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That doesn’t bode well for you if you’re trying to score an interview, like we recently discussed on this blog. Interviews are my favorite source for free content, but your best intentions to post this kind of content will fall flat if you can’t find anyone to say yes.

Now, of course, you have people that respond quickly to interview requests and are happy to accommodate you. But as you try to reach the more popular people in your niche, you’ll probably notice a decreasing likelihood of response. Some people don’t even take the time to send a negative response. No matter how you spin your interview request, the most popular people in your niche need you to go through their gatekeepers if you want a slice of their time.

Traditional Gatekeepers

You probably have already thought about the more traditional types of gatekeepers a person might have. Virtual assistants, secretaries, and other lower-level employees are often the people answering the emails and setting up interviews. These people get dozens – sometimes even hundreds – of requests every day, so you can see how it would get overwhelming pretty quickly, even if answering emails is their main job.

So how can you stand out?

• Do your research and call them by name. Gatekeepers like to be acknowledged as important too.
• Keep your email short and to the point. Longer emails that look like more work are more likely to get put in the “I’ll answer it later” pile.
• Be specific with your request. Don’t say, “I’d love to connect with Mr. Important about an interview at his convenience.” Instead, say, “I’d love to interview Mr. Important via Skype about his recent comments on Twitter at some point next week.”
• Be flexible. “If Skype is not possible, email would work too!”
• Remember to say thank you. You’d be surprised how many people forget this point.

You should definitely follow up if your first email doesn’t get a response – but you have to give the person a little time. Don’t be a burden, DMing on Twitter to say, “Did you get my email” an hour after sending it. Wait at least a week; then, if you haven’t heard back, send a friendly reminder.

Non-Traditional Gatekeepers

Don’t forget that you can look beyond the traditional gatekeepers as well. Other “gatekeepers” include:

• Personal friends
• Coworkers
• People who have worked on join projects with the person in the past

I will caution, however: do NOT get chummy with these people because you want the hook up. Not only is it rude, but people can usually smell when they are being used. If you’re already friends with a friend of the person you’re trying to interview, though, it never hurts to ask! Just make sure you do so respectfully and remember to return the favor.

And remember a conference can serve as a “gatekeeper” as well. At a conference like BlogWorld, you can connect with experts in your field without the barrier of email. So don’t be afraid to set up interviews with these people when attending BlogWorld. Many are happy to carve out some time to meet you. You just have to ask!

When I first started blogging, I had a hard time catching the eyes and ears of other bloggers. I was the new kid on the scene, and even back then, there were thousands of other bloggers out there, also vying for the attention of the top names in my niche. But if you can make a big-name blogger aware of your content – and that content is great, of course – they might share it with their followers. So I was frustrated. I felt like I was spinning my wheels, just hoping to get noticed.

But there’s a fool-proof way to get almost any expert out there not only to notice you, but also to send you free content – and even promote it! Who doesn’t want that?

My Secret Way to get Free Blog Content Exclusively for Your Blog – FROM EXPERTS

Ready for the secret? It’s actually a pretty simply concept – but first let me tell you what DOESN’T work:

• Asking for guest posts – most popular bloggers are way too busy to write content for you
• Publicly tweeting at experts – it’s rude to put people on the spot publicly when you ask for a favor unless you know them well
• Post an excerpt from their work – you can do this (as long as you abide by fair-use laws and properly credit the work), but the posts won’t be exclusive for your blog

What does work? Are you on the edge of your seat? Okay, here’s my secret: Tell the blogger you’ll be featuring them on your blog and ask for an email interview.

Doing interviews is no secret, but if your experiences have been anything like mine, when you email popular bloggers or companies and ask for interviews, a lot of the time, you won’t even hear back. You have to spin your email the right way. I don’t just recommend asking for an interview, which is easy to ignore.

Here’s how to go about writing an email that is much harder to ignore:

Step One: Identify leaders in your niche who need promotion.

At any given time, there will be people in your niche who are hungry for promotion, and they’re more likely to give you the free blog content you really want. Maybe they just launched a new company. Maybe they got some bad press recently and need to set the record straight or tell their side of the story. Maybe they recently published a book. Whatever the case may be, there will be certain people in your niche looking for press. Those are the people you want to target. (For example, I interviewed Rick Kats from Pinerly, since they recently launched a new Pinterest-related company.)

Pro tip: If the person you’re interview is an extremely popular blogger, I recommend trying to find out who their “people” are and email them instead. Virtual assistants, managers, and others who work directly with your target interviewee are more likely to answer your emails. That might actually be their job. So work with them directly if you can. Assistants love when you actually send them an email directly because it shows you’ve done your homework and you know who you’re supposed to be emailing. These people spend every day answering emails addressed to their employer; sometimes it’s nice to read an email addressed to you.

Later this week, I’ll be publishing a post specifically about working with these “gatekeepers” in your niche, so make sure you’re subscribed to our blog if you don’t want to miss that post.

Step Two: Start the email with what you will do for them, not asking them to do something for you.

Popular bloggers get several requests every day, and they just can’t answer them all, even if they want to. Unless you know one another, an email that says, “Hey, would you do an interview with me for my blog?” is not a good idea. Yes, you’re getting free blog content, but that’s not what you want to highlight in your email. I have no motivation to help you, if you send that kind of email. Instead, here’s a better example of what you can say in your email:

Hey Joe Blogger,

I’m a huge fan of your work, and I’d love to feature your new book, How to be an Awesome Ninja Guru Expert Rockstar Blogger, on the BlogWorld blog next week. Our community is filled with bloggers from over fifty different countries, and I think they’d really love to hear about your book, since they’re always looking for advice about blog monetization. Would you have time to answer a few quick email questions about your work and where they can buy it (or we connect on Skype if that is easier for you)?

Best,

Allison

I do not  recommend that you copy this example word-for-word (yes, even if you change out the specifics). When you send an email with a request, the person deserves and individual email, in my opinion. But the take-away concept that I’m trying to show is how you should focus on what you can do for the blogger, not what they can do for you.

A few other things this email does:

• Show that you know their work by mentioning their work and what it is about.
• Use their name. (Many PR companies don’t take the time to do this.)
• Tell them something about your readers/community so you can show how this will benefit them.
• Make it clear that your questions will only take a few minutes to answer.
• Reiterate in some way that this is for their benefit, talking about money/sales if possible. (For example, in my sample email, I talk about sharing how readers can buy the book.)
• Give the person options for answering your questions.
• Give a deadline passively. Avoid demanding a reply by a certain deadline, but make a time reference. (For example, I noted that I’d like to publish my feature “next week.”)

Follow up with this email if you don’t receive a reply, but wait at least a week for it to be answered. In my experience, 90% of the time, you won’t have to follow up at all. I’ve never not  received a reply with this kind of email, and usually I don’t have to follow up at all.

Step Three: Watch your email like a hawk.

The moment you receive a reply, respond with your questions or set up a time to chat on Skype (most people prefer emails). If you can catch the person while they are still at their computer, your interview questions will be less likely to fall through the cracks. In fact, if you catch the email the moment it is sent and are prepared with your questions, you might even get a response right away.

From there, also post the interview as quickly as possible. Sometimes, it makes sense to hold the piece (for example, posting at 4 AM on a Monday morning might not make sense), but in general, the sooner you can post it, the better. People don’t want to spend time replying to your questions only to wait to reap the benefits.

Don’t forget to email the link when the post is published or tweet the link with an @ reply when it’s published. You need to somehow alert the person that the content is live on your blog. And definitely do work to promote the content as much as possible through social media channels and your email list. If you do your part, the person you interviewed will likely help as well.

Why This is an Amazing Source of Content

So why is a “few quick questions” an amazing source of content for your blog? Because people love to talk about themselves. If you ask interesting questions (not the same old stuff that everyone is asking), people will send you LONG answers. Most of the time, when I send five to seven interview questions, I get 1000+ words back in return! And this is all exclusive content for your blog, as good as if the blogger had written a guest post for you. So don’t be afraid to start sending out email interview requests, even to bloggers who haven’t taken notice of you in the past. There’s no better way to get free blog content from the experts.

And as a side note? Email interviews with leaders in your niche are awesome, but video content is even better. In just over a month, experts across several niches will be gathering in New York for BlogWorld’s East Coast event, which makes it possible for you to connect with people like Peter Shankman, Jenny Lawson, Jim Kukral, Tim Street, and tons of other content creators who might otherwise not have time to reply to emails, even using the above technique. If you’re going to the event, set up interview times with these people now to make sure they can fit you in.

The problem is, blogging is all about written content, and for people who don’t like to write, the prospect of starting a blog can be scarey. The good news is that blog posts don’t have to be long, drawn-out posts like those I normally write here on the BlogWorld blog. If you hate writing, there’s no need to publish 1000-word pieces several times a week. Instead, focus on the following three steps; your blog posts will better support your other content and take less time to write so you can spend more time on the content you actually like to create.

Step One: Identify Your Goal

Before you start writing (or staring at a blank screen wondering what to write), take a moment to identify a broad goal for the post you’re about to publish. Blog posts usually fall into one of three categories:

• Education – the post is teaching people how to do something
• Entertainment  - the post is an interesting way to help readers pass the time
• Inspiration - the post is motivating people to do something

If you typically create another kind of content, most of your blog posts will probably be inspirational (motivating people to check out your other content) or educational (supporting your other content with written guides/tutorials/etc.). Save the entertainment (humor, opinion pieces, etc.) for the kind of content you actually like creating, since that’s where your true passion will shine through.

Blog posts can be both educational and inspirational, and if well-written, they should also be a little entertaining (at least to the point where they are interesting and not boring). But figure out the most important goal of the post you’re about to write. Every paragraph should help you achieve that goal.

Step Two: Create a Basic Outline and Fill in the Blanks

Once you’ve determined whether you’re writing an educational, entertaining, or inspirational post, it’s time to start writing. You may have learned this in high school (if you were an uber-nerd like me and paid attention in English class), but as a refresher: you can easily organize thoughts by using the following outline:

• An opening paragraph explaining what the post will be about
• Three to five paragraphs, each explaining one point about your topic
• A closing paragraph similar to the opening one, summarizing what the post was about

For bloggers, a better way to think about this is:

• A paragraph explaining why the reader needs to know the following information or what inspired you to write it.
• Three to five paragraphs under bullet points or subheadings
• A call to action (what the reader should do next if they liked your content)

Of course, posts don’t have to fall into this rigid outline, but if you don’t like writing, starting with this outline makes things a little easier. Write out a sentence describing your main topic, the points you want to cover in your post, and a call to action (sign up for my mailing list, subscribe to my blog, check out other content, buy my product, whatever). Then, simply go back and fill in the blanks by fleshing out your ideas.

Step Three: Add a Personal Story or Details

Once you have the basic post written, make it even better by adding some personality, either through a personal story or some personal details. This doesn’t have to mean that you write 500 words about your cat (though you can if Mr. Whiskers is relevant to the topic you’re covering). It just means that you make the post a little less sterile. For example, I added the detail about being a huge nerd in high school to this post (see above). You can also add longer stories about why the post was important for you to write, given behind-the-scenes details about whatever you’re promoting, or even crack a joke. Those extra details will definitely take your content to the next level.

Want even more post writing help? Definitely check out the content creation track at BlogWorld & New Media Expo this June in New York. Our speakers will be presenting sessions like “10 Professional Writing Secrets to Create Killer Content, “50 Content Creation Ideas: You will Never Suffer from Bloggers Block Again!” and more.

No matter where you live in the world, you probably aren’t far from a Hooters. Known for it’s wings, beer, and girls in skimpy outfits, this restaurant is far from perfect, but Hooters does have a few things to teach us about creating online content. The next time you’re creating a blog post, podcast, video, or other online content, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Packaging matters.

Whether you like it or not, part of the Hooters brand is pretty girls in tight clothing. That’s why some people choose to frequent this restaurant. What Hooters realizes is that how you package your content (in this case, food) matters. Now, I’m not saying you have to post pictures of yourself in a low cut shirt or something to be successful online, but what you do need to do is consider how you’re presenting your content. If your site isn’t well-designed and your content isn’t formatted well, readers will get frustrated.

Keep in mind that what works well today in terms of design might not work well forever. Don’t be afraid to redesign your website as needed to better serve your readers. Don’t allow your content to get lost just because your site is poorly designed.

2. The wings and beer are just as important as the girls.

When I say “Hooters,” the first thing you probably think of is the waitresses. However, no matter how pretty the girls may be, if the food was consistently bad, people wouldn’t go back. Hooters has fans because they actually do have pretty good wings (I can confirm this; I’ve eaten at Hooters and the wings were great). So, while your design and formatting to matter, if the content isn’t awesome, readers won’t keep coming back for more.

3. Controversy is okay.

Hooters is definitely a controversial restaurant. I know lots of people who won’t eat there because they feel like it is demeaning to women – and that’s okay. But what this company has realized is that for every person who hates them, there’s another person who loves them. If they weren’t controversial, they’d be just another chain restaurant getting lost in the shuffle. A little controversy is okay with your content as well. If you’re dumbing down your message to appease everyone, you’re probably writing such generic content that it isn’t interesting to anyone. It’s okay to start debates and voice strong opinions, because while you may lose some readers, the fans that stay will love you even more.

4. Make your brand recognizable.

No matter where you go in the world, Hooters is Hooters. It’s the brown owl with bright orange eyes and the “delightfully tacky, yet unrefined” t-shirts promoting whatever location you’ve visited. Part of good branding practices is ensuring that your fans can recognize you no matter where you go, and that extends to online content as well. Be consistent, using the same name, pictures, etc. on your social media accounts as you use on your home website. Just like Hooters, you want fans of your content to be able to find you and connect with you as much as possible!

Picture source: Beao via Wikimedia Commons.

Lots of people in our community work with brands to provide reviews, but did you know that you can actually get free items directly from Amazon? The Amazon Vine program pairs content creators with writers and manufacturers who want their products reviewed. As a Vine reviewer, you get free items which you’re obligated to review on Amazon and can also review on your on blog/podcast – but becoming part of this program can be a little tricky. Today, I sat down with Thomas Duffbert, who’s a reviewer with Amazon Vine, to learn more.

Allison: For people who don’t know, can you give us a little info as to what the Amazon Vine program is?

Tom: The Amazon Vine program is a formal reviewer program that Amazon developed to allow manufacturers and publishers to get their products in front of people who try out the item and post a review on the Amazon website.  Those reviews then show up on the product page, along with any other reviews that people may have posted.

The main difference between the Vine program and people posting their own reviews is that the manufacturer can get a set number of items in front of people who have committed to try the product and write a coherent review.  There’s no expectation that the review will be positive, and in fact Vine reviewers tend to be much more honest in their opinions because they’ve committed to give the product a chance.

How did you get started reviewing for Amazon?

The Amazon reviews grew out of technical user group programs run by technical publishers. They’d send me a book (free!) and I’d write a review of it for a user group I was part of.  I was then asked if I minded also posting the review on Amazon. I thought it only fair since they sent me the book at no cost.

From there, my reviewing sort of took on a life of its own, and I started climbing up the ranks of the Amazon reviewers. Depending on whether you’re referring to the new or “classic” ranking system, I’ve been as high as #20.  Once you get a top 100 ranking, people start contacting you asking if you’ll review their book.  I’ve gotten to the point where I have to say no to a majority of the requests, as I know I’ll never be able to read everything I’ve received.

How often do you get items for review and what types of items do you receive?

The Amazon Vine program sends out a “targeted” newsletter on the third Thursday of the month and a general newsletter the last Thursday.  The targeted newsletter is generally made up of seven to ten items, and you’re allowed to select up to two.  I’m not sure what they use for their targeting algorithm, but it needs some work. Offering me baby supplies is a bit useless when I’m 50 and my kids are 25 and 23.

The general newsletter is made up of all the items for the month that still remain in the system after the reviewers selected items from the targeted newsletters.  That list is generally around 14 – 18 pages of ten or so items per page.  Again, you can choose another two items based on what’s still available.

The offerings are all over the board in terms of what shows up.  It used to be primarily books, and books still occupy well over half the items each month. But there are also treasures like multi-function printers, food selections, children’s toys, appliances, cooking utensils, tech gear (like headphones and iPad covers), and countless other items.  Some of the items aren’t just things that will appear in a FedEx box, either.  For instance, last month there were three full-sized refrigerators being offered.

I’ve read that part of getting chosen for the Vine program is not just ensuring you write reviews, but also having reviews posted that are deemed “helpful” by other Amazon users. What are some of your best tips for writing helpful reviews?

There are two things I keep in mind when I’m writing a book review, and I think they are essential in terms of keeping yourself in the right frame of mind.

First, remember that there’s a real person behind what you’re reading.  Writing is not easy, and the author poured themselves into what you hold in your hands. That doesn’t mean you have to love everything you read, but it does mean that a review of “this book sucks” with no reasons why is not permissible.

Second, understand that you may not be the target audience.  I always read the preface of a book to determine what the author(s) is trying to accomplish. The content may be over my head, but if I feel they did what they set out to do, then it should get a good review.

The more important reason to me is that writing reviews has (I hope) made me a better writer.  I’ve co-authored two books, as well as written countless tech articles over the last nine years.  My reviews and blogging didn’t necessarily lead to all the other writing, but it’s good practice and discipline to keep writing on a regular basis.

If at any point I felt the work I put into it was more than what I get out of it, I’d stop.  But I haven’t hit that point yet, so I continue on.  I get books to read and toys to play with, I improve my writing skills, and the author/manufacturer gets feedback.  So far we’re all happy…

Thanks, Tom, for all of the great information on Amazon’s review program! Readers, anyone out there also a Vine reviewer and want to share your experiences? Does reviewing with Amazon sound like a good idea to you? Leave a comment below!

Thomas Duff (also known as “Duffbert”) is a software developer focusing on collaboration technologies in Portland Oregon. He started working with Lotus Notes in 1996 in version R3 and has written and maintained hundreds of applications in large enterprises through the years. He also holds Lotus principal development certifications starting at version 4 and going up to version 8, as well as Microsoft and Java certifications. Tom is a prolific writer, both in various industry publications and at his website, Duffbert’s Random Musings, at http://www.duffbert.com. He also is a frequent speaker at conferences and events focusing on Lotus technologies. Tom and Marie Scott coauthored IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User’s Guide (Packt Press, 2010). He also coauthored IBM Sametime 8.5.2 Administration Guide (Packt Press, 2011) with Marie Scott and Gabriella Davis.

Regardless of traffic goals, I think some companies and content creators are putting too much focus on the goal of going viral. I would even argue that creating viral content doesn’t matter as much as it once did. Let’s explore viral content a bit with a few mini case studies.

Funneling the Traffic

One of the problems I see often with so-called viral content is that people can’t even tell you who created it. A good example? The petite lap giraffe commercials. You may still remember them from last year when these commercials were being promoted like crazy both online and through traditional television appearances.

This time last year, hundreds of thousands of people even signed up on their mock site to say, “I want a petite lap giraffe too!” It was a very cute idea.

But can you tell me the company being advertised in these commercials?

I would venture to guess that most people cannot. I know I couldn’t without looking it up. The answer is DirecTV. Now, maybe when these videos first created a craze more people could answer that question correctly, but to be honest, I’m not sure I would have been able to…and I loved those commercials.

My point is, going viral doesn’t matter if people don’t know or care who you are. Your viral content should funnel them to some sort of action – clicking through to other videos, subscribing to your mailing list, becoming a fan of your blog, buying a product. Spreading a single video or other piece of content is not enough if the action ends there – and with most viral content, that’s the case.

In other words, if you don’t see a sales spike (or subscriber spike if that’s your goal) along with your traffic spike, viral content doesn’t really matter.

Confusing the Audience

Often, the lack of sales or other action on the users’ parts is because viral content attacks the wrong market. In order to make something “go viral” you usually have to think outside the box. The content has to be funny, unique, original, emotional or somehow otherwise worth sharing. Being useful isn’t enough.”Viral” only happens when people need to share your content because they want to be the first to show their friends.

The problem is, most content that fits this bill gets away from your brand/blog’s goal or purpose, at least a bit.

Earlier this year, I had a call with a potential client who wanted me to produce content for his blog, with the aim of everything I did having super viral potential. Now, you all know as well as I do that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. So, I tried to get that across to the client, to tell him that I could focus on topics with the potential to be very popular, but I couldn’t guarantee that anything would go viral.

His response? “Add more cats. People love cats. That sh*t goes viral in a second.”

Erm. Okay, great. Only…his blog has nothing to do with cats. He went on to talk about how a funny cat video at least once or twice a month would be optimal, and while I agreed that this would certainly be popular if marketed correctly, I couldn’t seem to get through to him that it wouldn’t really help his blog or ultimately his business, which had to do with finance.

When you move away from your content too much for the sake of creating something that will go viral, what’s the point? People who view a cute cat video aren’t going to want to read a financial blog (most of the time at least). It’s too far of a leap. Now, maybe I can do some spin-off posts using that idea, like “What your pet can teach you about budgeting” or whatnot…but there has to be that tie-in. Otherwise, you’ll confuse anyone in your audience who does choose to check out the rest of your site. People who follow-up with the makers of viral content expect more of the same. If you don’t deliver, they don’t stick around.

Viral for All the Wrong Reasons

Viral content also doesn’t make sense if you don’t go viral “correctly” – and that’s hard to control. A good example – anyone want to guess what post Technorati crowned as the most popular (most linked) in 2011? It was a post from Netflix called “Explanation and Some Reflection” in which Netflix admitted their attempts to restructure the company were a mistake. Most bloggers would be ecstatic to have the most popular blog post of the year…but unfortunately, I’m willing to guess that most of the links back to that post were critical. It went viral for all the wrong reasons.

Now, I don’t think Netflix COE Reed Hastings wrote this post in order to drum up some traffic. It was damage control for the company. But what I do see a lot of content creators doing is publishing posts that are extremely controversial for the sake of controversy. They call out popular bloggers or experts in their field, trying to bait them into a reaction. They slam stuff everyone likes. They voice opinions they don’t believe in order to get people to click.

Be controversial…but be genuine too. If not, you’ll go viral for all the wrong reasons, and unfortunately, negativity toward a company or blog is something people remember. You didn’t remember who made petite lap giraffes popular, but I bet you remember which company’s CEO went on an infamous hunt in Africa and tweeted pictures of himself with dead animals.

Going viral isn’t always a good thing, no matter what kind of traffic spikes you see. Again, you need to focus on your end goals, whether that goal is to make sales, get subscribers, build a brand, or something else. If your viral content isn’t helping you achieve these goals, the traffic doesn’t matter.

It’s an ROI Game

I know people cringe when they have to talk about ROI, but that’s really the game here. Viral content isn’t something, in most cases, that you throw together. It’s usually stuff that takes a lot of work. So are you getting a return on investment for your work?

Traffic is not a return. That’s where a lot of people go wrong. Traffic is just the middle man on the way to the real return – your goal. That’s what you need to be measuring, not the crazy traffic spikes you’re seeing.

To give an example, let’s say I spend 10 hours creating a funny video for BlogWorld that goes viral. I use a special link code and determine that the 100,000 hits I got on the video translated into 100 tickets sales for our event. Now let’s say I instead write 10 posts that take me an hour each to write, and each gets about 5,000 hits and leads to 20 ticket sales (because the content is more relevant to the type of people willing to buy tickets than a funny video is). Those ten posts combined netted more ticket sales for BlogWorld. It was a better use of my time, even if the video traffic was nice and flashy.

Or course, it’s not always so cut and dry. Maybe the 100 video sales were people who had never heard of BlogWorld before, while most of the 200 post sales were people who were going to eventually buy tickets anyway. Or maybe some of the video traffic led to fans who weren’t ready to buy today, but who will consider future BlogWorld events.

The point is, study your stats beyond traffic. It’s find to hope your content goes viral, but it might not matter was much as you think. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race after all.

One of my favorite characters is Effie Trinket. For those of you who haven’t read the books or seen the movies, Effie is a character who lives in the well-off “capitol” which is surrounded by starving “districts.” She’s a comic relief of sorts, saying outlandishly trivial things when the kids in her care are preparing to fight to the death for all to see. It’s not that she doesn’t care. Effie just doesn’t understand.

I feel like the same can be said of bloggers to an extent – most bloggers have good intentions, but. So I thought today it would be really fun to write a guide to blogging as if from the world of Panem by Effie Trinket. And okay, maybe I have a few things to say myself, which I put in italics.

“Manners!”

Effie says: As a blogger, you are a public figure and it is important to always act with perfect social grace. When writing posts, be sure not to offend, get personal, or act in a way unbecoming of your position. Furthermore, bloggers should always remember that their poor behavior will not only reflect on them, but also on those around you. Manners are important, above all!

Allison says: Okay, manners might be a little important, but as a blogger, one of your roles is to write posts that truly help your readers, whether that “help” comes from teaching them how to do something or showing them a new way of looking at something. Don’t be controversial for the sake of traffic, but don’t shy away from the tough topics because you’re afraid of offended someone. Manners will only get you so far as a blogger, so respect those around you, but don’t be so PC that your blog is boring.

“I just love that.”

Effie says: Be emotional and blog about things that are personal to you. Your readers don’t know what’s good for them, so it’s up to you to tell them. Create what sings in your heart; then, just sit back and wait for the praise of your adoring followers.

Allison says: The line above, “I just love that,” is from a scene where Effie shows a movie to the poor people of the outlying district that talks about how great the Capitol is and how important the Hunger Games are to their heritage. She’s emotional about it, but what she doesn’t realize is that it’s a slap in the audience’s face. They’re getting ready to sacrifice two of their children. Now, it’s not that I don’t think you should avoid being personal on your blog. On the contrary, I think you should tell your story. Evoking emotions is a good thing! But make sure your audience can relate to the story you’re telling. Know your audience, rather than just barreling ahead and doing whatever you want. Your readers matter.

“I don’t even think they can have dessert…and you can!”

Effie says: Look on the bright side of everything! No matter how unfair a situation might seem, there are good things happening. You should be happy! As a blogger, focus on these good things, rather than dwelling on the bad things happening on your blog. If you look hard enough, you can find positivity in the most dire of situations.

Allison says: I’m all for positive thinking, but focusing on dessert when you’re facing an upcoming battle to the grave is just silly. Bloggers sometimes get wrapped up the things that are going well, but ignoring your blog’s problems isn’t the way to go. You have to discover these problems and attack them full force. Even if you think your blog is pretty great, there’s probably *something* you could be doing better. Don’t be complacent.

Happy Hunger Blogging Games, everyone! May the odds stats be ever in your favor!”

Picture credit.

So let’s go over the basics of writing reviews on your blog. These tips can be also be used to create a video review or even a spoken review on a podcast as well. (And remember, this post is part of an entire beginner’s guide series, which can help you if you’re new to blogging or social media).

Using the Product

When you plan to review a product, your first step is to actually use/read/whatever it! That seems like common sense, but I can’t tell you how many review posts I’ve seen where the blogger says, “I haven’t tried this feature yet, but…” Don’t do that! Read every page, try every feature, use it in every way that you can. The best reviews are comprehensive.

And whatever you’re reviewing, put it through its paces no matter what your initial impression. When trying something for the first time, we often have an idea in our minds what it will be like, which clouds our opinion. If we expected something bad and the result was good, it might seem really good – and vice versa. It’s relative. So try to get rid of those impressions as much as possible by spending a lot of time using whatever you’re reviewing before you even begin writing.

Writing the Review

Every review should have at least four parts:

• unbiased information about the product (like who makes it, specs, price etc.)
• pros/advantages
• cons/disadvantages
• a final opinion or recommendation

You don’t have to write your review in that order, nor do you have to make those things formal headings. It can be more stream-of-conscious. But your review needs those four element. Even if you absolutely love a product, there’s something bad about it. Maybe it’s bad for certain people. Or maybe it’s a bit expensive. Or maybe it’s great, but a new version is coming out soon so it’s worth waiting. Find the bad point and talk about them, even if they’re a small part of your review. Nothing is perfect. The opposite is true too – no matter how much you hate a product, there’s something good about it. Nothing is perfectly bad.

When writing your view, it’s also extremely important to disclose any kind of relationship you have with the product’s manufacture (or the author or whatever). FTC rules require that you tell readers about anything that could potentially affect your review. Even if you aren’t paid, getting something for free could make you more willing to write a positive review. So make sure you are very clear to state your relationships, and I also like to make a note that my reviews are 100% honest so there’s no question in the reader’s mind that I’m not writing good things because I get something out of it.

Getting Review Products

Even if you haven’t been blogging long, you’ll likely get requests from companies to review items (most commonly books in my experience, but I guess it depends on your niche). So if you want to get items for free, the best thing you can do is make sure the contact information on your site is extremely clear.

Don’t be afraid to ask for products to review as well, especially once you start building traffic to your blog. If there’s a benefit to the brand, they’ll probably say yes, and even if they aren’t willing to send you anything right now, you’ll at least be on their radar for future promotions. Companies are often more receptive to sending you products or sponsoring reviews if you are a member of their affiliate programs or have talked about their products in the past.

I’ve also been given items (again mostly books but also other informational products and services) from friends, so building your only networks and meeting people in person at conferences such as BlogWorld is definitely important if you want review items. Some conferences will help you work with brands better than others. All of them are good for networking, but at conferences where a lot of consumer brands are present (like BlogHer for example), you’ll find more review opportunities.

There are also some services and online forums/networks where you can connect with companies offering items for review. Personally, I’ve never found much value with these services, and I definitely don’t recommend anywhere you have to pay to become a member, but again it depends on your niche.

Lastly, don’t forget that you don’t have to receive an item for free to review it. Often, I’ve reviewed items that I’ve purchased myself, especially when it’s something I love and use on a daily basis. If it’s beneficial for a reader to know about it, write up the review!

Building Long-Term Brand Relationships

When someone gives you something to review – or even when you review something you’ve purchased yourself – you can build momentum with your initial post to form a long-term relationship with a brand (or individual). First, send them the link to the post, especially if they didn’t send you the item for free. Companies and individuals LOVE to read about it when a blogger writes about them. You can also follow up later that day or week if there are any extremely interesting comments on the post or social media shares.

Be polite, professional, and friendly, even if you don’t like a product. If you completely slam a company, ignoring any of the advantages or being unnecessarily rude and snarky, they probably aren’t going to want to work with you again. So be true to your own personal brand…but choose your words wisely. Even a negative review can be the start of a relationship with a company as long as you are fair. Of course, occasionally, you may run into companies who don’t handle criticism well, but that’s the exception to the rule. From there, you can hopefully review more products, maybe even products that haven’t been released yet!

And remember, you can work with a brand or individual beyond doing a review for them – use the review as your foot in the door. From there you can work on a sponsorship or project together in a way that’s beneficial to both of you.

Halloween was of course one of my most favorite times of the year, and after a particularly good “haul” one year, my dad decided to give me permission to do the unthinkable – eat as much of my candy as I wanted. I felt like Scrooge McDuck diving into his pool of gold coins every time I reached into my pumpkin-themed bucket for another handful of candy.

You might be able to guess what happened next. That’s right, I ate so many Snickers and Twizzlers and whatnot that I got very sick. It was several weeks before I could even look at candy again.

The lesson my dad was trying to teach me was that moderation is key in whatever you do. At five years old, I was happy to eat candy until I was sick, but I wasn’t ready to pay those consequences. It never crossed my mind that I could have too much of something so amazingly good. I didn’t understand that more isn’t always better.

Your blog or podcast content is like candy. (Well, hopefully!) In other words, it’s really good, and people want it. Readers come to your site for their virtual sugar fix, like five-year-olds on Halloween flock to the house giving out the full-sized Hershey bars. At least, that’s the goal, right? You want your readers to gave your content.

Only, too much content can give your readers a stomach ache.

Okay, maybe not a stomach ache, but if you’re posting too much content and your readers can’t keep up, it’s like eating too much candy. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. I know you have a lot of ideas. I do too. But if you give people more content than they can handle, they’re going to unsubscribe.

How much is too much? That depends on your niche. Someone coming to a blog for news is probably going to want updates several times every day. That’s why a site like Mashable can get away with posting so often. In other niches, posting that often is obnoxious. People don’t have the time to read that much! For example, Social Media Examiner posts about once per day. They have a huge pool of writers, so several posts a day might be doable from a production standpoint, but their posts are so in-depth that it would overwhelm readers in a hurry.

You run the risk of getting boring too. For example, Jenny at The Bloggess posts a few times per week, but rarely more than once per day. Her blog is about her life – so she writes when interesting things happen. If she forced herself to post three times a day, half of those posts might be nothing more than, “Uh…so I had a chick salad sandwich for lunch…”

It also depends on what your readers are used to. If you post once a week and then suddenly amp it up to post every day, people are going to step back in a very surprised way. This is especially true of your email subscribers. No one likes an inbox full of stuff they weren’t expecting, even if that stuff is really good content. So, if you want to start posting more content, slowly increase you post rate. Let people dip their feet in the pool and get in slowly rather than pushing them in when their backs are turned.

The bottom line: When thinking about post rate, the question isn’t always, “Am I posting enough?” Sometimes the question is, “Am I posting too much?” No matter how tasty your content may be, you need to practice moderation to keep subscribers around and interested.