Jim Connolly Marketing

Join me for a year!

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Have you been thinking about joining my marketing mentor program; where I work with you for a whole year, helping you to grow your business and boost your profits?

Well, if you have, I’ve some very good news for you.

There is a position available in just THREE WEEKS!

You can find out more about the program here, along with how to get in touch.  This really is a great opportunity for us to work together on the marketing and development of your business and for you to benefit from the most powerful strategies I know.

If you are interested, I recommend you get in touch as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Content scraping: Someone built a site from content scraped off my blog

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17th May UPDATE:

The person identified in this post has now been in touch with me and explained that the issue was not caused by them directly, but a web-designer, who was apparently using my content on this person’s site, without the person being aware.  In view of this and the damage it would cause to this person’s reputation (and because I am a very nice guy) I have removed the mentions of this person’s name from the post and the 2 images, which showed how a replica of this blog was made using my content.

I recently had someone build a whole site, from content they scraped from this blog!  So, I thought I would talk a little about content scraping and show you what it looks like, (literally, there are pictures so make sure you have images turned on if you read this post via email!)

Content scraping

Content scraping is what happens when someone takes content from your site, without permission, and uses it to populate their sites; often claiming they wrote it.  Content scrapers are being encouraged to continue, because search engines have still not figured out how to block those sites from their search results.  So, they populate a site filled with other peoples content and then use that content to attract traffic, which they use to sell ads and in some cases, infect visitors with malware.

I have a LOT of sites who use my content every day, without attribution.  The example below, called (name removed), is something different though.  They not only scraped my blog posts, without naming me as the author, they also scraped my pages, including the page that sells my services, my audio program and my “Top Marketing Tips” page, see image below:

Images removed:

Here’s my original. See below:

Before I continue, I would like to point out that I tried to speak with “name removedt” last week but only managed to get through to one of their colleagues.  They are now aware of the site.  I left my contact details, however, name removed has not contacted me back. (see update at head of post!)

It seems that this example is not a regular scraping exercise to sell ads, but rather an attempt to build an entire site with my content, which I assume will then be sold to someone as a business opportunity.  They may decide to keep it and add advertisements later, of course.

Extremely common

In reality, there is not a great deal you can do.  In the above example, I am based in the UK and the site is hosted in The United States.  This means you are dealing with international law.  Other sites using my stuff without attribution are hosted all over the world.

You can contact the company hosting the site and ask them to remove it.  Past experience suggests this is almost always a long-winded waste of time, as the hosting company either refuses to do anything, or the site is simply moved to another host.  Equally, it’s hard to identify who is behind content scraping, as they usually steal someone’s identity, which I think has happened with the example above.  I don’t believe name removed had anything to do with this.

NB: I will update this post if name removed responds!

Content scraping tip: Insert links

The reason I see so many of these scrapers using my work, is that I have at least 1 link in every post I write, which points back to this blog.  As soon as my work is scraped and then published, I get a notification of their link.  I found this to be more immediate and a lot more accurate than setting up Google alerts.

Some scrapers have my posts live on their blogs within 5 minutes of me publishing them.  The reason it’s so fast, is that they usually do the whole thing using software.  As soon as one of my posts reaches their RSS feed, it’s published on their blog as a post.

Attribution

All the content on this site is licensed under creative commons.  In other words, you are VERY WELCOME to use my posts on your site or in your newsletters, so long as you attribute them to me under the terms of that license.  Most sites that use my content do this.  Probably 99%.  In such cases, I actually benefit from them sharing my work.  They allow me to reach new people, whilst being able to share something they found useful with their readers.  Win-win.

Google has recently claimed to be cracking down on scraped content, so that it no longer ranks as highly in their search results.  The hope is that this will make it unattractive for people to scrape content.  It remains to be seen if this will have any positive impact.  Certainly I am seeing no drop in the number of scraper sites that use my work each day.

What are your experiences or opinions?

Do you know of any effective strategies for dealing with content scraping, which you would like to share?  Do sites scrape your content?

Please share your thoughts!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Marketing copywriting: The power of reasons

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Today, I thought I would share a very quick, yet very powerful copywriting idea with you.  It’s all about the power of reasons and it can dramatically improve your copywriting results!

The power of reasons

If you give someone a request, it has been proven time and again that they are massively more likely to comply, if you give them a reason.  By the way, Brian Clark covers this as part of this excellent persuasive writing post on copyblogger.

As you might expect, if you give people a GREAT reason to do something, there’s a good chance they will do it.  However, even if you give them a relatively weak reason, they are still more likely to take action, than if you give a request, with no reason.  In other words, from a conversion perspective, it’s best to explain WHY you want someone to do something, rather than just ask them.

Here’s an example of what I mean.  Imagine you want people to to subscribe to your newsletter.  You would almost certainly get a significantly better response by offering them a reason to subscribe, rather than just asking them to.  Look at the following 2 requests:

Subscribe to our newsletter today.

Or

Subscribe to our newsletter today, for the latest news, information and special offers.

So, whenever you ask your readers to do something, give them a reason.  The better the reason, the more likely they are to proceed.  If you want to show your friends how helpful, wise (and cool) you are, share this post with them!

…see what I did there ;)

The secret to attracting great, FREE media publicity

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In yesterday’s post, I wrote about the importance of getting your stars out; a term I use to describe showcasing any references to you or your work in the media.  One of the people who commented on that post, asked a good question.  He wanted to know how to get that kind of media publicity, where you are referenced as an expert in your field.

That’s what today’s post is about!

The most typical route, is to hire a kick-ass PR agency and get them to use their skills and contacts each time you want to be mentioned.  That’s not how I did it and it’s not what I am going to cover in this post.  I would like to share an alternative approach, based around my concept of combining visibility with being remarkable.  As I have said here many times before, if you want to generate word of mouth publicity, you need to be remarkable in some way.

People remark on that which is remarkable.  The media are no different.

Being remarkable

If you are a designer, coach, accountant, advisor, even a GREAT one, that’s probably not enough for The BBC or a national newspaper to call you.  There needs to be something remarkable about you, before those guys remark on you.  Before the media became interested in me, I had worked hard for years to get a lot of people talking about me.  I had developed a newsletter, with thousands of readers, which contained marketing ideas and advice that was powerful and often very different from the conventional wisdom of that time.  People started seeing amazing sales results from my work, so they spread the word.

I often found myself going against the flow, which was also a great way to capture people’s attention.  For example,in the mid 1990’s, I was telling people to give away as much free advice as they could.  My fellow marketing professionals said I was insane!  Today, we call it content marketing or tutorial marketing and it’s commonplace; thanks to the advent some years later of business blogging.  I got noticed, by doing what I believed was right and saying it with conviction, without seeking permission from anyone.  A few years ago, when lots of marketing people switched to being “social media gurus” I decided to pass.  Today, many of the top social media people are transitioning away from social media, into becoming personal development and self-help gurus.

Remarkable people

One of the people attracted to my different style of marketing, was my good friend, the Grammy Award winner, Bruce Elliott-Smith.  When I saw Bruce picking up his award in Hollywood, it was hard to believe that when we first met in the 1990’s, he ran a great little insurance business.  He was as hard working and dynamic in that business, as he is today.  A great way to get people talking about you is to do remarkable things, with remarkable people.  My long term association with Bruce and his reference to me as “a legend when it comes to results” was a door-opener, when it came to media exposure.

When I coached a BBC presenter live on air, during her first ever radio program, it generated a lot of interest in me.  However, it was the legwork I did in the years before that day, which encouraged them to call me to be the guest on Lara King’s first solo show.  The fact I am media trained and was already a regular BBC contributor, meant they knew who to call.

Showing how remarkable you truly are

In short, whilst there are many tricks you can employ to gain the attention of the media, the real secret is to be visible and remarkable.  You don’t need to do anything earth shattering, I certainly haven’t (yet), but you do need to be prepared to stand up and stand out.

  • It means taking the opposite approach, to what you see every day online, where grown adults follow and quote Internet gurus, like sheep.
  • It means avoiding going with the flow, when you think the flow is flowing toward bullshit.
  • It means developing your own ideas and having faith in them.
  • It means having the courage to risk being wrong.
  • It means being you.  Being proud of who you are and confident in what you believe.

The more you try to blend in, rather than express your unique individuality, the less remarkable, (which in this sense reads newsworthy), you become.

Here are 2 quick tips you can get working on right now, to get the right people talking about, and to, you:

Your visibility – Get yourself a blog and use it as a super-effective platform for people to find you and discover your story.  Pack it with YOUR thoughts.  Update it regularly and watch what happens.  If your message is compelling enough, people will share it across their social networks and they will link to it.  When you get the links, you start getting search traffic.  This makes you easier to find, when the next reporter or journalist is looking for an informed opinion in your field of business.

Your remarkable self –  When they discover you, make it very clear that they have just found someone with something new/fresh to say.  The less your site reads just like all the others, the better.  Why would a reporter or journalist quote me or my site, if I was just repeating what Jay Abraham or Seth Godin say?  There would be no point.  Similarly, if you emulate the style / opinions of those at the top of your industry or profession, you cease being remarkable.  This is why it’s so important for you to be you.  Be your own breaking news.  Be your remarkable self.

Is it easy?  Nope.  That’s why most people don’t do it.  It requires courage, hard work, study and confidence.  That’s quite a challenge for any of us.

Is it possible?  Yes.  That’s why so many people DO do it.

In my experience, very few people know just how incredible they are.  You are almost certainly at least as remarkable as those who are already capturing the attention of the media and the masses.  Please don’t keep it a secret!

The cost of attacking your competitors online

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Have you ever heard the saying, that when you bad-mouth a competitor, it actually makes you look bad and not them?  Well, the same holds true when you decide to invest your time attacking competitors online.

It seems a popular way to gain traffic to YOUR blog, is to attack the top bloggers in your niche.  If you piss them off, they may mention you, putting you on their readers / followers radar.  If your attack is nasty enough, they may even blog about what you said.  This might gain the attacker a short-term traffic spike, but at what cost?  I honestly don’t think these people realise just how bitter it makes them look, to try and destroy a competitors credibility or dent the business, which their victim uses to put a roof over their family’s head, just for traffic.

Yes, if you identify that someone is making what you believe to be a mistake, it’s good to let that person know.  A while back, Yael Rozencwajg from Yopps.com noticed an error with the way my blog’s email RSS was working, so she emailed me to let me know.  She didn’t write a blog post to say what an idiot I was for missing the error or what a smart-ass she was for spotting it.  That’s because her intention was purely to help me, rather than attack me in order to get a response that she could convert into traffic.

The law of return

As a person of faith, I have a great deal of respect for the world’s Holy books.  In each of those I have studied, there is a belief that we tend to reap what we sow.  This is something professional development experts refer to as the law of return.  It works on the sound premise, that we tend to get back whatever we put out there.

Negative seeds (actions) produce a negative harvest (results) and positive seeds produce a positive harvest.  For example, Yael’s kindness in taking the time to offer me some help, has just resulted in her being highlighted to my readership, in an extremely positive way.

Of course, the negative feelings we have about those who bad-mouth their competitors, are formed by that same law of return.  Their attacks tend to damage themselves, rather than their intended victims.

I sometimes see people offering poor or misleading marketing advice.  In each case, I write a blog post to ensure my readers avoid making mistakes by following that kind of bad advice.  However, I do this without calling out the person.  This means my message gets out, is seen in a 100% positive light and is actually more likely to be acted on.  If I ever woke up feeling like I needed to attack Seth Godin or Jay Abraham, in order to gain readers, I would like to think I would recognise it as a sign that I ACTUALLY needed to work harder on MY OWN business.

Yes, you can gain traffic by attacking your more successful or better known competitors, but who needs to attract that kind of reputation?

How to turn your blog into a massively valuable marketing machine!

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blogging tips, blogs, content marketing

Do you write a business blog, but feel frustrated right now with your results?

I have a message for you: Don’t give up!  The success you want may be just around the corner and the results can be exactly what you and your business need!

Here’s why

Most small business owners need to invest a considerable amount of money each year, if they want to introduce their services to targeted, prospective clients or customers.  They invest in mail shots, radio and print advertising etc.  Every time they want to reach those people, they have to pony up with some more money.  It can be a costly exercise, especially for those small business owners who handle their own marketing and need to reach a lot of people in order to generate enough leads or sales, because they get the typical, crappy, small business owner response rates.

That’s how most small business owners market themselves.  Yes, some attend networking events, hire telemarketing companies or hire PR firms etc, but they all involve spending often large sums of money, every time they need to generate sales or inquiries.

And then there’s business blogging

Most business bloggers, and I include myself here, start off with very few readers.  It’s usually just us and a few contacts, who we share our blog with.  Then, over a period of months the readership increases and if the content is attractive enough, we can build a sizeable, targeted audience.  From this point forward, whenever we want to reach these extremely valuable people, we simply need to publish a post, (like this one.)  There are no additional financial costs involved, for you to reach people and engage with them via your blog.

If we keep our content as valuable as possible to our readers and we focus our content, so it’s of direct interest to our core profile of clients, our audience increases in both volume and value.  Once you have bought a URL (or web address) and some server space, there are no additional financial investments required to get started.  Just a lot of work, creativity and the commitment to learn how to market all that great content.  The rewards, however, are amazing and in some cases, life-changing.

Is it easy?

No!  It requires time and commitment.

Is it worth the effort?

Yes!  The results are easily the most powerful of any form of marketing I have encountered, as a marketing professional with 25 years experience behind me.

Powerful?  Let’s take last week as an example.  One of my blog posts was read by over three thousand people in just 6 hours, with thousands more reading it since.  It was also featured on several websites.  Last week I also did an audit of the financial value of business I generated directly via inquiries involving this blog, and it was over £100,000.  I started this blog just 2 and a half years ago, with a £10 investment; which was the cost of the URL and the hosting that came with it!

Blogging and the law of return

Around 14-months ago, I decided to start taking this blog a lot more seriously, as it was quickly becoming my primary source of new business.  Within weeks, the number of readers / inquiries increased.

Then last year, I invested in a fast, super-reliable dedicated server from WebFusion, who now generously sponsor this blog!  This allowed me to be able to concentrate 100% of my blogging time on creating content, without worrying about technical issues or my server being down.  Again, the numbers increased, in both readers and business inquiries, as I was able to produce more and more content, which people could access reliably.

In other words, every time I have committed more into this blog, I have seen a significant, measurable, bankable increase in my results.

Blogging and the need for speed

Whilst most forms of traditional marketing require a significant financial investment, they tend to reach people very quickly.  As we live in an increasingly “instant” society, people like the idea of immediate results.  It may cost 2k to send 5,000 prospective clients your latest mailing, but those letters can be on their doormats in a couple of days.  Your blog, on the other hand, starts off a lot slower.  Yes, it can be up and running for the cost of a lunch at Starbucks, but you will probably have to work at it for many months, before you can reach 5,000 people each week.

However…

What about when you HAVE managed to build a blog, which reaches 5,000 or 50,000 prospective clients each week?

At this point, you will probably want to improve your blog hosting and buy a nice looking blog theme so your site looks polished and professional, like the one I use here.  I built this blog from scratch, using Headway blog theme software (affiliate link.) From that point onward, so long as you continue to invest the time required to publish worthwhile content and you learn how to make your blog as visible and shareable as possible, you will be building your own, increasingly valuable marketing / media asset!

Think about it:

  • You don’t need to pay someone for advertising, when you own a media asset yourself (your blog), which is read by more targeted prospective clients than their publication is.
  • You don’t need to invest in mail shots, when your marketing is being read by hundreds and then thousands of prospects every day of the week, every week of the year.
  • You may even get featured in The New York Times, just because they find value in what you have to say on your blog.  It’s less likely one of your mail shots or ads will gain that kind of complimentary attention.  The value to your blog of those kind of A-List links can also have an ongoing, positive impact on your Google ranking.  Again, this builds the value of your blog as a media asset.

If you want to take your blog to the next level, here are a few ideas, based on the lessons I have learned over the past couple of years:

  1. Decide in advance to persevere during the initial 6-12 months, whilst your blog gets established.  Your blog should be seen as a medium to long term investment, not a quick fix.
  2. Commit to putting as much highly valuable content on your blog as possible.  When I was posting just once a week, the development of the blog was extremely slow.  If you only publish 1 post a week, it will take you a month to publish just 4 posts.  That’s 4 posts for people to share and 4 updates, to encourage people to return to your blog and check it out again.  Give people a reason to visit your blog regularly, with frequently updated content.  Make reading your blog a part of their routine.
  3. If you find it hard to write more than once a week, you may be trying too hard to make each post perfect.  Blog posts don’t need to be perfect every time.  Give yourself permission to write “as well as you can” on any given day.  The perfection mindset destroys more blogs than anything else, in my experience.
  4. Learn how to Search Engine Optimize (SEO) your blog, so that it is as easy as possible for Google and others to find it.
  5. Learn how to write compelling posts, which people will want to read and share.  The more good quality content you give away, the faster your blog will develop and the more people will value it.
  6. Make your blog as easy to share as possible, using the kind of share options you see at the bottom of this post.  It takes time for Google to start sending you significant, regular traffic; yet you can start getting share traffic immediately, by writing great content and sharing it with your social networks.
  7. Read the top blogs in your niche and learn from them.
  8. Read some crap blogs too and see what they are doing – So you can avoid it!
  9. Ask people to subscribe to your blog, with a prominent subscriber box.  Your subscribers are your most loyal readers and often your most valuable too.
  10. Be relevant.  Focus your content, so that it is of direct interest to your ideal client profile.  Don’t try and write for everyone, as this dilutes the value of your writing.

Nothing of genuine commercial value is ever created on the quick!  A successful business blog is no different.  It takes time and commitment.  However, if you are prepared to invest the time, learn the lessons and keep on keeping on, the results can be simply stunning.