The way it worked was this:

1. First, presentations. Nothing formal, but if any of the group members wanted to present some useful information, that would happen.
2. Hot seats. Each of us would take our turn on the hot seat. We could talk about our businesses and our challenges, and get help from the rest of the group.

It is incredibly powerful.

In 2009, one of the biggest contributing factors to my business has been the power of others. I routinely mastermind with folks here in the Tampa Bay area and occasionally from elsewhere in the state.

Forming A Group

I highly recommend that you work to create a circle of people around you who are doing the same things. If you are interested in growing your blog, then find others in your area who share similar interests. Namely, bloggers.

If you don’t know anybody like that, one of the best sources for you is Meetup.com. Find a group in your area. If there isn’t one, FORM ONE.

Seriously, that’s what I did. I was already part of a mastermind group in this area (a private one), but I went to Meetup and formed my own group to help others in the Tampa area. There is a small cost associated with forming a group on Meetup, but it is more than worth it.

Another option would be to take to Twitter or Facebook and find people with similar goals who might want to form such a group. If you guys aren’t in the same geographical area, then you could just schedule conference calls over Skype.

By combining what you learn online with real-world interaction with people of similar interests, you will make progress in leaps and bounds compared to what you’ve done in the past.

Running The Group

You will need to decide what kind of style you want in your group. In the past, some of our masterminds have been loose and more social, with a little business talk. These don’t have the same usefulness.

The best groups are the ones that are ran more like a meeting. With a structure. This way people gain value from the meeting rather than it just being an excuse to goof off.

The meetup I run on Meetup.com is about half-and-half. In the beginning, there is a more structured conversation to help people out. Then, we move into networking and conversation to allow people to get to know each other better. For the private groups I attend, we run them more like a board meeting.

Your Action Plan

If you are not in any group right now, I highly suggest you make this a priority. Go to Meetup.com and find a group in your area. Considering you are a reader of this blog, perhaps a blogger’s group or an internet business group would be appropriate.

If you cannot find a group on Meetup, consider creating one. Being the group organizer automatically makes you a bit of a leader in your area. People will find your group. You’ll meet new people and you never know where those connections will take you.

What we do is inherently alienating unless you make a point to form groups. Staring at the computer in a back bedroom is no way to run a business. This is a people business.

I’ve learned this better than anybody.

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Most bloggers wonder how to make money with a blog. The default answer seems to be to write a lot, build traffic, then sell ads. That blogger thinks he’s building his “business” by writing even more. Problem is, it oftens leads to this….

So, the plan is that you’ll start a blog, write a lot, write some more, get famous and then sell a few ads on the blog. Attract sponsors and cash in, right?

With so much competing noise out there, this kind of expectation would be like waiting for a blogger fairy to come out and sprinkle some problogger fairy dust on top of your head. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, but that it is an uphill fight for a new blogger who doesn’t really engage in marketing.

I think this mentality might stem from the days of the old media. In the old media, this is how they sustain themselves. Build an audience, scare the crap out of them so they’ll keep watching, and turn around and sell the eyeballs to companies who want more customers.

However, there’s a reason why the newspaper industry is failing. If you enter the blogosphere with this same mentality, you’re not going to make any money.

On the other hand, look at almost any business that you know of. What do they do? They sell something. They sell a product or a service. They engage in marketing so as to sell those products or services.

So, why do so many bloggers fail to connect the dots?

Is it because bloggers look at themselves as reporters, so they get into this old media mentality?

Blogging isn’t journalism. It is distinctly different in that this is a two-way medium where you connect with your audience.

The answer is to think like a business. As I’ve said a gazillion times, if you want your blog to be a business, then you have to treat it like one. That means:

1. Have something to offer them.
2. Engage in relationship marketing (be helpful, be trustworthy, be liked, be memorable)
3. Ask them for a sale.

While other businesses are marketing in the paper or the yellow pages, you’re marketing on the Internet by smartly building bonds with like-minded people via your blog. You build a tribe of followers.

The methods are different, but the strategy should be the same.

Do me a favor. Next time you hear a blogger default to banner ads as the de facto way to make money with a blog, correct them. Tell them David Risley sent ya.

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As my subscribers know, I flew to Las Vegas last week for Pubcon, a leading conference for the search marketing and SEO industry. I had high hopes and was expecting a good time.

Day 1 went well. Picked up some good tips, took some notes and met up with a few people. That night, I decided to get some work done rather than attend the Pubcon party because they were doing it at a night club. I don’t care how cool people think they are at parties at a night club, I find it counter-intuitive for a conference built around networking. It is so loud you can’t talk to anybody. So screw it.

I decided to hit the Grand Buffet at the MGM Grand for dinner that evening. Yes, I overate. But, damn was it good. I even picked up a ticket to see Cirque Du Solei Ka at the MGM the next evening.

Fast forward to about 3AM the next morning. Nausea. Vomiting. Living over the toilet and holding a lot of unflattering body positions. Not cool. I was sick as a dog. I got no more sleep because I literally had to get up every 20-30 minutes to puke.

The next day, I was clearly too sick to attend day 2 of Pubcon, so I camped out in my hotel room all day. I “enjoyed” some personal time… just me, the bed, and my hotel toilet. That toilet and I got to be friends.

The only time I stepped out of my hotel room during the day was to walk over to the CVS in front of the Monte Carlo to buy some water. I thought going for a walk might be therapeutic. Well, I ended up throwing up on the street. That went well.

That evening, I was feeling a bit better. Nausea was gone, but I still felt a bit weak and my stomach was fragile. Absolutely zero appetite.

Next day, I was pretty much OK. I had very little appetite. The only thing I wanted was soups. But, I felt good enough to attend a few sessions of Day 3 of Pubcon. I wasn’t worried about being contagious because I’m QUITE sure this was nothing but food poisoning.

So, basically, I flew 2,000 miles just to get sick, puke my guts out, attend barely even half of a conference, and fly home. I was so tired of Vegas that I was just GIDDY to get the hell out of that city and come home.

Now, what about Pubcon? Did I like it?

I have to make an effort not to judge the event in light of what I went through in my hotel room, but I will say that Pubcon is a great conference – IF you are really into search marketing and SEO.

I was under the impression beforehand that it was a more mixed crowd. It really wasn’t. It is a very different crowd than that of a conference like BlogWorld, for instance. At the end of the day, and all sickness aside, I really don’t think Pubcon is worth the trip if you are a blogger. It is too focused on SEO. For that reason, I likely will not attend Pubcon again.

Here is what I learned from my experience:

1. I now know what Pubcon is about and have decided that while it is a great conference for it’s target audience, it wasn’t valuable enough to ME to warrant the trip.
2. Stop abusing my body because it WILL catch up to me.

In fact, I’m using the experience to jumpstart a whole new diet for myself. Perhaps more on that later.

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1. Find or create something which people in your market will find valuable or helpful,
2. Give it to them in exchange for their email address.
3. Do this a lot.

Now you know. If you tell anybody else this secret, be sure to whisper.

P.S. Oh, just one more thing. It also helps to have a mailing list solution worthy of building a big list with. and for that, I recommend Aweber. That one isn’t any secret because most people worth their salt like Aweber, too.

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Just to vent, I took out my phone and tweeted about it. Within a couple of minutes, I got a Twitter reply from the Luxor telling me where to find the restaurant. I was so damn impressed, I tweeted about it. They replied:

I am heading back to Vegas yet again (I seem to go there a few times per year for various conferences). I had reservations at Bally’s. Well, in following the #pubcon hashtag on Twitter, I saw the MGM Grand tweet about a special room rate.

I upgraded. I canceled my reservation with Bally’s (who has no Twitter account, BTW) and switched to MGM. Its a better hotel anyway, but I like how MGM is actually actively interacting with their clientele.

I’ve had other similar experiences with Twitter:

1. I was bitching about AT&T Wireless a few weeks ago and I had one of their company contacts tweet me and help me via Twitter. I was impressed given the ineptitude of the people on the phone.
2. Made a comment about Aweber on Twitter recently and one of their guys replied.
3. Made a comment about the Headway theme on Twitter and it ended up with meeting the guy in person at BlogWorld and getting an inside demo of the new version.

I’m Impressed, But I Shouldn’t Be

I shouldn’t be surprised when a company replies to me this way. It should be normal.

Big corporate, wake up!

Your customers are talking about you out there. Monitor the conversation and interact.

The days of finding corporate success by looking big and official are over. We don’t like calling on the phone and ending up in a phone maze. We’re not a case number. Companies that throw up those kinds of barriers are obviously TRYING to avoid their customers.

I think its about time to say this: Big companies… you better get active on Twitter or your days are numbered. Tweet or die.

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I wanted to share some advice with you today to help you write a better blog post.

Headline is Important

The headline is your hook in the sea. You need that hook to be attractive enough to lure the reader in and make them bite (click). So, make the headline catchy.

A few quick guidelines:

1. Focus on “YOU”. And here, I mean the reader. What benefit are they going to get by reading your post? Make your headline make some kind of intriguing promise to the reader that just makes them want to click.
2. Use the pattern interrupt. People surf the internet is a state of hypnosis. Wake them up by throwing them a headline which wakes them up.
3. Spike their curiosity. Make them want more. People hate mysteries. They don’t like not knowing.
4. “How To”… works in the headline. Immediate benefit to the reader.
5. Give a reason why. For example, “Here’s why your blog traffic sucks.”. You’re giving them a reason. You’re spiking their curiosity. It is also a pattern interrupt.

Study headlines which work. It is an art, and when you master it, your readership will increase and you’ll draw them in like crazy.

Be Real

Don’t do formal writing. Let the English teachers get their jollies off on that one. It doesn’t work on a blog.

Be conversational in your writing style. Be interesting.

Shakespeare would make a crappy blogger. Don’t be that guy.

Your Reader Has CRAZY ADD

Your typical blog reader is just riddled with ADD. Those eyes are going all over the place, and they’re operating in a bored emotional tone. Boredom doesn’t work if you want to hook your reader, so your job is to move them up from boredom into some form of interest.

So, your first sentence needs a hook. Draw them in. Make them want to read the rest of your post.

In the post, you want to use sub-headlines. It allows for people to scan the post.

If you came across a blog where each paragraph was really long, you wouldn’t read it. Because you’re lazy. And so is the rest of the Internet.

Short paragraphs. Easy sentences. Words that don’t require a dictionary. And sub-headlines to allow speed-readers to size up the post as worth their time.

Also, use bullet points and lists to break up the flow of the post (where appropriate). This is the pattern interrupt concept taken right into the structure of your post. Break up the flow a little bit.

This is Communication – Don’t Forget That

Communication, for it to be true communication, needs to consist of understanding on the receiving end. Just blurting crap out there isn’t communication. Just talking to yourself and hoping others listen to you is not communication.

Talk TO them. Get them to talk to you.

Write with the purpose of being completely understood on the other end. Your job isn’t to impress them with big words to make you seem smart. If you pile them up with words they don’t understand, they’ll just use the back button and leave. And they’ll think you’re an idiot.

Have a message to communicate to the reader when you make a post. Before you hit that publish button, ask yourself “Why am I posting this? What do I want my reader to walk away with?”

If you’re not thinking about that, then you’re doing it wrong.

Now, go blog something.

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Last week, I got an email from Mike Filsaime. Now, Mike is a well-known internet marketer. I follow the world of internet marketing. After all, I’m, too, a marketer. What was surprising about this email from Mike was that he was talking about his new Twitter app – Tweetglide. This spiked my curiosity because “Mike Filsaime” and “Twitter app” just don’t go together in my mind.

Tweetglide is developed on Adobe AIR, just like Tweetdeck. The website is impressive. So, I was both surprised and impressed to see a guy like Filsaime getting involved in mainstream social media to this degree. He’s even got an Iphone version coming.

When you first open the app, you’ll immediately see that this was designed by a marketer. You’ll get a one-time offer (OTO) to upgrade to the “pro” account for $97. This will give you 500 ad credits and allow you to do things like customize your ad to make it stand out. Which brings me to the major difference between Tweetglide and another client…

Advertising on Twitter

Essentially, by using Tweetglide, you are able to send out advertisements for your own stuff. Plus, in an MLM approach, you can actually create your own downline and have your referrals help you earn more ad views. So, you’ll earn ad credits by:

• Tweeting. If you send 5 tweets in 3 hours (just normal conversation, not ads), you’ll earn an ad credit which shows your ad. They smartly put a cap on this, so tweeting 100 times isn’t going to earn you more ad views. No spam there.
• You refer people to Tweetglide and you get credit for all the tweet activity of your downline, up to 4 levels down. 5 tweets from you or anybody in your downline earns you an ad view.
• You can also pay for sponsored ads with Tweetglide.

Now, all of this uses the Tweetglide application to display advertising. What is unique about this is that the sponsored tweets show up in a separate column which you can close if you want. Now, I don’t believe you’ll get any credits if you shut down the sponsored column, but it will allow you to simply use Tweetglide as a Twitter client without using all this other stuff. The column separation also makes Tweetglide comply with the new FTC disclosure rules since we clearly know that these are sponsored messages.

Tweetdeck Versus Tweetglide

This app immediately will make you think of Tweetdeck. It uses columns in the same exact fashion. But, how else does it compare?

Like Tweetdeck, you have columns for all tweets, replies, DMs, etc. You can set up your own groups if you want, however it doesn’t appear to save those groups to any servers for sync purposes.

You can fully manage your Twitter profile from inside of Tweetglide. You can follow/unfollow/block users. You can tap into the common URL shorteners and view click-through stats inside the app (nice touch). It doesn’t have all the options of Tweetdeck yet, but I’m guessing it’ll get there.

The interface is a little bubbly compared to Tweetdeck.

One thing that annoyed me quite a bit about Tweetglide was the ease of tweeting out affiliate promos for Tweetglide itself. 3 separate times I accidently tweeted out my affiliate link when I didn’t intend to. That needs to be changed.

Daddy Like?

At the end of the day, what’s my verdict on Tweetglide?

Well, I’m impressed, but I’m not quite feeling it.

I think the model is fairly innovative if your purpose is to promote yourself. I think the marketing aggressiveness is a little ill-placed on the Twitter audience, however. Twitter is about being social, not overt marketing. And, as of now, Tweetglide is designed for overt marketing. It is far too easy to promote your affiliate link. The OTO on initial launch is going to immediately put a bad taste in the mouth of many Twitter users.

Due to the nature of internet marketing, you’re going to see most people out there singing the praises of Tweetglide. They’ll all be sporting their affiliate link, of course. I’ve even seen some call it the Tweetdeck replacement. That’s overkill and I think its being said as a way to earn more commissions, quite frankly.

As I see it, the audience who will end up using Tweetglide are the people who are using Twitter for the wrong reasons – to pimp their stuff. The sponsored ad column is already full of “make money” stuff (as I would expect).

It comes down to the overall vibe. As an app, Tweetglide is actually pretty good. As an innovative business model – check. It most certainly is. It is the first client to have a separate column for sponsored messages and that alone is innovative.

There are a LOT of people on Twitter who are not into affiliate marketing and MLM, however. And, for those people, I just don’t think Tweetglide will sit well.

As for me, I’m sticking with Tweetdeck as my main Twitter client. I might play around with Tweetglide from time to time. I like using Twitter a better way – to build relationships. The money stuff comes second.

If you want to check out Tweetglide for yourself, click here.

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I am a big believer in the idea that the only person capable of improving or messing up your life is you. Nobody else. You get what you expect to get.

This email I got was unfortunate. I don’t want to quote the whole thing (out of respect), but I want to point out a few things in the email.

This blog stuff is way over my head, I don’t have anything to talk about that anyone would be interesting in listening to.

If you have decided that that is true, then it is.

I am disabled and house bound, and am so sick most of the time I can just barely check my email….. I am just an old wore out jack of all trades and master of none. I live on Social Security Disability, and my Wife works Two different jobs most of the time.  We are just broke Christian simple people waiting to go to Heaven.

I have to be careful here. I understand that some people are in dire straights and that life can be an uphill fight. We all understand that. But, look at this from a standpoint of personal power. This statement is full of self invalidation.

Forgive me, if I am taking advantage of you by seeing your daily tips. If you would rather I unsubscribe, you just don’t hesitate to tell me.

This is the first time I’ve ever had anybody apologize for reading my blog and being a subscriber to my mailing list.

What stands out to me here is an apparent self-degradation. He is propitiating to me for no reason. Almost every statement in the email is a statement of weakness and invalidation of himself.

If you go around saying bad things about yourself, they’ll manifest in real life. You get what you put out there.

I fully believe that the only way that you can become the punching bag of life is if you make the decision to allow yourself to be a punching bag. Things don’t just happen. They’re made to happen.

Call it the Law of Attraction if you like, but you get what you put out there. And what really tugged my heart strings about this email was that he is bending over backwards to lessen his own personal power, to be smaller, and in his own words, just waiting to go to Heaven.

You get what you create. Your life is the result of your own self-determinism. I don’t believe in luck. Go out there and make the life you want.

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Are you Frickin’ kidding me?

You don’t have to be the superman of writing to be a good blogger. You just need to learn how to leverage your time effectively.

Leverage is getting the absolute most bang for your buck. Or, in this case, your time. Can you make one piece of content fit many purposes? Sure you can.

Be Everywhere

You don’t want your blog to be a little island, all alone out there in the vast sea of the Internet. In real life, sole survivors die. That’s you on your blog unless you do something to get people to your island. So, you need bridges.

All of the video sites. Podcast directories. Itunes. Article directories. You want to be out there, everywhere and anywhere. You want to encompass the Internet with your brand and your message, and all of it should point back to your blog.

So, does that mean you have to make videos? Then make podcasts? Then write some articles for the article directories? And sprinkle in a little actual blogging into the mix? Of course not.

The Magic Bullet

The magic bullet is simply leverage.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

• Write a blog post, then repurpose it, shorten it to 400 words or so, and post it in the article directory.
• Do a video. Take the audio and turn it into a podcast. Then, get the audio transcribed. There’s a blog post. Then, repurpose that yet again, there’s one or more articles for the directories.
• Write a report? Dictate it and turn it into a podcast.
• Recording a podcast? Ustream yourself doing the podcast and invite your readers to watch? Then, post the video directly from Ustream into Youtube. Again, transcribe it into print format for blog posts.
• Do a webinar? Record it, transcribe, yada yada.
• Need a product to sell? Take your blog content which is good and compile it into a digestible product and sell it. Don’t think that is shady. All the top people do it. A lot.

You get the idea? It is all about leverage.

Lastly, get help. If you’re serious about blogging as a business, you need a virtual assistant. That person can help you with transcription, repurposing, etc. Ideally, you should be able to create the content once and be done with it. Have the rest of it taken care of.

You can blog in first gear, or you can shift into overdrive. Your call.

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It is simply the art of creating a recognizable brand around yourself. The goals are:

1. Be recognized whenever the brand is seen.
2. Have that brand represent certain ideas in the minds of the viewer.

Here are 9 quick tips to help you build up your personal brand.

1. Decide between using your name or a made-up name. If you build a brand around your name, then do so for the purpose of raising your reputation. On the flip side, any brand built around you is not sellable. When you decide to quit, the brand dies. If you build a brand which is separate from you, then you can sell it. For example, this blog is branded around myself. However, PCMech is a separate brand and could be operated completely independently of myself.
2. Own your domain. Whatever brand you use, you need to own the dot-com. If your name is available as a dot-com, go buy it. I also specifically recommend the dot-com as opposed to other domain extensions like dot-net or dot-org because dot-com is assumed by all. It is easiest to remember.
3. Invest in a professional blog design. One of the biggest mistakes bloggers make is trying to design their own blogs when they have no idea how to do it. Saying that you’re not going to invest in a professional design until you make some money is to put the cart before the horse. Realize that you need to treat your blog like a business if you want it to be a business, and sometimes that means investing in it at the beginning.
4. Use professional photo of yourself. You are going to use a photo of yourself in various places on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You want that photo to be professional and attractive. You also want it to convey the mood expressed by your brand. If your brand is about fun, then look happy and fun in your photo. You can pay somebody to take very professional photos of you. It isn’t necessary, but you’ll get better results.
5. Go for visual consistency. Preferably, you want your Twitter background, your blog, your Youtube channel layout – all of it – to have the same overall design and color scheme. It maintains visual consistency for the brand. Also, I recommend you use the same photo of yourself in all online profiles.
6. Get a logo. You need a professional logo for your brand. Don’t use your photo as the logo. Also, make sure the logo would work equally in color and black-and-white. In other words, it should translate well into print.
7. Invest in swag. Ever thought about building out your brand into the offline world? Perhaps shirts, cups, hats, mousepads, USB sticks, business cards, etc. If you give away some swag at a conference, you’ll be easily remembered.
8. Nail down your brand keywords. This was something that Ted Murphy talked about recently. In the same fashion you might add tags to your blog post, sit down and tag your brand. What words describe the brand you want to create? Then, see if you can further nail down the brand description to a single phrase.
9. Be Everywhere. I know, easier said than done, right? But, this is part of being a pro blogger. You need to be out there on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, etc. And it all needs to lead into your blog where you are posting quality, helpful content designed to bolster your brand. You can build your brand visually all you want, but it isn’t a brand if it is not out there in front of people.

As with everything, the basics are easy. It just requires follow-through. It is one thing to read this post and ultimately do nothing different. Or you could come up with some steps to actually DO IT.

Now, go build your brand. And share in comments what you’re going to do next when it comes to building up your brand.

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