Marc's Blog

Content Writing and Marketing Services

How To Make Your Blog’s First Appearance Look Better

by 6 Comments

First appearance is really important. Looking presentable can be the difference between getting a sale with a client in person and losing a client. A blog’s first appearance is just as important. The first appearance will decide whether the visitor goes somewhere else or subscribes to your blog.

The first way to make your blog’s first appearance look better is by choosing the right theme. It is important to choose a theme that looks professional on your blog. However, a theme is not enough to make your blog’s first appearance look better.

Having a picture of yourself or your company’s logo on your blog is essential. You will get more credibility when you put the picture on your blog (preferably the sidebar) because people will have an idea of what you look like. When people have an idea of what you look like, they are more likely to subscribe to your blog. All of the blogs with hundreds of thousands of subscribers either have a picture of the blogger or the company’s logo.

Another way to make your blog’s first appearance look better is by having a lot of pages on your blog. Have an About Me page, a Top Blog Posts page, a More Resources page, and anything else you can think of. Don’t show too many pages because your menu on the top of your blog will take up too much space. 5-10 pages will be good enough. If you want more pages, but you can’t fit them on the menu without it looking bad, take those pages off of the menu and provide links to those pages under a More Resources page.

When people like your blog’s appearance and content, they will want to follow you on social networks. Offer visitors the option to follow people with social media icons on the sidebar of your blog. I recommend using the Acx Social Media Widget in order to get all of those social media icons on your blog.

The first appearance has always been important, and it will always be important. Give your blog a spiffy appearance that makes visitors want to come back, subscribe to your blog, and share all of your posts.

 

4 Ways To Tweet More Effectively

by 2 Comments

Twitter is the only social network that limits its users to 140 characters. Making good use of those characters is what results in more followers. Being limited to 140 characters can sometimes be a pain, especially when your tweet has 145 characters. These methods will allow you to tweet effectively and never worry about that 140 character limit.

  1. Make sure your tweets are short and to the point. Do not use wordiness in your tweets. Just say it how it is. If you are tweeting about an article you found online, tweet the title of the article with a link; nothing more, and nothing less.
  2. Tweet with Bitly links. People don’t like seeing tweets with big links. Using Bitly to shorten the URL will make the link shorter. TinyUrl is another option, but TinyUrls aren’t really tiny. They still take up a lot of characters. Bitly links are shorter, you get statistics for all of your links, and all of your links are stored under your account.
  3. Avoid big words. Most of the time, those big words lead to wordiness. If a word can be replaced with a smaller word that everyone knows the meaning of, you should make the change. People on Twitter want everything summarized like headlines on a newspaper. If you tweet as if you were writing headlines for a newspaper, you will get more attention.
  4. Tweet about one main thing over 80% of the time. If you jump around and don’t give yourself a niche, people won’t be able to identify who you are. People want to be able to identify you for something, and although a bio is good, tweets that support the bio are just as important.

Implementing The Resources

by Leave a Comment

People want all of the resources they can possibly get. The people who want to do videos want the white board, the perfect lighting, and so on. The people who use Twitter want to know about all of the tools that can enhance growth and tips as well. However, once you get those resources, implementing them proves to be a challenge worth taking.

This is where a lot of people stop. Most people don’t use what they have after they gather all of the resources. The best way to implement is by implementing little at a time. If you were given 100 tips, and you tried to implement them all in one day, it wouldn’t work.

If you implemented 10 tips every week, you would eventually implement all 100 tips. Then, you can choose for yourself which of those 100 tips are the best ones to implement. Do everything in bite sizes; don’t try to swallow the entire turkey in one gulp.

 

5 Ways To Get Out Of Writer’s Block

by Leave a Comment

Writer’s block comes around and gets everyone. Authors temporarily lose the desire to write, blog posts don’t get written, and tweets don’t get posted. Writer’s block is a problem that everyone faces, but there are ways to fix writer’s block.

  1. Get outside. The nice fresh air is going to make all of the difference. When you’re outside, don’t bring your pen, paper, or computer with you. If you go outside and continue to write, the problem is not going to be solved.
  2. Get exercise. Exercise is very motivating, and that motivation can turn into your next blog post. If you run outside, you will be able to see a lot of things in your neighborhood that you might normally miss. Anything that you can see can turn into your next blog post.
  3. You are going to have to write your way out of writer’s block. After you get the exercise in or that fresh air, it’s time to write again. If you keep on putting it off, writer’s block will last longer.
  4. Play word games. One of the words you come up with can inspire a new blog post that you can’t wait to type. If you can play with your friends, that’s even better.
  5. Read blogs and books. By reading, you will discover new ideas and turn those ideas into blog posts or a book. When I read a book, I write and schedule 5 or more blog posts on that day instead of the usual 2-3 blog posts every day.

How do you get out of writer’s block? When it comes to getting out of writer’s block, we all need all of the help we can get. Share your insight below.

 

Consejos For Writing Stronger Headlines

by 3 Comments

I’m sure the word consejos was the first one you saw. Consejos is a Spanish word which means tips. Strong headlines control whether or not visitors decide to read your content. I could have called this blog post, “Tips For Writing Stronger Headlines,” but that headline wouldn’t have been a strong one.

The first tip for writing stronger headlines is to write a headline that causes intrigue. You can’t wait for someone to read your entire blog post before they feel intrigued. Visitors need to be intrigued to read a blog post before they actually start to read it. I’m not telling you to mix every language you can think of into one title.

If you decide to use words from a language that you don’t normally use on your blog, tell your visitors what those words mean right away. When your visitors find out what those words mean, they should be inclined to read on.

The second tip for writing stronger headlines is to write a headline that tells the visitor to take action or use the word action. People are always looking for ways to take action, and if your blog post’s headline tells people to take action, they will read your blog post to learn how to take action.

The third tip for writing stronger headlines is to write headlines that answer your visitor’s questions. The only way you will be able to answer your visitor’s questions is by identifying why people visit your blog. Do people visit your blog for social media advice, sports tips, or something else? Find out why people visit your blog, and identify some of the questions they have that you might be able to answer.

The fourth tip for writing stronger headlines is to add the word mistakes to the headline. A good example would be, “Mistakes Made By Beginners.” Beginners will look at your blog post for your insight so they don’t make those mistakes.

The fifth tip for writing stronger headlines is to write headlines that make perfect sense and perfectly lead to the content. An example of this is my blog post 11 Ways To Get More Followers On Pinterest. This headline allows the visitor to know what the blog post is going to be about.

How did you like the tips? Did I leave out any? Share with us your insight.

5 Ways To Spice Up Your Business Plan

by Leave a Comment

Business plans are becoming more common. Entrepreneurs write a list of goals that they want to accomplish for their business. This plan will allow the entrepreneur’s business to move to the next level. However, not all entrepreneurs are creating a business plan that is made to work. Here are 5 ways to spice up that business plan:

  1. Your business plan shouldn’t push you out of your comfort zone. It should shove you out of your comfort zone. By working out of your comfort zone, you will force yourself to be more productive. As a result, you will accomplish more of your goals.
  2. Your business plan needs to give you a sense of urgency. The most effective way to do this is by writing deadlines. You should give yourself early deadlines so you don’t start working on the goal weeks from now.
  3. Your business plan needs to have a big impact on your business. If your business plan just consists of making a few tweaks to your business, that business plan is not as effective as it could be.
  4. Choose goals that support each other. Getting better SEO for your blog will also lead to more blog traffic. Those two goals support each other. This is not essential towards your business plan, but it does help.
  5. What are the phases of each of your goals? The phases are like the stairs of a staircase. You need the stairs in order to get from the first floor of the house to the second floor.