Shannon's thoughts on marketing, public relations, social technology, entrepreneurship and other things

Shannon Mouton
Shannon Mouton

the principal at Topaz Consulting, is a relationship marketing professional, with a passion for utilizing social technology for building B2B/B2C relationships, sharing information, networking and advancing the greater good. She has over 20 years of public relations, marketing and community building experience. Her combination of political, nonprofit, higher ed and corporate experience has afforded her opportunities to build communities where none existed, develop and launch innovative programming and bridge generational, economic and racial divides.

Shannon serves on the board of directors for the In Series, a Washington, DC performing arts organization. She is a regular contributor to Women Grow Business and Discover Exceptionalism, and her blog, Shannon Sez So, examines life's joys, pains and idiosyncrasies. Shannon is the founder of Topaz Consulting, a DC based marketing consultancy with a nationwide portfolio of clients. She graduated from Mount Vernon College (now part of The George Washington University) and is a proud native Washingtonian.

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2011 (31)
2010 (74)
 

10 Super Easy Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic

This is short, sweet and to the point, let's go:

  1. Boost your SEO by spending the little bit of money required to purchase your domain --> once you have it, it's yours

  2. Ask open-ended questions and request comments at the end of your blog post --> see the bottom of this post

  3. Write about something other than your organization, your products and your services --> remember, it isn't always about you

  4. Mix up your type of posts: long posts, shorter posts, lists, videos, interviews, audio, polls, photos, testimonials, reviews, etc. --> mixing the format keeps your readers interested

  5. Have your blog posts go to your other online properties --> whether someone reads it on your Facebook page or goes to the URL, they're reading it

  6. Bring in guest bloggers and be a guest blogger

  7. Participate in other online and IRL social networks: Twitter chats, networking events, blog commemorative days, meetups and tweetups --> constantly work for new readers

  8. Have your blog as part of your email signature, most services allow for hyperlinking --> easiest way to increase passive traffic

  9. List your blog on your business card, your Facebook page, your LinkedIn profile and your Twitter bio --> let people know where to find you

  10. Regularly read and leave valuable comments on other blogs in your niche, such as "nice post, have you considered...," "I disagree because..." or "these are additional resources..." -->conversation, conversation, conversation

What techniques have you used to increase your blog traffic?
What seemed like a good idea to increase your blog traffic, but turned out not to be?


Additional resources:
Blogging Basics 101
Mack Collier

 

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Nuggets of Knowledge (excerpts from 8/15 #blogchat)

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Every Sunday at 9:00 pm (ET), Mack Collier hosts #blogchat on Twitter, which utilizes the micro-blog's platform to harness the collective intelligence of the Twitterverse. This past week, Mack's guest was Chris Brogan, who shared learnings and best practices on the topic "How to Use Other Social Media Sites to Improve Your Blog."


In 60 minutes, Chris dropped several social media nuggets of knowledge (nok), some of them are below*. You can read the full transcript here.

#blogchat - one thing #NOT to do is use LinkedIn only for Business, FB only for fun, etc.
 
#blogchat Remember this: the goal of using networks to enhance your blog is to thread your ideas into other like-minded streams. (nok)

#blogchat The #1 social network you're neglecting: email marketing. 93% of people opt into a daily brand relationship via email.

#blogchat: @fianxu - interesting question. Blogs can be more freeform. Books should stick to one thesis. Blogs-to-magazines, more true.

#blogchat (@MackCollier) - outposts are off-main-site places, like Twitter, like FB, like LinkedIn, like forums.
#blogchat I recommend spending 50% of your social time on outposts, making relationships, prospecting, building connections. (nok)
#blogchat Then, because those places are the outpost and not the home base, put the occasional "conversion" fork in there, to invite them (nok)
#blogchat by "conversion fork," I mean a gentle invitation to your home base. Nothing too spammy. Certainly nothing overly repetitive.

#blogchat @CoachKarenG - no. Frequency certainly doesn't improve open rates. #RELEVANCE improves open rates. (nok)

#blogchat Promoting your own stuff over and over again is lame. Promote others 12x to ever[y] 1x of your own stuff.
#blogchat - @MackCollier - outposts is about meeting with people on neutral ground, where THEY are, vs always trying to make them come in. (nok)
#blogchat When I say promote others 12/1 over your own stuff, I mean on Twitter. Like, when @JasonFalls has a killer post, promote IT, not u
 
#blogchat If you're looking to build from outposts, do good things for others on those outposts. Write referrals in LinkedIn, ...
#blogchat Do good things elsewhere. Promote great causes on Facebook. Do TONS of not-promoting-you stuff with no hope or ask of reciprocity.
#blogchat Want more readers? Stop writing about yourself, except as a way to relate to others. Give THEM new tools to succeed. (nok)

#blogchat Ask yourself this: what's the GOAL of your blog. And don't lie. Sales? "Thought leadership?" A channel? Media property? (nok)

What nuggets of knowledge would you add?
Which nuggets are you interested in learning more about?

Additional information:
Mack Collier's blog
Chris Brogan's blog
Jason Falls' blog

 

 

*These tweets are taken out of context and reading the transcript is recommended to receive complete understanding of Chris Brogran's tweets and the full value of the #blogchat.

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The Urban Legends of Social Marketing (1-4)

All myth, legend, folklore, even old-wives tales have some semblance of truth in them. Over time, the truth has become watered-down and people have added or subtracted details to make the story more interesting. And in the end, it is the enhanced version with which we are left.

1. Social marketing is free...until you start using it.
There are 200+ social networking sites, ranging from video-sharing to micro-blogs to social bookmarking. The vast majority are free to join, offering unlimited access to the user-generated content and the users. All you need is a computer, an Internet connection and time, therein lies the rub. Of those three things, none of them is really free:

  • the computer costs money
  • an Internet connection costs money
  • and your time is your most precious resource
There is no such thing as a free lunch.

2. Get on the big sites and your done...if you want to fade into the abyss.
Finding the right social networking tool or platform for your organization or product will take research; however it will pay off in the long term. It takes much more effort to get noticed in the midst of Facebook's 400M, Twitter's 100M or LinkedIn's 65M. Target resources to a few niche communities, where you can stand out in the crowd versus being one of the crowd.
Be a big fish in a small lake instead of a small fish in big lake.

3. "If you build it, [they] will come"...not unless you're in an Iowa cornfield with Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones.
You have to drive traffic to your social networking sites, just like you do for your website, event, store, trade show booth and conference. If you don't let people know your business or organization is there, they won't know to look for it.
Hiding in plain site is not a marketing best practice.

4. Here today, gone tomorrow...until someone figured out how to make it profitable.
Social media is not going anywhere anytime soon. As long as developers have ideas, users need solutions, venture capital firms give funding and companies are making money, the social marketing train will continue to roll.
Money talks, b*llsh*t walks.

What social marketing myths have you debunked?
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