Search Results for ‘blogging’
Blog Stats, Comments and Being a Pro
Last post I talked about adding photos and videos to your site as well as promoting your blog on social networking sites. Today’s tips are about the look of your blog, blog statistics and building relationships with your readers.
Tip # 7 ~ Make your blog look professional. Make it easy to navigate and find things. Use the tools in your blog software to add keywords, word tags and categories. Add a site map to your blog so visitors can do a quick search of topics that interest them. If a calendar will enhance the visitor experience, add a calendar. Create a blogroll of blogs you follow. This is your way of referring other blogs to your reader.
Tip #8 ~ Keep track of your blog metrics/statistics. Most blog software either has the stats feature built in or has a plugin you can use to keep track. Things to know are you most commented on posts, most popular posts, inbound links and referrals and more. What questions or keywords are being used to find your blog in the search engines? Google Analytics, Woopra, and Statcounter can give you lots of data such as where your hits are coming from.
Knowing what your most popular posts are lets you know what your readers read and are attracted to. This can help you hone in on the messages that resonate with others. Check your blog stats on a regular basis. Some bloggers check their blog stats at least once a day and others once a week. Checking blog statistics can be addicting so you must determine how often you should check the stats to get the information you need.
Tip #9 ~ Develop relationships with your readers. Respond to their comments, visit their sites and leave a comment. Drop them an email and thank them for commenting. Find out more about the people who are interested in what you have to say. If someone is leaving a comment, chances are they want to be noticed. Make sure you notice them. If you like what they have written on their own blogs or websites, find ways to mention them on yours.
Answer questions in your comments section and ask your readers questions. When you respond to your readers comments it lets them know that you are reading what they say and it validates their reasons for leaving comments in the first place. This may also encourage others to also leave a comment on your blog and others. One of the coolest tools that I just learned about is CommentLuv at www.commentluv.com. Every time someone leaves a comment on your blog it automatically shows the title of their latest blog post.
CommentLuv was recently added to all my blogs ~ I will let you know if it increases followers or not. Everyone I have spoken with who has it on their blog, loves it!
April 24th, 2009
A few weeks ago I had the chance to listen in on a seminar hosted by Shannon Cherry and Ready Talk. It was about increasing event attendance to Teleseminars and Webinars. And I just came across my notes and thought I’d share them with you.
1. Find your voice – Shannon said it is important to know what it is you want to accomplish with the event. Will the event position you as an expert at something? Will it add value to your audience? Will hosting it add to your database or bottom line (or both)? Do you know what you want to say? Who is webinar for? (Demographics)
2. Develop Key Messages ~ Attract more prospects. get more attendees. Make more money, become the expert in your field
3. Use marketing tools available such as press releases.
A. There are basically 3 types of press releases: 1) the basic announcement 2) a tips release with bullets and ideas to reinforce the event and 3) the bonus offered for sign up release.
She said to post on all release distribution sites and traditional media every 2.5 to 3 weeks 10 weeks prior. Some of the sites she recommended include: Theopenpress, pr buzz, prcompass, prurgent, press-base, pressabout, pressmethod, prleap, prlog.org,
B. Email campaigns - Event listings, feature write ups, articles on topic that link to event – 9 weeks prior
Also solo listings to announce event, benefits of event and a last call (Shannon said solo listings are much better than ezines etc.)
C. Joint Venture Opps – Find others with similar traffic market and ask if they will promote to their list ~ if event has a fee, have affiliate commission, if not offer to help promote their stuff as well
D. Write 3 articles on topics webinar covers ~ ezinearticles.com, amazines.com, ideamarketers.com, goarticles.com starting 8 weeks out – send out one per week.
E. Blogging ~ tweak content to make original, create six new pieces of content to post to blog 6 weeks out one per week
F. Social media ~ every time you post on your blog send a brief chatty post (headline) using ping.fm to post to all social media sites at once ~ go to startupspark.com – get code for free there
Go to www.beheardsolutions.com/ReadyTalkwebinar.htm for checklists and timeline
OTHER TIPS:
Put contact at bottom of release, not at top! News should be more important than you!
After registration: Send confirmation email thank you for registering, with details to attend ~ also the day before send a reminder follow up.
Post your event to Craig’s list.
How do we make money with free teleseminars? You can now market to list, they can sign up for your newsletter ~ they are now in the marketing funnel and will start getting your stuff…
CAUTION: Only send emails that would add value to your recipient. Otherwise you will be thought of as a spammer and folks will ask to be removed from your list. Be careful to respect their time and above all their privacy. Even when I get the registrant into my “funnel” they may only hear from me once every 3 to four months unless of course they sign up for one of my offerings and then it will depend on how often that system sends information and offers to the list.
BTW, on November 7th I interviewed Eddie Peters of 4Profit Marketing about this very subject. He gave some great tips and also made an incredible offer to our guests. He has a Marketing system worth over $1,200 and he offered it to anyone who signed up for his session for only $99. If you want to learn more, send me an email to heidi (at) redheadmarketingblog.com. I will pass on the details.
Also, on December 4th I will be speaking at the International Association of Hispanic Meeting Professionals on “How to Leverage Social Networking to Grow Your Business.” If you live in or will be in San Diego at that time, you can register for this event. It takes place Dec. 3-6th. Here’s the link: http://www.iahmp.org/iahmp_folder/annu_conference/iahmp_annual_conference.htm
Hope to see you there!
December 10th, 2008
personalized postcards and greeting cards have been our number one stay in touch method. We have found them to be a great “buzz generator.” The system we use is called SendOutCards and since I have been using it, have had thank you notes for our thank you notes, phone calls thanking me for thinking of them in such a personalized way and everyone so far has said they are “keepers.”
Continue Reading November 7th, 2008
National Blog Posting Month – Have a blog? Thinking about starting one? If you answered yes to either of these questions then November is the perfect time for you. Blogs, once considered just for writers and politicians have gone mainstream over the past few years and corporate America and small businesses around the world have a blog. In fact, Millions of people around the blogosphere are gearing up for National Blog Post month. Some of them started back in 2007!
Check out what my good friend Dina Giolitto of Wordfeeder.com did last year during the holiday season. She wrote the 24 Days of Blogging Christmas and invited people to sign up for her blogroll and commit to blog every day leading up to Christmas. Check it out at: http://wordfeeder.com/24-blogging-days.htm
Be sure to promote your blogs by visiting other bloggers and commenting on their blogs during Blog Posting Month.
My other blogs are Where Women Prosper, WE Magazine for Women, Inventing Women, Success and Then Some and Tulips Talk!
Make a commitment to double your blog posts this month! And leave a comment here so I can check out your blog and leave a comment too.
November 2nd, 2008
“I don’t believe in email. I’m an old-fashioned girl. I prefer calling and hanging up.”
Sarah Jessica Parker
Last year on one of the blogs I discontinued, I wrote the following and thought it would be good for all those who may suffer from the same addition I do… the addiction to read email the moment you hear the little sound your computer makes when you recieve a new message.
Here’s the post:
This is so frustrating! I have been trying to check my email for the past 2 hours with absolutely no luck! It appears that my inbox cannot connect with the server hosting my email. And I am about to go bonkers. You see, I have tons of work to get done today (yesterday was a holiday in the US) just to catch up with the week.
I have emails to check, emails to send, blog posts to write and more.
Today I realized that I’m an addict! And email junkie! Seldom a day goes by when I don’t check email first thing when I get to work and again last thing before I leave the office for the day. In fact, since I started blogging I even open up email at home and check it! I’m addicted to my inbox!
Once I realized that I could not check email today, at least not right now, I thought, there’s gotta be other things I can do besides check my email. So here I am writing a blog post about it, and hoping (praying really) that I will be reconnected soon.
It also got me thinking, just how productive can I be if I’m always online attached at the fingertips to my inbox?
After all, I have articles I can write, my magazine needs to be be proofread, bills could be paid (now there’s a thought more painful than not being able to check my email), and I have lots of files to go through and clean out.
Is there a cure? Is there an Email Addicts Anonymous group I could join? And the real question is, do I really want to?
Oh, well since I am going through withdrawal I might as well get busy and start on some of those other items on my “to do list.” Maybe I should take Sarah Jessica Parker’s advice and use the phone!
Well, at least one of the items on my list is now done for the day 
!
September 20th, 2008
Excerpt from Promoting Your Business on the WEB Special Report.
Start a Business Blog. Blogs are search engine friendly, which simply means the search engines index them almost instantly (as opposed to websites which can take weeks to get indexed). Blogging platforms such WordPress, Typepad and Blogger, allow you to build a complete website by adding pages that contain links to your products, as well as other resources you recommend. I started out using Blogger and now use WordPress (both the free and paid versions) for five of my seven blogs.
Blogs can be used to create multiple streams of passive income because they allow you to add all types of ads to your blog. You can use your blog posts to write product reviews such as the ones Café Mom does. You can review those affiliate products related to your services and products. You can also use your blog to disseminate information, such as articles, free reports, and other industry specific resources. With a blog you can establish your expertise in a particular genre, topic or industry.
Take Darran Rowse as an example. Darran started a blog called ProBlogger as a way to catalog all the information he learned about blogging (while doing so) and others found it interesting. Because of Darran’s expertise, he has established himself as the go-to person on the topic of blogging and currently has more than 100,000 subscribers to his blog. When you establish your expertise as Darran has done, you are solving problems for your followers which helps you build your brand and sell more products and services.
Make the most of Technorati.com – (Currently tracking 98.4 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media) and Digg.com (a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web). Build relationships with other bloggers by visiting and leaving comments. Try microblogging with Twitter.com and check out Entrecard (your business card 2.0). Entrecard is a 125×125 image which represents you and your blog. It’s part advertisement and part business card. It comes with a widget you place on your blog, so that others can leave their Entrecard for you. You can also use Entrecard to promote your blog and launch free advertising campaigns. Both FREE.
Want more ideas to promote your business on the WEB? Get a FREE copy of the 8-page Special Report Promoting Your Business on the WEB TODAY!
By the way, you can listen to an interview with Darran when you subscribe to our Blogging for Business Audio Program. More than 13 hours of content and you can Save $20 when you use this link to order!
September 5th, 2008
Instead of the usual tips and advice I thought it would be fun to post something different today. I was experimenting with a wordsearch program for the Grow a Million Dollar Business Summit and the results were great so I decided to also create a wordsearch for Social Networking.
You can test your detective skills and your patience with this all-new Social Networking Wordsearch puzzle. If you want to know the answers, please leave a comment on any one of the posts at Redhead Marketing then send me a message with “Social Networking Puzzle Answers” in the subject line. I will send you the link to the KEY.
If you are not participating in social networking either by blogging, being on forums, taking advantage of social networking sites and platforms, you may be missing out on an untapped audience of prospects and customers. Social networking is a great way to share your own resources, find resources and learn from others and oh yes, do some business.
In fact, you can learn a lot about Blogging and Social Networking when you listen to the Women’s eCommerce Association Blogging for Business Audio Program. You can save $20 when you purchase the program before September 15th!
Looking forward to hearing from you!
August 24th, 2008