Bloggers to Watch: Why I Stopped Writing A Successful Column

I wrote the ‘Bloggers to Watch’ series on Problogger for 4 years. It was a fantastic ride – I had a lot of fun writing it and it was great for my career.

It also turned me into a bitchfacehead.

In this post, I am going to explore some of the negative attitudes I had. I am going to get very specific and this will mean naming names. I apologize to those that I mention. I’m trying to show how destructive my mindset got and my negativity towards friends was a huge part of why I gave it up.

I’m glad for the experience – but it’s not a gig for someone who is thin skinned!

Here’s what messed with me:

People writing posts about how they got on the list

You know someone is in the blogging niche when they quickly whipped up a post about how to get on a list post. Here are two examples from the 2010 list:

People get on the list because they impress one person. And, that person is flawed. I regret most of the people in my 2010 list and 2009 lists. Erg, 2010 was Copyblogger central. 2011 was people I had met at Blogworld.

I may have written How To Really Get On The Problogger List Of Bloggers To Watch in response to this. That was the nice version of what I wanted to write.

The response to the 2011 post was the reason I completely changed track in 2012. That year, I was just going to do whatever the heck I wanted to. I felt so much happier writing that post. I skewed even further towards my interests in this years post. I tried to highlight bloggers doing amazing work.

The downside was that I got less links and social media mentions. I couldn’t have used my new approach if it was a client job.

Entitlement.

There comes a sense of entitlement in the blogging niche. If you have a popular business blog, then it should be a given. Then, once you are on the list, you should get everything handed to you.

Last year, I read this lovely, well thought out post by Marcus Sheridan: Do ‘Top Blogger Lists’ Really Mean Anything At All? Then I read the first comment by Srinivas Rao.

So glad you brought up this topic. ITs funny because I was on that list last year and I can honestly say it didn’t to much other than temporarily inflate my ego. Sure it was nice to be recognized, but I can’t necessarily tie any tangible benefits to having been on that list. I think it’s a funny goal for people to set to be on those lists. Granted I have a desire to be on Forbes 40 under 40 list at some point. But that would actually require more than just a popular blog. So yeah, I’m not sure these lists mean much. They might drive a small surge of traffic. It’s funny because in my e-book I actually mentioned that the best way to do these posts is to shine a light on emerging talent rather than the usual suspects.

My online persona is that of a very nice, peaceful person. Make love, not war, etc. On the inside, though, I can be a spiteful bitch. My first thought after reading that was ‘You entitled little shit.’ It felt like a slap in the face. It felt like an insult towards all the work I put into networking.

Srini had the wrong mindset in his first few years – a mindset that many newbies share. He thought that getting the A-Listers on his show would automatically mean income. If I just hit this goal, if I just get featured on this site, then all my problems will disappear. It’s okay to use people though because that’s just hustling.

It felt like Srini used me to get on that freakin’ list only to slap me in the face afterwards.

Now: I know that this isn’t what really happened. Srini has been kind and awesome to me. I hated him for 18 months though. I took pleasure in his misfortunes. It was so satisfying to see him fuck up.

Other stories:

Chris Ducker was pretty aggressive about wanting to be on the list. He’s a pretty smart guy and has a solid blog. It felt that he was only talking to me when he wanted to get on the list. That I was just a person to be used. I know that it’s normal for people to use you when you are a gatekeeper, and I’m cool with that. It felt like that he wanted to go on the list just because he had a good blog in a popular niche.

I did put one person in the blogging on the list last year. I didn’t want to, because I knew how the person would react. I did it anyway because I wanted to have 15 people and couldn’t think of anyone else. I regretted it. It seems that I’m okay with some people leveraging their bloggers to watch status and not others. There is no logic – I just hate the ‘my business is blogging about my business’ niche.

It was my mindset in regards to this that made me go ‘Jade. You can’t write this any more. It’s making you spiteful and toxic.’ I can be bitchy, but never this bad. I normally only have these kinds of thoughts about those who do me major wrongs. This was one of the reasons I unfollowed most industry people on twitter and just did my own thing. I needed time away from the egos. Especially my own.

The pressure of people watching you can be suffocating

I remember a friend telling me that she wanted to change direction with a project, but was scared to. I had put her on the list for a specific blog and she was worried she’d be letting people down if she stopped that project. She moved past that fear eventually.

Earlier this year, I read this by my friend Cheryl Lin:

I’d just been named one of ProBlogger’s Bloggers to Watch in 2013 and had fallen into a massive shitting-myself freakout. I was worried that people were watching, would take me for a narcissistic blogger doing yet another vanity project and that the exhibition itself wouldn’t be good enough.

 via Reflecting on The Little Black Dress Project

I’ve been very open about having an anxiety disorder. I’m considered to be stable and even then, some of the symptoms can be pretty debilitating. To inflict that on another person, especially someone I care about and admire, is really upsetting.

Accolades and challenges can bring out a lot of emotions in people. I’m very sensitive and tend to get upset when I’ve caused another person pain, even if indirectly.

Oh, and Cheryl did an amazing job earlier this year. I’m so proud of her!

On the flip side, I was a bit pissed off when Matt Gartland gave up on a lot of the projects he’d spend a fair bit of time telling me about earlier in the year. Those projects were the reason I put him on the list! It felt like a slap in the face; a blow to my credibility.

These thoughts showed just how messed up it can get in my head. It was silly to put someone on a list because of their plans and goals. Realistically, you need to watch them blog for at least a year before making a decision. Look at Jonathan Wondrusch. Within less then a year after writing that post, he closed down By Bloggers.

Matt is now working on some awesome projects, especially at Winning Edits. I’m so proud of him and it’s inspiring watching him kick arse.

I’m glad I don’t write it anymore

I’m pretty public about having anxiety and sometimes, it can lead to distorted thinking. Writing this series really messed with my head. I think it was the dynamics of the make money online/entrepreneurial community that affected me more then anything else. A lot of this was also going on around the same time as the work drama with the former boss so I had a pretty pessimistic view of everything.

Stepping back has allowed me to take pleasure in the smaller things. I’m a nobody, at the moment. I get maybe 900 hits a month. I share stories because they excite me. I’m not important enough to be part of the politics.

I’m very thankful for the experience. I’m happier without it, though.

How to conduct a brilliant interview

Doing an interview is a brilliant way of presenting information. It is great social proof, highly useful for your readers and can lead to many good relationships.

Everett Bogue has been one of 2010’s blog success stories. And, in 3 Timeless and Simple Strategies to Connect With Anyone, he credited interviews as being the main reason for that growth.

The #1 reason that my blog has grown so fast is because I’ve systematically interviewed everyone who I admire. Interviews are the #1 way to make powerful people aware of your existence. Most people have time to do an interview, because it contributes value to both the interviewee and the interviewer.

The thing is, anyone with an email account can interview a successful blogger. In most case it’s a win/win scenario. However, very few people can conduct a compelling interview. In this post, I’ll show you how you can filter through the information to deliver an interview that people want to share.

Back to basics

In Chris Brogans post ‘How To Get Great Interviews’, he breaks down the process into five simple steps.

  • Homework:
  • Intent
  • Brevity
  • Rapport
  • Posting and promotion;

I’ll be following the guidelines when talking about this but I’d like to add one extra step – getting the interview. This can be the hardest step, especially if your subject is high profile.

Getting the interview

Generally, you have two choices for interviews. You have the up and coming blogger or the established success story.

The rising star is more approachable. They understand that interviews will lead to more exposure and need that exposure to develop their brand.

They also will:

  • be more likely to promote the article via social media
  • Talk about you with their peers
  • Have more time to research and network with you

The success story may be harder to get an interview with. The interview will provide you with social proof but may you may just get the standard responses. Usually, they will also:

  • Have more practice and will give polished answers
  • May not remember you later as you are a blip on their radar
  • Do minimal promotion, if any

I find it’s best to get a balance of famous bloggers and rising stars. You are providing your readership with a diverse range of inspiring people.

Regardless of their level of success, many bloggers are often really busy. The following section will improve your chances of getting someone to agree to your interview.

How to get a really busy person:

One way to really impress the interviewee is give them a degree of control about the interview. I’m definitely more inclined to agree to do something if the interviewer is willing to work around my life.

Let them set the number of questions/time

I interviewed Chris Brogan early in my career and he seemed impressed at me asking how many questions would be best. I didn’t know how effective this was until I started screening interview requests for Dave on top of accepting interview requests for myself.

This technique is something that impresses both the gatekeeper AND the person you are seeking to interview. Most people will be more accepting of an interview when the person asks for a relatively small time commitment. It is even more impressive when the person asks the interviewee to choose how much time they want to commit.

This makes people feel like you respect their time and aren’t out to use them to further their own career.

Offer multiple time frames for a response.

One thing that really impresses me is when the interviewer offers multiple times for a phone interview. This allows me to see if I can juggle my schedule for the week and find a time that suits.

To make it easier, you can use a scheduling service like Tungle.Me. This eliminates a lot of the back and forth.

Give them choice to put it off until a more convenient time.

I had one person ask to interview Dave a couple of months ago. I asked them to contact around November, after an important launch and a conference.

She was respectful and waited, and even after that didn’t mind waiting a couple of weeks extra for a response. Her patience made me really want to help her be one of the few people I recommend to Dave during his busy periods.

Let them choose the method

In a comment on 6 Simple Steps to Killer Blog Interviews, Mandeep said:

“I usually just ask them “how they would like to do the interview?” Whether it’s phone, e-mail or Skype and whatever else. The point is they are doing you a favor, you should be willing to go by their rules.”

I prefer to interviews via email because it’s something I can do over a longer period of time. I prefer phone over skype because I occasionally have connection problems.

Everyone has their own preferred method. Letting them set the rules may lead to a better interview.

Resource: Five Ways to Do Better in Phone Interviews

Homework

Before you even think about the interview(ees), you should consider whether to do a group interview or an interview. Both have their benefits. Most people go for the solo interview but there is another type that is very effective for networking.

I’ll let Pat Flynn explain:

In his posts, 10 Blogs with Explosive Growth to Learn From and also 17 Traffic Building Tips From Some of the World’s Most Popular Bloggers, he not only includes a list of featured bloggers and a short paragraph about each, but he also includes an actual quote from each blogger as well. Having a quote from each of the people does a few extra things for Corbett:

It increases the social proof of the post.

It increases the chances of the article being shared to even more people. Because Corbett took the time to first contact each of the people, and then follow up after the post was written (I know he did this because The Smart Passive Income Blog had the honor of being included in these posts…thanks Corbett!), the authors are less likely to just pass over the post, and will most likely share it with others. If not through retweets and sharing on Facebook, then by posts such as the one I am writing now.

And most importantly, it takes the networking aspect of these posts to a whole new level. Corbett contacted me personally to ask for a quotation for both of these articles, and because of that I know exactly who he is, what his blog is about, and that it’s totally awesome. In the future, I’m sure Corbett and I could possibly work together on something, or exchange guest posts, or whatever – because of the trust I now have for him and his blog – all of which came from the initial contact and the quality of his post.

From How to Get Explosive & Targeted Traffic

Compilation posts – or shout out posts – are networking gold and are something I’ll be discussing in another section. However a compilation interview is just as effective. The only problem is that the spotlight will be shared and that it’s also a lot more work.

Compilation posts

If you are doing compilation post, you will be focusing less on the person and more on an overall theme. These have a greater chance of going viral but do require considerably more work.

There are two models that most people follow:

  • Introduce the participants and ask a small number (6-12) a moderate amount of questions
  • Ask a large group of people a couple of questions.

Both models have just as much potential to go viral.

Less people/more questions

This type of interview allows you to go really, really indepth on a topic. You can provide contrasting opinions and encourage discussion in the comments. There are two examples I’ve found recently:

This type of post follows a basic model:

  • Write a brief introduction to give people context to the post

  • Provide a list of the participants and give some background information – usually two lines. Provide a picture so people can connect to the people.
  • Ask the questions and list the responses according to the same order as the participants are listed in the above section.

You can get a lot more out of this type of post then if you had tried to interview each people individually. The downside is that you can’t adjust the questions for each persons strategy, which may have provided better responses.

More people/less questions.

This type of post has greater viral potential but in most cases, less engagement. Most of the comments are thanking the poster for their effort and ‘luck’ in scoring some of the interviewees. I’ve recently been featured in two of these posts:

I liked being in these posts because they required very little time commitment. Also, because they were more viral, I found I got more emails thanking me for my responses.

The format for this one is simpler:

  • Write a brief introduction. Mention why you were compelled to do this post.
  • List each person, with their pictures and answers.

These are fascinating and well worth experimenting. However, I find my favourite interviews are the ones that focus on just one person. And, these often require considerably more homework.

The solo interview

Most people face the same questions when doing interviews. For some bloggers, it can be frustrating talking about the same thing repeatedly.

You can really get someones attention by showing that you have done some research. One way to do this is to go through previous interviews. You can make a real impression by pulling out a really interesting question and asking if their thoughts have changed since they last answered it.

You can also show that you have a basic understanding of their story by going through their archives. The good thing about this is that you can often repurpose this research. I did this by offering a post series called ’25 Lessons’, where I aggregated the information I’d learned into 25 separate points. It was great as a networking strategy and led to some pretty high profile interviews.

There are two further homework techniques you can do:

Tailor the questions to their specific work

It’s easy to tell when the interviewee is asking generic questions. It makes you feel a bit annoyed; that the person is focusing more on your name then your content. Most people won’t mind but it may lead to equally as generic responses. You can change this by tailoring the content based around their online presence.

I really enjoyed doing an interview with Ije Ude because she asked some very specific questions. I had so much respect for her for doing this and answered the questions as honestly as I could. This brutal honesty led to a really compelling interview – something that wouldn’t have happened if Ije didn’t care.

Basically, I was appreciative of the time she had taken to research the questions. I made sure I put the same amount of care into replying.

Use the introduction to provide context

In many cases, people are asked the same questions at the start of an interview. This can waste their time, especially when you only have their attention for a short time. If you are doing a written interview, I’d provide the relevant background information in the introduction so that you can jump straight to the good stuff. If doing a podcast, I’d ask the blogger to introduce themselves and provide a link for people who want to learn more about them.

Intent:

When discussing intent, Chris Brogran said:

“It’s amazing how people giving interviews don’t realize that they follow the same arcs as stories. Your interview should have some sense of a beginning, middle, and end, and try to service a great story.”

As an interviewer, it is your job to get that story. This can be difficult. However, you can let the story unfold over the course of the conversation.

You can make your intent very clear by running the interviews as part of a series and regularly link back to the announcement post for those that need context. You can also provide your intent by including some background information before starting the interview.

Example

In her post announcing the bad girls guide to business, Traci Love made her intent very clear:

These women have built successful companies and believe in the importance of teaching and helping other women to do the same. They have overcome (or never internalized) the kinds of “good girl” habits that are holding other women entrepreneurs back.
And they reject the notion that women have to look, act, or be a “certain way” in order to be successful. “

When people read that interview series, they know what they are going to get. She has already told part of the story or at least let them know the basic premise.

Rapport

Rapport isn’t necessary with most interviews. This is usually only needed when you are conducting a live interview – either in person or an audio one.

One way to build instant rapport is to have done your homework. Yaro was really impressed with the research Dave had done for his mastermind calls which led to a very well conducted interview.

Another tip is to remind the interview that you are having a conversation. Srinivas Rao, who has interviewed myself, Dave and many of our friends, said the following in a guest post on Daily Blog Tips:

When you get too formal then you become unnatural and it’s really obvious to the people listening. The interview is an opportunity for everybody to eavesdrop on your conversation. If you are really formal, nobody will really want to eavesdrop. One of the things we love as human beings are stories. Let the interviewee tell a story. It’s a conversation, not an interrogation.

My favourite interviews are the ones where both people have good rapport. I feel like I’m part of the conversation and it’s a guilty indulgence. It’s not necessary, but it’s a solid way to engage with your audience.

Posting and promotion:

This is the area that most people fall down in. They assume that the interview in itself is enough work, and will rely on the blogger to send the traffic.

Yeah. This sometimes works, but isn’t that effective.

If you are trying to let the blogger know that you are a peer and someone worth watching, then you should make sure to convey that authority during this process. There are a number of ways you can do this.

Provide context before posting the interview

Context is part of explaining your intent, but it can also be a way of making the interview more engaging. Reading a standard question and answer post is boring. Sometimes, the answers are interesting but work better when they are part of the story. You can help create that story.

Explain why you chose to interview the person. Provide enough background so you can launch straight into the interview itself without it seeming jarring.

You don’t have to explain everything. Some content can be added either as commentary or at the end of the interview. However, this can be a way to make your interview considerably more memorable. An example is Srini, from Blogcast FM. He always explains why he chose to interview a person and allows the listener to understand the story behind the questions.

Format the interview

Many people just whack up a slab of text without worrying about how it looks to the reader. This is fine however most interview questions aren’t answered as concisely as a blog post.

Add relevant images at select points. Format the headings so that the reader has a break. Focus on turning the interview into an experience.

Encourage the conversation

You can really get in the interviewees good books by encouraging conversation around the interview. Ask people to comment about specific aspects and to share their own experiences. Find ways to link the interview to issues that your readers are facing.

Another way to encourage conversation is to provide an incentive. Sometimes, the host blog will offer a relevant product to the person who provides a certain type of comment or shares the interview. This can work, but also can lead to shallow conversations.

Promote the interview

Relying on the interviewee to do all the promotion is very bad form and can damage your relationship. It shows that you were relying on them to put all the effort in rather than supporting them. You don’t have to do a huge campaign however it’s worthwhile demonstrating that you care about getting their words out there.

This goes beyond sending a few tweets. Email people who you have mentioned or think could get some use out of it. Add it to your media page, mention it in your newsletter and encourage conversation.

It doesn’t have to be a massive effort. You just have to demonstrate that you are willing to help the interviewee as much as they helped you out.

On My Radar: Boo Winter! Edition

It has been a very busy couple of weeks at Jades House HQ. It seems that people decided to launch their awesome stuff around the same time I started blogging again. Which is fantastic for this column. Not so fantastic for the pile of books in my shelf that are begging to be read.

P.S I am now 26. I feel old, guys!

New Blogs:

Jen Bishop has launched a sister site to her popular Interiors Addict blog.

Appliance Addict is a new Australian site with news and reviews on the latest appliances for your home and lifestyle. If you’re interested in what’s new in must-have kitchen gadgets, coffee machines or vacuums, you’ve come to the right place. We’re all about appliances that make your life easier and more enjoyable.

You can read an interview with Jen about the new site over at Influencing. It looks really interesting. And, what a fun way to work with your partner!

Jen also recommended The Ooh! Blog

We believe everyday should be fun, beautiful & creative! Go someplace special, try something new or revive something old. Daily inspiration for a happy, healthy lifestyle

Gossip:

  • The Good Life Project is now available on iTunes.
  • The new Copyblogger design is live. I’m not a fan of some of the team members but I am really digging the new approach to their business and blog.

Booktalk:

The very best posts from Think Traffic are now available in a special book called: Serious Traffic: Grow Your Income by Growing Your Audience.

This is an experiment in self-publishing for us. Hyperink has worked with several popular bloggers in the past, including Brad Feld, Dave Asprey, Jeff Atwood, Penelope Trunk and our friend Peep Laja.

~

Erika Lyremark has released  Think Like a Stripper: Business Lessons to Up Your Confidence, Attract More Clients & Rule Your Market. Mitch Joel has also launched Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It.  They both look awesome, but aren’t available on the kindle locally. Do you guys think they are worth buying the print version?

~

Pat Flynn has launched his first book, Let Go. It was initially only available via the Snippet platform but has since become available on Amazon.

At the end of Let Go, you’ll see some information about joining my book club which will give you access to a couple of bonus extended-length video interviews

It was incredibly smart to only let readers have access to the book club. That way, only those who have invested in the product can get access to the awesome stuff. Smart way to leverage a cheap ebook.  podcast Behind the Scenes of My New Publication, Let Go also / My April 2013 Monthly Income Report

~

  The World’s Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family, by Josh Hanagarne, has just come out. He wrote about the journey at Copyblogger: A Simple Story About the Power of Publishing Content on the Open Web. Good on you, Josh!

Link Love:

  • Fantastic post regarding The Truth About Amazon KDP Select. 5 other kindle publishers from our community joined in the discussion.
  •  Relax. You’re Already Ok. Also: Pimp Suits One of the reasons I rarely blogged for two years was because I was paralyzed by the success of those around me. They were all doing ‘epic shit’ and I felt like an imposter. I’ve really been enjoying recent blog posts reminding people to take pleasure in getting through each day.

 

Over to you:

Phew! So much to write about.

I’ve been very busy behind the scenes trying to restore the site to it’s original awesomeness. I’m also working to create a lot of additional resources that will help you guys. I can’t wait to unveil it all in July :-)

As usual, let me know about the interesting projects you are working on.

 

How You Can Create ‘Monster Loyalty’ For Your Blog

I recently finished reading Monster Loyalty by Jackie Huba. My initial reaction was to create notes based on my kindle highlights. I then thought “why not make these notes public? Surely it would help people?”

This post is the result of that experiment. I’d love to explore this concept more; I’m reading Jackies other books currently.

Who *are* the one percenters?

They passionately recommend your company to friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

New customers are made because a friend wouldn’t stop talking about a product or service, especially about how it changed her life.

Online, we always think about targeting the influencers. If only I could get featured on Problogger. If only I could land coverage on that one huge industry blog.

Influencer marketing is an important part of marketing your product. However, most of us are ignoring the passionate advocates. You want the person that can’t stop raving about your product. You want the guy that is in the field, demonstrating the awesomeness in action. It can be cheaper and easier to give these guys – the one percenters – the tools to talk about your product.

Danielle Laporte stands out when it comes to this.

They believe in the company and its people.

  • Customers may actually profess their belief in your mission statement, especially if it is focused on changing the world.
  • Transparency and accessibility are key in helping customers understand how you are trying to make their lives better
  • The lesson here is that when you try to change the status quo or the industry norm, some people will not like it. These people cannot be converted. Don’t waste time and energy on them. Instead, focus on your cause, what you produce, and your customers. Meaningful experiences and interactions are what we all long for and seek out. The most successful companies understand this and have found ways to maintain an awareness of the meaning in what they do and to ensure that meaning is conveyed through their products, services, and relationships with customers; it is actually an integral part of what they do and sell.aren’t. They need to treat customers like peers and create a feeling of intimacy—a feeling that those customers are part of a group of like-minded people, not merely purchasers to be mass-messaged at.

 

They purchase your products and services as gifts.

  • They want their friends to experience what they love.

How to leverage this:

  • Have an option in the sales process for purchasing as a gift
  • Provide a discount to those purchasing as a gift.

They provide unsolicited praise or suggestions of improvement.

  • They have moved beyond simple word of mouth into deep-rooted evangelism by offering you their time and knowledge. They have pressed themselves into volunteerism.
  • Those customers who take the time to contact a company do so for a reason. They may be frustrated but they want to get their problem solved. They may be one fix away from being an evangelist. Treat these customers with empathy when solving their problem. Go above and beyond to delight them.

They forgive occasional subpar seasons or dips in customer service.

  • Because they have invested some time in understanding your business, they know the score.

Here’s the thing though: You shouldn’t pay them

Creating a paid-referral system for existing customers to recruit new ones is like paying a family member to show up for dinner. You can do it, but it changes the dynamic of the relationship. Paying customer evangelists turns volunteerism into labor. They feel part of something bigger than themselves. They have connected with your brand or company at an intrinsic, emotional level. They want to meet other like-minded customers who believe in what they believe in. And that’s you.

They understand that if they are simply trying to sell something for the sake of selling, solely for the sake of making a profit, that they will not convince people for very long.

Many launches in the internet marketing space focus on affiliate marketing. This is fine – it is often the best strategy for mega product launches*. For evergreen products though, and physical products, it can be best to put at least 50% of your efforts towards advocates.

People know when people are just shilling for the sake of potential income. Some will buy. More will buy from the person who looks out for their readers and gives them all they need to rave about you.

But affiliate marketing is the norm. How do I turn my readers into ‘one percenters?’

First: find them

  • “One of the biggest things . . . is the discovery process. And making sure that [the] audience feels like they have ownership in it.” His advice on growing your One Percenters: “It’s about not skipping a step, [but instead] doubling down on whatever audience that has found you.”

  • Web content creators. Do you have any people who have created content only about your brand?

Here is where we, as marketers and bloggers, suck. We have a community and will engage with them, but will leave the conversation there. We need strategies to turn these fans into owners of the brand.

One of the best strategies is the VIP list. Most people create these around book launches, but we should start creating them around our brand. Talk about the list on your various customer touchpoints. Reach out to your one percenters and personally invite them. These guys:

  • could be the ones that provide unsolicited feedback.
  • Those that frequently comment or engage with you on twitter.

Create a custom page on your blog. Let them know that this will evolve. Create a secret facebook group.

Give them a name

  • What’s in a name? Creating a name for your One Percenters assigns them an identity, and with that identity comes a set of recognizable behavioral or personal characteristics that everyone with that name shares. As a result people will self-identify as part of the group, or recognize that they are outside the group. In essence, a name gives your fans something to join, to be part of. The simple act of referring to themselves by the name gives customers a sense of belonging.

  • Naming customers gives them an identity that is connected to you. It gives them a way to refer to one another as being in a sort of club or inner circle.

  • Find the name in the wild. Customers may already be referring to themselves with a name. Use online search or listening tools to find out how customers may be talking about themselves. The name they are using might be terrific!

  • Have customers create the name with you. If you are open to including customers in the process, find some of your One Percenters and ask their opinion. Use an online survey or have an in-person facilitated meeting. Have your customers brainstorm alongside your own employees and jointly develop the name. Customers will love being part of the process and will feel ownership.

One of the reasons Fizzle is doing so well is that they have created a community for those one percenter. Corbett Barr and his team have created advocates within the paid program. They have been able to leverage this in their marketing.

Listen first. Listen to conversations elsewhere. Listen on twitter, and in blog comments. Listen to your peers who comment about your community.

You can give your tribe/generally community a name. This isn’t so much for your advocates – it’s so that people feel comfortable enough to become advocates.

You can give your VIP/advocate community a separate name. You can let this happen organically. You can work with your tribe on the creation of this community.

 

Create customer touchpoints

  • Perform a customer touchpoint analysis to look at all places where your business interacts with customers. Touchpoints should include all human and physical interactions with customers, including your Web site, customer service contacts, physical stores, employees, receipts, invoices, social-media channels, telemarketing, proposals, e-mail signatures, brochures, and more. Look at each touchpoint and ask yourself if it is word-of-mouth-worthy. Is the interaction with a customer so remarkable that customers would make a comment about it to a friend, family member, or colleague?
  • Customer service touchpoints (1-800 number, Web forms, etc.). Research shows that for every one customer who complains to a company, there are twenty-five who don’t.
  • Incoming customer comments. Do you have customers who just contact you to give unsolicited feedback on making your business better? These folks feel such a connection to you that they want you to be better. Keep track of these concerned customers for further engagement.

There are so many customer touchpoints. There is the about page and your content form. Here are some others:

  • Any surveys you set up
  • Twitter landing page
  • Guest post landing page
  • The bottom of each blog post
  • Your sidebar
  • Your email newsletter

Are you giving your tribe opportunities to give feedback as much as possible?

Treat them brilliantly

  • Feature your current evangelistic customers in your marketing communications efforts. Solicit testimonials and sprinkle them liberally throughout your Web site, brochures, and advertising. Showcase to customers other customers who they will feel are just like them.
  • Invite select customers to special VIP events that give them access to something special, for example, a performance by a musician or group.

Finally: Always look at how you can improve your organic word of mouth

  • Understand your current customer recommendability and word of mouth. A terrific way to do this is to use the Net Promoter Score methodology developed by Fred Reichheld and Bain & Company. The methodology involves asking two questions to your current customer base: 1) “How likely is it that you would refer our company to a friend or colleague?” on a 0–10 scale with 10 being the highest and 2) an open-ended question asking customers to explain the score. In this second question, the Promoters (those respondents who answered 9 or 10) will tell you why they recommend you. This qualitative data is helpful in understanding the current word of mouth about you in your customer base. Use the word-of-mouth comments you learned about in question two of your Net Promoter study in your marketing communications efforts. Using similar phrasing in how customers already talk about you in

So. How does this fit in with other word of mouth models?

  • Mark Schaefer said that he believes that there are three social media influencer pipelines. Monster Loyalty doesn’t discount the other pipelines. I believe that they are necessary for awareness.
  • Based on this, I think The Tipping Point is now becoming irrelevant when it comes to social media marketing Read: Is the Tipping Point Toast?. I think that we, as bloggers, need to rethink how much importance we place on influencer marketing. How will awareness lead to sales?
  • The talkers referenced in Word of Mouth Marketing, the book by Andy Sernovitz, would be considered to be advocates. Highly recommend the book if you want to brainstorm ideas to generate conversation amongst advocates.
  • The advocates are the ones that will help you lead a movement – something that is discussed in Brains on Fire. However, you can still leverage other pipelines to get awareness.

Should I get the book?

Monster Loyalty is incredibly accessible. Jackie Huba was smart in using Gaga as an example. Most people can relate to the case studies, even if they aren’t a fan. I read a lot about word of mouth marketing and it can be rather dry at times.

If you read a lot about marketing, this may be a bit simple. It’s a quick read though and may be useful for your readers.

Best Practices for Your Book Website

The first decision when setting up your online presence is whether to set up a dedicated website, or piggyback off a successful domain name.

Most people go for the separate domain. This is best for content and resource rich sites. This is what I recommend for most books. Here’s why I prefer separate sites:

  • Most people don’t have the technological know-how to create a mini-site on the same domain
  • Separate sites are seen as more professional
  • Separate sites allow for more business growth, should your website change tangents
  • Creating a separate site:
  • Have similar branding to your main website (if you have one.) Familiarity for existing fans

Promoting via your platform

in Concert - blue

 Image via marfis75

Several people have opted to promote their book via their own blog. I’ve found that this is best when your business brand is stronger than your personal brand.

  • Look at Launch, by Michael Stelzner. The book primarily talked about principles from the book, and so it fit in quite well.
  • Jeff Goins had built up a strong platform via his guest post campaigns. It made sense to leverage that for Wrecked

If you are going to use your own platform, then create a separate sidebar for the sales page. You can use this page to link to other relevant resources and testimonials. It is a great way to get the best of both worlds. Michael Hyatt did this for his book Platform.

I call this a ´two tier´ approach. If you use Michael Stelzner as an example, he:

  • Had a basic page for people who just wanted to chat about it. It included calls to action to share with their audience on popular platforms, or review it on Amazon.
  • Had a separate page for media + bloggers. Factoids, illustrations with captions, information about who should read the books
  • This may require more design mojo. Danielle Laportes landing page for The Firestarter Sessions is different from the rest of her blog. If you are on a tight budget, or aren’t technologically savvy, a separate site may be easier.

How do you decide which is best?

The reality is that there is no ´best´ way. It depends on too many variables. Here are some considerations:

  • Will you be creating further resources around the content of the book? In some cases, it can be useful to create a blog based around the book. David Meerman Scott did this with World Wide Rave, and was able to involve his audience in the launch. primarily focusing on the promotional videos and telling the stories of the people behind the posters. This is also something to think about if selling.
  • What marketing strategies will you be creating around the book? It may be easier to create a separate ´hub´ for people to talk about some of the potentially viral resources you will be creating.
  • Do you want your book to be separate from your personal brand? Do you want to create something bigger then yourself?

The decision boils down to figuring out what strategy will allow for your book to get in front of as many people as possible. Remember: It isn´t about the number of people that see your sales page. It´s about the number of people that click ´buy.’

What should I include?

It doesn’t matter where you are promoting your book. It is considered best practice to have multiple pages dedicated to the promotion of your book. This includes:

  • The traditional sales page
  • A page dedicated to relevant media.
  • A page specifically for bloggers/superfans to spread the word

If it’s an ebook or information product, I also recommend having an affiliate centre

The media room.

I’ve written about the media room here, but this is a different version. You aren’t asking people to become a fan of your company. You are just trying to help them talk about your book. Here are the things that I think should be in all book media rooms:

Long + short book bio

It can be easy to just write the one bio, but I’ve found that having two is best. Some people want to add more backstory to their post but don’t want to do the work when it comes to research. Having a long bio gives people something that can adjust for their own post.

Various sizes images of you and the book cover.

These are the bog standard images. It’s similar to how people use affiliate banners. People want an image size that can work with their post.
It’s especially cool if you can get photos of you with the book. It’s also good if you can provide suggested captions for the images. I was impressed when Michael Stelzner did this.

Suggested angle and interview topics

Coming up with interview questions is hard. I try to ask questions that haven’t been asked before. This involves a tonne of googling and research. Sometimes, I give up.

Having some questions, and their answers, available gives people the opportunity to dive deeper into your story. This can create the type of interview that compels people to buy your book.

Torre De Roche has two pages dedicated to FAQ’s. One page is about her travel story and the other is about her publishing process. Jenny Blake has a Q&A master document. You can learn about both of these in my post featuring book site case studies.

You can do this in any way that feels right.

‘Who is this for’ section

Including this can help people instantly decide if this is worth recommending to their audience. Let’s face it – not everyone will like your book.

Book factoids

Including these aren’t necessary but can make your media page look more professional. For examples see Torre De Roche and Michael Stelzners media pages.

Reviews

It is incredibly helpful when you provide specific information on requesting review copies. Bloggers will be able to easily tell whether or not they meet your criteria. This may increase the chances of them buying your book sooner and writing about it.

This may seem trivial. However, some people become bloggers solely because of the passion. They know they won’t make money off the review so are willing to wait to see if they can get a copy. This isn’t bad behavior. A lot of influential bloggers are on a small income while they build their business.

Tips on writing a good review

Writing a review can be hard. You want to give the book the praise it deserves, but you don’t want to be accused of hyping it up. Also, people struggle with the difference between a review and recommendation.

You could give a couple of tips or ideas. You could create a branded PDF. Just do whatever feels right for you and your audience.

The ‘Spread the word’ page

The Songbird
Image via estan

Having a media page is common sense. These are for the people whose job it is to write about you in some capacity.

I believe that we should start creating special pages for the super-fans who want to spread the word. This is the one percenter concept that Jackie Huba talks about.

These super-fans need material to help them tell the story.

Blogging badges

I’ve written about the badge of love concept before. Here, the goal is to create badges for people to share in their sidebar or when they discuss the post.

Twitter

There are two main ways you can leverage twitter:

  • Suggest a hashtag: It is easier if you provide a hashtag for your community to use when discussing your book. Otherwise, various people will invent their own and you’ll have to monitor separate conversations. Make it easy for yourself and your community :-)
  •  Tweetables: Most book sites provide a series of tweets that people can copy and paste. You can take this one step further by using a service like ‘Click to tweet’.

Social media banners

I have noticed a lot of authors creating badges for fans to use on their social media profiles. The idea is that your loyal readers will use these as the headers on their twitter, Facebook and Google+ accounts.

You can see examples here:

Book club guide

Book club guides are becoming incredibly popular. I will be doing more research on this for a future post.

Other ideas:

  • Infographic: Infographics become incredibly popular and get shared a lot. Think carefully before trying this idea as it may not result in many book sales.
  • Pinnable graphics: Everyone loves pinning content. You can create Pinterest graphics that feature quotes from your book. These can get shared a lot and raise awareness. Again, there is no guarantee that this will increase book sales.

Over to you

I plan to delve more into book site and launch nerdiness over the coming weeks. What do you love about book sites? Have there been any that compelled you to purchase?

Let me know in the comments.

7 Inspiration Book Websites

I’m a book nerd. You only need to visit my list of books I’ve read to see proof. I’m always looking for new books to read but there is one thing getting in my way.

Bad book sites.

I would rather put 20 minutes into researching whether a book is worth buying or not, instead of 2 hours reading something that is truly awful. The book site is a large part of my decision. A quality book site shows that you have faith in your book. It shows that you expect that people will be talking about it long after the initial launch buzz.

If your book site/page looks like it is geared for a launch – such as the Business Book of Awesome – then I’m more inclined to think any conversation is based on hype. I’m not saying this to criticize. I, like many others, have so many demands on my time. I’m incredibly discerning when it comes to the type of books I read.

In this post, I’ll be talking about the book sites that stood out for me. I’ll highlight the awesome stuff they have done, and riff about how we can apply these ideas to our own blogs.

I’d love any feedback or suggestions you have on creating sites for books or information products. I really think we can learn a lot from exploring this idea.

Before you start: Read my article about online media rooms. It’s an interesting concept that applies to both books and blogs.

 

Life After College

LAC

Jenny Blake is an incredibly intelligent woman. While I am not a fan of the overall book site, she did have some really awesome strategies.

  • She created a page dedicated to telling the story of the road to publication. It included first book signing, signing the contract (+ outtake) and seeing her book for the first time.
  • She created a spreadsheet that she used to keep track of all her marketing activities. She shared this with her audience. Seth Godin ended up writing about this on The Domino Project.
  • Followed up multiple times asking (nicely) for Amazon reviews.
  • Leveraged her book marketing list to promote a project that she had spoken about in the genesis stages. This was her Making Sh*t Happen course.
  • Had an Interview Q&A Master Doc. This is a great idea. I recommended that you take the concept and modify it for your book site. How about a list of common interview questions?
  • Post launch, she did a post summarizing the booktour

Her post-launch analysis is worth reading. I was particularly interested in the following:

  • Creating a template email for friends, family and inside scoop subscribers to forward was particularly effective. This is possibly something people can explore – low key swipe copy for people to adapt for their friends and close contacts.
  • Wished she had followed up on those who had received advanced copies. This is something that multiple people have brought up. Maybe there is a low-key, strategic way to do this? My thought is that you should tell those that get advance copies that you will be touching base with them closer to the launch. This email will be low key and non pushy – and perhaps customized. I can expand on this idea if people are interested

The Life After College book is an incredibly useful book – I highly recommended it people between 15-25ish.

Get the book

Wrecked wrecked

I remember seeing the Wrecked book site and being speechless. It was the first time I had seen all my ideas collected in the one place. It was beautiful; the perfect combination of organic word of mouth and awesome design.

Here is what also stood out:

  • The simple, printable action guide. This helps turn a book into part of something bigger – especially if there is additional study involved. People may connect their personal transformation (if one occurs) with this book.
  • A page dedicated to the stories. This goes beyond a normal endorsement. I noticed they were all podcasts. I would be curious to see if there are variations of this idea
  • On his spread the word page, he had images that people could use on their social media profiles. Do people actually use these?
  • He had a Pinterest page dedicated to his book but it just collected some of the shareable images from his site.

Get the book

 Love with a Chance of Drowning

love chance drowning

I may be cheating here. I helped Torre come up with ideas for her media page. Actually, this post is based on the notes that I sent her.

Here is what she did brilliantly:

  • Explicitly stated the ‘hook’ of the book. You have no idea how helpful that is :)
  • Shared some of the brilliant images from her adventure. This makes it so much easier for people to tell the story of the book, and not have to track down pictures from elsewhere
  • Had separate pages with commonly asked questions about publishing, and about her journey. This can give people a solid starting point.
  • Had a mailing list for those interested in getting an advance copy.

She also had this fantastic competition as part of her launch. Srinivas Rao came up with that. He’s accidentally-on-purpose developing a brand as a book launch strategist.

Get the book

Launch

launch

 

I loved this site. It isn’t pretty, but it has everything an advocate could possibly need. The introduction – “You’ve got deadlines, we want to help you meet them. All the resources you need are here.” – was awesome. It made me feel valued. Don’t underestimate this; sometimes influences can feel like a cog in someones launch-machine.

This page contained the following:

  • Book factoids
  • Business Journalists: Fast Facts about Social Media Examiner
  • Pictures with captions (cover, author, illustrations…)
  • Videos you can embed
  • Who should read Launch?
  • Book description
  • Press release
  • About the author

All of these were listed at the start, and each section was linked to.

He had a separate page for ‘spreading the word.’ I think that having two pages can be useful. The media page can remain static while the latter page can be update with new tools for sharing.

Get the book

Ape: Author, Publisher, entrepreneur

apeI’m not a huge fan of this page. Having everything on the one page feels too messy to me. What do you think?

Regardless, there are a couple of things that stood out:

I haven’t read this book yet. Would love to know what you think of it.

Get the book

Eat Awesome Now

eat awesome

I love Eat Awesome. It isn’t innovative, but it is a beautifully designed book website. The use of high quality photos is nice on the press page is nice

Danielle Laporte

laporteI’m not a huge fan of Laportes work – it’s not my style. However, it is worth exploring her blog because she is awesome at giving her loyal fans everything they need to talk about her writing. Even better, she is creating spaces to bring these fans together.

Circles of Fire

She created a page dedicated to those interesting in creating information groups to work through the content in The Fire Starter sessions. She called these groups ‘Circles of fire‘. This page had:

  • A facebook group where people could go to find others to join their circle. She linked to this via a shortlink? to make it easier to share. She also had a ‘master’ list of all the groups – this serves as social proof
  • Tips on creating your own circle
  • testimonials about how effective the circles are.
  • Copy for email reminders about group meetings
  • Badges dedicated just to these groups.

You aren’t just buying a book. You are buying into a community.

(Sidebar: This ties into the concept of giving your fans a name that Jackie Huba talked about in Monster Loyalty.)

Get the book

Desire map:

  • The group for the desire map is just an extension of the original idea – but with a few improvements.
  • Created a pinterest board for desire mappers. I linked how she had a picture of the board on the book club page. I wasn’t a huge fan of the board itself though. The descriptions seemed spammy, even though they were designed to be shared. She also pinned images from Instagram with the original comments, which seemed out of context. Still, you have to give her kudos for experimenting.
  • Tweetables for the book club. These would be simple enough to add to older products and books.
  • Suggested that you use the quotes – which are highly sharable by themselves – as talking points.

Unrelated: love how all the freebies here have similar branding . Want to adapt this for my resource page… once I’ve finished all the resources

 Over to you

These ideas can be adjusted for many kind of information products, and can tie in with other word of mouth concepts. I’ll be writing more about this in future posts.

In the meantime, what book/product sites stand out to you? What role does it play in your purchase decisions?

Also, this type of post is an experiment to me. It is meant to show my thought process and provide inspiration, rather then be a ‘how-to’ post. I’m interested to know whether you like this kind of post or would prefer ones which ask less questions.

On My Radar: I’m old edition

WOOHOO!

Love with a Chance of Drowning has launched!

You guys are probbably sick of me talking about Torre De Roches memoir Love With a Chance of Drowning. It’s one of those books that feels just like good sex. I’ve never said this to anyone, but I enjoyed it that much that I felt like a smoke after reading it – and I’m a non smoker.

It has been such a privilege to help Torre out during her launch in Australia. Now, you lucky ducks in America can read it.

Even better – she is holding a freakin’ awesome launch contest. She has been working with Srinivas Rao plotting launch shenanigans. The first part is a writing competition where the winner gets a Round-the-world ticket up to the value of a thousand bucks. She said:

Write a post on your blog outlining your fearful adventure. It could be something ridiculously ambitious, like an epic journey around the world on a unicycle, or something sweet and simple, like going to a nursing home to read books to the elderly. It can be anything at all. It’s your fearful adventure. Use as many or as few words as you like to express it. It can be a 1000-word outpouring, or one eloquent statement: “I want to fly around the world but I’m scared of airplane toilets.” Up to you.

You can learn more about the competition here.

Link love

Gossip:

Alexis Grant has announced that her website for writers will be launching July 15. Alas, we have two months to wait. In the meantime, she will be tweeting details at  @thewritelife.

Tara Gentile is running another group of the The Customer Perspective Process.

Books:

Monster Loyalty. Am loving this book describing how Lady Gaga turns followers into fanatics. I’ve never read any of Jackie Hubas work before. I didn’t expect to be enjoying it this much. It has flaws, which I’ll describe later in an Amazon review. I’ll write a post next week about how you can apply these principles to your microbusiness.

The Small Army Strategy: I didn’t expect to like this book this much. I’ve certainly been very critical of the author recently. It was incredibly compelling and practical. Srinivas has matured a lot with his view of the social web in the past year. It actually complemented Monster Loyalty quite nicely. Srini talks about how you should focus on the one percent.

On My Radar: Heatwave Edition.

We a re breaking all sorts of records in our little corner of Australia. Today marks the most consecutive days over 30 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, I’m saving bucketloads on water bills due to the fact that you can’t wash clothes if you are wearing a sheet most days.

Years ago, I had a column that curated stuff that I thought was cool. I tried to brand and monetize it by calling it ‘launch watch’ or ‘bloggers to watch’. I don’t care for that anymore. This is for stuff that is awesome. Especially when I can’t explain why.

Little Black Dress project

lbd

Cheryl Lin has been working on the LBD project over the past year. Each week, she would write a blog post featuring a different way of styling her dress.

Recently, she expanded that project to create an exhibition and book. She held a launch and ran a very successful Pozible fundraising campaign. She has been up to some really cool stuff and is seeing all of her efforts come together.

I’m really excited to see what her next project is!

Create and Thrive

timthumb.php_

 

Jess has just launched her new site dedicated to helping people turn their ”handmade hobby into a full-time business.’It is the latest in many of her creative pursuits. I have a lot of faith in her work because she only launches projects that she is 100% committed to. I’m really excited to see where Jen takes this project.

I highly recommend you look at the sidebar. She has a suggested hashtag for encouraging conversation on twitter and has set up a ‘listening post’ seeking feedback from her readers. This is networking gold.

I seriously think that this will be what takes Jess to another level. Would you guys be interested in hearing more from her?

Torre De Roche book launch

For my aussie mates – TORRES BOOK IS OUT!

I original read the self published version in 2011 and thought it was amazing. Shortly after, she got a big publishing deal. I’ve become mates with her since and have watched her get the new version published and launched.

It’s a fantastic read. Seriously. Well-written escapism. You can apply for a digital version to review via Netgalley. I am so proud of her.

New Content direction on Problogger.

To quote from Legally Blonde: The musical, OMG you guys! How much are you loving the new direction at Problogger? I have to admit, I hadn’t read it much for years. It was a guest post dumping ground for wannabee marketers.

Now they’ve put a stop on the majority of guest posts and are having weekly content themes. I’ve become glued to some of the content. This week the focus was on Pinterest and I learned so much. This is coming from someone that has been researching the heck out of Pinterest for an upcoming project.

There are two articles featuring my work:

It’s a bit disorientating being featured as an expert when you feel like you are still are novice. Alas, my humility is working against me!

What do you think of the changes?

~

So. What are on your radars?

P.S In retrospect, it appears that I may have been experiencing breakdown 2.0 over the past couple of years. Oops. I’ve been making a lot of progress with the help of a great therapist and I’m ready to jump back onto the blogging rollercoaster.

How I got 10k Pinterest Followers in 5 Months

I´m obsessed with visual curation. I believe that we are on the verge of a major shift with how we organise and share information online. I don´t have anything to back up my hunches so I focus on creating the best effing Pinterest account possible.

Last month we hit 10k followers at Digital Photography School. Darren (my client) sent out a tweet asking people to follow a board to ´put me out of my misery.´ I had been watching the numbers for days. 10K is an amazing achievement for such a short time. My next goal is to hit 100k by the end of the year. I don´t think that will happen, but I reckon that 50k is more then feasible.

There is a lot of great information online about basic Pinterest strategy. There is very little about advanced tactics. In this post, I´ll share what I´ve learned about getting 10k Pinterest followers in five months.

 Pinning personas

You guys are probably aware of buyer personas. Heck, you are probably on the third iteration of your blog personas. I´ve adapted this idea to create personas based around peoples pinterest habits.

What I am doing is kinda innovative. There is no rule book. There are no guidelines on the ideal number of boards and pins. It´s hard to find anything on advanced strategy. Combine that with no technical understanding of photography and you have a strategist that is flying by the seat of her pants.

This has led to a lot of agonizing over certain decisions. Do I combine boards? Do I create new topics based on what is doing well? It´s like I´m walking a tightrope and I´m wearing a blindfold.

Then it hit me. My boyfriend has started borrowing my digital camera and experimenting with my telephoto lens. He has been asking me how to do certain things and I´d always head to the DPS account to find a relevant tutorial.

My boyfriend, and I, are the type of people that would follow the DPS pinterest account. We are social media savvy and intelligent. We are just unfamiliar with the nuances of digital photography.

Every time I feel confused I ask myself if making this change will make it easier for me to learn about photography. If I answer yes, then I´ll make that change. Some hunches haven´t worked out but it´s ok. It´s just one big, awesome experiment.

  Scheduling

I put off scheduling for as long as I could. I liked how easy it was to click repin and found that manual scheduling was cumbersome. Frankly, I thought it would be a pain in the arse to put more work into something that would result in less images being pinned.

This was probably the single best thing we did. It takes longer but it means that people don´t get overwhelmed by a lot of pins at once. It also ensures that the pin url is still active. Previously, most of our pin comments were from people trying to find the right link.

It seems like a really basic tip but I know that there others who, like me, would save time by using the Pinterest website. Trust me – the benefits are so worth it.

 Analytics

I originally tried to find a solution that combined analytics and scheduling. Pingraphy, my scheduling tool, has basic analytics. I quickly learned that I needed something more advanced.

 

There is only so much you can learn from observing Pinterest in real time. You need more data. You need to be able to compare data points. Pinleague has been really useful in helping me with that.

I´ve barely tapped into its potential but it has helped me see which boards are growing the fastest. I can see what articles are doing really well on Pinterest. Heck, I can even compare my stats against competitors.

My goal for this year is to see just how much I can leverage this information. We haven´t even integrated it with google analytics yet! There is so much potential with what you can do. Trust me, find an analytics solution. It will save you so much time and headspace.

Take note of seasonal trends

I consider myself to be a marketing and publishing nerd and this idea didn´t hit me until late in the year. I noticed that Darren was promoting articles on Thanksgiving and realised that I could take advantage of it. Other photography sites were also publishing articles. Why not curate them and create the resource?

I decided that I would make sure that the fifth board would be dedicated to a seasonal topic. I would put in extra effort to find useful articles and would prioritise them in the pinning schedule. This really resonated with people.

You tend to know what content resonates at certain times of the year. We had a lot of traction and growth and traction of the Christmas board during December. I know that I´ll be able to use the fireworks board many times. I moved it to the top in the lead-up to new years eve.

If you manage a pinterest account on behalf of a client, email them and see. Also take note of what competitors blogs are featuring.

Strategy comparisions

Originally, I planned to use Pinterest as a visual classroom. I organized the topics according to how I would structure lessons.

This plan was sound. It would have worked for other forms of organizing information. The problem with pinterest is that you only have one large board. That is one chance to hook people.

The space above the fold should be dedicated to the types of boards that will grab a persons attention. That was one major change I made.

I also noticed that many people wanted to skip past the basics and find boards specific to their situation. I bundled some of the beginner boards together and then created more niche boards such as lightning and lighting gear.

I´m now in a place of rapid testing. Most people wouldn´t notice the changes. I never really know if my work actually helps people because I get very little feedback from the followers.

I´m really excited to see where this goes :-) Would love your feedback!

2012: The Year I Grew A Pair And Owned My Awesome

Personal:

One of my favourite things about this year has been with personal growth. I´m now at peace with what I previously perceived as weaknesses. The guy featured below is one of the reasons I´ve been able to do that:

 This is Glenn. I used to refer to him as ´the boyfriend´ online but now we are both comfortable with the idea of me publicly talking about him.

It is our two year anniversary next week. Soon, we´ll start actively looking for a house. Gosh, I love him. The relationship drives me nuts at times – we´ve had some pretty big disagreements and there have been times where I´ve questioned whether Glenn is the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with – but damn, he´s a good boyfriend.

One of the biggest issues I´ve faced with the relationship though is not hiding the anxiety around him. He´s witnessed panic attacks. We´ve had disagreements that have left me crying. It frustrates the heck out of me because those anxious manifestations aren´t me – they are just the way my brain reacts to certain situations. It´s demeaning and embarrassing. I shouldn´t be afraid of how I´ll react if I talk about stressful stuff. He ´gets´ it. He knows I´m doing the best I can.

One of my favourite things about this year is that he has had the opportunity to see me in a professional setting a couple of times. I´m not dependant on him financially anymore. It´s nice to feel like an equal. Although it´s hard to be an equal when he´s competing with a spunky 4 year old for my affections.

I´m at peace with having a mental illness.

I hate having an anxiety disorder. I hate the feeling of watching friends achieve so much more then I have in a fraction of the time. It frustrates the heck out of me when I have weeks where I´m unable to work.

I am so ambitious. So driven. And, so flawed.

It breaks my heart sometimes. I have been mentally ill for 10 years. I´ve lost most of my adulthood to it. I never completed uni. I´m unable to hold down a full time job. Heck, even housework is overwhelming most days.

I´ve learned that everybody has their limitations. Mine is cognitive. Some people may have physical illnesses that may be preventing them from achieving their goals. Heck, some people are so ill that they aren´t lucid enough to have goals.

I now accept that I will have to work less hours then I´d like. It means I won´t achieve as much as many of my peers. I have to severely limit social time. It sucks, but acknowledging it means that I can put my work hours to better use.

I probably won´t have kids, as the lack of sleep would make me incredibly sick. It´s sad, but it is a reality. I will probably have anxiety for the rest of my life. Treatment *may* improve but I´ve had to accept that this is it. This is what my life will be like for the next 40+ years. I need to focus my efforts on working within my limitations rather then trying to push them.

Professionally:

Working at the Village Agency

 Late last year, I started work at The Village Agency. I got the job by accident and I was lucky to keep the job after a rough couple of months. I was moving house at the same time that two close family members were playing musical hospital beds.

I started off by blogging and managing the social media accounts. This progressed into more of a research role. It was during this time that I discovered that my real love is marketing. Blogging is just one small part of that. I also realized that my real superpower is researching, filtering and curating information. I learned that I work best when working towards someone elses business.

The best bit? It has been an honour to work with the founder, Justine Bloome. She is so talented. I rock at knowing who the change-makers and great minds are, and she is one of them. She is authentic and humble. Her work is amazing. I feel so blessed to be part of it.

Working with The Village has helped me to get my mojo back after a sucky 2011. The experience helped me to identify and appreciate my skills. It also forced me to learn so much more about marketing.

I have been trying to make my way online for a bit over four years. This has been my favourite work experience.

Attending the Problogger conference

Why, yes. This is me working at the same table as Chris Guillebeau. It was a similar feeling I had that time I sat next to Yaro Starak on the plane on the way back from the conference in 2010. Both instances amused the heck out of me. Other people in my situation would have gone total fangirl but in both cases, I was only sociable because it was polite to do so.

I am so like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory sometimes.

Anyhoozle. The Problogger event was the first time that it felt like I had it all together professionally. I volunteered to help out with the tweeting and I rocked it. People viewed me as a professional. People loved my work. I gave a freddo frog to Eden Riley, which only confirmed that she had great taste.

It was so satisfying to be considered part of the ´team.´ People said that missed me at the networking get together, as I should have been part of the team photo.

It has been a long time since I have felt like I was part of a community. I have been burned so many times by ´professionals´ and don´t trust many marketers/bloggers. It was awesome to find a bunch of passionate, talented people that weren´t wankers.

Moving on from the work scandal

Last year, and for the first part of this year, I was consumed by the Salty Droid scandal. My actions had helped Dave in the early stages of The Launch Coach. I recommended that Dave attend Blogworld.

I felt like I was responsible for the whole mess. I know that the thought process isn´t logical but seriously, nothing about anxiety is logical.

I stopped blogging. I hated the industry. I wrote about what I knew and posted on Salty Droid site, encouraging people to look for information that will actually lead to something being done to stop the dodgy behaviour.

Then I read this post on Ittybiz.

For the first time in 2 years, I felt like I was free of the guilt I had been carrying around. My ex boss made his own decisions. I may not have reacted the best but he was the one that chose to create this ´alternate reality´ without telling anyone about the change of plans.

I don´t believe that the entire industry surrounding blogging/MMO is a shame. I do believe that is a wank. However it is not my job to save everyone. I can try to guide my friends but ultimately, they need to learn from their own mistakes. They will learn more from that experience.

It is not my responsibility to try and fix everything.

Finding my voice

2012 was also the year where I grew a set of balls.

It´s hard to have confidence when your brain is constantly arguing with you over every. little. thing. I doubt myself all the time. For most of this year, I have believed every negative thing that was said about me. I believed that I shouldn´t be part of this industry. That I had no right to be teaching anyone. I was a broke wannabe blogger that was struggling to keep her shit together.

Slowly, I have realized that these experience have made me who I am today.

My mistakes don´t mean that I suck. They show that I had the balls to experiment with something despite the odds. I have a lot more information that I can apply to future projects.

I know who I am. I know what I stand behind. I have the courage to state and defend my opinions. Personally, this is huge.

What does 2013 hold?

Next year will be a year of massive change. It will also be the year that I claim my awesomeness.

I´m going to start blogging again

I can´t wait to start blogging again regularly. I stopped because I didn´t have anything to say that would benefit others. I hated my previous work and didn´t want to be associated with it anymore. Yet I still wanted to be somebody important. I wanted to be featured on list posts and have my work go viral.

It took a long time to cut ties with my previous community. I´m starting afresh. I will be writing the type of content that I would like to read. It may not be targeted to any community and it may have little impact. I´ll be analyzing and commenting on word of mouth and blogging trends. It will be awesome.

I also have a rockin´ new design to show you guys.

I will be returning to product development

I won´t be talking too much about this yet. Frankly, I´m still developing ideas. I will say that 1) my books will be a bullshit-free zone and 2) they will be affordable kindle guides.

I will (hopefully) buy a house

The main goal in the first half of the year is to buy a house and move in with the boyfriend. I miss him so much when he isn´t here but feel suffocated when both of us share my small flat on his weekends. I want to be there when he goes to bed every night. I want to grow loquats and become a clichéd housewife.

I´ll be working on the launch of Love with a Chance of Drowning.

This book, by Torre de Roche, is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is a great memoir. Ivan was such a captivating character that I blushed the first couple of times I met him. The writing made me swoon. The boyfriend copped the ´it´s okay if I need to travel for long periods of time, yeah?´ conversatin.

I read a lot of books. I have rarely read a memoir as good as this.

I´ll be helping out Torre with the launch in the new year. I´ll do some of the behind the scenes stuff so that Torre can focus on just being awesome. I´ll be talking about this more next year. I just wanted to let you guys know before everyone else finds out just how cool her book and blog are.

Over to you:

So! What have you guys accomplished over the past year? Are there any ways I can help with your 2013 goals?

xx

Jade