Tag: Blogging

How To Become The Ultimate Online Resource

As a blogger, you want several things that all tend to equal success across niches. You want people to land on your site, you want them to engage with your article and then you want them to perform some sort of action. This action can be diving into more articles, signing up for your rss feed and newsletter or telling their friends about your site to begin the viral spreading process.

It is our job as blog owners to make this process as easy as possible for new readers and build that authority from day one. One of the easiest, most effective and worthwhile ways to accomplish this feat is to become the ultimate online resource for your nice. So how do we do that?

via robbsutton.com

Follow the ‘via’ link to read on…

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30 of the Most Influential Bloggers of 2010

via fuelyourblogging.com

Maybe next year! Follow the ‘via’ link…

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Here are the WordPress plugins I rely on

How about you? Have something better?

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From thinker to thought leader in one easy workflow

So you wanna be a thought leader? There’s no better way to make your point of view ‘searchable, findable, and knowable’ on the internet than this suite of tools. It is the simplest and most straightforward blogging workflow I can imagine and if you’ve got a better idea, I’ll be the first to admit [and use] it…

Updated 5/25/10 to include LinkedIn and YouTube. h/t Alan Petras. Lesson learned? Don’t leave YouTube off a social media workflow when you’re talking to a video guy…

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Wow!

Even I’m impressed by the way my new blogging workflow has increased traffic recently…

Compare this with your numbers and then comment, call or use the contact form to discuss how this applies to your business…

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How Posterous Helped me Tell the Story of the EVO 4G

Over the last year, in addition to this blog, I’ve kept a blog on the site Posterous.com. It’s a blog where I focus on technology policy, mobile phones and Sprint.

In my experience, Posterous is substantially easier to manage than WordPress, but it doesn’t allow you the ability to personalize your blog to the extent WordPress offers. What it does offer is a quick bookmarklet, similar to Tumblr. When I spot a story, video or photo on the Web, I can quickly link it to my Posterous. There’s no formatting, no cutting and pasting of links — it’s just a quick and easy upload. I can even post to my Posterous via my mobile phone. WordPress takes me more time to manuever.

My Posterous site allows me to quickly link to a Sprint news release, video or perhaps a New York Times story about the FCC’s latest move and offer readers my take on why it’s important. I’ve set up my Posterous to automatically populate my Twitter feed, so the title of the Posterous post shows up as a tweet with a shortened URL linking back to the site.

Posterous makes blogging easy for busy people.

via johntaylorpr.com

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How I Build Links Automatically With Posterous!

While blogging via email isn’t new, Posterous took the idea and made it dead simple to blog. All you need to do is to attach anything – photos, video, MP3 or any form of content and send it via email to your account.

Yes, it’s just so dead simple.

Touted as a direct competitor to tumblr, it’s been one of my favorite blogging (bookmarking, link building) tools of late, not because of its simplicity and ease of use but simply because it does allow me to build link automatically.

via bloggingtip.net

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The Weekly Hot List of News for Bloggers

via fuelyourblogging.com

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WordPress-to-Lead Contact Form for Salesforce CRM

via fuelyourblogging.com

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Top 5 Social Media Tips for C-Suite Execs

Alltop CEO and former Apple evangelist, Guy Kawasaki is the poster child for the active social media executive. Kawasaki’s perspective comes from years of blogging and using Twitter to further his business initiatives. He sees social media as a means for executives, “To establish yourself as a fascinating subject-matter expert.”

For the executive looking to become a subject matter expert in the eyes of the public, and not just inside the organization, Kawasaki says that, “It’s all about finding good stories, videos, and blog posts about your subject and providing links to these sources.”

“For example, if you own a restaurant, then you could post a link to The Second Annual New York Foodie Photo Scavenger Hunt, Cilantro Haters, It’s Not Your Fault, and Check It Out: Get Your Groceries At The Library. Do this for a few months, and people will recognize you as a food expert. And guess what? They’ll come eat at your restaurant.”

He uses StumbleUpon (), SmartBrief, Alltop (a network he founded), and even outsources part of the story-discovery process to staff members. It’s not a strategy that everyone agrees with, but at the end of the day Kawasaki is able to curate the best stories of interest for his audience, and in so doing, become an important — read: must-follow — source of information.

via mashable.com

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Blogging workflow 2.0

This make more sense?

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Easy Posting for Blogging Experts and First Timers Alike

I´m pleased to share with ThePRLawyer audience another amazing tool for public relations and marketing professionals called posterous.com. This website is designed for just about anyone to post music, videos, pictures and content on the Internet just by sending an email. There are options for first-time bloggers with simple instructions to get started and more advanced options for seasoned blogging experts.

Getting started is easy, sign up by sending an introductory email to posterous@posterous.com with the option to attach files like photos or videos and voilá! The reply is almost instant and you are set up with your very own part of the information superhighway. A variety of platforms (up to 30!) such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and/or Picasa can be integrated with your posterous. Once set up, you control where your information is going to be posted. It´s just that quick and easy.

Duct Tape Marketing´s John Jantsch explains the benefits for users by pointing out that “for many people, particularly those that rely on email as their primary communication and storage tool, this is a great way to create and curate content.” Jantsch also points out that posterous can be used as a hub for distribution with easy options to pick and choose what information to post and which platform it will be sent to.
via theprlawyer.com

Posted via web from Inside Posterous

I’ll be doing a webinar on using Posterous to establish thought leadership tomorrow at noon. It’s not too late to sign up…

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Some Very Interesting Personal Branding Statistics

The anecdotal and analytical data is everywhere. The rise of social media, blogging, search engine optimization, and the way people shop and do research online has changed the fundamentals of the marketplace. The shift has created new opportunities for personal brands with enough hustle to go get what they want. It has also created new lost opportunity costs for those who continue to stick their head in the sand.

via socialmediatoday.com

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Why Bother Blogging At All?

I’m writing this blog post past my deadline. Why am I late? It doesn’t matter. It’s a weekly post. I should be able to get it done far in advance, so as not to worry people like Ben, the poor guy who has to keep me on track and post it.

 But everything in that above paragraph is exactly what we face as business professionals, no matter where we are in the organization. We have too many conflicting priorities. We are busy. So why, then, should we bother blogging?

via newmarketinglabs.com

Click the ‘via’ link for the rest of Chris’ thoughts on blogging…

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17 Easy Steps to Brilliant Blog Posts

You know what I’ve discovered? Most of the people writing about blogging are experts. Funny thing, that.

These expert bloggers have been doing it for a while and they have thousands (if not tens or hundreds of thousands) of subscribers. The best give lots of free stuff away that’s actually worth reading, and we know we’re standing on the shoulders of giants when we follow their advice.

And all that’s good. Don’t get me wrong.

But when I first started blogging about six months ago, I struggled to find a succinct summary all in one place. I spent a full day online giving myself an MBA -– Masters in Blogging (Advanced). I subscribed to this, downloaded that, printed out something else, read everything I could without my eyes becoming permanently crossed.

Because I couldn’t find what I needed — a straightforward checklist-style guideline to getting started as a newbie — I put my own together.

via copyblogger.com

Click the ‘via’ link to read the 17 steps…

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WordPress Founder Talks About the Platform’s Future

via mashable.com

WordPress is my preferred platform for business blogging. What’s yours?

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Everyone’s an expert

This is the start of a new series on how to use “good, fast, and cheap” social media technology to become a thought leader on the internet. The first step to becoming at thought leader is to realize you are an expert — no one gets to this point in their life without being great at something! Your area of expertise my only interest .0000001% of the population but if you multiply that percentage by the current world population of 6,817,500,000 I guarantee you it is interesting to someone else somewhere in world.

If you live in a small town like Algoma, WI with a population of 3,500 it’s quite possible that your area of expertise does not interest anyone else in your town or even your county. However, if you use the “good, fast, and cheap” publishing tools we have at our fingertips today, you could become a globally recognized thought leader. Let’s face it — if it weren’t for the internet you probably wouldn’t know I exist! imho, effective blogging combined with social media usage is the key to finding your audience…

So let me guide you as you take your first steps toward thought leadership on the internet. Your first assignment is to read Seth Godin’s free ebook called ‘Everyone’s an Expert’ [just click this link if you can’t see the book below]. It won’t take long — it’s only 32 pages — but the most important part of becoming a thought leader is actually believing you have thoughts that are worth sharing. May I suggest you click the ‘fullscreen’ button? Read it now. Think about it. Stay tuned for part 2 in the series…

http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=30698025&access_key=key-aogjwa7hc2h4ffszmsh&page=1&viewMode=slideshow

Now, did this help you or just confuse the issue?

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Some thoughts on blogs and enewsletters

A recent seminar participant emailed me today asking my recommendations on enewsletters and I’m responding via blog post as I often do…

The biggest challenge with enewsletters from my perspective is that you have to actually do them. At some point in time you realize it’s time to do the newsletter and if you haven’t been continually gathering content, you slap something together and send it out. It’s a pity, really, because you worked hard to get someone to sign up for the enewsletter, but you’re not making the most of the opportunity.

I used to be a big ConstantContact user and I had so many problems with them that I renamed them ‘ConstantConflict’. Constant battling over spam rates and an interface that was clumsy and difficult to use. Enewsletters became much more doable and sustainable for me when I found a tool that would convert blog posts into enewsletter content automatically via an rss feed [unfortunately or fortunately, ConstantConflict doesn’t offer that feature so it was easy to let them go.]

In the blogging workflow above, all I have to do is worry about creating one perfect post [like this one!]. That post automatically goes to my Facebook Page which in turn posts to Twitter — all automatically!

When it comes to enewsletters, I’m currently using FeedBlitz and it has worked well for me for many years. My newsletter goes out to my mailing list every night at midnight. It captures anything that I posted that day and turns it into newsletter content with a link back to my post. Magic!

I have to admit I’m getting more and more interested in MailChimp [although I have to admit that I HATE THE NAME]. I’ve heard great things about them and one of these weekends when I have some extra time I’m going to do a little experimenting. If I switch, you’ll be the first to know…

Questions? Feedback? You know what to do…

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The Business Blog – Your Online Marketing Toolkit

Blogging is so common these days that it has become a part of daily vocabulary. There are around 2 blogs created every second and an estimated of around 2 million posts are updated each day. Still some small business owners don’t realize what a blog can do for their business. In a more conversational tone, blogging can be the best way to make the world have a glimpse of your business. You can easily gather a bunch of people on one platform from all around the world. Business blogging is picking up speed as the small business owners have realized the importance of it.

via socialmediatoday.com

Follow the link to read why blogging SHOULD be an important part of your internet marketing plan…

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“What the hell am I supposed to write about?”

a tulip arrangement
Image via Wikipedia

I’m a huge fan of blogging for small businesses — after all, it has worked so well for me! This question invariably comes up sooner or later…

“What the hell am I supposed to write about, I own a {insert your small business here}?

Really, who cares about your flower shop, bike shop, auto parts store, or coffee house?

Answer: Your customers certainly care.

We all know by now that consistent small business blogging can drastically improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and overall web presence. Additionally, a small business blog can increase your opportunities to interact with (and highlight) your customers and provide an additional occasion for you to share your expert knowledge.

Unfortunately, nothing stops a would be small business blogger faster than a perceived lack of time, and the frustration that comes with a lack of ideas to blog about.” Source: 9 Tips for Creating More Small Business Blogging Ideas

You’ll have to go to the source for Darren Rowse’s 9 ways. Questions? Feedback? Comment, call or contact me to discuss how this applies to your business…Technorati Tags: ,

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How often should I post?

The icon used by Apple to represent Podcasting.
Image via Wikipedia

Let’s start here…

“Without question, blogging provides an effective way to market your business, be a valuable resource and build your personal brand online. And most folks know that, generally, the more frequently you blog, the higher your traffic. But does that mean you should follow the advice of many to create a new post every single day?

Focusing only on traffic numbers, instead of the concentrating on sharing content and building relationships will send you down the path to burnout. Here at WebWorkerDaily, we have multiple writers contributing to help keep the content fresh. But for one-person blogs, blogging daily works for some and not for others.” Source: Just How Often Should You Blog? – WebWorkerDaily

Go to the source for some good thoughts on ‘how often’ — it’s really good stuff! In the meantime, I’m heading in another direction…

I just closed out my best blogging month ever traffic-wise. What was significant to me was that I did it in a ‘short’ month with no speaking engagements. Usually, when I have a chance to speak, my traffic spikes because all the seminar attendees check out my site — it’s usually good for a couple hundred pageviews. In February, however, I did it all on my own, post by post by post. I’ve already laid out all my tactics and tools in the series “Top 10 Tactics and Tools for Tightening your Tribe” and yes, I used them all this past month. I did make two significant changes, however. #1 I redesigned my site using the ‘Thesis’ theme which promises some kind of magic SEO foo and really seems to have delivered for me. #2 I experimented with spreading my posts out throughout the day. Instead of posting 3-5 posts at 6:00 AM, I spread them out every two hours or so throughout the day. Whether it was one, or the other, or both, my traffic’s going nuts!

HubSpot gives me a grade of 96 on my site, Google tells me I have 6,076 pageviews over the past 30 days and Alexa tells me my site is ranked 484,123 in the US. Not much left to prove from my perspective and the thing that excites me most is that my success is the result of a systematic process I can teach to anyone. I usually benchmark myself against local radio station WTAQ because I like to see how I fare against ‘old’ media in my market. They have an Alexa ranking of 116,615 which is really awesome. It thrills me that I’m actually ranked higher than local social media wunderkind Dana VanDen Heuvel [a good friend to e1evation], although I’m sure that won’t last long. He’s at 520,219…

I’m certain my traffic will drop some during the upcoming month as I’ll be directing a great deal of my creative energy toward three projects I announced in February. They are the Social Media Academy — an online training class on the top tactics and tools for effective social media, The Damn Good Social Media Guide — the accompanying ebook, and last? A weekly podcast. I’m currently looking for beta testers for the Social Media course. If you’d like to save yourself the $499 fee and get all the content in a rough format for free, comment, call or contact me and let me know. As always, thanks for reading…

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