.com

Old Bike198.com

Mountain Biking for Beginners Section

After: Mountain.Bike198.com

Home Bike198.com New

Beginner Section New Bike198.com

You can navigate through Mountain.Bike198.com and see the other ad locations, but these screenshots will serve a purpose as you are about to see.

What Changed: Reader Interaction

As you take a look at the before and after, let’s point out the significant changes.

  • Cleaner Overall Design
  • Sidebar Location Moved To The Left
  • Lighter Colors
  • 300×250 Ad Spot Moved To Top
  • Restructured Navigation

At first, I was a little bit nervous about removing a lot of the image elements of the new design as a lot of people liked that aspect of the site, but…after the fact…everyone is actually liking the lighter look and increased speed of the site (if the flood of “it looks great!” emails aren’t proof enough). Now…let’s get to what you are actually reading this article about…increasing revenue.

How The Site Re-Design Increased Revenue

The re-design of Bike198.com did two things that were specific goals that directly affect revenue.

  1. Put the emphasis back on the content.
  2. Put the ads in direct view of the reader without being obtrusive.

Having a lot of graphical elements, widgets and other miscellaneous “looks cool” items on your blog can get a good reaction from your readers, but you need to realize that…most times…those elements go against what you are ultimately trying to accomplish…more interaction with your content and revenue streams. The previous Bike198.com design got that “wow factor” but the image elements distracted from advertising and the content.

When we moved the sidebar to the left and brought the color of the design into the content and the ads instead of the design, we drew the eyes of our readers where it mattered the most without any distractions. The result…more conversions (rss, Facebook, YouTube), higher comment counts, more emails and ultimately more revenue on the site.

When you are trying to extract more dollars out of your blog, you need to be the eyes of your reader.

Where do you want your readers eyes to go? On an image that generates you nothing or on an ad that brings you income? How about an article or picture within an article that will bring you more traffic? It is not about what you think looks cool or getting a compliment about which background you chose, it is about increasing efficiencies and incorporating elements into your design that help you achieve your goals. After that…you start testing, moving and experimenting to see how you can increase these elements even further.

As a general rule, the simpler the design, the better it will convert as long as you have set defined goals. With less distraction from conversion elements, the eye will gravitate towards color and size, so structure your elements in a hierarchy of importance keeping those to aspects in mind. If you spend all of your time chasing what you think looks good without any technical backing on why, you will be spinning your wheels wondering why you are not making any income.

The redesign of Bike198.com drastically increased earnings because reader interaction, conversions and income generation was the ultimate goal.

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

EPIC Post: How To Breathe Life Back Into Your Stale Blog

August 26, 2010 By 4 Comments

I got an email in from a reader this week that is a common occurrence in the blogging world. You hit the ground running and start to see some success. With time, you start to shift your focus elsewhere, leaving behind your primary source of revenue only to find that traffic and profits decrease on the project that is the source of getting you online success. Or…all of your current methods have hit a plateau in traffic and earnings and you have no clue on how to get off it and back to sustainable growth! And what are you left with? A stale blog starring you in the face. You need to win back old readers and find ways to attract new readers to your corner of the web to bring back up profits and encourage growth. The big problem…where to start?

The Story of Tweaks For Geeks

I figured the best way to tackle this common occurrence in the blogging world was hit it head on with a real world example, so here is the email I received this week. I hope Kevin doesn’t mind!

Kevin’s Email To Me:

Hello Robb,

We’ve corresponded a few times in the past, perhaps you remember me. Anyway, my query is as follows:

This particular question may actually make for a good article for you; as I’m sure there are others out there like me that have started up their sites and have seen some success, but have either stalled in their progress or simply want to take their online business to a whole new level.

I’ve owned a site about computers/technology (primarily focusing on how to fix various computer issues) for a little over five years now. While I am one of the few that can say that he has made over $1,000 a month from his sites, I am simultaniously one of the many that has fallen prey to the “do nothing” bug and have let my main earner fall into stagnation (and sadly seen my revenue plummet as a result). It still brings in ad money, but needs a new updated look to it (which I almost have done), and fresh consistently updated content.

So – with that in mind:

  1. What steps would you take in order to give an established but a bit “dusty” site a jumpstart?
  2. In your professional opinion, how long do you think it would take in order to make a site like that a contender again that regains its old readers and acquires new ones?

Currently I am in an excellent position where I can dedicate most of my time to revamping and regrowing my online ventures; and with my technical background I am fortunate enough to be able to do all of the programming work myself in order to add new and innovative features to it.

Really I just want to know what the most effective course of action would be to take this from a publication that gets approximately 55,000 unique monthly viewers that are all one-time visits and turning it into a destination where people visit and then want to not only stay, but return regularly. Of course, I would also love some tips for explosive growth.

Again, I think that this would be an excellent article for your readers; so perhaps you’ll want to do a full writeup on it. If not, then some friendly pointers would be greatly appreciated. If you do decide to make an article of it you can feel free to post parts of this email, or all of it in its entirety as part of your content.

Also, thank you for providing such a concise and informative site about the blogging industry. RobbSutton.com is one of the best resources out there that I’ve come across.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you,

-Kevin Souter
Owner, TweaksForGeeks.com | Rent A Geek Computer Services

Breathing Life Back Into Your Stale Blog

Ok…before we even jump into this…my biggest recommendation to any blogger is “do not ignore your primary income generator“. Yes…blogging is exciting and new projects are always more of a rush than old, but by jumping around starting and stopping new projects, you are just crippling yourself for the future by not giving anything ample time to grow. I am not sure if that is what happened in this case, but that is the most common mistake I see in new bloggers. Try to fight the urge to start “the next great idea” every week and focus on projects that you can tackle without leaving what has brought you success behind.

When you look to breathe life into a stale blog or bring new growth to an existing blog, your efforts are going to fall into 3 basic categories.

  1. Content
  2. Blog Design
  3. Promotion

These are the three core elements to blogging that will bring you new growth and make existing readers happy every time. When you start to jump on each of these aspects of your blogging individually, you need to do so with a plan and ask yourself the right questions.

Content: Shaking Things Up

No…I am not going to sit here and give you the same, old, tired out line of “write pillar articles and content is king”. Hopefully, you have already been doing that or you wouldn’t have seen any success to begin with. When you are looking to attract new readers and bring life back to old readers, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions.

  • Who do I want to attract? – You need to specifically lay out exactly who you want to attract with your content. Who are you not reaching now that you want to? Are you generating content for that specific target audience? You need to start bringing in high quality, targeted content into your blog to pull in new readers that you are specifically targeting. However, this content needs to be relevant to current readers as well, so do not step too far outside the scope of your niche as you can start to alienate your die hards while trying to attract new.
  • Where can I expand? – When I start working with new bloggers, I tell them to find a niche that is manageable. Do not take on TechCrunch right off the bat…you will loose. When you find a sub-niche in your industry, you can really drive it home and start to see success because you are reaching a very targeted audience in a smaller competition market. When you take this theory, you can start to run out of content over time, so now is the time to look into your expansion opportunities in related subject matters.
  • How can I be more useful? – How you write your content and the types of articles you publish are incredibly important. Are there certain articles that seem to perform better than others on your blog and in search engines? In my experience, tutorials and other “helpful” articles tend to perform the best, so look into areas that you can continue to hit a home run and start to product more of those types of articles as you look for new growth.

Your content is the core of your blog. Without it…you are left with an empty design that doesn’t do too much of anything. When you are looking to expand or revive, it is where you need to start as the rest of this isn’t going to mean a thing without your content.

Blog Design: Time To Shift Focus To Action

How your readers interact with your content is completely based on your blog design. Where there eyes go…where they click…the actions they take (rss feed subscribing, newsletter opt-in, social media spreading) are all dependent upon how you present your words through the design. When you are looking to ramp things back up a bit, it is time to look at how your readers are interacting with your content.

Note: I would highly recommend paying close attention to your bounce rate and reader trends in Google Analytics as that gives you an insiders look at what is going on with your blog.

  • What do I want my readers to do when they finish reading? – You have to put yourself in the shoes of a reader in your niche (not a blogger looking at a blog article). In non-tech/blogging niches, your readers will have no clue about blogging and social media other than their own personal experience. It is your job to step inside of their head as they land on your pages. Do you want them to share it on Facebook? Do you want them to check out another article? These are important questions that you need to answer as they directly affect what you put at the end of each article.
  • What is my blog design not accomplishing? – Are you not increasing your opt-in rates? Are your pageviews low? You need to start looking at what your design is not doing for you currently. The outward appearance of your blog is not just a visual mechanism, it is how your readers interact and move through your site. When you are looking to get readers to dive deeper into old content, click on advertising or feel like they are on a quality site, you lean heavily on your design. To get things rolling, start to look at things like logo design, navigation and design elements while keeping in mind where you want your readers to go. As a general rule, bloggers tend to add too many elements to their blogs so only put it up if 70% of your readers are going to use it. Anything else will just be wasted space and clutter. You want to draw your readers eyes to your most important elements that promote growth and conversions.

What you should have created at this point is a site that is accomplishing your goals while also looking professional. One key thing to keep in mind is that you are building your site for your readers and what they will interact with…not what you are going to interact with. Keep your personal touch…but back it up with function.

Promotion: Time To Take It To The New Masses

The order of this process is intentional. With an end goal of attracting new readers, you have to create an atmosphere that they want to land on before you go out and find them. This does not meant that everything has to be perfect before you move forward (it never is…blogging is an evolving process), so don’t get locked down with “it has to be perfect” panic. When you feel like you have accomplished enough of the goals you have set out with content and design, you need to start pulling new readers into your revisions. Hopefully, you already know who you want to attract through the first content step…so let’s go get them.

  • Where do my new/potential readers hang out online? – It is your job as the blogger to pull in new readers. Where does your new “perfect target reader” hang out online? By visiting these places and building up a solid reputation (online forums, other blogs, meetup groups, Facebook fan pages, etc.), you can pull them back to your content and create another subscriber.
  • How do my new and existing readers spread content? – Not all niches spread content the same. While Twitter might be a great viral spreader for one niche, it could be horrible in another. It is your job to figure out which ones work the best in your subject matter and start building up a profile in these areas. The easiest (and hardest) way to get new reader’s eyes on your content is through viral spreading, but you want to make sure your time is not going wasted by doing some research before you jump in head first.
  • How do my new readers like to subscribe to content? – As part of your promotion techniques, you are trying to attract new, long term subscribers to your blog. How do these readers want to subscribe to online content? In the biking world, more than half (probably even less) know what an RSS reader is or even care. It is still a world of email, so I put a lot of emphasis on my RSS email subscription and newsletter subscription. When you promote your new content and pull new readers into your blog, you need to feature a method of subscription that is the most widely used in your niche. Do not force feed what some other blogger says you need to do. It is up to you and what your readers want.
  • Who can I collaborate with? - Guest posting is a fantastic way to pull in new readers to your blog, but it isn’t always an option in some niches. Try to think up of unique ways that you can work with both online and offline resources to bring more content/promotion to their medium while also promoting your corner of the web. In the past, I have worked with forum site owners, industry magazines and special interest groups to help them accomplish their goals while at the same time promoting my website. It brings you credibility and new readers at the same time.
  • What can I give away? – Contests and giveaways can grow a blog faster than just about anything else online. People love free stuff and they will promote you to no end to get it. Before you start sweating about the money you are going to have to spend…keep one thing in mind. Even the giveaways with inexpensive products…when targeted correctly…perform incredibly well. You can also have companies and other blogs donate prizes in exchange for promotion within the contest and you will not have to spend a dime. Just be sure you structure the giveaway or contest in a manner that you get some needed asset (newsletter subscriber, rss reader, etc) and that contest is virally promoted (stumbled, Tweeted, shared on Facebook, etc.).

Rinse, Repeat and Evolve

That is really the nuts and bolts of breathing life back into a stale blog (or starting up a new one for that matter). When you are looking to rejuvenate your blog, take a look at these three core areas of blogging to see what you are doing wrong and how to improve it. By taking a systematic and planned attack, you can not only bring a blog back to its former glory, but you can lift it above and to a success you never thought was possible.

When you create an atmosphere that is based around the premis of helping others, they will in turn want to help you. Ideally, you want to create a “cultish” following online where your readers want to tell other people that they hangout in your online space. When you focus on that idea of helping…you can make huge strides in creating an online community that breads repeat visitors.

So how long does it take if you are on the right path?

Honestly…success is often a byproduct of the effort put forth. While it can differ depending on competition and market saturation, I have found that the hardest working (when it is a planned, thought out attack) get ahead the fastest.

Image by R’eyes

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Trust, Credibility and How To Lose It As A Blogger and Marketer

August 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Internet marketing can be a jungle. Everyone is fighting to be the first to release products while at the same time relying on others to help promote them. While everyone is watching out for #1, there is an unwritten truth throughout the industry that you need the help of others to get ahead, so you better not burn too many bridges. Typically, this keeps everyone on their best behavior and everything rolls along smoothly, but…every now and then…something happens that you attach your name to that either isn’t on the up and up or is dancing around that sleezy line that you would rather not be involved with. Before we get specific…let’s talk about credibility, trust and their rolls in your blogging.

Your Online Credibility Is Built One Reader At A Time

Online street cred is not an easy thing to come by. By building up trust with your readers, fellow bloggers and companies that want to deal with your blog over time, you are able to establish a strong, positive credibility online. This takes time and sometimes lots of it. With each action, you are adding to your point total and this happens progressively through consistent effort and results.

This is nothing new to the business world. Just like with brick and mortar businesses, you have to watch who you associate with in blogging because your name and your brand get attached to everything you touch. At the drop of a hat, several wrong decisions (or sometimes even one) can strip you of your positive trust and you are back to square one clawing and scraping for anything you can get.

So your job as the blogger is to protect that credibility by watching who you associate with, how you treat your readers, the quality of the products you release and controlling the quality of the products you promote. It is a constant balancing act all with the same goal…to build our business.

A Recent Situation: Fake Scarcity

Recently, I was caught in a situation that I had attached my name to that made me uneasy. Fake scarcity was attached to a product I was promoting but I didn’t know it was happening. Let me preface by saying a couple of things off the bat…

Scarcity When Followed Through With Is Not A Bad Thing

Yes, especially in the blogging/mmo niche, we deal with scarcity on digital products. Many of you might say…”there is no way you can only have 150 eBooks…that is dumb and sleazy.” However, scarcity with digital products can serve two functions.

  1. It Can Control The Amount Of Work – If you are releasing a product that is going to require a lot of follow up time and support, only releasing a certain amount of copies, spots, etc. can keep your work level manageable on the backend. Can you imagine trying to converse and support thousands of people? I can’t…so sometimes putting a limit on things is a good idea from a quality standpoint.
  2. Scarcity Gets The Tire Kickers Off The Couch – By only allowing purchase of the product for a specific period of time or raising the price after a prelaunch, you are able to get people to take action. The key…follow through with whatever you are planning on doing after the allotted time period or quantity.
Where Scarcity Goes Wrong

When scarcity goes wrong, it is usually an attempt to scare visitors into taking action when the scare tactic is not ever going to be followed through on. So what happens? The potential client/customer takes the action thinking they only have a little bit of time left. Then, at a later date, hits the same sales page only to find that nothing has changed.

At this point…the product means nothing as the customer feels cheated.

To make matters worse, if you were the one promoting that product…your name is attached to it just as much (sometimes more) as the marketer who released it. Except…you have zero control or ability to change it.

The Personal Experience: Lessons In Affiliate Marketing

The recent experience involved a marketer I have dealt with in the past and a product that I actually use and believe in. I promoted the product. I was told the product was going to go up in price…so I promoted under that premiss…and the product didn’t go up when the time hit. At that point, was was emailed by readers who were pissed. I can’t blame them because I was too.

To make matters worse…emails and attempts at rectifying small bugs and the situation went ignored. On the outside…it seemed like this kind of attitude was taking place…

You made me my money…now I’m done with it.

Ego blogging at its finest. Use it up and move on to the next…

One of the hard parts about affilate marketing is attaching your credibility to a product and marketer that you have zero control over. Like this circumstance, there are even situations when you think you can trust what is hitting the screen only to be blindsided when things go wrong. It is dissappointing to say the least and I do take those situations personally.

On the flip side…when you create products and services and you need another bloggers help to keep the ball rolling, keep this story in mind as I will never promote for this blogger/marketer again because of the anger that came out of my readers and my personal views on using those kinds of marketing tactics (I hate them if you can’t already tell). You will need the help of others during your blogging career and burning bridges like this is not a good idea.

If you take anything from my situation, let it be these two things…

  1. Your credibility and the ability to be trusted as a blogger is everything. Do not waste that in an attempt to make a couple of bucks…you will lose a lot more in the long run.
  2. You are never bigger than one of your readers. If anything…you are a servent to you subscribers…not the other way around.

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How To Pull In Massive Traffic With Specific Pages On Your Blog

August 13, 2010 By 3 Comments

I am about to give you some insight into how I pull in a massive amount of search engine traffic to my blogs. Now…this is me giving up way too much information about one of my niches, so hold on tight as you are getting an inside look at how I roll.

SEO can be a frustrating thing for bloggers. You want to rank well for specific keywords in your niche, but you also want to provide top notch content for your readers. This can create a push/pull affect as you struggle to balance the business and personal sides of your blogging. No one likes articles that seem SEO’ed to hell and back, so the trick is to get 1st page ranking without pissing people off.

Another frustrating aspect of blogging is one of its biggest strengths over time…date based, massive content production. Bloggers continue to struggle with getting readers to dive deeper into their content to find those incredible articles that you wrote in the past.

Want to kill both birds with one stone and provide a massively useful section of your blog for your readers that also fullfills both struggles outlined above? Ok…let’s hit it…

How To Pull In Massive Traffic With Pages

Now…I really struggled with the idea of giving away this much information about the inner workings of one of my most successful blogs, so I hope you guys find this helpful in your blogging.

The first thing I did was headed over to the Google Adwords keyword tool to research what search engine readers were typing into the search box. What I came up with was a list of keywords and how often they are searched per month locally and globally.

The trick at this point is to find a highly searched for keyword string that also helps your readers with existing content you have already written. I have a TON of riding tips on Mountain.Bike198.com, so “Mountain Biking for Beginners” made perfect sense to setup and it was one of the top phrases…double bonus.

Keyword ideas for traffic pages

Then, I went into WordPress…setup a new page with the keyword string “Mountain Biking for Beginners” in it and started building a resource for my blog. As you can see in the screenshot, the Mountain Biking for Beginners section of Bike198 is a collection of organized groupings of articles that help beginning mountain bikers ride better, work on their bikes easier and decide what to buy without confusion. As you click on each of the icons, it takes you to a listing (another page) of articles that help my readers in those areas.

Mountain Biking for Beginners Section

Now…just setting up a page like this isn’t enough to rank well in Google. You need some text to go along with the sections to create keyword friendly content to rank well. If you click on the Mountain Biking for Beginners section, you will see that below the sections…I typed out a very targeted SEO explanation of why we created the beginners section. These couple of paragraphs help our readers, but…more importantly…it provides the SEO juice to rank well in Google.

To make sure I was extracting as much as I possibly could out of the content, I optimized it with Scribe.

So what were the results?

Search Engine Results

Page rankings may vary some depending on your location (and if you are signed into Google…in this result I was not signed in so it is accurate for my area), but it averages between 3 and 10 on the front page depending for a highly searched for, competitive keyword and this page has only been live for less than a month!

The best part about this whole process is that you get to help your readers and your blog at the same time. You get to bring back older, quality content and rank well in search engines while providing a resource for your readers that will keep them coming back to you time and time again for content.

Oh yeah…don’t forget to link the page prominently on your blog…like I did in the navigation bar.

See…I told you I was giving way too much information away.

Products Mentioned: WordPress | Google Adwords | Scribe SEO

Traffic Light Image by wwarby

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Hot Chicks Are Always Going To Have More Twitter Followers Than You

August 5, 2010 By 14 Comments

It’s true…hot chicks are always going to have more Twitter followers than you, but…it doesn’t matter because 1/2 of them aren’t even real and the other 1/2 just have a bunch of worthless followers.

You see it all the time. Some hot chick avatar has 75,000+ followers but they are following 82,000+ and you say to yourself, “man…I wish I had that many followers. I am going to do whatever I can to get them.” I am here to tell you that you should much rather have your 1,000 or even 100 followers rather than their 75,000+ that they spam on a regular basis.

In today’s social media environment, there seems to be an obsession to race to the highest number. Whether it be Twitter followers, RSS feed subscribers or pageviews, aspiring bloggers and social media gurus are all watching stats closely to see where they stand. If you have some successful history in blogging/social media, you already know there is a numbers game and the more you have…the more you typically make. But…the really experienced know that the numbers game is about QUALITY more than it is about quantity.

In the pursuit of stat racing, many aspiring entrepreneurs take the road too much traveled of lowering themselves to sleazy tactics in the attempt to attract more followers or subscribers. They throw up controversial blog posts in the interest of viral spreading instead of quality content. They put up pictures of barely dressed women in their avatars and posts. They even go as far to try to call out other successful entrepreneurs to try to attract attention. If they are trying to use sleazy tactics like putting a hot chick as their avatar, they do not know the first thing about making money online and their business is failing before they even get started.

It’s Not A Race and Quality Matters More Than Quantity

I don’t know about you, but when I build up my online businesses, I do not want a bunch of dirty old men on my lists. I want targeted leads that actually want to digest what I have to say. While there is something to the whole “social proof” theory (more people sign up when they see a big stat…wish it wasn’t true but it is), I would much rather have 1,000 highly targeted followers/leads than 100,000 that are just random.

When you are seeking out new subscribers, followers or new visitors to your blogs and social media outlets, the #1 goal should be finding quality, targeted eyes not just a mass quantity.

How To Find Quality, Targeted Leads and Subscribers

So…we know you need to have better followers and subscribers than the internet marketing hot chick, so where do we find these targeted leads? The #1 way I have found to grow my online real estates is simple.

Find where your potential new visitors are hanging out and bring them back to your blogs, Twitter account, Facebook fan pages, etc.

New followers and subscribers are not going to magically find you online. The “build it and they will come” theory to online growth never held true so it is not going to work for you. If you really want to grow your blog and business online, you are going to have to actively search out new visitors and find a way to get them on your pages. Here are a couple of examples to get you started.

  • Actively Guest Post On Popular Blogs In Your Niche – One of the most popular ways to attract new readers is to guest post on other blogs. This theory works incredibly well in niches that have active bloggers. If you are in a niche that does not have a strong blogging community, you are going to have to look to other outlets to pull new readers in.
  • Build Up Online Forum Profiles – Online forums are still the #1 place for dedicated online obsessed to exert their passions and share them with others. For every niche that you would want to blog about, there are a ton of active forums that you can participate in. However, forum communities are extremely sensitive to spam, so becoming a valuable member of the community is essential before you start pushing your content.
  • SEO Targeted Content - In my biking niche, I rely on Google and other search engines to deliver a large portion of my new leads. By doing keyword research with Google Adwords and writing SEO optimized articles using Scribe, I can bring in a massive amount of targeted, new visitors a day. While building up a blog with strong SEO presence can take time, it is still the #1 way to pull in new visitors. For beginning blogs, focusing on long tail keyword strings can bring you in some early success when you can’t compete with the older, larger sites on high competition keywords in the beginning.
  • Use Your Search Functions - Within Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets, there is always a search function that allows you to find targeted leads. While this may not be the most efficient way to get a large number at once, they are highly targeted. By finding out which hash tags your audience is using in Twitter and which Fan Pages they are following on Facebook, you can open your blog and social media accounts to an entirely new audience.
  • Interact and Communicate – Blogging and social media is still a people business. Interact and talk with as many people in your niche as you can. Those friendships that you grow over time will help you grow your business exponentially.

It isn’t rocket science. The more you try to cheat the system and employ tactics that you think are going to get you drastic results with 1/2 the work, them more you are setting yourself up for failure. Just remember, the fake hot chick on Twitter is going to act like they are making butt loads online…but in reality…their un-targeted leads are not making them a thing. Focus on quality and the results will be bigger than you would have ever imagined.

Model photo by Mike__G

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Performance Anxiety and How to Beat It

August 2, 2010 By 8 Comments

In this guest post by Andrew Rondeau of WeBuildYourBlog.com, Andrew takes a look at how to beat performance anxiety which is a common occurrence among new and experienced bloggers. At some point in time, we all need a kickstart.

So. You have a great blog up and running, you’ve had lots of visits and a number of comments.

Now, you’re starting to worry. How can you keep people interested in what you have to say?  Is someone going to leave a comment telling you that you’re completely wrong? Everyone who visits your blog is judging you on what you write, right?

It’s performance anxiety rearing its ugly head

Performance anxiety is the feeling you get when you start to worry you won’t meet your readers’ expectations, just like an actor about to go on stage or a businessman waiting to give a big presentation for a new contract. We all suffer from it at some point in our lives; it’s normal.

Don’t panic. You can use this natural fear as a source of motivation. Everyone, from Hollywood actors right through to best-selling novelists and rock stars suffer with performance anxiety. It’s a great way of keeping an eye on what you’re writing, and keeping you on your toes. If you always feel some level of nervousness as a blogger, then you are more likely to take care over what you write, and do the best job you can.

Keeping abreast of what your customers are looking for

How do you know what your visitors are expecting, anyway? People keep dropping in to your blog to read what you have to say because they are interested. They like the way you write. Relax, and don’t start comparing what you have just written to something you wrote last month, that got you loads of comments. That was another day and another blog post. Have faith in yourself and in what you have to say.

One of the best ideas I have heard is to inform your reader of what you are saying, rather than trying to persuade them. You are your own expert, so have the confidence in your own abilities to complete the job you set out to do.

If you are running a business blog concentrating on an aspect of your working life then make sure you use the most up to date information you can. Have a browse around to identify what other great bloggers are doing. You know your industry inside out, so have faith in your ability to write with authority. If your blog is a personal one, then don’t be afraid to write up your opinions.

Going forward after researching your niche

Now you’ve done some research, have the courage of your convictions. You know what you have to say and you are the best person to say it your way. Whether you’re writing on a business subject or offering up insights in to your personal life, be confident with what you want to say.

If you sound like an expert in your field, you’ll encourage people to visit your blog regularly. Ask people to comment on what you have posted, as discussions on a particular subject will give you fresh inspiration and guide you to cover subjects which your readers are interested in.

Being positive and confident works wonders when it comes to writing authoritatively on your chosen field of expertise. By overcoming performance anxiety and being confident, you’ll have the ability to engage your readers, share your knowledge, and ultimately engage and retain a wide readership.

Andrew Rondeau blogs over at WeBuildYourBlog.com on blogging and provides a service to setup your own successful blog. You can check out his free Blogging Guide.

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