inbound-marketing

46Inbound MarketingYou can choose from many RSS readers, but we recommendGoogle Reader. It’s free, and completely web-based,so there’s nothing to download. To sign up, go to http://google.com/reader. When a new article becomes availablefor a blog that you subscribe to, that blog will be highlightedin bold in your reader. An RSS reader works likea parallel e-mail inbox in that it fills with articles of interestfrom your favorite authors as soon as they becomeavailable.Subscribe to Relevant Industry BlogsGo to Google’s blog search engine and type in the phrase oracronym that best describes your industry. Start clicking onthe ones that sound interesting and subscribe to them withyour RSS reader.If only a few blogs exist for your industry, subscribe to allof them. If you find thousands, then use website.grader.comto determine which blogs have mojo and which do not. Ahigh Website Grade (e.g., >90) means the blogger has lotsof followers and high authority, so engaging on this blog willget you more leverage than engaging with a lesser-knownblogger. Think about this process as though you were a lionhunting for elephants (customers). You want to hang aroundthe watering hole (blog) where the most elephants come todrink and bathe.Contribute to the ConversationNow that you have subscribed to the relevant, authoritativeblogs in your industry, make reading them a standard part ofyour daily regimen. Every morning when you get your cupof coffee, open your RSS reader for 20 minutes while you