“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.

Your blog community is at your blog, right?

Duh. That was easy.

Wait a second. No, it’s just centered at your blog, but it has octopus legs at your Twitter account and at your Facebook page and at all your other social media accounts, right?

Um … or maybe your blogging community resides at all those places and in your email inbox and at the blogger conferences you attend? Maybe it’s everywhere?

Actually, it’s nowhere.

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.

The hardest thing about blog improvement is ____________.

Did you know you can use blog software to create an online magazine?

I recently asked artist Jason Dowd a few questions about The Expressionist, a just-launched blog magazine covering the art industry with a Tampa, Florida flair.

For whom is your blog?

Who writes the blog posts?

Who typically leaves comments?

Who’s the target reader? The target buyer?

Who your blog?

Why your blog? Why did you create it? Why your blog? Why is it special? Why your blog? Why did you choose the blog format? Can a new visitor tell me “why your blog” within 10 seconds? Can you? Why your blog?