As any reader of this blog knows, I like to showcase other people here, as the web is about more than just me. I’d like to share a tale of 2 guest posts, and talk about how you can do better guest posts to get more traffic to your site.

Guest post 1

Content rich, original article, focused on things the folks who read this website and who connect with the readers. Author monitored the comments section, engaged with those who commented, tweeted out the link to her network, shared it on Facebook, and did a great job promoting my site and her article.

Results: high engagement, many people reading the article and sharing the article. Others tweeted and Facebooked the article, folks commented, and even today, it’s a popular article several months later. And the links in the article and the author bio got clicked many times, as readers wanted to learn more about the author.

Guest post 2

Advertising like style of article, focused on his business, no connection to my readers. No comments to monitor, also no tweets and no Facebook shares.

Results: low engagement, few people read the article, and one comment very upset that I would post something so blatantly advertising. Zero clicks on any links in the article so far.

4 Lessons for other guest posters

1) Adding value works, blatant advertising messages don’t

2) Original content works best

3) If you want something to get traffic, you have to push it a little bit yourself

4) Monitoring and responding to comments is worthwhile

I’ll work to get more type 1 guest posts and less type 2 guest posts in the future. Thanks to you my great readers for your feedback and encouragement and demand to do a better job for you. This would be a lonely place without you here.

Companies still spend waste millions of dollars each year on advertising that’s ineffective, untargeted, and worst of all, ignored.

Instead of doing that, look at what the folks at IKEA did, using only existing technology on Facebook…and something you could implement too.

If you can’t see the video, click here.

What’s in the video

The video got taken down before, so I’m sharing a little more of an explanation for you now.

A new IKEA store was opening, so they created a profile for the store manager and uploaded 12 pictures of showrooms full of products.

They created a simple contest: The person that tagged their name on a product first won it, creating a greater demand for more picutres and buzz for all their friends. The store manager also engaged with folks who wrote on his wall, creating a more personal connection with the customers.

Naturally, the demand for more pictures grew as more people wanted to win more stuff, causing the pictures spread to thousands, via profile pages, the newsfeed, and links.

It got people to personally promote IKEA by adding themselves to a virtual IKEA catalog, that got shared with all the friends.

So…What’s stopping you and your business from doing something this simple yet this effective?

Hat tip to @mitchjoel for sharing this video on Twitter.

Guest article from Chris Perry, Career Rocketeer founder.

NOTE from Phil: I got introduced to Chris when he featured me as one of the 150+ Experts on Twitter ALL Job Seekers MUST Follow. I was impressed with the time he took to create this list, and the care he took to really talk a bit about each person he profile. I quickly realized this was someone to learn from, so I asked him to write a guest post and he asked me to write one, so here goes his fantastic article.

Bloggers from across industries and areas of interest are always seeking new ways to reach greater audiences with their articles and gain increased recognition for their expertise.  Developing your reputation as a blogger often takes a lot of time, effort and patience through consistent publication of valuable content.

Because we live in an age in which we are being bombarded by more and more information on the screen, it is increasingly important to be able to convey the content of your blog in a concise and visually pleasing manner that visitors can swiftly survey and assess.  One way to generate more buzz for your blog (i.e. attract more visitors and get talked about) is to compile and publish critical information in lists.  A list appears shorter and more organized on the screen.  Furthermore, lists are easier for busy professionals to digest on-the-go.

You can create buzz-worthy lists on just about any topic that is relevant to the theme of your blog. Even when you are not specifically writing a list, you should think of ways to break down your articles into bullet points or shorter parts to make them more quickly digestible for your readers and in turn, increase the potential for them to go viral.

The following is itself a list of some ways to generate buzz for your buzz-worthy blog content:

• LinkedIn offers a number of ways to promote your blog content.  First, place a description and a link to your new article in your LinkedIn profile status.  Second, join LinkedIn groups (maximum limit is 50 groups) that are relevant to your industry or areas of interest, and,  where appropriate, submit the article link to each group’s News section.  Third, if you own or manage your own group, you can send the link out in your weekly announcement to your group members.
• Facebook is not the ideal syndication platform for your articles; however, you can also use your profile status to link friends to your article.  If you have a Facebook group or fan page for your blog or website, there you can create a link to your article for your members or fans.
• Twitter offers you the opportunity to “tweet” or broadcast a short description of your article and its link to your followers.  While you should never overtweet anything, you may choose to tweet this to your network at a couple different times of day throughout the week to provide your followers more of an opportunity to see content of interest to them.
• Business Exchange, by BusinessWeek, is a great resource for reading material that is relevant to your areas of interest.  It is also a place where you can syndicate specific articles from your own and other blogs and websites.  You can submit your article to multiple topic categories for increased readership.
• Ning networks within your areas of interest offer you forums where you can share your article content and links to your blog.
• Newsletters are great channels for the distribution of information.  If you maintain an email list of consenting newsletter recipients for your blog or website, your newsletter can be a great place for you to include a link to your article.
• MOST IMPORTANT:  If your lists or articles feature people, blogs, websites, services, organizations , books or anything associated with someone who would value such press or promotion, don’t forget to contact them by email, LinkedIn message or Twitter direct message to let them know about their coverage and politely request that they promote it to their own personal networks.  We all appreciate recognition (you wouldn’t be reading this article if you didn’t) and we are often more willing to do something to help someone else if it also helps us, too.

Chris Perry is a Gen Y Brand and Marketing Generator, a Career Search and Personal Branding Expert and the Founder of Career Rocketeer, the Career Search and Personal Branding Blog.

Did you know…you can get a custom URL on Facebook. Just go to http://facebook.com/username and sign up for your username before someone else does. It’s one more way to keep your brand consistent and own your name on a major service.

Why should you do this?

First, it’s easier to remember, especially if you have a hard to spell last name. Instead of saying “look me up on Facebook” you could make this a key place for your personal brand to live at.

Second, you can put it on a business card. http://facebook.com/philgerb is WAY more memorable than http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=682195131 isn’t it?

Third, don’t get stuck with http://facebook.com/phil.gerbyshak53202, like back in the days when AOL email addresses were all the rage.

Fourth, it’s consistent. My URL on Twitter is http://twitter.com/philgerb. Now I am http://facebook.com/philgerb. I can remember that (and so can you)

Last, it’s free. It doesn’t cost you anything to register your name RIGHT NOW. Why not go do it, just on the off-chance you might want it in the future.

And one more reason:

So someone doesn’t steal your brand name – Bad form? Yep. Illegal? Probably not.

A few interesting tidbits:

Facebook doesn’t allow you to transfer your custom URL to anyone, so folks who are thinking they will be squatting on all the “good names” are out of luck.

Also, unless you have more than 1000 “fans,” you can’t get a custom URL for your fan pages.

Last but not least, if you are a big shot journalist, you didn’t have to wait in line for a custom URL, which is pretty lame, in my humble opinion, but whatever. I’m not a Facebook owner. I might have done the same thing

If you want to be my “Facebook friend,” you can find me at http://facebook.com/philgerb. Just please tell me how you know me, and I will gladly accept your request.

I’m working on a new series of live workshops I’m calling “Social Media Saturdays” because they’ll be held on Saturdays and will be all about social media. I’ll be holding them all in Milwaukee, and I’ll also be recording them and uploading the files for folks to learn more about social media.

Each class will be 90 minutes, with 30 minutes for me doing an overview, 30 minutes for me answering questions, and 30 minutes of folks actually DOING what we talked about (if they bring along their laptop). 

Does that sound like something you’d pay $35 a session for if you knew little/nothing about social media?

Here’s a tentative listing of courses:

• Social Media Basics: The basics of social and a little bit more to get you started. High level overview of blogs and blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
• Listen First, Sell Last: Finding who already is doing what you want to be doing in your niche and learning from the experts’ successes and failures.
• Blogging: Explaininging the various platforms and getting your blog started. 
• Twitter: Can you really say anything in 140 characters? How to find folks who want to hear what you say, and how to use Tweetdeck.
• LinkedIn: Setting up your profile, finding folks to connect to, and using LinkedIn Groups and Answers
• Facebook: Not just for students anymore. Setting up a profile, basic search, updating your status, and customizing to fit your personality.
• Google basics: Search basics, setting up a Gmail account, adding Google Alerts, Google Reader, Google Documents, take a tour of the labs for new stuff.
• Online video basics: Review a few videos, discuss what to include in your video (and what to leave out), what sites are available for upload and a basic overview of searching for other videos.
• Online photos and graphics: How to batch upload your photos, how to tag them so you and others can find them, a little bit about Creative Commons (and why you might want to let other people use your pictures) and how to buy photos you can use for your online and offline marketing campaigns.
• Newsletters are NOT dead: Showing folks how to create a newsletter using content they’ve already created in other places, and so they don’t get sued for sending spam.
• Contact Management: From Outlook to Plaxo to BatchBlue and beyond. What you need to know about your contacts and how to keep it in your mailbox. 

Here’s where you come in, and where I need your help:

What am I missing? 

I’m doing these sessions starting in late June, so I’d love to know what your thoughts are on this. I’m booking the room I’ll be using this week (down to 2 very cool places in Milwaukee), so please share your feedback with me soon.

Thanks in advance!

Don’t think what you say online matters? Think again!

Example 1: Facebook Fail

On Facebook, Dan Leone, a now former employee of the Philadelphia Eagles, posted this status update:

“Dan is ******* devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver…Dam Eagles are Retarded.”

Result: FIRED from working with the Philadelphia Eagles! DOH!

Example 2: Twitter Twit

On Twitter, one job seeker who was offered a job Tweeted this:

“Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

To which someone at Cisco responded:

“Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.”

FAIL! No job!

In this economy (and with the Internet’s memory) it’s going to be a LONG time before either person finds a new one.

So what can we learn from this?

First, people are listening to what you have to say. If you use Google Alerts, or do a Twitter search, or watch your Facebook news feed, you can see what folks are saying in near real-time.

Second, everything you say online is captured FOREVER and it will be re-broadcast all over the world. The Cisco guy now has pages and pages of “re-tweets” for the phrase “cisco fatty” and there are 309 (soon to be 310) Google blog searches for “cisco fatty.”

Here’s the lesson:

Think twice before saying “Sally is a fat head” or “I hate my boss Phil!” Folks are listening. You probably are friends with someone who knows someone who knows someone who is friends with your boss, your co-worker, or your HR director.

What can YOU learn from this?

Sources:

• Facebook source
• Twitter source