“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” – Alice
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” – Cheshire Cat
“I don’t much care where …” – Alice
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” – Cheshire Cat

Is most of what you’re doing online pointless?

I had the incredible opportunity to join several of my close friends on a group phone call today. We talked about online marketing strategy and the difference between building a blog/website and building a business.

There was a special synergy that brought at least one of the participants to tears (in a good way).

That call got me thinking about the relative pointlessness or meaningfulness of each marketing activity I do online to promote my consulting business.

How can I help you?

That’s it. I just want you to tell me what I, Easton Ellsworth, could do for you. And I promise to do my best to do it.

I’d especially love it if you told me your burning desires related to blogging and social media, of course. But I’ve left my question open-ended so if you really just want me to fix your toilet or sing you a song, I suppose that works, too.

Three randomly selected people who answer the question above by midnight U.S. Eastern time at the end of Friday, January 9 will win a free blog consulting package worth $250 USD including:

• A free 130-point blog inspection in which I scour every inch of your blog for possible areas of improvement and give you my best recommendations (PDF format, $125 value)
• A video screencast in which I visit your blog and give you advice on how to improve your blog ($50 value)
• A free 30-minute blog consultation by phone with me in which we’ll go over your inspection and screencast and talk about a winning strategy for your blog ($75 value)

Winners will receive everything in the prize package by the end of January 2009.

Yesterday I answered the question, “Where is your blog community?”

It’s in the mind.

But minds scatter online attention across vast fields of URLs.

Which is why, for example, it’s not uncommon for your Twitter account to sparkle while your blog gathers dust or vice versa.

It’s not enough to just get more “friends” or “followers” or commenters in a dozen different places.

You’ve gotta unify the fragments and make each community member aware of each of them. You’ve gotta bring together the logs so your bonfire can be much bigger and brighter and hotter than any smaller fire could be.

With that in mind, here are 8 ways to unify your blog community so that your blog and social media profiles work together (not just apart) for your business.

2008 is almost over. 2009 is about to begin.

Have you considered your blog improvement plan for next year?

Here are 7 strategy-related questions you should ask yourself.

1. What will I accomplish with my blog in 2009?

Set a few goals for the next 12 months. I recommend having at least one clear, measurable goal for your blog’s overall performance, plus at least one goal each for the following areas:

1. Blog content improvement
2. Blog design improvement
3. Blog community improvement
4. Blog traffic improvement
5. Blog RSS feed / Atom feed / email subscribers improvement
6. Blog search engine optimization (SEO) improvement
7. Blog social media optimization (SMO) improvement
8. Blog monetization improvement
9. Blog value / return on investment (ROI) improvement

Which means you’ll have at least 9 area-specific goals plus at least one overall blog goal for next year.

Thank you for your support of the Visionary Blogging community.

Right now I’m cooking a blog consulting service called Iris (because it helps you focus, just like the irises in your eyes).

Iris will be (I hope) the best way to get expert blogging advice and improve your blog fast anywhere on the Web. It will be totally unique from all the other fine blog consulting services available online.

I’ve just published a 130-point Blog Improvement Checklist to help you evaluate and improve your blog in nine key areas, including:

1. Blog content improvement
2. Blog design improvement
3. Blog community improvement
4. Blog traffic improvement
5. Blog RSS feed / Atom feed / email subscribers improvement
6. Blog search engine optimization (SEO) improvement
7. Blog social media optimization (SMO) improvement
8. Blog monetization improvement
9. Blog value / return on investment (ROI) improvement

The checklist comes with a printer-friendly version (PDF), detailed instructions on how to rate your blog, and step-by-step instructions on how to create a personalized blog improvement plan to actually make it worth your time.

Check it out and let me know what you think!