Blogging is not easy.  I wish I could tell you that it was but I can’t. When I started,  I thought writing a blog would be simple.  Just kick out 300 words and call it a day – right?  Wrong.  Every posts was a struggle.  I remember getting physically nauseous when I clicked the publish button.  I was sure that the world would pounce on me and brand me a fraud.

Blogging is intensely personal. There isn’t anywhere for you to hide.  Your name is attached to every post.  Your friends, family, and employer gets to publicly assess your talent.  Your setbacks are public as well.  If you miss a week of posting people begin to wonder if you have what it takes.  This pressure can cause minor setbacks to turn into full-on burnout.

You might be in a rut right now.  You’ve been knocked to the canvas one too many times and you wonder if you will ever get back in the ring again.  Today, imagine that I’m Mickey from Rocky, shouting for you to get back in there.

But first, let’s make sure you’ve got the Eye of the Tiger (sorry, I had to)

Check Your Expectations

Did you expect to have a popular money-making blog in 6 months?  I did and I burned through two blogs until I realized that blogging was harder than I thought.  Remember that you are building a blog from scratch.

It will take time for readers to find you.  It will take longer for you to build a relationship with your audience.  Do yourself a favor and set a 2-year timer for building your blog.  Put your head down and kick out great content and promote for at least a year before you begin to seriously evaluate your results.

Challenge Your Initial Assumptions

When I started my first blog, I was sure that people would be happy to read reviews on online marketing products.  I felt that I would be offering something completely new to the category.  I was wrong.  In fact, there was a cottage industry around online marketing reviews!  My blog was just a speck in the ocean.

What assumptions have you made about your subject, your audience, and your blog’s big idea?  Write these assumptions down, take a deep breath, and revisit them.  If something is wrong, have the courage to change.

Get a Second Opinion

Sometimes we get to close to our blogs.  We fall in love with the look, the tagline, or a certain “formula” for writing our posts.  Even though the blog isn’t working, we can’t see the stuff that sticks out like a sore thumb.

Getting an objective and constructive second opinion about your blog is always a good move.  Be careful though.  Friends, family, and co-workers rarely have the objectivity needed to level with you.  Seek out readers, prospects who didn’t buy, and experts who have relevant experience and observations to pass along.

Execute a Different Plan

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” – Albert Einstein

You need persistence to succeed with blogging.  But persistence doesn’t mean knocking yourself out pounding your head against the same brick wall.

The quickest way to climb out of your rut is to do something different.  Once you’ve challenged your assumptions and received a second opinion then create a different plan. Scare yourself with audacity.  I’m sure you would rather be scared than defeated.

Focus on Your Wins

I keep a file of every thank-you tweet I’ve ever received.  I archive every email that marked a milestone in my blog’s growth.  This is my trophy case and it has boosted my spirits after every set-back.  Build your trophy case and use it as a tool to keep you moving forward.

Let This Soak In

Read this post a couple of times.  Tell me what come to mind.  Then at 9:00PM tonight, decide that you will start tomorrow differently.  Time to climb out of that ditch.  I’m waiting for you up top

Here’s what you need to know:

Blog Success Secrets Webinar (Replay)

We had an awesome webinar with some smart and talented bloggers this Wednesday.  We talked about 10 Blogging Success Secrets that every blogger should implement immediately.  I also revealed a few of my best blogging ninja tricks.

You can view the replay recording here.  Watch it now because I’m taking it down on Saturday!

This Week On PS

How to Find and Unleash Your Blog’s Voice 

Your voice is what makes your blog special.  Learn how to find and use it to attract readers, subscribers, and customers to your blog.

What Blog Readers Want 

It’s actually simpler than you think.  Funny thing is that many bloggers get this wrong.

Why You Should Ignore Social Media Etiquette and Promote Your Blog Posts 

I killed a few unicorns with this post.  See what got me so riled up.  Hopefully my  Mom will excuse my language!

These 7 Simple Tweaks Will Get You More Blog Retweets 

These tweaks will take a few minutes and deliver more retweets almost immediately.  Take a look.

PS Blogging Spotlight

Every week I spotlight a blogger that is working hard to improve their blog.  Do me a favor.  Stop by their blog, read their posts, comment, and encourage them.

The spotlight is on: Small Company Big Image

Psst… Wanna get featured here?  Get a blog review

PS + Twitter

A day in a life of a social media expert

13 Tools to Simplify Your Social Media Marketing

How to Turn Your RSS Reader Into a Topic Generation Machine

3 Easy Tips to Drive More Facebook Traffic to Your Website — Amy Porterfield

22 Ways to Create Compelling Content When You Don’t Have a Clue (Infographic)

 
  You Should Follow Pushing Social on Twitter

Did you publish a blog post this week? 

If you did, I bet you are slyly checking on you retweet count.  I’m a religious retweet checker simply because retweets are the one of the best ways to evaluate my blog post’s performance.

That’s why it hurts (just a little) when the retweet count doesn’t climb beyond single digits.  The good news though is that you can fix your posts “retweetability” with a few simple tweaks.

So, get out your wrench and make these adjustments:

Tweak #1: Use the official Twitter retweet button

The official Twitter button does the best job of accurately capturing all of the retweets generated by your blog post (no surprise).

While TweetMeme and Topsy get the job done, I’ve found that they under-report actual retweets by almost 50% in many cases.  Since your retweet count offers social proof for your blog post, it makes sense to get the most accurate count possible.

Tweak #2: Put Your Retweet Button directly under your headline

I’ve tested many different placements for my retweet button and the best position has always been right under the headline.  I believe that most readers read the first paragraph (the lead) and quickly scan the rest of the post. If it passes their internal “quality test” they hit the retweet button up top.    This means that most readers don’t get to the bottom of the post.

To be safe, you can increase your chances of a retweet by placing your button under the headline and at the bottom of the post.

Tweak #3: Ask for the retweet

Don’t be shy about asking for a retweet in your post.

I’ve found that adding a quick “Hit the retweet button if you found something useful in this post” call-to-action often boosts retweets.  This works especially well if you are just starting your blog and you haven’t attracted an audience of reliable retweeters.

Use your retweet button to do the first share to your list – people tend to shy away from being the first one to hit the retweet button.

Tweak #4: Install the Buffer Button

Twitter power users retweet dozens of posts a day.  Their biggest worry is slamming their audience with dozens of retweets in a short time span.  The Buffer button makes it easy for power users to schedule their retweets throughout the day.  Putting the Buffer button on your blog signals to these retweeters that you understand their concern and you are trying to help.

Another benefit of adding the Buffer button is that you’ll see a steady flow of retweets and visitors throughout the day rather than a one-time rush when you tweet out your post.

Tweak #5: Put the Twitter Retweet Button First

Simple usability and readability best practices apply to your retweet button too.

Putting your retweet button first catches the reader’s attention as they scan from left to right past your headline into your post.

Tweak #6: Write Better Headlines

Your blog headline demonstrates how compelling your post will be.  Boring, ambiguous headlines don’t catch people’s attention and kneecaps any chance of getting retweeted.

Remember that sharing your content is a form of social currency for readers.  They don’t want to share stuff that is generic and “me-too”.   Taking your headline writing to another level is the best way to immediately boost your retweets.

Tweak #7: Go Naked

I mean, don’t bundle your Twitter button in a “Share button” box.  You want your readers to see your Retweet button without having to hover over an icon or click a button.   Consider using the Digg Digg WordPress plugin (personal favorite) for selecting and placing your buttons.  This plugin makes it easy to feature your retweet button front and center.

Did I Miss One?

Let’s try to get all the great retweet tweaks in one place.  If you have a tweak go ahead and put it in the comments.  And, um…. retweet this post if you found it useful.

Here’s the “secret” to attracting more readers to your blog.  Ready for it?

Promote your blog posts.  

I am not being a smart ass and unfortunately I’m not stating the obvious either.    Most bloggers either under-promote their blog posts or refuse to tell their readers that they have something new to say.  Most of these folks will point to a sacred social media rule that says you shouldn’t promote your work and if you do, conduct your promotion discreetly.

Imagine me looking you straight in the eye and saying — bologna. 

If you are writing great articles that solve tough problems then your audience will want to hear about your posts.  They don’t give a “rats butt” about social media etiquette, they want their problems solved. They depend on you to break through the clutter and direct their attention to your blog.

I know that you are serious about your topic.  You work hard to write posts that matter.  Don’t let the social media priesthood guilt you into whispering about your work.  The only people who matter are your audience.  Let them dictate your strategy.

Of course, there are some misguided jerks who will promote their blog posts 100 times daily on Twitter and Facebook.  These same jerks spend 100% of their time bragging about their blog rather than passing along great content.  These folks are held up as the poster children for social media bad behavior.  Here’s my advice, don’t be a jerk.  Ok?

Good.

How I Promote My Posts

I hate theory so I’m going to tell you how I promote my blog posts.  I do this everyday and have seen my pageviews and traffic almost over the last 6 months.  I plan on doing a webinar about this soon but here are a few pointers you can use today.

Twitter

People jump on Twitter at various times a day.  I make sure that I promote my posts when my audience is most likely to see it.  I use a tool called Timely to analyze my past tweets and tell me when my readers are on twitter.  It works great.

I schedule my tweets for those times and change the tweet’s headline for each time slot.

I also use hashtags for at least one of my promotion tweets.  Including a hashtag  expands the number of people who will see the tweet and attracts more readers.  I only use one hashtag and make sure that my tweet is relevant to the audience.

Facebook

I haven’t been a big Facebook user until last month.  For 2012 I’m all-in and it’s fascinating to meet a whole new group of readers.  On Facebook, I share my post with a teaser to catch my audience’s attention.  I’m also adding a quick :30 second intro video along with my posts.  I’ll be testing this all year.  I’ll keep you posted.

Overall, Facebook has gone from contributing 1 or 2 visits a month to being my 3rd top traffic driver.  Facebook works.  Try it for yourself.

Triberr

Triberr rocks folks.

Dino and team have transformed Triberr into a legitimate content aggregator for busy people.  I’ve carefully selected my tribe mates and happily share their posts with my twitter audience.  I’ve installed the Triberr WordPress plugin that automatically uploads my latest posts to my Tribe.    It’s easy and it works, one tribe member drove over 17,000+ visits to one post.  Not bad.

LinkedIn

I’ve ignored LinkedIn up until now because I didn’t see a direct benefit from promoting there.  It seemed that the space was already clogged with other social media types and I didn’t want to add to the noise.

However, I learned that LinkedIn “shares” count toward getting your posts featured in LinkedIn Today, a targeted news blog customized by topic.  That means that if today posts get a ton of shares, people interested in social media will see this post when they login to their LinkedIn account.  This caught my attention, and I’ve been playing catch-up with LinkedIn ever since.

I recommend adding the LinkedIn social share button to your blog posts.  I use Buffer’s newly acquired Digg Digg plugin to add new share buttons.  LinkedIn is already installed just install the plugin and activate it.

Email

Gosh, I love email.  I’ve set-up my Aweber account to automatically publish my entire blog post to people who’ve signed up for updates.  I ONLY send blog updates to this list.  I send the entire blog posts because these folks want to read the post in their inbox without needing to go the site.  I respect that, it’s a great timesaver.

Aweber and Mailchimp offer the RSS to Email feature with their services.  If you don’t offer blog updates via email then do it today.  I’m serious, make it happen today.

Google+

I always give a quick shout out to my Google+ peeps.  Although I’m not seeing a ton of traffic from this platform, I’m betting that it will grow in the next year.  I’m on the record for saying that Google + is a paper tiger.  I’m wrong.  Google is serious about weaving Google+ into our online experience.  I’m getting on board.  By the way, Chris Brogan’s book Google+ for Business helped me see the light here. It’s got some good stuff in there so it’s worth picking up a copy.

All together, I spend about 15 minutes promoting each blog post.  Each of my posts usually get around 2,000 pageviews.  So the “ROI” is worth it.  The key is promoting consistency and testing new methods.

How do you promote your blog posts?

It could be a new template for their scrapbook.  It might be a different technique for dealing with a rebellious teen.  Whatever it might be, they want the answer.

Like 80% of web users they pull up a search engine and put in their question – “How to handle teenagers?”  Google offers up 10 potential resources.  After a quick scan of the headlines, they pick one (maybe your blog) and click the link.

They arrive at the blog and quickly scan for something specific.

They are looking for clues that you are going to talk about their problem. And this is where many blogs blow it.

Readers are asking “What’s In it For Me?”

You need to answer this question is quickly as possible.

As a professional blogger you are focused on delivering specific answers – a lot of them.

Yes, you should wrap your answers in great stories.  Yes, you should build rapport by relating your personal experiences.  But, at the end of the day, every blog post should offer specific guidance or tools for your readers.

When a new visitor arrives at your blog, you have two-seconds to convince them that your content is worth their time.  You can’t afford to waste the reader’s attention on personal rants or shoddy opinion posts.  Instead you need to start teaching.

Creating “Content Signposts”

Content Signposts are street signs that direct incoming visitors to relevant content. The signposts are clear and relevant.  They also assure the reader that you have thought through their problem and will offer in-depth answers quickly.

Here are some Content Signpost ideas you can use for your blog:

1-Page Tutorials

Make a list of your reader’s challenges and create 1-Page tutorials offering guidance for each one.  They tutorials can direct your reader to specific posts or offer a step-by-step process for addressing their problem.  List these tutorials in your sidebar so that they aren’t missed by your readers.

Introduction Video

Create a short 2 minute introductory video for your blog.  The video should tell who you are, who you serve, and what the reader should do next.  Place this video in your blog’s header or feature it in a prominent position on your sidebar.

“New?  Click Here to Get Started”

Create a page that helps your readers find all the resources available on your blog.   This page should contain your Big Idea, a list of your 1-page tutorials, and categorized list of relevant posts. Put the link for this special page in your primary navigation.

Just Getting Started?

I strongly recommend that you write at least 10 “seed” posts to start.  Hold off on promoting your blog until you’ve written these posts.  After these posts are written, work on creating a few 1-page tutorials that offer specific answers and tools. Next, concentrate on creating an introduction video.

Don’t try to do everything at once, plan your work and work your plan. If you need extra help then sign-up for my 52-week blogging playbook.  It’ll take you from A-Z in easy to digest steps.

And…

Let me know what you plan to do first in the comments.  Remember, I’m in your corner

If your blog is a microphone and your posts are the lyrics then what is your voice?
I’ve been thinking about this question for three years. The answer is the key to explaining a situation that I see everyday.

It goes like this -

Two blogs start at the same time. They have similar designs, in fact except for minor differences in color they are mirror images of each other. Both blogs target the same audience. One does spectacularly well. The other fails within months.

If you were to question readers of the successful blog, they would swear that the blogger is speaking directly to them. Some would say that they could hear the author in their head. The successful blog had a distinct voice that gave it almost magical rapport-building power.

Voice, it seems, is the magic, the force, behind extraordinary blogs. The good news is that we all have a voice, the bad news is that few choose to use it. I hope this post will convince you to find, develop, and unleash your voice.

Blogs are getting more boring by the minute.

Three million blog posts are published every day. From my quick anecdotal, unscientific sampling, I’m willing to say that most of them are boring their readers to tears. Look a little closer and you’ll see variations of the same problem – a sterilized even clinical voice.

Their readers are treated to a homogeneous, bland, mishmash of soul-less blog posts.
If you want your blog to stand-out and succeed then you need to fight for your voice.

The Power of Voice

Your voice is your secret weapon. It’s more important than fancy techniques, platforms, or strategies. It’s what make you stand out, what makes you different.

Your voice gives you that swagger that readers come back for. It excites them. It makes them trust you with their time and money. It’s your true “you”

My friend the other day commented that he learned more about me through my blog posts than he did in real life. For some reason, I can be more transparent here on this page than I can in real life. It’s my voice that makes Pushing Social special because it’s uniquely me.

It’s time for you to find and unleash your voice.

How to Find and Unleash Your Voice

Forget your training

Most of us are trained in school and business to be boring. It seems that our institutions and corporations are dead-set on strangling our voice as quickly and efficiently as possible. The first step to unleashing your voice is to resist the urge to use cubicle jargon and aloof “King’s English”. Instead, focus on speaking to your readers as if they were your best friend.

Befriend Your Readers

Your voice becomes more powerful once you know your audience’s goals, desires, challenges, and expectations. Many bloggers to speak at their readers not “to” them. You can avoid this by visualizing your reader and writing your posts as a letter addressed to them.

Keep a journal on everything

Finding your voice takes time. You need to see your thoughts in written form to get comfortable with your tempo and style. The more you write the more authentic you will sound. So start keeping a journal. Record your thoughts and observations into it every day. Make this a lifelong habit. Soon your voice will emerge.

Write Your Boogeyman Post

Everyone has that one “dangerous” post in them. I bet you are thinking about it now. This post will push you out of your comfort zone and show your true self. If this post is authentic, true, and honest then write it. If it will hurt someone then don’t publish it. However if it turns out to be a manifesto on your unique outlook and big idea then take the chance and put it out there. The first time will be difficult, but each post after that will become easier.

Your Voice Is The Key to It All

Your voice can take you as far as you’ll let it. It can get you more comments, subscribers, sales, or speaking engagements. It can make you famous or sell more books. It’s your personal genie in the lamp. All you have to do is have the courage to use it.

Will you? Let me know in the comments.

Blogging Success Secrets Webinar

I’m fired up about next week’s Webinar!  I’ll be teaching you 10 success secrets that you can immediately apply to your blog.  I want you to be there.

Click here to register your spot (only 70 more available)

I look forward to meeting all of the folks that have been following Pushing Social over the last couple of years!

This Week on PS

Blogging by the Numbers – An Olympic Champion’s Approach

Now is the time to get serious about using “the numbers” to improve your blogging.  This post shows you how.

The Rise of the Content Hub and What it Means For Your Blog

Why is Pinterest, SlideShare, iTunes, YouTube critical for professional bloggers?  I think it has something to do with the growing power of  Content Hubs…

How to Use the Power of Frameworks to Write Compelling Blog Posts

All successful writing follows a formula.  Last week we talked about George Lucas’ formula for Star Wars, this week we discovered how frameworks make writing memorable posts easier.

Seth Godin, The Dip, and How to Really Succeed at Social Media

Are you caught in the Blogging Dip?  See if you need to work through the Dip or change your goal.

PS Blogging Spotlight

Every week I spotlight a blogger that is working hard to improve their blog.  Do me a favor.  Stop by their blog, read their posts, comment, and encourage them.

The spotlight is on: Diva Hound 

PS + Twitter

• Something Old, Something New: A Shortcut To Your Best Work
• 7 Essential Tips for WordPress Beginners
• Facebook Timeline for Businesses 
• 4 Critical Mistakes that Cost me 1000′s of Subscribers, Fans and Followers 
• 5 Facebook Changes: Ticker, Photos, Timeline for Pages and More

Imagine, running a quarter of a mile, leaping over 10 three-foot hurdles in just 47.02 seconds.  Average athletes can’t pull this off.  Even world-class athletes would swallow hard before taking on this challenge.  For Edwin Moses, it was just another day in the office.

Moses’ thoroughly dominated the 400 meter event setting 4 world records during his career.  He once went nine years, nine months, and nine days without losing a single race. 

What caught my attention is how he mastered the event.

Until Edwin Moses, everyone ran the 400 meter hurdles the same way.  They exploded off the blocks, skimmed the first hurdle, took precisely 13 steps, cleared the next hurdle, and repeated the process 8 more times.  Many believed that the key to winning the hurdles was taking the 13 steps faster.

Edwin decided to take a different approach and spent months analyzing  the “typical” race.

His analysis focused on those 13 steps between hurdles. He realized that his incredible 9-foot 9-inch stride could shorten the distance between hurdles to just 12 steps.  That meant that over 10 hurdles he would eliminate 10 steps practically guaranteeing that he would crush his rivals – which he did for nine years.

Although Moses had the talent and drive to naturally capture his fair share of first place medals, he pushed for more. His edge was an unrelenting worth ethic (he was called the Bionic Man) and unwavering dedication to winning by the numbers.

Don’t Leave Success Up to Chance

I challenge you to take the same numbers-approach to your blog.

Work the numbers.  Find your personal sweet spot where you minimize your effort and maximize results.  Work hard to hone your advantage and steadily gain ground over your competitors.   We’ll talk about this more in the future but today I want to set the foundation for your numbers-based approach to winning.

Set-up Google Analytics

Pencil in an time to spend 30 minutes every Friday reviewing your blog’s performance via Google Analytics (GA).   I promise that you’ll start seeing practical ways to improve your blog once you’ve made this numbers review a habit.

Step #1:  Sign up for Google Analytics at Google.

Step #2: Use the Google Analyticator Plugin to automatically add your GA code to your WordPress blog pages.

Configure Your Goals

Your goals are what gets you up in the morning to blog. It’s how you keep score.  You can approach your goals anyway you like – just have them. From a numbers point of view, select a goal that requires a reader to take an action.  At Pushing Social we track email signups.  For you it might be tracking the download of an ebook. Once you’ve decided, set up your “Goal” in Google Analytics.

Click the gear on the right hand side and then “Goals”

Name your Goal and enter the “confirmation” page your visitor sees when they’ve completed the process. If you are tracking email subscribers, this would be your “Thank You For Subscribing” page URL.

Use the same process to set-up goals for important events throughout your blog.

You can even set-up a goal to track your comments.  Kristi Hines tells you how to get it done here.

Set-Up Advanced Segments

Advanced segments help you get specific information about your visitors. For example. you can use advanced segments to see how many email subscribers came from social media channels.

Here’s how:

Step #1: Name Your Segment

You can create an advanced segment to keep track of everything from social media visitors, to readers who arrive from an email.

Step #2 Set the Conditions

To track social channels, add social channel URLs, like t.co for twitter, and plus.google.com for Google+.

In the example, I’ve set up a Social Media Advanced segment to group visitors who arrive from social channels, the “Source”.

Keep an Eye on These Metrics

Once you catch the Google Analytics bug its easy to get caught in “Analysis Paralysis” spending hours poring over every arcane data point you can dig up.  Instead, select a few metrics that you will keep track of during your Friday review time. Look for major trends and spikes that can help you zero in on a problem or take advantage of an opportunity.

I recommend you focus on these to start:

Visitor Referral Source: Keep track of what sites are sending you traffic, commenters, and subscribers.  This information will help you find potential guest post opportunities channels that should get more attention.

Average Time on Page:  Studies show that the average college student reads between 250 – 350 words per minute.  If you normally write 700 word posts then you’ll hope that that readers spend at least 2 minutes on a page.  You’ve got trouble if readers are hanging around for only 30 seconds.

Top Content:  Review the top posts by visits for the month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months.  Use this information to zero in on content “home runs” that you can replicate for future posts.

Bounce Rate: Bounce rate measures how many readers leave your site after after visiting just one page.  High bounce rates can point to a site with poorly targeted visitors, ineffective call-to-action, or scattered topic selection.

 Yes, You Can Do This…

Take one small action today.  If you have Google Analytics then take a little time to check the metrics that we’ve discussed.  If you don’t have Google Analytics set-up then go ahead and sign-up for an account (it’s free) and install the Google Analyticator plugin.

Last, give me a shout out in the comments with any questions or insights you have.

Something has changed in the social media world but it’s hard to put your finger on it.

For me it’s a nagging feeling that the foundation of blog marketing is shifting right under our feet.

It seems that promoting blogs with Twitter, Facebook and clever email marketing isn’t good enough.  In the distance I can hear the stampede of new options that threaten to leave professional bloggers on the sidelines unless we get a handle on it right now.

Let’s take a moment to see what we’re dealing with -

Pinterest Mania Offers a Clue

As a dot-com bubble refugee I’ve earned my right to be a digital cynic.  My initial reaction to most new platforms is an irritated sight.  However, Pinterest seduced me from the beginning.  I couldn’t understand why until I realized that Pinterest is a new type of social network, a Content Hub.

As a Content Hub, Pinterest attracts a wide audience who alleviates their boredom by flipping through other people’s content.  The postcard like pin-boards makes the activity enjoyable and efficient.

A Content Hub has a few basic characteristics:

Unique User-Generated Content:

Content hub owners don’t create content, they entice you to create it.  All they do is offer a gallery to show off your creations.

Efficient Sharing Tools:

Next, the Content Hub makes it easy as rain to share your content finds with other community members.  Taking a page from Facebook’s play book, they brand their sharing tools with irresistible call-to-action buttons like Repin or Tumble.

Semi-Closed Garden with a Captive Audience:

The best Content Hubs entice and discreetly trap you in their semi-closed garden.  Your registration is the key to a personalized experience.  Beautiful imagery, layouts, and attention to UI detail wraps you in an environment you hate to leave.

Pinterest has all of these characteristics. Now the astute observer would say… “So does Facebook, right?”  Yes.  But Content Hubs are different in an important way -

HBO Would Be Proud

Think of Facebook as the cable company and Pinterest as HBO.  Facebook and Twitter for that matter are social utilities.  They make it easy to connect with people of like-minded interests.  However they don’t encourage you to make content.  You can tweet, update, and upload photos and video but your “street cred” comes from being available not being a creator.

Pinterest, Slideshare, YouTube, iTunes, and Scribd work like HBO.  Content is king and content creators get the attention.  Uploading a viral video can transform a teen into Justin Bieber.  Elegantly designed woodworking plans can lift a stay-at-home mom to the national stage.  Simply showing up on a Content Hub means nothing, you need to design, develop, package, and ship.

Good News for Bloggers

In a few months, some chucklehead will step back, recognize the power of Content Hubs, and declare that Blogging is dead.

You and I know better.

Up until now, our best work was trapped on our blog – not any longer.  In fact, we’ll have more opportunities to package our blog content and distribute it to vibrant Content Hubs.  In turn, these hubs will route curious readers back to our blogs.  I suspect that this will become the predominant way new blogs will be found and lifted to superstar status:

Here’s what you need to do:

Pinterest

Package your blog posts in compelling imagery.  Photos have always been important but Pinterest (and Instagram) are making them essential.  I’ve started looking for photos ahead of time and noting the link on my editorial calendar.  This way I won’t be tempted to grab a pedantic stock photo at the last minute.

Slideshare

Slideshare is a secret weapon for clever B2B bloggers.  Take your best posts, create a compelling slideshow, give it a great title, and upload it to Slideshare.  This Content Hub has an incredibly astute professional audience that are “wired to act.”

Here’s a great example of the White House using SlideShare as a Content hub:

iTunes

Yes, iTunes.  ViperChill, and Derek Halpern have inspired me to take a closer look at Podcasts.  You know what?  iTunes is a fantastic Content Hub with passionate users interested in just about everything.  Simply recording your blog posts and uploading them as podcasts is an easy way to tap into this community.

Scribd

Scribd doesn’t show up on many people’s radar, but it is a gem.  Scribd aggregates documents like Slideshare aggregates slide presentations.  This is a great Content Hub for packaging and distributing your special reports, popular blog posts (repackaged as a special report), and free ebooks.  Scribd users will read your content and find their way back to your blog.

It’s a Subtle but Important Shift

Listen, blog marketing and promotion will slowly fade away.  It will simply become content marketing.  Your blog will become your personal Content Hub.  Your job will be to create content for the hub and creatively repackage it for other Content Hub communities.

This shift is so important that I will talk about it in my upcoming webinar.  I want to make sure that you are armed with simple strategies you can start using immediately.

For now, take a look at your blog posts.  What can you do to transform your posts into gems that will get shared on the Content Hubs?  Let me know in the comments below.

The title promised access to hidden knowledge – “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  I wanted to be successful and was thrilled to know that I only had to master 7 habits!

I remember ripping through the book in one day.  Every few chapters I referenced the chart you see to the right.  It was Steven Covey’s framework for elegantly describing the 7 habits.

To this day, I can quickly rattle off the 7 habits and even draw the illustration.  Covey’s framework not only stuck with me but with millions of others who lived by his book’s suggestions.

If you analyze many of the top personal productivity and business books you’ll find similar frameworks at their core. We have “The Longtail”, the “Technology Adoption Curve”, Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean, and the Lizard Brain to name a few.  Non-fiction writers rely on these frameworks because they are a clever way to hack into your conscious mind and capture your attention.

In “Pitch Anything”, Oren Klaff observes that your lizard brain’s job is to conserve cognitive resources.  Anything that is too difficult to understand at first glance is ignored or crudely simplified and sent to your neocortex to analyze, often in radically different form.

Frameworks on the other hand package complex concepts into easily digestible bits that are understood at a glance.  The best frameworks are easy to visualize, use sticky hard-hitting words, and adopt common visual forms like a wheel, ladder, or the ubiquitous pyramid.

Smart writers use them because they effectively position themselves as experts, enhance understanding, and improves the chances that their articles, books, or posts will go viral.

Think About Your Blog Posts

The biggest challenge we have as professional bloggers is communicating clearly.  We have little time to make an impression and our ideas need to stick if they are going to get shared.

Most bloggers approach this challenge by simply filling the page.  There may be a loose outline but for most, blogging is a stream of conscious dump of ideas, images, and concepts.  Although the final post makes sense to the writer, its finer points are hopelessly lost on the reader.  The ever vigilant Lizard brain shouts “hit the back button” and the post is lost forever.

If you want your posts to stick then you need to use frameworks.

A Few Easy Frameworks You Can Use Now

While I can’t show you hot to create Covey like illustrations, I can introduce you to a few frameworks that will immediately make your concepts memorable and sharable.

Spend a little time to think through these frameworks.  Once you get the hang of them you’ll see them pop up all around you.

Physical, Emotional, and  Logical 

A popular framework used by motivational and personal productivity experts. The writer uses the framework by breaking a concept into three parts: the inner core, the middle layer, and the outer exposed area.

Example: “The human mind has evolved in three stages: the inner brain, the oldest part of the brain that run on instinct and handles physical needs, the middle brain the seat of emotions, and the neocortex the home of the logical mind.” 

Old Vs. New

This framework is useful for describing an important change or transition.  It’s easy for the reader to instantly understand how to interpret and evaluate the information.

Example: “In the old days of marketing, brands were built on personal reputation and one-to-one customer service.  Now, brands are built on creative messaging scientifically targeted on a mass-scale.  

Inner Game – Outer Game:  

My favorite framework that is as useful as a swiss knife.  It works by describing the hidden mechanics of a concept and describing the outer manifestation of the inner game at work.

Example:  “In order to experience real success in your career, relationships, and physical health you need to conquer the inner demons that can sabotage your success.” 

Note how authoritative this sounds even though I’m not a career or fitness coach.  Simply using the Inner Game Outer Game framework provides a structure that signals expertise.

Here is one more…

Theory and Practice  

This framework divides the concept into two chunks: the scientific and/or intellectual foundation and the hands-on practical application.  Combining these two aspects make it easy for the reader to satisfy their logical questions while demonstrating the everyday usefulness of the concept.

Scan this post to see how I used the Theory and Practice to describe frameworks.

Test Frameworks Out in Your Next Post

I will be talking about Frameworks and other proven blogging techniques in my free Webinar on Feb 22, 2012 at 7:00PM EST.  You should sign-up (only 100 seats available).  In the meantime, give one of these frameworks a try.  If you run into trouble let me know in the comments below.

I suspect you already know this.  I believe content marketing (AKA Storytelling) and social media can transform you and your business.    The only thing you have to do is decide to be the best, not average, not good-enough, but the best.

There’s a widening influence gap in the social media space.  The people with the influence are quickly attracting a dominant share of their market.  Everyone else is scrambling for the influential crumbs that are left behind.

The only way to compete is to invest the time to be the best.  The top tier thinkers, executers, writers, poets are the only ones that can compete.

You might think this is unfair.  It may be.  But for now, it’s how your readers and prospects allocate their limited attention.  The experts get the attention, the followers, the readers, the book deals, the speaking engagements, and the sales.

The interesting part is that when you look closely you often find that “the best” actually worked their butts off to get to their expert status.  They fought through the barriers.  They ignored the doubters.  They dealt with the set-backs, mistakes, and fear.  They earned their stripes.

Seth Godin calls this period of relentless work  “The Dip”.

The Dip is the emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and sometimes physical wilderness where a person is tested.  During this time they transition from being merely good at what they do to being masterful at their craft.  The Dip is devilishly proficient at weeding out the uncommitted.

Godin says there are three ways to negotiate the Dip: Cross it, Get Stuck in it, or Quit it.

Godin also says that for many, the smart move is to quit, reallocate resources and try again in another space.  We’ll leave that debate for another time.

Others are perpetually stuck in the Dip believing that “good things will come there way.”  They won’t objectively examine their skills, resources, and market choosing to just ride out the dip.  But, on the end, they drift in circles like a stranded mariner floating in the Pacific.

Of course, you’re curious about the person who crosses the dip.  Specifically, how do you cross the Social Media Dip?

Is There A Social Media Dip?

Absolutely, in fact social media has one of the most brutal and deepest dips.  A person starting a blog today has to compete with hundreds of millions of posts.   To compete a person has to think longer, dig deeper, write more, and push their skills to the breaking point.  Since social media is built on technology, the Dip traveler will also need to immerse themselves in the language of bits and bytes. It’s daunting.

That is actually good news.

As a business, professional blogger, or entrepreneur, you want The Dip to be as brutal as possible for your competitors.  You want to cross and benefit from the attention your readers and customers bestow on the winners.

So don’t spend time fretting over The Dip, pull out a map and decide how you are going to cross it as soon as possible.

Crossing the Social Media Dip

Although the requirements for earning your bones is specific to your space.  There are some tools that will be useful during your fight.  Here are several pointers:

Know the Requirements

Study your space and become intimately familiar with the requirements for success.  Every niche has its own special rules for and criteria for expert status.  For example, it would be next to impossible for me to be considered a bathroom remodeling expert.  I hate working with my hands and can only measure something if it’s dimensions are in pixels.

In Social Media, one requirement is to be a prolific creator of relevant and entertaining content.  You can’t get around this requirement.  Once you know the requirement you can start mastering it.

Understand Your Strengths and Weaknesses

If you hate writing then it will be difficult to create a traditional blog.  Knowing your weakness will force you to innovate along another path.  For example, I suspect that Gary Vaynerchuk dislikes writing.  That’s why he started a video blog that substituted high-octane video clips for “epic posts”.

Study Failure

Look for the pitfalls that trap other people negotiating The Dip.

Learn from their mistakes and correct your course when needed.  Social Media offers a steady supply of cautionary tales from companies and individuals that have stumbled in public.  Save yourself the painful lesson.

Find Allies

Look for people who will come alongside you and help you when you fall.  Running the race to be the best is hard but it doesn’t have to be lonely.  Find people who encourage and push you.  Ignore the doubters and the whiners.  The Dip is brutal but it does allow teams to succeed.

Talk is Cheap

Derek Sivers delivered a fascinating TED talk viewed by over 1.2 million people called “Keep Your Goals To Yourself.”

His premise was based on research that shows that talking about a goal gave people the same satisfaction as achieving it.  However people who tended to keep their goal to themselves were more likely to do the real work needed to achieve them!

I can see the truth in this. In fact, we have immortalized the wisdom in a simple phrase ‘Talk is Cheap’.  Talking about your goals is not the same as achieving them.

Are You Ready?

If you are fighting your way through the “blogging dip” then register for my Blogging Success Secrets webinar.  I’ll give you 10 secrets for building, growing, and promoting your blog.  Click here for  the details.

In the meantime, tell me about your journey through The Dip.  What do you want to be “the Best” at?

Ok, here’s the wrap-up.

Blog  Spotlight:

Spectacular Blog Reviews are a great way for me to learn about bloggers outside of the “social media” niche.  Here’s one blog that made me smile this week:

This Week’s Spotlight is on: AuPairMom

This Week In PS

7 Simple Ways to Tweak Your Blog Email Opt-in and Get More Reader Sign-ups

I’m obsessed with email list building.  Sorry, I’ve got it bad. Give your blog email opt-in a touch-up with these 7 tips.

Quick and Easy Tips for Learning More About Your Readers

What do you know about your readers? If you are relying on your gut then you definitely take a minute to give this post a read.

How George Lucas Would Write A Blog Post

Star Wars fans this one is for you.  Did you know that there is a story-telling formula behind the Star Wars saga that you can use to write compelling posts?  Yep.  Take a look.

Get Rid of Your Blogging Doubts Once and For All

I’ll show you an interesting technique for confronting your doubts now and insuring your blog’s success.  Trust me.  It works.

PS+Twitter

The 7 Fundamentals of Successful Blogs

3 Secrets of a Twitter Madman

Who Won the Social Media #Superbowl? 

7 Crucial Tactics for Writing A Radically Successfully Guest Post

I’m talking about the email opt-in for getting blog updates or an offer.  I think deep down most people feel “icky” about asking for a person’s email address. They put it off until the last minute, then throw something up there as an afterthought.

I’m not going to go into all of the reasons why you should have an email opt-in. I’ve already written a novel’s worth of posts on the topic .  What I will tackle is how to give that lonely and forlorn email opt-in form a makeover.

I get super-specific on this in my blog reviews but here are 7 tips that you can use now:

1. Great First Impression

Your email opt-in should a be a self-contained eye-catching gem sitting in your sidebar or your blog header.  The title, description, email entry fields, and overall color scheme should fit together and look cohesive.

Sloppy opt-in boxes get ignored. Take a look at your opt-in form, if something feels “off” then spend some time (or money) revising it.  Check to see if your theme has a standard widget for email opt-in forms.  If so, use it as the basis for your design.

2. Location Matters

The top of your blog and sidebar are the waterfront property locations on your blog.  Anything you put there will get attention, so place your email opt-in here for the best results.

Putting your email opt-in below the fold, the point where the reader can’t see it without scrolling, will kill your sign-ups.   If you can’t get the opt-in into the 1st position then shoe-horn it in at the 2nd position.

3. Show and Tell

Every test I’ve conducted proves that showing a graphic representation of what the subscriber will get once they opt-in boosts results. Just make this one happen.  Unless you are a graphics designer, I would budget $50 to hire someone for quick newsletter graphics.  I’ve use Elance with good results and Fiverr works in a pinch, but remember that you get what you pay for.

4.  Tell ‘Em What They’ll Get

People are stingy with their email addresses.  Most of us get way too many newsletters and other email stuff and would love to cut down.  Convincing anyone to accept another email requires more than the standard “sign up for my newsletter”.  You will need to aggressively persuade visitors why your offer is worth their time and attention.  The more time you spend on this, the better your results will be.

5.  Keep It Short Stupid

I haven’t seen a long email opt-in form in a long time but if you were tempted – don’t do it.  The maximum number of email fields you can get away with is two (i.e. first name, and email address).  The more fields you add the fewer subscribers you will get.

A good rule of thumb is to only ask for what you will immediately use.  In most cases, all you will need and consistently use is an email address.

6. A Ninja Trick

I’ve seen great success putting an email sign-up offer at the bottom of my posts.  This position allows the visitor to read a post before they are asked to subscribe.  This works particularly well for simple “blog update via RSS/Email” opt-in forms.

Check out this video where I described how this ninja trick almost doubled my subscriptions.

7. Name It

Nothing screams “ignore me” like a generic, unnamed, email newsletter.

Two years ago, I offered an email course on how to write unique and irresistible blog posts.  Initially I called it an 6-Part Email course.  Snore.  My momma wouldn’t even subscribe.   I changed the name to the Spectacular Post Course and subscriptions took off.  The moral of the story? Name your stuff.  Make it sexy and interesting to your readers and they will check it out.

Do This

Do me a favor and take one action from this post.  Too many bloggers are “tip collectors.”  They believe reading about a new technique is just as good as implementing a new technique.

Your email opt-in is just one rung on your blogging success ladder, and you need to make sure that you’ve successfully done what you can to improve.  If you are stuck and want me to take a look at your blog then consider getting a Spectacular Blog Review.

Talk to me in the comments below about the action you plan to take.

I ask them to describe their target customer.  If the person uses data to craft a clear picture of their reader then they are on the right path.  If they use their so-called “gut” or “intuition”, then I head to their About Us page.  I look to see if they work at Apple or have “Jobs” as a last name.  If not, they are automatically put in the “needs improvement” category.

There is one iron-clad law than bloggers can’t ignore.  It’s simple – extraordinary blogging starts with a crystal clear picture of the reader.

As a professional power blogger you must constantly strive to understand your customer in detail.  In fact, this is a prerequisite for success. In a recent video interview with Laura Click I mentioned that I started seeing success with Pushing Social when I fell in love with my readers.

By falling in love I mean that I obsessively gathered every scrap of data I could about them.  My “profiles” include gender, household income, average number of times they visit the blog, hobbies, education, geographic location, and more.  This information is used to write blog posts, special reports, landing pages, and emails.

I don’t guess.  You shouldn’t either.  Here are some ways to get acquainted with your readers.

Quick and Inexpensive Ways to Spy on Your Readers

Email Subscriptions:

When I started, I asked my email subscribers for their first names.  This information provided a clue to their gender.  Even though I’ve since settled on asking for just their email address, I still use MailChimp to gather gender  and age information.

MailChimp offers an add-on from RapLeaf that will append age and gender data to each email subscriber’s record.  Although I wouldn’t write a post specifically for a specific gender, having a clear picture of my reader in mind helps me write to a specific person.

RapLeaf also offers a stand-alone service where you can upload your subscriber database and get a report that includes: age, gender, household income, marital status, presence of children, home ownership, and home market value.  You’ll need to pay a token amount for the bigger data report, but it’s worth it.

Blog Stats:

You can learn a wealth of information about your readers by digging into your Google Analytics stats.  Here are a few gems I suggest reviewing regularly:

“Count of Visits” 

(Audience -> Behavior -> Frequency and Recency)

Use the Count of Visits metric to see how your audience engages with your blog.  Specifically this metric shows how many times your readers visited your blog during the time period.  If you blog 5x a week, you would like to see a a number of good percentage of visitors coming to your blog around 15-25x a month.

This metric is great for spot-checking the quality and frequency of your posts. For example If the overwhelming majority of your readers only visit your blog once a month, you should concentrate on improving topic selection, headlines, and post promotion.

Days Since Last Visit 

(Audience -> Behavior – Frequency and Recency -> Days Since Last Visit Tab)

This metric shows the last time your reader visited your blog.  Again, if you blog daily, you want to see a growing number of people visiting waiting just 1 − 2 days between visits.

Like the “Count of Visits” metric, this information helps you gauge the effectiveness of your blog promotion. Ideally, you would want to see readers return to your blog at least once a week, more frequently if you post daily.

Surveys

Quick one-question surveys are an effective way to get juicy information from your readers.  I use open-ended questions to get the most useful information.

Right now, KissInsights is my favorite tool for quickly creating and publishing attractive surveys.  SurveyMonkey is a close second.  The key to collecting useful insights is to keep your questions short and specific.

Comment Detective

Comments are a goldmine for understanding my most active readers.  Since only 1% of my readers actually leave comments, I use these folks to get a feel for my most ardent fans.  I recommend combing through your comments and pulling out questions.  These questions point to your readers’ challenges and are great clues for posts.

Email Inbox Detective 

As your blog grows, you’ll spend more time fielding email from your readers.  Rapportive is a gmail plugin that gives you information on email senders pulled from social networks.  I’ve fallen in love with this tool because it gives me great background information that helps flesh out the person behind the profile.  This information helps me fill in the gaps in my overall reader profile, further refining my picture of my reader.

What’s In Your Toolbox?

How to you learn more about your readers.  Give up the good stuff in the comments below.

(Image fist bump: etringita)

You need an edge. You can’t simply blog and hope for the best. Competition is too intense, and attention is too scarce.

The most enduring competitive advantage is a deep understanding of what makes your readers tick – specifically, how they build rapport with experts and mentors in their lives. As a professional blogger, you are trying to position yourself as your readers’ mentor; to do this, you need to insert yourself into their day-to-day story.

Here’s an interesting strategy for doing just that.

The Hero’s Journey

It seems that George Lucas had a secret template for creating the original Star Wars trilogy. For that matter, so did J.R. Tolkien with Lord of the Rings and the Wachowski brothers with the Matrix trilogy. It’s called the Hero’s Journey, and it forms the story-telling skeleton for our most enduring tales.

I suspect that if George Lucas blogged, he would use this template to hook and entrance his readers.

Here’s how the Hero’s Journey template works:

The complete journey has 12 stages. I’ll map the stages against the Star Wars epic to help you get your head around how each stage works.

The Hero’s Journey is so ingrained in our psyche that we go through versions of it in our daily lives. If you look closely, I bet you can see the echo of the Hero’s Journey in your own day-to-day challenges.

Now that we know that it’s there, we can effectively use its power to persuade and mentor our readers.

Your Reader’s Journey

The goal is to insert yourself as an ally and mentor in your readers’ journey. To do this, you have to recognize which stage your reader is experiencing. The first step is to identify the “call to adventure” for your readers. Here are a few examples:

• Weight loss: the call to adventure is losing 50 pounds
• New parents: the call to adventure is surviving 30 days without sleep
• Small business owner: the call to adventure is not going bankrupt in the first year

Since we know the steps of the adventure, we can write content that resonates with them.

Let’s map out the journey of a weight-loss blog reader:

I’m sure you can see how you can write posts to guide, encourage, and provide tools for each step. Imagine the 50-pound overweight woman who visits your blog.

What if she reads a series of posts encouraging her to move forward in her weight loss journey? Next, she sees specific posts with strategies to overcome her resistance to exercising or dieting. Then she sees posts on picking an accountability partner, and so on.

It’s easy to see how this kind of blog would quickly become a trusted ally – even a mentor.

All you need to do is map out your content to match, support, and propel your readers on their adventure.

Is Every Reader on a Journey?

Yes. It’s just my belief, but I’m willing to bet my homemade lightsaber that every reader is on an epic or mini quest of their own. I would go one step further and say that they pick their friends, jobs, and life partners based on this journey. The people who “get it” are the ones that intuitively understand the challenges they face.

I want to be the one that “gets it”.  How about you?

That’s why almost every prime-time drama revolves around wicked smart professionals unraveling medical crimes.

These medical dramas follow a similar storyline formula: the crime, gathering evidence, the post-mortem (what went wrong), and finding the “perp”.

While the entire sequence is fascinating, I’m captivated by the post-mortem; the socratic process of examining the evidence and hypothesizing causes.

It seems that post-mortems fascinate business types too. In fact, post-mortems are a routine part of 9-5 life. Usually one is convened when a team drops the ball and management wants a democratic way to share blame.

It works like this.  The responsible parties are brought into a room.  The project is reviewed.  Mistakes are isolated.  The team develops processes to avoid the problems in the future.

A while back, a colleague introduced me to a new concept called the Pre-Mortem.

Intrigued, I watched as he conducted my first Pre-Mortem.  First, we set a goal.  Then in an unexpected twist, we imagined failing.  Not just barely missing the bar but tripping and breaking our jaw on it.  Next, we brainstormed a list of reasons why we missed hitting our proposed goal.

An hour later we had an incredibly insightful roadmap for kicking failure in the teeth.  We saw how unclear goals, poor follow-up, and weak tactics could sap our momentum.  Key players in the room realized exactly how their lack of action could screw up the project.  The entire team had a contingency plan tailor-made to deal with any circumstance.

Since we haven’t fully settled into the year yet, how about running a Pre-Mortem on your blog?

Imagine It’s 12/31/12 and Your Blog Has Failed – Miserably.

It’s a sad scene.

Your blog traffic has flatlined. Your editorial calendar didn’t survive 3 months resulting in sporadic posting and crippling writers block.  Twitter fell short and Facebook was an embarrassment.  You barely made enough money to pay for your hosting on Godaddy.

Do your Pre-Mortem.

Ask yourself, what went wrong?  Go ahead, open up a blank document and write the Pre-mortem.   Now for every issue that you brainstorm write down a quick note on how you will counter the issue.  Last, decide on an action step to put your plan into motion before the failure.

For example:

Issue: Your blog hasn’t attracted a growing audience:

Counter: Write evergreen posts that attract search engine users

Action Item: Brainstorm a list of evergreen topics and add them to your editorial calendar.

Go down you list or Pre-Mortem issues, add counters and create action items.  Soon you’ll have a blogging blueprint custom-designed for your specific challenges.

Do This Now

I’m an optimist.  It’s hard to imagine something not going as planned but we live in the real world boys and girls.  Anticipating failure is the best way to avoid it.  Zero in on your weaknesses and handle them now.

Let me know in the comments below how you plan to use the pre-morterm to failure-proof your blog.

Now let’s get back to creating compelling stories that attract readers, do good, and earn a profit.

Blog Spotlight

I love showering love on folks that take their blog seriously.

This Week’s Spotlight is on: MidlifeMonaLisa

Here’s how to get your love.

This Week on PS:

5 Quick Tips for Improving Your Blog’s Navigation

We’re tackling that neglected navigation bar that makes your blog a cool place to hang out.  Navigation Bars, like sidebars, often get cluttered with useless junk that confuses readers.  Let’s clean it up.

What Nicki Minaj Can Teach You About Guest Posting

It’s a testament to PS readers that this post received ANY retweets.  I’m glad I have some Hip Hop tolerant readers out there.  Stick with this post and you’ll learn a critical lesson about guest posting.

How I Became a Top 10 Social Media Blogger

My son looked at the list and wondered why I wasn’t #1 – great kid.  Anyways, I decided to reveal the secret sauce behind 12 months of improvements here on PS.  Take a look.

These Blog Posts Always Get Noticed

Got Drama?  If not, it’s time to get some.  This post will show you how to weave drama into posts that get noticed every time.

Creating an Inclusive Social media Event

I cheated, this post was on my friend, Mark Schaefer’s blog.  It talks about the rise of Social Slam, an awesome event that you’ll be hearing me talk more about.  Why?  Well, I’ll be attending and speaking their on April 27th.  Stay tuned.

PS + Twitter

The Six Stages of Emotional Branding

Pinterest: Everything You Need to Know Is In This Massive Post

Social Pros Podcast – Super Bowl Social Media Command Center

10 Content Marketing Goals Worth Pursuing

Creating an Inclusive Social Media Event

Specifically, I like watching people solve problems.  My favorite place to indulge my fascination is the gate at the airport when people disembark from their flight.

First I watch people greet their families.  Although post 9/11 airport security has made the family homecoming scene a memory, I still love seeing the “I’m home” look of contentment on people’s faces.

Second, I enjoy watching people orient themselves in new surroundings as they try to figure out what to do next.  Almost everyone quickly looks up when they leave the jetway hunting for the airport’s “navigation bar”.

You can tell right away if the airport got it right. Their arriving passengers efficiently slide into the flow of traffic without missing a beat.

The airports that get it wrong usually have frustrated passengers furiously scanning multiple signs while bumping into other passengers.

Interestingly, the same scene unfolds every time a new reader visits your blog.

What Your Navigation Should Do

Your new readers arrive at your blog and immediately try to figure out what to do next.  Many will dive into your blog post.  Others will try to get a feel for the place.

Overall your navigation has two functions.

First, your navigation should direct brand new readers to pages that will orient and introduce them to the experience they will have on your blog.

Second,  your navigation should offer options for enhancing your reader’s time on your blog.  Your goal is to lead your readers to new content that complements your blog posts.  Links to tightly focused Expert Product landing pages are also an excellent addition.

First time casino goers quickly realize that it’s extremely difficult to find directions for getting “OUT” of the casino!  Your blog navigation works the same way.  Every link should open another door to more interaction with your blog. That’s why I recommend never using your navigation to lead readers off of your blog.

How to Tweak Your Navigation Bar

Let’s talk about some specific steps you can make now.

1) New Here? Start Here.

I’m not sure who get’s credit for this best practice but it works.  Adding a “New Here” page and button to your navigation lets your reader know where to get an introduction to your blog.  Place this button prominently in your navigation bar.  The New Here page can include your Big Idea and introductory posts that readers would find helpful.

2) Place Important Links Front and Center

Most navigation bar span the entire page horizontally.  My testing shows that placing important items in the center of the navigation bar attracts more clicks.  Review your current navigation and decide which item you want to give the most attention, then move its position to the center.

3) Limit Drop Down Menu Items

Research shows that the more options a person has the less likely they are to choose one.  Busy, time-starved visitors don’t want to search through 3-level navigation schemes.  One level of drop-down navigation with 2-3 additional items should be the maximum for your blog navigation.

4) Avoid One Word Buttons

Readers want to know what’s “behind the button”.  One navigation labels like “Cool”, “You”, “Tips” are too vague.  When naming your navigation items, look for ways to describe what the user will see when they click the button.  In many cases, it makes sense to limit the number of buttons to get space for more descriptive labels.

5) Make your Navigation Stand Out

I’ve run dozens of heat map tests to find the best position for the primary navigation bar and every test shows that placing navigation directly below the header works best.  Also, changing the color of a button when a person hovers their mouse pointer over it helps the bar stand out.

Don’t Spend Too Much Time on This

Tweaking your blog navigation is definitely a “blog hygiene” item.  Don’t obsess over this.  Make your changes and watch your tracking information.  Further refine your navigation if you aren’t getting the results you need.  It’s an iterative approach that will take a little time to get right.

The sick thing is that I could write another 1,000 words on this subject (and I do).  So, if you have any questions about your navigation bar, put them in the comments section below.

It’s confusing because Willow, Will Smith’s daughter, serves up purely cotton-candy, grade school, beats that 10-year olds play on their iPods during sleepovers.

But, if you listen to the song you’ll hear Nicki’s signature style without her signature “edge”.

What’s happening?  Isn’t Nicki worried about her hip hop street cred?  Won’t other artists criticize her as a crossover sellout?

Nope.

In fact, hip hop artists wish they could have gotten to young Willow first.  You see these hustlers know that a featured cameo (aka Guest Post) on another’s artist’s album is great but a featured appearance on an album that appeals to new audiences is worth a sellout concert at Madison Square Garden.

Believe me, I bet Nicki’s managers are pitching Taylor Swift right now.

What You Can Learn From Nicki Minaj

It’s time for you to broaden your audience base.  Guest posting is a great way to do it but you should tweak the popular formula.  Most experts suggest you find and pitch blogs similar to your own.  This is a decent strategy but I want you to do this with a twist.

Go out and find blogs that complement your niche.  So if you are a fitness trainer look for blogs on nutrition.  If you sell woodworking plans look for interior design blogs.  If you offer career coaching then seek out yoga instructors.  Sounds weird but stick with me I promise I haven’t lost my mind.

This crossover guest blogging strategy has three benefits:

1. Forces you to broaden the appeal of your expertise, product, or service.  It’s easy to get caught in a rut writing about the same topics.  The problem is that your competition is fighting in the same rut.  Training yourself to be flexible and versatile will help you draw from a larger pool of potential readers
2. Introduces your blog to a new but complementary audience.  If you want to stand out you’ll need to find new eyeballs. Sidestepping to a niche that shares common interests is a great way to diversify your audience and set your blog up for long-term growth.
3. Stokes Your Creative Energy. Challenging yourself to imagine new applications for your subject will give your imagination a work out.

How to Make Your Pitch to the Host Blog

This isn’t going to be your typical guest post pitch.  Since you won’t be a card-carrying member of the host blog’s tribe, you’ll need to pitch “why” you would be a good guest poster.

Here’s what you should point out:

• Emphasize that you will write a post that complements the host blog’s current topics.
• Write three sample titles for the post that you intend to write.  Your goal is to prove that your posts will fit in the blog’s current lineup
• Explain in detail the overlap in interests that will make your guest post appealing
• Write the entire post and send it along with your pitch.  The host blog author may need to see what you have before they will believe your pitch.

Be persistent.  This is a slightly tougher sale but worth the effort.  Approach several different blogs, customize each pitch, and keep pounding away.

What If No One Accepts Your Pitch?

Publish the post on your blog.  Promote the blog post to the audience you were targeting.  Use relevant Twitter hashtags to alert interested audience members about your article.  You may get a mention from one of your target blogs.  Not as good as a guest post but better than nothing.

The key here is to force yourself out of your comfort zone and start thinking broadly about your topic and how it can be applied to other readers.

Like Nicki Minaj, you’ll impress your core readers with your versatility while picking up a new group of fans.

Talk to Me…

What complementary blog will you target?  Let me know in the comments below.

By the way, I’m looking for guest writers for Pushing Social.  Here’s what you need to know.

I’m beyond thrilled and my Momma is proud.  I’m sure this award will be the highlight of my year.

Can I let you in on a little secret?

I’ve been hunting down this award since this time last year.  You see, last year Pushing Social was a finalist too.  Every day for two weeks I checked Social Media Examiner (SME) for the winners.  When the day came, I was crushed.  I didn’t win.  That was a big problem because I hate to lose.

From that day, I resolved to win this year.  I’m going to tell you what I did because I want your blog to be on the Top 10 list next year.  By the way, my techniques will jumpstart any blog. You don’t need to be in the social media field, electricians and landscapers can win with these tactics too.

Here’s my secret sauce:

Build Your Email List  

I doubled down on building my email list.  I noticed last year that some clever bloggers asked their list to nominate them for the award.  Smart.  My problem was that I only had a few dozen people on my list last January.  I immediately created an expert product and offered it in exchange for reader email addresses.  I also stopped being bashful about asking for email.  My optin box is the #1 thing you see on the blog.

The tactic worked, I grew my list to about 2,500 loyal and extremely cool readers.  These folks stepped up big time and flooded SME with nominations.  Major fist bump to those folks.

Stay Out of the Echo Chamber

Ok, I admit it, I was getting a little comfortable in the echo chamber, meaning I was writing posts on slightly rehashed topics and not delivering unique content.

I revamped my editorial calendar and wrote content that spoke directly to my readers.  I tried to put a voice to their challenges and offer unique solutions.  This content ended up getting shared big time, sometimes racking up 100+ retweets within hours.

Look Like a Million Bucks

Last year’s winners spent the money to have great-looking blogs.  My daddy always said that the first step to getting the part is looking the part.  I switched to the Genesis Framework and spent a little cash to get a fresh-looking Child Theme.  I switched because it was relatively simple to install a great looking theme right out of the box.  (Full disclosure: I’m an unabashed Genesis Fan Boy and affiliate)

Over the year, I switched themes twice.  Each switch was painless (even fun).  Every theme switch increased average time on site, pageviews, and lowered my bounce rate.  Better yet, the SME judges had a “tight” blog to look at when they came to visit.

Focus

Pushing Social is about blogging.  I’ll write about Google+, Twitter, or Facebook if it makes you a better blogger.  Maybe I’ll start a general purpose social media blog some day but the big boys already have this base covered.

I don’t have a problem with general purpose blogs but you need A LOT of content to pull this format off.  I’m a busy dad with a day-job and zero time, so I needed to concentrate one topic.  The benefit is that PS readers know what they are getting and they come back every day for their fix.

Also, I hoped that Pushing Social would fill a “niche” in the mind of the SME judges.  I didn’t want to be a “Social Media Blog”  I wanted to be the best resource for professionals who blog.  Frankly, I couldn’t compete against all social media blogs, but I’m willing to duke it out with blogs about blogging (still not easy though).

This is what SME said about Pushing Social:

(cue mastermind villain laugh) 

Earning My Stripes:

Last year’s winners were prolific bloggers.  These cats delivered amazing content 3-4 a week.  Some even published a post every day.  All year I toyed with the thought of posting every day but was always scared off by the pundits and gurus.

Finally I bit the bullet and committed to blogging every weekday. It was hard.  I had less time.  Somedays I wondered if I was losing my frackin’ mind.  I’ve had an absolute blast.  The best part is that I was able to demonstrate that Pushing Social was a player willing to pump out content that people can use.

Just so we’re clear here.  I like pundits and gurus.  They are just wrong 50% of the time about what will work for Pushing Social.  They are also 100% wrong about my motivation, willpower, and commitment.  So when they say don’t blog everyday because you can’t maintain quality and quantity, I smile and ignore them.  Maybe you should too.

Let’s talk about your blog…

You don’t need a fancy contest to tell you that your blog rocks.  Although it helps when you are trying to impress the wife.  At the end of the day it comes down to accomplishing your objectives.  I believe you can use what I suggested here to get started. What do you think?

P.S.  I have something special for you.  If you need an extra pair of eyes and a 10-point roadmap to building a blog that gets noticed then check this out.