I’m also starting on book number two (which was just sold, formal announcement to come soon) and is on a totally different topic than Career Renegade. I’m really psyched to dive into this one, it’s going to go a lot deeper into some pretty powerful lifestyle and business phenomena. And, it’ll be kinda interesting to see how Bali effects how and what I write.

Why Bali, btw? How can we pull it off? What will else will I be doing while I’m there?

I’ll answer these questions and a whole lot more once I’m there and I can show you, rather than tell you (but, let it be known, it had nothing to do with Eat, Pray Love. LOL)!

While I’m gone, I’m also going to experiment with some pretty “renegadey” changes to my writing and online work-flow in an effort to create the most compelling content possible, while also dramatically streamlining my processes. That’ll free me up to write the book, take skype calls with my consulting clients and spend a whole lot of time playing with my family and exploring the nooks and crannies of this stunning island.

As part of this work-flow evolution, I’ll be doing a lot more video blogging. For two reasons. One, so I can take you along on my Balinese Renegade Adventure and share my experiences with you guys as vividly as possible. And, two, because it takes me a lot less time to create compelling video, from shoot to publication, than it does to write. Especially the way I’m about to do it.

For those interested, my process for video content creation will be:

• Film video segments in HD with either my Flip Ultra HD, Canon Vixia HFS100 or iPhone 4 (if the Gods favor me with one before I leave),
• Upload them to my Dropbox account at night (when I’ll have wi-fi access and less competition for Balinese bandwidth),
• Ask my virtual assistant (VA) to drop the footage into iMovie on her computer, add in my standard intro and outro and upload the final segments to YouTube then embed them in a video post, set as draft for me to add a few sentences to provide context and post the next morning.

I’ll also be experimenting with a move to audio as source for both podcasts and text posts.

Here’s my planned work-flow for audio and text:

• Hike or ride my bike to some place that inspires me (or, lie in a hammock on the porch),
• Speak my posts into either an Olympus LS-10 recorder or iPhone voice recorder app and record direct to mp3 format,
• Dropbox the mp3s to my VA, where she’ll download it, edit in standard audio lead-ins and wrap-ups, publish the finished audio as podcasts to my media-hosting site, which then gets picked up by iTunes,
• Then She’ll: (1) Transcribe the audio, copy-edit the text and drop it into WordPress as a text post for this blog, (2) Source a relevant Creative Commons image from Flickr for the post, then (3) Crop and insert the image into the post, awaiting approval for final editing and publication.

And, the last big change, I’ll be folding in a new weekly featured guest post, which is something I almost never do on the blog, but the few times I have done it, it’s been really well recieved. So, for at least the time I’m in Bali, I’ll be featuring some amazing bloggers and their mouthwateringly good content.

Contributors will include Danielle LaPorte, Chris Guillebeau, Alexis Martin Neely, Leo Babauta, J.D. Roth, Glen Stansberry and a handful of other amazing thinkers and writers.

It’s going to be a fascinating experiment for me. I’m sure there’ll be bumps along the road. Both technological and human. For example, it’ll be interesting to see how I do with being able to speak posts that are articulate enough to edit into really solid text posts. And, I have no idea how easy it’ll be to upload HD video almost daily on a connection that’s not known for it’s consistency.

But, the cool thing is, once the kinks are worked out (if it all works, lol), the net savings to me in time, effort and mental space will be huge. And, I’ll very likely keep these processes in place upon my return.

So…more to come as the journey unfolds. We’re all going to Bali this summer!

Just wanted to bring you into the Great Summer 2010 Balinese Blogging Adventure and Renegade Work-flow Project that’s about to come to life.

And, as I mentioned, I’ll share a bunch more about why we chose Bali and what I’m really doing there…once I’m settled…and wearing my sarong (so sorry for the mental image)!

Every social media rulebook hails authenticity as the bastion of success in the world of digital interdigitation.

Yet, I have to confess something…

I wonder if the more ubiquitous social media becomes, the harder is to bear the burden of being authentic IRL (in real life)?

Because, with increasing frequency, you’re not the only person reporting on your every move anymore. When I’m at an event, a gathering, meeting or just having lunch, I’ve come to learn that every word out of my mouth is fair game for social media attribution and distribution. Maybe by the person on the other side of the conversation. Maybe by the person at the table behind me. Or, just a passerby.

And, that freaks me out a bit. Because when I put the message out there, I give it context.

But, when others translate it to social media, especially media that only allows for cherry-picked snippets…who knows?

This used to happen when I was in mainstream media on a fairly regular basis. I’d be interviewed for 30 minutes, then a few sentences or seconds would make it into the interview or segment. I learned, very quickly, how easily it is to be misquoted or have a snippet of a thought quoted out of context, with the meaning dramatically altered.

So, I trained myself to be increasingly politic when doing media interviews.

I was what I’d call cautiously authentic. Tactically transparent.

I said what was on my mind, but always added in a few beats before my thoughts left my mouth to try to frame it in a way that closed as many doors as possible to misquoting and mis-contextualizing. In fact, I began to encourage almost all media, save live TV or radio, do interviews by email, so I could craft and frame the message exactly as I wanted it to appear…and create a paper trail of the full conversation.

In my early days of blogging, I didn’t feel this same need to live-edit my speech.

There was a sense of freedom, of respect, of the desire to want to treat each other right. And, without the time or space limitations of traditional media, there was the ability to include the entire conversation. To keep the context in.

But, I wonder if that’s changed over the last few years, fueled by:

• (1) the mass-adoption of social and communications tools that force aggressive truncation of messages, like twitter, texting, wall updates and beyond,
• (2) the near-pervasive expectation that not only anything you share in social media, but anything you say or do in person, even in real-life public or private, is fair game for publication and distribution,
• (3) a widespread sense of a lack of the need to provide context, edit, vet information or be accountable, and.
• (4) mobile access to tools that make sharing information as easy as hitting a few buttons on your cellphone.

I was recently at a conference and said something to a friend that, without knowing our relationship, could easily have been taken as biting or even a bit warped. But, between us, we were just messing around, building on a history we had, it was like a series of inside jokes. Someone behind us, though, overheard the exchange then turned and said, “dude, that’s going on twitter.”

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

I’m totally cool having what I said shared, as long as it’s framed in the nature of my relationship with the other person and the broader context of the joking conversation. Sadly, the chance of that happening in 140 characters is near zilch.

And, that realization has led most folks to now agree that when it comes to social media, you’ve got to be willing to lose control over your message. But, the corollary to that is, you’ve also got to be willing to exert more control over how that message leaves your mouth to give it the best chance of being framed and shared in the way that fully expresses your intent…even if your preference is that it not be shared at all.

Which means I’m left back in my days of live-censoring my conversations, for fear of being miscontextualized, but this time, it’s not just about my conversation with a single reporter…

It’s about every word out of my mouth, because EVERYONE’S now a reporter!

This growing knowledge has slowly drawn me from being fairly free, transparent and authentic with how interact not only online, but out in public or on the phone and in email to being more cautiously authentic. Tactically transparent. It’s led me to include the line, “The content of this e-mail is off the record, unless agreed otherwise” at the end of every email I send.

And it’s set that line up as an automatic cognitive filter in my conversations. Yes, even friendly, face-to-face conversations.

Because, you just don’t how, when, where or why snippets might end up online and out of context.

So, in this odd way, I’ve been feeling a growing sense that the mass adoption of social reporting technology is increasingly encouraging me to stifle, rather than embrace a sense of complete authenticity.

Not because I have major skeletons in my closet that are freaking me out (note to self, buy more nails for that closet!). But, because, it’s become so much easier to become a target of misattribution, misquoting and mis-contextualizing when every person in every direction is potentially reporting on your every word and move (and, trust me, I’m really not that interesting).

Especially when the ADDention span and character limits of the medium increasingly encourage speed over depth and breath.

And, yes, I get that I now also have my own bully pulpit upon which I can fire back.

But, honestly…that’s just not how I want to spend my time.

Curious, anybody else feeling this?

Or, is it all in my head?

I’m always on the lookout for innovative marketing campaigns that leverage user-generated content to build a compelling story that not only engages, but inspires people to share the content, the campaign and, often riding along, the brand. So, when I discovered a campaign that Mitchum is running as an online video contest, I was fascinated.

The name of the campaign is – Are You The Hardest Work Person in America? It’s built around a pretty sytlized site that offers a number of compelling “example” videos shot by documentary film maker, Albert Maysles to both draw you into the experience and inspire you to create and submit your own video. Once submitted, you’re then encouraged to promote your video to get it the most attention possible.

Why would you do this? For the chance to win $100,000, be crowned Hardest Working Person in America by Mitchum and have Maysles make a film about you (FYI, if you’re interested, I believe the contest ends on June 11, so hustle up!).

I spent some time poking around the site. And found Maysles’ short “example” films compelling and real. I love seeing stories not only of captains of industry, but also people who put in a real honest day’s work, have an impact, but are largely unsung by anyone beyond the immediate circle of folks they serve and impact.

Here’s a sample of one featuring the “hardest working baker”…

I also realized while watching the films, there’s hard work and there’s HARD WORK. I work hard, but I don’t put in anywhere near the hours, manual labor or effort many of the others in the films put in. So, much as I’d love to have Maysles shoot me, “Hardest Working Person” isn’t exactly a title I’d ever feel comfortable vying for.

When it comes down it, it’s a pretty interesting campaign. But, you’ve gotta ask, what’s in it for Mitchum?

Well the site is strongly co-branded, so you can’t help but be exposed to “the hardest working anti-perspirant in America” as you ride along in all these other real-life stories. If those stories create good feelings, if they connect with viewers on a visceral level, at least some of that ends up rubbing off on the brand.

And, if each contestant works hard to drive word-of-mouth and they get a lot of contestants, that feeling of connection potentially expands out to reach a lot of people.

So, I’m curious, what do you think of this type of campaign? Would you participate?

Does the nature of the sponsor affect your desire to participate in the campaign?

Did you find the website, videos and contest compelling? Enough to share?

Does it impact the connection you feel with the brand?

Sounds like a fantasy, right?

Well, that’s the promise that’s been made by many who operate in the internet marketing waters known as article marketing. I’ve heard so much about this approach to driving traffic, both good and bad.

Bloggers, internet and affiliate marketers and real-live brick and mortar businesses I’ve known have tried it in one form or another. Some successfully, others flat out fail. Clients ask me about article marketing all the time and, frankly, I’ve never had a great answer.

So, I decided to turn to article marketing expert and founder of Pajama Team, Elysia Brooker, to try to unpack the truth about article marketing as a way to drive traffic.

I learned a lot from our conversation, and, as you’ll see at the end of this in-depth interview, issued a public challenge to her to “prove” article marketing works…and she said YES! This is gonna be fun!

JF – Article marketing first came onto my radar as a way to drive serious organic traffic bunch of years ago. What exactly IS article marketing?

EB – Article Marketing (in my world) involves creating keyword-targeted content and submitting them to a variety of high-powered directory websites to gain links, search engine exposure and consequent traffic to your blog or website.

JF – Okay, so let’s go a bit deeper. How, exactly, does it work as a source of traffic, both directly and organically?

EB – The stand out feature of article marketing for me is the dual-purpose results you can achieve with minimal time and effort. The way I see it, there are four major sources of traffic to be found in article marketing.

1)     Organically… as your article becomes syndicated, as more links are pointing back to your site, as more people are utilizing your content on their own directory or website, the links pointing back to your blog become more and more powerful – helping the overall authority of your site.

2)     Search engines ranking the articles for the high volume terms (a surprisingly regular occurence) and then people being able to follow through your author bio links back to your website.

3)     You can receive traffic from people who go to the directory website itself to seek out information on a particular topic. Most of the major directories have a search bar (similar to Google, Yahoo etc) but instead of bringing up a variety of different website results, it will find you related articles – one of which could be yours!

4)     Content providers (generally other blog owners) may use your article as content on their own site, keeping the author bio intact and spreading your content out throughout the web for more link power.

JF – But, here’s the thing, if you’re going to write articles, why not just put them on your blog instead?

EB – Posting to your blog is obviously a crucial and irreplaceable aspect of any online business, but your efforts can be in vain if noone is getting to your blog to see the posts in the first place.

If your blog/website is new then you’re going to need a helping hand to start getting the page rank and SE authority you need to have your blog drawing in the traffic (and getting the Google tick of approval) you need to make it a standalone success.

You need to think of it like spreading seeds, seeds that will create a trail for people to follow, all the way back to your website. The way I see it is, the more trails that are leading people back to my site – the better.

To put it another way, article marketing is like advertising… Posting solely to your blog, would be like creating a product (your blog, website, opt-in page) and doing zero advertising. You’ve got a killer product ready, waiting to be found, but without advertising noone will know its there!

And it’s not akin to just plain old advertising either, it’s advertising that (assuming your content is good) is engaging with your reader, giving them a taste of what you know and how valuable it can be to them… beginning the process of having them love you and your product/website.

Posting solely to your blog is putting a LOT of hope behind people being able to find you in that one very specific location – something that is less and less likely the newer your website.

JF – Got it, so what types of articles tend to do well and why?

EB – Interesting question! There are lots of different schools of thought with this but the following are the major points I consider important..

• WORD LENGTH: 300-400 words is fine. Some people may disagree but I have experienced fantastic results from 300 word articles and have seen no proof that longer articles produce better results. This is especially important if you on a tight budget or have little time to commit to your article marketing activities, I’d much rather see you put 10 x 300 word articles out there than 5 x 500 word’ers.

• TONE: Keep it casual. The tone of the article will greatly influence your reader’s perceived connection with you and most importantly, the click through rate. I like to go with what I call a “blog-like” tone. Informal, personal and friendly while still informational at its core. Don’t write like you’re preparing for a Harvard examination, keep your language simple and conversational – your readers will pay you back in visits.

• NEUTRALITY: Be careful to not talk at your reader.  Obviously you will need to be casting a positive light on the product/strategy/website but be sure to do that from a seemingly neutral standpoint. Avoid shoving the idea down their throats, you want to appear as a neutral third party who is providing helpful information and not as a “seller” which can deter people VERY fast.

In terms of a “style” of article, there are quite a few that seem to work well:

• The “How To” – These are great to give readers a taste of your product/service by providing useful tips to help them solve their issue or fulfil their need. When you provide helpful tips people are more inclined to want to find out more and thus click through to your website.

• The “Review” – This has to be one of the highest-converting article styles around – when it is done well! Providing a neutral/unbiased review on a product or service with pros and cons, previous customer testimonials, a first person angle and an overall positive tone can convert big time.

• The “FAQ” – This style follows along the same lines as the “how to” article. Providing info while solving your readers unanswered questions about the product/service can quash any remaning fears and encourage a click-through, and maybe even a purchase!

• The “Story” – A little trickier, but great when its done right… a “story” article weaves your product/service subtly into a story about a person’s problem or experience. Readers can relate to the emotion conveyed and feel connected to the writer and thus be more inclined to trust their recommendation.

JF – How often do you need to create articles to make a real dent, and for how long?

EB – I would argue that this depends almost entirely on the keywords you are targeting. The more competiting sites targeting your keyword, the more articles you will need to make the headway you need for killer rankings.

If you’ve done your keyword research well and narrowed in on some great low competition keywords then you can start to see traffic results from as little as 15-20 submissions. And the traffic flowing in from these 15-20 articles will continue to grow as the articles age and the content is syndicated further throughout the web.

Article marketing is definitely a long term investment when done right!

JF – So, I get that article marketing is a long-term commitment and most people bail long before they’ve done enough to see real results. But, one of the big complaints I’ve heard recently about article marketing is that (a) even though the biggest article directory sites have good PR, google’s algorythm doesn’t pass that much juice from the links that appear on the directory sites anymore, and (b) most of the sites that pick up/syndicate your articles and publish them on their websites have little or no authority, making the links worth very little in google’s eyes and adding little to your search ranking.

So, let’s talk about these criticisms head on. What’s been your experience with these two claims? True, false, somewhere in the middle?

EB – Some answers…

1. Google not giving as much weight to the links from article directories

This claim would fall into the category of “somewhere in the middle” that you mentioned. Certain article directories may have lost authority, but others have certainly gained authority and are bigger and more authoritative than ever. That’s why that whole phenomenon started of people trying to make money by ONLY submitting content to directories with no site of their own. It was possible because certain directories had so much authority that just publishing a piece of content there was enough to generate a front page ranking for low to mid range competition keywords. That’s not a strategy we recommend at all but this point is evidence in the case for certain article directories growing rather than diminishing in authority.

2. The sites that publish your articles not having alot of authority…

The question contains the assumption that the sites that pick up your content to publish are lower quality, less authoritative sites. This of course CAN be the case, but its not ALWAYS the case. Some sites that publish your articles will be higher quality and some will be lower quality. In any case, as long as they’re relevant and not spam sites, they’re all links to your site that have value.

Again, I refer to a point we made earlier that yes, Article Marketing isn’t shooting fish in a barrel like it used to be, it’s just changed in such a way that it takes a little more skill, a little more know how, and a little more focused effort to generate great results. It’s the same for virtually every method of traffic generation online: search engine optimization, pay per click, social bookmarking, heck, banner advertising… they all had their hey-day but none of them have stopped working. It’s only become harder for the people doing it badly to make them work.

JF – Got it. Now, a lot of my tribe are entrepreneurs, not bloggers, does this make sense for a more traditional entrepreneur or solopreneur who’s trying to drive prospects to a more commercial type of website. Or even for affiliate sites?

EB – Definitely! In fact, in markets that some entrepreneurs are in, that are less popular online and amongst content creators (bloggers) article marketing may well prove to be MORE effective than otherwise. The thing about article marketing, is that it isn’t just about the articles themselves, its about improving your site’s authority and allowing your site to climb in the Google ranks – something any online business requires.

PR and consequent Google rankings are heavily influenced by the number of links leading back to your website… Article marketing is the perfect opportunity to build powerful, multi-purpose links without trawling the web and handing out big money for paid ads or links on high PR sites – many of which have a limited lifetime unlike lifelong article directory links.

At the end of the day, if you have a website/blog and you want traffic, then in my opinion you can benefit from article marketing in some capacity.

JF – The big question I get asked on article marketing (and I’m guessing you get asked all the time, too) is, “how long do you need to wait before you see real, sustained search-driven traffic coming to your site from article marketing?”

EB - Again, it really does depend on the nature of the keywords you are targeting as to how fast you will see results.   I’ve seen results within 2 weeks for low competition keywords, but generally speaking I would say 3-4 weeks to start to notice traffic trickling in and it will grow exponentially from there.

And don’t forget that its not just the traffic from the articles themselves that you can expect, its the improved rankings of your website/blog in the search engines that you will start to see and enjoy benefits from.

JF – So, let’s get this out there, you’re in the business of helping people not only create articles, but pretty much overseeing entire campaigns. But, I’ve seen a bunch of websites out there promising article marketing help and content creation…and heard horror stories. How to you know who’s for real and who’s not?

Yep, I’ve heard a ton of horror stories too. Unfortunately in the veil of anonymity that the internet often provides, it can be tricky finding the right provider.

Major things to look out for:

1)     SEO and content creation experience… These are not mutually exclusive skills, you need someone who is in touch with both worlds.

2)     A clear guide of the tasks they are actually performing… You want to know exactly how much content is being produced and where it is being submitted.

3)     Don’t be swayed by big numbers… Don’t be tempted by big numbers of articles submitted AND big numbers of directories submitted to… Submitting 100 crappy, badly written articles to 1000 article directories, might not have the same effect as 20 well written perfectly styled ones submitted to a select group of the very best article directories.

JF – Last question, I know some people who used to swear by article marketing 3 or 4 years ago, but they’ve moved away from it, because they say it just doesn’t work the way it used to. True or false? And, if false…what gives? These are smart people. Put another way, got any proof, case-studies, evidence that this stuff still works in the massively content-clogged world of social media?

EB - We can be honest and say that it may not work as well as it used to years ago when there were so few publishers and each article was given so much authority – but that’s not to say that it doesn’t work, and shouldn’t still feature in your traffic generation efforts.  I don’t advocate making article marketing your only traffic generation method, but I think its an easy and affordable means of achieving multi-faceted traffic results.

The great thing about article marketing too is that the articles (and the links) don’t just have an immediate benefit, they continue to bring in traffic for months if not years after submission. Many of the current traffic generation techniques come with a very specific lifetime such as monthly ads or high PR links that are only valid for 12 months or if you’re really daring – the length of time it takes for your spammy Twitter account or excessive forum posts to get taken down.

Obviously in my line of work, my client’s confidentiality is of utmost importance so I can’t disclose any url’s or keywords but below are 3 different case studies…

Case Study #1 – My partner and I had a weight loss site we set up back in late 2007 and we did a targeted article marketing campaign over a few months, solely to one directory. We eventually stopped working on the site (both posting and article marketing) back in mid-2008 and I just checked the stats today and we’re still hitting 400-500 unique visits a day, a third of which is coming solely from one directory – 2 years later. The quality of the links has improved over time to the point where despite the site being 100% inactive, it is still receiving traffic daily!

Case Study #2 – Another client of mine, has an article ranked on page 1 of Google for a term with 35.5 million results – just 5 weeks after submitting it. A second article we submitted, is ranked in the top half of page 2 for the same term. This is an example of the power of article marketing, because publishing the content where we did was able to receive a page 1 ranking whereas publishing to his website (which is thus far less authoritative and less established) wouldn’t have had these same results in as little time.

Case Study #3 -  More recently, a client of mine got his site ranked to page 1 of Google for his two major keywords (and brought in new sales from these keywords) within 2 weeks of beginning our promotion. Obviously these were low competition keywords, but that’s the point I’ve been trying to make about the ability to receive traffic and Google ranks FAST when narrowing in on a very select type of keyword.

———————

One last thing, I want to believe, really I do…

And, I think many in community want to believe this thing called article marketing is a viable channel for long-term traffic, authority-building and, for businesses, lead generation.

So, I asked Elysia if she’d be up for a public article marketing challenge…

On one of my other websites, I am already ranking on the front page of google for my top keyword, but I’m ranked #9. And, for another keyword, I’m nowhere near the front page. I asked Elysia if she’d be willing to take on the challenge of running an article marketing campaign designed to move my #9 ranking to #3 and put me on the front page for my second choice keyword.

I gave her 60 days to make it happen, with me not involved in any substantial way.

She said…YES!

Over the next 60 days, I’ll be updating you on the progress of that campaign, then I’ll do a wrap-up post and de-briefing interview with Elysia once the challenge is over to find out what she did and why. So, be sure to stay tuned (and make sure you subscribe, so you can follow along).

Last thing, if you guys have more questions, I’ve asked Elysia to check-in on the comments over the next few days and answer whatever she can.

So feel free to not only share your experience with article marketing, but ask more questions below…

When I got my first Blackberry, the first thing I did was disable the message that said, “sent from my Blackberry.”

Because, waaay back then, most phones didn’t do email. There was no expectation of 24/7 reachability, unless someone had your phone number. And, even then, you didn’t abuse the privilege by calling someone “for work” on a weekend or late at night just because you could.

Flash forward to 2010.

Pretty much every phone receives and sends email, surfs the web and texts. More and more allow you to get messages and notifications from Facebook, twitter, foursquare and other service that can don an app. You can create, read or edit documents, stream live video to the web or a conference and we’re just about to crack the edge of quality video chat.

Very Dick Tracy.

Which allows us to get sooo much more done. We can bang out a few emails in a cab, reply to a few DM’s at the kids’ soccer game, text and receive orders at the theater, tweak presentations on the fly and share them with the team.

But, along with the capability to be hyper-connected comes a certain disability…

We’ve lost the expectation of disconnection.

People expect us to be accessible all the time, to be reachable, to be responsive, to be on call…24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Disabling the message on my iphone that says “sent wirelessly from my iphone” is now meaningless, because there’s been a change in public consciousness. People assume unfettered reach. They assume our perpetual state is instant reception.

And, that’s not always a good thing. Because, we all need space.

We all need the opportunity to tune out the world and have the world expect not to be able to tune us in.

To pause. To enter that uninterrupted state of that yields the greatest creations, the greatest innovations and, at times, creates the space for recovery we all need on a fairly regular basis, yet rarely set ourselves up to take.

To just be able to step away and take full ownership of random moments, daydreams and experiences that belong to nobody but us.

When technology was more limited, it made these moments far easier to come by.

There was no expectation of constant access. And, no addictive taunt on our behalves to “check in…and in…and in.”

So, now that technology has reversed this expectation, we have a new choice to make. To set our own brain-based, rather than tech-based limitations on the expectation of connectivity. To turn off certain “push” notifications on our smart-devices. To choose how, when and where we decide to “pull” that information into our ever-expanding basket of digital stimuli.

We need to understand that the technology gives us options galore, but we are still charged with how we allow that technology to interact with our lives. We still get to set the rules and expectations. Curmudgeonly as it sounds, the only thing that rings, beeps, braps or vibrates on my iphone is phone calls. Everything else comes to me only when I ask it to.

And, once we remake our own rules, we need to take one more step…

Make our rules of digital engagement clear to those with whom we interact.

Question is, are you ready to do that?

I had a knot in my stomach a good chunk of yesterday…

I wasn’t sick or freaked out about anything major. In the scheme of life, it was a blip on a blip. In fact, it was a blog post that was causing the knot to tighten.

Not one written here, but on my “other” blog…Tribal Author.

I tend to write with a stronger voice over there. Dunno why, I just do. And, I’d been trying to provoke a more substantive conversation about book trailers over the last few weeks, but nobody wanted to go that deep. So, I decided to stretch a bit and raise the level of provocation by saying that a particular, stunningly filmed video sucked.

Bam!

Off to the races. Traffic spiked. And comments flew in. Blogger’s dream, right?

Most realized my proclamation of “suckage” sentence was really more of a conversation starter than a blanket conclusion and agreed with my bigger point. But, a small number of others, well intended, disagreed. Strongly. Some either misconstrued what I said or missed the bigger messages. Others got it, but still disagreed. And, made it known. And, here’s where it gets tough for not only me, but a lot of bloggers I know.

I don’t enjoy the fight.

It doesn’t energize me. In fact, it often empties me out. Even if I believe I’m right (and, on occasion, I actually am, lol). Even though I’ve been at this for a number of years now and have people who’ll almost always rally to my support.

I think it has to do not only with the way I’m drawn, but also with the fact that people tend more easily toward aggression online, because it’s easier to dehumanize those on the other side of the convo when there’s a screen and a few thousand miles between you (Thankfully, btw, this didn’t really happen in yesterday’s exchanges, save being called a turkey, lol).

But, I also know that as a writer, a blogger and someone who hopes to inspire people to in some way illuminate, rethink or move an issue forward, I’ve got to take a stance. To give people something to yes or no to. And, the more passionately I voice that stance, without fail, the stronger the response on both sides of the issue.

It’s great when everyone’s on your side, but at least for me, it’s tough when people vehemently disagree. I’ve never been good at the thick skin thing. And, therein lies one of the biggest conundrums in blogdome.

How do you balance your desire to stretch—knowing that when you do it’s not only good for you, but good for traffic and business—with not wanting to walk around with a knot in your stomach all day.

So, I continue to challenge myself to project a voice that’s as strong as the one in my head. But, truth be told, not infrequently what you guys get is a filtered version.

And I was reminded of this in another context this week…exploring the dark side.

I had the extraordinary pleasure of spending almost two solid hours one-on-one with Robert McKee, the legendary creator of the lecture series and book entitled Story. We actually traded interviews and as we wound down my part of the exchange, he asked,

“What about the dark side? Your blog is very up. I don’t see you write about the dark side on your blog very much and all great stories need to explore that.”

He’s right. There are things I just won’t write about here.

Truth is, I’m pretty blessed. My life is good. I love who I’m with, how I’m building my living and what I do. But, we all have shadows of darkness. We all have struggles. We may call them something else. Challenges, issues, problems, demons. They’re all part of what Zorba called the full catastrophe of life. Part of our stories. Important parts that I know some other bloggers, friends of mine, share in a very public way. And, they’re rewarded with big traffic.

Not so much me, though. In part, because of the knot. In part, because I have this completely unscientific sense that the more I focus on darkness, on struggle, the more I give it life. And I’d rather spend my time feeding the beast that breathes joy. Also because of who I know occasionally reads this blog…my daughter. It’s just a line in the sand I choose to draw. At least for now. At least on this blog. At this time.

So, I continue to work to find that elusive sweet spot between leading with light, joy, compassion, value and engagement, while also staking out strong positions, polarizing, filtering and dipping my toe in the revelation and exposure of yet another piece of who I am, my own dark side.

And I’m curious…what about you?

Ever wonder how to sell a lot of books in a market that’s, um…nuts?

Many of you guys know I write a second blog called Tribal Author that covers the wacky world of book marketing. Well, last year, after releasing a 29 page report called The Truth About Book Marketing (that simultaneously angered certain people, while inspiring others), there were so many questions about what really works, I decided to offer a 2-day book marketing camp in NYC called Tribal Author Camp. That event sold out very quickly. Honestly, way faster than I thought, which I’m guessing is less about me and more about the desperate need for real, actionable, B.S.-free book marketing information in a sea of scams, pitch-fests and worthless dreck.

We talked about some really cool things, like:

• The 80/20 Tribal Love Triangle
• How to drive pre-orders and light a fire for your book’s release
• How to run “ethical” amazon campaigns to drive more consistent, lasting sales
• Why social media is not enough to launch your book (I know, didn’t expect that, huh?)
• What never to do if you want people to take you seriously and help you promote
• How to get cover quotes from rock stars, even when you’re a newbie
• How to get “real” amazon reviewers lined up
• And a ton of other stuff.

The feedback was amazing…

But, there was something bugging me. I wanted to take it one giant step further. I wanted to be able to spend one extra day devoted purely to developing each person’s individual platform strategy and 3-stage integrated book launch plan. So, I decided, if I ran another Tribal Author Camp, I’d add a third day to the camp that was all about hands-on plan development, feedback and individual strategy. Which is exactly what I’ve done. I’m so psyched to share with you guys my new, expanded:

3-day Tribal Author Camp NYC | New York City

April 23 to 25 (Friday to Sunday)

Like the 2009 camp, it’s not one of those mega-conferences, it’s intimate and hands on (translation, not a lot of seats). And there’s something else I’d like to do for you…

There’s already a giant $250 early bird discount when you enroll by the end of March. But I want to do something really special for my tribe (and if you’re reading this, that’s you). So, here it is…

Be one of the first 20 people to register by March 25th
and you’ll get an ADDITIONAL $50 off the tuition
by using the code “tribal-insider”

Yes, that’s on top of the existing $250 Early Bird Discount (so you’ll get $300 off)! But, you’ve gotta be one of the first 20 to sign up, and those spots could all go in an hour, a day or a week.

BTW, yes, it’s okay to let your friends use this code to join you, even if they don’t read the blog (just make sure you sign up first to lock in your seat, lol).

Click here to learn more and read what last year’s campers thought about the experience.

Look forwarding to playing with you in NYC in April!

It’s no secret I believe bloggers should be free to earn a living at their craft…

Which is why it bugs me when someone questions my right to mix a relatively miniscule volume of features or content with a blended commercial intent into what I do here.

Warning: Rant ahead!

I’ve said it in my recent posts on the NY Times putting up a paywall, bloggers getting paid for their content, my take on the errant ways of the free brigade and plenty of other posts. My friend, Dave Navarro has killer post up called, When Free Gets Ugly, on the topic.

We’re not here out of the kindness of our hearts.

Yes, we love to create valuable content and conversations. Most of us come alive through the opportunity to make an impact. But, it also takes a substantial amount of time, energy and passion.

And, most of us are also really fond of paying our bills and honoring our responsibilities to ourselves and our families.

So, I’ll say it one more time…

Online or offline, someone in the chain of creation and/or consumption always pays.

There is no free, only the perception of free…because somebody else is paying.

In the newspaper and magazine worlds, the readers pay part and the sponsors and advertisers pay part. Sometimes it works, other times not.

In the blogosphere, which has grown out of the ethic of free, for years it was just assumed the blogger would pay. Always with their time and often with their own money and lost opportunity costs. But, then folks, readers like you, started to realize that creating consistent high value content, conversations and experiences takes a boatload of work. Work worthy of compensation (well, sometimes, lol).

Still, bloggers have been VERY hesitant to charge readers for the right to engage with their content.

So, instead, they’ve…

Developed ways to fund their efforts that don’t require revenue from readers.

Some put up adsense ads, others put up banners, still others accept money up front for posting reviews. Some use blogs to build a platform, a community that then fuels indirect or “off-blog” revenue like consulting, events and paid content offerings and solutions. That’s my main revenue model for this blog.

Yes, I confess, I don’t just do it for the love of people and pixels.

And, it’s why I offer a variety of ways join the community and even nudge people toward email with prompts at the end of my posts and a subscription lightbox that’s been specially scripted to be friendlier to a blog-community, only show once and, even then, not until you’re done reading a post (fyi-we’re currently fixing a setting that unintentionally made it show at other times),

Still others try out services and products and, if they find genuine value in them, become affiliates and pass on their honest opinions and experiences. On occasion, I do that, too. It’s an itty bitty part of the thousands of hours a year I put into sharing with this amazing community. And, it’s an itty bitty part of how I make money with this blog.

Non-hobby bloggers spend an insane amount of time creating content and conversations.

Nobody’s forcing us to do it, we LOVE doing it.

But, it’s an effort we could never sustain were we to go all purist and say, “I’m not worthy of remuneration…FROM SOMEONE.” Because, for most, time spent blogging is time taken away from other projects, ventures or jobs that would bring in income. So, I’m good with the fact that, over the last few years, a growing array of vehicles, strategies and opportunities that allow companies and individuals to support bloggers have evolved.

I don’t hide that, in fact, I pretty much evangelize it.

And, if anyone has trouble with idea of bloggers adding a modicum of commerciality to our blogs in an effort to put food on the table for our families, while also serving up a large volume of genuine value…I’m happy to receive a check in the mail instead.

Oh, and for the 99.99% of you who get it, who show up, write us bloggers the most wonderful emails, share your thoughts and ideas and tolerate our wacky desire to in some way leave you in a better place, while putting earning a living…

…you blow us away and honor us with the gift of your presence, your energy and your attention every day.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Rant over.

Have a lovely day.

.

Sometime around the middle of last year, I hired someone to do an SEO audit on my blog.

SEO, by the way, stands for search engine optimization, or…how sexy google thinks you are.

The verdict…ACK!!!

That was literally what the final report said. My keywords were all over the place, posts went in a million different directions, my headlines were written entirely for humans, not google bots and reviewers. Oy vey, I was an SEO trainwreck.

You’d think someone who’s been doing this for a few years would know better. And, in fact, I do.

I just don’t love the process of “SEOing” my posts, so…I’ve ended up blowing it off.

But, I have a confession to make. Looking back…I wish I hadn’t.

Because I’ve now got hundreds of juicy, high-value posts in my archives that are drawing very little organic search traffic. Not because they’re bad, but because I never bothered doing the basic “on blog” SEO stuff that sets your posts up to become search-engine traffic magnets.

Then, along comes Scribe SEO…

It’s a new service for WordPress bloggers (that’s me) that claims to make the process of optimizing your posts for search engines about a bazillion easier. Fun, even. Plus, the guy behind it is my friend, Brian Clark, of Copyblogger fame, and he puts out good stuff.

So, I decided to give it a whirl…

And, the thing is, even though I’m an affiliate for the product, I paid full price for it myself. Because of the potential value to me. Because, if it worked as claimed, it’d help me do something mission critical that I’ve had a lot of trouble doing myself.

Scribe SEO under the hood…

Scribe SEO is a simple to install WordPress plugin that allows you to click one button and have a draft post thoroughly analyzed for SEO. Within seconds, a report appears on the screen that gives you an overall score out of 100, then suggests very specific things to change before publishing in order to maximize the SEO impact of the post.

Translation for non-SEO-geeks…it tells what to change to make google love ya.

I was going to post a bunch of screenshots showing how ScribeSEO works, but truth is, they’ve already done that, and quite artfully, at the Scribe SEO website.

Just follow this link, click on “Bloggers,” then click “Take the Tour.”

But, what I will do is share my personal experience as I began to run the plugin on my posts.

They can be summed up in one word. “OY!”

Apparently that SEO expert I paid to audit my blog (she rocks, btw), was right. My posts blow SEO chunks. My scores were down around the 40s and 50s out of 100.  And ScribeSEO plugin report lit up like an 8 year old’s eyes at a candy store. Decision time.

What really made this worth the investment, though, is that the ScribeSEO plugin didn’t just tell me what was wrong, it also suggested suggested keywords, link additions and other tweaks to fix it.

Remember, though, it’s still up to you to take ScribeSEO’s advice. And, here’s where you need to be careful. Sometimes it’s fairly easy to do what Scribe SEO says, make a bunch of quick changes that make google dig you AND keep your readers humming happily along. Other times, it’s not so easy, because it messes with your language, tone or message.

So, you’ve got to decide whether you want to lose out on potential SEO value, but keep the personality in or bump the SEO optimization and potentially lose a bit of zip.

In the end, I find Scribe SEO really useful, largely because:

• It’s inexpensive for what it does (they have a 72% off special if you register by Friday, Feb 26th)
• It pushes me to examine every post and make the tweaks I’ve blown off for years.

It’s kind of like my own private SEO cop.

And, as I mount an effort to drive a lot more organic search traffic, trust me…I need the help!

Remember, though, Scribe SEO will optimize your post for search engine traffic and help you to write headlines with great anchor link text for backlinks…but it won’t automatically get you those backlinks that put you over the moon in google’s eyes. That you have to do yourself.

So, go check it out.

Test drive it and see if it feels right for you.

[Affiliate disclosure: As I mentioned above, I am an affiliate for this product. That means, if you click on over to check it out and end up buying it, I'll get insane amounts of money hand-delivered to my numbered account in the Cayman's and be one step closer to retiring and living my life out in a sarong with beaded hair...what's left of it (huge apologies for the mental image)]

It seems to be all the rage lately…

The power of personal brands. Become the wizard in your space. Establish yourself as the go-to person, the thought leader, the one with all the answers and the smartest strategies. Leverage the astonishing power and reach of the internet, the blogosphere, the twittersphere, the Facebooksphere, the Google Buzz-o-sphere, The LinkedIn-o-sphere.

Your quest is simple. Become…lé guru in your niche!

We’re told, online personal brands:

• Lead to fame and and adoration.
• Drive the world to you for answers.
• Get you jobs, gigs and opportunities,
• Put cash money in your pocket.
• Make your life easier

How cool is that?!

There’s only one small problem…

All too often, personal brands are astonishingly shallow.

They start and stop at the point of capabilities and accolades. They stay topical. Superficial. Digital resumes on monkey hormones. They focus on the snapshot of what you can do, without ever really exploring how well aligned your personal brand is with who you are on a deeper, more visceral level and who you want to become.

Personal brands have ENDURING power…IF you first do the really hard work that most people skitter past.

Drill down. Move beyond your momentary skills and abilities.

Ask the hard questions:

• Who am I?
• What do I care about?
• What makes me come alive?
• Who makes me come alive?
• Who do I want to serve?
• What am I building and why?
• What impact do I want to have?
• What story do I want to be told about the way I’ve lived my life?
• What massive, pervasive problems do I see that need to be solved?
• How can I solve them in a way nobody else can?
• What is my totally unique gift? And…
• Why should anyone else care?

And, this is just a starter list.

Powerful personal brands are built on considered exploration of these questions over a period of months, years or decades.

They evolve as your answers evolve. And, here’s the real kicker…

Personal brands are not created by you.

You take action and serve others.

You offer words, ideas, insights, solutions, paths and inspiration.

You share your gifts, your talents, your resources and bring people together.

You do what you do in the most engaged, authentic, fearless way possible.

You may even offer up images, cartoons or visual representation of all of the above.

But your personal brand is organically coalesced by those with whom you interact, impact and in some way leave changed.

So, you have a choice. You can build a personal brand on momentary lists or public demonstrations of passing capabilities without reference to deeper alignment with the answers to the above questions. And that may bring you short-term accolades and opportunities. But, to what end?

Why bother, when the opportunity to go so much deeper and build something so much richer lays at your feet?