Author: Evan Hoeflich

How To Do Keyword Research for SEO in 2020- 3 Simple Tips

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Keyword Research 2018

Keyword research can be an overwhelming and confusing task for many bloggers.

I know when I first started out, I had no idea what types of keywords to target and made many mistakes in the process.

Thankfully after years of SEO experience working with a variety of clients and after much trial and error on my own blog, it has become much clearer to me the types of terms to target.

In this blog post we will go over 3 simple steps on how to properly do keyword research for SEO which will ultimately help drive more traffic to your website.

How To Do Keyword Research for SEO- 3 Simple Tips

Step #1– Start With An Idea:

Have an idea of the type of term(s) you’d like to target. For example, maybe you’re interested in targeting the keyword “traffic generation” for a blog post. Just knowing this gives you some direction and is a good starting point that we can use in step #2. If you need help coming up with ideas, analyze your competitors and look into what’s trending in your niche.

Step #2– Plug Your Keyword Into A Keyword Research Tool:

Plug the term “traffic generation” into a keyword research tool to generate additional ideas. The keyword research tool I recommend is Ubersuggest by Neil Patel and it’s also free to use.  Here are a few other good keyword research tools below as well:

  • Ubersuggest (free)
  • Google Keyword Planner (free)
  • MOZ Keyword Explorer (paid)
  • Keywordtool.io/google (paid)

Using Ubersuggest have “Web” selected and “English/ United States” and click “Look Up”. This will now populate a list for you to analyze.

How To Do Keyword Research for SEO

 

As you can see, “traffic generation” has 590 monthly searches which is pretty good, however (and a big however), that specific keyword is going to be incredibly competitive and difficult to rank highly for since it’s so broad.

Which brings me to my next point…

Step #3– Go After Long-Tail Type Keyword Phrases

The problem I see with many new bloggers when it comes to keyword research is that they try and target the most competitive terms (mainly because of monthly search volume) and wonder why they are buried in the search results and are receiving ZERO traffic.

These keywords are extremely hard to rank for and especially for a brand new website with no authority yet. A better approach to start gaining some traction would be to focus on long-tail keywords phrases. This means go after terms that have anywhere from 3-5 words in them. For example, Ubersuggest provided me with a whole bunch of keyword ideas and variations…See screenshot below (this is just a snapshot of the entire list):

how to do keyword research in 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After analyzing the list a bit, I found some really great long-tail terms to go after. Instead of targeting “traffic generation” (which we already established is too competitive for a newer website), see below for a handful of keyword phrases that may be a better alternative:

  • “how to increase website traffic” – 480 searches per month
  • “how to get traffic to your blog” – 320 searches per month
  • “how to increase website traffic for free” – 170 searches per month
  • “get more traffic to your website” – 70 searches per month
  • “how to get traffic to my website” – 70 searches per month
  • “how to get visitors to your website” – 50 searches per month
  • “how to generate traffic to my website” – 40 searches per month

Now some of you may be saying “40 searches per month, that’s peanuts”!

Well, I won’t argue with you there, but if it’s highly targeted traffic from Google it’s still very valuable.

I personally rank on page #1 of Google for keywords with 100 monthly searches or lower that I do very well with…and especially since they are easier to rank for.

Now let’s say that over the next 12 months you rank highly for 20-30 long-tail keyword phrases at an average of 70 visitors per month, that could easily generate you over 1,000 organic search visitors each and every month.

This could continue to build overtime, with the right SEO strategy, and snowball to thousands of unique visitors per month.

Please note: I’m all for going after some competitive terms with high monthly search volume (as I do myself), but not for bloggers who are just starting out.

Before attacking really competitive keyword phrases, you really need to get your website authority up by building quality backlinks.

Conclusion:

The only way to get better with keyword research and ranking your website in Google is through practice, trial and error. The more you do this, the more confident you will be in selecting the right keyword phrases. Remember to focus on long-tail terms at first for the best chance of ranking in the search results. Once your website gains more authority, you can then start to target some broader terms. Watch the YouTube version of this blog post here.

SEO Case Study Example – SEO Coaching Student Mark Newsome

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Organic Traffic Case Study

SEO Client – Mark Newsome

One of my SEO coaching students, Mark Newsome, found my services through a guest post

Mark Newsome

Coaching Student- Mark Newsome

that I wrote for another website and expressed his interest in working with me.

We have been working together for the past 4 months at the time of writing this.

I could tell from our first email exchange that Mark had what it took to take his website and traffic to the next level (as I don’t accept everyone into my SEO coaching program).

Mark already had a good head start on his website but just needed more strategic guidance and fine tuning in terms of SEO.

Make sure to read all the way to the bottom to see Mark’s results thus far.

SEO Case Study Background

Here’s a brief background of Mark and his website:

  • Mark specializes in offline marketing but needed help creating more of an online presence.
  • His marketing services help small business owners, startups and service providers get more bankable results, using non-traditional marketing strategies and tactics.
  • He was interested in generating more organic traffic from the major search engines for various keyword phrases.
  • Mark had over 2,000 blog posts on his website before working with me, but was generating a very small amount of traffic considering all of the content he had published.
  • Although his content was well-written and compelling, his posts were under optimized and needed some attention from an SEO perspective.
  • Mark is an extremely coachable student and takes massive action on what he’s taught.

First Steps

First and foremost I needed to analyze where Mark’s website currently stood in regards to SEO.

I ran a website scrape using a tool called Screaming Frog, which pulls all of the meta data of a website including Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, Headers Tags, Image ALT Tags, 404 errors and much more.

It was apparent to me that Mark’s SEO tags really needed to be tweaked and strengthened.

We went over the basics together and I showed Mark how to write proper Title Tags and Meta descriptions to start.

Remember, Mark has over 2,000 blog posts on his website, so starting with just the Title Tags and Meta Descriptions is enough to keep him busy for a long time.

It’s also important to note that optimizing the Title Tags alone can produce significant results for the right website as they hold a lot of weight in the eyes of Google.

We also set Mark up on Google Search Console so he had more data at his fingertips. This is where we submitted his XML sitemap as well so Google knows which pages to crawl.

So basically over the past 3-4 months I gave Mark the assignment to really just focus on writing optimized Title Tags.

He’s been chipping away at these every single week and the results are really starting to become obvious when looking into his Google Analytics account.

Let’s take a look at some of the data.

SEO Results & Traffic

Organic Traffic Over Past 15 Months

The first chart below highlights organic traffic over the past 15 months or so to show you the trend and increases. The red arrow indicates when Mark started working with me and when he started chipping away at his Title Tags using the strategies I taught him.

You can see in the past 3 months (May, June & July), Mark has hit all-time highs in organic traffic!

This past month July being the highest at 88 organic search visits, which is a major increase as you’ll see below.

SEO Case Study

Organic Traffic Is Up 300% Year-Over-Year

This next chart below is an impressive one and highlights the year-over-year increases when comparing July 2018 to July 2017.

Organic traffic is up 300% when comparing July 2018 to July 2017 (88 vs. 22).

Yes you heard that right, up 300%!

The blue line in the chart below represents organic traffic for July 2018 and the orange line represents organic traffic for July 2017.

This really helps demonstrate the growth we’re seeing.

These are really impressive results for only 3-4 months worth of SEO coaching and much credit to Mark for his hard work.

SEO Coach

 

 

SEO Case Study Example

 

Work Going Forward

Again let me reiterate that this is only 3-4 months worth of work and the results speak for themselves.

The reason I say ‘only’ is because SEO is a longer term marketing strategy that doesn’t happen overnight.

This shows you what is possible with an experienced coach as well as a motivated and hungry student.

We are just getting started…

A few next steps for Mark will be to continue chipping away at his Title Tags (remember he has over 2,000 blog posts!), write/edit Meta Descriptions where necessary, optimize his Header Tags for each blog post and write keyword rich Image ALT Tags.

We will also want to get into optimizing the actual content on his website and add internal links where appropriate that point to other relevant posts/pages.

Additionally down the road, I will be introducing various link building strategies to Mark which is an SEO strategy that really has the potential to ramp things up.

We are really off to a great start here and I plan to do more updates on this campaign in the future.

If you have a website or business of your own and are struggling to generate enough traffic, leads or conversions, you should check out either my SEO coaching program (where I will hold you by the hand and teach you everything I know) or my SEO Services package (where I will do all the work for you).

The possibilities are endless when it comes to SEO, so take advantage.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Rather check out the YouTube version of this case study? See below.

What Are Threats That Small Businesses Often Overlook?

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Threats of Small Businesses

A small business faces many difficulties that its larger counterparts may be able to bypass with a sizable investment. Still, the greatest threat doesn’t come from the places you expect it to come from. Your competitors may try to use some foul tactics to slander your brand, yet, this is something you’re probably prepared for. Your audience may be suspicious towards the offer you present them with, yet, this too, is something you should already have a plan for. The thing is that the greatest problems come from where you least expect them; here are five such examples.

Putting all your eggs in one basket

First of all, it seems natural, even intuitive to put all your hopes in a single, most profitable service/product. However, what happens if this product fails to resound as strongly as you thought it would? Where do you go from there? This is why it’s a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Try to diversify your products, diversify your investments and create an additional stream of revenue that you can fall back on if the situation appears to be too grim.

Over-investing

Warren Buffett once said that if you start buying things you don’t need, you’ll soon be forced to sell things you do need. In other words, over-investing can be incredibly dangerous for a small business, even though on paper, it’s supposed to save you money in the long run. This long-run mentality is the bane of small businesses, seeing as how they invest in trends that will pay themselves off in 10 years, while 90 percent of small businesses fail within the first five years of their existence (most of them fail during the first year). By spending work capital on long-term investments, you’re seriously endangering your cash flow. In other words, do this only when absolutely necessary.

Ignoring the security of your headquarters

Small business owners are so preoccupied with the issue of cyber-security, that they often forget to physically protect their premises. Installing a smart lock, a surveillance system and a reliable fence are just some of the trends you need to implement. Moreover, the risk of employee-theft can be just as great, which means that ensuring the security of your headquarters needs to start from within. Latest video management system provides the ability to deploy a surveillance that can truly support business needs.

Taking unnecessary risks

If your company is on the right path, the last thing you need is an unnecessary risk. Sure, a threat can also be an opportunity, however, expecting an overnight success is not the mindset of an entrepreneur but the one of a gambler. Entering a venture without proper research is not unlike picking a number on the roulette wheel and hoping for the best, which is why it is to be avoided at all times. Instead, take a more careful approach and be content with the fact that your revenue, workload and business are gradually increasing, even if it takes years and decades for them to meet your initial goals.

Teaming up with the wrong people

Lastly, not a lot of people can start a business on their own. We’re not just talking about the finances but the administrative part of running a business, as well. Now imagine if one-half of your company decided that the direction you set isn’t necessarily the best one out there. What if they decided to start dragging your business in a different direction? Teaming up with the wrong people can spell doom for your company, which is why you need to keep both of your eyes open when picking partners, managers and even employees.

As you can see, threats come from the most unlikely of fields and while some may pose an immediate threat to your brand, others might take years to manifest themselves. Sadly, when it comes to fragile small businesses and startups, they all lead to inevitable failure. Therefore, understanding, recognizing and fighting them efficiently needs to become the ultimate goal of every entrepreneur.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family.

 

 

Any questions or comments? Let us know!

8 Strategies to Build a Great Company Culture

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building a company culture

The problem with the issue of company culture lies in the fact that it’s the most important non-quantifiable factor in your company’s growth. In other words, while you know it’s necessary and that it brings growth, you have no way of knowing just how much you stand to gain from it. Moreover, a lot of people don’t even know where to start building the company culture so here are eight strategies to help you out.

1. Clean straightforward communication

The first thing you need to understand about building a company culture is the fact that it rests on clean and straightforward communication more than anything else. Regardless of the idea, you need means to pass it down the chain of command and receive feedback. Furthermore, transparency and openness of communication should be the core of your corporate values, regardless of your starting point. This practice alone avoids potential misunderstandings and makes coordination simpler and more efficient.

2. Explain the importance of company culture

Another thing you need to focus on is explaining the company culture to your staff. One of the ways to do so is by presenting them with social proof. Sure, your company needs to stand for something, yet the importance of this might elude even some of the most dedicated employees. Therefore, you need to find a way to show them how a positive company culture helps boost productivity, increases marketability and improves the unity in the workplace. It would also be quite handy to find some statistics to back up your theory. For instance, companies with a strong culture have four times as much revenue growth as those without it.

3. Storytelling

Tell a story about your journey every step of the way in order to make people truly care. What we mean by this is that you need to find a way to build a great company structure by employing various storytelling methods. Everyone likes a story about the underdog success, however, the way in which you present it may be equally as important. Try not to focus too much on your personal achievements. After all, the point of this story is not there merely to inflate your ego. Instead, talk about the people who made it all possible. Talk about your team, your customers and your partners. By making this into their story, you’ll get them personally involved in the future of your company, which brings us to the next point…

4. Personal motivation

The next issue we need to talk about is the personal motivation. What this means is that the people who are responsible for the success of the company have a personal motivation to see the company succeed. For instance, if you promise a hefty bonus for the successful completion of a project, you can have people invest some extra effort to see this through.

On the other hand, not all of your employees are fiscally-oriented. For some, the prospect of advancement is far more important. Even those who aim to leave your company at one point have something to gain from the company’s boost in status. Let’s face it, being a team leader in a renowned company is more impressive than being the head of an unknown startup. Just make sure to break things down in a way that everyone will understand and the results are bound to follow.

5. An appealing workplace

The next thing you need to understand is the fact that inanimate factors affect your company structure, as well. For instance, working in a poorly lit, underequipped, musky environment speaks volumes of your company. It’s not only an indication of your low financial status but also of your low regard for the well-being of your staff. This is why even the smallest of startups need to consider finding some real office space.

The problem with this idea lies in the fact that teams of 1-5 people seldom have a way of financially justifying the need to lease an office. Instead, they should probably look for a nearby shared office space. For instance, instead of running a home-based organization, entrepreneurs may look for a serviced office. In this way, you get the most cost-efficiency out of your headquarters situation and get to work to your full capacity.

6. High level of autonomy

The very feeling of having someone watch over their shoulder before they make a move is unsettling to say the very least. First of all, it indicates a clear lack of trust in their abilities. Second, it limits your own functionality, seeing as how it distracts you from your main tasks. Of course, we’re not claiming that you should let every single person in the company make their own independent choices. Nevertheless, everyone needs to have at least some degree of autonomy regarding the tasks they are in charge of.

7. Higher talent appeal

By improving the infrastructure of your company and learning how to market it properly, you’ll not only make it a better place to work at but also a more appealing company to work for. In other words, once you start hiring people, you’ll get letters of recommendation from more promising candidates, people with more experience and better letters of recommendation. This also needs to be one of the things you keep in mind when building a company culture.

8. Don’t forget to have fun

While a lot of people don’t see how fun and professionalism go hand in hand, there’s a statistic claiming that happy employees work 12 percent better. Sure, distracting people from their core tasks isn’t something that should be tolerated but there’s a difference between a workplace where everyone does what they like and a place with a bit more relaxed atmosphere. While most employers fear that their company could easily descend into anarchy, this line isn’t nearly as thin as they fear, which is why this isn’t something that can just happen spontaneously.

In conclusion

As you can see, the benefits of a great company culture are so numerous that they’re hard to count and by creating and enforcing the right set of corporate values, you get to enjoy all of these perks. The key thing here is not to allow yourself to get sidetracked by traditional myths and misconceptions about an effective workplace. The best thing about company culture is that it can be started while you have three employees and still have it remain relevant by the time you reach 300.

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman

Lauren Wiseman is marketing specialist, contributor to bizzmarkblog.com  and entrepreneur. She helps clients grow their personal and professional brands in fast-changing and demanding market, strongly believing in a holistic approach to business.

 

 

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How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing Without A Website

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How To Do Affiliate Marketing Without Website

In this short post, I am going to reveal to you a good strategy in order to make money with affiliate marketing without a website.

Normally I always recommend starting a blog for any beginner marketer out there, however for the sake of this post, we will explain a way you can generate your first affiliate sale without using a website.

Affiliate Marketing Without A Website

The major problem I see with most beginner affiliate marketers is that they send traffic directly to the affiliate offer.

Why is this a huge mistake?

Because if someones does not buy the product off of that first initial visit, that lead is lost forever.

Instead, it would be beneficial to first capture the lead/email address (using a squeeze page) and then send them to the affiliate offer…this way you can follow-up with the prospect in the future.

Does this make sense?

So below we will highlight the affiliate model that most beginners use (that simply doesn’t work today), and the model that I recommend if you want any shot at making money with affiliate marketing without a full website.

Wrong Affiliate Marketing Model 

How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing

You can see in this first model that most people send traffic directly to the affiliate offer which is a big mistake. Not only does this result in a super low conversion rate, but you are also completely throwing money away if you’re not collecting the email address in the process. What good is it to send traffic to an affiliate offer and not build your email list?

This is a lazy approach to affiliate marketing and it rarely is successful. You may snag a sale here and there but it will not result in anything sustainable. The only way this model works well is if you are reviewing/recommending a product on your blog and sending traffic directly to the offer, however you need a website for this…And again this post is explaining how to make money with affiliate marketing without a website.

Right Affiliate Marketing Model

How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing Without A Website

Now the right way to make money with affiliate marketing would be to send traffic to a squeeze page first in order to capture the lead and then redirect them to the affiliate offer after they “opt-in”. This way you can follow-up with them for as long as they are on your email list and potentially turn them into a customer for life (buying from you more than once). In this model, if they don’t buy right away, you aren’t just throwing away the lead since you will be collecting their email address. This is a more sustainable model and allows you to build a profitable email list in the process. And your email list is a true asset.

In order to set up this kind of funnel, check out The Conversion Pros and the marketing tools they offer. The tool suite inside of The Conversion Pros allows you to create high-compelling squeeze pages and set up an email follow-up series that will automatically work for you after a person opts-in to your list.

Now in terms of actually generating the traffic for the model above, there are multiple ways in which to do that. However, one traffic method that I reccomend to test the waters and get quick results with is solo ads. This basically allows you to leverage someones elses email list and is a great way to get traffic flowing as a beginner.

Hopefully the information and charts above are helpful to you and especially if you’re struggling to make any money with affiliate marketing.

Know that you’re not alone and that most people use the first model as well.

Make sure to test different squeeze pages for the highest possible opt-in rates and create, at the very least, a 7 day email follow-up series as well.

Yes this may take more work compared to sending traffic straight to an affiliate offer, but the payoff is worth it.

How do you currently do affiliate marketing?

Rather watch my review of this on YouTube? Here you go: How To Make Money With Affiliate Marketing Without A Website

Top 5 Financial Tips for First-Time Entrepreneurs

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Financial Tips For Entrepreneurs

First-time entrepreneurs have too much in front of them to tackle, yet, the issue of finances always comes to the forefront. After all, without enough money, your company will run into the ground long before it reaches its full potential. If you’re not careful enough with your finances, this is exactly what’s going to happen. With that in mind and without further ado, here are five important financial tips for first-time entrepreneurs to help them bridge that rough patch of the first six months to one year in the business world.

Limiting Fixed Expenses

As soon as you start, you need to make sure you can keep your business afloat, and the most efficient way to do so is to limit the fixed expenses. The broadband plan you’ve signed up for always has a fixed cost, but you would be surprised at just how precise you can make your estimation of utilities, fleet management overhead, and supplies cost. At the end of the day, frugality is the name of the game, which is why you need to do your best to keep your expenses low and urge your employees to do the same.

Managing Cash Flow

The next thing worth keeping an eye out for is the cash flow. The initial investment money gets depleted fairly soon, but the operational costs still remain. Then, you need to innovate, offer incentives to customers (other than discounts), and pay bonuses to your employees in order to keep the morale high. The thing about cash is that, during the initial stage of your startup, it’ll be in short supply. Debts, subscriptions, fees, and interest rates will eat most of it, while the bulk of your profit might remain in invoices and account receivables. Therefore, you need to be extra careful when it comes to your management of those few resources you do have available.

Exploring Fundraising Options

The way in which you acquire the money for your startup will determine the way in which your company functions from that day on. Getting a partner means split control and going through preorder; a crowdfunding system implies that you already have some customers, while taking money from a relative may put your personal relationship in peril. All things considered, many first-time entrepreneurs tend to go with start up business loans. The reason behind this is mostly the fact that they aren’t required to present a business plan or a financial record (both of which would have been problematic for someone without previous experience).

Pay Your Bills Online

According to one survey, an average company spends $12 in order to pay a bill, while when paying through an online platform this amount can be brought down to as little as $1.50 per bill. In other words, you get to save about $10.50 per bill, which on monthly and yearly level comes down to a substantial amount. The sooner you start, the more money you stand to save.

Open Source Tools

Finally, one of the best ways to save money in your office is to go for open source tools. Open Office can be equally as efficient as MS Office. Nowadays, Google offers more than a few great alternatives to this expensive standard tool, as well. Aside from open source tools, certain free trials, demo versions, and free versions can also come in quite handy. Sure, some offer limited functionality, others have an expiry date but, for the time being, they save you money. Due to the fact that your first several months are a period when you’re supposed to save the most, there’s no reason for you not to do so.

First-time entrepreneurs meet many challenges on their path to success but with proper organizational abilities, enough research, and adequate advice it’s quite possible to make it on your first try. Apart from all the above-listed, it’s smart to hire services of a seasoned accountant, seeing as how this awaits you somewhere down the line. Never stop learning and always remain persistent and you give yourself a really fair shot at success!

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

 

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5 Simple & Useful Tips on Starting a Business

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tips on starting a business

This is a guest post written by Jason Morris.

Business start-ups can take a lot of courage and that’s why it is best to cover every angle before beginning your venture. It’s paramount that you have everything set and ensure that you know what tasks you have ahead. As well as some of the obvious steps, we will also highlight other subtle details that can easily be overlooked when starting a business. Let’s get started.

Write a Business Plan

Starting your own business is never something that’s done on a whim and it takes a lot of organization. Once you have considered your product/service and how you wish to market it, you will then need to consider how realistic the business idea is and if it’s viable for you to create.

Prior to an official business plan you will want to write down a SWOT analysis, assessing your strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. What will you specialize in and what elements of the strategy are vulnerable?

Once you have delved into what you are looking to offer, you will then need to begin the business plan process. Start writing down a short description on the business you wish to start, the market itself and future opportunities. It’s important to then extend on this information and look at potential marketing techniques, the company concept and the financial outlay. Your finance plan will consider grants, start-up cash and how much you forecast for the first year and onwards.

Organize Your Finances

It’s no good starting a business without scope, you will need to see opportunities for profit, although that won’t happen overnight, you will want to strive for this within the first few years.

Don’t go into a new idea if you’re in lots of unsettled debt that is continuously increasing. In order to qualify for business loans, grants and other financial help you will be required to have a good credit rating. Start touching up on your debt and manage it correctly, there are lots of sources for free debt advice and solutions online.

Also be sure to begin your business sensibly with all your expenses, outgoing and income noted down efficiently.

Look at Competition

It’s no good burying your head in the sand- real competition deserves real recognition. What are they doing successfully? What could be better? That’s where opportunities lie for your business. It’s likely this is what helped you spot the gap in the market in the first place.

When taking a look at your rivals, consider the following:

  • What products and services they provide
  • The price of their products
  • Where they excel
  • Where they could improve
  • How they could jeopardize your new business
  • Why your company will offer something different

Get Advice

Don’t struggle alone, when you can seek help from experts. There are mentors and even specialists who are there to enable a new business. Plus, you should be confident enough to ask others who have been in your shoes before, many will admire your initiative and give you some pointers. You may already know people that will be able to serve you with imperative knowledge. Find out who else has started a successful business and don’t be afraid to pick their brain.

Be Passionate

You should know that starting a business is not simple. It will take a lot of effort and will also consume much of your time. Although it’s key to get the life-work balance right, you will need to invest a lot of time into this project and that’s why it pays to be passionate about the niche and the service that you are looking to provide.

Find a niche that you fully believe and take pride in. This will go a long way and in those rough times where you consider dropping it all. Your love for the business will carry you through.

It’s not all plain sailing but providing you start with these pointers and carry out lots of research you will be ready to start your business in no time. Be sure to write up you business plan, get your finances in check, find a project you love and analyze the competition you wish to go against.

Blogging Report (June 2018)- Year-Over-Year Analysis & Growth

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Blogging Report (June 2018)

Blogging Report (June 2018)

Welcome to my June 2018 blogging report!

The reason I do these reports is two fold.

1.) It helps me keep track of my own progress (traffic growth, search ranking increases etc.).

2.) It helps my readers get motivated to actually start a blog of their own and/or grow the website they are currently working on.

I haven’t done one of these since January 2017, but now that my blog is growing, I plan on doing them a bit more frequently.

I am also adding a section below of the key marketing strategies/methods that have helped me continue to grow my website overtime.

This is really valuable information that you should definitely review as these blogging strategies are the reason why I consistently see improvements.

With that said, let’s dive into the details…

(Please note that I still consider this blog very new…Organic growth of any website takes time and you really need to adopt a long-term mindset if you want to be successful with blogging)

Organic Traffic (June 2018)- 169 Visits

Organic Traffic for June 2018 came in at 169 visits.

Organic Traffic is really starting to show noticeable improvement thanks to the SEO work I’ve been implementing over the last 12 months.

The growth really started to happen around October of 2017 (see screenshot below) and continues to compound with the more content that is published and search engine optimization that is done.

I highlighted 3 specific reasons why I am seeing a major improvement in Organic Traffic, which is shown in the traffic chart below.

Organic Traffic all-time (by Month)

Blogging Income Report

This screenshot came out a little smaller than I’d like so let me break down what it all means.

All of the red arrows represent “annotations” that I added to my Google Analytics account. They are basically notes that you can add when you make certain updates to your website, adopt a new marketing strategy etc. They are helpful to see what is working well and driving more traffic to your website.

Annotation #1: The first annotation (February 1, 2017) is when I started link building consistently for my website. I believe this is the biggest reason for my improvements as of recently. Although you can see how long it took to start seeing noticeable results from my link building efforts. Let me re-iterate that blogging and SEO is a long-term strategy, but it is a true asset you will have for life.

Annotation #2: The second annotation (August 5, 2017) is when I bought an SSL Certificate and switched to the https protocol on my website. This in combination with my link building work really made things spike in the right direction as you can see in the screenshot above.

Annotation #3: The third annotation (December 4, 2017) is when I started accepting guest posts on my website. I decline about 90% of the submissions I receive since they are low quality, but I do believe the ones I actually publish to my website help with overall organic growth.

If you’re wondering about the 4th annotation there, that is something that wouldn’t really affect my traffic. I more put that in there for my reference as it has to do with a really minor tweak.

Now let’s take a look at some very helpful data below which is year-over-year organic traffic increases.

Year-Over-Year Organic Traffic Increases (June 2018 vs. June 2017)

A helpful metric to analyze when it comes to Organic Traffic is year-over-year improvements.

Seeing your growth compared to this time last year can really reveal if your marketing efforts are paying off or need to be improved.

This data can easily be pulled from Google Analytics…See my year over-year increases below.

Year Over Year Traffic Increases

Organic Traffic Chart

These are some really big improvements here and keep in mind that these are Organic Traffic statistics and not Total Traffic.

As you can see Organic Traffic is up 1,200% when comparing year-over-year (169 visits vs. 13 visits).

The blue line in the screenshot above represents June 2018 Organic Traffic and the orange line represents June 2017 Organic Traffic.

I am very happy with a 1,200% increase in Organic Traffic and plan on continuing this trend with the SEO work I have planned moving forward.

Search Engine Rankings

Over the past 12 months or so my search engine rankings are really making headway and many of the keyword phrases I’m tracking are increasing in position in the Google search results. Furthermore, many keywords are also making it to the first page of Google which is why my organic traffic is improving as you can see in my analysis above.

Below is just a partial snapshot to show that I’m hitting the first page for various terms (the reason my keywords aren’t in there is because I cannot let you know which phrases I’m targeting, that is confidential information :)).

The left column “Rank” is what position I am currently at in Google search results for a given keyword phrase.

Search Engine Ranking Increases

I also wanted to highlight below the progress of a specific keyword that is highly targeted to my audience over the past 12 months or so. It was all the way down to position #120+ and now for the past 6 months it’s been on the first page of Google (and creeping towards the top 3 positions).

This SEO tool tracks the keywords rankings daily which is why there is so much variation in the screenshot below:

SEO Rankings

Blogging Strategies That Have Helped Me See This Growth

Here are a few main strategies that I use/used to really expand my audience and increase my Organic Traffic, some of which was stated above.

1.) Consistent Content Generation– I publish anywhere from 4-8 blog posts per month. This comes out to around 1-2 blog posts per week. It’s important that the content I publish is at the very minimum 500 words long. In-depth, helpful articles that are valuable to your readers is the best approach with content generation. I also make sure the content is optimized properly to be able to get recognized in the search results.

2.) On-Going Link Building Work: I am consistently writing guest blog posts for other authoritative websites in my general niche. This helps me build quality backlinks that really help my overall SEO, search engine rankings and organic traffic.

3.) Making the Switch to Https: This was an important move for me and resulted in more security for my website, increased search engine rankings and organic traffic as you can see in the data above.

4.) YouTube: I recently started working on my YouTube channel again and the additional exposure has helped increase my traffic slightly.

5.) Accepting Guest Posts: Since I started accepting guest posts, my traffic has increased. If you’re interested in this strategy yourself, make sure you only accept the highest-quality articles and check them for plagiarism with Copyscape or a similar tool.

6.) On-Going Maintenance: This includes ensuring my site is healthy from a technical SEO perspective. Fixing any broken links (404 errors), redirect chains, pages with “thin” content etc.

Remember with some of the strategies above (for example, content generation and link building) that consistency is everything.

This has to be a weekly/monthly strategy if you want to build an authority blog.

Thanks for reading my blogging report for June 2018.

I hope this information is helpful to you and sparks some ideas or motivation to try the strategies that I laid out above

If you haven’t started your blog yet, you should check out my post here.

If you have started your blog, how have your results been?

5 Tips to Grow Your Business Very Quickly

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Tips to Grow Your Business

Running a small business isn’t easy. With more and more startups being launched, it takes a lot of hard work to get your business noticed. However, if you fail to grow your business, all those other companies will start to outperform you and make surviving in the market impossible. That said, one of the most important goals you need to set is growing your business. And if you want to do this fast, here are five tips that can really help.

Use social media

With so many people using social media, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have become one of the best places for attracting new clients. And if you want your business to grow fast, attracting more and more clients is an absolute must. That said, you might want to think about creating social media pages for your business. You can use these to share content social media users will want to engage in. Just remember that the more quality content you share, the more users will check out your pages and browse your products.

Form partnerships

When running a small business, it’s also very important that you partner up with the right companies. Of course, identifying those companies is much easier said than done. The best way to start is to take a look at businesses that offer similar but not the same products you do. Contact them and try to come up with a deal that both parties will be able to benefit from. Besides partnering up with other companies, you should also look for influencers in your niche who might want to become your brand ambassadors.

Keep an eye on your competition

Another important thing you should do if you want to take your business to another level fast is keep an eye on your competition. That way, you’ll be able to figure out what types strategies are working well for them. Luckily, researching your competition is now easier than ever. All you need to do is visit their website and social media pages as often as possible. There are also various tools you can use to help this process as well. Besides doing research on your competition, you might also want to take a closer look at companies in your niche from abroad and see if there’s anything you can learn from them.

Deal with problems

Every entrepreneur starts experiencing problems at some point. Your business might be able to keep operating even if you choose to ignore these but overcoming any issues that come up is recommended. For instance, if you’re in the food or manufacturing industry and you start experiencing low voltage problems, turning to power quality experts is a good idea. Also, if your clients fail to make their payments on time, you should turn to a company that offers unpaid invoice collection services.

Create viral videos

The internet has undergone a lot of change and staying on top of the most recent trends is essential to business success. Some of the newest trends could help you obtain loads of new customers in a short time span, which is exactly what you should be aiming at. We’re talking about trends such as viral videos. Creating just one of these can do wonders for your business. Of course, creating a viral video isn’t going to be easy, and you’ll need to put a lot of time and effort into it.

When it comes to business, there’s no recipe for instant success, no matter what niche you’re in. However, with these five tips in your arsenal, you’ll be able to reach milestones that can catapult your business to success.

Author Bio:

Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in topics related to finances and latest business technologies. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family. Follow Diana her on Twitter and Google+.

 

 

Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

The Conversion Pros Review- My Honest Review of The Conversion Pros Tool Suite

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The Conversion Pros

It’s not often that I write a review and recommend a specific product on my blog, but I’ve been using The Conversion Pros tool suite for a little while now and really think it could be a huge benefit to so many online marketers and business owners.

Before we get any further in The Conversion Pros review, please use my link here to sign up.

Not only will you get my 100% support, help and assistance if needed, but I will also send you two powerful YouTube training videos absolutely free as a bonus (that quite frankly I keep private for a reason)…This is really quality content that can help you take your business to the next level.

As we all know, online marketing tools can get very pricey buying them individually and can also be a great source of confusion for most beginner marketers.

Between finding the right autoresponder, creating compelling capture pages and crafting an email follow-up series, it’s no wonder why so many people give up so quickly in this industry.

They are simply paralyzed by the overwhelming process that it takes to create a quality sales funnel.

This is a major reason why I highly recommend The Conversion Pros, because it’s dead simple to put together a professional sales funnel in no time at all.

It’s a simple, yet robust tool suite that I wish I had years ago when I started my online journey.

I still use many other marketing platforms, but if you’re the kind of person who wants all of your tools under one roof, then this is the system for you.

The Conversion Pros Review- Is It Worth It?

Well judging by how I started this article, the answer is absolutely yes!

And to put it simply, for many marketers this should be a no-brainer.

At only $50 per month, you get everything you need to take your business (or someones else’s) to the next level.

Also, if you sell two subscriptions of The Conversion Pros system yourself, you now have a completely free tool suite…But more on this below.

Here’s just a preview of what you get by being a member of The Conversion Pros:The Conversion Pros Review

  • Capture Page Creator
  • Email Auto-Responder
  • Email Broadcaster
  • Tiny URL Creator
  • Text Message (SMS) Broadcaster
  • Voice Message Broadcaster
  • Blog Creator
  • Invoice Creator
  • Facebook Support Group
  • On-Going Training/Webinars
  • Affiliate Access & Tools
  • And MUCH MORE!

This is a complete business in a box and all of the tools work seamlessly together and are extremely user-friendly.

You can have a brand new funnel up and running in minutes really.

You can tell the owner has put a lot of work/thought into this platform and is as transparent as they come, with excellent training and on-going support.

Besides the kick ass tool suite, the affiliate program for The Conversion Pros is simple to understand and offers the potential to earn an excellent side income (or even more).

The Conversion Pros Compensation Plan & Affiliate Program

Easy to understand compensation plans are so much better.

Whenever a compensation plan gets too confusing, it’s usually a warning sign in my opinion or a pyramid scheme.

This is another reason why I love The Conversion Pros, because their compensation plan is incredibly easy.

Becoming a member of The Conversion Pros affiliate program is free once you create your account.

Each person that purchases The Conversion Pros tool suite from your affiliate link will earn you a 50% commission or $25 per sale since the platform sells for $50 total.

So let’s do some math here:

  • Refer 2 people to make $50 per month (now you have a free membership!)
  • Refer 10 people to make $250 per month.
  • Refer 50 people to make $1,250 per month.
  • Refer 100 people to make $2,500 per month.
  • Refer 400 people to make $10,000 per month.

It really doesn’t get much better than that and remember The Conversion Pros is a suite of tools that everyone needs in their business.

So it will ultimately sell itself.

Conclusion of The Conversion Pros

I’ve been a long-term member of The Conversion Pros tool suite and I can really vouch for the quality of the platform.

My rating for The Conversion Pros is a solid 5/5.

It hits on all levels, including reasonable pricing, tool quality & effectiveness, responsive customer support and overall convenience.

If I were you, this is something I would definitely take for a test run!

As an added bonus if you sign up through my link below, I will provide you with the support and any additional training you need to start marketing your affiliate link.

When you link arms with me, we become a team and will work together to get the most out of the system.

Hopefully The Conversion Pros review that I put together on this page will give you more clarity when making a decision.

It gets my full approval and recommendation and is a system that I know will be a big part of your arsenal moving forward.

To sign up for The Conversion Pros, please use my link here!

Please also send me an email after telling me that you “signed up from my blog”…This way I can give you your free bonus.

If you’d rather watch my review on YouTube for The Conversion Pros, here it is!

The Conversion Pros Review | Honest Review of The Conversion Pros

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