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You Make Money When You Catapult Yourself To Being The FIRST to Lead The Thundering Herd
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…Barbara’s note - I had written this on Friday and was planning to publish it then. But Shannon’s insights were so incredible I thought they deserved a blog post of their own!
With that, let’s leap gracefully into:
Well!
I hope your day as been as productive as mine! I accomplished lots of marketing, beefed up my networking, took out time to enjoy quiet moments with the husband, AND (get this!) managed to get myself OUT of the chair and AWAY from the computer for double-digit chunks of time (Yes! It does happen!).
But I digress. 
Let’s dive back into building up your profits online!
I’d like to share with you a very interesting article about the Today show segment regarding Mommy bloggers; you can see the video below.
If you’d like a definitive resource regarding Mommy Bloggers, check out Mommy Bloggers - The Resource Page. Over 40 excellent links to topics including:
- On Mommyblogging as a Genre
- On Mommyblogging as a Business
- On Mommyblogging and PR, Corporate Relations
- Mommybloggers on TV
- Mommyblogger Magazines/ Networks/ additional resources
Do check them out!
Back to original topic (that of the post about the Today Show Interview), I’d like to offer my own take on the author’s comments:
…. After watching Hota Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford totally miss the boat with "air quotes," backhanded compliments and asking Heather, "Is it all moms who are on your blogosphere," it basically solidified for me, if the media doesn’t "get" mommy bloggers, how can PR expect to understand how to reach out to them either? Well, being a mom myself, I decided to do something no one else has seemed to do before — I asked them. MORE.
The article goes on to list superb DOs and DON’Ts when pitching Mommy Bloggers. It’s an excellent read, I encourage you to check it out. But look what she did!
"I ASKED THEM."
Communication!
An intriguing concept….
Not depending upon mind-reading 101….she asked them.
Hmmmm.
The implications are astounding.
Instead of passively guessing what their ideas might be, or inferring their opinions based upon their writings, or speculating about their pitch views because of their blog layout and design…..she proactively asked them. And she was able to translate all of the brilliant insights she received into a top notch blog post that will probably be passed around via Twitter and social networking…thus building up her credibility and thoroughness as a writer as well.
Tell me now…when you have strong views that an event, an article, a human-interest happening etc. was covered more poorly than Bambi chatting up the hunter…
Do you proactively go TO the source?
and once there, do you know HOW to secure the information you want so your article becomes one of the post popular?
No?
No problem! Here are some of my favorite tips for doing just that.
Step 1.) Make it easy for people to learn about YOU first.
Picture the following:
You’re relaxing at your seaside villa, lounging on the white sandy beach that’s artfully sprinked with loose unset diamonds of blindingly perfect clarity while Macgyver (or, hmmm, gee, Jennifer Love Hewitt if you’re a guy) waits hand and foot on you and ….
Oh wait, the believability of that scenario is worthy of David Rhodes, originator (yes there actually is an originator) of the Make Money Fast genre back in 1988) …let me start again.
Picture the following. Your children are actually occupied for more than 2.3 nanoseconds by their adoration of math homework, your spouse is busily tidying up the house, cooking for the kids and running a hot bath that’s perfumed with damask rose, sandalwood and lavendar for your sore aching fingers, and you receive an email request….to be interviewed. What’s the first thing you’ll do? Yes yes, I know, it’s say to yourself:
"OHMIFREAKINGGOSH of COURSE I want to spend time answering questions when I already have my own business to run, my own marketing to accomplish, my own coffee to brew, my own children to educate about why punching their brother in the throat is a BAD thing even if he asked them to…..send ‘em to me!"
I don’t think so. The first thing you’ll probably do is check out the email sender’s site, right? ‘course right! So! When someone visits YOUR site, is it easy to find out about you?
- Is there an obvious "New to this site? Start HERE!" link on your main page?
- Is there an obvious "Welcome to my site link - here’s the best benefits?" link if a newcomer shows up on a subpage? This uses the What Would Seth Godin Do plugin, btw.
- Is there an obvious "About Me" link?
- Is there an obvious "Contact Me" link?
In other words, does your site convey how truly superb a marketer or blogger or entrepreneur or whatever you are….you are? If not, you’re missing out on a very effective marketing technique! Let your site sell you - make it easy to find out your professional qualifications, your background, your credentials, etc.
Done with that?
Excellent!
Move now smoothly to:
Step 2.) Showcase what’s in it for them to answer your questions.
‘Tis a sad fact of life…the world does NOT revolve around you. Yes, I am aware it should (my children lament this fact of life to me daily)…but us brave stalwart adults need to internalize the following:
Everyone is true to themselves with regards to their own actions.
Folks are generally looking out for number 1! Unless you’re a net.god or net.goddess, chances are…the recipient of your email has never before heard of you (unless you’re on Twitter of course ) and will want to know….why on earth SHOULD I expend my valuable time to answer your questions? What will answering your questions give to the recipient?
- Will they make money?
- Will they get more publicity?
- Will Sports Authority send them free treadmills?
- Will the final story get stumbled on? Dugg? Plastered across CNN?
See what I mean? And it doesn’t have to be an epic, explicit 73 paragraph Homeric novel of luscious "But That’s Not All! benefits" - you can simply say,
"Hi! My name is Barbara Ling (unless your name is NOT Barbara Ling) and I run the popular marketing blog BarbaraLing.com.
I came across your interview at …. and would like to feature you on my blog by asking you a couple of questions regarding making money online. The majority of my readers are well-educated, savvy marketers in both the commercial and solopreneur niches, and I’ll bet they would love learning about you and your ideas!
You can be as expansive or brief as you feel necessary, and I’ll be happy to alert my network via all the social networking platforms about the post when completed (thus generating substantial Internet publicity for your site).
Please let me know if appeals to you, and I’ll send you my list. In the meanwhile, I’d like to invite you to my blog http://www.barbaraling.com - please wander about to get a sense of what the site can offer you and your business.
I look forward to your response!
Sincerely,
Barbara Ling
ps - I specialize in SEO and marketing - please feel free to drop me a line should you have any questions in that area.
Now…YOU tell ME. Is that more effective than:
"Hi! My name is Barbara Ling and I’d like to ask you some questions. Here they are. Please return them at your earliest convenience. Barbara Ling"
Well? And finally, once you have established an open exchange, progress to:
Step 3.) Ask your questions.
And please - put more effort into the quality of questions than, say, rattling off a fast food order at McDonalds? As well as questions for your blog’s audience, think to yourself:
"What questions can I ask that would benefit the recipient’s audience?"
This is just plain and simple smart marketing. Helping others above and beyond what is expected can’t help but resulting in good karma See? So there you go - three easy steps to writing and catapulting a world-class blog post that is fresh, unique, and utterly innovative to boot. And the new question is now….
What will you DO with the knowledge you now possess? Drop me a line and let me know!
Enjoy, Barbara
#BEGIN highlights of this blog writing post:
Beginners marketing tips: 99% of the world is lazy - be that 1% who is proactive and actively get TO the source.
Intermediate and/or Advanced marekting tips: Highlight what’s in it for your recipient to answer your questions…and make certain the final post delivers above and beyond.
#END highlights of this blog writing post
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Subscribe to the comments for this post
Mommy blogging is getting more and more popular. I think bloggers should realize that with popularity will come unwanted solicitations. It’s part of the territory.
@Jennifer - While you’re right that “it comes with the territory”, you have to remember plain simple Internet good manners (ie, netiquette). That should come with the territory too.
Thanks for dropping by!
Barbara