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My First Blogger Meetup – Tweetup – Social Networking Event

August 26, 2009 By 6 Comments

I am actually not too proud to admit this. Through everything I have done in my blogging career, this weekend will be my first blogging meetup with other like-minded, internet geeks. I don’t know if it is just because Atlanta is not a hotspot for top name bloggers or I am just not paying attention enough to the local scene, but there are not many social media events in my area. So after a long time blogging, I am going to attend my first meetup at this weekends USA Pro Cycling Championships in Greenville, SC. This weekend,  I am going to go hangout with some bloggers and Twitter followers (from the cycling niche) as we participate in the events surrounding the championships.

Blogger Meetups, Tweetups and Other Social Media Events

These kinds of events can be highly beneficial for your blogging (from what I have heard at least…since this will be my first!). Not only do you get valuable content for your blog from the main event, but you get the chance to network with other bloggers. Extending your network and discussing ideas/solutions that have worked as a collective group can really take your blogging to another level as you continue to strive for the top pro blogger status.

Even though I have not attented nearly enough of these,  I highly recommend you start networking with local bloggers as soon as possible. It does not matter if you have 100 daily readers or 100,000…you can always benefit from creating new relationships with other bloggers and readers.

If you are in the area this weekend…

The US Pro meet-up will take place at Barley’s Taproom at 3:30pm on Saturday, August 29th following the time trial. A few other bike bloggers will be there including James from Bicycle Design, Byron from Bike Hugger, Robb from Mountain Biking by 198, Josh from Pro Bike Wrench, Briggs from Euro Peloton, Frank from the Tour de France blog, and others. Feel free to drop by and say hi if you are in Greenville for the races.

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Micro-blogging – Are Facebook and Twitter replacing personal blogs?

July 10, 2009 By 4 Comments

With Facebook and the 140 character or under explosion Twitter, are we starting to see a decrease in smaller, personal blogs as these two monsters continue to grow in epic proportions? Are Twitter and Facebook going to take over the micro-blogging world as they continue to compliment each other rather than compete for your eyes on the screen?

With millions of Tweets and updates hitting the web at one time, we now know exactly what everyone is doing and when. In my opinion, we are going to continue to see Twitter and Facebook set sign up records with a continual decline in the “just sharing with the family” blogs, and I believe this is a good thing. Now, let me explain why…

First…what is micro-blogging?

According to Wikipedia:

Micro blogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio or the web.

The content of a micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in that it is typically smaller in actual size and aggregate file size. A single entry could consist of a single sentence or fragment or an image or a brief, ten second video. But, still, its purpose is similar to that of a traditional blog. Users micro-blog about particular topics that can range from the simple, such as “what one is doing at a given moment,” to the thematic, such as “sports cars,” to business topics, such as particular products. Many micro-blogs provide short commentary on a person-to-person level, share news about a company’s products and services, or provide logs of the events of one’s life.

Simply put…every time you update your Facebook status, send out a Tweet on Twitter, update your MySpace account or even text message a friend, you are engaging in micro-blogging as you tell the world your thoughts, feelings and daily activities. Over the past couple of years, micro-blogging has expanded rapidly with the aid of new technologies and it is now widespread among all age groups…many of which…don’t even realize they are participating in the act.

Why is micro-blogging going to take over personal blogging?

Stating that micro-blogging is going to take over the small blogging world might be a stretch, but it is absolutely going to cut down on the amount of blogs started per year and it is going to contribute to the amount of blogs that eventually go un-updated. The average Joe blogger is not going to make a significant income from their blog as only about the top 5% even make a 5 figure income. Where does this leave the pleasure blogger that just wants to update friends and family? He basically has two options to choose from…

  1. Start a blog and update it regularly.
  2. Spend that energy toward Facebook and Twitter.

9 times out of 10, even Joe blogger is going to either start or convert to Twitter and Facebook for one simple reason…

Ease of Use

With micro-blogging platforms, you can update in seconds with pictures, video, text or anything else as you strive to update friends, family and followers with your thoughts and dreams. Setting up a quality blog that people will read takes a lot of time and energy that is basically wasted for someone that just wants to share a couple of pictures and what they are doing that day.

As we look at all of the Blogger accounts that are started with all the intention in the world of updating on a regular basis, we often see these blogs fall off the map as people realize that they can reach a larger audience with a more efficient platform to achieve the same goal. Micro-blogging can also be accomplished on the fly through the aid of a cellular device or mp3 player that makes providing instant information easier than fastening your seat belt.

Who is still going to start blogging?

However, there are going to be the select few that still start and update their blogs regularly.

  • Business Builders – Those bloggers with the dream of making it big by blogging. Business builders have a defined goal and the willingness to put in that extra work that creates a successful blog years down the road. These individuals will look to micro-blogging to compliment their blogs, but never replace them.
  • Writers – There are people in this world that just love to write. It is an outlet for their thoughts and they find pleasure in putting words on a page. Blogging has opened a whole new avenue for them as they continue to hone their skills as a writer and share their type with the world. For the writer, micro-blogging will never satisfy the itch to put down some serious content. Like the business builder, they might use micro-blogging to compliment their writing…but it will never replace it.
  • I need more than 140 characters! – Much like the writer, these bloggers need to efficiently distribute much more content than micro-blogging is designed to publish. As these bloggers set up their blogs, they will still only share with family and friends, but they will do so in the form of stories, pictures and video that will not fit on micro-blogging platforms. Due to the mass amount of content, they are willing to put in the sweat and tears of updating, managing and content production that a blog requires.

The great news for everyone else!

All of this is great news for web users that would have started a blog a couple of years ago. We are on the growing trend of a revolution on the web. It has never been so easy to share your life with everyone around you because of the evolving platform of micro-blogging. Who would have ever thought that grandma was going to sit down at a computer and engage in social media?! These are crazy times and individuals from all over the globe are getting involved in the movement. Instant information is on the rise as we can update from mobile devices and computers shouting to the rooftops that we just ate the best steak we ever have. Better yet…I just showed it to you by taking a picture on my phone and uploading it within seconds. Aren’t you jealous??

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Long Term Blogging Security: Bringing People Together

July 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As you look deep into your blog searching for ways to keep it growing for the long haul, remember one simple fact…by continuing to bring people together through your blog, you are increasing your chances of long term blogging security. The social media aspect of blogging is what makes it so successful in the web world.

With the aid of micro blogging (Twitter) and social media sites (ex. Facebook), blogging has stepped up to a whole new level by bringing readers together from all over the world. Never before have their been this many great friends that have never met face to face. This modern version of pin pals is what is going to keep your blog stable, so it should be your #1 goal to bring more people together through your content and interaction. The more readers you bring together…the more blogging success you will see over time.

How can I bring my readers together?

The challenge as the blogger is creating an atmosphere that breeds interaction among readers. You can not just throw up a site and expect people to interact. You have to tweak your content and off site activities to foster these relationships. So how do you do it?

Content and Blog Articles

When you draft your blog articles, structure content that will encourage your readers to leave comments. By asking questions, writing about controversial subjects and having a defined opinion, you will spark conversation in the comments section of you blog and this conversation is essential to fostering reader relationships. Over time, you will start to see a trend of readers conversing back and forth through your comments and this interaction will persuade other readers to join in on the action.

Another way to jump start social interaction through your blog articles is to actually invite your readers to connect through social media outlets. Darren Rowse (Problogger.net) published an article in July of ’08 that was simply titled “Welcome to the ProBlogger Social Media Love-In“. In this article, Darren invited his readers to share the links to all of their social media obsessions (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). The article was a gigantic success as his readers from all over started following, friending and interacting from all over the world. It also brought out readers who never comment to join into the action. By giving a simple nudge forward, Darren was able to create a strong community through his blog on other social media outlets.

Twitter

The fastest growing social media outlet on the net is now becoming the #1 source of relationship forming for bloggers, companies and casual iPhone users. By participating in events like #followfriday and interacting with followers by replying to Tweets, you can create a community atmosphere around your Twitter account. Over time, you need to provide quality content just like you would with any other social media site, but the direct, immediate nature of Twitter makes it much easier to create a community environment around your brand. From time to time, suggest people on Twitter to your other Twitter followers and you will start to notice that other Tweeters do the same for you. Before you know it, you have a strong Twitter following that directly benefits your blogging.

Facebook

What started as a college student specific social media site has now grown to epic proportions. The decision to open Facebook to the masses was one of the smartest moves by the crew that founded the idea. Facebook is now the preferred outlet for friends, family and colleges to share everything that has to do with their daily lives. Many would argue that Facebook is an obsession that brings the idea of a community to a whole new level.

How can Facebook help your blogging? By friending your readers on Facebook and creating a Facebook fan page, you are extending your brand into the largest social portal on the net. The entire idea behind Facebook is creating community development and you can not afford to ignore this if you are going to build a community around your blog.

Forums

Forums, without a massive amount of secure traffic, are incredibly difficult to start, but they are still…to this day…the strongest way to build a community directly around your blog. With a forum, your readers are directly interacting with other members of the community…through conversation…on your url. Unlike comments on a blog article, forum members self generate content and interaction through topic creation. Your community goes on autopilot as your forum becomes a go to spot on the web for your niche.

The downside…you are going to need moderators and investment start-up time to get a forum moving correctly. If you are willing to put in the work necessary to get a fuctioning forum on the run, you will create a community around your blogging that can not be matched by any outside source. The largest sites on the internet are hugely successful forums…do you have what it takes to reach that super-stardom?

Do you see the trend?

You, as the blogger, have to actively bring your readers together and create the social environment that will eventually lead to a large community. People are drawn to larger communities that attract other people that have the same interests. The more you create this kind of atmosphere around your blog, the more readers will want to stick around and interact with other readers. This equals larger subscriber counts, more pageviews and more revenue, but…even better…it equals a worthwhile, helpful community that you have built from the ground up.

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Blogging: If you build it, they will come…

July 7, 2009 By 1 Comment

When it comes to building a blog and increasing traffic, the “Field of Dreams” if you build it, they will come pipe dream is no longer a reality. As much as we wish we could just throw up our mind blowing, life changing content on a screen and the readers will come in large masses to soak it up like lemonade on a hot day…that just is not reality. There was a time when you were able to see a glimpse of this when blogs were new and quality bloggers were scarce, but now we have hundreds of thousands of blogs with thousands of quality writers all competing for the same readers day in and day out. So as you start your new blog with dreams of making the big time, what can you do to increase your chances of success?

Time to be Unique

If you are expecting to copy another bloggers successful formula with the hope that it will work for you as well…you are sorely mistaken. The #1 reason that blogger was successful and you will not be is because he or she was unique in their niche. They found a way, probably through a lot of testing, to find their own voice that attracted readers. By copying this success, you are just becoming another run of the mill copycat that will eventually fall off the end of the web.

Blogging is a form of self expression, and you need to bring yourself into your blog as much as you can. Find your own voice and unique way of presenting your content. The more transparent you are…the better results you will see as readers are attracted to you and your thoughts. In your blogging, you are going to be your greatest asset, so you need to start treading yourself in that manner.

High Quality, Link Bait Content

You are never going to reach a large audience without high quality, link bait content. High quality content is a no brain’er when it comes to blogging. If you don’t plan on taking serious time shaping your brand and providing reliable content, you might as well not waste your time deleting the “hello world” article. Your sole focus in the beginning of your blogging career should be on content and consistently delivering that content to that very special 10 readers you have a day (I know…2 are your parents, 6 are your friends who don’t really care and the remaining 2 are what you are building your blog on…they are probably your most important 2 readers ever). Once you have a proven track record, you are going to start to see other blogs and media sources link to your content.

Quality back-links, in my opinion, are still going to be your most important source of search engine traffic. As far as I can tell, back-links still have the greatest affect on search engine rankings, so the more quality back-links you have to your blog…the more new readers you will attract through search engine results.

You can’t do it alone…

Kevin Costner even had some help from his family when building the baseball field, and you are going to need the help of other bloggers in your quest to make it to the big time. Start interacting with other bloggers in your niche through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets. As you begin to see some positive results of your work and build enough of a good reputation in your niche, you are going to want to start submitting guest posts to other top blogs to increase your spread on the web. If you already have a positive relationship with these bloggers, it will be easier to step forward and ask for a little help by providing quality content for their blog.

It is also a great idea to start conversing with the technical minded individuals in web design. You are going to need to call upon their services in the future and give and take relationships are much more beneficial in the long run. Start looking for ways to help out others in the industry because that good web karma is going to pay back to you 10 fold.

Welcome to the Big Leagues

If you repeat that formula…over and over again…you should start to see a pretty significant following. A lot of beginning bloggers look at the incomes brought in by the world’s top 1% and think…

Wow…that looks easy…I could do it too! In one month I am going to quit my job and make a killing blogging!

Ha! I wish it was that easy and the #1 main reason that these top bloggers make it look so easy is because they are very good at blogging. Time and practice makes perfect, so remember that in your quest to become a top blogger. Nothing comes overnight and building anything that is truly successful takes time and hard work…

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Ramped Reviews eBook Released – Free Review Product and Pro Review Blogging

July 2, 2009 By 6 Comments

It is finally here! The ultimate eBook guide to review blogging. Ramped Reviews takes you step by step through every process in review blogging.

The Story Behind Ramped Reviews

As my cycling blog continued to grow, there was one question that continually flowed across my email inbox.

How do you get all of this product in to review?

For those of you that don’t already know, the reason my readers were asking this question was because Mountain Biking by 198 had seen over $70,000 in review product before it’s first year anniversary. I started searching the web looking for a resource that spelled out exactly what I was doing with MTB by 198 so that others could replicate my success with getting in free product to review for their blog. After a lot of searching and frustration, I realized…there was not a resource on the internet that taught bloggers, website owners and small publications how to get in free product to review for their readers.

After seeing this gaping hole in the internet marketing world, I decided to take on the task of creating an eBook that taught bloggers how to become pro review bloggers that receive thousands in free review product. On that day…the concept for Ramped Reviews was born. Since that day, we have pouring every bit of the review process into this eBook that is now available.

What do you get in Ramped Reviews?

You get every single step in the pro review blogger process.

  • Why bloggers get free product to review.
  • What your site needs to have before you start the pro reviewing process.
  • How to contact companies in your niche about free review product. (including a high converting sample letter)
  • The review process and how to write a successful product review including SEO review tactics that have landed my reviews on the front page of Google.
  • What to do after the review process is complete.
  • How to turn your product reviews into cash.
  • How to rapidly grow your blog through your free review product and product reviews.
  • Bonus Material

As you can see, Ramped Reviews is a complete resource for bloggers looking to get free review product for their blogs. This eBook took months to complete as we were exhaustive in finding every bit of information you guys need to be successful. We did not want to create an up-sale product that only gave you half of what you really needed. Ramped Reviews is a complete guide to pro review blogging and receiving free product to review on your blog.

So how do I get my own copy of Ramped Reviews?

Simple! Follow this link and click purchase.

Buy Ramped Reviews Now

For $20.00 (not a 19.99 marketing trick to make you feel like you won something…a flat 20 bones!), you get everything you ever needed to know about review blogging and getting in free product to review on your blog. As you can already add up in your head, this eBook will more than pay for itself with that first trip from UPS or FedEx.

My experience in the corporate sales and marketing world has allowed me to see massive success in a very short amount of time. Ramp up your learning curve and maximize your success rate by purchasing Ramped Reviews. It will be the smartest step you have taken into the pro review blogger process.

Special Thanks

A special thanks goes out to Justin Shattuck and the crew over at Just The Web for their help with the design and editing of Ramped Reviews. They are the best for a reason!

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FriendFeed Explodes RSS Feed Counts in FeedBurner

June 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I…like many bloggers…woke up this morning to find an unusually high subscriber increase in my Feedburner feed counts. Just like any abnormality, I further investigated the root cause to the issue and found out that FeedBurner was now counting the amount of subscribers to my FriendFeed as subscribers to my blogs.

While some of you might enjoy the bump in numbers at this time, this is a dangerous road to walk down for FeedBurner as it completely changes the game when it comes to publishing feed subscriber counts…and not in a good way.

The FriendFeed/Feedburner Issue – And A Big One!

FeedBurner has now drastically dilluted the FeedBurner feed count. Let me paint it out like this. Say you have built up a substantial FriendFeed following (which can be as easy as following everyone on Twitter), and you launch a brand new blog with 2 articles on it. You then aggregate that new blog to your FriendFeed and BAM! You instantly have thousands of RSS feed readers on your chiclet with only two articles! How good are you?!

As you can see…the FeedBurner feed count has become an unreliable number in determining the following of a blog.

Now…if I can figure that out in 5 seconds flat, how long will it be until someone completely exploits the system for their own benefit? Granted, after a certain amount of time, one would hope that you can tell the difference between a fake FriendFeed subscriber number and that of a legitimate blog following, but now there is a whole new variable in the game that has to be dealt with.

Dear FeedBurner,

Thank you for the bump in my subscriber count, but…if you don’t mind…I would like to return it in favor of a more accurate count.

Thank you,

Robb Sutton

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Getting Blog Readers To Go Deeper – Aweber Follow-Up Emails

June 12, 2009 By 1 Comment

Over the course of your blogging career, you are going to write some fantastic articles that are going to end up getting lost in the shuffle. As these articles dive deeper into your blog, they do not get the front page traffic gold that you would like. Bloggers often struggle with getting readers to dig deeper into their blog to find these articles and restore them to their former glory. Many times, readers either do not have the time, or do not know how to get to these articles. The blogger now has to find unique ways to feature older articles that provides solutions to their readers issues. [Read more...]

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Why Digg, StumbleUpon and other social media sites are a waste of time

June 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

That’s right…I’m saying it (I’m not the first). Digg, StumbleUpon, Propeller and all of the rest of them are a complete waste of your time. While these social media sites may give you a large bump in traffic for one day, I am about to tell you why you should completely ignore them and focus on your blogging. I know what you are thinking…didn’t Robb just tell us how to capitalize on this kind of traffic a couple of articles back on this very blog? Yes…I did, but I am about to show you why that is all you should do when it comes to social media sites. [Read more...]

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How to lose me as a Twitter follower – Quickly

June 9, 2009 By 1 Comment

Twitter is growing a pace that is unheard of in the internet industry. Thousands of people are joining constantly in search of that next useless 140 character or less tweet that they can bestow on the rest of us eager readers.

While Twitter is an excellent social networking tool for family, friends, business contacts and online businesses, there are several ways that you can lose me as a follower…and fast! Now, I am not conceded enough to think that you are going to lose sleep at night if I hit that all knowing unfollow button, but if the following reasons are enough to get me to unfollow…you can bet your ass that it is enough for others too. In your search to build a significant, worthwhile Twitter following, take these points into consideration before you blast out that next Tweet.

  1. Lame Twitter User Name – If your Twitter user name just screams “I am going to spam the hell out of you!”, I am not going to follow. So…Mr. MLMEXPLOSION…if you want to really create some worth in the Twitter world, do not indicate that you are just going to try to push your work from home business with every Tweet. There are a lot of Twitter users (myself included) that use Twitter to promote their brand, but do not make your user name be the first way to shove it in their face. This same theory goes for all of the Make Money on Twitter and Make Money Online’ish Twitter user names…its just bad form.
  2. Too Many Tweets In Succession – I opened up my Twitter app the other day to find out that two users filled up my entire Twitter timeline. Look…I want to hear what you have to say because I checked your profile, but if you continually push everyone else to the bottom of the list with your 10 Tweets at once posting habits, I am going to hit unfollow. Please use some discretion and post…at most…3 Tweets within a 30 min interval. I do not need to know how every bite of your sandwich was or exactly every song you are listening to that day.
  3. Getting in Arguments or Too Defensive – There are many internet drones out there that use their keyboard to instigate fights that they would be unable to finish in real life. When I start to see online bickering that isn’t productive…you are both off the list. I try to do my best to keep a positive attitude throughout the day because there is enough real stuff in the world to worry about. The last thing I want to see is how cool you think you are. Leave the attitude off social media outlets unless it is completely justified, and in that case…you should really be taking the fight out of the public’s eye.

As you can see, there really isn’t that much that keeps me from following or hitting that unfollow button. As you go through the process of testing out Twitter to see how it fits your needs, just try to remember to treat others how you would wish to be treated (<– corny tag line that your mom used to tell you). When it boils down to it…no one wants to be annoyed with how they can add 1,000 Twitter followers a day if they would just use your program!

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4 Tips to Increase Your StumbleUpon Traffic

June 5, 2009 By 9 Comments

Yesterday morning, I checked my post for the day and found that I was getting a lot of StumbleUpon traffic on that particular article (you can find it here). Now, just like any blog or website owner, I wanted to capitalize on this increased traffic for the day, so I needed more readers to Stumble the article and push it to higher levels of traffic. Social media traffic is 100% dependent on your readers and the new visitors due to the nature of the social media site. In this case, StumbleUpon was sending me the new, eager eyes, so how could I make sure that more readers hit the thumbs up button to keep the traffic flow going? [Read more...]

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