How to Sell Blogging to your CEO and Clients

How to Sell Blogging to your CEO and Clients, my slides from my talk for Search Engine Marketing New England are now online.

It was a lot of fun with a great group who keep me there until the end asking some very good questions.
I'll be attending more SEMNE events, assuming I've ever home! The talk was the only week out of the recent six I've been home. Traveling, speaking, and consulting on information lately (and having a blast, although I miss my 3 kids, wife, and dog too).

Topics included:
    * What are the characteristics of the most successful blogs?
    * What distinguishes the successful from unsuccessful blogs?
    * How to present the case for blogs and other social media to management.
    * How to handle the Return On Investment (ROI) issue.
    * How to present ‘baby steps’ to management; simple measures that show results.

Click to Download Here

Is Your Blog a Failure?

I always recommend planning before starting a blog, and that planning includes (written) goals.

What if you don't reach your goals, not even remotely? Is your blog and your blogging a failure?

With my first blog, The Ted Rap, I had two goals: experimenting with the medium, and repositioning myself as a consultant who understood both technology and business instead of just a techie. Now I suceeded, but what if I failed at reaching those goals?

Well, I did get a book contract due to my first blog, it definitely helped sell speeches and consulting, increased my client base, was very effectively with networking, increased my Internet footprint, and more.

A blog can be an ENORMOUS success even if it doesn't read it goals!

Buzzoodle Ron has a great list of things a blog will help the probably of happening:

• Write a book - Eventually you get used to writing and have a lot of material to draw from, so writing a book becomes a no-brainer.
• Sell products - As you build an audience, it is easy to recommend products you know they will like and earn a commission.
• Speaking - Before hiring a speaker, many event planners read the blog of a potential speaker to make sure they fit the need.
• Add clients - No matter what you are doing, you can add clients via blogging because your blog increased search engine results and it increases relationships.
• Build Community - Depending on your topic, your blog can become the center of a community on a particular topic.
• Advertising Income - As a blog becomes a respected resource, you will get offers from people that want to advertise on the site.
• Interviews - Your blogging increases your visibility, and you become an attractive person for interviews.
• Reviews - Writing reviews means you will get free stuff - like books, sent to you regularly.
• Moral Support - Blogger’s are great at helping each other out and offering moral support.  It is a strong community of people that really care.
• Improved Communication - You may just want to be a better communicator and blogging is a great way to organize your thoughts and improve your writing skills.

Click to read Ron's complete post

Hmmm, success on all ten for me!

Can Blogging get you Press?

Can Blogging get you Press? Can it get you attention from the mainstream media? How do you do it?

The answer of course is yes, absolutely, you can get press, and you don't need to be an uber-blogger or even blog daily/weekly/etc.

Now I get press, but sometimes it's unclear whether I'm contacted because of my blog or my books, however plenty of bloggers ARE contacted by the mainstream media because of what they write on their blogs.

Stephen Turcotte, who only blogs every month or so, has quite a bit of success getting media coverage as he writes in How Blogging Can Get You Press Coverage.

His tips for success? Simple. In his words, He takes:

questions that I was hearing over and over again from my target audience and tried to offer my own insight and perspective on the matter. I laid it out there and cited a few related posts that helped make my point. Days, months or years later a journalist does a search in Google, finds my post and says here’s a person that will give me a good quote or two. I made their job very easy.

Journalists are overloaded and always under deadlines. They use search engines a lot for research. Make their jobs simple, and they'll love to quite you and give you visibility.

And if no one notices? Well, you can still claim, as I do, to have been quoted by USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and even Pizza Marketplace Today :)

Who cares? Well, people considering hiring me or buying my products.

Press helps creates expert status and makes you more credible -- it's that simple.

Blogging My Way Through A Plateau

Another great guest post by Shawn Chambers, a passionate plastics blogger who is having great success, and fun, blogging. In his own words:

Thanks to Ted Demopoulos' coaching, I've achieved the #1 traffic position in our industry in 16 weeks with about 16,000 articles read. But, numbers don't mean as much as they used to. In fact, they don't mean much at all, anymore. It seems I've hit my peak. I've hit the stride. I've found the pace. 300-400 articles read a day with a ratio of articles-available to articles-read of about 1:1.  There's no noticeable anomaly whether I add 1 article or 10.

It's to the point where I go out looking for new material and I trip over my own blog entries.
Reader Comments? 5 in 10,000 articles read and 3 of those were people berating me for copying their content without their consent. But, I have accumulated over 1,500 spam comments. Do they count as traffic?

I met with our Yellow Pages rep this week and she couldn't fathom how a blog is generating more traffic than their website referral program for which we pay a considerable monthly sum. In fact, she didn't really know what a blog is nor how it can benefit a firm - and here's a person in the business of corporate communications!

We've used SurveyMonkey.com to try and build a demographic. Most readers are in the business. Most are researching a topic. Most rate us as interesting. Many think the blog is a website and criticize us for not having more specific web pages like other websites. It's a business blog.

At the end of the day are we seeing a conversion of interest into sales? Still don't know. There's no question that we are
benefiting in both hard and soft profits but measuring return on the investment is still a challenge.

What is the continual investment? On 300 articles it takes about an hour a day to keep the thing looking and feeling fresh - so, it's not really a lot of work anymore. The challenge now appears to be maintaining my own excitement in making the blog exciting for other people. There's still lots of great content ideas out there but I'm supposed to be generating $ALE$ along with awareness. One has to pay for the other.

But, enough whining... when the blogging gets boring the bored get blogging, right...
Blog on!

What Are You Trying to Accomplish Today?

So, what did you accomplish today? Anything towards achieving your goals?

Or were you stupidly busy with email, the telephone, maybe a blog post, some research nearly aimless surfing, etc? Some days are bound to be that way, but . . .

To reach your goals in blogging, business, life, anything, you need to concentrate on tasks that lead to success. Not vague tasks, but more like "what are you going to accomplish today."

Rich Schefren says in much better in his post What Are You Trying to Accomplish Today?

Small Business: Blog it and they may come

The Wall Street Journal online has a great article called Blog It And They May Come aimed at small businesses.

It's a very problog article which basically states that blogging works, it's not quick or fast, and it takes time.

• Now I had some very quick wins when I started blogging, but no one can count on that. Like with any other guerrilla marketing, it takes time -- give it at least 6 months to  year.
• Blogging does take time. Yes, for a professional much of the time spent would be spent anyways keeping up with their profession, but the writing does take time.

So, it works, although not overnight, and it takes time. If you enjoy blogging as a great many do, and you'll never know if you don't try, it can be a no-brainer.

The article mentions my SANS Institute colleague Jonathan Ham, who has just started blogging -- on his terms. He blogs when and if he wants, and has some great posts in his subject area, information security. Congrats Jonathan. Great example of a new small biz blog!

Biz Blogs: Feed the hunger for the uncertain

Shawn Chambers is a passionate plastics blogger having great success, and fun, blogging. Here is his 7 week blogging report. This dude is inspiring!

I'm about to hit 3,000 visitors able to draw from a pool of over 100 blog articles - and all in only 7 weeks.

For a newbie at all this I'm pretty thrilled with the results, especially with such a narrow scope of content - plastic sheet, rod, & tube. There's no question that our website refers a handful of people to the blog and that there is a lot of random stumblings - but facts are facts, I've impressed our brand onto a reader 3,000 times. With enough content for even a seasoned industry veteran to keep busy with, I'm in a unique position to experiment with fishing lures I might not have otherwise tried out. 

Using the analytics which tell me where people are coming from and what keywords they're using to find me, I'm now broadening the scope of my content focusing on the popular words and phrases that may not have necessarily been my first choice -- sometimes it's just cool to see just how many fish you can land on your boat (kind of like a catch-and-release sport).

Great Success (and fun) blogging

Shawn Chambers, a passionate plastics blogger is having great success, and fun, blogging. In his own words:

My blog is now the 2nd greatest referrer of people to our website in less than 30 days of operation, 1 behind google and now surpassing the yellowpages...

Granted it's not 1,000's of people yet, but still... for a commitment of about an hour a day to publish a useful, meaningful article we're attracting people that, in all likelihood, would have never known who we are.

Some Blogs to learn from

I learn a lot about blogs by looking at and reading blogs.

You can observe a lot by watching.  -- Yogi Berra
And you can learn a lot too, as I'm sure Yogi knows

Here are three relatively new blogs you and I might learn something from:

What's The Diff?
A group blog exposing Quicken Loans as a fun place to work.
From their about page: " THE DIFF blog is all about the things that make the difference in business and in life.  Most of the time, it's the little things."

Holder's "Stuph File"
Peter Anthony Holder is a fixture on Montreal talk radio and a great interviewer - he's even interviewed me on the air. Man can this guy write well, and he's funny too! Welcome to the blogosphere Peter!

The Plastic Spork
Shawn Chambers has "A Passion For Plastic And The People Who Use It" and it's obvious. He's been blogging about 3 weeks and Shawn says "I've already had almost 600 visits!!!! And other industry people have noticed and linked to me as well..."
Great start Shawn and welcome to the blogosphere (and thanks for the book review too)!

And in case you don't know what a spork is.

"Hidden" Business Blog Success Stories

I believe there are lots of professionals helping their business through blogging who stay "hidden" from mainstream view.

They may be hidden because they don't want to talk about their success with business blogging, because they're not sure how much their blogging is helping business, or maybe because they're in some niche where main stream bloggers rarely venture.

For example, Kevin O'Keefe writes about a blogging lawyer having incredible success. 18 new client inquiries over the last 12 days! Now I'm not a lawyer and my clients are often very longterm, but I usually get 18 new consulting and mentoring client inquiries every 2-4 months max.

It's very interesting that this lawyer insists on remaining anonymous -- not wanting the competition to know where all the new clients are coming from.

So, a few bucks in AdSense or other revenue or a bunch of new clients, I know which one I'd prefer!

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Social Media and Higher Education

Here's a recent email interview I had on higher education and social media - blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc.

1. How large an impact are social media having on the way colleges and universities communicate with their various audiences (students, prospective students,alumni, etc.)?

Social media are starting to have a large impact with colleges and universities, but we are very early in the adoption curve. Admissions are the furthest along, and "student life" blogs, for lack of a better name, are the most prevalent and popular, for example the admissions blogs at MIT.

2. What are the disadvantages of using these tools in higher education?

The perceived disadvantages are that they take too much time, and may reveal "secrets" the institution does not want to have publicized. Of course everything takes time, but plenty of very busy people make time to blog. In reality, higher education administrators and other employees are just starting to realize blogs exist and may be a very effective communications tool for them. As for "revealing secrets," anyone - students, administrators, alumni, etc., can and will blog, anonymously if necessary. There are no secrets anymore!

Building Community with Blogs for Higher Education and Alumni Organizations

Blogs are great ways to build community. I'm surprised more alumni organizations aren't blogging - building community (it seems to me) would be key to involving alumni and increasing donations.

I spoke with Don Philabaum of the Internet Association Corporation recently about alumni associations and blogging on his podcast. Click here for the audio.

I know if any of the alumni associations of schools I've gone to were blogging, I would take an occasional look at least, but very few are.

Certainly part of this is because alumni professionals are extremely overworked. A few options are to have a group blog, where several bloggers each blog occasionally, as well as having students blog -- and many students are happy to as they don't see this as "work" (many more ideas in the podcast).

I've only uncovered a few alumni association, alumni professional, and similar blogs. Here's a sampling:

Alumni Futures is a great blog by Andy Shaindlin for alumni relation professionals.

Dartmouth Association of Alumni is an example of a multi-author blog by several alumni.

And Anthony Rizos writes an admission blog for MIT I've been enjoying lately.

 

Crawling Inside Brain of Freaking Marketing Founder

Freaking Marketing's Robert Rosenthal claims I climbed inside his brain!
Robert blogs to helps him avoid nasty clients - if they don't like his blog, they won't like him!  Most reasonable folks are going to like his blog.

Thanks, I did my best Robert! Check out what I found here.

Robert is a regular read of mine, and I owe him a visit for a beer or two.

Blog Lessons From a Novice

John Kinde, featured in my book What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting, was kind enough to send in the following fascinating post - thanks John!

I've had a web site for seven years.  But just a year ago I had no idea what my traffic statistics or search engine rankings were.  In fact, I had never looked at them.  A computer and Internet wizard I am not.  I'm just now getting familiar with some of the technical aspects of these amazing cyber wonders.  In the last eleven months I've learned a few things. 

In February 2006 I started blogging.  Wanting to measure the results of my effort, it made sense to learn how to download my web log statistics.  To my amazement my traffic doubled, then quadrupled in three months.  From 200 visitors daily to 900.  The results of the blog were amazing.  Here are some lessons that a novice has learned in the past year:

1.  Steady posting to the blog maintains momentum.  My web site traffic has steadily grown to 1000 daily visitors for several months. In one year I figure that my blog is responsible for bringing 300,000 extra visits to my site.

2.  In the past year, I have had only two good spikes in traffic which resulted when my site received a plug in a "high authority" blog (one with lots of links and traffic).  The first spike was before my blog was online.  After the spike, the traffic fell back to the low level before the spike.  The second spike (which was after the blog was active) resulted in the higher traffic level being maintained after the spike.  Clear evidence to me of the value of the blog.

5 Prerequisites For Blogging Success

Great list from guest blogger Tony Hung at Problogger today:

1. Putting in the Time and Commitment.
2. Willing to Market The Blog - “if I build it, they will come” doesn't work
3. Be Interesting
4. Realize It's Not About You - It's About Them
5. Be Focused - “focused” and consistent in every single way.

Worth reading in detail

Non-bloggers who profit from the blogosphere

Many people who don't blog profit from the blogosphere, just like many people who don't read books benefit from them.

Mike Sansone writes about Jim Foster, a friend and sales professional I highlight in my latest book, who considers blogs an essential sales research tool.

As Mike points out, if blogs only contained useless banter, they still ARE the voices of your customers! You really should be engaging them.

Quick tip from Mike:

Are you about to propose a business deal with a new company? Check to see if anyone is blogging. Conduct a LinkedIn Search for the company's name and add the word "blog" to the search. Check to see what the blogosphere is saying about that company using Technorati or Google Blog Search.

And thanks for being in my book Mike (and the very kind words!).

(and nice to see The Google Blog pick this up!)

Blogging's Biggest Business Effect

What is blogging's biggest effect on my business? A recent business survey made me critically rethink blogging's #1 biggest effect.

It's not more paid speeches, not the two book contracts, not more traffic, etc. - although those ARE effects I've seen.

click to continue reading at Build a Better Blog

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Benefits of Blogging and Podcasting

"Blogging is a difficult concept for some people to embrace. Often, the best way to learn how you might be able to use a blog for your own benefit is to hear how others use it," writes Robert French as an introduction to our short podcast where we discuss some specific benefits people receive from blogging and podcasting based on a few hundred interviews I recently completed.

Best way to develop relationships on your blog

    "As far as building relationships, the key IMHO is to get out in the "neighborhood" and talk with your neighbors. Spend time on blogs in your niche and visit forums as well. Then contribute, contribute, contribute! Add value with your comments.

    Another important thing I share with folks wanting to blog to promote their business is to forget old thoughts about "competitors." I wrote about this recently on my blog. Creating partnerships and developing mutually beneficial relationships will do wonders for getting your message heard. Viewing the world from a lens of "lack" versus one of "abundance" causes people to think of others in their field as rivals. I feel there's plenty to go around, and we all have a unique voice, so why not embrace that?"

Tony D. Clark from Successfromthenest.com

Join Grasshopper New Media - The Chief Speaks!

Chris Brogan is Founder and Chief Content Officer at Grasshopper New Media, but I just call him 'Chief.' He's got ideas, he's doing great stuff including co-founding Podcamp, and he offered to talk to us too!

What's your 30 second description of Grasshopper New Media?

Grasshopper New Media is a collection of audio and video shows available on the Internet. We create shows to specific "channels," including GNMParents, GNMBusiness, GNMHealth, and GNMCommunity.

Where's the name come from?

The name Grasshopper means several things: it refers to the Grasshopper and the Ant, the classic fable of a bug who wants to play all day while the ant works. It refers to the TV Show, Kung Fu, where Grasshopper was the student. And think about it: grasshoppers are green, which means growth, life, learning, and yes, hopefully, money.  : )

It's early to talk business model. Are you just building great content and ways to get it out, and letting the business part develop organically, or . . . ?

Case Study: Ted Demopoulos Learns the Power of Blogging

Steven Van Yoder has a case study on blogging success on his Get Slightly Famous blog - he even spelled my name right. Well, most times :)

Quick Blogging Success for John Kinde

"My traffic immediately doubled when I started the Humor Power blog ," says John Kinde, "and it has now quadrupled." John is a professional speaker who specializes in humor skills, and he has ONLY been blogging for three months! I met John when he listened in to my recent Speaker Net News Teleseminar.

You might think, "no big deal, he's probably starting from zero," but his Web site has been up for seven years and has been very effective. It not only looks good, but is fairly well optimized. His traffic is up to 900 visitors/day – from about a couple hundred just three months ago.

John is not an old Internet whiz – he describes himself as "starting from square one or maybe square two. Wish I had become Internet savvy years ago. But no time like the present. This is all new to me, and since I've had all my web site work done by someone else, I guess it's time I've jumped onboard and put my own hands into it."

"The great thing, I've learned to enjoy writing," says John. John obviously has been writing for a while. His ezine, Humor Power Tips, has 2200 subscribers, which includes a nice boost since he's started blogging. I hear this from a lot of people. They enjoy blogging. They might like the other writing they do, but usually it's considered work – a chore to complete, unlike blogging. 

"This is fun stuff.  Love it," says John. Equally importantly John adds, "And the phone is ringing more!" His results speak for themselves!