5 Steps to Get Blog More People to Read Your Blog

Starting a blog can be frustrating.  You know the benefits: pull marketing, putting yourself in front of your target audience frequently, positioning yourself as an expert.  Even with all of those benefits, blogs take a good amount of time and when your are starting, it’s likely that your traffic is low. 

So, here’s what to do.  Start a collaborative blog series. 

A collaborative blog series is where you invite a group of people to contribute content to your blog.  This works because you are inviting their fans to come to your blog to read what they’ve contributed.  Here’s a little proof.  

This graph shows how many people visited my blog each day for two months. See those peaks?  My contributors’ articles were posted on Wednesdays.  Every peak is on a Wednesday.  That’s good, right!

Here’s what to do. 

Formulate Idea: What is the current content of your blog?  What are the “holes” that are outside of your expertise?  What else would help your target audience? 

Here’s an example of how “Ideas Worth Stealing” was created. My blog was focusing on a social media tip that readers could put in action in a weeks time, but I really wanted to dig in and showcase strategies that were actually working.  I had case studies of my own, but thought it would be much more valuable to ask other exerts in the industry what is working for them. 

Identify Contributors: Ideal contributors are people who have these two attributes. 

1. An expertise that your target market is also interested in. For this project, my target contributor was social media strategists, authors, agency owners and speakers.  
2. Have a larger following that you do.  This is crucial.  So many times, when people are starting, they think they can only work with people who are also starting.  It’s not true and this works best if your contributors have a good sized loyal following so go for the big fish.

Draft a pitch: Invite internal community: Once your list of contributors is confirmed, let everyone know who else is involved.  Put them all on a twitter list and send the link to the group in an email.

1. Introduce yourself and let them know how they know you.  Here’s a trick.  Reach out to them on Twitter first to warm up the email. 
2. Set a timeline. If you are going for the big names in the industry, know that they are very busy and need a long lead time.  Outline your timeline in the pitch.  I highly recommend giving them 3-6 months notice. 
3. Clearly explain what you want from them and how it will benefit them and the readers. 
4. As big names come onboard, include that list in the email. 
5. Kindly follow up: Some people will respond right away or maybe their assistant will respond.  Be gracious.

Here’s a sample email. 

Subj: A social media collaboration…with serious potential

Hi - 

You don’t know me, but I follow you on Twitter and think what you are doing is spot on! 

I’m Katrina Padron and I’m a enthusiastic Social Media Strategist who focuses on connecting businesses to their ideal clients. For the past couple weeks, I’ve been creating an idea for a collaborative blog series on how social media and online marketing experts use social media for their business, geared especially at small and medium sized business owners. 

The series is titled, Social Media: Ideas You Should Steal?  I’ve been looking for 8 partners—to make this blog series as powerful as possible for everyone who reads it.  

I’ve seen a lot of your blog posts and I think you would be perfect.   

My vision (the quickie version): I host a blog series on my website katrinapadron.com and 8 experts write 1 blog post giving their best social media strategy that the readers could implement. You would be perfect for an article about messaging or just a cool idea that worked.  Each Wednesday a different contributor would be featured and we would encourage our fans and followers to read the post and promote it any way we could.  At the end of the series I would turn the collection into an ebook and give each contributor the file for the ebook.  

I’m open to pulling apart different ideas, but that’s a place to begin. 

I am reaching out to social media experts this week and so far I have confirmation from Lori Ruff and Mike O’neil: The LinkedIn Rockstars, and Victoria Gibson: The Facebook Ad Queen.

You can find my extended bio right here. http://katrinapadron.com/about-4/

And if you’re open to it, I’d love to discuss the details. 

Warmest,

Katrina

Encourage sharing: The morning that each post is scheduled, send a friendly reminder that it is going live today.  Ask for their support.  Give them pre-written tweetables and ask for them to share across their networks.

Thank them.  Send handwritten thank you cards.  

I’d love to help you more.  In the comments below, let me know what you are currently doing and I’ll brainstorm a few ways you can work a collaborative series into your plans.  

Does Your Facebook Page Need a Facelift?

Facebook makes changes all the time and it’s hard to keep up!  The biggest change was giving Facebook Pages a cover image. You can find out more here. 

What if one opportunity could change your life?

What if one opportunity could change your life?

That was the subject line of an email I received about 1 year ago and I am posting this because it truly did change my life.

If you don’t know, let me give you the scoop.

My mentor, Marie Forleo has built an empire, one that allows her to travel, give back and make money. She’s been interviewed by Tony Robbins, gone on holiday with Richard Branson and she’s helped thousands of women create businesses resonated with their mission of making money and doing good.

Marie knows her stuff and and lucky for us, she shares it!

She shares it through a program called Rich, Happy and Hot B-School.  It’s an awesome title and what she teaches is even better.   The reason for this post is because enrollment happens once a year and it is right now!

Here’s a link to the program and the free training, but I know you’ll have hesitations because, well, frankly I did.

My biggest hesitation was the cost.  It was a big investment for me, but honestly the payoff was huge.  I get to do what I love doing, I have a flexible schedule that lets me spend more time with my family and I get to work one-on-one with clients that I absolutely LOVE!

I am also sharing a youtube video that I recorded for Marie’s scholarship contest.  It was about a year ago and you can see how badly I wanted this.

I’d love for you to check it out and feel free to comment or email me with any questions/thoughts/hesitations you have.  I hope you take advantage of this opportunity.

TWEETABLE:

Want your business to reach and make millions?  Check out BSchool frm @MarieForleo http://bit.ly/II6fCc Pls RT

Great training video frm @MarieForleo http://bit.ly/II6fCc Pls RT

Overwhelmed w/ur online biz? Let @MarieForleo help http://bit.ly/II6fCc Pls RT

LinkedIn Idea Worth Stealing

Note from Katrina: This post is from Mike O’Neil, the LinkedIn Rockstar. 

It’s a crowded world. One where you need an advantage if you are going to jump into the sea and swim with the masses.

The reason? They are ahead of you and getting further ahead by the minute.

That doesn’t mean they are doing it right or headed in the right direction, they are just ahead.

Call it warm up. After all, being IN the game is Step 1.  Maybe you are on LinkedIn already, you have a profile, got a network: you are ON LinkedIn.

So, how’s it working for you? Had any success stories of your own?

If you haven’t stepped out and really done anything, you may not have a success story. You’ve probably heard stories about other people getting leads and clients from LinkedIn. What’s the difference?

Your PRESENCE.

Once you nail your first deal because of LinkedIn it all lines up. “I get it!” You say to yourself; “I can do this!”

You get out of it what you put in to it – plus a lot more. Your Presence is the starter. You must exist to be in the game and accomplish anything.

Need help?

Poor SELF ESTEEM is a root cause of inactivity.

If you LOOK GOOD, all nice and shiny, self esteem is an UPPER. If you don’t look ready for business that can just as easily be a DOWNER.

In fact, putting in just a little effort on your presence can actually hurt your business.

Scenario 1:

A person is looking for just your product or service. They go to Google and search for it. Google leads them to the LinkedIn profiles of people that match up. Will they find you? Did you put in the effort to make that happen?

Scenario 2:

A prospect is considering you for a project. Like most people, they are on LinkedIn. This resourceful client has the wild idea to look at you on LinkedIn and find out more about you, see how you qualify compared to others in the running.

How do you stack up? Are you closer to the deal or further from it? Are these people hitting the back button and never contacting you? They have so many options on LinkedIn and in business, does your profile help you or hurt you?

Most people have an awakening when they realize that this is the moment that matters.

Assignment:

What words or short phrases do you want to be found on? What words would someone that needs you put into Google or LinkedIn to find you?

Now, put those very same words and short phrases into your LinkedIn profile.

Shop around a bit. Run a search of those words and phrases. How do you stack up? What looks good, what doesn’t?

This is the background work you need to do to get the most out of the Fit In – Stand Out Principle to get more business with the help of LinkedIn.

FIT IN – STAND OUT

You can’t win unless you are in the game. You get in the game by being found.

It’s a simple process on the surface. Put keywords and key phrases in your LinkedIn profile and that will get you found. You might be on Page 50, but you will be found.

Now let’s get you to Page 1 of being found: where you put those keywords has a big effect.

Most prized places for LinkedIn Keywords:

Technique 1 – Your Professional Headline

This is the text that accompanies your picture all around LinkedIn. It’s your Digital Footprint and it’s what people use most to discern whom they will pick from a list.

Your Headline is up to 120 characters and you can use some fanciness in the form of special characters.

Here are some Digital Footprint examples, notice the Headline text. See any keywords?

Technique 2 – Job Titles

Not simply for real Job Titles, these can include Keywords and short phrases that can move you up to Page 1 of the search results.

LinkedIn allows up to 100 characters actually, but 50-60 is plenty as you will see. Most people use 15-20 characters on average

Example 1:

Channel Manager for Liquid Crystal Displays & Web Graphics Processors

Example 2:

Investment Counselor for Commercial Property, Sports Stadiums

These 2 examples will help you jump up a few pages or more. You will see that where you put your keywords in LinkedIn not only makes the difference of helping you Fit In; it puts you ahead of the pack so you Stand Out.

Mike O’neil is the LinkedIn Rockstar and recently named on the Forbes Top 50 Power Influencer list.  You can find out more about Mike and Free Video Based LinkedIn Training at RockLinkedIn.com.

How Getting Denied by KickStarter Launched my Own 30 day Crowdfunding Campaign and How to Use Social Media Effectively to Start Your Own Campaign

Note from Katrina: This week’s post comes from Erin Giles.

When End Sex Trafficking Day came to life, my dream to publish the book was also born. How could it not be? The book will free women, and with all proceeds going to the Not For Sale Campaign, I knew more books would sell with writers like Seth Godin, Danielle La Porte and Jonathan Fields if they were in the physical form of a paperback.

So I set out to propose my project to Kickstarter. 30 days, $10,000 needing to be raised, so that the books could be printed, binded and shipped…totally doable right?

Wrong. I was denied, and thought they would just have to be in the form of an ebook, until I spoke with the head whipstress at the Daily Whip, Erika Lyremark. “Erin, have YOUR OWN Kickstarter campaign!”

And so my journey began. With a powerful video made, I set off on a 30 day fundraising campaign…which has 5 days left. As I am writing this, over $5300 has been raised. I didn’t promise a tax write off, a gift or even a book. But what I did promise is that every person who donates has an opportunity to help bring to life a book that will FREE women. And that alone is powerful enough to want to join, right?

Curious about how I am doing it? Have an idea of your own that you would LOVE to get funded? Today, I am going to give you my top 4 tips for running a crowdfunding campaign.

1. Find your supporters + help them support- Make a list of your possible supporters. Your colleagues, friends on twitter etc. Make it easy for them to support your cause by supplying them with several tweets and facebook updates complete with a shortened link. When you ask for help and make it easy for them, it is harder for them to say no.

2. Collect every email + email updates- Every night my amazing intern collects the emails of those who gave and adds them onto a spreadsheet so we can add their emails into Mail Chimp. Once a week we send out email updates updating them about the campaign.

3. Be annoying- Yeah, I said it. In order to make people remember that your cause is important and timely, you have to post several times a day on all your networks. Blog, Twitter, Facebook, don’t neglect any of them. Keep your supporters, potential supporters, clients and friends aware at all times during and after your campaign of what is going on.

4. Start a facebook page for your campaign- Oy, yes another facebook page. I resisted this tip for a week, only because I didn’t want to add to my list of pages. Once I broke down and added it, I found that is was easier for supporters to spread the word about our campaign.
I hope this post encouraged you that you can too start + succeed on your own crowdfunding campaign, without social media–they wouldn’t be possible, so be sure and do it wholeheartedly using the tips I mentioned.

Watch the video to better understand our campaign and see why this day is so needed.

If it has touched your heart, it would be such a blessing if you stand with me and join this revolution to FREE women from this modern day slavery by giving now, click HERE to donate securely via Paypal.