Veni Vidi Vici: I Came, I Saw, I... Sphunn?

By Kimota on December 17, 2007 5:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, who'da thunk it?

My plea for Sphinns resulted in a huge outpouring of support. Once the post gained some momentum (at first, people seemed to be nervous about jumping on board) the Sphinns rolled in so fast that the post not only went hot but became the hottest post of the day!

For most of the day, though, it was narrowly being beaten by Jeff Quipp's submission announcing the arrival of a little Wiep. This has led me to thinking that I should start pressuring my girlfriend so that I can have another white-hot post in nine months. Certainly not the lamest excuse I've used to get her into bed...

But finally my post crept forward, taking the lead and going on to reach a staggering 51 Sphins - and still rising! This is actually more Sphinns than all my other submissions added together and is deserving of a huge amount of thanks to all of you.

So what can be learned from this experiment?

Conclusions

Firstly, social media is just that - social. By reaching out to my co-Sphinners, I invited them into my social network. After the first few Sphinns and comments had happened, it became more about joining the in-crowd by Sphinning rather than risk being a negative outsider by spurning the post.

How did the post achieve this?

Firstly, my post obviously charmed a few people and shows that humour always rates well. Being charming isn't only good for picking up dumb princesses with a habit of eating suspect apples - it is an essential social skill required to create relationships. Charm opens doors by making other people want to know more about you, usually through a combination of wit, intelligence and empathy. Therefore, charm is an essential weapon in the social marketer's arsenal. Many people responded to the witty writing style, and if there’s one thing a blogger needs to achieve, it’s a writing style that actually hangs on to the reader to the end of the post!

Secondly, many Sphinns were gained from people who related to my predicament. Here was I railing in frustration against the social media elements, like Lear on the blasted heath, only for a number of people to chime up behind me and say 'me too!' These people wanted the underdog to break through. They wanted to see one of their own achieve what they also had been unable to manage. By doing so, they hoped to gain insight into how they could also achieve the feat, whilst making a contact out of someone who had officially gone hot.

Thirdly, some readers enjoyed my analysis of my Sphinn posts - breaking down my previous submission strategies to identify my failings. We online marketers love analysis - we are information geeks who love nothing more than to break down the keyword density of a page in relation to its traffic as a way to unwind in the evenings. Therefore, analysis of someone else's failure offers insights and asks questions that others hope to answer within their own work. (Either that, or they just like to gloat. My suggestion is nicer...)

A good blog post has to work on all these levels. It has to charm and entertain the reader, it has to inform, and the reader has to identify with the proposition you are putting forward.

Do All Good Posts Go Sphinn Hot?

That's all well and good when it comes to writing our own blog posts, but what about all those wonderful posts we've submitted to Sphinn that never went hot?

Well, time of day is certainly a factor, as confirmed to me by many other Sphinners. That may put some of us at a disadvantage as we are Sphinning whilst others are sleeping. I am put to wondering whether anyone has blogged on the optimum time to post to Sphinn and whether it is the same for other social sites like Digg?

But more importantly than any other factor, social media is not just about the quality of the post, it’s about the community recognising you and wanting to listen to your recommendations. There is definitely a certain element of network elitism, but this is not a negative thing. Quite the opposite - it is purely natural.

For example, stick ten marketing professionals into a room at a networking dinner. Five know each other and have a strong understanding of their various reputations. Five are newcomers with no proven expertise within the industry. If one of the old-hands gets up on stage and espouses the brilliance of a new product, the response will be far stronger than if one of the newcomers were to do the same thing. It is human nature. The known voice carries a stronger recommendation purely because his word has been experienced to be trustworthy.

Am I a One Hit Wonder?

The idea of becoming the Sphinn equivalent of Martha and the Muffins is rather chilling.

So has this exercise helped me to break through into the broader community? I hope so. Certainly, I've added a lot of contacts, received a lot of advice and know that many of these faces will be back at least a few times to see what happens next, so the power of that first breakthrough post will hinge on whether I live up to the promise.

That is the last point to consider here - consistency. One post going hot is good, but the ongoing benefits of that are negligible if the new traffic doesn't stick around. Martha and the Muffins surely don't live off the residuals from 'Echo Beach' alone. I’m sure it was back to the day job for many of them.

So the challenge is now to keep as much of this new traffic as possible by learning from my success and producing wonderful, charming, witty, informative, identifiable and just goddamn sexy posts from now on.

To Those Who Are About to Sphinn, I Salute You

And now, to the promised roll-call of all those who Sphinned my article. Not only have I linked to each of you, but I've tried as much as possible to visit and add a couple of lines regarding each and every one. Don't just skip through the list looking for your own link. Take this opportunity to discover some new blogs for your feeds. Some of these blogs are old and established but some are very new and just as deserving of traffic. I certainly have added many new blogs to my feed and will be revisiting regularly. Support each other and maybe more of you can share in the success of this experiment.

	Avatar	Sphinn Profile	Blog	Why You Should Read Them
1.		sillyservant	No link	The first to Sphinn. Thanks. As you have no link on your profile, if you have a site you would like me to link to, send me an email and I'll update the post.
2.		SEPTom	Search Engine People	If you don't already know this blog, you should. Featuring some of the most familiar faces of Sphinn, this blog serves as a snapshot of what's hot in online marketing land.
3.		pandemiclabs	Pandemic Labs Blog	Pandemiclabs is focussed on viral marketing and modern social networking trends for their clients.
4.		TheNanny612	Social Desire	Ah, Nanny. Thanks for the kind words and support. Everyone needs a nanny and everyone should be visiting your excellent blog.If any of you aren't already familiar with Shana, do so as she typifies the best of SEO blogging.
5.		qwerty	Qwerty's Qoncepts	Qwerty is quirky. Covering every possible topic you can think of, and a few others besides, whilst being informative and interesting, there is a tongue-in-cheek sense of fun that makes his blog great reading.
6.		SearchBuzz	Tech-Tips	Now this guy knows how to build a blog! with tailored graphics for every post, wonderfully designed layout and informative toics, this is a blog that should be on everyone's feed. I'm envious.
7.		JohnWeb	JLH Design	The blog of JLH Design, is a blog that doesn't want to be pinned down - and that's a good thing. Web design, search engine marketing, football, they all come up.
8.		swags2804	Essence SEO	A very well laid out SEO blog with some grat linkbaiting posts. The post 'John Lennon Imagined Social Media' is just inspired.
9.		dannysullivan	Search Engine Land	The renowned and essential Search Engine Land should require no introduction to any of you, but in case you live under a rock, subscribe today.
10.		toddmintz	SEM pdx	Ooh, a regional SEM blog. Semportland.com is "The blog of the Portland SEM community". If I were to build a regional SEM blog here in Sydney, Australia, it would probably last a week. I assume you don't need to move town to subscribe. ;-)
11.		northrock	North Rock Publishing	Another regional blog - this time catering to online businesses in Minnesota.
12.		Aviva	Aviva Directory	A paid online directory.
13.		urbanwrit	No link	Thanks for your Sphinn Urbanwrit. As you have no link on your profile, if you have a site you would like me to link to, send me an email and I'll update the post.
14.		floppy	Lobo Links Blog	Now this is good blogging. Excellent layout. Plenty of eye candy. Informative posts. Applause.
15.		Halfdeck	Half's SEO Notebook	Oooh, a bit tough on the eyes there, and the language can be more... ummm... 'adult'. Using national rape statistics to put the paid link debate into context is a rather controversial approach....
16.		neyne	SEO Scientist	An updated link for Neyne. any blog that users Spider-man to depict Google spiders ranks highly in my book. Strong, useful posts too that don't just repeat the same old stuff. Subscribed.
17.		jeffquipp	Search Engine People	It's Search Engine People again with their second entry in the list. I am sure everyone recognises Jeff Quip as his face is almost always beaming out from the front page of Sphinn, so any blog with him as a contributor is worth watching.
18.		DoshDosh	Dosh Dosh	The undisputed King of Sphinn! With more hot submissions than any other, Maki reigns supreme. And if you think he's only good at posting other people's stuff, his is one of the best marketing blogs out there. I've been subscribed for a while so it was great to see him Sphinn on my post.
19.		SEO	No link	Thanks for your Sphinn SEO. As you have no link on your profile, if you have a site you would like me to link to, send me an email and I'll update the post.
20.		Sebastian	Sebastian's Pamphlets	Sebastian has two blogs, but rather than link to his Google 'day-job', I think it's more fun to give the link love to his own personal blog. It's also funnier too!
21.		seobrien	Zvents	This blog was a nice surprise. Not an SEO blog but an events listing, but with some interesting articles showing what can be done by a savvy webmaster to turn a simple site into one that attracts lots of traffic.
22.		Lodispoto	Earth Frisk Blog	I liked this blog a lot. Humorous, long posts that are also highly infomrative. You're ticking all the right boxes for me, Lodispoto. Go on - subscribe to him now!
23.		SpostareDuro	Learning SEO Basics	A great blog for SEO newbies. Kimberley posts fantastic readable posts that even the novice can understand. If someone you know doesn't understand what you do, point them here.
24.		SamFreedom	Controversial Marketing	As Sam freedom uses the Uncle Sam superhero comic character as his icon, I have to like him. But his blog is even better still. Refreshingly original, entertaining and useful. I'm sure you've seen Sam around, so check out his blog. PLUS, his comments do NOT have nofollow tags, meaning commenting on his blog can benefit yours.
25.		davnoel	No link	Thanks for your Sphinn Davnoel. As you have no link on your profile, if you have a site you would like me to link to, send me an email and I'll update the post.
26.		Armstrong	No link	Thanks for your Sphinn Armstrong. As you have no link on your profile, if you have a site you would like me to link to, send me an email and I'll update the post.
27.		thinkingserious	Thinking Serious	Thinkingserious' personal blog allows him to discuss all his SEM ideas away from his work website. I love these blogs where people share their personal experiences from working in the industry. Personal blogs belonging to professionals can sometimes contain those little nuggets of inspiration that would never find an outlet on the employers site.
28.		GuardianAngel	What Parents Should Realize	For all of us parents, Guardian Angel understands the challenges!
29.		planetc1	Chiropractic Blogs	Ouch! A back cruncher! This chiropractic blog passes on website tips, including SEO ideas, to the chiropractic community.
30.		TimDineen	Exposure Online	Another Sphinn top name who knows this game inside out.
31.		SEMSpot	Search Engine Marketing Spot	A well though out blog with strong pieces of relevance to all of us. Some great posts here. I'm subscribed!
32.		Tinu	Free Traffic Tips	This blog knows the value of a great headline! some fantastic posts here.
33.		EmperorAnton	PixelHead Online	And the prize for the best header bar image goes to...
34.		ColinCochrane	Colin Cochrane	Another personal blog of a professional, allowing Colin to speak his own mind on everything from SEO, to CSS tips to industry practices. Also notable for it's unique layout. It looks great.
35.		deezin	No link	Thanks for your Sphinn Deezin. As you have no link on your profile, if you have a site you would like me to link to, send me an email and I'll update the post.
36.		mban23	No link	Thanks for your Sphinn Mban23. As you have no link on your profile, if you have a site you would like me to link to, send me an email and I'll update the post.
37.		jennosborne	Search Engine People	Yet another of the Search Engine People brigade.
38.		sphinndr	Vizergy	Now I really liked this blog. Vizergy contains posts about things you don't see elsewhere. Great reading.
39.		rotatedspectrum	No link	Thanks for your Sphinn Rotatedspectrum. As you have no link on your profile, if you have a site you would like me to link to, send me an email and I'll update the post.
40.		bhartzer	Bill Hartzer	A wide ranging and cleverly written blog with plenty of research making it a valuable resource. Consider me subscribed!
41.		tiddlytwinks	Tellin' It Like It Is	A relationships blog that also avoids nofollow tags on comments. Very nice layout, a very enjoyable blog. Highly recommended.
42.		dailymoolah	Daily Moolah	An effective, attractive blog that caters for new users as well as seasoned pros.
43.		theuserpool	The User Pool	A hilarious blog of corporate excess! Anyone who has ever worked in an office will relate!
44.		seowoman	SEO woman	More than just an odd sounding superhero, seowoman writes an effective blog with some pretty unique posts! Subscribe! I did.
45.		dlbrown06	Informative Post	A brand spanking new blog, still within the first few posts. It needs link love and support. I believe Douglas is hoping to set up his blog as a pay-per-blog service, so it will be interesting to see how he goes about this.
46.		BrettFromTibet	Copybrighter	Seo observations from someone who has better holidays than I do judging by the photos! Plus he also blogs about environmental issues so there are some unique perspectives to be had here.
47.		SeoDesignSolutions	SEO Design Solutions	Love the design. Love the structure. Love the post topics. Read this blog. There - you've been told!
48.		patrickaltoft	Blogstorm	Wow! I've been a fan of Blogstorm for a long time. And now I've received a Sphinn from Patrick himself! Honoured. Made my day. Seriously. You guys should all be fans too. Along with Copyblogger, Blogstorm is an essential read when I switch on my pc every morning.
49.		DaveDavis	Red Fly Marketing	Ooooh, slick. Gorgeous looking blog layout for Red Fly Marketing housing some strong business blogposts covering all aspects of online marketing. Professional stuff and definitely worth adding to your daily feed routine.
50.		yeepage	Yeepage	Last but not least, the Fiftieth Sphinner (other than myself) to sphinn myself, making this a wonderful round number. I am already subscribed to this blog (great to see so many blogs I'm already reading on this list) for the clever posts providing useful information and links for the jobbing blogger.