Becoming an Internet Celebrity Erin Blaskie WordCamp Chicago

Notes taken during Erin Blaskie’s WordCamp Chicago presentation.

Read all of my WordCamp Chicago coverage on Wired PR Works or #wcchicago by @wiredprworks.

Lightly edited – check out twitter for more #wcchicago coverage.

Erin sat next to me – what a lovely and lively young lady! In her presentation, she talked about two sites:

Business Site: ErinBlaskie.com

Alter Ego: ErinGames.com

Becoming an Internet Celebrity by Erin Blaskie

As you maintain relevancy and gain further exposure in the market, your reach will expand further than you ever dreamed.

Internet celebrity is interchangeable with industry expert, industry leader, guru, go to person.

It’s all about the know, like and trust factor – Michael Port.

Once you have credibility online, you can sell anything.

Erin Games uses WP, social media and a World of Warcraft membership.  In about four months, the Erin Games brand had 9.000 channel views on YouTube and 500 YouTube subscribers. Erin got a clothing sponsorship with jinx.com. The site uses Brian Gardner’s Church theme and now ranks at 279,000 in US sites according to Alexa. Erin’s been invited to EA’s offices.

How did this happen? [or how can you, too make this happen?]

– Chose a specific target market that you have knowledge and passion for

– Began pushing content,videos, and most importantly, personality, out to the mainstream community via WordPress and other tools – biggest mistake bloggers make is not putting in enough personality

– Being “cute” was her “little” thing – some people have humor, brilliance, etc

– Partnered with sites that were bigger

– Did live “come & meet me” broadcasts using ustream.tv [first broadcast had 70 viewers]

How Internet Celebritism Applies to You

Expert status for “guru sites”

Check into target markets you may not have explored yet: advertising, YouTube partnerships, etc.

Create buzz and appeal from your market thus increasing sales, visibility, and market appeal

Selling socially works

New promotional opportunities open up that didn’t exist before: media interviews, possible inclusion in books and other written materials, etc.

People will seek you out when you give them reason to – the reason should be YOU and that authentic part of you

Erin’s sites . . .

www.bsetc.ca

www.thevacoach.com

www.learnaboutonlinebusiness.com

Utilize tools and stay current

Generate a long-term following

When you’re leading, you’re doing what you want to do and the money is coming.

Would you want to work with someone who is known or not known at all?

When you blog, blog in your voice so people get to learn about YOU, not just your company or your chosen topic. People that keep coming back appreciate what you’re doing.

Simple Tools to Get Started

Video: about your content area

Social networking: don’t get on and blog about your breakfast, bog content specific things that keep people interested and excited

Blog different mediums: video,

Interweave your efforts, tweet about blog posts, turn posts into articles, turn videos into blogs

Live streaming video: sessions where people can come and ask you questions

Guest bloggers: want tons of great content? invite guest bloggers

Interaction and interactivity: get your community involved through contests, etc.

Get out of your bubble to see what’s “hot”

Who’s your favorite Internet celebrity? Why?

[P.S. My boys and their buddies were very impressed that I got to sit next to someone who blogs about World of Warcraft.]