Build a better blog

BUILD A BETTER
17 tips from the pro’s

YOU HAVE A BLOG
Congratulations! You have a blog.
The set-up is over.
Now it’s time to get to work.

A BLOG WITHOUT TRAFFIC
It used to be (in the Palaeolithic Age) you could write a
blog and get traffic.
Good luck with that.
Competition for eye balls is huge and you need to
start thinking like a marketer.
The smarter you get with content, positioning,
promotion, and follow up, the more traffic you get.
And (good news) the more readers you get the more
people share, post, tweet, and get you…
MORE TRAFFIC.

HERE WE GO…
HOW TO BUILD A BETTER BLOG
17 tips from the pro’s

#1 - IT’S A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY
Blogging is not quick and easy, like advertising.
The good news is, blogging can create longer and
more trusting relationships.
AND you have to be willing to take the long road.

“If you want to make a quick
buck, blogging is not for you.
The main purpose of a blog is
building an audience who trusts
you, likes you and wants to buy
from you.”
Peep Laja, www.conversionxl.com

#2 - BUILD YOUR AVATAR
Start with a buyer profile (avatar) of your ideal customer (background,
demographics, buying preferences, interests, etc.)
Now, write your blog as if you are talking to that person.
not that
kind of
avatar!

“Content curation is not about
collecting links or being an
information packrat, it is more
about putting them into a
context with organization,
annotation and presentation.”
Beth Kanter, www.bethkanter.org

#3 - DON’T GUESS - ASK THEM
Nothing beats asking.
Phone them, run a survey, ask questions on social media, and in your
posts.
Start with history (purchases, experiences, results), then move to
needs, desires, fears, and preferences.

“We’re surrounded by data but
often starved for insights.
Customer interaction is the raw
material of marketing greatness.”
Jay Baer, www.convinceandconvert.com

#4-THINK LIKE A PUBLISHER
Break your main topic into sub-topics and plan your posts to match
your marketing campaigns, holidays, seasons, and client buying
cycles.
Simple math: the more relevant the post the more it gets shared.

“With an editorial calendar you can
give your subconscious a chance to
chew on your topics in advance.”
Stan Smith, www.pushingsocial.com

#5 - DO THE GRUNT WORK
Use your top ranking posts (see Google Analytics) when choosing new
topics and selectively use popular, low competition, keywords (see
Google Keyword Planner) in your headline and content.
A little grunt work NOW will get you more readers LATER.

“The keyword game isn’t just about
traffic. It is also about quality. You have
to look at conversion rates to make an
educated decision.”
Neil Patel, www.quicksprout.com

#6 - DON’T MAKE IT ALL ABOUT YOU
Share content from other experts and you’ll add variety and attract
new readers. Reference their content or ask for a guest blog post.
Share the love and you’ll get lots more back.
“Guest-posting is the single
most important strategy for
growing your blog readership
and platform.”
Jeff Goins, www.goinswriter.com

“There are two kinds of content
that can bring people to your
business. Primary fuel is the
content you produce regularly
(e.g., your average blog posts).
Nuclear fuel is the kind of stuff
that’s really complicated but is stuff that people go
crazy over (e.g., reports that they normally would have
to pay for but are free).”
Michael Stelzner, www.socialmediaexaminer.com

#7 - SURVIVE YOUR FIRST DRAFT
Here’s the formula all experts agree on:
the better the value, the more your blog gets shared.
To create real value you have to put in the time, survive a bad first
draft, and keep improving your work (even after it’s posted).
BONUS TIP:
“All of my posts that are more than
1,500 words receive 68% more
tweets and 22% more Facebook
likes than the articles with fewer
than 1,500 words.”
Neil Patel, www.quicksprout.com
MORE
than
1,500
WORDS

“Everyone writes
badly on a first draft;
the key is to be an
excellent editor of
your own work on
subsequent drafts.”
Ann Handley, www.annhandley.com

#8 - BE A NAME DROPPER
When you quote (or interview)
experts, you can attract
new fans and you position
yourself as an expert.
Journalist, authors, even
podcasters all do this.
So can you.

“The best way to promote a blog post is to ensure
your content references influential people. Make it a
part of your process to interview people, quote
them in your content, link to their websites and
they will help you spread the message.”
Russ Henneberry, www.CrazyEgg.com

#9 - SOLVE PROBLEMS
The most successful blogs
simplify problems and
offer proven solutions.
Keep asking yourself:
1) what’s the problem?
2) how can I make this stupid-simple?
3) what solution will move them
forward (and make me a hero)?
Opinions are nice - but
people pay for solutions.

“If you want to attract and engage your
prospects and lead them down the sales
funnel, you need to focus on them and
their problems.”
Rich Brooks, www.takeflyte.com

#10-EACH POST IS A PRODUCT
Before you “ship”, give a little extra attention to the research,
content, grammar, and image (even spelling) for every post.
Your next blog post could be your first impression to a
(huge) new client.

“Treat each of your
articles as a
product. Simply
starting to think,
‘Would anyone pay
for reading this?’
can immediately
change the quality.”
Leo Widrich, www.bufferapp.com

#11-GIVE READERS WHAT THEY WANT
To get more traffic, follow this simple rule: give readers more
of what they want.
Upgrade and repost your most popular posts (regularly promote
them in social media), create more posts on similar topics, and
experiment with new formats (lists, infographics, video, interviews, guest
posts, SlideShare, reviews).
Your blog may be your “home base” (Chris Brogan), but it’s also a
very cool laboratory for experimenting and feedback.
What’s your next experiment going to be?

“The best way to promote your
content is to ensure you create
content that has one or a
combination of the following
things:
• best or top lists,
• infographics or other
‘shareable' images, or
• posts that focus on the
negative.”
Neal Schaffer,
www.maximizeyoursocial.com

#12-““MEN WALK ON MOON”
Experiment with different types of headlines, like:
news: “Google makes it easier to…”
goals: “12 ways to…”
problems: “Finally! Exercise without the…”
how-to: “Learn how you can…”, and
entertaining: “7 fascinating ways to…”.
!
Readers scan headlines - your headline needs to stop them.

“A great title for your post is essential
for driving traffic to it,
from social media to
search engines.”
Kristi Hines, www.kikolani.com

#13-INCLUDE EYE CANDY
Even the most brilliant post gets better with a picture.
Use unique, intriguing, original images (avoid boring stock
photos and Google images).
FACTOID:
94% more views were attracted
by content containing
compelling images than
content without images.
www.marketmesuite.com

“I use images for the
same reasons
magazines do: I want
to pull my readers into
the post itself.
Pictures do that.”
Michael Hyatt, www.michaelhyatt.com

#14-MAKE IT ABOUT YOU them
It’s nice that you were once in debt, a
lousy boss, lost an argument, and
burnt a cake. But, your reader wants
to know what they should do.
Use “you”, “your”, and you’re liberally
in your copy and headlines.
Most Popular Words/
Phrases in Highly-
Shared Headlines.

“Posts that used words like ‘you and
your’ in their headline (from a study of
over 1million blog posts) performed
extremely well and were shared
frequently. In
contrast, posts
that used ‘I and
Me’ were three
times less likely to
be shared.”
Garrett Moon, www.coschedule.com

#15-USE A TEMPLATE
Save writing time and help your readers consume your blog with
this six-part template:
1. Describe a problem (that you know they have)
2. Connect: share that you experienced this problem, provide
statistics about the problem (e.g. 78% of blogs are never read to the
end of the post), or give a client example.
3. Solution context: introduce a new approach, or new way of
thinking.
4. Deliver solutions: a list of solutions is easiest to consume and
share.
5. Motivation: summarize and encourage taking action.
6. Call To Action: ask for comments, feedback, examples, or…

“Low-quality content
will de-value your brand
and disappoint
customers.
As they say, ‘the cream
will rise to the top.’”
Melanie Duncan, www.melanieduncan.com

#16-SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS
Even best-selling authors need to market their next book.
Your blog is no different.
Don’t wait for the traffic fairies - write other blogs, use social
media, and your email list to drive traffic.
Start today.

“My favorite method of promoting a blog post is pretty old school.
If you publish an amazing piece of content
that you feel is share-worthy (which should
be every piece of content that you write),
then you have permission to ask those
who consume it to share it.”
Pat Flynn
www.smartpassiveincome.com

#17-BE CONSISTENT
One of your blogging goals
should be to build trust.
Posting consistently does that.
Block time each week, allow
for revisions, and get into a
routine of posting on the
same day.
Leave it to chance and
chances are it won’t happen.

“Ask yourself this daily:
‘What action will I take
today that will grow my
blog?’ Consistent small
action have a massive
impact. Build a workflow
around important small tasks
- make them a habit.”
Darren Rowse
www.problogger.com

A FINAL THOUGHT
“The world is full of mediocre me-toos,
and does not need another one.
Be so good they can’t ignore you.”
- Steve Martin

Are you ready to…
STOP Procrastinating TODAY!
8 fast strategies to get you from avoiding, to doing, to DONE.

Are you ready to…
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Are you ready to…
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PHOTO CREDITS:
Selfie congratulations: www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/13961573320
Ancient cave drawings: http://www.flickr.com/photos/borderline_danni/3786178234/
Focus group: www.flickr.com/photos/tamuc/14407861125
Calendar: www.flickr.com/photos/nomadic_lass/6728580615/
Man with name tags: www.flickr.com/photos/rharrison/2190135304
Bicycle repairman: www.flickr.com/photos/decar66/6340584747
Shipping box: www.flickr.com/photos/superstrikertwo/4598928319
Man walks on moon: www.flickr.com/photos/fawbs/14954576196
Design tools: www.flickr.com/photos/mrbill/3267227227

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