This is one of those classic ‘You can learn from me being a dumbass’ posts.

I launched this site/blog almost a year ago because I wanted to get serious about marketing my business and services.  Also, I wanted to use this site as well as all of my social media interactions to make people aware of who I am, and what I do.

And for the most part, it’s been very successful.  Referrals and simple contacts from potential clients come in regularly now, where a year or so ago, they were infrequent at times.  As part of this, I’ve learned to do a better job of promoting myself, there’s now information about who I am and what I do, and even a price stuck here and there.  I’ll admit that I was once in the ‘it’s a sin to promote yourself via social media’ camp, but luckily, I got past that.

Still, one of the things that’s been nagging me for months is that I really don’t have a good handle on how much business this blog is DIRECTLY bringing me.  So I’m left to wonder how much business it is INdirectly helping me get.  I know it is, as are my efforts on Twitter and other places, but I don’t know how MUCH.

Then, as if God decided to take pity on me and reach down and slap me upside the head, I realized something.  I have no products available for sale DIRECTLY on this site.  You can email me from here, you can fill out a contact form, hell you can even call me from here.  But if you come here and are ready to buy something RIGHT NOW, you can’t.  The best you can do is contact me about my services, then we can go from there.  But I don’t have any set products at set prices that you can purchase HERE.

So then I started thinking if there were any of my services that I could let customers buy directly from the blog.  I thought of a couple, and then I started thinking about other types of products in other forms that I could sell here.  Then the wheels really started turning, and I started thinking about once I create a few products, then I could have giveaways involving the products, maybe start awarding a ‘Commenter of the Week’, or a ‘Reader of the Month’, or who knows.

But this all started because I realized that I was asking my blog to solve a problem (generate sales directly), without giving it the ability to do so.  So that’s my plan for the next couple of weeks, to investigate ways that I can start selling products directly from this blog.

If you are already selling products directly from your blog, I’d love to hear about how it’s going for you.  Please leave a comment with your story, and please link to your blog so we can check it out for ourselves!

Yesterday we looked at fixing five common problems with personal blogs.  Today, let’s tackle five common problems with business blogs:

1 – What information should I have on my blog?

First, there’s contact information.  If you have a retail location, you should have the address.  If you’re a franchise, a locator.  If your business is online, you should have links to your website.

Second, you should have pictures of your bloggers, preferrably on the FRONT of the blog, or a small pic of the blogger with each post they write.

Finally, you should have a way for me to contact you.  The more information you can include here, the better.  A stale contact form is the bare minimum.  Think phone numbers, emails, Twitter handles.  Give me as many options as possible.

2 – Our company blog has no sense or direction, how do we get it on track?

Start with WHY you are blogging?  What are you trying to accomplish via the blog?  Are you trying to provide CS to customers?  Are you trying to establish your company’s expertise in your industry?  Are you trying to sell stuff?  Too many companies just decide to launch a blog, without a plan to guide their efforts.  Get that plan in place, then the direction will come from the goal you are trying to reach.

3 – Ok, what the hell should we blog about?  We need to sell stuff for the blog to be a success, but I keep reading that you can’t promote yourself on your blog!  Help!

First, you CAN promote your company via your blog.  The success is greatly dependent on the CONTEXT of that promotion.  The context greatly shapes the effectiveness of the content, as well.

In general, when it comes to creating content on your blog, focus on the ‘bigger idea’ that makes your content more valuable and relevant.  Don’t focus exclusively on your products, but WHY people or companies buy your stuff.  What do THEY get from your product?  Focus your content on THAT.  If you sell cameras, blog about photography, and try to teach your customers to be better photographers.  If you sell spices, blog about how your customers can use those spices to become better cooks.

Don’t craft your content as being ‘here by our stuff’, but rather write content that will help/inform/educate your customers and in the CONTEXT of that content, you can promote your products.

Remember that blogs are a great tool for making things happen indirectly.  Craft your content so that it INdirectly promotes your products, and it will resonate with your customers.

4 – Ok it hasn’t happened yet, but I am scared to death that a customer is going to leave a comment saying we suck.  How should we handle negative comments?

This is probably the biggest concern that companies have about blogging.  What if customers use the blog as a tool to slam the company?

First, if a customer leaves a negative comment on or OFF your blog, follow these steps:

1 – Be RESPECTFUL of the commenter, THANK them for reaching out to you and LISTEN to what they are saying.

2 – Address their issue, and let them know what the next step YOU will take to resolve it will be.  If possible, try to move the communication OFF the blog.  Have someone contact them OFF the blog.

3 – Invite other customers to leave their feedback, and again thank those that do.  Give them ways to get in touch with you, and clearly identify who you are, and your position/relationship to the company.

Do NOT get angry with the commenter, or attack them.  You have to understand that when a customer leaves a negative comment about your company, the exchange between you and that person isn’t the most important thing happening here.  How EVERYONE ELSE views that interaction is what counts.  If the commenter is a jackass and you lose your temper, your company will STILL look bad to everyone that views the exchange.

I have written some other posts on handling negative comments.

5 – We need more comments, how do we get them?

Here’s some ideas for getting more comments:

1 – If you moderate comments, approve them as quickly as possible. This is a simple courtesy to your readers that shows them that you value their input.

2 – Post regularly. This encourages visitors to become readers, and readers are far more likely to leave comments than visitors that have found your blog for the first time.

3 – Reply to comments from your readers! Another no-brainer, but so many companies overlook this. It shows your readers that you are actually paying attention to their comments, and want to hear what they have to say. And the more comments a post has, the more likely readers are to check out the comments.

4 – Read the blogs of your regular commenters, and comment on THEIR blog as much as possible. This is a wonderful way to build community for your blog, and it’s another way to show your readers that you value their input. Then after you’ve discovered these wonderful blogs that your readers have, why not add a link to them on YOUR blog’s sidebar?

5 – Add a “window” to the comments. Let’s say you leave a post, and Laura leaves an absolutely amazing comment. Almost immediately, other readers start commenting on Laura’s comment! So a great way to ‘thank’ Laura for that comment, and to let your readers know about it, is to add her comment to the bottom of your post! Just add at the bottom of the post ‘Laura says in the comments’, and then Laura’s comment. And remember to ‘thank’ Laura, by also linking to her blog when you add her comment to your post! I do this by adding the blog link to the person’s name. You get to thank a reader for a great comment, and also let your other readers know about the party that’s happening in the comments to that post!

6 – Ask your readers for their comments!  Not just their opinions, but ask them to please comment.  However, note that this doesn’t work as well if you aren’t already replying to comments and commenting/linking to the blogs of your regular commenters.

There’s five common business blogging problems, and some tips for fixing them.  Which ones did I miss that you need help with?

Five common (business) blogging problems, and how to fix them

Today and tomorrow I’ll do a two-part series covering common problems that bloggers have, with solutions for each.  Today we’ll cover personal blogging, tomorrow we’ll look at business blogging.  Here’s five common problems with personal blogs and how to fix them:

1 – How do I find the perfect photo to add to my post?  Go to Flickr.  Search for pics that have a creative commons license that allow you to use them, and give proper attribution.  BTW the pic to this post came from Flickr as do many of the amazing pics you’ll see here.

2 – How much information should I share on my personal blog?  For a personal blog, this is really up to you.  *I* would advise you to always have your picture on the front of the blog, preferably the top right corner.  An About page explaining the focus of the blog would be nice.  If the blog is highly-trafficked and gets a lot of comments, a comment policy might be a good idea as well.

3 – How do I get more comments?  I have written a ton of posts about how to get more comments.  Here are a few quick tips:

• Ask.
• Leave posts open-ended, with a ‘What do you think?’ type closing that invites the readers to share their opinion.
• Comment on other blogs.  Works every time.
• Take a definitive stand on an issue.  Switch between this and leaving posts open-ended.
• Reward frequent commenters.  Name a ‘commenter of the week’, or add a plugin like Comment Luv.

4 – How do I get on a blogging schedule?  Oy.  This one can be tough, because it mostly comes down to a time-management issue.  One piece of advice is don’t set the blogging bar too high for yourself.  If you try to commit to a new post a day and you just can’t do it, you’ll probably lose enthusiasm for your blog pretty quickly.  But if you start out shooting for once a week, and a month into it see you can crank out 2-3 a week no problem, then you can ramp up the writing.

Another suggestion is to have a ‘series’ every week.  Like every Monday share your 5 favorite posts/articles from the last week.  Or on Friday share your favorite parenting blog with your readers.  If you add a series post once a week, then you know that you’ll have at least one post a week, and it can take a big weight off your shoulders!

5 – How the hell do I figure out what I want to write about?  Remember that a personal blog is for YOU.  It’s not for me, it’s YOUR sandbox, and if you aren’t getting enjoyment out of it, then you probably shouldn’t be blogging.  Write about what moves you.  It can be your family, politics, or your old video game collection.  And guess what?  You can always make it private so only YOU get to see it?  It can be your online diary, or it can be your online window into what’s important to you.  You can post once a day, or once a year.

So when you pick the focus of your personal blog, your only goal should be creating value and enjoyment for YOURSELF.  Then write with that in mind, and on YOUR terms.

Does this list help?  Are there some common problems with personal blogging that I missed?  Let’s discuss them in the comments!

Pic via Flickr user kevindooley

I was just reading DJ Waldow’s piece for Marketing Profs on how his dentist is using email marketing.  He made a special note of how well the dentist is using email to connect with his customers, but pointed out that he isn’t really using social media at all.  DJ added that:

It’s no secret social media is hot. Moreover, email plus social media is really where it’s at. Foothill could start a blog, create a Facebook page, and even manage a Twitter account. However, I’m not sold on whether this would move the needle for Foothill. It may be worth exploring, but I don’t see people getting fired up about the dentist (the way I do).

Now if Foothill DID start a blog, my advice would be that they should focus on putting themselves out of business.  What I mean by that is, they should empower their customers to take better care of their teeth, so they don’t need as much care from the dentist.  They should teach their customers how to have stronger and healthier teeth.

And yes, this might mean that this dentist loses some business if his customers start taking better care of their teeth.  But in return, he will likely GAIN far more business because he will be creating a blog that not only creates value for his customers, but helps him establish trust and expertise with current and potential customers.

Now I know what you are thinking ‘Mack, no way I would ever read a dentist’s blog!”  Most people probably wouldn’t, but if you need dental work, or have a problem with your teeth you would go to Google and search for help, right?  That’s when the dentist deciding to blog would pay off, as his blog post about ‘Ten Things You Can Do Everyday to Have a Healthier Smile’ is probably going to rank better in search results than the static websites of his non-blogging competitors.

So think about this as you blog or consider starting a blog.  Really, I am doing the exact same thing here.  I am writing content that helps businesses learn how to utilize blogs and social media for themselves, so they don’t need me.  Seems completely counter-intuitive on the surface, but the content helps businesses learn how to better use social media AND that makes them more likely to want to hire me to help them with their efforts.  So by empowering potential customers, I am actually growing my business.

If it can work for me, there’s no reason why it couldn’t work for your dentist as well!

Occasionally, I will hear from a fellow blogger interested in tips on how to write a new blog post every day.  They usually reveal that they are struggling to crank out a new post every day, and worry that they are breaking an unwritten ‘blogging rule’.

If you’re in this camp then you’re off the hook, because you don’t have to blog every single day.

I think this is a big misconception that many bloggers have.  They believe they need to have new content on their blog every single day, and if they can’t do this, they feel their blogging efforts are ‘failing’.

Now in a perfect world, you’d have 5 wonderfully valuable new posts published to your blog every week.  But if you only have the ability to write 2 good posts a week, by trying to write daily, you are going to dilute the overall quality of your blog.  Don’t do this, one of the best blogging lessons I learned early on was to keep my mouth shut if I didn’t have anything compelling to blog about.  IMO it’s better to make your readers wait another day or 2 for a good blog post, than to give them a mediocre blog post today.

So then the question becomes, how often SHOULD you blog?

First, let’s assume that you are interested in maintaining and building a readership for your blog.  So now we need to figure out how often you can comfortably blog, along with how often you’d need to have new content on your blog to build readership, and craft our posting frequency and schedule accordingly.

Let’s assume that you can comfortably write at least one new blog post a week.  WHEN you publish blog posts also plays a large role in building your blog’s readership.  A general rule of them is to publish new posts between 8 am and noon during the week, for the largest audience.  Also, readership tends to be slightly higher in the middle of the week for most blogs.

So in general, when crafting a posting schedule, start in the middle of the week, and work your way outward.  If you can only post once a week, pick a day, say Tuesday or Wednesday, and try to publish on that same day, every week.  Here’s how you could craft a blogging schedule, based on number of posts a week:

1 – Tuesday morning at 8 am.

2 – Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8am.

3 – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 8am.

4 – Monday – Thursday mornings at 8am.

5 – Monday – Friday mornings at 8am.

Now when it comes to traffic, these are general guidelines.  You should closely track your blog’s stats to see if your traffic patterns coincide.  For example, most blogs see their traffic tail off on the weekends, but if your blog enjoys a traffic spike on Sundays, then you should probably try to publish new content on that day.

Does this help?  In the end, it’s probably better if you set out to post FEWER times a week, then add more posts if you find out you can write more often you originally thought.

BTW we will be discussing this topic tonight on Twitter during #blogchat.  You can follow #blogchat here and here.  Feel free to join in!

In late 2008, after I had been offering social media consulting services for about 2 years, I had the same conversation, twice in the span of two weeks.

Both times, it was with conference organizers that were friends, that knew me.  I had just spoken at events for each, and they contacted me and told me that an attendee had reached out to them about needing help with social media consulting, and then they both asked me the exact same question:

“Is that what you do?”

I was floored!  Here were two people that were friends of mine, that knew me, and even THEY weren’t sure exactly what it was that I did.  That’s when I took a long and honest look at my blog (which was then The Viral Garden, this was about 6 months before this site launched).  I realized that there were no clear cues to the reader to tell them what I did.  Sure, there were some vague references in my bio, but readers would have to make multiple clicks to figure out who I was and what I did.  Many readers would never go to that trouble, nor should they have to.

So when I started prepping this site for launch, I knew some changes had to be made.  I needed to give readers clear calls to action, and indications of who I am and what I do.  If you look at the front page of this site, notice the following:

In the nav bar at the top, you have ‘Book Mack to Speak’, ‘Need Help With Social Media?’ and ‘Need Help With Your Blog?’.  There’s also a spot for Contact Me, and on the right sidebar there’s a place to give me a call, and to request a email me for a social media marketing quote.  In other words, there are very clear calls to action for the reader, all above the fold.

As a result, since this site launched last summer, I have seen a jump in requests/questions from potential clients, it’s gone from 1 or 2 a month, to a few a week.  But I have noticed a HUGE jump in referrals from friends and people that have connected with me.  I think this is a result of more people simply knowing what it is I do.

So take some time today and really look at your blog.  Think about what you want to accomplish with the blog, and look at the calls to action you are giving your readers.  For reference, I just looked at the blog for a HUGE agency.  Not one single call to action anywhere on the blog above the fold.

You can’t blindly assume that your readers know who you are, what you do, and why they should care.  You need to assume that every person that visits your blog is there for the first time, and has no idea who you are.  You need to help them by explaining who you are and what you do, and give them a sense of direction.  This isn’t being pushy or self-promotional, it’s helping visitors figure out who you are, what your blog is about, and why they should care about either.

Think about your goal for your blogging efforts.  It could be getting more interactions, or if you have a company blog, it could be getting more sales or leads.

Now look at the metrics you are tracking to determine if your blogging efforts are working.  You should be able to draw a clear line from the metrics you are measuring, back to your goal for your blog.

For example, many people like to track the traffic their blog gets, or how many RTs their posts get.  But if your goal is to get more sales and/or leads via your blog, and the blog’s traffic isn’t coming from places where your potential customers are, how valuable is it to know what your traffic is?  Or if your goal is to get more interaction, traffic levels might not be that important.

Think about the actions you want your visitors to take (that tie back to your blogging goals), and then measure the metrics that tie back to the desired behavior.

For example, let’s look at two possible blogging goals; Getting more sales/leads, and getting more comments.

If your goal is to get more sales and leads via your blog, some of the metrics you could track would be referrals from the blog to your website (or a specific product page.  Or number of emails asking for more information about your products.  Or number of times a visitor uses your Contact Form.

If you want to get more interactions on your blog, you could track time spent on the blog, number of comments left, number of emails, and number of pageviews.  Time spent on the blog and number of pageviews suggests the amount of time people are spending interacting with your content.  If they are spending a lot of time and viewing a lot of pages and NOT commenting, that could suggest that you need clearer calls to action for encouraging comments, and I’ll talk more about calls to action on your blog later this week.

But put some thought into what actions you want your visitors to take on your blog, then make sure you are measuring the metrics that tie back to the desired behavior.

We’ll be discussing this tonite during #blogchat on Twitter starting at 8pm CT.  Please stop by!