ProBlogger: How to Get Traction with Your New Blog

---

How to Get Traction with Your New Blog Posted: 18 Jan 2017 05:00 AM PST This is it. This is your year, you say. You’ve been tossing up the idea of starting a new blog for ages now. You read blogs, you love the idea of blogging, you may even want to earn some extra cash on the side, and you’ve thought “I could totally do that!” You may have even read last week’s post on WHY you should start a blog and found yourself all fired up. You may even have gone so far as to think of a name, organised a domain, or claimed your social media accounts but something’s always held you back. If one of those stumbling blocks has been thinking “but who will read it? There are so many great blogs out there, how will they even notice me?” (and let’s face it, I think plenty of people feel that way!), then I’m here to help. How to get traction with your new blog We all start with zero readers. We all start with zero traffic. Anyone can write a blog, but it’s what you do with it that counts. Think about who you’d love to read your blog and find out where you think they might be. Then go get yourself noticed! Assess your social media situation Social media is crucial when it comes to finding readers for your blog. The thing is to figure out what kind of social platforms will work for your blog and your potential readers. Want to stick to Facebook and Instagram? Do that. Will LinkedIn and an email list work better for you? Put your attention there. Think about whether you need totally new accounts or if you can revamp your existing ones. Follow both people who inspire you and people you think will be interested in your content. Engage with them (I can’t stress how important this bit is, but more on that later!). Think about what kind of content will work on these platforms that also represent you and what you’re about. These are the platforms where you share not only your own content, but items you think will be interesting and useful to your followers so they know you’re the real deal and will stick around. And hopefully not just stick around, but recommend you and your blog to their friends! Call in favours You’re ready for your blog to be seen – so consider the people you already know who might be interested in what you’re doing, and let them know! You can email your first (or favourite) post friends and co-workers who might like your stuff and invite them to read and share with their friends. You can share on your personal Facebook and Instagram pages that you’ve taken the plunge into blogland. Tell people you meet who might be interested, chat about it at the water cooler or the school gate (or both!), let it be known you’ve started a blog in your conversations – you might be surprised at how many people will be interested and ask more questions about it. Thoughtful promotion I know, I know, it’s exciting to finally have a blog and you’re keen for everyone to read it. The thing is, over-eagerness can come off as spammy if you’re not careful (don’t worry, we’ve all done it! Just don’t keep doing it!). Be considerate of how every day, everyone is bombarded with requests to read this, go there, do that. Even you! So put yourself in the shoes of your potential readers and understand what kind of calls to action would suit them. This can be real trial and error so try not to be upset if what you’re experimenting with doesn’t work, you will figure it out! Things to think about include the frequency of your posts on your social channels, your wording, the imagery, how much of it will be your content as opposed to sharing the posts of others, that sort of thing. Don’t just thrust your posts under people’s noses and hope it works. Every platform benefits from a slightly different approach, so try to make it useful and relevant for each of the audiences you have or are trying to grow in each area. Facebook Join Facebook groups that focus on blogging, or are in the niche you write about. Don’t just spam their wall with your offerings, though – read the rules and play by them. Often there will be a specific day you can share your work, or specific threads in which you can do so. Be a team player and visit some of the other blogs too – don’t just drop your link and run! Facebook pages almost seem like a law unto themselves, and I’ve spoken to plenty of folk who’d rather avoid it altogether – although they know they shouldn’t. Ignore your potential readers on the biggest social media platform in the world? Not totally a good idea! Again the key is experimentation here, it’s almost impossible to guarantee a course of action that will work without taking into account your content, your motivation, and your audience. Try different times and different content and monitor the reaction. Do more of what your audience likes! Instagram Instagram is a visual beast, and therefore your blog promotion should suit that. You can use a picture from your blog post to advertise you’ve published one, and don’t forget to make use of Instagram stories to go into further detail – you can scroll through your post, give a brief explanation of what’s on there, and do a behind-the-scenes story about how the post was put together. Hashtags are a fabulous way of not only sharing your content with like-minded people but also finding new inspiration. The trick is to use them well – they don’t work so well on Pinterest, LinkedIn or Facebook, but are vital on Twitter and Instagram. Don’t spam, don’t hijack hashtags that aren’t relevant to you, and on Instagram, pop the majority of them in your first comment, especially if you’re looking to use the maximum available to you. Pinterest Pinterest is exceptionally image-driven, so put your best foot forward on there. Pin your own content and other people’s content to specific boards and re-pin what you like. Join shared boards and abide by the rules of pinning your own content. Pinterest can be a fabulous traffic-driver if you use it well – try reading 4 Ways Pinterest Can Help Drive Traffic to Your Blog. Online groups Find other groups on other platforms you think will be useful. LinkedIn groups, Google Plus Circles, Twitter chats, Pinterest shared boards, forums – I can guarantee you will find places where folk of similar interests gather elsewhere on the blog that you can join. Again, abide by their rules and avoid the impulse to be spammy. Get to know the people and culture of the group and figure out where you fit in. Make use of the small spaces Your email signature can definitely do with a link to your blog, both your blog’s email and your personal email. Your Facebook Page has plenty of places to include a link to your blog, but you might want to add your Facebook Page to your personal profile’s “work” section, which will then show up on your profile, and maybe even let people know in your “Intro” section that appears under your profile picture. It goes without saying that a link to your blog in each of your social media bios is vital! But again, think of your personal accounts as well as your blog accounts. You can replace your profile photos with your blog logo. Take care of basic SEO It sounds frightening to plenty of newbie bloggers, but SEO can be a real boon if you pay a little bit of attention to it straight up. If you’re on WordPress, you can download a plugin that will help you navigate your way through post SEO – we use Yoast, and it is user-friendly. We also have a resident SEO guru, Jim Stewart of Bloggers SEO, who talks us through the foundations and writes helpful posts decoding the mystery of search engine optimisation here. But basically, if you want your blog to be found on Google and other search engines, think about they key words of what your blog is about, and also each post. Make sure you use these key words in your post titles, somewhere (naturally) in the post, and in the images of each post. Yoast will help you add a post blurb and will point out places you might have missed. Get involved Blogging is ultimately a community of people, creators and readers alike. It’s people you’re dealing with and in that case, you have to be approachable, open, and personable, not only to your readers, but other bloggers. Read and interact with other blogs on their platforms and on social media. Leave thoughtful comments that might spark others’ interests enough that they’ll click over and see what you’re about. Be a visible and genuine addition to the blogosphere. You can join blog linkups or challenges, or start your own. Answer your readers’ comments, and don’t be afraid to share other bloggers’ posts in your posts or on your social media. Getting involved is one of the best, fastest, and most rewarding ways of getting your blog in front of interested people. A little bit of gumption and old-school hustle will help you find readers for your brand-new blog – almost anything’s possible! But it will make the difference between a lonely blog lost in the vastness of cyberspace, and a thriving hub of like-minded people. And the longer you wait, the longer it will take to put yourself on the map. The post How to Get Traction with Your New Blog appeared first on ProBlogger.

You are subscribed to email updates from ProBlogger. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States

Unleash Your Hidden Millionaire with These 5 Tips - DailyBlogTips

---

Unleash Your Hidden Millionaire with These 5 Tips Posted: 18 Jan 2017 05:20 AM PST Being a millionaire is a highly coveted status for many entrepreneurs who are constantly striving to be the best in their industry. If you've got your eye on this prize, you're not alone. And while there is no magic pill for success, here are five practical tips you can use to move closer to your goal: 1. Stop judging your success or failure At first glance, it appears that success and failure are absolute; success is when you get what you want and failure is when you don't. You may want to consider that these definitions of success and failure are exactly what cause you to fail. Not because you've done something wrong, but because the words you use have the power to create what you experience. What you aren't aware of is that success and failure do not exist independently of how you perceive them. In other words, the way you define success and failure is exactly what creates your experience of success and failure. And, if you can suspend your current definitions (which likely don't support success), you'll make room for a new definition that will support your success. Your brain is wired to judge When you want to create something with a specific goal in mind and you don't reach that goal, the first thing your brain does is tell you that you've failed. But defining an unmet goal as failure only does one thing—it makes you feel bad and discourages you from moving forward. Finding something that doesn't work is often more valuable than finding something that does work, simply because it prevents you (and others) from making the same mistake and having to reinvent the wheel. On the subject of failure, Thomas Edison shared his wisdom with the world, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." And failure, no matter how you define it, isn't a bad thing. Many great successes have been preceded by great failures. Take entrepreneur Sam Ovens for example, who quit his job to build a job recruitment website that ultimately failed. Ovens told the Epoch times, "The big lesson is that you have to sell something that the market actually wants." If his business had not completely failed, giving him just a hint of success, he could have easily stuck with it and struggled for years to make it happen. However, the wisdom he gained from his total failure turned out to be more valuable than gold. Not long after his business failed, Ovens created two successful businesses, becoming a millionaire in just a few years. Millionaires don't like lemonade Even the famous statement that says to "make lemonade out of lemons" is misleading. A successful person has no need to make lemonade; they can appreciate a lemon for being a lemon, and if they don't like the lemon, they'll adjust their plan and move forward. They don't need to add sugar just to feel good. 2. Don't be a whiner According to Entrepreneur.com, research has shown that people complain once per minute. That's a lot of complaining. Because many people don't have the patience or interest to listen to others complain for very long, chances are, when you share your emotionally negative experiences with others, they'll start inserting their opinion uninvited and won't really be listening to you. This can be a frustrating experience. If you want to share your negative experiences with someone, the best way to do it is by prefacing the conversation with a simple request. Ask the person if you can share your experience with them and make a request that you just want to be heard. The idea is that by creating the context in which your conversation is about to take place, you're actually getting the other person to switch gears into listening mode. Change the context of your conversations Habitually complaining hurts you more than your friends. When you constantly complain, you are actually wiring your brain for negativity. You've probably noticed that whenever you complain, your mood tends to go downhill and collects more negative thoughts. The more you allow yourself to think negative thoughts, the worse you will feel. And when you feel really bad, you're more likely to make poor decisions. If you change the context of your conversations with people, however, you can quickly change your mood. Doing this requires not giving in when you want to complain, and seeking out friends who will support you by encouraging you, rather than providing you with sympathy. 3. Don't be afraid to accept responsibility When you were younger, you may have heard your parents or teachers tell you that you must accept responsibility for something you've done wrong. Because of this, you probably grew up with a negative view of responsibility. But responsibility is a powerful component of success that goes beyond the concept of right and wrong. Responsibility is literally the ability to respond; to be answerable to someone or something within your control. It has nothing to do with blame or fault. In fact, you can be responsible for something you didn't cause—and being able to do that is what actually makes you successful. For example, when a website development company is late delivering a project to their client, the CEO of the company is not the person who caused the delay; they're not writing the code or managing deadlines. Despite their lack of hands on involvement in the project, they can still be fully responsible and accountable to the client for the resolution of any problems. They didn't cause the problems, but they're accountable for fixing them. The mindset of success The mindset that says "that wasn't my job, I didn't do it, I'm not responsible" doesn't create millionaires. You're not likely to find any successful entrepreneurs with this mindset. Success comes to those who can look at a situation and accept responsibility, not for what happened in the past, but for creating a resolution in the future. 4. Stop comparing yourself to others With all of the successful people appearing in magazines and on TV, it's no wonder entrepreneurs are comparing themselves to what they see. If you're doing this, although it's not inherently wrong to look to others as a model of success, don't allow it to define you. Someone else's success is not always going to be indicative of the kind of success you will create. Everyone has unique gifts and talents to share with the world, and if you compare your success to someone who derives their success from a talent you don't have, you're going to be disappointed. For example, you may love composing music, but if you compare your success to Mozart, you're going to be disappointed. It sounds simple, but the best way to be successful in business is to create and run your own business, and model only what can be applied to your business. Don't try to stick a round peg in a square hole. Do what you love to do and what you're great at. Make your success your own. Don't chase other people's dreams while sacrificing your own. Forge your own path to greatness. 5. Don't fake it 'til you make it While there can be some benefits to the famous phrase, "fake it 'til you make it," that's not always the case. If you find yourself engaging in this behavior for long periods of time without results, you're probably just spinning your wheels. The most likely reason you're spinning your wheels is because you're modeling the external behavior of someone who derives their success from their inner world. According to TheIntrovertEntrepreneur.com, when you "fake it 'til you make it," you're not honoring or acknowledging your truth. And studies have shown that when people fake being happy, their mood actually deteriorates faster. This makes sense when you realize that mindset, not actions, are at the root of success. If you find yourself particularly drawn to someone whose success you want to emulate, you need to discover what their inner thoughts are and find ways to develop that mindset. Your thoughts determine your results in life Mahatma Gandhi said: "Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny." No matter what business you're in, the best thing you can do to improve your success and feel good about what you do is to work on your inner game—starting with your thoughts. Original post: Unleash Your Hidden Millionaire with These 5 Tips

You are subscribed to email updates from Daily Blog Tips. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States