Social media

Howdy partners. My guest blogging frenzy continues today over at SEO Scoop. Donna was kind enough to provide me with my first guest posting opportunity back in February, and now I return with a new post. Today I put my blog up against an SEO blog to see which generates a more engaged readership. The objective is to answer the burning question - what delivers better quality traffic - search engines or social media. The outcome is very interesting.

Click here to read SEO vs SMO - Traffic quality put to test

Let’s get one thing straight… I hate Twitter. I know it’s hard to hate something you’ve never used, but the concept just seems completely lame to me. Anyone who’s seen my blogging diary would know that my free time is very limited. So why on earth would I want to enter the Twitter-verse? Do I really need to endure constant interruptions of inane small talk…? Certainly not! Indeed, while Twitter mania reached a frenzy over the last 12 months, I have remained the epitome of an anti-micro blogger. That is, until now…

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Authority. We all want it. Authority is sexy. Practically every blogger is chasing it in some way, shape or form. Authority brings power, respect, visibility, opportunities and loyal followers.

But establishing authority isn’t easy. I’d know… because I don’t have any. As a newbie to the blogosphere, I’m like millions of others out there trying to be seen and heard. Echo…echo… echooo

So how do you create authority?

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Just when you thought the linkbait saga had started to die a slow death… it seems Lyndon Antcliff may be at it again in the unlikely location of the land down under. Perhaps looking to avoid the fallout from the money.co.uk linkbait scandal, rumours are rife that Lyndon has flown into Australia to continue to work away from the intense spotlight. Indeed, some are even suggesting he has converted to offline media in an attempt to keep a low profile. However, despite his best efforts to remain anonymous, a recent marketing campaign has all the imprints of a Lyndoman special…

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Hey peeps. I’m at it again… this time guest posting with everyone’s favourite social butterfly - Shana Albert. If you’ve ever hung around the traps at Sphinn you’ll be certain to recognise Shana. If not, do yourself a favour and check out her fantastic social media blog. My post discusses the concept of karma within social media and the effect positive behaviour has on social media success. For those of you looking to boost your own social media karma, please consider helping Shana out with a guest spot of your own.

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Howdy folks. Just a quick note to say I’m guest posting on my buddy Dave Harry’s blog today - Huomah. Dave is an SEO and social media guru and one of the more amusing, friendly and interesting bloggers I’ve met in my travels. If you haven’t checked his blog out I’d highly recommend it. My post, entitled ‘Do you have blog insurance‘ addresses the dangers of relying too heavily on social media as a traffic generation strategy. The post was inspired by Dave’s personal misfortune after he broke his hand and was unable to type/blog for weeks… Yargh! What a nightmare.

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Anyone that follows the internet marketing community Sphinn would have noticed the linkbait storm that erupted over the last few days. For those that missed out, Lyndon Antcliff went public with an outrageously successful linkbait case study, in which he generated half a million page views and media mentions from Fox News and The Sun newspaper (Note - Lyndon later pulled the article from his site due to the ensuing controversy). Social media was the catalyst that allowed the story to snowball (Digg in particular). The only problem was that the article at the centre of the case study was a fake. The story, which included tales of 13 year old boys stealing their father’s credit card in order to hire hookers and rack up a $30,000 debt, was a complete fabrication…

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I came across an interesting post recently in my regular reading that posed the question - ‘Is blogging worth the time commitment?‘. Great question and one that most bloggers will ponder at some point. I’m not afraid to admit that I massively underestimated the time commitments associated with blog maintenance. At face value blogging seems like a simple case of writing and publishing articles. But don’t be fooled… there’s so much more to it. Don’t believe me…? Then come take a journey into my blogging diary…

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Last year I thought I was a pretty damn good digital marketer. I had 5+ years industry experience and had just landed a job with Australia’s biggest digital marketing agency. I was on my way… Yet looking back as little as 4 months later, I’ve had a stark realisation. I knew squat! In fact, in retrospect I liken myself to a cocky teenager who thinks he has mastered all of life’s lessons. So what sparked this change of heart? Entering the blogosphere. Indeed, I now wonder whether it’s possible to be a truly good digital marketer without being a blogger…?

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Guest blogging rules. No shit Sherlock… I hear you saying. There are literally tonnes of articles out there already promoting the benefits of guest blogging. Glen Allsopp and Skellie are just a few of the many to openly write about their guest blog love. Wayne Smallman is another interesting contributor to the topic, due to his coverage of both the positives and negatives of guest blogging (yes… there are negatives). Yet despite all the guest blogging banter, I am yet to come across a case that provides tangible results. So on that note… welcome to my personal guest blogging story (particularly useful for blogging newbie’s).

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Social media is a pretty basic process. Up until now I thought I had it all figured out - people submit content to their favourite community (such as Digg, Sphinn or StumbleUpon), other people read it and then vote for the stories they like. The articles that generate the most votes get the greatest exposure. Simple huh…? Sure… except it seems we’ve been taking one thing for granted… the fact that people actually read the stories…

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The war between good and evil continues. But in a significant development, Dr Jekyll has landed a major blow against the evil Mr Hyde. It seems the world was quite amused with my case of schizophrenia. And the social media community in particular rallied behind Dr Jekyll’s cause. The end result was a traffic spike that sent Dr Jekyll into orgasmic overload…

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I’m not crazy… at least I think I’m not. But of late I have noticed a certain phenomenon… certain behavioural traits… certain feelings… that just aren’t quite normal. In fact, I’m convinced I am the first person to recognise and diagnose their own split personality. Luckily, I seem to have a handle on both personalities. Furthermore, I’m also inherently aware of the potion that sparks my own transformation… social media. Allow me to introduce you to my alter egos - Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.

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It may seem strange that I’m asking this question… particularly given that a number of my previous posts discuss the virtues of social media. But Lyndon Antcliff got me thinking about my social media habits with a recent post regarding social networking… or as he referred to it - notworking. And I have to admit, I am indeed guilty of the ‘not working’ syndrome at times.

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It may almost be the end of Friday (at least here in Australia), but that doesn’t mean it’s too late for the latest installment of the Friday F#ckwit. And while the segment proved to be extremely unpopular (40% of my small subscriber base left after the first installment), I’ve decided to bring it back. After all… it’s my blog and I’ll rant if I want to…

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Is it just me or is email marketing the ugly duckling of the online marketing world…? While social media and SEO continue to be red hot topics in communities such as Digg & Sphinn, poor old email marketing barely gets a mention. In fact, if you look at the top 100 stories on Sphinn right there’s not a single story relating to email marketing… not one. Here’s a break down of what people are voting for on Sphinn:

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If you read my blog regularly enough, you’ll know I enjoy using social media. I owe a hell of a lot to it. In fact, I’d probably still be waiting for my first visitor if it weren’t for StumbleUpon & Sphinn. However… lately I have been pondering its applicability as a legitimate corporate marketing tactic. Sure, social media works beautifully in driving traffic to tech and marketing blogs, but can it really stand up as a genuine tactic in the marketing mix…?

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StumbleUpon is a blogger’s best friend, particularly for new bloggers such as myself. Quite simply there are few other ways (if any) to generate hundreds of new visitors at a time… without paying for it. So it was with some surprise that I discovered a ‘hidden’ feature this week that I suspect will give me more value from StumbleUpon than its’ traffic generation qualities…

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Ok… I admit it… I grossly underestimated the time required to establish and maintain a blog. By no means did I ever expect it to be easy, but I have found myself a little overawed by the time I’m putting into it (part by necessity and part by addiction). In fact, it got me thinking about the sacrifices we make in order to create and maintain an online presence…

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In my most recent article I posed the question of whether it was a sin to Sphinn your own blog article. It turns out it’s not. The overwhelming response via this blog and Sphinn was positive. It also turned out to be a pretty popular topic. It went hot within Sphinn and has been on the front page for over 24 hours. Go me!

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I have a problem. I love social media. I love its democratic nature. I love the fact that I can support sites that deliver me valuable content. And as a new blog owner, I love its ability to generate targeted traffic to my new articles. But here’s my quandary… I wonder to what extent social media communities will accept an element of self promotion from their newer members.

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With del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon & other forms of social media exploding in popularity, it was only a matter of time before the search engines joined the party. So it’s not surprising to hear Yahoo announce that del.icio.us results will soon be incorporated into their search results. But can social media really improve search engine accuracy…? Not just yet…

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Digg, Facebook, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, YouTube, Bloglines, MySpace, Blogging Zoom, Twitter, Sphinn, Technorati, Mixx, LinkedIn, Hi5, Slashdot, Reddit, Flickr… arggggh! How the hell do I keep up…?!?!

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I love this story and I love the unconventional approach of the company at the centre of it even more. This is crisis management 101 with a twist. The story centres around hosting company Dreamhost, who had the mother of all f__k ups this week when they accidentally over-charged their customers to the tune of $7.5 million. Whoa!

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Inspiration comes from the strangest places sometimes. Indeed, I would never have imagined my first blog post would relate to a boring transactional email. But I found a recent email from PayPal inspiring… Here it is:

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