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}}
In my opinion Giveaways are getting way too complicated to enter. I would first decide what you want to accomplish with your giveaways. For instance,
1. Do you want to reward your readers?
2. Do you want to feature a Mom-preneur or fabulous product?
3. Do you want to teach your readers how to comment and get them used to interacting with you?
4. Do you want them to “follow” you on your Facebook page or Google Connect Widget?
These are just a handful of things a giveaway can do for your blog. The biggest mistake people make, is having all 4 (and then some) as an objective. It confuses your readers and it makes you look a little greedy. I’ve done it myself, many times! {{evil laugh}} It’s just a trial and error kind of thing you learn as you go.
Let’s assume that your objectives are #2 & #4. Make the entire post about the Mom-preneur and her products. Make it clear what you are giving away, the value, and the deadline. Then to enter the giveaway, have them leave a comment on your post. As an additional entry, they can become a fan of your Facebook page. (You can pick the winner from facebook, or have them leave a second comment “I’m a fan”.) This gives ALL of your readers a chance to win, and those who really love you will join you on facebook. They get an added perk and all is well.
Back to your questions:
* To enter the giveaway, have your readers leave a comment on your post. If they win – you can 1.) e-mail them by getting their e-mail address off their blog. 2.) leave a comment on their blog stating that they won and your e-mail address so they can contact you to redeem their prize.
* I only allow giveaways that are at least $35 in value. Obviously, the higher in value – the more interest and blog buzz will happen. I always as for $50, but I’ll allow to $35 depending on the Mom-prenuer. The exception to this rule is jewelry. People LOVE jewelry and will enter a giveaway for $20 if it’s beautiful. The key is to have a clear and nice picture of your giveaway item.
People will enter giveaways for less, I’ve just found that the Mom-preneur and I am more happy with the response if it’s closer to $50.
* You really should prove the winner. This gives you immediate credibility and no one gives you beef about it. I’ve stopped doing that due to space on the blog. However, I still screen shot every winner in case I have to “prove” it later. Ways to pick a winner:
1. You can video yourself picking the comment number from a hat.
2. You can take pictures of your kiddo picking the comment number.
3. The most popular choice is to use http://www.Random.org and put in your “numbers” (on tool bar). You can use their widget or print screen and post the image onto your blog. You can see an example here: https://www.tipjunkie.com/2009/11/12-days-winner-page.html
* The best way to promote a giveaway is to use other bloggers and their readership to do it for you. There are a LOT of bloggers who host a link up on Sunday or Monday with giveaways for that week. I’m sure you can google “blog Giveaway link up” and find them or ask around to other bloggers. You can also upload it to the Tip Junkie Blog Events and Giveaway directory. It’s free! You do have to sign in – but that’s to make it easier each time. These subscribers are people who want to know where the giveaways are. So it’s your perfect demographic. Here’s the link: http://www.tipjunkie.net/giveaways/
I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to ask if you have more.
1. Yes, I believe there is a way to see how many “click throughs” went out. You can also track that if you are using WordPress – check your stats page.
2. I’m still learning about Facebook. But here’s the skinny. A very small number of your readers are using Twitter. However, almost all of your readers currently have (or will have in the next year) a Facebook page. It used to be that the only way to get an image on your RSS Feed was to use Networked Blogs. However, now with all the updates, regular Fan Pages now show an image with every RSS feed (post) that automatically shows up.
You can also record (and link) video to your Fan Pages, use Ping.fm to update your status on your Fan Pages, etc. The actual Fan Pages have a lot more features because they are actually apart of Facebook – not an app. Does that make sense? There are also new websites that are community based that are poping up all the time using Facebook. So if you have a Fan Page, it will be compatible with them.
It’s the future and you’ll want to have one so Facebook can do it’s job and organically promote your blog. It takes out the begging for people to “follow” you. People will find you naturally and your communities will grow the way they are supposed to.
The last thing with Fan Pages that I want to stress – is to USE them. Sadly, I’m the pot calling the kettle black on this one. But when you do upload video, random pictures, tag other people in those pictures, and use it like you would your regular Facebook page – people will comment and really use you as a sounding board to find other friends and connect with each other.
So don’t just let your Fan page be an automatic RSS feed – really use it like you would your blog. Put a couple minutes a day (or week) into putting something on there that’s different from your blog but that your readers will appreciate.
I hope this answers your questions. 🙂
Laurie
Thanks for this series Laurie!! Lots of great info!!
I LOVE my Google Alerts!! It’s a GREAT way to find who’s posting about you!!
I have a few questions….
With Google Analytics do you know if there is a way to see how many clicks you have going OUT? For example, when I do a blog swap, I can see how many clicks I get…..but I’d like to see how many clicks I sent to them.
My other question…..Facebook……..I’ve had a Network blog since they first came out….what’s the real difference in that and a fan page……..I guess I really need to switch mine. I don’t have all that many (about 200) on my Network Blog, because I never really promote it on my blog much……but if I go and add the fan page I feel like I’m just asking for so much….Follow me HERE and HERE and HERE lol……………..I guess I need to do the fan page thing……
Thank you so much for this summary (and numbers 1 and 2). It was very helpful – especially since I missed the conference!
Could you explain how Google Alerts works? I signed up (I thought) to have it track anyone who links up to my blog, but I think I did it wrong, because I had a friend link to me today and I didn’t get any alerts. Help! 🙂