How To Write High Quality Content That People Want To Link To

I read this in a magazine I was reading and it was mentioned by JohnChow.com when I asked him this question for an expert post I was writing a few months back. This statement is very true and if you want enormous targeted traffic sent to your website, it’s all about writing the best content ever. This means creating content that solves a common problem and is in-depth, providing a complete solution. People love this type of content, and it increases the chance of someone linking back to it as an additional resource for other content online. However, you have to follow the fundamentals of writing “high” value content. Everyone writes content, but to write the best, you have to follow this pattern, which I’ll outline below.
Let’s get started…

Finding Your Topic

It’s much easier to write content when you know what people are looking for online so it’s important to conduct extensive research before starting. Just like boxers say, “Training is the hard part and fighting is the easy”, writing content follows the same statement, however, it’s the research that is the tough part and writing that is easy. The good news is you have tools available that streamline the research part. For example, start by using Google Keyword Planner, finding “phrases” that people are typing. Next, you can use Google Trends to analyze what types of topics are trending and then digging deeper into each until you find something common. Next,
Use Amazon.com to find bestsellers within books and then skimming through the table of contents, gathering ideas for your content. However, here is the best tool…
Buzzumo.com, where you simply type in a keyword related to the niche and it’ll generated a list of posts that have been shared thousands of times online. Look for question based posts and create something better because you already know it’ll be popular just from the amount of shares previously related content has received.
Remember the following things when choosing your topic…

• Make sure it’s relevant
• Make sure it’s popular by using tools like Buzzumo.com
• Spend time researching, looking for angles not covered by anyone else
• Ask for feedback from your readers, friends, or network of follow bloggers

The Writing Process

On my personal blog, I’ve written extensively on how to write epic content in under 60 minutes and I’ll quickly go through the important points here. Once you have decided on your topic, then writing content is not difficult as long as you have the following in order…
Your Tools Ready –
When you sit down, you need to ensure you have all the tools in the right place because it will help you streamline the writing process. For example, when I sit down, I have my outline ready, my images formatted correctly, and even my word processor open. Next,
This factor applies to your work environment, meaning you should be comfortable and ready to work. I work from a home office, however, many of you get your best work done in a library, work office, coffee shop, etc.
Outline Ready –
In the section above, you did your research and gathered ideas for your topic idea. From your topic idea, you should be able to gather enough data to know what type of content you’ll be writing. For example, you should know if it’s going to be a list post, tutorial, controversial, press release, etc. It’s time for you to create an outline using this format.

• Introduction (#words)
• Subheadings
• Body (#words)
• Conclusion (#words)

Stay Focused –
When writing your content, it’s important to stay on track and this can be achieved by simply focusing on the task at hand. As you begin to write your ideas down, you’re going to generate momentum that can push you away from the initial focus on your content. This is why it’s a good idea to stop and move away from your work every 20 minutes and think about the content your writing. Ask yourself these questions…

• Am I making sense?
• Am I writing on my topic?
• Am I sticking to my outline?
• Should I do anything else to make sense?

Answering these questions and then hoping back onto your computer will keep you on the right track and focused throughout your content writing.

The Outreach

Once you’ve completed your content, it’s time to publish and promote. You have several options from paid, networking, social, etc. However, I recommend to network with influential people, letting them know about your premium content. Why? Simple.
Influential bloggers are established and have huge social followers who create generate enormous buzz to your content. If you can get your content in front of thousands of people, you’ve increase the chances of someone building a link back to it. Influential bloggers have powerful blogs, so send a link to your content to them, with the hope that they’ll read it, provide feedback, and even link to it if it meets a criteria as an additional resource for content they’ve written.
In short, you can do the following to promote your content for your outreach…

• Paid marketing
• Social media outreach
• Email influential bloggers
• Send to your followers and email subscribers
• General organic SEO

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3 Advanced Ways to Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

We often here about SEO and how a solid campaign will improve your ranking in the search engines, however we are often left hearing the basics. When we read about SEO, we hear about link building, high quality content, on-page SEO, etc. Did you know all of these methods can be narrowed down to more effective strategies? For example, using link building is ONLY effective if you create links from the right websites with a high authority and keyword density. In order for you to get the full long-term effects from your campaign, it’s important you implement the following advance strategies into your campaign.
Let’s take a further look…

Domain and Page Authority

Moz.com implemented a cool system to calculate how important a domain and page are in the ranking pyramid. They named this system “Domain” and “Page” authority. These numbers predict the likelihood of the any given page ranking high within the SERP’s. It’s important you utilize these strategies when building links to your website. Here’s what you should do…
The next time you are thinking about building links from a website, browse over to the specific page your link will be placed and check the DA and PA. OpenSiteExplorer.org is a tool that instantaneously provides the information you are looking for so copy and paste the page URL into this tool. After about 4-5 seconds, OpenSiteExplorer.org will provide you with a breakdown of the numbers. Here’s the rule of thumb to follow…
Choose DA and PA greater than 25+ because this shows the URL is established and has built some sort of authority overtime. This also shows the website has been around for years and has been constantly producing content which adds value. The main goal is to get a link on that specific page with those numbers, for example, your objective is to build a link on the page with DA and PA of 25+ and if any number is lower than “25” I would try and search for a better page.

Relevancy

I can’t stress the importance of relevancy and how it’s vital in your website ranking higher in the SERP’s. Over the years we’ve seen enormous changes in the way Google understands a website and its content. For example, they gather data to understand the user search pattern and to accomplish this, Google made some tweaks over the last several months. These tweaks were presented to the public in the form of Panda and Penguin updates. Here’s what’s important…
You have to make sure when building links you find websites which are relevant to your niche. Make sure they are also focusing on the same keywords as this will add more overall value. For example, OpenSiteExplorer.org provides another awesome tool which will breakdown total links and anchor text on any given page. When you add a URL into the search field you’ll be able to view this information. Here’s what I do…
I’ll search for link building opportunities on relevant websites and scroll through the anchor text they’ve been targeting. The more relevant the anchor text the better the link profile and awesome link building opportunity. The goal is to build links on relevant websites so look for the following on “target” page in OpenSiteExplorer.org…

• Domain authority
• Page authority
• Total links
• Anchor text
• Do-follow links
• Skim through looking for quality of website.

Google Alerts

There have been a lot of buzz about Google Alerts and its effectiveness to generate traffic and relevant links. I’ve been using Google Alerts for several months after I was introduced to the idea by Matthew Woodward several months back. Its follows the same pattern as every other link building strategy which is: You have to set it up correctly in order for it to be utilized. Here’s what works and how you should use Google Alerts for maximum exposure…
First, start by creating your content, video and/or infographic. Your objective is to create content just like you would for your blog. This should be high quality and in-depth so readers will find it of value. Once you have content written and published on your blog, it’s time to utilize the power of Google Alerts.
If you have a Gmail account you can log into Google Alerts by going to https://www.google.com/alerts.
Next, here you setup the alerts you’ll like to receive and make sure they are relevant to the content you’ve just published. When you receive an alert relevant to your content you can start interacting with people who will find your content valuable. Within these alerts your looking for questions about the topic because it provides an opportunity to answer the question and link to your resource. In order for this to be extremely effective you should create a resource guide so when you provide your link, people will want to link back to it and share it on their social networks.
Here’s a few tips to help you setup the right alerts. When you first enter Google Alerts, you’ll be asked to enter keywords. Make sure they are question based. For example, if your focusing on “link building”, use the following…

• “common blogging mistakes”
• How*seo
• How to*link building
• How to build * link build
• update * matt cuts
• Why * link building

You’ll notice from the alerts I’ve setup that they are question based and need an answer. This is where you’ll jump in and provide your answer with a link back to your content. The more people you get your content in front of, the higher chances of someone linking back and engaging with it.

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How To Use WordPress for More Than Just Blogging

As has been discussed so many times on this site before, there are innumerable ways for you to make money online and to live the dot com lifestyle. One of these ways is to become a professional blogging, writing about an industry or interest that you are truly passionate about and monetizing your website accordingly.
In the context of blogging, easily one of the most popular platforms for a site of nearly any size is WordPress. It’s what powers John Chow dot Com, just as it is what powers Beyond the Rhetoric and MEGATechNews. It’s a free and versatile platform that comes with tons of community support and add-ons.
And while WordPress is certainly best known as a platform for blogging, it can be used to power a variety of other types of websites that can similarly help you generate some real income on the Internet. This is usually accomplished through special themes, plugins or some combination thereof.

As a Question and Answer Site

Many people turn to the Internet because they have a question that they would like answered. That’s why sites like Answers.com and Quora are so popular. By using the DW Question & Answer plugin, you can run the same kind of website with WordPress. One of the big advantages to running a site like this is that the content is largely user-generated.
Visitors to your site pose questions and then other visitors provide their answers. The DW Q&A plugin comes with a series of other features to further bolster your site, like the ability to vote for the best answer, block spam with reCAPTCHA, and set sticky questions that you want to highlight. WP Beginner has a handy tutorial on how to setup and use this plugin.

As a Discussion Forum

Speaking of websites that are populated with user-generated content (moving you toward a source of passive income!), WordPress can also be used as a platform for online discussion forums. There are forums on the Internet for just about any topic under the sun, from cellphones to cars to pet ownership. You can carve out your own niche and be pretty successful at it too.
And when it comes to plugins to transform WordPress into a forum, there are few more popular than bbPress. It’s a very lean and clean add-on, easily allowing you to handle the usual administration of a forum site. Because it is so clean, though, you will need to invest in a great custom theme for your site.

As an Online Store (E-Commerce)

Whether you want to sell physical or digital goods, having a fully functional e-commerce site can really go a long way. You need features like being able to have product pages, a shopping cart and a complete checkout system that ties back into a backend for order processing and shipping.
A good choice here is the Storefront WooCommerce theme from the people at Woo Themes. There are also several extensions here to further expand your online store, like the Storefront Designer to “fine tune your site design.”
For a free option, you might consider WP eCommerce, a plugin that provides “everything you need to sell anywhere.” It even provides sales monitoring, tax configuration and “white-glove customer support.”

As an Artist Portfolio

Are you a photographer, painter, interior designer or graphic artist? A great way to showcase your work in an elegant fashion and to attract more clients is with a stunning portfolio site. There are tons of themes that can serve this purpose and one of the most attractive is the appropriately named Portfolio WordPress Theme from GavickPro.
The theme, which is available as a free download, is image-focused and fast-loading with a responsive design that adapts to visitors on smartphones, tablets and full-size PCs. It’s classy and clean, putting your visual work front and center.

As Whatever You Want

Remember when I said that you need to forget about common sense if you really want to make a living on the Internet? Common sense would tell you that WordPress is only good for powering a blog, but as you can quite plainly see, this robust platform can be used to power just about any website you’d like. No matter how you choose to make money online, there’s a customized solution to get you there.

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How To Get More People To Read Your Blog Content

When writing blog posts the objective is for people to read them so they can be shared building your brand, traffic and credibility. However, many people fail to accomplish this goal because they don`t understand the fundamentals of engaging content. First, engaging content is when people take the time to read your content, ask questions, provide comments and `share` it on social profiles.

Over the years experience has been able to teach us some cool things about content creation. We`ve learned what attracts people and keeps their attention while providing us with a gratifying feeling knowing we provided substance to these readers. Either way, it`s no `ROCKET` science to create content which people love to read. I went online gathering what the experts are saying about writing engaging content.

Here are 5 ways to get more people to read your content…

Short Paragraphs

It’s been proven people searching information online have short attention spans. Many of the search queries are solution based meaning people need an answer immediately. It’s your responsibility to offer them with the solution they’re looking for and it has to be right to the point. If you have to offer a lengthy solution, it’s still possible to capture a user’s attention but you have to tweak the way your content is displayed.

One of the best ways to capture attention is by creating short paragraphs which provide the illusion of a “right to the point” solution. This strategy involves creating lengthy content but chopping it down so it looks much shorter. Your visitors will see short paragraphs thinking that the solution is right there in front of them. If you are going to use this strategy make sure you provide high quality content no matter what the case. In the end, you don’t want visitors reading 2,000+ words of content chopped into shorter paragraphs with NO solution. So, what the ideal paragraph size when using this strategy?

It’s stated that paragraphs should be no more than 5-6 lines.

Ask Questions

In order for people to stay engaged with your content it’s important you ask for their opinions by asking questions. It’s well known the best types of conversions are those which asks a person’s opinion. This shows you value their opinion and respect their knowledge. Don’t you hate it when you’re in a conversion and all they do is talk about themselves? Use the same approach when writing content for your blog. The more you write from your point of view the less reader’s will feel like you respect their opinion.

You’ve noticed in the above paragraph I asked you for your opinion…right? Here is the question I asked…

Don’t you hate it when you’re in a conversion and all they do is talk about themselves?

By simply asking this question I created engagement and if you have thoughts you’ll probably list them below in the comment box.

Here’s a great strategy,

Whenever you write content and there’s more than “1” point of view, it’s a good idea to ask others for their opinion. It’ll help keep the conversion interesting and engaging.

Add Images or Video

Sometimes the best way to get your point across would be through images, infographics and videos. People have different ways they understand information so why not provide them with every possible way. You’ve probably noticed that a growing trend in blogging is creating a video and adding the script version underneath. Why? Long content, which is tutorial based is better understood if there is a walk-through video. Not everyone has the same experience or reading levels as you so they’re looking for an easier way to understand information.

If you’re going to add a video or image to your content, it’s a good idea to add it to both the top&bottom so that the visitor knows you have the content available in video. The last thing you want a visitor to do is land on your page and leave because all they see is text without knowing you have a video available if they had scrolled to the bottom.

Content Summary

Around 3 months ago I started to apply a strategy which decrease my bounce rate and increased my user engagement. This strategy doesn’t take longer than a few minutes when writing content however the benefits are endless. Before getting into the strategy, here’s why it works so well…

People are looking for a solution immediately to their search query. They’ve mostly landing on your page through organic search, but other methods as well promising to provide a solution. Visitors are looking for specific information or sections which outline the solution they are searching for. Many bloggers make the mistake of writing lengthy content WITHOUT providing a clear indication to the visitors where they can find the information they need. The visitor panics and goes searching somewhere else.

If you add a summary of your content below the introduction, you can tell the visitor what they can expect from your content. It’s essentially adding a breakdown of your sub-headings so the visitor can skim to the section they want to read. By doing this, you’ve done two important things…

First, reiterated to the reader they’ll in fact find the information they need. Secondly, the section they’ll find it without having to skim through the entire content searching for it. This strategy builds engagement, trust and credibility. The best thing about this strategy is it’s very simple to implement to your content and makes a huge difference.

Next time you write content, do the following…

Obviously if you’ve been blogging for years, you know how to create an outline of your content before writing. Creating an outline will help keep things organized. Your outline should include: an introduction, breakdown of sub-headings, body and conclusion. Next, simply take the sub-headings and add them under the introduction in bullet form with the label “What You’ll Learn…”. This strategy is very simple but effective!

Use The Words “you” and “I”

These words have been proven to build a 1-on-1 relationship with the reader. Including these words within your content creates an illusion of a conversation which many people feel is important when trying to understand content. You have to remember when publishing online you can get visitors from all over the world, so building a relationship with your readers is more difficult However, there are a few tricks you can use to create a sense of trust. When I utter the words “you” and “I”, I’ve essentially taken the space out of the conversion and made it seem as though you are sitting in the room with me.

The next time you write content, it’s important to include “you” and “I” which can be done very easily. For example, just by changing your mentality when writing content can streamline the entire process. Here are some tips to get you started…

First, pretend you are writing for a single person so you’ll reflect that illusion when writing content. This will automatically force you to start changing the words “they” to “you” and “we” to “I”. Next, you can write in “case study” mode which is writing as though you are presenting the results of an experiment. A case study is always a “single” point of view so when presenting results you’ll automatically display them from your point of view. This strategy will train you to use “I” more often within your content. When writing content you can reiterate in your mind that your trying to build a connection with the reader so will focus on them instead of an entire group.

The above factors will help you stay on point with your content writing and creating a connection with your reader.

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Blogging Mistakes That Make You look Like An Idiot!

Blogging can be very lucrative for those who approach it the right way. You need to be able to resonate with your readers providing them information which is NOT easily found online. In other terms, this means to provide visitors information which is better than all the rest, more in-depth and provides a complete solution when they’re searching for one. When I started blogging 7 years ago I was disappointed at the lack of effort that many people would put into their content. They failed to understand that creditability is the most important asset a blogger can have. For example, with credibility comes profit, a following, blog growth and not to mention bigger opportunities. You’ve probably noticed that top bloggers are in constant communication with other big players in the industry. It’s a secret society which opens up greater opportunities for you.

Over the years I’ve seen many mistakes bloggers are making online which pushes readers away and keeps their growth stagnant. If you’ve been blogging for years or are just getting started, it’s important to avoid these blogging mistakes which will make you look like an idiot.

1) Not Knowing Your Audience

The biggest mistake I see with bloggers is they fail to understand their audience which causes problems later in the future. Without understanding your audience, you’ll lose guidance in the type of content you should be writing. Your content should is based around what resonates with your audience and without knowing your readership you’ve lost focus on your content. It’s important to always analyze data so you understand where traffic is coming from, the keywords targeted, gender and popular landing pages. How can you use this data?

First, landing pages is a great indication of the type of pages your readers are engaging with. This information allows you to create more content around the same topics because you know they’ll do very well. Next, understanding “targeted” keywords will help you with SEO and organic traffic when writing content. One of the hardest things is to come up with a solid SEO campaign based around keywords which drive traffic to your blog. Having an idea from analytical data will provide the ground work for the type of keywords you should be using.

Free analytical tools like Alexa.com will provide upstream & downstream statistics which is important to understand the flow of traffic. For example, upstream data provides a list of websites visited by people before arriving at yours. This provides great information on referral traffic and allows you to understand the type of websites your audience finds attractive. Downstream data will provide a list of websites visited after yours which again provides a better breakdown on the audience you have visiting your website.

Use this information to understand the mind frame of your audience and the content they engage with. This way you stay focused on your niche and produce content which increases traffic and social engagement.

2) Not Passionate About the Niche

If you started blogging just to make money your going to have a tough time staying motivated. Success has a lot to do with motivation and the drive to push forward doing something even when there is NO monetary value associated with it. This is not to say you won’t be rewarded for your hard work but you need to love what you do so that you’ll put 150% effort every day. I’ve had the pleasure to work with top bloggers who didn’t make any money when they started out but kept pushing forward because they wanted to make a difference and were passionate about what they do. It’s a huge mistake to get involved in something which you have no passion or knowledge about.

Blogging is very tough especially when your going to have extreme competition throughout the years however you need “passion” to help persevere when times get tough. You need to love your work and this will be the difference between you succeeding or failing. If you haven’t started blogging it’s time you decide what you love to do. This can be a very simple process because all you need to do is brainstorm some ideas and look back at your life over several years. This strategy will help you determine what you’ve enjoyed doing during different parts of your life. Next,

Once your able to brainstorm a few ideas, you need to come up with a game plan which involves researching the marketing, content and growth potential.

3) Not Collecting Emails

Another huge mistake is not collecting email addresses from visitors as they read your content. Email subscribers are a great way to keep engaging with your readers and have them come back to your blog. You’ve probably heard the phrase “the money is in the list” and this statement is true. Imagine having 35,000 email subscribers on your list and blasting out an update on new content you just published. This means you can potentially drive 35,000 people back to your blog any given day. If you review a product or service and have affiliate links within your content, you’ve increased the chance of making a sale through these visitors.

The important thing is to keep providing the best content keeping your readers happy which can translate into profits later down the line. Why is it so important to start building your list from the start?

The web can be very competitive so each time you delay you’ll be losing visitors to your competitors who provide similar content. When people visit your website for the first time there is no guarantee they’ll return unless you find a way to get them back. This is why bloggers try and capture the visitors email address immediately so it opens up the path of communication. You can simply email visitors when you have something to say increasing the chance they’ll click-through to your blog.

4) Holding Back The Good Content

There is so much competition online and holding back your good content isn’t going to have a positive effect on your growth. Google always rewards websites which publish FRESH high quality content on a consist bases. Did you know they have built a freshness update into their algorithm?

It’s important to keep in mind why someone keeps coming back to your website. People are always searching for high quality content and NOT publishing the best can drive regular visitors away. Remember people have arrived on your website because you provided something different compared to other blogs so keep that credibility and frequency going. When you write awesome content it’s important to publish right away so visitors will keep coming back to your website.

I know it can be difficult producing top-notch content 1-2 times a week however the rule of thumb is to produce epic content once a week. This gives you 7 days to get something “hot” ready for your readers. If you spread out your content writing to 400 words daily, you’ll have 2800 words written in 7 days ready to be published. Lengthy content ranging from 2800-3000 words allows you to generate some of the best content online way better than your competitors.

Word of advice,

Do some research before producing content so you can stand out compared to the rest. Visit your competitors and see what they’ve done. You can put a twist on your content before publishing by adding images, videos and infographics. Never hold back good content because visitors have no shortage of websites to go to if they don’t find what they are looking for on your website.

5) Not Interacting With Your Readers

It’s important to keep the visitor in mind and why they’ve come to your blog. A majority of people find your through search engines or referrals and are interested in your content as a resource. This means they’re going to have questions afterwards so make sure you take time to answer every single one of them. There’s a reason why blogs have a comment box and it’s for people to leave feedback and ask questions.

The most successful bloggers have even setup a personal forum online so visitors can ask specific questions and request tutorials. It’s important you built a one-on-one relationship with your visitors which plays an important role in growing your blog.

Here are things you can do to increase interaction on your blog…

First, a comment box has been the foundation for bloggers from the starting. They were able to get feedback about their content and even answer questions. If you don’t have a comment box enabled, it’s important you get one on your blog right away. Set the comments to NOT automatically post but go into the moderation queue.

Next, enable the contact us form to have an option to submit questions. It’s a great way to determine what kind of content your visitors are looking for. Wait a month and see what questions come in and if you get the same question several times, you can create an in-depth tutorial and publish it for your readers.

Many people don’t know surveys have been an awesome tool to build interaction on your blog. How? When people opt-into your email form you can shoot them a message asking them to answer 3-4 questions. Ask questions about the type of content they enjoy or what they expect to find on your blog. Going forward you can focus on creating content which your readers want instead of content which you think will resonate well with your readers.

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12 Free Tools To Make Money Online

As a small business owner, you already have a full plate. In fact, it’s not just full. It’s overflowing.
So, why not make things a bit easier and rely on tools that can handle even the most tedious of tasks – like sending out a massive newsletter?
However, money is also a concern. If we had a disposable income, shelling out the money for the numerous amount of tools available wouldn’t be an issue. But, that’s not the situation. New business owners have to tighten the belt and look for affordable options. And, it doesn’t get any more affordable than free.
To prove that free doesn’t mean cheap or junky, here are twelve essential Internet marketing tools that can use for absolutely nothing.

1. Evernote

Remember the days of lugging around binders full of notes? Yeah. They weren’t exactly the best of times – especially when you misplaced an important piece of paper. Thankfully, Evernote has resolved that problem.
Whether it’s writing down notes for a business presentation or collaborating with a project with team members, Evernote replaces the endless amounts of paper that used to fill up your desk. Evernote can be reached on any device so, you can work on your projects while at the airport and then finish it up when you get back home to your laptop. And, I didn’t even mention the neat dictation feature either.

2. Dropbox

Dropbox has become a favorite tools for businesses because it makes sharing documents with others extremely simple. This personalized cloud-based tool increases productivity since you can share folders in real-time, which makes collaboration among team members a breeze.
Dropbox offers a free Basic plan that features 2GB of space. If you need more space, you’ll have to bump-up either to the Pro ($9.99) or Business ($15) plans.

3. Trello

Organizing and managing a project can become an extremely stressful experience when team members are all over the place – like sending a spreadsheet back and forth. Trello is a project management tool that makes life a whole lot easier by providing members real-time updates via a board that shows the progress of a project.
You can add checklists, due dates, and upload files from your computer, Dropbox or Google Drive.

4. Free Hosting with Hostt

Every website out there needs hosting and why not get it 100% free from a very reputable company.  Hostt offers 100% free virtual hosting to everyone in the world.  Really, check them out as I work with them!
They also have an amazing hosting blog where you can learn the latest tips and tricks to keep your website ahead of the game.

5. Gmail, Google Drive, Google Plus

If you sign-up for one of these services, you might as well use all three of Google’s most popular features. Through Google Drive, you can share and collaborate on documents in real time with as many team members as you want. It’s free, secure, and can be shared almost instantly.
Then there’s Gmail, which is arguably the best email provider around. Gmail allows you to create a business address and even setup tasks to keep you organized. While Google+ isn’t as popular as Facebook or Twitter, having a complete profile on Google+ can help searchers easily discover your business in search results.

6. Google Analytics

Speaking of Google, there’s also Google Analytics. This powerful tool is essential if you want to monitor and track campaign results. For example, you can receive detailed reports that show engagement and conversion rates across various channels. You can even find out where customers originally came from before they arrived on your landing page.

7. Hootsuite

It’s pretty-much a given that new business have multiple social media platforms to manage. So, why not control and manage all of your accounts under one dashboard? Hootsuite offers a free version that allows you to schedule three different social media profiles, view analytics reports, and shorten links through the Ow.ly URL shortener.
I’m also a fan of the Hootsuite Blog because it offers plenty of news, tips, and advice on how to improve your social media campaigns.

8. Marketing.ai

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a product that helped you keep track of all your content as well as your content calendar.  With Marketing.ai it’s easy and something that I use to keep track of everything. No more crappy spreadsheets and keeping a content calendar on your phone, it’s all in one easy place.

9. Aweber

Think email marketing is dead? Think again. Email marketing is still a high-ROI game, and Aweber is a favorite among business owners looking to cash in. Email subscription features include access to subscriber profiles, personalizing emails, sending out emails at the right time, and reports showing open rates and click rates.
So, not only does Aweber make email marketing easier, it also helps you be more effective – a win-win.
The first month of Aweber cost $1. While that’s not exactly free, it’s close enough. If you decide email marketing is not for you, you can cancel and get your $1 back.

10. SCORE

For 50 years, SCORE has been assisting small businesses by teaming them-up with mentors, industry experts, and providing them with the education that they need to run a business. The website publishes blog posts with advice on everything from marketing and financial concerns, along with free templates and business software.

11. GT Metrix

The speed of your website is an extremely important factor in helping you find and keep potential customers. Through a tool like GT Metrix, you can optimize your site to make it faster and more appealing for visitors. You have access to interactive graphs that illustrate your website’s history so that you can see if traffic has been increasing or decreasing.

12. Skype

Long gone are the days of making conference calls on a landline in the confines of an office. With Skype, you can have conferences with other Skype users from almost anywhere in the world – as long as you have wifi. Besides one-on-one calls, you can group calls, video conferences and messaging.
 Just remember if you aren’t chatting with other Skype users, you’ll have to pay $2.99 per month – here, in the States at least.

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How To Run A Blogger Outreach Campaign

Why is LG running blogging outreach campaigns across the country? The real question should be why wouldn’t LG be running blogging outreach campaigns across the country? Blogger outreach is vital in today’s world.

What’s blogger outreach?

Blogs were discovered to be the 3rd-most influential digital source (31 percent) while making total purchases, just behind retail websites (56 percent) and brand websites (34 percent). As a matter of fact, blogs were discovered to be the 5th-most trustworthy resource overall for data on the Web.
Blogger outreach, also referred to as blogger relations is simply companies cooperating with bloggers to develop authentic, genuine content in order to promote a service, brand, or product.
Blogger outreach may involve in person live events, sampling campaigns, ambassador programs, virtual events like Twitter chats, and a lot more. The end objective includes uncovering bloggers of influence that are a great fit for your company and get them chatting about you.
And why bloggers? Bloggers do not merely write on the Web, they form exciting communities via the telling of authentic, honest, and oftentimes very personal stories. It leads to trust; that has been artfully referred to as ‘a digital currency of influence’. Trust will drive action and it’s what makes bloggers so very powerful. Consider the following blogger outreach benefits:

A Human Approach

Blog outreach campaigns provide a human element that is absent from most other strategies of marketing. Individuals develop trust within the bloggers they follow; it may benefit the brand. A possible customer might ignore a display ad or commercial. The majority of individuals merely throw direct mail ads away and pay very little attention to a billboard. However, a positive review or mention from a blogger they trust will make them sit up and then take notice. A blogger is somebody whose opinion is valued, therefore as a blogger has something positive to say about the brand, they’ll trust their opinion and take interest in the company, announcements, services, and products.

Gain More Exposure

You have a desire to generate a good amount of buzz surrounding your brand, and bloggers are able to assist you in doing it. Blogger reach is amazing. The influencers write, and the readers not just read what they’re saying, yet additionally link to their posts and then share them with family members, friends, and business associates. The brand will stand to benefit not just from exposure to a blogger’s readership yet additionally from every time a reader shares. One special event post which goes viral may result in a massive upswing in sales and brand awareness.

Boost Search Engine Traffic

By selecting blogs which rank high within the search engines for your blog outreach campaigns, you cannot help but benefit from a boost in traffic. First off, these blogs are going to link to you, which might result within a search engine boost which gets your site in front of more potential clients and customers. Increased search engine traffic will equal greater interest within your brand and more sales of your service and products.

Successful Launches

Let us say you have this incredible new service or product that you are certain your audience is going to love. A great blogger outreach campaign is going to get the new product in front of a big chunk of your audience. This means, of course, creating a relationship with the proper kind of bloggers–the ones who have large readerships which fit your target audience demographics. A handful of bloggers provide a local demographic which is beneficial, too. What better method of enhancing brand awareness in your locality than by reaching out to bloggers in your area, or in LG’s case, across the country?

Mutual Benefit

Bear in mind that benefitting from blog outreach will mean a lot more than merely selecting a blogger that has the proper type of audience. Also, you must provide something of value for a blogger. It ought to involve information that is likely to intrigue a blogger’s audience. It also may involve gifts as an incentive for a blogger or complimentary gifts the blogger might give away to his/her readers. Even a contest may assist in benefitting a blogger, as it’ll boost reader interest, encourage sharing and offer a prize for one lucky reader.

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7 Steps to Start a Successful Blog on the Internet

Without further ado, here’s a quick breakdown of the seven step process every blogger should take when planning the launch of their new site.

Pick Your Topic – The topic and focus of your blog is extremely important. Not only is it about the content that you create for the site, it’s also about how you are going to provide value, brand yourself as an expert and down the road, how you make money with your site. When choosing a topic, try to go as niche as possible.

Create Your Avatar – The people who visit your blog are known as your ‘avatar’. The more you know about your audience, the better you can create and cater content to their needs. Know your audience and you will find success!

Domain Name and Hosting – One of the best ways to set your blog off in the right direction from day one is to get setup with a unique domain name and quality web hosting. While there are free blog hosting alternatives out there, many of them will keep you limited on what you can do with your blog, and you will also never have full ownership over your site and content.

Content Creation – Content creation is the substance of your blog. It’s what people are going to see in the search results, and find value in when they actually read it on your site. Focus on creating high quality content, and not just content.

Blog Launch – When all of the pre-planning is done and in place, it’s time to finally launch your blog for the world to see. Create a few blog posts before promoting your blog and also take some time to spruce up your theme, enable some top WordPress plugins and make your blog your own. No one likes to visit a site with little value or substance, make sure yours is ready before promoting it.

Content Promotion – Content promotion is key to finding success with a blog. Spend more of your time on outreach, social promotion and gaining high quality backlinks versus just creating content. The more your blog content is out there, the more traffic and success you will find.

Monetize – With a high traffic blog and all of your killer content now in place, it’s time to start looking at your monetization options. Google Adsense is a great option for newbie bloggers, while other methods like affiliate marketing and production creation is better for more advanced bloggers. No matter how you are going to make money with your site, make sure you are still providing value in the process.

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3 Different Types of Bounce Rates You Should Know

Often we hear about bounce rate and how it affects our bottom line. For those of you NOT aware of bounce rate, here’s a quick definition from Google:

“Bounce Rate is the percentage of single-page sessions (i.e. sessions in which the person left your site from the entrance page without interacting with the page).”

A high bounce rate is NOT good for blogging because it shows people simply visit your website and leave without visiting any other page. Over the years, research has shown there are many reasons why a website will have higher than normal bounce rate. For example, slow loading speed, poor web design, poor layout, quality of content and internal linking structure. You can fall victim to any of these reasons which is why it’s important to continuously perform an audit whenever you get a chance. I use Google Analytics to track bounce rate and how people interact with my website. The higher the time on my site the better and I continuously tweak elements on my website to improve bounce rate.

If your a blogger then you have to be aware of the different types of bounce rates. I recently read an in-depth article on what each bounce rate means. They are classified using the following: Hard, Medium and Soft. Statically a bounce rate of 15%-19% is ideal.

Let’s take a quick look at each one a bit closer.

Hard Bounce Rate

The visitors who do a “hard” bounce definitely know they are in the wrong place. Statistics will show they almost immediately arrive and leave within seconds. When using Google Analytics you’ll be able to check average page views, average time spend on website and bounce rate. There are several reasons why a visitor will do a hard bounce starting with quality of website. It’s been said when people visit they know within seconds if they’ll end up staying and this can be contributed to a poorly designed website. Think about how many times you’ve arrived on a website and leave because it doesn’t look like it’ll provide you with the information your looking for. Here’s the irony of the situation…

You can have in-depth content on your site, but people will always judge a book by its cover.

Redesign website and continue to test different variations checking how it improves your bounce rate

Medium Bounce Rate

A medium bounce rate represents visitors who have arrived on your website and like what they see. The web design looks great and they continue to skim through the home page content. However the content doesn’t provide them with the value their looking for so will leave without visiting any other page. Research has shown people usually visit a page and skim through before reading. They’ll look for call signs which indicate your content might provide the solutions. For example, they’ll look at format, sub-headings, images and videos. While skimming through they’ll even read initial introduction looking for keywords.

With a medium bounce rate visitors know they came to the right website however were NOT able to find the information they are searching for.

Tweak your content emphasizing on keywords and relevancy. Experience shows an in-depth solution better than others found online increases user engagement.

Soft Bounce Rate

With soft bounces things get a bit tricky because your bounce rate is close to the recommend percentage, but you can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong. Your web design is awesome and content provides the value visitors are looking for, but still it’s above 20%. Research has shown there can be many reasons why soft bounces are still happening. First, advertisements and banners seem to get in the way of user browsing. Secondly, content is great, but foreign people can’t understand it thoroughly. For example, you attract many non-English speaking visitors who read your text, but hope there were images and videos to illustrate the point. Third, your internal linking structure doesn’t provide people with the right additional resource they need. However, since bounce rate is calculated by single page visit, I recommend doing the following before tweaking your site. If your using WordPress install the “Reduce Bounce Rate” plugin. Here’s what it does:

It will tell Google Analytics every 10 seconds that your visitor is still on the page and that there was some interaction on that page. Your page will be “unbounced”.

As mentioned soft bounces are NOT as critical as medium and hard, but you should keep testing to find out the reason your still above the recommended percentage. Start by installing the plugin than testing for 30 days to see how statistics have changed. If the plug-in doesn’t help then improve advertisement layout, internal linking and utilize images/videos.

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Should You Stop Promoting Your RSS Feed?

When I first launched my other blog way back in 2006, I didn’t even know that WordPress existed. Twitter was still in its early development stages and Instagram was still a full four years away. To say that a lot has changed would be a severe understatement.

And that’s the thing about making money online. The environment and technology continue to change at a breakneck pace and you need to keep up with the times if you want to enjoy any semblance of success. You can’t simply sit on your laurels and keep doing the same old thing. We’ve come to assume that most major businesses, particularly of the online variety, will have an official Facebook page, for example.

Back in 2006, we’d also assume that just about every blog and online magazine that we read would have an RSS feed to which we could subscribe. It was the best way to stay on top of all the newest updates without having to visit each of our favorite sites individually. But as social media continues to rise and other curation services come to the forefront, more and more people are declaring the death of RSS.

I disagree. While I will admit that RSS subscriptions may not be used as much now as before the death of Google Reader in 2013, and while I will admit that RSS doesn’t play as prominent a role in current conversations surrounding Internet marketing as it once did, it’s still very much relevant to the people who do use it. And I’m not alone in this assessment either.

Guy McDowell of MakeUseOf.com published an article earlier this year outlining some of the key figures in relation to RSS usage on the Internet today. He mentions how Feedly has seen a 900% increase in revenue in the last two years, for example, and how the Feedly app for Android has been downloaded over 1.5 million times. He mentions how over 2,000 of the top 10,000 websites on the web publish RSS feeds and over 22,000 of the top 100,000 sites do too.

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4 Software Tools for Blogger Outreach

Blogging is so streamlined that you can easily find influential people within your niche and contact them directly. If you look back several years ago, getting some of authority to help you out would have been impossible. This is NOT because they don’t want to help a beginner, but because it would have been impossible to find someone of authority within your niche. First, what is the concept of authority? Here are a few metrics…

• Credible
• Huge social shares and followers
• People reference your work
• You make enormous money
• You set the trends

I’ve decided to outline some of the cool tools we have available at our disposal that helps streamline your outreach program. These tools are solid because they’re easy to use and narrow down your objective so you can achieve results quickly. Let’s get started…

Topsy.com

This is one of the best tools ever and many people don’t utilize it the right way. Topsy.com provides a handful of information you need to find authority bloggers within your niche based around a “keyword”. When you first arrive on the site, it’s as simple as typing in a keyword and waiting for the results. Topsy.com will generate a handful of vital information, allowing you to find authority bloggers. For example, when doing a search for the keyword “link building”, Topsy.com will provide top content with highest shares, blog name, and even time frame. How is this information useful?

First, it gives you a breakdown of the type of content that resonates with people. Next, it’ll give you the blog name so you know where to go searching for author and guest blogging opportunities. It will also provide you with a list of people who shared the content and these same people are related to your niche. Some of them are readers but many are people with authority blogs themselves, perfect for an outreach program. Here’s something else….

• It’s free to use
• You can filter by content type
• Time frame
• Language
• And more

Buzzstream.com

This tool has been Gaining enormous traction over the last several months and I’ve only used the trial. I would have purchased a plan, but I’m too busy working on side projects and writing guest posts. However, if you’re trying to build traction then it’s a tool you should definitely check out. Here’s a quick breakdown of some features…

First, you can research bloggers within your niche and find out all the contact information you need. You can filter by authority and relevancy, spacing out the rate at which you contact each of them. Next, you can organize your responses and add a solid follow-up sequence to keep touching base with them over time. The objective of this tool is to help connect you with people relevant to your niche, introducing content you’ve written or pitching them an idea.

• Great for link building
• Guest blogging
• Outreach
• Finding authority bloggers

Blogdash.com

I’ve used blog dash for finding guest bloggers and pitching content ideas. It’s great if you’re looking for relevant blogs to publish your content. It gives you complete control of your campaign and if you’re a business, you can do some serious outreach the right way. Once you sign up, you’ll be able to research bloggers, contact them, and build a relationship. Bloggers need to get noticed and need their content read so why NOT use Blogdash.com to do both? Bloggers can find guest blogging opportunities while businesses can find the content they want to publish. With this structure, it’s a win-win situation for both.

• Connect with bloggers
• Get your content published
• Find authority people
• Find relevant people
• Avoid spam
• Safe controlled environment

GroupHigh.com

An outreach tool completely new to me, but it has had some serious buzz over the last few months and offers you cool features. I looked over the features and they truly offer an all-in-one package to everyone trying to build momentum and get noticed. Here are some cool features…

• Easily find new relevant bloggers in your niche
• Awesome productivity tools
• Personalization tools so you can adjust outreach per pitch
• Filter by social media and which bloggers have a strong social community
• com has tweaked their management by replacing spreadsheets and doing all the research for you. GroupHigh.com tracks your outreach, and keeps your blogger data up-to-date so you don’t need to worry about handling it yourself.

They don’t have the price listed on their website so I think it might be on the pricy side. However, if you’re looking for a complete package, then it’s a tool you should definitely check out.

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Where to Get Royalty-Free and Stock Images for Blogging

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but if you use the wrong image without the proper permissions, you could find yourself out several thousand dollars instead. When it comes to blogging, it can be positively crucial to accompany your words with a relevant image. This helps to break up the content and give your post more of a visual punch. The challenge, then, is finding the best sources for pictures to use with your blog. Here are several options to add to your arsenal.

Unsplash

Unsplash provides you with ten new photos every ten days and these images are completely free (and high resolution) to use however you see fit. These are really high quality pictures that can suit a variety of different posts. The problem is that they aren’t particularly well organized, so you will need to sift through the archive to find the picture you want to use.

While it’s likely not a good idea to use an image without the proper permissions and rights, you can take a screenshot of just about any website for editorial and illustrative purposes if you are talking about that specific website. It’s also important that the screenshot is clearly a screenshot and not a zoomed in portion of just the logo or some other image. A good example is the screenshot of Unsplash that I’ve included in this post above.

Picjumbo

Picjumbo boasts a huge collection of “totally free photos for your commercial & personal works.” These are organized into a number of different categories, like animals and architecture, or you can use the search box to find a specific kind of picture. While attribution is “greatly appreciated,” it is not required.

Flickr

Flickr may not seem as popular and relevant as it once was, but it is still a hugely valuable resource for getting free images to use in your blog posts. It’s important that you filter only for images that have an appropriate Creative Commons license (likely the one where you are allowed to use it for commercial purposes) and that you provide adequate attribution when you do. I use Flickr all the time for Beyond the Rhetoric blog posts.

Dreamstime

Dreamstime is a hybrid resource for stock photos and video footage. Like iStockPhoto and Fotolia, Dreamstime does offer paid stock photos where the cost is based on factors like size, usage and complexity. However, you can also filter for “royalty free” images to get the ones that don’t cost you a dime. You do need to sign up for a free account to get them, though.

Public Domain Archive

Public Domain Archive offers a catalog of high-resolution images that are, you guessed it, public domain. This means that they are 100% free stock photos that you can use in whatever fashion you’d like, including as part of your blog posts. There are new images uploaded every week and the optional premium package lets you bulk download all the images at once.

Morguefile

Morguefile is a free photo archive “by creatives for creatives.” The images provided here are completely free to use and you can search using the keywords of your choosing. They’re really high quality and, if you don’t find what you want, Morguefile also integrates with iStock, Getty, Dreamstime, DepositPhotos and Fotolia for more (paid) options.

Free Images

FreeImages.com is one of those websites that has way too descriptive of a domain name, don’t you think? As you can probably surmise, the site is a “leading source of free stock photos” with a gallery containing “over 350,000 quality stock photos by more than 30,000 photographers.” There are some rules regarding the image license, so check the Help section for that.

Your Own Photos

Original content is always the ideal. This is true for the articles that you write, just as much as it is true for the images that you use. If you have a great photo that you took yourself, of course you can utilize that image in your own blog post. This helps to add even more personality and uniqueness to your blog. When you don’t have an appropriate image, of course, there are lots of great free resources to use too!

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3 New List Building Apps You Need To Check Out Now

Email marketing is a vital tool for increasing engagement and overall blog growth. No serious blogger will tell you that “email is dead” because ESP (email service providers) are coming up with new and creative ways to keep subscription counts high. There was a time that obtaining subscribers became more difficult and much of it had to do with the stigma surrounding email marketing. Spammers found creative ways to obtain email addresses and then started to bombard email accounts with junk. However, the value of a healthy, engaged email list should be obvious by now. Email marketing tied in with social media is a definite recipe for success. However, ESP’s are not just stopping there because they want to ensure that you utilize your list to the fullest. What’s the solution?

To start partnering with email marketing companies to design tools to help you grow your email list. I use Aweber.com for all my email marketing and recently came across some awesome tools they’ve added. Here are “3” list building you can start utilizing immediately.

1. Justuno

Great for those who are marketers, publishers, or have an ecommerce website, Justuno.com is an awesome tool to increase your social audience and grow email opt-ins. For you to increase overall engagement on your website, it’s important you attract the right type of people to sign up. Higher quality leads mean you’ll be able to bring visitors back your website several times and increase interaction with your page. Justumo.com utilizes the power of promo codes in email forms to convert visitors. Next,

It works like a social currency, allowing you to exchange codes and other incentives that visitors find attractive for likes, shares, and email opt-ins. Having an incentive that’s attractive will ensure you actually get a genuine option and visitors must confirm before redeeming the promo code. Ecommerce websites personally have the highest leverage as they can add discount buttons right next to their product or even on your social profiles.

Here are some other cool Justuno.com features:

• Fully customizable promotional tabs and pop ups
• Visitor segmentation and behavioral targeting
• Helpful and reliable customer support

2.  MailMunch

Many times, you’re looking for a quick way to split test forms and don’t have time to design, code, and tweak things around. MailMunch.com offers an all-in-one solution that will turn your visitors into loyal followers. It’s an awesome tool mainly because it’s so easy to use and provides you with a complete testing environment in the backend. It can easily be used to create beautiful forms for split testing and offers a plug-in for WordPress users.

Key features of MailMunch include:

• Mobile Optimized Forms: All forms are optimized to be viewed without error on mobile forms. This makes it easy for mobile users to opt-in.
• Analytics: Find out what pages, posts, and forms are bringing you the most conversions
• Page Level Targeting: Target specific pages with relevant opt-in forms. Create forms for only specific pages and find out how well they convert
• A/B Testing: Eliminate the guesswork and adapt your forms to keep improving opt-ins.
• Entry/Exit Technology: Set specific rules for when the opt-in appears.

3.  Coupon Pop by StoreYa

Awesome email marketing application for those websites with looking to utilize promo codes to grow subscriptions. This application works just like an email popup form, but uses promo codes instead. The concept is very simple as Coupon Pop requires visitors to enter their email before receiving their discount coupon. This is a more in your face approach to email marketing correlated with discount coupons. Usually, you would see a discount button, however, with this awesome application, it’s a popup coupon form right on the product page.

Coupon Pop’s features include:

• Get customers to visit more pages, and boost your sales. Statistics have proven that discount coupons work to convert visitors. They offer people a savings in sometimes hard economic times.
• Very easy to customize as there is no design or coding skills needed.
• Offer rewards to fans and followers.

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How To Choose the Right Business Web Hosting Provider

Compared to running a traditional brick-and-mortar business, the costs of launching and running an online business are considerably lower. You don’t have to pay “rent” in the traditional sense, you don’t have to worry about heat and water (aside from the basic utilities you’d be paying for anyway in your home), and there is practically no physical maintenance to speak of either.

At the same time, you can’t possibly assume that your online business doesn’t need any infrastructure at all or that you don’t have to open your wallet in order to turn a profit. And one of the most critical backbones of any online business, regardless of type, is web hosting. Choosing the right hosting solution is positively crucial, whether you have a blog, an affiliate marketing channel, an e-commerce store, or a system-as-a-service.

Web Hosting for Your Business

Before we go any further, perhaps we should first address a fundamental question: what should you look for in a web hosting provider and plan? In the context of buying a car, you might look at some of the convenience features, fuel economy, looks, performance, and warranty. What about web hosting?

The good people over at Hongkiat.com put together a handy list of factors to consider when choosing a web host. In that guide, they go over such considerations as technical specifications, areas of focus, customer support, add-ons, and hardware.

It’s important that you look beyond price, as you could regret jumping on the most economical offer. This is your business. Treat it with respect. For example, exceptional technical support that is very responsive 24 hours a day, 365 days a year is incredibly valuable. You can’t make money if your website goes down for whatever reason. You want those issues to be minimized, monitored, and rectified as soon as possible.

Rock-Solid Simplicity

The Internet is inherently global, so it’s also important to look beyond your borders for the best solutions too.

iinet-hosting

As an example, you might look at a business solution from the land down under, as would be the case for web hosting with iiNet. Going back to the previous section, you’ll want to look over the areas of focus for your web hosting provider.

In the case of iiNet, it’s obvious enough that they are putting online business front and center. The page talks about providing a “rock-solid solution for every business size,” offering “a simple solution for establishing your internet presence.” They’re not catering to casual users with motivations based in vanity; they’re catering to people who see web hosting as a fundamental business service and expense.

The Features You Need

Of course, your individual needs are going to vary. It’ll depend on the kind of website you want to run, the level of security you desire, the amount of traffic you expect, the amount of self-guided control you desire and so on. As an absolute minimum, however, some of the web hosting features you’ll want include:

• Adequate storage space
• Adequate bandwidth allotment
• Enough support for the number of domains and databases you need
• cPanel access (or equivalent control panel)
• Key software support
• Uptime guarantee
• Speed and reliability
• The option to scale up or down as needs change
• Most of us would like to have full FTP access with a proper file manager. Having easy one-click installation (and maintenance) for WordPress and other content management systems is a plus, as is the ease of managing email accounts on your custom domain. You’ll also want to remember that hosting providers who claim to offer “unlimited” storage and bandwidth can’t really live up to that claim.

The Price of Doing Business

So, how much can you expect to spend? Web hosting is one of the most important costs of running a blog. You don’t want to try and save a couple bucks if it means choosing an inferior provider and service.

iinet-plans

For the most part, you’ll find that the majority of web hosting plans are based on the amount of storage and bandwidth that you need. They can also vary based on the number of databases supported or advanced options provided.

With small business web hosting from iiNet, prices start at $16/month for 10GB of web space, 100GB of monthly bandwidth and two databases. Discounts are provided when you prepay for a full year in advance.

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Guide To Creating Content That Google Wants to Rank

Every blogger knows content is the backbone of a successful website so it’s important we create the right type of content. Over the years I’ve often been asked: What Type of Content Ranks Well in Google? I’ve decided to dedicate this blog post to answering this question. If you have a better idea of the type of content which ranks well than you’ll be able to shift your focus which is important to achieve success.

Over the years I’ve been blogging and working with clients helping them stay focused so have learned a lot. For example, I’ve been able to test different types of content formats like: tutorials, how-to, video, infographics, etc and statistically prove where each has ranked over the years. However, you have to keep in mind that value and depth always play a huge role in your success because no one wants to read content which simply doesn’t provide the solution they are looking for.

Types of Content Formats

I’ll like to jump right in and explore the different types of content we’ll find online…

Tutorials –

These can be known as “How-To” formats and succeed because they show step-by-step how to complete an entire task. These are written in great detail and provide a complete solution.

Video –

Due to the popularity of YouTube.com many bloggers are integrating “videos” into their blog. They are very easy to follow especially for those who don’t speak English as their first language. Can be very practical and provide incredible depth which converts into serious profits going forward.

Infographics –

These have picked up popularity over the last few years because they are visual and compress information. Infographics do not cost enormous money to create and share extremely well on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Case Studies –

Amazing and these are my favorite because they are high converting and can pick up momentum quickly. Case studies set out to answer a question and show each step making them completely transparent. All of them start with research and answer a common question within your niche. Very detailed and will provide an in-depth solution for readers which they can than follow duplicating the results.

Podcasts –

Not too familiar with these, but I have heard they are extremely engaging. Live voice tutorials which can be downloaded or even bought on iTunes, etc.

Above you have a great list of content formats and in the next section I’ll discuss the importance of research before getting started. No matter what content format you choose, it’s important to conduct the right type of research so you resonate with your readers once the content gets published.

Research

No content can be written without your fair share of research. You have to know what niche readers are looking for because it’s the only way to create content they find enticing. No matter what type of content you decide to write it’s important you know what your audience is looking for because this will help you stand out compared to your competition. I believe no matter what niche you’ll be involved in your going to have competition and the “factor” distinguishing you from your competition is VALUE. The more value you provide the higher chance of building loyalty leading to profits down the line.

Above I listed a handful of content formats and whichever one you decide to choose will require in-depth research. You should use what’s available to you to find popular questions in your niche then provide in-depth solutions going forward. I’ve written extensively about conducting the right type of research and will go over a few right now in point form.

Google Search –

One of the best ways to conduct research and is absolutely free. I love Google because they have done a great job organizing information important to your research. For example, I can type in “link building questions” or “top SEO blogs” and find exactly what I am looking for then dig deeper creating an outline for my research. By using Google I can find questions my readers have and write content solving their problems. I can also research my competition to find popular topics then create some even better content.

Google Trends –

Amazing to find keywords which are growing in popularity and these can be used within your content. You can twist the keywords around to create questions which will be relevant to your audience. Head over to Google Trends and type in a relevant keyword. Skim through the keywords looking for “rising” or “breakout” phrases because this tells you people are searching them more now than ever before.

Relevant Competition –

If you have been blogging for years than you know where to focus however if your a beginner than do a quick search within Google for popular relevant blogs. Why? Simple…

You want to find content which is popular than find ways to put a twist on it making it more valuable and in-depth. By counting social shares, comments, views, etc, you can find content your audience would find interesting than create something better. For example, if you find content in text then consider creating a video or podcast to make it easier to understand or visualize.

The “3” methods mentioned above are a great starting point however you have other options like forums, Quora.com or even Google communities. The key is to find questions or content which is popular because this simply increases the chances of link backs boosting your ranks within the SERP’s.

Once you’ve done your research it’s time to write your content, but this must be done systematically. Let’s look at this further…

To find out more on content research, please read my 13 Content Writing Tips To Crush Your Competition

Writing Content

Here is where you want to be very careful because the way you write your content will either entice readers to continue to read or push them away. I’ll admit, no one wants to read content which is not organized and easy to comprehend because your simply NOT getting the value from it. However, over the years I’ve learned a lot about writing content and how to organize every aspect as you write. Here are some pointers:

Write Keywords –

Before starting I always write my main keywords on a piece of paper so I’ll remember to incorporate them within my content, body or sub-headings. This is NOT only good for my readers, but for search engine optimization.

Outline –

You should always write an outline of your work which will help keep your focus as you write out your content. Having an outline will serve as a guide so you don’t lose track of your main focus. I always write down:

Introduction (length)
Sub-headings
Body
Conclusion
Images and videos to incorporate
Main Body –

It’s important to jot down some important points you’ll be incorporating into your body. This way you know what should be included or avoided. It’ll help keep your focus and make sure you answer the fundamental questions you’ve set out to.

Conclusion –

This shouldn’t be difficult at all because I use this part to summarize everything I’ve written above. The conclusion is great to write everything in point form reiterating what you’ve already discussed. When you write lengthy content it’s always a good idea to go over it in point form so your readers can put everything into action. I summarize than provide them with a step-by-step sequence which they can start to implement into their business.

Once you’ve written everything and have gone over it a few times it’s important to make sure your work is edited correctly. You have two options…

First, you have someone edit your work for you and you’ll be able to find a handful of people on Fiverr.com who will do a great job. Secondly, you can do it yourself only if you know everything sounds right with the right grammar and punctuations. Editing your work is very important because lengthy content which doesn’t sound right will not make sense and will have no value.

Publishing Process

This process is very natural as you’ll be following your regular publishing frequency. However, you may want to consider a few things before publishing asking yourself some important questions. For example,

When do people research your niche the most? This will help you decide when you should go live with your blog post. If you know 30% of niche people are performing research on Monday then you’ll want to publish on this day.
When is highest outreach on social media? Important since you want to make sure your post goes live on social media on highest engagement days. You’ll also have enough time to do the right amount of outreach if necessary.
What is the frequency of publishing for my content? This will help you choose a better posting schedule especially if there is too much of a gap in between.
If your using WordPress than all you need to do is upload your post and click publish to go live. In the next section I’ll talk more about the right type of outreach and how to do it correctly.

Outreach

If you simply publish content and wait for Google to rank you up the SERP’s it’ll take months before you see traffic trickle through. However, you can strategically do outreach to have authority bloggers market your content for you. I’ve used both and know that if you have a network of bloggers to help your content go viral than definitely take advantage of the opportunity. I have “3” awesome methods I use to conduct outreach and have written about them extensively in my previous content. Let’s jump right in…

General Forums –

You have so many niche forums and communities which are looking for great content. If you have content which is better than all those online you’ll have an easy time finding the right links. Within my signature in forums I always link to fresh new content which solves a common problem. I’ll post answers relevant to my content and link back to my content provide more depth. It’s a great way to provide valuable and generate enormous traffic through social shares and links.

Competitor Analysis –

One of the best ways to promote is to find those who have already marketed similar content. You have tools like Topsy.com and Buzzsumo.com that will give you a breakdown of those people who have shared the “URL” on Facebook.com and Twitter.com. You can than filter the results to find these people and contact them with a link to your content. The idea is if these people have shared similar content than they should share yours especially if you have created something better. The key is to write content which get’s ranked in Google so it’s important to attract valuable backlinks which will be accomplished by using this method. Why? Many people sharing content are blog owners with a huge following so having them share will attract traffic, links and build momentum.

Your Network –

If you’ve been blogging for years you’ve connected with other bloggers and should use this to your advantage. Contact them and get your content in front of them because they’ll share it with their followers. I know many of the top bloggers have over 20,000+ followers which can generate massive momentum over time. This also increases the potential of link backs, loyal readers and generating traffic to your content. I believe link building is secondary because it’s directly connected to traffic. If you can get people to your content than it automatically increases the likelihood of generating more links. I’ve been using this strategy for years and have found it to be very effective in marketing my content and getting valuable niche links to my page.

Start slow and take time to contact each blogger within your network. Don’t forget to be genuine and you chances are increased if you’ve mentioned their name within the article.

Final Thoughts

When writing content to rank high within the SERP’s it’s important you know what your readers are looking for. You have to keep in mind Google has over 200 rankings factor with 50% being user engagement. They look at social shares, traffic, link backs, etc so you have to publish content which meets all requirements. As a blogger you have many options available which will put you on the right track but you have to take advantage of each. For example, I have listed the following above: Google Search, Google Trends and researching your competitors. You have several options available to ensure your content get’s in front of the right type of people which include social media, networking and general outreach. Next,

Once you have everything in motion it’s important you continue to market your content because building momentum and traffic is unlimited. The reason the internet has exploded is because you have no shortage of traffic and marketing avenues. If one piece of content goes viral it can be the difference between profit and stagnant growth.

Start implementing the following strategies into your content and the next time you write you’ll be producing posts which have been embedded with the value to outshine your competition. Start small and test along the way until you find a winning strategy which you can apply going forward.

Please leave your feedback below and I’ll be more than happy to answer your concerns. Hopefully we can share ideas and answer some more common questions you have.

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5 Tips to Improve Your Domain Authority

Among the many measures and metrics used to gauge the relative search engine optimization is something called Domain Authority. Developed by Moz, Domain Authority is rated on a scale of 0 to 100 (higher numbers are better) and it is meant to mirror the algorithms used by Google to determine how well a website should rank in the search engine results page.

This is a far better indicator of SEO performance than some alternatives like an Alexa ranking, because the Domain Authority figure accounts for some 40 different factors and metrics. Regardless of the kind of online business that you’re in — whether you’re an e-commerce site, a premium membership training site, or a technology blog — it is always in your best interest to perform as well as possible in the search engines. More traffic means more income potential.

So, how can you increase your website’s Domain Authority score? Here are five big tips to get you started in the right direction.

1. Seek out good links from high value sites

Easier said than done, I know. Even so, driving high quality backlinks to your website is, by far, the most important factor in determining and increasing your Domain Authority. The “white hat” way of doing this is to write really great content that people will naturally want to link to anyway. If your content really is terrific and you promote it in the right way, it’s going to get shared.

Of course, that’s not always going to be the most effective or efficient way to get backlinks. Even though Google has cracked down on paid links, the official stance is that strategies like native advertising are still perfectly acceptable if they provide real value to the website visitor.

2. Eliminate bad links from poor quality sites

Just as “good” backlinks from “good” websites is one of the best things you can do for your website’s Domain Authority, having “bad” backlinks from “bad” websites can have an equally negative impact on your Domain Authority. When Google flags a site as a link farm or one that is associated with malicious content, the negative characteristic can also be transferred to any sites it links to as well.

That’s why you should always keep tabs on who is linking to you (there are multiple tools for monitoring that) and work to remove those toxic backlinks on a regular basis.

3. Keep a list of recent posts in the sidebar

da-btr-recent

A lot of the focus can be on the external links from external websites, but your Domain Authority is also affected by what you do internally on your own website too. It’s important to engage in a smart internal linking strategy on your site. This not only helps real people navigate around your site to discover relevant content, but it also helps the spiders and bots find their way around too.

Part of your internal linking strategy could involve keeping a list of recent posts in the sidebar of your blog. This is something that I do on Beyond the Rhetoric, but only when someone is viewing a specific post. If they are on the main index, the “Recent Posts” widget does not appear, because the homepage is already linking to my most recent posts in the main body.

4. Maintain a clean and clear site structure

This is hardly the most exciting tip on the list, but it is just as useful and just as vital as the others. A website with an inconsistent, convoluted, or unnecessarily complex site structure is not going to have the best Domain Authority. Set up a clear and simple permalink structure on your site (WordPress makes that easy) and make sure that you maintain a clean sitemap for the spiders too.

5. Speed up your page load times

Again, while it may not be the sexiest way to improve your Domain Authority, improving the load time on your website can also have a dramatic impact on its performance. We’ve covered many tips for improving your blog’s load time before and that post is worth revisiting if you haven’t already read it. Google prefers sites that offer a responsive mobile-friendly design, load very quickly, and offer real quality content that people actually want to see.

There is no single magic bullet for skyrocketing your Domain Authority. It should continue to be an ongoing goal for you if you want to bolster your SEO and jump to the top of Google’s rankings. Content might be king, but it needs a queen, as well as many lords, ladies, dukes, duchesses and servants too.

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