How to Create a Famous Blog
| Posted by: Suzanne James |
There are millions of blogs. Most bloggers will never receive more than a few hundred visits a year. They never expect to receive high SERPS, or hundreds of thousands of visits a year. This minimalist thinking keeps them from becoming famous.
Can I become famous?
The answer is simply yes. I have coached many authors and industry gurus on using the internet to become famous. Becoming a famous blogger is not difficult. It is all about Public Relations. The trick is to borrow a few tips from Hollywood and authors.
Create an Image
Image is everything. You need either a professionally created logo, or a professional portrait of yourself. I say that the logo should be professionally made because you need an icon for forums, and a favicon.
Next, create a catchy signature line. This will go into every blog comment, forum post, etc. Do not promote yourself. Instead, create a signature line that promises to give your ‘fans’ something.
Promote Yourself
The biggest mistake is to spend your time promoting among your niche audience. That is like ‘preaching to the choir.’ Instead, look for areas where the novices and uninitiated will visit and look for solutions to problems, resources, and entertainment.
There are several ways to promote yourself:
• Participate in blog radio interviews
• Podcasts
• Interview other experts
• Article campaigns
• Press Releases
• Comment in other blogs
• Participate in blog communities
• Keep an active Facebook, Squidoo, Myspace, lens
• Host live chats
• Write Power Point Tutorials to give away
• Donate content to other websites/blogs
Media Coverage
It is fairly easy to get into local media and newspaper. Don’t worry how small your website it, just get ‘press.’ Everything you get published needs to be scanned and published on your blog. Most authorities give heavy credence to anything that has been published on paper. Small trade magazines have a voracious appetite for free content.
Start A Fan List
Major promotion can be ‘won’ by giving something away. People will join a mailing list for Amazon gift certificates, free memberships to third party subscriptions, etc. Do not give away e-books, or products you’ve created unless they are promotional i.e., mugs, mouse pads, etc. Contests are an excellent way to attract attention and promote yourself.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I like the idea of a fan list - on one blog I have a pretty big list of readers, I think people would subscribe to the mailin list for even a monthly $10 Amazon giveaway.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Those are some really great ideas for becoming famous! I am not sure if I really want all the fame though!
August 13th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Romantic Ideas. I agree that fame can backfire. Like when I get a phone call at 3am for someone who thinks I have nothing better to do than answer their questions
The fan list works better than mailing list. It is amazing how many people will sign up with a fan list, but wouldn’t sign up with a mailing list. The Amazon thing works, because Amazon offers a wide variety of products.
Woodbury - I was working on this with a client two nights ago, and she didn’t understand the importance of photos and video. She didn’t realize that seeing a video of ‘XXX at a night club’ with something cool in it - would ‘brand’ her as famous.
The thing you need to remember is that fame is relative. Someone can be famous in one industry - and unknown anywhere else.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
That really makes sense to promote on areas other than your niche, and to those who are novices. They don’t know about what your blog is about, at expert level and will take it as a few existence on web. The accessibility is the key to them..
Thanks for posting an encouraging article.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Make Money Online. I agree. In addition, you did bring up a good point. Most people spend six months reading a topic for a few hours a day and start blogging as if they are experts. This is why I tell people to focus on ‘themselves’ - like ‘authors XXX at a night club’ - this makes them real to their audience and in ‘perception’ - famous.
I tell people to see the Internet as a big spider web. Start at the center, with your website and create lines into it, not just one level, but also two and three.
Example, I participate in forums where I link to other forums or blogs where I’ve posted an article. On that blog or forum, I link to another place where people can find more information written by me, which, leads to the home website.
To many, this may seem like a waste of time, but not if you think math-focused, like a search engine. My name, my niche, and my keywords are three and four levels deep, improving the ‘grade’ of each inbound link so that my website gets max value, and people can follow me naturally to my website (pre-selling) building credibility at each level.