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5 Benefits To Accepting Guest Posts

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guest posts

Guest blogging is a well-established approach to getting more visibility for your content. Each guest post is a valuable backlink and more traffic to any of your blog posts, landing pages, or social networks that you get to promote within that guest post.

While the benefits of guest blogging continue to establish a grip-hold on many bloggers’ efforts, fewer bloggers think about accepting guest posts on their blogs.

For a very long time, I was skeptical to allowing guest bloggers to contribute on my blog. Many people asked me, and I simply said that my blog wasn’t open to guest blogging. Recently, my opinion changed and I now accept guest posts.

My opinion didn’t change overnight. In fact, it was influenced by these five benefits to accepting guest posts.

#1: You Save Time

Let’s say you want to update your blog every day. That means you need to write at least seven blog posts every week. While this is an admirable goal that will keep your blog updated consistently and frequently, this effort will take up the majority of your time.

Now let’s say that, on average, you get 3 guest post contributions every week. Now you only have to write at least four blog posts each week to still publish new content on your blog each day.

If each blog post takes 30 minutes of your time, then you save 1 hour and 30 minutes since the content is already provided for you. How can you devote that time? I now use my extra time to create more YouTube videos, training courses, and eBooks.

#2: You Learn From Your Own Blog

The biggest reason I made the change and started accepting guest posts was this one. I like to learn from other people’s blogs, and other people like to learn from my blog. As I saw more people expressing their gratitude for my content, I realized that I wasn’t learning anything from my content.

How can you learn something new from a blog post that you wrote?

Opening the door to guest contributions also opened the door to new knowledge. My blog has a high standard that only opens the doors to high value guest posts that empower my audience…but also me. I like to get empowered by the guest posts too.

The more knowledge you acquire about your niche, the more likely you are to become successful in that niche. Opening the door to guest contributions is a great way to learn and save time at the same time.

You’ll Get More Traffic From Your Contributors

At the beginning of this post, I talked about the benefits of being a guest blogger. More credibility and traffic are two of the key benefits.

With that said, when you open the door to guest contributions, you’ll get more traffic and credibility too. Guest bloggers will feel enticed to share their guest posts with their audiences. The more prominent guest bloggers you attract to your blog, the more traffic YOU will get.

The end result is that both you and the guest blogger get more traffic in a win-win relationship.

#4: Your Blog Gets Updated More Frequently

Let’s go back to the example of writing seven blog posts per week. If you get three guest contributions each week, but you decide that you still want to write and publish seven of your blog posts each week, your blog now gets updated with 10 new blog posts every week.

This increased frequency of content updates will present your audience with more options and give you more Google love. Not only will you get more traffic from your contributor’s social media efforts, but you’ll start getting more search engine traffic.

#5: You Make More Connections

Lewis Howes is crushing it right now. He’s hosting events, has massive product launches, and is a role model for many people. Ever wonder how people like him achieved their level of success.

While different approaches exist, Lewis took on a very interesting approach. He decided to meaningfully connect with one new person every day with LinkedIn. By meaningfully connecting with more people, Lewis was exposed to numerous opportunities that helped him achieve his current level of success.

When you open the door to guest contributions, you will come in contact with more people in your niche. These people will promote their guest posts and lead their audience to your blog. Some of these new visitors will become subscribers. Some of the guest bloggers will repeatedly promote their pieces which would result in recurring traffic from that guest blogger’s efforts.

In Conclusion

Writing guest posts is a great way to gain exposure, but accepting guest posts on your blog is also a great way to get more exposure. Not only will you get more traffic from the guest posts, but that additional traffic will give your existing blog posts an edge on search engines.

You also get to learn new things from your blog which I personally find to be very cool.

What are your thoughts on accepting guest posts on your blog? Do you know someone who does this? Sound off in the comments section below.

How You Can Start Working Smarter

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working smarter

 

Productivity isn’t just a matter of working harder. It’s a matter of working smarter. This means accomplishing more of your priorities in a shorter period of time. We are always surrounded by a sea of distractions that can derail our efforts. Working smarter allows us to get through the distractions because by working smarter, we focus on our priorities.

In the infographic, there are a few things you should pay attention to:

  • Blocking off distractions such as texts and emails when doing important work.
  • Timing yourself for optimal productivity.
  • Working out so you can work smarter later or reading something challenging. Use your breaks productively.
  • Keep track of your progress. It’s a great practice to keep track of your goals. You can also keep track of your entire day from start to finish to determine how you use your time. You can discover how you waste time and then make proper adjustments to achieve better results.
  • Remind yourself of your accomplishments. Sometimes we tend to forget about our accomplishments and focus on our shortcomings. This makes us feel of little value even when everyone else seems to applaud our efforts. Don’t be afraid to applaud yourself for good work.
  • Working smarter involves gradual evolution. Each little step gets you closer to accomplishing a big goal. You need these steps to get towards your goal. Without them, you’ll be like a driver going from New York to California without a GPS.

Working smarter is a continuous exercise. You can never maximize your ability to work smarter because limits don’t exist. No matter how smartly you currently work, you can work even smarter.

Start by looking at how you work and commit to three changes that will allow you to work smarter. Once you have mastered those three changes, master three new changes. With this plan, working smarter will become a habit, and you’ll be amazed by the goals that you achieve.

From Visually.

Episode 23: How To Create Authority Content With David Jenyns

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David Jenyns is the founder of Melbourne SEO services and systemHUB.com. He’s also the author of Authority Content. David helps business owners get their marketing messages heard. 

I first came across David’s work during my Christmas shopping bonanza (I ended up with 20 books). His book’s description grabbed me from the start, I did some more research, and I knew that I needed to have David on the show. 

Key Links from the Show:

davidjenyns.com — David’s website

authoritycontent.com — David’s book

http://www.melbourneseoservices.com — David’s SEO services company

semrush.com — A powerful SEO tool David mentions in this episode

cognitiveseo.com — Another powerful SEO tool David shares with us

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en – Google SEO Guidelines

Learn:

—How to write content that grabs people’s attention and leads to more traffic

—The elements of authority content

—How you can increase your revenue with the help of authority content

—What people get wrong with creating authority content

—How to master any skill

3 Steps To Hosting A Great Podcast Interview

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When I first thought of starting my own podcast, I thought the host just compiled a bunch of questions and the guests did most of the work.

Boy was I wrong.

By this point, I’ve conducted dozens of interviews. And each one requires preparation and thoughtful discussion. There’s far more to conducting a podcast interview than writing a bunch of questions and reading them off the screen.

Even so, it’s not that difficult to become a ‘natural’ at podcasting. It just takes practice and preparation. And the more prepared you are, the easier and more fun the interviews will be.

The following tips will help you conduct great interviews with your podcast guests and improve the quality of your show:

#1: Preparation 

Preparation will make or break your podcast. It’s easy for listeners to tell if something was well-planned or completely spontaneous. To prepare a podcast episode, start with the introductory script.

In other words, how you will introduce your podcast’s episode and guests.

Ever notice how the hosts of great podcasts can always introduce their guests without stumbling on a word? Probably not; you simply expect it. But good introductions don’t happen without preparation.

It’s easy to take this for granted until you become a host yourself and discover a whole new world. Here’s the script I use for my intros:

“Hello and welcome. I am your host, Marc Guberti, and this is the podcast for marketers and small business owners who are looking for the breakthrough for their businesses. I am very excited about this show. We are going to discuss [Topic] with our guest [Name of guest]. [A few facts about the guest]. It is my pleasure to welcome [name of guest] to the show.”

The next time you listen to one of my podcast episodes, look at my rubric as you hear me deliver the intro. While each introduction may be slightly different, I use this rubric for nearly all of them.

The second part of preparation is writing down your questions. Question writing becomes easier with practice because you can use the good ones more than once.  For instance, I always ask my guests for an inspirational quote.

That’s one question down. But how many are left to go?

I usually jot down 10-15 questions, but I recommend always writing more than you need. Some guests like to elaborate while others will give short answers to almost every question.

During the episode, ask the important questions first, but leave room for bonus questions in case you want or need to make the episode longer (of course, if this means sacrificing value, then don’t bother sacrificing value for episode length).

Preparation will also make you better at attracting guests to your podcast.

#2: Conducting The Interview

The interview consists of more than just reading the intro and questions one by one. While you technically could conduct an interview in this manner, it’s no fun for anyone—you, your guest, or your listeners.

A podcast interview is a conversation, not a job interview. In a job interview, questions get fired out, and responses get fired back, with a bit more on-the-fly tactical planning. The interviewer is doing everything he/she can to assess whether a person is a good fit for a particular job.

A podcast interview, however, is more casual and you may even develop a bond with your guests. You already know your guests are extraordinary in their own ways, or you wouldn’t have invited them.

When you ask a question, listen carefully to what the other person says, and acknowledge it, before adding your own points and/or proceeding to the next question. Remember that your listeners are interested in what your guests have to say, so try to keep yourself out of the spotlight as much as possible.

The key element of a podcast interview is conversation. Like most conversations, it’s difficult to jot down notes, but unlike most conversations, this one is being (legally) recorded.

You can focus on the conversation itself, then go back to listen to the entire episode later, or you can hire someone to take notes for you. Trying to take notes while leading a podcast and guests is overwhelming.

That’s why I prefer to listening to the recordings or asking someone else to do it for me. This lets me stay focused on truly listening to my guests and coming up with a nice transition into the next question. Transitions are important because they help  conversations appear more natural.

Imagine someone asking you questions all day. As soon as you’ve answered one, they ask you another, and so it goes. That’s not a conversation. That’s more like a job interview.

During your interview, spend some time listening and some time thinking about how you will transition into your next question (but not at the expense of missing out on interesting follow-up questions). If you listen only, it will be awkward moving from question to question.

The moment I hear a guest make a excellent point that I can use as a transition, I hold it in my mind. If I forget it, it’s much harder to make the transition. Making mental notes of important points helps guests feel more comfortable and the interview going smoothly.

#3: Follow-Up After The Interview

Your podcast episode doesn’t end when you’ve thanked your guests for showing up and sharing their knowledge. Sure, that can happen, but there’s usually follow-up conversation that takes place after the interview (that doesn’t make it into the episode).

Those conversations help you develop stronger relationships with your guests. At the end of some of these conversations, I often find myself talking about potential partnerships or collaborations.

Why end the conversation along with your episode when there’s so much more to talk about?

Some people use it as an opportunity to encourage guests to share the episode. They strategize on how to sprinkle the conversation with a call to action. My advice is to keep that in the background.

I always tell my guests that I’ll send them a link when the episode is live, but I don’t push them to share it on their social networks. Every guest and episode provides me with a massive amount of knowledge, and that alone is enough. Of course, shares are an added bonus!

In Conclusion

Conducting successful podcast interviews becomes easier with practice. But having the right approach will give you a big advantage when it comes time for your next interview.

Interviewing people is fun and it fills you with new knowledge. There were several instances in which I thought I knew exactly what tip a certain guest would provide only to be thrown a curveball full of new and novel insight.

One of Jim Rohn’s many powerful quotes reads like this: “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”

This quote resonates with me since I’m both a college student and entrepreneur. Reading it motivates me to continue as an entrepreneur, even when the going gets tough.

Conducting great podcast interviews is the easiest way to produce new content for your brand and learn new things at the same time.

I truly believe that everyone should have a podcast even though it can take time to gain traction. The important thing is that you’ll continue to grow, and improve your show, with each new guest you invite and interview.

What are your thoughts on conducting podcast interviews? Do you have a podcast? Sound off in the comments section below.

image credit: Pixabay.com

January 2017 Performance Report

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January 2017 was a serious month for me. I felt excited with the beginning of the New Year and my birthday on the 3rd. I’ve got one final year as a teen. I’m making this one count.

I think you’ll be fascinated by this performance report. I got many of my goals accomplished and look forward to sharing those insights. But first, I have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

 

Content Marketing Success Summit (CMSS)

Content Marketing Success Summit

I didn’t get invited to speak at the Content Marketing Success Summit. I created it.

For the first time ever, I’m hosting a virtual summit, and it’s all happening in June. I currently have none of the speakers lined up, but I have many ideas.

I already registered the site that I’ll use for the summit. I am super excited about this project and will update you all each month regarding my progress. I didn’t state this goal in my resolutions video, but I’m happy that I decided to go all-in. It’s on like Donkey Kong!

 

The Beginning Of Unlock Your Potential

I’m going to test a backward approach to UYP. Since I have a variety of low priced products, I will start with creating the high-end course. I will use the book I wrote and other ideas I learn to guide me along the process.

I have my entire value ladder planned out for that training course. I’ll eventually incorporate the book into that value ladder once I get it published. In case you don’t know what a value ladder is, I recommend picking up Russel Brunson’s book DotCom Secrets.

 

Temporary Pauses

I have temporarily paused my Udemy course creation and my book writing. With the mix of pursuing several value ladders and an upcoming summit, I can’t find the time to create Udemy courses and write books.

Therefore, I’ll change my goal from having a total of 50 Udemy courses by the end of the year to having 50 courses by the end of the year. It’s a subtle difference, but in the end, I’m still creating enough courses to surpass 50 total courses.

I plan on catching up with Udemy and book creation in the summer when I regain several hours each day from the long break.

 

More Podcast Episodes On The Rise

I currently have enough guests scheduled and enough episodes done to last me through March. While I love this buffer, I don’t want too much of a cushion with podcast episodes.

With the current set up of 1 interview every week, I limit myself to 52 interviews every year. Through these interviews, my listeners and I learn new things. I want to continue learning new things about my niche, and 52 interviews every year isn’t enough for me anymore.

I want to conduct 100+ interviews every year (not including CMSS) which is why I’ll be publishing episodes on Mondays and Wednesdays by the end of February. So if you’ve enjoyed my Breakthrough Success Podcast so far, you’ll get double the action towards the end of February.

If you haven’t heard much about my podcast but want to learn more, you can head over to iTunes and subscribe for updates on new episodes.

 

Books I Read

I have been waiting all month to write this portion of my performance report. Here’s the entire list:

Decide by Jim Palmer

The 10% Entrepreneur by Patrick McGinnis

From Average To Rainmaker by Dennis M. Postema

Magnetic Sponsoring by Mike Dillard

Authority Content by David Jenyns

Profit Hacking by Steven Daar

How To Prospect, Sell, and Build Your Network Marketing Business With Stories by Tom “Big Al” Schreiter

The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield

DotCom Secrets by Russel Brunson

Hustle by Neil Patel, Patrick Vlaskovits, and Jonas Koffler

The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey

Master Content Marketing by Pamela Wilson

Oh, and that doesn’t include me being in the middle of the #AskGaryVee book audio and reading the first 51 pages of Seth Godin’s Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck? I also listened to several podcast episodes.

So, this was a VERY good month of learning new things. I’ve decided to dedicate one day of the week exclusively to reading. During one of those days, I got through three books.

I retain the information from this books by identifying how I will take action. The more books you read, the more repetitive the information becomes. Some of the insights from one book are often in the other book with slightly different names and explanations.

I underline the important stuff and occasionally go back to the underlined text. That’s how I retain what I read.

 

Blog Posts I Published:

5 Pitfalls To Avoid When Accepting Guest Posts

5 Tactics That Almost Guarantee Success

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

How A Structured Schedule Will Make You 10X More Productive

How To Expand Your Freelancer Army

6 Tactics To Avoid Inbox Fatigue and Write Better Emails

How To Create New Habits In Your Life

 

Podcast Episodes I Published:

Episode 19: How To Make Six Figures On Udemy With Joe Parys

Episode 20: How To Write For Any Publication With Aaron Orendorff

Episode 21: How To Sell Over 2,00,000 eBooks With Adam Houge

Episode 22: Building A Successful Mastermind Group With Ellory Wells

 

January 2017 Goals:

 

Surpass 1,000 Blog Visitors In 1 Day—the blog is really starting to pick up some stream. I exceeded 700 visitors in one day. If I don’t do it this month, I’ll definitely do it in February.

Get My 1st TSMD Sale—I made my first sale. So far I’m a little under a 2% conversion rate, but this is based on a small sample size.

Have Videos Scheduled Past March—Not quite, but I made progress with my mega courses. I do have videos done (but not currently scheduled) past February. I’ve been keeping up with daily videos.

Get 20 Guest Posts In The Queue—Lol (it didn’t happen).

Publish At Least 16 Blog Posts—While I didn’t get this goal accomplished, I went from publishing 3 blog posts in all of December to publishing 12 blog posts in January (including this Performance Report and podcast episodes). I consider that a big jump.

Create My 32nd Udemy Course—My goals have shifted. I’m now focused on creating training courses regardless of whether I offer them on Udemy or not.

Surpass 50,000 Udemy Students—I didn’t surpass 50,000 Udemy students, but I did get past 40,000.

Read 10 Books—Piece of cake

Reassess How I Use Twitter—I made my reassessment and I couldn’t be happier. My account is growing back to where it was a few months ago and my blog traffic from Twitter is only going up.

 

February 2017 Goals:

 

#1: Surpass 2,000 Blog Visitors In 1 Day

That’s not a typo. I am aiming for 100,000 visitors in March which makes this a critical step. 2,000 daily visitors adds up to 60,000 visitors per month.

I sense Facebook ads combined with a value ladder will play a critical part in this goal. If I make a profit from my Facebook ad, I can endlessly run it while maintaining my profit. This will result in thousands of new visitors who then become subscribers on my email list.

I’m also working to get more traffic from Twitter. At one point, I got 300 daily visitors from Twitter. Then my traffic went down to 100 daily visitors. Now I’m back at the 200 daily visitor range. 300+ is my target.

 

#2: Surpass 100 New Subscribers In 1 Day

Again, Facebook ads and the value ladder will play a big part here. Lately I’ve been getting 20-30 daily subscribers and this trend shows no signs of stopping. Before this, I considered 10 new subscribers a good day. Now I have my eyes set much higher.

 

#3: Have Videos Scheduled Past April

I now have a video editor who will also upload the videos to YouTube. This is a significant addition since video editing and uploading the videos to YouTube takes up so much of my time. Part of my agenda for next month is to more strongly integrate my daily videos with the rest of my business.

 

#4: Schedule 2 Podcast Episodes For 1 Week

Even if I don’t publish 2 podcast episodes in one week of February, I want them scheduled in advance.

 

#5: Add 30 videos to TSMD

I got my first sale, and to keep my first member (and every future member), I must continue providing more content and a positive experience. Adding 30 videos to TSMD will create a powerful content library within TSMD that all members get access to.

I don’t know how many videos I want to add to TSMD this year. I need more data and research before giving a true number.

 

#6: Finish The UYP Training Course Videos

This course is a big deal for me. I want the course to generate the revenue and exposure that will be necessary to turn Unlock Your Potential into a bestseller. If I wait a few months before launching the book and focus on the training course and the value ladder for now, I’ll reap the rewards later.

 

#7: Surpass 50,000 Udemy students

While this was originally my intended goal for January, I’ll assign that goal to myself again for this month. I gained 3,000 students in January so I’ll need to do more hustling to accomplish this goal.

 

#8: Create 2 Udemy Courses

These courses will be short but jam-packed with value. I don’t want these courses to take too much attention away from all of the courses I’ll have in my value ladder.

 

#9: Write Blog Posts Past April

I currently have blog posts written beyond February. In March, I plan on publishing 3 blog posts per week. Add in April and that’s a total of 26 blog posts. Finishing some of those blog posts by the end of January is critical.

 

#10: Read 15 Books

It’s very doable. I now start my day by reading a book instead of waking up from bed and sleeping on the couch for a little longer (I don’t know why I did that). For the most part, I also dedicate one day of the week exclusively to reading books.

The most difficult part of this goal may be keeping my shelves filled with books I haven’t read yet.

 

In Conclusion

January 2017 was a very strong first month to the new year. The most important way I changed my mindset in January was to focus more on creating a value ladder than simply cranking out videos and courses that don’t connect within a marketing strategy.

I read many books in January and I hope to keep it up in February. Now that I’m back in college, I have to do college related reading assignments, but I aim to stay strong with my own reading.

What were your thoughts on this performance report? Have any questions for me? Sound off in the comments section below!

How To Create A Lasting Impression With Your Blog Posts

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blogging-336376_1920When visitors scroll through your content for the first time, they get a first impression that dictates whether or not they’ll return to your blog.

I’ve written over 1,000 blog posts to date, and any might have been a visitor’s first impression of my content. That’s why I try to craft blog post that make a lasting impression. My first-time visitors hope to find valuable content, and my returning visitors expect it.

To be sure you’re writing valuable content, follow these tactics:

#1: Plan Out Your Content

Once you’ve conducted research, the next step is to plan out your content. How will it flow from start to finish. In a blog post called “X Steps To A Better Life,” how many steps will you include? What will those steps be? In what order will you discuss them?

I always plan my content by identifying an idea and listing anything that’s relevant in the context of a blog post. I’ll add structure later, this just serves as a quick outline for a blog post that can take less than a minute. A book outline, on the other hand, takes AT LEAST 15 minutes!

Planning your content in advance makes it easier to take action on the next step.

#2: Do More Research

Once you’ve planned your content, conduct more research. Strong blog posts are backed by data. Someone did the hard work for you, so mention it only when it’s appropriate, and be sure to provide links to your sources.

Citing data and sources is good for SEO, but it can also increase the time people stay on your blog. People will stop to think about interesting statistics, trying to comprehend them for a few seconds, before they finish reading your blog post. Here’s a cool statistic:

Every month, 2.5 billion comments are made on Facebook Pages.

Insert that statistic in a post about getting more engagement for a Facebook Page, and you’ve got people glued to your content. Little tidbits like these help keep your audience’s attention.

#3: Keep People On Your Blog Longer

While planning and research help keep people on your blog for longer periods of time, you’ll want them to stick around for as long as possible. And the more time people spend on your blog, the more likely they are to come back.

Think about how much time people spend on YouTube. People spend so much time on YouTube that it’s become instinctive to go keep going back.

To keep people on your blog for a longer period of time, you need to keep them on your individual blog posts for longer periods. The simple act of writing longer blog posts will help, but only when they provide value.

Don’t write a thin, 2,000-word blog post if you can do a better job in 500 words.

Linking to older blog posts in your new ones is another great way to retain readers. And it helps your bounce rate. See what I did there? I used the discussion to insert a relevant hyperlink, and if you click on it, you’ll remain on my blog.

Now imagine all of your new blog posts linking back to the older ones. Then imagine going back to the older posts and linking them to your new ones. You create a network of internal links that keep people glued to your content.

#4: Encourage Engagement

At the end of my blog posts, I always encourage people to leave a comment. This call-to-action results in more comments than I can always engage with.

You may think your content ends when you hit the publish button, but that’s not true. It’s continuously updates until the end of time (literally). Anyone can leave a comment and add more to the content.

Comments help first-time visitors think your blog is popular. And they may stick around just to read some of the comments. Some blog posts get hundreds of comments that visitors actively read through. I’m often one of them.

#6: Choose Images Carefully

People love pictures. We constantly share pictures on our favorite social networks. Pictures are also much easier for us to interpret than regular text. In fact, we can interpret pictures 60,000 times faster than text.

That’s why the pictures you choose matter. They create more engagement for your blog posts and result in people sticking around for a longer period of time.

Not only should you choose your pictures carefully, you must also spread them throughout your blog posts. If you meet visitors with a wall of text, they’ll get bored, skim your post, and leave.

Images break up blocks of text with interesting visuals.

In Conclusion

To create a lasting impression with your blog you should anticipate first impressions. Write knowing that any of your posts might be the first to get a visitor’s attention.

From now on, write each post as if it’s the first impression you’ll make with your content. That way, you’ll write blog posts that keep visitors returning.

What are your thoughts on these tactics? Do you have any tips for creating a lasting impression? What questions do you have? Sound off in the comments section below.