Weekly Marketing Skinny – February 16, 2013

Weekly Marketing Skinny - February 16, 2013

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marketing skinny february 16I am really liking this new “Marketing Skinny” series on Saturdays.

It’s my positive constraint to keep in touch of what’s going on in the world of marketing, as well as pass that information in a concise bite-sized easy-to-digest form to you.

Positive what?

When you use positive constraint, you put yourself into a circumstance where you have no choice but to get something done.

For instance, now that I’ve published these skinny reports for three weeks in a row, my readers are starting to look forward to reading them on Saturdays as they sip their morning coffee and try to decide whether they should get out of their pajamas at all this weekend.

Other examples of positive constraints:

  • You have an idea for a product, but struggle with finding time to actually do it. Schedule a webinar for your readers where you walk them through your ideas. That way, you’ll have no choice but to get it done, plus you can turn the webinar into a product of its own.
  • You want to guest post, but procrastination is your middle name. Come up with a great title for your future guest post and email the pitch to the blogger you want to write for; ask them if they’d like to see the draft for the post. If they say yes, you have no choice but to write it.

Clever, huh?

You can learn more about positive constraints from this podcast by Pete Williams.

The idea of using a positive constraint to finally make yourself write those guest posts you should’ve written a long time ago came to me as I was studying the art of guest blogging from Danny Iny’s Write Like Freddy course.

If you want to learn how to write amazing 1,200 - 1,400 word guest posts in under two hours, then I definitely recommend you learn how to Write Like Freddy.

So here’s the scoop on what went down in the past week.

Social Media

orange-checkTwitter shut down my brand new account after 53 minutes, 16 tweets, and following 10 people.

Moral of the story:

Get the people you connect with back to your blog as soon as possible!

That’s the only way you can protect your “assets” (i.e. potential readers/customers) from the likes of Twitter.

orange-checkFacebook is now going to let you pay to promote your friends’ posts. Not pages though.

orange-checkJanuary 24: Twitter acquired and launched Vine: a mobile service that lets you capture and share short looping videos.

Videos play in a loop, and are limited to six seconds — yes, six seconds.

Your reaction to that is probably the same as when you heard that tweets were limited to 140 characters.

Clearly, Twitter and Vine are expecting users to not only adjust, but to also learn to love short videos.

What can you say in six seconds of video?

Something like this:

orange-checkWomen Trump Men Across All Social Platforms Except Twitter (source).

PEW Social Users stats

So if you are targeting certain age/gender audience, it might be time to adjust your marketing strategy.

SEO

orange-checkI haven’t been writing much about getting traffic from the search engines lately.

Much of it was because of so much uncertainty Google had created with all the changes/updates it launched in the past year.

Only now, after testing a few things, reading a lot, and watching other people fail and/or succeed on their quest for better rankings, I feel much more equipped writing about it.

You’ll see more SEO posts coming from me in the future, but for now, I think you definitely need to check out this post at QuickSprout:

This exceptional post will start you on the right foot with Google.

Make Money

orange-checkThis is not for the faint of heart, work, or budget.

It’s different. It’s mind-blowing. It’s profitable.

Will you take advantage of it?

orange-checkI don’t personally use AdSense, but know many of you do and would love to learn how to leverage it better.

Sunil is just the guy to help.

He just published his Notes from My Google Adsense In Your City Visit and My 1 on 1 Meeting With Google, which I am sure you’ll get a lot of value out of.

This and That

orange-checkIf you are into growing, expanding your online marketing knowledge, and networking with other cool people, I strongly suggest you check out

What it is:

“This will be a five week event with over 100 challenges to complete for points, skills and glory. We’ll be taking you through the paces of networking and guest posting, mastering the social web, multi-media, writing, researching and maybe even stepping away from the computer and into the real world once in a while.

If you start and stick it through, by the end of the hunt – even if you don’t win a prize – you will have expanded your reach online, made new connections, deepened existing relationships learned new skills and generally levelled up your business. This, I promise you.”

Head over to FirepoleMarketing.com to sign up for the fun and games.

Thank You

I am vain.

I love seeing my name mentioned around the web.

Plus, it’s good for SEO and traffic.

So to all of you who decided to get on my good side by mentioning TGC in the past week - THANK YOU.

orange-checkThe Perfect Blogging Output Level - Problogger.net

My new best friend Greg Narayan of DearBlogger mentioned TGC in his guest post on Problogger.net.

Once I was blinded by the sight of my name in the post, it was hard to see what else it was about…

After a few blinks, I realized it was really a great post by a great blogger, whose writing style I am starting to fall in love with.

orange-check5 Great Bloggers who gave me the Inspiration to start my own Blog - stream-seo.com

Making it to the top (and only) 5 on anyone’s list is quite an honor.

In this post, I learned that:

  • I have a unique voice;
  • I have a multiple personality disorder

“Sometimes it seems like she’s so happy to post things that her inner voice comes out to speak. But there are times when she’s also mad and cold about the things she’s analyzing, and that’s something most people don’t have. Most people can’t be rude, unique and happy at the same time.”

By the way, you’ll find out why I stopped publishing my income reports in one of my posts next week.

  • My blog design isn’t that stellar either.

But wait, here’s my favorite part:

“I’ve tried many of the tips from TGC and the important thing is that I can spend 5-10 minutes doing what Ana says and have a real impact on my traffic/engagement/whatever.”

That reminded me why I started blogging to begin with and absolutely made my day.

Thank you, Servando!

Other Notable Mentions

orange-check6 Google Analytics Statistics You Should Be Tracking - GeniusStartup.com

orange-checkAuthorpreneur: Which e-mail marketing service to use? - elizabethsaunders.blogspot.com

orange-checkWhy Drivers Choose Infiniti Over Ford and the Psychology of Growing Blog Subscribers - ryanhanley.com

orange-checkStop Using the Social Media and SEO Crutches: Make Connections Instead - ramblingsofawahm.com

orange-checkValentine’s Day Link Lovin’ Blog Link Roundup: Traffic, Video formula, What did you call me and an awesome WordPress Plugin? - myspalmer.com

THANK YOU!

Now back to my coffee,

traffic generation cafe

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Google+ Comments

39 Comments (click here to leave a comment)

  2. Keep these coming Ana! :) and keep getting your name out there!

    It’s more powerful to have someone else mention you in their guest post.

    Also looking forward to your SEO posts. I’m getting ready to do quite a bit of testing with SEO so I’ll drop by and share my findings :)

  3. Positive Constraints, is an interesting approach,

    I have seen this also with people organising Seminars with first getting people for it, (having people paying for it) and than that way also actually instantly having a Budget for it to be able to add lot’s of value, and being able to for example invite expensive Speakers etc. etc.

    I also like the idea of being able to write blogposts that people look forward to reading, and while my post usually aren’t that frequent and pretty - Exclusive - I recently actually wrote a Crispy Fresh new Column Style Blogpost on my Writing Blog….,

    And since in an interview with a very known Sitcom Producer I once learned that he used several seperate Story Lines, to make the chance that at least one or more of the Story Lines would be attractive to it’s audience. So because of that, in my Column Style Blogposts, I am thinking about also writing about some of the things that are going on on some of my other blogs and look how it goes.

  5. Hey Ana!
    Nice information. I always love to read your post. and yeah google is getting complex day by day. well i’ll definitely read your post on QuickSprout.
    keep posting.
    Thanks.
    Matt

  6. Wow, awesome round up Anna :)

    It saves me tons of time looking over the Internet to find great articles. The article from affhelper is mind-blowing too.

  7. Hi Ana, I am so glad you are sending out the newsletter. Several months ago I found your website of increasing web traffic and thought I had bookmarked it and when I went to find it I couldn’t. I was upset because you give wonderful information. I am using SEO Spy Glass and I thank you for that. Please keep your articles coming.

  8. Hey Ana,

    I am really looking forward to testing Vine. I haven’t done much when it comes to video, but I’m thinking that I can manage to create something that lasts 6 seconds :)

  9. Hi Ana,
    Really got used to your Weekly Skinnies! Looking forward to the next one, already discovered some nice blogs this way. Thank you!

  10. Hi Ana, my two cents on Adsense: since January I’ve seen a definite drop in earnings even if I increase traffic every month so this is probably due to ads not relevant or showing the same ads again and again. It might also be that fewer businesses are using Adwords and the Google bubble is going to burst; you can’t treat the net as your personal garden and pretend to go on like that indefinitely plus their permanent updates have probably sent people somewhere else for traffic.

    Or it might be that mobile users don’t care about ads or again that more people is using ads blockers. But I’ve also seen a decrease in earnings on a couple of affiliate products I’m promoting. the economic crisis is surely to take into account.

    I’d like to know your experience with CrankyAds, is it working? I’ve also it on my website but no one cares about it and no one visits the advertise here page.

    Have a great Sunday! :)

  11. I enjoyed reading your article, especially because you will be writing about optimization of website / blog after Penguin and Panda update. Sure, I and other bloggers wait what you informed here.
    What you describe about QuickSprout is true. I also enjoyed reading the article there and it gives a lot of information and tips are very useful to improve the ranking of web / blog.
    Thank you for the article.

  12. Yay Ana! Thanks for the mention, it means a lot to me!! I found that community and just getting out there to talk to people works way better for me than SEO, at least right now it does because I suck at SEO. Some day I will have to just hire you to do it for my blog.

    I may have to mention you more often so I can get mentioned again. :-) Just kidding. Honestly, when I am asked about SEO I tell people the basics and then refer them to you for more.

    ~Allie

  14. Hi Ana,
    I have relaxed a lot with using Social media lately and focusing too much about SEO and Google for the time being. This year so far I had focused my energy solely on guest posting and increasing my newsletter list which has worked out quite well for me.

    I checked out the post on Quick Sprout and I think that one alone will keep me busy for a while. :)

    • Ana Hoffman

      I am getting too much traffic from Google right now, thus working on referral traffic quite a bit, Justin.

      Need to step up my guest posting…

      And that post at QuickSprout is great; even for those who don’t do intentional SEO, preparing your on-site optimization can actually do the trick of getting more SEO traffic without working much for it.

  15. Thanks very much for the mention, Ana!

    You’ve been busy with great content, this month. I keep trying this idea and that one, slowly tweaking my site. I already signed up for FPM’s scavenger hunt. Maybe that will be the positive constraint to speed me up!

  19. Hello Ana. Thanks for the mention.
    When I read about your multiple personality disorder I almost fall of my chair! But then again, this is something that makes your posts unique and easy to read, so I like it.

    I like to see a pattern and a weekly schedule to read things on your blog. Sometimes there were weeks were I used to visit every day just to find there was no new content.

    Keep up with the simple and easy to take action tips!
    You’ve just made my morning (but no coffee for me).

  20. Saturday skinnies are fun. Especially when every week you’re trying to think of more ways to be cool enough to be mentioned.

    It’s goes along with the positive constraints. I’ve been trying to work more things like that in, as well as highly proactive things that exhilarate me instead of scare me. (A lot of that has also been changing my mindset. Example: Guest posting was “scary” and I’m changing my view on it so I’ll be more proactive about it.)

    And thank you for the pointer on Vine. I have NO idea how I would use something like that, but I think for those who can get their hands around it, it will be a nice marketing gem.

    Thank you as usual for the great pointers! I too am off to drink more coffee and think up more things (have you noticed that we do that a lot?)

    • Ana Hoffman

      I think brilliancy is all about volume, Lindsey - we have to go through dozens of useless ideas or ideas that we’ll never actually make anything of until we find that one that works for us and our readers.

      Could be a lot of fun when the ideas come with ease and a huge drawback when the well is dry…

  21. Hey Ana,

    Thanks for the link & mention. You’ve excelled yourself this week - haven’t read everything yet, but that affhelper.com link is a goldmine.

    • Ana Hoffman

      That post definitely got my brain wheels going, Caimin. Not sure if I am up for developing a brand new site for this, but I might find ways to use it at TGC.

  22. I’m looking forward to those 6 seconds vids. Like you said, when I heard about the 140 characters I thought, ‘How Strange’. I’m not dissing the vids. I know a lot of people who will rock them - including you.

    Thanks for the new updates, Ana. I always look forward to reading your posts (although, I don’t get your new posts in my inbox these days).

    • Ana Hoffman

      I told my husband about Vine and his brain is smoking - he’s come up with quite a few fun things to do in 10 seconds. Of course, one of them was that it was the perfect platform to break up with someone… :)

  23. You’re right Ana, I do look forward to these Saturday skinnies. :)

    I’ve travelled all over the web trying to pick up tidbits here and there. But TGC is pretty much my one stop shop for me. I feel that I’ve grown both in knowledge and confidence that I can do this and make a go of it.

    The thing I like about TGC so much is how well rounded it is. You cover every aspect of traffic generation.

    Keep doing what you’re doing!!

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