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Tapping industry players for relevant, timely content

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Improving blog traffic means hooking visitors to your blog and giving them something that will make them go back again and again. One way to do this is to providing relevant, up to date information on topics related to the general theme of your blog.

Blogs are about information; it is one of its key elements. Providing good, relevant information takes work and dedication on your part. For example, providing relevant and up to date information means knowing where to go online to get the latest news and information. To do this, a good idea will be to identify the major players in the field you are writing about and follow their own feeds. [Read more…] about Tapping industry players for relevant, timely content

Killer content is crucial to blogging traffic

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Operating a blog is not as easy as some people think. The common belief is that a blog’s success will just happen just as long as you chug along writing articles. But that is not the case; building traffic to your blog takes a lot of work. And traffic is VERY IMPORTANT. It can make or break your blog.

One of the best ways of create blog traffic is taking care of content obviously. You should ensure that the content you push from your blog is exciting and will entice your readers to actually read it. You should take the time to think up of interesting topics for your blog and then do enough research so that when you write your article what you have is an article with a lot of value added to it. [Read more…] about Killer content is crucial to blogging traffic

BlogBurst Joins Demand Media Blog Distribution Network

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BlogBurst was once known as the free and ad-supported blog syndication service that could help bloggers get their content in front of wider audiences.  I’m a proponent of syndication with some caveats that I explain later in this post.  Since Demand Media announced at Blog World last week that BlogBurst was relaunching as part of the Demand Media Blog Distribution Network, I thought revisiting the topic of syndication would be a good idea.

Let’s take a step back and look at who Demand Media is.  If you’re not involved in the world of freelance writing, then you may have never heard of Demand Media before.  It’s actually a company that draws a lot of negative attention from the freelance writing community with many writers viewing Demand Media as nothing more than a dreaded content mill.  I actually disagree with that because in at least some of its published content production process, Demand Media does try to hire people who can actually write coherently.  Furthermore, Demand Media does pay freelance writers more than the typical content mill.

So what does this reputation mean for bloggers who have or are considering syndicating their content through BlogBurst — now Demand Media Blog Distribution Network?

The simple answer is two-fold — quality and association, which are two of the caveats I mentioned about blog syndication earlier.  Let’s take a closer look at each.

When you consider syndicating your blog content through another online publisher, you have to think about the quality of the sites where your content will be published as well as the type of content that will be published around your own blog content on those other sites.  Unlike licensed content syndication, free and ad-supported syndication models, like the syndication opportunities available through BlogBurst (now Demand Media Blog Distribution Network), publish your content on the free-Web.  That means it appears on multiple websites, which might steal a bit of page views from your own blog, but are more likely to drive more traffic to your blog through increased exposure.

However, you need to understand where your content will be viewed as part of the syndication agreement.  For example, Demand Media Blog Distribution Network publishes content on a variety of sites, including its own properties such as eHow.com and LiveStrong.com.  You need to determine if these sites are ones that will help or hurt your reputation and your blog’s reputation.  Also, you need to consider whether syndicating your content and allowing Demand Media Blog Distribution Network to earn money from it is worth it to you or if it would be better for you to take the time to publish your content on some of those other sites (such as eHow.com) without a middle-man.

Again, I’m an advocate of blog syndication for boosting exposure and growing an audience, but you need to research syndication opportunities and ensure you’re choosing the ones that will truly help you reach your long-term blogging goals rather than working against those goals.  Is syndication through Demand Media Blog Distribution Network right for everyone?  No.  Is it right for some bloggers?  Yes.  It’s up to you to evaluate the pros and cons and determine if this type of syndication will help or hurt you and your blog.

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Has Digg Been Buried?

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As Facebook and Twitter continue to grow in popularity, social bookmarking sites like Digg have seen their own traffic and usage wane.  The question of late has been whether or not a site like Digg is still relevant.  It’s not a secret that for years Digg has been the subject of controversy as users complained a small group was controlling submission popularity.  Regardless of how that battle went down, one thing is for certain — Digg is not the powerhouse it once was.

In response to steadily decreasing traffic, Digg launched Digg v4, a newer, sleaker, cooler version of the once groundbreaking social bookmarking site.  A new CEO, Matt Williams, was brought on board, and there was hope for Digg’s future.  Then Digg v4 launched and Digg’s problems exploded.  Suffice it to say, the new version of Digg had performance problems, missing pieces (for example, users’ submission histories disappeared), and a renaming of critical elements (for example, submissions that users could previously ‘bury’ if they didn’t like that content, they could now only ‘hide’).  Confusion and complaints from the Digg user community were loud, and Digg has been trying to pick up the pieces for the past month and a half since Digg v4 debuted.

Yesterday, Digg CEO Matt Williams published his response to the Digg v4 controversy on the Digg blog.  He wrote:

“As many of you know, the launch of Digg v4 didn’t go smoothly, and we’re deeply sorry that we disappointed our Digg community in the process. Thank you for your patience and your extremely candid feedback — we hear you loud and clear. … Digg has always been a place where users help one another find out what’s interesting, fun, and important. Unfortunately, our re-launch managed to get in the way of that happening. I don’t need to tell you that without the Digg community, we’re just another news web site. So we’re working hard to quickly improve the Digg experience. Our top priority is to make Digg as good as it used to be. Then we plan to make it even better, through innovations in both Top News and My News.”

It’s interesting that Williams would refer to Digg as being “just another news site” without the participation of the Digg community.  He’s absolutely right about that.  Many social bookmarking sites have become little more than aggregators.  Now, the question is whether or not Digg truly will come out of this controversy as a better business, brand and site.  In other words, will Digg still be relevant a year from now or has Digg been buried?

What do you think?  Leave a comment and weigh in on the debate.

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Blogging Strategically Not Tactically And 5 Steps to Do It

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If your goals for your blog include growing your audience, developing an online platform to establish yourself as an expert in your field, or making money, then you need to start thinking strategically and not tactically or those goals will always remain just out of reach.

There is a reason why companies create marketing plans — because it takes a broader vision than the day-to-day activities to meet your bigger goals.  You need your own strategic vision and plan for your blog, too.  After all, if your blogging goals include one of those listed in the preceding paragraph, your blog is akin to a mini-business.  It’s time to start thinking like a business owner.

How do you blog strategically rather than tactically?  The first step is to understand what strategy is as opposed to tactics when it comes to marketing.

Strategy is the long term plan or direction you develop for your blog that clearly defines your end goals and what it will take for you to get there.

Tactics are the specific actions you will take to drive your blog along the path of that strategy and reach your goals.

Most marketing plans include both short-term and long-term goals, and therefore, some of the tactics you implement to drive your blog forward in the direction you want it to go will be tactics that elicit immediate responses while others will support your long-term goals and ensure you’re heading in the right direction to reach those goals.

For example, tactics might include holding a blog contest to boost short-term visitors.  However, blog contests can also support your long-term blogging goals because some of those visitors who come to your blog to enter a contest might like what they see in your content and come back again.  Alternately, participating in conversations on Twitter related to your blog’s topic is primarily a marketing tactic intended to indirectly boost traffic to your blog as a result of the relationships you build.  In other words, Twitter activities overall are a strategic, long-term marketing initiative, but specific tweets can be short-term tactics.  You’re unlikely to see big changes in your blog’s traffic overnight when you tweet, but in time, your blog traffic will grow organically from those efforts.

So how do you start blogging strategically rather than tactically?  Following are five basic steps to get you thinking and acting in the right direction:

1. Set your long-term blogging goals.

Believe it or not, many bloggers have not put their long term blogging goals down in writing.  Quantify those goals.  For example, in 2 years you might have a goal to have a specific number of page views on your blog per month.  Now you have something to work toward and you can implement tactics, measure your success, and make changes to those tactics to reach that goal.  Be specific and realistic when you set your goals.

2. Think long-term with every blog post you publish.

Of course there will be days when you won’t be able to publish an amazing blog post.  However, you do need to think before you write each day.  Ask yourself how the post you’re about to write will fit into your long-term blogging strategy.

3. Promote each blog post accordingly to position yourself to meet your goals.

Create an integrated marketing plan where all of your efforts to promote your blog work together to reach your long-term blogging goals.  When you publish a post, think about how you can promote that post to move you closer to reaching your goals.  Is this post worthy of social bookmarking?  Can I start a separate conversation about the post on Facebook?  Should I share this post in a LinkedIn group?  Find the best fit and pursue it.

4. Stick to the 80-20 rule of marketing.

The 80-20 rule of marketing states that 80% of your business comes from just 20% of your customers.  You can switch that up and make it apply to blog promotion by ensuring at least 80% of your online participation across the social web is not self-promotional and no more than 20% is self-promotional.  By focusing on building relationships, you’ll achieve greater success in the long-term.  That’s because your online connections will help you share your content, talk about your blog, and more.  The stronger those relationships become and the more relationships you build with online influencers, the more long-term blogging success you’ll achieve.  That organic, indirect growth in traffic to your blog is worth far more strategically than short-term traffic bursts.

5. Don’t let the day-to-day grind deter you from your long-term blogging goals and strategy.

I think all bloggers are guilty of getting caught up in the daily grind, comments from particularly vociferous visitors who might not have the same vision for your blog or outlook on your blog’s topic as you do, and pressure to think and write a certain way.  If you see yourself falling into that trap, take a few days off to regroup.  Pull out your written long-term blog goals that you created in #1 above, and remind yourself why you started your blog in the first place and what you want to achieve from all of your time and efforts.  Tweaking your goals and strategy is perfectly fine when warranted.  However, always think strategically and long-term rather than being swayed by short-term occurrences or bumps in the road.

So what are you waiting for?  Go write down your blogging goals and start putting together your strategy to get there!

How to Get Massive Traffic to Your Blog Contests for Free

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Blog contests are a great way to drive short-term traffic to your blog, and hopefully, if your prize is relevant to your blog topic, some of those new visitors who come to enter the contest will poke around your blog, enjoy what they see, and return!  Even better — they might tell their friends about your blog, link to your content from their own blogs and social web profiles, and more.

In other words, a blog contest can kick-off the compounding effect of blogging and help your blog grow in the short term and long term.

How do you get massive traffic to visit your blog and enter your blog contest?  Fortunately, it’s very easy and only takes a few minutes thanks to several websites that allow you to promote your blog contests for free!

Following are five websites where you can promote your blog contests for free.  All you have to do is register for each site and enter the information for your contest to get it in front of huge audiences of people who are actively searching for online contests to enter.  I have used all of these sites to successfully drive traffic to blog contests except SweepsAdvantage.com, so I can attest to the fact that they work!

1. Online-Sweepstakes.com

This is the best site I’ve used to drive traffic to blog contests.  Just create an account, login, and click on the Sweepstakes Directory tab in the top navigation bar and then the Add-a-Sweep link in the sub-navigation bar that appears.  Complete the provided form with accurate information, and your contest will be added to the directory.

2. ContestBlogger.com

This is another site that successfully drives traffic to your blog contests.  It’s actually a forum that you can register for and then post a new message in the forum to promote your contest.

3. About.com Blogging Forum

The About.com Blogging site has a forum that includes a folder dedicated to blog contests where you can register for a free account and post your blog contests to the forum at anytime.

4. About.com Sweepstakes Forum

The About.com Sweepstakes site also has a forum that includes a folder where you can register for a free account and add your blog contest to the list of contests and sweepstakes.

5. SweepsAdvantage.com

To publish a contest on the Sweepstakes Advantage site, register for a new account and click on the Add a Listing link in the left sidebar.

Blog Contest Promotion Quick Tip: To boost traffic to your contest, make sure the heading/title of your contest sounds really great when you submit it, because that might be the only information people see before they click through to enter your contest.  Make it impossible for them to resist by enticing them with a great title.

And don’t forget to write clear rules in your blog contest post.!

Where do you promote your blog contests to drive traffic to them?  Leave a comment and share your tips!

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How the Compounding Effect of Blogging Gives Your Blog a Huge Boost

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The compounding effect of blogging is a topic I often discuss in my books, to my clients, and at speaking engagements, but in order to understand the compounding effect of blogging, you have to understand the importance of search engines in sending visitors to your blog.

Consider this…

Where do you go to find information about just about anything when you need it? Do you check the Yellow Pages? Nope. Do you go to the library and look at an encyclopedia?  Not anymore.  Today, most people have access to the Internet and they turn to Google or their favorite search engine (with Google being #1) to find the information they need on just about any subject.

Example — Imagine you have a website and you want to increase traffic to it.  Here’s how the compounding effect of blogging works:

  1. You have a website made up of 20 pages. That’s 20 entry points to your website for Google to find, index, and deliver in relevant keyword searches.
  2. You add a blog to your website, and you publish a blog post everyday for a year. Now you have 365+20=385 entry points to your website for Google to find, index, and deliver in relevant keyword searches.
  3. You publish posts on your blog and those posts offer interesting, useful, helpful or entertaining content that your audience finds value in. In other words, those posts are shareworthy.
  4. People find your blog content and realize it’s interesting and shareworthy. They share it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. with links back to your blog. They write about it on their own blogs with links back to your blog. Now, the number of entry points to your website (via your blog) has increased exponentially. Your Google search traffic increases as all of these additional incoming links to your blog and website boost your Google search rankings, and traffic to your site from referrers across the web increases, too!
  5. Your website went from a static destination with 20 standard entry points to an interactive, engaging site with hundreds or thousands (or more) of entry points and an increase in traffic from search engines and referrers! You can’t buy that kind of exposure and growth potential!

The compounding effect of blogging really is that simple. It’s about creating shareworthy content and entry points, and it’s a method of building organic search traffic that has a good chance of turning into a long-term, sustainable traffic-stream and help you build a loyal audience.

Bottom-line: any blogger can benefit from the compounding effect of blogging, but it starts with creating shareworthy content.

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