“Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately?” plus 19 more

Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately?
4 Of My Most Viewed Blog Posts This Month and Why They Worked
Warning: Are You Making These 8 Traffic-Killing Mistakes?
How to Create a Bridge Business That Will Take You From Now to Your Dream Job
How to Blog Smart – 9 Areas to Think Strategically About in Your Blogging
5 Ways to Be Comfortable on Camera So You Can Make More Money with Your Blog
Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately?
How to Blog from the Heart
Everything Bloggers Need to Consider for Their April Content Calendar
How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps
How to Be a More Consistent Blogger
How One Blogger More than Doubled Her Comments, Traffic, Shares and Subscribers With a Simple Tweak
Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately?
10 Things I Wish I Had Known About Blogging When I First Began
How We Generated Our First 100 Sales for Free (and How You Can Too)
I Brainstormed 180 Blog Post Ideas for You [Free Download]
An Introduction to Landing Pages for Bloggers – An Interview with Tim Paige from LeadPages
5 Blogging Strategies I’m Betting on This Year
Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately
Is Blogging Really Dead? Here’s Why You Should Still Blog!

Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately?

Posted: 08 Apr 2016 06:00 AM PDT

Reading Roundup: What's new in blogging this week / ProBlogger.net

Happy Saturday, ProBlogger readers! What a huge week it’s been (and an even huger one next week is on the cards!) we announced Dan Norris as a keynote at our upcoming ProBlogger Event (with a very cool video), and also revealed there will be a larger focus on podcasting than in previous years – it’s really come into its own for bloggers in the last few years.

I also loved Bryanna’s guest post on how to create a business to bridge you from your day job to your dream job – so practical and such a great idea!

How to Publish 6 Posts Every Week | Medium

It’s a noble quest, but according to Jon Westernberg, entirely doable (with tools). How many posts do you aim for every week?

4 Tips for DIY Career Success | Potential Psychology

Being a blogger or an solo enterpreneur can sometimes be a lonely road – and a busy one, as we’re often doing many roles in one. See how Ellen catapulted herself into business and how she’s made it a success for the last 14 years.

The Getting Things Done (GTS) System For Bloggers | Aliventures

Because if we are working on our own, we need a strategy. Long-time ProBlogger contributor Ali Luke knows what it’s like and has shared a system that works.

Reddit Introduces User-Blocking Tool to Fight Harrassment and Trolls | TechCrunch

Reddit’s rudimentary blocking system gets a much-needed update. But is there more you think social platforms could be doing to curb this behaviour? Who do you think has got it right?

Snapchat for Business: How to Reach Millennials Through Storytelling | Social Media Today

I haven’t seen this much activity on Snapchat since it first started. Seems like plenty of people who dismissed it originally are coming back around. Is it something that works for your audience?

pexels-photo

Don’t Quit Before the Whistle Blows | Michael Hyatt

I’ve been talking to plenty of people lately disillusioned with blogging and where it’s taken them (or more accurately, where it hasn’t taken them). Sometimes we need a bit of a redirection when morale is low, but it isn’t always the best idea to quit even if we’ve fallen over.

Facebook Unveils New Live Video Features | CBS News

The time as come! Not just for verified accounts or celebrities, but actual live broadcasts for everyone, wherever they are. How will you use it? (especially because we know Facebook will favour these live videos in the newsfeed!).

11 Microsoft Word Hacks You Won’t Know How You Lived Without | Mashable

If you have to do a lot of typing (and formatting, my nemesis), you won’t want to miss this. How-tos for just about everything you need to do every day.

Why Now, More Than Ever, SEO Is Not Just About Google | Moz

I always forget there’s more to search engines than Google, and now that there’s so many more ads above the fold (which I tend to scroll past, I don’t know about you), it’s easy to see that plenty of people are using plenty of other alternatives. Don’t forget them in your SEO approach.

A Brief Guide to Using Analtyics to Grow a Following on Instagram | HubSpot

A slideshare from a recent webinar takes you through what metrics to pay attention to, and how you can use those numbers to boost your audience.

See you next week!

Stacey Roberts is the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.net: a writer, blogger, and full-time word nerd balancing it all with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and more at Veggie Mama. Chat with her on Twitter @veggie_mama, follow on Pinterest for fun and useful tips, peek behind the curtain on Instagram, listen to her 90s nostalgia podcast, or be entertained on Facebook.

The post Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately? appeared first on ProBlogger.

Comments

SEO is not about the Google but mostly Google is on target for ... by Bharat
I have blogger experience of 4 years. But I am new to SEO . I ... by Zillur Rahman

4 of My Most Viewed Blog Posts This Month and Why They Worked

In the last month, the four posts I chose to discuss have all been in the top 20 on Digital Photography School. For each I’ll explain what makes each post shareworthy, what type of content it is, what reader hooks have been employed, what kind of writing style was used, and which things can be easily used for other content types (i.e. not just photography blogs).

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with my summary of why they worked? What jumps out at you?

I’d also love to hear about a recent popular post of yours: what was it, and what made it so successful? Feel free to put a link in the comments below.

I have also set up a widget over on ProBlogger.com where you can leave me a voicemail message with any question you have – we may use it for an upcoming episode.

The post 4 Of My Most Viewed Blog Posts This Month and Why They Worked appeared first on ProBlogger.

Comments

Big time numbers reel folks in Darren. Like magic. I recall ... by Ryan Biddulph

What not to do on your blog

Here are eight critical mistakes you need to avoid:

Mistake #1: Posting at Very Irregular Intervals

Do you go through phases of posting daily … only to exhaust yourself and run out of ideas after a couple of weeks?

This is frustrating for readers. They never get to know what to expect from you. One minute, they're being overwhelmed with hastily written content – the next, you seem to have disappeared.

There's no rule about how often you should post. Some successful blogs have daily posts, or even multiple posts per day. Others publish once a week (like Boost Blog Traffic) or even less. What matters is that you're consistent.

I'll admit that, after the best part of a decade blogging, I've been through a rather patchy spell of posting over the past three years. (I do have two very good reasons why. They're small, cute, noisy, and have a tendency to wake me up in the middle of the night.)

Fix it:

If you also have or are about to have very young children, consider taking some time away from your blog. Let readers know that you'll be gone for a few weeks or months. This gives you a breathing space to focus on family life – and to build up a stock of blog posts for once you start blogging again.

Mistake #2: Having a Broken or Amateur Design

When you're taking your first steps into blogging, you may well use whatever default design comes with your blog platform of choice, or a free one that you like.

As you start to grow your blog, though, remember that the way your blog looks will affect whether or not readers trust you – and your content. You may well be a fantastic writer, but if your posts are hard to read and your blog design looks sloppy (or doesn't even work properly) then readers won't stick around.

As Darren puts it:

The way your blog looks, what it makes people feel, what it calls people to do is vital, and it has a huge impact on your blog and how it's seen.

Chances are, you're not a photographer or designer. It's worth saving up so you can get some professional design work done – and as your blog grows even bigger, you might want to consider a professional photo shoot.

Fix it:

Some of the key areas where blog design goes wrong are:

Sidebars: get rid of any widgets that aren't pulling their weight, and fix any that are broken or look weird. See Mistake #7 for more on this.

Font types and sizes: I'm no expert here, but I've learned to avoid Times New Roman, Comic Sans, and Papyrus (thanks, designer pals!) and to make sure the font size is large enough for comfortable reading.

Headers / logos / banners: if you pay for one thing, make it this. You might be able to do a trade or find a talented friend to help (my fantastic sister created my blog's new header, in return from the Game of Thrones season 5 box set).

Mistake #3: Forgetting About New Readers

We spend a lot of time trying to get new readers, but at the same time, we tend to forget to help them find their way around.

New readers will want to know:

What your blog is all about – a tagline in your header can help a lot here.

Who you are – make sure you have an About page, and consider an About widget in your sidebar.

Where to find you on social media – include this somewhere prominent.

How to find their way around your blog – a "Start Here" or "New Here?" page is really handy.

There are other, subtler ways to make sure you include new readers. For instance, include links in newer posts to older ones where relevant, especially if you want to cue readers into something that's been a long-term project (like a series of posts, or a book-in-progress).

If someone leaves a comment for the first time, welcome them to your blog! (Many people will say something like "this is my first time commenting…" or "I've just found your great blog…".) You might even want to drop them an email to thank them for commenting.

Fix it:

Imagine you're coming to your blog for the first time: open it up in your browser. Is it clear who the blog is for? Can you easily find pages like "About" and "Contact"? If possible, get a friend who's not familiar with your blog to take a look and give you their first impressions – and tell them not to hold back.

Make a list of things you want to change, e.g.:

Update the About page – and keep it up to date.

Create a "Start Here" page that links to my most popular posts.

Make an easy-to-use archive.

Schedule some time to get these done, during the next few weeks.

Mistake #4: Not Having an Email Newsletter

I launched my email newsletter early on in my blogging life – but I see plenty of bloggers kicking themselves for not starting theirs sooner.

There are plenty of reasons why you might not have set up an email newsletter yet. The most common ones are "It will cost too much," "I don't know how" and "I don't know what to write about."

While some email services are pricy, you can get started with MailChimp for free – and AWeber is $19/month at its most basic level.

Just as with learning to blog, learning the ins and outs of email newsletters takes a bit of time – but both MailChimp and AWeber take you step-by-step through what you need to do to get your email list set up. There are also tons of written and video tutorials that can help you.

In terms of content, you can simply send out your blog posts by email (as Michael Hyatt does) or a teaser with a link to your blog post (as Jon Morrow does). Or, if you prefer, you can write content that's exclusively for your newsletter subscribers (as K.M. Weiland does). You'll also have the flexibility to send out other emails (e.g. promoting a product or service).

Fix it:

If you haven't yet set up an email newsletter, make this a priority. Select a service (MailChimp and AWeber are both popular and reasonably similar in how they work) and place the sign-up form prominently in your sidebar.

You might also want to create a landing page where readers can find out more about your newsletter, and sign up – this gives you a chance to "sell" them on your newsletter.

Mistake #5: Not Offering a Sign-Up Incentive

I made this mistake for ages after launching my blog. I figured that my newsletter itself should be the incentive: I didn't want people signing up just to get a freebie.

However, people often need do an incentive to hand over their email address – and something like a free ebook, ecourse, checklist, cheat sheet, or video can really help.

Once I started offering free mini-ebooks, sign-ups quickly increased – but my open rate and response rate didn't drop much. My new readers were still engaged with the newsletter.

A sign-up incentive also gives you a great way to promote your email newsletter elsewhere – such as in the bio of your guest posts on other blogs. "Join my newsletter list here and get exclusive writing tips to your inbox" might get you a few people, but not as many as, "Get my free mini-ebook Time to Write when you join my newsletter list here."

Fix it:

Brainstorm some ideas for your sign-up incentive. Keep it short and simple – an entire book might seem really generous, but it will take you forever to write, and people may not even bother reading it.

A checklist, mini-ebook, short guide, worksheet, or similar can work just fine. You could even create a bunch of different incentives to use as "content upgrades" on relevant blog posts.

Mistake #6: Forgetting to Include Calls to Action

During my years in the blogging world, I've reviewed a lot of blog posts for a lot of different bloggers. The most consistent mistake I see is people leaving off the end of their blog post entirely. They don't have any conclusion – or, if they do, it doesn't contain a call to action.

A "call to action" is simply you asking your reader to do something. You might invite them to leave a comment, share your post, move on to read another post … or even buy one of your products.

Some bloggers worry that this could come across as a bit needy or pushy, but in reality, readers will often welcome a bit of direction. For instance, they might want to comment but not know what to write: if you ask a specific question, this makes it easier for them to engage.

Fix it:

Every time you write a post, ask yourself "what do I want readers to do after reading this post?" You might even want to consider this when you're planning the post, as ideally, the call to action should follow on logically from the rest of the piece.

You could also go back to older posts and check that they end with a clear call to action. Those posts will still get read – by people coming from search engines and by people digging into your blog's archives or following links from other posts.

Mistake #7: Having a Cluttered Sidebar

Even blogs with gorgeous designs can end up with cluttered sidebars, over time. You begin with a bunch of widgets that (initially) make sense, and occasionally, you decide you need to add in something new.

The end result looks incredibly cluttered: new stuff keeps getting added, but old stuff never gets taken down. Worse still, some widgets may become outdated and stop working altogether.

This doesn't do anything to add to the visual appeal of your blog … and irrelevant widgets will distract readers from the actions that you actually want them to take.

Fix it:

Go through every widget on your sidebar and ask yourself whether you really want it. Some good culprits for removal are:

The WordPress meta widget – this comes installed by default: remove it! Having it in your sidebar marks you out as an amateur, and could confuse readers. If you have it there so readers can get the RSS link for your blog, make a separate widget just for that link and make it much more prominent.

A tag cloud – fiddly to use and with a tendency to look messy. Thankfully, these seem to have gone out of fashion over the past few years.

A calendar of posts – also fiddly to use. (These tend to show the days of the current month, with hyperlinked numbers for days when you posted.) If you've ended up writing few / no posts recently, it makes that more obvious to your readers than you might like.

A list of categories – OK if you have a smallish, sensible set of categories; less useful if you have a huge number of old ones that have a couple of posts each in them.

Mistake #8: Over-Promising in Your Blog Post Titles

While I'm a huge fan of writing compelling titles for your posts, I'm not a fan of posts that have hyped-up titles or that are "clickbait".

If I come across a post titled "The Ultimate Guide to Guest Posting: A Huge Round-Up of Expert Advice and Links", I'm obviously going to be a bit disappointed if it's a basic list of tips by someone who appears not to have ever written a guest post in their life, with a couple of quotes from posts by their friends, and a handful of affiliate links to dubious-looking products.

I'm sure you're not going that far with hype vs reality in your titles and posts, but do make sure that you're living up to the promises that you make.

Fix it:

Spend longer on your posts, if you can: it's normally better to post one really good piece every week than to rush out three or four half-hearted ones.

When you're coming up with a title, keep an eye on your adjectives. By all means use them, but make sure they're not going to give the wrong impression. If you've written a short, basic post for beginners, "Ten Simple Tips…" will reflect the content better than "Blogging Secrets Revealed: Ten Little-Known Tips…"

Of course, all bloggers make mistakes. It's the only way to learn. What matters is that you do keep learning – that you take an occasional step back to look at what you're doing with your blog, and to adjust course or make tweaks where necessary.

What's the biggest mistake you've made in your blogging – or the most common mistake you see other bloggers making? Share it with us in the comments!

Ali Luke (@aliventures) blogs about the art, craft and business of writing at Aliventures. If you're struggling to put together great content for your blog, or if you want to experiment with some different post types, check out her easy-to-use structures in Six Straightforward Ways to Structure Your Blog Posts.

The post Warning: Are You Making These 8 Traffic-Killing Mistakes? appeared first on ProBlogger.

Comments

One thing I've learned over the years is to focus on one person ... by Sherman Smith
I absolutely agree with you on visual cues, Nina — white ... by Ali Luke
What a cool service to offer, Lorraine! by Ali Luke
You're welcome! It's tricky to find the balance between a ... by Ali Luke
Wow, I have some work to do! Thanks for the harsh reminder… by Corey Hinde
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How to Earn Money While You Get Your Dream Job off The Ground

Here are the steps to get your Bridge Business started:

Step 1: Choose Your Business

There really are a lot of opportunities out there. A Virtual Assistant business is a great option since there are so many different things that a VA can do.

Here is a link to 68 different jobs that a Virtual Assistant can do . However, it does not need to be limited to this list or any list. The door is wide open on tasks a VA can do.

Here are some other ways to determine what you can do as a VA:

Think through the skills that you currently have.
What do you currently do at your 9 to 5?
What tasks do you enjoy doing?
Do you know someone who owns a small business? Ask them what type of work they need help with.
Research your dream business and figure out what skills you will want to have to make it successful and start to learn those so you can offer them as a solution through your bridge business.

Now take all of these things and evaluate them. Write them down and compare them. Do the Pros and Cons, and then make a decision. This can be a business blocker, so know that at some point you have to make a decision and go with it. You can always change it. My business ebbed and flowed and is still changing. But had I not started, it never would be where it is now.

As we built our Virtual Assistant business we also continued to focus on our Dream Business – our Travel Blog. The solutions I am offering for my Virtual Assistant business, where my clients are paying me, are helping me learn new skills and become an expert in these skills/solutions. These same skills/solutions are helpful for growing our Travel Blog. So be sure to keep that in mind as you work through the solutions you will offer.

Step 2: Business Startup

Now that you know the solutions that you want to provide, the next steps are:

1. Name your business.

I recommend making sure that the name you choose is one that could easily be sold to someone else someday. This seems far in the future, but it is definitely something to keep in mind as you grow your business, leave your 9 to 5 and begin to build your Dream Business.

Hopefully, there will be a time when you are ready to transition totally to your Dream Business, and at that time you may want to sell your Bridge Business. To keep this as a viable option, you may not want to use your name for your business. Instead, come up with something universal, which could easily be transitioned to someone else if they bought it from you.

Our business is called Virtual Powerhouse. It is a virtual business and we are helping our clients become an online powerhouse. So it works.

2. Define your solutions.

A website would be great, but you don't need one. A PDF document will work fine when you are getting started. Use a tool like Canva and create a PDF that explains the solutions you are going to provide. If you want, you can include pricing – but I don't think it's necessary in the beginning.

3. Payment

Set up a system like Paypal, where you can easily create and send invoices to your clients. Again, nothing major, just keep it simple in the beginning.

Step 3: Finding Clients

All right, you have the business name and the solutions you will provide. Now it is time to find your clients.

My first client was a friend's husband who has a small business. My friend said he was interested, so we set up a phone call to talk through the solutions I could provide.

I had talked to another friend before this who was not interested. So be prepared that not everyone will say yes. Have a list of people ready to go.

Here is a great way to start your list of people to reach out to:

Think of 10 friends.
Think of 10 acquaintances.
Think of 10 parents of your kids' friends. If you don't have kids, then think of 10 parents of your friends.
Think of 10 neighbors or colleagues.
Think of 10 services you use: hair dresser, accountant, insurance agent, etc.

You now have 50 people you can reach out to who may be interested in the solutions you provide. Be prepared to hear NO more then once. But that is OK, each no you get is one step closer to a yes.

Another option is to search out clients that are in your Dream Job niche. You'll get to build some amazing relationships and see behind the scenes of the business you hope to have some day, while making money.

Step 4: How to Approach your First Client

When I started, I offered a month of my services free for my first client. This was helpful for 2 reasons. 1 – working without the pressure of being paid allowed me more room to figure out what I was doing. 2 – it helped my client feel comfortable with my work before he started paying me (since he knew he was my first client!).

If you go this route, be VERY upfront with your client that it's only free for the first month. Then present them with your pricing well before the end of the month so they can decide if they want to stay with you and pay.

It worked out well for me. That first client is still a client today and has also sent many referrals my way.

This isn't an easy road to travel. Clients and money don't just fall into your lap. But if you are willing to put the time in, do great work and build relationships, your referrals alone will help you take your business to that next level.

There you go! You have your business, your business name, your list of potential clients, and your first client!

Okay, it really isn't that easy. Then again, if you stay focused on your end goal and keep making decisions to move your business forward, maybe it is.

There will be a lot of business blockers that pop up and the best way to get through them is to evaluate your options – then make a decision – within a day. Don't give yourself too much time to dwell on it. Instead, make a choice and know you can always adjust and change as you go. This is YOUR business so the decisions are yours.

It has been a stressful road of ups and downs and not knowing what I was doing. But, I kept moving forward and making progress, and all of those things that felt so far out of my comfort zone in the beginning became easier and more comfortable!

The first step in making your dream a reality is starting. So go for it!

Bryanna, her husband Craig, their 4 kids and 2 dogs sold their house, everything in it, and bought an RV and are now traveling around the US. They maintain their lifestyle through their virtual assistant business Virtual Powerhouse and their blog Crazy Family Adventure. Their goal is to inspire families to start their own online businesses and get out and travel more! When they aren't out hiking to the top of mountains you can find them on the beach or at the local donut shop searching for the best donut in the US! They post daily at: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and YouTube. You can learn more about their Bridge Business Coaching and Course here.

The post How to Create a Bridge Business That Will Take You From Now to Your Dream Job appeared first on ProBlogger.

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very actionable – thanks for the information. Corey Hinde by Corey Hinde
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How to Be Comfortable on Camera

Today, I'm going to show you how to become more comfortable and sound more professional on camera—even if you've never been on video once!

Stick around to the end of the article: I've put together a resource to help you immediately start getting rid of your stress on-camera.

Why are we uncomfortable?

To begin, it is totally unnatural to look at and talk to a camera. So, if you're feeling like it's weird, that's because it is.

It's not the society we live in, and it's not how we connect.

We are verbal creatures and we connect with other sentient beings: other humans, dogs, cats, birds, whatever.

Why? Because all of those things have their own life going on, and that's the part that attracts us. Cameras don't have that life; they are not "alive."

Where does the fear come from?

What does it mean, anyway, to be afraid of being on camera?

Most likely, there's a fear of rejection: the fear that you're going to put something out and people are going to say "no, we don't want that."

Whether it's a rant, your opinion of something, or an offer you have, you are being vulnerable and it's a scary place to hang out, because there's uncertainty.

Or, there's the fear of judgment: the fear that people will call you names, judge your appearance, your message, or your culture.

No one enjoys feeling rejected or being judged; sadly, it's a bit of a reality online, especially since people can be a bit more anonymous. If everyone were forced to say their comments in person (or at the very least, on video), I believe it'd be a nicer place out there.

Video feels much more personal—because it is. There's nothing to hide behind. It's easier to write a blog post because you can hide a bit behind the words—and you can also keep polishing until you get it exactly right.

With video, while you can craft a perfect script, it's hard to memorize that and sound completely natural, like you're talking to a friend.

So as I mentioned, there exists this uncertainty about how it will all go, how it will sound, and how it will be received.

Get comfortable and sound like a pro

So, we need to transform our weird relationship with this camera and create a better one.

I have an entire video series on how to relax on camera that you can access at the end of the article, but here are some of the highlights

1. Breathe

Yes, it may sound obvious—but it isn't!

So often, when we get nervous, we forget to breathe and to relax the tension in our bodies.

You can take a few deep breaths before you shoot to calm yourself and to focus your mind; then, when you're on camera, continue breathing—you can always edit it out later if necessary.

2. See your friend

When you're talking to the camera lens, imagine that you're talking to a good friend.

At this point, it doesn't matter if the friend you're thinking of actually needs the info you're sharing; in your mind, you think they do, and so they are the perfect person to listen to what you have to say.

The camera lens = your friend's eyes. Ultimately, you'll want to just appreciate and enjoy the camera lens, but imagining your friend's eyes is the next best thing.

3. Have fun

The more YOU enjoy what you're doing and talking about, the more the rest of US will enjoy watching it.

It's a simple equation. Passion IN = Passion OUT. If you don't infuse what you're doing with your personality and enthusiasm, then why would we be excited or intrigued watching?

Figure out the angle to take that really lights you up, and film that!

4. Warm up your instrument

Theatre actors do lots of physical and vocal warm-ups before shows for a reason: they need to get their body ready to do the work.

Same thing with you: find ways to stretch out your body and make it loose so that you're not overcome with tension while filming.

Go through vocal scales to warm up the full register of your voice. Explore the musicality of how you sound. Find your vocal resonance and speak from that place!

5. Trust your voice

You may also be hung up on how you look or sound.

Get over it.

Ira Glass (of This American Life) has said he sounds whiny. We don't all need to have perfect BBC radio voices or sound like James Earl Jones (aka Darth Vader).

Do you. Plenty of people will respond to you *exactly* because of how you look and sound.

Now it's your turn

Time to get on camera!

Keep your videos to 1-2 minutes to begin. That's all you need, and that's all people have time for.

Building your blog is based on trust and credibility. For someone to enter into a transaction with you (even an opt-in), requires a bit of risk and trust.

You can put visitors at ease, establish credibility, and build trust by creating a video that shows who you are, what you're doing, and what you have to offer.

For example, here's the video I created for Videos in One Take:

Remember: the camera is your best friend: it has no judgment, it truly wants to hear everything you have to say, and it will never lie to you.

Trust it completely.

Now, take 15 minutes, plan what you're going to say, and go shoot your video!

I'm not kidding. That's all the time you really need. Don't overthink this. Don't go crazy. Just get personal, have fun, and let people know how you can help them.

Need more help? Here are a couple bonuses to guide you along.

First, I've put together a video series to help you reduce your stress on camera.

Second, one person reading this will get a one-on-one mentoring session with me . I'll help you personally implement this plan.

Sound good?

To get all of this, enter the the bonus section by signing up here.

Nathan Agin is the founder of Videos in One Take, which helps entrepreneurs become more powerful and captivating in their videos (opt-in, sales, about, blog), leading to more engagement and conversions. Nathan has appeared in feature films, a Super Bowl commercial, and on Jimmy Kimmel Live; he also produced and hosted a TV-quality travel/food pilot. He’s a classically trained actor and has created over 400 YouTube videos; on his Videos in One Take blog, he explains how he does it.

The post 5 Ways to Be Comfortable on Camera So You Can Make More Money with Your Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

Comments

This is a complete and very useful tips. Now I'll be having ... by Selena Shields
Thanks for the post this really build my confidence. i will be ... by sonali singh
Nice and useful tips here, I am a former TV director and now ... by live ten
Thanks so much. As a fledgling blogger, I'm quite nervous about ... by David Nida
Really dig your advice Nathan. I'm just me on camera. After ... by Ryan Biddulph
Useful tips here, I am a former TV director and now blogger & ... by Honest Mum

Google’s Gary Illyes on Penguin: When is it Coming, and What Will it Do? | Stone Temple Consulting

The dreaded algorithm. We all live in fear every time Google or Facebook (and now Instagram!) make a tweak. What will really be going on this time though?

Instagram Plan for Facebook-Like Feed Causes Web Celeb Outcry | ABC Online

And word got round that Instagram was turning off its chronological feed overnight and it was like Y2K 2.0. Turn on notifications, plenty said, until they started getting notifications. Mass panic that fizzled out by the next morning when Instagram said “not yet, not everybody”.

Life Lessons From Tay, Microsoft’s Racist, Psychopathic Twitter Robot | Edgar

The future is here and it tweeted for three days before Microsoft pulled it – their youthful robot Tay went from tweeting about puppies to chatting genocide in the blink of an eye. Here’s why it’s important to you.

Goodbye Boost Blog Traffic, Hello Smart Blogger! | Smart Blogger

Jon has changed tack with his popular blog and rebranded. Smart move!

Should You Ever Pay for SEO Services (Especially From a Random Email!)? | Blog Tyrant

I’m sure you’ve been getting the emails – the ones where SEO companies freak you out by telling you your website isn’t optimised for search properly and it’s holding you back? But no worries because we’re here to help? Read this before yo sign up.

Conversations With Myself: Just Write | Viralnomics

I’ve been chasing this advice myself lately, it seems to be everywhere. But it’s good advice, so I’ll take it. If you’re stuck right now, take it too.

5 Engaging Visual Content Formats that Aren’t Infographics | Marketingland

For when you want to do something different.

Building a Keyword-Driven Content Marketing Strategy is Key | Entrepreneur

This is never not going to be the case!

How to Motivate Yourself When You’re Absolutely Exhausted | HubSpot

Like that time a few months ago when we dragged our butts into 2016 but we still haven’t caught up yet? Yeah. This is for us.

Influencer Engagement: 15 Ways to Fail & 25 Ways to WIN | TopRank Marketing

Check out this ebook if you’re an influencer or social media manager – and learn from the mistakes of others!

So what about you? What caught your eye this week? Did Instagram freak you out? Are you concerned about the Penguin update? Absolutely exhausted? Tell all!

The post Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately? appeared first on ProBlogger.

Comments

very nice combination of things revolving around blog life. all ... by vinayak

Blogging From the Heart

In today’s episode of the ProBlogger podcast, I wanted to talk about blogging with heart, and how that can help give your blog the edge it needs to stand out from the rest. The next podcast will focus on smart blogging strategies to help you see success, but it definitely takes a mixture of the two to really work.

The 7 ways I think you can blog with heart are:

Blogging about your passion, with passion
Focusing on storytelling, no matter the topic
Building community
Creating inspirational content
Being personal
Being playful
Creating content that changes lives and makes the world a better place

Your blog can be technically proficient, and you may see success with that, but without heart and soul, you’ll never reach the heights you have the potential to.

Comments

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April Content

Here at Alexa, we recently launched a comprehensive editorial calendar to help strategize when to start developing different kinds of content, when to publish, and when to promote. Although we've outlined schedules for every month of the year, we'll focus on the types of content you should work on in April.

March Madness

March Madness is in full swing in the US, and the first week of April is still an optimal time to be publishing blog posts related to this event. From the heated office rivalries over brackets to the actual action on the court, there are many opportunities to connect with your readers. And you can do so even if your audience isn't particularly sports-minded.

Some angles for a blog on March Madness in April include the following:

A recap of the best moments from the March Madness tournament
A "reaction"-type post with a list of the best or funniest fan-reaction tweets
An analysis of the best players and the worst
A create-your-own bracket competition, like BuzzFeed's "90s March Madness" reader poll

Mother's Day

In April, it's time to start producing any infographics or other highly visual content for Mother's Day as well as their accompanying posts. Visual content is particularly important for this occasion because the social networks with the highest average Mother's Day shares are Facebook and Pinterest: two image-heavy platforms.

Mother's Day is a crucial shopping holiday as well. If your blog has anything to do with retail, don't miss out on this opportunity to create timely content for this month as well as May. But there are more possibilities out there than just the typical buying guides. Consider the following angles:

Unique ways to celebrate the holiday
Recognition or exploration of noteworthy mothers
How motherhood has changed over the years
Emotionally resonant stories about family

Once you've decided what topic you'll pursue, think about whether an infographic, video, slideshow, photo essay, or other visual content type will best suit the voice of your blog. Then, get started on your posts. The best time to publish and promote Mother's Day content starts on April 18 and runs through May 10.

Graduation

Graduation is right around the corner, for many families – capitalize on this exciting time by creating content related to this special day. April is an optimal time to start thinking about graduation topics, whether they're related to grade school, high school, or college. Creating more involved pieces, such as infographics, require more lead time. Aim for early-April production dates.

Graduation is a highly talked–about topic. Bloggers can take so many different angles, including:

General education
The state of the job market
The confidence of new graduates
Emotionally resonant graduation stories
Graduation rituals or fun things to do with your children to mark the milestone
Graduation gifts

Whether your audience is interested in education, the job market, the U.S. economy, the millennial generation, or any other relevant graduation-related topics, April is the time to start brainstorming the content they'll find valuable and beginning to produce it.

Father's Day

Similar to Mother's Day, this emotionally rich holiday offers another way to connect with your audience. This US June event may seem far away, but it's still key to begin your more laborious material (e.g., videos, interactives, and infographics) in the month of April.

Visual content is essential for this holiday; Facebook and Pinterest garner the most social shares for its related content. Some ideas for blog posts and content for 2016:

Best Father's Day brunch recipes
Shopping guide for gifts he'll love
Emotional stories tied to fathers – similar to this compilation of the best soldier homecoming videos
Throwback photos of famous dads

Memorial Day and Fourth of July

To start summer with a bang, begin any production-intensive content about Memorial Day and the Fourth of July in April. As the weather heats up, readers will take to their backyards and celebrate these hot-weather holidays with friends and family.

Cuisine is an extremely general topic to connect with your audience on – even if they aren't foodies. You can also leverage posts on the history of these holidays, how our traditions have evolved, and more. Sink your teeth into these ideas:

Tasty barbecue ideas for the best cookout ever
Fun facts about the origins of these patriotic holidays
Why we should give thanks to our servicemen and women
Community posts: Ask your readers, "What do these holidays mean to you?"

March is winding down, and a new month (and content cycle) is set to begin. Take time to ensure your editorial calendar is optimized to include seasonal events. What are the big events celebrated in your country? Perhaps you would like to do a run of posts on the topic of Passover, something special to commemorate ANZAC Day, or some May Day celebration ideas?

Your content should engage your audience with the right message, at the right time. You'll thank yourself later when you reap the rewards and avoid the time crunch that comes with seasonal content creation.

Jennifer Johnson is Marketing Coordinator at Alexa. With a knack for syntax and passion for building connections, she drives daily content strategy to bring you the latest and greatest happenings within Alexa and the wide world of web analytics and marketing.

The post Everything Bloggers Need to Consider for Their April Content Calendar appeared first on ProBlogger.

Comments

Jennifer, thank you for the thorough examples. I need to make ... by Toni @ Debt Free Divas

How to Start a Blog

In general there are a few simple steps that you will need to complete to start your blog:

Choose your blogging platform
Secure a domain name and get hosting in place
Configure your blog
Design your blog
Start creating useful content that serves readers

Below I'll walk you through how I'd approach each step and then suggest some further reading that will be helpful on other important questions like: choosing a niche, finding readers for your blog, building community with your blog, and thinking about how to make money from it, etc.

Step 1: Choose a Blogging Platform

To start a blog you'll need to select a blogging platform – or a tool that helps you to get your content up onto the web.

There are many blogging platforms available but in my mind the choice is clear and simple. I would set up straight away on a WordPress.org site, and I highly recommend you do too.

WordPress is by far the most popular blogging platform and for good reason –

It is free to use
It is easy to set up
It has been around for many years and is a robust and secure system (although you do need to keep it up-to-date to maintain security)
It has a whole industry of tool providers, designers and developers around it that will help you to customise your blog in many ways

Keep in mind that WordPress offer two tools:

WordPress.com – where they host your blog, look after the back end, and give you access to have it on their own domain. It's free to start but, you pay to upgrade different elements of it.
WordPress.org – where you have complete control and host the blog on your own server, your own domain and have complete control over how it looks, operates and how you can monetise it. It is completely free to use but you need to arrange your own hosting, domain etc.

WordPress.com is easier to set up and means you don't need to keep upgrading versions of WordPress but it gives you less control over your design, how you monetise and what features you can add. WordPress.com is free to start with but depending upon what upgrades you want to get it can end up being just as expensive as WordPress.org.

My recommendation is to go with WordPress.org – you'll have a little more work in the setting up phase (I'll walk you through it below) but in the long run you'll have full control over the look, feel, features and monetization of your site. It could end up cheaper for you too!

Step 2: Secure a Domain Name and Get Hosting in Place

Next you'll need a domain name (your blog's address) so that you have a home for your blog online. Here on ProBlogger my domain name is www.problogger.com – every blog needs its own domain, so it can be easier said than done to find one that isn't taken!

For the sake of this article I just want to talk about how to technically get your domain – but there are a few other factors to consider including:

The Human perspective – readability of your domain, the ease of it to say and remember, etc
The Brand perspective – uniqueness, what the domain says about you
The SEO perspective – choosing a domain with good keywords can help your site rank higher in Google
The Legal perspective – copyright and trademark factors

We cover all four of these areas in our post 4 Things to Consider when Choosing Your Domain Name. I would highly recommend reading that post before you go out and grab a domain.

Depending upon where you get your domain and which domain you choose, a domain isn't a super-expensive thing to secure – but it will cost you at least a few dollars a year.

Perhaps the simplest way to get your domain is to do so with the same place that you get your blog hosted. My recommendation for a good place to start is BlueHost (aff). It is the most common hosting among my readers and is both affordable and is as reliable a solution as you're likely to find at this price point.

The other great thing about Bluehost is that they offer 1-click installation of WordPress.org and have specially optimised hosting for WordPress blogs.

As I write this article, Bluehost have an offer to get set up for just $3.95 USD per month (including your domain name).

An alternative to check out – the other hosting service that I'm hearing great things about lately from many ProBlogger readers is InMotion. They also offer a free domain when you sign up with them and have a very simple to use install option for WordPress.

Note: we use WebSynthesis for our blog hosting. It's an amazing service but is not cheap but is great for a blog with significant traffic. While I do recommend it for heavy traffic blogs it would probably be overkill if you're just starting out – as a result I recommend Bluehost which is a host I've used in the early days of blogs that I've started in the past, and am confident about InMotion also based upon the recommendation of trusted friends who swear by them.

Step 3: Set Up Your Blog

If you've gone with Bluehost as your domain and hosting provider, installing WordPress is super simple. In fact Bluehost have created a simple video to show you exactly how to do it:

If you have any trouble during this process, they have a live chat support system which enables you to ask questions of their support team.

Note: other hosts including inmotion have similar simple install systems for WordPress but if you run into trouble WordPress have an installing WordPress page too here.

Once you've completed this process, you now have a WordPress blog installed! Congratulations – you're almost there!

Step 4: Configure and Design Your Blog

If this is your first experience of WordPress you might be looking at the dashboard and wondering what you've done by installing it – it feels overwhelming doesn't it!

Don't worry – you'll pick this up in no time and just need a good walk through!

Configuring your blog

Luckily the team at Bluehost have put together a great series of tutorials that will help you with becoming used to WordPress and also setting things up to make your blog look and operate just right.

Here's a good video that introduces you to what you're looking at on your WordPress dashboard.

And here is another on creating categories and tags for your blog:

One of the most powerful things in WordPress is that it allows you to install and use plugins to get extra functionality on your blog. You might want to save this one to watch later but it will help with making your blog more feature rich.

Designing your blog

Another thing you'll want to do now is to think about your blog's design. First impressions count for a lot so you'll want one that says something about the type of brand you're trying to create and that helps you stand out in the crowded blogosphere.

Bluehost have a video that shows you the basics of setting up and choosing a design theme but can I echo the advice in the video about investing in a 'premium theme' for your blog.

While there are many thousands of free themes out there, this is an area that it can be well worth investing in.

Last time we surveyed ProBlogger readers, we found that most ProBlogger readers agree with this, and have premium themes as the basis of their blog designs. While they will cost you to buy, if you get one from a reputable source they'll be secure, fast, have good search engine optimisation, will be designed for mobile as well as desktop, and be easy to install and customise.

The premium theme supplier that I have used over the years and highly recommend is StudioPress (aff). I've used their themes in the early days of numerous blogs and love their design but also support. I love them so much I've allowed them to put my face and testimonials all over their site :-)

To be honest – the design part of setting up a blog is the bit I find hardest. It is definitely possible to do it 100% yourself (and there are many tutorials around that will help you learn the skills to do it) but for 99.9% of new bloggers a theme that you tweak is the way to go.

The other option if you're super serious is to hire a designer to do a custom design for you. But that is likely to cost you some significant cash to get a reputable designer and so a them is probably the best place to start.

Don't stress too much in the early days – we all start with a design that we later look back on and cringe a little at. The main thing is to get set up and evolve from there. My key tip is to choose a simple, classic and clean design that you can add a simple logo to to make it a bit more individual and then get on with blogging!

Step 5: Start creating useful content that serves readers

OK – hopefully by now you've got your domain, hosting, have installed WordPress and have your theme installed. You have started a blog… but you're not a blogger until you start creating some content for your blog!

I can't really tell you what to write on your blog for your first post – because it is something that will vary a lot from blogger to blogger – but I'll share some links below that might help give you some starting points.

What I can point you to is a couple of helpful videos from our friends at Bluehost again.

There are two types of content that you are able to create for your blog in WordPress – 'Pages' and 'Posts'.

Pages

Pages are the 'static' pages on your blog that won't really change that much but which you'll link to from your menus and navigation areas on your blog. For instance here on ProBlogger my 'About Page' and ‘Speaking Page' are created using a 'page'.

Your first page should probably be an 'About Page' – a page which tells people about you and your blog. It's a page you'll want to show up in your navigation area/menu and is going to get quite a few people read it to understand what you're about as a blogger.

Need help with your about page – check out our previous post on what to include in your About Page?

Posts

Posts are a little different and what you'll spend most of your time creating as a blogger – they're where you create your regular blog posts. Posts will appear on the front page of your blog once they're published. They usually have comments and a date to show readers when it was published.

Let's start by creating an 'About Page'. It's easy to do – in fact if you know how to use a word processor like Word then you should be ok!

Here's exactly who to do that with our friends from Bluehost:

Next it is time to write your first blog post.

Once again the content is going to vary a lot from blog to blog but how you get that post up onto your blog is a relatively simple process and one that you're going to become a master at in no time!

In fact you're going to find this process very similar to creating a 'page' for your blog. Here's a last video from Bluehost on creating 'posts'.

Have you started a blog?

If you’ve used this guide to start a blog I’d love to hear from you in comments below. Feel free to let us know what blog you started and how you found using this guide including how we could improve it to make the processing of getting started easier.

The post How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps appeared first on ProBlogger.

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How to Be a More Consistent Blogger

I wanted to discuss this topic on today’s ProBlogger podcast after a question from Jason Stevens from Digital Tools of the Trade – how do you maintain blogging consistency?

If this is something you struggle with (it would be the rare blogger who didn’t at some point!), I hope today’s tips help keep your motivation out of the pits, and your blog out of the dead zone (and if it’s content ideas that are hindering you, don’t forget to download our free file with 180 blog post ideas to help keep you on track).

If it’s something else that holds you back, you might find today’s discussion is just what you need – and if it’s something else you struggle with, please feel free to leave a comment or a tweet and let me know what it is.

Discussion points:

Managing your expectations
Brainstorming and content idea creation
Prioritising tasks
What to do when you start well but never finish
Ranking post types
Tools
Editorial calendars and content schedules
Getting back to your roots

Motivation changes as every blogger does, but sometimes it just takes one small, simple idea to help you frame your experience differently, and all of a sudden you’re on fire again.

I hope you find that idea today.

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2 Types of Needs Your Readers Have

Here’s what I think is happening.

Most people come to ProBlogger with a need that is quite tangible.

They want help setting up a blog.
They need more traffic.
They have a technical challenge.
They want to learn a technique to help them with their social media.

These specific, tangible needs or problems are what generally drive people to this blog. I can see this because the search results people type into Google clearly show it.

These needs are easy to define and express and in many ways they are external needs. Things that are about my readers blogs… not about them personally.

But there’s another deeper set of internal needs and problems that I’ve noticed readers of ProBlogger have. These can be a bit harder to spot but when I get to know my readers I notice them.

They are needs like this:

I’m frustrated that I’m not getting results
I’m fearful that I look stupid
I’m worried that I’m wasting my time
I’m struggling with confidence
I’m concerned about if I have what it takes to be successful

These more internal needs are often a little more hidden.

We don’t tend to go searching on Google for solutions to them… partly because we don’t like to admit that they are there but also because they are harder to articulate.

But they are there inside most of us.

People Come to Have their External Problems Solved… But they Stay When You Meet their Internal Needs

I suspect most bloggers could come up with similar lists of external and internal needs or problems of their readers.

My suspicion is that people come to your blog looking for solutions to their external needs so solving these is important but if that’s all you do you’ll only ever go so far with building your blog.

It’s when you address both the external and internal needs of your readers that the magic starts to happen.

When you address the internal needs of your readers the connection they feel with you and your blog forms faster, goes deeper and lasts longer.

Perhaps another way to express this is that readers come to your blog to have their external problems solved… but they stay when you address their internal needs.

What does this Mean In Practice?

So how do we take this idea and put it into practice in our blogging?

I’m not sure there is any one way to do it but two thoughts come to mind.

1. Mix Up Your Types of Posts

If you have a blog that is predominantly a teaching blog (like mine here at ProBlogger and at Digital Photography School) you’re probably spending most of your time writing about external problems.

From time to time throw in a post that is purely addressing an internal problem.

For example: a couple of years ago I wrote a post here on ProBlogger on the topic of dealing with Fear. I’ve since done a podcast and livestream on similar topics. All of these posts generated an amazing response.

In a similar way my podcast where I talked about my health journey, weight loss, diet and a variety of other personal things has been one of my most listened to podcasts.

2. Create Content that Addresses Both Needs

It isn’t always practical to have posts that go ‘off topic’ into more personal ‘inner’ focused topics. I know if I did this on ProBlogger too often that while some readers wouldn’t mind that it could put off other readers.

So a better solution is to create content that addresses both needs.

This is something I want to do more in my own content and will be encouraging my writers to do too.

It might be as simple as starting a practical teaching post with a story that reveals your own feelings, experience, failings, insecurities with the topic.

For example I was speaking with one blogger recently who writes tips on how to raise kids well. Her posts were quite clinical and practical in the way that she wrote.

The headline and opening line would state what problem the post would solve (always an ‘external problem’ like ‘my kid is angry’ or ‘my child wets his bed’ or ‘m child is being bullied’) and then the blog post would give practical tips on how to solve the problem.

The blogger told me that she was ranking ok in Google but that she got very few comments and hardly any subscribers.

I encouraged her to experiment with starting each post in a more personal tone to establish a connection with her audience before giving the tips.

She began to share a story (either from her own personal experience or a client) at the start of each post. Most of the stories identified not only the tangible problem that the post would address but also other internal feeling that parents have (self doubt, worry about the future, confidence issues etc).

The results were amazing and instantaneous.

Comment numbers increased from 1-2 per post to 10-20 per post.
Weekly email subscriber numbers increased by 105%
The number of people sharing her content at least doubled
Within a month she had doubled her monthly unique reader numbers
The number of emails the blogger received increased and the nature of them was more personal
The rate that the blog drove new clients to the bloggers business increased

To be clear – 90% of the post didn’t change. They remained practical, clinical and actionable but they were framed better and readers responded.

Are You Addressing Your Readers Internal Needs?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post. Are you a blogger who focusses mainly on the external needs of your readers? Could you tweak your approach to address some of the internal ones too?

Or perhaps you’re a blogger who has the opposite problem – it strikes me that maybe there are bloggers whose main focus is writing about the internal needs of their readers who could potentially benefit from writing about some more external problems too.

Either way – I’d love to hear how this post connects with you and to hear about your experiences and even to see some examples of the content that you’ve created that relates to this topic.

The post How One Blogger More than Doubled Her Comments, Traffic, Shares and Subscribers With a Simple Tweak appeared first on ProBlogger.

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And you started this post with a personal story, although 90% ... by Josh
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How to Write a Book that Will 10x Your Email List | Sumome

I will just say that this came at the right time for me. The very right time.

3 Experts Share Their Number 1 Tip for Inbound Marketing | Drum Up Blog

If you’ve got a site and you want to sell a product or service on it (perhaps even the book you wrote in point number one1), have a look at how the experts recommend you go about it.

12 Proven Productivity Hacks to Help You Win Every Day | Michael Hyatt

We are all so busy. So busy. It pays to look at your workflow and evaluate – how can you do better? I love the suggestion of getting ready the night before, I often find I’m throwing together a quick to-do list for the next day as I finish the first one. Helps me hit the ground running!

What Factors Actually Influence Your Facebook Reach | Edgar Blog

“You should think of pre-scheduling updates as a way to make time for more live interaction, rather than a way to replace live interaction” – bam! This was a good one.

How to Turn Your Blog’s Thank You Page Into a Lead Generating Machine | Grow and Convert

While you’ve got them there, you may as well pique their interest with your other wares!

How to Create 10x More Content | Moz Blog

In this edition of Whiteboard Friday, Rand takes us through a hack to have you churning out posts that are 10 times the quality of other bloggers in your niche like never before.

12 Bad Habits That Are Making You Less Productive | HubSpot

I couldn’t agree more with all of them.

What Are You Competing On? | Seth’s Blog

What you focus on, you create – are you creating the wrong thing in the name of being competitive? Not in a bad way competitive, but just trying to get your stuff seen in a hyperconnected world? What could you be focusing on instead?

5 Dang Good Reasons why Writers Should Think of Themselves as Content Marketers | Copyblogger

I’ve been talking to a few people lately who think that as amateur or hobby bloggers (or writers without traditional credentials, or writers who write non-online things as their main focus) aren’t “good” enough to really be considered content marketers. Copyblogger and I disagree with that! You’d be surprised how far a knowledge of storytelling will get you…

10 Tips for Food Photography While Travelling | Digital Photography School

Close cropping is my trade secret! Now if they could just tell me how to shoot photos in a dark restaurant at night while travelling, that would be great

What caught your eye this week?

The post Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately? appeared first on ProBlogger.

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thanks – changing now by Darren Rowse
The last link should be: ... by Matt

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Big fan here! I wish I knew those things before start blogging. ... by Mihai
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Generate Your First 100 Sales

Firstly, we cover where to start:

Stage 1: Finding Industry Experts

Finding these influencers is very simple, with the tools now available. you can use sites such as Izea, Buzzsumo or you can manually find the individuals by searching through twitter or YouTube – often you’ll know who the big players are in your niche.

This also works for blogs, although it is more difficult to gauge the popularity of a blog. I recommend SEMrush to discover the worth of a blog if you are to be finding them manually.

Once you've gathered a list of influencers (I recommend around 100-200) you need to find their relevant contact information, websites, social accounts, everything they are associated with on the web.

Our end goal is going to be getting our product, service or website shared through these channels, so knowing how powerful or important someone can be for your business is essential. Getting their correct contact information is even more essential.

Once you have this information you can move onto stage 2.

Stage 2: Initial Connection

Never contact an influencer and just start pitching.

It's likely they receive hundreds of emails a day, and anything considered self-promotion will just be deleted. Instead, you want to build a connection. You want to make your communication personal and personable.

I did this by asking a question, stating I was a fan of the blog/channel and explaining what we needed. For example opinions on product X or Y, or a quote for an article you're putting together.

People like to talk about themselves, so ask for their opinion whilst also building a relationship with the individual. Talk about mutually interesting and beneficial things, and always let them know what’s in it for them.

Always keep these emails short and simple.

Stage 3: Give Value / Free Product

Once you've built a relationship with someone, the next step is give them something of value or a free product.

However.

This is where 95% of businesses get it wrong.

They will ask to send an influencer a free product in return for a shout-out or review, and this is not the correct way to go. It can even drastically reduce the number of people that will say "yes" to you.

Instead, you should write a positive email talking about how you'd like them to "test" the product you are creating and that you welcome their feedback. Let them know how taking the time to trial your product will benefit them. What are you offering that will be worth it?

Instead of the influencer feeling used or leveraged solely for their audience, they may feel now that they are helping to shape the product and its marketing, particularly if you take their feedback on board.

If they like your product they will probably naturally share it with their audience.

Pro tip:

This is why we also didn't bother with anyone that has over 500k followers or subscribers and tended to reach out to people around the 10-50,000 mark as they may be more amenable to this way of working. Someone with more followers might perhaps be represented by an agent or have sponsorship deals in place that would not allow them to work with you.

Bear in mind, though, that bloggers may indeed want compensation other than a free product for their time, effort, and access to their audience.

smartphone-friends-internet-connection

Stage 4: Follow up & Re-connecting

Following up is key, especially if you've physically mailed a product to someone.

The easiest way to do this is this is to simply ask if they have received the product. You can also take this 1 step further by asking what they thought, without any pressure (especially if they’ve not had time to look at your product yet). A gentle reminder that you’ll be emailing again soon for their opinion would work really well.

Again you can take this another step further by asking if they would recommend it. If they say yes, then you can politely ask them to share through social. If they say no, then ask why and how you could improve the product – market research on your doorstep!

How can this work for a blog?

If you've been reading this article thinking you don't have a product to offer, yet you have an established blog, I'm going to explain why this strategy can work to generate you thousands of visitors, which in turn can lead to ad revenue or growing your email list and a whole host of other benefits.

Stage 1 (influencer prospecting) should be exactly the same, you are looking for influencers with a large but not overly large following. You should also aim to keep these people niche relevant to your blog if possible.

Stage 2 (outreach) is similar but slightly different: as well as introducing yourself and mentioning benefits, you should also ask for their opinion on a key issue, or ask if you can get a quote for an article you’re writing while you have them. Chances are they will say yes and give you a quick sentence or couple of paragraphs on the issue.

This means you can now create an amazing piece of content around this topic or issue, which can be used as your gateway into more of your blog content.

Stage 3 (value / free) can be added, although this tends to be difficult, usually it's easier to simply respond with a thank you email explaining you're here to help if they need anything, and also remember to state you will email them once the article is live. You can offer to share on your own social and email list as much as possible.

Stage 4 (Re-connecting) once the piece of content is live, you should individually reach out to these people stating the content is live, thanking them again for their contribution. Also remember to add the following sentence – "If you share this on social, remember to tag us on [twitter username] [Facebook URL] so we can re-tweet/share." This works perfectly as you're not asking them to share directly but you're reminding them that it would be helpful to your cause!

These pieces of content generally get shared by the influencers you've contacted and hence you get a flood of targeted visitors to your site. This leads to more followers across social channels and usually new email subscribers too.

The below traffic screenshot shows how we utilised the expert round-up (on a relatively unloved blog) and the spike it received in traffic in November 2015.

Screen Shot 2016-03-22 at 1.36.16 pm

Tom Buckland is the CEO of HQ SEO and marketing director of My Local Services. A UK-based digital marketing consultant Tom works with businesses to create online marketing strategies to generate more clients.

The post How We Generated Our First 100 Sales for Free (and How You Can Too) appeared first on ProBlogger.

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Let me know your results! by Tom Buckland
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Get Your First Month of Blog Prompts Today

If you’re already a subscriber you’ll have received an email in the last 24 hours with your download but if you’re not a subscriber you can sign up for the monthly blog prompts and our weekly updates from ProBlogger here.

My friend has been using this list now for a month and each time we chat she tells me what a relief it has been to have the prompts. While not every prompt will be suitable for every blog I have designed them in such a way that each month there are prompts for different kinds of posts (i.e. opinion posts, learning posts, inspirational posts, reflection posts etc).

In total over the coming 6 monthly emails you’ll receive 180 ideas. Use them as daily prompts or spread them out further and they might last a full year!

So if you’re ready for some help with coming up with content ideas – signup for ProBloggerPLUS here.

The post I Brainstormed 180 Blog Post Ideas for You [Free Download] appeared first on ProBlogger.

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Landing Pages for Bloggers

I love this episode for many reasons – Tim gives us a fantastic insight into what LeadPages the company has learned in the last few years, Tim’s unexpected career background, how networking snagged him the Conversion Educator role, and Tim’s answers to your listener questions. We had so much to talk about in so little time!

Things like:

What landing pages are and why they’re useful for bloggers
What the benefits of LeadPages are over plain WordPress pages
What opt-ins are and why you need them
Webinars
The elements of a successful home page
LeadPages tools like LeadBoxes, LeadDigits and LeadLinks
Content upgrade ideas
Examples of successful landing pages
What you can use LeadPages or landing pages in general for (even if you think you’ve not got much to offer)
How LeadPages can help market research and product launches

Value Bomb Reverse Landing Page

Sounds confusing, and maybe even counterproductive, but it’s actually super useful – you create something of massive value, with tons of content, that takes a long time to create – but it is a huge lead generator for years to come.

Tim talks about examples of pages that work, what kinds of content are the most successful, how to add video to enhance your value bomb, and how to take the next steps in the journey – webinars, courses, followups, etc, that will hook your readers in and keep them there.

Common Mistakes Bloggers Make with Landing Pages

It’s bound to happen – there are as many landing pages to have as there are bloggers, but over time the best strategies emerge.

We talk about the kinds of things you should definitely avoid if you’re hoping to convert your readers into raving fans, from having no offer at all to keyword-stuffing – a huge no-no!

The Next Thing for Marketers

Tim also goes into what he thinks will be popular in the near future, after seeing the amazing things that marketers are doing online – things like how list segmentation can be fantastic, unique strategies for canvassing your readers, how to control the frequency of emails according to reader preference (even if they’re all different), and how to ascertain what those preferences are.

LeadPages Offer for ProBlogger Readers

If you sign up for any annual two-year plan at LeadPages here (disclosure: we are an affiliate for LeadPages), you automatically receive these bonuses:

Custom Designed One Page Resource Guide Lead Magnet ($197 value)
The Landing Page Course ($500 value)
The Webinar 2.0 Course ($197 value)
The Pre-sell Formula ($997 value) – program that tells you how to build a list, research and pre-sell a product before it is created
Special Darren Rowse opt-in Template

Special offer ends on March 31st, so you better hurry.

You can see our new opt-in using LeadPages here.

The team at LeadPages created a template for us and we edited it ourselves. You can do the same with access to our drag and drop template if you sign up using our exclusive LeadPages offer.

You can also find the show notes for today’s episode here, and chat with Tim on Twitter @TimThePaige or Facebook here.

Comments

By: Rose | RoseBakes.com by Rose | RoseBakes.com
Landing page is the most important page of the website. An ... by bharat
GG Darren, another good episode.. thanks by Husnain
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5 Blogging Strategies I’m Betting on This Year

To help you keep up with things, take a look at these five blogging strategies that I'm betting in 2016.

1. Master the Art of Guest Posting

There is no doubt about it: Guest-posting works.

It worked in 2013, 2014, and 2015. It will work in 2016.

An effective, well-thought-out guest posting strategy helped me drive thousands of new users to my site Web Hosting Secret Revealed (WHSR), and I saw a substantial increase in traffic thanks to the strategy.

However, the key to a successful guest posting strategy is to make your guests posts as helpful as possible if you want to lure in readers and entice them to click on the link in your author bio.

To maximize the impact of your posts, be sure to keep the following in mind:

Leverage the power of the curiosity gap

In order to get users to make the leap from your guest blog post to your website, you need to pique your curiosity. You need to make it clear that you have something of value to offer, and then make your reader wonder what types of valuable content could be available on your site. In other words, you need to make them curious enough to want to find out more.

When I am guest posting on a blog, I always like to use my own personal experience as an example for this very reason. Once people are familiar with a personal experience of mine, they are more likely to be curious about what other strategies and tips I can offer them, and therefore much more likely to investigate my website.

All in all, as part of an effective guest posting strategy, you should always make an effort to harness your readers' curiosity and turn it into a propelling force behind driving more traffic to your website.

Maximize the value of the space in your bio by including a follow-up link.

A great way to maximize the full potential of guest posting and get more traffic to your site is by posting some kind of follow-up link in your bio.

For example, let's say that you share tips on how to make money blogging in a guest post, based on your own personal experience with professional blogging. You might add in the guest post that there is a post on your own blog that explains strategies to minimize your tax bill on that blogging income, and put the link in your author bio. You'll pique your readers' curiosity, and will be able to direct them to your own site, where they can find information that is directly relevant to their interests and needs.

The bottom line is that guest blogging is a tremendously effective strategy. There is a demand out there for blog content, as Internet users spend three times as much time reading blogs and social media posts as they do reading email. Guest blogging is a great way to meet users' desire for blog content and direct them to your own site.

2. Marrying Blog Niche with Other Topics

In order to expand your blog's readership, it is beneficial to tie a topic in your niche into another topic. By merging two topics together, you'll have more material for new content, which translates into a bigger reach on social media, an expanded readership, more links, and a more loyal following.

Expand your reach on social media

Chances are, if you are recycling the same points over and over again into different blog pieces, you aren't maximizing your reach on social media, as you aren't tapping into new audiences.

By marrying your niche with other topics, you will be able to expand your reach on social media, becoming visible to people who might not have a direct interest in your niche, but do have a direct interest in the topic you are marrying into your niche.

That means new talking points that will attract new readers.

Expand your readership.

By marrying your niche with other topics, you will be able to attract new readers. For example, let's say you have a blog with tips, strategies, and information for aspiring professional bloggers. If you write a post explaining how to start a gardening blog, you will not only attract readers who are interested in blogging, but also readers who have an interest in gardening, but maybe not a direct interest in blogging. That is a whole new audience for your content.

Here are a few success examples that we tried at WHSR in 2015. We are certainly upping on this strategy this year.

What can you learn from the vampire diaries about keeping readers engaged – Copy writing tips + Vampire Diaries (drama)

Why a golfing blog may be more profitable than you think (and how to start one) – blog monetization tips + golf

5 reasons why a Sim City player could be your next social media manager – social media marketing tips + Sim City (PC game)

A more loyal following

Readers appreciate variety. They don't want to be reading about the same things over and over again. They want your blog to be a source where they kind find information that is new, but still relevant and valuable to them. When you marry your niche with other topics, it opens your blog up to a whole host of new content ideas. That's good news for your readers, who will undoubtedly appreciate your creativity and your ability to stand out from the rest. And a happy following translates into a more loyal following, which is good news for your blog.

So how you can incorporate this strategy into your own blogging efforts?

The key is to try to find unique and innovative links between topics that might not seem like they organically connect.

For example, what is your favorite game? Can you merge your current niche with the game? What about your favorite TV shows? Can you write about the lessons you've learned from the shows? With a little bit of creative thinking, you will be able to come with topics to marry into your niche in no time at all!

3. No More Comments

I am closing down the comment feature on posts at WHSR this year because I believe that it is simply counterproductive.

It takes a significant amount of time and energy to reply to all the comments received in a relevant and valuable way, and I don't really believe it helps our readers much. The vast majority of the times, readers don't come back just to read the reply to their own comment, and new readers are not digging into others' old comments.

Furthermore, in most cases, little help can be offered in just one comment. After all, there is only so much space that a public comment provides.

To ensure meaningful communication with my readers, I much prefer email. It's more personal and I can provide more information. Ultimately, the comments section simply isn't adding value to user experience in a constructive and meaningful way—so now is the time to give it the ax.

4. Write Extremely Long Posts

Many bloggers think that short posts are better when it comes to capturing users' attention. But shorts posts aren't necessarily the best posts. Forget about 500-word blog posts. Extremely long posts are the way to go.

Instead of writing three 1,500-word blog posts, I am now encouraging WHSR bloggers to write a 4,500-word post instead.

Why?

The secret is that extremely long posts help readers for real, providing them with much more information. Furthermore, publishing extremely long posts gives us more talking points and more ground to promote on social media.

The down side of writing extremely long posts is that you lose some hurried (or lazy) readers. But in contrast, long posts always perform the best in engaging readers and converting visitors into fans.

Credit

5. The Power of Facebook

There is no denying it: Facebook is huge. It's a social media giant, and it is bigger and more popular than any other social media site out there. Facebook has over 1 billion daily active users, including 167 million daily active users in the US and Canada, and close to three-quarters of online adults around the world visit the site at least once a month.

Put simply, you are losing out on a lot if you are not leveraging the power of Facebook Ads platform.

Of course, as many people have already pointed out, Facebook organic reach is decreasing. While this is unfortunate, it is absolutely no reason to give up on the platform. An excellent way to improve the visibility of your blog and drive more traffic to it is to harness the power of Facebook Ads.

It is incredibly easy to get started with Facebook ads.

Entry cost is very low, and it is incredibly effective as a marketing strategy, overall. As of April of 2015, the average click-through rate of a Facebook ad was 1.5 percent and the average cost per click of the average Facebook ad was $0.27, which is pretty good. And with an effective Facebook ads strategy, you will see results.

Numbers don't lie, and WHSR has seen some pretty impressive numbers thanks to Facebook.

In 2015, traffic to WHSR from Facebook had higher-than-average conversion rates, better bounce rates, and the most pages per visits. That means that when using Facebook to direct traffic to the site, I'm not only getting more traffic, I'm also getting better traffic. The users are more engaged and more likely to convert. Of course, to maximize the impact of your Facebook ads, there are a few things that you should know.

fbstats-1 fbstats-2

To run better Facebook ads, keep these three easy tips in mind:

Keep it short and simple.

Research clearly shows that Facebook wall posts with less than 80 characters routinely see 60-percent higher rates of engagement than longer posts. So the best way to attract the attention of Facebook users is to keep things short, sweet, and to the point. For example, one easy way to write your ad copy on FB is by using this formula: Stop being stuck in [blank]! Get [solution].

Test different images.

Quiz time. Here's an Ad set I ran to promote our blogging guide (this page).

fbimage

Which of the above gets the most clicks in my recent Facebook Ad?

Was it –

A. An Asian girl looking slightly above towards audience, or

B. A picture of SOHO work space that (might) intrigue viewers’ emotion, or

C. A picture of an exotic animal that look into viewers’ direction?

The answer is A. An Asian girl looking slightly above towards audience.

Not a big surprise though – as studies have shown again and again that photos of people (females, especially) draw most attention on Facebook (and most other social media platforms).

What amazed me is the huge difference in results between picture A with the other two – In the ad sets I ran on Facebook, picture A were far better in term of engagement/impression (by 135%+ vs the loser), CTR (by 120%), and costs (by ~200%).

Moral of the story – Images will have a significant impact on the performance of your ad, so choose wisely.

In fact, images have had the biggest impact on the performance of all of my Facebook ads. You need to find the image that maximizes both click-through rate and conversions, and the best way to do that is through testing. Don't just assume an image works. Always prove it by testing it. That way, you'll optimize the success of your campaign.

Retarget your blog visitors using Custom Audience.

Remember, Facebook uses the relevance score to determine how relevant your ads are to their target audience. This score is a combination of a number of different metrics, including engagement, conversions, and click-through rate.

Facebook ad cost-per-click drops significantly with better focusing on the audience, as the higher the relevance score, the less it will cost to display your ad (the idea behind this is that Facebook wants to incentivize advertisers to only show content that is relevant to an audience in order to maintain a positive user experience).

A great way to maximize this relevance score is by retargeting your blog visitors using Custom Audience, enabling you to show ads to people who have visited your blog but may have left without engaging with your content or converting. Keep in mind that in order to do this, you will need to add a site-tracking tag to your website so that users can be identified via browser cookies.

All in all, just investing a little time and money in Facebook ads can lead to significant gains in visibility, so it is well worth your time.

Jerry Low is a geek dad who enjoys building web assets and growing business online. You can find out more about his work at WebRevenue.io/blog

The post 5 Blogging Strategies I’m Betting on This Year appeared first on ProBlogger.

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It seems just about everyone is using Slack these days, and if you’re a member of several groups, the notifications can get out.of.control. And if you’re responding to notifications as they come in, then you’re slashing your productivity. I love the tips in here that show you how to make Slack work for you by making use of the options available to you – as they say, sometimes the default setting isn’t the right one!

Facebook Live Video to Get Priority in News Feed | Marketing Dive

Yes, again FB is changing up its algorithm. And again, it’s prioritising its own features – this time, live video. Facebook wants you to be on Facebook, so will shoot livestream video to the top of the newsfeed, and other pre-recorded video will be demoted. Along with every other update you’re trying to share with your audience <insert side-eye emoji here>.

Killer Takeaways from a Bestselling Book Launch | Michael Hyatt

Michael recently launched his latest book Living Forward: a Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, and his Chief Marketing Officer Chad Cannon outlines all the things they did that worked. If you’re creating your own products, writing a book, or launching something for your audience, take a peek at how Chad and Michael got it so right.

An SEO Warning to Bloggers | StewArt Media

If you write a review on your blog in exchange for money or product, you need to be adding nofollow tags to your post – Google has announced it will be cracking down on exchanges for backlinks on blogs, and will move to penalise those in breach.

5 Books for the Entrepreneur | Potential Psychology

A fantastic roundup of books to read that will help you on your online journey.

Credit

16 SEO Experiments That Will Change the Way You Think About SEO (Forever) | SEO Sherpa

Fascinating results from real-time experiments, some conducted by Rand Fishkin. And a tip – if you’re not ranking for Rich Answers, you better get on that!

10 Creative Places for Opt-In Forms That’ll Supercharge Your Signups | Boost Blog Traffic

Don’t just go the usual places – stand out from the crowd! It’s often that element of surprise that shows you mean business – and are worth following.

Instagram Testing New Algorithm-Driven Feed | Wall Street Journal

To the groans of just about everyone everywhere, Instagram is finally doing what we all knew was only a matter of time: introducing a news feed algorithm. Bye bye real-time updates in your newsfeed and hello whatever Instagram deems worthy. Sigh.

New WordPress Plugin to Create Facebook Instant Articles | The SEM Post

You will probably want this in place for when Instant Articles are available on Facebook on April 21, particularly if you don’t have a coding background. If it’s a new function, you know Facebook will make it a priority in the news feed!

The Content Delusion (or, Why You Still Need to Hustle) | Jonathan Fields on Medium

Because people aren’t just gonna come running to you every time you post content. Also top tips for how to hustle when you’re an introvert.

So what caught your eye? How many of those books have you read?

The post Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately appeared first on ProBlogger.

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Thanks. Yeah, I find the book insightful. I hope you like it, ... by Debjyoti Ghosh
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Nice Article Darren ! Blogging is still alive and one of the ... by Reon
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