Blog Tips from Mike Allton – HoA Review
Posted on July 21, 2014
Blog tips from Mike Allton, of The Social Media Hat fame, are manna for online marketers and bloggers. Without doubt Mike is one of the bloggers that I’ve been looking up to and learning from for quite a while and so to have him on the Blogging Warfare Google Plus HoA was a particular treat for me, and, I’m sure – the global audience of bloggers who tune in fortnightly. For those of you who have watched previous Blogging Warfare episodes you’ll notice that myself and co-hosts Wade Harman & Carolyn Capern were somewhat quiet during this special hour long show and that is because we were listening to the blog tips from Mike. And, you should to – press play to roll the tape and I’ve got the different sections timestamped for you below if you want to jump to something.
Blog Tips from Mike Allton – HoA Review
2.00: Carolyn – What is the history of the Social Media Hat?
4.15: Wade – What should new bloggers who have money on the brain do?
Mike – with a brand new blog you’re not going to make any money straight away but also important to differentiate between two types of blogs – blogs which support a business to drive sales for that business or stand alone blogs which hope to make monetise the blog. Important to have the right mindset so that you don’t throw in the towel before you start to see results.
12.10: Rob – What has been the most successful avenue for you or new bloggers for making money from blogging?
Mike – Google Adwords aren’t a quick fix solution for money from blogging and neither are affiliates. Better to try develop a relationship with an affiliate but no guarantee of sales unless you have audience, a platform or a tribe. New bloggers don’t have that tribe and have to focus on building that up before trying to cash in on AdSense/affiliates. Best way to make money is to sell your own expertise. It requires that you create content that is exceedingly good at demonstrating your authority – but you need to have the expertise first.
16.00: Carolyn – How are you able to blog so quickly?
Mike – Blogging is like anything else you do in life, it takes practice and time to get good at it and it’s not all just about typing speed. (FYI: Mike Allton’s WPM is 62wpm)
19.00: Wade – How many blog posts should you post per week and quality vs quantity?
Mike – your first blog posts will be rubbish, that’s just the way it is. Frequency of blogging depends on your goals and resources. It typically takes 50 blog posts in the archive for organic traffic and so work from there, 1 post a week and you’ll get there in a year, etc. The underlying truth to all of this is that all the blog post content you put out should be of quality and useful/helpful to someone.
24.00: Rob – How can bloggers promote (syndicate) their content once produced?
Mike – there is a difference between promoting and syndicating content. Syndication is when a post is automatically reprinted (not always good for new bloggers). For promotion check out the 25 point blog post promotion checklist. When sharing to Google Plus spend some time to intro the post, mention people pertinent to the post, use 3 hashtags at bottom of post with only one link in the description (important). .
30.00: Wade – How are you creating the notification circles?
Mike – when you share anything on Google Plus there is a checkbox which shows “also send e-mail”, usually you don’t touch it but if people have opted in then you can send e-mail to that optin circle.
34.40: Gerard Forte – What are your thoughts on pillar content or epic posts?I have heard that longer form content is getting favorable attention from search?
Mike – absolutely true. Think about 3 different kinds of blog posts with standard post in the middle, typically 500-700 word range. Then there is the cheater post which is just a one paragraph intro to a HoA, video, SlideShare presentation etc. Then the opposite end of the spectrum is the epic post which should be 1,500 words or more and can take weeks or months to write. It has to be the sort of the thing that when someone reads it they can’t help to share or bookmark it etc. Sometimes a series can be better than a long post that isn’t totally epic, ie, a 3,000 word post could be broken into thirds for a series.
41.40: Ileane Smith – How do you feel about using sharecounts for your clients when they only have a handful of shares (less than 10). Do you hide the counts in that case?
Mike – It depends. It depends on the client, the content and the industry. If it’s not reasonable to expect that it will improve then hide it. If you’re a true blogger you should show the share counts. Always be the first to plus your own content.
43.15: Carolyn – Tell us about your Evernote System?
Mike – a big part of my blogging process is Evernote and it’s free. Within Evernote you can have different notebooks to organise your notes and within notebooks you can have as many notes as you want. The key thing is to capture the idea. (FYI: Mike has got 50 blog posts started!)
51.15: Newsjacking
Mike – Newsjacking is when you blog about latest news or trends in your market. Think of it like journalism as a blogger. Get a system in place to track news via feedly, google alerts, RSS feeds etc. Important to be flexible in your time so you can jump on breaking news stories.
53.30: Angela Hemans – What is the time span for releasing series blog post that you have found works best for keeping people’s attention? There is so much great content to read.
Mike – Typically, the best way to to do it, is to do it in succession. Whatever your regular blogging schedule is stick to it
54.30: Ileane Smith – What is the process you use for vetting guest authors?
Mike – Having guest contributors is a great thing if you get wonderful content. And that is the vetting process. Are they providing something that is interesting or of value that hasn’t been seen before? The bar is getting higher and higher on the Social Media Hat as the quality of content continues to improve.
57.15 Gerad Forte: – Do you have a different, more aggressive promotion strategy for longer form content?
Mike – yes. If I’ve written a pillar post I’ve done so for a reason. The purpose of the post is the help people, establish my authority and to get business. Epic, pillar posts get promoted more (as per the 25 step checklist) as well as some paid promotion on Facebook and Twitter.
10 Blog Tips from Mike Allton – HoA Review – Tip Round Up
There were so many blog tips in this HoA that as I was rewatching I found myself jotting down a few key tips which may be pertinent to you. I then figured I’d do the tips justice and enlisted the help of Elena Montes to design an infographic for them. Check out the 10 blog tips below and if you like the graphic feel free to share it on.
- Write your blog post for one person at a time.
- Write blog posts based on questions people have asked.
- Have a persona, with specific attributes (age, name, income, needs, issues, area) that can connect with your target audience.
- Putting Google AdSense on a new site could actually hurt your organic traffic.
- It has been statistically shown that your site needs about 50 pieces of content in your archive for organic traffic.
- 2 to 3 blog posts per week is ideal for small to medium business. For bloggers, write and blog every day.
- Syndication for new bloggers isn’t great as if the site who syndicates your post is bigger than your site you may get less than search engine traffic.
- Use excellent social share buttons on your blog and put the counters there for social proof (be the first to share)
- Don’t try create epic content all the time
- Use Evernote so that no ideas get lost
Blog Tips from Mike Allton – HoA Review – That’s A Wrap
And there you have it – a whole plethora of blog tips and advice from one of the best blogging names in the business. I’d quickly like to, once again, thank Mike for joining us on the show, a wealth of knowledge. If you’ve any questions you’d like answered in future shows please comment below and if you have any tips of your own please feel free to share.
Cynthia Hartwig
July 22, 2014 (7:17 pm)
One of my fave tips from Mike Alton is that every piece of content you post on your blog has to be great content. You’re building credibility with each post. I also appreciated confirmation that blogging 1X/week (which is all Two Pens can handle or we wouldn’t be billing anything!) is enough to build credibility over time. His point that it takes about a year of blogging 1X/week is my experience as well. An hour well spent so thanks for interviewing him.
Robert Ryan
July 22, 2014 (8:58 pm)
Hi Cynthia, cheers for watching the show and glad you liked :) Ye, 1 post a week is fine if you’re busy with client work – I know what it gets like ;) All the best, Rob
Ryan Biddulph
July 24, 2014 (3:05 am)
Hi Robert,
It’s been a while. Great to see you in my Triberr stream again.
What a fab interview. I’ve enjoyed watching Mike’s growth over the years. He’s the G Plus authority in my eyes, and walks his talk everywhere he shows up, on social media sites and through his blog.
I agree fully on the posting sked; I learned from my old blog that volume posting can’t make the impact that publishing longer, in-depth articles can. People want resources. Be the guy or gal who shares 1000 to 3000 word resources 1 to 3 times weekly, and you’ll build your brand steadily.
I just went live with Blogging From Paradise 3 weeks ago. So far, so good. I had success with my last blog but it really was practice, pretty much, setting up this smart release. I’m using Mike’s tips because I learned from experience that publishing quality posts less frequently, and devoting more time to an aggressive outreach campaign, connecting with authorities, is the way to go.
At least if you want to run a successful blog.
Robert, awesome interview dude.
Thanks for sharing.
I’ll tweet it through Triberr now.
Have a fun day!
Ryan
Robert Ryan
July 25, 2014 (11:15 am)
Hey Ryan, cheers for reading and the comment. Was great chatting with Mike, he really is a wealth of information and an authority on all things online, with a ton of blog tips to boot. Best of luck with your new blog – going to check it now.. Have a good’un, Rob
Louise
July 27, 2014 (6:41 am)
I just want to put my 2 cents in and say to Mike, ” I loved your information you gave in this video. Christena on google + shared this information, and boy am I glad she did. you are awesome!!
Robert Ryan
July 27, 2014 (10:13 am)
Thanks for watching (and to Christine for sharing on G+) and for your 2 cents Louise. Great to hear you found the HoA useful, Mike is full of great blogging tips and info..
Peter G.
July 30, 2014 (10:33 pm)
Currently watching your video! Very informative! However, I would like to add, that when I started one of my first blogs just a week ago, and it is already gaining traffic, particularly because of the affiliate network that I’m in. Other than that, you’re comments are on point in terms of the fact any normal blogger won’t be seeing any income for 6 months, at the very least, if any! (UNLESS they’re utilizing proper social media, traffic mediums, and training!) Nonetheless, my website has been ranked in alexa within one week…
Robert Ryan
July 30, 2014 (10:53 pm)
Hey Peter, cheers for watching and glad you’re finding it informative – Mike is full of great blog tips. Congrats on the success of your site – I’d be a little bit skeptical about quick success as it may not be long lasting but I hope it continues for you.. Ping me a mail with information about the affiliate network if you want, always open to checking out new ideas, skeptical and all as I am ;) Rob