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I remember the first time that I used the search engines to look for quality information on marketing blogs. It didn’t go well, and I found myself directing a lot of my marketing from a narrow and slightly biased source.

After learning a lesson, I started to bookmark the posts I came across to use as resources and motivation. I’ve had these posts archived for reference, a large part of my blogging knowledge base aside from a few memories and a bit of experience.

So for those of you who are looking to improve your blog, empower and enlighten your readers – here’s my favourite articles on blog marketing:

The Top 5 Articles on Blog Marketing

1. How To Market Your Blog In 2007, by Tony Hung

This is definitely one of my favourites as it provides not only relevant and effective techniques – but in addition it is one of the most comprehensive articles you’ll ever find for free.

2. 25 Tips for Marketing Your Blog, by Lee Odden

If the first article left anything to question then Lee Odden has likely covered it through the excellent 25-point guide. I like to use these as a checklist (with a few changes), when launching a new blog for myself or a client.

3. Top bloggers reveal how to build traffic off-blog without spending a dime, by Jonathan Fields

This is an inspiration article because the author has interviewed numerous prominent bloggers to ask them their single favourite, low budget, blog marketing method. The article contains the opinions of over 14 influential bloggers including Cory Miller and Darren Rowse.

4. 8 Tips to More Effective Blogging, by Jolina of TopRankBlog.com

This is my quick fix when I need some blog marketing motivation. A quick guide that’s simple layout always helps me put my own work in perspective.

5. Top 10 Ways to Drive Traffic to a New Blog, by Miguel Alvarez

I’ve always been a fan of copywriting, well at least since the time I learned about how it can be used effectively. Miguel Alvarez writes many inspiration posts on copywriting and this is one of my favourites from the CopyWriting.com blog. This is not a post on copywriting a blog, just a great resource on marketing one – written by a copywriter (so you know it’s good).

These are the top five articles I use for reference and now you’re welcome to use them yourself. I’ll be following the marketing of blogs in my 5 part series, The Blog Bloodlines – compiling a complete guide and list of resources for marketing your own blog.  Now that I’ve shown you the standard, my job will to be make an even more useful reference - an all-in-one guide to blog marketing.

Blogs are a great way to network, and any marketer or business builder that plans to build an online presence, needs to know a thing or two about blogs. Good luck blogging.

Cheers,
Kris

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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