Tag: social media

Why Are You Reading This?

“Why are you reading this?” This is perhaps the most important question a blogger can ask. This is not only for bloggers, but it also goes for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social media users. You do not have to ask your readers directly, but it is the question that should be considered whenever you sit down to write.

You have probably heard how important it is to know your customer. I still find a lot of people who do not know how to answer me when I ask specific questions about who their customers are … or who they think their customers are. Sometimes this question of “why are you reading this” will be as simple as “because the author is just so damn interesting”, but that is seldom the case. I like to think it is because I am good looking and people just like to come back and see my picture … but I doubt even that is the case. Well, probably for some?

What’s in it for them?

Let’s be realistic for a moment. I don’t like being realistic, but I will give it a whirl, just for you. People read what you have to say for a number of reasons. These reasons can include entertainment, industry facts, product facts, respect for your opinion, and a whole lot of other things. The one common factor is that there is something in it for them! Knowing your readers reason and knowing what is in it for them is imperative to your success. Digging deeper, you can look at a whole lot of data to key in on who they are and why they read what you have to say, but just looking at the surface can get you started.

It may seem tricky to find what they want at first, but there is something on the surface to tell you what they are after … there always is. Much can be discovered if you simply ask yourself why you write what you write. I will share my example and hopefully it can help jump start some thinking about how it may apply to you. Maybe you can draw some useful parallels.

In my case, I write about things I know well. My inspiration very often comes from something that happened. If somebody asks me a question and I had a good answer or additional thoughts on the topic, I blog about it. I mostly write about my industry … the Internet. I am a search engine optimization guy, social media guy, a programmer guy, a Web hosting guy, an ecommerce guy … pretty much your overall “Web Guy” (hence my blog aWebGuy.com). I have been in my job since the mid 1990’s, and I have a lot of experience … so I share it.

So why do people read it? People want to know about my industry. For some people it is totally alien, and others just want another opinion to draw ideas from. I try to break it down and make it easier to understand, and I try to help people make it more useful. I try to help people with good ideas about marketing. I give them something. There is something in it for them. There is a value proposition. I try to fill a need.

What’s in it for you (me)?

Since we asked the first question of what’s in it for them, naturally there should be a mutual value. There should be something in it for both parties. Otherwise, one of the parties is getting stiffed. The important part is that you make the “what’s in it for you” (me) the secondary focus. If you focus first on giving and second on receiving, you will receive a whole lot more!

I could never do all of the writing I do without some remuneration (getting paid). Well, maybe I could, but it would not be as good. I would probably let you down, and we don’t want that. In my case, I let people know that they can reach me for help, and if they really want to get serious in their marketing, that is what I am paid for. That is just a very small piece of my readership. Most will never become a client … ever. This fact actually helps me, because I am not trying to sell you a bunch of stuff. Plus, I am also the CEO of YourNew.com, Inc., so that is really my bread and butter … not my blog. That means I can focus better on what’s in it for you … err, “them”.

Your Core Readership

By knowing and trying to understand your core readership, you will be better equipped to serve them. It is this core readership that I would consider to be your “translators” and your “promoters”. If you are giving them value and making sure that there is something in it for them the translation and promotion can look like this:

Translation: When I say translate, it can mean that they hear a need from somebody else and they translate it as that person’s need for what you wrote. Another type of translation can happen when they comment on your blog with their interpretation of your message. It can be good for them, and it can be good for you … you learn together.

Promotion: If your core readers know somebody who should be reading your writing, they will pass it along, and often with their translation as well … or even an excuse for you. For example, you may pass this along to somebody and say “hey, you need more business and I know a guy who can help … but he is kind of unconventional, so just forgive him if he drops cigarette ashes or spills coffee on your rug.”

Your core readership will get to know you and your personal brand. It is normally best if you keep it human. Maybe even a bit funny and quirky and entertaining now and then. People are people … they like people stuff.

Translate This!

OK, now it is your turn, my core readership. Go ahead and translate this for others. That is what blog comments are for. Also, please be sure to answer the original question: Why are you reading this?

HubSpot SEO and Social Media Lessons and Review

HubSpot has some things to learn about both social media and SEO. I like some of the people at HubSpot, so don’t take this all as negative. This is just my cursory review from what I know of the company. I think if you are willing to spend a lot of money for mediocre search engine results in a non-competitive market, they are a great bet. Their Website Grader product is a kind of neat tool, and the company has some great minds at work, when they elect to use them.

I met Jonah Lopin, VP of Customer Operations at HubSpot during “Integrated Marketing Summit” in St. Louis, where we both gave talks on social media. After our talks, we were both very pleased with the similarity in our message, and we exchanged cards. It was actually a bit shocking how similar some of the messages we delivered were. I spoke from 11-12:00 p.m. and Jonah spoke at 2:45 p.m., so he surely took a lot of great notes (just kidding Jonah)! I like Jonah Lopin. He is clearly a thinking man.

HubSpot is Marginal … But Trying

HubSpot has a lot going for it, but a long way to come, in my professional opinion. In the true spirit of giving and sharing, I figured “where else will they learn it but from an SEO guy whom they spit on after a social media campaign gone wrong?” Yes, that is me, and yes, I feel like HubSpot spit in my face. They still owe me a camera that I won last December, and they still do not seem to listen … but I will get to that.

Remember, I did say that I like HubSpot, so when I say I want to teach a lesson, I mean it in the most constructive possible way. The real question is in whether HubSpot will accept the lesson in good spirit, or just keep spitting until they run out of moisture.

Am I qualified to give lessons to a company that just secured $33 million and has such smart SEO people? I will allow you, my reader, to find the answer to this question. Let’s first just consider this: You were looking for information about HubSpot … and you arrived here. Most would say that I am extremely well qualified to give HubSpot SEO lessons (after all, go and search Google for SEO lessons and you will find me pretty readily). When it comes to HubSpot’s social media lesson, I think social media already answered this in my favor as well. I will explain.

SEO Lesson for HubSpot and Website Grader

My first lesson for HubSpot would be this: You are wrong about H1 tags. Go ahead and try to prove me wrong, the way a few other “SEO gurus” have tried, but the proof is in the Google. If you Google H1 tags, I will give you a cookie if you find more than one unpaid spot above my article on H1 tags titled “H1 Tags Improve Search Engine Placement“. Go ahead and Google H1 tags to see for yourself and then tell me how having multiple H1 tags on a page should create a warning on Hubspot’s Website Grader. Note: Be sure to count how many h1 tags you find in that article, will you please, HubSpot? If more than one H1 tag receives your warning, why the heck have I been riding the top of that search for most of a decade with a badly formatted page full of H1 tags?

It seems funny to me, but the issue of multiple H1 tags must be the one thing that makes this blog only rank 99.9 out of 100 in HubSpot Website Grader, while you graded your own Website lower than mine. Don’t make me pull out the screenshots.

Well, HubSpot, this blog has a comment section, and you should perhaps hike your “junk” up really high and use it to engage with your proper audience, which are my readers.

Social Media Lesson for HubSpot

This social media thing is great, but does HubSpot get it? I think they really want to, and I think they try really hard, but just like so many other companies busy borrowing millions of dollars and appeasing their investors, they lose all grasp on doing what they set out to do. They let me down, and I am quite certain I am not the only one.

In my case, I clearly showed HubSpot how social media works.

To HubSpot: I not only provided a very creative response to your contest on Facebook, I won it by such a huge margin that Stevie Wonder saw that from a mile away! Was anybody even within fifty percent of the votes, or even one tenth as many new Facebook fans that I brought you? What I am left with is a bad taste of HubSpot for dropping the ball and not standing up and showing that you can do anything with the benefits you receive. If your Facebook fans are worth so little that you have to wait for a $200 camera to go on sale to fulfill your contest, then what in the heck did you do with the $33 million reported by Jonah Lopin at Integrated Marketing Summit in St Louis?

My Summary Review for HubSpot

We can all talk about doing things to create more business, but only the companies who actually back it up will matter in the end. HubSpot has a good grasp on the importance of inbound marketing. Of course, if you look at HubSpot material, it seems they think they invented it. Wrong, HubSpot … it has been around for a very long time, and even here on the Internet.

I have been an inbound marketing practitioner for decades. I built one of the most recognized companies in the wholesale Internet access market without so much as speaking at a single conference or even poking my face above a computer screen for years. I was even called a “bully CEO” by some pretty huge and well-funded competitors because I would engage in real business instead of just talking about it or letting investors screw it up. I have been doing this “new” online inbound marketing since the mid 1990’s, so I guess online inbound marketing is not so new, really. Maybe it just takes a pack of hungry investors and a Guru or two putting out fluff and maybe some people will buy it. Maybe it will last until the investors are happy, and maybe it will not.

We can all make up cool and flashy terms that sound so “engaging” and as if HubSpot is the latest flock of Guru birds, (I tasted my own vomit when I saw the word “Guru” in your articles) but what HubSpot failed to recognize is their market. The market for HubSpot is being missed by a mile, and the ones that are not being missed are the ones you are irritating.

What do you have to say about this, HubSpot?

Hubspot is Trying, I Get That

I am aware that you are seeking to improve HubSpot, and I want the best for you. The best thing I can say that this individual needs to get paid better than you may be ready to hear, and come in prepared to upset the apple cart and start making things happen. When you want to make improvements to inbound marketing, don’t go shopping for a camera on sale, and be ready to give this person the kingdom. He or she may teach you a lesson or two.

REVISION: 3 February Mid Day:

Did anybody notice that Mike Volpe of HubSpot responded pretty quickly, but did not come back when people started to question his word after realizing he was not truthful with me? Denial is a curious thing. It can save you from your shame … for a little bit. I hope you will enjoy all the comments below.

REVISION: 3 February Evening
I got the camera … but you should really watch this video! Somebody over at HubSpot is not very apologetic, and may do well to get his conscience in check. o_O

I think he should read “Living in the Storm” for a better look at life beyond only the moment.

In any case, the camera is fantastic and I still have some respect for HubSpot. In my overall HubSpot review, I must say that they have a lot to learn, so I may just have to treat them like kids once in a while. They will likely never be able to provide a return on investment for their customers the way I can, but maybe they will improve in time. For now, it seems that if you look around a bit for other reviews of HubSpot, it reflects a similar sentiment to mine, and a lot of potential to improve.

Social Media Applications Are Not always as Described!

Have you ever been hit with a rogue application on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites? I was, and the application was called “Photas”.

The world is not always as it seems. This often goes double for third party applications for social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. I see it all the time when somebody falls for another app that will spam all of their friends. It never happens to me, because I generally stick to only a few known applications, but it happened to me today. A Facebook application titled “Photas” said that somebody has tagged me in a photo. Well, I checked it out, and sure enough, it was false. There was no photo of me. Instead, it sent out the same message to all of my friends. When they allowed the app, the life cycle is complete.

Just a simple warning for you: Think before you click … and beware of “Photas” on Facebook!

Has this ever happened to you? Tell us about it … leave a comment!

10 Really Good Reasons to Blog

You and I know good reasons to blog. Hundreds of millions of bloggers know good reasons to blog. It still amazes me when I find people who really do not understand all of the very important reasons why individuals and companies write blogs and comment on blogs, often. Maybe you don’t write a blog, and you just enjoy reading them and adding your comments, or maybe you are a full time super-blogger. In either case, it never hurts to review some of the basics. Here is a list of ten really good reasons to blog. I invite you to add to this list in my blog’s comments … as it should be.

Reason to Blog Number One:

Blogs Give More Than They Take

Blogs provide value to readers, and if they don’t, they will not have readers. Blogs normally have valuable information to offer, and differ greatly from typical static Websites that are more focused on one-way communication and sales copy. They open conversations and welcome people to answer questions, ask questions, and become more familiar with you, your ideas, your brand, and your product. Blogs are commonly produced in the spirit of creating good information that people can use and appreciate. This often creates a valuable shift in thinking for both the blog author and the reader.

Reason to Blog Number Two:

Static Pages Are Like Old Newspapers!

A static Website is like a newspaper, while a blog is a subscription. What do you do with a newspaper after you read it? You don’t toss the subscription out, but you will toss out the pages you’ve already read.

The contents of a static Website are far less likely to be discussed and even less likely to be re-blogged and linked to by others. A static Website is far less likely to make sense or be found at Blog Catalog, Technorati, Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Mixx, and etcetera.

Promoting a boring old static Website is like an advertisement, whereas a blog is like a conversation that is enhanced by others’ input. Do you want to converse about your interests or hang a sign and hope for the best?

Reason to Blog Number Three:

Google Wants to Find You!

Google and other search engines want to find you. It is their job to know everything there is to know about every industry, every person, every question, and every answer. Having information about every possible topic is a basis for their industry. Blogs make it far easier for them to find this information. If you think this is a myth, just ask yourself why the stuff running through your head is not streaming to Google in near-real-time. Mine is. From the time I publish this article to the time it is indexed in Google, I will likely not even make it to the coffee pot. The last blog post I wrote was there, and listed on the first page of Google for “How to Sell SEO” in under six minutes. That is not always the way it goes, but then, it is for people who put forth the effort to do so. Now, highly competitive SEO is a pretty “bouncy” thing in Google, but I can assure you it will do well, just as many articles I wrote 8-10 years ago have. For example, just do a search for “h1 tags” on Google and I can assure you I am in the top two results with an article at YourNew.com that I wrote well over five years ago. Once you create good content that sticks, it is worth the time it took to create it. There are thousands of people reading things that I wrote a decade ago, and each article adds to that collection. That is the power of a blog. Now, if you are thinking about blogging, think of it like this: If you want a shade tree in your yard, when is the best time to plant it?

*Note: This blog post was indexed on Google in under 15 minutes!*

Reason to Blog Number Four:

Time Builds Trust

A wildly popular blog post may be just the gas you need to fuel your business, but that is being shortsighted. I have created things that gave me a huge return on investment, and quickly, but don’t count on that. When you think of reasons to blog, branding should be enough to push you over the tipping point. Just consider these lines, and tell me if you recognize them:

  • You deserve a break today!
  • Have a _______ and a smile.
  • Don’t squeeze the _______!
  • When _______ talks, people listen.

If you have not been under a rock for the past thirty years, you know at least a couple of these. It is because they are branded. It took these brands hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions of dollars to build their name. A good lesson to take from these successes is in consistently being visible.

You will probably not build a name like these with a blog alone, but it is your next best alternative to the decades of work and billions of dollars noted above.

Reason to Blog Number Five:

Your Competition Has Been Blogging for Years

An important reason to blog is that if you are not doing it, you are missing out. You may not think you are missing huge business from it, but over time, it can and will affect your market share.

I look at it from a standpoint of longevity, as anybody in business should. It is easy to think that the impact it has today is small, but that is often not the case. I explained the search engine optimization benefits of blogging, and the branding benefits of blogging. You surely cannot imagine that your competition is doing it just to throw time and money away, right?

Reason to Blog Number Six:

Blogging is Fun!

Blogging can be great fun. I would not expect most people to have as much fun blogging as I do, but something is better than nothing. I know it may seem like it is time consuming or hard to know what to say, but I see it like any exercise, and it is easier all the time. I do not spend my days struggling with what to write on my blogs. In fact, I find it quite manageable. That is coming from a guy with a blog for everything from my race team to my catch all blog where I put the goofy stuff that just doesn’t fit anywhere else. I have my video blogs (Qik | YouTube), blogs about each of my books, and blogs about blogs. I have so many to choose from, my biggest challenge is which one I want to create something for today.

Reason to Blog Number Seven:

Blogs Can Teach you A Lot

We each have interests. Whatever interests you, I can assure you there is a blog for that, and an audience for a blog about it. Reading the thoughts of others can be fascinating, and being able to reach into their world with your comments and questions is enlightening. When you don’t find just what you were looking for, it is a good sign that you should be blogging. Whether it is for business or a hobby, blogging about your interests and hearing what others have to say can be very helpful.

If you think that there is not an audience for it, think again. Everything is exciting for somebody, and you may be shocked how many people you will find who think a whole lot like you.

Reason to Blog Number Eight:

Syndicate This! RSS Feed

Syndication is bliss, and RSS is important. Perhaps you are not entirely familiar with RSS feeds, but you have surely heard of them, and received information by way of them, even if you didn’t know it.

I know there are a lot of people who may think that to “subscribe” to a blog sounds kind of tricky. “What? You mean I need a feed reader? Isn’t that what blind people use or something?”

There are many ways that RSS allows people to see a blog, even outside of directly subscribing to the RSS feed. For example, this post will land on my Amazon.com Author Page, GoodReads.com Author Profile, Blog Catalog, Technorati, a long list of others that will receive the “ping”, and a big portion of the huge list of social profiles on the left side of my blog. It is like magic! My RSS feed syndicates this information all over the place.

Just how confused are some people about the importance of RSS feeds as they relate to blogging? Here you go … I have a story for you.

Earlier this evening I was informed by a client that although there is a massively visible prompt to subscribe to her RSS feed or email publication, her clients “will never (REPEAT) never know or understand how to do this.” She was really becoming stressed that people were asking her how to subscribe to her blog’s RSS feed, because they had never used a feed reader before. She still has her email publication, and RSS is just another option now. Mind you, her primary market is an educated and affluent group who can master this, and with both RSS and email, I think she has it covered.

Of course, I had an answer. In fact I had a few answers. Please note that I am not a pansy with my clients, and I will tell them what they need to hear, and not just what they want to hear. I am not a salesman. I am here to help clients do more business and reach more people. Whether they love me or hate me is less concern than whether I reach their objectives, which subsequently makes them love me. My responses included the following statements:

“It seems that your focus is on reaching the ones you are already reaching, but little on the millions of people who subscribe to blogs that you are not reaching.

“… you may come to find that it is a fantastic way to both communicate with ongoing clients, and find those bizarre and gawky millions of people who understand how to subscribe to blogs.”

“One view is not a world view. With over 350,000,000 Facebook users and unknown hundreds of millions of blogs, the picture you paint is one that shows me even more reason you are now blogging. I will not ask you to trust me in your refrigerator, but with regard to this Internet, I require it. What you see is a tiny piece of a much larger picture … Much larger than you have a way of seeing.”

Now what I must point out is that my client had grave concern that her clients were contacting her to figure out how to subscribe to her RSS feed. She also has an email subscription, and now that she has a blog, people are begging for it. Now please, people, tell me how this statement from my client sounds: “So far I have 8 people asking me how to subscribe to the blog.  I hope this doesn’t continue at such a high pace.  I’ll try to have faith.”

Here is my answer, and I hope you can see it the same way:

“I hope it continues at a much higher pace. Why would you not want people begging to interact with you? You really are looking at things from a (industry) head instead of a business head. Change your perspective and look at how cool it is to have so much more attention to what you are doing. You didn’t even have a blog a few weeks ago, and now you are stressed that people are rushing to find out about it? I think what you have totally failed to see is how tragic it is you didn’t do this years ago.”

I tried to console her with the fact that RSS is only one more way people can choose to interact with her and further syndicate her content. It does not mean email is now obsolete.

Reason to Blog Number Nine:

The Author’s Point of View is Never the Only One

Blogging is not all about creating a blog of your own. When I say “reasons to blog” I also mean participating in blogs. The author’s point of view is never the only one. Reading comments and responding to the author and other readers can provide benefit in multiple ways. It can give you varying perspectives. It can introduce you to others with similar interests, and if you write something with a little thought behind it, you may be shocked what comes from it.

Nearly every blog has a place to put your Web address.  Whether it goes to your own blog, company Website, Twitter, Facebook, or other address is up to you. I have met some great people who followed a link from a comment I left on a blog and wanted to know more about me. I also do this all the time. I recently found a blog that I enjoy because the blog author replied to my comment on another blog. I followed the link back to her blog and found that she writes about things similar to my recent book, “Living in the Storm”. I like her blog, and I will be back to read it again … and participate.

Sure, I told you that I have a blog for about everything, and that I have a lot of fun blogging. Perhaps most importantly, I participate in other peoples’ blogs. A lot of the fun I have with blogs is in adding my creative commentary on other people’s articles and joining in the communication.

Reason to Blog Number Ten:

It is Your Turn!

What do you have to say about it? This is not rocket surgery. I want to hear your reasons for blogging, and I want your comments on why you comment on blogs. Indulge me! 🙂

Related articles:

Social Journalism: Real Time vs. Vetted Journalism

I have been thinking about the power and truth of live Internet. The power in the numbers is staggering. Today, we can all be journalists, and many of us clearly have a story to report. In fact, before I finish this article I will demonstrate the potential of social journalism with a live video stream from my cell phone, and have it posted to my Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, and others as it happens … in real time. Speed of information delivery is a huge trend these days, as I pointed out in a recent article about social feeds in Google search results, and once you put it out there, it is not going away.

People love to tell their story, and it is even better if they tell it right when it happens. They often want to tell it before they have too much time to dwell on the details, forget about it, or in many cases even give thought to whether it should be told. If it is an important story, they may even find incentive of wide recognition for being the first on the scene.

This goes well beyond only social journalism. Entertainment has also taken on a whole new look. Earlier tonight my son came to me asking to watch some of our videos from a weekend visit to the zoo. He already had a Wii game on, so instead of showing him on the computer, I played them off my YouTube channel on the big screen television. Then I played some more videos off a laptop in the other room by accessing them through my X-Box 360. This all sounds so insane to me that my kids will never remember having to wait until Gilligan’s Island comes on at four o’clock. Who needs old school television these days, except for those who work for television?

If we did not each have a story to tell, there would not be over 35 million people (out of over 350 million active Facebook users) who update their Facebook status each day, and Twitter may only be a group of about 30 people reporting how the cookout at cousin Evan‘s place went. As it is, the world faces a turmoil of how this all works, and how can we best use all this information.

Where this is going and how it will change our society is a story that is being written each day. For some, it is a story of how drunk they got at a fraternity keg party and are sorry for the embarrassing photos they posted on their social networks. Others will apologize to customers for not being the company they portrayed when their media exposure was more one-way, and worked much slower. In extreme cases, nations will defend political scrutiny such as that of the Iran elections being lambasted on Twitter, and people will run scared from health issues like H1N1.

The threat of misinformation and lack of vetting is there, but the real time “get it now” reality creates an appeal to masses that cannot be overlooked. It opens a lot of questions on the value of real time social journalism. I discussed this with a high school journalism teacher just this evening, and we agreed on many things, but challenged others. Overall, I think our conclusions were inconclusive.

So where does it go, and how cool is it that I just coincided the release of this blog post by streaming the first comment from my cell phone? Now imagine doing that five years ago! I was ultra-high-tech in 2008 when I did a 6,000 mile nine day live mobile auto racing Webcast or my Tornado encounters on my storm chasing Webcast. Now all I need to show you my surroundings along with live GPS and live chat is a cell phone and a service like Qik or LiveCast.

On one hand, being live (or close to it) makes it easier to disclaim discrepancies simply for the fact the facts may not all be known. On the other hand, it can leave a door open to fast spread of misinformation and rumors. One known fact is that people are taking notice in great numbers.

The questions and considerations of social journalism are in no short supply, and I hope your comments are not either. Please tell me and others what you think. Let’s discuss it. Add your comments here, and of course, feel free to message me live with the Meebo chat on the left side of this page.