MackCollier.com

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Three Plugins to Add Today to Immediately Make Your WordPress Blog More Awesome

SunniSuperPowerWhen it comes to blogging (much like any form of social media) there really is no ‘silver bullet’, but these three plugins will instantly create a better experience for your readers.  Which is always a good thing.

1 – Comment Redirect.  Easily the best plugin I have ever added here.  What this plugin does is when someone leaves a comment for the first time here, it redirects them to a page of your choosing.  For me, it sends first-time commenters here to this page and thanks them for commenting!  You can read the comments for yourself to see what everyone thinks about the idea.

2 – WPTouch.  This is a plugin that I wish I had added at least a year ago.  It makes a mobile-friendly version of your blog!  From a useability standpoint it makes a night and day difference when viewed on a smartphone.  Here’s a recent review I did of the plugin with before and after screenshots.  Anyone viewing your blog on an iPhone will LOVE you for adding this!  Now there is a caveat that a few people said the plugin didn’t play nicely with their particular theme, so check the comments in that post for more information on that.

3 – Popular Posts.  This creates links to your most popular posts for the life of the blog, and parks them in a widget on your sidebar.  Several times, this one plugin has sent me a flood of traffic as a major site will pick up one of the posts from the sidebar under Popular Posts (look to the far right sidebar and you’ll see it).  It’s a great way to pull out some of those classic posts you wrote 2-3 years ago and have forgotten about.

 

So there’s three plugins that you can quickly add and immediately improve the experience on your blog for your readers, especially #1 and #2.

Which plugin are you using to create an amazing experience for your readers?  What would you add to this list?

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The ‘How Do I Get More Sales’ Dilemma and Why Its Not Always Social Media’s Fault

cost of social mediaYesterday I read an article that Amber-Lee shared here in the comments from a gentleman that was basically saying that Social Media was worthless in driving sales. This was my favorite quote from the article:

Like anything else, if you want even a 1 percent chance of succeeding with social media, it requires a strategy and a commitment. Bet you either don’t have a strategy or you have a strategy created by a person or people who have never been successful with social media…because no one really has been.

Then later yesterday I was running some errands and as I was out driving, I heard a local hotel advertising their Valentine’s Day special for couples.  They told you all about the wonderful room you’d get, the amenities at the hotel that were provided, a meal at the on-site restaurant, etc.  Really selling you on how amazing this offer was, then at the end of the commercial they give you…their street address.

No telephone number, no website address, they don’t even clarify the city in which the hotel is located (and it’s in an area affectionately known as ‘The Quad Cities’).  They used the radio spot to do a great job of selling you on why this hotel and its Valentine’s Day offer was wonderful, then when it came time to close the sale, they only gave you a street address as a way to contact them.

The lesson here is:  You can’t blame the tool when you don’t use it correctly.  This makes about as much sense as driving a Hummer into the lake and when it sinks, cursing it as being a terrible boat.

The question isn’t ‘can social media effectively drive sales for my business?’, the question is ‘do I know how to effectively use social media to drive sales for my business?’  It’s been well established that social media CAN be used as a tool to drive sales.  It’s also been well established that many businesses have great difficulty in using social media as a tool to directly drive sales.

See what I did there?  I added that many businesses have great difficulty in using social media as a tool to directly drive sales.  Social media simply doesn’t function very well as a direct sales channel.  It does functions exceptionally well as a channel to build networks and relationships.  And frequently as a result of those relationships, you can generate sales.

But as with any form of marketing or contact you have with your customers, your ability to use the tool successfully depends on your understanding of its proper use.  Often the blame falls on the shoulders of the carpenter, not the hammer.

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Think Like a Rock Star Book Tour Update Plus Pre-Order Offers For You

It’s been literally nine months since I first announced that I would be writing Think Like a Rock Star.  Yes, I probably announced it too early, but I was too excited to keep the news to myself!  Today I wanted to share with you how you can have me present Think Like a Rock Star as part of the book tour but I also wanted to share a few pre-order offers I’ve created for you.

First, let me explain why pre-orders are valuable to me, the author.  More pre-orders do three important things:

1 – They signal to booksellers that they need to order more copies of the book to meet demand.

2 – They signal to my publisher that they need to give more marketing support to this book due to increased demand.

3 – It helps the book reach those magical Bestseller lists because all pre-orders count toward sales for the 1st week the book is available.

Now so far, my publisher is thrilled with the the pre-order numbers for the book, but as part of the learning process for me (and as a way to reward you for pre-ordering the book), I’ve created a few pre-order offers for you.

First, you can pre-order the book now, and both Amazon and Barnes and Noble are carrying it currently for $12.27.  I’m not sure about B&N, but Amazon will give you the lower price if the book drops in price after you pre-order it but before it comes out.  For example, some people pre-ordered Think Like a Rock Star when Amazon first listed it in October for $22.  Those people will pay no more than $12.27 for the book since the price has dropped.

So here’s my pre-order offers for you(All of these offers expire on March 1st, or when they are filled, whichever comes first):

1 – Pre-order two(2) copies of Think Like a Rock Star and I will write a free guest post for your blog on how companies or bloggers can connect with their fans (minimum of 500 words).  The post will tie into the themes of Think Like a Rock Star, and along with the guest post you can do a giveaway for the 2nd copy of the book that you pre-ordered!  It will be a nice way to get your blog some extra exposure, your readers will appreciate the giveaway, plus it will help me raise awareness for the book.  The guest post must run on your blog between April 1st and April 15th, 2013.  I will also promote it on Twitter for you.  This offer is limited to the first three(3) people that email me a copy of their receipt from either Amazon or B&N that shows they have pre-ordered two(2) copies of the book.  You can pre-order Think Like a Rock Star here from Amazon and here from Barnes and Noble.

2 – Pre-order five(5) copies of Think Like a Rock Star and I’ll do an interview on your blog about how companies and bloggers can cultivate fans (3-5 questions, emailed to me beforehand).  In addition, I will give you a free 30-minute phone consultation (A $150.00 value).  This can be about whatever you want, how your company can better connect with its fans, how you (or your company) can improve its blogging efforts, whatever.  The interview post must run on your blog between April 1st and April 15th, 2013.  I will also promote it on Twitter for you.  This offer is limited to the first three(3) people that email me a copy of their receipt from either Amazon or B&N that shows they have pre-ordered five(5) copies of the book, and residents of the United States.  You can pre-order Think Like a Rock Star here from Amazon and here from Barnes and Noble.

3 – Pre-order ten(10) copies of Think Like a Rock Star and I will give you two one-hour phone consultations, the first hour will be in May 2013, the second hour will be in June 2013.  This is a $500 value, just for pre-ordering ten (10) copies of the book.  This offer is limited to the first three(3) people that email me a copy of their receipt from either Amazon or B&N that shows they have pre-ordered ten (10) copies of the book, and residents of the United States.  You can pre-order Think Like a Rock Star here from Amazon and here from Barnes and Noble. (UPDATE: This offer is no longer available!)

4 – Pre-order fifty(50) copies of Think Like a Rock Star and I will give you six one-hour phone consultations, one a month for every month from July 2013 through December 2013.  This is a value of $1,500.00!  This is for companies that are serious about connecting with their fans and building a fan-centric brand.  This offer is limited to the first two(2) people that email me a copy of their receipt from either Amazon or B&N that shows they have pre-ordered fifty(50) copies of the book, and residents of the United States.     You can pre-order Think Like a Rock Star here from Amazon and here from Barnes and Noble.

Now, if you want to have me present Think Like a Rock Star at your company or event, here’s the details.  I will give you a 45-60 minute presentation on Think Like a Rock Star.  The presentation can be tweaked to your particular industry or event’s focus, etc.  The total time of the presentation itself will be 45-60 minutes, including Q&A.  I will waive my speaking fee if you agree to pre-order 100 copies of Think Like a Rock Star from either Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  There are some stipulations to this offer.  First, it’s only available for speaking engagements within the continental United States from May through October, 2013.  Second, you must cover all travel costs for me, including round-trip flight, 2-night hotel stay, and any associated taxi fares to and from the airport/hotel/event site.  All dates are subject to availability.   I will be happy to do a book-signing of up to 30-minutes immediately after my presentation, or if that isn’t possible I will be happy to sign the books prior to presenting so the attendees can have their copy signed.  If you would like to book me to present Think Like a Rock Star at your company or event, please email me to discuss details.

Finally, for the first time I wanted to share the Table of Content from Think Like a Rock Star, to give you a better sense of exactly what’s covered in the book.  This is subject to change, but we’ve been tinkering with the flow for weeks and I think we now have it set as it will appear in the book:

Foreword by Kathy Sierra

Preface

Introduction

Part 1: The Four Reasons Why Rock Stars Have Fans (and Your Company Has Customers)

Chapter 1: Rock Stars Are Fans Themselves

Chapter 2: Rock Stars Look for Ways to Shift Control to Their Fans

Chapter 3: Rock Stars Find the Bigger Idea Behind the Music They Create

Chapter 4: Rock Stars Embrace and Empower Their Fans

Part 2: Understanding and Connecting With Your Fans

Chapter 5: Who Your Fans Are and How Can You Connect with Them

Chapter 6: How to Handle Negative Comments and Convert Angry Customers Into Passionate Fans

Part 3: Building a Fan-Centric Company

Chapter 7: Organizing Your Employees So They Can Better Connect with Your Customers

Chapter 8: How to Organize and Mobilize Your Customer and Brand Advocates

Chapter 9: Empower Your Fans and Employees

Chapter 10: Helping Your Brand Ambassadors Connect With Your Customers

Chapter 11: What Comes Next

 

In leading up to the production of the book, one of the things I’ve been doing is showing a select few brand and social media marketers the book so they can review it for us.  Here’s what Katie Morse, the Social Marketing Manager for Billboard had to say about Think Like a Rock Star:

“There’s a theory in music that if a musician has “1,000 true fans” (credit: Kevin Kelly), they’ve created a sustainable and full-time music career due to the passion, buying power, and advocacy of those 1,000 fans. Think Like A Rock Star takes that principle, and shows companies the exact steps they need to take to connect with their fans, and the business value from doing so. I highly suggest this book to anyone who wants to figure out how their business (or the one they work for) can stop treating their customers as customers, and start connecting with them as fans.”

If you want to pre-order Think Like a Rock Star, you can do so here at Amazon, and here at Barnes and Noble.  Thank you and if you have any questions please email me!

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Why Red Bull and Patagonia Are Winning the Content Race

Digiday had a nice article today profiling Patagonia’s content strategy.  I found this quote from Patagonia’s Creative Director Bill Boland to be very interesting:

 “Our content stays away from the hard sell,” said Bill Boland, Patagonia’s creative director. “But we are finding that our customers are interested in talking about our products. Even with the climbers out at Patagonia, customers want to know what gear they are wearing, what works for them and what does not, so that is something we are looking into for the future.”

By focusing on the activities and themes that are relevant to Patagonia’s customers, the brand earns their trust and a role reversal takes place.  Instead of Patagonia trying to sell to its customers, the customers are coming to them and asking for more information about the products they sell!

This is the new model of digital content creation.  Don’t focus on your products, focus on the ideas and themes that relate to your products.  Red Bull also does a masterful job of this in its commercials:

That commercial now has over 4 million views.  But note that you never see the energy drink itself until the last few seconds, and barely see the brand’s logo.  The spotlight is on the athletes and the activities they love to engage in, not the product itself.

Patagonia and Red Bull have discovered what your brand needs to:  That you can create relevant and compelling content for your customers by focusing on what their interests are and how your product relates to those themes and ideas.  It’s exactly why both brands are used as case studies in Think Like a Rock Star, because they understand how to create content that’s so popular with its fans that they seek out not only the brand’s content, but its products as well.

If your content strategy isn’t working, maybe it’s time to ask yourself if you’re focused on your products and services, or how those products and services relate to the ideas and themes that are most important to your customers.

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Is a Fan the Same Thing as a Brand Advocate?

Most people use the terms interchangeable, but I think they are two separate types of people.  In my mind, fans have a higher level of passion and sense of ownership over a brand.  Both brand advocates and fans want to see their favorite brands succeed, but  I think the difference is that fans will work with the brand to make that happen.

And to be clear, in this context fans are much rarer than brand advocates.  Their level of devotion and passion for the brand also makes them far more special.  In Think Like a Rock Star, the underlying focus of the entire book is to help your brand create a process and framework for connecting with your fans.  And I constantly stress that your brand shouldn’t get hung up on how many (or typically how few) fans you have.  The people that will Like your Facebook page aren’t typically your ‘fans’.

For example, if you join Maker’s Mark’s brand ambassador program, the brand views it as if you are accepting a job.  Your new job is to promote the product to other customers, as well as talk to bars and restaurants and either encourage them to carry it if they are not, and to thank them for carrying it, if they do.  Your job is to be a raving fan of Maker’s Mark.  Now a true fan of the brand will jump at the chance, and the brand’s program has been extremely popular from its onset over a decade ago.

But if you were to look at everyone that Liked your Facebook page or that followed you on Twitter and made them a similar ‘job’ offer, how many would take you up on that offer?  Probably not many.  So if you are a brand, you need to understand that your true fans are pretty rare customers, there’s probably not a lot of them out there.

Still, it’s incredibly powerful to connect with them, because the thing about your fans is:

1 – They have extremely high levels of loyalty.  So high that they will go out and recruit new fans among your existing customers, and attempt to acquire new customers for you.

2 – They have a high sense of ownership over your brand.   For example they will tell you what’s wrong with your brand, then work alongside you to correct it.

3 – They are your best source of marketing.  Your fans can more effectively connect with customers than your brand can because your fans are speaking in a voice that the customer can relate to: Their own.

 

So don’t get caught up in the numbers game, and don’t fret if your brand doesn’t have 50,000 fans, it may only have 50.  The point is to connect with the fans you do have.  If you need the roadmap to get you started identifying who your fans are and how you can connect with them, now it’s available.

PS:  Here’s a freebie from the book:  One way to help identify your fans is by looking for ‘hand-raisers’.  Remember that since your fans feel a sense of ownership over your brand, they will often reach out to you and initiate contact.  Look for people that are emailing you, that are contacting you on Twitter and Facebook, or even writing letters.  If you are a blogger, the reader that emailed you last week to let you know that they loved your latest post and that it resonated with you, they are likely a fan.  They want to connect with you and thank you for what you do.  Your fans have the motivation to connect with you that your ‘brand advocates’ may not.

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5 Blogging Myths That Need to Die a Slow and Terrible Death

If social media has done anything, it has highlighted the fact that we humans love to jump to conclusions.  And we love to latch onto assumptions that validate and agree with our own worldview.  The same thing with blogging, we cling to many ‘truths’ that are in reality, mostly bunk.  Here’s five of them:

1 – Comments are an indicator of how successful your blog is.  Kevin Hillstrom left a comment here earlier this week, so I want to pick on him for a minute.  Here’s how many comments his blog has received so far this year: 30 comments on 33 posts.  Less than 1 comment per post.  So his blog sucks, right?  Here’s the comment Kevin left:

“70% of my annual consulting revenue comes from my blog. I know this, because I ask every CEO who hires me how they found out about me. They tell me that they heard about me via word of mouth (usually from other blog followers), then they read my content for anywhere between 6 months and 3 years before deciding to hire me.

This trend has held constant for all six of the years I’ve done database marketing work for CEOs.

I used to be a VP at Nordstrom, so one can guess that I earn a reasonable living. Multiply that by 0.7, that’s the fraction the blog is responsible for. The blog works wonders for my business.”

Lesson:  Engagement can be a sign of successful content, but only if that engagement helps you reach your blogging goals.  Now some bloggers like Gini Dietrich claim they get many of their customers from people they connect with after they leave comments on their blog.  I can totally see that, but you shouldn’t assume that simply getting comments means your blog is successful.  More comments is only a sign of success if it is helping you reach your larger goals for your blog.

2 – If you build it, they will come (AKA, Great Content Gets Found).  Not complete bullshit, but it’s close.  Even if you are an amazing writer and create amazing content, that content still has to get found.  Now the ‘Content is King’ proponents will argue that great content always gets found.  And it usually does, what they won’t tell you is that it might take weeks, months or even years for this to happen.  We all have far more information coming at us than we can process.  Go to Twitter right now and you’ll see a steady stream of links being shared back and forth.  How is your amazing content going to stand out in that crowd?

Lesson:  You get out of blogging what you put into it.  If you want your content to be found, then you need to get off your blog and interact with people in their space. Now this isn’t an absolute, because you can always make the argument that blog content can be found via search.  But in general, you can greatly increase the chance of your blog being discovered if you are interacting with your potential readers in their space.  Leave comments on industry blogs, participate in twitter chats about the same topics that your blog covers.  Don’t be lazy and wait to be discovered, get off the couch and in the game.

3 – You Shouldn’t Blog Until You Have Something to Say.  The people telling you this are typically the guys that blog 5 times a year.  They will also tell you that there’s so much noise now that you shouldn’t contribute to it by creating more blogging blather.  My gut feeling is that most of these bloggers aren’t trying to convince you that it’s ok to blog less, they are trying to convince themselves.

Lesson:  As I have been harping on here this year, you become a better blogger by blogging.  The ‘I shouldn’t blog until I have something to say’ line can become an excuse you use to not make the time to blog.  I know from my own experiences that the more I blog, the easier it becomes.  I can blog once a week and spend roughly the same amount of time on that 1 post as I do blogging 4-5 times a week.  Why?  Because when I blog more often, I can more easily spot blogging ideas.  Writing is like anything else, the more you do it and the more frequently you do it, the easier it becomes.

4 – Blogging is dead and social media has killed it.  Ah yes the ‘blogging is dead!’ proclamation.  I think I first started hearing this around 2008 when Twitter started taking off.  This one is easy to fall for, especially if you are a business.  You see that Facebook has 5 billion members and your blog gets 5 visitors a month, and think that’s where you need to be.  But in home-buying terms, with Facebook you are renting, with your blog, you ‘own’ it.  So if the landlord (Facebook) decides to change the rules on you, you can be in big trouble.  But with a blog, you own that space.  You can create the type of content you want, and run promotions and contests.  Plus, the search benefits of blogging speak for themselves.

Lesson: Although blogging is a lot of work, it also has many natural advantages that socnets can’t match.  But you need to decide if blogging is right for your individual needs.  If your customers are using search as a research tool before they make a purchase, then a blog will definitely help you reach potential customers.

5 – If you haven’t started blogging by now, you’ve missed the boat.  Yeah I was hearing this same thing in 2010 and 2008.  The fact is, it’s probably easier for a great writer to stand out now because truly original voices are becoming harder to find.  Even many of the blogging trailblazers are changing their methods to be more like larger websites, more homogenized.  Truly unique voices and approaches will always stand out.

Lesson:  It’s never too late to share your voice.  I started blogging in 2005.  There were already a lot of well-established bloggers by then.  But every year since, a few new bloggers have come ‘out of no where’ and suddenly everyone loves them.  There is always room for smart people with something valuable to say, don’t let a late start keep you from having a start.

What’s the biggest blogging myth that you wish would go away?

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The One Simple Change That Dropped My Blog’s Traffic By 25%

Two weeks ago I wrote a pretty popular blog post on whether or not bloggers should include dates on their posts.  There was plenty of support both for having and removing dates from posts.

Now at that time, I did not include dates on my posts.  But since one of my mantras is that bloggers should test things for themselves with their blogs, I decided to add back the dates to posts for the rest of the month, and then report back my results.

Today it’s been 2 weeks since I added back dates to my posts, and I just took them back off.  I think this picture of my statistics over the last 30 days explains why (the blue X is the day that I added dates back to the posts):

Yep.  As soon as I added dates back to the posts, the overall traffic here started falling.  Quite sharply, as you can see.

Now as part of this, I said I’d look at how search traffic and referral traffic from Twitter was impacted.  Let’s first look at search:

The blue X is on the 14th.  The next day, the 15th, was actually the best day ever for search traffic.  But as you can see, it starts falling pretty sharply after that.  Overall, search traffic fell about 25% over the last 2 weeks.  And given that search traffic drives about 57% of the traffic to this blog, that’s a big hit.

Traffic from Twitter was down a bit as well, but not quite as much:

 Twitter traffic was down about 25% the first week after I added back dates, then another 15% the second week.

Does all this prove that your search and Twitter traffic will fall sharply if you put dates on your posts?  Nope, it does suggest that you should test both with and without dates before you decide.  That’s why I am always harping on testing this stuff, from now on if anyone asks me if it’s better to have dates on their posts or not, I can answer with ‘All I can tell you is that my search and Twitter traffic fell by about 25% when I added dates to my posts.  But you should test it on your blog.’

So why don’t you test this on your blog?  Pick the first two weeks of February, and take dates off your posts if you have them on now, and add them back if you have taken them off.  Track the changes.  I am going to keep doing that, if my search and Twitter traffic now returns to where it was before the 14th, I will be almost positive that adding dates was the culprit.

Never assume when you can test.

UPDATE: There’s been a few people here and elsewhere criticizing the methodology used here, whether or not the test period was long enough, etc.  I don’t want y’all to get hung up on the validity (yay or nay) of the test itself, but instead focus on the fact that I did test.  I don’t want your takeaway from reading this post to be that you should remove dates from your blog if you want to see traffic go up.  The takeaway should be that you should test this on your blog, and not accept my advice or any other blogger’s.  We learn by doing for ourselves, not by blindly following other bloggers.  Either way, test it on your blog then you will know for sure.

SECOND UPDATE(2-5-2013):  Here’s a screenshot I took of this blog’s traffic for the last 30 days, as of yesterday.  The blue X was on the 14th, and that was the day I added dates back to the posts here.  You can then see what happened to traffic levels for the next 2 weeks.  The red X was on Jan 28th, and that was the day on which I took the dates back off.  I think the immediate rise in traffic tells the tale.  But again, don’t assume, test for yourself on your own blog.

SearchStats5

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Ignore the Haters

It’s such a privilege to be a part of #Blogchat every Sunday night.  The community there is incredibly supportive and helpful.  People go out of their way to greet you when you arrive, and to help you in any way they can.  Especially newbies and people that are joining for the first time.

However, and I believe partly because of the supportive community #Blogchat has, it does attract a few ‘haters’.  People that try to tell bloggers that they need to stop blogging.  That there are too many blogs, that people don’t need to blog about every little thing that comes into their minds.  Basically, they spend the majority of their time telling other bloggers how they are doing it wrong.

These bloggers are the ones doing it wrong.  They are the haters.  The people that can’t understand why their blog isn’t more active, why their traffic isn’t going up.  So instead of trying to contribute to a helpful community, they bash.  It’s as if they seem to believe that telling someone else what’s wrong with their blog, will make them feel better about their own blogging efforts.

Ignore the haters.  When is the last time you saw a truly successful blogger waste her time going around telling other bloggers how they are doing it wrong?  Exactly, the most successful bloggers are usually the ones that go out of their way to help other bloggers, not hinder them.

The people that care will tell you what you are doing wrong, and then show you how to fix it.  The assholes will just tell you you are wrong then leave.

Ignore the assholes.  You are the only person that decides whether or not you can succeed at blogging or anything else in life.

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The Art of Book Marketing and the One Thing Many Authors Miss

Think Like a Rock Star is now less than three months from hitting stores.  So as you might guess, these last few months have been a crash course for me in how to effectively market a book and help it be successful.

Most of the information I’ve found and advice I’ve received from other authors has focused on The Launch.  The idea is to sell as many copies of your book as possible into a small concentrated window, typically the week that your book comes out.  You want to sell as many copies as possible during that launch week because typically those bestseller lists from sources like The New York Times and others reset each week.  And focusing in sales on that one-week launch period might be the difference between forever being known as a published author, and being a New York Times Bestselling author.  For the author, it’s a really huge deal.

So as you might expect, I’ve got a ton of stuff planned to help Think Like a Rock Star have as successful of a launch as possible.  And over the next few weeks I will be asking for your help in seeing that successful launch take place.

But the thing about a book launch is that it’s mostly focused on what’s best for the author.  As I was researching this, I realized there was a parallel to my book, in that really the launch is all about acquiring new customers.  Getting as many new sales as possible so that it helps the book’s ability to hit all those bestseller lists and all that jazz.  So in a way, if I strictly focused my book’s marketing on The Launch, I was really undermining one of the core lessons of Think Like A Rock Star.

Focus on  New Customers or Existing Fans?

The thing that really separates rock stars from most brands is who they market to.  While most companies focus on acquiring new customers, most rock stars focus on delighting their existing fans.  Rock stars focus most of their time and energy on connecting with their existing customers, not their new ones.

This prompted me to rethink my marketing plan for this book a bit.  There’s no doubt that The Launch is insanely huge to a book’s eventual success.  But in my opinion, even more important than marketing to new customers is finding ways to support your existing readers.

So over the next few weeks while I prep for the book’s launch, I will also be launching some efforts to support the readers of this book.  For example, starting within the next 7-10 days, I will be launching an email newsletter to compliment the book.  This newsletter will also be a tool to help readers learn how their businesses can better connect with their fans.  It will be an ongoing effort, and it will provide the most value to people after they buy the book.  I also have a couple of other projects that I’m not ready to announce yet.

But for now, I am going to end this post by asking for your help.  If you have or did buy Think Like a Rock Star, what could I offer you after your purchase to help support your brand’s efforts to better connect with its fans?  Maybe a place where readers could connect and get advice from me and each other?  Or what have other authors done for his/her readers that you really liked, that added value to you as a reader?

I saw where someone, I think it was Seth Godin, said that one of the best reasons to write a book was to start a conversation.  That was really the driving force for me to write Think Like a Rock Star, I wanted to start a conversation about how companies can better understand who their fans are, and connect with them.  Part of that conversation is finding ways to support the people that want to find ways to do just that for their companies.

What are your thoughts?  What could I do as an author to create more value for you as a reader after you buy the book?

PS: I’ve started sending out copies of Think Like a Rock Star to a few colleagues and I recently got feedback on the book from Paper.li’s Community Manager, Kelly Hungerford.  Here’s what Kelly thought:  “Simple, jargon-free and true to Mack Collier’s authentic style, this book explains exactly why your brand need fans and not customers, and how you can turn your most enthusiastic ones into powerful brand advocates.  Mack delivers his passion for brand advocacy, knowledge of customer-centric marketing and in-depth understanding of what makes the most devoted of fans tick in a language we can all relate to: rock stars and fans.

I love this this book for many reasons, but mostly because that for every “why” in this book, there is a “how” to back it up! The case studies, tips and social media advice are perfectly aligned with Mack’s underlying mission of helping brands understand the true value of their most passionate customers. It’s a must read for modern day marketers and I highly recommend you purchase two copies: one for you and one for your team.”

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You Learn How to Be a Better Blogger By Doing, Not By Listening

I have a love/hate relationship with list posts.  On the one hand, those ’10 Steps to Launching a Business Blog’ or ‘5 Ways to Improve Your Blogging Today’ posts are always popular.  I know, cause I’ve written plenty of them.   And even though a lot of bloggers don’t like them, they do help bloggers get started tackling their problems.

And that’s where the hate part of my relationship kicks in.  I hate that too many bloggers follow ‘list’ posts to the letter, and that’s it.  Those list posts work great if you view them as a starting point and an example of how you could improve.  They aren’t the end-all-be-all of the blogging experience.

The only way to truly improve as a blogger is by blogging.  At some point you have to stop looking for everyone else to give you the answers, and you have to go out and break stuff.  I can tell you what has worked for me, and I have good insights into what will likely work for you.  But I can’t guarantee anything, and neither can you.

For example, about a week ago I posted here about whether or not blog posts should have dates on them.  There was plenty of support for both sides of the issue.  I made the point at the time that the only way each of us would know for sure how adding or removing dates from our posts affected our blog was to do it.  So I added dates back to the posts here, and started tracking changes in my search and referral traffic from Twitter.  I told everyone I’d do that through the rest of the month.  So far, traffic from both sources is down, and if this continues I will take dates back off at the end of the month.

But the key thing is, now I know.  I didn’t just read what other bloggers were writing on the topic and accept their experiences as my own.  I am testing it on my blog.

This is a big reason why we were so passionate about structuring BlogHOT as a learning environment.  We didn’t want to just create a conference where attendees were lectured at all day then went home.  We wanted them to be doing stuff and interacting with each other and learning how to do this blogging stuff for themselves.

Because when it comes to blogging, you learn by doing, not by listening.