1. Why guest blogging? Your benefits
2. Finding a blog to connect with
3. Getting your proposal accepted
4. How to write an exceptional guest post

Why guest blogging?

Ann Smarty is authority on guest blogging and runs the successful MyBlogGuest community. She offer up how you can benefit from publishing a guest post and how not to think of it as a shortcut. Hint: You develop positive brand awareness, reputation and engaged fans… not SEO backlinks and instant traffic.

20+ Reasons Why You Need to Start Guest Blogging

What Guest Blogging is NOT: Getting It Right

Finding a blog to connect with

You need to find blogs who you’d like to work with and make a connection. Here are several excellent articles to help you find blogs that are relevant to the value you offer and are open to guest posts.

My 3-Step System for Finding Guest Post Opportunities – Problogger.net article by Jocelyn Ann

Want Guest Post Links? Find Them Via Twitter – Ethan Lyon created a great tool which he explains on SEOmoz

5 Reasons Why MyBlogGuest Is My Best Find After 5 Years As Webmaster - Daily SEO Tip explains why the aforementioned MyBlogGuest community is the place to make connections.

Getting your proposal accepted

Next you need submit your guest post proposal. Here are some helpful tips on what to do and what not to do. Hint: Put yourself in the blog owner’s shoes. Always remember guest blogging is not a numbers game. If you spam and send half-baked mass proposals, you won’t get the benefit.

12 Ways to Guest Post on the Greatest Group Marketing Blog – MarketingProfs

4 Tips for Pitching Guest Posts Like a Pro – Problogger.net post by Aman Basanti of ageofmarketing.com

The 2 Biggest Guest Blogging Mistakes You Can Make – DailyBlogTips

Write an exceptional guest post

Now it is time to write and publish an excellent post. Here are the fundamental elements to include in your guest post that will help you successfully develop your brand and reputation.

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Your First Guest Post – Neil Patel offers the ultimate guide to writing a guest post on Problogger.net

Creating a Funnel with Your Guest Posts – DailyBlogTips

What additional resources do you recommend to help learn how to guest blog?

Picture of the Week

Image: Two Cows in Pt. Reyes National Seashore in California by AnnaOne

Related posts:

1. Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 1-4-2008
2. Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 1-11-2008
3. Angus Prime Filets – Links of the Week 11-11-11 Edition

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: angus, blogging, content, how-to guide, Links of the Week, tips, traffic

5 Scientifically Proven Ways to Get More Followers

Getting more Twitter followers is a great starting point to becoming a social media star. How you get a big Twitter follower count is actually more important than the sheer quantity. You can use gimmicks and race to 100,000 followers easily. However, you want a high quantity of high quality followers. Based on Dan’s research, the 5 scientifically proven ways to attract more followers are:

1. Display a profile picture – The lowest hurdle of anyone serious
2. Stop talking about yourself – even if you are awesome
3. Reply – Don’t just broadcast
4. Identify yourself as an authority – Be official, a founder, or a guru
5. Be positive – Good attitude goes a long way

Check out this epic social media infograph…

Optimal Link Placement for Clicks

Historically, most of us put a link at the end of a Tweet. That practice may change based on some research Dan just published. It looks like the end of the post is okay. However, the sweet spot for clicks is to place your link approximately 25% of the way through your post.

As a bonus tip, your click through rate will also increase by adding a clear call to action. It’s amazing how powerful the simple act of asking someone to click or download gets results.

5 Scientifically Proven Ways to Get More ReTweets

Followers are good, but the success of your campaigns is to go viral. You need retweets. What type of tweets are more likely to be retweeted? Dan reviewed tons of retweeted posts and came up with the top 5 factors to getting more retweets:

1. Tweet links
2. Ask for ReTweets
3. Stop talking about yourself – a repeat Twitter best practice!
4. Report something new
5. Tweet about Twitter – not Facebook or LinkedIn

Here is the infograph…

If you want an even more high impact how-to guide from Dan, he just published an incredible book in August. I highly recommend it. The ROI you will get for $10 is amazing.

Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas

 Disclaimer: This link is an affiliate link. However, my recommending Dan’s book or the very cool infographics is not based on my financial gain. His exceptional work speaks for itself and is worth sharing.

Related posts:

1. Using Twitter as an Effective Business Tool
2. 7 Creative Brief Secrets Every Marketer Should Know
3. Linkbaiting and Freebaiting

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: best practices, books, graphics, results, social networks, tips, traffic, Twitter, viral marketing

Click here to download Website Launch-Daily Action Plan Template v1.0 (Microsoft Excel format)

This launch checklist provides the core elements of a good website launch plan, including tabs dedicated to:

• Master Go-to-Market Plan: This plan gives you the primary building blocks leading up to your website launch, like market overview, site objectives, competitive analysis, financial forecasts, keyword lists, building your website and driving traffic.
• Monthly Goals: Add key measurable website metrics that show the “health” of your website. These metrics can often be found in your website analytics.
• Daily Task List: Here are a few categories of daily activities you can do to successfully grow traffic and regular visitors to your website, including creating new content, building social media connections, and participating in relevant communities.
• Weekly Task List: More valuable tasks, but these you just need to track weekly, like reviewing web analytics reports, identifying new offers, adding to your keyword list and general website maintenance.
• Site Tracker: Additional tabs, like a sitemap list, a changelog and a social media account list, that track major or one-time updates to your site. This history of changes is perfect if you want to switch back or remember key details. It’s easier to record something here than try to remember it on your own.

Make sure to customize the basic website launch template, checklist and daily task list to your specific needs. I am sure that this free version will help you get a great start to your project. Plus you can use it to cut down your planning time and focus your efforts on creating a fantastic website.

If you have additional tasks that you recommend, post them in the comments. I love the feedback and will be able to make updates.

Related posts:

1. Flipping Website Real Estate for Profit
2. Buying a blog is different than buying a website
3. 31 Royalty-Free Stock Photo and Image Sites

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: business models, search engine marketing, SEO, social networks, traffic, web design, Wordpress

Know what your visitors want with MyBlogLog

Yahoo’s recently acquired MyBlogLog is one of the most widely used community for bloggers. I have simply added their widget into the sidebar here and have done the basics within the account setup. The community participation is huge. I instantly had 5 truly relevant groups where I knew I would be a daily participant. However, MyBlogLog offers a lot more than just community. The biggest benefit is that I know what my visitors are interested in and where they went after leaving my site. Armed with that information, I can focus on making more posts on what you want to read. Great concept, huh?

My traffic numbers are getting a BUMP

BUMPzee takes a lot of what MyBlogLog does well in building communities and then adds the powerful element of social bookmarking. I’ve not only added the sidebar widget that shows who has visited bobangus.com recently, but I’ve added their “BUMP it” bookmarking widget for all of my posts. Plus, this bookmarking is perfectly integrated in with the sidebar widget by promoting the top bumped articles in addition to who has recently visited. BUMPzee is a the perfect blend of networking and relevant bookmarking.

Of course, my personal desire for the added traffic and the stickiness of participating in an active community (especially in affiliate marketing groups) is my biggest benefit. I just had my highest traffic day yesterday thanks to direct traffic from BUMPzee and getting 3 Bumps for my CJ Product User Group Post.

Join these communities and add me as a friend

I’ve already seen an instant boost in traffic coming from both Bumpzee and MyBlogLog, even though my number of connections is still pretty low. I really am looking forward to see what happens as I build out my friend lists. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend that you setup an account and take the extra steps of adding a ton of related tags, joining some related communities, and reaching out to make contacts. In fact, make sure to let me know who you are and I’ll add you to my connections.

Related posts:

1. Digg-style Voting for Video Game Downloads
2. Yet Another Social Media Profile… But It’s Google
3. Prime Angus Filets: Links this Week 2-1-2008

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogging, social networks, traffic, web 2.0

© Bob Angus for bobangus.com, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: affiliate marketing, blogging, content, traffic