Blawg In A Box

That’s useful information to know, isn’t it?

Take a look at Stompernet’s new tool (note that you’ll have to opt-in in the form in the sidebar to get access to the site submission page) which shows you just what Google thinks your blawg is all about in terms of keywords.

Knowledge is power. Armed with this knowledge, you can adjust both your code and your blawg posts and other content to send the right message.

You might also like the free videos Stompernet is offering as well; there’s a lot of powerful information in there.

Here’s more evidence that the conventional wisdom is wrong:

At DoshDosh — a blog you probably don’t read unless you’ve been interested in making money through blogging for awhile — blogger Maki writes here about how he brought his blog up to 10,000 subscribers. And he did it without:

• advertising;
• Digg frontpages;
• frequent posts;
• contests or projects;
• incentives;
• guest posts at other blogs, or guest bloggers at DoshDosh.

I don’t necessarily advocate that you follow Maki’s history as a recipe for success with your legal blog; blogging for money and blogging for marketing purposes for a law practice aren’t really equivalent. However, you can learn a lot from the story, for one simple but very major reason, and that is this: the reason for Maki’s success despite bucking all the conventional wisdom is that he knew the secret.

What’s the secret? It’s really no secret at all. It’s this, in Maki’s own words:

Readers subscribe to blogs when they provide an informational or entertainment value so great that it would be a loss to not subscribe to it.

This is how you get return visitors, too, by the way. It’s how you get people interested enough in your blog to come back and stay awhile. And it’s how you get your blog to rank more highly on search engine results for your targeted keywords.

So, just for today, why not forget the gimmicks, the SEO tricks, the glitzy design, and the fancy widgets in the sidebar? Ask yourself this simple question, and take some time to think about the answer: What’s the value you’re offering to your readers? It’s just as important for your blawg as it is for sites like DoshDosh.

Yaro Starak, the mastermind behind the Blog Mastermind course I took recently, sent me this video with his permission to share it freely with my readers. This is definitely something you want to take a look at, if you want to build your traffic to your blawg.

Yaro’s teachings are pretty generic to all blogs, whether you’re selling affiliate products and services, relying on AdSense (never a good idea, but that’s another blog entirely), or selling your services, as we talk about here on Blawg In A Box. One part of Yaro’s training that most of us found incredibly helpful was the “case study” video process. Yaro took one to three blogs per video, and went through the blog point by point offering his thoughts about what the blogger was doing right, and what the blogger could do better. The one he did for The Inspired Solo for me was incredibly helpful.

In this video, Yaro looks at Peter Cunningham’s Aquarists Online blog, and offers some constructive “food for thought” in terms of Peter’s stated goals of increasing subscriptions. Peter does a couple of things that might translate well to a blawg. First, I notice that he uses landing pages for e-books he’s written about his chosen subject of aquariums. I think a lawyer could quite easily do the same thing by focusing on the ideal client, and writing a short e-book to offer information about a particular area. This kind of book could be sold for some small amount, or even given away for free (talk about creating value!).

Second, he promotes his feed. I do the same here, with a larger-than-usual RSS button (that big orange and white thing you see in the sidebar there). This was one of the first pieces of advice Yaro gave out in the Blog Mastermind lessons, and he’s so right about this. RSS isn’t as heavily used as it ought to be, it seems, but part of that is the responsibility of the blogger, to promote it and explain it properly. So, use those RSS buttons, increase the size to make them prominently, and do what I haven’t done yet - provide an explanation about RSS and how to use it.

If you’re ready for a formal blog training program and you’re not able to wait for Blawg In A Box’s upcoming direct training and membership course (set to debut in mid-February 2008), give Yaro’s program a try (click here for a sample lesson for free, or if you know you’re ready, go here to sign up) - but you’re going to need to hurry. Yaro’s shutting down subscriptions as of this Monday in order to change over his subscription management system, and you’ll have to wait until it’s all done before signing up afterwards. So, check out the video - if you think Yaro has something to teach you (and I can guarantee you, he does), give it a try for a month and see what you think. I believe you’ll find, as I did, that Yaro’s principles really do help you build your traffic and make the most out of your blog.

Why You Need To Track Your Stats

Stats — statistics on your blawg’s traffic and readership — are critical to your blawg’s  success. While there’s no end of options to tracking blawg stats, especially for the WordPress self-hosted blawgger, not all stats packages are created equal and some are, in fact, more equal than others (apologies to Orwell).  

In this post, we’re going to take a look at some of the options, and I’ll wrap up with a recommendation.

PlugIns vs. Standalone Products

If you’re looking for a stats solution, the first decision you’ll likely look at is “plugin or standalone product?” Each, of course, has benefits and disadvantages.  Most of the robust standalone products are web-based, and so each will require web access, although you can and should keep offline copies of key stats for your use and review in blawg management tasks.

As a practical matter, while I used to favor plugins, I have done a complete reversal on this issue and now prefer standalone products. The reason why is simple. Although plugins have the benefit of being self-contained in your blog dashboard, thus minimizing the need to navigate to other sites and keeping your information right there where it’s handy, in my experience this benefit is diminished somewhat by the sometimes extensive setup and optimization efforts that might be required. Many require tinkering with code, and for many blawggers that’s an off-putting proposition.

WordPress Stats Plugins

That being said, if the appeal of an in-blawg solution is too great to resist, then here are some of your top options:

1. StatTraq – this plugin wreaked havoc with the blog I tried it on but once it was finally set up with some expert assistance, it was quite a robust result.    
2. SlimStat – no longer in development but very popular. I had trouble with this one, and eventually gave up on it.
3. WP Slimstat-Ex-Plugin – based on SlimStat but with expanded functionality
4. WP-SlimFunctions – I haven’t personally tried this one, but it is recognized by many for its light demand on your database and ease of use. If anyone gives this a try, please let me know what your experience is like!
5. WP-Stats 2.20 – another one I haven’t given a try yet. Let me know if you do and how you like it. 
6. Live – a new one to me, but it looks pretty amazing. See your stats in real time. 

Bear in mind this tiny list is but a fraction of what’s available for your experimentation and use; there are over 80 plugins listed at wp-plugins.net.  

Tips for Managing Stats Plugins

If you want to try some of the plugins mentioned here, or any others, you’ll need two things: patience, and a critical eye.

Make sure that what you’ve installed and are looking at gives you the information you want to keep track of. At a minimum, you should be able to keep track of referral links — other sites that send you traffic — so that you can review those sites and thank the referring blogger properly, as well as keep track of the conversation on those pages.

Likewise, you’ll want to know what keywords people are using to find your site. If you haven’t maximized the appropriate keywords, you’ll need to do some tweaking. And if they are using the keywords you’ve optimized on your site, you’ll want to know that, too, in order to keep doing what works. 

Finally, don’t rush your decision. Give each plugin at least a day or two; I’d recommend more — a week is ideal, as it will allow for a more consistent comparison (due to daily fluctuations in traffic). Make note of how easy the results are to comprehend and navigate; how thorough the results are; and your overall impressions. Then, when you find one that works, stick with it. It’s far more important to have something up than to keep looking for “the perfect plugin.” 

Google Analytics

The tools provided by Google Analytics are pretty impressive, especially for a free standalone product. (But we expect that from Google now, don’t we? Look at Gmail, or Google Groups, or its suite of applications for office use — all free, all pretty impressive, though far from perfect.)

 Is Google Analytics perfect? Far from it. It’s not (no matter what it says about itself) a “high-end enterprise” solution.  But it is relatively simple to set up (just insert a bit of code in your HTML) and its point and click approach encourages exploration. This is a good thing.

The Blawg Coach Recommends: Clicky

As I said earlier, I recommend a standalone product. I’ve only been using this particular one for a few days. It was recommended to me by Nathan Parikh, who did some major work for my Inspired Solo blog recently, and its ease of use and thoroughness have completely won me over in just a few days.

The site is Clicky, and the basic user account is free. However, I recommend one of the premium accounts in order to maximize your results.

Yes, the premium accounts are a paid service, while plugins are free (as is Google Analytics). However, the old saying “you get what you pay for” is definitely true here. For a personal blog, or a creative project, I’d say the free plugins and Analytics are plenty. But this is your law practice, and if you’re doing it correctly, the blawg is a major tool in your marketing toolbox. Don’t skimp on the measurement of how well that tool is performing!  

Clicky provides a great deal more functionality over other solutions, including Google Analytics. You can see this graphically represented at this comparison chart on the Clicky website.  Some of the key functions I find useful are centered around the individual user — tracking links that each user clicks, learning what each reader does and in what order and for how long … these things are useful pieces of information to have for a blogger!

Accounts range from free to $17/month (discount pricing for yearly payment is available); for more information on the various accounts, see this chart.

Bottom Line: Do SOMETHING

Don’t just sit there — put something up on your site! While there’s no need to go crazy and obsess over your stats, information in this case truly is power. The more you know, the more you can tweak your blawg to result in a higher rate of conversion and more accurate TR appeal. And that, after all, is the bottom line. 

Recently, I was forwarded a link to a post in a rather popular blog aimed at a segment of small firm lawyers, that shall remain nameless, in which the blogger passed along a link to another blog. This second blog, which we’ll call the B Blog, had recently been created, according to blogger #1, and promised to be the next great thing - or, at least, worthy of a mention in this very popular “A Blog.” (I’m going to get all kinds of flak for that, I’m sure…)And so, I clicked.What I found confused and confounded me.

So Much Promise …

First, the good. This was obviously a well-structured blog. Fairly simple, just a few pages in organization, but with a laser sharp focus on its theme, B Blog was built around a sorely under-served subject, specific to attorneys. It promised a fascinating spin on its subject, and, heck, even I got excited for a minute.

… But So Little “There” There!

Then, I took a second look. There were errant HTML tags here and there, but that wasn’t the main problem. No, the real issue with B Blog: only two posts, each of them a month apart, and the last one over 2 weeks old.Immediately, I cringed for the B blogger. It’s a serious misstep, and it’s so easily avoided!

Why I Say “Ten Posts Minimum”

To each of my clients, the phrase “ten post minimum!” is probably eye-rollingly familiar. But that’s what I advocate for a pre-launch post count, and I say it for a very good reason.To illustrate, let’s take a closer look at B Blog, and what the casual reader’s experience with this blog probably is. Reader probably comes to the blog much as I did, through the very generous link provided by A Blog. But what the reader finds is confusing. Two posts, and while each of them are basically pretty good posts, they aren’t meaty enough to warrant a snap decision of “Brilliant! I’ll add it to my list of feeds!”That’s just one problem — capturing the highly elusive and much-competed-for attention of your TR (targeted readership) and visitors requires something much more than a couple of “OK” posts. Had B blogger made those two posts into flagship content of the highest order — offering, for instance, a 10-step “how-to” guide for lawyers in the subject of choice, or offering a new philosophy of said subject — the sparse content might be forgiven. Otherwise, it looks as if the blogger isn’t serious.Then there’s the matter of the timing of the posts. Two posts, a month apart, tells your readers that, whatever you are, you’re definitely not a regular blogger and they can’t expect any sort of commitment from you on this venture. And, they think, if you’re not willing to put the energy into it up front, why should they?Ten posts, in my experience, is a good safe number of posts to aim for with a new blog’s launch. It provides an average of two weeks’ worth of posts, and that’s enough for most readers to decide “Yep, worthwhile.”Because here’s what happens:You’ve done your homework, and you’ve laid a great foundation of ten really solid posts. You publicize your link via email to other bloggers, and in (relevant, substantive, non-self-aggrandizing) comments on other blogs. Your traffic starts to come in — slowly, to be sure, at first. The visitors start arriving. They read the top post, of course. But they like what they read. So they look around and see more content. Strong content, and enough of it to form a value judgment: Subscribe? Yes, definitely. This blogger is committed.You’ve provided your readers with a pleasurable experience, and given them what they’re hungry for. That provokes good will, which will often manifest itself in higher subscribe rates and return traffic.

Keeping It Going

Of course, you can’t put up the ten posts then forget your blog for a few months. You have to keep posting. So I also advocate holding five draft posts in the hopper at all times. The reasons are purely practical; you’re a lawyer, and there are going to be times when you simply cannot produce a post. You’re in trial. You come down with chickenpox (ahem). You’ve got a new client that needs some handholding. Whatever the reason, there will come a day when you can’t get new content up. For those days, have a selection of evergreen posts, not time-sensitive, that you can publish to keep the blog wheels rolling.Apart from crunch times, however, how often should you blog? Ideally, you want to blog often enough to keep your readers interested, and to show your commitment. The general wisdom of “post daily” is absolutely correct in this regard.A lot of lawyers blanch at that. But understand this: what we’re saying is “be prepared to publish a post a day.” That doesn’t have to mean “you must write every single day.” Thanks to the timestamp feature (and most blog platforms other than WordPress have some similar functionality), you can write a week’s worth of posts on Sunday and set them up to drip a day at a time. You don’t even have to be there to click “publish.”The ideal is to keep it going with a daily schedule for at least the first two months — more if you can stand it. Of course, that’s not always possible — or even necessary. Some niche blogs won’t require such devoted attention. But if your blawg is a primary marketing vehicle for your practice, then definitely aim for “ten post minimum” with a daily schedule to follow.

Note: This post was originally published at The Inspired Solo, and is reprinted here for your convenience.  It refers to a service and sidebar widget called BlogRush which I have elected not to install on Blawg In A Box, the better to gauge the results on TIS. To see the widget in action, visit TIS’s home page. 

It’s been 3 days since I implemented BlogRush in [the TIS] sidebar, and while some apparently aren’t pleased with the service’s performance on their blogs, I have to say I’m not one of those unhappy campers. I’ve noted a significant uptick in traffic of about 10% over the last three days, and the one major complaint I had about the widget - that the headlines were stale, and weren’t rotating quickly enough to generate interest - has been rectified by the company.

As this blogger points out, BlogRush is a traffic-generation tool - not a lead generating tool. What’s the difference? Traffic comes first. You convert traffic - readers, in other words - to leads by the strength of your content and the value you offer them once they get to your site. Tools like BlogRush help drive those folks to your website where you will (we hope) convert them to leads, and thence to clients. It’s a process - sometimes a long, arduous one - but it has to start with the traffic. And in a crowded blogosphere, you need any assistance you can get that will legitimately drive traffic to your site. If it’s traffic that will stick around a bit - in other words, if it’s traffic looking for what you have to offer - then you’re off to a good start. So, if you haven’t signed up yet, my advice is: sign up. Give it a try. Monitor the results on your own blog and see if works for you.

Read More…

Note: This post was originally published at The Inspired Solo; it’s reprinted here for your convenience. However, I have elected not to place BlogRush on this blog, in order to better gauge the results at TIS. You can see BlogRush’s widget in action at TIS, at least as of this posting (9/29/2007). 

You might note a new addition to the far right sidebar over there, with a heading of “From the Blogosphere.” That’s BlogRush’s sidebar widget in action, and the links will take you to other quality law blogs and specific posts on those blogs.

What makes that rather revolutionary might not be immediately apparent from the face of the tool. So, let me start from the beginning: John Reese, a fairly brilliant guy from many accounts, has been working at his Income.com site behind the scenes for quite some time on something he called “it” - raising all kinds of intrigue and piqued interest in the blogosphere. “It” was revealed this past week as BlogRush, a sidebar widget and referral-based program that allows your blog content to be syndicated across lots of related blogs, for vastly increased exposure to new readers. You put the widget in your sidebar, via a simple copy and paste of an even simpler six-line piece of code that’s provided to you free of charge (at least during the public beta, so if you’re interested, move fast). The more bloggers you refer to the BlogRush program, the greater the exposure you earn.

John has carved up his users into several distinct categories - one of which is “Law and Legal.” So, if you’re looking to drive more traffic to your site, get incoming links, improve your subscription rate, reach more potential clients?

1. Sign up for a free account at BlogRush.com.
2. Provide some basic info about your blog - name, URL, and URL of your feed, plus basic category.
3. Copy and paste the resulting code into your sidebar.
4. Refer others to BlogRush.

Couldn’t be simpler. You not only improve your own traffic, but you offer greater value to your readers by presenting them a rich and varied menu of related posts right there on your own blog. It sounds counterintuitive to many beginner bloggers who, when I coach them to link out, protest that they don’t want to “send the readers away!” As I point out to them, ‘If you love someone . . . ‘ - it’s true of all relationships, including yours with your blog’s readers!

Read more about the program in John’s own words here.

Note: This post was originally published on the Inspired Solo, and is reprinted here for your convenience.

I’m hesitant to write this post - not because I think it won’t be helpful, but because I have reason to think that this is too technical for about 40% of my readers who are, by and large, lawyers and not SEO consultants, designers, or coders. But in the end, I can’t pass this opportunity up.

See, what I’m trying to do with this blog is what I try to do with my clients and Inspired Consulting - it’s the same thing I aim for in my own law practice. I call it “The Inspiration Method.” The “method” (and that might be overkill) has to do with concepts like creating true value, connecting with the inspiration and creativity inside of you, eschewing “following the crowd” for “being a leader,” even bootstrapping your efforts wherever possible. So, when I see the same concepts echoed in other blogs that have nothing to do with law but everything to do with one of the key components of this approach - leveraging technology in inspired ways to create a marketing powerhouse - well, I get excited. Can’t be helped.

Tadeusz Szewcyk writes here for Google Blogoscoped about “10 Steps to Success on the ‘Net Without SEO.” What I think you need to understand before reading Tadeusz’s excellent post:

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