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5 Ways To Tap Into The Power Of Social Media

February 20, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Social media presents a powerful way to do the following:

Grow an audience like never before
Spread your message like never before
Procrastinate like never before
Insult people like never before

I think that out of all of the opportunities we have been presented with to take charge, never has there been an opportunity with such beneficial and disastrous consequences wrapped into one. The key way to tap into the power of social media and get the first two results is by knowing what to do, and then implementing that knowledge. There is really no other way to around it. These are the five ways you can tap into the power of social media:

#1: Identify The Best Social Network For You

Not all social networks are created equal. Each social network has a different set of functions and rules for success. On YouTube, you need to create high-value YouTube videos while on Twitter, you need to provide valuable content and follow targeted users who are likely to follow back. For those two social networks, that’s success in a nutshell.

Many people create multiple social media accounts and split their time amongst those accounts. This is one of the most common but also one of the biggest mistakes people make. If you split up your time amongst different social media accounts and try to master them all at the same time, you would have to read countless articles and turn yourself into a workhorse (never mind the fact that at the end of the day, your social media accounts need to promote people to revenue generating websites such as an optimized blog and landing page). The solution is to choose one (yes, just one) social network and master it. Once you master one social network, you can move on to mastering another social network. If you have multiple social media accounts (I’m sure you do), then there is no reason to delete any of them. Just be inactive on them for a while and focus most of your time on one of them.

#2: Do Research

No matter how much you know about one social network, you can still learn more about that social network. To this day, I continue to learn more about Twitter, and my quest for learning more about Twitter won’t stop for a very long time (if it ever stops at all). In order to learn more about a social network, you need to do research on that social network. You need to learn what it takes to be successful on that social network (which alone has dozens of smaller components), how you can use social media to boost your productivity, and more. When I do research, I type in a phrase into Google such as, “How To Get More StumbleUpon Followers” (I am intrigued by StumbleUpon and want to learn more about it), and then I read a bunch of the articles that come up. I took this approach to obtain my knowledge about Twitter, and I continue with that approach to this day.

#3: Implement

The only research that adds up to any value is the research that you implement. Chances are ideas that rival Facebook and Google have already been thought of, but those ideas don’t get implemented, so the research and time put into those ideas do not matter. You may know what you do, but knowing and doing are two different things. Once you have the knowledge, you need to apply it. Find time in your day to experiment with new ideas, tinker with old ones, and track the results. Knowing which methods have the biggest impact on your social media audience will present you with the knowledge you need to move forward.

#4: Interact

One of the few rules that applies to every social network is that interacting with your audience is a great way to build connections and get more blog traffic in the process (assuming that you promote your blog on social media). The word social is in “social media” for a reason.

Not only does interacting with your followers make it possible for you to build more connections, but you can share valuable insights with each other. Some of the insights your followers share may inspire your future blog posts. Other followers may ask questions that you use in your information products. Social media allows you to interact with these followers so you can build connections, provide insights, and answer their questions. It’s a win-win for both of you (you get more ideas and your followers get their questions answered).

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/17Eb6mk”]Interacting with your social media followers is a win-win![/tweetthis]

#5: Keep At It

The best way to grow your social media audience is to keep at it and learn new techniques along the way (don’t forget to implement). It takes a long time for you to grow a large social media audience. It is important to note that when I reached 100,000 Twitter followers in 993 days, I was not consistently gaining 101 followers every day.

On the day I got my 100,000th Twitter, I mathematically gained an average of 101 followers every day, but on most of those days, I was getting anywhere from 0-5 Twitter followers. Then, I went on to gain 10-20 followers every day until I made my way to gaining over 500 Twitter followers every day. You get to reach the colossal milestones by sticking with the social network you choose (but only stick with a social network if you have a passion for it. Don’t choose to grow on a social network that you despise).

In Conclusion

It would be impossible to cover all of the knowledge you need to know in one blog post. These five methods provide the basic surface needed to take your social media achievement to the next level. Always strive to learn more about what you are trying to master as well as what you have already mastered. Knowledge is power.

Which of these tips was your favorite? Do you have another method for tapping into the power of social media? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

The 7 Step Process To Stay Calm Through The Chaos Of Being An Entrepreneur And Take Action

February 18, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Process To Stay Calm As An Entrepreneur

When you become an entrepreneur, you sign an oath, and one of the things on that oath is to accept that there will be chaos in the journey. The chaos people experience varies by the individual. Steve Jobs’ version of chaos was getting fired from Apple, and Richard Branson founded Virgin Vodka, which failed. Then are the bloggers who experience many problems throughout their journey such as the blog not displaying properly, an error page instead of a landing page, and plugins with a negative impact on the blog.

If you continue with the journey as an entrepreneur, you will have to go through chaotic times to reach the end goal. That is why the beauty of success is not in the success itself, but in the struggle. However, getting through the chaos is just as challenging as reaching success. The key to getting through the chaos is by staying calm. Here are seven ways to stay calm through the chaos of being an entrepreneur.

#1: Think About How The Chaos Struck

One of the main reasons chaos is despised is because chaos represents uncertainty. If there is a problem on your blog (maybe it suddenly decides to redirect to the homepage every five seconds. That happened to me once), the uncertainty is the cause of the problem. When chaos strikes, ask yourself what you did prior to the chaos that could have created the chaos in the first place. When something happens to my blog, I ask myself which plugin I activated recently.

For some people, it may be more difficult to pinpoint the root cause(s) of the chaos since some chaotic moments in an entrepreneur’s career are based on events that happened weeks, months, or even years ago. However, I encourage you to spend as much time trying to identify the root cause(s). Identifying those root cause(s) will bring back a sense of certainty into the chaos.

The more uncertain chaos is, the stronger it becomes. By bringing back certainty, not only do you weaken chaos, but you also get closer to approaching the solution. You can’t fix a problem without knowing what caused the problem in the first place. Other tips in this blog post will go into detail about how you can get out of the chaos, but before that, you need to have the right mindset. The second and third tips are designed to strengthen your confidence so you can attack chaos with the right attitude. Having an optimistic attitude is essential towards getting out of any type of chaos that you encounter.

#2: Think Of What You Have Already Done

Many times, entrepreneurs feel bogged down about where they are and desperate to get out of the chaos. It is at this point when entrepreneurs need to take a step out of the chaos and look at the good things they have accomplished. In It’s A Wonderful Life, George Bailey finds himself trapped in so much chaos that it affects the way he acts and thinks about himself. Then, George’s guardian angel fulfills his wish of never wanting to be born.

In the classic movie, George quickly realizes all of the things he has accomplished, and how the lives of people he knew fell apart since he was never born. He saved his brother’s life, the drug dealer from getting arrested, and he married his wife. Since George was never born, the drug dealer accidentally killed a customer, George’s brother died at a young age, George’s mom was a wreck, his wife was unmarried and worked at the library, and his kids were never born.

When Clarence gave George his life back, George embraced the chaos and gleefully said he was going to jail. Not everyone has a transformation like that, but thinking about what you have already done as an entrepreneur and a person can weaken the chaos and make it look less frightening.

#3: Think Of The Stepping Stones You Have Taken To Reach Your Destination

Part of looking back at you have already done is looking at what steps you have taken to get closer to your goals. Instead of looking at goals that seem so far away, look at the progress you have already made to get to where you are. This will ignite the motivation you need to continue making progress.

#4: Think About Where You Want To Be

After you weaken the chaos by thinking about what you have already done, think about where you want to be. When you think of where you want to be, have an optimistic attitude that you will reach this destination.

#5: Identify The Next Stepping Stones You Need To Take

Once you know where you want to head, identify the stepping stones that will allow you to reach your goal. Identifying the stepping stones allows you to see where you are heading instead of you trying to go all in with blindfolds. Stepping stones further establish that sense of certainty that is essential towards wiping out chaos.

#6: Take Those Stepping Stones

Once you identify the stepping stones, the only way to move forward is by taking those stepping stones. You have to put in the work to get the results you want to achieve.

#7: Repeat

Throughout your journey as an entrepreneur, chaos will come up multiple times. There is no magic bullet journey that avoids chaos, but there are entrepreneurial journeys that effectively cut through the chaos. You can constantly use these steps to get through any chaos you have in your business or life for that matter.

In Conclusion

Chaos thrives on uncertainty. The less we know about what we are dealing with, the easier it is for us to get overwhelmed and belittle all of our accomplishments in life. It is an unfortunate truth that people fall so far down into chaos that they become their own prey, and their own predator. People become predators when they think badly about themselves, and they become prey since they are being surrounded by self-induced negative thoughts.

Instead of being the predator of your own actions and the prey of your predator side, champion around yourself, your accomplishments, and where you want to go.

What are your thoughts on this seven step process? Do you have any additional tips for getting through the chaos? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

20 Ways To Amplify Your Social Media Reach

February 16, 2015 by Marc Guberti 6 Comments

Social media is one of the most powerful tools I have come across to grow a large audience and spread your message. In less than three years, I went from no audience to hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter alone.

Social media is an opportunity that people can no longer afford to take for granted. Social media is not a fad. It has redefined how we share information, interact, and grow our audiences. Amplifying our reach on social media has become more important than ever. In order to amplify your reach on social media, follow these 20 tips:

#1: Grow A Targeted Audience

A targeted audience consists of a group of people who are interested in the niche that you tweet about the most. My targeted audience consists of people who are interested in digital marketing advice. You can grow a targeted audience by finding influential people in your niche and following those people’s followers. When you do this, be sure to follow the people whose ratios indicate they are likely to follow you back.

#2: Follow People

It does not hurt to follow people, temporarily sacrifice your 1-to-1 ratio, or eventually follow hundreds of thousands of people. When you follow someone, you are sending an invitation for that person to connect with you. I know that sounds a lot like LinkedIn, but both Twitter and LinkedIn are social networks which means they have similarities. Following someone else, and then that person following you builds a connection between you and that other person. Imagine having hundreds of thousands of these types of connections. I would rather have 100,000 followers and follow 100,000 people than only have 1,000 followers and only follow one person. You can take this approach on nearly any social network, and I saw great success when applying this process to my Pinterest account.

#3: Post More Often

The entire concept of posting too often being bad is a myth mixed up with what some would call fury posting. Fury posting is when someone sends dozens of posts in about five minutes. Although this type of posting is annoying and ineffective, scheduling numerous posts throughout the day is not as annoying, and it can be very effective. I schedule one tweet every 15 minutes, and although I know that annoys a small handful of people (you can’t please them all), many of my followers like the added value of my tweeting once every 15 minutes.

#4: Post More Pictures

Including a picture in your posts is one of the easiest ways to boost engagement. Posts with pictures have been proven to get more engagement than posts without pictures…on every social network on the web. You can find a picture on Google or create one with Canva to match what you want to talk about. As long as you provide a picture that complements the post’s typed content, that post will be sure to get more engagement.

#5: Post Better, Stunning Pictures

We don’t want blurry pictures. We only want the cream of the crop. Since millions of pictures are posted every day across all of the major social networks, social media has a fair share of good and bad pictures. Therefore, a decent picture will no longer make the cut anymore. You must focus on including stunning pictures in your post. Take the time to look for the best picture available, and if you decide to create your own picture, make sure you take the time to see if any improvements can be made. Don’t just go for the first picture you see in Google’s search engine or the first picture idea you think of when you are on Canva.

#6: Post Valuable Content

Many visitors who visit a social media account for the first time never visit it again. In order to prevent that from being you, it is essential for you to constantly post valuable content on your social networks. The value of your content determines how many people revisit your social media accounts, and how far your content spreads.

When you share content on your social networks, be sure to only share valuable content. If you read an article that you thought was fascinating or valuable, feel free to share it with your followers. Those are the types of articles that encourage followers to stick around, revisit your social media accounts, and share your posts.

#7: Use Multiple Social Networks

Billions of people use social media, but not everyone uses the same social networks. Some people only use Facebook while other people use Twitter and Pinterest, but not Facebook. The combinations vary based on the individual, and few people spend an equal amount of time on all of their social networks.

Being active on multiple social networks will allow you to reach to a larger active audience. Many people who are active on one social network are inactive on other social networks. Being on all of the major social networks will allow you always interact with an active audience.

#8: Focus Most Of Your Time On One Social Network

Although it is important to use multiple social networks, most of your time needs to be focused on one social network. For me, that would be Twitter. It is so important to focus on one social network because of the learning curve. It is difficult to learn how to master 10 social networks at the same time. However, it is easier to learn how to master one social network at a time.

I like to compare social media mastery to mastering the romance languages. The romance languages have the same general structure, just like social networks. If you know how to be successful on Twitter, then you almost have all of the knowledge needed to be successful on Pinterest or a social network similar to Twitter.

As you become more successful on more social networks, it will be easier to become successful on other social networks. Let the sentence sink in, and read it again. It is better to take social media success one step at a time than trying to take 10 steps at once.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/14tgjvd”]It is better to take #SocialMedia success one step at a time than trying to take 10 steps at once.[/tweetthis]

#9: Share Other People’s Content

Did you know that it is statistically proven that people unfollow the ego maniacs? If you are constantly talking about yourself, promoting your own articles, and promoting your own products, then you need to take the time to share what other people have done. Your timeline does not have to be taken over by articles from other people’s blogs, but if you share someone else’s blog post here and there, your followers would greatly appreciate it, especially if the blog posts you share are valuable.

#10: Interact With Your Audience

Interacting with your audience is important towards growing that audience and building quality relationships. Regardless of your audience’s size, there will be people in that audience who will be grateful that you took the time to respond to one of their posts. One conversation has the potential to start a strong relationship.

Getting a conversation started is as easy as thanking someone for sharing one of your posts, saying hi, or jumping into a conversation (without coming out as brash).

#11: Add The Personal Touch

The personal touch is one of the most underrated ways to increase your reach on social media. As more people get impacted by your message and enjoy the value you provide, some of them will want to know what you do when you are not on social media. You don’t have to give every second of every detail of your life, but you can let people know things about you that are important.

If you watch baseball games every night, your followers may occasionally want to know that. If baseball is not your niche, you wouldn’t send daily posts about you watching baseball. For these types of activities, you should only talk about them 1-2 times per month. You can talk more freely about events in your life that you believe are important enough to get the spotlight on your social networks (in other words, don’t tell us what you ate for breakfast. Tired of seeing that breakfast example on so many blogs?).

The personal touch will allow people to know more about who you are. It is okay to branch out of your business to add the personal touch because your followers will feel more connected to you than ever.

#12: Do Research

Most of the knowledge I obtained about digital marketing came from hundreds of hours of research. I would look up popular, valuable, niche-related blogs and read through all of the articles on those blogs. To this day, I continue to read a variety of articles from fellow bloggers in my niche to learn more about expanding my social media reach. I also recommend subscribing to their blogs so you get notified every time they come out with new blog posts. That way, you will be able to stay up to date with the latest trends in your niche.

#13: Read Social Media Books

I wish I could say I read many social media books, but that is not the case quite yet. I have been making progress though. I started reading What The Plus!: Google+ For The Rest Of Us by Guy Kawasaki. I have read various books in the time management field even when I knew (thought I knew) how to effectively manage my time. I was productive, but reading a few bestsellers about productivity dramatically increased my ability to get more done faster. You can never know too much about social media, and as you gain more knowledge about social media and different social networks, you will have a better idea of what you need to do to grow your reach.

#14: Automate Your Content

When I send out one tweet every 15 minutes, you better believe I’m not up at 4 am eastern time sending out those tweets. However, while I am sleeping, other people are having their morning coffee, attending school, enjoying the afternoon, or having an evening dinner. All of those things happen in different places in the world while you sleep.

Therefore, people are reading my tweet at 4 am eastern because it’s a different time of day in Germany, England, Russia, China, Japan, and any other timezone out of the east coast. You don’t need to master geography to be successful on social media, but if you strive to grow an international audience, you need to be aware of the fact that our world is filled with many timezones.

#15: Tweet At The Moment

Automating your content allows you to consistently provide content to your followers over a long period of time without you being on a computer, mobile device, or tablet. In some cases, tweeting at the moment will prove to be an effective tactic towards growing your social reach, especially if you take advantage of current events.

Few businesses were prepared for the blackout in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome during Super Bowl 47. Oreo was prepared, and it was on this day that Oreo sent its famous tweet about still dunking in the dark. This tweet made marketers all over the world pay more attention to tweeting at the moment, and it is a tweet that has been discussed and analyzed in thousands of presentations all over the world. I have analyzed this one tweet in multiple blog posts and videos. It’s amazing what 140 characters can do.

#16: Turn Social Media Conversations Into Email Conversations

Social media conversations only last for a long period of time, and some conversations are forgotten about due to the countless distractions that social media throws at us. If you can turn some of your social media conversations into email conversations, then you will remove all of the distractions and character lengths that prevent a conversation from growing in size. Sure, there are distractions in the inbox, just like any social network. However, we have been hardwired to make sure we look at every email (for some of us, even the spammy emails) in our inbox. If we don’t look at every email in our inbox, then we’ll definitely click the “Mark All As Read” button.

Email conversations are the best conversations to have with your followers because email conversations tend to be the most sincere, and they typically last for a longer period of time than social media conversations.

#17: Promote Your Landing Pages On Social Media

Having a big email list allows you to connect all of the promotion of your social networks in one place. On this email list, you can promote your latest Pinterest boards, YouTube videos, Instagram photos, your Twitter account, and more. Landing pages are critical components towards growing your email list, and what better place to promote your landing page to the audiences you have already built on your social networks?

#18: Have A Good Avatar

The picture you choose for your avatar has a big impact on how many people follow you after taking a look at your account. If you are using a personal account, have a picture of you. That means no egg, cartoon character, or anything else. The best picture to have for your personal account’s avatar is a picture of you. If you manage or own a business account, the ideal avatar for getting more followers would be a picture of the business’ logo.

#19: Improve Your Bio On Your Social Networks

It is always worth checking your bio every once in a while because it could be outdated, or it may not highlight one of your most recent accomplishments. You should improve your bio to highlight your credentials and the hobbies that you do outside of your business.

When you don’t have many characters to play with, use commas to list credentials and hobbies one by one. Sentence fragments and not including a period at the end of the sentence are okay. If you have more characters available, use periods at the end of sentences (if you want to write in complete sentences, the social network you are using must allow you to use at least 300 characters). Make sure all of your bios on your social networks are similar or identical. When people transition from one social network to the next, they’ll recognize you by your avatar and bio description.

#20: Have A Stunning Background/Header Picture

Some social networks call it a background picture while others call it a header picture. Regardless of what it is called on the social network you use, the picture behind your avatar needs to reflect what you do and promote one of your products.

On my Twitter header, I promote my free eBook 27 Ways To Get More Retweets On Twitter and make my message stand out (Age Is Not A Limit To Success). Your background/header picture can’t just be a random picture from Google. It needs to be a picture that lets people know more about you or your business.

In Conclusion

Amplifying your social media reach is not as challenging as it seems, especially if you have the right knowledge in place. One of the most important tips I could ever give it to be patient on social media. There were times when I wanted to give up on Twitter because I was practically frozen at 1,667 followers for 1-3 months. I’m happy I stuck with it. If you stick with social media and learn new techniques (by reading books and conducting your own research) you will grow your social media reach and spread your message farther on the web.

Which of these tips was your favorite? Do you have any other tips for amplifying social media reach? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

The Seven Right Reasons To Become An Entrepreneur

February 13, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

The Right Reasons For You To Become An Entrepreneur

Successful entrepreneurship is one of the most desired lifestyles. When many people think of successful entrepreneurship, they think of the private jets, mansion of a house, and a booming business that brings in a ginormous amount of revenue. Although this is the ideal lifestyle to live, this lifestyle is hard to attain. It takes many years to reach that point, and there will be points in your journey when your entrepreneurial enthusiasm will be put to the test.

When individuals get put to the test, only the entrepreneurs who are committed for the right reasons are the ones who persevere, become successful, and maybe, just maybe get the private jet, mansion of a house, and a booming business. If you are an entrepreneur for any of these seven reasons (the more the better), then entrepreneurship is the right path for you to stick on.

#1: You Want To Solve A Problem

No matter how advanced our society is, it will still have its set of problems. Solving problems such as making an infinite amount of information available in one place (thanks Google) and making online videos easier and cooler to watch than ever before (thanks YouTube) is the blueprint to success.

Even if you solve smaller scale problems (providing people with new information that makes a process easier), you can still make a large income. Gary Keller’s book The ONE Thing did not solve a problem on the scale of Google or YouTube, but it still solved an important and common problem by empowering readers with the knowledge they need to become successful. If you can solve a problem and promote the solution so numerous people who need that solution are exposed to it, you sales will jump upwards.

#2: You Want To Serve Others

Life is not about serving yourself; it is about serving others. So is entrepreneurship. If you are so focused on serving yourself, you will forget to create an experience that also serves the customer. Amazon serves its customers by saving a trip to the store, and then another trip, and those trips to various stores add up. In addition, Amazon Prime Members get their orders delivered within two days. Amazon makes it easy to self-publish books and does a plethora of other things to serve its customers.

Jeff Bezos became a billionaire because of Amazon, and one of the primary reasons Amazon succeeded was because it focused on serving others. When Jeff Bezos had Amazon on his mind, he was thinking of serving his customers, not himself. Customers are not buying from Amazon because Jeff Bezos is a billionaire. When I buy something from Amazon, I’m not thinking, “Gotta do it for Jeff.” I’m thinking, “It beats driving to the store, there are so many options, and as an Amazon Prime member, I only have to wait two days to receive my order.” If a business serves the customer, then that customer will become a returning customer.

#3: You Want To Spread Your Message

You have a powerful message that you are proud of and want to share with the entire world. Spreading your message and going from no audience to being an authority in your niche is a challenging task. With that in mind, make sure the message you are spreading is a worthy one. It will take you many months and years to spread your message far and wide. Spreading your message may result in a full-time income, but the full-time income is simply a by-product. Spreading a worthy message, and getting people to believe in that message should be the two main goals. Money should not be driving your efforts.

#4: You Want To Change The World

If you want to change the world for the better with a product, service, or any other innovation, then entrepreneurship is the right path for you. If you want to change the world, then you need to think of a way to serve other people on a global scale. Amazon changed the world because it has served people from all around the world.

A business that serves people in a county, city, state/providence, or country only serves the people in those areas. To truly change the world, your business needs to impact anyone’s life, regardless of where that person is on the planet.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1DBXvsV”]To truly change the world your business needs to impact anyone’s life regardless of where that person is on the planet[/tweetthis]

#5: You Have A Passion

Having a passion for what you do is the secret sauce to entrepreneurial success. The “crazy people” in society, the ones who stick with their ideas when the situation looks grim but still end up on top, are fueled by their passions.

Steve Jobs’ life and legacy was fueled by his passion for technology, even when he got fired from Apple. Bill Gates’ life and legacy have also been fueled by his passion for technology. Even when Traf-O-Data failed, Bill Gates founded Microsoft and took it very far. You will encounter obstacles throughout your journey. The amount of passion you have for what you do will determine how high you can jump over those obstacles.

#6: You Want To Be A Pilot Instead Of A Passenger

You are tired of watching others become successful as you continue to stay where you are, and you realize that now is your time to take action. You want to put in the hard work associated with being an entrepreneur. It is easier to look out of the window as a passenger than it is to land the plane as a pilot. It is easier to watch television and procrastinate time away than it is to put in the work required to become a successful entrepreneur.

If you make the switch from passenger to pilot, then you are committing yourself to the work it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. Making this commitment for the sake of your dreams is the most important step entrepreneurs ever make.

#7: You Want To Live A Fulfilling Life

You want to live a life that you will be proud of when you summarize your life during your final days. This is not exactly a life defined by how much money in your bank account. A fulfilling life is one where you control the hours you work, you only work on what you love, you make a strong income (by-product), and most importantly, you get to spend more time with your family. Many marriages start going south when partners spend long amounts of time away from each other and fail to help each other. It is important to serve your customers, but some people are even more important than your best customers who will buy everything that you put into the marketplace.

Although entrepreneurship initially takes up more time in your day, you always work under your own schedule. You can take breaks and be with your family at any given moment. If something bad happened between you and family members, you will have newfound time to patch things up. When you become successful as an entrepreneur, you will make money in your sleep, and your business will grow even if you take a four week vacation.

In Conclusion

Entrepreneurship is a desired life path because of the chance of great fortune, full flexibility over your time, and the ability to do what you love to do. However, the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who continue for the right reasons.

I started my journey because I wanted to serve other people with valuable information. When I first started, that meant writing a blog about the Boston Red Sox. A few blogs later, I created this blog, and the purpose for this blog is to provide valuable content that serves others. Money was a by-product of the value I was already providing before I made any money at all.

Why did you become an entrepreneur? Why are you still an entrepreneur? Please share your entrepreneurial experiences below.

10 Ways To Come Up With More Blog Post Ideas

February 11, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

How To Come Up With More Blog Post Ideas

What is your least favorite experience as a blogger? Maybe that least favorite experience is staring at the computer screen, struggling to think of what you will write your next blog post about. When I was new to blogging, this was not only my least favorite experience, but it was also too common.

Knowing that you have to write more blog posts but not being able to come up with the ideas is a frustrating point in the writing process. The number of times this frustration occurs and lasts is dependent on the actions we take to reduce the number of times this frustration occurs and create a better response to it. Here are 10 methods you can use to come up with more blog post ideas and respond better to writer’s block, therefore reducing your frustrations as a blogger at the same time.

#1: Look At What Other Experts In Your Niche Wrote About On Their Blogs

The internet gave us the power to access any type of information we want at a lightning fast speed. The days of driving (or walking) to the library to gather more information have come to an end.

However, few people utilize the information on the web to come up with more blog post ideas. Many people use the web to surf YouTube videos, conduct research for the school essay, or browse through Facebook.

In my opinion, one of the most underrated ways of using the web is to come up with more blog post ideas. I read the blogs of various people in my niche. Doing so allows me to learn more information about my niche, and some of the methods I read about in their blog posts spark ideas for the blog posts that I write. I will never advocate plagiarism for as long as I live (and I have been plagiarized, so I know what it feels like), but if you combine some ideas from other blog posts with your knowledge and unique content, you will come across more blog post ideas while writing unique content.

#2: Take Two (Or More)!

As you write more blog posts, you will start to get an idea of which of your blog posts are the most successful. Sometimes, a blog post emerges as a winner out of pure luck while at other times, your most successful blog posts all relate to one specific topic.

Regardless of what your most successful blog posts are, that is, the ones that gets the most traffic, those blog posts can strategically be used to keep people on your blog for a longer period of time. You can write a Part Two for one of your blog post that is already popular. Since the original blog post is popular, the Part Two will also get more attention. Think along the lines of The Dark Knight. The first movie was spectacular, so people came back and watched the second movie. Then, people liked the second movie and decided to watch the third one. If there is a fourth movie, I am sure it would get a big crowd.

After you write your Part Two blog post, promote that blog post at the bottom of the original blog post. At the end of Part Two, mention Part One. If you create a Part Three, promote the earlier parts at the end of that blog post. Part Two promotes one and three while Part One promotes two and three. Visitors who want to read through all three parts of that series will have to click all three links and read the content. Therefore, the visitors who read that one series will stay on your blog for a longer period of time. A creative idea would be to create an entire blog based on a series of blog posts. Groove HQ does this very well.

#3: Change The Title Of A Past Blog Post

The idea for your next blog post could be in a blog post that you already wrote. When I am stumped and struggling to think of new blog post ideas, I look at all of my past blog posts’ titles. The first reason I look back at all of these titles is because looking back has its set of rewards. The second reason I look back at all of these blog posts is because I can simply replace 1-2 words in a blog post title, add a word, or subtract a word, and then I would come up with a completely new blog idea.

Let’s say you have a blog post called “10 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers.” There are plenty of variations that can be applied to this one title:

“25 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers”
“10 Tips To Get More Pinterest Followers”
“10 Ways To Get More Blog Subscribers”
“10 Ways To Lose Twitter Followers”

“10 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers” is one of my core building blocks for blog post ideas. I simply change the wording of the title in a way that would change the blog post’s topic, and then I start writing that blog post. As you create more core building blocks, it gets easier to build on top of them. Another core building block I have is, “10 Twitter Mistakes You Should Avoid.” I can replace, add, or remove words in order to come up with a completely new blog post idea.

#4: Use Topsy

Topsy allows you to see any tweet on Twitter, and the tool does a nice job at organizing those tweets based on categories. You can search a niche-based keyword in Topsy, and then a series of tweets containing that keyword will show up. Some of those tweets can inspire new blog post ideas. Some of the tweets you read on Topsy may even become core building blocks for blog post ideas. Twitter’s search engine also works fine, but it is easier with Topsy’s search engine to get very specific (video content, tweet with a link, tweet without a link, etc).

#5: Create A Twitter List Of Influential People In Your Niche

Although Topsy is more specific than Twitter’s search engine, Twitter has a special, unique feature that still makes it a very valuable resource for coming up with more blog post ideas. Twitter allows you to create a list of users that display as your custom feed.

Let’s say you decided to put 20 people on your Twitter list. The only tweets that would appear on the custom feed would be from those 20 people, regardless of how many people you are following. You can create a custom list that consists of the leaders of your niche. Then, you can scroll through their tweets. One of those tweets could provide the sparks for your next blog post idea.

#6: See What People Are Asking On Yahoo! Answers

Getting customers to ask you questions and turning those questions into blog post ideas is one of the smartest way to write blog posts. You get to answer your customers’ questions while putting content on your blog that answers the same questions other people may have (but these people were either too afraid to ask or couldn’t communicate with you). If you can take this path with surveys, and you get enough questions in the comment section, then focus on that path instead of Yahoo! Answers. Regardless of how popular you are, it wouldn’t hurt to have some surveys on your blog and encourage visitors to ask questions.

However, most bloggers do not get enough traffic to be getting dozens of questions every day from survey responses, comments, or any other method. Most bloggers only get a few questions every month at the very most. For the bloggers who do not get as many customer questions, there is still a reliable place to see what questions your customers may have.

Yahoo! Answers is that solution. You can search niche-related keywords on Yahoo! Answers to see what types of questions your potential customers and visitors are asking. Then, write blog posts that answer the questions you saw on Yahoo! Answers. You can also answer some of the questions directly on Yahoo! Answers and promote your blog. Yahoo! Answers is one of the most visited websites on the entire web, and it would be good to have a backlink to your blog there.

#7: Look Through The Comments Of Popular Niche-Related Blog Posts

Looking through the comments of popular, niche-related blog posts on the web and your blog may expose some of the questions that your customers have. You may know the answers to the questions people are asking in the comments section.

The first thing you should do is answer that person’s question in the comments section. It is okay to answer someone’s question on another person’s blog. Some bloggers will be okay with it (some may even thank you for taking the time to write the answer) while others may decide to not publish your answer and then come up with their own response (this does not happen as often, and it’s bad ethic). Regardless of whether the comment gets published or not, you are making an attempt to serve the person who commented on that blog post. Serving others is one of the core values of successful entrepreneurs.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1D41Qot”]Serving others is one of the core values of successful entrepreneurs.[/tweetthis]

The second thing you should do is write a blog post that answers the question. If one person had a question, chances are that other people have the same question. If you answer a question for one person and publish that answer in the form of a blog post, then you are answering the same question that people from around the world had (until they read your blog post and the answer to the question).

#8: Read Books

Reading books is a valuable way to come up with more blog post ideas and obtain more knowledge. Some of the books I have read have completely changed my business habits and the way I structure my time and goals. You may be so empowered by one of the books you read that you may come up with dozens of blog post ideas just from that one book. I know that multiple blog posts I have written are based on what I read in The 12 Week Year, The ONE Thing, and multiple books written by Seth Godin.

#9: Watch YouTube Videos

YouTube videos are another great source of knowledge. However, what you learn on YouTube depends on which YouTube videos you watch. The only way you are learning new things about your niche on YouTube is if you are watching niche-related videos. If you are a digital marketing expert watching YouTube videos about comedy or an upcoming video game (at some times…guilty as charged), then you are not learning anything new about your niche.

There comes a time and place to watch anything you want on YouTube, but that should not be a daily habit. My recommendation is to surf YouTube for as long as you want for just one day every month. If you use YouTube every day, chances are you will watch several re-runs of the same video. Your time is more valuable than that.

#10: Write Multiple Blog Post Ideas For One Topic

If you write blog posts about Twitter, then you can write multiple blog posts that revolve around that one topic. For this tip, let’s go back to the core building block, “10 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers.”

In one of the tips, you may encourage your visitors to have more conversations with their followers. Therefore, you can write a blog post called, “10 Ways To Have More Conversations With Your Twitter Followers.”

You can also gain more followers by getting more retweets. Therefore, you can write a blog post called, “10 Ways To Get More Retweets On Twitter.” One of the ways to get more retweets on Twitter is by tweeting pictures. Then, you can write a blog post called, “The 10 Elements Of Highly Retweeted Pictures.”

One of the tips you could mention in that article is that creating your own stunning pictures works well. People may not know how to create their own pictures in the first place, so you may want to write a blog post called, “10 Tools For Creating Free Pictures On The Web.”

Do you see how one blog post about getting more Twitter followers turned into four other ideas? I could have gone on with this example in an infinite loop, but that would take too long.

In Conclusion

One of the common reasons why bloggers get frustrated is simply because they can’t think of any ideas for the next blog post. When a blogger is able to write content, that blogger is in a type of paradise for that moment of time. The moment writer’s block steps in, it becomes nearly impossible to think of new ideas. As a result, that paradise is lost and replaced by frustration. By implementing these tips, you will know how to come up with more blog posts ideas so that frustration occurs less often.

Which tip was your favorite? Do you have another tip to make it easier for us to think of more blog post ideas? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

6 Tactics To Promote Your Landing Page

February 9, 2015 by Marc Guberti 12 Comments

Promote Landing Pages For More Subscribers

Did you know that a landing page is one of the most important pages on a blog for making a strong income? Landing pages collect email addresses, and when lined up with the right technology, free prizes and a sequence of emails can automatically be delivered to your subscribers’ inboxes.

Unfortunately, most landing pages do not get a large amount of traffic. Most landing pages get a small portion of the traffic that the blog attracts as a whole. Before I started to promote my landing page, it got a small percentage of my blog’s daily visitors. After implementing a few changes to my landing page, I was able to increase my landing page traffic by 600% in just one week.

The size of my audience aided with the big increase, but it is important to note that I got these results overnight. Regardless of how large your audience is, implementing these six tactics has the potential to lead to massive results in a relatively quick period of time.

#1: Pin Your Landing Page To The Top Of Your Twitter Account

Twitter now gives its users the option to pin one tweet on the top of their feeds. This pinned tweet always gets displayed as the first tweet even if you send out a new tweet. You could pin a tweet from 2011 to the top of your feed, and it would show before all of the tweets you posted this year.

In order to promote your landing page, you can pin a tweet to the top of your feed with a link to the landing page. That way, each time someone looks through your feed, the tweet with your landing page shows up at the top. You can use a hashtag, add a picture, and keep your tweet in the 70-100 character range to get more engagement for those tweets. Utilizing those three tidbits in your tweet has been statistically proven to increase the amount of retweets that a tweet gets.

#2: Use HelloBar

HelloBar is a cool WordPress plugin that allows you to display a scroll-down message at the top of your blog. Using HelloBar to promote my latest landing pages allows them to get more exposure because a scroll-down message is hard to ignore.

The great thing about HelloBar is that you can write a clear message that scrolls down without the message taking up too much space. I have seen some services similar to HelloBar, and these bars are ginormous. Some of the scroll-down bars bloggers use take up half of the screen. Large scroll-down messages are bad because they don’t encourage visitors to stick around. Instead, visitors who see a giant bar will feel more inclined to click the back button than read any of the content (let alone click on the link in the scroll-down message).

You want to make your message short and sweet so it only takes up one line. If your HelloBar takes up two or more lines, it will practically cover a quarter of the screen. Remember that if your HelloBar eats up a good chunk of your computer’s screen, then it probably covers the entire screen of an iPhone (people won’t be able to read the content on your blog).

The landing page I promote on HelloBar gets dozens of daily visitors just from that scroll-down message. Many of these visitors end up subscribing to my blog. I know this because at one time, I was only using HelloBar to promote my first landing page with the free eBook 27 Ways To Get More Retweets On Twitter. At the time, I was averaging 20 daily visitors to the landing page (all of them came from HelloBar), and I got 4-8 subscribers every day. Depending on the day, that’s a 20%—40% conversion rate once people click on the HelloBar button and get led to my landing page. Considering most landing pages get 2.5% of their visitors to convert, utilizing HelloBar is a great way to get more traffic and increase your landing page’s conversion rate.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1K85AHD”]HelloBar is a great way to get more traffic and increase your landing page’s conversion rate.[/tweetthis]

#3: Use A Picture On The SideBar That Leads To Your Landing Page

The sidebar of your blog is a great place to display a subscription button, the archives, pictures of products, pictures of you, and other things as well. However, your sidebar is also a great place to promote your landing page. If you know your landing page has a high conversion rate, you should be focused on getting people to visit that landing page instead of seeing a subscription box with a low conversion rate that says something like, “Enter your email address.” Promote the stuff that works before everything else.

I promote my landing page on my blog’s sidebar with the picture of my free eBook 27 Ways To Get More Retweets On Twitter. When people click on the picture of my book, they are immediately brought over to my landing page that has a higher conversion rate than my blog’s subscription box.

#4: Promote Your Landing Page At The End Of Every Blog Post

Most of the people who read blog posts to the end stuck with the blog post because it provided value. At this point, your visitor probably appreciates the value you provided in your blog posts. Some of these visitors may feel inclined to subscribe to your blog, but they need calls-to-action. At the end of your blog posts, promote a landing page related to that particular blog post. This landing page can promote a free eBook of a continuation of the blog post, a lengthy guide about a different aspect of the topic you discussed in that blog post, a short video about that topic, or something else.

Many visitors who appreciate the value of your content, read to the end, and then see the call-to-action will click on the link, go to the landing page, and then enter their information. You can also have a form at the bottom of every blog post asking for an email address to get people to subscribe without going to your landing page (just be sure to talk about the free prize the visitor will get after subscribing to your blog).

#5: Post Your Landing Page On Your Social Networks Every Day

No matter how big or small your social media audience is, that audience consists of a group of people who reads your content. If you repeatedly promote your landing page every day, your social media audience will eventually notice and click on the link to your landing page.

If you decide to promote your landing page every day, you should be sending at least 10 different posts every day about articles and topics other than your landing page. You want to promote your landing page, but you don’t want your feed to simply consist of post after post with you constantly telling your audience to subscribe to your blog. If you occasionally tell your social media audience to subscribe while providing valuable content, the people in your social media audience will be more likely to visit your landing page and join your email list.

#6: Include It In Your Email Signature

The email signature in my opinion is one of the most underrated ways to market yourself. Email conversations tend to be the longest interactions we have with people on the web. The longer these interactions build, the more likely someone will be to join your email list.

However, the only way to get someone to join your email list is with a call-to-action. Few people go into a long conversation thinking, “When I have time available, I just have to subscribe to that person’s blog.” That is why the call-to-action comes in handy. At speaking events, bloggers encourage the attendees to subscribe to their blogs. At the bottom of your email signature, you can encourage people to visit your landing page and subscribe to your blog. When you promote your landing page in your email signature, be sure to use P.S. because that is the second most read part of an email. A P.S. is like a second headline.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1K85AHD”]The P.S. part of an email is the second most read part of the entire email.[/tweetthis]

In Conclusion

Your landing page is one of the most important pages on your blog, but in order for it to get numerous conversions, that landing page needs to attract visitors. Just like any blog post, YouTube video, or any other piece of content on the web, a landing page cannot survive on its own. Landing pages need to be promoted on your blog, social network, and other areas just like any blog post on your blog. If you do not have a landing page, I highly recommend making one now. In case you were wondering, I use Optimize Press to create my landing pages.

Which tactic for promoting landing pages did you like the most? Do you use any other tactics to promote your landing pages? Please share your thoughts and advice below.