Bulldog Marketing

Trackbacks Revisited

The most awesome thing with blogs is that you get to respond to your readers, and that gives you ideas for creating new posts, and sometimes reviving old posts.  I got a comment about my post yesterday on the benefits of trackbacks, and it did occur to me that I might need to give people some info on how to actually do one, and sure enough, I got a question about how do you actually do a trackback.  So instead of reinventing the wheel, here the link to my original post about leaving trackbacks.  Let me know if you need more explicit directions....

Take a Chance

When I started blogging, the whole Idea of Trackbacks and leaving comments seemed a bit counter- intuitive for several reasons, such as,  Why would I direct my readers to my competition?  or  What if I leave a comment or a trackback and the person gets a bit testy with me?
The first time I ever left a trackback was on TypePad, and it was when  I transcribed Seth Godin's Interview with TypePad on Small is the new big. After leaving my trackback,  nobody got hurt, and a few people read my blog after that. Whew!  I survived! 
About a month ago, TypePad was looking for Tips on how to drive readers to your blog, so again, I took a chance, and left a comment about using Nichebot and google adwords to find  sweet spots in your market niche.  Guess What?  They featured my Tip in their Monthy Newsletter, and I think I even get a free T-Shirt!  But the real prize is that from their newletter, the number of people dropping by to check out Bulldog Marketing has Tripled!  Yes, TRIPLED!!
If you believe in what you are doing, and want to have people find you, using Trackbacks, Comments and linking to other blogs is a great way to get yourself running with the right pack.  It may be a bit scary at first, but start slowly, and pick your spots wisely by commenting on the issues that you feel strongly about and reflect the overall theme and message of your blog.  That way,when people click through to your blog they will find more of the same type of content and information that is in your trackback.  Above all else,  make sure that you are adding value to the conversation and not just barking to hear the sound of your own voice. After all, nobody likes a yippy dog!

Internet Marketing on TypePad

Yes, it is true, you can teach an old dog new tricks!  I recently attended an internet marketing seminar, and learned a few things about internet marketing.  While the principles made sense, the execution left a lot to be desired.  Things like writing code, getting a hosting account, getting a URL for each sales page, and a few more technical details like FTP'ing my stuff to my host left my head spinning, and I did not really take much action.
But you know what?  There are basically 5 key Principles to internet marketing, and I figured out how to do them all on TypePad.

Principle 1:  Get a website.
OK- Not too hard to figure out, but now you can do all of this in TypePad.  If you haven't seen it, check out my post on how to build a simple website in TypePad. You will want to map a URL to this site that is in the general niche that you are in, such as lifecoaching, wellness, executive coaching, etc...

Principle 2:  Create pages that are one level deeper than your general niche.
What I mean by that is, if you are a life coach, you may help people with work/life balance, so you will create a page on your site about work life balance.

Principle 3:  Use Keywords and Tags for all of you pages.
Well, guess what?  How easy is it for you to use the TypePad Key word feature, and you get the bonus of using technorati tags at the same time. 

Principle 4:  Link, Link, Link 
Not to get too much into SEO, since I said I wasn't ever going to talk about that again, but getting a high visibility site to link to yours is a good thing.  By using trackbacks and comments, you can slowly build visibility to your market niche, and become an expert.


Principle 5: Blog
I think you understand the reasons for this, but having a blog is a great way for people to get a chance to see what you are about, and you will develop relationships with your readers.  It does take time, but it is time well spent.

A plan for your blog

I have been working with quite a few people lately setting up their blogs, and websites, and so I have a list of tips for you to consider when embarking on a project like a blog.

1. Make sure that this is something that you want to do, not something that you have to do. Blogging is a labor of love, sometimes it is even therapy, but it isn't a quick fix to skyrocket yourself to fame in 48 hours. You will have spurts of creativity, moments of brilliance and occasionally times when you can't figure out what the heck to write about. All of those are good things, and you need to take them as they come.

2. Blogs are written in Cyberspace, not in a stone tablet, so start somewhere, and grow from there. You can always change and tweak, refine and regroup. Let your blog grow with you, so if you don't have the perfect tag line that is OK- just go with what you have, and the longer you do something, you will become inspired and find just the thing that pops for you.

3. Pick about 10 -12 Topics that will become the foundation and theme for your blog. You will branch off of each of these posts, but you need to have a place where readers can figure out what your blog is about even if they are a first time visitor when your blog has several hundred posts inside of it. Remember, most of your readers didn't start off with you from day one and follow every post that you wrote.

4. If you are getting good response from something, you will be able to have moments where you can ride the wave a little bit and dig a bit deeper into that specific topic, but by watching your stats, you will know when that wave has come to an end, and it is time for something new.

5. Stay flexible, keep your options open, and enjoy the ride. Blogging is a great thing, and like running a marathon, you need to pace yourself.