You can write the most helpful, interesting content in the world and make no money from it if the content is not written with the bottom line objective in mind.
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Digital Marketing & Make Money Blogging Tips
Inspiration. Empowerment. Results.
5 Reasons Why Your Blog Will [DEFINITELY] Fail – Here’s How to Stop It!
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Today, I’m featuring a guest post from a great friend, Theodore Nwangene. Though I’ve not accepted guest posts on this blog for some time, Theodore is one blogger that knows his acts. Check out his bio at the end of the post to connect with him.
Alright Theodore, over to you…!]
Hey Chadrack, thanks for this opportunity. Having been online for the past 8 years I’m really concerned that many bloggers are still struggling with their blogs.
In this post I want to share a few tips I hope will help new bloggers avoid this struggle. So, thanks again for the opportunity to use your platform.
Ok friend, maybe you’ve just launched a new blog and you’re eager to see the cash rolling in. Of course, you’ve seen your friends gaining massive influence, and making loads of money with their blog, and you can’t wait to be counted among the super successful bloggers.
Now, what next?
You want to start applying all the expert tips to building a successful blog – flooding your blog with content, promoting your content on social media, commenting on other blogs, writing guest posts for other blogs, etc.
You certainly don’t want to leave any stone unturned.
But before you start doing all of these, I want you to pay attention to me first, let me tell you a very important that will prevent you from taking the wrong steps thereby bringing your blog to its knee.
Yes, I know that no one is immune to making mistakes however; being aware can help prevent them from occurring.
In this post, I will share with you the 5 of the dangerous mistakes most new and intermediate bloggers usually make while starting their blog. Avoiding these mistakes will immensely contribute to the growth and development of your blog.
Let’s get started.
1. Writing for Yourself Instead of Your Audience
Are you kidding me? I never knew you’re such a popular figure. You’re probably a celebrity if not; you must quit making your posts about yourself.
Here’s the truth: Your readers don’t give a sh*t about you unless if it will help them in one way or another.
As a content marketer, you must inform, inspire, educate, and guide your readers whenever necessary.
However, writing about your personal experiences once awhile is good because it will add some personality in your writing but it certainly must benefit your readers in a way.
2. You Want to Please Everyone
I totally understood your desire to touch as many lives as possible via your amazing content, but I’m sorry to inform you that such idea emanated from Hell.
You can’t possibly appeal to everyone, and a lot of bloggers don’t know this. The one critical thing that will ultimately determine the success or failure of your website is
how targeted your topics are.
Immediately you start writing for everyone; your content will become disengaging and annoying because your blog will lose its main scope.
However, you should instead, lesser-focus more on your core values. Channel your content solely on your select audience and forget about the others.
In the end, this will help to build up your expertise in your industry and will ensure you don’t fill your site with myriad topics.
3. You Don’t Know Your Target Audience
This is one of deadliest mistakes I see among bloggers, especially the new ones. You may understand your topic pretty well but if you don’t know who your audience is, it will display in everything you do on your site, and this will even
tually bring about your failure.
For you to build a solid blogging business, you will need to connect with your target audience on a deeper level. This will help you to serve them better and give th
em exactly what they need.
For example, how are you going to feel when you have a mentor who always tries to teach you how to count and write figures 123……..100 when you’re already very good at that?
I know how boring it can be to attend such class, and if care is not taken, you might eventually st
op attending his class.
The same thing happens when your mentor tries to teach you Calculus when you barely understand simple arithmetic.
Funny enough, this equally applies to blogging.
For you to make it, you need to fully understand your reader’s pain-points and then meet them right at the point of their needs – you have to know what level they are currently at on the topic you’re teaching them.
Without knowing all these things, your tips will either become too advanced or too basic for them, and this will end up scaring them away.
4. You’re using a Crappy Web Host
I can’t possibly stress much on the importance of choosing a reputable and reliable hosting company when starting your site.
It is often tempting to use any of the cheap and crappy ones out there, but unfortunately, that will eventually drive you out of business.
For instance, when I started my first site back in 2011, I made a mistake of choosing a cheap web host because I concluded that I couldn’t afford a quality web host.
Wondering what happened next?
Just as you guessed, I never knew the hosting company was insecure as a result; my blog got hacked up to 3 consecutive times until I finally left that domain name. This really frustrated the hell out of me, and if not for the fact that I’m highly committed to blogging, I would have called it a quit.
Here’s the truth…
…Getting a quality host can indeed be pricey, but in the end, it will be well worth it because it will save you from a lot of headaches.
Therefore, stay away from those low-quality web hosts as they will do you more harm than good.
5. You’re Not Consistent
One of the secrets of successful blogging is being super consistent. This is very important for the growth of any blog.
Yes, I’ve been advocating recently that you shouldn’t focus all your efforts posting daily as most gurus advised. This is because it may eventually start affecting the quality of your articles.
As far as content marketing is concerned, quality often trumps quantity. But, it is also advisable to have and maintain a publishing routine. Can you manage publishing once/week, twice, or even five times/week?
This is entirely up to you.
Once you’ve concluded on the right times and days you want to be publishing, you need to stick to it. What matters most, however, is for you always to ensure your content is of higher quality.
You need to understand that maintaining a publishing schedule is not about “Let’s just throw up some junk post because I’m committed to publishing 3 times per week”. This will ultimately affect your readership.
Writing 2 quality contents per week will obviously be well received by your audience than writing 7 low-quality, mediocre content per week. So, choose quality.
Conclusion
Blogging is indeed a tedious task, but not as hard as people made it. Once you understand the basics of blogging and avoid the mistakes mentioned in this post, you will never have any problem becoming the next pro blogger.
You need to:
1. Write for your audience, not for yourself
2. Stop pleasing everyone
3. Know who your target audiences are
4. Get a quality web host
5. Create a blogging schedule you’re sure to maintain, and always focus on quality
With all these tips, you won’t have any problem to make your blog a massive success.
How to Succeed with Inbound Marketing in 5 Easy Steps!
Do you do inbound marketinging? If so, do you really understanding what inbound #marketing is all about?
Indeed, in the recent past incound marketingas a marketing word has become a buzz among internet marketers and, especially bloggers. Corned by the good folks at HubSpot.com the term has become for many, the internet marketing magic wand you need to succeed widely on the net!
Of course, I wouldn’t doubt that. However, it’s rather unfortunate that of those talking, only a few really know what inbound marketing is. On various occasions I have heard many of these self proclaimed ‘#content marketing experts’ refer to #content marketing as one and the same as inbound marketing!
Of course, the two terms can definitely be used interchangeably but, is inbound marketing all about content marketing?
Can simply creating and distributing content online with the mind of selling a product or service be referred to as an inbound marketing?
In this blog article, I aim to clear some of the misconceptions about inbound marketing. If you are considering marketing your #business online using inbound marketing or you are somehow already doing so, the following information will help you better understand and effectively implement this marketing strategy that is taking the internet by storm!
Now, I must say that ever before HubSpot came about the word “inbound marketing” and many online marketers jumped at the it, I have been working with the concept of inbound marketing. This is because right from my early days on the net I read a book, “The Affiliate Marketing Masters” that laid out this concept despite the fact that it never called it that.
But the foundational knowledge I got from that ebook has always formed the basis of my marketing strategy. The concept is based on the fact that people go online not to be sold to but to get information. As a marketer therefore, all you need to do is to position your brand, product or service as the go-to expert for the needed information. By so doing, you would be attracting the right prospects and #customers instead of chasing them!
This is why inbound marketing is also referred to as “pull marketing” as opposed to the traditional “push marketing”!
With that being said, et’s have a working definition of the term “inbound marketing”.
What Really Is Inbound Marketing?
Here’s what Wikipedia.com has to say about inbound marekting:
“Inbound marketing is the promotion of a company or other organization through blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, newsletters, whitepapers, #SEO, physical products, #social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing which serve to attract customers through the different stages of the purchase funnel.”
And HubSpot.com, the people generally accepted as corning the term “inbound marketing”, has this to say:
“Inbound marketing is about using marketing to bring potential customers to you, rather than having your marketing efforts fight for their attention. Sharing is caring and inbound marketing is about creating and sharing content with the world. By creating content specifically designed to appeal to your dream customers, inbound attracts qualified prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more.”
Simply put, inbound marketing is a general term for different marketing techniques that are combined into an overall marketing plan to produce outstanding results.
Now, the key to understanding this definition is the word COMBINED. You must understand that these techniques are “combined” not “strung” together.
Before now, marketers using what is now referred to as outbound marketing, adopted fragmented techniques like print advertising, internet advertising, PR, cold calling, etc. in an attempt to boost sales.
The intent then was to reach as many prospects as possible. It doesn’t matter to the outbound marketer if the prospect needed that product or service at that very moment. It was simply about pushing out different marketing messages with the mind of seeing which one would stick!
Now, that strategy was nothing but the old “foot-in-the-door sales technique” when you go knocking on doors and ‘forcing’ yourself into the homes of prospective clients, trying to convince them of how wonderful your product is!
Recommended: Top 3 Reasons Why Content Marketing Will Fail You!
Indeed, outbound marketing was nothing but a hit and miss affair!
Inbound marketing, on the other hand, puts the focus on the prospect/customer instead of your product, service or company. Instead of using some clever hard sell tactics to get the sale from the reluctant and indifferent prospects or customers, you position yourself and make the business come to you.
How to Succeed with Inbound Marketing
To succeed with inbound marketing, there are certain fundametnal steps you need to take. If you understand this and follow through with these steps you can be sure of succeeding as an inbound marketer.
Here are the 5 simple steps to creating a successful inbound marekting strategy:
1. Listening
Every successful inbound marketing campaign begins with research. You need to know what the demand is and where it is coming from. Creating your inbound marketing content without any research is nothing but operating with the outbound marketing mindset.
You need to research what you competition is doing, what your prospects and customers need and what they are saying about you, your product or service.
The good thing is that you don’t have to look far as the internet has a lot to offer you about this research. You can use the search engines and keyword tools to know what your target audience are asking or looking for.
Social media sites come handy here also.
Now, whenever I hear anyone, SEO is dead while proclaiming to be an inbound marketer, I immediately know that that person have a wrong understanding of what inbound marketing is.
SEO is simply one of the old techniques that is necessary in inbound marketing. SEO helps you to produce the ‘right’ content that will help you attract the right prospect based on your research.
I do not just recommend understanding the basics of SEO as an inbound marketer because I am an SEO web content writer but because it is really the bedrock of creating the right content for your inbound marketing campaign.
2. Producing
As mentioned above, once you have listened and understood what your existing and prospective customers’ needs are from the conversations they are having online, your next move is to produce content that address those needs.
You should aim to be the go-to-resource by positioning yourself as a voice and authority in your industry. This way, prospective clients or customers will be attracted to you instead of you running after them.
It is important to note that creating quality and useful content that engages the attention of your prospects and customers is actually the most vital part of your inbound marketing strategy. It is what truly drives the inbound marketing wheel. This is why many see content marketing as one and the same as inbound marketing!
It is important therefore that as a business if you are hard up on time or you simply lack the in-house resources to create valuable web content, you mustn’t hesitate in hiring professional content writers since this will pay handsome dividend in the long run.
3. Engage
Inbound marketing is not a one-way traffic. It is not just about listening and producing quality content. That is nothing but ‘old school’ outbound marketing.
Working with what you know about your target audience in your research and using your content as a launching pad, you should move beyond that and aim to know them more ‘intimately’. Engage with them in order to gain their trust.
One effective way to do this is through social media. With social media you can spark a two-way conversation with your prospects/customers. Facebook is big right now. Take advantage of it.
There are tools that will help you set up keyword alerts to notify you of discussions about you and your product or service. One such service is Google alerts.
Email marketing is another old technique that you can use. Initiate the conversation on social media and then find a way of also getting them on your email list where you work on developing the relationship.
Recommended: The 3 Scientific Steps to Using Social Media for Online Selling!
You may also want to download my Facebook marketing guide. Click here to download!
4. Transform
The ultimate aim of marketing is actually the resultant sale. Prospects and website visitors need to be converted into leads while leads must be converted to customers.
Through your engagement and lead nurturing, you expertly move every prospect through the buying cycle and ensure that when they are ready to buy, you will definitely be the ultimate choice!
This demands creating more and different types of content focused on the different stages of the buying cycle. Work with your insights and interactions and create the right type of content required.
At this stage you definitely need an email management system to drive your engagement and lead nurturing. There’s no better way to do this than through and autoresponder like GetResponse.com.
5. Grooming
If you have been online for some time By now, you already know that things change easily and quickly online. This calls for a constant improvement of your inbound marketing strategy. You should continuously analyze, track and ensure your content is updated to keep leads, not only engaged but also to remain loyal to your brand.
Continuously improve on your offerings to stay on top of what is working.
Simply put, rinse and repeat!
Conclusion
From the above you will understand that content is the bedrock of inbound marketing. This accounts for why many see content marketing as one and the same with inbound marketing. But as you have seen, inbound marketing is actually more than content marketing.
Nevertheless, for you to TRULY succeed with your inbound marketing strategy, you need not just content but high quality content. If, as a business, you lack in house expertise on content creation the better route to take is to get quality professional SEO content writers to help you with your web content.
Over to you: Let’s have your thoughts on how to succeed with inbound marketing in your comments below.
Top 4 Factors That Should Drive Your Content Marketing Strategy in 2017!
In the past few years #content marketing has grown to become a buzz word in the online #marketing circle! This can be attributed to the fact that marketers are moving away very fast from the traditional push marketing tactics to “pull” marketing strategies.
For example, a survey conducted in 2011 by Curata uncovered the fact that “twice as many marketers now implement Content Marketing as do print, tv and radio advertising!”
But that was 2011…today, content marketing has so grown that if you are not engaging it to build your small #business then you are not only leaving money on the table but you’re definitely sabotaging your business success.
Here are some…
Benefits of Content Marketing
1. Builds your site’s authority, drive traffic, and generate leads.
2. Naturally attracts backlinks that enhances your #SEO efforts.
3. It helps drive new prospects through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc as it encourages your online connections to share your site socially.
4. Helps pull new prospects into your sphere of influence (when they join your email list, etc.)
5. Deliver value up-front and showcase your expertise to prospective clients
Given the benefits of content marketing it is not surprising therefore that every marketer is pushing for it no matter the market they are targeting.
Indeed, content marketing is here to stay and the challenge for small businesses is not whether to use it or not but how make a success of it.
And so, one of the questions being asked by many is, what content marketing strategy should we really focus on?
And so, knowing that many businesses are right now preparing and planning their strategies for 2017, I want to present you with some ideas on what should form your content marketing strategy for today and going forward!
So, let’s begin…
Related Reading: How NOT to Create Marketing Content that Sucks!
1. Create More Visual Content
Before 2013 content marketing was mostly associated with blog posts. The written text was mainly the focus. But with the growing popularity of images and video content on online platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, etc, integrating images and/or video into your marketing content is becoming the de facto standard for content across all formats.
Here are some interesting stats about images and visuals that should piqué your interest:
- Posts with visuals receive 94% more page visits and engagement than those without. This is because people are naturally more attracted to images than they are to links or text.
- Facebook posts with an image receive, on average, more than twice as many comments as those without.
- Facebook Photo albums receive 180% more engagement than a normal post.
- Businesses using infographics in their marketing grow in traffic on average of 12% more than those who don’t.
The fact that social engagement is becoming a very important factor when it comes to SEO, incorporating visual content in your marketing mix is something to consider. This is because images are social-media-ready and social-media-friendly. On #social media platforms they drive more engagement and on your sites/blogs they have a higher chance of being shared than anything else.
Infographics are not only awesome for brand awareness and social-media sharing, they’re also referenced more frequently than any other pieces of content – increasing their reach exponentially.
2. Use High-Quality Text Content
The fact that images and other virtual content are becoming more popular by the day does not mean that the written word has become irrelevant. However, your written content must be valuable and of high quality.
To get the attention of people to engage with your brand through your content you will need to focus on relevant up-to-date content. This demands keeping a finger on the pulse of the news, staying in the know of your industry trends and creating sharable content based on what is important now.
Besides, you will need to offer a perspective and share a philosophy that makes your content helpful, unique, genuine and emotionally engaging. Do extensive research to uncover the words that resonate with your target audience and use these in your content.
Focusing on the user and not just your products and services will help make your content to be appealing enough that the user will be more willing to share it socially.
Related Reading: Top 3 Reasons Why Content Marketing Will Fail You!
3. Mobile-First Content
In our today’s mobile-ized world, people prefer surfing the Web using their mobile devices. In their Mobile Marketing Statistics 2013 compilation, Mobile Talent Management firm, Snaphop reported some mind-boggling mobile usage statistics:
- Mobile web browsing accounted for 30% of all web traffic in 2012 and is expected to account for 50% by 2014. (Nucleus Research via SourceCon)
- By 2016, the number of mobile devices is expected to surpass the world’s population–an 18-fold increase between 2011 and 2016. (Cisco)
- Mobile phones accounted for more than 13% of all web traffic in August 2012. (Cisco)
- Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Amazon, and Wikimedia are the top 5 media properties accessed on mobile devices (comScore 2013)
With such stats you definitely want to create mobile friendly content that will help you engage these users.
The mobile-first mindset begins with your site design. But beyond that your content should also be created taking into cognizance the mobile users. You will need to know your audience’s mobile habits so as to create the type of content that truly connects with them.
Your content marketing is nothing if it does not drive lead generation for your business. You must therefore include lead capture and trust building through content marketing across the different channels.
Simply creating content that people are willing to share is not enough. Always ensure that you have a squeeze page to effectively capture their email addresses. This should be followed by a long sequence of relevant and well monetized emails!
To succeed with this you will need to map your marketing content to the buying cycle. This means therefore that whether your content is virtual, textual or optimized for mobile, it should target one of the following categories:
Research: 75% of leads fall into this category. Here the lead knows there is a problem and is looking for solutions.
Evaluation: Marketing research has shown that 20% of leads fall into this category. Here the lead has some insight that your product would meet her need and but then evaluates it to be more sure.
Purchase: This is really the good point. Here the lead is ready to buy. 5% of leads fall into this category.
Develop your marketing content with these statistics in mind. Create valuable content with corresponding squeeze pages targeted at these different categories.
Conclusion
Creating marketing content for 2014 and beyond and succeeding in it demands having a clear knowledge of your target audience. Know their behavior online and then package your content to meet their needs. Whether you are using virtual content like images, videos, infographics, slideshare, etc. or the written word, ensure that your content is optimized for the mobile user. Also having a system that helps you to capture the contact details of your targeted audience to further develop the type of relationship that will help you gain and their trust and business is definitely important.
Over to you: What are the essential factors of your content marketing strategy in 2017? Share with us in your comments below.
Hired Help: How Outsourcing Can Benefit Your Small Business Startups
Many small business startups would never spend a dime on outsourcing. They see it as an unnecessary cost. They consider it more beneficial spending their money on something else, especially if they are tight on money!
But that is really a wrong way to look at outsourcing. It is a fact that all successful businesses have, at some point, outsourced work. As a business entrepreneur, it is definite that you can’t do everything yourself – there isn’t the time in the day and of course, you can’t just have all the skills necessary to do that!
In this post I want to share with you some of the reasons why outsourcing is good for your business – no matter the size.
3 Benefits Of Outsourcing For Business Startups
1. A Better Marketing Mix
You have been knee-deep in your product for months – maybe even longer. You know exactly how it works, and you have a rough idea of the people that will benefit from it. The trouble is, you have no way of reaching them. If you’re a marketing expert, then great – you are in with a shout of spreading your message as fast and as far as is possible.
But if you aren’t, you are going to struggle. So, the simple answer is to outsource to a marketing firm that understands what they are doing. They will see things from your customers’ perspective and help you form your central message to appeal to them. And, they can do so across all the relevant channels, whether that is offline or online.
2. Higher Volumes Of Traffic
Traffic is essential for any business these days, whether you are an online-only company or not. And, there are various means and methods of improving your performance in this area. However, it can take a long time for a new business to grow their online market share and traffic levels. It’s a constant process of checking, adjusting, and implementing an overarching plan.
Ask yourself: do you have the time? If not, then there are plenty of services out there that can help. You could use an SEO company to climb the search rankings, or a content marketing agency to retain more visitors. You can use PR sites and outreach companies to earn more links to your site, too, which will help give your ranking a boost in the right direction. Nobody has time to do all this themselves – so hand over the reins to someone who can do it quicker.
3. Convert More Customers
Traffic is a great start, but successful businesses understand that conversion is the most important part of any plan. You can have all the visitors in the world arriving at your site, but if nobody is buying, you don’t have much of a business. So, speak to copywriters, conversion rate optimizers, and UX designers. They will help you improve the flow of your website, and persuade your audience to become customers.
Again, this is something you can do yourself, but it’s important to have that view that others will bring to the table. Fresh eyes on your website will give you a better indication of where things are going right, and wrong.
Conclusion
It’s important to remember that you are not a small business SuperHero. Why wear yourself out trying to do everything yourself. Outsourcing will help you do more for your small business. All you need is to know what areas to focus and work on yourself and what areas to outsource. This way you will be able to do and achieve more with your business startup.
I hope this article has helped outline how good hired help can be for online startups. Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Mobile SEO: How Much Impact Does Mobile Have On Search Rankings?
It is no longer news that come April 21 2015, Google will begin a major update of their organic search algorithm – an update aimed at making it easier for searchers to find mobile-friendly web pages and sites.
Since Google came out with the announcement concerning this update (something Google rarely does) a whole lot of discussion has been going around on what impact this will have on the business landscape. Of course, for marketers it is expected to be something that will help you to boost your business, if your website is mobile-friendly.
But, who really knows what impact this will have on search rankings?
To gauge marketers’ sentiment and gather opinions on this significant change, gShift conducted a survey of more than 275 digital marketers across a variety of industries including retail, travel and automotive. The survey conducted between March 25 – April 2 had mostly senior level decision makers with titles ranging from Director to CMO as participants.
From the result (shown in the infographic below), it is clear that many industry professionals understand something needs to be done in order to prepare for mobile SEO and many are already preparing for the April 21st change by re-structuring their content marketing strategies.
However, nearly half of these marketers are not measuring the results or gauging the impact to their current search rank data. They never cared to prepare a mobile SEO benchmark report to understand how their site ranks on a desktop versus mobile search now, as well as a scheduled report to see if their mobile SEO ranks change in the weeks following April 21st!
The bottom-line? They are not taking advantage of data-driven insights which will enable them to navigate the algorithm change and work to ensure they do not lose any valuable traffic for their business.
Here’s the Results of Current State of Mobile SEO Survey:
So, do you know what impact mobile SEO will have on search results after the Google mobile update? Share your thoughts with us.
How to Start an Online Business Even With a Bad Credit Rating!
When life throws you a curveball, and you lose your job, things can quickly spiral out of control. You may start running up debts and be unable to make repayments on your credit cards or loans.
Now, when this happens, as someone with dignity and self-respect, your best bet is get another source of income fast. This is because you really don’t want to lose your home or even start to go hungry, or do you?
Right now, a lot of people, when they get into trouble like this, turn to the internet for help. So, if you’re looking for a way to generate that much needed income and your credit rating is bad, then an internet business may be the life-saver you’re looking for.
Unfortunately, the trouble with starting any business in this situation is that you now have a poor credit rating. This means you may struggle to find someone to give you a business banking account, and taking customer payments may prove tricky. Alternatively, you may need to look for a high-risk merchant account to help you take a wider variety of payment options from your customers.
While the above are some options open to you if you don’t want to abandon your dream of starting that online business, here are a couple other ways to get started not minding that bad credit rating:
1. Become a Reseller
Most people start as resellers on the internet. This kind of retail business allows you to trade from the comfort of your own sofa. Using drop shippers, you are able to market and sell other people’s products on your website, and leave it to the suppliers to manage the distribution and shipping. This way, you don’t have to worry about any of the logistics. You won’t need storage for goods, and you won’t need to find a carrier or courier.
This type of business can be quite easy to manage. It is down to you to build a relationship with your customer, and effectively market the products for sale. You need to find the customers through the internet, and provide all the information they require about the items they find interesting.
While you can buy a white label online shop, some people prefer to build up their website from scratch, allowing them to customize the content and layout. For some drop shippers this may not work as you won’t be able to integrate their current pricing or stock levels.
2. Sell Advertising
Another way to start a business and make money online is to sell advertising space. If you can develop a website that attracts a lot of traffic, you will have a better chance of earning an income from click-throughs of ads placed on your site. You can also sell advertising space directly to companies who want to speak directly to your site visitors.
All of this takes time to build up, so may require patience on your part. Success does not happen overnight, so the quicker you start, the faster you should see results.
Closing Thoughts
Earning money from the internet is easier if you are clued-up on how social media and content marketing can be utilized. This requires some ability when it comes to communicating to the people you want to visit your website. The internet is getting bigger every day and the number of users is increasing too. Of course, this is good news for you who want to use the internet as a source of income. The more the better; as this means many more ways to earn! However, you must understand that the internet is also changing, so keeping up with the changes is crucial.
It might not be easy to find money to start a business because of your bad credit rating but you mustn’t allow that to stop you. Use the above ways to get your business started today.
Will Mobile Blogging Be The Trend In 2015?
As the year 2014 is gradually drawing to a close there is no better time to make preparations for the coming year. One sure way to do this is to understand the top trends in 2014 and then use that to forecast the direction things will be moving in 2015.
In this post I want to take a look at the future of blogging and categorically say that one trend that will take the blogosphere by storm in 2015 is mobile blogging!
Okay, this might just be my predictions for 2015! However, the fact is it is plainly evident around us already. In the recent few years mobile blogging had gradually garnered some interest amongst bloggers and I believe it is now ready sweep the blogosphere!
But What is Mobile Blogging?
According to the free encyclopedia, mobile blogging is:
“A method of publishing to a website or blog from a mobile phone or other handheld device. A moblog helps habitual bloggers to post write-ups directly from their phones even when on the move.[1] Mobile blogging has been made possible by technological convergence, as bloggers have been able to write, record and upload different media all from a single, mobile device.”
Why Mobile Blogging?
One of the reasons why a lot of bloggers are attracted to blogging is the fact that you can easily make frequent updates and keep all of your site visitors up to speed with current situations. There’s indeed REAL power in this!
Now, the good thing about mobile blogs, or “moblogs” (as they are today being referred to) is the fact that they allow their users to post things literally as they happen. This new wave of blogging allow bloggers to keep web surfers up to date with both good and bad events as they occur all over the world. This has made international communication faster and more accurate.
Before now many bloggers were limited by location and geography. If you are running a news blog for example, to keep your blog current and on the spot you will need to run home and boot up in order to update it. However, mobile blogging marks the beginning of a thrilling new era when web-based communication can happen spontaneously from any location.
Moblogging devices mean that there is almost nowhere on the planet that remains off-limits for bloggers!
Will Mobile Blogs Really Dominant The Blogosphere In 2015?
Of course, we cannot answer this with a categorical yes or no. However, with what is happening today this is may just be the case. At present mobile blogging is still in its infancy because the technology that makes it possible has only recently hit the global market.
The first moblog technology became available over a decade ago, but it is only in the past few years that mobile web devices have become user-friendly enough to appeal to most consumers. As camera phones and other mobile technology become more popular, more and more bloggers are getting away from their desks and are hitting the streets. The result is that moblogging is becoming much more widespread than it was even a few months ago. And mobloggers are quickly attracting a lot of attention with the blogging community.
If you are therefore a blogger who focuses on current affairs and you want to keep your readers up to date on the latest breaking news, you should be looking into moblogging. Even if you are an entrepreneur blogger and you are using your blog to market your business online, you can also gain a lot from mobile blogging. This is because the current trend seems to imply that moblogs are here to stay.
Mobile Blogging Is a Big Plus for Content Marketers
As businesses are becoming more aware of the power of content marketing they can now also incorporate the power of mobile blogging into their content production. Your business blog readers will definitely appreciate it if you can keep them on top of events as they unfold. With mobile blogging you have this power at your finger tips.
Mobile devices make it possible to blog from the sites where current events are unfolding. This is actually the main reason why mobile blogging has so much thrilling potential to revolutionize the blogosphere. With a camera phone you can post blog entries from, say, the foot of the podium at a presidential speech, or from the stands during the final moments of the World Series.
You can also do this from some business event. For example, if you are organizing a seminar or webinar, you can easily update your readers with the goings-on! This will enable you and your blog readers’ experience the same real time thrills that live television coverage provides.
The combination of mobility and individual control that moblogging provides certainly places mobloggers on the cutting edge of today’s communications technology, and it is hard to imagine that the number and prestige of moblogs will not continue to grow in the coming years.
The time to start is now
Are you already mobile blogging? Do you have plans to incorporate this into your blog marketing in the nearest future? Getting involved with mobile blogging does not have to take much from you in terms of investment and time. You might already be doing without really considering it. But making it a part of your blog marketing strategy should be your focus in the coming year and beyond.
Get Your Web Content Read With These 5 Brilliant Content Writing Tips!
So, content is king, right?
But how many times have you written that really powerful piece of web content but no one cared to read it talk less of sharing it!
Yes, content MAY be king, but the truth is, no one wants to labor on a piece of content and all it achieves is a few visits now and then. Such a situation is not only frustrating but demoralizing.
But, not to worry, there is help.
There are some very exciting findings about website reading patterns and usability which, if used well, can help you create content that people will be eager to read and share. In this article I want to draw your attention to these findings and how you can use them to up your game.
So, let’s begin by looking at…
How People Read Content Online
Back in 1997 Jakob Nielsen and John Morkes discovered through a study that 79% of people online will scan your web site while only 16% will care to read it word for word!
“They don’t. People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences.”
Now, you say, that was 1997! But the truth is, that has not changed today. In fact, with more and more people using mobile devices to access the internet and with so much more taking people’s time, you can be sure that more and more people NOW scan rather than read your content.
And of course, the W3School agrees with this finding. In an article titled: “Web Site Design” they affirmed the fact that users scan rather than read through a web page:
“A typical visitor will NOT read the entire content of your Web page!
No matter how much useful information you put into a Web page, a visitor will only spend a few seconds scanning it before he/she decide whether to leave or to stay.
Be sure to make your point in the very first sentence of the page! After that, try to keep the user occupied with short paragraphs, and new headers down the page.”
From these and many other findings it is clear that that writing content is not enough of itself. Getting people to read that content must form a BIGGER part of your content writing plan.
Here are some suggestions on…
How to Get More People to Read Your Content
1. Improve Your Website Load Speed
It is interesting to know that while websites’ load speed has increased significantly in recent times at about 7.72 seconds on average, website users on the other hand expects your website to load within the first 2 seconds!
To prove how important this is, Amazon and Walmart did separate tests and the results were instructive. While Amazon reportedly increased revenue by 1% for every 100 milliseconds improvement to their site speed Walmart increased conversion by 2% for every 1 second of improvement on their site!
It doesn’t matter whether you are blogger or ecommerce site you need to take a cue from these two online giants. Use the suggestions on Yahoo! Yslow and Google Page Speed to improve your site load speed if you want more people to read your content.
Also hosting your website on a CDN webhosting platform can also be of great help when it comes to improving site load speed.
Besides, you should use a small number of quality, optimized graphics, and keep your page content down to two, or at the most three MS Word pages.
2. Write In Inverted Pyramid Style
What is the inverted pyramid style of writing? It is simply a turning around of the usual writing style where you start with an introduction, background information, findings and then finally presenting your conclusion or recommendations last.
When you write your web content with such a style it means your website visitors will need to read a lot of information before they reach your conclusion and recommendations – a BIG reason for them to abandon your content in a matter of seconds!
It is advisable however, to turn this around and write your summary first, and then add the details. Doing this will help in getting their attention quite early and will be able to convince them to scroll for more of your content.
3. Write Scannable Text
This is the suggestion of both Jakob Nielsen and John Morkes and the W3School. If 79% of online users will only scan your web content then that is what you should give them. A simple way to do this to write in short sentences and paragraphs, and break up excess information into different pages.
Here’s what Jakob Nielsen and John Morkes recommends:
• Highlighted words
• Meaningful sub-headings
• Bulleted lists
• One idea per paragraph
4. Be Less Promotional And Subjective
The tone and style of your writing has a lot of influence on how people will read and use the content. When Nielsen and Morkes measured the effect of different styles of writing on five versions of the same website the following versions had the following improvement in per cent according to their test readers:
.
• Concise version with about half the word count as the control: 58%
• Scannable layout with the same text as the control but easily scanned: 47%
• Objective language using neutral rather than subjective, boastful or exaggerated language: 27%
• Combined version using all three: 124%
From the above it is clear that planning your content and approaching it from the angle of a “helper” rather than someone peddling some goods will greatly improve the readership.
5. The Eyes Have It!
Another finding that should interest you here is the findings of a study called Eyetrack III carried out in 2003 and 2004 by Eyetrack. Though the study was for news-type sites, but the findings are also applicable to bloggers and small business web site.
From the study it was discovered that online users followed our left-to-right Western Culture writing style. The study found that the eye pauses and reads the first few words of a dominant headline first, especially when that headline is in the upper left and sometimes the upper right.
Readers will usually stop reading at five headlines regardless of the number used, but an unusual keyword will often get people to pause. Curiously, they also found that smaller type encourages reading while larger type encourages scanning.
All of these points to the fact that you should put your most important content (graphics, logo, company name, texts images, etc.) at the top left quadrant.
Besides, a headline in the top left quadrant could be of great help in keeping your reader on your page for longer than a minute. You should also know that the first three words of your opening headline are the most important therefore, put them to the best of use.
6. How Credible Are You?
Another thing that Nielsen and Morkes uncovered in their study is the fact that people are looking for credibility when they browse through web content. Some of the things that will raise your credibility are high-quality graphics, good writing and using outbound links.
Your website visitors want to get straight facts and not some exaggerated claims. Please if you are not a good writer the best route to take is getting a professional web content writer to write your web pages for you.
Conclusion
Getting more people to read your content is more about writing concise content that is scannable. Your content should be written in an objective style that is straightforward and friendly. Beyond being useful your content should be accurate and should be heavy on both breadth and depth. Aim to be a voice indeed instead of another noise on the net.
Over to you: How are you getting more people to read your web content? Share with us in the comments below.
Where is Content Marketing Headed in 2014? [INFOGRAPHIC]
As the year 2013 is gradually rolling by, marketing experts and internet professionals are taking a look forward to what the marketing terrain will be like in the year 2014 especially in the area of content marketing.
So far, 2013 has experienced a lot of innovative changes as far as marketing is concerned. There were a whole lot of new tools and conventions to deal with. But in all of these content marketing stood out! Today, content marketing is not just a buzz word but something that every business now takes as a MUST.
For example, in a recent survey conducted by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, it was revealed that 93% B2B organizations now use content-based tactics for their marketing campaigns while 73% indicated they now produce more content than the previous year!
These are not mean figures. They are definitely an indication of what to expect in content marketing trends for 2014. The following infographic from Uberflip gives a concise view of what the trends will be like in content marketing in 2014.
So, whether you are a B2B or B2C business and you are among those who intent drive out-standing results for your content marketing spend in 2014 then you need to study this infographic very carefully because you will definitely get something from it!
Enjoy!
So, how are you preparing to make good use of what the experts say about the content marketing in 2014?