MackCollier.com

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A No-Nonsense Guide to SEO and Content Creation for Bloggers

SEO, Blogging, Content CreationTwo of the most common complaints I hear from bloggers, especially during #Blogchat is:

1 – I wish I could figure out how to post more often and create more content

2 – I wish I better understood SEO and how to optimize my posts for search

I’m going to show you a ‘trick’ that will hopefully help you with both of these issues.  First, we need to pick 3-5 Topic Buckets for your blog.  These are 3-5 key areas that you want to focus on with your blog content.  For example, my Topic Buckets for this blog are:

1 – How businesses and individuals can improve their blogging

2 – How businesses and individuals can better use Twitter

3 – How businesses can create and improve their Social Media Strategies

4 – How businesses can better embrace and empower their fans

5 – Catch-all (Facebook, Social Media Monitoring, everything I don’t want to blog about quite as much goes here)

Now the great thing about this approach is that notice since I have 5 Topic Buckets, if I just write one post a week from each bucket, I’ve got 5 posts for the week!  Or I could spread those 5 posts out over two weeks, so I have 3 posts for the 1st week, then 2 for the second week.  And if I wanted I could add a 3rd post in that second week, either from one of these buckets again, or maybe I want to let you know about a Live #Blogchat coming up, or an event I will be speaking at.

But once you’ve created your Topic Buckets, it makes it MUCH easier for you to organize the content you create on your blog!  And if you want to be super-organized, you could say pick 3 Topic Buckets for your blog, then write a new post for the 1st one every Monday, the 2nd bucket would be every Wednesday, and the 3rd Topic Bucket’s post would be every Friday!

So thanks to Topic Buckets, we’ve tackled the issue of how to create more content.  Really, the biggest issue you will have with this is deciding on what your Topic Buckets should be, and how many you should have.  I think 3 is the perfect number, if you get over 5, then you should probably consider spinning some of them off into a new blog, or eliminating some till you get back down to 5 or less.

Now, let’s talk about optimizing your posts for search and SEO.  Let me say up front I am NOT an SEO expert, the following is good old-fashioned ‘common sense’ advice that I learned by reading SEO experts, then experimenting with my own content here, and seeing what worked, and what didn’t.  This is 101-level stuff to get you started.  I would recommend that you try this, and then when you see the positive results, that will probably whet your appetite to want to learn more about SEO.

First, learn to write better post titles.  Seriously, this was the biggest improvement I made in my blogging this year.  But it goes beyond simply writing a ‘catchy’ headline, you need to seriously consider what words you use in your headline.  Because what you want to do is use certain search keywords and terms in your post’s title.

For example, lets say we want to write a post on how businesses can use Twitter.  Before you start writing the post or even the title, ask yourself ‘what would someone type into Google in order to find this post?’  Put yourself in the shoes of the marketing manager at a mid-sized company that’s trying to decide if her business should start a Twitter account.  Some of the things she might put into Google could be:

  • ‘How do businesses use Twitter?’
  • ‘How can Twitter help my business?’
  • ‘Does my business need to be on Twitter?’
  • ‘How do you get started using Twitter?’

You get the idea.  But notice she is Googling QUESTIONS that she wants the answers to!  Think about it, isn’t this how we usually use Google?  We have a question we want answered.  So taking the marketing manager’s questions in mind, here’s some possible post titles we could go with

1 – Four Innovative Ways Businesses Are Using Twitter

2 – Should Your Business Be on Twitter? Here’s How You Can Decide

3 – How to Start a Twitter Account For Your Business in 5 Minutes!

See how those post titles closely resemble what the marketing manager was Googling?  If you can use the same or similar keywords and phrases in your post title as what others are searching for in search engines, you will greatly increase your post’s chances of ranking high in search results for those words and terms.

Another tip:  Use your keywords as close to the start of the post title as possible.  This helps, but isn’t an absolute.  For example, the first post title of ‘Four Innovative Ways Businesses Are Using Twitter’ could be changed to ‘How Are Businesses Using Twitter? Here’s Four Innovative Ways’.  You may want to make this change because the term ‘How Are Businesses Using Twitter’ will be what more people are searching for.  Personally, I think the 1st version of the post title flows better.

Finally, use the same keyword/phrases in your post title, in the post itself.  Ideally, you want to use the keyword phrase, such as ‘How are businesses using Twitter’ up to 3 times in the post.  Or at least once at the start of the post.  You want to do this because this helps Google and other search engines correctly identify what the post is about.  Google will scan the post and if it sees the same or similar words and phrases repeating in the post, then it assumes that’s what the post is about, then when someone searches for those same or similar phrases, your post will rank higher in search results!

So that’s enough to get you started.  Start creating Topic Buckets for your blog, then start beefing up your post titles with the proper keywords and phrases.  I think you’ll be pleasantly pleased with the results you see!

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One Way You Can Be a Better Blogger Than Seth Godin

blogging, writing better headlines, seoOne of the biggest improvements I have made in my blogging is writing better headlines.  There are three critical advantages to writing better headlines:

1 – You greatly improve the chance that your post will be shared on social media sites.  Think about it, we all have the attention-span of a gnat.  We are bombarded by hundreds of shared links every day, and which ones get clicked?  The ones with the best headlines.

2 – You greatly improve your blog’s Search Traffic.  By including relevant keywords and phrases in your blog’s headline, you are helping search engines understand what your post is about, so they can show that post to people that are searching for the same topic.

3 – Learning how to write better headlines will give you a competitive edge.  The bottom line is that most bloggers REALLY suck at writing great headlines.  And I’m not talking about newbie bloggers only, many of the smartest and most popular bloggers in the world, write amazing posts, and horrible post titles.

 

Now for the big question: What does a bad headline look like?

From my own experience, my biggest problem with writing headlines was that I would focus on the post, then simply summarize the post with the headline.  I see a lot of bloggers that do the same thing, their post title is only a few words, that somehow, and loosely, tie back to what they talk about in the post.

Here’s a few examples of weak headlines I found on one blog this morning:

“Santa and the mob”

“Insulate yourself…”

“Well rounded (and the other)”

“No choice”

“I am here”

Notice that none of these posts really focus on specific keywords of phrases, so by itself, the headline won’t help the post stand out in search engine results.  And if you saw any of these headlines whizzing by your Twitterstream, are any of them compelling enough to make you want to click that post?

Probably not.  But what if I told you that Seth Godin wrote all these posts?  As I said, sometimes even great bloggers struggle with writing effective headlines.  Seth is so popular that he can afford to write a weak headline now and again, since people don’t read him for his headlines, they read his posts cause they are short, to the point, and make you go ‘A-Ha!’

But if you are like the rest of us, you need every advantage you can get 😉

When you are writing your headlines, ask yourself ‘How would someone find this post if they were searching for it in Google?‘  What are the relevant keywords and phrases they would search for?

For example, let’s say I want to write a post on building engagement on my blog.  I am going to highlight a few ways that I use to build engagement and interaction on my blog.  If I wrote a headline that merely summarized the post, it would be ‘Building Engagement On Your Blog‘.

Now think about it, how many people are going to Google ‘building engagement on a blog’?  Or anything similar?

In fact, I just Googled the exact term ‘building engagement on your blog’ and there are SIX results on the entire internet.  And half of them are from me! (But none as the headline!)

Think about it: When we talk about ‘building engagement’ on a blog, we are really talking about getting more comments, right?  So let’s change our headline from Building Engagement On Your Blog, to Get More Comments On Your Blog.

Now if you Google that exact term, you see that there are over 200,000 results.  That means if more bloggers are writing with that specific term in their headline, it’s probably because more people are searching for that term!

So let’s return to our post.  The headline now at least has some Google juice, and a more search-friendly title.  Plus, the title is a bit more descriptive, so it increases the chance that others will click it when they see it floating by on Twitter or Facebook.

But remember I said that I was writing about a few ways bloggers could get more comments on their blog?  What if I wrote up, I dunno, say 40 ways to get more comments on your blog?  Then that could become my headline!

So the post stays the same, but which headline would you be more likely to click on if you saw it on Twitter:

1 – Building Engagement On Your Blog

or

2 – 40 Dead Simple Ways to Get More Comments On Your Blog

Most of us would probably click #2, as it is not only more descriptive, but it makes us a promise:  It’s going to give us 40 steps.  Readers LOVE How-To posts that also give you numbers 😉  ’40 Ways to….’ or ‘8 tips for overcoming….’

 

In closing, there’s one area that you need to keep in mind: Walking the tightrope between writing a headline that’s search-friendly, and one that can be ‘too cute’.  For example, the original headline to this post was going to be ‘Want to Improve Your Blogging Next Year? Write Better Headlines’.  But as I started writing about Seth’s headlines, I decided to change the headline to ‘One Way You Can Be a Better Blogger Than Seth Godin’.  It’s a calculated risk, as I don’t think that headline will do quite as well with search engines (What’s the keyword or phrase? ‘Better Blogger’?), but I do think this headline is a bit more interesting, and will hopefully get more clicks on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.  Because everyone wants to be a better blogger than Seth, right? 😉

Just remember, focus on including relevant keywords and phrases in your post’s headlines, and ask yourself ‘how would someone find this post if they were searching for it?’  If you start paying more attention to your headline-writing, you’ll be very surprised at the increase in not only search traffic, but overall traffic to your blog!

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The One Simple Thing You Can Do to Increase Email Subscribers to Your Blog

Email subscriptions, increasing email subscribers to your blog, rss, feedburnerSubscribe to your blog’s feed via email, then read it on your smartphone.

For those of you that aren’t aware, I live in a very rural area of Alabama.  Most days I work from home, but at least a couple of times a week I will go ‘into town’ to run errands and I’ll usually stop off at a local library to get some work done, etc.  Earlier this week I was on one of my trips into town and I went by Olive Garden to grab some lunch.  I do this often (yes I love pasta, and yes I have simple tastes ;)), and when I do, I will always use my smartphone to get on Twitter.  What I’ll do is scan the tweets from my lists, and RT any interesting links I see being shared by my followers.

On Monday, I was eating lunch, when I got that day’s blog post emailed to me because I am subscribed to my blog via both email and RSS.  Here’s what I saw when the email arrived:

1 – The title of the email was ‘Why Social Media Measurement Fails Most Companies‘.  Boom!  No fooling around, you know exactly what you will be getting when you open the email.  And note that the title promises to address a real problem that many businesses are facing.

2 – When I opened the email, the very first sentence of the email answered the post’s title:  Because they measure what’s available, instead of what benefits their company.  You know, there’s something to be said for writing well, and using stories to make your point, but there’s also something said for getting TO the damn point!

3 – The rest of the post offered simple and relevance examples that (hopefully) backed up the main premise of the post.  There wasn’t a lot of beating around the bush.

 

And as I read that post, I realized that a lot of people, especially executives and marketers at companies, were getting this same email right now.  They were just like me, they were busy, they were probably going to get lunch (just like me), so they were likely either reading this email in the back of a cab, or at a restaurant table while waiting for their meal.  So because they were subscribed to my blog via email, on their lunch break they got an email from me that was quick, to-the-point, and included social media advice that they could take with them back to the office and start working on as soon as they get back from lunch.

This also drives home another point; you have to consider how your blog’s readers are receiving and reading your content.  You can’t assume that they daily set aside 30 mins just to come to your blog and be blessed by your insightful thinking.  You have to assume that they are getting your content in a way that’s convenient to THEM, and that they will be spending at best 30 SECONDS with your content, not 30 minutes.  You need to quickly give them a reason to invest their precious attention reading what you have to say.

Now, one final tip about improving the experience you are providing your email subscribers: Make damn sure that when your blog’s posts are emailed out, that the subject of the email is that post’s title and NOT the title of your blog!  I learned this TOTALLY the hard way.  An email subscriber contacted me well over a year ago and sent me a screenshot of the last 20 or so posts he had received from me.  He said ‘now Mack I know you aren’t a spammer, but how does this look to you?’  The screenshot showed 20 emails all in a row, every one had the same thing:  From – MackCollier.com  Subject – MackCollier.com

I was mortified!  I didn’t realize that Feedburner was sending out my posts via email with the title of my BLOG as the SUBJECT of every email!  I naturally assumed that the subject of each email would be the title of each post!  This is another reason why it pays to subscribe to your own blog via email, so you can see your content as your subscribers do.

For example, if you receive this post via email, it will read From – MackCollier.com  Subject – The One Simple Thing You Can Do to Increase Email Subscribers to Your Blog.  Much better, right?  If you use Feedburner to provide email subscriptions to your blog and want to make this same change, here’s what you do:

1 – Sign into your Feedburner account

2 – Click the Publicize tab at the top

3 – Click Email Subscriptions on the left

4 – A few sub-options will open up under Email Subscriptions, you want to now click Email Branding

5 – At the top where you see the box for Email/Subject Title: you want to put ${latestItemTitle} in that box.  That way Feedburner knows to use the title of each post as the subject of the email and NOT the title of your blog.

That’s it!  So if you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to your blog via both email and RSS.  Then try to access your feed in all the ways your readers might.  Look at it in Google Reader (or whatever RSS reader you prefer).  Look at it in your inbox, and yes, look at it on your smartphone.  Consider not only readability, but also what that person might be doing as they are reading your post.

For example, if they are reading your post in the back of a stinky cab on their smartphone, will your post instantly resonate with them?  Because many times your readers will be reading your post in an environment that’s less than optimal for understanding.  Which is why you need to simplify the content delivery process, and make it easier for your subscribers to understand your point(s).

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Chat With NFL Legend Marcus Allen Wednesday Night on Twitter!

Marcus Allen, Twitter chat, NFL, Verizon, NFL Mobile AppIt really is fascinating the connections that are possible because of Twitter.  The site is a wonderful networking tool and I saw evidence of this earlier this morning when I got a DM from @TheOnlineMom.  I know Monica from her participation in #Blogchat, and she wanted to know if I wanted to help her with a project she’s working on involving a Twitter chat!  The chat will happen tomorrow night, and is an event by Verizon and the NFL, and it features NFL legend Marcus Allen!  As anyone that’s followed football in the last 30 years knows, Marcus is one of the most dominant football players of the modern era, he’s done everything from win the Heisman in college to being named league and Super Bowl MVP in the NFL.

So when Monica asked me if I’d like to be involved in helping to promote and participate in this chat, my answer was of COURSE I would 😉

Here’s all the details:

  • The chat happens tomorrow night, starting at 8pm Central, 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific.  Marcus Allen (@MarcusAllenHOF) will be the special guest, and will be answering your questions and chatting about his career.
  • The hashtag to follow for the chat is #NFLMobileApp.  If you’re familiar with #Blogchat, it’s the same deal, just follow the hashtag #NFLMobileApp.  Also, please follow Marcus at @MarcusAllenHOF and @TheTechDad will be hosting the chat!
  • As a special bonus, there will be TWO DROID RAZR smart phones by Motorola given away during the chat.  But you MUST RSVP at this link to be eligible to win one of the phones – http://bit.ly/tMWDSv  That will take you to Verizon’s site, and check in the top right corner for simple instructions on how to RSVP for one of the two phones!

That’s it!  So check out the chat tomorrow night, I’ll be participating, and I think it will be a lot of fun, especially if you are a college or NFL fan!  You could ask Marcus about his career, or I’m sure he’d love to talk about what’s happening now in the NFL or with his USC Trojans!

Now if you’re working with a company that’s curious about using Twitter chats, I also think you should at least attend this chat and observe how it goes.  This will give you a good idea of how a ‘one-off’ Twitter chat could be structured.  I’ve seen a big jump in interest from companies in starting Twitter chats in the last 6 months or so, and this would be a great chance for many of you to learn what the process is like, and see the results!

Disclosure – I’m being paid to promote and participate in this chat.  You’ll see me tweeting about it a few times today and tomorrow on Twitter, then I’ll be participating in the chat tomorrow night. 

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Here’s the ‘Video’ From Live #Blogchat at Blog World Expo!

Feed subscribers, click here to watch the video on YouTube.

I am so happy to be able to share the following video from our Live #Blogchat session at Blog World Expo.  It’s technically not video, it’s a screenshot of the tweets that were coming in for #BWELA as the #Blogchat was progressing (which is obviously disappointing).  But the audio is very good, and it will give you a good sense of what a Live #Blogchat is like.

As I said in my review post, the Live #Blogchat at Blog World Expo was by FAR my favorite Live #Blogchat in 2011.  A big reason why was because several audience members were active #Blogchat participants.  At all of the previous Live #Blogchats this year, most of the audience had never participated in the Twitter version of #Blogchat, so they had no idea how it would work.

And as I was listening to the audio yesterday, I was reminded of how many great discussions we had, whether it was @JasonFalls talking about how he balances his business blog and his personal blog, or @HardlyNormal talking about using video on his blog to help homeless people tell their story, or @MarcyMassura talking about viewing your blog as a tv channel, there was a ton of #smartitude on display from everyone, and we all learned from each other.

Which is really the whole point of #Blogchat anyway 😉  I hope you enjoy it, and I hope to see YOU at a Live #Blogchat in 2012!

The above video is only one of over 100 recorded sessions from BlogWorld Los Angeles 2011. You can get all of the videos — plus nearly 100 bonus interviews and other bonus content — by picking up the entire Virtual Ticket here: http://www.blogworldexpo.com/virtual-ticket-la-2011/

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Why Social Media Measurement Fails Most Companies

Social media measurement, ROI of Social Media, Measuring Social MediaBecause they measure what’s available, instead of what benefits their company.

For example, let’s say your small business launches a Twitter account this afternoon.  How will you measure the success of that account?  By measuring number of followers, of course!  And if you want to get really spiffy, you could also track how many RTs you’re getting and your level of exposure!

Right?  The problem with this approach is that we aren’t factoring in your businesses strategy and goals for using Twitter.  What are you trying to accomplish?  How will getting more followers and RTs help you achieve your goals?

When I measure the effectiveness of my own Twitter efforts, I look at two metrics:

1 – Referral traffic from Twitter to this blog

2 – Leads generated via people I have connected with on Twitter.

That’s it.  Because my strategy is to use Twitter to increase my awareness among potential clients by sharing content that drives traffic back to this blog (referral traffic), and to engage in conversations and network with people so that they will hire me to consult/train for them (leads).

I was having a conversation recently with a new client about using Twitter, and they told me they were going to track the number of followers as their primary metric for success.  They even had plotted out X% growth that they wanted to see happen over time.  I told them it was fine to track number of followers, but follower growth needed to be a function of them achieving what should be their larger goals for Twitter.  This particular client wanted to use Twitter as a way to boost awareness for themselves, and the products they offer.  They were competing against 2 main competitors that had much higher levels of awareness.

So I suggested to them that we focus on using Twitter as a way to drive interest back to your blog and website.  So we went from tracking just followers, to also looking at things like:

1 – Referral traffic from Twitter to the blog (and as part of the metrics associated with the blog, look at referral traffic from the blog to the website).

2 – Level of engagement on the blog.

3 – Number of links generated to the blog.

4 – Sales leads generated via Twitter.

5 – Downloads of white papers via a link shared on Twitter (also share same link on the blog and compare/contrast download rates)

Now sometimes, it can be hard to know for sure that a new lead or link was generated via a contact on Twitter (or another social site).  That’s why it pays to ALREADY be tracking these metrics, then when you make a change (like adding a Twitter account), if one of the metrics you are already tracking suddenly increases, it’s a good bet that what you changed (adding a Twitter account) made the difference.

For example, let’s say that you launch a Twitter account, and in the 1st month you notice that hits to one specific product page on your website increased by 23%!  To try to figure out why, you check your website’s analytics, and discover that most of the hits were generated by a referral from one blog post written about that particular product, that included a link to the product page.  You do a bit more digging, and discover that most of the referral traffic for that one post, came from Twitter.

Now you at least have some idea of how Twitter is making an impact on your business.  You should further check into this and try to determine exactly why that particular post did well (The topic?  The writer?  The structure of the post?), and also try to figure out why it was so popular on Twitter (In what context was the link shared? What day?  What time?  More than once?).

The bottom line is that effective social media measurement is all about figuring out exactly what YOUR goals are, then measuring metrics that tie back to those goals.  We’ve all heard the saying ‘what gets measured gets manufactured’, and it couldn’t be more true when it comes to social media measurement.  If all you want to measure is number of followers to decide if your Twitter efforts are working, then you WILL find a way to increase your number of followers.

Remember: Strategy first, then identify metrics to measure based on desired outcomes, not what’s easiest to measure.

PS: Have an existing social media strategy and you want to have it audited to make sure you are on the right track? I can do that, and I guarantee my work.

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#Blogchat This Sunday Will Be Co-Hosted by Valeria Maltoni!

Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent, Posting more often, Blogging as a Subject Matter Expert

I am thrilled to announce that Valeria Maltoni (@ConversationAge on Twitter) will be co-hosting #Blogchat this Sunday!  Valeria is one of the most respected blogging marketers on the planet for one simple reason: She creates incredibly valuable content on a daily basis.  Let me tell you a quick story about Valeria: Earlier this year during SXSW, I was at the Hilton’s bar with Valeria, Ann Handley and Leigh Durst at around 11pm, on a Saturday night.  It’s been a long day, we are all exhausted cause we’ve been on the go since about 6am that morning.  As we are sleepishly chatting, Valeria whips out her Macbook, and after a few minutes I ask her what she’s doing.  She says ‘I’m doing some research for a blog post that I need to get up on my blog for tomorrow morning.”

And there you go.  As I blogged about yesterday, for the 1st half of 2011 I blogged up to 5 times a week.  It was a TON of work, and Valeria blogs more often than that, every week.  I wanted Valeria to co-host with us not only to teach us how she can keep up such a prolific posting schedule, but to also talk about how her blog has helped establish her as an expert.  This is really an area that so many of us want to learn how we can do with our blog.  I’ve noticed in the last year especially that Valeria is one of the people that other marketers in this space are always talking about as one of the truly ‘smart’ people.  She does a wonderful job of creating amazing content on a daily basis on her blog, which really helps her establish herself as an expert.

So first, check out the prep post Valeria has written over at her blog covering what her #Blogchat topic is.

Now here’s the breakdown of our conversation with Valeria this Sunday:

8:00-8:30 PM Central – Valeria will talk to us about the prep work that goes into her posts.  The research she does, how she comes up with post ideas, etc.

8:30-9:00 PM Central – Valeria will talk to us about how she uses her blog to establish herself as a Subject Matter Expert.  This will be equally applicable to those of you that are independent or small business owners, as well as marketers that are looking to stand out within their company and industry.

I’m REALLY excited to have Valeria join us, and I’m sure you are as well!  Please make sure you are subscribed to her blog, Conversation Agent, and please follow her on Twitter!

BTW if you are new to #Blogchat, here’s what it’s all about.  Also, I’m excited to announce that next Sunday (the 18th) will be co-hosted by #Blogchat regular Bruce Sallan, talking about how blogging and social media can be used for social good!  And already confirmed to co-host in early 2012 are @MarketingProfs, @GenoChurch and @Pistachio!

See y’all on Sunday!

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How I Increased My Blog’s Monthly Search Traffic By Over 100% in 2011

As you know, I am always experimenting with my blog, especially when it comes to traffic and traffic sources, and I always like to report back to y’all what I learn.  One of the areas I wanted to focus on this year with my blogging was increasing my search traffic.  At the start of the year, search traffic had accounted for roughly 14% of the traffic over the life of this blog, at the time.  I wanted to see that percentage get up to at least 33%, preferrably 40% or higher.

So in January I took the advice of my friend Amy, and started posting more, to see what impact it would have on the volume of search traffic here.  From January through July, I averaged 3-5 posts a week here, where before I was posting here once or twice a week.  And not only did I post more often, I tried to focus more of my writing efforts on targeting specific search keywords and phrases, especially in post titles.

The results have been pretty successful.  Up till Jan 1st of this year, search traffic accounted for 14% of total traffic here.  So far this year, search has accounted for 30% of total traffic here, and is up to 35% for the lifetime of the blog.  This is significant, because overall traffic has doubled this year, with the increase in content creation.

Here’s the monthly results for my search traffic for the lifetime of this blog, through November:

As you can see, up until the 1st red X on the graph, there is slow and steady growth in search traffic volume.  That first red X was search traffic for January of this year, when I ramped up my posting schedule to start posting 3-5 times a week, on average.  Note that immediately, the angle of the growth of search traffic volume increases.  This suggests that more content but also content that was better optimized for search engines was increasing search traffic volume.

But notice the 2nd red X on the graph.  That’s search traffic for June.  I wanted to mark that, because starting in July, my posting frequency slipped a bit, from an average of 3-5 posts a week before, to 1-3 posts a week.  For the last 4-5 months I’ve been traveling a lot more and have had to spend more time on client work, so I had to scale back my posting schedule a bit.  But as you can tell from the graph, even though I was posting less, search traffic volume continues to grow.  In fact, it seems to be growing at about the same rate now, as it did earlier this year when I was posting about twice as often.

Now look at this graph for the year’s monthly traffic:

blog traffic, search traffic, increasing search traffic

The red X is June, and that’s the point at which I started posting less here.  Note that from that point forward, overall traffic starts tapering off slightly each month.  But now let’s do something really interesting: Let’s take this same graph, but add in referral traffic and search traffic.  Here’s what we get:

referral traffic, increasing search traffic, strategies for building blog traffic

This is overall monthly traffic here for 2011.  The red X is June.  The green bar is referral traffic, and note that it more or less mirrors overall traffic: When overall traffic goes up, it follows, same thing happens when overall traffic goes down.

But note the orange bar; That’s Search Traffic.  Also note that in June, Search and Referral Traffic were almost the same, there was slightly more referral traffic.  That’s when my posting frequency began to slip, and referral traffic from June through November, continued to fall.  But search traffic continued to grow.  Now if I start posting more often here, referral traffic will go back up, but that extra content will also increase my volume of search traffic as well.

So that’s what I did this year to increase my volume of search traffic by over 100%.  The main thing is I posted more often, and I paid special attention to focusing on at least one keyword or phrase in every post, especially in the post title.  Another thing I did with my posts was think about what someone would search for.  A lot of times when we use search engines, we are looking for the answers to problems or questions.  That’s why ‘How To’ posts work well.  For example, I could see someone searching for ‘How to increase search traffic’ and finding this post (in fact I just greatly increased the chance that will happen by adding that exact phrase ;)).

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How to Increase Participation in Your Twitter Chat or Any Online Community

Interaction and participation.  It’s something many community sites and managers struggle with and focus on increasing.  Engagement is the lifeblood of many online communities, and yet, so many struggle to reach that ‘critical mass’ of participants.

When #Blogchat started in early 2009, participation wasn’t an issue.  Even in those 1st few weeks where we’d only have a few hundred tweets, there was plenty of engagement.  But even then, I noticed some problems.  It seemed that there were a core group of really smart bloggers that were, for the most part, answering the questions of everyone else.  So the core group of smart bloggers were mainly talking to each other, and fielding questions from everyone else.

If you think about it, you see this in a lot of online communities, especially knowledge-based ones.  You have the ‘newbies’ and the ‘experts’.  And early on, that’s what we saw with #Blogchat, the ‘newbies’ were asking questions of the ‘experts’.  And there’s nothing wrong with that, but the problem is this: If you’re not a ‘newbie’ or an ‘expert’, how do you participate?

What started happening is that I would talk to people that follow #Blogchat, and when they told me they lurked, I would invite them to participate.  “#Blogchat is so much better when more people participate so we can all learn from each other!” I would tell them.  Almost every time, they would reply by saying “Oh no! I don’t have anything to add, I’m not an expert!”

I hated hearing that.  So I added a new rule for everyone in #Blogchat: No experts allowed.

That’s not to say that smart people can’t and shouldn’t participate, but I wanted to communicate to everyone that they should feel comfortable participating.  #Blogchat works best when everyone is comfortable sharing what they know.  Does that mean that some people make some points that are completely off the wall?  Yep, but that also leads to new discussions, because others feel comfortable questioning and debating those claims.

But if your community only has interaction from the experts and newbies, you’re going to be ignoring everyone else.  Kathy had a great point about this several years ago, and her point is the same as mine, that you need to communicate to your community that everyone should participate, and help them feel comfortable doing so.  For #Blogchat, when they hear ‘No experts allowed, we are all here to learn from each other’, it puts everyone at ease.  Most people are smarter than they give themselves credit for, they might not believe they are ‘qualified’ to join a discussion, but they almost always have something they can share that can benefit the group.

One of your key roles as a community manager is to get everyone to a place where they are comfortable contributing as they can.  And remember that when people start participating in a community, they begin to take a sense of ownership in that community.  That greatly increases the motivation they have to help you grow that community, and make it more valuable for everyone.

This starts by finding ways to get everyone more interactive.  Not just newbies asking experts questions, but everyone asking and answering questions.  This will generate more discussions and more value for everyone.

If you want to get more discussions and participation among your community, consider these steps:

1 – Encourage involvement from lurkers.  As I am watching #Blogchat’s stream, it’s obviously moving way too fast for me to catch even a fraction of the tweets.  But if I see anyone tweet that they are joining #Blogchat for the 1st time, I *always* go back and thank them for joining.  Nothing makes a lurker feel more welcome than announcing to the group that they are joining for the 1st time, and immediately getting a thank you tweet from the moderator.  Additionally, other #Blogchat members have started doing the same thing, which only increases the chance that this lurker will move to being a participant.

2 – Understand that statements are NOT discussions.  Often, I will notice that a member of #Blogchat isn’t directly engaging with anyone, but rather they are tweeting out general statements like ‘Blog from the heart!’ or ‘Make your post as long or as short as it needs to be!’  These tweets will probably get a lot of RTs, but by themselves, they don’t often generate a lot of discussion.  If I see someone that’s constantly leaving tweets like this, I try to engage them.  I’ll ask them questions about their statements, and hopefully get a discussion started with them.  Then, others have an opportunity to join in.

3 – Encourage all members to be helpful.  When I first started #Blogchat, I asked regular contributors to please help me by welcoming new participants, and to help them with any questions they have.  The #Blogchat regulars do a wonderful job of being helpful to everyone.  Now I tell everyone that if they are new to #Blogchat, to feel free to ask any of us any questions, that we will be happy to help.  And I am constantly seeing others tweet about how helpful and friendly the #Blogchat community is, so I think the #Blogchat regulars view it as a badge of honor.  At least I hope they do, because I do 😉

4 – Clearly spell out for all members how they can participate and what is expected of them.  All it takes is a simple post listing out the purpose of your community and any guidelines.  This is important, because if someone stumbles upon an established community, it can be a very daunting thing, and a ‘road map’ can definitely help put them at ease.

5 – If you are active in your community (as you should be), then make sure you are following your own rules.  For example, when I participate in #Blogchat, I am usually asking questions of other participants.  I try to avoid always making statements, and I use the words ‘I think….’ a lot.  If I am asking questions as the ‘moderator’ of #Blogchat then it sets the tone of everyone else to the same.

 

Remember at the end of the day if you can reach a point where community members are creating value for themselves, then everyone wins.  A great way to do this is to increase the level of participation within that community.

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What Rockstars Can Teach You About Creating Kick-Ass Online Content

Think about it, Rockstars are amazingly effective content creators.  They create content (music) that we are not only willing to pay to get, but we also pay to view and hear them creating that content (concerts)!  And then there’s all the merchandise we purchase as well that celebrates them as content creators.

So as you are looking to rev up your content creation efforts, take a closer look at how Rockstars create amazingly compelling content that not only resonates with their fans, but delights them.

1 – Rockstars always play their Greatest Hits.  If you go to an Eagles concert, it wouldn’t be complete without hearing them play Hotel California.  Likewise, if you load up the Little Monsters and go to see Lady Gaga perform, you can’t wait to hear the ‘Ra ra ah ah ah…’ that tells you Bad Romance is the next.  Likewise, if you are a content creator, there are going to be certain types of content, certain topics you cover, that simply resonate more with your audience.  These are your Greatest Hits.  These are the topics you love to talk/blog/tweet about, and this passion you have for these topics means you create better content, that your audience wants more of.  So know what your Greatest Hits are, and feel free to cover these topics regularly, because this is what your fans want.

Now there is a slight caveat to this:  Often with Rockstars, their DIE HARD fans don’t want to hear their ‘mainstream’ hits as much as they do their more obscure songs.  For example, up until about 10 years ago (or around the time she lost her mind and started playing country music) I was a HUGE Jewel fan.  But I wasn’t really a fan of her mainstream hits, I was a fan of her more obscure songs.  Mainly, because I had already heard all of her hits before.  So when I heard her perform in Birmingham in 1999, I didn’t care if she played You Were Meant For Me, I wanted to hear I’m Fading (The K-Mart Song, not the popified Wal-Mart version she’s done since).  So if you are a content creator, what this could mean for you is that if you have die-hard fans, they might be willing/wanting to pay you for more exclusive/unique content.  If it’s content that only THEY have access to, even better!

Tip: Check your blog’s analytics and see what your Top 10 posts are all-time ranked by views, and comments.  Also, check your keywords and see what terms people are searching for that are leading them to your blog.  This will give you a great idea of what your most popular content is.  If you see that every time you write about X topic, that your audience responds, then that’s a BIG hint that you’ve found one of your Greatest Hits!  Don’t be afraid to blog about the same topic more than once!  The next time writer’s block has set in, dig into your analytics and archives and see if you can resurrect a past hit and post about it again!

2 – Tell a story with your content that connects with your audience.  Rockstars are great storytellers.  They find a way to write songs that touch listeners.  That stir emotions within us and make us believe that this song was written JUST for us.

For example, the next time you hear a Taylor Swift song playing on the radio, actually stop and listen to the lyrics.  There’s a reason why millions of teenage girls absolutely love Taylor: It’s because she is singing about THEIR lives!  She’s talking about their hopes, their fears, their failures, and their dreams.  They connect with her because she’s singing about everything they are experiencing right now.

You want to do the same thing with the content you create.  You want to tell stories that help you illustrate your points and make them more relevant with the audience you are trying to connect with.  If you’ve ever seen me speak, you know I do this in all of my presentations.  I make a point, then I use an example/case study of a business that has executed that point that I’m trying to illustrate.  I do this because I want to make the content relatable to the audience.  It’s one thing to talk to non-profit marketers about how they can use social media as a crisis communication tool, it’s quite another to tell them the story of how the Red Cross is doing just that.

Tip: Use case studies or even personal examples and stories to illustrate the points you are trying to make.  Any advice you are attempting to share with your content is always easier to understand if you can share a story of how someone else has already done what you suggest.

3 – Be memorable.  There’s so many songs I remember for just one or two lines:

“Many is the word, that only leaves you guessin’.  You guess about a thing, you really oughta know…’ Led Zeppelin, Over the Hills and Far Away

“I’d like to fly, but my wings have been so denied…” Alice in Chains, Down in a Hole

“Where did the Angels go? Cigarette smoke is all that’s left. I traded my wings in for a string of pearls, and the string’s all I’ve left…” Jewel, I’m Fading

“All and all, you’re just another brick in The Wall” – Pink Floyd, Another Brick in The Wall

Rockstars do a great job of giving us that ‘hook’ in their songs that make them memorable.  You can do the same thing with your content and blog posts.  It could be the headline of your post.  It could be the infographic or picture that grabs attention.  It could be the key stat that drives home the point you’re trying to make.

Tip: When creating content, whether a blog post, a video, even a tweet, think about what the ONE key takeaway you want people to have.  Look at what would make the most impact, is it a picture, a stat, what?

4 – Be real.  Rockstars do an amazing job of creating songs that are raw, emotional, and strip all the bullshit away to get to what’s real.  Look at this amazing music video for the song Hurt by Johnny Cash.  Look at how Johnny sings about living a life of regret, then it shows an old home video of Johnny standing in his yard with a contemplative look on his face.  Or notice how as Johnny sings, June looks on with a worried look.  All of this does a fabulous job of relating to us that Johnny is singing from his soul.

Tip: Don’t be afraid to speak with your own voice when you create content.  How often have you seen someone write a short blog post that says something like, “I think Chris Brogan and Shannon Paul are onto something, check out their posts here and here.”  We’ve probably already read what Chris and Shannon think, I want to hear what YOU think!  Don’t just parrot what another blogger says, share your own opinion, especially if you have a DIFFERENT take on the issue!  Sharing your own voice is a great way to build your following and audience because your voice is unique and distinctive!

5 – Turn a negative into a positive.  Up until 1993, Sarah McLachlan was very well-known in her home country of Canada, but not internationally.  All that changed with the release of the LP Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, and her first breakthrough mainstream hit, Possession.  The lyrics to Possession were very stark and even haunting, a definite break from what we’d heard of Sarah’s catalog up until this point.  “Into this night I wander, it’s morning that I dread.  Another day unknowing of the path I fear to thread.  Into the sea of waking dreams I follow without pride. Because nothing stands between us here, and I won’t be denied!”  

After the song’s release and international popularity, it was revealed that Sarah had endured multiple stalkings just prior to writing this song, including letters being sent to her regularly.  One of her stalkers even sued Sarah, claiming that the lyrics to Possession were taken from his letters to her.  This person later committed suicide.  But Sarah found the strength to take these traumatic events and focus her energy into her music, and the result was a hit that took her from being a celebrity in Canada, to an international superstar.

Tip: Incorporate setbacks into the content you create.  Obviously, your examples don’t have to be (and hopefully won’t be) as severe as what Sarah endured, but maybe you could offer a Lessons Learned post from what went wrong with a Social Media campaign, or how you handled what could have been a potential negative for your brand, and turned it into a positive.  Case in point, check out this wonderful video by Gary Vee on how he turned a potential PR disaster, into a positive experience:

Remember, don’t just focus on creating useful content, create remarkable content!  Content that others want to share and talk about, and build upon.  Your goal should be to create content that inspires others to build content as a result.