As a rule, I generally don’t have book reviews here. I figure there are enough other bloggers that do a far better job than I could, so I pretty much leave the reviews to them.
Now and again, though, I’ll take a look at one that I feel is different enough and offers some solid advice for you, whether that be from a business angle; a social media angle; or – in this case – a blogging angle.
Of course, it helps when the author is someone I respect, and the topic is something that he can speak about with authority because he’s been there, done that.?Which is exactly what Tim Jahn offers with his new ebook, Use Interviews To Increase Your Blog Traffic.
Walking the Talk
Taking the success Tim’s found with his video interview series Beyond The Pedway, which he started back in 2009 and has seen more than 150 interviews since, Use Interviews To Increase Your Blog Traffic does exactly what it says on the book’s cover.
Prior to beginning Beyond The Pedway, Tim wrote a text-based blog (which still rates as one of my favourites today). Then he launched BTP and, within a few short months, saw his traffic increase by more than 650%. The reason? Simple – video interview = people-to-people = natural promotion.
As Tim shows in the ebook, people like to both be spoken about, and share where and when they’re spoken about. So video interviews are a win-win all round – but only when done properly.
Comfort Zones
Anyone can set up a video interview series. Video conferencing, Skype and other platforms make face-to-face time quick and painless. But as Tim shares in his ebook, there’s much more to successful interviewing than being able to split screens.
Tim offers solid advice on interviewing techniques; setting the scene; the right kind of research; and having the ability to make your interviewee feel as if they’re just having a chat with an old friend. Which, obviously, makes for a far better interview.
Having been interviewed by Tim myself a couple of months back, I can attest to his approach – he definitely knows his stuff, and makes sure that each interview not only gets your story across, but has the flexibility to wander into other areas that might be of interest to the viewer.
Knowing your subject; offering them the airtime they need; and researching their story to share the relevant parts to your audience; all these points and more are covered in Tim’s ebook, and make it a valuable resource for anyone either thinking about, or currently struggling with, an interview site or blog.
Tim also includes two bonus cheat sheets – one that includes 20 sample questions to get your interviewer groove on, and another that shares sample pitch emails to give you the best chance of snagging your chosen interviewee.
It’s a People Thing
As both Tim and David Siteman Garland show, video interviews are awesome ways to have a more interactive blog and share the stories of people that can help you get to where you want to be in your niche.
As Tim shows in his ebook, it’s also a great way to grow your own blog’s traffic into the bargain. Which is never a bad thing.
With actionable tips, great examples of what works and what doesn’t, as well as cheat sheets to help you stand out, Use Interviews To Increase Your Blog Traffic is a solid resource that anyone looking to run an interview blog should check out.
You can find more information on the ebook, and how to buy it – it’s a premium ebook, priced $19 -?here (non-affiliate link).
Look at the figure to the right, for instance, and you can see that one of the most popular search terms in the last 30 days has been for “social media facts”, or other keyword terms based around that.
For example, you can see by looking at the image on the right that there are two key pieces of information that stand out, that I could tailor into future posts:
