Name: Blase
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ciabaton
Personal Blog: http://www.thedirectmailman.com
Bio: Direct Mail & Mailing List Specialist for PR & Marketing Professionals, Nonprofits & Small Business
Posts by :
- Add other people that you care about to your blogroll. As a blogger, this may be one of the easiest ways that you can show respect and appreciation to a fellow blogger.
- Schedule time to add comments to the blog posts that inspire you. Hopefully each week you come across blog posts that inspire, educate or otherwise impress you. You may not always have time to stop what you’re doing and add a comment, but you can at least bookmark the post or e-mail yourself a link so you can go back later in the day to add your comment. This is another example of a small time commitment that can have a big impact.
- Share the best posts through the social media channels that you inhabit. The next time you come across a great post, take a second to share it with your social media contacts via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or the long list of other available options. Not only are you doing the author of the blog post a favor, but if it’s truly good content, you are doing your social media contacts a favor as well.
- Profile a person who influences you. Think of someone who has made a significant impact on the way that you do business or think. Write a post about who they are and why you find them inspirational. If you don’t want to profile the person directly, you may also consider profiling one of their blog posts and elaborating on a point that they make in their post. Chances are if this person inspires you, he or she will inspire the people in your social network as well. While this requires a substantial time commitment, it’s probably one of the highest forms of praise that you can give.
- To help achieve my goals, here are my blogger’s resolutions for the next year (if you have anything to add, I would really appreciate your comments at the bottom!):
- 1. Write shorter blog posts and post more frequently. This could mean taking a longer post and breaking up to post as a series.
- 2. Comment more frequently on other blogs that fall within my online communities. This includes being more generous with comments on The Bloggers’ Bulletin. The goal is that by doing a better job of supporting my communities, they in turn will support me with comments on my posts.
- 3. Increase activity on Twitter and social bookmarking sites. Increase followers on Twitter
- 4. Develop a “Power Group” of Twitter followers that I most frequently retweet. Ideally, identify people who will return the favor
- Write Down Your Resolutions or Goals
- Include strategies to make the most productive use of time, so you can spend more time doing the things that you truly enjoy
- Include goals to recognize those who are important to you
4 Ways to “Pay it Forward” with Social Media
July 7th, 2010In our obsession to generate more followers, more subscribers and more business, it’s very easy to forget to stop along the way and 
thank the handful of people who have influenced or helped us the most. I’ve been fortunate to meet some incredible people while engaged in social media. This post is a direct result of the inspiration that I receive from them. In the spirit of the classic movie, “Pay It Forward,” hopefully this post will show you how easy it is to inspire others, and how powerful paying it forward can be.
What can I do to “Pay It Forward?”
What inspired me to write this post? I got to work this morning and discovered that I’d been profiled by a fellow Bloggers’ Bulletin contributor in a new post of bloggers who offer valuable advice. What a great way to start the day, and what a great surprise! In fact, when I investigated the others profiled in the same post, I was able to connect with yet another contributor to the Bloggers Bulletin and secure a potential guest post. Special thanks to my friend, Michelle Salater, for paying it forward, inspiring me to write this post, and connecting me with a great, potential guest blogger! (Wow, did I just Pay It Forward in this post!)
What should I expect in return for “Paying It Forward?” The answer is nothing. That’s right NOTHING! The spirit of paying it forward is that you expect nothing in return. Think of it as giving a gift-that’s how marketing genius, Seth Godin, puts it in his inspirational book “Linchpin.” The concept of “Pay It Forward” does not require a monetary gift, however. You can heap praise on someone, help them solve a problem, or refer them to a trusted colleague who can solve their problem. There are unlimited ways to pay it forward, the only barrier is the time required to do it.
Oh, and by the way, even though you should expect nothing in return, if you stick with it, and you’re really sincere in helping people you will find that the good that you do WILL come back to you. Remember, the key is to give WITHOUT expecting anything in return though.
What’s my challenge for you? Has this post inspired you at all? I hope so! If it has, commit to “Paying It Forward” at least twice per week. Wait, it’s not that easy! Pick a specific day and a specific time each week to “Pay It Forward.” Schedule it on your calendar right now before you navigate away from this post. If you want to cheat, start RIGHT NOW, but DON’T skip your first “Pay It Forward” session. To get an A+ you can report back in the comments section below and share how “Pay It Forward” has impacted you.
In fact, please use the comments section below to recognize someone who has inspired you to “Pay it Forward,” or please share your experiences doing it. Thanks in advance, because your comments will inspire good deeds from other readers.
I hope you’ll consider sharing this if you found it helpful-it would be your first step in “Paying it Forward.” Thank you!
8 Tips to Keep 1st time Visitors Coming Back to your Blog
June 2nd, 2010You work hard to create quality content for your blog, so you owe it to yourself to make sure that you’re doing everything that you can to generate traffic to your blog, and to keep visitors coming back. I’ve been blogging now for about 18 months, so I thought I 
would share some tips on what has worked for me. There are obvious tricks like including the TweetMeme button or the ShareThis button, but in my experience there’s less awareness about the tips I’m sharing in this post.
1) Post at consistent intervals. For myself I post every Thursday. Determine what frequency & time works best for both you and for your audience, implement a schedule and stick with it.
2) Develop a cycle for your e-newsletter and send it consistently. Consider an rss-feed e-newsletter. About 6 months ago I switched to an rss-feed driven newsletter using MailChimp, and now I never miss an e-newsletter, or send them out late. This may not be the most dynamic way to share your content, but it is extremely practical and still allows for weekly tinkering and adjustments to content and layout. FYI: This is not an affiliate link, and MailChimp does offer both free & paid plans.
3) Add a text link in each post that encourages readers to sign up. I’ve started to include the following text (with appropriate links) at the end of each blog post, and I’ve seen dramatic improvement in sign up for both my e-newsletter and rss feed: “Like what you’re reading? Have you signed up for my weekly e-newsletter yet or are you following my blog’s rss feed?” I’m doing this in addition to the graphic prompts that are included as part of my blog, and I’m finding that I’m getting more clicks/sign ups from the text links.
4) Respond to comments in a timely fashion. Keep the conversation going. Does the commenter’s expertise mesh with yours? Review the blog of the person who commented and see if you can return the favor by commenting on one of his/her posts.
5) Continue to circulate your older posts via your existing social media outlets like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
6) Write posts that reference other’s in your social network. These types of posts will generate more traffic than any others. I recently wrote a post titled “My Definitive Short List of the best Nonprofit Blogs and Consultants.” I listed some of my very best contacts that I’d developed over the course of the last few years. Those listed helped to circulate the post to their followers. The day after I posted this, I had one of the highest traffic days ever on my blog. Who are the experts that influence you/your industry? Have you taken the time to share this information as a blog post?
7) Exchange blog posts. Nothing has made a larger impact on the traffic to my blog than exchanging blog posts. You’ll be introducing your blog to a whole new set of potential followers. When you include a link back to your own blog, this also works as a link building strategy which helps with organic search. Seek out partners with complementary products or services so you can be sure that your guest post will resonate with your new audience.
8 ) If you’re struggling with having time to do posts, keep your posts shorter, or consider breaking longer posts into a 2-part or 3-part series. Comments & questions from the earlier posts can influence the direction of the later posts that continue the topic. In addition to saving you time, this also help to keep your readers more engaged.
In his new book, Linchpin, Seth Godin talks about the importance of “shipping” which is essentially getting your product out on time even if it’s not perfect. The same applies with blog posts. You can always find an excuse to delay or skip a scheduled blog post, but if you commit to it, you will get it done. You still have the option to go back and add more content or edit it, but you owe it to your audience to stick to your schedule. Keep your posts short so that you’re not overwhelmed, and this will give you more time to share guest posts on other blogs and respond to comments on your own blog.
What methods have worked for you? Please share in the comments section below, and if you found this post helpful, please retweet!
A Blogger’s New Year’s Resolutions
January 4th, 2010Looking to drive more traffic to your blog?
I’ve been blogging consistently for the last year, and I blog because I enjoy it and feel like I have valuable information to share with the right audience. Of course blogging helps to reinforce my professional credentials, and at the end of the day, it’s always nice to generate leads and develop business from my blog. 
In my experience, a shorter list of resolutions has a much higher likelihood of being accomplished, so I’ve stopped at 4. Please share your comments and feedback below as I know that I’ve not cornered the market on this topic. Thank in advance!
Need Motivation for Your New Year’s Resolutions? Read This!
December 3rd, 2009Have you ever met an adult who doesn’t wish that they had just a few more hours in their day? The spirit of this post is to encourage you to make better use of time by making sure that you spend time on things that are important to you and on the things that you enjoy doing the most.
Successfully achieving New Year’s resolutions or any goals for that matter involves goal setting. While there are so many books available that provide different strategies for setting goals and achieving goals, I’ve not found a better book than Gary Greenfield’s “Life’s Ride or Fall…You Make the Call.”
There are several reasons that I like this book, but probably the number one reason is that it is just so easy and fun to read. In fact, I didn’t even get the book with the intent of using it to help me set goals-it was just a positive by-product of reading the book.
Greenfield’s book can be read in just a few sittings and covers some pretty meaty topics in a light and very enjoyable way. I read the book last year, and it inspired me to create my own blog and maintain consistent posts, as well as to develop an on-line identity. If you need some inspiration to get your goals in order, then this book is for you!
One trick I found to add more time in my day was to purchase and use a CardScan.
If you spend any time face-to-face networking and collecting business cards, this is an inexpensive and efficient way to get customer and prospect contact information into your database.
The concept behind using a CardScan is simple: instead of relying on data entry to update new contact information from business cards, cards get scanned into a mini scanner and an electronic database is instantly created. I’ve written a post on my own blog titled “CardScan Your Virtual Administrative Assistant” that provides more detail if you think this may be a time-saver for you.
Busy professionals often take for granted family members, or important clients. One really easy way to recognize people that are important to you is to acknowledge them on their birthday.
The 2 most common reasons for not doing this are that we forget, or we simply don’t know someone’s birthday. www.birthday-reminders.com helps on both fronts, and it is 100% free! Not only will it you send you a reminder e-mail of someone’s birthday one week in advance, and on their birthday, but it also has a “Birthday Requester” feature that allows you to get birthday information easily from family members or clients that are important to you.
Make this year the best year ever by creating goals, maximizing your time and acknowledging those who are most important to you. Please share your ideas related to New Year’s resolutions below in the comments section.
Connecting the Dots to Make Money in the World of Social Media
October 7th, 2009Without a doubt, there’s a lot of noise out there about the importance of social media for business and many professionals engaged in social media wonder, “where is the payback?” So, I thought I would share a personal testimonial about a positive experience generating business using social media. 
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to create a blog as a resource for clients and prospects. I’m proud to say that not only have I created a blog, but I have 16 posts to date including a guest blog post.
Since my blog is a business blog, I wanted to make sure that there was a way for me to capture information from visitors who may be interested in my services. So, I decided to build a simple form to collect data, and then I linked this form to my blog.
To generate traffic to my blog, and connect with people who may need my services, I created a Twitter account, and started interacting and growing my list of followers. “Re-tweeting” helped me to establish rapport with others offering complimentary services in my industry. I further connected with a few of these peers using LinkedIn.
Ultimately, I was offered an opportunity to do two guest posts from these contacts. This was beneficial on a number of fronts. I was introduced to a new audience of professionals, and a direct link to my blog was added to the website where I guest posted.
Upon completion of my guest posts, I sent “tweets” with shortened links to generate traffic to these posts, and “tweets” or “re-tweets” were sent by those who invited me to guest post.
A few weeks after one of my guest posts, I received an inquiry regarding the purchase of a database. I investigated the source of the request and tracked it back to one of the sites where I’d done a guest post.
I responded to the inquiry with the requested info and ultimately made a sale!
For anyone engaged in social media, or contemplating social media, I think the most important thing to understand that in the vast majority of cases, there is no immediate payback for time invested. Having a long-term approach, and developing a long-term, disciplined plan are the keys to business success with social media. Additionally, my above experience shows that there is often no direct path to generating business with social media, but despite this, it can still lead to real business.
As both Twitter & LinkedIn contributed to my social media success, I would highly recommend these 2 books to anyone wanting to get a better understanding of these 2 areas of social networking: The Twitter Book and I’m on LinkedIn–Now What???
Please share your comments below regarding successes or frustrations related to social media marketing for business.
