MackCollier.com

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Writing For Your Readers, Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic!

UPDATE: Here’s the link to tonight’s #Blogchat transcript

Hey y’all!  Tonight (5-10-2015) at #Blogchat we’ll be chatting about writing for your readers.  All month we’ll be covering topics associated with improving your writing on your blog.

And that’s because this month’s #Blogchat sponsor is the Marketing Writing Bootcamp from MarketingProfs!  The Marketing Writing Bootcamp is a 13-class online course that begins on June 11th.  And if you register via this link and use promo code BLOGCHAT you will receive an additional $200 discount!

Our topic will be Writing For Your Readers.  We’ll cover two main areas:

1 – Who are your readers and how do you discover who reads your blog?

2 – How do you write content that is useful to your particular audience?

#Blogchat will begin at 8pm Central on Sunday, 5-10-2015.  And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers that will be joining us!

And because the Marketing Writing Bootcamp is sponsoring #Blogchat in May, they will have a very special giveaway just for #Blogchat!  The Marketing Writing Bootcamp is focused on helping you solve your writing problems and becoming a better writer.  To that end, MarketingProfs will be giving away one free pass to the online Marketing Writing Bootcamp.  In order to be eligible to win the pass, all you have to do is write and publish a blog post by 5-31, discussing your biggest writing challenge.  When it comes to writing, what holds you back?  Share what your biggest writing challenge and MarketingProfs will select one post from one blogger at the end of the 5-31 #Blogchat to win a free pass to its online Marketing Writing Bootcamp!

To be eligible to win the free pass to the online Marketing Writing Bootcamp, do these two things:

1 – Make sure in your post that you note that the post is written as your chance to win a pass to the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and please link to the Marketing Writing Bootcamp at URL http://mprofs.com/blogchatmwb

2 – Leave a comment here with a link to the blog post that you write as your entry in this giveaway.  Just leave a comment and share your post.  Something like ‘Hey Mack, here’s my entry, my post on my biggest writing challenge is here – http://www.myawesomeblog.com’  You must leave a comment here to be eligible to win the pass.  This helps Marketing Profs keep up with everyone that’s written a post.

And if you want to save $200 on the Marketing Writing Bootcamp, remember to use promo code BLOGCHAT to register for the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and you will receive a $200 discount off the $595 price!

See y’all Tonight at 8pm Central on Twitter!

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The Art of Finding Your Voice With Your Social Media Content

Last night at #Blogchat we had an interesting discussion about finding your blogging voice and the importance of tone with the content you create.  Maybe it’s not completely accurate to talk about ‘finding’ your voice.  Perhaps it’s more about being willing to give yourself permission to share your voice.

But it is my contention that many bloggers, whether they are personal or blogging for someone else, lose interest in blogging because they either aren’t allowed or don’t allow themselves to share their unique writing voice.  I saw multiple people in #Blogchat last night referencing ‘write as you talk’, and I think that’s correct.  If you don’t feel comfortable expressing yourself naturally, then the very act of writing and blogging can feel forced.  As a result, it becomes less like an enjoyable activity and more like a job.

If this contention is correct, then the opposite must be true.  Bloggers that embrace their unique voice (or point of view) are more passionate about blogging.  And that passion carries through into their writing, making it more interesting to the reader.

Look at the tweet above from Southwest.  It was created in a humorous and light-hearted voice.  If you’ve ever flown with Southwest, you know that the flight attendants have this same voice.  They are light-hearted, fun and energetic.  The voice of Southwest’s content on social media is consistent with the brand’s voice across all communication channels.  That’s important.

So how do you find or share your unique blogging voice?  While I do think it’s more about giving yourself permission to share your voice versus finding it, I do think that writing consistently helps you to refine your voice.  For example, over time I’ve learned to share and develop my unique voice here.  My readers are primarily interested in information about how to more successfully create social content, and manage their efforts.  In other words, it’s a space where a lot of people have questions with few straight answers.  So over time, I decided to start sharing everything I knew about creating and managing social content.  Even my own content.  I share how I create content here, and how effective that content is in helping me reach my goals.

And I purposely share when something goes wrong.  This not only helps me communicate to my readers that no one is perfect when it comes to creating social media content, but it also helps me build trust with my readers.  This is also why I openly share all the prices I charge for my speaking/training/consulting services.  Remember at the first of the post when I talked about how not giving yourself permission to share your voice can contribute to you losing interest in blogging?  I hate being vague, especially when it comes to pricing services.  I hate talking to a company that needs help from someone like me with building out their social media strategy, and not addressing the pricing for my services up front.  If they are wanting more information on a $5,000 service and only have $500, then everyone’s time is wasted if we spend 2 weeks of discussing how we can work together if we are that far apart on money.  So I prefer to save everyone’s time and manage expectations by being upfront.

With brands, there are some unique challenges: Finding writers that can write in that brand’s unique voice, disconnects when the brand’s social voice doesn’t match the voice of customer service delivered via other channels, etc.

Whether you write for yourself or an employer, what has been your biggest challenge in finding and sharing your blogging voice?

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Marketing Writing Bootcamp is #Blogchat’s Sponsor For May

UPDATE: Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat on your blogging voice and tone.

I’m delighted to announce that MarketingProfs’ Marketing Writing Bootcamp is sponsoring #Blogchat in May!  They are also sponsoring The Fan-Damn-Tastic Marketing Show in May and June as well, so I’m thrilled to have them on board.

Here’s the basics about the Marketing Writing Bootcamp:

Course begins June 11

· 13 classes, each 30-40 minutes long

· Entirely online, available on computer, tablet, phone

· Nearly 8 hours of online instruction

· This is the fifth (5th) year MarketingProfs has held the course. It’s been a different mix of instructors and topics each year, and continues to grow.

· Each class is taught by a subject matter expert, specific to that each topic

· Certificate issued upon completion of the course

· Over $1000 in freebies for registering (online seminars, video tutorials, additional writing classes, how-to-guides, and more!)

· Ideal for anyone who writes as part of their job responsibilities

 

And if you register via this link and use promo code BLOGCHAT you will receive an additional $200 discount!

Now the great thing about having the Marketing Writing Bootcamp sponsor #Blogchat in May is that we will focus on writing topics each Sunday in the month of May!  Writing is always a popular topic among #Blogchat members and we’ll focus there in May.  Tonight’s (5-3-2015) topic will be How to Find Your Blogging Voice and Select the Proper Tone For the Writing on Your Blog.

But wait….there’s more!

The Marketing Writing Bootcamp is focused on helping you solve your writing problems and becoming a better writer.  To that end, MarketingProfs will be giving away one free pass to the online Marketing Writing Bootcamp.  In order to be eligible to win the pass, all you have to do is write and publish a blog post by 5-31, discussing your biggest writing challenge.  When it comes to writing, what holds you back?  Share what your biggest writing challenge and MarketingProfs will select one post at the end of the 5-31 #Blogchat to win a free pass to its online Marketing Writing Bootcamp!  You can start sharing your entries during the 5-10 #Blogchat!  Make sure in your post that you note that the post is written as your chance to win a pass to the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and please link to the Marketing Writing Bootcamp at URL http://mprofs.com/blogchatmwb

So remember, use promo code BLOGCHAT to register for the Marketing Writing Bootcamp and you will receive a $200 discount off the $595 price!

See y’all tonight at 8pm Central on Twitter!

 

 

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Is Your Blog Ready For Google’s Mobile Search Update?

UPDATE: Here’s the link to the transcript for this #Blogchat.

Tonight at #Blogchat (4-12-2015) we will be discussing the changes that Google is about to roll out that are aimed at rewarding sites that are Mobile Friendly.  These changes will start to take affect on 4-21-2015, or Tuesday of next week.

Here’s where you can read about what these changes mean on Google’s webmaster blog.  In short, it seems that the main change will be that sites/blogs that google deems to be ‘mobile-friendly’ will rank higher than similar sites/blogs that are not mobile-friendly in google’s eyes.

You can use this site from google to check and see if google sees your blog as being mobile-friendly.

First, what does ‘mobile-friendly’ mean anyway?  In short, it means that your blog adapts to whatever device being used to view it, to present an adequate viewing experience.  For example, have you ever tried to view a blog on a smartphone and it looks like a smaller version of the entire website?  And you have to expand the text with your fingers to read any of it?  That’s an example of a blog that’s NOT mobile-friendly.  This is also called having a responsive design/theme/template for your blog.  It means your blog adapts to the device you are using to present text in a way that can be easily read.

Second, is google going to penalize my blog starting on 4-21-2015 if it’s not mobile-friendly?  Well, yes and no.  I think it’s more accurate to say this latest update from Google is more about rewarding mobile-friendly blogs that it is about penalizing ones that aren’t.  If you go now to your smartphone and do a google search, you’ll see that when you look at the results, some of the sites will have MOBILE FRIENDLY under their entry.  This is telling you that since you are on a mobile device, that these sites will give you an optimal viewing experience.  So the odds are that you will click a mobile-friendly result moreso than one that isn’t.  Additionally, Google has said that starting on 4-21-2015, it will begin using whether a site is mobile-friendly or not as one of its ‘ranking signals’.  Meaning that Google will start to consider if a site is mobile-friendly or not as one of the criteria when it ranks sites for results.  Will this only apply for search results on mobile devices, or all devices?  I’m not sure, maybe someone could chime in?

What are your options if your blog is NOT mobile-friendly?

If your blog is NOT mobile-friendly and you want to make it so, then you will want to either switch to a responsive theme, or make some alteration to your existing theme/site to make it responsive.

The first thing I would do is go to your Google Analytics and see how much of your blog’s traffic is currently coming from mobile devices.  For my blog, about 33% of my site’s traffic is from mobile.  That number is too big to ignore, so over the weekend I made some tweaks to my theme (Thesis) to make it responsive, and mobile-friendly in Google’s eyes.  If your blog is only getting 5% of its traffic from mobile devices, then you might decide to wait and see how your traffic changes on 4-21-2015 (if it does at all) before you make any changes.

Before changing themes, I would check to see if there are any options for making your existing theme responsive.  For example, I am running Thesis 1.8.6 here, and I found out there IS a way to make this theme responsive.  I did so by adding this responsive skin (so if you have Thesis 1.8.x, you can use it to make your blog responsive).  I would google your theme and see if there are any options for making it responsive.

If you do decide to change themes (and your blog is a self-hosted WordPress blog), keep in mind that WordPress 4.0 came with the Twenty-Fifteen theme, which is a responsive theme.  It’s a very simple and no-frills theme, but switching to it should make your blog mobile-friendly and ready for Google’s upcoming changes.

Also, Copyblogger has a nice write-up on what this change could mean for your blog.

So join us tonight at 8pm Central at #blogchat to discuss these changes and how to get your blog ready!  If you haven’t joined #blogchat before, here’s what it’s all about.

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Legal Issues Associated With Blogging: Tonight’s #Blogchat Topic With @KerryGorgone!

Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat with Kerry!

Tonight at #Blogchat (Nov 9th, 2014) we’ll be discussing the legal issues associated with blogging with my good friend Kerry Gorgone!  Kerry is an amazing woman with an incredibly diverse skillset.  She’s a lawyer, a former college instructor, she’s a speaker, and she’s also one of the best podcasters in the world. Currently, she develops marketing training courses for MarketingProfs. It’s her talents as a lawyer that we’ll be calling upon tonight as she helps us understand the legal issues associated with blogging.

Here’s a VERY detailed look at what we’ll be discussing tonight (thank you Kerry!)

8:00-8:20PM Central – What are the legal issues bloggers need to know if they want to run a contest on their blog?

Points to consider:
–> (Giveaways or Games of Chance/Lotteries vs. Contests of Skill)
–> IRS / Tax reporting
–> Stating contest eligibility rules clearly
–> Special considerations for Canadians

8:20-8:40PM – If a blogger receives a product from a company, do they have to disclose that?

Points to consider:
–> When to call content “sponsored” or “paid”
–> Do you have to repeat disclosures every time you post sponsored content, even if the content is old?
–> What’s the best way to disclose in a tweet or other short social post? Do you have to use a hashtag?
–> Disclosure’s a pain: why bother?

8:40 to 9:00PM Breaking copyright rules can cause expensive problems. What do bloggers need to know?

Points to consider:
–> Is it okay to use other people’s content? How much of it can I take? What are the rules?
–> What do I do if someone else is using MY content?
–> Where can I find images that are safe to use?
–> How can I protect my copyright in pictures I take and images I create?

 

Also check out this post that Kerry was kind enough to write here on protecting your creative works online.  I could not be happier to have Kerry joining us tonight, please make sure you are following her on Twitter!  See y’all at 8pm Central tonight!

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Gini Dietrich Co-Hosts #Blogchat TONIGHT on Using Your Blog As a Communication Tool During a Crisis

Gini Pro Photo

Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat with Gini!

I’m thrilled to welcome Gini Dietrich as #Blogchat co-host tonight for the first time!  I’ve been wanting to have Gini co-host #Blogchat for a couple of years now so I’m happy it is finally happening.

Gini will be talking to us about How to Use Your Blog As a Communiction Tool During a Crisis.  If you are a frequent reader of her Spin Sucks blog (and excellent book of the same name) you know that Gini is an expert at social media crisis management.

Here’s what we’ll be discussing:

From 8:00-8:20 Central – “What information should a company have on its blog to prep for a social media crisis?”

8:20-8:40 Central – “If there’s a situation that customers are concerned about, what’s the correct way for the company to address it on its blog?”

8:40-9:00 Central – “Should a company use other social media sites during a crisis to communicate with customers, or just their blog?”

 

So make sure you are following Gini on Twitter, and follow the #Blogchat hashtag at 8pm Central (remember to turn your clocks back an hour for Daylight Savings Time!).

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Jay Baer Joins #Blogchat Tonight: How to Make Your Blog a YouTility

JayBaer

UPDATE: Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat with Jay!

I’m thrilled to announce that Jay Baer will be joining #Blogchat tonight (10-5-2014)!  Jay is one of the true thought leaders in digital marketing and a New York Times Bestselling author thanks to his hit YouTility!  Jay will talk to us tonight about how to leverage our blogs to create useful marketing for our customers, starting at 8pm Central!

Here’s what we’ll be discussing:

8:00-8:20 PM Central – How do you determine what type of content is most useful for your particular audience?

8:20-8:40PM – Does the helpful content you create have to be directly related to the products you sell?

8:40-9:00PM – Is a blog the best way to create and distribute content that provides YouTility for customers?

 

Hope you can join us starting at 8pm Central on Twitter!  And EVERYONE is welcome to join, just follow the hashtag on Twitter and jump right in!  If you will be joining us make sure you are following Jay on Twitter and reading his blog, Convince and Convert.

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Ann Handley Co-Hosts #Blogchat Tonight on Weaving Storytelling Into Your Blog!

Yeah, it was a party! Here’s the transcript from tonight’s #Blogchat with Ann!

AnnHandley

Tonight I’m thrilled to welcome for the second time, Ann Handley as co-host of #Blogchat!  Ann is going to teach us how to be better writers PLUS tonight kicks off LAUNCH WEEK for her second book, Everybody Writes!  Everybody Writes is doing AMAZINGLY well in pre-sales and will no doubt be an instant bestseller.  You can order your copy here on Amazon.

Here’s what we’ll be discussing with Ann:

8:00-8:20pm Central, we’ll discuss What are some tips for telling interesting stories on a blog? How do you keep the reader’s attention?

8:20-8:40pm, What are some of the common writing mistakes bloggers make that can be easily corrected?

8:40-9:00pm, How does Ann Handley write?  What tools does Ann use to help her writing and how does she find ideas to write about?

 

Ann will be joining us with her @AnnHandley name on Twitter, so please make sure you are following her on Twitter!  See you on Twitter at 8pm Central, everyone is welcome!

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Bring Your Blog to the Next Level with Expert Interviews

ann-smarty-print-01Note from Mack: This is a sponsored post from Ann Smarty for MyBlogU, who is the sponsor of #Blogchat in August.  You can learn more about them by clicking here. 

Last week I was lucky enough to co-host #blogchat talking about being featured in the expert interviews for brand awareness and influence building, so today I thought I’d follow up with tips on how to benefit from publishing expert interviews as well (there’s truly a win-win concept there)!

Attracting real people to your blog is not an easy task… especially nowadays that the web is so much overloaded with content. Building a micro-community around your blog is so essential for its success: You need people who will help you get your word out.

That’s where the concept of group interviews comes in handy. If someone is willing to provide a quote for your article, that accomplishes so many goals at a time:

  • Your content suddenly becomes more trust-worthy (With readers seeing possibly familiar names contributing);
  • You get people on board who are willing to promote and share your article (the basics of ego-bait) with the huge long-term potential benefit of turning those contributors into your blog community champions.
  • Your article becomes more in-depth and unique (thanks to the variety of first-hand experiences or personal takes shared in it)
  • You can engage your community by inviting them to feature their answers on your blog (and thus build better relationships with your readers)
  • You may discover lots of new angles of the topic you thought you knew quite well (and thus stand out)…

The Draw Of The Expert Interview: Examples

While there are many reasons for conducting expert interviews, there are two primary reasons that they work so effectively. First, they are leaning on the brand of those contributors’ namse, which holds a lot of clout on both the social web and the entire industry. Second, you are giving your own followers/readers/fans something valuable that they can use, learn from and be entertained by.

Interviews are a great vessel for well received content. Here’s an example of how one email to a prominent blogger with a single question can be turned into a useful article of its own. Here’s a more traditional q&a-style expert round-up, with each contributor telling a personal story. Here’s another approach: A group expert interview which was packaged into a huge all-in-one tutorial filled with actionable advice. Here’s another type of the group interview that doesn’t have “question-answer” format but still delivers a powerful message with first-hand examples.

There are also whole business models based solely on featuring expert interviews. Here’s a good example shared by my fellow @MyBlogU ambassador @YoavEzer: A site filled with lots of personal stories of how people embraced freedom for the sake of becoming entrepreneurs. Or this one turning interviews into a powerful course! There’s also a great example I came across at #blogchat:

I’ve experimented a lot with various types of expert interviews and I’ve seen great results, especially if I get consistent: Our weekly #vcbuzz interviews with experts (turned into on-site interviews as well) attracted some of the biggest industry names to our site: Most of them have become our site users and / or chat regulars.

The Power is in Connections

Creating awesome content is often not enough to get heard. You need eager people who will be happy to call your blog “a home” and will talk back to you. Otherwise, it’s tough to keep on. Adding expert interviews to your blog editorial calendar (and possibly approaching the task with some creativity) is a great way to get some discussion going and spread your reach!

Do you have any creative examples of blogging utilizing expert interviews? Please share them in the comments!

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Bloggers, Learn How to Get More Interviews With Ann Smarty!

myblogu-01

UPDATE: Here’s the transcript from our #Blogchat with Ann!

This Sunday (8-24-2014) we’ll welcome Ann Smarty to #Blogchat!  Ann will be helping us learn how as bloggers we can get more interview requests from other bloggers and sites.  Ann’s MyBlogU is the #Blogchat sponsor for August, you can learn more about MyBlogU by clicking here.

Here’s what we’ll be discussing on Sunday starting at 8PM Central:

8:00-8:20 PM – How does a blogger position themselves as an expert worth interviewing?

8:20-8:40 PM – How to get interviewed (find expert interviews to participate in)?

8:40-9:00 PM – How does a blogger make the best impression in an interview? Ann will help us understand the best way to answer questions, the best type of interview (email, phone, video) and what areas of our expertise to highlight so we put our best foot forward!

 

Getting interviews is a wonderful tool for helping a blogger build awareness and establish their level of expertise.  Think about it, you are getting the same exposure that you would from a guest post on another blog, but the added benefit is that other blogger or site is also interviewing you as an expert!  So it’s the best of both worlds!  We’ll chat about this with Ann tomorrow night and if you have any questions about how to be interviewed more often by other bloggers and sites, Ann can help!  Make sure you are following her on Twitter.

See y’all tomorrow night on Twitter!