Marc's Blog

StumbleUpon Case Study: How I More Than Tripled My Blog Traffic In One Day

March 13, 2015 by Marc Guberti 5 Comments

Even though this blog is popular, one of my big goals is to get more blog traffic. My logic was that a little more of something beneficial wouldn’t hurt. I read various articles and blogging books. I knew several methods in other people’s articles and books, but one method that was repeatedly talked about was a method I never dared to try: submit your blog to StumbleUpon. Reddit and Digg were also mentioned, but I decided to focus my time on StumbleUpon.

I had created an account a few years ago, was barely active, and then just left it behind. When I logged into my StumbleUpon account for the first time in a few years, I had 125 followers. Not bad for a few years of inactivity!

I decided to promote my latest articles on StumbleUpon, but to no avail. Most of them got a few visitors, and the most amount of visitors I got for one blog post I shared on StumbleUpon was a little under 50 visitors. I knew StumbleUpon could produce big results because I saw the spike in traffic it gave other bloggers, so I wondered, “Why not me?”

I finally struck gold with my blog post 20 Thoughts To Live By. Unlike all of the other blog posts I shared on StumbleUpon, this was a very concise blog post. The other blog posts I shared were in-depth. My in-depth blog posts were not getting as much attention on StumbleUpon because people simply use StumbleUpon to surf the web and interact at the same time.

I put the blog post on StumbleUpon late at night. I got about 150 views from StumbleUpon that night. As I went to bed, I thought of StumbleUpon as a simple experiment that panned out nicely.

When I woke up, it was easy to see that my blog post went viral on StumbleUpon. On the day it went viral on StumbleUpon, that one blog post brought in over 66% of my blog’s traffic. At the time, my blog averaged 800 daily visitors and 1,100 daily views. On that day, my blog got over 2,879 visitors and 3,429 views. My blog’s traffic tripled overnight all because of one StumbleUpon post.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1EXMGlG”]Learn how one blog got over 2,500 extra visitors in one day from #StumbleUpon.[/tweetthis]

A few days after the blog post went viral on StumbleUpon, I decided to assess the experiment to see whether StumbleUpon was worth it or not. One of the most commonly discussed disadvantages is that virtually every StumbleUpon visitor only counted as one pageview. Most of the people who came to my blog from StumbleUpon only viewed that blog post and stumbled to the next page on StumbleUpon. Even though I saw record-breaking traffic, I only got 13 subscribers which is the same daily number of subscribers I already got prior to the blog post.

There was some good news about going viral on StumbleUpon. The first reason is that I now have massive social proof. The social proof of your blog post being shared by thousands of people shows that your blog post is valuable enough to have been shared by thousands of people.

Social media still plays a big role in the search engines, and StumbleUpon is a social network. A few days after the blog post went viral on StumbleUpon, I noticed that blog post getting more traffic than usual. My belief is also that when visitors scroll down to the end and see the blog post has been shared thousands of times, some of them will be more likely to share that blog post. People like to share what is popular.

In Conclusion

My opinion about StumbleUpon is that in the short-term, it just produces a big number with no dramatic change. The only short-term change is the social proof at the bottom of your blog posts if you have the StumbleUpon button enabled. In the long-term, people who visit your blog on StumbleUpon multiple times may decide to return. All of this StumbleUpon traffic results in more attention from the search engines. When people see the blog post is popular on StumbleUpon, they may decide to share it on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, thus increasing your blog post’s search rank (therefore, it increases your blog’s search rank).

What are your thoughts on StumbleUpon? Do you have any advice for going viral on StumbleUpon? Please share your thoughts and advice about StumbleUpon below.

10 Ways To Continue A Conversation With Someone On Social Media

March 11, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Social media is commonly used as a platform for marketers to promote their content and products. Millions of businesses use social media to communicate with their customers every day. These conversations are typically one-sided. Business accounts send out tweets but don’t bother responding to their customers.

Businesses and individuals need to have more conversations with their audiences. It is conversations that allow the strongest relationships to occur. You don’t get long-lasting friends that matter by having one-sided conversations with them. You need to have a conversation with someone if you want to build a strong relationship with that person.

However, the conversations that create friendships are more than the wave, the greeting, and then the departure. Conversations that build strong relationships need to last for a long period of time. In order to continue a conversation with someone on social media that turns into a strong relationship, follow these 10 tips.

#1: Wish Your Followers A Wonderful Week/Weekend

At the end of many of my conversations, I wish people a wonderful week or weekend depending on the day of the week. I do this for two reasons. The first reason is that I do want these people to enjoy their weeks and weekends. We have the right to enjoy our lives. The second reason is that this ending encourages the conversation to develop. Many of my followers also wish me a wonderful week/weekend depending on the day of the week.

#2: Ask A Question

Questions are great ways to continue a conversation. After one of my followers wishes me a wonderful week/weekend, I ask that followers what he/she has planned for the week/weekend. Many people respond telling me all of the things they have to do for the week/weekend. I follow up with a list of things I have to do as well. Asking this question allows me to learn what my followers do. If I find a pattern, I may create a product around that pattern.

On a simpler scale, you can start a conversation by asking what your followers’ favorite books are. Asking these types of questions to all of your followers will start up multiple conversations.

#3: Have Multiple Conversations With The Same Person

Just because a conversation ends does not mean you and the person you were talking to will never have another conversation together. You can talk to the same person again and again, just like a real-life friendship.

#4: Thank Your Followers For Sharing Your Content

One of the best ways to start a conversation is with an act of gratitude. I constantly thank the people who share my content with their audiences. I have thanked the same people multiple times. Many of the people who I thank either say something like, “You’re welcome,” or “Thank you for putting up the content so I could share it.” If you get one of these two responses, you should continue the conversation with that person.

Most marketers are so focused on sharing and creating content that they forget to thank the people who appreciate them. Some of the people who share your articles will feel so grateful that you thanked them that these people will continue sharing your content. When you do this, it is important to avoid abusing this power (don’t use this to manipulate your followers), and in the end, your followers will only share your content if it is valuable.

#5: Include Pictures In Your Posts

Social media posts with pictures have been proven to get more engagement than social media posts without pictures. If you include pictures in more of your posts, you will start more conversations with your followers. Some of the people who engage with your pictures will be people who have had conversations with you in the past. You can continue interacting with these people to strengthen the relationships and interact with other people for the first time to start new relationships.

#6: Only Talk To The Right People

Not every social media user is created equal. Ideally, you want to talk to the people who are interested in the content you share on your social networks. These are the people who would be more likely to share your content and be grateful for your insights. You want to build an audience of like-minded people so that, when the conversations do take place, you are talking to the right people. In addition, when you hop onto a conversation, make sure the people in that conversation are the right people to talk with (like-minded people who share an interest in your niche).

#7: Respond Quicker

You can’t have much of a conversation with someone else unless you respond. The longest conversations that take place are the ones where people quickly respond to each other. Most of these conversations are real human interaction without any technology involved. On social media, you need technology to communicate with your followers. However, you can make those conversations last longer by responding quicker as if you were in a real conversation.

I make it a policy to get back to my followers within a day. Depending on when the conversation starts and when I log in, I may get back to some people within a few seconds or close to 24 hours. By responding quicker, your followers will be more likely to remember the conversation when they see your response.

#8: Quiz Your Followers

Quizzing your followers is a great way to start more conversations. You can quiz your followers by giving them a clue to identify someone, something, or an event such as, “Who was the 33rd President of the United States?” The answer to that question is Harry S. Truman. Of course, some followers may choose to look that up, but you get more interaction.

The best quiz questions are the ones that require a guess. Think “How many pieces of candy are in the box” type of questions. You can offer a free prize to the first person who guesses the right answer or is the closest to the right answer.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1Kgb4xg”]Quizzing your followers is a great way to educate them and have more conversations with them at the same time.[/tweetthis]

#9: Poll

Polls are another way to start conversations. Facebook has an especially great feature that makes poll creation easier. For any social network though, you can simply list poll choices like this:

What should my next product be about?

A. Pinterest

B. Twitter

C. Facebook

D. Blogging

E. Productivity

In less than a minute, I just created a poll that could be put on any social network, including Twitter with its 140 character limit. This type of poll would allow me to know what products my followers want. Having this knowledge would allow me to make better decisions when I create my future products. You can ask any poll question such as, “Which social network do you like the most…” Not all of them have to be related to your products or expertise.

#10: Thoughtfully Contribute To The Conversation

When you contribute to a conversation, you need to thoughtfully contribute to that conversation. In human interaction, we don’t have as much time to think about what we say. We say what we think of. Sometimes, we say thoughtful things while at other times, we say things that we should have thought about before saying. On social media, you have time to think about what you say. Utilize the extra time to think before you post something on social media. Then, you will have a better reply to a conversation that makes the conversation build.

In Conclusion

Conversations are important on social media because they allow relationships to build. Some of these relationships may turn into sales, subscribers, and people who promote you for a long time. However, most conversations on social media are either one-sided or do not last for a long period of time. Everything you post is the start of a conversation. It is up to you to post the type of content your followers would be encouraged to engage with. Then it is up to you to keep those conversations going so you can build stronger relationships with your followers.

What are your thoughts on having conversations on social media? Do you have any other tips for making a conversation continue for a longer period of time? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

How To Find More Time To Do What Is Important

March 9, 2015 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

We do many things throughout our lives. We go to the grocery store, exercise, browse through social media, and do our work, just to name a few activities we participate in. However, we live such busy lives that we forget to do the important things—the activities that bring forth the biggest impact in desired parts of our lives.

An important thing for a parent is to be with the children. An important thing for the product creators, bloggers, and anyone else in business is to get better results. This is where most people start writing a few things that they want to get better at and then get started. You write down all of the areas that you want better results in (sales, subscribers, etc). The only problem is that this actual practice is difficult. Few people write down their objectives to begin with, but even fewer people get the process right.

Many people who strive for better results simply write down all of the things they want better results in without giving it much thought. Many of these people write down lists with dozens of different areas to improve in. First off, a large list like that is unlikely to get accomplished. You need to simplify the list so each objective gets more attention. Secondly, how do all of these results align with your critical objective?

Maybe I threw some people off with the critical objective. For a very long time, I wrote down goals to get better results but never thought of the critical objective. The critical objective is a definitive goal you strive to accomplish, and all of the other important goals you plan support the critical objective.

Let’s say your critical objective is to make $250,000 every year. Now you have to focus on goals that bring in revenue, but not just any revenue. These goals, when accomplished, need to bring in revenue that adds up to at least $250,000 every year. Surveys are not going to cut it. Consultation sessions are good but not good enough. Reaching that income eventually comes down to product creation and growing your authority on the web.

Knowing the critical objective will allow you to eliminate all of the other goals that don’t matter. Anything that does not help you achieve your critical objective (other than family and important family events) is a distraction. If something does not bring in more money, then it is distracting you from your goal of making $250,000 every year. Sometimes the most powerful statements are the ones that make the most sense.

However, knowing your critical objective is not enough to find more time to be productive and do work that matters. Another piece of the puzzle is how early you wake up. They say that the average person needs about eight hours of sleep, and that is one of the most common misconception’s of today’s world. The actual length is anywhere from 6.5 to 7.5 hours (I am typically closer to the 7.5 hour range).

Think about how much extra time you get by waking up earlier. If you are someone who sleeps for 10 hours every day, and you suddenly decide to only get seven hours of sleep every night (which is okay), you are giving yourself three extra hours in your day. I find it shameful that one-third of our lives is spent sleeping. We could do so much more in that time. Of course, we need the sleep, but most people sleep for too long. Sleeping too much causes the same level of depression as not getting enough sleep, so waking up earlier also result in a happier life (people who wake up earlier in the morning are typically happier than those who don’t. Many articles talk about this topic. Here’s an example).

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1637SHO”]Do you want to live a happier life? Just wake up earlier.[/tweetthis]

If you want to wake up earlier, here are the steps you should take:

Step #1: Get to bed before midnight

Step #2: Set an alarm clock by your bed to go off 6.5 to 7.5 hours from now

Step #3: Move the alarm clock out of reach before going to bed

Step #4: When you hear the alarm clock, get out of bed and turn it off

Step #5: You are out of bed. Why go back in?

This is the five step process I use to wake up 6.5 to 7.5 hours after I go to bed. Sometimes, I even set the alarm clock to go off in seven hours and 45 minutes because I know that being on my computer a few hours before going to bed makes it more difficult for me to fall asleep (this is a scientifically proven fact for people like you and me). I never go over eight hours of sleep at one time.

If you find this part of the process difficult to follow, I still urge you to follow it, but you can also take a nap in between. When I am extremely tired, I take a 20-30 minute nap and follow the same procedure I would follow from Steps 2-5 of waking up earlier. When I wake up, I experience a level of productivity close to the one I had when I started the day.

In Conclusion

Becoming successful only requires two things: knowing what you want to do (your critical objective) and finding the time to make it happen. By identifying your critical objective, you will also know which goals support your critical objective and which ones are the distractions.

Before you put in any more work for your business, ask yourself what the critical objective is. What are you trying to accomplish? What is your #1 goal for the year? What is the mission of your business? Once you choose your critical objective, only do the things that support that critical objective. Understandably, there will be other things that come up (other than family, family events, or important events in general). Those things that come up should get the back burner of your time.

What are your thoughts on this approach to becoming successful? Do you have any other suggestions for finding more time to do what is important? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

The 7 Things Your Blog Always Needs More Of

March 6, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

What Does A Blog Need?

Blogs were one of the first things on the web that indicated the possibility of people making money on their own schedules, and while sleeping. Since the first couple of blogs took off, millions of people have created their own blogs. Some blogs are a collection of hobbies while other blogs are core components of successful businesses. This blog itself is one of the core components that determines how far my message spreads.

However, in the quest to be successful with a blog, many bloggers have taken the incorrect approach of trying to implement hundreds of tips at the same time. Some blog posts about blogging are so informative that they provide countless tips, and it is almost impossible to implement all of those tips, let alone at the same time.

In this blog post, I am going to provide you with seven things that your blog will always need more of. I will also provide articles you can use to grow those seven things.

#1: Traffic

Traffic is one of the most highly sought objectives of bloggers. Many bloggers Google phrases like, “How does my blog get more traffic,” and “How can my blog get more traffic.” In order for your message to spread, people need to see your content and be aware of your message in the first place. Of the six other things on this list, traffic is a critical component towards making four of the other six things happen. This article will show you various methods you can use to get more blog traffic.

#2: Subscribers

Traffic is beneficial, but the benefit that traffic brings depends on what your visitors do when they go to your blog. If your visitors are not subscribing, then they may forget about your blog and never return. Once you get someone to visit your blog, you want that person to subscribe. If you effectively communicate to your subscribers and occasionally promote products, then your email list will turn into a powerful stream of revenue. The money is in the list. This free book will show you some methods you can use to get more subscribers.

#3: Social Shares

The amount of social shares you get is dependent on two things: how much traffic the blog post gets and how valuable that blog post is. Before any of those factors come into play, you need to have the social buttons at the bottom of your blog posts in the first place. Social shares, especially +1’s, are valuable for SEO. Therefore, getting more social shares means more traffic from social media and the search engines. More traffic means more shares, and then the cycle continues. All you need to do is get the cycle started, and then it should continue for a long period of time. This article will show you some methods you can use to get more social shares.

#4: Sales

The successful marketer who makes $1 million in sales every year strives to make $2 million the following year. No matter how many sales you are making now, you can make more. As your blog gets more traffic and subscribers, you will get more sales when you promote your products. This article will show you some methods you can use to get more sales. If you don’t have a product or want to create more of your own products, then this article is for you.

#5: Pageviews Per Visitor

Visitors who view multiple pages on your blog are beneficial users for two key reasons: these visitors lower your blog’s bounce rate (which helps SEO) and these visitors are more likely to subscribe and buy your products. Getting more pageviews per visitor is as simple as making your blog more attractive, providing valuable content, and making your blog easily navigable (make it easy for your visitors to read more of your blog posts).

#6: Valuable Content

Not only does a blog need more content, but it also needs more content that brings value. Valuable content is the type of content that brings people back to your blog, gets them to subscribe, and eventually buy your products. If you have seen Seth’s Blog once, chances are you’ll visit again (Warning: You might get stuck on it for a while). I have probably visited his blog hundreds of times. In order to write valuable content, you need to practice writing every day. There is no way around it.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1BzNgjb”]In order to write valuable content, you need to practice writing every day. There is no way around it[/tweetthis]

#7: Load Speed

The amount of time it takes for your blog to load has an impact on your blog’s SEO and what visitors do when they are on your blog. For every second it takes your blog to load, your visitor is less likely to subscribe or buy products. One of the most common reasons why blogs are slow is because of the pictures. I use Canva to create the pictures I put on this blog, and all pictures are set at 300 by 300 pixels. If you take a picture from Google sized at 2,000 by 2,000 pixels, and you resize it to 300 by 300 pixels, that picture will still load as if it were 2,000 by 2,000 pixels. Here are some more tips to make your blog load faster.

In Conclusion

There are dozens of areas in blogging that you can go after. However, simplicity is the best option. These seven areas are the ones you should go after if you want to establish an authority on the web and make a strong income at the same time. You need to have the authority and products to make the income, and you need to have the income to financially support your authority. Many of these seven areas complement each other nicely. Think of these three equations:

Traffic = Subscribers = Sales

Valuable Content = Subscribers = Sales

Valuable Content = Social Shares = Traffic = Subscribers = Sales

Pageviews Per Visitor and Load Speed can easily be plugged into those equations and different ones as well. These seven areas of blogging, when working together, will produce a large audience of people who appreciate your content, visit your blog countless times, subscribe, and buy your products.

What are your thoughts on these seven areas of blogging? Do you have any other suggestions? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

How To Boost Your Blog’s SEO [Infographic]

March 4, 2015 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

To many bloggers, SEO seems like a giant puzzle with half of the pieces missing. I remember struggling to understand SEO as a new blogger. I thought writing valuable content was all you needed to do for effective SEO. However, there are various components that go into effective SEO. These are factors that go into SEO:

Backlinks (don’t buy them. Only get the good ones help)
Meta tags
Picture optimization
Blog speed

The infographic below mentions those five methods of boosting SEO along with some other ones. Not only does the infographic mention these methods, but it also explains how you can strengthen those areas.

How To Boost Blog SEO

What are your thoughts on SEO and the infographic? Should I do more of these infographics? Do you have any additional tips to boost SEO? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

How To Avoid Inconsistent Blogging

March 2, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Blogging Inconsistently Ends Now

Blogging is more than a way to make money on the web. It is a commitment to publish your blog posts at a consistent, frequent rate so your readers know when to come back for new content. However, numerous bloggers fall off track with this concept. Different events come up, blog post ideas are more difficult to come across, blog posts are forgotten about, and at the end of the day, many bloggers do not write their blog posts.

Some bloggers have not written a blog post for several years primarily because they can’t keep up with the consistency. These bloggers may be good writers, but they write blog posts inconsistently which means their audience gradually shrinks because they see inactivity. Sometimes the audience grows, but at other times, a blog may get no visitors. Remember that people need a reason to be on your blog. Valuable blog posts and the promise that other blog posts will be added in the predictable future will encourage readers to come back.

I write three blog posts every week. Part of that is so I can write more in-depth blog posts, and part of that is how much time it saves. Even though I write longer blog posts, I save time because I have to think of fewer blog posts ideas. That allows me to focus more of my time on what I do best: write blog posts and create products. On the days I do not write blog posts, there are over 1,000 blog posts that new readers have the ability to browse through.

The concept of blogging every day is a concept that I believe the new blogger needs to adopt. This concept builds the commitment needed to be a blogger. If a new blogger decides to start slow and blog once a week, there is a greater risk of falling into inconsistency. If the blogger forgets to write one of the weekly blog posts, then that’s two weeks of not writing a blog post. Then, writing blog posts will be more challenging (you have to write every day to get really good at writing blog posts. If you do something every day, you’re better at it) because you are not writing them frequently. Two weeks may turn into one month, and at that point, consistency becomes a think of the past.

When I started writing blog posts, I was inconsistent. My first blog was about the Boston Red Sox, and I took blogging as more of a hobby than a passion. I wrote a blog post whenever I felt like it. I would write one blog post every day for a week and then write the next blog post a month later. Writing that blog taught me that although I am a passionate Red Sox fan, I was not a writer who could passionately write about the Red Sox for a long period of time.

When I chose a blog topic that I was passionate about, it was easier for me to write one blog post every day. After many twists and turns, I finally started this blog about digital marketing, one of my top passions. If you want to consistently write one blog post every day, you must choose to write about that things you have a strong passion for.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1zGzi3m”]You must write about a topic you are passionate about if you want to be a consistent blogger.[/tweetthis]

When you choose to write about the things you have a strong passion for, other habits will be easier to adopt. When I started to write digital marketing related blog posts, it was easier for me to become responsible for my blog. I realized that no one else would update my blog other than myself. Therefore, I felt the full weight of that responsibility. I still feel the full weight of that responsibility, but that weight has now, with practice, become easier to lift. In fact, it doesn’t really feel like a weight. I’m on cruise control.

One of the main reasons that weight was easier to lift was because I realized I did not have to consistently write content every day in order for the content to consistently appear on my blog. In other words, I could write five blog posts in one day, schedule those blog posts, not write another blog post for the next three days, and blog posts would still get published on my blog at a consistent rate.

Some inconsistent bloggers fall into the pattern of publishing five blog posts every day and then not publishing another blog post for a few days or weeks. You can write multiple blog posts in one day, but schedule them so your blog’s consistency stays intact. If you were to publish five blog posts in one day, most of your visitors would not read all of those blog posts at once.

When you schedule your blog posts, think of it this way: the more blog posts you schedule, the more committed you are to maintaining the consistency. The blogger with blog posts scheduled for the entire month has more content on the line than the person who scheduled blog posts for two days. The more blog posts you write, and as the word count and value on your blog accumulates, you will practically become inseparable from your blog.

If you have a month’s worth of content scheduled in advance, you will feel a strong responsibility to keep that streak going. Baseball hitters like to extend their hitting streaks for as long as possible. The people who have a reputation for being successful want to maintain that reputation and grow in the process.

Having a month’s worth of content already scheduled does not put you too far ahead. It is okay to have that much content scheduled at one time. The most successful corporations have marketing strategies planned years in advance, so having your blog posts scheduled a few months in advance won’t create a big problem (unless one of your scheduled blog posts is about a news story that may get outdated. Scheduled evergreen content is the best).

In Conclusion

One of the most important factors towards a blog’s success is consistency. If you are consistently publishing your blog posts on certain days of the week at a certain time, your returning visitors will know exactly when to return to your blog to read new content. Blogging consistency all comes down to how much commitment you have towards your blog’s topic and writing about that topic.

What are your thoughts about blogging consistency? How often do you write blog posts? Please share your thoughts about blogging frequency below.