Last week while attending BlogWorld I noticed a recurring discussion pertaining to increasing blog readership.  These discussions were part of the session content, as well as informal conversations I had over a meal or at an evening gathering.

I decided to share these with you because, after all, who doesn’t want more readers?

Off-site Ways to Increase Blog Readership

1. Blog Alliances

By building a network or Mastermind group of sorts with other bloggers in your market, bloggers can create coopetition (cooperation + competition) to help each other grow.  What do they do? Things like commenting on each others’ blogs, linking to one another, guest posting, cross-promoting each others’ products, meeting regularly (online and offline), etc. A great resource for blog alliances was put together by Darren Rowse.

2. Comment on Others’ Blogs

As you comment on other blogs in your market (not necessarily competitors), readers of that blog will have an opportunity to learn more about you by clicking through to your site.  Remember to fill out the website field on the comment form so your name is hyperlinked. Avoid putting the link to your site in the comment itself, as it might get thrown into the spam bin (along with future comments you may post).

3. Comment on Readers’ Blogs

Nothing is more flattering than when a respected blog author posts a comment on your blog, right?  That’s how one of your readers feels when you take the time to click through and comment on theirs.  This is a great way to build rapport with your subscribers and readers.

4. Promote Posts or Pages, Not Just the Domain

Both search engines and readers appreciate when you link to a specific piece of content on your site, as opposed to just the domain name.  When possible, make sure the linked content is related to the page you are posting the link to.

5. Yahoo! Answers

Yahoo! Answers is not only a great place to generate ideas for creating content for your site, as well as learn about issues your market might be facing, it is also a great place to interact with readers and introduce them to your content.  Find a question you have a solution for, and respond. It’s important not to be overtly promotional.  Chris Garrett suggests the following format when responding to a question: “Here’s the short answer…but the longer answer is here [link to article].”

On-site Ways to Increase Blog Readership

6. Build an E-Mail List and Send Subscribers to Post Archives

By giving visitors an opportunity to get more from you (subscribing via e-mail), you have an opportunity to build a relationship and drive traffic to resources on your site that might go unnoticed otherwise.  Take your top posts in a given category and introduce e-mail newsletter subscribers to the content via e-mail. With this approach you’ll get more traffic and build more rapport with readers.

7. Disable Comment Moderation

I have to admit, I didn’t understand this approach when I first heard it.  If you don’t want spam on your blog, you have to enable moderation, right?  Yes, it might stop spam; however, it also stops engagement with commentors.  When they hit submit on their thought-provoking comment, and the result is “comment awaiting moderation,” it is disheartening, and you may have just lost yourself a visitor.  For those who believe blogs should promote engagement, disabling comment moderation helps in that effort.  FYI: You can always flag a comment as spam later on so that future comments from that user or address will never be approved.

8. Respond Quickly to Comments

This is self explanatory.  Again, if engagement is the key on blogs (and it is), the blog owners’ responsiveness is a tip to readers.

9. Mobile-Enable Your Site

Mobile is growing.  More people are surfing the Web on mobile devices, and enabling your site to serve content in a mobile format will keep readers coming back.  There are free plugins to enable this capability for WordPress blogs; there are also paid services.  Here’s one plugin that I use.

10.  Send Personal E-Mails to Commentors

This seems labor intensive, but for a newer blog may be well worth the investment of time, especially if your site is low on engagement.  Darren Rowse suggested this idea, indicating this is one of the approaches he took to grow his community.  Essentially, the blog owner sends a personal e-mail thanking the commenter for the comment, including a link to the post, and informing them that they will be updated whenever a new comment is posted.  Darren indicated that commenters were surprised by his e-mail, and it made for more meaningful engagement, and increased readership.

Your turn: What are your thoughts on my notes?  What is missing?  Useful?  Chime in using the comment boxes below.

The post 10 Ways to Increase Blog Readership appeared first on Small Business Trends.

“No whining!”

That was the opening message by CEO Clate Mask at an event last week in Las Vegas put on by the folks at Infusionsoft called “Conquer and Grow.”

Clate took a no-nonsense approach to diffusing what he finds to be a theme by some in the small business community of being victims of the recession.  He encouraged attendees to embrace another mindset and become the solution to the current market conditions.  I found this approach refreshing, and wanted to highlight 3 ideas I picked up from the world-class speakers at the event so small businesses can thrive in tough times.

Build and Improve Systems

“Be aware of anyone selling ‘change’ cause that’s all you’ll have left in your pocket! Nobody needs change, we need improvement.” – Michael Gerber, author of  The E-Myth Revisited

Every business has systems, the problem with small businesses, especially entrepreneurs, is that their systems are often informal or not well defined.  This leaves businesses less productive even hurting sales.  Chaos in small businesses exists in large part due to the lack of well thought-out systems.

• How to build systems in your business? Start simple.  No need for an elaborate training system complete with online video and interaction, it doesn’t take much effort to improve what doesn’t exist.  Outline the main events in your business that need to be documented, and create a single page checklist, make sure it is simple enough that a new employee can get up to speed quickly by reviewing the checklist. Consider this for activities that are repeated often in your business and have a direct impact on sales or customer service.

• Existing Systems Needing Improvement? The challenge with documenting a system is that once it is done, it is often forgotten.  A simple review of existing systems or checklists can be a very simple process.  Business changes quickly and your systems may need to change with it. Schedule time to review and refine existing systems.

Build Referral Partnerships

Referral marketing goes back to the beginning of time.  John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing conveyed a different idea to this old concept:  bring a team to the table.  Meaning, as you service an account, having a team of partnerships that you can bring to the table who offer complimentary services your client needs can be a big value to the client, and all the members of the referral partnership.  The idea is, everyone brings everyone to the table for any given client in the entire partnership.

Be Smart With Social Media

Social media with all its potential, also has the potential to be an incredible time suck, a distraction or even an escape from what small businesses should really be working on.  Some ideas I came away with from the conference:

• Have set times for social media interaction. Instead of being logged in and allowing social networks to ping you when they has something to say, you login when you are ready to read and respond.
• Leverage your reach. Example: LinkedIn Answers is a way to share your knowledge with many by answering important questions in your market.  The rise in popularity of LinkedIn Groups can be even more powerful as you participate in appropriate discussions in your niche (group members can number in the hundreds of thousands).  As Starr Hall said, “Leaders answer questions, followers ask.”
• Departmentalize Social Media. This is a concept shared by dotJenna as a way of setting up social media accounts, for larger companies.  Set up Twitter accounts and Facebook pages per company department, such as Pages and profiles for Sales, Customer Service, Promotions, and etc. Not only does it give a perception of the company being bigger than it might be along with SEO benefits, channel segmentation reduces clutter and the risk of customer service issues and sales questions showing up on the same feed, which is a cleaner experience for customers and businesses alike.

Making it through today’s economy can be a matter of  improving business systems, developing a referral partnership, being smart with social media, or all three.  Taken to heart, these strategies can help your business not only survive, but thrive in tough times.

The post No Whining: Thought Leaders on Thriving in Today’s Economy appeared first on Small Business Trends.

It’s 60 days before the end of the year.  There’s still time to take steps to close out the year strong. The following ideas work around any time of year, but help when they are tied to significant dates or celebrations.  Your results may vary, but most of these are fairly easy to do.  If you pick 1 or 2 of these, and do them well, it could change how your business finishes the year.

1. Plan a year-end webinar series. Record the webinar, and sell both the live event and the replays.  Or consider using it as a lead capture tool to bring people into your marketing funnel in exchange for free access to the webinar replay.
2. Gather and share a compelling customer case study. This can be shared with new prospects, or those who just haven’t made a decision yet.  Be aware of updated FTC guidelines especially as it relates to testimonials, endorsements, and disclosing any compensation.  (I am not lawyer, and this is not legal advice.  It is something to consider before investing in a case study.)
3. Issue a press release highlighting the case study.  Or issue a press release on anything that would be classified as newsworthy of your company for your market.  There are both paid and free online press release services.  Consider PRWeb.com or OpenPR.com.
4. Set a goal to contact your top 25 customers over the next 30 days. Show your appreciation.  Ask them what they’d like to see from your company in the coming year — and see if there are any needs you can meet in their business by end of year.  Take this opportunity to also connect with them on any social networks they may be on (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.).  Lastly, ask for a referral.
5. Prepare a Thanksgiving email message, expressing what it is you are grateful for.  Include your customers and why.  And make a special offer to them.
6. Celebrate “Black Friday” with a “Black Friday” themed campaign of your own.  Since “Black Friday” is for retail businesses who are becoming profitable for the first time in the calendar year (going from red ink into the ‘black’), talk about how your product has helped customers be profitable from day one, or within NN days of purchase.  Build a story around the success customers have had with the product.  Refer to a case study (#2 above).
7. Consider a marketing campaign themed off of the 12 Days of Christmas. Perhaps build a tip list of the 12 essential tools necessary to get the job done.  Some of these tools can be ones you sell, but don’t make it all about buying from you (yet).  Offer value.
8. Cap off the 12 days campaign with a special 3 day sale of your tools. Done right, the campaign should help them understand how your product or service would benefit them, and an enticing offer to cap it off will help them make a decision (to buy).
9. Tell your marketplace of your most successful product, or business activity so far this year.  Then offer a special sale to commemorate the accomplishment.  Use email marketing or social media — or both — to communicate this event.
10. CRITICAL: Set goals and objectives for whatever marketing activities you engage in for the next 60 days.  This not only helps understand the results, but often yields better results (see Hawthorne Effect).  It will also serve as a guide to future marketing activities, as you learn what your market responds to.

Bonus Tip: When these customers purchase from you, be sure to ask them “why” they did.  This can be done in a simple email.  When they reply with their answer, respond by asking them if you can have permission to quote them.  If they agree, use their quotes in your New Year’s kickoff campaign and marketing literature.  This can give you great feedback, while building a bank of quotes for future marketing initiatives.

Other Ideas/Feedback? This conversation is incomplete without you    Let’s talk!  Chime in with your questions, insights, and ideas below.

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About the Author: Travis Campbell is a professional online marketer who teaches people how to make the most of their online marketing without all the hype.  The Marketers FAQ report is a compilation of his lessons learned marketing online and is available to those who join the site Marketing Professor.

The post 10 Things You Can Do in the Next 60 Days to Market Your Business and Close More Sales appeared first on Small Business Trends.

No Videos Required

The thought of having an account at YouTube (and a channel) is scary for many, even intimidating.  Good news, you don’t have to produce your own videos to have an active social experience on YouTube.  Indeed you should eventually overcome your fears and publish videos so you can connect with your market, but you don’t have to start there.

A few things that you can do without producing video content of your own:

• Commenting (on others videos, or channels)
• Sharing (more on that later)
• Creating playlists of your favorite YouTube videos
• Rate videos (1-5 stars)
• Favorite Videos (another playlist)

Haven’t set up an account on YouTube?  It’s easy to set up a YouTube account here.

Share Valuable Content

For those who are familiar with the various sharing options found on many blogs and social networking sites, you’ll be glad to know that YouTube has this function as well.  YouTube users can now share a video using one of the popular social networking sites (including Twitter), it also can be sent to one of your YouTube friends, or emailed.

YouTube also allows you to embed video content for a single video, a playlist, or a channel.

Social Activities Update Feeds

While not comprehensive as Facebook or other feed activity updates, with the release of realtime updates, YouTube seems to be trending in that direction.  The fact that this feature has been introduced along with other recent enhancements, there may be other activities will be streamed out as well.  Here is a screenshot of activities you can share:

Understand Your Video’s Effectiveness

One of the challenges with social media sites, is the difficulty in measuring the effectiveness of your social activity.  Understanding how your market responds to your content can help small business video publishers provide relevant content to grow their business and increase sales.  Besides getting feedback from video ratings and user comments, there’s Insight Statistics and Data.

• Insight: YouTube’s reporting function helps you understand views, viewer demographics, popularity, and community.
• Community: The community tab of Insight reports on how other YouTube users are interacting with your video contents in the form of rating, comments, and favoriting.  Used properly, this information can drive future content you publish, making it more relevant and targeted.
• Hot Spots: The Hot Spots feature is available on a per video basis, and helps you understand the attention your video has at any point, compared to videos of similar length.  Learn where you are loosing interest, and make appropriate adjustments in future videos.

No other social networking site provides this kind of data for free.  Let’s hope they continue to build on these useful reporting features.

Website Traffic

Active YouTube users generate interest in their profile (Channel) page, and this generates traffic to their website (supposing you are naturally peppering links in your channel and video descriptions).

Some Numbers: While Google remains the number one traffic generator for my site, traffic coming from YouTube users are joining my site for access a special report at 357% the rate of those coming straight from Google search, as the second highest conversion source (Twitter is #1).

What this tells me, is that having YouTube as a part of a social marketing strategy is not only valuable, but serves as a very important source of website traffic that converts (opts-in).

If you’ve ever seriously considered having an active YouTube account, but were concerned with all the time it takes to make videos, the newer YouTube social features of commenting, rating, favoriting, and sharing means you can get started right away without creating your own videos.

When you do start producing videos not only can you build rapport with your market by offering valuable information, but you can drive more qualified traffic to your site, while tracking the effectiveness of the videos with YouTube Insights.

Utilized in this way, YouTube should be an integral part of any small business social marketing strategy.  Haven’t setup an account on YouTube?  If you haven’t done so, you can sign up for YouTube here (and if you want some YouTube connections to get started, friend me, if you like).

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About the Author: With 15 years of consulting experience, Travis Campbell is helping clients make the most of their online presence through effective strategy and marketing automation solutions, he also operates the site www.MarketingProfessor.com

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