Author: Evan Hoeflich

Building Up Your Blog Is Not An Overnight Process – It Takes a Long Time!

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Blogging Is Not An Overnight Process

I recently came across an excellent article (The Insanely Slow Road to Building a Blog) which correlates directly to my own experience and thoughts about blogging in general.

Some of the most successful blogs took years and years of consistent effort before any momentum was built.

I didn’t write this post to scare anyone away, but more to be completely transparent that 1.) blogging is a lot of work and 2.) blogging takes a long time to start gaining traction, traffic and a loyal following.

The unfortunate part about this is not the length of time it takes to build a successful blog, but the number of people that give up too early and quit.

My main goal with this post here is to encourage as many people as I can to continue blogging for the long-term, no matter where they are currently at.

To help drive this point home, let’s take a closer look at my long-term blogging metrics.

Long-Term Organic Traffic Chart

We will be looking at three different plot points in the chart below.

  1. ) 16 Months of Very Little Traffic
  2. ) Breakthrough/Spike #1
  3. ) Breakthrough/Spike #2
Blogging Takes Time - Organic Traffic Chart

It’s important to note that this chart is analyzing organic traffic coming in from the search engines (and not total traffic).

1.) 16 Months of Very Little Traffic

My first blog post ever published for this website was in May of 2016.

You can see for around 16 months to follow, I received very little to no traffic on my blog…Yes that’s 16 months of very minimal results!

Luckily I have experience with building up websites organically over time, and know that this is definitely not an overnight process.

However, taking a step back and looking at my own long-term traffic trend, made me completely understand why so many aspiring bloggers quit in the first place.

It can be quite discouraging to continue blogging after 16 months of slow results and most people will quit far before then (sometimes even within 1-2 months).

I wasn’t focused nor worried about the lack of traffic coming into my website during that time period.

Instead I was producing/publishing as much high-quality content as I possibly could to build my foundation.

I would publish anywhere from 4-8 blog posts per month, optimize them properly and share them on social media.

In combination to generating quality content, I also started guest posting on other relevant websites to increase my overall reach and build quality backlinks.

This helped me to finally start getting noticed in Google and led to my first big organic traffic spike.

2.) Breakthrough/Spike #1

After 16 months of generating quality content and building backlinks to my website, I started to get certain blog articles ranked in Google for specific keyword phrases.

This is where you see the first real spike in organic traffic in the chart above (labeled “Breakthrough #1”).

Again, most people would have quit months and months ago without giving their website a fair chance.

You have to realize that I was building my blog completely from scratch and with a domain authority of 0.

It’s not surprising that no one was visiting my website in the beginning, since it was brand new.

I had to let Google know that I actually existed.

I also switched my website to https before the first spike, which added to the traffic increases you see.

What’s powerful about this first breakthrough/spike is that my traffic never again dropped to as low as it was in the 16 months prior.

I was now getting a steady flow of targeted organic traffic to my website on a monthly basis.

3 .) Breakthrough/Spike #2

Fast forward to January 2019 and I hit a new all-time high in organic traffic by a long-shot (see screenshot above).

Now this was another 14 months or so until I saw a noticeable spike in traffic again.

Hence why patience and consistency is everything with blogging.

To see this second spike, my strategy was pretty much the same as before…I kept creating quality content, optimizing my blog posts and building quality backlinks.

There were a few additional tactics that aided in increased traffic like improving my website speed, but the fundamentals did not change.

At this point (almost 3 years in) 99% of people would have already quit.

This is to be expected as it takes time and effort to build a blog that produces a consistent stream of traffic.

But it’s also hard to think that so many people, if they stuck with it and implemented the right techniques could have a successful blog on their hands today.

And potentially a blog that generates a predictable extra income.

Key Takeaways For The Aspiring Blogger

To summarize, almost 3 years in at the time of writing this post and my blog just getting started. Results will vary from person to person and blog to blog of course, but the message here is the same.

I’d like to leave you with a few key takeaways when it comes to blogging:

  • Adopt a Long-Term Mindset/Vision
  • Expect Stagnant Results At Times
  • Keep Work Consistent Even in Times of Discouragement
  • Blog About a Passion of Yours
  • Celebrate Small Wins
  • Stay Patient & See It Through

I hope this post gives you some perspective on what it takes to start a blog and more importantly stick with it.

The stories you see of successful bloggers are generally the result of years and years of hard work.

The rewards of blogging can be priceless, but it does take time to build your brand and following.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

 

15 Concrete Reasons Why Local SEO is More Important Than Ever

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Local SEO Importance

How many times do you search for a service or a business in your neighborhood?

If you’re like the 88% of people who conduct a search for a local business, you’re going to end up calling or visiting that business within a day.

And guess what…for you business owners out there, this is a REALLY good thing!

When your business is showing up at the top of those search results, the more likely your website traffic, foot traffic, and sales will increase.

This is where local SEO comes into play

According to BrightLocal “Local SEO is an effective way to market your business online. It helps businesses promote their products and services to local customers at the exact time they’re looking for them.” And since we know that customers have increased searching for “open”, “now”, and “near me” 200% in the last year alone, local SEO is clearly a solid strategy to increase quality, relevant leads.

Put yourself in your customers shoes who are searching for “restaurants near me”. Google will first show you the “snack pack” as well as the proceeding top organic search results. These are excellent positions to be in as a local business owner. And when you’re in that “snack pack” or at the top of the organic search results, you’re meeting those customers searching for you, head on

So how does it work? Here are 3 ways to improve your local SEO strategy

  1. Google My Business optimization – Google My Business is a tool to keep your NAP (name, address, phone number) and other business information up to date. Your business profile appears in Google Search and Maps.
  2. Local on-page optimization – Your website content and meta tags are optimized for local SEO
  3. Localized content – Is your content relevant to your location? Does it connect with other local businesses and your community?

If you’re interested in learning more about local SEO, BCC Interactive, a premier SEO agency in Philadelphia, PA, has put together an engaging and helpful infographic below, demonstrating 15 reasons why local search engine optimization (SEO) is more important than ever.

Author bio:

Cory Young is a creative and innovative internet marketer with 10 + years’ experience in digital marketing, with a specialization in Search Engine Optimization and data analytics. Cory is the founder of BCC Interactive, an SEO agency based in Philadelphia, PA. He and his team are experts at developing holistic digital marketing strategies that help businesses achieve their growth targets.

Cory Young Internet Marketer

Blogging Report (January 2019) – All-Time High In Organic Traffic By A Long Shot!

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Blogging Report (January 2019)

What better way to start off the new year than with a new all-time high in organic traffic for my website (and by a long-shot).

January 2019 came in at 259 organic search visits and if you’ve been following my other blogging reports, you’ll see that this is quite a big increase.

I’m starting to really “cement” myself on page #1 in Google for a few really solid long-tail keyword phrases, which in return is bringing in a steady stream of targeted traffic.

A couple of these ranking blog posts were written months ago and some even over a year ago.

Again, a reminder that you must be patient when it comes to blogging and SEO.

However, this is also very encouraging because as I’m generating new content, some of my older articles are getting recognized and ranked in Google.

These blog posts that are now ranked highly are acting as virtual assets for me, bringing in targeted traffic and leads passively.

As long as I maintain these search engine rankings, these blog articles will work for me 24/7!

Another reason why blogging in combination with SEO is an excellent side hustle.

Organic Traffic (January 2019)- 259 Visits

Organic traffic in January 2019 came in at 259 visits.

This is a new all-time high for my website and motivates me to keep plugging along!

I did have to go through some plateaus before I saw this big spike in organic traffic (as you will see in the screenshot below), but I knew my persistence would eventually pay off.

Let’s take a closer look at my Google Analytics data.

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

When comparing year-over-year organic traffic is up 78.62% (259 vs. 145).

Here’s the long-term organic traffic chart from my Google Analytics account to show the history of organic search visits coming into my blog.

Notice the recent spike!

Long Term Organic Traffic Chart

And in the chart below you can see specifically the difference when comparing organic traffic year-over-year.

The blue line represents January 2019 and the orange line represents January 2018.

Organic traffic growth year over year
Organic Sessions Year over Year Increase

I am definitely happy with the growth my blog is seeing as of recently.

There are months where sometimes you feel like you’re getting nowhere and that all of your hard work simply isn’t worth the effort.

But remember that it takes time for Google to notice changes on your website…As in the example above, a big part of this spike in traffic is due to older blog posts now being ranked on the first page of Google.

If you start to adopt the mindset that each blog you write has the potential to pay off big down the road, you may spark some new inspiration.

Next Steps for the New Year

The start to 2019 has been very encouraging and I really look forward to seeing more growth in the new year.

With that being said, here are some next steps that I plan on focusing on in the coming months.

Continue Taking a More Aggressive Approach to Link Building:

The past couple of months I have really ramped up my link building efforts and believe this is a big reason for the recent search engine ranking increases I’m seeing. Not only am I increasing the total number of backlinks built to my website on a monthly basis, but also the quality of them as well. The last 4-5 backlinks I’ve built to my blog have all been from websites with a domain authority of over 50. This in combination with crafting high-quality content is a recipe for blogging success.

Target Keywords That Are Obtainable:

I’ve really been a bit more strategic lately about the keywords I am targeting and will continue to be moving forward. I think many of us bloggers and webmasters from time to time tend to target keywords that are far too broad and competitive, just because the monthly search volume is high. Well, some of my best performing blog posts are targeting longer-tail and more specific keyword phrases. If you rank for many of these types of blog articles overtime, the traffic really starts to stack up.

Upload YouTube Videos More Frequently:

For a while, my average uploading process was about 2 videos per month on my YouTube channel. Since there is so much traffic floating around on YouTube, I really want to utilize the platform to drive more of it to my website. Just like blogging, it’s important that I publish content consistently on my YouTube channel in order to grow my subscriber base and drive more targeted traffic to my blog. Within my YouTube video descriptions, I generally always leave a link for people to navigate to a specific blog post of mine (many videos of mine have a correlating blog post). In fact, over the recent months, traffic to my blog from YouTube has increased noticeably as I start to rank more videos. This motivates me to publish videos more frequently and although my channel is still small, it’s been steadily increasing.

That about wraps up this blogging report!

A really strong month for my website and actually the best organically to date.

How were your results in January 2019?

Interested in working with me one-on-one? Make sure you check out my coaching services here.

Why A Blog Is The Perfect Side Hustle From Home

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Side Hustle From Home

I believe everyone should start a side hustle from home and strive to create an additional stream of income for themselves.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the mindset of most people and the vast majority will never really attempt to make things happen outside of their normal jobs/careers.

That’s totally fine, but if you’re reading this post then you are most likely different.

You’re probably craving more and are interested in starting a side hustle from home that provides you with more freedom, flexibility and overall options in your life.

Today I am going to explain why a blog is the perfect side hustle to start from home (and in general).

And also why this is one of the best types of side hustles to start while working full time at another job.

Now if you haven’t yet started a blog, you may want to give this a read here.

If you have any questions after reading this article, please don’t hesitate to reach out and leave a comment.

I hoping this will spark some inspiration for those who really want to move forward with blogging as their side hustle!

Blogging and Why It’s The Perfect Side Hustle From Home

A quick note before we get into the points below is that any side hustle you start will require commitment and hard work. I’m not saying this is going to be easy and want to be as realistic as possible. You need to adopt a long-term and no-fail type of mindset if you are going to make this work and especially when it comes to blogging. Running a blog will require your full effort and dedication, but the sacrifice is worth it!

Let’s dive right in..

Flexibility To Work From Anywhere

Bloggers can work from anywhere where there is a stable internet connection – at home, a local coffee shop, a public library etc. Not many side businesses are you able to have the flexibility to work wherever you want to. For example, if you own a physical brick and mortar store (like a jewelry shop), much of your time would have to be spent at that location running your business. With blogging, you have complete control, flexibility and freedom of where to work from. Talk about options!

Very Inexpensive To Start

Starting a blog is incredibly inexpensive and especially when compared to opening up a brick and mortar store. You can literally get started for $3 per month and have your website up and running in the same day. Of course there will be some tools you may want to purchase down the road like an email autoresponder and certain plugins to monetize your website and make it run smoother….But the monthly and even yearly expenses are pretty minimal. This allows almost anyone to start a side hustle from home and in a matter of minutes.

Works For You 24/7, 365 Days a Year

Your blog is a living and breathing asset that works for you 24/7, 365 days a year. Really try to let that sink in. This is one of the most powerful concepts to understand when it comes to blogging. When you publish a blog post, it is up there forever for people to discover and read. You can be sleeping, eating, vacationing, whatever and your blog will still be “open for business”. Now obviously you will have to put in the work to write high-quality blog posts and implement proper SEO work to get traffic rolling into your website, but a blog can really provide immense time-freedom. Think of every blog post you publish as a little piece of virtual real estate that never stops working. Thanks to the internet, this type of powerful business model is now possible.

Unlimited Income Potential

The earning potential with a blog is pretty much limitless. There’s no “ceiling” really to how much you can earn since you are the boss. There’s tons of different ways to monetize your website to make money from it and there’s also tons of strategies for driving more traffic to it. This means that there is some serious earning potential once you get the ball rolling and your blog gets a bit more established. This is also why you occasionally see stories of certain bloggers who make ridiculous amounts and from working less hours than a typical day job. It’s not bogus, but actually very real and possible depending on the individual.

Easy To Work Into A Busy Schedule

Let’s face it, we’re all busy. Many people work over 50 hours per week at their day jobs and have minimal time to dedicate to themselves. With blogging, it’s really easy to work your side huslte into your schedule because it doesn’t generally require 8 hours per day. Even doing 1-2 hours per night is enough to start gaining some traction. Obviously, the more work you put into your blog, the better but it’s not required when you’re just starting out. In my opinion, it’s one of the best side hustles you can start while working full time.

Conclusion

Those were just a handful of reasons why I firmly believe blogging is one of the best side hustles you can start from home.

Now will every blogger be successful?

Of course not.

But the ones who stick with it and continue to refine their craft overtime give themselves a heck of a shot.

Hopefully the points laid out above will inspire you to dive deeper into blogging for yourself…

Or maybe for some of you reading this, this will motivate you to keep plugging along.

Either way, this is one of the best business models and side hustles anyone can get involved in.

I know I love it!

Interested in additional blog training and private one-on-one coaching sessions? Read this here!

Watch the video version of this post here: Why Is A Blog The Perfect Side Hustle?

Need an SEO Audit of a Website? Get Your Detailed SEO Audit Report

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SEO Audit of a Website Report

Make sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to get your SEO audit report.

Are you interested in seeing where your website currently stands in regards to SEO?

It’s always helpful to have some sort of benchmark handy to understand what type of traction you currently have in the major search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Doing an SEO audit allows you to focus in on areas where your website needs improvement and can really help you create a customized plan of attack moving forward.

Unfortunately, most people have no idea where to start in this process and do not have the proper tools in order to perform an in-depth SEO audit for themselves.

Luckily, I can help you and have been involved with SEO since 2007, helping businesses and individuals increase their organic presence in the search results.

Before we get into the details of my SEO auditing service, let’s go over a checklist of what I typically look into when I perform my analysis.

SEO Audit Checklist

When auditing a website and looking further into the overall SEO currently in place, it’s important to analyze ALL aspects that could be affecting your results.

This includes both on-site and off-site SEO.

  • Current Search Engine Rankings
  • Meta Tags
    • Title Tags
    • Meta Descriptions
    • Header Tags
    • Image ALT Tags
  • Content Analysis
  • Website Speed
    • Mobile Speed
    • Desktop Speed
  • Crawl Errors (404 errors, redirects chains etc.)
  • XML Sitemap
  • Domain Authority
  • Backlink Portfolio Analysis
  • Social Shares
  • Business Citations (for Local SEO)
  • Website Architecture

This list above is a good place to start and will really provide you with the data you need to begin implementing an SEO strategy for your website.

Too many “SEO auditing tools” online miss major parts in this process and mainly because they are not real humans working on it.

Sometimes the information provided by these tools can also be flat out wrong and the level of detail/explanation can be incredibly vague.

Having the expertise of an SEO specialist digging into the nuts and bolts of your website is far more beneficial than some mediocre online tool.

In fact, I don’t know of any tool out there that can give you all the information laid above in a single SEO audit report.

Which brings me to my offer for you below.

Get Your SEO Audit Report!

If the checklist above sounds overwhelming or confusing to you, let me do the hard work for you.

Not only will I provide you with a detailed SEO audit report, but we will also schedule a 30 minute phone call to review your results.

This way I can explain to you exactly where your website stands and what areas we need to focus on next to improve your organic search presence.

This is a report that you will 100% own and have forever to look back on and use as a benchmark.

I can deliver your SEO audit report within 24-48 hours.

I really think you’ll learn a lot once we go over your website’s SEO data and I will even give you specific steps to implement moving forward.

What are you waiting for?

Get your SEO audit report by clicking the button below!

Marketing To Millennials – Tips for 2019

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Marketing to Millenials Tips

This is a guest post written by Evelyn Lopez.

Every business wants to win over the millennial market, but the hard part is figuring out how to do it. Experts know that traditional television, magazine, and radio advertising platforms no longer reach the youth market. Before you spend time scouring the internet for ideas to help you reach this coveted age group, you might want to continue reading as we’ll uncover useful strategies on how to market towards millennials.

Millennials trust strangers’ opinions

A recent study shows that 73% of millennials say they seek others’ opinions online when purchasing a product. They seek out online reviews, blogs, and websites that seem to offer authentic views about products and services. The reviews resonate with them even more if they seem to come from a person they view as peers. Millennials trust genuine opinions and spot phony advertising a mile away.

Millennials appreciate in-bound marketing campaigns

Instead of responding to pop-up ads on the internet or sleek magazine spreads, millennials seek out information and knowledge from ebooks, whitepapers, and videos. This type of content is called inbound marketing. For example, the cosmetic industry is embracing this type of marketing, by producing YouTube videos on how to use their products. Millennials pin these to their Pinterest boards and share them with their peers. This creates a lot of awareness and exposure around certain products.

Millennials want to interact with a real person from your company, and they don’t want to wait for an answer

These twenty-somethings will reach out to companies through their Twitter or Instagram pages and will expect a quick response. Companies who are quick to interact with their customers on social media report that they experience increased sales. Because of this, companies are hiring more employees as social media experts to interact with potential customers.

Millennials pay attention to key social media influencers

View the top YouTube stars to determine who is speaking to this generation. While some of these influencers have an international following, look for those who are active from your own community. Contact local celebrities who are active on social media and work out a deal to have them use your product or visit your business. For example, if you own a restaurant, reach out to your area’s favorite food bloggers or reviewers and invite them to try your signature dish.

Millennials have a fear of missing out

If millennials see their peers Tweeting or Snapchatting about a specific experience they had at a business, they will want to have that experience too. After all, they don’t want to be the only one out of their friends who hasn’t gone to the new local ax throwing place or who hasn’t eaten ice cream that allows you to breathe like a dragon. Encourage your customers to post about their experiences at your business. Create a backdrop where they can take photos of themselves enjoying your product or service.

Millennials embrace risk-taking

Understanding that millennials love trying new things may help you market to them easier. For example, in the food industry, Millenials are always looking for new and diverse flavors and new experiences in ethnic foods.

Target your specific customer

More than ever before, we are able to target products to not only an age group, but we can target marketing campaigns towards specific people within an age group. Learn who buys your product or service and look for other people like them.

Support a charity

Millennials are willing to spend more money on a product if they know that part of the proceeds will go to help a cause they support. This lesson can be learned from Toms, the shoe company that gives away a pair of their shoes for each shoe that is sold.

Create an app

Millennials use their smartphones for everything. Companies who optimize the mobile phone experience enjoy a younger customer base.

Know how millennials use media

While 85 percent of millennials have smartphones, only 27% of those 65 years and older do.

Millennials are the least likely age group to read magazines or newspapers. They also watch the least amount of television each day and listen to the least amount of radio.

Eighty-nine percent of millennials use social media. Of those who use social media, 82 percent of them interact with their favorite brands or retailers online. Forty-nine percent follow their favorite brands or retailers on social media.

Take the time to think about how your company spends their marketing dollars. If you want to appeal to a younger audience, you may want to think about hiring a social media expert to help increase your appeal.



Blogging Report (December 2018) – Highest Month All-time for organic traffic!

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Blogging Report for December 2018

We’ll cut right to the chase in this blogging report.

December 2018 was my highest month all-time in terms of organic traffic at 176 visits!

After 4 months or so of monthly fluctuation, December traffic came in strong even with the busy holiday season.

I’m not surprised though as I’ve implemented a lot of strategic SEO work all throughout 2018 to get me to this point.

Now my goal one year from now in December 2019 will be to at least double this number and get my organic traffic closer to 400 visits per month.

Remember, SEO and organic growth of your blog is a marathon and not a sprint.

And although these numbers may seem a bit small, looking back over the course of my blog analytics/metrics, I’m very happy with this progress.

Let’s look at the details below together:

Organic Traffic (December 2018)- 176 Visits

As stated above, organic traffic in December 2018 came in at 176 organic search visits.

A new all-time high for my website!

When checking my search engine rankings recently, I noticed a few of my blog posts shot up to the first page of Google, which in return helped me generate additional organic traffic.

These blog posts were written months ago, and Google is finally starting to take notice/reward me for my efforts….And especially since these were really well-written and longer-form style content (over 1,000 words in length for each).

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

When comparing year-over-year organic traffic is up 61.47% (176 vs. 109).

Below are a couple of screenshots from my Google Analytics account to give you a better visual of my results.

December 2018 Organic Traffic

The screenshot above is more of a birds eye view of my organic traffic over-time.

Looking at your data from different angles is always helpful and can help you identity certain trends.

This particular screenshot shows the difference in organic traffic in December 2018 (blue line) versus December 2017 (orange line).

You can see that there was much more action in regards to organic traffic in December 2018.

Comparing the full year of 2018 to 2017

The last metric I’d like to compare is the full year of 2018 versus the full year of 2017.

This shows me even further the progress that I’ve made for the full calendar year.

I highly reccomend looking at a comparison like this for your own site if you’ve been blogging for long enough. It really helps to see if your marketing efforts (in my case SEO), is paying off.

As you can see in the screenshot above, organic traffic when comparing 2018 to 2017 is up 293.29% (1,817 vs. 462).

Sometimes it can be hard to stay motivated when it comes to blogging, but when you start seeing increases such as this (over the long-term), you realize that all of your effort are truly paying off.

Reflection of 2018 and Next Steps

I must admit, I was really happy with my overall results in 2018.

I saw noticeable growth in organic traffic, grew my email list, increased my blogging income and learned a lot along the way.

With all that being said, I will not be “taking it easy” in 2019.

In fact, I plan on pushing even harder and implementing new tactics and techniques to my website.

Let’s take a look at some of my core strategies moving forward.

Consistent Content Creation & Long-Form Content:

No surprise here, increasing your organic traffic and online influence truly comes down to generating consistent and quality content. I am really good about publishing content to my blog on a regular basis (I average anywhere from 4-8 blog posts per month). Something I have really focused on in 2018 and will continue to do so in 2019, is writing long-form content. Meaning crafting blog posts that are over 1,000 words long. Google loves in-depth and helpful articles and will favor these websites heavily compared to sites that publish shorter content. The combination of publishing content consistently and ensuring that it’s fleshed out over 1,000 words long should produce excellent results in the new year.

Build Quality Backlinks From High Domain Authority (DA) Websites:

This is an area I feel I can ramp up a bit. The focus here would be to write quality guest post articles on other high domain authority websites in my niche. This means researching other influential bloggers that have a domain authority of at least 50 or higher and submitting well-written content for them to publish to their website. In return, you are usually allowed a link back to your website which eventually helps with overall search engine rankings, increasing organic traffic and referral traffic.

Upload 2-4 YouTube Videos Per Month:

My YouTube channel has been more of a secondary focus in the past but I’d like to prioritize this powerful platform just as I do my blog. There is so much traffic “hanging out” on YouTube on a daily basis, it’s incredible. More and more people are using YouTube as their main search engine than ever before and video marketing will only continue to be more important in the years to come. Currently I average 1-2 videos on my channel per month, but I’d like to double that to around 2-4 videos to start. My YouTube channel is small but it has been growing steadily monthly which gives me incentive to keep pushing.

Monitor/Improve Website Speed:

I believe a big reason for December 2018 being my highest month in organic traffic is due to the website speed improvements I made in late November 2018. I shaved off 3 seconds overall in total loading speed which can be extremely beneficial from an SEO standpoint. I will continue to monitor this in 2019 and also work on making my site even faster, if possible.

Network with other Bloggers & Entrepreneurs:

By networking with other bloggers and entrepreneurs, you never know what type of opportunities can open up. It’s even good to connect with people who are a step or two above you, as there’s always more that one can learn in this ever evolving digital world. I will really be looking to build more quality relationships in 2019 to expand my reach and refine my skills even further.

The start of a new year is always a great time to reflect on your past efforts/results and also a great time to set new and concrete goals for yourself moving forward.

How were your results in 2018?

If you’re looking for more guidance on how to generate more traffic and exposure for your blog, please connect with me here.

Below is the video version of this post:

5 Crucial Steps to Take when Starting Off as a Digital Nomad

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Becoming a Digital Nomad

The digital nomad vocation has become immensely popular in recent years. With the unprecedented expansion of seamless global connectivity and the fact that you can latch on to a stable Wi-Fi network almost anywhere in the world, it’s no wonder why this interests so many people. As a digital nomad, you’re the entrepreneur, the leader, and the growth guru of your company. Your work environment is wherever the road may take you, and the possibilities for success are as endless as the road ahead.

That said, it’s important to understand that entrepreneurial superstardom in the digital nomad world doesn’t come easy, as there are numerous notable competitors you will have to outpace, and a myriad of hurdles you will have to overcome along the way. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the five crucial steps you need to take in order to ensure a bright future as a digital nomad.

Resolve outstanding financial obligations

Financial ties can not only hinder your success, but they can also prevent you from starting this next chapter in your life. Besides, can you imagine leaving the country for God knows how long while having outstanding debts with the tax service, your bank, and the likes? You’re either not going to be able to leave, or your debtors are going to be very unhappy with you when you come back.

This is thin financial ice you’re treading on, so the first thing you should do before you make travel arrangements is to settle all of your debts. A good way to do this is to sell your belongings. While the idea of selling your home might not appeal to you at first, understand that this is the quickest way to a large sum of cash you can use to organize your finances, settle debts, and plan for the travels ahead.

Create a budget and a viable revenue plan

Meticulous finance management will be the key to sustainability and long-term success in the digital nomad world, so don’t take the task lightly no matter how much money you have in the bank. Unless you’re the heir to the throne of Brunei, you will need to allocate your resources, and adopt a frugal mindset, at least until your blog and other online endeavors start making money.

How do you make money as a blogger and a digital nomad? There are a number of ways, and you should use all of them to your advantage. Firstly, you can sell ad space to companies who want to advertise on your website. Additionally, you can create your own products, build a responsive email list, sell affiliate products and much more. Consider writing for other companies as well, and don’t shy away from selling your own writing skills to others.

Get insured against every liability

The biggest threat to a digital nomad can be health issues, personal safety, and long-term financial stability for themselves and their loved ones. There is no telling what could happen to you on your travels, and if you’re serious about making this your profession, you should take these problems very seriously. This is especially important if you’re travelling to other continents for the first time, such as from Asia to Africa and beyond.

For example, Asian digital nomads are advised to obtain comprehensive travel and life insurance. This is why long-term universal life insurance in Singapore has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, and it’s why you should follow the same mindset and get adequate coverage yourself before you set sail. Travel insurance will ensure you get medical attention no matter where you are, and life insurance will provide coverage to your family and loved ones should anything happen to you.

Don’t risk it, this is an unpredictable path you’re about to take after all, so make sure you’re protected against all liabilities.

Declutter your life and organize your luggage

Moving on to lighter subjects, there is a need to declutter your life thoroughly and organize your belongings for maximum comfort and efficiency while traveling. Contrary to what you might think, you really don’t need to bring your entire wardrobe with you, as you will undoubtedly buy more stuff on the road, and per the occasion.

You can start decluttering by throwing away or giving away everything you know you don’t need. To make some extra cash you can also sell your stuff online. Once you’re don’t to the bare essentials, you can start packing for your first journey. Organize your clothes and equipment according to the destination. Check weather conditions, cultural and legal circumstances, and any other factor that might influence your choice of wardrobe and conduct.

Be rigorous, be dedicated, and work hard

Being a digital nomad is hard work. Sometimes, it can feel as if you’re not making any progress at all, but the most important thing to do is to stick to your guns. Never waver and always create quality content on a regular basis, adopt the right SEO and marketing strategies, and you will inevitably build a loyal following. It just takes time and persistence. Stick to a schedule, be dedicated, and build your brand.

To travel the world and get paid for it is one hell of a dream, and it sure beats any nine-to-five job. Before you start this next chapter of your life, be sure to take these vital steps in order to mitigate risk and pave the road to a thriving future as a digital nomad.

Author Bio:
Lauren Wiseman

Lauren Wiseman is an entrepreneur, currently based in Melbourne and a regular contributor to bizzmarkblog.com. She assists clients in growing their personal and professional brands in a fast-changing and demanding market environment. Covering finance and investment topics, Lauren strongly believes in holistic approach to business.

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Why Your Company Needs to Teach Employees to Use Excel

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Excel Why It's Important

This is a guest post written by Evelyn Lopez.

Excel is a potent business tool. Some business owners mistakenly think of it exclusively for accounting purposes. In truth, Excel can be used in some capacity by every department and individual. It’s incredibly useful for organizing lots of information and data into a format that is easier to derive insights from. It can speed up day-to-day processes and ultimately make an organization run more efficient.

To unlock all of these benefits and more, businesses should think about training their employees on how to utilize Excel. Saving time and money and staying more organized are indeed compelling reasons for a company to want to ensure its employees are adequately trained at using Excel. But, if you need more convincing, here are 6 more reasons why you should invest in Excel training for your employees.

They May Not Be As “Proficient” As You Think

Excel is a skill that many applicants and employees claim to possess. “Proficient at Excel” seems to be a fairly common attribute, yet there’s a wide range of possible skill levels that fall under the umbrella of the word “proficient.” While you may think that the majority of your employees are experts in Excel, the reality is that many don’t have a lot of the know-how to really unlock all of its benefits. Alternatively, they may be working with the knowledge that is dated because the program is frequently updated. Learning Excel in 2009 doesn’t do as much good after ten years have passed.

It Can Be Taught On-The-Go

Because most of your staff is, at the very least, familiar with Excel already, you don’t need to dedicate a lot of time to training. The beauty of teaching Excel is it can widely be taught on-the-go through lessons that apply to each individual’s duties. This will allow everyone to learn Excel lessons that are actually useful and will immediately impact their day-to-day work life.

Arguably, the most frictionless way to teach Excel on-the-go is to encourage employees that have already demonstrated superior knowledge in the program to offer their guidance to neighboring employees.

It Isn’t Just For Numbers

As touched on before, there is a popular misconception that Excel is only useful for crunching and organizing numbers. While it is a powerful accounting assistant, Excel is usable in some other capacities. For starters, the ability to arrange lots of information in convenient and organized cells helps make sense out of complex material and allows us to see patterns that would otherwise be invisible.

Excel is also a powerful tool for creating schedules, to-do lists, time logs, forms, project management charts and much, much more.

Gets Everyone On The Same Page

There’s a good chance that your business is already using Excel in certain areas, like accounting, CRM or inventory management. While the program saves individuals in these departments lots of time, as those spreadsheets move to other departments, where Excel isn’t used often, it can create roadblocks. Excel training gets all of your employees on equal footing when it comes to navigating spreadsheets and charts. This makes it easier for information to be communicated across departments or during meetings, especially when in the format of spreadsheets.

Simplifies Common, Cumbersome Calculations

On the other hand, when it does come time to do some number crunching, Excel can save some serious time. Learning even some fundamental Excel formulas can make quick work of having to add large lists of numbers together or perform complex calculations. Plus, there’s less risk of human error causing miscalculations and inaccurate figures.

When new data has to be entered, you don’t have to start the calculation all over; Excel does it for you. This will save your company and its employees lots of time, which can then be spent on more critical tasks.

Other Businesses Use It

Even if your business only relies on Excel for a couple of small tasks, you should still consider teaching employees basic Excel tips and functions because other companies that you do business with may use the program to a greater extent. Thus, being familiar with the program, even if you don’t use it much, is also essential. After all, you wouldn’t want your employees to be confused or at a loss if these companies send over important information business spreadsheets.

Conclusion

Excel has a lot of business potential, yet many organizations fail to unlock all of its value because their employees are not trained in using the program to its full ability. If you genuinely want your company and its employees to work as a cohesive and efficient unit, Excel training can help get you there.

Blogging Report (November 2018) – Get Used To Monthly Traffic Fluctuation

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Blogging Report November 2018 Chart

Blogging Report (November 2018)

As a blogger you need to be prepared for some monthly fluctuation in in terms of organic traffic.

Although it’s good to analyze the monthly trend, it’s even better to compare your traffic data year-over-year versus month-over-month.

So even though my organic traffic is down slightly month-over-month, I’m still seeing good increases when comparing the data year-over-year.

This shows that my SEO work and blogging efforts are paying off and resulting in natural organic growth.

Was November my best month to date?

No.

But my long-term view/mindset keeps me from getting discouraged. I feel that too many people in the blogging space expect to see incredible growth, month in and month out when that is just not realistic.

Of course this is possible depending on the person, niche and blog, but please look at the long-term trend instead of a narrow monthly view.

It’s also important to point out that traffic can sometimes slow down a bit around November and December due to the holidays.

But these months are perfect for creating concrete goals and strategizing for the new year to come.

With that being said, let’s take a look at my blogging results for November 2018.

Organic Traffic (November 2018)- 143 Visits

Organic traffic in November 2018 came in at 143 organic search visits.

This is down slightly when comparing month-over-month but I am still up when comparing year-over-year.

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

Organic traffic is up 22.22% when comparing year-over-year (143 vs. 117).

An interesting thing about this comparison, is that November of 2017 is when my blog really started to see its first growth spurt.

Back then (Nov. 2017), that was my highest month in regards to organic traffic in around 12 months.

Now the reason I’m stating this is because being up 22.22% year-over-year when that was at one point my best month in organic traffic is still pretty good.

Let’s take a look at my organic traffic chart overtime to understand this better:

You can see the growth I’m talking about when looking back at November 2017 (and months prior) and although there’s been some fluctuation month-over-month recently, I am indeed UP when comparing Nov. 2018 to Nov. 2017.

Next Steps for Increasing My Blog Traffic

One very key point to highlight is that on November 28, 2018, I increased my website speed by around 3 seconds.

I believe this is really going to help moving into the new year, as my website was pretty “sluggish” prior.

As for other strategies I plan on implementing, much of this remains the same month-in and month out.

1.) Create Long-Form & High Quality Content: Part of the reason for the growth I have seen thus far with my blog, is due to creating quality and in-depth blog articles that get ranked in Google (targeting both broad and long-tail keyword phrases). When I first started this blog in 2016, my posts were much shorter in content and I believe not as valuable as they are today. You always want to try to provide as much helpful information to your readers as possible, so they keep coming back for more. I will continue to push out as much quality content as I can on a consistent basis.

2.) Focus on My YouTube Channel: Although my YouTube channel is very small still, I’ve noticed since I’ve been more consistent with my video content creation, it has steadily been growing each month (more so than in the past). In return, because I leave my blog links in my video description, this has driven some nice extra referral traffic to my website and resulted in more subscribers to my email list. A lot of people spend their time on YouTube these days and love watching videos to find the information they are looking for. If you don’t have your own channel yet, I encourage starting one up. You can see and subscribe to my YouTube channel here. It’s still a work in progress!

3.) Guest Posting on High Domain Authority Sites: Link building is a strategy that I can be a bit more consistent with, especially since it’s so vital to the organic growth for any website. Google wants to rank websites that have a strong backlink portfolio so it’s essential to work on this on a monthly basis. I’m really going to refine my guest posting strategy, and try to publish articles on higher domain authority websites for the best results. This should yield in higher search engine rankings, increased organic traffic and also increased referral traffic.

Make sure to have a plan each month for your website. You do not want to approach this blindly.

Keep producing content for people to see, answer questions, solve problems and always engage with your audience.

Learn from any mistakes or hurdles you encounter and always be fine tuning your efforts.

How have your results been?

Are you having success with any particular strategy?

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