It’s hard to avoid quoting every word on Itty Biz. Just awesome writing and information.

Here’s the most recent post: SEO: Don’t Get Caught With Your Pants Down

I’m resisting the urge to paste the entire article here . . . Instead, a few pieces that struck home:

Keyword-dense articles:

Um, no. This isn’t a great plan. First, the writing will suck. I’m sorry, it will. And hey, maybe you don’t care, but that precious traffic you’re practically selling your firstborn for will care and leave. That’s the first problem.

Linking like crazy to other sites in the hopes of generating more inbound links:

There’s smart link placement, and then there’s blazing through and dropping links like a pigeon crapping on New York City pedestrians. . . . Don’t waste your time. You’re better off getting linked from three strong sites that are directly related to yours, with people who care and will click to hang out at your virtual pad.

But it’s so pretty:

I’m a sucker for slick sites, and I sigh heavily when I know it has to be changed because it isn’t doing squat for the organic traffic the person wants. It’s painful too, because they spent money on that site, and you’re having to tell them that all-image/all-Flash sites aren’t made for what they’re really wanting: organic traffic from God Google.

Read the entire post. It’s gooooood. While you’re there, read everything else on the site, too. The info. is great, and the writing is the goodest, bestest ever.

I read Brian Clark’s Copyblogger post “The Grateful Dead 4-Step Guide to the Magical Influence of Content Marketing” a few weeks ago. Can’t stop thinking about it—perhaps because I’d love to see more people/organizations do the same.

By giving “it” away—allowing bootleg recordings of shows—the Greatful Dead became among the first bands to do social media marketing—except they did it with bootlegs, and cassette sharing, well before today’s sharing sites were even a techy’s dream.

I remember listening to bootlegs in college, while Deadhead friends compared different recordings. I learned more about the band and its music, through listening to its fans discuss the concert recordings, than I did from any other outlet. By giving its music away, the Dead grew a tight-knit, ever-expanding, dedicated audience. The Dead gave something personal to its audience, and its audience responded in kind.

However—if you have something you’d like to share, you have to make sure you share it with the right audience.

At SXSW this year, I emptied dozens of Zone bars out of my purse every evening. When I’ve received bars at sporting events in the past, after running as an example, I’ve been thrilled to have them, and have been more than willing to try a new flavor (and buy the ones I like down the road), but at SXSW, they became something else to carry. By my last day, I was doing my best to avoid Zone people eye contact. I just couldn’t handle more bars. And in the end, they stayed on my hotel nightstand in Austin, when I caught my flight home.

Point of the above? Giving something to your audience is always a good thing—just don’t throw it out there, hoping your version of spaghetti will stick to the wall. Find the right place.

What goes around usually does come back around, so figure out how you can help others, where they are located, and the best way to reach out to them—and then share. Their sharing will follow.

Why are some bloggers more successful than others?

Read Annabel Candy’s “The 8 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers” to find the answer. The post nails it. The following is the short list. Read the post in full, too.

1. Effective bloggers are prolific

2. Effective bloggers are concise

3. Effective bloggers are analytical

4. Effective bloggers are lifelong learners

5. Effective bloggers are focused and consistent

6. Effective bloggers plan ahead

7. Effective bloggers are persistent

8. Effective bloggers are self-starters

While you are at CopyBlogger, where the post appears, snoop around. A LOT of great reading.

And—when you are blogging, remember to SAY SOMETHING.

Here’s a follow-up to yesterday’s post:

“Why Don’t Publishers Market ALL of Their Books?” written by Jane Friedman, publisher and editorial director of Writer’s Digest.

It could also be titled: “Why Don’t Music Labels Market EVERYTHING in Their Catalogs?” or . . .  You get the picture.

At the end of the day, it is up to the individual to cultivate relationships online—to engage.

Jane’s article is a great piece on why publishing companies don’t market everything—and an even GREATER piece on why authors, musicians, and entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes, need to reach out and engage.

When I was in college, I did an internship at Mattel Toys. I spent the summer hanging with the producers, watching how commercials were made, and mastering the use of the double-sided printing and collation option on the copy machine.

The office was in El Segundo, California, and most of the producers had attended film school at USC.

One of the producers sat me down and told me that at the end of the day, film and really all creations are about business.

“It is called show business and not show art for a reason.”

The publisher mentioned in Jane’s article advised that writers should just “stay in a room in write.”

Wrong.

Creating isn’t enough. If you want to sell what you’ve created, you need to treat it like a business.

You need to engage.

If social media engagement levels arrived on your doorstep as people, they’d present themselves as Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory—too much, too narrow, just right, and the last-minute revelation.

Veruca Salt—Too Much

Veruca Salt wanted everything . This is the social media engagement model that involves being all over the place, all the time—having it all. It is also the model that requires a HUGE team for implementation. But even after her father had his factory workers open Wonka Bars until they found a Golden Ticket for her, in the end, Veruca didn’t last long once she arrived at Willy Wonka’s factory.

Even if she had been a nice little girl, whose changing demands weren’t as constant as breathing is to the rest of us, her style just wouldn’t work. With all his help and money, Veruca’s dad was still stretched thin. Yes, Veruca could have helped, but not enough to matter. In the end, outreach requires a personal touch. And if you have a team of people behind you, to ensure you are everywhere, all the time, personal touch is next to impossible.

Violet Beauregarde—Too Narrow

Violet Beauregarde’s focus was too narrow. She wanted the gum. And, you know, that’s really ok—if being just about the gum involved more than an attempt to get attention. Certainly, one of the reasons we reach out to other people is to share information about our projects and work, but the outreach can’t be one sided. Violet needed to give back. Instead of just focusing on breaking a gum-chewing record, Violet could have shared “secrets” for keeping the gum fresh when she slept, ways to relax a tired gum-chewing jaw, and so on. . . . Her experiences made her an expert, but rather than sharing in return, she was all about the attention. ( “Hi Cornelia, sweetie!”)

I like blogs like A List Apart because they tell you how they did something. They share their knowledge, and you learn in return. It is a mutually beneficial relationship. By providing engaging content, they share their work with others—and others learn from them. One example: Here’s a great article on creating and marketing audience-engaging content. The talents behind the article are experts in this field. They didn’t have to share, but they did. Think Karma. Although you  don’t necessarily help others because you want to receive something in return, what ends up happening is: You help others, and you receive something in return. (Full disclaimer: The company, About Face Media, is one of my clients. )

Charlie Bucket—Just Right

Then there’s Charlie Bucket, who was just there. He didn’t have the money to have a huge team of people reaching out for him, and he wasn’t close-minded, only focusing on himself. Sure he made some mistakes along the way, but overall, the outreach he did was always the right kind. He didn’t do a lot, but what he did, he did REALLY well.

In one of his recent posts, Jonathan Fields included a quote from psychology professor Martin Seligman. “Rather than”, as Jonathan wrote, “focusing all of your energy on fixing what’s wrong with your life,” Seligman suggested we all try to answer the question:

“What might happen if you focused instead on the sole quest to identify, then grow what was right?”

That’s what Charlie did. He didn’t have a lot, but what he did, he did well. He focused on what was right:

He was nice.

He was conscious of others.

He cared enough to learn about the people around him.

He wanted to give back.

Though he made mistakes, he was always honest—even when it hurt.

If Charlie was diving into social media engagement, he’d find out about the people and organizations of interest to him. He’d learn about them, to make sure he understood them.

And when he contacted them, he wouldn’t start like Violet, who would begin by pitching herself, without as much as a nice “hello.”

And he wouldn’t start like Veruca, who would jump in, telling you what she wanted from you.

He’d start by telling you what he liked about what you are doing. And he’d be genuine about it.

Nothing fake with Charlie. He’d tell you because he really cared and wanted you to know. And if he did ask something of you, he’d ask if there was something he could do in return—something that might help you.

Charlie would keep it real.

Grandpa Joe—Last-Minute Revelation

Grandpa Joe is an interesting guy. He’s the guy who doesn’t want to dive in. He’s curious, but he’s not about to get on his own two feet to do anything. If something is going to happen, it will happen on its own. But then Charlie found that Golden ticket, and Grandpa Joe was faced with an opportunity. And all of a sudden he’s rejuvenated—young and kicking up his heels.

Earlier this year, Justine Musk wrote a great piece on her blog about audience engagement. The writer she mentions in the first paragraph of her blog reminds me of Grandpa Joe—sort of:

In her blog, one writer urges other aspiring writers not to worry about establishing an online presence or building an author platform until they actually have a book to sell.

Jane Friedman, who is the “community director” for the Writer’s Digest brand (the online community, the magazine, the books), thought it was so important to contradict this advice that she dedicated an entire blog post to it.

Read both Justine’s and Jane’s articles—in full, and check out all the links.

Now here’s the reasoning behind the above “sort-of” Grandpa Joe comment: Grandpa Joe “got it” at the last moment, went into action, and things worked out. That’s rare. It takes much—emphasis here on MUCH—longer. Please read about Jonathan Field’s launch of his own book for more background.

One personal example: In the past year, I’ve had the honor of working with Steven Pressfield, helping with outreach for his blog. And even though he’s a known and respected author, when he stepped into blogging, no one knew he was there. It took time to get in touch with readers, to learn about them, to talk and e-mail with them, and—above all— thank them. This past year has been like moving to a new town and holding a dinner party. You reach out to meet new people, hoping they’ll see that you are interested in getting to know them (and don’t just want something from them), and invite them to visit. You get to know them. You learn about their work, and perhaps something about their families. And at the end of the evening, you are no longer the new person in town. You have friends. People know where you live—and they want to visit with you again. And, of course, the feeling is mutual.

And all of that is, well, the Charlie Bucket model—just trying to do what you can, do it well, and do it with a smile, a genuine caring nature and a positive attitude.

I just read Cindy King’s article “7 Steps to Successful Twitter Interviews” on Social Media Examiner.

Though Cindy’s article is tailored to those doing the interviewing, her suggestions work for those being interviewed as well:

#1: Determine Reasons for the Twitter Interview
#2: Make Pre-Interview Contact
#3: Decide on a Hashtag
#4: TweetChat
#5: Decide Direction of the Interview
#6: Come Up With Interview Questions
#7: Advertise Your Twitter Interview
#8: Keep the Conversation Going

Here’s one add-on for people being interviewed: Prepare your links.

Twitter Chats move at a fast pace. Read through the transcript for the Twitter interview that author Steven Pressfield did with #LitChat. It is a good example of all the tweets “in play” as you are trying to answer questions. People joining the chat are all tweeting, as you are trying to read them, and answer as many questions as possible—in 140-characters or less.

If you have to stop to find a link, you are going to get behind.

AND—because Twitter has a character limit, you’ll also need to spend time shortening the link, using a service such as TinyURL, so that your links don’t eat up all of your characters.

While you won’t have the questions in advance, you can anticipate them, which will help you figure out which links you might need.

As Cindy suggested, make pre-interview contact and discuss the direction and format of the interview with the host. Will the host ask all of the questions, or will the host introduce you, and then open the interview to those joining the chat, so they can ask questions? Once you know the direction, you’ll be able to think about which links you might use in your answers.

Make a list of all the links, and then shorten all of them.

Categorize the shortened links so you can cut and paste with ease when you need them.

You’ll save yourself time, which means you’ll be able to answer more questions, and provide additional resources within your answers.

A win-win for everyone!

Making the decision to start a blog was easy. I’ve been working with clients who blog—about time I “got with it” and added a blog to my site.

The questions of “What to write?” took longer to answer.

Enter Seth Godin.

Weeks ago, Seth asked Steve Pressfield to write about one topic of importance to him, which would appear in a free e-book Seth was developing, titled “What Matters Now.” Steve chose “Tough-Mindedness.” This got me thinking about the topic I would write about—if asked—and helped me focus on a topic to write about for this blog. The answer? Sharing.

“Share with each other” is one of the phrases I repeat— every day— to my two-year-old daughter and six-year-old son. It is an instruction that we were all given as children . Yet, sharing is something adults forget about in the workplace. There is a competition to get ahead. The mindset follows: If you have something that works, don’t share it— whether you are a publicist with a great contact list or an executive with information that could help solve a colleague’s problem. Don’t give your competition information that could help them outperform you.

Here’s the great thing about sharing: What goes around, comes around—like a boomerang. Don’t share because you want something in return. BUT . . . If you do share, you’ll find that others will share with you—and/or about you and your work, too.

Moving forward, this blog will share information about lessons learned and best practices defined through work with different clients. It will offer details about how different projects rolled out, from day one, to highlight practices that we hope will help others achieve their own goals.

One request: Please share what has worked for you, too! We’re all interested in learning!