What Do I Do with This Inbound Marketing Stuff?

It stresses me out that I don't have much idea of what to do with all this inbound marketing, business blogging, and content marketing knowledge. The best I have is that I can apply it to online media and publishing, but that's about it. For some reason, I feel like I should do something more with it besides applying it to something else. It's still interesting and important stuff, so I want to keep up with the topic without just passively consuming it or reading up about it. I want to apply it in ways besides improving my business.

Consulting Work?

I could turn most of Stirring Media's current services into consulting work. I think there's less competition for things like inbound marketing consulting and content marketing consulting, versus being a marketing agency or providing those services. I also think that I would make a very good consultant. One of the most frustrating things about the work I was doing previously (and now, to an extent. I still need to make an income as I build the online publishing portion) is that consulting isn't in the contract so I usually felt somewhat constrained when providing services. One clients only posts 250-350 word posts. Even if I do give them 600-800 word posts, they cut out half of it and post a 300-word version. I could say something if I were a consultant, but would saying something mean anything if I just provide the service? They're not paying me to listen to me, and even if they did listen to me, would they tell their other contributors to double the size of their posts? I really don't know if they'd change, even though the change would make my service more effective and their blog better. As an agency, you can't really be an agency of change unless a client hires you to be an agent of change and to create strategy as well as content. However, if you're not hired to do that, it's then a hassle to get some money's worth out of the information. You don't want to do too much consulting for free.

There is the Stirring Standard

I started this site a while ago as a publication that sources most of its content from business blogs. The point was the give great business blogs a platform for their content, a way to have the good stuff rise above the rest. It would also be one more way to get found online and to set some standards for what's considered good content. This is something that needs to happen soon as more and more folks jump into content marketing, so we're all starting to just drown each other out and to make it harder for our target audience to find our content. Also, this site would have been a way to give businesses and their stories a little more legitimacy while building back links. I believe businesses have good stories to tell and can offer something valuable and beneficial to people. I think businesses can go beyond selling a product or service, much more than was possible or necessary than years past. People don't want to be sold to anymore. Anyway, still don't know what to do with the site. Not sure if I would pursue the business blog idea.

At least with consulting idea, I have an additional source of income that I could utilize right now. I also wouldn't need to delete so many pages from the website. I could simply rewrite most of them, so I would only take a temporary hit to SEO instead of a permanent one (it would be permanent because the pages would be gone, and it would probably leave broken links strewn across my website, which would also hurt). I better add this to the revenue model, and then send all my homework to my business coach.

3 Things That Annoy Me as a Former Content Marketer

One of the things that's especially difficult about changing the direction of your business is getting out of those old habits. Since I"m moving into online publishing, where inbound marketing and content marketing have their place but not their former prominence, I am having some trouble figuring out what to do with my business blogging and inbound marketing knowledge. I understand that it could prove useful when creating our own stuff and marketing said stuff, but I don't quite need to keep up with the ins and outs the same way I now need to for online publishing and media (which, from initial research, is proving a little harder than I thought).

Through all this, I came across some of the many things that annoy me about content marketing. Primarily, it's when people do it wrong and the right way is seemingly obvious (or should be known by the person/entity committing the transaction). Now that I'm moving away from the business, I can vent without worrying of the perception that I am just harping on competition. Here are three things that bother me about business blogs and content marketing:

1. Marketing agencies with horrible business blogs (especially if they offer blogging services) - There aren't many marketing agencies these days that are strictly direct, traditional, or offline marketing. Nearly all offer primarily or entirely online marketing services. A major part of online marketing is business blogging, and this cannot be ignored or washed over as if blogging is going to go away tomorrow (because it's not). Therefore, it bothers me when a marketing agency doesn't even have a blog, or doesn't even follow blogging best practices (like publishing something once every two months, or not including photos with their posts). It's even worse if the agency offers blog writing or business blogging services of some kind. I think it's very representative of an agency and its services when it can't even do its own blog and its own online marketing right.
2. Great business blogs with no easy or obvious way to subscribe - I came across an excellent online media and publishing blog today through my research. I wanted to subscribe to the blog, but I couldn't find a place to follow it or to put in my email. I couldn't even subscribe via RSS feed. I suppose the only way to follow the blog is to bookmark it. But, isn't part of the point of having a great business blog is building a subscriber base? You can't even tell if someone's bookmarked your site. I have no interest in this company's custom content or SEO services. I just want to read your blog, share your content, perhaps write a response to an article or two. I guess I'm going to have to take that elsewhere.
3. Horrible Formatting - Just an FYI, something like the example below looks horrible:

First of all, what kind of a caption is that? I can't even tell if that's supposed to be a caption, or an introduction, or an interesting side note. It's kind of long for a caption, and doesn't say much about the picture. If you have an educated guess, please tell me in the comments. Second of all, why is this "caption" to the side like that? It gets in the way of the actual lead sentence, and forces the picture to be small. Besides, there's all that blank space. Why isn't is underneath, so it's not confusing to the reader of where you should start reading? Third, giving your next paragraph, or introductory paragraph, or whatever that is, such minimal real estate is awkward and constraining. Fourth, pictures should be aligned on the right, not the left. People read from right to left, so starting with the picture is jarring and ruins the flow of reading the content.

As a side note, I understand that this isn't always necessarily the fault of the writer or the content marketer. One of my clients just updated his blog, and now the formatting is atrocious. You can't get the pictures to format correctly. I have no idea what he did and I have yet to figure out a way, if any, to remedy it on my end. However, don't leave something like that up for everyone to see, especially if you can fix it. It reflects badly on you while hurting the user experience.

Okay, I'm Finished

Time to put myself and my talents to better use.

What Do You Do When Your Blog Post Goes Viral?

That is the question I have been asking all day, ever since my article trashing the reviews that were trashing The Business of Baby (which I finished and still find fantastic. Those people complaining about the potty training and vaccine chapters were making a mountain out of a molehill. I mean, you have to admit, the disposable diaper industry did a darn good job of creating a demand and a market for their product. It's no conspiracy. The bottled water industry did it, and their competitor is free. I can believe that another industry was able to accomplish the same thing.)

Anyway...

My post went viral. I've already tripled my traffic for yesterday, and yesterday's traffic was 10 times the previous day's traffic. I have no idea how to handle this situation. I've enjoyed watching the numbers go up all day and replying to people who tweet my article and comment on it, but I feel I need to be a little more proactive than that. I've tried looking up online what my best course of action is here, what others have done when their blogs and blog posts went viral. All I pretty much got was tips and tricks on how to create content and how to make content go viral. I think I've already cracked the code on that one.

So, what does one do in this situation? Do you write more posts on this topic? Do you continue doing what you are doing, since you did something that worked and resonated with people? Do you create a whole new site or blog on this topic, and tell everyone to go there? Obviously, the one thing you aren't supposed to do is nothing, because after a while all those people are going to go away. You don't want the people to go away. You want to make this an all-the-time thing, not a one-time or sometimes thing. I don't know what the right course of action is here. My business coach had challenged me on Friday to create a maternal health site, to get it going for one month, and then to come back with the feedback and with the results. I feel like I've gotten results and feedback, and I haven't even built the site yet (my plan was to do that tomorrow, and get at least one post up this week).

On a minor note here, blogging is fun.

Thank You Very Much, By the Way

Before I forget, I want to thank everyone who's contributed to this really cool event. I thank the hundreds of people who read my post and visited my blog. I thank the people who've taken the time to share the post and to get more people to read it. I thank my friends and family who've read my blog before this whole thing, and have been just as excited and amazed by the buzz. None of this wouldn't have happened without all of you. Thank you so much! Hopefully, I can continue delivering great content that keeps you engaged and entertained.

As you can probably tell, much of my time today has been consumed by this. It's been incredible to watch the numbers, hoping I'll figure out the best next step for me and this blog and this topic. I do still have work to do and a business to build. Perhaps this is a huge sign telling me where I need to go next and what needs to be done here. Maternal health in this country strikes a nerve with people and gets them going.

How Speech and Debate Has Been Crucial to My Career

I just finished a trial article for a potential client, a Boston non-profit that works with public and private partners to improve the parks and green spaces in the city. The client wanted an article about Portland, Ore. park system, and how they handle public and private partnerships. I've never been to Boston, and have never worked with any system park system. I have minimal experience writing and covering government projects and funding. Usually, in this line of work, such expertise might be preferred but it's definitely not required. What's required is that you can write well, understand the format you're writing, deliver results with your work, and not need any hand holding throughout this whole thing. It's harder to come by then you'd think. It's also tough to come by if you don't communicate what you need all that well, but that's another story for another day.

What does this have to do with speech and debate, an extracurricular activity from high school?

Well, I finished the trial article in just over an hour. It was 700+ words, and that hour included research time. I'm worried I might be too efficient, hurting only myself because I'll only get paid for an hour of work, instead of the five the client originally budgeted for. I suspect I am able to be so efficient because of my speech and debate experience.

My Speech and Debate Experience

I did speech and debate for three years in high school, primarily competing in international extemporaneous speaking. If you don't know, in international extemporaneous speaking, you have 30 minutes to prepare a seven-minute speech about international current affairs. You don't know you're topic until the start of your 30 minutes. With a time constraint like that, you have to do the research and analyze what you are reading the research at the same time. Is this information even useful? How does it answer my question? How does it fit in with what I've already researched and learned? How credible is it? You can't waste time.

On top of that, you have to work with the articles and information you brought to the tournament. You can't use the Internet or go on the computer. You can't ask your teammates for help. You have your head and those hard copies, and you have to make it work. You can't learn everything, even if you wanted to. It's also best that you leave yourself some practice time, so although you have 30 minutes, you really have 15-20 minutes to do the research and to compose the speech. You don't want the first time you're delivering the speech to be the one that counts toward your points, if you can help it.

Research Skills are Necessary, Especially in this Google Era

I remember that I took a public health class the second semester of my senior year. Thought it would be interesting. We had to do a 10-15 page paper as our final. Could've been worse. I remember some of the students complaining that they had too much information for their papers, that 15 pages wasn't enough and that they had no idea how to reduce the overload. I don't understand how this was such a problem. I mean, you're not going to do 20 pages. You're a college student during the last few weeks of school. You should be happy that 15 pages are going to come so easily.

Another lesson I learned from speech and debate and all that research: you gotta know when the stop. I'm not writing a 20-page paper here, so although I want more than enough research to write 10 (I don't want to be stuck with less than I need), I also want to give myself room to leave something out. I want enough to form a cohesive 10-15 page paper from start to finish. I have to narrow my topic from the beginning. I have to construct the narrative in my head as I read each piece of research and organize all the journal articles and sources I've collected. It's college. There's not necessarily a right conclusion, just a solid one based on sound logic and argumentation.

I'd say the cohesion came from speech and debate too. There are only consequences to preparing an eight minute or a 10-minute speech, so you learn the amount of research necessary to deliver a seven-minute speech (by the way, it's introduction, three main points with two to three sources per point, and a conclusion). As someone who's been writing to 600-800 word posts for at least a year now as part of a professional standard, I know what that looks like and I know what that takes. The hard part is accomplishing what a 800-word post can in 400 or 500.

Another Big Fat To-Do List

I need to do another one of these because I'm at that point where I have a lot of things to do in life, and a lot of things to do for work, so it's getting very difficult to keep track of all it. The only time the personal stuff actually gets on a list is on the weekend, since I do less work on the weekends, but usually the personal stuff is the same. There's always laundry, vacuuming, grocery shopping, bathroom cleaning, and video game playing. But, I have to remind myself to mail my father's day present, and to work on Half the Sky stuff, and to organize my social outings (I'm going running on Thursday. Can you believe it?) I have no idea why I agreed to that idea.

The To-Do List

Anyway, here's the big fat to-do list, a general list of bigger things I need to do. Things that can't be done in one day or would need to be broken down into smaller steps. I've segmented it so that it's a little more organized and easier for me to track, to use, and to have everyone keep me accountable on these things.

Business

• Type/Scan Business Breakthrough Homework - I need to send Tiffany my debt document, my brand identity, my CEO identity, and my list of strategic partners.
• Research Ideal Client Avatar - This is the next step in my business breakthrough homework. I need to do the research on who my ideal customer is. I need to find out how many "ideal customers" are out there and if I would be satisfied with a one percent market share. I also need to figure out the market value and the lifetime value of one customer. This might be hard because I'm doing the coffee blog, and the definition of customer might be wonky. It also might differ depending on the kind of customer I get from the blog (purchasing something vs. speaking engagement vs. fan vs. other service/product)
• Do at least one coffee blog post next week  - I am going to do the coffee blog. It is going to be great. I am going to review the coffee shop within walking distance from my house.
• Microsite activism challenge - My business coach has issued me a CHALLENGE! For one month, I am to make progress on building one site based on my activism idea, and to report back the results that I have. My first step is to get the site together.
• Make Changes to Stirring Media Site - I have a whole list of pages that need to be redone, added, and deleted. I need to get on this since I am changing direction with my business, and I don't want my site generating new leads or advertising something that I no longer want to do. I'll delete first, then add and redo. Some of the pages that need deleted can simply be rewritten too.

Personal

• Continue reading books - I have two or three chapters left in The Business of Baby. Then, I'll move on to The Road of Lost Innocence.
• Get my Father's Day gift ready for the post office - Father's Day is coming up already.
• Do first Half the Sky newsletter - I created the email list, and that's about it. I said the first issue would come in June too.
• Reschedule and plan Half the Sky screening - I planned one, and then didn't do anything to advertise it and prepare for it. I need to get on this as it is a huge part of being an ambassador.
• That Fun Facts list I mentioned - I did say in a previous post that I need to do a fun fact list of sorts, so that I can write a really good bio for this blog. It's one of the last things I need to do for this blog, besides write every day. I do need to do this for the coffee site as well, and perhaps for the Stirring Media site so that the "About Us" page has a little more personality and originality.

I am Building Identity Capital

Identity capital is defined as, "our collection of personal assets. It is the repertoire of individual resources that we assemble over time. These are the investments we make in ourselves, the things we do well enough, or long enough, that they become a part of who we are.... Identity capital is how we build ourselves – bit by bit, over time. Most important, identity capital is what we bring to the adult marketplace. It is the currency we use to metaphorically purchase jobs and relationships and other things we want." (Thank you, Ask a Young Professional for this. I haven't read the book yet, although I have now just put a hold on it at the library) This is what my blog is going to be about. This is what I will do every single day: build a bit of identity capital. I am 25, so it's something that I should be spending more time thinking about. In case you were wondering where this idea came from, watch the amazing TED talk below:

[ted id=1741]

Blogging is Great for Identity Capital

It really is, especially if you take the time to use your blogging to develop new skills and/or to showcase your expertise. If you do it regularly enough, like at least once a week, then it's great for online reputation management as well. If you're worried about what comes up when people search your name online, or if your social media profiles might get in the way of you getting a job, then blogging regularly means that you are creating something that can trump what you don't want to show up in search engine rankings. How cool would it be if all that shows up under your name is all of your awesome blog posts? Even if you blog about something that might not  have anything to do with where you want to go professional, great blogs posts indicate a hell of a lot about you that you want a hiring manager or recruiter to take note of. These include:

• Dedication toward a project - You can stick with something and get it done, or have the discipline to take the time to accomplish something. This is especially true with blogging, where it takes a while to see results.
• Great communication skills - The fact that you can write well, or even market your work well (or all in my industries and professions), is a huge plus.
• Web Development - Being able to use Wordpress, or Blogger, or Typepad, or your web building/blogging platform of choice is also huge. It's also a skill that not a lot of people have, and might be a boost simply because a lot of people can't do this well.
• Expertise in Something - If you do choose to blog about something that is related to your career or desired profession, then how cool is it to be able to show this expertise through a blog? It's not quite the same as "three to five years of experience", but you're also spending time to develop your expertise, to communicate it, and to learn new things about it. This could help you because you can show that your knowledge is fresh, that you are aware of what's trending, and that you do take the time to get better instead of just do your job and show up everyday.
• Passion - People like other people who have things going for them, who actually like something in life other than sleeping, or hanging out, or just messing around. Even if you're blogging about something that isn't related to what you want to work in, a blog demonstrates passion and something outside of your job position that defines you.

So, what are you doing to build identity capital?

Why There's No Better Time to Start Freelance Writing than Right Now

Over 25 million Americans are out of work, almost four years after the initial recession hit in 2008. Nicholas Kristof wrote an excellent op-ed piece in the New York Times about unemployment, questioning if the federal government still considers jobs a priority. Certainly, the American people still consider it a priority. I agree with Kristof that the Washington ought to be doing more to address unemployment. But, I think that we also need to ask, what are WE doing about unemployment?

These same millions of Americans, many fired and laid off from companies they worked at for 10, 20, even 30 years, are fighting in that rat race for a new job. Somewhere. Anywhere. The Wall Street Journal reported that the average job seeker gives up after five months of job hunting. Giving up? Job hunting? I have to wonder why are so many people are spending so much time fighting and waiting for someone to hire them when they can just hire themselves.

I'm not necessarily talking about starting your own enterprise or brick-and-mortar store, but self-employment as a freelancer or independent contractor. Especially those who have decades of work experience in a specific industry, that's valuable information and specialization that a professional can offer, and charge for. Americans are good, hardworking people, right? Why do we need someone else to give us a job when we could just give ourselves a job, become our own boss, and reclaim our work and our lives?

After all, what kind of thanks and rewards are corporations given us? The August cover issue of Mother Jones shows that corporate profits are up 22 percent, but that money is not going towards hiring people or increasing salaries. It's staying in the pockets of the executives. Yet, the non-executives who still have jobs are working harder than ever. Working the equivalent of two full-time jobs, leaving no time for our spouses, our families, or anything else for that matter. When we agree to take a position, we shouldn't agree to give up the rest of our lives too.

Well, sure, many of these positions come with benefits that are hard to come by as a freelancer or independent contractor. But, how long does that last? Take the case of Aloha Airlines. The airline filed for bankruptcy on March 20, 2008. Ten days later, the airline ceased passenger flight operations. And, just like that 1,900 employees were laid off. Benefits: gone. Salary: gone. Pensions: gone. All that hard work and dedication to Aloha Airlines evaporated in a matter of seconds, as anything to show for that hard work and dedication no longer existed. Aloha and Mahalo!

Consider independent contracting as a completely viable way to earn a living. Sure, you might not make money right away, but how much money are you making in those five months of job hunting? You have a better chance of earning something as an independent contractor than as a full-time job scout. It's also cheaper for the company. As an independent contractor, you're not asking for a full-time, 40-hour job complete with salary and benefits. You're asking if you can fill a niche in the company for a short time. It's a great position for a company who may need the work done, but maybe doesn't have enough work to justify a full-time employee. Or isn't willing to provide the full package of a full-time employee. That's where you come in. The best part? If a company doesn't have a need for you, or a need for you any longer, you're not up the creek without a paddle. Hopefully, you have other clients to help pay your bills, and can easily find more clients to fill that gap. Now that's job security, when losing a client or losing a check doesn't mean you have nowhere else to go.

Take Mr. Haggard, Kristof's neighbor from the op-ed I previously mentioned. Haggard used to work on a crew detecting underground gas, electrical, or cable lines. He was earning $20 an hour before he was fired in 2008 at the beginning of the recession. Haggard has since been job hunting, on the prowl for two year. In that time, he's only gotten one call back for job as French chef, a job that didn't pan out. Now, Mr. Haggard would be great as an independent contractor or consultant in that industry he spent 15 year with. That's a ton of industry expertise that he can offer, and Haggard could charge well more than $20 an hour for his time and expertise. Haggard even admitted in the op-ed that company's are interested in hiring someone in his 50s. Well, I'm sure Mr. Haggard doesn't have that same bias toward himself, right?

 Now, if anything, is the best time to make a change and to strike it on your own. If you were a victim of the economy, laid off or fired after years and years of service, why would you want to go back to another company and corporation, and put yourself at risk of that happening again? When you're self-employed, you never go out of business, and you would never have the audacity to lay yourself off or to discipline yourself because you chose not to work those extra hours of overtime after already putting in 10, 12 hours.

I grant that I'm not (yet) making a six-figure salary doing this, but I am only 23-years old and I've been freelancing for nine months. I'm making enough to make ends meet, and it's not at the expense of leisure or family. If I can make it as an independent contractor, I believe that others can do it, especially if you have years, even decades of industry experience.