All Entries Tagged With: "blogging"

Should You Use Automated Software To Build Your Following?

Every day now I see the next automated software for Twitterers being harked as the next great thing. Get 16,000 new followers automatically in 90 days. Gain thousands of followers automatically with no effort while you sleep. You know the deal.

The problem with these automated packages is that they work too well. It’s not that they don’t work at all. They work too well.

Yes, you’ll get thousands of followers, but they won’t be targeted followers, and chances are those people following you won’t have the slightest bit of interest in what you have to offer. I’d rather have a list of 1,000 highly targeted followers than 20,000 non-targeted followers.

A few years ago you’d see the say hype about blogs. Get instant trackbacks! Increase your RSS subscribers by the hundreds! Same deal, different program. You still those too, but not as often as you used to. I think the charlatans and snake oil salesmen finally realized they were going to sell as many as they sold and they moved on to the next great thing. Now it’s Twitter followers. Same game, same story, different day.

Don’t fall for it.

What Is An Authority Blog And How Do You Create One?

There is a concept in business blogging that has become popular and it bears some explaining. The word “authority” gets used a lot, but it’s a loaded word. What does it mean?

To become authoritative in one’s niche means something different to just about everyone. From an SEO perspective, to be authoritative means that the search engines consider your website an authoritative source. That gives you some search enging clout, but it doesn’t guarantee you any business. In a word, to become authoritative from an SEO perspective, is to be at the top of the rankings for a specific key phrase. That key phrase may or may not be one that is competitive or that receives a lot of searches each month.

If you query the phrase “Article Content Provider” without the quotes you’ll see that ArticleContentProvider.com is listed in the No. 1 position. See those three links under the Google snippet? Those links are placed there by Google and they are not paid for. They are indication that Google considers ACP an authoritative site for the key search phrase “article content provider.” But there are only about 58 searches for that specific phrase each month. That isn’t a lot is it?

No, it’s not. But those 58 searchers are buyers. They may not buy today, but if someone is searching for an article content provider then they are in the market for an article writer. All it takes is about 10% traffic-to-conversion ratio to build a modest income from a search phrase like that. Do it a few times with different search phrases and you can build a good business. There is only one problem. You can’t make yourself an authority site. That’s a classification reserved by the search engines alone. It is their editorial judgment.

However, you can do some things on the technical side of building your site to move your reputation in that direction. Success is not guaranteed.

The Human Side Of Authority

Another way authority is judged is by human value. What do your readers think? It is very subjective.

You can build an authoritative site that attracts a lot of visitors who hang on your every word, but that is hard to do. Building authority online in this manner is no different than building authority off line. It is based on your own personality and character. You essentially become a cult of personality. Real world examples include Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and Oprah Winfrey. Online, you’ll find the same phenomena in personalities like Andy Beal, Darren Rowse, and Brian Clark. Each is considered an authority in their own right on a particular topic, both by the search engines and by a large number of admirers.

Do you have to have that kind of clout to succeed online? While it’s great if you do, it isn’t necessary. For every Brian Clark there are thousands of small business people churning out a living online. They may be authorities in their own small space, locally or globally, but their crowning achievement is not necessarily a label, but their influence within their small circle.

Let’s be careful how we use the word authority. It means different things to different people. The real goal – for all of us – is to connect with real people, build solid SEO strategies into our web businesses, and see an increase in the harvest.

YouTube For Bloggers Just Got Better

YouTube has always been a good source for bloggers. Now it’s even better. But there are two ways to use YouTube on your blog and only one of them gives you the power to publish a TV channel with your name on it.

The first way to use YouTube is to embed someone else’s videos on your blog. While that’s great for getting you content on your blog it is content that you can’t control. Content, nevertheless, and it can be good content. But you don’t control the content.

The best way to use YouTube, however, is to create your own videos and start your own channel. That is content that you do control. It is your own brandable content and you can actually build a pretty decent, targeted list of prospects with your own YouTube channel. And embed those videos on your own blog. But it does get better.

Google just announced that YouTube is integrating with Google Analytics, which means you can have your own brandable YouTube video channel and measure the results you get from that channel. That will give you actionable intelligence on your embeds. Now, isn’t that a whole let better?

Authority Blogging: What Is It And Should You Do It?

Listen to the blogging gurus and they’ll tell you to make yourself an authority. That’s good advice, but let’s be clear. An authority blog is not some unique animal as if you are feeding a beast. It takes time to build yourself up into an authority. It doesn’t happen overnight and it certainly doesn’t come easy. That’s not to say it isn’t worth it.

It may very well be worth your while to build yourself into an authority in your niche. There’s nothing wrong with it. But there is a time commitment. And you could just as easily fall on your face trying as you can succeed.

So what does it take to be an authority?

For starters, it takes a lot of knowledge. You have to know your industry inside and out. You have to know your territory, your competition, and yourself. And you’ve got to be able to communicate that in a meaningful way. It’s easier said than done.

Becoming an authority is like making a big splash in a large pool. It’s not the same as being a big fish in a small pond. That’s not authority. That’s bigheadedness, and you don’t want that.

I’m all for bloggers who want to position themselves as the authority within their niche. But if that’s what you want, you are better off writing your own blog. You are much better off making yourself the authority than relying on someone else to make you an authority. That rarely works.