“Triple Your Facebook Likes in Two Weeks” plus 1 more

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Triple Your Facebook Likes in Two Weeks Posted: 03 Feb 2013 11:06 AM PST This guest post is by Samuel of Internet Dreams. Would you like some more cake after having a first slice? Most of us wouldn’t be satisfied with just one slice of cake, so we end going back to the table and grabbing a second one. Heck, some of us would go for a third or fourth slice if we could! For bloggers, the same goes for likes on Facebook. Facebook is like that party you want to go to—and it’s a big one since Facebook is the largest social network on the planet. Most blog owners I know would love to get more likes on their Facebook pages. Today, I want to share how I tripled my Facebook likes. This technique worked to help me get the Likes I wanted to see. The right way to use Facebook ads to gain Likes This technique is going to require some money, but it’s a small investment that’s worth every penny. I’m a student that really doesn’t have much money at all. But still, I can find a way to make the right investment for my blog. Just a small outlay—in my case, $5 a day—can propel your blog to new heights. It helped me get thousands of new Likes for my Facebook page in a few weeks! Let’s step through the best way to create an ad quickly, and use Facebook to target the people who are most likely to be interested in your blog. 4 Easy steps to tripling your Facebook Likes Step 1. Create a new ad space in Facebook First off, log into your Facebook account, look for the Ads option in the sidebar. Create a new ad, and insert the URL to your Facebook page. 1. Choose the Get More Page Likes option As you can see in the image below, there are several options you can take in order to grow your brand's presence on Facebook. But for our purposes today, choose the first option. This can be one of the best ways to spend your money on Facebook! 2. Design your Facebook ad This part needs to be well thought out, so take your time with it. Your ad is what all of those users will see—it needs to convince them to like your page. Make the ad unique—something that will make users want to Like or check out your Facebook page. Consider your audience, and think about a message that will make them feel good about your brand or page. I used the tagline "Want Your Dreams To Come True On The Internet?" It’s worked really well for me and has gotten the attention of many on Facebook. 3. Optimize your ad for the "right" people What we want to do here is target the right people and get the most targeted Likes that we can. Your topic or type of Facebook page might be different then what I chose, but take a look to see how each area is edited to best target my audience. The arrows in the image above point out the most important areas that you need to edit. Go over your blog and identify the most important keywords that you can use for the ad. Those keywords will be turned into topics that can be used as interest keywords. Also, I like to target English-speaking countries since they seem the most responsive to my offers and updates. 4. Set up your money and budget for the ad How much you spend is up to you. If you are looking to triple your likes in the shortest time possible, add as much money as you can to the campaign budget. I personally started with a budget of $5 per day, which gave me a chance to see if the ad was performing at its best. Also, set your pricing to Cost per Click, as this keeps it simple and ensured you’re only charged for user actions. The $5-per-day budget has really worked for me, and let me triple my likes for Internet Dream's Facebook page. Plus, I was able to do that very quickly and gather such an amazing amount of targeted likes. Step 2. Network and connect Of course, don't forget good old networking and connecting as the most organic, and cost-effective way of encouraging others to check out your Facebook page. Building real relationships is the deepest way to give other users a good impression of yourself. Have friendly conversations with the people you connect with on Facebook, and offer to help with your answers to their questions. Once you’ve done that, you can suggest the person Like your page Here’s an example of a message I use on Facebook after I have connected with someone: As you can see, I thank them for connecting with me, which encourages them to feel good about themselves and our connection. I also direct them to my Facebook page and invited them to Like it, since people are more inclined to act if you ask them to. There are many ways to connect on Facebook, and some of the situations you may face now could give you the change to gain a nice Facebook Like. Here are a few examples: email conversions commenting Twitter conversation Facebook profile status Facebook friendship connection "Like the example above" any form of conversation with a human being on the other side of the screen! Step 3. Add a “Please like this blog on Facebook” CTA to your blog If users land on your blog, they should appreciate it if it has a usable design and offers great content. The main focal point of any blog is the article. This is your chance to rack up some free Likes. At the beginning or end of the article, include a linked CTA to Like your Facebook page. Make it stand out, so it’s clearly visible to the eyes scanning your article. Also placing your Like CTA in the sidebar will make it visible all of the time, no matter where the visitor is on your blog. This makes the Like CTA persistent, even though it is not as effective as the CTA in the article. I made the mistake of placing the CTA too low in the sidebar, and just recently bumped it up, which has given me more Likes. 4. Use plugins to help you generate Likes more easily There are several plugins that can help you get Likes for your Facebook page. Some are paid, but some are free for you to use. One technique I use for my blog that helps me get likes is through the Thank You for Commenting page that I set up for my blog, which is shown below. This is a fine way to connect with those new users who have just commented on your blog. Asking them to like your Facebook page on your Thank You page can be a great way to get an extra Like. As you can see, I ask users to follow or Like Internet Dreams on Twitter and Facebook. A great plugin to use in this situation is the Comment Redirect plugin by Yoast. This free plugin will help you redirect your commenter to the right page after they comment—you’ll need to make sure to set up the Thank You for Commenting page like mine above. Some other plugins I’ve found helpful for getting more Likes include: AttentionGrabber: WordPress Notification Bar Exit Through Facebook Like Facebook for WordPress Who wouldn’t like more Likes? In this post, I have shown you some of the techniques I’ve used to rack up some new Likes. I have found these methods to be the most rewarding, and I’ve worked really hard on each of them to fully enjoy the benefits they provide. The results are reflected in the title of this post—but only through the hard work I have put in order to receive those results. I cannot guarantee the same results for you, since this largely depends how much work you are willing to put in. But I can promise you that with the hard work you put in through these four steps, the results will come. What are some ways you get more Facebook Likes? Share them with us in the comments. Want to reach higher goals with these top wordpress plugins? Maybe learn how to get more followers? I am Samuel and I own Internet Dreams. Internet Dreams is a place where you can engage and learn how to set up and succeed with your blog or site. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger Triple Your Facebook Likes in Two Weeks

The Valuable Content Marketing Strategies Of George Carlin And Sheldon Cooper – How It Has Helped Me Posted: 03 Feb 2013 05:02 AM PST This guest post is by Frank Angelone of Social Tech Zone. The same rehashed garbage!  They were my feelings in 2012 about to bloggers implementing content marketing strategies. They seem to believe that just because they’re in a potentially crowded niche that revisiting topics which have already been covered is going to be successful for them. These types of bloggers are usually deluded by this misconception: "The 300,000-subscriber blog wrote about this topic, so if I do it too, I’m sure to get people interested in my content." Let me tell you something: it’s not going to work. When does content actually resonate with someone? To be brutally honest, in most cases, it doesn’t.  We’re all looking for some type of answer, yet the majority of people online are either talking about the same thing or they really don’t teach anything. They’re more interested in using their content to get you to buy something.  This is a failed marketing strategy waiting to happen. In this post, I’m going to share with you how you can connect with your readers and not have to resort to rehashing what everyone else is doing! Solving problems with selfish content Aren’t you tired of hearing "good content" or "quality content is the key" every single day?  Yeah, me too. Your job in content marketing is to be able to tell me why you’re experience is worth listening to.  You need to do something that will smack your readers in the face. What one, two-punch combo can you deliver? and how do you execute it to perfection? Simple.  Anything that fills the readers potentially selfish desires.  I mean, we all are online for answers and solutions, aren’t we? We always say we’re here to help people and it’s true.  Well, you are here to do just that, but the person on the other end wants you to cater to them (and they’re not wrong to feel that way).  That’s not going to happen unless you trigger a "selfish" emotion that you know they can relate to. Sheldon Cooper: the A-list marketer?! If you watch the Big Bang Theory, you’re familiar with Sheldon Cooper and his amusing yet obnoxious sense of humor. While it is just a t.v. show, everyone loves the character.  Why?  He’s funny, but he’s selfish.  You have to keep this in mind when writing for your audience. Viewers of the show (you) are Sheldon’s audience.  We may not always agree with his methods of getting our attention, but we listen because, as viewers, we’re able to identify with a variety of his "selfish" scenarios. Sheldon wants it his way—and the same holds true for whoever you’re marketing to. If you do something different and in a non-traditional manner, kind of like this post, people tend to pay attention. Sometimes being a little over-the-top or over-zealous with your content marketing is the real secret sauce that people can relate to. You should definitely considering trying this out. Derek Halpern of Social Triggers has the over-the-top personality when he markets to you, but you listen because you can relate to him. So ask yourself this question: "How can I put my experience, plus a story, plus an edge into what I’m teaching?" Point out the unexpected like George Carlin Probably the greatest comedian of all time, George Carlin was probably also one of the greatest potential content marketers. He smacked you in the face. He got you to think and maybe even gave you some insight on what we as a society can do to improve ourselves. (See? It’s all about you!) His words live on to this day.  Why?  He didn’t rehash what the other big-name writers were pushing out there.  He took a different approach. His 7 Deadly Words You Can’t Say On TV was so off-color, and strayed so far from the norm that he found himself in major trouble with the FCC.  He revolutionized the industry and his content sold! Now, I’m not saying you need to revolutionize your industry with what you’re creating, but stop getting sucked into the playing-it-close-to-your-chest mentality that so many people have become engulfed by. Do it your way and show people how things really are in your niche. To put things in perspective, I recently wrote a post entitled How To Land A Job With One Of The Largest Social Media Agencies: What I Did. Granted, a lot of people write about this topic, but if you notice, I included information about what I did in the title.  This assures my readers that I have a proven tip that works. “But, Frank,” everyone always says. "Don’t make it about you! Make it about your reader."  That’s wrong.  If you don’t make it about you and your experience, your content will not be relatable to your reader.  It all goes back to selfish Sheldon Cooper. I shared a personal experience and here’s how one of my readers reacted to it… "This blog post should be shared with every college age student looking to grab their dream job! So neat that you left such a prestigious place to perform in a position that supports your passion!"—Jim Traister I created value by doing something that I’m teaching. Being selfish isn’t always bad I want to clear up any ambiguity and let you know that I’m not saying readers of your content are selfish, bad people.  They want answers backed up by experience, not just a rehashed answer that they’ve heard somewhere else. When I go somewhere for content, I want an answer.  I’m being selfish in that respect because I need the answer to improve my life.  To stay in this mindset as a content marketer can be a very solid approach to grow your business. I value anyone who reads my content and I talk with all of them.  If they’re enjoying what I provide,  I continue to find ways to do more of what they need. When I interview well known entrepreneurs like Brian Clark, Gary Vaynerchuk, or Leo Babauta on my podcast, I do so knowing they can help my audience.  We’re all trying to help the next person in line.  If you’re aware of that concept, it’s all you need to know moving forward. Do you take this approach when you write your content?  Are you understanding the needs of who’s on the other side?  Do you have an actual experience that I can relate to?  Tell me in the comments. Frank Angelone is the Founder of Social Tech Zone provide unique views on social media strategies and new technologies instead of the same rehashed grabage.  He couples his blog with the STZ Podcast talking with successful entrepreneurs like Brian Clark, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Leo Babauta. Subscribe to his newsletter and you can be sure he’ll develop an actual friendship with you. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger The Valuable Content Marketing Strategies Of George Carlin And Sheldon Cooper – How It Has Helped Me

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“Another Way Compassion Can Cure Writer’s Block” plus 1 more

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Another Way Compassion Can Cure Writer’s Block Posted: 02 Feb 2013 11:07 AM PST When I saw the title of Brandon’s post on compassion and writer’s block earlier today, I instantly had an idea of what the post was about. But it turns out Brandon had a different take on the topic than I do! So I wanted to add to his ideas in this post, and suggest another way that compassion can cure writer’s block. What lies at the heart of writer’s block? I think for each of us, any of a number of issues might cause writer’s block. There’s exhaustion or burnout, which Brandon dealt with in his post. There’s the sense that you’ve already covered every aspect of your topic. There’s the feeling that there’s nothing new to write. There’s a fear of writing something that others will criticize or disagree with. And then there are distractions—the things we’d rather be doing that sitting inside writing. I think the variety of “versions” of writer’s block is one of the reasons that we find it so hard to overcome—it seems like there’s no single answer to the problem. I felt this way, too, until I saw Brandon’s post. How compassion can cure it As his post suggests, you can cure writer’s block by being kind and compassionate to yourself. But another approach is to be compassionate to your readers. Whatever the cause, we tend to feel writer’s block as a pressure to produce—we feel the demands of our blog, or our readers, or the expectations of our peers to create, and do it well, all the time. But obligation is never a good motivator, and in my experience, while pressure can be a motivator, it tends to burn people out pretty quickly. Instead of feeling blocked by expectation and demand, why not turn that concept on its head? As bloggers, our job is to help our audience. So instead of feeling resentment toward the masses waiting on the other side of our blogs to race through our next post, we can approach our writing from a position of compassion: What can you help your readers achieve today? How can you show them that you understand their challenges? That you’ve been in their shoes? That you have some advice that could help? What can you do to make their path easier and clearer? Their lives that little bit simpler or more enjoyable? What’s happened in your life that they might find interesting and relevant? Turn the block inside out If you start thinking like this, your reader immediately stops becoming an enemy you need to placate, and can be seen as they truly are: someone who’s looking for understanding and advice. Instead of focusing on “coming up with answers,” you can focus on the readers themselves, and connect emotionally with them and their individual situations. You know how they feel, because you’ve been there too. So show them some compassion! Write a post that really hits the nail on the head for them. Record a heartfelt video that explains how you overcame the issue they’re facing. Spend some time doing interpersonal research with actual audience members on social media to get a sense of what’s current for your readers, then sit down to write. However you play it, a little compassion for your readers can go a long way in inspiring your writing, and helping you to break out of writer’s block not just with publishable content, but content that truly connects through compassion. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger Another Way Compassion Can Cure Writer’s Block

How Compassion Cures Writer’s Block‏ Posted: 02 Feb 2013 05:08 AM PST This guest post is by Brandon Yawa of BrandonYawa.com. If you are a writer, I don't have to tell you how a dark shadow dubbed "writer's block" hoovers over all your projects like Casper, but in the form of a not-so-friendly ghost. However, I assure you, this phenomenon known as writer's block is not an apparition that needs a force like Ghostbusters to be removed. In fact, this phenomenon is not a phenomenon at all. If you were a pro athlete in any sport… You would know that you could only push the limits of your body so far before your body would give out. In a pro athlete's world, people call this "overtraining." As writers, however, the heaviest weight we lift is our laptop, and our physique is never tested beyond hauling it from café to café. For that reason, we easily forget how overworked our mental faculties can be. Writing is a mental treadmill that never stops. The day you set foot on the path of being a writer, you have inadvertently placed yourself on a mental treadmill that has no end. Everything that happens to you, whether it is conscious or subconscious, speeds up or slows down this neverending treadmill. If you have been writing for ten years, you have been mentally running, jogging and walking on your mental treadmill for 3,650 days straight. That’s enough mileage to make you the new spokesperson for Nike, and definitely enough mental mileage to warrant fatigue. You are not blocked. You are mentally fatigued, whether it be from worrying about living up to your last creation, living up to your own expectations, or just living a writer's life in general. I will repeat, you are not blocked, you are tired, and rightfully so I might add. Humans need rest. It sounds so clichéd to say you need rest, but you do. In order to rest, you have to figure out how to take yourself off that mental treadmill. You have to learn to separate the material you need for writing from the material you need to be human. 5 steps to get off the mental treadmill 1. You have to show yourself compassion You have to accept that you are mentally tired of the process of writing. Just like you allow yourself to go to sleep, you have to allow yourself time away from writing. 2. Forgive yourself for being unable to write You have not done anything wrong, and you don't suffer from a life-threatening disease. Instead, congratulate yourself on what you have accomplished thus far. Even if it’s only that you got out of bed, opened your laptop and pressed your fingers on the keyboard. Congratulate yourself for trying, and then congratulate yourself for having the compassion to know when you are passed your limits. 3. Don’t allow the outside world to affect how you feel about yourself You are not a machine whose sole purpose is to produce. Instead, as a human being, you decide what your purpose is. If you choose writing, remember it's what you chose on your own terms, and that's how it should remain. 4. Find hobbies that take you away from the writing world Sometimes just shutting our mind off isn't enough. We need an object or objects to assist us in shutting off that mental treadmill. See the world, travel your city, play video games, or read books that relax you (not ones that inspire you to write). 5. Learn to love yourself whether you are writing or not writing Whether you are producing Shakespearean material, or creating child's play, learning to love yourself totally (the good and the bad) not only gives you an immediate place of refuge, it arms you with a sensitivity that knows when too much is too much. True compassion starts with the individual before it is shared with the world. Brandon Yawa is the author of BrandonYawa.com. A blog built to show you new ways to tackle the same old human dilemmas. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How Compassion Cures Writer's Block‏

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