57 Ways to Boost Your Blog Traffic

Using effective tactics that boost your blog traffic is the first step in achieving a variety of goals.

Those objectives could include, selling products and services, building brand awareness, position yourself as a thought leader or to connect and network. Whatever the goals are, traffic provides the visibility to engage and sell.

Website visitors is where it all starts. No traffic…nothing happens.

In the past bloggers only had one big tactic.

Building an email list.

This is still important despite the allure of social media with all its hype and bluster, real and imagined.  Social media since arriving on the scene has offered bloggers two core and very important capabilities that were not part of the web landscape until social media turned up.

1. Multiple platforms and networks to re-publish and share their content on. You can now discover a blogger and their content because it is published to Facebook or their video is on YouTube
2. Crowd sourced marketing as people share bloggers articles with a couple of clicks on Facebook and Twitter. No longer is the post hidden in the email silo where sharing is restricted to passing an email on.

So if you have just launched a blog or you’re struggling to grow your traffic, what are some of the tactics that the top bloggers use to get attention, bring readers back and become part of your loyal tribe of readers?

Tips to boost your blog traffic:

Some of these tactics are more effective and direct than others but collectively implemented can create long lasting and organic growth path for your blog.

1. Build a large following on Twitter
2. Automate the sharing of content on Twitter. (you cannot scale if you don’t do this)
3. Link to your blog on Twitter in your profile
4. Increase your likes on Facebook
5. Link to your blog on Facebook
6. Share your post (including links to it) on Facebook
7. Build an email subscriber list from day one
8. Host a webinar (you can capture many emails when you run a webinar)
9. Create and publish great content
10. Make it easy for people to share your content with a Twitter retweet button
11. Ensure you have a LinkedIn sharing button (there are over 230 million users there)
12. Include a Google+ sharing button even if you don’t use it very much (over half a billion people there!)
13. Facebook sharing button is a must
14. Make it easy for people to share your content with a Pinterest sharing button
15. Provide an incentive for people to subscribe to your blog by offering a free ebook in exchange for their email address and name
16. Place the email subscriber box in a prominent position (top right or even in the top banner)
17. Include multiple locations for people to subscribe
18. Include an RSS feed option
19. Link to your blog from your YouTube videos and channel
20. Make your blog easy to read (this will keep them loyal and bring them back)
21. Write the best headlines you possibly can
22. Guest blog on larger blogs in your industry
23. Comment on other bloggers articles
24. Reply to comments on your blog posts
25. Interview the influential bloggers in your niche and category
26. Obtain testimonials from influencers in your industry who have a strong social media presence
27.  Ensure your blog can be easily read on mobile devices
28. Optimise for search engines by using an SEO plugin such as WordPress SEO (Also known as Yoast)
29. Write sub-titles with keywords in posts to help your SEO
30. Improve your blogs search engine friendly content by including key words in images
31. Publish new articles regularly (at least once a week)
32. Write long form content that will be a resource for readers (they will link and bookmark it for future reference)
33. Place a Facebook ad that drives traffic to your blog (could be an offer of free premium content)
34. Advertise on Twitter with “Promoted Accounts”
35. Provide links to archives on your blog
36. List your most popular posts (this is a default WordPress feature)
37. Use an SEO friendly online publishing platform like…”WordPress”
38. Use a simple design that profiles your content and highlights your focus
39. Include “prominent” social media sharing buttons placed at the top of your articles (floating buttons are good too)
40. Have your top social media channels displayed in a prominent position so people can easily follow you
41. Share other top bloggers content on Twitter and let them know you have shared with an @topblogger mention
42. Copy and emulate the strategies of top bloggers
43. Write a great introduction that is compelling and draws readers in
44. Engage with your readers so that they want to come back and become loyal fans
45. Write a blog post that highlights the best bloggers in your industry
46. As you build credibility display your awards, wins and social proof in a prominent position
47. Link to your blog in your email signature
48. Join Facebook groups and participate
49. Create a Google+ hangout for a hot topic in your industry and promote it
50. Participate in LinkedIn groups
51. Create some controversy that attracts attention
52. Submit your top posts to Reddit
53. Publish articles on Stumbleupon
54. Make yourself available to speak
55. Have a business card for your blog
56. Take photos with Instagram (over 130 million registered users there) and share them on Facebook and Twitter
57. Include multimedia in your articles to broaden your blogs reach. Videos, infographics, podcasts and Slideshare presentations are sometimes preferred over learning in a text format.

Overwhelmed?

So you are now overwhelmed and fifty seven items to add to your blogging “to do” list may seem like a tad too much to implement. It has most probably crossed your mind that this is a big mountain to climb. You may even be considering forgetting blogging and taking up drinking.

How can you have enough time to have a life and blog without losing your mind?

Here are the top tips that will make the biggest difference that you should not ignore to get you started.

6 “must do” tactics to accelerate your blog traffic

There are many tactics that you can pursue but some have more value than others. If there were six that should be on your “must do” do list then here they are.

1. Build an email list

Do this from day one by offering a free ebook or premium content that readers can only get by entering their name and email.

Resource: 5 Email marketing Tools to Help You Grow Your Business

2. Grow a targeted Twitter following

Twitter is the best platform to build a focused list of followers. It’s simplicity and unfiltered stream ensures your tweets with your content linked and embedded will provide visible attention.

Resource: How to Build a Targeted Twitter Tribe of 100,000

3. Increase your Facebook likes

Facebook cannot be ignored and ensuring you have a large group that have liked your page can be one of your top two social networks that will drive significant traffic.

Resource: 20 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Likes and Engagement

4. Build your blog and content for search engines

Search engines are the biggest traffic source for my blog. This will not happen from day one as it will take time to get Google’s attention. Don’t ignore doing this from day one as it requires persistence and will take time.

Start today.

Resource: 6 Simple Tips to Rank High in Google’s Search Engine

5. Create and publish awesome content

This may not be obvious to some but if you create contagious content that solves people problems and adds value to their lives you will collect fanatical fans. They will link to your blog and they will share it.

Write, create and publish the best liquid content you can. This will then flow across the web and build brand awareness.

Resource: 20 Ideas for Content that People Love to Share on Social Media

6. Include prominent social media sharing buttons

You have written, produced and published content that rocks. But if you make it hard for people to share on the social web then it will still be great but invisible.

Make it prominent and easy to share with a couple of clicks.

Resource: How to Get More from Your Social Sharing Buttons

What about you?

What tactics have you used to increase your blog traffic? Are there any tips that you have discovered in this post that you could implement today?

What is the one best tip that you have discovered that worked for you recently?

Look forward to hearing your stories and insights in the comments below.

Keep visiting this blog, I'll write other posts regarding how to increase Your Blog Traffic.

Personality Tests: Modern-Day Phrenology

 

Companies use personality tests for a variety of purposes, such as employment screening, assessing leadership potential, fostering corroboration and teamwork, and so on.

The most widely used is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), created by Pennsylvania housewife Isabel Myers. This particular test is utilized by 89% of the Fortune 100, given to 2.5 million people each year to identify strengths and enhance teamwork. She thought the test could bring about world peace.

The Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory (MMPI) was developed in 1946 to sort mental patients into diagnostic categories. It was then expanded in an attempt to describe normal people.

 

Of course, popularity does not imply scientific validity. What is worse, most companies keep these tests confidential so the data cannot be scientifically tested to determine effectiveness.

These tests are also popular among consultants, who are paid good money to administer them in a convivial atmosphere. But the fallacy is the tests measure what we are like and who we are, not what we know, believe, or can do. They confuse labeling personality with understanding it.

The tests are also reassuring confirmations of what people already know about themselves, what psychologists call the permanency tendency. They also tend to validate the positive characteristics we all believe we possess, the so-called Pollyanna principle.

Companies might as well bring their people together to play with Ouija boards, which are equally entertaining while having roughly the same empirical validity. As they say, if you really want to learn what someone is like, marry them or work for them.

Annie Murphy Paul, former senior editor at Psychology Today, has written a scathing indictment against these tests, labeling them modern-day phrenology, in her book The Cult of Personality Testing: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves. Here a few of her more condemning facts:

 

"…[A]s many as three-quarters of test takers achieve a different personality type when tested again, and the sixteen distinctive types described by the Myers-Briggs have no scientific basis whatsoever.

The sly brilliance of using personality test[s] to label employees is that, by dint of answering the test’s questions, employees appear to be labeling themselves. … Under this banner of respect for individuality, organizations are able to shift responsibility for employee satisfaction onto that obliging culprit, 'fit.'

And research has found little connection between indicator types and real-life outcomes. There is scant evidence that MBTI results are useful in determining managerial effectiveness, helping to build teams, providing career counseling, enhancing insight into self or others, or any other of the myriad uses for which it is promoted."

 

Professor Erkko Autio, department of management at HEC Lausanne, in Switzerland, pointed out the same defects with respect to the current fad of “emotional intelligence” in a letter to The Economist:

It might interest you to know that not a single serious study has ever been able to demonstrate a link between “emotional intelligence” and leadership effectiveness. The most robust and consistent single predictor of leadership effectiveness is, simply, intelligence. Emotional intelligence sells well, but scientific evidence supporting it is almost as solid as that supporting the effectiveness of homeopathy (The Economist, Aug 26, 2006: 14).

Professor Autio is certainly correct in the assertion that intelligent quotient (IQ) is a better predictor of executive effectiveness, as The Bell Curve has empirically demonstrated. If you were confined to learning one number about an individual to predict their standard of living, you would be hard pressed to find a better one than their IQ.

 

That being said, firms are not confined to knowing just one thing about their potential or existing employees. As Rabbi Daniel Lapin wrote in Thou Shall Prosper: “You are best understood and appraised by others on the basis of the things you believe rather than on the basis of the things you know.” Or, I might add, rather than on the basis of your personality or year of birth (see Generational Astrology).

We are better off understanding people’s beliefs if we want to even begin to understand how and why the Germans of the Third Reich could carry out their murderous orders in acquiescent servility, or the people who flew airplanes into buildings killing innocent civilians on September 11, 2001.

Trying to simplify the spirituality and soul of a human life by labeling it with a personality type (or even an IQ) is to disregard the uniqueness and dignity of individuals, which requires judgment and discernment far more than measurement. As Peter Drucker once wrote, “There is no such thing as an infallible judge of people, at least not on this side of the Pearly Gates.”

I am not going to offer a replacement to personality testing because you don’t need to replace meaningless practices with anything. I will suggest, instead, that you follow the wisdom of Chinese philosopher Lin Yutang, from his book, The Importance of Living:

 

"To me… man’s dignity consists in the following facts which distinguish man from animals. First, that he has a playful curiosity and a natural genius for exploring knowledge; second, that he has dreams and a lofty idealism…third, and still more important, that he is able to correct his dreams by a sense of humor, and thus restrain his idealism by a more robust and healthy realism; and finally, that he does not react to surroundings mechanically and uniformly as animals do, but possesses the ability and the freedom to determine his own reactions and to change surroundings at his will.

 

This last is the same as saying that human personality is the last thing to be reduced to mechanical laws; somehow the human mind is forever elusive, uncatchable and unpredictable, and manages to wriggle out of mechanistic laws or a materialistic dialectic that crazy psychologists and unmarried economists are trying to impose upon him. Man, therefore, is a curious, dreamy, humorous and wayward creature. In short, my faith in human dignity consists in the belief that man is the greatest scamp on earth."

Simple Tips to Increase Your Online Sales

Simple tips to increase your online sales So, you have your online store, you are making a few online sales however you still need to increase your online sales..

Firstly, people prefer to visit online stores that are easy-to-use, user-friendly and reliable. For this reason, you have to ensure that your online store contains easy features for your customers. Whether you are small, medium-size or a big online store owner, reading through these tips will hopefully give you some ideas that will increase online sales.

I suggest that you make sure that you have the following:

Simple Navigation –  This is the most important factor to consider while creating an online store. Ensure to make your website easy-to-use for customers. Most customers do not want to waste time navigating a website. Make sure your customers get to the products without any hassle.

Great Quality Product Images –  When building an eCommerce store, ensure to use compelling product images that can grab the attention of your customers. In fact, this factor will help clients to act without even reading through the wordings of your product content. This is wisdom, think about it.

Search Bar –  Search-bar option on your eCommerce store can work like magic. It helps your customers to get to products they are looking for. So ensure to place the search-bar option at the top of your website to make it easy to access.

Security –  With the alarming rate of scam on the internet, many shoppers prefer to shy away. When creating an online store, ensure to place security for your customers. This will help you gain quick traffic, visitors, leads and make more profit.

Serviceability –  Providing quality service to your eCommerce customers will help a lot. This will enable your customers to make a purchasing decision with ease. Also make sure that you ship your clients orders in a timely manner.

Selling on Ebay? The Do’s and Dont’s of product photos

Increased sales start from awesome photos. Here are the requirements for all product photos uploaded to Ebay

 

Photo Size
Do: Use images which are at least 500px wide for a clear detailed image of your product. For the best display resolution, we recommend making your photos around 1600px wide.
Don’t: Use small images which can make the details of your product unnoticeable or result in blurry images.

Borders
Do: Keep your image background simple using a solid white background. You want to draw attention to your product and keep the image clean.
Don’t: Use unnecessary borders which can distract viewers from your product

Photo editing
Do: Keep photo editing filters minimal. Use subtle effects to balance the brightness and light in your images but keep the effects natural.
Don’t: Use obvious image editing filters which are better left to Instagram photos.

Watermarks
Do: When using watermarks keep them slightly faded and not heavily obstructing the image.
Don’t: Use brightly colored watermarks or watermarks that exceed 5% of the image size

Text on images
Do: Keep your images clear of text or other artwork.
Don’t: Add text, promotions or artwork to your images. These details can be left to the item title and description.


Number of images
Do: Use multiple images of your product in different angles and provide styled images as well as single product shots.
Don’t: Use only one image per listing or add unrelated photos.

Stock Photo:
Do: Use stock photos for brand new items only
Don’t: Use stock images for used items
 

How to Stop Indecision in Its Track!

Have you ever been stuck in the limbo of "decision paralysis?" It happens more often than you realize. I want to help you get past the decision-making turmoil so that you can actually make ONE decision to help you jump-ship into a Luxury liner.

 

There is no point in staying paralyzed because you are overwhelmed with so many decisions, each one of them carrying so many choices, and you are afraid of proceeding to make a mistake with your choices.

 

First of all consider that every choice has a couple of options. And for every option, there is an up-side and a down-side.

 

Focus on ONE decision at a time. Put pen to paper and prioritize in order of importance what needs to be done first, then next, and so on.

 

On that same piece of paper, state the options for your first prioritized decision. Then write-out the ups and down of each decision. If you have more ups than not, then you will know very clearly which way to go.

 

If on the other hand, you have the same number of ups as you do downs, this is where you have to summon the power of your instinct and intuition, and start asking your Higher Power for guidance as to what would be the best option for you at this precise moment in time. The answer will come. Once it does, TRUST your intuition and then TRUST the process it will take for things to fall into place for you. Remember, keyword here is TRUST.

 

Moving on to the second phase of your decision-making process: Have a very clear vision of what it is you want to accomplish. And this begins with:

 

• Creating the intention to be present and in the present.
• Showing-up in life! (and for life.)
• Letting go of what you cannot control.

Living with intention and in the present makes it so much easier to arrive at your decision-making process, even if it's just to shake-off the paralysis you've felt before.

Having a clear intention helps you tremendously to make that one single, solitary decision; no matter how big or small.

 

Creating the intention to be present helps you overcome the sense of sadness that comes when you don't fully show up in life. When that happens, it leaves a great void, and the rest of the people in your life are being let-down by your absence. Don't' do that.

 

Always show up, even if you think you can't. Even if you are late, show-up anyways! It is one of the most meaningful things you can do for your family, your friends, and more importantly... for yourself.

 

By doing so, you are strengthening your 'decision-making' muscle and forming a new habit for successful outcomes.

 

Remember all of your assets, focus on all the things you know how to do so well, and above all, remember what makes you TICK!

 

This will help you let go of what you cannot control, so that you can do something about those things that indeed, you can control.

 

Let that be your driving force in shaking-off the decision-making blues.

 

Look for the "happiness element" on the things you need to decide. Once you start making decision, even if a little one, you start chasing away the paralysis felt before, and your intellect will begin to think with a much clearer picture of what you really want, and once you start feeling better, you will continue to make more decisions that will have you feeling even better than before. One joyous moment will lead to another, and soon, you will be saying to yourself, and with a great deal of satisfaction: "Mission Accomplished!"

Article Submission Service Helps Create Traffic

Article marketing is one of the most reliable and dependable marketing strategy in the World Wide Web. Writing articles and then submitting them to directories put your website on viral marketing and it is great because you can create traffic anytime. However, it is not easy writing articles after articles on your own and as well as post them to different directories as not everyone is gifted with writing skills much less have the time to do it all rightly. Thus, an article submission service is the perfect choice for this task.

Article once posted online has the potential to create as much traffic as it could, if the article, indeed well written. It has the potential to become your ultimate marketing strategy and this is why every webmaster makes sure they have one posted on their website or in the article directory once or twice a week.

For webmasters who does not have the time to do their own writing there are options and one of them is by hiring an article submission service or buying an software that would write and submit articles on your behalf. This two are the common ways, but the most preferred is to hire someone to write and submit articles, as software is not one hundred percent reliable.

Article writing software takes time as well, and more often than not, you ended up with worthless software because you simply could not use it. For one, the software designer certainly did not created it for people to use easily as the many buttons could give you a headache. So, if you want to waste time and money then article writing software is just right for you but if you want quality content and one that could bring traffic to your site then forget about writing software.

Article submission service can do the work that you have no time or ability to do so. They can provide quality articles and one that could bring in lots of traffic not just once or a few weeks, but even for 2 years or so. In fact, your articles could still seen and read by different viewers every day for as long as anyone would still wants to read the article. That is what we call viral marketing and the secret of most webmasters.

Whatever you need to create more traffic for your website an online virtual assistant could certainly help you tremendously. Article for blogs, website and directories will no longer be a problem as you can outsource them anytime you want. What's more, they also provide different marketing campaign other than article marketing so you are assured that you not only with someone who knows what they are doing, but your options has also widen again.

In this business, the more options you have the better for your business as you have the chance to try different new ways to increase your traffic significantly.

Article submission service are reliable dependable and trustworthy. You can surely help your business grow with the right partner.

How to Set Your Price As a Freelance Writer

Once you start your carrier as a freelance writer, you will find many impediments in your way-

- You have to compete against many writers who are as talented as you.
- Again you have to compete against writers who write inadequately and who offer their services at preposterously low rates. These writers can do it to get jobs. Many times you will tempt yourself to lower your rates to match or beat the bids of the job.

Please do not do it! Because professional writer never lower their rate just because to get the job, it is your passion and money matter should not be come in the way of your passion. More precisely passion cannot be compromise with money.

There are many individuals who are deficient in writing skills drive down their rates while professional writers can fairly charge. If the professionals do not keep up their prices then this will be a great problem in near future. Just because writers from other countries want to work for eight or nine dollars per hour, this does not mean that you should. As a professional writer, you can earn far more than them. Remember it is your passion and Passion cannot be priced by money.

If you visit any writer marketplace and go through their projects you will find all types of bid prices and proposals. The things which surprised is that you will not find out any parameter that how these writers came up with their prices or how they decided what and what not to include in their bid proposals. Often times these writers do not know how they come up with their fees for bidding either. It becomes obvious when you see the same project posting listed under different varieties or price ranges. And the funniest thing is that the same authors will bid on the same projects with a huge amount.

If you are looking for and I think obviously you are looking for, prospective clients to take you seriously, you need to do the following three things:

- You need a website that lists your prices.
- You need to be consistent with your prices; and last but not least,
- You need to collect a retainer up front before you start.

As a Freelance Writer you need to know what you can charge based on the job at hand. This can vary with market price and when it comes to freelance writing, here is the main point. You may charge whatever you want. The thing is finding someone to pay it who believes your service is worth.

Sometimes you may find Freelance Writers are rare species. Many of them are quite thorny. No need to be one of them. Decide on your fees and stick to them. Take your job as a fun. Do things in stride out. And more importantly please do not chase money, money will chase you.

Keep the following points in your mind; this information will help you to set your prices. These prices may vary person to person because basically it depends on your experience and specialization.

How and What to charge?

It is very difficult to say the exact figure of price because many writers will charge way too much for their services while others will charge way too little. You can find current market rates in Writers Market. I have given you an idea below; you can use this as a guideline until you feel you have a good sense of what you want to charge. Remember, you can charge anything you want to charge. Always ask yourself what your time and skills are worth. More importantly, do clients feel you have the worth what you are charging?

Have a look!

- News Articles (web related): $15-45 per page
- E-books: $20-25 per page
- Novels and Books: $100 per page
- Radio Commentary: $200-220 per hour
- Magazine articles: Expect anywhere from $650-$2000 per article
- Articles for web content, not related to news: $10-$50 per article based on word count and other aspects of the job (such as keywords, etc.)

You can charge per word too. This is somewhat different as it varies on several factors. If you are charging per word basis, decide how much that is and stick with it on all your projects irrespective of lengths and subject matter. Sometimes the price per word can fluctuates by writer depending on what the writer is writing (article, book, and web content).

How much you are considering your worth, it is up to you but do not forget the time you spend creating the work. Remember, if you are an educated and experienced writer in your field, you can earn from $50-$75 per hour.

Some points should consider when you are setting your prices.

It happens with everybody that sometimes you may not please everybody all the time with your services. It does not mean that you lower your rate. Often you will find publishers, editors, and clients who hire you on a fast turn-around. Remember every client expects a top class services from you even though they are not paying that much.

Again if a client tells you that deadline is important then you must talk about the upfront but be realistic because you are in a disadvantage, you may not deliver a good content keep this thing in your mind, if so then do not hurry, ask for more time.

It is a good idea if you can prepare a price list of your services on some parameters and then stick with your rate, it will help you in long run, your time will be saved, show the rate list to your clients. Sometimes dead line and bulk order can compel you to compromise with your list but think twice before compromising. Do not repent afterward.

One important point is there which often creates a problem for writers, whether writer should charge for re writing of content, it depends, if you think that it is your fault then it is better that you should not charge but if it is because of client then you should charge but make sure that you are not the victim.

Finally, it is you who know yourself better and of course your worth too.