August 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Blog Posts: They Don’t Have to Be Epic

Sometimes we over-think things.  We are waiting for the perfect blog post.  Sometimes we have an idea for a post but we think we need to make it epic.  So we wait until we have time to do it “right”.

But it never happens.

Here’s some advice.  Just get it out there.  It doesn’t have to be epic.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  They don’t have to be the perfect length.  They don’t have to be released at the perfect time.

I’m not saying to just pump out crap for the sake of blogging.  You need to have some quality work.  But sometimes we get stuck.  When that happens, you just need to do it.  Break the seam.  Put some of those thoughts into action and don’t wait until it’s perfect.  You can do that next time :)

Here are some thoughts on Epic Blog Posts.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments below.

 

Filed Under: blogging, Pep Talk
April 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Blogging 101 for Business

This was part of a series of webinars I am doing for the Business Lunch Series at the Vernon Area Public Library.

 

Lots of great information in this hour-long webinar and we had some great Q&A at the end.

Some of the highlights we discussed were:

  • Four reasons blogging can help your business get found on the web
  • How to choose the right blog platform for your business
  • Integrating your blog into your website
  • Five essential plugins that will make blogging easier
  • Best practices to ensure your blogging success
Some of the resources I mentioned were:
Hosting sites:
www.Hostgator.com  (What I use – love them!)

 

Plugins:

 

Resources for setting up a blog:
Find free tutorials online – a good resource is Denise Wakeman’s Blog:  www.BuildaBetterBlog.com

 

Get a fantastic step-by-step program that will help you get a custom theme, install your header, and build a WordPress website you love with Site Setup Kit
They also have a free webinar tutorial here:  “Love Your Website” webinar

 

Or you can hire a WordPress designer to transfer your website into WordPress, or build a whole new website from scratch.  Typically $750-2500 and up.

 

I also do one-on-one consulting and can help with blogging questions and strategy.  More info here:  social media coaching

 

How about you?  Are you blogging for business?  What questions do you have about starting your blog?  Put them in the comments below!
Filed Under: blogging, Favorite Posts
November 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Hot Blogging Tips with Denise Wakeman

I got to chat with the fabulous Denise Wakeman, blogging expert, at BlogWorld in LA.  She gave some great tips for getting started with your blog and how to avoid some of the biggest blogging mistakes.  Watch for all her great tips.

You can find Denise online at www.DeniseWakeman.com and www.Facebook.com/BlogSquad.  We also talk about her latest program www.SocialMediaBizSchool.com.  She will be presenting “Creating Your Editorial Calendar: How to be More Efficient and Save Time on Your Blog” on Monday, November 7th.  You still have time to sign up!  All the classes are recorded and available for replay in case you miss it.  More info at www.SocialMediaBizSchool.com.

 

BlogWorld tips from Rich Brooks and Denise Wakeman

I also wanted to include some of the fabulous tips provided by Denise and Rich at the BlogWorld LA session I attended.

Their session was titled:  How to Package, Promote & Profit from Your Expertise and focused on making money from products as a result of all your hard work blogging!

You can find Rich on Twitter at @therichbrooks and Denise is @denisewakeman

Great tips on how to get ideas on what types of products to create:

  • Go to Google and start typing “How to train….” or How to …. whatever and see what the suggested search ideas are.  Then you can see what are popular searches in the drop-down list.
  • Poll your audience.
  • Go to Quora and see what’s being asked.
  • Go to LinkedIn Answers and find out what types of questions people are asking about in your niche.

Not only do you want to create products to make money but they also elevate your standing.

Ask your connections what they want.

Use your blog posts of your highest traffic posts, collect them, edit them, and create an e-book.

Create an e-book to sell on Amazon for Kindle – sell it for an amazing price like 99 cents.  Tell them they can get a free MP3 (or other bonus) by going to your site and opting in.  Now you know who bought the product on Amazon, and you are getting paid to collect leads.  Those people are in your world and they may buy something more expensive from you later.

Create a CD with webinars, MP3s, and e-books for a complete package of products.

Easily integrate ways to collect money for your products with different shopping cart options.

Denise and Rich put together a HUGE list of resources for making money with your blog on Denise’s website, including all the slides from the session.  Definitely go and check that out:  http://denisewakeman.com/how-to-package-promote-and-profit-from-your-expertise-resources/

And, as Denise says, Blog on!

Filed Under: blogging, BlogWorld, Favorite Posts
December 28, 2010 by 9 Comments

6 Places to Find Ideas for Blog Posts

Brain freeze!  Gotta get the blog post out and feeling fresh out of ideas?  Here are 6 great places to find ideas for your new blog post.

1.  Questions on your Facebook Page.  Are people asking questions there?  If so, turn it into a blog post!  Or even a recent discussion you had with people there can be turned into a post.  If you don’t have a lot of activity yet on your page (make sure you are letting people know that they can post questions there), go to a competitor’s page and see if there are questions posted on their page that might be a good post.

2.  E-mail questions.  If you have a list of e-mail subscribers, you may be getting questions or comments from them that could be handy.

3.  LinkedIn Answers.  Go into your LinkedIn account, click on the More button on the menu bar and select Answers.  See what questions are being asked there in your area.  Type in some keywords into the search bar to narrow it down to your niche.

4.  WordTracker Questions.  WordTracker is a keyword search tool but they also have a feature that tracks what questions are being asked on the search engines.

5.  Other blogs.  Make sure you are subscribing to other blogs with Google Reader and keeping track of blogs in your industry.  You can also find blogs listed by category at Alltop.

6.  Twitter Search.  Do a search on your keywords and see what people are talking about.  You don’t have a Twitter account to do this.  Click on the Advanced link and put some question words in the search along with your keyword to see if people are asking questions about your topic.

Watch my video to see how to use these tools.  I also give away my secret to good meatloaf in the video.  How about you, where are your best places to find blog posts ideas?

Filed Under: archive, blogging
December 30, 2009 by 6 Comments

How and Why to Comment on Blogs

If you have never commented on a blog before, now is your time! Stop lurking around and post a comment! Why? Here are some fantastic reasons:

  1. Participate in the conversation.  Commenting on blog posts is a great way to enter in the community.  You don’t have to have any deep insights, you can just say thanks or you  don’t agree or whatever people, don’t overthink it! Put the Social into Social Media.
  2. Get more visibility in your niche.  Find blogs in your niche and when you have something intelligent to say, people will start to look to you as an expert.  Plus you are connecting with the blogger – bloggers love comments.  Unless they are spammy – don’t be spammy!  You know how Grandma feels about spamminess!
  3. Find new people to visit your site.  When you leave a comment, you leave a link to your website that people can click on (usually by clicking on your name) and visit your site.  I regularly get a lot of new visits to my website from the comments I leave.
  4. Sometimes you will get a backlink to your site which Google loves.  Some blogs have the “no follow” tag set up so you essentially don’t get credit for the link back to your site (to prevent spammy people from gaming Google).  But that’s ok.  Participate anyway!

Allrighty – now you know why, let’s get to how.  Before you comment on a blog, you want have your picture next to it.  All that branding you are doing out there.  First go to www.gravatar.com and enter in your e-mail and upload your picture. Do the same at www.disqus.com

Then you are ready to comment! Do it here, do it now or find another blog – just go! Watch the video for more information.

Filed Under: blogging, Favorite Posts Tagged With: