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In a way I feel sorry for somebody just starting out with their
blogging career. One source tells them they need to publish a post
every day, another tells them they need to publish less frequently but
make it better quality, and out there in left field is some guy that
says you can do whatever the heck you want, it’s all about promotion.
What’s a new blogger to do? The answer might surprise you.
There Are No Absolutes
The first thing you need to understand is that there are no absolutes
in the world of blogging. So anytime someone tells you you “have”
to do something, take it with a grain of salt. Every blog is
different, every blogger is different, every blogger develops his own
unique marketing approach and every blogger has different goals. All of
these “differences” will have an effect on how frequently you need to publish your blog posts and it’s something only you can decide.
That said, let’s take a look at the “Publish Everyday” concept because it does have its merits.
Most new visitors will arrive on your homepage, which means the first
thing they’re going to see is your most recent post. And since people
are so busy these days, in many cases that’s the only post they’ll read
during that initial visit. If they like it, they’ll be back, and that’s
why it’s so important that you post frequently.
If that new visitor comes back tomorrow and sees a completely new
post – and if he likes this one, too – he’ll be more likely at that
point to subscribe to your blog, or he’ll at least bookmark it so he can
find it again the next day. Now he’s hooked and he’ll be back.
On the other hand, if he sees the same post he saw the day before, he
may not be quite so excited about finding you again the next day. In
fact, he’ll probably trip over another interesting blog since you didn’t
have anything new to say and he’ll forget all about you.
Now, let’s take a look at that “Quality vs. Quantity” thing…
Let’s say you do publish a new post every day and that second post he
sees is poor quality because you’re burned out from writing blog posts
every day. That second post is your hook and in this case the bait
doesn’t look very tasty. You’ve just lost what could have been a long-term repeat visitor who might have shared your content with his thousands of followers.
Now, the idea that you “should” decrease your frequency and
put a stronger focus on content has one major drawback: Too many
bloggers take this as an absolute. If you’re blogging in a niche like
Celebrities, you may have to publish multiple posts each day just to
keep up with all the celebrity news. Back off to three posts a week and
you might as well hang up your bloggin’ shoes no matter how great your
posts are.
The other drawback to decreasing your frequency is that too many
bloggers take this as a license to slack off. “Well, so-and-so said I
only need to publish three times a week, so I guess I’ll go to the beach
today.” Again, there are no absolutes, but if your goal is to build a
successful blogging business then this probably isn’t the best way to do
it.
What’s The Best Posting Frequency?
The best posting frequency is the one that works best for you and your business. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:
How frequently can you publish top-notch content indefinitely?
You’re going to be blogging for a very long time and you’re going to
have a lot more to do than just write blog posts. As your business
grows, so does your work load. As you learn more about your niche and
your audience top-quality posts might be quite involved and take you
hours or even days to produce.
How frequently do you need to publish to be competitive? The celebrity niche is a perfect example. Watch sites like Celebuzz.com or GoFugYourself.com
and you’ll see they publish sometimes a dozen or more posts each day.
If you don’t want to publish that frequently, or you can’t for whatever
reason, then you’ll need to find some other way to be competitive.
How frequently will your audience expect you to publish?
If you’re blogging about string theory you may only need to publish
one in-depth post a week to satisfy your readers. However, it’s going
to have to be one heck of a post to keep your readers satisfied until
you publish again. I’ve seen bloggers who only publish once a month and
their blogs do just fine. In this case, it helps to let your visitors
know when they can expect your next post. Better yet, tell them to
subscribe so they don’t miss it.
What is your goal for your blog? Is your blog going
to be your only source of online income or are you just using it to
promote your main website? I know a freelance writer who only publishes
a post about every six weeks because she uses her blog mainly for
writing samples.
How fast do you want to grow your business? If your
goal is to grow your business as fast as possible then the only way to
do it is to publish top-quality content frequently. And by “frequently” I mean you may have to publish a blog post every day, a guest blog post three or four times a week, submit articles to directories, and create offsite properties weekly.
It’s just a fact: Quantities of quality content is what it takes to
build a good, solid business. But remember – the decision is up to you.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
I know several bloggers who make money writing blog posts for others, and a quick tour of sites like Elance and even Fiverr will show you that freelance blogging is big business.
As you become better known in your niche, you may also have other bloggers approach you asking for blog posts.
The question I’m often asked is: How do you know how much to charge?
You don’t want to charge too much and lose the gig, but you also don’t
want to give it away for free.
When charging for your blogging services there are several approaches you can take:
Charge by the word: This is pretty old-style and
you won’t see it much anymore, but some bloggers charge by the word.
For example, they’ll charge 20 cents a word, which works out to $100 for
a 500-word article.
Charge by the article: This is probably the most
popular method. Bloggers agree to write a post for $10, $30, $350, or
whatever they agree on. Generally, a minimum length is also agreed on.
Charge by the job: More and more bloggers are realizing the benefits of being a long-term contributor on a high-ranking blog. They might charge by the week or the month, or a set number of posts,
etc. In cases like this you might also want to consider lowering your
fee a little in exchange for some type of promotion for your own blog.
Charge by the hour: I know a freelance writer who
writes for several blogs and she charges by the hour. It’s not a common
practice but it works for her because she’s a fast writer but some of
the content she produces requires hours of research time.
If you’re looking for a suggestion, there is no “industry standard.”
You’ll find high-quality writers on Fiverr.com who’ll write a 500-word
blog post for just five bucks, and at Elance you can probably find
someone who’ll write for half that. On the other side of the coin,
you’ll find A-list bloggers who charge $200 just to open up their laptop.
What Is Your Time Worth To YOU?
In the end, what matters most is that you’re making the money you
want, and need, to make for the amount of time you’re investing. This
is where most bloggers make a fatal mistake, and it’s fodder for a whole
‘nother article, so I’ll try to keep this brief…
You need to consider three things: How much money you need to make
to meet your financial obligations, how much money you want to make to
meet you personal goals, and how many money-making hours you actually
work each week.
If you sit at your desk 40 hours a week, chances are you’re not doing
something that makes money every single hour. You’re promoting your
blog or answering emails or organizing your day or… you get the picture.
Let’s say you decide you want to make $25 an hour, which isn’t
unreasonable at all these days. If you can write 2 blog posts in one
hour then you’d want to charge at least $12.50 per post. Charge less
than that and you’ll always be behind the eight ball.
However, you also need to include time you spend researching your
articles, formatting, and any other tasks you agree to perform.
Keep in mind, too, that there are plenty of people out there willing
to write for pennies on the dollar. If you want to charge more, your
writing has to be worth it. Your content has to attract traffic and
keep readers on the page.
There are bloggers out there who can command hundreds of dollars per
post, but they’ve been at it for a while, they know all about SEO and engagement, and they attract tons of traffic wherever they blog because they have a stellar online reputation.
Don’t worry. You’ll get there, too.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
If you were serving up content that people really wanted to
read, you’d know it. You’d have comments after each post, you’d be
getting emails from your readers, and they’d be sharing your links all
over the web. If you’re not seeing any activity then something’s not
right. You might think you’re writing to your audience, but here’s why
you’re not.
You Heard It Was Best To “Just Be Yourself”
There’s a big difference between “just being yourself”
and writing for your audience. The first thing you need to do is
decide what audience you’re going to be addressing. If you’re going
after the online gaming crowd and every word you type sounds like it was
put on the page by Shakespeare you won’t make much of a connection
because you’re not writing to your audience – you’re writing for
yourself.
“Just be yourself” means you don’t pretend to be someone
you’re not and you don’t pretend to have more knowledge than you really
have. You don’t make up “facts” and try to blind your audience
with B.S. And when it comes to blogging, you shouldn’t even pretend to
have an interest in a subject if you really don’t. You’re going to be
blogging about that topic for a very long time. But before you even
reach the burn-out stage your readers are going to see through your
disguise.
You Heard You Should Schedule Your Posts
I once followed a blogging guru who suggested you fill up your blog
with at least 60 to 75 posts, scheduled out over the next 3 to 4 months,
before you even launch. Most of those posts are going to be written
for you, not your readers, because you haven’t even met your readers
yet. Other than performing the basic keyword research, how can you tell what your readers really want before you even launch your blog?
You Heard You Should Make A List Of Keywords And Start Writing
I’ve met a few bloggers who do extremely in-depth keyword research
before they start a new blog. I’m talking about thousands of keywords,
answering every possible question. The set up their blog and just start
writing. In a way, they’re covering all the bases because they’ve done
such extensive research. However, they’re not paying attention to
their audience – they’re just writing a new blog post every day.
Each and every post sounds like it was written by an encyclopedia
salesman and the calls to action – when they appear – are weak and
half-hearted. These bloggers are so engrossed in production that they
forget they have an audience to impress.
Take the time to read the comments you do get and not only reply, but
use them for content on your blog. Address those commentors by name,
inside your posts, and show them how important they are to you. It
doesn’t matter if you like your content, you won’t be clicking the links
on your own blog. What matters most is what your readers think. So start writing for your audience.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
If you plan to make money with your blog then it’s important to
understand keywords. All keywords, to start with, but buying keywords,
to be more specific.
Those longtail, general keywords are great for bringing in visitors
who are just starting their search for information, but you really want
to attract visitors who are ready to buy.
What keywords will they be using? Product names and brand names.
It’s estimated that the average visitor will conduct approximately 7 to 10 searches before he buys something online.
But most bloggers just assume that those searches are going to be for
general information so they load up their blogs with hundreds of
informative articles, focusing on every general keyword they can come up
with.
But here’s what really happens…
Let’s say Paul is planning to go camping in Alaska. He knows he
needs to buy a tent but he has no idea what kind he’ll need for the
frozen tundra in Alaska.
So his first search will use just the simple keywords “Alaska camping trip, tent.”
He’ll probably read an article that talks about “thermal” tents or “insulated tents” and start using those keywords to narrow his search. For example, he might search for “Insulated tents for camping in Alaska.”
With each new keyword he’ll read another article and add another
keyword until he finally lands on an article that tells him if he wants
the best insulated tent for camping in Alaska, he should look at the XYZ Triple Insulated Tent by the XYZ Company.
At that point, Paul is ready to buy. If Paul is reading your blog
and you’ve included a link to this super-insulated tent, he’ll probably
click on that link and go read the product information.
However, if you haven’t included a link, Paul is now going to go to his search engine and type in either the product name – XYZ Triple Insulated Tent – or the brand name – XYZ Company.
He will likely click on the first three or four links that appear in the index, compare prices, and make his purchase.
Use General Keywords: General keywords are broad,
like – shoes, tents, cookies, books, bikes, cars, and so on. They’re
generally only one or two words long.
Searchers today have enough knowledge about how the Internet works to
know that they’ll save a lot of hassle if they start narrowing their
search right away, so most will start with “vampire books” or “mountain bikes.”
Use Longtail Keywords: Longtail keywords are usually at least three words long – “romantic vampire books” or “mountain bikes for racing.”
The searcher hasn’t decided exactly what he wants yet, he’s still
looking for information. Each new word helps the searcher narrow his
results.
Use Product And Brand Names: When the searcher finally starts entering product or brand names, that means he’s ready to buy.
When you understand how your visitors conduct their search, you can improve your blog’s conversion rates
by addressing all types of keywords and using internal linking to lead
your visitor from that very first general search all the way to your
sales page.
But you can increase your conversions even more if you use product and brand names as keywords, too.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
If you freak out every time you hear the term “search engine optimization”
don’t worry. It’s not something you have to learn all at once. In
fact, seasoned bloggers are constantly tweaking their blogs to make them
rank better with the search engines, so it’s an ongoing process that
continues for the life of your blog. To help you get started, here are
three beginner SEO tips to make your blog more successful.
Update Your Keywords
When you first set up your blog you probably entered some keywords
that help define your blog for the search engines. Typically, this is
done somewhere on your blog’s dashboard in the Settings menu. If you
haven’t done this, you need to do it now. If you have, it’s time to
take a look and maybe freshen it up.
Keywords often go through changes or trends. For example, one person
might call them thumb drives, another person calls them USB drives and
someone else calls them portable drives. You should include all of
these keywords in your description so no matter what someone calls them
the search engines will know they can find the information on your blog.
Blog Structure
You can quickly improve your search engine
rankings by making a few structural changes on your blog. Your site’s
load time is one of the key metrics Google uses to determine ranking.
The following changes will help improve your load time:
Resize images: When you upload full-size images
that are too large for your blog your blogging platform has to adjust
the size internally. If you have a lot of images on your blog this can
seriously affect your load time. Use an image editor to resize your
images to the proper size before you upload them to your blog.
Minimize image use: Some blogs just naturally need a
lot of images and that’s fine. But if your doesn’t, then delete those
you don’t really need. Unless you’re posting screen shots for a How-To article the most you should need is one image per post, and sometimes that’s not even necessary.
Eliminate flash elements: Flash videos and images
will seriously cut into your load time and they’re not visible on a lot
of mobile devices, which is an important consideration these days.
Navigation: Are your sidebars free of clutter? Can
your visitors easily see and read your navigation bar, and the various
menus in your sidebar? Are you using keywords for titles and categories
so the search engines can easily identify your content?
Internal linking structure: The search engines give high marks to sites that have a strong internal linking structure. Include deep links to relevant content on your blog to lead the search engines and keep visitors on your blog longer.
Content Formatting
It’s also important to use some formatting within each blog post.
This makes your content easier to read for both the search engines and y
our visitors.
Use Sub-Headings: Use the H1 and H2 tags to
highlight sub-headings. This larger font draws the reader’s eye and it
indicates to the search engines that this is something important.
Keywords: Use a keyword in your title, headings and sub-headings.
Bullet Points/Numbered Lists: Bullet points and
numbered lists also make it easier for your visitors to get your
complete message and the search engines like it when you take care of
your readers.
Bold/Italics: The search engines recognize that
bold or italic fonts indicate something you want to highlight. However,
use them sparingly. Too much and the search engines just think you’re
being spammy, and it can make it difficult for the visitor to read your
post.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
Business blogging is a little bit different than standard blogging where you try to deliver great content and form a relationship with your readers. A business blog
is meant to attract customer or clients to your business, not a group
of friendly visitors who occasionally buy a garden hoe you’re promoting.
Since you’re addressing prospective clients you want to present
yourself as a professional business person, someone they can rely on to
get the job done.
Here are 10 principles of successful business blogging to help you tailor your content.
- Use Your Professional Voice: You’re trying to impress potential clients here so get rid of slang, foul language, and txt-ese.
- Edit Your Content: When you’re done writing your
blog post, go back over it. Read it out loud to hear what your visitors
are hearing. And for goodness sake – get rid of spelling and grammar
errors.
- Learn to Be Concise And Coherent: Pretend you’re
addressing the Board or your employees. Deliver your information in a
clear, concise, easy-to-read manner and then check it to make sure it
flows smoothly and coherently from Point A to Point B.
- Speak to One Person: To make a stronger connection
speak to one person only when you’re writing. Don’t imagine yourself
addressing a whole group. This comes across in your writing and when
your visitors feel like they’re part of a group they don’t get the full
impact of your message.
- Don’t Get Too Personal: It’s important to
introduce yourself and maybe give a personal example or two. But too
much personal information just turns readers off. Remember: Keep it
professional.
- No Trashing Your Opponent: Statements like “I
believe our service is the best because…” are fine, in fact the use of
the word “I” always makes an impact. But naming your competition and
trashing them online only makes you look like a loser.
- Share Information: Too many business bloggers
think they have to focus strictly on their own business but your readers
will also appreciate hearing about technological advances, trends or
other newsworthy events happeneing throughout your industry. Plus,
sharing information lets your readers know that you keep up with these
trends and advances.
- Quality Trumps Quantity: Remember, you’re trying
to impress readers and attract new clients. If you don’t have the time
to crank out a quality post every day then don’t do it. Better to take
the time to write quality, professional blog posts than to post a bunch of drivel that only impresses readers with your lack of knowledge or professionalism.
- Be Respectful: If you’ve paid attention to SEO
then each person who visits your blog is a potential new client, and if
they’re impressed, they can share your blog posts with thousands of
other potential new clients. Therefore, treat your readers just like
you would a potential client who walks through your door. Be gracious,
respectful and courteous. Ask questions that encourage a comment.
Answer questions as soon as they’re asked.
- Don’t Start A Business Blog If You Can’t Maintain It:
The worst thing you can do is set up a business blog, post for a few
weeks and then drop it. Visitors see that you haven’t posted for a
while and they think your business went under, or worse, they think you
just don’t care. If you can’t maintain it either hire someone to handle
it or don’t start it at all.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
