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How to Work With Virtual Staff to Build a Better Blog

June 3, 2010 By 14 Comments

The following article is a guest post from Chris C. Ducker from VirtualBusinessLifestyle.com on outsourcing. Chris actually owns an outsourcing company based in the Philippines Live2Sell.

For the blogger that wants to start taking their blogging a little bit more seriously, and perhaps even turn it into a full-time business opportunity for themselves, you have to look at the ins and outs of blogging and the requirements on your time as a would-be entrepreneur. As you all no doubt understand from working through all the great posts here on Robb’s fantastic site already, there is more to blogging in a professional way than just writing good content – although that is ‘up there’ with the best of them!

I’m going to leave experts such as Robb to give you the ins and outs of professional blogging because I am personally not even a professional blogger myself. However, what I do know is outsourcing and working with virtual staff. And as someone who has been involved in the outsourcing business for 10 years, and has trained literally thousands of outsourced and virtual staff members within that period of time, I have come to know their strengths and weaknesses better than anybody else that I know of.

So my intention with this post is to break down the individual components of being a professional blogger in relation to working with a virtual assistant or a team of virtual staff. The five main areas are researching, writing, posting, managing and then marketing. We’ll break these down one by one and I will show you exactly how you can utilize working with virtual staff in relation to each of these tasks to be able to produce a more professional and admired blog, and one that gets moving, fast!

Preliminary Content and Contact Research

When you sit down to think about writing your next blog post, a lot of things go through your head. Have I written about this before? Has someone else written about this before? What angle should I take? Do I know enough about the topic that I’m writing on? The fact of the matter is that you will have to research every blog post you write in some way, shape or form.

You can work with a virtual assistant to produce online research for you on a number of different topics. In fact, I’ve worked with VAs to research everything from individuals (I even had my assistant do some research into Robb before he actually ended up designing my blog!!!) to businesses, to processes, systems, suppliers—the list is endless. Whilst using a VA for research, you should put together a very clear task understanding as to what you require from them. Make everything as concise and as clear as possible. For example, if you’re researching the history of donuts, you don’t necessarily need to know every single flavored donut that’s ever been created, but you need to know exactly the origin of donuts, who is responsible for the first ever donut made, and then perhaps some of the major players in the market place now in regards to manufacturing and distributing donuts around the world. So try to be as concise as possible, but don’t clip your VAs wings too much when it comes to the research side of things because this creates the bulk of the article itself.

Writing Articles For Your Blog

A lot has been written online in regards to outsourcing blog writing. As a blogger myself I find it almost impossible to imagine the idea of somebody else writing my posts for me. However, through working with my assistant, having her research several blog posts that I’ve written before in the past ( just as with the donut example above) a lot of what is researched and presented to you, can actually be used in some way in the actual post itself. So although the idea of outsourcing the writing of your blog post is a fantastic one, I don’t think it’s one that you should think about across the board.

If you intend to do a lot of article marketing and blogging on sites that aren’t particularly affiliated with you, or have your name on them, then yes, by all means this is where a good quality copywriter virtual staff member can definitely help you out.

Posting To Your Blog

I use WordPress as my blogging platform as do many, many other bloggers out there. When it comes to actually posting your blog post, there’s more to it than just copying and pasting some text from your word processor software. You have to create hyperlinks, there’s a certain amount of design that comes into it in terms of using subtitles and placing images in the right area, using correct captions and so on.

It will usually take me around 30-45 minutes to get a post ready to be published in WordPress if I do the work myself. Now, 45 minutes is a big chunk of my day, time which could be spent doing something more profitable for me as an entrepreneur. So I absolutely believe that you can use a virtual staff member to post the content for your blog instead of having to do it yourself. I would suggest however, that you don’t just let them immediately start publishing articles on your most important blog, but instead maybe let them try playing around with ideas and concepts of their own (by having them create their own blog -I’ve done this and works GREAT!) and then guide them on the way you like things done, before going ‘live’ on your own blog.

Managing Your Blog

Managing your blog is another very time consuming task. And this includes everything that I’ve mentioned already and more! One of the most time consuming parts of the management period of most professional bloggers is moderating the comments and pingbacks created by their readers and followers. For example, your virtual assistant can filter out all spam that arrives as your blog becomes more and more popular. And this one task alone will free up a lot more time for you to spend replying to the more legitimate and engaging comments that you’ll receive.

Give very clear instructions to your virtual assistant managing the comments and pingbacks side of your blog as to what goes through and what doesn’t go through. And then simply put one hour a day—if that’s what’s required, sometimes it might even be less—to be able to quietly reply and comment to your comments directly, when the time is right for you.

Marketing and Promotion of Your Blog

Marketing your blog is right up there… Along with Promoting it. It’s probably the second most important part of working on a blog, in terms of being a professional blogger, than anything else. And there are many ways to be able to utilize a virtual assistant to help you perform the tasks, some of which are incredibly time consuming. We’ll break it down and just look at a few.

Firstly, social networking and bookmarking. Going to sites such as Digg, Stumbleupon, Buzz etc, etc. this is extremely time consuming. Tweeting out your latest links on Twitter, sharing your links on Facebook and other link-sharing and networking websites are also extremely tiresome. Your virtual staff can do all this stuff for you.

You can also use the exact same assistants to go through your entire back catalog of blog posts and start linking them internally from one post to another. You can get them to start putting together ideas for newsletters—this is a great way to be able to promote your blog and build your blogging subscriber numbers. These are all things that a VA can do for you online without any ‘voice’ required in any way. If you’re uncomfortable with them writing and liaising with other bloggers directly, for example, then simply write some template emails for them to be able to send on your behalf and then they can let you know once people start getting back to them.

And as we know, SEO is not only about the way that the site is optimized itself on-site as well as off-site, but it also includes everything from pay per click management to article submissions to link building, and so on – particularly if you are already monetizing your blog with your own products, for example. All of these tasks are extremely mundane; all of these tasks are, for the more creative person, extremely boring. And they can easily be outsourced to a virtual assistant who has absolutely no problems at all working on these 8-9 hours a day, from the comfort of their home to be able to market your blog and get your name and your message out there to the masses.

The Bottom Line

Bottom line, writing great content is the bulk of what you should be working on personally yourself in relation to your blog. So, if you’re thinking about becoming a professional blogger in whatever industry or niche that you’ve picked, seriously consider working with virtual staff to be able to grow your blog as well as focus on the message of the blog itself.

There’s nothing worse than clicking and landing on a new blog for the first time and seeing a mixed message. Having good quality support around you will enable you to focus on what you really wanted your blog to be from day one. Plus, as things evolve you’ll be able to retain that focus to be able to make sure that the blog itself becomes its own entity and drives its own readership—meaning that you can continue to focus on writing great content, producing fantastic podcasts and shooting awesome videos for your audience.

Chris C. Ducker is CEO of a 200+ employee Outsourcing company based in the Philippines and an entrepreneur at heart. He has appeared in several International publications, including Entrepreneur Magazine, the Outsourcing Periodical and was recently featured on the cover of Globalization Today. Chris is an advocate of entrepreneurial mobility and  author of the FREE eBook “Saving the Day, the Virtual Way”, which is available for download at his blog VirtualBusinessLifestyle.com.

Follow Chris on Twitter to stay up-to-date with his projects and activities.

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How To Become The Ultimate Online Resource

May 25, 2010 By 12 Comments

As a blogger, you want several things that all tend to equal success across niches. You want people to land on your site, you want them to engage with your article and then you want them to perform some sort of action. This action can be diving into more articles, signing up for your rss feed and newsletter or telling their friends about your site to begin the viral spreading process.

It is our job as blog owners to make this process as easy as possible for new readers and build that authority from day one. One of the easiest, most effective and worthwhile ways to accomplish this feat is to become the ultimate online resource for your nice. So how do we do that?

How To Become The Ultimate Online Resource In Your Niche

Becoming the ultimate online resource in your niche is actually a pretty simple process. It just takes a little bit of planning and a tiny bit if predicting your readers actions. So…let’s take a dive into your readers mind so you can actively convert them into long time readers and subscribers…

What Do Your Readers Want?

You have several types of readers that are going to land on your pages.

  1. 100% newbies
  2. Intermediate Level Hobbyist
  3. Experienced Pros (and some that think they are and aren’t!)

Now, you might be targeting one or all of these groups on your blog, so it is important to know ahead of time who you are actively searching. For the purposes of this article, we are going to assume that you want to convert the 100% newbies tot he Intermediate Hobbyists on your blog.

Special Note from Robb: Typically, the experienced pros and especially the ones that think they are pros do not convert into dollars as easily. Your best business building technique will be solving the problems of the 1 and 2 groups with quality info.

Now that you know what readers you are targeting, what are the questions that they need answered? When you are trying to become the ultimate online resource with your blog, you need to answer the questions that 70% of your target reader base needs solved. This insures you are getting the best investment vs. reward potential you can.

So…if you are blogging about car racing and you are targeting beginning and intermediate racers looking to get better, what do you need to do?

1st…Plan Your Blog Posts In Advance

Now it is time to answer those questions in tutorial styled blog posts. If you are targeting auto racers, you want to answer the questions you see most often. These questions can be found on online forums (you know…those questions where everyone goes, “really?! We have answered this 10 times this month…use the search function!”), books that sell well on Amazon and other retail outlets, other blogs, etc.

Once you have found the questions that need answers, write them down in a list and plan out your posts. For example…

  • How can I lose less time in the turns? (May 2nd)
  • How do I setup my suspension to get more grip? (May 10th)
  • What is the best seat for 24 hour races? (May 15th)
  • How to use RPM’s to gauge speed in the pits? (May 20th)

I don’t race cars…so my questions may be really off…but you get the idea. You know your niche and your audience, so write down the questions and get the blog posts in your queue. When the time comes, write an in-depth, informative article on the subject and get it published.

2nd…Create The Resource

Now…one of the biggest problems bloggers face is getting those new and existing readers to find this great content on your blog. You have created the content that solves the problems of your readers, but they can’t seem to dive deep enough to find it! This is where you create the resource!

I typically do this by making a page in WordPress. You can call the page “Beginners Corner”, “How To Become A Better Race Car Driver” or “Whatever You Want To Call It That Attracts Attention”. On this page, you are going to write a beginning paragraph that explains what your reader is about to digest.

Simplistic Example:

One of the hardest things for new race car drivers looking to get faster is nailing down the technique necessary to really shave off time. The following list is a resource of articles that will help you shave off that valuable track time to get on the podium.

Then…list the articles that you have written that solve that question for your reader. Seems really simple doesn’t it?! That is because it is and most bloggers fail to even attempt to put something like this together…which means…you can capitalize on it.

3rd…Promote The Resource

You have created this resource, now it is time to promote it. The best way to do this on your blog is to create a graphic for the sidebar or bottom of the post that entices your readers to click on the image and land on the page. Again, you are styling it with the page name that grabs attention and makes them want to click.

You can also Tweet your new page, share it on your Facebook fan page and include a link to it on the bottom of your RSS feed or newsletter. Now…you are up and running with an online resource that solves the needs of your readers.

Next…rinse and repeat with more categories within your niche.

What Have You Done With This Resource?

Let’s state the obvious first.

  1. You have answered the questions of your readers.
  2. You have saved valuable blog content by getting it in front of the eyes of your readers.
  3. You expanded your content offerings on your blog.

What are the side effects of creating these online resources on your blog?

  1. You have cemented your blog as an authority by featuring authority content.
  2. You will convert higher on both free and paid resources due to highly trusted content.

With more blogs entering the market on a daily basis within your niche, it is up to you to become the ultimate online resource and cement your spot among the top 5 blogs in your niche. By doing simple things like creating these pages, you can increase your success rate from the very beginning. It all boils down to knowing the questions your readers are asking, presenting the answers to those questions and then making sure those answers are easily accessible by your readers. Seems like a very simple theory…but it is rarely acted on.

You can’t look at a blog like a list of articles in time anymore, you need to create an interactive site that engages your readers to be successful.

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What Is Your Blog Design Doing For You?

May 19, 2010 By 13 Comments

Blog and website design can be a tricky animal for bloggers that do not come from the design or marketing world. Your blog design is your digital business card that creates a snap judgment, first impression on new and existing readers, but…more importantly (and the most overlooked)…your blog design is your medium to convert readers into affiliate income, newsletter subscribers, rss subscribers and viral content spreaders. Is your blog design doing everything it can to insure that the function of your site is performing the necessary tasks? Or is it just what you like to look at on a daily basis?

What Is Your Blog Design Doing For You?

As you look into your own design to make tweaks or redesign it completely, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What is my blog design doing for me well now?
  2. What isn’t working in my design now?
  3. What do I want my design to do?

While these are simplistic questions with more complicated answers, they get you to the meat and potatoes of any design tweak or rework. There are plenty more questions you need to be asking, but this will get you started on the right track.

1. What Is My Blog Design Doing For Me Well Now?

What aspects of your blog seem to be performing well now? Are you getting a lot of comments? Are you seeing people retweet your articles? Maybe your newsletter and rss numbers are climbing. You need to take an objective look at your existing metrics to see what your readers are interacting well with now and what can be tweaked to increase those conversions.

Many times, simple changes in placement, wording or color can make drastic increases in conversions, so testing out different methods can prove to build upon already positive results. This essential testing through the use of monitoring your statistics and metrics can mean the difference between a successful blog design and one that is leaving things on the table.

2. What Isn’t Working In My Design Now

Do you have elements that are not converting well? Are there items within your design that are not doing anything at all?! If your design is not performing in certain areas, they either need to be reworked to trashed completely. Your screen real-estate is extremely valuable and limited. The last thing you want is a low converting element distracting your readers from more important high converting, business building elements in your design.

One of the biggest mistakes I see bloggers make is adding in too many low converting, non-business building functions into their blog designs.

If that new, super cool widget does not build your business, it needs to go. Do not clutter up your blog design by adding in the latest and greatest of everything. Your design needs to be based off a foundation of function…not what you think is cool that week.

3. What Do I Want My Design To Do?

This is the #1 most important question you need to ask yourself when you are looking at adding design elements or redesigning your blog. It is also the #1 question that 99.9% of bloggers fail to look at as they go through designing processes.

What are the major functions in your blog that need to convert for you to be successful?

  • Do you need to feature your newsletter sign up and free gift?
  • Do you need to have your articles spread through specific social media outlets?
  • Do you need your readers to dive deeper into your content?
  • Do you need to sell more eBooks?

Ask yourself the questions that need answers. Once you have those answers, you can tailor the elements of your design and blog experience around what is going to make you successful in the long run. If you need more newsletter sign-ups, then you probably need to feature that sign-up predominantly on the homepage and in an action section of your post pages (single.php). If you need to get your articles in front of the Reddit audience, you will need to have a share button for that specific social media site at the bottom of your posts.

How Can I Make The Blog Design Process Easier?

While this may seem like a lot to digest at once, you can make life much easier on yourself by following a couple of tips.

1. Use The Tools Available

With free analytics like Google Analytics and paid versions that create heat maps like Crazy Egg, you can find out what your readers are currently clicking on when they visit your blog. Crazy Egg takes it one step further to show you were their mouses are hovering as…statistically…the mouse pointer follows the eyes of most readers.

Tools like these will give you insight into what is working and what is not. They will also give you the ability to test out new placement and other ideas to see what converts better over time.

2. Start Off On The Right Foot

By starting off with a premium theme like the ones from WooThemes, you can cut out 70% of the work. There are plenty of free themes on the market, but the coding is typically subpar and it takes a TON of time to find one that fits the needs of your site. By ponying up and purchasing a premium theme, you can almost get away with doing nothing for awhile as many of the core features that are needed in blogging are built in.

3. Don’t Panic

Go into the design process with the mindset that you are there to make things better. Find excitement in the process and try to to get too overwhelmed as you dive into all that is blog design. Remember…you do not need thousands of dollars to create a quality, high converting blog design, you just need to ask the right questions…

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Your Biggest Weapon In Keeping New Newsletter Subscribers

April 16, 2010 By 10 Comments

Over the past couple of days, I have talked about the importance of having a newsletter on your blog and how to attract readers to sign up for your newsletter by giving up their valuable email address. One of the main concerns amongst bloggers is how to keep those subscribers once you have closed them on subscribing to your blog.

In all reality, it is pretty easy to keep your subscribers and continue to provide value that they soak up like sun on blacktop if you follow some pretty simple rules. You also need to remember one thing…

People do not mind being sold to (especially if it is something they need), but they hate spam.

Follow Up Email: First Point Of Contact

The follow up email (email that is sent directly after subscription is confirmed) is your most valuable weapon to keep your subscribers and most bloggers overlook this step as a formality. This first point of contact with a new subscriber is your change to lay out the foundation of your newsletter. It is also one of your most successful emails you will have with your newsletter (from a percentage open perspective), so it is time to grab their attention.

Your follow up email needs to keep these things in mind.

  • It needs to deliver the free goods you promised upon signup (or a link to download them).
  • It needs to welcome the new reader to your newsletter and thank them for being a part of your community.
  • It needs to specifically lay out exactly what they need to expect from your emails.
  • It needs to reinforce the personal touch by you talking directly to them…not formal broad statements.

It is really that simple. You are basically laying out exactly what your new newsletter subscriber can expect to see in their inbox from your blog. You are entering their personal world through their personal email inbox, so make the email sound and feel like you are talking directly to one person.

Important Note: You are not selling anything with the initial follow-up email. I see a lot of bloggers make the mistake of trying to close the sale when your reader is really just trying to get a grasp of what to expect. You can include links to your paid products below your signature or causally mention that you have other products on the web, but this is not the time to try to put on the hard sale. It will convert poorly and put a bad taste in the mouth of your new subscriber. Selling comes later (and I’ll get into that more in a later post).

Simple Follow Up Example

Here is a sample follow up email that I worked up on the fly so you can get the point of what I am talking about.

John Doe,

Thank you for signing up for the Gardening Tips newsletter! Attached you will find your free eBook, “5 Gardening Tips You Didn’t Know” as a thank you for joining our community at Gardening Tips.

So what can you expect out of the Gardening Tips Newsletter? I will be sending you exclusive tips that can not be found on the site twice a month to help you further grow your garden. You will also be receiving periodic deals and promotions that should help you save some money on your gardening gear needs. Also be on the lookout for bi-weekly blog updates to keep you up-to-date on the goings on at Gardening Tips.

I am excited to have you as a member of our community at Gardening Tips, so if you have any questions, concerns, ideas or random thoughts, hit me up via email.

Thank you,

John The Gardening Guy
john@gardeningguy.com

Pretty simple right? It isn’t obscenely long and it gets the point across. Better yet…it hits all of the points I made above quickly and efficiently. Now…what do you think happens when the next email comes across John Doe’s email inbox? He is probably more likely to open it and absorb your content because he already knows what to expect and is looking forward to the next email because it is going to provide him value in relation to his gardening.

So What Is Your Job After The Follow Up Email?

Start delivering on the promises you laid out in your follow up email and do it consistently. Luckily, with the follow up email process laid out in Aweber, you can setup this entire process and leave it on auto-pilot. One of the things that completely streamlined my blogging was my newsletter and the hands off approach it takes in improving your blog and income after initial setup. You are providing value and consistency without having to touch a thing.

So…next up on the chopping block for newsletter talk is how to actually monetize this thing and we will get into that on Monday.

Newsletter Series Recap

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How To Dramitically Increase Your Newsletter Subscription Sign Ups

April 15, 2010 By 10 Comments

Yesterday, I talked about the importance of having a newsletter in your blogging when you are trying to generate income. Now…in that same article, I revealed an ugly truth about newsletters. Your readers are going to protect their email address more than they protect their own kids. Don’t worry, it is not your fault, but you can blame the millions of spammers in this world that make it difficult to run a serious business that provides value and fills a need. Like most good things in life, email lists and newsletters have been exploited, so it is your job to overcome the noise.

Since it is that much harder to gain the valuable email address, what can you do as a blogger to increase your conversion rate and chances for success? The good news, it all comes down to two ideas.

  1. Provide value for free. (or)
  2. Provide something interesting.

Hook Your Readers In With Something Free and Valuable

One of the most common ways to increase newsletter sign ups is to provide something of value that is free. In the blogging world, giving away a free eBook or eCourse is a go to default that many bloggers hit while trying to build their list (I use both on this site with Ramped Blogging). This is a win/win for the reader and the blogger as the reader gets something of value and the blogger gets the subscriber to their email list.

Now…if you really want to be successful with this theory, you need to employ one of two theories when creating your free product.

  1. It needs to be over the top with value if you are doing something like the competition.
  2. It needs to be completely unique.

Think of it this way…why is a potential newsletter subscriber going to download your eBook when they downloaded something exactly like it from a more well known blogger last week? They aren’t. But…if you provide something completely unique or over the top valuable, you can overcome the thousands of other free eBooks on the market and get your subscription numbers up.

Another bonus of providing a free eBook or eCourse. If you have a paid version on another subject, this free version you are giving away provides your readers with a preview of your eBook content further qualifying them as a potential customer of your paid options. Keep this in mind as you develop your own free hooks.

Tip: There are other versions of free as well. Think about teaming up with a retailer in your industry and offering a free 10% off coupon for signing up. This will allow you to cash in on affiliate commissions while providing something of value and building up the business of your partner company. There are more ways of unique freeness that you can drum up…so use your imagination to separate yourself from other bloggers.

Something Completely Unique

Do you do something on your site that is completely unique from the competition? Could you package some of this uniqueness together and offer it to potential newsletter subscribers for free? Providing something completely unique and entertaining can be a great way to entice newsletter subscriptions.

I have a friend of mine that is an incredible illustrator. When we started talking about ways  to increase his newsletter subscription, one of the ideas that came up was offering 5 free political cartoons that you can not find anywhere else on his site for newsletter subscribers. While this does go along with the free theory above, it is also completely unique in his field…so it separates his brand from the competition.

As you look for ways to grab that email address, try to take a close look at your operation and see if there is anything that is 100% unique that you can offer your newsletter subscribers. Are you really successful in your field? Maybe you check in with newsletter subscribers once a month and show them the back end to your success that no one else sees…

You Have The Hook…Now What?

So you have something free or unique of value to your readers, how do you make sure that the sign up is in the right spot to convert? I like to use two methods on my blogs that bring in the highest converting ratio in my experience. I would test both of these (and absolutely do #1) to see what works best in your blogging. I use Aweber as my newsletter service (you can get started for $1) which makes both of these extremely easy to accomplish.

  1. Feature Your Sign Up Above The Fold On All Of Your Pages – This one is a no brainer. Make sure you have your sign up form (not just a link…Aweber can make a cool looking form for you) and hook featured above the fold on every page of your blog. This is typically done at the top of the sidebar. This will be your #1 weapon in converting causal readers into newsletter subscribers.
  2. Lightbox Hover (test) – The lightbox hover is that nice looking box you see hovering over a page when you visit the site for the first time. This method is more intrusive than just displaying your sign up on the page, so proper testing will tell you if this is a right fit for your blog. In my experience, the lightbox hover works best on blogs outside of the internet marketing/blogging niche as those types of readers are not as sensitive to it. The only way to find out is to test it on your blog, but I have seen dramatic increases in certain niches. (again…Aweber provides me with everything I need on that end)

Sweet! We are now converting readers into newsletter subscribers, so next…we need to go into how to keep them as subscribers and then how to properly monetize that list. More to come…

Newsletter Series Recap

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How To Use SEO Copywriting Techniques in Your Blog

April 6, 2010 By 5 Comments

When someone says the three magic Internet traffic driving words – search engine optimization, what do you think of? Most people’s minds turn to technical research writing for product review and informational web sites. A great deal fewer, especially new blog writers, think of the power of SEO in their blog.

It is a common problem for beginning bloggers to not even consider the techniques that web designers use every day to turn their content into money. Learning how to use SEO copywriting techniques in your blog is an absolutely crucial skill into turning your hobby into a full blown career.

SEO Copywriting Techniques – Keyword Research

Before you even decide the specific topic of your blog, you might want to do some simple keyword research on a search engine. You can quickly see what some of the most popular keywords are for people using search engines. By taking some notes on the most popular searches, you can begin to develop keywords and keyword phrase for your posts. For example, if you see a great deal of searches for dog show preparation but notice that there is not a great deal of competition, you might decide to make your blog about such a topic if you have some experience in that area.

You might not decide to make every single post that you create directly in line with keyword research. In fact, sometimes it is better to consider other factors such as reader interest, target demographics and expertise areas. When you create blog posts, do not invest too much into standard SEO. Your readers are the most important profit driving force for your blog. If you cannot attract their attention and convince them to monetize your advertisements, no amount of traffic can make you money.

Make your Content Easy to Scan

When you write, you should insure that your content is very easy to scan. Remember that most people that are on the Internet are looking for something specific. Most of the time, they will find you through the search engines. At least that is the goal in this case. That means your visitor was looking for an answer, and it is likely that your blog post offers that answer. The easier your post is to scan – the easier it will be for the visitor to get what they need. If you can do that, they will be more likely to subscribe to your RSS, and wonder what else you have to offer. You can make your posts easier to scan by doing the following.

  • Using sub titles with H2 tags
  • Bolding important parts of the content
  • Using italics when needed
  • Writing short paragraphs
  • Using bullet points and ordered/unordered lists

If you happen to use keyword phrases in your H2 tags and also bold and italicize your keywords 1 or 2 times, then you will also help with your search engine visibility. Also, make sure that the title of your post is using an H1 tag.

SEO Copywriting Techniques – SEO Writing in Your Posts

If you have any experience with search engine optimization, learning how to use SEO copywriting techniques in your blog may seem as simple as making sure that your keyword density is around 2% and you include the keyword phrase in it’s entirety as close to the beginning and end of the post as possible. However, SEO in blog posts can get much more in depth and effective.

Always remember that text to code ratios are an important part of SEO. If you use a publishing tool like WordPress, even using the visual portion of the text entry interface automatically enters html code on the respective portion. This will affect your ratio, even if you perform the action in the visual portion. Although bold text, hyperlinks, italics, color, etc. can certainly increase the readability of your post, make sure that you don’t overdo it. There is no hard and fast rule about watching this ratio. If you have a hard time reading the text because of your html codes, you may have to dial down your content design to make your post more SEO effective.

This post was written by Corey Cummings who owns contentcustoms.com. Content Customs specializes in content writing and SEO copywriting services, so when you get a chance…check it out.

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eBook Publishing: How To Make Cheap eBook Covers

March 31, 2010 By 12 Comments

I have been searching for a way to make cheap eBook covers for quite some time now. Luckily, just as I was about to purchase an expensive set of plugins for Photoshop, John Chow posted up a new service that takes care of all kinds of eBook and eCourse images that is CHEAP! Normally, you are paying somewhere in the 80-100 dollar range to pick up a software package to do this, but with myecovermaker.com…you can make individual covers for about 3 bucks a pop, or you can make 100 covers a month for 9 dollars a month!

I was just in the middle of finalizing a new free eBook I am publishing for Bike198.com, so this came at perfect time for me. You really have no excuse at this point for not having a cool looking eBook cover on your free or paid eBook. I like to design my own covers using the supplied Photoshop templates you can download on the site, but you can also design your own using template backgrounds and adding text directly on the site. Here is the latest that I just built up this morning using myecovermaker.com.

Cheap eBook Cover Generator

I am not in any way affiliated with this website, so I am not making any money by promoting this. Every now and then I run into a really cool resource that I want to share with you guys and this is one of them.

Filed Under: Blogging, Reviews, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,

The Secret Key To Converting Search Engine Visitors Into Subscribers And Customers

March 29, 2010 By 8 Comments

The key to any successful site or blog is conversions. Once that reader hits your page from a search engine or other online resource, you want to convert that reader into a regular subscriber or customer of your products and affiliate promotions. That is why we are all here right? To grow our blogs and hopefully make a little bit (or a lot) of money doing so? So what is it that successful blogs do that convert readers at a high rate to increase their bottom line?

There is a lot of talk on the web about where to place your newsletter subscription sign-up form, rss button and sharing icons, but what can you do to raise your conversions rates drastically to increase your business up and over that plateau?

Tailoring Your Content For High Conversion Ratios

I see a lot of bloggers that are taking all of the right steps and still not seeing any success. They create a free ebook to entice newsletter subscriptions, they are creating high-quality content on a regular basis, they have a logo and design that is clean and easy to navigate…but they are still spinning their wheels trying to figure out how to get those high dollar and subscriber numbers.

The Key To Success Is Attracting The Right Audience

One of the major mistakes that most bloggers make is ignoring their highest converting part of their blogging…the content. I’m not talking about just “quality content”, I am specifically targeting content that will draw in the exact reader you are looking for in your converting process. Who exactly do you need to land on your page and find value in what you are delivering?

When I set out to write Ramped Riding on Bike198.com (paid ebook on becoming a better mountain biker), I started writing a series of “riding tips” articles on my blog to attract readers who want to become better mountain bikers. These were not articles that were in the ebook, but separate, quality content that would preview what was included in the 130+ page paid ebook. This got my readers used to what I am able to provide in the world of riding tips and pre-qualified those readers as customers for the ebook.

Now…what about that search engine visitor that is reaching my page for the first time? They are searching for riding tips and happen to land on one of my in-depth how to’s. After they read the article that helps them with a specific aspect of their riding, they see there is an ebook on the site that can help them with even more…so they click on the landing page and find a more in-depth solution for their needs.

Do you see what I am doing?

I am pulling in quality, qualified, targeted leads on to my pages through my free content to convert on my paid content.

The same holds true for your free options as well. On RobbSutton.com, I give away a free eCourse and eBook titled Ramped Blogging. Do you think I would get a lot of conversions on newsletter sign-ups if most of my articles were centered around blog design? Absolutely not…so I write articles on RobbSutton.com that attract readers who want to become better bloggers. I then show them (you guys) how I do it and how I can help you do the same through my free and paid products (Ramped Blogging and Ramped Reviews). By doing this, I am solving your issues on the web by attracting the right audience through my free content.

When you go to draft your blog articles, you need to ask yourself a simple question before you hit the publish button.

Who am I targeting and what are they going to do once they hit my site?

Can you answer that question about your last 5 articles?

If you can not answer that question, you need to start taking a serious look at how you are planning out your content generation on your blog.

One of the common misconceptions when bloggers offer a paid product on their blogs is that they can not give away any free content on their blog about that topic. But…if you have no way to draw in free leads, then you are going to see low conversion ratios. By offering complimentary, relevant, free content related to your paid options, you are pulling in highly targeted readers that have a real need to purchase your paid options or sign up for your free ones.

Having a successful business, online or brick and mortar, is all about bringing in targeted leads that need your products and services. 1,000 targeted leads will always be better than 100,000 worthless leads, so as you chase the latest “hot topic” that is bringing in thousands of worthless visitors, try to focus on the profitable content that will bring you the 1,000 targeted leads that will drastically increase your bottom line and growth. It is not about high numbers…it is about targeted ones…

Image by Charlyn W

Filed Under: Blogging, Generating Cash, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , , , ,

How to Find More Time to Blog

March 24, 2010 By 10 Comments

In this guest post by Ralph Jean-Paul from Potential2Success.com, he tackles a problem that a lot of bloggers run into as they strive to grow their blogs to a full-time level…finding the time to get the necessary steps complete for success. If you are interested in guest posting on RobbSutton.com, read this article on guest posting and hit me up via email.

Let’s take a trip back to when you first started blogging.  Remember the first time you saw your blog listed on Google?  Or what about the first time someone left a comment on a post?  And who could forget the very first time you made an affiliate sale or revenue from an Adsense click?  Good times, good times.

That was then and now you probably realize that blogging is not a way to make some quick cash.  Blogging as a business doesn’t take much money to start.   However, that doesn’t mean that it’s free.  In order to have a successful blog, it will require some of your valuable time.

Finding time to blog can be difficult.  Most bloggers have a full-time job, family, friends, and other commitments that they are responsible for.  So finding the time to write, post, and market their blog can be a challenge.

It is possible to run a successful blog and have a life.  I learned this when I first started blogging.  I had a full-time job, taking 6 college courses, and I had to learn how to build and market a website.  It was a challenge, but I was able to do it successfully.  I still use the same methods I learned back then today to make time to blog.

Finding More Time

Use the Time You Have Wisely

Part of the reason it may seem like you do not have enough time is because you haven’t made good use of the time you have.  Often we think there is not enough time to write content, market, and develop our blog.  The time is usually there, we just need to know what to do with it.

One way to make sure that you are using your time wisely is to have a plan on what you will be doing before you get in front of your computer.  Your plan should include a list of tasks and a timeframe to complete those tasks.  It is also a good idea to prioritize the list.  If you fall behind, and do not have time to finish everything, the most important tasks still get done.

If you don’t have the disciple to not visit Facbook and Youtube while you’re working on your blog, then make sure that you close those windows.  You don’t need any unwanted temptation to distract you from finishing your tasks.

Find Your Best Working Hours

Find out when you are the most productive and work on your blog during that time.  By finding the time when you are the most productive, you are making it possible to complete your tasks faster thus taking up less time.

I recently began waking up at 3 am because I realized that I focus best early in the morning.  For some reason, trying to write during the day is almost impossible for me.  Something about the thought of sunshine outside makes it difficult for me to concentrate.

Do More of What You Do Best

I think the goal for any successful business is to find out how to profit from their best product or service.  As a blogger, this is also your goal.  Instead of wasting time on things that are not effective, focus on what will make the most difference.

So what’s your strength?  Do you deliver dynamic content?  Are you exceptional at marketing?  Take whatever you do best and do more of it.  The problem that I had when I started blogging is that I was doing so many things that didn’t produce the result that I wanted.

Once I realized that there were just a few things that produced the result that I wanted for my niche, I focused on those things and worked to improve them.  Instead of wasting time on what you have been told will work, focus on what is working and stop doing what isn’t.

Blog Everywhere

Ideas and inspiration are everywhere!  Whenever you have an idea for a post, capture it immediately.  I use the Notepad on my Blackberry if I don’t have any paper and my voice recorder when I’m driving.

One night I went to the movies with some friends.  While we were watching the previews, I had an idea for a post about the top 10 inspirational movies of all time.  Ignoring the cartoon that told us not to use our phones during the movie, I whipped out my Blackberry and started typing.  Before I knew it, my idea became 150 words and a good start to a future post.  That post became one of my most popular posts and is still in the top 10 most viewed pages on my blog.

There are really two main benefits to blogging everywhere.  One, you get to act on an idea that you had.  Having an idea is good but it’s pretty much pointless unless you turn that idea into action.  The second benefit is that you don’t waste time looking for ideas.  When writers block strikes, you can always go back to your vault of ideas and pull something useful.

Share the Burden

When times get tough and you need some extra time, opening up your blog to quality guest posts is a great way to keep your blog updated.  Publishing a guest post is also a great way to give yourself a little break from producing content.

It also gives your readers some fresh content from someone who may have a different writing style.  It also offers the opportunity to boost your traffic as that blogger will usually market their guest post.

Ralph Jean-Paul is the main writer for his blog Potential 2 Success which is a result-driven personal development blog. He is also a monthly contributor for 2 other popular personal development blogs. Along with being a writer, Ralph is also a speaker and entrepreneur. For more from Ralph visit Potential2Success.com

Image by ToniVC

Filed Under: Blogging, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,

Probloggers Always Make A Bang

March 22, 2010 By 8 Comments

If you write daily, regularly check your stats, and do search engine optimization work seriously, are you a problogger now? No. Of course not.

If you have a premium theme along with the great plug-ins (even if they’re paid), the professional logos and all the stunning design works, then, are you a problogger now? No. Maybe not yet.

What about if you have your own ebook, a decent newsletter subscription, a long contact list of friends (A-lists too), and a lot of following in all those social media sites, well now, are you a problogger? Probably. But I’d still say no.

So what’s the point of all of these? How do you really become a problogger?

I used to think there are checklists

Back then, whenever I hear the term ‘problogger’, I think of metrics and visible gauges. Like a letter ‘K’ in the feedburner chicklet for example, or even something as shallow as the average number of comments each posts are receiving. I sometimes even judge by the looks of the theme (you can’t blame me, I started blogging back in a time when John Chow heavily promoted custom themes made by Unique Blog Designs).

I even went as far as actually trying to figure out all the things in the supposedly ‘problogger’ checklist. I know… I was that determined. But the thing is, I never figure out the exact formula.

Now I know why, there’s none

Yes. You heard that heard. There’s no formula in being a problogger (at least that’s my opinion). Sometimes, it’s not about how regular you post (like Maki of Dosh Dosh), or how elaborate your blog theme is (Seth Godin surely wouldn’t really care), or how large your newsletter list (Darren started one just recently) or even how good you are in the SERPs results (John Chow was punished by Google for a year remeber?).

If you want to be a problogger, wake up, there’s no magic formula. You could have the most normal looking theme, or the most inconsistent posting frequency and it wouldn’t matter.

It just all boils down to one thing – make a bang

What is a bang?

Probloggers are probloggers because they know how to put themselves in the center of an explosive mayhem. It’s not about blending it and getting along with the crowd, it’s about standing out and making the crowd follow you.

A bang creates a point of reference

Let’s be honest. Being a founder of a blog is never enough. It’s about being the person behind something big that could leverage your blog. It could be an absurdly great product (for example, Robb’s Ramped Reviews eBook did place him in thousands of people’s radar) or coaching program (like Yaro’s Blog Mastermind), it might even be a one-of-a-kind free report (remember Authority Rules by Brian Clark?).

If blogging examples are not enough, how about listening to one of Einstein’s Laws of Motion…

“Every action creates an equal and opposite reaction…”

The bottomline of this post is simple – if you want to make it big, do something big. Make a bang.

Bio: Liane is 17, and she founded Better Blogging For Bloggers and Twarks Twitter Designs. She spends her free time reading books, watching any kind of movie except Japanese horror films (seriously scary!), goofing around with her Photoshop and beating guys in badminton. Oh, let’s not forget blogging too (it’s highly addictive).

Liane also created a really cool poster for bloggers titled “70 Ideas for Your Next 70 Posts”. You can check it out by clicking here.

Image by Garp B

Filed Under: Blogging, Tutorials/How To Tagged With: , , ,
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