When I began my blog about blogging, I decided to not make the same mistakes I had in creating previous blogs. I decided to have a concrete marketing plan, one that I would stick to no matter what. After all, most Internet marketing plans are not flawed intrinsically but flawed in the way they are carried out.
Today, I’d like to reveal some of the key concepts of my particular marketing campaign and where I am in that plan. I can honestly say that after 3 months I am right where I intended to be, no where near the top of my niche but slowly gaining ground.
Below is a brief overview of my plan. I’m giving away just enough information as to not show my hand to any would-be copycats.
The Battle Plan
Phase 1: Foundational Content Building
Since I’ve started my blog about blogging in February, I’ve written over 70 posts, which amounts to something like 3 to 5 posts per week. Some weeks, the information just flies out of my brain like a jet stream of free-flowing consciousness. Other weeks, I just can’t get motivated and need to rely on things like Alex’s official “Get Your Ass in Gear or Bad Things Will Happen” list, which is really all the inspiration I need sometimes.
The importance of having a vast archive of information is essential to any blog marketing campaign. Not because people like to crawl your archives (you are the only person who does that) but because your archives serve as a catalyst for permanent, ever-flowing search engine traffic.
Once you have a substantial archive of original information, you can afford credibility from Google. I’ve developed websites for years and, in accordance with what the gurus say, Google uses original content quantity as a primary factor in determining rankings. That means that if you set out to target an individual keyword for Google traffic, you are much more likely to be successful if your landing page is found on a site with a vast number of other pages.
This may seem obvious but many web entrepreneurs set out to sell a product online through a single page site (sometimes called a mini or micro site) and driving traffic solely on the merit of strong link building campaigns.
Mini-sites can be great for selling products through referral and affiliate traffic (traffic from other sites) or for social media campaigns (e.g.: Matt Inman’s army of comic mini sites including Things Bears Love) but are comparatively less effective than content rich sites for attracting organic search engine traffic. Because of the nature of blogging, my guess is that most bloggers are looking to get traffic by building content-rich sites.
The definition of a content-rich site
At what point is a blog considered content-rich in the eyes of search engines? That’s a matter that is very much up for debate among web developers. Some gurus say 100 pages is enough. I’ve decided half that number, primarily because a majority of my first few dozen posts are long (over 600 words).
Phase 2: Short-tail Keyword Targeting
After about 50 posts or so, I decided to move into phase two and target short-tail keywords (logical search terms) to establish credibility with Google and get that initial flow of traffic. I use all ree methods of link-building which includes but is not limited to: commenting on do-follow blogs, link exchanges and article marketing.
Manual link-building is a tedious task and the fruits of your labor are not seen until many months later, if ever seen at all. The best and most powerful links are natural links or those that come from other websites voluntarily. Ironically, you can’t get natural links until you first have unnatural links – or links created as a direct result of your efforts.
If you think people like Chris Brogan still spend time manually building links by submitting to article directories, commenting on other blogs and asking for reciprocal links, think again.
Chris Brogan has put his time into manual link building, and is now enjoying the benefits of a constant stream of natural links. All Brogan has to do is provide the content. Now, the quantity of natural links Brogan receives is only variable to the quality of his content. That’s where I want to be in three years. First I’ve got to put my hard time in.
You can replace the name “Chris Brogan” with the name of any big-time blogger. All big-time bloggers have one thing in common: they worked extremely hard to get to where they are now. If you thought Internet marketing was going to be easy money, get out now.
So far, I’ve successfully targeted two major keywords in my niche and ranked 1st in Google for both of them. Along with passively targeted long-tail keyword traffic, the two targeted short-tail keywords have given me roughly 200 daily visitors and an Alexa ranking close to 200K. That’s quite an achievement for me. Soon I will be moving on to phase three, which I will briefly explain below.
Phase 3: Extroverted Marketing
The two previous phases in my plan were somewhat introverted. I needed to build an enormous stockpile of content for MY site. I needed to build links to MY site. Phase three involves something a bit counter-intuitive: building quality content for OTHER PEOPLE’S sites.
Rather than only offering something of value on my own site, I will soon focus my marketing efforts on bringing value to other sites in my niche. On the Internet, very few things are accomplished alone; through the use of guest blogging, I can grow my blog by providing a service to other bloggers.
Guest posting is not for everyone. It requires strong copyediting skills and a tenacity that will not dimmer when posts are rejected or never looked at. Writing is my forte so I am very excited to soon be moving into phase 3 of my plan.
There is a large base of make money on the Internet, blog tips and SEO blogs authored by non-English speakers that have found enormous success by relying on marketing tactics that require no writing ability whatsoever. This is because search engines don’t know the difference between good copy and bad. People do know the difference. If you plan on guest posting you really ought to learn how to use a semi-colon first.
That’s MY Plan…
Now that I have given a brief outline of my blog marketing plan and where I am in it, I’d like to hear what some of the Blogussion readers have as a plan and where they are in it.
Do you even have a marketing plan? Do you consider yourself on track with it? What parts of your marketing campaign need to be amended?
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?Hey Chris
Awesome Post man. “Extroverted Marketing” Great Point man. Guest posting is not really hard, instead it’s one of the easiest and effective way (at least for me) to get traffic, brand awareness.. etc !!
Though I have done 2 Guest posts so far and it’s really very easy.
Thanks for sharing this great Post man.
It really is a lot easier than link building via dofollow comments which is soo time consuming!
.-= Chris @ blog contest at my blog´s last blog ..By: Axelpod =-.
Hi Chris.
Great post by the way. I did a guest post for your blog a while ago, so it was cool to find you on here doing your own guest posts. That’s something I really like about blogging, the networking.
It’s awesome when you keep bumping into the same people over and over. It’s very easy to predict which authors are the ones who are going to stick around and be the next ‘big thing’.
Well done on the progress so far, and great strategy by the way.
.-= Mark Johnson´s last blog ..Google changed – who cares? =-.
Yes, I remember you. It’s nice to bump into you again in the blogosphere!
.-= Chris @ blog contest at my blog´s last blog ..By: Axelpod =-.
I do have a marketing plan, and it’s quite similar to yours. I’ve been in the content-building phase and will be there for a bit yet. I do a lot of promotion on my individual pieces of content, as well as get “out and around” on other blogs, but primarily I’m building a library of content, which I can organize into reader resources.
It’s been time well-spent, as it’s allowed me to build a community, as well as build up a base of material that will hopefully be helpful/appealing to visitors that will come from future guest posts.
.-= Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..Empire Building 101 Series: The Power of Pillar Content =-.
And that’s how to do it. It looks like you are doing quite alright with tons of comments on your blog even though they are nofollow. I wish you more success in the future!
.-= Chris @ blog contest at my blog today´s last blog ..By: Axelpod =-.
I really need to start marketing my blog. I’ve been making sure that I have plenty of content for people to look at and now I am moving onto getting my name out there. My third part will be to get some guest posting done etc. Hard work,. but I like the rewards
Who doesn’t like the rewards
.
.-= Chris @ blog contest at my blog today´s last blog ..By: Axelpod =-.
“If you thought Internet marketing was going to be easy money, get out now.”
I loved this part and loved the way you said it!
The internet attracts many ‘opportunity seekers’. The internet is like any other business. If you started a super store, would you expect to make untold fortune of profits from day 1 and that too without working?
Then why do people expect to make untold fortune from the internet and that too very fast, often in the first month?!
“There is a large base of make money on the Internet, blog tips and SEO blogs authored by non-English speakers that have found enormous success by relying on marketing tactics that require no writing ability whatsoever. This is because search engines don’t know the difference between good copy and bad. ”
This is also true. I have seen MANY blogs like this. And you are absolutely right! Google doesn’t know the difference between a good copy and a bad copy as they are ranking quite high in SERPS.
Is this what is called ‘Gaming the system/fooling Google?’
Now to answer your question:
Currently, I don’t have a marketing ‘Plan’. I am using different traffic/marketing techniques, but I would like to create a plan to organise my marketing efforts.
Your article will help in this regard, so thanks for a great article!
I’m glad you found my post useful. I find organization (to a t) an absolute necessity for me but some people are different.
BTW – that’s a great sales page you have there. Good luck promoting it!
Thanks for the compliments!
Best of luck for your blog contest too!!
Kindest,
Nabeel
Really great post Chris!
Marketing is great and i know a bit of it. Take a look at my blog and you will know what i am saying (it is just 2 months).
What i really want (and am planning) to do is to post high quality posts only (when i want and feel like). I am already working on that and will significantly reduce how i post so that i can make quality posts only (not based on a schedule). I am writting rubbish if my posts are not impacting lives.
Thanks a lot for revealing your blogging plan,
-Onibalusi
Onibalusi, it looks like your blog is 5 months old (and started in January which I can see from your archives).
At any rate, I am very impressed that you were able to achieve Alexa top 100k in such a short span of time. Keep it up!
.-= Chris @ blog contest at my blog today´s last blog ..By: Axelpod =-.
It is interesting to find where will be your blogging with this plan. I hope you will post the result.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Tips Blog´s last blog ..Blogging Tips Blog Accept Guest Blogger Now =-.
Hope it all works out for you. You are using proven techniques and should hopefully reach your goals. Keep a close watch on your web analytics to track your progress. Best of luck!
.-= Blog Angel a.k.a. Joella´s last blog ..Tracking Visitors To Your Blog With Free Blog Tracking Analytics By Clicky =-.
One of the plans we’re currently putting to action is the promotion of an informative and non-technical workbook to help our readers improve their site’s accessibility. We’re happy about this small product, and we’re hoping that our readers would find it useful and interesting.
.-= Julius´s last blog ..A Workbook to Help You Make Your Site More Accessible =-.
3 to 5 post a week It would take you more than a year to build your blog that way. It would be better if you would do it more often.
.-= paul | entertainment tonight´s last blog ..Paramore Hayley Williams nude photo scandal =-.
Ah, but quality counts more than quantity.
Awesome plan Chris, you really know your stuff.
I have a plan that is similar and can agree that if you can work on your own blog creating pillar and timeless content before you go out and begin working on links, you’ll give people a powerful blog to find once they visit.
Guest posting and giving more on other blogs is a great strategy because people seem to take notice for your efforts. People seem to think “hey, this person is really helpful and always comments – I wonder what their blog is like”, then the visit your page.
Not only will you be helping to drive traffic to the blog owner but you’re also expanding the community in whole.
Thanks for a great read
.-= Murlu´s last blog ..Become A Guest Blogging Superhero =-.
Hey Murlu,
“People seem to think ‘hey, this person is really helpful and always comments – I wonder what their blog is like’, then the visit your page.”
You’re right on target. And that’s why I just subscribed to your blog
. You’ll probably see me leave a comment every so often.
Chris, you have a clear and realizable marketing plan. I wish to do my own marketing plan too. I wish to write an ebook for my cancer blog. Thanks for inspired me a lot.
.-= Kok Siong Chen´s last blog ..Minimize Chemotherapy Side Effects (Part 1) =-.
Your point on longtail phrases is a good one. We use hittail.com to monitor our traffic, and although we do well for some of the more competitive keyphrases, our longtail traffic accounts for 90% of our website visits.
.-= Colleen´s last blog ..Tagaris Summer Concert Series =-.
Yes, and I noted to a commenter on my blog the other day that Google was changing its algorithm to affect long-tail query searches significantly:
http://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-mayday-update-impacts-long-tail-traffic-43054
That’s definitely something I would be paying attention to If I received 90% of my traffic from long-tail keyword queries.
You said, “I decided to have a concrete marketing plan, one that I would stick to no matter what.”
May I suggest this is a bad idea; a bad mindset if you will.
Things change, sometimes rapidly, sometimes unexpectedly. We have to be able to turn and adapt, sometimes on the spur of the moment.
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..The Future of DEDC – Part 3 – A Slight Modification You Might Like Better =-.
Short tail keywords are hard to beat, but when you beat it, you’re a successful SEO expert.
IMHO about short tail keyword is how to make a great content, so we will get natural link to our content
Chris, I was wondering if you would mind sharing how you target your short tail key words. Do you do link building for these short tail key words. Do you have any ideas/pointers for encouraging in links with useful key words?
I’ve worked with just creating great content in the past but in my sector, financial services, the big boys get involved and there is no way to target short tail keywords without extensive link generation.
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Short tail keyword is better or long tail keyword ? Many experts suggests to use long tail keyword in posts
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