Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Medical Monday: Looking to Reach Women about Healthcare? Don’t underestimate the Power of Blogs

Women and Healthcare Blogging

Women remain (arguably) our most influential consumers - especially in the healthcare space. Not only do women make up a significant portion of consumers overall, they are also a driving force and key influencer behind many of the purchases men make. When it comes to healthcare, this is no exception (and if the men are anything like me it may even be more of the rule). As a result, marketers spend a lot of time studying how women make these buying decisions, and social media channels are providing an avenue women actively use to make these decisions.

I wrote a few weeks ago about the importance of choosing the right social media platforms when marketing healthcare solutions online, and decided to take a deeper dive to into the role blogs play for women looking to make healthcare decisions or learn about diseases.

Given that I’m a guy, I couldn’t presume I knew anything about women[i] so I turned to a recent study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners examining women’s media habits. What I found is that in the healthcare arena, blogs are an avenue that should not be ignored. They are an influential source to women, crucial to observe for feedback and provide an understanding about products/therapeutic areas, even if they are not appropriate avenues to use to actively engage women.

According to BlogHer, the number of women who regularly read or write blogs is staggering. Of all women surveyed, 22.7 million (55%) said they read them, with 12 million (29%) engaging on them (posting/commenting), and 8 Million (19%) creating content by publishing their own blogs. And health/wellness places within their top five interests.

According to the study, 49% of women who read blogs - approximately 11 million women - are interested in health information. In fact, it ranked higher than some surprising topics (to me), including fashion/beauty/shopping (42%), sex/relationships/dating (31%), and parenting (27%). This makes it a great place to provide content about health and see what women are saying.

Women in the survey noted they aren’t just reading passively - they are turning to blogs over social networks (such as Facebook and MySpace) to actively digest. Of women who read and/or post to blogs, 64% do it to “get information”, compared to just 32% of those who participate in social networks. When you factor in that 43% of women read blogs to “seek advice and recommendations” it becomes clear that they aren’t seeking that information as impartial news sources — they want information with a point of view. This means that if women are on a blog for information about a product or condition - or your product/condition area - they don’t want a balanced account - they want to know about an experience with the product to help them develop their own point of view. This means making sure that influential bloggers not only know about your product (or campaign) but that they receive your point of view and have a positive experience along the way.

Lastly, what I found interesting was that women of all ages, across generations, are participating on blogs. While Millenials (age 18-26) have the highest percentage of their generation participating (73% - 9.7 million women) Generation X (age 27-43) and the Boomers (age 44-62) combined form the greatest number of women participating in social media - approximately 28.7 million women. Meaning blogs remain an importance influence for women of all ages. It isn’t just for the younger audiences.

So, if you want to know more about what influences women to make a particular healthcare decision, turn to the blogosphere - the answers may be clear on blogs.

[i] This statement has been fact checked and validated my mother and my girlfriend

Does Your Business Card Leave a Lasting Impression?

What makes a good business card stand out from the crowd? Last week I wrote an article on my blog over about “How to Create a Memorable Business Card“. The point of the article was the let your mind get creative and to come up with a really unique idea for your next business card. After all, once you leave from a conference or networking session and have a bunch of business cards in your pocket from everyone you met, most of the time these are just thrown into a box and never looked at again. Should someone look through their business cards one more time before never seeing them again, wouldn’t you like them to stop on your card and say “wow, that’s really cool. I would like to know more about this person.“. It may not happen all the time, but having a lasting impression is priceless.

Today I went to get a car wash, and when I went inside to pay, I saw they had a huge board for local businesses and people to post their business cards. I looked over the board and most of the cards were very generic and nothing really stood out when look at the board as a whole. Most cards were white, a few had logos and even less had an actual picture of the person it was for.

Having a business card that really stands out and grabs attention would be a perfect example here. I’m sure 50 to 100 people pass this board every day and maybe glance at it for a second, and the chance of having one of these cards stand out from the crowd is slim to none.

What are some ideas you have, or might have seen for making a business card stand out from the crowd?

PrintRunner Business Card Winners Announced

Last month we held a contest for BloggingTips.com readers to win a free set of business cards from PrintRunner.com. The winners have been selected and posted below.

SELECTED WINNERS
———————————–
Mark – theappgeek.com
Kevin – myeatclub.com
Jacque – stanwoodplayschool.com
Benjamin – epiclaunch.com
Kevin – financiallypoor.com

If you were one of the lucky winners, please reply (using the email you entered/left a comment with) with your full contact information and using the contact form on this site. Thanks for entering!

Monday, October 25, 2010

How to Beat “Invisible Content Syndrome”

image of ghostly figure

If you had known how hard it would be when you first started your blog, would you have done it at all?

You had a topic you cared about. You thought you had something to say. And you had $10 to register a domain name.

But you’ve been writing (and writing and writing) and it’s all just words into the void.

No readers. No tweets. No stumbles. No comments.

Just … silence.

I hate to break this to you, but you have Invisible Content Syndrome. Fortunately, this condition is curable.

Invisible Content Syndrome is an equal-opportunity menace. It doesn’t just hit lazy people, or people who don’t care about good content. In fact, every blog starts out this way.

But some grow out of it quickly, while others get stuck there.

And being stuck with Invisible Content Syndrome is amazingly frustrating. So let’s get you out.

Make yourself useful

Sure, the colorful show-offs get the best traffic. But at the end of the day, you’d rather be known for being useful than for attracting attention. We have more than enough useless attention-grabbers.

Even among the hundreds of millions of blogs out there, not enough are useful. Not enough solve problems that people care about.

If you have a solid grounding of the basics in your topic but you aren’t the world’s foremost expert, you’re in luck.

Most people, in any topic, are beginners. So write for beginners. Teach them those basics you’ve just mastered. Go back and teach the newbie that you used to be.

You’ll understand the newbie perspective far better than the 10,000-hour genius can. She’s too far removed from what it’s like to be new.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Go find a kingdom of blind people to help. Become an expert by helping people who know less than you do.

Be a good friend

Once you’ve built a solid cornerstone of useful content, it’s time to expand your social network.

Figure out five big blogs and ten smaller ones that have the readers you want. All of them, of course, should be writing content you think is very good.

Then start hanging out.

Tweet their best content, but don’t stop there.

Make intelligent comments. (Not lame “great post!” ones.) Describe your own experience, or ask a smart question, or bring up a related point that wasn’t covered.

Use your name, not a keyword phrase. (That, frankly, just makes you look like a spamming asshat.)

Get your picture registered with Gravatar so people can associate a face with a name.

Link to the best posts you find. Create your own content by riffing on their ideas with your own take. Use their posts for one end of an intelligent conversation, with you holding up the other side.

You won’t attract attention and links from everyone you cultivate. But you will from some. And as long as you’re making yourself useful, some of their readers will become your readers.

I know this sounds like old-fashioned advice. (“OMG that’s so 2007.”)

But comments and links are down for many blogs since twitter became so prevalent. They’re still the best tools for building relationships with the folks who can bring you new readers.

Give it some time

It amazes me how many folks start to gripe about being invisible when they have four posts up.

It takes time. No, it doesn’t have to take years (although many ultra successful people had a slow start). But you’ve got to give things a chance to gel.

It helps to cultivate a healthy dose of stubbornness about your goal. (While still being open to changing your approach about how you’ll get there.)

Every successful content marketer started out with an audience of two … yourself and your other email address. How far beyond that you grow depends on how well you can execute these principles.

Be entertaining (if you can pull it off)

It’s important to take your topic and your audience’s needs seriously.

It’s fatal to take yourself seriously.

If you’re funny, go ahead and share it. If you tell a great story, share that too.

Yes, you need to make yourself useful. But we already have one Wikipedia, we don’t need your version.

Do what Wikipedia can’t. Find compelling angles on the tried-and-true. Be subjective and opinionated. Have a personality. Be interesting.

And if you’re the most boring person you’ve ever met, make fun of yourself for that.

Speaking of being boring …

Figure out what you’re so scared of

Most boring people have a really scary story they could tell.

If you’re writing and writing and you can’t capture attention, the awful truth is that your content is probably boring. But that’s not the last word on the subject.

No toddler is boring. Maddening, annoying, headache-inducing, sure. But they’re not boring. Humans just aren’t wired to be boring.

You used to be complicated and fascinating. Something made you boring.

Somewhere along the line, you got punished for being interesting. You got ridiculed for being yourself. You got your hands slapped for coloring outside the lines, and you promised yourself you wouldn’t expose yourself to that again.

You might even have had something really heartbreaking happen. Something that stole your spark before you ever really got to share it.

Oprah, if she had never found the courage to tell her harrowing story of triumph over crushing adversity, would have been another Sally Jessy Raphael. A competent performer. A hard worker. Pretty successful.

But not a game-changer. Not a billionaire.

If you’re boring, it’s because you’re scared and you’re hiding your best stuff. Getting un-scared is the hardest thing you’ll ever do, but since you need to do it anyway in order to have a great life, you might as well get started now.

How about you?

Did your blog go through Invisible Content Syndrome? How long did it take you to break out? Or are you still stuck there now?

Leave a comment and let us know your favorite techniques for getting visible again.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

5 Ways to Monetize Your Blog Without Selling Out

Last week at Blog World Expo, I had conversations with literally hundreds of bloggers about their blogging.

It was interesting to see some of the themes that emerged as bloggers shared their challenges, problems and fears.

One of the recurring conversations that I had revolved around bloggers’ fear of being seen as sell-outs by readers when they started to monetize their blogs.

On numerous occasions this past week I’ve chatted with bloggers who’ve been so scared of the potential reader reaction that it stopped them from adding any form of monetization to their blogs. In some cases, this meant the bloggers were no longer able to sustain what they do financially.

Here’s a summary of some of the reflections I had to those expressing this fear.

1. Be clear about your goals and values.

Perhaps one of the best things a blogger can do in this area is to know where it is they’re headed—or at least where they want to move to with their blogs. Just as important is to have a clear understanding of your values.

Give some thought to these factors, and you’ll be in a strong position to make some good decisions about the strategies and methods you’ll use to reach your goals. You’ll also be in a good place to do some self-monitoring to keep yourself from selling out.

Filter people’s reactions through the framework of your own values and goals, and you’ll hopefully be able to tell whether there’s truth in what they’re saying.

2. Provide value to readers.

I remember the first time I released an ebook on Digital Photography School. I was very nervous about launching it, because I didn’t know how readers would react. I remember hitting the Publish button on the launch post, and expecting a backlash from readers emailing to express how insulted that they were that I’d try to sell them anything.

But the backlash didn’t come.

Instead, I started receiving emails from readers thanking me for the ebook. The lesson I learned was that if you provide something of value to people—something that will matter to them, and help them overcome a problem—they’re often only too happy to buy it.

Not only should your product be valuable, but the interaction you have with your readers in the lead-up to its launch should be valuable too. Among the emails I received that day were messages from readers saying that they’d never bought anything online before. Yet, based on the past interactions that I’d had with them and helped them, they’d felt compelled to buy my ebook.

3. Communicate your reasoning for the charge.

I hope I’m not sounding like I’ve never had negative feedback about releasing a product. At times there have been readers who’ve expressed feelings of resentment or disappointment when I’ve released products.

In these instances, my main approach is to attempt to share my backstory of the product’s release. For example, I remember the first time I put ads on my first blog. By no means was this a play to become rich; I was just trying to make my blog break even.

One particular reader started a campaign against me, and accused me of selling out. My response was simply to email him with my story. I communicated how my blog was costing me money each month and that as a newly married guy working numerous part time jobs and trying to provide free valuable information to readers, I needed to find a way for the site to break even. On hearing the story the reader’s attitude was turned around.

Similarly, when I launched the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog ebook, I told the story of how my readers had pretty much demanded that I turn the original series of blog posts into a PDF, and indicated that they’d pay for the content in that format. In doing so I was able to communicate how the idea wasn’t even mine—in fact, it came from reader need.

I also think sometimes people need to be reminded that behind a blog is a real person who needs to find a way to sustain it. In most cases, when you share that information, I think people understand your need to monetize your blog.

4. Monitor your own motivations.

Being in any kind of business will undoubtedly lead you into situations where you’re presented with opportunities to sell out. The reality is that it can be tempting at times.

I remember an instance two years back where I was offered a five-figure sum for a series of tweets promoting a product—a product I’d never used and never would have recommended myself. The catch was that the tweets had to be positive, they’d be written by someone else, and I couldn’t include a disclaimer stating that I was being paid to tweet them.

The situation was certainly tempting on some levels: over $10,000 for a few Tweets!? I could have paid for a new car, or a year or two of my kids’ education with those tweets. But ultimately I knew that it was just a quick cash grab. I wasn’t willing to go there because it didn’t fit with my values, and the motivations I felt for doing it weren’t healthy ones.

5. Be accountable to others.

The last thing I’d add on this topic is that it can be worthwhile to have others who you can bounce these issues off. Sometimes, as individuals, we can lose a little perspective on the realities of monetization, and the voices of others can draw us back to good decisions.

I regularly bounce the opportunities that I’m offered off a small group of people—family, friends, and fellow bloggers. In a sense it’s a little advisory board (although it’s certainly not that formal!) that I give permission to ask me tough questions, and help me stay on course to achieving the goals and values I mentioned above.

There have been a number of instances over the years when these people have pulled me back from making decisions that, upon reflection, would have seen me sell out.

In a similar way. I think it’s also wise to listen to what a wider group of people are saying to you. And that wider group is your readers. While there will almost always be someone who has a negative reaction to your approach (you can’t please everyone), there’ll be times when there’s a wider feeling among your readers that you really need to hear. At these times, it’s worth going back to your core motivations, and seeing if the wisdom of the crowd is something you need to pay attention to.

How do you stop yourself from selling out on your blog?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

5 Common Blog Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Your company or small business needs a blog. You know that because it is now a necessity to have an online presence to expand your customer base and promote your brand. And blogs are incredibly easy to start, anyone can do it, but do you know how to use it to its maximum effectiveness? Or more importantly, will you avoid the pitfalls so many other business bloggers fall into to prove your internet savvy and distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack? Here are 5 common blog mistakes business bloggers make all to often and some tips on to avoid them.

1. Using A Blog Hosted by a Third-Party. Do not use a blog from, say, wordpress.com, where your domain name will be yourbusiness.wordpress.com and where Wordpress will own all your content. First, these blogs offer much less flexibility in design; secondly, demonstrate a lack of web savvy; and third, will make your blog harder to find. Instead, add a blog onto your website (which you should have already...) using the code readily available at Wordpress.org. Your blog should be an extension of your website, not a separate entity altogether.

2. Writing Your Posts Like Academic Essays. Writing blog posts requires a different kind of writing and mindset. Be less formal -- speak to your readers -- and have some personality to show there's a person, and not a company, behind these posts. The best part about blogs is that they encourage discussion, so write in a way that your readers (and potential customers) will want to comment. Respond to this feedback as well, both literally by responding to pertinent comments and in how your business runs. That said, do NOT neglect proper grammar or spelling, and do not stray far from blogging about business-related topics. Pictures from the company picnic are fine, sure, but do not turn your business blog into a personal diary or a collection of YouTube videos you thought were funny.

3. Just Promoting Your Company or Product. This will be the biggest turn-off to readers. A little promotion is of course necessary, but don't overdo it; use your blog to connect instead. Write about going-ons in your industry and become a trusted (and oft-visited) expert. Talk about new advances or trends. Link to other articles or bloggers in the hopes they'll link back to you. Use your blog as a hub for your other social media, like Facebook and Twitter.

4. Not Posting Often Enough. If you are starting a blog for your small company or business, you need to commit to it. Blogging is certainly a game of quality over quantity, but something still needs to be posted regularly, otherwise, readers will lose interest. Just like any other obligation at the workplace, schedule time to write posts and set deadlines for when they need to be published. Even just a half hour to an hour twice a week will be sufficient for creating content that will help build your readership and keep your current readers paying attention.

5. Assigning Blogging Duties to One Person. It's great that you've found a hip, young staff member up on social media to head up your blog, but do not put one person solely in charge of creating material. Assign duties just occasionally to various members of staff. It will help keep content varied with different voices contributing, allow other aspects of the business to be represented, and give more of a human face to your business -- it's not just one person running everything, right? Most importantly your blog should be an extension of your business; allow those who make your business happen to extend themselves as well.

Joseph Gustav is a guest blogger for An Apple a Day and a writer on the subject of medical transcription training for the Guide to Health Education.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Have Corporate Blogs Really Caught On Yet?

We see report after report after report of the acceptance or the non-acceptance of corporate blogging as a marketing tool. Often the measurement is done based on the activities of the Fortune 50 or 500 which I find a little puzzling since they are likely to have the most difficult environment to truly blog based on rules and regulations that keep public companies from themselves regarding the financial side of the ledger.

eMarketer, however, is taking another stab at looking at this part of the online marketing world and sees the following from data that apparently goes beyond just the big boys. (Note – The full report is from eMarketer and is for sale on their site and MP receives no compensation from eMarketer).

Honestly, that is still a pretty low percentage in my estimation considering the potential value of a blog (if done correctly, kept up and truly utilized which is what keeps most away from the practice to begin with). Even with the prediction of 43% of companies utilizing the technique by 2012 it seems low but that’s just me.

What else did they uncover about blogs? The usual funny stuff that shows just how lame traditional media can be when it cries foul around their online counterparts / competition then turns around and relies on it for information for their ‘profession’.

Here is a chart showing how journalists use the online space (I think the correlation to the blogging info above is that they use blogs as sources but that’s just a guess). There is quite a dependency on all things online for these folks including ones, like Wikipedia, that are notorious for their content being factual vs. fictional (although maybe the truth is setting in since their dependence is down from last year).

So is corporate blogging set to become more commonplace? Will there be a time when over 50% of the companies are using blogs to their benefit? Is the importance of corporate blogs overplayed? Should companies at least be blogging so they can feed journalists the information they want to see published since they are increasingly being used for sources anyway?

You tell us. You’re the experts after all. Thanks.

BlogWorld Expo 2010 – Done and Gone, Still Reeling from the Feeling

Having some Fruit Loops with Human Cereal Bowl Ted Murphy at BlogWorld Expo 2010

I just got home yesterday morning 5:45am and then did my full time job before I even got a chance to get home and visit the family. I’m running all my travel plans by my wife in the future so I don’t go and do a red eye before a day of work ever again. I was destroyed that day. But why? Because of BlogWorld & New Media Expo. It kicked my butt up and down the Vegas strip. But in a good way.

I’ve attended every BlogWorld convention that has been held. Each one elevates the attendee experience to great levels of awesome. This year started off with a fantastic keynote by Scott Stratten. I was pumped from that moment on and never stopped running from session to session throughout the weekend. I was even running around like crazy up to the moment that I got to my own session called Content You Care About. Here is the presentation with the links to all of the resources that I talked about in my session.

If you ‘d rather download that you can do so by downloading my session as an ebook. Through this session and speaking again at a conference I learned a few cool things.

1. Always have your presentation on a spare flash drive in case it is not pre-loaded on the laptop as it was supposed to be.

2. Google Presentations is decent for making presentations, ebooks and slideshows. Very simple interface. It can also save your session as a powerpoint set.

3. Practice your session, things will go smoother if you do.

4. Smile when you present, you are there to have a great time and give people great information on things that you enjoy so smile about that.

5. Attend as much as you can, push yourself. I totally spaced on a few sessions where I should have attended.

6. Participate in PhotoWalks, if there isn’t one already then organize one because it is a great way to meet more people and also to get into photos yourself.

7. The greatest thing is being there. Get to an industry event, they are a must. Make sure you get photographed while there too.

TechKaraoke at The Pearl with Murray Newlands!

Me with Murray Newlands

Blogging World

Blogger Insight - blogging world

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Medical Monday: Looking to Reach Women about Healthcare? Don’t underestimate the Power of Blogs

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Does Your Business Card Leave a Lasting Impression?

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Monday, October 25, 2010