The Secret To Growing Your Blog to It’s Potential

I recently had a blogger sidle up to me at a conference and ask me to share ‘the secret’ technique that would allow see their blog grow to it’s potential.

While the blogger was asking with tongue planted firmly in his cheek (he understood that there was no single thing that would transform his blog) I do sometimes wonder if some bloggers are looking for ‘the secret’.

The reality is that looking for a single technique to make your blog blog grow to its potential is as crazy as looking for a single technique to make your child grow to its potential.

Actually I like the analogy of children growing to their potential… lets go down that path for a moment.

I have 3 boys. They’re 2, 5 and 7.

They started small (of course). Here’s our 2 year old a few minutes after he was born.

He was little (although like all Rowses had a quite large head for his age).

I look back on that photo today and can barely believe that the 2 year old that runs around our house talking up a storm is the same person that I saw born just a couple of years ago.

I look at my 7 year old and am even more amazed at who he’s become already! He has grown so much – physically, emotionally, socially and so much more.

But how did he grow to become the 7 year old he is today?

The reality is that while it seems just yesterday that he was born, his growth has been little by little thing – every day since.

He certainly has had growth spurts where he’s shot up at a faster rate over a month than other months but he’s grown gradually and as a result of consistent feeding, exercise, sleep and nurturing.

As parents we can’t identify a single thing that has resulted in him reaching the point he’s at – it’s a result of small consistent and regular actions over time.

The same is true with your blog.

There’s nothing you can do that will suddenly make your blog reach its potential.

It will grow as you regularly add content, as you regularly look after the readers you have and grow community, as you regularly participate in places off your blog to find new readers and as you regularly nurture it by keeping its design and technical side up to date and working.

You will probably go through growth spurts where you see bursts of activity that results in growth in one way or another – but its what happens between the growth spurts that is just as important.

The key to success in blogging (and in many areas of life) is small but regular and consistent actions over a long period of time.

The Psychology of ‘Adapting to Change’ on Google Plus

When the platform changes, many of us go through a process of thinking “nooooo, why do they keep changing stuff!” etc.

We tend to like status quo, whilst knowing change is inevitable.

But what happens when this changes ‘happens to us’? How do we shift our internal models of what was was, to was it now? Well, I have had the good fortune of watching what happens for me so thought I would share it.

Introduction

My experience of Google+ could be summarised as a constant learning curve. Some changes leading to a totally new versions how I ‘see’ Google+ in my head, whilst others tend to be subtle adjustments of the processs at play e.g. how a +1 can lead to people seeing posts in their streams (where it was more passive earlier).

During the early part of the summer many of us know how Google+ was transformed – now with ‘cards’ that ‘flip’ and pages that are far more dynamic. Let’s face it, it is very pretty and functional too.

But do you remember how it looked beforehand? I am getting the answer is ‘no’, and even if you can recall it will be hard work to patch it back together. And what about the process of change…do you think about it as a cyclical process?

Freeze, unfreeze and refreeze

I was recently discussing this with the very forward thinking social fellow Paul Simbeck-Hampson as a way of preparing people for a change occurring within an organisation. There are several models of change out there but one way to think about is loosely applying Lewin’s 3-stage model. 

It is frozen and you know ‘where things are’
It unfreezes and many things that were in place are not lost, but there is learning occuring
It refreezes whereby integration has occurred and the change process/cycle is completed

Below I have taken this model and applied it to my own experience of internal changes to thoughts as they are ‘forgotten’ and ‘rebuilt.

Stage 1 – Frozen.

Applying this to how we create the internal model of the platform.
In essence, through experience and learning, we have thoughts we have ‘in our head’ – largely visual, with some auditory overlay i.e. the neurology is laid down.

These thoughts, when we recall them, create an internal map that represents the platform.
Depending upon the person, there is a mapping between the thoughts and the actual platform, with varying degrees of accuracy in the recall.
These thoughts can then be altered (meaning in this context ‘come and go’), one by one, or chained, whereby a person moves from ‘screen to screen’, or step-by-step as they mentally ‘click a button’, mouseover, drop in a file to a post etc.
This gives us the ability to ‘know the place’ and be able to navigate it in our minds.

Stage 2 – Unfreeze (during the change)

We will often find ourselves in a state of confusion when things ‘change’.
But how does this happen?
Well, it is likely the thoughts relating to ‘knowing the platform’ become ‘weaker’, often with a physical association of ‘discomfort’ or uncertainty.The images are no longer as clear, as bright, lacking depth etc.One is no longer able to accurately ‘map’ where the buttons will lead when you click them, a mouseover no longer does the same thing, you get ‘lost’

Stage 3 – Re-freeze

Once, through practice, the new task has been learned (as effectively every click, mouseover, drop of a file etc is a task) you return to a state of ‘knowing’ once more. But not until you have grasped this new territory and mapped it accordingly. When this happens…

The thoughts return more consistent density in terms of clarity of the content
You can, for example, perceive detils better than in the previous stage – you think of a screen on Google Plus, e.g. the box for making ‘posts’ and the icons are clear to you
The ‘content’ (e.g. where the icons are on the Page) is now the ‘new way’ and the stability of the object i.e. the thought is now formed
You are able to move through sequences of tasks far easier and you ‘know where you are’ i.e. the actions are coming from a more clear internal model – the patterns are now laid down.

Conclusion

Knowing this to be one way to describe the natural cycle of change, it makes it easier to relax during the unfreeze process, where many people feel all at sea. It is during this stage of the process that community support really helps, as well as access to reassuring and straightforward materials that enable any changes to be understood in the easiest possible manner. With numerous educators in the Plus – alongside Google themselves – they reduce too much discomfort and provide clear explanations of ‘what is going on’ and what it means.
Changes will not stop happening, and if anything it is going to speed up considerably. We all know this, but often we want ‘frozen’ to stay forever as it is comfortable. Instead it may well be easiest to flow down stream when system changes come, getting to a point where the flow itself is enjoyable as it enables new learning and increased integration, understanding and connection to who and what matters to us most. It is one heck of a ride!

- See more at: http://www.martinshervington.com/the-psychology-of-adapting-to-change-on-google-plus/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+martin-shervington+%28MartinShervington.com%29#sthash.0BLTK1zu.dpuf

5 Twitter Content Ideas For Your Holiday Marketing

Twitter is sending business accounts emails with the 5 suggestions below.

The suggestions are “holiday marketing” suggestions that promote some simple content ideas, promotes Vine, AMEX’s Small Business Saturday, and Twitter-exclusive sales.

The main call to action in the email is a link to sign in to Twitter Ads. Twitter is definitely eager to get more businesses using their ad platform as the company prepares to go public soon.

These types of emails and marketing recommendations are also becoming more common as social networks begin to help teach businesses on their platforms how to be more successful with their social media marketing.

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Check-out these Tweet themes to help your business drive more results this season.

Mondays
Ask followers which holiday products or services they want to see more of, then reply back.

Tuesdays
Count down to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas by offering Twitter-only sales to entice followers. See how

Wednesdays
Share photos of your business giving back to the community during the season.

Thursdays
Create 6-second Vine videos with how-to content and to reveal new products. Download Vine

Fridays
Promote a community event or joint offer with business partners leading up to Small Business Saturday. Learn more

Do even more with Twitter Ads to expand your community of followers then amplify your Tweets to extend beyond current followers to reach more customers.

Set your business up for success this holiday season by advertising with Twitter.