Obviously, the advertising industry picked up on blogs and social media pretty early on and revenue streams based on advertising has matured quite rapidly. And like with anything on the web, the internet marketing crowd, with their usual approach, moved into the social media space.

But for the most part businesses that offer services are only beginning to scratch the surface of how to use social media to create a space in the market and grow their business. And with the constant growth and massive potential blogging and social networking provide, it’s pretty obvious that social marketing is anything but a fad.

Just think about it for a moment. What’s one constant of marketing – that people will forever be looking for ways to solve the problems they face. Getting married and want to find the perfect wedding planner? You can likely find her (or him) blogging. Traveling for the first time to Fort Collins, Colorado? You’ll probably want to comfortable hotel. Want to increase your business profits 50% over the next 12 months? There’s a business advisor (who I happen to know personally) who can likely help you do it (just give him a call or shoot him an email).

You see, publishing to a blog can establish your expertise in the area you’re an expert in. Your blog serves as a platform for sharing what you know. And when you share what you know with the people who need what you know, you’re creating a space for yourself in the market.

But the blog lets you go even further. Better than creating a market, your blog lets you create a community. Through conversations in the comment box and an open line of communication, your blog, and hence your business service, can become vitally important to your reader’s success. In other words, you can find your own niche within the market.

And here I’m talking only about blogging. Add in relationships in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Combine that with all the social bookmarking and social sharing sites that allow for the spread of your excellent content and what you have is an entire social marketing platform based in conversation and relationship.

You see, it’s relationship that drive the market. Always has and it always will. Things got a little sidetracked as we moved from the quaint neighborhood drugstore and small-town lumber yard to the CVS and Home Depot monopolies. We gained price savings, but what we lost was the relationship.

Social media is bringing back the relationship into business. This is one of the reasons why I feel social media has exploded. Consumers can once again have control over the marketplace by choosing who they want to be in relationship with. And it’s why I strong feel that social marketing is not at all a fad. It’s here to stay. It’ll evolve, just as the internet always does. But the web based on individual control and relationship-driven services will continue to prosper.

The the only question remains is how are you using social media to increase your business? And if you’re not, why not( Maybe a call to that business growth advisor I spoke of would be a good idea)?

Let’s talk about it.

(note: image from kalandrakas on Flickr,  some rights reserved)

But one thing is similar between almost every client…they somehow see their blog as their business. I’m not sure where this developed exactly, but I see this all over the web as well. Perhaps there’s a misunderstanding between those who have made money blogging and those who want too.

But a blog is not a business. Blogging, in it’s own right, is no more a business than your gasoline is a car. Sure, the car and gasoline are forever linked, even dependent on each other, but you’re not going to step inside a can of gas and make it to the grocery store.

You can think of your blog in similar terms. Your blog is like gasoline in that it can make your business go. And done well, blogging can make your business grow. But you first need a clearly defined business model before you can attach a successful blog to it.

Even for the problogger, your blog is the method that allows you to make an income – in other words, it’s marketing. But your business is about publishing, sell advertising or affiliate programs or being paid for reviews. The blog is simply the way you accomplish your business model.

I bring this up because I see so many people getting it backward. They think the blog is their business. They see the blog as their car. They expect to just get in and have the blog deliver them to their destination. But it doesn’t work that way. You can blog successfully for years and never make any money. You can have tens of thousands of commenters and no clients.

The answer to making money with your blog isn’t about text-link ads, having more ad space or finding the right affiliate programs. It’s not even about converting clients or selling products. All this can certainly make you money, but your chance of success decreases greatly if you don’t have a plan – a business model to follow.

Here’s some simple points to set you in the right direction toward finding your business model:

• Know thy self – What is it you have to offer. With a service or product this is obvious. For the problogger, it’s still necessary as content will drive your success.
• Know thy market – What is it the people who make up your market need? Solve a problem for them and they’ll become a customer. One help…think of your market as a person.
• Know thy vision – Think about where you want your business to go and what you’d like to accomplish with it. Write down your ideas. And be sure to set goals.
• Know thy plan – Your business is like building construction – you have to have a plan. Your plan is the path� you’ll follow toward accomplishing your goals.
• Track thy success – Tracking is way underutilized by small business owners today. As a blogger, tracking traffic is great. But consider tracking conversions and revenue and tweak things to gain more success.

The bullet points above ideally answer four questions – who are you, what do you do, who do you do it for, and how do you do it? When the answers to these questions are clear, you have the foundation for your business. Now, go get your blog to do the marketing for your business.

And that’s what a blog is – a marketing tool; a method for drawing attention to your business. But first you have to know what your business is about. You have to know who you serve and with what. And to be successful, you need to know how to meet the goals you set for business. Blogging can help with all this. But without a clear vision and solid plan, you’ll likely end up like the tens of thousands of bloggers who are writing their fingers off and making pennies.

So if you’re problogging, what’s your business model? And if you’re blogging to convert clients or customers, how are you using your blog to gain revenue?

More importantly, how well is it working? I’d love to chat about it…

(note: image from B Tal on Flickr)

Doesn’t matter whether you sell products or pitch a service – you probably want more clients, customers, buyers, patrons, consumers, subscribers, users, etc. Doesn’t matter what you call them – you’d like more.

After all, doesn’t more subscribers equal more people to market too? More patrons mean increasing sales? And increased sales equals more revenue. Isn’t that how it works?

Most of us know that. Yet many business owners set their focus too strongly on increasing revenue. They spend their time, their energy and their resources focused on making more money. And so they become like a hamster running around the wheel of trying to increase their profits – often, getting nowhere.

But what if you took some of that time to build relationships with your clients and customers? What if you took some time to build relationships with some of your leads? Better yet, what if you spent some time and resources to build relationships with other business owners? Businesses that compliment yours in one way or another. Or grew relationships with other business owners you have other interests in common with? What could happen?

What could happen is that you find yourself with more work than you can imagine.

As I’ve said now for years – people do business with people, not businesses. So business, ultimately, is about relationships. So when you focus on the relationships in and around your business, you’re paying into the greatest resource you have at your disposal – people.

It’s people who…

• …are your clients, customers and patrons
• …are your leads and prospects
• …are paying for your products and services
• …you’re in business to serve
• …tell their friends about you
• …become return customers
• …refer you business
• …use and evaluate your products and services
• …write reviews of your products and services
• …want to partner with you on future projects
• …whose problems your business can solve
• …read and comment on your blog
• …recommend your site on Digg, Mixx, StumbleUpon and other social link sites
• …who want to connect with you on Facebook, MyBlogLog and LinkedIn
• …who become your affiliates
• …your business needs
• and finally, it’s people who need what you offer.

So your business is about people. You need people to run your business. And you need people to increase your revenue. So why not focus on creating relationships with people?

How are you focusing on relationships in your business? How has it changed your business?

And what’s one thing you’ve wanted to create to build relationships in your business that you haven’t gotten too yet?

(note: image from edyperesfoto on Flickr)

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since David Armano talked about it at SOBCon last year. His basic point was that “blogging is a commodity. Anyone can do it. We are human beings with passions and interests that come out in our blogs—not the other way around. Stop calling yourself a blogger. You are a… (designer, businessperson, marketer, artist, baker, mother, grandfather, etc). Calling ourselves bloggers takes away from what makes us unique.”

I have to say that I agree. I think the term blogger is overused and often misunderstood. When I talk with businesses about blogging, they often, even after all this time, think of journaling. They haven’t fully appreciated the breadth of what the term blogger can mean.

Sure, I still use the term blog or blogger, but only in select company and mostly as a shortcut. But I don’t really think of myself as a blogger anymore. Rather, I think of myself as a publisher. And I think of my blog as a publishing platform; one that lets me focus on content instead of site structure.

Think about it. Isn’t blogging basically writing and publishing? That’s pretty much the basic thing we do on our blogs.

When I explain it to business owners that way, it makes sense. When I drop the word blog and talk about a simple, easy-to-use publishing system for their business, it makes sense. It gets us past the terminology and misperceptions. It unbridles our conversation. I mean, what business owner wouldn’t want to have an inexpensive, simple and ever expanding way to share their business with potential customers? Isn’t that what a blog can be?

Yesterday Darren Rowse postsed a great article on this same topic. The video that accompanied the post I’ve included below and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Darren made three points in his post which are each relevant for the business and nonbusiness blogger publisher alike.

1. “Your competitors don’t limit themselves, why should you?”
   Ideally, you’re thinking of your blog as a website – because, that’s what it is. So rather than thinking about how your blog stacks up against other blogs, consider how your blog stacks up in your business niche.
2. “Your readers don’t really care what format your site is.”
   Really, people want great content – whether it’s in an article bank, part of an ezine or posts on a blog. From their perspective, it’s less important how that great content is delivered than what that great content shares.
3. “(Properly) positioning yourself for the future.”
   If you look around the so-called blogosphere, you’ll see that blogs are changing. They’re morphing into new structures with new features and functions. For me, the term blogging can get in the way of this evolution, don’t you think?

So what do you think? Do you think of yourself as a blogger? If not, what do you call yourself? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Below I’ve posted Darren’s video from his post yesterday. It’s just under 5 minutes. Give it a watch and join the conversation in the comment box.

People share things they find enjoyable, helpful or interesting with people they know. In other words, people pass it on. That’s what social marketing is about – passing it on.

But sometimes we forget. We’re rushed or tired or just ‘messing around’ on the web and we may not think to always share things we find with people that might like or benefit from them.

So why not remind them? And when you remind them, make it easy.

Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, and one of my favorite marketers, suggests just that. In is book he suggests:

Someone is on your website, looking at something that you are selling – and they feel the urge to tell someone else. Make it easy. That person is about to advertise for you, for free. Or they need to ask someone a questions before they buy, Or they just like what they see. Do whatever it takes to let the word of mouth happen.

I couldn’t agree more. Make it easy for people to share what they find on your site, on your blog and in your products and services sections. Really, everywhere. You never know where people will be on your site that will inspire them to share with a friend. So make it easy.

On page 124 of Andy’s book, he offers the secrets to creating effective tell-a-friend forms:

• Make it fast.
  Design a form that can be filled out in less than 15 seconds. Get rid of optional fields, passwords, or anything that gets in the way of the referral.
• Ask for several referrals.
  Be sure to explicitly ask users to forward the message to multiple friends. The more you ask, the more you get. Design the form so it is easy to add lots of names without confusion.
• Use the sender’s name.
  When you deliver the message, make sure it is from the referrer, not your website. The recipient isn’t expecting mail from you and might delete it. He will open a message from his friend.
• Include a personal message.
  Let the sender add text to the message. The referral is far more powerful when the talker gets to put it in his own words.
• Make it forwardable.
  Take a look at the message that recipients get. Is that message a ready-to-go viral email, or is it some cryptic link?
• Protect privacy.
  And brag about it. Be clear and explicit that you respect the privacy of the senders and recipients using the form and that you won’t use their emails for any other purpose (and stick to what you promise). Usage will skyrocket when you do this.

Just to drive the point home a little more, here’s a short video I found of Andy talking about how tell-a-friend is worth 1.6 billion dollars.

How do you ask people to pass it on? Oh yeah, and by the way, please feel free to share this blog with anyone you’d like.

(note: image from Duncan Davidson on Flickr)

We spent the better part of an hour talking about how a blog, when used well, can become a hub for creating buzz about her business. But as we talked, I could sense there was something I wasn’t communicating clearly enough for her to understand.

She was focusing on how her blog would get her in front of so many more people than her static website and how those people would “just convert to clients.”

Of course it doesn’t just work like that. People don’t just become clients for no reason. And just because we’re blogging doesn’t mean our business will grow.

So I asked her to describe how she’d write a blog post to me. She said she’d simply write about what she does, how she helps people and what problems she can solve. She knew from our previous conversations that she wanted to use her blog to build conversation with her readers. And she was clear that she needed to followup with her commenters.

It all sounds pretty good, right? But something was missing for me. Then I asked her what the point of having the conversation in the comment box with her readers. She told me to convert them to clients. So I asked her, “do you see your readers and commenters as prospects?” Her answer was, “Certainly!”

So I asked her, “What about you, your family, your life…are you planning to share any of that through your blog?”

“Why would I,” she responded? “I don’t want them to focus on my life, I want them to do business with me.”

Ah, now my fog was lifted. I knew what she meant – that she wants to use her blog to draw perspective clients that she can then interact with and convert them into clients. But she was unknowingly leaving something out…the relationship.

Sure, there’s lots of ways to market your business using your blog. How I use mine is to build relationships with people. I don’t see you, someone reading my blog, as a reader (though I’ve used the term) nor a prospect. Rather, I see you as a person; someone who has some interest in what I have to say. Hence, I have interest in getting to know who you are. That’s fertile soil for a relationship.

So I share with my client how I’ve found relationships to be the key to growing my business successfully over the years. I’ve learned that when I let the relationship lead the way, the business end of things takes care of itself. I’m not talking about relationships over business. I’m talking about the relationship part of business leading the way.

That’s one way I’ve found conversational blogging to be so powerful. The comment box creates a space for us to have a conversation. Over time, that conversation can lead to a relationship. Some of those relationships can be acquaintances, some friendships, and some business relationships. And each on different levels that grow organically.

When I shared all this with my client (we went over our hour), she got it. Not only did she get it, she was invigorated by the potential to touch people. And while she wasn’t, yet, completely clear how to ‘lead with the relationship,’ she had a sense of how it worked.

So how has blogging helped you create conversations that have led to relationships? What type of relationships have you built? And how have those relationships benefitted your business?�

I have to admit, I’m a huge fan of Andy Sernovitz.

If you don’t know Andy, he’s the author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking and, in my opinion, a word of mouth marketing expert.

What I love about Andy’s approach is it’s all very simple. In his book he says:

People love to talk.

People talk about products and services. People talk about hair color, cars, computers, sandwiches, TV shows, and floor cleaner. The stuff they use every day.

People are talking about you and what you sell right now.

…So you have only two choices: let people talk about you, spread rumors, and get it wrong; or join in, participate, and make it work for you.

Then he spends the rest of the book telling you how.

As I said, I love Andy’s work. So when I found this video of him YouTube talking about the 3 reasons people talk about you, I had to share it. Take a watch, it’s only a minute long:

So how to do you nurture word of mouth marketing with your business or blog?

While there are numerous ways to drive more traffic to your site, one of the most effective and far-reachings ways is to link build. Link building is simply the way you get more links to your site. The more links you have, the more traffic you’ll get, the better your SEO and the further your reach.

Many business hire firms or consultants to help them create link building (or link baiting) strategies. However, often the costs of hiring a consultant can be an impediment to the small business owner.

That’s why when I found this list of interviews on Manish Pandey’s blog, I had to share them with you. I haven’t read/listened to them all yet, but those I have are top notch. And just look at the quality of people being interviewed: Lee Odden, Seth Godin, Andy Hagans, Jim Boykin, Loren Baker, Bob Gladstein, Debra Mastaler, Eric Ward…wow…it’s like a who’s-who of link strategy experts. And the interviewers, themselves, aren’t too shabby.

1. Peter Da Vanjo interviews Fantomaster.
2. Aaron Wall interviews Dabra Mastaler.
3. Barry Schwartz interview with Jim Boykin.
4. Lee Odden interviews Eric Ward.
5. Sugarrae’s group interview on link development.
6. Patrick Gavin interviews Loren Baker.
7. Julia interviews Bob Gladstein.
8. Loren Baker interviews Patrick Gavin.
9. Aaron Pratt interviews Stuntdubl.
10. Scottie Claiborne interviews Mike Grehan.
11. Joe interviews Matt Inman.
12. Glen Allsopp interviews Lee Odden.
13. Aaron Wall interviews Andy Hagans.
14. Dev Lakhani interviews Seth Godin.
15. Aaron Pratt interviews Lee Odden.

So there’s a ton of great information. But what’s your own link strategy? And if you have a great resource for information about link building, please share it in the comment box.

Why?

Well, people want to be in relationships. They want to feel connected to the people they work with. In some way, at least, the business owner wants to trust that the marketing coach really cares about them, their business and helping them solve their problems.

Sure there are other things business owners look for before they sign a check – like competence, professionalism, knowledge, previous results, etc. But ultimately, the relationship will be one of trust.

The New Oxford American Dictionary lists trust as: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone.

Think about it…aren’t these the qualities you want in your business relationships? So do your clients.� So how can you build greater trust with your target audience?

• David Airey’s 5 Easy Steps to Building Trust Online
• Naive by Design’s How to Build Trust Online
• Susan West’s Building Trust is Key to Business Success
• Greg Balanko-Dickson’s Business Blogging Strategy: Build Trust and Rapport
• Marius Wlassak’s Earning Customer Trust Online
• Paul Sarvadi’s Building Profitability by Building Trust
• Shonnie Lavender’s Building Trust With Your Business Blog
• Beautify’s Building Trust in Your Business Relationships – 10 Steps
• Michelle Howe’s Earning Customer Trust Online

Here’s some examples of how others are building greater trust with their audience. How do you?

What’s this mean? Basically, it means by removing the nofollow attribute in comment links, Google and other search bots will follow links placed in comments – giving all commenters link love.

For me, removing nofollow was a no-brainer. I want to give link love to anyone and everyone for commenting on my site. I mean, why not? You take time out of your life to join the conversation around something I’ve written – it’s only right to want to give something back to you.

John Chow apparently sees removing nofollow differently. It appears he’s not about giving back to his readers and commenters. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. He’s decided to charge a fee – $10 per month – to have nofollow removed from someone’s comments.

Now I’ve never been impressed with John’s money making decisions. But this one is way over the top, if you ask me. And certainly one that I cannot, in any way, condone.

While I don’t want to get into a battle with anyone on this point, I do want people to know about this tactic – especially new bloggers who could make the mistake of both trying what he’s trying and paying him for it. Because for me it goes against everything the blogosphere is about. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong for others. It’s just wrong for me.

I see the blogosphere as a place of open sharing and giving. I see a world where people like Darren Rowse and Brian Clark give as freely as they can and yet still make a good living. Read Copyblogger. Go back in Brian’s archives. Everything you could ever want to know about writing great copy is there – free of charge. And the same with Darren. Problogger is the most amazing resource for growing your blog.

Yet, they both monetize. They both have affiliate links. They both make money off their blogs. What they don’t do is sell themselves out for a buck. And that’s why I appreciate everything they put out and will continue to be a fan for a long time to come.

Now, I don’t personally know John Chow, nor Darren or Brian for that matter. So I can’t say without doubt that I know John’s motivations. But it doesn’t look good. And I just wonder that if he’s willing to take this rather low tact, what else questionable would he/is he doing to make all that money he writes about.

I’m not angry or upset with John. I am disappointed in him, though. I’m disappointed that he seems to stop at nothing to squeeze every little dollar out of his blog. It’s his decision, his conscience and ultimately between he and his readers.

I can tell you that I WILL NOT be billing any of you for removing nofollow from your comments. IT’S ALREADY DONE. SO ENJOY THE LINK LOVE.

So what are your thoughts? Should you do everything you can to make money with your blog? Or is there a line that you don’t want to cross?

So I did it. I spent a good part of a couple of days adding blogs to my Technorati Faves and then visiting their blogs and commenting so that they would know I added them and then would add me. Soon, I was faved by almost 200 bloggers and climbed to number 87 on the Top 100 list. A little more effort and I could have climbed another 20-30 slots (I’m about to drop off the list).

Overall, I’ve made the statement that I thought the meme was a waste of time – my time and the time of the people who read my blog. To you who read my blog regularly, once more, I’m sorry to have wasted your time. Please keep reading because I hope to turn this into a positive.

Did I gain from the meme? Sure I did – a bit of traffic and some readers. I’m happy about gaining the readers. Am I disgruntled at the results, as Richard Cunningham suggests? No. Not at all, actually. Do I think bloggers should meme-link? Yes, I do actually. First, however, I feel it’s important to be clear what we’re aiming for.

This is the point I feel is being missed…participating in memes should be something you do to serve your core blogging goal.

Let’s face it, memes are going to increase your reach, land you more traffic and potentially grow your readership. No question about it. And if constantly increasing reach, traffic and readership is the core goal of your blog, great – do every meme that comes your way. Personally, I have no problem with it, if that’s your goal.

But what if your goal is great content, engaging conversation and building relationships with your readers? Then does meme-linking serve your existing readers? Maybe, but maybe not. That’s what’s being missed by some of the comments I’ve seen around the Technorati Faves Exchange.

For instance, Gary Lee suggested, “I think it would be fair to mention how many backlinks you have also received from this meme just to show that their have been some benefits.” Likewise, Maki’s take was, “The fact that you’ve received 69 comments in the previous post is also not a waste of time.”

Both great points. But, they’re missing my point – the meme doesn’t serve my blogging goal – which is to create great content, engaging conversation and build relationships. Sure, it increases my traffic which may allow me some new readers. But it does so at the expense of my current readers. And since no where in my blogging goals do I mention getting new readers and increasing my traffic, I simply don’t feel that these types of meme-links are valuable for my blog. It seems, instead that I’m sacrificing my current readers to reach new ones. And I don’t think that’s necessary.

Of course, Maki’s point is a bit off in that only 1 of those 69 comments was to engage me in a conversation. The rest were just link hunters. That’s fine, I participated in the meme and expected that. But it isn’t the type of commenting I’m looking for. I’m looking for commenting that lead to rich conversation – such as in these three posts.

Mark Goodyear gets it with his comments, “Memes are fun, but typically they distract a blog from its thematic purpose” and “the best inbound links come from a carefully targeted market.” As does thepaperbull with his comment, “I wanted to know how many people favorited me because they valued my site / content.” And Ruhuel added in his comments, “I too prefer consistent traffic over superficial traffic.”

All of them speak closer to what I feel is being missed in all this – The most useful memes are those that benefit everyone involved and your readers first. Memes aimed at just increasing links and traffic simply don’t add value to my readers. So I’m not going to participate in them any longer. Memes, however, that do add value by being content focused – such as Ben Yoskovitz’s Ultimate Guide to Productivity and Mohit Singhania’s Be Original Project – I will continue to participate in – and have (respectively).

So Doris, gilda*su, and Ari, when you asked me about gaining new readers – of course I’m grateful. Not for the traffic nor the favorite links. What I’m grateful for is you – you as a reader and a commenter. As you can see from this post, I care deeply for the people who take the time to read my blog. And for those who comment and engage in the conversation. That’s why I put so much of time and all of myself into it.

And that’s why I don’t want to waste your time with writing about memes that are just about building my traffic. You deserve quality content from me, instead. And I trust in you that if you find value in my blog, you’ll not only continue to read, but you’ll get my feed, you’ll link to me from your blog and you’ll share my blog with others. That’s how I’ve built my traffic so far. No tricks. And I love the results.

Are there faster ways? Sure. I could do a lot to grow my traffic in ways that aren’t about my readers and my content. But I won’t do that – at least not any more. My blog goal is about creating conversation and building relationship and that’s what I’ll focus on.

Your thoughts?

Guy’s his usual, controversial and honest self. And, there’s a nice tip or two. Take a look. Please view the video on Doug Karr’s site.

Guy Kawasaki on Blogging Evangelism

UPDATE: I intended to show the video on my site. But the producer insists on having password access to my blog in order to share it. While I’m sure that’s a fine policy, I couldn’t get the service to accept my password. So, just take a look on Doug’s site. I’m sure he won’t mind.

We all want more traffic, right?

Well, I’ve been watching my friend Garry Conn participate in Dosh Dosh’s Ultimate Technorati Favorites Exchange. Gary has seen huge traffic increases. As have a number of other bloggers.

The Technorati Favorites Exchange is pretty straight forward. Here’s the steps:

1. Add me to your Technorati Favorites
2. Come Back to to this Post and Leave a Comment that you have added me. Use your own Technorati Favorites link in the comment so I know where to go. (i.e. http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://
   www.yourdomain.com)
3. I will go through my comments and then add you to my Technorati Favorites list as well.

Pretty simple, huh?

If you’d like to continue with Dosh Dosh’s link train for even greater benefits, read and follow the guidelines below. You’ll copy the following text into a blog post.

***Start Copying Here:***

Here are the rules:

1) Write a short introduction paragraph about what how you found the list and include a link to the blog that referred you to the list.

2) COPY the Rules and ENTIRE List below and post it to your blog. To avoid duplicate content and increase the amount of keywords your site can accessible for, go ahead and change the titles of the blog. Just don’t change the links of the blog.

3) Take “My New Faves” and move them into the “The Original Faves” list.

4) Add 3 Blogs that you’ve just added to your Technorati Favorites to the “My New Faves” section. Remember to also add the “Fave Me” link next to your new blogs (i.e. http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=
http://www.yourfavesdomain.com)

5) Add Everyone on this list to your Technorati Favorites List by clicking on “Fave the Site.” Those who want good kharma will fave you back. If not, you will for sure get the benefits of faves from the bloggers who continue this list after you.

My New Faves

• Essential Keystrokes – Fave the Site
• Mom Gadget – Fave the Site
• Engaging the Disquiet – Fave the Site
• Monk at Work – Fave the Site
• Converstations – Fave the Site
• The Kiss Business Too – Fave the Site

The Original Faves

• Dawud Miracle – Fave the Site
• GarryConn.com – Fave the Site
• Kumiko’s Cash Quest – Fave the Site
• Dotmyspot – Fave the Site
• Successful Online Money Making! – Fave the Site
• Affiliate Programs – Fave the Site
• Net Business Blog – Fave the Site
• Career Ramblings – Fave the Site
• Ramblings from the Marginalized – Fave the Site
• Everyday Weekender – Fave the Site
• Bobs [ReformatThis] – Fave the Site
• Armen’s Blog – Fave the Site
• Gary Lee – Fave the Site
• Dosh Dosh – Fave the Site
• Nate Whitehill – Fave the Site
• Ms. Danielle – Fave the Site
• Jeff Kee – Fave the Site
• Scribble on the Wall – Fave the Site
• Jimi Morrisons Head – Fave the Site
• Jon Lee – Fave the Site
• Samanathon – Fave the Site
• Eat Drink & Be Merry - Fave the Site
• The Man of Silver – Fave the Site
• Hannes Johnson – Fave the Site
• My Dandelion Patch – Fave the Site
• Nathan Drach – Fave the Site
• SiteLogic – Fave the Site
• Julies Journal – Fave the Site
• Tea & Slippers – Fave the Site
• The Thinking Blog – Fave the Site
• Pencil Thin – Fave the Site
• Stephen Fung – Fave the Site
• Ed Lau – Fave the Site
• QMusings – Fave the Site
• Gauravonomics – Fave the Site
• Who is Madhur – Fave the Site
• Teknobites – Fave the Site
• Break Silence – Fave the Site

***End Copying Here***

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Thanks.

But what’s the real difference?

I know there are a number of ways to look at this so let’s begin in the most obvious place, the dictionary. Dictionary.com defines each as:

• Client: a person or group that uses the professional advise or services of a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, architect, etc.”
• Customer: a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron

Interesting. So by the dictionary’s definition, a client is a person who uses services while a customer is someone who purchases products or services. Does that then imply that clients are active users while customers are simply purchases – who may or may not use what they purchase?

So what would you rather have, clients or customers?

One way to do this is through testimonials and case studies. You know, something like this…

When Judy called me, her business was struggling, her website traffic was stalled and her newsletter list was all-but stagnant. I helped her see what she was doing wrong. I corrected those problems for her and now he business is thriving.

Sounds fine, right? My client needs to be rescued and I can save them from their peril.

I thought so too until I read Drew McClellan’s post Are We Playing the Wrong Role in Our Stories. Drew’s post changed my thoughts on how I approach case studies and testimonials. He suggests that when we tell out clients story we have the classic setup…

We have a hero, a problem/villain, a victim and a glorious solution.

Uh oh. If we’re the hero, guess who we’re casting in the role of victim? Yup. Our client.

While the prospect might identify with the challenge and be heartened by the solution, do they really want to see themselves in the victim role?

Of course we don’t, Drew. We just want to tell the stories of how our clients have gotten so much from working with us. But we don’t want to make them into victims. So how else do we tell their stories?

What if we twisted our tale in those case studies or testimonials, so that our clients were the heroes? We shift to being the glorious solution. (Not a bad role to play) But we give the credit, spotlight and heroine’s role to the client. They are smart enough to see the problem and devise a solution. And, in the end, everyone lives happily ever after.

Oh, I get it now. So I could retell Judy’s story like this…

When Judy phoned me she knew her website wasn’t meeting her goals. She knew she needed more traffic but didn’t know how. Together we devised a strategy to incresae her traffic. We also optimized her newsletter list for greater conversion. Judy’s business quickly increased and now her website is not only meeting, but surpassing her goals.

Subtle differences in this case study over the first one. You can see I wrote about Judy as being in control the entire time. And she was part of the solution. Never was she the ‘victim with the problem.’ And I come out as the solution instead of the hero.

How do you write about your clients? Are they victims or heroes?

Every single person who visits your website or interacts with your business is asking this question. And most often, we’re answering them with, “if you do this you’ll get that.”

You find this way of thinking everywhere. Yet I say it goes against our true human nature. Yeah, sure, we want to rule and control our environment. But even that gets old. Think about the last argument you ‘won.’ Might have felt great for a little while, but didn’t you soon start to feel a bit empty inside, as though something got taken from you?

Now think of the last time you gave something to someone. Not just gave something, but gave them something they loved. Now go further in thinking about the last time you gave something to some that they loved openly without wanting or expecting anything in return – at all.

Didn’t that feel great? And do you remember how the feeling filled you up with excitement and warmth that stayed with you for a while?

That is THE secret to business success…giving. But not just giving, giving freely, openly without expecting anything in return. When you give like this, it’s like planting seeds fertile soil. With a little time, some sunshine and regular watering, that seed will product a tree that gives you fruit year in and year out.

So give. You’ll find it to be the most effective marketing approach you’ve ever used.

So, how do you give?

Mike and I talked for quite some time, covering many topics. There certainly were highlights I took away from our conversation.

But one comment Mike made to me stood out. At one point, when we were talking about how we found each other’s blogs, Mike said, “I saw your name come up constantly in blogs I read and comment on. I had to find out who this ‘Dawud Miracle’ was.” (note, not a direct quote)

This moment in our talk really stood out for me. Why? Because that’s exactly how I sign all my comments – Dawud Miracle.

When I first began commenting on blogs I would just leave my name however I thought about typing it at that moment. So there’s comments floating around from Dawud, DawudM, DMiracle as well as Dawud Miracle. If you find any, they’re all me.

But after a few days of commenting I changed my strategy. I quickly realized that to get the most out of my commenting efforts, I needed to sign my comments in a consistent manner. I choose Dawud Miracle over other variations, and over Healthy WebDesign, for a number of reasons.

First I wanted to be identified as a person so I used my name instead of my business name. Second, I wanted to distinguish myself from other commenters so I decided to use my first AND last name. Even with a name like Dawud, I didn’t feel my first name a long gave me enough ‘oomph.’ Doesn’t hurt, too, that my last name is quite unique and often memorable. Third, I wanted to ‘brand myself’ as Dawud Miracle so that as I was more visible around the blogosphere, the recognition of my name would carry more and more weight. And fourth, I knew my commenting efforts would help open the door to relationships with other bloggers. So I wanted to be known for who I am and who I am is Dawud Miracle.

Whenever I leave comments, I pay attention to other commenters as well. I look for names I either know or have seen before. On my blog it’s the same – I look for familiar names. I immediately can recognize Ben Yoskovitz, Dave Starr, Drew McLellan, Doug Karr and Liz Strauss. But I have a harder time knowing who Tony, Sara, Maddy, Karin H., Chris M or Dave are.

Since they comment on my blog frequently, I know who Karin H. and Chris M are. And Dave is friend and mastermind partner. But is ‘Dave’ getting the best return on his commenting efforts? I think not. But if he he began signing his comments as Dave Schoof :: The Disquiet in Men – that would distinguish him. It would create some recognition and help him brand his himself and his blog more effectively.

So how do you brand yourself in the blog comments you leave?

Lee Goff from GetUWired asked the question a while back, do you need a blog? He wrote:

Many small businesses are finding that a business blog is the best way to both establish a web presence and disseminate information to clients, customers and employees. …The best small business marketing blog allows a company to handle all kinds of dynamic information exchange internally and with the public.

Now his writing is a little dry for my taste – and he never really answers the question – but it did get me thinking…why do small businesses and service-oriented professionals need to be blogging? What do they gain? And what are they missing out on if they don’t blog?

My answer was quick and certain…”I get a website that’s alive.” And that’s exactly what I think I’ve gained from blogging – a website that’s alive.

Static websites are just that – static. Most often for small businesses static translates to stagnant. Stagnant websites are rarely engaging to read, they don’t offer your prospects a way to interact with you, and they seldom truly display the type of service your clients get from you. Worse yet, the content is usually out-of-date because they’re often not easy to update.

So, in essence, static websites are often (but not always) dead. Even if they’re drawing business.

But blogs are alive. Like vegetables growing in the garden, they need sunlight, water and nourishment to grow and thrive. And when they do, they provide an endless potential to feed new clients into your business.

How is your blog alive…or, what do you get from� your blog?�

What I’ve done is identified a number of topics that I want my blog to focus on. I then search for those topics in Google Blog Search. Once the search results come up, I subscribe to the RSS feed for that specific search. Now each time I update my feeds, I get an update of the most recent and relevant results of from a search for that topic.

This may not seem like such a big deal. But think of it this way…if I want to seach for 10 topics each day to write about, I would need to go to Google Blog Search, search for each topic, read through the results, click on interesting links to read about the post and then somehow capture the link for that post for future use. And, I’d have to do that 9 more times to search 10 topics.

By subscribing to the search results in my feed reader, I can see the results of 10 topics, with titles and links, all from my feed reader – all at once. No need to search each time. All I have to do is find the topic titles that most interest me. This is a HUGE time saver.

What makes this even more powerful is that most of the other blog search engines offer the same search subscription feature. So you can not only do with with Google, but with Technorati, BlogPulse, IceRocket, Feedster or your own favorite blog search engine. So now you can track multiple topics from multiple search engines – all in one place.

I can’t even begin to tell you how this has changed my blogging.

How do you find topics to write about?