Part 6 of the Performancing Reboot

Sometimes it's as simple as opening up and talking about it.

Other times you have to know when the talking stops and the problem-solving begins.

The Performancing Reboot starting off with a good discussion, and I appreciate everyone's feedback in the comments and via email.

However, you might have noticed that after the 2nd part I didn't talk much about specific implementations and kept the advice generic. There are two reasons for that.

One, I'd rather not disclose everything that we are discussing behind the scenes (you'll see it soon enough). Two, talk is cheap. I'd rather build it and show it instead of go on and on and on about it.

On that note, I'll wrap up the Perf reboot with warm thanks to everyone who reads Performancing, and with one announcement.

We're going to be offering a paid Blog Rebooting service from next week. The idea is to take what we know and talk about here and implement it in real-time so that we can show you what can be done, instead of just talking about it.

There will be limited slots (reboots take time) and ... well, let's save this one for Monday.

For now, feedback on the reboot and ideas for the blog rebooting service would be welcome.

Part 5 of the Performancing Reboot

I'll keep this short as I want this article to be a springboard for ideas.

So what are the 3 keys to blog promotion?

1. Discussionbait - doing / showing / writing about things that evoke discussion and sharing, whether that's in the form of comments, of people emailing your articles to their friends, attention in the form of links or just social media goodness.
2. Manual promotion - search engines, linkbait / social media optimization, advertising on other websites / in newsletters, etc. There's more to it than just links; mindshare and branding play an important role as well.
3. Networking - meeting with readers, fellow bloggers and company representatives in your niche. This, combined with discussionbait, is the single-most effective self-promotion tactic known to man.

So the simple formula now is:

Do something worth talking about, and make sure you have influential friends who can talk about it.

Sometimes the latter is more important than the former - it might suck if you don't have any friends, but hey, that's how the game is played. Don't hate the players if you can't play the game.

Part 4 of the Performancing Reboot

How can my blog make money?

It's a question every blogger asks himself one time or the other. If you're lucky (and smart), you get the answer soon enough.

But even if you *know* how your blog will make money (through AdSense if I can increase my traffic, through TLA if I can increase my PR, through affiliate marketing...maybe I could sell a book?), chances are you'll be stumbling through the implementation.

But the guys Performancing are all about implementation right? Showing you how to monetize your blog hands-on and what not?

So how do WE make money?

There are 3 basic things we can do (or your site can do):

1. Services: This is the first and perhaps the most obvious for me, possibly because of my freelance writing and SEO consulting background. If you're an expert on something, why not make money off it?

   There are a couple of issues with services - how do you take out that much time, how do you price them and most importantly, why are you selling your expertise when you could be using it to make more money on your own projects?

2. Ads: Easiest of them all. We could monetize the archives through AdSense, sell text link ads, paid graphics ads like on SEJ, affiliate promos, etc etc. Personally as a blog owner and reader I don't mind ads but I hate the fact that a) ad placements are so uncreative and b) ad creatives are so ... uncreative. Some more effort, guys.
3. Products: In the long run, this is probably the best solution. Think SEO Book, or heck, SEO Elite. A product - whether it's a book or software - is an excellent branding tool and nice earner if you can establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

We've already started on the ads, we have a product (pMetrics) and we are going to working on all three areas (products, ads, services) in the coming months.

If you've got any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Part 3 of the Performancing Reboot.

It's supposed to be: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That's good, commonsense advice. If something is running and is successful (like a good design - heck, like Perf's current design), then don't rock the boat.

The problem here is that the "don't mess with it" mantra is a risk-averse strategy. It keeps you safe, but there are a lot of times that you DO have to take risks. Performancing wouldn't be here if the founders didn't take a risk.

When you take a risk, there's a chance for success and failure - you can minimize the chance of failure to a certain degree but after that, it's all about timing, luck and a lot of elbow grease.

What does this have to do with design?

The common proposition towards design is that if it's working, you shouldn't change it. Stability is good.

Stability is also positive-spin for being stagnant. Not all change is good, but that does not stop you from going out and seeking change, seeking improvement.

When it comes to blog design (or blogging, or anything you do in life), I think you should be pushing for constant refinement and improvement. Don't rest on your heels and accept the status quo - when you are successful, look at how you can improve and then do so.

It will give you an added advantage over the competition.

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This is part 2 of the Performancing Blog Reboot.

I could, of course, toe the established 'bloggers' line' and say that content IS king.

But it's not. Seriously.

Content is just one part of the puzzle that is successful blogging. The world's best advice on blogging is meaningless if no one's there to read it.

Quite often when we shout from the rooftops - 'Content is KING!' - we forget that content is NOT everything - heck, it's not even the main thing.

So what is 'the main thing'?

You. The blogger himself.

It's the effort the blogger puts in: from writing quality content to networking within his blogging community to meeting people at conferences to marketing his blog to building a community around his blog with his readers to putting in the extra hours managing the blog in the background.

It takes a helluva lot of work, and that's just to be 'acceptably good'.

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