The Turnfire Internet Marketing Blog - Learn More, Grow and Compete Online. SEO | Domain Names | Affiliates | Niches

Unfortunately we do not have time to maintain this blog anymore, however one of our bloggers is now running SelfMarketer.com a Do-It-Yourself Blog for Small Businesses.

Over at SelfMarketer.com they will be launching a series of articles that follow a small soup company going online.  Will they be successful, and what will we learn from it?  It’s been a pleasure and we look forward to blogging with you again in the future.

Check out the Blog for Small Business.

This morning after waking up to the blindingly bright sun, I got up, rolled over to my computer and sat down while I wondered why I hadn’t started the kettle before sitting down. Either way, my concerns melted away once I hit the web and started reading some of the new posts that my favourite blogs had to offer.

Darren Rowse is the guy behind ProBlogger.net - A great resource for internet marketers and bloggers alike. This morning a new article was published, “13 Quick tips to Make Your Blog STAND OUT from the Crowd.”

In my opinion these thirteen tips should be made into a common checklist that is somehow distributed to anyone who plans to “grace” the net with their blogs’ presence. For the top bloggers I would bet these are all second nature.

The 13 Quick tips to Make Your Blog STAND OUT from the Crowd

1. Pick a unique topic
2. Develop a Unique Voice
3. Design
4. Useful Content
5. Be Prolific
6. Love Your Readers to Death
7. Be Original
8. Express an Opinion
9. Get Visual
10. Use Titles with Bling
11. Longevity Counts
12. Build Momentum
13. Drive People to Your Archives

There it is, the straightforward list of quick tips for effective blogging. The original post has much more detail and describes each of the points in depth - click here to view the original article on ProBlogger.net.

Now to finish up the beautiful day with a bit more work, maybe even some blogging now that Darren has got me thinking. I had to share this article and blogger checklist with you, I hope you add it to your arsenal of resources as I add it to mine. Enjoy the day!

Yours for Big Business, Starting Small,
Kris Scheben-Edey

P.S. I Think Jarod is working on the second part to his “Bottom Line Series!” Maybe he’ll release it tonight.

Related Blog Posts:
Microwriting for Twitter – Top 10 Ways to Make Your Next Tweets Pack a Punch With Your Prospects
First Page Frenzy – The 3 Steps to Effective SEO
Your All-In-One Guide to Linking Building Strategies, Tips and Secrets!
Your Guide to Google AdWords Keyword Tool – Defining Your Market Online

Why is it that some of the worst ideas in history are the central focus of the public eye while some of the best ideas go unnoticed?

The saying “A lie is halfway around the world before the truth even gets his boots on” relates to ideas as well.  Just because you have a great idea doesn’t mean it’s going to succeed regardless of your efforts.  You need to find a way to make your idea stand out from the crowd and in a sense make it “sticky” so that people will remember it.  Well, in a recent book I read, “Made to Stick” written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath - they do just that.

The New York Times bestseller “Made to Stick” has made a dominant impact on the business world. It was ranked #1 on the Top 10 Business books by Globe and Mail and has been renowned by critics everywhere.

Chip and Dan Heath have done rigorous amounts of research on the marketing community and on business ideas and concepts.  Within every successful idea, the Heath brothers found many similarities and characteristics that were profound in all cases.  Using this information, they compiled a set of principles that they believe everyone should follow while developing an idea.  These principles were transferred into the acronym “SUCCES” which the Heath brothers stand by religiously.  The categories are as follows:

SUCCES

1. Simplicity

Find the core of the idea.  If you’re a lawyer and you argue 10 points in a case, when they get back to the jury room chances are, they won’t remember any of them.  You must learn to exclude things that aren’t the most important.

To make something simple doesn’t mean you need to dumb it down.  The best example for simplicity is “For something to be simple doesn’t mean there is nothing left to add, but that there is nothing left to take away”.

2. Unexpectedness

How do we get readers attention and maintain it? - By violating their expectations.  Something unexpected will throw a readers mindset off and keep them thinking about it in shock.  But after you get their attention you need to be able to keep it.

You can do this by creating interest and curiosity. The best way to do that is by opening gaps in the subjects’ knowledge and filling those gaps.
Example: After you have finished explaining a topic, lead into another topic with a question.  This will cause the subject to keep interest and have them wondering of the answer to the question.

3. Concreteness

How do you make your ideas clear?  This is where many businesses have problems.  When a business may release its Mission Statement, company vision or strategies there is usually so much “noisy” information that the meaning is almost pointless or impossible to understand.

To support a sticky idea, one must use concrete words and images such as “a bright red balloon” or “a steaming cup of coffee”.  Avoid the use of sayings such as “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.  All of the audience might not understand the saying and it may be unclear.

Stick to concrete words and images that everyone understands.

4. Credibility

What is the key to making people believe your ideas? Having credible information is a big part of an idea.  If you were to state “ This song is great” or to say “This song was rated #1 on the America Top 100 charts for 2 weeks in a row” people would be more apt to listen to the second song because it is credible with a third party testimony.  People trust information that has credentials and they can test for themselves, kind of like a “test before you buy” concept.

Most people think using numbers and statistics is the best way to gain audience approval when in reality, name dropping and simple statements usually work the best.

An example of this was in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was running for president.  He could have used a pile of statistics to show the poor economic state of the economy, instead he said “Before you vote, ask yourself if you are better off today than you were four years ago”.  That had credibility.

5. Emotions

How do you get people to care about your ideas?  Tying a persons’ emotions into an idea is a great way to keep their attention.

An example used in the book was with health enthusiasts trying to stress to the public how unhealthy movie popcorn is for you.  Saying “Movie popcorn has 37 grams of fat in it” doesn’t mean much to people.  But if you show a picture of medium game of movie popcorn and show one bag has as much artery clogging fat as a bacon and eggs breakfast, a big mac and fries lunch and a steak dinner with all the trimmings it really gives an image to the idea.

People then can relate their emotions to all of that bad food rather than a statistic of 37 grams.  The same case is for the world aid ads.  The commercials don’t show a nation in need but instead show individual who have a name and a face.  A person is more inclined to give a donation to a single person instead of a country.

As you can see, tying peoples’ emotions into an idea can drastically improve its chances for success.

6. Stories

How do you get people to act on your ideas? You tell stories.  Another example used in “Made to Stick” is the stories of firefighters.  After a fire, firefighters naturally swap stories.  By doing this, firefighters build a database of different situations that they may encounter as a firefighter.  They can then use their database of situations to be better equipped for their next fire.  Research has shown that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when encountered with the situation in real life.

So, tired of having your great ideas fail once again?  Well look no further.  After reading the entire book, these 6 principles (also known as “SUCCES”) have “stuck” in my mind. I found them to be extremely helpful when developing ideas and I use them constantly in day to day work.  For anyone who wants to learn more about making their ideas sticky- Check out the book.

-Jarod Henderson

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

It’s your first website and you have no plans to settle for anything less than success.  So how do you make that happen?  How do I attract visitors and get to the front page of Google?

How does an hour a day sound?

Let’s get you started, because it starts here – and as I said, you’ve got an hour a day so I don’t want to take it all up.

Link building is one of the most effective strategies to expand your visitor base, boost Google rankings, and position your website in all corners of net.

The goal of a link building campaign is to acquire links from other websites that are linking to yours, known as outbound links.

The Top 8 Strategies for Effective Link Building

1.    Build a Blog – Building a blog and posting articles is a great way to build traffic.  Through article submission, which I’ll talk about a bit later, your blog can attract a lot of new visitors that might become regulars.

2.    Blog Commenting – You don’t need a blog for this technique - one that top link building specialists commonly swear by.  Find a blog that interests you, and post genuine comments on the authors content.  The majority of blogs have a text box that allows you to put in your website address – that will become a link attached to your comment.  So make your comments interesting and you’ll suddenly have a network of blogs with links to your website.

3.    Forum Posting – Forums are excellent at defining niches, providing target customers and they allow you to build an “expert status” if you take the time to answer questions carefully.  Put a link to your website in your forum signature, and with every new post you present an oppourtunity to boost your link campaign.  While this is generally temporary, because forum posts expire, the goal is to attract qualified traffic that will “want” to link back.  People link to useful information – so achieve that expert status and get link building with your niche.

4.    Asking For Linkbacks – It’s as simple as asking sometimes.  Find sites you like and ask for a link back to your site, possibly in exchange for a link on your website to theirs.  Ask 100 sites, if even 5 of them link back to you then it was a successful campaign.

5.    Social Networking – Facebook, Digg, Twitter, they are all social networks that can provide you with linkbacks and visitors.  Get familiar with these services and how they can be used for you – and don’t forget to post links to your website in all of your profiles.  This isn’t a brand new technique, and a lot of the giant networks have used a “no follow” tag so that your linkbacks aren’t effective.  However, they should all be used because you can draw a lot of visitors back, and many of them will provide you will effective links – or “do follow” links.  Here is a list of 27 Do-Follow Social Bookmarking Sites.

6.    Press Releases – Press releases are an excellent way to gain exposure, and to get links to your website.  Publish press releases regularly about you company or any interesting news you think you can draw readers with.  Create links to your website within the press release, and before you know it Google will index the press release, and you have qualified linkbacks to your website.

7.    Direct Submission – Submit your url in friendly directories.  There are many services and sites built around link submissions or url submissions – and they would love you to join.  Many of these websites won’t require you to sign up, and they are just a search in Google away.

8.    Guest Submissions – If you have a specialization or expertise then there is likely a blog to match.  Make some connections and look into writing guest articles and submit them to your blog authors.  A good article will not only give you that expert status but gives you the ability to direct traffic to your site, and the author might be more than willing to post a permanent link to your website.

Follow those 7 steps, and spend an hour or two a day on improving your links.  The difference is incredible and regularly spending just an hour or two will help you increase traffic, boost rankings, increase sales, or whatever your goal might be.

The Secrets to Link Building Success

You can spend countless hours on the steps above but I’ve got a couple secrets to make it more efficient – to pack that punch and make people WANT to link to you.  It’s viral, it’s about creating something that spreads and will continue to spread.

What the heck are you talking about? I’ve tried before and I don’t really know what I could do to make it spread like wildfire!

Ask yourself one question, did you offer something that your traffic would need more than once?  That’s the key.  If not, here are three ways to make your website one that people WANT to link to their websites:

First, Offer Quality Content
It’s a matter of quantity versus quality – and quality is king.  Take time when writing and designing your website so that it looks resourceful, so that it’s easy to navigate, and fill it with refined content that you didn’t just throw together.  Put some thought into your work and your readers will too.

Second, Offer Tools and Resources
Take a look at your bookmarked websites right now – how many of them are tools, or references, or guides, or specific resources?  Build a tool section, a resource base or something that people will regularly use.  Everyone loves a good resource, provide something that’s comprehensive for people to remember it, bookmark it, and most importantly share it.

Finally, Make Dates with Your Traffic
You don’t need to actually ask them out on a date, but you should set some dates.  Give a reason, a time and a place (your website) for your visitors to be there.  This could be as simple as the revealing of a “big secret” or as exciting as a giveaway or contest.  Make it enticing and people will link to your website just for the event.

Now you know how to build links, how to get traffic and how to get your site closer to that top position on the first page of Google.  The hardest part for me, is limiting myself to only an hour a day – because it’s fun.  That’s right fun; and it’s a bit like a game where there is even a way to keep score.

You can put all this time in and assume you’re getting great link backs – but before your notebook becomes slurred with tally marks, let me introduce you to a couple easy ways to check your backlinks.

You can always check in Google, by searching the phrase “link:YourDomainHere.com”, but this only gives you a snapshot and there are more complete resources.  My recent favourite is an all-in-one checker here at www.urlmetrix.com.  I love it because you get more than backlinks, you find out Google PageRank, and everything from twitter tweets to technorati reactions.

Now go and spend the rest of your hour link building, and come back tomorrow to remind yourself of the easy way to link build.  Good luck Business Builders.

Related Posts:

Only Fools Don’t Use Google Tools - Exploring the Best of the Google Tools
Your Guide to Google AdWords Keyword Tool – Defining Your Market Online
Niche Marketing: And Why You Need To Know How To Use It To Your Benefit
The Blog Bloodlines Pt.1 - The Top 5 Articles on Blog Marketing