Marc's Blog

7 Ways To Get More People To Share Your Blog Posts

April 18, 2014 by Marc Guberti 7 Comments

The reason why most blogs do not take off is because they do not get shared on social networks often. Getting your blog shared on social networks is the best way to get more traffic to your blog. My blog’s traffic rises in direct relation to the number of tweets I send out in a given day and when I gain more targeted followers. In order to get your blog posts shared more often, follow these 7 tips:

Include social sharing buttons either at the top or bottom of all of your blog posts. By including social sharing buttons, you are giving your readers an easier way to share your blog posts. Your readers will be less inclined to share a blog post if that involves copying the link, going to the social network, pasting the link, and writing some text. Make it as easy as possible for people to share your blog posts.
Grow targeted followings on one or multiple social networks. Targeted followings are critical to the growth of your blog. Targeted followers are more likely to reshare your posts and engage with you in a conversation.
Write a strong title. Many times, people share a blog post based on the title. Few people who share blog posts take the time to read the entire blog posts. Most people just skim through parts of a blog post.
Write quality content. Although most people skim through blog posts, it is still important to write quality content. If someone reads through enough of your blog post to determine that it is a quality blog post, that person will share the blog post. If someone comes back and share two more blog posts because of quality content, that person will be sharing your blog posts on a daily basis since they know you provide quality content. By writing quality content, you will be creating blog posts that are worth sharing.
Write blog posts consistently and frequently. If you write one blog post every day, your blog posts are more likely to get shared on social networks. In addition, you should post all of your blog posts at the same time of the day. If everyone knows when you publish your blog posts, they will all visit your blog at that time to read the new content.
Share your blog posts on your own social networks. Having the targeted followers will not be as valuable if you do not share your blog posts via your social networks. If you want other people to share your blog posts, you will have to share them as well. This will enforce the importance of writing content on your blog that you would be proud to share.
Boost the SEO. If your blog is SEO equipped, your blog will get targeted visitors. When your blog gets targeted visitors, those visitors will be more likely to share your blog posts than non-targeted visitors. Boosting your SEO will allow you to get more visitors from Google who search phrases related to your blog’s content.

These are the seven ways to get more people to share your blog posts. By implementing these tactics consistently, people will share your blog posts at an exponential rate. What are your thoughts about the list, and do you have any additional tips you would like to recommend?

Is $0.99 The New Free?

April 18, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

I happened to stumble across a book on Amazon recently called Is $0.99 The New Free? by Steve Scott The title intrigued me, so I decided to do some searching. This book, and most of the other author’s books are priced at $0.99, and many of these books have over 100 reviews. His books are close to 50 pages, and I decided that I should be able to do something like that. On Kindle Direct Publishing, selling a book for $0.99 results in you getting a 35% commission per sale while selling a book for $2.99-$9.99 results in you getting a 70% commission per sale.

The next thing that came to mind is the highly successful App Store in which most of the successful paid apps are priced at $0.99. Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, and all of the other cool paid games are worth $0.99.

While working on Lead The Stampede, I have decided to give this a try. I am aware that this would result in a commission cut, but the volume of sales can easily make up for the commission. It is better to make 5 sales and make $10 than it is to make 1 sale and make $10. As more people get their hands on the $0.99 books, that will result in more reviews which will result in more customers as well.

Lead The Stampede will still be published in the summer, but I may be able to write another book before the start of summer. By the end of the year, I will most likely be selling a $0.99 eBook.

3 Lessons We Need To Learn From High School Sports

April 17, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

High school is definitely different from prior school experiences. There are more sports and clubs to choose from. The academics get more challenging and in many cases, there is a larger student body, a larger school, or both. Sports in particular can teach a lot of lessons. I am an athlete who has tried out for sports and now runs for my school’s track and cross country teams. I have learned many lessons along the way, but these are the three most powerful lessons I have learned.

There are cuts. Not every athlete makes the roster which is just like not everyone who sends in the job application gets hired. For entrepreneurs, there are countless options. For me in particular, there are thousands of Twitter tools to choose from. However, I only use a select few so I am able to save time and get the best results at the same time. I do not use JustUnfollow very much because I would have to pay in order to get the good features without limits. Instead, I use ManageFlitter and Tweepi for free which when combined can do better than JustUnfollow. Some people use JustUnfollow to put two Twitter tools together, but I prefer using the two Twitter tools that are free that can almost do the same as one paid Twitter tool. Not every option is the right one. There are a lot of reasons to go with JustUnfollow, ManageFlitter, and Tweepi, but there need to be cuts.
The most dedicated athletes make it the farthest. The strongest athlete on the team is not necessarily the best athlete. A dedicated athlete can put in twice the amount of practice and eventually become faster than the strongest athlete. However, if the strongest athlete has a lot of dedication, that tends to results in breaking records and being very effective on game day. Only the most dedicated entrepreneurs and bloggers will be able to go from getting no sales and no visitors to getting hundreds of thousands of visitors while having the luxury of living the 6 figures life.
The best athletes get the most attention. When it’s the best athlete’s turn to play, conversation stops. Everyone watches the best athlete in action simply because that athlete is the best. While all of the other athletes do the same thing, there are some athletes who do a better job than everyone else. If you want to get more attention for your business, do not focus on being the second best or running behind the best person. Focus on becoming the best person so people see your business and products as remarkable.

Those are the three lessons we should all learn (or now remember) from high school sports. Some sports are easier to make in than others, and the amount of attention the best athlete depends on the sport that athlete is playing. However, for all sports, these three lessons apply, and they are also lessons that can easily be applied to business and entrepreneurship.

4 Ways To Find More Sources

April 17, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Finding sources is an important way to get new content and build connections at the same time. While writing my book Lead The Stampede, I had the privilege of building strong connections with many people who I did not know about before. These sources provided content and stories related to my book, and I added those stories in my book. While the book is still scheduled to be published some time in the summer, I can share with you how I found sources for the book.

Yahoo! and Wiki Answers. These places are where experts gather to answer questions that other people have. Once you find the person who is an expert in your niche, contact that person asking if they would like to be in your book and ask them for more information (this is best done with 3-5 questions).
Help A Reporter Out (HARO). I cannot emphasize enough how important HARO is both for getting sources and being found. I use HARO every day to either read emails or send pitches. Most of my sources were as a result of HARO.
Search on Google. By searching phrases based on your niche, you will be able to find the most popular blogs on the web. Even the bloggers with “celebrity” status will be eager to be in your book or blog post. Every blogger, even the big ones, want more traffic. Getting mentioned in a blog post or book would be a great way to get a backlink and build credibility.
Look through your list of followers on your social networks. This will be harder for some people depending on the number of followers that you have. If you and another person are mutually following each other, that person is more likely to become a source for your story or blog post. In addition, if you are not following a person who you ask to become a source, be sure to follow that person immediately so they are more likely to become a source for your story or blog post.

These are the four ways to get more sources. Whether you are the news anchor for a national TV channel or new blogger, it is important to get sources so you can add different views and more tips for your readers.

20 Ways To Get More Subscribers On YouTube

April 16, 2014 by Marc Guberti 12 Comments

Subscribers are critical towards your success on YouTube. Subscribers are the ones who enjoy watching your content and get notified each time you come out with a new video. Getting YouTube subscribers is so important that I could not possibly make this a short list. I needed to create a giant list which is why for this blog post, I will share with you 20 ways to get more subscribers on YouTube.

Upload more videos. People will need to watch multiple videos on your channel before they decide to subscribe to your channel. I upload at least 3 videos each week to provide additional options to my subscribers. You want to start with at least 1 new video each week and build your way up. Just don’t upload too much because your viewers then won’t be able to keep up.
Include a channel trailer. In 1-2 minutes, tell people what kind of videos you upload on YouTube, and don’t be shy to share your credentials. In this channel trailer, encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel and hit the notifications bell. If someone is watching your channel trailer, it means they are not yet subscribed to your channel.
Tweet your videos. By tweeting your videos and getting some of your followers to look at a couple of your videos, you will get more subscribers. And don’t be afraid of tweeting the same video more than once. People forget, and you will continue to interact with people on Twitter who haven’t seen the video you released more than a year ago.
Pin your videos and scatter those pins across different boards. You can watch a YouTube video on Pinterest without leaving the social network. However, you want people to leave Pinterest so they can subscribe to your channel. In the description, mention that there are more videos on your channel which you can get to by clicking on a link in the description. You can also create an optimized picture for Pinterest and send people to the YouTube video if they click on the picture.
Have a YouTube subscribe button on your blog. By having a YouTube subscribe button on your blog, you will be able to get a new subscriber without forcing someone to leave your blog. It’s a win-win for everyone!
Have a “click here to subscribe” annotation on the corner of all of your videos. Have the annotation link to a subscription confirmation for your channel. All you need to do is paste the link in the box and from the drop down options, choose “subscribe.” By doing this, anyone who clicks on the annotation automatically gets subscribed to your channel. UPDATE: Annotations are a thing of the past. You can use add a watermark logo on the bottom right of your videos which encourages your audience to subscribe. It creates the same effect. For people who want to know, YouTube stopped annotations because they never worked with YouTube’s mobile app.
Urge people to subscribe to your channel, but don’t beg. Urging people in the proper way can be done by saying, “If you enjoyed this video, then make sure you subscribe and hit the notifications bell so you don’t miss a single video or live stream.” Begging is just saying, “Please, please, pretty please subscribe to my YouTube channel.”
Post your videos on Facebook. Some of your friends will end up subscribing to your YouTube channel. It is important to interact with the fan base that you have already built in order to get more subscribers for your channel. It’s a good practice to post a picture of the thumbnail and include the YouTube video’s link in a comment. Facebook prefers that you natively upload videos to their platform. This workaround helps you get exposure for your YouTube videos without getting reduced exposure from Facebook’s algorithm.
Consistently publish videos. If you post videos on a consistent basis, people will notice and subscribe to your channel. If you do a new live stream on a specific time and day each week, you’ll quickly build a strong community around your content.
Let people know when you publish your videos. I let everyone know that I publish my videos on Tuesdays and Saturdays with the live streams taking place every Thursday at 2 pm eastern. I use my channel artwork to clearly display when I’m publishing new content and what topics I focus on.
Share your videos on Google+. Having a Google+ account is very helpful towards getting more YouTube subscribers. Not only do you get an entire page dedicated to all of your YouTube videos, but Google+ is also a Google-owned product, just like YouTube. Using Google+ to promote your YouTube channel will allow you to put the trifecta into action! UPDATE: Google+ is gone so I’d recommend picking your favorite social network for this one. LinkedIn is a great and untapped social network for business owners.
Post videos on a frequent basis. When I decided to publish 1 YouTube video every week, I saw a dramatic increase in the number of subscribers I got for my channel. If you are publishing 1 YouTube video every week, you will give your subscribers more to watch, and they will be back for more. Publishing 1 YouTube video every year is still being consistent, but you need to combine consistency with frequency.
Properly tag your videos. Use phrases that you would want people to search for in order to find your videos. If your video is about getting more retweets, “how to get more repins on Pinterest” would not be a good tag to use. I recommend using tools like VidIQ and TubeBuddy to figure out the tags and keywords that give you the best chance at dominating the YouTube algorithm.
Write good titles for your videos. In your title, you need to tell people what your video is going to be about. The longer the title, the better, but make sure you include your keywords in that title.
Write descriptions correctly. Write a lengthy, readable description that is filled with keywords. You can create a description people would want to read that also has a bunch of keywords in it. It’s a different style of writing but one that doesn’t have a big learning curve. Also make sure you include important links in your description such as a link for people to subscribe to your channel and to a free offer that asks for an email address.
Create quality videos. This means creating a script, having the right lighting, and no unexpected sounds in the background.
Interact with the subscribers that you already have. The subscribers that you already have can tell their friends about you. By interacting with your subscribers, you will be getting more subscribers via word of mouth.
Have a strategic channel background. The channel background should be a picture of you at your profession or something that relates to your niche.
Subscribe to other people’s YouTube channels. Some of these people will subscribe back to your channel while others will interact with you. You can also look for YouTubers in your niche who you can collaborate with in the future.
Comment on other people’s videos. This will give you backlinks on YouTube which allows you to rank higher on YouTube’s search results. Some people who read your comment may decide to subscribe to your channel.

If you want to see these tips in action, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel where we cover self-publishing, podcasting, and YouTube growth.

And if you want to learn how I use YouTube to get more book sales and clients, use this link to schedule a free strategy call with me to see if we are a good fit.

Those are the 20 ways to get more subscribers on YouTube. It is a lengthy list compared to most of my other lists (this one’s from a few years ago. Lists have gotten much longer), but since getting subscribers is critical to success on YouTube, I felt the need to make this list longer than normal. What are your thoughts about the list, and are there any suggestions that you have?