Recently, I created a blog strategy for a client that I thought was really pretty good.  Maybe a bit aggressive, but after reading Justin Kownacki’s post on “What I’ve Learned From Blogging Weekly Instead of Daily,” I thought that this strategy was pretty close to getting the sort of website traffic that I thought was needed to really make a difference.

It’s really pretty simple, as most things should be, and I know I don’t follow it myself, but as my parents told me several times, “Do as I say, not as I do.”  Let me know what you think or if you’ve created similar strategies.

Your Blog should have a purpose and strategy behind it to make sure that it works and doesn’t get blog rot.

Here are a couple questions to consider:

1. Why are we doing this?
   • because it’s fun?
   • to find business?
   • to show off our thought leadership?
   • increase customer engagement?
   • PR for media, news, social networking and other bloggers?
   • Improve search engine optimization?
   • Provide a way to disseminate information?
   • Recognize and promote employees, clients, partners, projects, etc.?
2. How will we know it’s successful. What metrics are we setting for ourselves?  Can we put numbers to this?
   • Analytics, increased traffic, time, pages, etc
   • Comments on blogs
   • Links to blog postings
   • Increased leads
   • SEO
   • Social Media mentions.

1. Purpose of the blog. The blog should show that you are a collection of experts that are not only knowledgeable in your respective fields, but excited about learning and sharing what you see, know, experience and demonstrate in your key business areas of expertise.

2. Solve a problem or identify a solved problem. This is somewhat related to number 1. Part of your strategy should be solving a problem, or another way to think about this is responding to issues from clients or to just find a way to be useful and relevant – with examples.

3. Be the Subject Matter Experts (SME). This will help determine your content strategy and help build your brand. Demonstrate what you’ve done and how it’s improved our success or our clients’ success.  Wave your own flag a bit.

4. Optimize our content for SEO. Do a bit more work to get the right titles and keywords for the post.  Find keywords that support the blog and the post.

5. Be honest, encourage 2 way conversations. Create content that is open and honest and is truly trying to offer solutions.  Give of yourselves without needing anything in return accept happy readers.

6. Monitor the world. Create searches on keyword or clients to watch what people are saying in the world.  Re-tweet, create a post about it or tell your client.  If there’s a client you’re trying to land, monitor what’s being said about them to find a way to respond. See Number 3 “Be the SME.”.

Some bullets on process:

• Address a business need
• Participate in other industry specific blogs, LinkedIn answers, business.com answers.  Guest post both ways whenever possible.
• Encourage online reviews of your work
• Be strategic not trendy
• Focus on long-term engagement, not a short term hit.
• Social media is NOT an experiment.  It is a proven, strategic, integrated part of your website.
• Test, Measure, Optimize, Repeat.
• Frequency: 1 major article per week, several supporting per week – create a schedule and trade off.
• Social connections.  Connect the blog to pre-determined set of social media outlets.  Don’t do all of them, but go deep in the ones we do.
• Take into account customers, competition, your Unique Value Proposition.

Just as we’re building more and more Facebook apps (stay tuned, they’re pretty cool) it seems more users are bailing on Facebook and committing Facebook Suicide, if they can find the link. So, in case your curious, here’s a link to more info about this.

How do I delete my Facebook account?

For a couple years now I’ve been feeling the need to not promote building traditional websites anymore, but instead to help clients be part of the conversation around their product and let that lead them to what they need to do online. Back when we started building websites more than 13 years ago, they were a very static thing. Difficult to build, modify and add on to, and yet, the thing everybody wanted and needed to help market themselves. So how’d that work out? Pretty well for a while, until 2001 when people finally realized a sock puppet couldn’t sell dog food very well.

Their motto? “Pets.com, because pets can’t drive.” Well, they can’t buy online either…

Where am I going with this? Well, today I saw a twitter feed from @LenKendall that went to a website  from DigitalBuzz.com with stats for website trends for large brands and then stats for the social media websites.  Company website stats are falling while social media stats are rising… quickly.

The author, Aden Hepburn, suggests two main reasons.  First, that people are spending all their time on social networks and getting the info they need there, and that they’re getting info via RSS feeds and from the very same social networks to which the brands are pushing information.

This doesn’t really mean that the big brands are getting less and less popular, but that they are and need to be pushing more content into Social Media to be successful.  And sure enough, many of them are.

And while the Pets.com sock puppet was funny for a while, it didn’t yet capture the social media in a way that was meaningful and profitable (according to Wikipedia, they were “selling merchandise for approximately one-third the price it paid to obtain the products.”)

So, according to DigitalBuzz.com:

The fact is, agencies and brands will need to work out how to deliver the relevant content, branding and experiences they are currently achieving on their own websites, into highly competitive social networks, feeds, apps and widgets, where every “campaign” or “offer” has to be groundbreaking just to get noticed… and then there was tracking…!

In short, It’s all about the Conversation.  Are you being part of it?

As I look through log files for clients and potential clients, I’ve noticed some interesting trends.  First, the website traffic of companies without social media programs in their marketing plans generally have fairly random, but flat traffic.  And those that include social media planning in their marketing campaigns have increasing traffic with significant spikes around their marketing campaigns.

Some of you may be wondering what a Social Media Strategy is…  Well, from my point of view, it’s any way that you can start or add to a conversation with current or future clients.  Of course you all know about Twitter, Linked in and blogs (links are to my accounts, btw), but maybe you don’t know how to use them, or aren’t using them enough.   Here are some ideas:

Here are 6 ideas to develop a Social Media Strategy:

1. Find a way to start a conversation

   This can mean many things, but basically, it’s a way for you to find out what the world is saying and how you can participate in that conversation.  For instance, you could search Google trends for topics that relate to your business.  In this example, I’ve used the terms “toys.”  From this we can learn several things.

   A. People search on the term exponentially higher at the end of the year. (no surprise)
   B. Toys are big in the UK. (interesting)
   C. The top US city for Toys is Philadelphia. (interesting)

   You can also use the Wordtracker tool to learn what people are asking using your keyword, in this case, Toys:

   1	where can i get free toys for christmas	590
   2	where is the nearest toys r us store	566
   3	super why toys	296
   4	what are the top ten toys this year	249
   5	how to make wooden toys	241
   6	how much are my star wars toys worth	127

   What does this mean?  Well, this is when we get into local search where you can focus your marketing efforts by location, keyword and actual, user questions.  For instance, if you’re giving away free toys for Christmas, then you should be answering that question on your website.

2. Start the conversation with a blog

   I’ve found the best, fastest and easiest way to get content out to the world is a blog.  Blogs are fairly easy to set up and maintain.  You can get free one or get one included with a basic hosting account many places.  If you already have a website that works well, than use this as an add-on to your website.  Do research and post regularly.  My advice is one really good, in depth article per week with several quick-hit articles during the week. (read mine at It’s all About the Conversation)

3. Get a Twitter account, even if you think it’s silly, it can’t hurt

   Twitter may not be for everyone and, unfortunately, it’s getting hurt by spammers and fake accounts, but it is still useful in many ways.  And with a recent $100 million in investment money, I expect it will get better.  And just because you have a twitter account, doesn’t mean you have to Tweet all the time.  Let your blog tweet for you, after all, that’s one of the many things it can do.  It will turn your blog entries into tweets so you don’t have to!  And, the best part is that all of your Tweets become search engine bait. So, get a Twitter account, start tweeting, search on Twitter trends to find more users similar to yours and then retweet their tweets too. (Follow me here)

4. Use Facebook more

   Of course you have a face book account already as most people do. While I typically keep my business contacts out of Facebook, I’ve found it’s nice to occasionally include what I’m doing in my status updates.  And again, this can be done automatically via your blog or twitter account. (If your a friend, friend me here)

5. Get a LinkedIn account

   LinkedIn is the professional version of Facebook and is pretty much business oriented. It’s a great place to list your business services and accomplishments.  It can also include your blog via a widget and has a status update that can be managed remotely.  It is also very search engine friendly. (If you’re a business contact, find me here)

6. Email Marketing is still key

   Email marketing still remains one of the best way to be in touch with your customers.  I know that I haven’t been great at it, but I am better at updating my blog and Twitter account.

The goal with all of this is to create a variety of avenues with which to distribute your message. Many of these can be tied together so you only have to update one and the rest get notified.  There are many other ways to get the word out, but these are the top performers and will get you more traffic, guaranteed.  If you have questions or ideas, please let me know.  I can also help to manage the process and submissions so you don’t need to worry about it.  Contact me for a free analysis.

I’ve been thinking about the best way I can help my clients or potential clients be successful in life, online or overall.  The idea that keeps coming to mind is to share all my knowledge with anyone who wants it.  I’ve always said I’ll talk to anyone about anything and share all the knowledge I have.  If the result is success for that person, great!  If the result is you hire me for more work, even better!  But, ultimately, once you get me started talking, I usually can’t stop.  And if it helps, then that makes me happy in a way that I can’t really explain.

Then I also noticed a few other authors who have written about the same thing. Most recently, in the Christian Science Monitor, Josh Burek writes about Chris Anderson’s book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price (which, ironically, is NOT free from Amazon). In it, he talks about “Free” being a marketing tool and a sales tool.

For anyone trying to make a living in the digital economy, that example is good news. Finally: a plan for profit when the price is zero.  “Sooner or later every company is going to have to figure out how to use Free or compete with Free….” Anderson writes. But don’t give away all that you have just yet. Free is a sales tool, not a source of cash. You still have to sell something. Actually, free is an old concept in sales. Anderson tags four different ways in which it is used:

• Direct cross-subsidies: Free cellphone with a two-year contract.
• Three-party market: Most radio and TV stations. You don’t pay for them. Ads do.
• Freemium: Free tax-prep software with invitation to buy a premium version.
• Nonmonetary markets: Wikipedia. Real people wrote all those articles, motivated by social capital, not cash.

Why is free a radical price? Chocolate brands give a compelling answer. Which would you pick: a 15-cent Lindt Truffle or a 1-cent Hershey Kiss? In a study, most bought the Lindt. Then each price was cut by a penny. Most wanted a free Kiss. “[T]here is a huge difference between cheap and free,” Anderson notes.

Recently I’ve had several conversations with clients and potential clients and friends that have needed help or new ideas in some way and I’m always happy to share all that I know and any ideas that I have that are specific to their needs.

For instance, yesterday I spoke with someone who wasn’t happy with their current host/developer and how she was charging too much for updates that the client could do themselves and holding their website hostage for no reason.  I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with them discussing their different options and how they might go about getting access to their website and domain name that they paid for without having to start from scratch.

Also, with every client I have, I’ll tell them everything they need or want to know about internet marketing, social media and websites.  Knowledge is not only power, knowledge is freedom and anytime I can help someone gain the knowledge to make the decisions they need is incredibly freeing for everyone involved.

I believe that Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net understands this well. (Author of The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life) He’s recently removed the copyright from all of written material in his blog.  A fantastic move, really.

Until now, I granted limited permission, mostly for non-commercial use.

Now, I’m granting full permission to use any of my content on Zen Habits or in my ebook, Zen To Done, in any way you like.

I release my copyright on this content.

From now on, there is no need to email me for permission. Use it however you want! Email it, share it, reprint it with or without credit. Change it around, put in a bunch of swear words and attribute them to me. It’s OK.

Leo has some really good, interesting reasons why he’s done this, that actually, I won’t reprint here, but they make sense.  I would also add that trying to keep people from using your content might make you hold on too tight to something that might not be all that important.  For me, I’ve never been one to want to hold on to ideas too tightly or to have to keep track of things like that.  In the web development world, I’ve never tried to price things by how many users you have, how many products in your store, dollars sold or bandwidth used because then I would have to spend too much time tracking it and worrying about it.

So, from now on, if you find anything I say interesting, feel free to use it.  A credit would be nice, but it’s up to you…  It’s all about freedom.

What does your online conversation look like? Is it a passive, one-way conversation with your website sitting there, hoping someone will come and see what you have to offer? (Is that *really* a conversation?)  Or is it an active, 2-way conversation, with regular messages to your audience with available feedback options from them to you?

How do you measure communication?

Communication is successful when it happens both ways, with input from different directions. If it doesn’t, it tends to be more of a lecture and that’s certainly not as good as it could be.  How engaged are you when you have no input to offer?  Probably not very and then both parties lose.

The anecdote.

Several years ago in college, I had a discussion based class that was designed to have a group of 6 of us discuss a topic. Well, it was a topic that I was pretty fired up about (don’t remember what it was now, though) as was a friend of mine named Josh.

He and I immediately got into it and spent the entire time discussing, arguing and jabbering on and on. By the end, we felt great! We had covered every possible angle under the sun and waited smugly for our A grade. We were a bit surprised when we found out that all 6 of us got an F.

The reason.

Well, we were quite disappointed and when we asked why, we were told it was because there was no conversation or participation from all 6. We excluded everyone else and they didn’t try to participate.  We were all at fault. So while we thought we were doing great, it was really not a conversation, it was the two of us going at it and not letting anyone else in to participate.

The message.

The message here is that your conversation needs to be with everyone and allow everyone a chance to participate, whether it’s good or bad.  And participation could mean just about anything.  Here’s a partial list of how a good conversation could be measured from a user’s perspective. A user might:

1. leave a response on your blog (please do!)
2. sign up for your newsletter
3. make a purchase
4. download a file
5. bookmark your site
6. forward your email
7. tell a friend about you
8. recommend your product or service

The best response?

There is no single way that these happen in the conversation.  They happen in many different ways, but the goal is to allow it to happen easily and naturally.  For instance, if you’re selling something online, the obvious response you’d like to see is a purchase.  Short of that, most any sort of feedback is welcome especially that user telling someone else about you, or some combination of all of the above.  Maybe a purchase, a review, a tweet, a bookmark for later and then they tell their friends at dinner.  Sounds like that would be a home run.

WOMM

Word of Mouth Marketing is a pretty big deal.  How many times do you want to buy soemthing and ask for a recommendation from family or friends first?  These are people you trust and the ones you share with.  There’s a study from bizreport.com that shows face to face WOMM is much more important than digital WOMM (twitter, blogs, etc…)

According to a new Mintel report, 34% of US consumers have purchased something based on a real-life recommendation from family or friends. A quarter made a purchase based on a partner or spouse’s recommendation.However, only 5% said they purchased a product or service based on the recommendation of a blogger or a chat room.

“It’s interesting to find that as much time as we spend online, we still prefer a personal recommendation from someone we know and trust,” said Chris Haack, senior analyst at Mintel. “Young adults are somewhat more likely to turn to the Internet for advice and referrals, but even they listen to their peers first.”

So, next time you see something you like, pick up the phone and call your friends about.

A week ago, I twittered about the “Twitter Quitters,” people who signed up for Twitter and left within a month.   It’s an interesting study, but here’s a follow up from VentureBeat that says that their study is probably wrong for a variety of reasons:

Their report states that 40 percent of users fail to return to Twitter in the month immediately after they join. It says nothing about the second, third, or fourth months after they join.

For example, if I join Twitter in January but don’t tweet until March I would be considered a “Twitter quitter” in Nielsen’s report. This behavior is common on immature social networks where new users who join don’t yet have any friends or followers.

It also turns out that a large portion — over 20 percent — of the people who fail to return the next month never once updated their status. It seems unfair to penalize Twitter for users who sign up and never tweet. After all, one could just as easily pretend they never signed up and the retention rate would increase by 50 percent in April alone, from 40 percent to 60 percent.

These are good points and I would agree with them. In fact, I signed up for Twitter, and then didn’t use it for some time.  I think there’re are plenty of people who sign up because there’s so much buzz about it but don’t know what to do with it…  I know i have a bunch of followers and followees that haven’t twittered yet, but I’m not counting them out.  Eventually, they’ll have something good to say – at least I hope so, as some of them have lots to say and good products to tell the world about.

Tomorrow I’m going to talk to a couple of them to tell them how they can use Twitter better…

I’m always looking for how people are truly making money by using Twitter, not just by spamming their followers with network marketing schemes, but by truly getting sign ups, or selling a product or service.  I don’t believe the perfect model has been found yet.  I have a few ideas, but maybe I’ll save them for a paying client…

Recently I’ve had several friends tell me that they’re not using facebook as much as they used to or anymore.   My brother keeps talking about “facebook suicide,” a term I first heard from him.  Basically it means he would unfriend everyone or just turn his account off and walk away.  He hasn’t done that yet, but I do have another friend who did.  In both cases, they just got too tired of “acquaintances” wanting to be their friends, and the endless stream of useless application and requests from friends.  How many food fights and mafia wars can you be in!?

I also have slowed down my facebook access, checking only once every couple or few days instead of several times a day.  I have to say, the novelty has worn off.  That said, I have been in closer contact with a few friends that I probably wouldn’t have made otherwise.

As  business application, I don’t believe it’s nearly as effective as others.  But it is in the top 4 popular social media applications, which are: Twitter, blogs LinkedIn, and facebook (according to Social Media Marketing Industry Report at WhitePaperSource.com)

Anyway, back to facebook suicide…  According to the April 27 issue of Advertising Age, we’re not alone.  It explains why nearly a third of social networkers are frustrated and why social network marketers have to work harder and be much more transparent.

How to Get the Most Out of Social Networks and Not Annoy Users – by Emma Hall

Nearly a third of social networkers say they are fed up with the constant requests to join groups and try new applications, according to research by the Internet Advertising Bureau in the U.K. That means marketers will need to work harder and keep innovating if they want to harness the consumer power of social networks and persuade people to join their sponsored sites or pages.

When asked “What do you dislike about social networks?” by far the highest response, at 31%, was that there are too many invites to install applications, followed by 16% who said “when advertising isn’t relevant to me.” Slightly more than 5% complained about messages from brands and another 5% actually lamented the addictiveness of social networks. About 12% said they had no complaints. The research showed that 7% of respondents sign up to find out about brands.

I’ve also recently noticed that I’ve been “unfriended” by at least 2 friends and I don’t know why.  But, I suspect it also has to do with people trimming their friend lists to make a tighter circle of close friends (that maybe won’t throw food at them).

Oh, and please share this on facebook!