Building your network

It’s truly amazing to me that I was talking about commenting plugins this week with another website designer. Then, voila, in my inbox I had a message from Ana Hoffman (Traffic Generation Cafe) that talked about the forthcoming CommentLuv Premium plugin. In the email, I followed a link to her blog and then followed the instructions to enter to win the new CommentLuv Premium plugin!

There is a great giveaway going on at the Traffic Generation Cafe Blog, your ultimate hub for all things web traffic, where you can win your own copy of the hottest plugin release of the year – CommentLuv Premium. Participating is very easy: just visit Ana’s CommentLuv Premium giveaway page for more information.

Ana’s good. She’s really good. Three days after she sent the email and posted her message on her blog, she has over 100 comments with links to blog posts that link to her site.

Wow is right!

You read that correctly – she sent out an email, people went to her blog, over 100 people were interested enough in the product she was giving away,  over 100 people wrote blog posts about her giveaway, 100+ people linked their audience to Ana’s site.

Wow is right!

So, in that light, let’s evaluate how you can have that kind of loyalty for your business blog/website.

There are three things in that sentence about Ana Hoffman that you should take away.

1. Newsletter/Email Marketing
2. Comments on the blog
3. Inbound Links

None of  the three is possible without first getting and keeping your audience/network. You need to make your blog fun to read, informative and exciting enough for your audience to share and draw in organic traffic.

We all draw upon our personal networks to help us get started (and ahead) in business. This is great and important. Running a giveaway that interests your friends and family, and encourages them to share your blog posts, website and content is a great start. But there’s only so far that these early followers are willing or able to push your message. The idea is to have a solid foundation and grow from there.

In the case of fitness websites with blogs, you are fortunate that you are drawing upon a skill and a culture that includes many facets. I would love to see you run a few giveaways, and see how they go. But before you move your blog into giveaway central, you will need to figure out what and when you’d like to give away. So, grab a piece of paper and answer these questions for your business:

• Where do you go to for inspiration for class? Do they have anything that is marketable to your clients?
• Where do you purchase supplies, equipment, wardrobe? Do they have anything that is marketable to your clients?
• What are the most common questions your clients ask you? Where do you get your answers? Are the answers marketable?
• What kinds of products and services would you feel comfortable endorsing? This is extremely important for the integrity of your business and your brand!

How large is your Facebook network? twitter followers? Google+? StumbleUpon? etc. What about your newsletter or mailing list – how large is the list? If the answer is “not that big” or “needs work” or “what? I need to do that too” then let me introduce my friend Devani Freeman – of Purl Media Solutions, that’s what she does. She helps small businesses gain and maintain their social media and online presence. (When you connect with Devani, let her know I sent you – we met up recently and decided to cross-market!)

Growing your network will take time, but growing it with authenticity makes it worth it.

Spend the time evaluating who your visitors are and how they interact with you. Once you learn about them, and their networks, then it’s time to pull the trigger and offer an irresistible giveaway. And, when you do, be sure to emphasise  social sharing!