I was inspired by Dawud’s recent post "The Face Behind My Blog".

So, here’s my photo. The photo was taken this past Easter weekend by my son Matt. I’m poised on the guardrail at the edge of Elbow Falls in Kananakis country.

I tend not to like photos of myself. BUT I do like this one — the essential "Grizzly Adams" look.

Looking for ways to improve your self-promotion.

Marketing Sherpa has just released their 2007 edition of Marketing Wisdom.

110 ideas you can copy or adapt!

Yet another way to raise your Blog’s Buzz Factor is to make use of Trackbacks.

What are Trackbacks?

Here’s the introduction to "What is a Trackback" from Typepad’s help documentation:

"In a nutshell, TrackBack was designed to provide a method of
notification between websites: it is a method of person A saying to
person B, “This is something you may be interested in.”

So, trackbacks are a nifty way of creating direct links between your Blog and someone else’s.

A word of caution first.

Those evil bastards that spread scummy Spam use Trackbacks to advertise… well, er everything from sexual performance enhancers to any other bullshit products. YOU do NOT want to be perceived as a spammer — do you? So, use this feature responsibly and judicously.

Here’s how:

1. Find a blog post that ‘rings your chimes’,

2. Pick up the Trackback address for the post. All Typepad blogs have the trackback address at the bottom of the post.

3. Initiate a new post for your Blog. Copy the trackback address into the "Send a TrackBack to these addresses" box at the bottom of your post page. Don’t see that box? Then change your settings by clicking on the "Customize the display of this page" link.

4. Write your post. It’s a good idea to include a wee bit of relevant content from the other Blogger’s post, at or near the beginning of your post. Helps make that important mental connection for your readers.

5. Write in your usual zesty, informative, buzzy style.

6. Save your post. And, VOILA! You sent a trackBack!

More trackbacks equal more presence in the Blogosphere!

BUT, TrackBack responsibly!!

It’s been said that to be a great writer one needs to …

read a lot …

and write a lot.

The same is true for Blogging … that special form of writing that ‘hangs it all out there’.

And, to create traffic to your Blog.

Don’t just read Blogs

COMMENT on them.

Make the comment …

funny,

enjoyable,

smart,

intelligent,

or all the above.

By all means if you’re a profane son a b-tch… be profane. But, be carefull where and when you share that profanity.

Be sure folks can track you back to your blog.

Do that by leaving the address of your Blog in the appropriate box on the comment.

Or, add your Blog address to your signoff in the body  of your comment … most Bloggers allow URLs.

Go ahead punk, make my day!

COMMENT on this post.

Seth Godin makes a passionate argument for being marketable not electable.

Seth suggests that to get a market or, more correctly, to get market share, we must be remarkable. And, to be remarkable we need to be among other things … well, us. That means some people — maybe a swack of them — are not going to like us.

But, some will.

Maybe enough. Maybe that magic 3% Seth talks about.

So, go ahead offend someone.

But, by god do something true to you — and, thereby be remarkable.

Some day y’all will be an Overnight Success!!

There’s a bajillion Blogs in the Blogosphere!

How do you attract folks to yours?

In my last post I spoke about the obvious: ya gotta write!

This post expands on that notion.

To attract readers you need to write:

1. With passion — Dull, insipid, stupid prose belongs anywhere BUT your Blog. It’s not like everything you say will be genius. But, by god it needs life!
2. With value — I have lots to say. Much of it has little value to anyone but me… that’s why it’s in my journal. My hope is that what I write HERE will have value to those who read this Blog. The same is true for your Blog — write content that others value.
3. With meaning — Your writing needs to appeal to your reader’s minds and hearts.

If every Blog post has at least one of the preceding it will stand out from the crap that occupies the Blogosphere. If you hit 3 out of 3, on a regular basis, you will build Blog Buzz!

Several of my clients have asked me about strategies for promoting their Blog.

So, I thought I’d pen a few thoughts…

in my Blog! What else?

Building Buzz for Your Blog - Strategy #1

This one seems obvious but …

    Blog!

Ain’t nobody gonna read nothing, if there’s nothing to read.

I should know.

When I get caught up in life and don’t Blog here … why Blog visits die.

Don’t need to Blog 18 times a week — after all you do need a life!

But, 2 or 3 a week would be a useful target.

What to write about?

Write about: your ideas, your thoughts, your feelings, your struggles — and, better yet, the solutions you’ve found.

"But I don’t have time to Blog!"

Horse puckies!!

Make time.

Blog when the Blog Muse speaks in your ear.

You can write a Blog in under 4 minutes — faster than … well almost anything!

BUT, do write well.

Many a Blog out there is crap!!

Write well. Write with a reasonable sense of the correctness of the King’s English.

But, WRITE!

If you write, they will come!

Where does time go?

2 weeks ago I attended Lexi.net’s "Online Identity" conference.

A bit of a schizoprhenic experience. One conference track was focused on protecting my online identity. The other one was on promoting my identity.

What did I learn about protecting my identity? There are basic things I can do. Like using decent passwords. Avoiding giving out personally identifying information. And, using anonymizers if I really want to mask my IP address. BUT, if some bad guy really, really wants to get my info — well, he can.

It’s the promotion bit I want to focus on.

I had the opportunity to listen to 2 accomplished and ‘notorious’ female bloggers. Which got me to thinking?

How come the conference didn’t feature notorious male bloggers?

I mean there were a swack of local, male bloggers at the conference — me included. But, why did the conference organizers pick three women to present?

Some thoughts:

• The female bloggers were all writers first, before they became Bloggers,
• All were very articulate, entusiastic, and passionate,
• All had something to say — even if it was the gory details of their mucked up life

I think Blogging is a super tool for the Artistic-type. Blogging  is about self-expression. No censors. No Rules. No structure.

And, I think it’s a great way to express the "Feminine Voice".

Now, what does that mean for me? And, you?

Will you step out and speak your mind?

Come to that, will I?

Time will tell.