Category: Blogging

Being a blogger is super-exciting – you get to write about numerous cool topics that you are interested in and often have a chance to choose whether you want to do your job from the comfort of your own home or an office. However, since creativity is your main tool, you need to put a lot of effort into nurturing it and your work environment can have a strong impact on it. Therefore, we are now discussing different tips and tricks for improving your productivity by upgrading your work environment.

Let’s take a look.

Don’t let technology distract you

First things first, in business and life, technology can be your best friend and worst enemy. So, it’s crucial to learn how to make good use of all those fun gadgets and apps without letting them distract you and have a negative impact on your productivity. For instance, try to keep your phone on silent and flip it upside down. This way, you won’t check it every five minutes when the screen lights up and this will help you to stay focused much longer. Additionally, you may like playing video games when taking a break, but you can’t have your PlayStation in the office since it will pose a huge temptation and encourage you to slack off.

Let the light in

There is nothing worse than working in a poorly-lit room since your brain naturally shuts off due to the lack of light and you can easily end up suffering from serious headaches. Therefore, you should immediately open up your curtains and let the sunshine in. Just make sure to turn your computer screen in the opposite direction so that you aren’t annoyed by the reflections. Furthermore, you need to invest in a quality table lamp since a ceiling light is often not enough and if it’s behind your back, it will just cast shadows all over your work surface. Lastly, remember that apart from making your office comfy, it will be helpful to create daily and monthly plans and to start every day by completing the most challenging tasks first. This will be extremely stimulating and help you finish all your work successfully.

Improve the air quality

Having to deal with pesky allergens while writing can be extremely hard and significantly hinder your performance. Therefore, it’s crucial to start working on improving the air quality immediately. You can begin by airing out your office regularly and bringing in some greenery as well. All those different potted flowers and exotic dwarf trees will serve as great decoration and enrich your air with oxygen. Additionally, opting for a quality HEPA air purifier will definitely make your life much easier. Owing to it, you won’t have to worry about dust, pollen, mildew and odours ever again.

Bring in comfy furniture

No matter whether you work from home or an office, you need to pamper yourself with a cozy chair which will provide enough support for your back and allow you to sit longer in one position. This is also very stimulating for those bloggers who work from home since having a real office chair can help them get in the right work mood instead of just spending time in a laidback environment that will spoil their creativity and readiness to give their 100%. On top of that, investing in a height-adjustable desk would be a super-smart solution, especially if you are a tall person who usually has to sit hunched over their laptop all the time. You can even try out a standing desk for a change, especially if you like brainstorming while moving around your office.

Add a personal touch

In order to be able to be fully productive, a person must feel relaxed and at peace. One of the best ways to achieve this is by adjusting your work environment and adding a personal touch to it. For instance, you can place a photo of your family on your desk, or hang some posters with your favorite natural scenery or a city skyline. This way, every time when you feel blue, you’ll have something to give you a boost of energy and help you continue your work.

Choose the right colors

Last but not least, colors can have a huge influence on our brain and help us stay focused and energized. Of course, these rules may differ from person to person, so it’s important to experiment with different tones until you discover what works best for you. In general, earthy shades are considered to have a calming effect on people, so if you function better in a peaceful atmosphere, think about painting your office in a nice light beige or mint green nuance. On the other hand, adding a few fiery elements can help you regain your energy and boost your imagination. In case you feel that you lack those, feel free to paint an orange accent wall or spice up your office look by introducing a few red accessories as well. Just try not to overdo it since too many bold shades can be extremely distracting and make it hard for you to stay concentrated and immersed in your work.

As you can see, improving your work environment can be fun and absolutely beneficial to your productivity. You just need to discover what suits you personally and not be afraid to go for it. After all, it’s better to invest in your office space now, then to let your work constantly suffer due to the lack of creativity and innovative ideas.

If you haven’t started your blog yet, what are you waiting for? You should take a look at this!

Disclaimer: The metrics described in this blog post are based off of my personal results. I am not stating that you will achieve the same results as I did. 

Part of the reason why SEO is so powerful in my opinion is because it allows you to drive highly-targeted traffic to your website…and at no-cost.

It’s also a strategy that works for you once you have everything set up correctly…Meaning that traffic can flood into your website everyday, while you’re sleeping, eating, away from your computer etc…(Of course you need to keep producing content on your website but I’m talking about articles that are already published/optimized properly).

This provides a lot of time freedom and is one of the biggest reasons why I love SEO as much as I do.

The problem I see however, is that many people do not diversify their efforts enough when it comes to targeting the right keywords to rank for.

Today I want to go over a specific example from my blog that will help explain this in a bit more detail.

How I Made $2,500 In One Day & From One Blog Post

The other day, I received a $2,500 affiliate commission with only 3 organic visits to a particular blog post.

Again, only 3 organic visits.

The reason I am telling you this is not to brag or boast but to really drive home a specific point.

Too many people when they get involved with SEO try to target only keywords that have thousands and thousands of monthly search volume.

The “home run” keywords I like to call them.

Now I am absotuely not against targeting some of these keywords in your efforts (I do so myself), but you cannot base your whole SEO strategy around this.

One reason being that you may not be able to rank highly in Google for many of these competitive terms and another reason is that a lot of these keywords are too broad in scope to begin with.

The blog post I made the $2,500 commission from is targeting a keyword that has only 50 searches per month.

Yes, that’s 50 searches per month.

Now you might be thinking…what a waste of time!

Well, it’s obviously not a waste of time and the reason being is because the traffic I’m generating from this blog article is highly targeted.

As you can tell, I converted a high-ticket commission from only 3 organic visits that day.

It doesn’t get much more laser-targeted than that.

Now unfortunately, I cannot show you the particular blog post I made this commission from as that would give away my keyword phrase.

But it’s important to really understand the message behind this.

Some of my best performing blogs are articles targeting long-tail keywords that have very modest search volume. 

I’m talking anywhere from 50-500 searches per month.

These are very specific phrases that are easier to rank for and drive traffic that produces results.

Also, if you keep stacking these keywords/blog posts up overtime…this ultimately could lead to thousands of searches per month for your website but in a much more diversified manner.

If you were to lose rankings for a blog post in this example, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal compared to losing rankings for a “home run” keyword that drives all of the traffic to your website.

The reason being is that you’re much more diversified targeting a large collection of these longer-tail type terms.

Does this make sense?

Conclusion

To sum everything up, don’t just go after high search volume keyword phrases. Diversify your efforts by targeting more long-tail type keywords which will give you a better shot of ranking within the search engines. Stack these types of keywords/blog posts up over time and naturally your organic traffic will increase!

What types of keywords are you targeting?

Content creation has become such a nuanced art form that even the most skillful of marketing gurus have a tough time balancing so many balls in the air, starting with reader engagement, over to traction and recognition, and then finally optimization so that Google ranks it high. In fact, as a growth-oriented business hell-bent on making an impact in the industry, you shouldn’t aim for anything less than the first spot on the first page of search engine results.

After all, if you publish anything less than stellar content on a regular basis, how do you expect to retain your audience or grow your following in the long run? But content is not all you should be worried about. There are numerous crucial factors that go into a powerful, engaging, and shareable blog site.

From written content to woo the audience with mesmerizing storytelling, to user-friendly design and beautiful photos, all the way to brand dissemination and content diversification, the road to long-term success is laden with opportunities. So let’s take advantage of them and give you the definitive roadmap to building an amazing blog design that will guarantee reader retention and engagement.

Stellar content reigns supreme

First things first, let’s help you nail the fine art of storytelling before moving on to different content types. In the online world, written content truly reigns supreme, as you can not only use brand stories and messages to engage your audience on a profound, emotional level, but also to rank higher than anyone else on Google and thus stay one step ahead of the competition at all times.

This means that your stories not only need to be better than everyone else’s, but that your content needs to be optimized with relevant keywords, photos and alt-tags to boost recognition and propel your website up the proverbial ladder. Keep in mind that while SEO is also crucial for your success, all the keywords in the world won’t be able to bring poor content from the abyss that is the second page of Google.

With that in mind, it’s imperative to focus on creating quality, immersive content that will keep your readers engaged throughout, guiding them on their journey to your checkout page. Remember, if there is no great storytelling to keep your visitors on your website, there is nothing to boost your conversion rates or elevate your standing in the industry.

Striking an emotional chord with imagery

There is always a way to make a great piece of content even better, and images do a wonderful job of enriching the written word and giving the entire article some meat, so to say. In fact, it’s a good idea to try and distance yourself from the notion of literary content being the only type of content for your website, and instead introduce numerous other content forms into your overall content marketing strategy.

This will help you diversify your offer and appeal to a wide array of audience types, and it will also make your content shareable across a myriad of social media platforms. However, if you’re mainly using stock photos for your website or social media, beware, this can be a double-edged sword. The key to recognition in any industry is uniqueness, and if your written content is unique, then there is no reason why your photos should be any different. Plus, stock photos can’t really portray your true brand identity the way original images can, so it’s always better to hire a professional photographer instead.

Creating an enthralling, user-friendly design

It should go without saying that your blog will only be as appealing and successful as its design, as the modern audience not only needs great content, but it also needs that content to be wrapped up in an aesthetic package. This means that your website not only has to wear the company colors and symbols, but that it should also boast a user-friendly design that will cut loading times and present a clean, clutter-free interface.

Take the Australian market, for instance, as a place where entrepreneurs and business leaders have taken the design concept to the next level. In the Land Down Under, agencies specializing in website development in Sydney and other entrepreneurial centers around the country aim to build user-friendly designs and integrate content to boost responsiveness, engagement, and retention. The key here lies in full integration – creating an immersive presentation that will grab the visitor’s attention, establish an emotional connection, and reel them in with relatable, beautiful content.

Tapping into a wealth of content possibilities

Content comes in many forms, and it would be a shame if your brand didn’t exploit the wealth of opportunities that come with content diversification. After all, every customer is unique, and while some enjoy a beautiful story to read over a cup of coffee, others like to relax with the sounds of an informative podcast. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

In the pursuit of higher audience engagement and retention, you should be looking at all content possibilities out there, including images, videos, podcasts, infographics, quizzes, surveys, E-books, free courses and tutorials, and many, many more. If you invest in the creation of numerous types of content for your target audience to enjoy, you will not only prevent monotony from settling into your content strategy, but you will also be able to disseminate it across all relevant social media platforms, and the rest of the online universe.

Disseminating the brand across the web

So, you’ve made all this amazing content, you’ve optimized it for maximum engagement and SERP positioning, what now? How do people actually find out about your brand and the amazing stories that will change their lives? By sharing your content across relevant social media platforms and other authority websites in the industry. This way, your blog can become the top authority in the industry as well, and the go-to source of information the online audience will trust and love, so use the power of social media to leverage success.

A few parting words

Building an amazing blog that will grab the readers’ attention and keep them on your site is not an easy goal to achieve, especially when you take into account that every growth-oriented company in your niche is trying to achieve the same. Nevertheless, with these foolproof tips in mind, you will have no problem growing your brand recognition and elevating your blog to become the leading source of quality information in the online world.

Author Bio:

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.

Want more posts like this? Let us know in the comments below!

Having a blog is a powerful online asset.

Assuming you produce quality and properly optimized content, your blog can literally work for you 24/7, 365 days a year.

You can be sleeping, eating, vacationing and people can still be browsing your website/purchasing your products and services.

When you think about your blog as an asset like this, it’s really a game changer.

Time Is Everything

To entrepreneurs time is the most valuable resource.

What a blog does is separate the need to trade your time for money.

Now of course you have to take some time upfront to write the blog posts, market them, maintain the website, build your email list etc., but once a blog post is written/published, it is up there FOREVER working for you 24/7….And without you having to do another thing to it.

Same goes for publishing a YouTube video for example, you have to put in the upfront time to record it, edit it and then upload it to YouTube, but after that there’s no more time you need to put into it (other than possibly marketing it a bit).

Creating online assets like this is really important to understand.

It opens up your mind to a strategy that many successful entrepreneurs utilize.

On the flip side, trading time for money (which most people do at their jobs/careers), has its restricting limitations.

You can only work so many hours in a given day, week, month and year.

You only have so much focus, energy and motivation as well.

But when you eliminate your time from the equation and produce assets that work for you, the sky is the limit.

There is no ceiling in entrepreneurship and that is why it’s so fascinating to so many people.

But most don’t understand the simple concept laid out in this blog post, which is part of the reason why they fail.

It took me a while to grasp this myself, I didn’t fully understand it at first.

But the more I saw the results of income producing assets like this and waking up to sales in various accounts, I saw the power behind it.

I thought…“I can be asleep and still generate an income, this is awesome!”

Build Your Online Asset(s)

If this concept resonates with you at all, I highly encourage you to start experimenting for yourself.

You may not get everything right the first time, but you have to be in the game in order to win at it.

I’d reccomend either starting a blog or a YouTube channel…Better yet, do both!

As stated above both blog posts and YouTube videos are online assets that can work for you.

Learn some additional marketing skills so these pieces of content get exposure and stay persistent with your approach.

Not every blog post or video is going to be a home run, but it’s important that you’re constantly learning in the process and improving over-time.

Even just taking the first step of understanding this concept as a whole gives you a big advantage and plants the seed to what is truly possible.

Do you currently have any assets working for you?

A great monetization strategy for your blog is sponsored posts.

For many bloggers this is a great way to generate extra revenue from their website.

People will essentially pay you to get their content published on your website as it helps them generate more exposure for their brand and builds a quality backlink which is helpful for SEO (assuming the link flows naturally and is relevant to the article).

The reason I love offering sponsored posts is 1.) because it’s an extra source of income and 2.) it provides you with consistent content for your blog.

Just make sure the content you are receiving is of the highest quality and don’t be afraid to turn it down.

Also make sure you check it for plagiarism using a tool like Copyscape.

I only accept/publish content that I know will benefit my readers and that is 100% valuable/unique content.

If you’re interested in accepting sponsored posts here are two steps below that will help you set this up for yourself.

Build Up Your Own Site Authority

In order for anyone to be interested in submitting an article to your blog, your site must have some authority in the eyes of Google. This means that it must have a decent domain authority and enough traffic for it to be worthwhile to post on. You need to make sure you’re creating quality content on a consistent basis and also building quality backlinks in order to give your website more weight in the major search engines.

Having updated and fresh content on your blog shows others that your site is current and relevant with helpful information. People want to contribute to websites where content is routinely being published and where readers are engaging on a consistent basis. They will most likely also check out your domain authority (see link above) so it’s important to adopt an on-going link building strategy, this way you can increase your overall search engine rankings and organic traffic. A more reputable/authoritative site also allows you to increase your sponsored posts fees, so this should be a top priority.

Create A Dedicated Page For Sponsored Posts

By creating a dedicated page for sponsored post submissions, this tells people that you are indeed accepting sponsored content. It also allows you to lay out your guidelines, topics allowed, pricing and submission process. For example, my page here is a perfect example of what you should include on your site if you’re interested in offering sponsored posts. These types of pages can also get indexed in Google which makes them much more accessible and visible to potential contributors. By creating this page, you can tell people exactly what type of content you’re looking for so that when you receive submissions, minimal edits will have to be made (saving you valuable time).

Take this sponsored post strategy seriously as it can potentially help you generate a few hundred dollars per month or even a few thousand depending on how authoritative your site is. Again, continue to work on strengthening your website on all levels as this will allow you to charge higher fees. Sponsored posts are pretty much pure profit as all it takes is your time to edit/upload them. Although you don’t want this to be your only method of creating revenue from your website, it is a really powerful strategy that should be included in your monetization mix.

If you haven’t started your blog yet, you may want to take a look here.

What do you think of sponsored posts?

Let me know in the comments section below!

In order to get your blog posts noticed by the major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo you must follow a specific formula to make this happen.

You wouldn’t believe how many people get this wrong, which is why they generate little to zero organic traffic.

In this post we will go over exactly how to create blog content that ranks in Google so you can put yourself well ahead of the competition.

If you haven’t started a blog yet, you may want to check this post out.

Now let’s get into it!

1.) Keyword Research- Look For Long-Tail Keywords

The starting point to any successful piece of blog content begins with keyword research. Using tools like Ubersuggest (free), Google Keyword Planner (free) or MOZ Keyword Explorer (paid), you’ll want to start generating a list of a few keywords per blog post. Remember to try and focus on long-tail keyword phrases as they are less competitive and easier to rank for. Long-tail keyword phrases are generally 3-5 word terms, sometimes longer. See example below:

• This post you’re reading right now is targeting the keyword “How To Create Blog Content“…but it’s also targeting “Create Blog Content That Ranks In Google“.  So with one long-tail keyword phrase, I’m actually targeting two different keywords. These will be less competitive compared to for example, “Blog Content” which is incredibly general…Does this make sense?

Just like anything, the more you practice the art and skill of keyword research, the better you get at it. When starting out just get used to compiling some keywords together based around the specific topic you’d like to write about. Don’t try to find the “winner”, instead grab around 2-4 that may be good candidates to target.

2.) Make Blog Posts 500+ Words Long

Now that you have your keyword(s) mapped out, it’s time to start writing your blog post. It’s essential that you do not take shortcuts here. You always want to publish the highest quality content possible. So with that being said, make sure your blog posts are at the very least 500 words long. I personally have seen the best results when I write my blog posts over 1,000 words long. Long-form style content tends to rank much better in Google from my experience.

Google favors websites/blogs that have a sufficient amount of content published. If Google sees two websites competing for the same keyword (say 350 words vs. 1,000 words) and both are blog posts, Google will pick the one that has more quality content to rank higher. Get into the habit of ensuring your blog posts are over 500 words but eliminating any fluff as well. You want your blog posts to be in-depth and valuable content for your readers.  

3.) Copy Optimization/Internal Linking

Once your blog is written, you’ll want to make sure it’s optimized properly with your target keywords sprinkled in throughout the content. This gives Google a better idea of what your blog post is about and gives it more authority from an on-site SEO perspective. Do not just stuff your keywords in here though, make sure they ready naturally and are placed strategically in your post. Remember that creating blog content that ranks in Google is just as much for real humans as is it for the search engines.

You will also want to add a handful of internal links to other relevant blog posts or pages on your website. Google encourages webmasters to guide visitors to other helpful content on their site. It helps people get around better and also spreads some ranking power (link juice) from page to page. Try to add 2-3 internal links per 500 words or so.

4.) Write Proper SEO Tags (Yoast)

A crucially important step is ensuring that you write proper SEO tags for each and every blog post. This really lets Google know what your article is about and which keywords you are targeting. To learn more about the specific SEO tags check out my post here: How To Do Simple Search Engine Optimization. These tags will contain your most important keywords and will create a strong SEO foundation for that page. Listed below are the main keywords you should focus on (remember to check out my post above for more details on each SEO tag).

• Title Tags (60-70 characters long)
• Meta Descriptions (155-160 characters long)
• Header Tags (H1, H2, H3 etc.)
• Image ALT Tags

A great SEO plugin if you use WordPress is Yoast. They make it incredibly easy to implement SEO tags for each and every blog post you write. It’s important to take your time on this part of the blog creation process as writing properly optimized SEO tags could mean all the difference in getting floods of organic traffic to your content or none at all. See screenshot below of how Yoast looks when optimizing your tags (this is showing your Title Tag, URL slug and Meta Description).

5.) Link Building to That Specific Post

A more advanced but incredibly powerful strategy to really set yourself apart from the competition is to build quality backlinks to your specific blog post(s). The best way to do this is through guest posting, where you would reach out to other relevant websites in your niche and find out if they’re interested in a guest blog post from you. You would then write a quality article for their website and embed your blog post link (using specific anchor text) and send it off for publishing. This is how you build natural and quality backlinks to your website/blog posts.

This strategy can give you a huge boost in terms of search engine rankings and many times is just what you need to cement yourself at the top of the search results!

6.) Consistency

Last but not least it’s important to be consistent in your overall blogging strategy. You need to realize that not every blog post is going to rank super highly in the search engines. Some will do great and others not so great, which is why you need to continue to publish quality, fresh and unique content. At the very least you should be blogging once per week. That’s four blog posts per month. Can you handle that?  If you can do more that’s even better, just make sure you’re not sacrificing quality. Stay patient, remain persistent and results are sure to follow.

That about wraps it up and to be quite frank this blog post that you’re reading is a good example of what you should strive for. It’s targeting a specific keyword(s), it’s over 1000 words long, it’s properly optimized with internal links, SEO tags etc., and eventually I will build natural backlinks to it through guest posting.

Was this post helpful to you?

Are you already using this formula? Let me know in the comments section!

Rather watch the video version of this blog post?

How To Create Blog Content That Ranks In Google

One of the most common questions I receive on a monthly basis is people asking me in some form or another “how to become a successful blogger and make money”.

Unfortunately, there’s really no straight forward way to answer this question as building an authoritative blog is a process that takes time, effort and dedication.

However, anyone who is willing to roll up their sleeves, put in the work, learn the right marketing strategies and dive in head first has a great chance of success with their blog.

In this post we’ll look at a few powerful blogging tips that will help guide you in the right direction:

Blogging Tips- How To Become a Successful Blogger

Before we dive into the list below, if you want to learn the basics of actually starting a blog (like signing up for hosting, choosing a domain name, installing WordPress, picking out a theme etc.), then I highly recommend you check out this post here.

The blogging techniques we will go over today are ones that I have personally used (and still use) to increase my overall reach, search engine rankings, organic traffic, leads, conversions, readership and exposure.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

1.) Create Your Blog Around A Specific Niche (that you’re passionate about)

Highly successful bloggers will tell you that they absolutely love the niche they operate in and what they write about on a consistent basis. It is essential that you create your blog around a niche you’re passionate about, so generating content never ever feels like a chore. When you write about something you love, it shows in your work and will ensure your content comes off as fresh and engaging for your readers. It also ensures that ideas will always be flowing and you’ll never run out of things to write about (assuming you’ve picked a big enough niche, which is also recommended). Try to choose a niche that is full of hungry people looking for more information, answers and/or solutions to their problems. For example, my blog is based around Internet Marketing, blogging, SEO, passive income, entrepreneurship, personal development/finance etc. This is an area and subject that I really gravitate towards which makes producing content an absolute breeze. Which brings me to my next point…

2.) Generate Consistent Content

Consistent and quality content is the lifeblood of any thriving blog. If you want any shot at becoming a successful blogger, you must publish top-notch and unique content every single week. This shows the major search engines like Google and Bing that your site is relevant and worthy of coming back to. On the flip side, blogs that struggle to produce content on a regular basis will soon fall out of the search results and be outranked by fresher and more evergreen websites. At the very least, strive to publish a 700 – 2000 word blog post once a week.

3.) Have An SEO Strategy In Place

The most successful blogs are generating much of their traffic organically through the search engines. This means they have proper search engine optimization (SEO) in place to take advantage of the keyword phrases they want to rank for. For bloggers, SEO doesn’t have to be too complicated. Plugins such as Yoast really help to cut some of the learning curve for beginners.

To start, focus on making sure that all of the most important SEO tags (Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, Headers Tags and Image ALT tags) are properly optimized with your most important keyword phrases in place. This will provide you an excellent foundation and explain to the search engines what your site/pages are about. You’ll also want to make sure your content (blog posts and pages) is properly optimized as well with target terms and internal links where appropriate. In both your SEO tags and content, please make sure not to ‘keyword stuff’.  Meaning do not add an unnecessary amount of keyword phrases, as this could hurt your site more than help it. Keep it natural and modest and follow the lead of plugins like Yoast for keyword density recommendations. We will discuss another SEO strategy below separately since it deserves its own paragraph (link building). For now, follow the link above to read a little bit more about a few SEO best practices…especially if you’re new to this.

4.) Have People Contribute Articles To Your Blog

A very underrated blogging strategy is opening up your website for guest posts/sponsored posts.  Accepting guest posts is beneficial for a few reasons 1.) It provides you with consistent content 2.) It can create an additional stream of revenue (I’ll explain more below) and 3.) It allows you to connect with other successful bloggers. When you’re blog is brand new, you can start by accepting free guest posts to get things rolling. However, once your blog starts gaining more authority, you can charge anywhere from $10-$500 per post (if not more) for people to publish content with a backlink on your website. Other bloggers are always looking for backlink opportunities and are willing to pay top dollar if your site is worth it. This is a win-win situation as not only does it create an additional income stream but it also gives you consistent content as well. I’ll give you a real simple trick to get this started…see screenshot below:

In the navigation area of your website, make sure to add a “Write For Us” or “Contribute” or “Guest Post” page. Thousands of other website owners search Google daily using these search queries looking for guest posting opportunities. When you have a page dedicated to this, it increases the likelihood of receiving article submissions. I personally receive numerous requests/submissions each and every day since I added this page to my website.

5.) Share Blog Posts on Social Media | Encourage Sharing As Well

This step is pretty self explanatory but it’s vital that you share each and every blog post your write on your social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon etc. Social media is only continuing to grow in popularity and more and more people are spending their time there. This is another audience that you can capitalize on and traffic that you can drive back to your blog. Another thing you’ll want to do is have “share” buttons on your blog so people can easily share your content with friends, family, co-workers etc. This sometimes has the chance to make a post go viral so it’s important to have share buttons in place. Encourage people to share your content with others and maybe offer an incentive if they do. Get creative in your social media approach and don’t be afraid to try different methodologies.

6.) Focus Heavily on Link Building

Link building can produce some dramatic increases in terms of search engine rankings, organic traffic and domain authority. This should hands down be a mandatory and on-going focus each and every month. To explain a bit further, Google ranks websites based on their on-site SEO (explained above- meta tags and content) as well as their off-site SEO (# of quality backlinks). The more quality backlinks your blog has pointing to it, the higher up in the search results Google will generally place you. This in return will bring you in more organic traffic. This is incredibly powerful information to understand as it could mean the difference in getting 10 organic searches versus 100,000+ organic searches per month.

Now a really simple and natural way to build quality backlinks is through guest posting on other authoritative websites. You would start by creating a list of relevant websites in your niche to see if they are accepting guest posts. An easy way to do this is to use certain search queries in Google like:

• “write for us” + “keyword”
• “guest post” + “keyword”
• “contribute” + “keyword”

Once you generate your list you would simply pitch these sites a few blog topics that they would be interested in. Most will let you place a link within the content of the article or in the author bio which would provide you with a powerful backlink. Did I mention this is powerful? Again, you want to build as many quality backlinks as possible and work at this every single month (if not every week). Eventually you will start to see real momentum with this approach and will realize that all the hard work is well worth it. To gauge your progress, keep track of the guest posts you get published on other websites (on an excel spreadsheet) and also enter your site in MOZ’s open site explorer feature every couple of months. This will give you an idea of your overall domain authority and how many links are pointing to your blog.

7.) Monetize Your Blog and Make Money

There are endless ways to monetize your blog so that a percentage of your visitors turn into buying customers. For starters you can create a “Write For Us” page like I explained above and start charging for article submissions to your website. Another quick way to make sales is through affiliate marketing and utilizing banner advertisements. For example, see the screenshot below of how I’m using banners and ClickBank products to make extra revenue from my blog. Every time a visitor clicks one of my banners and purchases the product, I get paid generally 50-75% of the commission!

I also have a Recommended Tools section where I refer people to the tools that I personally use in my online businesses. This is a navigation link so it’s one of the first things people see when visiting my website (check out my “SEO Services” pages too which are also income generators). See screenshot below:

Last and certainly not least is building your email list. This is incredibly important if you want to have life-long customers who will continue to buy from you months and even years from now. A good way to capture email addresses is to offer a “Freebie” whether it be a report, video series, informative email follow-up etc. Encourage your visitors to enter their email address in exchange for a high quality freebie. Always create as much value as possible and in return people will be happy to buy from you down the road. You can then follow-up with them promoting your own products, affiliate products, other blog posts and more. See screenshot below of the squeeze page I have set up on my blog (I also have an exit popup as well):

If you’re interested in learning more about the email autoresponder I use, please take a look at my ConvertKit Review here.

8.) Patience

Finally we get to patience! Which is a trait that every accomplished blogger has. You need to realize that becoming a successful blogger is not going to happen overnight. It takes time for you to master your craft, for people to find you, for Google to place you in the top of their search results and for you to make money from your efforts. I wish I could tell you that there is a quick way to make this all happen but there isn’t. You need to adopt a long-term mindset if you ever want to build this into a part-time and/or full-time income. Stick to a plan, like the one laid out above, be persistent and you will put yourself miles ahead of the competition.

I hope these tips sparked some motivation to get things moving in the right direction for yourself.

Don’t let a few small hurdles hold you back…Keep pushing forward until you get the results that you desire.

If you have any questions whatsoever, please don’t hesitate to reach out!