I was proud to read what Genevieve wrote on O.xide Design’s blog about my coverage of working with them for my husband’s birthday party. Gen wrote: “Bloggers like Kim are more like editors of magazines”. Even if Genevieve only met me once, she understood what I do for living.

Her comment brings the question of defining my job title. How do professional bloggers differentiate themselves from the casual bloggers? How we differentiate the different types of professional bloggers? You get the corporate bloggers, the bloggers for hire and the bloggers like me who are creating their own publishing company.

My Quest for the Right Job Title

After months of telling people that I was a professional blogger, I noticed a flaw. It does not convey my business goal. I must not forget that I am entrepreneur. I founded KimVallee.com to be a publishing company, a recognized media authority. I am the founding editor of that brand and this is where I put my energy all day.

Being a small business owner has its challenge. When you are a blogger, you are at the front of the brand. So, how do you disconnect your role from the brand? I feel that my job title should take into account the positioning of the brand.

Do We Need a Job Title?

Some people argue that job titles have become irrelevant. Maybe! After all, I am a lifestyle and entertaining expert when I give interviews for newspapers or magazines. I am the editor of a women online magazine (or a blog) when I meet people in my daily activities. That distinction works fine.

Still, we need to quickly tell new acquaintances what we do for living. You must take into account that the people you will meet are not necessary savvy in your area of expertise. Therefore, it is easier to refer to job titles that everyone can understand. This is why I say more often that I am the editor of a women online magazine instead of the editor of a blog. Or maybe it is because I always treated At Home with Kim Vallee (my main blog) as a women magazine.

What are your thoughts? Any advices?

+ photo by Jérôme Paradis at Webcom Montreal

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Look at your fan page as a destination for your fans to connect with your brand and amongst themselves. If you accept the fact that the content of your fan page does not have to be just about your brand, it reduces the amount of original content you will need to produce. Here are two ways to make it easy:

1. allow your fans to post their content
2. put content produced by others that is relevant to your readers.

By letting your fans posting their content, you will learn more about them. It gives you a chance to discover:

• what they care about,
• what they do,
• what they like about your blog or your products/services,
• what they want to know.

Their content can inspire new blog stories. If you are a business, letting your fans speak freely enables you to discover how people really use your products in their daily life and what are their expectations. It is also a good tool to discover influencers.

Fans are not necessary Your Blog Readers

One thing I noticed as a blogger active in my local community is that not all my fans read my blog. My case may be special. While these non reader fans are a minority, I welcome them.

I noticed that the gender split of At Home with Kim Vallee’s fans is different from my readership. The reason is that many business bloggers that I am friend with and often met at conferences decided to show their support by becoming fans of At Home with Kim Vallee.

These social media and tech bloggers do not read At Home with Kim Vallee. Reading my tweets, seeing my post links on Facebook and knowing me personally enabled them to determine that my blog was worthy of their support. Although they are a minority, having their support gives my blog (and my brand) exposure outside my targeted circle. Having their trust adds to my credibility. This is one thing a fan page can do to support the growth of your blog.

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Since I published my new brand identity I tried to produce, with my graphic designer, business cards for my blogs. I did 2 attempts so far. The difficulty does not rest in the design of the cards. My problem is what content do I put on my cards.

At first, I imagined a double sided card with At Home on the recto and On the Web on the verso. I found that we were repeating too many things on each side. Then, I thought I could just design a card  for my main blog; it is the one I want to promote the most after all. I put that idea on hold because I feel that one important factor of my brand would be missing.

Too Many Hats

Another challenge lies with the title. I am the editor in chief on two blogs. This is my work. But journalists in traditional media interviewed me because I am a lifestyle and entertaining expert. That fact is also relevant for readers. All that and other factors questioned my identity.

Then, I watched a live coverage of an unconference in New York a couple weeks ago where the speaker encourages us to rethink the purpose of the business cards. And yes, we still need a paper version. He (sorry, I do not remember whom) was saying that your business card could say more about yourself. The message should tell to people why they should contact you.

Which information is still relevant on a business card? I stopped publishing our fax number at the office many years ago. An address is not relevant for a blog. By not putting an address I gain precious real estate on the card. Do I put my twitter account? My Facebook profile?

Since I do not have all the answers yet I decided to stick to Moo MiniCards until I make up my mind. Plus, people like getting my Moo cards. I will experiment with the content on each 100 cards batch.

Advantage of the Moo MiniCards

I published pictures I take about my trips, trade shows I go to, and food photos. I used the picture to connect with people.  I tell the recipient the story behind the picture. I even have friends who asked me for a new one when they learned I got a new set of photos.

Many people think that the full-size business cards are more practical. Plus my business card should apply to most situations. What do you think? Any suggestion?

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No blogger can ignore Facebook and Twitter when promoting his or her blog. Link share holds the key element in this equation. I explained before the viral marketing power of adding a post link to your Facebook profile or fan page for every new post.

This technique is more effective if Facebook displays well the content of your post. Look at the differences between examples 1 , 2 and 3. I took those from links that I posted on my On the Web fan page.

Example 1 shows the post title but it displays keywords instead of the excerpt of the post. I was surprised when I saw that Problogger did worst (example 2). His blog returns the title of the post as the excerpt. Example 3 is how I did it. Both of my blogs return the post title and the post excerpt. Example 3 looks more professional and shows that you care about your readers by saving them time. This is something we test before we launched my blog.

Publishing the excerpt gives you more chances to grab the attention of people who see the link on Facebook. Remember that your links are not just for your friends and your fans. Potentially the friends of your friends may see your links. Seeing the excerpt may convince any of them to visit your blog.

If you are not tech savvy, know that the solution depends on the way your blog theme is programmed. This is not something particular to Wordpress; you can reproduce Example 3 with any blog platform where you control the programming of the blog template.

I wrote this post to alert you to this fact. Test it with your own blog and you will see if changes are necessary.

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I wish to share my experience with my Fagebook pages for my blogs. Yesterday, Jessica of How About Orange asked her readers to enlighten her on why it’s good to have a Facebook page for your blog? She received 42 comments so far. A good number of her readers did not see the point or simply see it as added work. I wish to show you how to add value to your blog with a Facebook page.

Which Content to Put on Your Facebook Page

You will struggle with this question at first. It is intimidating. One mistaken view is to simply duplicate the content of the blog. You should not do that. Continue to publish your latest posts on your page but make sure to add other relevant content that is not on your blog. An easy trick is to write a message telling your fans what they will be getting from your post when you share a post link on your Facebook page.

Enhance the Communications

I wish to publicly thank Michelle Blanc for inspiring me, without knowing it. Michelle talked at 3rd Tuesday last week about how the newspapers and traditional media should use the different channels to complement their stories. It opened my mind.

Now I use my Facebook page as a way to enhance the content of my blog. I published additional pictures on stories I covered on my blog. Used it to say about things about yourself that may interested your fans. For example, I create photo albums when I attended events (see my 3rd Tuesday album). Thinking about my page as a persona makes it easier to write status messages on the page wall. What additional content do your put on your Facebook page?

Get More Feedbacks, More Rapidly

It is fair to assume that most of your Facebook friends do not subscribe to your RSS feeds. The fact that I published each new post URL on my user profile and my Facebook page increases the number of comments I get on Facebook and the like this votes. When you are lucky, a new reader will publish a comment on your blog. Remember that Facebook is a more casual platform than a blog; Facebook encourages communication through word of mouth.

Power of Word of Mouth

More than 175 millions people are on Facebook. The split in the United Stated is about 55% of Facebook users are 25 years old or less, 45% are over 25 years old. The claim that Facebook is only for kids does not added up anymore. Even without that fact, your friends and the friends of your friends are a part of that 45%. It is also possible to use social-demographic targeted advertisement to promote your page within Facebook.

When a fan does an action on your Facebook page, their friends can see it and you get a chance to convert strangers which brings exposure to the friends of your friends of your friends. The multiplying effect on Facebook delivers more exposure than if you limit yourself to your blog and writing blog comments on the blogosphere. It only costs a little bit of your time.

+ become a fan of On The Web with Kim Vallee
+ become a fan of At Home with Kim Vallee

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1. the rapidity at which a blog is referenced is second to none
2. people can more easily figure out about who you are and build credibility through your blog writing than a corporate Web site.

A Case Study

I published a review about Cabane a sucre du Pied de Cochon (April 4: put the new URL) on At Home with Kim Vallee last night. I now appear 3 times when you do a search on “Cabane a sucre du Pied de Cochon” on Google.ca. All the times, I am in front of the official site of the sugar shack.

I do not use any fancy SEO tricks. I simply make sure that my keywords are on the post Title, I repeat the keywords several times on my post and I insert my keywords in the ALT text of the image. All that takes less than 30 seconds to do.

They are other concerns and elements to consider before making a decision of whether to build a blog or a Web site but one thing is for sure Google loves blogs.

Montreal Girl Geek Dinner is Thursday

If you wish to learn more about SEO and how to write good Web content come to diner with the Girl Geeks of Montreal. This month, two SEO specialists will share her insights. Click here to reserve and know the details March Montreal Girl Geek Dinner with Kathryn Presner & A. Charlotte Riley. There is a Facebook event.

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A few weeks ago I talked about the Quickest and Easiest Way to Promote Your Blog on Facebook. This was based on my own experience and it is still valid. In fact, it may still be the best solution for many bloggers. If you wish to build a brand around your blog, it is another question. The latest changes to the Facebook Fan Pages eliminated my top objection to use them.

With the fan pages behaving almost as user profiles, you can use the same easy techniques I talked about earlier. Moreover, the Fan pages provides statistics on your fan demographics and visits. You can send updates to all your fans (or a target group defined with demographic filters) but you won’t be able to send individual message. Another fact to know is that the owner of a Facebook page stays anonymous.

Having a Facebook page looks more and more appealing. I see the added challenge to build an active community but I also see new opportunities. For example, I answer many viewer’s email behind closed doors. Now I could answer them publicly for the benefit of the group. I am planning to host events to connect with my readers this year. I could report more details on the AHWKV page than on my blog. I feel that over time, it may be better for my brand to promote it via a Fan page – one page per blog.

What do you think? Do you use a Facebook page? If so, do you have any tips to share?

Fan Page for On the Web with Kim Vallee

Help me build a strong community by becoming a fan of On The Web with Kim Vallee. Use the wall to communicate with me and other fans. The Stream shows what the page owner did. The wall is about what the fans did. Send me your questions that could become the topic of future posts.

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If you are a blogger, there is no doubt on my mind: you should be active on Twitter. I mentioned before that Twitter is a powerful marketing tool to raise awareness about what you do. It enables you to build credibility, increase your blog traffic and establish yourself as an influencer.

It is not a matter of Twittering vs. Blogging. Each one serves its purpose. The best option is to try to take advantages of their respective strength.

Twitter Enhances Blogging

I write several posts a week on AHWKV with quick links of the best of the Web. Retweet is the same idea but applied to Twitter. On Twitter, I can include topics outside the scope of my blog.  As a matter of fact, Twitter allows me to extend my curator role.

I also see Twitter as a laboratory for ideas. I can test the interest for topics before I write my post. Conversations bring me fresh ideas. I can see trends developing. I read about what people care for; how they react. I get answers more quickly, and often in bigger number, on Twitter than if I wrote a post. In fact, Twitter can help me write better content for my blog if I am listening properly.

When I write a post, people comment on my blogs but I often get more feedback on Twitter or on Facebook. It makes me sad that there is no tool to aggregate all these feedback under my blog.

Still, Twitter does not eliminate the need for a blog. I remain a blogger; this is my main job. I could not tell you all this in a coherent way using a succession of 140-character messages. I could but it would be complicated for you to follow my thread. I repeat: Twitter enhances my blogging experience.

Twitter Promotes Your Personal Brand

Twitter enables you to reach people who would not normally read your blog. More importantly, it enables you to reach Tweeple with similar interests and to build a stronger relationship with them.

Twitter makes uses of the social graph. It brings blogger opportunities. It can become a strong public relations vehicle for you. How to use Twitter wisely to raise your personal brand will be the subject of a future post.

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How does she expand and find new fans for her blog using Facebook?

We cannot answer this question without considering: How do you separate your private and public life in Facebook?

The first step is to set up your Privacy Settings for your Facebook account. You can decide who sees what on Facebook. Amongst other things, I restrict the views of my photos and videos. You can specify who and which actions (edit, comment, tag) people can take on your information.

Managing Your Friends

Start by creating a friend list for your blog’s friends. Plus create a very limited profile for people that you wish to accept but are unsure. This will allow you to decide what information you wish to share with your readers and virtual connections. Create as many lists as you need. Before you start, it may be a good idea to start a list of your true friends filled with people who know you in real life.

Recall that you can either say that only these friend lists can see or access a type of data or you can set that is everyone can do it except certain lists. You can even do that by naming a specific person. I would still create a list for that person, just in case you need to add names in the future.

Click on the Friends links (top menu bar) to access the Make a New List button.

Then, you can promote your Facebook profile on your blog. I put the link to my Facebook’s profile on my sidebar. I also check for Facebook links on blogs that I read and will join their group or add them as a friend. These actions will be the basis for implementing the Facebook promotion techniques I highlighted last week.

Do not set up a second Facebook identity

It is not manageable and against Facebook policy. Plus, I asked people who tried 2 Facebook accounts in the pass and they gave up. Using the Privacy Settings is the way to go.

Setting a Facebook group or a Facebook page is a viable option only if you have a large base of fans. Then, you put that link to your blog. Keep in mind that Facebook groups do not use the social graph as effectively than profile.

Nov. 2009 Update: I do not believe that setting a group is a good option. Setting up a page instead. Since the changes that took place in Facebook pages after I wrote this post, I now use pages. Facebook pages remains are even harder to promote than a profile page. Since my blog is my own name, the choice was easy for me. I still promote more my own Facebook profile but I use more and more the pages to connect with readers.

If you are a blogger with a smaller fan base or that do not have a lot of time for expanding your traffic, I feel you will get better results if you concentrate on your own Facebook profile.

Promote Yourself on Twitter

Also join Twitter. You can grow a base of followers with shared interests more quickly than on Facebook. Then add the people with whom you build better relations to your Facebook friends. If you are new to Twitter, read my Twitter basic commands to give you a head start.

+ Follow me on Twitter
+ Add my as a Facebook friend

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You want a method that uses the full potential of the social graph. This is why I feel the internal features of Facebook is more powerful than using a Facebook blog application to generate comments, likes and traffic to your blog.

My solution takes a 2 seconds to do. Simply copy the URL of your post on Post Link of your profile page and hit Preview. If your post featured several pictures, you will be able to select which one you wish to appear.

Time saver: The FeedFlare Share on Facebook link is faster since it automatically copy the post link and you are ready to post into your profile. Moreover, you encourage your fans to tag and promote your content. You will need first to activate the feature on Feedburner and insert some code into your blog template. It works on your RSS feeds and your blog. There are also many plugins that do the same job.

Main Advantages

Your Facebook friends can comment on your post. The fact that they comment on your note (link) will be shown on their wall. If you are lucky, that action may also appear on the News feed of some of your friends.

The same rules applied to the Like and Share button. Share will publish your note to your friend’s profile. If you are lucky your friends will like or share, plus comment your post.

My goal was to show you how quick and easy is it to use the internal functions to Facebook to promote your blog. Naturally you could create a group or a page for your blog but it requires more work to set up, maintain and market. We will talk about their added values and the differences between Facebook pages and groups at a later time.

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Bloggers are often approached by a brand to reach their audience with a giveaway. If the prizes are suitable for your blog niche, take this opportunity. When I hosted a giveaway with a brand, I have them take care of the shipping. It is simpler for me. I send the brand a handwritten card addressed to each winner that they will include in the package. This way, I am making sure to get exposure for my blog on the prize.

Obviously the more desirable the prize is for your audience, the more attention you will get. But you have to keep in mind that only a small portion of the new people you attracted will come back to your site. Aggregation sites on contests and giveaways will  spread the words fast but they will not swell your readership.

A better tactic is to use your blogging circle to spread the words. Make it easy for the bloggers you contact and prepare a brief summary that highlights the key points. Ask for a simple note of a sentence or two.

A Lesson in Making Your Giveaway More Exciting

Bakerella, a cupcake diva who appeared on the Martha Stewart Show, hosted a few contests with high results. She received over 2000 entries on a giveways for cupcake accessories with products in the $15 to $30 range.But she selected prices that her cupcake maker crave for.

Her latest Pick Mii out and Wii-n! giveaway to win a Nintendo Wii boosted the participation to over 5000 comments. Impressive! She did not stop at the fact that the Nintendo Wii is a hot product. She enhanced the giveaway by creating these Mii cupcakes. I wish she will host a future giveaway for a dozen custom-made Mii cupcakes.

Bakerella also hosted a giveaway as part of a guest post on Cupcakes Take The Cake. I taught this was imaginative. It is a win-win situation for both bloggers. As you can see, she puts attention to details in designing her giveaways.

One Last Thing

The general rule of thumb for bloggers is to host giveaways and to avoid contests. They are not the same under the laws. Before you launch one, inquire about the laws and regulations surrounding giveaways.

Have you hosted a giveaway before? If so, what was your experience?

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These are the things I suggested you first do to grow your traffic. They all cost nothing buy your time.

1. Publish Great Content Right Away

I suggest waiting until you published 3 to 5 blog posts before announcing it to the World. It allows you to start fine-tuning your topics. You are free to make adjustments without distractions.

Write the type of posts readers can expect when they will come back. On my introductory post, I included my first blogging tips; it was about The must-have to start a blog that can easily grow once your blog takes off. You want to give your readers an overview of what your blog is all about. Doing that increases your chances that they subscribe to your RSS feed.

2. Stick to a Posting Schedule

But unless, you are a celebrity, most people will take a wait and see position before subscribing to your feed. So you will need to write at a constant interval to maintain a steady flow of traffic. At the beginning, unless you publish something, chances are that you will get low traffic that day. You have not yet established a reputation on Technorati nor Google on which you can count to bring new visitors. This will come with times and added content.

3. Use Twitter and Facebook as a Promotion Tool

I assume that everyone who is launching a blog is already active on a few Web communities or social networks. Use your connections to tell the World about what you are doing. Start by preaching to the converters.

I send a tweet with a TinyURL every time I published a post. I start my tweet with the post title or I enhance the title by turning it to a question or adding some facts. I also share a link on my Facebook profile.

Earlier this week, I used the Facebook application Networked Blogs (used to be called Blog Networks) to tell 15 Facebook friends that I launched a new blog. I asked them to validate that I am the blog owner. I did a second batch 2 or 3 days later. I selected friends from different circles to increase my visibility.

4. Practice Word of Mouth

Whenever you meet people who ask you what is new in your life, make sure to introduce your blog. Find an angle that can grab their interest but be brief. This may imply going out more often to meetings, conferences and parties. But it can also be done while you are shopping.

5. Be an Active Commenter

When I started At Home with Kim Vallee, I used the metrics for every post I published I need to submit 3 excellent comments. I still make an effort to discover new blogs every week. I either comment or if I find a really cool story, I will talk about their story with due credits on my blog. You need to comments on big, medium and small blogs. I will talk another time about their respective advantages.

Use the name of your blog as your signature since this your brand. You need to establish name recognition as quick as possible. I learned this trick from Bea of La Tartine Gourmande, a blog that is a feast for the eyes and the mouth.

We scratched the tip of the iceberg here. Be assured that I will write plenty more posts on helping you how to grow your traffic. In the meantime, which is the best free method that you used and hopefully, still currently use to promote your blog?

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