blogging

Mar 02 2012

Why DID We Launch New Frugality?

If you’re new here, great to see you. We’d love to have you join us starting March 6 for our series of Webinars on Marketing and Business. Learn more about FORWARD:MARCH here.

If you haven’t seen Dave’s side project called New Frugality, that’s okay. We – Dave and Indigo21‘s Heather Acton – spent the month of February in beta mode – which is the way people say “soft launch” or “private open” these days.

But we’d certainly like you to come visit – it’s not a “work in progress” anymore.

Why DID We Launch New Frugality?

It might seem counter-intuitive for Dave from Area 224 to work on something so…well, “consumer-y” – but here are a couple reasons.

1. Frugality is More than “Being Cheap”

Everyone can learn a thing or two about how to best spend resources – and, I’ll be honest, I’ve learned more over the past few weeks researching articles and reading up on things people do to be frugal than I would have expected. (A month ago, there’s no way the thought of ditching shampoo would have crossed my mind.)

2. Frugality Can Help You in Business

Yes, Area 224 prides itself in sharing Marketing knowledge – but we have to get better at the whole allocation of resources thing. Who doesn’t?

Plus, if anyone claims to have all the answers, they’re wrong – and I picked up some great tips from Heather in this post on the low-cost small business.

3. And, Let’s Be Honest…New Markets

Frankly, while I’ve spent some time in consumer marketing, I can always learn more about how consumers think. What’s on the minds of shoppers? Who is looking for what, and when?

The insights from this site have already shown us what sorts of things the visitors want to know about, and what things they’re not that interested in. Expect to see more of what you actually like to read.

So, yeah, this is a self-serving blog post inviting you to visit another blog. Here’s a link to New Frugality. Thanks!

Feb 15 2012

Top 5 Things That Top 5 Things Blog Posts Can Teach You About Blogging

Welcome! New here? Say hi, and check out something special and cool we’re doing for the Month of March called “FORWARD:MARCH.” Your business may well thank you…

Remember this logo kerfuffle? Jeremy Lin pinned about it

Jeremy Lin. Pinterest. Infographics. Downton Abbey. Social Media. Business. Life.

It seems as if every stinking topic on the Internet these days is being blogged about in a “Top 5 Things” post. It’s enough to make you run, kicking and screaming, to your nearest book, as a means of escaping the madness.

Can you really learn anything from any of these Top 5 (or any other number) posts? Why yes, yes you can. Sometimes. Kindof. If you pin about it. Here goes:

1. Be prepared to chase car bumpers

Ever wonder what the car that chases the car bumper actually DOES with the car once he catches it? That semi-rhetorical question is meant as a thought-provoker: No dog has ever been shown on YouTube catching a car. But they chase them anyway.

It doesn’t matter if Jeremy Lin is a flash in the pan, or if Pinterest will have its traffic wane – bloggers are a mercurial bunch and will chase whatever topical car bumper they can.

2. Bigger means more, not better

I’ll call two sites on the carpet: Huffington Post and Forbes. Both have had posts in the past week that had this author scratching his head: they seemed to have been thrown together randomly, weren’t very well thought through, and were done entirely for search value.

As if to say that a “Top 5 Things That Jeremy Lin Can Teach You…” post is going to actually teach you something.

(As if to say THIS list will actually teach you something.)

The fear is that blogs are becoming like any other news outlet that has space to fill: if it’s a rainy day, then you run a story on umbrella salesmen if nothing else is going on.

3. We like lists when we can see ourselves in them

Think about it, if you see a list of “Top 5 Bloggers in Arkansas,” you want to see yourself there (if you live in Arkansas). If you don’t live in Arkansas, you may very well want to see yourself making one of those lists for your own state.

Often, especially in “social media,” people don’t become your friend, fan your page, or retweet your blog post because they like you. They do so because they want to BE you. You give off an image of someone who has it in control, or vacations a lot, or has a great MLM business. (If you’re a brand, it’s because of those brand attributes – drinking your beer will make me more attractive, driving your car will make me cooler.)

Chicago Magazine ran a list of the 100 Most Powerful Chicagoans yesterday, and I gravitated toward it – but, knowing I’m not ever going to be in the list, I started scheming about ways to get on similar lists. It happens, it’s human nature.

4. Just because you have a blog doesn’t mean you have something relevant to add to the conversation

Big brands and especially B2B companies are learning this first-hand. Now, everyone and their brother has access to blogging – so, it follows, why shouldn’t everyone blog?

This is my beef with Forbes.com – the addition of a post on Jeremy Lin wasn’t exactly adding to an already noisy conversation. Here’s the link.

5. Everyone is an expert

We saw the first of many “How to Use Pinterest for your Business” blog posts yesterday: and we saw this one by accident, as we haven’t been looking for them. Because we know they’re out there – next to the “How to Market Your Business with Quora” posts.

This expertise on everything that’s everywhere leads us to the next question: if everyone’s an expert, what is anyone actually DOING?

While this blog post might have been somewhat tongue-in-cheek, there are some serious questions we think you should ask yourself:

Why are you blogging? Who are you blogging for? And, most importantly, are you adding anything relevant to the conversation, or just talking?

Jul 26 2011

Revisiting Your Mindmap

What ARE You Doing?

Some days, you’re gonna feel like you are spinning your wheels. Are you a blogger, or a business person? Are you a writer, or a developer? Are you launching things, or taking care of things long since launched?

Yeah, this sounds like us, too.

Here’s one tip: the Mindmap.

Go here: FreeMind Download Page.

Start figuring out what you’ve got to work with. With EVERYTHING.

For us:

What domains do we have, even the dormant ones?
What content have we developed that’s sitting on the shelf?
Where have our leads come from – what lines of business do we potentially have?
What are the relationships that we need to nurture, to grow?

Set aside an hour. Lock the door, turn off the mobile phone, get rid of all distractions. Go to it.

And, if you’ve done one, go back to it at least once a month.

Which is where we’ll be for the next hour.

Jul 21 2011

Blogging Basics – Part Six

We keep going with our Blogging Basics series. This is Part Six – Dave returns to talk to you about success.

6 Ways to Increase Your Blog’s Success Rate

Blogging isn’t as easy as some would like to lead you to believe. It takes time, commitment, a penchant for excellence, and the guts to make it happen. It doesn’t happen overnight and you will likely not be a blogging superstar anytime in the near future. However…

There are a few things that can help you exponentially as a blogger to become the type of blogger that makes some serious noise. I’ve laid them out below, you can choose and implement at your leisure. Whether you’re new or already have an established blog, these practices can help you.

Create a Plan of Attack

Sorry but blogging just for the sake of blogging won’t sustain over the long-term. You’ve got to have a plan with an end goal in mind or you are doomed for failure. You wouldn’t start a business without some sort of loose biz plan at the very least. You wouldn’t start a marketing campaign without a solid strategy in place. Why then would you start blogging without a blogging plan? Outline a goal, create a plan, stay the course.

Create Remarkable Content

Not just good content, not just great content, but remarkable content. Do it as much as you possibly can and strive for excellence every time you hit publish. Write with your readers needs in mind and ask yourself with every piece- “Does this article provide value to my reader”? If your answer is yes, well done. If you aren’t sure, reassess.

Create an Editorial Calendar

More and more blogs are adopting the style of magazines and creating editorial calendars to plan their blog content. It’s much easier to write remarkable stuff when you have a clear picture of what you want to talk about. Creating an editorial calendar can help you map out your content direction for months at a time and help you create content that is fluid and cohesive and builds upon itself with your readers. This in turn keeps ‘em coming back for more. (NOTE: We believe in this wholeheartedly; it’s one of the things we talk about over at 12 Minute Marketing.)

Optimize, Optimize

For search engines that is. Yes the main goal is rockin’ content that delivers on value. But that doesn’t mean neglect basic SEO principles to further grow your blog’s audience. Things like catchy titles, using H1 and H2 tags within your content, anchor linking, internal linking, meta data, keywords in your content, etc. All of these things contribute to great content that the search engines also love. That means more readers for you!

Use Some Personality

No one likes to read dry, boring, interesting as dirt content. I know I don’t, do you? Think of your favorite bloggers. Are they boring in tone and style? Or do they make an impact as you read? Make you laugh? Inspire you? Motivate you? A good blogger will experiment and find their “voice” that resonates the most with their readers, and then write content in a way that engages them thoroughly.

Get a Little Friendly

OK not THAT friendly. But do allow a bit of transparency to shine through on your blog. People want to know who they are reading. They want to connect a face with the words. They want to get to know the person they are taking advice from. So be transparent, create an informative about page, use a nice, friendly picture of yourself easily found on your blog, and let people get to know the real YOU. You readers will thank you!

What has worked for you? What did we miss? Let us know in the comments.

Jul 20 2011

Blogging Basics – Part Five

Back to Rick Strater as we continue our Blogging Basics Series. And, since he’s the Co-Creator of 12 Minute Marketing, good enough time to talk about Promoting Your Blog.

Marketing Your Blog – Promotional Basics

Marketing your blog is actually easier than marketing a static website. This is partly due to the structural nature of the blog, and partly due to the fact that there are more promotional opportunities available than for static websites.

There are many marketing options you can explore – and then you simply decide what works best for you, and stick to it:

Guest Posting

This is the process of placing articles on other blogs with a link back to yours. Probably one of the most effective ways of driving visitors to your site, placing guest posts will allow you to be seen on blogs that are quite busy, allowing you to cash in on their authority that has already been established.

It is a very simple, yet effective technique that can – depending on the blog where you place the post – drive large numbers of visitors to your blog.

You can also find ezines related to your blog’s niche, and offer to write articles for them in return for the exposure. This way you will also be able to cash in on the reputation of the ezine publisher, and the relationship that he or she has with his or her list of subscribers. Same idea, different medium.

RSS Automation

This is where you submit your blog’s RSS feed to your Facebook and Twitter accounts for instant exposure to your followers and friends. This can easily be accomplished by using a service called “Twitterfeed“. Additionally, you can submit it to Feedburner – a service from Google that will re-distribute your blog’s feed to a number of different destinations.

Social Marketing

This is often marketing on forums and social groups – by contributing value to any conversation, it is possible to showcase your expertise to people and by extension lure many of them into exploring your blog. Don’t just leave a comment and move on, but become involved in the conversation. The more you do, the more opportunities you will have of being noticed, and attracting people to your blog.

Blog Commenting

Placing comments on other blogs can be effective – or not – depending on how busy the blog is, and how soon after the actual post you can place your comment. The sooner you comment, the better the chance that it will be seen by a lot of people, some of which will translate into visitors.

Don’t waste your time commenting on blogs that have very little commenting action… you want to see a minimum of at least a couple comments on any given post before adding that blog to your commenting schedule – or you’ll see very little traffic from it.

Warning

Don’t even think about using traffic exchanges. These are frequented by people simply looking for more traffic to their websites, or opportunities to make more money. If your blog targets any of these, create a simple landing page, and funnel them from there. Most people using traffic exchanges do not really want to work hard to view any page – they just want to run up some credits and get some traffic of their own. Really a colossal waste of time in my book!

There are many more options you can explore however – like videos, distributing documents, etc. Depending on the niche of your blog, some techniques will work better than others. You will simply have to experiment and keep the ones that work for you, throw out all the rest.

At the end of the day, it’s all about effort versus reward and taking daily actions to promote your blog.

So how will you market your blog today?