Targeted Audience

I Heard That The Same Blogger Gets Boring After A While

July 30, 2014 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

I must be really boring then!

Here’s how I heard about this: I happened to be looking on the web for articles about blogging. I am always on the lookout for new nuggets of information about my niche. One of the articles I stumbled across mentioned that reading content written by the same blogger gets boring after a while. The article went on to explain why a blogger needs to get guest bloggers to write for them.

I disagree with that. And it’s not just because I am the only one who writes content for this blog.

A blog does not get boring just because the blog posts are being written by the same person every time. This blog has over 1,000 blog posts written by the same person (that would be me) and readers stick around anyway.

There is certain content that does get boring after a while. This is repetitive content in which a blogger writes about the same thing every week. It gets annoying to see something similar to what you read a week ago. Imagine reading a blog post called “10 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers” today and then later in the week reading a blog post called “11 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers” written by the same person with the same methods except one method got added. That is the typical boredom that readers to not appreciate.

If a blogger’s content is valuable and worth sharing, then people will stick around regardless of who is writing the blog posts. Everything on the Quick Sprout blog was written by Neil Patel, and that blog also happens to be one of the most popular blogs on the web.

In the beginning, people don’t care about the author. They only care about the author if they believe the author’s content was valuable and worth sharing. It is at this point when the reader cares about who the author is. Instead of wanting another author, the typical reader will look for more content written by the same person. If all of the blog posts on your blog are written by you, then your readers won’t have to search all over the web for you. They are already at your home on the web–your blog.

If your blog is all you, readers will only be able to read your content. That means when a reader likes one of your blog posts and reads others as well, that reader starts to like you. The reader likes what you offer to the masses with no price tag attached. The more free content your readers go through on your blog, the better the chances are that the reader buys one of your products.

If the content never gets boring, then the blogger never gets boring. Chances are this is not the only blog you will visit today. Chances are you will read other blog posts on the web with different perspectives on different (or possibly similar) topics. If you build a powerful presence on your own blog by being the person who writes the content every time, then you will grow a strong reputation for providing valuable content. Having the kind of reputation is what encourages people to spread your content and buy your products.

Anyway, you must be really bored right now since this blog post was written by the same person…AGAIN.

6 Characteristics That Every Successful Entrepreneur Has Part 2

July 29, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Think Like An Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs are individuals who break out of the status quo to pursue their own dreams. Even if they may not make a lot of money in the beginning, entrepreneurs pursue their dreams instead of looking for survival jobs. All entrepreneurs have several characteristics. In an earlier blog post, I mentioned six characteristics that every successful entrepreneur has. Since then, I have learned more about entrepreneurship, and I will continue learning about it. As a result, I have been able to come up with six completely different characteristics that every entrepreneur should have.

Have an optimistic attitude. Every entrepreneur faces obstacles. An entrepreneur’s success is dependent on how he/she responds to the obstacles. If the entrepreneur remains optimistic about their journey, that entrepreneur will make enough mistakes to get one thing right, and getting one thing right can be the difference between a survival job and a multimillion dollar business.
Risk taking. Entrepreneurs need to be willing to make risks. The safe game is no longer safe because there are too many people playing that game. In order to stand out as an entrepreneur, you need to take risks so people see you as a remarkable entrepreneur.
The desire to experiment. There is no rule book for your niche to break from the norm. There are several ways to break from the norm, but the only way you will know whether your method worked or not is by giving it a try. You may need to conduct numerous experiments before coming up with the one that works.
Entrepreneurs accept that failure happens but don’t get stopped by it. Successful entrepreneurs realize that failure is inevitable, but they also realize that success is inevitable. After failing so many times, entrepreneurs learn enough about their niche that they get it right. Getting it right and having the product or service deliver the way you expected it to is when the magic starts to happen.
Entrepreneurs are willing to work for 80 hours to avoid working for 40 hours. Shark Tank’s Lori Greiner came up with a humorous but true statement about entrepreneurs. We work more to avoid less work. The only difference is that after everything pays off, entrepreneurs are able to live in a way that most people can’t.
Entrepreneurs utilize their leverage. We have more leverage than we realize. Technology has torn away communication limitations, information-obtaining limitations, and even the age limitation. Even in a world with more leverage, not every entrepreneur is utilizing that leverage. The successful entrepreneurs are utilizing the leverage around them to thrive and create superstar products.

Those are the six other characteristics that every entrepreneur has. You can see the other six characteristics here. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any other entrepreneurial characteristics you would like to share? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

Three Super Easy Methods To Increase Your Blog’s SEO

July 28, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

SEO Blueprint

There are many methods to increase a blog’s SEO. Some of those methods are highlighted here, but most of the SEO increasing methods out there take several months of work before they pay off. However, there are certain methods to boost your SEO that do not take much time. In addition, these methods are super easy to implement. Here are the methods.

Include categories for your blog posts. Categories make it easier for people to navigate through your blog. This will result in more people clicking on links and sticking on your blog. As a result, categories lower your blog’s bounce rate, and as people stay on your blog for a longer period of time, they will be more likely to buy your products or subscribe.
Add tags to your blog posts. A tag is a word or phrase that someone searches into Google (or another search engine) and finds your blog. Tags work like exclamation points which means the more tags you have, the less useful they are. My recommendation is to have 2-5 tags for each of your blog posts.
Include keywords in your blog posts. Keywords strengthen your tags and allow people on search engines to easily find your blog based on search terms. When you include keywords in your blog, you must avoid stuffing keywords in your blog posts. A good rule of thumb is to use a keyword at least five times, but if that keyword appears in every sentence or every other sentence, that keyword needs to be reduced. Just come up with synonyms for your keywords and you’ll be fine.

Those are the three super easy ways to boost your blog’s SEO. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional super easy methods you would like to share? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

The Five Worst Social Media Tips You Will Ever Hear

July 25, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

In the big, complex world of social media, there are now thousands of social media experts. Some social media experts are very popular while others are finding their way. With thousands of people sharing advice on the same topic, there will be perspectives and methods that contradict each other. As a result, some people hear poor advice and end up implementing the wrong methods, or they implement the right methods in the wrong way.

This results in frustration because people are not getting the results they expected to get. Instead of having to guess whether certain methods are good or bad, I am going to provide for you a list of five of the worst social media tips you will ever hear. By knowing the mistakes now, you won’t make them later.

Only be on one social network. If you are only on one social network, then you are not able to utilize the advantages of the other social networks. 80% of pins on Pinterest are repins which means you can take advantage of how easy it is to spread on Pinterest. You can use Twitter to take advantage of concise conversations that allow you to build stronger connections with your followers every day. Then there’s YouTube which allow you to take the advantage of being able to upload your own videos. Relying on one social network to grow your social media audience is no longer an option. You can have your best social network (for me, that would be Twitter), but do not just rely on one social network.
Be omnipresent on all of the social networks. I plead guilty to using this tip. Omnipresent means being active on every social network including Kik, Yelp, and all of the other ones. Instead, that should be rephrased to be omnipresent on all of the big players. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, and GooglePlus are some of the big players.
Don’t post too much. I used to reluctantly tweet every hour because I thought people would not like that I post too much. I thought I was going to get more unfollows and see my follower count spiral downward. However, after trying it out, I ended up gaining followers. On Twitter, I now tweet once every 20 minutes. Not only do I get more followers, but I also get more engagement.
Respond to everyone. No matter how valuable your content is or how remarkable your story is, you will get two kinds of people: the haters and the spammers. Some people will be jealous of your success and be quick to shoot you down. These people will say things like “Your blog post was the worst thing I have ever read!” In addition, spammers are very common on any social network. Here is the typical example of a spammer on Twitter, “CLICK here to learn how I gain 550 FOLLOWERS every day,” and most people who tweet that have well under 1,000 followers. There is no reason to respond to these people because you will not be able to build the type of conversation with these people that evolves into a strong connection and potential sales.
Do not follow many people. People do not know about you unless they hear about you. Clicking the follow button and following other people is a way for them to hear about you. If you want to be one of those people with 1 million followers who is only following a few of your best friends, the chances of that happening are unlikely. I’m not saying it’s impossible (some people have already done this), but you need to be famous in order to get that kind of attention without having to follow a lot of people. There was a point when I was following 12 people and had 1,667 followers. The problem with that was I did not get past 1,700 followers for about three months. Think about that. It took me 3 months to get 33 new followers. That’s horrible, and that primarily happens because I did not follow anyone within that span of time.

Now that you know the five worst social media tips, you know what you need to avoid. I did not make all five of these mistakes simultaneously, but I have made them all throughout my career. Identifying these mistakes allowed me to go on a better path and get better results for the time I put into social media. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional mistakes that you would like to mention? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

10 Steps To Your First 1,000 Twitter Followers

July 15, 2014 by Marc Guberti 49 Comments

If you grow a big audience on Twitter, that audience has the potential to dramatically transform your business and get more people to know about you. Many people see growing an audience on Twitter as a challenging process. Some of the people who went through the challenging process now have thousands of followers while others are almost there. Regardless of whether you just started using Twitter or have hundreds of followers, you need to reach 1,000 Twitter followers as soon as possible. Here are the 10 steps that will allow you to get there:

Follow people who are likely to follow back. When you follow people who are likely to follow back, be sure to follow the people who are interested in what you talk about. Take a look at their bios and some of the people they follow to determine whether these people would be interested in what you tweet about or not. Some of the people you follow will feel obligated to follow you back because they do not want to get unfollowed.
Tweet often. Tweeting often is a great way to get noticed. The more you tweet, the more chances you have of getting a retweet. Retweets will allow your content to spread on Twitter and attract more followers.
Tweet valuable content. Tweet the type of content that people would want to retweet. Motivational quotes, incredible articles, and videos are some of the things that people would want to retweet.
Tweet with pictures. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Tweeting with a picture will add more value to your tweet and boost your engagement. Tweets with pictures get 10% more engagement than tweets without pictures.
Get people on your other social networks to follow you on Twitter. Your Facebook friends, people in your Google Plus circles, and Pinterest followers are some of the audiences who would follow you on Twitter. When you are trying to build an audience on your other social networks, you need to tell the audience you already have about your new account for a social network.
Have conversations with others. Conversations allow you to build connections with your followers. You can also have conversations with people who are interested in what you do and can become a potential follower. It is easy to turn potential followers into followers. They just need to know about you, and having conversations with these people is a great way for them to learn about you. Here are some tips for starting a conversation on Twitter.
Retweet other people’s tweets. If you are not retweeting a tweet once every week, then you are using Twitter wrong (if you’re going through my tweets…then you know what to do). When you retweet someone else’s tweet, that person will be grateful. If you retweet enough of someone’s tweets, that person will show their appreciation by following you. In addition, some people will follow you because they want their tweets to get retweeted as well.
Pin your most popular tweet. Pinning your most popular tweet only allows that tweet to become more popular. When potential followers see your popular tweet, the tweet will automatically grab their attention, and then those people will follow you. A popular tweet indicates someone is popular on Twitter, and people tend to follow the accounts that are popular.
Promote your Twitter account on your blog. Have a giant follow button on your blog that allows people to follow you on Twitter. Better yet, make sure people can follow you on Twitter without leaving your blog. This allows the connection to build.
Get interviewed and interview others. The people who you interview or get interviewed by will tell their audience about you. Some of the people from those audiences will decide to follow you on Twitter. Here are some useful tips to finding people you can interview, getting them to accept the interview, and get people to interview you.

By implementing these steps, you will gain more Twitter followers every day. As you continue to gain more Twitter followers, you will eventually reach 1,000 followers. Surpassing the thousand mark is a big milestone that shows other people that you have the potential to thrive on Twitter. Having 1,000 Twitter followers puts you in the Top 5% of all of Twitter (based on the number of followers you have). That is a big accomplishment, and it is an accomplishment you will be able to realize by putting in the work. What are your thoughts on these steps? Do you have any additional steps you use to get more Twitter followers? Please share your thoughts and advice below.