Jim Connolly Marketing

6 things I wish I knew before I started blogging!

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This blog was 2 years old last month and in that time I have learned many, often expensive lessons.  In order to help you avoid some of the costs and frustrations that I went through, here are 6 things I wish I knew before I started blogging.

1.  Everyone starts from scratch

Most blogs start off with no readers, no subscribers and no comments and things don’t change much for months. Yes, Seth Godin started off by writing his first blog post, sitting next to his Stanford friend, Google founder, Sergey Brin — but that’s not how most of us begin.

It took me 2 years of blogging here, before Google starts delivering targeted, unique visitors each day. I had 400 posts published and almost 20,000 back-links, before I had my first 1000 unique visitors in a day from Google. However, an effective social media strategy can really get things moving whilst the search engines get their act together.

2.  SEO is less and less important

Google is fickle. It changes the rules so often, that SEO has become less relevant. Today, you’re better off investing your time on social networks, than messing around trying to keep Google happy.

3.  Some will use your comments section to sell rather than engage

As soon as you start to develop a large readership, people will try and tout for business in the comments section of your blog. I switched comments off in June 2013, because people were spamming the crap out of the comments. Also, unlike when blogs were invested, today we have social networks as a powerful way to comment on what we read.

4.  The price of a blog theme is usually the least expensive part

Well-known bloggers tend to use blog themes that have been professionally redesigned and had a lot of custom code added to them. Sadly, this includes those bloggers who make a big deal of selling the theme on their sites, but a much smaller deal of explaining that their site is not an accurate example of what a typical user, who doesn’t write CSS or HTML, will get when they try and use that theme on their blog.

So, you see a great looking blog from a blogger you trust, you buy the theme they recommend and learn VERY fast that the look you fell in love with, had almost zero to do with the theme. This is often the start of an expensive, frustrating process; for those of us with no interest in learning how to write code.

Find something you like right out of the box or hire a blog designer. The latter usually works far better, unless you want a blog that looks just like thousands of others. It’s hard enough to stand out, without looking like a clone of other blogs, using the same theme.

5.  Most plugins suck

Most plugins add very little value to your blog. They are also a primary source of tech issues and they s-l-o-w your site down too. I started off with around 20 plugins. Today, I have just 6. You can often massively increase the speed of your blog, simply by removing unnecessary plugins. The first plugin I install on a new WordPress blog, is always the Akismet spam filter.

6.  If your blog is commercial, invest in professional grade hosting ASAP

When you pay $10 a month for hosting, you get $10 worth of service and speed. However, when you spend $50 a month, you still get a very similar service to that $10 a month provider. If you are serious about the commercial value of your blog, get it onto a dedicated server or if money is tight, get on a cloud-based server as soon as you can afford to.

The increased speed, reliability and 24/7 one to one tech support is worth every penny.  When the BBC put a link to my blog on their homepage last year, instead of me gaining a stack of new readers, my site went down under all the traffic.  Today, it would keep working.

Finally, I recommend you either start a business blog or start taking your blog seriously. The rewards are huge… but only if you give your blog everything it needs.

This post is for bloggers only!

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If you have a business blog, which is not generating the results you want, this post is written just for you!

I received an email this morning, from a reader who has a 12 month old business blog, which he’s unhappy with.  I get emails like this every day.  The problem is so common that I wanted to bring it out into the open and share it, in case it resonates with you and what you are experiencing right now.

He explained that he has published 2 blog posts most weeks, yet the site gets few readers, even fewer comments and no sales inquiries.  He told me he has been using blogging and SEO techniques from some of the blogs he reads, but it’s not working for him.  He asked me to take a look, which I did.  Within seconds, I spotted a number of problems on his blog and was able to tell instantly that he has “had a go” at developing and marketing his blog, with no hands-on, professional help.

The reason most business blogs under-perform is NOT because the blogger is a poor writer or boring.  It’s not because they lack the right plugins or lack killer SEO skills.  It’s because they are applying generic answers, to their unique situation.

Here’s the thing:  You place a very low ceiling on your marketing and business potential, by trying to develop a successful blog using generic, free advice you find online.

Ever wonder why so many blogs from within the same industry are so similar? It’s because they are using the same generic ideas and approach to blogging!  Those bloggers grab the same advice, from the same people, and as a direct result they become invisible.  By being so alike, they camouflage themselves – Which is the exact opposite to what they should be doing.

If you are serious about turning your site into a lead / business generating machine, you need to develop your blog and online marketing, based on your unique needs, resources, business targets and personality.

When I work with my clients, I help them stand out and get noticed, by developing an online marketing strategy that’s clear, easy to follow and designed to get them noticed by their prospective clients or customers. That’s the approach I recommend to those of you who are not seeing the results you want right now.  The generic approach may be free, but it can be extremely expensive.

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

How to attract more sales leads from your website!

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Would you like to attract more sales, leads or business enquiries?

Are you currently using a website to market your services? (BTW: It’s the 21st century, you should be.)

Here’s a quick marketing tip: Don’t turn your entire site into a sales pitch!

  • Use your site to connect with people.
  • Use your site to provide information and ideas.
  • Use your site to help people find answers.
  • Use your site to showcase your skills and how effective you are – But don’t turn it into one giant sales pitch.

There should be a key marketing page on your site, which gives people a short explanation of whatever your service is AND it’s benefits.  It should list the problems that your offering solves and highlight the most compelling benefits or working with you or buying from you.  It should have a few well chosen testimonials and it should regularly ask people to take action; to call or email you.

There’s an example of such a page, which works extremely well here on this blog.  Study it.  Check out where I place the calls to action and how easy I make it to get in touch with me – That phone number goes to a phone that’s right here on my desk!

Your key marketing page should then be sign-posted throughout your site, as I do with that small rectangle box beneath every post on this blog (if you are reading this post via RSS, click here.)  By placing that small box at the bottom of each blog post, I reach people at the exact point, where they are most likely to contact me.

Here’s how it works: So, Mary reads a post of mine and really finds it useful.  The very next thing Mary sees, is a message from me, which lets Mary know that I work with small business owners just like her and if she wants to know more, she just needs to “read this”.  Each time someone comes here and reads something I’ve written, which leaves them wondering how many additional sales they would be making by working with me – BOOM, that box is there with a simple call to action.

By using the alternative approach, where the service provider is actually trying to sell their services on almost every page, it’s a lot harder to build rapport with your readers.  It makes everything read like a glorified sales pitch.  It’s like when you go to one of those stores where the salesperson approaches you as you walk through the door and asks, “how can I help you?”, rather than wait until you have entered the store, and maybe need help finding something or making a decision.  The first approach bugs you – the second approach helps you.  Two very different approaches and two very different end results.

Use your site to showcase your value.  Show people that you are friendly and approachable.  Make it as easy as possible for people to contact you and encourage them to do so.  When you make that shift from pitching to connecting, the results can be amazing!

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

Your Marketing Goldmine is almost ready!

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To mark the 2nd anniversary of this blog, I’m about to make it easier for you to find all my best posts, on the areas of marketing and business development that you are most interested in.

Think of it as your marketing goldmine!

My challenge

I was recently thinking about how the typical date order format of a blog is far from ideal, for people like myself who seldom write time-sensitive posts.  I have posts here, for example, which are just as relevant today as when I wrote them 18 months or 2 years ago.  However, because of the date format used to present blog posts, with the new posts added to the top of the pile, some really valuable marketing material gets hidden away under hundreds of newer posts.

Yes, you can use the blog’s search box to find posts on a particular subject, or click on a category section, but surprisingly few people use them.  I removed the categories tab from the sidebar months ago because it wasn’t getting used.  Most people either find the content here via their RSS feed, a social bookmark or a Google search.  As a result, many readers will be missing out on some of my best, most valuable content.  This is especially the case for newer readers and those who only visit here occasionally.

So, I’m creating a free Marketing Goldmine for you

I’m working on developing a new section for the blog, which will provide you with an index of my most popular posts on certain subjects.  Rather than a category section, which displays everything with a certain tag, this will only include my best posts in each section.

So, keep an eye on the blog!

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

Making a passive income from your site, like I do.

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One of the many amazing business opportunities open to most people these days, is that our sites / blogs can have all kinds of extremely valuable options added, at little or no cost.  These can open up not only new marketing opportunities, but whole new income streams too!

For example, I have an audio program, which is available exclusively from this blog and has earned me a regular income for more than 5 years.  The reality is that most people reading this can develop a product, based around their own expertise, and sell it via their site too.

A few ideas:

  • You can have a private membership site, where people pay you to access premium content.  Your site will deliver your content and process the payments for you.
  • If you are a photographer or graphic designer, you can sell your photos or designs direct from your site.
  • Trainers, who want to share their expertise with an international audience, can deliver their work direct from their sites, via; video streaming, video or audio downloads or ebooks etc.

The truth is, most service providers will have something from their expertise, which they can develop and market from their sites, producing an additional income stream.

Just as important, these options allow you to make money whilst you sleep; what some people call passive income. They will all require some additional, effective marketing if you want to see some serious income from them.  However, if you already have an existing client list, newsletter list or a well read blog, you may be able to hit the ground running.

If you would like to know more, get in touch.

What elements of your business could you transform into a new income stream, via your website / blog?

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

Why you may want to publish that ebook after all!

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So, you have some really valuable information, which you would like to turn into an ebook.  The thing is, ebooks are usually either free of they cost very little – so you don’t bother.  After all, if you only make the price of a coffee for each one you sell, you need to make a LOT of sales.

Wrong!

Ebook pricing now reflects value rather than format

Right now, there are ebooks selling for hundreds of dollars – Some with just a few thousand words!  That’s not much bigger than a few, long blog posts.  If you find what I’m telling you a little hard to believe, take a look at this ebook from AdAge.  It’s just 3,600 words long and costs $249 to download.

Why?  Because the author believes that the information in this ebook is worth it, to the people who need it.  It’s a highly targeted book, with lots of data.  If the ebook’s target audience agrees with the author’s valuation, they will happily pony up with the $249.

Ebooks finally coming of age?

It is certainly beginning to look that way.  Just last month, Amazon announced that they now sell MORE ebooks than traditional hardback books.  It seems that consumers now recognise that the value of the words are just the same, regardless of whether they are in paper or digital format.

The marketplace is increasingly demanding instant access to information and doesn’t necessarily want to wait days or weeks for a book to arrive, if they can download that same book and be reading it in seconds.  Equally, people are also more environmentally aware and are moving away from dead tree media.

So, if you have a great idea, which you would like to turn into an ebook, you may want to reconsider your options.  If your information is valuable enough, people will happily pay a fair price for it.