Evan Hoeflich, Author at

6 Reasons Why Working Remotely Can Improve Your Quality of Life

January 18, 2020 Evan Hoeflich Leave a comment

This is a guest post written by Tania Longeau.

We’ve all seen people on social media posting humblebrags about how amazing it is to work remotely. They often share pictures of themselves working on their laptops while lounging on the beach, hanging out at a cool coffee shop, or relaxing on their sofa. They also talk about the flexibility that working remotely has afforded them and how they are able to take vacations on a whim or plan impromptu outings during the regular workday. It’s no secret that working remotely is awesome.

In fact, it’s even better than your social media friends who work from home have told you. It can drastically improve your quality of life and even the quality of your family’s lives. Aside from the obvious benefit of not having to spend most of your life cooped up in an office, here are a few reasons why working remotely can improve your quality of life.

You Can Work from Anywhere

While it’s always smart to have a home office, you can technically work from just about anywhere. With most remote positions, as long as you have a laptop and a fast internet connection, you are good to go. In addition to allowing you to work at a local coffee shop when you need a change of scenery, this ability means that you can work while traveling around the world, visiting faraway family, or at the library when the power goes out. Being able to work from virtually anywhere means you won’t have to worry about getting permission to take time off when you want to get away. Pack up your laptop bag and work wherever you are feeling inspired.

More Time for Family

For many parents, not being able to attend their kids’ games, recitals, and other activities is a heartbreaking part of having a job. They often miss out on things like first steps, first dates, and other important milestones simply because they are unable to take time off. When you work remotely, you can be there for all of the important things in your kids’ lives. Whether it’s being there to take them to the doctor when they aren’t feeling well, cheering them on during sporting events, or listening to them perform in a choir or band concert, working from home allows you to be there for it all. You can typically create your own schedule and set aside time for those important family moments you don’t want to miss. This improves your quality of life, and it improves your kids’ lives, too.

Working Remotely Saves Money

Whether you drive or use public transportation, going to work every day costs money. You also have to spend money on work-appropriate attire, lunches, coffee, etc. When you work from home, commuting from your bed to your home office costs nothing. You can wear anything you please, and you can whip up your own lunch and coffee. If you are able to do your work while your kids are home or work around their schedules, you’ll save money on childcare, too. According to Global Workplace Analytics, people who work from home save between $2000 and $6500 per year. That’s money that you can put into savings or spend on something a whole lot more enjoyable than going to work.

Enjoy More Free Time

On average, Americans spend just over 26 minutes commuting one-way to work. That’s nearly an hour every single day. In addition, the Auto Insurance Center estimates that motorists spend roughly 42 hours—nearly two days—stuck in traffic every year. Working remotely eliminates the lengthy commute and can add hours of free time to your schedule. You also save time by not having to spend ages getting ready each morning. You can use the extra free time to get more sleep, hang out with your family, work on a hobby, or whatever you choose. Having more time to spend as you please makes you happier and improves your quality of life.

Working from Home Is Better for Your Health

Working from home can improve your health in several ways. For starters, you don’t have a boss who is going to discipline you if you decide to get up and go for a walk or do some stretches outside of your “normal” break times. Since you have more free time when working remotely, there’s more time to go to the gym. It’s also easier to make healthy food choices when you are at home. Instead of getting lunch from the restaurant on the corner, you can prepare your own lunches using healthier ingredients. Being at home means that you are exposed to illnesses like colds and the flu, too.

If you have suffered an injury or have a disability, working from home allows you to earn an income while you are recovering. You can adapt your workspace as needed so you can do your job without hurting yourself. Instead of using whatever office furniture your boss bought, you can invest in your own ergonomic furniture to create a space that is comfortable.

Working from Home Makes Life Better

From allowing you to set your own schedule and make time to spend with your family to making it easier for you to take care of your health and save money, working from home just makes life better. Remote workers are often happier than people who work in traditional jobs. Working from home improves personal relationships, lowers stress, and allows you to enjoy more of the things that make life great.

If you are thinking about working remotely, it doesn’t take much to get started. For many positions, all you need is a good internet connection, a computer, and basic office supplies like a printer, inkjet cartridges, pens, and paper. With more and more companies offering opportunities for remote workers, it has become easier than ever to land legitimate jobs that allow you to work from home and enjoy a better quality of life.

Work From Home

How to Get More Blog Followers Organically (Using SEO Tactics)

January 12, 2020 Evan Hoeflich One comment

If you’re a blogger struggling to build an audience, readership and following then I think this post will be helpful for you.

Every single blogger I work with wonders how they can get more blog followers so that they can grow their brand and business.

With so much information out there online, it can be confusing and even overwhelming to know where to start.

In this article today, I want to keep it simple and go over how to generate blog followers using one single strategy…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)!

SEO involves optimizing your website and blog posts properly so that you can rank highly for certain keywords in the major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

This in return can bring you in loads of targeted traffic and dramatically increase your blog following.

Below you will find specific SEO steps you can take to get started as soon as this week.

But first, let’s go over why SEO is so important if you’re looking to generate more blog followers and increase your readership.

SEO Can Be Your Best Friend To Get More Blog Followers

SEO can be a major asset for your blog.

If done properly and consistently overtime, you can really drive lots of organic traffic to your website for months and years to come.

You can even reap the rewards of SEO work you implemented way in the past.

For example, I have certain blog posts I’ve written and optimized over 3 years ago that are still ranked highly within Google search today and bring daily visitors to my website (resulting in more email subscribers, affiliate sales, coaching clients and revenue).

When you realize this power, it should get you excited and motivated to practice the tips laid out below for yourself.

Although you do not need to invest money to get started with SEO (since anyone can learn this on their own using helpful articles like this or other free resources), you will need to invest your time to study, learn, and get comfortable implementing certain SEO tactics.

With that being said, if you’d rather cut the learning curve by a large margin and get up to speed much quicker, I do offer SEO coaching here.

But again, it’s absolutely not required and especially if you have the time and interest to learn SEO on your own.

Organic visitors coming into your website from the search engines can be one of the highest quality traffic sources for a blogger.

Generally if people are finding your content using a certain search query in Google, chances are the blog post that’s presented to them is very relevant and targeted to their search.

As long as you’re producing high-quality content, this is a sure fire way to get more blog followers and build a loyal audience.

And if you stack this up over dozens or even of hundreds of blog posts (getting them ranked in Google), the sky is the limit in terms of how large your blog and business can grow to become.

Now let’s get into specific steps on how you can begin optimizing your content and website to generate more blog followers.

How to Get More Blog Followers Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

1.) Target the Right Keyword(s)

One of the most common mistakes I see beginner bloggers make is that they target keywords that are far too broad or competitive in nature. They wonder why they cannot rank any of their content in Google, but fail to realize that they are targeting the wrong types of keywords. Instead, try to focus on longer-tail keywords which have 3, 4, 5 or even more words in a given phrase. For example, instead of crafting a blog post around the word “dog training” you may want to instead target a keyword such as “how to train a dog to walk on a leash” within your content. This longer-tail keyword phrase is going to be far less competitive and easier to rank.

Now this is just an example, you will indeed want to get into the habit of conducting keyword research for yourself and your blog content using a free tool such as Ubersuggest. This way you can look into the monthly search volume, competition/difficulty of a keyword etc. A tool like Ubersuggest (there are paid tools out there as well such as Keywords Everywhere, Ahrefs and MOZ) will also reveal additional keyword ideas that you can possibly target and analyze as well (see screenshot below).

Target the Right Keywords - Keyword Research

Keyword research using Ubersuggest.

2.) Incorporate These Phrases Into Your Blog Title, URL & SEO Tags

Once you have your main keyword(s) picked out for a blog topic, you will want to naturally incorporate the phrase(s) into your blog title, URL and SEO tags. I say naturally, because the last thing you want to do is “keyword stuff” or “jam” your keywords into your blog posts and meta data. Yes we are optimizing our content to get ranked ranked in the search engines, but we are also optimizing it for human visitors as well. You should strive to maintain a nice balance here.

BLOG TITLE: Try to place your main keyword or a variation of your main keyword into your blog title which is generally your H1 tag. You also want this to be enticing to human visitors as well. For example, a blog post I wrote where my main keyword phrase was “Is Blogging Still Worth It”, I adjusted the title of that post to be “Is Blogging Still Worth It? What is the Future of Blogging?”. This way I still have my target phrase in there, but I also made this intriguing to human visitors who may stumble upon this doing a Google search.
URL: You want to attempt to get your keyword (or a variation of it) into your URL as well. However, we do not want our URL slug to be too long since this can look sloppy or unnatural to Google. This can sometimes be tricky if you have a longer keyword phrase you’re targeting so use your best judgment here. At the very least, try to get a few of your buzzwords into your URL (example: https://evanhoeflichmarketing.com/is-blogging-worth-it).
SEO TAGS: Below is a quick description of the SEO tags to focus on. If your blog is built on WordPress, I reccomend the plugin Yoast which will make the SEO tag process a lot easier (see screenshot below).
- Title Tags (“SEO Title” in Yoast): You will definitely want to place your main keyword phrase into your title tag. Sometimes you will even have room to add an additional keyword here since you have up to 70 characters to work with. Again, make this natural but at the same time it’s important that you give Google a good idea of what you’re trying to rank for by adding in your main term(s). The title tag is the blue clickable text seen in the search results when performing a Google search. So you will also want to make your title tag is compelling to encourage users to click-through to your website.
- Meta Descriptions: The meta description is seen underneath the title tag in the search results and explains what the page or post is about to users. It’s a good idea to add your keyword within your meta description once and also make sure it flows naturally within this snippet of text. Your meta description should also be enticing and persuade people to visit your blog post to read the full article. Utilize Yoast’s colored bars to help you with the length of your meta description (or a good range to shoot for is 145-160 characters long).
- Header Tags: Header tags include your h1, h2, h3, h4 and so on. These are the main headings above a given area of text within your blog content. Header tags also hold a lot of weight in regards to SEO (just like your title tag). They are seen directly within your blog content, so make sure that you do not keyword stuff here either. Instead naturally weave your keyword phrases into your header tags where they make sense for the best results.
- Image ALT Tags: Each image you place within your blog content can be tagged with an image alt text. When you click on your image within WordPress, always add a keyword rich alt tag in the section that says “alternative text”.
Focus Keyword: Lastly, Yoast gives you the opportunity to add a “Focus Keyword” to your blog post. For this, simply place the main keyword you’d like to target in this section.

3.) Create Detailed, Long-Form & Comprehensive Content

A lot of times you hear the saying “content is king”, but I like to modify that to “quality content is king”!

This is especially true today more than ever when it comes to ranking your articles highly within the search engines. Google is looking to share content with users that is highly relevant, helpful and comprehensive. Essentially they want to direct people to the most valuable content possible as this provides a positive search experience. What this means to us bloggers is that we really need to focus on creating content that is going to provide solutions, answers and clarity to readers. Try to cover a subject in its entirety and put yourself in the readers shoes when planning your content. Also strive to make this content “longer-form” of at least 1,500 words or more. To break up your text and make it more visually appealing, you can utilize bulleted lists, numbered lists, header tags (h1, h2, h3, h4 etc.), images, videos etc. This type of high-quality and engaging content will give you the best shot at ranking your blog posts highly in Google.

4.) Optimize Content Properly with Keywords & Internal Links

Either during or after you write a blog post, you will want to make sure you’ve added in your target keyword phrases into the content where appropriate. As discussed in prior steps, make this natural and only add target keywords where they make sense. You do want to make sure however that you give Google enough of an idea of what your blog post is about and what you’re trying to rank for. This step will get easier with the more optimized content you write and eventually it should become second nature.

You will also want to insert a handful of internal links that point to other relevant or helpful articles on your website (using relevant anchor text as well). This is a great SEO strategy to spread powerful link juice throughout your website. It can also help with bounce rates and allows users to effectively navigate your blog content.

5.) Guest Post Like Crazy

Guest posting is an awesome SEO strategy to learn and master. If you’re wondering what exactly guest posting is, it’s the simple process of finding other blogs within your general niche and submitting a unique article to be published on their website. Within your guest post you are generally allowed a link to your website in the content or in the author bio section. There are many benefits of guest posting but the two biggies are:

Guest posting helps your SEO by building you a quality backlink and improving your search engine rankings overtime.
Guest posting can also drive more referral traffic to your website by people clicking on your link within your published article. This is free traffic that can really increase your overall brand awareness.

It’s important with guest posting that you try to do this on a consistent basis for the best results. Guest posting is a really powerful method that can explode your organic traffic and also referral traffic. Over the long term, this can significantly increase your blog following. I recorded a step-by-step tutorial here on how to do this for yourself…(I would love it if you could “Like” my video and subscribe to my channel for support! I publish helpful blogging, internet marketing and SEO videos on a monthly basis.).

Example of a backlink built via guest posting.

6.) Don’t Forget About YouTube SEO

Another big mistake I see with many bloggers is that they don’t utilize YouTube or do not have a YouTube channel to begin with. Much of this is based off of fear of getting in front of a camera, being vulnerable and so forth but YouTube content creation gets more and more comfortable with time. There is so much attention and people surfing YouTube on a daily basis, that bloggers are crazy not to leverage the platform to grow their blog following and business. The more organic traffic you can produce from YouTube, the more blog followers you will generate. You can use similar techniques to optimize your YouTube videos as discussed above by doing proper keyword research, adding your keywords into your title, video description and tag section. User engagement is also super important when it comes to YouTube SEO, so make sure you are encouraging people to “like”, “comment” and “subscribe”.

You will also want to embed your videos within your blog posts and share them on social media. Lastly, place links within your video descriptions to point people to helpful articles on your blog, services or even a capture page to build your email list (see screenshot below). The more visitors you can drive to your website from people clicking on your links within your videos descriptions, the more potential blog followers your will gain.

YouTube SEO Power Tip: Transcribe each and every one of your videos for an added SEO boost.

7.) Consistency Is Key

Last but not least, you really need to be consistent in your blogging and SEO efforts in order to gain more followers. Realize that not every blog post you write will rank highly in Google. However, the more quality content you produce, the better chance you give yourself at driving more targeted visitors to your website. Try to publish at least 1-2 pieces of high-quality content to your blog per month. If you could do more, that’s excellent but do not sacrifice quality here. As long as you’re being consistent, this will send a strong signal to Google that your website is constantly updated with fresh and unique content.

If you’re 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!

What strategies are you currently using to get more blog followers?

Blogging

The Effect Artificial Intelligence Has Had On Search

January 5, 2020 Evan Hoeflich Leave a comment

This is a guest post written by Sydney Tierney.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a trending topic over the last few years. With those waiting anxiously to see how the future is planned out, and others riding the wave of excitement, trying to get their hands on the developing process.

However, there has been a huge amount of speculation on the development of AI and deep learning; and how it is going to affect the behavior of search engines in the future. In the past, the way in which search performed was rather unsophisticated. Yet now, the algorithms have evolved to aid those who use search and work alongside it within a business.

Although, many may not know how much AI in search has changed the way it works, and how it can benefit businesses all over, aiding in their productivity rates.

So, in order to ensure everyone is entirely up to date on this development effort, we will be discussing just how artificial intelligence has affected search…And why the change has created so many benefits for those who use it.

What Is AI and Machine Learning?

To start, artificial intelligence, alongside machine learning, are the aspects that will change the way in which search works.

Machine learning is a process in which humans will give the computer a string of data to analyze giving the result it needs to reach after it. This way, the machine will take time to work out the best possible process to take, to have the most successful outcome to offer the human. And through this, the machine can either work alongside a real-life source (a person) or by itself.

These are the two components that have worked together in order to offer the development of search and has affected it greatly.

What Is AI Search?

So, now is the best time to discuss just how these components have developed AI in search and the extensive future that it may reach. With technology moving so fast, it is only the knowledge of the companies themselves holding the intelligence back from working to its fullest potential.

We all use search tools, almost every day. Google experiences 40,000 searches every second.

From a search, we expect to find results in web pages that offer us the information we need, ready to consume. Yet in some cases, we may find ourselves extending the search to page two or three of the Google platform, which realistically is inefficient. From here, one may decide to change their search or click onto a website that was no help at all, and bounceback to somewhere different.

These kinds of actions are what causes the search issues. While the evidence possessed that suggests the algorithm needs to be changed, in order to make the task easier for those who use it.

So, how has it reached features within the search?

The Traditional Google Search

One of the biggest changes in search is the way in which it has improved when giving its’ results to the users. To focus on Google in particular; the engineers have been working constantly to develop a particular algorithm for search, to offer users the best results it possibly can.

The main issue faced with this process was the scale in which the engineers had to work. For example, there is a suggested 60 trillion web pages that make up the layers of Google search results. These had to be worked into a format that would allow each to be suggested when called for with efficiency and relevance.

Because of the clear extensiveness of this task, machine learning quickly came into play in order to aid the engineers in completing this. The intelligence works to analyze Google search trends to test whether the customer has received a resourceful result. If they hadn’t, then machine learning works to better the search results produced from the keywords placed into the search. And, if the results were positive, they would stay the same.

The continuous testing and adapting to the results provided has allowed machine learning to offer real and relevant resources to the users. Therefore making the Google search process much more satisfactory.

Image Search

In the past, those who use images within their Google webpages would have to build them in a specific way. Then, Google can see them. This process was called optimizing the images. Those who work within SEO would add keyword filtered names and alt text labels, in order to make them visible.

However, with the development of machine learning, Google can now see the images without all of the professional set-ups. With the development of AI in search algorithms, computers are quickly learning how they can analyze a page with images to the point where they are made visible. The features taken into consideration are the shapes, color scheme and even gradient of the image.

Although, within the development of AI in search, this has been one of the hardest tasks for engineers to overcome. It began with a set of training data being given to the machine learning systems. These were asked to analyze and identify where the ‘cats’ in the image were shown. It began by producing wrong answers, with nothing being correct for a long time.

So instead, the machine decided to focus on reduction. Anything that was wrong was stored in memory, abling the machine to know where to go next. This led to the point of it producing the right answer, and confidently being able to show where a cat is in a picture.

By developing this, it has made image search possible again. With Google having a far better understanding of the photos that make up a webpage, allowing them to be searched for with success.

Google Translate

One stereotype labelled against Google translate was its inability to provide the user with correct answers. Those who used it to cheat on homework or tests were quickly found out. This is because the results given were grammatically incorrect, had confusing context, or really just translated something entirely irrelevant.

Because of this, it was imperative that the engineers developed the machine learning to be more refined and produce completely correct answers. This was with the hopes that people would begin using it consistently again.

By utilizing the machine learning; Google translate now has the ability to analyze what is being asked, and can translate it with complete coherence. This way, the context that would be used within that native language; rather than just translating a sentence word for word when it likely won’t make sense.

The natural translation has allowed Google search to be used widely again, with those knowing they will receive correct terminology and appropriate grammar.

Google Paid Search

The next amazing innovation that has been created after the development of machine learning is working with Google Adwords.

It is being used to analyze a wide amount of data taken from those who use Google search. This is done in order to offer them adverts that match the sort of keywords they are searching. This will then will benefit both the user and the company advertising.

By doing this, there is a clear increase in those who are purchasing items, due to the adverts being tailored to the products they are looking for. This aids in the productivity of a company and helping them grow in popularity.

The power of machine learning in search helps to better analyze the user’s purchase intent. By focusing on the final point a user will hit just before they buy something; the machine can develop the release of adverts at this point. This will work to persuade the user further into buying said product, or those that will be interesting to them. This allows a company to receive many benefits from a simple Google ad, especially now with the further intellect of Google aiding in its popularity.

Voice Search

Voice search has been an element developed that has exploded within machine learning and artificial intelligence within search. From starting on phones offering the ‘Siri’ assistants to any iPhone user. To now developing devices such as; ‘Alexa’ or ‘Google Home’ that aid those within the comfort of their living room; to complete tasks from booking a taxi to finding out a chicken stock recipe.

Despite this, it didn’t all begin with this simplicity. The voice automated search began with a rather disappointing makeup. It didn’t respond to questions with relevant answers, but simple confusion, giving the user only the feeling of frustration.

The issue stemmed from the voice search not being able to configure various accents. This showed the engineers that a change needs to be made. Then it can get to a wider audience using these life-changing devices.

From here, the voice search algorithm had to be constantly updated and trained. This was until the best set up was found in order for it to work most satisfactory for the users, and to better understand voice searches. This was all completed by those at Google speech team. They were able to adjust the machine learning to produce the brilliantly intellectual devices we use every day; to make calls, set appointments and buy products.

Summary

The process of artificial intelligence in search is being quickly developed every day. With engineers working countless hours to increase the development of machine learning; there is a sure future to search being benefitted even further; alongside other elements on the online community.

With the AI search results, translate, images and adverts already changing with the development of machine learning; there is no way to now much further this intelligence can go. Focusing changes within Google search was one of the best ideas, due to it being a platform used every day by a variety of people, all looking for something different.

Not only does this make the work for the engineers harder, but it also makes it far more worth it. This is because it is benefitting a large number of people to receive relevant and satisfactory search results. Then, increasing those who use the extension platforms more and more, such as translate, imagery and adverts.

Author Bio:

Sydney Tierney just recently finished her studies and is working her way into the world of content writing as a digital marketing assistant.

What are your thoughts on artificial intelligence and search?

Blogging Report (November 2019) – Organic Traffic Increases of 39.86%

December 30, 2019 Evan Hoeflich Leave a comment

I am a little later on this blogging report than normal due to the holidays, but nonetheless here it is for November 2019!

If you’re new to these posts, each month I dive into my Google Analytics data to analyze the organic growth (or lack of growth) of my website.

This is a good way for me to monitor my blog traffic but also share some valuable insight on what strategies are working well for my website.

My goal with these posts is to help fellow bloggers and webmasters generate more targeted organic traffic from Google and the other major search engines.

I saw good overall growth in my organic traffic in November 2019, so let’s dive right into the data!

Organic Traffic (November 2019)- 200 Visits

Organic traffic in November 2019 came in at a total of 200 visits.

This is organic traffic strictly driven via the search engines.

To get a better gauge of my overall progress, we will look at the year-over-year comparisons below.

Year-Over-Year Organic Traffic Increases (November 2019 vs. November 2018)

When comparing year-over-year, organic traffic for my blog is up by 39.86% (200 visits vs. 143 visits).

These aren’t the biggest increases I’ve seen if you look at some of my past blogging reports, however generating nearly 40% more organic traffic to my website is definitely still worth celebrating.

Below is a snapshot from my Google Analytics that shows the longer-term view of this.

I’ve also left below (as I normally do) the daily plot points when comparing November 2019 to November 2018 to provide you with an additional viewpoint. The blue line represents November 2019 while the orange line is November 2018.

As I’ve stated in previous reports, I’m never really concerned about month-over-month fluctuations or dips in organic traffic. As long as I am still up noticeably year-over-year, this is a much better way to review and compare the data.

Next Blogging & SEO Steps Heading Into 2020

1.) Consistent Content Generation

Now that the holidays are winding down, I will have more time to commit to creating consistent blog and YouTube content. I am normally pretty good at publishing 3-4 blog articles per month, but want to continue that rhythm and potentially even push it up to 4-8 pieces per month in 2020 (guest posts and sponsored posts can help me achieve that). This will help me increase the overall traffic to my blog.

2.) More Focus on Link Building

Every blogger should focus on a manual link building strategy if they want to improve their search engine rankings and therefore organic traffic. Guest posting is an excellent and predictable way to generate quality backlinks on a monthly basis and this is a tactic that I will be utilizing much more in 2020. Although I am able to build backlinks with little effort at times just by creating quality content that other bloggers link to, it’s good to supplement this with manual guest posting as well (watch my YouTube video here on how to do this for yourself).

3.) Fine Tune my PPC Campaigns

As you know, most of what I talk about on my website here has to do with blogging, SEO, YouTube and organic traffic generation, but I also run a few PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns using Google Adwords. Along with my blogging and SEO work, my PPC campaigns help me acquire more coaching/consulting clients and increase the overall exposure of my brand. With that being said, there is still room for improvement here and I have more to learn when it comes to PPC. I currently maintain a positive ROI, but want to focus on optimizing my campaigns even further for better results. This will be a big area of focus for me in 2020.

How was your November 2019?

That wraps up this month’s blogging report!

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

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

How was your November 2019?

What are your plans moving into the new year?

Blogging Reports

B2B SEO: How to Generate Quality Leads via Search Engine Optimization

December 19, 2019 Evan Hoeflich Leave a comment

This is a guest post written by Raul Harman

B2B marketers often say that the SEO landscape is overly competitive and, as such, not profitable enough for them.

However, this only means that they’re not approaching their SEO strategy properly. Statistics say that 70% of B2B searchers start their buying process with a generic search.

As the number of B2B businesses investing in SEO is growing, some tactics that worked 10 years ago don’t make sense now. For example, if you’re still relying on building spammy links or keyword stuffing, it’s not surprising at all that you’re not satisfied with the results of your campaigns. For any successful B2B, their audiences are central figures. Therefore, you should find an effective way to learn more about your customers, attract them to their site, and turn them into profitable leads.

Here are a few simple steps to take.

Focus on User-Oriented Keyword Research

No matter if you’ve just launched a B2B website or you’re revamping an existing one, keyword research is the pillar of your SEO strategy. When targeting keywords, it’s important to know how the approach to keywords has changed. In the past, you would use Google’s Keyword Planner to find the phrases with the highest search volume and create multiple pieces of content that target similar keywords. Google now understands how keywords are connected. This means that it’s enough to create one thorough piece of content to target similar keywords, like:

Email marketing tools
Tools for email marketing
Email marketing automation

Listen to your Customers

Before you invest in a keyword research tool, start with a brainstorming process. Take some time to sit down and write the phrases that describe your business, products, and services. You could even talk to your customers and collect their feedback. Social media listening, niche forums, and Q&A sites like Reddit and Quora are also invaluable sources of potential keywords.

Use the Basic Google Search

The Big G has numerous fascinating features that will give you insights into your customers’ browsing habits and provide multiple keyword ideas.

You could take advantage of the Autocomplete feature. Type your seed keyword into the search box and Google will offer relevant suggestions. For example, if you enter “email marketing tools,” you will get keywords like “best email marketing tools,” “free email marketing tools,” “email automation software,” etc.

The People Also ask snippet is a treasure trove of user-oriented keywords. It shows real-life questions your customers ask. This is a key to understanding search intent and tailoring your keyword research to your customers’ needs.

Finally, use Searches Related To that is placed at the bottom of the SERPs. For example, if you google “email marketing,” you will get recommendations like “how to do email marketing,” “email marketing software,” “email marketing strategy,” etc.

Analyze Search Intent on Answer The Public

Answer The Public tells you what questions your customers ask. Enter your keyword and click “Get Questions.” In addition to the visual representation of keywords, there is also the “Data” section, where your keywords are classified into three categories – question-based questions, related topics, and long-tail phrases.

Use Keyword Research Tools

Finally, there are many specialized keyword research tools you could use, including Moz, Ahrefs, Majestic, Serpstat, or SEMrush. They will provide you with a deeper insight into your keywords and let you make data-centered keyword decisions.

Focus on Search Intent

If you want to rank higher and generate more qualified leads, you also need to understand the intent behind their searches. For starters, google your seed keyword and try to understand what kind of content relates to it. If you see that there are lots of “how-to guides,” it’s logical that users google this keyword when wanting to learn something and not to make a purchase. On the other hand, if you notice that your keyword is used by a plentitude of product pages, this means that its intent is commercial.

You should use this kind of research to develop a map of your content and decide what kind of keywords may work for your posts. For example, you could use informational keywords when optimizing blog articles, case studies, infographics and commercial keywords with product pages. This is how you will guide the right leads to the right pages, increasing user engagement and conversion rates.

Produce Valuable and Engaging Content

In the B2B industry, high-quality content is immensely important. It gives you a unique opportunity to set yourself apart from your competitors and position yourself as a respected and authoritative online resource.

For starters, create relevant content on your blog. According to the recent guide to content marketing by Four Dots, there are three pillars of successful content – authority, trustworthiness, and expertise. Here is how to achieve them:

Optimize for highly competitive keyword phrases. When combined with awesome content, on-page optimization, and internal links, popular keywords will send strong signals to search engines and help you rank higher.
Use fresh and relevant data. Support your content with valuable research and statistics to increase its credibility.
Interview industry leaders to boost your blog’s value. You could also reach out to them and ask them to promote the interview once it’s live. That’s a great way to boost your reach, gain users’ trust and, above all, generate a bunch of leads.

Finally, you should promote your content widely. There are numerous ways to do so. For starters, you could start by building a strong social media presence. Use social media management tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to curate and share your content automatically. You could also build your online community on social networks. Listen to your customers, track their questions, and share links to your website content as a valuable source of information (of course, if it really makes sense).

Links are also an effective way to give your content greater visibility. Identify credible blogs in your niche, reach out to them, and write quality and fresh content for their site. This is an amazing way to link back to your blog guide or article as an additional information source.

Create Targeted Lead Magnets

Once you start publishing quality content and analyzing it, you will notice that certain topics drive enormous traffic to your site, but don’t result in purchases. This is the type of content that lets you generate more leads. The goal of creating informative content is to encourage visitors to subscribe to your newsletter list, as well as to build relationships with them and turn them into loyal followers.

For starters, you need to experiment with the types of content. Articles are the traditional content form, but they’re usually not enough to keep users engaged in the long-term. For example, you could start by creating exclusive, downloadable content pieces, such as whitepapers, ebooks, templates, case studies, or checklists. The idea is to entice a reader to share their email addresses with you to download a content piece. Interactive content such as quizzes, calculators or assessments usually perform better in gaining and keeping readers’ attention. In just a few questions you can assess and provide the lead with only highly relevant content and you simultaneously qualify the lead. Free webinars are also a strong lead magnet. Apart from letting you generate more leads, this kind of content will also increase your link earning efforts. Namely, valuable content that stands out earns numerous natural shares, mentions, and backlinks from credible industry players.

ABM, or account-based marketing, is also gaining momentum in the B2B industry. This is a highly personalized form of marketing that flips the traditional customer funnel. Namely, when using ABM, you start with a lengthy list of potential B2B buyers, identify the most relevant prospects, and go after them. This way, you can start nurturing relevant leads by providing them with highly targeted content and gradually leading them towards converting.

Sure, keep in mind that email campaigns are not the only way to generate leads and engage audiences. Some companies have even decided to eliminate all lead forms and make all of their content available. Instead of lead forms, they focus on more user-friendly lead generation options, such as chatbots.

Over to You

Although SEO has become extremely challenging and competitive over the past few years, it is still a powerful way to increase user experiences, boost your B2B site’s exposure, attract traffic, and generate high-quality leads. And, this is where these tips may help.

First, you should learn about your audiences and align your keyword optimization tactics with their search intent.

Then, produce killer content that educates a reader, informs them, and helps them solve specific problems.

Finally, create lead magnets – high-quality, downloadable content that asks customers for email addresses.

The benefits of this approach to B2B SEO is simple – it is highly user-centric and focuses on making your customers happy. The goal is to get to know your audiences and then adapt your SEO efforts to their needs and expectations.

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 do you generate quality B2B leads?

How To Drive Traffic To Your Shopify Store? (13 Strategies)

December 8, 2019 Evan Hoeflich 2 comments

Starting an ecommerce store has proven to be a lucrative business model in today’s tech world. A big reason why launching an ecommerce website is a popular option for entrepreneurs (or aspiring entrepreneurs) is because it’s relatively easy to setup. This is especially the case if you build it using a platform such as Shopify. You can have an ecommerce website up and running fairly quickly.

However, there is one problem that many online entrepreneurs come across when running an ecommerce business, which is: How to drive more targeted traffic to their Shopify store?

When it comes to driving more traffic to your Shopify store, there are a few factors to keep in mind such as your niche, competitors, product value, website functionalities etc.

Overall, it’s important to understand that finding the best method for driving traffic to your ecommerce website will come down to trial and error. Every Shopify store is unique and different. Just because one traffic method works well for one website, does not mean it will be a success for another.

In saying this, many people still do not know where to start when it comes to bringing in more visitors to their website. It does require creativity, consistency and a willingness to learn various marketing strategies. In this post, we will uncover 13 actionable methods to drive more traffic to your Shopify store.

Let’s get started!

How To Drive Traffic To Your Shopify Website

#1: Guest Posting

When it comes to learning how to drive traffic to your Shopify store, your approach does not have to be overcomplicated. In fact you can start by simply guest posting on other websites. A guest post is when you publish a blog article on another website within your general niche. This can be a great way to help drive additional traffic to your Shopify website by linking from your guest post back to your website. You also get an SEO benefit here from building a quality backlink on another website. The most effective way to benefit from this strategy is by going after websites that have proven traffic, large audiences and a strong domain authority.

#2: Search Engine Optimization

One of the more traditional strategies you can use to bring traffic into your Shopify store is through search engine optimization. Also known as SEO, this strategy works by enhancing the relevancy and position of your website in online search results pages. The idea is that the more relevant and highly positioned your website is, the higher the chances of receiving organic clicks, visitors and conversions are. As far as how to implement this strategy, you will want to focus on on-page (meta tags, copy optimization, internal linking) and off-page SEO (external link building). Give Google some time to recognize the SEO improvements made on your website. This definitely needs to be a long-term strategy with consistent effort, but the outcome is worth it (free targeted traffic from the search engines).

#3: Blogging

Quality content is the structural foundation of a website. It provides valuable information, can help you rank for keyword phrases, can increase the time visitors stay on your website, and so much more. This is where blogging plays a significant role in bringing traffic to a website. However, keep in mind that your blogging style should be informational and engaging to gain a person’s attention and trust. You also need to publish consistent content to see the best results (without sacrificing quality). Know that blogging can take some time to start generating a consistent flow of traffic but it’s definitely worth it. Every ecommerce website should utilize a blog as it can also help direct a client towards a particular product or category of products.

Confused about how long your blog posts should be? Here’s a helpful article that I wrote on what’s the ideal length of a blog post.

#4: Influencer Marketing

As one of the new strategies to arise from digital marketing, influencer marketing has already become one of the most effective methods to promote a website. This stems from the fact that it takes advantage of the endless supply of active social media members. The way it works is by promoting a brand or product through the personal brand of a social media influencer. This strategy has been shown to add trust and legitimacy to the promotion because there is a person behind it. As for how your website can benefit from this strategy, look for influencers that sell or promote products that are within your niche.

#5: Social Media Interaction

Speaking of social media, virtually all platforms are powerful enough to work on their own. However, the key to driving traffic via social media is to be active and consistent on the platform you are using. If your website brand can build a following on a social media platform, having an established presence and strong interaction with your followers will increase trust with clients in the long run. Then, when a client wants to make a purchase, they will feel more inclined to do so because of the relationship and comfortability you have built with them over time.

#6: Paid Advertisements

Having discussed various ways to drive organic traffic to your website, it’s worth mentioning that using paid advertisements can work great as well. In some ways, paid advertisements are an advantage over other strategies because you are able to generate almost instant traffic to your Shopify store once your campaign is live and running. Just make sure to set a strong budget limit within your paid advertising campaign to not overspend on ads.

#7: Rebranding (If Necessary)

In some cases, the reason a Shopify store can’t bring in any clients is that there isn’t a strong brand behind it. A brand is what allows a client to find some sort of relatable characteristic that makes them feel inclined to choose your brand over another. Surprisingly, it’s usually simpler brands and designs that bring in the best traffic. That said, consider switching or remodeling your brand to make it more attractive to clients in your niche. However, only do so if you’ve tried other strategies ahead of it. Forcing a brand change can seem desperate to clients.

#8: Giveaways & Reward Programs

Once again, driving traffic to your Shopify website doesn’t have to be that difficult. One of the best examples of this can be seen by offering giveaways and reward programs. This strategy provides a heavy stream of short-time traffic to your site that can be used to meet any goal your website has. Just make sure to have a plan to sustain clients as many will leave as soon as there are no giveaways or rewards available.

#9: Mobile-Friendly Website

With more and more people making purchases online from their mobile devices today than ever before, it’s crucially important that your website is both mobile friendly and optimized. Mobile use is a trend that will continue to rise with the evolving technology, so this is definitely an area worth focusing on. You want your visitors to have the best possible experience when they visit your website and if you’re Shopify store is not mobile friendly, you will have a much harder time building your ecommerce business.

#10: Target Marketing

Target marketing is a general strategy that is implemented by analyzing the analytics platform of your website. What this strategy does is give you specific data on where your visitors are coming from, their demographics, and how they interact with your site. This allows you to drive traffic by creating web pages and funnels that meet the needs and requirements of the visitors your website receives.

#11: Branding As A Solution (Not Another Option)

When it comes to branding your shop, one of the mistakes many online entrepreneurs make is branding as another option as opposed to a solution. This mistake allows your website to fit in with competitors in your niche, however, it prevents it from standing out. Needless to say, brand your shop by answering the questions and pain points of clients in your niche. This will naturally increase the amount of qualified traffic your website receives.

#12: Email Marketing

Email marketing is another proven yet overlooked strategy for driving traffic to an ecommerce website. What makes this tactic unique is that it is one of the more personal ways to market. Email copy is structured in a way that sounds conversational instead of persuasive. For this reason, this allows your shop to send emails that direct clients back towards your website without sounding promotional or needy.

If you’re looking for an excellent email marketing software, be sure to check out my ConvertKit review here!

#13: Retargeting/Remarketing

Last but not least, retargeting and remarketing efforts are the last-ditch effort to bring traffic back to your Shopify store. The way these two strategies work is by focusing on clients who have interacted with your website but left before making a conversion. These clients give your store a unique opportunity to provide special return discounts and offer as a way to persuade them to convert on your site.

How are you currently driving traffic to your Shopify store?

Are you seeing success with any of the strategies mentioned above?

e-commerce

Blogging Report (October 2019) – Organic Traffic Is Up 71.07%!

November 14, 2019 Evan Hoeflich Leave a comment

Welcome to another blogging report, this time for October 2019!

If you’re new to these posts, each month I dive into my Google Analytics to monitor and track my overall organic growth.

October 2019 was a strong month for my website and actually the second highest all-time in terms of organic search traffic (more details on this below).

I also saw noticeable increases both when comparing year-over-year and month-over-month.

You will see in my long-term organic traffic chart below that October was a nice uptick compared to recent months.

Let’s take a look at the data as a whole in a bit more detail.

Organic Traffic (October 2019)- 272 Visits

Organic traffic for October 2019 came in at 272 visits.

Again, this is my second highest month all-time in terms of organic sessions.

Year-Over-Year Organic Traffic Increases (October 2019 vs. October 2018)

Year-over-year my organic traffic increased by 71.07% (272 visits vs. 159 visits).

I don’t always see increases this large so I am very happy with this!

The chart below plots both October 2019 and October 2018 to show this year-over-year growth from another angle.

Looking at your traffic in Google Analytics over the long-term is really helpful to see how your overall data is trending.

In my case here, it’s clear the progress I have made when looking all the way back to 2017 (where I had very little momentum) compared to 2019 where I’ve been consistently generating over 200 organic visits per month.

And this is highly targeted traffic from the search engines!

It’s crucial to identify positive trends like this to remain motivated and hungry to keep pressing forward.

Blogging is a long-term game and can oftentimes feel overwhelming. This is why it’s important to appreciate any progress you are making and celebrate any small wins.

When looking at the screenshot below, we can see that in October 2019 (blue line) I generated more organic traffic almost every single day compared to October 2018 (orange line).

If you’re implementing proper SEO and generating really high-quality content, there’s no reason why you can’t experience significant year-over-year growth yourself.

In order to continue this momentum seen above, I have laid out a few action steps below.

Plan of Action for Continued Organic Growth

1.) More Strategic Keyword Research

Lately I’ve been focusing on targeting keywords that are longer-tail (2 or more words in a phrase) and have low competition. Since I’ve been seeing good results with this approach overall, I plan to continue this strategy and even ramp it up moving forward. You can utilize tools such as Ubersuggest (free) or Ahrefs (paid) to get helpful data like search volume and competition on your keyword phrases. Not every single post I write is totally driven by keyword research or SEO, but the articles I am attempting to rank highly in Google, I like to target longer-tail terms with lower competition. They are much easier to obtain solid rankings for.

2.) Get Ahead of Content (Blog Posts & Videos)

For me personally as a blogger, consultant and Internet marketer, it can be difficult to get ahead of content at times with so many projects going on. Even though I currently have my content scheduled out 1-2 weeks in advance, I do find myself getting behind on this more often than I would like. In fact, my goal is to have content pre-scheduled for at least 3 months moving into 2020. If I can accomplish this, it would really free up my time to work on other projects/ideas of mine (and one being a membership site I plan on launching). This is a good strategy for many bloggers who still juggle a regular day job and can help them feel liberated instead of a slave to their website.

How was your October 2019?

That wraps up this month’s report!

If you are new to these blogging reports, please be sure to follow the journey by visiting/saving my page here, or you can subscribe to my YouTube channel where I post monthly updates as well.

How was your October 2019?

Blogging Reports

The Role of Videos in Social Media Marketing

November 8, 2019 Evan Hoeflich 2 comments

This is a guest post written by Ashley Baker.

We have stepped away from printed newspapers, magazines, and handouts as a society – at least for the most part. Today, people are interested in visually stimulating and dynamic content. We desire this content at a rapid rate, and businesses must cater to their target audiences by fulfilling the appeal with engaging social elements like videos.

At least 87% of businesses use video as a means of marketing products and services. If that many marketers include video in their social media content strategy, there’s probably a reason why!

In this article, you’ll learn how video marketing impacts the performance of businesses around the nation while gaining insight into social media video marketing tactics for your own company.

Social Media Marketing and Videos

Text alone isn’t usually eye-catching on social media, which is why expert digital marketers recommend adding a visual element to social posts. That leaves you with a few options: photos, videos, GIFs and, arguably, polls.

Interestingly, viewers are more likely to retain the information they learned from a video as opposed to reading it as text. Not only that, watching something as a video can take less time than reading content. That’s why you always chose to do a book report over a novel that also had a movie in grade school, right?

For the same reason, video helps users understand what’s being relayed in a visual way. Eye-catching thumbnails and even the video content itself attract users to watch.

Now, how do you get those viewers to remain watching the video, gain interest in your company, and even convert to a sale?

Components of a Business Marketing Video

Videos can be appealing to different audiences, so your target audience will determine the type of video to create and how the content in that video is relayed.

For example, children might be more interested in a video that is short, has animations, and uses an array of colors. Conversely, adults might be more interested in longer videos with minimal animations and varying colors.

With that in mind, there are few components that are important to include in your videos.

Introduction: let viewers know who you are. Sharing your title, position, or status with them encourages them to trust that what you’re saying is valid and useful as opposed to untrustworthy.
Content: give people a reason to stay engaged with the content, whether it be humor or emotional appeal.
Connection: relate to the viewers by explaining a way in which the business pertains to them.
Reference: use knowledgeable references in the video as opposed to stating vague ideas without concrete details.
Call to Action: let them know what step(s) you want them to take next. Videos should encourage viewers to take an action such as visiting your website, subscribing to your channel, or following your business’ social profiles.

Video Marketing Content Ideas

Coming up with ideas for your agency isn’t hard! Start by looking around your workspace for inspiration. Whether the people around you, place you’re located in, or things that surround you are of interest. You can use those to your advantage! Here are some video marketing ideas for businesses:

Events: give those who couldn’t attend the event insight into the occasion while providing attendees with content to share along with the caption, “I was there!”
Product Releases: generate excitement from followers by sharing your newest product or service via video.
Interviews: interview one of your company’s leaders, a well-known person in the community or a celebrity about a topic concerning your business.
Company Profile: let your followers learn more about the company by detailing the vision, mission and values of the organization.
Demonstrations: show people how to use your product or service. A video is a great way to help prospective consumers understand how something works.

Critical Video Marketing Steps for Businesses

Once you’ve determined what kind of video you’ll create, take the following video marketing steps from research to analyzation.

Research: determine the audience you’re targeting for the video. The audience will decide which type of content is suitable, entertaining, and applicable to the group. You can also inspect the steps your competitors take on their social media platforms to see what works well for them.
Plan: brainstorm a variety of ideas that your audience would be interested in. Start by making a list of the subjects you took note of in the research stage and come up with content ideas that relate to those matters.
Create: this is the fun part – you get to shoot the video! Get imaginative and showcase your branded content in a personable way.
Edit: revising and refining your work is just as important as creating it. Take your time ensuring the quality of the content, as you want this to be a piece that people are drawn to watch and share with others. Furthermore, people watch videos on their mobile devices throughout the day, so make sure to optimize your content for mobile viewing. Many social platforms have tools for making your video fit the dimensions of the social network, but it’s important to keep in mind the frame while you’re filming and editing it with software.
Review: make sure your content is free of errors (i.e., stumbling over words, low microphone volume) and ensure the way you edited it is ready for publishing. You will also want to make sure you transcribe your videos properly.
Promotion: teasing your video – as well as other digital content – can evoke interest in your brand. People love being the first to know about something exciting, and it entices people to share their enthusiasm with others.
Publish: share your video across social media during times of high engagement, which you can determine from the analytics section of your business’ social media profile.
Respond: don’t leave your fans, followers, or friends hanging – respond to their comments on your social posts. Acknowledge their contribution, feedback, or opinion to show that their thoughts are valued. Responding could make a difference regarding whether they’ll choose to engage with your content again or not.
Analyze: review the analytics for the video by evaluating the total number of people who saw the video (reach plus impressions), engagement of the content, as well as the total number of views and minutes watched. This will help you understand what works and doesn’t work for your business’ video strategy.

Conclusion

Video marketing has become an advertising staple for marketers across the globe. Not only is the audial and visual content appealing to the senses, but videos also could bring out viewers’ emotions.

Digital marketers can use video marketing in the business content marketing strategy to captivate prospective consumers, which is an essential step in every organization’s marketing funnel.

Author Bio:

Ashley Baker is the digital content manager at Code Authority – a technology consulting and software development company in Frisco, Texas. When she’s not writing engaging, SEO-optimized content for clients, she enjoys spending time with her loved ones and her rescue dog.

Are you currently using videos in your social media marketing?

Social Media Marketing

How Long Should a Blog Post Be? What’s the Ideal Length?

October 27, 2019 Evan Hoeflich Leave a comment

How Long Should a Blog Post Be?

This is a question that comes up quite a bit so it’s definitely a topic worth exploring further.

The answer to this is that it depends.

Every blog is unique and there’s different variables to consider when deciding how long a blog post should be.

So with that being said, let’s dive into this in a bit more detail.

What Is Your Goal?

Before deciding how long your blog post should be, ask yourself what is the goal of this article?

Do you want more comments?
Do you want more social shares?
Do you want to get ranked highly in the search engines and generate more organic traffic?
Or is this a post that’s just meant to be helpful and informational for your readers (without any real goal or motive)?

Identifying your goal can give you a better idea of the length you should focus on when writing a blog post.

Do You Want More Comments?

Although shorter style posts may not be the best strategy from an SEO perspective, they can indeed be good for generating discussion and comments.

Once in a while it can be beneficial to weave in this type of short-form content into your overall strategy (as long as it’s quality content).

Anywhere from 100-400 words can be great for generating more comments.

Blogging Tip: Make sure you’re asking questions within these articles to spark conversation and interest.

Are You After More Social Shares?

There are many factors that influence the number of social shares a blog post gets including your topic, quality of content, visuals etc.

But it is also helpful to have an idea of how many words to shoot for to achieve more social engagement.

A medium length post anywhere from 500-1,000 words can work great for generating more social shares.

And since this is still a sufficient amount of content, you definitely give yourself a chance at ranking your articles in the search engines at this length.

Which brings me to my next point…

Do You Want to Generate More Organic Traffic from Google?

If your goal is to get your blog post ranked in Google, then the recommendation here would be to make your content long-form style and detailed.

For the best results, try to craft content that is 1,500 words or longer.

Google more than ever is looking for comprehensive and longer-form style content that covers a subject in it’s entirety.

These types of posts tend to rank really well in the search engines and especially because there’s more opportunity to add in relevant keywords, headings, questions & answers, bulleted/numbered lists, quality visuals and more.

SEO Tip: When you identify a keyword you’d like to target for your blog post, make sure to plug that phrase into Google and check out the competition on page #1. See how long the top ranking pages are and strive to craft a post that is not only a bit lengthier but also more detailed, helpful and in-depth. This will give you the best possible chance at outranking your competition.

Do You Want To Simply Share Something Informational/Helpful With Readers?

If this is the case, then the word count doesn’t necessarily matter all that much.

The goal of this type of blog post is to just share your knowledge and expertise with your readers.

You can freely write without being too heavily focused on word count.

Once in a while it’s very liberating as a blogger to not have to worry about how long a post should be.

I really enjoy mixing this type of content into my overall strategy. It helps prevent “blogger burnout” and keeps my content fresh.

It still would probably be the most beneficial to make these posts at least 500 words or longer, but don’t get too hung up on the word count here.

There’s Value in All Types of Blog Content

There truly is value in all types of content whether it’s short, medium or long-formed. In fact, I encourage you to mix it up within your own blow and monitor your results.

I would say that the majority of my content personally is medium to long-form and that’s because most of my articles I attempt to get ranked within Google.

Again, it comes down to what your goal is for a particular article.

The takeaway here is to not be afraid to experiment with all content types and that also goes for videos, infographics, podcasts and more.

Overtime, you will become more and more confident when determining how long a blog post should be.

So What Is The Ideal Length of a Blog Post?

To recap, here’s a snapshot of what we discussed to give you a better idea of how long your blogs posts should be:

100-400 words – Ideal for generating more comments and discussion. Keep in mind though that this will definitely not be the best option for SEO.
500-1,000 words – This is a good length for encouraging more social shares and also can still be long enough for ranking highly in Google. Additionally, this a good range to shoot for if you don’t necessarily have a specific goal or motive for your post (for example, if you simply just want to share something helpful with your readers).
1,500 words or longer – Long-form content of 1,500 words or longer is recommended for SEO and getting your articles ranked highly. Crafting in-depth, comprehensive and helpful content on a given subject will give you the best possible chance at ranking in Google.

Conclusion

My overall advice would be to first identify what your goal is when writing your blog content. This will help steer you in the right direction in terms of how long your blog posts should be. I would also not be afraid to mix it up and to publish content of all lengths. This will really give your blog some diversity and help keep it fresh to new and returning visitors. I hope this post was helpful and brings more clarification to this common question. Now it’s time for you to get out there and start writing!

How long do you generally make your blog posts?

How have your results been?

Blogging

How to Design a Logo for Your Business?

October 13, 2019 Evan Hoeflich Leave a comment

This is a guest post written by Raul Harman.

Like any new business, your small business started as just an idea in your mind and all other aspects and procedures formed themselves around that initial spark. Your logo shouldn’t be the exception to this creative strategy since it is essentially a visual representation of your brand’s identity. The essence your logo needs to encapsulate should be reflected in its font, imagery, and colors.

Each detail of its design bears deep meaning which might not be comprehended upon first glance. However, although the procedure of designing a logo might sound complex, if you take it step by step, you can come to the optimal solution for your business.

Be consistent with your story

It is not a secret that customers have an easier time connecting with stories than with numbers or dry facts. This is why your story needs to be intertwined into every aspect of your brand, including the logo. Ask yourself about the message you wish to convey and start your brainstorming from that point. Do you want your brand to be perceived as gentle or strong, traditional or revolutionary? Your logo will be the visual symbol which needs to encompass your ideas, aspirations and your brand identity. Since it will be featured everywhere, starting with your website to your products, it’s better to put some thought into it to make sure it perfectly reflects your brand voice.

Cast an eye on your competition

Checking out your competition doesn’t mean you should steal their ideas but just get a general picture of their logos and what worked for them. A wise business owner would know that keeping an eye on the competition in your niche, especially the big names, also serves as motivation, so you can have something to aspire to. Everyone has a different road but your competition is both your rival and your motivational force. So, for instance, the big brands in your line of work go with monochrome logos, so why not mix things up a bit and add a splash of yellow? If theirs comes across as classic, you can go with modern, just make sure you bring something fresh to the market.

Check your ideas with others

When you come up with a few solutions and turn them into sketches, the best manner to decide is to ask for feedback. All types of comments would be welcome and a negative reaction can also be constructive and helpful. What you can do is to print out business cards with your potential logos perhaps even accept a recommendation or two from the printing house experts and show them to your friends and family. It would be best to opt for those who seem most like your buyer type and ask for their sincere feedback upon which you can then evaluate the situation. Print just a few for starters and then once you are certain that the particular logo is the final choice, you can print more.

Consider different color options

Colors are an essential element of any logo. As mentioned, choosing a color palette that is opposite of your competitions’ could be a neat idea but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will stand out. Each color sends a specific message, so, for instance, a predominantly red logo would mean that your brand is passionate, while yellow points to gregariousness; Blue gives out a sense of reliability and purple is associated with luxury. Naturally, your brand identity should be clear to you by now so opting for the right colors for your logo would reinforce the message you wish to convey.

Make sure it’s scalable

Posted on a business card or featured on a billboard – your logo needs to be clearly displayed in all formats. For example, if you opted for something intricate, chances are those fine details will not be clearly seen in smaller formats. They might confuse your prospective customers and even omit to convey your brand’s message. On the other hand, you don’t need a logo design which would seem stretched in a big format and which seems illegible. Therefore, when designing a logo, you need to also take into account all the formats it will be incorporated with so you might ask for advice from a more experienced business owner or a team of experts.

In conclusion

The originality of your business idea around which your brand is made is what needs to be transferred to your logo. What you hope to create is a memorable symbol, one which will tell a story clearly and which will be recognized after just a quick glance. Before reaching the final solution, you need to dig deep into the essence of your brand, to understand your place on the market as well as to check your ideas with a few chosen people.

Any feedback that you get can be a useful tool if you know how to accept both a compliment and a criticism. Perhaps your interviewee would think the red color is too aggressive for your logo as a dentist or that bright pink isn’t professional enough for your bookkeeping agency. Naturally, you should have the last word but a wise entrepreneur uses all available means to come to an optimal solution. Now that you went through these guidelines, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get creative!

Author Bio:

Have you designed your logo yet?

If not, take these tips into account!

Business

« 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 24 »