“How to write a blog post” – an age-old question that’s probably got you pacing around your home office like a caged lion, right?

You’re not alone.

It’s perfectly normal for newbie bloggers to feel a bit overwhelmed, staring at that blinking cursor and thinking, “What on earth am I gonna write about? And where do I even go to get started??”

What you need is a step-by-step guide…

Something that’ll hold your hand through the whole process. Well, fear not. I’ve got you covered.

Take a deep breath, and let’s dive right into the juicy details. 

Ready?

Getting Started: How to Write a Blog Post

This article will walk you through the entire process of writing a blog post. It’ll discuss the steps in choosing a topic, publishing the post, and “all the technical mumbo jumbo” in between.

WordPress will be used for our examples, but the concepts are the same regardless of the blogging platform you use.

Lots of screenshots will be provided (since they’re said to be worth a thousand words), and lots of links will be included to other great, helpful resources.

The question is…

Can you handle it?

At 10,273 words, reading this article in its entirety will require strength, stamina, and determination.

It won’t be easy. Distractions will be plentiful. Children, spouses, and co-workers will likely interrupt you on numerous occasions. Squirrels will inevitably do something cute outside your office window. New cat videos will most assuredly be uploaded to YouTube.

But for those special few who can focus, who can read the article and learn everything it has to share, great things are possible.

Let’s get started.

Finding Your Unique Voice as a Blogger

Before getting into the mechanics of blogging, let’s step back for a moment and discuss a mistake I see many bloggers – new and old – routinely make when they sit down to write a blog post.

(If you want to jump ahead to the mechanics, click here to go to the next section.)

The blogosphere is a lot like being trapped in an elevator with actors Jack Nickolson, William Devane, and Christian Slater. If you close your eyes, everyone sounds the same.

We bloggers write the same way. We cover the same topics. We use the same plugins. We follow the same advice, we kiss up to the same influential bloggers, and we all part our hair to the left (I’m assuming).

We’re followers. We do what we see the leaders in our field are doing. If Darren Rowse, Pamela Wilson, and Jon Morrow started writing “you know what I’m saying” at the end of every paragraph, bloggers everywhere would begin doing it, too. You know what I’m saying?

Why do we do this?

Well, we’re conditioned to behave this way.

When you’re young, standing out is oftentimes the most embarrassing thing imaginable. You’re rewarded for conforming, so you dress the same way as your friends, listen to the same music they do, and say the same silly expressions they say.

This conditioning continues when you reach adulthood.

Companies usually don’t hire the guy wearing the super comfy and sensible sweatpants – they hire one of the dozen guys wearing a black suit.

Pretty girls usually don’t go for the guy with the blue Mohawk – they go for one of the million guys with “the businessman” haircut.

But here’s the thing…

Blending into the crowd can only take you so far.

Lady Gaga started playing the piano at age 4, wrote her first ballad at 13, and began performing when she was only 14. And yet, no one paid her a lick of attention until she started dressing like an alien from outer space.

You (probably) won’t have to wear a dress made out of plastic bubbles to succeed as a blogger. But you are going to have to separate yourself from the crowd. You’re going to have to be that one gray suit in a sea of black. You’re going to have to find your voice.

The Importance of Uniqueness

The trap many bloggers fall into is we believe if we write just like a popular blogger, we’ll be popular, too.

Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, but in blogging it’s a no-win proposition. Even if you succeed, you’re still a poor man’s version of someone else.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to remind people of someone else. I want to be the someone else.

God made each of us unique.

There might be billions of people on the planet, but there is only one you. You have unique DNA. Your hopes, thoughts, and dreams are unique. Even the face you make when you accidentally walk into a spider web is unique.

It’s time to tap into what makes you… well, you.

Need help? Here are a few suggestions to help you get started:

#1. Stop Reading Other Blogs for a Little While

I know this seems counter-intuitive, and believe me, I’d love it if the answer to finding your unique voice could be found by reading my blog and joining my email list, but first, you need to clear your head of influences. (THEN you can join my email list!)

Stop reading Jon Morrow for a day or two. Stop reading Pamela and Darren. Stop reading your favorite blogs.

Why?

Because it’s difficult to find your voice when you keep hearing theirs.

Think about it. If you were a musician about to record an album, and you kept listening to someone else’s album over and over, don’t you think it would influence the music you create?

So, clear your head.

Then you can start writing.

#2. On Paper, Write Down as Many Details About Yourself As You Can

Don’t hold back. Need an example? My list might look something like this…

I’m a writer. I’m a micromanager. I’m funny. I simultaneously wonder sometimes if I’m putting my graduate degree to good use, and if I should have kept going until I got a doctorate. I’m a sinner. I’m a believer. I love my wife. I enjoy teaching. I know a lot about blogging. I have a full head of hair. I worry I just jinxed myself by saying I had a full head of hair…

Most of what you write won’t be germane to blogging. However, a clear picture will eventually develop.

For example, I’m a writer who likes to teach and make people laugh. Also, my hair might be falling out soon.

Highlight with a marker the key and applicable details you wrote down. Whenever you write, at least one or two of these highlights should shine through in your writing.

#3. Audibly Review the Will Ferrell Movie “Elf” While Someone Takes Notes for You

No, it doesn’t have to be “Elf.” It doesn’t have to be a movie. It doesn’t even have to be a review.

The idea is to pick a topic you know fairly well and talk about it while a friend writes down the words and phrases you use.

At a basic level, finding your unique voice as a blogger means finding a way to incorporate the things you say into the things you write.

If you read aloud something you wrote, and a friend can’t answer “yes” to the “does this sound like me” question, try the following trick used by English teachers:

Forget what you wrote. Ramble about the topic out loud while someone takes notes for you. Take their notes, memorize them, and begin sprinkling a few of your common words and phrases throughout the blog post you wrote.

After doing this, read your post aloud for your friend again. I guarantee they will say “yes” to your question.

Why does finding your unique voice matter?

It matters because you have a perspective that can’t be found anywhere else. If you don’t share it, who will?

John Lee Dumas can’t share it. Neither can Jeff Goins or Chris Garrett. Jon, Pamela, and Darren can’t share it either.

Only you can share it.

Finding your voice as a blogger is important because the alternative is depriving the world of something special, precious, and unique…

You.

The world already has a Chris Brogan, Joanna Wiebe, and Blaine Wilkerson. What it needs is [your name]. It’s time you shared you with the world.

Ready to write a blog post that doesn’t look, sound, and smell like thousands of other posts that came before it?

If so, let’s push forward…

Choosing a Topic

Do you already know what you’re going to write about?

Great! You’re ready for the next step.

However, if you’re wondering what you want to write about, or you want to learn how you can find topics to write about in the future, keep reading.

If your blog is a personal one (meaning you write about your own life), you’re in luck. You’re surrounded by inspiration!

If it’s related to your world, it’s blogging material. For example, you could write about…

• Your loved ones
• Your job
• Gift ideas for writers, bloggers, etc.
• Your recent trip to the torture chamber known as “the shopping mall”
• The time you went to work wearing mismatched socks
• The time you gave your boss head lice

Really, the possibilities are endless.

Still need more ideas?

Try an online topic generator.

HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator allows you to enter up to three nouns, and it will generate several blog topics on which you could write.

Entering “jogging,” “running” and “sore feet” in the available fields generates the following potential topics:

• “10 Things Your Competitors Can Teach You About Jogging”
• “How To Solve The Biggest Problems With Running”
• “Why We Love Sore Feet (And You Should, Too!)”
• “The Ultimate Cheat Sheet On Jogging”
• “10 Quick Tips About Running”

Is it perfect? No. Capable of sparking an idea? Absolutely.

Another option is the Content Idea Generator by Portent.

Unlike HubSpot’s, Portent’s tool allows you to enter one word. This is the subject of your potential post.

However, you can get a seemingly-unlimited list of options for your subject by clicking the reload button.

An added bonus of content generators like HubSpot’s and Portent’s is, with a little tweaking, they can give you titles for your blog posts. We’ll discuss titles a bit later.

Here are a few more tips for discovering topics:

• Read the newspaper
• Watch TV
• Go for a walk
• Browse Facebook and see what your friends and family are discussing
• Read comments people have left on other posts you’ve written (if applicable)

So, feeling better about picking topics for your blog?

Great! Let’s move on…

Types of Blog Posts

Think of blog posts like they’re movies.

You have documentaries. You have shorts. You have action-packed blockbusters. You have comedies. You have dramas, westerns, musicals, sci-fi, thrillers, and whatever the heck Nicolas Cage is doing these days.

The type of movie goes a long way to determining who its audience will be.

Want to make a lot of money? Make an action movie. Want to win awards? Make a musical.

The types of blog posts you can write are almost endless. And, like movies, their type plays a major role in determining who will want to read it.

Let’s take a look at a few different types of blog posts you can write. If you want to skip this part and go to the next section, click here.

Instructional posts (tutorials, how-to’s)

This is why Al Gore invented the Internet when he was a small boy (he writes sarcastically).

To allow people to share information. To let them teach others. To provide individuals the means to learn how to do something new.

When someone reads a how-to or a tutorial, they’re not doing so by accident. There is something they want to learn, so they find a blog post promising to teach it to them.

When you write an instructional post, you’re filling an information gap.

There is something you know others do not. You teach them what you know.

Oh, and the post you are reading right now?

It’s also an example of an instructional post.

List posts

List posts are easy to spot by their titles.

See if you notice a pattern in the following examples…

Examples of list posts:

• 21 Beginner-Friendly Tips for Landing Freelance Writing Jobs by Smart Blogger
• 5 “Five-Minute or Less” Blogging Tips That Yield Big Results by Pat Flynn
• 20 Rules for Writing So Crystal Clear Even Your Dumbest Relative Will Understand by Glen Long
• 5 Reasons I Still Use CommentLuv by Kristi Hines
• 15 Pro Blogging Tips Every Marketer Needs to Know by Dominique Jackson
• 13 Quick Tricks to Drive Traffic to Your Blog in Minutes by Pooja Lohana
• 25 Smart Ways To Increase Your Blog Comments by Neil Patel

As you can see, the titles of list posts follow a distinct pattern.

15 tips… 20 rules… 5 reasons… 16 ways… 7 ideas… 61 excuses…

The idea may seem overly simplistic, but blog readers love list posts. It’s also, for many bloggers, the easiest type of post to write.

Little wonder list posts are arguably the most popular type of post.

Resource posts (roundups, list of links)

It’s easy to confuse list posts and resource posts due to their similarities.

Both may have a numbered list. The difference is a resource post curates the content of others, while a list post is primarily your own, original content.

For example, Top blog quotes by 101 amazing bloggers is an example of a resource post. It’s in a list format, yes, but rather than supplying my own content, I am curating the content of other bloggers.

However, 22 ridiculously easy blog tips you can use right now is an example of a list post. It’s in a list format, and the content I provide is my own.

(None of this is to suggest resource posts are “easy” to do. You may be curating the work of others, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. A good resource post can take longer to put together than a regular post, in fact.)

Your head is spinning right now. Isn’t it?

The good news is it really doesn’t matter if you confuse list posts with resource posts.

Whatever you call them, resource posts are very versatile.

You can collect and share websites you enjoy, quotes you find inspiring, or tools you believe are super useful. Some bloggers do weekly roundups of posts they’ve enjoyed from other bloggers.

The applications are numerous.

Review posts

Reviews are a fun type of post to write.

You can review movies, television shows, an appliance you recently purchased, a restaurant, or any other random whatever.

The kind of reviews you write will depend on the type of blog you own.

Again, if your blog is a personal one, you can review anything you desire.

But if you have a movie blog, for example, reviewing a car won’t make a lot of sense to your readers.

(Unless it’s a review of a car in a movie, of course.)

Still with me? We’ll run through the last few quickly!

Video posts

As a new blogger, you’re unlikely to create your own videos and publish them on the web any time soon. However, inserting a video you find online into your post is certainly doable!

With video posts, you can place YouTube videos into your posts as an accompaniment to your text content.

So, as an example, if you were reviewing the TV show “NewsRadio,” you could include in your review YouTube clips of the show.

We’ll cover inserting YouTube videos a bit later in the tutorial.

Infograph posts

What’s an infograph? Here are a few examples:

• Why Every Business Should Blog [Infograph] by Neil Patel
• How To Increase Your Blog Traffic (Infographic) by Sue Anne Dunlevie
• Tips & Tools For Creating Infographics by Creative Meerkat
• 3 Reasons You’re Not Getting a Positive ROI From Infographics by Brittany Bullen

Basically, an infographic is an image used to represent information.

Don’t know how to create an infograph? Don’t worry. You can find great infographs online and embed them into your blog posts – just make sure you cite the source and give credit to the author.

You will want to write a paragraph, two, or three of text so the infograph makes sense to your readers, of course.

Interviews

Blogs allow us to channel our inner Walter Cronkite.

Bloggers interview other bloggers all the time. It’s a way to help each other out (through cross-promotion), and it’s a great way to help others see you as an authority (if someone interviews you, you must be important, right?).

Plus, interviews are fun!

Intimidated? Don’t be intimidated.

Leanne Regalla has written a great post teaching bloggers how to interview influential people (even if the very idea terrifies us). Check it out here.

Whew! We’re done with this section. Let’s move on to the next one, shall we?

Choosing a Title

Your title (also referred to as headline) needs to grab the attention of your readers.

However, it should be relevant to your topic.

Post Foods may be able to call its breakfast cereal “Grape-Nuts” despite the fact it contains neither grapes nor nuts, but the title of your blog post should make sense.

Your title should make readers want to read the first word, sentence, and paragraph of your post. If it accomplishes this, you have crafted a good title.

So, how do you write a good title that accomplishes such feats of strength?

The two online topic generators we discussed earlier should have given you some clues. Here are some of the ways a title can be good:

They ask questions that beg to be answered. Examples:

• 7 Reasons Why Coaxing a 4 Inch Cockroach from my Bathroom in Fiji Made Me a Better Blogger by Ryan Biddulph
• Is a Secret Obsession With Being Special Costing You Friends? by Katharine Di Cerbo
• How Do Blog Comments Help Your Blog’s SEO? by Lisa Sicard

They promise something of value to the reader. Examples:

• Everything You Need to Know About Blogger Outreach by Will Blunt
• How To Create An Email Opt-In Offer Your Dream Customers Will Love by Sally Ann Miller
• How To Build Authority Online by Scott Taft
• How To Effectively Use Social Proof To Your Advantage To Convert More Visitors by Andrew Warner
• How to Use Pinterest to Drive More Traffic to Your Blog by Charlene Kingston

They are fun. Examples:

• Freddy Krueger of Blogging: How to Write Highly Successful Guest Posts in under 2 Hours by Ana Hoffman
• Does This Mean I Can’t Do Insanity Anymore? by Kate Erickson of Entrepreneur on Fire
• How To Promote an Unsexy Article (and boost shares 252.4%) by Jason Quey

They stir the pot and aren’t afraid to step on people’s toes. Examples:

• The “Content is King” Myth Debunked by Social Triggers
• I Just Deleted Your Outreach Email Without Reading. And NO, I Don’t Feel Sorry by Tim Soulo via Ahrefs
• Why Nobody Reads Your Blog Posts (and What To Do About It) by Tom Southern

They use buzzwords like “free”, “cheap”, and “best.” Examples:

• 99 Ways to Promote Your Blog For Free by Jason Mathes
• The Best Plugins to Start a WordPress Blog by Ashley Faulkes
• How I Got 532 Subscribers in 43 Days Using Cheap Facebook Ads by Mary Fernandez

Each of these examples brings a little somethin’, somethin’ to the table.

(Do you need to write your title before writing your post? Not necessarily. Do what works for you. I would suggest at least having a working title for your post before you begin writing it.)

So, do you think you are ready to write a great title that captures your reader’s attention and makes them want to read what you’ve written?

Great.

Let’s keep going…

Writing content: Overview

According to Neil Patel (as well as many other knowledgeable bloggers), blog posts should follow a very predictable (but very effective) pattern:

• Introduction
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3, etc.
• Closing with CTA (call to action)

Seems pretty straightforward, right?

Now let’s look at each part of this pattern…

Writing your intro

Okay, so you’ve picked a title sure to draw in readers like a moth to a flame.

Now it’s time to keep the momentum going.

Blogger Mary Jaksch says a good introduction “invites the reader in” and makes them feel welcome.

Bloggers like Jon Morrow begin many of their posts with a question.

Many bloggers will begin their posts with quotes or statistics.

I’m personally fond of beginning posts with an anecdote.

There are many techniques for writing introductions, but the good ones have one thing in common:

They captivate your audience.

Introductions do not exist merely to transport your reader from Point A (your title) to Point B (the body of your post).

They do this, sure, but good introductions are so much more than primitive forms of transportation.

Brian Clark says your introduction should “capture the reader’s imagination and pull them deeper into your content.”

Lofty goal, but doable!

Body of Your Post

You’ve picked your topic, chosen what type of post you want to write, and written your intro.

Now it’s time to get to the meat of your blog post… the body.

This one is all on you. Your unique voice, writing style, your thoughts, the way you look at the world… these are things that are distinctly you. Only you can write them!

But don’t worry, I’m happy to offer a few guidelines which have served me well over the years…

Write Short Paragraphs

Large blocks of uninterrupted text are very difficult for readers. Solution? Keep your paragraphs short.

A paragraph consisting of only one, two, or three sentences is quite common in blogging.

I realize this goes against what your writing teachers taught you in school, but trust me: It’s okay to have lots of one-sentence paragraphs in your blog post. Your readers will thank you for them.

Use Heading Tags

We’ll cover heading tags in more detail later in the tutorial, but “use them” is a tip warranting multiple readings. They help Google prioritize your content, and they help organize your content for your readers!

Proofread and Edit

Don’t get into the habit of publishing the first draft of your blog posts.

Proofread them. Make sure there aren’t any mistakes. Look at your sentences with a critical eye, and see if you could rewrite them to make them better.

Give Credit When Credit is Due

If you are quoting something or using an idea you found online, be sure to credit the source and hyperlink to them.

In addition to being the right thing to do, this has the added benefit of potentially getting the attention of the source. They might mention you on Twitter, or even visit your blog and leave you a comment.

Write Long Posts… or Short… Doesn’t Matter, Just Write

If you haven’t already, you’ll eventually ask someone whether it’s better to write long posts or short posts.

Short posts allow you to write more frequently, which depending on whom you ask is either a great or horrible thing.

And long posts, in theory, should take longer to write. This means you won’t publish posts as frequently, which, again, is either a great or horrible thing depending on the person you’re asking.

Some will tell you short posts help boost your blog’s traffic, while others will say short posts hurt the number of comments and social shares (people sharing your posts on Twitter, Facebook, etc) you receive.

And some have similar, or totally different, thoughts regarding long posts.

It’s a hornet’s nest of a discussion, in other words.

My take?

Well, my take doesn’t matter.

I just think you should write.

If that means writing short posts once a day, great.

If that means writing one long post once a week, awesome.

I’ve done it both ways. I’ve gone through stretches where I wrote short, bite-size posts on a frequent basis, and I’ve written behemoth posts like the one you’re reading now.

Once you’ve learned the ropes of blogging, please analyze your publishing habits and see if there are tweaks you can make.

Maybe you’ll discover long posts work better for you. Maybe you’ll discover short posts fit your writing style and your audience better.

Maybe, like me, you’ll discover both can work.

But right now?

Just write.

Your Closing

You’re in the home stretch! All that’s left to do is tie a ribbon on this puppy and you’re finished.

And by “tie a ribbon,” I mean write the greatest closing paragraph (or paragraphs) in the history of blogging!

Pretty easy, right?

Too many bloggers, yours truly included, botch the end of their posts. We’re so happy to be finished, we rush to the Call to Action.

As a new blogger, you need to develop good habits early on. You need to value your closing paragraph as much as your introductory paragraph.

You need to realize your last paragraph is just as important as your first.

So what makes a good closing paragraph? Well, it depends on your particular post.

Maybe your closing needs to kick your readers in the rear and propel them to take action?

Maybe your closing needs to reassure your readers?

Maybe your closing needs to ask a question your readers must answer?

Whatever your post needs, make sure your closing provides it.

To use a sports analogy: Don’t fumble the ball on the one-yard line.

Call to action

Your post is complete! Time to sit back and relax with a glass of orange juice, right?

Not yet!

Have you given your readers a call to action?

No?

Well, it’s a good thing you’re reading this.

Let me ask you a question: What do you want readers to do after reading your post?

Do you want them to leave you a comment?

Follow you on Twitter?

Sign up for your mailing list?

Whatever it is you want your readers to do, tell them to do it.

Don’t assume they’ll know you appreciate comments. Or really hope to be friends on Twitter. Or to grow your mailing list.

Tell them.

Publishing

It’s time to publish your post!

Aren’t you excited? Well, I’m excited.

Let’s look at the details you should know when publishing a post…

Categories

To the right of your writing area, you will notice a section for “Categories.”

When you first start WordPress, you will have one category available to you: Uncategorized.

You can edit categories (add them, delete them, rename them, etc) by going to POSTS in your WordPress Dashboard and selecting CATEGORIES.

However, you can also add new categories on the fly while writing your post!

Click the “+ Add New Category” link and you’ll be able to create a new category. WordPress even allows a hierarchical order, so if you want your new category to be a “child” of an existing category you may do so.

“But what is a category,” you ask?

Categories are broad groupings for your posts.

Need an example?

Let’s say you have a blog for reviewing movies, television shows, etc on Blu-ray.

You could have a primary category called “Reviews”, and you could have “child” categories like:

• Movies
• TV
• Documentaries

And for non-review posts, you could have another parent category called “Announcements” or “News.”

So, if you were reviewing “Field of Dreams,” you would put it inside the “Movies” category.

If you review the TV miniseries “Hatfields & McCoys,” you would mark it as “TV.”

And if you wanted to write a post about Kevin Costner being cast in a new movie, you would mark it in the “Announcements” or “News” category you created.

Make sense?

A post can be marked for multiple categories, but it has to be in at least one.

Don’t worry. If you forget to select a category, your post will be marked in your default category.

(Your default category is your first category, which is “Uncategoried” or whatever you chose to rename it.)

Tags

“Okay, but what are tags?!”

Great question.

If categories describe your posts in broad terms, tags describe them in more detail.

So, continuing our “Blu-Ray review blog” example from earlier, the movie “Forrest Gump” would go in the “Movie” category.

However, you can give it tags such as:

• Tom Hanks movies
• Comedy
• Drama
• Oscar-winning movies
• 1990s

By adding tags, you are better connecting your related posts.

Without tags, “Forrest Gump” and “Turner and Hooch” would only be related by both being in the “Movies” category. But with tags, they’re also connected by the “Tom Hanks movies” and “Comedy” tags.

How detailed you want to be with your tags is entirely up to you. And you can also go back later and add new tags to a post if you like.

Note: While your post must be in at least one category, it does not have to be in any tags. So if you don’t add a tag to it, WordPress will not add a tag for you.

Edit your URL

By default, once you click the “Save Draft” or “Publish” button WordPress will make the end of your URL whatever the title of your post happens to be.

So, if you wrote a post titled “20 reasons Kevin Costner is the greatest actor in the world,” WordPress would turn the end of your URL to “20-reasons-kevin-costner-is-the-greatest-actor-in-the-world” (but without the quotes).

This is a pretty long URL.

So, if you wanted to shorten it (or you just wanted to customize it), you could click the “Edit” button.

Be sure to separate your words with dashes. Also, only use numbers and letters. Keep it simple.

Publish your post

Let’s look at each area of the screenshot.

Save Draft

WordPress will automatically save your changes every so often. However, clicking the “Save Draft” button periodically is a good idea.

Preview

If you want to see what your post looks like so far, clicking the “Preview” button will open it in a new tab/window.

Status

The status of your post can be one of several. For most of your blogging needs, it will come down to two:

• Draft
• Published

If the status is “Draft,” it means you haven’t published it yet and no one (but you) can see it.

If the status is “Published,” it means it’s visible to the world.

Visibility

You have three options:

• Public
• Password protected
• Private

“Public” is what almost all of your posts will be, and your post is marked public by default.

However, if you want to allow only certain individuals to read a post, you can password-protect it. Only readers who have the password you enter will be able to view it.

Finally, you can set a post to private. This means it’s published, but the only person who can see it is you.

Revisions

How many times have you clicked “Save Draft” or “Update” is reflected in the number of revisions.

My number is usually quite large!

Publish…

By default, your posts are set to “Publish immediately.”

However, if you click the “edit” button, you can choose a different date for publishing (either in the past or the future).

If you set the publish date for some time in the future, your post becomes “scheduled.”

And when this scheduled time arrives, WordPress will publish your post for you.

This is very handy if you have written a post before going away on vacation, but you want it to publish several days later.

SEO

You will only see this option if you use the WordPress SEO plugin I use. In other words, don’t worry about it.

Publish Button

When you are ready to publish your post, click the “Publish button.”

Once your post is published, you will see the status changed to “Published,” the “Publish…” changed to “Published on” followed by the date and time, and the Publish button itself change to an “Update” button.

If you make any changes to your post in the future, click the “Update” button to make those changes appear on your blog.

And that’s it. You did it!

You published your post!

Ok, but how do I…
(The technical mumbo jumbo)

If you’re anything like my Mom, this entire time you’ve probably been thinking:

That’s great, Kevin, but how do I actually write a post? Where do I go?? What button do I click?!“

It’s time to dive into some of the technical aspects of writing a blog post.

Up first? The formatting toolbar…

The formatting toolbar

If you’re familiar with Microsoft Word or Open Office, you should be familiar with a few of the buttons on the formatting toolbar.

Let’s briefly go over the key ones. Those which require emphasis will be discussed further a bit later.

Visual Editor and Toolbar Toggle

Visual Editor

By default, you will be writing your posts in WordPress’s Visual editor. Unless you are familiar and comfortable with HTML code, you shouldn’t use the Text editor.

The pretty buttons you see in the image above will go away and, depending on what you have written, you will see HTML code sprinkled throughout your blog post.

If all this sounds Greek to you, just remember one thing: Stay in the Visual editor.

Toolbar Toggle

At least for this tutorial, you’ll want to be able to view all the formatting options available to you.

To show all the options (including underlining, changing the font color, and the undo button), click the Toolbar Toggle button. Conversely, you can click the button again to make the extra options go away.

Bold, Italics, Strikethrough, Underline, and Font Color

Bold and Italics

You don’t want to overuse them, but making a word or sentence bold (like this) or italics (like this) can help important parts of your content stand out.

Strikethrough

Another way to highlight your text is to strike a line through, like this.

Underline

This button lets you underline a word or group of words, like I’m doing here.

Use it sparingly. Readers are conditioned to associate underlined words as hyperlinks. If you are underlining words that aren’t links, your readers could become confused. Similarly…

Text color

If you want to change the color of a word, you can use the highlighted button.

Just please don’t overuse this. In fact, feel free to never use it.

However, if you do use it, make certain you don’t change any words to the same color your blog uses for hyperlinks.

In other words, if hyperlinks on your site are the color red, don’t make other text (which aren’t links) red. It will confuse your readers.

Lists and Blockquotes

Bulleted (aka unordered) list

If you have a series of short points to make, using a bulleted list is a great way to do it.

• Here is my first point
• Second point
• Third point

A bullet list is an unordered list, which means there is no hierarchical order. Each item has the same bullet to the left of it.

Numbered (aka ordered) list

On the other hand, numbered lists (also called ordered list) do have a hierarchical order. Here is what they look like:

1. My first numbered point
2. My second point
3. My third point

Blockquote

Blockquote is a super handy formatting option when you’re writing a blog post.

If you have a quote or piece of text you want to emphasize or set apart, highlighting the text and clicking the blockquote button will give you the following:

(Superheroes) can disappear for months or years and then burst back onto the scene with a climactic display of their impressive powers. Okay for superheroes, not okay for your content. It might feel boring and constraining, but publishing consistently brings results.” – Amy Harrison

How blockquotes are styled is different from one WordPress theme to another, so yours will probably look different.

Text Alignment

Left align

By default, your writing is going to be left-aligned. What this means is your text starts at the left-most margin of your display area. This is an example.

Center align

If you want to center your text, the “Align Center” button will do it for you. This is an example.

Right align

If you want to push your text to the right-most margin, use the “Align Right” button. This is an example.

Justify

To duplicate the look you find in books, where the beginning of a line touches the left-most margin and the end of the line touches the right-most margin, use the “Justify” button. If you write long paragraphs, Justify can offer a nice, pleasing look to your text. This is an example.

Hyperlinks and More button

Insert/Edit link

If you want to add a hyperlink to your post (which will take the user to a different web page when they click on it), highlight the text you want to turn into a link.

Next, click the “Insert/Edit link” button you see highlighted. It will look like a chain.

You will be shown a popup similar to the following:

In the “URL” field, enter the address you want users to be taken to when they click on your link.

In the “Title” field, enter the text you want to display when the user hovers over your link. For example, if you were linking to BeABetterBlogger.com, an appropriate title would be “Be A Better Blogger” or “The Blog That Changed My Life.”

Checking the box with the label “Open link in a new window/tab” will do exactly what it says. If you leave it unchecked, when a user clicks your link the destination address will replace your blog. Effectively, the reader will have left your blog.

However, by checking the box, the destination will open in a new window or tab, leaving your blog in its existing window or tab (and making it easier for your reader to return to your blog).

Clicking the “Add Link” button will complete the process.

If you need to edit your link, click the linked text in your WordPress Visual Editor, and re-click the “chain” button.

Remove link

If you want to remove a hyperlink, click anywhere inside the linked text in your Visual Editor, and click the “Remove link” button.

Insert ‘Read More’ tag

If you want only the first part of your post to be displayed on your blog’s home page or archive pages (as opposed to the entire post), use the “Insert Read More tag” button.

When you do this, a link will be placed directly after your excerpt text, which will take your reader to the full post once they click it.

To use it, place your cursor where you would like your text to stop. A common place would be after your first paragraph, or after your introduction.

Then click the “Read More” button.

Headings, Paragraph, etc. formatting

Headings

Throughout this tutorial, I’ve been using different headings to break up my text.

Have you noticed the larger, bold text used to introduce each new section? Those are headings.

I add them by typing the words (such as “The formatting toolbar”), highlighting the words, and choosing “Heading 2” in the drop-down box highlighted in the image.

There is a hierarchy with the “Heading” elements, with Heading 1 being the most important and Heading 6 being the least. Here is how they look:

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6

Please note: Your particular WordPress theme could have different sizes for each of these headings.

I omitted displaying “Heading 1” because you really shouldn’t use Heading 1 tags within the body of your blog posts. There should be only one instance of Heading 1, and that is your blog post’s title at the top of the page. (Your theme will use a Heading 1 tag for your title for you, so there is no extra steps you need to take.)

Beyond improving the readability of your post by breaking up chunks of text, heading tags help search engines like Google. Your title (hopefully) describes what your post is about, so you don’t want it to compete with other Heading 1 tags for Google’s attention.

(This is one of those on-page SEO things I mentioned earlier. Don’t dwell on it, just know Heading tags have benefits that go beyond readability.)

Paragraph

The “paragraph” formatting element is used for most of your post’s text. It’s the “normal text” you see when reading a sentence such as this one, and you can add additional elements like bold and italics by clicking the appropriate buttons on the formatting toolbar.

Address

The “address” formatting option is for, you guessed it, displaying mailing addresses. It italicizes the text and pulls the lines closer together. Honestly, I’ve been blogging for almost 10 years and I’ve never once needed to use this particular option.

Preformatted

The “pre” formatting option is commonly used when you need to display code inside your blog post. Keep it in mind if you have such a need, but a majority of bloggers won’t ever need it.

Paste, Undo, Redo, and Keyboard Shortcuts

Paste as text

If you have copied text from somewhere else (another web page, a Microsoft Word document, etc) and you would like to place it within your blog post, the “Paste as text” button is your solution.

When you’ve clicked and activated it (you will see a border appear around the button), you will now be able to paste the text you copied without inserting any strange formatting. You’ll be inserting the text and only the text.

With your cursor placed where you would like the text to go (and with “Paste as text” activated), paste your text using one of the following methods:

• CTRL + V (While holding down the CTRL key on your keyboard, press the V key)
• Right-click your mouse and choose the “Paste” option

Note: Copy and Paste works differently on tablets and smartphones.

Undo button

If you accidentally make a mistake, such as deleting an entire paragraph, the undo button will be your best friend. Click it and your previous action, whatever it may have been, will be undone.

You can undo several previous actions if needed.

Redo button

If you need to cancel an “undo” action, click the redo button.

So, for example, if you accidentally clicked the undo button and the paragraph you’ve just written disappears, clicking “redo” should bring it back to you.

Keyboard shortcuts

Want to learn keyboard shortcuts, such as CTRL + V and CTRL + C? Click the keyboard shortcuts button and you’ll be presented with a list of handy shortcuts you can use for when the need arises.

Decrease and Increase indent

If you are using bullet or numbered lists, you can increase or decrease the indention of those lists. For example:

• This is a point I’m making in a bullet list
  • Here is a sub-point I’m making

1. And here is a point I’m making in a numbered list
   1. And here is a sub-point

This comes in especially handy with longer lists.

Add a Photo (aka Add Media)

Sometimes, as my friend Will Hoekenga likes to say, words fail to do justice. Sometimes, you need to add images to your post to really paint a picture for your readers.

That’s why it’s necessary to learn how to insert photos into your blog posts.

Let’s say you wanted to insert an image of an adorable kitten.

Where do you go?

What do you do?

Don’t worry, it’s really easy!

First, you need to click the “Add Media” button you see highlighted in the example image above.

After clicking “Add Media” button you’ll see…

(If you have trouble viewing the image clearly, click it to see a larger version.)

1. Media Library

By default, you’ll see the “Media Library” tab. This displays all the photos you have already uploaded to WordPress.

2. Upload files

If you want to insert an image saved to your computer, this is the tab you’ll want to select.

3. Photos already in Media Library

If you haven’t uploaded any photos yet, this will be empty. However, assuming you’ve uploaded photos in the past, you will see all of them here.

4. Insert photo from URL

Be careful with this one.

If you have images stored on another blog you own, for example, you could grab the URL of the image, click the “Insert from URL” link in the above image, and paste your image link.

This would be fine.

However, don’t use a URL belonging to someone else! This is called hotlinking, and you’re stealing bandwidth from the owner of the image.

In short, if you don’t own the domain where the image is located, don’t link to it.

5. Insert into post

Once you’ve chosen the image you want to use, clicking this button will insert it into your post.

After clicking the “Upload Files” tab you’ll see…

If you’re handy with your computer’s operating system, you could drag one or more images to this window and WordPress will upload them.

Or, you can manually choose images by clicking the “Select Files” button.

After clicking “Select Files” you’ll see…

Find the image you want to use. Click the image and then click the “Open” button.

Note: My images were all stored in my “Downloads” folder. Yours could be on your Desktop, in your Pictures library, or somewhere else entirely.

After selecting image and clicking “Open” you’ll see…

(If you have trouble viewing the image clearly, click it to see a larger version.)

1. Your photo

Once uploaded, your picture will be highlighted (notice the blue border and check mark).

2. Align, link to and size

You will have the following alignment options:

• Left – When selecting this alignment, your image will be to the left of your text
• Right – When selecting this alignment, your image will be to the right of your text
• Center – When centering, your image will be in the center of your content area, and your text will be below it on the following line
• None – Your image will default to the left, and your text will be below it on the following line

You can also make your image a hyperlink. Options include having the image link to a larger version of itself (which comes in handy when you have a large image forced to be made smaller to fit into your post), and having the image to an entirely different URL such as BeABetterBlogger.com.

Finally, you can choose what size your image will be in your blog post.

If it’s a large image, you can choose “full size”, “medium” size, “small” size, and “thumbnail” size. The smaller your image, the fewer options you will be given.

3. Insert into post

Clicking the “Insert into post” button will place your image wherever your cursor was located.

Congrats! You’ve inserted an image into your blog post!

Frequently Asked Questions

Certain topics didn’t fit elsewhere in the tutorial (or did, but were removed for brevity’s sake).

We’ll go over those here.

How to find links?

“How do I find links to use in my posts? How do I find links to Facebook pages”

No problem! Let’s start with finding a link for a basic webpage.

Finding links for regular pages

What if you wanted to use the URL for this post of mine you’re reading right now? (He writes pretending he’s not wishing and hoping you’ll want to do so.)

Scroll up to the top of the page and look for the following:

(Pay no attention to the hundreds of tabs I have open!)

The highlighted portion is the URL for this post.

Simply highlight, copy it (hold down CTRL and C on your keyboard, or right-click your mouse and select “Copy”), and you’ll be ready to use it in your post.

Find the link to a?Facebook page

Guess what? If you’re using a laptop or desktop computer, you follow the same steps as above!

Just scroll up to the top of the screen and copy the URL in the address bar.

However, what do you do if you’re using a Facebook app on your tablet or smartphone?

How do you find the link to the Facebook page?

Great question.

Let’s use the Facebook page for Unveil the Web in this next example.

You should see something similar to the attached image.

If you click the “More” button, you should receive an option to “Copy Link” or “Show Link.”

This is the link to the Facebook page.

How to embed YouTube videos?

Okay, let’s say you wanted to embed a YouTube video into your blog post like you see on other blogs.

How do you do it?

Well, let’s walk through how you would embed the following YouTube video from the hilarious-TV-gem-from-the-90s, NewsRadio.

When you view the video on YouTube, beneath it you’ll see info similar to the following:

By default, you will see the “About” info for the video.

Click the “Share” button and you will then see…

First, you’ll see all the different social media files where you could share the video you found. (Keep that in the back of your mind if you want to do this one day.)

We want to click the “Embed” button.

When you click the Embed button you’ll see…

This is where the magic happens.

If you want to change the default video size, you can do so in the available drop-down box. There are other options available to you as well, which you can check on or off.

Once you’re happy with your options, highlight and copy the code like you see in the image above.

Now it’s time to take this code and put it into your blog post.

For the first and only time in this tutorial, we will leave the “Visual Editor” and use the “Text” editor.

Depending on whether or not you have any formatting in your post (bold or italic text, headings, numbered lists, etc) what you see when you click the “Text” editor tab could be confusing.

Fear not! Ignore the odd symbols and focus on the words you understand. Find in the text the location where you want the YouTube video to appear in your post.

Make room by hitting ENTER, if necessary. Then paste your YouTube code.

(Remember: You can paste by holding down the CTRL and V keys on your keyboard, or by right-clicking the mouse and selecting “Paste.”)

And that’s it!

That wasn’t so bad was it?

Where to find photos I can use?

Searching Creative Commons images for Flickr is a very handy resource for finding photos for your blog posts.

It’s what I use.

By default, you’ll search for photos whose owners permit their images to be modified and to be used for commercial purposes.

When you find a photo you like, click on it. In the bottom right corner you’ll see options, including an option to download the image.

Also in the bottom-right corner, you’ll see a link to the copyright information.

If it says “Some Rights Reserved,” you’ll be permitted to use it so long as you follow the citation instructions. Typically, all you have to do is provide a link to the source, and a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate whether or not you modified the image.

Here’s an example:

Log in?

It’s time to open a new tab in your favorite web browser.

Depending on whether or not you checked the “Remember Me” option when previously logging into your blog, you might still be logged into your blog’s dashboard.

Go to the following URL:

• example.com/wp-admin

Change “example.com” to your blog’s domain.

Now, if you’re already logged in, WordPress will take you to your dashboard. However, if you aren’t, you will be redirected to the login screen.

Your username

Whether you registered for a free WordPress.com blog, or you’re self-hosting a WordPress blog, you picked (or were given) a username and password.

Don’t worry, I can help you remember if you’ve forgotten.

Hopefully.

If you have a free WordPress.com blog, your username is the same as your domain.

So, for example, if your blog’s domain is peanutbutterfan.wordpress.com, your username is peanutbutterfan.

You can also check your email. When you registered, WordPress should have sent you a welcome email.

If you self-host a WordPress blog, the odds are very good your username is admin.

(For security reasons, “admin” isn’t a good username. But that’s a topic for another tutorial.)

Again, if you’re unsure, you should have been sent an email when WordPress was installed.

Now, as for your password…

What’s my password?

Ideally, the password you selected is one impossible for anyone else to guess.

It should be unique and unlike any of the other passwords you use for email, banking, etc.

And it shouldn’t be written down anywhere, especially on a sticky note adhered to your monitor.

Also, hopefully, you remember what it is!

However, never fear if you don’t. Beneath the “password” field on the login page is a link for “Lost your password?”

Clicking it will take you to a page for retrieving your password.

Simply enter your username or the email address you used to set up the WordPress account.

Instructions for resetting your password will be emailed to you.

Once your password has been reset, return to the login screen (using example.com/wp-admin or example.com/login) and log in using your credentials.

That wasn’t so hard. Was it?

Start a new post?

If you’ve never seen or actively used the WordPress dashboard before, you might feel overwhelmed at first.

However, for writing a blog post, all you need to know is where to go to write a post. Thankfully, you have three options.

The “New Post” link in the top-right corner is going to be your easiest option.

Click it.

You will be taken to the “Add New Post” screen.

Congratulations! You’re ready to write a blog post.

The Grand Finale: Mastering How to Write a Blog Post

I know…

It’s a lot to take in, and you might be wondering if you’ve got what it takes.

But guess what? You absolutely do. You’ve just conquered the ins and outs of crafting the perfect blog post – from captivating headlines to killer conclusions.

So, go ahead, flex those writing muscles and take the blogging world by storm!

Remember, you’ve got the power to inform, entertain, and inspire your readers – and with your newfound knowledge, there’s no stopping you.

Now, go forth and blog like the rockstar you are.

The post How to Write a Blog Post: The Definitive 10,273-word Guide appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

You’re fed up. You can’t believe you talked yourself into this. What a waste of time!

Your blog is on the same internet as all the other successful blogs you read. It has an elegant but simple design, and you think you’re a pretty good writer.

Then why are you getting squat in terms of social shares and interaction? And I mean diddly squat!

You have some Twitter followers and hundreds of friends on Facebook, but aside from your wife/mom you have got tumbleweeds for blog traffic.

You have reached your end and you can’t help but thinking?

Have I wasted my time and money on blogging and social media promotion?

Will I ever get people to read my blog?

Something has got to give.

Let’s look at a few social media management strategies that have worked for me and hundreds of other online influencers. These will help you:

1. Define social media success in a different way
2. Save tons of time and stress early on
3. Meet those online influencers you have always wanted to meet
4. Have your content shared by those same influencers

If that sounds scary or difficult, let me assure you that it is not. These strategies will start you and your blog down the road to success. So let’s get into them!

Avoid the Agony of Wasted Time on Social Media

Social media can be a gigantic waste of time. From cat memes to profile creeping, hours of our lives are wasted every day on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Sometimes, especially after a tiring day, mindless browsing on social media can be fun and relaxing. But wouldn’t it be nice if we could find ways to be more efficient while using social media for blog or business promotion?

Luckily, the following techniques are all ways to minimize the time spent on social media while maximizing your outcomes! And the first one is dead simple…

Start Small

The temptation to sign up every social media network is a strong one. Everything is so exciting and you just know your content will speak for itself and you’ll begin building an audience on each network in no time.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like this. Each network has its own strength and therefore needs its own social media strategy and unique content. The pressure to create consistent, quality content across a variety of different platforms is more than many companies can do well, let alone little old you.

You are much better off picking one or two networks to build on, and then growing from there once it makes sense for you and your blog.

Which Networks?

The answer to this question will depend greatly on the topic of your blog. For example, if you are running a photo-blog, Instagram and Pinterest would be a much higher priority. However, in general terms, the two networks you should start with are the two biggest, Twitter and Facebook.

Facebook is a no brainer for a few reasons:

• If you are on it personally you already have a built in audience for your content. Utilize your friends and your family to help share your content early on
• Facebook has recently overtaken Google as the top referral source for digital publishers
• Building a brand page for your blog gives you a level of perceived legitimacy online
• It is very easy to automate promotion from WordPress to Facebook — as you can see here

Twitter has its own set of benefits for the start-up blogger:

• Research can be done very efficiently with Twitter, so it’s a great place to get inspired with new ideas
• NETWORKING! We will delve into this one further down, but you can meet and interact with people on Twitter that you never could in real life
• Twitter is your own personal focus group – use it to test article ideas, new initiatives, or even the name for your blog

If you start with just these two networks, you can quickly grow your online brand and become an influencer in your niche, without the stress and hassle of marketing through dozens of different channels right from the beginning.

In the case of a beginning blogger, QUALITY beats QUANTITY.

Build Your Sensational Social Network

Haven’t you always wanted to be able to ask an expert in your field, maybe even a famous person, a question? Maybe in your wildest dreams you have even imagined building a relationship with said expert?

Even if you can’t identify with the above, this is probably the most important thing you can do on social media as a beginning blogger. I am talking about building relationships with other bloggers and influencers in your niche, and Twitter’s real-time communication capability is THE best tool for doing this efficiently and effectively. Let’s take a look at how you can accomplish this and begin building your awesome network.

First, and I can’t stress this enough, you need to make sure that your Twitter profile is complete and professional. You should have a profile picture, Twitter bio, and hopefully at least a few tweets on your timeline.

Just like you wouldn’t go to a business meeting in a T-Shirt and sweatpants, if you want to rub shoulders with online influencers you need to present yourself as a professional too.

Then, you need to identify the top bloggers and most influential people in your field. You might already have a good idea of who they are, but if not it is worth the time to discover them. A simple Google search and Twitter search within your niche should do the trick.

Now, you need to check out their presence on social media – specifically, Twitter. It is important for this exercise that your identified influencers engage regularly on Twitter. If they don’t reply to mentions or RT others on a regular basis, they probably are not the right contact for you (at least not initially). And, if you can’t find them on Twitter, they are probably not the right people to ask anyway.

Next, it is time to connect. This can be scary for many of us, as we may be star struck by the people we are wanting to contact. Luckily, the first step is painless. Simply “follow” your identified influencers:

The next step is interacting with your influencers. This can be done in a variety of ways:

Tweet or Retweet (“RT”) relevant content published by the influencers you’re following

Don’t spam your own followers, of course, but do share valuable information. This won’t start a dialogue, but it can open the door to further interactions.

How @problogger Generated Their First 100 Sales for Free (and How You Can Too) https://t.co/RISuU3u0Nl pic.twitter.com/nSqePPPIaP

– Social Media Wizard (@CalebCousens) March 24, 2016

This is the ABSOLUTE guide on writing a blog post–>>>The Definitive 10,273-word Guide https://t.co/oIzRiQerUS via @kevinjduncan

– Yusuff Busayo (@writebucket) January 29, 2016

Give them a shout out

Saying “thanks” or congratulating your influencer on something is an innocent and easy way to make that first direct reach out. Often you will get a direct response thanking you, which can lead to further dialogue.

@javier4freedom Thanks for all the Twitter love, my friend!

– Kevin J. Duncan (@kevinjduncan) December 28, 2015

@TracyMallette Hey, wonderful, Tracy! (We love @HennekeD )

– Sally Hogshead (@SallyHogshead) July 31, 2014

@GlenLong Welcome, Glen! Thanks for the opportunity to write for Boost Blog Traffic!

– S Business Idea Blog (@sbizideasblog) April 6, 2016

Another idea would be to use the hashtag #FF (or #FollowFriday) as a way to get them to notice you.

#FF expert blogger @kevinjduncan who shares great tips and info on #blogging and content marketing for your business.

– Edward Beaman (@writerbeaman) December 18, 2015

#ff follow @AdrienneSmith40 for smart blogging and networking tips. pic.twitter.com/r3vMd9cXGf

– Ryan Biddulph (@RyanBiddulph) October 13, 2015

Engage in conversations

If you notice your influencer has asked his/her followers a question, jump in with your thoughts. Be respectful and don’t spam, but share your view on the topic. You’d be surprised how effective this can be and you might even get followers out of it!

@JonMilligan High School teacher! Took last college final on a Tue evening; had first day of teacher pre-planning Wed morning.

– Kevin J. Duncan (@kevinjduncan) January 5, 2016

@brianclark for wireframes? https://t.co/JPEfpXf8YN

– Paul Jarvis (@pjrvs) March 23, 2016

Share interesting content

We will talk about sharing your own interesting content coming up, but here I mean share news, opinion pieces, and other links in your niche with your influencer. It can start a conversation and will definitely get you noticed.

3 Methods of Outreach to Get Thought Leaders Sharing Your Content https://t.co/HYgbkVqEk0 pic.twitter.com/iFxIjCFtn5

– Sam Hurley ????? (@Sam___Hurley) April 6, 2016

7 Effective SEO Site Audit Tools That Make Technical SEO Easier https://t.co/oM87TRw2Eo pic.twitter.com/tk4dixiZ7E

– Adam Connell (@adamjayc) April 6, 2016

LIVE on #Periscope: ???? Facebook LIVE Changes! WOWSERS You Want To Hear This! #BizScope #FacebookLive https://t.co/x0ustf5gqF

– Kim Garst (@kimgarst) April 6, 2016

Introduce people

Once you begin building an audience there will be chances to play matchmaker. You will be able to introduce others to the influencers you have cultivated a relationship with and then, guess what, you will begin to be perceived as an expert and influencer yourself.

You can use the below Twitter templates to make it even easier to connect with your influencer:

@influencer Hey. Enjoyed your post on (related topic). Read this and thought you might be interested: [Link]

@influencer [Link] was one of the most interesting posts I have read. Where did you get your data?

You guys have to check out this post on (related topic) by @influencer. Must read: [Link]

Ask for Help

In case it isn?t clear, this step will come only after you have begun to cultivate the relationship (with the influencer). You may even be your influencer?s new best bud.

It is amazing how effective it can be to ask for help.

Asking your new BFF for an RT or to check out your newest blog post can have game-changing effects on your blog. Let me give you an example from my own blogging experience.

I used to blog on football (that?s soccer to my American and Canadian readers).?I had cultivated a relationship with a top journalist in Spain who had hundreds of thousands of followers. It had gotten to the point where he followed me as well and we were in regular contact.

There was one article I wrote that I thought would be especially relevant to my influencer and his followers. I asked him for an RT with the link to my article, and he was kind enough to oblige.

Twenty-four hours later I had a traffic spike of 10,000 unique hits, over 100 Retweets, and – maybe even most thrilling – my article was featured on the official site of FC Barcelona, giving me even more traffic over the coming weeks.

This was one of multiple examples of success I enjoyed because I cultivated relationships with online influencers and then was willing to put my pride on the line to ask for help. Worst thing that could happen was that I might get a “no” (which I did sometimes).

Some Tweet templates to make your life easier:

@influencer Loved that last post you shared about (related topic). Thought you might be interested in this one too: [Your Link]

@influencer Reading your blog has inspired me to write on (related topic) too. What do you think? [Link]

@influencer Would appreciate your thoughts on my latest article on (related topic)! [Link]

Get Out and Connect!

Social media management can be tricky. It’s easy to feel unproductive, particularly when you’re putting so much time into dozens of different platforms.

Luckily, a few simple changes and a new understanding of what success on social means can have a profound impact.

Just imagine people interacting with you on social media about YOUR content.

Imagine waking up and seeing a spike in traffic after an influencer you asked to share your content RT’d the link you sent him/her.

Imagine starting to think up ways to grow your blog and even starting to monetize it.

You can start your journey on the road to success today by choosing just one of the techniques above. Heck, connect with me and just see what happens.

Keep at it. Rome wasn?t built in a day. If you give these techniques time, you will be successful.

You could be the next blogging sensation.

The post A Beginner Blogger’s Guide to Social Media Management appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

“I have a research paper due tomorrow morning,” I said aloud, startling everyone else in the movie theater who was watching Kevin Costner hit a golf ball.

How could I have forgotten? It was 8:00 on a Sunday evening and I had an 8-page paper due in twelve hours.

When I arrived home, I sat down in front of my computer and tried to think of a topic. My professor said our papers needed to be about technology in some way, shape, or form.

“How can I find, research, and write about a topic in one night? I have a few hours to do a few week’s worth of work!”

I was in trouble.

Glancing down at my desk, I saw the “World War I” research paper I had written for another class. “If only I could use the information I already researched for this paper,” I jokingly thought to myself.

Then I got an idea.

I would write a research paper about how the Internet has made writing research papers easier. I would write about two fictional students: one who used books from the library to do all his research, and one who used the Internet (“technology”) for his research. The research paper topic for these fictional students? World War I.

It was more of a creative writing exercise than an actual research paper, but it was packed with historical quotes, dates, and facts.

I wish I could tell you that karma punished me for my forgetfulness and procrastination, and that my professor gave me a bad grade. I wish I could tell you that, but college is no fairy-tale world.

My professor loved it. He gave me an “A” and said it was one of the best papers he’d ever received.

Repurposing blog content

The college version of Kevin, the procrastinator, would have loved blogging. With a little bit of ingenuity, it’s possible to take one post you’ve researched and written, and use it over and over.

Here are 4 ways you can take a post you’ve already written and repurpose it.

1. Make a YouTube video

Do you have a speaking voice that’s more Tracy Morgan than Morgan Freeman? Doesn’t matter. Do you look more like Adam West than Amy Adams? Doesn’t matter either.

If you have a blog post filled with information, the hard part is already done for you. You can easily take the information in your post and turn into a short (1-3 minutes) script.

Practice the script a few times. Record yourself using your webcam. Re-record yourself after you’ve removed the spinach from your teeth. Publish it to YouTube.

2. Make a SlideShare presentation

SlideShare is awesome.

Do you have a list post? Open Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides. Create a slideshow based on the points in your post (you can probably copy and paste 90% of it). Make it look pretty (this is the part which can take a little time, depending on your design skills and PowerPoint experience). Upload it to SlideShare.

Because SlideShare presentations are created from PDF files, it means you can have links inside your presentations. On the last slide, have a strong call to action. Link to your blog or, even better, an opt-in page for your mailing list.

And if your SlideShare presentation goes viral, it can mean a nice traffic boost to your blog…

3. Create a PDF version of a post

You could copy the text of your post, paste it into Microsoft Word or Google Docs, and save it as a PDF file. Or, even better, simply use PrintFriendly.com.

Why would you want to create a PDF version of the post? Well, for starters, as Ana points out in her post above, there are directories in which you can submit PDF-versions of your posts. Some of these directories have decent domain authority.

But the primary reason you would want to create a PDF of your post is many of your readers prefer it. A PDF is something they can download and read on their Kindle. It’s something they can print and have handy. It’s something they can hold onto long after your blog goes the way of the dodo.

(I’m talking of other people’s blogs, of course. Not yours. Yours will last forever, right?)

Plus, if your PDF is particularly valuable or long (Example: You went temporarily insane and wrote an 8,317-word post), you can offer it as as incentive for readers to join your mailing list.

4. Create a PDF checklist of a post

Similar to the above, but with a little bit of extra work on your part.

If your post is detailed, it can be hard for readers to easily digest it. Sometimes, a quick recap detailing the high points is invaluable.

Open your preferred word processing document, and type a 2-to-4 sentence overview of the main points in your post. Be as clear and concise as possible. If your post offered actionable steps, be sure to include them. Save it as a PDF.

Checklists are another incentive you can offer readers to join your mailing list.

Want to make them especially enticing? Include an extra tip (or two or three) in your checklist which wasn’t included in your blog post.

For readers who enjoyed your post, your extra tip is something they’ll want to know.

Wrapping it up

Getting the most bang for your buck is a must for bloggers.

If you’ve written something good, you need to find ways to repurpose it. What you wrote is awesome, right? Then why wouldn’t you want to stretch it as far as it can go?

What’s your favorite way to repurpose content? Let me know in a comment below!

The post The Reformed Procrastinator’s Guide to Repurposing Content appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

They’re easy.

You boil water. You add the noodles. You stir in the seasoning packet.

Could it be any simpler?

It’s not just college students who love easy, of course. We all do.

We like quick, we like simple, and we like not having to think too hard.

It’s why self-help tips like “visualize success” and “acknowledge your flaws” get repeated ad nauseam. They’re so easy to do, they don’t require any real time or effort.

Where Kevin is going with this…

Too bad blog tips aren’t like that, though.

Blog tips are usually time consuming and difficult to implement.

“Ditch my WordPress.com blog, buy a domain and get my own web host? Why that sounds…HARD! Can I nap instead?”

If only there was a list of easy blog tips.

If only there were blog tips you could do in a couple minutes.

If only there was a list of blog tips which made blogging simpler rather than harder.

Here are 22 hopefully-easy blog tips broken down into general categories.

Some of these you can do immediately, some you can do the next time you sit down to write. All of them, hopefully, are as easy as a game of checkers.

Just remember: no blog tip, listed here or elsewhere, is right for everyone. Use what works for you. Disregard the rest!

Writing tips

Some quick writing tips for your blog…

1. STOP USING THE WORD “LITERALLY”

The only reason to use it is in instances where the reader could reasonably think you are speaking figuratively when you really aren’t.

So yes, if monkeys actually fly out of a part of your anatomy, use the word “literally” to describe the event.

But then go see a doctor. Actually, go see the doctor first. You can write later.

2. STOP USING THE WORD “THAT”

It’s been said the word “that” could be removed from a sentence and 99% of the time the sentence wouldn’t miss it. I wouldn’t go quite that far, but you should definitely use “that” as little as possible.

Depending on how much you use the word, omitting it could significantly clean up your writing.

3. KEEP PARAGRAPHS SHORT

Remember when you were assigned a paper in school and you tried to break sentences into as many paragraphs as possible to stretch the length of your paper?

Teachers didn’t really like it. And they usually took points off your paper for doing it.

Well, as a blogger, this formerly-looked-down-upon tactic is a good thing! It promotes white space. It makes your posts easier to read.

So if you ever bump into your old English teacher, tell her Kevin at BeABetterBlogger.com says it’s a-okay to have as few sentences as possible in a paragraph.

Also, ask her to join my mailing list. You know…because.

4. ADD LINKS WITHIN POSTS TO OTHER POSTS

Unless your blog is brand new with little-to-no material, there’s no reason when you’re writing to not link to other (relevant) posts you’ve written — especially since it’s so effective and so easy.

Want to see me do it?

Want to see me do it again?

Headline tips

Tips for your post’s headlines…

5. USE A HEADLINE GENERATOR

Portent’s Content Idea Generator creates a headline for you based on the subject of your post. Don’t like it? Hit the refresh button and get a new headline.

You’re unlikely to be able to use any suggestion as is, but you’ll get some good ideas.

6. USE ALLITERATION

There is a reason I named this site “Be A Better Blogger.”

And there’s a reason Stan Lee created characters with names like Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Sue Storm, Pepper Potts and Doctor Doom.

Alliteration is subtle, but memorable. It packs a punch. [tweet this]

Try using alliteration in your next headline.

Blog design & layout tips

Tips for the layout of your blog…

7. MAKE SEARCH BAR EASY TO FIND

Don’t make someone who wants to search through your content — an engaged reader, in other words — have to hunt for your search bar. Make it easy for them.

Top of your blog or near the top of your sidebar are the two preferred choices for search bars. Adding one to your footer, too, isn’t a bad idea.

If you use WordPress, this is as easy as adding (or moving) a search widget.

8. PUT SOCIAL “FOLLOW ME” ICONS ABOVE THE FOLD

Guess what? If someone goes to the trouble of looking for your Twitter, Google+ or Facebook icon, chances are they’re doing so because they want to follow you.

Don’t make it difficult for them.

Add your social “follow me” icons to the top of your blog or near the top of your sidebar. Again, if you’re a WordPress user, this involves adding or moving a widget.

Don’t have social media icons and don’t know where to get them?

Try Iconfinder. Once you fill in what you’re looking for (Example: Twitter), you can filter the search results. Set the price to “Free” and the license type to “no link back.”

With those two settings any icons you find will be free to use and require no citations or links to their authors.

9. HIDE ALL BUT ONE SOCIAL “FOLLOW ME” ICON

Are you trying (and failing) at gaining momentum on multiple social media platforms?

Why be mediocre on several platforms when you can concentrate on one (and hopefully Excel)?

Consider removing all social media “follow me” icons except your preferred one. The one where you’re most active. The one where you want to gain a following.

If that’s Twitter, keep Twitter. If it’s Facebook, keep Facebook.

If it’s MySpace, I’m afraid I cannot help you.

Once you’ve gotten a handle on one social platform, you can add others.

10. ADD CALL TO ACTION AT END OF POSTS

A reader who has made it through to the end of your post (likely) enjoyed what you wrote.

Well, tell them what to do next!

Tell them to leave you a comment. Show them some related posts they might like to read. Ask them to sign up for your mailing list.

It’s your blog — point them in the direction you want them to go.

If you tell them nothing, they will do nothing.

Actually, that’s not true. They’ll leave.

11. REMOVE EXCESS ADVERTISEMENTS

Do you have one or two Google Ads on your blog? That’s fine.

What’s that? You have 27? Yeah, that’s a problem.

Get down to under 4 ads and your blog will be significantly more friendly to your readers.

12. HIDE YOUR RSS FEED ICON

No, really.

If your priority one is for readers to sign up to your mailing list or follow you on Twitter (or another social media platform), why give them the option of instead following your blog through RSS?

You can’t (or shouldn’t) prevent people from subscribing to your RSS feed. For some, RSS feeds are still the easiest and best way to keep up with their favorite blogs.

But that doesn’t mean you have to offer a big ol’ RSS icon in your sidebar or top of your blog when what you really want is for readers to subscribe to your newsletter.

Again, you’re pointing the reader in the direction you want them to go (or not go).

13. OFFER A PHOTO OF YOURSELF IN YOUR SIDEBAR OR ABOUT PAGE

No, this isn’t an ego thing.

It’s a trust thing.

Most readers want to know who they are reading. So, offer a head shot.

Be a person, not an ominous voice behind a curtain.

14. REMOVE 40-60% OF ITEMS IN YOUR SIDEBAR

Most bloggers’ sidebars look as though they could be featured in a TV episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive. [tweet this]

In other words, it is time to declutter.

15. REMOVE EXCESS COLORS

Count how many different colors you use in your blog design.

Is it more than a handful? If so, if you’re not careful, you could be confusing your readers.

At the very least, you’re making it difficult for your action color to stand out.

Start by eliminating just one color from your design. See what kind of difference it makes.

Image tips

Tips for using images on your blog…

15. INSTALL WP-SMUSH.IT PLUGIN

For WordPress users, the free WP-Smush.it plugin lets you reduce the file size of the images you upload. You can also “smush” (reduce) images you have uploaded previously.

For you non-Wordpress users, don’t worry: Yahoo lets you use its Smush.it tool via a web browser. No software or installation necessary!

Just go to Smushit.com, upload your image (or images) and click the “smush” button. Then you can download your newly-optimized image and upload it to your non-Wordpress blog.

16. MAKE FUTURE FEATURED IMAGES LARGER

Why? For optimal Pinterest pin size, of course!

Rob Russo, a designer who has run repeated tests on Pinterest pin sizes, currently recommends 735×1102 as the perfect size for Pinterest. Rob seems to know his stuff, so if you’re looking to make your posts more Pinterest friendly this is a good tip to follow.

Aren’t these dimensions quite large, as Henneke Duistermaat points out in her comment? Definitely.

However, if you’re focusing on Pinterest and want your posts to be as Pinterest-friendly as possible, it may be worth it to design your blog around these extra-large featured images.

What do I do? I compromise. The width of my featured images is 735 pixels. The height is whatever makes sense for the particular image I’m using.

Just remember: “bigger is better” with Pinterest. Do what makes sense for you and your blog!

Content tips

Tips for your post’s content…

17. UPDATE YOUR ABOUT PAGE

For many bloggers, the About page is one of the two pages (the other being the Contact page) created within the first few days of starting your blog.

It’s also one of the two pages on your blog which haven’t been touched since they were created.

If you haven’t updated your About page in a while, look it over and see if everything that’s there is still relevant.

Modify as needed.

Also…

18. ADD AN ABOUT PAGE

Every so often, I come across a blog or website without an About page.

And when I do, I usually think of this:

So, in short:

You’re not Ron Swanson of TV’s Parks and Recreation. You’re a blogger. Add an About page. [tweet this]

19. PICK TOPICS USING A GENERATOR

Stumped for blog ideas?

HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator lets you put in three terms you would like to blog about, and it will output five different topics (headlines included).

I entered money, food and sports into the generator and received the following topic ideas:

• The History Of Money
• 27 Things About Food Your Boss Wants To Know
• Think You’re Cut Out For Doing Sports? Take This Quiz
• 10 Things Your Competitors Can Teach You About Money
• 15 Best Blogs To Follow About Food

“The History of Money” sounds like it would be a bear to write and “Think You’re Cut Out For Doing Sports” sounds like something written by someone without a firm grasp of sports (or the English language).

But the others seem like great suggestions for a money or food blogger.

Promotion tips

Some quick tips for promoting your blog…

20. ADD GOOGLE AUTHORSHIP

If you haven’t added Google Authorship to your blog yet, it’s time.

If you already have a Google+ account and the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin, setting up authorship can take less than 10 minutes.

Need a more in-depth tutorial? Here is the definitive handbook on the subject.

21. ADD CONSENT VERBIAGE TO YOUR FOOTER

True, many bloggers who post excerpts of others’ works don’t bother to find out if they consent to such acts.

However, some do. And if you want to make it easier for these bloggers, and thereby making it easier for your work to be featured and quoted, add consent verbiage somewhere on your blog.

Here at Be A Better Blogger, I offer the following in my footer:

Excerpts of content may be used, provided full & clear credit is given to us with appropriate & specific direction to original content.

What does this mean? It means people are free to use excerpts of my content, but they’re required to give me credit and provide a link to my blog.

22. FIND AN OLD POST AND PROMOTE IT

If you have been blogging for any length of time, you have quite a collection of posts in your archive gathering dust.

Many of your readers don’t even know these gold nuggets of info even exist.

Pick one of them and share it on social media. It doesn’t matter if it’s old, so long as the information is still relevant.

Next week, do the same thing with a different post.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

BONUS: ADD “TWEET THIS” SUGGESTIONS

As pointed out by Eric Deeter in a comment below, another great promotion tip used by many bloggers (including yours truly within this very post) is?adding “tweet this” links next to content you wish to highlight for promotion.

This makes it easy for readers to share.

A person might not want to share your entire post, but they might really like something specific you said within the post!

So, how do you do it?

Personally, I hardcode my “tweet this” links. But for ease of use, try ClicktoTweet.com.

It lets you create links with no coding required.

Not all tips are right for every blog and every blogger. Are any of these tips right for you? Do you know any easy blog tips which can be implemented in minutes? Let me know in a comment below!

Flickr Creative Commons Images via Matthew Paulson (adapted), Wesley Fryer (adapted), Seth Anderson (adapted) and ClintJCL (adapted).

The post 22 Ridiculously Easy Blog Tips You Can Use Right Now appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

The following is a list of top blog quotes from 102 of my favorite bloggers and entrepreneurs.

(I also added one silly quote of my own, so I would look cool by association.)

Enjoy!

1. Michael Hyatt on giving up:

   Failure isn’t final until you quit.” [tweet this]

   Michael Hyatt

2. Darren Rowse on awesomeness:

   99.9% of great bloggers are not awesome on day 1. Their awesomeness is the accumulation of the value they create over time.” [tweet this]

   Darren Rowse

3. Amy Harrison on consistency:

   (Superheroes) can disappear for months or years and then burst back onto the scene with a climactic display of their impressive powers. Okay for superheroes, not okay for your content. It might feel boring and constraining, but publishing consistently brings results.” [tweet this]

   Amy Harrison

4. Seth Godin on why to write:

   I made a decision to write for my readers, not to try to find more readers for my writing.” [tweet this]

   Seth Godin

5. Syed Balkhi on writing efficiently:

   People often ask me how am I able to write several blog posts in a day? My reply is simple: I stay in the zone. I eliminate all distractions and just write.” [tweet this]

   Syed Balkhi

6. Crystal Paine on overdoing it:

   Burning the candle at both ends doesn’t give you superpowers, it just makes you exhausted.” [tweet this]

   Crystal Paine

7. Jon Morrow on gaining readership:

   Anyone can start a blog, but the real test is getting readers.” [tweet this]

   Jon Morrow

8. Liz Strauss on writing vs. blogging:

   Writing is thinking out loud. Blogging is thinking out loud where other folks think back.” [tweet this]

   Liz Strauss

9. Chris Brogan on the protagonist:

   The key is, no matter what story you tell, make your buyer the hero.” [tweet this]

   Chris Brogan

10. John Chow on promotion:

    Way too many bloggers think making money from blogging is like the movie Field of Dreams, where Kevin Costner?s character was told, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ You can build it, but if nobody knows about it, then they’re not coming!” [tweet this]

    John Chow

11. Pat Flynn on being proactive:

    Finding success is all about taking action. You can read all you want, but nothing will happen until you execute.” [tweet this]

    Pat Flynn

12. Jonathan Milligan on focusing on the reader:

    No one cares about your blog unless you are adding value to their lives in some way.” [tweet this]

    Jonathan Milligan

13. Brian Clark on optimization:

    You can’t optimize something that’s dead.” [tweet this]

    Brian Clark

14. Penelope Trunk on finding yourself:

    A blog is a great way to figure out what you want to do with yourself because writing regularly is a path to self-discovery.” [tweet this]

    Penelope Trunk

15. Yaro Starak on people:

    Everything comes back to learning about people, figuring out what makes them tick and then using your understanding of their psychology to present your offer as the best tailored solution for them.” [tweet this]

    Yaro Starak

16. John Corcoran on social sharing:

    Want more shares for your blog posts? Study what makes ideas spread. Shares will follow.” [tweet this]

    John Corcoran

17. Glen Long on clear writing:

    Your writing is the instruction manual for assembling ideas in your reader’s mind.” [tweet this]

    Glen Long

18. David Risley on thinking big:

    It can be pretty rough out there for bloggers who think small. You’ve got to think ? and play ? big if you want to make a larger footprint these days.” [tweet this]

    David Risley

19. Derek Halpern on being stupid:

    If you’re not building your email list, you’re an idiot.” [tweet this]

    Derek Halpern

20. Nathan Hanson on change:

    We grow and change every day and every year and every decade, but we have the option of choosing HOW we grow and in what ways we change.” [tweet this]

    Nathan Hanson

21. Michael Dunlop on risk:

    If you start with nothing and end up with nothing, there’s nothing lost.” [tweet this]

    Michael Dunlop

22. Gary Vaynerchuk on building goodwill:

    Your story needs to move people’s spirits and build their goodwill, so that when you finally do ask them to buy from you, they feel like you’ve given them so much it would be almost rude to refuse.” [tweet this]

    Gary Vaynerchuk

23. Jason Mathes on Google:

    First tip for having a Google Friendly Blog? High quality content.” [tweet this]

    Jason Mathes

24. Steve Pavlina on monetizing:

    If you think monetizing your site is wonderful, fine. If you think it?s evil, fine. But make up your mind before you seriously consider starting down this path. If you want to succeed, you must be congruent.” [tweet this]

    Steve Pavlina

25. Adrienne Smith on attitude:

    If you approach (blogging) having a me me me attitude you will fail miserably.” [tweet this]

    Adrienne Smith

26. Matt Wolfe on hope:

    It only takes one amazing post to push your blog past the tipping point.” [tweet this]

    Matt Wolfe

27. Jason Calacanis on trust:

    The currency of blogging is authenticity and trust.” [tweet this]

    Jason Calacanis

28. Daniel Sharkov on self promotion:

    The real problem behind self-promotion is that lots of newbie marketers simply don’t know when they’ve gone too far.” [tweet this]

    Daniel Sharkov

29. Kathy Frederick on renewing excitement:

    Print out some of your stuff and cozy up with it for a while. You might be surprised by your own writing, find a few things you can improve upon and renew your excitement for blogging.” [tweet this]

    Kathy Frederick

30. Angi Clark on baby steps:

    The thing about all successful people is, they all started somewhere. They didn’t just wake up one morning with an international clothing company, or a graphic design firm, or a famous cupcake shop, or a blog with 50,000 readers. So make a list: What’s ONE thing I can accomplish today that will take me one step closer to my goal? Then do that one thing. Then another thing. Then another. It’s all about the baby steps.” [tweet this]

    Angi Clark

31. Jenny Weber on spelling and grammar:

    How seemingly literate people still don’t know when to use YOU’RE instead of YOUR is appalling.” [tweet this]

    Jenny Weber

32. Kerry Russell on sharing:

    I’m a big believer in sharing my failures as well as my successes, so (readers) know what works and what doesn’t.” [tweet this]

    Kerry Russell

33. Neil Patel on passion:

    Do something you are passionate about because it won’t feel like work. This way you will work harder and longer.” [tweet this]

    Neil Patel

34. Matt Cutts on guest blogging:

    You should publish high-quality guest bloggers, people whose words you really, really trust.” [tweet this]

    Matt Cutts

35. Bob Lotich on blogging full time:

    I told myself that I didn’t care if I never made more than $8/hr ? having freedom and not being stuck in the rat race was soooo worth it.” [tweet this]

    Bob Lotich

36. Steven Wilson on headlines:

    Your headlines are the first and sometimes the only chance you get to grab readers attention. Write something that makes potential visitors want to know more about the topic.” [tweet this]

    Steven Wilson

37. Eli Fennell on social media:

    The key to social media is being social.” [tweet this]

    Eli Fennell

38. Stephan Hovnanian on Google Plus:

    Whether you are trying to get noticed by prospective employers, build ‘street cred’ around your consulting services, or simply want to network with more people, there’s no better place to build a personal brand than on Google+.” [tweet this]

    Stephan Hovnanian

39. Carol Tice on risk:

    You have to be willing to take some risks and learn new things to move into new, high-paid areas and keep your income growing.” [tweet this]

    Carol Tice ?

40. Uttoran Sen on thinking global:

    By neglecting to communicate with the rest of the non English-speaking world, you’re costing yourself a mountain of money.” [tweet this]

    Uttoran Sen

41. Pauline Cabrera on formatting:

    You need to organize your content in a clear and easy-to-read format to keep your readers engaged, regardless of its length.” [tweet this]

    Pauline Cabrera

42. Al Remetch on Google Plus:

    I always thought it was a given that the more content your site had about a specific topic, the better the top ranking potential.” [tweet this]

    Al Remetch

43. Joan Harrington on social media:

    Social media is a phenomenal tool for building your audience, connecting with new people, and growing your business but it will only work when you are consistently present, engaging with your audience, and giving them content they will love.” [tweet this]

    Joan Harrington

44. Rand Fishkin on stories:

    Tell a story. Make it true. Make it compelling. And make it relevant.” [tweet this]

    Rand Fishkin

45. Demian Farnworth on authority:

    Domain age alone doesn’t grant you authority, and your domain registration strategy doesn?t impact your search rankings quite like you think it might. Your site’s content and the links coming to those pages are what matters.” [tweet this]

    Demian Farnworth

46. Henneke Duistermaat on followers:

    Follower numbers are less important than follower engagement, enthusiasm, and love for your blog.” [tweet this]

    Henneke Duistermaat

47. Pamela Wilson on experts:

    If you have the guts to come up with an idea, and the persistence to see it through until it?s finished, you deserve to call yourself an expert on the topic. Because by researching and writing an ebook you will be.” [tweet this]

    Pamela Wilson

48. Michael King on customers:

    Let’s agree that all content must be created with the customer’s needs in mind. Otherwise we are wasting time and resources as marketers.” [tweet this]

    Michael King

49. Jerod Morris on taking initiative:

    If you want something, ask. You might actually get it.” [tweet this]

    Jerod Morris

50. Sean Smith on boring niches:

    The next time you find yourself lamenting the lack of content opportunities available to you, remember: there is no such thing as a boring niche.” [tweet this]

    Sean Smith

51. Sophie Lizard on traffic:

    The truth is, traffic in and of itself is pointless unless you?re attracting your ideal visitor.” [tweet this]

    Sophie Lizard

52. Beth Hayden on Pinterest:

    If you only pin your own stuff on Pinterest, you will fail as a pinner. You’ll never see that consistent flow of targeted traffic that you’re longing for.” [tweet this]

    Beth Hayden

53. Jon Acuff on mattering:

    If you’re going to risk and maybe fail, fail at something that matters. Fail gloriously so that even in failure, lives change.” [tweet this]

    Jon Acuff

54. Mary Jaksch on letting worry cripple you:

    Potential brilliance can easily be stillborn when a writer wrestles with worry. Don’t.” [tweet this]

    Mary Jaksch

55. Peter Anderson on illusions:

    Some people have a notion in their head that running a successful blog isn’t a lot of work, that it just means writing a post here and there, publishing it and sitting back as the money flows in. It’s a lot more than that though.” [tweet this]

    Peter Anderson

56. Delia Rusu on burn out:

    You’re not a prisoner to your blog, take a break. Spend some time evaluating your life, getting clear about what’s important and what’s not and see if blogging is part of it.” [tweet this]

    Delia Rusu

57. Ramsay Taplin on readership:

    Something that a lot of bloggers and online marketers forget is that 80% to 90% of your readers are straight up beginners.” [tweet this]

    Ramsay Taplin

58. Kristi Hines on working from home:

    Having set work hours each day will help you get your body into the rhythm of being focused on work during a specified time of day.” [tweet this]

    Kristi Hines

59. Josh Kotsay on comments:

    Comments are the life blood of every blog. It indicates that people like and enjoy engaging with your content.” [tweet this]

    Josh Kotsay

60. Ana Hoffman on what it takes to thrive:

    There’s only one you. And there’s no app in the world to change that. If you want to build a thriving business, something’s got to give.” [tweet this]

    Anna Hoffman

61. Ileane Smith on evergreen content:

    Go through your blog archives and find the hidden gems of evergreen content that could use a little more exposure.” [tweet this]

    Ileane Smith

62. Ryan Hanley on writer’s block:

    Not posting to your blog is NOT the end of the world, the end of your business, or even a reason to have a bad day. Writer’s block is NOT creativity block.” [tweet this]

    Ryan Hanley

63. Onyeka Abengowe on inspiration:

    Stand tall and proud. Be unique, be yourself. There’s only one you in the whole wide world.” [tweet this]

    Onyeka Abengowe

64. Eric Deeter on conventional wisdom:

    Long-term gradual growth is more important than a shot of activity that dies off after a month or so.” [tweet this]

    Eric Deeter

65. Laurel Staples on entrepreneurs:

    True entrepreneurs have skin in the game. WE TAKE RISKS. There’s no safety net, no comfy paycheck, and there?s rarely a backup plan.” [tweet this]

    Laurel Staples

66. Ali Luke on snap judgments:

    We all make snap judgments, and if your blog doesn’t look like a reputable, high-quality read, visitors won’t come back.” [tweet this]

    Ali Luke

67. Adam Connell on value:

    Your focus needs to be on value and ensuring that your readers get something out of your content, whether you are teaching your readers something or entertaining them.” [tweet this]

    Adam Connell

68. Enstine Muki on problem solving:

    Solve a problem! That?s the magic to make money online. That?s the key to succeed even offline.” [tweet this]

    Enstine Muki

69. Andrew M. Warner on comments:

    If you really want to have success on your blog through blog commenting, you need to write comments that starts to get the attention of the blog owner.” [tweet this]

    Andrew M. Warner

70. Don Purdum on results:

    If you really want your web presence to explode, it?s time to try something new. If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting the results you?re getting.” [tweet this]

    Don Purdum

71. Mi Muba on blogs:

    It is so easy to start a blog. Easier to continue it with good/bad content. But the real test is to make it successful.” [tweet this]

    Mi Muba

72. Catherine Holt on confidence:

    One of the great ways to improve your blog is to be confident with what you are doing. Have confidence in yourself, and that will shine through in your site.” [tweet this]

    Catherine Holt

73. Marc Andre on epic content:

    While epic content may take a significant amount of your time to write, it will be more valuable to your blog than cumulative impact of several typical blog posts.” [tweet this]

    Marc Andre

74. Brian Dean on promotion:

    If you’re serious about generating high quality links, you need to be very systematic with how you create and promote your content.” [tweet this]

    Brian Dean

75. Sally Ann Miller on the right audience:

    If you have the wrong people on your list, then they’re not going to open your emails.” [tweet this]

    Sally Ann Miller

76. Lisa Mallis on scheduling:

    By scheduling time to complete the important tasks – you will finish!” [tweet this]

    Lisa Mallis

77. Scott Taft on content creation:

    There is a small percentage of people that actually create content on the web. Most people just lurk and absorb.” [tweet this]

    Scott Taft

78. Ryan Biddulph on creating:

    Creating is a wonderful thing. Creating a product that folks can consume on a large scale is even more wonderful.” [tweet this]

    Ryan Biddulph

79. Harleena Singh on blogging as a business:

    (If) you want to be a professional blogger, you need to treat your blog like a business. The first thing you do when you start a business is have a business plan.” [tweet this]

    Harleena Singh

80. Alexis Grant on art and money:

    It is NOT wrong to try to make a living from your art, to charge enough money that you can afford to create ? so long as some people will actually pay what you?re asking. So stop feeling guilty about it!” [tweet this]

    Alexis Grant

81. Brittany Bullen on choices:

    I have learned that most things are a choice. You can choose to be happy. You can choose to be healthy. You can choose to be successful. We are not victims of our circumstances or identities. Tough things happen, but we choose what they?ll do to us.” [tweet this]

    Brittany Bullen

82. Jeni Elliott on “more”:

    People come to your site because they are looking for something. They want to do more, have more, be more.” [tweet this]

    Jeni Elliott

83. Carol Amato on multi-tasking:

    I think we?ll all feel ? and do ? much better if we live ‘in the moment,’ and attempt to focus on the important thing going on or needing attention rather than trying to do it all at once.” [tweet this]

    Carol Amato

84. Craig Emerson on quitting:

    You won?t be very successful if you just pack it in the first time something doesn?t go the way you plan.” [tweet this]

    Craig Emerson

85. Dennis Seymour on link building:

    Link building is not just a strategy to increase rankings, it?s also a result and looking at it like that will open your eyes to more efficient ways to build backlinks.” [tweet this]

    Dennis Seymour

86. Donna Merrill on learning:

    People like to learn things, but they especially like to learn what they can do to improve their lives.” [tweet this]

    Donna Merrill

87. Gertrude Nonterah on the little things:

    Little drops of water do make a mighty ocean. The key is to not take those little drops for granted and give up before the ocean actually arrives.” [tweet this]

    Gertrude Nonterah

88. Jane Sheeba on discipline:

    If you lead a disciplined life you have no chances to encourage bad habits. You either won?t have time for those or you simply cannot accommodate or adopt yourself to spending time and money on bad habits.” [tweet this]

    Jane Sheeba

89. Jennifer on success:

    Blogging success can?t be duplicated… it?s as individual as the bloggers themselves. Discover what your readers love and capitalize on it.” [tweet this]

    Jennifer – The Deliberate Mom

90. Jens P. Berget on success:

    You need a good definition of success. It?s so much easier to keep doing hard work when you see that you are moving towards your goal.” [tweet this]

    Jens P. Berget

91. Maxwell Ivey on good enough:

    I would rather do something pretty well than not do it at all while I wait for things to be ideal.” [tweet this]

    Maxwell Ivey

92. Mandie Sanders on opportunities:

    Big opportunities to be a hero don?t come around that often for most of us, but we probably pass up a whole bunch of small ones every day.” [tweet this]

    Mandie Sanders

93. Lauren Tamm on routines:

    When everything in life is going crazy, routines create a sense of reliability.” [tweet this]

    Lauren Tamm

94. Nathan Ambrose on fusion cuisine:

    Building a successful blog is like preparing a tasty dish. There?s more to it than knowing what certain ingredients are, and how they taste on their own. Rather, it?s about having a working knowledge of how they fuse together, and why.”
    [tweet this]

    Nathan Ambrose

95. Tor Refsland on paying it forward:

    Be polite and ask for advice. Successful people like to share their knowledge with other people. They have also been in your shoes, and they have also learned from others.” [tweet this]

    Tor Refsland

96. Sylviane Nuccio on true success:

    The real recipe for success is when you work from the inside out. Because if you?re not ready for success mentally and subconsciously, true success will be long in coming.” [tweet this]

    Sylviane Nuccio

97. Sherman Smith on ol’ number one:

    If you?re only looking out for yourself, you may end up being by yourself.” [tweet this]

    Sherman Smith

98. Pooja Lohana on passions:

    Having multiple passions is not easy. It?s hard work. You are always pulled in different directions. You want to do this, and you want to do that too. And you want to do it all together.” [tweet this]

    Pooja Lohana

99. Paul Back on who you know:

    No matter how good your content is, without powerful friends to share it, it will most likely sink without a trace.” [tweet this]

    Paul Back

100. Sue Anne Dunlevie on traffic:

     Successful bloggers know a secret. They only write certain types of posts. They don?t waste their time writing a post that won?t bring them traffic.” [tweet this]

     Sue Anne Dunlevie

101. Jaime Buckley on personality:

     Unless you’re engaging, my eyes will glaze over. We all have a personality, but do you use it? Does it come out in your comments?” [tweet this]

     Jaime Buckley

102. Johannes Kanter on promotion:

     

     Writing engaging content is just one small part of the puzzle. Most of the work should go into promoting the content.” [tweet this]

     Johannes Kanter

103. Kevin J. Duncan on rocket science, for some reason:

     

     Starting a blog from scratch isn’t rocket science. Unless, of course, you’re starting a blog about rocket science.” [tweet this]

     Kevin J. Duncan

Do you have a favorite blog quote? Be sure to share it in a comment below!

The post Top Blog Quotes By 102 Amazing Bloggers (and One By Me) appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

Comments.

Ugh, am I right?

Just the other day, I?received a comment from a female reader who told me she loved my blog and thought I was cute. She also said she was going to share my post with her 84?million Twitter followers.

Thanks, @taylorswift13, but no thanks. Who needs that kind of drivel?

Sure, you have?your?Copybloggers and Seth Godins who?love receiving comments and would never, ever do anything to discourage them, but the Copybloggers and Godins of the world are the minority.

The rest of us? We hate blog comments. We hate them with every fiber of our being.

And, if you’re anything like me, you’ve debated more than once whether or not to delete your blog just so you wouldn’t have to deal with comments anymore.

Thankfully, there is a better way.

The following strategies are proven to minimize reader engagement and reduce blog comments.

1. Stop Email Subscriptions

According to Jon Morrow, email subscribers engage with your blog’s content four times more than RSS subscribers.

So why, oh why, are you offering your readers free email updates? Why do you offer a newsletter?

It’s as if you want your readers to engage with you and leave you comments!

2. Be a Cipher, Wrapped in an Enigma, Smothered in Secret Sauce

Readers are more tempted to leave a comment if they feel as though they know the person behind the blog.

Solution?

Remove all photos of yourself from your blog. Make your “About” page as cold and impersonal as the DMV on a Monday morning.

Remove every ounce of “you” from your blog.

Be a robot. No one wants to leave comments to a robot.

3. Comment Redirect Plugin for First-Time Commenters

Look, mistakes happen.

Maybe the person leaving you a comment didn’t realize how awful comments were? Maybe they are new to the web and just don’t know any better?

By installing this comment redirect plugin by Yoast,?you can redirect readers?to a specific page after they’ve left you a comment for the first time.

And on this page you can tell them how you are incredibly disappointed in them.

You can tell them of the horrors of blog comments. You can threaten them with bodily harm. You can plead with them to never, ever leave you another comment.

Those of you who made the mistake of leaving me a comment in the past are undoubtedly familiar with the comment-redirect page I used to have:

This technique doesn’t help you prevent initial blog comments, but it’s great for preventing subsequent ones!

4. Force Users to Register for an Account

If you use?Disqus or Livefyre, you have made leaving a comment slightly more difficult. Unless, of course, the reader already had a Disqus or Livefyre account, in which case you’ve done nothing to impede them!

No, you need to think bigger.

You need to make your readers register for an account they cannot use anywhere else online. You need to make them register for an account on your blog in order to comment!

Thankfully, WordPress makes this easy.

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings and choose Discussion.

Forcing readers to register before commenting is one lil’ checkbox away.

5. Use Facebook-Only Comments

An alternate approach is to implement Facebook commenting technology for your blog.

For the rare users not on Facebook, you will have immediately eliminated the possibility of their commenting on your blog. Let’s face it: witty as your blog may be, if they haven’t joined Facebook yet they’re not going to start now just so they can leave you a comment.

And a good chunk of the readers already on Facebook will leave without commenting due to privacy concerns.

Who wants to have their Facebook profile (and all the personal info attached to it) visible on?a random blog for all to see?

“Big brother,” “NSA” and all that jazz, right?

It’s not as effective as forcing them to register for an account, but allowing Facebook comments only could do a nice job minimizing the comments you receive.

6.?Your Design Should Discourage Comments

Neil Patel of QuickSprout?notes how the website for Forbes does a poor job of encouraging comments.

How does Forbes accomplish this desirable feat?

The design of Forbes is busy. Also, the comment stream is hidden. Readers need to click a link in order to read existing comments or leave one of their own.

How can we use Forbes’ genius blueprint for?our own blogs?

Make your design as cluttered as possible. Add as many items as you can think of to your sidebar, then add ten more things.

Make your “leave a comment” link hard to find. In fact, why even have it? Force readers to scroll to the bottom of your post to reach your comment section.

If readers want to leave you a comment, make them jump through hoops. Make them earn it.

7. No Call to Action

Ever come across a blog with a “call to action” at the end of every post?

This call to?action may ask the reader to subscribe to a mailing list, follow the blogger on social media, or even — as hard as it is to believe — encourage discussion by writing something like, “Okay…Your Turn.”

Yeah, don’t do any of these things.

If you must have a call to action, at least have a good call to action at the end of your posts. A few examples:

• Go away now
• Isn’t it past your bedtime? Go get some sleep
• Aren’t there leftover brownies in the kitchen? Close the browser and go see
• Surely Blogging Wizard or Enchanting Marketing have new?posts. Why don’t you go check?
• Travel to the magical place called “elsewhere”

Readers need direction. Direct them elsewhere.

8. Never Respond to Comments

If the unthinkable happens and someone leaves you a comment, please, whatever you do, don’t respond to the comment.

Don’t tell them “thanks” or “I appreciate it,” even if you’re being sarcastic. Sarcasm doesn’t show well online.

No, the best thing you can do is ignore the comment.

Don’t respond.

Don’t get drawn into the commenter’s unholy game of engagement.

They want you to respond. They want to claim you as a victim.

Don’t let them!

Want to be scared straight? Check out Adrienne Smith’s blog and see what happens when you engage with readers and respond to every comment.

Poor Adrienne is drowning in comments.

Don’t let this happen to you.

9. Respond to Comments in Condescending Tone

An alternate approach is to?respond to comments in a condescending, how-dare-you-question-me tone.

Have you ever come across a blog whose owner is snarky to the comments left to him or her?

Their responses are pompous, snide and ego-driven.

They actually make readers feel bad for leaving them a comment.

This is how you do it, ladies and gentlemen.

10. Don’t Mention Others in Your Posts

Linking to and mentioning others within your posts is a blogging no-no.

Here is how it will play out:

1. Person?is pinged (notified) their content has been linked to.
2. Person visits the post where they are mentioned.
3. Person, due to guilt or feelings of social obligation, leaves you a comment, thanking you for the mention.

Does this sound fun?

Don’t do this.

11. Make Social Sharing Impossible

In his post on blog commenting, Ian Cleary of Razor Social explains how social shares lead to more visitors to your content, which can lead to comments and, yes, more social shares.

In other words, social sharing can lead to an infinite loop of comment torment.

To discourage this loop from starting, hide all social sharing icons on your blog.

Also, consider including an expletive in the title of all your posts. This will eliminate a good number of readers from ever wanting to share your content.

Long titles are also effective.

In 1999, musician Fiona Apple gave the following title to her sophomore album:

When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing ‘fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter, Cuz You’ll Know That You’re Right”

It worked. No one bought the album.

12. Post More Often

On average, the less time between published posts, the fewer comments you receive. Jon Morrow says a big reason for this is readers become overwhelmed when you publish frequently, and this results in decreased reader engagement.

Jackpot!

If you’re currently publishing posts once a week, start publishing daily. If you publish daily, start posting hourly. If you already publish hourly, begin writing new posts every minute.

The resulting disengagement from your readers will be as big as the smile on your face!

13. Never, Ever Ask Questions

One time, like an idiot, I asked a question in a blog post I wrote.

I meant it to be a rhetorical question, but sure enough some readers thought I was asking for an answer. So, they left me comments.

“Helpful” comments, which are the worst kind.

If you want to kill engagement, refrain from asking your readers any type of question.

14. Ask Readers Not to Leave Comments

This one sounds like common sense, but you would be surprised.

In a post on Social Media Examiner, Charlene Kingston says asking readers at the end of your post to leave a comment is a great way to receive comments.

Obviously, Charlene was joking with the Social Media Examiner readers. But if you flip her advice around, it’s a great strategy for discouraging comments.

At the end of your posts, beg your readers not to leave you comments…

Plead with them.

Bribe them, if necessary.

15. Disable Email Notifications

Sometimes, bad things happen.

Sometimes you get a flat tire, sometimes all your hair falls out in the middle of the night, and sometimes someone leaves you a blog comment.

Don’t make the problem worse by allowing the reader to receive email notifications if, gasp, someone else leaves a comment or replies to their comment.

All this will do is encourage the reader to return to your blog. And guess what? They very well may leave you another comment!

You do not want this. You really, really do not want this.

16. Write Instructional Posts

As David Risley points out, readers often don’t know what to say after reading an instructional post.

On the other hand, opinion posts that may differ from what the reader believes or has read elsewhere are posts that encourage engagement.

Takeaway?

Never write opinion posts. Only write instructional posts.

People want your opinion, eh? Well, sucks to be them!

17. Don’t be Humble

According to Darren Rowse of ProBlogger:

People are attracted to humility and are more likely to respond to it than a post written in a tone of someone who might harshly respond to their comments.

The takeaway here is obvious: don’t be humble.

Write in a tone where your readers think you will be harsh to them if they choose to leave you a comment. For example:

Make your readers believe you know it all, and they will realize there’s nothing more to add to the discussion!

18. Never Visit the Blogs of Your Readers

As tempting as it may be to visit the blogs of the readers who comment on your blog, don’t do it. Resist the urge to comment on their blog and say: “Here! How do you like it?!?!”

Remember, there is something clearly wrong with the individuals commenting on your blog. You visiting and commenting could actually encourage them to return to your blog and do the same!

Don’t poke the bear with a stick.

Leave it alone.

19. Don’t Highlight Comments

You may think mentioning a comment you received previously will shame the owner of the comment, but the opposite happens.

People like being mentioned! They like it when you say their name and refer to the comment they left you.

Crazy, I know.

Poor Amy Harrison has been learning this lesson the hard way.

At the end of her Amy TV episodes, she often highlights some of the comments she received in her previous video. Shockingly, this has encouraged viewers to leave her more comments.

An act Amy hoped would discourage comments has instead had the opposite effect. She’s receiving more comments!

“This is awful,” I imagine Amy says, constantly, throughout the day.

Learn from Amy.

Never highlight your readers or any comment they leave you.

It will only encourage them.

20. Use Captcha

I’ve saved the best for the end.

Captcha is a lot like brussel sprouts. While the latter is designed to prevent children from getting their dessert, Captcha is designed to prevent readers from getting to leave you comments.

Want to stop comments in their tracks?

Install the most-difficult-to-decipher Captcha plugin you can find.

You will thank me later.

Okay, your turn…

…to leave.

Kidding, kidding.

Hope you enjoyed the humor, my friends. Do feel free to leave me a comment below.

Get out there and engage!

The post 20 Ways to Kill Engagement and Stop Those Pesky Blog Comments appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

For four months, I was in limbo. Paychecks stopped being deposited. Savings accounts started dwindling. Ramen noodle consumption skyrocketed.

This wasn’t part of “the plan.”

It wasn’t what I had in mind when I entered the work force 12 years ago. It wasn’t what I had in mind when I worked 40+ hours a week while going to graduate school. It wasn’t what I had in mind when I proposed to my wife, confident in the knowledge I would be able to financially support her and our future family.

And yet, there I was. Contemplating our future. Contemplating a career change. Contemplating whether or not to put on pants that particular day.

Somehow, as He often does, God blessed me during this trial. Oh, sure, I was worried about finding work and paying bills. But this worry couldn’t override the fact I was able to spend every morning, every afternoon, and every evening with my wife.

We woke up and, instead of me having to rush off to work, we had coffee together. Instead of working on [top secret projects] in my windowless office, I helped my wife wash dishes while looking out our kitchen window. Instead of eating lunch at my desk while watching cat videos on YouTube, I had lunch with my wife on the couch while we watched Netflix.

When the phone call came telling those of us who remained to come back to work, it was a bittersweet moment. Sweet because I could stop worrying about money. Bitter because what I would be giving up…

I loved being at home with my wife.

The Start of Something Good

Sometime during those 4-months of limbo, I decided I wanted to find a way to work from home. Honestly, I’m not sure why the thought hadn’t occurred to me before. I do four things well — develop websites, blog, teach, and sneeze with my eyes open — and three of those things are ideal for home-based businesses.

I had been a teacher for 3 years. I had been blogging for almost 10. I had been developing websites for over a decade, and creating custom WordPress themes for almost as long. Why wasn’t I using my experience to help other bloggers?

That’s when the idea for Be A Better Blogger was born.

Using Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger as inspiration, I wanted to create the greatest “blogging on blogging” blog since… well, ProBlogger. At the same time, I wanted to present content in a way people weren’t accustomed.

I wanted to be motivational. I wanted to be entertaining. I wanted to be funny. Much like I did when I taught classrooms full of high school freshmen, I wanted my readers to not even realize they were learning.

If I could accomplish this tricky feat more times than not, I knew I had a chance to be successful.

A year later, this idea has turned into a thriving blog. I’ve written the most popular guest post in the history of Jon Morrow’s Boost Blog Traffic. I’ve gone from 22 to 21,704 (and climbing) followers on Google+. I’ve made more blogging friends than you can shake a stick at (if you were inclined to do so for some reason).

I feel incredibly fortunate and blessed. A year ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed I could be here right now. Here is great. Here is awesome.

But here isn’t enough.

I Dreamed Big

If my goal was for Be A Better Blogger to earn enough money to buy Starbucks once a month, then guess who has two thumbs and one vanilla latte? That’s right. This guy.

“No, I don’t want a ‘tall,’ Mr. Barista. Give me the ‘grande’ size. It’s been a good month!”

However, that wasn’t my goal. I dreamed bigger. A good bit bigger.

My goal is to do this for a living.

I want to be able to quit my day job, work from home, and spend as much time with my wife and our future children as I possibly can.

That’s my goal.

And to reach it, I can’t be content with “nice traffic.” I need great traffic.

I don’t need several thousand followers on social media. I need tens of thousands.

I don’t need a few hundred email subscribers. I need ten times that many.

Aiming high? You better believe it. And to be where I want to be, I have to constantly be thinking several moves ahead.

Enter the Rainmaker Platform by Copyblogger.

What Rainmaker is

Before I can go into my reasons for switching to Rainmaker, I first need explain what the heck it even is.

Some of you may already be familiar with it, but I imagine most of my readers know very little about it. And if you Google information on the Rainmaker Platform, you’ll find descriptions like “all-in-one platform” and “turn-key website solution.”

Those descriptions are simultaneously accurate… and ridiculously vague.

Rainmaker is a powerful, hosted platform built on WordPress. For a monthly (or annual) fee, your website runs on the platform, is hosted by Copyblogger’s fast and secure servers, and has access to a growing list of features.

I’ll discuss those features (or at least the ones which compelled me to sign up) momentarily.

What Rainmaker is Not

It’s not a domain registrar. You need to already have your own domain name, such as beabetterblogger.com, or you need to go to a registrar such as GoDaddy or Namecheap to buy one.

It’s not an email provider. If you want to have an address such as yourname@yourdomain.com, this capability is not offered by Rainmaker (“due to performance and security reasons”). You will have to use a service like Google Apps Email or GoDaddy’s Email Essentials, which costs $4 to $5 per month.

It’s not for bloggers who love plugins. Because it’s a hosted platform, you can’t just pick and install any plugin you desire. (More on this one in a little bit.)

It’s not for casual bloggers. If you have zero plans to monetize your blog or website, Rainmaker is an unnecessary luxury. Could it get the job done? Of course. But it would be overkill.

Finally, it’s not irreplaceable. By this I mean you could duplicate most of, if not all of, what Rainmaker offers. You could buy a premium theme here, a hosting account there, a plugin here, a tool there… wash, rinse, and repeat. And if done properly, the end result could be just as good as a site built with Rainmaker.

It just will have cost you more. More of your money. More of your time.

Why I Switched to the Rainmaker Platform

I’m a frugal guy. I value… well, value.

That’s the difference between someone who is cheap, and someone who is frugal. A cheap person doesn’t like to spend money period. A frugal person will happily spend money if it’s a good deal.

A cheap person would never purchase something like Rainmaker. Never in a million years.

But a frugal guy like me? A guy who will gladly spend $1 today if it will save him $2 tomorrow? Such a guy would research it, strongly consider it, and pray about it.

And that’s what I did.

What I soon realized is Rainmaker could eliminate certain expenses I have today, and many expenses I planned to take on in the future.

Expenses such as…

LeadPages

Starting at $37 per month (paid quarterly), LeadPages is a lead-generation platform which helps you turn readers into subscribers. In this screenshot, you can see an example of LeadPages used by my friend Adam Connell of Blogging Wizard.

I signed up for LeadPages after being blown away by its amazing features. It allowed me to create “LeadBoxes” like the one used by Adam in the image, and it let me create some slick-looking landing pages.

And it’s worked. The number of subscribers I’ve gained since signing up for LeadPages has gone way up!

That’s good.

But it costs $37 a month.

That’s over 1/3 the cost of Rainmaker, which covers some of the same territory as LeadPages.

I won’t have as many templates for landing pages to choose from with Rainmaker as I do with LeadPages, but the number is more than adequate and the quality is excellent. My Welcome page was created using Rainmaker’s landing page template.

Is it a perfect replacement? No, but combined with AWeber and free options offered by SumoMe, I won’t be hurting for list-building tools if I decide to leave LeadPages.

Buffer / Hootsuite

Buffer and Hootsuite are social media management systems. Both offer free plans, and their paid plans cost around $10 a month.

These tools allow you to schedule updates on social media platforms in advance. So, for example, if I was about to go on vacation for a week, I could schedule it so tweets would be published throughout the week while I was away.

I could be sleeping, swimming at the beach, or fighting a bear in the mountains; all the while my Twitter account is posting tweets promoting my “The Howdy Neighbor Technique” post.

Scheduling tools like these come in very handy as you get more involved in social media. And the bigger you get, the bigger your needs. In the past, I have used Buffer’s free plan. But upgrading to their paid plan is something I’d already planned on doing sometime soon.

Well, now I won’t have to.

One of the newer features of Rainmaker is “social media posting and scheduling.” I’m able to schedule tweets hours, days, and weeks in advance. And I’m able to do it right there in my Rainmaker dashboard.

AWeber

I’m a huge fan of AWeber. It’s an opt-in email marketing service used by over 120,000 businesses, bloggers, and entrepreneurs.

When a reader subscribes using one of my forms here at Be A Better Blogger, they’re added to a mailing list maintained by AWeber. I can then email my list, and AWeber works to ensure my messages aren’t labeled as spam. I’m able to track subscribers, see who is opening my emails, see who is clicking on links in my emails, and much more.

You’ve probably heard other bloggers say “the money is in the list.” That’s true, and it should give you an idea how important it is use a reliable email service.

However, “reliable” usually isn’t free. And in AWeber’s case, it sets you back $19 a month if you have 500 subscribers or less. Have more than 500? It’ll cost you $29 a month. Have more than 2,500 subscribers? Now you’re paying $49 a month.

You can see where this is going. The more subscribers you have (yea!) the more you pay (boo!). And if God smiles down at me and grants me 10,000 or more subscribers, I’ll be paying a whopping $130 a month to AWeber.

Granted, you can chalk this up as one of those “nice problems to have.”

But what if you could eliminate the excess cost from the equation?

One feature Rainmaker will be implementing in the months to come is an “integrated email service.” Once it’s launched, and once it’s worked out any bugs it might have, I could cancel AWeber and switch my list over to it.

And I will be saving $19, $29, $49, etc. each month when I do.

To quote Annie Edison: “That’s jacket money!”

“Okay, Kevin. You’re frugal and Rainmaker will cut down on future expenses for you. But what else?”

I get it. I know frugality means little in a vacuum.

Rainmaker helps me with those expenses, but they’re voluntary expenses. I don’t have to use an email service like AWeber. I don’t have to use Hootsuite or Buffer. And I certainly don’t have to pay for lead-generation software like LeadPages.

These are expenses I’ve taken on, or will soon take on, because I believe they’re necessary. I believe I need them to help me be the best blogger I can be. I believe I need them to help take my blog from here…to there.

Having the potential to eliminate the aforementioned expenses is how a platform like Rainmaker gets the attention of a frugal guy like me.

It makes me sit up and take notice.

Then it gets the wheels in my head turning.

“Wow, imagine what I could do with that.” Or, “boy… the things I could do with this feature.”

Rainmaker is designed for people who mean business. It’s designed to help you go from where you are to where you want to be.

It’s designed for the dreamers like me.

I didn’t “need” Rainmaker in order to reach my goal of working from home full time. But as I researched and prayed about it, it became clear the platform would give me a far better chance…

My site would be hosted on state-of-the-art servers, the same used by Copyblogger and Chris Brogan

Previously, Be A Better Blogger was hosted on a shared server which cost me $3.96 per month. As a starter host, it was fine. It served my needs well. The site rarely experienced down time, and the customer support was adequate.

But was it fast? Was it secure?

No. No it wasn’t.

According to Alexa.com, 87% of sites are faster than Be A Better Blogger. This was despite the fact it was built on the Genesis Framework, which is known for its clean code, and designed by yours truly, a trained web developer who created the theme with speed in mind.

My web host was friendly to my wallet, but it wasn’t friendly to my visitors. Online, speed is the name of the game. And if Be A Better Blogger was slower than 87% of the sites online, my site was losing.

From now on, my readers will get to experience a faster website. I’ve gone from a 4 cylinder engine to an 8. And I no longer have to deal with upgrading my site someday once it gets more popular. I’m already with a web host built for large traffic.

I could easily create free or paid membership areas

Built into Rainmaker is the ability to create membership areas. So, let’s say I wanted to create content that only “members” could access.

Maybe I have a few PDF bonuses. Maybe I have an eBook. Maybe I have a never-before-seen blog post titled “What the Little Mermaid Can Teach Us About Blogging.”

With Rainmaker, I could create a library or membership area on Be A Better Blogger. When someone joins it, they would be granted access to all the content I made available for members.

By offering a free members area, I could entice more people to join my mailing list. This is a strategy used successfully by numerous businesses and blog owners, including my friend Bryan Harris of Video Fruit.

Thanks to Rainmaker, it’s a strategy I can easily implement one day, too.

I could easily sell my products

Ultimately, I’m going to write an eBook or two or ten. Ultimately, I’m probably going to create an online course. Ultimately, I’m going to create something.

The free content I create each week will never end. I enjoy blogging too, too much for it to ever go away. Still, the reality is it serves a greater purpose.

The more content I create, the more readers and subscribers I gain. The more readers and subscribers I gain, the more people who will buy or promote my digital products. The more people who buy my digital products, the more feasible “quitting my day job” becomes.

And once I’m ready to join my friends Jaime Buckley and Brittany Bullen in the book-writing game, Rainmaker will make it easy for me to sell my products thanks to its integrated shopping-cart and merchant features.

It would eliminate distractions

I’ve been a web developer for 13 years. I’m also a micro-manager. I’m also a perfectionist.

Know what that means? Well, yes, it means I have the ability to drive my wife crazy. But mainly, it means I can’t… stop… redesigning.

Be A Better Blogger is a year old, and yet I have “tweaked” its design approximately 274 times. And I’ve tested countless number of plugins.

Most of these tweaks and plugins have been very, very small.

And that’s the point. I’m tweaking and changing things which 99.9% of my readers won’t even notice. In most cases, my wife and I are the only ones who notice. And the only reason she notices sometimes is because I point them out to her.

This is a horrible, horrible use of my time.

There’s no money in it. I’m simply scratching an itch. Don’t you think my time would be far better served writing blog posts? Or working on an eBook? Or connecting with new bloggers?

Absolutely it would.

Rainmaker comes with 27 HTML5 responsive designs to choose from, most of which have multiple color options. I do have the ability to submit my own custom theme for review, but I’ve made a conscious decision not to do so.

I picked one of the 27 designs. Yes, I tweaked it. (They provide the Custom CSS option. I couldn’t help myself.) But there’s only so much I can change these existing themes.

Besides, they don’t need changing. These designs are the same premium Genesis themes sold by StudioPress. They’re beautiful. I picked the one I liked best, put my own spin on it, and now I’m leaving it alone.

True, it requires a bit of self control on my part. I can constantly tweak the CSS if I so choose. It’s going to be on me not to do so.

As for plugins, yes, I can no longer install any WordPress plugin I desire.

That’s simply a product of hosted platforms. I’m limited to what Rainmaker offers.

Many of the plugins I used and enjoyed previously are no longer an option for me. Goodbye CommentLuv. Goodbye Q2W3 Sticky Widget. Goodbye “subscribe to replies to your comment” plugin (and sorry I can’t remember your name).

Some of these I’ll definitely miss. Some were incredibly useful.

But did I need all of them? Not really.

Plugins are like potato chips. When you start out, you plan on only having one or two. Next thing you know the entire bag is gone. For WordPress users, what starts out as a handful of “essential” plugins soon turns into baker’s dozen. Times two. Plus seven.

Heck, I routinely fell into the trap even though I knew better. Plugins slow down your site. They break. They have to be updated over and over.

Honestly? It’s a relief not having to deal with them anymore. Now, I can…

Focus on What Matters

Rainmaker frees me from the often-unnecessary burdens of running a blog and allows me to do what matters.

Writing. Promoting. Networking. Creating digital products. Responding to comments readers have left me. Building my list.

I don’t have to worry about security, upgrades, maintenance, and hosting headaches. Rainmaker handles those.

I don’t have to hunt for tools to help me optimize my content for search engines and social media. Rainmaker has those tools built right in.

Soon, I won’t have to use separate tools for social media and email marketing (or have to pay extra for said tools). Rainmaker will soon be providing both right in my dashboard.

Rainmaker is going to make everything easier for me. I like easy. And, frankly, I’ve been doing it the hard way for far, far too long.

It’s finally time I let someone else carry my luggage. It’s heavy! Besides, I have a big journey ahead of me…

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

A couple years ago, Derek Halpern of Social Triggers referenced a book by Marshall Goldsmith to explain why he was about to begin producing YouTube videos.

The book was titled “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful.”

Derek had already reached an enviable level of success by this point, but he knew the things which had gotten him to his current level at the time — blog posts and podcasts — weren’t enough to get him to the next level. He didn’t want to plateau, so he added “video” to his arsenal.

Though I’m several rungs down the success ladder today than Derek was two years ago, I was approaching the same crossroads in which he found himself. I could have been passive, waited until I hit the inevitable plateau, and figured out a solution when the time came…

Or, I could be proactive. I could position Be A Better Blogger with the future — not what’s worked for me in the past — in mind. I could give my dream its best chance for success.

I chose the latter.

I chose Rainmaker to make it easier to grow my site. Whether it’s a membership area, forum, podcast, or something else entirely, I now have integrated tools to make it happen. I can now do A/B testing, to see what’s working and what isn’t. I can now track my progress without getting elbow deep into Google Analytics. I can now spend less time updating plugins and themes, and more time updating content.

I can now focus on the important things.

The Rainmaker Platform has every feature I need today, every feature I’ll need tomorrow, and probably every feature I don’t yet know I need.

It’s my very own dreamcatcher.

I’ll be home shortly, Sweetie. See you soon.

Updated on May 24, 2017. Creative Commons Images via Ken Bosma, Prabowo Restuaji, Elliott Brown, Rosmarie Wirz, Mikel Garcia Idiakez (adapted), and Michael Dales.

The post Why I Switched to the Rainmaker Platform (and Why You Should Consider Switching, Too) appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

Time is ticking.

Words won’t come. There’s no flow.

You try every trick you know to kickstart your writing, but nothing happens.

Nothing.

You feel frustrated and powerless. This is betrayal.

When your words won’t flow, you feel betrayed — abandoned by your creativity. Powerless to make your living as a writer.

But it’s not just about making a living.

You love to write. You’re motivated to write. You want to write with every fiber of your being. So when you can’t write, it hurts. Deeply.

Most remedies for writer’s block distract you ? provide temporary relief. But they only skim the surface of what’s separating you from your words.

Your creativity rises from deep inside you. So you must go there to unblock your flow.

The Secret Source of Your Creativity

Creativity doesn’t come from your working mind.

Your working mind is the one that calculates, identifies, categorizes, reasons, thinks. Psychologists call this your ?cognitive consciousness.?

While you need your working mind to organize and construct your writing, that’s part two of your writing process. First you must have ideas and inspiration.

Ideas and inspiration arise from the deeper levels of your consciousness. Your non-cognitive levels. They come from your creative mind ? the one that feels just out of reach when you have writer’s block.

Unless you connect regularly to your deeper levels, over time you lose touch with them. They are still there, and you sense that they are still there, but you are blocked from them. Then you can’t write. At all.

Why Does Your Creativity Get Blocked?

Tension.

Tension in your body blocks your ability to access your creativity.

The sneaky thing about tension is that you create and hold onto it without even being aware of it.

Much of what you do during the day ? for work, for fitness, to manage your busy life ? contributes to core tensions in your body. These tensions obstruct your creative mind.

When your body holds tension and stress, you can’t access the deeper levels of your consciousness. Your creative mind and creative flow are obstructed.

You become like the proverbial garden hose with a kink in it. As the kink tightens, the flow becomes more and more restricted ? barely a trickle. At this point, most of us do one of two things: ?turn up the water pressure or turn the water completely off.

When you can’t write and you try distractions, either you shut down completely or you up the tension in your body, hoping to get a little more flow.

When you turn the pressure on and try to force inspiration, you’re using your working mind, and your creative mind shuts down. If you turn the pressure off with a distraction, after a while you might be able to get a few thoughts through the kink, but only a few. ?And it’s only a temporary solution.

Effective solutions to writer’s block involve unkinking the hose, permanently, and restoring your natural creative flow.

Dissolving tensions systematically in your body allows you to unkink your body, then your mind, then your creative flow.

The good news is that you need only one tool to do this, and you already have it.

The Ancient Secret to Unstoppable Word Flow

Did you know that ancient writers and philosophers could not read without sounding their words aloud?

Cicero, the brilliant philosopher who flourished around 63 B.C., in a letter to one of his correspondents, apologizes for not answering sooner. In this letter he explains that he couldn’t read his friend’s letter because ?my throat was sore.? It never occurred to him that he could read silently and still be engaged with the words.

Ancient writers had scribes. Writers spoke their words aloud, and scribes wrote them down ? taking dictation. Then the writers revised and restructured the written word from the spoken word.

People then were keenly aware of the power of the sounds of their words ? the connection of their words to their breath. Even when, in the Renaissance, people began to read silently, they still coordinated their reading with their breathing.

You still do this. You just aren’t aware of it. If you’re not convinced, try reading silently to yourself while holding your breath.

How does that work for you? Do you find your ability to hold onto meaning fade when your breath stops flowing through your body?

That’s because you can’t see your words, you can’t feel them, you can’t hear them until you add your breath to them. Your breath gives life to your words, carrying them from the inside of you to the outside ? into the world to touch you and others, literally, with their sound.

Because reading and writing have become silent, you’ve simply lost this connection.

Even when you read or write silently, your breath plays an important part in connecting your ideas and inspiration to your words ? to your writing.

Your breath is the bridge between your inspiration, your ideas, your words, and your working mind which must structure them into a coherent piece of written work.

How to Unblock Your Creativity in Only 10 Minutes

The Latin root for the word inspire is ?spirare? ? which means ?to breathe.? Inspire literally means ?to breathe into.? That’s how intimate the connection between your words and your breath is.

That’s why using your breath to unblock your words is effective.

Dissolving the tensions in your body with your breath removes the kinks that block your creative ideas. Then your words flow ? you liberate them, and they flow through your body and out on your breath.

You gradually unkink the garden hose.

All you need to do this simple practice is a chair, the floor, a timer, and ten minutes. If you are in a noisy space, ear buds or ear plugs would be helpful.

Step 1: Remove All Distractions

Turn off your phone. This is really important.

Make sure alerts and messaging are turned off. It’s critical when connecting to your inspiration that you not be interrupted. Interruptions will instantly disrupt the connection to your inspiration, and you won’t be able to get back to it without starting over.

Set a timer for ten minutes so your mind isn’t busy counting. Ideally you have a timer that works when your phone and messaging is off.

Step 2: Assume the Position

The optimal position for inspiration using your breath to release tensions in your core is lying on your back on the floor with your legs resting over a chair or ottoman or even a coffee table. Whatever you do, don’t lie flat ? the crunch in your low back when you lie flat creates spinal tension that blocks your breath.

Bend your knees and rest your calves over the seat of the chair. Make sure your chair has an opening at the back so that your feet can slide through the back ? i.e., not be jammed up against anything.

Place something under your head ? a small pillow or folded towel so that your forehead is slightly higher than your chin. This uncrunches your neck.

Step 3: Observe Your Breath

Once you set your timer, soften into the seat and the floor ? softening your head, your face, your arms, your torso, your legs, your feet.

Now notice where in your body you feel your breath moving and resting.

Your breath has four parts. It flows in and pauses. It flows out and pauses. ?Become aware of these facets of your breath.

Now listen and observe. At first the pauses may be difficult to find. That’s fine. ?They are there, and you will notice them in time.

Watch where your breath goes, how it sounds as it goes, whether it pauses, and if it pauses, rest in the pause.

And then you keep breathing easily and softly.

You listen.

As you listen, that sound may change, and your breath may change. It may get louder, softer, longer, shorter, deeper, or more shallow.

Whatever your breath is doing is fine.

If you find your thoughts starting to intrude or worries entering your mind, bring your attention back to your breath.

Focus on that.

Do this for ten minutes.

Step 4: Take a Moment

At the end of your breathing practice, give yourself a minute to re-enter your space. Move gently and slowly.

If you are in the middle of a writing block with a deadline looming, take a little transitional break. Get something to drink, take a slow, easy, short stroll around your office or home. Have a little snack.

Your words will flow.

If you don’t experience dramatic positive change after your first practice, that’s okay. Tension builds in your body in layers. You likely have so much tension built up that you’ll need time to fully unkink.

Give yourself that time. Your body isn’t a machine, to be quickly calibrated. It can take time to dissolve tension and reconnect with the source of your creative flow.

When You Unkink Your Creativity Your Words Will Pour Out of You

It’s time. ?Time to come back to your screen.

Time is still ticking.

The screen is still blank.

But it feels different, doesn’t it? ?The deadlines don’t bother you.

You come back to your screen and notice that you’ve shifted from anxiety about getting words down to calm excitement.

You may have a completely different sense about what you’re writing. A unique perspective, a fresh insight, a savvy positioning of your message.

You won’t strive and strain for your words. You won’t force them.

They will just flow, like your breath.

Dissolving tension with your breath allows you to write from a place of ease.

As you continue to practice even when you are not blocked, your words will become unstoppable. Just ten minutes a day, or even every other day, and your core tensions will dissolve, and with them your block to writing.

This is ancient wisdom. It’s readily applicable wisdom. And now it’s yours.

The post Beat Writer’s Block: The Ancient Secret That Opens Your Creative Floodgates appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

Writing and maintaining a blog is hard.

But it is nothing compared to actually finding readers for your blog.

If you find yourself going through the frustration of not being able to generate enough interest in your blog post and not being able to improve its visibility in search engine rankings, you?re not alone. I?ve been there. It?s not a good place to be.

And it?s not easy to get out. But it?s not impossible either. If you want to generate backlinks for your blog and receive likes and shares on social media, I have two words for you:

Expert Roundups.

What Are Expert Roundups?

The hint is in the name.

An expert roundup is usually a blog post or a piece of content that rounds up the opinions of all the experts in that particular niche.

In essence, it brings together the best and most valuable suggestions on the topic at hand.

Think of it as a compilation music album that gathers the best of the best to pack them all into a powerful punch.

With a roundup blog post, the readers can receive insights from some of the most respected names in the industry.

You can use roundups to expand your blog?s reach as well as maximize your conversion ratio.

Why Expert Roundups Are Blowing Up Around the Web

Like many bloggers who are starting out, Tor Refsland felt the frustration of not getting any attention on his posts.

He was fed up of what he referred to as the triple zero club comprised of people who received zero shares, page views, and comments.

So he decided to try something new for his blog.

He decided to go for a roundup post.

Not just that.

He decided to go all in and create a truly epic post on the biggest productivity tips. But there was something special.

The post included contributions from some of the leading experts and influence in the field.

It was a massive success.

Within a few days, Tor received 20,231 page views, 1,500 shares, and 84 comments on his blog post.

And this is just the beginning.

His post also got the number three spot on Google search under the keyword ?productivity tip’.

There are plenty of reasons why expert roundups work so well when nothing else does.

The biggest reason is that they actually offer something substantial to the readers. They offer actionable tips that the readers can use. The expert opinions bring a certain level of credibility to what?s being said.

The experts, themselves, are a huge reason why these posts are so insanely successful. Each expert featured on the post is an influencer in their respective fields.

If the post successfully manages to get a lot of backlinks on their websites, it contributes to an increase in shares as well as the creation of content that will rank in search engines.

An Actionable Guide on Creating Expert Roundup Posts

This brings us to our main question.

How do you actually go about creating a roundup post?

Where do you start?

Where do you end?

Don?t worry.

By the end of this post, you?ll have a much better idea and a direction.

Here?s A Step-By-Step Guide To Creating Expert Roundups:

1. Find Top Blogs within Your Niche

The first thing you need for an expert roundup is the actual experts. And where do you find them?

Well, you start your search by looking for some of the best and most followed blogs in your niche.

There are two advantages of doing that. First, the top bloggers in your niche are top bloggers for a reason.

They have the knowledge and the experience that gives their voice the authority you need to give your roundup post heft and weight.

The second reason you need top bloggers is that they come with a lot of followers.

They?re not just experts in their niche — they?re also influencers. And you need those precious backlinks to improve your website?s search engine ranking.

Also, a recommendation from their social media page would send followers flocking your way.

But how do you actually find those top blogs?

One of the best ways to do that, according to Karol K, is plain old Google. He says:

?There are two ways you can use Google: (1) looking for blogs one by one, or (2) searching for list posts compiled by other people that already showcase the top blogs in a given niche. The latter is a much more effective approach.?

It?s simple.

Type in ?best?, followed by your niche, followed by ?blogs? into Google and hit enter.

Here?s an example:

2. Choose a Topic That Rocks

What?s the point in writing a blog if almost anything you can contribute has been said already?

Picking a niche and sticking to it is not enough. You need to find areas in your niche that have not been addressed.

That doesn?t mean you have to be so specific that no one, except for a few people, are interested in the topic.

You need to find that right balance in being interesting for everyone and being original and innovative. In short, you need to find a topic that rocks!

One way to go about it is to use Quora for your search.

Quora gives you a snapshot of what people are generally looking for in your niche. This gives you an idea of the demand in the market.

And not just that, but you also get to know about how people frame that demand. According to Benjamin Brandall:

?Keywords are, at their core, a human way to accurately query a massive database. We want to match our keywords to the ones people are actually searching for, which means being in tune with the way they speak.?

In addition to providing you your topic, Quora will also let you promote your post. Read more about that here.

Here?s an example of how a simple search would offer you tons of stuff to write on:

3. Choose a Keyword You Can Rank For

If you want your expert roundup to do well, you can?t shoot in the dark and hope it strikes the bull?s-eye.

When good bloggers sit down to write a blog post, they don’t do so haphazardly. They know exactly what they?re doing.

How so?

They do keyword research. When you set out to find a topic, you also need a keyword that?s popular with the audiences.

This is one of the things that blogger Emil Shour used to take his site from the bottom of the barrel to the number one spot in Google rankings.

He conducted a keyword research and found a demand for the keyword ?wellness program ideas?.

From then onwards, his task was simple. Take his website to the number one spot in that keyword search. And he did it!

4. Email Your Group Experts

Once you?re all set and ready with a specific topic in your niche, it?s time to conduct the actual research and generate content.

In this case, both of these steps involve emailing your group of experts and asking for a comment.

For instance, if you?re writing about beating writer?s block, you need to email blog writers and ask for actionable tips on how to achieve that.

Be sure to ask them about their personal experiences as they help the readers relate to the problem and the solution.

Here?s an example of how I contacted Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends when it came to writing my own expert roundup blog:

Anita was really kind.

She took out valuable time from her schedule to come up with this suggestion:

And so, the brief interaction was a small success.

5. Publish and Alert Your Contributors

Once you publish the blog, you?ve only achieved half of what you originally set out to do. Working hard to compile a variety of tips from a variety of experts won?t lead you anywhere if no one actually reads your blog post.

And, to make sure people do, you need a small favor from the aforementioned experts again.

You need them to link your post on their website and/or share your blog post through social media as well.

Experts don?t just bring valuable opinions to the table. They bring actual followers as well.

After my post went live, I alerted Anita about it and actually got a link on her website Small Business Trends:

6. Promote Your Expert Roundup through Inbound.org

Okay, so you?ve finally finished writing the expert roundup blog post. Your labor of love has finally come to an end.

Now if there could just be a place where you can find an eager audience, how wonderful would that have been?

Well, good news! There is such a place.

And it?s called inbound.org.

Inbound allows you to reach experts, influencers, and interested audiences at the same time.

Seriously, what?s not to love?

Here?s an example of a post that I made on my website as well as on Inbound.

Within just a few days, it got thousands of page views and a bunch of comments from Inbound alone:

The Final Word

So you see?

Expert roundups are a smart way to acquire an audience by tapping into other people?s resources.

If you work hard and do your research, amazing things will happen.

I mean, who knows?

Maybe you could even end up earning six figures from your blog.

Now that you?ve seen how to use expert roundups to generate links and social shares on autopilot, I?d like to hear from you.

What do you think of the expert roundups?

Or maybe you have a question about creating expert roundup posts.

Either way, leave a quick comment below.

I?ll be around to reply to comments and answer questions.

The post How to Use Expert Roundups to Generate Links and Social Shares on Autopilot appeared first on Be A Better Blogger.

Boom! You just published your latest masterpiece. It took you a couple hours to do so and you?re quite proud of it.

So are two million other bloggers. According to MarketingProfs, that?s the number of blog posts published every single day.

Will your post stand the test of time or be forgotten in a matter of days?

Back in 2005, when blogging was brand new, you could just publish crappy articles on a consistent basis and get a lot of traffic.

Today, if you want to get noticed, you need to create remarkable content. Quality beats quantity on every level.

It?s better to create ONE remarkable piece in a month than to publish numerous boring articles every week. It is true in the short term and in the long term.

In this article, I will show you the kind of results you can get by publishing top-notch content. Then, I?ll share with you 7 strategies that will allow you to get similar results. You will learn:

• How to create content that keeps driving traffic and subscribers MONTHS after publication.
• How to create content that helps you build authority and be recognized as THE expert in your field.
• How to get more guest blogging invitations, more clients and more sales thanks to your blog posts.

Sound good? I even created a handy table of content to help you navigate:

1. What is Remarkable Content?
2. Who Are You Writing For and What Problem Are You Solving For Them?
3. Tell Stories, Give Examples, and Show Instead of Telling.
4. Should You Write Long or Short Articles?
5. Make Your Article Readable, Structured, and Easily Skimmable
6. Write a Compelling CTA
7. Go the Extra Mile
8. Your Next Step

And at the end of the article, you can download a cheat sheet for creating remarkable content that summarizes everything you will learn today.

Ready? Let?s dive in.

1. What is Remarkable Content?

When Tim Soulo looked at his data on guest blogging, he realized he was averaging only 50 visitors per guest post. Naturally, he concluded guest blogging was not a good strategy for getting traffic.

A similar survey by Mirasee revealed that 46% of their audience was getting less than 25 subscribers per guest post.

But is this always true? Look at a few?examples of remarkable content and the results obtained by their authors.

Alp Turan’s How Complete Newbies Can Land Killer Guest Posts: The Ultimate Guide

It?s hard for me to talk about remarkable content without mentioning Alp?s post.

His post is a point of reference in the world of guest blogging. He didn?t just give a few tips here and there to land guest post opportunities. No, he gave you everything you need to know about guest blogging ? everything from building a relationships with bloggers to crafting the best pitch ever.

It is 20,000-word long and is an extreme example of remarkable content. The good thing is that it got him extreme results as well:

• 300+ subscribers (and counting).
• A close relationship with the host site’s owner, Sean Ogle (Alp can reach out to him at any time if he needs help)
• 2 other guest blogging invitations
• 1 joint venture offer
• New 4-figure client

You could never get those results with most of the content you find on the internet. Indeed, it took him dozens of hours to get it done, but the results made it worth it.

Danny Margulies’ How to Become a Copywriter Quickly Using My “Crystal Ball Technique”

This post is SO good that it still gets comments every month?even though it was published over a year ago.

Look at the numbers:

• 200+ comments
• 700+ social media shares
• Probably hundreds of new subscribers

But that is only half of the story.

For more than a year, Danny had only two posts on his blog. Was it because he was too lazy to publish new blog posts?

No, it was because he had published remarkable content and there was no need to publish anything else. The two articles he had on his website were enough to get traffic, subscribers, and establish his authority as an expert in his field.

He shared his story in How I built a 6-figure online business in 12 months. With only two articles on his website, he was able to make 6 figures over a year.

So-called experts often recommend publishing every week?(or even every day) as the key to building your blog. It isn?t true. These experts don?t know the power of remarkable content.

Charles Bordet’s How to Write 1,000 Words Every Day and Massively Create Remarkable Content

This post has been the turning point of my business.

Before publishing it, I was still a struggling blogger with no revenue and a lot of doubts on whether I would be successful one day or not.

Two months after publishing it, with 300 new subscribers, I was selling my first product and made my first 15 sales. I was now in business.

It didn?t stop here, though. Even today, I still reap the benefits of this post without doing anything. Without any promotion, I got 17 new opt-ins in the last 90 days:

Now, it?s true that 17 subscribers are not a lot, considering I got hundreds after the publication of the article.

Yet, when I compare this with the standard content I published in the past that got me less than 10 subscribers (and I?m sure this happened to you as well), I?m pretty happy with this free bonus.

Now that you have an idea of what remarkable content is and the kind of results you can get out of it, let?s talk about how to create it.

The first step is to know your audience like the back of your hand.

2. Who Are You Writing For and What Problem Are You Solving For Them?

I keep seeing time and time again articles about fitness, productivity, social skills, etc. that try to appeal to everyone. And, by doing so, they appeal to no one.

Why You Must Pick a Specific Audience

Let?s start with an example in the productivity industry. I know this industry well, because that?s where I started my website. And like so many others, I made the mistake of trying to appeal to everyone.

For example, you may?try to help people be more productive in their everyday lives by being more efficient ? thereby completing their tasks faster ? so they can enjoy more free time.

It might sound good in theory, but who is your target reader? “Everyone?”

The examples, stories, and solutions that you will give should be completely different depending on who you are trying to help.

Think of how the challenges are different for a 9-to-5 employee, a stay-at-home mom who wants to get freelancing clients, a solo entrepreneur, a student, and so on.

By picking a specific audience and knowing them well, you will be able to have a lot more impact than you would targeting everyone.

For example, when I switched from helping people be?more productive to helping bloggers create more content on a regular basis, my business completely changed. People started to listen to what I was saying and they also started to buy what I was selling.

Instead of helping “everyone”, I was helping a specific audience (?bloggers who struggle to create content consistently?) achieve a specific result (?write 1,000 words a day, consistently, to create a ton of content”) with productivity tools and strategies.

The examples and stories I used directly targeted the specific desires of my audience.

So what is the difference between a detailed, specific audience and a broad audience?

To make sure your writing will be compelling, you need these three things:

• A detailed description of the audience you?re trying to help

• A list of burning pains this audience has

• A list of burning desires this audience has

For example, let?s say you are in the fitness industry. Helping a young woman in her twenties and?helping a busy executive in his fifties are?completely different ? even though the basics of nutrition or exercising you will teach them are similar.

In short, your?language and your marketing strategy will be completely different.

To the young woman, you will tell her about looking sexy, about having a flat stomach, etc. To the busy executive, you will focus your message on?exercising with limited time, about losing the pounds he accumulated through the years, and so on.

Instead of just simply writing about fitness, how to eat better, or exercise more; you will start writing about how your specific audience can achieve a burning desire and solve a burning pain. It?s not about you and your knowledge in fitness ? it?s about them, achieving their desires, and solving their problems.

If you can write about what people want, they won?t stop reading.

Now let?s talk about the specifics: How to define your audience and how to find out about their pains and desires.

How to Define Your Audience

The best way to define your audience is to create an Ideal Client Profile (ICP). This is the story and description of your ideal client. He may only exist in your mind, but he?will give you a specific picture of the type of person you?re writing for.

For example (staying in the fitness industry), let?s say I?m targeting busy executives who are in their fifties and want to lose weight. I will try to create a picture of my ideal client:

He is John, he?s 54, works in a big company, and has had a lot of success in his career. Now he?s a top executive and has a lot of responsibilities. Of course, as a result, he works a lot and has limited time with his family and to take care of himself.

He always eats lunch in front of?his computer and often eats junk food when he?s traveling. When he was younger, he played a lot of soccer, which made him fit, but since his thirties he?s been exercising less and less. And while he?s been trying to jog from time to time, he can?t stick to it.

See how accurate I try to be? And this is just the beginning of the story.

The more specific you are, the better. Don?t worry about being too specific, it?s almost impossible.

There are different factors to define your ideal client that will depend on your industry. For example:

• Demographics: Age, gender, location, marital status, children or not, social status, etc.
• Their activity: Are they working? In a full-time job? Entrepreneurs? Are they staying at home?
• A typical day: What does a typical day look like for them? How are they spending their time? What do they do on a Saturday afternoon?

These are only suggestions.

You shouldn?t try to guess anything. While I made up the story above, you should directly talk with your audience to know them better.

That?s why it?s so important to communicate with your subscribers and people potentially in your audience on Facebook groups, Reddit, in your friends? circles, etc.

The next step is to ask them for their pains and desires.

How to Know Their Pains and Desires

You need to know exactly what they want to achieve (what I call desires) and what prevents them from achieving it (what I call pains).

If you can solve a deep burning problem they think about every day, they will read your article no matter what.

Think about someone who has back pain. Every morning when they get up, their back hurts. They are obsessed with it, so every day they look for solutions on the internet until one day they stumble upon your blog ? specifically, your comprehensive guide on how to reduce back pain.

At that point, you can make grammar mistakes and write like a 6th grader, but it won?t matter because you will be solving their deep burning pain.

That?s why creating remarkable content is not about being able to craft beautiful sentences or being a master at grammar. You need to be good enough at this, of course (you don’t want to annoy your readers), but really it shouldn?t be a priority. No, your priority should be helping your readers with their pains and desires.

The best way to know the pains and desires of your audience is to ask your subscribers in the first email they receive from you. Ask this question:

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to?X?

Replace ?X? with your industry (for example: losing weight, getting more subscribers, writing, etc.)

Then keep the conversation going. Try to go deep in what they want, why they want it, how it impacts their lives, and what it would mean to them if you could solve their problems. You want to picture their lives as accurately as possible.

If you can, jump on a call with them, as you will be able to go much deeper than by emails. Make it about helping them, and as you help them, keep asking questions to know them better.

Once you know who they are, what they want, and what they?re struggling with, you can write a specific blog post that will solve a specific problem they have.

What Problem Are You Solving For Them?

Every article you write should solve a specific problem and let the reader go away with a clear solution.

Before showing you what to do, let?s talk about what everyone else is doing.

Most articles won?t give you any solution for your problems. Here are three types of common articles on the internet:

Inspirational Articles

They tell a story and then leave you with nothing to actually change your life. But, you do get a short burst of inspiration.

Feel-Good Articles

They make you feel good. They have headlines like??18 Reasons why X is important.?Since half the population is doing X,?these articles work as a form of affirmation.

(The other half of the population feels guilty because they aren’t doing X. Think they should do something about it, but don?t know what to do.)

Superficial Articles

Finally, a lot of articles are actually trying to solve many problems at the same time, but on a superficial level. They are often list articles, and a typical headline would be ?10 Habits That Will do X?.

Then, you get a short article with just a few lines per habit and it leaves you overwhelmed because you don?t know where to start. Additionally, it doesn?t guide you in how to achieve each point ? it?s far too superficial.

Some of these articles can be useful sometimes, don?t get me wrong. Not everybody wants to read a big, long, comprehensive guide like this one. But they are NOT remarkable and will soon be forgotten.

On the other hand, when you write something useful for your readers, focusing on one specific problem, giving them one specific solution and a clear action plan, they will come back to the article time and time again until it?s solved.

For example, in this article, I’m helping you create remarkable content because you want to write compelling articles that people will keep reading until the end.

My hope is that every time you want to write a new blog post, you come back to refer to this article to make sure you?ve done everything right.

The best way to solve a specific problem is to write a How-To post.

Basically, the title will be something like ?How to Solve This Problem? or ?How to Achieve This Desire?. The How-To part can sometimes be changed for a number if the solution is broken down into several steps.

For this article, I could have called it ?How to Write Remarkable Content Easily?, but I chose to start with a number because list articles tend to perform better and because the post fit well with this title since I give you several steps on the way to create remarkable content.

Neil Patel is the king of creating remarkable content, and in each of his articles, he will either solve a specific problem or help you achieve a specific desire.

Look at some of his recent?articles:

There are many ?How To? articles, and the others could easily?be replaced by a How-To headline.

(The only exception is the article called ?I Need Your Help??, which is a short-term oriented post to promote his book. In this case, he has no need to create something remarkable that people will keep reading months later.)

Now, how to find what problems your audience has?

Again: Communicate directly with your readers:

• Add an email in your welcome series to ask what they?re struggling with
• Send an email to your email list to ask what they want you to write for them
• Find Facebook Groups, subreddit, Quora topics, etc., to know what people are struggling with

Don?t try to guess. People will tell you directly what they need if you ask them, and that?s the only way you can create content that is specifically tailored to their needs.

3. Tell Stories, Give Examples, and Show Instead of Telling

Writing an article is not about providing information. It?s about making a transformation.

Michael Ellsberg put it beautifully in his talk:?Your Competitive Advantage is Not Information, It?s Transformation.

https://vimeo.com/78857488

In this talk, he explains how?being an information provider (what a lot of bloggers think they are) is a losing strategy. Nowadays, information is cheap and abundant. You can find everything you need thanks to Google.

However, you?re not just here to provide the right information to your readers ? you?re here to help them change their lives and solve their problems. Your goal is not just to give them the information that will solve their problems, but to make it actually happen.

That?s what Michael Ellsberg call “Transformation.” You provide a transformation to your readers, and that?s where your competitive advantage is.

That is also the reason why you can build a successful fitness blog despite the existence of so many similar blogs in the blogosphere. You may provide the same information, but the way you provide it will make different people take action.

For example, I am a non-English native speaker and I help bloggers to write good content on a regular basis. Other non-English native speakers can more easily relate to my situation and be inspired by the journey I made from not being able to speak English to where I am today.

On the other hand, a?native-English?guy from the United States who does the same thing will attract a different kind of audience that will (most likely) relate to him more than?me.

We are changing the lives of our readers with our stories ? not just by feeding them with information.

So how do you do that exactly? How do you provide a transformation and not just information?

To create a transformation and not just be an information-provider, you need to tell stories, give examples, and add pictures and explanations.

My first blog posts were terrible and huge failures. I thought people only had to have the right information and that I could give it to them.

So I made my first posts about giving as much information as possible. I was giving strategies, tools, techniques, everything I knew that would solve their problems.

But it didn?t work. Those articles were failures.

Then, I changed my approach to writing and wrote How to Find 10 Hours per Week to Work on Your Side Business. This was my first really successful article and it is completely different than what I used to write before.

It is filled with personal stories, with me talking about myself, about my life, my experiences, putting pictures of my life, and eventually talking about one of the most common topic in the world of productivity: the morning routine.

But because 90% of the article was stories/examples/pictures, people loved it. I thought it was just ?me, me, me? and that it would be boring to people, but it was exactly the opposite. People could relate to my situation, imagine themselves in my shoes, and then they felt compelled to take action at the end of the article.

There are four ways you can create a transformation: Stories, examples, pictures, and explanations.

Stories

A story is what I just did in the previous paragraphs. I told you about my experience with my first articles, how they were failures, and what I changed to write my first successful post.

A basic story is:

• I was failing at X
• Then I did A, B, and C
• Finally, I am successful at X

This is the most basic story, but it will work. For a more comprehensive analysis of what makes a story irresistible, I recommend this guide from Alaura Weaver: “Storyhacking: Cracking the code behind the irresistible selling power of stories.”

Examples

I first read about how to use examples from Bryan Harris in his post ?Expanded Guest Post: How to 100x the effectiveness of your next guest post?.

He says that to write a good article, you simply need to use the phrase ?For example?.

Every time you make a point, affirm something, or talk about something; start things off with these two little words:?”For example.”?This will allow you to go deeper, give more details, and illustrate your writing with something concrete with which your readers can associate.

Here is an exercise for you: Type ?Ctrl + F? on your keyboard and search for the phrase ?For example? in this article. You will find it?numerous?times, simply because I?m constantly trying to give more examples to illustrate what I write.

Pictures

Pictures are powerful examples. You?ve heard the saying: ?A picture is worth a 1,000 words?.

I already told you to try to put examples every time you talk about something. Well, also ask yourself if you can add a picture of it. Sometimes it simply won?t be relevant. Other times, it will make your article a lot more valuable.

When you explain how to use a tool, nothing beats a screenshot with some annotations. You can easily add annotations on a picture with Skitch.

I like to use Gyazo. It’s a?tool to take screenshots, upload them at light speed, and then annotate them.

Explanations

Sometimes you?re just not inspired to find a good story. You don?t have any good example in mind and pictures are not relevant to what you want to say.

In this case, you need to explain your point in plain English. This is the least preferable option since it doesn?t really help your reader to visualize what you mean, and it?s easy to ramble?when explaining.

But you?ll notice that sometimes you don?t have a choice, in particular when you get into technical explanations of processes or tactics.

So, there you have it: Four ways to expand on the points you make in your articles. They?re not necessarily exclusive; you can give explanations, and illustrate them with a picture, then add an example, to finally end with a quick story.

You can mix them as much as you want. And I actually recommend that in the first place you write as much as possible, put as many examples/stories/etc. as possible. And later, when you?ll edit your article, you will get rid of the unnecessary components.

Thinking with the ?information/explanation? framework will not only make the writing much easier for you, but also make the life of your reader much easier.

If you?re a blogger, you know that writing is hard. It?s hard for everyone, even for experienced writers. However, using the framework I just showed will make the process?easier. Look at what my outline looked like for this section:

It reads like this: First I make a point. This is just one or two sentences about what I want to say.

Then I put bullet points and fill them with all the stories, examples, pictures, and explanations I can think of.

It takes a little bit of time to write this outline, but it makes you gain a TON of time down the line. Think about how easy it was for me to write my first draft. All I needed to do was copy/paste the sentences in bold, and then expand on the examples.

It also gives you an overall structure of your section. By having such a high-level vision, it helps you decide whether the links between your points make sense or not.

Usually, you start with the main point of the section, and then you try to anticipate the questions your readers might have. Simply ask questions such as ?Why??, ?How?? and ?What if ??? and you?ll get a comprehensive article.

Using this framework, your section will be easily written, well structured, and enriched with a ton of examples. Your readers will love it.

4. Should You Write Long or Short Articles?

Really, length doesn?t matter that much. You should write as many words as it takes to write a compelling article, but no more.

Most content on the internet is too short. People just spend a couple hours on it and don?t really take the time to dig into it. Their goal is quantity-oriented (i.e. posting as many posts as possible) instead of quality-oriented.

For example, you might have heard time and time again that you need to publish on your blog every week. Some people even recommend publishing every day.

But? really? Do you see Kevin J. Duncan publishing every week? Even including guest posts, we don?t see many articles on Be A Better Blogger. But?it doesn?t matter!?Why? Because every time there is a new article, it?s a high-quality one.

Too short doesn?t stand the test of time. It will give you a short burst of traffic, but fade away a few days later. And that leads to you?needing to create more articles. That?s why those people are focusing on quantity and try to publish as much as possible.

On the other hand, remarkable content gives you a lot of traffic right away, it slowly fades away but still sticks for months, and builds up as other articles are added.

A study done by OkDork and BuzzSumo showed that the longer the content, the more shares it gets.

What?s even more interesting is that there were 16 times more content with less than 1000 words than there were content with 2000 or more words. This proves that?most bloggers focus on quantity. So if you want to stand out and do something differently, focus on quality.

Now, too long is not good either. First, it?s long, by definition, so it takes a lot of time to read, and time is the most limited resource of your readers. So if you ask them of their time to read your stuff, you better have something really good.

You should have just the ideal length that gives you enough words to explain everything you want without rambling and repeating yourself too much.

How to find the ideal length? I use a two-step process in the writing of my articles: First, write as much as possible, then cut as much as possible.

I use the ?Information/Explanation? framework that I explained in the previous section, so I write information, and then I explain it with stories, examples, and so on.

The first step of the writing is to put as many stories and examples as possible. I put everything I can think of, write the stories completely, and I don?t hold myself back.

Of course, if you publish this draft, it will be filled with lots of rambling, repetitions, and boring stories.

The second step is to cut the writing as much as possible. For each paragraph, I ask myself questions such as:

• Is this story/example/etc. essential to explain my point?
• How could I explain it more simply?
• Can I replace this explanation by a picture? How can I show instead of tell?

The goal is to keep the same information and to make it crystal clear with just the right amount of examples explained in just the right amount of words.

Yes, this is a lot of work. You need to go through your article a second time, and it?s not just editing for grammar mistakes. It?s not something you can outsource easily. But remember, we?re creating remarkable content here.

5. Make Your Article Readable, Structured, and Easily Skimmable

As stated before, remarkable content tends to be long, and long content takes a lot of time to read. So you better make it easy for your readers.

What do you do when you stumble upon a long article? Before even starting to read it, you scroll down to see what it looks like.

What do you see then? The subheadlines, the overall structure of the article, and the pictures. This all happens in a matter of seconds and this is your first contact with the article.

It means that if the subheadlines aren?t good, or if the overall structure of the article is confusing, people may just close the window and move on to something else.

In the introduction of this guide, I showed you an example of remarkable content by Alp Turan: How Complete Newbies Can Land Killer Guest Posts: The Ultimate Guide.

Now, despite being a good article, it?s also a good example of what a confusing structure is. If you start scrolling down, you?ll quickly identify 3 main parts for the article.

However, the article being 20,000-word long, you need a bit more structure than those 3 big parts, and that?s where it gets confusing. The issue is that different levels of headlines look exactly the same:

So, when you scroll down, you don?t really know where you are in the article, and you have to take a step back to identify the overall structure of the post.

How can you?avoid this?

First, you could simply put a table of contents. When you read a book, this gives you an idea of what the book will contain. If there is no table of contents and you need to skim through the book to find all the chapter titles and so on, it gets confusing and will take a lot of time.

For example, in the article The Ultimate Guide to Creating High-Quality Content Every Time, there is a nice table of contents right at the beginning that tells you directly and clearly what you will find in the article. It also gives you links to easily navigate in the article:

Your readers need to have a clear idea of what your article is about and what it contains in a matter of seconds.

Here is what you can do to have a clear structure to help your readers:

• Add a table of contents if your article is long.
• Limit yourself to two levels of headlines maximum. More gets easily confusing. Different levels of headlines need to have different formatting (H2, H3, H4, bold, etc.).
• Number your headlines.
• Write short paragraphs.?More than 5 lines for a paragraph looks like a wall of text, and nobody likes to read a wall of text.
• Cut down complex sentences into simple ones. This is a bit of an extra, but this will help you article looks a little bit better. Copy/Paste your article in the Hemingway App. It will identify the very hard to read sentences, then it?s up to you to find simpler alternatives.

If you’ve made it this far, you have done an incredible job at creating a remarkable article. Now you don?t just write articles for the sake of writing articles. You have a goal behind it: being getting exposure, getting subscribers, getting sales, etc.

This goal will be achieved thanks to the Call-to-Action (CTA) at the end of the article. This is the one thing you don?t want to screw up.

6. Write a Compelling CTA

A good CTA won?t make your article more remarkable, but a bad CTA will make it a complete failure and screw up all your efforts.

Before telling you how to write a good CTA, I want to show you a CTA that has performed extremely well:

This CTA is an entire subsection right at the end of the article. It performed well for so many reasons that we will discuss in a moment. But this CTA wasn?t?given only once. It was also spread throughout the article.

Right at the beginning:

And also in the middle of the article:

Now let?s talk about why it performed so well. Here are the 7 elements for a successful CTA:

A)?Make it natural

In the above?examples, my CTA is a part of the article.?Too often you will see a separated CTA in a box called ?Biography? or ?About the author? that people can ignore so easily.

B)?Make the CTA directly related to the article

When I was starting out, I had one lead magnet as an incentive to get subscribers, and I was using the same lead magnet for every one of my articles.

As a result, it wasn?t always a good fit and thus didn?t perform well. In this case, though, I built what?s called a Content Upgrade (something I learned from Bryan Harris) that was specifically made for the article. It was a great fit and a logical next step for every reader that liked my article.

C)?Make the CTA about THEM, not about you

So often you see CTAs in the ?About the author? box, and because it?s called like that, people just talk about themselves. Let me be honest with you: Nobody cares about you and what you do. People care about themselves and what you can do for them.

That?s why I don?t explain what I?m doing with my life, but I explain what clicking on this CTA can do for THEM.

D)?Make clear what the reader needs to do

That may sound stupid, but just putting a link is not enough for your CTA. You need to make it clear that your reader needs to click on the link. That?s why I always include “by clicking here” in the CTA so that there is absolutely no doubt about what the reader needs to do.

That might seem like overkill, but the internet is full of distractions. You?need to make the decision brainless to ensure the best conversion rate.

E)?The CTA explains clearly what it is about

Notice that I don?t use marketing language in my CTA. I use the same words as if I were talking to you, and I explain what it will do for you. So many times you will see things like ?Get the Professional Kickstart 5-Step BluePrint for Boosting Lead Engagement.” What does that even mean? Honestly, I’m asking.

You?re not in the corporate world when you write on your blog, so please use normal words that everyone can understand.

F)?The CTA appears multiple times

Of course, more CTAs are?better. If people miss the first one, they might see the second one, and vice versa.

But another benefit is that it allows the readers to prepare in advance for what they?ll get. In this example, I mention my writing framework right at the beginning. The readers don?t know what it is yet, but it builds expectations. And once they read about it, they already know that they can download a cheat sheet about it.

G)?The CTA is clear and visible

We just said that more CTAs are?better, but this is true only as long as you’re using the same CTA. If you have CTAs about:

• Click here to subscribe
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• By the way, check this ?previous? or ?next? article
• And don?t forget to share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and so on
• Oh, and we have a community that you can join here
• Just before you leave, can you fill up this quick survey about your experience on the site?

In this case, more CTAs are?not better. They’re actually worse because, faced with too many choices, your reader will end up not taking action at all. That?s why you?d rather have one CTA and put all your focus on it than have multiple CTAs that will perform worse overall.

This is very important, as sometimes you write a guest post and your CTA will be?surrounded by many other CTAs from the blog’s owner. Usually, yours is just a couple invisible lines, and his are huge pictures with flashy colors. This simple detail can be the difference between getting hundreds of subscribers or just a few.

7. Go the Extra Mile

Writing the perfect article requires a ton of effort. As you learned in this article, there are many factors that influence the quality of your article, and you might think that you need to get all of them right.

It isn?t true.

Most people out there aren?t ready to put the necessary hard work to create remarkable content. As a result, most blog posts are just common short pieces that all look the same and bore their readers.

That?s good news for you. It means being remarkable isn?t that hard. If you apply only the first two strategies of this article, you?re already way ahead.

Sometimes, you want to write something epic. We?re not talking about remarkable content anymore, we want something that is truly excellent.

I actually don?t recommend you spending too much time on each of your articles to make them all perfect. At a certain point, the benefit becomes too small for the amount of time exerted.

But that being said, here are extra items to consider if you want to take your article to the next level:

A) Fix grammar mistakes and awkward phrases

When people think about writing well, they think about style and grammar. But that?s actually the least important stuff.

All you need is to make simple sentences and to not have too many grammar mistakes in your articles. It?s totally fine if you have a few typos here and there. People won?t be mad at you for this. I promise.

Recently, I asked a friend for advice on how to go to Thailand and live there for a few months because he just did it recently. We jumped on a call, during which he told me it wasn?t necessary to take notes because he would send a follow-up email with all the information I needed.

He sent his email. It was long and detailed, and I was incredibly grateful for the considerable time he had spent?to help me and give so many insights. At the end of the email, he wrote:

P.S. Excuse the typeos, bad grammar, etc, I just went for a complete brain dump with no edits lol

I was like? WHAT? This guy just gave me a TON of value, and he apologizes for making mistakes? I don?t care about mistakes ??this was extremely helpful!

And this should also be true for each of your blog posts. When you write epic articles that help them, most people won?t care about grammar!

For any normal article, do this:

• Print the article
• Read it aloud
• Fix any mistakes and any awkward phrases you spot on the paper
• Edit it
• Stop here

That is good enough.

If you want to go the extra mile, I recommend hiring an editor who will do it for you. You can find one on Fiverr for a cheap cost. I did it when I was starting out and was making a lot of grammar mistakes because I?m not a non-native English speaker. That?s how I learned.

B) Put links to more comprehensive resources

You can?t put?everything into your articles. You need to have a specific focus and then redirect your readers (via hyperlinks) to more comprehensive resources when you talk about something else.

Links allow you to promote other content you have written. Through the links, anyone reading your article will have the chance to discover other articles from?you.

Links?also allow you to promote the content of other people. Of course, you don?t really benefit from it, but everyone will appreciate it and it can help to build relationships.

Keep links natural and try not to overwhelm the reader. Sometimes, I stumble upon articles with links in?almost every sentence. As a result, I just ignore all of them. It?s too overwhelming.

You shouldn?t force yourself to put links. Only add them when you feel it is necessary and really add value to your reader.

Always keep the reader’s interests in mind. You?re writing articles for them, not for you. Even if you want to put more links for SEO purposes, make sure they?re relevant.

C) Use expert quotes

Something that helps a lot with establishing your authority and bringing more credibility to what you say is to strengthen your writing with expert quotes.

Simply show that famous people share the same opinion as?you. We mentioned earlier to add examples, stories, etc. Adding experts? quotes is another possibility to illustrate your points.

You could either use something they already wrote as a quote or directly ask them for an original quote. That?s what people do when they create those “expert roundup” posts.

They gather a lot of quotes from experts in one article around a specific topic. The next step then is to let those experts know, contact them, and hope that they will share your article because they?re featured in it.

And speaking of?sharing your article, here is another important point to go the extra mile…

D) Make sharing easy

If people need to copy/paste your URL and think of a message to tweet your article, they won?t do it.

However, they will if they can directly tweet your article with?one click.

That?s why you should use something like a “Share” bar. There are many social sharing?plugins out there, but my preferred one is the one from SumoMe.

In two clicks, you can easily share the article on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and any other social media channel.

E) Write a compelling introduction

Look, the headline of your article is super important ? it will determine how many people click on it.

But even if they click, they?re still not convinced that the article is worth reading. That?s the job of your introduction, so you better spend enough time on it to make it really good.

Here are some great ways to write a compelling introduction:

• Write a question that triggers your reader?s curiosity. For example: ?Wouldn?t it be great if you could [enter burning desire]??
• Paint a picture with a quick story. The story has to illustrate the pains the article is solving and end with a win. For example, the basic story ?I was failing, I did something, then I was successful? works.
• Keep it short and simple. You need to convince your reader that your article is worth their time, so don?t spend too much time convincing.
• Explain?what they will get with the article. Go back to the introduction of this article and notice the three bullet points. It tells you exactly what you will get out of this.

8. Your Next Step

I won?t lie to you. Creating remarkable content is hard. It takes a lot of time, dedication, and effort. You will not be able to create something outstanding in just a couple hours.

My best articles took me more than 10 hours to write. We?re even getting closer to 20 hours for the longest one.

But it?s completely worth it?for the right article. You get hundreds of new subscribers, you build authority, you get noticed by the big guys? there are so many benefits that completely crush the strategy of ?I?m just gonna publish crappy articles every day and Google will notice.?

And to help you with this daunting task, I have created a 1-page Remarkable Content Checklist. You can download it by clicking here so that you can refer to it for each of your future articles and make sure they stand out.

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