Besides the fact that Steph Bowe is seventeen years old and her first book was published when she was sixteen (I think I was selling ice-cream) she has also appeared at prestigious writers’ festivals and contributed pieces to The Age (I got to wear a pink hat.)

And she is now guest blogging for Brisbane City Council.

A couple of questions:

1. What on earth have I been doing with my time?
2. Whose clever idea is this guest blog thing?

GUEST POSTS FOR VARIETY

A friend sent me a link to ibrary, Brisbane City Council’s new, dedicated website for high school students. Ibrary (great name) began in February 2011 and is dedicated to making BCC libraries accessible and attractive to high school students.

Steph Bowe is their inaugural guest blogger for the month of May. So far she has written fantastic weekly posts about her own experiences as a young writer, her favourite books and how much she loves hearing from her fans.

I was browsing one of Brisbane’s bricks-and-mortar libraries the other day and found myself alongside a surprising number of high school students at tables doing their homework, or reading among the bookshelves. Ibrary is a perfect way for Brisbane City Council to engage with its young readers. There’s an online forum to discuss books and films, a calendar of local events and library resources at teenagers’ fingertips.

GUEST POSTS FOR AUTHENTICITY

And then there’s this guest blog by Victorian teen Steph Bowe. Insightful blog posts by a successful, bright teenager (one of their readers’ “own”) equal authenticity for ibrary. Who knows the number of young people she’ll encourage to write or the number who will now pick up her book?

Guest blogging is a brilliant way for your blog to remain fresh, relevant and perhaps target a new group. Could your guest blogger be a customer? An employee? A client? A fan? An expert? Who can say what you want better than you?

What is the best post by a guest blogger you’ve ever read?

But how do you get people to care? How do you get them to know you and listen and come back for more?

You build a community.

And the best way to do that? Be hyper-local. Start with your immediate, existing community. Talk about things in your town or city. Be relevant to people who know you or who are in the same locale as you.

• Any industry events on in your area? Go along, meet people. Blog about it. Let them know.
• Any people involved in your field who are known locally? Get them involved.
• Any magazines, trade journals or websites relating to your field? Write a post for them or ask them to feature you.

Take your offline networking skills and apply them online. Bam!

Need help? Ask a question in the comments. Or call 1300 258 394.

Share your take on things.

But, how?

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Write down the answers to these questions:

• What does your reader do for work?
• What does your reader do when they’re not at work?
• What issues, policies, news topics or legislation affects them?

Of course, your slant on things can be really important – but the topic needs to be those which are relevant to your readers. Figure out exactly what it is they’re into and from there follow with what value you can add to that discussion. It all comes down to being a trusted advisor. If you know that someone else has a great point on said topic – ask them to share it, then add context for your audience.

THEN, MONITOR

• Put Google Alerts on every pertinent industry site and every blog you can find,
• Read all industry news,
• Search related topics on Twitter regularly; and
• Ask your readers what they want to know via a survey in your e-mail newsletter.

It really comes down to that old chestnut – to write well, you’ve got to read well. Your opinion is important sure, but to be frank, it’s only going to be important to more than just your Mum if you actually know what you’re on about. Research, research, research – it’s the key to every successful story.

PROVIDE COMMENT

• A news article related to your audience is published. Respond to it on your blog.
• A blogger discusses an issue. Expand on it on your blog.
• A piece of legislation is passed that will affect your audience. Comment on it on your blog.
• A Twitter conversation flares up on an issue. Reproduce it on your blog and add your perspective.

I’ve quoted it before and I’ll quote it again…

“THERE IS INFORMATION ALL OVER THE NET, BUT THERE’S ONLY ONE YOU” – Liz Strauss

The fact is, the news is always changing. Your readers will always be affected by issues. Your knowledge is always growing.

If you’re informed, your opinion will be valuable to your audience. Why not share it?

The Bluewire door was opened by good friend, fellow uni class mate, business partner and now professional colleague, Angus Russell. Angus introduced me to Adam and Angela late last year where I came in and shared with them a little about me and my passion for the web. After being offered a position and after some deliberation I could see that Bluewire could be the place for me to learn and grow, both professionally and personally.

With a background in web development I entered Bluewire to assist the already talented team with Updates and Support. But as is the attitude of Bluewire: Do what you love, I’ve since been training to do initial consultations. I’m very much a people person and initial consults give me the opportunity to have a break from the 1’s and 0’s of coding and get involved with clients and engage with the community. I’m yet to have my first initial consult where Angus and I will team up like Adam and Toby used to, to see how we can help our potential clients. So if there is anyone who is requires Bluewire’s help with web strategy you will now know who to call!

My four weeks with Bluewire have passed as quickly as Cyclone Yasi over the North QLD coast. However instead of leaving devastation I’m left with highlights of what is expected to be an enriching job. Highlights like our 6^th Birthday party where we raised $1200 for charity and I was able to mingle with the people who have helped make Bluewire what it is today. Or the opportunity to shape my goals within my job and have real input into the business, instead of just being a number on the pay roll. These things along with the support of Adam, Toby and the team make it a place where I wake up and want to be. It’s a job that is fulfilling, challenging and one that I look forward to where it is going to take me.

This is my first of many Bluewire blogs and I will also be seen on the the Bluewired developers blog. I’d love it if you dropped me a comment below!

Surely his email list, trademarked marketing system or his business contacts are worth more… How can a blog be so valuable? Surely this is a gee-up.

Not so.  John Jantsch, author of two books, Referral Engine and Duct Tape Marketing is serious. And I totally agree!

[I've been listening to Referral Engine as an audio book from Audible.com & if you want to fast forward to this bit, go Chapter 7 and start at 17:25mins]

Why is John Jantsch’s blog so valuable to him?

John says this about his blog,

“I can state without hesitation that it is the single, greatest business asset I own. It has lead to countless interviews with national publications, my first book deal and interactions with hundreds of thousands of small business owners.

My blog is an incredible source of search engine traffic and exposure for my products and services, but even if none of that were true, knowing what I know now, I would still write a blog.”

John Jantsch's Duct Tape Marketing Blog

John demonstrates that your blog is the catalyst for all forms on online engagement.  It allows you to create content.  And you can think of it as a management system for your content that is already search engine friendly!

The hidden benefits of blogging?

John continues,

“The act of writing something, something about my business and passion, something I observe that touches me, something I learn and can’t wait to share is intrinsically rewarding.

I didn’t start blogging for these reasons, but they are the reasons I continue to advocate blogging to everyone.

Blogging makes me a better thinker.
Blogging makes me a better listening.
Blogging makes me a better writer.
Blogging makes me a better sales person.
Blogging makes me a better speaker.
Blogging keeps me focused on learning.
Blogging allows me to test out ideas.
Blogging makes me a better networker.
Blogging allows me to create bigger ideas.”

If that isn’t reason enough to blog, I don’t know what is!

I really like Referral Engine and John’s pragmatic approach to marketing. The key lesson is creating remarkable content on your blog (your hub) and then getting that content in front of your ideal buyers (your spokes).

Educational content is the starting point that allows people find you.  And from there, you can nurture people through the seven steps where they know, like, trust, try, buy, repeat & refer you!

You can check out the Referral Engine website, buy Referral Engine on Amazon or follow John Jantsch on Twitter (@ducttape).

What did you think of Referral Engine?

So we’ve started going through and listing some tips, none of them are revolutionary and not all of them will apply to all situations, but they’re all useful things to keep in mind. This post covers a few of the tips we’ve come up with so far for Blogging, Facebook and Twitter.

Before I start, I apologise for the length of this post, but it’s mainly dot points, so it shouldn’t be too hard to read (you should even just be able to skim it if you like).

Blogging

• We all love lists. A post titled “Top 10 Things To Do In Brisbane” is usually going to get more click-through’s than the same post titled “Tourist Activities in Brisbane”. Consider changing the title and layout of your next blog post to be ‘top x widgets’, ‘x best widgets’, ‘x worst widgets’ etc.
• Include Media in your posts. Pictures and Videos break up the text in your post, making it easier to read (and more interesting).
• Make sure you include sharing options on each post. It’s easy to get a tweet and like button for each post (it’s usually just a plugin), but you should also include the full suite of sharing options at the bottom along with the comments.
• Write with personality. You don’t need to sit down and think about the best way to phrase each sentence like you did in your Uni assignments, write as if you’re giving a speech, or visualise who you’re aiming your post at. Most of the time, casual language is going to work best.
• It’s probably the most commonly thrown around tip (in regards to blogging anyway) but FINISH YOUR POST WITH A QUESTION! It’s the best way to encourage comments and really engage with your readers. There are differing opinions as to whether open questions (e.g. What’s your opinion?) or more direct questions (e.g. What would you have done in that situation?) get the best results, so try both and see what works best for you. (Note: you’ll see that I’ve experimented a bit with the question at the end of this post…).
• Following on from the last tip; read the comments and interact with your readers. They might ask you a question back, or they might make a good point about something you said. Always acknowledge and take the conversation further.

Facebook

• Before you start, think of the goals for your facebook page and how you will achieve them (don’t just make one for the sake of making one). Remember, there needs to be an incentive for someone to ‘like’ your page, post on your wall and interact with you. What will it be?
• Facebook offers the option to direct non-fans to a custom page. This page is your opportunity to turn casual viewers into fans. How will you do it? Here are some good examples. You can, if your budget is big enough, include a complete mini website on your landing tab, at the very least I would suggest a strong call to action to press the like button.
• Have a facebook widget on your website’s home page (and sub-pages if it fits) that offers the option to become a fan. If you have enough room you can also show some of your current fans and even your recent posts.
• To get more fans, try out this little tip. Take photos at events, seminars etc, post them on your page, then tag the people in them. No-one can resist looking at new photos of themselves (I certainly can’t), and by doing so they’ll be coming to your page!
• Try putting your facebook url (and twitter, blog, youtube etc for that matter) on your business card. This might seem a tad un-professional to some, but unless you’re a corporate banker (even if you are perhaps) most people will probably just wonder why they haven’t done it yet themselves.
• Don’t over promote. The main aim of your facebook page should be to simply encourage interaction with existing and potential customers/clients. A good rule of thumb is that less than one in ten posts should be self-promotional, more than that and you’re likely to start losing fans.
• Last of all, as with your blog, read what your fans have to say, answer their posts and keep the conversation going.

Twitter

• As with facebook, don’t just use twitter to self-promote. On twitter you should generally promote others (by linking to blog posts etc) 10-12 times more than yourself. Any more and you’ll start losing followers.
• Not every tweet should contain a link. Too many links can appear too promotional, even if they’re not all pointing to your website.
• Instead of speaking with a corporate-style tone of voice, add personality to your tweets, and if you retweet an article or blog post that automatically generates a tweet, delete it and write your own (just make sure to keep the RT and the link).
• Instead of using a company logo for your profile pic, try adding personality by using a picture of yourself.
• Don’t just pump out your own impersonal tweets, read and reply to other people’s tweets, tweet directly to others, ask questions in your tweets and do whatever you can think of to get a conversation started.
• Consider using twitter (and other social media channels for that matter) to get feedback on your products or services, or even as a customer service channel. Some companies are already doing this with great results (check out telstra as an example).
• Use a tool to track your statistics, there are a few good tools out there that can give you click-through rates for your tweets, track mentions of your business name and all kinds of other useful things.

That wraps up the tips we’ve compiled so far, hopefully you’ll find them useful.

Feel free to add your own tips in the comments, but, as I mentioned above I’m experimenting with a question for the commenters today…

That just about covers blogging, facebook and twitter, now in the comments I want to see YOUR tips on using YouTube for business!

“how do you get people to comment on your blog?”

We know from our analytics that people are reading the blog and despite having some people interacting with us in the comments section, it’s definitely something I’d like to see more of. For me, there are countless reasons to blog but one major reason is definitely to engage in conversation with others interested in like-minded topics.

So. Why aren’t we hearing more from our readers? And what can we do about it?

Below I’ve recapped some of the answers given in recent interviews with two extraordinary bloggers and community builders Liz Strauss and Kelly Olexa.

What I’d like to know though is:

• How do you get people to comment on your blog?

• What do you think this blog needs to get the conversation going?

Liz Strauss

1. “Be complete, but don’t be thorough”

“If you want to have a conversational blog you have to understand that it’s an entirely different genre.There’s a difference between presentation and conversation.

• Presentation: I stand up and say a whole bunch of words and you listen.

• Conversation: I put out one idea and then it’s your turn to talk.

So blog your experience and then if you’re going to put up a list – don’t wrack your brain to put every possible thing in it – be complete but don’t be thorough. If you’re making a list put as many things as come to mind and then stop….leave room for people to add to your list.”

2. “Put a question at the end”

“I spend about thirty percent of my time on the title and thirty percent of my time at the question at the end. I make it a question that people actually want to answer. Not “what do you think?”…ask a question that you can answer and that you’d want to answer if you got there. A lot of people don’t do that.”

3. “If the puzzle is done you can’t add anything”

“Leave room for people to add something, and then ask them to.”

4. “Keep it going”

One of the things people often don’t do is when someone does leave a comment, they don’t answer, or if they do answer they say “yeah I agree with you”. But you could actually encourage conversation by asking another question right then and there to keep it going.

Kelly Olexa

1. “People want to know that you want to hear from them”

“Ask questions. End a post with “question of the day” – in bold!”

2. “99% of your audience is lurking”

“But remember: 99% of your audience is lurking. They’re not going to respond. It takes a lot to pull them out and say “c’mon! share yourself with the rest of the world!” but once they start commenting, they’ll usually continue to do so.”

So? How do you get the conversation going?

I’ll be posting the video of that soon, but I just wanted to share one little morsel:

Liz Strauss talks about making the most of your personality online. – audio file.

“There is information all over the internet, but there is only one you.”

I look forward to more and more companies becoming personable through social media. Don’t you?

The other positive of gaining back-links is that it widens your potential readership. When you promote your blog through social media, only your followers are likely to read it – but when it gets promoted on somebody else’s site, you’ll have access to new readers, and if they like what you’ve said you might get to keep them.

With all that in mind, let’s look at three techniques we’ve used at Bluewire to successfully attract back-links to our blog.

1. Guest posts

Write content for somebody else and have them post it on their blog. They get the benefit of new content from a different perspective, and you get a back-link with the anchor text of your choice.

Tip: When optimising your back-link, pick a popular search term, rather than your own name or your company’s name. This way, you’ll attract viewers interested in the topic, rather than just people who already know about your company.

For example: My byline would be -  Sarah McVeigh, Brisbane Copywriter for Bluewire Media.

2. Reviews

Did you just read a new e-book, attend a seminar, or try a product related to your work or readership? The person that wrote said e-book, spoke at said seminar or created said product is probably monitoring what’s being said about it online. If you offer opinion, feedback or commentary, chances are they’ll take notice.

They might include a quote of yours in a “testimonials” section, and you can request a back-link to your review. If you don’t think they’re monitoring the dialogue, you can always send them a link to your review and encourage them to use it.

Tip: The number one key to blogging is authenticity. Provide honest opinion, and champion things you believe deserve it, not necessarily what will get you the most attention. Your readers will respect you all the more for it.

3. Interviews

At Bluewire we regularly interview thought-leaders and inspiring people in our field, many of whom have attracted great followings for their expertise. Not only do you get to share with your readers or viewers advice from people you respect, and ask those questions you’ve always wanted to ask, but you also have the chance to register on a radar far more prominent than your own. Bluewire is a young company, so it follows that we don’t have the readership of experts like David Meerman Scott or Verne Harnish, but by interviewing them and sharing that content for free, you’ll be recognised for your content on your interviewee’s site.

Tip: Email someone you admire in your field and ask if you can interview them either online, or by meeting up if it’s possible. The worst they can say is ‘no’.

Blogging Brisbane: Need help writing relevant content and getting readers to your blog? Call us for a chat, 1300 258 394.

This post was created for Problogger’s ‘31 days to build a better blog‘ challenge.

The challenge then, to improve our Bluewire Media blog through trying out Mr Rowse’s  ‘31 days to build a better blog‘ is a welcome one. If you’d also like to learn from the man who turned his hobby into a fully fledged business, buy his e-book here.

31 days to build a better blog

Day One

Day one is all about articulating the purpose of your blog in the most basic, straightforward manner possible. According to Problogger, the “elevator pitch”, or blog tagline, is going to be central to every aspect of the blog – from writing content, design, SEO and branding, to networking and promotion.

The pitch should:

• Define the problem, or need that we solve,
• Recognise the intended audience,
• Be clear, short and punchy; and
• Be energetic but not hyped.

Here’s what I came up with:

Short pitch: Bluewire Media helps businesses build and implement exceptional web strategies.

Long pitch: You get jargon-free advice on how to develop and maintain a strong online presence for your business. Through reading our blog, you’ll gain an understanding of web strategy techniques including social media marketing, search engine optimisation and how to write copy with character. You’ll also be kept up-to-date with the events, trends and technology that shape the web, and how to harness them in your own web strategy.

Feedback: Feel there’s something I’ve missed? Leave a comment and tell us what we should be blogging about, or whether you think these elevator pitches sum up what we do.