feedforward: New Blog Traffic Driver? Lucien Burm Believes So

by

feedforward-logo

We caught up with Lucien Burm, founder of Kimengi, which has created an interesting new tool for bloggers called feedforward (see demo). Here’s the interview.

===

1. How do you explain what feedforward and Kimengi do to people who have never heard of them before?

The first thing I say is that we create a more lateral web, but most of times I need to explain two things first: recommendations and widgets.

Everyone knows about recommendations that webshops provide, such as ‘people bought this, also bought…’. So at first I explain to people that this is the functionality we provide. Then I talk about our widget as a very smart website within a website that can create the same kind of recommendations on your blog/title and even better. It is better because all widgets on all participating sites can work together creating cross-site recommendations. And then, the recommendations are not only based on what other people liked, we look into context too. [Read more…]

5 Design Tweaks to Improve Your Blog Conversion Rates

by

Blogging success boils down to two things:

1. Get traffic

2. Convert it

“Convert it” means “get people to do what you want them to do,” which is usually clicking an ad, subscribing to your blog/newsletter, or buying something. (Or linking to your blog, or telling their grandma how awesome you are, etc.)

If you’ve been blogging for a while, you probably have a fairly constant stream of traffic flowing to your blog from one or more sources – search engines, social networking websites, online directories, and so forth.

But are you converting it as well as you can? [Read more…]

Membership Services: Worth The Effort to Create and Develop?

by

Thinking of starting a membership website?

You know, to make a few extra bucks. (Or maybe just to make a difference in the world, I guess.)

As I’ve worked to develop and launch my own social media consulting service, I’ve seen and felt the good and bad of what goes into such a venture. Here are some of my ruminations – feel free to add yours below.

The Good: Membership Websites Can Make Mucho Dinero

That’s a lot of money, for you gringos out there. I have friends who earn a comfortable living through their own membership services, and in every case they either use a blog to drive member signups, watch the blogosphere closely for signs of changing trends and market interests, or both. [Read more…]

10 Ways to Be a Happy Blogger

by

oscar-the-grouch

Is this you?

Are you a grouchy blogger?

If you ever find yourself getting down in the dumps about your blogging, here are 10 simple tips on how to feel happier with your blog.

10 Ways to “Forget Your Troubles, C’mon, Get Happy” as a Blogger

  1. Count your blogging blessings. Think for a minute – what has your blog brought to your life that you wouldn’t have had otherwise? What rewarding conversations and relationships have you enjoyed? Write a list of these puppies down and look at it when you’re getting Oscar the Grouchy.
  2. Get Akismet. Or another spam comment destroyer like it. You’ll miss out on so much grouchiness it’s not funny. On second thought, maybe it is …
  3. Vent. Far away from your blog. Get away from all keyboards. Get yourself alone. Look at the wall, a Winnie the Pooh doll, the mirror, whatever. Take a few minutes to gripe, gripe, gripe. Come on now, the real, “Boy, did I drink my pickle juice today or what?” stuff. Complain all you want … to yourself. Then be done with it.
  4. Write your blogging worries and fears down. With your hand. On a piece of paper. Do whatever you want with it – stick it on your wall by your griping mirror, toss it into Oscar’s, er, your trash can – but at least dump those negative things out of your mind and body. And always remember: You matter. [Read more…]

How to Generate Good Blog Content Faster

by

I can think of a few ways.

  1. Decide going in to the blog content creation effort that you will get something “done” in a certain amount of time.
  2. Remove/destroy distractions, or remove yourself from their presence.
  3. Emphasize focus and the task at hand – getting a great article or content chunk done ASAP.
  4. Think about for whom you are writing or producing the content.
  5. Think about what specific problem you will be solving through the content, or what question you will be answering. [Read more…]