I got this from Vincent Maher’s blog but I put it in my own words and added my take. I don’t always practice what I preach. Sometimes I just need to get my thoughts down before they’re gone…When they’re his thoughts they are in quotes. Otherwise mine.

• Effective blog entries start conversations
  “One of the key ways to create a loyal audience for your blog is to create a community of readers who interact with each-other on your blog. This means that your blog entries should be structured in such a way that they start conversations. This means they need to be short and punchy, with a clearly defined point or set of points.”
• Write to your audience
  Consider your readers perspectives. Stick to the point and keep it relevant. I don’t think you have to be too narrow on your subjects but definately if it’s a business blog don’t veer into overly personal topics.
• Write catchy headlines (think newspaper)
  Headlines sell stories. When people look at a magazine or headline on a newspaper they decide what to read based on the title. So make it grab attention. I need to improve on this one.
• Keep your text succint and scannable
  No one likes to read huge blocks of text online. Use subheadings, bullet points, and plenty of white space. Keep your paragraphs to only a few sentences.
• Link to other blog posts about the same topic
  “If you are blogging about something that other people are talking about, provide links to their conversations.” This provides context. Plus if you add a trackback, it’s like a compliment and it will get you noticed as well as more traffic (readers). It shows you know what is being talked about and that you’re part of a larger conversation.
• Quote indirectly and link
  Don’t just quote other blogger, paraphrase the important points. Directly quote only what is well-said and most important.
• Never delete anything
  I disagree with this but I think it should be very rare. You don’t totally delete anything anyway because it shows up on people’s RSS feed.
• Search other blogs for conversations relating to what you’re talking about
  “If your blog entry is successful then other bloggers will blog about it. Use tools like Google Blog Search and Technorati to track what other bloggers are saying about your blog entry and update your blog with links to those conversations if they add to yours.” Anyone know a good tool to do this more efficiently?
• Be part of the conversations you start (join the comments)
  It drives me nuts when a blogger doesn’t comment on the comments people leave on their blog. When you respond to comments it validates your readers, continues the conversation, and invites more contributions.

I just learned that USAToday has an entrepreneurs panel for business owners, employees, and consultants to talk about issues in the news. It seems like they should follow bloggers

This is a great idea. Business owners can volunteer their experiences and expertise as sources for journalists.  They get increased exposure (be seen as an authority and build credibility) and writers get a bigger pool of people to talk to.

This is an innovative way to conduct online market research. They’ll ask you some questions about your expertise, background, and size of company. After that I’m not sure how it works but I’ll let you know when I find out.

I have been submitting press releases to PRWeb at work and it’s been going well. Most of the time I submit on the $200 level. I haven’t experimented going above that price point yet. On the $120 level you can’t see the search engine terms that were searched on to find your news item. You get less distribution. Plus you can’t schedule a free podcast about your news release.

Here are the number of reads so far. As you can see, it seems to generate MUCH MORE press at the higher level of distribution. I’m sure there are other factors (day released, the newsworthiness of the release, etc). However, there is a significant difference in traffic.

All of the releases spiked traffic for several days. I have a potentially large success story that I can’t blog about just yet…

Week #1

Now a few days later you can see the long tail of PRWeb press releases. Unlike traditional media that has a short shelf life, the reads, downloads, pickups, and prints continue to grow. PRWeb keeps the press release up forever and people searching the internet or their site continue to find it. You have a permanent URL and it continues to bring traffic to your web site. Businesswire unfortunately doesn’t have a permanent URL and if you click on an old release, like I did today, you will have an error page. I’d rather pay once for traffic over time.

Week #2

Week #3 – Oct 25

Incidentally SEO is also very beneficial. I got one new link from a site with a pagerank of 7 last week. In one week it has become a huge traffic generator (#3 overall). It also generated leads that are increasing each month. If I could add one like this each week or even one every few months I will see a huge impact. Plus it’s FREE (well, my time isn’t free, but you get the idea).

I’m also experimenting with targeted contextual ads in place of Google Adsense for content and starting more email marketing (this isn’t going well so far). I can’t wait to develop that channel to do more lead nuturing and email marketing. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I just needed the company to support my efforts.

I’ve been following the stories about bloggers getting book deals based on the content in their blogs. Todra Payne a makeup artist started a blogger blog and EIGHT DAYS LATER she had a book offer from a publisher. She is clearly an expert and has done makeup for lots of big names.

David Meerman Scott blogged about his book “The New Rules of PR (pdf file).” It had more than 100,000 downloads, plus lots of attention on blogs. He had presold so well that he emailed an agent and got an immediate reponse and a book deal!

Chris Anderson, editor of chief for Wired Magazine wrote a magazine article, then blogged about, then gave away chapters, then published  The Long Tail. It already had an audience and his blog helped him refine and improve his book. Most people are afraid of giving away information thinking that means people won’t pay for it. In reality he built his audience before he even wrote his book. It’s #192 in sales on Amazon now.

Some books haven’t faired as well. But it’s clear that if you’re an authority and you can write, there is a market.

More examples:

• Julie Powell’s story about cooking up a book deal and changing her life.
• USA Today chimes in
• Penguin Books blogs and has published several blogs to books with mixed success

This post has been in the que for a while…please add other articles in the comments section. I will add a more complete list when I have more time.

My friend Kelly called today. She’s been blogging less than 6 months and today she was featured on Seth Godin’s blog. We celebrated. That is hitting the blogging big time.

Learn from Kelly. You will be rewarded for reaching out by email or phone to other bloggers. She’s had lunch with Shawn Nelson of Love Sac. Now she can email him questions. Every week she features or meets a new person who can help her business because of her blog.

Kelly has a theme song for her business called A Million Dreams to Go (no need to worry if one doesn’t work out there are many many more). Kelly, that should be an affiliate link!

I think for Cymphonix it’s White and Nerdy for now but I’ll think of a better one (see our network security Squidoo page to see the Weird Al video).

When I worked for MyFamily.com the theme song that ran through my head was It’s a Family Thing by Simon Raymond (which is so obscure I can’t find it). Or, The Innocence Mission, Broken Circle for Ancestry.com (helping heal a broken circle in families).

There are times in my career and life my theme song seemed to be The Smiths You Just Haven’t Earned it Yet Baby. lol.
My entrepreneurial theme song is Alanis Morissette’s You Learn. I have had certain songs with messages for me stick in my head for months and months. Reminding me of things. Motivating or inspiring me. For a time (and I think Paul Allen mentioned it inspired him too) it was I Get Knocked Down, but I Get Up Again.

My blog theme song would be something about remembering (because this is my brain made searchable, so I don’t forget what and where I learned something).

What are your theme songs? I’m sure given more time I could come up with some funny ones.

Today when I went to craigslist, I got this message:

This IP has been automatically blocked.

Questions: blocks-b002@craigslist.org.

I’m a big fan of craigslist. It’s how I got my job. It where I when I wanted to rent a place to live. I refer people it all the time. Every person I’ve met off it has been great. I couldn’t have violated any policies because I haven’t posted for a long time.

Craigslist is a great resource to get traffic to your site. If you have a local event or group don’t overlook it. Start a new online forum? I have a friend that consistantly gets new people off his Craiglist listing.

My friend Paul did when he  launched Katrina Housing (now Katrina’s Angels). I pitched the story to MarketingSherpa and they covered it.

I hope this is a mistake…hopefully I’ll hear back soon.

UPDATE: See this post (Craig actually commented!)

I’ve never used the free level, but PRWeb is no longer offering free press release distribution. I believe the lowest cost is now $80.

I like the $200 level for high level releases. I tried to comment on Lee’s blog but it has flagged me as spam. What I wanted to point out is at the $200 level you get a professionally produced podcast about your press release. They call and interview you for about 20 mins. and the next day you’ll have a 5 min. podcast. They do a great job at getting to the point and pointing listeners to a call to action. I post these on our blog and with the release itself (on our site). This is worth noting.

For not as big news I usually use the $120 level. I see a huge week long spike in traffic on our site whenever we submit a press release on PRWeb. Now to just work on converting more of that traffic

I was talking to Kelly of Startup Princess the other day. There is always so much going on to keep track of. We love going to events and learning new things. So, I created the Newspapergrl Calendar of Events. It’s a Google Calendar. You can subscribe, then add your events. I’m trying to create a new page so you can view the calendar (but it’s not working so far)
The calendar is mainly Utah business events. However, if it’s a big Internet marketing-related event, it will also be included.

Please add your events!

Subscribe to the Newspapergrl Utah Business Calendar

The Salt Lake Tribune (who needs some SEO love on their URLs) reported the start of a new pilot program of UTA buses with free wifi access. The first ones to get it are some buses from Ogden Utah to Salt Lake City. This is a great idea!

I would love to take the bus to work if I knew I could write my blog on the way. I hope this is successful. It sounds like it is getting some buzz. I notice free wifi around town and always email the newest spots (Magelby’s in the Riverwoods now has it) to wififreespot.

What I’d really love is for TRAX to come to Utah County and have free wireless. That is my optimal commute, especially in the Winter. I wouldn’t mind if it took longer to get to work if I could be online while I waited. I can do most of my job remotely.

If you live in Utah help spread the word, give public comment, and vote for programs like this. If you live somewhere else, maybe you can petition your public transportation systems in hopes of getting them to test a similiar program.

I just did a search and noticed that Phil Windley blogged about this in 2002. I agree with him, I’d be willing to pay extra for this service. I still don’t understand why bookstores charge as much as home wireless costs (Border & Barnes & Noble).

If buses or light rail made it about $10 a month as he suggests, I believe it could be successful and encourage more people to take public transportation. It could help productivity and air quality in one solution.

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