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Blog Promotion: 5 Yeses and and 2 Nos

Published August 12, 2008 Blogger/Media Relations , Social Media 4 Comments
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Starting to write a blog is a fantastic step. But who’s reading it? Is anybody commenting? First off, decide whether you care. Not every blog needs a large following. But, if it’s readers you want you probably have to earn them. Unless you’re already famous.

Before people will read and comment on your blog, they need to know about it. Just like any product that hits a saturated market, you need to promote and market your blog. You need an angle, you need a brand.

If you’re new to blogging, here are a few tips I’ve picked up about promoting a blog:

  1. Start by reading, and discovering other blogs that are similar in nature to your own. Get to know what they write about, how they write, and who reads their material.
  2. Join the conversation on those blogs. Comment on any blogs you stumble across, so long as you have something to add to the conversation. The hyperlink in your name will direct people to your own blog.
  3. Join some other networks and engage in the conversations going on there. Twitter is great for this. Talk to people, grow your following/follower list, learn, and talk some more. Make sure your blog URL is part of your Bio, so folks can get it if they want.
  4. When people comment on your blog, reply to them in your own comments. This shows that you’re engaged, and (hopefully) will encourage return visits. Read their blog if they have one, comment there.
  5. Attend local (and not-so-local) conferences, camps, meetups, tweetups, and more. Bring cards with your name, your email, your blog, and any other relevant info.

And 2 things to NOT do when trying to promote your blog.

  1. Don’t tell people to read your blog and comment. People will do that if they want to. Focus on providing interesting discussion for them to join.
  2. Don’t focus on the numbers too much. Track trends in your viewers. Set up some sort of statistics or metrics system for your blog. Worry about growing your readers over time, not overnight. Excessive focus on stats, and not on your writing, could lead to blogger-burnout.

These are some ideas I’ve thought of. It definitely isn’t an exhaustive guide to promoting your blog. It’s just somewhere to start.

I hope you’ll share your thoughts on the subject as well.

Evangelism & the Social Media Socrates

Published July 16, 2008 Random thoughts , Social Media 3 Comments
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Social Media evangelism is kinda like this:

A lot of ideas, a lot of talk, but nobody really knows what they’re talking about. There’s anectodal evidence, there’s even some hard numbers in cases where businesses improved their sales greatly when they started engaging with customers in the Web2.0 atmosphere.

But there’s a lot of “cluetailtipinomics” out there, if I may use the expression coined by David Jones. Basically meaning (and correct me if I’m wrong) the mistaken assumption that social media IS a valid business model; rather than a means of supporting a valid business model.

There are critics who claim that social media evangelism is a bunch of fluff, that they aren’t about conversations but about self-promotion, and they do nothing for businesses.

Let’s consider Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher who lived about 2500 years ago, and is recorded largely in Plato’s dialogues. He was ridiculed in famous works like Aristophanes’ “The Clouds“. Socrates was portrayed as drifting around with his feet off the ground and his head in the clouds. He’s reputed to be a dead-beat dad, a street peddler, and more!

He’s also credited as a founding father of Western philosophy. His ideas surrounding justice, democracy and goodness are wildly influential to this day. He founded the Socratic Method, in which he asked questions, with one leading to another, eventually narrowing into a more focussed answer. This was a precursor to the scientific method of testing a series of hypotheses in order to arrive at an answer.

So, while the “Social Media Evangelist” may or may not be developing great business models, acquiring wealth or serving any immediate, measurable and practical purpose… They may be onto something. Great thoughts often come from people who are passionate enough to give their life for an ideal. And those thoughts and the people who hatched them, could be spoken of for millennia.

Gaming vs. Blogging – FIGHT!

Published June 20, 2008 Random thoughts , Social Media , video games Leave a Comment
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This week.. gaming won.

I haven’t done much posting this week because I bought the Half-Life 2 Orange Box last weekend. I must say, if you’re at all inclined to buy it, just do it. It’s amazing gaming value. This isn’t a new product, it came out Fall 2007. But I waited until I finished my school program before buying it.

For the uninitiated, the package comes with:

  1. The original Half-Life 2 game
  2. Half-Life 2: Episode 1
  3. Half-Life 2: Episode 2
  4. Portal
  5. Team Fortress 2

That’s a LOT of game time for only $40. I purchased it through Steam, the online game retailer run by Valve, the creator of Half-Life. A quick download of the game, and I was playing parts of the package within an hour – less time than a two-way trip to the closest Future Shop.

I began with Portal – I’d played a bit of the Xbox 360 version when my nephew rented Orange Box a few weeks ago. Portal is a 1st person puzzle game, where you solve stages by using various portals that you and certain objects can pass through.

Portal is incredibly well made, well written (the computer says some really funny things), and it will mess with you your mind. It’s not a long game, and I finished playing through it in probably two or three hours. After you finish it, it unlocks the challenges – an added level of difficulty. You have a goal to beat the levels in a certain time limit, or with a limited number of portals. You can buy Portal as a stand-alone for $20 on Steam, even if you’re not interested in HL2. I give it a solid “Buy it” out of 10.

I’ve also beaten HL2: Episode 1. It was good, but short. If you’re a fan of Half-Life 2, play it, because it continues the story line and develops the relationship between Alyx Vance and Gordan Freeman that started in HL2. I’m glad I didn’t buy it as a stand-alone when it came out.

I started playing Episode 2 last night, and it is FAR better than Episode 1. The character models were upgraded, there are new foes, and the plot is longer and more immersive. I’m looking forward to seeing where else the game goes.

Team Fortress 2 is a riot. I love the cartoon-y graphics. The new levels are very good. The game balance is different than previous Team Fortress versions, and requires different play style. All-in-all I’m pleased, and can see it being a staple for boring evenings at home.

If you have Team Fortress 2 and want to connect with me on Steam, look me up. I’d lvoe to play a few rounds.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/RaWeiss/

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