We all want more traffic to our site, right?

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.

Let’s face it, people do business with people – not with businesses. A business owner may like, want and need something that a marketing coach, for instance, offers. But the single biggest reason they hire the firm is because of the people they meet, talk to and build relationships with.

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?

If you’ve found my blog you likely know that I’m a huge proponent of removing nofollow from comments.

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?

If you’ve been reading my blog you know that a couple of weeks back I got involved with the Technorati Favorites Exchange meme. I thought it would be an interesting experiment in networking and traffic building. And getting into the Technorati Favorites Top 100 seemed possible.

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?

Want to know the secrets that make Guy Kawasaki such a successful blogger? Here’s a 15 minute interview where he lays it all out. He even talks about how he’s passed Scoble in the Technorati rankings.

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.

UPDATE: I am no longer participating in this meme.

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.
[ continue reading & share your thoughts → ]

Do you think of your consumers as clients or customers? I know I often use these terms interchangeably. Yet, I always think of customers as people who buy products. Since I don’t sell any products (yet), I always end up thinking of my consumers as clients.

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?