Hi

I haven't quite finished listening to this lesson yet, but I thought I'd share a traffic source that we came across recently.

We have had over 120,000 views on a very simple YouTube video. We achieved this by submitting the video to one of the content curation sites (San Francisco Globe). Because it has a cute story behind it, they picked it up and from there it got picked up by other content curation sites.

This is it, if you are interested:

http://sfglobe.com/2015/05/01/kRK/

We are going to try this again with another video soon. It's worth bearing in mind that there are a lot of these sites and they all need content, so if a video can be captioned with an engaging headline and supported by an interesting story, they may well use it. The video wasn't even a very good one, but in this case that was part of the story and added to the authenticity of the piece.

It only works as a source of traffic if your YouTube video is set up with interactive cards that enable the viewer to click to a squeeze page. I struggled to set this up but eventually worked it out - the story is covered elsewhere on the forum in a topic titled something like 'where should I put my metatag'

Hope this helps

Deb

Of course!

It's a site that pops up in my Facebook feed. I must have had something of theirs shared with me sometime and 'liked' it, so I get their content all the time. I'm used to the sort of things they share, which often seems to include people singing, and the way they create their headlines, so it was just a step to work out that we had a video that would fit their format.

We reached out to them through the 'contact' tab on their website and asked how to submit content. They replied very quickly and just told us to send it to them, so we sent a link to the video on YouTube, an outline of the story behind it and a suggested headline. The next morning, the video had had 20,000 views overnight. It was that easy.

Once it had been in San Francisco Globe it was picked up on other content curation sites. We didn't do anything to make this happen (although the fact that we had added a custom thumbnail that was quite eye-catching seems to have helped) we just sat back and watched it show up in:

Daily Dip; Viral Videos Gallery; Little Things; Lockerdome; Worthytales; Saigon Answer; Godvine; Godfruits; Godupdates; Godtube

It's now over 123,000 views and still rising by several views every day.

When it started to take off, we placed the story of the video 'going viral' into mainstream media. All we did was drop them an email saying that this was happening and asking if they would like to feature it - no fancy press release, just a few lines explaining the story and the local connection, a quote and contact info. We got coverage in local press and on BBC TV and radio. The local press article was syndicated and turned up in several different newspapers and on-line media over the next two weeks or so. 

Just in case it's helpful, I also have my 'day job'* blog published in Huffington Post. This happens because I reached out to them a while ago to ask if they would like to use it. They asked for an example, said yes and then gave me my own portal to upload content to them. They check it before it is published but I have never had a blog turned down and they are happy to include a link back to the blog on our website. I passed this tip on to a friend of mine who publishes a music blog and she did the same - her blog is now also published on Huffington Post. So I'd advise anyone who blogs to offer their content to Huff Post. There is no obligation to blog with any particular frequency and once the content is on their site you can link to it, share it and generally use it for social proof whenever you want.

The bottom line is, these sites need content. If you are offering them good content they will use it.

Of course, there are no guarantees, but one of my personal mantras is 'always ask the question' - you'd be surprised how often the answer is 'yes'. 

Hope this helps

Deb

* I am CEO of a UK charity that helps people recover from drug and alcohol misuse, so that's what the blog is about that appears on Huffington Post.

It's too early for us to say, Steve.

The artist is very new. She is just about to release her first single so the strategy so far has been to grow her list, which is why it was so important to make free traffic work and to get some media profile too.

The debut single is being released on 13 July so we are about to start promoting it to the list that we have built. It's still very small - about 400 subscribers - but it's a good start.

I'll keep you posted.

Deb

Hi

This is my author archive on Huffington Post - sorry, absolutely nothing music related. The most recent post is also published on the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) 'Great Business Debate' website because it is part of a conversation I am having with them. I'm hoping to transfer it into mainstream media soon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.u.....-bannigan/

This is the friend who also has her blog published on Huffington Post - she blogs about music

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.u.....e-ireland/

My daughter approached them to include her blog. They were happy to do so but she is below their lower age limit (16).

If you click the 'contact' button at the foot of the page it opens the contact page which includes a specific link for blog pitches. It really is that easy. The editorial team are very helpful and approachable. They want your content!

Hope this is helpful - I'll paste the advice that was sent to me when they accepted my first blog at the foot of this post.

Deb

Advice from Huff Post and blog guidelines:

Going forward, you’ll be able to upload blog posts as and when you like - could be as often as once or twice a week, once a month, or once a year. It's also totally up to you what you blog about – we don’t change anything bloggers write, bar for typos, spelling or legal issues. All we ask is that blog posts are between 500 and 800 words long and written in a chatty, informal style. Controversial and ranty is always good too!

Basically, we reckon the most passionate or newsy blogs are the best - we won’t run anything that’s too pluggy, press releasey or B2B.  Please do bear in mind however, that we expect you to upload as you wish to see it appear live, and cannot make corrections after publishing unless for legal reasons or serious factual errors - so please do spellcheck and thoroughly proofread before submitting. And don't forget, your posts will be searchable through the US as well as the UK site, so you're not just reaching our 5million readers, but a potential 50million worldwide.

If you already have an existing blog, you can cross post to us at the same time as you publish yours online, and we will link straight back to your site. You can also link through to other websites, including Twitter, Facebook etc in the blog, even directly through to Amazon if you have a book on sale, or iTunes etc.

You can also embed photos and YouTube etc within your blog post – but please make sure you have permission from the copyright holder, credit any images accordingly and make sure they’re no wider than 600px. If you are trying to do that but having trouble, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Other than that, any questions, just shout, and in the meantime, we’re really looking forward to getting the first blog.

BLOGGING GUIDE

We’re delighted that you’re going to be blogging for Huffington Post UK.  I’m now enclosing the details of how this will work.

To get started please send us:



1. A headshot of yourself – preferably on a white background if possible, but this isn’t absolutely vital.  What is important is that it includes all of your head and not with your forehead/hairline chopped off.
2.  A one-line bio of yourself – your primary title.
3. An extended bio of yourself – there is no word limit on this and you’re more than welcome to include hyperlinks back to your own site (more on hyperlinks further down)
4. Your website and twitter username – if you would like these published.
5. If applicable, the ASINs of your published books on Amazon (this can be found on your book(s) page on Amazon) – we link to these on Huffpost.

We’re also encouraging people to send us their first blog post, although this isn’t absolutely necessary at this stage.

What happens then:

We’ll email you back in the next week or so with your username and a temporary password, which you’ll change the first time you log in.  From then on, you’ll be able to submit straight to HuffPost UK without having to email us first.

Style guide:

 Huffington Post has no deadlines or output commitments. You may blog as infrequently as you'd like, or as frequently as once or twice a week. You need not "pitch" ideas before sending posts along, but feel free to run your thoughts by one of us, if you think it needs discussion.

If you've never blogged before, posts should ideally be written in a conversational, informal style, and with any relevant or referenced links embedded/hyperlinked within.

News-driven, topical posts perform best on the site -- first thought is probably the best thought, so if you have a strong take on a topic expanding in the news, it's better to post it promptly than a few days from then, when your post will be less fresh (and less original).

If in doubt, just have a look at huffingtonpost.co.uk and look down the left hand column of the news page or the politics page – these are the best blog posts they’ve received today.  

Technicalities:

If you are using Microsoft Word, we recommend you make this quick change to your settings before you start writing your posts for us.

In the FORMAT menu, choose Autoformat.  In the window that opens up, choose ‘Options’.  Another window will appear, with a series of options under ‘replace’ which normally are checked.   Uncheck these.  This is because Word tends to embed all kinds of hidden formatting with its copy, sometimes this gives us problems, particularly on our mobile site.

If you don’t know how to do a hyperlink, it’s easy.  In Microsoft Word, just highlight the text you want to hyperlink, then hold down CTRL and type K.  (It’s the COMMAND) button on a Mac. Then all you need to do is paste the weblink into the top field in the box that pops up, close the box and then you’ll have your text underlined – like this link to Huffington Post .


Length:
A good target length is 500 to 800 words. In the blog format, a full op-ed length may be too long to hold a reader's attention, but take as many words as you need to convey your points.



Titling:
We encourage giving your blog posts very clear names. Nouns work better then verbs. Descriptive titles work better than cute titles and puns. What would you enter into Google if you were trying to find this article? That is usually the best way to start your title. Please also write your titles in First Initial Caps (as opposed to ALL CAPS).

Rights and Legal:

We’d remind you that nobody who blogs for Huffington Post is paid and you are not an employee of the Huffington Post, and as such, you cannot use our name to get press accreditation unless you have contacted us directly first.  You retain all rights to your work, and so you’re welcome to post it on your own blog or elsewhere.  Feel free to hyperlink to your own site at the end of your post – or in the middle of it, if you’re mentioning your own site as part of the story.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.  We know this is something fairly new for the UK and we should be able to get the answers you need fairly quickly.

For Travel writers:

Please note that with travel blogs, you must not describe yourself as a 'travel writer for the Huffington Post' or try and get on press trips/get free travel etc by describing yourself as a 'Huffington Post travel writer' or 'columnist'. As a blogger, you do not work for us, we do not commission you to write travel features and you must not pass yourself off as a representative of The Huffington Post. However, you are obviously more than welcome to say that your blogs are hosted on the Huffington Post UK as one of our 7,000 plus stable of bloggers.

You're welcome.

You could submit one of your existing blog posts as a starting point, just to get yourself established on there. Then why not submit your other existing content - especially if they link to your podcasts etc?

You're always telling us to make the most of things that we have already created, and you have the opportunity to bring work you have already done to a new audience, as well as all those lovely backlinks to the original blog on your site.

Was it you who said that marketing is 20% creation and 80% promotion? I guess this is a chance to get some easy additional mileage out of the hours of work you have already invested to write evergreen blogs.

Shouldn't you be telling me this???

Look forward to seeing your blogs on Huffington Post

Deb 

John, hello! Thank you for the lesson! Just asking to be sure, that I've understood everything clearly: 5 minutes to follow, the 5 minutes to unfollow and the 5 minutes to send messages? Am I right? =)))

Thank you! =)))

P.S. Just decided to make another site for A/B testing because of your lessons! Thank you again! =))