Join my Facebook Fan Page

Well I finally jumped on the Facebook bandwagon.  I officially joined Facebook a couple of months ago to connect with some friends and blogging friends but have not really integrated it seriously into my blog promotion strategy .  Yesterday, I took some steps to separate my personal profile and my blog brand.

I just wanted to put a quick post up and let you all know that I have created a Tycoon Blogger Fan Page.  I still have not decided what I will do with this long term but for right now I will be including my latest posts.

After a month or two, I will probably integrate some sort of contest or exclusive content for fans but I will wait until I have a couple of hundred fans.

At this point, I have 24 friends but I would like more.   Will you join my Fan Page?

Article Zoom Review

Most bloggers and webmasters know that link building is a crucial element for SEO. A great way to build high quality links is through article marketing. Every time I start a new site or blog, I kick start my promotion and link building campaign by submitting targeted articles to high quality blog directories. I wanted to bring a relatively new article directory to your attention called Article Zoom. Article Zoom is a general article directory that has some unique factors that set it apart from other article directories out there. For one, the site is built on wordpress, whick makes it very easy to submit your article and navigate the site. The directory also has some unique features like a duplicate content checker, seo friendly images, and a ping optimizer. Article Zoom admits that they are not reinventing the wheel here, they are simply trying to make it easy for publishers, readers and moderators to get the most of their article directory.

Oh, I almost forgot, all article are promoted via twitter. If you are looking for an additional resource to help you promote your blog and build links, here are the submission guidelines for you to take a look at.

MyLikes – another way to make money on Twitter (and blogging)

Most bloggers are familiar with Sponsored Tweets and Ad.ly as they are the top two advertising companies that have sprung up to take advantage of the rise in the popularity of Twitter.  In my quest to make money through blogging and social media, I have tried out both services and have come to the conclusion that Sponsored Tweets is WAY better than Ad.ly.  With that being said, I have still not been able to reach the $50 payout for Sponsored Tweets.  I think I am at like $42 after a month or two.

That is why I has intrigued when I received this email..

[stextbox id="info"]Hello,

I am writing from MyLikes, an ex-Google social media/twitter advertising company that connects influencers on the web to advertisers. I wanted to invite you to be a premium influencer on MyLikes.

This is a program that allows power Twitter users, such as yourself, to make money by creating Sponsored Likes for advertisers they choose and posting them to Twitter. You get to accept / reject advertiser offers and write your own Sponsored Likes/tweets. There is an extremely low minimum payout ($2) and as an advertising network we don’t take a cut.

We are also running a contest to win a Apple Tablet or a Macbook Pro. Given your following, you should have a significant chance of winning it.

Let me know if you need any help in signing up for this program.

Thanks,

Michelle Matheus,
Marketing Manager, MyLikes[/stextbox]

I did indeed sign up for MyLikes yesterday and I think they have a real bright future in this space.  The email content above describes what MyLikes is all about.  There are several things that stick out that I think will propel this service to the top.

• As far as I can tell they already have much more advertiser signed up to use the service.  This may be due to the fact that the company was founded by the former PM for Google Adwords.
• Low payouts.  $2 versus $50 for Sponsored Tweets
• Post on Twitter or your Blog
• Pay Per Click platform is “friendlier” for advertisers and in turn helps publishers as well.

I will be testing this out and will post a more comprehensive review in about a month but I thought this looked pretty cool and wanted to spread the word as I know many of readers are looking to make money on Twitter as well as their blog.

You can click here to sign up for MyLikes.

Have you heard about this service before.  Anyone using it already?

How to break the ice and make new blogging friends

A couple of days back, I wrote a guest post  and proposed an idea for bloggers to take part in a 30 in 30 challenge where each day we make an effort to reach out and meet a new blogger.  The thought here is to make this a blogging goal that is simple and trackable.  If you invest 15 minutes each day to focus on forging new blogging relationships this will have a major impact on the success of your blog.

I have found this little exercise to be working quite well and I am having a lot of fun with it.  Yesterday, I interacted with Eleanor at Give a Brick , which is a unique blog that you should really check out.

Today, I am reaching out to Cori from Big Girl Branding , who actually reached out to me based on the post I published on Blogger Luv.

If you are looking for ideas to help you break the ice and approach new bloggers, here are:

5 ideas to break the ice and meet new bloggers

1. Comment on other blogs – This is self explanatory.  Make sure that your comments are helpful and help further the conversation.  If you can find a way to add value and get noticed you will be on your way to breaking the ice.
2. Retweets - If you are looking to build a relationship with a certain blogger it would be a good idea to follow them on Twitter and make a practice of retweeting their posts.  They will be sure to notice as most bloggers check their mentions on Twitter daily, I know I do.
3. Write a Link Luv post – Every week on Sunday’s I used to write a post and link to the top blog posts that I read that week.  This is a great way to meet new bloggers and get on their radar to showing them that you like what they are doing.
4. Use your blogroll – Again, this is a good way to link to the bloggers you want to network with.  They will get pinged (alerted) and in all probability will stop by your blog and say Thanks.  Mission accomplished, ice broken!
5. Get active on Social networks – Find out where the bloggers interact online and join in the network.  If you are the one voting up their post on sites like Blog Engage and MMO Social Network they will definitely take notice and will allow a relationship to blossom.

[stextbox id="info"]What other suggestions do you guys have to make new blogging relationships?[/stextbox]

25,000 Entrecard credits – Simple Contest

Several bloggers that I follow recently dropped their Entrecard widgets and I must admit that I have been thinking about doing the sale.

If you are a bloggers and do not know what Entrecard is all about, here is a post I wrote a year ago that will bring you up to speed;

Promote your blog with Entrecard

I have been very critical of Entrecard (you can read those posts in the related posts section at the end of this post) over the past year and I was going to drop my widget and have a contest to give away my remaining credits.  I just went over to look at my analytics to see what Entrecard has been doing for me lately.  I was a bit surprised bu the numbers, it was not as bad as I thought.  In fact Entrecard still brings in over 300 a month (when combined with the referrals from MyBloggerTricks.com “Buckets”.)  This is way less than in the past when I would get 300 visits in 2 or 3 days, but at that time I was active in the community.  I currently just have the widget on my blog and that is all.

Let me get to the point, I will be keeping the widget a while longer.  The reason is based on the average time spent stat that I just looked at.  The avereage visitor from EC spent over one minute on my blog.  This is half the normal amount but this tells me that visitors from EC are actually reading my content and not just doing a drop and run.

I am still going to have a contest and give away 25,000 credits.  Here is how you can..

Win 25,000 Entrecard Credits

I want to make this VERY simple.

• Follow me on twitter @tycoonblogger and send out the tweet below for 1 entry point

[stextbox id="info"]Are you on #entrecard ? Check out this simple contest to win 25,000 entrecard credits http://tycoonblogger.com/ec[/stextbox]

• Subscribe to Tycoon Blogger for 1 entry point

Make sure you drop a comment below to let me know that you have entered and tell me what you did.