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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant

It’s almost too easy.

By using sensory words to evoke sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell; smart and attractive writers just like you are able to make their words burst to life in their readers’ minds.

In this post, you’ll learn:

The science behind sensory details (e.g. why sensory words are so persuasive);

The definition of sensory words (plus examples);

How answering five simple questions will help you write descriptive words that pack your content with sensory language;

500+ sensory words you can incorporate into your own writing (right now).

Let’s dive in.

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The Colossal Power of Sensory Details

Remember the final scene in Field of Dreams when Ray Kinsella has a catch with his dad?

You can smell the grass on the field.

You can hear the sound of the baseball hitting their gloves.

And you can feel Ray’s years of guilt melting away as he closes his eyes, smiles, and tosses the ball back to his dad.

(Be honest. You’re crying right now, aren’t you?)

Field of Dreams made you feel like you were in Ray’s shoes, on his field, playing catch with dad.

The scene creates such a vivid experience for many viewers that whenever they think of playing catch, this scene will come up alongside their own childhood memories.

Here’s why:

When you paint a strong scene in your audience’s mind, you make it easier for them to pull it back up from their memory. You’ve essentially bookmarked it for them so they can easily find it when something — a sight, a smell, a sound — reminds them of it.

That’s the power of content that incorporates sensory details.

And this power isn’t limited to cinema classics capable of making grown men cry. For centuries, literary giants have been packing their prose with powerful words that evoke the senses:

“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial” — William Shakespeare (circa 1599)

In addition to The Bard, authors like Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens excel at sensory language. So do literally every famous poet you learned about in school.

And that begs the obvious question…

Why are Sensory Details so Effective?

Short answer:

Our brains handle sensory words differently than ordinary words.

In a 2011 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, experts found that our brains process “tangible�� (i.e. sensory) words faster than other words.

And in a study published for Brain and Language in 2012, psychologists found that a certain part of our brain is “activated” when we read sensory words.

In other words:

So, we know why sensory details are powerful. And we know writers have been tapping into their power for a long, long time.

Now let’s define them and go over a few examples:

What are Sensory Words?

Sensory words are descriptive words — using imagery, they describe how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world around us.

Let’s break each one down:

#1. Sight Sensory Words

Words related to vision describe the appearance of something (its color, size, shape, and so on).

Examples of visual words:

Her golden hair looked disheveled thanks to the gust of wind.

He was a towering presence.

I ordered a large orange juice, but the waiter brought me a teeny-tiny glass the size of a thimble.

→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sight Sensory Words.

Angular Azure Billowy Black Bleary Bloated Blonde Blue Blurred Blushing Branching Bright Brilliant Broad Brown Brunette Bulbous Bulky Camouflaged Chubby Circular Colorful Colorless Colossal Contoured Cosmic Craggy Crimson Crinkled Crooked Crowded Crystalline Curved Dark Dazzling Deep Dim Dingy Disheveled Distinct Drab Dreary Dull Dusty Elegant Enchanting Engaging Enormous Faded Fancy Fat Filthy Flashy Flat Flickering Foggy Forked Freckled Fuzzy Gargantuan Gaudy Gigantic Ginormous Glamorous Gleaming Glimpse Glistening Glitter Glittering Globular Gloomy Glossy Glowing Gold Graceful Gray Green Grotesque Hazy Hollow Homely Huge Illuminated Immense Indistinct Ivory Knotty Lacy Lanky Large Lavender Lean Lithe Little Lofty Long Low Malnourished Maroon Massive Miniature Misshapen Misty Motionless Mottled Mountainous Muddy Murky Narrow Obtuse Olive Opaque Orange Oval Pale Peered Petite Pink Portly Pristine Prodigious Purple Quaint Radiant Rectangular Red Reddish Rippling Rotund Round Ruby Ruddy Rusty Sabotaged Shadowy Shallow Shapeless Sheer Shimmering Shiny Short Silver Skinny Small Smudged Soaring Sparkling Sparkly Spherical Spotless Spotted Square Steep Stormy Straight Strange Striped Sunny Swooping Tall Tapering Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow

#2. Sound Sensory Words

Words related to hearing often describe the sound they make (known as onomatopoeia), but this isn’t always the case.

Examples of hearing words:

He had a big, booming voice.

The sound of screeching tires was soon followed by the deafening sound of a car horn.

As I peeked under the bed, the cackling laughter coming from the closet made the hairs on my arms stand up.

→ Click here to unfold the full list of Sound Sensory Words.

Babble Bang Barking Bawled Bawling Bellow Blare Blaring Bleat Boom Booming Bray Buzz Buzzing Cackle Cackling Chatter Chattering Cheer Chiming Chirping Chuckle Clamor Clang Clanging Clap Clapping Clicking Clink Clinking Cooing Coughing Crackle Crackling Crashing Creak Croaking Crow Crunch Crunching Crunchy Cry Crying Deafening Distorted Dripping Ear-piercing Earsplitting Exploding Faint Fizzing Gagging Gasping Giggle Giggling Grate Grating Growl Grumble Grunt Grunting Guffaw Gurgle Gurgling Hanging Hiss Hissing Honking Howl Hubbub Hum Humming Hush Jabber Jangle Jangling Laughing Moaning Monotonous Mooing Muffled Mumble Mumbling Murmur Mutter Muttering Noisy Peeping Piercing Ping Pinging Plopping Pop Purring Quacking Quiet Rant Rapping Rasping Raucous Rave Ringing Roar Roaring Rumble Rumbling Rustle Rustling Scratching Scream Screaming Screech Screeching Serene Shout Shouting Shrieking Shrill Sigh Silent Sing Singing Sizzling Slam Slamming Snap Snappy Snoring Snort Splashing Squawking Squeaky Stammer Stomp Storm Stuttering Tearing Thudding Thump Thumping Thunder Thundering Ticking Tingling Tinkling Twitter Twittering Wail Warbling Wheezing Whimper Whimpering Whine Whining Whir Whisper Whispering Whistle Whooping Yell Yelp

#3. Touch Sensory Words

Touch words describe the texture of how something feels. They can also describe emotional feelings.

Examples of touch words:

Two minutes into the interview, I knew his abrasive personality would be an issue if we hired him.

With a forced smile, I put on the itchy Christmas sweater my grandmother bought me.

The Hot Pocket was scalding on the outside, but ice-cold in the middle.

→ Click here to unfold the full list of Touch Sensory Words.

Abrasive Balmy Biting Boiling Breezy Bristly Bubbly Bubby Bumpy Burning Bushy Chilled Chilly Clammy Coarse Cold Cool Cottony Crawly Creepy Cuddly Cushioned Damp Dank Dirty Downy Drenched Dry Elastic Feathery Feverish Fine Fleshy Fluff Fluffy Foamy Fragile Freezing Furry Glassy Gluey Gooey Grainy Greasy Gritty Gushy Hairy Heavy Hot Humid Ice-Cold Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly

#4. Taste Sensory Words

Taste words are interesting. Though they can describe food, they’re often used in comparisons and metaphors.

Examples of taste words:

It’s a bittersweet situation.

Her zesty personality caught Karl’s eye.

The scrumptious jalapeno poppers comforted Karl after his bitter rejection.

→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste Sensory Words.

Acidic Appetizing Bitter Bittersweet Bland Buttery Charred Contaminated Creamy Crispy Delectable Delicious Doughy Earthy Fermented Flavorful Flavorless Floury Garlicky Gingery Gritty Hearty Juicy Luscious Medicinal Mellow Melted Nauseating Nutritious Nutty Palatable Peppery Pickled Piquant Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Runt Savory Scrumptious Stale Sugary Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Unripe Vinegary Yummy Zesty

#5. Smell Sensory Words

Words related to smell describe — yes, you guessed it — how things smell. Often underutilized, sensory words connected with smell can be very effective.

Examples of smell words:

The pungent smell was unmistakable: someone in this elevator was wearing Axe Body Spray.

No matter the expiration date, it was clear from its rancid stench the milk had gone bad.

The flowery aroma was a welcome change after the elevator and milk incidents.

→ Click here to unfold the full list of Smell Sensory Words.

Ambrosial Antiseptic Aroma Aromatic Briny Citrusy Decayed Decomposed Doggy Fetid Floral Flowery Foul-smelling Fragrant Gamy Gaseous Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting

Note on Taste and Smell:

Because they’re closely related, some sensory words can be used for both taste and smell. Examples: fruity, minty, and tantalizing.

→ Click here to unfold the full list of Taste and Smell Sensory Words.

Acrid Burnt Fishy Fresh Fruity Lemony Minty Moldy Mouth-watering Rotten Salty Sour Spicy Spoiled Sweet Tantalizing

Sensory Details: Examples in the Wild

Imagine the following headline came across your Twitter feed:

How to Avoid Using Boring Stock Photo Images in Your Content

Would you click it?

Better question…

Could you read the headline without falling asleep?

The answers are probably “no” and “heck no.”

Now imagine you saw this headline:

Much better, right?

The simple addition of the sensory word “cringeworthy” changes the tone of the entire headline. Instead of yawning, you’re thinking of an awkward or embarrassing moment you really don’t want to relive.

Let’s look at a few more modern-day examples of sharp people using sensory language to spruce up their content:

Using Sensory Words in Author Bios

I’ll pick on me for this one.

Here’s the author bio I used for one of my first-ever guest posts:

Kevin Duncan is the owner of Be A Better Blogger, where he helps people become the best bloggers they can be.

Now look at the author bio my friend Henneke wrote for Writer’s Block: 27 Techniques to Overcome It Forever:

Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and business writing coach. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle.

My bio is devoid of sensory words (or any interesting words at all, if we’re being honest).

Henneke’s is chock full of them.

Her bio is interesting.

Mine is boring.

The lesson? Add at least one sensory word to your author bio.

Using Sensory Words in Social Media Profiles

Some people opt for brevity when writing their social media profiles, and that’s fine.

But if you want your Twitter profile (or Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media profile) to stand out from the crowd, sprinkle in a sensory word or two.

Like so:

Mel Wicks is a veteran copywriter who knows a thing or two about the effectiveness of descriptive words, so she uses them to spice up her Twitter profile.

Here’s an example from my badly-neglected Instagram account:

“Enchanting” and “adorably-jubilant” are wonderful sensory words — so wonderful, it’s a shame they’re wasted on a profile no one sees.

Look at your own profiles and see if there’s a place to add a sensory word or two. They’ll help your profile jump off the screen.

Heck, see if you can use enchanting and adorably-jubilant.

They deserve to be seen.

Using Sensory Words in Introductions

The opening lines of your content are so important.

If you’re a student, your opening sets the tone for your teacher (who we both know is dying to use his red pen).

If you’re an author, your opening can be the difference between someone buying your book or putting it back on the shelf in favor of one of those Twilight books (probably).

And if you’re a blogger, writer, content marketer, or business; your opening can hook the reader (increasing dwell time, which is great in Google’s eyes) or send them scurrying for the “back” button.

It’s why we put such an emphasis on introductions here at Smart Blogger.

Sometimes our openings hook you with a question.

Sometimes we strike a note of empathy or (like this post) focus on searcher intent.

And sometimes we give you a heaping helping of sensory words:

Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.

In the above opening for How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post, Jon Morrow uses sensory language to set a scene for the reader.

And it’s highly, highly effective.

Using Sensory Words in Email Subject Lines

Like you, your readers are flooded with emails.

And with open rates in a steady decline, people are trying anything and everything to make their email subject lines stand out:

Emojis;

Capitalized words;

All lowercase letters;

Two exclamation points;

Clickbait that would make even BuzzFeed go, “that’s too far, man.”

You name it, people are trying it.

Want a simpler, far-more-effective way to help your emails stand out from the crowd?

Add a sensory word.

Brian Dean loves to include words like “boom” in his subjects:

The folks at AppSumo and Sumo (formerly SumoMe) regularly feature descriptive words in their subjects and headlines.

Here’s one example:

And sensory language appears in most everything Henneke writes, including her subject lines.

In this one she also uses an emoji related to her sensory word. Very clever:

Now that we’ve covered several examples, let’s dig a bit deeper…

Let’s discuss some practical steps you can take that will make adding sensory language to your writing a breeze:

How Descriptive Words Can Pack Your Writing With Sensory Language

If you’ve taken a good English or writing class, you’ve probably been told a time or two to “show, don’t tell.”

This means you should create an engaging experience for your audience; not just tell them what you want them to know.

You accomplish this by using descriptive language that conveys sensations and lets readers experience your words (rather than simply read them).

And how do you do that, exactly?

Ask yourself these five questions when you’re writing:

#1. What Do You See?

It isn’t enough to tell your readers there was a scary house in your neighborhood when you were a child. Describe the house to them in vivid detail.

What shade of gray was it?

Were the doors boarded up?

Precisely how many ghostly figures did you see staring at you from the upstairs bedroom windows, and how many are standing behind you right now?

Paint a mental picture for your readers.

#2. What Do You Hear?

We listen to uptempo songs to push us through cardio workouts. Many of us listen to rainfall when we’re trying to sleep. Some of us listen to Justin Bieber when we want to punish our neighbors.

Want to transplant readers into your literary world?

Talk about the drip, drip, drip of the faucet.

Mention the squeaking floors beneath your feet.

Describe the awful music coming from your next-door-neighbor’s house.

#3. How Does it Feel?

Touch sensory words can convey both tactile and emotional sensations.

Can you describe to the reader how something feels when touched? Is it smooth or rough? Round or flat? Is it covered in goo or is it goo-less?

Paint a picture for your reader so they can touch what you’re touching.

The same goes for emotions. Help the reader feel what you (or your character) are feeling. Draw them in.

#4. What Does it Taste Like?

Does the beach air taste salty? Is the roaring fire so intense you can taste the smoke? Is the smell of your roommate’s tuna fish sandwich so strong you can taste it from across the room?

Tell your audience.

Be descriptive.

Make them taste the fishiness.

#5. How Does it Smell?

It wasn’t a basement you walked into — it was a musty, moldy basement.

And you didn’t simply enjoy your Mom’s homemade lasagna. You inhaled the aromatic scents of sauce, cheese, and basil.

Evoking the sense of smell is possibly the most effective way to pull readers out of their world and into yours.

So when you sit down to write, ask yourself if it’s possible to describe how something smells. And if you can? Do it.

The Massive Sensory Words List: 581 (and Counting) Descriptive Words to Supercharge Your Writing

Once you’ve asked and answered the five questions above, your writing will be packed with sensory details.

In time, you’ll build up your own massive list of sensory words you can reference and sprinkle throughout your work.

But in the meantime, here’s my list.

Bookmark them.

Print them.

Use them often:

SIGHT

SOUND

Angular Babble Azure Bang Billowy Barking Black Bawled Bleary Bawling Bloated Bellow Blonde Blare Blue Blaring Blurred Bleat Blushing Boom Branching Booming Bright Bray Brilliant Buzz Broad Buzzing Brown Cackle Brunette Cackling Bulbous Chatter Bulky Chattering Camouflaged Cheer Chubby Chiming Circular Chirping Colorful Chuckle Colorless Clamor Colossal Clang Contoured Clanging Cosmic Clap Craggy Clapping Crimson Clicking Crinkled Clink Crooked Clinking Crowded Cooing Crystalline Coughing Curved Crackle Dark Crackling Dazzling Crashing Deep Creak Dim Croaking Dingy Crow Disheveled Crunch Distinct Crunching Drab Crunchy Dreary Cry Dull Crying Dusty Deafening Elegant Distorted Enchanting Dripping Engaging Ear-piercing Enormous Earsplitting Faded Exploding Fancy Faint Fat Fizzing Filthy Gagging Flashy Gasping Flat Giggle Flickering Giggling Foggy Grate Forked Grating Freckled Growl Fuzzy Grumble Gargantuan Grunt Gaudy Grunting Gigantic Guffaw Ginormous Gurgle Glamorous Gurgling Gleaming Hanging Glimpse Hiss Glistening Hissing Glitter Honking Glittering Howl Globular Hubbub Gloomy Hum Glossy Humming Glowing Hush Gold Jabber Graceful Jangle Gray Jangling Green Laughing Grotesque Moaning Hazy Monotonous Hollow Mooing Homely Muffled Huge Mumble Illuminated Mumbling Immense Murmur Indistinct Mutter Ivory Muttering Knotty Noisy Lacy Peeping Lanky Piercing Large Ping Lavender Pinging Lean Plopping Lithe Pop Little Purring Lofty Quacking Long Quiet Low Rant Malnourished Rapping Maroon Rasping Massive Raucous Miniature Rave Misshapen Ringing Misty Roar Motionless Roaring Mottled Rumble Mountainous Rumbling Muddy Rustle Murky Rustling Narrow Scratching Obtuse Scream Olive Screaming Opaque Screech Orange Screeching Oval Serene Pale Shout Peered Shouting Petite Shrieking Pink Shrill Portly Sigh Pristine Silent Prodigious Sing Purple Singing Quaint Sizzling Radiant Slam Rectangular Slamming Red Snap Reddish Snappy Rippling Snoring Rotund Snort Round Splashing Ruby Squawking Ruddy Squeaky Rusty Stammer Sabotaged Stomp Shadowy Storm Shallow Stuttering Shapeless Tearing Sheer Thudding Shimmering Thump Shiny Thumping Short Thunder Silver Thundering Skinny Ticking Small Tingling Smudged Tinkling Soaring Twitter Sparkling Twittering Sparkly Wail Spherical Warbling Spotless Wheezing Spotted Whimper Square Whimpering Steep Whine Stormy Whining Straight Whir Strange Whisper Striped Whispering Sunny Whistle Swooping Whooping Tall Yell Tapering Yelp Tarnished Teeny-tiny Tiny Towering Translucent Transparent Triangular Turquoise Twinkling Twisted Ugly Unsightly Unusual Vibrant Vivid Weird White Wide Wiry Wispy Wizened Wrinkled Wrinkly Yellow

TOUCH

TASTE

Abrasive Acidic Balmy Appetizing Biting Bitter Boiling Bittersweet Breezy Bland Bristly Buttery Bubbly Charred Bubby Contaminated Bumpy Creamy Burning Crispy Bushy Delectable Chilled Delicious Chilly Doughy Clammy Earthy Coarse Fermented Cold Flavorful Cool Flavorless Cottony Floury Crawly Garlicky Creepy Gingery Cuddly Gritty Cushioned Hearty Damp Juicy Dank Luscious Dirty Medicinal Downy Mellow Drenched Melted Dry Nauseating Elastic Nutritious Feathery Nutty Feverish Palatable Fine Peppery Fleshy Pickled Fluff Piquant Fluffy Raw Foamy Refreshing Fragile Rich Freezing Ripe Furry Runt Glassy Savory Gluey Scrumptious Gooey Stale Grainy Sugary Greasy Syrupy Gritty Tangy Gushy Tart Hairy Tasteless Heavy Unripe Hot Vinegary Humid Yummy Ice-Cold Zesty Icy Itchy Knobbed Leathery Light Lightweight Limp Lukewarm Lumpy Matted Metallic Moist Mushy Numbing Oily Plastic Pointed Powdery Pulpy Rocky Rough Rubbery Sandy Scalding Scorching Scratchy Scummy Serrated Shaggy Sharp Shivering Shivery Silky Slimy Slippery Sloppy Smooth Smothering Soapy Soft Sopping Soupy Splintery Spongy Springy Sputter Squashy Squeal Squishy Steamy Steely Sticky Stifled Stifling Stinging Stony Stubby Tangled Tapered Tender Tepid Thick Thin Thorny Tickling Tough Unsanitary Velvety Warm Waxy Wet Woolly

SMELL

TASTE & SMELL

Ambrosial Acrid Antiseptic Burnt Aroma Fishy Aromatic Fresh Briny Fruity Citrusy Lemony Decayed Minty Decomposed Moldy Doggy Mouth-watering Fetid Rotten Floral Salty Flowery Sour Foul-smelling Spicy Fragrant Spoiled Gamy Sweet Gaseous Tantalizing Horrid Inodorous Malodorous Mephitic Musky Musty Odiferous Odor Odorless Old Perfumed Piney Polluted Pungent Putrid Rancid Rank Redolent Reeking Scent Scented Sickly Skunky Smell Smoky Stagnant Stench Stinky Sweaty Tempting

Are You Ready to Unleash the Power of Sensory Words?

It’s time to say goodbye.

Goodbye to lifeless words that sit on the page.

Goodbye to indifferent readers ready to move on to something, anything, else.

You now know why sensory details are so effective. You know how to sprinkle descriptive words throughout your content. And you now have a massive, ever-growing list of sensory words to bookmark and come back to again and again.

Variations of the following quote have been attributed to everyone from Carl W. Buehner to Maya Angelou, but regardless of who said it, and how they said it, it’s true:

“People may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”

It’s time to make your readers feel.

Are you ready?

Then let’s do this thing.

About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow once said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan is the Blog Editor and Social Media Manager for Smart Blogger.

The post 581 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/sensory-words/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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How to Write a Blog Post in 2019: The Ultimate Guide

Here’s the thing:

There are many tutorials that can teach you how to write a blog post.

They can educate you on the mechanics of blogging, what to do, and what not to do.

Read them and you can learn how to craft a perfectly serviceable blog post. Heck, you might even write something that wins you an adoring fan or two.

But if you dream bigger, if you want to know how to write a blog post that cuts through the noise and wins you legions of fans, you need something better than a run-of-the-mill tutorial.

You need an ultimate guide.

In this post, this ultimate guide, we’ll share tips used by professional writers to create spellbinding posts that are adored by thousands. You’ll learn the secrets to crafting irresistible headlines, seducing introductions, captivating advice, and motivational closings.

You’ll even learn how the pros refine and polish their posts once they’re finished writing them.

These are secrets many bloggers would gladly pay real money to learn, but it won’t cost you a thing — other than a few minutes of your time.

Let’s dive in.

Want Smart Blogger’s Ultimate Editing Checklist — a 22-point cheatsheet for polishing your post to perfection? Click here to download it for free.

Table of Contents

Step #1. Craft a Headline That Readers Can’t Resist

Step #2. Write an Introduction That Grabs and Seduces

Step #3. Deliver Advice That’s Easy to Consume and Impossible to Ignore

Step #4. Close with a Motivational Bang

Step #5. Polish Your Post So It’s Smoother Than a Slip ‘n Slide

Step #1. Craft a Headline That Readers Can’t Resist

Click to Tweet

Want to know one of the biggest mistakes bloggers make?

Writing the blog post before the headline.

Without a headline, they have no roadmap to follow. And so their post goes in multiple directions, leaving readers feeling dizzy, confused and disoriented.

And then they try to create a headline that embraces all that madness. Bloggers, have mercy!

If you want to write a blog post full of clarity, conciseness and conviction, spend some time crafting a quality headline that sets a clear destination, lures readers in, and leaves them eager for your advice.

Your headline will be your map, your writing navigation system, letting you know which literary roads to choose and which to avoid so that readers reach the intended destination as easily and efficiently as possible.

Follow these 8 rules to craft your killer headline:

Headline Rule #1. Pick a Mouth-Watering Topic

Want your blog post to get opened?

Then your headline must promise readers the very answer to whatever is tormenting them. The thing that keeps them up at night.

Your headline should not promise them a trip to the moon and back — readers are way too swift for such shenanigans. Keep the benefit specific and narrow, and readers will feel compelled to click and get the solution to what’s bugging them.

How do you find out what’s bugging your readers? Research:

Review comments on your posts and on posts of other sites in your niche.

Send your subscribers surveys asking them what their greatest struggles are.

Use tools like BuzzSumo to find out what the most popular posts in your niche are (which gives insight into your target readers’ needs).

Read the reviews of books in your niche on Amazon (you’ll find a gold mine of feedback to explore).

You have one responsibility as a blogger — yup, just one. And that is to serve your audience. The better you know them, the better you serve.

Before you know it, you’ll know them so intimately they’ll feel like you’re reading their minds, and your headlines will reflect that.

Example:

Let’s say you’re in the self-improvement space and you wrote the headline below:

How to Create an Amazing Life

This headline is so broad it’s unlikely to draw readers in. No one loses sleep over “wanting to create an amazing life.” They lose sleep over specific aspects of their lives that have left them unfulfilled.

So you are better off narrowing in on something specific that’s bugging your readers, such as:

How to Boldly Pursue Your Dreams Even if You’re Scared and Insecure

Narrowing in on something specific makes readers feel like you have the answers they’re looking for.

Headline Rule #2. Steal from the Pros

Okay, you’ve done your research and you know exactly what your readers need. Now it’s time to turn your topic into into a killer headline.

The easiest way to master the art of writing headlines? Steal.

Not in the unethical way. In the smart and efficient way.

Decades of copywriting and advertising research have revealed the types of headlines that have proven to be successful. The types of headlines that zap readers out of their info-overload comas and compel them to open. Why mess with that research?

If you want your headlines to grab readers, stick with what works.

No, your headlines don’t need to sound like they came straight from BuzzFeed. They can reflect your voice and style.

But until you’re as skilled a writer as Jon Morrow, let the proven templates be your guide (how do you think he got so good at writing headlines?).

Blogging is hard enough, so if you have templates at your fingertips, why not use them?

The easiest templates to start with? “How to” headlines and list post headlines. They are classics and they work. In fact, 75% of Smart Blogger’s most popular posts use these formats.

Examples:

Here are a number of Smart Blogger headlines that follow the “how to” and list post templates.

“How to” Headlines:

How to Start a Blog in 2019: Research Reveals 20X Faster Method

How to Make Money Writing: 5 Ways to Get Paid to Write in 2019

How to Make Money Blogging (Free Guide for 2019)

List Post Headlines:

21 Dumb Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Your First E-book

The 5 Best Free Blogging Platforms in 2019 (100% Unbiased)

Writer’s Block: 27 Ways to Overcome It Forever

Note: You can download Jon’s free 52 Headline Hacks, where you’ll find more template options than you’ll ever need.

Headline Rule #3. Engage Your Senses

Vague headlines leave readers feeling empty. Tangible headlines leave them feeling understood.

How to you create tangible headlines? Put yourself in the shoes of your reader.

How do they feel? What do they see, taste, or smell? What do they hear?

Engage all of your senses. The more your headline gives voice to their exact experience, the more they’ll feel like your post was written for them.

Example:

Let’s say you blog about health and wellness and you wrote a headline called:

5 Steps to Take When a Migraine Hits

This headline follows a proven list post formula, and it narrows in on something that’s bugging readers. All in all it’s not too bad, but it could be even more concrete.

To step it up a notch, put yourselves in the shoes of your readers. Think about exactly what they’re experiencing.

Perhaps that would lead you to the following:

5 Ways to Soothe Pounding and Blinding Migraines

If you suffer from migraines, there’s no way you could resist clicking such a headline.

Headline Rule #4. Tease, Don’t Satisfy

A common mistake you may not even realize you’re making?

Giving away too much in your headlines.

Your headlines should lure readers in like a literary temptress. They should catch readers’ attention and invoke their curiosity, not give a solution.

Give a solution in your headline and readers feel no need to go any further — they’re bored by the very thought of your post.

When this happens, not only do you lose but your readers lose as well, as they trade the richness of your post’s advice for the quick fix offered by the headline.

Example:

Let’s say you blog about personal finance and you write the headline below:

How to Save for Retirement by Creating a Monthly Budget

Sadly, readers will see this and think they’ve got all the advice they need — if they want to save for retirement, they must create a monthly budget. No need to read more.

On the other hand, a possible revision could be:

How to Save for Retirement When You’re Living Paycheck to Paycheck

For anyone living paycheck to paycheck, this headline would pique their curiosity. Nothing is given away, it speaks to an audience with a very specific problem, and it promises a solution they’d love to get their hands on.

Headline Rule #5. Honor the Headline Commandment

When it comes to headlines, there is only one commandment you can never break:

“Thou shalt not deceive.”

This may seem obvious, but writers inadvertently do it all the time. How?

They over-promise.

Big no-no. The content of your post must fully deliver on exactly what the headline promises.

If the post only delivers part of the solution, readers will feel misled and lose their trust in you.

Let’s never do that to them, yes?

Examples:

Let’s say you write a post called:

How to Live a Happy and Peaceful Life

But then the post only talks about following your dreams, which is really only one aspect of living a happy and peaceful life. Even though you didn’t intentionally deceive them, readers will feel shortchanged.

Another example — perhaps you write a post called:

5 Killer Ways to Attract New Clients to Your Coaching Business

But then the fifth way contains no useful advice and instead leads to a sales page to get the solution … no bueno.

Headline Rule #6. Trim the Fat

Want to overwhelm readers right from the start?

Fill your headline with weak and flabby words.

What are weak and flabby words? Empty, unnecessary words that add no real value. Instead, they create clunky phrasing and leave readers scratching their heads in confusion.

The mistake many bloggers make is writing headlines the way they speak. While that’s okay when you write the post (to a certain extent), when you write headlines that way it waters them down.

You want your headlines to be as ruthlessly concise and powerful as possible. So chop out weak words and throw in power words (if appropriate).

Examples:

Let’s say you draft the following headline:

How to Find It In Your Heart to Forgive Someone Even if They’ve Hurt You Really Badly

There are just so many words! We can cut them down as follows:

How to Forgive Someone Who Hurt You Badly

We can then add some power to it:

How to Forgive a Soul-Crushing Betrayal

Much better.

Another Example:

Here’s a mouthful:

How to Stop Being Overly Doubtful of Yourself So You Can Finally Begin to Pursue Your Wildest Dreams

My head is spinning. This can be cut down to:

How to Stop Doubting Yourself and Pursue Your Wildest Dreams

We could even make it more tangible and powerful:

How to End Paralyzing Doubts and Conquer Your Wildest Dreams

Nice and trim, but packs a punch.

Headline Rule #7. Don’t Be a Smarty-Pants

Your headline should make sense to all readers no matter where they’re coming from or in what context they’re approaching your post.

They shouldn’t have to guess what the benefit is. After all, you’re supposed to be reading their minds, not the other way around.

So you’ll want to avoid using metaphors (unless their meaning is painfully obvious), jargon, rhymes, made-up terms, or anything that tries to be overly clever or complicated when drafting your headlines.

Examples:

Where to begin with this one:

How to Be Happy Without Acting Sappy

A headline like this tries to be too clever — readers don’t give two hoots about not acting sappy, obviously. Don’t prioritize cute tactics like rhyming over delivering clear benefits in your headlines.

How to Raise a Child That Is the Apple of Your Eye

A headline like this is also trying to be too clever. “Apple of Your Eye” is a common metaphor readers are likely familiar with, but there’s no concrete benefit being offered here. A headline must always contain a strong benefit, not a cute phrase.

How to Follow the Path of Glory to Your Success

No clue what this means … and I just wrote it. If there isn’t a singular and clear interpretation of what the headline’s benefit is, it’s trying too hard. So save the metaphors for the actual post where they will (hopefully) make more sense.

How to Stop Treating Love Like a Captive Animal

Perhaps you effectively explain in the post how people treat love like a captive animal, and it may make for a great analogy, but readers scanning headlines will have no clue why they should stop to read this, and so they likely won’t.

Headline Rule #8. Rock Your Style

The more consistent you are with your audience, the more trust they’ll feel for you.

If you generally keep your headlines pretty simple and then suddenly write one jam-packed with power words, your readers will feel confused.

The more you write, the more of a style you’ll develop. Once you determine what that style is, use it consistently (or make slow and gradual changes to it if necessary) so your audience learns and trusts your brand.

Example:

If most of your headlines read like this:

How to Live With Courage

How to Overcome Social Anxiety

How to Confidently Embrace Uncertainty

Then you might not want to suddenly write a headline that reads:

How to Brazenly Squash the Agonizing Anxiety That Is Plaguing Your Life

Your readers will think your blog got hacked!

How to Write a Headline: Bonus Tip

When writing a headline, try crafting 5–10 different versions of the same headline.

The more you play with the words, the better you will get at creating clear, concise and curiosity-invoking headlines that readers cannot resist.

Editor’s Note:

I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss a question we hear often:

“How long/short should my headline be?”

Ever notice how some headlines in SERPs (search engine results pages) are truncated?

It’s based on your headline’s width in pixels, but as a general rule: right round 60 characters Google will cut off your headline.

Since a truncated headline can result in fewer people clicking your link in SERPs, it’s a common SEO practice to keep your headlines 60 characters or less.

Of course, things are never that easy.

In a recent study, Brian Dean of Backlinko found that longer (14-17 words) headlines generated more shares on social media than shorter headlines.

(76.7% more social shares, to be exact.)

As with all things, your mileage may vary.

Step #2. Write an Introduction That Grabs and Seduces

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You’ve lured readers in with your headline. Now you’ve got to keep them.

No easy task, my friend.

Readers are fickle. Known to take a quick glance and then vanish from your online sanctuary, lickety-split!

You must fight to keep them there, and the way you craft your introduction plays a huge role in their browsing commitment.

Follow these rules to craft an introduction that captivates your readers:

Introduction Rule #1. Slip into Their Shoes

A common mistake that reeks of amateur blogging?

Trying to sound too academic in your blog openings.

You know, those posts that start like this:

“Research has proven that 92% of people fail to achieve their goals because they are unable to create and stick to habits that support those goals …”

Don’t get me wrong — as a lawyer, I value solid research. But in the blogging context, this approach bores readers. If you want to captivate instead of bore, you must make readers feel like you’re reading their minds.

A powerful way to achieve this?

Empathy.

Step into their shoes and write from their perspective. Show them you understand exactly what they’re going through.

After all, you likely struggled with the very topic you’re writing about and learned how to overcome it. We teach what we most wanted to learn, right?

So show readers that you “get it.” You’re not some corporate slog, you’re in it with them, fighting the good fight and sharing the tools that brought you to the other side.

Example:

This introduction is a masterclass in empathy:

Do you feel that?

That little tugging sensation on your heart?

You’re not sure what, but something is pulling you to change. Not in a confess-your-sins-oh-ye-sinners way, but to shift directions, to embrace your calling, to finally do what you were put here to do:

Write.

You feel the ideas inside you. You sense them straining to escape. You know your job is to set them free, firing them like a cannon into a world in desperate need of them.

But you’re afraid.

You’re afraid of quitting your job and living without a safety net. You’re afraid of the concerned, disapproving looks your friends will give you when you tell them you’re giving it all up to write for a living. You’re afraid of not having enough money for food, of the power being cut off, of watching your family shivering and hungry, all because of your “selfishness”.

And most of all?

You’re afraid you’re wrong about yourself.

As writers, we all share the deep longing to embrace our calling and express our ideas, but we also share the fears that so often sabotage those longings — the fear that we don’t have what it takes, that we’ll crash and burn, and that our dreams are just that — dreams.

In his introduction, Jon addresses all those longings and fears and immediately makes you feel like he gets you so intimately, it’s almost creepy.

Creepy, but effective.

Note: You don’t need to open like this in every post. There are certainly other approaches, like telling a powerful story. But if you’re working on mastering your craft and getting the most impact for time invested, an empathetic opening is an approach you’ll want to use frequently.

Introduction Rule #2. Get into Character

If you want to captivate readers, you must trigger their emotions.

So as you sit down to write, think of the feelings you want them to experience:

Fear, anger, sadness, hope, joy, disgust, shame, comfort, love, courage, and so on.

Then get into character and feel them yourself as you write, and your words will read with undeniable authenticity.

When Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the heartbreaking lyrics in Hamilton that have left tears on the faces of millions, it was his eyes that first shed tears as he put his pen to paper.

So play with your emotions. Map out the emotional journey you’re taking readers on, and infuse those feelings into your writing. Feel what you want your audience to feel and your words will exude those emotions.

This tip applies to your whole post, but in no place is triggering your audience’s emotions more important than your introduction.

You feel me? 🙂

Example:

I once wrote an emotional post about my two little girls which addressed how delicate their emotions are, as well as my own vulnerabilities and my longing to give them the patience, presence and love they deserve.

Here’s a portion of it:

I told my three-year old daughter as we stood outside the car in her school parking lot, the rain pouring down on us as she sobbed breathlessly in my arms.

She didn’t want to go in the car. She just wanted me to stand there, holding her. And I didn’t want to rush her, or tell her to stop crying.

“I’ll hold you for as long as it takes.”

I felt that longing intensely and definitely shed some tears as I wrote the introduction. The feedback I got from readers was that they felt the same intensity, and even cried as well.

When we write, our feelings seep into our words.

Introduction Rule #3. Lure Readers Down the Page

Want readers to commit to your post?

Accelerate their experience. Lure them down the page.

The faster they get pulled down, the more committed they’ll feel.

Too many bumps in the road early on, and off track they go, never to return.

Here are three copywriting tips to use in your intros to lure readers down the page:

#1. Open With a Short Sentence or Question

Kind of like how I opened this section. 🙂

This is how all of Smart Blogger’s posts open, and for good reason. It’s a copywriting technique proven to pull readers in.

Start a post with a long clunky paragraph and they’ll feel exhausted just looking at it.

#2. Take a Knife to Your Words

Slash as many words as possible.

If the first draft of your introduction is 200 words, try cutting it down to 100. The more you practice this, the more efficient your writing becomes.

And when you write efficiently, your words have power. That power will grab your readers.

#3. Set the Rhythm

All writing has a pace and rhythm.

You want your introduction’s pace and beat to be somewhat quick. You can slow things down later.

How do you achieve this?

Use short sentences. Even sentence fragments (totally okay).

Make your paragraphs no more than one to three sentences long.

Use delayed transitions to weave sentences together.

Make each sentence and paragraph lure readers into the one that follows.

Read the post out loud to check the flow. Are things moving forward smoothly or stalling?

The best writers, like the best music composers, take readers on a journey. Fast and slow, loud and soft, urgency and ease.

The more you pay attention to this, the more rhythm you’ll infuse into your words.

Example:

Shane Arthur sends readers’ eyes flying down the page by using crisp sentences and short paragraphs to create a fast rhythm:

You’re not stupid.

You know what writing is truly about.

It’s a never-ending battle for your readers’ attention.

Every sentence is a link in a taut chain that connects your headline to your conclusion.

And you are just one weak sentence away from losing your reader forever.

He then appropriately slows things down in the section that follows with longer sentences. A masterful composition!

Introduction Rule #4. Make Them Beg

Want readers begging for your solutions?

Add a little fear to your opening.

What are readers worried about? Do they know what will happen if they don’t solve the problem the post is addressing? What is the worst-case scenario?

Bring those fears to the surface. Expose them.

By doing so, not only will readers feel a camaraderie with you (because you understand their fears, so clearly you’ve tip-toed through the dark side yourself), but they’ll feel more eager than ever for the solution you present.

We all have fears. We think we need to hide them, but the more we give voice to them, the easier they are to set free.

Do that for your readers.

Example:

In his introduction, Glen Long brilliantly taps into the fear of failure all writers experience by addressing the dream of making a living as a writer and then quickly smothering that dream with the doubts that creep up at the mere thought of it:

So, who knows? Maybe the doubters are right. Maybe you are naive to think you could earn a living doing something you love, instead of something you just tolerate.

The fear of failure is painful, yes. But giving voice to it is validating and makes readers eager for the solutions that will set that fear free.

Introduction Rule #5. Hint at the Promised Land

Finally, as you wrap up your intro, hint at the promised land.

The place readers will get to when they master your methods. The destination your post promises to take them.

But whatever you do, do not give it all away. Just one sentence that says too much satisfies your readers enough to send them clicking away.

Why? Because readers bore easily. You must keep them on their toes. And the point of an introduction is not to give answers, it’s to set the stage for all the hearty advice your post will provide.

Example:

In the introduction to Meera Kothand’s post, she addressed a problem all new bloggers face: How do you get to know your audience when you don’t have one yet?

She goes on to talk about the big mistake many of them make (making assumptions) and why that’s ineffective. Then, she uses the simplest phrase to hint at a solution:

That kind of guessing is like throwing darts blindfolded and hoping you hit the bull’s eye.

Sometimes it works. Usually, it doesn’t.

Fortunately, there’s another way…

How could anyone not want to keep reading?

How to Write an Introduction: Bonus Tip

When writing an introduction, try drafting two completely different versions approached from different angles and triggering different emotions.

Doing so will highlight the techniques and emotions that work best for both your audience and the content of your post.

Editor’s Note:

A word of caution:

No matter how eloquent your words…

No matter how powerful your prose…

If your introduction doesn’t satisfy user intent, readers will click the “back” button and never return.

What’s user intent?

It’s the purpose behind the Google search.

If someone searches for “how to lose weight” in Google, they’re expecting search results that will help them lose weight.

If they click a headline that reads “7 Easy Tips For Losing Weight Fast”, and the post begins with an amusing Nicolas Cage anecdote, there’s a good chance they will leave — never getting to read the rest of the post, which is filled with weight loss wisdom.

And when they leave, what they’re essentially telling Google is this:

“At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

And Google will respond by ranking your post lower in its search results.

Step #3. Deliver Advice That’s Easy to Consume and Impossible to Ignore

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Okay, you’re doing great.

You got readers to click on your headline, you lured them down the page with your intro, and now it’s time to deliver on all that you’ve promised.

If you want readers to love you and look forward to every post you write, you’ll over-deliver.

If you want them to take a quick look and vanish for good, you’ll under-deliver.

The choice is yours.

Use the guide below to deliver valuable and easy-to-consume advice:

Content Rule #1. Add Pitstops

Subheads — use them.

Why? Because readers are scanners.

They have no choice. There’s a behemoth amount of content at their fingertips, and not all of it is good.

And so they scan (as do you, I’m sure).

Subheads are your chance to prove to readers that your content holds value. To keep luring them back into your post, when their instinct is to leave.

Blogging is a battle, remember?

Keep these four tips in mind when drafting your subheads:

#1. Add a Subhead Every Few Paragraphs

Sprinkle subheads throughout your post.

Why? Because they gently guide readers along the route your post is heading, making their experience feel clear, easy and enjoyable.

And never forget, your blog posts are all about your readers’ experience.

If readers see too much text when they’re scanning without enough pit stops, they’ll feel overwhelmed. It’s like getting on a bus tour and being told there will be no bathroom breaks … oh, the anxiety!

Example:

Every single post on Smart Blogger.

Seriously.

That’s how important this is.

#2. Avoid the 3 Subhead Blunders That Make Readers Bounce

Subheads have the same function as headlines; they must make readers curious so they keep reading. So you should follow similar rules when drafting them and avoid the following common blunders:

The Plain Label Subhead: In case it bears repeating, never bore your readers. Labels are boring. Treat your subheads like mini-headlines and make sure they invoke curiosity.

The Spoiler Subhead: Don’t give away too much in your subhead. If you do, readers will feel no compulsion to read the rest of your text.

The Cryptic Subhead: Don’t try to be too clever. Readers don’t like to play guessing games. Adding curiosity should never come at the expense of clarity.

Example:

Let’s say you’re writing a post about the impact sleep has on anxiety levels and you include the following subheads:

The Importance of Sleep

Creating a Steady Sleeping Routine Will Reduce Anxiety

Refuse the Roast and Catch More Z’s

See how the first subhead is way too plain, the second gives too much away, and the third, well, it probably made no sense to you, right?

The subheads below would do a better job at grabbing readers:

The Easiest Way to Reduce Daily Anxiety

How to Beat Anxiety Without Resorting to Medication

The One Thing You Must Avoid to Sleep Better

#3. Compare Each Subhead to Your Main Headline

Each subhead should clearly deliver on the overall headline of your post.

Again, if you’re viewing subheads as pit stops, they must all lead to the ultimate destination — what was promised by your headline.

If the subheads get off track and move away from that destination, readers are left feeling lost and confused.

In that case, either the subheads need to change or the headline needs rethinking.

Example:

Say you’re writing a post called “How to Silence Your Nagging Inner Critic” and you include the following subheads:

Observe Your Thoughts

Prove Yourself Wrong

Ask Yourself This Powerful Question

Bravely Quit Your Day Job

The fourth subhead’s sudden twist in topic is jarring. It does not deliver on the overall headline, which had nothing to do with your day job.

Perhaps you intended all along for the post to be about not letting doubts stop you from following your dreams and quitting your day job, but readers scanning subheads will not understand that.

They will simply feel confused.

#4. Follow a Format

If you are listing various “ways,” “steps,” “methods,” “signs,” etc., to achieve what the headline of the post promises, keep the format consistent.

If you don’t, the post comes across as unpolished. Bloggers overlook this all the time, but it’s easy to fix once you’re aware of it.

If you separate your subheads from the post and list them back to back, you can see if any stray from the course.

Example:

Say your post is called “12 Ways to Cure Insomnia” and you have a subhead for each of the 12 ways. You’ll want those subheads to follow a consistent format.

Let’s say your first few subheads read as follows:

Exercise Every Morning

Avoid Caffeine Like the Plague

Wake Up at the Same Time Everyday

There is Nothing More Sleep-Inducing Than Nighttime Meditation

Something there feel a little off?

The first three subheads start with an action verb instructing readers what to do. They are also fairly consistent in length.

But then the fourth subhead suddenly changes the format and breaks the flow. It doesn’t start with a verb and it’s much longer than the others.

This inconsistency may seem fairly innocent, but it’s distracting to readers.

Content Rule #2. Unleash the Unexpected

Let’s face it, readers today are info-holics. We all are.

So tired old advice isn’t going to cut it. Your post must be unique, bold, and eye-opening.

My advice? List your main points and see if you can add a unique perspective, experience, or twist to them. Something readers aren’t expecting.

What belief systems have you learned to challenge? What do you know that most people don’t? How can you shed new light on an old problem? What methods do you use that others won’t know about?

You don’t want to go overboard just for the sake of adding shock value. Your advice must be authentic and truly helpful. But regurgitating old advice doesn’t challenge you as a writer, nor does it enlighten your audience.

So pour your readers a little espresso for their info-hangover by delivering the unexpected.

Example:

Countless articles have been written about blogging, but how many have called you out for being dumb or told you to replace your friends?!

Jon does just that by knocking you over the head with some hard truth bombs about what it takes to make it as a blogger.

Content Rule #3. Follow a Formula

Notice how this post follows a pretty consistent formula?

Each section is relatively similar in length. Every subhead follows a pattern. Each section ends with an example.

The more consistency you weave into your posts, the better the reader’s experience.

Let’s say you write a list post covering five steps to achieve something. If the first step is 500 words, the second and third steps are 100 words, the fourth step is 200 words and the fifth step is 400 words, it looks sloppy. As though you didn’t bother to edit it before hitting publish.

Your readers deserve the best, and minor details like this matter as they affect the fluidity of their experience.

Want to go even more pro? Look at the the beginning, middle and end of each section you write, and create a guiding formula. Perhaps you start each section with a bold statement or personal experience. Then you flesh out your advice in the middle. And then you end each section with a one-sentence call to action.

The more formulas you add to your posts, the easier they are to write and the more they look like polished works of art.

Example:

In his post on getting traffic from Twitter, Brian Honigman uses hashtags for each subhead, each section is consistent in length, and each includes a graphic.

Readers know exactly what to expect from each section, making for a fluid reading experience.

Content Rule #4. Be Ridiculously Generous

Many bloggers worry about giving away too much in their posts. After all, they want readers to sign up for their paid coaching calls or products.

So they hold back, barely skimming the surface of their advice.

Truthfully, if you’re not generous with your readers in your posts, they won’t get a good impression of your paid products.

Don’t hold back on your readers. Fully work through the problem with them. Give them complete solutions and powerful advice. Wow them with your generosity and they will stick around as loyal readers and customers.

Example:

Want to learn everything there is to know about affiliate marketing?

Holy smokes. At 10,000 words, that insanely generous post by Leanne Regalla is basically a textbook on the subject, and reader comments praise it as such. (Let’s all bookmark this one, yes?)

A post of this magnitude is quite an undertaking, but don’t let it scare you. You can also wow your audience with your generosity and thoughtfulness in a 1,000-word post.

Content Rule #5. Start and End Strong

Just as your introduction and conclusion should grab readers, you want the main body of your post to start and end strong as well.

Of course, every section should have valuable content, but if you’re offering five ways to achieve something, save your absolute best tips for the first and fifth ways. The first way will grab your readers’ attention, and the fifth way will leave them feeling fully satisfied.

On the other hand, if each tip successively decreases in value, readers will feel like your post is deflating. And their excitement will deflate with it.

Let’s leave readers feeling pumped when they finish your post.

Example:

Linda Formichelli gives ten crafty ways to write 1,000 words per hour.

While all ten ways are excellent, I’d argue that the first (about writing under the pressure of a full bladder) and last (about gambling with your reputation) are the most bold and attention-grabbing (bathroom break, anyone?).

Writing a Blog Post: Bonus Tip

Before writing the main sections of your post, flesh out an outline to nail your points down.

The clearer and more simplified your outline is, the more clarity and conviction your post will have.

Step #4. Close with a Motivational Bang

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We’re almost at the finish line! It’s time to close your post with a bang.

This is where you rally behind your readers. Show them that you believe in them.

Make them believe they can achieve the goal promised by your headline (because after reading your generous advice, they certainly can).

Follow these rules when crafting your motivational conclusion:

Conclusion Rule #1. Give Your Readers a Pep Talk

Motivate your readers.

Show them how far they’ve come, what they’re capable of, and what life will look like once they’ve implemented your advice.

Give them the pep talk you longed for when you were struggling with the topic your post presents.

Empower them by raising your expectations of them. They can’t just read your post and pretend it never happened — they must take action. Immediately.

Make them see that no matter what they’ve experienced or how hard they’ve struggled, their time is now.

Example:

In this post’s conclusion, Jon uses all he’s had to overcome in life to show readers that they have no excuses: no matter hard things get, they can accomplish anything they set their minds to.

He encourages readers by letting them know that he believes in them and then he raises his expectations of them by telling them they need to get started … “right freaking now.”

By the time you’re done reading the conclusion, you feel like you can conquer just about anything!

Conclusion Rule #2. Avoid New Information

A common mistake many bloggers make?

Suddenly inserting new information or tips in their conclusions.

It’s like reaching the last ten minutes of a spellbinding movie. You’re on pins and needles waiting to see how it ends, and suddenly a new character is introduced. What the … ?!

It’s jarring. Don’t do that to your readers.

Example:

In his conclusion, Robert van Tongeren motivates you to repurpose old blog posts by comparing them to epic musical classics; if they disappeared into obscurity simply because they’re old, we’d all be at a great loss.

Imagine if in the midst of such a conclusion, Robert quickly threw in one more way to repurpose content, or one small caveat to his post’s advice, or one more general tip to keep in mind?

It would throw the whole closing off and leave readers feeling ruffled instead of jamming to Bohemian Rhapsody.

How to Write a Conclusion: Bonus Tip

When writing your conclusion, put yourself back in the shoes of your readers.

What will their lives be like if they accomplish the advice in your post? How will they feel?

The more you can hone in on your readers’ point of view, the more you can motivate them to take action.

Editor’s Note:

Too many bloggers put too little thought into their closings.

That’s a shame.

Let’s face it…

Most people don’t read 100% of our posts. Heck, most people don’t even read half.

So how do we reward the precious few who read and absorbed the words we poured our heart and soul into?

With a closing we whipped together in 20 seconds.

Someone who makes it to the end of your post is primed.

They trust you. They like you. They want you to tell them what to do next.

So tell them.

Don’t waste this opportunity.

Step #5. Polish Your Post So It’s Smoother Than a Slip ‘n Slide

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Phew! You’ve written your post. Next up?

Take a well-deserved break. Step away for a day or more so you can come back to it with fresh eyes.

Once you’re ready, it’s time to do some editing. I know, the mind reels that there’s more work to do!

But editing your post is essential. If your post doesn’t provide a smooth reading experience, your reader will lose attention and bail.

Use this checklist when you’re ready to edit your post:

Take a Knife to It. Slash all unnecessary words, sentences, paragraphs, stories, etc. Include only what is absolutely essential to convey your message. Nothing more.

Motivate, Don’t Lecture. Tweak any statements that hint of being the condescending professor. Make readers feel like you’re on their side and dedicated to their success (because you are).

Add Emotion. Infuse your writing with passion, energy, and enthusiasm. If you’re bored by your topic, readers will be too.

Make it Easy on the Eye. Break up any large paragraphs (2–5 sentences maximum is your goal) and run-on sentences.

Break it Down. Clarify overly complicated wording. If you can’t say it simply, don’t write it. You don’t want to confuse your readers.

Speak Their Language. Add examples or metaphors to make complex ideas feel more tangible and easier to digest.

Check Yourself. Remove any contradictory statements or repetitive ideas (trust me, they’re there).

Don’t Yo-Yo. Ensure each sentence, paragraph and section drives the post forward toward the destination promised by the headline (no side routes or backtracking).

Be Smooth. Make each sentence and paragraph flow seamlessly into the next. Each sentence should be completely dependent on the ones before and after it or the transitions will feel choppy.

Avoid Sharp Turns. Adjust any abrupt changes in topic. They’re jarring to readers.

Keep It Real. Don’t mimic styles that don’t come naturally to you. The more you write, the more you’ll find your authentic writing voice.

Add Highlights. Use bold and italics to add stress where appropriate (but do so sparingly).

Shoot Bullets. Use bullet points to group related ideas and make them more digestible.

Spark the Senses. Be specific and concrete (describe things readers can see, feel, hear, smell or taste). Avoid abstract statements.

Be Firm. Avoid words like “might,” “may,” “possibly” and “perhaps” when delivering your advice.

Respect Nature. Put things in their natural order (e.g., past to present, young to old, small to large, breakfast to dinner, etc.).

Be Consistent. Make sure all points in a list belong to the same category; a list of steps should only list steps, a list of things should only list things, etc. This might sound like common sense, but this rule gets broken often.

Don’t Be Lazy. Ensure all the necessary information is contained within the post itself. (External links should only provide supplemental information. A reader shouldn’t have to click a link to comprehend your post.)

Kill the Weak. Eliminate weak and flabby words. Replace weak verbs (e.g., “she went”) with more concrete, visceral verbs (“she walked”), replace passive voice (e.g., “he was pushing”) with active voice (e.g., “he pushed”) and replace weak adjectives (e.g., “good”) with strong adjectives (e.g., “wonderful”).

Feel the Beat. Be mindful of the pace and rhythm of each section. Speed things up or add some punch with crisp, short sentences. Slow things down with longer explanations. Good writing uses both.

Do the Obvious. Fix any spelling or grammar mistakes (check out tools like Grammarly and Hemingway App).

Be Honest. Give credit where due.

Want this 22-point checklist as a handy, printable PDF? Click here to download it for free.

How to Edit a Blog Post: Bonus Tip

A great way to self-edit your posts is to read them out loud.

Doing so will help you catch many of the issues listed above, particularly things like overly complicated wording, run-on sentences and choppy rhythm.

Win the Battle for Your Reader’s Attention

Blogging is a battle.

A war to get your ideas the attention they deserve.

Your enemy? The dizzying array of online distractions that devour your readers.

This battle is not for the faint of heart.

There are so many learning curves. Blogging platforms and plugins you’ll need to install. Social networks you’ll need to employ. Marketing techniques you’ll need to try.

But none of that stuff matters if you’re drowning your ideas in amateur writing. You might as well lay your sword down in defeat. Readers don’t have time for amateurs.

So before you venture any further down the blogging rabbit hole, you better make sure you know how to write a blog post like a pro.

Skip that step, and nothing can save you. Your battle is lost.

The good news is, writing effective blog posts is a skill you can learn. And it’s one you must learn.

You have powerful words and ideas that can transform readers’ lives. Those ideas are worth fighting for.

So when you’re ready to enter the arena, arm yourself with this ultimate guide and fight the good fight.

Your readers are counting on you.

About the Author: Liz Careathers, Esq. worked as an instructor in Jon’s guest blogging course for two years editing the posts of hundreds of students. She now writes to empower her readers at StrongSensitiveSouls.com while raising her two little girls. Download her free Checklist for Writing Blog Posts that Emotionally Engage Your Audience.

The post How to Write a Blog Post in 2019: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-write-a-blog-post/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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How to Promote Your Blog in 2019: 9 Creative Strategies

Whether your blog is brand new or already established, you can never have enough traffic.

Seriously…

I work at an SaaS company called Ahrefs, and even though the Ahrefs blog pulls in over 200k organic traffic every month, we still experiment with ways to promote our blog and bring in more traffic.

Because let’s face it:

It’s 2019. Simply sending an email blast to your subscriber list doesn’t cut it anymore.

But don’t fret.

If you’re stuck coming up with new ideas for how to promote your blog, here are 9 tried-and-tested tactics that have worked for us.

Let’s dig in.

#1. Work with Podcasts

Let’s start things off with the buzzword of the year: podcasts.

Thanks to their flexibility (you can listen to them while you’re at work or when you’re on the go), they’re the most popular form of audio content.

They’re also widely available on services like iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.

Some quick facts:

Over 44% of the US population has listened to a podcast;

They’re extremely targeted, with multiple podcasts covering every niche imaginable;

Their audiences are incredibly engaged.

Ahrefs has had great success with sponsoring podcasts (paid advertising) as well as guesting on them — that is, sending a member of our team to be interviewed on a show.

Here’s an actual comment from a new customer and blog reader of ours:

For sponsoring podcasts, think of this tactic as a type of influencer marketing.

Your job is to sell your blog to the podcast host and the podcast host’s job is, in turn, to sell your blog to their audience.

How to Promote Your Blog by Sponsoring Podcasts

If you have the budget, sponsoring podcasts is a great way to promote your blog. Here’s how you do it:

Step #1. Do Your Research

Create a list of podcasts whose audiences are a good match for your blog. If you have no idea where to start, here’s a tip:

Try using a specialized podcast search engine like Listen Notes. Browse the shows and pick your favorites.

Step #2. Make Contact

Once you’ve created a list of targets, you’ll need to contact the podcasts and inquire about sponsorship details.

What are their pricing packages? What dates do they have available? Are there any gotchas?

Prices can range from $50 to $5,000 and beyond per episode, so work within your particular budget.

Step #3. Iron Out the Details

This includes your ad copy, delivery, and any other deliverables like your blog’s logo and elevator pitch.

In my experience, organic reads do much better than “scripted ads.”

The goal is to get the podcast host to sound like a fan and regular reader of your blog.

Step #4. Wait for Your Ad to Air

If anything is off, be sure to let the podcast know as soon as possible!

How to Promote Your Blog with Podcast Interviews

If you’re strapped for cash (or simply don’t want to do podcast advertising), another approach is to appear as a guest on podcasts.

This is usually free — unless you’re approaching extremely-popular podcasts, which tend to charge a one-time appearance fee.

The catch is you’ll need some kind of credibility to your name. In other words, you’ll need to convince the podcast host that you’re someone their audience would love to listen to.

The process for this is similar to the one detailed above:

Step #1. Create a Target List

Use Listen Notes or a similar tool to create a list of podcast targets.

Step #2. Check if They Accept Interviews

Often, podcasts will explicitly state on their websites whether or not they accept interview requests.

And if they don’t accept interview requests? Ask anyway.

Send in your pitch and convince them you have lots of value to add.

Step #3. Follow the Host’s Lead

Every podcast will have their own process. Some may want to do pre-interviews, some may want to work on a rough content online with you, and some may want to just “wing it.”

Whatever the process, remember to be courteous and respectful — you’re a guest, after all.

Just don’t forget to mention your blog!

Editor’s Note:

Appearing on podcasts is one of our favorite promotion strategies here at Smart Blogger — as evidenced by our appearances on EOFire, James Altucher, Duct Tape Marketing, the Write Podcast, and Loz James’ Content Champion.

Just make sure you’re prepared:

Show up early to the interview so the host has time to do a sound check.

Don’t use your phone or your laptop’s built-in microphone; instead, invest in an external microphone. Quality and price points vary, but you can get a simple microphone that plugs into your computer’s headphone jack for the price of a medium pizza.

Use headphones to cut down on echoes.

Turn off all notifications and, if you can, shut your door to minimize background noise.

#2. Republishing on Medium

Sure, you can publish tons of absolutely amazing posts on your own blog.

But if you never extend your reach, whether it’s by growing your list of email subscribers or boosting your number of social media followers, your audience will be limited.

So what do you do if you don’t have time to create promotional content and extend your reach?

Try this:

Republish your existing posts on blogging platforms like Medium.

Your content will be seen by a whole new audience — some of which will then visit your blog and discover all the great content you have to offer.

For example, look at this blog post I published on the Ahrefs blog last December:

It got 463 shares and 43 comments — very decent engagement considering the fact that the topic likely didn’t appeal to our blog’s core audience (people interested in search engine optimization).

In a bid to push the post out to a wider audience, we republished it on Medium. It turned out to be a fantastic decision.

Here are the stats as of March this year:

That’s 13.6k views in total, with 22% of readers actually finishing the whole post.

Plus, the Medium publication of this post averages a steady trickle of 10-30 readers every day.

Note: For the SEO-conscious among us, Medium uses canonical tags when you use their republishing tool. So no worries about duplicate content issues.

How to Republish on Medium

Medium has made the process of importing and republishing content super simple. Here’s how you do it:

Step #1. Choose a Post to Republish

Ideally, pick one of your top performers (since it’s already proved it’s popular).

You can use a tool like Ahrefs’ Top Content report in Site Explorer to see which of your posts have the most shares on social media.

Since they’ve proven themselves on social media, these posts are the most likely to resonate with audiences beyond your blog’s existing one.

Editor’s Note:

Though they aren’t nearly as detailed, there are a few free tools to track social media shares if you aren’t an Ahrefs customer.

As an example, SharedCount.com lets you copy and paste URLs of individual posts; however, they only show counts for Facebook and Pinterest:

Step #2. Import Your Post Into Medium

Enter the URL of your post into the Medium import tool and hit “Import”.

Step #3. Publish Your Post on Medium

Follow Medium’s guidelines to format and polish your post, then click “Publish”.

That’s all there is to it!

Further Reading:

How to Get More Traffic from Every Post by Republishing on Medium

Medium for Marketing: How to Get 1,000 Followers and 46,287 New Site Visits in 30 Days

#3. Smart Social Sharing

I know, I know.

It’s 2019, and promoting your blog posts on social media is by no means a new strategy.

BUT — there’s more to social media promotion than pasting a link and clicking a “Tweet” button.

Here’s an example of the success we’ve seen from smart sharing on the Ahrefs Twitter account:

Pretty impressive, right?

Here’s another example:

These tweets received amazing engagement, but we actually spent very little time creating them.

We achieved this ROI by working smarter, not harder.

How to Promote Your Blog Using Social Media (Smartly)

Here’s our process:

Step #1. Brainstorm Ideas and Organize Them

The great thing about social media content is it’s all fleeting. Even if an idea is a flop, it’s easy to turn the page and try the next idea.

But to make the most of these (admittedly fleeting) opportunities, you need two things:

A large list of ideas;

A method for grouping similar ideas into categories.

To brainstorm ideas, get a pen and paper (or launch Google Docs, Microsoft Word, etc.) and jot down things you would like to try.

Get as creative as you want.

Think memes would be popular with your audience? Write it down. Believe infographics or inspirational quotes could be successful? Write them down. Believe posts or tweets on Topic X or Topic Y could receive high engagement?

(You get the idea.)

By listing all of your ideas, you’ll then be able to group them into categories. This will help you track which categories are successful and which are not.

Step #2. Craft and Publish (and Monitor) Your Content

You can use social media management tools like Buffer and MeetEdgar to schedule your content and keep it running automatically.

Once your social media posts begin making their way into the wild, you’ll be able to track their progress.

Do some receive more comments, while others receive more shares and retweets? Are some more popular in the mornings, while others receive more engagement during the evenings?

All data, both good and bad, will help you in the next step.

Step #3. Review the Results

After an appropriate amount of time has gone by, hold a review.

Drop the categories that didn’t perform well. Keep the ones with potential and refine them.

You want to focus on the categories your audience likes and tweak them.

Do they like emojis, or do they gravitate towards a more “serious” tone? Do they like infographics, or long chunks of copy with statistics thrown in?

And so on.

From here, keep repeating steps 1-3 until you’ve locked down the type of content your audience loves.

And once you’ve figured out what they love, keep giving it to them.

Step #4. Advertising (Optional)

If you want to try advertising, the above process will save you some serious money.

Pick your top organic performers from Step #3 and put money into promoting them.

Since they’ve already proven themselves to be popular, this is a safe and effective way to buy ads to promote your blog (without wasting time and money on losers).

Further Reading:

10 Simple Twitter Tactics That Will Get You More Traffic Today

9 Ways to Go Viral on Pinterest and Get an Avalanche of Traffic

How I Got 532 Subscribers in 43 Days Using Cheap Facebook Ads

#4. Create Roundup Posts

The perks of this strategy pretty much sell themselves.

Here’s what happens when you publish a good roundup post:

First off, it’s easy to write since most of the content is created for you;

You make new and powerful connections within your industry;

Thanks to those connections, you gain access to new audiences;

Your post naturally gains backlinks and social shares.

So… what’s a roundup post, anyway?

Here’s an example:

Essentially, a roundup post features a compilation of answers to a single question, ideally by established experts in the field.

A great roundup post adds immense value to readers since they offer a range of expert opinions in one place.

Plus, they tend to bring in lots of traffic since the experts featured in them will often share the post with their own audiences.

What’s not to love?

How to Create Roundup Posts

Here are the basics of roundup posts so you can create your own:

Step #1. Craft Your Question

Don’t take this step lightly.

If you ask too much of the experts you’ll be polling, most won’t have time to participate (even if they want to). And if you ask a question they’ve heard (and answered) a million times, most won’t be interested.

Your question needs to be clear, succinct, and something that will appeal both to your readers and the experts you’ll be asking to participate.

Step #2. Create a List of Influencers

Once you’ve crafted your question, it’s time to create your influencer wish list. These are the influencers (“experts”) you’ll be asking to participate in your roundup post.

Since not everyone will respond to you, reach out to significantly more experts than you need.

For example, if you need 20 people for your roundup post, reach out to 40 experts (or more).

Remember:

A roundup post is only as good as the people you feature. While it takes exponentially more time and effort to get a response from a more recognized name in your industry, it’s likely worth it.

With that said, don’t expect the Michael Jordans of your industry to respond to your outreach — try to find people with a reasonable level of influence who aren’t complete titans.

Step #3. Reach Out to the Experts

You can use specialized tools like BuzzStream or Mailshake to streamline the entire outreach process by making it easier to hunt down email addresses, batch send messages, and conduct follow-ups.

Quick tips for the message you send:

Keep it short;

Keep it genuine.

Step #4. Follow Up (But Only Once)

There’s a chance your first email will slip past the expert you’re trying to reach. After all, they’re very busy and likely receive dozens (or hundreds) of emails every single day.

This is why sending a follow-up email is helpful:

However, please don’t follow-up more than once — any more than that and you’re just being a nuisance.

Step #5. Compile Your Responses

At this point, you’ll have a bunch of answers ready to sift through. Now all you need to do is turn them into a cohesive post.

Try to find trends in the responses and sort them into sections.

Next, add your own introduction to each section, as well as your opinion on why certain trends occurred.

This is how you put your stamp on the roundup post and make it your own.

Step #6. Publish Your Post (And Tell the Experts)

Once your post is published, it’s time to let everyone know about it.

Email everyone who responded to your outreach emails (whether they ultimately contributed to your post or not) and thank them for their time. Include a link to your post, and be sure to send them well-wishes.

You can also ask them (politely) to share your post with their audience, but this is often implied.

Editor’s Note:

Want to let influencers know your post has been published and promote the post at the same time? In addition to emailing them, tag the influencers on Twitter too.

#5. Advocate In-Person

While all blogs are digital in nature, your promotional efforts aren’t limited to the digital world alone.

It might be a step (or ten!) outside your comfort zone, but try this:

Approach a local event in your niche and pitch yourself as a speaker.

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world or how big the event is — it could even be a small meet-up session.

The idea is to reach out to new people and give the work you do a huge visibility boost.

How to Promote Your Blog by Speaking at Events

If you’re interested in this advanced promotional tactic, here’s how to get started:

Step #1. Shortlist a Few Events or Meet-Ups You’d Like to Attend

If you’re not sure where to start, look around on Reddit, Facebook groups, or Slack groups and join some communities in your industry.

Chances are good people are organizing and promoting events in these communities.

Make a list of potential targets, underline your favorites, and move on to the next step.

Step #2. Pitch Yourself to Event Organizers

When pitching yourself, propose some topics that you’d be comfortable speaking about and explain how your content will add value to their audience.

Hopefully it goes without saying, but you should know these topics very well.

Note: If you have no experience with public speaking, it’s a good idea to start small. Save the conference keynote speeches for later.

Step #3. Craft Your Presentation

Try to deliver as much value as you can and position your blog as a great resource. This is also a good time to promote your social media accounts, which are ideally already geared towards driving traffic to your blog.

Just be sure not to make it all about you. Your job is to teach, to impart your know-how to others.

And when you’re able to do this well, promoting your blog will happen organically.

Step #4. Speak

Show up to the event, deliver your speech, meet lots of new people, and enjoy converting some new readers!

Editor’s Note:

To improve your chances of landing speaking engagements, make sure you:

Have a website (aka your business card);

Create a 2-3 minute demo video (aka your movie trailer);

Acquire a few testimonials (from people willing to vouch for you).

There’s a lot more to it than we can unpack here, so be sure to check out Grant Baldwin’s post How to Get Speaking Engagements. In fact, browse his entire website, The Speaker Lab. It’s chock-full of helpful information.

#6. Integrate Your Blog with Your Product

Most businesses have blogs that are completely disconnected from their main product.

If you blog for a brand or business, why not align your messaging and integrate your blog posts directly into your UI (for software products) or in your product descriptions and previews (for e-commerce)?

This lets you direct traffic over to your blog and gives your customers a more seamless experience.

How to Fuse Your Blog and Product

For software products, one way to notify people of your newest blog posts is to include a (preferably unobtrusive) in-app notification.

Here’s what it looks like when using Ahrefs:

Click the bell icon and we display a simple drop-down menu listing all our newest content.

So simple, but so effective.

If you have an e-commerce website and your blog posts are educational in nature, you can promote them directly on your homepage.

Beardbrand does this beautifully:

Another way to do this is by scattering in individual links and excerpts of your blog posts wherever they’re relevant. This is how Mr Porter does it:

Time to get creative!

Editor’s Note:

Here’s one more tip that’s missed by a surprising number of business websites…

Include a prominent link to your blog in your website’s navigation menu.

Ahrefs, MeetEdgar, Elegant Themes (affiliate link), and many other smart businesses feature their blogs in their navigation, which helps drive traffic to them.

Here’s how Quuu (affiliate link) does it:

In other words:

If people have to hunt to find your blog ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE, you're doing it wrong.Click To Tweet

#7. Collaborate with Other Blogs

Creating content in collaboration with another blog means you’re able to tap into each other’s audiences and can promote yourself to a whole new set of blog readers.

You can even split the work!

Here’s a post that Ahrefs did with Buffer, a social media management tool:

How to Join Forces With Another Blog

Fair warning:

Collaborating with blogs significantly larger than yours probably isn’t in the cards. However, collaborating with a site similar in size is definitely doable.

Here’s how to get started:

Step #1. Find Opportunities in Your Niche

Look for opportunities to work with blogs within the same niche as yours.

Start by approaching bloggers you have an existing relationship with and ask if they’d like to collaborate. You should leave cold pitching as a last resort.

If you have no idea which blogs to approach, Ahrefs offers a nifty trick:

In Content Explorer, enter a relevant keyword phrase in your niche.

Set the “published” filter to “Last 12 months” and the “Language” filter to “English”. Next, highlight the “one link per domain” option.

Finally, you’ll want to set one more filter: DR (“domain rating”).

The higher this number, the more authoritative the website; however, the more authoritative the website the harder it will be for you to get the blogger’s attention.

In the screenshot below, we set the DR to 40:

This will pull a list of active blogs in your niche.

From here, just sift through the possibilities and pick the ones you’d like to approach.

Step #2. Make Your Pitch

The process is pretty similar to advocating in-person: you need to make your best pitch.

Focus on explaining why you want to work with that particular blogger, as well as how collaboration will benefit them.

Feel free to suggest a couple of topics you feel would work well.

Step #3. Create

Creation time!

Finalize your content with the blogger you’re working with and remember to stay prompt and gracious throughout.

This is not the time to get pushy or rude and make an enemy out of a would-be ally.

Step #4. Publish and Promote

Promote the post to your newsletter and social media accounts. Make sure to tag and give credit to the other blogger too.

Further Reading:

Bloggers Unite! A 10-Point Guide for Blogger Collaboration

How to collaborate with other influencers

How to Collaborate: Examples, Tips & Tools for the Ultimate Influencer-Sourced Content Asset

#8. Repurpose Content Into Other Formats to Reach New Audiences

You’ve spent all this time and effort to create amazing content in the form of blog posts.

Why not get more out of the same piece of content?

Since your customers hang out in multiple places online and have their own preferences when it comes to content formats, you should try to reach audiences beyond blog readers.

And you do that by repurposing your content.

How to Repurpose Your Content

Some examples:

Turn your blog posts into SlideShare presentations;

Take a small section of your blog post and reimagine it as an infographic;

Convert your blog post into a YouTube video.

Or, do it in reverse.

We published a YouTube tutorial on WordPress SEO. It has over 20,000 views and 70 comments — not too shabby.

We decided to turn it into a blog post. Here’s how it performed:

By re-creating our video in written form, we were able to reach an entirely new audience on an entirely different platform.

And the best part?

We didn’t have to come up with fresh content for the post. We took what we already had and created something new with it.

Further Reading:

7 Ways You Can Repurpose Your Old Blog Posts to Get More Traffic

11 Clever Tips to Repurpose Content

#9. Monitor Online Conversations for Opportunities to Promote Yourself

People talk about all sorts of things on the Internet, including your niche.

If you monitor these conversations, you’ll get lots of chances to slide into the discussion, add value, and (subtly) promote your blog.

Here’s a pretty meta example of this tactic in action.

I once mentioned Talkwalker alerts in a blog post I wrote, and an employee commented on the post to provide the link:

How to Monitor Conversations for Promotion Opportunities

Tracking online conversations is surprisingly easy. Here’s how you do it:

Step #1. Set up Your Alert

You can use a free tool like Google Alerts, or services like Talkwalker Alerts and Ahrefs Alerts.

For Ahrefs, go to Alerts, Mentions, +New Alert, and enter your keyword you’d like to track.

What these tools do is send you an email every time a keyword is mentioned on the web.

From there, you can simply follow the link in the email to find out where you’ve been mentioned.

Step #2. Carefully Monitor Your Mentions

Whether your mention comes in a blog article or a forum discussion, look for suitable areas where you can add value.

For example, if you’re a food blogger and you receive an alert for a discussion of a restaurant, it’s your time to shine by talking about your own experience.

However, a word of warning:

It’s extremely important not to shoehorn yourself into conversations.

If you’re clearly only there to advertise your own blog, people will catch on pretty quickly.

So, be sure to link to your own blog strategically, and only after you’d added value to the discussion.

Editor’s Note:

You can also track mentions using Twitter’s advanced search.

For example, let’s say I wanted to find every English-speaking tweet in 2018 that mentioned Jon Morrow by name:

Twitter’s advanced search results would return a veritable smorgasbord of tweets:

Cool, right?

Use this feature to find keywords and mentions that matter to you, roll up your sleeves, and then get to work. The applications are nearly limitless.

Over to You

If you sometimes find yourself lying in bed at night wondering, “how do I increase my blog traffic?”, I feel your pain.

I did my best to stay away from the more common methods of blog promotion, so hopefully you found something new to try.

Of course, not all of the tactics we discussed will be suitable for, or will work for, your blog and your particular niche.

You’ll need to experiment and find what works for you.

When it comes down to it, marketing is always about experimenting — experimenting, failing, and going at it again and again until you succeed.

Now, go forth and get that traffic!

About the Author: Rebekah does marketing and writing for Ahrefs. She doesn’t sit still for long, so catch up with her on Twitter.

The post How to Promote Your Blog in 2019: 9 Creative Strategies appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-promote-your-blog/

0 notes

laurylyonus · 6 years ago

Text

How to Install WordPress in 5 Minutes or Less (2019)

Looking for a tutorial showing you how to install WordPress, but keep finding resources that tackle every method except the one you need?

We’ve got your back.

In this post, we break down every conceivable way there is to install WordPress.

You’ll learn how to install WordPress using cPanel, Softaculous, MOJO, Fantastico, and QuickInstall; locally on both Windows and Mac; manually using FTP; and we’ll break down popular hosting providers like GoDaddy, Bluehost, and HostGator.

You’ll also learn how to install WordPress Multisite, how to install WordPress in different languages, and more.

Just click the appropriate link in our Table of Contents to jump to the section you need.

Ready?

Let’s go.

Table of Contents

How to Install WordPress on cPanel (Softaculous, MOJO, Fantastico, and QuickInstall)

How to Install WordPress on Localhost (Or, How to Install WordPress Locally)

How to Install WordPress on Windows

How to Install WordPress on Mac

How to Install WordPress via FTP (Or, How to Install WordPress Manually)

How to Install WordPress Multisite

How to Install WordPress in Your Language

How to Install WordPress on 12 Popular Web Hosts

How to Install WordPress on SiteGround

How to Install WordPress on Bluehost

How to Install WordPress on GoDaddy

How to Install WordPress on WP Engine

How to Install WordPress on Flywheel

How to Install WordPress on Kinsta

How to Install WordPress on HostGator

How to Install WordPress on DreamHost

How to Install WordPress on A2Hosting

How to Install WordPress on InMotion Hosting

How to Install WordPress on iPage

How to Install WordPress on Hostinger

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Install WordPress on cPanel (Softaculous, MOJO, Fantastico, and QuickInstall)

So, you decided to start a blog.

Awesome. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work installing WordPress.

Thankfully, many of the popular WordPress hosts offer some form of simplified (or even automatic) installation.

If you’re using a “shared” WordPress hosting plan, there’s a good chance your host will use cPanel.

Editor’s Note: cPanel is an online control panel many web hosts use to simplify the whole “how to host a website” thing for users. Go here to learn more about it.

Let’s walk through the cPanel process…

Step #1. Find Out How to Access Your Host’s cPanel

Unfortunately, the way you get to cPanel is not standardized across the web. Different hosts access it differently.

So, before you can do anything, you need to find out how to access your host’s cPanel.

The easiest method is to find the emails your hosting provider sent you when you signed up for your account. Among other valuable bits of information, the URL to your cPanel will be in one of those initial emails.

But if you can’t find the right email, don’t worry.

Just Google the name of your web host and “cPanel login”.

That should do the trick.

Step #2. Get to Know cPanel

The main cPanel dashboard can be a little intimidating.

Relax.

You don’t have to understand all cPanel has to offer. We’re here to do one thing — learn how to install WordPress.

For that, let’s look for the cPanel installer tools, which are usually located near the bottom of the page.

Your host might be using any of the following installers: Softaculous, Fantastico, QuickInstall, or MOJO Marketplace.

We’re going to focus on Softaculous since it’s the most popular.

But don’t worry if your host uses a different installer.

While the specific interfaces might be a bit different, the idea behind every installer is the same.

Plus, they all ask you for the same set of data and inputs.

Step #3. How to Install WordPress Using Softaculous

To begin, look for the Softaculous section in cPanel.

Click on the WordPress logo. The installer tool will open:

Click on the Install Now button to begin the installation process.

Softaculous needs only a handful of details from you. Here are the fields you should pay special attention to:

“Choose the version you want to install” — Always go for the most-recent version available.

“Choose Protocol” — “https://” is the option preferred by Google.

“Choose Domain” — Leave unchanged if you have just one domain assigned to your server; if you have more than one domain, select the desired one for this installation.

“In Directory” — Leave empty if you want to install WordPress in the main directory of your domain name (which most people do).

“Select Plugin(s)” — Optional (but as a general rule: the fewer plugins, the better).

Here’s what the form looks like:

Click Install to proceed.

When the process finishes, Softaculous will show you a final confirmation screen along with links to your WordPress dashboard.

And that’s it!

You’ve installed WordPress using cPanel.

Note: The WordPress dashboard of your newly-installed site should be available at yoursite.com/wp-admin/.

How to Install WordPress on Localhost (Or, How to Install WordPress Locally)

The instructions for how to install WordPress locally depends on whether you’re using a PC (Windows) or a Mac.

We’ll go over both methods.

First up: Windows.

(If you’re on a Mac, click here to jump ahead.)

How to Install WordPress on Windows

WordPress is a great tool for local web development.

Here’s how you install WordPress locally on Windows:

Step #1. Get XAMPP

XAMPP is a local web server for your computer. It’s an all-in-one package with everything you will need to run software (such as WordPress) locally.

What About WAMP?

You might have heard of a similar tool called WAMP.

Under the hood, WAMP and XAMPP do the same thing. However, in my opinion, WAMP isn’t as reliable as XAMPP.

For this reason and others, we’ll focus on XAMPP in this tutorial.

From the XAMPP website, click on the download button for Windows and save the XAMPP package to your desktop.

Launch the XAMPP installer and follow the prompts on the screen.

First, select the individual components you want to have installed. To be safe, you can choose all of them:

Next, select the installation folder for XAMPP.

Note: Avoid installing XAMPP in Program Files. The read/write restrictions of Windows might prevent it from working correctly. Installing in C:\xampp is a safer bet.

XAMPP will take a minute or two to install.

When it’s finished, you’ll see this confirmation screen:

When you click on Finish, you’ll see the main XAMPP config panel.

In it, click on the two Start buttons next to Apache and MySQL.

Like so:

You should see the two labels change to green:

When you see green, your local server is working!

Step #2. Create a Blank Database for WordPress

From the control panel of XAMPP, click on the Admin button in the MySQL row:

This will launch a tool called PHPMyAdmin, which is an open-source database management tool.

Go into Databases (from the top menu).

Enter a name for your new WordPress database (something simple) and click the Create button:

You should see your new blank database in the sidebar:

You can now exit PHPMyAdmin.

Step #3. Download WordPress

Go to WordPress.org and download the most recent version of the software.

Don’t worry. It’s free:

Save the file to your desktop or downloads folder. Extract it.

Go to the folder where you installed XAMPP (C:\xampp) and find the htdocs subfolder.

Create a new subfolder inside htdocs. This is where your site is going to live. For the purpose of this demo, I’ll name the folder mynewsite.

Note: The name of this folder will also become part of the local address of the site. With mynewsite being the folder name, the address of the site is going to be localhost/mynewsite.

Take the contents of the WordPress archive and move them to this new subfolder (“mynewsite” or whatever you named yours).

It should look like this:

Step #4. Install WordPress Locally on Windows

Open your web browser and navigate to localhost/mynewsite.

What you’ll see is the on-screen WordPress Installation Wizard.

The first step is choosing your language:

The next screen is an info card to get you up to speed with what’s going to happen. Click on Let’s go! once you’ve read it.

The next step is a crucial one in the installation.

This is where you get to enter the details of your WordPress connection to the database.

Here are my settings based on everything I’ve set in the previous steps so far:

Important parts:

Database Name — This is the name you set in PHPMyAdmin when creating the database in Step #2.

Username — Set to root.

Password — Leave blank.

Database Host — Set to localhost.

Table Prefix — Leave as is.

The next step is where you get to set the name of your site and the details of your main admin account:

Note: With the exception of username, you’ll be able to easily change these later in your WordPress dashboard.

Click on Install WordPress to finalize everything.

And that’s it. You’ve installed WordPress locally on Windows.

How to Install WordPress on Mac

While installing WordPress locally on Mac isn’t the usual “get app from App Store” experience we’re used to, it can still be done with relative ease.

Here’s how to install WordPress on Mac:

Step #1. Get MAMP

MAMP is a local web server that works quite well on Mac.

(It’s also easier to install than some of its alternatives.).

From the MAMP website, go to the downloads section and choose the option for macOS:

Save the package to your computer.

Launch the MAMP installer and proceed through the on-screen wizard.

When the installation finishes, open MAMP from Mac’s Launchpad.

In the config panel, click on the main Start Servers button.

Congrats! Your local server is working.

Step #2. Create a Blank Database for WordPress

As soon as you start your server in MAMP, you will be taken to the server’s homepage.

Usually, it’s “http://localhost:8888/MAMP/” (without the quotes).

From there, click on PHPMYADMIN under TOOLS:

As mentioned earlier in the post, PHPMyAdmin is a handy, open-source database management tool.

We use it to create a new database for WordPress.

Go into Databases (from the top menu):

Enter a name for your new WordPress database (something simple) and click on Create.

Like so:

You should see your new blank database in the sidebar.

You can now exit PHPMyAdmin.

Step #3. Download WordPress

Go to WordPress.org and download the most recent version of the software.

Save the archive to your Mac and extract it.

Go to the default web folder of your server. That’s usually in Applications/MAMP/htdocs. You can check the location of your default web folder by going into MAMP settings and choosing the Web Server tab:

Create a new subfolder. This is where your site is going to live. For the purpose of this demo, I’ll name my subfolder mynewsite.

Note: The name of this folder will also be part of the local address of the site. With mynewsite being the folder name, the address of the site is going to be localhost:8888/mynewsite.

Take the contents of the WordPress archive and move them to the new folder you created. It should look like this:

Step #4. Install WordPress Locally on Mac

Open your web browser and go to localhost:8888/mynewsite.

What you’ll see is the on-screen WordPress installation wizard. The first step is choosing your language:

The next screen is an info card to get you up to speed with what’s going to happen. Click Let’s go! once you’ve read it.

In the next step, you will enter the details of your WordPress connection to the database.

Here are my settings based on everything I’ve set in the previous steps:

Important parts:

Database Name — This is the name you set in PHPMyAdmin when creating the database in Step #2

Username — Set to root.

Password — Set to root.

Database Host — Set to localhost.

Table Prefix — Leave as is.

The next step is where you get to set the name of your site and the details of your main admin account:

Note: With the exception of username, you’ll be able to easily change these later in your WordPress dashboard.

Click on Install WordPress to finalize everything.

And that’s it. You’ve installed WordPress locally on a Mac

How to Install WordPress via FTP (Or, How to Install WordPress Manually)

Installing WordPress via FTP takes only minutes, but you do need to have a couple of things ready beforehand.

Chiefly, you need to have access to a web server — aka, a web hosting account.

Editor’s Note: Two WordPress hosting options we recommend to our Smart Blogger students are SiteGround (affiliate link) and WP Engine (affiliate link). Both are great options.

Start by going to your host of choice and purchasing one of the available web hosting plans. If you already have a web host, you’re ahead of the game!

Step #1. Download WordPress

Go to WordPress.org and download the latest version of WordPress.

Save the package to your computer and extract its contents.

Step #2. Upload WordPress Files to Your Server

The next step involves connecting to your web server via FTP and uploading your just-downloaded WordPress files.

You’re going to need to use a third-party FTP tool to do that.

FileZilla is a popular one. We’ll use it for the purposes of this demo.

Now, in order to connect to your server, you’ll need your connection details.

This information should have been provided via email when you first signed up for your hosting account. But if you can’t find it, no worries. You can find your FTP information inside your host’s cPanel.

Go to the FTP Accounts section (under FILES):

You’ll find your FTP accounts there. Or, alternatively, you can create your FTP account if one doesn’t already exist.

Next to your FTP account, there’s a link labeled Configure FTP Client.

Click on it:

This will reveal a new section.

In it, click on the FTP Configuration File button under FileZilla:

You can open that file with FileZilla and set up your connection details immediately.

With that done, the only thing left to do is upload your WordPress files to the server.

Depending on your hosting setup, you might need to upload WordPress to a specific directory.

However, for most users the directory will be called public_html or public_www.

If in doubt, verify with your web host.

Step #3. Create a New Database for WordPress in cPanel

WordPress, just like any other modern CMS, cannot work without a database.

The database is where all your posts, pages, comments, and other site content are kept.

To create a new database, go back to cPanel, scroll down to the DATABASES section, and click on MySQL Database Wizard:

From there, you’ll be guided through the steps to create a new database.

First, pick a name for your database:

Next, create a new user account that WordPress will use to access the database.

Note: Be sure to jot down the username and the password. You’ll need them in the next step.

Lastly, assign sufficient access rights to the new user account.

It’s best to do that by simply selecting ALL PRIVILEGES, like so:

Your database setup is now complete!

Step #4. Install WordPress Through the Online Installer

This is the last step on your journey to getting WordPress installed via FTP.

Simply fire up your browser and navigate to your site’s URL.

You’ll see the main page of the WordPress installer.

First, choose the language of your site:

The next step is a crucial one, and it’s where you’ll need to provide your database details.

(Hopefully you jotted those details down earlier!)

Here’s a breakdown for each:

Database Name — The name of your database (from the previous step).

Username — Your chosen username (from the previous step).

Password — Your chosen password (from the previous step).

Database Host — In most cases, set this to localhost. If your hosting setup requires a different value here, they can provide this info.

Table Prefix — You can safely ignore this field and leave as is.

The next step is where you get to set the name of your site and the details of your main admin account:

Note: With the exception of username, you’ll be able to easily change these later in your WordPress dashboard.

Click on Install WordPress to finalize everything.

And that’s it! You’ve successfully installed WordPress manually using FTP.

How to Install WordPress Multisite

WordPress Multisite is an interesting feature built into WordPress.

Simply speaking, with WordPress Multisite, you can launch multiple WordPress websites, all working on the same WordPress install.

This is great for businesses and organizations that need multiple websites, but want to keep the cost of managing them low.

WordPress Multisite is also a great choice for universities where it’s very common for individual courses or teachers to have their own sites.

Here’s how to set up and install WordPress Multisite:

Step #1. Install WordPress Locally, via cPanel, or via FTP

To begin your journey with WordPress Multisite, you first need to install WordPress using any of the methods described earlier in this guide.

Go here to install WordPress using Softaculous, MOJO, Fantastico, QuickInstall, or any other installer tool offered by your host’s cPanel.

Go here to install WordPress locally on Windows or here to install WordPress locally on a Mac.

Finally, go here to install WordPress using FTP.

Once you’ve installed WordPress, you’re ready for the next step.

Step #2. Enable WordPress Multisite

Connect to your server via FTP (explained previously in this guide), and download the wp-config.php file from your main WordPress directory.

Open the file in Notepad (or similar software) and add the following line at the bottom:

define (‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);

Save the file and re-upload it to your main WordPress directory via FTP. You’ll want to overwrite the original file.

Step #3. Set up Your WordPress Multisite Network

At this stage, WordPress is ready to let you configure your network of sites. Here’s how:

First, go to your plugins and deactivate all of them.

Next, go to Tools > Network Setup. This is where you create your network of WordPress sites.

Click on the Install button to begin.

On the next screen, WordPress will give you specific instructions for finalizing the setup.

This will involve editing two files in your WordPress directory (similarly to how we did it a minute ago with wp-config.php).

Example setup:

Step #4. Create your WordPress Multisite Sites

Once you log back into WordPress, you’ll see an updated version of the admin interface with one new section in the top left corner:

This menu is where you can switch between your WordPress sites (and where you can add new sites to the network).

Each website is independent, can feature different content, different user accounts, different themes, different plugins, and so on.

Congrats! You’ve successfully set up WordPress Multisite.

(Feel free to re-activate all your plugins!)

How to Install WordPress in Your Language

Did you know WordPress has been translated into 113 (and counting) languages?

It’s true. You can install WordPress in everything from Afrikaans (South Africa) to 香港中文版 (Simplified Chinese).

In short:

You can install WordPress in your language, no matter what that language might be.

Here’s how to do it:

#1. Download WordPress in Your Language

Go to WordPress.org.

Since WordPress is quite predictive and helpful with international users, based on your location, you’ll see a note encouraging you to download WordPress in your language.

Here’s an example:

What the above box says is:

“WordPress is also available in Polish.”

When you click on the language — in this example, “Polski” — you’ll get redirected to a new, localized WordPress website.

Once there, download the WordPress package and save the ZIP file to your desktop and extract its contents.

#2. Install WordPress via FTP

Next, follow the same instructions we discussed earlier in this guide.

Click here to jump to Upload WordPress Files to Your Server.

Bonus Tip: Installing Language Files from the Admin Dashboard

If you’ve already installed WordPress in one language, but you’d like to use a different language, don’t fret.

WordPress makes switching your language a breeze.

In your Dashboard, go to Settings > General > Site Language.

Then simply choose the language you’d like to use.

And that’s it! You’re done.

How to Install WordPress on 12 Popular Web Hosts

The following section covers how to install WordPress on 12 popular hosting providers. Click on a link below to jump to your host:

How to Install WordPress on SiteGround

How to Install WordPress on Bluehost

How to Install WordPress on GoDaddy

How to Install WordPress on WP Engine

How to Install WordPress on Flywheel

How to Install WordPress on Kinsta

How to Install WordPress on HostGator

How to Install WordPress on DreamHost

How to Install WordPress on A2Hosting

How to Install WordPress on InMotion Hosting

How to Install WordPress on iPage

How to Install WordPress on Hostinger

How to Install WordPress on SiteGround

SiteGround (affiliate link) offers a cool wizard tool to get your WordPress installed in minutes. There’s no need to deal with any coding, settings, or uploading things a server.

Here’s a video showing you the process:

But, if you prefer written instructions, here are the steps:

When you log into your SiteGround user panel for the first time, you’ll be greeted by a message asking if you’d like to have a new website set up for you:

Click on the option labeled “Start a new website” and select WordPress as your platform.

SiteGround will also create a new admin account for you. All you need to do is provide the login details:

That’s all there is to it.

How to Install WordPress on Bluehost

When you sign up for a Bluehost WordPress Hosting plan, the latest version of WordPress is installed automatically for you. All you have to do is configure it.

Here are the steps:

If you’d like to set up additional WordPress sites, it’s easy to do so via the Bluehost dashboard.

Go to My Sites, and then click on Create a Site.

Enter your site details and proceed through the individual screens.

First, you’ll need to pick a name for your WordPress installation:

You will then enter the domain name and directory, plus any optional plugins you might want:

Finally, set your admin user login and password.

How to Install WordPress on GoDaddy

GoDaddy uses cPanel for installing WordPress on their hosting plans.

Here’s their official video walking you through the entire (simple) process:

And if you need to add another WordPress site, that’s easy too.

Log into your GoDaddy user panel, go to Managed WordPress > Manage All. Click Add Site.

From this point on, GoDaddy will take you by the hand and do most of the work for you. All you’ll need to do is enter a name for your site and your desired login credentials for the admin user.

When the installation finishes, GoDaddy will show you a WordPress Setup Wizard to help you customize your site:

You can click No thanks or Continue.

How to Install WordPress on WP Engine

WP Engine (affiliate link) is one of the original “managed” WordPress hosting platforms. They handle all the technical heavy lifting for you, so you can focus on what’s important for your website’s success.

What this means in practice is WP Engine will install WordPress for you when you create an account. You don’t have to lift a finger.

You access the site from your user panel:

If you want to add additional sites to your WP Engine setup, it’s pretty easy. Here’s a video tutorial showing you how:

If you prefer written instructions, here’s WP Engine’s official guide for adding or deleting WordPress installs.

How to Install WordPress on Flywheel

Like WP Engine, Flywheel is a managed WordPress hosting platform. They take care of the technical aspects — including installing WordPress — for you. All you have to do is provide a few pieces of info.

Here’s a video walking you through the process:

If you would like to create additional sites, from your user profile click the Create a New Site button:

Next, provide all the necessary details such as site name, admin user login, password, and your preferred payment method.

Once you’ve completed the form, your site will become visible in your user profile.

That’s all there is to it.

Here’s Flywheel’s official guide for adding new sites if you need more information.

How to Install WordPress on Kinsta

Kinsta is a newcomer to the managed WordPress hosting market. Like WP Engine and Flywheel, Kinsta installs WordPress for you when you create your account.

If you’d like to add additional WordPress sites to your Kinsta plan, follow the steps in this video:

If you prefer written instructions, here’s Kinsta’s official guide for adding WordPress sites.

How to Install WordPress on HostGator

Like many shared WordPress hosts, HostGator gives you access to cPanel. With it, you can easily install WordPress using the steps in the video below:

Can’t play the video? No worries.

HostGator also offers an extensive how-to article for installing WordPress on their platform.

How to Install WordPress on DreamHost

For each of their WordPress hosting plans, DreamHost provides WordPress pre-installed. All the work is done for you.

If you’d like to add additional WordPress sites, here’s a video showing you how it’s done:

Prefer written instructions?

Here is Dreamhost’s how-to article for using their handy 1-Click WordPress Install.

How to Install WordPress on A2Hosting

A2Hosting offers both shared and managed WordPress hosting.

For shared hosting, they offer 1-Click WordPress installation using Softaculous. Here’s a video to walk you through the steps:

If you opt for one of their managed hosting plans, WordPress will come pre-installed with your A2Hosting account.

If you’d like to add more WordPress installs to your account, here’s the official A2Hosting video to show you how:

How to Install WordPress on InMotion Hosting

Like its managed-hosting competitors, InMotion Hosting provides pre-installed WordPress on your hosting account from the get-go. This means that you don’t need to install WordPress on your own.

If you’d like to install WordPress on an add-on domain, InMotion offers this handy tutorial video:

How to Install WordPress on iPage

Just like other “managed” WordPress hosting companies, iPage provides WordPress pre-installed with your account. (You also get a set of pre-installed WordPress themes and plugins.)

Here’s a helpful video showing you how to configure your iPage WordPress site:

If you need to install some additional WordPress sites on iPage, click here to read their guide.

How to Install WordPress on Hostinger

Hostinger offers a quick-and-easy auto installer for WordPress.

Here’s their official video showing you how it’s done:

If you prefer written directions, here’s Hostinger’s tutorial for installing WordPress (using various methods).

Frequently Asked Questions

Before we wrap things up, let’s go over a few common, related questions we often hear:

Do I Need to Install WordPress?

Answer: It depends.

If you use a “managed” web host like WP Engine, installing WordPress is taken care of for you. You don’t have to do anything (beyond filling in a few pieces of information).

However, if you’re using a “shared” hosting plan, you’ll need to install WordPress.

The good news is that most web hosts have made the process easy. A few clicks and you’re finished.

Editor’s Note: This is all assuming, of course, you want a WordPress site. WordPress is awesome, but it’s not the only game in town — there are many blogging platforms out there.

Does WordPress Cost Money?

No, the WordPress software is 100% free. Anyone can go to WordPress.org and download it for free at any time.

The typical costs for running a WordPress website come from other factors, such as purchasing a domain name and choosing a hosting provider.

Does WordPress Include Hosting? (Or, Does WordPress Host Your Site?)

If you’re using WordPress.com, the answer is yes.

WordPress.com is a free, hosted version of the WordPress software offered by the company. (You can upgrade to various paid plans if you need more features.)

However, if you’re using the self-hosted version of the software available for free at WordPress.org, the answer is no. You’ll need a hosting provider.

Which Hosting is Best for WordPress?

WordPress.org officially recommends Bluehost, DreamHost, and SiteGround.

At Smart Blogger, we recommend SiteGround (affiliate link) and WP Engine (affiliate link).

Since SiteGround is on both lists, it’s safe to say it’s a solid option.

How to Install WordPress Themes?

Your WordPress installation will come with several free themes (designs), but there are thousands of additional themes — both free and premium — you can add.

Here’s a quick guide for how to install WordPress themes from inside your WordPress dashboard.

How to Install WordPress Plugins?

Though you have to be careful not to go overboard with them, WordPress plugins are one of the software’s best features — they allow you to add all sorts of functionality to your WordPress site that’s not available out of the box.

SiteGround has published a helpful tutorial for how to install WordPress plugins if you would like step-by-step instructions.

How to Install Facebook Pixel on WordPress?

If you’re interested in running Facebook Ads (either now or in the future), you need to install a Facebook Pixel on your WordPress site.

What’s a Facebook Pixel? It’s a piece of tracking code you add to your website that collects data whenever someone visits your site or takes a specific action.

Here’s a video explaining it in more detail (including how to install it):

If you prefer written instructions, here is Facebook’s help article on Facebook Pixel, which includes steps for creating and installing them.

It’s Time to Install WordPress

Installing WordPress can be overwhelming — especially if you’ve never done it before.

Hopefully, this in-depth guide has been able to point you in the right direction. Use it, bookmark it, and feel free to share it with a friend.

And if there’s an installation method we missed, tweet us or let us know about it in the comments. We’ll happily add it.

About the Author: Karol K. (@carlosinho) is a WordPress figure-outer, blogger, and published author of WordPress Complete. His work has been featured all over the web on sites like: Ahrefs.com, Smashing Magazine, Adobe.com, CodeinWP.com, and others.

The post How to Install WordPress in 5 Minutes or Less (2019) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-install-wordpress/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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Ghostwriting 101: How to Get Paid Big Bucks As a Ghostwriter

You want to make money as a writer, right?

You’ve told everyone on Facebook (including your weird aunt) that you’re available to write. You’ve been writing guest post after guest post to showcase your talent and get your name out there. Maybe you’ve even landed a few jobs already. (Good for you!)

But then a potential client emails you with the question, “Do you offer ghostwriting services?”

And you’re stumped.

Maybe you’ve heard of ghostwriting. Maybe you have some idea what a ghostwriter is. Or maybe you wonder if it involves ouija boards in some way.

You don’t want to look like an idiot by emailing back to say, “Err… what do you mean?”

That sounds like a good way to send your potential client running for the hills.

But don’t worry — I’m about to tell you everything you need to know about ghostwriting, starting with…

Table of Contents

What IS Ghostwriting?

But Why Would You Let Someone Else Take Credit for YOUR Writing?

The Counterpoint: Why You Might NOT Want to Be a Ghostwriter

How to Become a Ghostwriter

Ghostwriting 101: A Quick Recap

Will You Give Ghostwriting a Try?

What IS Ghostwriting?

You might already have some hazy ideas about ghostwriting. When I first heard of ghostwriting, I thought it was just used for celebrity memoirs.

It turns out memoirs are just the tip of the iceberg. Ghostwriting is everywhere — from independent authors using Kindle Direct Publishing to popular bloggers using WordPress.

So what is it?

When you ghostwrite, you let someone else put their name on your work. That is, you don’t get any credit — at all.

Typically, the person who commissions the work will own the copyright, which also means they can modify or republish the work in any way they see fit.

So why would someone hire a ghostwriter? Are they too lazy to write their own stuff?

Not necessarily. People hire ghostwriters for many different reasons, but the most common ones are:

Their business has grown so much that they no longer have time to write (all) their own material.

They have a wealth of expertise or an exciting story to tell, but they don’t enjoy writing or they’re not very good at it.

It’s nothing new, either: ghostwriting has been around, in one form or another, for centuries.

To give you a better idea what being a ghostwriter may involve, my own ghostwriting has included:

Taking a rough draft, editing it heavily, and expanding on it where necessary.

Taking a blogger’s rough notes and transcribing them.

Putting together short, functional blog posts (e.g., announcing a new podcast).

Taking an assigned topic and very brief outline, then writing a post.

Writing a post based on a title and nothing more.

Coming up with ideas, getting them approved, then ghostwriting the posts (though this is rare!).

As you can see, ghostwriting has a spectrum from something akin to an editing relationship to writing a piece from scratch.

And it’s growing in popularity.

The demand for ghostwriters is so high it’s now taught in schools — California State University, Long Beach offers a Ghostwriting Professional Designation Program led by Claudia Suzanne.

Of course, I’ve only ghostwritten for blogs.

Authors like Roz Morris have written whole books as ghostwriters, which is a far more involved process that includes extensive interviews with the client.

But Why Would You Let Someone Else Take Credit for YOUR Writing?

Assuming you want to build up your own brand as a writer, why would you want to be a ghostwriter?

After all, you won’t get any of the credit. Your name won’t appear anywhere on the piece, and you probably can’t tell anyone you wrote it.

So why do so many writers ghostwrite, and why do so many love it?

Well, because there are major benefits:

Benefit #1: Being a Ghostwriter Pays Exceptionally Well

One huge reason to be a ghostwriter is money. Ghostwriting tends to pay better than regular freelancing.

After all, having your name attached to your words is valuable for you as a writer. When you have a byline, you can use that piece of work to showcase your talent, build your reputation, and potentially attract new clients.

So it’s appropriate (and standard practice) to increase your fee to compensate for the loss of these advantages.

There’s no exact rule of thumb for how much extra you should charge for ghostwriting over regular freelancing. Personally, I tend to increase my fee by about 15%–20%.

On top of that, once you’ve established a ghostwriting relationship with someone, it often results in ongoing work for you. Most people want their writing to be consistent, so it makes sense to stick with the same writer.

In other words, you have consistent work at a higher rate than usual. That’s quite a plus, isn’t it?

Benefit #2: Ghostwriting Lets You Develop Closer Relationships with Big Names in Your Field

As a ghostwriter, you’ll normally work quite closely with your client. You may be privy to their rough notes or mind maps, or you might interview them on the phone or in person.

Chances are, you’re also focusing your ghostwriting on a particular area of expertise (especially if you’re writing for a blog).

This means you’ve got a brilliant opportunity to get to know and be affiliated with someone well-established in your field.

You’ll find that you get valuable insights into the “behind the scenes” of a top blog, or you get a clearer idea of how a big-name author works and thinks.

This may be eye-opening! It could give you some ideas for how best to move forward with your own business when you start your own blog.

And as you build up closer relationships, or even friendships, with your client, they might share your other work on social media, bringing you a lot of extra traffic. (Several of the people I ghostwrite for have supported me in that way.)

If you ever need a favor or need some advice, there’s a good chance they’ll be very happy to help.

So much of blogging success depends on getting a helping hand from other bloggers — particularly those with a large audience and a great reputation in their field.

Ghostwriting brings you into close contact with exactly those people.

The Counterpoint: Why You Might NOT Want to Be a Ghostwriter

There are a couple of big concerns that writers have about ghostwriting:

“But surely that’s not ethical?”

“But why should they benefit from my hard work?”

“But what about building my platform?”

These are real, valid concerns. And for you, they may be deal-breakers.

So let’s dig into them.

Objection #1: “When You’re a Ghostwriter, You’re Helping Someone Fool Their Readers — That’s Unethical”

When you’re a ghostwriter for someone, they pass your words off as their own.

Which begs the question…

Is ghostwriting ethical?

The authors who hire ghostwriters certainly think it is! But not all writers or readers agree. Many feel that some types of ghostwriting are more ethical than others.

For instance, think about these two scenarios, which are on opposite ends of the ghostwriting spectrum:

A big-name blogger hires a ghostwriter to write an e-book on their behalf. The blogger talks to the ghostwriter for an hour and provides a detailed outline. Once the e-book is complete, the big-name blogger reads it, edits it, and puts his or her name on it.

A big-name blogger hires a ghostwriter to write an e-book on their behalf. They give the ghostwriter free rein to come up with the topic and outline, and they don’t supply any help. When it’s done, the blogger puts his or her name on it without giving it a second look.

Personally, as a reader, I’d feel comfortable with situation #1. The thoughts in the e-book belong to the blogger, but the ghostwriter has helped shape them.

Situation #2, however, seems a lot thornier. As a reader, I’d feel cheated by that.

I’m buying the e-book because I want the blogger’s expertise — not that of a ghostwriter I don’t know.

If you’re thinking of ghostwriting, you have to make up your own mind about what is — and isn’t — ethical. Where would you personally draw the line as a ghostwriter, if at all?

For more thoughts on the rights and wrongs of ghostwriting, check out Patty Podnar’s post Is Ghostwriting Ethical?

Also, Amanda Montell’s Your Favorite Influencers Aren’t Writing Their Own Content—These Women Are is quite eye-opening about some of the less ethical practices in the ghostwriting world.

Objection #2: “It’s Too Painful Watching Someone Else Get Praised for YOUR Work”

It may sound silly, but not getting recognition for your writing can be quite painful — unbearable to some.

I have to admit that, as a writer, it can sometimes sting a little to see a blogger receive lots of lovely praise for a post that I wrote every word of. And I’m not alone; many writers find themselves missing the attention and craving the recognition.

It’s no fun watching someone bask in glory that should be yours.

But think of it this way: All that praise is a sign you did a great job. You can be proud of that, and you can feel confident you’ll get hired again!

Also, as ghostwriter Roz Morris points out in an interview with whitefox, it’s not just ghostwriters who go unnoticed by readers:

There are many unsung heroes in the creative industries, and ghostwriters are only one of them. Editors can also make a huge difference to a book and are rarely credited.

So, if you can’t stand watching someone else take the praise, that’s okay. Many writers feel that way. But maybe we should also keep things in perspective.

Objection #3: “Ghostwriting Keeps You from Building Your Platform”

Even if you’re okay with someone else getting the praise, you may still oppose the idea of letting them take credit.

Some writers feel that, to become a successful freelance writer, you need to take credit for every powerful word you write and create an impressive body of work with your name on it. They believe that ghostwriting is essentially a waste of time.

After all, when you’ve got a bio (or at least your name) on every blog post you write, each of those posts helps raise your profile. You’ll be bringing in new readers and potentially new clients through your work — without any additional marketing.

This is essentially the argument that Demian Farnworth puts forward in The Brutally Honest Truth About Ghostwriting:

The first thing every writer should ask is this: What do you want to accomplish as a writer? Is building a personal and visible platform important to you? Will it help you in the long run? If you have to ghostwrite to make ends meet, fine. But beat a hasty path out of the business as soon as possible. It’s your turn to run the show.

I certainly think it’s worth putting some serious thought into how best to make ghostwriting work for you. It might be that you want to solely focus on your own platform (heck, you might even hire ghostwriters of your own, some day down the line!).

But there’s no shame in taking ghostwriting jobs to generate a steady income while you build your platform. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. You can do both at the same time.

Ghostwriting takes some focus away, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.

By the way: We’ve created a handy visual summarizing this post that you can share and embed on your own site. Check out the image below (click to see a larger view):

Embed This Infographic On Your Site

<!—– Copy and Paste This Code Into Your Post —-><a href=”https://smartblogger.com/ghostwriting/”><img src=”https://smartblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ghostwriting-101-primer.png” alt=”Ghostwriting 101: The Must-Read Ghostwriter Primer for 2019″ width=”700 px” class=”noa3lazy”/></a><br><a href=”https://smartblogger.com/ghostwriting/”>Ghostwriting 101: The Must-Read Ghostwriter Primer for 2019 from SmartBlogger.com</a>

How to Become a Ghostwriter

If you’ve been nodding your head while reading this post, you’re probably wondering…

“Okay, but how do I become a ghostwriter?”

Answer:

The same way you become a freelance writer.

Here are the keys:

#1. Build Your Content Creation Skills

If you want to be a ghostwriter, you have to learn how to create quality content. What’s this mean? It means:

Mastering content frameworks

Learning how to write solid headlines

Knowing how to support your points with examples

Keeping your readers emotionally engaged

…and more.

Nothing will impact your ability to earn real, tangible income as a ghostwriter more than your ability to create amazing content.

So, if you don’t know how, learn.

Further Reading: Check out our resource How to Write a Blog Post – The Ultimate Guide. Once you’ve mastered the basics, read How to Create Content People Will Still Remember in 5 Years’ Time.

#2. Learn the Ins and Outs of SEO

If you can create content that will rank on Google, clients will pay you.

Happily.

Heck, they’ll throw money at you.

So how can you help your content rank on Google? By learning all you can about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and applying what you learn to the content you create.

Further Reading: Don’t know SEO? Brian Dean has a great guide that will help you learn the basics of SEO fast.

#3. Build an Awesome Portfolio of Sample Content

Ideally, you’ll have three levels of portfolios:

A portfolio that shows you know how to write,

a portfolio that shows you’re a subject matter expert of a given topic, and

a portfolio that shows documented success for clients.

But when you’re just starting out, you need to focus on the first level:

A portfolio that proves you know how to create a decent piece of content.

If you don’t already have your own blog or website, create an account on a free blogging platform like Medium.

Two or three sample posts are enough, and you can get started right away.

#4. Find Your First Paying Client

In the early days, finding those first few clients will be difficult.

Even with solid content creation skills, SEO know-how, and a great portfolio proving you know how to write, finding paying clients without word of mouth and referrals won’t be easy.

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Keep checking job agency postings.

Pitch to software company blogs like HubSpot, Sumo, and Ahrefs.

Do as much self-promotion as you can, including mentioning your ghostwriting service in the byline of your blog or Medium posts.

It’ll be a slow process at first, but once you get those first few clients you’ll be set. Do a great job, make your clients happy, and referrals will happen.

Further Reading: Bookmark this giant list of content marketing agencies. It’ll come in handy.

Ghostwriting 101: A Quick Recap

We’ve covered a lot, so let’s review:

What Is Ghostwriting?

Ghostwriting is when a writer (“ghostwriter”) is hired to create a piece of content for a company or individual, who will then publish the work as their own.

Do Ghostwriters Get Credit for Their Work?

Ghostwriters are paid to let someone else put their name on their work — they do not receive any credit, and they usually cannot tell anyone they wrote it.

Why Do People Hire Ghostwriters?

There are numerous reasons why someone would want to hire a ghostwriter, but two big reasons are time restraints and a lack of desire (or ability). Regardless of their reason, parties who choose to hire ghostwriters do so because it’s advantageous. (They’re getting something out of it, in other words!)

What Are the Benefits of Being a Ghostwriter?

There are two huge benefits to ghostwriting:

Exceptional pay, and

business relationships.

Because they miss out on auxiliary perks like bylines and having their name attached to the content, ghostwriters are usually well compensated. Also, ghostwriting brings ghostwriters into close contact with bloggers, authors, and influencers with large audiences. These connections can sometimes be worth more than the commission itself.

How Much Do Ghostwriters Make?

It varies from writer to writer, but an increased fee of 15% or more from their standard freelancing rate is reasonable when ghostwriting.

What Are the Typical Objections to Ghostwriting?

Those who throw shade at ghostwriting typically do so for one of three reasons:

Ethical concerns,

not wanting to see someone else get credit for their work, and

the worry ghostwriting will keep the writer from building up his or her own platform.

We’ve covered each of these objections in detail. Whether any of them are deal-breakers is up to you.

How to Become a Ghostwriter

The process is very similar to the one for becoming a regular freelance writer:

Build Your Content Creation Skills

Learn the Ins and Outs of SEO

Build an Awesome Portfolio of Sample Content

Find Your First Paying Client

In short:

Learn how to create awesome content,

learn the ins and outs of SEO so the content you produce can rank on Google,

create a portfolio of 2 or 3 posts that prove you’re a good writer, and

pound the pavement so you can secure those first few paying clients.

Will You Give Ghostwriting a Try?

Ultimately, ghostwriting can be a little divisive.

Some writers feel — passionately — that readers deserve to know exactly who wrote the words they’re reading. Others feel building your platform is too important to let someone else take credit.

But ghostwriting is a good way to make money as a writer.

And it doesn’t mean your platform is off the table. You can be a ghostwriter and have a writing career under your own name. Many writers, including me, simply use ghostwriting as a way to supplement or support their writing passions.

Personally, I think it’s worth it.

Only you can decide whether it’s right for you.

About the Author: Ali Luke blogs about the art, craft, and business of writing at Aliventures. If you’re interested in going further with ghostwriting or any type of freelance writing, check out her epic post: Freelance Writing: Ten Steps, Tons of Resources.

The post Ghostwriting 101: How to Get Paid Big Bucks As a Ghostwriter appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/ghostwriting/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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21 Blogging Milestones on the Path to World Domination

It’s okay to admit it.

That deep, dark secret you don’t want anyone to know.

That thought which keeps you up night after night.

You want… to rule the world!

You want to dominate your industry and be the envy of all. You want the house in the Hamptons and the spoils that go with it. You want two appetizers with your entree.

But you’re afraid.

You’re afraid of what others will say when they hear about your dream. You’re afraid it will seem too big — too crazy. Just like you’re afraid of what the waitress will think if you order onion rings and chicken tenders.

But mostly?

You’re afraid because you don’t know where to begin. You don’t know how to go from where you are as a blogger to where you want to be. You don’t know how to get from here to there.

The good news?

Just like eating an elephant, you don’t do it all in one bite.

World domination — or any major blogging goal — is a journey you take one milestone at a time. For a handy visual of the 21 blogging milestones (that you can share and embed on your own site), check out the image below (click to see a larger view):

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<!—– Copy and Paste This Code Into Your Post —-><a href=”https://smartblogger.com/bucket-list/”><img src=”https://smartblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/21-blogging-miletones-infographic.png” alt=”21 Blogging Milestones on the Path to World Domination” width=”700 px” class=”noa3lazy”/></a><br><a href=”https://smartblogger.com/bucket-list/”>21 Blogging Milestones on the Path to World Domination from SmartBlogger.com</a>

Why Bloggers Need Meaningful Milestones

When you break large tasks into small, manageable ones, what once seemed big and scary isn’t as daunting.

Renovating your entire home? Start by painting a room. Training for a marathon? Walk to the end of your driveway. Want to start a rock band? Get a guitar and start practicing.

Blogging isn’t any different.

Your journey as a blogger is filled with incremental milestones. They start small, gradually increase in size, and culminate with you owning sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads.

Want 10,000 subscribers? Start with 100. Want to quit your job? Focus on making your first sale. Want to be Jon Morrow’s best friend? Get him to notice you.

These milestones comprise your bucket list. They highlight what you’ve already accomplished, what you’re striving toward next, and what still lies far ahead of you.

To help you in your quest, here are the 21 major blogging milestones (and how to reach each one).

Ready? Let’s dive in.

#1. Starting Your Blog

You’ve been talking about doing it forever.

You’ve been reading blogs like Smart Blogger, Blogging Wizard, and Be A Better Blogger for months.

You’ve been planning, scheming, and daydreaming about starting a blog for so long that people have started to worry about that glazed look in your eyes.

So don’t you think it’s time you finally did it?

How to Start a Blog

Simple. Read this: How to Start a Blog in 2019: Research Reveals 20X Faster Method. It’s Jon’s epic guide that’ll teach you everything you need to know.

What to Do Next

Once your blog is up and running, it’s time to start writing.

But first, savor this moment. You’ve already accomplished more than many wannabe bloggers ever do…

You’ve started a blog. You did it.

Now…

Let’s get to work.

#2. Writing Your First Blog Post

Bloggers blog. It’s what we do.

So once you’ve setup your blog on WordPress, Medium, or wherever, it’s time to make this whole “blogging thing” official.

It’s time to write your first post.

How to Write a Blog Post

Don’t know where to begin? Check out our in-depth guide.

Pick a great headline. Your posts should have unique, attention-grabbing titles. And don’t be afraid to throw in a power word or two.

Write irresistible subheads. No sense having a great headline if your subheads are flat and boring.

Write with clarity. Avoid redundant phrases and empty, flabby, filler words.

Master WordPress. Save precious time by learning tips, tricks, and hacks for WordPress.

What to Do Next

After you publish your blog post, it’s time to promote it.

Share it with your friends and family on email and social media. Email it to your subscribers too (if you have any yet).

#3 Getting Your First Tweet

Getting your content shared on social media for the first time is a big milestone.

Each time your posts are tweeted, pinned, or liked, your content is exposed to new readers.

These new readers are potential email subscribers. Potential customers. Potential allies in your quest for world domination.

How to Get People to Share Your Content

Make it super easy to share your posts. Sharing buttons for Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. should be easy for your readers to find.

Make sure your posts are worthy. If you write posts that change your readers, they won’t be able to help themselves — they’ll have to share them.

Be tweetable. Use short, quotable messages in your posts.

Share it yourself. How can you expect others to share your content if you don’t?

What to Do Next

Be friendly and appreciative. When someone shares one of your posts, thank them. In addition to being good form, this act of gratitude will increase the likelihood they’ll share your posts again in the future.

To boost the number of shares you receive, try using interesting images with embedded headlines as the featured images in your posts. Be sure to choose a relevant picture, or one that creates curiosity.

#4. Receiving Your First Blog Comment From a Stranger

It finally happened.

The moment you discover someone other than your mom is reading your blog.

Your first comment from a stranger.

It’s the first sign you’re engaging a real audience (not just friends and family).

The first indication your words are striking a chord with readers.

The first evidence you have what it takes to succeed.

How to Get Blog Comments

Make it as easy as possible for visitors to comment. Don’t do anything to discourage engagement.

Visit other blogs in your niche and leave inquisitive, insightful comments. Many bloggers will return the favor.

Join relevant Facebook groups. People are down on Facebook these days, but being an active member of one or two Facebook groups is an excellent way to let prospective readers know your blog exists.

Give people what they want. Answer questions readers want answered, and they will comment.

What to Do Next

Were you raised in a barn? Thought not. So once you’ve received a comment, respond to it. Continue engaging with your reader.

Next, visit their blog and leave them a comment. If they don’t have a blog, thank them in an email.

True, this level of dedication will be difficult once you’re receiving dozens of comments.

But in your blog’s early days? There’s simply no good reason not to go above and beyond to express your appreciation.

After you’ve received a few comments, it’s time to implement strategies to further boost your comment count.

#5. Gaining Your First Email Subscriber

“The money is in the list,” says every blogger (even if nobody has asked them).

It’s cliché, but it’s true.

Email subscribers are far more likely to read, share, and engage with your content than someone who simply follows you on Twitter or “likes” you on Facebook.

Email cuts through the noise.

A person might receive a few dozen emails in a day, but they’ll receive several hundred (or more) tweets from their followers.

If you want to reach the top of the blogging mountain, you must build your email list.

And it all starts with that first subscriber.

How to Get Email Subscribers

Sign up for an email marketing provider. MailChimp has a free version, but if you want to send autoresponder emails, you’ll need the paid version or go to another provider like AWeber or GetResponse.

Prominently display an opt-in form. Once you have your email list, you need to put your opt-in form front and center where readers can easily find it.

Have a compelling call to action at the end of your posts. A focused CTA will increase the likelihood readers will subscribe.

Update your email signature. Include a link to your opt-in form in the signature of your outgoing emails, as well as your posts in blogging forums.

What to Do Next

Make your new subscriber feel welcomed.

When someone subscribes to your list, your welcome email should be warm and inviting.

Encourage them to ask you a question. Tell them to follow you on Twitter and say hello. Give them a link to an unexpected freebie bonus.

(But don’t do all three at once — you might scare away your only subscriber!)

#6. Getting Your First Backlink

Search engines love backlinks — they help them discover how pages are related, and in what ways.

Landing a high-quality link from a relevant website is great for SEO and results in more search engine traffic flocking to your website. And who doesn’t want that?

When a website links to yours, it’s effectively telling Google, “This dude is cool. He’s with me.”

Want to rule the world? You need Google to think you’re cool.

How to Get Backlinks

Create Massive Value Content. Epic posts are commented on, shared more, and linked to more often.

Implement a link building strategy. Broken link building, community site link building, and other tactics are out there for the blogger willing to roll up their sleeves and make them work.

Pound the proverbial pavement. Email outreach is time consuming, but it can be a highly effective method for acquiring backlinks — if you do it right.

Take it to the next level. Try advanced strategies like link reclamation and reverse image search.

What to Do Next

Keep going.

Numerous untapped backlink resources are available to bloggers willing to tap them. And if you don’t, your competitors will.

#7. Reaching 100 Visitors in a Single Day

In your blog’s early days, visitors are scarce. Occasionally, you’ll wonder if anyone is reading your blog.

But slowly, little by little, your numbers creep higher and higher.

And then it happens.

The day your blog reaches triple-digit visitors. The day your hard work begins to pay off. The day you get your first taste of power.

Intoxicating, isn’t it?

How to Get Blog Traffic

Promote on social media. Keep sharing your content on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Use hashtags to widen your reach.

Promote daily. While you shouldn’t publish daily, you should most definitely promote every day.

Concentrate on beginner-friendly traffic-generation techniques. Videos, infographics, and the like don’t work for beginners the way they work for established bloggers.

Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Poor navigation, lots of ads, and a mobile-unfriendly design will alienate your readers and make them bounce from your blog.

What to Do Next

Implement strategies to keep readers on your blog longer. This increases dwell time, which is another way to get Google to like you.

Linking to other posts on your blog, embedding videos, displaying related posts, and encouraging readers to leave comments are all effective methods for keeping visitors on your website.

#8. Receiving Your First Piece of Fan Mail (Well, Email)

This is strange.

You receive an email from a stranger, but it has nothing to do with male enhancement or an unexpected inheritance from overseas.

It’s an email from a reader. And she’s telling you how much she enjoys your blog!

Your first “kudos” email from a reader is a big milestone for bloggers, and those who go on to rule the world receive many of them.

(Mine may or may not be printed, framed, and hanging from the walls of my office.)

How to Get (True) Fans

Be authentic and approachable. Let your readers know you’re a real person.

Be helpful. Make it clear to your readers you want to help them (and not just promote yourself).

Make interaction the norm. Respond to the comments of your readers. Acknowledge them.

What to Do Next

Reply to the email. Thank your reader for contacting you, and try to answer any questions they may have asked.

But don’t stop there.

Follow them on social media. Visit and comment on their blog. Subscribe to their list, if you like what you see.

Your response will make a lasting impression in the mind of your reader. Don’t waste it.

#9. Getting Your First Negative Blog Comment

After weeks of praise, attaboys, and well-wishes, you receive your first negative comment.

You try to laugh it off by making a “these are where the tears would be if I could cry” joke, but it doesn’t work.

You’re confused. Hurt. Maybe a little angry. (Plus, your spouse quickly reminds you of the time you cried like a baby watching Field of Dreams.)

Don’t let it get you down. As you gain in popularity, criticism is inevitable.

Consider it a badge of honor — every popular blogger receives negative comments.

It’s proof you’re on the right track.

How to Reach This Milestone

Find your unique voice and stand out. Don’t be another me too blogger — be distinctive and memorable.

Be a troublemaker. Don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo.

Keep doing what you are doing. Haters are gonna hate. Just shake it off.

What to Do Next

As much as you would like to respond to the negative comment with a barrage of sarcastic wit and venom, don’t do it.

Delete the comment, ignore the comment, or respond to it in a professional manner. But whatever you do, remain calm. Don’t let the insults fly.

Others will see how you respond, and it will leave an indelible impression of you in their minds.

#10. Landing Your First Guest Post

Sooner or later, you’ll discover that commenting on other blogs and making friends on Twitter will boost your traffic only so far.

You need to reach new audiences.

As the marketing crowd would say, you need fresh eyeballs on your content.

In other words, you need to write a guest post.

How to Kick Tail as a Guest Blogger

Find your target. While it may seem like a good idea to write a post and then find a blog, it’s better to select a blog first and tailor your guest post around their audience.

Thoroughly read the guidelines. Make sure you know what’s expected of you, and avoid making dumb guest blogging mistakes.

Proofread! Take the time to properly proofread and edit your posts before submitting them.

Stay positive and persevere. Sometimes you have to contact your guest post target two or three times before getting accepted. Persistence often pays off.

What to Do Next

Your job isn’t finished once your guest post is published. No siree, Bob.

You need to promote the post on your social media accounts. You need to email the post to your mailing list (even if it’s small). You need to respond to any comments readers leave on the post.

And, most importantly, you need to thank the blogger or bloggers who gave you the opportunity to write for them.

Guest blogging, as much as anything, is about the connections you can make. Backlinks, traffic spikes, and a bump in email subscribers are all nice.

But establishing a long-term connection with an influential blog owner?

That’s worth its weight in gold.

#11. Getting Featured in Your First Interview or “Expert Roundup”

When people see you repeatedly mentioned on other sites via interviews and roundups, their perceptions of you change.

Yesterday, you were just an attractive guy or gal oozing talent but drowning in anonymity.

Today, you’re a freaking rock star.

You’re no more knowledgeable than you were moments earlier, but suddenly your powerful words carry more weight with readers. That’s because someone they trust just called you an expert (or treated you like one).

To reach world-leader status, others must view you as an authority. They need to consider you an expert in your industry.

Participating in interviews and roundups is a great way to make that happen.

How to Become an Influencer People Want to Interview or Quote

Create an awesome About Me page. Tell your story, share testimonials, and be sure to mention you’re available for interviews.

Help A Reporter Out. Sign up for HARO and you can receive multiple emails each day listing people who are looking for quotes from experts.

Make your Contact page easy to find. Don’t have one? Create one.

What to Do Next

Take advantage of the networking opportunities an interview or expert roundup creates.

If you’ve been interviewed, respond to those who leave comments. Engage with them. Give them a reason to visit your blog.

If you participated in a roundup, you now have some common ground with the other bloggers who participated.

Follow them on social media. Tag them when you tweet the roundup. Send them emails saying how much you enjoy their blogs.

#12. Hitting Your First 100 Email Subscribers

Finally.

After having single- and double-digit subscribers for what seems like forever, you finally reach 100. One hundred individuals decide they want updates from you.

These first 100 subscribers are arguably your most important.

They’re the ones who found your blog in its early days.

They’re the ones who decided to follow you before you were popular.

They’re the ones likely to be your biggest supporters as you rise through the ranks and vanquish kingdoms.

How to Get More Email Subscribers

Be a broken record. Keep finding reasons to mention your mailing list.

Give something away. Entice readers to subscribe to your list by offering something of value. And the sooner you have an opt-in bribe to offer, the better.

Promote your opt-in form on social media. Add an opt-in form to your Facebook page. Link to your form in your Twitter and LinkedIn bios.

Ramp up your guest blogging. With a little planning to maximize results, guest blogging is an excellent method for building your email list.

What to Do Next

Why not survey your subscribers? You’ve built a small tribe and it’s time to discover what they think.

Find out what kind of content they want you to create, and what kind of content they wish you would stop creating.

To encourage participation, turn your survey into a contest.

#13. Seeing a Post You Wrote Go Viral

Wow. That was unexpected.

One of your posts takes off. It goes viral, as the kids say.

At its simplest definition, a viral post is one which has a life beyond your own promotion of it. As such, it gets considerably more clicks and shares than your typical post.

And, as a result, your blog receives a nice (if temporary) bump in traffic.

Even if it’s short lived, a viral post means more eyes on your content. And that’s just what a prospective world ruler wants.

How to Go Viral

Create share-worthy content. If you want a post to go viral, it must be worthy.

Use social metadata. The better your posts look when shared on social media platforms, the more likely people will share them.

Be visual. Use stunning, shareable images in your posts.

Use an intriguing headline. Jon’s Headline Hacks has some great tips for headlines that go viral.

Make it easy to skim. People read only 28% of blog content. Make your content easy to skim, and you greatly increase the chances it could go viral.

Create list posts. According to a recent content marketing case study by Backlinko and BuzzSumo, list posts (like the one you’re reading now) get an average of 218% more shares than “how to” posts.

What to Do Next

Since the bump in traffic is only temporary, you must capitalize on it. You must turn as many of those visitors into subscribers as possible.

Make sure your call to action is clear and singularly focused. Offer a content upgrade for users who subscribe.

Use one of the dozens of available WordPress plugins designed to help you boost your subscriber count.

#14. Getting Mentioned or Followed by an A-list Blogger

When Bob the bellhop from Bolivia mentions you on Twitter, a small handful of people will see it.

That’s nice.

But if John Lee Dumas, Pat Flynn, or Jeff Goins mentions you on Twitter, a small army will see it.

That’s even better.

When you’re mentioned or followed by an A-lister, it means much more than a small bump in traffic.

It means you’ve made it onto the radar of someone with influence.

How to Connect with Influencers

Link to A-listers in guest posts you write, and let them know about it. Most will be appreciative, and many will share your post with their followers.

Buy their courses or services. Want a sure-fire way to get A-list bloggers to notice you? Give them money! As an added bonus, you’ll benefit from their vast experience.

Reach out to them. Identify the bloggers of influence, and put your content directly in front of them.

Ask them to participate in expert roundups. Participants in roundups almost always share them.

What to Do Next

Just as a couple should keep wooing each other even after they’re married, you should continue doing the things which caused the A-list bloggers to notice you in the first place.

Keep sharing their content. Keep leaving comments. Keep engaging with them.

#15. Hitting Your First 1,000 Email Subscribers

Now we’re talking.

Around the time you hit the 1,000 subscriber mark, your emails begin to carry more weight.

You’re able to generate traffic for new posts simply by emailing your subscribers.

Even better?

You can begin making real money from your blog.

As a rule of thumb, you should be able to make at least $1 per subscriber each month — more if you really know what you’re doing.

How to Get Even More Email Subscribers

Have a dedicated landing page. You should have at least one page focused on one thing and one thing only — getting people to sign up.

Say yes to pop-ups. Yes, some people find them annoying. But they work.

Harness the power of webinars. They create a sense of urgency, but without being “salesy.” Plus, you can run one even if you have a limited budget.

Do more guest blogging. In case you haven’t yet picked up on the theme: strategic guest blogging is a solid strategy for gaining subscribers. Gaining traffic? Not so much. But gaining subscribers interested in your blog’s topic (assuming you’re guest blogging for relevant audiences)? Absolutely.

What to Do Next

It’s time to think about monetizing your blog.

Affiliate programs, sponsored content, digital products, and consulting/coaching sessions are common methods for making money with your blog.

And speaking of those last two…

#16. Successfully Selling Your First Product or Consulting Session

You tried your hand at sponsored ads. Maybe you even had a little success with them.

But eventually, you aim higher.

You decide to offer your skills as a coach or consultant.

Or maybe you decide to create your own digital product because you like the idea of unlimited income potential.

Whatever the route, the desire is the same: to pad your wallet with twenty dollar bills.

How to Reach This Milestone

Know your audience — intimately. To be a successful coach or consultant, you must know your audience, what they need, and how you can help them.

Choose a topic you know inside out. If you’re writing an e-book, pick your topic wisely.

Repurpose content. If you have been blogging for any length of time, you have a collection of archives begging to be republished as an e-book.

Master the art of ethical persuasion. Focus on benefits rather than features.

What to Do Next

Don’t rest on your laurels.

Once you’ve created your first product or course, create a sales funnel with an email autoresponder series.

Then start working on your next product.

#17 Reaching 1,000 Visitors a Day

When you reach 1,000 daily visitors, your blog will be perched at a level many bloggers never see.

Your blog has momentum, which means your email list starts to grow on its own.

You’re selling more products and services.

Your social media shares are increasing too, which is bringing even more new visitors.

Your hard work is paying off. “Soon,” you say to yourself before laughing maniacally.

“Soon.”

How to Get More Traffic

Strategically promote on social media. What gains traction on Pinterest won’t necessarily gain traction on Twitter, right? When promoting, always be mindful of the platform you’re using and adapt accordingly.

Become a SlideShare master. For many bloggers, SlideShare is an enigma. Unfortunate, because you can easily repurpose content with SlideShare and bring in thousands of new readers.

Think outside the box. Communities like Triberr and websites like Quora offer bloggers additional avenues for driving traffic to their sites.

Start taking SEO more seriously. Ranking for keywords and optimizing your blog for Google (and Bing) are a must to take your traffic to the next level.

What to Do Next

Resist the urge to publish more often. Even though you receive traffic bumps on the days you publish, your time will be better spent on promotion.

If anything, scale back on your blogging and focus even more time on promotion.

For example: targeted advertising. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others offer bloggers the ability to advertise and bring in additional traffic to their sites.

#18. Reaching 100,000 Visitors in a Month

When you reach 100,000 visitors in a month, you’ve reached a level of success most can only dream of.

At this level, practically anything you try can be lucrative.

How to Boost Blog Traffic

Pay to extend your social media reach. Quuu Promote lets you get tweets and shares from real people with real followers.

Dedicate yourself. Mastering traffic generation takes time.

Start accepting guest posts. Neil Patel grew the KISSmetrics blog to over 400,000 readers a month by publishing content that mainly came from guests.

Use split testing to optimize conversions. At this level of traffic, even small tweaks can make a big difference.

Try new delivery channels. Launching a podcast allows you to reach a different audience than the one on your blog. So, too, can the creation of YouTube videos and SlideShare

What to Do Next

Dig into Google Analytics and learn how to make the most of its data. Discover which topics and posts are performing best, and optimize your blog accordingly. Identify your most important traffic sources, and adjust your outreach efforts.

And if you haven’t started monetizing your blog yet, you’re leaving real money on the table each month. Get started!

#19. You Hit 10,000 Email Subscribers

As Jon Morrow likes to say: 10,000 subscribers is the “magic number.”

With 10,000 subscribers, publishers beat down your door to give you a book deal.

With 10,000 subscribers, you could make a full-time living as a coach or consultant.

With 10,000 subscribers, you can easily sell a course you have created.

In short, earning a six-figure income from your blog is entirely realistic when you have 10,000 subscribers.

It’s arguably the most important blogging milestone.

How to Supercharge Your Email List

Lure Amazon e-book buyers to your opt-in page. At the end of your Kindle e-book, offer a bonus chapter to readers who come to your website and subscribe.

Use Facebook’s Lead Ads. It’s an opt-in form embedded inside your Facebook post.

Create content upgrades for all your most popular posts. Bonus material customized to individual posts can significantly increase your conversion rates.

Use Facebook ads in tandem with Facebook opt-in pages. In a case study, one blogger was able to add over 17,000 subscribers in six weeks using Facebook advertising to funnel readers to her Facebook opt-in page.

What to Do Next

Look for ways to improve your email open rates. It doesn’t matter how big your list is if nobody bothers to read your emails.

As your list grows, and your humble blog starts to look more like a viable business, you may need to trade your email provider for a more sophisticated solution, such as Infusionsoft that can handle e-commerce and relationship management as well.

#20. Finally Earning Enough Money to Quit Your Day Job

It’s the dream of most bloggers.

Being able to quit your job and blog full-time means you’re able to quit the rat race. It means you can set your own schedule, pursue your passions, and spend more time with your loved ones.

It means you’re the boss.

How to Quit Your Job

Charge premium prices. This allows you to devote more of your time, which means your premium price comes with premium service.

Outsource certain tasks. Time is money. And when you reach a certain level of success, your time (and money) can often be put to better use.

Promote affiliates. In addition to high income potential, affiliate products require zero investment.

Create joint ventures with other popular bloggers. Build a product together or just make it attractive for them to promote your products.

What to Do Next

Don’t quit your job just yet! Instead, create an exit plan.

Decide what kind of financial buffer you’ll need just in case things get tough. Your buffer will depend on your risk tolerance and personal situation, but a good rule of thumb is three to six months of salary in the bank.

Use the time leading up to your departure to ensure your blog is running smoothly by the time you quit.

Automate everything you can. Create processes to ensure you can work as efficiently as possible. Because when the paychecks stop, you don’t want any additional drag.

#21. Achieving World Domination

You did it.

They said it wasn’t possible, but you made it happen.

The world is your oyster. You’re the master of your own destiny.

And it’s all thanks to your blog.

Now it’s time to take a vacation. Maybe even move to paradise. Heck, you earned it.

So What’s Your Next Big Blogging Milestone?

You realize they’re yours for the taking, right?

The niche you want to dominate?

The house in the Hamptons?

The sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads?

They’re all out there… just waiting for you.

They’re waiting for you to decide, “Today is the day I’ll make my dreams come true.” They’re waiting for you to stop reading and start doing.

So, don’t just sit there.

Work out where you are on the list and what you must do to hit that next big milestone.

And let’s do this thing.

Because the world isn’t going to rule itself.

About the Author: Five years after first writing this post, Kevin J. Duncan’s dreams of quitting the rat race, blogging full-time, and world domination came true when Jon invited him to join the Smart Blogger team as our Blog Editor.

Never give up, folks. Never, ever give up.

The post 21 Blogging Milestones on the Path to World Domination appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/bucket-list/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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The Ultimate Guide to Content Curation (With Examples!)

Saving time, making connections with influencers, building authority — these are just some of the benefits of content curation.

But you might also have lots of questions like…

How much time should you spend curating content versus creating great posts of your own?

How can you make curated posts stand out amidst all the noise out there?

What tools can you use to speed up or even automate the process?

Well, here’s the good news:

In this post, I’ll answer all those questions about content curation and more.

If you’re new to the topic, I’ll explain exactly what content curation is and why you should do it. We’ll also explore some tools and tactics for streamlining your content curation process, saving you loads of time, even if you’ve been doing it a while.

And the best part…

Lots of real-world examples! You’ll see what’s working in the trenches right now, so you can model it for yourself.

Table of Contents

Why Should I Consider Content Curation?

What is Content Curation?

The Benefits of Content Curation

The Myths of Content Curation

Content Curation Strategy: How to Get Results

10 Examples of Killer Content Curation

Content Curation Tools

Can You Hire a Content Curator to do This?

The Bottom Line on Content Curation

Why Should I Consider Content Curation?

There’s an overabundance of information out there.

As I write, in the early evening, around 3 million blog posts have been published today, all vying for your attention.

Every second there are:

8,320 Tweets sent

888 Instagram photos uploaded

3,550 Skype calls made

66,233 GB of internet traffic logged

71,596 Google searches performed

76,892 YouTube videos watched

2,758,518 emails sent

By 2020, an estimated 1.7 GB of data will be created for every person on earth — every second!

No-one can possibly keep up.

But with content curation, they don’t have to. Think of it like this:

Imagine there was only one radio station that played every genre of music and broadcast all the news and talk-back shows ever made. Your passion is country music, but it’s too hard to find amidst the noise of the other content.

Along comes a small, independent radio station dedicated to bringing you the best country music it can source. Everything about country music that entertains and informs you. All curated in one place for people like yourself to enjoy.

Which radio station will you tune into the most?

That’s why content curators are becoming increasingly important in a world of time-strapped, overwhelmed content-consumers. And that’s why every blogger, brand and business should consider curation as part of their content marketing strategy.

What is Content Curation?

Content curation is the art of sourcing, filtering and repackaging all forms of existing content to share with a specific audience to add value to their lives and save them time.

Phew. That’s quite a mouthful.

Let’s break it down into more bite-sized chunks before we delve into the detail of how to do it.

Sourcing: First, you’ve got to find content that’s relevant to your niche and worthy of curating. Luckily, this post is jam-packed with tools to do just that.

Filtering: This is where you sort the wheat from the chaff. Anyone can find a bucket load of content, but top curators add a filter of human analysis to make sure they’re sharing something valuable.

Repackaging: Your curated content needs to look good. It needs to be well branded, consistently presented, easy to navigate and enticing enough for your audience to click through to the original content.

Existing content: This can be blog posts, articles, videos, books, reviews, podcasts, music, infographics, lists, news, images — anything that is currently on the Internet, including your own content.

Specific audience: If you are doing any form of online marketing, you are serving a specific audience. Curated content is no different. Their goals and intentions should be at the epicenter of your curation strategy.

Share: You can share curated content in several ways. On social media, in a blog, a website, YouTube or an email newsletter. Or go for a combination — whatever works for your audience.

Add value: This is at the heart of content curation. You need to make sense of it for your audience by putting it in context with their interests and lives. In its most basic form, this can be a summary of the content to allow readers to get the gist of the subject matter, but it should be an original summary created by you.

Save them time: You are preparing and presenting content they need in an easy to digest format, which means they don’t have to go schlepping through the web to find it for themselves.

The Benefits of Content Curation

It Makes You a Trusted Authority

When you consistently curate relevant content for your audience — and add value with your insights — you become a go-to person for your topic.

Before long, your audience will turn to you as one of their trusted sources because you know how to filter out the noise and deliver what’s important. You’re making it easier and faster to find what they’re looking for.

Example: Social Media Today is a website and daily newsletter with 104k subscribers. In addition to curating the top news stories and publishing their own articles, they also provide information on industry events and jobs and run regular Twitter chats on all things related to social media marketing.

It Builds Your Credibility

Most businesses publish original content as part of their online marketing strategy. And that’s still a great approach. But sometimes it’s good to combine your advice with those of others. Curating work by other experts proves you care enough about your audience to bring them the best content — not just your own voice — which gives you greater credibility.

Example: If anyone has the right to voice his own opinions it’s Brian Clark of CopyBlogger fame, one of the world’s most influential blogs. But Brian also chooses to share curated content through his weekly email Unemployable for freelancers. It is this generosity of time and knowledge that boosts his credibility and pays back big time when it comes to selling his fee-generating services.

It Establishes Connections with Influencers

Every time you curate content produced by an influencer or include their expert opinion in a curated list post of your own, you are endorsing their views and opening them up to a new audience.

It also helps put you on their radar.

You can draw their attention by tagging them on social media when you share their work, or emailing them a link to your curated blog post. Content curation is a great way to build solid relationships with top influencers in your niche, but only if you get it right. Like this:

Example: Mashable.com is a digital media site, which published a guest post by Aaron Orendorff about growth hacking strategies. In it he curates advice from 25 influencers and includes their headshots and links back to their sites. The post received a total of 4.4k shares across social media, and I bet I know where 25 of those came from.

It Makes You a Trend Spotter

When you spend a couple of hours a day sourcing relevant and interesting content, you can’t help but increase your knowledge. You’ll start recognizing patterns and trends as they’re happening, and gaps in existing content you might be able to fill.

Not only does this add value for your audience, but it also makes you a credible expert in your niche and one to watch.

Example: CB Insights mines massive amounts (I’m talking terabytes) of data to identify and make sense of emerging technology and business trends for its customers. And it puts this to good use by sharing its often-irreverent insights and curated findings in its free daily newsletter to over 537,000 subscribers.

It Can Boost Your Google Ranking (When You Get It Right)

Many people think curated content could harm your Google ranking because it’s seen as duplicate content. And that’s true, if you do nothing but reproduce the original.

But content curation is all aboutadding value.

Here’s proof. The folks at Bruce Clay Inc. ran a test to see what ranking Google would give to curated content on their blog versus the original. You can read the full details here.

Bottom line: When they reproduced the original post without adding value, the ranking went down from 4th place to 10th. But when they published an excerpt of the original with theirown summary and links, the ranking shot up to 1st place — even higher than the original post.

Example: SmartBrief.com (“We read everything. You get what matters.”) is a curator of industry news. It’s easy to navigate with every piece of content summarized in their own words, which adds value for their readers and brownie points with Google.

It Can Help Build Your Social Media Following, Faster

As a curator, your output of content will increase, giving you a lot more to Tweet about on a regular basis. But remember, always aim to add value, not simply retweet or share.

Example: TheSkimm is a curated subscription service for female millennials — over 7 million subscribers. It delivers its content via audio, video, an app, and of course, social media: They have 608k followers on Instagram, 246k on Twitter, over 1.1m likes and followers on Facebook, and 465k views on YouTube. That’s an impressive social media presence.

It Can Grow Communities and Conversations

Great content curation encourages debate and feedback. When you add your own insights and respond to audience comments by providing them with more of what they want, it can attract other like-minded people to your knowledge “hug.”

They come not just to seek information from you but also to share content and support each other.

Example: TED.com is one of the best-known global communities. At its core, it’s a curator of ideas, or as they put it in their mission statement: “We’re building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world’s most inspired thinkers — and a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.” With an online community of tens of thousands, over 11 million Twitter followers, and 35 people watching a TED Talk every second, I reckon they’ve accomplished their mission.

The Myths of Content Curation

It Saves You a Truckload of Time

When done properly, the full process of content curation can take just as much time as creating original content. Sometimes more.

You have to source, repackage and share a ton of information. Sure, this can be done more efficiently with automated tools. But you must also spend time filtering the content, adding insight and perspective, and building relationships with influencers and other publishers.

This is where the real value of content curation kicks in. And it takes time.

With curation, the volume of your published and shared content will increase, but your ability to spend more time with your feet up enjoying a beer won’t.

So, don’t become a content curator if your sole purpose is to save time.

All You Have to Do Is Find Relevant Content and Pump It out to Your Subscribers

If you just share every blog post and article you find on your topic without any filtering, you can do more harm than good to your brand and reputation.

The content you curate will reflect directly on your credibility and reputation, so choose wisely.

You Never Have to Worry About Creating Your Own Content Again

Undoubtedly, content curation is a great way to build authority in your niche, but it’s rare to find a site that relies 100% on curated content. Research has shown that creating your own content is more valuable regarding conversions.

And let’s face it. That’s one of the main reasons we do content marketing of any kind.

The research is explained by Tristan Handy in this post, who says the ratio for publishing curated v. original content on social media is around 60:40.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, and everyone needs to find their own sweet spot, but it’s not a bad guideline if you’re just starting out.

Content Curation Strategy: How to Get Results

Give Your Audience What It Wants

What are they looking for when they seek information? What are they sharing on social media? Are they looking for comparisons and reviews, or the latest industry trends? Do they want to be entertained, inspired or informed?

If you don’t have an existing audience, read this post. If you do have an audience, but you’re still not sure what they’re looking for, read this post.

Example: Further.com is a curated weekly email targeted directly at Generation X, by Brian Clark, one of the most influential Generation X-ers on the net. He knows what they’re thinking, feeling and aspiring to, and he delivers in spades.

Source Valuable Content

Overwhelming as it seems when you start out, sourcing great content is not hard, especially with so many automated tools at your fingertips.

RSS feed readers are the first go-to source of content for curators. Using tools such as Flipboard allows you to search by URL or topic and collate your content into categories.

Social media is the next main source, and again you have a myriad of tools at your disposal. For example, Social Searcher is a free platform that allows you to search by hashtags or topics and brings up every post published on the major social media sites.

Or you can create a Twitter list to collate the accounts you follow.

Find the right tools from the list below for your content sourcing and collating purposes, and remember to stay focused when you go searching. You can easily disappear down a rabbit warren of irrelevant information.

And finally, don’t forget your own blog or social media pages as a source of content.

Select posts that have done well in the past and may resonate with a new audience. Or think about repurposing or updating an old post. Here’s a great example of curating your content from Copyblogger.

Filter Your Content

Content curation without filtering is a no-no. This is part of the process that’s going to demand time and attention, but it’s worth it.

Once you have a good collection of content, filter each piece through these questions:

Is it well written or produced?

Is it relevant to my audience? Does it satisfy a need or curiosity of theirs?

Is it timely, or has it been recently updated?

Is it in context with everything else I have published or curated?

Will it reflect well on my brand?

If the answer is yes, keep that piece of content and move on to the next step. If it’s no, dump it.

Always Add Value

There’s one more important consideration before you hit that share button. You need to add value.

You know the content is worthy of sharing because you’ve filtered it. Now you need to tell your audience why. The following are some of the ways you can add value:

Add a brief introduction in your own words.

Put it in context for your audience. Make them understand why you think it’s important for them to see.

Highlight something specific in the article.

Change the headline using the language and voice your audience would relate to.

Likewise, think about using a different image to add your own personality or perspective to the original.

Add a call to action or a link to a relevant post or free download of your own to give them further information relevant to the curated piece. Doing so also helps to keep your original content on their radar.

Make It Look Good

Think about a museum curator. Their job is to present an exhibition of works in a manner that makes sense.

They encourage visitors in by making the collection look enticing. They often separate subcategories by rooms or open spaces. They add information and insights to each piece and present them in a logical flow.

They don’t take random artworks, dump them in the middle of a room and expect visitors to work it out for themselves. Neither should you.

Think about how you’ll best present your curated content on your website or in a newsletter.

And above all, make sure you consistently represent and reflect your brand, whether that’s through the use of your logo and colors, your voice, the language you use or the content you curate.

Example: brainpickings.com by Maria Popova is a fine example of a well-presented and branded website with some of the most thoughtful and insightful curations on the web today.

Dedicate Time

Aim to make the practice of curation a daily habit.

When you’re starting out, set aside at least an hour a day to source, filter and add value to existing content. Build up a collection of quality content, enhanced with your own insights, that you know your audience will love.

Be Ethical

The curating and sharing of content created by others is growing in popularity with proven success rates when it’s done right. And successful curators always follow these golden rules:

Credit the creator of the work prominently, and link back to the source.

Never knowingly infringe copyright.

Don’t rely too heavily on one or two curation sources. At best it makes you appear lazy. At worst it could be interpreted as riding off the back of the original creator’s work.

Avoid reproducing too much of the original work. Add value by offering your own headline, or insight, but give your readers the motivation to click to the source to read more.

Find the Right Distribution Channels and Publishing Schedule

Hands up anyone who’s shared anything on social media.

That’s how easy content curation can be when you’re starting off. However, you should aim to use a variety of distribution channels as your curation efforts take wings. The four main ones are as follows:

Social Media

Make sure you add your own introduction or insights to shared links, giving your audience a reason to click through to the original. Like this:

Your Blog

This is where you can produce original posts featuring curated content (think “best of” posts, or list posts of tools and resources). Here’s a great example from CXL, which has curated 10 of its own articles in this post.

Email Newsletters

Send them out daily, weekly — whatever works best for you. Just make sure it’s at the same time each day or week so you can condition your audience to look forward to them. Convince & Convert’s email turns up in my inbox as regular as clockwork once a week with a mixture of curated and original content.

Websites

Dedicating a website to content curation is best left until you’ve built your skills as a curator through some of the less demanding channels like social media and your blog.

While you can build a successful content curation site on your own (take brainpickings.org, for example), mainstream information streams like Redef offer up a daily mix of hand-picked content that takes a sizeable team to curate and maintain.

So, depending on the time sensitivity of your curated content and the method you’ll use to distribute it, you might aim to share on social media every second day, and publish a newsletter or blog post weekly, or monthly if that feels more doable.

If you dive right in with a daily email or a dedicated website, you may create a monster you wish you’d never started.

You can always increase the regularity of your content distribution once you become more confident.

Now, set up a social media publishing schedule in whatever program or content curation tool you feel comfortable with. But a word of warning: Don’t schedule social media posts too far in advance. You want them to be as fresh and timely as possible.

The following are some additional things to think about regarding distribution and timing:

Always make sure your curated content adds value, is well presented, and properly reflects your brand before you hit that share button or start to design an email newsletter.

Think about the environment your content will appear in, and decide if you need to adjust the headline, or the size of the image to suit the different platforms.

Likewise, you may need to produce variations of your introduction and insights to suit a Twitter feed versus a Facebook post, for example.

Do your research around the best times to schedule social media posts and email newsletters, and try to consistently stick to the same schedule for your emails so that your audience begins to anticipate their arrival.

Reach Out to Influencers

If you want your curated content to fly, you should reach out to influencers. Here’s how you do it:

First, read this post and start practicing some of the techniques to get on your favorite influencer’s radar.

Next, when you’ve created your first blog post of curated links (a list of the best, or a round-up post for example), reach out to the influencers you’ve mentioned in the post. Here’s how you find their email addresses.

You want to send your email before you publish. Something along these lines:

Hey [name of influencer],

I wanted to give you the heads up that we’re just about to publish a curated list of the top 20 tools and resources for freelancers, and you made the list because [tailor your reason why they made the cut].

We’re hoping to publish within the next few days, and I’ll send you the link as soon as it goes live.

Thanks for being a continued inspiration.

Cheers, [your name]

Now you’ve got their attention, and they’ll likely be curious about your post. As soon as it goes live, send them a follow-up email:

Hey [name of influencer],

Here’s the link to the curated post I mentioned in my last email: The Top 20 Tools and Resources for Freelancers

[Name of influencer’s site] is included as #5.

If you think it deserves a share, we’d be grateful for the exposure.

Either way, we were delighted to include you in our round-up.

Cheers, [your name]

Finally, when you’re sharing other curated content in social media, tag the original creator to let them know you’re sharing their work.

But make sure you add value by highlighting something important. You need to demonstrate you’ve read their work and why it’s of value to your audience.

A simple retweet or share won’t impress them.

10 Examples of Killer Content Curation

The following examples are great picks because they all demonstrate at least one outstanding quality of content curation, and together they showcase a cross-section of distribution channels and topics.

#1. Kottke.org: Blog

Founded by Jason Kottke in 1998, Kottke.org is one of the oldest blogs on the net. Jason (almost) single-handedly curates and creates content across several different topics.

In January 2018, Jason launchedNoticing, an email newsletter with a curated roundup of the week’s posts on Kottke.org. He has even curated a collection of more than 2,000 books and products he’s linked to over the years, entitled The Accidental Shop, all of which you can purchase at Amazon.

Why is it killer curation? Because the blog and website are nurtured and maintained by an individual with a strong personable voice. Jason curates and writes about what interests him, but in doing so, he reveals what’s interesting about himself, which is an attractive quality. This organic, hands-on approach to his work has built a loyal following of subscribers and members whom he talks to like old friends.

#2. Deadspin.com: Website

This one is for all you sports lovers, as long as you don’t mind a healthy dose of humor and sarcasm served up with your daily news and commentary. Edited by Megan Greenwell, Deadspin has broken several major stories making it a credible and widely-followed source of sports information for its mainly male community. It also distributes a weekly newsletter to subscribers.

Why is it killer curation? It knows exactly what its audience is looking for and serves them well. It’s brash but unpretentious. It’s a visually appealing site, relying heavily on videos and images. Above all, its conversational tone makes it feel more like chatting to your buddies about the latest game than a staid news site. Bang on brand.

#3. The Moz Top 10: Email Newsletter

The Moz Top 10 newsletter is emailed to subscribers every two weeks. In addition to the newsletter and its prolific social media sites, Moz publishes a blog (with daily updates emailed to subscribers) and its famous Whiteboard Friday videos.

Why is it killer curation? Moz.com (founded by former CEO, Rand Fishkin) is one of the leading authorities on anything SEO and digital marketing. But you knew that, right? So, when they say they’ll share the“10 most valuable articles about SEO and online marketing that we could find,” you know they’ll dish up the goods. This email is killer curation because it’s current in a rapidly changing arena. It’s on point and unfussy, it’s easy to navigate, it adds considerable value and saves time.

#4. Smashing Magazine: Website

Smashing Magazine is a curated information resource for web designers and developers. The website is fun and quirky (what’s with the cats?) while being chock full of articles, books, and even a job postings board. You can also subscribe to a newsletter, emailed out every two weeks.

Why is it killer curation? As you would expect from web developers, the site is beautifully designed and easy to navigate with just the right number of tricks to be impressive, without being distracting. But it’s the community focus that’s most impressive. The passion for their subject matter really shines through, as does their desire to serve and support their audience with the best content and resources.

#5. Rohit Bhargava: Twitter Account

Rohit Bhargava is a marketing expert who describes himself as a “trend curator.” When he’s not teaching, blogging, writing books, or giving keynote presentations, he Tweets. At least daily.

Rohit is the founder of the Non-Obvious company, which monitors and reports on trends and provides weekly insights through its email newsletter. It also runs the Non-Obvious book awards, which is a by-product of all the reading Rohit and his team do to curate ideas for their annual trends list.

Why is it killer curation? Rohit’s Twitter feed is full of links to funny, informative, thought-provoking, trend-setting insights. He has an innate sense of balance between light-hearted and serious, and he injects just enough of his content and promotion to remain credible. Which is why he has amassed an impressive 34.3k followers.

#6. Next Draft: Email Newsletter

Every day, Dave Pell sends out his news round-up — Next Draft. He curates ten items a day that he considers to be the essential, fascinating bits of information you need, without you having to go search for them. Or, as he puts it on his website,“I am the algorithm.”

Why is it killer curation? Because he does thisevery day. He takes content curation to the next level with his analysis and insightful commentary. But he’s also funny, wacky, and devilish enough to make you lust after his next email.

#7. Rocumentaries.com: Website

And now for something completely different — documentaries that rock your world. This is a collection of documentaries from BBC, Channel 4, Netflix, VICE, YouTube and more. You can browse the website or subscribe to the email for the latest picks.

Why is it killer curation? Because the site is wonderfully minimalist and focused. This is for and by lovers of documentaries. Nothing more and nothing less. You can sort by genre, sources, or recommendations and read the original curation notes before deciding which ones to download.

#8. Growth.email: Email Newsletter

This is another simple but highly targeted email. Compiled by Miles Burke, Growth.email delivers ten articles a week that have been carefully sourced, analyzed and curated. The theme, as the name suggests, is about growing revenue and business.

Why is it killer curation? There is no fluff. This is a thoughtfully curated collection of ten articles a week that has the audience’s interests firmly in mind. Miles does this on his own, for free. It’s content curation at its purest.

#9. Really Good Emails: Website, Email Newsletter and YouTube Channel

This site is a curated collection for email marketing geeks. It has curated and showcased almost 4,000 email designs to date, and it provides practical and insightful critiques through its YouTube Channel, Feedback Friday. Every week it sends an email round-up of curated links to its subscribers entitled “News and articles we thought you’d like.”

Why is it killer curation? This is one of those emails I really enjoy seeing in my inbox. It’s inspirational, educational, fun and I think I’ve clicked through to a link from every email I’ve received. Which is what you’d expect from email marketing experts.

#10. Wirecutter.com: Website

Wirecutter provides news and recommendations for its readers about the best gear and gadgets it can find. With detailed reviews, interviews and data, this is a curated gallery of diverse and insanely useful items with links back to the sellers.

The website also has a Deals page with the latest retail discounts updated daily and sent to your inbox via an email newsletter.

Why is it killer curation? This is curation with a difference. The team at Wirecutter spend hours, weeks and sometimes months researching and testing products to make shopping easy for their audience. From TVs to toilet brushes, everything is scrutinized with precision and care to establish the best product to buy in each category. The site is easy to navigate, insanely useful and hugely addictive.

Content Curation Tools

I haven’t set out to give you an exhaustive list. No-one ever could. Tools come and go on the Internet all the time.

Instead, I’ve researched as many as possible to bring you a good cross section of 20 automated content curation tools. Most of them are free, some have a free trial period before you need to start paying, and a couple are for the more dedicated and experienced curators with paid plans to match.

Explore the features and decide which are the best fit for your business.

Best Tools for Sourcing and Collating Content

Feedly

Feedly lets you source content from almost anywhere on the web and organize it in your feeds. You can sort by topic, save to read later, and even share directly to your social media accounts. Its free for up to 100 sources and three feeds, and $5.41/month for the pro version.

NewsBlur

Similar to Feedly, Newsblur is a free personal news reader that allows you to read content from 64 sites in their original format and save by categories. If you upgrade to the premium account ($36/year), you get access to unlimited sources, custom tags and more.

InoReader

InoReader is another free reader that gives you access to an unlimited number of feeds and archived content. You can use folders and tags to sort and collate your content, and it’s quick and easy to get up and running. The starter plan is just $14.99/year to get rid of the ads and enjoy a customizable dashboard.

InstaPaper

Instapaper has a beautifully simple interface and lets you source and collate content from anywhere on the web. The best feature is adding highlights and comments to any article, but you’ll need to upgrade to the premium account for $2.00/month to unlock the unlimited version of notes and other features.

Vidinterest

No list of curation tools would be complete without one dedicated to videos. Vidinterest supports videos from YouTube, Daily Motion and Vimeo, and while other tools support a wider range of sources, Vidinterest is free. Plus you can earn affiliate dollars by writing and sharing reviews.

Social Searcher

A gazillion tools can help you source content from social media platforms, but I like Social Searcher because you can start using it without registering an account. This gives you access to real-time searches across 12 social media platforms, data analytics and the ability to sort by date or popularity. Upgrade to the basic plan for around $4/month and you can start saving your searches and monitoring data results.

Blog Lovin’

You’ve gotta love Blog Lovin’! It keeps all of the blogs you follow in one place and updates your feed as they publish new posts. It operates like a cross between a news reader and a social media platform, with love and comment buttons and a card layout like Pinterest. And it’s free.

Flow Reader

Flow Reader is the best free content sourcing and collating tool in this list because you can combine your RSS and social network feeds in one platform.

Best Tools for Sharing Curated Content on Social Media and Your Blog

CrowdFire

With over 19 million users, Crowdfire is a crowd pleaser regarding content curation. Source from social media and other websites and blogs with its new RSS feature. Customize and schedule posts for each social media profile. It’s free for unlimited curation and up to 10 posts/month on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. It’s $9.90/month for the plus account.

DrumUp

DrumUp lets you source, collate and share content across multiple social media accounts. You can get hashtag and content recommendations to suit your audience, share directly from the Chrome extension and track and measure engagement. DrumUp has a limited free plan, and the paid plans start at $15/month.

Triberr

Triberr is a content marketing tool wrapped up in a community of like-minded bloggers. Firstly, it helps you source and share content across your social media accounts. But you can also follow and share posts from tribes of bloggers and influencers and get invited to become a member. You can get started on Triberr for free, or unlock additional features for $20/year.

Tailwind

If your content marketing is focused on Pinterest and Instagram, this one’s for you. With Tailwind, you can source, schedule and publish across both platforms and monitor and track the success of your efforts. There’s a free trial period, but the paid plan for bloggers and small businesses starts at an affordable $9.99/month.

Tweeted Times

The Tweeted Times helps you create a curated online newspaper from the most relevant content on Twitter to share with your followers. You can get basic branding and promotion for your newspaper for free, or pay $15/month to unlock more features in the pro plan.

Curation Soft

This is the only software included in the list. It’s compatible with several major platforms including WordPress, Blogger and Facebook. CurationSoft is easy to use. You can search for content by keyword across blogs and social media, drag and drop, add your own commentary and post. It comes with a 14-day free trial and costs $49/year for the annual plan or $5/month for a pay-as-you-go plan.

Best Tools for Publishing Curated Email Newsletters

Elink

Elink is a visual collection of curated links that are shareable in an email newsletter and other online formats. From Elink you can source content, design and personalize your email, add curated links and send it to your subscribers via Mailchimp. Elink has a free 14-day trial, and then it costs $12/month.

Nuzzel

Nuzzel is a free Twitter and Facebook news monitoring and research tool that also sends out automatically generated or self-curated social newsletters. Subscribers to your newsletter receive a daily email containing the top five stories from your Nuzzel feed or any stories you want to include.

Revue

Revue is an email newsletter tool that connects to a range of social media and other content curation tools to build the content for your newsletter. It’s free for up to 50 subscribers and $5/month (or more as your subscriber numbers increase).

Best Tools for the Full Package

Content Studio

With Content Studio, you can source and filter trending content and share it across your social media accounts, blog and email marketing platforms. The free subscription allows you to publish up to 500 posts/month to two social media accounts, but you’ll need to upgrade to the $49/month pro plan for unlimited social media and blog publishing.

Publish This

Publish This is another full package content curation tool that lets you curate and publish content in newsletters and social media accounts. It’s free to start, but paid plans start at a slightly higher $99/month.

Scoop.it!

With Scoop.it, you can source content and publish it across your social media accounts, in your blog, your website or your newsletters. But you can only publish to one social media account with the free subscription and publish to five with the pro subscription ($14.99/month). If you want to embed on your website or publish newsletters, you will need to upgrade again to plus for $67/month, so this is a tool you will need to grow into.

Can You Hire Content Curators to Do This?

Sure, you can hire a freelancer or VA to do several content marketing tasks for you. But consider a few things before you search Google.

Whenever you outsource work, you’ll have a trade-off. No-one will know your brand and voice as well as you unless they work with you consistently over a length of time.

So, you need to decide what functions of your content curation you are comfortable outsourcing and what needs to be done by you to retain an authentic relationship with your audience. My suggestion is that with a good brief, you can hire a VA to:

Source content in your niche

Filter the content to validate its quality and relevancy

Research topics/content for curated blog posts

Schedule your social media posts

Track audience metrics

You still need to add your own voice and insights to your curated content before sharing it, but a VA can do a lot of the time-consuming implementation tasks, freeing up your time to focus on strategy and relationship building.

And secondly, it might not be a smart move to outsource your content curation until you have mastered the discipline yourself with the aid of the tools available. You’ll be in a much better position to work effectively with a VA down the road once you have tested curation firsthand and understand the needs and interests of your audience.

The Bottom Line on Content Curation

A final word of advice: In your rush to embrace your new curation skills, don’t ever stop writing your own blog or producing your own videos and podcasts. Just ease back a little (remember that 60:40 rule of thumb).

Curation can certainly lighten the load and open new doors, but it will never replace the authority-building power that comes with creating original content.

What it does give you is a stack of new opportunities to build relationships with influencers and turbo-charge your social media following.

Just remember — always filter the content you source, always add value with your own insights and find a publishing schedule that works for you.

The grind of having to come up with something fresh and original on a daily basis is relegated to the past. You’re now armed with the strategy and tools to become a killer content curator!

So, go get ‘em!

About the Author

Mel Wicks is a seasoned copywriter who helps bloggers and business owners bring the ‘wow-where-do-I- sign-up’ oomph to their writing. Give your original content a shot in the arm with her free ‘No-Fluff Guide to Writing Epic Blog Posts Every Time’.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Content Curation (With Examples!) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/content-curation/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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10 Things You’ll Only Understand If You’re a Domain Name Junkie

It’s an addiction like any other.

Ten or twenty bucks will scratch that itch, but the high never lasts, and before long you’re craving the next hit.

And the worst part? Nobody understands.

Except just maybe a fellow addict… “Hello. My name is Glen, and I’m a domain name junkie. My last domain purchase was three weeks, four days and seven hours ago.”

That’s how I’d introduce myself to the support group. (You know, the one that doesn’t exist yet.) I’d stand up and tell my story to a circle of fellow addicts, who’d nod their silent support.

My own addiction started with an act of vanity — I acquired the .COM version of my own name. That was 17 years ago, and owning a piece of Internet real estate was novel and exciting.

But that first domain registration, like the first high from an illicit drug, set me on the path to dependency.

The Telltale Signs of a Destructive Domain Habit

Like many addicts, I failed to acknowledge my problem until it was too late.

For years I told myself buying domains was just a harmless hobby. Something to do on evenings and weekends to help unwind after work. But over time my hobby became a powerful obsession.

I’d wake up each morning with a head full of new domain ideas and a burning desire to check their availability. At social occasions, I’d sneak out of the room to browse domain resale sites on my smartphone.

And despite plans to become a savvy domain “flipper,” I was selling almost none of the domains I bought, instead keeping them for personal use.

Eventually, my behavior became more erratic. I would buy any domains I could get my hands on — .ORGs, .COs, even .INFOs.

One Monday morning I hit rock bottom when I found a dozen GoDaddy receipts in my inbox for domains that had no practical purpose. Worse still, I couldn’t even remember buying them.

These days I’m on the road to recovery, and my mission is to help other addicts.

So take a careful look at the list below, and see if you recognize any of these destructive behaviors.

If so, you might just be a domain name junkie.

#1. You Just Can’t Quit GoDaddy

When you’re a domain name junkie, you struggle to think about anything else. You spend every idle moment brainstorming cool domains for your “someday, one day” online projects.

And once an idea has surfaced, you simply must know — is the name already taken? It doesn’t matter where you are, at work, at home, even in bed. You have to know.

When you discover the domain has already been taken (the good ones usually are), you start the search for viable alternatives.

And once you’ve dived down the rabbit hole, you can hardly crawl back out.

#2. You Lie About How Many Domains You Own

When you start collecting domains, it’s fun to log in to your account and delight in the breadth of your online kingdom.

But one day you reach the point where that list of domains is a painful reminder of a habit that’s out of control.

When your partner catches you buying yet another domain and casually asks, “How many is that now?” you pretend you don’t know, or deliberately lowball the true number.

But of course, lying is a telltale sign your casual hobby has turned into a serious problem.

#3. You’ve Started Dabbling in the Newer TLDs

In the beginning (well, 1985), just six top-level domains (TLDs): .COM, .ORG, .NET, .EDU, .GOV and .MIL existed, but that list has since snowballed.

Today we have more than 1,500 TLDs including .COFFEE, .LAWYER and .PORN.

On the one hand, domains are more plentiful than ever, and even if your dream .COM is long gone, you have hundreds of other options for snagging a snappy name.

On the other hand, who knows how much prestige these newer domains will hold over the longer term? Nobody wants to build their blog around the domain equivalent of a pet rock.

Some domain junkies won’t look beyond .COM, but if you’re exploring the murkier end of the market (.CM anyone?), it might be a sign that your hobby’s taking a worrying turn.

#4. You Tell Yourself You’re a “Domain Investor”

When your domain account lists tens (or even hundreds) of seemingly random domain purchases, there are two ways to explain it.

Either it’s the result of years of clueless impulse buying from a click-happy domain junkie with no more strategy than a half-blind pigeon pecking in the dirt.

Or it’s the culmination of a strategic acquisition campaign to build a valuable portfolio of undervalued digital assets for future sale.

Not surprisingly, most domain name “enthusiasts” favor the second version.

But deep down, if you suspect there’s very little method to your madness, it might be time to go cold turkey on domains.

#5. You Read the Thesaurus… for Fun

Not every domain you dream up will be available for registration. The truth is, most won’t.

That’s why a thesaurus is a domain collector’s best friend. In fact, uncovering snappy synonyms for your latest near-miss idea can be a lot of fun.

But if a thesaurus has become your favorite bedtime read (you know, just in case a cool domain idea jumps out) it may be time to seek professional help.

Because — wake up call! — it’s a reference book, not the latest Jack Reacher.

#6. You Secretly Stalk the Person Who Owns YourName.com

I was lucky. I grabbed my personal domain before anyone else could.

But if you have a popular birth name, or you were just too slow to the punch, your best options may already have gone. And that really stings.

Because when your name’s John Brown, telling people your treasured home on the Internet is TheRealJohnWBrown.info is plain embarrassing.

And that’s why you secretly stalk the person who nabbed your name online. You stake out their website, mentally mocking their pathetic efforts while waiting patiently for the right moment to pounce.

Because one day, they’ll forget to renew that domain and then, my friend, victory will be yours.

#7. You’ve Felt the Pain of “Lapsers Remorse”

Sometimes you see a domain for what it is — a dumb impulse purchase you’ll never be able to use or resell.

Maybe you tried to make money by listing it for sale at a couple of domain marketplaces but didn’t get the faintest sniff of interest.

So when it comes up for renewal, you do the sensible thing and let it lapse. You even feel good about your level-headed decision.

Weeks later, you casually check to see if anyone’s re-registered it and find it’s now listed on a “premium domains” site for $3,000!

Of course, just because it’s listed for thousands doesn’t mean it’s worth thousands.

But you can’t escape the feeling you let a valuable domain slip through your fingers.

#8. You’re Considering a Domain-Inspired Career Move

Sometimes you’ll stumble across a domain name that’s so good you simply have to own it… even though it’s totally unrelated to your work or hobbies.

The smart move would be to snag it and sell it for a profit to someone who can make good use of it. But like Gollum and that damned ring, you can’t quite bring yourself to part with it.

So your brain starts to explore a future possible world where you become the person for whom this is the perfect domain.

Sure it means throwing away years of hard-won experience and starting a blog in a new field.

But finding a domain this good must be a signal from the universe, right?

#9. You Lose Interest in Domains Moments After Buying Them

Once the buzz of snagging the name you’ve been lusting after subsides, a faint sense of regret can quickly follow.

“I can’t believe nobody bought this yet,” quickly turns to, “I can’t believe I just bought that.”

And the longer you hold onto a domain, the more money you rack up in wasted renewal fees.

The best way to take your mind off this painful predicament? Start scouting for your next domain name.

#10. You Have a Conspiracy Theory about Domain Registrars

Maybe this happened to you…

One day you check a new domain and find it available for the regular price. The next day it’s suddenly a “premium” domain, commanding several thousand dollars.

And you can’t help but wonder:

Did my search alert the registrar to the juicy potential of this previously unrecognized name?

You wouldn’t be alone in your suspicions. Type “do domain registrars” into Google and “steal domains?” is the top auto-complete suggestion.

Are registrars capable of dirty tricks like this? Maybe. It’s difficult to be sure.

But paranoid thoughts like these might be the first sign your harmless hobby is turning into a dangerous addiction.

Learn to Spot the Signs of Addiction Before It’s Too Late

Domain name addiction is real. And it can wreck your life if you don’t catch it in time.

If you suspect you might be addicted, ask yourself the following questions:

Do you visit domain registration sites several times a day?

Do you lie to friends and family about how many domains you own?

Do you often “binge” and buy multiple domains at once?

If so, you’re likely a domain name junkie.

The good news? With the right support, a full recovery is possible.

But you must take that crucial first step. Acknowledge your addiction.

So repeat after me:

“I’m a domain name junkie. And today’s the day I get help.”

About the Author: Glen Long is Smart Blogger’s operations guy and a recovering domain name junkie. He’s holding a “yard sale” of the best blogging, copywriting and content marketing domains that he’s collected over the years — go check it out.

The post 10 Things You’ll Only Understand If You’re a Domain Name Junkie appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/domain-name-junkie/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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Goal-setting for Bloggers: How to Get More Done That Matters

Are you accomplishing your blogging goals?

Are you failing on your New Year's resolutions?

In this episode, you will discover how to get more done that actually matters.

Listen to the episode

“A goal without a plan is just a wish” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I have a confession to make. Over the last 7 or 8 years, I've been a part of an amazing mastermind group.

And at the beginning of the year, we get together to talk about our goals. Every year, I write down my goals for that year and share it with the other members of the group.

We all do it. Yet, if I'm to be perfectly honest, I can't remember accomplishing any of the goals I shared with my mastermind groups.

They are usually large goals, and I find myself putting most of those goals back on my list the next year.

However, over the last month or so, I've made more progress towards my goals than I'd made in entire years previously. Why? Because of the process I've gone through.

A process that I believe can change your life like it has changed mine. One that will make you way more productive. But there's good news and bad news.

The bad news: It's going to take AT LEAST 10 to 20 hours to get set up.

The good news: It'll save you a ton of time and help you get WAY more done.

And I want to challenge you to take this seriously. You in? Then keep reading.

Goal-setting for Bloggers

In order to accomplish your blogging goals, it's important for you to spend the time to work out your blogging goals.

In order to accomplish the blogging goals that really matter, they need to be understood and evaluated in the proper context.

Here are the steps I recommend you take.

Step 1 – Write down (and break down) your life goals

Wait a minute Leslie? Why are we going so deep so fast?

Here's the fact – it will take a whole lot of work to accomplish your blogging goals, especially if they are big goals.

Starting with your life goals helps to give your blogging goals context. It helps you to get clear on your “why”.

In the episode, I walk you through a more detailed process for coming up with your life goals.

Step 2 – Write down (and break down) your business goals

Once you understand your life goals, it's important to then think about your business goals in the context of those life goals.

If you're reading this, you are most likely trying to start a blog as a business. You're not just in it to have an outlet. You want to actually make money from it.

Well if that's the case, you want to set some goals for where you want your business to go. And from there, you can move on to the next step.

Step 3 – Write down (and break down) your blogging goals

Now that you have your business goals, it's time to focus on your blogging goals in that context. By doing it this way, you know that your blogging goals will help you meet your business goals.

And since your business goals are in the context of your life goals, what you do with your blog will help you to accomplish your life goals.

I highly recommend for you to listen to the episode above to see how this all plays out.

How to Break Down Your Goals

In order to break down your goals, there are a few important questions that you want to answer. I also recommend that you write down your answers to these questions.

What is the goal?

This is where you want to get specific. It's not good enough to say I want to make money with my blog. It's better to say I want to make money by selling my first product by a specific date.

Or I want to grow my email list to 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year. Write down your goal and be specific.

Why do I want to accomplish that goal?

If you understand why you want to accomplish your goal, you'll be more likely to accomplish it. Write down your “why” for each goal in one sentence.

If you can't come up with a reason why then it shouldn't be on your goal list.

What are the benefits of reaching that goal?

If you're setting a goal, there will be benefits associated with that goal. What are they? Write them down for each of your goals. If you can't think of any benefits, I can't think of a reason why you'd want to accomplish that particular goal.

What are the pains associated with not reaching that goal?

One of the things I've learned on my journey as a blogger is that people are more likely to take action to solve a specific pain point in their lives.

Getting clear on the pains that are associated with not accomplishing your goal will make you want to fight more to accomplish your goal.

What do I need to know to accomplish my goal?

This is where education comes in. To get to where you want to get, you will have to learn certain things. You can take courses, listen to podcasts, and even read books to help you learn what you need to learn.

However, you need to be clear on what you need to learn so that you can pursue those resources.

Who do I need to engage to help me accomplish that goal?

No man is an island. In order to get to where you want to be, there are people out there that can help you. Knowing who those people are will help you plan out your strategy from connecting with them and engaging them in the right way.

What steps do I need to take?

This is where the rubber meets the road. It's important to come up with a plan of attack. You may not know everything that needs to be done right now. But you can at least come up with a plan of things to do to figure out what needs to be done.

Come up with a plan so that you can know what to act on.

When will I accomplish each goal by?

It's important to set a date. Then your goal becomes real. If your anything like me, setting that specific date will help you to push harder as that date slowly creeps up on you.

Tracking your progress

Now that you've broken down your goals, it's important to have a way to track your progress. It's what you do on a daily and weekly basis that will contribute to the goals that you reach on a monthly and yearly basis.

And tracking your progress will help you to continually be aware of where you are in the process and what's left to be done.

Here are my recommendations:

Choose 3 – 5 goals to start working on

Now that you have your huge list of goals, it can be overwhelming to try to attack them all. In fact, it's virtually impossible and you will be easily discouraged.

That's why I recommend choosing 3 – 5 goals to start with. These are the goals you'll be focused on right now.

Set Weekly goals

At the beginning of each week, determine what you need to accomplish that week to get you closer to accomplishing those 3 – 5 goals by the dates you specified.

Write those down at the top of your weekly planner, which can be a simple notebook or something like The Performance Planner by Zig Ziglar.

Plan your daily schedule and task for tomorrow

Every day, it's important to plan out the next day's schedule and tasks. The last thing you want is to wake up uncertain about what needs to be done.

Your goal is to jump to action as soon as you start your day. Knowing what to do beforehand is essential.

Of course, make sure the tasks your write down will help you accomplish the goals you are focused on accomplishing that week.

Reflect daily on what you accomplished

At the end of each day, take note of what tasks you complete.

More importantly, which goals didn't you work on. Make a note of that. You won't work on every goal every day. However, if you keep seeing a goal show up as not being worked on, that will prompt you to add tasks related to that goal on future days.

Reflect weekly on what you accomplished

It's also important to evaluate how your week went. Where are you in terms of your goals? What did you accomplish? Where could you use some improvement?

What didn't you work on as much as you would like?

Bringing it together

I know – the plan that I'm proposing here will take a lot of work. You're welcome!

Accomplishing your goals takes work. The problem is that most people are already doing the work, but are not doing the right things to help them accomplish their goals.

By having the clarity I outlined in this episode, you'll gain the confidence to know that you're not wasting time. And when it's all said and done, you'll be checking those goals off quicker than ever before.

So what do you say? Will you take me up on this challenge? If so, let me know in the comments area below.

The post Goal-setting for Bloggers: How to Get More Done That Matters appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.

from SEO and SM Tips https://www.becomeablogger.com/26414/goal-setting-bloggers-get-more-done/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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The 9 Best Affiliate Networks for Earning Passive Income in 2019

Let’s cut right to the chase…

If you want to find the best affiliate networks in 2019 so you can start earning some sweet passive income, you’ve come to the right place.

There’s no fluff here.

No overwhelming list of 100+ affiliate networks that all sound the same.

No superficial content that doesn’t help you answer the only question that matters: what’s the best affiliate network for me?

Here’s what we’re going to do:

I’m going to briefly answer some common questions, show you the top affiliate networks we recommend for 2019, and quickly break down each of them for you.

You will then take the information, choose an affiliate network to join, and start padding your wallet with twenties.

Sound good?

Then let’s get started.

Affiliate Networks: Q&A

Up first are the questions and answers.

Already an affiliate marketing aficionado? Awesome. Click here to jump ahead.

What is an Affiliate Network?

Affiliate networks are middlemen connecting bloggers and entrepreneurs (“publishers”) with companies (“merchants”) offering affiliate program opportunities for their products or services.

Through a single portal, affiliate networks give publishers access to numerous affiliate programs.

If that sounds like a bunch of gobbledygook, don’t worry. Here’s the important part:

You monetize your blog with these affiliate programs by using a process called affiliate marketing.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a new twist on an old idea: getting a finder’s fee when you refer a customer.

You introduce your audience to a product or service and, if they buy using your unique affiliate link, you earn a commission.

In short: find a product or service you like, promote it to your blog’s readers, and earn part of the profit on each sale.

Can You Really Make Money with Affiliate Marketing?

Absolutely.

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income earned over $2 million through affiliate marketing in 2017. John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneurs on Fire earned $37,974 — in November 2018 alone.

Slightly (ahem) on the other end of the spectrum, one of my affiliate programs has earned $3,450 over a span of 3 years.

That’s not “quit my job” money. It’s not even “hire Nicolas Cage to attend my birthday party” money.

However, as passive income resulting from a single blog post I wrote years ago, it’s not too shabby.

Your mileage can and will vary, of course.

But it’s definitely possible to make real, tangible, passive income through affiliate marketing.

Smart, attractive people just like you do it every day.

So, that begs the question…

What is the Best Affiliate Network?

That’s what I’m going to help you figure out.

I’ll give you the breakdown (in no particular order) — you choose the network that best fits your needs.

Let’s get to it.

#9. ShareASale

The Scoop on ShareASale

Long track record. Founded in 2000, ShareASale has been around the block a time or two.

Numerous affiliate opportunities. ShareASale offers over 3,900 affiliate programs in 40 different categories.

Safe and secure. With zero customer complaints on file, the Better Business Bureau gives ShareASale an A+ rating.

Consistent payment schedule. On the 20th of each month, so long as you have a balance of at least $50, ShareASale sends you money.

Different payment options. You can have ShareASale pay you via checks in the mail, wire transfer, or direct deposit. International men and women of mystery can use the transfer service Payoneer. No PayPal, though.

What Makes ShareASale Different?

Thanks in part to its solid reputation, ShareASale is trusted by quite a few big-name companies.

In fact…

Over 1,000 merchants, such as WP Engine and OptinMonster, are exclusive to the network.

If you want to advertise their products, you can only do so through ShareASale.

Who Should Join ShareASale?

Anyone who’s looking for a reliable affiliate network that offers a wide variety of affiliating marketing options (thus eliminating the need to join multiple networks) should give ShareASale a try.

Whether you want to offer services, physical goods, or digital downloads to your audience, ShareASale has you covered.

#8. Clickbank

The Skinny on Clickbank

Track record of 20+ years. Founded in 1998, Clickbank has been around longer than M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. (Spoiler alert: Bruce Willis was wearing a toupee the whole time.)

Millions of options. Clickbank offers more than 6 million unique affiliate products.

Quick to respond. With zero unresolved complaints as of this writing, Clickbank sports an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Flexible payment schedule. Clickbank lets you choose how often you want to get paid. Want monthly payments? You got it. Weekly? Done.

Variety of payment options. Check, wire transfer, and direct deposit are available. International users can get paid through Payoneer. Alas, no PayPal here either.

What Makes Clickbank Different?

By focusing on digital products created by entrepreneurs from all over the globe, Clickbank offers affiliate opportunities you can’t find anywhere else.

But be careful…

While Clickbank itself, the network, has a solid reputation, some of the products offered by its merchants can be questionable.

You have to do your homework. If you do, you’ll be fine.

If you don’t, and you end up promoting some subpar products, your audience won’t be happy.

(For the record: this advice is applicable to every affiliate network.)

Who Should Join Clickbank?

If you’re looking to exclusively promote digital products, and you want (literally) millions of options, Clickbank is a good bet.

#7. CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction)

The Lowdown on CJ Affiliate

Two decades of experience. Founded in 1998, CJ Affiliate was around during Y2K and lived to tell the tale.

Lots of brands. CJ Affiliate gives you access to more than 3,000 merchants.

Too big to fail. CJ Affiliate is part of Alliance Data Systems, which is a Fortune 500 company. It also has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Get paid monthly. CJ Affiliate combines all your commissions into one monthly payment.

Two payment options. Get paid by direct deposit or checks in the mail. PayPal is a no.

What Makes CJ Affiliate Different?

It offers lots of bells and whistles, such as real-time reporting.

That means you can monitor activity on your account as it happens.

(No more having to refresh your browser every five seconds like a caveman.)

Who Should Join CJ Affiliate?

Anyone with an established audience who wants a feature-rich affiliate network will find a lot to like with CJ Affiliate.

However, it may not be a good choice for beginners.

Because accounts are deactivated if you go six months without earning a commission, and because their merchants have a reputation for being picky on who they accept as publishers, CJ Affiliate is best for those who get steady traffic to their websites.

However, if you already have an audience of modest size and engagement, you’ll appreciate what CJ Affiliate has to offer.

#6. Amazon Associates

The Rundown on Amazon Associates

One of the first online marketing networks. Started in 1996, Amazon Associates is old enough to legally drink alcohol.

Huge selection. Publishers can promote Amazon’s massive catalog of physical and digital products.

Backed by Amazon. Valued at over $1 trillion, and with over 90 million paying Prime subscribers in the United States, Amazon isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The Better Business Bureau gives the company a B+ rating.

Not the best payment schedule. Amazon Associates pays you approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which you earned your commission.

Several payment options. You can get paid by direct deposit, Amazon gift certificates, or checks in the mail. (Tip: Avoid checks in the mail since there’s a $15 processing fee.) International users can get paid by gift certificates or checks (with the $15 fee waived).

What Makes Amazon Associates Different?

By offering the entire Amazon catalog, no affiliate network can match the sheer volume of physical and digital products offered by Amazon Associates.

Heads up, though:

Including affiliate links in emails is against Amazon’s company policy, so keep this in mind if email marketing is your primary method for promoting affiliate products.

Who Should Join Amazon Associates?

Affiliate marketers who are familiar with the Amazon ecosystem will feel right at home with Amazon Associates.

Those looking to promote services should look elsewhere, but anyone who wants to focus on physical and digital products will find millions of different opportunities in hundreds of different categories with Amazon Associates.

#5. eBay Partner Network (EPN)

The 411 on eBay Partner Network

Founded in 2008. Though the eBay Partner Network is a relative newcomer on the affiliate network scene, its parent company (eBay) has been around since 1995.

Billions of opportunities. eBay has 1.1 billion listings. You’ll never run out of physical products to promote to your audience.

Backed by eBay. With 175 million buyers purchasing over $23 billion of merchandise each year, EPN’s parent company (eBay) is built to last. The Better Business Bureau gives the company an A+ rating.

Reliable payment schedule. So long as you’ve earned the minimum of $10 needed for payment, EPN pays you monthly.

PayPal! For those who prefer to use the service, EPN allows you to be paid via PayPal. (Direct Deposit is also available.)

What Makes eBay Partner Network Different?

One thing that sets EPN apart from other affiliate networks is the way it lets you promote… unique offerings.

The great Weird Al Yankovich once sang about buying William Shatner’s toupee on eBay.

With the eBay Partner Network, if such a transaction ever takes place, you could earn a commission on it.

Who Should Join eBay Partner Network?

If your focus is on physical products and you want the peace of mind that comes with doing business with a large company you’re already familiar with, eBay Partner Network is a great option.

#4. FlexOffers

The Skinny on FlexOffers

New (ish) kid on the block. Founded in 2008, FlexOffers doesn’t have as long of a track record as most of its competitors.

Growing list of affiliate opportunities. FlexOffers has 12,000+ merchants in 25+ categories across 27 (and counting) countries. And they say hundreds of new merchants are added each week.

No rating with BBB. Partly due to its relative youth, FlexOffers doesn’t have a rating with the Better Business Bureau. On the upside, BBB shows zero complaints with the company.

Quick payments. One of the areas where FlexOffers shines is with payments. When you refer a sale, your commission is paid within 30 days (so long as you meet the minimum balance of $50). And if you’re a top performer, it’s possible to be paid within 7 days.

Standard payment options. U.S. residents can be paid by check or direct deposit. PayPal is available for those outside the USA.

What Makes FlexOffers Different?

When you sign up with FlexOffers, you’re assigned a dedicated account manager to help you navigate the affiliate marketing waters.

This makes it a good fit for both beginners and veterans of affiliate marketing.

Who Should Join Flexoffers?

Don’t let its youth fool you.

If you want lots of affiliate options, great support, and quick turnaround on payments, FlexOffers is a solid contender.

#3. Pepperjam

The Scoop on Pepperjam

New to the affiliate network game. Though it’s been in the digital marketing business since the 90s, Pepperjam started its own affiliate network in 2015.

Quality over quantity. With only 1,500 merchants, Pepperjam has fewer options than its competitors. Why? Well, according to Pepperjam, it’s because they only work with brands they love.

An open book. The Better Business Bureau gives Pepperjam a B+ rating. With its focus on transparency and communication (more on that below), Pepperjam goes out of its way to show it has nothing to hide.

Payments twice a month. So long as you meet the minimum $25 balance, Pepperjam pays you twice a month. Payment cycles are around the 1st and 15th of each month.

Lots of payment options. Pepperjam lets you get paid via PayPal (which is the default payment method), check, or direct deposit.

What Makes Pepperjam Different?

Publishers and merchants can communicate with one another inside the Pepperjam system.

That’s very unique.

Want to ask a merchant who caught your eye a question? Have at it. Flirt away.

Pepperjam actually encourages communication so strong relationships can be built.

Who Should Join Pepperjam?

If you value transparency and customer support, you’ll be hard pressed to do better than Pepperjam as an affiliate network.

#2. Rakuten Marketing (formerly LinkShare)

The Lowdown on Rakuten Marketing

One of the oldest affiliate networks. Founded in 1996, Rakuten Marketing (formerly LinkShare) has been hooking up merchants and publishers for over two decades.

Only 1,000 merchants. Though it’s been in the affiliate networking game longer than most, Rakuten’s list of brands is shorter than most. However, this somewhat short list is made up of many household names.

Loved by BBB and guys on social media. Rakuten has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. It’s also been called “cool” by someone named Kenny on Twitter.

Sporadic payments. Rakuten only pays you after the merchants have paid them. So, if you earned a commission in January, it would be invoiced in early February, the merchant would have a due date to pay Rakuten by February 28, and Rakuten would pay you in March.

Solid payment options. Direct deposit, check, and PayPal (in certain markets) are all offered by Rakuten.

What Makes Rakuten Marketing Different?

It’s been ranked the #1 affiliate network for 7 straight years by an industry publication that presumably knows about such things.

Who Should Join Rakuten Marketing?

If you want an affiliate network with an intuitive user interface, a great reporting system, and the kind of solid reputation you can only earn by being in the business for two decades, Rakuten Marketing is a great selection.

#1. PeerFly

The Rundown on PeerFly

A decade of experience. Launched in January 2009, PeerFly came into existence when Taylor Swift was still a country music singer.

Numerous selections. PeerFly has over 2,000 clients and over 8,000 affiliate opportunities.

Small team that plays big. Comprised of only 15 individuals, PeerFly is a small company that goes toe to toe with its bigger competitors. The hard work pays off with an A+ Better Business Bureau rating and zero complaints on file.

Net30 Payment Schedule. PeerFly offers fast payment. So long as you’ve met their $50 minimum, you’ll be paid the following month after earning your commission.

All the payment options. If you’re in the U.S., PeerFly lets you choose between PayPal, Bitcoin, Amazon gift cards, checks, and direct deposit. International users have PayPal, Bitcoin, and Payoneer.

What Makes PeerFly Different?

PeerFly is known as a CPA (cost per action) affiliate network rather than the typical CPS (cost per sale). The “action” could be a sale, but it doesn’t have to be. It could be whatever action (downloading an eBook, filling out a survey, etc.) the merchant desires.

Though individual commissions typically aren’t as high for CPAs, the number of commissions is usually higher.

Who Should Join PeerFly?

If you’re a beginner or have a small audience, PeerFly’s CPA model is a good option. Actions are easier to obtain than sales, so your chances of success will be higher.

And if you’re an old pro at affiliate marketing, the large selection and flexible payment options offered by PeerFly should serve you well too.

It’s Time to Choose an Affiliate Network

Let’s cut to the chase one more time…

Which affiliate network are you joining today?

Which one is going to launch you on the path towards Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas levels of ginormous passive income in 2019?

You now know the track records and distinguishing details of 9 great affiliate networks.

So now it’s time to choose.

Passive income isn’t a myth.

It’s real. It’s out there. And it’s yours if you want it.

Are you ready?

Then let’s do this thing.

About the Author: When he’s not busy telling waitresses, baristas, and anyone else who crosses his path that Jon Morrow said he was in the top 1% of bloggers, Kevin J. Duncan uses his very particular set of skills to help bloggers improve their craft.

The post The 9 Best Affiliate Networks for Earning Passive Income in 2019 appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/affiliate-networks/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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How to Start a Blog (and Make Money) in 2019: 20X Faster Method

What if I told you there’s a new strategy for how to start a blog and make money, that’s 20X faster, requires no software or technical expertise, and costs absolutely nothing up front?

You’d think there must be some hidden catch, right?

But there’s not. It’s totally real.

In this post, I’m going to walk you through the newest method for how to start a blog, step-by-step, with screenshots and links to all the resources you need. Let’s jump in…

Table of Contents

Should You Even Start a Blog in 2019?

The Old Way to Create a Blog (And Why It Doesn’t Work)

How to Start a Blog and Make Money (the New Method)

Make Sure Your Blog Is Actually Viable (Not All Are)

Spy on Popular Blogs to See What’s Working

Test Your Ideas on Medium (Not WordPress!)

Get a Clear (Not Clever!) Domain Name

Switch over to WordPress

Set Up WordPress the Right Way

Grow to $1,000 per Month (and Beyond)

Frequently Asked Questions

Should You Even Start a Blog in 2019?

With the dominance of video content on platforms like YouTube and Facebook, you might think the whole idea of blogging is a little… out of date. Research tells a different story, though:

Source: https://expresswriters.com/the-big-2017-content-marketing-spend-infographic/

And it’s not just companies who are getting great results from blogging. It also works well for…

Nonfiction authors: Before giving you a book deal, publishers want to know you have a “platform” — an audience who will be happy to buy and promote your book. Blogging is one of the best ways to build that platform, and so it’s no coincidence many popular bloggers also become bestselling authors.A blog is also helpful when you’re self-publishing. By leveraging your existing audience, you can drive your book up the Amazon bestseller list, giving you the chance to grab the attention of readers who would’ve never heard of you otherwise.

Lifestyle entrepreneurs: If you enjoy writing, and you’re willing to be patient, you can use your blogging platform to produce a passive income that gives you the lifestyle many people only dream of having. Top bloggers often travel the world, buy dream homes in the mountains or next to the ocean, and have nearly unlimited free time to spend with their family or doing whatever they choose.Where does the money come from? You can read this comprehensive post for a step-by-step walk-through of the process, but here’s the short version:

In the past, bloggers were limited to selling advertisements and sponsorships, but today you can make even more money from affiliate marketing, creating your own course, or charging ultra-high rates for coaching/consulting. For example, I once charged $1000 per hour for advice over the phone, only worked five hours a week, and had a six-month waiting list.That being said, it’s hard to do. You need the skill, persistence, and talent to attract hundreds of thousands or even millions of readers. If you can pull it off though, you may never have to worry about money again.

Mature businesses with millions of potential customers: This might be surprising, but not all businesses should start a blog. If you’re running a tech startup, small retail store, or manufacturing plant, for example, it’s probably not the best use of your time. On the other hand, it’s a great fit for mature businesses in markets with millions of potential customers.By “mature,” I’m referring to companies with a refined and effective product or service, existing revenue (at least six figures), and a deep understanding of their marketing metrics. In other words, you’re not really guessing about whether your company will succeed. You’re just looking for a way to grow.And ideally, you’re in a market with millions of potential customers. This one can be tricky because it’s not the size of the market that matters. Space rocket manufacturing is a multibillion-dollar industry, but I would guess there are a few hundred customers out there buying rockets. On the other hand, there are millions of small businesses, clothes shoppers, productivity geeks, and so on. For a blog to be effective, that’s the kind of market you want.

So, let’s say you fall into one of these categories. Should you just install WordPress and get cracking?

Actually— no.

The Old Way to Create a Blog (And Why It Doesn’t Work)

A few years ago, I would’ve said WordPress was the only game in town. It’s faster, more powerful, and more customizable than anything out there. That’s why they power 27% of the sites in the world.

The problem?

WordPress is also extremely complicated. Here’s a typical list of tasks for setting up a new site:

Purchase web hosting

Set up a new site through cPanel

Create a new WordPress installation through Fantastico or one of their competitors

Pick out and install your WordPress theme

Customize your theme until it looks the way you want

Install and configure caching plugins

Install and configure backup plugins

Add any extra functionality you need, such as social sharing, e-commerce, etc., by installing additional plug-ins

If you’re a techie, and you’ve done it all before, it’s not a big deal. You can do it all in a few hours.

But if you’re a beginner learning how to start a blog for the first time?

It’s overwhelming, and once you see how much there is to learn, you’ll probably feel like quitting. If you do push forward, you can spend months or even years stuck in a technical quagmire, just learning how to do everything the right way.

Of course, you can always outsource it, but you don’t really know what you are doing, your chances of picking the wrong service provider is pretty high. You might get scammed, hacked, or overcharged.

And here’s the really disturbing question:

Even if you get your WordPress site set up the right way, what if you discover you chose the wrong market or nobody likes the content you are publishing?

It happens all the time. When I was a beginner, I went through three failed blogs before I created one that succeeded. Each time, I spent dozens of hours setting up WordPress, only to discover the blog was never going to work, and I had to start over. If you push forward and set up WordPress without testing your idea first, I pretty much guarantee the same thing will happen to you too.

The bottom line:

Putting it all together, I think setting up a WordPress site is the worst possible approach for a beginner. You’re just setting yourself up for failure.

Fortunately, after working with thousands of students, I’ve discovered a new method that is much, much easier, not to mention faster, and I’m going to outline the entire process for you here.

How to Start a Blog and Make Money (the New Method)

The driving principle behind this new method for how to start a blog is simple:

Waste as little effort as possible.

If you’re familiar with the thinking behind The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, everything outlined here will intuitively make sense to you. If not, here’s the idea:

Innovation is messy. Anytime you create something new — regardless of whether it’s an app or book or blog — there’s a huge chance of getting it wrong and having to start over.

The problem with blogging?

Most people don’t know there’s a huge chance of failure, so they spend months or even years creating a blog that has zero chance of succeeding. Eventually, they realize where they went wrong, and they start over, but again, they invest months or even years into creating a second (or third or fourth) blog that doesn’t work.

And here’s the part that’s tough to swallow:

This kind of failure is inevitable. Whenever you’re doing anything new, you will make mistakes and have to start over. It doesn’t matter if you are smart, rich, or successful at many other things. The first time you launch a blog, you will fail. It’s pretty much guaranteed to happen.

The good news is, you can dramatically speed up the process. Instead of wasting months or years chasing a bad idea, you can find out if it’s going to work in weeks or even days. In fact, the process I’m outlining here often destroys a bad idea within minutes.

The result?

You waste WAY less time. Instead of banging your head against the wall for months or even years before you finally figure everything out, you can adapt quickly and get to the right idea within a matter of weeks or months. It’s at least 20X faster. Probably more like 100X.

So, let’s dive in:

#1. Make Sure Your Blog Is Actually Viable (Not All Are)

Important: The ideas in this section are subtle and hard to grasp. Reread it several times, and think about it carefully. We have tested it on thousands of students starting their blogs, and there’s no question it’s correct, but it’s easy to misinterpret these rules. When in doubt, consult an expert (like us).

It’s not fun to think about, but if there’s no chance in hell of your blog succeeding, wouldn’t you rather find out right now?

Well, sometimes you can.

One of the most damaging myths about blogging is the belief that you can start a successful blog targeting anyone, almost as if it’s a one-size-fits-all technology for getting “free traffic.” But it’s not true. The fact is, blogs are good at getting traffic when targeting specific kinds of audiences, and they are absolutely terrible when targeting others.

It’s also shockingly common to target the wrong audience. Of the thousands of students who come into our courses, more than 95% begin by targeting a poor or nonexistent audience that will never be able to support a successful blog, no matter how much time they put into it, and we have to use this checklist to push them in the right direction.

Surprising, right? You probably had no idea there was such a thing as a “bad audience,” but it’s true.

Here are some examples:

Men suffering from erectile dysfunction

Business executives

Parents

People struggling with depression

Women who are planning their wedding

Guys struggling to understand masculinity

Freelancers

Breeders of Dobermans

To be clear, I’m not saying you can’t target these audiences. I’m saying blogging is an inefficient way of attracting them. You’re better off using advertising, public relations, attending conferences, etc.

Of course, the obvious question is, “Why?” Why is it that some audiences are well-suited to blogs and others aren’t?

Let’s step through the criteria, and I believe it will become more clear. A good audience…

Self-identifies (“That’s me!”). Recent scientific research suggests that some boys who are raised by single mothers struggle to understand their own masculinity. The problem is, they don’t think of themselves that way. If you were to ask a group of men, “How many of you have trouble understanding your masculinity?” no one would raise their hands.The solution: target the symptom. Ask, “How many of you get friend-zoned by girls, and you can’t figure out why?” A bunch of hands would go up on that one. In other words, you must describe your audience using the words they use to describe themselves. In almost all cases, you’ll describe the symptoms, not the actual cause.

Is happy to be grouped together. You would think freelancers would be a viable audience, right? After all, there are so many successful sites that seem to target them! Again though, it’s misleading, because there are many types of freelancers: photographers, copywriters, designers, and so on. They all share similar perspectives (getting and managing clients, etc.), but if you put them in a room together, they would naturally sort themselves by field. For this reason, blogs about a particular type of freelancing are always more successful than blogs targeting freelancers in general.

Includes a wide continuum of experience. In every market, the most successful blogs are the ones with a lot of beginners and relatively few experts. For example, there are millions of people thinking about starting a software company, but there are relatively few billionaire founders. However, if you target an audience like “business executives,” you are narrowing the continuum of experience to new executives and experienced ones, or perhaps middle managers and CEOs. In either case, it’s fatal to the blog, because the most rabid audience for blog content is always the beginner (in this case, someone who wants to become an executive someday).

Shares the same perspective. For example, both mothers and fathers fall under the category of “parents,” but they generally have different perspectives on what being a parent means. For that matter, a parent of a toddler and the parent of a teenager will also have different perspectives. Therefore, the audience of “parents” should be subdivided before it can become viable. For instance, “middle-class mothers of toddlers” might be a good audience to target, because their perspectives are relatively similar.

Talks with each other on social media. Erectile dysfunction is a multibillion-dollar market with millions of men who are desperate for help, and yet you’ll never see a popular blog about it. Why? Because men don’t talk with other men on social media about erectile dysfunction. If you started a blog on the topic, you wouldn’t get any traffic from Facebook, for example, and that would make it very difficult for it to survive.

Wants to learn. With millions of people suffering from depression, you would think a blog about it would be wildly popular, but there’s not one, and here’s why: for the most part, people with depression have no desire to read about depression on a regular basis, probably because it makes them depressed! On the other hand, a blog for families of people suffering from depression would probably be quite popular, because they have a deep and ongoing desire to help their family member.

Has an ongoing interest. At any given time, there are millions of women who recently got engaged and are planning their wedding, and yet there are no big blogs for them. Why? Because they are only interested in planning their wedding until they actually have the wedding! As a result, this particular market has a lot of “churn” — people going out and new people coming in — and the limited window of opportunity makes it unsuitable for blogging.

Consists of millions of people. Occasionally, you’ll find an audience that passes all the other tests, but it’s so small in number it can’t support a blog. A good example is breeders of Dobermans. You could easily start a blog for them, and you would probably have a small following of loyal readers, but it’s unlikely the audience would ever grow large enough to make running the blog worthwhile. For a truly effective blog, you need a potential audience consisting of millions of people. Otherwise, it’s not worth the effort.

Interesting, right? And perhaps a bit unsettling?

The good news is, a rule disqualifying a bad audience usually suggests the adjustment you need to make. For example, the audience of “parents” was disqualified by the rule that a good audience must “share the same perspective,” but by subdividing the audience down to “middle-class mothers of toddlers,” we were able to find a viable audience.

Sometimes though, you can’t make a topic workable, no matter what you do. In those cases, look at the bright side: you just saved a lot of effort by finding out now rather than after years of trying.

But what if your idea for a blog is indeed viable? Well then, it’s time to do a little good old-fashioned espionage!

#2. Spy on Popular Blogs to See What’s Working

Thankfully, this next step is a lot less painful than the first one. It’s also much easier to explain.

Once you’ve verified your blog has potential, you need to study the blogs your audience already reads.

For instance, let’s say you want to start a blog for new homeowners. You’ll teach them how to make simple repairs themselves, maximize the value of their home, save money on their mortgage, and so on.

After going through the checklist above, you discover it meets all the criteria, and — alakazam, alakazoo — you have a workable blog topic. What’s next?

Well, the average new homeowner is in their 30s. Many are also parents. Chances are, a lot of them also have at least a passing interest in personal finance. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to afford a home.

So, here’s what you do: study the top personal finance and parenting blogs. In particular, you need to uncover their most popular content and learn from the patterns you see.

Here’s how:

Use Alltop to identify the most popular blogs in your space. I recommend sorting through several of the subcategories, collecting a list of 20-50 popular blogs you think your audience might be reading. Here’s what I mean…

Plug the domain names for those blogs into Buzzsumo to find their most shared content. In particular, pay attention to Facebook shares, because it’s driving the most traffic in almost every space right now.

Look for patterns that might give you a clue into what kind of content your audience might like. Focus on the headlines, but also click through on any posts that grab your attention and read the whole post. You might even want to read the comments because they can give you insights as well.

Use a tool like Evernote or Google Drive to keep a list of headline ideas. Write down any headlines that occur to you while doing your research.

When you finish, you’ll have a list of ideas for blog posts backed by evidence of popularity. While nothing is guaranteed in life, the success of these posts will be far better than anything you might dream up in the shower and decide to write about. As a result, you should have a much easier time outpacing your competitors.

But it’s still worth testing a few of them, just to make sure…

Test Your Ideas for Free on Medium (Not WordPress!)

At this point, you might be tempted to grab a hosting account, install WordPress, and start blogging your heart out, but don’t.

Yes, you’ve done some cool research. Yes, your ideas for blog posts are far more likely to succeed. Yes, you’re way ahead of most beginning bloggers.

But I hate to break it to ya…

There’s an excellent chance you analyzed all those popular posts from other blogs your audience reads and came to all the wrong conclusions. Before going through all the effort of creating a new blog, I recommend testing your ideas on perhaps the coolest blogging platform out there right now:

Medium.

If you’ve never heard of it, Medium is the brainchild of Ev Williams, the geeky and brilliant co-founder of Twitter. He created it to become the largest, easiest to use blogging platform in the world, and he’s managed to attract over 30 million monthly readers, as well as celebrity writers like Matthew McConnaughhay and James Altucher.

And here’s the really cool part: you can write on Medium and get the chance to have your writing exposed to its 30 million readers, free of charge. Here’s how:

Register for a free account. When you visit the site, you might notice banners inviting you to become a premium member. There’s no doubt it gives you access to some excellent content as a reader, but as a writer, it’s by no means necessary to test your ideas. The free account gives you access to all the writing tools, so register for that.

Write a post based on one of the headlines gleaned from your research. Using Medium’s excellent editor, you can have a stylish post put together within a few hours.

Make sure you choose the appropriate interests. Anyone who subscribes to that interest will have a much higher chance of noticing the post.

Conduct a miniature outreach campaign to the blogs you studied in the previous step. By emailing them and asking them to share your post, not only do you have a chance to start building your audience, but it’s an excellent way to validate your approach. If influencers are willing to share your content, there’s a good chance you’re on the right track. I’d recommend emailing 10-20 of them.Click here to read our extensive post on outreach.

Now, here’s the big question:

How do you know you’re ready to switch over to WordPress?

Should you target a certain number of claps? Shares? Comments?

Actually, none of the above. In my opinion, none of those really mean much.

You’re much better off paying attention to your outreach success rate. You see, influencers are an excellent judge of content. If you can convince 20% of the blogs you email to share your post, and you can hit at least 20% on three different posts, I believe you’re ready to start your own blog.

If your outreach success rate hits 20%, there’s also an excellent chance at least one of your posts will end up featured on Medium, either on one of the interests or maybe even the front page, driving thousands upon thousands of new readers to your post. Again, not only will that help you build your audience, but it’s an excellent indication you’re on the right track, and it’s time to branch off on your own.

Note: If you’re familiar with the Lean Startup, the approach we’re following here is similar to the idea of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Instead of creating a product though, you are creating the minimum amount of content necessary to test your post ideas.

Get a Clear (Not Clever!) Domain Name

So, lots of influencers are sharing your post on Medium, and you’re itching to crank up your own site and snag some of that traffic?

Cool. Let’s just take it one step at a time, and the first step is getting a clear domain name.

Put yourselves in the shoes of the visitor. You’re browsing the web, and you see a headline for a blog post that catches your attention. Maybe a friend on Facebook shared it with you, maybe it came up on a Google search, or maybe it’s just a link in another article you’re reading. Regardless, you click the link, and consciously or not, you’re asking yourself a single question as you browse through it…

“Is this for me?“

Within a few seconds, you have to decide whether to keep reading the post or move on to something else, and the only way you’ll stay is if it’s relevant to you. Not just the post, either. When you’re deciding, you’ll take in the design of the page, other post headlines, and, yes, the domain name.

For example, consider Entrepreneur.com. Is there any doubt who the site is for? Entrepreneurs, of course!

How about MakeaLivingWriting.com? Obviously, it’s for people who want to make a living as a writer.

Neither names are clever, but they help you decide to stay or go by clearly articulating who they are helping. That’s what a good domain name does.

Of course, all the great domain names are taken, right?

Not necessarily. Here are three different methods for finding the perfect domain name for your site:

Name the audience. The simplest way to get a clear domain name is to call out the audience in the domain itself. Examples: SmartBlogger.com, CouchPotato.com, AFineParent.com

Name the topic. If your blog focuses on a specific topic, try finding a domain name that describes it in clear, concise language. Examples: The ArtofManliness.com, BudgetsAreSexy.com, PaleoHacks.com

Name the benefit. Why should people stick around? If you have a good answer, sometimes you can turn it into a domain name that really stands out. Examples: MakeALivingWriting.com, BiggerPockets.com, BeABetterBlogger.com

My suggestion:

Use these three strategies to make a list of 10-20 domain names you’d be happy having. You can write them out in a word processor, or if you want to get fancy, you can use a tool like NameStation to generate a lot of ideas at once.

Once you’re finished brainstorming, head over to a site like NameCheap to see if they are available. Click “Bulk Search” in the search box and paste in your domain names to check them all at once.

Sometimes you get lucky, and one of your favorites is available. If not, you either have to head back to the drawing board for another brainstorming session, or you can go to a premium domain name marketplace like Sedo.

Either way, one word of advice:

Don’t get hung up on your domain name. While it’s certainly helpful to have a good one, there are thousands of hugely popular sites with terrible domain names no one understands.

In other words, it’s not really a “make or break” factor for your site. Give yourself a few days or maybe a week to brainstorm ideas, and then make a decision, because once you have your domain name, you are ready to…

Switch Over to WordPress

You knew we had to run into some technical stuff sooner or later, right?

Well, here it is. There’s no code, complicated software to install or anything like that, but there are a lot of little steps you need to follow in exactly the right order.

It’s not too bad, though, I promise. You can do everything here in about an hour, and I have step-by-step guides to walk you through every little detail.

Let’s get started…

Choose a web host. If you’re not familiar with the term, a “web host” is kind of like a warehouse for websites on the Internet. You pay one a small fee to keep your website on the Internet, handle all your visitors, back up your website, and so on. There are a gazillion different hosts out there, but the one we recommend and use ourselves is SiteGround. Click here to get a 60% off discount (affiliate link).

Install WordPress. Once you have your account set up, you can use their built-in tools to install WordPress for you. It’s super easy. Here’s a video that walks you through all the steps:

Migrate your posts from Medium to WordPress. Thankfully, Medium makes it relatively easy to export your posts, but you do have to jump through a few hoops importing them into WordPress. Click here to learn how.When you finish, all the content will have switched over, and you’ll see all the posts on your own site, but that doesn’t mean you’ve finished. While WordPress works exceptionally well out-of-the-box, it still needs a little tweaking. Let’s talk about how to do that next.

Set Up WordPress the Right Way

The great thing about having a self-hosted WordPress site is you’re in total control. You can change how it looks, what functionality it has, improve its performance, and almost anything else you can imagine.

The problem?

Complete control also comes at a cost: complexity. There are thousands upon thousands of themes and hundreds of thousands of plug-ins to choose from, and you can easily lose weeks or even months of your life wading through them all and trying to figure out what’s best for you.

So, I’m going to take a minimalist approach here. Rather than giving you a huge list of things to do, I’m reducing it down to the absolute minimum, and I’ll even recommend some specific themes and plug-ins. Before we begin though, let me be clear about one thing:

Your content matters more than anything else.

You can have a site that’s ugly, clunky, and slow, but if you have great content, you’ll still get a lot of traffic. Not the opposite, though. You can have the most beautiful, user-friendly website online, but if the content sucks, nobody will give a damn about you.

So, don’t allow yourself to get lost in these details. Focus on making your website functional, and then you can always come back and make it unique or beautiful later.

That said, here are some different options to consider:

The Simplest Option: Elegant Themes

Cost: $89 per Year

You might wince a little at the annual price, but the advantage of Elegant Themes is they give you everything you need in one package:

Divi, the most popular WordPress theme on the market

A built-in page builder that can design anything you can imagine

Monarch, a social sharing plug-in that’s customizable and looks great

Bloom, a simple but functional app for building your email list

Regular updates and support, making it easy to stay current

Now, is every piece of it the best?

No. In fact, I don’t think they are the best in any single category.

But the combination of everything put together makes it far easier to get started. The design is also top-notch. That’s why they’ve become the most popular theme company on the market with over 400,000 paying customers.

The bottom line:

If you’re looking for a simple, stable solution that will last you for years and doesn’t require a “tech guy” to get up and running, Elegant Themes is the way to go.

The Free Option: A Hodgepodge of Stuff

Cost: Zero

So… what if you can’t really afford to spend any money on your blog? What should you do then?

The answer:

Cobble together a hodgepodge of free stuff into a workable site.

Here’s what I would do:

For your WordPress theme, install the free version of Astra

For your page builder, check out the free version of Elementor

For social sharing, go with the free version of Sumo

For building your email list, also go with the free version of Sumo

The downside?

Sumo will only last until you hit 500 subscribers, and then you have to either switch to something else or start paying a rather high monthly fee to stay with them. You also have to update everything separately, and you’ll have far less support if anything breaks.

To me, those are some pretty big downsides, and I really wouldn’t recommend it, but sometimes you don’t have any other choice. If that’s the case, give it a try.

A Quick Word about Caching

Regardless of which option you choose, you’ll want to install a caching plug-in before you start getting too much traffic (100+ visitors per day). The two most popular options are plug-ins called WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache.

If you’re looking for simplicity, I recommend WP Super Cache. You can install it, and you’re done. Here’s a video where a guy gets everything set up in three minutes:

Later, when you’re getting 10,000+ visitors per month, you might think about getting a tech guy who really knows the ins and outs of either plug-in to configure it for you. It really helps, but it’s not worth the trouble or expense for a new blog.

Important: If you end up going with Siteground (affiliate link), as I recommended above, they have their own caching plug-in, and it only takes about a minute to set up. Here’s a tutorial that walks you through it.

Grow to $1,000 per Month (And Beyond)

In the immortal words of Harry Connick Junior…

Up to this point, you’ve published posts on Medium until it’s clear people love what you write, you switched over to your self-hosted WordPress site, and now you are up and ready for the world. So, here’s the big question:

When does the money start rolling in? After all, that’s the point of all this, right?

Well… good news and bad news.

The good news is you’ve done the hard part. By far, the hardest part of building a popular blog is writing posts other people enjoy reading. Nothing else even comes close.

The bad news?

That’s just the beginning.

Now that your blog is up and running, you have to learn the ins and outs of getting traffic, building your email list, and monetizing your site. Even if you have top-notch writing skills, it’ll still take you at least 3-6 months to figure all that out.

But think about it this way…

Nothing worth doing is quick or easy.

Personally, I was a slow learner, and it took me three years to reach $1,000 a month. That’s a long time, right? Well, two years after that, we crossed $100,000 per month, and we’ve never looked back.

So yeah, it’s hard work, but I’d say it’s worth it.

Let’s go through some other common questions—

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I start a blog for free?

WordPress.com and Medium.com both have free options. Of the two, we recommend Medium, because they feature the best content from writers, and if you get featured, it can send you a ton of traffic.

But the truth?

Starting a blog is never free. Even if you don’t spend any money, you’ll be investing lots and lots of your time, and that’s worth something. Don’t forget about that.

How do you start a blog to make money?

Your best bet is to blog in a niche where lots of other bloggers are already making money. For example, the marketing, personal finance, and self-improvement niches can all be very profitable. If your goal is to start a blog to make money, those are the least risky options.

But what if you don’t want to blog about those topics?

You don’t have to. You can theoretically make money blogging about anything, assuming the audience a) trusts you and 2) frequently spends money on products and services related to your blog topic. You can either make money blogging as an affiliate or selling your own products and services.

What should I make a blog about?

It depends on your motivations.

If you want to make money, you should probably start blogging in a well-known space with lots of traffic and buyers, and then stand out by offering exceptionally good content for free.

For more on what it takes to choose a popular blog topic, read this post on what to blog about.

How do I get my blog noticed?

Getting noticed is about three things:

Choosing a topic lots of other people care about

Creating better content than your competitors

Getting influential people to link to that content

Lots of people obsess over getting the links from influential people, but the truth is, that’s relatively easy if your content is really the best. Focus on that, and then tactics like these will help it rise to the top.

How much does a beginning blogger make?

If you’re working for another company, you can make as much as $50,000 per year. Professional content marketers get paid very well.

On the other hand, most beginning bloggers are hobbyists. They tinker around in their spare time and seldom make much.

If you do commit to blogging over the long-term, and you start a truly popular blog, you can make millions. It’s a long road, and most people fail, but it’s worked out well for me.

The Bottom Line on How to Start a Blog

Just getting your blog off the ground is the hardest part.

It might take you a few months or even a few years to build up momentum. And you might feel a little dumb for investing so much time to it, but then that momentum builds and builds and builds, and you wake up one morning to the stupefying yet delicious realization that you’ll never have to worry about money again.

That’s what happened to me. Might happen to you too, now that you’ve learned how to start a blog.

At the end of the day though, there’s only one way to find out:

Get started and see what happens.

About the Author: Jon Morrow is the CEO of Smart Blogger. Check out his new blog Unstoppable and read the launch post that went viral: 7 Life Lessons from a Guy Who Can’t Move Anything but His Face.

The post How to Start a Blog (and Make Money) in 2019: 20X Faster Method appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-start-a-blog/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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7 Membership Sites that Make $100K+ Per Year (Real Examples)

Chances are, you’ve heard about people starting membership sites and making buckets of money.

Maybe you’re a little skeptical, and rightfully so. We all know better than to believe everything we read on the Internet.

But here’s the real question:

Should YOU start a membership site? Could YOU realistically expect to make any money?

And that’s a tough one to answer.

If you Google it, you’ll find lots of how to’s for getting a membership site up and running, but nothing about how to figure out if a membership site will work for you.

What if your niche is the exception, and you pour days and dollars into setting one up and it bellyflops. And what’s more — and this is kinda embarrassing — you’re not even sure exactly what a membership site is.

I get it. In fact, I felt like a fool a while back when I was curious about the same thing. I’ll bet we’re not the only ones too. So, I’m going to clear it all up for you.

Let’s start at the beginning…

What is a Membership Site?

For the sake of this post, we’ll define a membership site as any part of your online business that contains gated content (information behind a log in). A gate is simply a barrier to limit access to your content to those who pay or you decide to let in. And once inside, they get access to exclusive content and membership privileges.

Think of it like a gym membership.

Before you’re allowed to pass the turnstiles, you’ve got to sign up as a paid member or for a free-trial. Once you’re inside, you have access to everything, usually on an unlimited basis.

Sometimes you can also have different membership levels. One level might have access to all the fitness machines, while another level up gives you access to a sauna and heated pool.

Simple enough, right?

Well, membership sites work the same way. Before you can get access to their content, you have to become a member, and you can also offer different levels of membership with varying benefits.

It’s the same idea as a gym membership, except on the Internet. That’s pretty much the only difference.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s look at why a membership site is a smart idea.

3 Reasons You Should Build a Membership Site

Put simply, membership sites are a blazing-great way to monetize your blog.

How exactly? Well, the money flows because of three key reasons:

Reason #1. Leverage

Membership sites allow you to leverage your time and content in two ways:

Your content is a reusable asset. You can create it once and sell it to hundreds or even thousands of students for years to come.

Membership sites can be totally automated. How dreamy is the idea of having a hands-off campaign that invites people to buy into your membership program while you’re sipping margaritas on the beach somewhere?

Reason #2. Value

Weirdly, people value things they pay for more than they value a freebie.

So in their eyes, your paid membership site content is more valuable than free information.

What’s more, once cash is exchanged, they’re more likely to take action and achieve results that get you rave reviews (which equals more sales).

There’s also an interesting money-credibility thing going on in cyberspace.

I’m sure you’ve noticed how easy it is for any old Joe to jump on Facebook live and create online content nowadays. It’s led to a rather strange online phenomenon, I call the ‘credibility gap’. Meaning, even though content volume is going up, trust in most free online content is going down.

So, why not play this to your advantage?

How?

I’ll explain. People attribute a higher level of credibility and trust to paid content, right?

Which means they’ll attribute higher value to any content locked behind the gates of your membership site. What’s more, existing members are more likely to upsell from within your membership site. Once they trust you, they’ll trust all your content.

And finally, let’s flip to your prospect’s perspective.

By packaging everything they need and presenting it with a bow and a roadmap, you’re making it easy for them. You’re also saving them tons of time.

No longer do they need to cartwheel about the internet piecing things together. You’ve given them one simple place to access everything they need and they’ll pay you for that simplicity.

Reason #3. Tribe

People love being surrounded by a tribe of people just like them, united by common interest, with similar problems and worries to chat about.

And membership sites build tribes. They provide people with a place to hang out, belong to and feel part of something bigger than themselves. It’s the vibe of your tribe that will make people stay, pay and play.

Let’s not forget that every tribe has a leader too. One with unique character.

On the surface it may seem as if people are just buying your content, but it’s really your character and personality they’re buying.

They want to be like you on some level. They’ll connect with your character through the tone of your writing or the personality you show in videos. And it’s this that they’ll return for over and over again with credit card in hand.

You’re convinced now, right?

Hmmm, I have an inkling you’re still wondering.

You know it’s a good idea. But… what if your niche is the exception? What if you are the exception?

Let’s take look at a few successful membership sites that all make over 100K so you’ve got some proof.

Successful Membership Site Examples

Site #1. Orchids Made Easy

Growing orchids is a popular and ongoing hobby with hungry orchid enthusiasts worldwide. Ryan ‘the orchid guy’ has created a fantastic character story and feeds his members with continuous drip fed content via a monthly membership subscription to his Green Thumb Club. Members can join at a low starting price for a month so they can test the waters.

Site #2. The Game Changers

A specialist in the business coaching niche, Barry Magliarditi guides his members on an ongoing development journey that dives into the structures, systems and mindset that fuel business growth. He offers a fixed fee membership to his Opulence Program which has three tiers of access. In other words, the more you pay, the more access you get to one-to-one advice.

Site #3. Smart Blogger

Of course you know this one, but it’s totally worthy of a mention. As a leader in the blogging niche, Smart Blogger offers high-quality online courses to paying members. Programs such as Serious Bloggers Only and Freedom Machine are a phenomenal guide for members to navigate how to start a blog and monetize it.

Site # 4. Lady Boss Weightloss

Losing weight is a never ending plight for millions of people. Kaelin Tuell Poulin has created a paid 28-day challenge membership site filled with stacks of advice that gets real results. People start by joining for a 7-day free trial. Her style is authoritative and her character has a popular zero to hero story. She offers lifetime access to her content, plus a strong community for support and accountability.

Site #5. Magnetic Memory Method

Anthony Metivier’s membership offers free content, products and a fantastic blog on the surface.

Yet, the success of his behind the scenes membership program demonstrates the power of a narrow and focussed niche with a strong sales funnel.

He leads people gently, builds trust and engages them as he moves them into his fixed-term online program. He also offers a continuity program for those who want to stay — and many do!

Site #6. Succulents and Sunshine

Cassidy Tuttle’s online business is a thriving success that uses a hybrid of affiliate commissions, display ads, ebook sales and a gated online course as income. She offers “easy access to all the resources and information you need to successfully grow succulents… all in one convenient place”, and has rave reviews as social proof on her site.

Her site boasts lots of free content. But the premium content and one-to-one access to her advice is behind the paid gates of her online course. Smart!

Site #7. Jan Spiller Astrology

In full disclosure, I couldn’t get confirmation that this site made over $100K, but it’s pretty safe to say it’s doing well given the length of time it’s been around.

Long-term survival in the online world is dependent upon income and a hungry market.

The unique traits of this membership site are the ongoing and endless drip feed of readings and charts offered through a tiered membership model. Natal charts and astrological weather seem to be high value in this magical niche.

There’s no denying success can be had in a huge variety of niches. Let’s wrap it all the learnings in in a few lesson’s to give you crystal ball clarity.

Lessons Learned from $100K Membership Sites

It’s apparent that success is possible for membership sites in a wide variety of niches. And you’ve no doubt noticed that there are different models for membership sites.

The trouble is, they all overlap in a blur of confused boundaries that leave you wondering exactly what would work for you.

To help, there are two distinct levels of difference you need to be aware of… the membership models and the variables.

Let’s dive in…

The Three Core Membership Models

The Fix Model

Fix model membership sites are focussed on one thing — they solve a distinct problem. The problem can be a specific fix, such as how to grow a healthy succulent or how to write a novel. Or, they can fix a longer term problem such as how to scale a business — often solved through three, six or twelve month program.

The Motivate Model

When people are faced with a goal that they’re likely to struggle with alone, such as weight loss, fitness goals or a new diet, having an external source of motivation is often the difference that makes the difference.

Paid access to challenges that have motivational communities to share struggles in are perfect for this membership model.

The Hangout Model

Otherwise known as the community model, this type of membership site offers people a place to connect and belong. Members are often united towards a common cause or passion such as gardening, cooking or writing.

On the surface they’ll appear to join because they want to solve a problem, yet they’re more hobbyists at heart and their love for their ‘thing’ drives them to be around others who speak their secret language.

Once you know which model suits you best you can customise your membership site by deciding from the following variables.

The Five Core Membership Site Variables

Fixed Fee or Monthly Payments

If you choose the Fix model then a fixed fee works well. Prices can vary from a $27 online course to a $3,000 plus online program. It’s all about how much value you offer. The hangout model is perfect for a monthly payment structure as people will pay to stay as long as you continue to provide regular high-value new content.

Content Type

When it comes to content, you’ve got an enormous range of choice.

Depending on your model, you can use video (live or you talking to slides), worksheets, workbooks, photos and mock-up illustrations, photography, quizzes, charts, graphs, interactive spreadsheets, Facebook live videos, webinars and so on.

As long as it’s online and accessible within a gated forum or platform, you’re good to go.

See, even mind-maps work as membership site content.

Drip or Immersion Access

Deciding when your members will get access to all of their content immediately or not is personal preference. You can choose to drip feed content to members daily, weekly or monthly to protect your content.

Drip fed content is perfect if you offer a free trial or want to build excitement and suspension.

Or, you can throw members into the deep end with full immersion access on day one and let them work as fast, or as slow as they choose.

Lifetime or Fixed-Term

There are no hard and fast rules here. Lifetime access provides paying members to ongoing ‘forever’ access to the course or content they’ve paid for. This works well for bigger, more detailed courses that take a long time to complete.

Fixed-term access is perfect to create a sense of urgency to encourage members to complete the course. It also opens the door to offer a continuity program for those who haven’t finished within the fixed term and want to retain access.

Tiered or Single-Level

Single-level access means a fixed program structure. You may have one or more programs that solve a specific problem, which is best suited to a dedicated, single-level or set structure.

Or, you may offer a program, in which three tiers works best. You can offer online access as a base level and leverage one-to-one access to you at your top level.

It’s pretty clear that membership sites can work in a huge range of niches. And they’re a great way to leverage your time to create the income you know could change your life and give you the freedom you crave.

But that’s not the real issue here is it? Could it be that a sneaky fear of not being up to the task is lurking behind the clumsy charade of ‘will it work for me’?

You’d be inhuman if it wasn’t.

Regardless, now is the time to step up and decide. Because you’re only ever one decision away from changing your life. Could this be one of those decisions?

I’m guessing though, because you’re a passionate blogger with your heart set on spreading your message, that you’re keen to discover a bit more about how to build a membership site.

How to Build Your Membership Site

If you’re up for playing a bigger game, rather than giving in to those progress-halting worries of yesterday, you’re ready to create a membership site to leverage your time and make money faster. Fantastic!

But, just as you’re enjoying your moment of excited inspiration, you wonder what is the best platform to build your membership site with?

Well, your options fit into two broad categories — a WordPress Plugin or a non-Wordpress All-in-One platform.

Let’s take a look.

WordPress Plugins

If you’ve already got an existing WordPress website oozing with content and attracting traffic, then a plugin may be the best option.

Using a plugin gives your readers a sense of familiarity as you can maintain brand consistency and probably reuse your existing website theme.

Plugins makes marketing simple as you can install a ‘log in’ button on your existing home page and avoid having to create a new domain name as well. Plugins these days are remarkably easy to get up and running too — even for non-techies.

Here are a few options for you:

Memberpress — MemberPress will help you build astounding WordPress membership sites, accept credit cards securely, control who sees your content and sell digital downloads … all without the difficult setup.

Learndash — a powerful WordPress plug in with course builder, quizzes, cart, group management and is compatible with any theme.

Restrict Content Pro — a seriously top-level and increasingly popular membership plugin that offers all the features you could want.

Memberium — Built exclusively for WordPress and Infusionsoft™, Memberium is the perfect tool for creating scalable membership sites.

Non-Wordpress All-in-Ones

Perfect for bloggers or online newbies who don’t yet have a fully fledged website or tech stack in place, an all-in-one platform makes things ridiculously easy. Just pay a subscription and have fun with the drag and drop builders to customise and upload your content.

You’ll also benefit from a host of extras such as payment systems and course builders plus marketing and email automation options as well. Job done.

Here are a few of the players worth considering in this space:

Kajabi — the all-in-one tool for those who want it all and want it simple. Websites, membership sites, landing pages, quizzes, online courses, webinars and payments.

Teachable — With just a few clicks, you’ll get a fully functioning school with learning management, payment gateways, and sales and marketing tools.

Thinkific — drag and drop design, customised pricing and cart for those who want to educate with confidence.

Kartra — this relative newbie packs a punch as it does every-single-online-thing you’ll ever need. Pre-written funnels, email marketing, membership sites, analytics and everything else.

Simplero — Action packed ALL in one for your website, membership site, email and business management, CRM, hosting, payments, marketing — everything you’ll need to be online in one place.

AccessAlly — if you’re ready for upselling and sophisticated marketing as well as a solid course builder with gamification and more, AccessAlly is a great option.

Is a Membership Site for You?

Starting a membership site isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain kind of person to jump into content and community management like this.

Yet, for a blogger who is serious about monetizing, it’s a road worth considering. Seriously.

Because it’s a way to build a following and an income — fast.

A membership site means you’ll build your name with credibility, trust and value. It’ll make you stand out from the crowd as an online entrepreneur with a character people love.

Because you’ll be someone who offers a solution to fix problems, motivates people beyond that which they can achieve alone and you’ll give them a place they want to hang out.

But only you know if you’re up to the task.

Only you know if you’re disciplined enough to map out a vision, a structure and create the content you need.

Only you know if you’re up to taking the leap and taking charge of your future.

So what do you say?

Are you up for it? Or not?

About the Author: Miranda Hill is a qualified coach, behavioral profiler and writer who helps people to master their performance in business and life. As a published blogger and ghostwriter, she helps entrepreneurs to trade confusion for clarity. Trained in many coaching models, she’s developed her guide 10 Mindset Secrets That Set Truly Successful Writers Apart so you can boost your writing results.

The post 7 Membership Sites that Make $100K+ Per Year (Real Examples) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/membership-sites/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post

Imagine you’re sitting in a lounge chair on the beach, staring out over the glittering sea, the ocean breeze ruffling your hair, listening to the slow, steady rhythm of the waves.

It’s peaceful. Perfect for thinking.

And so you do, scribbling down your thoughts with one hand and drinking a martini with the other.

You’re a freelance writer. You get paid to write for websites, magazines, corporate clients — all different types of gigs.

And it’s work you can do from anywhere.

One week, you’re on the beach. The next, perhaps you’re in the mountains. The week after that, you’re visiting family.

Sounds like a dream, right? Like it can’t possibly be real?

But it is.

In this post, I’m going to teach you how to become a freelance writer. I’m also going to talk about what’s changed with freelance writing and what it really takes to build a career in today’s world, both as a full-time writer or just doing it on the side.

Because the career is real. The freedom is real. In fact, you might even say it’s easier than ever before. Here’s why:

The $412.88 Billion Opportunity for Writers

That’s not a typo. 🙂

Have you noticed how just about every business has a website, blog, and Facebook page?

Maybe you’ve also noticed how the stuff most of them publish kinda sucks? Boring content, unprofessional spelling and grammatical mistakes, etc.

Well, that’s why successful businesses are hiring freelance writers in droves. In 2016, companies spent 195.58 billion on content marketing, and the research firm Technavio predicts spending will more than double to 412.88 billion by 2021.

It’s the new normal, but here’s what’s crazy:

While businesses are well-aware of the importance of content marketing, writers are still stuck in the Stone Age of wanting to get published in magazines and newspapers. Yes, you can still make a living that way, but with an increasing number of publishers not paying writers at all, the competition for paying gigs is getting stiffer and stiffer.

With content marketing, on the other hand, there’s actually a shortage of writers. You can make a lot more money with way fewer headaches.

Here’s how to get started:

How to Become a Freelance Writer

#1. Develop Your Content Creation Skills

Your skill at creating exceptional content will have more of an impact on how much money you make than anything else. Here’s why:

The companies paying the highest rates are the ones who understand the importance of quality content. They are happy to pay the best writers, because they believe (correctly) that it will help them dominate their competitors.

For a handy visual reminder of the ROI of content marketing, check out the image below (click to see a larger view):

Embed This Infographic On Your Site

How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post from SmartBlogger.com

So how do you level up your skill at creating exceptional content?

The good news is, we have dozens of posts about that very topic here at Smart Blogger. Start with this one about how to write a good blog post and work your way through.

In particular, here are some of the most important content skills for you to develop:

Mastering content frameworks. The web is overflowing with list posts (i.e., 7 Ways to X) for a reason: they work. It’s not the only content framework, though. There are actually about a dozen proven frameworks, and the best freelance writers master as many as possible.

Writing headlines. The headlines of your posts have a bigger impact on their traffic and overall success than any other factor. Get in the habit of brainstorming 5-10 per day. Like anything else, writing the perfect headline is mostly about practice.

Thinking for yourself. Ever notice how most writers are just regurgitating the advice of other writers? Don’t be one of those. I’m not saying you have to be entirely original, but at least layer your own thoughts on top of the standard advice. It’ll give your writing a much greater sense of authority.

Supporting points with examples. Instead of making a point and leaving it hanging there unsupported, get into the habit of backing up every point you make with an example. There are exceptions to this rule, but you’re far better off having too many examples than too few.

Keeping the reader emotionally engaged. To get work as a freelance writer, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that your posts need to make logical sense, but you might not realize they also need to resonate with the emotions of the reader. The better you get at keeping readers emotionally engaged, the more shares you will get on your content, and you’ll be able to charge more.

And while those are a good start, there’s one particular skill that’s so important it deserves its own point:

#2. Up Your SEO Game

Companies and agencies are more than happy to pay a little extra for someone who understands the basics of SEO.

The more intimate your understanding of keywords, user intent, and competitive analysis, the more likely your post is to rank well in the search engines. Therefore, your writing becomes more valuable.

Because put yourself in their shoes: wouldn’t you rather pay more for someone with a proven ability to rank? I certainly would, and so it makes sense to become that person.

Tip: here’s an extremely thorough SEO guide and resource list from my buddy Brian Dean.

The strongest portfolio you can have is a collection of posts ranking on page 1 of Google. Sarah Peterson, for example, now makes over $1,000 per post, because she has a proven track record of ranking well.

Granted, it takes time to build that kind of portfolio. Let’s walk through the process, starting with what you do when you’re a total beginner.

#3. Build a Portfolio of Sample Posts

You’d think it would be really hard to become a freelance writer without an extensive portfolio, right? After all, it’s proof for clients that you know what you’re doing.

But here’s the thing:

There are different levels of proof, starting with…

Level 1: A Portfolio That Proves You Know How to Write a Decent Post

You’d be surprised how many so-called “freelance writers” don’t understand how to write a proper blog post. I’d say it’s more than 80%, which sounds horrible, but it’s also a huge advantage if you do know how to write a good post.

Let’s say you’ve been working on your content skills (the first step above *cough*), and you’re getting comfortable writing different types of blog posts. Well, write a few sample posts to show off your skills.

If you have your own website, put them there. If not, it’s quick and easy to publish them on other blogging platforms like Medium.

The best part is, you can do this in a matter of a week or two. Two or three posts is enough, and you don’t need anyone’s approval to publish them. If you don’t have a portfolio yet, it’s absolutely where you should start.

Level 2: A Portfolio That Proves You Know What You’re Talking about

Next, you want to build your credibility as a subject matter expert.

And I’m not just talking about demonstrating your expertise. This phase is also about showing you can get published on top publications.

Think about it… if you see someone writing on one of the top sites in your space, don’t you immediately assume they are an expert?

Well, that’s the kind of credibility you need. It’s also far easier to do than you might assume.

Because most big sites have stopped paying for content, they’re always looking for good writers. In our guest blogging program, we’ve helped hundreds of new writers get published on sites like Forbes, Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Lifehack, and dozens of others. I won’t say it’s easy, because it’s not, but it’s far easier than most people think. Here’s a guest post by Laura Tong published at Huffington Post:

I’m generalizing here, but for the most part, it’s about the pitch. If the editor likes your idea, and you follow up with a well-written piece, you can get published almost anywhere.

And that immediately helps make you a hot commodity as a freelance writer.

Level 3: A Portfolio Showing Documented Results for Clients

Finally, you want to prove you can get results for clients.

One way is to track shares and search engine rankings for the posts you write, like we discussed above for Sarah Peterson, but an even better way is to create case studies. Here’s an example from Ross Hudgens of Siege Media:

He shows screenshots of increasing client traffic by 250,000 visits per month for three different clients. Nothing is more compelling than that. Granted, it’s super hard to do, but that’s what makes it so valuable.

Your long-term goal should be to develop that kind of proof for yourself. It might take you years, and that’s fine, because when you get there, it can literally make you one of the highest paid writers and consultants in the world.

#4. Get Your First Paying Client

So, we’ve talked a lot about the skill and credibility aspects of becoming a freelance writer. What about getting clients? That’s the hard part, right?

In the beginning, yes. Eventually, top freelance writers end up getting more work than they can handle, mostly by referral, but getting those first few paying clients can be a real slog.

Here are some insider tips for getting started:

Keep an eye on agency job postings. One of the best potential clients is agencies, because they usually have an ongoing need for writers. Instead of only getting paid once, you can develop a relationship with a few and get new gigs for months or even years into the future. Here’s a big list of content marketing agencies.

There are two main ways of getting work from them. You can reach out to them and ask if they have any freelance work — a gutsy but effective approach — or you can keep an eye on their “careers” page.

Pitch software company blogs. This might seem odd, but stick with me here for a moment. You want to work with businesses who have money to spend on marketing. Chances are, those companies are subscribed to various apps for email marketing, analytics, and so on. Most software companies in the marketing space (like Hubspot, Sumo, Ahrefs, etc.) also publish a great deal of content. So, who better to write for? You’re instantly getting in front of thousands of the right clients. Many of these blogs will also pay you to write for them, so in many cases you can get your first client while also prospecting for clients. What could be better than that?

Link to your services in your byline. Let’s say you’re in “Phase 2” of the portfolio building process we walked through above, and you are writing some guest posts for top blogs in your space. You can mention it in your byline to attract clients. Here’s an example from Sophia Dagnon over at Copyhackers:

Before we move on, there’s one thing you SHOULDN’T do…

Compete against bottom dollar freelancers on sites like Upwork.

Yes, there’s always work available on sites like those, but generally speaking, it’s clueless, frustrating clients who will nickel and dime you over everything and never refer you other work. It’s better than nothing, I suppose, but I believe you’re far better off pursuing some of the options I mentioned above. Not only will you get paid more, but you’ll be treated better too, and it will be much easier to grow your client base.

#5. Scale until You No Longer Want to

In the beginning, you’ll probably be thrilled just to get a client paying you to write a few articles on the side, but I think it’s useful to step back and think about how freelance writing fits into an overall career.

Here’s the career path for most freelance writers:

Phase 1: A Nice Side Income

Most people start writing just a few articles on the side, and I think that’s smart. You can learn the craft, build your connections, and make a few bucks on the side. Most likely, about $20-$25 per hour.

Is it going to make you rich? No, but it’s certainly not a bad side gig. A lot of part-timers clear $500-$1,000 per month from their writing.

Eventually, if you’re good, you’ll also start getting more work than you can handle in your spare time, and that’s when you can ponder moving on to the next phase.

Phase 2: A Full-Time Job or Business

When should you consider quitting your day job?

The easiest answer: whenever you feel confident your freelance writing could replace your salary. You can either…

Go to work as a full-time content marketer. The number of job openings for full-time content marketers is exploding. Here’s a graph of the job growth just from 2017 to 2018:

Start your own content marketing agency. Once you’ve picked up a few clients, you can begin hiring people to work under you and grow your own miniature agency.

Both options have big upsides. You can have a long, solid career as a content marketer working companies who truly appreciate it, and building an agency could potentially make you a millionaire.

At some point though, I’ve found that even the most successful writers usually end up moving on to…

Phase 3: Starting Your Own Site

In the past, you’ve probably thought of starting your own site as the first step, not the last, and it’s true — there’s nothing stopping you from starting your site right now.

But think about it for a moment…

Would you rather start your own site right now, spend a couple of years learning everything from scratch, and then slowly but surely begin to make money from it, or could it actually be a better option to go to work for someone else for a while, get paid while you learn, and then start your own site with several years of experience under your belt?

Over the years, I’ve noticed an increasing percentage of our students choosing the second option, and I think it makes sense. Yes, you can absolutely start your own site right now, and yes, you can be successful — we are the market leaders in helping people do exactly that — but it’s a tough road. You have to persistently put in the effort for years before it begins to pay off.

If you become a freelance writer and start working for other businesses, on the other hand, the payoff is fast. Probably a month or two to learn the basics and then another month or two to get your first client. While it might take you longer overall to build your own publishing powerhouse, it’s easier to stay persistent when money is coming in each and every time you publish an article.

The bottom line:

You Can Make Good Money As a Writer

It’s tragic how many writers think go into another career because they believe no one can make a living from it. It’s just not true.

Yes, it’s tough to make a living as an author. Yes, it’s difficult to scrape by writing for magazines and newspapers. Yes, there are plenty of would-be poets and novelists living under bridges.

But those are only a few types of writing.

If you want to make money as a writer, go where the money is. That’s what I did. I started out writing for other sites, took a full-time job at Copyblogger, and then branched off on my own — exactly the career path I described above.

The results?

About $5.3 million so far. In this case study, I described exactly how I did it.

Oh, and did I mention I did it all from a wheelchair without being able to move from the neck down?

Yeah…

So please, don’t tell me you can’t make money as a freelance writer. You absolutely can.

You just have to be smart about it.

The post How to Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid $200 – $1K per Post appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-become-a-freelance-writer/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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7 Editing Tips That’ll Make You a Better Writer (with Examples!)

There are some bloggers who seem to have a natural gift when it comes to writing. Some bloggers seem to be naturally gifted writers.

They manage to get their ideas across clearly and economically, which means that readers can easily follow what they write. Readers devour their clear, economical prose.

Not only is there a lot of respect for what they have to say, but also the way that they say it. People respect what they say — and love how they say it.

Whenever they publish a new post on their blog, it always gets dozens of comments and hundreds of shares. Every new blog post attracts dozens of comments and hundreds of shares.

It would be great to be as successful as they are, but you don’t know what you need to do to make your writing better. You’d love to emulate their success, but you don’t know how.

The good news is that there are some editing tips that can easily learn which will improve everything you write from now on. Fortunately for you, a few simple editing tips can transform your writing forever.

Download a free PDF cheat sheet with seven questions that make it easy to edit your writing like a pro. Click here.

The Unfair Advantage Popular Writers Try to Hide

You know your writing heroes? Would you be shocked to learn that their writing is no better than yours?

Sure, the end product is better, but the first draft is just as clumsy, flabby, and downright difficult to read as any of your own writing efforts.

What popular bloggers know that many people don’t know (or don’t want to believe) is that a post isn’t finished simply because they’ve said everything they want to say. In many ways that’s just the beginning.

Think of your draft as a rough diamond. Value is hidden inside it and you need an expert gem cutter to reveal its beauty and clarity.

Which is why many top bloggers hire a professional editor to transform their rough diamonds into gleaming jewels. That’s right — someone else is helping them.

Somewhat unfair, right?

No wonder their writing seems so much better than yours. And even those bloggers who don’t use an editor have simply learned how to edit their own posts like a pro.

Fortunately, editing isn’t rocket science. If you have someone to show you how.

So let’s break down the rules that’ll help you transform your unremarkable draft into a perfectly polished post.

7 Editing Tips That Will Totally Transform Your Next Post

Tip #1. Don’t Pad Your Prose with Empty Filler Words

(Or: Avoid Using Grammar Expletives)

Grammar expletives are literary constructions that begin with the words it, here, or there followed by a form of the verb to be.

(Expletive comes from the Latin explere, meaning to fill. Think smelly literary landfill).

Common constructions include it is, it was, it won’t, it takes, here is, there is, there will be.

The problem? When it, here, and there refer to nouns later in the sentence or — worse — to something unnamed, they weaken your writing by shifting emphasis away from the true drivers of your sentences. And they usually require other support words such as who, that, and when, which further dilute your writing.

Let’s look at an example:

There are some bloggers who seem to have…

The there are expletive places the sentence’s focus on some nebulous thing called there instead of the true focus of the sentence — some bloggers. And the writer must then use another unnecessary word — who — that’s three unnecessary words in one unfocused sentence.

Train yourself to spot instances of there, here, and it followed by a to be verb (such as is, are, was, and were) and adjust your sentences to lead with the meat and potatoes of those sentences instead.

(Tip: Use your word processor’s find functionality and search for there, here, and it and determine if you’ve used an expletive).

Other before-and-after examples:

It’s fun to edit — Editing is fun

It takes time to write — Writing takes time

There are many people who write — Many people write

There’s nothing better than blogging — Nothing’s better than blogging

Here are some things to consider: — Some things to consider are:

Caveat: If you previously described an object using there, here, and it, you’re not guilty of an expletive infraction. For example:

I love editing. It’s fun. (This is not an expletive construction since I previously described what it refers to.)

Tip #2. Don’t Weaken the Action with Wimpy Words

(Or: Avoid Weak Verbs; Use Visceral and Action Verbs Instead)

Not only does to be conspire with it, there, and here to create nasty grammar expletives, but it’s also responsible for its own class of sentence impairing constructions.

Certain uses of to be in its various forms weaken the words that follow. The solution is to replace these lightweights with more powerful alternatives.

Let’s see some before-and-after examples:

She is blogging — She blogs

People are in love with him — People love him

He is aware that people love him — He knows people love him

Other verbs besides to be verbs can lack strength as well. Use visceral verbs or verbs that express some action. Let’s edit:

Give out — Offer

Find out — Discover

Make it clearer — Clarify

I can’t make it to the party — I can’t attend the party

He went to Mexico — He traveled to Mexico

Think of a blogging strategy — Devise a blogging strategy

Tip #3. Don’t Cripple Your Descriptions with Feeble Phrases

(Or: Avoid Weak Adjectives)

Weak adjectives sap the strength from your writing just as nefariously as weak verbs. Use the best adjectives possible when describing nouns and pronouns. And be mindful that certain words, like really and very, usually precede weak adjectives. Take a look:

Really bad — Terrible

Really good — Great

Very big — Huge

Very beautiful — Gorgeous

Even if you don’t have a telltale really or very preceding an adjective, you can often give your writing more impact by using stronger alternatives:

Dirty — Filthy

Tired — Exhausted

Scared — Terrified

Happy — Thrilled

Even worse than using weak adjectives is using weak adjectives to tell your readers what something isn’t as opposed to telling them what something is:

It’s not that good — It’s terrible

He’s not a bore — He’s hilarious

He’s not very smart — He’s ignorant

Tip #4. Trim Flabby Words and Phrases

(Or: Avoid Verbose Colloquialisms)

Today’s readers have limited time and patience for flabby writing. Their cursors hover over the back button, so say what you mean as concisely as possible before your readers vanish:

But the fact of the matter is — But (Avoid flabby colloquial expressions when possible)

Editing is absolutely essential — Editing is essential (Absolutely is redundant)

You’re going to have to edit your work — You’ll have to edit your work or You must edit your work (Going to and going to have to are flabby expressions)

Due to the fact that editing takes time, some people avoid it — Because editing takes time, some people avoid it

Every single person should love editing — Every person should love editing (Single is redundant; and shouldn’t married people love editing too? 😉 )

Tip #5. Don’t Pussyfoot Around Your Verbs and Adjectives

(Or: Avoid Nominalization)

Nominalization occurs when a writer uses a weak noun equivalent when a stronger verb or adjective replacement is available. Like expletives, nominals usually introduce other unnecessary words when used.

Count the number of words in the before-and-after examples below, and you will witness how badly nominals weaken your writing:

Give your post a proofread — Proofread your post (verb form)

Alcohol is the cause of hangovers — Alcohol causes hangovers (verb form)

The plane’s approach was met with the scramble of emergency crews — The plane approached and emergency crews scrambled. (verb form)

He shows signs of carelessness — He is careless (adjective form)

She has a high level of intensity — She is intense (adjective form)

Tip #6. Throw Out the Rulebook on Punctuation

(Or: Use the Occasional Comma for Clarity)

The rules around punctuation can be complicated, even for the humble comma.

But do you truly need to know the difference between a serial comma, an Oxford comma, and a Harvard comma to write a great blog post? Of course not. (And it’s a trick question — they’re all the same.)

So my philosophy on commas is simple:

Use commas sparingly if you prefer, but if excluding a comma MAKES YOUR READER STOP READING, add another bleepin’ comma — regardless of what any comma police may say.

Let’s look at an example:

You can ignore editing and people reading your post may not notice but your ideas will get lost.

By not including a comma between editing and and, I read this sentence and asked myself, “I can ignore editing and people reading my post? Really?” Of course, readers work out the intended meaning a moment later, but by that time, they’ve already stalled.

So, regardless of what comma rule I may break by adding a comma to this sentence, as long as my readers don’t get confused and stop reading, I don’t care — and neither should you.

Let’s look at another example that needs a comma for clarity:

One day, when you find success you can pull out your golden pen and write me a thank-you letter.

By not including a comma between success and you, I read this sentence and asked myself, “Is success something you can pull out of a golden pen?”

Regardless of your stance on commas, you ultimately want your readers to keep reading. You want them to continue down your slippery slope of powerful content and transitional phrases all the way to your call to action — without getting jarred from their trance to contemplate commas with their inner editors or a Google search.

Tip #7. Be As Manipulative As Possible

(Or: Use Noun Modifiers Whenever You Can)

You won’t use this technique often, but at least be mindful of it.

When we use two nouns together with the first noun modifying the second, we are using noun modifiers. I like them because they hack the flab from our writing by shortening our sentences. Let’s review some examples:

Tips on editing — Editing tips

Great advice on how to boost traffic — Great traffic-boosting advice (Traffic-boosting is a compound noun here)

Information regarding registration — Registration information

These sentences have prepositions between the noun sets. Whenever you spot this construction, try to implement this noun-modifying technique.

Download a free PDF cheat sheet with seven questions that make it easy to edit your writing like a pro. Click here.

What’s Your Excuse Now?

These editing tips are not magical, mystical, or complicated. In fact, you could consider them downright boring, plain, and inconsequential.

But applying smart editing rules is what separates your heroes from the masses, catapults them to success, and makes readers say, “I don’t know what it is about their writing, but it’s absolutely fantastic.”

Look at it this way: You’ve expended a ton of effort on SEO, content marketing, networking, and social media promotion, all in the hopes that more people will notice your blog. So when they arrive, shouldn’t your next post blow their socks off too?

And how about your last post and the one before that? (Yes, you can apply these rules to your old posts too!)

Or are you one of those writers who think they write well enough already? Well, you might be surprised by just how many of these crimes against clarity you’re committing.

Open one of your posts right now and see how many of these editing tips you can apply.

Read each word of your post. Is the word an expletive? Is it a weak verb? A weak adjective? Does it represent nominalization or flab or break any of the other rules mentioned in this post?

Run each word of your post through this a checklist of editing tips. You will find something to improve. And your writing will be 100% more powerful as a result.

Because the search for perfection never ends.

And your writing is never too good.

Sure, proofreading and editing take time.

And yes, you’re already busy enough.

But your writing heroes edit, and they land the guest posts, book deals, and exposure you only wish you could.

So, take a break from #amwriting and start #amediting right now.

Your success will thank you.

And so will I.

About the Author: Shane Arthur is a former copyeditor for Jon Morrow’s kick-butt Guest Blogging Certification Program (affiliate link) that teaches writers just like you how to get their work featured on the world’s biggest blogs and online magazines.

The post 7 Editing Tips That’ll Make You a Better Writer (with Examples!) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/editing-tips/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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The 5 Best Free Blogging Platforms in 2019 (100% Unbiased)

So, you’d like to take blogging for a test drive, eh?

See if you like it or not before ponying up the bucks for a complete self-hosted WordPress setup?

You’ve probably heard you can start a blog for free, and indeed you can. The big question is:

What’s the best free blogging platform right now?

And the answer is… it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

In this post, we’ll go over all the different free blogging platforms and give you the pros and cons of each, but first, let’s stop to ponder a more fundamental question:

Table of Contents

Do You Even Need a Free Blogging Platform?

No Blogging Platform is Right for Everyone

#1. Medium: Best Platform for Simplicity

#2. WordPress.com: Best Sandbox Platform

#3. LinkedIn: Best Platform for Professionals

#4. Instagram: Best Platform for Visuals

#5. Guest Blogging: Best Platform for Building Your Authority

Making the Switch to Self-Hosted WordPress

What’s the Best Free Blogging Platform for You?

Do You Even Need a Free Blogging Platform?

The truth:

Blogging can be expensive.

If you’re a seasoned blogger who’s been around the block a time or two, who’s already figured out which ideas work and which don’t, it’s easy to chalk up these costs as the price of doing business. Spend money, make money. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

But what if you’re a beginner learning how to start a blog for the first time? What if you’re someone who hasn’t yet figured what works and what doesn’t?

I’ll let you in on a secret…

You can experiment just as well on a free blogging platform as you can on a self-hosted WordPress setup with all the bells and whistles.

Actually, you can experiment better on a free blogging platform since the learning curve isn’t as steep.

Do you really want to experience the inevitable growing pains of blogging while forking over large piles of cash each month?

Free blogging platforms allow you to confirm your blog topic has potential, spy on the competitors in your niche, and test your ideas without spending any of your hard-earned dough.

So which one is best?

Well, that’s the thing:

No Blogging Platform Is Right for Everyone

Different bloggers have different needs, and different blogging platforms are good for different things. Ultimately, “best” will depend on you and your situation.

That said, each of the platforms we’ll discuss do have common traits (besides being free). Let’s briefly look at them before we dive in:

There’s zero maintenance hassle. The burden of maintenance doesn’t fall on you when you use a free blogging platform. No worries about software updates, data backups, or gremlins hacking your server — they’re all handled by someone else.

They’re easy to use. To varying degrees, each platform is friendly to beginners. With limited tech savviness, you could get started today.

Customization is limited. If you’re a micromanager, take a deep breath: you will not have full control or unlimited options when you use a free blogging platform.

That last one can be both a blessing and a curse.

Once you get serious about blogging, the limited customization options of free platforms will likely hold you back. When you’re just starting though, the limitations will help you focus on what’s important: the aforementioned testing of your ideas.

Alright, enough prologue.

Ready to find out which platform is best for you? Let’s go.

#1. Medium: Best Platform for Simplicity

First up is Medium.

Founded by Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, Medium launched in August 2012 to much fanfare, and it’s grown into a behemoth. According to the New York Times, as of May 2017, Medium was up to 60 million unique visitors each month.

That’s considerably less than WordPress, but Google Trends indicates the tide could be turning:

The red line in the graphic above represents the number of worldwide searches for “wordpress” during the past five years. The blue line represents the number of searches for “medium.”

Granted, some of those “Medium” searches could be for the TV show of the same name that starred Patricia Arquette from 2005 through 2011.

Nonetheless, it’s growth is impressive.

How Do You Get Started?

Medium offers multiple ways to register.

Don’t want to remember yet another password for yet another account? No problem. Sign up using one of your social media accounts.

Go to Medium.com and click the “Get Started” button:

Choose Google or Facebook. You’ll then be asked to log into your (Google or Facebook) account. Once you authorize Medium to access your account, it will redirect you back to Medium.

That’s it.

To get to your Medium account in the future, all you have to do is click “Sign In” on the homepage and choose the “Sign in with Google” or “Sign in with Facebook” option.

Or if you already have a Twitter account, it’s even easier. Choose the “Sign In” link instead of the “Get Started” button, and you’ll see the following:

Click the “Sign in with Twitter” button (even though you haven’t yet signed up).

If you haven’t already logged into Twitter, you’ll be asked to log in and then authorize Medium to access your Twitter account.

Click “Ok,” and you’ll be off to the races.

What Do You Get For $0?

A simple, beautiful WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) blogging platform that embraces minimalism.

After you join, click your avatar (the floating head) in the top-right corner of the page and then, select “New story.”

You’ll land on a clean, easy-to-use editor.

Where to insert the title for your post is clearly defined. So, too, is where to begin typing your first sentence.

Every change you make gets automatically saved in the background. And as you type, you begin to see exactly how your finished post will appear to your readers.

That’s the beauty of a WYSIWYG editor.

There’s no guessing, no wondering, and no trial and error. If your post looks good in the editor, it’s going to look good when your post goes live after you click the “Ready to publish?” button.

And speaking of what happens after publishing, there’s something else Medium offers you for the whopping price of zero dollars and zero cents:

The chance to be featured in front of their 60+ million readers.

Write something that wows people and, if it receives enough love from readers (they click a “clap” button to show their approval), it could get featured as one of Medium’s top stories on their app and website…

Or in their “Daily Digest” email…

Such a spotlight would mean lots of new eyeballs on your content.

Who Should Use Medium?

Anyone. Everyone.

Seriously, though it isn’t perfect, you’ll be hard pressed to find a blogging topic or niche that Medium can’t service.

This is especially true if your niche will be self-improvement or entrepreneurship. Medium puts your content, your message, front and center to your readers.

As Evan Williams once put it: “Medium is not about who you are or whom you know, but about what you have to say.”

Best-selling authors. Entrepreneurs. Writers who stepped away for a season, but are making a comeback. Ministers who have a good sense of humor. Yours truly.

All have things to say, and all have found homes on Medium.

Who Should NOT Use Medium?

Microbloggers (you’d be better off using Instagram — more on that later).

Those who don’t plan on using their blog for writing (photographers, podcasters, etc.).

Anyone who likes to color outside the lines.

Medium is all about the written word. Sure, graphics embedded into Medium posts look great, but in the end, it all comes back to the words.

Medium is best for those who love words. It excels at typography. It uses an abundance of white space so that its text has a perfect canvas. It embraces a minimalistic design so that nothing distracts your readers from your precious — yes, I’m going to repeat it — words.

Look at this example screenshot from a post written by Jeff Goins:

Black text on a white background. A simple, easy-to-read font. It’s a perfect arrangement for Jeff’s strong, unique voice.

Medium offers no glitz, glam, or sparkles. And, unlike WordPress.com (which provides a few basic design themes and customization options), Medium is one size fits all.

What you see is what you get.

If you like what you see, great. If you don’t, there’s not a lot you can do about it.

Final Word on Medium

What are the Pros?

Built-in audience of over 60 million readers!

Good for all blog types

Excellent typography — your blog will look professional

More business friendly than WordPress.com

What are the Cons?

Little, if any, customization — your blog will look like every other Medium blog

Conclusion: If the written word is your preferred medium, you’ll do very well with Medium. It’s an easy-to-use platform that puts your words front and center, and it’s the platform we most often recommend to beginner bloggers.

But is it the right choice for everyone?

Let’s look at the other options…

#2. WordPress.com: Best Sandbox Platform

Source: Lorelle on WordPress

Launched in 2005, WordPress.com is a turnkey blogging platform built on the open-source WordPress.org software.

In any given month, over 409 million people will view more than 21 billion pages on WordPress.com’s network of blogs. In September 2018, more than 70 million posts were published and over 52 million blog comments were written.

In short, WordPress is quite popular.

How Do You Get Started?

Signing up for a free account takes only a few minutes.

Go to WordPress.com and click the “Get Started” button to get to Step 1:

You’ll need to enter your email address, a username, and a strong password.

Next, enter a few details about your blog for Step 2:

For Step 3, enter an address for your site:

Once you’ve typed something, you’ll get a list of options. Be sure to select the “Free” one.

Finally, in Step 4 you pick a plan. Again, choose the “Free” option.

What Do You Get For $0?

WordPress.com’s “free for life” plan gives you numerous features, including:

A free WordPress.com subdomain

“Jetpack” essential features

Community support

Dozens of free themes

Let’s look at those features in more detail:

Free Subdomain

A couple of definitions are probably in order…

First, what’s a domain? See the address bar at the top of your browser? What comes after the “https://�� is the domain.

In the case of this site, the domain is smartblogger.com. For my site, it’s beabetterblogger.com.

And in the case of WordPress, the domain is wordpress.com.

So what’s a subdomain? If the domain is the parent, the subdomain is the child. Anything between the “https://” and the domain is a subdomain.

Some examples:

alumni.harvard.edu

braves.mlb.com

finance.yahoo.com

That’s what WordPress is offering with its free subdomain.

So, if I wanted to start “Kevin’s Awesome Blog” on WordPress.com, my subdomain might be something like kevinsawesomeblog. Readers would type kevinsawesomeblog.wordpress.com in their browser to view my site.

It’s not a good look if you’re a business (more on that later), but for a sandbox blog where you’re testing your ideas, it’ll do the trick.

Jetpack Essential Features

WordPress.com doesn’t allow third-party plugins (unless you upgrade to their “business” plan). So, if your buddy tells you about this “amazing” WordPress plugin “you’ve got to try,” you’re out of luck until you upgrade to a self-hosted WordPress site.

However, WordPress.com’s free plan does come with many built-in plugins that offer everything from spam protection to contact forms.

For a complete list of the built-in functionality that WordPress.com offers, check out their plugins page.

Community Support

Possibly WordPress.com’s best feature (beyond the price) is its extensive support system and knowledgebase.

You can find virtually anything you need to know about using their free platform in WordPress.com’s Support section. To call their collection of how-to articles merely “extensive” would be an understatement.

And if you have a specific question you need an answer for, they have you covered there too.

Visit the WordPress.com forum, search to see if anyone has had your same question, and browse the answers. Can’t find the solution you need? Post the question yourself.

Free Themes

Whereas Medium prevents you from customizing the look of your blog, WordPress.com gives you options.

With “dozens” (93 at the time of this writing) of free themes from which to choose, WordPress.com offers design flexibility that isn’t available with Medium and the other free platforms.

What we’re saying is…

You get a lot for “free.”

Who Should Use WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a solid platform for almost every type of blogger.

Do you want to be a self-help blogger? Good news — WordPress.com will meet your needs.

Want to blog on food, pets, or politics? You’re in luck.

Just want to write about life? That’s WordPress.com’s jam, my friend.

Source: The Next Adventure

But WordPress.com is good for more than just blogging. You can also use it for projects and e-commerce stores, which isn’t something the other free platforms can claim.

That gives it an edge over the other options. If you want to blog and do something else with your site, WordPress.com offers flexibility the others do not.

However, it’s not a good fit for everyone…

Who Should NOT Use WordPress.com?

If you want to blog for a business, you should skip WordPress.com and look into Medium or LinkedIn (which we’ll discuss in a moment).

Why?

Because it makes you look like a cheapskate.

Free is wonderful, but using WordPress.com when you’re a business is the equivalent of handing out business cards with the printer’s logo on the back of them.

Doesn’t exactly scream “I’m a professional,” does it?

Also:

If you’re hoping to join a blogging community where your posts have a chance to be discovered by new audiences, you should look elsewhere.

Medium shines a spotlight on the best their members have to offer. If you write something great, it has a chance to be featured and seen by millions.

WordPress.com? Not so much.

Here’s a screenshot of the most-recent “Editors’ Picks” on the official WordPress.com blog:

There might as well be tumbleweeds blowing across the screen.

Final Word on WordPress.com

What are the Pros?

Suitable for a variety of blog types

Solid support articles and forum

More design options than other free platforms

Shorter learning curve if you choose to transition to self-hosted WordPress later

Good for more than just blogs

What are the Cons?

Not ideal for businesses

You can’t install third-party themes and plugins

Lack of community makes it difficult to build an audience from scratch

WordPress advertising and banners may appear next to your content

Conclusion: If you’re a non-business blogger who wants an easy to use platform that gives you some control over customization, WordPress.com is a solid option — especially if you plan to transition to self-hosted WordPress someday.

#3. LinkedIn: Best Platform for Professionals

Source: Darren Rowse

Next up is LinkedIn.

Primarily used for professional networking, LinkedIn also offers a publishing platform. This allows any of its 560 million users (as of September 2018) to write posts that could (potentially) be read by any of the 260 million members who are active in a given month.

(Again, potentially.)

How Do You Get Started?

Go to LinkedIn.com, and you’ll see this window encouraging you to join:

Enter your name, your email, and a strong password. Then click the “Join now” button.

You’ll then be asked to answer a few simple questions:

Your country and zip code

Whether or not you’re a student (if no, you’ll enter your job title and the name of your employer; if yes, you’ll enter the name of your school and other relevant info)

Your reason for joining LinkedIn

It sounds like a lot, but it’s fairly harmless.

Still, if you feel the urge to throw your computer into the dumpster, we won’t blame you.

What Do You Get For $0?

A free-to-use publishing platform that’s focused on professionals and business contacts.

If you’re already a LinkedIn member, publishing your content will be easier than WordPress.com, Medium, or any other blogging platform.

Why?

Because it’s built right into your LinkedIn profile. Click the “Write an article” button and start writing.

Who Should Use LinkedIn?

Anyone who wants to reach professionals and businesses.

After all, that’s what LinkedIn is all about, right? Nurturing business relationships.

Source: Syed Balkhi

Blogging on LinkedIn helps to cultivate those relationships.

When you write an article, LinkedIn will notify your existing connections. If your article is great (and why wouldn’t it be?), they’ll take notice. Write more and more great articles, and they’ll start to see you as an authority.

And, like with Medium, great content on LinkedIn has a chance to get noticed by those outside your list of connections.

If one of LinkedIn’s editors sees your masterpiece and decides to feature it on one of LinkedIn’s numerous channels, your work gets exposed to a giant audience of interested, like-minded professionals.

Tip: Want to increase the chances a LinkedIn editor will see your article? Share it on Twitter and include “tip @LinkedInEditors” in your tweet.

Who Should NOT Use LinkedIn?

This one is pretty straightforward…

If you aren’t a working professional, or you’re not looking to reach working professionals, you’ll be better off choosing one of the other free platforms.

Final Word on LinkedIn

What are the Pros?

Good for professionals and businesses

Clean, simple design

Easy to use — publishing platform is built right into your LinkedIn profile

Built-in audience of like-minded professionals

What are the Cons?

Only good for professionals and businesses

Very few customization options

You can’t schedule posts for future publishing

Conclusion: If you’re looking to write posts that will reach professionals and businesses, LinkedIn is the best free blogging platform available.

#4. Instagram: Best Platform for Visuals

A photo and video-sharing platform that’s owned by Facebook, Instagram is one of the largest social media sites in the world.

As of June 2018, Instagram has 1 billion users worldwide. The previous September, they had 800 million users — a growth of 200 million in only nine months.

Even if you subtract everyone who follows a Kardashian or has posted a photo of themselves impersonating a duck, Instagram offers an audience of well over 75 people.

(Kidding. Mostly.)

How Do You Get Started?

On a personal computer, go to Instagram.com, and you’ll see the following:

Enter your phone number or email address, your name, your desired username, and a strong password. Then click the “Sign up” button.

Or, skip all that and click the “Log in with Facebook” button (assuming you have a Facebook account). If you aren’t already logged in, it will ask you to log into your Facebook account.

You could also do the above using the Instagram app on your mobile device.

What Do You Get For $0?

You get an extremely popular social media platform that’s perfect for microblogging.

What’s microblogging, you ask? Here’s how it works:

You get a great image. Maybe it’s a photo you took on your camera, or perhaps it’s a Creative Commons image that perfectly fits your current shade of melancholy.

You upload the image to Instagram.

And for the caption? You write a short blog post.

Here are a couple examples:

In the above screenshot, Sarah Von Bargen cleverly plugs a course she offers in the midst of a tiny, bite-sized post (accompanied by a photo of assorted beverages).

And in the below screenshot, my friend Jaime Buckley (in true Jaime Buckley style), uses Instagram to publish an eye-catching graphic alongside 107 inspirational words on parenting.

That’s microblogging — and it can be done very, very well using Instagram.

Who Should Use Instagram?

Anyone who focuses on highly-visual topics.

Models…

Photographers…

Yoga instructors…

Professional chefs…

Make-up artists, hair stylists, clothing stores…

The list goes on and on.

If you’re someone who can combine great visuals with short posts that pack a punch, you can have great success using Instagram as a microblogging platform.

Who Should NOT Use Instagram?

If your idea of a great image involves pulling out the iPhone 3G you’ve had since 2008 and snapping a photo, Instagram may not be the platform for you.

If you tend to draft novels when you write, Instagram’s 2,200 character limit when writing captions could prove problematic.

Also, if your target audience tends to shy away from mobile devices for any reason, Instagram might not be the best platform to test your ideas. Instagram started life as a mobile app. Mobile is where it shines, and it’s where most of its users call home.

(So, if you’re planning to start a Wilford Brimley fan club, it’s probably best to skip Instagram.)

Final Word on Instagram

What are the Pros?

Great for visual topics

Ideal platform for microblogging (short posts)

Great if your target audience primarily uses mobile devices

What are the Cons?

Limited to 2,200 characters

Limited to one hyperlink (in your bio)

If your target audience isn’t on mobile, it’s less than ideal

Conclusion: Instagram offers a great microblogging platform geared toward visual topics. However, it is not kind to fans of the great Wilford Brimley.

#5. Guest Blogging: Best Platform for Building Your Authority

Sometimes, the best platform for your work is someone else’s popular blog.

Why? Because it can mean instant credibility.

Once your post publishes on a site like Smart Blogger, Forbes, Lifehacker, or Business Insider; people look at you differently.

Yesterday, you were just you — a talented, attractive writer living in obscurity. But then, after having your work published on a well-known website, you’re now seen as a subject matter expert in your field.

What happened? Guest blogging happened.

How Do You Get Started?

There are two approaches to finding sites where you can contribute guest posts.

The first is easy…

Check to see if the blogs you already like to read (that are relevant to your niche, of course) accept guest post submissions.

Browse their “About” or “Start” pages. Try their “Contact” page. Sometimes, they’ll make it easy and have a “Contribute” or “Write for Us” link in their navigation menu or footer.

The second approach involves utilizing Google’s and Twitter’s search capability.

Here’s how it works:

As you can in the screenshot above, you can query a topic (in this example: “blogging”) along with a search phrase (“write for us”).

Google returned a list of results that contained both of those search terms/phrases.

Click on the results that look promising, browse the sites, and see if they’re a good fit. Not all sites will be worth your time. Skip the ones that aren’t. Bookmark the matches.

Then try some other, similar queries:

“Blogging” + “guest post”

“Blogging” + “contribute”

“Blog tips” + “write for us”

And so on.

Replace “blogging” and “blogging tips” with whatever topics you would like to write about.

Searching for guest blogging opportunities on Twitter follows a similar routine:

Type “guest post”, “guest blog post”, “guest article”, etc. in the search box. Twitter will give you a list of tweets where people used those exact phrases.

Every time someone proudly tweets that a guest post they’ve written has been published on someone’s site, as Meera Kothand does in the above screenshot, it’s saved by Twitter for posterity. And it allows you to go on an archeological hunt find it.

Scroll through the results.

Based on the title of the guest post and the site that published it, you will have a good idea whether or not it’s a match for you. Keep scrolling until you find some possibilities. Click the link in the tweet, browse the site, and bookmark it for later if you think it’s a contender.

What Do You Get For $0?

You get the chance to put your words in front of already-existing, relevant audiences.

Jon wasn’t an unknown when he wrote How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World as a guest post for Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger in 2011, but he was an unknown to me until I discovered the post a few years later.

Then everything changed.

It didn’t matter that Jon was already well known by most thanks to his former role at Copyblogger; for me, his ProBlogger post was a gateway drug.

Jon went from being an unknown — a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce — to an authority on blogging I had to read.

That’s the power of guest blogging. Every time you put your words in front of newly targeted audiences; you have the chance to gain fans for life.

Who Should Guest Blog?

Anyone who wants to build their credibility and boost their authority.

How can guest blogging do that, you ask? Let’s use me as an example.

Before I wrote my first guest post for Smart Blogger, the only people who viewed me as an authority on blogging were my wife and maybe one of our cats.

My site, Be A Better Blogger, was less than a year old. After reading a post about quitting your job and moving to paradise written by some guy named Jon, launching my own “blog about blogging” sounded like a great idea.

So that’s what I did. I was on unemployment at the time, and I had a lot of free time on my hands.

And I was doing a great job in such a short period.

The only problem?

I had little credibility. Few saw me as an authority on the topics I was writing.

Then I received an email…

Jon’s editor, the talented Glen Long, invited me to write a guest post for Smart Blogger (formerly known as Boost Blog Traffic).

That guest post…

Led to a second opportunity…

Which led to a third…

Which led to the post you’re reading right now.

It led to opportunities like writing for Syed Balkhi over at OptinMonster.

It led to being asked to provide quotes for dozens of blog posts and articles.

It led to flattering, tongue-placed-firmly-in-cheek emails like this one from James Chartrand:

It may not have led to tons of traffic for my website or large crowds chanting my name in the streets, but guest blogging did something that would have taken me considerable time to do on my own:

It legitimized me.

Hey, and speaking of website traffic…

Who Should NOT Guest Blog?

Anyone who wants to build up their own blog.

The reason? It isn’t very efficient.

Brace yourself…

You would better off publishing your masterpiece on your website, even if it isn’t yet popular, rather than on someone else’s — even if their website is very popular.

Please don’t misunderstand: Guest blogging is a great way to gain credibility; however, it isn’t a great way to get traffic to your blog. Not anymore.

Guest blogging may have been a nice traffic source in the past, but those days are long gone.

In his eye-opening article on the topic, Tim Soulo determined guest blogging was a poor return on investment if your goal was to generate traffic to your website.

According to Tim’s survey of over 500 bloggers (which included yours truly):

Guest posts from those in the marketing niche earned their authors an average of only 56 website clicks

85% of the authors received fewer than 100 referrals to their sites

That doesn’t mean you should never guest blog. It just means you need to be clear about your reasons for doing so.

Guest blog for credibility, for boosting your authority, and for building your brand.

Don’t guest blog if you’re hoping for traffic. More often than not, you’ll be disappointed.

Oh, and there’s one more group who shouldn’t guest blog:

Those who want to take shortcuts.

There’s both good and bad when you’re putting your words in front of a large audience. If your post teaches them something new, inspires them, or gives them something juicy to chew on; they’ll remember you for it.

And if it sucks? Yeah, they’ll remember you for that too.

Guest blogging is a great way to build your authority, but it’s also a great way to destroy it.

If you’re not willing to put in the time and do the work, guest blogging isn’t for you.

Final Word on Guest Blogging

What are the Pros?

Write for interested, targeted audiences

Fastest way to build your authority and reputation

What are the Cons?

Fastest way to destroy your authority and reputation

Not an efficient method for getting traffic to your own website

Getting published on quality sites is hard work

Time-consuming — may be hard to fit into busy schedules

Conclusion: Guest blogging is a great way to build your authority and get your content in front of new readers. It’s hard work, but it’s worth it. However, it’s unlikely to generate tangible traffic to your blog.

Making the Switch to Self-Hosted WordPress

Technically, there’s one more free option out there…

The WordPress.org software — the same software used by WordPress.com — is free too. It’s free for any and all to use.

However, just like there’s no such thing as a free puppy (once you factor in food, veterinarian bills, and replacing all your shoes after they’ve become chew toys), WordPress.org’s software isn’t actually free once you add up the other expenses.

See, to use the software, you have to install it on your own web host. That costs money.

Is this something you will want to do eventually? Absolutely. Just not right now. Not when you’re getting started.

So how will you know when you’re ready?

Jon recommends making the switch once you reach a 20% outreach success rate.

What does that mean? Let’s break it down:

Step #1: Register for a Free Blog

Step #2: Follow Jon’s New Method for Starting a Blog

If you haven’t read How to Start a Blog in 2018, do so immediately.

(Well, not immediately. Finish reading this post; leave us a comment; and share it with all your friends, loved ones, and acquaintances. Then, by all means, immediately after saying hi on Twitter, go and read Jon’s excellent tutorial.)

In the post, Jon shows you how to conduct a miniature outreach campaign where you email 10-20 influential bloggers and ask them to share your blog posts.

Once you’ve hit a 20% success rate, you’re ready to make the transition.

Step #3: Switch to Self-Hosted WordPress

Jon’s post also offers guidance for making the switch. When you’re ready to choose a web host, be sure to read WordPress Hosting: A Brutally Honest Guide That’ll Save You Money.

It’ll help you pick the best host for your needs and budget.

What’s the Best Free Blogging Platform for You?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?

You now know why testing your ideas on a free blogging platform when you’re just starting is a good idea. You now know the pros and cons of Medium, WordPress.com, LinkedIn, Instagram, and guest blogging. And, you now know how to get started with each of them.

So which one is it going to be?

If you want my honest opinion, the answer is simple…

The best free blogging platform is whichever one will get you to stop dipping your toes into the water and start diving in head first.

The next blogging masterpiece isn’t going to write itself.

Are you ready?

Then let’s do this thing.

About the Author: Kevin J. Duncan runs Be A Better Blogger, where he uses his very particular set of skills to help people become the best bloggers they can be.

The post The 5 Best Free Blogging Platforms in 2019 (100% Unbiased) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/blogging-platforms/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

Text

How to Grow a Blog to 20 Million Readers – with Maat van Uitert

Ever wish you could grow your blog to millions of readers?

Do you wonder if it's even possible?

In this interview, Maat van Uitert shares how she was able to do it.

Listen to the Interview

Maat van Uitert – Her Blogging Story

Maat started her blog back in 2015. Her family had moved to a farm in Southeast Missouri and there weren't any jobs available.

When she moved, she didn't know anyone and was looking for something to do.

When she stumbled onto blogging, she thought it would be a fun hobby.

She could use her blog to share what was going on in their lives.

And what was going on in their lives? Chickens.

Maat's First Blog Topics were Focused on Chickens

Chickens were a big part of their lives and were family pets. Talking about Backyard chickens was a natural way to talk about what they were into.

That was the start of her blog, Pampered Chicken Mama.

In the beginning, she didn't look at it as a business. She didn't even know it was possible to make money with a blog.

But then she started learning more about blogging. She learned that it was a good income source.

So she went all in and grew it into a huge platform with 20 million readers.

Today, there's a team behind the blog and it's a solid business that provides for her family.

Her Content Creation Evolution

When she first started her blog, her content was about farming in general.

But the problem was that nobody cared. It became necessary to refine the topic a bit.

So she started digging into her area of expertise to help her refine. Her area of expertise was

Maat had to refine her topic.

animals, and more specifically, chickens.

So she started creating content about caring for chickens as food producers.

Then she came to a big revelation – people who kept chickens for food aren't buyers.

But people spend money on their pets. After realizing that, she made the smart decision to focus on people who kept chickens as pets.

She structured her content in that way because she needed to make money to take care of her family.

Growing an audience

How to Grow an Audience

When Maat started taking her blog seriously, she started focusing on growth.

She knew she needed an audience, and did what it took to grow hers.

For her blog, it was all about 3 different strategies:

Networking with other bloggers

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Learning about Social Media Marketing

How to Network with Other Bloggers

When Maat started her blog, she joined Facebook groups to connect with other bloggers. Especially bloggers in her niche (Homestead).

She would then reach out to these bloggers to network with them.

Those relationships eventually evolved into a support group of bloggers.

This also led to some guest posting opportunities. However, those guest posts didn't result in a lot of traffic for her.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO played a big role in increasing her blog audience.

When it comes to SEO, you have to understand keyword research and where your competition is.

Here's a secret – there are websites that spend a lot of money on SEO research. You can look at what those websites are doing and figure out how to rank based on that.

If you combine that with doing some of your own keyword research, you have a recipe for success.

Two tools to help you are the Google Keyword Planner and SEMRush.

Using those tools, you can find good keywords and analyze your competition.

Once you understand those things, you can develop an editorial calendar targeting the right keywords.

Optimize your posts for your chosen keywords

Here's how you can optimize your posts for your chosen keywords:

Include your keywords in your title

Include your keywords in the URL

Include your keywords in your image file names

Include your keywords in your image alt tags

Include your keywords in the description

Include your keywords multiple time in the article

Include your keywords in at least one h2 tag

Social Media Marketing

She went all in to refine her Pinterest strategy.

Maat noticed that she was getting most of her Social Media traffic from Pinterest.

To double down on what was working, she decided to go all in on Pinterest.

To refine her Pinterest strategy, she constantly analyzed what was working for her.

If a certain kind of content was getting more pins and repins, she would create more of that content.

Her focus was on doing more of what was working.

Why? Because that was driving page views and resulting in more money.

Her recommendation is for you to do the same – focus on what works.

Bringing in the human element

One day, Maat was giving a talk about caring for chickens in Tennessee.

During the talk, people kept asking her how to do things. Her response was sharing things they could do.

She shared more about her personal life.

But they wanted to know how SHE did things. This was her first hint that her audience wanted to know more about her and her family.

A year ago, she started talking about her children having special needs.

When she opened up about that, she started getting personal messages from people all over the world.

They were sharing with her about how they kept chickens because of their special needs children.

That's when she realized the importance of sharing about her life.

It helps to create community.

Today, she includes a personal story in every email she sends out.

She also includes family stuff in the editorial calendar.

How to get millions of page views

There's no magic bullet to get millions of page views.

When asked about how to go from where you are to having a blog with millions of views, here are her tips:

Understand that there's no magic bullet.

Listen to people who are smarter than you. It's important to listen to people who have been there, done that.

Invest in your education. She estimates that she has spent $50K in her blogging/business education.

Maat's Passion for Parents of Special Needs Children

Parents of special needs children need to know that blogging is a viable way to support your family.

When you build an online business, you're able to take care of your family better. There's a lot of flexibility if you build your business in a smart way.

The key is to build in a way that you can remove yourself from the business.

Here are Maat's tips for removing yourself from your business:

Develop Standard Operating Procedures for how you handle things in your business.

Hire smart people and project managers. They know how to do their jobs and are invested in the business.

Treat freelancers very well and pay them very well.

Build a team of people who are invested in the outcome of the business.

If you are a parent of special needs children and want to know more about building a business, visit TeamMaat.com

The post How to Grow a Blog to 20 Million Readers – with Maat van Uitert appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.

from SEO and SM Tips https://www.becomeablogger.com/26367/grow-a-blog-20-million-readers/

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laurylyonus · 6 years ago

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What to Blog About: The Data-Driven Guide to Choosing Blog Topics

Let’s begin with a simple fact:

Anyone can start a blog, but not anyone can start a blog other people want to read.

In the throes of self-pity, you might be tempted to believe it’s because of the fickleness of human nature, a lack of influential connections, or perhaps the realization of how difficult building an engaged audience actually is.

And you would be partially correct. All those factors do play a part.

But what if I told you the primary cause of failure for bloggers is actually their choice of what to blog about? Not their connections, not their persistence, not their understanding of how blogging actually works, but the accidental, unfortunate decision to write about the wrong blog topics.

You might be skeptical, and rightfully so. The good news is, I’m about to prove that assertion to you right now. Even better, I’ll show you how to uncover exactly what to blog about, increasing your chances of success 100X.

Blog Topic Insights from Studying 13,360 Bloggers

Over the years, my team and I have mentored 13,360 bloggers in every imaginable niche, language, and style. Everyone from meteoric success stories like Laurel Bern to thousands of students who have struggled to break through the noise.

And we’ve noticed some patterns. Some very interesting patterns.

Data from students shows us that some blog topics get traffic quite easily while others are nearly impossible. For instance, you can blog about square-shaped tomatoes with as much vigor and persistence as you like, and you’re never going to take off, because… nobody cares.

In fact, the range of blog topics where you can expect to both get substantial traffic and monetize is relatively narrow. Some blog topics that seem plausible from the outset, such as freelancing, actually don’t have a prayer of success.

In other words, your choice of what to blog about is critical. If you make the wrong decision, you can execute every traffic and monetization technique flawlessly, and none of it will work, because having the right blog topic is critical.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to finding your blog topic:

Step 1: Choose a Popular Niche

Before you write a single post, it’s worth asking yourself a simple question:

Is anyone in your niche getting significant traffic?

If not, what makes you think you can be the first?

For some reason, people are happy to invest hundreds or even thousands of hours into publishing content without stopping to consider if anyone else has ever been successful. Worse, they believe that competition is bad. They take pride in being the first person to write about a topic and believe that’s an opportunity.

It makes me want to cry. Not only is that perspective flat-out wrong, it’s tragic because it leads you to invest time into projects that never had a prayer of success.

So, how can you tell if a niche is popular or not?

The easiest way is to reference a research library like the one we have in Freedom Machine. It does all the heavy lifting for you by giving you a list of successful blogs, their most popular posts, and examples of how they monetize.

But let’s say you don’t have that. What can you do?

There’s no exact science to it, but here’s the process I recommend:

Find a List of Popular Blogs in the Niche

This is trickier than it sounds.

Let’s say you’re blogging about how to trade stocks. Does that put you in the “stock trading” niche, the “investing” niche, or something else?

My advice: go to the broadest category that makes sense. In the case of trading stocks, that would actually be the “personal finance” niche, assuming you’re targeting people who want to trade stocks for themselves (more discussion about this later).

From there, just run a simple Google query like “best personal finance blogs”, and chances are, you’ll find several lists to browse through:

From there, you just need to dig a little deeper and find out how popular those blogs really are.

Plug the Blogs into Ahrefs to Uncover Their Traffic

One of my favorite things about Ahrefs is it gives you both social and search data. Let’s go through an example, and you’ll see what I mean.

In their Site Explorer, you can type in any URL to pull a report on the site:

You’ll get back a report with an enormous amount of data. Going back to our trading stocks example, let’s say I found out that Mr. Money Mustache is one of the most popular personal finance sites, so I plug it into Ahrefs. Here’s what comes back:

And that’s just a sample. In the left sidebar, there are lots of additional reports where you can go even deeper.

If you want to look at social traffic, for example, you can click the “Top Content” link, and here’s what you get back:

There’s all the content on the site, sorted by total shares. As you can see, the top 10 posts all crossed 2,000 shares, so it looks like Mr. Money Mustache is doing well from a social traffic perspective.

Personally, I like to see at least five sites within the same niche with at least five posts above 1,000 shares. That’s usually enough to start guessing what readers in the space want to read more about. More on this later.

A Word of Warning about Popularity

Stop for a moment and think about another question:

What’s your end goal for building a blog?

I’m guessing it’s not just to get a bunch of traffic and feel good about yourself. You want to turn that traffic into money somehow, right?

Well, some niches are dramatically easier to monetize than others. You can get a lot of traffic writing about the daily activities of celebrities, for example, but that doesn’t mean you’ll make money blogging about it.

Some niches can only be monetized through advertising. A good example is the news. Every time you read an article on a news site, they get paid a few cents for an “impression.” That’s how they survive.

If you do the math though, it takes a lot of traffic to start earning enough from advertising to quit your job or do anything meaningful. Like… hundreds of thousands of visitors per month.

For that reason, when my team evaluates popular niches, we also look at how the blogs are monetizing. Ideally, we want to see people selling some type of products and services because those genuinely have the highest ROI on blogs. If all we find are popular sites stuffed with ads, it’s a bad sign.

The bottom line?

Popularity is good, but it’s not enough. When you’re doing research, also pay attention to how blogs in the space are monetizing.

Step 2: Choose a Single Tribe That’s Hungry for Content

When you’re researching a niche, you’ll notice blogs seem to focus on different types of readers.

In the personal finance niche, for example, blogs like Get Rich Slowly and The Simple Dollar focus on fundamentals like secure investments, living frugally, and so on. At the same time, there are other blogs like I Will Teach You to Be Rich and Mr. Money Mustache that focus much more on how to increase your income and improve your lifestyle.

If you feel like those sites are fundamentally different, you’re right. While they both occupy the personal finance niche, they serve different “tribes.”

Here’s what I mean by tribe:

A tribe is a group of people who congregate online around common interests.

In the personal finance space, the two biggest groups are “save and invest” people and “increase your income” people. Neither tribe is right, but they don’t really mix well with one another. You won’t find a blog focusing equally on both tribes.

So, how does this help you?

It allows you to narrow in on your target audience. Here’s what to do:

Name the Tribe for Each Popular Blog in Your Niche

Earlier, we talked about identifying at least five blogs with more than 1,000 shares on at least a few posts. Now let’s go back and figure out which tribe they are talking to.

For instance, here are the popular posts on Mr. Money Mustache:

Do you see the pattern?

Mr. Money Mustache is clearly positioning himself for getting rich and against extreme frugality in some of his most popular posts. In other words, he’s speaking primarily to the “increase your income” people.

So, go through your list of five blogs. Based on their most popular posts, who are they resonating with? If it’s not immediately clear, here’s how to figure it out:

Skim through their popular posts for patterns.

Read at least a few of them to get a better idea of their philosophy.

Based on what you’ve learned, assign the tribe a name.

When you’re finished, you should have a pretty good idea about who’s interested in reading what. From there, you’re ready to…

Choose the Tribe That’s the Best Fit for You

Not all decisions can be made with spreadsheets and numbers. To succeed at blogging, you also need to consider what you enjoy talking about. The sweet spot is the overlap between your interests and everyone else’s:

For instance, let’s say all of the blogs you studied were suddenly interested in having you take over as Editor-In-Chief. Ask yourself…

Based on your own approach and philosophy, which tribe would be most excited to have you as their leader?

Which tribe do you feel like you could help grow and achieve their objectives?

In other words, you’re looking for an existing blog and tribe to serve as a model for what you want to build. It’s already built a following, so it’s clearly viable, and you feel like you could also contribute in a meaningful way.

That’s what I call the Zone of Magic. Ideally, it’s where you spend all your time.

What to Do It If You Don’t like Your Options

Before we move on, there’s one important question we need to address:

What if you’re not a good match for any of the existing tribes in your niche?

Approximately 60% of the students who go through our flagship course, Freedom Machine, find themselves in this exact situation. They have zero interest in writing about any of the topics they find on other popular sites in their niche. Even worse, they feel like those bloggers and their tribes just “don’t get it.”

If you find yourself in that situation, here’s a little tough love for you:

If there’s not an existing tribe who’s clearly interested in the same things you are, and you start a blog anyway, you’re essentially telling people they are wrong and need to change the way they think. In general, people don’t respond well to this. Not only will they refuse to share your posts or buy your products, but they might send you some hate mail as well.

The better, safer, and ultimately much more rewarding approach?

Go back to the drawing board and find a tribe whose interests align with yours. Instead of fighting them, just figure out where they want to go and show them how to get there.

Here’s how…

Step 3: Write About Their Proven Interests

Which would you rather write about: topics you think your readers might like, or ones you know will get traffic, because you have proof of those topics being popular in the past?

Obviously, it’s better to have the proof, right? You might as well invest your time where you have the best chances of success.

In this section, I’ll show you how to uncover those proven interests, as well as put your own spin on them. Let’s jump in.

Drill Deeper into the Site Stats

Earlier, we used Ahrefs to examine the most shared posts on Mr. Money Mustache. Let’s go back to that:

In general, the highest-quality shares are the ones from Facebook, so I tend to sort posts that way instead of by overall shares. Save these for later by running a custom export of the first 20 rows and saving it to your computer.

The next step is to dig into the keywords driving the most search engine traffic. You can find those by clicking on “Organic keywords” in the left sidebar.

The default sorting by traffic is fine, but if you’re a beginning blogger, I would recommend eliminating all keywords with a keyword difficulty (KD) over 40. Again, do a custom export of the first 20 rows and save it to your computer.

You should go through the same process for all the most popular sites serving your tribe. By the time you’re finished, you’ll have a list of dozens or maybe hundreds of posts proven to be popular with your audience.

Choose Posts Where You Can Add Value

So… now you have a big list of popular posts on other sites serving your tribe. That’s obviously useful information, but here’s the big question:

How do you use that information without sounding like a copycat?

You didn’t get into this to regurgitate the ideas of other writers. You want to publish content that’s uniquely you.

Here’s how:

Copy the topic, not the advice.

For instance, one of Mr. Money Mustache’s most popular posts is Getting Rich: From Zero to Hero in One Blog Post. The topic is getting rich, and the advice is to live simply and frugally on half of what you make.

If I were to write a post on the same topic, I would talk about getting a remote job where you can live in a cheaper country like Mexico but continue making US dollars. In other words, I would give completely different advice on the same topic, and I would interweave my own story of moving to Mexico into it.

I’d also choose a different headline like, “How I Became a Millionaire from My Wheelchair.” Again, it’s the same topic, but an entirely unique headline. No one would accuse me of being a copycat.

You can follow the same approach with the most popular topics in your space. Scan through the list of posts you exported from Ahrefs and choose the ones where you can write about the same topic but give your own unique advice.

Write a Better Version of That Post

Okay, you’re almost ready to write your post. Finally!

Before you start scribbling down your thoughts, consider two final questions:

What made the post you studied on the topic popular?

What can you do to create an even better post?

It’s like the old saying, “Stand on the shoulders of giants.” When you find a popular posts model, you always want to know why it worked, and you want a good idea of how to improve upon it.

At some point, I’ll write a post detailing exactly how to do that, but here’s the short version. There are five ways to improve upon any post, and they all begin with the letter ‘D’:

Detail: make your post more detailed (or comprehensive).

Design: include an infographic or organize your points in a more useful way.

Data: include unique stats or examples to back up your points.

Drama: amp up the emotion by infusing your post with personality and stories.

Distinctions: give advice based on your unique perspective as an expert.

For instance, the Getting Rich post on Mr. Money Mustache is pretty short and lacks a lot of detail, so if I wanted to compete, I would probably write a much more comprehensive manual for getting rich, clocking in at 3000+ words. I might also add in my personal story, giving it extra drama.

Regardless of which method you choose, here’s the bottom line:

Your goal is to write the best post ever published on a proven, familiar topic.

Is it easy?

Hell no. Usually, it’s a lot of work.

But this is how you win.

You stop writing about whatever you want and limit yourself to proven topics.

You study the competition.

You create content so much better than theirs, that it makes them want to call their mommy.

‘nough said.

The post What to Blog About: The Data-Driven Guide to Choosing Blog Topics appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/what-to-blog-about/

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