Network Security in Digital Marketing: 5 Tips to Keep Your Marketers and Customers Safe

Network Security in Digital Marketing

Your marketers are not cybersecurity experts, nor should you treat them as such. However, that doesn’t mean that cybersecurity is detached from digital marketing, or that your marketers shouldn’t understand the basics of online security for the sake of their privacy, your customers’ security, and your brand’s image. In fact, given the number of tools, devices, and accounts your marketers use on a daily basis for work purposes, it’s safe to say that your digital marketing department is filled with potential security weaknesses that hackers and scammers can try to exploit.

Of course, you can’t allow any sensitive data to end up in the wrong hands if you are to preserve your brand’s reputation, which is why you need to invest in everything from blog security to social media security and beyond. With that said, let’s take a closer look at the most effective ways to improve cybersecurity in digital marketing in order to keep your marketers and customers safe.

Monitor social media activity for security threats

Social media marketing is one of the biggest parts of any modern digital marketing strategy, but not many businesses stop to consider the potential security threats that it brings. The pursuit of social media visibility, awareness, and success in general can often cloud our judgement and lull us into a false sense of security, which is when we start missing potential warning signs.

In reality, there are many potential threats that may lie in wait in the social media realm, and your marketers need to be able to spot them. They also need to handle sensitive data with vigilance, meaning that they should check and then double-check all social media communication with customers for any signs of phishing or potential cyber-attacks. Make sure to educate your employees on proper user authentication on social media to avoid giving sensitive information to the wrong person, and help them internalize the methods for safe communication on social media in general.

Retain full control of your company’s network

 

No matter how much you educate your marketers on safe data handling and communication online, there is no guarantee that they won’t give our sensitive information inadvertently. Scammers and hackers are becoming more proficient in their trades every day, and one of your marketers might inadvertently download a malicious piece of software without ever realizing – and by then it can be too late.

To prevent a downright PR disaster that would ensue after a successful data breach, consider integrating a web monitoring tool into your organization and especially in your marketing department. This is one of those essential tools you can use to keep your employees safe by monitoring the network activity, restricting access to dubious websites, and reacting to potential security threats that your employees might have missed.

Combine software and hardware firewalls

company and your marketing department should be protected by a strong software firewall. Now, your cloud provider should give you a software solution that will address the specific needs of your marketing department in order to keep them safe online. That said, a software firewall is one side of the security coin.

The other important side is your firewall hardware solution that acts as a physical barrier between your network and the outside world, one that allows you to monitor all traffic, spot threats quickly, and is able to cover your entire network even when the system is down. Combining software and hardware firewalls is a great way to build a comprehensive security system that will keep your marketers and customers’ user accounts safe at all times.

Educate employees on email security

 

Another security loophole that your marketers need to be constantly aware of is email communication. Many a time, scammers and hackers will try to gain access to your system and extract sensitive information via malicious emails, and while you do need to integrate a tool that allows you to monitor email communication, you should also educate your employees on email security threats. Be sure to conduct a few workshops on email security where you will underline the best practices for avoiding scams and handling all data in a safe way.

Improve the security of all user accounts

 

Last but not least, you need to make sure that all customer data is safely stored on your servers, and that your marketers are doing everything it takes to keep the customers safe. When managing user accounts, make sure that none are compromised, which is you can usually see if the account has too many access requests and failed logins, sudden changes in account information, logins from unknown locations, and the like. This will ensure that the users on your site are protected, which will allow you to preserve your brand’s image and trust factors in the competitive online world.

Wrapping up

 

Digital marketing is the driving force behind long-term business growth, but it can also be your biggest weakness if you don’t invest in cybersecurity. By following these steps and integrating the right security measures, you will be able to safeguard your marketers and your customers in 2020 and beyond.


Raul Harman - Technivorz

Author Bio:

Lauren is a regular Bizzmark Blog author that has many articles published with the main focus on clients who want their brands to grow in the fast-changing and demanding market. Her personal favorites are successes of small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs. She goes through life with one strong moto – Kindness, always.

 


Effective and Innovative Ways to Attract Millennials to Your Ecommerce Store

This is a guest post written by Raul Harman.

The tech-savvy millennial generation is taking up the majority of consumer force around the globe.  Companies, especially ecommerce businesses, must now rethink their approach to attract this generation to their stores. As you may already know, millennials aren’t easy to work with. 

The main reason is that they grew up around the technology and they have specific preferences because of it. Moreover, they grew up during two major recessions in the world, and they are living through a third one now, so they are careful about spending and won’t go on a shopping spree anytime soon. It seems next to impossible to cater to the needs of this generation.

However, just because it seems impossible to manage millennials, it doesn’t mean that it is. You just have to be creative and innovative enough to get their attention. With that in mind, here are a few effective and innovative ways to attract millennials to your ecommerce store.

Be mobile-friendly

If there’s something millennials prefer, it’s to browse the web using their smartphones. Yes, they seem glued to their phones, and nothing can divert their attention from it.

This is your way into their world. The best way to attract millennials is to fully optimize your ecommerce store for mobile. If it isn’t mobile-friendly, millennials won’t bother with it. Here are a few things you can do:

  • Opt for mobile-first indexing – In terms of SEO, mobile-first indexing will boost the visibility of your store for mobile search.
  • Use AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) – This is a way to create fully optimized mobile pages of your store that load quickly and have seamless navigation and design. 
  • Use responsive design – This design can adapt to any screen size and any device.
  • Reduce heavy content – Heavy content may help you in more ways than one, but it’s difficult to view on a mobile device.
  • Improve loading speed – Millennials aren’t known to be a patient sort. Even a second delay in page loading times can reduce conversions by 7%.

Improve the checkout process

Like many other consumers, millennials prefer a seamless checkout process. They don’t want any obstacles, delays or inconveniences standing between them and their purchase. Therefore, the entire shopping experience and the check out process are additional things that should be optimized for mobile.

Furthermore, if you want to be innovative, you should redesign the payment processing as well. We live in a world where effective Bitcoin mining is a genuine trend, especially among millennials. They love the idea of digital currencies, and they prefer to use it. So, try implementing cryptocurrencies as payment methods at your ecommerce store. 

This will certainly get their attention and even encourage them to buy from you. Simply put, an intuitive checkout process and shopping experienced optimized for mobile with cryptos as payment methods is the way to get millennials to your store.

Enhance your messaging

An interesting fact about millennials is that they like to communicate with businesses and brands. If you want their attention, you’ll have to reach out to them. 

If you’re developing a brand for your ecommerce store, make sure you use the right tone when engaging millennials. That said, try to be more informative than trying to sell them stuff. More importantly, ask them for feedback. 

Millennials prefer when businesses do this, especially when business create user-generated content based on the feedback they received. Therefore, craft your messages so that you can really get the attention of the millennial generation. Here are a few things you can do:

  • Start a blog – Millennials like to interact with businesses through blogs.
  • Be active on social media – Millennials dwell on social media most of the time, and these platforms are the best means of communicating with them.
  • Personalize your email newsletters – Personalization is highly regarded by millennials.
  • Post relevant content – Original content is king and millennials like various formats, such as videos and podcasts. 

Offer something free

Everyone likes free incentives, not just millennials. When it comes to the millennial generation, offering them something for free can mean the difference between gaining their attention and them ignoring your business altogether. 

Something free doesn’t have to be anything major. You can offer them a free eBook, a premium video, a coupon or a discount. Even such small gestures can go a long way in developing a meaningful relationship with your millennial audience. 

If you want to go the extra mile to gain their attention and encourage them to convert, you can also offer them free shipping. Unlike their predecessors, millennials prefer to look for a reason to engage with a business. Sometimes that’s powerful brand messaging, while sometimes it’s free stuff. 

Millennials are not a simple consumer group to please. Their shopping behavior greatly differs from the behavior of older generations. That’s why ecommerce stores have such difficult times attracting millennial attention. For what it’s worth, you just have to think of a slightly different approach because millennials aren’t so hard to get as it would seem.


Raul Harman - Technivorz

Author Bio:

My name is Raul and I am editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. Please take a minute to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 


 

5 Ways to Improve Customer Experience and Make it Your Strongest Marketing Tool

This is a guest post written by Raul Harman.

Digital marketing covers a wide array of tools and methods we use to drive business growth and long-term success. But for all the tools you’re using and the talented marketers under your wings, there is no denying that customer experience is the ultimate way to gauge a brand’s performance. How so? Well, simply put, the customer is always right, and if your CX metrics are underperforming, you can bet that your entire brand will suffer as a result.

This is why improving your customers’ experience should be one of your top priorities, especially if you are to unlock the true potential of your digital marketing strategy, your sales and support, and your brand as a whole. Now that you know why it matters, let’s take a look at the best ways to enhance CX and make it the strongest marketing tool in your arsenal.

Asking for customer feedback

The first and most obvious way to improve CX over the long term is to gather as much feedback about your company as possible. This feedback should encompass all aspects of your business, including:

  • The customer’s experience on your site
  • Their experience on social media
  • Their experience in your store or office
  • The customer’s experience with your products and services
  • The customer’s experience with your brand and marketing
  • Their experience with every touchpoint they have with your brand

There is a lot of data to pull here, and the more feedback you ask them to give, the more valuable information will you be able to feed into your CX strategy. You can gather valuable feedback by:

  • Monitoring website KPIs and metrics
  • Sending out surveys via email and social media
  • Offering quick pop-up questionnaires on your site
  • Incentivizing feedback with a quick rating system
  • Calling customers to ask for a more elaborate feedback
  • Inspiring them to leave testimonials and reviews
  • Asking your online audience to for honest user-generated content

Providing a seamless website experience

Your website is your most valuable asset in the online world. You can’t expect your visitors and customers to be satisfied with your brand if your website is underperforming in any way, which is one of the reasons why many online ventures ultimately fail. In other words, boosting the usability and performance of your site is paramount to long-term success nowadays.

Ideally, your website should run smoothly and load quickly, and it should be functional: meaning that you should integrate features like a search bar, filters, and a sitemap to make browsing seamless. You also need to optimize it for mobile viewing to rank higher and appeal to a wider audience.

However, this is not enough to improve CX across the board. Your website needs substance as well, meaning that you need to provide your customers with amazing storytelling, captivating messages, and impeccable branding. Remember to invest in visuals and combine various types of content to keep the customer engaged throughout their journey.

Focusing heavily on providing stellar support

One of the most important, if not the most important, elements of CX is providing stellar support to your customers. Nowadays, customers want and need to communicate with their favorite brands on a regular basis, and they want to do it on their own terms. You cannot force them to write you an email if they want to call you, nor will you be able to get them on the phone if they want to shoot you a message. 

This is why it’s important to unify your communications and boost your support strategy by integrating a cloud-based platform like VoIP. Some of the leading hosted VoIP providers offer low-cost phone calls, video and audio conferencing, messaging and mobile apps, as well as various other communication tools to help you interact with customers in real time. However, one of the most important features of VoIP is its integrated call analytics tool, which you can use to extract valuable data and use it to fuel your CX strategy.

Emphasizing customer safety on your site

Another important element of customer satisfaction which you can use to enhance their overall experience is to simply emphasize the safety and security of your website. In a world filled with scammers and hackers trying to steal sensitive data, customers need to know that their information is safe with your brand.

Be sure to focus on improving the security of your blog, your Ecommerce store, and your entire digital presence by migrating to the cloud and integrating advanced cybersecurity measures. What’s more, make sure that your customers know it, and position security badges strategically on your site to improve brand trust, loyalty, and the customer’s experience.

Ensuring brand consistency across all channels

Lastly, remember that your customers want a unified, seamless, and consistent experience across all touchpoints. Your brand’s personality and tone of voice must not be different depending on the platform they’re using, or you’d risk alienating them for good. 

Make sure to project the same brand image across the online and offline worlds, including your site, social media, other authority websites, forums, online ads and offline ads, communication and support, and beyond. This will ensure brand consistency that will further build trust in your brand.

Wrapping up

Customer experience can be the strongest marketing tool in your arsenal, but you need to know how to improve it and use it to your advantage. With these tips in mind, go ahead and build a more powerful CX strategy that will take your business forward in the years to come.

 


Raul Harman - Technivorz

Author Bio:

My name is Raul and I am editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. Please take a minute to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 


 

Smart Ways to Take Care of your Blog’s Security

WordPress Blog Security Tips

For many people around the world, blogging is the main revenue stream. However, to monetize your blogging efforts, you first need to build trust with your target audience and position your blog as a trusted online resource. 

One of the key factors to consider is the security of your blog. 

Namely, your blog can get hacked in multiple ways – via the hosting panel, malicious code injections, outdated plugins, administrator accounts, unsafe themes, etc. While some attackers will only want to change the appearance of your blog, others may trick your visitors into giving them sensitive data or installing an infected program.

Bad experiences with your website will not only affect your conversions and bottom line. They may harm your reputation in the long-run, too. Once you lose your target audience’s trust, it may be difficult for you to regain it.

Here are a few brilliant cybersecurity tactics that will help you protect your blog.

Learn the Basics of Cybersecurity

Cyber negligence is the number one cause of cyberattacks. Any unintended action, such as clicking on a suspicious link or downloading an infected file, may lead to dramatic consequences for your blog. To avoid that, you need to learn the basics of information security.

Now, there are many online resources on cybersecurity for you to download for free, but they may often be confusing to anyone with little or no technical knowledge. To really learn to protect your blog, find the best cybersecurity courses for beginners to enroll in. Through professional assistance and peer-to-peer communication, it will be easier for you to understand how cybersecurity principles work in real-life situations. 

Limit Access to your Blog

Generic WordPress admin accounts are a super-easy entry point of attack. That is why you should delete them and create a new administrator account. 

Moreover, limit access to your WP blog. For example, there is no reason to allow guest authors to register on your WP site. Go to “Settings” and turn off the “Anyone can register” option. If several editors are publishing on the blog, make sure they have unique usernames and strong passwords. If someone stops collaborating with you, delete their account.

Create Strong Passwords

Weak and predictable passwords, such as your birthday or name, are common cybersecurity threats. Cybercriminals use sophisticated password-cracking methods, such as dictionary attacks, phishing attacks, or brute force attacks to crack almost any password combination. To make their job more difficult, you need to create complex, uncrackable passwords for each online account:

  • Create random passwords that do not include any personal data.
  • Do not use sequential numbers (1,2,3).
  • Use the mixture of characters (upper-case letters, lower-case letters, symbols, and numbers)
  • Never use memorable keyword paths (QWERTY).
  • Use unique passwords for each account.

Use Secure and Up-to-Date Plugins

In the WordPress ecosystem, there is a plugin for everything. However, when installing plugins, you should always check how secure they are. Here are a few rules to remember:

  • Never install unsafe plugins from shady sources.
  • Update plugins regularly. Outdated plugins are simpler to hack. If a plugin does not have an update, uninstall it.
  • Always remove plugins you do not need anymore. They will only clutter your code and attract cybercriminals.

Use Trusted Themes

Similar to plugins, unsafe and outdated WP themes are a perfect opportunity for online hackers to infiltrate into your blog and install malicious code. That is why you should always download the themes from reliable sources. Once you stop using the WP theme, delete it immediately.

Keep your Devices Safe from Malware

Start by investing in a paid antimalware solution to protect you against advanced cybersecurity hacks. Today, cybersecurity tools are cloud-based, meaning you will be able to use them across multiple devices. 

If your site runs on WordPress, install a reliable security plugin for WP. With plugins like Sucuri SiteCheck, Search Console, and Wordfence Security, you will be able to scan for malware, outdated software, and malicious scripts and bridge those security gaps faster.

Choose a Reliable Hosting Provider

If you are running a self-hosted blog, pay special attention to your hosting provider. Make sure they use appropriate cybersecurity measures. Most importantly, ask a web hosting vendor about their technical support. In case of a cyberattack, their support team should assist you in solving the problem.

Invest in an SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate ensures that the data, such as customer login details, signups, email addresses, is safely transmitted from and to your website. SSL encrypts user sensitive data and prevents attackers from intercepting and opening it.

Apart from keeping your data safe, switching from HTTP to HTTPS will also build trust with your target audience. Namely, blogs that use an SSL certificate are displayed in web browsers with a security padlock in the address bar. On the other hand, sites that still use HTTP are labeled as unsafe. That may impact their credibility and discourage users from signing up.

Perform Regular Backups

Knowing that you can restore your blog content anytime, you will feel much safer. That is why you should build and maintain a regular backup schedule for your blog. 

For example, you can perform backups yourself or get a web hosting provider that provides automatic backups. You could also use cloud storage plugins, such as Dropbox or Google Drive, to store your blog data. 

Over to You

Blogging is a serious business. As such, it takes time, energy, and resources. Your goal is to establish and nurture a spotless brand image and gain reader trust. That is why blog security should be your priority.

Remember, it only takes one mistake for your target audience to have a different perception of your blog. After a cyberattack, people will view your blog as an unsafe place for them, which may directly impact your conversions and bottom line.

I hope these cybersecurity tips will help you take care of your blog. 

 


Author Bio:

Lauren - Content ProLauren is a regular Bizzmark Blog author that has many articles published with the main focus on clients who want their brands to grow in the fast-changing and demanding market. Her personal favorites are successes of small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs. She goes through life with one strong moto – Kindness, always.

 


 

Here’s How to Choose a Kickass Domain Name for Your Startup

How to Choose a Domain Name

This is a guest post written by Raul Harman.

Every new startup in the market needs a recognizable name for their online presence because, without a proper online presence, it’s like you don’t exist at all. This is where a domain name plays a truly vital role. 

As you may already know, a domain name is basically your online business name, as well as an online address. Therefore, choosing a kickass domain name is essential. However, choosing the right name isn’t as easy as it seems. 

The main reason is that you need to take the time to consider what’s best for your startup and choose a domain name you won’t have to change later on. 

The problem is that the majority of domain names are either already taken or reserved for someone planning to start a business, which means you’ll have to come up with something unique. 

Still, everything is possible if you put your mind into it. That said, here’s how to choose an awesome domain name for your startup business.

What makes a great domain name?

Choosing a domain name can be difficult. It’s like creating a character in an online game where every name you can think of is already taken, so you pick something at random out of sheer frustration and end up regretting your decision afterwards. 

Picking something random when it comes to domain names is a mistake that should best be avoided at all costs. To help you understand and simplify the process, here are a few factors that make a great domain name you should have in mind:

  • It’s short and simple
  • It’s understandable and easy to read
  • It’s recognizable and memorable
  • It’s unique to your business
  • It’s well-written and free of any grammatical errors
  • It’s catchy and witty (optional)

Don’t complicate things

If you follow the above mentioned guidelines, you’ll be able to come up with something great. However, you’ll also be undoubtedly tempted to complicate things a bit so that you can have a domain name that’s already taken. For instance, you’re aiming for the “mybusiness” domain name, but that one is already taken. 

It might seem like a good idea to spice things up, such as choosing a “123my-business” for your domain name. This is probably the biggest mistake you can make. The main reason is that by using numbers or hyphens in your domain name, you’re branding your business and website as spam. In other words, people will avoid your website as soon as they see the URL. 

Your best bet is to avoid complicating things and especially avoid using hyphenated domain names. As mentioned before, keep things short and simple so that you don’t mistakenly confuse the target audience you want to lead back to your website or any other content-filled page. 

Go for the right extension

It’s no secret that the most important aspect of your domain name is the so-called TLD (Top-Level Domain). 

Moreover, the actual name in your domain is called SLD (Second Level Domain). Therefore, choosing the right extension, such as .com, .org or .info, as well as any other relevant extension for your domain name, is of vital importance. 

It seems silly to focus on the last segment of your domain name first, but that’s how it goes if you want a truly kickass domain name. There are a variety of TLDs to choose from, with .com being the most popular and most commonly used one. 

However, going for the obvious option isn’t always the best way to approach this matter. The fact of the matter is that there are other popular TLDs that can make your entire domain name more unique. That said, unique domain names get more attention and are more memorable than the common ones. 

For example, opting for a .me TLD is a way to personalize your domain name and make it quite catchy. This is a country-code TLD that’s quite popular these days. Therefore, deciding to go for a non-dotcom extension can oftentimes be a unique opportunity to ensure recognition for your startup business.

Choosing a unique domain name

Finally, it’s time to choose the actual domain name for your startup. If you really want something unique, it’s advisable to pick a domain name that either includes a relevant keyword in it or a domain name that’s branded. 

Branded domains are a more viable option if you’re considering branding your startup at some point. If not, a keyword domain will do just fine, as long as it’s relevant to something your startup offers, such as products or services, for instance. The right domain name with the right extension will ensure proper visibility, recognition, and credibility for your startup business. 

Domain names are essential for any business, not just startups. Choosing the right name, therefore, requires time, dedication and effort. If you decide to skimp on this process, you’ll end up having a domain name that doesn’t really represent your business, as well as a domain name that consumers simply don’t find appealing enough to explore further.


Raul Harman - Technivorz

Author Bio:

My name is Raul and I am editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. Please take a minute to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 


 

How To Monetize A WordPress Blog (6 Practical Methods You Can Try)

How To Monetize a WordPress Blog (Practical Methods)

Definitely one of the more common questions I receive is “how do I monetize my WordPress blog?”.

Many beginner bloggers get to the point where they set up their WordPress website, start publishing content and then are completely lost when it comes to monetizing it to earn extra income.

First, let me say that you must make sure that you are not starting a blog just for the sake of making money.

This is a sure fire way to fail and not generate a loyal following/readership.

On the other hand, if you are blogging to provide value instead of blogging strictly for income, then monetizing your website in certain ways can really pay off.

Of course as bloggers we want to earn some revenue from our efforts, but always be sure to put your readers first by answering questions, solving problems, providing solutions and producing high-quality content.

From there, the income will follow!

With that out of the way, let’s go over 6 practical methods on how to monetize a WordPress blog.

6 Methods for Monetizing Your WordPress Blog

A quick recommendation is to first focus on building up your blog a bit before you begin to monetize it heavily. Try to gain a little momentum first and generate a steady stream of traffic before trying the methods below. This way you will learn the foundational steps of content generation, search engine optimization, traffic generation etc., before you worry too much about earning an income. Once you gain more and more traction, these WordPress monetization strategies below will be a great way to get started.

1.) Build Your Email List

Any and every blogger should be building their email list. This is one of the best ways to monetize your WordPress blog as it offers a direct line of communication for those who opt-in to your list. You can simply place an opt-in form in your side widgets, at the top/bottom of your website, or trigger an exit pop-up whenever someone tries to leave your website (see screenshot below of my side widget email opt-in form). There are many WordPress plugins and tools to help you create attractive subscription forms. To entice people to subscribe to your email list, make sure you offer them something for free in return for their email address. This could be a free video training series, e-book, webinar, coaching call etc. Make this a valuable giveaway to have a better chance of people buying your paid products in the future, further along in your funnel. Build up the trust right from the start.

How To Monetize WordPress Blog

You’ll want to create an email follow-up series for your subscribers as well (7 days worth of automated emails or longer is recommended). A pretty good rule of thumb is to provide 80% informational/helpful emails and 20% that are promotional/sell your services or products. If you were to just sell to your subscribers in every email, they would quickly and easily hit the “unsubscribe” button and never return. Collecting email addresses and building a relationship with your email subscribers is one of the best ways a blogger can monetize their WordPress website. Eventually this can be an incredible way to earn income from your blog.

For bloggers, the email marketing software I highly recommend is ConverKit. They offer flexible pricing and also a free account for people to test out their services. You can also read my full ConvertKit review here to get more details!

2.) Affiliate Marketing (Recommend/Sell Products You Personally Use)

This has been a great monetization strategy for me personally and I would say one of the easier methods bloggers can try out for themselves. Affiliate marketing is actually how I made my first ever sale from my WordPress blog. I sold a simple web hosting package from HostGator and made $65!

Affiliate marketing is when you sell someone else’s product and earn a certain percentage of each commission. One of the simplest and most ethical ways to approach affiliate marketing is to recommend products to your visitors and email list that you personally use or have used in the past. Make sure these are high-quality products that you think would benefit the readers of your blog. For example, I have a dedicated page on my website “Recommended Tools” that shows people some of the services that I use to run my online business. This page contains affiliate links to these particular internet marketing tools and I’ve also added this page to my main navigation for increased visibility (see screenshot below).

How To Monetize Your WordPress Blog

Another form of affiliate marketing you can try is writing product reviews on your website. So this would be individual blog posts crafted around a particular product you’ve tried. If you optimize these properly, they have a great chance of getting ranked highly on Google which can in return generate targeted traffic for the life of that post. You can review products you’ve both liked and disliked. For the blog posts of products you’ve disliked, you can recommend a better alternative product with your affiliate link at the end of the article. I see this method being used a lot. Just make sure you write these product reviews in moderation. You want most of your content to be valuable and informational. But by all means, every once in a while, throw a product review into the mix. This could really be helpful to people who are maybe on the fence about a particular product. There’s also a lot of monthly search volume for “review” type keywords, which makes this strategy very effective.

Examples: To see an example of a post that earns me affiliate commissions on autopilot, check this out. Also, I wanted to highlight one of my coaching students Chuck from CigarPals.com, who utilizes this method to create really high-quality cigar reviews, see here.

3.) Sell Your Own Products

Selling your own products can be a great way to earn an income from your WordPress blog. There are many different types of products a blogger can create and then sell. For example, I see bloggers selling e-books, video courses, webinar series, software, marketing tools, physical books, clothing, music, artwork, graphics and much more. What you sell as a blogger really depends on your type of website and the niche you operate in. The powerful thing about selling your own products is that 100% of the earnings are yours (unlike affiliate marketing). If you have a good product or product line that you’ve created, sky is truly the limit to how much you can earn from your website.

4.) Sell Coaching or Consulting Services

Selling coaching or consulting services can be a great monetization strategy for many bloggers. Even if you know just a little bit more about a particular topic than someone else, your information is valuable and can earn you an extra income stream. Now if you truly specialize in something, that’s where the big money can be earned. For me personally, my coaching/consulting is the biggest income generator for my website. It’s also the most predicable as people are constantly looking for additional help and support in a given area.

Once your blog starts generating more traffic, simply set up a designated page to explain your expertise and coaching program. Add a contact form and/or your email address so people can get in touch with you. I like to offer a free 30 minute phone call to both screen and incentivize potential clients. Again, it’s all about providing value upfront first before asking for payment. When gaining momentum with your coaching business, you may find that you have more clients and coaching inquiries that you can handle. This is actually a good problem to have as you can be selective with who you take on board and also charge premium pricing since your time is limited. Be sure to collect testimonials as you grow this part of your business and add them to your coaching page for more credibility. Some tools that have really helped grow my coaching business are Calendly (scheduling), Zoom (screensharing software), ConvertKit (email marketing software), Google Docs & Sheets (homework assignments and reporting) and Elementor (WordPress page builder).

Pro Coaching Tip: If you provide good coaching services to customers, you will be surprised at how many people start referring your services to others. When you get to this point, you can even pay the referrer a certain % of each sale. This is a win-win as current clients will earn money from referring others and you will continue growing your customer base. You can have an army of people marketing your coaching program just because you are providing top notch services. Talk about word of mouth!

5.) Accept Sponsored Blog Content

Another great way for bloggers to monetize their website is by accepting sponsored content. For this strategy, you will need to build up the authority of your blog a bit first and make sure you already have a sufficient amount of content on your website. This strategy is a win-win situation for all parties involved. The publisher gets fresh/unique content for their website and the guest contributor gets more exposure and a backlink to their blog.

The higher your domain authority is and the more traffic you have coming into your website, the more you can charge per sponsored posts. I’ve seen people charging anywhere from $25-$1,000 an article. This can really add up to an additional and consistent stream of income overtime, plus you’ll be getting fresh content to upload to your website. If you do decide to implement the sponsored content advertising strategy on your own WordPress blog, make sure you watch my video here first. Please leave me a “comment” and a “like” and let me know if you have any questions. It covers a lot of ground about sponsored content and provides great insight to get the most out of this particular tactic.

Pro Sponsored Content Tip: Only accept the highest quality content and spot-check any sponsored content submissions with a plagiarism tool such as CopyScape. You only want to publish 100% unique content that will be valuable and helpful to your readers. Duplicate content (that’s been published elsewhere) will do your website no good whatsoever.

6.) Banner Advertising

A simple and popular way to monetize your blog further is through banner advertising. You can either place your own banners on your website to personal and/or affiliate products OR you can sell that space for other companies to advertise their product(s). If you sell advertising space to other companies, you will need to be able to provide them with metrics of your website so they see the value in this. I personally like only using one banner ad on my website, that links to an affiliate product or one of my own products. The more banner ads you put on your website, the more it can tend to clog things up and take away from the content a bit. Make sure to not overdue this strategy and in my opinion, more is less here.

Wrapping Up

Now these are monetization strategies that I personally use on a regular basis, but of course there are additional methods you can try. I didn’t mention tactics such as Google Adsense, Creating Restricted Membership Content, Accepting Donations etc., for example, but know that the possibilities are endless when it comes to monetizing a WordPress blog. Adopt a monetization strategy that works for you and that is unique to your own blogging business. Something that works for one website, may not necessarily be the best method for yours. It’s best to get your feet wet and test the waters to see what yields the most results for your WordPress blog.

If you’re looking for additional help on how to monetize your WordPress blog, make sure to check out my blog coaching services here!

How are you currently monetizing your WordPress blog?

Blogging Report (March 2020) – Organic Traffic Increases of 43.04% Year-Over-Year

Blogging Report (March 2020)

Welcome to another blogging report, this time for March 2020!

I’m writing this in April, reflecting on my March metrics and it’s interesting to see where things are at due to everything that’s been going on lately with COVID-19.

Many businesses have been hit really hard by this pandemic and especially certain brick and mortar stores around the country.

On the other hand, some businesses are actually thriving during these uncertain times.

For me, March 2020 has been my best month to date in terms of revenue and April so far is looking like it will easily surpass March.

I’m not saying this to brag, but more to demonstrate the power of running an online business that is not constricted to a physical location (or constricted to selling physical products).

This is exactly why I’m such an advocate of people starting a blog or a YouTube channel, because there is so much potential/scalability and very little downside.

At the very worst, even if you were to fail (only happens if you quit), you will have more knowledge compared to when you started and a broader set of skills under your belt.

To me, seeing my business expand rather than deteriorate during COVID-19 was a real eye opener and gets me even more motivated to help people acheive the same.

With that being said, let’s jump into March 2020’s traffic numbers.

Organic Traffic (March 2020)- 339 Visits

Organic traffic for March 2020 came in at 339 visits.

This is actually my second highest month all-time in terms of organic traffic and it also correlates with certain keyword ranking increases I’m seeing as well.

Year-Over-Year Organic Traffic Increases (March 2020 vs. March 2019)

When comparing year-over-year, my organic traffic is up 43.04% (339 visits vs. 237 visits).

Comparing organic traffic data year-over-year is an excellent way to gauge if your blog is growing (and by how much).

Increasing my organic visits by 43.04% is definitely something I’m satisfied with as this is an extra 102 set of eyeballs on my website, content, services and products.

Since this traffic is coming in from the search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) it is highly targeted based on what people are searching for to find my website.

Always strive to craft quality content geared towards helping people solve a problem in your niche.

This is a sure fire way to earn a part-time or even full-time living from home, granted you have the right systems in place.

See below for two screenshots that demonstrate my year-over-year growth in organic traffic (from different angles).

Mar. 2020 versus Mar. 2019 (Organic Traffic)

Mar. 2020 versus Mar. 2019 (Longer-term chart)

Organic Traffic During COVID-19 (March 2020 vs. March 2019)

Mar. 2020 (blue) versus Mar. 2019 (orange) (plotted daily)

Next Steps & Blogging Goals

To keep my momentum going, I will continue to implement my normal work of publishing consistent content/optimizing my posts, but I will also be focusing on the tasks laid out below.

1.) Publication of 2 Guest Post Articles on High DA Websites

Finally, I’ve gotten back into a consistent groove of building quality backlinks to my website through guest posting. There has been a define correlation in traffic and keyword ranking increases and consistent guest posting on other authoritative websites. This week I submitted two guest post articles to be published on sites that had a domain authority over 40. This should really help my overall SEO in the coming months once these are published. To learn more about building quality backlinks via guest posting, make sure to check out my video here.

2.) Research/Look Into Hiring a Virtual Assistant

As my income has grown with my online business and the busier I’ve gotten working on different tasks and with different clients, I am considering hiring a virtual assistant to help manage my workload. Certain tasks that are not as important but still necessary to complete, I am ready to delegate to a virtual assistant. This way I can focus on the most important tasks to increase my bottom line and grow my business. I’ve looked into a few services that provide VA’s looking for work, but I still need to do additional research. I have no problem outsourcing certain tasks if it frees up my time and provides me with additional space in my schedule.

3.) Plan/Start Building Out My Membership Website

This has been quietly in the works for a couple of months now. As my coaching/consulting clients have grown, I wanted to create a membership website for anyone I am not able to work with. This is a win-win as not only will this increase my income/free up my time but it will also help me serve a much bigger audience. I will be creating super high-quality video content within this membership website and offer a couple of different price points so the majority of people are able to join. I suspect this membership website will take around 8-12 months to build out completely, but I am looking forward to getting it going. I will most likely be using Memberpress to create this website.

How was your March 2020?

That pretty much wraps it up for this month’s blogging report!

If you would like to follow my blogging progress moving forward, I recommend bookmarking this page here.

You may also want to subscribe to my YouTube channel for additional tips, strategies and secrets.

Need additional help with your blog? Reach out to me here!

How was your March 2020?

How To Work From Home Blogging? A Beginners Guide to Starting a Blogging Career

Work From Home Blogging

Many people have stories and ideas they would like to share with the world. Bloggers often channel their stories from personal experiences that allow them to connect with their audience on an intimate level. With the right strategies, commitment and hard work, you can turn your blog into a full time or part-time income. Like any other venture, your blogging journey will begin with the first step. However, before taking that leap, you must learn a few things to help make the process more manageable.

Here is an in-depth guide to help get you started blogging from home and building your business.

Work From Home Blogging (A Beginners Guide)

1.) Reasons for Starting a Blog

You must have a motive for creating a blog. In order to work from home blogging you need a clear plan guided by clear goals to help you stay focused and generate momentum.

Contrary to the misconception, you do not have to be an excellent writer to run a successful blog; you need the passion to share your knowledge and ideas. One of the reasons why people start blogs is to make money to supplement their primary source of income or as a sole source of livelihood. If you approach the venture well, you can indeed make money from it. The other reason is to share helpful content, experiences and stories with your friends, family, and even the whole world.

Other people blog to find a community to be part of; blogging about a particular topic attracts people with similar interests whom you can share your experiences with. You can also choose to further your skills as a writer through blogging. Before you opt to work from home blogging, make sure it is a venture you will enjoy doing. Remember, blogging is a long-term process and results won’t happen overnight. This needs to be something you can see yourself doing for a while.

2.) Choosing a Niche

Many aspiring bloggers take a lot of time trying to come up with the perfect niche for their website. First things first, pick a niche where you have some experience and expertise in. Also, make sure this is a niche where there are unlimited topics you can write about. Meaning you won’t have any shortage of great content ideas to write about.

Picking a niche that people are already writing about can be a good thing as well because from a business point of view, it means people are interested/searching for that topic. Again, make sure it’s a niche that you’re passionate about and have the knowledge to come up with quality article ideas. For example, it is not wise to start a sports blog if you do not fancy sports.

It’s important to note that by no means do you have to be the #1 expert in your niche. Even if you know just 10% more than most people, plus have the drive to keep learning, this will help you grow your blog. Your journey to find ways of how to successfully work from home may tempt you to pick the most “red hot” or “popular” niche. However, as stated, be careful because it is much better to create a blog around something you are passionate about and/or driven by (strictly from a sustainability standpoint).

3.) Name the Blog

The fact that there are companies that are in the business of naming companies goes to show you how challenging this can be. It is not necessary to hire professional assistance for the process. However, you should research and carefully think of a name that is relevant to your niche, memorable, and preferably short. Since the name of the blog will also serve as its domain name, it needs to be available when you go to purchase it. A blog with the same domain name is easier to find in search engines; hence they have better visibility. Mind mapping is an excellent way to derive a blog name. Write down the topic of your blog then write down words that are relative to the subject; it will give you a list of words to combine. Check the availability of the domain names in your list before picking the most suitable title.

4.) Choose a Web Host

Web hosting allows you to make your blog available online for the audience. Your host is responsible for the safety, security, and availability of the content to the readers when they type or click your URL. Working from home successfully as a blogger depends much on partnering with an excellent hosting company. If you intend to grow a successful blog, you may want to spend a portion of your money on developing a self-hosted, official, and professional blog. Going for a self-hosted blog gives you the freedom to do more, for example, the ability to really customize your website. By picking the right hosting company for your blog, you can focus on how to work from home and continue building your business with confidence.

Once you’ve settled on a domain name for your blog, you will then need to select your hosting plan from the available options. I highly recommend signing up with HostGator as they offer flexible hosting plans and also top-notch customer service. Many hosting plans that last for a year or more generally give you free registration for your domain name, so definitely keep this in mind.

how to work from home successfully

5.) Plan Your Content Strategy

To work from home blogging, you must make sure that you have a clear plan and strategy for generating content. Your blogging career will involve spending a lot of time coming up with high-quality, catchy, exciting, and insightful posts. Since other bloggers may be operating in a similar niche as you, your content needs to stand out and give readers a different and unique perspective compared to the rest. Provide readers with your honest viewpoint about a particular topic. You can even make certain posts light-hearted to include a few jokes. It’s really up to you to discover your writing style.

Researching keywords is an excellent strategy for discovering people’s current discussions, thoughts and search trends. This data you gather will come in handy in ensuring that your content answers the questions of the readers and/or contribute to ongoing conversations on topics relevant to your niche. Decide the frequency and time of your uploads as well so your audience knows when to look forward to their next read. Consistency is key when blogging from home, so make sure you pick a schedule and stick with it.

6.) Designing the Platform

Over the years, WordPress has developed excellent and feature-rich themes and templates; therefore, choosing WordPress eliminates the need to create a design from the beginning. Visit the appearance section and go through the many theme options available. Preview several themes before settling on one. A quality theme generally has many active installs but offers customization to ensure your website still looks unique. A quality theme is also compatible with the latest updates from WordPress, and has excellent user ratings. The reviews, customer support, and responsiveness of the developer are also indications if you should go with a particular theme or not. If the developer responds within a timely manner, then the theme may be suitable.

Do not compromise on the mobile responsiveness and compatibility with your blog and theme. Many people use their smartphones and tablets for many activities these days, including reading their favorite blogs. Therefore, your blog should be adaptable; for instance, it should fit into both large and small screens perfectly to provide excellent viewing for your audience. Picking between light and dark theme is also crucial. You can either ask for the audience’s opinion, make the decision yourself or let the readers make their preference. Additionally, since screen resolutions change often, it is better to use larger fonts to improve the readability of your content.

7.) Marketing your Blog

The best content is not enough to make your blog grow at the speed you may want it to; promotion is mandatory. If you work from home blogging, utilize this quiet time to learn and implement marketing tactics to build your blog’s authority and following. One of the more powerful ways to market your business is through social media. Follow accounts that operate in the same niche as you and that have similar content; collaborate, connect, participate, and use relevant hashtags when posting your own blog articles on your social media platforms. Strive to become an expert and influence in your niche. Also, study the work of your competition’s social media strategy to gain necessary insight and inspiration.

Search engine optimization (SEO) ensures that when people search for relevant keywords, your blog appears among the top results in Google. The meta tags, titles of your articles, the URL, and even your meta description contribute to your page’s SEO. You should utilize a plugin called Yoast to make the SEO tag process easier. You also need to be conscious of the way you structure your content as well. The title and subheadings should be SEO optimized with target keywords. Your content should contain your main keywords and also be very informative and helpful. Compressing and including alt tags to the videos and images in the blog also can help your blog rank higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Guest posting is also excellent for gaining recognition in the blogging society as it not only gives you a larger audience but also builds backlinks, which raises the traffic for your site and helps with keyword rankings in Google. Try sending some pitches to bloggers in your niche for a chance to get your article published on an external website. You will get better at the guest posting process with time, stick with it and remain patient.

(Check out my video here if you’re looking for a more in-depth guide on how to build quality backlinks via guest posting).

8.) How to Generate Income through Blogging

If you intend to work from home blogging, you should know that you cannot monetize your blog by only posting content. You may have started your blog as a hobby, but as time passes, you can turn it into a full-on business in order to successfully work from home. You can choose to sell physical products such as hand-made jewelry, t-shirts etc. or you can sell services such as an online courses, consulting, and freelancing among others. Affiliate marketing is also an option you can take; by recommending a company’s product or service, you earn a commission for every click that results in a purchase.

Advertising is another way of making money through blogging by either posting ads for products and services on your site or doing a sponsored post for the item you wish to promote. However, sponsored content is only relevant if you have a broad and loyal audience. Typically, for you to do a sponsored blog, your traffic should be 5000 or more readers every month. Be careful not to alienate your audience when doing a sponsored post. Come up with a blog post that looks natural and relative to your style of publishing. By launching a simple podcast, you can use the traffic to seek brand sponsorships from companies who wish to tap into a particular group of audience.

Conclusion

It takes time to grow a successful blog and be able to work from home part-time or full-time, however the benefits of running your own business are priceless. Please use these tips to help get you kicked off in the right direction.

Also, if you’re looking for additional one-on-one assistance, please be sure to check out my blog coaching services here!

How Your Digital Agency Can Leverage Client Reports to Prove Value

How Your Digital Agency Can Leverage Client Reports to Prove Value

This is a guest post written by Raul Harman.

Agency-client relationships are very important, and those relationships must be meaningful, frequently somewhat more personal, and maintained at all times. After all, the success of your digital agency depends on client satisfaction.

The relationships with your clients are pretty straightforward; clients expect results and you deliver. However, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. In many cases, it’s difficult for clients to see value even when you provide them with viable results.

Client expectations can be quite overwhelming for digital agencies, mainly because clients don’t really understand how it all works.

Marketing campaigns take time to develop, and results are often small in scale. In time, the results will become more significant, and the value will increase, but that’s the part that’s difficult to communicate to the majority of clients.

Still, difficult doesn’t mean impossible, which is why you have to find a way to portray value to your clients. This is where client reports come into play. With that in mind, here’s how to leverage client reports to prove value.

Understand your clients

The first step towards creating exceptional client-centric reports is to understand your clients well. Understanding your clients’ needs is vital not only for the success of the marketing campaign but also for maintaining a good relationship with them.

The best way to learn what your clients need is to ask them directly. Undoubtedly, you’ve had a chance to negotiate with a client by now. Those negotiations are a perfect time to ask relevant questions regarding their needs and expectations.

The more information you manage to extract, the easier it will be to create reports everyone can understand and prove the value of your actions to them. That said, it’s important to discover to whom you’ll be reporting to.

Reporting to the CEO of the company or the head of the marketing department are two completely different things. In most cases, CEOs are concerned about the company’s profitability, while marketing experts tend to go into details about various tactics and strategies.

Leverage the best tools

The days of sending out chaotic Excel spreadsheets are long behind us. When it comes to client reporting, especially when you have to prove value, you can’t allow yourself to treat a client report as just another document.

The report should be an understandable data-driven presentation that you’ll present to your clients. For that to happen, you should consider leveraging the best digital marketing reporting tools you can find.

A good tool will allow you to extract valuable data from your campaigns and highlight the value of each action you’ve taken during the course of the campaign.

You can also combine results from various strategies, such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay-Per-Click) and social media marketing to show clients how it all comes together to produce viable results and how those results bring value to the company.

Choose the right metrics and KPIs

Creating client reports comes down to extracting insightful data from relevant metrics and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). As you may already know, metrics show your campaign’s progress and activities while KPIs show the value of your efforts and progress towards achieving business objectives.

That said, KPIs should always be aligned with specific business goals. For example, KPIs can be tied to objectives, such as an increase in sales, improvements in ROI (Return On Investment), improvements in customer service etc. That’s why it’s important to draft client reports based on client’s goals and objectives. Here are a few examples of relevant metrics and KPIs agencies should track.

Metrics to track:
KPIs to track:

Of course, which metrics and KPI you should track, depends on specific marketing strategies, campaigns, tactics and client goals. Each scenario is unique, and you must assess the situation before deciding what to track so that you can show value to clients.

Make it simple yet effective

Creating a client report is more than just adding a bunch of words and numbers on a spreadsheet and sending it via email. You have to make sure that a report is insightful, above else.

Moreover, you have to ensure that it’s understandable even by those who aren’t savvy in the marketing jargon and statistical analysis.

Therefore, you should focus on the design of your report. That said, make your reports simple. Here are some of the issues of presenting too much data in your report:

  • It can overwhelm your clients
  • Data may not be understood at all
  • If you’re not there to speak about it, the data may not stand on its own
  • Excess information can be distracting
  • Clients will make their own biased analysis of your data

So, to make things more engaging and to highlight the value of your actions, consider including visuals in your reports. Visuals are more memorable and easy to comprehend. Furthermore, visuals are well-suited for any audience, whether it’s a CEO or a marketing professional.

Be transparent

Portraying and proving value to clients is oftentimes very difficult. Clients can’t always understand what it is that you do or why. For example, a bounce rate of 40% or lower is actually considered good, but your client won’t be able to understand why such high numbers are good, to begin with.

That said, transparency is the key to portraying value and justifying your actions to your clients. Therefore, your reports should consist of more relevant information than just plain-old data. Here are a few examples of being transparent in your reports:

  • Show clients where and why their money is being spent
  • Explain the value of your actions and efforts but be simple about it
  • Include recommendations and advice for future developments for the campaign
  • Prioritize both weekly and monthly reports so that clients are updated regularly
  • Engage in some storytelling to help clients understand your report and the value, of course

Leveraging client reports to prove value is oftentimes mandatory. For digital agencies to remain competitive and relevant, they must ensure client satisfaction and one of the best ways to do so is to craft client-centric reports that will help clients understand the context and the value of your strategies.

Are you currently utilizing reports for your clients?


Raul Harman - Technivorz

Author Bio:

My name is Raul and I am editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. Please take a minute to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 


 

How To Make an Extra $100-500 Per Month Accepting Sponsored Blog Posts?

What Is a Sponsored Blog Post

Today’s post is an exciting one and in my opinion one of the easiest ways to make extra income from your blogging efforts.

The method and strategy we will be discussing is accepting sponsored blog posts.

Before reading further however, if you’re a blogger, make sure that money/income is NOT your sole motivation for running your website.

This is a sure fire way to not succeed in the blogging world.

Focus on providing value first and the income will follow.

With that being said, let’s go over exactly what sponsored blog posts are, how to get them from other webmasters and how to turn this into a monthly recurring income stream.

(Note/Disclaimer: $100-500 per month is what I personally make using this strategy currently, but there’s potential to make a lot more or less than that depending on various factors. There are different variables at play here as you’ll see in the steps below but this could be a great strategy for many bloggers looking to increase their income).

What Is A Sponsored Blog Post?

A sponsored blog post is a guest article submitted to your website, written by another blogger or company, that you would publish to your blog for a fee.

The great thing about sponsored blog content is that it’s a win-win for both parties involved.

Let’s discuss briefly below:

How Does This Benefit The Guest Contributor?

  • They get exposure to their content, brand, product, name and/or business.
  • They are allowed a link to their website (also known as a backlink which is good for SEO) to be placed in their sponsored article. This overtime can help with their search engine rankings in Google.
  • They can receive good referral traffic from people clicking on their link within the article (also, the more sponsored posts a person gets published on different websites, the more referral traffic they will naturally generate overtime).
  • If they post their content on an authoritative website, there’s potential that the article could get plenty of social shares and even rank highly in Google for a given keyword, which means traffic on autopilot!
  • They’ll make great connections and collaborate with other bloggers/webmasters in their niche.

How Does This Benefit The Website Owner/Publisher?

  • They receive fresh and unique content to publish to their website which Google loves.
  • The website owner has the ability to charge $50, $100, $250 or even $500 per sponsored post which can add up to a nice side income. Many companies have no problem paying good money for sponsored blog posts for the benefits described above.
  • Saves website owner time of not having to write the article for themselves. They can also pre-schedule these out far in advance which frees up time and allows the website owner to focus on other areas of their business.

Something I’d like to note is that sponsored blog content should be mixed in with the content you personally produce as well on a monthly basis. You do not want all of the content published on your website to be from external writers.

Your readers most likely found/followed you because of the relationship you’ve built with them through your own content, so make sure you continue to write articles yourself. Do not just rely on sponsored content or your momentum/following might suffer.

Now let’s discuss exactly how to get sponsored posts for your blog!

How to Get Sponsored Posts for your Blog?

Getting people interested in publishing a sponsored post on your blog becomes fairly easy after a certain point, but you do have to go through the steps laid out below first.

The more established your blog is, the more money you will potentially be able to charge external writers.

The process below will provide you with certain checkpoints to focus on so you can begin getting sponsored post submissions and create a new stream of income for your blog.

1.) Write Compelling, Engaging & High-Quality Content

First things first, you must have a healthy dose of high-quality, compelling and engaging content on your website. I wouldn’t even think about accepting a sponsored post until you have at least 50 personal articles published to your website. If someone is interested in publishing content on your blog, they will need to see that you produce really good content to begin with and on a consistent basis.

If they were to come to a website that didn’t look updated and only had a few articles published, there would be no benefit for them to even bother writing a sponsored post. The first area you need to focus on is fleshing out your website with loads of high-quality and top-notch content.

2.) Build Up Your Domain Authority (DA) & Website Traffic

Simply put, the higher your domain authority the more you can charge for sponsored blog posts. The same goes for website traffic. Domain authority is a metric created by MOZ that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s on a scale of 1-100 (1 being a low domain authority, like a brand new website and 100 being a super reputable website like a Forbes.com). Read more about domain authority here.

In order to build up your own domain authority, you will need to be building backlinks for your blog. You can do this via guest posting or sponsored blog content. I recorded a step-by-step and in-depth video on exactly how to build backlinks through guest posting here. This should be very helpful if this process is new to you.

I recommend building up your domain authority to at least a 15 or higher before you start accepting sponsored posts. In order to see your domain authority score, you can use a free tool like this one here: https://smallseotools.com/domain-authority-checker/ and just plugin your website. Below is a screenshot of where to find your domain authority using this tool:

This is not an overnight process and will indeed take a little time to build up your website’s authority but be consistent for a couple of months and build as many quality backlinks as you can. Focus on building backlinks on websites that have a higher domain authority than yours and you’ll begin to notice your own domain authority increase as well.

3.) Create a “Write for Us”, “Contribute” or “Advertising” Page

Once you’ve completed the two steps above, you are now ready to create a designated page on your blog to let people know that you accept sponsored content. I recommend using “Write for Us”, “Contribute”, “Sponsored Posts” or “Advertise” as the title of the page. A lot of times people searching for sponsored or guest post opportunities use these keywords in Google to find various opportunities. I know myself and others have seen a lot of success with “Write for Us”.

You can make this page super simple and it’s basically a place for you to explain to potential writers what type of content you accept, your guidelines etc. For example, you can take a look at my page here to get some ideas: https://evanhoeflichmarketing.com/write-for-us

A few sections I would incorporate into your “Write for Us” or “Contribute” page are:

  • General guidelines
    • 100% unique and high-quality content only
    • The wordcount you are looking for
    • If an author bio is required or preferred
  • Topics You Accept
    • List out a bunch of topics you’ll accept that make sense within your niche and area of expertise
  • Contact Information or Contact Form
    • Provide people with direction on how they can get in touch with you to submit a sponsored blog post

4.) Share Your Page & Field Responses

A lot of times, the inquires you will receive will come from people finding your website in organic search once your DA is high enough and you create your “Write for Us” page. You will want to come up with a price range that you will charge for publishing content (make sure to only accept high-quality and well-written articles). Feel free to experiment with your pricing as well. You will get better at negotiating and gauging what people are willing to pay with the more experience you have under your belt.

Also, be sure to share your page with other bloggers and let them know that you have sponsored content opportunities. People are always looking to get their content published on other relevant websites for the additional exposure and SEO benefits.

Wrapping Up & Final Notes

When you get to the point where you are accepting sponsored blog posts, you will need to run every article you receive through a plagiarism checker such as Copyscape. You do NOT want to publish any duplicate content or in other words, content that’s been previously published elsewhere. This is an SEO best practice to make sure that the content you publish is 100% unique to your website. Copyscape is super affordable and only a couple of cents per article search.

Also, as a reminder, the more you build up your own domain authority and website traffic, the higher you can charge for sponsored posts moving forward. Keep building backlinks to your website and also constantly work on increasing the amount of traffic your blog receives on a monthly basis. This will allow you to charge top dollar for sponsored blog content!

Are you currently accepting sponsored posts on your blog?

Interested in one-on-one blog coaching? Get in touch with me here to see if you’d be a good fit for my program!

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