Ten years ago I started a fitness blog, wrote some articles, slapped on an Adsense unit or two and then a year later sold it for $20,000. I was pretty happy with myself. And while it was the right move for me at the time I can’t help but wonder how much I could have sold it for if I had ignored Adsense and done something totally different.

In this article I am going to talk about why I will never use Adsense on a blog again. I hope at least some of you pay attention.

Why is Adsense is so attractive?

Let’s start the post by admitting that Adsense is very attractive to a lot of people. You just sign up for an account, write some blog posts and watch the money get paid into your account every month. It is quite alluring. I’ll never forget the feeling of my first $1 day, $10, $50 day and so on. Like a drug, I constantly checked my stats to see how many clicks I had got in the last ten minutes.

But while all this was happening I was losing money. Each Adsense click of between 10 cents and $5 represented a loss to my blog. I only wish that back then I had thought about the fact that there are much better ways to make money from a blog. Ways that perhaps aren’t as sexy in the short term, but work out to be a lot greater in the long run.

Why I will never use Adsense on a blog again

Now I want to get into the main bulk of this post and tell you why I will avoid Adsense on my blogs from now on. If anyone out there disagrees with me or has taken a similar course of action I would really love to hear about it.

1. Each click represents a lost reader
The purpose of blogging is to get readers. You craft headlines, opening paragraphs and content in order to catch people’s attention on social media and Google but then you send them off your blog by encouraging them to click Adsense ads. It is actually quite perplexing. I see hundreds of articles on how to increase Adsense CTR and get more clicks but no one ever seems to talk about the fact that maybe sending your hard earned visitors away is a very bad idea.

2. It dilutes your brand equity
When you place another advert on your website you are passing equity to that brand. For example, if Daniel put an advert for a spamming software on the side of Daily Blog Tips it means that he endorses that brand. So Daily Blog Tips’ brand is then associated with the spamming brand.

Adsense makes it hard because you do not have complete control over who advertises. Yes you can blacklist certain URLs but it would take a massive amount of time to make sure every brand that appeared on your site was a good one. I know the owner of a very large Luxury Watch blog who lost a lot of high profile Swiss contacts because his Adsense ads served up replica watch promotions.

So what should I do instead?

Now the question becomes about what one should do instead of Adsense. It is a very important question to ask. If I had asked it of myself ten years ago I imagine I would probably be earning five or ten times what I am today.

The answer is email subscribers
I have said it before and I will say it again. The money is in the mailing list. The most successful bloggers and web marketers all place an emphasis on capturing as many email subscribers as possible. Look at Problogger, Copyblogger, John Chow, Shoemoney and the rest; they all make millions of dollars a year because they have large lists of interested email subscribers who they can email to:

• Promote new products
  Any time you launch a new product you can send out an email or a series of emails designed to get people interested in and ready to buy. Darren Rowse did this recently when he launched his new book. Before it is even published he knows that he has close to 150,000 people that will look at the advert.
• Launch new websites
  What if you want to expand your website to something new or create a sister site? Well instead of doing all the ground work to get those initial users you just send out emails to your list. If it is relevant and related you will find that most of your fans follow you over.
• Sell affiliate products
  The last thing I will talk about here is the fact that niche email lists give you a massive opportunity to sell affiliate products to a very actionable audience. You can earn between 40% and 80% on affiliate sales by just sending out an email. You don’t even have to create the product, just promote other people’s.

Capturing email subscribers is a long term strategy that pays massive and ongoing dividends. Remember that visitor who clicked an Adsense ad and made you 30 cents? He could have subscribed to your list and be earning you hundreds of dollars a year by purchasing your products or ongoing affiliate offers.

What are your thoughts?

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this matter as I know there are quite a few fans of Adsense here on Daniel’s site. Have you stopped using Adsense and tried something else with great success? Or do you think Adsense is the best earnings model and will never abandon it? Please drop a comment and let me know.

About the Author: The Blog Tyrant is a 25 year old guy from Australia who has sold several blogs for large sums of money, works from home full time and now blogs about how you can dominate your niche. He also answers every comment he gets on his blog.

The post Why I Will Never Use Adsense on a Blog Again appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

I recently stopped using Aweber. Not because I wasn’t happy with the service but because I sold the site I was using it for. For 2 years I was a very happy customer with Aweber and wouldn’t rule out using them again. However, starting a new blog gave me the opportunity to look more into what alternatives there are out there for email marketing.

In this article I will be showing you the main alternatives to Aweber available to you. This article is for:

• Those who think their newsletter provider is too expensive
• Those who think their newsletter provider lacks important features
• Those who haven’t chosen their newsletter provider as yet and want to make sure they make the right choice

Before we look at the alternatives, let’s look at what Aweber offers and what it charges for using it’s service.

Aweber

Aweber is one of the most versatile email marketing providers available to bloggers. It’s not as user friendly as some other services however there is a huge amount of documentation and tutorials in the members area to help you get started.

Features include:

• Advanced sign up form wizard and hundreds of sign up form templates to choose from
• 135 Email templates to choose from
• Advanced autoresponder options
• RSS to Email option
• Traffic tracking and conversion options
• Integration with lots of other scripts including e-commerce shopping carts

The base price of Aweber is $19 a month. This gives you an unlimited number of emails up to 500 members. You can pay $49 quarterly or $194 yearly, saving you $32 and $34 respectively. The monthly price increases as your number of subscribers grow.

Aweber offer a one month trial for $1. I recommend ordering that if you are unsure whether to use them. Be warned: you will automatically be charged $19 a month afterwards if you don’t cancel your account.

Monthly Membership Services with Unlimited Emails

There are several alternatives to you which follow the same business model as Aweber offering an unlimited number of emails to subscribers per month.

Prices increase in line with the number of subscribers though as you will see, the pricing plans of most of these services are practically identical. So the main factors you need to consider are features and user friendliness.

1. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a highly acclaimed email marketing service that offers a wealth of powerful features and functionalities. With a user-friendly interface and a wide array of tools, ActiveCampaign stands out as a top choice for email marketing.

The platform provides a seamless mobile experience with its ActiveCampaign mobile app, allowing users to manage their email campaigns conveniently from their iPhones. Additionally, ActiveCampaign’s Social Media Integration empowers marketers to connect their email efforts with social media platforms, enhancing their reach and engagement.

One of the standout features of ActiveCampaign is its use-friendly member area, which simplifies the process of managing email lists and campaigns. The platform’s autoresponse system is equally impressive, enabling users to set up automated email sequences effortlessly, nurturing leads and driving conversions.

Creating captivating sign-up forms becomes a breeze with ActiveCampaign’s intuitive form wizard. This feature helps businesses grow their subscriber base and effectively capture leads for their marketing initiatives.

Regarding pricing, ActiveCampaign offers various plans to cater to different needs. While its pricing may be slightly higher than some competitors, the platform’s advanced features and automation capabilities justify the investment. The pricing plans are flexible, scalable, and tailored to accommodate varying subscriber counts, ensuring businesses of all sizes can benefit from this robust email marketing solution.

In summary, ActiveCampaign is a top-notch email marketing service that excels in providing a user-friendly experience and a comprehensive set of features. With its mobile app, social media integration, easy-to-use member area, efficient autoresponse system, and appealing sign-up form wizard, ActiveCampaign proves to be a compelling choice for businesses aiming to supercharge their email marketing efforts and drive impressive results.

2. MailChimp

A hugely popular email marketing service, MailChimp is a fun and colorful service which has some fantastic features.

• MailChimp for iPhone
• Social Media Integration
• Use friendly member area
• Easy to use autoresponse system
• Impressive sign up form wizard

Pricing is very similar to Aweber except the service is free up until you reach 500 subscribers. The monthly plans are about a few dollars more expensive that Aweber though.

A pay as you go plan is also available for those who send emails out less often. Prices start around $0.03 per email though the price drops to half a cent with orders over $1,000.

3. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a professional email marketing company which also offer online surveys and event marketing services.

• Around 50 professional looking email templates
• Impressive reporting options
• Several stylish sign up boxes to choose from
• Good import features for those migrating to the service

Pricing starts from only $15 per month and there is also a no risk 60 trial option which doesn’t require you to enter your credit card details (unlike Aweber which automatically rebills).

4. Get Response

GetResponse is a beautiful email marketing service which is a few dollars cheaper than similar services.

They boast a huge number of features including:

• An email to speech feature that allows users to listen to newsletters ‘hands free’
• Social media integration
• iPhone application
• Video email marketing
• Surveys
• Over 300 email templates
• Good tracking and reporting options

Get Response is slightly cheaper than Aweber. There is a 15% discount for paying 6 months in advance and a 18% discount for paying a year in advance.

5. Campaigner

Campaigner is a good option for those who don’t need a lot of bells and whistles. The service has over 450 email templates to choose from however it lacks a lot of advanced features which other services have.

This is reflected in the price as Campaigner is quite a bit cheaper than most of it’s competitors. Their top package is around 20% cheaper than Awebers equivalent. There is also a 30 day trial available.

6. Vertical Response

Vertical Response is an online service which lets you manage your email marketing campaign, create online surveys and send postcards directly to visitors.

• Beautiful drag and drop email wizard
• Sign up form integration widgets
• Detailed reports

Vertical Response offer a 30 day no obligation trial and good discounts for paying in advance (particularly with larger email lists).

</table align=”center” border=”1″>A pay as you go option is also available for those who don’t send emails as often. Rates start at a very competitive $0.015 per email, dropping to $0.01 an email with purchases over 25,000 email credits.

7. Benchmark Email

Benchmark Email is an easy to use email marketing service which boasts a large range of email templates.

• Video integration
• Drag and drop text editor
• Survey and email tracking
• User friendly interface
• Campaign archive

Benchmark Email is similarly priced to it’s main competitors. However, you ado not receive unlimited emails. Instead you are restricted to 7 emails per month to your list.If you plan on sending a lot of emails to your subscribers every month it’s best to avoid this plan because of the sending restriction.
There is also an email limit monthly plan. 1000 emails will cost you $12.95, 5,000 will cost you $35, whilst 10,000 costs $60.

8. iContact

iContact is an email marketing service which claims to have more than 60,000 customers.

• Built in HTML WYSIWYG Editor
• Good tracking and reporting features
• Over 250 HTML email Templates to choose from

iContacts pricing plans have an email restriction of 6 times your subscriber limit. Those of you who send out newsletters a few times a week may want to consider an alternative.There is a 15 day trial for those who are interesting in ordering a package.
Pay Per Email ServicesIf you don’t send several emails to subscribers every month then you may find Pay Per Email services a lot more cheaper.

9. Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor is a popular email marketing service which is used by many top websites such as SitePoint.

• User friendly interface
• Beautiful email templates
• Great tracking and reporting features

CampaignMonitor have a flat pricing fee of $5 per email and 1 cent for every recipient.Therefore sending an email to 500 people would cost $10 and to 2,500 people would cost $30. There are big discounts for those who to send to more than 50,000 people.

10. JangoMail

• Advanced HTML editor
• Connect to external databases in real time
• Create and send mass emails using Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Eudora, Yahoo Mail and Gmail.

Jangomails pricing depends on how many emails you send in that month.
Cost per email drops to about $0.005 if you send over 616,000 emails per month. More information can be seen on the standard pricing plan page.

11. Boomerang

Boomerang is a simple but user friendly solution. Pricing starts around 2 cents an email but drops to around 1 cent if you spend more than $100 a month.

12. Ezine Director

Ezine Director is very basic compared to most other options though you can still send HTML emails and set up autoresponders. It’s main selling point is it’s incredibly low price.There are three different versions available: Free, Limited and Full.The free version has a copyright notice in all emails and allows up to 249 emails to be sent.The limited version costs $9.95 a month and allows up to 1,999 emails per month. It has the same features as the full version except it doesn’t have campaign tracking.The full version has campaign tracking and allows up to 19,499 emails per month. Over that you are charged a ridiculously low $0.001 an email (and that drops to $0.0009 over 50k)Ezine Director is a pretty basic service but is worth checking out if you are looking for a cheap newsletter solution.

13. SendinBlue

We are adding SendinBlue to the list because it’s gaining a lot of traction lately. Like the top email marketing providers, this company offers a full range of features, including:

• Drag & Drop Designer
• Template Gallery
• Mobile-Friendly Emails
• Personalized Content
• Inbox Preview
• Advanced Search & Segmentation
• Shared & Dedicated IP Options
• IP Pool Management

You really shouldn’t wait any longer to start building your email list. Seriously, you should be building your list right now!! RSS subscribers are great however you cannot contact them directly so it’s important to build an email list as well. Doing so will allow you to contact your readers directly. Not only can this provide an extra source of income for your blog, it will also allow you to connect with your readers in another way and give them more reasons to visit your blog again. I have read many bloggers state that you should start emailing your subscribers from the very start. The idea behind this is that people will enjoy your newsletter content so much that they will tell their friends about it. I disagree strongly with this. I really do think this is a bad idea .I do think that you should start building an email/newsletter list as soon as you launch your blog, even if sign up rates are painfully slow at the start (an extra 50 email addresses a year from now could mean an extra $100 from an affiliate commission). Though it’s pointless to spend a lot of time writing content for a newsletter until the list is at least 500 subscribers (but preferably more than 1,000).What is the point of spending hours writing high quality original newsletters if you only have 40 readers? It makes much more sense to post this content on your blog where visitors and search engines can see it. Once your email list has grown to a decent level you can then start spending more time offering exclusive content through your newsletter in order to develop a closer relationship with your readers. Best Email Marketing Provider Aweber deservedly has a great reputation amongst bloggers. Support is great and it boasts a lot of great features. Though I hope I have shown today that there are alternatives out there. For my new blog I initially signed up to Campaign Monitor as I like the idea of only paying for the emails you send. It’s a good service and is very easy to use but in the end I decided to go with MailChimp. MailChimp is a little more user friendly than Aweber and has more features than Campaign Monitor. Though the main selling point for me is the pricing plan which allows me to send up to 3,000 emails a month for free as long as my list is under 500 subscribers. This allows me to build up my email list up to 500 people for free plus I can periodically email subscribers if I want too. If I used Aweber as my newsletter provider than it would cost me $19 a month even if I had less than 100 subscribers. Therefore I am saving a good bit of money if it takes me a few months to reach 500 subscribers. If you are building a list for a brand new blog then I would consider MailChimp for this reason. If your blog is already established then you will probably reach 500 subscribers very quickly so you may want to look at the alternatives. Most of the monthly subscriber plans cost about the same so it really depends on what you are looking for. Make sure you take advantage of the free trials in order to try out an email marketing service you are interested in. Those of you who will not be sending out emails every week may want to consider a pay per email plan as it will work out a lot cheaper for you in the long run. If you have used any of the email services in this article, or any which are not in the list, please share your opinion of the site in the comment area. I’m sure it will help other bloggers out.

The post 11 Email Marketing Alternatives to Aweber appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Not many people like to hear the harsh realities of blogging. I didn’t want to either.

Like many people, I read some of the top personality development blogs online. If there is one message everyone has to say in common, then it is “Think positive.”

In my opinion something’s in life are better said than kept silent. One of those is the reality concerning blogging.

It took me a long time to understand the how’s, the why’s the when’s of blogging and online business. I have given up blogging 2 times in the past. Then I started to focus on the facts. This has helped me sustain my blogging as well as online business. And, I want to help you too.

Ugly Truth #1: Blogging isn’t Easy

If you regularly read blogs, or have been blogging for any length of time, you’d straight away agree with me that “blogging isn’t easy.”

It takes a lot of time to set up your blog (idea, research, hosting, design, schedule, content creation), and even more time to see it build some momentum. You have to create compelling content, read and comment on other blogs, learn SEO, and write guest posts, network with other bloggers and so on.

However, blogger burn out happens faster than most people anticipate it. Lot of people lose sight of their goals when they don’t see traffic coming their way. You can’t be blamed. It’s just human nature. We want results. Our actions are inspired by results.

We need motivation to do something. If you are working on a 9-5 job, then maybe it’s the paycheck that motivates you. Sometimes it may be the work culture or even the job itself that motivates you. Whatever you do, you need to be constantly motivated. It’s no different with blogging.

When you start blogging you are really motivated and super excited. How can you be not so? You are doing it for the first time. You are thrilled by the experience. Your expectations are sky high.

Six months down the road, you still do what you were doing when you started off. You are yet to receive loyal readership or feedback. It’s kind of de-motivating. I know. I have been through it when I launched my first blog. My second blog also had a short life. Heck even my third blog suffered the same fate.

Success happens when you slowly learn to swim against the flow. You keep pushing until you reach your goal. When you exercise, you keep pushing yourself to do an extra set. Just like that, when you think you have failed, you keep on pushing until success is in sight.

Take away tip: Authority blogging takes a while. If you need instant result, either become a celebrity and start blogging or develop patience. It takes 1 or 2 or even more number of years to achieve success.

Ugly Truth #2: Blogging Isn’t a Viable Business Model

Let’s face it, blogging is not a viable business model. Sure, you can be a web publisher and make money by selling ads on your blog, but this won’t be a business per se. Plus, the people who can make significant money with this model can be counted on a the fingers of your hand.

A better way to see it is that a blog is a tool to promote your business. Not the business itself. So you need to have a product, a service, or something else that you sell/offer to your customers.

If you want to build a successful business, then you need to use the blog to build trust, authority, generate leads and build customer relationship.

Take away tip: Blogging should be taken as a means to boost your main business

Ugly Truth #3: Blogging isn’t all about you

Many blogs about blogging advice people that your blog reflects your personality. They tell that a blog is all about you, you and only you.

Well, I’d like to say a blog is all about them, them and only them. Who’d I refer to as them? “Them” are the readers who visit your blog.

If people came to your blog because they liked you, then they’d be interested in your personal life as well. Try posting articles about your personal life and you will soon see people going away. This is because people come to your blog for niche specific contents. They want advice, tips and a little bit of motivation.

If a blog is all about the author, then I’d say problogger would be dead by now. How many posts does Darren from problogger post these days? Many of them are guest articles. Yet, problogger is as heavily trafficked as ever.

Take away tip: Blog with your readers in mind. Not your personality.

Ugly Truth #4: You don’t need to interact much with your readers

Reader interaction is supposed to be one of the holy grails of blogging.

Reader interaction happens most when people comment on your article. But do you really need other people’s comments on your blog?

It depends.

Most of the time, people comment on your blogs only to get a link back to their blog. There are some exceptions though. You’d argue that we must give some sort of recognition to people who take their time to comment on our blog.

Would you really want to be thankful to someone if they hit your son with a truck and then later rescue him with the intention of getting money from you for saving your kid’s life?

I don’t want to portray other bloggers as criminals or something. It’s just that not all posts are worth commenting and not all comments are worth publishing. You have to be judicious while allowing comments and also while commenting on other blogs.

If the reader needs to ask something, let them use the contact form. If they have some outstanding contribution to make, let them provide it through the contact form and you edit the post and include it. You are now giving more value to the person who shares his ideas.

If you want to build a community, building a forum is much better where your readers can freely interact with each other. Having a forum section for your blog is also a good move.

Take away tip: Don’t worry too much about reader interaction. Provide them quality content, gather feedback and improvise.

Ugly Truth #5: Practice doesn’t make you perfect

Many writing blogs offer this advice. Write, write more and write even more.

I really don’t understand the concept. If you mix the wrong ingredients in the lab to make a new compound, you simply can’t make it. What use is it to do it over and over again, only to fail each time?

You must use some sort of feedback mechanism to constantly improve your process workflow. If you keep repeating the mistake, you get better at making the mistake, not avoiding it.

Take help from your friends, family members or even pay others to give constructive criticism. Forums are a great way to gather feedback for your site. And, it is absolutely free as well.

Take away tip: Use a feedback mechanism to improve your blog.

Ugly Truth #6: You don’t need a lot of blogging advice

Sad, but it’s the truth. You don’t need to read blog tips every-day. Keep the basic points in mind.

• Understand and listen to your readers (Using analytics, feedbacks etc)
• Write quality content and killer articles
• Promote your blog posts through guest posts or other means
• Observe what others in your niche are talking about

I am not saying that you shouldn’t read the tips online. It’s good that you have an understanding about these tips because it worked for some. But, it needn’t work for you.

The only thing you need to do is start doing things your way. If you keep reading articles about blogging and wait for the right moment to start a blog after grasping everything, that moment will never come.

Nothing can teach you better than experience. Go ahead, try blogging your own way, and see what works and what doesn’t work.

What do you think will add to the list of ugly truths? Do you think some points aren’t as ugly as I make it out to be? Speak up!

About the Author: Adarsh helps other people start their own online business. You can read more from him on CoversionChamp.com.

The post The 6 Ugly Truths About Blogging appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

What do Mashable.com, BusinessInsider.com and Huffington Post all have in common? For one, each blog captures thousands of unique visitors and tens of thousands of page views in a single day. Second, they all accept contributions from guest authors, creating the potential to drive massive amounts of traffic to your website with just a single guest post.

But there’s got to be a catch. You’ve probably got to be a big name blogger with a huge audience like ProBlogger.com’s Darren Rowse to be eligible for publication on major blogs like that… Right?

No Name? No Audience? No Problem.

Believe it or not, you need neither name nor audience to get published. I used to think you did until I began to look more critically at the bylines of the writers listed on authority websites like BusinessInsider.com, currently listed in the top 500 most popular websites on the internet according to Alexa.

What did I discover upon closer examination? BusinessInsider.com publishes a lot of content from guest authors, most of which is from unkown writers you would not know, don’t have audience or fancy qualifications like an advanced degree from a prestigious school.

Best of all, these websites need a lot of regular outside contributions from guest writers. How much? Enough to dedicate a category
of the website just to content exclusively provided by writers/bloggers referred to as “Contributors”. None of the writer’s listed here are on the BusinessInsider.com payroll.

So if you don’t need a big name or any specific qualifications to contribute to these major blogs, what’s preventing you or me from getting our content published on behemoth blogs like this? That’s the question I posed to three regular contributors of BusinessInsider.com–Frank Gullo of RavenWeb.net, Hillel Fuld of TechnMarketing.com, and Sudy Bharadwaj of JackalopeJobs.com–to get a sense of what the average blogger/marketer should do to be considered for publication on a major blog.

While you’re probably not familiar with the writing or names of the writers I interviewed for this piece, collectively these three have been published on the biggest blogs with names you do know including the Huffington Post, Mashable and Gigom in addition to BusinessInsider.com.

What separates these guys from the rest of us?

I emailed each of these gentlemen to pick their brains and get advice on how they were each able to be featured on these blogs. Fortunately, for me (and you) they were generous with their expertise and provided a simple outline of do’s and don’ts that if followed greatly increases your odds of getting published on these sites.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, each of the blogger’s I interviewed shared creepily similar recommendations for getting content published. There do’s and don’ts have been summarized below and edited slightly for readability purposes:

When submitting guest content to major blogs, do the following:

– Read and Follow Submission Guidelines to the Letter: Big blogs have much stricter requirements for what they can and can’t publish. Make sure the content you submit to these blogs aligns with posts that are regularly published by the blog both in content and style. Many of these blogs provide information about how to submit guest posts or contributions on a contact or contributor page.

In the case of becoming a contributor to BusinessInsider.com, all you need to do is to submit an email (contributor@businessinsider.com)
stating that you’re interested in writing for them.

– Respect the Editor’s Time: When you submit guest posts to major blogs, they’ll need to be reviewed by an editor or writer before they can be published. Again, make sure you have formatted your posts correctly, do not have any spelling errors, and provided a high-quality piece of content that can be published. The more time an editor must spend rewriting your post, the less likely it is to be published.

– Keep Communication Short: This related to the previous point. Don’t write long emails explaining your story ideas to editors or your career highlights. Keep pitches concise and to the point.

– Be Persistent: The folks that work at these blogs are extremely busy and being emailed, Tweeted, and instant messaged by people just like you all day, every day. As a result, it’s typical that at some point your message could be forgotten about or looked over. If an editor doesn’t respond to your request after 5 – 7 days feel free to send them a reminder. If you still don’t get a response, move on and try contacting a different blog or editor.

When submitting content to major blogs, don’t do the following:

– Don’t miss a Deadline: This is a deal breaker for most editors. If you say you’re going to get an article out
to them by January, 17th, stick to it. Miss one deadline and you won’t get a second chance with many editors.

– Don’t complain if you’re article is rejected: Believe it or not, even strong writers have their content rejected from time to time. If you’re article is rejected, simply ask how you can improve it or suggest writing a new article on a different topic. If you believe the rejected article is valuable, you can always submit it somewhere else later.

– Don’t Pester Editors: While you need to be consistent and occasionally send followup emails regarding the status of a post, don’t be a pain. Do not contact editors via social media daily much less hourly. A good rule of thumb is to provide at least 5 – 7 business days of breathing room between messages to an editor.

While you may not need a big name to contribute to today’s most popular websites, you will need to closely follow the editorial guidelines of each particular website and stick to the do’s and don’ts outlined in this article to get published on the biggest blogs.

Brett Lindenberg does a lot of guest writing in his own right. Read more of his stuff at 500aMonth.com and be sure to download his routine for building an email list when you sign up for his email list.

The post The Do’s and Don’ts of Guest Posting for Major Blogs appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Promoting a new blog can be quite daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. As you might expect, breaking down blog promotion into small, actionable tasks eliminates the mental road block you’ve probably experienced when trying to wrap you head around how to get people’s attention. You don’t have to do everything in this list, and some items will have a greater effect then others, but every tactic will at least drive some traffic, and any traffic is better than no traffic.

Content
1. Write a list of over 100+ resources or ideas.
2. Write the definitive guide to something. Spend time making this awesome.
3. Release a manifesto.
4. Release 2 manifestos.
5. Interview cool people. People like talking about cool people.
6. After your articles are indexed in search engines, break them up into smaller articles and submit them to ezinearticles.com (and other article directories).
7. Or just pay someone to submit the articles for you.
8. Write a list of all the cool blogs and people in your niche.
9. Check out the most popular content on high trafficked blogs. Create similar content but applied to your own niche.

Facebook

10. Start a page.
11. Make that page awesome.
12. Start a group.
13. Make that group awesome.
14. Create a Facebook app for your blog.

Fundamentals
15. Wait. After you’ve taken action it can take a short while for traffic to arrive.
16. Be patient. Some bloggers may seem like overnight successes, but if you look back in their archives, they’ve been creating content for a long time.
17. Motivate yourself.
18. Read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.
19. Have an interesting story and overall purpose.
20. Embrace the Law of Reciprocity. Everything you give will come back exponentially.
21. Make blogging easier.
22. Take action every day. Just get one important thing done every day and eventually you’ll start getting traffic. The more you do each day the faster your blog gets traction.
23. Find people with blogs at a similar level to yours and help each other out.
24. Turn off your computer, do some cool stuff, turn on your computer again and blog about it.
25. Understand the importance of context.
26. Be consistent. You don’t need to blog every day but try to stick to at least some sort of schedule.
27. Make it a numbers game. Decide upon a definite plan of action (eg. 20 blog comments per day, 1 guest post per week etc) and stick with that.

Online Video
28. Create videos and distribute them through tubemogul.com
29. Or for wider video distribution trafficgeyser.com may work for you (expensive though).
30. Respond to YouTube videos with your content.
31. Include your full blog address at the TOP of your video descriptions.
32. Take your time with devising video titles and tags.
33. Convert your video to multiple formats, with slight editing changes, and upload it to video sites multiple times, targeting different keywords. The content remains the same but you can test what videos and titles work the best.
34. Buy the accounts of popular YouTubers and then add your blog address to the descriptions of their videos.
35. Start the first live show in your niche (Ustream, Justin.tv and LiveStream are popular choices). Make sure you record the shows too so they can be distributed as a podcast later on.

Other Blogs
36. Be the first commenter on the posts of popular blogs. But still provide value.
37. If you can’t be the first then comment anyway. But try to be the first.
38. Stumble and Digg cool blog posts you find and let the blogger know via a comment. If you have something worthy on your blog, they’ll probably reciprocate.
39. Use google.com/blogsearch to find fresh blog posts and then leave intelligent comments.
40. Link to blogs of a similar size. They’ll notice and then good stuff may happen.
41. Write a guest post for a large blog. You may not always get published, but when you do the traffic spike will be significant.
42. Write a guest post for a small blog. You’re more likely to get published and build relationships with the next wave of A-List bloggers.
43. Write some more guest posts. Can’t hurt, that’s for sure.
44. Join a blog network.

Paid
45. Start a StumbleUpon Ads campaign.
46. Get reviewed.
47. Buy some ad space.
48. Send out a press release.

People
49. Attend relevant meetups.
50. Tell your friends and family about your blog. Have them tell everyone they know.

Podcasting

51. Start a podcast and submit it to the iTunes directory.
52. Convert audio files to video files (just use Windows Movie Maker or iMovie) and send them out via tubemogul.com
53. Submit it to some other podcast directories.

Search engine optimization
54. Write linkbait.
55. Have any video or audio content transcribed and posted to your blog.
56. Register your domain name for 10 years.
57. Take advantage of sites scraping your blog’s feed by interlinking posts. Simple way to get deep inbound links.
58. Use Thesis.

Social networks
59. Join every social network you can.
60. Or, just join a couple and be really active.
61. Become active in relevant ning.com communities.
62. Convert blog posts to PDF files and submit them to Scribd — include your blog url in the description and document itself.
63. Add your Scribd documents to relevant groups.
64. Submit your best posts to blog carnivals.
65. Join relevant forums, add your blog address to your signature and start posting intelligently.
66. Sign up at ping.fm and use twitterfeed.com to auto post your latest blog content to a bunch of social networks.
67. Create lists on Amazon.com
68. Write reviews on Amazon.com
69. Better yet, create video reviews for Amazon.com
70. Answer relevant questions on Yahoo Answers, leaving your website as the source.
71. Or on Mahalo Answers.
72. Or even through LinkedIn Answers.
73. Start your own Slinkset, and feed your RSS feed into it automatically.
74. Submit your site to alltop.com
75. Write an article aimed at Digg (okay, that article won’t help much).
76. Also, befriend one of the many Digg powerusers.
77. Create a new thread on a forum and write up a really great guide with no self promotion. Simple way to be seen as an authority figure and to elicit comments on your writing (don’t forget that signature link though!).
78. Submit your content to dofollow social bookmarking sites.
79. Or have Bookmarking Demon do it for you (certainly a bend in ethics though).

StumbleUpon
80. Become an active stumbler to understand what stumblers like.
81. Friend people who stumble your content (they may just want to stumble more in the future)..
82. Have other people initially submit content (or “Discover” it as it’s known).
83. Place a Stumble button in your post template.

Su.pr
84. Sign up at su.pr and use it for all your short url needs.
85. Post content to your Facebook and Twitter stream.
86. Install the WordPress plugin to automate the process.
87. Identify the times that result in the most clicks and schedule tweets for them.
88. Setup your blog as a promoted website.

Twitter
89. Include hash tags (#tagname) in your tweets.
90. Search for your niche and answer any questions people have.
91. Place a Retweet button in your post template.
92. Follow relevant, popular, and interesting people.
93. Send @replies to relevant, popular and interesting people.
94. Tweet links to your content at multiple times during the day.
95. Love a product from a company that’s on Twitter? Review it and they may just notice and tweet about the review. It’s happened to me.
96. Sponsor some tweets.
97. Find cool people in your niche who live nearby and organize a tweet up (a meet up where you invite anyone on Twitter).

WordPress
98. Install All In One SEO Pack.
99. Automatically ping lots of ping services.
100. Create a theme, include a link to your blog in the footer, and then release it for free.
101. Create a plugin and release it for free. Add a link to your blog within the admin area. If it’s a good plugin people will love you for it.

The post 101 Ways to Promote a New Blog appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Between the interviews with up and coming bloggers series that I ran on my personal blog and the launch of BlogcastFM.com, I’ve had the opportunity to interview more than 30 bloggers. Not only have I learned quite a bit about blogging but I’ve learned about people and how to to conduct interviews with bloggers.

1. Everybody is approachable

One of the things I absolutely love about the world we live in today is that we have access to people like we have never had before. However, one of the things that holds us back is fear. We see a well known blogger and we become intimidated by their RSS counter that says 5000. Surprisingly, these people are not much different than a blogger who’s just starting out. They’ve just been around longer and know more. They started out just like you with nobody reading their blog. Most people are very approachable and you just have to make the effort and reach out.

2. Listen more than you talk

In the first interview I ever did, I got some unsolicited advice. I was told that I talk too much. When I went back and listened to it, I realized that I did talk too much. If you’re interviewing somebody, the spotlight is on them. It’s a chance for that person to talk about themselves and their blog. Embrace that and your interviews will be much better.

3. Ask questions based on the answers you receive

This ties into the above point about listening. Part of what has made my interviews get smoother and smoother is that I start with one simple question “How did you get started?” and then I build all the rest of the questions I ask on the answers I get. Not only does this force you to listen, it makes the whole thing flow much better.

4. Treat it as conversation

In a recent interview I did, the interviewee was actually nervous. While it was challenging I told him to think of it as two guys at a bar just having a beer and chatting. When you get too formal then you become unnatural and it’s really obvious to the people listening. The interview is an opportunity for everybody to eavesdrop on your conversation. If you are really formal, nobody will really want to eavesdrop. One of the things we love as human beings are stories. Let the interviewee tell a story. It’s a conversation, not an interrogation.

5. Provide Value to your listeners

This is kind of a no-brainer. The clear goal behind interviewing a blogger should be to draw out valuable advice that your listeners can put to use right away. I try to make sure that every blogger I talk to offers at least one tip that I haven’t heard of before that listeners can implement right away.

6. Everybody has value to add

Regardless of whether they are big or small, people can offer a valuable perspective on things. Just because somebody has only been around for a short time, don’t discount what they have to say. It’s also really useful to interview bloggers completely out your topic area. The other day I interviewed a parenting blogger. As a single 30-something male, I don’t spend any time reading mom blogs, but I still learned some very useful things from talking to a parenting blogger.

7. Research the person you are interviewing

Spend a little bit of time learning about the person you are interviewing before you do the interview. This way if you ever do hit a point in the interview where you lose your flow, you’ll have a list of things to go back to and ask about. Some things you could ask about include:

• the most recent post they wrote
• a product they just released
• something about their personal life

8. Maintain/Nurture Relationships

Once you have interviewed a blogger, you have formed a relationship. But just remember that it doesn’t end after the interview. It’s important to maintain and nurture that relationship. If it hadn’t been for the relationships I maintained with everybody I’ve interviewed, I would not have had nearly as much support in getting the word out about the ebook that went along with a new site launch. Some ways to maintain/nurture relationship include:

• Follow the interviewee on Twitter
• Comment on their blog posts
• Add them on Facebook or Linkedin

I’m a big believer in the power of interviews. I think it’s really a tremendously valuable way to improve your knowledge and provide great value to your readers. Don’t underestimate the value you can gain from both listening to and conducting interviews with bloggers.

The post 8 Tips for Conducting Effective Interviews with Bloggers appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

This is a guest post by Ali Luke. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Yes, you did read that title correctly.

You need to stop learning about blogging.

Sure, there’s a wealth of great advice to be found — here on Daily Blog Tips, and on several other top blogging sites.

Sure, blogging is a huge and sometimes crazy world, where you need to know about writing, marketing, technology, design…

But you could spend years learning everything there is to know — and you still wouldn’t make any progress.

At some point, you need to stop learning and start doing.

How to Get Moving

You might feel overwhelmed right now. You’ve probably been soaking up as much advice as you can — but when you do write a blog post, you’re woefully aware that it’s not as great as it could be.

The problem is, there’s so much to learn, you don’t know where to begin.

So start small. Don’t try to write the perfect blog post — because there’s no such thing.

I know you’re busy, but you can find an hour, today or tomorrow, to put together a single post.

Here’s how to make it great:

• Write a strong introduction. You might say something surprising, like I did in this post. You might ask a question which will compel the reader to continue.
• Write about a single topic. Keep the focus on the reader, using “you” and “your”. Teach the reader how to do something, or give them some ideas.
• Finish with one call to action. Ask your reader to subscribe to your blog or newsletter, or to follow you on Twitter, or to leave a comment. It’s up to you which to ask for — but don’t give them too many options or they won’t do anything.
• Craft a great headline. (Words like “Tips”, “Secrets”, “How To” and “You” all work well here. And numbers are always going to be popular.) If you get stuck, take a look at any headline on Copyblogger for inspiration — or pick up a magazine.

Yes, there’s a lot more you could do. But really, who’s going to come out top — the blogger who reads dozens of posts every day (but only writes one post a month) or the blogger who puts great advice into practice and writes three posts a week?

You’ve read enough.

Now it’s time for you to go and do something which will really take your blogging forwards.

About the Author: Ali Luke has just released a free mini-ebook, “Ten Powerful Ways to Make Your Blog Posts Stronger”. It’s a short, fast read packed with great advice, clear examples and — most importantly — quick, high-impact exercises which will let you strengthen your existing blog posts in just a few minutes. Just click here to get your free copy.

The post Why You Need to Stop Learning About Blogging appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

In a recent interview, Steven Spielberg, the famous Hollywood film director of hit films, Jaws, E.T. and The Color Purple, admitted to a strange habit. He said he liked to seek out distractions while working on a film.

“I’m more lucid about my own work if I have got something to distract me” said Spielberg of his peculiar practice. “I can be making a movie and then I can go off that movie for a half an hour while they are lighting the set and I can be looking at the script and making changes with the writer on my next movie.”

To most people Spielberg’s appetite for distractions is a little puzzling. To them it sounds counter intuitive at best and downright destructive at worst. After all, why would somebody purposely seek out interruptions while working on a project?

Spielberg’s Subjectivity Problem

The answer comes down to what Spielberg calls the subjectivity problem. When you are working on a piece – be it an article, a music track or a film scene – you get too involved and lost in your work. You lose perspective of how a first time viewer would see the work. In Spielberg’s words, you lose your objectivity, which he defines as “losing sight of what you are doing and not being able to see it from the 15th row back, where the audience lives.”

The only remedy for this problem is time away from the work at hand. You have to take a step back from that piece in order to gain a fresh perspective. But spending time away from work is counterproductive as it wastes time. It slows down the rate at which you can create content.

This is where the Spielberg method comes into play. Rather than working on one project at a time, he works on multiple projects. That way the time away from one film is time spent on another. That is, the down time of one project becomes the up time of another project — allowing Spielberg to complete more projects in less time without sacrificing quality.

How to Turn Downtime into Work time

If you want to write more quality blog posts in less time, then consider the Spielberg method. Rather than working on one post and seeing it through till the end, work on multiple posts at a time.

When you start feeling stale and lost in one, switch to the next and work on that. Similarly, when you have run out of ideas or lost your train of thought on the second post, jump to the next one or go back to your first post and continue working.

Like Spielberg, you too will find that you return to your blog posts with greater clarity and direction than when you left them.

The post The Steven Spielberg Method: How to Write More Blog Posts In Less Time appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

You check your traffic every day but all you find are tumbleweeds blowing across the landscape of your blog. Well, there’s a reason you’re not building readership. Your blog sucks.

Most do, and all for the same reasons. The same 10 reasons.

1. You use syndicated content. You can download badly-written articles on the topic of your website at ezine.com, helium.com, goarticles.com and other places on the web. You can cut and paste these pieces on your blog and all you have to do is provide a link back to the author’s site or blog. You can, but you shouldn’t. Without unique content your blog is nothing.

2. Your blog is boring. There I said it. Write about topics that interest me, your reader, not topics that interest you. I want you to keep me engaged, entertain me and teach me. Otherwise, you’re boring me.

3. Your blog revolves around your person. Stop talking about yourself already. I don’t know you personally, and I couldn’t care less about your ramblings. Tell me something I can use in my own life. Facts, stories, not boring personal stuff.

4. Oh no, not your favorite music on auto-play! So as soon as I access your blog, the ukulele string quartet starts playing? I’d rather hear an accordion band. Don’t add music to your site. Half the people won’t like it and the other half will find it’s a distraction.

5. You use clip art. I can spot it a mile away. The model smiling, the perfect family spending the day at the beach, the marathon runner — all license free clip art. And with free clip art, you get what you pay for.

6. I can’t find the post I want to read. So I have to scroll down through pages and pages to find the piece you posted two months ago. First, even the simplest blog platforms allow for categories and search boxes.

7. Your writing totally sucks. Oh, not the writing itself. You’ve got a good writing style. Easy to read. But your posts are loaded with typos, misspellings, lost punctuation and other mistakes that signal you don’t care enough about your readers.

8. You’re spinning articles. You might not be using software to actually spin the articles, but you are writing about the same stuff everyone else inside your niche is. This is not as bad as getting content from article directories, as you are actually using your own words here, but it won’t cut it all the same. Write something interesting or go home.

9. You post once a month. How often you think I’m coming back to see if there’s some new, pithy pearl of wisdom I can glean from your blog? If you can’t update your blog at least a couple of times a week, forget about it.

10. Your blog looks like 12023532989 other blogs. WordPress offers hundreds of templates from which to choose. So, if you choose Minima Brown, your blog will look like all the other writers who build blogs using Minima Brown (or Blue).

Does your blog suck? Well, roll up your sleeves and do something about it. It is still time!

The post 10 Reasons Why Your Blog Sucks appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

So I’m sitting here. At my desk. In the morning. And I’m writing this post. Yesterday, I was writing in the morning too. And the day before. Is there someone forcing me to do this? No, I simply choose to work this way.

Why would you set your day to always write first thing in the morning?! Isn’t being a blogger all about freedom and being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want to?!

Well, bloggers are pretty free people, but being free doesn’t mean that you can’t set some of your activities to a fixed schedule. Especially if those activities simply make sense.

And it really does make sense for writing. Here’s why.

Benefits of writing in the morning and the power of habit

Let’s start with the latter – the power of habit.

Habit is probably the most powerful thing that drives us into doing anything. And I really mean it. Once something becomes our habit, it isn’t difficult any longer, requires very little effort, and gets done pretty quickly.

But if that doesn’t explain the situation enough, let’s tackle it from a different angle.

I’m sure you’ll admit that some bad habits are extremely difficult to fight. Sometimes it takes months or years, or even a lifetime (for some people). I’m sure that every smoker and late riser can relate to this…

That’s the true power of habit, no matter good or bad, once it is set, it stays with us for years.

So what’s the point of turning writing into a first-thing-in-the-morning habit?

First of all, as I said a minute ago, once writing becomes your habit, it will be a natural activity. One that doesn’t require any effort. One that isn’t scary in any way, or challenging in any way. Simply, a natural habit.

The second benefit is something that sits in our mind.

Everything sits in our mind

Even though our brain is an extremely complex thing, some of its characteristics are pretty predictable.

For instance, once our brain gets a grasp that one particular activity is being done every day, first thing in the morning, and it has been done for the past month or so, it will get used to that activity.

Our brain will simply be anticipating that activity, having all the required tools in place ready to be used, at the exact time when the activity usually happens.

This is something that can help us extremely. And I’m not exaggerating. Once your brain is used to you writing every day in the morning, it will prepare all your writing resources and skills to be in their top shape waiting for you.

This is something that can (and will) improve your writing significantly.

And it’s nothing new. People are using this trick all the time in many different fields.

Like, for example, professional boxing. Once the time and date of a fight is set, every training prior to the fight takes place at the same time. Why? So the body and the brain of the boxer can get used to it, and be ready when it’s time to get in the ring.

Many professional sportsmen use this trick, not only boxers. It simply works in most imaginable scenarios. Writing and blogging included.

But improving your results isn’t the only reason why you should at least give this a try. There are other benefits.

Fighting the early-day confusion and warming up

Mornings can be confusing … I’m sure you can relate.

You wake up and there’s so much stuff to do that you don’t know where to start. So you don’t start at all for a while and go to Facebook instead.

Sometimes we fall into such a trap, despite the fact we know that the only thing we have to do is START. No matter what it is exactly, the first step is always the most difficult, and once we’re going, we’re going.

Having a first-thing-in-the-morning activity can be of great help here. There’s no confusion any more. You know that no matter how much stuff you have to do, you always start your day by writing.

Another benefit. Writing is a great warm-up activity for your brain. It gets you ready for other things the day can bring.

And there’s also the most obvious benefit of them all… You simply start your day with a fresh and shiny article, ready to be published, sent as a guest post, sold, or whatever else you’re doing with your content.

How to set a habit of writing in the morning

First of all, you have to realize that the most difficult part is the initial phase. The first couple of times you try to write in the morning.

It may simply not feel natural, nor easy. And the results might not be that good … well, sorry, I’m just telling it like it is.

But remember, this is always the case when setting new habits. Like the habit of early rising, for example. Do you remember how difficult it was to get up early during the first week? Or do you remember how difficult it was not to smoke during the first month of your new cigarette-free lifestyle?

You simply need to get through this. Here’s what I advise you to do during the first week:

1. Start every day by writing a personal journal. Journal entries are very easy to write because they don’t require any knowledge, mindset, or prior information. You simply fire up a text editor and start writing on whatever topic you want. As little as 100-200 words is enough.
2. The actual writing. This is where you write the actual thing you want to write. And you don’t stop until you finish the whole piece.
3. Reward yourself and have a break. Have a small treat. Whatever makes sense.
4. Proceed with your other tasks for the day.

If you do these four steps long enough (for like a month maybe) then after a while they will become natural and won’t require any effort on your end. Also, you will be able to do them much more quickly.

I know this personally … because it’s 8:30AM where I’m sitting right now.

What is your opinion? Have you tried this trick yet? Also, feel free to share if you have any advice of your own that’s similarly counterintuitive.

Thanks to Karol K. for helping me with the article. He is a 20-something year old web 2.0 entrepreneur from Poland and a writer at ThemeFuse.com, where he shares various WordPress advice. Don’t forget to visit ThemeFuse to get your hands on some premium WordPress themes (warning: no boring stuff like everyone else offers).

The post Writing First Thing in the Morning appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Have you ever thought about what it actually takes to become a successful blogger? Well, there are certainly a lot of successes out there and we can all learn from the best of the best. So I got to thinking about what it actually takes to run a successful blog and here is a list that I came up with.

1. Loves to write

You must admit that in order to blog successfully then loving to write must be #1. You really shouldn’t be blogging if writing to you is a chore. Your own writing style is what endears you to your readers.

2. Knows his grammar

Maybe you didn’t expect to see this one on the list but it is very difficult for me to read anyone’s blog who isn’t very particular about proper grammar. A case in point is Daniel Scocco, the owner of this extremely successful blog. If you didn’t know, he also runs a blog called DailyWritingTips. It is my guess that Daniel also feels that writing properly is very important to a successful blogger.

3. Hard Worker

If you’ve run a blog for a while, as I have, you certainly know that you must work hard. If you don’t, then it will show in your writing and your blog will not be well read. You can’t fool people and put your blog on auto-pilot. If you do then you will lose readership.

4. Entrepreneurial

After a while you will want to make some money from the online presence and brand that you have established with your blog. A lot of people get into blogging for this sole reason. Whatever your situation entails, chances are you want to supplement your income. I plead guilty to this as well. It’s hard to be in the blogging world and hear about how others are making money online and not want to have a piece of the pie.

5. Creative

You can make a blog anything you want it to be. You have the choice of a myriad of themes and plugins that you can tweak to make your blog site unique. This is what makes the world of blogging great. No blog is the same and it’s simply up to the creativity of the blogger to make it that way.

6. Life Lover

This is one of the most positive aspects of the blogging world. Have you run across a blogger who doesn’t love life? This is why I added this attribute to my list. And since I started my blog I have come across the most engaging, pleasant, and helpful people I have ever met.

7. Personal Developer

Personal Development is a huge niche when it comes to the blogging world. Well, I’m here to say that all bloggers want to develop personally. We all have this in common. Without this trait would we really be doing what we are doing? I don’t think so. I try to learn and grow as a person every day but I don’t think I’m unique.

8. Communicator

This one is no big surprise is it? A blog is basically a means by which we can communicate with our readers. Communication is not only good for the blogger but also hopefully for the reader. A successful blogger wants to connect the audience. Replying to comments is very important and that is why I respond to every comment on my blog.

9. Helps Others

This was one attribute that blew me away. When I started blogging I emailed some fairly high profile blog owners and they actually responded to my email. I wanted an opinion on the design of my blog and I also asked to interview them for my blog. They helped me out and it got me off on a very positive note when it came to blogging. It showed me how compassionate and helpful even high profile bloggers can be.

10. Efficient

We all have a certain amount of time in our lives. And unless you are blogging full-time, you are trying to squeeze in the time to create new blog posts or to guest post on other blogs. Successful bloggers are very efficient with their time because they know that their time is limited. A successful blogger will work in high quality guest posts at certain times which allow them to maintain content but not at the expense of publishing subpar posts.

What about the steps needed for a successful blog?

Below you’ll find the five basic steps you need to make your blog a successful one.

1. Think about who your audience will be

It’s always better to target your blog for a particular audience. You can then focus to write something which could help your audience immensely. For example, if you are well-versed into internet marketing, you should target people who are just new to the world of internet marketing and eager to learn from scratch. But try to choose a niche which is expandable so that you can find more and more topics to write on. Don’t shy away from sharing all your secrets. Write every bit of useful information, you can think of, to make your blog stand out. It’s an old saying that “Knowledge grows, the more you give away”. So give away everything like a good teacher and you will get much more in return in the form of ever growing audience.

2. Engage your readers

Write your content so that it perfectly makes sense to reflect the title of your post. In other words, you should not go off topic while writing, otherwise, users may leave your blog. Also, think of what other topics you can write and link internally from the existing post so that it is highly likely that the user will click on that internal link. This is important to do to engage your reader for a longer period of time on the site. You can also use external links (links given to third party websites) on some texts which need more detailed explanation. This way users can click on the external links to find the required information related to those texts. Whether the users click on external or internal links, both are signs of user engagement and so good for SEO (search engine optimization).

3. Take care of your content

You should be honest in your approach while writing. Simply publishing the duplicate or re-written content is not going to help, as search engines like Google already have the technology to filter out the duplicate content pages from their search results, and so the duplicate content won’t give you any organic traffic . Another important thing is to provide an evidence of whatever you are writing, by referring to the original source in the form of an external link. This is specifically important if your content is based on some research work and requires authenticity. Content based on your imaginations and personal experiences, however, will not need any authenticity. Also, make sure you know about emotional intelligence while writing, else you may face the criticism in the online community.

4. Participate in online communities

So what are online communities? There are numerous other blogs, forums, discussion boards, FAQ sites, like Stack Overflow, where users can interact with each other to discuss their problems and also share their knowledge and experiences. All such platforms are a part of online communities. Just keep flooding your website with content is not going to help much to generate traffic. Just like you link to third party websites from your own blog, other websites should also link to your blog pages so that your blog can rank better in search engines like Google. This is how Google’s technology works to rank different websites in their search results but user experience (as already mentioned in step 2) is more important for Google than getting links.

You should put all the great efforts so that more and more websites or blogs link to your own blog pages. It doesn’t matter which blog page they link. This is only possible when you participate in online communities to popularize your content and then someone could link your content as a good resource for their website or may be out of sympathy if you requested a link to them. Someone may even ask for money to link your website but then paying for links is against Google webmaster guidelines and so that should be avoided.

5. Take care of the technical aspects

Professionalism is very important to impress anyone you want to. Most of the bloggers make use of readymade templates to create their blog using WordPress. This results in a similar kind of design (like other WordPress blogs over the internet) which doesn’t look professional. If you have money to spend, you should not use these open source website creation tools like WordPress.com or Blogger.com and get the blog done from scratch with your desired design from some individual web designer and programmer or some web developer company who does this. You can hire a lot of such web developers on sites like freelance.com and upwork.com.

It’s also possible to create a blog without CMS or publishing tools. Many blogs have done that. For every post, they have used a unique graphic or image which is not copied from anywhere. It’s easier to get links for your blog with a professional design and content.

Also, make sure to get your blog done with responsive design so that it is compatible with all the latest devices and browsers. Also, make sure to ask the developer to make the site load faster by eliminating all the errors (if any) as mentioned by PageSpeed Insights tool by Google. Hope that helps.

I think that this is a pretty comprehensive list of the top attributes of a successful blogger. Please feel free to share any more traits or characteristics that you think I left out.

The post Top 10 Attributes of a Successful Blogger Who Have Successful Blogs appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

If you have a website or blog, or if you work with anything related to the Internet, you’ll certainly need to know a bit about search engine optimization (SEO). A good way to get started is to familiarize yourself with the most common terms of the trade, and below you’ll find 20 of them. (For those who already know SEO, consider this post as a refresher!).

1. SEM: Stands for Search Engine Marketing, and as the name implies it involves marketing services or products via search engines. SEM is divided into two main pillars: SEO and PPC. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is the practice of optimizing websites to make their pages appear in the organic search results. PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click, and it is the practice of purchasing clicks from search engines. The clicks come from sponsored listings in the search results.

2. Backlink: Also called inlink or simply link, it is an hyperlink on another website pointing back to your own website. Backlinks are important for SEO because they affect directly the PageRank of any web page, influencing its search rankings.

3. PageRank: PageRank is an algorithm that Google uses to estimate the relative important of pages around the web. The basic idea behind the algorithm is the fact that a link from page A to page B can be seen as a vote of trust from page A to page B. The higher the number of links (weighted to their value) to a page, therefore, the higher the probability that such page is important.

4. Linkbait: A linkbait is a piece of web content published on a website or blog with the goal of attracting as many backlinks as possible (in order to improve one’s search rankings). Usually it’s a written piece, but it can also be a video, a picture, a quiz or anything else. A classic example of linkbait are the “Top 10? lists that tend to become popular on social bookmarking sites.

5. Link farm. A link farm is a group of websites where every website links to every other website, with the purpose of artificially increasing the PageRank of all the sites in the farm. This practice was effective in the early days of search engines, but today they are seeing as a spamming technique (and thus can get you penalized).

6. Anchor text: The anchor text of a backlink is the text that is clickable on the web page. Having keyword rich anchor texts help with SEO because Google will associate these keywords with the content of your website. If you have a weight loss blog, for instance, it would help your search rankings if some of your backlinks had “weight loss” as their anchor texts.

7. NoFollow: The nofollow is a link attribute used by website owners to signal to Google that they don’t endorse the website they are linking to. This can happen either when the link is created by the users themselves (e.g., blog comments), or when the link was paid for (e.g., sponsors and advertisers). When Google sees the nofollow attribute it will basically not count that link for the PageRank and search algorithms.

8. Link Sculpting: By using the nofollow attribute strategically webmasters were able to channel the flow of PageRank within their websites, thus increasing the search rankings of desired pages. This practice is no longer effective as Google recently change how it handles the nofollow attribute.

9. Title Tag: The title tag is literally the title of a web page, and it’s one of the most important factors inside Google’s search algorithm. Ideally your title tag should be unique and contain the main keywords of your page. You can see the title tag of any web page on top of the browser while navigating it.

10. Meta Tags: Like the title tag, meta tags are used to give search engines more information regarding the content of your pages. The meta tags are placed inside the HEAD section of your HTML code, and thus are not visible to human visitors.

11. Search Algorithm: Google’s search algorithm is used to find the most relevant web pages for any search query. The algorithm considers over 200 factors (according to Google itself), including the PageRank value, the title tag, the meta tags, the content of the website, the age of the domain and so on.

12. SERP: Stands for Search Engine Results Page. It’s basically the page you’ll get when you search for a specific keyword on Google or on other search engines. The amount of search traffic your website will receive depends on the rankings it will have inside the SERPs.

13. Sandbox: Google basically has a separate index, the sandbox, where it places all newly discovered websites. When websites are on the sandbox, they won’t appear in the search results for normal search queries. Once Google verifies that the website is legitimate, it will move it out of the sandbox and into the main index.

14. Keyword Density: To find the keyword density of any particular page you just need to divide the number of times that keyword is used by the total number of words in the page. Keyword density used to be an important SEO factor, as the early algorithms placed a heavy emphasis on it. This is not the case anymore.

15. Keyword Stuffing: Since keyword density was an important factor on the early search algorithms, webmasters started to game the system by artificially inflating the keyword density inside their websites. This is called keyword stuffing. These days this practice won’t help you, and it can also get you penalized.

16. Cloaking. This technique involves making the same web page show different content to search engines and to human visitors. The purpose is to get the page ranked for specific keywords, and then use the incoming traffic to promote unrelated products or services. This practice is considering spamming and can get you penalized (if not banned) on most search engines.

17. Web Crawler: Also called search bot or spider, it’s a computer program that browses the web on behalf of search engines, trying to discover new links and new pages. This is the first step on the indexation process.

18. Duplicate Content: Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar. You should avoid having duplicate content on your website because it can get you penalized.

19. Canonical URL: Canonicalization is a process for converting data that has more than one possible representation into a “standard” canonical representation. A canonical URL, therefore, is the standard URL for accessing a specific page within your website. For instance, the canonical version of your domain might be http://www.domain.com instead of http://domain.com.

20. Robots.txt: This is nothing more than a file, placed in the root of the domain, that is used to inform search bots about the structure of the website. For instance, via the robots.txt file it’s possible to block specific search robots and to restrict the access to specific folders of section inside the website.

The post 20 SEO Terms You Should Know appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

There are three simple rules to follow when choosing a blog name:

1) It must describe your blog: it is probable that lots of people will see a link to your blog before having the chance to actually read it (in search engines, for instance). Guess what, if just by looking at the name they can figure what the blog is about they will be more likely to visit it.

2) It must be easy to remember: suppose your blog talks about cycling, fitness and health advice in general. Naming it “The Cycling, Fitness and General Health Advice Blog” would offer quite an exhaustive description of the blog, but would it also be easy to remember? Stick with simple names.

3) It must be equal to the domain name: this rule is often ignored by people, probably because finding a suitable domain that has not been registered yet is a difficult task. Still if your domain name does not match the blog name you will probably lose some readers along the way. When people visit your blog through a link they will just read the name of the blog. Should they decide to revisit the site a couple of days later they will just type that name followed by a dot com. If they do not find your blog once they hit enter they will just go somewhere else.

The post How to choose a blog name appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

If you enable comments on your blog (which I’m sure most of you do), then you obviously want your readers to interact by leaving comments after your post. Then why, I ask, does it usually end up being a one-sided conversation?

It’s like giving a presentation to a group of people and not responding to questions and comments from your audience. It just seems rude, but for some reason it has become standard for bloggers not to reply to comments made on their post.

So much for “interaction”.

For big-time bloggers with several comments on each post, it would obviously be tough to respond to each and every single comment. But you have to admit that it is nice to when the big names take the time to respond to some of the comments, right?

The truth is, most of us are not “big time” bloggers and we do have the time to respond. And yet – we don’t.

In Step #6 of 6 Steps To An Effective Guest Post, it mentions:

“If you are fortunate enough to get your site published, the work is not over yet. All your efforts should go into promoting that article and taking part in any comments that may be posted.

Why is this something that only guest posters should do? Every blogger should be doing it on their own posts too.

For the past several months, I’ve been doing my best to respond to each and every single comment on my own blog, just to see what would happen. The response has been nothing less than amazing. In fact, people have pointed out that they love that I respond to almost every comment, and some of my readers have even emailed me just to say thanks.

So what’s the real benefit? Why should you invest a few extra minutes to respond to your readers? Here are 5 reasons to do so:

1. It Encourages People To Comment

People don’t leave comments just so they can be left unread. By replying, you’re not only letting people know that you’re actively involved in reading the comments, but you’re encouraging them to come back and comment again later.

Furthermore, people who don’t normally comment may be happy to do so knowing that their comment will indeed be read.

2. It Adds to the Quality of Your Posts

A reply can often lead to side conversations within the commenting area that add to the content and overall quality of your post. Your points will be explained further, new points will be brought up, and questions that people may have get answered.

Also, new people will join the side conversations and add their own comments that they wouldn’t have normally made otherwise.

3. It Helps With Search Engine Optimization

Comments on your blog posts do in fact help with search engine optimization, although admittedly in a minimal way.

More comments, including your own, usually mean more instances of the keywords that you used in your blog post, which means you’re more likely to be found in the search engines for those terms.

Additionally, new terms that you did not use in your blog post will be brought up and discussed, which could potentially help you for those terms as well.

4. It Adds More Social Proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when people’s decisions are influenced by making the assumption that surrounding people know more about certain situations than you do.

For example, if you’re at the mall and you see a huge crowd of people around a particular store, chances are that you’re going to walk over and see what the big deal is. In a similar way, you might be more inclined to follow a certain blogger in a niche just because they have more subscribers and followers than others.

In most cases, your own comments will count towards the overall comment count of your post. Respond to 15 comments, and you’ll have a total comment count of 30, which looks more far more impressive and interesting to your readers and any new visitors to your blog.

5. It Helps You Build Authority and Credibility

Finally, by responding to each comment, you’re establishing yourself as a go-to expert in your niche. You become more “real” and are seen as someone who actually takes time to care for your readers, which adds value to you and your blog.

Because responding to comments is abnormal, you’ll stand out of the crowd like no other. And if you can leave thoughtful, meaningful comments, you’ll make that much more of an impact on your readers.

It doesn’t take very much extra time, and the return on investment can be phenomenal. So why not give it a shot?

Try responding to every comment and see what happens.

So What Do You Think?

How do you feel when a blogger responds to a comment you left on his or her blog? Do you think it’s worth the time and effort to do so, or are we just wasting our time?

Please leave a comment below, and tell me what you think.

Cheers!

The post 5 Reasons Why It’s Important to Respond to Every Comment on Your Blog appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Do you struggle to organize your blog posts in advance? I did too for my first two years of blogging.

I’ve got a background in journalism so when I started blogging I knew the importance of having an editorial calendar and planning my blog posts in advance.

I’ve also created clear topics on my blogs because it helps my readers see what information they can find on my blog and get there fast.

But despite my best intentions I didn’t have a good way of planning and scheduling my blog posts.

In fact it was a real rigmarole.

First I created my editorial calendar in a text document then I constantly had to switch between that and WordPress to work out what I was posting and when. It caused a lot of time-wasting and many grey hairs.

Until finally I discovered there is a better way. Namely the WordPress Editorial Calendar plug-in which was created by Zack Grossbart.

Here’s what I love about the WordPress Editorial Calendar plug-in:

1. It makes planning blog posts easy

Now I can view my editorial calendar with up to five weeks of blog posts at a time and even schedule further ahead than that by clicking ahead to the next month. I can see at a glance which blog posts are already scheduled to be published and when as well as which posts are still drafts and need to be finalized.

2. You can see your whole editorial calendar on one screen

Instead of having to browse through all my draft posts now I can see them all on one page. This is a huge benefit for me because I have a lot of draft posts. Some of them are just headlines, others fully fleshed blog posts waiting to be edited and everything in between.

3. It’s easy to reschedule blog posts.

The editorial calendar is drag and drop so if I’ve got a blog post scheduled for Tues 24th I can just drag it over to Tues 31st and that’s when it will be posted.

4. It helps you structure your blog content

I can see all scheduled posts at a glance so it’s easy to see if a specific topic is missing or if I’m writing too much about one topic at the expense of others. There’s also an option to quick edit and change blog post titles, content, and publishing times if I need to.

5. It allows you to be more creative

I don’t waste so much time wondering what I’m going to post and when so that frees up more time for doing what I love best – writing top content and coming up with compelling headlines.

The Drawbacks of the WordPress Editorial Calendar plug-in

The editorial calendar has limitations but not many. The most annoying thing is that draft posts you created before installing the plug-in don’t automatically appear in the calendar. Once the plug-in is installed the best option is to use the editorial calendar to create your draft posts.

But heck what do you expect?

It’s free! It’s simple to use and it works.

Is the WP Editorial Calendar Right For You?

Check out the five minute slideshow to find out more and you can even log into the handy sandbox where you can play around with the plug-in and make sure it’s right for you before you install it.

I recommend you check it out, liberate yourself from struggling to plan your blog posts and free up your time for more creative blogging.

What do you think?

The post 5 Reasons You’ll Love the WordPress Editorial Calendar appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

If you want to conquer the search results, it’s crucial to master the art of on page SEO factors. From technical intricacies to content optimization, understanding and implementing these critical elements are paramount to your website’s success.

As the years fly by, it’s common to see folks fixated on off-page techniques like link building and technical wizardry. But here’s the real scoop: if you neglect on-page SEO, your off-page efforts may fall flat. Savvy SEO experts understand the undeniable importance of on-page optimization and consistently prioritize it. With search engine algorithms evolving incessantly, staying up to date with on-page SEO factors is non-negotiable.

While you can’t control every aspect of search engine algorithms, there’s one thing you have complete control over: your own website. That’s right, by optimizing your on-page SEO factors, you can take charge and maximize your chances of ranking higher.

In this article, we’re diving deep into the significance of on-page SEO factors and unveiling the ten game-changing elements you must master today.!

What Is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO is also called on-site SEO, which is the practice of optimizing one’s webpage. It has the goal to improve the website’s rankings on search engines, earning them organic traffic for more views, potential sales, and more benefits.

There are actually many ways one can optimize their on-page SEO, from publishing the quality content down to updating HTML tags, headlines, images, and the like. But the main focus is ensuring that your entire website has the expertise and trustworthiness both search engines and users will appreciate.

On-page SEO takes account a lot of factors of your webpage to improve its visibility in search engine results. If you don’t want to get technical you can always hire someone to perform an SEO audit for you.

The Importance of On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is crucial to do because it will help search engines like Google comprehend what your website and its content is all about. It will identify whether the content posted is relevant to all searchers’ queries, which is what can make or break your rankings.

And because search engines are becoming even more sophisticated by the year, experts ow focus on semantics and relevance of their content for search engine results pages. This is because search engines are constantly upgrading their algorithm and smartening up their bots!

Today, we can see that Google is now better with its complex algorithms, specifically in these points:

Understanding the users look into when typing!

Delivering the most accurate search results which help meet user’s intent, from shopping, navigational, to informational content

As this continues to develop and upgrade, it’s essential to adapt to all these. How can you do so? Make sure that, your website and content, as well as its elements, are well-optimized according to all the best practices today!

Furthermore, you shouldn’t ignore on-page SEO! After all, it’s what you have full control of and can make or break your results. That’s why it’s best to put even more effort than you usually do, which can help boost your traffic and search presence.

Ten On-Page SEO Factors You Should Apply Today

Now that you’re familiar with on-page SEO, what can you do to optimize your website around it? Here are ten factors to look into

1. E-A-T Content

E-A-T is a great way to organize your thoughts and content to make it more effective. It stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness, which are the three main aspects Google raters and users would use to assess the entire webpage.

Google and other search engines always make sure that the highest-quality content is on top. With that being said, you have to make sure that you post higher-quality content compared to your competitors.

So when designing your webpage and writing content, try to follow the E-A-T order and put it into your SEO strategy.

2. Title Tags

A title tag is an HTML tag which is located in the webpage’s head sections. These are what provide the context of what that particular content or webpage is about. Furthermore, it’s features on the search engine results pages, seen as a clickable link. You also see it on the browser window which distinguishes the basics of what your webpage is about.

While it has little impact on one’s organic rankings, having duplications, leaving it missing or poorly written can negatively impact the SEO results.

3. Meta Description

You’re probably already familiar with the wonders of meta descriptions, existing even during the early years of SEO. These descriptions or meta tags can give you the opportunity t talk about what your content and webpage is in a short text. It’s displayed below the title of your page in search engine results pages.

While meta descriptions don’t directly impact one’s SEO rankings, it has the indirect attributes that help in raising traffic. By optimizing your meta descriptions, it can improve your click-through-rates and the way people see your page on the search results.

4. Content Headlines

If you want your content to perform well on search engines (obviously you do), then you need to write the interesting headline! While it does seem like such a basic task, taking your time to create a compelling headline can really make a huge difference between clocks and impressions.

That’s why you need to be strategic when writing headlines. It should spark interests so it can stand out among all the other results on the search engine, having people click yours over the others!

5. Header Tags

Header tags are the HTML elements that identify your content’s headings and subheadings within the content. It differs from paragraph text and though not that huge of a difference for rankings, it helps for your overall SEO and the users.

It makes content easier to read for users to enjoy the content. This encourages them to share the content because of how informative and enticing it is to view. Furthermore, it gives a chance to provide the keyword-rich content, which helps search engines identify your content and what it’s all about.

6. SEO Writing

SEO writing is advantageous for both search engines and your readers. And no, it isn’t just about filing in your content with main keywords then filling out the blanks right after. You DON’T produce content just for the sake of it.

Your goal should be to inform people and encourage them to share what you have to offer, based on the compelling and interesting content you have to offer. Of course, this means your content has to be backed up with authoritative content, relevant information, and trusted sources.

7. Keyword Cannibalization

People say that the more pages you own which targets keywords, the better your webpage can rank at. That’s actually NOT true at all! When you target a specific keyword among a lot of areas on your webpage, it shows keyword cannibalization, which can adversely impact your SEO.

It ends up with you competing with yourself and having bots think your page is all spam with the overuse of keywords. With that being said, look into your webpage for any keyword cannibalization instances and solve it all immediately!

8. Doing Content Audit

A lot of webpage owners are more focused on creating and posting new content that they don’t bother checking their existing content. This is a huge mistake to avoid doing, as auditing your previous content can help in many ways!

It helps evaluate if your existing content accomplishes goals and gains ROI, identifies if your contents’ information is accurate and up to date, as well as helps you see what content works best for you and the webpage. Overall, content auditing helps with your strategies and should be done regularly.

9. Image Optimization

It’s best to add images to have your webpages look appealing to viewers. However, images aren’t created equal, with some slowing down your business if you add it wrongly.

That’s why you should optimize all your webpage’s images as well, as it can help with ranking opportunities, load quicker, and offer a better user experience that helps keep your conversion rates high. Make sure you add titles and alt text, too!

10. User Engagement

Your SEO’s on-page elements are just a part of the battle. You also have to win your viewers’ hearts with better user experience, from the webpage itself down to the content. Increase your user engagement to have them interact, stay, and visit again by focusing on site speed, better content, and other ways to improve the design to impress your viewers.

When it comes to optimizing your website, you have to make sure that you have the knowledge and dedication to do so. Not only should you focus on one aspect of SEO, but in all, especially with on-page SEO. Through updating your website and following the right tips, you can begin reaching goals for your website now.

I hope that this article on the ten on-page SEO factors you should consider today helped you out! So don’t wait any longer and begin taking action on optimizing your website with your team or with SEO companies like Joel House now.

If you have any questions or want to share your tips and experiences on website optimization, then comment below. Your thoughts are much appreciated!

The post On Page SEO Factors: The Only Thing You Control That Can Skyrocket Your Website’s Traffic appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Adding things to your newly created blog is pretty cool, right? But be careful, there are things that you’d better leave out. Below you’ll find 10 of them.

1. Auto-Music: Nobody, and I mean, nobody wants to hear it. I vow never to subject you to my love of Barry Gibbs and Barbara Streisand duets and implore you to extend the same courtesy to me. Please.

2. Animated Gifs: Sure, they were cool in the late 90s. Now? Not so impressive. Let’s leave them over at My Space where they belong.

3. Tiny Type: If I have to strain my eyes to read your post, I’m just not going to. No matter how good your blog is.

4. Comment Verification: Install a spam preventing plug-in. It will take care of the spam and save people the effort of typing out nonsense words, or even worse, solve math problems just to leave a comment. Even if you’re on Blogger and have to delete a spam comment or two every now and then, it’s a small sacrifice and courteous to your readers. And it will keep them coming back and commenting again.

5. Spelling & Grammar Errors: Proofread. And then proofread again. Preview your post before you publish it. Even have someone else glance at it. Of course, we all make mistakes, but do your best to publish a post free of obvious errors.

6. Badges of prizes and awards you won: Sure, they’re flattering when you start blogging, but if you’ve been around a while your sidebars will start looking like Boy Scout vests. Dedicate a separate page for them and clean up those sidebars. You’ll look no less popular, and the sidebar police will thank you.

7. Regurgitated Content: If you said something that bears repeating, link back to that original post. Your readers will know if you keep spitting out the same old content and Google frowns upon duplicate posts. It’s bad idea all around.

8. Flashy Backgrounds: Your blog is not the Vegas strip. Black backgrounds with flashing lights and neon colors are not only hideous and hard to read, but they also take away what people are really at your blog to see: Great content.

9. Lies: It may be tempting to make things up to gain more traffic, but don’t. You will be found out, and you will look like an idiot.

10. Plagiarism: The only worse thing than blatantly making stuff up? Stealing other people’s stuff. It’s pretty much the biggest no-no there is in blog-land. If you want to quote someone, go for it and link back to them. Otherwise, you’re history.

The post 10 Things Your Blog Doesn’t Need appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Cyber-security is sadly something which has only come into the popular subconscious in the last decade or so. Yes, cyber-security has been around a lot longer than that, and there are plenty of instances where cyber-security will have helped average people secure themselves in previous years but the absolutely vital position it holds nowadays is only recently developed. It’s not hard to see why that is: for hackers and cyber-criminals of all shapes and sizes there are now so many more opportunities for them to take advantage of an innocent user. Technology is ubiquitous: everyone of a certain generation and below has a social media, possibly several, online instant messaging, does online shopping, receives targeted emails, does online banking and just, generally, lives their lives in the online sphere. With each new advancement in technology cyber-crime is given a fresh avenue through which it can exploit users.

An area that is certainly not immune is web hosting and website management. It’s likely that if you have a website then you might pride yourself on already understanding some of the threats which are out there for you and your website. But the truth is you likely don’t know the full extent to the vulnerability and, even if you do, you almost certainly don’t know how to deal with it yourself anyway. WordPress is a great resource for those of us who want simple solutions to website ownership and content management. It’s incredibly usable and it makes for an easy, stress-free way for an average user to get themselves a website or blog that can compete with more complexly coded sites. That being said, it still presents a security risk and it still demands the kind of protection that all sites need nowadays. So, to guide you through what is available, here are 20 security plug-ins for you to sure up your WordPress site.

1. Jetpack

Jetpack is made by people from WordPress itself so it’s one of the more popular options for security for your WordPress. Jetpack has a variety of uses, pertaining to social media, website speed and spam protection. There’s a fair amount of security which is included in the Jetpack free option but if you want the real heavy deal security then you ought to try the paid version, which, crucially, includes the benefit of security scans to check everything is in order at any time.

2. Google Authenticator

Google Authenticator offers a two-factor authentication option for your site. It’s a one-off feature: Google Authenticator only offers this security, in a very simplistic way. And yet, it is actually a fabulously good option for a lot of people. “Whilst some people will shoot for plug-ins which seem to offer it all, Google’s authentication plug-in is the sort of thing which they won’t find in the average package, and it’s very helpful”, writes Jason Alex. GA will offer you a second layer of security at any login portal.

  3. Security Ninja

Security Ninja has a great selection of features attached to its free package, which makes it a valuable resource for those wanting to do security on a budget. The main plug-in, and the only one you can get in the free deal, performs over 50 checks to various points of the login process, as well as monitoring user passwords to get read of weak login information and educate users on security.

 4. Shield Security

Shield Security is a complete plug-in that offers a really wide-spanning site security spectrum. It is a very good resource for anyone who worries that they are not on top of their site security but doesn’t understand where to go from acknowledging that fact. Like many of the others, Shield have a free option, but their ‘Pro’ service is really outstanding, with an incredible 24hr security hotline for your benefit.

 5. Sucuri Security

Far and away one of the most famous options for securing your site. It’s an intuitive and rigorously designed application which will ensure that your site stays well protected even on the free plan. The free plan, impressively, gives you an auditing option which you can use to check how well the software is defending your site for you and allows you to make changes based on that information.

 6. iThemes Security

iThemes Security is an absolute heavy hitter in the world of plug-in security options. Shaking off it’s previous identity as Better WP Security, iThemes gives you 30 or so tools for preventing hacks and cyber-criminals, excelling particularly in recognizing vulnerabilities and old, weak software.

 7. WP fail2ban

Much like Google Authenticator, WP fail2bn only offers the user a single feature: protection against a brute force attack. “Brute force attacks are unsubtle and simplistic but can be deadly for certain sites. An algorithm runs every combination of password and username until it finds one that lets it in, which might take days, or minutes, but will hurt your site when it inevitably works”, write Ahmed Amin. Protecting against this is vital and done well by this software.

 8. SecuPress

New to the market, SecuPress, which used to be known as freemium, SecuPress is deeply user friendly, with an excellently optimized interface for use by anyone of any level of knowledge and understanding. It’s inexpensive in its full form and it is good at identifying attacking bots.

 9. VaultPress

VaultPress is one of the few security add-ons which doesn’t have a free version, so it’s going to be much more useful to you if you have a pre-existing understanding of security. VaultPress excels at its backup scheduling with clear and easy to use out backup monitors.

 10. Defender

Defender is as basic as it gets. Not necessarily in terms of its content being simplistic, but the layout and user-friendly interface makes cyber-security seem like a doddle. It’s specifically good for WordPress and quickly identifies changes made at the directory level and allows you to restore in a matter of seconds.

11. BulletProof

Bulletproof is a retro-esque security software which comes in a free package and a paid package as well. The paid package, conveniently, is a one-off payment not a repeated fee and only costs $69.95. You can try out the free plug-in first off and then see if the added features that come with the paid version are worth the time and money.

 12. Astra Web Security

Astro Web Security is a really complete and complex security add-on. In fact, it’s more like a security suite of sorts with such a broad-spanning range of services available to users. It’s an incredibly valuable service which gets billed annually depending on how much you make use of it. It’s an incredibly reliable brand, used by some of the biggest companies in the world, so, if you want guaranteed quality and an extremely broad range of tools then Astra is your best bet.

 13. All In One WP Security & Firewall

This is an incredibly comprehensive look at WordPress security, with an easy interface and some valuable premium plans available to anyone looking for a wide variety of tools and good usability. With Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels there is literally something for anyone, no matter how much or how little you know about cyber-security.

14. WordFence Security

WordFence Security is one of the most popular plug-ins for security out of all of the ones on the list. Its biggest appeal is that its free version is as good as some companies’ premium content. It has an active traffic tracker which allows you to monitor activity on your site, both potentially criminal and not. The more you know about cyber-crime, the cheaper it gets, since developers can get a package that is premium but with a huge discount.

15. WordPress Antivirus Site Protection

Another wordy one, this plugin is really helpful for some of the more insidious virus attacks. It’s specifically targeted towards WordPress and allows you to root out worms, spyware, adware and redirection viruses with a few clicks. It’s an active defender as well, so as soon as the plug-in recognizes some sort of breach on the site it will notify you to confirm if it is benevolent or malevolent.

16. VIP Scanner

This is one of those plug-ins which does exactly what it says on the tin: it scans. In this instance, VIP Scanner will scan files on your website to help you to find any vulnerabilities, in a pre-emptive attempt to stop any potential breaches before they have even begun. It’s extremely simplistic which makes it easy to use. However, just because it is user-friendly, doesn’t stop it from being valuable for your site security.

 17. Loginizer

Loginizer is another fairly self-explanatory one for you. It is again a single-minded add-on which deals with security surrounding your log-in portal. In this instance it behaves a bit like WP fail2ban, since its main focus is to identify and defend against brute attacks: bots which behave like they’re in a war of attrition by wearing through all of the log-in options for a website until they find one which works. It only takes one for the breach to be made and, once this has been established, any sort of chaos can be reeked on your website. Loginizer also allows you to customize a threat list, so you can black-ball IP addresses that you consider threatening to stop them before they’ve even begun any sort of attack. A simple but highly utility-oriented resource for site security for your WordPress.

18. Cerber Security And Antispam

Cerber Security and Antispam is a very clear software, much like Loginizer, in terms of its focus. It quickly nips brute force attacks in the bud by using authentication cookies t see if a certain IP access point is trying over and over again to access the log-in portal. Once it knows it black-lists the address until you stop it. As such, the program has a blacklist and whitelist mechanism, whereby you are able to control your site’s relationship with certain users. The antispam mechanism is extremely useful, particularly for bloggers to help them identify repetitive, annoying remark in the comment sections of the sites. It may be simple, but it packs a punch and is great at getting certain jobs done, with a great deal of efficiency and effectiveness.

 19. BBQ (Block Bad Queries)

Despite its humorous name and a lot of its marketing material looking like a college student’s computer science project, BBQ is a really useful, if somewhat simplistic, firewall plugin. It’s super, super easy to use and can be accessed and utilized in a few clicks. It’s a brilliant tool for beginners who don’t know how to jump into the world of cyber-security and want something they can understand as a building block to more complex destinations.

20. Antivirus

It doesn’t really get too much simpler than this, in name or in practical use. Antivirus does exactly what it seems that it might do: it scans your WordPress site and searches for viruses in the form of malware, adware and spam. If anything is discovered on your WordPress you will quickly be notified as it does require a human gaze to establish the exact nature of the threat and, consequently what it is that should be done about the threat itself. Very simple, yet extremely useful.

It is a sad truth of the world that we live in that so many people are ignorant about the rough realities of the cyberworld. Part of this has to do with the fact that technology develops quicker than the solutions for securing it, leaving cyber-security as an industry somewhat lost at sea. But, on the other hand, people are ill-informed. Hopefully with this exhaustive list of options you will find the protection add-on that will keep your WordPress site safe forever. Securing your site will save you a world of pain and struggle in the long run, believe me.

The post Top 20 WordPress Security Plugins in 2024 appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

If you are planning to buy or sell a website, you probably already heard about Flippa. It is the largest online marketplace for websites. Most people who list a website for sale there, however, end up selling it for peanuts (e.g., $100), or not selling at all. If you’re ready to explore the world of buying and selling websites and gain some valuable tips, you’ve come to the right place. But to make a splash on Flippa, you need more than just a listing. You need the secrets that will boost your chances of selling your website and making a profit. Get ready to discover the top strategies that will make your website stand out on Flippa!

Why Effective Strategies Matter When Selling On Flippa

Flippa is where website owners and buyers connect to make deals happen. Whether you have a blog, an online store, or a content treasure trove, Flippa is the place to list it on. Imagine a bustling marketplace filled with countless listings. In this sea of options, your listing needs an edge. That’s where effective strategies come in. By using smart tactics, you’ll shine a spotlight on your website and attract buyers who see its true value. I’ll share the tips and tricks that will make your website a success. From showcasing your revenue potential to building trust, we’ve got all the insider knowledge you need to make your Flippa experience a true triumph!

How come? Most of the times the seller didn’t do his homework. If you want to maximize your chances of selling (and your profit), the 10 tips below will help you.

1. Make Sure Your Website Is Making Money

Revenue Potential: It’s not recommended to list a high-traffic yet unmonetized website on Flippa. While it may sell, the price could be significantly lower than its true value. Buyers typically look for websites that are already generating income, demonstrating proven revenue potential.

Optimal Revenue: For instance, if you have a website earning around $50 per month, it might not yield an optimal return. Focus on increasing traffic and revenues to at least $300 per month to enhance its appeal and market value. If the website mainly earns through Google AdSense and generates $300 per month, it could potentially sell for around $8,000 on Flippa. However, this figure is an estimate, and the actual selling price will depend on various factors like niche, growth potential, and market demand.

Revenue Proof: When selling on Flippa, buyers often consider the average revenue over the past four to six months as a reliable indicator of a website’s earning potential. Therefore, it’s crucial to have the necessary documentation and data to demonstrate the consistent revenue your website generates. Doing so can increase buyer confidence and maximize your chances of securing a higher selling price on Flippa.

2. Leverage Google Analytics (GA) Data

Google Analytics data is crucial when selling on Flippa as it offers tangible evidence of your website’s traffic and revenue potential, enhancing your transparency and credibility.

If you’re selling a blog, demonstrating consistent attraction of 10,000 monthly organic visitors over six months can appeal to buyers. In your listing, focus on key metrics like high average session duration or strong conversion rate to highlight efficient monetization.

Remember to install Google Analytics before your planned sale to accumulate substantial data. This enables you to display historical trends and growth patterns, offering a comprehensive view of your site’s potential. Google Analytics data is key to boosting your listing’s appeal and credibility on Flippa.

This table should help to clarify the significance of these Google Analytics metrics when selling a website on Flippa. Understanding these terms can aid in presenting a compelling, data-backed listing to potential buyers.

3.Boost Your Trust Rating

Trust is crucial on Flippa – a high trust rating enhances your credibility and attracts potential buyers. Here are strategies to boost your trust rating:

1. Link Your Social Media Accounts – Connecting your Flippa account with Facebook and LinkedIn boosts transparency, enabling buyers to verify your identity and explore your professional network. This portrays you as a reliable seller and positively influences buyers’ perception.
2. Verify Your Phone Number – This step proves you’re a real person, adding credibility to your profile and indicating your seriousness about the sale.
3. Maintain a Positive Reputation – Engage in ethical business practices, communicate effectively with potential buyers, and fulfill your promises. Positive feedback from previous transactions enhances your trust rating, giving prospective buyers more confidence.

Improving your trust rating is an ongoing process. By demonstrating transparent and honest transactions, you can establish yourself as a trustworthy seller and boost your chances of a successful sale on Flippa.

4. Optimize Auction Length

When selling your website on Flippa, the duration of your auction plays a crucial role in attracting potential buyers and creating a sense of urgency. In this section, we will explore the optimal auction length and the drawbacks of longer auction periods.

The Power of Seven Days

Setting the auction length to seven days is widely considered optimal for maximizing visibility and generating buyer interest. This duration provides a balance between allowing enough time for potential buyers to discover your listing and creating a sense of urgency that compels them to take action.

By choosing a seven-day auction period, you ensure that your website receives exposure to a diverse range of potential buyers. Those who browse the marketplace during weekdays and weekends will have an opportunity to come across your listing, increasing the chances of attracting a larger pool of interested parties.

Disadvantages of Longer Auction Periods

While it may be tempting to extend your auction period beyond seven days, there are several disadvantages to consider:

1. Diminished Urgency: Longer auction periods can dilute the sense of urgency among potential buyers. When given an extended timeframe, buyers may feel less compelled to act immediately, leading to delayed or lower bidding activity.
2. Decreased Buyer Engagement: As time goes on, buyer engagement tends to decline. Potential buyers who initially showed interest may lose enthusiasm or get distracted by other listings. This can result in fewer bids and reduced competition among buyers, ultimately impacting the final selling price.
3. Loss of Momentum: Longer auctions risk losing momentum over time. Initial excitement and interest may wane as the auction progresses, making it more challenging to sustain buyer attention and generate competitive bidding.

By opting for a seven-day auction length, you strike a balance between providing ample exposure to potential buyers and instilling a sense of urgency that motivates them to act promptly.

5. Strategically Set Reserve and Minimum Bid

In your Flippa auction, intelligently determining the reserve price and minimum bid can greatly impact the final sale.

Stir Interest with a Low Reserve Price

By opting for a lower reserve price, you create a sense of urgency among bidders. The moment your reserve price is met, Flippa notifies users, encouraging them to bid more.

Consider this: You list your e-commerce site with a $5,000 reserve price. Seeing low bidding activity, you drop the reserve to $3,000. The prominent “Bidding open and reserve has been met!” message then drives more buyers to bid, promoting competition and pushing up the final selling price.

Filter Out Casual Bidders with a Higher Minimum Bid

A higher minimum bid, on the other hand, acts as a filter for non-serious buyers and maintains the auction’s integrity. It discourages low offers and impulsive bidding, thus attracting buyers who are truly interested and ready to commit.

For instance, let’s say you’re selling a content website with a $2,000 reserve price. To appeal to dedicated buyers, you set a minimum bid of $500. This wards off casual bidders while attracting those who value your website and are ready to participate in the auction competitively.

In conclusion, strategically setting the reserve price and minimum bid boosts your chances of a successful and profitable sale on Flippa. The low reserve price encourages bidding, and a higher minimum bid keeps non-serious bidders at bay, fostering healthy competition.

6. Determine a Reasonable Buy It Now (BIN) Price

On Flippa, setting an appropriate Buy It Now (BIN) price is key for drawing buyers and enabling a seamless transaction.

Tap into Industry Insights

Before deciding a BIN price, it’s worth seeking advice from experienced peers or industry experts. They can offer fresh viewpoints and help you assess your website’s market value.

Look for people familiar with your website’s industry or niche. Share specifics about your site’s performance, traffic, and income. Ask for their views on a fair BIN price. This external perspective can be essential to aligning your price with market expectations.

For example, suppose you have a niche blog with regular traffic and a devoted reader base. You want the BIN price to reflect your site’s content, brand, and future growth potential. By consulting with fellow bloggers and industry professionals, and sharing relevant data, you can gain insights and arrive at a BIN price that suits your niche’s market conditions.

Avoid Overpricing

Overambitious BIN prices can deter buyers and impede the sales process. Buyers do their homework before buying, and an inflated BIN price can lead them to question your listing’s credibility.

A BIN price significantly above the market value might signal that you’re out of touch with market trends, discouraging serious buyers and resulting in lackluster interest or bidding activity.

Suppose you run an e-commerce site selling handmade crafts, and you believe it’s worth $50,000. However, market research and peer feedback suggest a more realistic value of $20,000. If you insist on a $50,000 BIN price, knowledgeable buyers might see your listing as overpriced or question your market understanding, leading to less interest and fewer bids.

By setting a fair BIN price in line with market trends and realistic evaluations, you attract serious buyers ready to make competitive offers. A reasonable BIN price is vital for generating buyer interest and ensuring a smooth sales process on Flippa.

7. Avoid Hyped Descriptions

When selling your website on Flippa, maintain credibility. Avoid exaggerations and unrealistic claims. Here’s how:

Resist Hype

Over-hyped descriptions can raise doubts. Don’t use phrases like “Huge potential!”, or “A lifetime opportunity!”. Stick to the facts and tangible benefits of your website.

If your website earns $10 per month, don’t inflate it as a potential $4,000/month goldmine. Be transparent and realistic about earnings and growth.

Stay Real

Don’t speculate on future earnings. Unsupported claims harm your credibility. Focus on verifiable data – your website’s current revenue, traffic, and user engagement.

Share real performance metrics instead of speculative forecasts. Details about revenue sources, target audience, and growth strategies provide reliable data for potential buyers.

By skipping hype and unrealistic claims, you build trust. Focus on actual performance and benefits. This will attract serious buyers who value transparency and facts.

8. Engage with Commenters

Here’s a secret to boost your auction’s standing and trust on Flippa: engage with commenters! Potential buyers want to know you’re active, attentive, and transparent.

Speedy Replies Go a Long Way

Potential buyers are bound to have questions, despite your detailed description. Show them you’re on the ball – reply promptly to every comment and inquiry. It’s not just about answering quickly; it’s about offering additional details that prove you’re trustworthy and encourages them to bid.

Take, for example, a query about traffic sources or monetization strategies for your website. Don’t just reply – seize the moment to give an in-depth answer that shines a light on your marketing tactics, traffic generation, and diverse revenue streams. This kind of engagement builds buyer confidence and puts your expertise on display.

Keep Comments Visible

Transparency is everything. Resist the urge to delete comments unless it’s necessary. It can appear suspicious and potential buyers might think you’re hiding something. Keep your comment section open and honest.

If someone’s asking for more information about your site’s performance or revenue, don’t just delete their comment – address it directly and truthfully. It’s an opportunity to dispel any doubts and flaunt your transparency and professionalism.

Remember, engaging with commenters, responding quickly, and keeping an honest comment section is a triple-threat strategy. It enhances your credibility, convinces more people to participate in your auction, and positions you as a reliable seller.

9. Have A Plausible Reason for Selling

While listing your website for sale on Flippa, it’s vital to offer a legitimate reason for selling within your auction description. Stating a believable reason for selling your website can foster trust among potential buyers. It displays your transparency and assures buyers there aren’t undisclosed issues with the website. By doing so, you encourage an open and secure environment for serious auction consideration.

For instance, if you’re selling a well-established blog, you might mention in your auction description that you’re selling to concentrate on different business ventures or personal obligations. This valid reason assures buyers that your choice to sell is strategic, not due to unresolved issues with the website.

Refrain from raising doubts with an unclear selling reason.

10. Invite Qualified Buyers

To attract more bids and engage serious buyers for your Flippa auction, consider directly inviting qualified individuals. Here’s how:

• Identify Similar Websites and Engaged Users – Browse through the Flippa marketplace for websites similar to yours, whether active or sold. Look for users who have a high trust rating and have shown interest in related auctions.
• Craft Personalized Messages – Send a direct message to these users, referring to their previous engagement and expressing why your auction may be of interest to them.
• Emphasize the Value – Clearly communicate the value of your website, highlighting its benefits, potential revenue streams, and growth prospects.
• Encourage Engagement – Invite potential buyers to ask questions and engage with your auction. Promptly respond to their inquiries to build trust and transparency.
• Maintain Professionalism- Maintain a professional and respectful tone when reaching out to potential buyers.

Real-world example:

Subject: Exclusive Invitation: Explore an Exciting Website Auction Opportunity

Hi [Buyer’s Name],

I noticed your active engagement and trust rating on similar Flippa auctions. I wanted to personally invite you to an exceptional opportunity. I’m auctioning a website that aligns perfectly with your interests.

This website offers [briefly describe the website’s niche/industry] and has a strong track record of [mention key performance indicators such as revenue, traffic, or user engagement]. It presents a unique chance for growth and profitability.

Explore the auction listing at [insert link to your Flippa auction]. Discover detailed information about the website’s features, revenue streams, and growth prospects. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. I’m here to provide prompt responses.

Thank you for considering this opportunity. I look forward to your potential participation as the new owner of this exciting website.

Best regards,
[Your Name]

Note: Customize the example to suit your situation and target buyer’s interests.

Pro Tip: Keep Your Auction On The Homepage

To get the most out of your Flippa auction and catch the eye of possible buyers, you might want to think about spotlighting your listing on the main page. Here’s why it could be a crucial strategy:

Choosing the “Prominent Listing on the Main Page” add-on gives your auction a top spot on the Flippa homepage. This area is typically the first stop for most buyers, so your listing gets substantial visibility, thereby enhancing the chances of receiving credible offers.

By putting your auction in the spotlight on the main page, you’re ensuring it grabs a broad spectrum of prospective buyers’ attention. This strategic positioning distinguishes your auction from others and increases the chances of it being noticed by serious investors hunting for worthwhile opportunities. If your auction drifts to the second page without getting credible offers in the initial period, it might be wise to think about opting for the main page feature again. This extra step can reignite intrigue and pull attention back towards your auction.

The post Sell Your Website on Flippa Like a Pro: 10 Expert Tips appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Are you interested in earning money from your website or app through direct ads? Selling advertising space on your digital platform can be highly lucrative. This guide will take you through the steps to sell banner ads on your website and attract advertisers for your app.

Direct advertising sales is arguably the best method to monetize a website. Finding advertisers for your site and actually closing the deals, however, is not as straight forward. Over the past 6 months I had more than 10 high profile companies sponsoring Daily Blog Tips, and through out this article I will share what I have learned along the way.

Planning and Marketing

Finding buyers for your advertising space requires strategic planning and effective marketing techniques. Start by identifying where you can effectively advertise your website, such as online marketplaces, social media, and industry-specific forums.

To broaden your reach, consider networking with local businesses and joining advertising associations.

Using Ad Networks

One option is to use popular ad networks like Google AdSense, Media.net, and Adversal. These networks connect you with a wide range of advertisers and often provide code snippets for easy integration into your website. However, it’s important to keep in mind that they may take a percentage of your earnings as a commission.

Direct Advertising

Alternatively, you can directly approach potential advertisers. Create a compelling media kit showcasing your website’s reach, demographics, and engagement metrics. This will attract advertisers aligned with your target audience. Effective methods for connecting with potential buyers and negotiating advertising deals include cold emailing, attending industry conferences, or utilizing LinkedIn.

The Pros

• More money: The first advantage of selling your own ads is the fact that you will cut the middlemen out, increasing your revenue potential. Suppose you sell text link ads on your sidebar through a certain company, and the text links sell for $50 monthly. Since you are using the company network to sell the ads, they will eat 50% of the price, and you will end up earning only $25 monthly for each text link. If someone is willing to pay $50 for a text link on your site, though, it means that they are getting $50 of value out of it. Why, then, should you share that with someone else?
• Independence: Sure, large advertising networks have access to a wider pool of advertisers, and they have more credibility to close the deals. But if you have all the requirements in place (see the section below) and spend some time looking at the right places, I am sure that you will be able to sell your own ads just as efficiently as the larger networks.
• Flexibility: The third advantage of selling direct advertising is that you will have much more control over where and how the ads will be displayed (i.e., you can avoid intrusive advertising). Google Adsense is nice, but unless you blend it with the content — annoying some of the readers — you will get terribly low click-through rates.
• Credibility: Finally, having sponsors and direct advertisers on your blog might help your credibility. Even small and poorly crafted blogs can stick some Adsense units here and there. Having established companies that are willing to partnership with your site, on other hand, can signal that your content has quality and that the site is somewhat professional.

The Cons

• Time consuming: While selling your own ads has many advantages, it is no panacea. The first drawback of this monetization option is the time that it will consume. This time will be spent optimizing your website for the ads, finding potential advertisers, negotiating with them, and handling the administrative matters (e.g., making payments, tracking statistics, delivering reports and so on).
• Many requirements: Selling direct adverting is not as easy as making money from Google Adsense. As you can see from the section below, you will need to have a popular blog, a professional looking design, special software and the like.
• Unstable: Unless you close deals for very long periods, which is unlikely, you will find your self looking for new advertisers or optimizing your website to attract new ones every other month. The opposite is true for most advertising networks, where you just need to plug some code and they will do the rest of the work. (If your site or blog is just a hobby, therefore, direct advertising might not be the best option)

What You Need to Have in Place

• A popular website: Before landing direct advertising deals you will need to have a good amount of traffic on your site. There is no “magical” number here, but a good rule of thumb would be 1000 daily unique visitors. If you are below that mark you should focus on building traffic instead of looking for advertisers. Other factors like Google Pagerank, RSS subscribers and Alexa rank might also help. (Notice that small websites might also be able to sell direct advertising, but usually the time spent on that will not justify the results)
• A clear focus: You might have the most popular site on the Internet (well, not as extreme as that, but you get the point), but unless your site also has a very clear niche and a defined audience, advertisers will not find it very attractive. This means that you should avoid rambling about 100 different topics on the website. Advertisers want to deliver a message to specific people, and the more specific the better.
• A professional looking design: If you are planning to monetize your website through sponsors, you probably should invest some money into a professional looking design. Advertisers will be associating their product or service with your website, and not too many of them would be willing to get mixed with an ugly, MySpace looking site.
• Give visibility to the sponsors: This point is connected to the previous one. Not all templates and themes will be suitable for selling direct advertising. Preferably you want to have an idea of what kind of advertising you will sell (e.g., 468×60 banners, 125×125 banners, text links) and design your website according to those objectives. Advertisers want visibility, so reserve a good spot for them.
• Adserver software: In order to serve your ads, rotate banners and track statistics you will need to install an Adserver. If you are looking for a simple solution you should try WP-Ads. This WordPress plugin will serve ads for specific ad zones that you create. The only drawback is that it does not count clicks (only impressions). If you need a more sophisticated solution check OpenAds. You will need to spend some time learning how to use it, but it offers virtually all the features you will ever need.
• “Advertise Here” page: It is very important to have an “Advertise Here” page. On this page you want to give some details about the website, like audience, traffic and any other factor that might be of the interest of potential advertisers. Secondly, make sure that you have some link to that page on the navigation bar and if possible close to the zone where the ads will be displayed. You can see a perfect example of such layout on Copyblogger.com.
• Standard letter to approach advertisers: While some advertisers will contact you after reading your “Advertise Here” page, the rest of them will need to be directly approached by you. In that case, it is a good idea to create a standard letter to contact the advertisers. There is no “one size fits all” solution here, but you can follow some general guidelines:1. Introduce yourself and quickly explain what the email is about
  2. Explain why you decided to contact them and what they have to gain
  3. Give details about your site (traffic, subscribers, topic, audience)
  4. Give details about the advertising options (location on the site, max number of advertisers, monthly price)That is it, after that information the advertisers should be able to decide if they are interested or not. If they reply, then you will fix the details. Bear in mind that all the info I mentioned should be contained in 2 or 3 paragraphs. If you send an essay to potential advertisers they will just skip it altogether.
• Accepting payments: You might have everything in place, but if you are not able to cash payments — or more importantly, if advertisers are not able to pay easily — you will end up losing deals. PayPal is the best option here. Notice, however, that a personal account will not suffice. You will need at least a premier account to be able to accept credit cards.

Where to Find the Advertisers

Once you have your direct advertising program established, you will start to receive inquiries from people. On the beginning, however, you will need to hunt advertisers down. Do not get discouraged if get turned down initially, provided you have all the aforementioned requirements, sooner or later you will find someone willing to take a shot on your site.

• People linking to your site or articles: If a company is willing to link to your articles or to add your website under its “Links” or “Resources” section, it is also probably willing to discuss about advertising on your site. Keep track of those incoming links.
• People leaving comments/e-mails: The same principle applies to people leaving comments on your blog or sending you e-mails. If among them you see an employee or the owner of a company that could be interested on your website, bingo! Contact him or her and get the conversation going.
• AdWords advertisers: Through out your search for advertisers you will notice that most of the established companies are not aware of the benefits of online advertising. If a certain company is already spending money on Google AdWords, however, it is very likely that it would also be open to other forms of online advertising. Think about some keywords that are related to your topic and Google them. Check the sponsored links that will appear and contact them. (You can also check the advertisers that appear on the Adsense units of related websites)
• Other advertising networks: While Google AdWords is by far the largest advertising network on the Internet, there are many others that could be useful. Check the companies that are spending money on AdBrite, Text-Link-Ads, BlogAds, SponsoredReviews and so on.
• Banner advertisers on similar sites: Check out popular websites on your niche and see what companies are advertising there. Provided you offer them an interesting deal (i.e., a reasonable price for your size), I am pretty sure they will be interested.
• Create a “Potential Sponsors” bookmark folder: This technique produced outstanding results for me. I have a bookmark folder on my browser called “Potential Sponsors.” Every time I come across a company or website that could be interested in sponsoring my website, I bookmark it. Currently I have over 100 bookmarked sites on that folder, and I have not approached half of them yet.

How Much to Charge

• You need to provide value: It is all about value. A potential sponsor or advertiser will want to see some returns for the money he will be spending on your site, and this can be seen as visibility (impressions) and leads (clicks and possible sales). Make sure, therefore, that your advertising deals will deliver.
• The numbers: Remember that there are some pretty cheap advertising options out there (e.g., Google AdWords), and you will need to be competitive. Provided you reserved a good spot for the sponsors (sidebar or header, preferably) you could start charging a $0,5 CPM (cost per 1000 impressions). If your blog is generating 100,000 monthly page views, therefore, a banner spot on your sidebar should cost around $50. Start low and build your way upwards. Popular blogs (e.g., TechCrunch) have a higher CPM, sometimes as high as $10, but you will need a huge credibility to arrive there.
• Cross-check: You can easily check if you are charging a suitable rate by using Adsense units on the places where you will sell direct advertising. Analyze how much you would gain with Adsense, and adjust your rates accordingly. Secondly, you can also check similar sites that are already selling direct ads.
• Be flexible regarding the terms: Flexibility is key. First of all make advertising agreements on a month-to-month basis. People don’t like to commit to something they are not completely sure about. If someone proposes you a longer deal, offer a discount in exchange.
• Offer test periods: Unless you have a very popular website, you will find potential advertisers reluctant to spend real money. If you are confident that the deal will create value for both parties, however, you can use that on your favor. Offer a free test period whenever needed. Some of the times the advertiser will turn you down after it, but other times they will confirm the deal. Either way you have nothing to lose.

The post How to Find Direct Advertisers for Your Website appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

There is no arguing the point that the Internet runs on content and that quality copy is essential to success. There is, however, some debate over the perfect length of a blog post and how its word count influences its overall performance.

There will always be valid points to both sides, as the art of content marketing has more in common with consumer psychology than any exact science. That said, the purpose of this article is to address the ideal length of a blog post as relevant to the needs of professional bloggers.

Fortunately, solid research has been done to shed light on the topic and provide a deeper insight from which we’re now able to draw data-backed conclusions. First, let’s discuss the two extremes.

The Content Arms Race: Short vs. Long

For the sake of argument and for the remainder of this article, we’ll maintain that a short blog post refers to content with around 1,000 words or less and a long-form blog post refers to a piece containing 2,000 words or more.

Under these parameters, BlogTyrant conducted a recent investigation into the success of its articles and found those with higher word counts repeatedly outperformed their shorter counterparts. Such outcomes have been consistently replicated by others.

BuzzSumo, a company specializing in the tracking and analysis of viral content, collated the results of seven independent studies, concluding that feature articles of significant length and detail generate the most interest.

In one of the studies, NewsWhip noted that a 2,500-word article from the Huffington Post on the habits of happy people received more than 470,000 shares within three months of publication, owing to an exponential relationship between the number of words and social media success.

In contrast, Upworthy’s current most popular post, with a total of nearly a million shares according to BuzzSumo, has just 130 words. Just 130! Granted, there’s an infographic in there, but that difference is enough to show that it’s more about what the content is than how long it is.

The difference in performance, however, is often tied to and influenced by specific criteria relating to subject matter and shareability. In this way, the very definition of success can vary by degrees.

Factors Contributing to Sharing and Search Success

Despite the fact that there is mounting evidence in support of long-form content, the reality is that the value of an article cannot be determined by length alone.

The end result often comes down to many factors, and the following are key considerations every blogger should account for:

1. Google’s Preference for Quality

It’s no secret that Google favors quality content and prioritizes the material that meets the company’s list of demands – there are more than 200 hundred of them. Essentially, creators must implement best practice in SEO to achieve a better indexing.

Accordingly, longer articles that that are able to incorporate more backlinks, subheadings, alt title tags and long-tail keywords are always going to achieve that elusive first-page ranking ahead of shorter blog posts.

2. Readership Expectations

Contrary to popular belief, online audiences aren’t always out to scan the information they read – more on that later. Shorter articles are often met with the expectation that the content will only offer a cursory glance and that by contrast, more information means a more in-depth discussion.

3. Level of Authority and Credibility

This last point relates to and is informed by the first two. Articles that are well researched and set out to establish a particular view about a topic, or actively seek to encourage public input, need to be fleshed out.

Conversely, even if you do everything right, the structure may prevent the content from achieving a following. This goes directly to the heart of the ever-decreasing attention span of online audiences.

Time as a Factor in Determining Length

It may be one thing to aim for a high word count, but it’s an entirely different matter to make sure the content is actually engaged with and understood. As such, bloggers need to account for the way in which readers consume information online and consider the role time plays.

Therefore, the question of this post becomes, “For how long can the average reader focus their attention?”

Fortunately, Medium assigns a time signature to each of its blog posts and is able to keep track of this kind of information. When the site compared the average post length to the time it takes to read, after adjusting for a spate of short posts, a pattern emerged.

The site was admittedly more concerned about levels of engagement and less about click-through rates, but it determined the ideal length of a blog post to be 7 minutes long – an estimate that capitalizes on the maximum amount of time most users are prepared to allocate towards reading online content.

One speed reading test places the national average at 300 words per minute. Assuming the optimal timeframe holds true, the average U.S. adult will be able to read 2,100 words before their attention starts to drop.

Thus we can place a ballpark figure on the number of words an article actually needs to be effective, rather than arbitrarily stating the more the better. There is, however, one other important thing to consider.

How Do Images Fit Into the Formula?

A recent article from HubSpot suggests that in 100 of the highest-ranking blogs, there is at least one image for every 350 words and that the typical reader will spend 10 percent more of their time viewing the images while scrolling the site.

When less time is spent reading, less words can be written. For context, it may help to note that Medium’s own seven-minute story about the ideal length of a blog post was laden with graphics and concluded at just under 1,000 words.

If images are to be used, they must be relevant to the information being presented. If not, the blogger runs the risk of devaluating the message and the authority of the article.

The importance of pairing quality content and quality images is not to be underestimated. Together, they help the reader get over the first few crucial seconds where they decide whether to bounce. Also, great images make your posts pop on social media.

When StatisticsBrain took a look at the Internet browsing habits of a cross-section of users and 59,573 page views, it found that 17 percent of those page views lasted less than 4 seconds. That’s potentially 10,127 articles that were never read, and likely never shared.

What Makes a Perfect Post?

The evidence thus far supports the idea that when it comes to virality, long-form content benefits from better Google rankings, higher indexing results, more shares and an overall improvement in audience engagement.

From a non-scientific perspective, you could say that the perfect post is exactly as long as it needs to be. Or, the perfect post says exactly what the reader wants to know. For example, a piece like this one about the history of the Ford Mustang might go into less specifics and use more photos and videos for nostalgia purposes than a piece detailing the history of one specific Mustang model.

Ultimately, the ideal length for a blog post is going to be closer to 1,500 words, but as with most things on the Internet today, there will be exceptions to the rule. As long as you have an active following and a message worth communicating, length will be a situational decision, not the choice that makes or breaks you.

What’s your ideal length for a blog post? Share your preferences in the comments below.

The post What Is the Ideal Length for a Blog Post? appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

How many times have you published a post, only to find out you forgot to proofread and that many typos slipped through? What about when the links you included are broken, when you used the wrong keywords, or when you forgot to optimize the post title? That’s when you know that you need a blog post checklist.

There are many things one should check before hitting the “Publish” button, and most of us forget about them. That is why I decided to create “The Blog Post Checklist,” with a list of things you should check before publishing your post. You’ll find it useful especially for those long, linkbait type articles you publish once in a while (what I call “killer articles“).

Below you’ll find a description of all the checks along with a live checklist that you can even add your own items to to make it your own.

1. Did I read the post after writing it?

Common sense as it sounds, most people don’t read what they just wrote before publishing it. This is a mistake, because unless you read your article as an integral piece you won’t be able to tell if the whole thing makes sense, if the paragraphs and sentences are in the right order, if the arguments are solid and so on.

Before anything else, therefore, read what you just wrote from top to bottom.

2. Is the post as complete as it could be?

If you want to generate as much traffic as possible and to get as many backlinks as possible, you need to make sure that your post is as complete as it could be. If you completed the previous check you should also be able to evaluate whether or not you could add more sections and explanations.

For example, you might be writing a software review, and your post is focused on the features of the software. What about the installation process? What about the compatibility of the software with other programs? These are all aspects you could include, making the post more valuable to potential readers. If you want to read more on this topic check these 10 tips to write popular posts.

3. Did I research the related keywords?

Keywords rule search engines (and the web, as a consequence). If you want to maximize your traffic you need to use the same keywords that most people use. First of all because this will make your post easier to understand. Second because it will help with the search engine optimization.

For instance, you might be writing a post about gaming notebooks. But should you call it “gaming notebooks” or “game laptops”? After using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool you would discover that the term “game notebooks” is searched by 8,000 people every month, while “gaming laptops” is searched by over 60,000 people. This means that the latter is much more widespread, and you probably should go with it.

4. Did I craft the title carefully?

The title of your post is the most important part. Even more important than the body of the post itself, because unless the title grabs the attention of visitors, they won’t read the post.

First of all make sure your title has an emotional hook. For example, you could get the reader excited by offering something of great value (e.g., “100 Photoshop Tutorials to Become a PSD Ninja”), or you could get the reader curious by making an unusual statement (e.g., “5 Things Chuck Norris Can Teach You About Marketing”).

Second, remember to use the main keywords of your post in the title, as this will help with the search engine optimization.

5. Did I proofread it?

I know you have already read your post once to make sure the ideas make sense and the paragraphs are in the right order. However, you’ll need to read it once more, to proofread it.

This time focus on spotting grammar and spelling mistakes. Here are a couple of tricks you can use for this purpose: read your article backwards or read it out loud. Both of these methods will allow you to focus on the single words, making it easier to spot the mistakes.

6. Did I link to one or more of my older posts?

Linking to older posts inside your blog is a practice that helps both human visitors and search bots. It helps human visitors because it lets them explore your archives, possibly complementing or expanding on the information they have just read. It helps search bots because it lets them crawl your site more efficiently, and it also helps them to understand your content (through the link anchor text).

Before publishing the post, take some time to find older posts you can link to.

7. Did I link to external resources when appropriate?

Do not be afraid of linking to external websites. You’ll not lose PageRank, and you’ll not lose readers.

If your content is solid, you’ll only be enriching it by linking to relevant external resources. If you mention a particular tool in your post, for instance, link to it. If you mention a term that readers might not be familiar with, link to the respective Wikipedia entry.

8. Did I make sure all links are working?

All it takes to break a link is to omit a letter, a dot, or to add an extra http:// heading. For example, if you write http://www.siteyouwannalinkto.co the link is not going to work. Similarly, if you write http://http://www.siteyouwannalinkto.com the link is not going to work either. The impact on the user experience, however, is quite significant. If your visitors can’t click on a link you mentioned and find the website they’ll get frustrated.

Before publishing the post use the “Preview” feature of your blogging software and click on all the links to make sure they are working and pointing to the correct URL.

9. Did I credit any sources I might have used?

If your post was inspired by something you read somewhere else, credit it. Similarly, if you used information that came from a particular website or blog, make sure to mention and link to it. This will be fair with the original author, and it will also be useful to your readers, as they will be able to track where everything is coming from.

One post that inspired me to write this one was 13 Questions to Ask Before Publishing a Post On Your Blog, by Darren Rowse. Even though I had read it back in 2008, the idea probably kept wandering in my head, until I finally decided to write my own take on the issue.

10. Did I include an enticing image?

If an image is worth a thousands words, why not use one in your post? Images are a great way to entice people to read the rest of your post. They can also help with the search engine optimization, and bring some traffic from Google image search.

Check out the post Where to Find Images for Your Blog to discover the image sources I use.

11. Did I optimize the permalink?

Most publishing platforms and software allow you to edit the permalink of each post you publish. You should use this feature to make sure your permalinks are concise, and that they contain your main keywords.

Apart from making the permalink look cleaner, this will also help with your search engine optimization and possibly increase the amount of traffic you’ll get from Google and company.

12. Did I add one or more elements to engage readers?

Every blog owner should be trying to build a community around his blog, and engaging readers with your content is one of the best strategies to achieve this.

Practically speaking you could ask them a question at the end of the post, include a poll, make a call to action, use their feedback directly in your post and so on.

13. Is this a good day for traffic?

Even if you have written a masterpiece, you’ll not get the best possible result if you publish it on a Sunday. The best days for traffic are usually Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But make sure to track your traffic numbers, so you can be sure of the best day for your blog.

Second, keep an eye on international holidays. If you live in the UK, for example, you should check the list of US federal holidays and avoid publishing your killer article on any of these dates.

14. Traffic Calculator

Enter the values for the following:

Estimated Traffic per Article (monthly):
Time to Create an Article (in hours):
How many articles per Month:

Calculate

Over to the readers: Would you add anything to this checklist?

The post The Blog Post Checklist: Use Before Hitting “Publish” appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Hostinger Review 2024

Our Verdict

Choose your web hosting solution and make the perfect website! From shared hosting and domains to VPS – we have all you need for online success.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Extremely fast load speeds.
• Affordable pricing with multiple plans available.
• Multiple features at every tier.
• 30-day money-back guarantee.

Cons

• Customer support is slow to respond.
• Experienced users may miss the traditional cPanel with its advanced features.

Finding the right hosting platform for your website can be overwhelming. Many companies vie for your business and promise endless features and special offers, but how do you know which is best for your site? 

We can’t decide for you, but we can give you insight into some of your options. Today, this Hostinger review will break down what the company has to offer, including what it costs to host your site through them.  

About Hostinger

Hostinger hit the scene in 2004 and hasn’t looked back. The Lithuania-based platform boasts more than 29 million users worldwide and praises its strong community. 

Founded on the idea that creating a website should be free with plenty of room to show your creativity, Hostinger built the world it wanted to see. The company promotes accessible websites and web hosting for anybody and everybody.

Hostinger Features

Hostinger offers multiple plans and even some awesome a la carte selections, but the basic features remain a huge draw for the platform.

Even the lowest tier plan includes several helpful features that you’d have to pay extra for with other web hosts.

Intuitive Interface

Hostinger dropped the traditional cPanel in lieu of a completely new option called the hPanel. Though experienced users may lament the absence of the cPanel, newbies won’t miss what they never knew, and the hPanel has many of the same features.  

The hPanel is convenient and almost unbelievably easy to navigate. It involves some single-click options, including the auto-installer to make your life much easier. However, it lacks some of the advanced features that some users may miss.

Impressive Speeds

Even if you’re new to websites and web hosting, you probably know that page loading speed is incredibly important. Think about it, how many times have you abandoned a site because it took too long to load? 

Hostinger offers some of the fastest speeds in the industry without compromising reliability. You can even speed things up by activating additional features, like the LiteSpeed caching function.

Easy Start Up

What could be more frustrating than spending days signing up and setting up your account? Many web hosting platforms require you to jump through useless hoops to create an account and connect your domain. 

Hostinger bypasses all that noise and spells out your plan choices and all upgrade options. You provide a name, email, and password to create an account, select your plan and any upgrades, and choose a domain name. It’s that easy.

Excellent Security

Though some hosting options may provide slightly better security, even the base plans offer impressive security and privacy. Hostinger includes some of the best available security options with every package they offer.

Not only do you get an all-important SSL certificate, but you also get additional layers of security. Some of our favorites include Bitninja, Cloudflare protection, data backups, and SpamAssassin coverage.

Free Website Builder

It’s free to create your website, and you don’t have to know coding to make it look killer. Hostinger skips over the boring templates and offers plenty of room to customize a site to meet your needs, and it’s super easy.

Comprehensive Knowledge Base

Admittedly, customer support is rather slow to respond, but there is a detailed knowledge library with loads of resources to guide you through almost any issue. Access tutorials, videos, and detailed articles through the virtual library. 

Hostinger Plans & Pricing

Obviously, pricing matters, and Hostinger’s site notes many free options, but at some point, you have to pay up for something. Hostinger offers three different pricing tiers and three hosting options to consider. 

Of note, the platform frequently runs special offers or deals, and it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting is the most affordable option through Hostinger. It involves multiple websites using the same server, and each site gets a set amount of storage space and resources. 

• Prices start at $0.99 per month for a Single package that includes the bare bones you need.
• Upgrade to Premium for $2.19 per month to access twice the processing power and memory, unlimited bandwidth, and up to 100 websites. 
• Still need more? Try the Business plan for $3.99 per month and loads of extra features.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting means you use a virtual server that’s completely under your control. It functions as your personal server with a dedicated IP address. 

• Startup plan starts at $9.99 per month. It can handle up to 300 websites, includes 3 GB of memory, and unlimited bandwidth.
• The Professional package starts at $18.99 per month for increased memory and storage plus a speed boost.
• Global is the top-tier cloud hosting plan starting at $69.99 per month with a whopping 16 GB of memory, 300 GB SSD storage, 8 CPU cores, and quadruple the speed.

VPS Hosting

VPS hosting is cloud-based, but it’s incredibly fast and Hostinger promises no downtime with any of these plans. The plans all offer the same basic features, but each tier adds more storage and bandwidth.

• VPS 1 is $3.95 per month for one core, 1 GB memory, 20 GB SSD storage, and 1 TB of bandwidth.
• VPS 2 bumps up to $8.95 per month for double what you get with the base tier.
• VPS 3 offers triple the base package for $12.95 per month.
• For $15.95 per month, VPS 4 promises 4 cores, 4 GB memory, 80 GB SSD storage, and 4 TB of bandwidth.

Additional Hosting Options

Hostinger lists additional options for users, like WordPress hosting or Minecraft server hosting. You can also choose email hosting through Google Workspace or Titan. 

Click here to get up to 80% off on Hostinger web hosting plans

FAQ’s

Do you still have questions? We get it. Sometimes it’s easier to cut right to your questions and find the bottom-line answers. 

Who Should Use Hostinger?

Hostinger is an excellent web hosting platform for beginners because it’s easy to learn and navigate. This platform features multiple one-click options, including WordPress installation. 

That’s not to say that experienced users won’t love the pricing and speeds, especially if you need a change of host or want to try something new.

It’s tough to beat the pricing tiers, especially with the 30-day money-back guarantee.

Final Verdict

That about sums it up for this Hostinger review.  It’s easy to use, so even if you’re a beginner feeling nervous about web hosting, it’s not overly complicated. 

What do you think about getting started with Hostinger’s affordable pricing and lightning-fast speeds? If you’re looking for affordable, fast, and reliable web hosting, head over to Hostinger for a quick and easy sign-up.

Hostinger

Choose your web hosting solution and make the perfect website! From shared hosting and domains to VPS – we have all you need for online success.

Hostinger vs. Competitors

Bluehost

• Best for beginners
• Inexpensive
• Built for WordPress

DreamHost

• Low-cost starting prices
• Functional WordPress integration
• Suitable hosting options

WPX Hosting

• Superior customer service
• Fast page loading speeds
• Built-in CDN

Submit Review

Your review Your overall rating Select a Rating5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star Title of your review Your review Your name Your email This review is based on my own experience and is my genuine opinion. ​ Submit your review

Hostinger Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

No schema found.

The post Hostinger Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Bottom Line: Are you looking for the best web hosting provider? This guide breakdowns the top choices that we recommend after testing and reviewing each of them ourselves.

The Best Web Hosting Service Providers

Choosing which web hosting service you want to use is not an easy task. With so many options on the market, it may seem overwhelming to decide which one is going to be best for you.

Luckily, we are here to help. We have reviewed and compiled the data of 2023’s best web hosting service providers.

Web hosts exist to take care of your website’s technical requirements and let you upload content with ease. They are usually quite affordable and can help start-up businesses get a grasp on business quickly.

Keep reading for a comprehensive guide of the best website host services available for you today, their key features, and what to consider when deciding which host is best for you.

Best Overall

Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the largest website hosting providers and powers millions of websites.

Best Monthly Plans

DreamHost

DreamHost makes sure your website is fast, secure & always up – so your visitors & search engines trust you. Guaranteed.

Most Affordable

Hostinger

Choose your web hosting solution and make the perfect website! From shared hosting and domains to VPS – Hostinger has all you need for online success.

Fastest WordPress Hosting

WPX Hosting

WPX offers the fastest managed WordPress hosting, FREE high-speed CDN, and SSLs. 24/7 Lightning-Fast Support.

Best Managed Hosting

WP Engine

WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host that offers enhanced speeds, increased security, and multiple other features specific to the WordPress platform.

Best Cloud Services

Kinsta

Kinsta is one of the fastest managed WordPress hosting services that can also take care of your website’s security and backup.

Best for Customer Solutions

Liquid Web

Liquid Web is a leader in Managed Hosting solutions for mission critical sites & apps with 99.9% uptime and reliability.

Best Customer Service

SiteGround

Web hosting services are crafted for top speed, unmatched security, 24/7 fast and expert support. Trusted by more than 2023000 domains!

Best Eco-Friendly Hosting

Green Geeks

GreenGeeks is specially engineered for speed, security & scalability while being eco-friendly. Backed by 24/7 expert support.

Best VPS Hosting

Inmotion Hosting

Premium web hosting with 24/7/365 customer support, 99.99% uptime, and a risk-free money-back guarantee.

Best Simple Websites

Hostgator

HostGator is a leading provider of secure and affordable web hosting. Discover why thousands of customers trust us to handle their websites,

Factors to Consider When Picking a Web Host

There are various factors to consider when choosing a web host. Below are a few things to keep in mind as you decide which hosting platform is best for you.

• Consider the uptime reliability of the host; this will impact how people can access your website.
• Website loading key is essential, especially when taking into account SEO optimization. Check loading speeds before signing up with any hosting service.
• Customer service is key. Having a company that has a good reputation for expert customer help can make all the difference. You are bound to make mistakes, and you’ll likely want to eliminate website downtime as much as you possibly can.
• Keep in mind that migrations and transfers are not always free. If you choose a host and don’t like it, you may have to pay a fee to move from one host to another. Remember this when selecting a host and take advantage of free trials.
• Another thing to account for is that renewal rates after your initial contract ends are usually higher. Some are even triple your initial cost. Look into this before signing up for a host and plan for the long-term pricing.
• Remember the limitations that most services have. Whether it is email account limits, bandwidth restrictions, or storage constraints, they can be unforeseen and trip you up. Research these beforehand and know what you are getting yourself into.
• Web hosts provide different plans or hosting types. Start with shared hosting as you start and choose more scalable plans as you grow. Don’t get stuck in a plan that doesn’t suit your changing needs. Also, make sure the service gives room to grow before signing up.

Best Web Hosting Service Providers Reviews:

Here it is, our list of the best web hosting services in 2023! Before you read on, think about what precisely you are hoping to get out of a web host and which factors are most important to you.

Once you know what features you value most, the decision will be a lot easier.

(Use our quick navigator below to find the best web hosting that best suites your needs)

Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the largest website hosting providers and powers millions of websites.

If you’re a start-up business or have never run a website before, then Bluehost might be the platform for you. Not only are they affordable and easy to work with, but they are optimized specifically for people new to website creation.

It’s not surprising, then, that they are one of the most popular web hosts out there. One of their best features is their 24/7 customer support. They are available for phone or live chat to help you with any questions you might have at any time of day or night.

If you’re interested in analytics, then Bluehost has you covered with an SEO tool to track your rankings, optimize your performance, and draw in more visitors.

Although they are great for beginners, they offer everything that a website host would likely be expected to provide. So, once you start with them, you won’t need to find a new host down the line. They are perfect for anyone with a small start-up to a large business.

As your site grows, you can download more features, such as WordPress or VPS. In that vein, you can change your plan over time and customize it to fit your needs.

Pros

• 24/7 customer service
• SEO and analytics tools included
• Installable features that you can add as your website grows

Cons

• Discounts are only available for long-term plans
• Speed could be increased, but it isn’t terrible

Visit Bluehost website to signup!

Read full Bluehost review

DreamHost

DreamHost makes sure your website is fast, secure & always up – so your visitors & search engines trust you. Guaranteed.

Dreamhost is another of the most popular web hosting platforms available today. A well-regarded company, Dreamhost has one of the lowest month-to-month plan pricing on the market.

Starting at just $3.95/ month (or less with a contract), their prices really can’t be beat.

Not only are they affordable, but they are also known for their custom control panel. This gives Dreamhost the means to manage their website hosts, and it is perfect for developers who want more control over their domains.

While this makes it hard to leave Dreamhost, it does mean that migrating to Dreamhost only takes a few simple steps.

Dreamhost is one of WordPress’s top three recommended website hosts. However, if you’re still unsure, you can take advantage of what is the longest trial period in the business: 97 full days with a money-back-guarantee if you are not fully satisfied.

Another great feature is that the price is locked in place, ensuring that it won’t climb after your first contract is over. They even have a more advanced option called DreamPress Plus.

Pros

• Most affordable month-to-month options on the market.
• Longest trial period available.
• Provides features like WordPress.

Cons

• Customer service is only available by email unless you pay an extra $9.95/ month for phone support.
• Hard to migrate to another web host service because of their custom control panel.

Visit DreamHost website to signup!

Read full DreamHost review

Hostinger

Choose your web hosting solution and make the perfect website! From shared hosting and domains to VPS – Hostinger has all you need for online success.

If your biggest concern with a web hosting service is the cost, Hostinger is your best option. Their lowest plan is only $0.99 per month, making it the cheapest out there!

It should be noted that the low rates are a promotional offer, so they will go up after your contract renews. Yet, even their “more expensive” packages are likely cheaper than anywhere else.

Hostinger may be incredibly cheap, but it is still an exceptional web hosting platform. Indeed, it provides you with managing options that are premium.

With a 99.9% uptime guarantee and help any time of the day or night, the bang for your buck with Hostinger is unbeatable.

Pros

• Extremely affordable.
• Still a great managing service despite the cost.
• Site speed, uptime, and customer support are all quite good.

Cons

• Prices do increase after the initial contract expires.
• Not as good as a more expensive service might be.

Visit Hostinger website to signup!

Read full Hostinger review

WPX Hosting

WPX offers the fastest managed WordPress hosting, FREE high-speed CDN, and SSLs. 24/7 Lightning-Fast Support.

If speed is your top priority and you are looking for a WordPress host, you’re in luck. WPX Hosting is known for its incredibly fast WordPress hosting speeds. Their website load times are unmatched, while their customer support is top-of-the-line.

Websites that take a long time to load are going to benefit the most from WPX Hosting. These will include heavy plugin sites, websites with a high volume of simultaneous visitors (500 or more), websites undergoing a stress test, or websites with a lot of images.

Though it isn’t one of the cheapest options, it is reasonably priced for what you get. With insanely fast load times, free SSL, its own custom CDN, and more, you know you are getting a lot for what you paid for.

WPX Hosting has 24/7 expert support. Unfortunately, they lack phone support, but do have a live chat and a ticket system. As a bonus, they have undergone eight different initiatives to save the lives of thousands of homeless dogs and cats in Eastern Europe.

Pros

• Unmatched web loading speeds
• Great customer support
• Comes with free add-ons that other hosts don’t

Cons

• No phone support
• Not as good as a more expensive service might be.

Visit WPX Hosting website to signup!

Read full WPX Hosting review

WP Engine

WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host that offers enhanced speeds, increased security, and multiple other features specific to the WordPress platform.

This website hosting service is optimized specifically for WordPress websites.

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that powers over 40% of all websites on the internet today. It is the world’s most popular content management system, and if you are using it, then WP Engine could be the best hosting service for you.

They provide top speeds and ample storage for your WP blog or online store. Although it is more expensive than many other hosting providers, it delivers a lot for WordPress users.

Its infrastructure can be completely optimized for WordPress, resulting in incredible speed and automatic, instantaneous maintenance.

In terms of customer support, WP Engine offers 24/7 live chat run by knowledgeable operators. Although its prices are a little higher, you get a lot more than on other sites and it is by far the best option for WordPress users.

Pros

• Excellent customer support
• Speed is one of their clear objectives
• No long-term commitments necessary

Cons

• Expensive
• Not applicable to non-WordPress sites

Visit WP Engine website to signup!

Read full WP Engine review

Kinsta

Kinsta is one of the fastest managed WordPress hosting services that can also take care of your website’s security and backup.

Kinsta is a WordPress managing host that delivers fast website loading times, decreased downtime, fewer performance issues, and a plethora of cloud services.

Kinsta utilizes Google Cloud, which is used by a range of companies, including Snapchat, Spotify, and Best Buy. This means that your website will be hosted on one of the best infrastructures available and across one of 21 global server locations.

Your website on Kinsta will always have access to the services it needs, and the experience will likely be smooth and frictionless for you. They have automatic WordPress website backups, a staging service, and a whole list of other WordPress services ready to be used by you.

All this state-of-the-art architecture comes at a price, though. Still, the features it provides make it well worth the cost.

Pros

• Great uptime and performance
• Easy to use and navigate
• 24 locations across the globe to choose from

Cons

• Only for WordPress websites
• Customer support is chat only

Visit Kinsta website to signup!

Read full Kinsta review

Liquid Web

Liquid Web is a leader in Managed Hosting solutions for mission critical sites & apps with 99.9% uptime and reliability.

Liquid Web is an excellent hosting service with an impressive following. They are best suited for large businesses that require robust services to manage their online presence. Alongside their standard plans, Liquid Web has a wide range of VPS, WordPress, cloud, dedicated, and reseller server packages.

Among its users, Liquid Web can count such noted names as Home Depot, Porsche, National Geographic, and more. For small businesses, it may not be a good choice due to its lack of a low-cost packaging option. You can expect to pay premium prices for premium services at Liquid Web.

Liquid Web is known for its managed hosting. This is when a business does not host its servers in-house. Instead, they are hosted at a remote data center.

Naturally, this is a service designed with large businesses in mind since it allows them to handle all tasks and administrative duties of large corporations no matter how complex they are.

Unfortunately, Liquid Web’s focus on larger businesses means that it lacks shared web hosting that’s ideal for individual web pages and small enterprises.

Pros

• Can handle companies of any scale
• Great uptime and space
• Excellent customer service and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Cons

• Not suitable for small businesses or personal websites.
• Expensive

Visit Liquid Web website to signup!

Read full Liquid Web review

SiteGround

Web hosting services are crafted for top speed, unmatched security, 24/7 fast and expert support. Trusted by more than 2023000 domains!

SiteGround is known for its client satisfaction, unmatched customer service, and raving reviews. In 2023, 97.7% of their clients reported being satisfied with their services.

SiteGround is one of WordPress’s top three recommended web hosts. Their infrastructure has been created for complete WordPress optimization. With this in mind, SiteGround gives users full access to WordPress features, such as the WP Starter plugin for building websites.

In terms of features, SiteGround offers outstanding shared web hosting along with very secure and high-speed servers. They even have an in-house built security monitoring system that scans servers 24/7, every ½ second, for any potential vulnerabilities.

One reported downside of the program is that after your initial contract, prices jump up quite high.

Pros

• Great security
• Ultra-fast and sufficient storage
• Comes fully equipped for WordPress

Cons

• Has a lot of extra features that small businesses and personal websites will find as overkill.
• Priced jump a lot after initial contract expires

Visit SiteGround website to signup!

Read full SiteGround review

GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks is specially engineered for speed, security & scalability while being eco-friendly. Backed by 24/7 expert support.

When looking for a website host, many people aren’t going to factor in a host’s environmental impact. Nevertheless, GreenGeeks is an eco-friendly web host that uses all renewable energy to power its services. Indeed, for over a decade, GreenGeeks has put the environment first.

That eco-friendly commitment doesn’t come at the expense of an excellent web hosting service. In fact, they boast great uptime and fantastically fast speeds.

GreenGeeks is optimized for WordPress website design, and they provide a daily backup. Additionally, they have advanced security features to protect your website from being compromised.

The company offers customer support by a phone call or chat between 9 am and midnight EST. If helping the environment while building your website sounds appealing, then GreenGeeks might be the hosting service for you.

Pros

• Most environmental friendly website hosting service available.
• Great security and speeds
• Intuitive interface perfect for both beginners and experts

Cons

• Claims to have ‘unlimited’ space for customers but does have restrictions
• Does not offer 24/7 customer support

Visit GreenGeeks website to signup!

Read full GreenGeeks review

inmotion Hosting

Premium web hosting with 24/7/365 customer support, 99.99% uptime, and a risk-free money-back guarantee.

If you are hosting a virtual private server rather than a shared server, then InMotion Hosting might be what you need. They have two types of VPS hosting, so you can tailor it to your needs.

When it comes to customer service, InMotion Hosting is well-known for their expert help and the resources they provide. Their customer service is included even in entry-level plans and offers 24/7 support via phone, email, online chat, Q&A forums, and tutorials.

InMotion has a host of different plans that are all almost identical. With each upgrade comes faster servers, more websites, domains, and databases. It is a simple platform perfect for any type of business.

If all this sounds appealing, consider taking advantage of their 90-day free trial period so you can test out their services without any long-term commitment or fees.

Pros

• Superfast speeds and uptime
• Free domains, SSL, automatic backup, and security protection.
• 90-day money-back guarantee

Cons

• Services for their shared hosting plans aren’t as great as their VPN plans
• Only available for US websites

Visit InMotion Hosting website to signup!

Read full InMotion Hosting review

Hostgator

HostGator is a leading provider of secure and affordable web hosting. Discover why thousands of customers trust us to handle their websites,

Hostgator is excellent for small business and doesn’t bog down users with a plethora of unnecessary bells and whistles.

They offer a guide for any technical support you might need and provide phone, email, and live chat help if you need it (even in their cheapest plans).

Their advanced plans are somewhat complicated and can be difficult to navigate, but they do allow you to scale up if you need to. Among the options is VPS hosting, managed WordPress, cloud hosting, and a dedicated server.

 Additionally, Hostgator offers a full 45-day money-back guarantee.

Pros

• Simple to use and perfect for websites that don’t need a ton of traffic.
• Great customer service.
• Powered by clean energy

Cons

• Advanced plans can be difficult to understand.
• Not recommended for large companies, although it can work.

Visit Hostgator website to signup!

Read full Hostgator review

Types of Hosting Plans

Understanding the different types of plans offered by a hosting service can be confusing. Below we convert the different types of hosting plans and what they mean.

Shared Web Hosting

Best for entry-level websites and start-ups. Here your website is stored on the same server as multiple different websites.

VPS Hosting

Somewhere between a shared server and a dedicated server. You have more control, but your site is still hosted on a server with other sites. It does, however, have its own space and allows for more customization by you.

Managed WordPress

Represents the majority of hosting packages. They provide technical services and day-to-day management of the hardware, applications, and operation of your website.

Dedicated Hosting

Offers the most control over the server your website is on. You rent it exclusively and have full access, so everything from the operating system to security is run by you.

Conclusion

There you have it, the best web hosting services of 2023. It is best to choose your hosting service wisely because you will likely use them for a while. Weigh the pros and cons of each of your options, and then determine what feels best for you.

Each company on this list delivers quality service and is a reliable company. No matter which you decide to use, making a move to adopt a web hosting service will help propel your business or webpage!

Our top pick: Bluehost

Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the largest website hosting providers and powers millions of websites.

The post Best Web Hosting Services appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

The post SiteGround Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

InMotion Hosting Review 2024

Our Verdict

Premium web hosting with 24/7/365 customer support, 99.99% uptime, and a risk-free money-back guarantee.

Pros & Cons

InMotion Hosting, like all other hosting companies, has things it does well and some things it still struggles with. 

Pros

• They have a 90-day money-back guarantee.
• InMotion Hosting will handle the transfer for free.
• Offers flexibility when it comes to where you want your data center location.
• Use SSD drive storage instead of older hard drive versions

Cons

• None of their starter plans can be paid monthly, so you have to pay either one or two years in advance.
• While you get some solid deals and great bang for your buck, InMotion Hosting is not a cheap option.

InMotion Hosting is a top web hosting company that seeks to give customers the great quality they deserve. 

They are known for making the entire process incredibly convenient for new customers to get set up as well as offering advanced services like an SSL certificate for free.

In this InMotion Hosting review, we are going to cover all of the nitty-gritty details we can find. That includes any pros and cons, their features and pricing, and some common questions that other interested parties have had.

This will be a comprehensive breakdown of the company and what it offers. 

About InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting was founded in 2001 and has over two decades of hosting experience. They have an office in Los Angeles for West coast companies and one in Virginia Beach for East coast companies. 

With over 200 employees, InMotion Hosting offers its hosting services at competitive prices with 24/7 support for its clients.

InMotion Hosting Features

Individual features are what set InMotion Hosting apart from its competitors.

They have an intense threat defense system in place to ensure all of their user’s private information is completely secure. InMotion takes cyber terrorism seriously, and it shows in how they defend their clients. 

If you happen to have a previous website or are trying to migrate from one web host over to InMotion Hosting, then the process is made easy for you. There is a step-by-step guide on InMotion Hosting that walks you through the whole process, making it easy to do.

InMotion Hosting has a guaranteed uptime of 99.9%, with the .1% allowing for unforeseen issues. According to uptime robot, InMotion Hosting holds to their guarantee, with the uptime rarely dropping below the promised 99.9%.

One of InMotion Hosting’s top features is customer support, which is available at all hours every day of the year.

You can contact them over the phone, through email, in a live chat, and even via Skype if necessary. 

InMotion Hosting Plans & Pricing

Monthly plans are available, but most customers go with yearly or bi-yearly hosting plans. The longer you commit, the cheaper it will be. However, full payment is always required upfront. 

The Launch Plan

This is a great option for either those just starting or smaller projects that don’t require too much to get up and running. The launch plan gives a maximum of two websites and ten email accounts, so it’s more useful to smaller business websites. 

• Bi-yearly = $10.99 per month
• Yearly = $11.99 per month
• Monthly = unavailable

The Power Tier

This option is significantly larger than the launch plan and should be enough for most businesses to work off of. The key number here is 50. You can have 50 email accounts, databases, and allowed websites.

These resources are more than enough for most website owners. 

• Bi-yearly = $14.99 per month
• Yearly = $15.99 per month
• Monthly = unavailable

The Pro Package

This option is overkill, but large businesses may get some added benefits from the pro package. You’ll have priority support and a limitless amount of email accounts and websites to work with. If needed, you’ll also have access to 100 databases and allowed websites. 

• Bi-yearly = $23.99 per month
• Yearly = $24.99 per month
• Monthly = $27.99 per month

Use code: imh50deal to get 50% off any hosting plan

FAQ’s

Here are a few frequently asked questions people tend to have about InMotion Hosting. 

Who Should Use InMotion Hosting?

Anyone who needs some form of web hosting should use InMotion Hosting. 

InMotion Hosting offers specific packages and plans for any level of company or business that needs web hosting. With their portfolio of over 300 applications that they work with, there are very few companies that won’t work well with InMotion Hosting. 

They aren’t the cheapest option on the market, which may turn away some people, but their prices are competitive, and you are guaranteed to get the bang for your buck.

Final Verdict

If you or your business are looking for a web hosting company that you can trust, then InMotion Hosting will be the perfect fit. The sheer versatility of the plans offered, as well as potential applications that InMotion Hosting can work with, makes it a great fit for just about everyone. 

The pros outweigh the cons by a huge margin, and the number of features dwarfs most other web hosting companies. The pricing is competitive and fair.

Plus, the company has been around for so long and had so much experience that it’s easy to trust that InMotion Hosting will give the best service out of any of its competitors. 

If you’ve been on the fence about which website hosting company to choose from, then hopefully this InMotion Hosting review has helped you to make your decision. Head over to InMotion Hosting’s website and pick the package that suits your needs!

InMotion Hosting

Premium web hosting with 24/7/365 customer support, 99.99% uptime, and a risk-free money-back guarantee.

InMotion Hosting vs. Competitors

Bluehost

• Best for beginners
• Inexpensive
• Built for WordPress

DreamHost

• Low-cost starting prices.
• Functional WordPress integration.
• Suitable hosting options

WPX Hosting

• Superior customer service
• Fast page loading speeds
• Built-in CDN

Submit Review

Your review Your overall rating Select a Rating5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star Title of your review Your review Your name Your email This review is based on my own experience and is my genuine opinion. ​ Submit your review

InMotion Hosting Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

No schema found.

The post InMotion Hosting Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

WP Engine Review 2022

Our Verdict

WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host that offers enhanced speeds, increased security, and multiple other features specific to the WordPress platform.

Pros & Cons:

Although there’s a lot to like, WP Engine also has a few downsides:

Pros

• Designed to boost speeds and improve performance of WordPress sites.
• Includes access to Genesis Framework, a popular site creation tool.
• Includes a wide selection of high-quality, ready-to-go WordPress templates.
• Automatically updates core WordPress software plus plugins.

Cons

• Prices are higher than most shared hosting plans.
• Can only use WordPress as it supports no other type of CMS.

Practically all web hosting providers cater to WordPress users to some degree. However, certain options design their entire hosting services around WordPress exclusively. 

Often called WordPress concierge services, they promise faster loading speeds, easy customization, and improved performance for WordPress users.

WP Engine is an early pioneer of this type of hosting, and they’re currently the most popular provider. Still, just because they’re widely used doesn’t mean they’re the ideal fit for your needs. 

What benefits does WP Engine offer compared to traditional (and often cheaper) shared hosting? Is this the type of service you should consider for your sites?

Your complete WP Engine review starts right now with the good, bad, and everything else you need to know:

About WP Engine

Founded in 2010, WP Engine is one of the first WordPress cloud hosting platforms (technically, Pagely is the first). In just over a decade, they’ve grown from an early industry innovator into the most popular WordPress-centered hosting platform around. 

Businesses of all types and sizes use their service, including National Geographic, PBS, MyFitnessPal, and Yelp. 

WP Engine Hosting Features

So, what do you get with WP Engine that you can’t find with shared hosting? Here are the highlights:

List of Features

WordPress Optimized Servers

Don’t worry if you see the phrase “shared hosting” on the WP Engine site. It’s not the same type of shared hosting you’ll find offered by ultra-cheap hosting providers. 

Instead, WP Engine uses servers optimized for WordPress. Independent tests consistently show that WP Engine’s server speeds are very much comparable to SiteGround and similar big-name providers.

Free Access to Genesis Framework

In July 2018, WP Engine purchased StudioPress, a company responsible for a huge array of well-known WordPress themes. 

Because of that acquisition, today, all WP Engine customers have unlimited access to 35 StudioPress themes plus the Genesis Framework, a user-friendly code library that allows for fast and easy site-building.

With all the available themes, you should have no problem finding options suitable for practically any type of business.

Of course, if you want a more custom look, you can all use any other WordPress theme.

Automatic Updates

WP Engine handles all core WordPress updates for you. It’s an easy way to ensure you’re always using the current version of WordPress, which can have important benefits to performance and security.

Additionally, the platform can automatically update all of your plugins.

Development Environment & Staging Area

WP Engine provides three production environments for your website. To start, the Development environment creates your pages.

Then, you transfer them to the Staging Area, where they can be shared with clients or team members. Finally, you place them in Production to take them live.

WP Engine Hosting Plans & Pricing

WP Engine offers three service categories:

• Managed Hosting – Their basic plan offers fasts speeds along with security and stability specifically designed for WordPress sites.
• Managed Hosting Plus – This plan adds several features related to plugins.
• Secure Hosting – Their eCommerce plan includes a variety of additional security features.

Each plan is broken down into three pricing tiers.

Managed Hosting

Managed Hosting is the cheapest plan. It’s well-suited for a variety of general sites.

• Startup ($25/month or $300/year) – Provides hosting for one site with up to 25,000 monthly visitors and 10GB of storage.
• Growth ($95/month or $1150/year) – Hosting for ten sites with up 100,000 monthly visitors and 20 GB of storage.
• Scale ($241/month or $2900/year) – Hosting for 30 sites with up 400,000 monthly visitors and 50 GB of storage.

All Managed Hosting plans include daily backups, free SSL and SSH, access to the staging site, and advanced security features.

Managed Hosting Plus

If your site uses lots of plugins, consider upgrading to the Plus plan. It features everything from the standard plan plus automated plugin updates.

All updates are first tested by an AI to help ensure stability, with automatic rollback if any issues are detected after installation.

Hosting Plus tiers offer the same site, visitor, and storage as Managed Hosting. You’re paying slightly more for the plugin features:

• Startup – $28/month or $340/year
• Growth – $104/month or $1,250/year
• Scale – $258/month or $3,100/year

Secure Hosting

Secure Hosting is ideal for eCommerce sites. These plans include additional security features such as DDoS protection and a WAF security firewall. They also come with the plugin features from the Plus plan.

• Startup – $44/month or $530/year
• Growth – $125/month or $1500/year
• Scale – $291/month or $3500/year

Use code: WPE4FREE to get 20% off any of WP Engine’s web hosting plans

FAQ’s

Now, let’s answer some common questions we often get about this web hosting platform not previously answered in this WP Engine review. 

Who Should Use WP Engine?

WP Engine is ideal for WordPress users who want to increase the overall performance of their sites and don’t mind spending a bit more. Owners of eCommerce sites will also find many features designed with their needs in mind. 

Moreover, it’s excellent for anyone who likes to tinker around with their WordPress sites. The automatic backups, staging area, and plugin updates combine to simplify changing elements of your site at will without risking functionality. 

Conveniently, it can be a great platform for those who use WordPress but aren’t particularly interested in the details of how it works. Indeed, automatic updates and AI testing allow your site to run smoothly without requiring your input.

Final Verdict

It’s easy to see why WP Engine remains an industry leader in managed WordPress hosting. They offer secure, fast, and reliable hosting that fully integrates with WordPress, automating numerous processes and giving you easy customization options.

Although the relatively high prices do present a drawback, many users consider the platform a superior value.

After reading this WP Engine review, if you’d like to learn even more about how this hosting provider can benefit your online presence, click here for additional information.

WP Engine

WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host that offers enhanced speeds, increased security, and multiple other features specific to the WordPress platform. 

WP Engine vs. Competitors

Bluehost

• Best for beginners
• Inexpensive
• Built for WordPress

Dreamhost

• Low-cost starting prices.
• Functional WordPress integration.
• Suitable hosting options

WPX Hosting

• Superior customer service
• Fast page loading speeds
• Built-in CDN

Submit Review

Your review Your overall rating Select a Rating5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star Title of your review Your review Your name Your email This review is based on my own experience and is my genuine opinion. ​ Submit your review

WP Engine Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

No schema found.

The post WP Engine Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Kinsta Review 2023

Our Verdict

Kinsta is one of the fastest managed WordPress hosting services that can also take care of your website’s security and backup.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Fast loading speed optimizes user experience on Kinsta pages.
• The company has excellent uptime and offers money back if rates drop below 99.9%.
• Supportive customer service available through online chat.
• Optimized architecture for WordPress compatible with plugins.

Cons

• Extra charges for unlimited storage and monthly visits.
• Not compatible with any other CMS systems besides WordPress.

Kinsta offers some of the most comprehensive web hosting services for WordPress websites available on the market today. Their services include management for your website’s security needs.

But this managed hosting company charges a premium for superior services — so, is it worth it?

This Kinsta Review will analyze the company’s features, pricing, and plans to help you determine if Kinsta is the right hosting company for your website.

Keep reading to learn more about their services and if this WordPress specialist is worth the extra cost.

About Kinsta

The founders of Kinsta started the company in 2013, intending to become the premium hosting provider preferred by WordPress users. They utilize a strategy that prioritizes customer experience over low prices and aggressive marketing.

Although the entry costs for basic Kinsta plans is competitive compared to similar managed WordPress hosting services, this provider is not suitable for website owners on a budget.

Kinsta offers managed hosting services that include taking care of several aspects involved with managing your WordPress website. This company is the provider of choice for website owners who don’t want to worry about managing their site security of backup.

This hosting provider specializes in WordPress websites with features optimized for compatibility with the CMS system. They offer fast loading speeds with limited downtime and rarely suffer from the performance issues associated with more budget-friendly providers.

Since Kinsta only hosts WordPress websites, their customer service team includes expert staff that can help users with nearly any problem they may encounter with the software.

Kinsta Hosting Features

There are several WordPress hosting service providers available for website owners today. But few companies offer the same comprehensive features included with Kinsta managed hosting plans.

A unique feature offered by Kinsta is the ability for users to take advantage of the Google Cloud Platform. This feature allows your website to rely on the same state-of-the-art hosting infrastructure maintained and trusted by some of the most prominent digital companies.

Being part of the Google Cloud Platform network gives Kinsta access to over 20 server locations worldwide. This comprehensive hardware system ensures that your website can scale to handle traffic surges in the future without issues.

Automated backups for WordPress Websites are one of the premium services included with managed hosting. Basic plans included up to 14 days of automatic backups, but you can lengthen backup restoration to a more extended period with higher-priced plans.

Users also have the option to upgrade from daily backups to hourly backups for an additional fee. Manual website backups are also simple to achieve from the straightforward home dashboard.

Every Kinsta plan includes access to the staging site feature of their service. This feature allows users to test new customizations and edits before adding them to your live site.

Web developers appreciate the ability to restart the PHP engine and use different PHP versions quickly. The Kinsta dashboard also includes a search and replace feature that makes it incredibly straightforward to change your website content.

Like other premium services, users receive automatic SSL certificates. SSL encrypts user data from your website to boost security. This extra security feature has a positive impact on SEO and can even help protect website owners from lawsuits.

Kinsta operates a Content Delivery Network of its own. This CDN system makes cached website copies and delivers them to multiple data centers to utilize different servers.

Kinsta’s CDN service is considerably faster than the third-party CDNs used by competitors.

Kinsta Hosting Plans & Pricing

Kinsta offers hosting plans at a wide range of prices, from $30 per month to over $600 per month. Their starter plans are still considerably more expensive than most popular hosting providers, but most users find that they get their money’s worth.

The Starter plan costs $30 per month and includes a single WordPress installation. This service plan limits monthly visitors to 25,000 and only includes up to 10GB of disk space.

However, even their Starter plan includes premium managed services and customer support.

Kinsta’s next step up is the Pro plan. This service plan allows two WordPress installs and supports up to 50,000 monthly visits. This plan includes all of the managed benefits from the Starter plan and features 20GB of disk space and two premium migrations.

Business plans from Kinsta begin at $100 per month and include three WordPress installations. The Business plan supports up to 100,000 monthly visits and contains 30GB of free disk space.

Customers can use all of the premium Kinsta features on multiple sites.

Top-level enterprise plans start at $600 per month to provide Kinsta’s largest clients the most comprehensive services. Enterprise plans offer up to 60 WordPress installs and 100 GB of disk space.

These plans can also support 1,000,000 monthly visits at no extra cost.

Users can save money by paying for annual plans that include two extra months for free. Annual purchases also have benefits that include a free SSL certificate.

No matter what option you select, Kinsta offers a 30-day guarantee to return your money if you don’t like their service.

Kinsta does charge overage fees if you exceed the monthly visitors supported by your plan. Kinsta will keep your website up and running if you slightly overshoot your average monthly visits.

However, the company will limit website access during cases of extreme overage.

Click here to try a free demo of Kinsta before you buy

FAQ’s

Here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about Kinsta WordPress hosting services.

Final Verdict

This Kinsta review demonstrates that this WordPress host provider offers superior managed services and thoughtful features that improve user experience.

WordPress websites hosted by Kinsta can benefit from impressive loading speeds and a reliable network of servers.

Although Kinsta hosting plans have higher prices than popular budget-friendly hosting providers, most users find that Kinsta is a step above their competitors.

If you want to optimize your WordPress website with a premium, managed service, get your free demo of Kinsta today.

Kinsta

Kinsta is one of the fastest managed WordPress hosting services that can also take care of your website’s security and backup.

Kinsta vs. Competitors

Bluehost

• Best for beginners
• Inexpensive
• Built for WordPress

DreamHost

• Low-cost starting prices.
• Functional WordPress integration.
• Suitable hosting options

WPX Hosting

• Superior customer service
• Fast page loading speeds
• Built-in CDN

Submit Review

Your review Your overall rating Select a Rating5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star Title of your review Your review Your name Your email This review is based on my own experience and is my genuine opinion. ​ Submit your review

Kinsta Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

No schema found.

The post Kinsta Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

WPX Hosting Review 2021

Our Verdict

WPX offers the fastest managed WordPress hosting, FREE high-speed CDN, and SSLs. 24/7 Lightning-Fast Support.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Provides high page upload and download speeds.
• Offer multiple pricing plans to meet your precise web hosting needs.
• Each plan includes several worthwhile services and features.
• Known for its superior customer service.

Cons

• Doesn’t integrate with cPanel.
• You can only use WPX to host WordPress websites.

Do you need a reliable web hosting service to keep your sites fast, accessible, and viewer-friendly?

WPX Hosting provides impressive WordPress hosting services with outstanding bandwidths speeds, storage spaces, and support assistance.

This WPX Hosting review will explore the positive and negative aspects of choosing WPX Hosting. We’ll also discuss what features you can expect to enjoy with WPX Hosting, as well as current plans (and their pricing. 

Finally, we’ll address some of the most frequently asked questions concerning WPX Hosting.

You can use this information to decide whether WPX Hosting might be the best solution to your website hosting needs.

About WPX Hosting

WPX Hosting was founded in 2013. Since then, it’s been helping website creators and small businesses find high-bandwidth hosting for reasonable prices. 

The primary aims of WPX Hosting includes providing exceptional support services, fast page upload and download speeds, tons of digital storage space for media, and versatile features and functions.

WPX Hosting Features

No matter which WPX Hosting plan you choose, you’ll get to enjoy a litany of practical features and services. Some of the most notable of these include near-instant live chat technical support, unlimited site migrations to WPX, and per-day malware scanning and removal.

Still, there’s no way to decide if WPX Hosting is suitable for your needs without exploring this service’s features in greater detail.

Let’s jump right in and find out why everyone is talking about WPX Hosting!

WPX Features

Immediate Live Chat Support

When you run into a problem while using WPX, you’ll likely want to receive help right away. Even an hour or so of site maintenance can impact your sales and viewer count.

Fortunately, WPX Hosting has one of the best and highly-rated support of any web hosting company.

If you need an answer to a question, you can get help from the WPX live chat support team in a matter of seconds or minutes. You’re never on your own when you’re using WPX Hosting.

Additionally, the WPX support team is incredibly helpful, friendly, and efficient. 

Unlimited Site Migrations

Unlimited site migrations, also called unlimited domains, ensures that users retain ultimate control over their site. If they’d like to change their site’s domain, design, or overall structure, they can do so while using WPX Hosting’s services.

Malware Scanning and Removal

Malware can be a serious pain, but WPX Hosting helps to keep your sites secure. Each day, WPX Hosting will scan your websites and search for traces of malware.

Should it find any, you’ll see an alert. WPX will also remove malware immediately, keeping your website in tip-top shape.

Unlimited SSLs

You and your viewers don’t need to feel worried about online security when you have WPX Hosting backing you up.

With unlimited SSLs, both your information and your client’s information will remain secure during digital transaction, upload, and downloads. 

Simple WordPress Installation

WPX Hosting offers straightforward WordPress installation. You can install WordPress into your WPX dashboard with a single click. The result is easier management and faster site updates.

WPX Hosting Plans & Pricing

There are three WPX Hosting plans. They each differ in price and features, and one might be better for you than the others. Understanding what each plan offers (and doesn’t) is crucial to choosing the best one. 

Still, each WPX Hosting plan includes all of the features we’ve mentioned above and WPX Cloud CPN, which is pretty practical.

But let’s explore these pricing plans in more detail and discover which might be right for you.

Business

This is the most affordable of the WPX Hosting plans. It costs $20.83 per month when you pay ahead with an annual payment option, or $24.99 with the monthly payment option. 

When you choose this plan, you’ll be able to host five websites, and you’ll have about 10GB of storage available. You’ll have access to 100GB of bandwidth, ensuring speedy website uploads.

Professional

This mid-tier option allows users to host up to 15 websites. It also grants users access to 20GB of storage space and 200GB of bandwidth. 

If you’re managing a medium amount of business sites, this plan can ensure that your pages load smoothly. It can also help your media (image, videos) run perfectly, keeping viewers satisfied and reassured about the quality of your products or services.

Elite

The Elite Plan includes web hosting for up to 35 websites, 40GB of storage, and infinite bandwidth. 

It’s a powerful option that could be a smart choice for small companies or corporations hoping to host and manage multiple business websites without overspending or dealing with unnecessary additional features.

Use Code: X8YR4TOH4NG5 to get up to 60% off any hosting plan

FAQ’s

Below, you’ll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions concerning WPX Hosting. If you can’t find the answer to your question below, feel free to reach out to WPX’s support team for more information.

They’re always more than happy to help.

Is WPX Hosting a good web host?

WPX Hosting is an excellent web hosting service for users with WordPress sites. It provides quick upload and download speeds, exceptional customer service, and tons of additional features. 

The only reasons why WPX Hosting might not be a good web host is if you:

• Don’t have a WordPress site
• Only own one website
• Live far from WPX’s three major server locations

Otherwise, they’re a smart choice for business owners hoping to improve and maintain their online presence.

Is WPX Hosting good for beginners?

WPX Hosting might not be the best option for beginners. The most affordable payment plan offers hosting for five websites, and beginners with only a single site might not utilize all of WPX Hosting’s services.

Will WPX Hosting work for WordPress?

Yes, absolutely! WPX Hosting is explicitly designed to work with WordPress sites.

Where are WPX Hosting servers located?

WPX Hosting servers are located in:

• Chicago, Illinois
• London, England
• Sydney, Australia

As such, WPX Hosting offers services all across the world. If you’re living in North America, West Europe, or the South Pacific, you’ll likely experience lightning-fast hosting speeds by using WPX Hosting.

Who Should Use WPX Hosting?

There are two types of people who might benefit from using WPX Hosting: 

• Business Owners. When you create a website to help promote your business, or you decide to start an online business, it’s crucial to ensure that your site experiences the best possible speeds. Otherwise visitors might get frustrated and leave.
• Experienced Website Creators. If you’re managing multiple sites at once, you’re going to need a hosting server that’s capable of providing superior speeds and features. WPX Hosting offers a diverse set of plans, allowing you to pick the best option for you. 

Final Verdict

If you’re a business owner with multiple websites, WPX Hosting can help you generate more views and keep customers happy. 

Their hosting services ensure that web pages load quickly, keeping viewer interest high. 

They also offer huge storage spaces that allow you to keep images, videos, and code stable and accessible, no matter how high-quality or complicated it might be.

WPX Hosting isn’t the best choice for beginners or those not working with a WordPress site.

But WPX could be a smart option for WordPress users who are hoping to upgrade their site’s functionality and increase viewership.

Hopefully, this WPX Hosting review has helped illuminate everything you need to know about WPX Hosting.

WPX Hosting

WPX offers the fastest managed WordPress hosting, FREE high-speed CDN, and SSLs. 24/7 Lightning-Fast Support.

WPX Hosting vs. Competitors

Bluehost

• Best for beginners
• Inexpensive
• Built for WordPress

DreamHost

• Low-cost starting prices.
• Functional WordPress integration.
• Suitable hosting options

GreenGeeks

• Users get a free domain name
• Eco-friendly web hosting
• Users get automated backups

Submit Review

WPX Hosting Reviews

The post WPX Hosting Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Bluehost Review 2024

Our Verdict

Bluehost is one of the largest website hosting providers and powers millions of websites. 

Pros & Cons

We’ll detail some quick pros and cons to give you a bit of an overview of Bluehost

Pros

• Easy to change or update your plan without moving your website.
• Includes several security measures, such as SiteLock.
• Offers free anti-spam solutions for further protection.
• Offers a large selection of web-hosting options.

Cons

• Does not provide daily security backups.
• Windows hosting is not available.

It’s hard enough to build a website, but sometimes it’s more difficult deciding where to host it.

Do you sometimes wonder what money you’ll shell out for this service?

What about the learning curve?

Will you need to watch tutorials about whether a website host will do what it promised?

We’ll keep all these questions in mind in our Bluehost review down below. We know you’ve put some hard work into your site, so we’ll try to make this part easy.

About Bluehost

Bluehost is a web hosting service known for its expertise with WordPress software. It hosts over 2 million websites, especially small business sites and digital marketing sites.

The company was founded in 2003 in Orem, Utah, but Endurance International Group acquired it in 2010. 

Shortly after the acquisition, EIG consolidated its customer service operations to now run out of Burlington, Massachusetts.

Bluehost Features

What is it that makes Bluehost stand apart from other web hosts? A variety of reasons, as you’ll see below.

Hosting Services

WordPress Hosting

Bluehost hosts several WordPress plans. The three big ones are called Build, Grow, Scale, all of which run on VPS. They also come with pre-installed CMS, automatic site backups, plug-in updates, CDN, and others.

As established, WordPress hosting makes e-commerce web hosting easy through Bluehost. You can create one through “E-commerce hosting” under the WordPress Hosting navigation tab.

The WooCommerce storefront is already installed, along with a free, dedicated IP address.

Plenty of Apps to Install

Apps help you build, manage, and make your website or business all your own. Lots of these apps are easy to use and fun to play with. You can find apps under your WordPress control panel in the MOJO Marketplace. 

Some abilities you can add to your site with apps include:

• Create forums
• Image galleries
• Add and customize a calendar
• Event registration
• Create and sell online courses

You may also purchase professional services that go more in-depth in customizing your site. That way, you can create a better graphic design with brands and posters and such. Other services include PayPal integration and adding Google Analytics.

WordPress itself also makes it easier to build a site. You may also use the Weebly website builder or the goMobi Mobile Web Builder. 

Excellent Speed and Server Performance

Bluehost usually has a 99% uptime and consistently tries to hit 100%. If you get any downtown below that score, you can cancel your hosting agreement without cancelation fees.

Their page loading times are usually great too. They average at least 500 ms each year, even with their Basic shared hosting plan, and that number continues to rise. If you think you’ll add a lot of apps or widgets to your site, a more advanced pro plan would work best.

Easy-to-Use Control Panel

Bluehost’s control panel recently got an upgrade to include more features and still be easy to use. All plans come with this control panel, which manages everything from domain name management, email addresses, and payments/billing for your services and purchases.

The control panel also gives you access to all of Bluehost’s technical support and help features. It’s also where you can manage your upgrades so you can customize and change your website’s hosting.

Decent Security

Although Bluehost only does security backups at its discretion, rather than automatically, it still allows you to choose what security measures you want. Some of these measures can include:

• Creating filters for email accounts
• Password-protected directories
• Manage private keys
• Create IP address blacklists

You’ll also create an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to help encrypt your website’s information. These are files installed on website pages that create a secure connection between a user and the site’s info.

You may need to submit a name or password to make that connection.

The good news is that Bluehost includes an SSL certificate in all its hosting plans, so you’re already good to go, especially if e-commerce regulations may require you to have one.

Currently, every site requires an SSL certificate, regardless of its intended purpose. However, they are essential if you are selling online because they help keep data secure and increase customer’s trust in your site.

An SSL certificate may even improve your search engine rank.

Bluehost Hosting Plans & Pricing

Bluehost is known for its low hosting prices. Their lowest and most basic is at a measly $2.75 a month.

Their two cheapest plans include the Basic and Plus packages. The Basic contains 50 GB worth of storage, a free domain name for the first year, an SSL certificate, unlimited monthly data transfers, and a free domain name transfer. Y

ou can only host one website under this domain.

The Plus package has many more unlimited options, including storage, websites, and mailboxes. It also has an anti-spam tool. They also have Choice Plus and Pro plans with more security features, including domain privacy.

All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Get started with Bluehost for just $2.95/mo

FAQ’s

Before you get too far ahead of yourself, we’ll answer a few basic questions about Bluehost below.

Who Should Use Bluehost?

Bluehost caters to many people, but their focus lies, again, in digital marketing and e-commerce websites. They’re perfect for people just starting, considering their cheap hosting plans.

People who use blogs or personal websites could also benefit from Bluehost.

If you have a company with around 10-50 employees, you could also use Bluehost. Either way, their interface is easy to navigate and update as needed for anyone to use.

Final Verdict

Based on the benefits and pros we’ve discussed above, Bluehost is not a bad place to begin for anyone looking to start their site. Even if you don’t plan to sell online or advertise a small business, it comes with decent security and does some heavy lifting for you.

You don’t have to worry about procuring your SSL certificate, and the control panel has everything ready to go in one place. Plans also come pretty cheaply, even if you have an advanced plan.

In short, if you’re going to create your site, Bluehost should have you covered to save money without sacrificing security and quality.

Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the largest website hosting providers and powers millions of websites. 

Bluehost vs. Competitors

DreamHost

• Low-cost starting prices.
• Functional WordPress integration.
• Suitable hosting options

WPX Hosting

• Superior customer service
• Fast page loading speeds
• Built-in CDN

GreenGeeks

• Users get a free domain name
• Eco-friendly web hosting
• Users get automated backups

Submit Review

Your review Your overall rating Select a Rating5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star Title of your review Your review Your name Your email This review is based on my own experience and is my genuine opinion. ​ Submit your review

Bluehost Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

No schema found.

The post Bluehost Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Our Verdict

DreamHost makes sure your website is fast, secure & always up – so your visitors & search engines trust you. Guaranteed.

Bottom Line: If you’re looking for a web hosting option that is dependable, offers affordable costs, and works for any type of website, DreamHost may be for you. This article will discuss the different aspects of DreamHost and what you can expect from them as a premium web hosting service.

Pros & Cons

Here’s a quick overview of what’s good and what could be improved about DreamHost.

Pros

• Low-cost starting prices.
• Several pricing tier options in every category.
• Functional WordPress integration.
• Suitable hosting options for small or large websites.

Cons

• Not well-suited for high-functioning or intricately-customized websites.
• Less functional with other CMS’s like Drupal and Joomla.

It’s becoming increasingly impossible to do much these days without a web presence. There are a lot of web hosting options out there, and DreamHost is one of them.

However, knowing that a service exists does not automatically clue you in to whether it’s right for you.

In this DreamHost review, we’ll cover the basics of DreamHost so you can see if it fits what you need to make your ideal website.

About DreamHost

DreamHost is a website-hosting platform that offers WordPress hosting, domain names, cloud hosting, and various plans for customers with different web needs.

Besides standard hosting, DreamHost also has a catalog of tools for customers to help them build a better website or understand its functionality better.

They cater to different website sizes, from small individual sites to larger businesses that need more access and storage.

They tie in heavily with WordPress and even provide a WordPress website builder for users who want to bypass coding entirely.

You can have a fully customized WordPress site designed for you, in addition to other premium services.

Keep reading for more information on this website hosting service.

DreamHost Features & Services

DreamHost’s standard packages include six different options, with some requiring another package to work.

DreamHost Services

WordPress Hosting

One of its cheapest and most popular options, WordPress hosting, comes in three tiers: basic, DreamPress, and VPS WordPress. There are three primary differences between these options.

Basic includes simple web hosting plus a pre-configured WordPress setup. It’s inexpensive because you are mostly paying for web hosting since WordPress itself is free. If you are a straightforward blogger, this option will probably suit you well.

DreamPress is a web hosting and WordPress configuration, but with the addition of DreamHost’s management services. It provides items such as staging and on-demand backups if your website is involved enough to require a little extra juice.

VPS WordPress ties into DreamHost’s VPS Hosting option and allows you to power several WordPress sites.

Website Hosting

This basic website hosting plan comes with its shared hosting option. Shared hosting means you are on the same server as other websites and users. While this saves you money, it also means you have to share bandwidth with others, which may slow your website down.

You can pick this option if you don’t want to use WordPress. DreamHost caters heavily to WordPress, but if you want to create a website from scratch, you can forgo WordPress altogether and do it yourself.

VPS Hosting

VPS Hosting is the base hosting option that goes with the VPS WordPress hosting we mentioned before. VPS stands for Virtual Private Servers, which means you don’t have to share with anyone else.

This option comes with four pricing tiers that depend on the size of your business or website.

WP Website Builder

If you are averse to coding, then you can use DreamHost’s WP Website Builder, which lets you build WordPress sites in a drag-and-drop format.

It comes with a few additional tools to simplify your web-building process, and you can choose from three pricing tiers.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is for large and professional websites. It has two tiers that both include root access, a local MySQL database server, and Ubuntu. The main difference between the two tiers is the RAM and hard disk drive sizes.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud Hosting comes with DreamCompute and DreamObjects. DreamCompute is based on OpenStack and is DreamHost’s computing service. DreamObjects is an associated object storage system. Storage is unlimited, and they base the pricing on per-hour usage.

Additional Services

DreamHost has an array of services outside of hosting, though they come with price tags. They offer professional web design services, marketing services, or you can even have a fully-customized website made just for you.

These services are pricey, but custom resources usually are. Very few of these services are worth the money if you are a small portfolio or blogging site, but may pay off if you have a full-fledged business.

DreamHost Hosting Plans & Pricing

DreamHost provides three primary hosting options that vary in price within their tiers.

• Shared Hosting: Shared Hosting starts at $2.59/mo and includes a free domain name, SSD storage, and e-mail hosting.
• VPS Hosting: VPS Hosting starts at $10/mo and includes personal, unlimited bandwidth, SSL, and unlimited domain names.
• Dedicated Hosting: Dedicated Hosting starts at $169/mo and includes root access, vastly expanded storage, and handles large web projects.

Each of these options comes with tiers depending on your needs. DreamHost offers a discount if you commit to their services yearly, as opposed to monthly.

Their DreamPress options specifically integrate and use WordPress features, and this option has specific pricing tiers.

• DreamPress: The standard option that starts at $16.95/mo and includes 24/7 WordPress support, free Jetpack plugin installation, and unlimited e-mail.
• DreamPress Plus: This choice starts at $24.95/mo and has double the SSD storage of the standard option.
• DreamPress Pro: DreamPress Pro starts at $71.95/mo and has double the SSD storage of the Plus option and Jetpack Professional.

FAQ’s

If you still have a few questions after reading our DreamHost review, keep reading for further clarification on DreamHost.

Who Should Use DreamHost?

DreamHost is flexible with the sizes they can accommodate. Their basic web hosting plan suits customers with small websites who don’t want to spend a fortune on their web presence.

WordPress tools make it even easier for someone to manage a site with little experience.

Conversely, DreamHost can handle large and professional web presences for serious businesses.

Final Verdict

DreamHost is, on the whole, a solid web hosting service. They have flexible plans and provide a lot of additional features. They mostly aim to host WordPress sites, which is great if that’s how you want to operate.

If you don’t want to use WordPress, DreamHost allows you to do your own thing. The choice between monthly or yearly payments also frees you up. So, if you are a beginner, you can experiment and figure out what suits you without spending a fortune.

If this DreamHost review has sparked your attention, be sure to check out DreamHost’s various hosting plan options and see what works best for you.

DreamHost

DreamHost makes sure your website is fast, secure & always up – so your visitors & search engines trust you. Guaranteed.

DreamHost vs. Competitors

Bluehost

• Best for beginners
• Inexpensive
• Built for WordPress

WPX Hosting

• Superior customer service
• Fast page loading speeds
• Built-in CDN

GreenGeeks

• Users get a free domain name
• Eco-friendly web hosting
• Users get automated backups

Submit Review

Your reviewYour overall rating Select a Rating5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star Title of your reviewYour reviewYour nameYour email This review is based on my own experience and is my genuine opinion. ? Submit your review

DreamHost Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

No schema found.

The post DreamHost Review for 2024 appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

The post Sqribble Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

The post Wishpond Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

The post HubSpot Landing Page Builder Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

DBT is research-focused. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Unbounce Review 2021

Our Verdict

Unbounce is a landing page generator that makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to generate perfectly optimized landing pages for their products and services in less time than ever. 

Pros

• Easy to use templates.
• Quickly build and publish landing pages.
• Split testing functionality.
• Plenty of documentation in the Help Center.

Cons

• Support is limited to business hours.
• Form builder lacks some key features.

Are you tired of burning the midnight oil to create the landing pages you need?

Is your development team getting pulled away from more important projects to build the landing pages you need to drive sales? 

Regardless of the type of business you manage, landing pages can be a serious pain in the behind.

Building attractive landing pages that will convert is a battle in itself, and that’s before you consider the time spent split testing and optimizing the pages to maximize conversions.

Thankfully, there are a few services out there that aim to make it quick and easy for businesses to create the kind of landing pages that will drive conversions.

Unbounce, in particular, has solidified itself as an industry leader when it comes to landing page creation.

Today, we’re going to take a closer look at what Unbounce can do for your business, including key features, pricing, and more.

Is Unbounce right for your business? Read on to find out in our Unbounce review.

What is Unbounce? 

Founded in 2009 by a group of elite tech minds from Canada, Unbounce sought to solve the problem of landing creation for businesses. 

Today, they offer a variety of landing page creation services, including an intuitive page building, robust A/B testing, and super-smooth and unobtrusive pop-ups and sticky bars to boost conversions. 

If you or your team are struggling to keep up with building landing pages, or if you’re overlooking important steps like split testing, Unbounce may be a revolutionary tool for your business.

Unbounce Features

Now, let’s dive in and take a look at the key features of Unbounce.

Developer-Free Landing Pages

With Unbounce, you won’t have to worry about bogging down your front-end developer with landing page work when they could be focusing on more important projects. 

Unbounce allows users to create beautiful landing pages designed to convert with their simple and intuitive page builder. All told, there are over 100 beautiful templates to start with, and you can save your own templates to make the process even quicker.

Plus, there’s practically endless opportunity to customize templates to your liking. Unbounce provides nearly one million royalty-free images and almost 1,000 different fonts you can use to bring your landing pages to life. 

Unbounce also lets users add custom scripts and pixels to any landing page, which makes it even easier to customize pages and track the actions potential customers are taking on your pages.

Once your pages are complete, you can easily publish them to your site in about a minute or so. For WordPress sites, you’ll only need to click a single button to take your pages live. 

AMP Optimization

It’s no secret that people don’t like waiting for pages to load online. But, most businesses don’t realize how grave the situation is. Got a page that takes six seconds to load?

You can expect page bounces to increase by 106%, according to Google.

AMP, or accelerated mobile pages, are what your business needs to prevent bounces from happening, and keep potential customers locked on to your landing pages.

AMP is a Google-backed initiative that strips out much of the complicated coding from a page so that it can load with lightning speed. 

But, building out AMP-optimized pages from scratch is just as time-consuming as building any other landing page.

Thankfully, Unbounce offers fully-customizable AMP templates.

You can throw together a beautiful landing page that loads quickly and converts well in just a few minutes, without any help from a developer.

Lead Form Builders

Businesses looking for an effective funnel builder are sure to appreciate the lead form capabilities of Unbounce.

If you use your landing pages to capture leads and begin the sales cycle, Unbounce makes it easy to do, with plenty of slick and intuitive form styles and custom fields. 

Split Testing

We don’t build landing pages because they look cool, we build them to drive conversions!

Split testing is absolutely critical to any successful advertising campaign, and these tests provide you with meaningful insight into what is and isn’t resonating with users. 

Unbounce offers robust A/B testing so you can optimize your landing pages, and it’s included with every package they offer, including the cheapest plan.

Dynamic Text Replacement

Arguably the coolest feature available on Unbounce, DTR, helps improve conversions and user experience by matching your page copy to the user’s search intent.

That way, users find exactly what they’re looking for while your conversion rate soars.

Performance Optimizations

Additional features, such as robust ad targeting and the AI-powered Smart Traffic feature helps to deliver even more value.

Smart Traffic has shown impressive conversion lifts of around 20% by analyzing visitor attributes and sending them to the landing page that’s most likely to convert. 

Unbounce Pricing

Unbounce offers a few different pricing packages to suit the needs of practically every business.

Unbounce’s most affordable package runs $79 a month and allows users to create up to 75 landing pages and 8 pop-ups and sticky bars. 

Their premium package is available for $159 a month, and it doubles your capabilities to 150 landing pages and 16 pop-ups and sticky bars.

Larger businesses can contact Unbounce about enterprise-level service, which starts at $399 per month for 375 landing pages and 40 pop-ups and sticky bars. 

For businesses that still need more, you can contact Unbounce directly, and they’ll create a custom package to meet your needs. 

Not sure if Unbounce is right for you? They offer a 14-day free trial, so you can give the service a test drive.

Click here to get your Free 14-Day Trial of Unbounce

Who Should Use Unbounce?

Unbounce is perfect for any business that’s looking to free up time and developer resources without sacrificing their advertising campaigns.

Anyone can use Unbounce to create beautiful landing pages that convert well, without any headaches, or expensive development costs.

FAQ’s

Below you will find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions concerning Unbounce.

Final Verdict

Unbounce is arguably the best option for landing page generation in the business.

Their intuitive page builder, robust testing and optimization features, and a vast library of templates, stock photos, and fonts make it easy to create high-converting landing pages that let the heart and soul of your business shine through.

Ready to get started after reading our Unbounce review?

Visit Unbounce’s site and get started on building the best landing pages your website has ever seen!

Unbounce

Build landing pages quickly and easily, no developer needed. 

Unbounce vs. Alternatives

GrooveFunnels

• Unlimited products and funnels
• Hosting and custom domains
• Behavioral tagging in emails

Instapage

• Customizable plan options
• Easily scalable option for startups
• Integrates with many CRMs

ClickFunnels

• Great for affiliate marketing
• Funnel builder is intuitive
• Drag and drop builder

Submit Review

Your review Your overall rating Select a Rating5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star Title of your review Your review Your name Your email This review is based on my own experience and is my genuine opinion. ​ Submit your review

Unbounce Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write one.

No schema found.

The post Unbounce Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

The post Leadpages Review appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Are you ready to take your blog to new heights and interact with your readers on a deeper level?

If the answer is yes, there is no need to look any further.

This article called 10 Tips To Promote Your Blog With Email Marketing will provide essential methods for increasing the reach and effect of your blog through efficient email marketing campaigns.

You will learn how to write great subject lines that encourage readers to open your emails, create aesthetically appealing templates that reflect your brand, and master the art of writing fascinating content that keeps subscribers wanting more and more, all in the next few minutes!

We’ll also go into segmentation and personalization to ensure your communications reach the correct people and resonate with their specific requirements.

So, let’s dive into the world of email marketing and see how it may help your blog succeed!

Understanding The Power of Email Marketing Efforts

While we can all agree that social media platforms and flashy trends come and go, email marketing has shown to be a dependable weapon in a marketer’s armory in the last few years.

Imagine having a direct channel to your audience where your message won’t be lost in a sea of updates and postings. Sounds awesome, right?

Basically, that is the strength of email marketing. It is a trend-free channel reaching more than half the world’s population.

Email marketing campaigns enable you to target your content to a specific audience, resulting in greater customer connections. It’s a tailored approach in a digital world rife with noise and competition.

Another important thing that can’t go unnoticed: email marketing strategy.

Whether you’re advertising a product, breaking exciting news to the world, or giving useful information, email campaigns guarantee that your message reaches the inboxes of people whose attention you want badly.

And if you ask me, that’s the whole point of having fast and useful technology in the palm of your hand at all times.

Also, email marketing channels have the potential to benefit blogs.

Your objective as a blogger is to provide compelling material and connect with your audience, right?

Well, email marketing strengthens this bond by forwarding your most recent postings to subscribers’ inboxes. It serves as a reminder, nudge, and tool to keep your audience interested.

Sounds interesting?

Sit tight for a few more minutes, and we’ll help you create your first email marketing campaign using the most effective tips, along with its key metrics, valuable data to look at, and more.

Email Marketing Statistics

Understanding the efficacy of email marketing requires more than intuition-convincing numbers.

Did you know that there are 4.37 billion email users worldwide? Yes, you read that right – billions.

This broad reach translates into unrivaled access to prospective consumers.

Now, let’s get down to the real statistics, numbers, and facts that speak for themselves.

For every dollar invested in email marketing, you can expect around 35-36$ or more return on investment. These numbers demonstrate the irrefutable influence email marketing can have on your blog’s performance, development, and profitability.

If you use email campaigns right, you can drive sales, find potential buyers, increase awareness of your brand or small business, and earn more $$$.

Email Marketing Platform – An Important Choice

Besides famous social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram, you can find other platforms that can help your business goals.

Your platform of choice is critical in email marketing. With so many alternatives available and each offering unique benefits, making an informed choice is vital.

Our tip for you is to consider email service companies with configurable templates, simple list administration, and comprehensive statistics.

For instance, MailChimp, Constant Contact, and HubSpot have emerged as strong challengers for email campaign success. Also, examine your blog’s requirements, audience size, and content type to choose a platform that matches your email marketing goals.

Building A Quality Email Lists

People often look at the numbers themselves rather than their meaning.

10,000 followers is a big number, but are they all real, and does the profile they follow to interact with them at all? It’s not just about having a large number of subscribers or followers; it’s also about having an engaged audience that is really interested in what you have to give – a product, info, or something more personal like your engagement news.

Effective campaigns bring blog growth with real customers with real engagement.

So, creating such a list takes skill, planning, and a thorough understanding of your target audience.

• How to get new customers?
• What are the key elements to boost engagement?
• How can personalized email content effectively nurture leads and build stronger relationships with existing customers?
• What strategies can businesses employ to ensure their email campaigns stand out in crowded inboxes and drive higher open rates?

First, you’ll need a signup form on your website to gain additional email subscribers. You want it to stand out and catch your reader’s attention with an effective call to action (CTA).

Subscribers’ interest can wane when inundated solely with promotional emails lacking personalization. While email templates are essential for consistency, they should encompass compelling content designed to foster connections with recipients.

The approach should extend beyond offers and advertisements. Instead, it should prioritize relationship-building, catering to subscribers’ preferences, interests, and needs. Engaging narratives, valuable insights, and occasional promotional content can fortify customer engagement and loyalty, nurturing a lasting rapport.

Also, request that the subscriber add you to their contact list (to improve email delivery) so you can automatically send emails to your subscriber list, talking directly to your future customers and subscribers.

Offer Value: E-books, Webinars, & More

Value, value, value – whatever you do, it should possess meaning or value for you or someone else, like your customers or subscribers.

Imagine entering a bustling marketplace. What would attract you to stop by a particular stall? Sale and discounted prices? Brand names? Whatever you thought, you’re completely right.

It’s all about the value – a unique product, a demonstration, a free sample.

The same principle applies to email marketing. To grow a valuable email list and get new subscribers, you must offer something compelling in exchange for a visitor’s contact information.

E-books, webinars, exclusive guides, or even access to a curated resource library – these are your “stall’s offerings.” They attract subscribers and establish your authority and credibility in your niche.

You aim to demonstrate that joining your email list provides tangible benefits beyond just receiving promotional messages, which will keep your email marketing game successful.

Messages you send to the customers on your email lists should help drive traffic to your business and help you promote the services you offer.

But how much it will cost you? Nothing!

If you have email addresses for someone interested in things you offer, you can use that as a great strategy for getting more traffic and engagement. Easy and cost-effective, and what’s better than that?

Another great tip: Purchased lists are only good if you want inactive subscribers and low audience engagement. Data shows that services like that are inactive and even bad for social media channels.

Building organic lists of engaged users through opt-in methods fosters higher engagement rates and authentic connections, resulting in a more vibrant and responsive community. This approach not only promotes healthier email campaigns but also positively impacts overall digital marketing strategies.

Avoiding The Spam Trap

Imagine crafting meticulously curated emails, pouring your creativity and expertise into every word, only to find them languishing in the recipient’s spam folder. All the hype for nothing.

It’s a heart-sinking scenario, but one that can be skillfully avoided.

Pay attention to the “little things”.

The email subject line is the main “little thing” that will ensure that the email never leads to someone’s trash. Your email should be divided into different email segments. You need to include basic information like “sender name” in your email, create a great personal message, and use email tools to help you with your email campaign.

Also, don’t forget to add a call to action somewhere in your message!

Another tip is not to use email automation on your every email campaign. If you want to save your customer loyalty, aka existing customers, you need to find different marketing channels from time to time.

By occasionally venturing into new avenues, businesses can tap into fresh engagement opportunities and cultivate well-rounded relationships with their audience. This dynamic approach enhances brand resonance and sustains customer interest over the long term.

Crafting Engaging Email Content

In a digital landscape saturated with messages, the art of email composition plays a pivotal role in seizing recipients’ attention and fostering meaningful connections.

Here are some effective tips that can help you:

Subject Lines That Grab Attention

As much as we would like to think that it is not so, appearance is what counts the most in a majority of situations. In email marketing – appearance, form, structure, and everything that follows is essential because that creates differences.

And that’s where the subject line comes into play.

The subject line of your email is your first impression, your digital handshake.

It’s a delicate balance – enticing without being deceiving, and engaging without being verbose. The perfect subject line is the golden ticket to improved open rates, and it’s worth the effort to master.

A bad subject line might send your email to the spam bin. If it is not interesting, it may fail to capture the readers’ attention and be removed before it is even opened.

So, the subject line should entice the reader to open and read the email.

Personalization Is Key

Personalization is the spotlight that leads your message through the clutter in a world of overwhelming digital noise.

It’s no longer enough to address your subscribers by name; it’s also important to understand their interests, behaviors, and pain areas to send personalized information if you want to get their attention.

Personalization isn’t just a tactic; it’s an email strategy that yields results. Studies show that personalized emails deliver up to 6x higher transaction rates, demonstrating the value of speaking directly to your audience’s needs.

If you want to get email engagement, the right message will do most of the work.

The Influence of Personalized Content

Here are top three ways in which personalized content affects your email marketing strategy:

Segmentation:

Segmentation is the process of dividing your email list depending on demographics, interests, or levels of interaction. It lets you distribute highly relevant information, improve open rates and engagement.

Don’t hesitate to create a few different email marketing lists for different types of subscribers!

Behavioral Triggers:

Send emails responding to certain behaviors, such as a welcome email following a subscription or a follow-up email following a purchase. This communication style appear to be timely and relevant, so try to find a few more ways to gain subscribers with your first campaign and a welcome email.

Dynamic Content:

Personalize email content depending on subscriber information. For example, propose a few similar products or services depending on their purchase history.

Don’t send the same email to different types of customers.

Examples of Successful Email Marketing Campaigns

An example of an excellent campaign performance is Airbnb, for sure.

Airbnb delivers customized suggestions to users based on their prior bookings and search history. They create a sense of exclusivity and relevancy by personalizing their emails to the user’s tastes and travel history.

This personal touch has bumped up user engagement and booking rates dramatically.

Another great example of using an email marketing tool is Uber. With a great and creative sales team, this business reached the top of email marketing platforms, and here is how:

Uber focuses on city-specific email marketing with unique promotions and discounts. This strategy makes the promotions feel more relevant and timely to the receivers.

Also, Uber enhances user engagement and conversions by capitalizing on local events and trends.

Integrating Blog Content Into Newsletters

It’s time to talk about the famous ten steps that will help promote a blog via email.

Let’s get to work!

1. Get Permission

It’s not sufficient to capture email addresses here, there, and everywhere to slam onto your subscription list. You either have received formal double opt-in archived permission from your subscriber, or you’re spamming.

It’s that simple.

2. Set (Realistic) Expectations

You have to be very clear as to what type of content your newsletter will contain and how often they will receive it.

If they’re expecting a monthly newsletter on your pet supply blog, and instead, they end up getting daily emailed exhortations to buy antidepressant pharmaceuticals, you’re on the fast track to spam reports and blacklists.

3. Be Consistent 

Take your time to come up with a coherent identity for your email newsletters that matches your blog.

It’s not enough to simply copy over the logo – everything should be synchronous – from the color scheme of the layout to the writing style of the email copy.

4. Mobile Devices Rule

There are various hard and fast rules that must be adhered to to suit the growing portion of your audience who reads your emails on mobile devices. Basically, your email should be mobile-friendly.

Do your research on how to best design emails for mobiles and apply what you learn.

5. Keep It Short

You wouldn’t write a 7,200-word blog on Disney World vacation plans.

Case in point: You shouldn’t bog down your email newsletters with excessive coverage of the insignificant.

Keep your email copy focused and edit it all down to the shortest word count it can possibly be while still making the point.

6. Call To Action 

Many bloggers engage email subscribers in a strictly informative manner without bothering to drive that precious traffic back to the blog.

Link back to your blog every reasonable chance you have. After all, that’s the reason you’re doing an email marketing campaign in the first place!

7. Facilitate the unsubscribe

You’ve gone through a lot of trouble to get that subscriber, so why should you make it easy for them to leave your list?

If you don’t prominently feature an unsubscribe link that is immediately honored, not only are you violating the US Federal CAN-SPAM Act, but you’re just begging your subscriber to plunk you in the junk folder or file a spam complaint.

8. Check Through Emulators

There are various services that allow you to see your email the way it will be viewed in a broad variety of browsers and devices.

Don’t ever let your email go out until you’ve reviewed these different perspectives or you may find that all of the readers using iPhones or Firefox might be seeing your email as a post-earthquake mosaic.

9. Segment & Segment some more

There is literally no limit to how far you can segment your list.

As mentioned before, you can separate subcategories by behavior, geography, demographics, or any other bit of information you can gather about your subscribers, then custom-tailor the content to fit.

If you’re sending the same newsletter to your entire list, you’re applying a transparently generic strategy that is essentially counter-productive.

10. Ask For feedback

Be open to both positive and negative comments as you solicit every form of feedback your subscriber base will provide.

Learn from each and every comment and use the feedback to fine tune your marketing efforts.

Measuring Your Email Marketing Success

Measuring the efficacy of your email marketing campaigns isn’t just an analytical exercise – it’s a guiding strategy element toward more profound engagement and conversion with people important to you or your business.

These metrics provide information on how well your target audience receives your messages and how persuasive your call-to-actions are.

Let’s look at the important indicators of your email marketing efforts:

Open Rates: The Gateway Metric

Subject lines and preheader material might tempt recipients to click the “Open” button.

Simplified, open rates reveal the percentage of recipients who considered your email fascinating enough to click through and learn more. A good open rate varies by sector, although it often ranges between 15% and 25%.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): The Engagement Indicator

The ultimate aim of your email marketing is for it to be acted upon, not merely opened.

So, CTR is the percentage of receivers who not only opened but also interacted with your email’s content.

It’s a trustworthy indicator of your message’s resonance and the clarity of your call to action. CTRs of roughly 2-5% are commonly regarded as adequate.

Conversion Rate: The Grand Finale

Every email, whether a product purchase, a new blog post, or a webinar sign-up, is a step closer to conversion, right?

The conversion rate measures the proportion of receivers who did the desired action. It is the sole indicator that genuinely quantifies the impact of your campaign on your company goals.

Bounce Rate: The Contact Quality Indicator

Bounces occur when your emails can’t reach a recipient’s inbox. This is not very often, but we are here to ensure you have all the information and go through all possible scenarios together.

There are two kinds of bounces: Permanent Hard Bounces and Transient Soft Bounces. A high bounce rate might indicate problems with your email list’s quality or sender reputation, check it to see where the problem is.

Unsubscribe Rate: The Opt-Out Signal

While it’s understandable to want to prevent unsubscribes, they provide useful information about your material’s relevancy and engagement levels.

Unsubscribe rates vary per sector, but anything less than 0.5% is acceptable.

Spam Complaint Rate: The Trust Factor

Spam emails hurt your sender’s reputation, trust me. A high spam complaint rate indicates that your content or sending techniques may irritate receivers.

Create an email marketing strategies which will exclude sending spam emails with no value for the recipients.

Best Practices in Interpreting Metrics

Interpreting metrics is a cornerstone of data-driven decision-making.

Let’s delve into three fundamental practices that illuminate the insights hidden within the numbers, guiding us towards more effective strategies and informed outcomes.

1. Benchmark Wisely:

Industry benchmarks are useful for gauging performance but don’t fixate solely on them. Your unique audience and goals dictate what’s truly successful.

2. Segmentation’s Influence:

Segmenting your email list allows you to compare metrics across different audience groups. It’s a treasure trove for understanding what resonates with specific segments.

3. A/B Testing:

Experimentation is your ally. A/B testing subject lines, content, and CTAs unveils what truly resonates with your audience.

Leveraging Automation & Segmentation

In email marketing, where time is gold and personalization is paramount, leveraging automation and segmentation emerges as a strategic weapon. This dynamic duo isn’t just a convenience; it’s a means to deliver tailor-made content directly to your audience’s virtual doorstep.

Consider this:

Your site has risen in popularity, your subscribers have increased, and managing individual emails has become a logistical nightmare. This is where email marketing automation comes in as a reliable ally.

Automation is about maximizing the complete subscriber journey, not just efficiency.

You may use these email marketing tools to create a finely choreographed email series that greets, nurtures, and leads your subscribers.

Automation crafts a story that engages without your ongoing manual interaction, from the warm welcome email that instills a sense of belonging, to a series of smart emails that educate and interest.

Furthermore, automation is not restricted to sequences. Its capabilities are extended to dynamic content, personalizing your message based on subscriber behavior, preferences, and interactions. Whether highlighting the most recent blog post or recommending material based on previous reads, automation allows you to be present without being attached.

Consider getting an email that speaks your language, solves your concerns, and reflects your choices.

One-size-fits-all? Not in this hyper-personalized era.

As already mentioned, segmentation is all about understanding your subscribers’ tastes, actions, and engagement levels.

Are they drawn to your in-depth instructions or prefer your quick-tip posts?

By segmenting your list, you may customize content that resonates profoundly.

Assume you own a tech blog that covers both software and hardware. By using segmentation, you may ensure that subscribers only receive information relevant to their interests. This relevance increases engagement, fosters trust, and cultivates a community that anticipates your ideas.

The synergy between automation and segmentation is akin to a well-orchestrated symphony. Automation tools turn segments into audiences and delivers content at the right time.

You’re not just sending emails; you’re weaving an experience.

For instance, a new subscriber enters your list.

Automation greets them with onboarding emails, while segmentation ensures the content aligns with their indicated preferences during sign-up. As they engage, automation takes over, nurturing them further down the conversion path. Also, email marketing is more than just emails; it’s a conversation, a connection, a conduit of value.

Leveraging automation and segmentation elevates this conversation from monologue to dialogue. It transforms your blog’s promotion from a mere marketing effort to a personalized journey-one that resonates, engages, and nurtures.

Conclusion

Email marketing isn’t limited to big businesses; bloggers can also utilize newsletters to grow their audience, employing similar strategies as major retailers.

In the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing, email remains a steady guidepost for promoting your blog, providing stability amidst trends that come and go. The techniques outlined here go beyond tools – they form the basis for fostering a strong, interactive, and meaningful connection with your readers.

But if you’ve got a great blog and you’re at a loss on how to promote it via email marketing, you’re not alone. This article offered the top 10 tips to efficiently promote your blog through the remarkable power and efficiency of email marketing.

As we’ve explored the art of creating captivating subject lines that allure readers, delved into data-driven segmentation for tailoring resonant content, and highlighted the significance of nurturing automation, a recurring theme has emerged: the influence of personalization.

In a time dominated by information overflow, the ability to forge human connections becomes the cornerstone of boosting engagement.

Our article commenced with the bedrock of email marketing: the formation of a quality email list. The strategies mentioned for offering value and evading spam folders transcend mere checkboxes; they form the bedrock for establishing trust.

Subsequently, our focus shifted to crafting compelling email content, encompassing subject lines that pique curiosity and personalization that fosters genuine involvement.

Naturally, we scrutinized metrics that gauge the efficacy of your email marketing endeavors.

Understanding these indicators parallels mastering the language of your target audience’s preferences and activities. This compass guides future efforts toward heightened engagement and conversion.

Furthermore, the utilization of automation and segmentation unveiled the true allure of email marketing – the ability to maintain a presence even beyond the act of clicking “send.”

Concluding our article, bear in mind that email marketing is a dynamic technology, not an inflexible formula. The digital landscape will transform, and algorithms will evolve, yet the essence of direct, tailored communication remains constant.

So, here’s your call to action: employ these recommendations, translate them into action, and witness your blog’s reach and resonance flourish. In an era of fleeting online interactions, email marketing provides a platform for cultivating profound connections and inspiring impactful action.

Once again, email marketing can be the most successful way to drive traffic to your blog and ensure that you maintain a vibrant and engaged readership. 

Master email marketing and watch your rating soar in no time.

The post 10 Expert Tips To Supercharge Your Blog With Email Marketing appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

This year has probably created what we know to be the most fertile soil for the SEO industry. And while many still subscribe to old practices the paradigm has shifted rather dramatically. SEO, now taken as an industry that tightly interlinks with all other marketing sectors, can be applied in various verticals and through plethora of fields.

So adopting some creative and lateral thinking from chaps way smarter than me, I’ve decided to use SEO as a means to build yet another online business model.

This model, depending on your ability to leverage SEO in more creative ways, focuses on affiliate marketing. If you’ve been in the field for a while, there is probably no need to explain the concept of affiliate marketing further. No doubt, ranking high for products that tend to sell a lot builds some rather serious income streams.

Irrespective of that, there is this trend with many people, and throughout my own experience with projects, to enter this game without regards to timing. And though this might seem fairly innocuous to some, I’m here to tell you a secret- Having information about when to enter the market, along with implementing some rather elementary SEO can mean increasing your earnings tenfold.

Enter Pre-launch affiliate marketing campaigns

What vast majority of people seem to miss is the fact that most companies that launch products today do an amazing job with pre-launch marketing. But why is this so important, and why does it matter to you?

Allow me to school you about a single secret that hides in plain sight. What the sum of all these marketing efforts amounts to, is the fact that the largest portion of the sales are made within the first two or three months.

Numbers vary with examples, but most of them seem to show that these marketing campaigns target early adopters, and companies tailor their products especially for them.

This knowledge can be used to create a model that is going to capitalize on those numbers.

Some examples as to understand the potential

The first time I saw someone trying to capitalize on this model I was blown away. A lucrative and obviously scalable model done in 2004, it seems as though Darren Rowse was very creative with it.

Lacking online noise at the time, but being a world-scale event, he decided to blog about the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, even months before they officially started. What Darren knew back then, that many people seem to miss even now, is that ranking high for a product, event, or something that obviously has the potential to become trendy and popular, months before it is out, can create a monopoly on the subject in terms of organic search results.

It goes without saying that SEO is a bird of another feather now, and when you compare the efforts the math says you need to work ten times harder. But here is the obvious equalizer in this equation- though the project might take more work there is way more online traction that is happening nowadays in comparison to a decade ago.

Imagine ranking high for many queries connected with upcoming popular apps, or games, or movies, or devices… Building a landing page where you review them, or recommend them, or even build resources and informational products around them.

Back when Starcraft 2 came out (the popular computer game) there were these guys who had some inside info about it and decided to make a product where they explain strategies about the gameplay. Suffice to say, they ranked high for some queries and when the game did come out they made a small fortune. Selling their guide along with affiliate sales generated by the game reviews that they’ve created, it was a very smart strategy.

And though these projects did require some hard work, many others would require less; for there are millions of opportunities to tie such a project with an already existing site. Let me explain myself. We’ve done a fair share of affiliate sales during these last couple of years, but never really seemed to care about timing. For shame…

It turns out that for some of the projects that we did, timing would have played a huge difference in earnings. So we’ve learned a valuable lesson.

The step by step model

1. Pinpoint an upcoming product or event and try to predict how hard it would be to rank.
   Example: There is a difference in competing for the new iPhone and some new Vitamix blender model.
   This will give you an estimate of how much work there is to be done, and more importantly if you can tie the work with an already existing site of yours. I always include fitness products in my already existing site which is very relevant to the niche.
2. Find some valuable inside information. There are couple of easy and scalable ways to do this
3. Decide about your monetizing method. Affiliate sales alone are great, but it would be even better if you can create some product that can be sold in relation to the one people are waiting to finally come out. This can be a guide, an application, something that will complement the product or enhance it.
4. Build up some content around it
5. Rank the thing and enjoy the cash
6. Collect all the shares and mentions that are about to come in recent months and enjoy more cash flow

1. Searching for a project to rank

Enough practice makes this step of the process rather intuitive. And you can always develop your own approach later on especially with trial and error. There is nothing more frustrating than spending all that work to build content and rank it high, only to find out that the bubble bursts right after launch day.

So, in order to find yourself a real lottery ticket, you have to look for various signs.

• Study how previous products that this company launched panned out.
• See the extent of their pre-launch marketing campaign- how many Facebook fans are on their fan page about the product, is there any fan page at all… Are they actively promoting on different channels, and if so how good of a job they are doing. This step is highly subjective, so some background experience in the field of online marketing as a whole is crucial.
• Look for other forms of advertising, especially television and other offline campaigns. The more there are, the more popular the product is likely to be.
• Go to Google trends and see how this product compares to others that are already released. Also, pay close attention on how it evolves over time.
• Do the math – Calculate the value of the product, and investigate how many affiliate networks are already backing up such products. For example, there is a big difference when you see one affiliate network giving 15% of the earnings and others 40. Is it easy to strike a deal with the company itself, or will you have to sell via amazon only? – There is a huge difference. So plan accordingly.

2. Inside information

This information may refer to details connected to the release date of the product, its price, sneak peak of its design… The more of it you discover, the better; and while some of you might think it is exceedingly difficult to acquire such information, given the degree of transparency in pre-launch marketing campaigns nowadays, you will be positively shocked.

Not lamenting further on this subject here are some easy to follow steps on how to acquire as much info as possible:

• Follow the YouTube channel of the company and its spokesmen. In the fitness industry especially, this is as much of a silver lining as you’d hope for.
• Follow twitter and Facebook accounts
• Follow their personal company blog, or that of their spokesman. For example, if you are into SEO, you probably know that there is much inside info about Moz on Rand’s blog.
• Forums are also helpful here, though it might depend upon the niche.
• Be transparent- contact their company, and tell them that you are going to market their product. While some proof of success might seem more than convincing on their end, there are many smaller brands that are gladly to help even without it.

3. Your selling angle

Many routinely underestimate the power of informational products. And making such a product after three years of involvement in this industry, I’m as guilty as the next guy. While affiliate marketing has been parroted around rather excessively, there are hardly any guides on how to capitalize from an upcoming third-party product by creating resources around it. Here are some examples as to paint a more vivid picture of what is possible.

Building a mail list about the product before it is out. I haven’t done this yet, and just admitting it now hurts a lot. For this is a very, very lucrative of a model. You build a landing page around a product, and then offer some resource/app/any digital good really, in order to gather as many e-mails as possible.

The plan? Well, if I have to spell it for you then be it… You will send the review about the product once it is out, and probably make a lot of sales depending on how well you’ve polished it. Then- and this is the fun part- you are left with a huge e-mail list to which you can send an automated mail sequence where you teach and inform them about various aspects related to your niche.

When we made the P90 workout review even months before the product came out, we could have implemented this. Imagine this scenario- thousands of people have seen the thing, and we started making dollars only when it actually came out. What a shame… All those visitors- a large chunk at least- would have signed in if given something valuable. And it never has to be much- a single page pdf “5-insert something- that will do –insert something” kind of resource, and you are set. Later on, many of these people end up buying the product, which only triples our earnings for the first month.

Then, after the sale is done, we are left with this huge mail list that is deeply interested in everything fitness related. Should we ever make a product of our own, we have a market.

• Affiliate sales only. And this is not something which I advise against. After all, this year so far, we made a low five figure only from affiliate marketing, i.e. selling third party products on one of our sites. And for all of these products we entered rather late. You do the math about what happens when you enter early enough.
• Make a digital resource or a product of your own. This is something easier said than done; but still far from rocket science. You see, you can awake your creative spirits and put together something that will, in a way, complement the product that is about to launch.

The guys from the thing with StarCraft made the e-book; Darren (though I might be wrong assuming he didn’t) might have made an informative guide about Athens and how to get around during the games. We can make something similar to this- a short e-book with tips on how to make the most of the P90 workout, and lose more weight, build more muscle etc. (you have to deliver on your promise though). Or, we can make an app that will help you stay connected with others who are doing it, or a stay-accountable app or something within those lines.

You can- drumrolls please (and some firework) – combine all of these methods together, and then some. Use the best of your judgment, and see if there is a certain balance, or at least try to keep things non-intrusive.

4. All hail the king- content

This is the obvious line of progress. In order to enhance your review page, or your landing page, you will need some content to back it up. If you were to build a whole site around the product, there is no need in me telling you this- you will need more content. How much more? Well, it depends entirely upon the industry you are trying to compete in.

More content- quality, well researched, and carefully made content- usually attracts more links, mentions, shares, likes and more or less all the pretty stuff you can imagine.

And though sometimes past experience offers little clue to wisdom, and you can make all the traction by simply making a plugin or an application, writing articles that people would like to share is always going to beat anything else by a huge margin.

We are now creating articles about fitness that are casually going to mention the P90 workout. Then, we will place these articles on our site and interlink where it makes sense. What we hope the sum of this is going to amount to, is more relevancy, and then again more link juice being transferred to the main page of interest- the review itself.

Here are some content ideas, were you to make a site about an upcoming computer game (notice how I still don’t share any of my content strategy about the P90 workout? Well…)

• Couple of articles discussing sneak peak material (images from inside the game, trailers, the engine of the game…)
• Articles about the music, voiceovers, and who are the people involved. An article or two about the team and some of the statements they already gave to the press
• How this version of the game might compare to its predecessors if there are any, or then again how it might compare to other similar games
• What is the most innovative thing that this game offers to players
• Discuss the modes, campaigns, and give some forecast or some of your own opinion about it ( you will have to be well versed in this type of language)
• Interview some members of the production team- this is as close it can get to link bait
• Do a mash-up article where you ask some popular gamers from the genre about their opinion of the game.
• As soon as the game comes up, do as many similar pieces of content, and review as many aspects of the gameplay as you can.

5. Link building

I know we already named this step differently, but here is the thing- ranking, in the loose sense of the word, can also mean everything else you’ve done so far. This is to all of those who waited for the “SEO angle” in the story.

Everything that you’ve done so far goes a long way in making your targeted page rank high. Complement that with some intentional link building and you are cementing yourself on the first couple of places in the SERPs.

Let us make a small checklist now, shall we:

• Make sure you are descriptive enough when you are writing the page you want to rank. Use the lingo of the industry, place keywords where it makes sense, and try to be as much specific as you can.
• Pay a lot of attention to user experience, make the content visually rich (we are talking the whole of design, not just adding images) and hone your copy again and again.
• Interlink the relevant content where it makes sense
• Pay attention to technical details as site speed
• Remove any unnecessary clicks and steps
• Group similar content concepts in one single page
• Share the content on social networks
• Outreach
• Build some additional links

I’ve covered the link building aspect in my previous article and it is as simple as anything else thus far.

6. Witness the benefits of being first to rank

The model I just described is nothing more than common sense really; yet for all this, the staccato sequence of sites popping up months after a product is launched says otherwise.

No doubt, most sites hoping to make affiliate sales do nothing else but unceremoniously dumping reviews after a product becomes popular and makes a lot of sales. And I should know this best, for we’ve done the exact same thing for more than a year. And what happens? You make some bucks, sure, but the potential is limited at best.

In addition, you need more time to climb the first positions of the SERPs, and this means entering the game when it is almost too late, fighting for rankings, extinguishing one proverbial fire after another. By extension, the guys who made it first- well, how to put this now, they capitalized on the fact- for much of the mentions, shares, social media buzz and overall credibility came as a side effect of just being there first. This, for no surprise whatsoever, even further propelled them to the top.

If you take only one thing from this article, let it be this- pay attention to pre-launch marketing campaigns and track the market even before it gives birth to a new product. Oh, and please take this as well- third party products, though being great for affiliate marketing, can also build your mail list or sell a related product of your own- just mind the timing.

Godspeed!

The post How To Use Holistic SEO for Ranking Affiliate Products appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

This is a guest post by Tristan Higbee. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Forums have been around since the earliest days of the Internet, and people have been using them ever since to drive traffic to their websites. While they’re not hip and sexy Web 2.0 darlings like Twitter or Facebook, forums are still a great way to drive targeted traffic to your blog. Below are 8 things you need to keep in mind when using forums as a traffic driving strategy.

1. Pick the right forum

Choosing the right forum(s) to participate in makes a big difference. Hopefully you’re already an active member of a forum or two. If not, hopefully you’re at least aware of some of the popular forums that cater to your niche. If that’s still not the case, Google “YOURNICHE forum” or check out Big-Boards.com.

If there are multiple forums in your niche, you should focus on being active in just one forum at first. You don’t want to spread yourself too thin, and you want to be sure you become a prominent member of the community. That’s hard to do when you’re trying to post in half a dozen different forums. Once you’ve become established in one, then you can determine whether joining another would be best for you.

If you’re not already active in a forum and you have multiple forums to choose from, there are a couple points to consider. How large and active is the forum? You won’t get much traffic from a forum that has 30 members and the last post was six months ago. Do you like the look of the forum? I’ve chosen to participate in certain forums because I just like the way they’re designed. Does the forum allow signatures? Some forums don’t allow signatures, which will make it harder for you to get traffic (see the “Put a link in your signature” section below). And finally (and perhaps most importantly), do you like the community that has built up around the forum? You’re going to be spending a lot of time there, so make sure you like the kind of discussion that’s going on.

2. Choose your username carefully

Your username is your brand out there on the forum for everyone to see, so it needs to be chosen carefully. Ask yourself what message you want your username to send. Using your name as a username gives your interactions with others a more personal feel than if you just used the name of your blog or business. It’s important that you username fits in with your niche and the forum. For example, if you’re posting to a realty forum and the forum community you’re posting to has a very professional feel to it, you’ll obviously want to steer clear of usernames like “xfallenangel1987x.”

3. Put a link in your signature

Your signature is the couple lines of text that appear below each one of your forum posts. Putting a link to your blog or to a particularly good post is the backbone of any solid forum-based traffic strategy. This is how you’ll get the majority of traffic out of the forum.

A standard signature will include the name of your blog and maybe your blog’s tagline or what your blog is about. Linking to an especially informative or interesting post can also be a good strategy if you want to drive traffic to certain parts of your blog. Remember that you can also link to a newsletter signup page to help grow your list.

You can read more about putting a link in your signature in this previous Daily Blog Tips post.

4. Craft your profile carefully

Your profile is what people see when they click on your username, and it usually consists at least of your avatar, a short bio, and a link to your website. Most often, your avatar should be a picture of you. We like to know that we’re interacting with a real person, and a photo gives a face to the name and helps create a more personal interactive experience. If you prefer anonymity, then use anything you want as long as it fits in with 1) the feel of the forum, and 2) the image of your blog or business. Using the realty forum example again, you wouldn’t want your profile pic to be a funny animated .gif of a guy getting hit in his private parts with a baseball. Likewise, you wouldn’t want to use a serious, black and white photo of yourself if you’ve got a fun and colorful blog about funny YouTube videos.

Your bio should include relevant information about you. Again, make it professional, but don’t be boring and one-dimensional. Sure, talk about how much experiences you’ve got in your particular field, but also talk about any other interesting information about yourself. If you’re on a rock climbing forum, you could state that you’ve been rock climbing for 12 years, that you are an avid backcountry skier in the offseason., and that you love watching Lost. Give people more reasons for them to interact with you.

And while we’re on the subject of getting people to interact with you, be sure to include a line in your bio (preferably at the end) that you welcome people to contact you with any questions or comments. This can help people feel comfortable about coming to you for any additional help or information beyond what you provide in your forum posts.

Many forum profiles have a space for your website’s URL or the URL of your favorite website. Be sure to put your blog in there!

Finally, take advantage of any other profile features your forum might have. Some forums let you enter your Twitter handle, for example. Others let you enter your other interests. Use these elements to further differentiate yourself from others, to establish yourself as an expert in your field, and to set yourself up as a person people want to interact with.

5. Don’t be spammy

When you’re networking with people in person, you don’t shake their hands and immediately stuff a business card down their throats. You want to get to know the person a little bit before interacting with them on a professional level. To put it another way, you wouldn’t go all the way on a first date, right?

Sure, you’re using the forum to promote your site, but that shouldn’t look like the main reason you’re there. Stick around the forum for a while before you start promoting your blog openly. No one likes it when the forum user’s first and only post is, “Hey guys! Check out my sick awesome new blog!”

6. Provide quality content

We’ve all heard that “Content is king” for getting traffic to your blog and getting people to subscribe to your blog. The same applies to forum posts. For example, don’t just respond to a question by saying “Yes” or “No,” but justify your response with a clear, well-thought-out, informative, helpful reply. Provide the best content you possibly can. Link to other resources both inside the forum and elsewhere online to provide even more helpful content.

Another tactic you can use is writing content especially for the forum. Think of it like guest posting for the forum: you provide your own content for free to the forum, and in exchange you get more exposure for your blog. At the end of the forum post, you can include a line of text that says something like, “This was written specifically for the Whatever Forum. If you found this information useful, check out my blog at WhateverIsAwesome.com.” You’re adding value to the forum while at the same time giving people a reason to check out your blog. Win-win!

Having said all of that, not all of your posts need to be long and epic. Quality content can be as simple as posting a funny YouTube video that a lot of people in the forum community can enjoy.

7. Start new threads

If someone opens up a thread to read it, that person is obviously going to read the first post in the thread, right? The first post in a thread gets read more than any other, so being in that position is a great way to leverage your forum posting.

It’s important, however, that you start the right kinds of threads. If you’ve got genuine questions about something, then by all means ask about it. If you don’t have any questions, a great way to go is to ask people’s opinions on a topic that they all can have input on. If you’re posting to a mountain biking forum, for example, ask people what they’d do if they had $5000 to spend. Would they spend it on a new bike? Upgrades to their current bike? Travel to that place they’ve always wanted to ride? More examples can be asking people on a Corvette forum to post sweet pics of their ride, or encouraging members on a photography forum to post links to their portfolios.

8. Post often

Forum posting isn’t the best passive traffic strategy. You can’t just spend a week posting multiple times a day and then sit back and expect the traffic to roll in forever. The threads that you spend all that time and effort posting in will eventually be pushed further and further down the page until they disappear from page 1. It’s sad, but that’s just the way it is. Participating in — and getting traffic from — forums is very much an active process. To get the best results, you really need to commit to it and make it a regular part of your blogging process.

Above all, just try to enjoy the experience. Hopefully you’re talking about things you like, and you might as well be building blog traffic while you’re at it, right? In addition, forums are great way to get post ideas for your blog, so keep your eyes peeled.

Pick a forum, do your best to become part of the community there, apply the above 8 points, and you’re sure to see the traffic start to come. Good luck!

About the author: Tristan Higbee just launched Blogging Bookshelf, where he reviews books and ebooks specifically for bloggers. Subscribe to the Blogging Bookshelf newsletter and get his ebook, “101 Ways to Battle Blogger’s Block”, for free.

The post 8 Tips To Get Traffic From Online Forums appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

A few months ago I published an article titled How to make a full-time income by adding a storefront to your blog. It gives a general overview of monetizing your blog by adding a storefront.

Today, I’ll explain how to start selling digital products specifically and make a full-time income through it.

The best thing about creating a digital product is that it is easier than creating physical ones. In fact, even if you’re not a tech-savvy person, you could start creating and selling digital products like ebooks with ease.

After all, you don’t necessarily need to have a massive following, in order to build a solid income if you’re selling a product online.

In this post, I’ll show you how to start making a full-time income by selling digital goods online in two ways- selling on marketplaces and selling on your own blog.

Sell on Marketplaces

If you’ve ever sold a product online, you might have known that selling is a tedious task; especially finding potential buyers and putting your digital products before them. This is especially true if you’re a newbie seller and not a well-known face in your niche.

For that reason, many sellers prefer selling on marketplaces to selling on their blog.

As thousands of potential buyers are there on marketplaces, the main benefit is that the product visibility will be high. Moreover, you can sell it to people who are not actually your blog readers.

For instance, if you’re an ebook publisher, marketplaces like Amazon.com, Lulu.com and BarnesandNobles.com could be the right choice for you.

If you’re a WordPress theme developer you may use marketplaces like Themeforest.net, MojoThemes.com and WPEden.com etc.

So the basic idea is to find the right marketplaces to sell your products.

How to sell?

If you’re looking for an inspiration to get started as a digital publisher, let’s take a look at the success story of a Kindle bestseller, Rachel Abbott and learn how she successfully leveraged marketplaces to sell her digital goods. Though this case study is about making a full-time income by selling ebooks, the same strategy is applicable to selling any digital goods on marketplaces whether it is a WordPress plugin, software, stock photos, etc.

Lesson #1: Always get the basics right

Create a product with a strong concept. Get a professional looking cover if you’re releasing an ebook. For other digital products like themes, software or plugins, you may need to display screenshots and other graphics that easily grabs the attention of your potential customers.

Make people want to buy it by writing a great description while listing it on marketplaces.

Lesson #2: Create a marketing plan and stick to it

No matter how good your products are, none of your products sell themselves even if you’re using a popular platform like Amazon. However, with the right marketing strategies, you could succeed in selling.

Rachel uses Twitter as her primary marketing channel. She used to engage with like-minded people on Twitter by using tools like Twitter Adder and Triberr. This helped her to spread the word out about her products, which in turn increase the visibility of her listings.

With that said, you shouldn’t necessarily focus solely on Twitter for getting exposure especially if you’re not a regular Twitter user.

For example, publishers like Joanna Penn used to use her blogs to increase exposure of her products listing. Instead of reaching out to like-minded people on Twitter, she used to conduct interviews with popular self-published authors. And because there is a good chance that those authors would tweet about the interview or offer a backlink to it as well as products listing, this is a nice strategy to build some exposure to products listings.

Instead of blindly following others technique, make sure to stick to your marketing plans. Though it is OK to make mistakes when you’re selling a product for the first time, take those mistakes as lessons while creating your future marketing strategies.

Lesson #3: Get some great reviews quickly

One of the main reasons for the success of Rachel is that she got some great reviews quickly in the early days of her product release.

Identify potential blogs in your niche and ask them politely to review your product. While you couldn’t expect everyone you outreach to write a review, this strategy can be very effective to get some reviews and increase exposure for your listing in the early days.

Needless to say, in order to bring in sales, you’ll need to prepare yourself to work hard.

Turn your website into a digital store

One of the best things about creating a digital store is that you get the full control of what you’re selling.

For instance, if you’re selling products on marketplaces, you’ll need to adhere to their guidelines and they’ll take a significant profit share from what you make.

And if you carefully analyze the strategy of most of the best sellers out there, you’ll identify that in order to make a full-time income, you may need to produce multiple products for low prices. It’s because high priced products are harder to sell especially if you’re new to the market, which in turn forces you to create many products.

On the other hand, if you’re selling your digital goods on your own store, you don’t necessarily need to sell them for a cheaper price. Because you’ve full control over what you do, all you need to do is to grow a loyal following base and start selling your products to them.

Let’s take a look at how to make a full-time income by selling self-hosted digital goods.

How to Sell?

While creating and selling an ebook is one of the easiest ways to get started with selling a digital good especially for a non-tech savvy person, your choices are not limited to selling ebooks as long as you can build a following and sell your products to them.

Create a digital store: If you’re already running an established WordPress blog, all you need to do is to add a digital storefront on your blog. For this, simply install a free plugin Easy Digital Downloads on your blog.

Choose a theme: If your current theme doesn’t support EDD plugin, you may need to install a new EDD supported theme. However, if you’re really fond of your current theme, chances are you might not want to change the theme. If that’s the case, try adding a new subdomain, install WordPress on it and an Easy Digital Downloads theme like Olam that lets you create a digital storefront with ease.

In fact, Olam is specifically built for creating a digital marketplace, so it’s very likely that you’ll find almost everything you need to build a digital storefront in it.

Build an email list: One of the biggest mistakes most publishers commits is that they undervalue the importance of building an email list. Try creating a landing page and start building an email list before you start creating your product. This will help you build a momentum about your products amongst your potential buyers.

Drive traffic to your landing page and start growing a massive follower base: There are many ways to build huge traffic to your blog as well as your landing page. If you’re looking for some inspirations, read one of my articles that explain how to drive huge traffic overnight to your blog.

Start selling: Once you build a massive follower base, it’s the time to start selling your products. List the products on your storefront and direct traffic from your email list.

Over to you

Have you ever sold digital goods? What would you prefer- selling products on marketplaces or selling it on your own blog?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

The post How to Make a Full-Time Income by Selling Digital Goods appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Like the principles of entrepreneurship… what worked in the 1800s for Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, James J. Hill and the Rockefeller are still the fundamentals principles of today’s entrepreneur.

Blog commenting may also be seen as an old school way of promoting a blog, especially in today’s world where most of the conversation has moved beyond regular blog onto the social media sites – Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook. But it effectiveness has a blog marketing tool is as relevant as ever to the success of a blog popularity as it was in the 2000s.

That’s why I wanted to share with you some of what I have learned and discover over the years about using blog commenting to drive effective targeted traffic to your blog.

More than ever, effective regular blog commenting is a very good strategy to build relationship with other bloggers, expand your knowledge, drive traffic, seek guest post opportunity, building links, attain expert status etc.

So without wasting much of your precious time, let’s go along together while I deliver my 16 blog commenting best practices.

#1. Don’t comments for links (SEO benefits)

I see many bloggers making this very mistakes of thinking blog commenting is all about building links for SEO purpose. You’re dead wrong if you’re still thinking this way.

First, take away such mindset and frame your mind in the right direction of what blog commenting is all about. The quicker you understand and agree to this simple but complex rule, the better you’ll make the most out of your commenting efforts.

Blog commenting is an easy way to fall into Google’s link building scheme penalty if you’re mainly doing it for SEO purposes. If your primary aim is to run a marathon of leaving xxx numbers of comments a day on blog posts, then you will probably fall under the hammer.

When a huge number of links pointing towards your site are from blog commenting other than editorial votes then you’re automatically inviting one of the animals (Panda, Hummingbird, and Penguin) in the Google zoo to come dine with you.

Do your blog commenting naturally and don’t make it a mandatory task to leave certain amount of comment every xxx days, weeks or month.

Blog commenting shouldn’t be part of your SEO strategy!

#2. Don’t comment “only” on ComLuv enabled blogs

Like you, I was completely wrong when I made that decision of only leaving comments on comluv enable blogs. I know many bloggers get frown when after reading, scroll down to the comment section only to see that comluv is not there as the commenting system.

The harsh truth is, if you’re looking for other blog readers to convert into your own blog loyal readers…..you won’t find them on comluv enable blogs. My finding shows that most traffic that comes from comluv enables blogs are one time visitors that are looking for link juice.

They are not genuine blog readers; these people are only on the look for blogs to promote their latest blog post and are not really interested in your blog topics.

If you’re aiming to convert other blog readers, then make it an exercise to always leave comments on other commenting systems as well, there you will find genuine blog readers. These type of readers are not there for links but to read and associate with the author.

#3. Be early

Being first or at least among the first five to drop comments on post matters a lot. This help other blog readers that visit later to see what others have said about the post and if yours happens to be an awesome thought, they might as well check you out.

I have had a couple of success with this strategy on problogger.net – but be careful how you utilize this strategy; don’t abuse it by making it as often as possible to always be the first one to comment – especially on a particular blog.

It could easily become annoying on the part of the blog author and other blog readers, also may result into making some horrible nasty comment or irrelevant statements. Don’t be in a rush to read and leave comments, take your time to read and understand what the post is all about.

#4. Be consistent

Nothing in online marketing that help most to be successful at what you’re doing than to be consistent.

Just like your blog posts need to be regularly updated, to get the best out of your blog commenting effort you must be consistent with it and make it an art to always do it regularly and natural.

#5. Read first, comment later

Recently, my very good friend Enstine publish a post on his blog that not until you read to the end of it, the headline will certainly makes you jump into making a quick comments.

Many who left comment on the post didn’t read to the last sentence therefore, they left irrelevant comment on the post. This proves they’re out there to get link back to their latest post.

Don’t follow this route; not saying a word is far better than hundreds of Jargon.

If you don’t have time to read the post, you can as well share it on twitter for at least the author will notice that on the social networking platform and may reward you for sharing his post.

#6. Relevancy matters

It doesn’t matter how popular or engaged the blog you’re commenting on is, if it not targeted to your blog niche the traffic may not be as useful as you had anticipated. Don’t just aim at popular blogs like Huffingtonpost, Marshables,Techcrunch etc.

All these blogs might not get you blog readers, their blog topics is diverse and they at least might get you blog tourist. Focus on commenting on blogs that write on similar topics as yours and with good signs of engagements on their blogs post.

#7. Look out for engagement

Like I said above, focus on commenting on blogs that has a good and healthy community around their content. This will ensure your valuable comments will be seen by many other blog readers.

It’s like the search engines competition, lots of users like to use and prefer Google over all other search engines out there. So why not optimize your content for Google and take advantage of its universal acceptance?

Same goes for blog commenting, leave comment on blogs that have large community of blog readers. For instance, I would prefer commenting on quicksprout over CNN or HuffngtonPost despite their massive Alexa traffic rank and popularity.

#8. Reply to comment

While you’re doing most of your commenting strategies outside your blog, don’t forget to keep it going too on your blog post.

A good way to show your readers you appreciate and value their visit is to always respond to comment left on your blog post.

You’re building relationship and keeping the sense of community in their heart by replying to their comments and this will ensure their return visit which will continue to boost your traffic level.

#9. Look out for opportunity

Sometimes, and many of it…..you will come across other blog readers who left questions on the blog that has not being answered either by the blog owner or other commenters. Use this opportunity to show how good you’re in your topic and build up your portfolio as an expert.

This is an advantage of gaining the trust, building authority and credibility in your field. All these qualities you’ll need in increasing the amount of quality targeted traffic that drive your way and build brand awareness.

#10. Build Relationship

Building long lasting relationship should be one of the main priority you’re commenting on posts; in this business, no one survive alone and you will certainly needs the help of other professional bloggers to build a successful profitable blog.

By building quality targeted relationship, you’re opening the door to many opportunities that will accelerate the progress of your blog like “Guest Posting” and “referencing”.

Bloggers links mostly to bloggers they know and those in their circles.

#11. Be different

If everyone that comments on the post are leaving such a lengthy comments, try crafting out a short but well meaningful comment.

And if reverse is the case, try a captivating lengthy comment. Whichever way it goes….it makes your comment stands out.

12. Prove you’re Human

One of the very things you’ll need to master in online marketing is identity. Always be ready to attach your true self to whatever you’re doing online.

In the beginning of your internet business career, you may feel tempted to hide your face because of the fear of rejection or amateur. But don’t worry, be yourself and prove that you’re human and there is a very handsome guy behind your comment.

Use a picture of yourself as your avatar that follows you everywhere you go online. Avoid using images of animals, cartoons or any other pictures of celebrities.

Here is a link that you can use to set up your very own online avatar in case you don’t already have one.

#13 Read other Comments

I know this is a bit difficult and maybe time consuming, but it helps a lot to find opportunity among other commenters.

If you’re not reading through other people’s comments, how do you know when someone has asked a question that hasn’t begin answered yet?

The first time I had a conversation with Kingsley of kingged.com was through the comment left by one other reader on Enstine Muki’s blog. I was about leaving a comment when I glance through other comments and there was a particular comment that caught my attention.

I responded to the comment and instantly it sparks up an intensive conversation between us. From that time, we have come to know each other better and even now shared valuable helping hands together.

#14. Ask Questions

Asking questions or wanting to know more about the topic makes you stand out among other commenters. Also, this get you notice instantly and bring you into spotlight.

Those who are interested in answering your question might as well be interested in building up relationship with you. This is really good for building up portfolio of people like minded and bloggers alike.

And most especially, if you feel you don’t understand what the author is saying instead of leaving one liner comments like “nice post”, “great tips”, – ask question.

#15. Use Your Real Name

If you ever run a blog, you will know how frustrating this one could be when you see things like, “John SEO Traffic”, “Five star hotel In Canada”, etc as the name of comment authors.

No matter how relevant or remarkable your comments may appear to the blog owner, it will surely ended up mark as spam or possibly in the trash folder.

#16. No Anchor text in comment

Except that you’re very sure of your relationship with the blog owner and the anchor text in question is for educational purpose only; no other reason for including a link to other sites in your comment.

You will be perceive as spammer and this could lead to Akismet and other spam fighters tools to always mark your comments as spam.

These 16 blog commenting best practices will help you mostly get the best out of your effective regular blog commenting efforts if you take them seriously, and some of the points listed on this list needs to be work on long enough to see the required results you want – targeted website traffic that engage with your content, relationship building, networking etc.

There are many more commenting best practice that are not included in the list, I urge you to help share your positive experience with us in the comment box below.

Shamsudeen is a passionate blogger, internet marketer and the author of several E books including “How to Build a Successful Blogging Career In Nigeria”. CyberNaira is the blog where he writes about his day to day experience as a professional blogger.

The post 16 Effective Blog Commenting Best Practices appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

When it comes to your blog’s position within search engine results, there’s far more than just sheer luck at play.

Search Engine Optimisation is a skill that any content creator – professional or amateur – should develop in order to make their content as discoverable as possible. It involves making certain tweaks to your blog and its content in order to improve their position and visibility online.

While SEO and content marketing experts have developed specialist tools to launch your posts as far up the ranks as possible, there’s also a great deal of groundwork that you can do yourself for free. Here, I’ll provide a few useful tips to help you improve your blog content SEO.

1. Carefully Curate Your Posts

One of the most vital parts of SEO is to make sure that every piece of content you put out is worthwhile. It doesn’t matter how much technical optimisation you undertake if you’re not posting things that are unique, useful, accurate, relevant and up to date.

Don’t stray from your blog’s theme – however tempting it is to comment on developments in the world beyond your usual subject matter.

You should keep an eye on what’s going viral within your blog’s specialist field. Trending topics are far more likely to achieve hits – and providing a distinctive, expert angle on those topics will help you to stand out from other bloggers, so make sure that you research thoroughly!

1. Improve Both Readability and Accessibility

That’s the subject matter of your posts optimised – but what about your approach to the main body of text?

All the information you include in each post needs to be totally relevant and very concise. Try to avoid “filler language” wherever possible – that’s the fluff that bulks up your word count but doesn’t actually include any relevant information that moves the piece along.

Paragraphs should be no longer than three lines long. Remember, an online audience is more likely to be “scanning” your post for vital nuggets of information than studying it in great depth, so the readability of your content is vitally important.

Include headings and applicable, visually pleasing images and infographics where possible to break up the text and keep things interesting. Make sure you have permission to use all pictures before you add them!

Accessibility to your blog and across all your posts is a vital SEO step. Always link internally to content you’ve created in the past that is relevant to your current post’s subject matter. This improves access to more of your work for both audience members and search engines.

You should also link to your blog content regularly on your social media platforms, as this will increase traffic and inbound links – making you more discoverable still.

Before you post anything, however, you should first ensure that you are not duplicating content that already exists across your blog. If there are too many similar topics, keywords or repeated chunks of text, you may be penalized by search engines and sent way down the ranks.

1. Keep on Top of Trending Keywords

This area is perhaps one of the most famous elements of SEO and it’s also surprisingly easy to achieve.

There are a number of very useful free tools available that will help you discover exactly which keywords are the most popular within online searches. Again, it’s very important that all these search terms are completely relevant to the subject of your content.

Tools you may consider using include Ahrefs, SEM Rush and Google Adwords. But there are plenty more available. You might even use tools such as Answer The Public, Google search suggestions and Google Trends to pick out important keywords. Some will allow you to focus on particular countries – and even regions – meaning you can target a more local audience if required.

There are two main types of keyword phrases – short tail and long tail.

Short tail search terms are between one and three words long, and will help you to access a wide audience that is seeking out information falling roughly into the same field as your content. For example, “SEO tips” might be a high-performing short tail phrase for this page.

Long tail keyword phrases help you to zone in on a more specific audience by providing more detail of the subject matter. For example, “blog content SEO for beginners” will allow you to attract those who are looking for more specific types of information.

Long tail keywords are particularly valuable to those who are interested in content marketing for their blog, as they will help to draw in audiences that are far more likely to convert into sales leads.

Use keywords everywhere – in headings, subheadings, meta-descriptions and tags as well as in the main body of your content.

Whatever you do, be sure to insert those keywords in a way that is natural and easy to read. Stuffing a piece with jarring phrases that do not work together in a grammatical sense feels lazy and salesy and is often off-putting for an audience.

Before you create new posts that are properly keyword optimised, it’s definitely worth making the effort to re-optimise blog content from past pieces too – that way your whole blog will perform consistently.

So – to get off to a flying start when it comes to blog content SEO – remember to:

1. Curate your posts, ensuring that they are relevant, unique and likely to draw an audience by keeping an eye on trends
2. Hone the readability and accessibility of all content (remembering to regularly include internal links and do away with duplicate content)
3. Keyword optimise in a natural, engaging way wherever possible

If you complete these steps, it’s highly likely that you’ll quickly see a difference in your blog’s search engine ranking.

This article was written by Tino Triste, Search Strategy Director at Tecmark.

The post 3 Ways to Optimise Blog Content so it Ranks Well on Google appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

This is a guest post by Aditya Mahesh. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

I invite you to all take a look at your marketing efforts. I am guessing that most of you are dedicating 100% of your marketing time and resources to promoting your blog online.

While this makes sense since it is easier for someone to access your blog from an online advertisement or link, I think that all of you should also try to promoting your blogs offline as well. Offline marketing tactics might not drive as much traffic as an online marketing campaign, but they will prove to be a very cost-effective way to build credibility.

Here are a few efficient offline marketing tactics I have used to promote my various blogs.

1. Business Cards

For anyone to take you seriously, you need to have a business card. Bloggers are not exempt. Having a business card is a great way to introduce people you meet in day-to-day life about your blogging activity. Business cards are also very inexpensive to purchase with most costing less than 1 cent per card.

2. Industry Events

One great way to promote your blog in your niche is to attend industry events. This allows you to share your blog with a number of individuals who are interested in its subject matter. It is also a great way to associate yourself with authorities in your niche. Make sure to bring business cards and other swag (T-Shirts, pens, etc.) to make an impression on potential readers and partners.

3. Newspapers and Local Publications

While newspapers may be a dying industry, they are still very well respected and having your blog covered in the daily news is a fantastic free way to build credibility online. It may be a bit difficult to get the Wall Street Journal to pick up the story, but you should fare better with more local papers. Create a unique story angle on your blog and e-mail it along with a press release to journalists. In addition, getting a story published in the press also means seeing that story online with a direct link to your blog,

4. Readers Meet-up

If you have a substantial local reader base or live in a large metropolis, hold an official gathering for readers and people interested in your niche. It doesn’t have to be anything more than a casual get together to simply talk about the industry. This is a great way to strengthen the bond of your community and find new local readers. You can choose to hold these meetings at your home or at a more local and convenient location such as a restaurant, coffee shop, or even park.

Conclusion

These four tactics are just a few of the different offline marketing strategies you can deploy. In addition, you can always purchase advertisements, pass out flyers and pamphlets, sponsor local/industry events and so on. However, the four tactics listed above are largely free or very inexpensive and I have found them to be the most effective way to build to credibility.

A key element of successful offline marketing is building personal relationships. Meeting people in the real world as opposed to online allows for a much greater level of interaction and gives you the ability to develop a substantial relationship with your readers. This is something you definitely want to use to your advantage.

Aditya Mahesh is the founder of AMBeat.com, a complete resource for entrepreneurs, complete with advice articles, start-up profiles, interviews, news analysis, and more.

The post 4 Ways To Promote Your Blog Offline appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Due to the advances in mobile technology, now a days almost all the mobile phones are equipped with Internet surfing capabilities. As a consequence, more and more people are accessing websites via their mobile phones every day, creating the need for webmasters to adapt their websites to these visitors.

Below we cover 10 mobile plugins for WordPress that can be used to make your website mobile friendly.

1. WordPress Mobile Edition

Developed by Crowd Favorite, this plugin has got a clean user interface that is designed for mobile devices. When a person visits your site from a mobile browser, it automatically detects the browser and loads the mobile version of your site. You can edit the list of mobile browsers in the settings page. This plugin enables particular theme to load on a specific mobile browser or device for example iPhone, Windows Mobile, Opera Mini web browser and other mobile web browsers.

2. WordPressMobile.mobi

One of the most popular mobile WordPress plugins, with thousands of downloads. This WordPress plugin makes your blog more mobile friendly, reducing the load time on mobile browsers and configuring your pages properly.

3. WordPress Mobile Pack

Another WordPress plugin for mobile browsers. It has got mobile recognition, device adaptation and it is widget ready. With the mobile recognition and device adaptation feature, it automatically re-sizes the images, split the articles or post into multiple pages such that your web page looks just fine on any of the mobile phones. It has a mobile admin panel so the admin of the site can easily manage it. Mobile ad widget allows mobile ads or mobile Adsense to be displayed on the mobile version of the web pages.

4. MobilePress

You can set this plugin to display a specific theme for a specific device model or mobile browsers like the iPhone, Opera Mini, etc., such that your blog displays according to the device capability. This plugin also allows the WordPress theme developers to develop their own mobile themes for WordPress blogs.

5. Mobile Admin

This WordPress plugin enables you to access admin user interface on mobile devices in a users friendly manner. This plugin is especially developed for the browsers on the iPhone and iPod Touch devices and it supports most of the other mobile browsers at basic level. Mobile Admin supports most of the basic WordPress admin features like editing posts with auto-save feature, tagging support, comment moderation, and more.

6. Mobilize

This WordPress plugin, once installed, will detect any mobiles phone having access to your site and it will redirect it to the Mippin server. Mippin will then rearrange your web page and its contents to suit the cell phone type. For example, if your website has images, then Mippin will re-size the images to fit the mobile screen and videos are converted to 3gp format such that users can have a comfortable and quick access to your site.

7. WPhone Admin Plug-in

This plugin will allow you to manage your WordPress install using a mobile browser. It has two mobile admin interfaces, one is for use on the iPhone/iPod Touch and other devices which supports full JavaScript and features CSS AJAX and sliding menus. And another is Lite version to use on phones that do not support JavaScript. It will automatically switch between the rich and lite versions based on the browser you use.

8. Mowser

Mowser is a service that lets your WordPress blog to be viewed more comfortably and quickly on a mobile browser or on any other mobile device. This plugin will automatically detect when a user is trying to access your WordPress based blog using a mobile phone and it will redirect to the optimized mobile version of your blog.

9. Wetomo WordPress to Mobile

Wetomo plugin will automatically detect when a user is trying to access your URL from a mobile phone. Wetomo will act as a proxy between you and the user, modifying your blog to suit the handset of the user such that your blog looks great on any of the mobile browsers.

10. WP viewMobile

This plugin is designed to make your WordPress blog mobile internet ready. It will detect when a user is accessing your blog via a mobile phone. It automatically sends a template which is optimized for mobile devices. It tries to re-size the images in your blog to suite the mobile phone or else it removes them completely if the mobile browser does not support images, such that your users can access your blog without any problem.

The post 10 Mobile Plugins for WordPress appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Millions of advertising and marketing campaigns solely depend on copywriting. History clearly indicates the power of copywriting and its role in brand positioning. From stories to billboards, to print advertisements, to soap operas, to TV commercials, to web series, to social platforms, crafting a copy for various collaterals has come a long way. Copywriting is exploding in an unprecedented way leading to new metrics. Read this before you write another copy.

Gone are the days, where a bunch of creative and talented folks sat together and broke their heads to flex the muscles of their vocabulary and make their ideas more glamorous. Word gamblers saw huge success through their stylish and more sophisticated works in earlier days. Copywriting was considered an art then. As exponential masters of the language, copywriters had their power. Their works were more formal and got heads turning – ears flapping too.

This culture is slowly turning upside down. ,

Copywriters today are forced to go with the consumers. The scare to get denounced and to be tagged as an obsolete is eating many today. Don’t mistake this to copywriting apocalypse. Getting closer to digital excellence is a task that gets tricky many times. Today, there is a purpose to have a clear vision to tackle the trend and to achieve copywriting excellence. This calls for a refinement in strategies and mastering new skills that can boost your performance.

“The purpose of advertising is to sell. That is what the client is paying for and if that goal does not permeate every idea you get, every word you write, every picture you take, you are a phony and you ought to get out of the business.”
William Bill Bernbach.

Stop being creative at your risk

Creativity and spontaneity have taken a different approach in this digital age copywriting profession. With the arrival of the internet, social media and search engine optimization, there is more to copywriting than to merely being creative. The ways content are created and shared are different today. Traditional media forms have digital versions now. Media evolution is taking place all over the world. Brands need to hold this thought and act.

So, what are those powerful changes an online copywriter is expected to employ today to interweave with the innovations but still carry out the human touch?

First and foremost, copywriters need to understand that copywriting today demands a different set of skills in terms of creating, optimizing and delivering. You need to learn to deliver personalization today. With thousands of options set before them, customers look for that so called “personalized touch” to give a nod to your brand.

You can understand this better through the journey of a top beverage company in the World – Coca Cola

Coca-Cola Innovates New Spaces Quickly and Boldly

Coca-Cola, the most admired and the best-known brand has been making people associate with the brand generation to generation. The Company continues to make changes by evaluating its progress across the experiences that it has been creating, the process, technologies and above all with the people and data. Right from its launch in 1886 where it came up with a unique style of using Spencerian Script logo, the brand has been creating millions of moments through its marketing campaigns every year and every time it came up with a new promotion.

Whether it is for advertising or another form of marketing campaign, the company has never failed to connect with the audience. The brand has consistently moulded its copywriting strategies to accommodate various forms like prints, hoardings, radio ads, television commercial, blogs, newsletters, emails, white papers, e-books, podcasts, video productions, audio clips, webinars, Power Point presentations, social-media content, webpage content, mobile content and much more to come.

From “Delicious and Refreshing,” tagline of the 1890s to the revolutionary jingle of 1971 that read, “I would like to buy the world a Coke,” the company has stood unique in presenting itself to the public. Its advertising budget surpassed $100,000 back in the 1900s which became a big talk in the market. The company saw yet another ground-breaking response in 2015 when it tipped off the “Drinkable” ad campaign to launch Coke Zero. This campaign removed all barriers. It’s first ever 30-second holiday commercial on television back in 2016 for its, “Taste the Feeling,” campaign made the season special for all its evangelists.

It is a privilege when customers coin a new name to your brand. This happened with Coca-Cola. The name Coke was created by none other than Coca-Cola fans. Coke continues to teach every marketer even after these 130 years. The company is re-inventing big way by generating real-time content all 365 days. This helps in innovating new spaces and going in line with consumer’s taste.

“Taking into account shifting user trends and emerging technologies and tools at our fingertips, we’ve doubled down on visual storytelling—original video content, photo galleries, infographics and more—over the past two years. Now, roughly half of the dozen pieces of content we produce and publish each week include video, said Jay Moye, global editor-in-chief, Coca-Cola Journey.
From tagline to a billboard, Coca Cola has shown its excellence consistently sharpening its saw of copywriting.

Yes, with changing times, copywriting has undergone various changes. Today the focus is on the distribution of creativity, greater connectivity and consumer empowerment.

Re-work with some unconventional ideas

• One of the vast and much-explored opportunities of digital copywriting today is to follow SEO.
• So, provide the search engines with the clarity of what your content is all about.
• Involve in market research
• Infuse data and analytics
• Inculcate the idea of using psychology
• Be short and different but authoritative and relevant
• Take advantage of Video technology
• A third of World’s entire population is going to get hooked to social media by 2020. Understand how online information is shared via social platforms.
• Understand the influencers

Future of Copywriting is Predictable

The race for an exciting copy will still continue. Today, you have a chance to prove your existence by being SEO and mobile friendly. Tomorrow, there can be another dominating method. Automated content development technologies and automated editors are in the race for future strategies. Such innovations can help in getting a raft of variables; permutations and combinations to one single idea which is slightly not possible with humans given the limitation of time for each project.

Future technological innovations can still have serious ramifications over copywriting. But, there cannot be any hindrance to creativity. With each innovation, copywriting can get stronger. Thinking can get bigger. Harness the innovations and confidently craft your ideas, carpentering words and phrases that suit to this era. Persuade the audience into taking a specific action. You can surely make empathic leaps. Let your creativity evoke emotions.

The post Copywriting Then and Now Is Like Chalk and Cheese appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the most important factors that make up a great Google AdWords strategy for an e-commerce business, both in terms of how to design your ad campaigns as well as how to optimize the site itself for maximum conversions.

1. What Gets Measured Gets Managed

Sorry for the clichéd wisdom. But if there’s one basic metric that every advertiser should keep top-of-mind, it’s return on investment.

In Google AdWords, the best way you can measure your ROI is to track conversions along with your costs. Don’t think that click-through rate alone is the king of all PPC metrics: if you aren’t making sales with all that traffic, you’re losing money.

• Set up conversions tracking–preferably for all ecommerce transactions–in your Google AdWords account.
• Enable cost attribution in your linked Google Analytics account, if necessary.
• Monitor how much profit your ads and keywords are driving, and whip your fast horses.

2. Transactional Keywords

The most lucrative keywords for an ecommerce business are those based around transactions. If a prospect comes to your site to research a product, see what it looks like and understand what it does, that prospect is not worth nearly as much as a different prospect who visits with the intent to purchase. Your bidding strategy should reflect this fact.

Who is more likely to buy: someone who searches for “best bicycles” or someone who searches for “bicycle stores in San Francisco”?

Set up different ad groups for different keyword sets, and adjust your bids and ad language accordingly.

3. Ads That Sell

Well-designed ads can work wonders for your AdWords campaigns. Proper word or image choice can lead to increased sales as well as higher CTR–which, by increasing your ads’ quality scores, will often lead to lower CPC, better placement, or both. Over time, this can lead to a snowball effect where you see your entire campaign start to perform much better based on a few simple changes you decided to try out.

And “try out” is an important idea to keep in mind. You won’t know what wording or design will perform best, so you should test many versions of the same ads and then thin the herd. I’m not going to mention mistreating horses again, but you know what to do.

Different niches and keywords call for different types of ad copy and images, but it usually pays to use active language, focusing on the benefits and unique selling proposition (if there is one). Google and Facebook give us two examples of this:

Notice how, in only one line of text each, Google and Facebook lay out the entire unique selling propositions of their respective advertising platforms–with the benefits implied therein. On Google, customers search and find you. On Facebook, you can reach the exact audience you want. These examples aren’t particularly exciting, but you can bet they work.

When using text ads, another great ace up your sleeve is dynamic keyword insertion. Be careful not to overuse it, but if you can deliver on the implied promise of the keywords you’re bidding on, it can be a powerful tool to increase your CTR.

4. Ad Extensions

For most e-commerce sites, the most important type of ad extension to try is product extensions, which display images, titles, and prices of relevant products based on your Google Merchant Center account. But depending on your particular business, it’s worth trying seller ratings, ad sitelinks, and call extensions as well. (If ad extensions are new to you, check out Google’s Adwords help center page about them for a quick overview.)

5. Custom Landing Pages

For each ad group, it’s a good idea to have a landing page specifically picked out for a) that group of keywords, and b) the text of your ads.

In other words, if you’re running an AdWords campaign for an ecommerce website and pointing all your ads to the homepage, you’re doing it wrong.

You don’t have to design a new landing page for every ad group, but you do need to make sure every URL you choose is the most relevant page on your site for that ad and keyword combination.

If the ad is targeted at keywords related to “running shoes,” don’t send your prospect to the homepage or even a general “shoes” category page. Show them your top-selling running shoes and cross-trainers. It helps to make the display URL something simple and topical, too: “yoursite.com/running” is better than “yoursite.com,” even if the actual URL the ad points to is much longer and uglier.

6. Reduce Friction

Whether you’re selling just one product or you carry thousands, one of the most surefire ways to increase sales is to decrease friction. That goes for free permission-marketing assets, too.

It seems obvious: the harder it is for your prospects to buy (or convert in general), the fewer of them will do so. But it’s amazing how many e-commerce sites out there clog up their sales funnel by requiring a ton of information from their customers up front.

When it comes to information requirements and forms, remember these guidelines:

• Ask for as little information as possible.
• Make it possible to order from you without creating a username and password.
• If you need to ask for a lot of information, do it in steps instead of all at once. A shorter or two-step registration can drastically increase registration rates.
• When in doubt, take it out. (Or use an analytics tool like ClickTale to help you see what’s making people leave.)

The post 6 AdWords Tips for Small Business Owners appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

Building a scalable business isn’t just a dream, it’s a journey that’s packed with strategies, twists, and turns. “Scalable business” might sound like jargon, but it’s a goldmine for investors and a dream for entrepreneurs. Wondering what it’s all about? We’re talking automation, outsourcing, franchising, and a whole lot more. This comprehensive guide will be your road map to business scalability success.

1. Maximum Automation – Transforming The Businesses into Well-Oiled Machines

A scalable business by definition cannot require a massive amount of labor. If in order to grow you have to drastically increase the number of staff, it is not a scalable business. Which means that you should start looking for the ways to automate the entire process from the get go, before you even start considering actual scaling. Constantly be on the lookout for methods to supplement the work processes with software and decreasing the number of personnel. Yes, software may incur upfront costs, sometimes rather impressive, but it will save resources in the long run and increase scalability.

Embracing Maximum Automation

Imagine an online blogger, Alex, who painstakingly curates, edits, and posts content for his followers. The popularity of his blog skyrockets, resulting in increased demand for content. However, the hours spent on each blog post remain the same, if not more. Scaling feels like a mountain too high to climb.

This struggle resonates with numerous online entrepreneurs. The concept of scaling can be daunting when it implies more work hours or hiring an extensive team. However, there’s a smarter, more efficient way – a strategy known as ‘Maximum Automation’.

Work Smart, Not Hard

In today’s digital age, technological advancements offer a world of possibilities. With a multitude of software and apps at your disposal, time-consuming manual tasks can now be automated. Let’s revisit Alex’s blogging conundrum. What if there was a tool that could curate relevant articles based on his blog’s theme, generate engaging titles, or even schedule posts? The good news is that such tools do exist.

Keep in mind, the automation opportunities and benefits can vary significantly depending on the specific circumstances of each business. Automation should be viewed as a tool to enhance human effort, not replace it entirely. It’s vital to choose the right processes to automate – those that are repetitive, time-consuming, and don’t necessarily require human creativity or problem-solving.

Don’t Count the Cost. Consider the Value

The initial investment in automation might be steep, but the long-term gains are substantial. Alex’s one-time investment in a content curation tool might appear burdensome at first. However, when considering the time saved, the consistency in post frequency, and the potential for expanding his audience, it becomes a worthwhile expenditure.

Long-Term Benefits of Automation in Online Businesses

It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Automation is not a one-time solution; it’s a continual journey of discovery and application. Always be on the lookout for innovative tools or software that could make your processes more efficient. Remember, the moment you cease to innovate is when your competition gets an edge.

In essence, automation isn’t about replacing humans; it’s about freeing up time for tasks that require human creativity and thought. It’s about turning your online business into an efficient, scalable enterprise that doesn’t merely work hard but works smart.

2. Outsourcing – Your Ticket to Expansion

Picture this. Sarah, an online fashion retailer, is looking to take her booming business global. She’s ready to take the leap but struggles with managing the vast variety of tasks this expansion entails. Enter outsourcing, a game-changing strategy that can aid Sarah and many others in their journey towards a scalable online business.

Outsourcing can be a brilliant strategy if you’re expanding your online business across borders. The key is identifying which tasks to delegate to global agencies and which tasks to assign locally. Sarah, for instance, might choose to outsource her global digital marketing strategy to a single agency that understands her brand and her competition.

Example Tasks Suitable for Outsourcing

Keeping Your Marketing Consistent – One Agency, One Voice

Handing over all your marketing activities to a single global agency can have immense benefits. They will become intimately familiar with your brand, giving your marketing a consistent voice and ensuring it resonates with your audience, no matter where they are.

Sarah, by outsourcing her marketing to a single agency, can ensure her brand’s unique style and voice are maintained across all digital platforms, all over the world. This consistency can significantly enhance her online presence and contribute to her business’s scalability.

When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do

While a global agency can handle a plethora of tasks, there are certain areas where local knowledge trumps all. Consider tasks like event management, logistics, or complying with local laws and regulations. Local agencies have their fingers on the pulse of their regions, providing invaluable insights and services that a global agency might not be able to offer.

Sarah, for instance, would benefit immensely by partnering with local agencies for events or pop-up stores in various cities. By doing so, she can tap into their local knowledge and networks, ensuring her brand connects more authentically with local customers.

Strategy

Outsourcing isn’t about replacing your core team; it’s about augmenting their capabilities and enabling them to focus on what they do best. A smart outsourcing strategy leverages the strengths of both global and local agencies, paving the way for a truly scalable online business.

Whether it’s Sarah or any other online entrepreneur, embracing outsourcing can not only help navigate the complexities of global business but also provide a competitive edge in today’s digital world.

3. Franchising – Your Business Model, Their Hard Work

Let’s join Sam on his entrepreneurial journey. Sam, the founder of a thriving online coaching platform, has worked tirelessly to build a successful business model. Now, he’s standing at the precipice of a decision that could supercharge his business growth. The pathway ahead? Franchising.

Proving Your Worth: The Initial Business Stage

The first stage of building your business is crucial. It’s your opportunity to prove the viability of your product or service, just like Sam did with his online coaching platform. The rigorous tests of the market, the feedback from your initial customers, and the refinement of your offering, all contribute to creating a successful business model.

Essential Steps in the Initial Business Stage

• Market Testing – Validate the need and acceptance of your product/service
• Customer Feedback – Understand your customer needs and improve accordingly
• Refining Offering – Continuously enhance your product/service based on insights

Once you’ve established a successful business model, like Sam’s online coaching platform, franchising becomes a potential avenue for expansion. It allows you to scale faster and more effectively than trying to expand solely on your own efforts.

Advantages of Franchising for Online Businesses

• Rapid Expansion – Allows your business model to be replicated quickly across various locations
• Shared Investment – Franchisees bear the cost and risk of setting up new outlets
• Increased Brand Presence – More outlets lead to enhanced brand visibility and reach

Finding the Right Franchisees Depends on Handpicking Your Business Ambassadors

Franchising your business means entrusting your successful model to others. It’s essential to find franchisees who understand your vision and are capable of bringing it to life in their own operations. Imagine Sam’s online coaching platform being adopted by dedicated franchisees who can replicate his success in different markets. Their collective efforts can propel his business to new heights.

Effective franchising is a balance of autonomy and alignment. It’s about letting your franchisees take the reins, but ensuring they adhere to the standards and principles that made your business a success.

In Sam’s case, he needs to ensure that all franchisees maintain the quality of coaching and uphold the platform’s values, ensuring a consistent and impactful customer experience across all locations.

At its core, franchising is about sharing your recipe for success and watching it come to life in various locations, carried forward by enthusiastic and capable franchisees. In the world of online businesses, it can be the launchpad for remarkable growth and scalability.

4. Licensing – Capitalizing on What You Already Have

Meet Laura, the creator of a revolutionary e-learning platform. Her unique teaching methodology has won the hearts of many, but now she’s eyeing international expansion. With limited resources and facing established competitors, Laura considers a strategy that might be her secret weapon for growth – licensing.

Licensing is about giving other businesses the rights to use your business process, often for a fee. Laura, for instance, can license her innovative e-learning methodology to existing educational platforms in other markets, allowing her to extend her reach without the cost and risk of direct expansion.

Key Components of Licensing in an Online Business

• Business Process – The unique offering or methodology of your business
• Licensing Agreement – The terms and conditions for using your business process
• License Fee – The cost for another business to use your process

Licensing vs. Battling: Choosing Your Expansion Strategy Wisely

Breaking into a new market can often feel like a David vs. Goliath battle, especially when established players dominate the landscape. Licensing offers an alternative route that mitigates risk and resource expenditure. Instead of trying to outmuscle the competition, Laura can essentially partner with them, leveraging their existing market foothold to expand her business.

It can be a lifeline for startups, especially those with a single source of income like Laura’s e-learning platform, licensing can be an invaluable strategy. It allows for expansion without the need for significant capital investment. Instead of spending resources to set up in new markets, licensing can bring in a steady stream of income through license fees.

Benefits of Licensing for Startups

Capitalizing on Existing Market Players

With licensing, Laura isn’t just avoiding head-to-head combat with established players; she’s collaborating with them for mutual benefit. It’s a strategy that allows her unique methodology to reach more students, while the licensing company adds a proven, innovative teaching method to their portfolio. In the world of scalable online businesses, licensing can often be a win-win scenario.

To sum it up, licensing provides a roadmap to expand your online business, bringing your unique processes and methods to new markets. It’s a way of turning potential competitors into allies and scaling your business in a cost-effective, efficient manner.

5. Attract Investor Money – Powering Your Scalable Business with Capital

Join Alice as she navigates the exciting yet challenging journey of scaling her online custom merchandise store. It’s an ambitious project that requires significant upfront costs, but the potential for exponential growth is tantalizing. To fuel this journey, Alice must attract the right investors.

The Different Paths of Growth and Scalability

Growing and scaling businesses walk different paths. Growth businesses often start small, with their expenses and incomes increasing hand-in-hand. Scalable businesses, like Alice’s online store, require more upfront expenses, but they hold the promise of exponential income growth with minimal additional costs.

Growth Business vs. Scalable Business

For scalable businesses, investor money can be the lifeline that propels them to the next level. Investors offer more than just financial support; they bring industry connections, strategic advice, and market credibility – valuable assets that can help Alice’s online store thrive.

The Magic of MVPs: Attracting Investors with Proof of Concept

Investors love seeing proof that a business works before they invest. This is where the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) shines. Alice, for instance, can launch a basic version of her online store, focusing on a few select products. Once this MVP gains traction, showing that it can attract paying customers and be scaled, investors will be more likely to fund its growth.

Here are Steps to Creating a MVP

Winning Hearts, Minds, and Wallets

Presenting a successful MVP is only half the battle. Alice also needs to craft a compelling pitch that outlines her vision, highlights the scalability of her online store, and emphasizes the potential return on investment.

Ultimately, attracting investor money is an art and a science. It’s about proving your business model, presenting a persuasive case, and building lasting relationships with those willing to back your vision. In the realm of online businesses, investment can be the rocket fuel that propels your scalable business to stratospheric heights.

6. Making Yourself Redundant – Scaling Your Business Beyond You

Think about James, the innovative mind behind an acclaimed drop-shipping store. As the business flourishes, James finds himself at a crossroads – to truly scale, he needs to step back from the daily operations and focus on strategy and growth. In short, he needs to make himself redundant. But how?

The Magic of Working ‘On’ Not ‘In’ Your Business

Creating a scalable online business is akin to building a well-oiled machine – it should function and grow even without your constant input. This doesn’t mean you won’t be involved at all, but your role should pivot from ‘doing’ to ‘overseeing’. James, instead of manually tracking each shipment, should be brainstorming marketing strategies and exploring new market opportunities.

Building an A-Team: The Power of Delegation

Your journey towards redundancy begins by assembling a small, tightly-knit team of professionals. These individuals will be your Avengers, handling daily operations while you steer the ship. For James, this might mean hiring a logistics expert to manage shipments, a customer service wizard to keep clients happy, and a tech guru to maintain the website.

Examples of Roles in a Scalable Online Business Team

Sure, here’s a comprehensive table of Roles and Responsibilities in an online business:

Table: Roles and Responsibilities for an Online Business

Each role is unique and crucial to the smooth operation and success of an online business. Depending on the size and nature of your business, some roles might be combined or further divided.

Trimming the Fat: Streamlining for Efficiency

As you delegate tasks, take a hard look at your processes. Is there any fat to trim? Any repetitive tasks that can be automated or eliminated? By streamlining operations, James can ensure that his team works more efficiently and his business runs smoothly even without his constant intervention.

Outsourcing: Handing Over the Reins: Outsourcing Non-Core Activities

The final step to making yourself redundant in a scalable online business involves outsourcing. Anything that isn’t a core activity can be handled by outside experts, freeing up more time for James and his team to focus on what they do best.

Example of Core vs Non-Core Activities in an online business

In essence, making yourself redundant isn’t about disappearing from your business; it’s about positioning yourself where you can make the most impact. It’s about entrusting your team and leveraging outside expertise, so you can steer your business towards uncharted growth.

As an endnote it would be appropriate to mention that not all business ideas are scalable. Service and consulting industries, for example, can hardly be defined as scalable, because they are very hard to automate. The same goes for innumerable small businesses scattered across the Internet – one may think that a company that operates exclusively via the web has everything it needs to be scalable, but very often something stands in the way – perhaps the market isn’t large enough, perhaps its owner simply doesn’t want it.

So, if you aim at building a scalable business model, you should very carefully consider the area in which you are going to work.

The post 6 Strategies to Build Scalable Business appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

High search engine rankings are something that every blogger craves for. Even in this world of social media, nothing can beat the quality of organic traffic. It is much targeted and the visitors have a definite requirement in mind, which makes it easy to convert such traffic.

That is why it is so important to optimize your blogs from a search engine perspective.

But wait!

There are around 200 factors controlling the search engine rankings in Google. Are you paying full attention to them?

I am sure that know about basic on-page SEO and linkbuilding. There are plenty of tools to help you in linkbuilding (I use Ahrefs regularly).

But is that all? Aren?t you missing out on a lot of other factors?

I think so.

In fact, there are plenty of factors that we overlook. While it is not possible to control all 200 factors, there are some that we are simply unaware of. As a result of this lack of knowledge, we miss out on some easy to apply tactics that can be of great help to a blog?s SEO.

In this post, I am going to explain (and reinforce) some of these lesser known ideas and tell you how to derive full SEO benefit using these tactics.

Ready?

Write attractive headlines to get higher click through rates

Idea: Higher click through rates in SERPs (Search engine result pages) provide boost to your rankings. The reverse is also true.

How a particular result performs in the SERPs has an important effect on its subsequent rankings. Suppose you are ranking in #1 for your target keyword. But still, people are not clicking on your link. This sends a wrong message to the search engines. The algorithm will interpret that your blog is not relevant enough.

As a result, your rankings will go down. On the other hand, if your blog is ranked low, but still, more people are clicking on it, then the algorithm will attach more value to you blog and your rankings will rise.

So you must improve your click through rates. The easiest way to get more clicks is to write attractive headlines. In fact, most people read the headlines only. Your headline should persuades the user in clicking it (to reach your blog post).

Use power words, use numbers, stir controversies, make claims: these are a few of the many things you can do to make your links more clickable. Next time, make sure you write an attractive title rather than a bland one.

Also write a meaningful meta description. This description often appears in the SERPs and will potentially play a role in attracting the user. Doing these things will boost your CTR, and in turn, your rankings.

You can check the CTRs from Google Analytics. Start writing clickable headlines and monitor the change. Find out which type of headlines work best in your niche.

Use images links to improve SERPs

Idea: Alt tags of images provide keyword benefits and also add to backlink diversity

Everyone knows about text links. Anchor text used in the text links affect the rankings for that keyword as well as related ones.

But did you ever consider that image links can also boost your rankings for your chosen keywords?

Yes they can. Images use alt tags, which tells the search engine bots about the content of that image. When you use an image to link to a particular post, the alt tag of that image will serve as the keyword.

So, start building image backlinks. Images are a nice way to interlink your posts. Moreover, image based links add diversity to your backlinks repertoire.

One easy way to get image based backlinks is to offer a free infographic for others to use on their blogs. Simply ask them to provide an image backlink (through the infographic) to your original post.

Link out to trustworthy blogs

Idea: High quality articles are supposed to link to high quality sources

Backlinks are, in essence, a form of voting. If your blog is good, it is expected to get lots of votes.

At the same time, a good blog is expected to vote for other good blogs! That is why outbound links are so important. By linking out to useful and credible sources, you not only ensure the satisfaction of your readers, but also the favor of the search engines.

Do not link out to crappy, low quality resources. Provide backlinks to high quality and helpful resources only. It is easy to do and will raise your blog?s value in the eyes of the search engine.

Maintain healthy dofollow to nofollow ratio

Idea: Excess nofollow backlinks suggest that your blog is not trustworthy.

A nofollow tag is basically used to indicate that a certain backlink is not towards a trusted source. As such, getting too many nofollow backlinks can be a bad thing. In the initial days of a blog, nofollow backlinks will be predominant. Most of your links will be from nofollow blog comments.

But as a blog ages, it is expected to gain more dofollow links. You can easily check the number of dofollow and nofollow backlinks using Ahref. At the time of writing, my blog is few months old and has 20% dofollow backlinks. A couple of months back it was only 5%. On the other hand, an established blog like Problogger has 91% dofollow backlinks.

My suggestion is to avoid getting excessive nofollow backlinks. Major culprits are forum profile backlinks, nofollowed footer and blogroll links, and crappy Web 2.0 backlinks. Do not acquire such links as they do no good.

Some bloggers cannot resist the urge of buying thousands of cheap automated backlinks. Avoid this at all cost. Such backlinks provide zero value. They unnecessarily inflate the nofollow backlinks count, which can only harm your rankings.

Instead, concentrate on getting dofollow backlinks. Writing guest posts (like this one) is one great way to do it.

Stretch your contents longer

Idea: High quality contents are usually comprehensive in nature

Various studies have shown that longer contents rank better in Google. You may argue that you can provide high quality content in a concise manner, but the algorithms won?t listen. So, it is a good idea to write longer posts.

Unique content (the post and comments) to repeat content (header, sidebar and footer text) ratio should be high. Try to write in depth content. If you feel that you are ending up adding fluff to your content, there are alternatives.

One great way to ensure more unique content is to get more comments on you blog posts. Comments not only increase content length but they also introduce new long tail keywords, which can further help in getting organic traffic.

These are the simple tips that I urge every blogger to follow. These tips are very easy to follow. But sadly, these are often overlooked due to the hype around things. Be smart.

Try out these tips and see your rankings improve.

If you have any questions or want to discuss anything, feel free to leave a comment.

The post 5 SEO Secrets for Bloggers appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

1. Have a meaningful channel name with target keywords. Use capitalization in the channel name so that it is clear. If you are starting a YouTube channel about cats, CuteCatsDaily is a better channel name than catschannel1987

2. Enter a title for the channel. By default your channel name is also the title of the channel but you can edit it in channel settings. Have your keywords in this channel for search optimization. Note that this channel title is in H1 tag – good for SEO.

3. Enter a link to your website in your channel. YouTube allows adding more than one link in your channel’s sidebar.

4. When uploading videos, enter the tags carefully. Enter low competition keywords. These keywords can be found out from AdWords Keyword tool. You can also enter tags from competing videos so that your videos will appear as related videos when those videos are watched.

5. If you are creating infomovies (videos with slides and voiceover) using PowerPoint or Keynote, make sure that you have a custom unique background for your slides. This custom background can contain your website’s URL on the top right corner or bottom right corner. With this technique you can gain visitors even if your video is embedded on other sites in which case your description and the link in it will not appear.

6. If you are making screencast videos, try to record the screen at 640×360 (16:9) so that the videos do not appear fuzzy. If you can’t do it in 360p, you can make it at 480p (854×480). Do not upload screencast videos in 720p unless you have no other option.

7. Use annotations in your video. Have a specific call to action in the annotation. You can link to subscribe page, channel page, another YouTube video or just ask the visitor to visit your URL for more information. Note that you can use only YouTube internal links in annotations, external linking is not allowed.

8. Make use of YouTube trends. You can create videos for your niche related to the trending videos and get a good number of eyeballs on your videos. Visit YouTube-trends.Blogspot.com (YouTube’s official blog) to see the latest trending videos.

9. Upload high quality videos consistently to keep your users engaged and YouTube happy.

10. Do not be too aggressive with marketing on YouTube. If you upload a sales video and wonder why it hasn’t gone viral, it is time to understand that YouTube is a content website. Deliver good content and then ask people to visit your website.

11. Try to get your face on the camera as much as possible. You can create talking head videos in a batch. Allot 1 or 2 days in a month for video creation and create 5-10 videos in 1 go. You may want to shoot those videos in different costume each time.

12. Do not upload 10 minute long videos. Attention span of users in YouTube is very low. In my experience 1-2 minute videos work best for YouTube. Deliver a short but powerful message. If you have something significant to say, break up the video into 2-5 parts and upload them with unique Keyword rich titles. This way you will get more viewers to your video and viewers can skip parts of your video if not interested. Make sure to link these parts of the video using annotations. However please keep in mind that this is recommended but not a rule. There are exceptions. I have 10-15 minute video going well on YouTube and a lot of others have too.

13. Controversial videos attract a lot of attention on YouTube. However make sure to provide some quality content after you attract the viewers using you controversial title.

14. Spend some time everyday on leaving useful comments in related videos. If your comments are liked, it will be on top and a lot of visitors will click on your username and land on your channel.

15. Every video you upload is eligible to be a video response to some video. Find some related videos in your niche and if appropriate, post a video response using one of your videos.

16. Have a separate Google account for your YouTube channel so that even if your account gets banned, your other services are not affected.

The post 16 Tips to Boost Your YouTube Marketing Strategy appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but have you ever stopped to think what your Ecommerce images are saying about the products you’re trying to sell online?

Are your photos helping your products to jump off the screen and convince shoppers to buy them?

Or, are your product images quite simply terrible to look at and a real turn-off for buyers?

With the average shopper spending less than 10 seconds on your product page, and as many as 24 million ecommerce stores out there for people to choose from, it’s more important than ever to make sure your product images are telling the right story about your product.

To help you improve your product images, we’ve come up with 5 product image tips that cover everything from how to take perfect photos, through to presenting them in the best light with some quick and easy editing.

1. Make sure product images are the right size

There’s a lot of Ecommerce platforms to choose from.

But regardless of which Ecommerce platform you use, the main thing to remember is to start with a large high-resolution file and reduce the size of the photos if you need to. And don’t forget to optimize your logo image too.

To help you make sure you’re preparing your product images to look their best on your platform of choice, we’ve done the hard work for you and researched everything you need to know about photo sizes for 5 of the leading Ecommerce platforms on the market.

• Amazon – Any images submitted to Amazon should be at least 1280px but really, they prefer the images to be at least 2560px for best results.
• eBay – Auction site juggernaut eBay suggests that your product images should measure in at between 800px and 1600px in order to make the most of their zoom-in features.
• Shopify – The sky is pretty much the limit with image sizes on Shopify (well, 4472x4472px and 20mb to be exact), but the market-leading Ecommerce platform recommends maximum dimensions of 2048x2048px for best results.
• Etsy – If you’re selling craft-inspired items on the world’s number one handmade marketplace, then you need to make sure that your product images are at least 2000px wide so that shoppers can use Etsy’s built-in zoom button.
• Magento – Another platform that automatically resizes photos for you, Magento recommend that you start with an image at least 1100x1100px in size.

If you have a small image you need to enlarge, but you don’t want to get a blurry result, you can resize your image without losing quality with ImageUpscaler.

2. Create high-quality photos of your products

Although it’s important to make sure that your images are the optimum size and aspect ratio for your Ecommerce platform of choice – it means nothing if your photos are terrible to look at.

Now, no one is expecting you to be able to shoot the next cover of Vogue magazine, but there are a number of things you should do to make sure that your photos are the best they can be – and the good news is they’re all pretty easy to do.

• Lights – One of the most effective things you can do to take great photos is to simply make sure your subject (in this case your product) is well lit. Natural light is a great start, but simple led lighting rigs like these can really take your images to a whole new level.
• Camera – Once your lighting is sorted, you’re going to want to make sure you have a decent camera to take your photos with. These days an up to date smartphone should do the trick, but if you want to splash the cash on a proper Digital Camera, then this Canon EOS 4000D is a best seller on Amazon.
• Action – When it comes to taking a photo of your product, make sure you take all photos against a plain background. You should also use a tripod to keep the camera level and balanced, take photos from a wide variety of angles, and fill as much of the frame as possible with your product.

3. Edit your product images to make them pop

Once you’ve taken professional looking photos that are a big enough size for your Ecommerce platform of choice, it’s time to think about adding a little bit of visual magic to really help your product images come to life.

Until recently, in order to edit and improve your Ecommerce images, you would have had to invest in some heavy duty (and expensive) software like Photoshop.

However, thanks to handy tools like AutoClipping.com, you can now make your images pop with just a few clicks of your mouse and next to no skill required.

AutoClipping is an easy to use background removal tool.  Simply select the background of the image that you want to delete, and the foreground of the image that you want to keep – and the software does the rest for you.

Once you have removed the background, you can then save your updated product image and upload it to your Ecommerce store. It’s as easy as that!

4. Optimize product images and increase page speed

So, by this stage you’ve taken and edited some fantastic looking product photos – and you might have even added some snappy descriptive text to help showcase all your product’s features.

You might think you’re now ready just to upload your photos and start driving traffic to your Ecommerce store – but before you get too carried away, there’s another step you seriously need to consider first: image optimization.

According to a recent report by HTTP Archive, images make up a whopping 21% of a website’s page weight – which can have a massive impact on load speed. This is important because the longer your webpage takes to load, the more likely a shopper is to hit the back button and try somewhere else.

This means that in order to make the pages of your website load more quickly, you need to reduce the size of your image files. To do this you can use one of a number of image optimization websites, including:

• Compressor.io
• Tinypng
• Kraken.io

Using a dedicated tool like the ones we’ve suggested should help you reduce your file size by as much as 66% – which can dramatically improve your page load times.

5. Help your images get discovered through search

Your professional looking Ecommerce product images aren’t just a great way to encourage website visitors to buy from your store, they can also be used to help you drive traffic to your site.

Don’t believe us? Well, google images accounts for a whopping 10% of all the traffic google receives and gets more than 1 billion page views every day from people searching for images…just like yours.

This means that if you take the time to properly optimize your images for SEO, then not only will they become ‘readable’ by search engines and rank in places like Google Images, but they’ll also increase the discoverability of your Ecommerce store and drive more traffic as a result.

With the average Ecommerce store converting just 2.03% of their traffic into revenue, you could probably do with all the free traffic you can get, right?

Optimizing images for SEO is a whole other blog topic in its own right, but to get you started – and help you land some of that all-important free traffic – here are a few golden rules you should always follow:

• File Names: Make sure you give your photos a sensible and appropriate name to maximize their discoverability. This means that instead of calling your product photo something random and meaningless like 13549ax12.jpg you should call it product-name-descriptive-feature.jpg (making sure to use hyphens to separate out words).
• Onsite optimization: Depending on which Ecommerce platform you use; you should have options to add an on-page title and description for each of your images – and in some cases you may even be able to edit the alt-text too.
• Keywords: Whatever you do to optimize your images for SEO, try not to be too spammy or inauthentic with your file names, titles, descriptions, meta data and alt text. Intelligent search engines like Google can spot keyword stuffing and “black hat” SEO techniques and could punish your website with a poor search engine ranking as a result.

On the face of it, it sounds like there is a lot to consider when creating killer product images for your Ecommerce website.

Really though, with a little practice it comes down to a few simple rules:

• Make sure your photo looks good and represents your product properly
• Make sure your photo is an appropriate size for your Ecommerce platform of choice
• Make sure you edit your photos to help make them pop on screen
• Make sure you optimize them to help with load speed and discoverability.

We’ve included links to a number of tools and resources in this article to help you get started on your quest towards higher converting landing pages, but if there’s anything we missed, let us know in the comment section below.

The post 5 Product Image Tips For High Converting Landing Pages appeared first on DailyBlogTips.com.