10 Ways to Get People to Remember You and Your Blog

Relationship Marketing is a concept that some might have trouble grasping and some of you might be wondering what it's all about. But my friend Wade Harman (who is also a guest blogger here) knows this topic inside-out. He hosts a weekly show on Google+ and has interviewed the most well known social media and search engine marketers on the planet including Jay Baer, Mark Schaefer, Rand Fishkin, Chris Brogan and even little ole me. 🙂

In anticipation of the launch of his upcoming book, titled The Relationship Manifesto (pre-order it now) I'm pleased that Wade invited me to join him on his show. He knows how to bring out the best of his guests by asking the right questions. It's a skill that he has mastered over time.

In this interview, Wade managed to get inside my head and pull out some serious Golden Nuggets of quality content and thought leadership that I want  – no NEED to share with you here on the blog.

This Infographic highlights some of the key factors I've used over the last 6+ years of blogging and it's called:

10 Ways to Get People to Remember You and Your Blog

1. Engage with people one-on-one

2. Get people talking about you

3. Be kind to your audience

4. Build your confidence with consistent learning

5. Help new bloggers

6. Offer guest blogging

7. Give credit and acknowledgement

8. Focus on your peers

9. Boost credibility with content curation

10. Cross promote on social media

Of course there is a ton more that we talked about so I decided to have the video transcribed by the wonderful team over at Lidyr Creative (they made the Infographic too).

I wanted to share this with you without making you download it or optin for my list because I think it's just that important. If you still want to optin, feel free to use the form over on my sidebar. I promise to continue sharing good content with you just like what you'll find here in this interview. I added the timestamps to make it easier for you to get right to what you need.

Welcome back you're watching the Relationship Marketing Show. My name is Wade Harman and we’ve got to learn how to become a hero to one individual at a time, instead of stock marking to the masses.

Today’s show I’ve got an awesome guest and she was the epitome of what my slogan is about becoming a hero to one individual because she definitely became a hero to me a long time ago and so I finally got her on the show.

Before we get to Ileane though, I would like to mention my new book coming out later this year called the Relationship Manifesto. Its gonna show you how to build relationships and create alliances and all that good stuff for your online marketing and social media in your blog in and everything.

I just open all the floodgates and let all that information out in this book come about about halfway done at 37,000 words. So still a ways to go but I appreciate you guys for watching thank you guys over on Meerkat for watching and thank you for the Retweets and the likes and you guys on Hangouts, I appreciate you for coming in here and watching as well. I see Jeffrey Dodd and I’m not going to even try that name but Brandon Schafer, I appreciate you Brandon. And if you have a question or comment either on Meerkat or on here on Hangouts just please, feel free to let us know.

Now I just want to say, what an honor it really is to have Ileane Smith here from Basic Blog Tips. We're going to get into the story here in just a minute but Ileane thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Me: Oh Wade, I really appreciate you inviting me. It's been a while since you and I have chatted so I'm looking forward to today and I just wanna say Hi everybody who's listening live or if you watch the recording and now we even have people on Meerkat [my Meerkat videos] that is so cool.

Wade: Exactly and we were talking about this before the show, Meerkat is just another way to make people remember who you are and you know there's a bunch of people are over on meerkat that are doing that and I’m trying the Periscope scene out as well [watch my Periscope tutorial] So that's that in itself these two platforms are great. You know let's just get right into it, I see Sheila Hinsley just popped in. Hi Sheila!

You know we all have, we all have that one person that made a difference when we first started and Ileane you know you didn't give me money, you didn't really give me any kinda money, I was searching for money and all this stuff but you gave me something that I have carried until this day. And it was kindness, it was personalization and almost every time I'm on a Hangout or an interview, I mention you, have you noticed that?

Me: That is so sweet. You know, Wade, its something I noticed about you, I’m not sure I can put my finger on it. But I always knew that you were gonna do great things and I could see that you had the potential.

Wade: Well, you know its people like you that really help me bring it, bring out the best in me. Let me just tell the story for those of you that don't know this. About four and a half years ago almost five years ago, I had started a blog and this was after I finally figured out how to do everything you know coming out of the coal mines I didn’t really know a lot. But I was really infatuated with the search engines and trying to get on page one of Google. And the people that I saw when I typed in blogging, blogging tips or whatever, people that's all it came up were people like a Darren Rowse from ProBlogger, Brian Clark CopyBlogger and Pat Flynn and all these big-name blogs.

But one person that really wasn't on the first page Google, but that everybody was talking about was Ileane Smith. Hey you have to go get on Ileane Smith’s blog, she will help you. And that was the rumor and the buzz around you, and I said well who is this Ileane Smith. So I went over to Ileane’s blog and I started looking through out what she had to offer. And there's no way this lady is gonna take time for me you know. I look at Darren Rowse I look at Pat Flynn and then Ileane Smith, there's no way. You know these, in my opinion if people are talking about you that well you must be so popular that I can't reach.

So anyway, long story short, I sent Ms. Ileane a message and I wanted to interview her. This was probably the fourth blog post that I ever wrote and sent her a list questions and she sends it back as an audio version with the answers. So not only did, you know, you did exactly what I wanted you do, you answered the questions. [tweet_box design=”default”]You did the interview but you went above and beyond.[/tweet_box] What I wanna talk about today, and people with web sites right now, is that buzz factor. What are you doing that you had the attention of almost every blogger, that I’d ever met. Even today people talk about you. What are you doing different that maybe most people aren't doing?

Me: 06:06 You know, Wade, it's weird because when I first got online and I started what they call “blogs about blogging”. And like you say, I had all this competition. You know your Pat Flynn's, your Darren Rowse's, and people thought, pshht. They told me no way, you're not going to get popular doing that because you just got too much competition.  Yet, now it seems like every time I turn around I’m on some type of experts guest post where there's twenty or thirty people that are getting asked questions and I'm on there with like Rand Fishkin and you know all these people that I just thought were giants.

It just goes to show, like you mentioned earlier, its just doing that one-on-one, building those relationships one by one. Instead of trying to you just please everybody or being generic. Its about helping people and that's always been my goal. Even with my blog, there's a lot of times that I give people a chance as a guest blogger on my blog that really didn't have that much experience.

Wade: I was one of those people. Yeah I was definitely one of those people, I knew nothing about nothing really and you let me do that. You don't know how much that means to me. Back then and even now, you know I think about you know where I'm at right now and I feel like I could not have gotten where I’ve gotten without the platform that you allowed. I, you know, for one I really appreciate that.

Me: Well, you're welcome and like I said, it means a lot that you know, someone gives you that attention.

08:00 And just to be able to help someone is what I've always wanted to do and one of the things that's made me feel good about you know what I do over a Basic Blog Tips. Now I'm getting into doing the online courses and so forth, and its just been amazing the response that I’ve had. And Hangouts for me, have been really sort of like a turning point for me because I was able to get into Hangouts way back in the early days. And I always give credit like you always give credit. I always give credit to Chris Lang.

Chris Lang got me on my first hangout, in fact that was when I met people like Ronnie Bincer, I mean it was like his first time ever even being on a Hangout you know. That's how far back that goes. So I think that, you know talking to people that way, you know like with Mia, she always brings me on her show, Mia Voss. Then there's people like David Amerland and your colleague Dustin Stout, I would have never met those folks. But its just something about having that one-on-one connection with someone and then that just spreads to people that you never thought you could have connected with.

Wade: That's why it's so important to be kind. You know, you don't really think of being kind as a business strategy but it really goes a long way because just like you said, you could be kind to one person and even though that person might not have a lot of reach in the industry. But perhaps they know a Jay Baer or, perhaps they know a Lydia that's watching over here on Meerkat, thank you for coming Lydia, or a Bob Toovey. You know that's what kindness goes so far and I really think that its missed. People really feel like people are really just after you know one thing, to make them successful when in reality it's to you know, you’ve got to fill up on knowledge and then share that wealth around with everybody else in sort of like an act of kindness.

Let me switch gears and go this route. Of course kindness and being personal to people is a must in the online age that we're in now but with someone that has a site and you want people to remember your blog, you want people to keep coming back you want that repeat a readership or that repeat fellowship with people. What can we do that can continually, you know, wash, rinse and repeat, and we can continue that cycle so that people aren't just hopping away, you know, at the blink of an eye, that we want them to come back. What can we do as far as blogging goes to really build that brand with people in their minds.

Me: 11:07  Well, I’ll I tell you what's worked for me and that has been extending really beyond the blog. I mean it's great when people come to the blog
and then you’re talking to them in the comments, and all that but what if nobody comments? You have to go beyond your own blog, visit other people's blogs, get involved in their comments and then also the cross-platform promotion.

You know, like I mentioned Hangouts and how much I am a fan of Hangouts but you know really it's YouTube that has done a lot for me in terms of visibility. I know some people are afraid of getting on camera and I was at first. I really was at first. My first probably 25 to 30 videos are all screencast, I was never on camera. So people don't you know  — you just have to get started you have to start somewhere.

So even if it's not YouTube, then you know now we have these other two platforms the Meerkat in the Periscope and who's who knows what's gonna be you know when the agenda in the next six months. So whatever that is try to stake your claim, try to get in there early and stake your claim and that will be helpful as well. [tweet_box design=”box_10″]You’ve got to think beyond your own blog[/tweet_box].

Wade: Yeah definitely, you’re definitely right. Hey Bob, I see you there in the Meerkat audience, appreciate you coming. You know you touched on getting beyond your own blog and you know that's a great point. You have to go find targeted blogs that are talking about the same thing you're talking about in your same market in your same industry and share that.

That's one thing that I had a hard time wrapping my head around, whenever I was first starting my own blog. Why should I promote these guys, I don't want to put money in their pocket but I’ve finally learned that if you don't promote them, you're not going to build any type of relationship with them. And its it's not all about me, it's about how I can take knowledge and give it to the people that need it so they can complete whatever goal that they're trying to complete. Even if it means that I have to send them to basicblogtips.com where there's an article wrote answering the very question that they're trying to find the answer for.

So you know, one person came and told me, said I went on such-and-such site, some popular person’s site and I shared their stuff. I said well, how many did you share and they said well they won't even acknowledge me. You know they're just ready to write them off and they said that they only shared two articles and so that's another thing I kind of want to push. There's not a certain amount of time that you have to spend on somebody else’s blog before they are going to remember you but there is a consistency there wouldn't you say? That you have to continually do it so there they're always remembering where you're at and who you are.

Me: 14:31 Yeah and you know its interesting because I never was someone who actually went after a specific person, but I see that happening a lot and I think that people should kind of maybe back of a little of just going for, Okay this person is the top person and I just want that person or you have this list of 10 people that you want to — back of. Because sometimes it's not that, put it this way, don't take it personal.

It's not that they're not noticing you they might be in the middle writing a book. They could be having personal problems offline and they just don't have time to respond to every email or every tweet you know, [tweet_box design=”default”]You just have to get in where you fit in.[/tweet_box]

So maybe you don't go for the top influencer. Maybe you bring it down a bit or maybe you just reach back out to that person who's trying to reach out to you. So don't just get stuck on this idea of influencer marketing.

Hey if you're selling products and you’re big brand or something like that then yeah maybe you want to look for influencers. But you’re a blogger you're trying to get noticed, you're trying to you, know make your footprint out there on the internet. You’re trying to make a way.

Don't worry about, you know, like I said don't take it personal when a person doesn't respond back to you or if they don't connect with yours, even if they don't thank you for a retweet. That's one thing that has always annoyed me, is all the bloggers that put sites like Mashable, TechCrunch and all these big giant sites on auto retweet.

Wade: I know I hate that.

Me: It's like, okay they don't even want to give credit, they don’t even want to say its via Mashable. Okay do you realize that a thousand other people just auto tweeted that same tweet. So how does that make you stand out and then on top of that now you're losing reputation with me as a follower because I'm saying you don't even read the stuff you tweet. Everything that Mashable prints (you know and I don’t want to pick on Mashable) I'm just using them as an example, is not gospel.

So you know read the stuff you share sometimes too. I'm not saying don't put things off autotweet but you don't go for those big blogs like that, that everybody's tweeting, your tweet doesn't stand a chance. You’re never going to get Mashable to share your stuff guarantee that. Okay so you know focus on those people that may be a little bit easier to connect with and it doesn't have to be the top person in your niche.

Now we've been talking about mostly social media and marketing but it could be any any niche, it could be you know cooking, fashion, it could be you're selling tires. You don't always have to go for that top influencer, it could be somebody who's on your level or it could be someone who you're helping to uplift.

Wade: [tweet_box design=”default”]I love that you said take time to read what you share.[/tweet_box]

You're so right people will put something on autopilot and just let it go out into their stream. What some people don't understand is, you know okay so you have to share you know that's part of a strategy, to share with other like-minded people. But and perfect point, read what you share first because you have people that are counting on you to give them good information and what if you went to the Mashable site, didn't read the post but you said we would shared anyway. Then all the sudden it's something weird or something wrong, and now that’s on that's on you. Its on you just as much as it is Mashable because it came to your stream. We have to take more responsibility for what we share on social media, I definitely agree with that so much.

Me: Now with it said, one caveat, you can put my stuff on auto share. Everybody out there just put me right into your Twitter feed, you know that's fine. I will be good, I promise.

Wade: 19:19 Okay, you have a great community built around you. I was looking at Lydia here watching, she's got a great community around her. Rob the Funky Fairy they've got great communities here on Meerkat. But I understand that a community on Meerkat versus a blog is a little bit different. It may take a little bit of time to build your community around your blog but one of the ways that you've done is you’ve opened the door to your blog so that people like me could get a start in the blogging industry.

How does one start doing that, I mean how do you say okay look, in a way you're given me an opportunity to write for you but yet you're building a community around me and you're getting content, so it's it's a win-win situation. What would you say to somebody that was trying to build their community and in that aspect?

Me: This is how I started I started when I offered guest blogging on my blog it was only to people that I knew. I did not just put up, you know write a guest post for us page and to this day I don't have a we want you to write for us page I don't have that.

Wade: Yeah I know. I tried to find that.

Me: It doesn't work that way. So what I recommend, now you know, you’re probably going to hear a lot of other people tell you something different.

21:03 I would start with my friends. Because that's who [and the blogs that you read already] because that's who you really should already have confidence in. You should already know the level of quality or blood, sweat and tears that they're going to put into their article. When you accept these guest posts from people that randomly contact you out of the clear blue sky you don't even know if they're a real person. You don't even know who really wrote that post. You may have to put it through all kinds of different resources to see if it’s duplicate content and all that.

You don't want to go there. Start within your circle of peers. If you don't have one, Facebook is a place to grow that within your Facebook groups and I know I’m on Google+ and I just said Facebook but let's face it, Facebook groups still have value. You know Google+ is the same you know, but you’re probably going to find more people on Facebook. And even on Twitter there's the Twitter chats. You know find a Twitter chat. That may be a place for you’re seeing what this person is talking about as they're tweeting. It’s not like somebody else, you know developed some content for them and said hey I got this post can you please put it up on your blog.

You know so there's different ways you have to vet people.

So that's why I say start with your circle of friends, because that’s where it's most important anyway.

Those are the people that you already have a foot in the door as far as relationship goes. Start there and then from there they're probably going to write about the fact that they were on your blog or they're going to be tweeting about out it and then their friends are going to see that and so that's it's just the way it happens in real life — offline. You know they tell their friends and they tell their friends, and they tell their friends and people are so impatient.

Wade, you admitted it the other day you were one of those people that was impatient. Don’t be impatient. It takes time.

You know the first year I was blogging I blogged on a WordPress.com blog. And everybody says oh you can't be serious you got a WordPress.com blog. I actually caved and I went onto WordPress self-hosted, which is my Basic Blog Tips and I've been there since 2010 but I started blogging in 2009.

23:52 But I was serious. I was just as serious on WordPress.com as I am on self-hosted WordPress to be honest with you.

But you know it — you still you got to pay your dues. There’s no point in thinking that you know you – I don't care no matter how many articles you read that say “a quick way to do this”, “a fast way to get to the top”… Don't believe the hype honey.

You have to pay your dues, you have to be patient and it's okay because actually this blogging and social media and all that, it's fun, if you don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself.

Wade: It is — and that was a perfect answer. I mean you know you said, let’s start with the friendships and relationships. That's so true! Because success, almost anything that you do in an online business I'm mean possibly anything in your life starts and revolves around relationships. So that's perfect. I’m glad you said that.

Let me bring this up, Alisa is saying here on Google+ that she “loves that ‘back off’ so true don't just go after someone famous and hope it will rub off. Get in where you fit in.” Yeah Alisa’s awesome. Okay so is Sheila, she's asking, repeat the link to your book page. Sheila that is over on the right hand side if you expand the details of the post. For those of you that are watching right now on Meerkat, get a copy up relationship manifesto its at www.wadeharman.com/sneakpeek and you'll get a free little snippet of what I’m working on right now in a relationship marketing. If anybody has a question of comment feel free to light us up. Come on down.

Me: I just wanted to say, I'm sorry Wade, I wanted to congratulate you on the fact that you're actually writing a book.

Wade: It is so hard. Yesterday I just shut my computer off while I was writing I was like why am I doing this it is driving me crazy.

Me: You should’ve talked to Ryan Hanley he would’ve told you.

Wade: Oh he done did it. He said Wade, it is going to drive you crazy. Let me go to Meerkat, Bob Toovey is saying “having confidence to blog is important too” That's a really great segue into this. Now what's the difference between confident and cocky, and how do you define that line.

Me: 26:57  Okay I’ll tell you. When someone first starts blogging they don't have one crucial thing: and that’s expertise. You know, you may have expertise in your field or whatever it is you're interested in but you don't have the expertise in blogging. Blogging is a skill, okay? [tweet_box design=”box_10″]They need to be giving college degrees for blogging.[/tweet_box]

Ok, but in order to develop that skill besides writing, and with the skill comes confidence –  but besides writing, you have to read. You can't just keep Tweeting these articles out, scanning down the headlines and think you got the point and you leave this great comment. No, you have to read, not just blogs.

You have to read blogs, you have to read books, you have to listen to podcasts, you have to watch videos. Take it from somebody who has done it and who does it every single day. That’s how you become confident and that's how you build your expertise. And until then you’re not going to be confident and its okay because like I said, don't rush yourself. You shouldn't be confident, if you’re new, you’re new.

Just face that fact.

Wade: That’s great advice. Thank you so much for coming on the show I really appreciate it. Guys, Ileane Smith has a getting started YouTube marketing course and is that’s on basicblogtips.com correct?

Me: You can get there that way but let me give you a different link. Its learn.ileanesmith.com.

Perfect and definitely I recommend everyone going to basicblogtips.com and sign up for the email list. Anything she's got is just golden. You're going to fall in love with her, just like I did. I really just appreciate this lady,

“No pressure Wade Harman but write that book.”

Thank you guys so much for everyone that comes on. Neil says a you sharing without insightful commentary is dreadful.

Me: Awww thats my buddy Neil. Thank you!

Yes so anyway, thank you guys so much. Everybody if you want to check out more of the Relationship Marketing Show on iTunes, just go in iTunes and type in relationship marketing show and you should find Wade Harman right there. I appreciate the subscriptions and if you need to leave a review it’ll help me out. Anyway so Ileane, is there anything you wanna plug before we leave?

Well like I said, just go to learn.IleaneSmith.com or just follow me on twitter at Ileane. I'm also on Pinterest and Instagram at Ileane.

Well we really appreciate it. Thank you all for coming and next week I got a special guest coming on the show so you're gonna really like it. And we’ll see you later.