Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The Simplest Ways to Make the Best of Link-Building Strategies

The New Year is often a time to turn over a new leaf – and if you want to increase your website’s traffic, then you are going to have to start building links. You may have never heard of link building before, but don’t worry; that is exactly why we wrote this article. We are going to take you through what link building is, how it can greatly benefit your website, and then teach you seven killer link building strategies that you should start using in 2015 and beyond.

So, what is link building?
Put very simply, link building is when you increase the number of links to your website that are situated in someone else’s website. For example, if someone writes a blog praising your website and then ends the piece with a link to your website, that is increasing the number links leading to your business. Similarly, if someone posts a snippet about your website on Twitter, or on Facebook, that is again building up your overall link profile. The links themselves are called backlinks, and increasing their number online is a process called link building.

What are the benefits of link building?
For starters, the more links that lead to your website, the more chances Internet users around the world have to find you. It is estimated that with each new backlink created by a link-building strategy, you have the potential to reach another 1,000 people – or potentially even more. Search engines such as Google also look more highly on websites with a greater number of high-quality backlinks. When you realize just how much your potential readership could grow, then you start to see just how critical it is to implement powerful link-building tactics.

How can I do it?
The secret is out. Here are the seven killer link-building strategies that we happily share with you:
  1. Start guest blogging. This will allow you to post a backlink to your website on another site, leading more people to your own. Make sure you pick a popular blog that many people will visit, and one with topics similar to yours. What if you can’t find or build relationships with sites? That’s when you need a professional provider to give you better backlinks.
  1. Create a Twitter account. Here you can post links to your website repeatedly. Although you will have to gain some followers first, which can be tricky.
  1. Set up Google Alerts. If you have a company name that you are proud of, you can set up a special alert system with Google that will inform you if anyone uses the same name – and you can then ask them to include a backlink to your website.
  1. Write video transcripts. These can take forever, but if you find a popular video on YouTube that has a link to your website, you can pen the transcript and then offer it free to the person who made the video. Just remember to include a backlink.
  1. Make an infographic. These can be difficult for those who aren’t familiar with creating electronic graphics. On the other hand, if you are, you can then put in your backlink and post it to a website such as Reddit.
  1. Find out where your images are being used. You can do this through a Google search, Next, although this is time consuming, you should e-mail the website, and ask it to reference you through a backlink.
  1. Write something amazing. As result, online magazines might want to write about your site, and you can ask them to include a backlink.

Is link building difficult?
The only problem with link building is that it can get incredibly complicated, and it can take up a large amount of your time. When you are already spending a lot of effort on ensuring that your website reaches your highest standards, you do not always have time to spare for anything else. Another problem is that the Internet moves very quickly – it’s too difficult to keep up with on your own. Even while you slumber, the Internet is changing and evolving. That means that keeping up with your link-building strategy can soon turn into a full-time job. The good news is some companies that can do this for you the are listed in below:
  1. Rank Experts (Link building, site analysis and more)
  2. Build Niche Links (Link building perfected)
  3. Vertical Measures
  4. SEO Smart Links

Now you can see the incredible power that link building can bring to your website — but, you can also see just how much hard work it can be to get established. That is why we truly believe that going to a professional link building service is the best way to achieve your objective of increasing site traffic. A professional link building company will not only understand these killer strategies, but will have insider knowledge on exactly the best way to go about them. Each industry will be different, but only a professional link-building service can cover them all. Make your New Year’s resolution now, and start talking about how you can boost your website visitor numbers with a reputable professional link building service provider.

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Nine Blog Writing Guidelines To Make You a Blogging Champion

 

Image courtesy of [Stuart Miles] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Becoming a blogging superstar isn’t an easy road: it requires a great idea and a lot of hard work. So many guides seem to be promising the perfect, simple formula for blogging success. In reality, getting the most of your efforts requires a bit more than a universal formula.

To become a blogging champion, you’ll need to follow a couple of basic rules and you’ll also have to work on building a relationship with the audience and standing out from the crowd. We’ve compiled the following set of guidelines to simplify the task and help you focus those efforts in the most productive way.
  1. Topic Selection. The first and the most obvious rule for blogging success is topic selection. Your topic will determine the response of your audience, your ability to reach the right people and the options for monetizing your blog.
Picking the right blogging topics depends on several important rules:
  • See what the competition is doing. Don’t replicate their ideas – use this opportunity as a source of inspiration. Take a look at the number of comments that each blog post gets. This number can give you an accurate idea about how interested the audience is in the particular topic.
  • The more specific you are, the better. Generic topics do very little to impress the audience and to improve your SEO efforts. Focus on niche, industry-relevant themes that you’re knowledgeable in.
  • Think about the blog visitors and what they’d like to read about. The fact that you’re an expert in a particular topic doesn’t necessarily mean that the audience is going to have a strong interest in the theme.
  • Keep SEO in mind: creativity is great but you also need to think about the practical aspects of popularizing your blog. A bit of keyword research will shed some light on topics that people are searching about.

  1. Content Length. There has been an ongoing debate about the best length for blog posts. Some claim that you should write while you have something to say and stop when you’re done. Other experts believe that sticking to a particular blog post length is a much better option to increase the popularity of the blog.

Statistics show that the best-ranking blog posts are actually on the longer side. They present a main topic, give the audience some useful information and support all of the claims with evidence. All of these goals cannot be accomplished in 300 words.

According to a Marketing Land report, the most engaging blog posts vary in length between 1,400 and 1,750 words. When it comes to getting backlinks, longer blog posts seem to be more successful than shorter pieces, as well.

Naturally, the length will vary with each topic. Still, try to exceed 500 words each time that you write new content for the blog. Short blurbs and updates are fine for your social media presence but when it comes to establishing your reputation of a blogger, longer is always better.


  1. Think about Formatting and Image Selection. Even if you write the perfect blog posts, you’ll find it impossible to keep the audience engaged by choosing the wrong content formatting. Large chunks of text, complex sentences, the selection of the wrong fonts and even font color could have a negative impact on blog popularity.

Proper blog post formatting involves the following:
  • Choose a simple, sans-serif font that makes it easier to read the content on a screen. You can use a different font for the headlines and sub-headers. The visual contrast will draw the attention of the audience towards the most important parts of the text.
  • Always use sub-headings and bulleted lists. They break up large chunks of text and make the text easier to scan.
  • Pull quotes can also be used to break the text into smaller pieces and to draw attention towards an important point you’re trying to make.
  • Keep both your paragraphs and your sentences short. A single thought per paragraph is the general rule of thumb.
  • Don’t choose funky colors like electric green or fuchsia. Dark text on a light-colored background is always best for readability.

Formatting should also depend on the type of blog post you’re writing. A how-to blog post can easily be broken down into steps that readers need to follow to accomplish a particular goal. FAQ posts make the task of formatting quite easy, as well. A feature story, on the other hand, is usually longer and it consists of more text. In such instances, you can rely on pull quotes, graphics and sub-headers to make the content easier to scan.

When it comes to graphics and images, your multi-media selection can work alongside proper formatting or it can ruin your efforts. Pick high-quality images that provide the audience with additional information. The use of image captions is also something you have to get in the habit of.
Making your own visuals for the blog posts will increase the uniqueness of the pieces and maximize their chances of going viral. There are numerous free online tools you can use for diagram and infographic creation. Spending a bit of time on such visuals will certainly pay off in terms of post popularity.


  1. Powerful Headlines. Writing the perfect headline is even more difficult than choosing a topic for your next blog post but it’s essential for the success of your blog.
Y
ou may think that catchy headlines are easy to come up with but once you sit down and begin brainstorming, you’ll find out that something simple, descriptive and entertaining is incredibly difficult to produce. Don’t forget that optimization has to be considered, as well, which makes the task even trickier.

Anywhere between eight and 10 people go through the headline but of these individuals, only two will continue reading the text. This is why quality headlines happen to be so important for blogging success.

A good headline tells the audience what the post is all about. It happens to be entertaining or witty at the same time. A bit of word play, an insider’s joke or any other form of personalization will get those readers interested.

Keep the headlines short and avoid negative words like no, not, don’t or can’t. Interesting adjectives are a great addition to every headline. Fun, strange, effortless and essential are some examples of good adjectives to include in your titles.

It’s good to make a bold promise in the title. Don’t go for misleading statements, however. If you promise the audience something spectacular and you fail to deliver in the content, you’ll probably lose some of your readers.


  1. Interacting with the Audience. The best bloggers know how to get the audience emotionally invested. Are people writing comments and sharing their opinions with you? If so, you’re doing a good job selecting topics, writing quality posts and boosting engagement.

Though blog comments can sometimes be a pain to deal with, they provide a lot of useful information. The audience could share more information on the topic, provide a unique angle or give you ideas for follow-up posts.

Moderate comments on a daily basis and respond to questions. Delete the spam and openly hateful comments. Your blog should create a friendly and safe environment that people can use to exchange ideas. It’s up to you to deal with comments that contain inappropriate statements. You shouldn’t tolerate hate based on race, ethnicity, gender, social status, religious beliefs, etc. Deleting such comments is the best thing to do.

If you, however, get constructive criticism from the audience, you’ll need to address such remarks in the best possible way. Take some time to craft a response and to answer the questions or the challenges presented by the particular blog visitor.


  1. The Importance of Error-Free Content. Grammar and spelling are important, especially if you want to establish your blogging reputation. Always go through the text one final time before uploading online.

Typos and spelling mistakes are indicative of laziness. You didn’t take the time to proofread your content, which is why your reputation is going to suffer. Error-free blog writing is essential both for corporate entities and for the individuals that want to make a living blogging.

The best thing to do is to write your text and leave it for at least a couple of hours before editing. Ideally, you should start editing the next day. This approach will give you enough time to distance yourself from the text and notice even the tiniest of spelling and grammar mistakes.

Having a good spell checker is another essential for the success of your blogs. Remember not to become excessively reliant on software, however. A spell checker could leave some mistakes, which is why you need to go through the text one final time before it goes live.


  1. Unique Perspective. Original blog posts are difficult to come up with because nearly everything has already been written about. Personalizing the content and sharing something unique from your own perspective, however, is something that you can rely on to give the audience something 100 percent original.

Developing a unique writing voice and style is another great option for setting yourself apart. Do you have a great sense of humor? Use it! People love to be entertained while reading. Are you exceptionally knowledgeable in a particular topic? Make your posts conversational, yet full of information.

It’s important to write naturally rather than attempt to replicate a blogger or an author that you like. This approach will make your posts read forced and artificial. Finding your unique writing voice happens naturally. As you become more experienced, you’ll get to refine the style and make it even more memorable.


  1. Create Series of Blog Posts. Go through your analytics information to figure out which blog posts happen to be attracting the biggest numbers of views. You can use this information to produce series of blog posts on the same topic.

A series is a great marketing tool. You can include links to the other posts on the same topic and you can also use these in your social media campaigns. Developing the topic will result in content consistency and make your blog even more focused.

Studies suggest that blog series rank among the types of content that can be used to increase traffic. Let the audience of the first piece know that a next one will be coming up shortly. The approach helps you build anticipation and it will make people come back to your blog.


  1. Update Your Blog Regularly. The final rule of successful blogging focuses on the frequency of updates. How often should you add new content for your blog? Should you be uploading posts, even if you don’t have a brilliant idea?

The frequency of updates and the quality of the posts are two equally important factors.

Some bloggers find it easy to update their blog by coming up with a routine and writing new content two or three times per week. Some are even comfortable with writing new content on a daily basis.
Posting once or twice per week makes a lot of sense — it gives the audience something new on a regular basis and aids in search engine optimization. Making your posts longer than 1,000 words can make it easier for you to update less frequently and still maintain the quality of the blog.
Do your best to write something fresh at least once per week. Updating less frequently will affect your traffic maximization efforts. In addition, you may lose members of the loyal audience that are looking for new content from you.

Finally, remember to be passionate about blogging. Enjoying the process and choosing topics that you love to write about will affect the quality of your blog posts. Don’t force it, build relationships with the audience and come up with a routine that works for you. Once you get in the habit, you’ll find it much easier to blog regularly and to make each of your posts a huge success.




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Monday, December 29, 2014

How to Dominate Social Media

If you run an online business, chances are social media plays a big part in your marketing efforts. With millions logging on to various social networks every day, sites like Facebook and Twitter have become the NBCs and CBSs of today. As a marketer, you want to go where the people are, and people are flocking to social networks. This means you should be too.

Yet monetizing social media as a viable marketing stream has been nightmarish for many. It’s deceptively easy to spend countless hours sending out tweets and status updates, only to find your company is still barely holding on by a thread. Social media takes careful planning, competitive strategic thinking, and more than a little creativity. It also requires that you stay on the pulse of platforms and trends.

If you’re ready to start the new year out with a social bang, these tips will get you there!


1. Optimize Your Profile
Many companies give little thought to their actual social profiles, and that’s a grave mistake. Followers and fans give you a scant second to woo them with the content you place there, and if it’s not compelling, you will be overlooked. Here are some key points to a great social profile:
  • Have a descriptive yet simple screen name; and make sure it is completely relevant to your company. This is not a place to get creative and cute.
  • Spend your creative juices on your headline or brief company description. You have limited space, so be concise about who you are, but definitely infuse a little personality. Social, as a whole, is a casual and humor-centric space. Don’t be afraid to have a little flair in your description.
  • Mantras are key as well; these are generally 2-4 words and should completely embody who you are as a company. Use these consistently across all platforms and people will really start learning who you are.
  • If the platform you’re using allows you to secure a vanity URL, do so. Sites like Facebook let you customize your web address (one time only, so choose wisely). This helps to reaffirm your name and identity to all who visit.

2. Get Smart About Content
What and when you share your posts are both critical factors to creating an engaged social audience. Do not practice random acts of marketing; they don’t work. Instead, plan out your social strategy in advance; usually 2 months or so is about as far out as you need to go, but the point is, don’t be haphazard. Be methodical and consistent. In addition, here are some key content tips:
  • Have a mixture of timely posts about your industry, as well as content that is evergreen. You can repackage the evergreen posts occasionally, but make sure you’re not being repetitive.
  • Consistency is crucial. Have a clearly defined brand voice, and if more than one person is sending out social signals for your company, create clear guidelines that everyone meticulously follows.
  • Retweet and repost relevant content from your followers. Don’t just make everything about you. Evangelize the members of your audience that are posting informative goodies, and they will do the same for you.
  • Use a tool like Hootsuite to schedule your posts so they are appropriately staggered throughout the day. Consider the habits of your target audience too; if you know they’re more likely to be online in the early evening hours, as opposed to the A.M., plan accordingly.
  • Pay attention to trends and popular social metrics in your target niche, and capitalize on those frequently. If something newsworthy happens in a space relevant to your business, jump in and have a voice.

3. Respond to Your Audience Wisely
The best case scenario in your social efforts is you’ll have an audience that cares enough about your content that they comment, ask questions, and otherwise engage. This will be extremely short-lived, however, if you don’t answer back. Yet if you reply to every last comment, you could drown in wasted resources. So here are some tips with how to best communicate with your social fans:
  • Don’t respond to the negative ninnies unless they have specific complaints about your company or service. In this case, it is crucial you respond with tact, warmth, and apologies.
  • Answer all sincere questions efficiently and to the best of your ability; people who are asking questions about your services are ready to become your customers, but not if you ignore them.
  • On Twitter, make sure you are using mentions, not hashtags, to talk to your audience. Hashtags are for topics, mentions are for people.
  • Create macros for responses you make on multiple occasions so you can streamline the question and answer process.
  • Always, always stay positive in your correspondence; if you know someone is simply complaining for the sake of it, you can agree to disagree, but don’t ever fight fire with fire.
  • Absolutely feel free to delete and block troublemakers that can’t be reasoned with. Your community will appreciate your willingness to have boundaries against bad behavior. Just remember to do so without judgment anger.

Be consistent, friendly, and strategic with social media. And don’t forget to bring your sense of humor! It’s a welcomed trait in the social stratosphere. By employing a little advanced planning and brand consistency, you can take the social world by storm.




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Saturday, December 27, 2014

Datagrabber Tool Makes Incorporating Information Easy

Spreadsheets Can Be Expanded Thanks to New Program

digital

A new, free tool can make spreadsheets easier while enabling users to pull information in with little effort.

90 Digital
 
Datagrabber, now available from 90 Digital, is meant to allow users to create spreadsheets while pulling information from other websites in to their information package. Users don’t have to worry about losing data — it’s all pulled directly into Excel spreadsheets.
“You can query, slice, dice and export data in unique ways and easily aggregate large numbers of sites or pages,” the tool’s site explains.

“Datagrabber also scrapes Google and has a feature called Share of Search that gives you a very concise overview on who is ranking for what keyword amongst a particular keyword group.”
The tool, currently, only works on PCs — it has yet to be made available for Macs.

One of the cool features in the program is the scraping ability. Using it means information can not only be found almost instantaneously, but also incorporated in whatever project the user is working on. With Google being scraped there are up to 1,000 results per keyword and users aren’t hindered by language — the tool will scrape in any language and at any location.

“DataGrabber saves a huge amount of time, lets you be a mini SEO data scientist and makes SEMRUSH and Majestic data easily accessible,” explained 90 Digital‘s founder and chief strategy officer Nick Garner. “Its also a great companion to Niels Bosma’s SEO tools for Excel.”

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