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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Don’t upgrade to WordPress 2.3

September 24, 2007 at 1:14 pm · Filed under Web Applications, Applications

Going to be the first on the block to upgrade to WordPress 2.3? Not so fast!

There’s a few things you might want to consider before making the leap:

1. Can you perform the upgrade somewhere other than your live blog? I know, I know, everything is going to go great, but, what if something does go awry? You probably can’t afford to lose your blog for a few days (or more), so do your upgrade on a development server and be sure everything is tested before you push to production.
2. Don’t be paralyzed by your plugins. WordPress 2.3 is not compatible with all WordPress plugins. Check to be sure your plugins are supported in 2.3 before flipping the switch.
3. Are you using a tagging plug-in? Well, WordPress 2.3 has taken the tag movement to heart, and tagging is built-in in 2.3. If you go the tag route, you’ll need to modify your theme.

Just a few things to consider.

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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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Goodbye Google AdSense ads

August 21, 2007 at 10:45 pm · Filed under Content, Advertising, Online Marketing, User Experience

I used to have Google Ads on my blog (via Google AdSense) but I removed them a few nights ago. Sure, I did get a few clicks here and there, but, all things considered, I decided, that it isn’t worth it to me.I put Google Ads on my blog as an afterthought.  I created this blog as a soapbox or sounding board, like most people, and then eventually thought “I should be compensated for my efforts.” And, that’s where the Google AdSense ads came in. Signing up and putting the code into my blog was quick and easy.That is when I started making a killing on Google AdSense ads. OK. That’s not true.Unless you have a site about hot teenage asthma laywers and/or have an incredible amount of traffic flowing through your site and/or are willing to place ads in somewhat mischievous places, you’re likely not going to make a lot of money off Google AdWords advertising. Creating an enjoyable user experience got the better of me. I made an effort to be sure my ads ‘felt right’ in their color scheme and placement on my blog so they wouldn’t be intrusive to the user. I wanted to be sure that my visitors could engage my content and not be bothered by the ads. A sympathetic approach like that calls for a simple solution: just get rid of the ads. I’m not pushing a ton of traffic through this site.  My content isn’t about ashthma lawsuits or Girls Gone Wild. And, I’m not willing to plaster ads in suspect places where someone might click by accident to line my pockets with pennies and nickels. So, I ripped the ads off of this site. For now. If there is an interesting, less obtrusive way that I can get some bounty for having this blog to offset operational costs like the cost of hosting, great. I’m in. Until then, a few cents here and there isn’t even close to worth bothering those who stop by.

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