ProBlogger: The Diamond in the Rough System for Gaining Influence

The Diamond in the Rough System for Gaining Influence

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 06:03 AM PST

This guest post is by Jonathan Goodman.

Content is still king, but influential relationships are queen. And we all know that women rule the world, so maybe we should start paying more attention to these queens.

Bloggers should publish less and promote more.

If you enjoy staying awake until 4am writing each night, and frantically trying to publish according to your over-zealous schedule, then continue doing what you're doing. My guess is that you're not paying enough attention to the queens though, and we all know how important it is to cherish, respect, and support the women in our lives.

That said, there are a lot of queens in the world, and everybody seems to be trying to get attention from the same ones. So you send emails to industry influencers and tweet at top bloggers. One day you get a response back and feel like you've made it to their inner circle.

Then you hear crickets … followed by tumbleweed rolling by. (Which is odd because you don't live in the Wild West or in a cowboy movie. But I digress.)

The Diamond in the Rough System of relationship-building

In every industry there are a select few who are in the spotlight. They receive hundreds of emails, tweets, Facebook messages and so on every day. Likely they don't answer their own mail and there isn't much you can offer them in terms of support.

The Diamond in the Rough System is a way to get the influencers to want to approach you. It can be applied to any large social medium but I'm going to stick to Twitter for this article.

Twitter is a sea of shameless self-promotion. Much of it goes unnoticed. The feed is so cluttered and people are more interested in pumping their own information out than absorbing that of others. Add to that the unfortunate fact that what you're saying isn't unique—there are probably people with bigger followings already saying it—and you're facing an uphill battle.

The Diamond in the Rough System will teach you how to find the Queens behind the scenes and court them.

First, understand that there are a number of influential people in every industry:

The influencers are the ones in control of the big brands. They may or may not be smarter than you, but they have hustled to get to where they are, and built an empire and great network around themselves.
The large magazines are usually faceless organizations with multiple walls and levels of bureaucracy getting in the way. This makes it difficult to get in touch with anyone.
The bloggers are gaining more steam in some industries. In the tech industries, for example, it could be argued they control the information; in plumbing they are relatively non-existent.
The senior editors are the top-level editors at magazines and industry publications. These people are over-worked and usually under-paid or under-appreciated.
The beat reporters and supporting editors are easy to access and have a lot of influence as to what goes into major publications. They are the diamonds in the rough.

Right about now you're thinking I'm crazy. Because, if you're like most people attempting to gain influence, you have tried to follow the conventional path and emailed various editors desperately trying to get his or her attention—and never gotten a response.

Get creative and get unconventional

Email is conventional. People have learned to ignore it. You must evolve your practices to get noticed.

Twitter is a way to build a relationship with the queens and create a friendship. Most of these reporters have modest, if any, followings on Twitter. So while they get 100+ emails a day, they might only get two @ mentions on Twitter. Which do you think they would be more likely to respond to?

How to find the diamonds in the rough

Follow the head editors and scan the lists of the people they follow. Look for accounts that say something like, "NY Times editor focusing on social media and marketing." Follow everybody that seems to cover your niche.
Identify the top bloggers in your niche and follow the same steps are above.
Identify the top influencers in your niche and follow the same steps as above.
Search newspapers websites and find the editors that cover the subjects your niche pertains to. A Google search is usually all you need to find their Twitter account if they have one.
Every magazine lists the various editors and writers on the first couple pages. Identify the top magazines in your niche and write down the names of everybody on this page that fits your specifications. Do a Google search and try to find their Twitter account and follow them.
Pay attention to networks of influence. It's not uncommon for a number of influencers to tweet back and forth with the same person that you have never heard of. That person is likely an important member behind the scenes.

The community of people at the top of your industry is close-knit. There are the influencers that you know and a supporting crew that acts behind the scenes that you don't. These supporting crewmembers are your diamonds. Find them and make them feel important. Support them and build relationships with them.

How to court your queens

Now that you’ve found these people, respond intelligently to their tweets. If they promote a blog post or article with a link, take the time to read the entire article and respond with a piece of feedback or a question. If they say something about their personal life or hobby, send back a joke or tidbit of information.

As an aside I'll add that you should not respond to every tweet. This comes off as needy. Respond only if you have something intelligent to say and not more than once or twice every couple of days.

Don't ask for anything in return. Your bio on Twitter says who you are, and includes a link to your work. They will check you out. And you only publish your best work right?

You should have a headshot as your profile picture in Twitter, not your company logo. People like talking to and doing business with people, not faceless organizations.

It works

Following this system, I have been able to get featured as one of the Top 20 Smartest Fitness Trainers You Might Now Know by Livestrong, had my book featured both in Muscle & Fitness and as one of the Top 21 Health, Fitness and Nutrition Books, also by Livestrong, and recently I was contacted by Arnold Schwarzenegger's right-hand man to write content for his site.

All of this happened because I built relationships with those that control the content behind the scenes. I never once submitted an article. Every time they reached out to me.

Write great material and only publish your best work. Then spend all of the time you saved finding the diamonds in the rough. They are the ones who will get your work to spread.

Jonathan Goodman is a 2X author. His second book recently reached the #1 spot on Amazon in both the marketing and web marketing categories. Aside from consulting and running http://www.theptdc.com, he is currently writing Viralnomics: How to Create Directed Viral Marketing. The sections are being published for free online as they are produced. You can get up to date at http://www.viralnomics.com.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

The Diamond in the Rough System for Gaining Influence

ProBlogger: 40 Cool Things to Do With Your Posts After You Hit Publish

40 Cool Things to Do With Your Posts *After* You Hit Publish

Posted: 28 Dec 2012 06:09 AM PST

This guest post is by Steff Green of Grymm & Epic Copywriting and Illustration.

Blogging isn’t a case of “If you post it, they will come.” Your role as a blogger doesn’t end as soon as you hit Publish. In fact, that’s only the beginning.

If you’re anything like me, most posts take you between one and our hours to write, maybe even more. For all that time and energy, you’ll want each post to do a lot of work for you after it’s gone live.

You want that post to:

demonstrate your writing and blogging skills to potential clients
attract new readers to your site, and encourage them to stay
solve issues faced by your regular readers
be linked and shared on social media
attract commenters to keep the discussion going
bring your blog to the attention of advertisers, companies and other opportunities
make you some money!

To get anything out of your blog post, you’ve got to put in extra effort, even after you’ve hit Publish.

Here, I’ve tried to make it easy for you—I’ve come up with 40 different things you can do to help give your blog post the best chance of success after it’s gone live.

If your topic is an evergreen one, you could wait a few months, then republish your post with updated information. Getting your best content back in front of the eyes of your readers can be a great way to encourage sharing and point them toward the other great content on your site.
Do you write posts filled with personal stories and the lessons you learn throughout your life? With a bit of editing, these posts could make great personal essays, which you could sell to freelance markets that accept these.
You could combine pillar posts with additional content to create free, downloadable ebooks that you can promote through your site, or sell on Amazon.
If you used a particular format for a post that was effective—like a 20 questions interview with an expert, or a particular set of subheadings on a review—you could turn that one-off post into the first instalment of a regular column.
You could create a new page on your site called Free Resources or Start Here, and link back to some of your most popular articles.
If you notice another blogger asking a question that you’ve answered on your blog, send them a link to the article.
You could write Part 2 of a popular post and address another aspect of the topic.
Turn ideas from your blog posts into pitches for magazine articles. Print publications won’t want articles that read like blog posts—the tone of the writing is very different—so you can often pitch an idea you’ve already written about. For example, I wrote a post on my Gothic Wedding blog on Wedding Advice for Shy Couples. I was then able to pitch the same topic to a bridal magazine. The article I wrote for them was much shorter, with a different tone, and I included quotes from real couples.
Depending on the topic of your blog, you could turn old posts into short non-fiction pieces for children’s magazines. By simplifying the language and adding lots of interesting detail, you could sell 200-800 word info-snippets to help teach children about the world around them.
Go back to your old posts and interlink them with newer posts on your blog, or to your Products or Service pages. A good internal link structure keeps readers on your site longer.
Use your favorite blog posts as writing samples when you pitch articles to print publications. Most editors want to see a sample of your writing, and using a blog post has the added bonus of demonstrating your expertise in your niche.
If you’ve created any tutorial posts, go back and check they contain sufficient photographs, diagrams, and screen captures. If not, spend some time drawing up, editing or inserting visual imagery, then announce the update to your audience.
Do you write short, sharp, humorous posts? Why not contact a publisher about creating a gift book?
If you’re looking for freelance blogging work, contact local companies who have non-existent or inactive blogs and ask if they’d like to hire a blogger. Use your post on a similar topic to demonstrate what you can do.
If you wrote about someone’s product, service or resource, email them, or send them a tweet letting them know the post is up. Who knows, it might even lead to a brand collaboration in the future.
Look for print magazines that accept “reprints”—these are articles that have been previously published, and can include blog posts. You’ll probably need to edit your post before you send it, to fit with the magazine’s format, culture, and content, but this can be a very successful way to get your brand in front of a wider audience.
You can use old posts as springboards for guest post ideas—I struggle to think of ideas for guest posts, and I find looking back through my blog’s archives reveals ideas and themes I can jazz up and send off.
You could create a photo essay, video, or cartoon to explore ideas from an old post, and link back to the old post when you release your creative project.
You could create a press release based on a newsworthy story you wrote about one your blog, and use it to contact local and national press.
You could approach the owners of a magazine or other popular site about syndicating your blog to their readers.
If you want something physical to give potential clients, you could print out text or screen shots of your most popular posts and compile a print portfolio.
Or, of course, you can put together an online portfolio for your web-based clients, showcasing your best work on yours—and others’—blogs.
You could gather together blog content to form the basis of a workshop or seminar you could offer up to conferences in your niche.
Or, if you prefer to teach online, you could use your blog content as a basis for creating a short autoresponder course or email workshop.
You can embed links to your relevant posts in your Youtube videos.
Send a few relevant links out to potential freelancing clients as examples of your skills.
You could use your posts to pitch a newspaper column.
Email your friends with a link to your post and encourage them to share it among their friends and acquaintances. As long as you don’t do this all the time, most friends are happy to share awesome things that are relevant to their interests.
Advertise your post on social media. Don’t forget to track the results!
Create a funky infographic that demonstrates the information used in your post, and either share it with other bloggers or use it on social media.
Submit your link to sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, or Reddit.
Create a Pinterest board based around the topic of your post—and make sure you link back to your blog!
Create a poll based on a question from your article and place it prominently in your sidebar, with a link back to your post.
Send a note out on your blog’s newsletter or mailing list, letting them know about the article. Depending on what your audience is happy reading, you could republish the whole thing to their inboxes.
Start a discussion about your topic on a forum and use your article to back up your argument. But remember—you should only occasionally add links to forums and only when they add value.
Add a link to your post in your email signature, so everyone you email has the chance to click through.
You could create a competition to encourage comments, whereby one commenter on your post wins a prize. I do this with CDs, books and apparel on my blog sometimes and it’s always a great success.
Turn your best-looking blog post into an artistic poster and stick it up all over town.
Add some well-placed text ads or affiliate links to your post, and earn a little extra cash.
Get a tattoo of your blog post URL!

There are plenty of ways you can extend the life of a blog post beyond the post-and-forget approach. If you put the extra work in to ensure each of your posts does as much as possible to generate new readers and new contracts, you’ll see your traffic—and your bank balance—will soon begin to reflect your efforts.

What do you do with a post after you’ve published it?

Steff Green is a creative copywriter, professional blogger and heavy metal maiden at Grymm & Epic Copywriting and Illustration (http://grymmandepic.com). Get her free ebook, Unleash the Beast: Release Your Inner Creative Monster (http://www.grymmandepic.com/blog/subscribe/).

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

40 Cool Things to Do With Your Posts *After* You Hit Publish

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