Marc's Blog

Content Writing and Marketing Services

Blogging

11 Cool Content Marketing Tactics That Will Push Your Blog Traffic To The Next Level

by 2 Comments

content

Effective content marketing can determine whether your content is read by thousands of people or a handful of people, and your content marketing strategy can determine whether you’ll make a full-time income as a blogger or struggle to get by.

Many bloggers know this, which is why they continuously test different methods to expand their content’s reach. The blogger with 100 monthly visitors and the blogger with 100,000 monthly visitors both strive to get their content in front of more people.

But how can you consistently expand your blog’s reach? How can you attract more readers today than you did yesterday? Here are 11 cool content marketing tactics you can use to push your blog traffic to the next level:

 

#1: Accept Guest Posts 

My blog generated the most traffic when I published two posts per day. But as my blog posts became longer and more content rich, it became increasingly difficult to publish as frequently and consistently.

I’m slowly getting closer to achieving that same frequency, but not because I’m writing 14 blog posts each week. Rather, I started accepting guest posts from my community.

Now I get free content for my blog without having to write a single word. How cool is that?

Of course, I still love writing at least one blog post every week, but having to write (and publish…big difference) a blog post every day would prevent me from addressing other parts of my business.

Accepting guest posts results in more updates and fresh content, and that results in more SEO love.

 

#2: Hire A Contributor

If you want to take accepting guest posts to the next level, you can hire a contributor who will produce the content for you. I recommend finding a paid contributor on Upwork and making sure this person is passionate about your blog’s topics.

You don’t want to hire a contributor who will write a blog post without any passion behind the topic. That lack of passion will show in the final draft.

If you hire a contributor, I recommend monitoring his or her content for 1-2 weeks and engaging in frequent conversations. This way, you are both on the same page and you’re more likely to get the content you want and expect.

 

#3: Use Internal Links 

By linking to your content internally, you increase the amount of time readers engage with your blog. And the more time people spend on your blog, the more likely they are to come back for more.

Keeping people on your blog longer also helps build trust and will result in more subscribers and sales over time. Bring attention to some of your older posts and every new post you publish. On the flip side, you can edit your older posts to link to your newer content.

 

#4: Outsource More Tasks

Outsourcing opens up so much time to pursue other parts of your business. I’ve outsourced social media posts, blog post editing, podcast episode editing, video editing, and an array of other tasks.

After I started outsourcing these tasks, I was able to concentrate on creative ways to promote my content such as reaching out to influencers, promoting my content through various outlets, and growing my brand.

Outsourcing will open up more of your time, but be sure to use the extra time productively. Otherwise you’re completely missing the point of outsourcing.

 

#5: Create A Content Calendar

An editorial calendar is a guide that lays out which content gets published when. You can organize the publication of your content in such a way that includes weekly or monthly themes on your blog.

Monthly themes can help with product launches or affiliate promotions. For instance, let’s say you write a blog about the best toys around in July (and also know that new LEGO sets are coming out in August).

You can use mid-July and the entire month of August to focus your content creation efforts on LEGO sets. By the time you introduce your affiliate links, your audience will be more conditioned to buy the LEGO sets.

 

#6: Write Longer Blog Posts

Longer blog posts like these grab more attention and provide more overall value. When I published two blog posts each day, most were only 250-500 words. While I’ve lost that level of frequency, my current blog posts are more in-depth.

Writing longer blog posts is also great for more blog traffic. Not only do search engines love longer blog posts, but you’ll keep people on your blog for a longer period of time.

Think about it. If you’ve made it to this sentence, you’re virtually committed to reading this entire blog post. You’re committed to knowing all 11 tactics mentioned in the post, even if you skim.

Of course, no one is forcing you to read through the entire post, but once you make it to this point, full commitment tends to be the unwritten rule of reading content.

 

#7: Write 1 Blog Post Per Day

If you can muster it, writing one blog post per day will result in a blog that’s consistently updated with fresh content. While it may take a while for search engines to boost your traffic, writing blog posts at a frequent rate will also give you more content to promote on social networks.

My Twitter usage motivated me to write two blog posts per day. I mean, I was tweeting every 15 minutes and wanted to share fresh, original content. And by spacing it out over a long period of time, I was able to garner strong interest for my content.

I still knew I could tweet some content over and over because my new followers wouldn’t have seen it before, and my regular followers wouldn’t have seen everything. I try to write a lot of evergreen content so a tweet linking to a blog post from two years ago would still be relevant to both groups.

 

#8: Submit At Least 3 Guest Post Pitches Per Day

Writing guest posts for other blogs is a well-known tactic to expand your reach. In my experience, it’s easy to approach guest blogging inconsistently.

It’s easy to send multiple pitches in a single week, but then concentrate on creating content for one or two guest p0sts, and stop or simply forget to keep sending pitches.

That’s a mistake. Sending at least three pitches per day helps step up your commitment to producing more content because you may have to meet a deadline that is not self-imposed.

If you submit at least three guest post pitches per day, you’ll submit 1095 guest post pitches each year. Assuming a conservative 20 percent acceptance rate, you’ll write at least 219 guest posts in a given year.

Writing one guest post every other day may seem like a lot of work, but it will result in many more people seeing your content (perhaps millions of additional people will read your content depending on where it’s published).

A single guest post of mine, published on Jeff Bullas’ Blog, was shared over 6,000 times. Talk about more exposure (and that’s just one guest post)! Imagine if you got those results from more than one of your 219 guest posts.

In fact, if you averaged 1,000 shares for all 219 of your guest posts, you’d get 219,000 shares for all of your guest posts that year. It’s very easy to assume that, at this point, over 1 million people will have viewed your content.

 

#9: Link To Influencers In Your Posts

Influencer marketing will be a strong form of marketing for a very long time. The idea behind influencer marketing is that you mention several influencers within your blog post. You then email them to let them know.

Some will share your content with their audiences while others won’t. The key thing not to do in every email to an influencer is to ask them to share your content.

I’ve gotten many emails from people mentioning me in their content and saying something like, “Can you share this with your audience?”

Influencers know how influencer marketing works. Instead of asking them to share your content, just tell them you featured them in your blog post. Don’t try to influence the influencer with explicit requests because those emails are usually ignored.

The more influencers you mention in your content, the better, but make sure the content doesn’t drag on because you’re trying to mention every possible influencer in your niche. That’s why you write multiple blog posts.

 

#10: Create A Content Series

There’s nothing more frustrating than not knowing the ending. Imagine going to the theater, watching Rogue One, and then halfway through the movie the screen stops working. The staff comes out and says they can’t fix the problem. You get a full refund, but you are left with only half of Rogue One.

You don’t know the ending, and that will frustrate you until you see it at another movie theater.

While it’s very difficult to reproduce the same feeling as stopping halfway through Rogue One, you can still create a content series without an ending.

Imagine writing a blog post called “5 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers.” At the end of the blog post you can say something like, “I actually have a bonus tip to get more Twitter followers, but I’ll reveal it in the next blog post along with four additional tips.”

Now you build suspense while creating a content series. People who read and enjoy Part 10 will be more likely to read the other nine blog posts in the series.

 

#11: Ride The Trendy Waves Of The Internet

Google Trends allows you to see what is trending on the internet. If you can connect a trending topic to your niche, you’ll write a blog post that will get traffic from its value plus additional traffic from riding a trendy wave.

One writer from Mashable rode the wave of Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour at just the right time. She wrote a post in June 2015 on the Taylor Swift businesswoman guidebook.

No, Taylor Swift didn’t actually write a businesswoman guidebook and publish it on Amazon. Rather, the writer analyzed Swift and came up with tips that Swift seemed to exemplify. The final result was a blog post filled with business insights and Swifty euphoria that was shared across the internet.

 

In Conclusion

The great thing about content marketing is that no matter how much traffic you get, you can always get more. You can always challenge yourself to do more today than you did yesterday.

Getting more traffic involves writing valuable content and spreading it. Spread your content to more people via search engines, social media, blogs and influencers, and you’ll eventually build an unforgettable blog.

What are your thoughts on these content marketing tactics? Do you have tips to share? Sound off in the comments section below.

5 Pitfalls To Avoid When Accepting Guest Blog Posts

by 2 Comments

guest blogging pitfalls

Featuring guest posts on your blog can provide you with fresh content, SEO growth, and blog traffic. The challenge is finding quality contributors whose content your audience will love, and understanding which submissions may not be right for your blog. These are the top five pitfalls to avoid:

 

#1: Accepting Every Guest Post

If you accept every guest submission that comes your way, you’ll compromise the quality of your blog. While it’s flattering to be pitched, and tempting to add fresh content, not every submission will work for your blog; accepting them all can dilute the value of your content and confuse your readers.

That means you’ll have to pass on some contributions. To feel less bad about turning someone down, I suggest submitting some of your own guest posts. Like me, you will likely be denied by at least some of the people you pitch. But if you submit valuable content often, some of the prominent blogs within your niche will accept your guest blog posts.

 

#2: Avoid Over Promotional Bloggers

Let’s be real about guest blogging: people often write guest posts with the intent of getting more traffic, building credibility, and including a backlink. And I don’t mind that as long as someone is providing my readers with valuable content.

But I do mind content that is overly self-promotional. There aren’t any specific warning signs, so you’ll have to make assessments on a case-by-case basis. It’s important that the post provides value, and that any attempts at promotion are subtle and relevant to the topic, seamlessly woven into the overall content.

 

#3: Not Owning The Content

Guest posts should be original and not seen anywhere else on the web. You may face a SEO penalty for publishing content that exists elsewhere on the internet, which will compromise your efforts.

Guest blogging benefit the blogger as well as the blog owner (but only when the owner is the exclusive provider of that content). No matter how great the content, always deny contributions that may have been published anywhere on the web. To be considered, all submissions must be fresh and original.

 

#4: Content Mismatch

I recently received a guest blog post submission that I was eager to approve (I was making Mistake #1 and approving everything I got). However, I felt a little uneasy about the submission and sent it to my editor. She told me the post was not the right fit because the content was outside of my specific niche.

Why would a Twitter-related blog accept a guest blog post about Facebook? While it’s true that both Twitter and Facebook are social networks, dedicated blogs focus solely on content related to one or the other, not both.

If you find yourself looking for ways to make certain content work so that you can publish it on your blog, it’s probably a content mismatch. Contacting relevant contributors is a much better use of your time than trying to rework a mismatch.

 

#5: A Weak Submission Form

A weak submission form will make it significantly more difficult to receive quality contributions. Don’t expect bloggers to guess which content is most appropriate for your blog. Smart bloggers will spend time reading your past content, but a bad form makes everyone’s job more difficult.

Be sure to provide guidelines, examples and ideas before encouraging submissions. Here are the requirements for guest blog posts on my own submission form:

  • Your guest post must be at least 1,500 words. The more words, the better, but don’t sacrifice value.
  • Link to three of my blog posts.
  • Include at least three images.
  • You have the option to promote one of your blog posts, but not landing pages. You CAN promote your landing page in your bio.
  • All content must be original and not published anywhere else.

Since I don’t always link to three of my blog posts or include three images, I can’t expect a guest blogger to do the same without asking.

I also mention something about the benefits of writing for my blog such as exposure and credibility. These benefits give guest bloggers more reasons to want to contribute to my blog.

 

What’s Left?

The only thing left for you to do is encourage guest bloggers to write content for your blog. As your blog gets more traffic, more guest bloggers will submit their content through your form. But in the beginning, you’ll have to do most of the legwork.

You’ll have to advocate for your blog and entice guest bloggers to contribute. But finding guest bloggers is actually easier than you think. All you have to do is find a prominent blog in your niche that accepts guest posts. Then start contacting past contributors one by one.

These guest bloggers prequalify themselves since they’ve already written for a prominent blog within your niche. If you can present the guest bloggers with benefits that justify the effort, they’ll write content for your blog.

I like to contact at least three potential bloggers per day. As I get more guest bloggers to contribute to my blog, I’ll hire a freelancer to conduct outreach. Some of the most successful blogs hire freelancers for contributor outreach.

When I wrote a guest post for Crazy Egg, Neil Patel didn’t reach out to me, and I didn’t submit my post through a form. An individual from Crazy Egg’s outreach team contacted me and invited me to write the guest post. A few weeks later, my guest post showed up on Crazy Egg.

This individual reached out to me through Twitter (which was a smart move since I’m more active on Twitter than any other social network). You can reach out to potential contributors through email or social media. While I personally prefer email, social media conversations have made some of my contributions — and podcast interviews for that matter — possible.

Never rule out a method that works.

 

In Conclusion

Accepting guest posts for your blog is exciting and adds value. You finally get to learn from your own blog, and your content will reach more people.

But you want to make sure your guest blog posts are valuable. If you say yes to every submission without thinking about your audience, you risk sacrificing your blog’s value or creating a content mismatch that confuses your readers.

What are your thoughts on accepting guest blog posts? Are you a guest blogger? Have any questions for me? Sound off in the comments section below. I’ll read them 🙂

100 Lessons I Learned In 2016

by Leave a Comment

You and I are heading towards 2017, and the best time to prepare for an awesome year is right now. I dove through dozens of books, hundreds of videos and thousands of blog posts in 2016, and this is what I’ve learned:

#1: Massive action is the most natural state of action.

#2: Structuring each day of the week gives you more control over what you do.

#3: Sometimes opportunities come to you when you stop obsessing over them.

#4: As you don’t give up on yourself, you’ll be fine even if the world gives up on you.

#5: Every minute you spend self-criticizing is another minute that you can’t get closer to your dreams. Life is too short for self-criticism.

#6: Your story plays a big impact in how people view you, how many products you sell, and the power of word of mouth marketing for your brand.

#7: Before you grow your email list, you need to create a system for generating revenue for that email list so your other efforts aren’t in vain.

#8: Do anything you can to move forward each day.

#9: The less resistance there is between you and your work, the more you will accomplish.

#10: All pleasures are temporary. The impact you have on others is permanent.

#11: If you aren’t using Instagram then you are really missing out.

#12: If you ever get written up on a website like The Huffington Post, and you want to be a contributor, ask the person who mentioned you in the article to introduce you to the editor.

#13: If you are remarkable, the opportunities will come knocking on your door instead of the other way around.

#14: You need an arsenal of products and an emailing plan that ties them all together to get more sales from your email list.

#15: Reading 10+ books every year is doable if you do a little reading each day. If you read 30 pages per day, you end up reading 900 pages each month. Combine that with audiobooks and you’ll read more than 10 books per month in no time.

#16: It doesn’t matter how many books you read. While more is usually better, what matters is implementing what you learned from those books.

#17: Having hundreds of millions of users doesn’t make you safe. I never expected Twitter to shut down Vine, and I never expected the people at Blab to shut down their service (although Blab is concentrating its efforts to come out with a better Blab 2.0).

#18: We make decisions about people before a word is said. Within most lengthy interviews, the decision is made within five minutes and the rest of the interview is verification of that decision.

#19: We don’t like being told we are wrong. Don’t tell people they are wrong. Craft a different story that resonates with the audience without telling them they are wrong.

#20: It’s better to share a message in one sentence than it is to share the same message in two sentences. Value your readers’ time.

#21: There are so many times during which you can acquire more knowledge such as during a drive, while doing your grocery store shopping, while waiting on the train, and a long ride to your vacation destination. Audiobooks and podcast episodes make learning much easier.

#22: When reading a book, rush through it and underline the important stuff. Most of the books can be condensed into 20 pages. You want to get the important insights out of each book you read, not the same stuff you’ve been reading in all of the other books. If you commit to reading 10+ books each month about your niche, some things will sound familiar within the future books you read.

#23: The moment you stop giving yourself goals for the day and week is the moment your motivation will start to wane. If you don’t give yourself goals for the day, you’ll feel lost for some of it.

#24: Launching a podcast is a great way to connect with other influencers in your niche.

#25: Don’t be afraid to ask anyone for a favor that benefits both of you. If you told me in January that I would have interviewed Seth Godin, Neil Patel, and many others by the end of the year, I would have thought you were crazy.

#26: Going back to the other lesson, I would have given you a stranger look for telling me that I would start a podcast in the first place.  I denied myself the chance for two years. Then, before I could think about what was happening, I sent emails to influencers as if I already had a podcast. Once some of these influencers wanted me to interview them, I was committed.

#27: The more freelancers you hire, the more motivated you will be to make more revenue.

#28: Get into other people’s networks because you never know what opportunities await you.

#29: Face-to-face is still the best way to communicate with people.

#30: To produce the same effect online, you need to communicate with that person for a few months. While it takes a few months to produce the same effect of a face-to-face conversation, it is possible to create that level of connection on the web.

#31: Never stop learning new things.

#32: Don’t repeat the same things if they aren’t helping you to move forward.

#33: Twitter automated DMs work for acquiring more leads. Some people will get annoyed, but others will click through and become subscribers.

#34: If you are the smartest person in the room, you need to be in a different room.

#35: Always overestimate the amount of effort you need to apply to accomplish any given goal.

#36: If you keep producing content without investing a heavy amount of time towards marketing that content, you will be the world’s greatest secret.

#37: The social media landscape is very different from when I first started. I wish Twitter could go back to its prime sooner, but if I were starting today, I’d still start with Twitter. It’s been easier for me to meet remarkable people on Twitter than any other social network.

#38: Instagram is a close second though.

#39: Do one new thing every day.

#40: For each minute you spend doing something, you lose 60 seconds that could have went to something else. Use your time wisely.

#41: Market conditions won’t improve until you change the way you think.

#42: Taking action is a natural response to having passion for your work.

#43: Do multiple podcasts once the first podcast performs well.

#44: Advertisers must never be your primary source of income.

#45: Blogging doesn’t make you stand out anymore. Blogger is the crowd. For every 2,000 bloggers there is one podcaster.

#46: Create content calendars so you know exactly what you will produce each day of any given month of the year.

#47: The last slide in a presentation is critical. That’s when you promote yourself.

#48: If you are looking for a new shirt, you can custom make a shirt on Zazzle that features your SnapChat QR Code. That way, people can take a picture of your shirt and then automatically follow you on SnapChat.

#49: Growth hacking is as simple as changing your mindset.

#50: In a world dominated by Siri, Cortana, and other built-in virtual assistants, having an FAQ page is more important than ever since people ask those virtual assistants QUESTIONS about their niche.

#51: Retention is more important than acquisition.

#52: If you want to be a blogger with 100K visitors per month, hang out with the bloggers who get 100K visitors per month.

#53: Analyze the entire lifecycle of your customers and optimize each phase of that lifecycle.

#54: It helps to know the event organizer if you want to land the speaking gig.

#55: Info overload costs 25% of our time.

#56: Your brain needs energy but energy is not infinite. While I always understood the brain’s impact on the body, hearing it described in that manner made me realize my need to acquire more energy.

#57: Like eager puppies, new emails beg for attention. I always knew that new emails grabbed our attention, but this was a metaphor that had to make the list. I came across the metaphor in Ned Hallowell’s book Driven To Distraction At Work.

#58: Most of us pay continuous partial attention. Focus is the hidden driver of excellence.

#59: Viewing problems as games (or for my generation, video games) makes it easier for you to solve those problems. Part of my success was when I drew the connection between building a business and playing video games.

#60: You get better by dwelling in your success, so stop focusing on what went wrong.

#61: Happiness is wanting what you have.

#62: Challenge your brain to do different things. For instance, I recently started writing with my left hand. Now I’m decent and getting a little better.

#63: Reading helps you sleep faster. Guess when I start reading.

#64: It is in giving that we receive. People feel better about themselves when they donate money than when they make money.

#65: Write down 10 ideas every day.

#66: When David Letterman was still hosting The Late Show, the room’s temperature was strategically lowered to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, Letterman’s voice sounded more crisp and the audience was more attentive. That’s knowing your environment!

#67: If we don’t create and control the environment, we are control by the environment we dwell in.

#68: It is important to adjust your leadership based on your followers’ readiness.

#69: If you want to say certain things at a meeting or behave at a certain way, carry an index card with you that tells you what to do during the situation.

#70: Ask yourself active questions (not passive questions) every day (i.e. Did I do my best). These questions need to reinforce your commitment.

#71: Ask yourself “Am I getting better” multiple times each day.

#72: We become more fatigued as we are forced to make more decisions.

#73: Marginal motivation produces marginal results.

#74: If you change your behavior, you change the behavior of the people around you.

#75: For SEO, you must do the greatest amount of work and initially anticipate the least return.

#76: The best way to create a successful blog or website is to focus on the user experience.

#77: Think about the buying process and use that knowledge to write blog posts adding value based on specific stages of the buying process.

#78: Write a guest post on an authority site that links back to one of your blog posts. Then, repeatedly link to that guest post in your other writing to increase the link juice of that guest post. It’s easier to rank guest posts on authority sites high, and by doing so, the blog post you linked within the guest post will get a lot of traffic.

#79: Bullet points are easy for us to read. Use them more often.

#80: If you want to like someone, play a mental trick on yourself and think of that person as a long lost friend from 20 years ago. It works…even for an 18-year-old.

#81: Your eyes are grenades that have the power to detonate people’s emotions. Profound eye contact signals trust. I wish I could take credit for the prior description of eyes, but that goes to Leil Lowndes who wrote How To Talk To Anyone.

#82: Posture is associated with success. Practice good posture each time you walk through a door to turn it into a habit.

#83: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

#84: Work ethic isn’t just a duty. It’s also spiritual.

#85: If you write notes but forget to write how you will take action based on those notes, you are taking notes wrong.

#86: Launch stacking makes each launch better than the last.

#87: To get more revenue, you can increase the number of your customers, increase the amount of revenue per transaction, and increase the quality of transactions.

#88: Focus on increasing your opt-in rate instead of whether you’re slightly below or above average. Getting slightly above average only makes you slightly better than everyone else. With the slightly better mindset, it is IMPOSSIBLE to dominate your niche in any way, shape, or form. The only person you should ever compete with is you.

#89: The data you obtain from a survey to your audience will help you create a high demand lead magnet.

#90: Email swaps (cross promotion to respective email lists) are a great way to get hundreds of new subscribers in a single day. Just make sure you only conduct email swaps with people in your niche.

#91: If your emails don’t look good on an iPhone (or any smartphone), you are missing out on a big chunk of traffic from your email list.

#92: Create two different versions of the same autoresponder. Split test virtually every part of your business to see what converts better.

#93: Offering a bonus related to an affiliate product you are promoting will result in more affiliate sales.

#94: 64% of people will open your email based on the subject line.

#95: AIDA = Attention, Interest, Desire (emotion), and Action.

#96: Some companies give their employees the same type of email address. If you can detect which pattern is used, you can contact anyone on the list. For instance, several high schools use the model of the last name followed by the first initial of the first name. If Joe Schmo went to Schmoville High School, the email address would be schmoj@schmovillehighschool.com. With this pattern detected, you know someone’s email address just by knowing the person’s name. Well-known magazines like Inc, Huffington Post, and many other magazines and brands follow a rule of this nature when assigning email addresses to employees.

#97: Instagram’s API rules make schedule pictures annoying, but it’s worth the effort. I schedule my Instagram pictures for a certain time and date. HootSuite then notifies me on my iPhone letting me know that now is the time to manually post the picture. Then I do so.

#98: Life is always better with an optimistic worldview than with a pessimistic worldview.

#99: Some would say the way I got into The Huffington Post and Success Magazine was pure luck (people contacted me out of the blue about both opportunities). That “pure luck” was seven years of work (more than a third of my life) leading up to those respective moments.

#100: Reflecting on the lessons you learned is a great way to remember them in the first place.

Drops mic until 2017

This is my final blog post of 2016. I’ll come back to this blog post on occasion in 2017, so this has been for both of us. I appreciate you being a part of my journey in 2016, and I look forward to serving you in 2017 as well.

What have you learned in 2016? Did any of the lessons on this list strike a chord with you?

How To Write Valuable Content When Pressed For Time

by 5 Comments

write valuable content

This is a guest contribution from Andrew Howe.

Content creation has never been an easy thing to do. In the digital era, it has become even harder to write compelling and valuable content as the digital world is a bottomless sea of content.

Most niche blogs publish new content on a regular basis which means having fewer topics to discuss. It seems there is nothing new under the sun.

While blogging is getting more competitive, there is no way out for content marketers. Writing valuable content is a must. And most of us would agree that writing on the same topic over and over again takes time, effort, and inspiration.

Plus, being a blogger means having more things to do which include analyzing competitors, communicating with clients and readers, growing income, and creating content.

The sum up?

If you’re not inspirited, the writing process would take even more time, and it seems to be a closed circle.

A logical question appears. How can we write valuable content while being pressed for time?

First, you should know where to find time for writing.

Second, it’s important to understand the role of high-quality content for your website growth before we move forward. So, what does valuable content give your site?

  • Improves SEO ranking
  • Boosts traffic and, therefore, increases sales
  • Helps to build brand authority

As we can see, valuable content is beneficial for your site, so you’d better know how to create it.

First things first:

If you know how to manage your time wisely, you’re able to write a lot daily without sacrificing the quality of your content and your personal life. Thus, there is no better way than increase your productivity and start being more efficient.

However, writing daily is not just about having time for it or having enhanced writing speed; it’s also about being full of ideas that rock.

The more great ideas you have, the better. Knowing what to say gives you an opportunity to keep on writing without taking pauses to wait for your muse to come.

Thus, you need to be interested in the topic you’re discovering and have a lot of stats and facts to prove your thoughts. This is another actionable way how to write 2,000 words a day without being about to burn out.

Content marketing plays an important role in your business growth. If you know how to create high-quality content, it’s more likely you know how to attract and hold your audience’s attention.

While everyone says that creating valuable content is a must, it’s important to find out what makes it!

What makes content valuable?

write valuable content

  • Evergreen, unique and compelling
  • Satisfies your readers’ needs
  • Gives an actionable solution
  • Teaches something new
  • Boosts SEO ranking

Once you understand what is valuable content, it’s time to check out some methods how to write high-value blog posts.

The simple takeaway? The quality of your content matters. Here are some ways to write valuable content while being pressed for time.

#1: Be An Expert On The Topic

Although the number of writers is growing rapidly, just a few of them put quality over quantity, forgetting that the level of wateriness gives you nothing but a bad reputation.

If you want to grow as a writer whose readers value him, you need to be an expert in your niche. Thus, don’t miss the chance to do in-depth research in order to collect all facts and data, read a lot about the topic of your article and, therefore, find out what you can add.

Obviously, the easiest way to be an expert on the topic is to write about the field of your interest, your passion. The more interested you are, the easier to know all tiny details about the topic.

#2: Create An Outline

Writing a lot is hard, but it can be easier if you follow some guide. There is no better way to keep on the right track than use your outline where you’ve put down your brilliant ideas in a logical way.

A good outline gives you structure and logic, organizing your thoughts flow from A to Z.

If you believe that writing an outline is just wasting of time, give it a try. Once you create it, you can see how much time it helps to save. Although it seems simple, most writers skip this part of the writing process, relying on their practical experience. Your outline is a basis of a good article.

#3: Work On Your Drafts

No matter how good as a writer you are, you might have a big number of drafts that you haven’t use for publishing on the web. For many reasons, most of us pass on the idea to work on these drafts in order to find it a better home. However, it can help you save time and efforts.

It’s hard to predict when the next brilliant idea will strike you, but you can always come back to the ideas that you have already had! Look at your drafts, analyze the reason why it wasn’t a good fit, and work on the gaps. Maybe a new handy article just needs some proofreading.

#4: Focus On One Article

Most bloggers work on different articles at the same time. Although it may seem like a good idea in order to write more, more often than not it gives you nothing but a burnout. Shifting writing several articles is a way to sacrifice the quality of your content and, therefore, get a negative feedback from your clients and readers.

To write more, you need to complete the current assignment, no matter how much time does it need. Be strict with yourself, and never start doing another task until you complete the current one. It’s better to write one good article than produce a lot of mediocre publications on the web.

#5: Use Tools And Apps

Living in the digital era, we have a big number of opportunities to  make the most out of it, and using tools and apps is a great way out when it comes to writing. First of all, it helps you save time. For example, you can paste your text and check it for common typos and grammar mistakes and then proofread it more carefully. Plus, there are different tools that help you on every stage of content creation: headline generators, grammar and style guides, editing and proofreading apps, games for improving writing speed, etc.

#6: Find A Team To Join You

There is no better way to save time on writing than find a team of talented people to join you. You need to be focused if you want to write, edit and proofread your text like a boss, and it takes a considerable amount of efforts to do it. However, you can find freelance editors to help you or hire a team. If you’re on a tight budget, there are some forums that offer part-time jobs and you can hire professions from time to time in case of emergency.

#7: Draw Inspiration From Your Readers

A good blogger writers for the audience to provide solutions to the problems the readers might have. If you pay attention to your readers’ feedback, you can find insights what to write next. Many readers leave comments asking for further information, and it can become a new idea for your blog post.

No matter how much free time you have, there is nothing better to boost productivity than being motivated. Thus, you need to draw inspiration from one of the resources to keep on writing valuable pieces.

Inspirational Resources for Bloggers

write valuable content

It’s easy to feel discouraged at certain points within your blogging journey…especially when you are pressed for time. To combat feelings of discouragement, I have compiled a list of inspirational resources you can use to refuel your motivation.

  • Successful blogs. I bet that every blogger draws inspiration from other blogs that have a big number of visitors and interesting content. Don’t spend much time on reading mediocre blogs; focus on your personal top list of the best blogs.
  • Writing forums and communities. All bloggers face obstacles, and they need to do their best in order to overcome these problems. Being a member of a writing forum or community gives you an opportunity to find support and actionable ways out once you have some problems in the blogging niche.
  • Reading. Well, it’s hard to write good content if you don’t read. Reading enriches vocabulary, develops creative thinking and creativity, and gives you insights!
  • Offline conferences. What can be better than meeting other bloggers in person in order to share experience, knowledge, and tips! Moreover, there might be master-classes to learn something new.
  • Traveling. What I love the most about blogging is that you don’t have to sit in the office to write content. There are no limits, and you can go whenever you want to write! Traveling can teach you a lot and boost inspiration, so don’t skip writing while going somewhere to explore new edges of the world.

Writing valuable content is an important task for every successful blogger who wants to stand out from the crowd. Your audience doesn’t take care about your time, so it’s you who should know how to keep on writing, no matter where your muse is, or whether you have time for it. Luckily, there are some good ways how to write high-quality content.

Do you have your secrets about writing valuable content if you’re pressed for time?

About the Author

me

Andrew Howe is a content writer at Edubirdie who loves everything in the digital world. Also, he has crafted AdverbLess tool to help people improve their writing skills.

4 Keys to a Successful Blog

by Leave a Comment

create a successful blog

There are many factors driving a successful blog: high-quality content, engagement, social media traffic, search engine traffic, domain authority and more. I focused on all of those and attracted hundreds of visitors to blog, but did that make my blog a success? Nope. Here’s what made my blog successful:

 

Serve Your Audience

Focusing too much on SEO and metrics can lead to overlooking the most important part of your blog: your audience. Serve your audience and you’ll build a loyal following. I’ve heard this advice a hundred times over.

While it’s valuable advice, it has become a bit overrated. Don’t get me wrong. Serving my audience has helped a lot, but it’s only piece of the puzzle. Serving your audience means being attuned to their needs and interests, and creating valuable content accordingly.

But in a world filled with good content, writing more of it just isn’t enough. To truly serve your audience, you’ve got to do more. Think of content as an appetizer in a three course meal.

 

A Recipe for Success

Some bloggers mistakenly think success is a numbers game. But traffic and visitors alone won’t propel you to the top. Some blogs thrive because they enjoy hundreds of thousands of visitors while others struggle with that kind of traffic, or any kind of traffic for that matter.

But the real winners are the bloggers who truly LOVE their readers. I’m talking about the bloggers who, in addition to offering valuable content consistently, nurture their communities. They make themselves available by regularly answering readers’ questions, responding to their comments and engaging with their content.

If you view everyone in your audience as little more than a potential customer, your blogging journey will hit a lot of bumps. View each member of your audience as a human being with something to offer besides a pocket full of money.

 

Go Above And Beyond

You should already be going above and beyond with your content. But you should also strive to go the extra mile with your audience by acknowledging and showing appreciation for their support, and offering your own.

Writing alone doesn’t do that.  Acknowledge your audience by engaging with their social media posts, responding to their emails and thanking them for sharing your content. Always try to be available.

Neil Patel writes some of the longest SEO related blog posts known to mankind. I’m sure he’s written at least a few posts that exceed 10,000 words. He also spends a lot of time marketing himself.

One would think a busy man like Neil would have little time to dedicate to his audience. But that’s actually where he dedicates most of his time. According to an infographic on his blog, Neil receives around 207 emails every day. He responds to 91 of them!

contact neil patel infographic

Neil spends four hours a day going through his inbox and responding to anything from business questions to interview requests. He also makes the time to respond to readers’ comments on his blog posts, which easily attract 100’s of comments! His older posts consistently receive engagement as well.

 

Make Your Audience Part Of The Action

For a long time, I saw guest blogging as a personal opportunity but hesitated to accept guest posts for my own blog. Yet the benefits of opening your blog to guest contributors are many. It saves you time, keeps your content fresh and varied, helps increase your traffic and adds value.

Not only that, guest contributors become part of your story.

I have written many guest posts. Two that stand out were for Jeff Bullas’ Blog and ProBlogger. When I first started out, these blogs were the holy grail of blogging and social media, so I read them every day to learn more about my niche. Once I gained experience and expertise, it was an honor to be given the opportunity to contribute to these blogs.

Contributors inevitably have different motivations for writing guest posts. Some enjoy seeing their name on a credible blog (and potentially building their own brand), others enjoy giving back to the blogs they’ve learned from in the past. But every contributor becomes a small part of the blog’s story, of your story.

As an added bonus, you get a backlink. You can also do something similar on YouTube by recording collaborative videos with audience members.

 

Don’t Oversell

Overselling to your readers is a surefire way to make the relationship sour. You may be overselling if you are:

  • Creating products in bulk.
  • Involved in affiliate marketing.

Of course, some people who create products into bulk and/or engage in affiliate marketing don’t fall into this trap. The danger arises when you’re too heavily promoting a product (yours or an affiliate’s) every month. I made this mistake.

I first got involved with promoting other people’s courses in 2015. The first time I promoted someone else’s course to my email list I got a bunch of sales. The next month, I promoted a different course and got a bunch of sales. The following month, I did the same.

I spend five straight months promoting other people’s products and very little time delivering value. The result? Increased unsubscribes, fewer email opens, and fewer clicks. It was an email marketing nightmare. My email list is still somewhat scarred by the aftermath but my open and clickthrough rates are gradually increasing.

The point is I enjoyed increased revenues initially, but eventually my sales and email subscribes took a hit. Why? Because I was too focused on pushing products and not providing anything of free value. Worst of all, I saw my email list as just that: a list. Nameless, faceless people with wallets.

It’s was a big mistake, and hard to admit, but if I can help you avoid making the same error I’ll be happy.  In fact, I can thank one of my subscribers for helping me see the light. His email said, “You’re better than this.” And his sentiments were likely shared by the others on my list, the silent majority.

 

In Conclusion

While I still occasionally promote other people’s training courses, I am more focused than ever on my audience’s needs and interests, and giving them something of value that they can use.

Any successful blogger is successful because of his/her audience. Tenacity and grit factor in, but a blog is useless without a loyal following. If you love your readers, they will love you back (and will also be more open to trying your products and services in the future).

What are your thoughts on audience engagement? Do you believe there is a more important determinant of a blog’s success? Sound off in the comments section below.

10 Dos and Don’ts For Writing Smooth Content

by 2 Comments

writing valuable content

This is a guest contribution from Kate Simpson

As a writer, you are indirectly employed by your target audience. It is not your job to appeal to every viewer/reader you receive, in fact, writers that try to “Please everybody” are typically easier to ignore.

Your job is to give your target audience something they like, something new, and something that challenges them. Here are a few rules that professional content writers live by in order to do just that.

 

#1: DO Overwrite And Then Cut It Down Later

Write way too much, then go back and cut out the fluff, then make it more concise. This technique is fairly new since computing technology allows people to write far more in a far shorter time. Companies like AssignmentMasters have been doing it for years, where the content is overwritten and then trimmed down so that only the best content is left behind.

 

#2: DON’T Forget That Habits Are A Friend And Enemy

Form positive habits and you will become a more productive writer. Fail to manage your habits, and negative ones will form. Stephen King writes ten pages every day out of habit. He is so afraid of breaking his habit that he even works on Christmas day. If you do not manage your habits, you will form bad ones, such as overeating, staying up too late, and failing to exercise.

 

#3: DO Add At Least Two Images To Your Text

People expect them on blogs, and people are starting to expect them on regular websites too. There are even people adding images to their terms and conditions on their website. The online audience has come to expect pictures, and they are ideal if you are selling something because around 65% of viewers retain an image for up to three days later. Plus, adding images may help you lead the eye of the viewer so he or she follows the website narrative that you laid out.

 

#4: DON’T Rely On Trends To Decide How You Write

This tip is a little unfair because some content relies on trends. For example, if you write about the entertainment industry (any of it), old information is often useless information. After all, are you really interested in what dress Angelina Jolie wore to the 2005 Oscars? Are you really hungry for a review of Prometheus (it’s terrible)?

Content based on trend has a very short use-life, and some writers are looking for more than a quick web traffic spike rather than a slow-burn trickle of traffic. If you wish to latch onto current trends in your niche, you may use the traffic spikes to build your email newsletter list, so that your efforts have a lasting benefit.

 

#5: DO Leave Your Article Three Days And Re-Read It

You will find that your proofreading read-through catches more errors three days after writing your piece than it did during your post-writing read-through. You are a poor judge of your own work (and its written quality) because you have formed an emotional attachment to your own work. The buzz phrase for this phenomenon is, “Pride of Authorship.” One of the reasons so many writers have editors and proofreaders is because such people have no emotional investment in the work, which makes it easier for them to spot its flaws and errors.

 

#6: DON’T Confuse Style With Adding Fluff

Is there a difference between fluff and style when it comes to adding fluff? Is all insertion of style a form of fluff? Should we all write like robots? Many people are concerned that their writing is all about style and less about content, which means that fluff is a tricky issue.

The previous paragraph was almost all fluff. It added neither useful information or entertainment value. Style is only applicable when/if it makes reading the article easier, more entertaining or more worthwhile. Look back on every paragraph you have written and ask if it could be omitted or summed up in one sentence. The fluffy paragraph above could have been rewritten as, “Do not write like a robot, add a little personality and style without being fluffy.”

 

#7: DO Write Specifically For Your Target Audience

This means alienating some people so you avoid alienating your core consumer. If you are writing about media studies, you should use terms such as structuring, framing and fourth-wall breaking, even if it seems a little esoteric. If you are talking about comic book movies, you should be throwing references that only movie lovers will understand, such as, “The Iron Man 3 rug pull with the Mandarin was as welcome as the true-love subplot in Hancock.”

Avoid alienating your core consumer. For example, if you are writing about gaming, you shouldn’t be writing about anything with an “ism” or it will alienate your core consumer. Gamers typically do not want to read the word, “Racism” in a Resident Evil 5 review, or “Sexism” in a Deadpool game review. Woman’s weekly magazine readers may like to read about how Link from Zelda has struck a blow for “Feminism,” but that is not typically what gamers want to read.

 

#8: DON’T Listen To “All” Of Your Commenters

Remember that your commenters do not speak for your silent majority. Your subscribers, page views and repeat visitors speak for your silent majority. Remember that your content “HAS to be disliked” by some people if you are targeting others, which means some comments are very unhelpful. Just look at the work of great writers such as Napoleon Hill, Stephen King, Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo Del Toro. There are groups that love them with all their hearts and others that hate them with a passion.

On the other hand, some users will lodge genuine complaints via your comment section, especially if you change something and your hardcore fans don’t like it. Be careful which comments you take in and which you ignore.

 

#9: DO Address Your Audience Personally

Use “You” instead of “One.” Your job is NOT to show off your writing skills, it is to appeal directly to your target audience. Writers are not like artists, since artists create work and then ask people to love it. Writers find what people love and then create.

Leave “One” for academic and poetic pieces. If you are a blogger, then use “I” because your blog is a personal statement from yourself. If you are professional article writer, use “you” and never reference yourself because content in the first person tends to sell for far less.

 

#10: DON’T Forget To Try New Things

Trying new things is tricky because you risk alienating your core target audience, and people tend to be very resistant to change. Think of all the times Facebook has changed, and think of all the times you have heard people say they do not like the changes and they are never using Facebook again, yet those same people are still using it today. Trying new things is the only way you will evolve as a writer, but you also risk turning away your loyal readers. If given the choice, try different styles and different topics when you are writing for other people (such as when you are guest posting).

 

In Conclusion

If you become a full-time writer, you are going to undergo several psychological changes as time goes on. Writing is a very solitary job where you are alone with your thoughts for a large portion of the day. Psychologist Timothy Wilson of the University of Virginia and Gilbert Quoidbach of the National Fund for Scientific Research in Belgium have proved that we change perpetually change on a psychological level. You need to appreciate that writing will change you in negative and positive ways. You can use this to your advantage if you repeatedly find new ways of improving your written quality and writing process, such as by reading advice articles like this one.

 

About The Author

kate simpson

Kate Simpson is the talented head of the editing team at the Assignment Masters. Alongside her vital editing duties, Kate also contributes her own insights as a writer of AM news columns.