I learned from Scott Cowley on Twitter that my blog post was nominated for a SEMMY Award. There are 3 posts in the reputation management category to vote on – including mine. Please go and vote! While you’re there check out all of the great content and vote in the other categories.

The post is on Small Business Trends site. Anita Campbell is great to work with and wrote the forward to my book. So I’m honored to be associated with her and happy to be nominated. Yes, if I had the time this would make a good press release. It will have to be a blog post though. If I win it will be a press release

Naturally now that it’s nominated I wish I’d put more pictures in the post – it’s something I need to work on anyway. I’m trying to add more video and graphics but it’s mostly a time issue – plus I’m such a reader that I forget that aspect. Even after all of this time.

The SEMMYS are an annual awards event that started in 2008. Purpose: to honor the great content produced across the search and online marketing industry.

Categories include:
blogging, social media, reputation management, etc.

SEMMYS.org was developed by:

Just because it’s not as in vogue to blog as it once was, doesn’t mean that blogging is dead or dying. In fact, it’s as important as ever. Here are some recent studies that clearly show that blogging is still an important marketing tool.

If you don’t blog, pitch stories good and relevant stories to bloggers (who often need content).

3 studies about blogging to consider:

1. Companies who blog get more traffic, links and pages indexed by search engines

Out of 1,531 HubSpot customers (mostly small- and medium-sized businesses) 795 of the businesses blog, 736 don’t.

Companies that blog have far better marketing results. Specifically, the average company that blogs has:
• 55% more visitors
• 97% more inbound links
• 434% more indexed pages

To extend the benefit add these elements – a recipe for an effective small business blog.

Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5014/Study-Shows-Small-Businesses-That-Blog-Get-55-More-Website-Visitors.aspx

2. Bloggers get more followers on Twitter

A new study of 2,100 HubSpot customers reveals that companies that blog have 79% more Twitter followers than those that don’t.

Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5459/Small-Businesses-That-Blog-Have-102-More-Twitter-Followers.aspx

3. Blogs trusted and consulted more often than traditional media. Shift away from traditional media to blogs/social networks continues

This survey is from tech savvy women (who blog) but is useful. Women use social networks and blogs to interact, be entertained and find information about brands. Study finds they are twice as likely to use blogs over social networking sites as a trusted source of information.

45% of survey respondents stated that they decided to purchase an item after reading about it on a blog.

Source: http://www.blogher.com/blogher-finds-women-online-twice-likely-use-blogs-over-social-networking-sites-trusted-source-inform

Blogging should be a part of your pr/online marketing plans.

Whenever I go on a trip I subscribe to Problogger on my Kindle and then write blog posts and “to do” lists based on what I learn. This time it’s about one of my favorite topics, which is blogger PR.

Cirque Du Soleil – the offbeat circus/acrobatic show was smart. They teamed up with bloggers who were in town (Vegas) for Blog World this year. They invited 250 bloggers to see a show and then blog about it.

They point out that bloggers tend to give a lot of detail about the experience of watching one of their shows. The emotions and feelings, not just the facts. And a lot of bloggers, if they are really happy are also on Twitter, Facebook and other social sites. So you can get coverage on many different networks.

Benefits of Blogger PR

• Exposure to new audiences on each blog + any social sites the bloggers post to.
• Some bloggers post video and pictures from the show or event. This means more exposure.
• Search engine optimization benefits – blog posts tend to do well in search engine and come up when someone searches for your business or product name.
• Reviews – get honest feedback from bloggers about your product or service – bloggers tend to be great at this and are usually savvy and have strong opinions.

Payment and the FTC Guidelines
Most of the time it’s a trade – the bloggers don’t get paid but they don’t have to buy tickets. As of this year, bloggers must disclose that they were compensated (or got free products), per FTC rules. They have to Bloggers will find the positive to say about the experience, but the better it is the more raves there are. If by chance it’s a bad experience, bloggers usually won’t write anything at all. There’s not really a point in writing a bad review unless you need to warn your audience.

Why Hire a Blogger or Consultant for PR
You either have someone on staff who has strong relationships with bloggers or hire someone who does. This is important – if you email people who don’t know you and you don’t know the culture – most likely your request will be ignored. Unless you’re a big name or the offer is incredible. Bloggers should be treated like partners and not as employees.

I’ve been told, we can email the bloggers ourselves, why do we need to pay you to do it for us? Because the bloggers know my name and don’t know yours. I’ve been there for the behind-the-scenes talking between bloggers who get random emails from people they don’t know who act like they know them. Unlikely you’ll get a good response. And even if people come, part of the event is making sure the bloggers get the right information in a timely way and in formats they want them in.

In 2009 I participated or organized blogger PR. This was new to me until this year and I hope to do more in 2010. Here’s the list of events.

• Communal – a new restaurant opened in Provo Utah and invited about 20 bloggers to come for lunch and try it out. It was amazing and I’d go back even more if it were closer. Best new restaurant of 2009. I helped organize this.
• Grand America Hotel Spa escape. I joined 5 other bloggers for a night and a day at this beautiful and opulent hotel in Salt Lake City Utah. I was the organizer.
• Goldsmith Jewelers – Another Utah company who invited 30 or so bloggers to try a new line of bracelets. They did an excellent job and got a lot of buzz. Jyl organized this.
• Social Media Retreat – April invited several local bloggers to try out her favorite products and enjoy some time outdoors. This was a great event because it included a lot of Utah bloggers of all types, which isn’t always possible.
• The Melting Pot in Salt Lake City invited bloggers for some fondue. Jyl organized this.

Another highlight of the year was seeing Julie & Julia with a group of bloggers (we paid). I think that bookstores who bring in authors and movie theaters should do more blogger PR. I thought of doing a project for an orthodontist but I chickened out because I’m afraid of having to wear braces. This month I’m going to a cooking class with April to learn about making chocolate.

I’m using blogger my online PR book and DVD. I’ve gotten some great reviews and hope for more exposure to new audiences this year.

Yesterday I spoke to a group of Utah event and meeting professionals. I used this graph to show that meeting pros were using social media to promote their events.

I also learned that if you’re an event pro, this is the Twitter hashtag to use to share information on Twitter: #eventprofs

Meetings & Conventions Magazine did a survey to find out how meeting pros use social media. They are using what I call the big 3: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Ways meeting pros are using social media include:

post event information
post postevent photographs & materials
researching suppliers
researching speakers
reseraching potential employees
seeking jobs

I propose that more meeting professionals seek to have bloggers attend and participate in their events. Why? Because of the links, traffic to your web site and buzz it can create for your events.

Make your events “blogger friendly” – meaning

1. Invite bloggers and treat them like VIPs.
2. Have a special section for bloggers (we like hanging out with each other).
3. Make sure there are enough plugs (for their computers, etc).
4. Make wifi easy and accessible.
5. If you have a blog be sure to link to their posts about the event.
6. Create a hashtag about the event so people can label their tweets and everyone can see them by using the same label.

Case in point (a rather dramatic one):

I recently attended an event at a local bookstore with famous blogger The Pioneer Woman. She’s a publishing sensation because her first cookbook made the NY Times bestseller list (here’s the NY Times article about Ree Drummond)Thank to her blog she had thousands of people willing to stand in line to meet her at bookstores all over the country. Some people waited over 5 hours to see her.

I blogged about the event. So did a lot of other bloggers (Like Carina and Allison. She linked to our posts). We linked to each other’s posts. I continue to get thousands of readers to my blog as a result of those new links.

Why did we get all of this traffic and attention (and is it deserved)? Because we blogged about an event that had a lot of uzz. I think the fact that we did it quickly (right after the event) and our posts got linked to. We’d all be linking to their book store too.

I’m not trying to beat up this store – I actually want independent bookstores to survive. Blogging is part of that because getting written up on a respected blog will introduce readers to new authors, get more people to your store, bring new people to your events, etc.

What if the event planner of this event (the bookstore) had done what we did? Every time they bring in a big name they could let bloggers know and invite them to a reception with the author. You get a famous librarian, you invite the librarian bloggers to attend. They write about the event and probably buy books and their audience buys books. You could even grease the wheels and have a copy for them and a few signed copies for them to give away on their blog.

Even if you’re not drawing social media extroverts like this group is, a blog is often well-respected by search engines and even one link can introduce you to new networks and higher rankings.

Think of how you might engage with bloggers with your events. Don’t leave it up to chance. Invite them. Think of it as media coverage that’s much easier to get than the traditional outlets.

The FTC has a deadline for bloggers to disclose when they get payment or free product or services. Starting December 1, they’re watching for paid endorsements online.  So when a blogger does a review they must disclose that the product was free or that they were paid to write about a product.

Violators can be subject to fines of $11,000 per violation but the FTC says the focus is on educating not fining people.

We all know that anyone can say anything online without a lot of scrutiny. For most of the mom bloggers I know they won’t leave a negative review or they’ll just opt out of writing about something they don’t like. So the reviews are positive. They have built the trust of their readers so there is little incentive to ruin that by marketing products that their readers won’t like or by lying about the benefits.

Now all we need to do is state that we’re being compensated.

I published 12 tips for finding something to blog about, here are more.

1. Summarize other people’s popular blog posts (like I did with Problogger’s). Bonus if there are a lot of comments or it’s a well-known blog.
2. Read comments on a post you like – that is how I discover many new tools and learn the most! Then I blog about what I discovered knowing most people don’t read past the first few comments.
3. If you take the time to comment on another person’s blog, turn that into a blog post and link to their post.
4. If you tweet about something it can often be expanded into a blog post.
5. If you bookmark something it can often be written about in a blog post.
6. Get ideas from email newsletters. They often don’t tweet about the content. You can blog about the great content or examples you read about.

I hope you get the idea that almost anything that you’re doing to promote your business online can turn into a blog post. I have to remind myself about this.

What inspires you to write a blog post? How do you remember to do it all?

Problogger‘s blog had a post about how to get your new blog indexed. I’m going to summarize it for you and me. These are taken from the post and comments. Create a “to do” list or hire someone to add your blog to these sites, preferably with keywords that identify what your blog is about.

• Get a link from an established blog. You could email and ask a related blog or hit up your blogging friends.
• Tell Google (I haven’t tested this, some say you shouldn’t have to or that this penalizes you. My guess is that it’s a good thing but you should test it).
• Add your site to webmaster tools like Google Webmaster Central and Yahoo Site Explorer
• Create a lens about your blog on Squidoo.
• Create an account at these blog communities: MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Blogged and NetworkedBlogs and note that you get your own URL for the page you create. Also, for sure get listed on blog search engine Technorati.
• Register with sites that give the “value” of your blog:  WebsiteOutlook, StatBrain, CubeStat, WebTrafficAgents, BuiltWith, WhoIs, QuarkBase, URLfan and AboutTheDomain
• Create a profile for your blog on social sites like Twitter, Delicious, StumbleUpon, on Facebook, etc. There are huge lists of social networking sites where you can create a profile and usually get a unique URL.
• Keep track of all of your URLs and link to them on your Google Profile page. I need to update mine.
• Sign up for ChangeDetection that logs when your site changes (and essentially creates new content about your site). Sites like pingler ping search engines when you change your blog.
• Add your blog to LinkedIn and make sure to change the wording of the link from “My Blog” to a keyword phrase like “Press Release blog“

Well, have you?

If you haven’t, why not?

It’s easy and you have nothing to lose.

You can make a few cents per month per subscriber.

Mine got approved in less than 24 hours.

To add your blog to the Kindle, go here.

Please consider subscribing to Newspapergrl on the Kindle. Simply click “menu” and find search. Type in “newspapergrl” and it will come up. First 14 days are free then $1.99 a month.

Check out the Kindle here

I have a great intern Chad. Today he asked me – how do I find things to blog about? It’s a great question. As I’m teaching him I catch myself saying, “I need to blog about this.” It’s much easier for me to blog when people ask questions. Then I realize what people need to know or want to know.

Just like in all marketing, no matter how good you are, if you don’t keep it up, people will forget about you. You won’t reach new audiences and people will follow other bloggers instead of you.

Here are 12 ways to find things to blog about:

1. Real life experiences. You can use examples from clients but make the information general so that it can apply to almost anyone. For example: a client does something unique after sending out a press release. I could blog about it as a tip for others.
2. Email lists. Do you belong to an email list for professionals in your field? Most of the lists have people sharing information or asking questions. The answers or resources people give are potential blog posts. Just expand them and add your tips or opinion. You may want to get permission first if you’re using a lot of their content. Sometimes it’s just the idea or question that gets you thinking.
3. Read. The more you take in, the more you can give out. Read other blogs, industry publications, magazines your target market reads, etc. If it holds your attention then it’s likely worthy of a blog post.
4. Pay attention to your customers questions.  Blog the answers (make it general).
5. Real life events. Blog about events you go to like conferences, meetups, trainings, etc. Blog who you met, what you learned, etc. This can help solidify connections. You should come away with ideas for multiple posts that can be written about at one time then scheduled to go live at intervals. So if you write 3 posts, schedule them to go live one at a time. You could even make it a series. Example: I’m going to present at a conference in October. I could do a series like this – Marketing to Muslims Online Part 1 of 3 then the next day have part 2 of 3, etc.
6. Look in your stats – go to the keyword reporting section. Type in the word, “How” or “Why” or “When” and see what people are asking. Title the post the question and answer it.
7. Use Google alerts to keep track of what’s being said online and then write about the good posts or sites you find.
8. Use tweetbeep or search Twitter to see what people are asking about a topic. Type in a subject and a question mark. For example “press release ?” to get questions about press releases. Then you’ll find out what people need to know right now. Answer them by linking to a post or give a short answer then write a longer one. Send them a tweet about the post.
9. Use Google Insights for Search – it shows news about a topic and at the bottom you can see most popular keywords or searches.
10. Write about what you see on TV or traditional media. For example, I watched 60 Mins. episode on Twitter and I could let my readers know about it and link to it in a blog post.
11. Write about products or services you like or would recommend. Or blog about services you wish you had and ask if anyone can recommend a solution to your problem.
12. Write a post based on comments you get or read on another person’s blog. People tend to read the first comment or two only. Sometimes there are real gems buried in the comments that deserve to be highlighted in a post. For example: you read or write a post on how to host a successful conference. People write their tips in the comments. You can write a follow-up post highlighting your reader’s tips.

Problogger wrote 9 Things to Do to Make Sure your Next blog Post is Read by More than your Mom

and Problogger guest writer Lynn Terry wrote ways to aggregate blog posts and re-use old content on your blog.

How do you find things to blog about?

I recently wrote an article for Small Business Trends about blogging as an SEO Tool. It was featured in the Better Business Bureau’s Newsletter. Here it is in case you missed it.

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I’m a huge proponent of blogging based first on my own experience as a blogger. My blog essentially launched my career in online marketing and SEO. I learned from it and I have helped businesses large and small benefit from blogging.

But until now I didn’t have current research about a blog’s impact on SEO

Hubspot just came out with research based on their actual customers on how a blog impacts their business. It’s a decent sample size of 1,531 of their customers which are primarily small and mid-sized businesses. Roughly half (795) blog and half don’t (736).

Here’s the data. Those who blog see:

• 55% more visitors to their website.
• 97% more links to their website which is a primary factor in where your website shows up in search results. (Want a higher ranking, get quality links to your site).
• 434% more indexed pages – this is the number of pages that show up in search engines. Just because you have a site doesn’t guarantee it is being indexed (findable). Just because some of your pages are in search engines doesn’t mean all of your pages are.

This is incredible data – who wouldn’t want those kind of results?

However, blogging isn’t for everyone. Think this over:

• Do you have content to write about? If you don’t have much to say blogging isn’t a good medium for saying it. Sending out a press release every few months would probably be better.
• Can you commit to writing regularly? Google rewards consistency and consistency builds trust with people. If you can’t maintain a blog then it’s probably better not to.
• Do you have the technical background to install and maintain a blog (plugins, features, etc)?
• Would you need help posting on a blog?

Here are some ways to get help posting on a blog. Consider hiring an intern from a local college to create blog posts – take pictures for the posts and get valuable online PR experience. Most of the time this is a free way to go about it, but you must manage them or find someone who can write and learn quickly with little or no supervision.

Another option is to hire a blogger who understands SEO or hire someone to coach your team. While having someone else blog for you who is not as familiar as you are with your business may initially be a drawback, it does at least ensure your blog is being updated.It can fill in some of the gaps. The better information you can supply to the blogger, the better quality your posts will be. As time goes by they will gain knowledge and understanding of your business that will make it easier and easier for them to blog.

If you want to get started, here are some blogging tips. A solution that can work for a small businesses is Yola – it’s free to set up a simple blog or website. You can add Google Maps and you can optimize it for search engines. For a nominal cost you can get your own domain name (it will redirect to your Yola blog). If you have things to write about and want to save on time or choose something less technical it’s a good choice. You can help your SEO and ultimately your business.