Traffic Exchange Gold

This is a guest post by Amber Shah.

I am in the process of launching my startup, Code Anthem, for great programmers and the companies that hire them. I was thinking over some of the logistics of running a private beta program and realized that I needed a group of people who could be my beta testers, early adopters and even evangelists when we launched.

I decided to start a blog and open a twitter account. That was 1 month ago, and since then I’ve had over 50K visitors to the blog, over 500 subscribers via RSS and email, 221 comments and over 150 Twitter followers. I didn’t have an existing audience of any kind to pull from, so this was all starting from zero.

The following is a short list of what made our blog grow in its first month:

1. Start a Movement, Pick a Fight

My husband and I had worked for years in the software development industry, so we had a lot of axes to grind, dirty laundry to air and big ideas to use as fodder for the content. My goal was to take a stand and go big or go home, so that readers would either rally around it immediately or hate it. My biggest fear was of people reading the blog and *yawn* moving on. On Let’s be Independent Together, I got this comment:

I got goosebumps at the end of that …
You guys are awesome, and I enjoy reading your blog entries very much, and look forward to seeing what your up to behind the curtain!
-TD

I was careful to strip out any ambivalent phrases like “I think that … “, “It seems to me that …”, or “Sometimes it may appear that …”, etc. Using them would whitewash my ideas. Leaving them out probably makes me appear more arrogant, but at least I’m having an impact on my readers.

2. Social Media and Social Proof

Social media is a big part of how Code Anthem’s blog was able to get so much traffic and subscribers early on. You can see in the screenshot below where our big spikes were and what social media site they were related to:

It wasn’t just the big social news sites driving traffic, a huge part of it was also Twitter and Facebook. My last post, “How to Keep Crappy Programmers” was tweeted over 200 times and shared on Facebook over 90 times. I also have a sidebar showing these stats and inviting readers to do the same, which keeps the momentum going.

3. Comments, comments everywhere and not a drop to drink

My first blog promotion strategy was to comment on blogs that had a similar audience to mine. I would only bother to comment if I was one of the first, and if I had something compelling to add. I wasn’t going for SEO points here; I was trying to get people to follow my link out of curiosity.

This accounted for the first 10 visits a day, or so, before my blog picked up in social media sites. I think that for any new site, especially ones that don’t work as well in social media, commenting early, often and with interesting insights on other blogs is the most effective tool to drive traffic.

Because there is so much advice out there on the right way to blog, and only so much time, it can be hard to figure out what to do. Here is a list of the things I did not do:

Respond to Every Comment or Tweet

The sentiment behind this idea is a good one but it doesn’t scale at all. I did this right at the very beginning, but as soon I couldn’t keep up. Sometimes I would think about responding, but if I waited, someone would come along and beat me to it. And what I realized was, that people started to have discussions and debates amongst themselves and that was priceless.

On a related note, if you get listed on a social media site: don’t go read the comments there. Somehow people feel that it’s ok to be much meaner when they post things not on your site. While many people were dismissive or nasty on external sites, comments on my own site were overwhelmingly positive and thoughtful.

Put up an About page, Contact page or other meta info

Between managing the blog and building the Code Anthem site itself, I never got around to putting up a bio and photo or a contact form. One reader called me out in the comments, saying:

I am enjoying the articles. However, the anonymity and the stealth-mode is a little weird. I think using real names would give your company and site a lot more personality.

And I think he’s right. The point is not “don’t do those things”, the point is just to prioritize on what makes the most sense for you, and realize that they aren’t necessary to having a successful blog, at first.

Talk about WHY I’m doing this

Meta blogging, aka blogging about blogging, is annoying (unless you happen to run a blog all about blogging *ahem* Remarkablogger). When I decided to share the story of my blog’s early success, in the hopes of helping other, I knew that I would not post it on Code Anthem’s blog, because the programmers who read it don’t care about blogging. Instaed, I asked Remarkablogger if I could guest post it here, and thankfully, Michael agreed.

I also did not talk much about my startup itself. Some company blogs talk about company-related things, like inventory or startup topics, but the audience for that is not my ideal customer. I’m sure I talk more about Code Anthem as we move into private beta and then public beta launch, but I hope to keep the blog focused on the ideas.

There are many different paths that lead to a successful blog. My best advice for other bloggers (and entrepreneurs) is to read and learn as much as possible, but to be very selective about what you actually implement. Be bold, confident and whatever you do, don’t look down.

Amber Shah is the founder of the upcoming start-up Code Anthem, for great developers and the companies that hire them.  Visit their blog here or follow them on twitter.

Related posts:

1. Why the Bleeding Edge of Social Media is Important for Tech Bloggers
2. How Social Media Amplifies Blog Marketing
3. More Buyers Every Month Mentorship – Insanely Awesome
4. Slight Update to My Comment and Trackback Policy
5. Blogging Ethics 101b – Commenting

If you’re still asking yourself why you need a social media marketing plan hopefully this will help you figure it out.  Below is a screenshot of a conversation that took place on Facebook recently, where someone was looking for a referral to a plumber:

Now, think about the fact that these conversations are taking place online every day and that if you had a credible presence in the social media world it would make it easier for your customers to refer you.  The lady making the referral should have been able to simply send a link to your Twitter or Facebook page where her friend could quickly connect to you.  If you had a social media marketing strategy you’d be part of the conversation instead of hoping people remember you.

Don’t let lack of diligence on your part be the reason you fail to take advantage of social media marketing.  Just do it!

Click the link below to download and read a white paper on why social media marketing is important, and how you can quickly adopt an effective social media marketing strategy now!

The Marketing Makeover, How Successful Businesses are “Rebooting” their Marketing for Today’s Economy

I am frequently called on to speak about relationship marketing, and when I am people always ask to know the so called “secret” to building business through relationship marketing. I know there is no secret, but at one point I got asked the question so many times that I thought maybe I’m missing something, maybe there is a secret out here and I simply don’t know it. So I decided to begin a search for what people around me thought must exist which is the “Secret Sauce in relationship marketing”.

I started my search by studying people who most others considered to be successful business networkers and relationship marketers. I watched how they interacted with people at business networking events. I listened to what people had to say about them, especially as it related to how they treated the people around them. I spoke with them and had a chance to see what they had to say about people themselves, especially when those people were not present. I also watched the types of events they attended and asked them what they liked most about concentrating attention on relationship marketing.

What I found really won’t surprise most of us, but it may disappoint those who have convinced themselves that there must be some secret to making relationship marketing work. So, here’s what my little search revealed. People who are successful in relationship marketing do the following things very well:

1. They take a sincere interest in the people around them – At networking events true relationship marketers in attendance are there to take a sincere interest in others. That doesn’t mean they follow up with every person they meet, it simply means the ones they feel they can help will be a priority to help, and they let them know that. It also means they are good listeners, and when talking with others, their full attention is demonstrated by asking logical follow up questions about what they are being told, instead of just waiting for their turn to talk.

2. They operate with a servant’s heart – Successful relationship marketers are willing to give unconditionally without expecting an immediate quid-pro-quo return on their giving. They know how to plant seeds without expecting to harvest as they are planted. They trust that by helping enough people get what they want, abundance will be returned to them without their forcing the issue.

3. They are people of high self-esteem, not big ego – Successful relationship marketers feel good about who they are, and don’t require constant attention from others to validate themselves. This is important because it permits them to focus attention on others without feeling they are in competition for attention. Self-esteem, as contrasted with ego, is also demonstrated by how well they make the people around them feel about themselves, instead of trying to impress those people with their own accomplishments. They never find it necessary to build themselves up by putting others down. If they are great it’s because they make the people around them feel that they too are great.

4. They are actively involved in personal development activity – A commitment to personal development keeps the batteries of successful relationship marketers charged at all times against negativity. It also gives them superior insight into understanding the destructive interpersonal behaviors they see when they attend networking events or when meeting with people. This enables them to stay away from those behaviors.

5. They simply love people – Successful relationship marketers truly love people and finding ways to help them. They don’t do it just to make a living. They have chosen their living based on the ability to help people, not just the ability to generate income. Everything they do is centered around how it helps people. They are the kind of people who will prey with you not on you.

As I completed my search I found that these were all things I know, and all things that successful relationship marketers, have been doing for centuries, so in my opinion, none of these qualified as “secret sauce” for those who were searching for one. Then, I realized, after thinking about it, that maybe I had found the “secret sauce”, maybe there was an undiscovered truth that would qualify as a secret. For me, if there is a secret to relationship marketing it is this. Most people you meet won’t commit themselves to do any of these five things consistently, which means those that will immediately distinguish themselves from the crowd by doing them, and not just doing them, but making them part of who they are.

This revelation may not satisfy your hunger for “secret sauce” in relationship marketing, but if you are sincerely interested in success in relationship marketing it’s about what you are committed to do to make strong relationships a priority. The above five elements are a great place for you to start.