How to power up your blog with Word Of Mouth Marketing (WOMM)?

In one of my earlier posts, I’ve discussed about Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM). It is a wonderful, free kind of marketing that works wonders.

And unlike the traditional and commercial marketing strategies, WOMM will help build a fan base. It will not just earn you “visitors” – it will earn you loyal, repeat readers, customers, and fans.

Which is why I see WOMM as an effective marketing strategy and it is free too.

Since my last blog post I’ve got lots of emails asking how to get WOMM for a blog. Here’s a sample question (slightly reworded for conciseness).

Hi Jane,

I read your post about word of mouth marketing and loved it. I came to know about this wonderful WOMM thing. I’ve understood its importance. But I am bit confused about how to get it for my blog.

I would absolutely love to have people talk about me and my business. But how do I make that happen? What are the things I should do to make people talk about my business? How do I create that impact?

In short, how can I get word of mouth marketing to work for my blog?

Well I have already written a post that explains how to make WOMM to work for you. But in this post, I would like to touch even deeper aspects on this topic.

So in a practical sense, how to get WOMM for your blog?

Be worthy of word of mouth marketing

You know what? – Word of mouth marketing just doesn’t work for everyone. It just doesn’t happen.

It happens though, if you are worthy of it. Which is why I said that it doesn’t happen for everyone.

People won’t talk about anyone. Will you talk to your friends and family about someone or something if that thing is not worthy of talking?

People only talk about stuff that deserves to be talked about – either in a good way or a bad way.

You could make a good impression or a bad impression – and both will make people talking about it.

So you have to be very careful here. In fact, to be very honest, the bad impression spreads a lot quicker than good impression – just like wild fire.

But if you are not at all worthy of talking, how can you expect your readers to talk about your business?

So how can you be “worthy” of WOMM and actually get it for your blog?

Let’s see some practical things you could do.

Give and you shall receive

When you “give”, your potential customers/readers are benefited a lot. By giving I mean giving your best and giving it all.

So I now hear you asking, should I just give everything away for free on my blog? Then what is the use of WOMM?

Even if people talk about me I am already operating as a charity store and in my business, people get everything for free!

I hear you!

There is a line behind which you should store your precious stuff. Or stuff that is packaged in a convenient way for your customers.

But when it comes to making your customers happy, you have to make sure you do your best to give as much as possible without holding back.

So how can you implement this on your blog right away?

Freebies are the starting point! Yup, you can give a lot to your customers in the form of freebies.

Free e-books, courses, white papers, whatever! And here’s the most important point about freebies –

Just because it is a freebie, you should not be tempted to create it with less sincerity and in poor quality.

Remember, your aim here is to make people talk about you.

Put yourselves in the shoes of a reader who is eagerly downloading your freebie.

If he/she comes across a crappy pdf, created without sincerity and created for the sake of putting up a freebie, do you think he/she will spread the word?

Instead of providing a simple e-book (and I am NOT against providing high quality e-books), I have an e-book and a free course.

Even if you don’t offer 2 freebies like me (or more) immediately, start with one and work your way up.

OK a freebie is just one example for “giving”. What else could you give?

Give your time and knowledge away free in the form of an insightful blog comment!

Here’s an example comment left by Susan

Not just with freebies and blog comments, you can prove yourself useful and give generously via guest blog posts, discussions in social media, helping out people in blogging communities (like DoSplash), and also in email.

Yes, instead of only broadcasting your new blog post to your subscribers, you should also send them high value newsletter pieces in the mix.

And if a new blogger approaches you for help, share what you can to help them.

When people get an experience, they talk about it

I usually remember places based on the experience I get there. Be it vacation, or a casual road trip, or a visit to a coffee shop, the experience I get there helps me remember the bits and pieces.

After years, if I get to talk about those places, I talk about what I experienced there. I am sure you are no different.

If you visit a resort or a restaurant and if you get to talk about it years later you will remember the experiences you got there, right? And talk about it!

The same is the case with your blog. If you make people experience great things, they will be excited to talk about you even if it is years later.

So how can you make your visitors experience great things in your blog?

First of all, the look and feel of your blog should be welcoming enough. Because even before reading your content, your visitors will first encounter your site’s design – the look and feel.

They will be greeted by those colors; the clean layout if you have one, and so on.

Here’s a handy Slideshare presentation that talks more about this in detail:

And I don’t have to say that you should take clutter off your site totally.

Given that there is too much distraction online already, and given that there are loads of websites on any given topic under the sun, if your website is cluttered, it is so unwelcoming to your readers.

The next thing they will be doing is exit your website. Case closed.

If you want to know what kind of clutter you should remove, this post will help you get started > 5 Things you should remove from your website right now!

Moving on, the look and feel alone don’t contribute to creating and experience. Your content matters a lot! And I am sure you know about it.

Your expertise counts in word of mouth marketing

Now, if you are a newbie blogger you should not be taken aback by the word expertise. And it doesn’t mean people won’t talk about newbie bloggers.

If you are rocking in the blogging business, people will surely talk about you.

But expertise is something different and it does relate to how long you have been in the business.

You cannot be an expert in something that you have just started yourself.

Or chances are you ARE an expert in this field and are starting this business just now.

For people to talk about you, you have to be an expert in the field.

You don’t have to get discouraged if you are totally new. Just understand the importance of  being an expert and quickly develop your expertise.

Keep up with the industry news. Devote time to read other blogs in your niche and also subscribe to news/updates in your field.

If it is a skill that you need to become an expert at, practice, practice, practice and keep learning new things.

For instance, with writing (if you are a freelance writing), coding (if you are a web designer or developer), and with being a technical expert if you are helping clients with WordPress or other CMS systems, you need a lot of practice and a lot of learning and keeping up.

These are just a few examples and the same applies in any field.

OK, so now you are an expert but how do people know that? Well, your expertise should reflect in whatever you do with your business.

Your blog’s content and any content you put out should reflect your expertise.

This includes newsletter content, the content on your freebies, social media updates, blog comments and much more.

Anything you write in public should show people that you are an expert in the field.

Go get word of mouth marketing to work for your blog

Blogging is already a tedious thing and on top of it, if you have to do the other time consuming stuff, it gets overwhelming.

But things like marketing are totally necessary for your blog’s growth. So you cannot avoid doing them.

Here’s where word of mouth marketing comes into picture.

Instead of doing it all by by yourself, you could get the others do it for you, for free. You just have to set some basics right and do some stuff right. That’s it.

In this post I’ve given you some practical tips to help you achieve the same.

Re-read the post, if you have to. And implement the tips in this post. I hope you get ample word of mouth marketing for your blog!