photo credit: 顔なし

Since my last post about how I add followers on Twitter, I’ve received some questions about the metrics I use to choose who to follow back (or not). Then I posted a tweet that generated a much bigger response than I expected:

Can’t believe how many “Internet Marketing experts” follow me who obviously have no concept of Twitter etiquette. Not so impressive.

Based on the flurry of “are you talking about me?!?” messages I got, I clarified:

Specifically talking about the (self-proclaimed!) experts who are following 2k, followed by 15, and only tweet links to their own sites.

Still, it made me realize that many new Twitterers don’t really know what the culture is like, and they’re trying to get started without adequate information and wondering if they’re inadvertently offending people. (Although, honestly, if you’re worried about offending people, you’re already better off than the people who just charge ahead regardless!)

Some people will tell you that you can do anything you want on Twitter, because people have a choice about following you. That’s true, but presumably you’re not hanging out Twitter just to yell into a void; most people hope to get something from it (whether that’s friends, interesting conversation, website traffic, or leads). There are things you can do (or not do) that make your time on Twitter more effective.

Of course, these guidelines are my opinions only; hopefully others will weigh in with comments or posts of their own.

Figure out who you want to connect with and why

What are your goals for using Twitter? You might want to get new clients, or you might just want to find funny sites and videos to amuse yourself. Many people use Twitter with the hope of getting more blog readers (probably most of this blog’s readers fall in that category!). Those are just a couple of examples.

Think about the kind of people who can help you move towards your goals. If you are looking for more readers or clients, then you probably want to connect with people who are similar to your existing readers or clients—people who need to know something you are an expert in.

If you’re looking for entertainment, you’ll want people who are on top of the latest viral videos and send things before everyone’s seen them.

Once you know what you want out of Twitter, you’ll be much better prepared to make connections and participate intelligently.

Post regularly on topics of interest to your followers

Okay, so you might not have anyone following you yet. Pretend you do, and that they’re the people you really want to connect with. Then write your tweets for their benefit. What kinds of things do they want to hear about?

This doesn’t mean you can’t ever post updates on frivolous, personal stuff—that’s par for the course on Twitter. But keep your tweets somewhat balanced, and try to make your frivolous updates as interesting as you can.

This brings up the point of sending out updates about your blog posts: do it in moderation. Start by being realistic. Not every post you write is that great—so save the impact for the ones that really deserve attention. By picking and choosing, you’re showing respect for your followers and highlighting your best work.

Again, balance is key. Figure a minimum of maybe five to ten “normal” tweets per link to your own work. These other tweets can point to other people’s work that is interesting, or quick comments on something, anything useful to your followers, but remember that people will follow you when they get some benefit from doing so.

When you send out an update about your blog post, try and make it interesting and help people understand why they should care. If your post answers a question, use that question as an intro. This is always more helpful than just saying “My latest blog post: ” and throwing in the link. (And yes, this usually means sending these updates manually, rather than using an auto-tweet service. If you’re being selective, you’ll be sending them manually anyway.)

Start slowly

The temptation is always there to follow everyone and anyone in hopes that they’ll follow you back. This generally doesn’t work.

The main reason is what we call “social proof”: if you follow thousands of people and have very few people following you, you look incredibly boring. People subconsciously think, “Wow, nobody cares what this person is saying,” and write you off.

And that’s the most charitable version. If your tweets look entirely self-promotional, or you don’t have any updates, they’ll assume you’re a spammer and that you are only following people to accost them.

Let’s face it: we’re all approaching Twitter with a measure of self-interest. If we didn’t hope to get something out of it, it wouldn’t be worth spending time there. So from a purely self-interest perspective, realize that you’ll be much more effective at reaching whatever Twitter goals you may have if you are a little bit strategic about the process.

The best approach is to follow a few people, keep posting great updates, and be patient. When a few people follow you, follow a few more people. It’s easiest to start with those you already know or have something in common with (like location—I’ll follow almost anyone from my town).

When you’re expanding the people you follow, look at your profile page critically. Will the people you want to connect with see an obvious “hook” in your recent tweets? Will they immediately understand why they should follow you? If not, post something better.

Some of you more analytical types are probably wondering: exactly how many people should I follow? I’d say start with 30 or fewer, and then keep it to a ratio of 2:1 (following:followers), erring on the side of following fewer people. Obviously that’s arbitrary and just my opinion, but that’s what I’d do if it was me.

Engage with others

This is the whole point. If you’re not interacting with others, you might as well be muttering to yourself.

Pay attention to the people you are following who particularly interest you (if you want technical tips on how to do this, let me know and I’ll post something). When they send out a good tweet, use the @reply feature and tell them so.

Ask questions, and listen to the answers. Thank people who help you out or provide you with good ideas. Pass on particularly useful tweets that your followers might find helpful.

If you forget about trying to follow a kajillion people and instead focus your time on helping the people who already follow you, you’ll find you get more followers without much effort at all.

What’s the best way to make it so that my initial post, “Stir The Pot,” stays on the first page of my blog? How did you make it so that your findableblogs.com first page stays the same…like a website? I thought that posts automatically get archived as you continue to update and write new posts. I’d like what I said in the beginning to stay on there for at least awhile, but I want to add new material as well.

First, a confession: the only reason the front page of this blog hasn’t changed for a while (prior to this post and a change I’ll talk about in a moment) is that I haven’t written anything for a while! Between client work and an ebook I’m about to release, I’ve been a complete slacker where this blog is concerned.

If you’d rather not do the slacker thing (like Reonne, you have posts to write!), you have three options.

Use a Page as the home page

That probably sounds cryptic if you don’t understand the difference between Posts and Pages in WordPress, but a Page is designed to stick around without changing, while Posts tend to appear and disappear from the homepage, archives, and search results relative to how many other Posts you have.

You create a Page in the same way you do a Post, but instead of going to “Write” → “Post” (or just “Write”, since “Post” is the default sub-tab), you go to “Write” → “Page”. If you want the whole front page to stay essentially the same for a while, this is a good way to do it; just create the page here.

Once you’ve created your page, go to “Settings” → “Reading” (“Options” → “Reading” in pre-2.5 versions of WordPress) and switch the “Front page displays” setting to a “static page” of your choice. For instance, if I was going to change the front page of this blog to my “About” Page, I’d set it like so:

In fact, this is exactly what I’m going to do when I finish coding the new design for this site. In that case, I’ll create a special “Home” Page that will have the front page content, and that will be the first thing new visitors see.

The potential downside to this approach? Your front page is the Page you set up, not a list of entries. That might suit you just fine (like I said, that’s exactly what I’m planning on), but if you want your front page to automatically update with new posts, keep reading.

Use the WordPress time stamp magic

With WordPress, you can easily change the dates on your posts. The newest post shows up at the top of your front page (unless you’re using a very unusual theme), so all you have to do is make sure that the post you want at the top is always dated after the other posts.

This can be a bit of a pain, because you’ll need to change the date on the “top” post every time you create another post, or back-date your new posts to make them “older”, which is just confusing (if I was choosing between the two, I’d change the date on the “top” post each time).

Clearly, this isn’t as passive as the first method, but if you’re only talking about a few weeks or a few posts, it’s not that bad and accomplishes the goal nicely.

Use the sidebar

If the content you want to feature is really a kind of introduction, it might make sense to put it in the sidebar using a Widget. That way, it’s always readily available in a place where people look when they’re searching for context, but it’s not in the way of your content and doesn’t require any particular maintenance effort on your part.

All things being equal, this is probably the route I’d take in most cases, if it suits the content.

Advanced options

You can actually combine some of these ideas if you’re comfortable editing your theme. For instance, if you know your way around The Loop, you could show the content of a Page first thing, directly followed by the regular Posts. You could also just manually edit your theme’s home.php or index.php file to show a certain message before the regular content.

However, neither of these options are as easy or convenient as the previous three “out-of-the-box” options, so I tend to avoid them for short-term changes.

The idea is to walk viewers through the process of essentially recreating our Speedy Start blog package.  Frankly, many people prefer that we take care of it, but if you’re a DIY type, or just want to know how it all works, or have tons of time and no money, the WordPress Quick Start videos videos are just what you need.

Right now there are only a few videos, but enough to help you sign up for hosting, install WordPress, and get started blogging.  Future videos will cover how to install plugins and themes.  I’m also interested in answering your questions, so if there’s something you’d like to see a video discuss, let me know through the comments (here or there).

1. Clarify the business goals for your blog
2. Commit to blogging goals for long-term success
3. Why create an “ideal reader”?
4. How to identify your ideal reader

Beyond goals about what you want to get out of blogging, it’s a good idea to set goals for what you’re going to put into your blog.

You can’t force readers to come, or to subscribe, or to buy your product, or to call you for an interview. Those are areas you can influence but ultimately, they’re out of your control.

What you can control, though, are the actions you take to create an online environment that increases the probability of success and influences your readers, potential and existing clients, and the media.

The big benefit your “blogging input goals” will provide is a structure for the consistent small actions that will build a solid base for long-term success. Blogging is like any other type of marketing: if you put serious effort into it only when you’re not getting results, but abandon it when you get busy, you’ll create a feast-or-famine situation, a roller coaster of unpredictable results.

Steady actions result in steady growth, and that’s the goal—steady doesn’t have to mean “plodding.” Everything is accelerated online. You can see results quickly and experience continued success by having a plan and following it.

So what kind of goals should you set? Consider things like:

• How many posts you will write each week
• What day(s) you will write them
• How many blogs you will read (more is not always better!)
• What other kinds of topical information you will consume (magazines, books, etc.) and how often
• How many comments you will leave on other blogs
• How much time you will spend per week on other kinds of promotion (be specific!)

You’ll probably develop a better idea of what these tasks will require when you read my book, but I encourage you to write down your initial goals.

Start on the conservative side; you can always increase later if you want, and it’s much better to consistently meet less-ambitious goals than to be overwhelmed and do nothing. Your goals need to be sustainable to make any difference.

My other advice for input goals: raise your goal only after a couple weeks of exceeding the goal you already have. It’s very common for new bloggers to get caught up in the excitement of blogging and be very prolific—the normal result of thinking about something regularly. But as blogging becomes more routine and other duties press in, it can be surprisingly difficult to maintain the initial pace.

Before you move on to something else, write down your starting goals. It will probably take less than five minutes, so do it now.

1. Clarify the business goals for your blog
2. Commit to blogging goals for long-term success
3. Why create an “ideal reader”?
4. How to identify your ideal reader

Like most things in life, blogging is most effective when you have a target to shoot for. People write blogs for many reasons: passion about a subject; fame; direct income; getting leads for their existing businesses; even just killing time. Often it’s a mix. At first, the goal is usually more a vague feeling than a concrete set of criteria.

For consultants, business goals for blogging need to be specific and focused, and typically might include demonstrating expertise, creating a national platform, educating existing and/or potential clients, gathering leads, and getting early feedback about new ideas.

Most bloggers pick two or three goals like these to focus on. One financial advisor I’ve worked with is using his blog to test-drive ideas, prove he’s an expert on his topic, and make a little direct income from advertising.

Another financial adviser (referred by the first) is using his blog to educate his existing clients with in-depth reports. His blog makes it easier to distribute the information, and that’s its sole purpose.

Your specific goals will determine what kind of progress indicators you monitor, and will also affect your expectations. For instance, the first advisor might be thrilled when he starts to see a thousand visitors a week. The second advisor would be equally thrilled with 30 visitors a week, if they’re the right ones.

Your turn: Business goals for your blog

Take a moment to think about what you want your blog to do for you. Start out with the vague concepts, for example:

• “Make me famous”
• “Get more clients”
• “Launch a national platform”

Then move to how you would know if you reached your goals:

• “Have 1000 regular readers”
• “Get three inquiries a week through the blog”
• “Be contacted at least twice a month for an interview”

Your goals may be very different from the ones above. The key is to find the core thing(s) you want your blog to accomplish, and then define the concrete results you’ll be aiming for.

This post is a draft excerpt of the blogging book I’m writing for consultants and other experts. Click on the link to find out more and sign up for updates.

Click To Play

The reason it’s so tricky is that you’ll really want to have .com domain name (like yourblognamehere.com) that matches the name of your blog, and each domain name is only available to one owner, so if the one you want is already taken, you’re out of luck.

I advocate getting a .com domain name in almost all cases (the main exception being if you can spell something clever by using a different extension, like del.icio.us has done). This is because most people naturally assume .com if they don’t remember (and most won’t remember), and that’s what they’ll type in. A .com address is especially important if you ever give your blog address verbally or in advertising). For the same reason, I suggest avoiding domain names with hyphens or numbers… they’re too easily misunderstood or forgotten.

It’s important that your domain name and your blog name match because, again, people will take the path of least resistance and type in your blog name plus “.com” and expect to find you. Even for those who would go to the effort of remembering something different, it’s a much easier memory task if they only have to remember one name to come up with the other.

This all makes sense (I hope) but it also limits your choices somewhat. When I’m brainstorming for a domain name, here’s what I do:

• Consider my keywords, and see if any clever, memorable, or obvious name emerges. Blog names don’t have to use the keywords (though the blog description should) but the keywords can be a good starting point.
• Let the idea for my blog percolate in my brain for a day or two. Often I’ll eventually come up with related words or concepts out of the blue, but only if I give it a little time.
• Once I have a few possibilities in mind, I go to Instant Domain Search and start typing in potential names. I like this tool because it is very efficient and also helps me explore variations quickly.
• Sometimes none of my ideas will pan out, and I’ll go back and start the process again. Sometimes I’ll get several good options and continue on.
• With a couple of acceptable names as real possibilities, I’ll look for the one that is most memorable and easy to spell, and if I’m happy with it, that’s the name I’ll choose. If I’m still not positive, I’ll write down the name for consideration and keep looking.

What if you’re having trouble coming up with a name, despite all your best efforts? It might be time to call in the professionals. There are several services that specialize in finding domain names, and one that comes highly recommended to me is PickyDomains. Their service is very affordable ($50 at the time of this writing) and risk-free; if they don’t find you a name you love, then you don’t pay. I’m trying them out for a new review site I’m creating right now.
To summarize, here is my list (in order of importance) of priorities when I’m evaluating potential domain names:

1. .com
2. no hypens or numbers (unless you can also buy all variations with numbers spelled out)
3. matches the blog name (with the possible omission of a leading “the” or “a”)
4. has some logical connection to the blog topic (though it’s okay if it’s a little cute or clever)
5. memorable
6. easy to spell
7. sounds good when spoken aloud
8. short

This post is a draft excerpt of the blogging book I’m writing for authors, consultants, and other experts. Click on the link to find out more and sign up for updates.

I’ll write another post about how to choose a post topic in the near future, but regardless of the specific topic, there are some common characteristics of good posts. You’ll come across plenty of exceptions, but it’s one of those “know the rules before you break them” things.

Good blog posts are laser-focused.

A good blog post has one (and only one) “big goal”—one key point to drive home, action to provoke, or concept to unpack. Sometimes a post, particularly a “list” post, will have many small points, but they should all lead back to the big goal.

Sometimes it’s tempting to throw more than one topic in a post, particularly if they’re related. However, this can hurt you in two ways:

1. Your readers have a set of expectations before they even start reading your post based on its title. If you add in other goals, you’re effectively asking readers to change their expectations, making them feel vaguely uncomfortable without knowing why.
2. It’s almost always the focused posts that search engines and other bloggers will send visitors to. They’re more likely to see focused posts as valuable resources on a specific topic, so don’t muddy the waters by adding unrelated (or even loosely-related) info.

Remember, this is blogging; you can always write a second post!

Good blog posts are relevant to the target audience.

This is more than just staying on topic—done well, it’s anticipating questions and needs and addressing them from an angle that makes sense to your ideal reader. This can sometimes be a gray area; for instance, if you’re an author, how much should you talk about the actual process of writing a book, and how much should you stick to the topic of your book (presumably the one your readers are interested in)?

If you can frame the writing process so that it helps your readers understand something better or consider a helpful concept, then I’d say go for it. Along the same lines, if you learned something really interesting as part of the research you did, then share it, with the writing process as context. If you find, though, that there’s no specific relevance, leave it out.

Good blog posts are personable.

This doesn’t mean you have to be extremely casual if that’s not your style, but you want to let your humanity shine through. You’re more likely to garner long-term readers if you reveal a little personality in your posts. This is as simple as using relevant personal anecdotes, offering an opinion, and writing “I” instead of “we.”

Posts without these small personal touches tend to read like textbooks and don’t seem to do very well with readers or with search engines.

Good blog posts have original content.

There are a few notable blogs that are successfully “recycling” information and have loyal followings. However, they are definitely the exception. Most blog posts on successful blogs have either completely new information or existing information with a new twist.

This doesn’t mean you can’t report relevant industry news, for example, but if you do, you should interpret it and add your own valuable insight rather than simply repeating it. If you don’t have anything significant to add, just let people read it elsewhere (and if it’s news, it will be elsewhere, probably on a blog that’s less interesting than yours!).

Good blog posts are readable.

This means not only having a readable writing style, but paying attention to your structure to make it easier for readers. For instance, long posts (like this one!) can be broken up into sections with sub-headings that tell the reader what to expect. You can use lists to make information easily “scanable” and break up long, intimidating blocks of text into smaller paragraphs.

Consider using pictures to make your posts more interesting to look at and give your readers one more clue about the content. You can find tons of photos on Flickr that are available for use on your blog (just link back to the original). Photos or illustrations can both add a little punch and break up a text-heavy post.

Good blog posts link to other relevant information.

Even though good posts are usually original writing, they often provide thoughtful links to other blogs or articles. Many new bloggers are a little wary of sending their hard-won readers to other sites, but more experienced bloggers will tell you that generosity is definitely the way to go.

The idea is that you’re providing a useful service to your readers, helping them dig deeper if they so desire, saving them time and effort and again, making your blog a valuable resource. And it doesn’t have to be entirely altruistic: most bloggers will notice if you’re sending readers their way and check you out, potentially launching a mutually beneficial relationship.

Good blog posts have accurate, intriguing titles.

I’ve written previously about good titles, but to summarize here, you should always aim for a title that clearly communicates the point of the post and compels visitors to jump in and read the first paragraph.

I’m sure you can relate to this, and have visited blog sites that are as dead as a doornail. You’ve also probably visited blogs that haven’t seen any updates for months or years. Clearly they’re still getting traffic (you’re there, right?), but they’re not using it in any kind of useful way.

So, how do you generate buzz on your blog website once you attract the traffic? It all comes down to a few simple points: presentation, writing style and topic choices.

Nail the Presentation!

When you visit a website, the first thing you probably notice is the aesthetic element—what the site actually looks like. Within seconds of a site loading on your website, you will form opinions and come to certain conclusions about the site and its owners. Those first few seconds on the site will determine whether you stay to explore or leave immediately.

That’s why you need to put some thought and effort into your blog site’s presentation. Make it look great, so you can attract people in to explore and participate! Experiment with color, with fonts and with images. You’ll be amazed at how much you can do to really liven up your blog site. Consider getting a custom design made or explore the free WordPress themes available to you now.

Develop an Attractive Writing Style

If you’re not much of a writer, you can practice daily to improve the way you come across. Blogging will help with this. For maximum results with your blog, most people do best with a down-to-earth and relaxed tone that encourages participation. Engage your readers with a friendly writing style, rather than “talk” at them. Some bloggers find it easier to write “lightly” when they write their posts in their email program. Just being in the program helps them feel like they’re writing to a friend (and most of our friends would laugh if we wrote pretentiously).

Develop Interesting Topics

Let’s face it. Some blogs focus on boring, industry-based topics, but even so, it is possible to brighten a topic by writing about it in an engaging way. A skilled writer can make even the most boring topic sound interesting, and encourage plenty of discussion.

It is important for you to present to your readers a whole range of relevant and interesting topics that gets them talking, and also stay focused on the topics that brought them to your blog in the first place. The best way to do this is talk about topics that are of interest to your readers (and to you!) and stay tuned to what’s going on in the world relating to your topic. Focused, topical subjects almost always work well—just make sure you use a writing style that engages and encourages participation.

Post Regularly

A surefire way to turn people away from your blog website is to neglect it completely. As a blogger, you must commit to your website and post regularly. Depending upon your traffic, create your own update schedule (you can call it an “editorial calendar” and make it sound official!) so you can keep your readers happy and returning regularly. You might start by posting one article per week and then once you have started generating a little traffic, increase to a couple posts each week. By the time you have a lot of traffic, you might increase it to several articles per day. It’s up to you, but keep your readers in mind at all times!

Most importantly, have fun and make sure you consistently deliver articles of value to your readers. This general rule of thumb works for all bloggers.

So now for the $64,000 question. How does you effectively attract people to your blog? How do you actually do this and build up a blog site that will be known to many within a relatively short amount of time?

Today I’m going to talk about a few proven methods that bloggers and online marketers have used with great success. Here’s hoping these can do the same for you!

Article submission websites: Chances are good that you’ve heard of article submission websites before, but if not, you can be forgiven. The majority of bloggers and online marketers have yet to really tap into this activity which can produce some impressive results. In a nutshell, on the internet today there are a number of big websites that want your articles. You might pay a small fee for each article you submit, or it might be free.

Basically what happens is you write a useful article and at the bottom of that article, you include a blurb about yourself—who you are, what you do, your business name (if applicable) and of course, the all-important contact details—which at a minimum include your URL. You submit this article to an article submission website, and then other people will visit that site looking for articles to publish on their websites, ezines or in their newsletters.

If they see your article and like what they read, they can then publish it for free or cheaply on their website, ezine or in their newsletter with your full blurb and URL. That is the condition! In other words, this is exposure for you, and when you consider the fact that in many cases, these content-searchers have huge subscriber lists of their own, that exposure can be HUGE!

PRWeb: This is a fabulous website that can generate traffic for your blog fast! PRWeb is a website where you can distribute your press release online. It will be delivered to thousands of editors and people with an interest in your topic area around the world. All you need is a really interesting, compelling story and a press release written to PRWeb standards and you can see traffic as a result within 48 hours. Your press release stays online as well, so you can attract traffic even a year or two from the original submission date. Submitting a release will cost you anywhere from about $40 US—$300 US, but the results can really be incredible!

Blog and forum posting: This is an obvious one that you’re probably using right now. If not, it’s easy to get started and it won’t cost you a cent! Do a search on the web to find other blogs and forums that in some way compliment the blog you operate. Frequent those blogs and forums that attract the same sorts of people you want visiting your blog, and start commenting.

Be sure to post only genuinely useful posts, and whatever you do, do not “sell” your site to attract visitors. This not only annoys the owners of the blog or forum, but it also annoys the other readers. By posting useful comments, you win friends on these websites, and they will in turn be curious to explore your link, which brings them straight to your blog.

Pay-Per-Click: This is probably the quickest way you can attract traffic to your blog site, but it will cost you money (in case you didn’t guess that from the name). The beauty with pay-per-click advertising such those offered by Google Adwords and Yahoo! is that you can set your budget per day and cost per click. You can also change your pay-per-click ads and keywords whenever you want so you can test for the best results.

Those are just a few methods you can implement to attract people to your blog site. Proactivity is the key here, so develop your own marketing campaign using these methods and do it consistently—the hard work will pay off!