Business Articles
“Your Morning Cup Of Marketing Know-How”
Let’s say you’re thinking through domain names for your new website, and you’ve shortlisted a few ideas.
If the one you want is available, it’s a no-brainer to go ahead and register it straight away.
Except…
… there’s one crucial check you need to make.
Is your domain name open to misinterpretation?
Let me share a few domain names with you:
www.penisland.com
oddsextractor.com
whorepresents.com
Did any (or all) of those sound a bit inappropriate for inclusion on DailyBlogTips?
Here’s the actual names of the sites in order:
Pen Island
Odds Extractor
Who Represents
Unfortunately, their domain names are far too easy to misread … as you may have noticed!
Does your domain name fall into this trap? (Even if it’s not a rude misreading.) If you think there’s room for misinterpretation, you might want to run it past a few friends or fellow bloggers – ask them to read the domain name then tell you the name of the site.
If you’re attached to the domain name you’ve chosen, you could consider adding a hyphen:
www.pen-island.com
www.odds-extractor.com
www.who-represents.com
We’d normally recommend avoiding hyphens (URLs are cleaner, simpler, and easier to remember and to spell over the phone without them) but in these cases, they’d probably be a good move.
Have you ever come across an all-too-easy to misread domain name? Share it with us in the comments.
original source: dailyblogtips enewsletter
Business Articles
“Your Morning Cup Of Marketing Know-How”
Black Hat vs White Hat SEO: What You Need to Know
You’ve probably noticed that the internet can be a bit like the Wild West.
Newbies ride into town regularly – often with high hopes of getting rich quick. Perhaps you’re one of them (or perhaps you can at least remember those days).
“Snake oil” salesmen make outrageous promises about how their product can solve all your problems (usually with a heavy dose of yellow highlighter, and a few fake countdown timers).
And just like in the West, there are goodies and baddies – “white hats” who obey the law and “black hats” who break it. In fact, you may well have heard of “white hat SEO” and “black hat SEO” already.
Online, Sheriff Google lays down the law – and you definitely don’t want to get caught doing something you shouldn’t.
So let’s take a look at what you need to know.
What’s SEO?
SEO stands for “search engine optimization”. It’s the practice of getting your website or blog to rank highly in search engines – particularly Google, which dominates the market.
Sometimes, you’ll also hear “an SEO” used to mean “a professional search engine optimiser”.
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO is SEO that goes against Google’s rules. It results in a website that Google won’t want to promote because no-one will want to read it.
Black Hat practices include:
- Paying another site to link to yours.
- Creating keyword-rich links using dodgy techniques, such as trackback spam.
- Participating in link exchanges with sites that have nothing to do with yours.
- “Scraping” other people’s content to use on your site.
- Using hidden text that readers can’t see but search engines can (e.g. putting lots of keywords in white text on a white background).
- Getting your site linked to from link farms.
(You can find a fuller list of Black Hat practices here.)
Basically, if a technique sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You can’t automate the process of building links to get hundreds overnight.
White Hat SEO
White hat SEO plays by the rules. It results in a website that Google naturally wants to promote, because it’s full of great content and easy for readers to engage with.
White Hat practices include:
- Creating high-quality content for your blog.
- Using WordPress or another solid CMS (content management system) for your site, so it’s well structured.
- Writing great guest posts for other blogs, putting the relationship (not the backlink) first.
- Using Google Webmaster Tools to fix any problems with your site.
- Crafting clear, direct titles for your posts that use the same keywords readers would use.
It might seem like a no-brainer to you that White Hat SEO is the way to go … and we agree.
Black Hat SEO may lead to some quick results … but these will be swiftly followed by a huge drop in traffic when Google catches you. (And bear in mind that Google’s algorithms are getting cleverer all the time.)
As Daniel explains in Business is a Marathon, Not a Sprint, you should focus on the long-term, not on short-term results.
By using White Hat practices, you’ll be sure of building a site that stands the test of time. You won’t have to worry about Google updates knocking you down the rankings, and you’ll also find it easy to engage in other kinds of marketing – like using social media – because you’ll have something truly valuable to offer your readers.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this too: are you actively using SEO techniques to get more traffic to your site? And have you ever used Black Hat methods (perhaps unwittingly) – or are you firmly on the White Hat side?
original source: daily blog tips enewsletter
Business Articles
Shadowbend Studios’ Monday Morning Marketing
“Your morning cup of marketing know-how”
4 Steps to Creating Better Goals for Your Blog
If you don’t write down your goals with clear instructions, your plans will be mere wishes.
I read the post Daniel brought to us to usher in the new year Write Down and Share Your Goals, and I thought it would be a good idea to expand on it to make sure you maximize the potential of your blog in 2014 by being specific about your goals.
Write down Your Goals
This might seem obvious and an echo of what Daniel said earlier, but this is still a very important step. You must be clear and concise with your goal writing. You can’t leave out anything, and you can’t imply it because your subconscious won’t understand it when you see it again.
It is best to have 5-10 goals in present tense, as active, affirmative statements.
- I post 3-5 posts a week on my blog…
- I earn $500-$1000 from my blog a month…
- I am a successful blogger…
Write the Time Frame You Want Your Goal Completed
To reiterate: If you aren’t specific about your goals, you are merely wishing. If your goals do not have a deadline (somewhere between 3 months to 1 year), you’re unlikely to reach them.
Some people are reluctant to set deadlines, but they do three things to help you along.
- You will have the date in the back of your mind, even if you only write it once.
- You will be accountable, which will motivate you more than fear or shame from others.
- You will be able to prioritize your work accordingly.
If you say “I post 3-5 posts a week on my blog by March 31st, 2014,” you are committing to do just that.
Write What You Will Do to Complete the Goal
Flesh out your goals so that they become real plans. Add a line to each of them explaining what exactly you plan to do.
If you say “I post 3-5 posts a week on my blog by March 31st, 2014 by writing two short posts in the morning to create a back catalog,” you are now committing to what you’ll do and taking it upon yourself to adjust your morning routine to accomplish this.
Repeat Writing Your Goals until You Complete Them
There is something to be said about repetition. Through the act of writing your goals down every day, you are reinforcing your desire to do the task at hand. It will infuse your day with energy and emotion as you keep going through your day remembering what you wrote down.
It’s fine to change the wording of the goals, and their order, especially early on. You might have your posts goal in the number 3 position, but then the next day you have it in the number 6 position. Just keep writing them down. As your priorities change, so will your goals. This is a necessary part of the process.
Results!
I tested this out for myself from Sept. 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2013. I wrote down 10 goals to start off with, but trimmed it down to 5 to make sure I could accomplish what I set out to do. They were:
- I am a successful writer, completing 5 stories to 2nd draft by December 31st, 2013 through dedicated morning writing and taking any opportunity I can to write during the day.
- I am a well-read person, completing 10 books on writing by December 31st, 2013 through reading first thing in the morning as I wake up for 30 minutes each day.
- I am a learned person, earning two certificates through Coursera by December 31st, 2013 through focused study and diligent note taking when the classes were released.
- I am a wiser saver, setting aside $2500 by December 31st, 2013 through a tighter budget and setting aside at least 10% of my income (and whatever bonuses I acquire).
- I am a healthier person, weighing 200 pounds by December 31st, 2013 through better eating and steady exercise.
I am pleased to say I completed four of the five goals I set out for me by December 31st, 2013 (sadly, my love affair with burritos keeps me above 200 lbs).
With these steps, even just a few written goals can change your life.
Happy blogging! Once you’ve written down your goals, tell us about them in the comments.
original source: ali luke, daily blog tips enewsletter
Business Articles
“Your Morning Cup Of Marketing Know-How”
8 Ways to Create Shareable Social Media Content
According to Jonah Peretti, founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, creating content people love to share is the key to success.
Self-titled as the ‘hottest, most social content on the web,’ BuzzFeed features content ranging from breaking news to cat pictures that make you ‘LOL’ (laugh out loud).
Peretti emphasized one important rule for content, “You need to spend 50% of your time on the idea and 50% on how you spread it. Not 95% and then only a tiny portion on how to spread the idea.” Quality alone is simply not enough to making something spread, you need a strategy.
When it comes to creating content people will love to share, anyone can do it. Keep these eight helpful tips in mind next time you’re thinking of what to post.
1. Have a heart
Emotional intelligence is important when it comes to creating relevant social media content. The formula for success, in regards to social media marketing, begins with showing your fans and followers that you genuinely care about them. Focus on starting a conversation, not advertising your services. Listen and pay close attention to what your customers have to say and get to know them. This is what builds strong relationships. By recognizing the things your fans and followers care about (relevant to your business), you can create a meaningful community.
Also, don’t be afraid to add personality to your content. Prove to your fans that there is a living breathing person (or people) behind your brand. Content should never be dry and lifeless. Your audience may be professionals, but that doesn’t mean they’re not human. Remember, people use Facebook to make social connections with friends. Make your brand feel like a friend.
2. Discover what drives them
People use social networks to build profiles that express who they are. Consequently, people share content that helps them share their identities. This may sound harsh but it’s not likely that people are passionate about your actual product. It’s what your product enables them to do or what it allows them to express about themselves that’s important. What does your business’s product or service say about those who use or buy it? Tap into these insights and tailor your social content to speak to the unique personalities of your customers. This will create a vibrant, engaged community of people with common interests and passions.
3. React fast
During the Super Bowl blackout, Oreo got so much buzz from their on-the-fly Facebook post. The ad said, “You can still dunk in the dark.” It was incredibly simple but so successful because it was timely and subtle. Oreo reacted to an unexpected event and in turn created the most powerful ad on one of the most expensive advertising days of the year, for free! When your posts are timely, they feel more authentic and genuine. As a small business owner, you can use your smartphone to instantly react to breaking news or simply share an in-store exchange.
4. Walk a mile in their shoes
Cute animals deserve respect. ‘Huh?’ What Peretti meant is that you should be human and empathetic. Put yourself in the shoes of your fans and followers. The best content is content that is emotional. Use the perspective of your audience to shape the nature of your community.
5. Make them laugh
Perretti made a great point, “When you go out and laugh with your friends, you don’t remember the jokes, only that you laughed.” You don’t always have to fixate on the value level of your content. The emotion your content elicits is what creates a memory. It’s not mandatory that every post makes you ‘ROTFL’ (roll on the floor laughing), but humor is important when it comes to connecting with people socially.
6. Use nostalgia socially
People use social media to express themselves and share their past experiences. Content that pays tribute to something your customers might miss or may have forgotten creates connections amongst customers who share the same emotional reaction. This will create social chatter and engagement.
7. Take a stand
Caring about something that ‘matters’ is absolutely something people want to express. Nonprofits have a great advantage here. Let the passion you have for your organization shine through and if you’re not a nonprofit, show customers the ways your business gives back. You also shouldn’t be afraid to share the positive causes you stand behind. Be inspiring and your readers will be inspired to share.
8. Keep it classy
When people search for content on Google, they assume no one is watching. When people consume content on Facebook, they know everybody is looking. In fact, people are 25% less likely to purchase an embarrassing item online if there’s a social media button next to it (25% more likely if it’s an item they’d be proud to own). If you ever have any hesitation about posting something socially, don’t post it.
These 8 useful tips will help you create socially shareable, relevant content. Just make sure you spend as much time getting your content out there as you do actually creating it.
original source: constant contact blog
Business Articles
“Your morning cup of marketing know-how”
What to Do if Blogging Doesn’t Excite You (And When to Ignore the “Rules”)
By Ali Luke: Daily Blog Tips eNewsletter
In our survey last year, one reader wrote: “I just can’t seem to get excited about blogging. I understand that videos are a must.”
This raises two key questions:
How do you get fired up to blog (or how do you recapture that enthusiasm if you’ve lost it)?
Do you have to follow the rules – the “musts” of blogging?
It seems to me that trying to follow all the rules is an easy recipe for losing your enthusiasm (and as I’ll explain in a moment, the good news is that you don’t have to take every piece of advice going).
Getting Excited About Blogging
While you may well be blogging for a purpose like making money or building an online platform, you want to enjoy the process, not just the end result.
A blog takes up a lot of your time and energy, over months or years. If you feel “meh” about blogging, then either you won’t get far, or you’ll have to keep on forcing yourself forward – which isn’t much fun.
While there are plenty of practical ways to recover your blogging motivation, if you never feel excited about blogging, you might need to sit back and take a look at what’s going wrong.
If you feel completely unenthusiastic about your blog, ask yourself:
1. Have You Chosen the Wrong Niche?
Perhaps you picked something that seemed like a good money-making opportunity, but you’re really not interested in it. Or maybe your niche was so narrow that you’ve run out of things to say.
2. Do You Interact with Other Bloggers?
I don’t just mean leaving comments or retweeting their posts. Do you go to conferences or meetups of bloggers? Do you get together on Skype, or exchange emails? Other people who “get” what we do can help us get excited about it.
3. Do You Need to Take a Break?
If you’ve been blogging for months and months, and it’s wearing you down, perhaps you need to take a few weeks off. (This can also be a good opportunity to assess what you might want to change about your blog.)
Not Every “Rule” is Right for You
Personally, I’d find it pretty hard to get excited if I tried to follow every single blogging rule I’d ever heard. Like:
- You should post every day if you want traffic.
- You need to leave loads of comments on every blog.
- You should email five new people every day.
- You must create videos.
- You have to build a really big audience before you think about monetizing.
… and so on.
Some of these “rules” are useful advice in some circumstances. (Number 5 is just plain wrong, but some new bloggers think it’s true.) But there’s no single rule that’s going to make your blog succeed or fail.
If you’re struggling with a particular rule, like “you must create videos”, then ask yourself:
1. Is This Rule Out of Date?
Sometimes, advice changes, either as the blogging world itself shifts or as bloggers learn more about what does and doesn’t work. When I first got interested in blogging, blog carnivals were a big deal; today, you hardly ever hear about them.
2. Is This Rule Ignored By Other Blogs?
How many big blogs can you think of that don’t post anywhere near daily? Jon Morrow’s Boost Blog Traffic and Glen Allsop’s ViperChill both come to mind – both highly successful blogs.
While we do post daily (Monday – Friday) on DailyBlogTips, we don’t advise all bloggers to do the same. If you enjoy posting frequently and your audience are engaged, by all means stick with it – but you might want to ask your readers what they want.
3. Is This Rule Making You Want to Quit?
If the thought of producing videos makes you shudder, then it’s probably not right for you. While it’s a good idea to take a step outside your comfort zone, don’t let the rules force you away from blogging (or put you off even getting started).
There’s no single “right” path to success as a blogger, whatever some gurus might have you think. If the rule is getting you down, then it’s time to ditch it.
How excited are you about blogging? And what’s the worst “rule” you’ve come across (and perhaps even tried to follow) during your time as a blogger? Let us know in the comments.
original source: Daily Blog Tips eNewsletter
Business Articles
“Your morning cup of marketing know-how”
“Five Practical Steps to Recover Your Blogging Motivation”
by Ali Luke
It happens to almost every blogger at some point. You start losing interest in your blog. You get busy, and you post less frequently. Perhaps you take a week off … and it becomes a month, and then three months.
It can be really tough to re-motivate yourself, especially if you started blogging with high hopes of a six-figure income within your first year, and you’ve been faced with the reality. There’s often a lot of work between where you are and where you want to be.
But you know, of course, that if you give up now, you’ll never succeed. Here’s how to get your motivation back.
Step #1: Look at Your Non-Blogging Life
Let’s face it, there’s a lot going on in your life – and you may find that some things are interfering with your blogging. Maybe you need to drop or cut back on another commitment. Maybe you need to improve your organisational or time management skills so the rest of your life doesn’t crowd into your blogging hours. Or maybe you need to take care of yourself before taking care of your blog – it’s hard to focus if you’re stressed or feeling low.
Even at times when it looks really hard to fix things, find a way to take one small step forward.
Step #2: Write Down What You’ve Achieved With Your Blog
Even if you’ve only been blogging for a month, you’ve achieved a lot.
For instance:
- You got your blog online – that’s more than many people manage!
- You wrote at least one post, and probably quite a few more.
- You got your first readers (they still count if they’re family and friends).
- You probably connected with other bloggers in your niche on social media or forums.
When you only look ahead at the distance between you and your goals, it can feel like you’ve got a huge mountain to climb and you’re right at the bottom.
But when you look back at what you’ve already accomplished, you’ll see that you’ve climbed a big, steep section of that mountain already.
Step #3: Set a New, Short-Term Goal
Many bloggers have eventual goals like “quit my job and live off my blog” or “make six figures a year.” But what would you like to achieve with your blog in the next three months?
That could be:
- Launch my first ebook.
- Get 500 subscribers to my email list.
- Make $100/week.
… or almost anything you can think of that’s realistic and achievable.
Step #4: Create a Plan for the Next Month
It’s tough to be motivated if you have to come up with new ideas every time you sit down to blog, or if you have no idea how your daily efforts will fit into the bigger picture. So make a plan. Do it on paper, in a spreadsheet, with an app … whatever works for you.
You don’t have to map out every single post in detail, but do make sure you’ve got enough ideas to see you through the month – and try to write plans for some of them.
Also, look for one way to take a real step closer to your short-term goal. So, if you want to earn $100/week, pick a great affiliate product that you own and can market, or start offering consulting, or write the sales copy for your first ebook.
Remember, other bloggers have succeeded, and you can too.
Step #5: Talk to Other Bloggers
Whether it’s on Twitter, at a local event, in a Facebook group, in a forum, or even in the comments on DailyBlogTips, chatting to other bloggers can be hugely motivating.
If you’re on Twitter and need a bit of encouragement, tweet met at @aliventures. But don’t stop there: search for other people tweeting about your topic, and follow someone who has roughly the same number of followers as you. Check out their blog, and tweet them to tell them you like it (assuming you do!)
And if you’re struggling today … leave a comment below and tell us why you’re not feeling very motivated.
If you aren’t struggling, look at the comments and leave an encouraging message for someone who’s having a tough time with their blog.
source: dailyblogtips newsletter
