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9 Simple Sure Fired Blog Secrets To Guarantee New Fans by @XLConsultingGro

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9 Simple Sure Fired Blog Secrets To Guarantee New Fans

by Elaine Slatter | Featured Contributor

Engaging new fans to love what you say and keep them loyal to your brand isn’t really that secret!  Just follow our 9 simple rules of engagement and you can shine online. Check out our 9 simple blog secrets to guarantee new fans.

Pick A Catchy Headline

What makes a headline ‘pop’? There are several free sites that can analyze your blog headline to determine the best scoring headline.   Hubspot’s blog article gives you many ideas on how to write a catchy headline.

Try Using a mixture of the following

  • Common Words
  • Uncommon Words
  • Emotional Words
  • Powerful Words

Pictures and Videos

Attention spans have been reduced to just a few seconds.  Nothing engages faster than pictures and videos. Make sure these are at the top of your blog.  If you don’t have a budget for video, use your pictures to make a video story using the free Lumen 5 software.  In 30 minutes or less you can produce your own video, post it on your blog and your YouTube channel.

Podcasts

Showcase your authority by interviewing guests on your own podcast show.  Software such as SoundCloud makes it easy to upload your podcast and use for different purposes and gain a new group of fans who like to be inspired while driving, shopping or working out.

Be Active and Consistent

A blog once a year doesn’t gain you new fans, but actively developing content on a regular basis (at least once a month) will help you get out in front of an audience that is hungry for your magic.

Be Honest and Vulnerable

Your readers will connect better with you if show vulnerability.  That doesn’t mean you have to pour your heart out with every post, but sharing some downs as well as your ups, will make you seem more real.  It’s closer to everyday life.  It helps your readers to know that your life is relatable to theirs.  We aren’t all movie stars!  Share your doubts, too.

Be Authentic

We all have different personalities, but being “you” is what’s important.  No-one can write like YOU.  Our voices are all different.  Make sure your true, authentic voice is what is your followers will hear.  They will detect anything less than sincere.

Two-way Communication

In today’s world customers are looking for an “experience”.  Disney and Apple are always wowing their customers, and you can do the same.  Listen to your tribe, what questions do they have, how can you deliver a better experience?  Do you wrap your arms around them and deliver everything they could wish for before they even know they need it?  That’s what Disney and Apple do!  Your blog can do that too.

Be Helpful

If you have developed a two-way communication with your readers, then you are in the best position to be helpful.  But first you have to know how to help, so put out questions in your facebook group so you can answer the pain points in your blog.  If you have examples, so much the better as we all relate to someone else’s journey.

Story Telling

To sum up, everything you write is a story, it has a beginning, a middle and an end.  Your blog needs a structure that your readers can follow and genuinely enjoy.  If you can find the emotional connection, then you have followers for life.

It’s simple, write often, write from your heart, write to engage and watch the results.

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5 Blogging Obstacles to Overcome in Your Business by @AlmostPractical

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5 Blogging Obstacles To Overcome In Your Business

by Neena Nandagopal | Featured Contributor

One of the easiest (and cheapest) ways for business owners to reach their audience is through blogging.

Yet I am continuously surprised at how many entrepreneurs shy away from starting a blog.

And my response is this:

“I know that you don’t think of yourself as a writer. After all you do have a business to run.
And, obviously, you are very busy – which is a good thing.

But as a business owner, marketing is part of your job description.

And blogging is a very effective form of marketing.

So, what can we do to make it easy for you to start blogging regularly?”

While my clients come from many industries – their answers are quite similar.

These are the 5 biggest obstacles that keep entrepreneurs from using a blog to market their business.

Luckily, they are all easy to overcome.

Obstacle #1: I Don’t Know How To Update My Site

The technical side of blogging may seem scary. But most blogging platforms are now very user friendly.

Sure, you can get someone to set up your site – but you need to understand how to use it.

The most important reason is because it is expensive for you NOT to know.

To look “fresh” you should add new content to your site regularly.

Knowing how to update your site empowers you to either do it yourself or hire the right people to do it for you.

Obstacle #2: I Don’t Know How To Work With Images

In blogging, images are important.

You use images to illustrate your posts. So, there are some image basics that you should understand.

First and most important, familiarize yourself with the legal issues about using photos that you did not take.

Either use your own photos or find permissible photos that you can use.

Second, learn the basics of resizing, cropping, and adding a few words to a photo. These can add visual interest and really make your pictures pop.

Services like Picmonkey and Canva make it very easy to work with your photos even if you are not a pro.

Obstacle #3: I Am Not A Writer

This is actually a good thing.

Writing for the web goes against the grain of what we learned in high school English.

When you blog, you should write like you talk.

A light conversational style is a lot easier to read online than huge paragraphs with big words.

Learn to write headlines that grab attention and keep your writing simple.

Obstacle #4: I Don’t Know Anything About Search Engine Optimization

Using good search engine optimization (SEO) is how you let the search engines know what your site is all about.

When you write a blog post, you are writing for two audiences: real people and search engines.

Writing for real people is easy – you say what you need to say to get your point across.

But when it comes to search engines people seem to think that there is a magic formula that they need to use to rank well.

Recently, the search engines have come down hard on websites that try to “game” them. Meaning that if a website uses an underhanded technique to get to the top of the search results – they will actually be penalized and either get dropped altogether or get pushed way down.

You don’t need to be a search engine expert to be a blogger.

Just remember to use your keywords in your article just enough so that the search engine robots can figure out what your article is about and rank it accordingly.

Don’t overdo it – but don’t forget them either.

Obstacle #5: I Don’t Have Time To Blog

Blogging for your business may seem like a huge time commitment.

But you can set your own blogging goals to fit your available time – it is entirely within your control.

If your goal is to make your site look current and active – you can commit to write one blog post per month.

That is only 12 articles per year.

If your goal is to generate huge amounts of website traffic – then you will need to commit to blog more often.

Pick your schedule, create an editorial calendar, and stick to to it.

Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back

The more you blog, the easier it gets. Don’t wait for perfect – just get started and learn as you go.

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Neena Nandagopal of AlmostPractical.comNeena Nandagopal is Almost Practical Small Business Coaching and Consulting. She lives and breathes her business – so they are one and the same.

She is passionate about giving creative and talented women concrete guidance on how to establish an online business that is in line with their lives.

Her services include everything from blog coaching packages to creating individualized policy and procedure manuals and business processes.

Neena believes that working more efficiently is the key to business success. However, her philosophy is that time management is outdated. Instead, she works with her clients to manage their focus and attention, because that is what brings maximum results – both online and offline.

When she is not working, Neena enjoys spending time with her husband, four teenage children, and her little shih-tzu.

Neena’s Website: AlmostPractical.com
Neena on Social: Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube

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Pump Up the Search Power of Your Blog by @martinairing

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Pump Up the Search Power of Your Blog

by Martina Iring | Featured Contributor

I’m always being asked by small business owners about how to get their website higher in search rankings. While each and every industry and market is unique, and how much SEO work is needed is different for every business, one strategy that is always a good idea is blogging.

I love blogging for small business. Why?

  • It gives you content that you can use for your social media and email marketing.
  • It allows you to communicate with your customers and share news and updates about your business and your industry.
  • It offers up the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and boost your credibility.

And of course, it plays a role in your search marketing efforts. Search engines prefer websites with new, updated, refreshing content. Here are some of my top tips for pumping up the SEO power of your blog.

Blog on your own URL. When setting up a blog, some businesses start one up on a free platform, such as WordPress, and give it its own separate home apart from the main website. This is not ideal. What you want is your blog on your URL, such as www.yourwebsitename.com/blog. This way, all the content you produce adds strength and credibility to that URL.

Write good tags. While meta tags used to have more of a direct influence on search rankings, the days when Google actually took your tags at face value is long gone. They still matter though. Title and description tags do show up in search results and they influence whether someone decides to click, a factor that search engines take into consideration.

Use categories to organize your posts. Categories allow you to organize your blog content into topics. You can use keywords as appropriate. Categories can also be helpful for your readers, allowing them to access all your posts on a particular subject and encouraging them to spend more time on your site, something search engines also notice.

Research what people want to know. Back in the day, it was all about focusing on your keywords, and then writing whatever just to get some content with them online. That was then. This is now. Value is the name of the game and it’s a good idea to blog about topics that your target market is interested in and that can offer them assistance with what they want to know as it relates to your industry or service offering. Using research tools, such as the Google Adwords Keyword Planner tool, can give you some great insights into what questions people are asking.

Get your posts on social media. Search engines take into account social signals as a sign of credibility and value, so be sure to get your blog posts out on your social channels.

Have social media share buttons on your posts. As per the point above, you want your posts to make the rounds on social media. So you need to be sure that they are easily shareable with just a click.

Use keywords in your post title. If it makes sense, you can use a keyword string in your title. It may not be appropriate for each and every post, so use some common sense and make sure the use feels natural. For example, if you’re a yoga studio in Vancouver (where I live) and you’re blogging about your summer promotion, a title like Vancouver yoga studio summer promo seems a bit awkward and obvious, right? A more engaging and appropriate title here would be something like Hot summer promotion on all yoga packages! Remember, first and foremost you are writing for people, not search engines.

Go easy on the keywords. As per the point above, keywords must be used appropriately and flow naturally. Don’t over-optimize the content of your post by stuffing in a keyword at every chance you get. Think about sprinkling in a keyword now and then, not pouring them all over your copy.

Do you blog for your small business? Have your posts helped you gain more visibility in search results? Would love to hear about your personal experiences in the comments!

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Martina Iring – Internet marketing consultant & small business cheerleader

Martina Iring Photo She Owns It BioMartina Iring is a marketing consultant who works with small businesses and entrepreneurs unsure of how to make the internet work for them and their success. Whether they need to take their online presence to the next level, bring it up to date, or even get something going in the first place. This can be super overwhelming, especially if web stuff isn’t your thing. She’s on a mission to help the little guys make sense of internet marketing, teaching small biz owners how being online is not only profitable, but enjoyable! She is based in Vancouver, Canada but works with businesses all over the world.

She loves marketing. She loves small business. Bringing them together is her bliss. You can call her the small business cheerleader!

As a small business owner herself, Martina can relate to the whole magical journey of entrepreneurship – the challenges and the struggles, but also the joys and the amazing freedoms. Her blog, Small Business Bliss, offers up plenty of marketing info and doses of inspiration. Be sure to get your free website improvement guide here.

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Blog Comments aren’t Everything: Here’s Why by @rachelccool

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nocommentspeechbubbleby Rachel Cool | Featured Contributor 

If you’re like most bloggers, you’ve probably caught yourself counting the comments on your blog and even gauging your success on how many people leave comments. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with working for more comments and tracking them can be a good way to find out if your readers are interested in your content.

There’s no question that blog comments can help you form an online following, build a community, connect with others and make your blog come to life. But, comments aren’t the only thing you should use to measure the success of your blog.

In fact, some well-known blogs like Seth Godin’s blog, Zen Habits and Copyblogger don’t allow comments on their posts.

These are just a few examples of blogs that succeed without comments, and the truth is that both small, niche blogs and massively popular blogs are being extremely successful with very few, or even no, comments

Comments don’t Mean Action

You could be getting dozens of comments on each of your posts, but if those commenters aren’t taking a desired action, your blog won’t benefit your bottom line. You need more than comments. You need purchases, email subscribers and loyal customers to really make your business work. Even if you don’t sell anything on your site, you need to convert frequent commenters to subscribers or brand ambassadors to make your business grow.

You Might say it All

In some cases, people just don’t have much to say about a blog post, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If your post doesn’t leave room for discussion, is more informative than conversational or isn’t on a controversial subject, you may see fewer comments. Keep in mind that sometimes people will read your blog posts and won’t have anything to add in a comment.

Conversation can Happen Elsewhere

If you have a large social media presence, or even if you’re just starting to see your content get shared by others, people could be using those platforms for conversations and skipping the comment section.

They may be leaving thoughts as Facebook comments, having deep discussions on LinkedIn or offering their own opinions on Twitter. Again, this isn’t necessarily an issue because people are interacting with and talking about your content, which can raise brand awareness and help you build an engaged community.

Your Time and Energy Could be Better Used

Monitoring and approving comments, removing offensive comments, replying to your readers and constantly tracking your comments takes a lot of time. If you have what it takes to do this, then go for it!

But, a lot of busy bloggers find their time is better spent developing their content, enhancing their email marketing campaigns and building their business. If this is how you feel, consider limiting the time you spend with blog comments or turning them off altogether.

Whether you decide to track blog commenting or not, don’t let the number of comments, negative feedback or comment monitoring take up all your time and limit the way you view your blog.

When you break free of the mentality that comments are everything, and realize your success doesn’t depend on them, you will open up new doors of creativity, new business ideas and flexibility that can take your business to new heights.

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Rachel CoolRachel Cool has a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations. She has experience working in public relations, journalism, Internet marketing and search engine optimization. She is a freelance writer and editor and teaches public relations writing and production at Brigham Young University.

Rachel’s passion is writing and she loves helping brands tell their stories, reach their markets and influence their audiences. She feels that a business’ copy, whether it is online or print, is an integral part of its marketing and communications strategies.

When she’s not writing, Rachel loves to cook and get lost in a mystery novel. She also likes to get competitive over a good card or board game, watch movies, fish and spend time outside.

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Blogging Smarter, Not Harder: Become One with Analytics by @stylemethrifty

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How to Become One with Analytics

by Madeline Van Tassel | Featured Contributor

When I launched my blog Style Me Thrifty (almost exactly three years ago now — they grow up so fast!), I quickly got wrapped up in all the excitement that comes with blogging.

The words, the photography, the freedom to say whatever the heck I wanted! It was all so inspiring. And really, really fun.

During my first year of blogging, I focused my efforts exclusively on all the awesome aspects of blogging — like writing, tweeting, and opening up freebies from companies — and none of my time on the not-so-fun aspects. Like analytics. I mean, talk about a buzzkill. Who wants to poke around in Google Analytics when there are outfit posts to style?!

I had spent hours (days? weeks?) churning out content and about 45 minutes looking at my analytics. I didn’t have a good sense of who was reading my blog, where they were coming from, and what content they enjoyed. If I was going to be a player in this massive blogging industry, something had to change.

It was time to roll up my [fashionable] sleeves and become one with my blog’s analytics.

Data Will Set You Free

Understanding the metrics behind your stories, whether it’s pageviews, top posts, or referring sites, will give you valuable insights into your readers. What content is resonating with them? How are people finding your stories? What keywords are they searching for to find your blog?

Sure, analytics sound scary, especially to us writers, but they don’t have to be!

How to Become One with Analytics

1) Start with Baby Steps

Many blogging platforms provide a bare-bones analytics system. It’s a nice start, but I recommend downloading a free analytics plugin so that you can see a bit more detail on your blog’s stats. As a WordPress user, Jetpack is my analytics plugin-of-choice and I can check my stats while still in the comfort of my blogging platform.

2) Learn to Swim with the Big Dogs

Once you’re comfortable with the terminology (pageviews, referring traffic, etc), you’re ready for a more robust system like Google Analytics. Don’t be intimidated. It’s free, it’s super comprehensive, and easy-to-use. When in doubt, there are million forums online to help you navigate through Google’s stats.

3) Listen to Your Numbers

The tools are in place, you’re making time for your metrics. All that’s left is listening to those numbers. Make a commitment to check your analytics daily. Yes, daily! You’ll have real time information on who is visiting your blog. Plus, seeing all that traffic is super rewarding!

[Word cloud created via Wordle]

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Madeline Van Tassel – Blogging Expert – Alexandria, VA

Madeline Van Tassel Madeline Van Tassel is the founder and author of the budget style blog, Style Me Thrifty. After years of politely telling her family and friends how to dress (e.g. “Never, ever wear jeans to a bridal shower!”), she decided to combine her love of fashion, writing, and overall thriftiness by launching Style Me Thrifty in March 2011. In addition to her fashion blog, Madeline has also made a career out of blogging by running the blog of one of the largest nonprofit organizations. With limited hours in the workday, and even less in the evenings, Madeline has mastered the art of blogging smarter, not harder.

When Madeline’s not writing, playing around in WordPress, shopping, or tweeting, she can be found enjoying the newlywed life with her supportive husband and their cat Bandit.

You can follow Madeline’s fashion adventures at stylemethrifty.com and by following her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

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10 Blog Topics You’ll Want to Write About by @_LisaJacobs_

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Blog topics | She Owns Itby Lisa Jacobs | Featured Contributor

My next project is a book on blogging, and I’m thrilled to be writing it because I love my blog.

When I first started writing online, I didn’t have a strong voice. I was ignorantly opinionated, often cynical and sarcastic, and I mimicked many of the other bloggers that made me laugh. If I do say so myself, I’ve evolved!

I credit blogging for helping me rethink and refine the content that I put out into the world. At first, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have anything to talk about, or so I thought. But over time, certain ideas would strike me, and I’d get lost in the zone. I’d read back over what I wrote, and I’d feel so proud … it was all so true, so real, so open and honest. I love when that pours out of me.

For my project, I’m coming up with 104 irresistible blogging topics that you can’t wait to write, and your audience can’t wait to read! Here’s a sample:

  1. If I knew I could not fail, I would …
  2. Things I’m afraid to tell you …
  3. How I spent my day off!
  4. Here’s a tour of my workspace (don’t judge!)
  5. How I manage my time and structure my day
  6. How I handled a hater
  7. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the tools I use everyday
  8. I hit [a milestone]! Here’s how I celebrated
  9. Here’s a list of goals I’m working on [+ remember to a follow-up post on your progress]
  10. My biggest obstacle in business | life | relationships

If you write on any given subject, please be sure to post a link to your site in the comments!

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Lisa Jacobs, Owner of the Energy Shop and author of Marketing Creativity

Lisa JacobsLisa Jacobs writes the blog, Marketing Creativity for fellow creatives who aim to build a career with their own two hands. She offers a bundle of free marketing tools designed to help you get paid to be … you.

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