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Building Community on Your Blog

Are you actively building community on your blog?

"Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing."

~ Rollo May ~

Build Community on Your Blog

Blog community has been on my mind as I developed a webinar for Social Media Biz School and on the same day read a fabulous post by Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion, about using blog comments to build community.

Initially, I think most bloggers don't consider the value of community building. They're focused on their editorial calendar, the look and feel of their site, developing content and getting it distributed on their social outposts.

Then, reality sets in. "Is anyone reading my posts?" begins to creep into your thinking. 

"Am I writing to myself?"

"Does anyone care what I have to say?"

Enter community.

Community may not be part of the strategic plan for your blog. That's OK and, it's important to know the goal and purpose of your content and site so you can make that decision. But let's say you do want to build an engaged, vibrant community of "1000 Fans" ala Kevin Kelley…

“A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.”

To carry through Kevin Kelley's example, if each fan spends $100 per year on your products and services, and you have 1000 "true fans", you will have a nice six-figure income of $100,000.

The question then becomes… how do you build a community of fans?

6 Tips for Building Community on Your Blog

1. Comments. The obvious place to start. Take full advantage of this powerful blog feature. How do you encourage more comments?

  • Ask questions at the end of your post
  • Interact with your readers by acknowledging their comments
  • Answer questions that arise in the comments
  • Set the tone you want and moderate comments if you're getting a lot of spam
  • Go one step further and check out your readers' blogs and comment on their posts
  • Be positive, encouraging and grateful for the time your reader took to share his/her time and thoughts with you

2. Make it all about your reader. Remember, no one cares that you're an expert. Most everyone wants to know how you can solve their problems.

  • Focus on what your readers wants. Comments and feedback will give you a lot of clues.
  • Answer reader questions. Post a form on your site soliciting questions.
  • Post questions for discussion (Michael Martine at Remarkablogger does this well).
  • Put the spotlight on your readers by doing a shout out in a post or featuring their questions or comments
  • Give your readers center stage…profile active commenters in your posts once in a while
  • Create a weekly roundup featuring links to your readers' content (check out the Fetching Friday Resources Mashup on Kikolani.com for a great example)

3. Make your content interactive. Everyone loves to share their opinion.

 

4. Solicit guest posts and invite your audience to contribute content.

  • Articles
  • Tutorials
  • Gather a selection of tips on a subject (I did four posts on list building tips that featured 21 contributors)
  • Post images and request suggestions for captions

5. Create action steps. While it's nice to express your opinion on what and why your reader should do something, giving them action steps so they can immediately implement your advice helps build credibility with your audience and demonstrates that not only do you know what you're talking about, they can be successful to if they apply what you teach.

  • Give step by step homework
  • Include a video tutorial
  • Post an assignment related to your article and ask your readers to submit their results in the comments.

6. Create more connection points with your fans and take your community off the blog. Your audience spends time on social networks so do a poll (see #3) to find out where the majority spend their social time and engage with them there.

  • Create a private forum (either paid or free)
  • Publish a newsletter with different content (good for building your list!)
  • Create a group(s) on your primary topic, on Facebook or LinkedIn (I have very active communities on both Facebook – mostly about business blogging – and on LinkedIn – focus on online visibility – and it's a great way to add another layer of connection to what happens on my blog)

Take Action Now!

Give it a try…here are your blog community building action steps…

  1. Pick one of the six tips to implement in the next week.
  2. If you need a specific tool to implement the tip, then get it, install it, use it.
  3. Focus on just one activity for the week. Don't try to implement more than one tactic since you'll want to be able to determine what results you get and focusing on one at a time will give your clearer feedback.
  4. If you have questions about what and how to do it, post them in the comments below or on my Facebook page.
  5. At the end of the week, report on your results in the comments below. :-)
Filed Under: Business Blogging Tagged With:
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How to Use Annotations with Out-of-Date YouTube Videos

While on a webinar with Online Video Expert Lou Bortone, for the Social Media Biz School, a question came up about deleting out-of-date videos.

Yes, you can delete your old videos from YouTube, but what if you don't want to?

Here's the solution I came up with… [click here if you cannot see the video below]

YouTube Preview Image

Got a YouTube video tip? Post it in the comments and if your tip is a video, include the URL so we can watch your video too!

Filed Under: Online Video Tagged With: , ,
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5 Awesome Tools for Pinterest Power Users

Are you a Pinterest Power User? I confess. I'm really getting into Pinterest. While I'm mostly focused on using it as a business tool – to find and share great blogging and marketing content – I do enjoy spending a few minutes a day browsing through the images of food, jewelry and gorgeous places. I also make a conscious effort to go beyond business and share a bit of my personal tastes, what inspires me, where I want to travel, and recommended reading. 

You probably already know Pinterest is a great fit with blogging (and getting more traffic). And, if you're anything like me, you've only got so many hours in the day and you want to maximize the time and impact you can make with Pinterest.

I've been experimenting with a some very cool Pinterest tools and apps I've found that make my pinning easier, faster and now, give me better information about how my pins are working for me.

5 Tools for Pinterest Power Users

1. The "Pin It" Button

Don't underestimate this button. It's the #1 way I do my pinning precisely because it is fast and easy. Go to the Pinterest Goodies page and simply drag and drop the button onto your bookmarks tool bar. If you're using Chrome, here's a video to show you how to add it: Then, any time you find a great image and article to share, click the Pin It button and go.

2. Pinerly

I finally received my invitation to use this new site. Pinerly is still in the beta phase and you can only get in by invitation as of writing this post. Pinerly has a lot of potential. It's an analytics tool for your pins. You create campaigns for your pins and then track clicks, likes and comments. With this information you can determine the best times for you to pin as well as see what type of content gets the best results with your audience. In the screenshot below, you'll see I just set up my first campaign so there's not much data but I think you'll get the idea of the kind of information you will get. The only drawback to Pinerly is that you must pin your images and URLs from Pinerly so it can do the analytics for you.

Pinerly Analytics

3. Url2Pin.it and Screen2Pin

These two tools give you the ability to pin a webpage vs. an image. The tools grab a screen shot of whatever URL you enter so you can pin the screenshot. Screen2Pin is a Chrome extension for Url2Pin. I use it to pin blogs I read and recommend.

url2pin.it

4. Pin A Quote

Quotes are hugely popular on Pinterest. Now you can create your own quote inspired images with Pin A Quote.  Highlight text on a webpage you want to quote, click the Pin A Quote button (after you drag it to your bookmarks toolbar) and pin it. The free version is basic: grey text on a white background.  For $1.99 you can upgrade to Pin A Quote Pro and customize your pins with colored backgrounds and different fonts. 

Source: facebook.com via Denise on Pinterest

 

 

5. Pinvolve

Ever wonder how you can get posts on your Facebook page pinned? Try Pinvolve, a Facebook application that creates a Pinterest style board for your status updates that include images. This gives you the opportunity to link pins back to your Facebook page and attract new fans. After you install the app, when your fans click on it and hover over an update, they'll see a Pin It button. I would also suggest if you are posting status updates with images, that you pin them as well.

Pinvolve

What's your favorite Pinterest Power Tool? Have you tried any of the tools in this post? I'd love to know your experience with Pinterest and the tools you're using to get more traffic and engagement from your pins.

Follow Denise on Pinterest

Want more in-depth info on using Pinterest? I'm hosting a free 1 hour webinar with Jessica Kupferman and her partner Sammi Johnson on how to use Pinterest for Business Blogs on April 25! This webinar will fill up fast. Get details and register here now.

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing
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Top 5 Reasons You Need To Use Pinterest With Your Blog

This is a guest post by Jessica Kupferman of Badass Biz.

We all know everyone’s been talking about Pinterest – that it’s the fastest growing site on the Internet, that it sends more referral traffic to websites than Twitter now, and, of course, how it’s been storming the social media world. Are there good reasons why you as business bloggers should be paying attention? Below are 5 great reasons why

1. #3 Is Not The Loneliest Number

As of March, Pinterest is the number 3 social media website, right after Facebook and then Twitter. What does it mean to be #3? It means that in the month of March, Pinterest received 104 million visits (not unique visitors) – right after Twitter’s 182 million and Facebook’s 7 billion. (Yes, that says 7 billion! But that’s another story.) So if you’re investing tons of time on LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, or anything else, perhaps it’s time to shift a little effort in the direction of Pinterest. 

Maybe you’re thinking that if everyone jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, it doesn’t mean you should do it too. Well, when it comes to popular social media channels, yes, it does! You should go where the audience goes. If your audience is on Pinterest, get to steppin’! Set up an account on Pinterest and go through the process of creating a keyword-friendly profile. Then look through the pins and get started! Denise has a great article in her archives on how to get started.

2. Traffic To Your Posts

When you share your blog posts on Pinterest, you can get some crazy boosts to your website traffic. Why? Each of your pins from your blog leads back to your website, so Pinterest users can read the articles.  Unlike Facebook and Twitter, which depend on the user to see your article in their news feed, Pinterest encourages users to search by category, and also to follow BOARDS by category, not just follow users only. So your article topic will be found faster, and by a more engaged audience.

It doesn’t mean EVERYTHING you post should be from your own site – just like all other social media sites, you need to interact with others and share other content throughout the web besides your own. But creating a board with your own content is a great way for people to share your stuff – and when you’re interacting with others, they’ll check out YOUR boards and hopefully share and repin!

3. A Whole New Audience

Pinning your content isn’t enough. Much like when you started on Twitter, you’re going to want to follow people with similar interests, or interesting boards and comment on their pins, and get to know them a little. Many Pinterest users aren’t going to be people who already know you on Twitter and Facebook, thus giving you a new opportunity to reach a more visual crowd. Yes, you can connect with those Facebook and Twitter people – but the real gem of expansion here is to start following and commenting on people you’ve never heard of – do a search on your topic and check out the individual pins that pop up and then start sharing and commenting on them. Your audience will grow before you know it!

4. Amazing Market Research

You can really learn a lot by seeing what people are pinning from your site. If one article is being pinned like crazy, and other things aren’t getting as much attention, perhaps that’s a subject you should spend more time on. You can put your website address into this link and see what’s been pinned from your website – it can be very telling. http://pinterest.com/source/yourwebsite.com

When you use this link, Pinterest will pull all the images that have ever been pinned from your website. You’ll get to see what people are moved by – and what they aren’t. Take note and change accordingly – it’s visual proof that the track you’re traveling down is the right one.

5. A Much More Well-Rounded Branding Experience

I’ve been saying for years that people should marry more the personal with the professional online. I personally get way more business when I reveal more personal things about myself through my blog, or when I admit I got a run in my pantyhose, or showed a recipe that I DIDN’T ruin, or whatever. People are then invested in YOU – your successes and failures – business or otherwise. Your audiences on social media channels can be more interested in the personal aspects of what’s going on with you and your business, and Pinterest is a great way to show them the personal – maybe more so than Facebook.

A board on Pinterest can be a collection of your favorite things – your favorite entrepreneurs, your favorite products, your wishlists – and often times, those are the things that get the most attention, shares and repins. I personally have boards showing products I can’t live without, famous quotes, pictures of personal heroes, and so on. They help the audience really feel invested in you – and in turn, it creates a more loyal readership and customer base.

Want more in-depth info? Jessica and her partner in Badass Biz, Sammi Johnson will be sharing the nitty gritty on how to use Pinterest for Business Blogs April 25 during a FREE 1 hour training! This webinar will fill up fast. Get details and register here now.

About the Author:
Jessica KupfermanJessica Kupferman is the Founder and Technotherapist of Badass Biz – a design, marketing and tech firm that helps small biz owners implement low cost and easy solutions to market their digital badassery. Always plugged into the latest in social media and design technology, Jessica is a creative and engaging expert web designer, branding specialist, speaker, and gifted social media strategist.
 

Filed Under: Business Blogging, Social Media Marketing Tagged With:
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Kindle, Amazon and EBooks – Digital Publishing is HOT! [survey]

Digital Publishing Survey

No doubt you know that Digital Publishing is a hot topic. Whenever I host a webinar on Kindle or Nook publishing, or a write a post or mention my down and dirty way to publish your first Kindle ebook, folks go nuts over the information.  When I discussed this with my friend and collegue Ellen Britt, she mentioned having a similar experience.

So, we decided to explore trend further. We wanted to know how businesses – solo professionals and small business owners – are using digital publishing as a marketing tool for their business.  And the Digital Publishing Survey was created…

Will you kindly take five minutes of your time and help us out by taking our short survey on Digital Publishing?

To show our appreciation for your time, we'll send you a free copy of the survey results in our comprehensive report on Digital Publishing as soon as the survey is complete.
 
We'd love to have your input on the survey and help spreading the word to your colleagues. The more responses we get, the better the data and more comprehensive report we'll be able to give you.
 
Just click here to go to the survey page and please pass this along to your business friends and colleagues using the share buttons above. 
 
THANK YOU!
 
P.S. We've started a Pinterest board about Digital Publishing. Follow the board for info and resources for marketing your business with ebooks!
Filed Under: Marketing Trends Tagged With: ,
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Flaunt Your Facebook Page!

Want some more visibility for your Facebook Business page? 

In recognition of Facebook switching all business pages to the new Timeline format, I'm hosting FLAUNT YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE on my page.

Share the link or tag your Facebook business page so you can take advantage of the visibility of being in front of  dozens of entrepreneurs and solo professionals. And, check out the links from your colleagues because you will be inspired by their creativity and may even get a few new ideas for cover images. Mari Smith recommends having several cover images to rotate through so you can show off multiple aspects of your business.

Don't have a Timeline cover image yet? Need a designer to help you? Check out this list of 50+ graphic designers I've together for you.

You're welcome to post a link to your Facebook page here, and you'll get even more exposure when you post it on my page too >>> click here to post on Facebook.

Filed Under: Marketing with Facebook Tagged With: , ,
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7 Simple Strategies to Profit from Video Marketing [webinar replay]

Online video helps you sell more…

  • Adding video to your email marketing can increase click-through rates by 96%
  • Having a video on your website makes it 53X more likely that you’ll appear on Page 1 of Google’s seach results
  • Consumers who watch product videos are 85% more likely to buy products compared to those who don’t watch a video (Internet Retailer)
  • Watching one minute of video is the equivalent of reading 1.8 million words! (Forrester Research)

In a free webinar with my good friend, colleague and video marketing strategist, Lou Bortone, we covered seven ways you can use video to boost your visibility, credibility and profitabilty. If you missed the webinar, you're in luck. Lou gave me permission to share the replay with you [click the image below].

7 Simple Strategies to Profit with Video Marketing
There's some chit chat at the beginning of the video. The content starts at about minute 2:57 and lasts about an hour with the Q&A at the end.
 
Of the seven strategies Lou reveals, I'd love to know which ones you are not currently doing and which ones you're going to integrate into your online marketing. For me, I've never done personal email videos and I think that will be a huge value add when I want to follow up with new people I meet and prospects. Let me know in the comments which strategy you're going to implement this week! :-)
 
And, Lou made a very generous offer. If you want to learn more about online video strategies, production, presence, video products and marketing techniques, snag a copy of his Video Bunch program featuring 9 video experts. At $97, the deal Lou offers is a steal and features training by James Wedmore, Pam Brossman, Ruth Sherman, Perry Lawrence, Sherman Hu, Lon Naylor, Rob Schultz, Hani Mourra, and of course, Lou Bortone. Get The Video Bunch program and start profiting from your online video marketing now.
Filed Under: Online Video Tagged With: ,
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I Made My Video… Now What?

Guest Blog Post by Lou Bortone, Video Marketing Strategist

If you’ve taken the big leap and joined the ranks of the online video marketers, congratulations!  That first video is always the most difficult.

But now that you’ve produced your first video, what’s next?  How do you not only maximize the marketing from that video, but also create new video marketing opportunities?  Unless you want to succumb to the dreaded “one and done” syndrome, you’ll want to create a strategic marketing plan for using video regularly in your business.

Learn more during our upcoming webinar.

As with any plan, you must begin with the end in mind. The strategy is far more important than what camera you use.  What are your business objectives for video?  Is it to grow your list? Build your brand? Drive more web traffic? Enhance your credibility?  Your goals will determine your direction. 

If you said “all of the above” to the video goals we just listed, here are some ideas for maintaining your video momentum…

Create an “expert tips” series to share your expertise. Short, 1 – 2 minute “how to” videos are a great way to increase your credibility and expand your influence.

If you’ve got a blog, add a videoblog post every couple of weeks. The search engines love video, and your readers will be treated to a dynamic change of pace from your traditional blog posts.  Extra bonus: Video is much more personal and compelling than print alone!

Get some face time.  Use a personal video message or video email to go “face to face” with your clients or prospects.  Sending a video greeting, birthday wishes or a thank you video have much more impact than yet another regular email.  If you want to stand out and be memorable, use video!

Make it an event.  Whether you’re promoting a webinar or launching a new product, nothing makes a bold statement like video.  Adding video to your promotional plans makes your webinar or launch look more like a special event.  Again, it’s the best way to break through the online clutter and make sure your message gets noticed.

Go Live! You can do a live webcast or offer a “Q & A” video session using free platforms such as Livestream or Ustream.tv.  These web resources make it easy to fire up your webcam and go live whenever you want.  A live webcast is dynamic, engaging and highly interactive.  (You may want to do a test run first, just to get comfortable with the format).

However you decide to use video, it will put your marketing on overdrive and accelerate your results.  The secret is consistency and strategy.  Make a plan and stick to it.  Anyone can make one video.  The real winners online will be those who make online video a regular part of their marketing efforts.

For more video marketing secrets, join us for our upcoming free webinar, “7 Strategies to Profit from Video Marketing” on Tuesday, March 27th at 4 p.m. Eastern.  Register here.

Are you creating video for your business?

Filed Under: Online Video Tagged With: ,
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List Building Tip – Most LinkedIn Group Owners Miss This

In previous posts about LinkedIn, I've written that hosting a LinkedIn Group is by far the best way to build a community, connect with potential new clients and drive more traffic back to your blog. And there's one more thing (at least).

LinkedIn Groups can be a great source of new subscribers for your blog or email list. But, most Group owners/managers miss this one key place to encourage new subscribers…

The last time you joined a LinkedIn group, what happened? Most likely you received a generic welcome email.

Generic LinkedIn Group Welcome Message

While this looks nice, it doesn't provide much information and there's nothing personal about it. I don't even know who the Group owner is. And, it's a missed opportunity.

I believe most group owners don't realize they can customize the default welcome message. This is where you want to warmly welcome your new member and invite them to visit your blog AND get a free report, videos, white paper, your newsletter, etc., by joining your list. About 25% of the members who join my Online Visibility Boost group, click through the link on the welcome message they receive and get my free Visibility Boost Tips.

LinkedIn Custom Group Welcome Message

Isn't that message from the Linked Strategies group warmer and more welcoming?

How do you customize the Welcome Message?

Edit the LinkedIn Group Welcome Message

1. Click on the Manage Tab at the top of your Group page.

2. Click on Templates in the left sidebar

3. Click on Create/Edit Template next to Welcome Message.

If you have a private group and manually accept members vs. letting people join automatically, you can also create custom messages for people who request to join your group, people you decline, and block.

Pretty simple, right? Here's the custom message I send to those who join my group:

Customize LinkedIn Group Welcome Message

Remember: always add a call to action in your welcome message. If you don't ask, you don't get. :-)

Now, to give credit where credit is due, I learned this tip from Lewis Howes when I studied his program Linked Influence. Seems so obvious, right? Yet since I've been actively joining and particpating in LinkedIn groups, I've only received a couple of custom welcome messages that included links and a call to action. You can take the lead in your niche, stand out from your competitors and build your list if you implement this one tactic today.

Click to Tweet this Tip> Build your list by customizing your LinkedIn Group welcome message.

If you own/manage a LinkedIn Group, do you customize your welcome message? What information do you include?

Filed Under: List Building Tips Tagged With: ,
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List Building Tip: Reward Your Blog Subscribers

How to build an email list

Are you building your list of blog subscribers? No doubt you've heard that list building is a critical strategy for building your business. And there are many tactics you can employ to grow your list.

Back in the olden days of the Internet (I got started in 1996!), your list meant your database of subscribers to your electronic newsletter (ezine). Now, there are many kinds of lists that comprise your business universe: your customer list, ezine list, special reports lists, twitter followers (yes, that's a list of people in your world), Facebook friends, Facebook "likers" (fans), LinkedIn connections, YouTube channel subscribers and of course your blog subscribers.

I think many bloggers neglect their readers. They offer an RSS feed on their blog but don't offer an email subscribe option. Did you know that most blog readers still prefer email over RSS? I do. And I consider myself to be a tech savvy, sophisticated blog reader. I realized a while back that though I subscribe to blogs with Google Reader, the blogs for which I receive email updates are the ones I read the most consistently.

In just about every presentation or teleseminar or blog review I do, I talk about the fact you must have an email subscribe option on your blog. Otherwise you're neglecting a lot of people who may want to stay on top of what you're writing.

There are several options for offering an email subscribe option. I use Feedblitz (fee) and have since it was launched in 2005. There's also Feedburner (free) and Aweber (fee), the autoresponder service, offers an RSS to email option for blogs.

How do you get readers to subscribe?

Like building an ezine list, it helps to offer an "ethical" bribe - a gift in exchange for subscribing to your blog. For example, when you subscribe to Build A Better Blog, or any of my blogs, you get a gift. Sometimes it's access to a teleseminar recording or a transcript of a program I normally sell.

Feedblitz makes this really easy to do. They have an option to create an automated message that goes to your new subscriber as soon as they confirm their subscription. In that message you can provide a link to a page where they can download their gift. You can also set up the subscribe system to redirect to a download page as soon as they confirm. I recommend doing both as a way of ensuring they get their gift.

I also like Feedblitz because I can fully customize the template for the email my readers receive with their updates so it's branded with my blog banner and other information or marketing messages.

You can set up a similar process with Aweber through their autoresponder function.

However, Feedburner is not quite as sophisticated. You can set up for notifications to pull your logo into the email, and you could add a link to a download page in the confirmation email that subscribers get before they actually confirm. I couldn't find any way to redirect to a special page or send a follow up email.

Where there's a will, there's a way. With so many sites and so much content competing for your readers' attention, anything you can do to show appreciation for their subscription will help. You want readers to subscribe because those subscribers are the ones who will return time after time to read your words of wisdom. They are the ones who build a deeper, more intimate connection with you. They are also the ones who drive more traffic to your blog by "liking" and sharing your content. A little reward can go a long way.

Are you rewarding your blog subscribers? If so, what is your system or process? What do you give your readers when they subscribe? Please share your tips in the comments! 

Want to learn more about how to build a big, responsive list? Join me at the Irresistible List Building Summit – Version 2.0. I’ll be speaking in this virtual event so be sure and catch my exclusive interview:

Harness the Power of Your Blog: How to Easily Generate More Leads Every Day
 
There are 17 more top heart-based marketing experts in the summit, including Robert Allen, Maria Andros, Lisa Sasevich, Kendall Summerhawk, Christian Mickelson, Christine Kloser, Adam Urbanski, Milana Leshinsky, Vrinda Normand and more…
 
The Summit is free and begins on March 13.  Register now and reserve your free spot!
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