Kicking Ass Content Connections by Lorelle VanFossen

Kicking Ass Content Connection
WordCamp 2007
By Lorelle VanFossen
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/
http://www.cameraontheroad.com/

Connecting the Bloggers
Do you know your blogging competition?
Do you know this blogger?
Have you blogged about this blogger?
Does something this blogger does interest you?
To help your build your blog, you must connect with other bloggers and work together to build each other’s blogs

The Blogging First Impression
Too many blog posts look like they were written in 10 minutes by someone who clearly:
Can’t Type
Can’t Think.
Make you think they were released for the day or maybe they have computers in the institution.

Creating The Content
If you want to get someone’s attention,
you need to show them something they’ve never seen before,
or show them something in a way they’ve never seen before.

Content Building
Find the Missing Pieces
Look at the Big Picture
Take Your Time Blogging

There are holes in subjects everywhere. Not everything has been said - and even if it has - show them the subject in a way they’ve never seen it before.
Say it well, say it better, but don’t repeat old subjects. Find out what has been covered, link to the best, but find what is missing.

There are 1,860,000 search results for how to install WordPress.
Do we need another?
Can you really write a better tip or technique for installing WordPress than those that have already been written?
What’s missing?

Find the Missing Pieces:
In school they taught “how to” but rarely did they ever cover “why”. We were told “because” and “that’s the way it’s always been done”.
School doesn’t prepare you for problem solving, it prepares you for solving problems.
Blog the why.

Look at the Big Picture
You are the editor and publisher of your blog.
You know it’s goal, purpose, mission statement, short range goals and long range goals. You see the big picture thus you should be able to see what’s missing.
What’s left out? In your industry, niche, blog content – what’s missing from the big picture.

Take Your Time Blogging
Unless you blog the news, don’t read your feeds in the morning. Read them before you go to bed and let the information stew.
Slow down.
Gives you time to think.
Gives you time to read what others have to say
Gives you time to say it better.
Gets you more attention as you aren’t reporting it as one of the many but one of the few - with perspective.

Benefits of Waiting to Blog
Blogger considered wiser.
Reader believes blogger now has a better perspective on the subject with time.
You will catch those who “hadn’t heard it yet”. Readers are grateful.
It gives the original authors of the subject a second round of traffic for which they are grateful as this audience tends to be the thinkers not reactors.

Be Late to the Party
Recently, worried after entering the conversation late, a friend told me, “you sounded like the only sane one talking”.
Blog early on a controversial subject and you may sound like a ranter.
You might not, but the readers are in such a panic to get more information they impose their “desperateness” onto what they read.
Waiting has the perspective of time, thus readers are calmer, had more information, and “ready to listen”.

Creating the Conversation Mode
What is the difference between a website and a blog?
Conversation.

Building an Audience Begins With Two
Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers just started a new series on blog strategy building and marketing.
Blog for one person. That’s your customer. Who? YOU.
When they walk in the door of your blog, it looks like home. It meets their expectations for their needs.
You want your blog to be a familiar place, where everything is where it is supposed to be, relative to your blog topic and content.

People want to do business with people who are
Like them.
Meet their expectations.
Make your blog’s design say “Hey, you’ve found the right place.”
And they will stick around.

Can you tell when someone’s faking it on their blog?
Then your readers can tell when you are faking it.

What does “faking it” look like?
Too many ads - intent = money not content
Not enough or no original content.
More blockquotes than content.
Lack of sincerity and faith in the content.
Poor or lazy writing style.
No About page or “self” in the writing.

Content Must Match Intent
Building a relationship with your readers means:
Earning their trust.
Being authentic in content and style.
Keeping your promises and commitments.
Putting the relationship between the you and your readers first.
It doesn’t pay to fake it.

Give Without Expectation of Return
One of the wonderful aspects of blogging is sharing what you have learned. It brings value to your reader’s lives and work.
If you teach someone how to break a habit, how to do it bigger, better, faster, easier, more efficiently, you have their attention.
If you give them the easy way out, they will follow you.
Invite them to leave your blog for something worthwhile, and they come back…with friends.

Getting the Conversation Going
Too many people are still writing for their 8 th grade teacher. Writing in complete sentences, complete thoughts, complete ideas.
That’s not a conversation. You can’t get a word in edgewise.

Don’t Finish That Thought
To turn a complete idea into a conversation, don’t finish the idea. Don’t finish the thought. Stop writing.
Instead of 10 tips for X, have 7. They will give you the next three.
“ Oh, you forgot” ...you didn’t forget. You let them help you remember.
Incomplete thoughts allow readers to complete them.
Let them complete the game: What’s missing in this post?

Never say “What do you think”
You might get an answer.
You might not like the answer you get.
Since you are writing to them, and they are like you, it’s like being with your best friend or being an old married couple – you’ll find them finishing your sentences.

If You Want to Participate in a Conversation, Participate in the Conversation.

Participate in the Conversation
Blog about what others are blogging about, linking to their parts of the conversation, and add yours. This gives permission to share their views and encourage comments.
You don’t have to respond to every comment, but you have to make your readers FEEL like you do.

Other Ways of Making Blog Conversation
Continue the conversation in comments on your blog.
Don’t answer the question completely.
Comment on other blogs setting an example of how to comment and continue the conversation.
Comment on other blogs. Help them and they will help you continue your conversation.

Building Content Tips
Write timeless content that keeps new readers finding you over the years, not days.
Write for the future, making your content valuable 20 years or more from now.
Write article series that keeps readers coming back for more.
Publish a predictable schedule:
Monday Links for the Week
Wordless Wednesday
Friday Summary

Building Content Tips
Don’t just blockquote - continue the conversation.
Write keyword-rich, search term filled content and titles.
Make one or more of the first three paragraphs “blockquote-ready” for copy and pasting and referencing your blog post.
Write content worth linking to.
Write content that attracts “you” to your blog.

Finding Lorelle
Author: Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging
Lorelle on WordPress - WordPress and Blogging Tips
Taking Your Camera on the Road - Travel and Photography and Life on the Road
Lorelle’s Family History - Genealogy Blog
The Blog Herald - Daily contributor and content translated into 3+ languages
WordPress Wednesday News Report
Email: [email_address]

Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging

http://wordpress.tv	454
http://lorelle.wordpress.com	42
http://coliss.com	14
http://cyberbrahma.com	7
http://dipintermedia.wordpress.com	6
http://hstubble.wordpress.com	5
http://www.jeremyperson.com	3
http://edhead.wikispaces.com	3
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2
http://www.slideshare.net	1
http://kichu	1
http://robertnelsononline.com	1
http://www.chaoticsynapticactivity.com	1
url_unknown	1

Kicking Ass Content Connections by Lorelle VanFossen

by Lorelle VanFossen on Jul 25, 2007

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Kicking Ass Content Connections by Lorelle VanFossen — Presentation Transcript