Build My Blog

This post was most recently updated on March 17th, 2018

The first thing I thought about when I started blogging was, of course, how to get traffic to my blog.

Nice to write, but also nice to be writing for somebody reading it, right?

There are many ways to drive traffic to your blog.

They probably all work, but all I wanted to know was what would work best for me.

Now, I’m not a technical person.

SEO had little appeal to me because it relies on stats and metrics that I didn’t even want to hear about, much less make them the daily bread and butter of my business.

I’ve always been a “people-person.”

In my offline practice, I consult with people to make their lives better. I’ve been doing that for several decades. Most of my clients are repeat clients because they’ve come to trust me.

In fact, I built that practice up from zero to a time-tested, secure business.

I did it without spending a dime on advertising.

It was all about building sincere relationships with people, over-delivering on my service, and letting them know that I really do care about them.

I used that same dynamic to build my blog.

So, I decided to do a case study describing the process I used to build a following on my blog.

You should understand, though, that simply following the process I’m about to describe will not ensure that you enjoy the same success with your blog.

I know people like to get a nice, neat little package of the things they need to do, so they can “copy” someone else’s success.

I’ve tried it, too.

It never works.

You can’t copy success.

You must create it.

I built a robust following and an engaging blog by being myself, not by stepping carefully through a sequential list of “cooking instructions.”

In fact, I often use the cookbook model to describe the “copy my success” process.

You see, there are many great, great cooks who go about writing marvelous cookbooks with the exact ingredients they use, and the precise instructions on how to put them together and cook them.

People love to buy cookbooks.

They think that if they follow the directions to a tee, they can achieve the same end result.

But they can’t.

If 100 people follow the same recipe, you’ll end up with 100 different meals.

Yet, day after day people sell cookbooks with clever copywriting that would have people believe that they will have predictable results by just following the directions.

But they won’t.

You see the same rush to “duplicatable” systems in blogging.

I’ll share what has worked for me, but that doesn’t mean it will work in exactly the same way for you.

I can’t promise that.

I won’t even suggest it.

What will work for you is to be yourself.

Put your heart and soul into what you do, and always look for ways to help your readers to achieve their dreams and solve their problems.

That’s what has worked for me above all other things.

I firmly believe it is what will work best for you.

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Now, for the case study, I will describe the recipe that I’ve used.

Bear in mind, though, that things have worked for me randomly and unpredictably.

I’ve never done one thing first, then moved on to the second, and then the third.

I’ve done everything I could simultaneously.

Some things worked, some didn’t, others did… sort of.

It doesn’t mean I haven’t tried to do things in a neat little order, it only means that it rarely happens that way (although it’s nice when it does).

So, in my case, here’s how I developed my blog into the popular site it is today.

SEO

One of the first things I heard about when I first started blogging about 6 years ago was that I must get my pages to rank high on the search engines.

To do that, I needed to employ search engine optimization (SEO) tactics.

Well, I never really did too much of it.

My “on-page” strategy has consisted mostly of using keywords in my title, first and last paragraph, and a few times within the text of the article.

I never really did any serious keyword research prior to publishing an article, but just chose topics related to my readers’ interests.

In addition, I have the SEO Yost plugin on my blog, and that’s supposed to help.

My “off-page” strategy is pretty much confined to developing backlinks from blog commenting. I’ll talk a bit more about my blog commenting strategy a bit later.

One of the biggest developments in SEO over the last few years has been the so-called “social metric.”

Now, this is something I’ve taken advantage of without really trying.

It’s really just a natural part of what I do.

You can call it relationship building, or engagement, or social media interaction.

Whatever label you attach, it gets down to treating your readers like they’re people.

Visit them on Facebook, or on LinkedIn or Twitter. When they have something to say, leave a comment when it’s a topic that interests you.

Always think of how you can help your readers, but even more, how you can support them.

They’re trying to accomplish something just like I am, so I try to be a little tiny part of whatever energy or substance helps them.

It doesn’t have to be about business or strategy, either.

It can just be personal.

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Be there for people, and invite them into your world.

Get to know them and, here’s the linchpin… care about them.

Don’t just say you care, but really care.

I always treat people like they are my mother, or brother or even a real close friend.

I do that because I really care about those people.

When you really care, and let your actions and social interactions online be guided by that caring, people want to be part of what you’re doing.

They engage with you more on social media and they visit your blog to learn more about what you’re involved in, and to take part in it.

This may all sound like fluff and nonsense, but it’s actually a crucial part of the Google SEO algorithm now.

This is the “social metric” that search engines are keyed in to.

They want to know that you are relevant to your crowd, as a leader and influencer within your niche.

To the extent they see real people having real engagement with you, they will help you be ever more visible to those people.

That’s a key part of SEO that isn’t always talked a lot about because it doesn’t have the clear definition that “numbers of backlinks” or “PR” (page rank) seems to.

But it’s something that has played a big part of the popularity of my blog.

Content

So I just talked a whole lot about something I know very little about… SEO.

Content is something I “live with” more, though.

I have a target audience of bloggers that I develop content for.

I understand their problems, challenges and aspirations.

That’s because I’m one of them… a blogger.

It’s also because I hang out with them… the people, not just the bloggers.

In other words, I know them as human beings and often friends or students.

That’s really important when it comes to developing content because it helps you focus on developing content that is relevant to your readers, and congruent with their needs.

If you’re trying to get more juice from your blog, but don’t know where to begin, start with understanding who you are writing your content for.

Don’t understand it academically, understand it because you’ve hung around the water cooler with these folks and you know what they’re feeling and talking about when the boss isn’t watching them.

You are backstage with people who are often in an emotional hyperventilation in dread of the next curtain call.

You know what they’re going through because not only have you been there, you live there.

It’s part of the business.

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I did a live radio talk show for several years, and I never got over the fear of the little red light in the studio, waiting for it to turn green and know that in that instant, I was “live.”

But “live” I was, and the moment I started talking, the dread receded into comfort, then excitement and even exhilaration.

This is the feeling I try to convey to my readers.

It’s possible to accomplish the things they think they never can.

In order to get there, they have to stop thinking about it and just “go live.”

I like to think of my content as the little green light in the radio studio that says… not only that “you can do it”, but hey… it’s time to start doing it, right now, this moment… you are “live.”

As far as the actual content I offer my readers, it varies.

I use lots of different writing styles.

Sometimes I write kind of technical, “how to” things, but it’s not my finest moment.

I write those articles when I feel like folks just need to know something.

A lot of people in my crowd (my “target audience”), for instance, like to use video in their blogging and marketing.

So, when YouTube first came out with YouTube “Cards”… a little piece of coding that helped your video to be more interactive and directive… I did a blog post about how to use it.

Now, those kinds of blog posts are certainly not “evergreen.” A couple months after I did that blog post, it was an old story and who knows, by the time you read this it may be obsolete.

But one part of my blogging experience has been that people in my crowd look to me to know what’s going on, and how to get an edge in their business.

I’m not a reservoir of tech updates, but when ones appear that I personally use, I’ll tell folks about it.

Same thing goes for affiliate blogging.

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I very rarely tell my readers to buy something.

But if I buy something (I do way too much of that, both online and off :))… if I buy something that I think is really cool and it helps me run my business, I might do a “review post” and tell people about it.

Again, I do affiliate reviews very, very seldom, but one of the things people tell me they look forward to when they see my blog come up in their feed is that they never know what to expect.

So, yea, I do it from time to time.

Probably the most common type of content I give people is strategy based.

I write on very broad topics like “overcome fear” or “stop procrastination” or “get more free traffic to your blog.”

I often do this with a casual, free association style, much like I’m doing here.

Lots of times, people expect something very left brained and dogmatic, judging from my blog title. They are surprised to find, instead, a story about “the old neighborhood” or my latest nightmare, as I illustrate what could otherwise be fairly dry and rote.

But I’ll do dry and rote sometimes, too.

A lot of what I do is based on my mood, more than some grand plan.

I mean, I try to think of the future, but the truth is, I’m living in the present. So that’s what people get when they visit my blog.

Another thing I should mention here is the look and feel of my blog.

I like to add some variety to my “writing,” so I’ll embed videos and images on occasion.

I don’t do a real lot of that, but when I do, people always tell me they like it.

I believe, though, that if I did it all the time it would kill the nuance of media embellishments.

One of the keys to adding any media is that it should really add to the story or enhance the message.

It’s not meant to distract from it, or to move people into another realm (like a “call to action” to buy or join or cheer or whatever). It’s congruent with the theme of the article.

That said, I know very good bloggers who do use media like a “pattern interrupt” where they’ll grab somebody with an image or video or podcast and offer a content upgrade or affiliate program or some such thing.

I think it’s a good technique and I should probably explore it myself.

I’m as much a blogging student as I am a mentor, that’s for sure.

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I rarely include guest posts on my blog.

That’s another thing I’ve been thinking more about, lately.

Guest posts do allow for more content and wider audience reach, so I fully understand the reason to do it.

I haven’t, because my readers really look forward to hearing from me.

It’s not like I have a blog full of tactics and industry news updates.

If I did, I’d probably do bring more guests online.

My blog is more about my perspective of the business of blogging, my perspective of the mind behind it, and even my perspective of the world every now and then.

So, it’s more a personality-based blog.

In fact, the name itself tells you that… Donna Merrill Tribe.

It’s about me and my crowd of bloggers, my tribe.

I have done a few blog posts that were very, very popular, in which I outlinked to some big experts in the field, like Neil Patel or Social Examiner.

It’s my version of an “expert interview.”

I tell students to do expert interviews as a way to gain some authority in their niche.

Invariably, I hear “nobody big will give me an interview.”

I don’t ask big people like Neil Patel for an interview.

I just do it.

One blog post I wrote summarized some of the methods Neil uses to drive traffic to his blogs.

I got the “interview” onto my blog by simply reviewing some highlights of what Neil had written in his blog post on the topic.

Then I added a clickable image of his blog post with a link back to his original post, and I suggested that my readers click it to learn much more about the topic.

It was, in essence, a content upgrade… an addition to what I was teaching people. But it wasn’t a premium upgrade of any sort, simply a topical one.

People do love that sort of thing and you get great backlinks that somehow help your SEO, but don’t ask me how.

I’ve also done real “interviews” with some pretty big people like Matt Wolfe and Welly Mulia.

These were Google HOA’s (hangouts on air) that I invited some industry leaders to.

The funny thing is, many of these top bloggers and marketers are actually scared to do an interview.

And I have to coach them to how to use HOA’s and tell them not to get too nervous because I can take the lead if they falter.

Keep in mind, they’re the experts at what they do, but that doesn’t make them experts at everything in the world.

Even the greatest neurosurgeon has to go to the dentist to pull a tooth, right?

So, what I did was to conduct an expert interview live, then grab the YouTube version and embed it on a subsidiary blog I have for my interviews.

But I’d link over to the subsidiary blog on my main blog.

How does this build traffic to my main blog?

Well, first of all, I’d promote the interview to my email list, on my Facebook page, Twitter and all the rest.

Don’t forget it’s on YouTube, so that’s another great source.

The primary keyword phrase would include the name of the expert, so when I’d share it around, people that know, like and trust that high-profile expert would come to my blog to see what their hero had to say.

Then I’d promote the same interview to my email list and on my blog.

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This accomplishes two things.

It drives people to the interview.

It enhances my own personal branding as someone who actually hangs out with big time folks (picture: arm around the shoulder, big smiles all around, haha).

So now, the interview is content that drives people to more of my content.

It’s a sweet deal.

Meanwhile… an unexpected bonus to the Matt Wolfe interview is that, as a result of me interviewing him via Hangouts On Air, he asked me to do a guest post on his high authority blog to let his readers know how they can do the same thing.

If you’re scared to do interviews like this, remember… no matter how big an expert you’re courting, they’re probably more scared than you (remember this is live video for the whole world to see).

Also, you’re doing the experts a favor by giving them exposure and publicity.

I don’t care how big they are, they all want that.

Trick… When I ask to interview someone, I promise to keep it to 15 minutes. I mean, really, an interview is an interview, right?

You get the replay to promote whether it’s 15 minutes or 2 hours. And who wants to listen to a 2 hour interview anyway? Would you?

I actually get more people listening to shorter interviews, and they’re far more likely to engage with me in conversation about it afterwards.

Engagement

So, this brings us to what is probably the most important reason I work so hard to create compelling content in the first place.

When I get people involved in what I am doing, I know I am reaching my perfect target audience.

Don’t misunderstand this.

It’s not that everyone must be carrying on conversations with you.

But a decent number of people should be.

That way, the silent onlookers (that will be most of your audience) will see a vibrant interaction taking place.

There’s really no more compelling content than that which attracts vibrant interaction.

Now, there are lots of ways to get people involved in what you’re doing.

One of the best ways I’ve found is through strategic blog commenting.

I am always on the hunt for blogs and blogging communities whose content and focus dovetail with mine.

The people who visit these blogs are definitely part of my crowd.

There was a time when I thought of them as my competitors.

These were the bloggers who courted the same prospects I was looking for.

So, why should I be getting involved with them?

I soon realized, though, that if my “competitors” were addressing the same crowd I was, that they could be a great asset to my business.

But only if I starting engaging and building relationships with them.

If this strategy sounds counterintuitive to you, I’d suggest you consider a few things.

There are many bloggers who have been very successful building a business around the same people you want to attract to yours.

There are reasons they’ve been successful.

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They are keenly aware of who their target audience is.

They are solving problems for this audience, and doing it effectively and consistently.

They have done a good job of promoting their blog in ways you may know little about.

Perhaps they’ve been running Facebook ads, or doing live webinars.

Maybe they have a robust membership site filled with the very same crowd that you play to.

Are they your competitors?

Well, yes and no.

In the beginning, I would have simply said “yes.”

That’s the most obvious answer.

As I gained blogging and marketing maturity, though, I came to realize that the answer was also “no.”

Bloggers addressing my target audience are actually much more my associates than my competitors.

I could (and did) build a much stronger web presence and blog following if I tapped into the strategies and existing audience and reader base of my “associates” than if I ignored them.

I learned that developing a competitive attitude toward other bloggers in your niche does nothing to interfere with their progress, but it seriously hinders yours.

I’ve mentioned my offline consulting practice.

For many years, I quickly referred clients I couldn’t or chose not to work with… over to my “competitors.”

If I thought someone else in my field could get better results for a client, I’d refer them over to him or her.

Now, many of them thought that was very strange.

Some of them were even suspicious of my motives.

They would call and ask “why are you sending your client to me?”

My answer was “I can’t work with this client” or “your methods will be more in line with what this client is looking for, so they’ll get better results with you.”

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Was this a clever ploy?

No.

I really believed it, and sent clients away primarily to benefit them.

I guess not too surprisingly, the word got out around town that I was principled and ethical.

I got many new clients who told me they trusted me, even though they never met me before.

That’s because of the reputation I had built up, largely by using this model.

So, as a blogger, I decided that there was no reason to back away from my competition.

Think about professional societies, for instance.

The ADA (American Dental Association) is an “association” of dentists.

They should be competitors, right?

Why are they coordinating their practices with their “associates” instead of shunning them like the “competitors” that they actually are?

One reason is that they all share in a single client base… they have a common target audience… people who need dental care.

But they can actually serve that client base best by joining together as associates.

They can refer some of their patients to other associates if that associate can better serve the patient’s needs.

They can share in advertising and information campaigns, limit their practice to a certain number of new patients and so forth.

The patients are happy to get the best care possible, whoever they consult with.

And a satisfied customer base is what drives the practices of all the associates.

So everyone wins.

When I applied this concept to my blog, I was able to take a “ghost town” website and turn it into a bustling center of activity, and a legitimate source of authority.

Here’s how I did that.

First, I made it a special project to find a handful of “competitor” sites that I emulated, and that had substantial authority and following.

They were influencers.

I made it my business to “make the rounds” on a daily basis.

I carefully checked this core group of 10 to 12 blogs to see if they had posted something new.

If they had, I would visit the blog, read the new article, and get involved in the conversation.

This is a strategy called “blog commenting.”

It’s simply a syndication strategy where one blogger shares and promotes an associate’s blog post, and that person reciprocates by doing the same in return.

All for one and one for all… like the ADA.

Individual bloggers joining what is usually a silent association to mutually benefit.

There are formal blogging societies, and I’ve been in some of those.

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But then there are those that are “silent.”

I’ve done much more work through those because let’s face it, not everybody wants to join in a formal effort.

But they will reciprocate to your kind and fruitful overtures… like tweeting a link and intro to their blog post.

In various forms, blog commenting is undoubtedly the single most effective strategy that I’ve used to build my blog.

Now, I do know many bloggers who have gotten very poor results employing what they considered to be a “good” blog commenting strategy.

There are some reasons why I was able to build a very popular and high authority blog using the same strategy that many others have given up on, like so many other strategies they’ve tried and discarded.

One big distinction is that I developed a core group of top blogs in my niche to follow and engage with.

Other bloggers never do this.

They simply visit blogs they personally like, or people they are friends with.

Sometimes they make things simple by just joining a formal blog community or cooperative, and doing what they’re told.

Worst of all, they purposefully avoid visiting blogs that they deem to be “competitors.”

They don’t want to send their readers over to competitors.

This is what happens when people read comments and social shares linking back to other blogs in your syndication circle.

The thing is, once you open your doors to promoting and engaging with other bloggers, you may be sending a lot of your readers in their direction.

But don’t worry about that.

Don’t run your blog through a model of fear.

In developing my blog, I found that for every person I sent away from my blog (via an outbound link), I got many more back on the rebound.

In the following image, you see I’m sending an outbound link away from my blog to YouTube’s Spotlight page.

The backlinks created in this way will return more traffic from YouTube back to my blog…

I call this boomerang marketing.

What you send away, will return to you manifold.

Just like when I sent consulting clients to my competitors, and their friends all started call me for appointments.

I never blogged through fear of losing readers or prospects.

I knew that if I was truly helping them solve their problems, they’d not only be back, but they’d bring their friends, uncles and mothers too.

Everybody wants their problems solved.

Everybody wants to get closer to people who have demonstrated that they truly care about them.

Everybody trusts a blogger who shares value from associate bloggers… it’s all about helping people solve their problems, regardless of which blog they like the best or what blogger they believe is the top dog in the niche.

So, let me get back to the blog commenting strategy I personally deployed.

I would make the rounds on a daily basis to make sure I was reading, social sharing and commenting on every blog post published by my core group of 10-12 top tier blogs.

Here’s a blog I commented on Ana Hoffman’s blog, Traffic Generation Cafe.

At the end of the blog post, she invited comments, and I responded.

Then I’d do the same thing on a rotating basis, and on a weekly basis with second and third tier groups, sometimes more.

I was not as adamant about visiting and engaging with folks on 2nd and 3rd tier groups, partly because they were much larger.

They could be comprised of 20, 30, 40 or more blogs.

So my effort was not as focused on them as it was on my top tier blogs.

By leaving good and meaningful comments consistently for a sustained period of time… I’d say about 6 months… I built rapport with other bloggers, many of whom sat atop the heap of leaders in my niche.

More important, though, I caught the attention of their readers and followers. I started concocting my own following from these folks.

Now, if you haven’t noticed, I did this is all on a zero budget.

It doesn’t cost anything to comment on people’s blogs.

Even if they have huge followings.

It doesn’t cost anything to share links to their articles on Facebook, or tweet them or even do a video analysis of their articles on YouTube.

Even if they have huge followings.

It doesn’t cost anything to attract the followers and readers of some of these high ranking, high authority, cutting edge blogs…

But be mindful… they probably spent lots of advertising dollars to bring them onto their blogs in the first place.

So the strategy was to keep my money deep in my pocket, while scanning the internet for bloggers who were spending money left and right to build audiences, and harness great results.

By putting my comments, social shares and persona in front of those folks following the big, successful, ad-buying bloggers, I was able to attract some portion of their audiences.

By doing it consistently, I was able to keep getting exposure to the new traffic they were buying every day.

By giving full credit to the authority and value of these top bloggers, I made them very happy to have me doing this.

I even started getting interviewed and featured on many of these blogs.

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I’ve been asked to guest post by many of them, although I’ve only accepted a very few of those invitations… probably a mistake but, hey, if I spin off in too many directions then something’s going to suffer.

But I certainly keep this option in mind to explore more aggressively.

Not all the activity on my blog came from tapping into the top tier blogs, though.

A lot came from smaller blogs, too.

My first priority was interacting with top tier blogs, but after that I did the same on tier 1 and tier 2 blogs.

They clearly didn’t have the same clout, but it all adds up.

Plus, I developed a more diverse audience by involving myself in a wide range of blogs.

What’s been most important, though, is that I’ve tried to stick close to those blogs speaking to the pains and desires of precisely those folks comprising my target audience.

Now this is not exactly a science, at least not in my hands.

As I’ve said, I’m not terribly great at metrics, statistics, tracking and analysis.

I proceed cautiously by feeling my way along, and it’s work well.

But I don’t pretend that intuition is a better way forward than statistical analysis.

I can only say that the system I’ve used, the one I just put forth, has brought my blog from a frontier ghost town to a thriving metropolis.

Social Media

Social Media has been a critical part of building my blogging business.

I’ve pretty much alluded to the reasons for this.

Social media interaction is a key element of SEO, so it has undoubtedly helped some of my articles rank well on search engines.

It’s not the reason I do it, though.

I always share my blog posts on Facebook, via my personal timeline and on my Facebook page.

I very often “boost” my posts on my Facebook page because it helps it gives it a much greater reach for just a few dollars.

Again, by doing this consistently, it has helped build my audience.

Almost anything you do just once in a while has little or no impact.

The key is always consistency.

I’ve given you a little Daily Blog Guide below in the form of an infographic.

It really helps you stay on target, so check it out, download it… use it!

Now, consistency is particularly important when it comes to social media.

I employ a social media strategy that I refer to as “On Page” and “Off Page” blogging.

I mean, if the SEO people can talk on and off page, why can’t I?

It totally fits what I am doing here.

You see, everything I do to build my reputation and personal brand ON my blog, had to be done 100 times more OFF my blog.

When I say OFF your blog, I’m talking about ON other peoples’ blogs as in the blog commenting strategy I revealed earlier.

But, even more… OFF your blog refers to your social interactions via social media connection.

My blog was built largely through a combined “On Page-Off Page” social media strategy.

But again, this only worked for me because I was totally dedicated and that means CONSISTENT.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be available to people, sharing what you’ve done, and more importantly, sharing what they’ve done.

Most of this sharing happens in social media circles and must be done virtually every single day.

What people from your neighborhood do you remember, talk to, talk about more… those you see every day, or those you only see when a holiday comes around?

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Every time I write an article, I share it, as I said, on Facebook.

I also share it on Twitter and Google+.

I’m not as consistent with my LinkedIn and YouTube sharing, but I do a lot of sharing to those sites.

It’s not just a matter of sharing my stuff, though.

It’s even more important that I worked every day to share other people’s articles, videos, products and services in the social stream.

Again, this is part of what I called earlier “boomerang marketing.”

Every time I’d share for other people, they would do 100x … maybe 1,000x more for me.

They may have only done a tiny bit of this personally, but through their social shares of my work, they would drive an enormous amount of traffic my way.

And this traffic comes every single day, and without spending hardly anything in advertising.

Notice below that besides having a very high ranking blog, I’m getting thousands of visits every day.

That didn’t just happen by accident.

It was the result of my continual sharing with other folks, both on-page and off-page.

Notice that a lot of my traffic is coming directly from Facebook and Twitter, and that’s only 2 social media streams I get traffic from.

There are many others.

My bigger impact on social media, though, has not been through simply “sharing” though.

It’s resulted from my actually interacting with so many people.

I get involved in some Facebook groups and I do it consistently enough that folks in those groups have gotten to know me pretty well, sometimes on a “PM” (private message) basis, occasionally via telephone or Skype.

I don’t try to interact so intimately with everyone I meet on social media, it would be too cumbersome and unrealistic a strategy.

Instead, I connect with people most representative of my “avatar” or target prospect.

I reply to their queries, I put forth some of my own… I build a relationship… and I do it publicly.

So everyone in the group or on the page, get to see the evolution of a real time discussion.

See below just a very few of the social interactions that have received top ranking in Google searches.

Keep in mind, this is just a tiny, random sample that I grabbed to put this article together.

I could have filled pages and pages with “testimonials” like these.

I call them “testimonials” because it’s exactly what they are.

They are people all talking about me, sometimes it’s me talking about me.

The point is, when you’re being social and outreaching online… not occasionally, but as a daily method of operation… then you can get enormous social testimonials from places you don’t even know.

I get social mentions every day from Pinterest, and I don’t even have a working account on Pinterest!

I get LinkedIn testimonials very often. They tend to rank high in the Google searches…

Do I use StumbleUpon? A little bit I guess. But folks there share things about me a lot! Here’s just one little sample…

Don’t forget, too, that your articles can rank high even through their direct link.

Here’s one that’s kind of old, still ranks #3 on the first page of Google, and even features an image of my optin offer!

Using social media to build your personal brand and authority is similar to blog commenting in that, every time you reply to one single person, thousand of others who remain faceless and silent, see who you are and get to know what you do.

Invariably they find you back to your own Facebook page or blog.

They become part of your audience and your followers as the result of their vicarious engagement with you on Facebook or some other social media site.

Most importantly, they become your fans, your followers, your “word of mouth” proof, your social amplification… your “crowd.”

I’ve grown an amazing, engaging “crowd” of real people… not statistics… real people.

I’ve done it by implementing an active social media strategy tied to my blog.

And trust me, if I could do it… you can too!

Your Daily Blogging Guide

For those of you who are inspired and ready to build your own blog, or vastly improve on the one you’ve got… I’ve put together a little infographic below to keep you on target.

It’s simple.

But my success has not come from complicated things.

It’s resulted from doing a few simple things, but doing them consistently and purposefully, and always with the overriding purpose of helping your crowd to have a better life.

Watch my little video summary, then check out the Daily Blogging Guide… and use it… every single day

If you can’t see the video by clicking the above video image, then just click this link to view it on YouTube.

Here’s the Daily Blogging Guide… it’s a simple checklist of the things I’ve done every day to build my blog.

I encourage you to use it as your own personal “Blog Daily Checklist” every day you open your computer and ask yourself… where should I begin today?

BLOGGING RESOURCES

• Blogging Magic … This is our flagship course.  Hours of video trainings show you exactly how to set up a blog, host it, build content on it and most important… drive a steady stream of traffic to it via Social Media and other power strategies we teach you, step by step.

• Blogging For Dollar$ Wizard …The basics of setting up a blog with a simple business model in place.  Quick monetization is the clear goal here, and we show you a great, proven method for getting it started.

• Join For FREE: My “Fast Start Blog Training” Program …My Newsletter takes you from setting up your first blog, to advanced ways of getting free traffic and laser targeted prospects to your blog.