Every day I get emails from people asking I go look at their blog, or swap links. Some work and some do not. This post is about why.Actually let's take a step back. The first type of request says "please look at my blog" but actually means "please link to me". I can tell the difference because when people really want me to look at their blog they are actually interested in my thoughts rather than firing out a million identical emails hoping someone will be suckered into linking to them. So OK, … [Read more...]
SquidOffers: First Look Review
SquidOffers is the new advertising system over at Squidoo; . Here is the scoop from The Mighty Godin (long may he reign): So we invented SquidOffers, which I hope will work for us, and which I fully expect will show up in other places soon. The idea is to combine the voting mechanism of Reddit or Digg or Plexo with the text ad mindset of a Google ad. But instead of an ad, it's an offer.Make an offer. Pick a category. Pay a small fee ($100 a month). Then, our users vote on the offers. Get a lot … [Read more...]
The Three Dimensions of Blogging: The Vital Combination Every Blog Must Have
Why do I answer every single comment made here? A couple of people have asked why I did my Reader Appreciation post. Some have even implied that I have a big enough audience to not need to do this. What is it about comments I am so obsessed about? There are three critical aspects that make a blog great. Lose any one aspect and you have made it so much harder to be a success. The simple truth is without my reader community a massive part of my blog would be lost. Without comments blogs are sadly … [Read more...]
Putting a Value on NoFollow Links
This week I was pulled up on my comment links having the default "no-follow" attribute. This led to me installing the Wordpress "do-follow" plugin and also to questions about if no-followed links have any value.First of all let me explain what "no-follow" means. The idea was hatched to prevent spammers profiting from carpet-bombing blogs with their links. Adding the "rel=nofollow" attribute to comment links was supposed to tell the search engines "I don't trust this link one bit, do not give it … [Read more...]
Link For Charity
I just received an email about an interesting little link building idea with a charity twist. The requirements for linking were quite strict so I will just copy and paste the relevant section :) :Alex Shalman at Practical Personal Development (a blog about self help and personal growth) is hosting a Donation Contest in which you press a button and he donates a dollarI mentioned to Alex and I will mention it here; you are far better in my opinion with this sort of thing allowing people to choose … [Read more...]
Cool SEO Metrics Firefox Plugin
This one goes in the "possibly useful but definitely cool in a geeky way" category. Yeah, a lot of what I like goes in that category, heh. In this case I am talking about a plugin called Search Status which I was just reading about over at dailyblogtipsSearch status is a very useful extension for bloggers, web developers and Internet marketers. Once installed Search Status will add a tollbar to Firefox, displaying various information about the page that you are visiting. The information includes … [Read more...]
Sean D’Souza Interview
Something a bit different for this post. The other day I had an opportunity to talk to Sean D'Souza, a cartoonist, marketing guru and expert on sales psychology based in Auckland, New Zealand. We cover a fair amount of ground but some of the highlights include: Why he doesn't believe in advertising How he is giving blogging another chance His thoughts on Internet Marketers And why you really don't want more work All that and my "club blogosphere" analogy into the bargain. On with the … [Read more...]
Some Widgets Work – Why I Show My Feed Count
A coaching client asked me yesterday why if I am so against cluttering up blogs with widgets do I show my FeedBurner count and Technorati button on my blog? Before I answer check out this from Wired about an eBay study ... After 470 auctions, Resnick found that the Swansons' main account, with its high customer rating, earned an average of 8.1 percent more per transaction than the fakes. It was the first hard proof that a feedback score —” a number generated by a collection of … [Read more...]
Internet Marketing vs. Blogging
As a strange hybrid of Internet Marketer and Blogger (amongst other things) I noted with interest Darrens worry about Talking to Internet Marketers about Blogging The —˜daunting' feelings don't come from being afraid of public speaking (I've been doing that for years) but more because to this point I've always found internet marketing —˜types' to be slightly different (or extremely different) to blogging —˜types'.I spend all my time with one foot in both camps so I feel I … [Read more...]
Why We Need a Next Generation RSS
When dealing with customers or subscribers to an email newsletter you know you are dealing with an individual. You can judge the depth of your relationship with this individual and look for signs of their level of satisfaction. RSS subscribers are anonymous.Most emails are personalised somewhat, at the very least "Dear Sir/Madam" becomes "Hi Chris". RSS is one-size-fits-all.OK on many blogs you can subscribe to a category, comments or a particular thread. Many companies provide custom RSS based … [Read more...]
Hi, I’m Chris Garrett: I work with business owners and entrepreneurs to help them build lasting and profitable relationships with audiences who grow to know, like and trust them
