Archive for May, 2008

Does your blog have an effective tag line?

May 15, 2008 Blogging

A tag line is a critical part of any business venture, whether it is a Fortune 500 company or your personal blog. It can be used to segment you, or what your company does, better than your name or company name can do. But many blogs either don’t have a tag line or they have one that is completely ineffectual in promoting themselves and their blog. For this reason, it is important that you have a tag line.

Here are ten tips for creating (or optimizing) a tag line for your blog so that not only does it effectively do what it needs to - tell people what you do - but also is created with the greatest impact in those few words, more bang for your buck, so to speak. So if you are struggling with your tag line, here are the ten things you should consider so your tag line can be the best it can be.

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Ten Ways to Write a Digg-worthy “Top Ten…” post

May 12, 2008 Blogging

Anytime you look on the front page of Digg, you will often see headlines that start like “Ten ways to…” or “Top Ten Worst…”. And let’s face it, chances are pretty good that you often read these kinds of posts yourself, because they are just so appealing. The title quickly tells you what you are going to expect (such as “ten ways to do something”) and usually, they deliver. So how can you write your own top ten type of post that gets significant traffic or even a front page of Digg? Here is what you need to do to make the best top ten post ever.

Don’t overanalyze
If the ideas are flowing, just write the top points, then add your commentary for each later. You don’t want to have eight great points off the top of your head, and then lose seven of them because you were overanalyzing just how worthy the first one was and on writing the perfect description about it. So jot down snippets, keywords or quick points underneath what you are currently working on while you have them fresh in your mind, and you will be much less likely to forget one of them as you write.

How many?
Sometimes your top ten post will end up being a top twenty. My 52 easy ways to optimize your blog while on your coffee break blog post initially started as a top 25 list, then 50, then ended with 52 because I couldn’t decide what two tips to delete to make it 50. And my 10 ways to turn new blog visitors into subscribers article didn’t start out being written as a top anything list, but when I was doing my final edits, I realized working the title as a “ten ways” post would work well for readers. So if the ideas are flowing, don’t feel you have to stop because you have ten. And if you stop with nine and can’t think of anything for the tenth, give it a break then come back and reread the article from the beginning. Chances are good that you will be able to come up with one more idea to hit the magic number you are looking for.

Offer a bonus tip
Sometimes you end up with an odd sounding number of tips. If you have eleven must-have tips and you can’t bear to lose one, nor can you dream up a twelfth tip to get it up from ten tips to twelve, keep your list as a top ten and include a bonus tip instead. And as an added bonus for you, readers will like the fact they got something extra from investing in the time to read your article, in the form of that bonus tip.

Are you being social?
Many top ten types of posts end up getting Stumbled, Sphunn and Dugg regularly. So make sure you add a social submitting plugin like Sociable so that people can quickly submit your blog entries without having to jump through hoops to do it.

Link out
Make sure you are linking out to things people can find useful. I read a blog post recently where someone suggested doing specific steps on a project, yet didn’t provide links to what he was talking about. That meant I left his blog instead of spending more time on it, all because I left his blog peeved and had to search for it myself. The more links you include in your post so that your tips can be put into action, the more useful your readers will find it. And yes, that also means the more likely he or she will submit it or recommend it to others. And when you link to other sites, those people you have linked to within those blog posts then have an incentive to submit your posts to social media sites too, because they will end up getting traffic from it too.

Be creative
Don’t just do the same old, same old. Be creative or do a new spin on something that is tried and true. Instead of doing Top ten tips for ranking in Google, which has been done to death, spin it as Top Ten Ways to Get Google-Friendly Backlinks or Top Ten Tips for Getting Your Blog Into Google News.

Use Humor
Don’t be afraid to make your list amusing, rather than all straightforward and business-y. Humor helps keep the attention of your readers, and keeps it from being a dry read.

Short & Snappy
Make sure each of your tip titles is, you guessed it, short and snappy. They can even be a bit cryptic, but if a reader is quickly scanning each of your tips without reading the commentary that goes along with each, shorter is best.

Common sense
Don’t be afraid to include tips you consider common sense, because even I am surprised that people learn something from a tip I included that I considered to be extremely basic. Unless your blog targets only the experts, including a mixture of basic and advanced tips means that there is something for everyone.

Do It Again
Just because someone has already done a top list on the topic doesn’t mean you can’t do it again. As long as you aren’t just copying the tips with new commentary, definitely write your own improved version. If you want social traffic, however, wait a couple of weeks before publishing your own version. If the identical top ten subject hit the Sphinn or Digg front page yesterday, today would not be the best day to publish it because you have just greatly diminished the chances that your own version will go hot as well. So save it a couple of weeks when you have a better chance of yours going hot too.

And you guessed it, this entry didn’t start of being a “ten ways” post either, but when I finished writing and realized it was ten points, it instantly became more easily marketable as a “ten was to do something” blog post. So next time you are writing a blog post with tips, see if you can easily turn it into a “ten ways to” or “top ten ideas for” type of blog post and see how well it does socially.

Guest blogging at ScribeFire about… blogging!

May 8, 2008 Blogging

If you like reading my various blogging articles here, you will want to be sure to subscribe to the ScribeFire blog, where I am guest blogging articles on all aspects of blogging, including promoting & marketing your blog. Three now four articles have been published so far:

ScribeFire is a Firefox addon which enables you to blog right from Firefox, so you can leave the article you are blogging about in the top of the browser, while ScribeFire opens in the bottom half of the browser with a full feature blog editor. It also has a tab for submitting to many different social media networks as well, which is handy.

You will see more of my blogging articles on ScribeFire, so be sure to subscribe to the RSS too.

Why corporate business blogs are important to your marketing strategy

May 5, 2008 Blogging

It is becoming more and more important for corporations - as well as businesses of all sizes - to have a blog in today’s world where so many people own computers. But if your business has put off starting a blog for far too long, here is why you should really be blogging, and how it can be advantageous to your overall business marketing strategy.

Human face
You don’t really want people to think of your company as “big box” or “typical corporate America”. And blogging can actually put a human face to your company, since the company now has a voice it can relate to when it reads your blog. When you consider how much money companies put into creating a human face for their business, doing it with a company blog is a relatively inexpensive way to humanize your corporation.

Controlling the message
Public Relations tends to want to run far, far away from blogs. But now, more are embracing blogs as a way to control the company’s message and how they release it. You can now have a fireside chat with your company’s CEO in the format of a blog interview, where responses can be monitored. If there is a scandal or other negative publicity surrounding your company, you already have a platform ready to release information that doesn’t involve sending press releases to the media or subjecting your CEO or other employees to a press conference.

Excitement and anticipation
Companies can easily use a blog to give hints and tidbits about new product releases or services well before the actual launch so you can get people excited about what you are going to announce before you did it. Since press releases are rarely sent to announce something your company hasn’t done yet, a blog is an easy way to get the word out and build anticipation.

Fresh content
Having a blog adds new fresh original content to your site every time the blog is updated. And since this is something many corporate sites struggle with, it means you can add quality content as often as you like.

Soft selling
Now, you don’t want to do a hard sell in your company blog, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with soft selling products or services in a blog… in fact, many readers will expect it. Just don’t go overboard with every post being promotional in nature. But it can be a great way to market your products, particularly ones that people might not be as familiar with, whether lower sellers or simply new to the market.

Reminding
When you have people subscribed to your company blog, those are all people who will think of your company as a household name or brand everytime you post a new blog entry. And since blogging is such a low-cost marketing strategy compared to paid advertising, you are saving money to place your identity in front of people.

For all these reasons, corporate blogs are becoming more and more popular for companies. As long as you are approaching your blog in the right way, it can be an invaluable marketing tool. If you are strategizing and getting ready to launch a corporate blog, 20 Best Practices for Launching a Corporate Blog is a must read. And if you already have a company blog, you might find Why Your Company or Corporate Blog is Failing useful.

Buying the perfect domain name: twelve things to consider

May 1, 2008 Branding, Usability

In this day and age, it is becoming much more difficult to find a never-registered domain name, especially for top level domains. So the reality is that many of us are having to purchase domain names instead. So if you are considering purchasing a domain name, here are some tips you should follow, check and research to make sure your chosen “perfect” domain name really is as perfect as you want to believe it is.

Keyword research
If you are planning to buy a domain name - especially if it is in a market area you are new to - definitely take the time to do some keyword research to see what the most advantageous keywords are to have in your domain name. Check the keyword research section of my blog if this isn’t your strong suit and you need a primer.

Brandable
Does the name have brand appeal? You want people to not just remember the site, but to link to it to. And domain names that are brandable will do better. Think about it.. what is better, Google.com or Truly-The-Best-Search-Engine-Ever.com? Google has definite brand appeal - even if how they came up with the name was unusual… and shows that sometimes those spur of the moment domain name ideas that many of us come up with on a whim can really work out well in the end.

Check Archive.org
Did your desired domain name have a previous life as a XXX porn portal? Or feature hardcore spam with thousands of doorway pages? Do be aware that some site’s histories take so much work to rise above the past life that it makes much more sense to go with a domain with a clean history. Do be aware that some sellers might hide the previous life by banning the archive bot, so you’ll need to do further super sleuthing to discover what was there in the past. This also applies to domains that you are buying “brand new” because it could have been previously owned and the owner let it expire.

Avoid hyphens whenever possible
Hyphens are associated with old time spam, when you used to see buy-keyword-keyword-keyword-keyword-keyword-keyword-now.com (and no, that unfortunately isn’t an exaggeration!) If you absolutely have to use a hyphen, limit it to two or less, but preferably one. Every hyphen adds a level of spamminess perception, even if the intended site will be as white as the driven snow.

Domain length
A shorter domain name is better than a longer one, especially if you will be getting type in traffic. Avoid really long domain names whenever possible and try to stay under 15 characters if you can. If you have two domain names that are equal in your eyes except for the fact one is 18 characters and the other is 9, I’d go for the one with 9.

Go with a quality top level domain.
Whether it is a .com in the US or a .co.uk in England, go with a top level domain (TLD) whenever possible. No matter how you slice and dice it, Example.com or Example.co.uk sounds so much better than Example.biz

If you are not TLD, check what is on it
Many years ago a friend started a business targeting moms and their kids and went and registered her website with a .ca extension. She had the URL advertised on her vehicle, on mail outs, on her business cards, etc. Except there was a small problem… people kept forgetting it was .ca and went to the .com version instead, which happened to be a spyware ridden hardcore porn site. So if you can’t get the most common domain extension for your target market, check to see what it on it before you make your final decision to go for the alternative TLD.

What about misspellings and variations
Don’t forget there are differences with how people spell certain words in different countries. It is “search engine optimization” in the US but “search engine optimisation” in the UK. So if you are targeting worldwide, it can be worth the extra expense to buy those common spelling variations that type-ins might do.

Check backlinks
Not all blacklinks are created equal. Are there a bunch of incoming spam links? Or hate links? Or anything that could raise suspicions that something isn’t all right with this domain name?

Check for pages indexed
Any pages indexed, whether currently on the domain or still previously indexed? Generally, indexed pages is a good sign, then see if those pages rank for anything as an added bonus.

Trademarks?
A surprising number of domains are for sale because there are potential trademark or legal issues that the owner just doesn’t want to deal with. A quick search in the US trademark database will show up any trademarks that could be problematic in the future. You don’t want to achieve rankings and traffic only to lose the domain to a trademark holder, unless you are willing to take that risk because the benefits outweigh the risks in your eyes.

Double entendres
The often mentioned fictional Pen Island is a classic example. Pen Island.com sounds innocent enough. But put it all together in a lower case domain name, and suddenly you get penisland.com… Good old Penis Land. Another one, expertsexchange.com (Experts Exchange) is often mentioned when it comes to making sure you consider all double entrendres with that “perfect” domain name. It is better to discover the problems before you buy than to have someone point it out after you have invested time, effort and money into it.

When you are buying a domain name - especially when it could be a pricey one - you want to make sure you are not going to fall victim to a critical problem that could cause issues with your “perfect” domain name down the road. By following these steps, you should ensure that you have as few problems as possible.

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