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2 Tips That Guarantee Success In Blogging

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Success in bloggingThe blogosphere is chock full of advice on how to blog, what to blog about, and how to make sure you blog is successful. Heck, I’ve created several of those types of posts here, here, here, and here, just to point out a few.

Everyone will have different reasons for blogging and therefore will have their own ideas of what constitutes a successful blog. After writing on this blog for 6 years and helping other small business owners get their blogs up and running, I believe that following 2 pieces of advice will guarantee that your business will benefit from your blog and you will never run out of things to write about. Those two pieces of advice are:

  1. Make a commitment to continuous learning and improvement
  2. Teach (share) what you learn with others

Commit to continuous learning\improvement

“What if I run out of things to write about?” is a concern I often hear from small business owners. However, I’ve yet to run into anyone who is worried that they will soon run out of new things to learn. Use your blog as an excuse to carve out time to learn something new each and every week.

Share what you learn with others

One of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to someone else. When you know you will teach something, it often makes you ask questions and study things in more depth, increasing your learning. Teaching helps you commit things to your long term memory. It increases your knowledge. Sharing what you learn through your blog can also provide great conversation starters at networking events or meeting with prospects and customers.

Even if no one ever reads your blog (don’t worry, they will) you will greatly benefit from your blog if you follow these two pieces of advice.

Question – How would your business be different if you learn 52 new things this year?

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Categories : Marketing
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Blogging With An Editorial Calendar

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (1)
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

One of the reasons I’m such a big fan of WordPress (it’s one of the main tools we use in delivering our Managed Marketing Services) is because there are so many great tools that and plugins that are developed and shared by members of the WordPress community. Today I want to tell you a little bit about one of those tools – the Editorial Calendar plugin.

Regular readers here know that we Duct Tape Marketing consultants believe in using a calendar to keep your marketing system on track. Mapping out your topics, events, announcements, etc., on a calendar is a great way to make sure you create blog content on a regular and consistent basis. The Editorial Calendar plugin gives you a nice, visual way to do just that right inside your WordPress dashboard.

WordPress already has a handy feature that allows you to write posts today and schedule them to appear on your blog in the future. This is great for people who like to bang out several posts in one sitting and then release them throughout the week (or month). The Editorial Calendar makes this a little bit easier by providing a visual calendar, which makes it more intuitive for those who want to publish a post every Monday and Wednesday for example.

Personally, I like like the drag and drop calendar interface because it allows me to plan my schedule, but then easily rearrange it as needed. For example, I may make a plan to write about certain topics as part of improving my search engine rankings for a particular set of search terms. I can map out my post topics for the coming month that will focus on those terms. Let’s pretend I publish new posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday night, the news is all-a-buzz of a new mega merger that results in the new TwiGoogleBookLink+ social network. Of course, I have to write about that and publish it on Wednesday. I have two posts (the mega merger news + my original post) or I can quickly drag my original Wednesday post to a different day.

If you combine the Editorial Calendar plugin with the ability to leave a post in Draft mode (so the public never sees it) you can come up with creative uses for the calendar beyond just scheduling blog posts.

Here is a short video from the plugin’s author demonstrating the features of the editorial calendar plugin:

The WordPress Editorial Calendar Screen Cast from Zack Grossbart on Vimeo.

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Categories : Marketing Plan, Weblogs
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Are your messages efficiently ineffective?

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Dear Mr. Blogger,

I would like to gain some benefit from the hard work you have put into creating and maintaining your blog but before I can do so, I need you to do a little homework for me. Please send me a list of the topics you like to post on your blog, the number of words you like in a post and any other requirements.

You would never write an e-mail like this, right? I’ve obviously been a little sarcastic above, but you would be surprised how often I receive messages that, when you read between the lines, communicate this message.

I often write (gripe?) on this blog about efficiency vs. effectiveness. In general, I believe we should work on making our own processes efficient but when it comes to working (and communicating) with people, we should focus on effectiveness.

This is the actual text (signature excluded) of the email I received today that prompted this post:

Hello

Do you accept guest post submissions for http://www.rebarbusinessbuilders.com?

If so, what are your topical and other requirements please?

That’s the entire message. Now if I have a list of websites or blogs, I can be highly efficient at sending out requests – I could do thousands a day with the push of a button. Will I find any takers? Maybe. Will they be on high quality, relevant sites? Doubtful.

Now, suppose I used technology to help me narrow down the millions of blogs on the internet to a subset of the ones that are relevant to my audience, the topics I’m interested in, or people who would benefit from what I have to share. Once I had that smaller list, I could take some time to read those blogs, start a conversation with the author and determine if we could help each other meet our goals. Now will I find any takers? I think so. And I think they will be from owners of higher quality, more relevant sites than the ones I would get from the “blast it far and wide” approach.

Yes, being effective takes time. You may be able to free up some time by eliminating or avoiding spending time becoming more efficient at being ineffective.

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Categories : Marketing
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3 Tips That Got Me To 800 Posts

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Friday, May 27th, 2011

This is my 800th post on this blog (I blogged for a little about software development). My first post on this blog back in July of 2006 was a summary of a book that is still one of my favorites, The Game of Work. I’m sure at the time if you had told me I would blather on for 799 more posts I would have doubted it.

I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as a writer. Just like anyone else who blogs, I often struggle to come up with something to write about, so today I thought I would share 3 tips that I have picked up over the years that have helped me.

Set a schedule – I try to write something daily, at the same time every day. That doesn’t mean I post something everyday. Sometimes I am able to write 2 or 3 posts at once. At other times my best typing of the day is when I hit the delete key.

Talk to one person – I’m not sure where I first learned this idea, I think it may have been from the book Accidental Genius, but it has been a tremendous help to me. Rather than thinking you are writing an article, picture yourself having a conversation with one other person (a friend, customer, prospect, etc.) and write that conversation down. Have you ever left a meeting and on the drive home thought of all of the things you should have said? Have that conversation on your blog. I think you will find it helps your writing and it also helps you do a better job the next time you have a similar conversation.

Learn by teaching – I believe I learned this lesson from Stephen Covey, author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – the best way to learn something is to teach it. I like to use this tip along with the idea of talking to one person. If I was going to teach my best client about a new marketing opportunity, how would I do that? What questions would they ask? Why should they care?

If you are new to blogging, or still considering it, I want you to know that if I can do it, so can you. I believe that if you stick with it, you will benefit greatly. I would do it all over again just because of the people I’ve met through my blog who I don’t think I would have met otherwise.

For those of you who have been blogging for a while, what’s you best tip for keeping it going?

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Categories : Marketing
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5 Tips For Breaking Blogger’s Block

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Friday, April 8th, 2011

writersblockDo you struggle with finding things to write about on your blog?. I’ve been posting here since July 2006 and just like everyone else,  I often struggle to find something to write about. Here are the top 5 things that help me when I’m struggling with writing:

Stick to a schedule – I try to write something everyday. I don’t post everyday, but I do make myself write. Sometimes I only come up with a few sentences. Other times it ends up being a rant that serves me better to write and delete than to publish. I write everyday but over the long term I probably post ~3 times per week. The reason I write something everyday is because I know how easy it is for me to fall out of the habit of writing – and how hard it is to start back up again once I do.

Read More – I find that when I’m struggling to find something to write about, it’s usually because I have been doing a lot of talking (and writing) without listening (reading). I find it very helpful to read and to think about how to apply what I am reading to the things my audience care about. One of my favorite books to turn to when I’m feeling blocked is The Daily Drucker – I always feel I learn something or can a new perspective on my business.

Read Different Stuff – I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I’m always reading the same old stuff – the same authors, blogs, topics, etc. When I’m in a writing rut, I’ll usually try to read something other than marketing literature. You may find it helpful to look outside of your general industry for inspiration as well.

Read your own stuff – but with a new eye. If you have been blogging for a while, take a look at some of your older posts. Things are always changing. How have you changed? How as your industry changed? What lessons have you learned that you can share with others.

Listen More – get out and talk to people. Listen to what they have to say. Learn to ask questions rather than make arguments or give canned responses. Really try to look at what you do from the other person’s point of view. I always learn something new and am frequently surprised whenever I do this.

 

Photo credit: dolmansaxlil via Flickr

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Categories : Marketing
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Plugin provides A/B Testing for Post Headlines

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Have you ever been torn between two possible headlines for your blog post and wondered which one has more appeal to readers? If you have a WordPress based blog, there is now a new plugin that makes it incredibly easy to set up two alternative headlines and find out which gets more clicks.

The plugin is called the Headline Split Tester and can be found in the WordPress plugin directory.

This plug-in allows you to enter an alternate headline for your blog post. Here is a screen shot of the fields that are added to the post editor by the plugin:

headlinetester

The Total Impressions line shows you how many times the post has been displayed. The second number (in this case, 250) is the total number of impressions that must headline_settingstake place before the plugin decides which headline “wins”. You can configure the total number of impressions to use in the Settings area of WordPress.

The primary and alternate headlines are then randomly alternated on your website until the total number of headline views (impressions) has been reached. The “winner” is determined by the number of people that have clicked on each headline. Once the winning headline is determined, that headline is shown going forward

Currently, the plugin appears to only work on posts and not pages. I was a little disappointed by this as more and more small businesses are using WordPress to create entire websites and the headline tester could be used for testing landing pages and all sorts of other website pages.

There have been reports of the plugin interfering with the display of social media stats from other plugins, so you may want to take that into consideration.

To be fair, the plugin was built during a competition (Baltimore Hackathon) where participants were challenged to take a project from idea to prototype – so please keep that in mind when reading any criticism about the plugin. I haven’t seen any word yet if the authors plan on continuing to improve the plugin but I hope they do.

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Categories : Marketing, Web/Tech
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Finding Top B2B Blogs

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Last night in our Social Media Pro class, one of the topics we discussed was finding blogs in your specific area of expertise to follow and contributing to the conversation. In addition to using search engines like Google Blog Search, AllTop and Technorati to find blogs, we also discussed the fact that many sites and magazines often put together lists of popular blogs. One such list is the Proteus’ Top B2B Marketing and Sales Blogs (at the bottom of the linked page). If you are a B2B business getting started in blogging, give this list a look to see what others are doing.

What is your favorite source to find new blogs to read?

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Categories : Small Business Marketing, Weblogs
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Blogging lessons after 1,000 posts

By Bill · Comments (3)
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Over on the Planning Startups Stories blog, Tim Berry posted his 1,000th post, a very nice milestone. And Tim writes meaningful, thoughtful posts. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Tim a couple of years ago at one of our Duct Tape Marketing Coaches gatherings (the first one I believe) and he is every bit as nice and genuine in person as he comes across in his blog.

In his 1,000th post, Tim shares 10 blogging lessons he has learned. In typical Tim fashion, he not only shares his wisdom and personal stories but he generously recognizes and gives credit to others from whom he has learned.

All of his lessons are great, but I think my two favorites are:

#3 Short and simple – nuff said

#6 Write Often, and keep writing – For me, Tim’s first two sentences say it all – Find your pace. Honor consistency.

Go read the rest of Tim’s 10 blogging lessons here

p.s. – Thanks Tim for all you’ve shared, I know I’ve learned a ton.

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Categories : Marketing
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80 Blogs for Modern Day Marketing Students

By Bill · Comments (0)
Monday, March 29th, 2010

The folks at Online Colleges have put together their list of 80 Essential Blogs for the Modern-Day Marketing Students. They were kind enough to include this blog on their list which I really appreciate. They also included several blogs from my fellow Duct Tape Marketing coaches.

The list is organized by the following categories:

  1. General
  2. Branding
  3. Customers
  4. Business Building
  5. Advertising
  6. Online Marketing
  7. B2B
  8. Innovation & Automation
  9. Product Development
  10. Career and Human Resources
  11. Sales

Do you have a favorite marketing blog that didn't make the list? Leave a comment and tell me about it.

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Categories : Weblogs
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Comment Spam – You’re wasting your time

By Bill · Comments (4)
Monday, January 11th, 2010

I’ve started and thought better about publishing this post several times because I didn’t want to sound snarky during the holidays. I finally decided to push the button on it because I think that some small business owners may be receiving some bad advice related to leaving comments on blogs in order to improve SEO. Worse yet, some may be paying people to do this for them. So, I’m not ranting, I post because I care ; )

Recently I’ve noticed, both on my blog and some of my customers blogs, a rise in the number of comments left on posts that appear to be made solely for the purpose of providing a link back to the commenter's web site. Of course, I can only assume the intent, but since these comments tend to be very generic, unrelated to the topic of the post, and do nothing to add to the conversation, I think it’s a pretty good guess.

When talking to folks about what makes sense in social media (I include blogging in social media) I always go back to the idea that what we are talking about is conversations. Conversations that take place online. In this context, I think of the type of comments described above as “look at me” comments. It’s as if you are talking to a group of people at your local chamber event and I walked up and interrupted by yelling “hey, look at me'”. People may remember from the event, but I wasn’t networking, was I?

But it’s not only that this is bad form, it’s worse. If this is the only reason that you are leaving comments is to get a link back to your site, then you are wasting your time. If you are paying someone to do this for you, send me the money and I will see that it is properly shredded.

Here’s why. I don’t know what the market share numbers are, but I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say a majority of today’s blogs are built using either WordPress, Typepad, or Blogger. WordPress and Blogger automatically flag the URL in your comment as nofollow. Nofollow tells the search engine spider not to follow the link, so it might as well not be there.

Typepad uses javascript to display your comments and thereby hides them from the search engines. If you view the source of a page where you have left a comment on a Typepad blog, you won’t find your comment or your url in the page html. So again, no Google juice for you.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that people should stop leaving comments on blogs. What I am saying is if you are leaving comments for the sole purpose of creating a link back to your web site, then you are wasting your time.

Being part of the conversation and contributing in a meaningful will get you noticed. Think back again to the local chamber event example. Let’s pretend I was a CPA and I walked up on your group while you were discussing a tax issue. If I listened, asked questions, and pointed out issues that you need to be aware of, you would probably think I “knew my stuff” and may seek me out to help you with future needs. The same is true with online conversations. If I see you contributing to the conversation in a meaningful way, I am likely to want to learn more about you.

So, please, add to the conversation. But don’t leave links just for the sake of leaving links.

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Categories : Small Business Marketing, Weblogs
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