Last week I posted about the Amazon Token crypto scam advertised on Facebook. That post received 4,000 views in six days, which is about eight times my usual traffic for a new post, and shows no sign of stopping. Here’s what made it take off. A deliberate move to capture traffic through SEO As soon…
When you descend into unethical and annoying marketing tactics, your desperation shows. You destroy your reputation in pursuit of questionable gains. And it’s permanent. Today, I’ll share two marketing messages that are object lessons in how marketing can backfire. Each was an automated message directed at me in a personal communications channel, but in this…
I was amused when the organization of Tony Robbins, famous motivational speaker, asked me for a web link to boost his SEO, because I’m a human who tends to do perverse things when you treat me like a machine. Here’s the email I received: Subject: You Mentioned Tony Robbins [Thank you] From: Ignite Visibility <Ignite@tonyrobbins.com>…
I hate clickbait. I love posts that spread. So here’s a process for creating content — like blog posts — that spreads usefully, not exploitatively. I’m writing this post because I had an argument with a client. The creative people at this company were creating valuable and interesting posts, then giving them titles that were…
I have blogged 500 to 1000 words, every weekday, since March 26, 2015. That spans 387 posts, nearly all of which covered issues of substance. Today, I explain why I do this, how it helps, and what it takes. I did not set out to blog every day. My first post appeared on a Thursday….
When I teach writing, people always ask me “What about SEO?” (That’s “search engine optimization”). If you’re thinking about SEO, please stop, because you should be out to maximize readers, not traffic. Don’t even think about SEO until your writing is nearly done. What is SEO? According to the experts at Search Engine Land: SEO…
Responding to several requests, here’s a follow-up: one viral post on writing tips has made my blog more popular, improved my search rankings, and given me the confidence to take the next step in my journey. Here’s what I learned. Viral blog posts taper slowly. Here’s a chart of the traffic on my blog for the last…