Business Management Consultant - Stuntdubl Search and Marketing Consulting

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Jim tagged me - helping to spread the “why do I blog” meme. There are plenty of great reasons why I choose to blog, most of which have been covered by Jim, and several of the other great responses. There are plenty of reasons I don’t as well. Since blogging has been light lately, I figured I’d give some of the reasons I don’t blog, instead of going right along with the meme (it’s fun to be the counterpoint sometimes).

Michael Gray ranted a bit recently about how most SEO bloggers should step away from the keyboard. I disagree with him totally. I think there should be MANY MORE SEO bloggers because it helps keep people that may know what they’re doing away from search results that may compete with mine (and it’s hard enough already). I think the whole “How write and promote your blog that will make millions, get you laid twice a day, and help you live forever” concept is a bit tired, so I am going to attempt the alternative. This guide will absolutely not get everything that you write onto digg, nor will it get you worshipped by the world. I take no responsibility if you succeed at being an idiot blogger that no one likes.

I thought about this over the past 24 hours, since I saw Scott’s post, and I really couldn’t pinpoint one piece of life (or even SEO) advice that stood out as the very best in that time period (I’m sure it will dawn on me shortly after posting). Lots of GOOD advice, lots of FUNNY advice, but the overall best advice I was given was probably from whoever convinced me to attend my first pubcon (I wish I could properly credit them). In retrospect, I can look back to the first conference I attended as a big catalyst as a turning point in both my career, and line of thinking. For those who have questioned whether or not they should attend one - you definitely should. Don’t let $$ be the reason you don’t because it is worth every penny. I have paid my own way to several, and they are definitely worth it for the relationships and contacts I have made that have been extremely valuable on both personal and professional levels. You can’t put a price tag on having a network of like-minded people that you can count on to help answer difficult questions, and bounce ideas off of. Without that, you are stuck on an island. I like the idea anyways, of offering the best advice you’ve been given, so figure I’d help to spread it. Feel free to comment here, or create a post of your own - just be sure to credit Scott for a good idea. Michael’s also given his best advice.

Linkbaiting is all about the bait. In the same way that you can’t catch a giant tuna with a bag of doritos - you’re not going to get the attention of important bloggers, journalists, or other folks with some garbage content or news. Do YOU really like reading press releases anymore? Wouldn’t you rather spend that time reading something fun, entertaining, insightful, interesting, or informational? Let’s take a look at the different hooks available to linkbaiters (or viral marketer’s if you prefer that school of thought), and hope that you can find an angle to approach link acquisition for YOUR business.

Widgets will be one of the handiest link development tools of 2007. They have always been handy, but with the proliferation of bloggers, and common blog platforms, it makes the development of them that much more easy. Why beg for links when you can build something cool, and garner some support from a community that will help improve your inbound links, rankings, AND even branding as a bonus! There is a LOT of opportunity to build buzz and backlinks with widgets.

I’ve really liked the idea of “Review Me” since I first heard about it. It’s kind of like “hot or not” for smarter people. It will allow immediate feedback on a variety of new ideas by paying for the valuable asset of people’s time to think. The success of the idea will depend on the willingness of intelligent people to accept a new ad model, and keep the network quality high. If everybody writes positive reviews of CRAP - it’s a surefire way for the whole idea to suck. It’s not a surprise that people will accept money to write reviews or analysis - the big question will be HOW MUCH it costs for a review. Pay to blog is a great topic that will always be worthwhile - in the same way that questioning how a journalist is paid is. I didn’t follow much of the pay per post debate prior to this, but I’m sure it will get nice and interesting with a bigger fish in the pond. I hope it will make Doc Searls smile - when he realizes the people who got on the cluetrain can finally make good money while they review products and services like actual human beings without a “professional voice”. It’s cool to see the dialogue can still be PAID for - but not forced to be ROBOTIC.

Neil wrote a very nice piece called The 5 deadly sins of blogging - I thought I’d add a few more of my own to the list. Here’s 5 of the deadlist sins I’ve made and witnessed.