Marc's Blog

Is Guest Blogging Still Worth It?

June 24, 2014 by Marc Guberti 3 Comments

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging used to be the ideal way to grow your presence and enhance your SEO at the same time. However, guest blogging started to become a spammy practice, and that was all it took for Google to pull the plug on guest blogging. Guest blogging is no longer a valuable way to get backlinks and increase your blog’s SEO. Since Google dramatically diminished the power of guest blogging, many people started to write less guest posts or stopped writing them all together. There are also some people on the cusp of making a decision, those who continue to stick with guest blogging, and others who have not written a single guest post.

The question that surrounds these people’s minds is whether guest blogging is still worth it. Even though Google pulled the plug on guest blogging, guest blogs like Business2Community and Social Media Today continue to get updated. My answer for this question is that guest blogging is still worth it. If you are trying to build links, then guest blogging will not work out for you, but if you want to build your presence on the web, then guest blogging is very effective.

There are numerous reasons to write guest posts that I highlighted in these posts. One of those reasons was for SEO. Just because one reason is eliminated does not mean the other reasons are obsolete. Writing guest posts on popular blogs still has a powerful effect. With guest blogging, you can still do the following:

Grow your following. These people will eventually visit your blog.
Get more people to know about you. Guest blogging allows you to put your content in front of a larger audience.
Get more people to know about your blog. Although SEO will no longer be a factor, people who look at your bio will still be able to see your blog’s link.
Become a better writer. If you want to become a very good writer, then there’s no such thing as writing too much.

Guest blogging is still worth it. Although search engines do not factor in guest blogging, writing guest posts still serves its main job–getting you more traffic and exposure. What are your thoughts about guest blogging? Do you think it is obsolete, or do you think there is still a good use for it? Please share your thoughts below.

3 Ways To Promote Your Blog On Twitter

June 23, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

In order to get more traffic for your blog, you need to be omnipresent on all social networks. Twitter is one of the social networks you have to be present on, but in order to get a lot of blog traffic from Twitter, you need to know how to promote your blog on Twitter. You may be wondering why the list for this blog post is so short. Most of my blog posts have at least five methods on the list while others go over 50. The reason why this list is so short is because building your audience is the main way to get more traffic. These are just three ways to promote your blog so that the audience you have is more likely to view your blog posts.

Add a link to your blog in your bio. Please do not forget to do this. Many people forget to update their bio for several months, and within those several months, a lot of things can change. You may have switched blogs and decided to focus on a new niche. There is no reason to promote your old blog that will never get updated again. Promoting the new blog in your bio is now the priority.
Tweet about your blog post at least 80% of the time. Many people do not realize that their audiences do not care about how much you promote your blog. Some people are quick to point out that you should share other people’s content and not just their own. If you tweet how-to articles, your audience does not care about the author. They only care about learning more information. If you write quality content, your audience will not mind reading blog post after blog post on your blog. In fact, they’ll want you to tweet your blog posts more often.
Tweet more often throughout the day. Doubling the amount of tweets you send out every day will result in a dramatic increase in traffic. If you schedule tweets throughout the day, you will be able to get visitors from all parts of the world at any time. Tweeting every hour eliminates the problem of time zones, and tweeting even more frequently will make people in your audience more likely to see one of your tweets.

By promoting your blog on Twitter and growing your audience, you will eventually be able to get hundreds of daily visitors to your blog from Twitter alone.

7 Things You Can Do To Make Your Blog Better Right Now

June 23, 2014 by Marc Guberti 6 Comments

blog traffic Becoming a successful blogger has become an Odyssey. Although it by no means takes 10 years, has anything to do with mythical creatures, or involves kings, becoming a successful blogger is not an easy task to fulfill. Many blogs are too simple while others are too complex. Instead of making their blogs better, some people just stuff more pictures and widgets on their blog without thinking about which widgets belong and which ones need to go. There are many components that go into a great blog, but there are 7 things that you really need to do right now in order to make your blog better in a few minutes.

Get the right plugins. Not every plugin on WordPress is created equal. Having more plugins on your blog does not necessarily make a blog better. In fact, having too many plugins can slow your blog down to the point where it gets annoying to wait for it to load. These are the plugins that I use for this blog that you should use too.
Make your blog faster. The amount of time it takes for your blog to load is an important factor that decides how long people stay on your blog. If your blog loads really fast, then your content will automatically look better. However, if it takes a long time for your blog to load, the content on your blog will look a little worse, and some people won’t even bother waiting for your blog to load. Making your blog faster is also very important towards SEO.
Have a picture of you on your blog’s sidebar. Having a picture of yourself will allow people to remember who you are. When people remember a name, they don’t think of the spelling. Instead, they think of what the person looks like. When you think of Jimmy Fallon, your mind does not conjure up his name. Your mind conjures up what Jimmy Fallon looks like (as well his funny shows).
Use social media buttons at your blog’s sidebar that keep visitors on your blog. The good news about social media buttons is that they allow you to get more followers. The bad news is that when people click on your social media buttons, they leave your blog. In order for your blog to be successful, you need to have social media buttons that allow you to get more followers but do not force your visitors to leave your blog in order to follow you.
Have a really good About Me Page on your blog. When people think about you, they may think of your story. When people think of Steve Jobs, they think of Apple. However, some people also think of his story of getting adopted, fired from the company he built, getting hired by the company that fired him, and then regaining his position as the CEO. You need to have an About Me Page that shares your story, mentions what you have accomplished, what you do during your off-time, and anything else that you would like to include as well.
Include pictures in your blog posts. We are in a visual generation where people need to see things in pictures. Having a picture in all of your blog posts will grab the visitor’s attention and keep that visitor on your blog for a longer period of time. If that particular visitor reads through your blog post, he/she will be very likely to share your blog post as well.
Ask for feedback at the end of all of your blog posts. Most people will not do something for you unless you ask them to. That is why the unexpected favor is something that we truly appreciate. However, you can’t expect to get too many unexpected favors. In order to get an expected favor, you need to ask for feedback at the end of all of your blog posts. This will encourage your visitors to leave comments below your posts and build the conversation. Getting more comments is very important towards your blog’s growth.

By implementing these tactics, you will be able to make your blog better than it was just a few minutes ago. These seven tips do not take a lot of time to implement, but you will notice the difference by implementing these tips. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional tips on making a blog better? Share your thoughts and advice below.

10 Ways To Get More People To Talk To You On Twitter

June 22, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Twitter Power Users are able to get their followers to engage with their tweets. By getting their followers to engage with their tweets, these Power Users are able to get more traffic, sales, subscribers, and credibility in their niche. While increasing engagement by having more conversations with people on Twitter is important, a majority of Twitter users do not know how to have conversations with their followers. These people struggle to find people to talk to instead of becoming someone who people would want to talk to. There is a way to get people to talk to you on Twitter without searching these people out. Here are 10 ways to do that:

Have a bio that gives people a reason to talk to you. Your bio is a big factor that decides whether people will want to talk to you or not. Your bio allows everyone to know who you are, what you do, and what your hobbies are.
Tweet good stuff. People will comment on those tweets, and when they do that, you will be able to swoop in and respond to that tweet. The better your tweets are, the more people will respond.
Ask questions. Asking questions encourages engagement because the only way to answer the question is by sending you a tweet. Then, you can go to your notifications and read all of the answers you got and respond to each one.
Tweet at the moment. When you ask questions, it is important to tweet in the moment. Tweeting in the moment allows you to respond faster which allows conversations with your followers to become longer.
Schedule tweets. Scheduling tweets will allow all of your followers to see your content throughout the day. Your followers need to be able to see your content whether they log on at 7 am or 7 pm. You can use HootSuite Pro to schedule numerous tweets in 6 clicks.
Tweet pictures. Tweets with pictures get 10% more engagement than tweets without pictures. If you include the right picture in your tweets, you can get 10 times as many retweets for the tweet with the picture that you would have gotten from a tweet without the picture.
Talk to the people who mention you. When people mention you on Twitter, you have a chance to build on the conversation. If someone shares your blog post, you can simply reply by thanking that person for sharing your blog post. Then, a conversation develops. Having a lot of conversations will show your followers that you talk to a lot of people, and if they start a conversation with you, then those followers know that you will be very likely to continue the conversation.
Establish yourself as an expert. When you establish yourself as an expert, people will ask you questions about your niche. If you are able to give people the answers they are looking for, these people will be more likely to buy your products and tell others about you.
Host a giveaway every quarter. If you announce a $50 Amazon Gift Card giveaway, all of your followers will suddenly become your best friends. Although most of these people are in it for the giveaway, some of the connections you build because of the giveaway will become very strong. The larger your audience on Twitter, the more powerful the giveaway will be.
Grow a targeted following. A targeted following is the most important factor that decides how many people talk to you on Twitter. If your audience has no interest in what you are tweeting about, then the work you put in does not matter to them. If your audience is a targeted audience, then all of the work you do matters to your audience.

By getting more people to talk to you on Twitter, you will have more conversations. Starting a conversation is the starting point towards a strong connection. What are your thoughts on this list? Do you have any additional tips on getting people to talk to you on Twitter? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

17 Ways To Grow Your Pinterest Audience

June 22, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

There have been many blog posts about Pinterest that go into detail about why you need to be on Pinterest and how Pinterest totally kicks butt in the social media world. However, there are many people who do not know how to successfully optimize Pinterest into a platform that increases sales, traffic, and subscribers. In order to increase your traffic, you need to build an audience around your content. In addition, the audience you build needs to be a targeted one. If your audience has no interest in the things you pin about, then it won’t work. In order to grow your audience on Pinterest, follow these 17 tips.

Follow people who are likely to follow back. The better the ratio of followers to following is, the more likely that person is to follow you back. Don’t follow the people with 100,000 followers who are only following 100 people. Instead, follow the people with 500 followers who are following 500 people.
Pin more content. As you pin more content, you will be able to create an audience that can decide for themselves whether you are the right fit for them or not. If you pin content based on your targeted following, then your followers will stick around, and some of them will repin your pins.
Have a variety of boards. As you create more boards, your targeted audience grows. You can have multiple targeted audiences since you are able to pin about multiple interests.
Have a lot of pins. More people will follow you on Pinterest if they see that your account is active. Most of the people with over 100,000 followers have 5,000 pins, and some of those people also have over 10,000 pins. Quality and quantity are king.
Pin content worth sharing. The more you spread across Pinterest, the more followers you are going to get. Pinning content worth sharing is a very simple way to grow your following.
Verify your website in your bio. Verifying your website in your bio makes you look more authentic. In addition, when people preview your account, they see the giant checkmark. It’s not as effective as Twitter’s blue checkmark, but having the checkmark will be effective enough to get more followers.
Write an attractive bio. The bio is one of the first things most people look at before they click the follow button. In order to write an attractive bio, follow these tips.
Create group boards. Group boards allow more people to know about you on Pinterest because those group boards get featured on other people’s accounts. Having group boards is a great way to systematize Pinterest by having other people update them for you. If you do not have group boards, then you need to create some now.
Comment on other people’s pins. Commenting on other people’s pins allows you to engage with other people. These people will be likely to follow you back so you leave more comments on their pins.
Repin and like other people’s pins. The more you repin and like someone’s pins, the more inclined that person will feel to return the favor by following you. Repinning and liking other people’s pins will also allow you to share more quality content with your followers.
Use hashtags. Hashtags are the SEO for Pinterest, and using hashtags will increase the amount of likes and repins your pin gets at the same time.
Pin infographics. People love infographics, and if you choose a really good infographic, you have a better chance of going viral. One of the infographics I tweeted out to 60,000 followers at the time got over 100 retweets and favorites.
Pin videos. Videos get more engagement because they provide value or humor with the click of a button without leaving Pinterest. The better the videos are, the more likely people will share your pin. All you need to do to find good videos in your niche is by looking around on YouTube. They’ll come up.
Add a Pinterest follow button to your blog. My Pinterest follow button is strategically placed at the sidebar of my blog where it gets a lot of attention. Some of the people who visit my blog also follow me on Pinterest. The great thing about that is if someone follows me after visiting my blog, that person liked my content enough to click the button and then proceed to follow me. That’s a high quality follower.
Run contests. The easiest way to get more followers is to run a contest. Offering a $25 Amazon Gift Card to one of your random followers is an easy and reliable way to run a contest. Your pin will also have a really good chance of going viral on Pinterest. Then, you’ll gain hundreds of extra followers in one day.
Schedule your pins. Once you get followers, it is important to keep them all happy. Once your boards and audience are large enough, you should not share too many pins at the same time. Scheduling your pins will show all of your followers that you are active on Pinterest (people who log in 1 hour after you posted your pins don’t know if you are active or not). In addition, scheduling your pins will prevent you from clogging up someone else’s feed (which often results in unfollows).
Promote your Pinterest pins on your other social networks. Use the audiences that you have already build in order to grow your audience on Pinterest. Many people forget to tap into their existing audiences, but nevertheless, it is a great way to get more followers on Pinterest.

By growing your audience on Pinterest, your content will spread faster on Pinterest and reach more people. Growing your audience will lead to more engagement which will result in your audience growing even larger. By implementing these 17 tips, you will be able to see your Pinterest audience dramatically grow. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional tips? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

3 Ways To Promote Your Blog On Facebook

June 21, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Facebook is the biggest social network around with billions of users, and people in the United States spend a combined total of 114 billion minutes every month on Facebook. Despite the size and popularity of this social network, many people do not know how to promote their blogs on Facebook. Promoting your blog on Facebook will allow you to get more traffic and stronger connections. Promoting your blog on Facebook is important, and these are three ways that you can get started.

Share it on your personal account’s newsfeed. The easiest way to get more traffic on Facebook is telling your friends about your blog. Implementing this strategy generally results in a steady flow of traffic that increases over time as more search engines pay attention.
Create a Facebook Page. Creating a Facebook Page and building a presence for that page will take longer than your personal account. However, you will be able to build more connections and get more visitors with a successful Facebook Page than you would be able to get with a personal account. It’s always good to have both.
Post at the right time. As you get more people to visit your Facebook Page, you will get access to better analytics. Facebook provides all of its analytics for free, but when your page has over 100 likes, then it is easier to see when a majority of your fans are on Facebook. Post your content when most people are going to see it.

By getting more people to see your content on Facebook, you will be able to build a strong presence on a social network that grabs people’s attention throughout the day and has a format that encourages people to overshare content. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional tips for promoting a blog on Facebook? Please share your thoughts and advice below.