“How do Bloggers Continue Their Professional Development?” plus 1 more |  |
| How do Bloggers Continue Their Professional Development? Posted: 22 Sep 2021 07:00 AM PDT The post How do Bloggers Continue Their Professional Development? appeared first on ProBlogger.
I have a confession to make: I was a bit of a geek at school. I was the kid who asked questions all the time. What can I say? I loved learning. And I still do. Every part of the process is exciting for me – learning new things, meeting new people, and being inspired. So imagine how excited I was when I left school and discovered my employers would actually pay me to learn. 'Professional Development' quickly became my two favourite words. Unfortunately, being paid to attend conferences and stay in nice hotels so I could learn and network ended when I left the corporate world. And who pays for your professional development when you're a blogger? That's right – you. Working for yourself means there's no training and development are who'll pay to keep your skills up to date. But because I value it so much, I've kept investing in my own professional development since going solo. And in this blog post I'm going to share some of the learning opportunities the ProBlogger team and I recommend.
Blogging Courses and ResourcesOf course, a big part of what we do here at ProBlogger is provide access to free and affordable content to help you with your blogging. ProBlogger has more than 8,000 free blog posts and a full curriculum of 9 courses covering everything from Starting a Blog to Creating Content, Finding Readers, Building Community and Making Money blogging. We’ve also got a collection of useful resources available in our ProBlogger PLUS Member’s Library (free to join if you’re not already a member).
However, we are the first to acknowledge and embrace the fact that you can’t be an expert at everything and that within the world of blogging there’s so many different people with their own remarkable zones of genius. That’s why at ProBlogger, we love the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit, which is a collaborative bunlde of resources from some of the most knowledgable blogging experts.
The Genius Blogger's ToolkitProBlogger has contributed to (and been an affiliate for) The Genius Blogger’s Toolkit for years because it represents such amazing value and provides a really accessible way for bloggers to continue to develop professionally. The team at Ultimate Bundles has put together the best resources on all the topics that matter to bloggers – mastering social media, monetization, creating and selling products, time management and productivity, growing an email list, and so much more. All-up there are 76 resources in the toolkit. The eBooks, eCourses, templates and workbooks alone are worth a combined $6,309.98. And on top of that you get $300+ worth of bonuses help you run your blog better. But the best part (and one of the main reasons we take part each year) is that you can get the lot for just $97. That's about the same as a course or a few eBooks. There's even a full 30-day happiness guarantee, which means you can try it out without any risk.
This year Problogger has contributed a product called “Workshops & Masterclasses” which is a collection of 27 presentations from blogging experts on their best, most practical strategies and tactics recorded live at ProBlogger Event.
To give you an idea of the incredible value in The Genius Blogger’s Toolkit, you can purchase ProBlogger’s Workshops & Masterclasses separately for $99 USD (and it’s WORTH IT!). Or you can get it and the 75 other eBooks, eCourses, templates and workbooks alone for only $97 USD (but for a strictly limited time only). Here's where you can learn more and buy the bundle. But be quick – it's only available until 11:59pm EST Monday 27th September 2021.
Further EducationA more traditional and probably a larger undertaking When I realised my traditional sales and marketing skills were in danger of being superseded in a digital world, I enrolled in a Diploma in Digital Marketing. It wasn't strictly blogging related, but it covered content marketing, social media, advertising, PR, acquisition/conversion/retention strategies and much more. Do those skills sound familiar? They should – I use them pretty much every day to manage the ProBlogger and Digital Photography School blogs. I studied online for a year to get my Diploma in Digital Marketing through the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing in the UK. It's fairly intensive, requires two assessments, and you even need to physically sit two exams despite being an online course. (My writing hand was almost dead after writing with pen and paper for six hours.) Would I do it again? Yes. Sure, it was expensive. But being taught industry best practice by qualified professionals and getting a formal certification at a Bachelor Degree level was definitely worth it. ConferencesThe last 18 months, with the advent of Covid-19, has seen conferences and live events largely curtailed. Certainly in Australia, given lockdowns and border closures, ProBlogger’s annual event has been impossible. However some events have proceeded overseas and as online summits instead. Usually, when you can travel, but have to pay for your ticket, airfares, transport, accommodation and room service, you become very picky about the conferences you go to. Which is why 'looking local' is your best first option. I was lucky. One of the first blogging events I went to (a ProBlogger event, where I met Darren for the first time) was right here in Melbourne, Australia. Of course, there have been other great local events, but I'm proud to say I've been involved with the ProBlogger Events here in Australia for the past five years. If you want to get a taste for ProBlogger Event you can actually watch Darren deliver his “Evolve don’t Revolve” keynote presentation from our ProBlogger PLUS Member’s Library. If there isn't much happening in your local area, you may need to look further abroad. My first international blogging conference was BlogHer in New York in 2012. It was quite an experience for me. I got to meet a lot of bloggers, and be exposed to new ideas and new ways of doing things. I also learned about sponsored content trends (which was new to me at the time) that would soon be heading to Australia. One I wish I could get to more often is Mike Stelzner's Social Media Marketing World in San Diego. I was there in 2015, and appreciated the focus on social media, which was becoming more and more a part of a blogger's online environment. In recent years the agenda has expanded to include more content marketing and a dedicated stream for 'creators' such as bloggers and podcasters. You'll usually find Darren speaking at this event – it's one his favourites, too. There's another one that isn't strictly blogging, but can give you insights about the kinds of marketing skills you can consider – Hubspot's Inbound in Boston. It's the one where I flew to the other side of the world only to get locked out of Seth Godin's keynote. (Oops!) If you're looking for conferences, Social Media Examiner has a list of events being held around the world. There's also a comprehensive directory of 400+ worldwide digital marketing events at marketingterms.com.
Blogger GroupsIf you're looking for more free advice and support, Facebook Groups can be a fantastic resource for new and advanced bloggers alike. While many Facebook groups are set up for paid courses (and therefore restricted), there are still plenty of free ones. ProBlogger Community is our free closed Facebook Group where Darren and I hang out with nearly 10,000 bloggers. It's a great place to ask questions, offer valuable tips, and help each other. It costs nothing to join – you just need to answer three simple questions). And we have guidelines on taking part in the conversation that help stop it from becoming spammy and self-promotional. It's also a great place to get direct input from Darren. We direct most enquiries we get via our contact form to the group, so you're more likely to get his attention this way.
Original Post published Oct 6, 2017 updated 23 Sep 2021.
What are some other ways you've progressed your professional development since becoming a blogger?
The post How do Bloggers Continue Their Professional Development? appeared first on ProBlogger.      |
| Why Blog Post Titles Are Crucial Posted: 21 Sep 2021 07:09 AM PDT The post Why Blog Post Titles Are Crucial appeared first on ProBlogger.
One problem that I regularly saw in the days that I took on blog consulting work was bloggers who spent hours and hours slaving over the writing of quality posts only to take 5 seconds to slap a very ordinary title on them. While poor titles won’t have as much of an immediate detrimental impact as some of the other ways of letting a blog go that we’re exploring this week – over the long haul it can really hold a blog back from reaching it’s full potential. Why Blog Post Titles Are CrucialI can not emphasize enough the importance of the titles of posts. They matter for numerous reasons: 1. Your Title Acts as an Advertisement for your Post – the handful of words that you choose for the title of your post determine whether it will be read by the vast majority of people who see it. In a time where people scan hundreds of posts quickly in RSS feeds, are presented with thousands of alternatives when they search in Google and run their eye over many new posts on social sites like Digg or Delicious people are increasingly making decisions on the worth of posts and whether they’ll engage with them based upon titles. In effect your title acts as a mini advertisement for the rest of your post. 2. Titles Are Important in SEO – the words in title of your post have more power than any other words in your post when it comes to how that post is indexed by Google and other search engines. If you’re looking to get ranked for a certain keyword you had better find a way to get it included in your title. The reason for this is that SE’s look at titles as indicators of topic of posts. They also look at ‘title tags’ and the permalink structure of pages (the URL) – both of these things are usually connected with your title. 3. Titles are a key for Viral Content – I’ve already mentioned Social sites like Digg and Delicious in my first point above. Titles are KEY for these types of sites not only because they draw people from them to read your content – but because the title itself can be the sole reason that some users of these sites vote for your posts. It’s a sad thing really, but some social bookmarking site users don’t actually visit sites before they vote for them but instead vote up (or down) posts based upon their titles. While this seems a little pointless it can actually be important as their vote might tip your post into a ‘viral’ surge of actual traffic. Solution: The solution to the problem of good content but bad titles is fairly obvious – take more time with your titles. If people make a decision whether to read your post based upon your post titles if you are not giving them considerable thought you are almost wasting your time slaving over your actual posts. 5 Tips For Developing Great Post Titles for Your BlogI’ve written a lot of advice previously here at ProBlogger on writing titles including: 1. Keep it Simple – Most research I've seen into titles seems to argue that the most effective titles are short, simple and easy to understand. While breaking these rules can help grab attention (see below) they can also confuse, frustrate and put a glazed look in the eyes of potential readers. Shorter titles are also good for Search Engines – keep it under 40 or so characters and you'll ensure the whole title appears in search results.
2. Grab Attention – Good titles set your posts apart from the clutter around them and then draw readers into your post. Grabbing attention might happen using tactics of 'shock', 'big claims', 'controversy' or even 'confusion'. While these tactics do work at getting people in – it should also be said that they can do more damage than good if the rest of your post doesn't live up to the promises your title makes. By all means try to grab attention – just just 'trick' your readers into thinking you'll provide them with something you can't give them.
3. Meet a Need – An effective title draws people into reading more because they feel you've got something to say that they NEED to hear. Indexes like del.icio.us illustrate just how effective this is. Quite often the articles that get to the top of the list are 'how to…' or 'tutorial' type articles that show readers that they will learn how to solve a problem or need that they might have.
4. Describe Your Post – Some readers will be drawn into a post by a cryptic title that doesn't tell them much about what they'll be reading – but the majority of readers need to know something about what they'll find if they read further. Titles should describe (in a word or few) what readers will get in the main post.
5. Use Key Words – As I mentioned above – titles are a powerful part of SEO. If you want to maximize their power you need to consider using the keywords that you want your post to be found with in your title in some way. This of course is challenging when you are attempting to 'keep it simple' and to also 'grab attention and intrigue' – but it can be done. Words at the start of titles are thought to be more powerful than words at the end when it comes to SEO. ‘Bonus’ idea – Hit the News Stand:Head to your local News Stand and spend some time looking at the titles and headlines that are used in newspapers and magazines there. You can learn a lot from this type of analysis about what types of words and what patterns work in headlines. See this technique explored further both here at ProBlogger and at CopyBlogger (the master of great titles). Brilliant Headline ToolOur content scheduling tool – Coschedule also has a brilliant tool – called their Headline Studio which analyzes your headline for power words, emotional words and common words and gives your headline a score. You can then work up better headlines with their upgraded headline recommendations, resources, and inspiration. Share Your Best Post TitlesGot some good blog post titles to share with us? Leave them in comments below and tell us the story behind them, the strategy that you’re using and what impact they had.
Original post published 20 Jun 2008 Updated 22 Sep 2022 Photo by Philipp Pilz on Unsplash The post Why Blog Post Titles Are Crucial appeared first on ProBlogger.  |
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