blog_promotion Archives - Page 95 of 101

Blog Promotion: Checking Out Curb Appeal

February 13, 2006 by Liz

Steve McKee writes the Smart Answers column in Business Week. Last Friday he was talking about how everything a company does comes down to marketing. His column was replete with examples and well made points, but I was particularly taken with this story.

. . . The other night, my wife and I decided to try a new restaurant. But when we turned down its street, we just kept on driving, never even getting out of the car. It was the sign that gave us pause. It was simply a flat, translucent panel with an amateurish, one-color logo slapped on — the kind of sign you would see on a check-cashing operation in a seedy strip mall. The sign was of low quality and in bad taste — imagery not well associated with a fine-dining establishment. With plenty of other good choices we simply didn’t want to take the risk of spoiling our dinner date.

For all I know, the food would have been amazing and the chef an undiscovered gem, but the restaurant never got the chance to prove it because we naturally assumed the experience would be as unprofessional as the sign. As a result, we passed.

Perhaps after a few more quiet weekends the proprietor will realize that marketing is everything and will do something about the sign. Perhaps not. But I’m determined to apply the lesson to my own business and think about marketing in a much broader context. Are you?

–Steve McKee, Business Week, Smart Answers : All Together Now “Marketing Is Everything,” February 10, 2006

Checking Out Curb Appeal

After I read Steve McKee’s story, I started wondering. How many readers are choosing to drive by our blogs–the same way Steve and his wife chose to drive by that restaurant–because they lack curb appeal? We do make assumptions based solely on how a blog looks. Try this test to see how blog curb appeal works for you.

memory, dragons,

fortune.

2. Do the search on Google Blog Search, Technorati, or another blog search engine. Keep your search results window handy in case you need to return to it.

3. Randomly choose 3-5 blogs from the search results.

4. Without reading a word, rank the blogs in the order you predict they might rank based on linkage from other blogs.

5. Then do a link search for each blog on Technorati Advanced Search or another blog search engine to get their actual link stats. ( On Technorati–>[Search>Options>Links to This URL] On Others–>[link: domain.com] )

6. Rank the blogs again based on your findings from the links search.

7. Compare your prediction to reality. Did your prediction come close?

Curb appeal changes how we value things. To say it another way. Perception changes reality.

Granted curb appeal isn’t everything. Curb appeal gets folks in the door. Content keeps them. Even without curb appeal, if you can folks to read quality content, they’ll come back again. Still that doesn’t change the fact that curb appeal makes a HUGE difference in whether a stranger stops to read word one.

Curb Appeal in the Technorati 100

In the Technorati Top 100 Blogs, 10 are My Space Blogs. Who says a template blog can’t have curb appeal? Here are three My Space Blogs from the Technorati Top 100 and their link stats as of today.

Technorati 19 has 16,141 links from 4864 sites.

Technorati 81 has 6673 links from 2214 sites.

Technorati 96 has 5792 links from 2290 sites.

Obviously readers find these blogs have enough curb appeal. Like beauty, curb appeal is in the eye of the beholder. Our blogs need to match what our readers expect to see from a blog like ours. A Disney Blog shouldn’t look like Brooks Brothers or a hiphop blog for that matter. We all have sense what our readers will find confusing or won’t find attractive. Don’t we?

Steve McKee’s story stuck with me because my decision tree always starts with eliminating the negatives. That way I have fewer choices to work from. I might be missing something spectacular, but I don’t have the time to kiss all of the frogs I’ll meet just to find that spectacular something.

So many blogs and so little time. Don’t let me drive right by yours, just because I didn’t see the quality on your sign out front. I’m going out to check my sign one more time right now. How’s your sign looking these days?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to Week 16 SOBs

February 11, 2006 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

muddy teal strip A

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this badge’s validity, send him or her directly to me. This award comes with a full “Liz said so” guarantee. It is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

The SOB Directory Update 02-07-06

February 7, 2006 by Liz

Have you visited the SOB Directory lately? It’s got its own page–right there in the sidebar. Check it out! It’s constantly changing, updating, adding the links of the latest Successful and Outstanding Bloggers. You can browse there to find the bloggers who take the conversation at Successful-Blog back to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, and make us better. It’s a great place to discover a favorite blog to read–a blog writer you have something in common with.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Directory. Click the link or visit from the sidebar.
Everything you need to know is on that page. Everyweek we add new SOBs to the list, no reason you can’t be one–you’re outstanding aren’t you?

Send Bios for the SOB Directory

If you already are an SOB, the Directory is my thank you to the Successful-Blog Community. It’s a way that we can keep connected, an annotated blogroll with logos, so to speak.

Why not send me 1-2 sentences about your blog? You must have a short description from some directory listing on your computer. Dust it off and send it along. Think of it as free advertising to a substantial readership.

By the way, if you’d have a better version of your logo feel free to send that too. Only one restriction–60 pixels high and not more than 200 pixels wide. That’s what fits.

In case you don’t know where to send them . . .e-mail them to me at lizsun2@gmail.com.

We’re making Success a habit.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Fun Find: Button Generator.com

February 4, 2006 by Liz

I was looking at some sites around the Internet that had unique and personal buttons for their blogs last night. That seemed like a fun thing to do. Fun is something there just isn’t enough of in my life during the gray Chicago winter months. So I went hunting for a button maker. I figured it was one more way I might brand my personal blog.

Boyhowdy! Did I find one! What kind of button would you like? Will you be having a menu to go with that?

FUN Find: Button Generator.com
Type of Site: Webmasters’ resource for creating buttons and menus
Target Audience: Anyone who wants a one-of-a-kind button
Content: This site has an easy and a pro generator. It has a huge variety of free choices for making buttons and menus and provides member services. The free choices are extensive and quite elegant. In fact, I found myself enjoying the experience of making choices a relaxing change from a stressful day. (But that could just me be. We know I have that weird side.)

Before you enter there are two things you should be aware of:

Free use is on a moving time clock.
Link back is required–the linkback button is cool–or you can become a member.

All buttons also come with their own code. We’re talking Super-Buttons. You can use hex charts to change every color. If you use the advanced format you can change every layer of color. You could be here all day. You could be here until next Friday morning!

There are 11 pages of sample buttons. This is just one of them. The menu generator designs menus that match the buttons. How cool is that?

I can’t believe you won’t be able to find something that perfectly expresses you and your blog’s design. In fact, the bigger worry is that this site could very well get you into a button collecting mood. You might even start a button-trading club. Then you’ll have to join Button Generators Anonymous. Please use this information with caution. This site really is addictive. I might just have to become a member so that I can play with the button generator everyday now and forever.

C’mon. You know, you wanna.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

More Fun:
Internet Dictionary and Slang Translator
A Message for Everyone
Top 10 Ways to Become a Miserable Blogger
65th Crayon Finds that Google DoesnÃ¢â¬â¢t Use Search

Thanks to Week 15 SOBs

February 4, 2006 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

muddy teal strip A

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Success in a Blink and a Blink Test

January 31, 2006 by Liz

In 2005, Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book “Blink.” introduced the idea that we make make decisions about people and things almost instantaneously– long before we do the cognitive thinking about them.

Last week, Reuters reported that Canadian researchers have found that people make just such decisions about Internet sites, deciding in less than a blink whether they will stay or click away from them. Here’s a link to the article.

I wonder what Reuters was thinking to write an article so short that you miss the whole thing if you blink?

A Blink Test

Before you blink away, you might try this the next time you bring up your blog or web page. Try to see your blog as if it were one you’d never seen it before.

1. Close your eyes for a minute. Then open them once the page is up.

2. Pay attention to where your eyes fall first. Is that where you want them to?

3. Look at a blank wall or a blank piece of paper for a minute. Then look back again. What attracts or distracts you? Does anything make you want to stay or leave?

Use what you find out to make sure your blog gets a “yes” in that first blink.

THIS JUST IN:
Gary an SOB over at Blogoplex did a test on several blogs including this one . . . Click through to read his blink test results. See whether you agree.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Re;ated articles:
Blog Promotion: Checking Out Curb Appeal
Five Design Basics to Never Forget
Blog Design Checklist
Great Photo Resources to Support Readers