Seth Godin is one of the biggest internet entrepreneurs today.  He runs a very successful blog and has written numerous books (my favorites being The Dip and Tribes).

Seth Godin is a person who gets it.  He gets the fact that you have to treat your readers respectfully and personably.  You have to give them an experience they will remember.  A sort of Buzzmarketing technique.

He says,

“One opportunity that’s underused is the idea of using cookies to treat returning visitors differently than newbies. It’s more work at first, but it can offer two experiences to two different sorts of people.”

Which is why a wordpress plugin created after Seth’s words was created.  A wordpress plugin called What Would Seth Godin Do?

The Seth Godin Wordpress Plugin

The creator of the Seth Godin wordpress plugin states the function of the plugin on his blog:

“New visitors to your blog will see a small box above each post containing the words “If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!” After 5 visits the message disappears. You can customize this message, its lifespan, and its location.

New in version 1.5: You can also specify a message for return visitors.”

It’s a fairly simple plugin and takes care of the “more work at first” part of the theory.  But I’m not talking about using the plugin in this manner.  I’ve got something else in mind.

The Plugin Twist

Many of you who already read this blog know that I like to take a great idea and put a twist on it to make it an even greater idea.  If you haven’t been reading my blog, you can always subscribe here.

I suggest taking the plugin and modifying the text to display whatever post you’ve previously written and are trying to promote.

Here’s an example:

Basically I modify the plugin text, so on every post any reader looks at, they see the plug for the post I’m promoting.  You can also monetize this method by placing an affiliate link in it’s place.

I place the plugin at the bottom of each post because as important as I think it is, it’s not more important to my readers than the content of the current blog post.  But you can choose to place it at the beginning of each post should you want to.

After having this plugin on my blog for a week or so now, I’ve noticed a jump in visitors to the specific posts I’ve included in this section.  So I know it works, and I’ll continue using it until I see a change in that.

What do you think about using the Seth Godin Plugin in this manner?

If you missed my latest post, click here to learn how I make $40-$50 per month with my SMS Blog Feed and only 3 subscribers.

As each day dawns it brings with it new and creative ways of marketing.  There are probably just as many ways to market something as there are seconds in a day.

But the best all around way to get your product (or your blog - in this case) seen is through something called Buzz Marketing.

This is a creative way of saying Word of Mouth marketing.

So you’ve heard of Word of Mouth marketing and you’re interested in using it to stir up conversation about your blog.  To help drive traffic your way, all the while trying to monetize every bit you can.  But do you really know how to use Buzz Marketing, or do you create something and hope it becomes viral?

If you’re not sure exactly what tactics to use to generate a buzz about your blog, then I suggest a book by Mark Hughes called Buzzmarketing.

A Little About Buzzmarketing

This is an amazing book!  I picked it up this weekend in a local bookstore and haven’t been able to put it down since.

This book was named one of the ten great business reads of the year by Fast Company and one of the best business books of the year by the Financial Times.

The book talks about all the tactics you should use to generate conversation about your blog.  The best part of the book are the sections on “The Six Secrets of Buzzmarketing”.

The Six Secrets of Buzzmarketing

Mark says that buzzmarketing isn’t random and when done correctly every day, you will experience “break-away growth”.  All you have to do is follow the following six secrets:

1. Push the Six Buttons of Buzz - These buttons are the Taboo button, the Unusual button, the Outrageous button, the Hilarious button, the Remarkable button, and the Secrets button.
2. Capture Media
3. Advertise for Attention - It’s not about convention… it’s all about attention!
4. Climb Buzz Everest
5. Discover Creativity
6. Police Your Product

The book goes even further into discussing what each of these means, and other great tactics to use to generate your own buzz.

If you want to read BuzzMarketing for yourself, you can get it here.

What do you think of the book BuzzMarketing?  Do you think Mark is on the right track?

Thank you everyone for entering to win the Affiliate Summit silver pass.  I’ll not be there this year because of my 8-5 job, but I hope to see you all in 2010, or at one of the other conferences coming up.

Affiliate Summit is a great conference and if you haven’t heard of it, you can find out all about it here.

The Winner & More

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for.  Congratulations to the winner of the Affiliate Summit silver pass contest,  jtGraphic.  I will be emailing you with your registration code for the Silver Pass shortly.

Besides announcing the winner, I also have a special surprise for all of you.  My friend Brian Clark from Copyblogger is offering a Free Affiliate Summit Pass to everyone who wants it.

Simply visit Copyblogger, get the free code, and enter it online whenever you register.

What kinds of contests would you like to see here in the future?

With my passion for wanting to help others learn how to make money and be successful blogging, I’ve decided to write a book.

This book will take the reader from day 1 of deciding to create a blog all the way through successfully generating an income from their blog.

I’ve started writing already and have a general outline of the topics I want to cover.  And here’s where you come in.

Your Role In My Book

I’m not interested in writing a book that no one will be interested in reading.  No matter how important I may think a topic is, if no one is interested in reading that particular topic, then no one is benefiting from the book.

So I want to hear from you.  What topics and general myths, ideas, and facts would you like to see in this book in regards to blogging and making money doing it.  This could include things like affiliate marketing, social networking, etc.

Feel free to give me ideas, or even submit articles on particular topics you’re interested in with your views and experience on that topic.

I realize that I’m not an expert in every topic related to blogging and making money doing it (no one is).  Which is why I’m calling on those of you who are experts in your particular field, to help write this book.

A bo0k for the people, by the people. (Remind you of another very successful document?)

The Benefits For You

I will give props to everyone who submits an article that is used in the book, on a special “Contributors Page” with a short bio and a link to your blog/website address and Twitter account.

This is your chance to be published in a book and to reap the marketing rewards from it.

In addition to the “Contributors Page” for the authors of each article used, there will be an “Inspiration Page” that lists the name of anyone who gives me an idea/topic that gets used in the book.  First come first served, which means if you submit an idea that gets used, then someone else submits the same idea, your name will be on the “Inspiration Page”.

The Small Print

By submitting an article to me, you are giving me the rights to publish that article and/or the viewpoints of that article in paper and/or electronic format.

You can submit your articles to “thebook (at) steven-sanders.com”.  Please include a short bio, blog url, and twitter username as well as the name you want displayed as a contributor with your article.

Submit your ideas/topics to me via a comment, so everyone can see the topic ideas.  I’m interested in others seeing your idea and generating some conversation about it, so I can better evaluate the demand for the particular topic before deciding to use it.

You articles will be altered slightly so that they fit seamlessly with the rest of the book.

If you have any questions, please use my contact page.

The floor is yours, leave me a comment now.