This is one of the most important revelations I’ve had since I started blogging and it applies to everything we do:

Quantity is NOT necessary!

Focusing on quantity is the reason that the Internet is littered with useless blogs and Web sites created by people desperate to make money online.

Having multiple blogs seems like a good idea when you first start blogging because a blog needs to give the audience what they want and ONLY what they want as much as possible.

It doesn’t work though because there are only so many hours in the day and each blog needs someone who is passionate about creating exceptional content and interacting with readers.

FOCUS ON ONE QUALITY BLOG!
Guest post on related high quality blogs.
Collaborate with social-media savvy bloggers.

In all things you do FOCUS on RELATED collaborations!

That reality leads to trying to find ways to automate content which dilutes quality and sends your blog or business toward failure. Many viable sites drift along because the person who built them can’t focus enough attention on them.

People THINK quantity is required because they believe
that is what it takes to rank in the search engines –
especially Google.

Fortunately that is NOT true because
QUALITY and RELEVANCY work even better!

I can prove this. Do a search for the phrase gift affiliate program and check the positions of posts on MurrayNewlands.com, GrowMap.com and ExecGiftsBlog.com or see the screen capture below:

Google Results for search Gift Affiliate Program Dec 15, 2011

Prior to doing this search I logged out of Google and I used Google Unpersonalized so the results should not be affected by personalization.

You can see from the screen capture above the positions of these
three posts that are today ALL on the first page at Google:

• Third: MurrayNewlands.com
• Fourth: GrowMap.com
• Tenth: ExecGiftsBlog.com

Note the dates of these three posts: Oct 23, Nov 1 and Nov 2, 2009 - over TWO YEARS ago. I have NOT done any link building to any of those posts and have rarely even shared or looked at them since 2009.

They immediately went to the first page and there they still rank.

Sometimes one of them will slip to the top of the second page and sometimes all three on the first page. This is in spite of there being several very strong affiliate marketing forums ranking, that being a very good phrase, and there being who knows how many hundreds of gift affiliate programs.

WHY ARE THEY ON PAGE ONE?
Simple. They are highly relevant quality content
related to that phrase and they link to each other.

Will my publishing this cause them to fall off page one? I don’t know, but we’ll find out, won’t we?

SEO MYTHS:

What does this tell you about commonly held myths about SEO such as:

• Reciprocal linking is ineffective – obviously not.
• Huge numbers of incoming links are necessary – doesn’t look like it to me.

That is NOT the only example of my using that strategy, but it is the only one I’m going to share. I invite you to try it for yourself or if you don’t have access to relevant blogs or blogging skills you can hire me to implement this strategy as part of blog outreach for your blog or small business.

Instead of focusing on more than one blog, massive link building, article marketing – and especially instead of using horrible automated linkbuilding tools that steal the time of others do this:

Focus on ONE high quality BLOG
Guest post on RELATED quality blogs
Collaborate with social-media savvy bloggers.

In all things you do FOCUS on RELATED collaborations!

If you don’t already have one blog consider NOT starting your own blog at all – at least for now. Almost every top blog has evolved into a group blog even if they aren’t “officially” a group blog because they publish many guest posts.

Whether you have a blog of your own or not, what we really need are collaborations of related blogs and group geo-targeted blogs because reaching a specific niche geo-targeted audience is the logical next step for bloggers AND businesses.

Every blog (or collaboration) should have both a niche
AND geographically specific content
AND a geo-targeted Twitter account

Think of the blogs you read most or sites from which you have bought products or services:

• Q: Do they have auto-generated content?
  • A: Of course not.
• Q: Do they spam other blogs? 
  • A: Certainly not!
• Q: Do you buy anything from blogs covered in AdSense ads with mediocre content?
  • A: No? Then why would anyone else?
    
• Q: Would you buy from a site that is spamming you with blog comments, spam email, or on any social network?
  • A: Not if you have good sense.
    

I assure anyone reading this that quality always trumps quantity and I hope by what I have shared here you now realize that huge quantities are NOT necessary.

I am NOT saying that link building is not important.
What I am saying is that links from a quality RELATED site
are more valuable than a zillion links from auto-generated junk.

Success will come from focusing all your efforts on reaching the audience most interested in what you have to offer. That is true on social media (and easily done on Twitter), in your blogs, through guest posting on related blogs, and in building collaborations.

RECOMMENDED READING: Hubspot has an excellent blog and offers exceptional advice on lead generation and management. Start with their post Content Quantity Diminishes Quality [Research] Here’s an exerpt:

The quality vs. quantity content debate isn’t an uncommon one in marketing, especially in the world of inbound marketing. High quality content is beneficial from a thought leadership and brand perception perspective, but marketers also struggle with the need to produce content regularly and frequently to compete for higher search engine rankings and fuel their inbound marketing strategies.

With recent developments in ranking algorithms such as Google Panda, however, quality has gained a competitive edge, as search engines are starting to value content high in quality and ding websites with low quality content.

That intelligence, coupled with the insights from the Presenter’s Paradox, make for a compelling case for quality over quantity in content creation, doesn’t it? The lesson is simple:

Don’t dilute your high-quality content
with mediocre or low-quality content.

Don’t take my word for it. Test it for yourself. Or hire me to show you by doing it for you. [NOTE: I only work with 2-3 total clients per month because I give them vastly more time than I charge them for and so I can mentor them in how to blog, do social media, grow their influence, etc. - so if you want my personal assistance contact me asap because once those spots are full I won't be able to accept more clients.]

Read quality blogs about SEO, especially Aaron Wall’s SEOBook. Start with this interview with Aaron and Andy Hagans on Link Building. Don’t miss probably the most important post I’ve seen on Google’s plans and my comments in that post.

Lastly, check out the brand new SEO Infographic below by SEO Book:

SEOBook Organic Link Infographic

The information in the above infographic combined with my posts detailing why Google IS Evil and How Google Limits Our Freedom of Choice By Discriminating Against Small Business clearly show that Google has declared war on small businesses.

As always, my readers are encouraged to comment and leave relevant links. Businesses and bloggers alike should take advantage of putting their best keywords in as anchor text in their comments. See the information about How to Use KeywordLuv for more details on how that works and how it benefits you.

CONTENT MARKETING EVENTS:

• Content Marketing World: The largest and leading content marketing event on the planet. The 2012 event takes place at the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus Ohio, September 4-6.

CONTENT MARKETING WEBINARS:

• Content Marketing Institute Monthly Content Marketing Webinars

CONTENT MARKETING BLOGS:

• Content Marketing Institute Content Marketing Blog
• See the Junta42 Top Content Marketing Blogs List for the best content marketing related blogs

College Students Discussing Censorship

Twitter IS definitely censoring tweets and hashtags. This post includes proof.

I’ve been warning my readers that we must not be complacent and make the assumption that platforms we use online are unbiased.

We must pay attention to what happens when we invest our time on sites that are not under our own control.

Those who realize there is a great movement sweeping the world already know this:

Regardless of how many tweets are sent for hashtags related to
Occuppy Wall Street NONE of those hashtags ever trend
on Twitter locally – or  nationally.
AND ESPECIALLY not in the CITY concerned!!!

But THAT is NOT ALL! >> Last week I noticed a new message on Twitter:

Your account may not be allowed to perform this action. Try logging out and in again.

Are You an Advice-Taker or Advice-Tester?

If you hate to read or have little time: Read just the text in red. It contains the most important points for every person.

If you are involved in small business, marketing or social media, also read all the gold text in gold boxes.

If you’re like me and you want to really understand what is going on, you will want to read through this three times:

1. Read just the red text.
2. Read just the gold text in gold boxes.
3. Read it all.

That is what you may see when your tweets are being censored: and here’s the proof:

When Twitter refused to accept that tweet, I removed the shortened link and did NOT get that message. So I did some further testing:

Testing With THAT Specific Shortened Link - Twitter refuses the Tweet

So I removed that link and sent EXACTLY the same tweet without the link and it went through:

Removed ONLY that shortened URL and as you can see the Tweet is live on Twitter

I even briefly got the message “Your Tweet to @SEOCopy has been sent” but it didn’t stay long enough to be screen captured.

Click This Image to READ: Twitter gives brands the ability to censor tweets!

WHY KNOWING WE ARE BEING CENSORING IS IMPORTANT:

I have been warning this day was coming for a very long time now. Few see how dangerous this is to our ability to make a living or even retain our freedom.

This is so important
I implore you not to leave this post
without understanding WHY.

When people have the illusion of freedom
and feel they have a voice
they are content to move ever closer
to the total loss of both.

The masses will tweet and feel they have a voice -
but if those tweets go nowhere -
they don’t!

They only have the ILLUSION they have a voice.

When important issues are being discussed online, people spend their most valuable assets: their time and money, working to spread the word.

When what we share is being actively censored -
and most will NEVER KNOW when that is happening -
our time and money are being stolen from us!

Every social network can easily censor what we say and do
and make that VERY DIFFICULT to detect by letting
YOU see what you shared but not showing it to anyone else!

You don’t have to believe me. You CAN find out for yourself. Simply ask your friends and followers to tell you if they saw something important that you shared with them.

WHICH SOCIAL NETWORKS CAN WE TRUST?

So it all comes down to which social networks CAN we trust? There is a simple way to tell. If the major media touts them and links to them they can’t be trusted. If they don’t, they might be trustworthy.

Particularly suspect are:

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. Google+
4. LinkedIn
5. MySpace
6. FriendFeed
7. StumbleUpon
8. Who else? Tell me in the comments and I’ll add them here.

What we really need is an independent social network.

They will have GREAT DIFFICULTY gaining enough users to be financially viable so we MUST all get behind any that surface. I know of one being developed which I will share as soon as they’re ready.

If YOU know of any let me know in the comments or by contacting me.

This goes deeper than Freedom of Speech.
Our Freedom of CHOICE is also at risk.

When you automatically use Google
we, the people, will ONLY see those Google chooses to grant visibility.

Small businesses become invisible to us and will eventually fail – taking away ever more choices until all that is left are Big Box stores – maybe even Big Box STORE – ONE company store because at that point they won’t need multiple brands.

That limits our choices in EVERY WAY
from where we shop to what products and services
we know exist to what information we can find -

And that information determines
WHAT WE BELIEVE IS TRUE.

Q: What do you do when one airline treats you horribly?

A: You switch airlines. Then when that one treats you horribly, you switch again. If the wealthy elite control each major airline they don’t care which one you use but you BELIEVE you have freedom to choose. DO YOU?

SUGGESTION: Switch to a regional airline.

Q: What do you do when your cell phone carrier does you wrong or is overcharging you?

A: You switch to another major cell phone carrier that is running a sale (oh – but you can only get that price if you accept a long term contract filled with tiny print you can’t understand. And when THEY do you wrong? You’re stuck with them for X amount of time until your contract runs out and then you can again jump out of one frying pan into another fire.

SUGGESTION: Switch to a smaller carrier. While they, too, are most likely RESELLING those same brands you are trying to escape, at least they MIGHT have customer service that MIGHT care about you. (Know of a small cell phone company you can recommend? Tell us in the comments – links to their Web site are OK.)

I included these two examples to open more eyes to the truth:

WE, the people, have never had many OBVIOUS real choices.
We have only been given the ILLUSION of choice!

We DO have CHOICES though
When we SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES

Our money recirculates in our communities
creating jobs and raising our standard of living.

By buying local WE can take control back.

Where you spend your money MATTERS.

Before the Internet, the wealthy few controlled everything we saw through their ownership of the major media, movie studios, newspapers, magazines.

Since the Internet, people like me and legions more can share what we’ve learned over a lifetime, and anyone can tune in and figure out what works for them.

The wealthy elite want their control back and they are doing everything they can to get it from imposing National ID systems to tracking devices to censorship.

WE are handing them that control
when we automatically believe that
ONLY what THEY HYPE is THE BEST

STOP giving them your time, money and attention.

CONNECT THE DOTS:

You MUST understand why all of this is important.

Your financial survival depends on it
So do your freedoms of choice, speech, travel, religious choice,
and even your freedom to not be imprisoned
even though you have done nothing wrong.

Think it can’t happen to YOU? You’re wrong! Our prisons are full of innocent people!

Most use Google so they only see what Google shows them.
How many businesses already don’t show up in search?
How much information is already difficult to find?

Will YOU notice when posts and stores disappear?

It is only a matter of time before search results are sanitized for our “protection”. [Read: cleared of people like me and any businesses that dared to compete with Google or their favored big brands.]

Google is already churning results. If you have access to any analytics, simply compare the keywords sending you traffic from Google prior to July 28, 2011 to the keywords sending you traffic since July 28, 2011.

Also compare your bounce rates before and after that date. Most will think “great, Google is still sending me traffic” and not realize that – just as they do with Distribution Fraud in AdWords – traffic that isn’t your target audience consumes resources and provides no benefits.

It HIDES the fact that even if your traffic stays the same you can no longer reach your target audience!

Churned results means you can NOT consistently get
targeted traffic from Google to your small business or blog.

The Google Panda updates that continue to be rolled out have already cost many businesses 1/3 to 1/2 of their traffic and incomes so far. As long as the customers they want to reach automatically use Google they’re toast. (Definition: “We’re toast” – slang expression meaning we’re getting burnt; we don’t have a chance.)

WHAT WE CAN DO:

1. Use alternative search engines. I will put together a group to research and publish our options.
2. Communicate DIRECTLY over the phone or through Skype or Instant Messenger (IM) chat. If you get a yellow triangle icon with an exclamation point (!) in it on Skype the other person DID NOT receive that message. Yahoo IM is more reliable and you can leave messages when someone is not online that they SHOULD receive later. DO NOT assume they received them though – see point 4 below.
3. Assume that ALL COMMUNICATIONS are being recorded including email, phone, and chat.
4. NEVER assume what you sent was seen or received UNTIL IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED. That goes double for email. See Closed Loop Communications for details.
5. Save URLs to sites you visit that are important to you somewhere they can not be changed without your knowledge. I use Tomboy Notes and there are multiple backups of everything on this blog, but even those COULD be hacked.
6. Seek out other bloggers like you and exchange direct contact information including phone numbers, email addresses, and social networks where they’re active.
7. Be part of the solution. If you do nothing you are part of the problem and pretending it doesn’t exist will not change what happens to you if we don’t PROTEST CORRUPTION!

If people are ever going to wake up, they must do it NOW!
Stop being naive and believing media spin.
Do not let only what they tell you be what you believe is true!

The best way to connect with other bloggers is to install either
the free CommentLuv plugin or CommentLuv Premium.

Search for blogs in your niche and physical location, and GO COMMENT IN THOSE BLOGS. Follow the CommentLuv links from blog to blog. (Right click and choose open in new tab to open those you want to go visit.)

Communities of bloggers can be the solution to
how we find each other and stay in touch.
We MUST seek out and create LOCAL BLOGGING COMMUNITIES.

It is CRITICAL that we find each other NOW
Because it will become harder to use Social Networks
and Search Engines to find each other later!

POTENTIAL BIG PROBLEM:
WordPress is controlled by Automattic and part of ‘The Borg’
(The Borg is how I refer to all things controlled by the Wealthy Elite)
What that means is they COULD censor our blogs
even if they are on our own domains!

If you know others locally, if Internet access if interrupted for any reason you know people you can connect with physically.  All it takes is one blogger willing to lead a collaboration of local bloggers to effect change in your community.

Through supporting local businesses you also position yourselves to earn an income to support your blogging efforts. I personally mentor bloggers and am seeking Bloggers willing to Lead Blog Collaborations.

Together we can ensure that our freedoms are not taken from us!

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE FEELING OVERWHELMED:

Many will read this post and be totally overwhelmed.

RESIST the compulsion to just leave.

For your sake and the sake of every person on the planet, do one thing for me:

Go back to the top of this post and just read the red text and nothing else. That will give you the main points everyone needs to get.

If you’re up to it or you have a business or are involved in marketing or social media: go back to the top again and read just the gold text in gold boxes. That will give you additional MUST KNOW information.

Be CREATIVE.
If a social network censors tweets or shares
worded a particular way or that include a
specific URL, change the wording or the URL.

If you have questions, don’t be afraid. Just comment here – or if you don’t want to comment publicly, contact me.

How CommentLuv supports small business & attracts customers

Q: What does CommentLuv have to do with YOUR prosperity or the prosperity of your business and community?

I’m glad you asked.

A: We can use CommentLuv to create economic recovery and improve our standard of living.

HOW? (I can hear non-believers asking).

EASY! Once you understand what I’m about to share with you.

Money we spend with online and local small businesses is immediately recirculated in the economy – unlike money we spend with big brands and big box stores that benefits the wealthy and does NOT recirculate.

According to a study commissioned by Local First:

$73 of every $100 dollars we spend in locally
owned businesses STAYS in our communities!

Only $43 of every $100 dollars spent in
non-locally owned businesses STAYS.

That extra $30 means more local sales tax revenues and more jobs and higher pay and benefits for people in your community. Small businesses also pay more in property taxes that support schools and fire departments.

Imagine how much more than $30 that would be if your local small businesses start sourcing more of what they sell locally.  Most currently buy from major suppliers and NOT from other local businesses – but they COULD and they WILL if you encourage and support them!

This infographic image makes that easier to see: Use THIS LINK to see the infographic full size.

Economic Impact of Buying Local and Supporting Small Business

Now you know why supporting small businesses leads to economic recovery.

Q: What do small businesses need to thrive?

A: The same things our blogs and Web sites and online businesses need to grow:

• Visibility
• Traffic
• Community support

What does CommentLuv provide?

• Visibility
• Traffic
• Communities that support each other

CommentLuv can be the tool that
generates economic recovery faster

IF – and ONLY IF – we bloggers choose to be business friendly.

Small Business owners may not have the time to comment themselves because they’re busy running their companies and struggling to survive in this economic downturn.

They may not have the money to hire in-house employees to comment for them or buy advertising the way the Big Brands do. They may have to outsource or hire home workers – OFTEN BLOGGERS – to assist them in raising their visibility.

Businesses need to be sure their comments are NEVER SPAM. Have whoever will be doing the commenting read Vernessa’s excellent post on Virtual Assistant Comment Spam for tips on what NOT to do and my tips for leaving comments that don’t get deleted.

If we object to businesses commenting in our blogs
and call them spammers
how will they learn from us what we now know?

Where will they get the visibility and traffic they need to create more jobs and pump much needed money into our local communities?

A: They probably won’t. Google is taking away their search traffic and plays games with the cost of their ads – especially during their peak sales periods.

There IS NO OTHER SOURCE of traffic that
converts like organic or paid search.
NONE.

I know because I’ve tested. Local Search Listings can generate traffic that can add up to big traffic, but that takes more time and you need hundreds or thousands of sites to generate 75% of the traffic you get from Google. (See this Local Search Case Study for details.)

Blogging generates traffic but it won’t convert like search. That means you need a lot MORE traffic and for that you need Collaborations of Bloggers familiar with Blog Outreach.

WHAT BLOGGERS CAN DO:

1. Seriously think about being dofollow. If you use CommentLuv you can set the CommentLuv link to dofollow. If you use KeywordLuv or the Keywords function of CommentLuv Premium you can set the keywords in the name field to dofollow. This blog has both fields set to dofollow. If you only want to set one to dofollow the keywords are more important (unless the blogger is using keywords as the title of their posts). While being dofollow does attract link builders who may be spammers, being nofollow does NOT eliminate spam. We fegularly collaborate with and promote only bloggers who choose to be dofollow AND use CommentLuv.
2. Rethink your position on allowing businesses to comment in your blog.
3. Support your local businesses.
4. Create collaborations of local bloggers. Check out what Rohan @365thingstododc is doing with Washington D.C. Influencers
5. Understand Why Your Geographic Location IS a Niche and add a geographic component to your blog that will Position Your Blog Where the Money Is.
6. Use and promote the use of CommentLuv and understand How CommentLuv Grows Businesses and Blogs
7. Consider upgrading from the free version of CommentLuv to CommentLuv Premium to grow your reach faster and support small businesses even more. I have rounded up almost thirty CommentLuv Premium Reviews.

The prelaunch of CommentLuv Premium
ended at NOON EST Thursday Oct 6, 2011.

Until it becomes available again
you can use the free version of CommentLuv,
free trackback blocker and the
GrowMap anti-spambot plugin.

We don’t know what the new price or pricing structure will be.

If you want to be notified when you can again buy CommentLuv Premium or get more information you can click the banner below:

WHY BUY LOCAL?

• Plain Talk: When you buy local, you create local jobs “…if every American spent just $64 more each year than he or she normally spends, and purchases goods made in the U.S., it would create 200,000 more jobs.”
• Pioneer Valley roundup of Local Economic Studies
• PSFK: Infographic: Why Buy Local & Ten Reasons to Shop Local First
• StayLocal.org Local Business Impact Report on Independent Merchants and the New Orleans Economy (September, 2009) Participating businesses report total sales per square foot of $587 per retail square foot. Therefore, 179,000 square feet would generate an estimated $105 Million in annual  sales revenue across as many as 100 individual stores versus only $50 Million generated by the average Target store with the same square footage.

BLOGGING COLLABORATIONS:

For years now I have been encouraging businesses and bloggers to stop competing and start collaborating. I even announced that Collaborating is THE Word for 2011 and I still believe that.

Every blogger will benefit from adding a geographic component to their existing blog as I explain in Why Your Geographic Location IS a Niche and in Bloggers: Position Yourself Where the Money Is.

Use these tips from professional copywriter Donna Anderson (@SheWritesALot) on writing compelling local content.

BLOGGING COLLABORATIONS BEST PRACTICES:

I am personally mentoring groups of bloggers to develop best practices. These are posts that include information about what we’ve been working on. As we have more data I will put together more formal how-to methods and case studies.

• Bloggers Wanted to Lead Blog Collaborations

• Blogging Collaborations Process: Blog Directories
• Blogging Collaborations Process: Benchmarking
• Blogging Priorities: Deciding What to Do Next
• Couponing Bloggers Best Practices and Case Study
• Guest Blogging Five Blog Schedule (For five bloggers to become regular contributors on each other’s blogs and publish the same day of each month for consistency and feature five other bloggers on months that have five weeks in them.)
• Why We Need Group Geo-Targeted Niche Blogs

BLOGGING COLLABORATORS:

Click Image for the Most Advanced Example of Influential Bloggers Offering Advertising and Blog Outreach to Business

WASHINGTON D.C. INFLUENCERS:

• Rohan @365thingstododc wrote about my small business advice offerings and ran with my blogger collaboration ideas. He founded the most successful blog collaboration I’ve ever seen: 44+ now 62+ and still growing Washington D.C. Food Bloggers which has grown into this formal Washington D.C. Influencers service.

COUPONING BLOGGERS:

• Homeschooling Deals blogger Kelli @momof3boys3702 is leading a formal blog mentoring collaboration and wrote YES! Collaborating with other bloggers works!

If you have a blog collaboration and would like to have it listed on this page – whether I mentor you or not – please contact me via Skype to GrowMap or via a regular tweet on Twitter to @GrowMap or by leaving your information including any number of relevant links on what you are doing in the comments of this post.

If you are interested in leading or joining a collaboration, leave a comment that includes:

1. Where you are located (city or closest geo-metro, state, country)
2. URLs to any blogs you are active on including a link to your about page. (If it is not your personal blog, include a link to your author page or at least the username your posts are published under.
3. Primary topics you write about.
4. Your Twitter username if you have one (if you put it in the Twitter field that is fine).
5. Your Facebook page, if any
6. Best ways to contact you (Twitter, Skype, Facebook, Google+, etc.)
7. When you are most likely to be online on any of those (range of times including time zone). [Example: 12-4 p.m. CST or afternoons MST or mornings EST]

If any of the above is confusing just leave that part out and include what you can in a comment below.

Whether you are currently interested in a blog collaboration or not, Bloggers: Promote Your Blog Here (and as soon as I find the links or they volunteer them I’ll add more places you can do that).

Until now, many bloggers have focused on expanding their skills at blogging and using Social Media. What we need to do now is to put together collaborations of bloggers by niche and location.

More reach = more income and
more influence to build a better world.

Perhaps you don’t think of yourself as a leader or even an early adopter – but many reading this are. Maybe you believe there are others with more experience or talent. I have found that the brightest are often the most modest and under-appreciate their own abilities.

Image Credit InfoProDoJo ~ Click image for What Makes a Great Blog Leader?

They also may not realize how quickly skills grow through working together. If you are willing to consider leading a blog collaboration for your niche or geographic area please contact me. Leaders will communicate with the bloggers in their group and work directly with me.

If you have an existing collaboration you may call on me for ideas or strategies and so that I may promote your efforts. Whether you just want some links and recognition and to continue to do your own thing or you would like to bounce some ideas around be assured that I don’t want to change or control you or your group.

Each group will decide what works best for them
and benefit from what other groups know and do.

Please add your blog(s) to the database of bloggers by niche and location. If you have an existing group – no matter how informal – mention that in your listing there and also leave a comment in this post. If you have a site, post or page about what you’re doing please include links.

Examples of blogging collaborations:

• Kelli @3boysandadog Couponing Bloggers – What Kelli has to say about the couponing bloggers collaboration
• Rohan @365thingstododc Washington D.C. Foodies – 44 food blogs participating and a Food Blogger Survey

If you don’t know me and don’t understand why I give away so much of my time working to bring bloggers together and supporting small business a just-published interview done by Pace Lattin and published on Technorati could give you some insights:

• Gail Gardner and Her Map to Small Business Growth Interview Part 1
• Gail Gardner and Her Map to Small Business Growth Interview Part 2

What works for large businesses is usually totally wrong for small ones. Bloggers and Small Business working together can improve our economy and standard of living for all. Contact me to find out how.

A database of blogs by niche and location would be beneficial to bloggers and small businesses. Until we start collecting data we won’t know exactly what data we want to program into the database, so I am asking bloggers to volunteer their information and suggestions on what additional information we should collect.

Every blogger who enters data below
will have their blog linked from the new
Blogs by Niche and Blogs by Location pages.

We had started collecting data in the SBC forum. That data was lost after the server was hacked so we’re starting over; however, I did have a copy of the details we were keeping. Here is an example already filled in so bloggers will understand:

Blog name: GrowMap
Blog URL: http://GrowMap.com
Major keywords: Internet Marketing, Local Search, Social Media Marketing, Blog Outreach,
Locations: Dallas Metro
[Even if you don't currently blog about a specific location what locations could you blog about? Reasons all bloggers should have a geographic niche here.]

Preferred email address for contact: (use that email address when commenting so you don’t have to post it publicly for spammers to harvest)

Twitter Username: @GrowMap

Please answer these questions: INSTRUCTIONS: Type Yes or No after the sentence or add the requested information.

Do you accept guest posts (Y/N): YES
If you have guest posting guidelines please provide the link to them here:  http://www.growmap.com/about/

Do you currently sell advertising (Y/N) (i.e., you have a method in place they must use): YES, can use – will consider others

Are you willing to consider accepting advertising (Y/N): YES

Are you interested in paid post opportunities (Y/N): YES

Do you want to be considered for a blogging collaboration of five blogs in your niche (Y/N): YES

Are your blog comments Dofollow? (Y/N) YES
If yes, are they immediately dofollow or only dofollow after X comments? Immediately DoFollow
Is the CommentLuv plugin installed? (Y/N) YES
Is the KeywordLuv plugin installed? (Y/N) YES

PageRank of your blog: Bounces between PR4 and PR3 (Should be PR5 – lower due to allowing too many dofollow comments and/or for being pro-alternatives.)
SEOMoz PageRank 5.02 DomainRank 5.1 Page Authority 62 Domain Authority 55
(If you don’t know SEO stats leave blank and we’ll get it for you.)

The example above is so you will know how to fill out the form below. Until we locate someone who knows how to create a form in WordPress that populates a database, we can use the comments here.

NO ADULT or gambling related including poker & bingo.
No sites promoting illegal activities.
Non-adult sites with suggestive images or
promoting vices may not be accepted.
No pharmacy sites.

Copy the empty form below, paste it into a
comment in this post and then fill it in.

Blog name:
Blog URL:
Major keywords:
Locations:

Preferred email address for contact: (use that when commenting so you don’t have to post it publicly for spammers to harvest)

Twitter Username:

Please answer these questions: INSTRUCTIONS: Type Yes or No after the sentence or add the requested information.

Do you accept guest posts (Y/N):
If you have guest posting guidelines please provide the link to them here:

Do you currently sell advertising (Y/N) (i.e., you have a method in place they must use):

Are you willing to consider accepting advertising (Y/N):

Are you interested in paid post opportunities (Y/N):

Do you want to be considered for a blogging collaboration of five blogs in your niche (Y/N):

Are your blog comments Dofollow? (Y/N)
If yes, are they immediately dofollow or only dofollow after X comments?
Is the CommentLuv plugin installed? (Y/N)
Is the KeywordLuv plugin installed? (Y/N)

PageRank of your blog:
SEOMoz PageRank     DomainRank    Page Authority    Domain Authority
(If you don’t know SEO stats leave blank and we’ll get it for you.)

Image Credit Blogging Setup ~ Click Image for List of 20 Essential Blog Directories

My regular readers know that I am currently mentoring a group of five couponing bloggers to document what we do as blogging case studies and create a blogging collaborations process.

Before we discuss the benefits of Blog Directories and why listing in them can increase the traffic to your blog, let’s review what we’ve done so far: 

1. Selected five related blogs.
2. Chosen a way to collaborate.  (They’re using Skype and created a Yahoo! Group.)
3. Learned about keyword research and using anchor text.
4. Chosen three keyword phrases to focus on first.
5. Developed three landing pages for those three keyword phrases.
6. Benchmarked current blog and social media stats.

Details on each of those six steps are available in the links at the top of the page.

Additional benefits became apparent early in the process. As Kelli wrote in her recent blog post Does Collaborating Work:

The frugal blogger deal collaboration that I won from Gail at GrowMap as far exceeded my expectations!  In addition to the regular tasks she gives us to improve our blog, SEO, page rankings, we have really formed a bond.  The five of us go to each other with any questions!

I have learned more from these girls in less
than a month than I have in years of blogging.

We are really taking off and have even started kicking around the idea of publishing books!

The next step is to make sure each of their blogs are listed in the major blog directories and the profiles for each one are complete. Just as having your site listed in search directories, blog directories can be a source of additional traffic and provide additional incoming links. They are also a good way to find other bloggers in your niche to collaborate with or read.

BLOG DIRECTORIES:

Some of the sites below will not have smaller blogs listed. Add yourself if you can and complete any information that is missing. Some blogs will not qualify to be listed on all of these so just do the ones you can. Some directories require reciprocal links.

• Alexa
  • Create an account.
  • Scroll down and click Edit Your Listing.
• Compete
  • Add keywords relevant to your blog.
  • To add a site description to Compete you have to create an account at ZoomInfo and let them pull the information from there.
• Technorati
  • Create an account.
  • See How to Add Your Blog to Technorati.
• Blog Engage
  • Create an account.
  • List your blog.
  • Look through the Blog Engage Top Users and connect with any you know – or want to meet.
  • Consider using the BlogEngage RSS feed service if you can afford $1.99-$9.99 / mo.
  • Ileane has some older videos about Blog Engage and the Blog Engage Community.
• Blog Catalog
  • Create an account.
  • Submit your blog.
• Blogged
  • Create an account.
  • Submit your blog.
• Bloggapedia
  • Register
  • Submit blog
• Networked Blogs
  • Networked Blogs on Facebook
  • NOTE: You have to get 20 followers before your blog will show up in the primary search. Click the button to find blogs with less than 20 followers.
• AllTop
  • Create an account.
  • Log in to submit a site.
  • Not all blogs will qualify to be listed on AllTop as they are quite selective.

PAID BLOG DIRECTORIES:

• Blogarama – unclear whether they are charging fees for listings or not. TopRank has them listed as a fee directory.
• Bloggeries

There are literally hundreds of blog directories, some free and some paid, some with significant traffic and others almost unknown.

Each collaboration should review some of the blog directory lists and pick out any that they feel will benefit their group. There may be a blog directory specifically for your niche that would be worth using even if it has a lower PageRank and traffic because the visitors it sends would be more targeted.

BLOG DIRECTORY LISTS:

Since I last researched this subject, one of the largest and most important blog directories have gone away. Ignore listings for MyBlogLog (killed by Yahoo!).

• Top Rank Blog Directories List – when you feel ambitious you might do all of these or at least all those that don’t charge fees.
• Fresh eVenture: Keller Hawthorne’s review of the Most Important Blog Directories (includes some that are charge listing fees.)
• Mavis Nong of Attraction Marketing singled out two I haven’t used: thatMLMbeat and BlogTopList in her post 10 Ways to Promote Your Blog.
  
• Traffic Nymphmaniac: Top Blog Directories
• World Click: Top Blog Directories
• Info VileSilencer: Blog Directory List
• Veteran Blogger: Top Blog Directory Lists

NEXT: Once you ensure your blog is listed, connect with each other on those directories and write reviews of each others’ blogs.

BONUS: Search for, follow or friend, and review other blogs you admire. If they are sharp and frequent that site or get notified they are likely to reciprocate. Any blog you like enough to review may be one you want to add to your Twitterfeed and connect with on Twitter and elsewhere.

If you have questions about any of the above ask in the comments or send me a tweet to @GrowMap. If you have a group of five bloggers interested in free mentoring contact me using the information on the contact tab at the top of this blog.

I encourage other bloggers to share their recommendations for additional blog directories to be added to this post. If you have a video, how-to post, or a review please do leave links in the comments. I frequently move them up into the body of the posts here.

In a hurry to promote your blog? You may want to read my review of Kristi Hine’s (@Kikolani) Blog Promotion Guide.

Click the image to get Kristi's ebook

I have been recommending collaborations of bloggers for several years now and many bloggers are working together informally. Now would be a great time to get serious about putting together niche blogging collaborations.

I am developing a blogging collaboration process
because not all bloggers know how they can benefit each other.

Five couponing bloggers have volunteered to be the test collaborators and have their benchmark data and results published here at GrowMap and probably elsewhere. Here is what they have been doing so far:

BLOGGING COLLABORATIONS PROCESS:

1. Kelli of 3boysandadog is Team Leader and selected the other four bloggers in her niche.
2. Each blogger benchmarked their current stats (more details on that below in the benchmarking section).
3. Explained what anchor text and keyword phrases are so that each blogger could choose the first three phrases they want to work on.
4. Use the tips in this post on how to use keywords in blog posts to develop a landing page for each of the keyword phrases selected.

BLOGGING BENCHMARKS:

Benchmarking is simply the process of recording where you are now so you can determine where you are making progress. Here are the metrics we chose to measure:

1. Unique Visitors
2. Page Views
3. Traffic Sources: Referral (other sites referring visitors)
4. Traffic Sources: Direct
5. Traffic Sources: Search (search engines)
6. Alexa Rank
7. Compete Traffic
8. AdSense Income
9. Inbound Links
10. RSS Subscribers

SOCIAL MEDIA BENCHMARKS:

1. Google Friend Connect (Quantity of friends / 3 of 5 use Google Connect – 2 do not)
2. Twitter Followers
3. Facebook Friends
4. StumbleUpon Friends
5. PeerIndex Rank
6. Klout Score

It is so disappointing that we can not get PostRank Analytics numbers as they would be some of the most revealing. Unfortunately, Google bought PostRank and that data which was public is now gone and only a blogger who has an existing login can see their PostRank analytics data now.

Kelli set up a Yahoo! Group with databases in it to collect these numbers for the bloggers in the collaboration.  I will discuss with them what data they are willing to share and publish at least the increases between now and result checkpoints. If they don’t mind I may share raw data as well but I will give them the choice to share or not share what is not publicly available information.

BLOGGING COLLABORATION BENEFITS:

• One-on-one assistance to understand proper use of anchor text.
• Six minds to research and select the best keyword phrases.
• Having the other bloggers offer feedback to improve key landing pages.

Each of the bloggers has already increased the number of incoming links they have from my linking to them using their best new keyword phrases and Rene at Budget Saving Mom announcing her involvement in the Couponers Case Study.

Is the effort worth it? Here’s what Renee wrote about our collaboration so far (and we’re just getting started):

I have tried to learn more about blogging and technical computer stuff over the past several years that I have been blogging, but honestly with organic gardening, homeschooling, and a family there has not been a lot of time.  I have learned a few things, but not nearly as much I would love to know.

Enter this group. I can not believe how much I have learned just in the past couple of weeks. Gail has been wonderful teaching us about how to grow our sites.

However, on top of that, I have had four other frugal bloggers that I have been able to talk to each day. We have all been able to help each other learn so much. It has turned into a wonderful support group that we can bounce ideas off of as well as learn from. We have talked every day (multiple times), and I have loved it!!

I absolutely love blogging, and my biggest frustration in the past has been lack of knowledge and technical know how, so it is wonderful to have this resource, and I am sure that my blog will benefit from it over time.

There have already been some unexpected benefits from the collaboration. Any time five people with similar interests start interacting regularly that is bound to happen.

Among the good ‘unintended consequences’ are:

• Brainstorming keyword phrase ideas.
• Helping each other install coupon databases.
• Discussing plugins resulting in installing CommentLuv in at least one of the blogs that did not already have it.

There will be many more posts detailing what we are working on and documenting the results. I encourage other bloggers to apply whatever they can and ask questions as they come up.

Any blogger willing to put together a five blog group for their own niche (topic or geographic location) is invited to contact me about free mentoring. I can even assist you to find bloggers in your niche.

If you need one-on-one assistance Skype is the best way to reach me. (I’m the only GrowMap there.) Leaving a comment here is the second best way and sending a Tweet to @GrowMap works well. (I don’t stay on top of DMs in a timely manner because there are so many auto-DMs.) You can also use the information on the contact tab but do let me know if you send an email so I make sure to look for it.

Image Credit Jason Graphix

Two weeks ago I offered a Small Business giveaway to develop processes and best practices for promoting small businesses.

Not surprisingly, some of the bloggers who regularly read GrowMap were far more excited about the opportunity to work with me – especially Kelli from 3BoysandaDog – who you may know from her exceptional series of guest posts on How to Score a Mommy Blogger.

I made a command decision to have TWO giveaways so I can document the processes involved in promoting a small business and growing blogs.

Although there is some overlap in strategies, the priorities and processes are different and the case studies and results will be of interest to two different audiences.

Kelli being the generous person she is agreed to identify and collaborate with four other bloggers in the same niche as her new giveaway and deals blog so that we can implement my new five blog collaboration plan.

I’ll be writing about what we’re doing and putting together other five blog groups so you may want to tune in. Even if you don’t want to be in a group you can use what I share to grow your own blog traffic and visibility.

Kelli’s new blog is all about how to save money and especially homemaking deals and homeschooling deals so the blogs she chose to collaborate with are heavily into:

How to use coupons, frugal living and eating well on a budget.
They call themselves Savvy Frugal Bloggers.

Here are the five blogs I am mentoring who have all agreed to work on this awesome Case Study and Best Practices process:

1. Kelli (@momof3boys3702) New blog for saving money covering
   couponing lingo, printable coupons, and kid friendly recipes
2. Rene (@BudgetSavingMom) ~ Budget Saving Mom writing about
   couponing for beginners, budget recipes, and organic gardening tips
3. Sherri (@luvbargains) ~ Luv a Bargain sharing
   how to start using coupons, printable coupons, and simple recipes
4. Renae (@Renae_Chiovaro) ~ How to Have it All on
   how to coupon, Kroger deals, and easy recipes
5. Melissa (@Thesassysaver) ~ The Sassy Saver blogging about
   how to coupon, links to print coupons, and frugal recipes

Interested in how to use coupons
and eating well on a budget?
Subscribe to their blogs and follow them on Twitter

I’m publishing a post tomorrow that lays out what actions we’ve done as a group so far and will publish detailed how-to posts so any bloggers who are interested can benefit from what I’m sharing with them.

I shared this post from @AskKim on Where To Start When There Are So Many Things to Learn, Do, Apply and Study with the group to keep them from feeling overwhelmed. It contains important tips for every blogger or business owner. I recommend saving it and referring to it whenever the stress of knowing there is too much to do hits.

Click Image to Learn about the Benefits of Collaborative Consumption

Thank you, Danny Iny (@DannyIny on Twitter), for linking to my blog so I would see your guest post on Danny Brown’s excellent Social Marketing blog about Commenting Communities. (Follow @DannyBrown on Twitter.) Danny Iny offers a Marketing Training program on his Firepole Marketing Blog.

I look at every incoming link and when they are of high quality – and especially when they are on a blog I read regularly – I will usually want to contribute to the discussion and share that post across social networks.

What those of us who love CommentLuv and regularly comment on each others’ blogs (at least when we can make the time) do and what this post suggests are vastly different. We do not “require” anyone to comment anywhere. We simply have blogs we regularly read and share and when we have something to contribute we comment.

What we have are informal COLLABORATING communities.

When I talk of collaborating what I mean is that bloggers should be aware of other quality bloggers in their own niche, join in discussions that are pertinent to their experience, and then share those posts and discussions with those they interact with on social media.

I do NOT recommend any contrived systems
that mandate who has to comment where and how often.

When we comment or link it should be because
we have something relevant to contribute.

I do not believe we need to create fire-walled communities. I DO believe niche blogging communities are growing in importance. I encourage bloggers to read what people such as Heather Stephens (@StephensHeather on Twitter) who has extensive experience to share regarding commenting tribes.

The primary difference between what we do and what most tribes and groups require is the REQUIRING part. We do what we can do as much as we can when we can and we don’t worry about whether others are or are not “doing their fair share”. I understand the desire to make sure others are contributing; I just do not feel a need to control what others are doing.

Do you REALLY want to kick out your best collaborators because they are too busy to ALWAYS do x, y or z but when the are more available they are wonderful? Life gets in the way. Many are dealing with health issues and emergencies – their own and others – and the frequency of those is going to continue to escalate.

All we need is for bloggers to do is this:

Identify the blogs that are most related to your own
Focus most of your time reading, commenting
and sharing those specific blogs.

Up until now, most bloggers’ audiences have been other bloggers and they have written about how to blog, how to use social media, how to monetize your blog, affiliate marketing strategies and so on.

Now what bloggers need to do is take the skills they have collectively learned and apply those to creating a better world. IMHO, the best way to do that is to create a group blog for a specific geographic area that targets a specific very large niche but does not exclude other topics.

I particularly like the home improvement or home and garden niche
because it is so large, is a regular part of most people’s lives
and encompasses so many small businesses.

For example:

• Dallas Fort Worth Home Improvement (one I am creating here on GrowMap – and if anyone else is doing the same please connect with me)
• Los Angeles Home and Garden
• Chicago Home Improvement – a Chicago paper had a great blog on this but today even after multiple searches I can not find it. I’ll add it when I do.
• Florida

Note that bloggers can select the geographic area that best fits their local area. Texas is a good example, because we have different areas based on how far it is to a major city:

• Austin, Texas Metro
• Waco / Temple / Killeen (and surrounding rural areas)
• DFW (Dallas Fort Worth and surrounding counties)
• Florida – you pick the area that fits
• New York State or New York City or New York Metro – only someone in New York will know what you call the greater New York area

Bloggers need to be aware of how people find what they need to buy.

Those who live in small towns buy some things local and generally travel to the closest large city to buy other things. The target audience of small businesses around you is NOT just the people in that large city – it is all the people for whom that is the closest place to physically shop.

I am also encouraging bloggers to create blogs for their communities
such as this one I am starting for Kaufman, Texas.

I chose that specific city because they are one of the few
still thriving small towns.

We need to find and promote the survival of small communities
and create new ones wherever we are.

They will be key to improving the quality of life and ensuring adequate healthy food is available for those who live in each area. I want to leave you with this infographic that clearly illustrates a point I’ve been trying to get across to everyone I interact with: When you buy local you keep money and prosperity circulating for everyone versus having that money hoarded by the few offshore.

Why Buy Local? To Keep Your Local Economy Circulating and Increase Economic Stability Where You Live - Click the Image to go to the Original Post and See Full Size Image

As you can see from the infographic:

Buying locally keeps $73 of every $100 in circulation
versus only $43 of dollars spent in non-locally owned stores
which includes corporate big box stores.

As we strengthen our local communities and encourage small businesses to source more of what they sell closer to home even more prosperity will stay and support local giving and public services – making your city and county one of the few not having a fiscal meltdown.

Bloggers are called to make a difference by taking their knowledge, internalizing it as wisdom, and then facilitating the spread of what needs to be done across large areas. I am here to assist any blogger, business, organization or community who asks regardless of ability to pay. (In other words, do not allow not having money to spend or a current budget to keep you from contacting me.)

Read more about how creating Group Geo-Targeted Niche Blogs positions your blog where the money is so that by supporting your local businesses and communities you can also make an income you can live on.

Are you a local business? Find out how GrowMap can assist you.