09
Feb
2009
Posted by Charles Heflin as Internet Marketing

I have been a very bad blogger… Why?
I haven’t blogged a thing since December 3rd, 2008. Some may say I am committing blog suicide, no frequent updates, I don’t blog 2 or 3 times a week. I really just haven’t wanted to… I’ve been very busy.
When I released The Syndication Revelation it started a tidal wave of activity for me and my company. I used content syndication (through social channels) to spread the word about it and I have been buried ever since. Now that I have a little breathing room (thanks to outsourcing) I can pick my blog back up.
During my down time, it surprised me to learn that most people don’t know what content syndication is much less how it can benefit their business.
You see, behind all of the hype, echo chambers and gurus talking “around” the issue of social media, we have been using the practical core element of social media known as content syndication. I don’t care what business you’re in, if you want exposure, you must find ways to get your message in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
You may have to buy that exposure, you may know how to manipulate search rankings in your favor, you may know how to rally people into a Facebook group. You might have 10,000 loyal and active Twitter followers. Whatever the case may be, the one essential that lies at the core of all of this is… Content syndication.
Content syndication (done properly) gives everyone what they have been seeking… Measurable results from social media initiatives.
How do I see ROI from social media?
How do I implement social media in my marketing?
How do I achieve success in personal branding?
How do I increase traffic to my blog or website?
Whatever your question is, content syndication is the “tool” you are seeking. Stop listening to the echo chamber and start focusing on the “real” subject.
If you haven’t downloaded the 6 page report (that has been keeping me so busy) … The Syndication Revelation then you may want to give it a quick read. I don’t talk around the issue of social media… I dive right into practical ways to use it in your business with measurable results right this second.
Oh, and back to the subject… “Did I commit blog suicide” by not posting in months… Not at all. My business actually grew and flourished during the down time. Why? … The syndication of my existing content on this blog has placed my message into so many locations that I haven’t had the time… Is that a bad thing? … Hardly.
You see, blogging is about drawing eyeballs … If you blog and you don’t syndicate your blog content then you’re stuck just blogging with no real tangible reward. Content syndication is the missing element. Social media channels have made it easier to spread the word about your content.
So everything whittles down to two simple chores to achieve blog or business success:
Could it really be this easy? … Well, you have to try it to find out if I’m lying or not. My stats, my following, my results and my sales speak for themselves… Believe it or not. I show some of my stats in the 6 page PDF.
I welcome any and all comments or questions related to this PDF. Let’s crack this egg once and for all… I’m growing weary of the echo chamber… You know, the one where everyone keeps saying the same old crap about social media, SEO and Internet marketing in general.
No more, “just 5 more minutes mom” … It’s time to wake up to what we’re really dealing with here…
The “real” purpose of a blog is not to blog for the purpose of blogging. The real purpose is to drive people into your message. Post quality content, syndicate that content… Rinse and repeat. Then hopefully you’ll be too busy to blog all the time (unless you’re just into that sort of thing).
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23 Responses
Gary McElwain
February 9th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
1Hi Charles
Glad to see your back in my reader. Look forward to reading more of your great insights
And Congratulations on your latest success
Gary McElwain
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach
February 10th, 2009 at 10:25 am
2Welcome back to posting! I completely agree with you regarding the ‘blog suicide’ aspect…I’ve just returned myself from a month’s hiatus and things simply picked up from where they left off. If one writes compelling content…people read and share. And that’s from where the exposure can grow.
Data points, Barbara
Rita
February 10th, 2009 at 10:53 am
3Hi Charles,
I really don’t have a big following on my blog, which is fine. But, I do sydicate and have my RSS feeds going everywhere. So, when I announced something like the new Craigslist search engine that I bought, ( http://www.CraigZoom.com ) on my blog, everything immediately went out to all my networks and all the places where I have placed my RSS feed. The results were amazing.
Rita
Davin - Future Of Info Marketing
February 10th, 2009 at 11:00 am
4Hey there Charles,
Welcome back! I’ve been a huge fan since The Plan. I read through your Syndication Revelation a few times. Actually, I started promoting it to some degree. I know anything that you put out will have fantastic value for the end user/learner.
I believe I will join your new membership myself in a week or so. Keep it coming Charles. It’s always our pleasure learning from you.
Cheers
Davin
Alex Newell and Kathy Baker
February 10th, 2009 at 11:54 am
5so instead of blogging Charles - which is pretty easy - you participate in several web 20 websites?
sounds like a recipe for driving yourself crazy!
I look forward to the series of lessons - gotta go Lesson 1 is here!
Alex
supergo
February 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
6thanks for your insights…so many blogs with so little time, for sure….
Charles Heflin
February 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
7@Alex Newell - Not exactly, I don’t do much participating on Web 2.0 sites either… Much of that effort is a fruitless distraction to the real matter at hand … Content syndication.
Terri Stallcop
February 10th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
8Hi Charles,
I can vouch for what I’m learning about content syndication in your private membership. Awesome training plus “synnd” has VERY exciting potential!
http://www.squidoo.com/synnd
Thanks for all I’m learning from you,
Terri
Peter
February 10th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
9Blogging is very lucrative but not from an addic. If you look on the Dutch shockblog http://www.geenstijl.nl you find a blog with more than 1500 comments each day. This shockblog, with over 100K subscribers, have recently 51% sold for 2,8 million USD to a Dutch newspaper.
Charles Heflin
February 10th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
10@Peter - we agree, just not from the perspective that most people think. Blogging for cash is not worth the effort. Blogging to build a business, on the other hand, is quite lucrative.
Charles Heflin
February 10th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
11@Davin - Thank you for your support. Looks like there may be some strong synergies between your blog and Social Media Science, we should connect and compare notes.
Dan
February 10th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
12[quote]
Blogging for cash is not worth the effort. Blogging to build a business, on the other hand, is quite lucrative.
[/quote]
Dead on! And maybe that’s why so many folks MISS the ’syndication’ thing… because they build ‘throw away’ blogs, or post ‘throw away’ pages to the web. Why bother with making sure your content is well syndicated, or syndicated for a ‘throw away’ business you may not even revisit after you build the page.
Personally, all I do for traffic to my sites is syndicate my content - every which way but loose. It works VERY well - Wildly well. I certainly do NOT miss giving several thousand dollars a month to Google Adwords and the like.
Cheers Charles…
Andreas
February 11th, 2009 at 6:11 am
13Charles - My take away is that like with anything else in life the degree of success one achieves with Blogging depends on the degree to which you building relationships reader communities. The key ingredients for that success are as you point - (1) crafting quality content addressing issues of interest the targeted reader community and (2) finding vehicles like Synnd to syndicate your content as widely as possible to the interested audiences irrespective of the fora they aggregate around. The problem with SEO is its complexicity and the fact that results are not guaranteed even after doing everything right because of its pull approach and the constantlychanging rules of the game. The real value of syndication lies in its simplicity and push approach. You remain in total control of your destiny which depends only on two factors, namely the time invested in (a) researching and preparing quality content around the targeted area of interest and (b) syndicating that content till it resonates with a large enough audience in that niche whatever the media they prefer to patronize.
Annette Aaron
February 13th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
14CHarles, Never read your blog or any of your linkedin entries but by the amout of replies/comments you received I say you are doing great.
Enjoyed readinging your article. Will try to follow more.
Annette Aaron
“Creating a Personality with Food”
stormclouds
February 13th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
15Charles,welcome back! I missed your revelation doc before,so I am looking forward to the read …right now! I also like to peruse your blog for ideas about catchy blog titles…. helps quite a bit.
Jeff Baas
February 18th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
16Glad to see you back. Congratulations on your success with Syndication Revolution.
You make some excellent points about blogging to build a business instead of just for the sake of blogging. I look forward to seeing what all you’ve been working on.
Jim Hickey
February 28th, 2009 at 11:49 am
17Hello Charles,
I actually agree that you can commit blog suicide even when your posting regularly. After consistently posting content to my former blog for a few months, traffic generation had started to increase but ever so slowly. I was relying on the content with SEO and FB/Twitter “shouts” as the main traffic driving vehicle but not really properly syndicating.
Thankfully that is all about to change (hopefully) via Synnd.
Thanks for the info!
Jim H.
Vicki Zerbee
February 28th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
18What a refreshing post.. thanks for sharing the ‘real information’.. and ‘the right things’ to do. I encourage everyone to take action with regard to this information.. you won’t see the benefits unless you ‘do it’ and stick with it!
Julie McClelland
March 12th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
19Hey Charles
I’m a new member to your Synnd Team - I’ve seen the light when it comes to ’synnd’ and hopefully others will see and join too - I will certainly be recommending this to as many people as I can - its all about joining = sharing = traffic = earning, or as you said “Post quality content, syndicate that content… Rinse and repeat”
Perfect recipe for success
Julie
Brenda Bunney
March 13th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
20This is an awesome post! I think your ideas on social syndication absolutely hit the target. I love the information you’ve shared and will be back to visit.
Jim Hickey
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 am
21Hi Charles,
A couple of months ago I posted a quick comment after just joining SEO 20/20 (now Social Media Science) and Synnd. I am more than happy to announce that my hopes were not only met, but greatly exceeded.
Traffic to my current blog was 3X higher than my former and the blog has only been up for two months (the other was over 6 months).
The power of social buzz via Synnd helps my posts hit Page 1 of Google (competing pages ranging from >100,000 to > 10,000,000) on a regular basis.
It is truly a fantastic tool to help build traffic and SE page listing …. Thanks!
Joey Logano Fan
May 24th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
22As long as you busy in a good way, then it’s okay I suppose to neglect the blog. As long as your other priorities are paying off more =D which by what I read, I am pretty sure that is the case. =D
Personally… I hope to continue with my own blog for a very long time =D
Pete @ Large Hamster Cage
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 am
23This is a great wake-up call. I think it’s all too easy to get sucked into the habit of, as you put it, “blogging for the purpose of blogging”. Maybe because we don’t get to physically see our end users, or customers, it makes it easier to get lost in your own little world, putting up new blog posts but forgetting the bigger picture, and the real end goal of your blogging - to get your message in front of other people, and hopefully persuade them to do business with you, in whatever form that might take.
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