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Interview With Jeremy Wright, Founder of b5media – Part 1

Jeremy Wright is Founder and prior CEO of b5media, one of the largest blogging networks on the Internet, including Darren Rowse’s blog, Problogger.net. He is now owner of 23press. Since I met Jeremy a while back we have stayed in touch off and on, and he has really helped me with offering advice on blogging. He agreed to a written interview and I will be posting them one question at a time. Here is the first one.

Jeremy, first off thanks for taking the time to sit down and answer these questions. For a long time I really wanted to get a blogging expert’s opinion on the hunting and outdoor blogging world from someone “outside” the industry and put it all into perspective for us. Outdoor bloggers in comparison to other fields haven’t been around a long time, and there are less of us in a well concentrated niche. I think there is room for a lot of growth in the outdoor industry when it comes to blogging. With that said, can you give us 3 examples of what an outdoor blogger needs to do to be on the top of his/her game?

Steven, thanks for having me! I think I want to tackle this question from two angles. The first is that, given the newness of the space, this is the most exciting time to be a blogger in hunting and outdoor blogging! It means you get to use all the knowledge of other blogging communities, but without all of the politics. It means you can (and should!) collaborate and it means that those who are dedicated to sharing content and ideas will rise to the top as a group and form a bond that you’ll never replace. In many ways, when a new blogging community is formed, it’s like a fraternity or other exclusive club: you were there at the beginning, you realize helping each other out is good for everyone and you are committed to growing the entire space as a community.

On to the actual question you asked! For any young blogger, there are really three lessons I always try and pass on:

• Find your voice: It sounds mushy, but the reason I read columnists or individual bloggers is as much about what they are writing about is how they write about it. Finding your voice is absolutely critical to long term success, as it is the type of thing that transcends medium. So whether you’re blogging or on a podcast or speaking on stage or writing an article – that voice will come with you. So it’s beyond worth the investment!
• Be part of the community: The strongest communities are those in which the “elders” regularly reach out to and give recognition to the younger generation. So as the folk starting out in the community, it isn’t just a good idea it is your duty to reach out to new bloggers and welcome them, link to them and tweet with them! One of the ways to solidify this community is to find ways to communicate regularly. A skype chat, Facebook group or other persistent “community space” will do wonders for interpersonal dynamics (and therefore writing!). Heck, maybe one of these will turn into a conference (that’s how Blissdom, SOBCon and other events were started after all!)!
• Be unique, or stop blogging: There are two sides to being unique: your voice and your purpose. There are lots of dating, mommy, tech and business bloggers out there. But every year, several new ones grab the community by storm and they do so because of three simple reasons: a unique voice, a unique focus or point of view, and regular valuable content. So don’t stress about being unique on Day One, but know what makes you and your voice different. And by “different” I don’t mean a small shift, but one that produces content that others in your space will actually want to read. The barometer for this is: would you want to read about this if you were the audience? As an example, a travel blogger writing tips is different than a business person writing tips for travel; but what can be really magical: a flight attendant writing tips. Find that space for yourself!

So that’s my essay, but let’s sum up: for the community, you need to work together and build collaborative spaces. For individuals you need to regularly find ways to build your voice, build your purpose and spend time planning valuable content.

Now, back to Twitter where I can make fun of all the silly PR bloggers like @davefleet. He’s a ginger, and clearly deserves it (Dave and I both started blogging around the same time, and grew up in similar sides of our industry, and became close friends afterwards!).

Find other guest posts here.

Blogging: A Matter of Heart and Soul

This is a guest post written by Mike Hanback of Big Deer Blog.

I was talking to my web guy the other day about making my Big Deer Blog bigger and better and he blurted out, “It’s gotta be in your soul, man, and for you it is.”

I had never thought about it like that, but he’s right. Blogging, even if you’re doing it part time, is work. It’s like any job. The harder you work, the more you pour your heart and soul into it, the bigger and better your blog—and ultimately your brand–will be.

I believe most blogs fail, or at least just limp along, because people don’t pour heart and soul into the work. Folks think blogging about hunting or fishing or hiking sounds cool, so they start one up and get to posting. It is fun and cool–for a month or two. After that it gets tougher: What do I write about today? How can I find the time to post? A month or two later it gets to be downright hard work. Why am I doing this, there’s no money in it? Some people bag it. Others retreat to posting just a few times a week or month. Their blogs (and audience and traffic) don’t grow. Some wither away.

IMO, blogging is in a word about frequency. The harder you work and the more you post, the bigger your traffic and the more your audience will grow and communicate with you.

I have been blogging most every weekday for 5½ years now, first for Outdoor Life’s deer-hunting blog, and for the last 3-plus years at my independent BIG DEER. I have posted more than 1,375 blogs (give or take) on a variety of topics: big-buck stories, hunting tactics, politics, ladies in camo bikinis (“Classy or Trashy?” though I am no knuckle-dragging Neanderthal), big snakes and frogs, rednecks (term used fondly) with buck tattoos, green topics, conservation, rants against PETA (one archived post with 142,037 views and growing), gear reviews…you name it and I have probably blogged about it in some form.

My blog’s traffic has grown steadily, and readers have hit the comment button more than 25,000 times. This summer I will launch my third redesign and expansion of BIG DEER to coincide with the premiere of my new BIG DEER with Mike Hanback show on the Sportsman Channel. It’s been a long ride and a lot of hard work.

But my blog is my job. I pour my heart and soul into it.

Coming soon: Frequency is the key, but you must blog a variety of informative, compelling, fun and thought-provoking topics. How I continuously stay on the hunt for those topics.

Mike is currently the author of BIG DEER, and the host of BIG DEER TV on the Sportsman Channel. He was born and raised in Virginia and started hunting with his dad when he was only 5 years old. His first bow was a Bear recurve. His first job was Assistant Editor for the NRA’s American Hunter magazine, then moved up to Executive Editor and worked there for 10 years. For years he wrote for Outdoor Life and was the magazine’s Whitetail Deer Editor. In the Fall of 2011 he began filming BIG DEER TV, which will debut this Summer (2012), exclusively on the Sportsman Channel. Find other guest posts here.

Outdoor Blogging and Social Media Success Story: Tahoe Mountain Sports

This is a guest post written by Greyson Howard, Web Editor of Tahoe Mountain Sports.

Let me start off by introducing myself. I’m the web editor and social media marketer for Tahoe Mountain Sports, an online and brick-and-mortar outdoor retailer located on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, California.

I’ve been reading Steve’s blog here for a while now, and I’ve found a lot of his suggestions and strategies have rung true in our experience at Tahoe Mountain Sports. So when he asked me about doing a guest blog about our work in blogging and social media to support our sales, I thought it was a perfect fit.

When our strategies for Tahoe Mountain Sports Blog and growing social media were first coming together, we knew we had three strengths we could play off of – great gear, an awesome location to work with outdoor gear and clothing, and employees and friends who actually get out and enjoy all the great sports we equip for.

The blog is kind of like the center of our online marketing universe. It’s where we can showcase the outdoor lifestyle we sell and our expertise as a shop in all the equipment and apparel we sell. We know this isn’t the place to tell people “buy this,” but a place to show them why, when they go looking for outdoor gear, they should buy from us – whether they see us hosting a disc golf tournament or skiing a 12,000 foot peak.

A great example this last winter was with avalanche airbag backpacks. These life-saving devices, which inflate 1 or 2 large airbags when you pull a ripcord while skiing or snowboarding in the backcountry, help you “float” if caught in an avalanche, dramatically decreasing the likelihood that you’ll be buried. Dave, the store owner, saw the potential in these devices – already popular in Europe but hesitantly regarded in the US, and not only invested in inventory, but invested in expertise, getting the staff hands-on training.

Out of that training I was able to put together a video and a blog post on using an Avalanche Airbag – the Mammut Ride R.A.S., and they quickly became the go-to source of information for those curious about the technology. Fast forward a few months, and the tragic avalanche struck at Stevens Pass, Washington, killing 4 – but a survivor was saved by an avalanche airbag. Since we were already positioned as an authority, our views shot through the roof. Both local and national publications were contacting us on ski airbags. We sold out of Mammut airbags promptly, picked up another brand – ABS – and sold out of our first order of them.

That’s just one example of a success born through getting on the leading edge of a new product, doing keyword research to do well in Google page rank, and properly promoting it through our social media channels. While Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest have their own values for our business, they all act as a funnel we use to bring people back to our blog.

I hope you can take something away from our example, and remember – enjoy the outdoors and bring that passion to your readers through your blog!

Greyson Howard
Tahoe Mountain Sports

Find other guest posts here.

Attract Readership By Finding Your Outdoor Blogging Voice

What is voice?

Voice in writing is how your words “sound” to readers. Imagine your readers coming to your page day after day and reading your material. Can they immediately tell it is you who has written it? Traditionally we have been programmed through education to follow rules and write according to them. The teacher hands back your paper with red ink all over it. Uh oh, you broke the rules of writing. Traditionally it was much harder to have a voice. You had to work within the confines of the laws of writing. Today? Well there are no rules. You are on your own blog, you own it, there are no teachers to bleed red ink all over it. You are in the spotlight now buddy so watch out.

So how do you find your voice? There are a variety of ingredients that go into establishing a voice such as your choice of words, favorite expressions, humor, and so on. Maybe you like to use specific figures-of-speech over and over again. People can pick up on this in time, recognize you as the writer, and hopefully like you. Your goal is to grab the attention of your readers through word choice, without being dull and boring, and still be yourself.

What sounds better to you:

A: So I picked up my .30-30 which had no scope on it because it was going to be thick in the woods and figured I wouldn’t need it, and headed out the door.

B: I had to choose between my .30-30 and my brand new .308 sporting a new sleek scope I mounted last year (link to old article about steps on mounting your new scope), but knew the pucker-brush would be all up in my eyeballs. So I left my .308 behind and grabbed my .30-30 and headed out the backdoor.

As you can see, the second one is probably a lot better choice. There are some tricks in ways to establish a voice. One of them is to always be thinking of how to be more specific. If you can be more specific and ‘describe’ what is happening around you, the more opportunities to throw in your favorite words and expressions, ultimately showing off your voice, and grabbing your readers’ attention. In the second example I used the word ‘sporting’. You as a writer with your own voice may choose a different word or expression. I used pucker-brush. Maybe you prefer simply woodland or forest. I know some like to use thicket. Over time you will establish your own favorite words, and that is ok, because that is what gives you your own voice.

So why is voice so important, you ask. Today, with Twitter and Facebook controlling and ruling the world and the Internet, as soon as a story breaks everyone knows what has happened within just a few minutes. Everyone is now writing about it. There used to be a time when people would come to you for all the breaking news. Today, it’s pretty unlikely you will ever break a news story unless you have inside information. As soon as someone tweets it, you have about 19 minutes before it’s old news. Ever see someone tweet news 6 hours after it happened and you roll your eyes and wonder what rock they were hiding under? Yep, welcome to the new world of sharing information. Once news breaks, then people begin to scatter to their favorite blogs, forums, and outlets to see what others are saying about it. People begin to form opinions, and then these people want to share their opinions with like-minded individuals.

So, breaking news on your blog isn’t really going to work anymore unless you are a major news source. More than likely you are not, even if you wish you were. But, this is where your voice is important. You want people to come to your blog to read your opinion about what is going on. Maybe in the past, you had a great perspective on many of the news that has been reported on these topics. This is where it is important to own topics and be an authority on something. For example, let’s say you have been following the EPA’s Petition on banning lead ammo and all of a sudden news broke about the topic. You want to have people know that you own that topic. This means that you have been the go-to guy who has been following all this from the very beginning.

Most writers have a great voice but end up suppressing it. Over time, with practice, you can learn ways to let your personality shine through in on your writing and trust your instinct. It’s like being yourself at a cocktail party. Kinda hard to convince someone you are sincere and a fun person if you stand all stiff and formal and only express a certain amount of words necessary to function. You need to relax and be yourself, but you also don’t want to be the guy/gal who is trying too hard to fit in or it will seem forced.

If your aim is to inspire readers, you may want to choose inspirational words, terms, and expressions. If you want to make them laugh, use funny expressions. Just don’t be dull or your readers won’t even be around long enough to be lulled into a deep hypnotic sleep. They will snap back to Twitter or Facebook before they get past the first paragraph. In fact, probably nobody will read this sentence. If you do, you win a brand new pick-up. Just let me know where to drop it off. Thanks for playing.

So by golly (<— one of my favorite goofy expressions) go be yourself, establish a voice, and impress your readers.

Top Referrers to Outdoor Bloggers: April 2012

Well it’s now May and I would like to thank everyone for stopping in during the month of April. Some of my traffic can be found coming from many sources. I would like to recognize those people who referred traffic, other than places like Google Search, Twitter, and Facebook. Here are my top 6:

1) Sole Adventure – Thanks to Mark Huelsing over at the Sole Adventure blog for being my top referrer for April. He linked over to my list of 25 Hunting Bloggers You Should Follow on Twitter.

2) Daniel Schmidt’s Whitetail Wisdom at Deer and Deer Hunting Magazine was also a great referrer last month. I was very happy to see traffic coming from there.

3) Outdoors with Othmar Vohringer – Towards the end of the month I saw a good source of traffic coming from Othmar’s blog. Thanks again for the mention.

4) Outdoor Sporting Library – An old friend and blogger, Jeremiah Wood, wrote about my book The Legend of Grey Ghost and Other Tales From the Maine Woods, and brought me some traffic for April. Thanks!

5) Desert Rat – Skinny Moose blogger, Marshall MacFarlane, referred some traffic to Outdoor Bloggers last month by linking over to my list of 10 Seasoned Outdoor Bloggers Who Have Been Blogging Since the Beginning.

6) Lisa Metheny – Thanks Lisa for linking over to my list of 25 Hunting Bloggers You Should Follow on Twitter.

Make Outdoor Blogging Simple and Fun by Using Basic Organizational Skills

Alright. So blogging can get down right miserable. At times, even some of the most seasoned bloggers think about hanging it up. I actually received an email from a veteran blogger about 6 months ago, telling me he thought he would put his blog on the back-burner and focus on other things in life.

Now, I don’t feel I should be telling others what to do with their lives but I can certainly understand if someone wants to move on. I also can offer up some advice. I recently wrote an article on simple day to day strategies battling writers block. I even compiled a list of specific ideas to write about.

But even if you aren’t having trouble thinking of ideas but just can’t find the time to do it, there are ways to deal with this as well. Believe me, I know a little thing or two about time management. I am a stay at home dad of seven children, run a business, maintain a blog, and work on internet projects. How do I do it? I wish I could I say I had super powers. Unfortunately that’s not the case. To add to my already hectic life, I have a slow metabolism due to a non-functioning thyroid gland. Great. So my answer is coffee with lots of cream and sugar. Yep that’s it. The end.

Ok, seriously, coffee certainly helps me get going in the morning, but the real trick to a well productive day is being organized. Learn how to multi-task a little bit. I believe multi-tasking can be over rated. There has to be enough focus on what you’re doing to crank out quality work no matter what you do. But learning some basic low level multi-tasking skills can help tremendously.

Double up time
Learn ways to double your time, for example. Once you lose your time, you can never get it back. Everyone is racing against the clock. For example, don’t be caught doing nothing while sitting on the toilet. haha. Sounds funny right. Steve cracked another joke. But what’s funny is I’m serious. The first time I heard this some guy was telling an audience how he learned an entirely new language sitting on the toilet. He said he found himself sitting on the toilet too often when he felt his life was going by. He had too much to do and too little time and apparently had a bad case of constipation. I say Metamucil would solve that time management problem in a hurry. But, I find I do a lot of my thinking on the toilet and jot them down. I need the break. So I enjoy my time on the toilet while I take a break and write down ideas I may have.

Don’t do it all at once
One of the best strategies I use is knowing before I begin a new blog post, that it is a process and I do not have to finish and publish immediately. Jot down an idea early in the day. Think of a great Title and opening paragraph. Save your draft and go do other things. While you are at work, or going about your day, you will begin to come up with more ideas for your article. Jot them down. When you have time write some more. Save the draft again. Do this process until you are ready to publish. It makes writing blog posts so much easier, and actually kind of fun. It also allows your brain to draw up new ideas and perspectives on the topic, giving you a much better quality article. So take your time and don’t write the article all at once. It is more difficult to find a 30-45 minute block in your day than a couple 15-20 minute slots.

Structure
Personally I structure my day in 15 minute time blocks using Google Calendar. I use Google Calendar for all aspects of my life. The way it is set up you can create as many calendars as you wish and color code them. For instance you can create a personal calendar, a work calendar, a blogging calendar, a hunting calendar, and let’s say a weight loss and fitness calendar. You can view your life monthly, weekly, or daily. I tend to combine all these strategies. For instance, I may schedule a 15 minute block early in the morning while I am waiting at the bus stop with my kids to come up with a good blog idea for the day. I may schedule a time during lunch to begin by writing a title and an opening paragraph. Then later I may give myself a good 30 minute block to finish it up. We all know blogging is more than writing, so schedule time, preferably when there are a lot of people online to do some social networking. Sound kinda lame? It is, but if you are trudging through the day and can’t seem to squeeze in a blog post or idea then this route will help get the job done.

Aim
All hunters know that if you don’t aim for your target, you will more than likely miss. Aiming is equivalent to setting blogging goals. By structuring your day and setting goals you will more than likely hit your target. Imagine going into the woods on a deer hunt and there is no plan. You walk aimlessly through the woods hoping you’ll stumble over deer and then if you see any you will shoot from the hip. What do you think your success rate will be? Imagine going into the woods with a structured plan? Maintain a blog and structure it by having goals and devising a plan. You will soon find that your jam packed day has made room for your blogging.

Make it a priority
I have learned with my lifestyle that people have a lot more time than they think, they just don’t make it a priority or they tend to mismanage their time. Do you know those people who say they are so busy all the time yet they find time to catch American Idol, go play golf, hit all kinds of new movies, and even play video games? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. The people who are so busy they can’t return a call and can’t find time to update their blog but have seen every episode of The Bachelor and can tell you everything that’s happened in the last 3 seasons of Breaking Bad.

10 Seasoned Outdoor Bloggers Who Have Been Blogging Since The Beginning

The following short list is a group of 10 outdoor bloggers who I remember being some of the very first bloggers to even exist on the Internet. Not only that, but they are still blogging today and going strong. For those people out there who have only been blogging a short time and need advice, should really seek out some of these seasoned veteran bloggers. Not only have these bloggers been around since Al Gore invented the Internet, but they blog almost daily. You have to ask yourself what drives and motivates them.

J.R. Absher Blog: The Outdoor Pressroom I like to think of J.R. Absher as the ‘Godfather of Blogging’. Not only has he been around since the beginning of the blogosphere, but he is also a professional writer. He is a longtime freelance outdoor writer who is a complete ‘News Hound’ having written for Outdoor Life and ESPN, just to name a few. You can find his work in ink or on many of the blogs he writes for all across the web.

Phillip Loughlin Blog: The Hog Blog Phillip Loughlin was one of the first hunting bloggers I ever knew. He was one of the founding bloggers of Skinny Moose Media and played an integral part in the growth of the blog network. He has spent his lifetime outdoors, hunting, fishing, diving, and horseback riding. Phillip is well known for the up to the minute coverage on the lead ammo ban in his Lead Ban Chronicles.

Othmar Vohringer Blog: Outdoors With Othmar Vohringer I think Othmar has been around blogging before I even knew what blogging was. He is an outdoor writer whose regular columns appear in the Merritt News and BC Outdoors magazine. He’s written articles for many magazines including the Great Canadian Sportsman, Canadian Deer Hunter, Outdoor Edge, Canadian Bowhunter and Western Sportsman, Canada’s Outdoor Sportsman and many other print and website publications throughout North America. Othmar is an active member of Outdoor Writers of Canada, Northwest Association of Outdoor Writers, the BC Wildlife Federation, National Wild Turkey Federation and currently serves on the board of Directors of the Nicola Valley Fish & Game Club. In addition he is a registered and licensed BC Hunter Education Instructor and a BC Angling Ambassador. He is a professional animal behaviourist for over 30 years and regarded as one of the top experts in the field.

Marshall MacFarlane Blog: Desert Rat Marshall was also one of the founding bloggers of Skinny Moose Media and he has been blogging for years. He has been a freelance writer and editor since High School. At one time he was part of WOW and POMA. Born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada he later lived in northern Maine for a few years and then lived in Arizona for almost 15 years.

Kevin Paulson Blog: Hunting Life Kevin is the President and CEO of Hunting Life. Having grown up in a Forest Service family Kevin began his time in the woods at a very young age on the back of his father being packed up the mountains on fly fishing trips in the Tahoe National Forest. His first hunt came in 1975 at the age of 5 with his father chasing mule deer along the Nevada border. On that first hunt he saw the Western most herd of Antelope and watched his father take a mule deer. Kevin was hooked on hunting and the pursuit of big game. He has hunted as far north as Saskatchewan, owned an outfitting business, and chased and guided elk hunters in Idaho.

Thomas Remington Blog: Black Bear Blog Tom is my dad, and he and I co-founded Skinny Moose Media together. Tom is also the author and researcher of the well known Black Bear Blog which covers many outdoor related topics from funny stories to controversial news, including laws and legislation that pertain to the hunting and outdoor industry. He grew up in Maine where he has lived most his life, but now spends Winters in Florida. You can also find him at TomRemington.com where he blogs about politics and outdoor related topics. Tom is also the co-author of the book, The Legend of Grey Ghost and Other Tales From the Maine Woods.

Bill Anderson Blog: Muskoka Outdoors Bill Anderson is a Canadian Outdoor Blogger at his own blog, Muskoka Outdoors. He also is a blog contributor to the World Fishing Network website. Bill has a biology degree and is equally comfortable with a spinning, fly rod and hunting rifle. I have known Bill for many many years and is a great guy. He has been blogging since I can even remember and is always adding and contributing to the industry. He definitely deserves the title of a seasoned outdoor blogger.

Dan ‘Moose’ McLaughlin Blog: Moose Droppings Dan is another founding blogger at Skinny Moose Media. He has been blogging non-stop for years. He currently lives in North Carolina. He grew up in New England and still has many roots tied to that part of the country and he tries to get back there as much as he can. He misses New England Fall days, when the air is crisp and the beauty of the leaves as they turn colors and drop to cover the earth for winter.

Tom Chandler Blog: Trout Underground Tom lives in Mt. Shasta, fishes a lot, writes for a living, and as he mentions on his blog “remains largely in debt”. He has been writing the Trout Underground for as long as I can remember and is still at it. I have enjoyed Tom’s writing all these years and I know those who have been there enjoy it too.

Jon Bryan Blog: Outdoor Odyssey Jon retired to his ranch in Central Texas, in 2005, and had set a goal to write a book about his four Great Grandfathers. In mid 2006 he began the Outdoor Odyssey series, all based on actual experiences. Jon’s first book, Outdoor Odyssey, was copyrighted in 2006, and his second, Outdoor Odyssey – Water Under The Bridge, was copyrighted in 2007. In 2008 he had 2 books copyrighted – “The End Of The Line” and “Why It Is Called Hunting”. Not only has he been keeping up a blog, he is currently working on more future books.

Why I Can’t Stand the Term ‘Social Media’ as if it is All Encompassing

Social media. That term is being tossed around the Internet like a ping-pong ball. Have you noticed 83% of everyone on Twitter calls themselves a ‘Social Media Expert’? Super. Hi my name is Joe and I am a Social Media Guru. Or how about, I am Joanne an Internet Strategist and Social Media Expert. Sure call yourself whatever you want and brand yourself but there seems to be so many experts out there. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Internet is important in branding your business today, but holy smokes batman…

Social Media is not all encompassing and there are some problems with it. It’s not definitive enough. For example if I say the sky is blue, most everyone understands that the sky is blue. If I say there is a white ball rolling on the green grass. You can envision exactly what is taking place. The problem I have with the term social media is everyone assumes we are all talking about the same thing, when in fact, we are not.

Everyone has their own interpretations of the term social media. Some begin to think of Twitter and Facebook. People start tossing out all the tools. I can name them all too. Add Pinterest, YouTube, tumblr, foursquare, to the list. Why not throw in Stumble Upon and Digg, and to be industry specific CamoSpace. So you jump on any of these things and begin to use them and promote your content or your brand and since you use it, you are now an expert. I think it’s pure bologna for anyone to think they know everything because they use Twitter all day long and have gained some traffic. I think using these tools are important but they are tools to help us conclude what we still need to know. What about analyzing who our competitors are? Or analyzing our potential clients? How do we determine what our clients needs and desires are, who our competitors are, developing cost analysis, seeking opportunities and dodging threats, and adjusting accordingly?

Whether you use so-called social media mediums or old school mediums, we still need to determine a few things. We need to go back to school and determine our internal and external factors. Everything that is internal to your organization are controllable factors and everything outside are uncontrollable.

Strengths – Weaknesses – Opportunity – Threats

Also known as a SWOT analysis, one needs to determine the internal controllable factors. These would be your own strengths and weaknesses within your organization. The external variables include your opportunities and threats. If you can’t see where your threats are and never even see an opportunity when it hits you smack dab in the forehead how in the hell is Twitter going to solve your problem? or Facebook?

• Internal factors – The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization.
• External factors – The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the organization.

This all applies to you as a person blogging or to your multi-million dollar corporation. It may just be more complex when it is time to analyze. Analysis needs to be done, whether you are promoting your blog or corporation. So, can you as a Social Media Guru determine from Twitter and Facebook what sort of objectives need to be set and define what an organization or a blogger needs to be doing? What about analyzing existing strategies and determine their relevance and impact on the market. Once these strategic plans are set in place, can you easily monitor the results through facebook? Then taking corrective action which may mean amending objectives and strategies.

The point I am making is being a social media guru doesn’t mean you have lots of friends on Facebook. It certainly helps to have a large following and have impact, and make a difference. But at the end of the day, one needs to take the tools provided for them and be able to analyze and obtain information so that goals can be set, monitored and tweaked. Do I like to call myself a social media expert? Sure I toss that out there just as much as the next guy. But truth is, people use that because it sounds pretty damn cool to those who know nothing about Twitter and Facebook. It gives others that one step up above your non-Twitter buddies. When it comes to social marketing, people like to go heavy on the ‘social’ and light on the ‘marketing’.

What the heck is marketing? All these people who profess to be social media and marketing gurus, how many have actually done marketing? Or is that too much work, and prefer to go back to the social aspect of it all? Marketers employ a variety of techniques to conduct market research such as qualitative research which includes focus groups etc.. and quantitative research such as surveys to experiment on techniques and test them out. Then you need to observe them and tweak.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Twitter and Facebook, and many other outlets should be included in your blogging strategy but the term ‘social media’ is tossed around the Internet so loosely and the many perceptions of it. Ask 20 people what social media is and you will get 20 different answers. I am sure Twitter and Facebook will get mentioned many times.

So now that I have gone out and ticked off all the Social Media Experts, I just want to say that I think the work is important. I think it is important for anyone looking to promote and brand something to use all aspects of the Internet, utilize the social tools, in order to analyze your market. The issue I have is how loosely the term is being thrown around. It sort of cheapens the hard work that is involved and it is difficult to really trust someone to know if they really know what the heck they are doing. I would say look at their history and their accomplishments. Have they built a business online? Did they do it from scratch or with a little funding? Take a look at what they have accomplished in the past and if you can’t find anything then, well that’s your answer. I think of the politician that sounds all wonderful but their record stinks. Always look more at their records and their accomplishments than what they claim to be and say.

So when you are looking for a social media guru, make sure you know what they have done in the past.

Think of Your Outdoor Blog as One Massive Library of Information

OK so I think blogging is great. I think the blogging platform was one of the best inventions since velcro. Seriously. Probably even better. Probably right up there with Thomas Edison’s light bulb. The one thing I find about the blogging platform and the way it is set-up, we as authors of blogs tend to get caught up into this timeline mentality thing. Even look at what Facebook is trying to do. They want people to archive everything by date. One big timeline.

I challenge all you bloggers out there to seriously break out from the barriers of time. The reason is going to benefit your blog greatly. First, envision each blog entry you write going into a database of one massive library. Once you click publish you have added another bit of information to your blog library. Do you organize your books at home by when you bought them? If you do then you’re nuts and there is no reason to read beyond this point.

Your blog should be set up by category of interest, and adding entries to it each day (or whenever you can) to compile a massive wealth of knowledge for readers to consume. People search the Internet by topic and not date. Sure, I wouldn’t even add your dated archives to your sidebar. Why clutter it up with useless crap people don’t even use?

Secondly, from my previous blogging experience, people sometimes find articles that have been written eons ago via a Google search. Ever get a comment on an old blog post you did 7 months ago? It’s because someone searched a topic on Google and your blog post came up.

So you know how I suggest while writing blog articles, you should link often to older blog posts to offer doorways to your archived content? Well I would spend time each week going back through some of your older blogs, reading through them, and finding ways to link to some of you newer content. Break the barriers of time and interlink not just back in time but into the future. If someone happens to land on an old blog post of yours, wouldn’t it be nice if you could entice them to read some of your newer stuff as well? Of course it would.

Interlinking is one of the best features we have on our blogs. We have control over the doors we allow to other areas of our library. The goal is to get readers clicking around and reading topics.

So if you write an article today about a turkey hunt and then link back to last year’s turkey hunt, then take the time to go to that old post you linked to, edit it, add in somewhere near the end: (If you enjoyed this article, read about this year’s turkey hunt by going here). Link that puppy up. Cherish each and every article you add to the library and spend time creating and developing pathways so readers can easily navigate and find topics they are interested in. It will also assist you in becoming an authority on your topic. Be the “go-to guy” for all the knowledge in your niche, by providing a great library with pathways and links to more knowledge. Have fun with it. It’s your library after-all.

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