Anne Dorko » blog http://www.annedorko.com Help for small business Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:36:14 +0000 en hourly 1 Reader Highlight: Loren Wade of Zionic Life http://www.annedorko.com/blog/highlight-zionic http://www.annedorko.com/blog/highlight-zionic#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:35:39 +0000 Anne http://www.annedorko.com/?p=1069 I sat down to the dining room table with my laptop and a stack of blank papers in hand.

The Small Business Website Guide was coming to a close and it was past time to come up with some ideas for the blog. I opened my laptop and tabbed to a few of my favorite blogging resources. I pulled out a blank page and grabbed my pencil.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

This was harder than I had anticipated.

That’s when I had a flashback to some of my favorite posts from all the blogs I ever read. Often those included real life people who were just like me – not famous (yet), just trying to figure things out and make a difference doing something they loved. It was always interesting to read how others tackled problems and know that I wasn’t alone.

That’s it! I thought to myself, I’ll start featuring readers of my blog.

Such was the birth of the Reader Highlight.

Enter: Loren Wade

Since I’d only just started blogging as a serious part of my business in the last few months, I didn’t have a huge pool to choose from – but lucky for me,  I already had the perfect reader in mind.

We had originally met in a great online community called Nerd Fitness.

Like most of the people in that community, he has big aspirations for his life and wants to learn how to get those things accomplished.

Loren found my blog and got in touch with me letting me know how much it was helping him as he was preparing to launch his own blog. I was thrilled! Someone was actually benefiting from the hours I was putting into writing all my content.

As soon as I decided to begin doing Reader Highlights, I shot him an email requesting an interview.

He accepted.

Who is Loren Wade?

I wrote up a list of interview questions for Loren and the first question I asked was to describe himself.

“My name is Loren Wade. I’ve spent most of my life being lazy and not making anything of myself. That’s where Zionic Life comes in. It’s a statement. It’s about being productive, getting things done, and getting a new grasp on life. I created it to log my lifehacks and other goodies I learned along my journey of becoming something more than simply living.

I’m many things. I strive to be a jack of all trades. I am 24, married, I love Jesus, music, playing music, gaming, fitness, and lifehacking.”

Loren

I definitely associate with the Jack of all Trades factor. I think a lot of the readers here might be able to relate, since as bloggers and small business owners we need to wear multiple (if not ALL of) the hats in our work.

Loren’s upcoming blog: Zionic Life

When Loren first told me that he was finding my articles useful, he also asked for some advice on starting his own blog. He sent me a well written elevator pitch and concept of what he wanted to accomplish.

I was impressed that he had such a clear picture of what he wanted. The tricky part was going to be finding a path to reach the goal.

“Zionic Life is about beginning with the end in mind and living our lives to the fullest.”

Loren

Shortly after divulging his ideas, he posted on Twitter a little disappointed because he had found another successful blog similar to his niche: Zen Habits.

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/#!/lorenwade/status/97055782008389633"]

Loren didn’t let that keep him down for long. Especially with some encouragement.

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/#!/annedorko/status/97062352435945472"]

Have you identified YOUR unique twist? What makes you stand out from the pack?

The inspiration behind Zionic Life

“I think the most direct influence was Steve Kamb and Nerd Fitness. The way he runs his blog, helps his fans, and what he’s accomplish really inspired me. I have many inspirations, but this one pushed me to start the blog.”

Loren

I think inspiration is one of the biggest keys. If you don’t have inspiration, motivation or drive for what you’re doing… well, your audience is going to be able to tell that.

Is there a story behing your business? Does your blog have an inspiration?

Getting Zionic Life started

“My first steps from there were brainstorming what exactly I wanted to help people with. I mean, that’s what the inspiration was. I was inspired to help others like Steve Kamb has.”

Loren

I wanted to get some insight behind the beginning of his blog. I asked Loren about the challenges he faced when he was getting set up.

“Hands down, the biggest challenge was the designing. I did a lot of it myself and it proved very difficult. I can’t afford anything super expensive or dropping hundreds on a designer. I just wanted something decent.”

Loren

Getting started isn’t just about design though, it’s about finding your goals and finding a way to make them successful. How was Loren finding and choosing his strategies?

“I took note how successful bloggers write and I just followed the pattern.”

Loren

Imitating success is a great idea, so long as you’re not just taking cookie cutter templates without considering whether they’re fitting your purpose. However, if you can find a way that others’ success can apply to your goals, don’t hesitate to try their strategies.

“A blogger makes friends with other bloggers to be successful, this is what I have learned from Corbett Barr.”

Loren

Marketing strategies for Zionic Life

When I asked Loren about his ideas, I discovered he really has his head in the right place. He’s more concerned right now with building up good content that is worth sharing than getting himself a lot of readers.

Sure, he’s gotten started with SEO and has started spreading the word to his friends (both online and off), but he wants to make sure he’s got something to actually show people.

“I plan on [finding] ways to gain more audience in the future, but right now… it’s just writing more content to be found.”

Loren

Putting quality and value first is never a bad plan.

What about you – are you more concerned with your visitor count or are you focusing on producing something that’s going to be needed?

Keep on keeping on!

It’s all great when things are going well – staying motivated about something exciting is easy.

But what happens when you’re down in the dumps and things are getting harder than you thought?

“[When I am feeling frustrated I just remember the fact that] I can make a difference.”

Loren

Zionic Life is still pretty new. It still has a long way to go and needs to grow from just ideas in Loren’s head, to a full blown implementation of those ideas.

“My blog is barely up and running now. I only have a couple posts so far, but the future is good.  I have a lot of great ideas planned for it.”

Loren

When you have an idea, do you make it happen the way that Loren is taking action on his inspiration? Do you put yourself out there to discover whether you’re going to sink or swim?

What speaks to you?

What is Loren dealing with that you relate to? Do you have any words of encouragement or advice?

Leave your feedback in the comments!

]]> http://www.annedorko.com/blog/highlight-zionic/feed 0 How to Use a Blog for Small Business Website Marketing http://www.annedorko.com/blog/small-business-website-guide-marketing-how-to-use-blog http://www.annedorko.com/blog/small-business-website-guide-marketing-how-to-use-blog#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:53:51 +0000 Anne http://www.annedorko.com/?p=865 We’ve reached the final leg of the Small Business Website Guide: learning how to market your new small business website. We’ve come a long way – you now know how to think about a website, how to prepare for one, how to handle the creation process and finally, how to prepare for search engines to show you off just right.

Are you ready for the last stretch?

Here is a quick look at Part Seven, which covers how to use a blog for your small business marketing strategy:

Back to basics: What is a blog? The pitfalls of having a blog Blogs are great for search engine optimization Blogs are great for growing traffic Blogs are great for building community Blogs are great for giving you focus Blogs are great for driving conversions You are stupid to not even try having ... Read More »]]> Part Seven of The Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners

We’ve reached the final leg of the Small Business Website Guide: learning how to market your new small business website. We’ve come a long way – you now know how to think about a website, how to prepare for one, how to handle the creation process and finally, how to prepare for search engines to show you off just right.

Are you ready for the last stretch?

Here is a quick look at Part Seven, which covers how to use a blog for your small business marketing strategy:

  • Back to basics: What is a blog?
  • The pitfalls of having a blog
  • Blogs are great for search engine optimization
  • Blogs are great for growing traffic
  • Blogs are great for building community
  • Blogs are great for giving you focus
  • Blogs are great for driving conversions
  • You are stupid to not even try having a blog

You read that last one right. Guess you better read all the way through and get to the end to find out why!

Back to basics: What exactly is a blog?

What is blogging?

If you’re here and still brand spanking new to the web, you may be confused by all the lingo. Do not worry! I am here to explain everything.

The word “blog” originally came from the words “web log”. Say that out loud. You heard it, didn’t you? The word blog just came out of your mouth with an extra noise at the front. Everyone online figured that Blog is a lot faster and easier to say than Web Log. A little squishy squooshy with the words and out comes little baby blog.

You can learn more about the History and usage of the term at Wikipedia. 

Okay, well, what is a web log? What IS a blog?

Think of say, a magazine. Now imagine that you published a magazine article by digestible article throughout the month instead of in one big overwhelming publication.

That is a blog as it applies to you. You have your own magazine to publish the hottest tips, ideas and information for your business and industry.

The pitfalls of having a blog.

You could not write in the blog. That’s not really a pitfall, just a sad neglect of an incredibly useful tool.

You could start writing in your blog and then forget about it. That’s not really a pitfall either, just another case of neglect.

People may not always agree with the things that you’re posting. Again, is that really a pitfall? There will always be people who do not agree with you or your business. You just aren’t aware of it until you become a celebrity. Woah, celebrity? That doesn’t sound like a pitfall to me.

Well, if you can think of a real pitfall, please post it in the comments.

Blogs are great amazing the best thing ever for search engine optimization.

Do you remember how you learned to optimize for search engines in the last few lessons? It’s okay if you need to review.

Each and every blog post opens up a whole new world for keyword optimization and represents a sharpened tool forged specifically for search engine traffic. With a blog you can even more narrowly focus on your main key phrases. With a blog you can expand to specific sub-niche keywords. Rinse and repeat.

Blogs are great for generating traffic.

Sometimes a keyword just isn’t planned, but brings in more traffic than you could have thought. Even if it’s not targeted exactly the way you want, getting traffic is never bad.

For instance, I’ve had this website since May 2007, and never really focused on blogging here until recently. However, when I felt inspired I would hop on and share whatever I’d felt the urge to share.

About a year or so ago I wrote about Facebook RSS status feeds. I get nearly 1,000 hits to my blog every month for searches like ‘facebook rss feed’ or ‘facebook status rss’. Did I intend for that when I felt compelled to share about how I found my status feed? No. But it’s helped my blog grow, even though that isn’t my focus.

Blogs are great for building community.

Holding hands

Blogs help you build trust and a community.

It’s hard to build a community from scratch, but having a blog really helps solidify what community you do have and is a great starting point for building a new one.

Even take my baby blog here for example. I don’t get a hundred comments when I post something new but I do get questions via email and requests and I do my best to get back to those asking legitimate questions. Getting those emails tells me people are paying attention.

As my blog grows we’ll all begin to see more feedback and conversation in the comments – and I’m sure a good number of them will be from a lot of the people who have reached out to me personally.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to a community by posting your thoughts and opinions in the comments. Even if you disagree with the post, everyone will benefit.

Blogs let you create focused content for every niche of your target market.

Everyone has a general target market, but you can always find more specific ways to define each facet of that target market.

Keeping a blog for your company allows you to publish unique posts that are directed to a very specific group of people. You can get into their heads and focus on keywords that exactly relate to their needs. These posts will help you expand the keywords your site ranks for without compromising the integrity of your site.

Blogs help you drive conversions higher.

So if you add focused content, higher traffic and a closer community, what does that mean for you?

If you are strategic and plan things out correctly, that will mean more conversions. The better you get at writing content that delivers for its audience and is properly written for the keywords you’re aiming for, the higher conversions you’re going to see.

You’re stupid (if you don’t try a blog on for size).

A blog is a free tool with unlimited potential and very little chance of hurting you.

You’re stupid not to try it to see if it works for you.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s edition of the Small Business Website Guide for Business Owners. Tune in next time to learn about using Social Media as part of your marketing strategy!

]]> http://www.annedorko.com/blog/small-business-website-guide-marketing-how-to-use-blog/feed 4 Choosing Keywords and Blog topics http://www.annedorko.com/blog/choosing-keywords-and-blog-topics http://www.annedorko.com/blog/choosing-keywords-and-blog-topics#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:48:15 +0000 Anne http://www.annedorko.com/?p=73 A friend gave me a tip the other day- when you are creating a website or writing a blog you should know what people are actually looking for.

My question: How do you know what people are looking for?

For bloggers:

Out of ideas? Want to write about the latest buzz? Check out google.com/trends and see for yourself just what’s hot! A sweet graphic shows you whether the search rates are still going up or if people have stopped searching for a term so much.

For website developers/designers:

So you’re working for a client who wants an SEO website for their main key terms. You don’t want to spam the whole site with the same exact phrases and you want to phrases you choose to use to be solid terms. How do you find out? Check out Read More »]]> A friend gave me a tip the other day- when you are creating a website or writing a blog you should know what people are actually looking for.

My question: How do you know what people are looking for?

For bloggers:

Out of ideas? Want to write about the latest buzz? Check out google.com/trends and see for yourself just what’s hot! A sweet graphic shows you whether the search rates are still going up or if people have stopped searching for a term so much.

For website developers/designers:

So you’re working for a client who wants an SEO website for their main key terms. You don’t want to spam the whole site with the same exact phrases and you want to phrases you choose to use to be solid terms. How do you find out? Check out Google’s KeyWordExternal tool through AdSense to find out the most effective keywords for your site.

]]> http://www.annedorko.com/blog/choosing-keywords-and-blog-topics/feed 1