How to get your blog to SHOOT to the top of the charts…
There are two types of bloggers… the first category is comprised of those who want an easy to use method of attracting potential clients or customers. By using the blog to share important information necessary for the potential client/customer to make a decision, business owners can shorten the buying cycle significantly and slant the odds heavily in their favor.
The second type of blogger is the blogger who wants to "monetize" his/her blog. They feature Google Adsense ads and other affiliate links on their blog in a way to earn $$$ for their referrals.
Gary King features an interesting post on his blog about a blog that shot to the top of the Technorati charts, seemingly overnight. How did iLEMONed make such a drastic rise to the top of the Technorati charts? By releasing a Word Press Theme and offering it for free. Gary points out that the blog doesn’t have an overwhelming number of subscribers, yet that free theme (complete with embedded links back to the iLEMONed blog) created a LOT of "authority points" for the up and coming blog.
If you’re a blogger in the first category, then don’t worry about entering the competition for the world’s most popular blog. Use your blog to communicate powerfully with people who are thinking about doing business with you.
If you’re a blogger in the second category, then seriously consider releasing your own free theme. It’s a great way to garner links and exposure for your blog.
Be warned though, creating such inbound links won’t allow you to rise (and stay) in the Technorati top 100. Technorati is on the look out for such "rapid rise" strategies and has been known to discount them. ILEMONed’s stay in the Technorati top 100 will be limited… but on the other hand… Google will probably count most if not all of those inbound links which will do wonders for iLEMONed’s page rank….
In the end…. inbound links are a GREAT asset. Releasing a free Word Press Theme is a GREAT way to generate inbound links for your blog.
Playing tag to promote your blog
Remember playing tag as a kid? Not only was it a fun game to play, but it also provided a great cardio work out. (But when you’re 10, you not only don’t KNOW the word cardio, you don’t care!) Well, playing tag in the blogging community is a great way to provide a serious "linking" workout for your blog.
Ben Yoskovitz starting his own game of tag by putting out a call for bloggers to submit their tips for increasing their productivity in his post The Ultimate Guide to Productivity Group Writing Project.
Ben did a NUMBER of things "right" when he declared this game of tag. First, he created a "logo" for his version of the game.
The image is nice and grabs your attention. Some of the players grabbed the image, some didn’t.
However, the single most BRILLIANT move he made (IMHO) is tht he provides CLEAR STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO "PLAY" THE GAME.
Playing tag is a popular game amongst seasoned bloggers. It acts as an idea starter and many bloggers will jump at the chance to share their views on a cohesive topic. Not only is it a way to attract new readers (and subscribers) to your blog, it’s also a way to build a nice supply of links to your blog. However, not everyone is a "seasoned blogger". If you’re unfamiliar with the whole concept of "blog tag", Ben makes it easy for you to join the game!
In the end, Ben reports that 137 bloggers joined in the game and he now has some great content for an ebook he’s creating from the project.
137 inbound links AND content for an ebook? It seems Ben’s game of tag is the ultimate productivity secret!
How to get out of your own way and get on the road to successful blogging
Chris Garrett is a professional blogger and online media consultant. Believe it or not, even he confesses to being a frequent sufferer of "Analysis Paralysis". In his post, "Defeating Procrastination" he offers a great four step process for recovery:
- What do you absolutely have to do for the project to be a success?
- What tasks can absolutely not be put off while later?
- What are the most painful items to change post launch?
- What could realistically go wrong?
Outstanding advice for anyone embarking upon ANY project.
I suffered from Analysis Paralysis when writing my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results. It took me four times as long as it should have to write the book because I was fussing over making it "perfect."
Now, one could argue that when writing a book, perfection IS a realistic expectation. After all, once the book goes to press, it’s called "the 2nd Edition" when you have to make changes! <grin>
I hired a coach to help me overcome my paralysis issues. He helped me overcome the paralysis by analysis by asking a series of questions. One of the most powerful was this:"Would a releasing a 2nd edition REALLY be that bad?"
Most of his questions lead me to the realization that the only way I’d know what worked and what didn’t in the book was to move forward. Get it written, get it published.
With a blog, it’s so much EASIER and less PERMANENT! While changing the cover of my book requires a lot of time/effort expense, changing the look of my blog is as easy as installing and activating a new theme. If I think better of the example I used in Chapter 5 after publication of my book, then I’m forced to wait until I’ve compiled ALL the changes I want to make and then issue a 2nd edition. On my blog, if I think better of a post, I can easily go in and change it or even delete it.
In other words, the best way to get on the road to successful blogging is to JUST DO IT! Just get started writing.
8 Essential Elements You Need to Begin Blogging Successfully
Sometimes, getting started with blogging can seem overwhelming and confusing. Just like any new skill, you need to allow yourself time to get acclimated to the world of blogging.
Here are the ESSENTIAL elements you need to start blogging. This list is a list of the essential elements you need to get started. Elements 1-4 are the ones that are extremely difficult to "fix" later on down the road. Elements 5-8 are nice for a good start, but not impossible to fix later on.
- Hosting
Hosting is where your blog lives. If your blog were a mobile home or trailer, then your hosting is the lot where that trailer will live.Before we moved to Florida, my family made quite a few trips to our future home in our motorhome. As my husband was scouting for RV parks, he found a GREAT difference in the amenities offered by various parks. Some were quite elegant, while others were positively grotesque in their accomodations. Unfortunately, you weren’t able to tell the bad ones from the good ones without a physical visit to the park. (Just because a park was expensive, didn’t mean it was nice!)
Unfortunately, when it comes to finding hosting for your blog, you’ll find a similar phenomenon. You need to realize that not all web hosts are equal. The old reliable host you’ve used for years to host your HTML web site may not handle the trials and tribulations of a busy (or even not so busy) blog.
I have used two hosts which have performed MAGNIFICENTLY for my blogging exploits: Host Gator and Hostican.
When you go with a self-hosted blog, you’re going to have install your software in addition to taking responsibility for updating and maintaining your server. If your response to this is "well, DUH" then go check out the two hosting references above.
If your response is along the lines of "ACK! I don’t want to do that!!" Then sign up for Acumen Web Services Easy Web Site service.
- Blog software
The Blog Software Platform you choose is probably even more important than your choice of hosts. There are many different blogging software programs out there, but in reality there are really only two choices: Typepad and Word Press. There are literally dozens of other blog software options, but these two are the most popular.Far and away, most professional bloggers use the Word Press platform. Word Press is also the most popular blogging software on the web. When choosing your platform, well.. it’s not a time for originality. This is not the time to go "against" the crowd. Word Press blogs play very nicely together, which is important when you’re building links and building an audience.
Word Press also has a VERY active development community. Every day, hundreds of people smarter than me are writing new plug ins to increase the functionality of Word Press. Plug ins are mini programs that expand Word Press’ abilities and the active community of plug in writers is probably the best reason to choose Word Press as your blogging software of choice.
- Domain name
Choosing a great domain name is another hard to change element of your blog.
A good domain name will describe your business and what it does, is easy to remember and is easy to spell. Try to avoid hyphens if possible and if you can get a dot com, then bravo for you!
- Permalink structure
Another great element of Word Press is the ability to structure the URL of the blog. For example, you’ll see that I’m using the "Date and name based" method of naming my pages. That means posts to this blog take this format: http://ezmarketingtool.com/2009/01/01/name-of-post/That is decidedly more "search engine friendly" than say http://ezmarketingtool.com/2009/01/01/p10
- Contact form
You need to have a way to people to comunicate with you…. and posting your email address for all to see and harvest is a REALLY bad idea. So you need to set up a contact form to protect your precious email address from the evil spambots.
- Pleasing Design
One of the GREAT things about Word Press is that changing the look of your blog is as easy as changing clothes. I often refer to the Word Press Themes from Template Monster as "dresses" because they are priced in the "off the rack" range. Of course, if your blog really takes off, there’s always the opportunity to go couture in the future.
- A Good Site Map Generator
Google relies upon an XML site map to see what is "inside" of your web site. There are several site map generators for Word Press which, when installed and activated, will create a new site map for your blog with each and every post.Google reads this site map as a way to navigate your blog. Web sites without site maps don’t get indexed unless they’re very, very popular.
- A Newsletter Delivery Vehicle
The final element of a successful blog launch, surprise surprise, a newsletter delivery system. See, blogs are an "active" medium. When people come and visit your blog, they are being PROACTIVE. However, once they’ve been to your blog, how do you make sure they come back? Well, you can rely upon them being part of the 2% of web users who use RSS to subscribe to a blog’s feed OR you can launch your own newsletter. That way, invitations to return to your blog can be delivered straight to their email box.
At this point, it’s just a matter of sharing your thoughts with the world.
Now, if all of the "set up issues" have your head spinning….relax. Acumen Web Services can take care of all of this for you so that all you have to do is provide the content.
5 Easy Ways To Create ORIGINAL Content for Your Blog
Since it’s launch in January 2007, Acumen Web Services (and it’s joint venture sites such as Easy Coaching Websites and Easy Chiropractic Web Sites) have launched over 30 blogs. In the past 6 months though, a serious issue has arisen… many of those blogs still sit empty and without content. I wouldn’t be concerned if I hadn’t gotten an email from one of those blog owners who wrote, "I just searched Google for my blog’s name and my blog didn’t come up!" This blog site owner still had as her only post the "welcome to Word Press" post.
Meanwhile, I got another email from a DELIGHTED client who was THRILLED to discover that only two months after her blog’s launch, she was coming up as the first result in Google for her name. She, on the other hand, had only made four posts to her blog but that was enough to get her "about Sara" page listed with Google. Despite the fact that she has a very common name (http://www.sarahealy.com), she still shot to the top of the Google SERPS for her name. Now, if a potential client hears her speak and wants to find her blog, they can easily do so.
When we launch an Acumen Web Services blog, one of the features we include is the Google Site Map plugin. What this wonderful little bit of extra programming does for your word press blog is to create an XML site map of your blog so Google can easily and efficiently index the content (a.k.a.BLOG POSTS) of your site. However, in order for that to happen, you first must begin POSTING CONTENT to your site.
So, with this in mind, here are 5 easy ways to get started creating ORIGINAL content for your blog.
| Original Blog Content Creation Tip #1:
Use outgoing email messages to create content for your blog. |
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| Whether it’s outgoing email to clients or outgoing emails to friends and family, sort through your "sent" box and look for instructional emails you may have sent in the past 30, 60 or even 90 days.
For example, by looking at your outgoing emails you’ll probably see several topics that come up frequently as you communicate with clients. Start addressing those issues on your blog. One client of mine is using this technique with great success. By using outgoing emails to create content, Breakthrough Performance Group has built great blog content… the kind of content that has increase RFP (request for proposals) significantly since launching the blog. It’s a VERY easy way to share your knowledge which is essential for an authority style blog. |
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| Original Blog Content Creation Tip #2:
Use incoming email messages to create content for your blog. |
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| Incoming emails can be just as For example, if you have a blog web site dealing with Wellness Issues, check your incoming emails for various "health" tips that are passed along from people you know.
When you use incoming emails, remember that you will have to rewrite the content into your own words. However, if someone sends you an email about a subject you know alot about, you can easily rewrite the incoming email into your own words and post it to your blog. |
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| Original Blog Content Creation Tip #3:
Use your own ebook or book content for your blog. |
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| If you’ve created an ebook, then you have a great resource for content for your blog. Just take individual paragraphs from your ebook and post them to your blog. Surprisingly, this strategy has been used with GREAT success in actually INCREASING EBOOK SALES! It turns out people WILL pay to have all your blog posting nicely contained in a single easy to use PDF.
Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki are just two authors who post snippets from their traditionally published books on the web to successfully help them promote sales of their books. |
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| Original Blog Content Creation Tip #4:
Use other blogs as starting points. |
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| Don’t copy and paste other people’s blog posts (that is WRONG) but you can use another blogger’s post as a starting point for your own.Begin by acknowledging the other person’s blog…. this builds a link and possibly a relationship…. and then, offer your own point of view. If you agree or disagree doesn’t really matter… what is important is that you offer YOUR take on the post. | |
| Original Blog Content Creation Tip #5:
Pay attention to articles in the newspaper/magazines/television. |
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| When Oprah speaks, America listens. So if you happen to see in the television listings that Oprah is doing a show on the benefits of acupuncture and YOU just happen to be an acupuncturist with a blog, well….set your VCR (or DVR) to record the show. Watch the show and then start blogging about it. (Providing a link to the show’s web site is another way to build credibility.)
The same holds true of newspaper articles and magazine articles. If someone is writing about YOUR area of expertise, offer your unique take on the topic and start blogging about it. |
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These are 5 easy ways to create ORIGINAL content for your blog. Once you start populating your blog with your own original content, then you can begin bringing in guest authors to help keep the ball rolling.
Using Digg to promote your blog
Your blog is a great marketing tool, but getting people to visit it can be a challenge.
One way to get massive traffic to your blog is to get your blog posts "dug" by Digg. Digg is a social networking site where readers nominate their favorite posts and stories.
Andy Beard has a great how to on using Digg to promote your blog called How To Find The Digg Friends You Never Knew You Had.
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