Marketing
The Importance of Branding And Why You Might Be Screwing It Up Badly
In my mastermind group last week, we talked quite a bit about branding. It is an extremely important concept that every serious blogger needs to pay attention to. Unfortunately, many bloggers don’t and are therefore wasting SO much opportunity. Are you one of them?
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Should You Use Double Confirmation On Your Mailing List?
I have always consistently told people that they need to start a mailing list on their site if you have ANY ambitions at all to grow your site. Your mailing list is gold. They are interested readers who were interested enough to give you their email address.
Obviously, however, you want to make subscribing as easy as possible. So, should you throw the extra hurdle in of double confirmation?
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Case Study on Engineering a Viral Video
A good friend of mine, Ryan Wade, made a video. He and I have talked about it a few times. It really isn’t something that spectacular and he will freely admit that. The question is: why did this video get so many views on Youtube? But, here is the video: Click Here To Continue Reading »
How to Get a Brand New Blog Off The Ground [Traffic]
One of the biggest hurdles to a brand new blogger is often the one which results in the most frustration. That hurdle is traffic.
Yeah, its a biggie. You put all this work into your new blog. It has the makings to be a hit. You’re certainly hopeful. But, once you’ve put it out there for the world to see, nobody seems to come to your site. It can be frustrating and rather depressing. It makes you wonder how all those other people out there managed to do so well.
Trust me, there is no magic pill. It isn’t that those other guys just got lucky. It probably has more to do with the fact that you simply don’t know what to do. You’re new to this.
I’m going to give you some pointers here to get rolling, however keep in mind that this IS work. Nobody said blogging was easy. 
You can’t just upload a new blog and expect people to magically find it. You’ve got to go out and get them. So, here we go…
Videos. Lots of Videos.
People LOVE video. And you need to give it to them. Take whatever your blog is about and start making videos related to that. And then you want to throw those videos up on as many different sites as you can. What I do for PCMech is have a profile on the following sites: Click Here To Continue Reading »
Aweber Pop-Over Form: Follow-Up Report
In my last post, I talked about using a pop-over form from Aweber to increase subscriptions. Above is a screen shot of the last few days of activity after re-implementing the pop-over form. You can see, clearly, that we have a nice increase.
I should note that that last day is today, which means it isn’t complete yet. Also, the two prior days saw a decreased statistic because I also went live with some design changes and, as such, forgot to re-implement the pop-over form as I had before.
But, even with these alterations, we can clearly see that the pop-over form works.
Using a Pop-Over Form To Collect Subscriptions – Is It OK?
I have said it before and will continue to say it – if you’re not building up a mailing list on your website, you’re wasting time. A mailing list is invaluable for any Internet entrepreneur.
Obviously, once you have a list, you want to maximize the number of people who sign up for that list. This means that, within reason, you want to put efforts into converting as many of your site’s visitors into subscribers as you can.
Aweber (the email service I use and recommend highly) offers many kinds of forms to collect subscriptions, but one of them is the pop-over form. This form will appear several seconds after the page loads, and will hover over the rest of the site. It is like a pop-up, but isn’t actually a pop-up.
Obviously, the first concern is pissing off your visitors. I’ll admit straight up – I personally find pop-overs a bit annoying. However, I understand why site owners use them – THEY WORK.
Several months ago, I used a slide-down form which worked similar to Aweber’s pop-over. I ended up removing it because (1) it appeared too soon and therefore some sites which take screenshots of my site would have this big glaring pop-over sitting in the screenshot, and (2) I was concerned it was pissing off my readers.
Interestingly, I got VERY few complaints about the form. The only complaints I got (albeit rare) was that it appeared too often. But, also important are the results. My daily subscription rate dropped by close to 90% as I removed that pop-over! That’s HUGE! And, silly me, rather than put it back, I talked myself into eating the loss because it was best for my readers.
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Twitter Marketers and Gaming The System
Like a lot of people who use Twitter, I have been getting what seems like an increasing number of internet marketers following me on Twitter.
Now, I want to make a careful distinction here. Not all internet marketers are a problem. I know several internet marketers (a few personally) who use Twitter properly and are good members of the Twitter community. John Reese, for example, was attacked by Mashable a while back. It was a stupid, knee-jerk reaction on the part of Mashable because anybody who follows John Reese on Twitter (as do I) will clearly see that he is not using his account to pimp his products. Quite frankly, Reese is too smart for that.
The internet marketers who use Twitter to simply plug their products are the STUPID marketers. These are the guys who see their follower count as a statistic to increase however they possibly can. So, they’ll use some kind of mass follow script to mass add followers, hoping that a bunch will turn around and auto-follow. Twitter now has a 2,000 follower limit. So, the best way to detect a Twitter marketer is to see a follower count of 2,000, a low number of people following them back, and they just joined Twitter (meaning a low number of updates).
Is this a problem?
Well, it could represent a problem for Twitter, which has been famous for downtime. It would also be a problem for any of those people who use auto-follow scripts on Twitter (stupid, bonehead move, IMO).
There will always be some who will flock to a new social media site in order to game it for cash. They see it as a huge pool of eyeballs that need to be driven to their website. And, of course, Twitter is a good medium for that. But, it has to be used PROPERLY and with social tact. You need to be a good community member first, and marketer second.
Some ways to curb the problem would be:
- Do not use mass follow scripts. It just defeats the point of a social network. And, any real marketer would know that.
- Don’t auto-follow. These people who use bots to auto-follow anybody who follows them…you’re an idiot. Stop it. All you’re doing is making Twitter too noisy to deal with and you’re contributing to the problem.
Be selective in who you follow and your Twitter account will be a much more useful source of information.
Social Media & Internet Marketing: How NOT To Make Money Online
Anybody who is looking to make money online and wants to use social media as part of your marketing strategy…pay attention.
Facebook. Myspace. Twitter. LinkedIn. These social media services are built on one thing: relationships. Now, if you were having a social gathering and somebody just ran into your room and started pitching their product, how would you like it?
Answer: You wouldn’t like it and you might even want to stuff their product straight up their ass.
My Facebook inbox has been receiving an increasing number of messages from people who just don’t get this.
This is SPAM. These people have never tried to connect with me any other way. They befriend me and then immediately market to me. They have no reputation. They have never provided me anything of value. And what has Charles Dudley sent me – twice?
Dear David Risley,
This will be a powerful, life-changing tele-training series to help you solve your work at home problems. If you have ever struggled with cutting through all the information that is out there on the market place, then you have found your home.
Simply register below and you will be on your way to Work At Home Success. I look forward to sharing this exciting event with you.
http://workathomewealthteam.com/
To Your Success!!!
Charles Dudley!
The REI Dominator (http://reidominator.com)
So, right out of the gate, this guy is pitching me a teleseminar. Again, no relationship. And utterly pathetic sales copy to boot.
Social Media and Marketing
Yes, you can use sites like Facebook for marketing. But, you need to have a relationship with people before you market to them. Otherwise, it is spam.
You have some internet marketers that understand this and use social media properly. John Reese, for example, uses Twitter. He got into the middle of a digital feud with Mashable because of their overreaction to an internet marketer using Twitter. However, Reese uses Twitter properly. He actively engages his audience and he very rarely (if ever) uses his Twitter profile to pimp products. John Reese understands the use of these kinds of sites.
The idea is that you get to know the person before that person starts promoting to you. The smart marketers understand this. The stupid ones don’t and end up giving a bad name to everybody and cause overreactions like that demonstrated by Mashable.
Social media is a lot more work to use correctly as part of a marketing program. It takes rubbing elbows with people. It takes real networking. If you do it wrong, all you will do is build up animosity with the people you were trying to reach.
Iphone Coverage: Damn, Apple. You’re Good
Hello my name is David Risley and am one of the few people in the tech community NOT buying an Iphone 3G today.
In more proof that Apple is GOD when it comes to marketing, nerds everywhere are in line at Apple stores everywhere trying to get their phone. And, as usual, Twitter tells the story.
I woke up this morning to tweets everywhere about people standing in line. The HotTrends list on TwitScoop shows 5AM, 7AM. As I type this, the world is having serious activation issues with AT&T (see above).
But the reason I say Apple is good? They’ve got everybody in a tizzy! They have DEFINED the news for today. Twitter has become the essence of the buzz that any marketing department would want for their company. I don’t care if people are having issues and tweeting it to the world. This is ENORMOUS social proof for Apple and it builds the buzz even greater.
I haven’t even decided when I’m going to take the plunge and get one. I will, though. Just a matter of when. But, I’ll let the Mactard army pave the way for me before I bother. Standing in line at an Apple store on launch day seems like a huge waste of time unless you’re just into the social experience. Otherwise, why bother?
Oh, and kudos to Twitter for not whaling on us during this launch. Twitter uptime definitely appears to be on the mend.
When Blogging Meets Internet Marketing
Last weekend, I was at Harris Fellman’s place in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was out there because I bought Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula through him and he set up a sort of retreat at his place for others like me as well as some people he invited. Harris Fellman is a classic internet marketer. He makes his money by selling and marketing information products designed to show people how to make money on the Internet.
The event was very enlightening and certainly worth the trip. Harris is a great host. But, one thing that most definitely was clear to me is that that world of internet marketing is VERY different from the world of blogging. I am probably one of the few pro bloggers who expose myself to both worlds. I have one foot in the blogosphere and another in the world of internet marketing.
One of the things that we did at this retreat is “hotseats” For about an hour, one of us would sit in front of the group, talk about our businesses and get feedback and ideas from the rest of the group as well as the internet marketing “gurus” that were there. When I had my turn, I of course talked about PCMech and PCMech University. The first several comments were about the design of the site. Too busy, they said…
Actually, I got some great feedback from these guys. However, one thing is very clear to me. These guys come from the world of long-form sales letters. They’re not USED to blogs – especially tech blogs. Dr. Mike was there and he did speak up and say that PCMech is very representative of the way most tech blogs look like. Ross Goldberg was also there and he, too, understood where I was coming from. Ross does “get” blogging. In my eyes, most of the rest of the guys there don’t get it at all. It is very different from a long-form sales letter.
And evidence of this is that many of the guys at this retreat, if you search for their names, you get little back but sales letters. They have just enough presence online to make a sale. Aside from their joint venture partnerships, I’m not sure these guys could market properly in a true Web 2.0, social media centric world. Of course, there is the element of “they don’t need to do this stuff….they’re making enough money as it is”. That’s perhaps a given.
But, think about it. What could happen if you couple the techniques of internet marketing with a blog? The answer is: beautiful things. That’s where I am. I can see that Ross Goldberg gets that, too.
One thing a blog can never be is a long-form sales letter.
In my opinion, these classic internet marketers, the “make money online by teaching others to make money online” crowd are going to need to adapt to the social web or they will fade into oblivion. We’re seeing folks like John Reese make the switch. But, many do not. The old school guys will continue to depend solely on the JV partnerships to build buzz. It works, yes, but it also results in a huge echo chamber, where the same old guys will be markeing the same shit to the same crowd. These marketers are all part of a big clique and, in many ways, they operate that way.
One thing is super clear. The guys at this retreat are smart, driven people. Some of the brightest guys I’ve had the opportunity to talk with one-on-one at a “conference”. At the same time, though, I was a bit of an odd man out. I am a pro blogger. I have traffic levels these guys would give over their left nut for. The difference is that I am a serious blogger and they aren’t.
I think blogging and internet marketing can form a great and profitable partnership if done correctly. Each world seems to have a bit of an aversion to the other, but those who make BOTH work will be leaving everybody else in the dust.
I'm David Risley. I've been making my living as a blogger for over a decade. Blogging is my business and how I support my family. With this blog, I'm just gettin' REAL and telling you how this business works. 
