Big Manta » Content

Trackbacks & Pingbacks Explained: What They Are and How They Work

BigManta — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:00:59 +0000

Trackbacks (often referred to as “pingbacks”) are a method that most major blogging platforms use to notify other blogs when they have been linked to from another site. In simplest terms trackbacks enable content creators to notify other sites when they have linked to them – a way of kind of cross-referencing blogs and sites.

How do trackbacks work?

If you are using WordPress or another popular blogging platform like Movable Type, trackbacks are built-in and automatically notify other sites and blog when you link to them. If the site or blog that you link to has trackbacks enabled, you will then see a link on their site (often with some surrounding text displayed to give context). You don’t need to do anything other than link to the article, page, or post, and WordPress or your blog program should handle the rest.

Here’s an illustration of how trackbacks work:

Why use trackbacks?

Trackbacks are excellent to notify other people that you have linked to their content. In addition to acknowledging your linking to others – trackbacks are an excellent way to help cross-reference different sites and blogs.

How to enable trackbacks in WordPress

In order to automatically enable trackbacks when you link to someone (or be notified when someone links to you) simply:

Under the “Settings” section in WordPress select “Discussion”
Make sure the first two options are selected:
- Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article (slows down posting.) Make sure it has a check mark in the box
- Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks.) Make sure it has a check mark in the box
You’re finished – pretty simple

A Case Study on Guest Posting: The Results & Stats

BigManta — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:30:58 +0000

Guest posting is new to me. I have always simply created the content on my own site or blog and promoted it myself. However, after doing some reading about the potential benefits and upsides – I decided to give it a shot. The results so far are extremely promising and as a result – I am sure that I will do guest posts in the future.

I wanted to share my results so far from my guest post on Dumb Little Man with the article I wrote: 7 Free or Cheap Ways to Effectively Promote Your Business Online

What is guest posting?

Guest posting is when you write an article or post for another site or blog. It not only gives the blog owner content for their site, but allows you to fuel the growth for your own site by driving traffic and creating awareness about who you are by exposing your content to their readers.

Choosing a site or blog

While there are many sites that accept guest posts, I wanted to choose one that had a large audience to help bring exposure as much as possible to my site. Since BigManta.com is only a little over a month old, any exposure or awareness I can create at this stage can be extremely beneficial and helpful to gaining readers, subscribers, and visitors. After looking at various sites I decided to choose one that I felt could reach a large number of people and one that related to my topic of becoming successful online. My researching led me to Dumb Little Man (because of the reasons I just mentioned).

Writing your post or article

The next step was to determine what type of article to write and submit to the site. Dumb Little Man writes about a variety of different topics and is a site that provides useful tips on how to improve your life. Since the readers are so diverse in their interests I needed to write something that had wide appeal but was still relevant to my site’s topic.

This led me to the idea of writing an article about cheap or free ways businesses can promote themselves online. There is a wide audience for this topic because whether you own a business or you work at one (a huge audience) the tips can be helpful. Everyone always wants to save money advertising – so the appeal of “Free or Cheap” helped to gain a wider audience. Had it been “7 Ways to Advertise your Business Online for Under $1,000″ – the audience and appeal would have been much smaller.

My next step was to write the article -which took about two hours from start to finish. I then emailed my article along with a quick little introduction of who I was and asked if there was anything I need to do from there. After receiving a response back with a few revisions to the article – I was told it was going to be posted!

Now it was a matter of simply waiting for it to be posted.

Roughly a week later – I saw that my guest post was published

The results of my guest post: Facts, figures & numbers

I want to share the immediate results that were due to the guest post:

RSS Subscribers – I picked up a few RSS subscribers (5-10) during the first day. This is not something that is too surprising because I believe subscribers sign up on sites where connections have been made or established (and this site is still very much in its infancy)
Newsletter Subscribers – This one was actually surprising, I saw about 10-20 additional newsletter subscribers and several more have signed up as I write this.
Visits - In the article, there was only one link back to my site in the author box at the end of the article. Although it was not displayed prominently, it drove about 20 visitors to the site and has already sent another 15 today.
Twitter - For me, this is one of the most uplifting and encouraging signs that my content does interest other people. As of this writing, my guest post has already been ReTweeted almost 200 times! This lets me know that my content is interesting and helpful – and the perseverance will be worth it.

Would I do it again?

After seeing these results, I would definitely do more guest posts. What is surprising is that the second day seemed to have more interaction and will drive more visits and subscribers than the first. There will also be the residual effects of the guest post for many months and years to come.

If you’re beginning to blog or even have an established site, I think that guest posting can help you really distribute your content and exposure your name to people who may not have heard of you before.

Useful resources and links

If you’re interested in learning more about guest posting, you may want to check these resources out:

What are your thoughts or experiences, or do you have any questions?

If you have guest posted it would be great to share with others your experience so they can learn further as well, simply leave a comment below. Or if you have any questions, please feel free to ask

Big Manta’s Guest Post on Dumb Little Man

BigManta — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:50:57 +0000

I just wanted to let everyone know that I wrote a guest post that was released today on Dumb Little Man, so be sure to check it out and let me know what you think!

This was actually my very first time writing an article or guest posting on a site or blog other than my own so I would appreciate everyone’s input. You can check out the article here: 7 Free or Cheap Ways to Effectively Promote Your Business Online

Tomorrow I’ll be diving into somewhat of a case study and overview that covers my first experience with a guest post to hopefully give you some insight on the process and what results to expect.

Creating The Perfect Business Card: The Essential Elements

BigManta — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:43:13 +0000

I’m sure there have been times when you have given (or been given) a business card and had to scratch out the old phone number, scribble a new email address, or add your website address because you forgot to include it. I know – I’ve been there and it’s frustrating and a tad embarrassing to have to take a minute to update your information on your card.

Sometimes, we simply overlook something or forget to add something that we wanted. In these instances you then have to go reprint your business cards with the updated information, spend more of your money to have them printed, and sometimes (aaarrgghh) something changes on the brand new cards you just printed… and you’re off to the printer again. It can be a vicious process, but if you plan ahead – you can sidestep some of the major problems that arise.

To help any of you getting ready to print your first (or next) set of business cards, I’ve put together a quick checklist so you can be sure to include all of the ways someone can contact you if they need to and the information you might want on your business cards. I want to note that you should only include information or contact methods that you actually use and try to keep it simple as the goal of a business card is to give people a way to easily contact you.

The Essential Elements of a Business Card

Below are a list of the things that you may want to include on your business cards:

Your logo
Your name
Your company
Your title
Tagline or slogan
Physical address
Website address
Email address
Phone number (local)
Phone number (toll-free)
Fax number
Social Networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
Brief description of what you offer, sell, or do

As you can see, there’s not a whole lot of information that you should (or can) include on your business card. It’s not meant to be a report or brochure and you shouldn’t include everything listed above. Your goal is to give a brief overview of your company and provide someone with the necessary information you would need if they needed to contact you.

Don’t overdo it and stuff every possible bit of information on your card – keep it clean, simple, and professional.

How to Create an Effective Press Release

BigManta — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:00:39 +0000

Press releases seem to be relegated to PR firms and seen as a marketing method only used by major corporations or large companies. However, as a start-up or small business you might not be able to afford the costs associated with creating and distributing a press release through a traditional firm or agency. The press release has evolved into something more than just an announcement about your company. No longer do you have to wait and hope that a journalist or editor will pick up on your story – with the internet, your press releases can reach the people who influence what is read online. From bloggers to local reporters to people halfway around the world, you can distribute a press release that may be seen by thousands of people in a very short period of time.

Undertaking the creation of a press release does not have to be an overwhelming task. Approached systematically, you can gain the attention of the media and your target audience by following a few tips and strategies. For this post we’re going to stay away from the distribution and focus on the creation of your press release.

Creating an effective press release

I have used the following tips to generate a lot of media attention and interviews for different websites, blogs, and businesses. If you go into creating a press release with a system, you can see much more results and attention from your publicity.

Determine your audience

Who do you want to reach with your press release? Editors, bloggers, local news outlets, or maybe specific geographic areas. By defining who you are trying to reach, you can build your press release around your audience.
Outline your content

What do you want to convey with your press release? Are you doing something new and spectacular or launching a new product? Maybe you’re announcing a contest or running a promotion that you want to get the word out about. You need to understand what (and why) you are creating a press release in the first place.Your content needs to be compelling. While the promotion you just gave someone within your company is great for morale by putting out a press release – you can’t expect to get interviews or a lot of attention, because it has very narrow appeal. To reach the most people, you need to provide them with a reason to be interested in what you are saying.
Craft a killer headline

Perhaps the single most important aspect of your press release is your headline. Advertising legend David Ogilvy once said:

On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

Make it intriguing, compelling, controversial, or anything that will draw the reader’s attention and make them want to read more.

Tell a story – and be less commercial

Many press releases fall on deaf ears because of their overly commercial tone and style. Approach with a unique twist that highlights your news or announcement in a way that is colorful and engaging to the reader.
Short, sweet, and simple

People can see through hype and don’t have much time to digest information (your press release is one of thousands that are distributed each day), so keep it short and simple – highlighting your main points.
Your contact information

Ensure that all of your contact information is included in the release. With the possibility of social media outlets picking up on your story, you will also want to include things like a link to your blog, your Twitter account, and the major social media sites where you have a presence. The contact information that you should consider including:
- Address
- Phone & Fax
- Contact Name
- Website
- Email address
- Twitter or Facebook
- Blog
Track the effectiveness

After you have distributed your press release you need to track how effective it actually was. How many sales did it generate? How many interviews or media mentions? Did bloggers write about you? Find out what you did that was (or wasn’t) successful so you can adjust your next press release accordingly.

Use Photos in Your Content

BigManta — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:00:25 +0000

An often overlooked strategy that will make your content really stand out is to use photos in your posts or pages. While it does take a little extra time to find an image that works well with your content, the extra effort will bring some life into your writing.

The Top 3 Reasons Why People Fail at Making Money Online

BigManta — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:38:00 +0000

As much as I would like to tell you that there is some magic secret to being successful and making money online, I’m afraid that’s not the case. There’s no quick road to riches, if that were the case then everyone would be millionaires and we would all spend our days relaxing on the beach.

I believe that if you approach making money on the internet with a systematic approach, you are virtually guaranteed success. Once you get in the groove, it can actually become quite easy to succeed and generate a lot of income. If this is true, then why do so many people fail at making money online then? In my opinion, it boils down to 3 main reasons:

Failing to start

In order to make money online – you must start somewhere. Whether it’s blogging, creating a website, promoting affiliate offers, whatever method you have decided to use to make money – you must actually get started. Many people scheme up grandiose ideas and the next thing that’s going to catapult them to success… but never lift a finger to start. If you don’t start somewhere (anywhere) – you have nothing to generate income.

Failing to take action

Right after “failing to start”, we have a failure to take action as a large reason why many people have not been successful online. Although you may have launched your site, blog, or campaign, it needs to be continually enhanced to keep growing. Just like a garden needs sunlight and water – you’re online endeavors need to be fed with marketing, new content, and direction so that they can thrive.

Imagine a business opens in your city and they go and build a huge new building and announce their grand opening to the public, place ads in the newspaper, and have a spectacular opening. You then walk into the store only to see the shelves nearly empty with just a few products in the back corner. This is similar to how many blogs and sites end up – as shells with only a few pages or posts that were never fully developed.

Failing to persevere

The final reason why I think many people fail to succeed is their lack of perseverance. You must admit to yourself that you will face tough times and face obstacles that you need to push through. If you’re a blogger, you may not have an audience for months, but if you stick with it – you will start seeing results.

Do You Delete Blog Comments That Have an Opposing View of Your Own?

BigManta — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:34:56 +0000

Recently, I was doing some reading around on some various topics related to making money online and blogging when I came across this post “Why Free Hosted Blogs Suck” (http://www.ginkgoconsulting.com/blogging/why-free-hosted-blogs-suck/) by Lara Kulpa at Ginko consulting. It was an intriguing article where she makes some pretty bold statements with one in particular that I really disagree with:

I can almost say with 100% certainty that you can’t come up with a phrase that will have a free hosted blog in the top 5.

Fair enough, everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, what really upset me was that I took time and effort to leave a comment that had an opposing view on a blog that encourages comments – only for it to sit in moderation and then get deleted. I gave several examples of phrases that rank in the top 5 that are on free hosted blogs:

mc hammer
cupcakes
cooking blog
make money online
cool pics
recording industry

and there were a few others that I mentioned as well that I can’t recall off the top of my head. She goes on in her post to say that free-hosted blogs have:

Limited income opportunities, if any.

Both of these statements I completely disagree with. Further more, since she is trying to leverage her status as a moderator at the newly-launched Problogger.com forums – I find it particularly insulting to her visitors. In the opening paragraph of the article she states:

Over the past month, I’ve been working as an admin in the newly launched ProBlogger Forum. It started as part of the 31 Days To Build A Better Blog Project which ended last week (but you can still sign up for the course and take it at any time, or you can wait and buy the ebook), but the forum is still open.

and

Darren Rowse has been called “The Godfather of Blogging” and is a dear friend and client.

I understand moderating comments that contain vulgar or foul language or don’t follow your comment policy. However, I wasn’t impolite, rude, attacking, spamming, defamatory, or otherwise, I was simply stating that I disagreed with her statements and gave some examples to back up what I was saying. Here is someone trying to position themselves as an authority on their blog and trying to appear knowledgeable, yet she’s not open to contradictory viewpoints. If this is the case (which it appears to me to be) she should simply state her comment policy on her blog with something along the lines of “This blog does not accept comments that disagree with ours.”

You must understand that I really hate calling people out (I think it’s crude , unprofessional, and tacky), but here’s someone trying to leverage another successful blogger (Darren) to their own benefit and misleading a lot of people in the process, many of them who are completely new to blogging or trying to be successful online.

It’s a private blog and to each their own, but when you put yourself in the public eye – you ought to be open to valid opposing viewpoints. If you only allow comments from people telling you what a great job you’re doing and how great your post was, then what’s the point of having comments at all? But… that’s just my opinion.

My comment policy on Big Manta is very open and I welcome opposing viewpoints, just as long as they aren’t off-topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy.

What do you think? Feel free to disagree with anything I’m saying here (or on any of my other posts) by leaving a comment

Your Writing Style: Are You a DoshDosh, ShoeMoney, or Problogger?

BigManta — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:23:07 +0000

While it’s very difficult to emulate a different writing style for your blog or site, it’s helpful to understand how you write because your readers are building expectations of what to expect from you. We all naturally lean towards one particular style when we write and embracing your unique style can help you stand out from the crowds and forge a relationship with your readers.

Things to consider when developing your style

Over time, how we write evolves and changes to become uniquely our own. But when you’re starting out it helps to understand who you are writing for and what yours goals are going to be with your content. There are several factors you may want to take into account when producing your content:

Informal or Formal

Taking an informal compared to a formal approach with content will attract different types of readers. If you are trying to connect on a more personal level, then a more informal approach would be more beneficial. However, if you’re presenting information such as studies, research, etc. you would want to consider taking a more formal approach.

Comprehensive or Succinct

If you’re trying to provide your visitors with as much information as possible, then the comprehensive approach to your content may suit you best. But you can also approach from simplistic, yet precise way by covering a topic’s broad points

Your Audience

What you write will largely shape who visits your site, while how you write will determine what type of people visit your site.

Creating your own unique writing style

In the title of this post I mentioned DoshDosh, Shoemoney, and Problogger because I believe that they each cover similar topics and have large followings, but each have their own distinct writing style. I rounded up a post that each has done that relates to Twitter and pulled just a brief sentence or two so you can see the big differences in each of their writing styles. You really need to read each of their posts fully to see how they write:

DoshDosh

The more formal of the three bloggers mentioned here, DoshDosh provides comprehensive information that draws upon an educational background. His posts are some of the most comprehensive in his field.

Twitter Marketing: Why You Don’t Need to Mass Follow Users

When combined with the already existing limit based on follow ratios, this means that it will be more difficult for marketers or self-promoters to rapidly increase their Twitter follower count by following many people. The old days of following thousands of users a day to get thousands of followers back are gone.

ShoeMoney

With a very informal approach and attitude, reading ShoeMoney’s blog feels like you’re having a casual conversation. This has allowed him to connect with thousands of people because he is easy to read and takes a no fluff attitude when it comes to blogging. He also shares posts that are personal in nature, that builds trust with his audience.

What I Don’t Understand About Twitter Followers

Now don’t get me wrong. I am all for free speech and if this failure at life wants to spout his bigoted comments at me then go ahead. He is one of many that like to make personal insults I receive every day. I am a big boy and have put myself (and my toes) in the public spotlight.

Problogger

Darren is somewhat of a hybrid between Maki (DoshDosh) and Jeremy (ShoeMoney) by mixing a more laid-back attitude, but delivering valuable information that is extremely relevant to his blog.

9 Benefits of Twitter for Bloggers

Before I get into some of the benefits of Twitter – let me say that I’m still new to it as a medium. I’m in a phase of experimenting and finding my voice. So please treat this as a progress report rather than a complete and definitive one.

Staying consistent

One of the big things with your writing is that you want it to stay fairly consistent. People get used to how you write and the approach you take and start forming opinions based on your writing. Having a unique style of writing will not only allow you to create a persona, but will allow you to connect with your readers better as well.

Why You Should Have a Blog Posting Schedule

BigManta — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:29:53 +0000

Whether you’re starting with a brand new blog or you’re stumped trying to find some direction for your current one, creating a schedule can really help you grow your blog to the next level. While the topic and type of site will greatly impact how often you post new content – sticking with a schedule can provide you with direction, and your readers with expectations.

How you benefit from a blog schedule

There are direct benefits to you as the blogger by creating a schedule:

Provides direction - A schedule can provide you with a sense of direction of where you blog is going in regards to topics and content.
Creates consistency – Persistence and consistency are two of the main factors to successful blogging. A schedule helps you create a routine that keeps you growing your blog.
Focuses your mindset – I’m sure many of you have been stumped trying to think of what or when to write about. Schedules can help you stay focused and on-topic.

How your readers benefit from a blog schedule

If one of the goals of your blog is to create a following and build your RSS subscribers (which it should be) a schedule builds expectations in your readers’ minds:

Creates expectations – Your readers will come to expect how often you publish new content. This can help you condition them to check your site often or their RSS reader to stay up-to-date.
Builds trust – One of the side effects of publishing on a consistent basis is that your readers will become more loyal as a result.
Creates community – Due to your readers connecting with your content more often, you can start building a community and you will notice that comments, tweets, and other interaction on your site should be more prevalent.
Builds anticipation – If you’re like me, you have a favorite blog (or even a few of them) that you visit regularly. On my favorite blogs I find myself eager and anxious to read their next post – and since I know roughly when they will post new content, I’m able to interact – and alleviate my fix for their writing

Growing your blog through consistency

Nearly all of the top bloggers have a fairly consistent publishing schedule for their blogs. The reasons above are just a few of the main benefits to creating a schedule for your own posts, the main point is that you must be consistent. Consistency in your content creation can help you grow a large and devoted following of readers.