Every day I stand confident that I can achieve success. It’s not because I have an overgrown ego. It’s not because I’m naive. It’s because I’ve worked long hours to prepare myself to face the obstacles that may come my way in the Military.  I’ve worked hard to arrive where I’m now at and to achieve the successes that I now enjoy.

This principle is so incredibly universal. If you want to experience success online then you’re going to have to take this lesson from a United States Army Infantryman: Success demands hard work and long hours of preparation.

It’s a fundamental piece of advice I give my students as a comedy coach.
Virtually all stand-up comics adhere to this philosophy. I implore you to watch one perform their act and see how often it’s true. The funniest joke of their set will likely be their first one. But why is this the case and how does this concept relate directly to blogging?

First impressions set the bar for your relationship with an audience.

Unless you’re a big-time star on television or the silver screen, it’s quite likely that none of your audience has ever heard of you. They’ve just come for a night out, not because of your namesake. Although the crowd is expecting to be entertained, no standards have been set yet.
The audience is naturally going to be skeptical at the beginning, judging your ability to make them laugh. It’s within these first few moments that determines how much trust they will place in your hands on getting the job done.

As a blogger, you’re no different than a comedian in this regard.

You are getting first-time visitors every day at your blog. By way of search engines or social media, this audience has come expecting to find helpful information. Yet with no prior history, the standard of quality is still undetermined in their mind. It’s within this first glance of your blog (or even within the first 10 seconds of it) whether or not the people decide to place trust in your ability to deliver what they need.

What is the message you should convey in the first impression?

So, the stand-up comedian hits the stage, takes the microphone and delivers his or her first and best joke. The crowd has a good laugh, sits back in their chairs and gets ready for more. The comedian has proven their ability to do the job. The tension and doubt in the audience’s mind is relieved for the remainder of the performance. That first joke essentially gave the message of “don’t worry guys, I’ve got this under control.”

As a blogger, your message is inherently the same as the comedian’s.

You want to let first time visitors know you’re credible. They’ve come to you for help and immediately see it delivered. From that very first moment, you’re staking the claim to be trusted. You’re setting the standards for potential readers – letting it be known they shouldn’t worry, you’ve got everything under control.

You only get once chance at a first impression. Make it count!

Yes, I know this is quite a cliche, but it’s completely true. From your design to specific blog posts (remember, the exact landing for first-time visits can include all pages on your blog) – all elements that people view within the beginning moments upon arriving count immensely. Everything in sight. Everything they read. How it’s organized. How it’s formatted. How it looks. Everything single aspect of your blog.

What if you’re just starting out?

What if you don’t have the ability yet to convey this message at such a scale?

This all comes right back around to the stand-up comedian analogy. Open with your best joke.

• Find the strongest aspects of your blog and showcase them above all other elements.
• Design it in a way that visitors are more susceptible to view your best blog posts first.
• Showcase flashy graphics “above the fold” and get progressively minimalistic as pages scroll.
• Minimize the number of clicks it takes to view your best content.

What other ways can you convey the best first impression to new visitors?

How are you closing the deal with visitors by opening strong on your blog?

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He was genuine, a one of a kind person. He might have had a few problems but if you ignore that fact Michael Jackson was a star.  Here are the tips to mimic him. Read closely and apply it your own writing.

1. Find something you love or are good at: Write about something you know about. Do not write half minded about a topic you have no clue about. The more you know about it, the more quality content you can put into it which in turn will make your readers enjoy it more.  Remember Quality = Great Content which leads to Readers = Interaction. Plus if you consider something boring do not write it your readers will feel the same way.
2. Be Full Of Energy: Write with lots of voice and energy. Put lots of exclamation points and adjectives and verbs. Make it like your writing an action book. Make excitement at every turn.
3. Plan: Plan out everything completely. There is no margin for error especially since you have less than 10 seconds to catch your reader’s attention.  Plan out your post completely and do tons of research so you know what your saying is credible.
4. Finish It All Off With A Bang: After you have gotten their attention finish it all of with a bang. More excitement, suspense, a controversial question. Make it full of explosions. Just do not over do it that it gets annoying. Picture seeing an Action/Adventure movie where there is bang, bang every second. It is just mindless slap stick and explosions that gets tiring- and annoying. Put a plot to it.
5. Ignore Hateful Comments: Just like Michael you have to ignore hateful comments. Do not let it ruin your self-esteem or creativity. What ever bad comments there leaving try to fix what they say you’re doing wrong or suggesting. Also there are going to be trolls and haters who just like to make people feel bad and besides not everyone will like your content. Just let it slide.

If you take all these suggestions to heart and try to make each post better than the next you will have a following. After I implemented these tips to my own website I got tons more interaction with you’re my readers and more traffic.  Let your name live long in the inter webs with a nice outlook.

It was also neat to note the shift in perspective that so many of us have clearly made in our ideas of branding. We discovered together that branding isn’t just about logos, slogans, and designs. It’s about the perceptions that potential customers have in their minds when they think of it.

The responses in that post were remarkable. Below you’ll find a sampling of some of the concepts that were shared in the conversation.

Branding isn’t visual…it’s mental.

A brand is something that is not recognized visually but mentally.

~ Mike Stenger from MikeStenger.com

A strong brand draws people in.

A brand to me answers the question “What is the business or individual known for?” It’s a combination of traits that form something valuable that people are drawn to and want to tell their friends about.

~ Tim Zager from Magic Dude Marketing

A brand is the very core of your business.

The fact is however, that branding goes much further. A brand is the very core of your business or organization, from it’s appearance on print and web, to it’s personality and clientele. Every time someone speaks to you on the phone, an impression of your organization is being made, thus branding is in the making.

~ Thomas McGhee from WinePress of Words

A brand sets you above your competitors.

The best part about the whole brand thing is that customers may choose you over competitors (often, even) just because they like the brand image you’ve built, not even due to the quality of your product or whatever.

~ Jason Periera from The University Kid

Group Reflection

Remember that a brand isn’t just about what your promoting. It’s about what people are getting from your promotions.

Toyota has been building a brand around the idea of reliability for the past 10 or 15 years and it’s worked to propel them to the top of the automotive industry. This year, however, that has all changed with their massive negative publicity related to the accelerator sticking on their newer models. It doesn’t matter how reliable they say their vehicles are when the news is running non-stop that the controls don’t work properly.

So what are doing to build your brand? Are you projecting an image to the world of reliability, expertise, and professionalism?

Just the other day I came across a post titled “Top 10 Reasons to Care About Social Media” and here are just a few of the statistics:

• 2/3 of the global internet population uses social networks.
• Social media is the #1 online activity, beating out porn and email.
• If Facebook were a country, it would be larger than the US and the 3rd (yes, 3rd) largest country in the world!

Social media isn’t just some fad…it’s where the internet is shifting and where those who understand it and use it, can make big things happen.

If you’ve been following Nick’s blog, you see that he puts out consistent content to really help you blog better. What I wanted to do was come in and touch on some ways to build your blog through social media and have it be much more of a good traffic source.

Step 1: Make sure people have a clear idea of what you do/write/do videos about and where they can find that content.

I’ll see people all the time who just throw a link up that goes to one of their “social profiles” account and that has a link to their website. Screw that! If you want people to really see your content, put your website up where everyone can see and so that site will be associated you. That way, when they come across your Twitter, Facebook, etc., they’ll be like “Yeah, that’s the guy from robsfriedchickentips.com”.

Step 2: Setup a way of getting your content posted to your social networks (consistently) and at good time intervals.

Like I replied to someone recently about this, “If you throw up a billboard in a small populated area, you’re not going to get nearly as many eyeballs as if you posted it downtown.” You want to make sure your posting your new content at peak traffic times. I myself find the best times to be between 12PM and 6 or 7 PM. Of course this isn’t the same for everybody, just a good gauge that you can start testing with.

Step 3: Make sure your blog is “optimized” for that social media traffic.

The downside of social media traffic is the high-bounce rate. Considering that most of that traffic consists of people wanting something and wanting it NOW (very distracted most of the time too), you’ve got to make a clear focus to the content. A bunch of ads and all these popups will just frustrate the reader and then they’ll get back to what they were doing.

On my blog where I talk about business, success and social media strategies, you’ll see that there is a clear focus on the content. I’m not saying that to brag but it’s very important because that’s what really matters at the end of the day. I found that by de-cluttering my site, I was able to bring my bounce rate down 9%. Not a huge improvement but it helps…

In further optimizing your blog, make sure you have easy ways of sharing that content on AT LEAST Twitter and Facebook. You can support more than that but you want at least the basics because it’s great that people read your content but it’s even greater when they share it with their friends and followers.

Step 4: Always be testing.

You want to always be working on and improving what you do and how you do it. If you sit still and don’t do anything differently, nothing will likely happen. They say the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.” Don’t build your blog through insanity…build it through some good ol’ testing and consistent action, not just in social media but in general.

Discussion

What ways are you capitalizing on social media traffic. Do you have any unique or different ways of getting more eyeballs to your site through social media?

I can now communicate instantly across the internet with my wife, my in-laws, my parents and even my grandparents. I can reach out to new people and make friends and safely connect and engage perfect strangers in conversations.

But as with any good thing, people soon try to figure out how to monetize it even at the expense of it’s quality. People spam their links across Twitter. They market their worthless products. They excessively use auto-tweeters and affiliate links. They don’t engage and connect as real people. They don’t understand what it means to be social.

Even though I say they, I really mean we. We do these things. We spam the people around us thinking that it helps build our online products.

Group Reflection

What ever happened to being social? What ever happened to acting like members of a community? When did we stop having real conversations? When did we stop acting like humans?

When a reader lands on one of our articles, most aren’t going to take the time to read the entire thing. I know that I rarely do. I seldom take the time to read an entire article. I peruse the article for concepts that can help me the most and I read only those paragraphs that interest me the most.

How to Create Content for Casual Readers

Here’s some ways to make your articles easier for your readers to skim.

• Use headlines: Making use of headlines like the one above allows readers to know exactly where one concept ends and another begins. If they’re not interested in your first point, this allows them to skip immediately to the next.
• Use lists: If you have a list of concepts like the ones in this article, then using organized lists are a perfect way to allow people a quick overview of each point.
• Emphasize important information: Don’t be afraid to make text bold, italic, or underlined. If something is important, make it stand out to your readers eyes.
• Break up your paragraphs: On my site, I try to make ever paragraph six lines or fewer. If one extends beyond that, I find a way to break it up into two paragraphs. People aren’t going to dig through a mile long block of text.

Community Reflection

Do you resent the fact that people don’t read your articles all the way through or do you embrace it and cater to it? Do you make it easy for your readers to find information quickly and efficitently?

Most people don’t want to spend 20 minutes at your website. They want to get in, get their information, and get out.

What are you doing to make that easier for your readers? What other ideas are you implementing on your blog?

It’s whatever comes to the minds of the people because that is a direct reflection of what you are promoting. Not necessarily what you are trying to promote or what you think you are promoting.

What others think about you is ultimately what others are getting from your marketing.

Your Brand is What People Think of You

It’s like the name brand cereal versus the generic. Both have logos, maskots, etc. But the name brand has taken the time with commercials and advertising to create a perception that their product is better. Often times those perceptions are true. Their products usually are better.

If you have what you believe to be an awesome logo yet nobody ever thinks of you when they need something in your niche, then you don’t actually have a brand…you simply have a picture at the top of your site. If people think of you and take action then you have a brand.

Brand marketing is everything if it can be done to actually drive people to action.

Group Reflection

This concept is all about the group reflection. I want to hear your opinions about branding. I want to know what you think so here’s a few questions to get the discussion started.

• What exactly is a brand? What all does it entail?
• What brands can you think of that you prefer to buy over their competitors?
• What is it about those type of brands that make them better in your mind?
• What does it take to create an image in people’s minds that drives them to take action?

Spend a little time getting acquainted

I spent a little getting to know other bloggers and many of them were really helpful with giving advice about how to set my blog up and sharing their experiences. I made a point of commenting on the sites I enjoyed and also let people know my site was going to be live soon.

Be passionate about your subject matter

I heard this time and time again, when researching about how to set my blog up. Blog about something you are passionate about because, you will be writing about your subject matter a lot! Luckily I have found my passion and to date, I have enjoyed running my blog immensely, but I can see that this is great advice. Setting up a blog about mortgages just because this is a popular area for example isn’t going to last long if you are not genuinely interested in this area. Think of the bigger picture and whether or not you can see yourself writing about your subject matter in a years time.

Set up your blog

I did a fair bit of research beforehand about how to set my website up. I set it up thought Wordpress and I haven’t looked back since! There are many resources online to help you with this and some bloggers who set up sites for free (usually if you but hosting as an affiliate through them).This is useful too, but personally I have enjoyed learning these skills for myself. See what your priorities are, to decide what is best for you.

Get on Twitter

Twitter a great way to meet fellow bloggers and network and let other people know about your blog. When I first started I was a bit shy, and it took me a little while to get my head around how it worked but I have found using it as a way to chat to people and have fun works really well. Be natural and reach out to people too. Also link to your new posts (you can make the links smaller here.) I might tweet about my own posts a few times a day – don’t do it too often and spam people but share at different times of the day to reach different audiences. Also others that enjoy your posts will retweet them and I also do this for posts I enjoy.

Be genuine

Interacting with people online is different to offline, but being genuine and real as with real life, makes the difference. Help others and don’t be afraid to ask for help. I have been amazed at the support and help other bloggers have given me and try and help others when they ask for it too.

Find your own rhythm

We are all different and have different schedules and commitments. I read a lot of good advice about how to build a successful blog but I am careful to only take what works for me. Some people say to grow a successful site post every day and work till your eyeballs bleed! Others say do it at a sustainable pace and don’t let it become hard work. I think there is probably a bit of truth in all of these posts, but I would say always make sure it works for you. There is no point working 14 hours a day and burning yourself out after a few months, or not doing enough work to get where you want to be on the other hand. Listen to others that have been there but ultimately do what’s right for you and your own situation.

Be consistent

I heard this message from so many bloggers when I started blogging and it really stuck with me. Readers like to know when you will post whether that is every day or once a week. Finding my own pace made a difference to this. I post at least once a week, which is right for me. I realised
I would rather do one good quality post a week than rush to do more just so I was posting more often.

Some popular bloggers like Tina at thinksimplenow post more irregularly but have a huge following, so again this isn’t set in stone. For me consistency has worked, especially when growing my readership, but again do what feels right for you.

Help others

Sharing other people’s posts, offering encouragement and commenting are all ways to get to know and help others. Commenting allows you to leave a link to your own site, which is a good way to drive some traffic to your site. However I would say again, try and be as genuine and real and write well thought out comments because you feel compelled to do so, not because you are looking for exposure yourself. People sense if someone is doing that and it can turn people off. Be real and offer value with all your online interactions.

Write great content

“Content is king” is something you will start to hear when you become a blogger and I would say it is very true. Obviously there are a lot of factors that influence how popular your blog will become. You can have the most amazing content but if you are not letting people know about it, then things won’t progress quickly so great content needs to be accompanied with getting your name out there. However fundamentally, great content goes a long way. Again be yourself, write from the heart and try and be fresh and original and offer value.