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Blogging with JC has left it’s mark – So I’m continuing along the modules so after 1 and 2 comes 3, module 3 of blogging with John Chow is Brandonomics!

I bet you ain’t heard that before! Again we have a video entrance to the module (a 7 min one)  in which John let’s his guard slip with a couple of what I would call grayish suggestions. Still you’ve got to give him credit… he’s got balls for putting it out there.

Does your brand image have balls or are you more of a yes blogger?

Blogging With Chow module 3

The intro video has a few good tit bits in it but the tips I’m going to share are www.createspace.com. This is a great service if you are keen on getting published on Kindle. Secondly the second most viewed page on your site is probably the about page!

Next it’s pretty standard stuff! There is a post taken from his blog from a few years ago – The 7 habits of successful bloggers,  I have 3 maybe 4 of them, then I suppose that means that I’ve identified a few good habits to instill!

When and how long as you’d expect refers to post frequency and post length. Yet I’m glad to say that he lesson goes a little deeper. Frequency he’s a stickler for consistency – JohnChow.com started with 2-4 posts a day and he still had that lever now… probably more with the guests posts etc these days. The optimal times to publish make interesting and actionable reading and something that I really haven’t thought about before.

As far as post length – write until the massage is out is the best advice I can give you it’s just about the same as John Chow too.  Our readers will dictate the length of blog posts usually. Keep an eye on analytics and you’ll see when your blog is most active.

The rest of the branding section looks at what other tools you can use to keep up to date with what people are saying about you and your brand.  knowem.com is worth taking a look at for fast quick and easy brand name overview.. You can see if your name is taken on all types of domain and web2.0 services.

There’s always a new social site popping up from what seems to be the blue tag your brand name on them all is the message from JC – get there fast enough you may be able to get some serious momentum as things grow – You never know right?

Take Away

Understand what and who you want to be seen as online – Define your brand way before you start writing a single word.

It’s easy to stay on-brand when you believe in the message or the mission statement. Once you are on brand don’t be changing your mind on topics you’ll confuse your readers and ruin your credibility.

Blogging With John Chow Module 4

Be awesome! A great headline for getting us into the content discussion. We all want our websites to be awesome right! So stop with the lame content already! That’s what I’m reading into this rather important module. Being awesome means you get traffic, you get comments and you get results…

So how are meant to go viral then? Well JC has an answer for that too – you just have to be:

• Authoritative
  It’s not enough to be informative you have to have a voice of authority. When we create a post we truly have to believe that there is no other blog post out there that can compete with our awesomeness!
• Entertaining
  Entertaining always gets views just check out youtube if you’ve any doubt of that. Entertaining posts or videos almost beg to be shared.
• Hilarious
  Giggles and fun always get the karma strings going – Just look at memes and see how fast they spread – if you want to try making your own memes check out www.cheezburger.com and let em know how it goes.
• Jaw-Dropping
  Something that just blows the mind of your visitors –  It can be images or even video the point is only you know your readers so what counts as Jaw-dropping really depends on your audience.
• Controversial
  This old chestnut will never fail to please. However as JC mentions best have thick skin as controversy needs thick skin. If your up for the traffic and personality bashing go for it!

 The attracting comments section –

Did you know that user interaction typically ranges fro .01 to 1%?  There is a list of John’s 10 tips for getting more interaction from your weblog – something that I will certainly work on – let’s hope I get results. Commenting here at Mission0psdotCom is pretty non existent.

Negative comments feature heavily here and what you should do with them (and it’s not just hit the delete button)

The final piece of module 4 covers comment moderation and looking for more ideas on what to blog about – Moderation isn’t a big deal for me – I don’t suppose it is for most unless you’re  Tiffany Dow she get’s plenty of comments! Looking for more ideas to blog about isn’t that different to mist ideas you’ve read or heard about.

Take away 

Only publish when I’m totally happy with my content, no more mediocre posts. Try to be a little more consistent even if it means drafting posts to schedule later. Ask for comments at the end of your blog posts and make sure you reply to every “legitimate” comment on your weblogs.  Reach out and comment on similar niche blogs too.

Ever wished you had more comments on your blog & what do you do with negative comments?

Comment on mine and I’m sure I’l return the favor! 

 Tips from blogging with Chow pt3

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