The last few weeks I’ve taken a blogging hiatus. It wasn’t entirely intentional. My work schedule has been such that keeping up has been interesting to say the least. There have been fascinating new business consulting clients, speaking engagements, travel, new platforms from vendors to explore… In short, I just haven’t made the time for blogging.

This time last year I had been blogging daily for 2 years. It was a good exercise in helping myself stay current and in touch with all of you. And the blog has been a good tool for opening conversations about my other services as well. It has been and continues to be a great marketing tool (keep that in mind, folks. A blog is not something that works for selling directly, but it’s AWESOME to position yourself so people are interested in your products and services.)

But what I found is that people were getting overloaded. They weren’t reading everything I was writing. I began to question whether writing every day was worth the time it took.

And I’ve come to the conclusion that writing daily isn’t necessary for me anymore. Instead, I write when I have something to say.

The challenging part of this is that, without the habit of setting aside the time to write, I now have to remember to make time when there is something to write about. There is certainly much coming down the pike. Things like using Pinterest effectively, the Facebook Timeline being rolled out to everyone, the benefits of bulk texting services, and what you really need from a service as a direct seller. Plenty of topics to explore.

So I continue to seek the balance that provides the information that you need, allows us to stay in touch, but also doesn’t become too much information so that the blog becomes background noise that is no longer relevant. I suppose in some ways this is the evolution of a blog, and what works for us at one point may not be what works for always.

So staying flexible, nimble, aware…these are the things I’m striving for as I enter 2012 with this blog.

And I wonder…what would you like to see from this blog? What are the things you find the most benefit from? What questions can I answer for you? Would appreciate you sharing your thoughts in the comments below.

Um...Where's the blog post?

Do you subscribe to blogs? You know, sign up to be emailed when the blog author posts a new article?

I have a whole heap of blogs articles that get delivered to me on a daily basis. They’re a great way to keep current on what’s going on in my field, and it comes right to me, in the place I check first…my inbox. (Sure, some people use readers, too. I do that as well. But my favorite blogs come into my inbox.)

But I’ve noticed a real difference in what I get from different people. And it surprises me a bit, because some of these are big time bloggers. You see, some blog emails are so loaded down with headers and intro text, that it takes me a minute to figure out what, exactly, the current post is about. Others have their blog’s name in the subject of the email, but not the title of the post. And for all of these, I find that I almost NEVER read them.

You see, in that scan mode in the morning, when I’m looking for relevant content in my inbox, I don’t have time to wade through all your intro garbage. I subscribe for your content. Not the rest of that stuff.

Now of course I understand you have to make a living. So put a footer on your posts. If your post is good, I’ll get to it.

But if I can’t figure out instantly what the post is that has arrived in my inbox, you’re doing something wrong.

At least in my opinion.

What do you think?

As many of you know, I attended BlogWorld in NY last week. There were some incredible sessions I attended, and I’ll be sharing some great takeaways with you this week.

I also wrote a post last Friday about my concerns related to my perception of a few instances of objectification of women at the conference. Note I said “my perceptions.” As the comments showed, many disagreed (though not everyone.) If I had realized how much attention the post would get, I probably would have written it more carefully. I understand that the way I phrased certain things came across as me saying that the comedians that spoke were not intelligent. And that really was not my intention. I was simply trying to call attention to the fact that, in my view, the incredibly intelligent women who shared amazing content at the sessions should have been sharing in the keynotes too. There weren’t enough women included, in my opinion, on the main stage.

I now understand that it’s a “great BlogWorld tradition” to feature an irreverent closing. My bad for not understanding that up front. I’m not accustomed to having to do historical research to understand that context of a closing keynote. I typically expect a closing keynote to sum up what we experienced at the conference. I saw the name Chris Brogan on the panel, and didn’t read much further. I have certain expectations when I see that name.

All that to say, I learned a few things from the experience, that I want to share. Maybe others will find it useful.

1. Your posts may go further than you think, and be read by people you’re not anticipating. Never forget that everything on the internet is public. Even if folks don’t normally read your work, be prepared that they COULD.  I really didn’t expect my post to go much beyond my little circle of the internet. Surprise!
2. Always be respectful, and engage without name calling. Respect both sides of every issue, and give people the right to say their piece. This has really been my first time writing a post with a great many opposing viewpoints to my own. I (of course) approved them all.  And I responded where I felt like my view could add value. When a post came in that mocked the comedian in question, I called for civility. I think the civil discourse (both here and on the Sales Lion post) have been valuable, and invited the dialog that needed to happen. I will also say that my original post should have been written more carefully so it didn’t give the impression of name calling. It wasn’t my intention, but I wasn’t careful. Next time I will be.
3. You have the right to state your views. I read a news article this week about a Thai blogger who had posted disparaging remarks about the Thai monarchy while living in Colorado. When he went to Thailand for medical treatment, he was arrested for this. I thank God every day that I live somewhere where I have the right to express my views. And others have the right to disagree with them. One of the great things about this country is that people with opposing viewpoints can live together with respect. To me, that’s pretty exciting.

I’m not typically one to court controversy. And I’ll be relieved when this whole thing blows over. Talk about adding excitement to a holiday weekend!

But I’m also glad to have met some pretty amazing people through this. I’ve subscribed to some new blogs, and have enjoyed making new connections.

And I hope you’ll come back later this week when I share my thoughts on YouTube Marketing (learned from a session with the amazing Julie Perry), how easy it is to make an iFrame tab for your Facebook Page using WordPress (learned from Justin Kistner’s session), along with thoughts shared through several sessions on what we should be measuring. I’ll also be giving away two books this week…The Thank You Economy, by Gary Vaynerchuk, and an autographed copy of Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan.

Not yet subscribed? You can do that here.

Happy Memorial Day everyone. And a huge thank you to all the military families that read this blog. Your sacrifices are enormous, and I thank you for them. Freedom isn’t free.

Nothing drives me crazier than direct sales blogs that are nothing but a series of product ads. And the reason it bugs me so much is because the direct seller writing the blog has obviously put a lot of time into something that won’t work.

Why not?

Think about what happens with a healthy blog. People comment. They subscribe. They find the blog valuable and they tell their friends about it.

Now will all that happen if all you’re doing is regurgitating the catalog and hurling ads at people?

Absolutely not.

Do you enjoy ads? Do you actively seek them out? Of course not. So why would you expect anyone else to? Why would they subject their friends to that and forward your posts? There is nothing viral about a regurgitated catalog.

Stop writing blog posts that are an endless series of ads. If you want an effective blog, put yourself into the shoes of your customer and think about what THEY want to read about. Give tips. Helpful advice. Tell them how to USE your products in various situations instead of a long list of features and benefits.

Blogs are not your catalog. There’s a reason the catalog exists. It’s covered that need. If you want to blog, add something new to the equation.

Otherwise you’re wasting your time.

Your thoughts?

Last Friday I “live blogged” the DSEF-sponsored Learn & Earn Direct Selling Fair in Vero Beach, FL. In addition to speaking at the event, I also brought along my Flip cam and took some video footage of interviews with participants, along with an overview of the room.

And I got some questions about live blogging from some of you, so I figured I’d share a bit about that with you today.

First, why live blog?

• It’s a great way to bring the experience to folks who couldn’t make it.
• It’s a way to engage internal stakeholders to continue to support your event.
• It can encourage people to make it to the next event.
• It provides footage you can use for a number of purposes after the fact.

Now as a direct sales or network marketing company, consider the possibilities for your events. Whether it’s a leadership or general conference, or your incentive trip, live blogging can bring you a lot of benefits. It can help people make the decision to get there next time. It can help you further recognize your field leaders. It gives you footage to use in next year’s marketing for the event. Whether you bring your internal team to live blog for you, or hire a team like mine at Jen Fong Media, LLC, the benefits of live-blogging FAR outweigh the costs.

As a direct seller, you also plan events. Imagine live blogging your next team meeting, or a vendor event you participate in. Imagine bringing someone along to live blog a party (with permission, of course.) By sharing these events with a wider audience, you encourage people to participate, show up, and become part of the experience. It gets people excited, and may give you more traffic on your blog. After all, people will visit your website in order to see themselves, and they may even subscribe. Your live blog could be the beginning of a brand new customer or recruiting relationship.

So what do you need to live blog?

• You need someone to do it, first and foremost. It does take a lot of time, so it usually helps if you’ve got someone who is dedicated to the task. In fact, it’s even better to have an additional person to hold the video camera, and even a third person to do the uploading/posting.
• You need an internet connection in the room you’ll be in.
• You need a video camera. My Flip cam (about the size of a credit card) is very simple to use on the fly (which is what we did in Florida), but if you’ve got a camera with an additional microphone, your sound quality will be even better. What I like about the Flip is that the USB connection is built in, so I just take the camera and plug it right into my computer, making uploading easy.
• You need a YouTube channel, or somewhere else that you can upload and host videos. I like YouTube because it’s easy and free, and provides both embed code, as well as a page on the YouTube site where you can also view the video.
• You need a blog. This is the place you’ll provide context for the videos you share, and it’s also the place that you provide share links, so people can share your live blogging with their friends.

Live blogging for the DSEF was a fun experience. I anticipate that we’re going to see a lot more of this type of thing at future direct sales conferences and events. It’s a way to bring the fun to a wider audience, and encourage people to reach for the next level.

Have you ever live blogged? What tips or advice would you give? What questions do you have? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

A few weeks ago, I received a call from a very large direct selling company about my social media consulting and training services. “You were easy to find,” the gal who called me said. “If you Google “direct sales social media” you’re the first thing that comes up.” I went and checked, and she was right. Both this blog, as well as the wordpress.com blog where I started writing, come up on the first page.

Now many posts with this type of title will teach you all about advanced SEO techniques to achieve this in a few weeks. I didn’t do any of that. Instead, I focused almost exclusively on providing focused, valuable content that would be of interest to my niche. And I’ve done it consistently for several years. As a result, I have that placement on Google.

And you don’t need advanced degrees to do it. While I have a basic understanding of how SEO works, I am far from an expert. Here’s exactly what I did:

• Blog Title. I chose a blog title with the main keywords people might use to find the kind of content I write about. It’s no accident that my blog comes up with a search for direct sales social media, because the title of the blog is “Direct Sales & Social Media.”
• Titles and 1st Paragraphs. The titles and first paragraphs of my posts use keywords too. I try to use a mix of the terms most used by people in my target market, when looking for my type of content. Now I must stress I don’t do it all the time. It’s content first for me. But whenever possible, I do use those terms, and it helps.
• Daily Articles. This is a biggie. Google ranks fresh content the highest. I write an article every weekday. This certainly helps.
• Incoming Links. I have a great many incoming links to my site. Some of these come from Twitter and Facebook when I share my posts. Others come when other people share my work, or link to it from their sites. And why do they share it? Because it’s valuable, and relevant to their contacts. Consistent value is the key. I’ve also registered my site on blog sites such as technorati.com. These also help.
• Tags. I make sure to add relevant tags to every post I write. These help a bit with SEO.
• Length of Domain Ownership. I’ve registered this domain, jenfongspeaks.com, for 10 years. Google takes the longevity of domain ownership into consideration as part of its ranking algorithm.
• A Little Bit of SEO. I use a few plugins on my blog to help with Search Engine Optimization. These include Google XML Sitemaps and SEO Title Tag. I’m sure there are more I could be using to increase my SEO rank, but as I said, I’m a lot more focused on content and my audience than my Google rank.

Now of course, I’ve been at this for years. I wrote my very first post on January 11, 2009. And I wasn’t on the first page of Google my first day.

If you want to do organic search engine optimization, the main things to keep in mind are consistency of message, valuable content that people will share, and making sure people know about your content by sharing it yourself through your social networks. It takes time to build up a blog following. But by sticking with it, your site will rank higher, and the people will come.

Do you take search engine optimization into account? What tips can you share? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments!

As part of my job, I provide online monitoring services for direct selling companies. We have tools that allow us to monitor the internet 24×7, and provide regular reports to companies on what is being said about the brand online.

But what continues to surprise me are some of the consultant posts we find. Blogs (with very poor formatting) dedicated to pitching products and opportunity (or even worse, multiple companies’ products and opportunities) and nothing else. Status updates that scream “join my team!” and “buy my stuff.” Maybe I was naive to think we’d made enough progress collectively in the industry to move past that kind of stuff, but it just isn’t so.

Honesty, do YOU seek out blogs that only try to sell you stuff? Do you find any value whatsoever in posts that beat you over the head with products and opportunity?

Have we lost all perspective when it comes to common sense?

Now granted, a lot of you that read this blog put a lot of time and effort into doing social media marketing the right way. You realize that social media marketing is NOT free advertising. But your responsibility doesn’t end there.

It’s up to each of you to make sure your company has the information needed to guide distributors properly. Send them articles and blog posts that provide that guidance. It’s also up to you to guide your own team appropriately, dedicating time in meetings and in your monthly newsletter to social media marketing guidelines. And when you see bad behavior (within your own team or just among the consultants in your company), say something. It’s not being mean. In fact, you’re helping someone gain valuable insight that will make their social media marketing efforts more productive, and ultimately more profitable. Who wouldn’t want more money in their pocket?

Seriously, take a step back and look at what you’ve posted over the last month. Is it a steady stream of ads? If so, you need to do something differently. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that your customers “appreciate” knowing about all your specials. The fact of the matter is, ads get old fast. If you’re not providing real value, with only occasional ads done in opt-in areas, you’re going to lose those customers on your social networks. They’ll hide you, and you’ll never know.

Use your common sense, and think about what you enjoy reading from other marketers. (Key term here being ENJOY, not tolerate.) If your content isn’t enjoyable, start over. Don’t waste your time.

Use some common sense.

Your thoughts?

How are your spelling and grammar skills? That’s a serious question. If you plan to communicate in social media, you need to be able to communicate in a way that represents your business well.

It can be very easy to fall into “text speak.” We get so used to our abbreviations and shortened versions. And in some media, like Twitter, it may even be necessary occasionally. But don’t make that the norm.

You’re still communicating for your business. And you can still undermine your credibility if your messages are full of mistakes. To be honest, by the time I hit the 3rd spelling mistake in a post, my brain checks out. I no longer take the author seriously. There are spell and grammar checks built into most programs. There really isn’t an excuse to do this badly.

Many direct selling companies I work with are now adding a spell and grammar check clause to their social media policies and procedures for their distributors. Your companies understand that representing yourself professionally is an essential part of business. Don’t underestimate how important this is.

Spelling and grammar matter. If you want to be taken seriously in this medium, brush up on the basics. Take a class if you need to. But learn to communicate effectively if you use social media. It can make a huge difference in the results you get from your social media marketing.

Your thoughts?

Well last week I started my “Fabulous Friday Five”…five posts I read this week that I think direct sellers will get a lot of value from. You all seemed to like it, and so we’ll do it again. Here are my picks for this week. Enjoy! (BTW, have you noticed the new CommentLuv plugin I’ve added to the blog? It shows the last post you wrote if you’re a blogger, along with a link, when you leave a comment. I do read these posts for content to share with you on Fridays. So be sure to comment! LOVE to hear what you have to say!)

• 5 Great Posts You Never Read on This Blog – This is really a 5 in one. Julie Anne Jones, an outstanding direct sales trainer, shares 5 blog articles she wrote that you will find super valuable. Go check it out!
• How We Are Killing Facebook – The inappropriate use of Facebook Events is causing people to ignore them, which hurts all of us. Scott Stratten (aka unmarketing) shares his views on this, and why this is such a mistake.
• It’s About Them – Michelle Kelley shares an insightful piece about coaching your team (or yourself) into a presentation that focuses on benefits to the buyer/joiner, rather than doing you a favor. A must read!
• Network Marketing is About the…Customers - Benjamin Fitts helps us keep it all in perspective, and why the number of customers you have is just as important as recruiting.

And those of you who are my Facebook friends know that I’m a foodie at heart. So this last one is for my foodie friends:

• Fresh Ricotta in Five Minutes or Less – Seriously, I made this, it really takes only a few minutes, and it’s REALLY good.

Oh and a big happy birthday to my friend Brett Duncan at Mannatech! If you haven’t yet downloaded the free Rock Your Business: 33 Mind-Blowing Ideas from Today’s Top Marketers ebook that Brett put together, what are you waiting for?

I blame this post on Brett Duncan.

Recently Christopher S. Penn challenged bloggers to put together a list of 5 posts they wrote that they thought were great, but which really didn’t get the traffic they deserved. He suggested we give them one more chance at glory by creating a list he calls the “Evergreen 5.”

My friend Brett Duncan took up the challenge on his Marketing in Progress blog. And in that post, he tagged me to do the same. Thanks Brett!

So I went back through the archives of the Direct Sales & Social Media blog to find some of the posts I’ve written over the years that I think you’ll find valuable. I’ve actually spent the month of January already highlighting some of these through my social networks. But today I’ll highlight 5 here. Enjoy!

• The Top 10 Mistakes Direct Sellers Make in Social Media
• The Secret to Success in Social Media
• Is Your Blog a Waste of Time? (aka, What to Include if You Want Your Blog to Help Your Business)
• Are You Treating Your Social Networks as an Opt-In List?
• Warning! Have You Been Targeted by These Deceptive Facebook Advertising Practices?

Oh, and I tag Dino Baskovic, Julie Anne Jones, Danny Brown, Justin Cofield, and Shane Martindale to show us your Evergreen 5.

And if you decide to play, share a link to your Evergreen 5 in the comments below!

image credit: Horia Varlan