DazzlinDonna » Site Promotion

Four Ways To Become An Authority Blogger

Donna — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:52:17 +0000

The following is a guest post by Roko Nastic.

There is no shortage of conversation online. An internet that was once barren – completely devoid of conversation as little as five years ago – has become remarkably social, attracting people from different countries, social classes, and ethnicities to interact and share their opinions. With equal access to information, communications, and publicity for all, it seems as if the modern internet could be the greatest source of information available.

There is a problem, though. For all the praise heaped on the social internet for ‘connecting’ us, very little real connections have happened. We have built thin relationships, largely for the purpose of extending our virtual networks, and have often left out the truly important factor in online networking, publishing, and blogging: authority.

The most successful bloggers are not those with the highest reader counts or the most Facebook friends – they are the ones with the insightful audiences and influential guests. If you want to become a blogger that is not concerned solely with traffic graphs and other gimmicks, pay attention – these four tips, strategies, and tactics could help you transform your blog.

Write less.

For most bloggers, the idea of writing less feels like a step in the wrong direction. They spend months – occasionally even years – building their online reputation, only to be asked to limit the amount of output they produce instantly.

It is nothing to fear. Limited posts ensure that the little you do publish is polished and refined. Cut down your posting frequency by 50 percent and double the value of your work – your readership won’t regret it.

In every post, write more.

Two three-hundred word throwaway posts are often worth less than one detailed six-hundred word account. If your aims revolve around building a reputation – an authority aura, if you will – one of the best things you can do is improve the amount of content a single post contains. Cut out the idea that daily, weekly, or even bi-weekly updates are required, and focus on delivering lengthy, high-value posts when possible.

Don’t comment or speculate; meditate on past events.

The rise in blogging has given hundreds of undiscovered geniuses a voice. It is also given thousands of idiots an outlet for speculation. There is no shortage of unfounded accounts and inane predictions online – they litter most feeds like a sampling of low-quality entertainment. Rise above and over reflective content and you will see the favor returned in higher quality comments, coverage, and value.

Attract high quality guest posters.

There is an old saying – “you are the sum of the five most influential people in your life.” If your blog has a purpose – a goal you want to achieve from it – it is essential that you stock it with the right people. Spend time building relationships with online influencers, the type of people that almost everyone listens to, and you will be rewarded with a greater deal of respect and attention yourself. Most bloggers are not opposed to guest blogging – they just have not found the right platform for it yet.

This article is written by Roko Nastic, editor at Webmaster Format, website where you can learn how to create better, faster and more profitable websites. You can follow him on Twitter to get the updates form the ever changing web.

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Post tags: online influencers, Roko Nastic
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Social Media Marketing – A Book Review

Donna — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:31:56 +0000

You know all those social media gurus you see everywhere? Round them all up and ask them to raise their hands if they’ve had a major publisher publish their 300+ page book on social media. I’d bet 99.99% of them don’t have a 2 page book published. Liana Evans does, though, and it’s a social media marketing book I’ve just finished reading, so I’m going to share my thoughts on it here. The name of the book is Social Media Marketing : Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media. If you just want to see the standard description, including a list of the topics it includes, as well as a peek inside the book, then just check out its Amazon page. For my own personal take on it, read on.

The Bottom Line First

Let’s cut right to the chase. The best part about this book is that it is a VERY comprehensive look at social media marketing today. The worst part about this book is that it might be a little too comprehensive. It’s a long read. Granted, it’s packed with information, but if I had to find fault with any part of it, it’s that it could probably be cut down just a bit. That aside, there’s plenty of social media marketing guidance here for any company in any industry.

The one thing I noticed is that Li doesn’t just share the *shoulds* – those things companies *should* do when working their social media strategies. She also shares many of the things that *shouldn’t* be done. There are so many misconceptions about what makes up a social marketing plan that businesses are very often tripping and making huge mis-steps instead of successfully implementing the plans. But until someone points out the things that shouldn’t be done, it’s very easy to do all the wrong things with all the best intentions.

The Book’s Audience

Who is this book really for? Although anyone with a business – online or offline – can benefit from the book, it seems to be aimed at companies rather than individual entrepreneurs. Li shares lots of information on handling employee buy-in to the strategies, as well as how to deal with all the matters of who does what, and who says what, out in the social realm. There are lots of issues that companies have to consider when they have employees who participate in social media every day – even if it’s only from a personal perspective. Liana does a good job of covering all those issues.

Of course, one-person companies like myself don’t have those problems. Many of you may not either. In that way, this book covers a bit more than we need, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get tons of great information from the book. We just aren’t it’s ideal target market. Everyone with a business would benefit from this book, certainly, but especially companies bigger than small mom and pop shops will get the most value from it.

The Bottom Line, Revisited

If you’re unsure how to implement a social media strategy for your business, you should probably read this comprehensive book. On the other hand, even if you *think* you know how you should implement your social media plan, you should also read this book. You might be surprised at all the new insights you hadn’t thought of before.

Want To Win A Copy Of The Book?

I have a brand new copy of Li’s book to give away, so let’s have a little contest! I promise it will be very easy to enter.

How To Enter – This Way

In the comments below, tell us all about your favorite social site – other than Digg, Delicious, Facebook and Twitter. Digg, Delicious, Facebook and Twitter WON’T count. I’m hoping we can come up with some lesser known but still useful social sites that we should be aware of. Social sites can include any of the following: Social News (like Digg), Social Networks (like Facebook), Social Bookmarking (like Delicious), or Social Streams (like Twitter).

How To Enter – Or This Way

Or, in the comments below, tell me which post on my site you like best (and why) and enter the URL of the post within the comment, so others can check it out too.

The Content Ends On …

On August 13th, 2010, (Friday the 13th in fact), sometime around noon CST, I’ll put all the entries into a virtual hat (my random php script), shake them around (run the script), and pick the winner. I’ll notify the winner by email. The winner can give me a mailing address to ship the book to, and I’ll get it sent via USPS asap.

UPDATE – THE WINNER IS…

Ok, the contest has ended, and the winner was easy to choose because there was only one entry! Woot! Stephanie Suesan Smith, I’ll be getting in touch with you to find out where to send the book. CONGRATULATIONS!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Liana Evans, social media
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Great Example: Using An Interesting Story To Lead Into Your Point

Donna — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:33:17 +0000

I occasionally like to point out the usefulness of telling a story to create interest, engage emotions, and make your point in a way that connects with your readers. I noticed a tweet today that led me to a blog post that does an excellent job of using a story to lead into the blogger’s message.

Drupal 7, the cocoon and the butterfly by Dries Buytaert grabbed my attention immediately with the short tale of the man, the cocoon, and the butterfly. The little story was interesting. The “moral of the story” was educational. And the entire tale was the perfect lead-in to a topic that is technical in nature, and not generally one that would be all that engaging.

Sure, web geeks like to hear about upcoming versions of their favorite apps, but a quick scan is usually sufficient, and the blogger may not really connect with the reader in any significant way. Dries, however, does a great job of connecting with his readers by using the tale as a lead-in. The little story’s lesson was a great way to introduce the main topic Dries wanted to discuss.

If you’ve ever wanted to be better at engaging your blog readers, I recommend reading Dries’ post, whether you care about Drupal or not. Just as the story of the man and the cocoon had a lesson to be learned, Dries’ post also imparts a lesson in effective use of storytelling when blogging.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dries Buytaert, storytelling
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Conference: The Integration of Social Media and Email Marketing

Donna — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:47:24 +0000

Want to go to a social media conference in San Francisco in September 2010? I’ve been given a discount code to the Social Email Marketing event that I can pass along to all of you. This conference promises to be special because it melds an old online marketing technique – email – with the growing popularity of social media marketing. Imagine the power of that combination! If you decide to go, don’t forget to enter the discount code in the ticket order form. All the info on that is below.

Social Email Marketing

Integrating email marketing and social media

Join Brian Solis and other leading marketing experts, email companies and brands in a one-day conference to discuss innovations in integrated email and social media marketing. The fully interactive session include discussion panels, Q&A, presentations and case studies. Price includes refreshments, handbook with notes, networking drinks and access to the exhibition area.

When and Where

Friday, September 17, 2010
9:00am – 5:30pm
Hotel Nikko
San Francisco, CA

Who Is Presenting?

What’s Covered

Social Email Campaigns: What Works & What Doesn’t
Using Social Media to Grow your Customer Base
Rewards, Loyalty and Incentives
Integrated Email & Social Media tools
How Email Intelligence Enhance Social Media Engagement
Innovations in Social CRM
Tracking & Monitoring Social Email Campaigns
How to use social media data to improve targeting and ROI

Things To Know

Very limited number of early bird tickets left
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable
Tickets cannot be bought on the day
Group discounts possible
Tickets can only be booked online with a credit or debit card. You do not need a Paypal or Google Checkout account to buy a ticket.

The Discount Code Is iem3

Just enter the discount code – iem3 – to receive a 10% discount. Click on the “Enter Discount Code” link in the order form below or in the order form at the Social Email Marketing site to get 10% off the price.

Online event registration for EMAIL MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA – SAN FRANCISCO powered by Eventbrite

I won’t be able to attend, but if you do, I hope you fill me in on the experience. Enjoy and learn!

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brian Solis, Chase McMichael, conference, Dan Martell, email marketing, event, Jennifer Neeley Lindsay, Kristin Hersant, Luke Brynley-Jones, Marissa Louie, Murray Newlands, San Francisco, social media, Social Media Marketing
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A FamousBloggers ComLuv Contest Sponsor That I’m Already Familiar With

Donna — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:49:46 +0000

I was happy to see that a familiar face is a sponsor of the FamousBloggers ComLuv Contest. Since this guy is a long-time industry acquaintance of mine, I thought it would be a good idea to let you know a little more about him, and maybe help you become a future long-time acquaintance with him as well. So it’s all about…

Gettin’ Happy With The Happy Guy Marketing Service

I’ve been online friends with David Leonhardt (the seo consultant and all around Happy Guy himself) for a few years now, and I’m always pleased to see the smiling face (both David’s real face and the virtual smiley) on my ‘net travels. Both happy faces pop up in many of my virtual streams, from stumbleupon to twitter, and on many of the blogs we both frequently visit. (David is also known as amabaie on social networks).

Social, Content and SEO

So what does David have to offer? First of all, he is an active participant in social networks and happily shares links from his friends. If that’s not enough of a reason to get to know him, then perhaps you’d like to add to your repetoire of SEO education. The happy guy’s seo blog is one you should add to your feed reader for just that purpose. And if SEO isn’t your thing, then you should be aware that David’s company also offers freelance writing and translating services. Both of those services can be extremely useful as a marketing tool.

Pick any one of those reasons, or choose them all, but do take a little time to get to know David. I think you’ll find yourself smiling back at the Happy Guy smiley face whenever you run across it on your Internet travels just like I do all the time.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: David Leonhardt, FBCLcontest, Happy Guy, seo consultant
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Wanna Know The Real Reason To Heart CommentLuv?

Donna — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:47:23 +0000

You know by now that I’ve entered the FamousBloggers Comluv contest. What you may not know is that I have a sweet spot for the whole CommentLuv concept. And no, it’s not for any SEO value. Forget about SEO for a minute. Forget about dofollow and nofollow. (BTW, CommentLuv DOESN’T turn your comment links into dofollow links, although many people who use the CommentLuv plugin often ALSO use a dofollow plugin).

Nope, I don’t give a rat’s patooty about getting SEO value out of a comment. I do, however, care about learning more about the people who take the time to make interesting comments. And THAT’S the total awesomeness about the CommentLuv plugin, in my opinion. Being able to see the title of the latest post written by someone who made a comment on my blog (or any other blog), and then being able to easily click through to read that commenter’s post – well, that’s just genius.

Let’s take a specific example, shall we?

My contest entry is 5 Steps To Impressing A Longtime Jaded Blogger With Your Comments. The first 10 people who made a comment and who had their latest blog post listed via the CommentLuv plugin enabled me to check out their blog posts, and get to know those people a little better. These are the blog posts I read, and I would possibly have never known about these posts if I hadn’t seen them listed in the comments they wrote. How cool is that?

Deleting HTML tags in Dreamweaver CS4 — dwcourse.com

Social Influence- If No One is Listening, It’s Time to Expand Your Circle — Big Girl Branding

If Somebody, Anybody, Donates $5 to My Cause I Promise I Won’t Shave My Head « Tony’s Mill

Covering Your Local Search Assets | SearchRank Blog

You And Your Horse: Connections In Langley, BC | The Other Blokes Blog

Rat Roulette: Best Carnival Game EVER | Skitzzo.com

Broken links, how to find and fix them, and why it’s so important | Marketing Tips

ComLuv/Famous Bloggers Contest Summary | Information Central

BloggerLuv Link Roundup

An Interesting Guest Post Analysis on FamousBloggers

Look, the people who made the comments didn’t have to spam. They didn’t have to do any work at all in order to get their latest post listed within the comment. The CommentLuv plugin automatically grabbed it and listed it. As long as you’ve registered your blog’s URL sometime in the past, it’ll always get recognized when commenting on a blog that uses the plugin.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the ultimate CONNECTION between bloggers and users. Getting to know one another by reading each other’s posts and sharing thoughts about each. That’s priceless stuff, folks.

CommentLuv plugin makes these connections work better. I <3 it.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogging, commenting, comments, connections, FBCLcontest, social networking
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Discovering New Bloggers and Blog Resources: Part 3 of 3

Donna — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:43:02 +0000

Thanks to the FamousBloggers ComLuv Contest, I’ve been introduced to several bloggers that weren’t already on my radar because they are generous sponsors of the contest. Discovering these new bloggers and resources is like finding money in a parking lot – it’s just a neat little surprise. So today, I’m focusing on introducing you to the ones that I was particularly happy to find. Here’s the third one.

Scribnia is an interesting directory concept that I haven’t seen before. That’s what caught my eye – something fresh in my blogging world. Ok, so it actually took me a few minutes to figure out what Scribnia is all about, so first I’d like to gently criticize them on the fact that they don’t do a very good job of making that information stand out. Sure, they describe what Scribnia is right there on the home page, but it’s located at the very bottom of the page in small print. Oh well, in any case, once I figured out what it was, I thought this might be useful. Here’s how they describe themselves:

Scribnia is the source for people’s opinions about bloggers, columnists, reporters, and other writers whose work is available online. We hope it can be a place for truly great writers to be discovered. We rank writers not on traffic or incoming links, but on the feedback and opinions of readers like you.

If you’re a writer, search your name to see if a user has added you already. If not, just go to the +Add Writer page and add yourself to the site.

This could be a great way of getting some additional exposure, so if this kind of specialty directory is relevant to you, you might want to get listed in it. It also has a social aspect to it, so you can discover new people who interest you, and in turn, others discover you. Besides discovery, this is a directory of reviews, where bloggers review each other. I guess it’s the review process that actually helps lead to more discovery because you can search for new bloggers to read using various sliders – adjusting your preferences to filter out those types that aren’t what you are looking for. So if you’re looking for an edgy marketing blogger, who takes risks on his blog, you can adjust the sliders to filter out the more conventional bloggers in the niche. And of course, when you review a blogger, you use the sliders to rate the bloggers. It’s pretty cool, actually, though it took me a while to really get the hang of what I should be doing next. I’ve done a few reviews and “liked” a few reviews that others have done. All in all, it’s a fairly enjoyable experience once you get into it. I’ll probably stick around for a while and see how it goes. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Ok, so my profile is here. Feel free to review me and also let me know where I can find your profile, so I can review you as well. Enjoy.

That’s all for today. There are, of course, other interesting blogs and resources amongst the contest sponsors, but I don’t want to inundate my readers with too many posts in one day. The three I’ve highlighted were the 3 that stood out for me and were completely off my radar until now. I thought perhaps you’d like to know about them too.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogger reviews, directory, FBCLcontest
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Discovering New Bloggers and Blog Resources: Part 2 of 3

Donna — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:41:05 +0000

Thanks to the FamousBloggers ComLuv Contest, I’ve been introduced to several bloggers and resources that weren’t already on my radar because they are generous sponsors of the contest. Discovering these new bloggers and resources is like finding money in a parking lot – it’s just a neat little surprise. So today, I’m focusing on introducing you to the ones that I was particularly happy to find. Here’s the second one.

Have you seen Social Implications yet? I was surprised that I hadn’t already heard about this one, since the quality and scope of it is very nice. Here’s how Social Implications describes itself.

We blog about the implications of social media. For example:

How might your social media work affect your next job search?

Could it cost you your current job?

How is your business being reflected in the social media space?

Should you really interact with personal friends and colleagues in the same social networking environments?

Can a tweet or a blog post cause real problems for your company?

Can they help you address problems?

Some of my favorite posts from Social Implications are:

101 Social Media Tools for Social Media Marketing and More – This is one to bookmark for the day when you just can’t remember the name of a tool you suddenly need.

Social Media: Sorting Through The Noise – I just recently wrote a similar post, so this one definitely resonates with me, and I’m working on step 4 of this post as we speak.

Another good post – especially for companies – is Is Community Overrated?.

I’ve also subscribed to this feed, although the actual RSS feed button on the site didn’t quite work for me, so I manually added the url to Google Reader. That was a tiny bit of hassle, but I think it’s worth the extra 2 seconds it took me.

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: FBCLcontest, social media
This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this in your news aggregator/reader or on DazzlinDonna, then the site you are looking at is probably infringing upon my copyright.

Blog Commenting, Contests, and Reach, Oh My!

Donna — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:35:46 +0000

UPDATE: The contest is over, and I finished in 2nd place! Thanks to everyone for all your support and hard work.

I’ve been noticing all the hubbub lately for the FamousBloggers ComLuv contest, but I’ve been so busy that I hadn’t had a chance to really check it out until a week or so ago. Once I did, I realized that this was a great opportunity for me to share my thoughts on blog commenting in a contest that’s all about blog commenting! What’s great about blogging in this situation is that my thoughts will go out beyond my normal inner circle of readers, and expanding reach is the goal of every blogger. So I decided to enter this contest for several reasons: 1) The prizes rock! , 2) It’s time I start really participating in both the FamousBloggers network and the ComLuv network, and 3) I really wanted to share my thoughts on blog commenting.

Ok, so here’s a link to my entry in this contest. It’s called 5 Steps To Impressing A Longtime Jaded Blogger With Your Comments. I’d very much appreciate you reading the post and commenting on it. Don’t comment here; please comment on the actual post over there » .

In addition, if you could tweet about my post (making sure to link to the post itself, and not this one), I’d be ecstatic. You want me to be ecstatic, don’t you?

Here’s a sample tweet if you don’t want to get creative…

5 Steps To Impressing A Longtime Jaded Blogger With Your Comments http://bt.io/Fcx9 (Pls RT) #FBCLcontest

Of course, the contest is able to give out cash prizes because it is being sponsored, so here’s a list of all the sponsors who so generously participated.

Contest Sponsors

This is the FamousBloggers ComLuv Contest Sponsors, feel free to check them out, also check the Online Contest page for more information. Special thank to Gail our Social Media Marketing Strategist for the great work.

$300 SPONSORS

The ComLuv Network

Claims.com specialists in road traffic accidents Claims and Compensation

$150 SPONSORS

FamousBloggers ~ Group blog about how to start a business, making money blogging and blogging for business.
Brian Longest ~ GoDaddy Coupon UKTop10 30% Off
Executive Gift Shoppe ~ Personalized gifts including Money Clip
Social Implications – Exploring the impact of Social Media ~ Social Media
Local Proud ~ Start Your Own Discount Card Business

$100 SPONSORS:

FiddyP. Personal blog of Andy Bailey
FiredWok Chinese Takeaway & Delivery ~ Chinese delivery in Lancaster
GoodMillwork ~ Florida Based Architectural Moldings
Andrew Rondeau Ltd ~ Blogging Guide
Marc Duquette ~ Scribnia Blogging Directory
The Happy Guy Marketing ~ Professional SEO services
The Online Recruiters Directory ~ Search Firms
Monster Auto ~ Car industry news
Bill – ANS Gear ~ Paintball Guns & Gear
Cori Padgett- Big Girl Branding ~ Business Marketing Strategy
NowRelevant.com ~ Google alternative search
The Internet Time Machine ~ Trends and new product ideas
Joe & Colleen ~ Richland Wa Homes For Sale

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blog comments, blogging, commenting, contest, FBCLcontest
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Ever Wondered How Google Works?

Donna — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:54:12 +0000

PPCBlog has done an outstanding job of explaining the process (as much as can really be explained by anyone outside of the Google inner circle), using an easy-to-understand infographic. I love infographics anyway, but this is one of the best I’ve seen in a long while. Kudos.

Check it out (click to enlarge). Study. Learn. Implement.

Infographic by PPC Blog

© Donna for DazzlinDonna, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Google, infographic, search
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