5 Killer Strategies to Help Your Business Dominate Pinterest and LinkedIn

   

Are you looking to expand your social media reach? Have you considered making more of Pinterest and LinkedIn?
They probably aren’t the first social networks you think of when you consider marketing your business via social media but that doesn’t mean they can’t be effective. They each have millions of users so the potential is there for any business.
For some tips on how to make the most of Pinterest and LinkedIn take a look at this infographic from Awareness Networks.

http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2014/12/04/5-killer-strategies-to-help-your-business-dominate-pinterest-and-linkedin/

6 Great Examples of Facebook Quiz Marketing

 

Which Thanksgiving food are you? Which punk icon are you?  How will you meet your significant other? Were you cool at school? Which Emoji Should You Be Reincarnated As?
The list of quizzes can go on and on as the Buzzfeed’s army of 100 content creators produce one to five quizzes every day and millions of people keep taking them.
Buzzfeed’s “What City Should You Live In?” has generated 20 million unique visitors and they says that “quizzes are smashing traffic records and generating more Facebook comment threads than any viral posts in the site’s history”.

It’s nothing new

The “Personality Quiz” phenomena is not new. It existed in lifestyle magazines (especially in women’s and teens’s titles) for decades.  The social media environment & Buzzfeed gave it a push, which lead the quizzes to a totally new level.
Sherry Turkle, the MIT psychologist and cultural analyst, said

“People have always been taking quizzes, but before social media you were doing it for yourself, but now they are specifically for performance. Here, part of the point is to share it, to feel “who you are” by how you share who you are.”

So the important moment is not just taking the quiz, but sharing the results with your friends and followers.

How can your Facebook page benefit from this hype?

Facebook quizzes can bring you the desired virality and they can boost the engagement levels on your Facebook page.
Thanks to Facebook applications you have two options to execute your quiz story:

1. Personality test

This personality test application will give you the option to create any kind of personality test you want.  It will be a super fun promotion of your brand or product.
Besides the fact that users will take the test and see which persona are they, they will also enter the competition (if you will execute this kind of promotion).
The “quiz type promotion” can give you a  flow that will involve your fans & followers from start to finish as you can generate a unique content and use it in your posts (intro post, displaying the  different personas; displaying the results  in the middle of the competition; closing post).
And lastly: you can use the quiz app to test and measure your community.  In this way you will use the app as a poll or survey.
They can help you make the decisions before the launch of the new product or service. With the quiz app you can crowd-source the information about the desired  color of your new product or about  the price of the product/service.
Involving them in the pre-launch stage is something that users will surely appreciate.

 2 . Knowledge test

This knowledge test application will give you the ability to create a more “serious” kind of promotion.
The answers will be scored and at the end of promotion you can reward entrants which scored the highest number of points.

 Before you start creating you quiz story!

Most important step is to find the unique connection to the brand/product/service. Be creative and explore the different possibilities and territories.
And remember that quizzes (and the results) must be be meaningful. The whole story, questions, answers and results must make people  believe  that everything applies to them personally. As Buzfeed’s Summer Burton said: “ For our most viral quizzes, the results have to be meaningful in some way. It’s not that they are scientific. It’s just that what they say means something to people as far as their own identity.”

Quiz examples 

Let me give you a few Personality quiz and Knowledge Test ideas to get you thinking. Although you come from other business segments there is surely a way in.

Personality quiz ideas

Just to help you get going here are some personality quiz ideas for your Facebook quiz marketing.
1. Pet shops
Possible questions: What kind of environment do you like? How athletic are you? What qualities describe you? Are you a social type of person? What animal do you like most?

2. Florists
Possible questions: What is  her favorite color? Which ice cream  she would choose?  Which is her makeup style? Dresses she like. Books she read.

3. Insurance company
Possible questions: How long have you had the driving license? Pick your favorite drive. You are getting closer to a traffic lights which is turning yellow. What do you do? How do you feel when your are driving? How often do you drive

4. Shoe shop
Possible questions: Which city you’d most like to visit. Which fashion trend is your favorite. Your nails are painted in which color. What is your favorite drink? Which celebrity style do you prefer?

Knowledge test ideas

Here are some knowledge test ideas to get the neurons moving
5. Travel agency
Let’s say that you have a killer offer for Spain. Instead of  talking only about  the offer you can give them a Spanish vocabulary test.

6. Car company
Give them the questions from real driving tests.  Things will get serious and users will see how good are they on the formal level.
 

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/12/05/6-great-examples-of-facebook-quiz-marketing/#iYLAxAooL57hmX7J.99

Twitter Psychology: 7 Tips to Grow Followers and Use Twitter Like a Pro

Posted in Infographics, Social Media by Mark Ford

Are you looking for ways to improve your Twitter presence? Do you want to increase followers and improve engagement?
Understanding who uses Twitter and why will go a long way to helping you achieve Twitter marketing success – and eLearners have created the infographic below which includes some Twitter stats to help you along the way.
Scroll to the bottom for their 7 tips to help you grow your followers.

http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2014/12/03/twitter-psychology-7-tips-to-grow-followers-and-use-twitter-like-a-pro/

Benefits of Article Syndication (And How to Do it Right)

Article syndication (sometimes called article marketing) is the practice of submitting your articles to others’ websites, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Several years ago, the main reason website owners used this strategy was to create backlinks to their web pages for SEO purposes. That tactic is not as effective now due to all of changes in Google’s algorithms, which is understandable as many people took advantage of the practice by spamming and attempting to manipulate the search engines to increase their page rankings.
However, submitting quality blog content to article directories can still be very effective in promoting your brand and website through the internet if it is done the right way.
The author of this article on Shout Me Loud explains this very well:

“If you consider article marketing as creating relevant and useful content meant for humans and not search engines, then the strategy can still prove to be quite effective, provided you practice it right and do not make it the focus of your SEO campaign.”

Distributing your blog articles to the directories is an affordable and simple online marketing tool because you can re-purpose the quality content that you have already have written for your blog, which includes topics related to your niche.

Article Syndication is beneficial to a small business owner who has a blog for various reasons:

Exposure

Submitting articles to the article directories exposes the author to a new audience that they do not have on their blog. This is because the articles that are published on the article directories are visible to more people who might be interested in knowing more about the services, product or the niche that you write about. This creates an opportunity for you to have more people visit your website.

Brand Awareness

Writing and submitting quality articles to the article directories shows your expertise in your niche or topic. This has a brand value because the articles establish your authority on a particular field. Since the bio/resource box of the published articles will display the name of your company or brand, your company or product will become well-known to the readers. Thus, when readers come across your products or recommendations chances are that they will consider them over those of your competitors.

Website Traffic

Syndicated content can direct more traffic to a website. This is because article directories allow you to include a link to your website in the bio/resource box. When readers find the content of your article interesting or beneficial to them, they will follow that link to learn more about the niche or topic. Thus, submitting articles to article directories increases relevant traffic to your website because the articles are read by the target audience.

Note:  If you are an online business owner that needs assistance promoting your blog, including Article Syndication, Missy and her team can help! Through December 31, 2014,  save $150 on the Novice or Expert Package during Missy’s Holiday Sale.  Find out more information here.

In order for Article Syndication to work properly and effectively, keep these tips in mind:

Content

The submitted articles must be informative and relevant to the target readers in order to capture their attention and interest. Therefore, if you write personal blog posts and informative posts on your blog, make sure you use the articles from your best informative posts when submitting to article directories. Also make sure you choose articles that are a certain length… most directories only require 400 words, but some require 500 words. I have found my longer articles do better in the directories (between 850-1,000 words).

Article Directories

The article directories where you submit your articles must be reputable with high rankings on the search engine or Google to enhance the visibility of your articles. It is also important that you select a few directories where to submit your articles so that Google and the other search engines do not feel like you are being “spammy” (this recent article about Article Syndication on Business 2 Community actually discusses this). I would suggest no more than 10 directories. Make sure the directories allow you to choose what category to use when submitting your articles as you want them to be properly categorized so the right people can find your topic. Click here to get a list of my top article directories.

Now we come to the main reason I have written this article… Duplicate Content and Google

I am sure many of you have read articles online about the fear of duplicate content when syndicating your blog content. Many frown upon this strategy, but as long as you do not attempt to deceive or manipulate the search engines, there is no reason Google should penalize you by not indexing your site.
The following is what Google includes in their guidelines about duplicate content:

“In the rare cases in which Google perceives that duplicate content may be shown with intent to manipulate our rankings and deceive our users, we’ll also make appropriate adjustments in the indexing and ranking of the sites involved. As a result, the ranking of the site may suffer, or the site might be removed entirely from the Google index, in which case it will no longer appear in search results.”

When someone distributes their article to 100’s of article directories (and other websites), Google may look at that as manipulative strategy… especially if the articles are not quality material and the sites publishing your articles are not reputable or ranked by Google.
Therefore, if you submit to the reputable article directories online and you submit quality content, there is no reason your website should be penalized by Google.
I have been submitting articles to a handful of directories for myself and other clients since 2010 and I have not been notified of any duplicate content issues. My blog posts that I have used for article syndication have always been indexed and still are to this day.
So if you keep the above tips in mind when submitting articles, duplicate content issues can be avoided and the set marketing goals can be achieved with ease.
Extra Tip: Recently, I noticed that Google added a section to the duplicate content guidelines that you may want to incorporate with your article syndication procedures. I have started adding the links to my blog posts in the bio/resource box with my articles if the article directory is not a “no-follow” directory (many directories are changing to this by using the noindex meta tag, including EzineArticles.com, ArticleTrader.com and ArticleSnatch.com). As Google mentions, this will help them understand where the original content is housed, which is my website.

“If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you’d prefer. However, it is helpful to ensure that each site on which your content is syndicated includes a link back to your original article. You can also ask those who use your syndicated material to use the noindex meta tag to prevent search engines from indexing their version of the content.”

Conclusion

Many companies are still using article syndication as a strategy for increasing their brand awareness (and many marketing experts still recommend it). It enables them to provide content to the audience that is interested in their niche or subject matter. This increases the likelihood of the audience wanting to learn more about their content, products or services. Just remember… article syndication must be done properly in order to achieve the set content marketing goals.

http://mymissassist.com/benefits-of-article-syndication/

Simple Ingredients For A Successful Blog Post

Posted by Sherry Starnes (Prosperity Team) on December 03, 2014

0 Comments

I was recently on a webcast that shared "Secrets of Millionaire Bloggers" and now I want to share some simple ingredients for a successful blog post. 

Watch the video below.




Simple ingredients for a successful blog post.

Click here to take a free trial to get started and make money blogging.

 

1.  Be a Story-teller -Share your story.  Everyone has a story and you never know when your story will resonate with others.

2.  Tell people what to do.  If you want them to click the link...tell them.  If you want them to enter their email...tell them.

3.  Don't be afraid to sell.  You want to make money with your blog so you have to sell.  You may have to step out of your comfort zone to do that but you HAVE TO SELL.

4.  Sell indirectly. Sell by solving their problem.  Provide content that will solve whatever problem they may be having.  Be a selling problem-solver.

 

Please feel free to share this post on the "Simple Ingredients For A Successful Blog Post" with others.

 

If you don't have a blog or maybe you don't have a successful blog, you can take this 100% risk free trial to get started now.   Click here for your trial.

 

Make it a prosperous day!

 

http://www.workwithsherrystarnes.com/blog/simple-ingredients-for-a-successful-blog-post

29 Free Ways to Promote Your Business Blog

PR/Business blog

29 Free Ways to Promote Your Business Blog

Sunday, November 30th, 2014

As kids, we all had mentors. You did. I did. Formative influences on our young lives.
One of mine was my grandmother (we called her “Nin”).
Nin had a phrase for everything. “What’s that Nin?” we would ask, pointing at a hitherto unknown object. “A wigwam to wind up the sun,” she would say.
Another: “What are we having for dinner Nin?” Came the reply: “A duck stuffed with another duck.” This meant Nin hadn’t got round to deciding yet.
My favourite though was:
Tweet: “If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain.”
This one was rolled out to suit every occasion. Not helping to clear up the dishes after dinner?…Muhammad.
TV remote control over the other side of the room? Muhammad was again invoked. It’s stayed with me throughout my life and its meaning has solidified. For me it means: you can’t just do stuff and hope people will notice. Every so often you’ve got to shout about it too.

Fast forward 30 years and Nin’s little life lesson is apt for all your content marketing. Particularly your next company blog post.
Even influencers whose Klout scores mirror my senior school years work hard to boost their work. But this is through the quality of the content they produce rather than the heavy lifting needed by you and me to gain the greatest audience for our business blogs. As Neil Patel states in his book Advanced Guide to Content Marketing:

“The secret (is): creating great content, making sure it gets found in search engines, and promoting it to your followers…If you don’t market your content, your entire content marketing effort will fizzle and die.”

Takeaways

After reading this blog post you will have:

• A toolkit for how to promote your next company blog post (for free) in the minutes and hours after you press “publish”.
• A step-by-step business blog amplification process. Complete with rough time guide, depending on how long you have to spend.
• All you need to know on the places you need to go – social media, communities, groups, blogging platforms, influencers – to boost your next article and get thousands of visits.
• Nine medium-to-long term tips on things you can do to get more people reading your content.
• And bonus links out to what I think are the best up-to-date blog posts on this topic.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Before I begin, allow me to take a wild guess at how you feel when you’ve written that perfect business blog post and hit the “publish” button. If you’re anything like me, sitting at my desk in Scotland’s largest city, it’s a mixture of excitement and fear.
Excitement that your post might be discovered by someone, somewhere, online. And a big dose of fear that you’re speaking to an audience of one. You.
The good news is that YOU can take control of this situation…IF you have a good story.

Plenty has been written on how to write the perfect blog post and you should definitely spend a deal of time poring over these. There is no point spending valuable fee-earning hours publicising dross. Almost  20 years’ experience in the media relations field has taught me that dead horses should not be flogged.
If the story (or in this case, content) is not strong enough, no amount of publicising online will rescue it from the 10 social shares it deserves. Producing great content is the hard bit.
This post makes the assumption that your blog post is worth spending your precious fee-earning time on. It tells a story, is not salesy, looks the part, has good SEO, and plenty of shareable images.

29 (free) ways to promote your next business blog post

This post should also come with a health warning. The first time you do this, it will take you ages. You will rue the day you read this post and consider me the antIchrist. Even with “sign up using Twitter” and a liberal dose of “autofill” the hours wasted that first time will be willpower-sapping to say the least. The thing to remember is, like anything, it gets easier. The more you use the sites outlined in this post, the easier it gets. The process outlined below assumes you’re NOT doing this for the first time.
So, you’ve pressed publish. What’s next?

It’s ping time (15 minutes)

First things first, don’t wait for a search engine to crawl your sitemap, get your new “work of art” found ASAP.

#1: Fetch as Google

Cut and paste your blog post URL into Google’s Fetch as Google tool and press Fetch.

Check Google Search a few minutes later and more often than not, hey presto, there’s your new post.

#2: Bing

Do the same with Bing.

#3: Pingler

Now head over to Pingler.

#4: Pingomatic

And for good measure, it would be rude not to avail oneself of this free service.

Now for the bread and butter: basic social media (45 minutes)

For Zude PR (a Glasgow PR agency) I use Google+ (personal and company page), LinkedIn (personal and company page) and Twitter. I decided not to set up a Facebook page (I’m selling business to business and don’t want to pay to boost my posts) and I don’t regret it.

#5: Twitter

This is the most important platform. The average lifetime of a tweet is 18 minutes according to Moz, so don’t worry about overdoing it.
For Zude PR posts I schedule around 10 tweets (using Hootsuite Pro) on the day I publish. Every one is different. Here I make use of all the discarded headlines from my company blog post. Or I quote a pithy bit of writing from the post text.
I don’t know about you but I also engage a lot more with images on Twitter. So I spend some time scheduling pics, quotes and graphics from the blog post. I also queue some tweets for the rest of the week, perhaps two a day. If I have time, I’ll go into Twitter and insert a collage of images, even tag people in the photos (up to 10). Perhaps influencers who I mention in the article.
And you want people to read your tweets, right? Use hashtags! Tools like Ritetag and Hashtagify.me can help you here (Ritetag is great). And use a combination of Followerwonk and SocialBro to make sure you’re tweeting at the right times for your audience.

#6: Google+

You can use as much text as you like on Google+. Why not post an extract from the post? Experiment with formatting?
But if you’re tight for time, Google+ is a visual medium. You’re trying to get shares and +1s so use your in-post shareable images to create engagement. Hootsuite, Buffer et all will only let you post to your Google+ company page. So head over to your personal page and post a different, visual update. Be sure to mention your company page too.

#7: LinkedIn

One post each for your LinkedIn personal status update and your company page. Make them different.

#8: Facebook

Did I say I don’t use Facebook? Well, err, no, actually. You have a personal Facebook right? Your friends might find your latest work post interesting. Perhaps your friendship grew through work. Maybe close friends and family want to read your work musings.
For my Glasgow PR company, I have set up a custom list on Facebook for my PR/business blog. Every time I post, I send to them too.

Advanced social media (45 minutes)

#9: Google+ Communities

So, you’ve already put the legwork in, joining all the communities relevant to your business. You’ve sent your introductory post to each community and you are following the individual communities’ guidelines.
You’ve started to contribute to the various debates, and have even made some “friends”. You have also shared your new friends’ updates.
Now you can go to your Google+ Communities (I post from my personal profile) to put up your latest blog post.
Careful. Some communities (to guard against spam) don’t allow you to post links to your site. If you post on these communities, you risk the moderator reporting you as a spammer. Most take a common-sense approach.
Try and engage the community when you post your link. What do others think of it? Has anyone else faced similar challenges? You want to get as much feedback as possible so ask for it.
Whatever you do, don’t post the same update to more than four (four is ok) communities. Trust me, I’ve learnt the hard way here at Zude PR.
If you’ve turned your notifications off, make sure you check in to the communities at least twice a day after you post. If you comment on someone’s blog, you expect some love back from the blog author. It’s in your interest to respond as soon as you can.

#10: LinkedIn Groups

You can post your blog to as many LinkedIn Groups as you see fit. Unlike Google+ Communities, you can even do this straight from Hootsuite Pro (five groups at a time on the Pro plan).
I tend to change the post for each group. Fellow Group members, while not Connections, are at least the online equivalent of second cousins. You can be a bit more relaxed here than on normal LinkedIn and, like Communities, you are looking for their feedback and advice.
The most-commented-on LinkedIn Group posts I’ve seen over the past year are both in Public Relations forums.
One was asking people’s advice on whether PR should “own” content marketing. Controversial, allowing contributors to show their expertise, and argue the point.
The other was from a student looking for advice on how to get a start in PR (allowing contributors to give sage advice and impart their wisdom).
The former was self-perpetuating; the latter boosted daily by the student. And every time there was a new comment I, and many others, received a notification in my email inbox. Powerful stuff. Again, this only works if you are already an active contributor to the group.
You don’t have to go overboard. But unless you’re sharing and commenting, few people are going to take time out to read your latest blog post.

#11: Twitter Influencer Alerting

I link out a lot in my long form posts. There are a five reasons for this:

• I’m a nice guy.
• Google likes me if I do.
• I like being honest. I’ve only built up my knowledge base through reading and discussing all the latest thinking, so I like to reference this help.
• If I link to others, they might link to me, if they think my stuff’s good enough.
• Most importantly, it makes life easy for people reading my posts.

I’ve gotten into the habit recently of tweeting everyone I link out to. It’s a simple enough task.
I see it as a pleasant thing to do. It also builds your relationship with the person you’re tweeting and alerts them to the fact they’ve got a backlink, which will refer traffic to their site. You should try this too.

#12: Suggesting tools

If one of the content suggesting tools such as @getswayy @buffer @contentgems or @hootsuite picks up on your humble blog post, you will notice a huge spike in traffic.
Spend just five minutes tweeting them all, suggesting they check out your work. Most take time out to reply.
N.B. Don’t expect this approach to bear fruit immediately. The only time one of the content suggesters has picked up a Zude PR blog is when it featured as a guest post on  PR Daily.

Congratulations

You’ve finished promoting your blog post through conventional social media. And why is this so important? It gets your message out to as wide a community as possible and, you hope, stimulates a debate. But crucially, it’s good for your SEO.
While Google denies that so-called social signals affect your search rankings, I, and many others, disagree.
The more “social shares” your blog post receives, the better it will rank when people search for specific words or phrases using Google Search.
A social share is any time someone comments, likes or shares a post on social media which contains a link to your blog (whether it’s the full out url or the link shortener version).
This is why promoting your post through social media is so important…your search engine ranking. If you’re interested in finding out more Jayson Demers has written well on this subject in recent months.

The Dimitar Berbatov of social media (15 minutes)

#13: Reddit

Reddit is a bit like a supremely talented but inconsistent soccer player. Often when you pass him the ball, he loses it and the move breaks down. But every now and then he produces a sublime pass which simply takes your breath away.
Reddit is an online community. Unconventional, quirky and a lot of fun.
Once you sign up for Reddit you can join subreddits on any conceivable subject. Much like Google+ Communities, the more you contribute the more you become a familiar, trusted face  And the more people will engage with your stuff. (try the 10:1 ratio e.g. for every 10 contributions you make, post one of your blog posts).
Again, like Google+, you need to carefully read the subreddit guidelines before posting.
Some of my posts sink without trace. Some are upvoted leading to an increase in my Reddit karma and massive, sublime, spikes in visitors to my site. One night I remember tapping the Google Analytics app on my smartphone and wondering what 50 people were doing on my site at 9:30pm. Reddit, of course.
It’ll only take you 10 minutes to post your link to the relevant subreddits. I experiment with different headlines for different subreddits try and get others’ views on my post. Quirky, humorous or achievement blog posts tend to do best.
N.B. It is not good form (when submitting a text post) to write a very brief summary then include the link, no matter what the subreddit guidelines tell you. What you should do is include an excerpt from your post then include the link below. That way people can click out to your link if they want to.

You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours: in a good way (10 minutes)

#14: Triberr

This is another one where if you are nice, and take an interest in others on a consistent basis, it pays dividends.
Triberr is a community of bloggers set up to encourage social sharing.
I’m assuming that you’ve already registered, applied to and joined all the tribes you want, set up your profile, and shared others’ posts. This all takes time. But the rewards are good. If you do this, and you write good blog posts (no-one will share anything that reflects badly on their brand) fellow tribe members will be keen to share your thoughts.
Triberr takes care of itself on publish-day (once you have set up the RSS feed your post will appear on the newsfeed of each tribe of which you are a member). But I always head over and check the RSS feed so my post appears immediately on my tribes’ newsfeeds, rather than the next day.
The other good thing about Triberr is that it’s a slow burner. You will find that during the week after pressing “publish”, people will share your post (mainly on Twitter) regularly.

#15: Social Buzz Club

Another useful one. Social Buzz Club is like Triberr but you have to manually upload the link to your post. Every time you share someone else’s post you get a point. It takes five points in the bank to be able to share one post of your own.

Randoms (20 minutes)

These are the nice-to-haves, the ones which I do if I get time. I’ve only started using some of them recently but they definitely add to the blog promotion party.

#16: Hacker News

Like Reddit, Hacker News works on “upvotes”. If your content is stellar, it will get upvoted and go viral. More often than not, it won’t. Techy content tends to work best.

#17: Inbound.org

Another community. Inbound.org is all about inbound marketing so posts like this one should find an audience.

#18: Growth Hackers

Again, Reddit-esque. You need to contribute in Growth Hackers to get the most out of it. You’re interested in growth, right? Most people are. So a wide range of content tends to work here. And if Growth Hackers likes your content, the blog amplification effects can be amazing.
There are many more great free sites like these to boost your business blog post. Alltop is a particularly good one. It’s also a badge of honour if your blog passes their quality test.

Repurpose (30 minutes)

#19: LinkedIn Publishing

LinkedIn is now the most powerful blogging tool on the planet. If you write a good blog, why wouldn’t you put in on LinkedIn Publishing too?
For the sake of 20 minutes (dependent on how many images you have in your post) you access a worldwide audience.
Simply head to your personal LinkedIn profile, click the pen icon in your status update and cut and paste your latest post.
I change the headline and make sure I add a bit in the footer explaining where the post first appeared.
Then you just have to hope it’s picked up by one of LinkedIn’s channels. It helps if your connections “like” and “share” your post immediately after it’s published. My theory is that this gets it on the  LinkedIn Pulse team’s radar. I always tweet the team too to let them know I’ve posted.

#20: Medium

Medium is a writers’ blogging platform.
It takes a mere 10 minutes to repurpose your blog post for Medium.
All the pics cut and paste straight from your website blog post without you having to manually upload them as per LinkedIn.
It’s the quality of the thinking, the writing, that attracts Medium readers. Not the visual/design trickery needed to draw people in on your website/LinkedIn.
You get out what you put in. If you read others’ material, like and comment (there’s a daily email to make life easy here) it’s more likely they’ll read what you write. Medium is nowhere near as important for businesses as LinkedIn Publishing but it is a lovely medium.

So, have you got the message?

Promoting your blog post takes time, effort and more than a little skill. Life would be so much easier for us latter-day Muhammads if the mountain would come to us. But it won’t. So if we’ve written a good blog post and spent a deal of time perfecting it, we’d be stupid not to try and get it “a good show”. To close, I’ll leave you with nine pro-tips.
These range from one-off actions to long-term habits to maximise the audience for the content you lovingly create. I’ve included relevant links out to the best, latest thinking in this area. These blogs contain a host of other tips too to make YOU a blog booster extraordinaire.

9 Pro-tips

#21: Wisestamp

Wisestamp lets you add an email signature including your latest business blog post. If you find this too much hassle, just amend your existing email signature.

#22: Customers

You’re trying to win new business? Rifle through your online Rolodex (LinkedIn Connections would be a good place to start) and send them a link to your new post.

#23: Influencers

Build relationships with influencers. Particularly on Twitter. Aside from increasing your learning, they are more likely to share your writing with their large audiences. And take part in relevant twitterchats. You’ll make connections with people in your field, many of them potential customers. If it contributes to the debate, point to your original body of work.

#24: Blog comment

Sign up for a Disqus account. Now, get commenting on others’ blogs. Add to the debate. Showcase your knowledge. And if appropriate, and useful for other readers, post a link to your latest blog post.

#25: RSS feeds

Sign up for Feedly. Submit your business blog to RSS blog directories such as Alltop (please note Technorati earlier this year changed its business model and is no longer a blog directory). See if there are any specific industry blog aggregators that would like to take your musings. Mine feeds to the CIPR’s Conversation.

#26: Curate

Share others’ content. This is a time-consuming but essential means of growing your network, raising your profile, and engendering goodwill among your peers. Here’s how to do it.

#27: Guest blog

Approach top industry sites to become a guest contributor. Some want original work; others are happy to repurpose your existing work. All will include a link back to your site/blog. You get to tap into their audience (usually much bigger than yours), you get a good backlink, and a few potential customers will take a look round your site as a result.

#28: Build an inner circle

This great article outlines the importance of creating an inner circle. I hadn’t realised I was doing it until Noah Kagan put his finger on it for me.

#29: Understand the theory

These two posts are the best I’ve seen on the theory behind blog promotion. And lots of good tactical tips too.

And finally

Well Nin, it’s time to sign off. I hope I’ve not got the wrong end of the stick (another one) with your Muhammad idiom.
And for you, reader, as someone trying to use your business blog to humanise your brand and connect with potential customers…three final thoughts.

• There are too many metaphorical mountains out there for latter-day Muhammads to find yours.
• The only reason you are reading this is because I’ve spent three hours promoting it.
• Consider doing the same for your next blog post. Or hire an expert to do it for you.

http://zudepr.co.uk/promote-business-blog/

Paid Traffic: 20 Methods That Create Fast Results

Charlie Page82 Comments

March 1 2012

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In a previous post we discussed 22 ways to get free traffic, in this article we will discuss the other side — paid traffic.
At the end of the day we all have the same choices when it comes to traffic - we earn it or we buy it.
Smart marketers do both continually by doing things like building their list from the traffic they get from sources like paid advertising.
That’s a smart tactic that creates true marketing leverage. It creates leverage because having your own list is perhaps the #1 key to succeeding online. This is why you often hear experienced marketers say they always drive traffic to a squeeze page and not a sales letter.
They want to build their list and then send the visitor to the sales letter, knowing that some people will just leave and they might lose a bit of business. But the prospects they gain are much more interested and likely to buy. This is one sure way to increase conversion.
But let’s save that for another article!

Today let’s take the big picture look at paid traffic, just like we did with free traffic methods.

When it comes to paid traffic, I believe there are three “themes” just as there are with free traffic. To refresh your memory of the themes, they are …

• Publishing
• Broadcasting
• Collaboration

If you want to know more about each please visit my post Free Traffic: 22 Methods That Really Work.

The major difference between free and paid traffic is that when earning free traffic you are doing the work but with paid traffic you are buying ads on places where others do the work. 

For example: You might notice that forums are on both lists. For free traffic from forums you need to spend time participating.
To get paid traffic from forums you simply buy ads on the the forum itself (most offer advertising) and you can skip all the time it takes to post and participate. It’s still a good idea to participate but with paid advertising it’s not necessary at all.
Now let’s look at the big picture of the paid traffic world.
First, here’s a little mind map I drew for you about paid traffic. As before, you can ignore this if you are not into graphical thinking or mind maps.


Now on with the show! Rather than grouping them by publishing or broadcasting or collaboration I thought it might be more useful to list them and then share a short insight about each.

Affiliates

Running your own affiliate program can be a dream come true. It’s no guarantee of success however since affiliates can misrepresent your product and cause you headaches. Believe me, I know.
But if you develop a strong army of affiliates and work with them to promote your product for a commission you won’t have to worry about traffic again. Jimmy Brown has famously said that his affiliates send him all the traffic he needs, and I believe him.

Email Marketing

Email marketing and ezine advertising are similar but a bit different. The difference is that there are companies with very large lists that will sell you solo ads but they don’t publish an actual email newsletter. These companies range from the very large to smaller players, so you need to know who you are buying from and avoid spam complaints. But solo ad sends to these lists can work very well.

Reviews

Many large sites, often blogs, will sell you a review on their site. The costs and effectiveness varies, and these site owners won’t fib and say a product is great if it’s not in most cases. Getting a paid review amounts to an endorsement in most people’s eyes, so the value here can be huge. Find a top blog or site in your niche and see if they offer a paid review.

Forums

Many forums sell advertising space on their forum site. This is highly targeted advertising, especially if the forum you choose will let you buy ads on a sub forum. These ads are usually banners but they can take other forms as well. Some forums will even send email for you to their registered members.

Banners

Not sure why people don’t use banners more often but they should. A well-placed banner can bring in huge results, and the costs are quite low. Banners are often sold on a cost-per-thousand impressions basis so it’s very important to know where the site gets its traffic. If you target correctly, and if your banner creates intense curiosity, you can do very well for a low fee.

Webinars

There are a few ways to pay and get traffic with webinars. You can host them of course, but that’s hard for most people. Some webinar hosts will actually sells ads that show during the webinar. I know of no clearinghouse for this but there should be one. I predict this will become a big trend. Another way to use webinars is to pay someone to host a webinar for you. This is best done as a joint venture but can work well.

Guaranteed Visitors

While I’m not a fan of guaranteed visitor programs (the traffic is usually of very low quality) there are situations where some reputable suppliers can send traffic that will help you. I personally believe this is best only for list building. Let them join your list first so you can sell them later and then send them on to the sales page.

Ezine Advertising

This is one of my favorites, not because I own the Directory of Ezines or because I publish an ezine but because it just works so well. When you match the product you are promoting to the interests of the readers of the ezine very good things happen. It’s vital to pay attention to this prospect matching idea when doing any form of advertising.

CPM

Simply put, you pay for every 1000 impressions (or times you ad is shown). While some use the term CPM differently, it began as a way to express cost-per-thousand and is still used that way today. CPM advertising can be very profitable and is excellent for list building.

Offline

So many online marketers overlook offline methods completely. That can be a mistake. The key with using an offline/online mix is to either create curiosity in your offline ad or pre-qualiy a reader or listener and then drive them to a site where they can take the next step.

Social Media

Social sites like Twitter and Facebook can be fun and profitable both. They can also be hugely time consuming. So why not skip the hard work and just buy ads on the sites? While this is very limited with Twitter as I write this, Facebook and other social sites like Digg do offer on-site ads that work well.

Video

Not ready to shoot your own video? How about buying ad space on videos about the topic you want to promote? YouTube had offered this for some time and other video networks are getting on board. The key here, as with most advertising, is to create curiosity and interest, not try to close the sale.

Networks

Ad networks can be huge time savers if you have a larger budget. Many ad networks let you get started for only a few hundred dollars (others start at $10,000 or more) and they can place all sorts of ads for you on all sorts of websites. Highly targeted and you can control costs too.

CPA

I heard the founder of a large technology company say the other day that Cost Per Action was going to be the only model in the near future. While that might be overstating it, CPA can be a wonderful way to get new clients while controlling costs. For example, if you know a customer is worth $100 to you and your conversion is high you can afford to spend enough to really zero in on your target market. Since you are not paying for tire-kickers you can feel sure your money is well spent.

Blogs

Many blogs accept advertising right on their site. Blogs often offer banner ads, in-post ads and more. Some blogs will email their list for a fee or, as mentioned above, do paid reviews. Identifying top blogs in your niche and following them makes good sense. Here is my favorite blog. 

Pay Per Click

Pay per click has gone through many changes. Affiliate friendly at first, many PPC providers turned on affiliates with a vengeance. Added to this is Google’s habit of canceling accounts without any notice or recourse and you can see why many feel PPC is not an option. But it can be if you do it well. My favorite voice in this world is Perry Marshall.

Websites

Advertising directly on almost any site you want can be done with Google AdWords. Many people don’t realize they can target a specific site but it can be done. It is often easier to use an ad network for this however. Another option, take a look at a site you want to advertise on and look for an “advertise” link at the bottom of the page.

Co-ops

Some physical product companies offer what is called co-op advertising. This is where the company rewards you for sales by purchasing advertising for you. While this does not apply to any online products I know of, if you are marketing a physical product online then ask the company about their co-op program.

Press Releases

Press releases are great if you have something that is actually news-worthly. Unfortunately, press releases are often taught as a good traffic-getting strategy by people who have never used them. They sound good, and are easy to do, but in my view don’t work for most people and should be avoided. Remember this when doing a press release – the people reading your release will mostly be reporters looking for a juicy or otherwise attention grabbing story. So be sure to give them one if you can do that ethically.

Re-Marketing

Re-marketing works well but most don’t know about it. Here’s how it works. You set up a RM campaign and when someone visits your site (this works best for site owners) a cookie is set. Now when that visitor goes to a website that is within the network of sites your re-marketing company works with your ad is shown to that visitor, in essence reminding them you want them to come back to your site.
There you have it – a view from outer space at the big picture of paid advertising. Sorry it’s long but there was a lot to say!

- See more at: http://charliepage.com/paid-traffic-20-methods-that-create-fast-results/#sthash.5TVz6Ut2.dpuf

3 Power Words for More Persuasive Copy

        

When was the last time you thought about the impact of your words on your online copy?
If you’ve been reading this blog or some of the others focused on conversion, you’re probably already keyed in. Individual words and phrases can make the difference between someone clicking a button or bouncing off a page.
It seems amazing that by simply changing a word or two you can affect such a big change. 
But… you can. It has everything to do with persuasion and using a few power words.
So, let’s cut to the chase and go over 3 of the most powerful.

#1: “You” and the case for “What’s in it for me?”

Such a little word that packs an enormous punch, everything in your copy should come back to the word “you.” If you’ve been writing your copy all from your perspective, it’s time to make a shift.
Why?
Because your visitors are coming to your site or landing page looking to find answers to their questions… solutions for their needs. The reality is that their main concern is themselves – not you.
Harsh. I know.
As I’ve talked about in this post about getting people to respond to your email surveys, customers are frustrated when they encounter messaging that doesn’t resonate with them. Beyond addressing what’s most important to your prospects, centering your copy on them will go a long way to making them feel that there may just be something in it for them.
Practical tip: Replace “we” and “I” with “you” whenever possible
If you’ve got a headline with the word “I” or “we” either change it around so that “you” can be substituted. Or, simply get rid of the pronoun.
A headline like this…

I Help Small Businesses Build Better Widgets

… would be so much better simply by changing it to this…

Helping Small Businesses Build Better Widgets

Just by taking yourself out of it, you’ve shifted the focus to your customer.

#2: “Because” or giving people a reason to believe

Because is an amazing word. It’s power comes from the fact that it triggers people to expect a reason behind a request or an argument.
Dr. Ellen Langer’s experiment – that has been written about multiple times around the web in this context – shows just how effective using because can be.
In it, she asked study participants to cut to the front of the line where people were waiting to make copies at a Xerox machine. When the participants gave no reason to cut in line, the compliance rate was 60%. When a reason was given (no matter how silly or meaningless such as “I’m in a hurry”), the rate went up to 95%.
It seems that we’ve been programmed to accept a request when it’s part of a larger statement – where the why has been spelled out.
Practical tip: Use because to make an impact with your argument
With all of your sales copy (website copy included), you’re developing an argument as to why someone should hire you, buy from you, opt-in to your newsletter, etc.
You’re setting up a problem your customer is having and then telling them why your solution is the one to solve it.
Go back to the top of this blog post. Notice how I used the word “because” to start a sentence.

See how effective because can be?

I’m asking you to buy into my argument then asking you to believe in it with the one word that triggers acceptance.

Be careful. If your claim is too outrageous or request too large, even the word “because” won’t help you.

Langer’s experiments were primarily about how people will mindlessly react in certain situations. The copy machine example worked so well because the why behind the request was so minimal. As soon as the participants in the study told people they needed to cut in line to make 20 copies, they weren’t nearly so successful.

Use your persuasive language thoughtfully, even if your readers don’t always respond mindfully.

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#3: “Get” a word that provides value

With all the talk about A/B testing these days, “get” has become the conversion community’s “it girl.”
Between button copy and various call to action tests, the word “get” is the one to beat.
Check out Michael Aagaard’s split test where he changed the button copy from “Order information and prices” to “Get information and prices.”

From ContentVerve.com

As he notes in this test:

The word “Order” emphasizes what you have to do – instead of what you’re going to get. Whereas, “Get” conveys value as it emphasizes what you’re going to get – rather than what you have to do to get it. Michael Aagaard

The last thing we want to do is give people the impression that they will have to work for something when interacting with our websites.
Practical tip: Give all your “Submit” buttons the heave ho
No one likes to be told to submit to anything – especially on a website. So unless you’ve got a website for people into bondage, focus your button copy on the value added.
Think opt-in email button copy like this…

Get your regular copy tips now

You may be surprised at how much more effective your calls to action become.

Because, You, Get…

Take a look through your website, landing pages, and even emails to see where you can change up your copy.
Your headlines, sub-headlines, and buttons are ideal places to start. Then, test it out.
http://makementionmedia.com/3-power-words/

How to Get 247% More People to Read Your Content

When you write a blog post, you want people to read it, right?
What happens when you spend hours writing your masterpiece and find that very few people have actually read it, shared it, or commented on it?
You’re probably lost for words, and you’re unsure of what to do next. I know I was.
I recently started another marketing blog at NeilPatel.com and found that barely anyone read my latest blog post on A/B testing ideas. The other posts I published received more comments and had a higher time on-page.
Instead of letting it be, I decided to modify the post a bit and run an A/B test. The results were great! I was able to increase my time on-page from 1 minute and 22 seconds to 4 minutes and 45 seconds.
Can you guess what I did to achieve the results? No, I didn’t spend hours re-writing the post. I just tweaked its introduction.
Here’s exactly what I did:

Hook your readers through conversation

Here’s the first paragraph of the original blog post…

When it comes to split testing, ideas might sound like one of the last things you need. But there comes a point when you start running out of meaningful things to test, and start micromanaging your split tests only to make meager gains, if any.
With that being said, here are 50 different testing ideas that you can implement today that can help you get real, actionable results. The 50 are broken down into 10 categories:

And here’s the variation…

When it comes to split testing, ideas might sound like one of the last things you need, right? But I bet there has been a time when you started to run out of meaningful tests to run, which is why you are seeing little to no gains.
To help you solve this problem, I’ve created 50 different testing ideas that you can implement today. These tests will get you real, actionable results. And to make it easy, I’ve broken the 50 tests down into 10 categories:

Can you see the difference? The original reads more like an essay – formal and dull. It probably reminds you of your high school days when the teacher would ramble on for an hour and you would fall asleep.
The variation, on the other hand, has a much more conversational tone. There is some banter going back and forth with you, the reader, and the post hooks you in with a question.
That’s why my visitors’ time on-page went from 1 minute and 22 seconds to:

Through Crazy Egg, I was able to test how many of you actually scrolled down to the end of the post. Here’s what the difference was:

Now that you can see conversations help increase readability, let’s dive into why they work.

Why conversations work

According to Harvard Business Review, positive conversations produce oxytocin, a “feel good hormone,” encouraging people to communicate and collaborate with others.
Oxytocin is also known as the “bonding or love hormone” because it causes you to feel empathy and trust and to connect with others on a more personal level.

When you have a conversation with your readers, they release more oxytocin, which makes them feel more open, trust you more, and feel a personal connection with you. This encourages them to read your content and even participate by commenting.
Just look at the blog post I am using as an example. The original version resulted in 0 comments. The variation produced 2 comments.
Now that you know a scientific reason behind the power of conversations, let’s see how you can create them.

7 ways you can create a conversation

If you want to replicate my results on the Neil Patel blog, consider following these 7 strategies:

1. Use the words “you” and “I” – those two words may seem simple, but they are powerful. Without them, it’s hard to create the illusion of a conversation. Just think about it. I don’t know your name, so how can I create a conversation with you if I don’t use the words “you” and “I” while talking to you? It’s nearly impossible.
2. Ask questions – one of the simplest ways to draw your readers in is to ask them a question within your introduction. You don’t have to do this within the first sentence of your blog post, but you should try to do it within your first paragraph.
3. Keep your paragraphs short – don’t you hate it when you’re having a conversation with someone and they don’t let you get a word in? It’s like you’re not even having a conversation… By making your paragraphs 1 to 6 sentences long, you will create an illusion of a conversation. Just look at the introduction in this blog post – the paragraphs are really short.
4. Let your personality shine – no one wants to be part of a dry conversation. By adding in some humor or emotions, you will keep the conversation entertaining. Just sprinkle a few of these elements throughout your post.
5. Use transitions – you’ll probably cover multiple subtopics within your blog post, just like you would in a regular conversation. Make sure the transitions are smooth. Using headings isn’t enough. You need to use sentences to create transitions.
6. Create a story – do you remember how your kindergarten and elementary school teachers used to engage with you? They used to tell you stories in order to get your attention and keep it. If you can mix in story telling within your introductory paragraph, you’ll get more people to read your blog post.
7. A picture says a thousand words – images are a great way to help encourage a conversation, especially the image you use at the beginning of your post. I know when I’ve used funny pictures like this in the past, I got tons of emails from you and saw a higher time on-page.

Conclusion

Blogging is a conversation between you and your readers. If you can’t converse with them, you are just talking at them. And as you already know, people prefer conversations…
The next time you write a blog post, consider creating a conversation. Don’t do it just within your introduction, but continue it through your whole post, just like I have done with this one.

http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/11/19/how-to-get-247-more-people-to-read-your-content/#more-29815

Go from Zero to SEO Ninja Hero with These Tactics

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On the surface, comparing modern search engine optimization, (SEO) to mercenaries in feudal Japan may seem like a stretch. However, look closer and similarities begin to emerge, one most noteworthy of all: like a ninja, the best SEO goes unnoticed. That’s right, a reader should be able to finish a great piece of content and, aside from the colored highlights of the hyperlinks, have no idea he or she is being sold on anything. Even the text in those links should flow naturally with the overall theme of the content.
Now, to a seasoned SEO expert this might all seem elementary, but that’s just it: most folks running a small business or new start-up company aren’t experts, which means they’re woefully unprepared to deal with the modern realities of SEO. But have no fear: those interested in moving away from the ham-handed pay-per-click-style advertising methods of yesteryear can utilize these core principals. (They might just help to craft an efficient, effective and stealthy strategy worthy of a true ninja.)
Put the audience first
This is one tactic that should remain evergreen throughout the life of SEO. After all, Google will never penalize advertisers who produce content that audiences legitimately want to see. Now, the tried and true method to reaching a target audience is to be helpful. Consider American Express and their Unstaged campaign. Granted, a credit card giant may operate a larger tent than most, but AmEx still took took to heart the philosophy of putting their audience first and debuted American Express Unstaged in 2011. This launch gave the audience an interactive music experience with a variety of artists, including Taylor Swift. Even today, Unstaged is held up as a prime example of innovative content marketing.
Understand the social sphere
Search, social, content—these are the three pillars of modern search engine optimization. And marketers need to harness the power of “social.” This is more difficult than it sounds for the simple reason that social media is advancing and morphing at geometric rates. The days of social marketing requiring little more than a Facebook and Twitter account are long gone. Take YouTube, for example. At one time this popular web page was viewed as nothing but a video clip site. However, in just a couple years YouTube evolved to the point it is ranked as one of the most popular social media sites in the world. Its popularity is such that it boasts one billion registered users each month.
Certain thought leaders are even warning of the adverse—prioritization of privacy. In 2014, no new social media platform exemplifies this trend as clearly as SnapChat. The popular photo-messaging site has emerged as the vanguard of a movement involving folks who want to share information privately and, often times, ephemerally. This could signal the disappearance of a heretofore cornerstone of social media: publicly traded content. Marketers are going to have to come to terms with this new reality.
Take note of new platforms
On top of popular social media sites, marketers also need to take into account new platforms, such as podcasting. It’s hard to ignore these new methods of information dissemination when podcasting has seen a 25% increase in listening levels since 2013. But this is the whole point: a solid social strategy today likely won’t be the same a year from now. That’s why it’s vital to stay on top of new trends and platforms—and incorporate as many of them as possible.
Go mobile
All websites and content should be optimized for mobile. It’s that simple. If social is the lynchpin that holds this crazy notion of modern SEO together, then mobile is the foundation where it all stands. It’s also the future. Savvy marketers know that the most successful digital trends involve joining mobile and search to reach target audiences. The way to do this is visually rather than through words. This has been proven by the popularity of sites like Instagram and SnapChat. Just like people are sending images and videos to smartphones and tablets, major brands are doing the same—and reaping big rewards in the form of mass interaction with consumers.
Hire out when need be
There’s no shame in calling in the pros to take care of a business or company’s SEO needs. Sure, true ninja warriors may never have outsourced their work, but they didn’t have KPIs and marketing ROI to contend with. And this strategy of hiring out is actually fairly common. In fact, many larger firms and companies have started adding entire SEO departments on their premises. The trick is to find a quality company that is worth the money they charge. Scott Langdon of the nationally renowned SEO firm Higher Visibility had this to say on the subject:
“Because it takes months to see any results in the SEO industry, you will be working with the SEO company you hire for quite some time. Oftentimes ‘quick’ results are gained through SEO tactics that will get you penalized, so a poor SEO company will take advantage of these tactics until they’ve kept you around long enough to dig you into a hole.”
In the end, businesses and companies should be just as diligent about their SEO strategies as they are about who crafts those strategies for them. Above all else it is important to be relentless in producing quality SEO content on a regular basis. Would a ninja settle for anything less?

http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2014/11/29/go-from-zero-to-seo-ninja-hero-with-these-tactics/