Successful Blog

Seven Ways to Offer an Irresistibly Readable Blog to the Undecided Readers of Your Blog

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Who Decides to Read Your Blog?

I went back to the archives to find, revise and expand, and bring this one back to you. The content is even more relevant now that the conversation has moved to so many locations and the noise is so much louder.

In just a brief one-twentieth of a second–less than half the time it takes to blink–people make aesthetic judgments that influence the rest of their experience with an Internet site.

–Kamakshi Tandon
REUTERS, Internet users judge Web sites in less than a blink
Jan. 17, 2006
Liz reading computer

We’ve got less than a blink to grab a reader’s attention. The reader clicks in. Looks. Decides and then . . . and then what? . . . Do they stay or do they leave? If they stay, did what they see lend our words more credibility or did it take some away?

Design, curb appeal, packaging — whatever you call it — it’s what brings customer-readers further into our businesses and our blogs. They recognize what works for them and what doesn’t. If it doesn’t, they’re gone so quickly that even our stats programs don’t know. Try the Blink Test if you want a baseline idea of what your readers are seeing before they blink.

What about reluctant readers, undecideds who decide to stay a little longer? What can we do to convince them to stay? Better yet, how can we turn them into fans?

Capturing the Attention of Reluctant Readers

Uber Reader Sign

In educational publishing, we use a euphemism, “reluctant readers.” It’s meant to describe kids who, rather than read, they turn away to find their inline skates or a shiny object online. To get those customer-readers engaged you don’t forget them, you off them something. As a product builder, they’re my favorite customers to write for and to write about.

Why am I talking about this when you write for literate adults? The interwebs offer so much that this information has become vitally important to every person who writes a blog. .

. . . You see, with no time and too much information to sort and process, we’re all reluctant readers and becoming so more and more. If you’re a skeptic, try reading the tax code –or any “have-to” document on your least favorite subject. You’ll wish that there were something more to see than long columns of endless text, something to break up the boring words.

If we want our customer-readers to stay long enough to hear what we’re saying, we need to offer an experience that’s irresistible. We’ve got to

  • offer information that’s useful and makes sense to them
  • appeal to their sense of fun, offers a beautiful experience, or moves them emotionally
  • deliver it in ways that fit into the time their life has available

Irresistible is all about the engaging the folks who come in all three ways above.

Reader Support as Part of Your Brand

Those kids we call reluctant readers leave their inline skates to read what they’re madly interested in — books on extreme sports and the latest gaming websites and blogs — if they’re made right. As educators, we keep them using the research that show us how to construct information so that they’re reading faster and with more satisfaction.

You can use that same educational research to engage your customer-readers. Brand your blog as a worthwhile source of quality content. It’s one more way, that you can make customer-reader support a resounding part of your offer.

  1. Tell the story of the information. Quality is essential, but know that quality information can’t carry the load. If people only want information sources are plenty. The story of the facts, your experience or response to them is only where you are. It’s the story that gives connects people to the information. Give your words and your blog life, appeal, and meaning and you’ll be most of the way there.
  2. Use sub-heads liberally. Sub-heads break the text into shorter bits. Subconsciously that not only tells me what this bit is about. It also says I only have to read this far and then I get to breathe again. Our brains like subheads. Search engines like them too. The keywords are guideposts that organize our thoughts.
  3. Use everyday words. Everyday words keep the reader moving forward. Big words make us stop to consider them. Think about it. The word use is a fine one, use it. Do you really mean utilize? Use keeps me going. Utilize makes me stop to wonder whether you mean something other than the what use would have said. Anything that stops a reader works against your message being heard.
  4. Use one or two pictures, images, art, and color to enhance your message. Place them with care where add value to the text. Put images where readers expect to find them. If you’re not sure ask a customer-reader to give you feedback on how you’re doing. Design seems easy, but it’s not.
  5. Take the time to write something short. The point here is to make every word count. Be lethal. Remove every word that you don’t need. It’s amazing how many extra words you can find when your quest is to go looking for them. A few sentences ago, I turned this into two posts instead of one.
  6. Use typographic cues, such as bold and italic, to show what’s important. Be consistent and try not to make everything important. If you use underlined text to show what is a link, don’t use an underline for anything else. If you make everything important, then nothing is.
  7. Show up to let folks know you want them there. Write with room for them to add their view. Consider the questions you ask them. When they take the time to respond, let them know that you heard. Take time to answer back with your thoughts and if you can, ask another question.

Each of these points are about helping reluctant readers access your message in the easiest most straightforward way. When you support me like that I feel like we’re both smart.

Ever read something that made you feel like the writer was saying something you always thought? . . . or something that just made you feel smart for reading it? Bet you went back to see what else that writer had to say . . . . These are just a few more ways to a fan.

What makes an irresistibly readable blog for you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

The Castaways of Survivor SxSW Austin: How to Find ADOS Immunity at a Huge Conference

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Off to the Island We Go

I was still a young pup when I discovered the key to conferences. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. They’re arranged, funded, and attended by people. People at conferences seem to fall victim to the same behaviors. By the end, the folks leaving can look like they’ve lived a season of Survivor — Take for example this recent conference: Survivor SxSW Austin.

People were off to the island of Austin. Soon enough SxSW castaways realized that their ties to home were gone. We started saying hello; finding common ground; seeing who had a SxSW badge, forming our teams. The people of the town, the people of restaurants, the people in the cars, cabs, and hallways become like so much scenery — we only interacted with them when we needed essentials — food, clothing, and shelter (well, mostly food.)

Survivor SxSW became Reality 2.0. Anticipation was high. Possibilities were higher. Intentions and expectations were everywhere. “Do everything” looked like the only option between now and home. Survival required focus and follow through in the alien environment that only a huge conference can be. The folks who came without training were at a serious disadvantage.

The 3 questions on the Survivor site were heard throughout the week.

  • Who’s most under-estimated?
  • What’s the wildest moment so far?
  • Which castaway seems most out of their element?

Who would be left standing at the end of a week?

It’s easy to feel alone. No one gets automatic immunity. You have to find your own.

The Castaways

Huge conference after huge conference the cast doesn’t seem to change. Let me introduce you to the folks I always see. They were there last year … but like a new season of Survivor, they seemed to be the same people with different names.

  1. The first timer: She was glad to be there and overwhelmed that everyone knew what she didn’t — that just because you know 100 people at the same conference, it doesn’t mean you’ll see any of them. She’s was soon wishing she’d come with comfortable shoes, with a plan, with a friend to keep her company.
  2. The up and comer: He went for the win. In a few hours, everyone knew him. He was networking until the cows came home, or at least back to his hotel. You’ll know him by the number of flickr pix that you find tagged with his name. Do you have a copy of his book? Wait, he hasn’t had time to write it yet.
  3. The information junkie: Her head was in the panels. She could quote chapter and verse of the keynotes and blogged every question. Her program was worn to shreds from handling by Day 2. She exchanged cards with every speaker, but didn’t really have a conversation the entire week.
  4. The party monkeys: Each morning they built alliances on the list of parties they’d attend that evening. The next day they spoke slowly about how long the lines were. They lost their voices and their hearing by bits with each new sunrise.
  5. The rockstar: She showed up for appearances, did her gig, smiled at fans, shook their hands, and disappeared almost as quickly. She might have gotten off most easily because her unreal fame fits the unreality of the conference with a resonating rhythm.
  6. The social jockey: He decided what to do and which people to spend time with based on whether they add to his visibility. You know your star is rising if his kind spoke with you this year.
  7. The sponsors and the sponsored: They worked their butts off and hardly had time to talk. They made everything happen. When they had downtime they talked business or partied like the attendees.
  8. The camera crew: The camera crew was busy with their cameras. They are not allowed to interact while the cameras are on. They’ll experience the conference when they look through their flickr accounts.
  9. The pros: They treated the conference like a Twitter stream — taking part in what they found valuable, letting the rest go by. They did business. They attended some sessions and events. They skipped others for quality conversation. They got sleep every night. They kept their feet on ground and their thoughts in perspective.

Lots of regular folks were there too, by Day 4 they were easy to identify. They were the ones who were still awake and itching to find their own pillow. A Survivor Experience can wear on the most grounded psyches. These are the folks who disappeared from the interwebs when they got home.

How to Find ADOS Immunity at a Huge Conference

Lots of great things happen at conferences. SxSW is outstanding for what it offers –incredible opportunities to expand your network and constant input to move your thinking to new levels. You’ll meet great people and if you try, you’ll get a chance to know them. To be successful, you need to find immunity to an extreme case of ADD that someone called ADOS — AD-oooo shiny.

Five ground rules will help.

  1. Build your network before you go. Meet people via email and telephone long before you get to the “island.” Huge conferences are more valuable if you already have a connection to the people you’re going to meet. You’ll also find that more of the meetings that you plan will actually take place.
  2. Invest in a goal. That will give your conference a direction and a basis on which to make decisions about what to do next when unexpected opportunities jump in front of you.
  3. Only plan 3 – 5 things each day and be lethal about getting those done. Interruptions and opportunities to explore people, places, and conversations will be everywhere all day long. If you find you have time to do more than you planned, you’ll be ahead of the game.
  4. Make time for at least one important conversation daily. Go to lunch with smart people. Talk about smart things. A week of continuous small talk can make any person feel shallow, insecure, and a little lost.
  5. Make time for sleep. Don’t think you can do everything. No one will notice if you missed that third party on Tuesday. Everyone will notice if you look a wreck and can’t think by Day 3.

Those few strategies can help keep your balance. You’ll accomplish your goals, get a return on your investment, and learn plenty from just being there. You’ll head home a Survivor, feeling like the tribe was worth every minute you spent in their company.

What do you do to survive huge conferences?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Work and network in a small quiet space with a dream team.

BlissDom09: How to Be a Successful Sponsor at a Small Conference

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Great Conference

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being part of BlissDom09. As it says on the Blissdom Conference website:

We came. We saw. We learned. We bonded. We had the most wonderful time!

BlissDom09 brought together outstanding speakers and panelists and new bloggers, blogging professionals, writers — women mostly from all over the country — Michelle Lamar — Buy her book and embrace your inner trailer park. Ghennipher who is grace and intelligence, Lori Falcon who’s brilliant about making money with a blog, Jessica Smith who asks great questions and knows more than I’ve forgotten. Carole Hicks a friend already, Debba Haupert who didn’t bring the coffee!! and especially Beth Rosen, who knew everyone before she left there. And this is only a few of the cool people I met.

BlissDom is the brain child of Alli Worthingdon who runs Blissfully Domestic and Barbara Jones, who masterminds One2OneNetwork. Congratulations to Alli and Barbara who are clearly about making sure that everyone gets even more than what they came for.

One way that they did that was to forge relationships with the best sponsor-partners.

How to Be A Successful and Outstanding Sponsor

Any conference is an investment for conference producers, attendees, and sponsors. I’ve read a lot about how to run a good conference, learned a bit by doing just that. I’ve written about the value of attending a well-run event — how it can change a business. But I’ve not seen much on how a sponsor can add to and make the most of a event — though I’ve seen sponsors do silly things that have really turned attendees off.

If you’re running a conference or about to sponsor one, look to do more than just se

What I saw at BlissDom was a partnership, much the same as that we work for my own event. Successful and outstanding sponsors are the ones we remember because they fit seamlessly into the event.

It’s a week past. These Blissdom09 sponsors are the ones I’m still talking about.

  • Great sponsors come as learners to build relationships, not to hunt buyers.
    AND

    John Andrews from Walmat and Tara Anderson from lijit were panelists, attended the sessions, and participated in event activities. Though their companies are hugely different in size, scale, and offering, they related to people in the same one-to-one fashion. They were building relationships. I had personal conversations with each of them. It was obvious they were both there to learn and connect. I’ll be using them as examples when people as how do to do it right.

    John and Tara were about building relationships with their customers — current and future.

  • If they send a product, it’s the right one.

    I didn’t met a representative from Little Debbie, but I didn’t see any reason that one needed to be there. The product — 100 calorie snacks — fed us during the breaks and movie party. Simply providing it for us to sample was enough for me to see that I liked it. I’ve already bought some. I like the peanut butter ones. More please!!

    Little Debbie let their product speak for them.

  • They give more than they might get.

    I’ve always been a LandsEnd evangelist. I love their jeans. The catalog they included in the swag back introduced their new line with free shipping. I paged through their catalog. I didn’t buy. I kept thinking that a $25 gift would have been a better investment. I was disappointed that LandsEnd didn’t reach out more.

    Free shipping from LandsEnd? Not exactly a sample of their product. UPDATE: My apology to LandsEnd What I was thinking? HOW COULD I OVERLOOK THE LANDSEND TOTES? Thank you, LandsEnd. I must have conference totebag blindness. I sure would have noticed if I had to carry that stuff without them. The inside pockets are particularly cool.

    Crocs added a $50 gift to the package. $50 was enough for me to go to their website to realize that they have more than just plastic shoes with holes in them. I think they might have a new customer. I’ve already told three people about the gift and how Alli showed off her crocs boots the audience.

    Crocs offered an invitation to experience more than shoes with holes.

  • Great sponsors know people remember experiences, not demos and speeches. They invite us to participate in unforgettable ways.

    • Sony showed up in the form of Chris Mann, who talked with BlissDom attendees on Twitter as @iamchrismann long before that weekend. So when he took the stage at BlissDom, he was already a friend. Here’s a clip from the private concert he did. Chris stayed, talked, and shot video.

    Sony let us help launch a career!

    Disney Pearl brought a massive HD plasma screen, 4 small ones, a complete sound system and production team for what might have been the most entertaining break of the the event. They were introducing YANNI VOICES — an event in which the famous musician chose 5 solo voices to put lyrics to his music and developed a performance around them. Who would have thought a DVD of a music show belonged a blogger conference. But the experience was exciting, moving, and entertaining. THEN, to make us feel special, it ended with a chance to meet the vocalists in the show.

    Disney made us part of a huge event.

Granted I’m only one person, and this is only my opinion. BUT … I’m one person with a few Twitter followers, a few blog subscribers. I run a conference, use a telephone, speak and teach about relationships in business, and attend more meetups and tweetups than most. I also like talking about the folks who get it right, but reminding folks who the best of the best are.

It’s great to see sponsors showing that they understand that experience is that way to share their products. They understand how build a fiercely loyal fan base. When they get right, it’s only right that we point it out and give a little of that love back.

How has a sponsor at a conference ever gotten you talk about them?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

How Many Followers Make a Demographic?

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Seeing Numbers Instead of People

It happens in art and in science. I’ve seen the market flatten and demolish educational best practice. Exceptional music has been remixed into muzak. Groundbreaking movies have been merchandised into plastic toys.

Commercial culture depends on the theft of intellectual property for its livelihood. Mass marketers steal ideas from visionaries, alter them slightly if at all, then reissue them to the public as new products. In the process what was once insurgent becomes commodity, and what was once the shock of the new becomes the shlock of the novel. Invariably, early expressions of sub- or alternative cultures are the most fertile sampling grounds, as their publications or zines are the first to be pilfered. Invariably, pioneers of radical form become wellsprings for appropriation. Rebellion of any kind breeds followers, and many followers become a demographic.
Underground Mainstream [emphasis mine]

Any idea, philosophy, or culture that gathers a large enough number of followers has the potential to become a demographic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Identifying a demographic can be a good thing. When blogging moms became a demographic, their voices were elevated, strenthened, more respected. When they formed communities and networks — BlogHer, Sparkplugging, and Mom Central, they became visible, listened to, reachable. It’s a benefit to consumer moms everywhere. Products offered will serve moms better and moms in customer outreach will be portrayed more accurately.

While awareness and understanding of the influence and collective wisdom of group can be a good thing, sheer aggregation of a group opinion is not conversation or even effective communication. Individuals still matter. Not every mom wants the same things. Geekmommy doesn’t write a blog about her kids.

How Keep Your Followers from Becoming a Demographic

Once we pass some number of followers — Dunbar says it’s 150 — it’s hard to know every invididual in a group personally. Howdo we keep the conversation personal and valuable without flattening it to numbers and global traits of people we hardly know?

The question has been whether the conversation is scalable. It seems it can be. But as Amber Nashlund says, “It’s not a plugin, people … It’s a serious approach to business communications and customer service and if you’re to succeed with it, you had better take it that seriously from the outset. You are making a commitment.”

We can do what great communicators and community builders have always done. Here are some ways to keep sight of the people who are following you.

  • Listen individually. Pay attention to people as they speak. Listen for the differences in how they say things. How they react to the same situations.
  • Before you answer someone new, take a peek at his or her profile. Visit a blog. Read a blog post. Know something about the person you’ll be talking with.
  • Ask intriguing questions that invite individual opinions. Encourage people to elaborate and to ask questions.
  • Reach out to folks who don’t talk much and always answer the new person who makes a comment.
  • Get the whole community talking to each other.
  • Set aside time to talk to new people. Make a special point to invite them to participate in the conversation.
  • Be interested in every person’s experience. Ask for details.

Thinking demographics reduces people to numbers and flattens our understanding of why they do things. It washes out the rich, diversity and individual details. When we get into “demographic think,” we can lose sight that every person brings unique wisdom, experience, and history to make decisions based on their own criteria. Know the demographics, but talk to the individuals.

<a href="http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=profile&l=wilhelmien">m. ricquier </a>

Have you felt like you were a number — not a person — recently?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Image: sxc.hu
Work with Liz!!

Affiliate Marketing Myths — Myth 2: It’s Best to Start with a Crash Course

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In this time of a down economy, who couldn’t do with another income stream? Those of who’ve been online for a few weeks or longer, realize that not every offer of income potential is quite what it seems to be.

James Nardell and his team at Shopster have been writing a series on myths bloggers have about affiliate marketing. This is the second in that series to help us all avoid some potholes on the information highway. (Does anyone still call it that?)

Myth 2: It’s Best to Start Affiliate Marketing with a Crash Course
A Guest Post by Raymond Lau

Is a crash course from a leading affiliate the best way to ramp up fast on affiliate marketing techniques?

Sort of. When looking for a crash course in affiliate marketing, the key words are “buyer beware”. While it is entirely possible to learn good fundamentals from a beginner’s course, there are many resources out there that are either misleading, out of date, or entirely loony.

A misleading technique is one that worked for someone, once, under circumstances they either cannot reproduce or cannot adequately expand. Avoiding this is as simple as doing your homework: look back at the history of the technique itself, and who is presenting it. The best business is built upon a stable foundation that can adapt to changes in the market. Learning the processes and habits of a fluke will only lead to troubles down the road.

An out-of-date technique is just as useless to you when starting out. Changes in affiliate marketing happen all the time, and as a beginner you simply cannot afford to start your business without a step ahead of the competition. Why even bother entering the race in the middle of the pack, where business winds down to the lowest bidder? Affiliate marketing is about innovation.

Of course, among the throngs of dead ends there are some shining examples of solid, easily-accessible courses from people who know what they’re doing. They’re not that hard to find (hah, they’d better not be!) and it takes virtually no time to get started with their guides.

Some are free, like the “Affiliate Masters” guide by Ken Evoy (http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/AffMasters.pdf) which thoroughly covers the potential beginning of your affiliate marketing life and provides a wealth of links to other solid resources.

Others, such as the Affiliate Marketer’s Handbook by James Martell, or Rosalind Gardner’s How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People’s Stuff Online, require an up-front investment but come with backup support and counseling by the authors themselves, allowing for a much more personal experience that may more thoroughly ingrain the fundamentals.

Whether you go for the free route or decide to pay for the information, there are three simple questions to ensure that what you’re learning will help you and your business:

1. Does it suit you? Look into the history of who is teaching and what they are saying. Make a judgment on whether or not what they’re teaching can be adapted to the markets you want to enter.

2. Is it stale? It’s one thing to learn a stable set of basics, and another entirely to clog your brain with dated information that has been reworked and improved upon since it first came out. Research the techniques offered to confirm they’re still relevant to today’s market.

3. What do you expect? Just because the course you’re taking promises to teach you the solid how-tos of affiliate marketing, don’t go in thinking you’ll get rich quick. By now you should know that “instant profit” is only made by people taking advantage of others who are looking for it.

–Resource box–
Raymond Lau is a marketing analyst for Shopster.com — a company that provides Web sellers with a dropship product source and e-Commerce storefront tools to build their online business. Shopster gives retailers and affiliates access to over 1 million products they can sell on auction sites or their own storefront. You can reach him at rlau@shopster.com.
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Thanks, James and Raymond!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Affiliate Marketing Myths — Myth 1: Affiliate Marketing Is Easy

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Recently, I got to know James Nardell of Shopster. We spent quite some time discussing his business and how it works. It’s an interesting model, but I have no tangible products to sell. However, James and his team are a wealth of information about work with affiliates. So I asked if his team would write a series of blog posts on myths and misconceptions bloggers have about affiliate marketing and how it works. This is the first in that series.

Myth 1: Affiliate Marketing Is Easy
A Guest Post by Raymond Lau

First off, no business is easy. If it were easy and you could make good money doing it, everyone would be doing it. Any successful business requires two things: hard work and risk.

In the early days of search marketing, affiliate marketing was a relatively easy and low cost technique for generating revenue. It was cheaper to buy traffic and easier to optimize rankings in Google. There were fewer rules to follow and Google wasn’t in competition with affiliates. Advertisers weren’t adopting search marketing tactics whereas affiliates were giving it a whirl.

“Affiliate marketing has evolved and it’s difficult for newcomers to jump in without any capital and start making money,” says Chris Finken of OrangeSoda — a successful affiliate and search marketing company.

Times have changed for the affiliate marketer, but search engines are still the best way for people to find what they’re looking for online. For the affiliate, traffic-generation techniques have been focusing blogging. “Blogs remain a popular tool for affiliate marketing ‘on the cheap’ “, Finken says. Still, he warns about no- or low-cost Web publishing tools.

Affiliate marketers can’t just set up junk blogs, plug them with poorly written (or completely spammy) content and expect to start generating leads. Think about it¦ If that’s all that was required, no one would hire affiliate marketers. Companies could easily do that themselves.

Blogs are spider food. They are constantly updated with targeted content. They are exactly what search engines are looking for. If affiliate marketers spend the time writing decent blog posts, optimizing them for keywords, focusing on some SEO tactics, they can generate visitor traffic.

To make money, prospective affiliate marketers have to consider four things:

    1. Proper perspective. Affiliate marketing as a side gig or hobby is increasingly difficult due to time and cash commitment needed to attract and retain shoppers that are referred to marketers.

    2. Money. You need hard dollars to invest in site design, SEO, and paid search advertisements. Your site won’t sell itself.

    3. Competitive advantage. You need to compete with HUGE sites like www.fatwallet.com (multiple value propositions to their members) and www.revtrax.com (taking affiliate marketing directly to customers who shop in stores — allowing marketers to track and reward the affiliate for store-based purchases). What do you offer?

    4. A marketer’s temperament. You have to be willing to try stuff and fail. For everything that works, there’s going to be way more that doesn’t. You have to be up on the current techniques, be aware of upcoming strategies, and have a firm understanding of your competition.

The bottom line:
Marketers want affiliates to innovate into new distribution points that they don’t know about or cannot access. That can take time, money, and hard work.

–Resource box–
Raymond Lau is a marketing analyst for Shopster.com — a company that provides Web sellers with a dropship product source and e-Commerce storefront tools to build their online business. Shopster gives retailers and affiliates access to over 1 million products they can sell on auction sites or their own storefront. You can reach him at rlau@shopster.com.
_______________

Thanks, James and Raymond!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!