In this post, I mostly talk to myself, and to readers who appreciate good ideas (not really to guest bloggers). You see, I run a successful blog which I am taking seriously, most of its content provided by guest bloggers. I must say managing a multi-authors blog is not an easy task because there is a lot of communications and editorial work to be done before getting posts published on the host blog. So if you are planning to accept guest posts on your blog, prepare yourself for some serious work.

Managing Guest Bloggers Is Not Easy!

Things have changed, and guest blogging became more popular. So, in my opinion it’s no longer about how to attract guest bloggers to write for your bog. It’s more about how to actually make them write and submit quality contents for the blog. I say here “Make Them” because it’s totally in your hands, if you accept low quality content, you are simply attracting more low quality content writers.

For a long time now I have been thinking of a way to reduce the workload, perhaps transforming FamousBloggers.net to a “do it yourself” blog, and try to automate a large part of the acceptance and publishing process. This would give guest bloggers the power to hit the publish button and get their posts published by themselves. That’s what I want to discuss with you today, hopefully I can get some more inspiration. So, let me tell you first about my first steps toward this idea.

I planned the new Community News section to achieve two blogging goals!

The first goal is to get more easy fresh content to the blog, and the second goal is to help trusted bloggers to get a quality backlinks with their choice of keyword to their own posts. This will help ranking their posts higher in search engines. I decided to allow only trusted contributors who actually have accounts on FamousBloggers.net and have published at least one guest post on the blog. I didn’t want this section to be open to the public, at least not yet!

You see, I have an issue with trust that I will talk about later on in this post, and that’s the main reason I keep most of my ideas private and accessible only to people who I actually know and have had a little chat with before.

I call it the Guest Blogging Automation Project

So, just to let you know, this is not an imaginary project, this is something I would love to see for real one day. However, the only part that is missing in the project is trust!

Yes.. I sadly don’t have enough trust in bloggers!

Please, don’t get me wrong, and read on…

Like anything else in this world, the guest blogging automation project has its own advantages and disadvantages, or to be more accurate, I probably should say it has dangers and high risks!

Advantages of Guest Blogging Automation

Let’s talk first about the advantages… Why I believe this project is worth it:

1- More power for bloggers

Just imagine that you can publish your posts yourself – you write the content you like (as long as it fits into the host blog categories), you publish it at the time you prefer, you have as many links as you would like to (if it’s all relevant), in short you have the power to hit the publish button! Sounds good eh?

2- More content for the host blog

So true! This is one of the best advantages for the blog that accepts guest posts. In my case I try to avoid publishing more than three posts daily on the blog.  This gives the chance for those posts to appear on the front page, which means more reads, and possibly comments and engagement. Also I try to save content for the coming days.

3- Increase publishing average

The blog could jump from 1-3 posts per day to 5-10 posts per day, you never know! It could even be much more than that. Do you know what that means?

It means search engines will visit the blog more often, which leads to a faster indexing. Search engines will simply fall in love with the blog, and probably will rank it higher. This will allow any post to compete with monster blogs.

4- Getting more traffic

From the points 2 and 3 above, when a blog gets more updates, and increases its content, it makes a lot of sense that organic traffic (Visitors referred by an unpaid search engine listing, e.g. a Google.com search) will increase as more posts are indexed in search engines. Also there is a big chance that direct traffic will increase (Visitors who visited the site by typing the URL directly into their browser), this is because of blog visitors who will notice the quick updates, thus they know that your blog is truly active, they will memories, bookmark, and visit it more often as they get fresh content each time they visit.

Disadvantages of Guest Blogging Automation

This is the part I hate most but let’s talk about the disadvantages for the project as I see it.

1- Nobody read!

To me, this is a really important point. Let’s say you have written the most clear guest blogging guidelines in the whole world, you will sometimes face the fact that people don’t read them. Even if they do read them, some of them will try to game you by ignoring those guidelines, and even worse than that, some people will try to abuse your blog.

A human factor has to interact and deal with those who ignore your guidelines to put them on the right direction, or simply to reject their accounts.

2- Getting a lot of crappy content

Here I can explain why I said I don’t have enough trust in bloggers. Of course not all bloggers are the same, there are many bloggers out there who have a message, and actually knows what they are doing. But there are a bunch of jerks in every niche that you really want to avoid at any cost. Again, the human eye is necessary!

Plus, some bloggers just don’t know when to start guest posting for other blogs, once they launched a brand new blog that has no value for the reader yet, they starve to see their posts published on popular blogs. I am afraid mostly of those who call themselves bloggers just because they own whatever blog!

3- A chance for duplicate topics

If you are getting a lot of content, chances that two bloggers will write about the same topic is high. Especially if it’s about a hot or trending topic, so you won’t be able to control it, your blog will certainly have duplicate topics or even worse, you could have duplicate content in some cases.

4- Bad links, or another link farm!

I can easily say that most of the bloggers, SEOs, and links builders will do their best to abuse the blog, and take advantage of being powered members to get more links to their client’s sites. So, the blog could turn into another link farm!

Full Guest Posting Automation, could it work?

I keep wondering if my idea could ever find the light, or if it’s just nonsense and I have to forget about it. I know this project requires a lot of trust, and it shouldn’t be open for everyone!

Can I trust you?!

I keep wondering, why so called guest bloggers keep trying to prove I am wrong!

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At times it can be a little tricky to stay on top of your social media game. In this post I address some common issues I see on your blogs (that’s right I mean you!) and provide simple solutions and a few short steps you can take to make sure you come out a winner. A few of these tips might not apply to you, but if you need help fixing any of them, let us know in the comments and we’ll get you some solutions fast! I want you to be successful, and like it or not, social media plays a big role in helping you reach your online goals. So let’s play ball!

Get Your Social Media Game Right!

• You’re not even on Twitter or Facebook yet – there’s an old saying: “Get a glove and get into the game!”
• You don’t have sharing buttons next to your posts: I recommend the Digg Digg plugin but the bare minimum you should have the Google +1 button, a Retweet button and a Facebook share button at the top of your post. These buttons are a subtle call to action, asking your readers to share your content without saying a word. If those buttons are missing you can pretty much bet that your content won’t be shared. Search engines can send you traffic, but you want “people” to send you traffic too.
• You don’t have your Twitter name set in whatever plugin you’re using: Stop what you’re doing right now and fix this! Log into your dashboard, go to the settings page of the social sharing plugin and add your Twitter handle! Are you done yet? Look at it this way, if people Retweet your content and they don’t include your Twitter handle, how are you ever going to know? How are you going to connect with people and find out who is out there evangelizing for your brand? Monitor your @ mentions, this way you can thank people and start making connections with them.

Use Social Media to Grow Your Network

• You don’t belong to a network: If your a business professionals you should check out this awesome network I joined called Social Buzz Club, especially if you’re a fan of Facebook and Linked. If Twitter is your network of choice, join JustRetweet. I’m getting fabulous results and really expanding my reach with these two networks.
• You don’t have your social media profile links on your blog: Your profile links should be above the fold DUH! Don’t you realize that there are Twitter and Facebook fanatics like me out there who will add anyone to their networks just because they landed on the page If we have to search high and low for your profile link that tells us you don’t care about social networking (basically you’ve been benched). Even if that’s true, don’t let word get out to the public ok? Bonus tip – test each one of those profile links to make sure they work because some plugins let you enter the user name, others want the complete url – if you need help please ask!
• You don’t share other people’s content: Remeber, like everything in life, you have to give in order to receive. This is another reason I highly recommend curating content with services like Paper.li and Scoop.it so you can share content that helps build your authority and provides value to your followers.
• You don’t @ mention the source or person who generated the content you’re sharing: You can’t expect to make connections on social networks when you’re being selfish. That’s why Twitter, Google+ and Facebook all have this feature. Use it and give people their props!

Make Your Content Share Worthy

• Your article is downright boring….: Add attractive images or interesting quotes to spice up your posts. Think “Pinterest“.
• Your title isn’t catchy enough: Download a free copy of “Headline Hacks” and get 52 viral headline suggestions from Jon Morrow from CopyBlogger.
• You’re not using hashtags in your Tweets or on Google+: Remember there are millions of people who are online searching for stuff, use # hashtags to help them find your content. Here’s a tutorial for on using hashtags in Google+, it blew me away when I saw this because even I wasn’t doing this until the other day. Shout out to Chris Lang and Ronnie Bincer for the workshop.

Your Social Media Game Bonus Tip!

Just ask! Yup, that’s the bonus tip and trust me, you can score a home run with this one. Be sure to ask people to share your stuff. Be honest with yourself – when is the last time you ended a post by asking your readers to share it? Just like I’m going to do now:

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A guest post a day keeps all Google penalties away.

This is the motto that I live by and you should too. Before I get into guest posting and how to get more guest posts accepted, I think it is better to understand exactly what are guest posts.

What are guest posts?

A guest post is simply a great piece of content that is posted on another bloggers site as opposed to your own. One way to tell if a guest post is good enough for another blog is to ask yourself, “Would I place this on my blog?” If your answer is no, then that is probably what the other bloggers answer is going to be as well.

Now, I am not going to get into some of the basics of guest posts because honestly, you should know them by now. Bloggers have put enough emphasis on guest posts for quite some time and if you have not started writing them, then you are behind and have some catching up to do. For most bloggers, guest posts are the only form of ethical link building out there and that is why they participate in id.

I am writing this guest post today with one goal in mind – to teach you how to get more guest posts accepted. So, lets get started, shall we?

How To Get More Guest Posts Accepted

Network With Other Bloggers

Networking is one of the best ways to get your guest posts accepted. I know for a fact that some of my guest posts would not have been published if it wasn’t for my friendship with the blog owner. The key here is not to spam their blog and comment 5 times on each post (unless it is relevant), they key is to email the blogger with suggestions, promote their content on social media sites and even link to their blog from your site. Doing all of this can get the blog owners attention and that is the trick to building a network.

Read Other Blogs

Just because you sent a link to another blogger doesn’t mean they owe you anything. What you should consider is reading as many blog posts as you can on that particular blog until you get a good idea of who their readers are and what they have to offer. If you don’t read the blog that you want to write a guest post for, then you won’t have any idea of what kind of guest post will be best. Just do yourself and the blogger a favor and read their content before you try to submit a guest post about a topic that has already been covered or doesn’t pertain to the niche one bit.

Email Blog Owner With Ideas

Do you know that the biggest mistake a guest blogger can make is to assume that the blog owner will accept a guest post from them about any topic relating to their niche? I say this because it has happened to me many times in the past. What I would do is write a guest post and then submit it to a blog owner, hoping they would accept it. It wasn’t until Daniel Scocco over at Dailyblogtips.com told me that he already had a post similar to mine that was already scheduled to be published.

It is because of my mistakes that I want to help you avoid this same thing. Just email the blog owner with the idea you have for a guest post and see if they would be open to you writing it. What is the worst thing that could happen – they either say no or they give you a different topic to write about.

Create Killer Content

Writing a guest post is easy, however, creating a killer piece is a lot harder. When creating killer content you have to do extensive research on your topic, you must go above and beyond, it should cater to the blogs audience and most importantly, it is an article that readers want to share. Whether you are writing a guest post about blogging, business or even lung cancer (who shares articles on lung cancer?), the article must be good enough to get people to Tweet their followers and share it with their friends.

Failure to create killer content is one of the leading causes of guest post being denied. Although, every blogger has a different style, we can all agree that a well thought out and written article is never out of style. This is why creating killer content is more than enough to get your guest posts accepted no matter how good your relationship with that blog owner is.

As you can see, getting more guest posts accepted does not take a lot more than what you are doing now. If you spend the time writing a guest post, then you should make sure it is published on the best blog possible. This is why networking is so important, as well as the rest of the key points that I talked about above.

I could go on and on about guest posts, how to write one, ways to get more traffic, tricks to get your guest posts to rank higher and so on, however, it is time for you to take action. So, if you have anything to add, then please comment below but if not, then start networking with other bloggers today.

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Lots of bloggers participate in guest posting in the effort to generate some targeted traffic to their blog. Other bloggers may use blog commenting as a means to generate this targeted traffic.

I am sure that you would agree with me that targeted traffic is one of the best types of traffic that can happen to any blog or website. Targeted traffic can be described as people who come to your blog or website that are truly interested in your site’s content and can be a source of incoming traffic to your blog.

My question to you is, Does guest posting and blog commenting still works for generating targeted traffic back to your blog?

My Targeted Traffic Test

I have been running a little underground test for getting targeted traffic to my blog via guest posting and blog commenting. I guest posted and blog commented for a month, then the next month I stopped.

Did my traffic go down? Yes it did. My targeted traffic dropped more than I had imagined.

During the time that I was guest posting and making blog comments I saw where it helped to improve my traffic to targeted web users. In that time period I made over $150 just by getting targeted traffic writing reviews for visitors and selling ads, plus I also got lots of guest bloggers to post on my blog. My subscriber list grew, my Alexa rank improved by 30K and I was very happy to see all this activity on my blog.

You can do the same and get targeted traffic if you participate in guest posting and blog commenting. Here is what you can do…

Guest Posting For Targeted Traffic

I love to gain exposure by means of guest posting. Doing this opens the gates to FREE targeted traffic and all I have to do is write for it. Targeted traffic is what will help to make our blogs successful. Targeted traffic is what helps us to make money from our blogs. So why not participate in guest blogging?

Writing a guest post and submitting it to a blog does not get you targeted traffic just like that. You have to write your guest post in a particular way in order to get this targeted traffic.

Here are a few steps to follow if you want to get targeted traffic through guest blogging:

• Submit Only Quality Content
  You will benefit in the best way when you submit only high quality articles as guest post. When you aim to write top quality content and the readers of that blog loves your article then they will want to read more from you.We all know that quality content is king. Having a kingship article featured on another blog can make you become exposed to free targeted traffic. This is why blog owners will only accept high quality content, because both you and the blog owner will benefit in getting traffic.
• Link To Related Articles
  When you write guest posts you should aim to leave at least two links back to related articles that you have written on your blog. This will help to build backlinks and also get targeted traffic back to your blog from that guest post.Linking back to your related articles can build strong backlinks especially if you use the correct keyword(s) as anchor text. Google also recognizes the importance of backlinks and this will help you to rank in search engine and also your page rank.
• Fill Out Your Author Bio
  When you fill out your author bio it gives your article readers a bit of overview of who you are. In order to generate some targeted traffic back to your blog then you should use your full name and give an interesting biography about yourself.Another interesting point to note is that you should use a profile picture on your author bio. Most blogs use a Gravatar to to display their profile pictures. This is free and easy to do. So be sure to add your profile photo if you want more targeted traffic to your site.
• Reply To Comments
  I have seen guest bloggers submitted guest post to my blog, get comments and not reply to them. This is missing out on free targeted traffic back to their blog.I often email them to ask them why they guest post, and they would reply “to get traffic.” But they fail to get traffic because they still didn’t reply to their comments or hardly ever reply to them.I always try to reply to most if not all comments left on my guest post, this is because I want to generate some targeted traffic back to my blog.

Blog Commenting For Targeted Traffic

Blog commenting is one of the best ways to generate hundreds, if not thousands, of targeted traffic to your blog if done correctly. Blog commenting can allow you to acquire a PR of 3 for your blog.

Here are some blog commenting tips:

• Reply To Comments
  As I mentioned in my last point above, replying to comments that your blog readers leave for you opens up the gate ways for targeted traffic. Replying to each comment that you get on your guest post will also help to build up backlinks and will help to increase your page rank.
• Reply To Comments… Even If You Aren’t The Article Author
  Another important key point to note is that you can reply to comments made on an article even if you are not the author of that article. This helps with building relationships through blog commenting and builds backlinks. Doing this will help you to generate targeted traffic back to your blog.
• Leave Up-Building Comments
  If you really want to gain targeted traffic back to your blog then you have to make your comments up-building. What I mean is that you have to say more than “thanks” or “wonderful post”. You have to get deep and be more conversational when leaving comments.If the article that you are commenting on has something that you can relate to, then what you can do is give your thoughts and experiences. This will help the author of the article as well as other commentators.Be helpful when you comment and remember to look out for those CommentLuv enabled blogs.

Is Targeted Traffic A Must For Blog Survival?

This question can be looked at from two different angles. The answer can be yes and it can be no.

A blog doesn’t need targeted traffic for it to survive. But if you want to make money from your blog then targeted traffic is the best way to go. Getting traffic to your blog that has a genuine interest in your articles and content will make marketing easy.

Group Discussion: Does blog commenting and guest posting works in generating targeted traffic to your blog?

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I’d like to share with you the experience I had with running a successful Twitter Ad campaign. It all started when I found out that Twitter teamed up with American Express for an exclusive offer:

“We invite American Express Cardmembers and merchants to try our new advertising solution for small businesses. American Express will give $100 in free Twitter advertising to the first 10,000 eligible Cardmembers and merchants that register.”

Lucky for me I am an American Express cardmember and not to mention a bonafide Twitter addict, so you can see how this was an “offer I couldn’t refuse”. If you have an American Express card, you should go to the site and see if they have any spots left.

If you’re not an AMEX cardholder, running a Twitter Ad is something you should consider giving a try anyway, and based on my experience, setting up the Twitter ad was very easy to do and also very effective.

Twitter Ad Set Up Video Tutorial

In this video I demonstrate how easy it is to set up your Twitter Ad and I also give you a quick tip on how to pick your target market using Tweepsmap. Watch the video called How to Run a Successful Twitter Advertising Promotion.

Running a Twitter Ad vs a Facebook Ad

Overall, the Twitter Ad interface is very simplistic compared to the Facebook Ad interface. Facebook ads can be targeted to reach many different segments from people who have liked your page all the way to people who have liked your competitor’s pages. With Facebook ads you can target users by age, sex, interest, job title work place and so much more and you can really hone in on a very specific audience.

Twitter ads are not as laser focused as Facebook ads, however you can choose by country and you also have a choice of 5 different messages you can promote with the ad. I like this option because it allows us to vary the test and promote a wider range of offerings. I also, think that people tend to have a level of ad-blindness on Facebook and they may not have their Twitter ad-blinders on yet, since the platform is so new.

Conclusion

I found some level of success with using Twitter ads and I certainly recommend using them to promote your small business, launch a new product, generate buzz for an event or to grow your Twitter following. The ads are affordable and effective and the Twitter ad interface is user friendly and super simple to set up. How about you; would you give Twitter Advertising a try?

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Let me start by explaining what Google Authorship means. Google defines Authorship as follows:

“Google is piloting the display of author information in search results to help users discover great content…If you want your authorship information to appear in search results for the content you create, you’ll need a Google+ Profile with a good, recognizable headshot as your profile photo.”

Life as a blogger is difficult enough. As an individual, content written must contain new and meaningful insights in order to end up with much of chance that people can find and then read your blog post.

Abuse of Google Authorship

However SEO companies are now abusing Google authorship to insert pictures on company websites that are not truly blogs. This only makes it that much more difficult for honest bloggers to reach a wider audience.

Google attempted to do bloggers a favour by allowing them to display small pictures of themselves in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Check out the image below of how a blogger can attract more attention to their posts by verifying authorship with Google.

Notice, how in the above example there is legitimate usage of Google’s authorship since it actually displays the picture of the individual who created the blog post. Unfortunately, many SEO companies quickly found a method to abuse this practice in order to increase conversions when people find their company’s pages in Google. Now company websites (particularly those in the SEO industry) instead of blogs, end up with pictures in the SERPs. Take a look at this snapshot:

Above you can notice the clear abuse of Google authorship. The websites are clearly designed for a company and are not individuals’ blogs. Furthermore, the first one does not even use a real image. Perhaps that part is OK, but it is still clearly against the spirit of personalising the results. Further, each website clearly abuses Google’s new authorship techniques to the detriment of honest bloggers, such as us.

Obviously, Google cannot enjoy the fact that companies are employing this practice and is likely to come up with a better way of detecting such in future algorithm updates. However, in the short run, these companies are clearly abusing a feature Google intended to improve search results. What can fellow bloggers do in the meantime, rather than just wait around?

Report Authorship Abuse

I suggest reporting instance such as these. Google actually setup a form specifically to report abuse of rich snippets, such as authorship. Google may not manually remove a site, but typically a person does manually review information sent and will at a minimum use the details to improve the algorithmic detection of such abuses in the future.

Please let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below. Share examples you noticed of other such instances. As a fellow blogger, I view it as my duty to help others in the same plight combat this abuse. Help me combat this practice by providing any guidance, suggestions, examples, and feedback below.

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It doesn’t matter what type of freelancer writing, marketing or consulting you are offering, you are doing yourself and your business a disservice by not having a blog of your own. The benefit from having your own blog, whether for personal branding or business exposure is limitless. The start up costs are also minimal, and now you can setup your own WordPress driven web sites with literally the click of a button! In this post we are going to cover just five of the many reasons why you MUST have a blog for your business, and how it can massively expand your reach and sales in no time.

1 – Branding

If you are going to be freelancing, you are likely writing and working for other people so they can make money off your efforts. At the same time you should be building your own brand awareness. One of the best ways to set this up is through the use of your own blog, and especially with a logo of your own. Many people will throw a blog together and start writing content from day one, but not focus on their branding potential. If you are going to have a freelancing business, not only is a blog a huge requirement, but so is having a logo or specific branding for your site. It’s actually much cheaper and easier to create a logo than you might think.

2 – People Find You

Even though I am not personally a freelancer, I can vouch for the power of having an authority blog and how easily it makes it for people to find your contact and expand your potential business opportunities. Through my blog I’ve been able to meet with people all around the world, travel to different countries and speak at many different conferences and as mentioned, the blog in itself has open up whole new worlds of opportunity for myself and my business. What possibilities are you missing out on by not having a blog of your own?

3 – Offer Your Own Products & Services

Freelancing is great, and it’s always nice to bring in new work… but you are also limiting yourself and how much your can make, as you only get paid for the amount of time you are working. If you focus your efforts on not only your freelancing business, but also a blog, you can start branching out and creating your own guides, membership sites and premium services. Your blog will be working for your 24/7 and potentially selling your products and services while you are sleeping!

4 – Building Your Own Blog Business

As we keep referring back to a blog, you will notice that the power of a blog increases with time. As you continue to add more content and quality resources, more people will read your blog and maybe even link back to you. All of this eventually leads to more freelance work and maybe the creation of your own products and services, as we mentioned in the previous point. The bottom line is that you are actually creating a whole new business of your own. Should you truly dedicate your time and heart into your blog, you may find that your freelancing business soon becomes a second and side revenue generating compared to your blog. When first starting your blog, put in as much effort and quality as possible, while thinking about your goals in the coming months and years ahead.

5 – Long Term and Continual Growth

The end result… this is everything you are working for. The life of a freelancer can be a frustrating and rewarding one. Many freelancers will find that there is a lot of downtime in between clients and that they make have to spend a few days to weeks before they can even find new work. During this down time you can focus your efforts on building your blog, which results in more branding, exposure and potential business for your freelance work, but all a result of your blog. Just as important as it is for you to have continual business through your freelance work, your blog will continue to grow in time and eventually create it’s own revenue path and new business.

If You’re a Freelancer Start Your Blog Today!

Now it’s time for you to move forward and start your own blog, whether it’s for personal use or for your freelance business. The pros heavily out weigh the cons when it comes to creating a blog. Even if you find that you don’t know what you could possibly write about, just think about your previous freelance work, tips you could provide to people looking for work, case studies and experiences you’ve had with previous clients. At the very least, you can use a blog as a portfolio and contact source for all of your previous and future freelance work. There is really a whole world of opportunity out there, and if you feel that no one is interested in what you have to say, you are completely wrong.

Stop doubting your potential and take a few minutes to go register a domain, throw up a WordPress site and start the future growth for your new blog and freelancing work!

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What crap am I referring to? Things like posting every single day, going to all the social networking sites, plus writing dozens of outside posts for guest blogging only to see a trickle of visitors. You see it has been a little over six years since I have been on this make money online mission and the avenue I’ve found most worthy of pursuing is building email databases of potential customers across diverse niches. Better known as email marketing or list building.

But it doesn’t end with just building a list. In fact, that is only part of the beginning…

The main part is hidden within the email messages you will sending out to them. Although you may have bribed enticed them enough to subscribe you then have to keep them there and get then to take action on your recommendations thereby earning you some money. And aside from politically correct statements of altruism if you’re not in this to make any type of money then perhaps this post isn’t for you.

However if you do intend on generating some income online then you’re going to have to learn the correct language of email marketing…

And to be honest there is no one particular languaging style to write those emails because it depends primarily on the niche along with the type of trigger words and adjective phrases mostly used by that particular niche segment. The best ways of figuring this out is to poke around the forums, specialized Facebook pages, and other web 2.0 properties of the niche and pay close attention to the way its members speak and interact with each other. Then you implement those same phrases and stylings when writing your emails. This in and of itself builds rapport because regardless of what you may have been taught in physical science, in social science LIKE attracts LIKE

* Do this over and over and there will be no ending!

So you’re talking about some of the intricacies of email marketing BUT what does that have to do with giving basic blog tips?!

Well your blog is the point of entry for two very important things about email marketing and list building. First, blogs generally receive traffic faster due to its search engine friendly structure so once you put an optin form in a prominent position on your blog a percentage of whatever traffic you are already receiving will subscribe. Secondly, your visitors -especially your frequent visitors- have come to trust you because you have already built a rapport with them via their favorite blog posts on your site.

But I thought “blogging was full of crap”?!

Well if you already got one then you may as well use it to build a qualified email list. Your blog has primed and trained your visitors to listen to you and subscribe for further instructions

As your email marketing efforts improve and your list grows along with your timely rapport building messages being sent to them, you will in essence be building your own traffic base that will not be dependent on Google, keyword research, or social marketing. And of course it does take time to build all this up, but it is time well spent because once you have a few thousand+ responsive subscribers then whenever you need traffic all you have to do is send an email.

And with all this in mind I suppose blogging isn’t that full of crap after all as long as it serves a purpose…

However I still may need a bit more convincing so tell me what you think

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Only about 17% of your Fans see your Facebook Page posts…

That angers me a little.

I can’t help it.  The fact that I can post to my Facebook page and have that message show up in only 17% of my Fans news stream is angering.

Damn you EdgeRank! 

OK… Complaining about Facebook algorithms is akin to hollering at the Moon, so I will stop.

What does a good Blogger do when faced with social network algorithm issues? 

That’s right, a good blogger figures out how to best work the system for maximum exposure.

If you’re asking yourself, “What is EdgeRank?”  Edgerank is one of the ways that Facebook decides which posts to include in a user’s news feed.  The equation is very simple:

Affinity + Weight + Time Decay = EdgeRank

You can read more at EdgeRank Checker. (the image below is from Edge Rank Checker Blog.)

The Facebook Button

So we all have ways to share our content to Facebook (If you don’t that’s a MUST DO right now!)  in the form of a button placed somewhere on your blog.

Ms. Ileane uses floating social media buttons that trail the post as you scroll down.  That is one way to do it.

Some people place their social media buttons at the beginning of the post, others at the end and others yet, at both the beginning and end.

I use a social media plugin called Socialize which places social media buttons at the top of each blog post and then creates a Feature Box at the end of each post with additional social media buttons (Check out my post on stupid ebook publishing mistakes as an example).

The point is I don’t care where you put your social media buttons, but you need to have them and a Facebook button is a MUST.

So now the question is… Which Facebook button should we use to increase post exposure?

Share Button vs Like Button

Tying our initial problem (only 17% of our Fans see our posts) to our question (Which Facebook button should we use to increase post exposure) we’re left with a decision…

Should we encourage our blog visitors to use the Facebook Share Button or Like Button?

For those that don’t know the Share Button looks like this:

And this is what the Like Button looks like:

I encourage to try both right now and see the difference in how they share content on Facebook.

Why I will always use the Share Button

There are two reasons why I will always use the Share Button and not the more common Like Button:

1. The Share Button attaches an Affinity score to the post shared and the Like Button does not.
2. The Share Button carries a higher Weight score to the post shared than the Like Button.

Maybe these two items don’t seem like a big deal.

You’re saying, really Ryan, those are the two reasons that you use the Share Button over the Like Button?

And my response would be ABSOLUTELY YES!

For anyone that been blogging for more than three months knows every little thing counts when it comes to getting your content found Online!

The difference between Share Button and Like Button may seem small but if that small difference gets your content in front of more readers than it’s worth it… No doubt.

The Rub

Last time I wrote a Guest Post for Ms. Ileane I discussed the Zombie Apocalypse and your Newsletter Subscribers.

What I don’t want to see is your Facebook Posts getting lost in post apocalyptic EdgeRank world as well…

Use the Share Button… Get in your Fans news feed more often!

Thank you,

Ryan H.

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As web site and blog owners, we have a lot to deal with. If we have an established authority site that thousands of people are reading every day, we can appreciate the time and effort it takes to build up a site to that level.

With that said, there are plenty of new, scrappy and established web sites and domain names being sold on after markets, expiration services and auction sites like Flippa.com every day. Being able to look through these lists of sites for sale and knowing which have potential and which shouldn’t even be an after thought, is the difference between bringing your business to another level… or potentially falling a few steps back.

Let’s take a look at some of the key factors in deciding if a new web site or domain name purchase is right for you and your business, and a few things you need to keep an eye out for.

Do You Know the Niche Market and Audience?

I’ll be scrolling through the most active listings on Flippa all the time, and I will come across some real gems! However, many of these sites are in niches and areas that I really don’t know too well. Anyone who already has a successful web site will truly appreciate the value in knowing everything about your niche and how to be awesome at it.

If you end up purchasing a new web site that looks like a great deal and a solid business, you may end up biting more than you can chew, as you will have to learn a whole new business model and effective practices. Some buyers may even find they are losing hold of their established business as they aren’t focusing on what’s currently making money, while trying to learn the day to day operations of a new site.

Buying Blogs with Stats, Revenues and Growth

When looking through web sites and blogs that are for sale on the open market place, nothing is more exciting than seeing a web site up for sale that you already visit and read every day. This is exactly what happened when I saw Blogging Tips for sale on Flippa a few years back. I already knew the owner Kevin from a few emails we sent back and forth over the years, so I knew a little bit about the owner of the site, but no idea on the actual revenue/profit numbers until the actual auction posting was up.

With all of that said, this is all important because when sites are listed for sale on an auction there is a lot of options for things to change quickly. In between the auction time, by now prices and other bidders possibly winning a site you are interested in, it’s important for you to have a good idea on how much money you can make with a web site, if all of their revenue/traffic stats are correct and lastly, how much you can bid and afford to pay for a site.

Knowing When to Act on a Solid Opportunity

As mentioned, Flippa is one of the most active places for buying blogs, web sites and domains… and there are thousands of listings live on the site at any given time. With all of those opportunities at hand, it’s important to only act on the best ones that make sense for you, your business and your budget.

In addition to Flippa, there are also plenty of domain name after market services that will monitor and grab domain names for you when they expire. NameJet and Pool are two of the most popular services out there, and you can actually make a list of domains that you would like them to monitor and grab, should they ever expire.

I monitor these sites every day and look at what domain names are on the chopping block and potentially up for grabs. This is how I was able to secure one of my latest blogging adventures, which is a ppc blog and quickly becoming an authority site on it’s own, as we continue to add new content and features to the site daily.

I never initially had plans to build a pay per click marketing blog, but since the opportunity came up to secure the domain name, and it’s already focused in a niche that I’m extremely knowledgeable in, it just made sense. This is the perfect example of an opportunity that comes up that you MUST act on.

Online Business is All About Reach and Scalability

As we all know, building a business online is as much about your service or product, as it is about how many people you can reach. Whether your site is ranked #1 or deep in the results, there is always room for improvement. If you can continue to expand your business by buying up new properties and established web sites, that is excellent! However, it’s just as easy to get side tracked and start buying up sites that take away time for your real business and make you lose focus. This is something you have to stay away from. Stay within your niche and what you are good at, and don’t be afraid to wait for those golden opportunities to come to light!

Have you ever thought about buying blogs or websites to expand your business?

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Many of you have started podcasting and discovering that one of the most important steps in having a successful podcast is getting your show listed in the iTunes directory. iTunes is a popular digital media player, created by world renowned technology giant Apple, and introduced back in 2001 and even today, iTunes remains the dominant force in the podcasting industry.

Learn How To Make an iTunes Widget

Why Should You be Podcasting?

First, let’s discuss the benefits of having a podcast. In a previous post, I shared a few strategies for promoting your content with YouTube, yet I realize that many people tend to shy away from getting in front of the camera. Starting a podcast can be the answer to your content marketing prayers. You can create a connection with your audience through a podcast that goes deeper than the bond you create on your blog. Your readers and potential customers will get to hear your voice. This will help them relate to you on a more human level.

Once you start your podcast, you can instantly boost your credibility and elevate yourself as a thought leader and recognized authority figure in your niche. Everyone knows that it takes a certain level of expertise to start a podcast, and it is quickly becoming a key strategy for savvy online entrepreneurs like Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income, Glenn Allsopp of Viper Chill and veteran podcasters like Cliff Ravenscraft of Podcast Answer Man.

In fact, podcasting has become a dominant force in the blogosphere as evidenced by the fact that the upcoming Blog World & New Media Expo has devoted an entire track to the subject of podcasting! They plan to cover everything from creating, recording, promoting and monetizing your podcast and one of the most interesting sessions is called More Traffic, More Authority, More Customers: Why All Bloggers Should be Podcasting.

Listing Your Podcast in iTunes

I recorded the step-by-step instructions for getting your podcast listed in iTunes in a recent episode of my podcast called How to Get Your Podcast Listed in iTunes. You can listen to it here:

The inspiration for this episode came from James Pruitt and a comment from his blog Relationship Marketing Conversations in his post titled Which is Harder Podcasting Live or Produced Podcasts. In the comment section he asked about syndicating his podcast and here is a snippet from my response:

James, it’s not really hard to get your content syndicated. This is the typical set up that most professional podcasters use.

You must get a media host on top of your blog host – the two choices are Libsyn and Blubrry.

Next install the Power Press Plugin from Blubrry and create a category on your blog called Podcast (or you can name the category after your show).

Then get a professionally designed logo/podcast cover art.

Burn your feed from that category you created to Feedburner.

Submit the feed to iTunes with the 1200 x 1200 cover art.

That’s it!

More About Getting Your Podcast in iTunes

I’m not going to lie to you, it takes a lot of work and effort to produce a successful podcast, however Cliff Ravenscraft aka Podcast Answer Man, has made it a lot easier by providing a series of 8 YouTube videos called Learn How To Podcast that you can watch for free.

Other resources mentioned in my podcast:

• The Podcasters Studio
• School of Podcasting
• The Audacity to Podcast

I know you want your voice to be heard and your ready to create a podcast that engages your audience and builds your authority. I’m here for you to answer your questions about podcasting and I’d love to help you get started on your podcasting journey. Have you thought about starting a podcast? What are some of the challenges you are facing with getting your small biz podcast off the ground?

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First of all, lets talk about why we need guest bloggers? As a blog owner, we need to produce high quality contents in the form of posts on daily basis to make sure our blog is moving in the right direction. Sometimes it becomes really difficult to generate targeted posts due to the busy lifestyle we all are living or we are short of blog post ideas. Guest blogging can fix this problem to a great extent. To solve the problem of publishing relevant contents on regular basis, you should incorporate a guest blogging system on your blog.

Guest Blogging is Beneficial for Both Owners and Guest Bloggers

Guest Blogging is a Win-Win situation for both the blog owners and guest bloggers. As a blog owner, you are able to publish targeted and high quality content on your blog in the form of guest posts. While as a guest blogger, you are rewarded for your work in the form of quality backlinks, referral traffic and branding for your website. But now the question that arises is how to attract guest bloggers of our niche to write guest posts on our blog. If you are looking to get answers for this question or similar questions, I’m going to help you with this guest post:

1. Create Submit Guest Post Page

First thing you should do is create a page to inform your blog readers about guest blogging opportunities on your blog. You can name this page Submit Guest Post, or Write For Us, or Contribute Guest Post etc. In this page, you should mention the benefits of guest blogging and your guidelines for guest bloggers with contact details. Once you have created this page, you should add it in the header navigation section on your blog so that it grabs the attention of most of your blog readers.

2. Get in Touch with Other Guest Bloggers in Your Niche

Next thing you could do is begin making a list of blog owners in your niche and invite them for guest blogging on your blog. When you invite others bloggers, most of them will be interested in writing for your blog in case your blog has already got some popularity and they are aware about guest blogging concept. Apart from this, you should browse other blogs in your industry that accept guest posts. You should generate a list of guest bloggers who are contributing guest posts on those blogs and invite them for guest blogging on your blog.

3. Contact Blog Owners That Are Accepting Guest Posts

Ideally blog owners who are accepting guest posts on their blogs are familiar with doing guest posts themselves and would be interested in contributing a guest post on top blogs in their niche’s for better presence on the search engines front. Here is the ultimate list of 100 plus blogs accepting guest posts on their blogs. You should invite the blog owners of these blogs to write a guest post on your blog.

4. MyBlogGuest Community

MyBlogGuest is a guest blogging community website started by Ann Smarty, a well known blogger and social media activist. This blogging community has a discussion forum that one can use to invite guest bloggers to post on their blogs. So what you should do is create an account on this website and start a thread of your own to inform guest bloggers about the type of posts you want on your blog. Once you are signed in, you will see lots of similar active threads you can even reply in case you are not interested in creating a separate thread or you can use both the options.

5. Social Media Websites

I would recommend you start using Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and other popular social media websites to find guest bloggers for your blog. It would not be a difficult task in case you have huge follower base on these websites. You should make tweets about the same on Twitter and status updates on Facebook. I was able to bring in some popular guest bloggers to my blog through these websites when I tried this method in the past.

Do you have any other killer idea that can help us attract lots of guest bloggers on our blog, please share in the comments section below? You are invited to share your opinion in case you are not agreeing with any of the tips mentioned above for finding guest bloggers for our niche specific blogs.

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I first encountered Scoop.it months ago when I clicked on a Tweet from my friend Anise Smith. At that time, I’d never heard of Scoop.it and I was so amazed with the design and the interactive features of the service, that I contacted her right away for an invite. Immediately I became addicted to Scroop.it and started telling my friends about it and sending them invites. DiTesco from iBlogZone was equally impressed with Scoop.it and even months later continued to thank me for introducing him to this gem of a curation tool.

The reason bloggers and marketers like Anise, DiTesco and me enjoy using Scoop.it is that it allows us to keep a visual collection of those stories that hold our interest. You might compare it to Pinterest in some ways but for me, it’s so much more. You get to shine the spotlight on your favorite images but more importantly – you can gather snippets of information in an organized collection based on your topic of interests. Curating a topic helps build your authority and helps keep you focused. There are some added benefits that you’ll learn more about in this post (and in the video).

Scoop.it – No Longer in Beta

Scoop.it completed that last round of private beta testing late last year and became open to the public so you no longer need an invite. You can head over to the site and set up your account right now if you want. The free account allows you to curate five topics and you can post your scoops to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr and WordPress. Before I go any further, let me show you what you can do with Scoop.it. Please watch:

Scoop.it Tutorial – Curate Content, Build Backlinks and Track Engagement

In the video you’ll see the 5 topics I’m curating with Scoop.it now are:

• Basic Blog Tips – Helping You Build a Better Blog
• YouTube Tips and Tutorials – Anything to help you succeed on YouTube (by far my most popular topic)
• Podcasts – Tips for creating effective podcasts and podcasting services and equipment
• STEM Advocate – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
• Blogging Contests – the hottest blogging contests around

After you scoop an article you’ll find additional options for sharing to Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon on your topics page. I think your friends and followers will be just as impressed as I was the first I laid eyes on a scoop from Anise. There is a handy Extension for Google Chrome that I use to quickly grab snippets from stories I want to curate on my topic pages and you can download Scoop.it! for Chrome here. The community aspect of Scoop.it adds another dimension to the platform and you’ll quickly learn how easy it is to follow your friends topic boards and suggest stories for them to curate.

Advanced features

Scoop.it offers pro and business plans and in the video I demonstrate how to set up Google Analytics for those of you who may want to upgrade to those options. Special pricing and terms are available for educators and students who really seem to embrace the platform and enjoy using it much as I do.

Scoop.it is one of my favorite curation tools and I use it basically everyday. What about you, do you think you’ll give Scoop.it a try?

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Is Link Building Still The Same?

Search engine algorithms are constantly changing and the change is forcing changes to our SEO practice too. It guides and compels us to change the strategies for link building we are using.

With every update on search engine algorithm the incoming links became even more valuable. Today you can’t rely on the link building methods to hunt for backlinks that were most effective just a couple of years ago.

Are you sending emails to web-masters with a proposal of link exchange? Hahahaa…

If you have noticed, those emails have exactly in same content, format and structure. “Post the link in your website then send your link and anchor text. Your links will be published right here [pr 3] “. Funny! And I guess they must have purchased some software that promises to make them millionaires in no time!

What about blog commenting, forum profile links, Squidoo lenses? Are they still working for you?

Oh! With forums, I can’t forget the misfortune I experienced. Back in the day, I found some forums that were really nice places to hang out and the benefits were huge numbers of back links and traffic! With addicted participation on two well reputed forums (mazzako forum and ddboard forum) I gained a good amount of backlinks and one of my sites got PR6 (psexam.com). It used to be a great link building method. Can you imagine the downfall to PR2 from 6 after both of those forums were closed for unknown reason?  I wonder how long these types of forums will survive!

So, what can be the better reliable strategies for link building? I hope you can suggest a few more, but here’s my best guess for what will work best in 2012. If search engines are smarter, we too aren’t that stupid! Let’s explore the three methods that are hot in trends recently.

Link building with free Themes, Plugins etc.

There are thousands of new bloggers coming online everyday. I remember David Risley said “They are coming” – the millions who yet don’t know blogging and social networks, online marketing etc. and that implies still the huge opportunity.

Because THEY are not yet confident to spend money for themes, plugins and diverse other essential blogging tools, free themes, plugins and many other web applications are very popular in the blogosphere. If you have a creative mind and possess some skills, how about getting decent links back by giving your tool away for free?

You are not earning money out of your creative work, but the monetary value of the link building could possibly surpass the amount of money you might earn by trying to offer it for a price.

Back Linking from Social Networking and Bookmarking sites

This is another lucrative avenue for you to explore. If a nice piece of content goes viral, it and can offer huge amounts of backlinks. Search engines have started to value social networks higher. Google already declared that social engagement is a ranking factor in their algorithm and suggests to incorporate the +1 button on your websites and blog posts.

There can be a debate on NOFOLLOW links but be assured that the crawlers have grown smarter!

Mason Stoller has already published a post on the importance of Social Bookmarking sites for SEO here on BasicBlogTips. The post is worthy enough to visit and be sure to check out his list of social bookmarking sites.

Guest Blogging as The Best Form of Link Building

Needless to say, there’s no better proactive strategy to acquire those highly valued links from within the blog post other than guest posting. We have reasons to believe that all links are not equal and one link from inside the post area outweighs dozens on comments or in the footer or sidebars. Kimberly Castleberry calls these links Editorial links and she has a nice post about this topic - Editorial Links vs Blog Comment Links.

I hope it is not very hard to get an guest blogging opportunity if you have a decent reputation. Anil Agrawal has a list of 100 blogs that allows guest blogging to make you easier. Don’t wait, approach the blog owners with your quality post. You are most welcome with your nice and useful piece to publish in my SEO MMO Tips blog too. Please find my contact information below in Bio box.

I’m sure there are lot more effective link building methods that you want to share it with me, don’t you? Waiting for your comments.

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Gone are the days, when the world used to operate solely offline; the online business world is growing by leaps and bounds each and every day. And among the innumerable benefits it offers, one is your ability to start a business with apparently $0 initial investment. There are various ways to make money online which you can opt for, even if you are bankrupt you can transform yourself into a wealthy person. Here, I’ll share with you my own experience and provide essential guidelines that will help you on the path to your online business destiny.

Observe What You Love to Do in Online Business

Is it engaging writing skills, designing skills or just filling out data-forms at good speed? This is the question you need to ask yourself, when going for any specific online business. You can have your own ghostwriting website, and earn thousands of dollars with the unique article you write for your clients. All you need is an account on online forums like digitalpoint, warriorforum etc. For instance, if you need to write an article on diet and nutrition, you can refer to diet plans of Bistro MD and Weight Watchers.

Who is looking for your Products and Services?

Finding potential clients is crucial to your online success. Establish a blog or guest post about your services on popular blogs, use blogging communities and forums to keep search for potential buyers of your services. For instance, if you’re blogging about weightloss, you need to listen to the requirements and needs of your target audience, through social media sites among other ways.

Initial Investment and Premium Pricing

Oh! Did I just say, initial investment? Yes, there is something you need to invest in your online venture. It is your time and efforts. You may even consider providing services for free to the potential clients in order to build trust during the initial days. Give away attractive offers through promo code and online coupon. And then, when you have established enough rapport in the field, go for premium pricing for your products or services. More than anything, the right price determines how much money you will make. If someone hesitates in paying the right price, send them on their way.

Extensive Study and Research Required in Online Business

Here, studying only refers to reading books on the subjects. Talk to experts and seek knowledge. The more you know, the greater are the chances of your success. There arise innumerable e-books on the topic of your interest available for free. It is just a matter of knowing which one is actually productive and which is not. That’s why; Internet is popular for providing free platform to earn without initial investment. Grab every useful article that comes your way and implement the knowledge.

Everything Boils Down to Mindset

At last, the only thing that matters is your never-say-die attitude. Hard work, commitment and a mindset for success can take you to heights. When Sir Benjamin Franklin traveled to America, he couldn’t afford anything more than two-day meal. Later, he came up to become a historical figure in the history of America. Same stories go with many giants in the field of business. All it takes to make money is ‘You’. However, I strongly emphasize on the importance of firm action and strong steps taken towards our goal.

What is your advice for success in today’s world of online business? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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Often, when you think of your blog traffic strategy, you think of guest posting, blog commenting or SEO. Perhaps some of you might even think of video marketing if you are into youtube, or perhaps like Ms. Ileane (and myself lately…) you might think about your podcasting as a traffic source.

However, for over a year and a half, NONE of these was my primary source of traffic, leads, or sales for my blog. In fact, my biggest blog traffic strategy is one that many people fail to even consider:

Forum Marketing!

I started using forums early on in my career. In fact, the whole reason I started IMRelations was because I wanted a place to centralize the forums I was already using.

(Did you know that forums are one of the oldest forms of social media still in use today?)

At the time, I was just starting out in affiliate marketing, and I was active in about a dozen IM forums, mainly learning from other people, and networking with people.

So, I started up a blog to share my experiences. I never really expected it to take off. In fact, for over a year and a half, ALL my links were coming from forums and a few blog comments. I wasn’t really trying to make money on that blog, it was just a place for me to hang out and talk about marketing.

I really didn’t even care if anyone was listening.

But, because of what I was doing in the forums, it did take off, and (surprisingly to me…) people were listening.

Why Forums Can Be Your Best Blog Traffic Strategy

Ever since then, forums have been one of my biggest sources of traffic, leads and sales. I have used them to build my authority in  a wide range of niche markets, and to this day, they are still one of my top traffic sources, (second to guest posting on blogs).

Yet, as I go around, most people are telling me that forum marketing doesn’t work as a blog traffic strategy, or that it is too labor intensive. The funny thing is, these are also people who are heavy into social media, which is a lot more labor intensive than forum marketing is.

In fact, this blog traffic strategy was so successful for me that many people started coming to me and asking me how I did it. Now, like any good affiliate marketer, my first reaction was to go out looking to see if I could find a product to promote….

NOPE!!!

No luck there. Most of the guides I could find were about profile linking, spamming threads for links, and other terrible advice. They were killing people’s reputations without them even realizing it. That doesn’t really work for a good blog traffic strategy, so I had to keep looking. I never did find one though. Instead, I went to work showing how to use forums as a traffic strategy and brand building tool.

I created my own blog traffic strategy guide using forum marketing!

Now, I didn’t just run right out and write an ebook for the fun of it. In fact, several people had to BEG me to do it. I never really wanted to get into products. I am an Affiliate after all!

So, recently I finished up my Forum Traffic Sweeper guide, where I shared all my forum marketing tips and tricks to generating leads, sales, and most importantly authority through using niche forums.

Today, I thought I would share a little trick with you guys that I learned along the way.

How To Get Better Results From Forum Signature Links

A few months ago, I did a post over here about using landing pages for your guest posting bio box. I got a lot of great reviews and comment on the post, but most people don’t know that I actually learned how to  that particular blog traffic strategy through forum marketing.

You see, in forums, you get a “one size fits all” link in your signature file. This means you really can’t target that link to a specific problem really easily. After all, today, I might be answering questions on SEO, while tomorrow, I am answering questions on plugins for WordPress.

So, instead, I started testing landing pages. In these landing pages, I would talk about my experience within the forum, talk about the forum owner’s products if they have any, and invite people to my email list.

I found by doing this that it increased my engagement and even improved my opt-in conversions by 75%.

So, if you want to get the most out of your forum signature, use a landing page, instead of just a random page on your blog. You will get better results, and you can target the landing pages to the people specifically coming to you through that one forum. This could be the best blog traffic strategy that you implement, as long as you don’t fall down the dark path and become another forum spammer.

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There are many ways to market your business online using social media and one of the best ways is to use Facebook advertising. If you haven’t looked at this type of advertising in a while, it’s time to reconsider.

Recently, Facebook has made major changes to the way business fan pages are created and shown. This change called “timelines” allows you more web page real estate on your fan page.

Before this change you could only show an image that was only about half of the width of your webpage. This was extremely limiting to your viewers and fans.

For this reason, most Facebook advertisers sent people who clicked their ads to their websites instead of their Facebook page, depriving Facebook of the opportunity to show more ads to their viewers and generate more revenue.

Since Facebook’s goal was to keep you on their pages longer, their solution was to provide you with more of a webpage like experience with the hope that their advertisers would send people back to their fan pages instead of their websites.  Timelines accomplishes this very well.

With Timelines, you can now show full size videos and images. You can read text with having to use scroll bars. You can sell your products or services directly from Facebook.  You can collect email addresses. Ultimately, you can do just about anything with your Facebook page that you can do with your website.

Since a viewer is more like to stay and look around on your Facebook page than your website when they click an ad, why would you still send them to your website?

Since it’s always been and still is cheaper per click to send your viewer to your Facebook page instead of your website, why would you send them to your website?

Now is the time to reconsider how you do your Facebook advertising.

To see what I mean, here are some examples of my Facebook page at Mark Adams Marketing Systems. Click on each tab to see the differences.

OK, if you can now provide a great experience to your viewers, how do you take advantage of it using Facebook Ads?

Here’s a quick primer on Facebook Advertising.

Ad creation

Ads can be created from your admin panel using simple text or text and a picture. Pictures always improve click throughs, so always use a picture.

Audience Targeting

For me, the biggest advantage Facebook advertising has is that is allows you to target by interest. When you fill out your personal Facebook profile and include your interest, Facebook uses that information to show you very specific ads.

Let’s say you were selling video wine tasting classes. You could specifically target people who have entered “wine drinkers” on their profiles. You could get even more detailed. You could target people who have entered learning about wine or even wine classes. Do you think you would get more of a specific audience than with just wine drinkers?  Sure you would.

Then you could target by region or even drill down to zip code. You could target by age, gender, language and so on.

You could even target specific fans of another wine fan page!!

There is no other medium in the world that lets you get as specific of an audience as facebook advertising.

CPC

CPC means cost per click. After you have targeted your audience and set up your ads, the goal is to have your ad clicked.  The beauty here is that you only pay if your ad is clicked

Ad Costs

Ok, so what does each click cost? That depends on several factors. One is the quality in which you chose your audience.  If you chose well, you will get a higher click through rate.  A higher click through rate will mean a lower cost per click than similar ads from your competition.

You’re actually rewarded for your competence!  What a concept.

Another thing to consider with Facebook advertising is the market you’re in.  The more competitive the market, the higher the cost per click.  CPC ranges from a few cents per click to several dollars.

Campaign Management

So the next question is can you do this yourself or should you bring in a professional to manage your campaigns?

You can certainly do this yourself.  It is easy enough to set up your campaign and get it started.  Many people do this and some are actually successful.  However, the time and skill to manage the campaign can be difficult for some business owners.

The value in using professional management is in the target audience selection and experience in managing the campaign.  An effective manager should not only provide research on whom to target, but be able to lower your cost per click.  For some people the biggest advantage is to free up your time by managing the day to day activities.

By using a professional manager, your chances of a successful campaign increase dramatically.

Well, that concludes this article and I hope this quick overview on Facebook Advertising has been helpful.

If you would like to learn more about creating a Facebook ad campaign or other ways to market your business online, click here to schedule an appointment to talk about your business.

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My first association with blogging happened in 2003 when my mom bought the ‘Google Cash Cow’ CDs out of curiosity. Marketed as the ultimate money making machine with free hosting and free website that supposedly let’s you make millions in a short span of time, the Indian blogging industry has gone beyond the Google Cash Cow’s and evolved as a strong publishable medium, with the number of professional tech bloggers, personal bloggers and business bloggers on the rise.

Before I go further, let me point out that Indian blogging industry is not well documented. Whatever we know are from rare market surveys and reports.

Dominant Blogging Statistics

English is the dominant language; however, blogging in other vernacular languages like Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Marathi are on the rise too.

According to the data released by the We Are Social, a social media agency, 8% of the Indian population, which is about 100,000,000 people, is internet users and among them, only 15% of them are involved in blogging.

MSN Live survey of 2006 says that men dominate the Indian blogosphere and WatBlog.com says blogging in India is popular only with a certain section of society. On the basis of the above data, two things are worth noticing:

• Male bloggers are more visible in the Indian blogosphere. Take a look at any business blogs or those typical ‘making money from blogging’ sites, the webmasters are all male. Call this a lack of knowledge or simple complacence, women professional bloggers from India are hard to find. Most of the women bloggers use the blogging medium as personal diaries only.
• Blogging is class-based, to a certain extent. This is because internet penetration in India’s rural heartland is negligible. Moreover, 72% of Indian population lives in the rural areas, which is more than the combined population of USA and Western Europe!

What do Indians Blog About?

Indian bloggers have multifarious purposes for blogs. While the numbers of newbie mommy blogs from India are on the rise, many others take to professional blogging as well. Look at Amit Agarwal from Labnol.org, one of the most respected Indian blogger. Here is a brief account of most popular blogging niches in India:

1. Technology – It is not without reason that India is known as the ‘tech hub’. There is a rising number of tech bloggers within the age group of 19-25 year bracket.

2. Cricket – The gentleman’s game is a religion in India (*not a bit exaggerating*). Thousands of blogs are dedicated to cricket, encompassing every aspect of the game.

3. Finance – Finance blogging is a popular niche too. One can find blogs / columns / stories / expert tips from finance experts on top finance blogs like AbhishekRungta.com and MoneyControl.com.

4. Business / PR – India is growing in the SME sector and with high influx of corporate investment, cross-cultural business relations have grown significantly in which blogs like WATBlog.com, BuyerBehavior.org, Trak.in, CapitalMind.in are popular.

5. Coupons – There are blogs that strictly cater to audiences who are on the lookout of online coupons for eCommerce purchases. The coupons-based blogs sell coupons and vouchers at less than market rate and make money.

These are the five main categories of blogging. Of course, there are personal blogs too but when we talk about niches, these are the main ones.

Do Indian Bloggers Earn?

I recently came across a 14-year old who earns about 1000 USD per month from his blog! Quite an achievement for this young guy but what I am saying is that making money through blogging is a main motivation for the young Indian bloggers, especially when it comes to advertisement earnings.

Admittedly, AdSense revenue earning is the prime source, followed by InfoLinks.com, Chitika.com and others. Indian blog monetization is in a phase where US blogs, specifically, were in 2004-2006. Therefore, there is a lot to be learned because what we are doing now is going with ‘tried and tested’ paths rather than concentrating on innovation.

Anyways, after advertisement earning come those blogs which are solution-oriented like Blog Consultancy, Writing Services, Tech Training, SEO Services and others.

Blogging Controversies and Regulations

The Indian blogging industry has received more negative coverage than positive ones, making people see this field with unnecessary skepticism. Corporate bigwigs like Infosys and Wipro have come out with ‘blogging guidelines’ for its employees, which if violated, can lead to severe penalties and in some cases, termination of employment.

Whether it is the case of blogger Chautanya Kunte portraying the famous journalist, Barkha Dutt from NDTV, in negative light or the case of blogger Gaurav Sabnis, critically writing about Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), the term “freedom of expression” does not bode well with the Indian government.

It seems that the government is going the ‘Chinese’ way, curbing internet freedom and surrounding it with bureaucracy. In March 2011, amendments to the IT Rules Act directed Internet Service Providers to direct the general public and bloggers as to what consists of publishable and non-publishable content, giving the ISPs right to block content from user access.

Nevertheless, to wrap up this discussion, Indian blogging is a billion dollar industry when combined with eCommerce. Blogging is a profitable field, provided one follows certain rules and regulations. However, there are some, including me, who think that the power of blogging should be used aesthetically. From India’s perspective, blogging has potential, more when Internet access reaches more people and users are sensitized about the concept and potential of ‘blogging’.

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Now that you’ve started recording YouTube videos to promote your website or small business, you can take your video marketing to the next level by enhancing those videos with interactive applications powered by Viewbix. I first heard about Viewbix from Vernessa Taylor and right away I was impressed by how Viewbix can transform an ordinary video, from YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook, into a powerful marketing tool that can help increase traffic, sales and conversions. Here’s the description of Viewbix taken from their website:

Viewbix lets you add interactive apps and calls-to-action to your videos. The apps put dynamic content on top of your YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook videos to create a rich viewing experience that engages viewers and can be shared across the web, social and mobile platforms.

Viewbix in Action

Take a glance at the video I’ve embedded below. It looks very similar to a typical YouTube video but up at the top, you’ll notice a very striking difference. There’s a blue border with the name of the video and a clickable-hyperlinked button that says “Get Viewbix”, and that’s not the only thing that stands out. Glance over on the right hand side and you will see several icons. Each of those icons represents a customized Viewbix generated application that I created in what’s called “Viewbix Studio”. You can learn all about “The Studio” and take a quick tour of the interface in the video I recorded called Viewbix Tutorial – Create Interactive Branded Videos with Calls to Action.

I selected 7 apps to add to the video above, but watch the demo and you’ll see that I had 24 of them to choose from. If you have a local business or a franchise you can add apps for Store Locators or Google Maps to provide directions to your place of business. And I’m sure your customers will love the nifty coupon app that you can use to generate printable discount offers. Other Viewbix apps include everything from MailChimp, Flickr, SlideShare and Scribd all the way to Ebay, Yahoo Weather and even Stock Quotes can be added to your video too!

Adam Riemer, the affiliate manager for Viewbix, talked about its advantages for the mobile market and the proven effectiveness of the clickable calls to action in a post on the GrowMap blog.

Marketers have tried things like using rich media or flash, but those don’t always work for mobile devices all the time. You could try adding in a url to the video, but that isn’t a real or solid call to action and people won’t always type the url in. Instead they search for a product name. That is why a new tool called Viewbix came out and is catching on so quickly…Because you can add in clickable calls to action and show videos and images of your products, you can now measure the effectiveness and reach of your video campaigns.

Custom Viewbix Webpage

One of my favorite features of Viewbix is this personalized webpage (see below) that is created for each and every one of the Viewbix enhanced videos. This is great option to showcase your product video on it’s own page which includes additional information about the featured product along with your latest tweets.

 Viewbix Analytics Track ROI

In the video, which I recorded a few weeks ago I gave you a glimpse of the analytics charts in my Viewbix dashboard. Since then I had a chance to gather more information, here’s what I did. After powering my videos with Viewbix, I embedded them in posts on the this blog, in the post on GrowMap and on the Basic Blog Tips Facebook Page using Timeline Apps I created using Lujure:

The engagement levels were increased and people are clicking on the apps each time I embed an enhanced video to Facebook or a blog post. During this time period I sold 5 affiliate products which is far more than what I sold the month prior to using Viewbix. This is also a great time for me to disclose that I’m a Viewbix affiliate and should you decide to join their affiliate program, please let them know that I sent you

A basic account with Viewbix is free and allows you to enhance two of your videos with the standard applications. Visit the site to learn more about Pro and Enterprise account options. I plan to add calls to action to every one of the videos I have embedded here on the blog and going forward on new Facebook Page tabs I create with Lujure. I encourage you to get started with Viewbix and incorporate it into your video marketing plans from now on.

What do you think about the video I recorded? Can you think of ways to use Viewbix for your next product launch or to show case your small business?

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In the scramble for social media success, some of us are getting caught up in the madness and losing sight of the true benefits that social networking has to offer.

I get the idea that you want to promote “you” and establish your brand, on highly trafficked social media sites like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. After all, these are the perfect venues for getting noticed and leaving your digital footprint.

Keep in mind you don’t want to go overboard and use strategies that get a lot of attention – but not necessarily the good kind. We’ve all heard the reports of how people are stream-lining their privacy settings and removing “friends” from their Facebook profiles. Don’t let yourself fall into that category of being the annoying person who is the first one to get blocked!

Let me be more specific and introduce you to this episode of the Ms. Ileane Speaks Podcast called:

Avoid These 5 Social Media No-Nos

Here’s a summary of the 5 no-nos that I cover in the podcast:

1. Photo tagging
2. Google+ Id over usage
3. Forum user names
4. Celebrity rip-offs
5. Lack of engagement (which should really be number 1 – just listen and you’ll see what I mean)

During the intro of the podcast I mention something that I really would like to re-emphasize here.

I truly believe that one of the best ways to get the most out of any social network is by being a “giver”. Spend time each day and make it a point to go out of your way to visit other blogs and share other people’s content.

Take the time to leave comments on blog posts and YouTube videos, share articles on Facebook and Google+ and you’ll see that when you give of yourself, you’ll reap the benefits and you might even be surprised by what you’ll get back in return.

My friend Damond Nollan wrote a post that I encourage you to read called If you Want More [Fill in the Blank], Then Do More. I noticed how the engagement level and the number of comments on Damond’s blog and Twitter account has began to take off since he started putting this into practice.

Don’t let Social Media Fatigue get the best of you

We all know there are more and more social networks coming out of the wood-works on what seems to be a daily basis. Don’t spread yourself to thin just for the sake of being everywhere. I recommend that you pick out your top 2 or 3 networks and focus on building those up before you spread your wings and try to fly over new territory.

Ok, now I want to know what you’re thinking. Do you agree with my list of social media no-nos and can you think of a few more?

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