Community Blogs: Are You In?
My good friend and copywriting mentor, Michel Fortin recently started a community blog for copywriters. By combining the expertise of fellow copywriters, (he currently has 13 co-authors who bring useful information to his readers) Michel has taken blogging and niche marketing up a notch. Like many Internet marketers and bloggers lately Michel has found a way to give his readers more of what they seek, without having to work himself to death in the process.
I have also been working on a community blog of my own for several months now over at BecauseMomSaidSo.com and I couldn’t be happier with the turnout so far. It’s been great for me in many ways.
- I can focus on specific content that the site is built around by having contributors who are in my market. This keeps the blog very focused in the niche market it was designed for.
- I get great exposure for the site because it’s constantly being updated with fresh content.
- I don’t have to feel obligated to post every day in order to keep readers and search engines coming back. If I don’t have something on my mind to discuss, it’s ok because at least one of the other contributors usually has something to say.
- It takes very little effort to set up. If you have Blogger, like I do, you just invite other blogger users to join. Once they accept they can publish right from their own accounts. You can decide how much access they have too, so if you only want them to post you don’t have to worry about any template changes, etc. occurring by accident. If you want to give one of them the ability to maintain the site you can give them more access.
Michel uses WordPress for his copywriting blog and it’s just as easy to add new users to the online account. Just set contributors up and give them the access you want them to have. They can login to the WordPress account and publish their posts.
A few months back I touched on the topic of community blogs. I discussed why community blogs and podcasts are good for owners and fellow contributors. I’ve had several people inquiring about how to get one started so I thought I’d revisit the subject.
When considering creating a community blog or converting an existing site into a community blog, keep the following points in mind.
- Most people would be more than happy to add their 2 cents on topics they are interested in. In order to find contributors, the easiest way is to just ask.
- When looking for co-authors to work with, be sure to include those in your market, yes even those you may consider your competitors. The more experts you have the better exposure your site will get. Everyone can promote the blog to their readers and lists which helps to gain more exposure for the blog, but everyone else’s sites as well.
- Set guidelines as to how often contributors need to post and what they can include in their posts. At BecauseMomSaidSo.com I request that authors post a minimum of once per week and they cannot use their affiliate links in any of their posts. You can allow them to use affiliate links, but use caution if you do. It may actually hurt other contributors if they are affiliates of the same program.
- If it’s a smaller group of authors, you can even set what days of the week you would like each of them to post. This gives you control over how often new content is added.
- Lastly, sweeten the deal a bit by offering contributors something in return. You can link to their related site in your blog roll or as a link under the authors section of the blog. This will help to bring their related sites traffic and looks good to the search engines, which is always a plus for fellow website owners.
The possibilities are endless with a community blog and done correctly it can be a very positive and rewarding experience for everyone involved.
I have also been working on a community blog of my own for several months now over at BecauseMomSaidSo.com and I couldn’t be happier with the turnout so far. It’s been great for me in many ways.
- I can focus on specific content that the site is built around by having contributors who are in my market. This keeps the blog very focused in the niche market it was designed for.
- I get great exposure for the site because it’s constantly being updated with fresh content.
- I don’t have to feel obligated to post every day in order to keep readers and search engines coming back. If I don’t have something on my mind to discuss, it’s ok because at least one of the other contributors usually has something to say.
- It takes very little effort to set up. If you have Blogger, like I do, you just invite other blogger users to join. Once they accept they can publish right from their own accounts. You can decide how much access they have too, so if you only want them to post you don’t have to worry about any template changes, etc. occurring by accident. If you want to give one of them the ability to maintain the site you can give them more access.
Michel uses WordPress for his copywriting blog and it’s just as easy to add new users to the online account. Just set contributors up and give them the access you want them to have. They can login to the WordPress account and publish their posts.
A few months back I touched on the topic of community blogs. I discussed why community blogs and podcasts are good for owners and fellow contributors. I’ve had several people inquiring about how to get one started so I thought I’d revisit the subject.
When considering creating a community blog or converting an existing site into a community blog, keep the following points in mind.
- Most people would be more than happy to add their 2 cents on topics they are interested in. In order to find contributors, the easiest way is to just ask.
- When looking for co-authors to work with, be sure to include those in your market, yes even those you may consider your competitors. The more experts you have the better exposure your site will get. Everyone can promote the blog to their readers and lists which helps to gain more exposure for the blog, but everyone else’s sites as well.
- Set guidelines as to how often contributors need to post and what they can include in their posts. At BecauseMomSaidSo.com I request that authors post a minimum of once per week and they cannot use their affiliate links in any of their posts. You can allow them to use affiliate links, but use caution if you do. It may actually hurt other contributors if they are affiliates of the same program.
- If it’s a smaller group of authors, you can even set what days of the week you would like each of them to post. This gives you control over how often new content is added.
- Lastly, sweeten the deal a bit by offering contributors something in return. You can link to their related site in your blog roll or as a link under the authors section of the blog. This will help to bring their related sites traffic and looks good to the search engines, which is always a plus for fellow website owners.
The possibilities are endless with a community blog and done correctly it can be a very positive and rewarding experience for everyone involved.
8 Comments:
Alice, what are your rules about duplicate content? I know some community blogs have rules that it has to be original content but others don't.
I've been toying with this idea to figure out how this can work with my new site. Good ideas!
It should be original content. It's okay if it contains excerpts or links to other content...but the blog posts shouldn't appear with the same wording on other blogs.
We just LOVE your new BecauseMomSaidSo.com community blog site Alice. Thanks again for more of your excellent content! And those naughty Christmas cards on that site are hilarious!! What a hoot!! LMAO! Snakes at the N. Pole and Elves picking up women. I'll have to send some cards out! Watch out for those elves Alice, they have a reputation(lol) and Merry Christmas!
Alice, this is such a timely subject for me, as I am getting ready to start one of these. Do you have a link or info on how to set up the contributors in WordPress?
Thanks.
Adriana
Hi Adriana,
I haven't done my own WordPress set up like at Mom Masterminds, but I can have something written up for you.
I'll do a Blogger one too and share it next week.
Thanks Alice, I am looking forward to whatever you can share about it. I don't use Blogger, only WordPress.
Again, thanks.
Dear Seba,
On first 2 items that I pulled up on Google, not one has your email:How on earth can one get in touch with you?
You put out an Option builder that I completed, but now I cannot get back into it to edit it. Would you mind explaining how I can accomplish same.
I have also re-written this twice as I cannot get past Google password that keeps saying that there
Hi Geoffrey...my support site is at http://www.internetbasedsupport.com.
The opt-in builder comes with a written guide and it shows you how to save your work, so you can edit it later.
The instructions are on page 18:
Important: To save your work for further editing, you have to save the project in the Opt-in Builder Software. Click “File” at the top left of the software and choose “Save as”. You can then choose where to save the “data file” on your computer. This will allow you to reopen the page and edit it at a later date.
Other people have reported occasional problems with the Google word verification too. I'm not sure what's up with that or why it happens. I haven't seen the same issue.
I hope that helps on the opt-in builder thing. As long as you saved your work in the builder (not just as an html page for publishing), you can continue to work on it.
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