The Success Center

The Darkside of Social Networking

This is a guest post by Tai Goodwin of taigoodwin.com;

Social networking sites have dramatically influenced how we connect with the world. People are connecting and forming virtual friendships that can sometimes be closer and more personal than those we meet face to face. Some use the social networking sites to stay in touch with friends and family, while others use them to network with business contacts.

Successful business partnerships have been created and prospered with partners in separate countries or even continents working together – All done without either party ever meeting face-to-face. The internet and social networking have given new life to home-based businesses by leveling the playing field.

While all this newfound friendship and business alliances is positive and rapidly becoming a social force to reckon with, it does have its dangerous, dark side that can sink many businesses and their owners. What is easy to forget is that your online credibility, both personally and professionally, can be affected by anything you post or publish online. Even foolish pranks have the ability to chase potential customers and joint ventures away from you.

Anything that gets published or posted on a social networking site is publicly available and almost impossible to remove later. Some Internet marketers create two separate accounts on the social sites, thinking that they can keep their business reputation separate from the social hijinks often found on the strictly social sites. That just makes both of your personalities available for public scrutiny.

Potential business partners you might be considering approaching for a joint venture or to get them to promote you and your products will not even think about it if you’ve left a trail of vulgarity or bad errors in judgment behind you. Even if someone else is acting like a jerk, don’t respond. It takes two to keep an argument going. If you just have to respond, keep it polite and drop it.

Blogs have become the internet darlings for product promotion, growing lists and speaking your mind. They also can create a professional, public profile that will hurt you later. Keep your business blogs focused on specifically selected content that will promote your business. If you share links, make sure that the link does not lead to anything negative or pornographic. Check it out before trading links!

Never forget that you are essentially dealing with strangers online, even if you have corresponded on forums or with frequent emails. When you do link to another business or personal blog, check them out frequently to protect your reputation. Blogs change their focus all the time, often at the whim of the blogger.

Once anything gets online about you or is written by you, Google will eventually find it, and all of it will become a matter of public record that will still exist years later. To avoid problems, keep anything you write online, or for publication online, strictly professional, including your screen names. And don’t share photos that could embarrass you professionally – even if you don’t post them yourself – an acquaintance without the same safeguards could inadvertently put you in an awkward situation.

Remember the Golden Rule: Never write anything you wouldn’t write to your grandmother. Rest assured that she will be checking up on you – she probably has her own blog anyway.

Editor’s Notes; At the end of the day, when it comes to being successful online, all you have is your credibility and the trust others have placed in you. Playing on the dark side of the social networking fence puts both of those assets at risk. Here are a few other tips that should keep you on the straight and narrow;

• It’s ok to use Facebook personally (as long as you keep to Tai’s tips above), but for business use, start a Facebook page.
• If you want to show a different side of your personality than what’s on display (professionally) throughout the net, start a tumblr blog. They’re easy to start, maintain, and you can let it be known that its personal. Here’s mine for an example.
• If you need to send personal messages to people on any social networking site, send a private message instead of public.
• Unless it’s a part of your brand (and you can talk about it intelligently) stay away from discussions about religion, politics, or relationships. It’s an easy way to slip into the dark side…
• For more help, check out my entrepreneur’s guide on awesome social media etiquette.

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

Tai Goodwin

About the Author Tai Goodwin is a career and business coach who helps service-based entrepreneurs launch theirbusiness while working full-time. The founder of the Brilliant Network Mastermind, Tai is the co-hostof Small Biz Chat on Twitter and Your Brilliant Success on BlogTalk Radio. She offers business start-upplanning at www.careermakeovercoach.com.

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Welcome to “Weekend Reading!” At the end of every week I’ll post links to interesting articles, videos, and other content from around the web.

Why?

Because, smart entrepreneurs are constantly learning, reading, and working . . . even when they’re not at work! So, dig through some of the resources below and post your own in the comments below.

Enjoy the articles!

• 9 of the Best Probloggers of 2010
• Want Business Opportunities to Find You? Follow These 4 Steps on LinkedIn
• How To Live Like a Millionaire
• GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE
• How to Get 80+ Comments on Your Next Blog Post
• Understand the Value of Your Time
• Top 10 Things That All Customers Want
• God Doesn’t Use Cookie Cutters
• This Will Change Everything: Google Translate Android App Translates Real-Time Speech
• IBM’s Watson Supercomputer Wins Practice Jeopardy Round

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

About The Author

Rod Kirby

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Is Your Blog Mobile?

Note: Some of the ideas in this post originate from my newsletter, “4 Ways to Extend Your Brand – the Web 3.0 Way.” It includes some of the tools mentioned plus a few others that you might find useful.

According to Mashable, “Morgan Stanley’s [data] analysts believe that, based on the current rate of change and adoption, the mobile web will be bigger than desktop Internet use by 2015.”

Is your blog ready for the mobile revolution?

If not, now is the time to ensure visitors can get your content from their mobile devices. Below, I’ve outlined a few tools, plugins, and services that can help you in “mobilizing” your blog or website.

WordPress Blogs

WordPress consistently impresses me with the sheer amount of functionality you can unlock in your blog through plugins. There are numerous plugins that can easily create a mobile version of your blog, but I want to share with you three of my favorites.

WordPress Mobile Edition – The WordPress Mobile Edition plugin is my favorite for turning your blog into a sleek and sexy mobile version. Even with a blog as complex as mine it breaks it down into posts, pages, and renders it all beautifully.

WPTouch – This plugin makes your blog function like a mobile app more so than just a mobile version. WPtouch features ajax article loading and effects that gives it that native app feeling.

PadPressed (Aff link) – Make it easy for iPad owners to navigate your blog with Padpressed. This premium plugin generates an iPad friendly version of your WordPress blog with swipe gestures, touch navigation, and more. Best of all it’s super easy to install with no coding required. Simply upload the plugin to your WordPress plugin directory, activate it, tweak a few settings, and you’re good to go!

Watch this video to see just how awesome your site could look on an iPad.

Make Other Blogs and Websites Mobile

I know that I tout WordPress a lot, but I do understand that it’s not the only blogging platform out there. Many of you use Blogger, Typad, and a myriad of other blogging platforms. Here are a few tools that should help you take your blog mobile.

• Mobify – Mobify is a web service that optimizes websites and blogs for mobile access. You’ll need a little working knowledge of CSS to get your mobile site looking just the way you want it, but at least the basic version is free. You also get a custom mobile domain name and can pay for more advance features as your needs grow.
• Mofuse – Similar to Mobify, this service offers iPhone app creation as well as mobile versions of your site. They also make it easy to design your mobile site with a WYSIWYG editor – no coding necessary.
• IMT – If your blog uses the movable type platform then there’s good news for you! This plugin will create a mobile version of your site for iPhone and Android visitors! Best of all, it’s free.

Other Tips

• Submit Your Blog to the Amazon Kindle Store – Did you know you could submit your blog into Amazon’s Kindle store? You sure can! Simply add your RSS feed to Amazon’s web service, make your blog free or charge a fee, preview it, and upload it to the Kindle store!
• Create a Mobile App with iSites – Why not skip making a mobile version of your blog and just create an app for a specific platform? iSites is an online app builder for iPhone and Android devices that takes the technicality out of building apps. There are fees associated with the service, but the value of it can’t be beat.
• Create a Mobile Shortcut for Blackberry Devices with BBLauncher – Ever download an app from Blackberry App World only to find out it directs you to a website instead? This is exactly what this service does. My advice; use any of the tools mentioned in this article to generate a mobile version of your blog and use this service to direct your readers to it.

We live in a predominantly mobile society and as time goes on, your readers will expect you to keep up with the times. I’ve got goals to create mobile apps for The Success Center by the end of the year so stay tuned. Did I miss anything? What tools, tips, or services do YOU use to make your blog or website mobile? Sound off in the comments below.

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

About The Author

Rod Kirby

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Here’s a great video made my Mr.ProBlogger himself, Darren Rowse explaining the concept of the blog being your “home base” and having social media “outposts” that generate traffic. It’s a great illustration and I think it’s fitting with our exploration of social media this week. Once you watch the video, share your thoughts and strategy for promoting your blog with social media in the comments below. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

About The Author

Rod Kirby

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Need to Get More Done in Your Day?

Once upon a time I had plenty of time to update my blog 5 days a week, interview guests for my podcast twice a month, shoot an episode for my video podcast once a month, work a full-time job as a flight attendant, and live a [somewhat] regular life. Now-a-days, I can barely spend time with myself or afford to keep in touch with close friends.

My Secret Weapon to Being an Over-achiever

People asked me all the time, “Rod, where do you find the time to do all that you do?!” My reply would be, “you just gotta make time and go with what you’re passionate about.” However, I had a secret weapon that allowed me to eat, sleep, and work every waking moment on my business. . . I was single.

No kids, no girlfriend, no wife, no family to tend to . . . totally free to give all my time to being an entrepreneur.

Now?

Not so much.

A Snap Shot of the Real World

Presently, I’m in a relationship with someone pretty awesome, I’m flying more than I’ve ever been, and I still have a blog/business to run. When I’m with my girlfriend I don’t handle business, get online, or anything. I give her my undivided attention and at work I haven’t had much downtime. Lately, I feel as if I’ve been neglecting my entrepreneurial duties.

I asked God, “How do I find the right balance of time to spend in my relationship, with family, friends, and business?” I’m going to share exactly what He told me in Wednesday’s post, but for now, here are a few things that work for me and will help you maximize your time.

Become an Early Riser

I didn’t become an early bird until I became a flight attendant. When I’m off I’m usually up by 8 in the morning and earlier than that when I’m on duty. Working in the morning time is a great strategy to deploy since you don’t have as many distractions and you’ll have the rest of the day to relax. Just get ready for early bedtimes!

Become a Night Owl

Some people prefer the night-time to get things done. You’re more awake, alert, and active at night than early risers. The still, peace, and quiet of the night makes it ideal for people who stay up late and enjoy burning the midnight oil. The only down thing is, if you’re not used to staying up late, prepare to get really sleepy really fast!

Unplug from the Matrix

When I had the time I would spend hours on end online checking news, reading blogs, on Facebook, Twitter, etc. It’s still important that you engage wherever your market is online, however, it’s not important to do it at all times. Instead, choose strategic times to work offline and engage online. If you know you’ll be distracted at night with Twitter and Facebook then get off early and get some work done. Be smart and play your cards right.

Check Email Once a Day

I used to be email crazy, checking it more than a few times a day. And then things got really “convenient” with my Blackberry delivering emails to my phone. However, stopping to check it from the phone or even a computer only wastes time you could be using for something else. Instead, check all your mail at the beginning or end of your day. Sure, they’ll be waiting for you in a big stinking pile, but you’ll be focused and ready for it.

Note: Gmail is my webmail client of choice. I love the ability to “star” messages which saves important emails for later. You can do the same by setting up special filters and folders for important emails. Sort them in the morning time and respond to them at night.

Get ahead of Your Work Days

I would consider this to be a power tip so pay attention! I’ve started to write blog posts a day or two before my due dates [I used to write each on the day it was meant to be published]. Not only does this save time, but it frees time up for me to focus on other things. Beyond time, it’s a great feeling to know that you accomplished something off your to-do list a day early.

Work out of the Office

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners work out of a home office. Unfortunately, many times you can’t get any work done because of family needs, lack of quiet, or other unique home distractions. Pack up the office [aka, your laptop] and head to your nearest coffee shop, library, or bookstore. You’ll find the atmosphere more tranquil, peaceful, and enables you to concentrate more.

No matter where you are in your life you’ll have to find that perfect balance between business and other obligations. I hope I’ve shared a few useful tips to make it a little bit easier for you. Of course, I don’t have all the answers. How do you maximize your time and get more done when working on your business? Share your best tips, practices, and advice in the comments below.

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

About The Author

Rod Kirby

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Working Hard on the Weekend? . . . Not!

Welcome to weekend update, a new posting strategy to update you on this week’s top articles from The Success Center and around the web. I read a lot of blogs and share a lot of things I find on Twitter and Facebook. If you want more than I list here you can find other great articles on my Google Reader Shared page.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed so you can stay up-to-date on the latest from The Success Center. Don’t know what RSS is? Watch this video for a quick explanation in plain English.

Most Commented Post at The Success Center

• Why Business is Not Bad…But Good – 9 comments

My Favorite Post This Week at The Success Center

• 8 Big Things That Lead To Success
  

Great Reads Around the Web

• The Power of Uniqueness [19 Starting Points for Being a Unique Blogger]

• 5 Ways to Live Your Best Life with Social Media (This is my guest post for Annie Sorensen’s blog)

• What’s Your Value Proposition? (Another guest post from me for Jtrigsby’s blog.)

• How to Make Extra Money Online (you won’t find blogging or typical “internet marketing” schemes here!)

• 10 Tips to Getting More Retweets

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

About The Author

Rod Kirby

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Do you want to grow your blog's community?

Last Monday I shared with you 3 things you’ve got to do in order to grow your blog’s community. You all liked that post so much that I want to share 2 more easy ways you can grow your blog’s community.

If you follow A-list bloggers like Chris Brogan or Darren Rowse do you know what they do that makes them so successful? The fact of the matter is, they’ve already built successful blogs by doing just a few of the things I suggested in last Monday’s post. However, one thing they both do that some bloggers don’t is, (drum roll please) they get off their blogs and interact with the community at large.

That means you can find them attending events locally, nationally, or internationally connecting with their followers and spreading their brands beyond their blogs. Chris constantly travels to conferences speaking and promoting his book. And, you can typically find Darren in the states at major conferences like, SXSW.

If you want to grow a blog that transcends the medium and produce something that’ll really impact people then you’ve got to go beyond your digital borders. Here are a few ideas on how;

Interact with your Local Community

It all starts in your own backyard. Do you know any bloggers in your town, city, or state? Are you connecting with them on Twitter and Facebook? You don’t have to go hang out with them at the roller-rink on Saturdays, but you should at least have an idea of who (within your niche) is around you.

What about readers of your blog that are in your community, do you know who they are? You won’t truly build a community for your blog until you connect with the ones in your own backyard.

I’ve attended several networking events here in Memphis where I met people who were avid readers of this blog. It’s a great feeling to match profile pictures with actual faces and to see how excited someone is to connect with you.

There are a ton of great ways to find people around you using social tools like Twitter and Facebook. Mashable has a great list of ways to find Twitter users in your town that you should check out. For local events and the latest happenings you may try When.com which lists events scheduled for your city.

No matter how you do it, step away from your blog and make connections outside of it. This will not only drive local traffic to your site but it’ll grow your authority as well.

Organize Events

If you were looking for an event to attend but couldn’t find something up your alley, why not organize your own? By creating some way for people to connect you’ll stand out as a leader and not just a blogger. People want to belong to something that’s why they join the bowling league, the poker club, and other organizations. Why not give them something to be a part of that will help make connections and grow their network?

I used to deliver monthly business seminars at a local library and then moved it to a church. The seminars proved to be an effective way to grow my marketing list, authority, and web traffic. You don’t have to go that far, but a simple tweet-up, social media conference, or even a meeting at your local library would go a long way to getting you the same results.

The great thing about organizing events is they don’t require much capital just a little bit of creativity and a lot of elbow grease. Larger events call for big venues and scheduled entertainment, but yours can be a meet-up at a coffee shop just for discussing blogging techniques. Don’t be afraid to kick the box to the curb and take things in a different direction. You’ll only grow from it . . . so what do you have to lose?

What’s Next?

Put these suggestions to action and take your blog to the next level in 2010. I’m making plans to officially announce the start of a networking group very soon. I don’t have all the details to share with you just yet, but rest assured that this is going to be awesome for you and me. To get the first bit of news on the group sign-up for my Success Tips newsletter and stay up-to-date.

Sign up for my “Success Tips!” Newsletter

Final Thoughts

Building a blog community isn’t rock science and certainly doesn’t take a college degree. All that’s required is to get uncomfortable, kick the box to the curb, and build real connections with your readers. Seriously, is that so hard? What other ways can you build your blog’s community? Do you get out to local events and conferences to meet other bloggers? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

About The Author

Rod Kirby

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Want to Grow Your Blog's Community?

Do you want to have people talking about your blog and sharing it with their friends? Do you want to grow a group of fans that are on fire for what you post and ready to share it at will? Well, strap in kids, because we’re going for a ride!

In this guide I’ll show you how to grow your blog’s community no matter how much traffic you get or don’t get with plenty of resources to help you tackle each step.

There are 3 things you’ve got to do in order to grow your blog’s community; get serious about your blog, optimize your blog, and connect with people outside of your blog.

So, let’s get started!

Get Serious About Your Blog

Remember, even if you’ve got a brick-and-mortar store, your blog becomes your digital storefront open to the public 24/7. It can be your most powerful marketing, engagement, and sales tool if you want it to be . . . but you have to take it seriously.

People want to be a part of something great, something that creates value, and enhances their lives. They can’t get that if your blog hasn’t been updated in weeks, is sorely lacking in the “looks” department, or is just plain boring. Here are a few tips that’ll help you get a bit serious about your blogging;

• Get on a schedule and blog consistently – I’ll be preaching this message till I die; consistency breeds community. The more you stay on schedule the easier it is for people to anticipate your posts, show up when you’re ready for them to engage with it, and share it with their friends. Here’s a 17 minute video that’ll show you How to Create an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog. This will help you get on a schedule and plan out your blog posts.
• Produce quality posts not a high quantity of posts – If you consistently put out crap then you’re not going to grow your community. No body wants to read your random thoughts, incomplete articles, or poorly thought-out blog topics. Take your time and write something you want the entire world to read. Something worthy of a reader’s time and attention.
• Respond to as many comments as possible – If you already built a small community on your blog and your posts are being commented on and shared . . . engage with your community! Don’t think that just because you’ve built it, they came, and commented means you can go home. Get in your own comments section and respond.
• Invest in a great theme – Think of your blog’s theme as what you would wear to a professional networking event. Are you going to wear those sloppy clothes you used to wear back in high school or the professional and clean threads you got for Christmas? People love to visit a great looking blog. It’s a fact. I’ve visited blogs that didn’t get a single read from me because I left after punishing my eyes with their design. A great theme gives the eyes room to play and to interact with what’s on the screen. If you’re going to get serious about growing your blog’s community then you need to invest in a theme that looks great and can grow with it.Shameless Promotion (affiliate link to follow): I invested in a WooThemes template that’s been really good at capturing my reader attention’s. What’s great about WooThemes is there commitment to quality and building each theme from the ground up. Each theme also comes with different color templates and are highly customizable. Give the boys at WooThemes a try for yourself!

Optimize Your Blog for Community Growth

I use a self-hosted copy of WordPress for my blog. I love the fact that with plug-ins you can turn your simple blog into whatever kind of website you want. (Case in point here are 11 Non-Traditional Uses of WordPress) Here is a list of plug-ins you can use to grow your blog’s community;

• Disqus – This is what I use for my commenting system here at The Success Center. What I love about the plug-in is #1 – It makes commenting super easy and the ability to comment using your Facebook, Twitter, or even Yahoo account. #2 – There’s a great tool within the Disqus software that lets you display your top commenters, posts, and recent comments. This is great for highlighting your community and showing a little love for what they contribute on your blog. Speaking of love .  . .
• Comment Luv – This is a great plug-in that let’s people share their latest blog post when they comment on your site. Another fantastic way to grow loyalty and really get people in the spirit of commenting on your blog. Note: I don’t run this plug-in because it isn’t compatible with Disqus, but if I could I would!
• Comment Relish – Remember, ever new comment your blog receives is an opportunity to grow your community. Why not send your new commenters an email and thank them for commenting? This is exactly what this great plug-in does.
• Google Friend Connect – Let people officially “join” your community and show them off with this free widget from Google. Not only does it allow you to track the blogs your friends (or visitors) join but allows you to send newsletters amongst a slew of other features it has.
• BBPress – Remember joining a forum back in the early 2000′s? Surprisingly, they’re still a popular way to connect with like-minded individuals, share ideas, and information. If you don’t mind moderating, kicking spammers to the curve, and keeping it alive then this may be a good choice for your blog’s community. BBPress is forum software made by the same great folks who created WordPress. Give it a try.

Connect with People Outside of Your Blog

An empire doesn’t grow within it’s own borders . . . it goes outside of it’s four walls and spreads dynamically. You have to do the same if you want to grow a community that is active and valuable to your blog. Here are a few suggestions on how to do just that;

• Twitter – I love Twitter for the connections it creates and the conversations that are started there. I use it to run polls and then use the answers in blog posts. This is a great way to get your social network community to become a part of your blogging community. Try using Twitter PollDaddy for your next poll and see how easy it is!
• Facebook – If you’re not deepening relationships on Facebook then you’re sorely missing the point of maximizing it for your business. One way to do this is to connect your blog with your Facebook account by using the Networked Blogs app. Once you’ve got your account set-up people will receive your latest posts, be able to comment, and share it with their Facebook friends.Another great tool for growing your community outside of your blog is to start a Facebook fan page. Consider this as a “mini-site” for your brand or blog. You can stuff them full of exclusive content like videos, notes, or photos just for your fans. My fan page isn’t maximized like I would like it to be, but someone who does this extremely well is my friend, Naomi Trower. She creates videos and other exclusive content just for her fans. Follow her lead!
• Youtube – Everyone is watching videos on Youtube, of course, by now you know that. Try creating video countdowns of your top articles for the week, bi-weekly, or monthly and sharing it their. This is a great way to get people involved in your blog before they even visit it!

Conclusion

Remember, the three keys to growing you blog’s community are to get serious about your blog, optimize your blog, and connect with people outside of your blog. If you follow the information here you should be well on your way to attracting new followers, visitors, and readers of your blog.

Best of all, you will have done it by not spending a dime . . . just a little bit of your time. What would you add to this guide? How are you cultivating relationships and community on your blog? Share your best advice, tips, and resources in the comments below.

For more advice on being successful with your blog check out, “5 Keys to Blogging Success”

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

About The Author

Rod Kirby

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Archive “Super Star” Spotlight: I thought it would be a good idea to start spotlighting a couple of posts that are buried in the archives. Some of you are fairly new to this site and others are lifelong followers (you are, aren’t you?). No matter what category you fall into, I’m sure there’s at least 1 article here you haven’t read. Enjoy one of the most popular articles here at The Success Center!

8 Magazine Strategies that add Value to Your Blog

If you’ve been keeping up with the news then you know that newspaper and magazine readership is in a bit of a decline. Most of that stems from new media technologies such as blogs, social networks, and all things “world wide web.” The emergence of these technologies has given everyday moms, dads, grandmas, and uncle Joes the ability to funnel news, information, and resources more efficiently than their parent media brethren. But don’t count out newspapers or magazines just yet. There are still a lot of things they do, that we as bloggers, can learn and apply to our own projects.

This weekend I took a trip to the bookstore to do a little research. My goal was to find out what techniques big brand magazines use to advertise, engage with their readers, and add value to their content. Here are the results of my research and a few tips on maximizing them for your blog;

1. Offer a free download with your newsletter subscription – Source: Success Magazine
   Strategy: First and foremost let me say that if you’re not currently offering a newsletter of any kind on your blog or website then you’re sorely missing out on a huge opportunity to connect intimately with your visitors/readers/audience. Your newsletter can be delivered via email daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or whatever floats your boat directly to your reader’s in boxes. Success Magazine offers a single MP3 audio download of a motivational speech. How long would it take for you to record one of your best articles and offer it as a free download for your newsletter?
   Why is it important?: For starters it’s a great incentive for people to sign-up. Secondly, who doesn’t like getting free stuff?
2. Develop an “Advisors Board” – Source: Success Magazine
   Strategy: An Advisors Board is a list of big name columnist that contribute to the magazine on a monthly basis. For Success Magazine that included Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, and others. For you it could be other bloggers that you connect with that have similar goals and want to reach the same target audience. The key is to offer whomever is going to contribute to your blog more than just “an opportunity” to write for you. Dedicate a page for them which will display their profile and links to connect with them. Developing an Advisors Board is really kind of like partnering. It should be a win-win situation for everyone involved.
   Why is it important?: It adds value to your audience because they get to read articles from a different point of view or with a different style. It changes things up and plus, you get to take a little break from posting.
   Note: Guest posting is a common practice but it’s typically a one-time deal. An Advisors Board would be based on a continual and consistent posting basis.
3. Create an “Editor’s Note” – Source: Every major magazine
   Strategy: Whenever you open up a magazine you’ll see a letter from the editor. It’s typically a note that outlines the month’s issue and what to look for inside. But I would challenge you to take it a step further by doing it with video. A short clip introducing readers to your site, defining your blogging goals, or just saying hello to your audience.
   Why is it important?: It’s a great way to connect with your readers “from the jump.” It also reaffirms your personal brand by showcasing your character and not just your image (People get to see who you really are).
4. Do Book Reviews – Source: Success from Home Magazine
   Strategy: A lot of magazines offer short reviews of books they recommend along with web links to get more information on the title. However, as a blogger, you’re at an advantage because of the web. Instead of writing a review, do a video review. One blogger that does this well is Chris Brogan. Not only does he do quick, laid back, reviews, but he adds his Amazon affiliate link for the products below the video.
   Why is it important?: It’s another great way to share who you are and what you’re about. It’s another form of connection between you and your readers. Some of you already recommend books to your friends, why not do it publicly?
   Tip: Don’t just do a review a book to make a quick buck with affiliate links. Recommend something you have read or would read yourself.
5. Write “List” style articles – Source: Black Enterprise
   Strategy: I love the way Black Enterprise creates huge lists of just about anything you can think of when it comes to business. “100 Most Powerful Executives, 100 Best Service Companies, etc.”
   Why is it important?: The list article is easy to read, adds a ton of value to any blog, and never gets old. Sure, there’s a lot of research involved on the front end, but it’s smooth sailing once you start putting it together.
6. Create a Resources Page – Source: Entrepreneur Magazine
   Strategy: This one is a good one. Share information, tools, links, and other info that helps your blogging community.
   Why is it important?: It’s a sign that you’re a part of the community too and that you don’t have all the answers. Your visitors will appreciate, care, and respect you more for sharing.
7. “Ask the Expert” (Reader Q&A) – Source: Leadership Magazine
   Strategy: This was a great technique that utilized an expert in a specific field to answer reader questions in the magazine. The expert can be yourself or you can reach out to someone else (there’s the advisors board idea). Either way it goes don’t just write useful articles, share tips, and resources with your readers . . . become a problem solver. Darren Rowse from Problogger uses his twitter account to connect with his readers and answers their questions on his blog. Great use of social networking!
   Why is it important?: It’ll increase your expert status a hundred fold, encourage community participation, and adds value to your reader’s lives and not just the blog.
8. Make Subscribing Easy! – Source: All Major Magazines
   Strategy: In every magazine that I flipped through at least 5 or more “subscription” cards fell out around me. The pages were literally littered with them! It dawned on me that they made subscribing to the magazine easy. As a blogger you have to make sure that you’re giving readers and first time visitors the opportunity to stay informed and connected with your site. Do it by offering subscription links after your posts, in your sidebar, on your about page, and even on your contact page. Make it easy.
   Why is it important?: It’s a no brainer! The more subscribers you have the greater impact your content is making in the online community.

And there you have it. I hope this list was useful to you as it has been for me. Looking over it again, it’s kind of dawned on me that I have a lot of work to do. The best way to maximize this list is to print it out and check things off as you implement them on your blog. I made it a personal goal to tackle at least half of the items on the list this week. You should see my results over the next couple of days. This list is, of course, not everything you can learn from a magazine so please feel free to add to it in the comments below. What are some of your favorite magazines and how do they engage, connect, or add value to their readers?

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About The Author

Rod Kirby

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Note: This weekend I presented at Social Camp Memphis on Treating Your Blog Like a Magazine and Taking it to the Next Level. I wanted to share with everyone the source article for that presentation. I think it fits into the exploring of social media we’ve been doing as of late. Also, you can check out my presentation slides on Slideshare.net.

This was a guest post I made at Darren Rowse’s Problogger site. There were some pretty interesting comments left there so stop by and take a look at what some of your peers thought about the ideas presented.

3 Magazine Advertising Strategies for Blogging Success

Magazines have been a medium to contend with for years because of their influence over readers, large subscription bases, and their power to generate big advertising dollars. By maximizing these 3 advertising strategies you’ll begin the profitable transformation of weblog into web property;

Seek Featured Advertisers
Strategy: Think of it as a “one advertiser to rule them all” type of deal. A featured advertiser should be one main company or brand that can get their message across effectively through every opportunity available on your site. This includes; a written featured article about the company, its products and services, a 1-on-1 interview to coincide with the article, a product or service review, and banner ads across high traffic areas of your site. Essentially you’ll come out from behind the desk as a blogger and into the arena of journalism and entrepreneurship. It’ll take some work, a little networking, and some sales tactics, but once you land that first account it’s all money from there.

Why is it a win for you? – You’re able to charge a premium advertising fee depending on your site’s traffic, your online social status, and how much targeted content you can generate for the advertiser.

Why is it a win for the advertiser? – It’s simple, less competition for your readers’ attention on your site = more traffic and profitability for them.

Note: Create different advertising packages with different price points. Depending on what the advertiser spends will depend on how much, “content coverage,” he or she receives. (Don’t go overboard with the pricing, if you’re a new blogger then you probably haven’t built up a large enough audience to entice big dollars from a major advertiser. Be strategic!)

Tools: When you write the featured article, use tools such as twitter search (real-time conversations) and yelp.com (community reviews) to find out what others are saying (only the good comments) about your featured advertiser. Also, try out Blogtalkradio.com (internet radio show hosting) for conducting your interviews, and possibly shooting video for the product or service review. The more dynamic the content the more engaged your readers will be which = an epic win for your advertiser.

Get Sponsors for Featured Content
Strategy: When I say featured content I don’t mean your life tips  or opinion piece typed articles. The post has have a certain level of marketability. Something that will resonate with readers and be a perfect fit for a sponsor. For example; “Black Enterprise’s Top 100 Entrepreneurs under 40 Sponsored by Bank of America.” Or, “50 Greatest Gadgets of all time Sponsored by Microsoft.” Get it? This featured content becomes less of an article and more of a multimedia presentation as you should incorporate video, audio, and written pieces to drive your main points of view home. It’s a more targeted piece of content than that of the first tip. Where as the latter is kind of spread around with a focus on the advertiser, here, the advertiser focuses on a particular topic.

Why is it a win for you? – When you have a Featured advertiser as mentioned above, they will take up all the attention of your readers. However, having sponsors for your featured content easily allows you to sign as many advertisers as you would like since they’ll be attached to specific pieces of content on your blog. Say it with me together kids, “M-O-N-E-Y!”

Why is it a win for the advertiser/sponsor? – The first thing sponsoring featured content does is; it gets the advertiser closer to their target market. Trust me; Pepsi’s not going to sponsor a list of the “50 Greatest Kool-Aid Flavors of All Time.” The second thing it does is; it positions the advertiser’s brand as a participant in their market. It shows market engagement and a form of connection to who they want to buy their products or services.

Note: Brainstorm and come up with lists or featured stories that would resonate within your blog community. Select a few companies (online or off) who target the same kind of market, put together sponsorship proposals, and be persistent in pursing them. It might also be a good idea to partner with different bloggers and come together for a huge collaborative feature and seek sponsors together. The greater the “market basket” for a potential sponsor, the easier it is to seal the deal for the sponsor seeker.

Create a Classified Ads Section
Strategy: Every magazine I flipped through had a classifieds section toward the back of their books. It listed every company under the sun that offered just about every kind of opportunity, service, or product. No doubt, this was the last line of offense for generating revenue for a magazine. Why can’t it work for bloggers as well if it’s done in a tasteful way?

Note: Keep your ads specific towards a certain market and you’ll attract more relevant advertisers. That means if you’re running a Christian blog then there shouldn’t be any Viagra ads on your site. Consider having a “free” classifieds section and run ad sense or other affiliate ads of your own for “traffic generating money.” Also, as mentioned above, you might pool your resources with other bloggers and split the costs, workload, and revenue of this marketing technique.

These are just a few examples that magazines give us as bloggers on effective advertising for our blogs. While ad sense, affiliate links, and text links are great ways to generate income, these techniques will take your blog to new heights. I would love to hear your feedback on this topic in the comments below.

Disclaimer: We will never share your email address with anyone, period.

About The Author

Rod Kirby

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