“Is “Ooh, Shiny!” Destroying Your Blog?” plus 1 more |  |
| Is “Ooh, Shiny!” Destroying Your Blog? Posted: 30 May 2011 12:05 PM PDT This is the story of a blogger. He started his blog, taught himself about copywriting, and figured out who the one person he was writing for really was. He worked his tail off creating content. But his blog was a ghost town. There were no visitors, no comments … nothing. In a mad rush to find traffic, he created a Twitter account and followed every blogger he could think of. He tweeted and tweeted, but didn't get much traffic. A week later, he realized that Facebook might be a better way to go. He created a Fan page, added a Like button to his blog, and messaged all of his Facebook friends about his latest post. It didn't go viral, so he moved on to SEO. He bought a couple of courses, got himself listed in a bunch of directories, and created a linkwheel or two. This went on, and on, and on—to commenting, social bookmarking, PPC, email marketing, and back to content. And still, no traffic. Even worse, when anyone would search for him, they would find a dozen different half-finished social media profiles and pages. And this could all have been avoided… Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS)This fictional but archetypal blogger suffered from Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS). SOS is a serious problem, particularly for online entrepreneurs. Here's the general definition from Karen Greenstreet: "It’s not quite ADD/ADHD. It’s more that a new idea captures your imagination and attention in such a way that you get distracted from the bigger picture and go off in tangents instead of remaining focused on the goal." Why is this so common for new bloggers? It's a combination of two things:
That second item is a huge problem. They say that the person in an argument who has the strongest frame wins, and whenever it comes to traffic or blogging, no matter which authority blogger or guru you're reading, their frame will always be stronger, because they're farther than you are. The only problem is that their advice all seems so contradictory! What’s the best strategy?There are tons of strategies out there for growing a blog audience. Here are some of the big umbrella strategies:
Of course, each of these strategies comes complete with a host of different tactical options for you to choose from as well, and they aren't mutually exclusive (for example, even if you aren't a "Content is King" purist, you probably agree that great content has to go with whatever strategy you choose). Now, I do have my own favorite blog growth strategy, which is a combination of some of the above, but the most important thing is to avoid the worst strategy… What’s the worst strategy?I like some strategies more than others, but the absolute worst strategy is to keep on jumping from strategy to strategy and tactic to tactic. Whether your strategy of choice is content, community, social media, or SEO, it will take time, respectively, for your writing to get really good and in tune with your audience, the community to get to know who you are and what you're about, your social networks to notice what you're doing, or Google to realize that your content is good and you aren't a fly-by-night operation trying to game their algorithms. Whatever strategy you choose, you've got to give it the time to really start getting some traction, and gurus proclaiming astronomical overnight results notwithstanding, these things really do take time. Just as a for example, I've written over 20 guest posts since the beginning of the year, and only now am I starting to feel the benefits of a tiny bit of name recognition on the Internet. These things take time, particularly in an environment that is so shell-shocked from scams and empty promises bandied about by self-proclaimed gurus. What’s your strategy?You've got to pick a strategy, and stick with it—for two to three months of intense work, at the very least. But which strategy should you choose? Here is a checklist that you can use to evaluate whether a strategy is right for you:
Is it time to find a new strategy?Having chosen a strategy to focus on, it is absolutely critical that you stick with it long enough for it to make a difference and get some traction, and that usually takes longer than you think. Here are some questions that can guide you in deciding whether it's time to move on to a new strategy:
Okay, over to you. Can you think back on a strategy that you might have abandoned too soon, or that you never should have tried in the first place? What motivated you to do it? What strategies are working for you now? Please leave a comment and let me know. Danny Iny is an author, strategist, serial entrepreneur, and proud co-founder of Firepole Marketing, the definitive marketing training program for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-marketers. Visit his site today for a free cheat sheet about Why Guru Strategies for Blog Growth DON'T WORK… and What Does! Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger Is "Ooh, Shiny!" Destroying Your Blog?     |
| How to Get Your Guest Posts Accepted Every Time Posted: 30 May 2011 06:06 AM PDT This guest post is by Ali Luke of Aliventures. Maybe you've written guest posts, but they've been turned down. Maybe you don't feel brave enough to target a big blog, because you're afraid of rejection. You might see names popping up around the blogosphere with guest posts everywhere: I remember Glen Allsopp doing this a year or two back. And you might feel a little bit envious. How come they can get their posts on sites like ProBlogger and Copyblogger?  Copyright Yuri Arcurs - Fotolia.com It's about writing a great, targeted post that stands a very high chance of acceptance. And that's exactly what I'm going to teach you to do here. Step #1: Get into the right frame of mindA great guest post doesn't start with the words you type. It starts with your attitude. Some bloggers see guest posts as an opportunity to get a link from a high-PR site. I get pitches from these types of bloggers regularly, and I always turn them down. Their posts are uninteresting, regurgitated content—the sort of thing I'd expect to find in a huge content mill. Theirs certainly isn’t the vibrant, engaging writing which I want on my blog. A guest post is so much more than just a link back to your site. It's:
Your guest posts should be your best work. That way, they'll be much more likely to get accepted—and they'll bring you an awful lot of benefits. Step #2: Choose your target blog carefullyI know this is obvious, but I've had pitches from bloggers who clearly don't quite get it. Only target blogs that actually run guest posts. Many smaller blogs don't ever have guest posts, or very rarely accept them. Those bloggers might be keen to build up their own audience with their own voice—especially if they're blogging to promote their businesses. Look for a page aimed at guest posters, or look through the individual posts for any that say "This is a guest post from…", or that have a bio for someone other than the blog's owner. Of course, you'll probably know of plenty of blogs that accept guest posts. The tough part is deciding which blog to target. I'd suggest:
Step #3: Read the guest post guidelinesNot all blogs have submission guidelines for guest posts, but many big ones do. Look for a page called "Submission Guidelines," "Guest Post Guidelines," "Write for Us," or similar. The guidelines will usually let you know:
Here are a few examples:
Step #4: Study your target blogIf the blog doesn't have any submission guidelines, then you're going to need to do a bit of homework. And even if you do have a page of guidelines, it's still worth taking this step to maximize your chances of getting your guest post accepted. Go through the most recent five or ten posts on the blog. Find out:
You can take this analysis even further, and look for anything which seems to be missing: perhaps you've got an idea for a post which would be on-topic and which fills a gap in the blog's content. Studying your target blog also means finding out any unwritten rules. For instance, do guest posters tend to pitch their own products, or is that clearly a no-no? Is it okay to link back to your own blog once or twice in the body of the guest post? Is bad language acceptable? It only takes a few minutes to find these things out, but by doing so, you’ll avoid wasting your time by writing and submitting an unsuitable post. Step #5: Come up with several ideasWhen you're trying to write a great guest post, you need to start off with a strong idea. Don't pick the first thing that comes to mind—write down several possibilities, and decide which is going to give you the best chance of acceptance. There are plenty of different ways to generate blog post ideas. A couple of my favorites are:
If you have a couple of good ideas and you're not sure which to pick, try asking on Twitter or Facebook to see what your existing audience would find more useful. Step #6: Craft your post carefullyThere's plenty of great advice on ProBlogger about crafting posts (including Darren's excellent series), so I'm just going to run through some basics as a refresher.
A great way to add value to your guest post is to include links to other posts on your target blog. This creates a much better impression than trying to stuff your posts with links back to your own site—and it improves your chances of getting your post accepted. #7: Edit and proof-read your postWhen you publish posts on your own blog, it's not a disaster if a few typos sneak in. You can easily edit those posts, and your readers probably won't mind the occasional slip. When you're sending in a guest post, though, you want it to create the best possible impression. If a blogger is faced with the choice between a well-edited and typo-free post, or a hastily-written post with grammar and spelling mistakes, it's pretty obvious which one they'll pick. If grammar, spelling and proof-reading aren't your strong points, you might want to ask a friend to take a look at the post for you, before you send it off. Don't be surprised if your post gets accepted and then edited: it doesn't necessarily mean that there was anything wrong with your writing. Bloggers know their own blogs better than you do, and they may well tweak your post to make sure it's firmly on-message for the audience. #8: Include a short bioDon't forget to include a bio with your post, and a headshot, if the blog uses them. This saves the editor having to get back to you to ask for extra information. While this in itself won't usually stop them taking your post, it can mean that you'll have to wait longer to have that post published. Make sure your bio conforms to any guidelines. If you don't have guidelines, look at other guest post bios on the blog. You can normally assume that you'll be allowed:
And you're done! All you have to do now is send in the guest post. I know this can be a scary step (my first guest post for Copyblogger sat on my hard drive for days until I got up the courage to send it in). Don't agonize over it: just write a short, polite email and attach your post, then take a deep breath and hit Send. I'd love to hear about your own guest-posting successes (or disaster stories!) in the comments. Ali Luke has just launched Blog On, a hands-on ecourse that teaches bloggers how to write four popular types of post, through step-by-step guidance and focused exercises. (There's even a prize draw at the end, to help encourage you to get all four posts written.) You can find out all about it here. Registration is only open until Friday 3rd June. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How to Get Your Guest Posts Accepted Every Time     |
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