Er. Where’d the posts about Mac’s and online marketing go?

February 4, 2008 at 12:53 pm · Filed under Online Marketing

Since the middle of last year, all posts about the Mac/Apple have been published directly on my new(er) Macintosh-specific blog, On a Mac.

I also recently started a new online marketing blog - Online Marketing Performance.

These blogs were started as they held two of the main themes on this blog which were intertwined with a lot of posts of a fairly random nature.  I’ll continue to post to this blog, but both of the aforementioned blogs will likely bet getting more and more attention as time goes on.

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BlogRush. Will it stay or will it go?

September 28, 2007 at 1:05 am · Filed under Predictions, Advertising, Online Marketing, Beta

At the time of writing this post, I am testing BlogRush on this web site as well as another web site.

BlogRush sprang onto the web scene “…to help bloggers solve their #1 need: More Readers for their Blog.” The concept is simple. You register your RSS feed, and then place a widget on your blog which displays the titles of posts on other blogs that are of similar subject matter. In return, your articles are featured on other blogs.

It all works on a points system. For each impression on your blog your receive a point. When you have a point, you get impressions for your articles. But, there’s more. There is a multi-level/pyramid aspect to it also. As people join BlogRush as a result of a referral from you (clicking on your BlogRush widget, or, by a URL supplied to you that credits you) and earn credits, you earn credits also. There are several ‘tiers’ of earning percentages.

Note: Not all multi-level systems are bad. The word “pyramid” describes a structure, but also had the stink of being illegal in some way due to its usage, and I want to clarify that there is certainly nothing apparently illegal or foul about BlogRush employing a multi-level structure to drive user promotion.

OK. So far, so good. The multi-level thing sounds a little creepy, but its nothing new. It makes enough sense. And, the way it comes together there is enough surplus that they’ll be able to easily introduce pay-per-view advertising into the system later (or some other monetization model). Yes, plan on monetization. John Reese is an entrepreneur and marketer. His URL is income.com. This isn’t being built to make the world a better place, it’s to make money at some point.So, what’s not to like? Try these on for size (and, again, at the time of writing this, I do have BlogRush on this web site to test its impact or lack thereof):

#1 - BlogRush may violate Google’s AdSense Terms of Service

Don’t have AdSense and don’t care? Skip to #2. Have AdSense? Here’s the AdSense verbiage that is being spoken of (bolding is mine):

We understand that our publishers are always looking for ways to attract interested users to their sites. But using third-party tools or services to increase your site traffic may lead to invalid clicks or impressions and result in your account being disabled. For this reason, we’d like to provide you with some guidance about this.

As many of you already know, our program policies strictly prohibit any means of artificially generating ad impressions or clicks, including third-party services such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, auto-surf, and click-exchange programs. These programs offer incentives for users to view web pages or click on ads, resulting in activity that is harmful to our advertisers.

We occasionally receive questions from publishers interested in using traffic exchanges to bring traffic to their site. While these services may help advertise your site, we don’t recommend using them, as they may also result in similar invalid activity. We realize that you may have questions about a specific traffic service and whether it could potentially create invalid impressions or clicks. However, please understand that we’re unable to comment on any particular third-party service.

My honest take on this one is that I’m not buying it, but I can see how some people may. BlogRush is promoting your articles, not traffic. For someone to end up on your web site, they will have to (a) be interested in the title of your article and (b) click on it.

However, while the system doesn’t encourage bad behaviors, it certainly does reward them. Since it is based upon a points system where views on the blog owners’ sites drive traffic back to that site, sitting on your own page and cranking on the refresh button is like patting yourself on the back. This is precisely what has happened on BlogRush since its launch (although it’s likely something more automated than a human pushing the refresh button), and the reporting system has been down for two days as they are making changes to the system in a frenzy to eradicate what gaming they can detect.

#2 - BlogRush in no way guarantees you traffic

How do you get traffic from BlogRush again? As mentioned above, for you to get traffic to your blog, someone will need to read one of your headlines on another blog, and, be compelled to click on that title. Er. You can currently get your blog posts syndicated on a myriad of sources, also free, where your article title (as well as an excerpt) will be displayed for clicking. Let’s forget about that for a second.

So, you could still get some traffic from BlogRush. But, let’s think this through, there’s likely a very low conversion rate, unless people are having the BlogRush widget masquerade as their primary navigation, which they probably are not. So, what’s the best thing you can do to drive traffic to your site? In both models mentioned, one thing always works in your favor: increasing impressions. In the syndication model, I don’t have to do anything to ensure my posts are being displayed. But at BlogRush I do. Further, I can increase the impressions that my blog titles will get if I have more ‘credits’. Again, credits can be gained by impressions that occur on my blog, and impressions on sites of those whom I’ve signed up (and so on, and son on). So, what is the biggest motivator right now: Getting on board and getting people to sign-up as your “downline.” There is some conversion rate out there (albeit dependent upon how catchy your headlines are, and how relevant the site they are placed on), and regardless of what it is, the more visibility your headlines get, the more potential you have for traffic.

Is it all hype? No, there are people that think it is a great idea. I don’t think it is necessarily a bad idea, I’m fairly certain that what it provides is not what people are being led to think it will.

#3 -Communication that comes from BlogRush is worthy of infomercial status

Every email I get from BlogRush makes me feel like I’m being marketed to by a used car salesman. Reminiscent of those oh-so identifiable ClickBank sites. Late night TV. Kevin Trudeau. You know the drill.

This might change. But, at this point, the kettle is black. The easiest way to explain their communication style is to read the last email BlogRush sent out before addressing the fraudulent activity that members were taking to game the system. The email was posted in its entirety on John Reese’s “income.com” blog: Shocking Changes at BlogRush!

So, take BlogRush for what you want to.

I have a strong feeling that it will have a surge and then flame out. The idea isn’t all bad. I just don’t forsee it driving a substantial amount of traffic to anyone’s blog, and based on that alone, I think it will likely fade into obscurity.

One last take:

Could BlogRush work (as a business, not for the bloggers out there)? Absolutely. Here’s the scenario:

• Hopefuls install BlogRush in force (this is happening now-there needs to be far more users, but it is underway),
• Google either isn’t offended or doesn’t take action, thus regardless of good or bad traffic volume, people don’t have a compelling reason to remove the BlogRush component.
• BlogRush leverages the number of blogs that they now have a footprint on and introduces advertising into the mix bringing an ad format to the table that has a better page presence than a text ad would (think multimedia or video-something more compelling than some text links on a page).
• Voilà. Bring on the investors.

Only time will tell.

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How to promote a blog for free

September 11, 2007 at 1:17 am · Filed under Content, Analytics, Online Marketing, Social Networking

When a friend or colleague sets up a blog, I am often curious to see what they do to promote it. Unfortunately, they often don’t do some basic things that can give their blogs the opportunity to take off. If you’re committed to writing good content, it often takes no money at all to get the ball rolling.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, a quick caveat: We’re beyond the “How do I blog?”, “Why would I blog?” and the dreaded “What is a blog?” phase here. If you’re at that stage, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’m assuming you already know why you are blogging, and what it can offer you or your organization. You just might not know what you can do to give it a nudge so people can find it.
OK. So you’ve set yourself up a blog, and you want to be sure your efforts bear fruit. Here are some easy, basic, and FREE techniques to promote your blog:

Tags and Categories - Cost: $0.00

• Internet and blog search engines use the keyword/keyword phrases in tags and categories to file your postings so they’re ready can be served back to Internet searchers. Use them thoughtfully and creatively!
• If you use both tags and categories, your categories should be broad; your tags should be specific.

Submit Your Blog to Search Engines - Cost: $0.00

• Submit your blog to credible, qualified directories (Google, Yahoo, Live, ASK, DMOZ.org)
• For some sites (such as the Yahoo directory) you do have to pay. However, you can submit your site to Yahoo without submitting to their paid directory.
• If there are any niche RSS syndication services for your content, see if there are fees associated with adding your feed to their service. Often, aggregation and syndication services don’t charge a thing.

FeedBurner - Cost: $0.00

• FeedBurner allows reporting on the number of subscribers to your blog as well as some high-level web site traffic reporting. It is also useful to promote your blog.
• After doing the basic FeedBurner setup, enable the ‘PRO’ settings. The ‘PRO’ features previously cost money; they are now complimentary (thanks for buying FeedBurner Google!),
• Finally, go through each tab in FeedBurner and read the options that are available. Scores of additional options exist from pinging other aggregation/syndication sources when you post an entry to placing ads in your feed to monetize your syndication.

Technorati - Cost: $0.00

• Technorati is the Google of blogs and a great source of traffic.
• There’s no excuse to not sign-up with the basic information Technorati needs.
• Don’t stop at the bare minimum. Go ‘Favorite’ blogs you enjoy. Don’t forget to ‘Favorite’ your friends’ blogs; maybe they’ll stop by and ‘Favorite’ you too. Add a ‘Favorite on Technorati’ badge or link on your blog.
• Add a post to the Where’s the Fire (WTF) every now and again. Make sure they’re good posts. Even if you don’t get a lot of votes, you do get people coming by to see what your blog has to offer.

Google Analytics - Cost: $0.00

• Google Analytics allows you to get more detailed web site usage reporting than FeedBurner can supply. Free or not it’s a great tool.
• Figure out which reports help you the most. You can gauge affinity for your content based on how often articles are viewed, how long visitors stay on your site when they arrive at a specific individual article (etc.). Sky’s the limit. Get to know Google Analytics.
• Learn and adapt. Viewing reports on usage of your blog isn’t blog promotion. How you interpret and apply what you learn will provide a strong foundation for your future blogging and blog promotion efforts.

Link to your Blog - Cost: $0.00

• If you send out any regular communication (online or off) provide a link to your blog.
• If your email program allows it, place a link to your blog in your signature.
• When you comment on other people’s blogs, be sure to provide your blog’s URL if you are prompted.
• If you keep a LinkedIn or Facebook profile, be sure to add a link to your blog. Facebook also lets you import your blog’s RSS feed as “Notes” so they display on your Profile page.

Ping when you Post - Cost: $0.00

• If your blog doesn’t automatically do it for you, ping Technorati and other services when your blog is updated
• If you’re not sure if your blog platform pings aggregators and syndicators when you post, check your documentation (most good blog platforms do this automatically, such as WordPress and Blogger).
• FeedBurner also has a ping service. Be sure it is activated, and take advantage of their offer to let you specify more sources to ping.

Participate in the Greater Blog Community - Cost: $0.00

• You want people to interact with your blog, be sure to do the same yourself!
• When you provide meaningful commentary on others’ blogs, you will benefit from visitors and/or the author stopping by your blog to learn more about you.

Finally Write Good Content - Cost: $0.00

• This is the big one. Without good content, you’re toast.
• Write provoking titles that speak to your audience. If the title is good, you have a much better chance of drawing viewers to your content.
• Be sure to post regularly! Post as regularly as you can. Search engines (and your readers!) like to see stability and frequency in the amount of content that comes from your site.

I hope these tips help. They are all free, and they will promote your blog. If you write compelling content and use the methods above, you will get traffic. How much blogging and promotion of your blog you commit to will determine how popular your blog becomes.

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