Easy ways to make money from home

20/09/2013

The Art And Science Of Creating A Successful Blog Post

The creative geek has never had it so good.

They have the web tools, apps and the social networks that keep poking them with global gems of content inspiration and ideas. It is a revealed universe of possibilities.

What we are seeing in this century is the synergy between the art of creation and science of technology.

Gutenberg would be turning in his grave if he saw what is happening in the new world of publishing.

So we now have the online tools to publish your inspirations. Google has freed us from the tyranny of remembering and finding facts. This is leading to an explosion of prolific and innovative ideas and expression. It could be music created with an app, a photo that is captured on a smart phone and filtered or it could be creating an article for a blog.

It is the synthesis of art and science.

Creating a successful blog post is creativity enabled by technology both in production, delivery and marketing.

The Art

This starts with an idea for your article. It might appear while driving, talking with a friend or during a wakeful moment at 2am (that is when this idea turned up). It may be inspired by a book, a passing tweet or a brainstorming session at a workshop.

Whenever the idea strikes, grab a pen, your phone or that napkin at the coffee shop. Writing in blood is always an option…because failing to capture an idea due to forgetfulness can sometimes feel like losing one of your children.

The writing for me can start three ways.

The headline idea (maybe optimal)
Creating the introduction (that’s how this one started)
Mapping out the structure and framework for the post (that often happens)
Neither is right or wrong but the creation has to start. Sitting down at the computer laden desk with my two screens, keyboard and my mouse and starting the mundane action is next.

As the words arrive the next phase is the wrangling and wrestling with the text, phrases and even the sub-titles. Many a blog post has an ugly face but as you massage it and apply the makeup it can turn into a thing of beauty.

That is certainly the intent.

Next is the internal discussion with myself as to whether I need to illustrate and elaborate my ideas with a screen shot, an image, add a video or even plonk in a Slideshare presentation.

Sometimes it goes beyond the words.

The Science

WordPress is the technology and foundation tool of choice for this blog.

The science support crew includes the following:

1. Snagit

This is the screen capture tool I use for screen shots, inserting call out text boxes and arrows and even shadow and torn edge effects. I couldn’t do without it.

2. WordPress Plugins

You cannot do without these to enhance your productivity and marketing effectiveness.

This includes.

SEO Plugins (such as WordPress SEO or Yoast)
Akismet (this software stops the spammers)
BackWPup (this backs up my blog),
Facebook like box (you can like my page without leaving my blog)
GetSocial (my floating social media sharing buttons)
This is not an exhaustive list but all of these I couldn’t do without.

3. Google Analytics

This allows me to monitor my blog traffic, check to see if my organic search traffic is rising or falling and seeing which countires are enjoying reading the article in real time (that is a very cool feature of this tool).

4. Marketing tools and networks

Some of these include the following to ensure that the content starts to flow across the web.

a. Social media networks

After publishing the post it then needs some help to attain some online attention and sharing.

Tweeted with hashtags and the link to the post
Shared on LinkedIn
Manually published to Facebook with a large image (not a thumbnail) with hashtags
Images or infographics contained within the post are pinned to the appropriate board on my Pinterest account
Manually posted to Google+ with the shortened link, a large high definition image with a bolded headline (this done by using this symbol * at the beginning and end of the headline) and yes also include the now ubiquitous hashtags
b. Email

The software I use is Aweber which is used by many top bloggers but is being challenged by some emerging and disruptive email platforms such as MailChimp that have made the process of email marketing simple.

c. Other tools

I use some other software to assist me in keeping the content flowing.

One of those is SocialOomph which allows me to send recurring tweets on a regular basis. I can load it up and the blog post can be sent out again and again. As this blog has over 800 articles which are mostly evergreen in nature it means that you can keep tweeting your best content on auto-pilot.

The wrap

So we have moved from inspiration to creation with all its nuance and editing. We have optimised the blog for search engines until we feel comfortable enough to hit the “Publish” button. Then it’s the process of marketing the blog with your 1,000 best friends on Facebook.

If you get it right then the crowd turns up and cheers and claps. That is called retweets, comments and shares in this virtual world.

What about you?

Is blogging an art and a science for you? What is your creative process and what science helps you to be more effective?

Courtesy from Jeff Bullas's Blog

16/09/2013

15 Social Media Lies, Myths And Fairy Tales.

If you are an experienced social marketer you know the realities of social media. You know what it takes to achieve results. You know there is no quick fix or magic pill to results. You know that buying Facebook fans, Facebook likes, clicks, or Twitter followers is not going to help you meet business goals.

What about you new kids on the block? I work with many of you so I know how you feel and what is keeping you up at night. I know the questions you ask. I know the lies you are being told or the assumptions you are making that are far from truthful.

The purpose of this post is to highlight some of these myths, lies and false hopes that may be keeping you from results. This post is not meant for those who can write a book on each topic. It is targeted to the newbies to social media, the business leaders who may know how to rock traditional marketing and other mediums but are struggling with integrating social media into business.

Your worth on this planet is not measured by a high Klout score or 100,000 Twitter followers!

Just because you do not know the first thing about social media, social business, social listening, campaigns, reputation management and monitoring, building a social brand or even how to tweet, does not mean you are any less of a person than the guy or gal with 100k Twitter followers. There are many who are still new to social. Please know you are not alone. You are not too late to the social bus. You might as well get on, grab a seat and get started on the right route to success!

15 Social Media Lies, Myths & Fairy Tales

1. Social Media is Free. Yes, setting up a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profile are free. Nope, you don’t have to pay to tweet, post updates all day or follow people. However, you must get real with the time spent. If you are getting ready to engage in social media for business please acknowledge right here, right now that it is going to cost you money, not make you money initially. The goal is to integrate social into your business where it can eventually help you meet your business goals and objectives. Do you really think you can do anything for free that is going to help you meet business objectives? Time is money and money is not free.

2. Same tactics work because social media is just like traditional marketing and advertising. Sorry Charlie but you can not split your corporate collateral from 1982 into 100 tweetable nuggets and expect to be a social rockstar by July 4th! Yes, social media can be simply another form of marketing, communication and methods to build relationships. However, it is a very different medium. Social is about building relationships and having a relevant conversation. The days of only using one to many communications blasting noise and little value are coming to an end. Your audiences demand more.

3. No need to plan, just be social. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We have several clients who one year ago went with a different, less expensive agency or consultant. Those agencies didn’t require them to first do the research to understand who their audience is and the best way they can provide value in a way that maps back to both the objectives of the audience as well as the business. Instead, they put them directly on the tweet streams, Facebook walls and told them to start posting. All of them have come back to us stating they made a mistake and that they wasted an entire year of trying to take the easy way out. They now realize that they need to do what we told them to do from the start, which is to understand their audience, set goals and objectives and build a plan to get there.

4. Random Acts of Marketing are good. If your project, task, or campaign is not in the budget, doesn’t have goals or specifics on how you are going to measure results, then it is a Random Act of Marketing (RAM) or Random Act of Social Media (RASM)! Random acts of anything to do with your business are not good and they will eat any positive return before you can get out the calculator!

5. Social business integration can come later. Wrong. Social media is more than a page, “follow us on Facebook” button or page of tweets. If you want to inspire and connect with your communities in a way that will bring both them and you results then you are going to have to get into the head of your audience, clients, partners and stakeholders. You must determine how you can help them achieve their goals. How can you map your services, products to their needs and provide value leveraging the social networks? The better you can integrate social media into your business sales, customer service, and marketing processes, the better you will be able to connect with and serve your clients.

6. Social media must consume your life. Once you start tweeting you need not say goodbye to your business, social or family life. It’s all about boundaries. Check out this article ”21 Tips to Balance Social Media Addiction, Tweets, Life & Real Work!” for some tips on how to balance it all.

7. The corner office will never buy into social media. If you are having a hard time getting the corner office or C-suite to buy off on social media, you must stop selling and deliver real data. Talk to them in words they understand and that bring value to the business. If you only talk about followers, likes and retweets, chances are you’ll get kicked out of the board room as fast as you can hit the retweet button. Do your research and have a plan for how you can integrate social media into the business over a period of time, not overnight. Check out this post for some tips “24 tips To get the CEO Corner Office to Say Yes to Social Media.”

8. Must tweet what you ate for lunch. This should come as a relief to some of you who have bad dreams about having to share your boring salad or triple stack burger you eat for lunch. Trust me your followers will thank you for not doing such on a regular basis!

9. If you don’t know what to tweet, just spam. If you want to inspire and connect with your audiences then you must take the time to know them. Develop a content plan and editorial calendar that will help you create content that will help your audience meet their objectives. Not knowing what to tweet or post on Facebook is not an excuse to spam! Check out this video for some tips on how to identify if you are a real life spammer! Video: “Are You Spamming or Providing Value?”

10. Your offline brand can be executed as is online. Just because your brand palette has the mauve color your founder chose 20 years ago, it doesn’t mean you have to use it as a core color on all of your online and digital marketing assets. PLEASE hire a professional agency or consultant who can help you develop a social brand that represents your business and brand identity but does not look like it should be the shower curtain on the “Leave it To Beaver Show!”

11. Quantity before quality. If a social media consultant tries to sell you on the fact you need tens of thousands of followers to earn credibility, tell them to go jump in a tweet lake. Do your research and know that you get what you pay for. Five hundred organic followers that you earn with ethical practices including great content is far better than 10,000 you pay for that are never going to take a second look at your status updates! Check out this post for a real life example of “Social Media Consultant Gone Bad… Real Bad!”

12. Your audience is not on social. I hear many business leaders state this. Yet when I ask them if they have done the research to back up their statement, nine times out of ten, they have not. So if you think your audience is not on social media I challenge you to do the double click and research if your assumed statements are true. My bet is they aren’t. At minimum there are probably influencers and strategic partners in your business ecosystem that are actively engaged in social media in some capacity.

13. You’re so far behind you must get there overnight or you’ll never catch up. Don’t even think twice about believing these statements if someone threatens you with such. Yes, you are falling behind, but no you are not left behind so much you need to give up or put everything in your business aside to get on Facebook. Slow down, take a deep breath. Chances are Facebook will still be there next month. What’s another thirty days? You have been without Facebook this long, you might as well take the time to plan, know your audience, map objectives and develop content that will connect you with the right folks. Download our free audience analysis and objectives worksheet.

14. Social buzz is a good measurement of results. Don’t get caught up in the social buzz of your inner circle of partners, employees and high school friends as false success. Check out this article where I discuss in full detail. “Social Media Buzz, The False Perception of Social Business Success”

15. The heartbeat of social is not people, it’s technology. Wrong. Yes, social media will not work without technology. However, social media will not work without people. You can create the best page, Twitter background, blog site, website or custom mobile application. However, unless you have a plan for how you are going to inspire and connect with your audiences, then it’s all for nothin’! The businesses and leaders who are seeing the greatest success are the ones who learn this early on. You can never go wrong by investing in people.



Your Turn

Do any of these sound familiar? Were any of them things that you once believed and they held you back? What other myths or fairy tails were you fooled by? What advice can you offer others who are still trying to figure out all the social mumbo jumbo?

16/09/2013

50 Ways To Optimize Your Blog

Blogging is a journey and as technology develops there will be more ways to optimize your blog. You will also find other keys to keep the blog pumping and energised as you mix with other bloggers both online and offline and hear their stories and hints. So here are the original 30 plus 20 more ideas to increase your blogs readership and traffic.

1. Industry News – whats happening this week, this month

2. Industry Trends – where is the industry going, what are the emerging hot segments

3. Customers Pain Points – Write posts that provide solutions for your customers problems

4. Customers successes – Write up a case study about a clients successful project, they will often let you publish their name

5. What not to do – highlighting where something hasn’t worked (the names shall remain anonymous of course)

6. Create a video blog post by interviewing a successful client – this can a powerful providing authentic evidence of authority and credibility for both you and the client

7. Write articles for the different types of customers that are relevant for each of your vertical markets

8. Brainstorm blog post topics with colleagues and management and create a list for future reference and planning

9. Subscribe to the top industry blogs in your market, both company blogs and personal blogs for ideas

10. Look through your latest news releases for ideas

11. Sign up other staff to write on topics in your industry or market that they are passionate about

12. Develop a series of how to blog posts

13. Turn the “how to” blog posts into short videos

14. When you have a great idea, go straight to your “add new” button and write the headline and save it as a draft or write it down before you forget it.

15. Include a great iconic image at the start of the blog that catches the eye

16. Case Studies are always popular to write about and not just your own

17. Place Powerpoint presentations on your blog by posting and then embedding links from Slideshare

18. Run polls and surveys on your blog

19. Create great headlines that catch people attention and makes them want to read the rest of the article

20. Add credbility banners such as how many subscribers, number of hits, blog grade and any awards

21. Provide “share this” buttons to Facebook and Twitter as a minimum

22. Implement “subscribe” buttons via RSS and Email

23. Write in bite size chunks and use bullet points so readers can quickly and easy consumption

24. Break up large blocks of text with iconic and interesting images

25. Take screen shots to place in your post using Software like Snagit to highlight points .. a picture is worth a 1000 words

26. Be yourself even if it is a company blog.. be authentic.

27. Optimize your blog for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

28. Promote and distribute your posts on to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

29. Make the blog easy to find on your company’s web page with a large bannner or button

30. Finally, have fun, mix up the types of posts and add some humour occasionally

Gini Dietrich from Spinsucks.com contributed to the list with the following eleven additional tips

31. Ask your readers what they want you to write about

32. Let your readers pimp their own blogs in your comments section (we’re going to do this on Thursday of this week)

33. Ask questions

34. Create contests (which goes along with your poll/survey idea)

35. Install the SEO All In One pack on your WordPress blog

36. Use StumbleUpon and AllTop to increase your readership

37. Create content for Associated Content by republishing your blog posts there (it helps with readership and news outlets will republish your content on their sites)

38.Comment on other blogs and news articles to show your thinking/expertise, but also link people back to your blog

39. Make sure, when you use Twitter to promote your blog post, that you’re tweeting about it more than once a day

40. Subscribe to SmartBrief newsletters, RSS feeds, and Google alerts in order to find ideas for new content (that’s how I found this blog!)

41. Post and link your content on the Delicious social bookmarking site. (This will again help spread your content by placing it on a highly trafficked site)

Courtney Wiley of iNgage Networks also made this suggestion

42. Try your hat at a guest blogger or two, this could add credibility to your site , especially if the person is influential in his or her space.

Dave Heinrich from WebTechUniverse.com also contributed with this tip which is vital and I do this with every image in my posts

43.In the meta tags for your photos, make sure the labels/words are what you want them to be – search engines can’t “read” photos, only the labels/meta tags.

Also here are another seven that I have discovered since writing the original thirty.

44. When people write a comment actually take the time to email them directly and thank them for the comment and if they ask a question, then answer it. You will find that this will create a WOW factor and spread the word about the blog. If you took 10-15 minutes a day to respond to 5 comments via email you would make great impact on over 1,500 people during a year who would each spread the word to potentially 1000′s more. This could be the making of a tribe!

45. Comment appropriately on the top blogs ranked by Google on the major key word or phrase you are trying to optimize for SEO. This will create a a link back to your site and linking is key to increasing your own rankings with search engines

46. Write a blog post listing some important bloggers in your industry (such as the top 5) and point out how they make their blogs successful and you might find they return the love!

47 Interlink to other posts in your blog when writing a post especially those that are relevant and have been successful (this again is great for SEO)

48. Outsource content development for sections of your blog that are appropriate such as ‘resource’ sections.

49. Update an original post that provides more value to your readers (this post is an example)

50. Take readers comments and include and promote them in your blog (like we have just done)

What makes your blog kick butt ? Look forward to hearing your suggestions and maybe we can get to 100 great ideas over the coming months.

15/09/2013

30 Inspiring Ideas To develop Content For Your Blog

The challenge for any blogger personal or corporate is to continually come up with content that brings the readers and viewers back to the blog. The corporate blog should not be about “selling” it is about educating and solving your customers problems. Do that and they will keep showing up to learn more and to find out how they solve those day to day challenges that life and business brings.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that content is not just text, it is any type of media and includes images, video and audio and all types of reincarnations of those such as PDF’s, eBooks, Powerpoint presentations and these can all be published onto social media platforms, such as YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare to name a few. You need to think like a publisher!

So how do you find the inspiration to develop and publish content for your blog. Here are 30 ideas to get you moving.

When attending a conference take your Flipcam video cam with you and do some short one on one video interviews. You may need to contact them prior to the conference or you could be spontaneous, but you will need to keep it brief 2-5 minutes max.
Write about industry News – whats happening this week, this month
Read and develop content on industry Trends – where is the industry going, what are the emerging hot segments
Find out about your customers Pain Points – Write posts that provide solutions for your customers problems
Write about customers successes – Write up a case study about a clients successful project, they will often let you publish their name
Publish content on what not to do! – highlighting where something hasn’t worked
Create a video blog post by interviewing a successful client – this can a powerful providing authentic evidence of authority and credibility for both you and the client
Write articles for the different types of customers that are relevant for each of your vertical markets
Brainstorm blog post topics with colleagues and management and create a list for future reference and planning
Subscribe to the top industry blogs in your market, both company blogs and personal blogs for ideas
Look through your latest news releases for ideas
Look through your competitors latest news releases for a possible blog topic
Sign up other staff to write on topics in your industry or market that they are passionate about
Engage with bloggers that have expertise in your industry closely associated topics and give them a guest post slot once a month and then promise (and deliver) to promote them and the post
Develop a series of “How To” blog posts
Turn the “how to” blog posts into short videos
Case studies are always popular to write about and not just your own
Place Powerpoint presentations on your blog by posting and then embedding links from Slideshare
Run polls and surveys on your blog
Take the results of your polls or survey and turn them into a blog post. A lot of people want know the results as over time the blog post is buried in the archives
Revisit the comments of your blog and see if there is are elements or a theme that you could write around a particular blog
Subscribe to Google Alerts in order to find ideas for new content
Write an article about the top bloggers in your industry and promote them and tell peoiple why they are successful
When speaking or presenting, record it on video and upload it to the company YouTube channel. It will be a constant resource for clients as well as adding to your websites SEO
When a visiting speaker attends your organisation video their presentation and embed it in your blog
Make a list of the top successful people in your industry and put in place a weekly schedule to interview them and you will then have a weekly highlight video blog post that will inspire your readers. And guess what! The leaders you interview will promote that blog post to their social network
Bundle up the best blog posts about about your niche and turn it into a PDF book that you can feature on your blog. You could sell the PDF for lets say $19. (37signals who took its own experiences as a web startup and published them on their corporate blog and monetized that over 2 years into a $750,000 revenue stream by publishing and then repackaging it)
Take your video posts and turn it into an audio podcast add then develop and publish that into slideshow format format content into a PDF
Enlist a keen photographer in your company to take photos at events and then set up a company Flickr account post the photos to Flickr (this is also good for Search engine optimization). These photos could even be used for inspiration for developing humorous posts about the office that personalizes your company
Mount a video camera in your car if you are in an industry that involves getting out and about such as real estate and make a video blog while you are “on the job” (but not driving of course). Ian Watt from Vancouver does this and creates short video blog posts talking about the industry he is obviously passionate about.
These are just some of the ways you can develop your content for your blog. What other ideas do you have that have inspired your blogs content?

15/09/2013

How To Write A Mind Blowing Headline For Twitter So That People Will Read Your Blog

The latest Twitter statistics show that Twitters growth last year was over 1,300% with the latest numbers revealed by Twitter at their Chirp conference for developers in April showing

Total number of users at 105 million (12 months ago that number was 8 million)
Twitter received 180 million unique visitors a month to its website.
Twitter is a great way to promote and market your content and the challenge with Twitter for business marketers is that you only have 140 characters to get your message across and your link clicked on. The most important element to make that happen is a great headline to make people click on that link. So in essence Twitter has brought back the art of the headline which has never gone away but Twitter has highlighted its importance.

So what are the important elements in creating and writing a “great headline” and why is it so important?

Why is a headline important?

Tests have shown that you can increase your conversion rate on a website or a link by 73% by the use of a compelling headline.
Did you know that on average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will go on to read the rest of the copy. This is the secret to the power of the headline, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece
Another test revealed that a good headline performed 259% better than the worst headline.
This means that up to nearly 3 times as many people would read your web page or view your video just through having spent some time ensuring that the headline is optimized.

So what are the basic requirements for writing that headline that will get people clicking and reading, viewing your content and copy whether that be video, presentation or text.

One way to start is to use a formula so here are 6 headline types and examples from Authority Blogger to get you started:

1. Get What You Want (In Health, Wealth, Relationships, Time and Lifestyle)

Example: “The Secret To Getting More Money For Your Property!”

2. Crystal Ball and History

Example: “10 Predictions on the Future of Social Media”

3. Problems and Fears

Example “Get Rid of Your Debt Once and For All”

4. Fact, Fiction, Truth and Lies

Example: “Little Known Ways To Make Money On The Stock Exchange”

5. How To, Tricks Of The Trade

Example: “How To Plan The Ultimate Holiday”

6. Best and Worst

Example: “The 10 Worst Mistakes Made by Bloggers

For more from the Authority Blogger blog here are 102 Proven Headline Formulas

Another very effective headline strategy is to use is ‘list’ headlines and these are some examples that I have used.

50 Ways To Optimize Your Blog
30 Things You Should Not Share On Social Media
The 7 Secrets to Ford’s Social Media Marketing Success
You will notice that it is a ‘list’ format and includes numbers. A mega list headline is a large list such as the 50 Ways To Optimize Your Blog or the 102 Proven Headline Formulas and can be very effective. I have experimented with these types of headlines and they have produced some of my best blog traffic results.

Learning to get the basics of headline writing will make a big difference to your website and blog traffic especially when used in your online marketing such as email and Twitter.

So how are your headline copywriting skills?

More resources on the science and the art of the headline.

These sites were rated by the Marketing Experiments blog for usefulness and clarity.

* = Decent | ** = Good | *** = Excellent | **** = Indispensable

Testing Web Page Headlines ***
How to Write a Clever Headline ***
The Headline is Where the Action Is ***
11 Words or Less **
Powerful Sender and Subject Lines **
How to Write Great Titles and Headlines for the Web **
The 10 Commandments of Internet Writing **
Writing Headlines and Blurbs for the Internet **
Headline Mistakes **
How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines **
How to Write Great Headlines **
Writing Good Headlines Will Grow Your Traffic **
Headlines Make a Difference **
Why Headline Writing is Important **
Another resource that I have found extremely useful is one of the worlds best copywriting blogs Copyblogger.com and one post I have found particularly valuable is Writing Headlines That Get Results

Smarter is Better Tools and Training for Smarter Content Marketing Here’s wh