As promised, Im finishing up my session with you from BlissDom. I was on a panel with 3 other fabulous bloggers. You can catch up by reading:
My purpose in sharing the short version of my session with you, is to convince you to save your pennies and come to BlissDom with us next year! {{giddy}} I also believe that if you know something you should share it!
It’s time to wrap things up by getting to the deep stuff that no one ever tells you. Well, they do tell you but you don’t believe them until you discover that it really does work after trial and error yourself. {{HA! Come on, you know it’s true.}}
Blog Community Tools – Tricks of the Trade
There are many tools that you can use to build your own community. If you’re not ready to build your own – these tools will also help you to join and participate in other communities. Once you’ve made a name for yourself in these communities, it will be a lot easier to create your own.
Facebook Fan Page – In my opinion, If you have a blog you should have a fan page. Why?
- Because statistics are showing that Facebook is one of the most effective ways to promote your blog.
- Facebook is also growing faster than Twitter and has a more mature age range. So basically more my demographic of readers.
- I wouldn’t bother creating a Networked Blogs page. It just divides your readership with 2 different applications.
- There are people who won’t comment on your blog, but they will engage with you via Facebook. Give them the option!
Some of my must have software and sites:
- Tweet Deck for Twitter (they have an iPhone app – it’s fabulous!)
- YouTube – this is a great way to allow your readers to really see your personality. Use it to highlight a different side of you. If you post about your family on your blog – use YouTube video to focus on you as a woman. ie. Fashion, movie reviews, etc.
- Google Analytics – Site Meter is for newbies. If you’ve been blogging for over a year it’s time to join the big girls and get to know your readers, referrers, and most popular posts.
- Ning & Blog Frog – Use these communities to make a name for yourself and promote your blog. Make sure to stay true to yourself and your personality and use it organically. Friend people and interact with them regularly. This will help you become known in your niche and in these communities. Then you can create your own.
- Link Within – It’s important to have loyal readers. To do this, they’ve got to really know you and what you bring to the table. This application will show your readers visually the related posts which will bring more page views and allow your readers to really see what you have to offer.
Spotlight Your Blog Readers & Top Referrers
There are many great examples, here are the couple we highlighted:
- The Nester uses Tumblr
- Amy posts her monthly notebook
- SITSgirls readers have to comment in order to be featured
- Pink Lemonade gives free ads as a thank you for being her top referral
Tricks of the Trade – The Easy Button for Traffic
- Use Google Alerts to find out who’s posting about you. Send them a nice thank you e-mail or comment. This creates friendships which creates loyalty.
- Use Google Analytics to find out what your top 10 posts are. Use these topics and SEO words to create more posts that are related. These are the topics you’re readers and Googler’s are most interested in.
- Publicly thank your top referrers. Post about them, give them free ad space on your blog, collaborate with them on fun projects. Share the link love.
- Guest post as often as you can. Why? This breads traffic – for both bloggers involved.
- Interview each other and share traffic in your niche. Why? See #4
Share What You Know – The Next Level
First set your blog up for success:
- Put your picture on the homepage of your blog! People have to know who you are to connect with you. Be consistent with your profile pictures have it the same everywhere so people can recognize you instantly. Use a real picture not a avatar.
- Create solutions to your readers problems then sell it.
- Teach as you learn
- Barter ad space for products you want
- Have the Mom-preneur whos giveaway youre hosting giveaway 2 products. One for the winner and one for you.
- Have an About page
- Organize blog parties and meet ups.
Now it’s time to take the lead:
- Create a product: book, eBook, download
- Use your powers for good: teach what you know, help charities or another blogger
Thank You for Reading!
This is just a small bit of the information that was shared during our BlissDom session. I hope you learned something. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments. I’m here to help!
This is the contact information to everyone who was on the panel. What I shared with you in this 3 part post is my point of view. You would have had to attend the session to get theirs. {{wink}}
Amy Mom Advice, @momadvice
Stephanie – Adventures in Babywearing, @babysteph
Mindy – The Mommy Blog , @themommyblog
Laurie – Tip Junkie, @tipjunkie
Also, if you’d like to attend a social media conference (blogging conference) but don’t want to travel far or spend a lot of cash, check out the Bloggy Boot Camps from the SITSgirls. They are intimate and you will learn a LOT not to mention network with the movers and shakers in your local area.
I’ll be attending two more conferences this spring:
- May 1st: Bloggy Boot Camp – Phoenix (I’ll be speaking)
- June 24th: Evo Conference – Park City, UT
I hope you can come and we can finally meet in real life! {{squeal in delight}}
Fantastic post sweetie!
Thank you so much for sharing this information with us.
Hope it helps 😉
This is a classic “what I wish I had known” topic. I only made a fan page because at the time what I really wanted was a networked blog and had to have a fan page in order to have one. 🙂
What it did was divide my readership. I have something like 1300 on my Fan Page and 999 on Networked Blogs; instead of 2300 which is a more substantial number on just one. I highly promoted my Networked Blogs at one time, but the fan page promoted itself.
This is just one example, but to me you only need a Fan page.
The SITS girls are fun. You can meet some fun women there. I’m in the process of nailing down the format I want to use on my blog which was something I should have done in the beginning.
Anyway, thank you for the series. I usually lurk and look at the crafts wishing I was that creative so it’s nice to be able to participate in something.
a.) SITS is an amazing sisterhood of women. I would absolutely keep that up.
b.) Nings and the Blog Frog are small sites that are set up to induce community. When you sign up, you can “friend” people, copy & paste in your blog posts, and really enter into some good and relevant conversations regarding your passions and niche.
That’s why I created the TJ Community: http://tipjunkie.ning.com/
To give creative women a way to really connect with each other. Whether you have a blog or not.
c.) People are very motivated by giveaways. Once you post your giveaway, be sure to list it on the TJ Giveaway Directory: http://www.tipjunkie.net/giveaways/
It’s a FREE listing and hundreds of people have signed up to find out about them so they can enter.
The downside to giveaways is that you’ll need to capture your new traffic’s attention in order to convert them from a giveaway entry into a reader. This can be tough – which is why the “extra entries” craze has been going gang busters. If you get these readers to sign up for your RSS feed (even if they cancel later) you at least have a shot to get them to stay with you.
Giveaways can also annoy your loyal readers. So don’t do them too often and make sure your loyal readership get something out of it as well. Just make sure that your blog isn’t all hype – there’s got to be a really great mix of engagement, great content, hype, free products, and valuable information and tools.
The biggest thing is to plan your blog out. Find out your vision and mission and then write down your goals and plan out your posts. This way you can incorporate everything we talked about above in a strategic manner.
I promise it will work. Throw in some consistency and you’ve got a winning blog with a loyal audience. Plus, you’ll feel like you’re being successful at what you do because you have a plan and a purpose. This will then spill over into your real life. This is how high profile bloggers “balance” (if there is such a thing) real life with their blog.
Believe me ladies, it’s all intentional. It didn’t just happen.