Honest Marketing Secrets

Photo by belgianchocolate

Lately the whole Twitter thing has gone spastic as social marketers and more mainstream users have discovered Twitter and scrambled to get on the bandwagon. Now there’s nothing wrong with using Twitter to build great relationships with new and existing friends and business associates, in my humble opinion. However, there are some who take issue with a certain type of Twitter user.

Most folks are pretty responsible with their Twitter usage, but for those who are following WAY more peeps than they have following them, they’re about to be in hot water—of a sort.

A new service called Twitter Blacklist is tracking rogue Twitter accounts using a, “ ‘Follow factor’ (how many they follow divided by how many follow them) . . . ” So if you have too many followees and not enough followers, be careful as you might end up on the list.

There’s also another similar service called Twerpscan that seems a little harsher and is specifically targeting “SEO experts and entrepreneurs” using a similar algorithm to the Twitter Blacklist. This goes a little farther as a service such that you actually log into this one and it offers you a block link.

So a word to the wise—check your ratios and avoid getting on the blacklist. It’s not really hard to avoid if you’re using Twitter as intended. These services are new and may not get much traction, but it’s a reminder that abusing any social system, be it the karaoke mic at your neighborhood bar, or your shiny new Twitter account won’t go unpunished. Opinions? Let’s have ‘em!

Photo by zappowbang

A couple weeks ago I seriously riled some folks up. It was fun, but now I want to show you why I did it and how perfectly my fiendish blog-traffic-linking plan has unfolded so far. If you haven’t yet, definitely read my recent post about misusing five words. If you’ve already been there, you know there was a little controversy stirred up, but otherwise, a lot of fun talking about the idea. If you hadn’t guessed yet, that post was not really about screwing up the English language at all. In fact, it was an experiment in linkbait. What is linkbait? Oh my, where have you been? Please allow me to refer you to the number one Google result for the term linkbait by Matt Cutts (at least it’s number one as I write this).  

It Sounds a Little Dirty

The word linkbait sounds like it could be a bad thing, or at least, it could have a few negative connotations. In fact, it’s not bad at all if you do it right. Linkbait is essentially nothing more than writing a great headline that attracts a reader to click your link and commit to reading your article. And if the article is good enough, they cannot resist bookmarking it, or linking to it on either social media sites, their own blog, or their website.

When newspaper, or magazine editors select a headline, they’re creating the equivalent of linkbait. They make the headline as compelling as possible and attach it to a phenomenal article. And the best articles are passed around by friends who may eventually subscribe to the publication, if they like the article enough. This is offline linkbait. More like, readbait, or make-you-not-able-to-put-the-magazine-down-and-also-insist-your-friends-read-it bait. You get the picture. If you want your blog, or web site (or printed ad, for that matter) to attract and keep readers, you must learn how to write headlines and posts (articles) that are so compelling that a majority of casual observers click through and commit to spending a little time with you and then even bookmark you for reference and sharing. A curious thing about this:

The headline is useless if you write a terrible article and the article is useless if you write a terrible headline.  

Doing it Wrong Can Hurt You

If you’re just writing a snappy headline and it has a crappy article behind it, you probably just lost yourself a whole mess of readers. You made a great promise with the headline, but failed to deliver with the article. There’s good linkbait and bad linkbait and if your article is weak, or an obvious attempt to linkbait-and-switch, you will get what you deserve: a bad reputation and no catch-of-the-day, AKA link love. I’ve already written a post about how to write great headlines and there are some good references there to get you started. That post, by the way, had a terrible headline and is a perfect example of how to fail epically at writing a linkbait headline. I got almost zero readers for that post, although it did have some good info in it. Word to the wise—seriously consider your headlines.  

So, Does Linkbait Work?

I’ve been practicing and diligently doing the training in the Social Power Linking program and my last, best attempt at a linkbait piece succeeded better than I could have expected in my wildest dreams. I spent probably five hours on that post, whittling away every non-esssential word and making sure it flowed smoothly, etc. I also spent a good 30 minutes on the title alone, to which I grant the most credit for having made that post so popular. My post on five misused words got more traffic than any other post I’ve ever made.  

In fact, during the two days following my linkbait post, this blog received over 1800 pageviews and is now up to approximately 4870 pageviews at the time of this post. Unique visitors climbed to over 900 during those two days and have continued to flow in ever since. I got more unique visitors and overall traffic from that one post than all my other posts combined to date. 

A Few Resources

If you want to learn more about the fine art of linkbaiting, the following resources will really cover almost everything. I owe a lot to SPL, but I also spent a lot of time reading the posts linked below and I want to thank the authors for taking the time to put that information together. I’d also love to hear about your own experiments in linkbaiting as well as any advice that the resources below may have left out.  Andy Hagans’ Ultimate Guide to Linkbaiting and SMM The Link Baiting Playbook: Hooks Revisited

And if you don’t feel like reading right now, check out Aaron Wall’s video on linkbaiting, How to: Create Linkbait Every Day:

And finally, here are just a few more linkbait resources you might find useful:

• 5 Linkbait Ideas Any Blog Can Use
• Linkbait in difficult industries
• Beyond Linkbait with Media and Blogger Relations – SES NY
• Productivity, How-to and Advice Sites: Making Linkbait Useful Again
• Five Simple Linkbait Metrics (& How To Measure Them Cheaply)

Photo by Redvers

This is only the beginning. It’s going to get much, much bigger.
Social marketing is all the rage right now and if the signs are to be believed, this is a mere taste of the future. Part of social marketing involves joining various online communities in your niche and adding value to those communities.

Social marketing is most definitely not about joining as many groups as you can, regardless of their relevance to your niche, and spamming the living daylights out of everyone with “ME! ME! ME!” kinds of advertising and requests. This will get you banned, and rightfully so.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, grasshopper, you seek the holy grail of site popularity? Indeed, you are not alone. And you must prove your worth. You must wait, on your knees, in the rain, for many years. Maybe then we will teach you what you wish to know. If you beg. And fetch us some green tea from time to time . . .

Or you can grab the free, 2008 version of the Authority Black Book that was just released a few days ago. I’m sure there are a few folks who will insist on the former option, but hey, whatever flings your shuriken. (*I know, I’m mixing styles and cultures all over the place, but you know you love it!)

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the main things we want to do as bloggers and publishers of information is to create a network of links leading back to our sites. The Web 2.0 social thing has certainly created an initially interesting opportunity to do that, but that was a secondary benefit to the social sites’ primary intent.

Now there are new sites popping up all the time that are far more sophisticated versions of the original ideas. Some of these sites incorporate even better incentives to participate by rewarding great content and excellent ideas with backlinks and traffic to your site (blog).

I just discovered one of these yesterday and wanted to let you know about it.

Read the rest of this entry »

So what is marketing anyway? Ultimately it’s a conversation between a buyer and a seller. And even more fundamentally, it’s an exchange of value between two, or more people wherein a successful exchange means everyone wins.

I believe that when you love what you’re doing, you tend to want to share it with your friends and even strangers on the street. When you love what you’re doing, you tell stories about the fun you’re having and the amazing things you’re discovering while you’re having it. And when you excitedly relate your experience to someone else, that excitement becomes contagious. We are all looking to optimize our experience, find our passion, experience joy, etc. And when you meet someone who has that feeling, you tend to want to hang around and hear what they have to say. In some circles, this is even called friendship, if you can believe it.

So what am I saying here? Successful marketing happens when one person is so honestly thrilled about what they’re doing that they have gained the depth of knowledge necessary to create a great product, or service; so great, in the best case scenario, that it might even be called art. And when this product, or service is just as exciting to another person, both people can then have a great conversation about it and agree to exchange value. What a deal!

Conversely, unsuccessful marketing can be the result of not being particularly interested in what you’re doing (possibly because it is simply a means to “make huge wads of cash”) and you try to force your lackluster product down everyone’s throat in pedestrian and uninspired, copycat ways. Pretty stark comparison? Yup, but I really see it like that.

Successful marketing doesn’t feel like “marketing” at all. In fact, it’s really just offering the results of your passion and excitement to the niche that is just as excited about it as you are. The second example is the basis for the infamous “evil marketer” archetype that’s been shadowing our conversations since the beginning of time.

I’m not saying you can’t make huge wads of cash selling something you’re uninterested in, or ignorant about—many people do. But why the hell bother! You’re only making yourself and others miserable and you could be doing the opposite and still making huge wads of cash. Yes? In fact, I believe you will probably make vastly greater wads of cash if you market a product you love because everyone can’t wait to hear the latest story about your experience.

In the end, you know you’re doing it right when it doesn’t feel like work at all to you and it doesn’t feel like so-called marketing to the person who’s thrilled to buy what you’re selling. Seth Godin alludes to this same idea in his post, Workaholics.

“The passionate worker doesn’t show up because she’s afraid of getting in trouble, she shows up because it’s a hobby that pays. The passionate worker is busy blogging on vacation… because posting that thought and seeing the feedback it generates is actually more fun than sitting on the beach for another hour. The passionate worker tweaks a site design after dinner because, hey, it’s a lot more fun than watching TV.”

So take a moment sometime and have a look at your passion and excitement levels around what you’re doing. Are you doing it just to make “huge wads of cash”, or are you genuinely so damn thrilled to be doing what you love that you can’t wait to rip the covers off in the morning and dive back in?

[Please note that I'm not actually advocating blogging on vacation as that's a recipe for unhappiness too since we have to have a little balance. I'm just using this example to emphasize how important it is to love what you're doing since it makes your marketing effortless and very unmarketing-like. Obviously, part of loving what you do is learning to have balance among all your needs. I say this in response to Greg Verdino's disagreement with Mr. Godin's post.]

Welp, that’s all I’ve got today. Man that was a long post . . . Next post is gonna be wildly different. I have some interesting WordPress plugins and some basic marketing tips I want to tell you about, so look for it soon . . . and in the mean time, hope your conversations are superb!

Who I Am and Why I Took the Social Marketing Plunge
[Disclaimer: Using my links supports my blog. And I thank you.]

Approximately two years ago, when I started down my marketing studies path, I began searching for someone who shared my own feelings about marketing. Like many others not involved in the daily hustle of the marketing world, I’d always thought marketing was a dirty word and wanted nothing to do with the spammers I thought all marketers were.

I come from a technical, geekish background and have always been more at home on Digg, or Slashdot. In fact, I got started with the whole social news thing on Slashdot back in the very beginning and I maintain a fairly skeptical outlook on marketing in general to this day.

I’m suspicious of anyone showing up in my social circle and immediately hawking something, even if it’s exactly what I need. I can’t tell you how many times I saw the community cut off its nose to spite its face just to get back at a marketing type guy who was not even spamming and gaming the system, but just trying to let folks know about a resource and get paid for it at the same time. It’s not that there was anything wrong with getting paid, but HOW you did it made all the difference and that lesson was frequently all too subtle for most to pick up.

So why the history lesson? I’m happy to say that as a geek who usually wants nothing to do with marketing in a traditional sense, I’m thrilled to say that Jack Humphrey is a breath of fresh air in a world where almost everything is flimflam with a fresh coat of paint and a desperate glad-handing handshake.

I joined the Social Power Linking program the day it launched and have already started to see wonderful results. Jack Humphrey speaks to my geek side as well as my side that wants to do marketing in a different and more transparent, honest way. Social Power Linking has been around for a while, quietly building a loyal following. They don’t have to scream it on the mountaintop and, in fact, I’m glad they don’t; it’s why I’m glad to be a part of it.

If you have wanted to know what’s next in the internet marketing world, if you have wanted to have more traffic for your web site (massive traffic, in fact), if you want to have complete integrity about the way you get your message out to the community and if you want to finally have all your questions answered by a friendly and very helpful group of folks all interested in this social marketing phenomenon, then you owe it to yourself to take advantage of this remarkable program while you can.

Jack says he’s maintaining such a low price purposely because he knows that most people who actually need this information are not part of the very small community of internet marketers and he wants to make it accessible to a much wider audience. I applaud that sentiment and it’s yet another reason I continue to be impressed with Jack and the entire program.

If you are curious about what the Social Power Linking program includes, here’s a taste of the contents:

First off, the whole program is laid out in a series of steps.

STEP 1
An orientation video that explains the program processes and gives a great overview.

STEP 2
Two Comprehensive QuickStart Objective PDFs: The Objectives of a Professional Social Marketing Campaign. Next in step 2 you study the Authority Black Book and Bending the Web in case you haven’t already. They are free, by the way, and you can download them right now and get a feel for why I’m so glad I found this stuff–those links will take you to them. Even if you JUST get the Authority Black Book, you can utterly change the traffic patterns on your site with that alone.

STEP 3
Social Power Linking Intensive Training (SPLIT)
2, 3-hour webinars (6 hours total training) that show and tell all. A great course in itself plus 3 PDF guides to introduce and give extra info including the slides that went with the original presentation.

STEP 4
Includes bonus software which is a copy of Web2Submitter, currently being sold for $47. This includes training and use and is an invaluable time saver as you begin your journey into social power linking and marketing.

STEP 5
A membership in the Buzz group which is certainly worth as much as the Social Power Linking program itself. This alone will produce a ton of traffic.

Additional Training
After the first five steps you then move on to over 14 training videos (and growing), and the Social Power Linking 60-Day Jump Start Plan. This plan and will take everything you’ve learned thus far and help you build a program for your ongoing traffic generation on a long term as well as short term basis. This Jump Start Plan is so packed full of information it will blow your mind. When you see the strategy outlined within, you’ll really understand just how comprehensive and well planned a strategy it is; it all comes together here.

Audio Training
There is also additional audio-based training (MP3s) and they are adding more stuff all the time.

Forum
Lastly, the forum is where you can ask questions of your fellow social marketing mavens and can speak with Jack himself. There are great links to cutting edge videos, PDFs and articles as well as answers to your questions here. Indeed, the word smorgasboard comes to mind and it’s growing fast. Yes, I’m biased, could you tell? You will be too.

Any Negative Points?
If there is a negative point it would only be that the program is SO new (launched on December 17, 2007) that the community is still on the small side, although it’s growing rapidly. Additionally, although there is a lot of initial material, it remains to be seen whether the program sustains it’s initial high level of information quality.

However, like those of us who have already begun the program, you’ll realize that the program’s short time in existence is yet another huge opportunity for you to dive in now before two things happen that are not in your favor:

First, right now you have immediate access to some of the best minds in the Web 2.0, social marketing world and if the program keeps growing at the current rate, that MAY change (although I’m sure Jack will make certain it retains the outstanding level of high quality it has today) but the point is, right now is the best time you can imagine to get in on this and have direct access to Jack and these other experts in the social marketing arena.

Second, the price just may go up. There are programs that purport to offer the same thing as Social Power Linking, but some of them are as much as $1400 and are limited to a relatively small group. If you are on the fence, spend $30 and check it out right now because once you’re in at $30 a month, you’ll be able to stay in at $30, even if it goes up to $100, or more. I’m thrilled I gave it a shot as I am now poised to completely change my entire business in 2008.

Affiliate Program
Finally, if you are interested in having your membership in the program paid for, they also have an affiliate program that pays 50% for each sale for every month that someone you refer remains a member.

Frankly, I still can’t believe Jack is offering Social Power Linking for so little. When I first signed up a little voice was saying, “Wow, that’s gotta be a typo on the price there buddy, don’t get your hopes up!” But nope, it was the real price and I’ve never been so glad to plunk down my $30 a month. It’s still available at that price last time I checked.

I hope lots of self-proclaimed non-marketers as well as business folks wondering where on earth to begin getting their message out will give this a serious look. I did it simply because what Jack is doing is a great a service to all of us who always knew there was a better way to exchange value in our communities. Jack Humphrey’s Social Power Linking proves that there really is a better way, and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

I wish you all the best no matter what you choose and hope you’ll let me know what you think as you travel along your marketing and/or geek path.

Thanks for reading and be well!

-Zack

Who I Am and Why I Took the Social Marketing Plunge
[Disclaimer: Using my links supports my blog. And I thank you.]

Approximately two years ago, when I started down my marketing studies path, I began searching for someone who shared my own feelings about marketing. Like many others not involved in the daily hustle of the marketing world, I’d always thought marketing was a dirty word and wanted nothing to do with the spammers I thought all marketers were.

I come from a technical, geekish background and have always been more at home on Digg, or Slashdot. In fact, I got started with the whole social news thing on Slashdot back in the very beginning and I maintain a fairly skeptical outlook on marketing in general to this day.

I’m suspicious of anyone showing up in my social circle and immediately hawking something, even if it’s exactly what I need. I can’t tell you how many times I saw the community cut off its nose to spite its face just to get back at a marketing type guy who was not even spamming and gaming the system, but just trying to let folks know about a resource and get paid for it at the same time. It’s not that there was anything wrong with getting paid, but HOW you did it made all the difference and that lesson was frequently all too subtle for most to pick up.

So why the history lesson? I’m happy to say that as a geek who usually wants nothing to do with marketing in a traditional sense, I’m thrilled to say that Jack Humphrey is a breath of fresh air in a world where almost everything is flimflam with a fresh coat of paint and a desperate glad-handing handshake.

I joined the Social Power Linking program the day it launched and have already started to see wonderful results. Jack Humphrey speaks to my geek side as well as my side that wants to do marketing in a different and more transparent, honest way. Social Power Linking has been around for a while, quietly building a loyal following. They don’t have to scream it on the mountaintop and, in fact, I’m glad they don’t; it’s why I’m glad to be a part of it.

If you have wanted to know what’s next in the internet marketing world, if you have wanted to have more traffic for your web site (massive traffic, in fact), if you want to have complete integrity about the way you get your message out to the community and if you want to finally have all your questions answered by a friendly and very helpful group of folks all interested in this social marketing phenomenon, then you owe it to yourself to take advantage of this remarkable program while you can.

Jack says he’s maintaining such a low price purposely because he knows that most people who actually need this information are not part of the very small community of internet marketers and he wants to make it accessible to a much wider audience. I applaud that sentiment and it’s yet another reason I continue to be impressed with Jack and the entire program.

If you are curious about what the Social Power Linking program includes, here’s a taste of the contents:

First off, the whole program is laid out in a series of steps.

STEP 1
An orientation video that explains the program processes and gives a great overview.

STEP 2
Two Comprehensive QuickStart Objective PDFs: The Objectives of a Professional Social Marketing Campaign. Next in step 2 you study the Authority Black Book and Bending the Web in case you haven’t already. They are free, by the way, and you can download them right now and get a feel for why I’m so glad I found this stuff–those links will take you to them. Even if you JUST get the Authority Black Book, you can utterly change the traffic patterns on your site with that alone.

STEP 3
Social Power Linking Intensive Training (SPLIT)
2, 3-hour webinars (6 hours total training) that show and tell all. A great course in itself plus 3 PDF guides to introduce and give extra info including the slides that went with the original presentation.

STEP 4
Includes bonus software which is a copy of Web2Submitter, currently being sold for $47. This includes training and use and is an invaluable time saver as you begin your journey into social power linking and marketing.

STEP 5
A membership in the Buzz group which is certainly worth as much as the Social Power Linking program itself. This alone will produce a ton of traffic.

Additional Training
After the first five steps you then move on to over 14 training videos (and growing), and the Social Power Linking 60-Day Jump Start Plan. This plan and will take everything you’ve learned thus far and help you build a program for your ongoing traffic generation on a long term as well as short term basis. This Jump Start Plan is so packed full of information it will blow your mind. When you see the strategy outlined within, you’ll really understand just how comprehensive and well planned a strategy it is; it all comes together here.

Audio Training
There is also additional audio-based training (MP3s) and they are adding more stuff all the time.

Forum
Lastly, the forum is where you can ask questions of your fellow social marketing mavens and can speak with Jack himself. There are great links to cutting edge videos, PDFs and articles as well as answers to your questions here. Indeed, the word smorgasboard comes to mind and it’s growing fast. Yes, I’m biased, could you tell? You will be too.

Any Negative Points?
If there is a negative point it would only be that the program is SO new (launched on December 17, 2007) that the community is still on the small side, although it’s growing rapidly. Additionally, although there is a lot of initial material, it remains to be seen whether the program sustains it’s initial high level of information quality.

However, like those of us who have already begun the program, you’ll realize that the program’s short time in existence is yet another huge opportunity for you to dive in now before two things happen that are not in your favor:

First, right now you have immediate access to some of the best minds in the Web 2.0, social marketing world and if the program keeps growing at the current rate, that MAY change (although I’m sure Jack will make certain it retains the outstanding level of high quality it has today) but the point is, right now is the best time you can imagine to get in on this and have direct access to Jack and these other experts in the social marketing arena.

Second, the price just may go up. There are programs that purport to offer the same thing as Social Power Linking, but some of them are as much as $1400 and are limited to a relatively small group. If you are on the fence, spend $30 and check it out right now because once you’re in at $30 a month, you’ll be able to stay in at $30, even if it goes up to $100, or more. I’m thrilled I gave it a shot as I am now poised to completely change my entire business in 2008.

Affiliate Program
Finally, if you are interested in having your membership in the program paid for, they also have an affiliate program that pays 50% for each sale for every month that someone you refer remains a member.

Frankly, I still can’t believe Jack is offering Social Power Linking for so little. When I first signed up a little voice was saying, “Wow, that’s gotta be a typo on the price there buddy, don’t get your hopes up!” But nope, it was the real price and I’ve never been so glad to plunk down my $30 a month. It’s still available at that price last time I checked.

I hope lots of self-proclaimed non-marketers as well as business folks wondering where on earth to begin getting their message out will give this a serious look. I did it simply because what Jack is doing is a great a service to all of us who always knew there was a better way to exchange value in our communities. Jack Humphrey’s Social Power Linking proves that there really is a better way, and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

I wish you all the best no matter what you choose and hope you’ll let me know what you think as you travel along your marketing and/or geek path.

Thanks for reading and be well!

-Zack