Assignment 2, Bootcamp #5 - Researching Blogging Community

[iCraft Admin]

Craft blogs, maintained by crafters, like yourself, is probably the easiest sites for you to get links from. Please note, I didn't say easy or 100% guaranteed, but easier, compared to other sites! It is still a hard work getting links to your pages, so don't expect to gain a lot of links in a short time. It's not recommended anyway!

So this week's assignment will focus of identifying relevant connections in the blogging community and establishing new relationships.

As with any new relationship, it takes some time to develop it. So don't rush! Take your time, keep reading articles that we'll share on forum and focus on one thing at a time.

So what's relevant connections?
If you sell sea glass jewelry - other jewelry designers selling sea glass jewelry are actually very relevant to you, other jewelry designers are also relevant to you, fashion designers that blog a lot about jewelry (including sea glass) and especially those that feature jewelry designers are relevant as well.

Start by doing the search for your Keywords on Google and see which sites come up at the top. Use various long-tail Keywords - those with 2-3 words that have some search volumes (We did this in previous Bootcamp, so hopefully you still have your list of good Keywords handy!). Check those sites and start creating a spreadsheet of those blogs and crafters' sites that you like. Make a note what you like about them and ideas of how you could feature them in your blog and how they could feature you. This is just some ground work, so you don't need to act on any of those ideas just yet!

Imagine your customers looking for sea glass jewelry (or whatever your product is). Think if they'd like that site is well. Does it offer tips, tutorials, decorating ideas, trivia and fun content that could be of interest to your buyers (and not only to other jewelry designers!). Check how many comments their posts get and what those comments are about. Do they all sound like they were left by sellers? or buyers?

Use not only Google, but also your social media sites to discover worthwhile blogs and bloggers.

Add as many interesting blogs that you find this week with your notes in the spreadsheet.

You won't get far in your relationship-building efforts, if you just ask for things right away. Actually, the best way to get someone's attention is to give them some!  

So be generous! Leave good comments on blogs you like, tweet, pin and share people's stories on your sites (blogs) - all keeping in mind that you only want to share Great (Amazing etc.) Content! You are not going to lose anything by spreading a word about something great.

Don't make this about getting links. Just get yourself out there and let others know who you are and what you do.

At the end of the week, please report how many new (Great!) relevant blogs you found and how many new connections you've made.  

Here is another good article for you to read to keep you busy (in case this assignment is not enough   ) -How To Create A Sustainable Link Plan.

That's all for now. Please keep reporting throughout the week about your experiences and don't forget to ask questions. I love them, honestly!  

[JaJeJems]

I hate to say that I am already discouraged!  Not really, it has been interesting so far.  The #1 site that I found when I googled sea glass jewellery was awful.  The whole site was written in capital letters!  I felt shouted at!   No questions yet but I a sure I will have  a few.

[iCraft Admin]

Oh no, don't get discouraged!
It's actually good news. It means you can easily outrank them, with our help, of course.  

[JaJeJems]

Thanks admin for the encouragement and I am not really discouraged!  Are they ranking high because they have seaglass in their domain name?  They all have some variation of it in their name as well.

[iCraft Admin]

Probably not. Most likely they have more backlinks.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

I tend to like sites that are like-minded with me - which are not sites I would expect to find my buyers at - just other crafters.  Is that okay?  Or should I look for more "complimentary" sites that would compliment my product rather than similar sites?

[Jewelry by Kat]

Just a little 'funny' in my journey of finding blogs.  I found a blog to do with metal jewelry which I love and so I commented and joined, only later I realized that I joined a bootcamp to make metal jewelry!  Wow , one bootcamp at a time!!!!!!

[iCraft Admin]

Ha ha.... That's hilarious! 

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Fairy Cardmaker,

We seek Backlinks for 2 reasons - to get some referral traffic and to strengthen the authority of the pages that we want to rank well in search engines.

Referral Traffic

Referral traffic means that users are actually clicking on your links placed on other sites and landing on your pages. Great! Now the question is who are those people and what you want them to do on our site?

If you place links on the sites that are frequented by potential customers - then you'd want to place a link to your store on that site, as there is a chance that those visitors will actually convert into customers.

If you place links on the sites that, as you put it, are 'like-minded", that most likely visited by other crafters, like yourself, then point those links to your Blog. Your blog has links to your store, so in some way, you are still helping your store, by strengthening the authority of your blog by creating backlinks to it.

Search Results Ranking

All links from good sites that are close to your business thematically (Handmade Cards, Greeting Cards, Scrapbooking, Crafts - in your case) are good and will help you with rankings over time, but not all will bring you a referral traffic.

Ideally, we want our links to give us both - referral traffic and grow our rankings - but it's not easy to get those links and sometimes it's hard to predict which links will give us referral traffic. So what do we do then? We test and learn, adjust our strategies, and celebrate every good link we get! 

[Jewelry by Kat]

So far I have joined a few jewelry bloggers and a forum.  Learning alot and meeting new people  I have had traffic from craigslist and a blogg on my website

[Red Rock Designs]

I'm pretty impressed with the sites I've found so far when searching for 'chainmaille jewelry'.  The sites from individuals who handmake jewelry are professionally layed out, not overwhelming with info and the sites are easy to navigate through. Definitely great inspiration for my own website when I develop one!

The sites themselves don’t have an option for me to make comments, so I’ve liked their Facebook pages and left comments there…not sure if this counts…

[iCraft Admin]

That's great, Kat! And it's only Tuesday 

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Red Rock Designs,
Yes, it all counts! Others interested in your type of jewelry see your comment on FB and might want to check you out. Site owner will remember you when you finally approach them about backlinks. So it's all good!

[JaJeJems]

Today I have been looking at blogs about sea glass not websites (where some people also blog).  The last one I looked at was interesting, this person had a variety of topics not just all about herself!  (I think that you told us not to always promote ourselves). At the bottom of one blog that I commented on there is a button that says something like Click here to link.  When I did it gave me a link to put on my own blog.  would I want to do that?
Second question:
When I went to her website she had rewritten a couple of her blog topics there but on several pages she referred people to her actual blog which is not part of her page.  I have had a blogspot blog for a while and have written a few blogs.  I also can have a blog on my website.  Now I am wondering what would be best?  Not sure how I feel about having them separate.  This person has much better blog topics than others who happen to blog on their websites but maybe they are just not good bloggers!

[iCraft Admin]

Hi JaJeJems,

To the first question - absolutely yes! Her blog is about sea glass jewelry and you sell sea glass jewelry. So it's very relevant to your business. You may get some referral traffic from that comment, and it will be a good link for you to have in your link profile, even if its a "nofollow" comment link.

I am not quite clear what you are asking in the second question though.   
Could you please re-phrase it? Thanks!

[JaJeJems]

Ok I have been looking at websites on which people have blogs as part of the website. One that I liked today had a website but no blog on the website.  Her blog is separate(blogspot I think) and on her website she refers people to the blog.  Which is better or does it matter? At present I have a blog on blogspot but can also have one on my website.

Thank you for the answer to the first question.

I have also been looking on Facebook and connected with a lampworker who has an interesting studio set-up, so i chatted with her about that and found several sea glass jewellers.  A lot don't have websites or blogs but I have been leaving comments.  A better day today!

[iCraft Admin]

Blog as a part of the same site will make your site look fresh (if you blog often). Fresh content can attract new people, as blog posts often shared by others on social media sites.

If you have your blog separate from your site, the two will be naturally connected - as you'd want to one to another.
Either way is fine. I wouldn't care much which way it is setup. None of this helps you with link building in a big way... after you post a few links on each site, there is not much you can do.

 

[JaJeJems]

Thanks admin, a fresh start tomorrow!

[iCraft Admin]

Great! Let me know how it goes tomorrow. 
Everyone, please share your stores - we all learn from them!

[JaJeJems]

Had a good day today!  I explored several leads through my jewellery designer group on LinkedIn and found a lot of interesting sites , a couple who do features on jewellery designers.  Getting into leaving comments and have had several responses to my comments from yesterday.

My spread sheet is starting to fill up!  I am also learning a lot by seeing what other people are doing.  Wondering how everyone else is doing???

[iCraft Admin]

That's great, JaJeJems! This is all very valuable research that you are doing right now. Plus, making connections and learning new things too. Joining LinkedIn groups is an excellent idea. See if you can find and join more than one.

Yes, wonder how others are doing...

[Jewelry by Kat]

I found a blog today , a woman who makes beaded jewelry and she showed what she made for her blog friend to exchange and gave a link to the friends blog. After reading both it was so apparent the admiration these two women felt for each other, a blog friendship, they never met. Also one of them has donated over 75 bracelets to 7000 bracelets for Hope.  It is a research and support for rare cancers.  I researched it and donated a womans and childs bracelet.  They are given to the patients and family members like mom.

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Kat,

Donating your products for a good cause is a great way to get featured on other blogs and to get backlinks. Do you know if your store will be mentioned on their site? Did they ask you for your store URL?

[Jewelry by Kat]

I need help.  I remember learning this but I forget.  When writing a blog there are highlighted words and when you click on them you go to a website.  I want to mention a website using keywords and when you click on these words, you are taken to that website.  I forget how!!!!


My mind is better than I thought!!!!!   I did it!  I remembered!

[Red Rock Designs]

Hi Kat, you can attach a hyperlink to the photo or line of text...I think its the icon that looks like 2 chains linking together....then you add the URL.

I donate items as well, through my old employer, they have a yearly online auction.  I enclose my business cards as well and a little bio...so that all bidders know where to find me...not just the winner. And I provide door prizes if I'm at a craft show.

Admin, I'm not sure if you wanted us to post the actual website or links we've found?  But here's a website I was really impressed with:
http://www.raptinmaille.com/

I find the site very easy to get through...and the tabs are simple and not overwhelming.  I like that she has a tab exclusive for wholesalers...which is something I'd like to get into as well.  The About tab seems too long for me, but she speaks of herself, her jewelry & materials.  There's no photo of the artist, so I'm assuming she has a team of people working with her.   Did you want me to provide other links as well? 

The blogs I've found are on Tumblr, I usually just Like their post with no comments...but I'm realizaing that only the blogger can see who Liked their post, not the public...so leaving a comment is definately better.

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Kat,

Those words on the link called anchor text. We want it to be descriptive or have site's domain in it, not just "click here". Well, as I said before, once in a while you can use "click here" as anchor text to make your backlinks look natural to Google.

Thanks for answering Kat's question, Red Rock Designs!

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Red Rock Designs,

You don't need to share your researched sites here, unless you think others should join or you want them to see something specific on those sites. That's your resources that you'll use in the future for link building. Also, it's better if you all approach different bloggers, instead of the same.

Yes, please start getting into a habit of leaving comments on crafters blogs and sites.

[JaJeJems]

Good morning!  I have a question about making comments on blogs, Facebook, websites etc.  I am finding that some people reply to my comments, others don't at all.  I usually get a response to anything I comment on with Facebook  but with blogs and websites it varies .  When I have a question, however, I am hoping for a response and often don't get it.  This leads to 2 questions really:
1. Would these be sites that I shouldn't waste my time on?  Some of them are on my "like" list and seem to have potential in other ways.

2.  Do people tend to disregard comments on their older blogs? Sometimes I find blogs that are a bit older that have interesting material.

Well planning to be back at it again this afternoon.  Going to join some more jewellery groups!

[iCraft Admin]

Comment on any pages that have lots of new comments, though anything older than 6-8 months is probably not going to be seen by many people. So skip those pages. However, if you found that page at the top of Google for your search term, then comment anyway.

[Jewelry by Kat]

I know I am supose to get backlinks but I wrote a blog about 7000 bracelet organization.  It was bursting forth in me, so I guess I am spreading something GOOD.  It is about rare diseases.

[iCraft Admin]

Never feel bad about doing something good! 
Sounds like a relevant post, Kat.  Lannie will review it.

[Jewelry by Kat]

Sorry admin,  it is on my business website
http://www.jewelrybykat.net/blog/2013/04/11/7000-Bracelets-for-Hope.aspx

[iCraft Admin]

Ahhh... No problem! You were asking how to add links on words yesterday, so I assumed you were writing on iCraft blog. 

I checked your post, Kat. I think you could add, at least, one link on your post to your jewelry store on iCraft, to capture traffic that's otherwise lost. You could simply add a link on phrase like - I donated one of my Jewelry sets to .... So "my Jewelry sets" would be a link to your store or specifically, to your Jewelry Sets collection in your store, if you have one setup. It will look quite natural and relevant to your readers.

[Jewelry by Kat]

I have icraftgifts on my front page , didn't think of my blog....will do now.

[Jewelry by Kat]

My products and website were reviewed on someones blog.  I think that is a BIG backlink   wow
http://mimilovesall8.blogspot.com/2013/04/jewelry-by-kat-reviewgiveaway.html#more

[Red Rock Designs]

Kat, that's awesome!  Good for you.

Admin, sorry I guess I misunderstood.  I do have a question though about commenting on other people's blogs....if I reblog someone else's reblogged post....does that have the same effect?

For instance, if JaJe posts something, and Kat reblogs it on her own site.....then I reblog it from Kat's site, are the backlinks created for all 3 of us?  I think the answer is yes, but I also feel like the original blogger (JaJe) would have 2 links created (Kat's & mine) while Kat & I would have 1 each.  Does that make sense?   

[Fairy Cardmaker]

I'm not finding much to like using the keywords.  Most of the sites are other commercial sites.
Only ONE of my bookmarked sites actually came up for the keywords.

Common traits of the sites I like:

• It's visual with a gallery
• there are tips, tutorials or product reviews
• Even though no sites surfaced for the keywords, I like play-along challenges on blogs because I like to see many ways to express one thing or use a product or design layout

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Red Rock Design,

What do you mean by re-blogging?

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Fairy Cardmaker,

If you are not finding good blogs through regular search, set "Blogs" filter under "More"at the top of Google Search page and see if you like any posts. Or try searching images through Pinterest and see who pins a lot of great photos of papercrafts diys and beautiful handmade cards, and follow those people and their blogs or click on images to find out from which sites/blogs they were taken.

Make sure to add all sites/blogs you like to your spreadsheet. We'll need those links next week. Also, try leaving comments to get noticed by those bloggers - see if they provide their social media contacts and follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Comment on their posts there as well, if you can.

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Kat,

Congrats on being featured! That's a good thing. I just wanted to point out a few things here, as we could learn something from this particular post.

First, none of the links in that article point to your iCraft store. Link with your store name, as anchor text, actually points to this page http://www.jewelrybykat.net/default.html which has some code displaying on it. Btw, you should to fix that, as that can scare people off.

Second, you have a link to your iCraft store there, but imagine that the person coming from that article, would be redirected again to a new site. That's extra click and too much jumping around, if all you really wanted them to do is to see your store. You need to remember at all times why you are building backlinks and to which pages. So you need a plan and you need to stay focused!

Third, if you do backlinks incorrectly, you can actually make things for some of your pages worse. Remember in our last Bootcamp we chose just a few pages and optimized them for particular Keywords. One of your product listings was for Cha Cha Bracelet. So if you optimize one page on one of your sites for that Keyword, but create backlinks for that Keyword to your other pages on other sites, you are actually not helping either page, as you make them compete for the same terms and you split your efforts between competing pages - not a good strategy!

It's not a big deal on this scale - one page and a few backlinks. So don't worry! I just wanted to highlight this example, to show you and others that there is a lot more to this than just getting quantity of links and pointing them to random pages.

I am taking you guys slowly through the thought process at each stage and guiding you on how to do this properly, so don't rush. At the end, you'll all have a plan and understanding of how to do backlinks properly.

[JaJeJems]

Great work Kat!  And thanks admin for your helpful comments!  Yesterday I joined some glass groups on LinkedIn so now I have some more links there.  Today I am planning to concentrate on glass as in lampwork.  Have been leaving comments and getting quite a few responses.  Have a great day everyone!  Freezing rain here so perfect for staying in and researching!

[Red Rock Designs]

Hi,  maybe I'm using the wrong term....but on my Tumblr blog for one of my posts it shows:

stardustbijoux reblogged this from redrockdesigns and added:

Love it!!!

redrockdesigns posted this

I guess copy & pasting a blog link from someone's site to my own...I'll think about this more to clarify, I might be confusing myself!

[Jewelry by Kat]

The code is gone , suppose to be a paypal button.  I had the link to Icraft so people could see more photos and maybe like it better.  I removed it.  Boy, I think backwards sometimes. 

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Red Rock Designs,
That sounds like trackbacks. Can I pls see that page before I comment?

[Red Rock Designs]

here it is, Admin.

http://redrockdesigns.tumblr.com/post/47241604237/great-advice-found-on-pinterest#notes

[JaJeJems]

http://www.sensibleinternet.com/blogs/tom/link-building-guide-2013  3 easy to read articles on link building

[Jewelry by Kat]

Easy article to follow ....thanks ja je jems

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Kat,

This is in regard to your last comment:

I had the link to Icraft so people could see more photos and maybe like it better.  I removed it. 

I didn't mean removing iCraft link from your page. My point was - send people directly to the page, where you want them to be, when you create your backlinks. Don't send them to pages where you can lose them, as there is nothing for them to do.

On that page, I'd say something like this in bold "Shop on this site or my iCraft store at https://icraftgifts.com/jewelry-by-kat." - to give people options. Or even add our Store Widget to showcase a few of your products. People need to see those Calls-to-Action on your landing pages.

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Red Rock Designs,

Those links called Trackbacks or Pingbacks. They are the links to other blogs, that mentioned your post on their pages, with or without additional comments.

You can find some advise online for using those for establishing blogger to blogger relationships, and even for seo. Though, personally, I don't see any value to you, as a blog owner, in those links.

If we analyze that link on your tumblr post - what do we see? A comment "Love it!" with the link back to this person's tumblr site.

So how does it help you?

It doesn't! The comment is very generic - could apply to any post really - a type of a comment that spammers leave, without reading posts. Those types of comments are not considered valuable, as they don't add much value to your readers.

The link that appears just below your post is the first link that people see on your page - and it will take your readers way from your site! Is that what you wanted? Probably not. So I would disable those links on your site, if I was you, but I would allow comments and moderate those.  Hope this helps.

[iCraft Admin]

Well, Marta from Delightful Suds just confirmed that she can't participate in the Bootcamp, as she's enrolled full time in a business program for the next 8 weeks. So.... since I was planning to pair you guys up for the next assignment, this is now a challenge for me to come up with good tasks that you could do independently... or maybe one group would have 3 people? ... unless we find one more seller to join. Hmmm..  What do you guys think? Any preferences?

[Jewelry by Kat]

does'nt matter to me  though 3 would prove interesting

[iCraft Admin]

Interesting, indeed! You see, I was going to ask you guys to do link building for your and your partner's store at the same time, so it's in a way, double work, but double benefit too!

Not sure if this will be too much work with 3 people in a group. Good to know that you don't mind extra work, Kat! Or maybe you didn't know there will be extra work? 

No, don't worry, I'll make sure it's manageable, even if we have to have 3 people in one group.

[iCraft Admin]

Hello Bootcampers,

So how are you all doing with this week's assignment? Please post at the end of the day tomorrow a report of how many good site you've found (nor URLs, just a number) and how many personal contacts you've made this week. Also, lessons learned from this week's research and reading that you've done.  Thanks!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Filtering for blogs did not help.  I don't like any of the sites that come up for the keywords.  I went only 3 pages deep in the search because I'm strapped for time.  I used (both in quotes and not):
- handmade greeting cards
- hand made greeting cards
- handmade cards
- hand made cards
- hand stamped cards
- scrapbooking
- paper craft

I have a LOT of blogs bookmarked that are card-making related, but I guess they don't rank well for the keywords.  Seems awfully strange, that.  Some are HUGELY popular forums and some of them are manufacturer's blogs that pay people to optimize them.  I don't get it.  It is not possible for these well known crafting sites to not come up on search.

Can I just use my existing list of favourites?  Or does it have to be sites that were returned by the keywords?

[iCraft Admin]

No problem, Fairy Cardmaker! I was looking for a mix of sites, but any good blog, related to your business, that you personally checked and liked is good for our next assignment.

[Jewelry by Kat]

I joined a beading forum.  I found 6 great blogs and joined and left comments on others.  I had a product reviewed and got views from this.  Had views to my store from 2 blog sites.  I wrote a blog.   I listed my online store on craigslist and had views from this. 
       I learned about backlinks and where to place them to get results.  I learned that commenting and joining blogs is a good way to get views to your store.  There are some pretty advanced blogs out there.  They have lots of followers and when you leave a comment, you give your url.
       I learned that the title of your blog is very important and some blogs are more than just words.  A couple sites exchanged beads with each other and challenged each other to make jewelry.  Then they blog about the results. Then there are sites where they send jewelry to another as a gift and it is reviewed and blogged about.  All of this is exciting and gets many followers many are stores.
       I have 3 favorite blogs and visit everyday because there is always something new and exciting.  They have their followers listed and I have been checking out related ones.

[Red Rock Designs]

Hi, I've had some hits and misses with my searches.  I found about 5 sites/blogs where chainmaille is made by an individual artist only. The other's I've found are wholesale websites selling supplies and tutorial kits.

The sites that are useful all seem to have blogs on Blogger, which I'm not apart of...so I can't leave comments on the actual blog, I've had to Like their Facebook pages and leave comments on FB.

Well I learned the difference between a backlink and Trackbacks!  I learned the difference between a genuine artist's blog and spammy sites. I also learned why leaving comments on other sites are beneficial.

[JaJeJems]

Better  late than never I guess!

I recorded 22 possibilities in my spreadsheet.  I have them divided into Seaglass, lampwork, other jewellery designers and fashion designers/other
Seaglass -7, really liked 3, left one comment and got a response
Lampwork - 6 , commented and got responses from 4
Other jewellery designers - 4, commented on 3 and got a response from one
Fashion designers /other - 5  commented on 1 and got a response

Out of the 22 I think that there are about 10  with potential, one site features designers and invites designers to be featured, the fashion designer features a lot of jewellery, I have had ongoing conversations with others, one offered me help with making beads, several others already have links to other designers on their sites.

I joined one forum and two more LinkedIn groups.  I clicked to link after one interesting blog and it is now on my blogspot blog.  I found lots of leads through my groups on LinkedIn which is kind of funny since I haven't really paid a lot of attention to LinkedIn until now.  One more funny thing - I shared a linkbuilding blog that I found on my LinkedIn jewellery group and it became this weeks "most popular discussion"!

I found a lot of webpages with no place to comment.  Several that I looked at had no comments on recent blogs, several had a lot of older blogs but nothing for a couple of years.

Well I actually had a great week and looking forward to next week!

[iCraft Admin]

wow, great job, guys! So impressed with everyone's results. A lot of good points and lessons learned. Congrats to JaJeJems for making it to the top of the "most popular discussions" on the LinkedIn jewellery group! That made me smile. 

We are going to build on this knowledge next week. However, this type of research you should try to incorporate into your regular promo activities. Keep adding good sites & contacts to that list. You'll see how useful it will be pretty soon.

[iCraft Admin]

Hi SilverDawnJewelry,

I didn't see messages from you this week. How did you do with your assignment? Could you please post your results in this thread? Thanks!