Authority & Marketing Technology Blog

  • Email Marketing Tips: What is Email Marketing?

    email marketing for bloggers

    Email Marketing seems to be a topic many bloggers want to know about. While promoting my recent prize draw I was asked to expand on my article explaining the benefits of providing blog email subscriptions into more email marketing tips.

    I realized I wasn’t going to be able to do the subject justice in just one post, so here is the first in a series all about email marketing and how to do it well.

    Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss anything :)

    First, let’s clear up what exactly we are talking about …

    What is Email Marketing?

    Email Marketing is using email to distribute your marketing messages.

    Most popular is growing your own list, for example a newsletter, and sending emails to the list containing tips along with things subscribers might be interested in buying.

    As well as your own list of tip-readers and potential customers, Email Marketing can also cover advertising on email newsletters or follow-up emails to your own customers.

    While you could include these other wider definitions, most people when talking about Email Marketing are mainly using the term to describe building a list with a view to growing reader loyalty and making sales.

    What are the Advantages of Email Marketing?

    As just mentioned, a good email list, well run, can grow your reader loyalty. Hearing from you again and again with good content reminds readers of your value, especially if they take your advice and find it works for them. That said, the obvious reason why most people try email marketing is because it is profitable. This is because of the following attributes:

    1. Low Cost – Communicating via email has many of the advantages of traditional direct mail but with much lower costs
    2. Speed – If you need to you can get a message out to your entire list very fast
    3. Ease (both for you and the reader) – For your marketing to be a success it has to be easy for the recipient, but it helps that email marketing is easy for you too as it means you can do it yourself
    4. Push – While websites and RSS are “pull”, in that the visitor has to come to you, with email you can send your messages out, reminding and re-engaging readers
    5. Personalized – The more information you collect, the more messages can be tailored and personalized. Email also has the particularly special ability to segment, meaning you can split people off into smaller, more focused lists.
    6. Viral – It’s so easy for people to forward your message on to others, spreading further than you could alone.
    7. Tracking – Everything from how many emails were opened, through to each individual link click can be tracked, meaning you can hone your techniques and improve performance
    8. Testing – Along with tracking, you can test different subject lines, calls to action, use of images, and so on, to further improve your results
    9. Complimentary – Email, while an excellent tactic, does not replace your other marketing activities but compliments them extremely well. Combining multiple tactics can build very profitable marketing campaigns.
    10. Opt-In – Perhaps most important, the best email lists are always opt-in, meaning you have permission to contact the person. This permission is very powerful and should not be underestimated.

    Email Marketing Risks

    Doing email right can be a fantastic addition to your marketing mix, but do it wrong and you might be better off not doing it at all.

    The main risks are:

    • Branded a spammer – Without singling out any particular instance, even the best lists will get marked as spam occasionally because some people can’t be bothered to use the unsubscribe links. Also some people have a … strange … definition of what spam is. Darren and I were called spammers for sending messages about our book … to our ProBloggerBook.com list. So a small amount of this is to be expected. What you have to be careful of though is an accusation that sticks. Always make sure people know what they are signing up for and that they confirm their subscription so you can point to clear and fair opt-in.
    • Burning out your list – A certain amount of churn is to be expected. People leave lists all the time through no fault of yours. Too many messages, too often, or bad content to sales ratio and you could find your email list becoming used up and burned out. Be careful to always make your list valuable to your readers, not an irritation.
    • Breaking the law – Be aware that due to nasty spammers there are very strict laws around the world and it is easy to break them. For example, collecting email addresses without the owners consent, even not including your postal address in emails to USA residents. Using a reputable email service provider like Aweber will help you through most of these issues.
    • Alienating readers – It never ceases to surprise me how many people get carried away with email marketing and go way over the top. Your messages do not have to read like snake oil, and every email does not have to carry a “absolutely must buy now before ____” urgency call to action. Remember your list members are human beings and all should go well though.
    • Delivery issues – As people become more and more sensitive to spam there are more and more innocent messages landing in junk mail folders. There are techniques to help your message get through, but the main way is as mentioned above, use a reliable email provider like Aweber.

    Coming Up in this Series

    Hopefully this has shown that there are several advantages to email marketing and while there are risks, they are avoidable if you manage your email marketing well.

    Coming up in this series I will show you:

    • How to build your list, without falling into the common traps that doom you to spam hell
    • Where to find more list subscribers and the best way to further grow your list, fast
    • Testing and tracking email so each mail out is incrementally more successful
    • … and more

    Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a single article, and let me know in email, comments or contact form if there is anything in particular you would like me to cover.

  • Why Email Subscribers?

    A couple of people emailed me to ask why my big birthday competition was only open to email subscribers, why did I want email subscribers in particular?

    Well first of all I love all my subscribers :) There are just things you can do for email subscribers that you can not for RSS (currently).

    As many guessed, the first advantage of email over RSS is email subscribers are not anonymous. Being able to personalize and identify who you are talking to is very useful.

    The other advantages are:

    1. You can send attachments to email lists more easily. With RSS you post a download link and the link gets shared around (even now people are linking directly to my free PDF)
    2. It is possible to email subscriber-only alerts outside of your regular blog posting schedule
    3. Email lists can be segmented so you only communicate your message to people who want to hear it

    Now you know this you might be forming guesses as to what my special email subscriber treats are going to be, but you will only find out for sure if you subscribe by email :)

  • Is Social Media a Waste of Time?

    What do you think about Social Media and all the buzz around these services?

    Last night I was on a Six Apart telephone conference with Andy Wibbels and Darren Rowse and the topic of how much time and effort social media takes up was raised. Andy made the good point that the people who discuss social media most are the people who need to, people like me who make our living being on top of these things so we can advise others.

    If you follow all the advice on blogs and forums, took part in every social media venue, then you would very quickly have no time to do anything else.

    You have to think in terms of ROI. What is your return on social media investment? (ROSMI?)

    I can talk all day about the benefits of social media, especially around making contacts and networking, but if these come at the expense of your work or business then the picture does not look so rosy.

    It’s quite clear a lot of the time spent in social media is for leisure, so right there it is a matter of your priorities and mindset if you regard it as a waste of time. I stopped using FaceBook completely because it had zero return for me, while my Twitter usage if anything has increased from when I first joined (even if I have been quiet on that front lately).

    While FaceBook, with its spam and trivialities, did not provide me anything but annoying messages in my inbox, I have found Twitter a great source of connections and news. StumbleUpon and Reddit send me nice bursts of traffic, so partaking in and researching those is worth the time. LinkedIn I am still figuring out.

    I parcel out my time over various activities. While it is tempting, I do not have Twitter open all day in a desktop application, I dip in a couple of times and treat it as a break from work. For the others I experiment and have fixed goals. Plurk for example I have placed on the back burner, but am keeping an eye on it as people tell me to give it another try.

    Experimentation is what I recommend.  See what works for you while keeping an open mind.

    For most people I would recommend at least trying out Twitter, just because networking is so important, but do not pressure yourself with any of this stuff and keep your priorities in check. Social Media is just one of many things to spend your time on, unless you see a good return on your activity you probably are better off doing something else.

    Pick your battles and closely monitor where your time goes and what results you get, and if you have fun, well there is no harm in that is there? :)

  • As If, Yeah Right

    When we write we are talking to our reader. While your reader is going through your content they will be responding. They might think “Interesting, I didn’t know that”, or they might think “So? What’s in it for me?” and they might think “So what?“. One response I don’t think many marketing copywriters are prepared…

  • Who SHOULD Blog?

    In my last post I took the unusual step of suggesting there are people who should avoid blogging. While I am complete card-carrying, t-shirt wearing, tattooed on my brain blogging advocate, even I realize there are people who would be best off being blog readers than blog writers. It just is not for everybody, and…

  • What a Difference a Break Makes

    As some of you knew, I am on vacation right now. Finding internet connectivity in this part of France has proven tough, but I have managed to locate a shaded, quiet corner with reasonable coffee and a free WIFI connection :)

    I should have brought business cards, it’s amazing the conversations you can strike up just by displaying the Apple symbol around an internet hotspot! (If you want free blogging advice, this is the time to catch me, but you will have to do it in person, heh)

    Unfortunately I didn’t get chance to complete my survey results before I left so they will have to wait while I get back.

    Being an internet addict this lack of connectivity drives me mad, but there is a positive aspect (in addition to managing my habit and spending more quality time with the family), it gets my brain working in all sorts of different ways.

    Perhaps it is the 40c weather or the relaxation but my imagination has been working over time. I guess it could be also giving myself something other than work to think about too. While I have been here I have already read a lot (non-business books too!), explored the place, it is all idea fuel. I’ve been inspired and re-energized for the challenges that face me when we get back.

    Walking around I have ideas for articles, such as “Why blogging is like running a restaurant”, “Why blogging is like running a fun fair”. I will probably not use them but it proves this time away has allowed my grey cells to unclench.

    Although it is unlikely I will get to the hardcore traveling that Lorelle gets up to, I am enjoying my small taste. I really do recommend switching off for a few days, even if you can’t get away very far.

    Now the question is, should I have just left the laptop at home? :)

  • Blogging Survey Results: Why People Blog

    Why people blog was one of the blogging survey questions I most wanted to get numbers on. We blog for many reasons, and I was fully aware “Why We Blog” might well be different from, say Darren‘s readership.

    blogging survey: why we blog

    Turns out way different to how I imagined. It seems I have very few “make money online” readers. We are split pretty much between “for pleasure” and “for business”.

    Why People Blog Detail

    Why do you blog? Count
    For pleasure 414
    To promote my own business 299
    I make money from my blog 60
    For my employer 40
    I get paid to blog 34

    So Why Do Bloggers Blog?

    I would say in fairness this was a multiple choice question where people could select more than one answer. Most of us will have primary and secondary motivations and it could be that “for pleasure” was many people’s secondary motivation.

    How do these results match up with your expectations, or how well do they compare with your own motivations for blogging?

    < Previous in series …

    Table of contents for Global Blogging Survey Results

    1. Blogging Survey Results: Years Blogging
    2. Blogging Survey Results: Demographics of Bloggers

  • Causality and Correlation

    Causality and correlation. Ah, the scientist’s friend. Mixed up so many times, the cause of so many arguments, the rock on which we stub our intellectual toes.

    What is this concept and why should bloggers care?

    Causality is the relationship between cause and effect. That is, for a given effect, you could find the cause.

    Correlation is the degree to which two events are related. That is, two things exist together but one does not necessarily cause the other.

    All too often people mix up the two. They think because they were holding a rabbits foot when they won a bet, that the rabbits foot is somehow lucky. Take this tongue in cheek quote from Freakonomics also:

    Chicago’s beloved Mayor Daley is trying to think of ways to increase the likelihood that the Bears win the game. He’s noticed that whenever the Bears win, people in Chicago are happy. Which sparks a great idea: decree that all Bears fans have to be happy on Super Bowl Sunday. It has always been true in the past that winning games and being happy go together, so by demanding the Bears’ fans are happy, it will cause the Bears to win the Super Bowl.

    Be Careful What You Copy

    Blogging is still new, so bloggers are still constantly learning what works and what doesn’t. This goes for all of us.

    We look for clues around us, and especially the people who have gone before, people we admire, or people who have had obvious and visible success. Then we cherry pick ideas to see if they will work for us.

    • Seth closed off comments and is successful, I will do that
    • I hear many blogs are personal and written like diaries, my topic is serious, therefore I shouldn’t blog
    • So-and-so is popular and snarky, so I should do that
    • TechCrunch posts multiple times a day and is popular, I should do that
    • Some internet marketers have not been able to sell using their blogs, therefore blogs don’t work for attracting sales
    • A particular blog is ugly and super successful, my blog should be ugly too
    • The blogs I have seen are rushed and poorly researched, therefore all blogs are like that

    Unfortunately it is not always easy to see why or how someone achieved success or failure. Even more unfortunate, just because something works for one blog, doesn’t mean it will necessarily work for your blog and your audience.

    As with most things, be very careful about dealing in absolutes. Don’t take things at face value, investigate. Most of all, see what works for YOU.

  • Mobile Blogging: My Portable Blog Writing Kit

    Nokia n95Last week I put a message on Twitter that prompted a couple of people to ask for more details:

    On way to sunny Reading, fighting through traffic and rain to see a client, writing blog posts on the road and trying to not feel car sick

    Yes, I was literally “blogging on the road” and it seems other people would like to do the same, so here is how I do it.

    My setup is comprised:

    • Macbook
    • Nokia n95
    • 3G mobile internet tariff

    The Mac talks to the phone over bluetooth and uses the 3G connection for connectivity. In the UK data costs are pretty expensive so I have recently switched from o2 and now have 1gb of data and more calls than I need for much less. It pays to shop around. Even better, my n95 also has Skype loaded, which is completely free while I am in the UK due to a deal with my new phone plan provider, 3. Overseas I still pay through the nose, but luckily outside the British Isles most countries have heard of free wifi.

    While I have a spare battery for my laptop when flying, I also have a british plug to car power socket adapter that allows me to plug in pretty much any device and get power on the move. Sometimes I even remember to take it along.

    I have been blogging while on travels for a few years but my setup has changed a fair bit, as you can see from this old post at Performancing

    My equipment has a much more Microsoft flavour. My humble Samsung V25 laptop runs XP Pro, plus I have a O2 XDA Exec Pocket PC (a rebadged HTC running Windows Mobile 2005 for Pocket PC). For voice I have Skype both on my laptop (I use a $9 Skype earpiece/microphone, nothing so posh as Nicks headset) and also on my Pocket PC. The PDA is actually a phone, but I only use it for data and Skype as I have a Sony Ericsson K750i for normal cellular voice calls.

    The n95 is a great phone for bloggers, and with it even without the laptop I am pretty connected, just a shame it doesn’t have a full keyboard like my old PDA. When we were in Chicago for SOBCon, Twitter was the main way to stay in contact, so being able to get web access from anywhere (mobile or wifi) is a boon. Try the mobile interface or TinyTwitter. In addition, IM tools are becoming an essential part of work life, I have been trialling eBuddy for MSN, etc, but it doesn’t seem to like the ‘@’ in my AIM account screen name.

    I am looking at the new 3G iPhone quite closely, although I expect I might have to stick with the n95 as it sounds like Apple will still not allow you to hook the iPhone up to a computer to act as a modem which is pretty important for my use.

    While I haven’t got this mobile blogging thing down to a fine art like Lorelle, my setup does show it is possible to be pretty portable with your blogging.

    Do you blog while on your travels?

  • Writing Lessons from Obama and Hilary

    Obama and Hilary have been a dominant force in the news since they started campaigning. This is saying something, as I am not even American. Their long battle has taught me a couple of related lessons that I wanted to share with you.

    Attacks and Negativity Damage All

    While attacks are one way to get attention, and also serve to position yourself relative to your competitor,  in the end the damage is not localized and you end up soiling your own reputation.

    Think about it, what do we say about someone who campaigns this way?

    “They stooped to a new low”

    “She is fighting dirty”

    “Smearing the other candidate”

    “Sowing the seeds of discord and dissent”

    Is this the kind of thing candidates want to be associated with?

    What has this to do with writing?

    • How many blogs do you see that go on the attack, as a content strategy or as a means of self promotion?
    • When you see someone ragging on someone or something popular to make a point, how do you feel?
    • Do you see community leaders saying “you are with us or against us”? (eg. why shouldn’t an Apple fan respect Bill Gates? Why is it not OK for an open source advocate to recommend a piece of proprietary software if it’s the best for the job?)
    • The whole “we don’t like these people, we are better than them, because”, does that work with you or make you think the worst of the writer?

    Sometimes we do have to criticize to make a serious point, but that does not mean we should label the person. Always, if you must criticize, try to criticize behavior.

    Positivity and Solutions are Persuasive

    When I see two people argue like Obama and Hilary, I look for the person who is offering ideas and solutions, and I do the same in my reading and learning.

    It’s impossible to make a good decision long term based on fear-mongering and negative attacks. Hate and bashing only serves to remove choices, not help make the right one. Positivity and inventive solutions provide you something to get behind, something motivating and enabling.

    Ideas Bind, Attacks Divide

    When you write you can say what you don’t like or you can offer ideas for a better way. I try to do the latter, though of course being only human it doesn’t always come through like that. My idea of something better today is to try to spin a criticism into an offer of positive advice and see how different the reaction and results can be.

    Summary

    The main point is, what do you want to achieve with your piece of writing? If you want to make someone or a whole group feel bad, then go on the attack. If on the other hand you want to help, provide answers, then you are far better giving real advice and ideas. Offer something constructive, it is best all round.

    What do you think? Have I mis-read the situation, have I just alienated half my readers? Am I being unfair? Do you agree with me about my point of being positive and offering solutions? Please share your thoughts in the comments

  • Thoughts on Reciprocation

    Reciprocation is where you feel inclined to do something for someone else because they did something for you. It’s about returning a favor, I help you, you help me.

    A great deal of modern marketing is based on reciprocation. It’s a natural impulse and probably something that keeps society bound together.

    The classic example is where a charity “gives” you something, anything from a sticker through to greetings cards, and you feel compelled to make a donation.

    In the online sphere we give free information so people will feel inclined to sign up for a newsletter or RSS, as in the case of my free Creating Killer Flagship Content ebook.

    It also happens a great deal in social media, and in fact works pretty well in those cases. I vote for you and maybe you will feel more inclined to vote for my next story. People re-tweet your message and you feel a lot warmer to them next time you see their name.

    Lately I have seen a growing number of people using it in networking or to gain favors or a leg up. Emails saying “Is there anything I can help you with?”, contacts saying “I submitted your article to Reddit and StumbleUpon”, and so on.

    The thing is, even when you suspect what is going on, you still feel indebted in a way. I wonder how much of this is acceptable and when it becomes, well, just wrong.

    Where should the line be drawn. When do simple favors become manipulation or trickery? How can we maintain the favors while protecting ourselves from the frauds?

    Please let me know what you think in the comments …

  • Good Questions Make Great Content

    It’s OK to not have all the answers. Let’s face it, everything changes so fast, it’s hard to keep up with absolutely everything. Sometimes though we have burning questions that Google can’t solve. What should we do?

    Well, as bloggers, a great thing to do is to ask the question and publish the answers.

    If you don’t know the answer, it could well be lots of people want to know too. Plus, if you can’t find the answer in Google then you just might have an idea that will bring you regular search traffic if you implement it right. It’s always a good thing to get your audience thinking and involved. Even if their response is “I don’t know, but good question!” :)

    Sometimes there is no right or wrong answer, but opinions can create valuable discussions which are still attractive content, thought provoking, community building and good for entertainment and engagement. Just look at Liz’ Open Mike discussions.

    The question does not always have to be asked on your blog either. It might be that you know a forum or discussion list with topical experts on board, or it might be that you need to cast your net wide and get the biggest possible response by asking in multiple places.

    Here are five ways to get answers outside of comments that jump to mind: 

    1. Twitter – For my post about getting the most out of LinkedIn I asked for suggestions on Twitter. Twitter, after my blog, is my go-to place for getting quick answers as I know I will get a response. Of course you need a few followers first!
    2. LinkedIn – I have only asked one question on LinkedIn and just got the one response, but it was a good one. Others have far more success. LinkedIn is chock full of business people, and is probably more appropriate for those kinds of issues, but also those people have lives outside of business so might be worth a try.
    3. Yahoo! Answers – Same kind of deal as LinkedIn answers but wider in audience and more general purpose and more consumer oriented.
    4. A survey/poll – Rather than just ask a question and get responses in comments, surveys and polls can be useful for narrowing the answers for quantitative results as I have done in my blogging survey (still a chance to win a book or blog critique!)
    5. Email – If you know certain people will have the answers you need then email them. If you make it easy and quick to answer you might be surprised at the responses you get. I did this with my Cluetrain Social Media article and is something Jonathan Fields does routinely to great effect.

    Make sure you always credit the people who provide answers. Also try to give people credit even if you disagree with what they say, show all sides.

    Got any tips to share? Do you ask questions in your blogging? How? Or do you prefer blogs to be about answers? Please share in the comments …

  • Understanding New Media Tactics and Interactions

    Reading a lot of advice and ebook sales letters, you could be forgiven for thinking all you need is one good tactic and you will be a mega success online. In fact what you need is a planned mixture of approaches. Understanding where certain tactics fit can be the difference between going nowhere and going viral.

    Understanding New Media Tactics and Interactions

    Before anyone points out, yes this is not a complete list, and yes some tactics fit into more than one area, but I think as an illustration of a point my mad doodling skills explain what I am trying to say :)

    Rather than attempting to make one tactic do all the work, think of your approach as a system. Each element is intended to do one job then hand off to the next. Get all your tactics working together and you will make the whole much more attractive and sticky.

  • Ethics in Social Media and Online Marketing

    Recently I have been asked by a few people my opinion on a certain “link bait” event that happened. To save myself repeating the same answer, here it is.

    The story goes something like this. Writer creates fictitious story, gets it to the front page of Digg, which leads to mentions in tabloid newspapers and Fox News.

    Apart from the “fictitious” aspect, this would be considered by anyone a major victory. One count puts it at 1500 fresh inbound links. Unfortunately it is the truth/fiction aspect that has people up in arms. Variously the story is being called “fraud”, “hoax” and “satire”. People are getting emotive which is often dangerous.

    I am not going to pass judgment because I do not know the intentions or brief behind the campaign and I do not want to know. The writer still has my respect, after all these are the sorts of link bait results we dream of if you ignore the story itself and the backlash for a moment!

    Would I create a false story to gain attention? No. Do I think it is wrong to plant a false story? Yes and no. Yes because as I said, I wouldn’t do it myself, and no because, well, tabloids and Fox News are also partly to blame (hello, fact-check anyone?) and are not exactly well known for being pristine purveyors of the absolute truth are they?

    Clients should have been fully aware of what was planned and they ought to be thrilled at the links they have garnered, which in many cases will have lasting benefits (regardless of what Google are saying right now), much longer than the fallout will last.

    If this had been put out by a PR company nobody would bat an eyelid. Stunts, fakes and spoofs are seeded into the media all the time. Richard Branson is a master, he once landed a fake UFO to media acclaim. April 1st sees the news made useless as you do not know what to believe. As on April 2nd, this story now has a message saying the story was made up.

    I have watched and read highly serious and untrue things said with a straight face by politicians that were far more damaging and longer lasting. I’m sure you can think of a few. Who cares really in the scheme of things about this, really?

    So to answer the questions, I would not have played it the same way but at the same time I don’t think there has been any real harm done. If people are questioning what they read a little more now, then good I say.

    That’s my opinion, what is yours?

  • Blogging Survey: Half Way Report

    Last week I mentioned my Global Blogging Survey and your chance to win one of 10 ProBlogger books. Well we are just over half way to the magic 1000 submissions mark, can we get some more?

    If the total can get to 1000 or more then the results will be more reliable and statistically “ok”. It’s always better to draw conclusions from a good base rather than infer something that might not be based on anything real.

    As well as 10 books I am going to sweeten the pot. One lucky submitter will receive a blog critique right here on this blog outlining all the advice you need to take your blogging to the next level.

    So if you haven’t filled in the survey, please do it now. It takes mere minutes. Tell your fellow bloggers. Bring friends!

  • Attracting Customers Without Selling

    I just realized that even though I have made my living from customers buying my services for a while, I have never actually had to sell. This seems to me quite an achievement.

    What got me thinking about this was I was just interviewed for an article for WordTracker by Rachelle Money. She asked how I got into this blogging lark, and during me waffling on I told her about how customers would come to me with their problems.

    Back when I started out, the problems people would come to me with were programming related, now they are more likely to be online marketing or blogging issues, but still people come to me rather than me calling them. I think this is a nice place to be!

    Cold calling has never been something I even wanted to try. Some people can do it very well, but all through my career I have avoided it. I am not the most forward person, especially on the telephone with someone who doesn’t want to hear from me. For me making a cold-call would be more a punishment than a useful sales tactic.

    How to Attract Customers

    The secret to attracting customers so you don’t need to approach them is based on the following factors:

    1. Awareness – People need to know you exist, and remember you in the correct context as someone who might be useful
    2. Belief, Credibility and Trust – You might be the best expert in the world but people need to know they can rely on you
    3. Evidence – Why should someone believe that you can do the things you say you can?
    4. Solutions – Have you got appropriate services and answers for their problems?
    5. Approachability/Personality – Very often the sale comes down to you being the right person as much on personality as skills. We want to work with people we like and feel we can talk to.

    Of course now I call the solution Authority Blogging and I teach people how to grow their profile and engage audiences, but these factors worked in my favor long before I had a name for it or was even doing this consciously.

    Creating the Opportunity for Opportunities

    What I started out doing was answering programming questions on email discussion lists. People got to know me through my answers and discussions. To avoid repeating myself, and so I could write more in detail, I would write articles. After a while I wrote for the top ASP site, ASPAlliance, which made me more visible, brought me programming contracts, and eventually led to me doing speaking, teaching .NET programming, which led to me being awarded Microsoft’s “MVP” award, and book deals.

    This same pattern has repeated in all the phases of my career, from programmer to project management, to webmaster, SEO, online marketing to blogging. Each stage I joined the niche community and got stuck in which led to opportunities.

    It comes down to making yourself useful, creating the environment for opportunities and taking the opportunities that further your cause.

    Making Sales

    Many times I would go pitch some work with the marketing agencies I worked for and I would get a sense the winner had already been all but selected, the customer just wanted reassurance they had made the right choice.  The same happens now, I talk through what I can help with, the options, and I leave it to the customer to decide to go with me.

    When people do approach you with work, you could say that you have to “close” the sale, but personally I see it more as answering any questions and explaining how you can help. If you have done your content  right then the customer will already be “sold”, you just have to clear up any missing information and take the order.

    Improve Your Process

    Every time you get approached, ask

    • where the customer heard about you,
    • what attracted them,
    • do they have any preconceptions
    • if they have any questions that are not answered in the content,
    • and if anything worries them or puts them off.

    … then next time your job will be even easier. Knowing why you don’t get this sale and fixing your approach will make it more likely you get the next one.
    In fact, being aware and listening really is half the battle. For example, for ages I didn’t have my service for creating flagship content as I assumed my ebook would tell people what they needed to know.  Then I found out companies were hiring others to do the writing but using my ebook as part of the spec. By accident I had been creating work for others that I could do myself!

    Summary

    I hope that I have shown that you do not need to be a pushy sales type to get work, your blog can do most of the work for you. If you get out, get known and show your expertise through helping people, then customers will be more inclined to approach you. Most of the effort is in showing you are the right person for the job, this means writing content that solves problems and having your services on display.

    Is this something you do? Have you got any tips? Are you planning to take this approach or one like it? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments …

  • Global Blogger and Blogging Survey

    How would you like the chance to win one of 10 copies of the ProBlogger Book AND get lots of interesting stats and facts about bloggers worldwide?

    If this sounds good, take the survey! :)

    Every 100 survey entries up to 1,000 I will pull an email address out at random to win a copy of the book, so all you have to do is enter the survey to be in with a chance of winning.

    All the details are optional, including the email address which is purely for the prize draw. I have tried to make the answers as easy to complete as possible, using free text fields rather than strict categories. While it does make it harder for me to compile the results, the whole point is to find out as much as I can.

    I hope to get 1,000 completed surveys so please do spread the word. The more entries received the more reliable the results will be and therefore more useful to draw conclusions from.

    Take the survey now then tell your friends :)

  • Building Your Online Brand With Social Media Tools

    Social Media tools have an enormous power to put you in contact with thousands of people. As I have said on numerous occasions though, attention on its own is useless, what are you going to do with that attention?

    If you want to build your online brand you have to know how all your activities work together. You need a consistency and congruency. Each part of the social media puzzle builds into a picture people have of you, how they imagine you to be relates to how you really are to the degree you get this stuff right.

    If you are approaching social media in a haphazard way, do not be surprised if things do not work out exactly as you hoped or imagined they would.

    You Choose Who You Are

    We are judged by what we say, how we say it and who we associate with. All choices we make, not things that happen to us by chance.

    If you are constantly being seen with the snarky, attacking, abusive people on Twitter, then you will be seen as in their gang. When your pictures often appear in the saucier flickr groups then that is the impression people will have of you, regardless of your PHD in nuclear physics.  We do not get the whole picture online, we see what is right in front of us, and that means we will jump to conclusions and you will be guilty until proven innocent.

    Since Michael wrote about what your social media activities say about you I have been thinking about this a lot. Having been online for a long time, there is not much I can do to claw back what is out there. I haven’t exactly played fast and loose with my online reputation, but then I have not been too sophisticated with it either.

    I have clients from all sorts of industries and walks of life. Who my clients are have been used to attack me in the past. Should I with this in mind be revealing my clients through StumbleUpon votes?

    Best to choose now who you are, what your values are, and where you draw the line between openness and TMI (too much information). Thankfully I clued up about 10 years ago some things I would never write about, but still there are aspects of my life I think really ought to have been kept private.

    Joining the Social Media Dots

    The best way to approach social media is to choose your venues and connect them in some way to your blog. Keep your blog as the main representation of “you” online. That is where you best stuff is going to be, your archive, portfolio or resume. If someone Googles you, this is what you want to appear, not your virtual facebook sheep or your drunken accidental flickr pics.

    Building your brand with social meda

    With a good core blog, you can further reinforce this positive brand. Have conversations on Twitter, share your pictures, guest post and comment. Participate in forums that relate to what you do and your audience. Above all where you want connections to be made, use a consistent avatar, nickname and style. Connect all the profiles back to your blog, and where appropriate link out to the social media sites.

    As you can see, I link to my Twitter account from here and occasionally will link to my Flickr through my pictures. While this helps grow my connections on those services it does mean that I have to use privacy settings on Flickr and on Twitter I need to be aware of what I am saying!

    Are you conscious about the brand you are building in social media sites or do you just try to be yourself and let people take away what they will? Do you connect your online activities or are they in silos? Please share your thoughts in the comments …

  • The Power of Testimonials and Case Studies

    A critical part of any online sales process is answering questions and objections before they are raised. Buying anything comes with some perceived risk. Blogging actually helps reduced this perception of risk because over time you can get to know the person behind the blog, their expertise and their approach. I imagine any of you who have been with me a little while feels like you know me a bit, and if I read your blog or follow you on Twitter I probably feel the same way.

    Another way to build this trust is to get third party endorsements and testimonials. When Brian Clark tells you that I “walk the talk” then, especially if you know who Brian is, this will make you feel more confident in hiring me. I am not just saying what I can do, someone else is backing me up.

    Normally I would recommend you also have case studies. These provide a success story, some before and after, what the client hoped to achieve and what the actual results were. While my “creds” powerpoint contains case studies, I have been remiss on posting any here. This needs to be fixed.

    While in Chicago, Michael and I had a conversation about consulting. We were saying how often my clients often do not want to be talked about in any detail. There are reasons why, and some are happy to provide testimonials so long as we don’t talk about exactly what the projects involved. As you can see if you browse my services pages, I have some really good testimonials, but I really would like to provide some case studies too.

    So with that in mind I am doing something I don’t normally do. I am giving a 50% discount for anyone who orders Flagship Content Creation and agrees to allow me to use it as a case study.

    Anyone willing to have their blog promoted on my pages so I can prove to the world this stuff works?

  • That Magic Ingredient

    Diving InWhenever I achieve something in my life, two things often occur. One, the first, is I have to silence that small voice in my head that says “If I managed it then it can’t have been all that hard”. The second is I seem to attract people who say to me “I could have done that if only I _____” or “You see it’s easy for you, because ______”.

    It seems if I am not going to pull down my achievements I will attract someone into my life to do it for me.

    I feel sad when people diminish what I have done, but I feel just as sad when I hear people say they would like to do this or that but never make a commitment to their self. People get stuck in ruts doing all the same things and wondering why they have the same results in their lives.

    My brother was stuck in a life and basically nuked it. He went from an office job and mortgage to enrolling in a music school and renting in London. We all feared for him but it was the best thing he ever did with his life. He has gone from existing to thriving. It took an amazing amount of courage to face all the people who thought they knew what was best for him.

    The fact is when we have a goal we want to accomplish, it is far easier to find reasons to not do the the thing. When you look at someone else’s accomplishments we think it is obvious they would do such a thing. Of course they did. You can see everything that lead up to that moment as clear as if stepping stones were laid out for them. For our selves these things are much harder to achieve. (In our heads).

    Hindsight makes things look that way but everything we do of any importance has one vital ingredient. One thing separates “dream” from “ambition”.

    The decision to take decisive action.

    “the moment one definitely commits oneself then divine providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred and which no man could have dreamed would have come their way.” — William Hutchinson Murray

    Sounds mystical but it is true. Once you make that mental shift in your head, once you actually put yourself in gear and decide, things move to help you. It’s almost like while you are thinking over plan B and C you are causing a jam in the universe.

    Dream and the way will be clear
    Pray and the angels will hear
    Leap and the net will appear

    These are lyrics from a song by Christine Kane. That line “Leap and the net will appear” is a fantastic phrase that sums up this whole thought.

    If you are considering, deliberating, or planning something without having made that real decision to do, think on it. Nothing good will come from planning alone, you have to make it happen.

    Decide what you want to happen then put your whole self behind that decision. Your future self will be grateful you did!

  • How Can Bloggers Sell Services?

    You might already have seen these videos from Michael Stelzner, maybe on another blog or you might have seen me tweet (about four times, heh) how good they are. If not, go take a look now.

    Why am I pushing you to go look at videos on White Papers?

    Very simple reason really. It’s because this approach to attracting business is exactly in line with what I have been telling people with Authority Blogging. You give away unique and useful information, you set out a compelling argument or approach, this builds trust and credibility. What I call flagship content could easily be a white paper.

    The trick is, of course, to give away ideas and tactics, and sell the specific step by step and implementation. “If you would like advice on implementing everything you learned about here contact 800-…”. No hard sell, no cold-calls. You build your list and create sales leads purely through people being drawn to what you offer, not through pushing for deals.

    This is a perfect approach for bloggers. We give valuable information away all the time.

    Of course Mike is hoping that through his videos you will become intrigued enough to sign up to his list so you can receive them all. You really should. There is some great stuff there, especially if you have never written a white paper.

    How do I know to trust Michael? You might remember back when I was writing over at Copyblogger, he was writing there too. He certainly impressed me with his depth of knowledge and most importantly his results.

    White papers do bring in business. I know because they have worked for me when working for marketing agencies, and my free ebook has brought back leads from people I didn’t even know had seen it. I might call it a report, an ebook, a briefing or an article, but the ideas and approaches are always similar. Give info, get them hooked, reel them in.

    Go watch the free videos, then if you already have a free ebook, take a look at the closing pages. Do you have a call to action there? If not, get one. If you don’t have a free ebook, consider writing one. You can achieve a lot with only 8 or so pages.

    Of course if you are really stuck you could always hire me to create your flagship content for you ;) (see what I did there?)

  • Blogging Freqency Thoughts

    One aspect of my presentation over the weekend that I have been giving some thought to is the value of fewer, more in depth articles versus many shorter posts.

    Traditionally people would look to the top blogs like BoingBoing and think to be successful in blogging you need to post many times a day. Recently though on the blogs I work on I have seen more benefit from scheduling planned, deep and promoted content.

    I wonder if services such as Twitter are taking the ground that the rapid fire posting blogs used to hold. Could it be that blogs will more be for the content that can’t be delivered in a few lines?

    This is all from the blogger perspective though, what of the reader? As a reader, which do you prefer? Please vote in the poll and say why in the comments?

    As a reader, what type of posting do you prefer?
    [Continued …]

  • SOBCon Report – Landed Home

    People of SOBCon08

    While of course I am happy to be home with my family there is a part of me that is already missing the people of SOBCon. I am full up with a cold now, some strange foreign nasty I picked up on my travels, but even so I am on a high.

    The subtitle of the conference should have been “Hugfest 2008″. I have never had the quantity and quality of hugs from so many people. This will be one of my enduring take aways and I am deadly serious. Until the internet can deliver a hug experience, ie. an unmistakable and deep human connection, we will need to keep going to events such as SOBCon (especially SOBCon).

    Liz told me what to expect but of course the reality can never be done justice with words, it has to be experienced.

    As far as learnings, my head is still buzzing. Every single person I met gave me a new, fresh and invigorating perspective. There are people using this social media stuff for everything from adversity, to parenting to health. We had an expert on making sales coming from the other direction and wanting to make community, and we had the guys with community asking how they can make sales without losing the trust of their audience. A lot to process. I am sure there are lots of reports popping up all over and I will try to link to some in a future post.

    One thing is for sure. You have to make SOBCon09.