Forget SEO focus on killer content

September 26, 2014 by  
Filed under Featured Articles, Front Page

English: The Open Share Icon is designed to he...

English: The Open Share Icon is designed to help users easily identify shareable content. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Peter Hanustiak

I used to write plenty of articles.

I thought at a time they were great and they were helping people, but they were just pure junk.

This was my process of writing:

  1. Find topic that relates to my product such as email marketing
  2. Come up with catchy headline (5 secret tips for awesome email marketing, Weird email tip that made me a lot of money, etc.)
  3. Google interesting articles and gather statistics
  4. Find some cheap stock picture
  5. Put it all together
  6. Insert links with proper keywords and images with proper alt tags and all of the other SEO stuff

I soon figured out that this wasn’t really working. People weren’t engaged. They were not talking about it and they were not sharing these articles.

I asked myself: “If I found my own article somewhere online, would I share it myself?” The answer was mostly no.

So what do people most gladly share with others?

  • They share full albums of pictures of themselves looking great.
  • They share pictures of wonderful meals they had on vacation in Bali.
  • They share funny stuff that will make others laugh.
  • They share inspirational stuff.
  • They share things that will change your life.
  • They share quotes that will motivate you.
  • They share videos that will make you cry.

Why do they do it? Because they want to look cool in the eyes of their peers.

The Internet is just flooded with content nowadays. Every single day millions of new blog posts, videos, and podcasts are being produced.

So unless you write some killer content you can forget about somebody sharing it.

Sorry, I won’t give you any secret formula with a step-by-step process on how to write killer content. But I can give you couple of things I observed to be present in many great articles:

Stop focusing on data and information

We are living in world of information. There is information everywhere around us and we are getting sick of it.

Sorry, I won’t get excited if you show me your super fancy pie chart.

Show your personality

Instead of information and data I want to know your story. I want you to share your experience with me.

It’s ok that you are not perfect. Share what mistakes you made (like I did for instance in the beginning of this article) and share what has worked for you.

Stick to one main idea

And build your point step-by-step.

Start by describing the problem your audience is having and show them how to solve it.

Don’t worry about the amount of words. It’s totally ok if it has just 50 words. And if it’s a killer content people will read it till the end even when it has several thousands of words.

Focus on transformation

Great articles don’t make you just think. They make you change your old behavior.

So how do you do that? Write about real world examples and case studies. First make them want it and then show them how to get it.

Instead of vague uninteresting information we all know such as “Focusing on customers helps to grow your business” write how you can change your own old ways when dealing with customers and how it helped to grow your business.

Make your text visually interesting

This one is getting more and more important these days.

People are too distracted. Remember that they are always one click away from never seeing you again.

I don’t know about you, but I totally hate to read large pieces of texts. I just sometimes think I don’t have time for that and I’m also too impatient.

Try to visually improve your text. Separate large paragraphs into smaller ones. Use bold texts and italics. Try to play with font sizes. Use headlines and bullet points.

About author

Peter Hanustiak is founder of Mail Masta email marketing plugin for WordPress. He is obsessed about good food and passionate traveller.

Five Useful Tips to Help You Attract More Readers to Your Blog

October 23, 2013 by  
Filed under A Note for You, Front Page

2576981899_fef76fd366_mBy S. Marc

Five Useful Tips to Help You Attract More Readers to Your Blog

Optimizing the content of your blog is essential if you want to engage your readers and attract new ones. However not all bloggers know how to take advantage of the benefits of a blog, especially from an SEO perspective – in other words, making it as best as possible for search engine optimization so people actually find the content via Google, Bing, and Yahoo.  Here are five tips to help you publish content online that has more chance of being found, read, and shared.

Write on Interesting Topics That People Want to Read

It’s not good writing about the evolution of the micro-pig if nobody wants to read it. Take a look on Google for other blogs in your area of interest and see what subject they are covering.  You can then use the Google Adwords tool to search for keywords relating to a topic.  The tool will show you how many people are searching for your subject each month, including the competitiveness of the term.  This will give you a great start and an idea on what to publish.

Create a Catchy and Compelling Title

The first element that potential readers will see in the Google search results, is your article’s title.  For this reason it should be catchy and invite your readers to want to click through to find out more. Make it short and concise still, as titles like this will then appear when shared on Facebook and Twitter, letting even more potential readers see what your blog is about, before hopefully clicking.

Interact With Your Readers

It is very important to create a bond with your readers so they feel involved and will continue to come back to your blog. To do this, interact with them by asking questions at the end of your articles asking them what they think, or posing a question in the comment section.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for SEO Help

Most bloggers are not IT specialists.  There are many things that a blogger can do though in terms of optimising their website to make it rank better.  If your blog is starting to become popular and is making you money then it could be a good time to enlist the services of a search engine optimisation company (you can see an example of one in that link).  Good SEO companies will help you rank better by helping you to build relevant links back to the blog, looking at your website code, and other factors design to help your blog content be listed higher up in the rankings.

Share Your Content on Social Networks

If you haven’t already, make sure you sign up to the main social networks of Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus and then link those accounts back to your blog.  When you publish a new blog post make sure you share it with your subscribers who may in turn share it again, thus increasing your blog visits.

 

 
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9 Web Design Best Practices For Small Businesses

September 16, 2013 by  
Filed under Featured Articles, Front Page

English: An old golden Labrador. He has lived ...

E   (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

9 Web Design Best Practices For Small Businesses

The main objective of your business website is to ensure that your customers find what they’re looking for, quickly and easily. Check out our top recommended best practices for your website, all engineered to increase conversions and ultimately, the site ROI.

Ensure Effortless Navigation

As long as your site’s navigation is effortless and predictable, your prospects won’t get frustrated. A frustrated prospect is a potential customer lost to you. So, try to follow standard guidelines and place navigational links and menu items where people expect to find them

Focus on Quality Content

You may be told that posting often and maintaining a high posting frequency keeps you high on the search engines. This is not a writ-on-stone rule; what’s important is quality content, content that offers some value-add to readers. Focus on high-quality content, even if you publish less often.

Use Videos

Whether you create instructional, testimonial, product demo videos or videos introducing your team and company, use videos to attract and impress your visitors. Your videos don’t have to be professional, as long as they’re watchable and enjoyable.

Enable A Search Feature

A friendly search feature with advanced search options and the facility to sort and filter search results is pure gold. A great search feature, such as the one on Amazon.com can up your conversions by as much as 50%.

Allow Easy Contact

Make sure your prospects find it easy to get in touch with you. Place your phone number(s) and email Ids in all web pages, in your footer, sidebar or header. The easier you make it for people to get hold of your number, the greater your customers’ confidence in you.

Have Several CTAs

Make sure your prospects are clear as to what you want them to you. Not only should your CTA be clear and prominent, it’s necessary that you repeat the same CTA in multiple places. Sometimes people can miss out on CTAs while browsing, unless they’re everywhere and therefore hard to miss.

Establish Credibility

You don’t have to bribe your prospects with freebies to convert them. Establish a solid credibility locally, and let your site reflect your honesty and sincerity. Publish genuine customer testimonials and reviews. Put up trust symbols such as VeriSign and incorporate a friendly return policy.

Ensure Visual Appeal

Do make your site a little modern and visually appealing. Avoid negative backgrounds, and use readable and professional fonts. Use a professional web design company who’s designed sites for other businesses in your industry.

Ensure Top Page Load Speed

One sure-fire way of losing any prospect is to load your site with too many elements. Cut back on images, unnecessary graphic elements in your design and please avoid Flash. Check how fast your pages load on varying bandwidths – your site should load fast on the least bandwidth to be a winner.

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