(Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes)
Are you hearing a lot about “building outposts?” I am too. Outposts are places where you can establish a brand presence that more or less runs on autopilot. Any publishing venue lending itself to 1. visibility (otherwise why bother if people won’t find it); and 2. fire-and-forget publishing is a great candidate for building an outpost. Outposts are important for three reasons:
- Backlinks: even if nofollow linking is used, you still have another link pointing into your material.
- Advertisement: reinforce your brand or reputation.
- Exposure: not everyone uses the same platforms for the same reasons, and each outpost will have a certain culture associated with it.
However, there’s not a lot of specific, actionable information on building outposts. For example, I seem to run across a of explanations looking about like this:
- J. Random Blogger #1:
“You need to build outposts!”
- Semi-Famous Blogger #2:
“You need to build outposts!”
- Famous Blogger #3.141592:
“You need to build outposts!”
- Pro Blogger #13 ½:
“You need to build outposts!”
David Doolin (that’s me!) from Website In A Weekend:
Build an outpost with Amplify. Highlight specific points in your article for publication into your Amplify stream, allowing readers to quickly scan over important points and click through your backlink for more information. Here’s exactly how you do that.
Build an outpost with Amplify
Here’s how to get started:
- Get yourself on over to Amplify and get an account.
- Connect up with my Amp Log Dave Doolin – Polymath
- Install the Amplify toolbar. Click the “Install” link to find the toolbar installation page:
Install the Amplify Toolbar Icon.
You should now have the Amplify icon in your browser toolbar:
Amplify icon installed on toolbar
Now you’re ready to Amplify. Find a blog post you really like. I’m going to use Road Ahead – David Risley got me to spill the beans. Here’s the quick step-by-step:
- Click on the Amplify icon in your browser toolbar. This brings up the Amplify toolbar.
- Select what you would like to “Amplify.”
- Click on “Amplify Selection” on the toolbar. You will be directed to the Amplify website.
- Add title, tags, category and explanatory text.
- Save your Amplified post.
- Congratulations! You have a brand new outpost!
Here’s what it looks like:
The final result on Amplify: Extracts from Website In A Weekend’s road map.
Execute now
Website In A Weekend is positively riddled with information you can put to profitable use, right now.
It won’t always be so. Long time readers will tell you I’ve started moving content behind the paywall. Right now it’s free, sign up for the newsletter, you get grandfathered in when I set Website In A Weekend up as a membership site.
There will still be a stunning amount of content out here “in the wild” but articles like this one on Amplify will increasingly be served exclusively to customers and clients. That’s only fair to them.
Signing up is easy, use the “Mad Lib” form below, or the form in the upper right corner of the sidebar.
We’ll see you inside!
Folks, there’s more. This example shows two-dimensional linking. People following me closely know I’m linking multi-dimensionally.
I haven’t decided where, when or how I want to present multi-dimensional linking. Or why. =)
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Hostest With the Mostest – Being a good neighbor on shared hosting =-.
Which is?
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..How to use Lifestyle Design. =-.
So? What does my outpost do for me? I blindly follow the advice of my betters and the result is?
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..How to use Lifestyle Design. =-.
Ralph, very good point, and I’ll add these to the article for motivation:
1. Backlinks
2. Advertisement
3. Exposure to new audience
This business you’re in, it’s a Red Queen problem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Queen
The race is won by those who fall behind the least.
Recall I didn’t set any major, specific goals this year. I knew the iPad was coming out, wanted the flexibility to switch gears. Facebook’s announcement yesterday drove it home: I’ll be spending all weekend learning the Facebook API. (Which I have here-to-fore avoided learning.)
The payoff is not just survival, it’s market dominance. Unfortunately, there is (yet) little in between market dominance and death. =) But that will change as the ecosystem stabilizes.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Web Site Infrastructure — Required posts and pages for your WordPress blog =-.
I’m in.
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..How to use Lifestyle Design. =-.
So…
Another to add to the list with Posterous and Tumblr?
Am I missing something?
What is step 5?!?
.-= Sean *Deacon* Neprud´s last blog ..Dispatch: Coloring Ductwork And Understanding Problems =-.
What step 5? =)
So I am already supposed to be using Posterous and Tunblr? How about PRE posterous?
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..The Opinion of Others – John Wooden =-.
You would laugh if you knew how I usually am when you heard me say I am less concerned with automated traffic than with real connections. If you think about it, they will bring some new folks in but if you made the most of every Outpost “out there” you’d never have time to sped the money you make off your blog. Thanks for the post through I have it earmarked for when I have more time to try Amplify.
I really liked corresponding with Eric and Dave, the founders of Amplify. They are both really engaging and both use Amplify daily.
It makes such a difference.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..On Literary Pranks & Other Forms of Gentle Mischief =-.
Damien, I agree – *time* is the big thing for me too. I say “when i have more time” far too often. It’s just so damn hard to keep up with all the things I know I should be using, but don’t have the time for.
.-= Josh Kohlbach´s last blog ..How Are You Adding Value? =-.
This tool look good. It give us another way to create resourceful article. I must say thanks for this.
.-= Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..Download EVEREST Ultimate & Corporate Edition with free product key =-.
Where is your “like” button:) Anyway, this is a great post and one that I think the creators of Amplify will like very much. I have been using Amplify for a while now, along with Clipmarks, and it has been a wondeful experience. Like you said everything is done within a matter of seconds and I totally recommend it’s use as well. BTW, you are already my source. Amplifying this post right now.
.-= DiTesco´s last blog ..Google Releases Best SEO Tips Ever =-.
DiTesco, I could drag that whole Facebook crew out behind the woodshed for a piece of my mind. I’m feeling pretty well forced by it, and I don’t like. It’s a game I have to play… simply because everyone else is playing it.
There’s all this gas about privacy. I don’t believe a word of it.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Hostest With the Mostest – Being a good neighbor on shared hosting =-.
I think I like this one. Just went and signed up, very easy to use – and even beautiful in its simplicity.
*cough* Not that I’m a fan of usability or anything you understand.
Tumblr is an *excellent* place to build a stream of screenshots and infographics:
http://doolin.tumblr.com/
These tools are _very_ lightweight, you can upload, annotate, tag and categorize in a minutes. Sometimes, seconds.
Just had a look, will need to think about this properly. Its a great tool, but I’d have to alter things just slightly to make effective use of it – do believe I have a plan though.
Thanks
Hi Dave
Never heard of Amplify or building outposts and I’m still not totally sure what the benefits are!
Need to read this post a couple of times and take another look at your video.
BTW – super video with ultra clear sound.
.-= Keith Davis´s last blog ..Flying in formation =-.
Keith, two main benefits are 1. broadening your audience, and 2. building more backlinks.
Video: Everyone says the equipment doesn’t matter… I say it does. However, good equipment isn’t expensive, I spent about $175 for mixer, mic, stand and cables. I think it was worth it.
Dave Doolin´s last post ..5 Tips for Social Media Efficiency
Dave, thanks for this excellent tool! I love it, and it will make life much simpler for me once I’ve enabled the other outposts e.g. Tumblr.
I’ve had BPE for a while but only yesterday knuckled down to putting it to work, and this was one thing I decided to set up immediately.
For Keith: the #1 benefit I can see is that with a few sentences I can send out a link to one specific post using just one application. I don’t have to go to Twitter, to Facebook, to FriendFeed etc. and copy the sentence out each time. One click in Amplfy will do the lot! This alone makes building your own backlinks 100 times easier.
Ryah | Information Junkies Anonymous´s last post ..The Healthy Information Junkie
Ryah, there’s a lot in BPE to be sure. I’m releasing 0.7.3 with a whole new chapter on Tuesday August 26, 2010: “Repurposing.” Don’t try to do everything everything for every post. You’ll go mad!
Dave Doolin´s last post ..How to be a six-brained blogger