SEO Werkt!

Would you like to become a wildly successful blogger? Of course you would! If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Now, I realize there is no shortage of blog posts giving advice on how to become a successful blogger, but this blog post is different, because:

• There are only THREE steps in my process. Other blog advice-givers come up with lists of like 25 things you need to do to become a successful blogger. Who knows where to start? Which of the 25 things is most important? No one knows, because they don’t tell you those things.
• My process is GUARANTEED to work! If my three-step process doesn’t make you a successful blogger, I will refund the money you paid to read this blog post.

ARE YOU READY? There’s no need to get a pen or pencil and write this down — you can come back to this post and read it as often you wish. In fact, I hope you do. Because the more times you read this post, the more successful a blogger I become. Muwahahaha!

OK, here we go. The THREE Steps to Becoming A Successful Blogger:

1. Quit your day job.
2. Spend 8 hours a day creating VALUABLE CONTENT spread across 4 to 5 blog posts.
3. Get Oprah Winfrey to talk about your blog on her TV show. 

If you follow these THREE SIMPLE STEPS, I guarantee your blogging success!

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Returning back to reality for a minute….

I may be making fun of the social media/blogging gurus out there who spew their useless advice for creating blogging success, but you’ve got to admit that I’m not too far off from what they actually say. 

There are (at least) two problems with the advice they give:

1) It’s the what, not the how. I learned this difference when I worked at Forrester Research. My boss at the time would look at the advice I put into reports, and would tell me, “You’re telling firms what WHAT to do. They know what they need to do. You need to tell them how to do it.” This may sound like mincing words. It’s not. The overwhelming majority of social media gurus (and sadly, management consultants) don’t get this distinction.

2) They don’t define success. If “success” to you means having 10,000 blog subscribers, then write about sports, technology, cats, or sex. (But for God’s sake, do NOT mix the last topic in with any of the other categories). If you want 10,000 readers, go ahead and regurgitate meaningless crap about social media. But “success” doesn’t have to be defined by number of subscribers or number of page views (I have to remind myself of this EVERY FREAKING DAY).

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Bottom line: Continuing to be somewhat serious for just two seconds more, here’s what I do guarantee you: If the advice you provide (on whatever topic you blog about) is good on the “how” and not just the “what,” and you define success on your own terms, you will become a successful blogger.

Filed under: Humor, Marketing, Social Media

Raised on the Internet and versed in social media, today’s youngsters view the world in a different light. Here to serve and inspire these influential minds is #waywire, a New York-based startup that’s landed $1.75 million in funding, which includes celebrity support from Oprah, for its mission.

#waywire, which launches in beta later this summer, is a video news network targeted at Generation Y that will feature original, syndicated, and member-created content. The vision of Newark, New Jersey mayor and tech figurehead Cory Booker, #waywire’s goal is to provide today’s youth with a social platform that informs and encourages participation in positive debates with peers.

First Round Capital and Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors led the startup’s first round of funding. Oprah Winfrey, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, and Lady Gaga manager Troy Carter have also ponied up to participate in the round as well.

“The idea behind #waywire came from Mayor Booker and grew from his desire to shift America’s public conversation away from divisiveness toward a debate focused on achieving solutions. The Mayor plans to contribute original content to the #waywire network where he will discuss America’s most significant challenges with a variety of thought leaders from diverse backgrounds,” according to a press release.

Booker, a co-founder and part owner in #waywire, will only play advisor to the company while he remains in office.

Filed under: deals, social

“There’s an oligarchy in the media and that needs to be broken up” Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker tells me. So he’s building #waywire, a news site that features original and syndicated video content, but that also lets viewers record and share their responses. “Traditional news sources aren’t in any way talking to millennials” Booker says, so #waywire is designed to deliver them content from their perspective. It’s now taking registrations for its upcoming private beta.

#waywire want to challenge old media outlets like CNN, but also create a news discovery alternative to Facebook and Twitter. It’s bold ambition convinced First Round Capital, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, Lady Gaga’s manager Troy Carter and other angels to fund #waywire’s $1.75 million seed round. And the startup has exclusively told TechCrunch that Oprah Winfrey and LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner are also investors.

Booker believes “There are practical solution to [creating] more jobs, lower crime, better education. If more people could find their voice and be part of the national dialogue, we could solve these problems.”

As the mayor New Jersey’s largest city, once named “The Most Dangerous City In The Nation” by Time, Booker is no stranger to big problems. Nor is he a stranger to innovative solutions, as the steward of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark’s public school system.

To make his idea for #waywire a reality, Booker has recruited some co-founders with deep digital experience. including TechCrunch’s own former CMO Sarah Ross whose also worked with Katalyst Media and Yahoo. Nathan Richardson, former president of Gilt City, CEO of ContextNext Media, and head of Dow Jones online will be #waywire’s CEO.

When it eventually launches, #waywire will pull in data from your social sites like Facebook and Twitter to help you build a personalized newswire of topics you care about. #waywire plans to start by creating 10,000 minutes of original video content hosted by all-millenial newscasters, which will be combined with clips syndicated from established outlets.

While the company has yet to release any screenshots, Richardson tells me these pieces of professional content will appear flanked by video responses from the #waywire community and your networks. You’ll be able to shoot video responses to offer up your own opinion, and then share the news and your rebuttals to social networks, making #waywire inherently viral. Plus, there’s a badge and reward system that lets aspiring anchors and editors become part of a trusted set of curators who determine which content is highlighted on #waywire.

Richardson gave me an example of the content you’ll see on #waywire. “Say I see this post from a traditional media source on something like healthcare, but don’t understand what it means to me. {On #waywire I’d get] a millennial point of view. ‘Oh, you just graduated and can be on your parent’s healthcare plan until you’re 26. You just scored.’”

As a voracious but busy news reader, I worried that video which can’t be scanned like text might make #waywire difficult to quickly browse. Richardson assured me, though, that there will be written summaries beside official clips to help you deciding whether to watch.

And if you’re scratching your head about why the medium is so critical, you might be older than #waywire’s target audience, the YouTube generation who are growing up with video as a format for creation, not just consumption. “All the research shows millenials want more video content” the startup’s CEO tells me. The fact that the startups name is a hashtag should indicate just how serious it is about courting young digerati.

Still, turning #waywire popular enough to change the world will be no easy task. Millenials are already saturated with stimulation. Facebook and Twitter have built brilliant mouse traps for attention, and their text and photo-focused inputs erect smaller barriers to participation than webcams and video. #waywire’s content is inherently sharable, though, so if it reaches critical mass as a news discovery tool, links to it could be pumped out across the social web.

And thankfully, Mayor Cory Booker is relentlessly inspirational. He tells me “Right now, we don’t have enough voices in the national dialogue, and it’s causing slowness in the pace of change. I want People to raise their voice, find something they’re passionate about. With that spirit we’ll see a country that moves further and faster down the pathway of change.”

Sign up for early access to #waywire’s private beta

One of the Internet’s first big web video networks, Revision3 is getting acquired by Discovery Communications, the company that owns familiar cable networks such as the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), and Science Channel.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but earlier reports estimated Revision3′s worth at around $30 to $40 million.

The web-based TV network, which founded in 2005 by Kevin Rose, Jay Adelson, and David Prager,  produces a variety of original shows about technology, comedy, pop culture, video games, music, and more. Some of its most popular shows include EpicMealTime, Scam School, Diggnation, Tekzilla, Destructoid, and Totally Rad Show. The network is available across a plethora of digital platforms (e.g. Roku, Boxee, Zune, Tivo, Google TV, iOS, Android, and an HTML5-optimized video player). The Internet TV network brings in about 100 million monthly video views — with yearly audience numbers comparable to traditional cable TV networks,

Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback as well as other members of the team will continue their leadership of Revision3 under the new ownership structure, Discovery said.

“We’re going to remain focused on the web… producing content for the web and rallying communities around our shows. And now we can bring all of that to Discovery,”  Louderback said in an interview with VentureBeat. When it comes to content genres, “we’re very complimentary to Discovery as far as audience goes. We’re going to be able to expand into new areas, which we were going to do anyways. Discovery is just making it happen much sooner.”

One of the areas Louderback told me he’s been itching to start doing on Revision3 is automotive/cars, saying “Velocity is one of Discovery’s car-focused channels, so I’d imagine we would be involved further down the line on future web projects.”

Rev3 spilling over into Discovery’s cable networks

In addition to incubating new talent and partnering with existing web show talent, Revision3 will also help Discovery figure out how to better utilize its vast 25-year library of video content, Discovery Chief Digital Officer JB Perrette told VentureBeat.

As for Discovery’s library of content, Perrette said “We kind of said to Jim, here’s the keys to the vault. Lets come up with some great ideas making use of some of that (old content).”

Perette also said its likely that there will be some spill over between Revision3 talent/shows and its large stable of cable channels, although nothing has been officially lined up. For example, some of the more popular Rev3 shows could end up graduating to a cable channel, like Discovery or Science. I asked him if Revision3 could ever take over a time slot block on one of the existing cable channels — filled with only its own programming — to which he replied that its not out of the realm of possibility.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, and the parties expect the closing to occur on or before June 1.

Filed under: deals, media

Oprah Winfrey wants to spread kindness and positive emotion around the globe. The media queen’s latest venture, Oprah’s Thank You Game, encourages Facebook users to thank someone in their lives then report it back her. The game’s page keeps track of all the goodwill spreading around in the form of purple blobs stretching across a world map. You know, sort of like a plague tracker…

The developer, SuperBetter Labs, hopes this project will inspire players to feel gratitude toward each other. “We had a vision for a social game that resulted in every single person in the United States and Canada feeling truly appreciated for something they’ve done, ” Sean Baenen, vice chair of SuperBetter Labs said in an interview with Gamasutra. “It was an ambitious project in the field of social media as agency for positive emotions, making Ms. Winfrey the perfect partner.”

While this project is more of a social tracker than an actual game, it does try to spread a very hopeful message.

Filed under: games

Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo, he hosts a weekly show on business and has published books on success.  Follow him on Twitter @ashkan.

“How You’re Defined by the Stories You Tell Yourself”

Oprah Winfrey recently interviewed Anthony Robbins, who talked about “how we’re defined by the stories we tell ourselves”.

Last month, I met two investors; one of them asked how come I’d never raised capital.  I answered the “story” I’ve told for 6 years to the point I believed it: “No one really wants to invest in a producer of video content based in Montreal.”

Then the other VC interjected: “But that’s not true, I’ve made you two offers.” He was right. Just because the offers I’ve been getting over the years weren’t what I was looking for didn’t make my “story” true, yet I conditioned myself to believe it, to the point that it’s prevented me from maximizing the value of the company despite successfully bootstrapping it.

Before you can focus your energies on the “right” investor, you need to emancipate yourself from the stories that hold you back.

The Real Cost of Financing Isn’t Dilution

We’ve all heard about the story of the founder who was left with 0.5% after five back-breaking years. But the real cost of financing isn’t dilution.

The adage is “raise money when you can, not when you need it.” In fact, raise money because you want to, not because you need to.

Realistically, VCs care about 1% of companies, and maybe 1% of those actually raise money; so we’re talking about 0.01% of startups while 99.99% get the attention.

In Silicon Valley, lifestyle businesses are derided while funding and spending other people’s money is celebrated, even though revenue is the cheapest form of equity and the only celebration that is warranted is a successful exit.

With society increasingly embracing entrepreneurs, many VC-backed founders fail to understand what they’re bound to once they raise capital: The clock starts ticking and you have to give in to envy and be willing to put a bullet in your otherwise healthy baby’s head and pivot when greed comes calling.

In other words, just because others say they prefer to own a smaller piece of a potentially larger business, doesn’t mean you do too (or that it will actually happen). Bear in mind, an investor has his money spread out across dozens of companies, you have one company to keep you up at night.

Targeting the Right Investors: The Interested, Willing and Able

Despite this, many want to raise VC.  In that case, focus on the right investor, based on tangible and intangible variables.

Tangible ways include i) sector preference, ii) company stage and iii) regional focus.

Intangible variables include two main variables:

1)      How you know the investor?

-          Are you going in cold?
-          Is someone referring you? or
-          Have you already worked with the investor in one capacity or another?

For example, Chris Sacca’s lowercase capital (best VC website) admits to never investing in anyone who has emailed them cold off their website.

Then at the other extreme, the Paypal Mafia has funded one another with multiple successes.

2)      Ability and Capacity to Invest

Is the investor a talker or doer?

-          Is the investor interested and able to actually lead?
-          Will they tag along only once another investor sets the terms? or
-          Can they actually lead?

The following matrix represents the 1% of VC-fundable companies; focus on investors that fall in the darkest green areas, make those in yellow court you and avoid all of the ones that fall outside of the matrix.

You can have someone interested but not able or willing to lead; or you can have someone who can/does lead not being interested; in the end the outcome is the same: wasted time.

Similarly, your best bet is to secure financing from someone who has already worked with you, if that is not an option, then get a warm referral.

Leave the Bluffing for Poker Night

Entrepreneurs should drop the cowboy act and be sincere because if you fail to raise capital then all you have is your word and integrity.  In other words, in this context,

a) don’t rush those who are interested and can lead;

b) don’t force those who are interested but can’t lead; and whatever you do,

c) don’t waste time on those who can’t lead and aren’t interested to begin with.

The Art of Being a Challenge, Interest Level and the 51% Rule

An investor’s level of interest is different from their capacity and ability to lead a round.  If you throw yourself at someone, they will want you less.

In my previous lifetime, I wrote for a lifestyle magazine.  One of my fellow dating columnists talked about being a challenge, interest level and the 51% rule.  While his doctrine was geared towards dating, it was psychology 101 and absolutely applies to the courting that comes with fundraising as well.

He would argue that when you met a woman, if she was

- More than half interested in you (51% or more) then it was worth investing your time and energy in winning her over.  But to accomplish that, you had to be a challenge, for if you threw yourself at her she’s lose interest;

- Simply not all that into you (less than 51% interest level), then she would never come around and fall for you.

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with one of the VCs I respect most.  He told me that while he never chased the popular deals, he was always interested in the harder deals (those where the company/entrepreneur was being a challenge).

To conclude, to paraphrase a wise man, “one of the marks of a great entrepreneur is following your convictions and convincing the world of the truth you know in your heart” even if investors are quick to dismiss your idea or mock and misunderstand you, but to do that you have to be honest with yourself and others.

If you liked this article, you may also enjoy mistakes VCs make and things entrepreneurs should avoid when raising capital.

[image via flickr/Sister72]

Happy first day of 2012!  I’ve decided to help you all with a little dose of comic relief to start the New Year off fresh.  Our marketing therapy comes from a little help from Jessica, the 4 year-old viral video wonder whose positive affirmation in her bathroom mirror led people of all ages wondering what things in their life were they speaking positively about.

Oprah Winfrey has a great quote that reinforces this, “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

So you may be wondering: How does all this relate to your web marketing puzzle?

Well, a great exercise for the new year is to make a list of the current marketing collateral you have in place. This is the foundation that you have already built for your business (i.e. name, tagline, logo, website, blog, email list etc.). Try and list the haves and resist the urge to list the have-nots. Building on what you have already accomplished is a way to keep a consistency with your business messaging. It also saves you time – you won’t have to reinvent the wheel everytime because the initial content will be there to support you. You might find some marketing gems when backtracking through your materials. See if Jessica inspires you as much as she did her 9,174,836 YouTube fans and have a happy and healthy New Year!

Web Marketing Related Posts:

1. Get Your Marketing in Shape for 2012
2. Monday Marketing Motivation – Enthusiasm
3. Marketing Motivation – Attempt the Absurd

AOL has released their best moments of 2011 list as measured by comments, shares and tweets.  The list includes the tragic death of Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey’s final show and the Occupy Movement.  Check it out.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.