OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO

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Vacations are great, aren’t they? I mean, you get some downtime. You do stuff you can’t do when you’re working, like take a nap in the middle of the day. Very sweet. I did that twice.

Vacations also good for reading. I love to read, and read at least two or three books at a time.

While I was off last week, I read a book for the second time. I don’t often do that. T. Harv Eker and Frank Herbert are two of the few authors I’ve reread over time. But I’ve just added Roy H. Williams to that short list when I reread his The Wizard of Ads. It’s an awesome book, and one that Tellman turned me on to.

In it, Williams talks about advertising, about getting under the surface to find the real stuff, and he teaches you in surreptitious ways. That sneaky guy. When he sells you something, you won’t even know it.  His series of autobiographical anecdotes are interesting and endearing. And, he’s fun. I really love that book.

You see, he doesn’t really talk much about the down and dirty of where to put your deck copy and how many bullets a long-copy sales letter should have; he shows you things in a way that you will remember. He tells you stories.

I had a comment about my “frivolous” style today, and I’ll agree that my style is a tad fanciful. I’m a little wackier than the average serious businessperson and I write some stuff the way I do because I’m slowly moving into that realm of life. Any story will do.

But aside from the now and then serious banter, rather than bore an audience, I’d prefer to be like Roy H. Williams. I like to have fun, and if you’re not having fun with me, well… you’re missing my point.

And that’s OK…

You may totally hate my style, think I’m a twit, and run far, far away. That’s cool. You aren’t one of my people. You don’t get me. And to tell the truth, I probably wouldn’t get you, either.

Oh, well.

But if you enjoy learning and not even noticing that you are, I’m suggesting here that you try The Wizard of Ads. Even if you don’t learn anything, I know you’ll enjoy it.

Popularity: 25% [?]

I was just over at Darren Rowse’s blog — ProBlogger — and learned something so simple that it’s just freakin’ stupid that I and most people I know, didn’t think of it sooner. You can see his video post at

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/03/21/how-to-promote-yourself-and-your-blog-at-a-conference/

But… here’s the soup simple deal:

You know how conference badges are usually kind of lame? They have your name and sometimes your picture (not usually), but there’s often a bit of white space real estate you can put to good use. So, just shove your business card in there. Or, draw a cartoon. Or, whatever. You want people to notice it and start a conversation.

‘Course that’s never been my problem. I’ll walk up to anyone and just start talking. I’ve met some of the coolest people that way, and you know, some of these conference relationships can be really great. You’ll probably see these folks again or maybe even do business with them. That’s why going to offline conferences is such a big deal. If you aren’t doing it, you’re missing some very cool times.

Darren suggests putting the name of your blog and its URL on your conference badge, which is great for us serious bloggers, but you can really put a URL for anything in there, no?

I mean, think about it. If you’re an affiliate marketer, how about a curiosity arousing redirect for an affiliate link? Why not?

Make it something really cool so that people will ask you about it. Be creative!

http://mysite.com/kiss_me

http://mysite.com/eat_dirt

http://mysite.com/available

Oh, whatever. So, for my Blogging4Boomers site, I could have like:

http://bloggingforboomers.com/even_old_people_do_it

Yeah.

Think I’d get some inquisitors? Heck yeah. ‘Specially since in comparison to all these youngsters online, I’m one of the old ones. LOL

But that’s the ticket for today, people. USE that conference badge for something other than getting in.

Thanks for the great idea, Darren! Can’t wait until the next conference…

JVAlert in June.

I’m planning ahead.

Popularity: 34% [?]