Mission: Attract Visitors and Create A Following
I started Diary of a Stand-up Comedian in October 2011 because I loved to write. From a marketing perspective, I wanted my blog to build a following similar to Joe Rogan and Dane Cook, so that I could eventually put on my own shows. I was also new to SEO, and hadn’t even heard about backlinking.
Frustrated and Lonely
Two months in, I was frustrated. My blog was lucky to get 30 visitors when I posted new content. And even though I was writing reviews of Toronto comedy clubs 3-4 times a week, I was still ranking on the 7th page of Google for, ‘Toronto Stand-up Comedian.’
This sucks! My content is good, my videos are good, my pictures are good, and I have control over much of the HTML code. How come all of these other unfunny, uninteresting, poorly designed blogs are getting so much attention?!
Backlinking: Sage SEO Advice
I sat down with an SEO Specialist, and he told me about the importance of getting sites to link back to mine. “It tells Google that in the online party, you’re the talk of the town.”
He also told me that the more highly-reputed the site, the better. For example, a link to your site from CNN would hold more water than a link from your local newsrag. “Not only do you want to be the talk of the town, but you want to be talked about by the popular kids.”
Phase 1: Commenting on other Blogs
The Specialist said that the easiest way to start was to comment on other posts. So, I started advertising a recent Occupy Wallstreet critique by commenting on OWS news stories and including a link to my post.
Result: 30-50 new visitors came to the post. It was evidence that the strategy was somewhat effective. But did I really want to do that every time I posted something new? Not really.
Phase 2: Attracting Backlinks from a Highly Reputable Source
This one was a bit tougher. Sure, I could go on CNN.com and start commenting, but would that work? The artist in me wanted to do something better, something more unique.
I got in contact with the top news blog in Toronto, blogTO.com, and asked if I could write for them. We started talking about a weekly guest post to highlight the main comedy shows in Toronto. Given their great reputation from an SEO perspective and the opportunity to become an authority on comedy in my city, I jumped at the opportunity.
Result: Wowzers, did that ever help!! I’m now on the second page of Google for, ‘Toronto Stand Up Comedian.’ In addition, the guest post that I’m writing consistently gets 20+ shares via Twitter and Facebook.
Taking it to the Next Level
Now that I’ve seen tangible results in less than a month from creating backlinks via blog commenting and attracting links from highly-regarded sources, I’m going to continue using those strategies.
That said, I believe the next step in my journey involves:
- Getting my own domain with ‘comedy’ in the url, i.e. ‘michaeljagdeocreatescomedy.com’
- Start guest blogging (for example, this very blog post!). If commenting attracts visitors, writing full posts might work even better.
Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
But I have to keep first things first, which is continuing to write good material and perfecting my stand-up comedy routine. At the end of the day, the most important part of a marketing program is the product.
For example, I don’t want to garner interest in a tablet that doesn’t have email. That would be dumb. Who would do such a thing?
That is a great story and an eye opener for those who are looking at how they can get back links to their website in order to gain more visitors. Guest blogging can seem like an huge task to overcome, but all you need is niche identification, networking, and the ability to write good quality content and you’ll be rewarded. I wish you nothing but the best of luck in your future SEO efforts!
Rufus Kagan recently posted..It’s Time To Take Facebook Seriously
Hi Rufus,
You make a great point: Guest Blogging does seem like a huge task.
GUEST BLOGGING IS COUNTER-INTUITIVE
Why? Because as bloggers, we love to write. However, making a great post, even the brief one that I posted above, takes a lot of energy. You give a piece of yourself whenever you write something great.
With the mental and emotional effort required to craft a great piece, it’s PAINFUL to think that you’re going to have the piece posted on someone ELSE’s website and not yours. ‘Why wouldn’t I just post it to my site instead?’
Answer: If they like it, they will come.
GUEST BLOGGING TO PROMOTE PRODUCT TRIAL
There are six steps in the Consumer Buying Process: Awareness, Interest, Evaluation, Trial, and Adoption.
“If my target market came to my blog and read a post, they’d subscribe.” If that’s true, then the problem is that your target market is UNAWARE that you have a blog with content that they’re interested.
So what do we have to do? We have to ADVERTISE. And how do you advertise? Put your product (your content in the form of Comments and Guest Blogs) in the marketplace where your target market already congregates.
What that means is that to attract people to our content, we need to let people engage in Product Trial (reading our comments and guest blogs). If they like the trial, they’ll continue to seek out more of our content (visiting our blog) and Adopting (subscribing to) our site.
What’s your experience been with commenting and guest blogging, Rufus?
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..I Kind Of Hate Myself For Posting This: SOPA Pun
Michael,
I like how you tell your story from experience, but what I like even more about it is that you understand the true value of guest blogging. There are many Internet marketers that misunderstand and abuse guest blogging.
It’s refreshing to see that some people do “get it”!
Gerald Weber recently posted..4 Vital Digital Marketing Trends (or Developments) for 2012
Hi Gerald,
Believe me, I’ve heard about a ton of ‘black hat’ SEO techniques like paying 5 bucks to have someone generate 2500 backlinks, etc.
Echoing the post you linked to, I think that it comes down to the way that we want to brand ourselves. The WAY we attract visitors, in addition to our content, also affects our perception in the marketplace.
For example, people are starting to really hate the way that IT outsourcers are creating a symbiotic relationship with their clients by always requiring them to pay huge overhead costs to maintain the things that they’ve purchased (applications, servers, etc.). In this case, the product runs well but the WAY in which they attract business stinks. I’ve always hated that model. I believe that a good partner in business should help you become independent of them after a certain period of time.
Guest blogging, while time and effort intensive, can a new audience know that you’re a great content producer. And in the end, it’s the great content that gets SHARED, which is what we all want, isn’t it? (that’s a real question, by they way!)
Michael Jagdeo
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..I Kind Of Hate Myself For Posting This: SOPA Pun
“And in the end, it’s the great content that gets SHARED, which is what we all want, isn’t it? (that’s a real question, by they way!)”
You got it my brother!
Not only will your content attract more links and thus make the post itself more authoritative, but if you’ve gone out of your way to write a post that is interesting, entertaining and/or useful, people will remember your name.
And that to me trumps the value of getting a quick anchor text backlink any day of the week!
Wow – I think we might have hit on something there:
One must apply Social Media Optimization as well as Search Engine Optimization to be effective (reach your target audience) in the online realm.
We want our post to be shared by our target market so that we build our brand IN ADDITION TO appearing on the front page of Google. In fact, I think if we can position ourselves as ‘best-in-brand’ in the mind’s of our consumers, a great Google ranking will inevitably follow.
Sounds like we’re creating something here….:)
“We want our post to be shared by our target market so that we build our brand IN ADDITION TO appearing on the front page of Google. ”
PRECISELY!
Gerald Weber recently posted..5 Industries That Should Use Pinterest
I love posts like this that draw from an actual experience..thanks for sharing it!
Hi Julie,
Can I call ya Jules?
Thanks for the kind words.
It’s easy to find people telling you what to do online, but harder to find case studies and white papers around SEO. I wonder why that is?
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..Day by Day, My Dreams Are Coming True
You can if I can call you Mickey. I think that in certain situations, people aren’t sharing what works for them because they’re either doing something “new” that they don’t want copied or they’re working with paid links, for example.
Now I can’t for the life of me imagine who would be working with paid links. Hmmm? :-p #insidejoke
Gerald Weber recently posted..60 Hours a Minute – Video Marketing in 2012
Hey Jules,
I see your point. I mean, if you have a technique that is working so well that it’s a competitive advantage, I can see why you’d want to keep it a trade secret.
That said, I think that there is something to be said for SEO Consultants doing case studies with recent clients. It’s one thing to have a customer testimonial, but another thing to – even at a high level – discuss the main SEO factors that led to a successful client engagement.
Paid links are a mystery to me. Any suggestions on where I can get my feet wet information-wise?
PS – Mickey is fine!
(dofollow)
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..Day by Day, My Dreams Are Coming True
What a wonderful post! I wish I had found it when only starting blogging. Would save me plenty of time trying to figure out how people are taking their blogs to a new level!
Ann Smarty recently posted..Publish Guest Posts from the Articles Gallery and Win $1000
Hey Smartypants!
I wish someone would’ve told me too. I was so frustrated that I wasn’t getting visitors to my content. And even with the information on SEO available, it’s tough to know where to start. The SEO specialist pointed me in this direction which has helped (http://www.webconfs.com/15-minute-seo.php). Is that a valid list?
How are you taking things to the next level now that you’ve done the basics? Any suggestions on what I should do next (in addition guest blogging, blog commenting, and getting a domain)?
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..Day by Day, My Dreams Are Coming True
All I do is guest blogging actually but I have taken it to the next level as well: I have identified a few most powerful blogs in my niche (Mashable, SEOmoz, etc) and contribute articles there.
More focus, higher ROI!
Ann Smarty recently posted..Publish Guest Posts from the Articles Gallery and Win $1000
Hey Ann!
You kinda blew my mind there.
If it’s true that attracting a fewer amount of backlinks from the most highly-reputable sites targeting the same keywords as you are results in higher rankings and builds brand credibility….
…then why not spend the 5-10 hours it might takes to craft and submit ultra-high quality material to those places in the hopes of getting it featured?!
BRILLIANT.
In hindsight, that’s what I did with blogTO (the top local news and culture blog I submitted my work to), but I just didn’t know what it was called at the time, nor did I anticipate the results it would bring. Thanks for congealing the idea for me!
I have to leave now so I can subscribe to everything you have.
Michael Jagdeo
(dofollow)
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..Toronto Comedian Improvises Native American Jokes
Michael,
On that same note. If you go to the MySEOCommunity.com home page and sign up for our newsletter you will be able to download the guest blogging Ebook that Ann wrote.
I believe you will find that quite useful!
Gerald Weber recently posted..Learn What Technology Websites are Using, Statistics, and More
Hi Gerald,
Done! I’m quickly realizing the softer benefits of guest blogging/commenting.
I posted this guest blog to MYSEOCommunity with the intention of getting my story out there and link building..
I got much more than that.
I never realized that I’d build a friendships with people trying to do the same thing I was. The feedback and advice from yourself, Rufus, Julie, and Ann have really helped clear up what was once a murky landscape for me.
Can’t thank you guys enough.
When I first started blogging, guest blogging and engaging in social media websites like Twitter, StumbleUpon etc a little over 3 years ago, I was primarily interested in things like getting links, exposing my brand to the world, increasing my search rankings etc. Which all of those things are definitely benefits of networking online, but the most value I have gotten out of all of this “networking online” is without question the personal and professional relationships.
It reminds me of my University experience.
The lectures were ok, but the REAL value that I got was dropping by the professor’s office for a chat.
The ability to hash things out, get feedback on ideas, and in some cases even argue, was where I ended up learning most of the lessons that have stuck with me to this day.
This is an addendum to the above post.
Since doing this guest blog post, I’ve commented only once on another blog post: http://www.blogto.com/fashion_style/2012/01/street_style_at_ids_2012/ by making a joke about the people in the post and then linking back to a post on my blog that further expounded on the premise of the joke itself (guys wearing tight jeans). That’s the comedic version of adding value in the sphere of blog commenting in the interest of linkbuilding.
Take a look at my wordpress blog stats since Jan 26, 2012: http://michaeljagdeo.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/guest-blogging-benefits-blog-stats.png
I’ve had my HIGHEST traffic in all of January! And the stats I’m showing you in the graphic still leaves 10 hours left in the day (Jan 29)! I might have my highest visitor tally EVER.
Thanks for your help and guidance, guys!
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..Day by Day, My Dreams Are Coming True
Very interesting way of getting backlinks and some good comics ! Good luck in the contest !
niceblogger recently posted..Red Rose High Quality Wallpaper HD
Hi niceblooger!
I used to write long posts that were text-only. I quickly found out nobody gave a crap what I had to say.
Or so I thought.
I used to think that people would read great writing, but they don’t. The medium (the internet) is the message, which means that unless we optimize the way that text is used and not used, we’re not going to get our point across (How Users Read on the Web, Jakob Nielsen, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html)
I hope I don’t sound boastful when I say this, but I wanted to use the images like breadcrumbs in the above post:
- confused guy
- confused guy
- confused guy…
- happy guy!
My aim was that when users scanned the post, the images would tell them that there was both problem and solution available in the text.
Other little things I did in the above post:
- Color: I used blue to indicate importance (we pay attention to what is different)
- Chunking information: I always use subheadings with 2-3 paragraphs maximum so that readers to have to expend too much mental energy consuming the post.
- Catch phrases: ‘Lessons Learned’ or ‘Result’ are things that I personally pay attention to.
- Emotion: We remember Hansel and Gretel because there was emotion in the story. I used words like tougher, frustrated, and even wowzers.
What techniques do you use when you blog? I noticed that the site you have is predominantly about HD Wallpapers.
MIchael Jagdeo
(dofollow)
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..Comedian Admits To Getting Help With His Material
Hi Michael, you seem to be going about things the right way. I would definately get your own domain name, it’ll serve you well in the long run. I think if you have great content then it will get noticed and people will link to you naturaly, helping out your rankings in Google.
Beth recently posted..How to Get Him Back After Pushing Him Away
Hey Beth!
Yes, that advice has been coming in very consistently over the past little while.
My blogging has since landed me a TV writing gig, and I haven’t been able to spend as much time on the blog as I once have.
On the content side, I’m noticing that the word is slowly getting out there. I’m assuming that when a lot of subscribers come, they are going to come in droves rather than trickle in, one subscriber at a time. Am I off base when saying that?
Jagdeo
(dofollow)
Michael Jagdeo recently posted..Zen And The Art of Stand Up Comedy: Lessons Learned
Great news on the TV writing gig Michael, even if it’s taking up a lot of your time it’s a great step forward! I think as far as subscribers go if people are engaging with your content then they’ll share it and it can create a snowball effect.
Beth recently posted..Getting Back With Your Ex After a Break-Up
My advice for guest bloggers is do not focus on seo aspect of guest blogging. Focus on writing as better posts as you can. that way you’ll have much higher approval rate and better chance for your guest post to receive some quality links and thus pass more link juice to the site linked in the post.
In fact I appreciate this post. although most of the techniques listed here I have used them but it offer a refreshment to my ideas and encourages me to carry on doing the right thing. Thanks my comedian here. This post is by far interesting and anyone that start to read would not stop until they gets to the end. No wonder it get’s more comment. I admire your writing style and way of delivering the idea. more power to your elbow.
How To Send Traffic To Your Blog
Regards
Oladeinde Ayoola Richard recently posted..Alternative To SEO