I bet you do!

As you may know, it is commonly said that content is key. But, did you know that the amount of content posted in your website and the level of search traffic driven to it is absolutely related?

 

This means that new and useful content in your website on a regular basis can help you increase traffic. In other words, content freshness increases the relevancy of your site for the eyes of the search engines like Google. For instance, a blog could be a great option for you!

 

So, what are you waiting for? It´s time to feed the spiders of search engines with fresh and quality content.

 

How does Google deliver the best search results?

 

Search engines like unique and quality content and its results are based on content relevancy and freshness. But, spiders are permanently checking our sites looking for information to keep update Google’s database with fresh information by the minute.  Spiders visit more frequently, those sites with fresher content, site that renew their content periodically.

 

Therefore, the more often you refresh the information in your site, the more often spiders will be fed by it!

 

Remember to write well-written and fresh content that focus on your primary keyword or keyword phrase.

But, it’s not that easy. You need traffic, traffic, and much more traffic! Only then, you can turn your blog into a source of income.

How to make money from your blog? Some stuff you can implement to earn some money are:

Use Google Adsense

The most common way to include advertising that matters, in your blog would be to place ads spaces on it. You will get a commission for each visitor who clicks on any of the ads from ads spaces. Additionally, you can also offer ad spaces on your blog for a monthly fee. So, if your blog receives more and more visitors, you can raise this fee.

Request Donations

If you are supporting a social, political, environmental or health cause, you could ask donations. Don’t be timid! All you have to do is include a PayPal link in your blog. Create a group of loyal followers who may later provide you with support through donations.

Be paid for blogging

This is quite easy. If you have a basic blog, you can submit each blogs you own to multiple others and get paid for blogging websites such as Blogitive, Blogsvertise, Review Me, Sponsored Reviews, PayperPost, or LoudLaunch and start writing posts having them as sponsors. PayperPost has the larges quantity of offers available, all paid.

Sell Merchandising

If you are creative, you can design some products with your logo or slogan and sell them. Those who visit your blog can purchase any kind of product that shows your brand. You will be paid a percentage for everything that is sold sold.

Affiliate Sales

In this situation, you get paid for enabling a connection between those who visit your site and other people’s websites that make product sales. You are allowed a percentage of each sale for providing the customer as a commission. For instance, Amazon.com has a great affiliate’s program where you can put books and products on sale, always keeping in mind what your readers might be interested in.

Every penny counts! You could try several of these at a time and get a better grip on how blogs work or you can choose to clean start on whichever strategy appeals to you most. Even though making money from your blog is not your main reason for blogging, you may consider some of these new opportunities for your pocket.

This possibility of having the world in our hands calls millions of users to the web all the time. All we have to do is catch their attention with an effective social media strategy.

• Be present. Have an attractive blog with useful information for your costumers. Update it constantly, divide it by sections, have a news supplier with everything it has to do with your business. Have diverse social networks accounts (like Facebook or MySpace), and never let them rust. Be aware and participate on micro-blogging applications like Twitter, where you can make quick advertisements about you and learn about others.

• Be promoter. Make your audience comment and participate. That’s what social media is about. Create discussion boards; give your customers the opportunity to express themselves.

• Be creative. According to your brand concept organize original expression forums with video, photo and audiovisual material sharing. Surprise your users anytime!

• Be thorough. Tag everything; you never know what about your firm and philosophy can call someone’s attention. Use social bookmarking!

• Be innovative. Look for the new possibilities of advertisement that social media offers and use the best ones for your brand concept. Choose something your competitors haven’t even imagined. Mix digital potential with brand awareness.

• Be fun. Remember users are just a click away. You can lose them as easy as you got them if you’re not interesting enough. Get to know your costumers’ likings and combine them with information about your firm to make your strategy attractive to your target. Remember social media is primarily about friends and community; align your business plan with your people and your social media ideas. (Collings, 2009)

But the most important thing about an effective social media strategy is to really want to do it and dare! If you don’t know how or where to start, we are the experts. Call us today at 1-800-932-2580 and we’ll be pleased to make your strategy a hit!

Sources:

• OREILLY, T. (2007, First Quarter). What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. Communications & Strategies, No. 1, p. 17.
• COLLINGS, O. (2009, March 6). All that Twitters… B&T Magazine, 59(2686), 8-8. Retrieved June 18, 2009, from Business Source Premier database.

Blogs may become essential if you are trying to gain online popularity and visibility. A good quality blog can help you increase your sales and achieve success.  According to a worldwide Technorati’s research, 60% of bloggers said that they were better known in their industry due to their blog. Moreover, 25% of them had used their blog as a resume or sent it to potential employees.

So, if blogs are now having a deep impact in your industry and in your professional career, you must pay attention on how you write every post and how you build your online brand.

How to write an effective Blog Post?

• Write an interesting headline that invites the reader in. Few users will read your post unless you immediately attract them. How to do it? Offer them something: a benefit or a reward! Arouse their curiosity!

• Provide a detailed and concrete description that illustrates your promise. Focus on your promise and clearly demonstrate how to do it! An effective post is concise and brief. Go to the point and you will increase your number of followers.

• Be persuasive! Lay out an argument that makes the readers agree with you. Your goal is that the readers feel sympathy with your promise and further argument.

In order to be persuasive you should focus on the detail information, the evidence, the way you narrate your post, the emotion and a logical structure.

• Your blog/post must be believable and consistent! If you just make promises but you don’t build your credibility, then your post won’t be effective at all. Building credibility implies that readers have access to an ‘About Page’ with your background information. Make sure you let them know that you work professionally. Take the time to build an accurate and complete background that will help you gain trust from the audience.

Show what you got! Hope you have learned something that you can improve. Make your post effective now!

Sources:

Bloggers and (Personal) Brand-Building

Nine Signs of an Effective Blog Post

But, how difficult is to discover what your readers really want, huh!? How can you offer something that is unique and relevant, yet different from the rest? Your readers are expecting that each post will offer useful information that provides them with value. So, your accomplishment in creating an enduring audience has to do with giving power to them and knowing and giving them what they expect. They will definitely recognize quality in the information you provide.

To help you, here there are some simple methods to put into practice and know more about your readers’ perspective of your blog:

- Investigate how your Search Engine visitors typically end up on your blog and keep an eye on what search terms they make use of. For example, you can use Feedburner’s Stats. Then, it essential that you offer content that exploit your knowledge to become these visitors into your readers.

- Discover what users search on your blog and track it. Knowing what they look up in your search box, you can include articles on those topics. A great tool that you can use for WordPress is the SearchMeter plugin.

- You can also monitor post view, comments and trackbacks. Then, analyze why you think they are more popular and try to find common factors between them. Learn from users, and observe the way they add you value through their perspective.

- Discover where in your posts is the main attractive by trying Heat maps. For instance you can use Google Analytics or websites like Crazy Egg.

We know how important is to understand your readers. Our Los Angeles web design team can help you generate optimized content that meets users’ preferences and expectations. If you need help, call us at 1-800-932-2580.

Source:

How to Optimize Your Content by Managing Reader Expectations

Why? Thanks to social media is much easier to promote your start-up with a low budget for advertising.

Do you think that social media is important for your business? What you can do to be more visible, but you don’t have time for this?

There are a lot of aspects of social media. If you want to become social and get exposure, you can blog, post a video on YouTube, have a podcast or just start connecting with your peers on LinkedIn. Doing so, you can:

• Connect with people, build a dialogue and new business opportunities
• look for investors and attract them
• promote your business and increase your sales
• Build brand awareness
• Increase loyalty and trust with your stakeholders
• Create inbound links to raise your search engine ranking
• Build a transparent online personality that reflects who you are
• You can even find:
  • interest-focused groups
  • potential collaborators
  • valuable employees
  • more customers and clients

In addition, when companies utilize social media during the construction process of their Web sites, they are likely to find it easier to engage visitors.

One more idea. Start-ups are using not only video and blogs, but also Twitter and Facebook. When using social networking sites or micro-blogging, try connecting with quality audiences. Do not only connect with Facebook and Tweeter users that have a lot of friends or followers, respectively.

Then, don’t forget to listen to your customers and respond quickly to them. Social media has a lot of opportunities that you can’t get anywhere else.

Sources

Social media will change your business

Social Media for Business: The Dos & Don’ts of Sharing

Is social media important for Startups?

Too Busy for Social Media Marketing?

There are several things you must have in mind regarding how to effectively work on online content:

• Think yourself as a publisher. Skipping long periods of time will make you loose attractiveness and credibility. Readers probably won’t take you seriously and they will eventually stop visiting your Web site due to the fact that there’s nothing left to see!

• Google loves fresh news and content. But, it will detect when you are trying to manipulate listings. Don’t forget that Google spends millions of dollars trying to detect search engine manipulations. As long as you write for your audience the Web will reward your efforts.

• Spread your voice! There are dozens of channels by which you can your message out: social networks, email campaigns, YouTube, press releases, your Marketing/PR firm, etc. Generate buzz!

• Use short and concise titles. It should clearly indicate what it is available next, and be interesting to invite readers.

• Use bullets. Web sites have to employ scannable text. You must highlight keywords, use sub-headings and bulleted lists. Online visitors don’t read Web site content word by word. They instantly scan and identify what they need. Simplify things for them!

Your Web site is your face and your presentation letter. People easily get bored and always want innovation, dynamics and news. Taking the time to generate new and creative online content will help you achieve success! What are you waiting for?

Sources:

Content is King of Social Marketing

Is content really king when it comes to SEO?

How Users Read on the Web

In this sense, when you want to get the news… the first thing you do now is to check the stories your friends and people that you choose to follow via Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks.  You also comment or build communities for some specific topics or issues. Cool!

You certainly want people that give you fresh news on the topics you are interested in; and these people are probably your friends. In addition, you can also get news from people that you don’t know in social news sites such as ReddIt or Digg or even social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us (if you don’t care about time frame). As the stories, articles, and videos or pictures start getting popular when people vote them, you just read or watch what really is relevant.

Yes, then… you may check Google News or Yahoo! or maybe you would rather read RSS feeds or some online newspapers like the New York Times or the USA Today. Or, you still buy the newspapers or watch the news on TV. But, the truth is that you don’t act passively anymore.

The point we are trying to make here is that news are becoming more social… and customers out there are proactively getting news from people like them. They react and share news in real time as never before. If you get the attention of them, you have more possibilities to generate some buzz. So, what are you waiting for?

What are people saying about your industry? Your company? Your interests? You? Then, start to work to be noticeable with your own friends and followers. Don’t talk about all the time about you…. Share information that it’s valuable for your audience. That’s the way to start.

Sources:

The Future of News Will Be Social

50 Social News Websites: A List of General and Niche Social Media Communities

Social Bookmarking and Social News sites… Same Difference?