Practical Social Media Tips

On a roll

January 1, 2010 at 7:30 am | Posted in social media | 6 Comments
Tags: 2009, blog, blog success, blogger, blogosphere, Blogroll, copywriter, copywriting, direct message, DM, endorsement, Google Alert, link, linking, Lorraine Thompson, MarketCopywriter Blog, mutual reciprocity, New Year's Eve, online search, Purple Cow, Seth Godin, social media, traffic, tweet, Twitter, visitors, website

I keep a series of ‘Google Alerts’ (which I’ll describe fully in another post).

One of these alerts lets me know if the phrase The Feisty Empire appears anywhere on the internet.

Last night, in the dying hours of 2009, this alert emailed me.

It said The Feisty Empire been ‘blogrolled’ on the MarketCopywriter Blog.

I clicked the link and there it was: my company name – right next to Seth Godin’s blog!

This was an amazing coincidence, as I’d only recently learned of my inclusion in Seth’s book Purple Cow.

MarketCopywriter Blog’s author, Lorraine Thompson, is a New York Hudson Valley freelance copywriter who writes print and digital copy for corporate, small business and non-profit clients.

I’d ‘known’ her for a few months via Twitter as a smart, kind, switched-on lady who wrote excellent copy and was generous in retweeting my content.

I never suspected she’d put a link to my site on her blog. Especially as we’re technically competitors!

Perhaps Lorraine, like me, believes in making the work ’pie’ bigger, rather than fighting for pieces.

Apart from the social validation, I knew from reading ProBlogger and Copyblogger that being blogrolled would trigger a fresh stream of visitors to my website.

It’d also improve my online search ranking.

So, with half of Melbourne pouring into town for the fireworks, I dived into WordPress to learn how to blogroll.

I got a bit confused by the blogroll jargon before realising that Links, Add New was where I needed to be. Once I knew what I was doing, it was easy.

I sent Lorraine a direct message (DM) via Twitter, thanking her and letting her know I’d returned the favour.

Then, still possessed by the positive vibe, I set about blogrolling the blogs and websites of my other online ‘friends’ (see below).

It gave me real pleasure to inform each person - especially when one replied with the same surprise and delight I’d felt.

I’d heard about the Law of Mutual Reciprocity – where you have the urge to help someone who’s helped you. But I’ve seldom felt it so strongly.

Anyway, that’s how I ended 2009. Not a bad note to finish on at all!

It’ll be fascinating to see what benefits flow to everyone involved in this blogrolling process.