Christian

10 Mistakes to Avoid When Promoting Your Blog

By Christian

When it comes to building an audience for your blog…one that keeps coming back…one that you build a real relationship with…there is a lot of work to be done.

I just yesterday had a guest post on David Risley’s site that covers 10 of the smartest things you can do to promote your blog. I encourage you to check it out. There are also a lot of mistakes that can be made, and that’s what this post is about. Combine these two articles, and I think you’ll be off on the right foot!

Submitting to hundreds of directories: Lisa Irby described this type of method very well pretty recently. I agree with her take on it. Look, we all know that in-bound links are good. This isn’t a secret. But keep in mind that not all links are created equal. If a directory is going to accept anyone that submits, do you think Google doesn’t know that? Unimportant, easily acquired links really just aren’t going to do much for you. If you have all the time in the world on your hands, then by all means feel free to submit to hundreds of directories and get their links, but your time is better spent on writing good content, interacting with your readers, or drinking a good beer with friends.
Automatic blog commenting: Another thing that’s not a secret is blog commenting. Leaving comments on other blogs is a great way to build name recognition and get traffic to your site. So why not automate it? Here’s why…because it’s spam. Yes, there are tools that enable you to leave tons of comments on other people’s blogs with just a few clicks. And no, I’m not going to mention them :). I’m a fan of automation when it’s appropriate, but auto-commenting is not only ineffective, but it’s also a way to damage your brand, not help it.
Not using self-hosted WordPress: Yes, there are easier, simpler, quicker ways to get a blog fired up. But none of those easier paths will give you the control you will require later on. I don’t mean to imply self-hosted WordPress is the only way to go. It’s not. But if you’re new to blogging, and you want to do this for business, the learning curve is worth it. Trust me, after you’ve been blogging for even a short time, you’re really, really going to want to be able to tweak some things, optimize your site and take things to the next level, and if you’re on a platform that doesn’t give you that control, your creativity is going to be stifled. That’s not a good thing. If you want to skip the learning curve altogether and just get a rocking professional blog site up without a hassle, just hire me to do it for you.
Putting up Ads from Day 1: I don’t mean this critically of anyone who wishes to advertise on their blog. I will probably advertise on Next Level at some point; it’s a good way to make some cash. However, this is a post about mistakes often made in marketing, and while I believe success in blogging is largely subjective, I also believe that a lot of new bloggers equate getting some Adsense clicks as success. Here’s the bottom line: If making $5 a month is your goal, go for it. Not everyone is in this blogging game to make money. I get it. But if your goal is not to make money, why are you putting up ads? And if you’re goal IS to make money, I seriously question whether $5 a month is going to do it for you! And that’s what you’re going to get when you’re first starting…$5 a month, so just skip it. NOTHING is more valuable than your time. When you’re getting a few hundred solid visitors a day or more, look into advertising then. At least then it will be enough to cover your hosting expenses! Til then, focus on content and building your brand. It is a way better return on your time.
Put up your blog, write one or two posts and complain about how you’re not getting any traffic: Any business endeavor worth doing takes time and effort. I’m not saying it’s going to take years to build a successful business. It won’t. Not if you’re working it like you should be. In fact, building an income online is fairly simple and doesn’t have to take that long…but the effort still needs to be there. Even the gurus like John Reese work their asses off prior to a launch. Yes, they may rake in a few million bucks doing it, but the wrong assumption to make it that it was easy to do. I’m not saying you can’t make really good money doing this. Clearly, you can. But even Frank Kern, the king of lazy, openly admits to working long, hard hours when necessary. It doesn’t mean you can’t kick back and live a good life, but the work has to be done. If you want results, you have to do the work.
Beg your friends to stop by and comment your blog: It is not comments that you lack when you’re trying to build a new blog. It is community. This is another example of good energy being focused in the wrong place. Allowing your blog to grow organically takes patience, but it is the best return on your time. Additionally, unless your blog covers a truly universally appealing niche, it is unlikely your friends are ideal visitors to your blog anyway.
Buy traffic from a traffic broker: This is a complete waste of time. Wanting traffic is understandable. Pay-per-click traffic can be used well, but it can also get expensive very quickly. But traffic that comes from a broker (i.e. GET 10,000 VISITORS TO YOUR SITE FOR $39.95) comes mostly from pop-under windows or other similar methods. It is basically forced traffic, and it is not valuable.
Blast out an email to everyone in your database about your new blog: It is natural to want to tell everyone about your new blog. But who do you have in your database? Is it really just close friends? If so, OK. But most people’s contacts are filled with a lot more besides just close friends. Coworkers, business contacts, vendors you’ve done business with in the past, etc. If someone has not specifically asked for updates from you regarding your new blog, it is spam for you to blast a message out. Just because you tentatively know someone does not mean you can email them about anything, even if it’s really cool! You’re not forwarding them cute pictures of cats and funny political cartoons too, are you? : )
Use social networks solely for promoting your blog: No one likes someone who only talks about themselves. Social networking sites are for conversation. It is perfectly fine to tweet out links to your site and such. I do it. I recommend you do it also. But doing it incessantly, or if your twitter stream or any other status updates are 100% (or even 50%) links to your blog, you need to reconsider what your motive is for being a part of that network. If your main motivation is to promote your blog, you will be well-served to reprioritize . Brutal truth: if all you’re doing is promoting yourself, your “friends” aren’t listening anyway.
Constantly tweak your site: Everyone who has a blog wants their blog to look great, work great and be great. It’s important to work on the design and functionality of your site. Right now for example, I’m having some issues with some of my files taking way to long to download, and it’s causing my pages to load way too slowly. I apologize if this page took too long to load…I’m working on it! But here’s the thing…you only have so much time, and prioritizing is absolutely essential. I’m going to fix this slow page load issue, no doubt, but not before I make my contacts and write content for the day. First things first. Design, plugins, etc can really work for you. They’re important. But there is no such thing as a blog design or a specific plugin that’s going to make your business a success. Likewise, you can have the ugliest blog ever, but if your content is awesome and you build a community that is engaged and loves what you do…the ugliness of your blog just won’t matter. Work on the fine details of your site, but focus on the important stuff…do the important stuff first.

I write these tips because when I was first getting started, I did most of these things. I never did auto-blog commenting, but I did look into it. I DID email everyone in my database to promote my very first internet marketing project. What a disaster. I’ve made mistakes, no doubt. And you will too…surely you’ll be able to write your own list of 10 things to avoid, and I’d LOVE to hear about them in the comments! But hopefully I can at least help you avoid these 10 mistakes, so you can make better use of your time and get better results quicker 🙂

A Key to Blogging Success: Fun is Mandatory

By Christian

There are so many things to talk about when it comes to making your blog successful. I’ve written 70 posts in the last couple months and I can already tell I haven’t even scratched the surface. Writing Next Level Blogger is going to be a blast! I wish the same enthusiasm for you and your blog. In fact, I want to make a quick argument as to why fun is not just nice; it’s actually the most important element of making your blog successful.

The technical aspects of successful blogging, internet marketing, seo and the like can consume you. There is a lot to learn. The flip side of that coin is that these technical aspects are also valuable. While I do believe it’s essential to take the time to learn the technical basics of blogging, I ALSO believe it’s essential to take a step back from learning at some point, and focus on DOING. The fact may seem self-contradictory, but it’s absolutely true.

The various aspects of success are very complicated, but achieving success is simple. It is not necessary to understand success in order to have it.

So the real question is this: do you want to understand every detail of what it takes to build a successful blog, or do you want to have a successful blog? It’s not necessary to do both!

In other words, you can read all day every day for the next year and still have a lot more to learn when it comes to search engine optimization, ppc, converting leads, etc. Or you can study a bit and then make the decision to IMPLEMENT on what you’ve learned. I recommend the latter.

It’s Smart to Be Dumb. Here’s why…

Why would you choose to implement when you clearly still have so much more to learn? Isn’t it better to learn as much as possible to make sure you’re doing things right? Actually, no. It’s a lot better to be out there hustling than it is to worry about doing everything perfectly.

The reason you choose to implement NOW rather than later, is because you have an idea that excites you…excitement and fun are the elements that are going to carry you through, not technical mastery. Trust me, if you’re having fun you are doing it right. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to work your tail off, but when it’s fun, it’s not really work, is it?

The Success Myth

It’s a myth that successful people do everything right…that they really have their act together…that they’re highly intelligent and sophisticated…that they’re more talented than you. It’s all B.S. The only thing necessary to get huge results is to put yourself out there. Yes, you will fail sometimes, and that’s OK. It’s also a myth that successful people don’t fail. They fail a lot. But they also never stopping hustling. That’s what it takes.

It might sound overly simplistic, but it’s just the way it is. The problem is this: most of us who haven’t achieved the success we feel we deserve just haven’t put ourselves out there enough. We may feel like we’re working very hard, but we’re working hard on the minutia of our business…we’re not hustling. We’re schlepping. It’s not fun to schlep. Schlepping does take care of minor details. But it doesn’t make big money. It doesn’t attract a large readership. It doesn’t achieve much at all in the grand scheme of things.

That’s why I’m arguing that the most important element of making your blog successful is fun. When it’s fun, you work hard, you never stop, you learn constantly, and when you fail you can’t wait to get right back in there.

It doesn’t take any less than this to make any business endeavor work, and blogging is no different.

If you want your business blog to rock, YOU have to rock. And if you want to rock…day in and day out…you simply have to be having fun. It’s absolutely essential!

You need to NOT concentrate on the small details. Don’t schlep. You need to concentrate on the big picture, and the big picture needs to be something that is absolutely exciting to you. It needs to wake you up at night because you can’t wait to get back at it in the morning. That’s what successful bloggers do. It’s what successful business owners in all areas do. They work 24/7, and they love every minute of it. Fun is mandatory.

Action is All that Matters

My hope for this post is to simply illustrate how important it is to act. Reading this blog and others in this space is a very smart thing to do, but the BIGGEST thing you can do to become successful is the simplest of all…dive in. Why? Because it’s fun. And fun is not only an absolute prerequisite to success, it’s also the most important ingredient to success. If you want this to work, it has to be fun!

Why It Really Is This Simple

The fact is you learn more by doing than by studying. Yes, you’re gonna make mistakes. Probably some really big mistakes. Who cares? The biggest secret to making a successful business blog is to make it FUN! That’s really the number one feature of any successful business venture anyway, isn’t it?

If you have a topic that you’re absolutely passionate about, launch it. Get out there and do it. If it’s fun, you will feel like me…that you have an endless amount of content you can produce, that the more you do the more ideas you get. If you’re having fun, the ideas never stop coming, your creativity is bottomless, your energy is piqued. Every new goal achieved simply energizes you even more.

And here is the key: when you are energized by your business, when you’re excited to get at it every day, when you can’t wait to see what ground you can gain every day…THAT is the place you want to be. That excitement and fun makes up for a world of not knowing exactly how to do everything.

Here are a few things you may not have considered:

It doesn’t matter if your site is not designed perfectly.
It doesn’t matter if your ads are not perfectly optimized.
It doesn’t matter if your blog is not 110% search optimized.
If you’re having fun, and you’re pouring yourself into what you do every day…success is in the bag! It’s a done deal. Maybe not overnight, but it’s as good as yours. First, if you’re having fun, you’re already a success. Second, if you’re having fun, you’re going to stick with it until things click. And the whole ride will be a blast 🙂

If you take anything away from this post, take this:

The answers and solutions (all the minutia) will come to you automatically as a result of your success, and your success will come as a byproduct of your excitement and enthusiasm. Don’t wait to have all the answers before beginning. Begin. The details will take care of themselves. Act.

What if You’re Not Having Fun?

I write about blogging. From a technical standpoint, a blog can be created in about 5 minutes if you know what you’re doing. If you’re not having fun, start something else. Seriously. Quit what you’re doing and do what you love. It takes hard work and tenacity to rise to the top in any niche. Make it fun. Fun first; from there, success is automatic. Besides, if you’re grinding through every day to become “successful”, you’re never going to make it. Do you really want to have a hugely “successful” blog that you hate running? Make it something you love. That way, success is yours from day one.

What’s in a Business Name?

By Christian

Tweetlater.com is a service I’ve talked about on Next Level, and I’ve also recommended them in my latest ebook. It’s noteworthy since readers here may be using this service, they are changing their name. They will be called SocialOomph.com starting in a few days.

I don’t pretend to be breaking news here; they simply announced it this morning, and it made me want to comment on the value of the name of your business. It’s worth some thought. I personally think this is a really smart move for them. Twitter is a single site that may be big right now, but in a digital world, things come and go pretty quickly. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to base their company’s name on the name of another company that they do not control.

What would happen if Twitter went away, or evolved into something else…or what if they decided to change THEIR name? Ha. Do your own thing. That’s all I’m saying. Being thoughtful about how you name and position your business is pretty important stuff. A lot of internet marketers and bloggers skip this.

The Catch-22 of Branding Yourself: Picking Your Business Name Carefully

The event of TweetLater renaming themselves made me want to comment on how many bloggers choose to brand themselves. Most bloggers brand themselves…by that I mean they brand their personal image and their personal name. This can certainly be effective. But there are certain repercussions that I’d urge you to consider.

Why are you building your site to begin with? What ultimate goals are you shooting to acheive? These are important questions to answer. Think ahead to when you’ve been doing this a while and you want to move on to another project. Or retire, or take some time off at least. Are you creating something that can be sold later on? Are you building a site that is inextricably connected to YOU? Is that what you want to be doing?

Again, no problem with doing it that way. Just know that if you build a very successful and profitable property named after YOU, and it’s built around YOU, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to sell it to someone else later on.

Just something to consider. Plan your business…and plan for success 😉

Professional Blogging Free Ebook

By Christian

I want to call your attention please to the new page I’ve added to Next Level Blogger. Click the page “Professional Blogging Ebook“, and it will take you to a new page where you can download a free copy of a new ebook I just completed.

Or you can just download it directly right here!

47 pages of simple-to-follow, straight up content on how to use blogging and social networking effectively to promote your business online. Any professional or business owner who wants to get started using new media marketing tools will get a lot of great tips and free advice.

Here are a few of the topics covered in the report:

Why Blogging is Mandatory
The Rewards You Can Expect
Ways to Make Money
Writing Tips
SEO Tips
Techniques and Tricks
Automation
Twitter tools
Social Networking Tips and Tools
Over 100 links to recommended additional resources, articles, recommended sites, books and more

I spent several hours putting this together…I hope you find a lot of value in this report. Download it for free, share it with your friends and coworkers, and let me know what you think!

Your Feedback Rocks!

By Christian

Please use this survey to provide your personal feedback on Next Level Blogger. It’s my goal to make this site as valuable to my readers as possible. The more I hear from you, the more I can help! This survey has 10 questions and should take you only a minute or two.

Of course, only if you wish 🙂

Thank you very much!