SEO Experts Tips

As you sit down to write a blog you need to ask yourself – who is going to be reading this and how can I help them? As I have mentioned in several of my blog posts the trick is not to create something with the intent to “make” it go viral. The trick is to create a blog that contains valuable information and is well written and then it will go viral. This same principle applies when looking to add to your readers’ interaction. Interaction increases continued readership.

Target Your Audience

I have a good friend who owns a helicopter flight school and when he sits down to blog he is communicating to an entirely different audience than you or I may be intending to communicate with.

With this in mind make sure that you are targeting the correct audience. If your blog is geared toward an audience looking for information on kite building, you won’t want to write a post that directs most of its attention to model airplane building. You may want to write a blog comparing the similarities and differences between the two, but the main goal of the blog post should be appealing to your readers’ main interests.

You may want to write down some questions that you would be interested to know the answers to if you were new to the niche which you are blogging in and answer those in a blog post or two. Make sure that your blog posts do not wander from the main subject. The more on target your posts are, the more likely your readers are to return to your blog and share it with others they know. Blogs are meant to be dedicated to one subject such as professional networking, vintage car restoration or triathlon training.

I would like to leave you with one last thought when targeting your audience in your blog posts. It is a good idea to re-read your blog posts from the perspective of a reader while in the editing process. Make sure that it captures your attention. You want to be sure to give complete thoughts in your writing. Give your readers some food for thought to spark their own ideas and comments on your blog.

Give Them Your Best Information

Your reader needs to be motivated to be engaged with your blog post. After reading your blog post the visitor should have the desire to comment and share your blog. Why? Because it had valuable information. It was not a sales pitch and it was well written. I am an advocate of giving some of your best content away for nothing. If you have captured your readers’ attention and have given them some quality information, they are much more likely to share your content.

Have you discovered something incredible in your niche lately? Your reader will probably want to know about this information as well. Consider what you would want to get out of reading a blog and make sure that those goals are met in your writing. If you are giving great information in your blogs, your readers will literally beg for more. Getting your readers to ask you for more is the goal of writing in the first place and a validation that you are writing something that they want to read and are actively seeking.

I recently read a blog from Brian Solis called 21 Rules of Engagement. It was a summary of part of his new book, Engage. Not only did I feel like I was getting quality information and a great preview of his book, but it also made me want to go out and purchase his book immediately. I thought that this information he was giving away for nothing was already valuable so I should go and find what else he has to offír. This is an excellent strategy and very effective to create continued readership whether the future readings are free or not.

Do Something About It

At the end of each blog post use a call to action. Ask your readers to comment on what they think about the specific topic. You can even reward them for doing so. For example another buddy of mine posted on Facebook that whoever commented on a blog post he had just posted on his MyMark profile page would get a fríe copy of his e-book. I am sure he had people read his blog that normally may not have, but with this kind of reward they took the time. The blog needs to be good enough that they are happy they spent the time reading it; if this happens they will come back again and again. Even without a specific reward being offered, the reward has now become the quality information you are giving them.

One of the most valuable parts of a blog is the comment section. Usually if one person has a question so do many others. This is a great place for readers to ask questions, answer questions and provide their own tips and tricks that you may not have had time to cover in your blog. You should be asking or telling your readers to leave their comments and make sure that the call to action invites more than just, “great blog.” It’s nice to be validated, but it’s more important to provide readers with further information.

Finally, when leaving a call to action make sure that you act on it as well. If you told your readers to go find something new to learn and write about it in the comments make sure that you are doing this as well. Make sure that you are responding to comments and not just reading them. Continue the interaction in your comment section so that your readers will feel like you are offering two-way communication rather than just talking at them. Any webinar presenter will tell you that one of the most valuable parts of every webinar is the questions and comments part at the end of the webinar. Don’t skip this step. It will likely ensure your success as a blogger and a brand builder.

By Bradley Hess

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Creating excellent content is a key element of optimizing your online presence, but once you have created fantastic information you need to disseminate it. You may be one fantastic source of information, but if nobody hears you, does it matter? Make sure that you aren’t leaving out the step that will get you heard. We have compiled a list of the 5 best practices for content distribution:

1. Blogger Connections: You aren’t the only blogger out there. This may seem like a bad thing sometimes when there are so many other blogs to read. How will your blog get read if there are so many others that have equally great content? The trick is to get your content on blogs that are already being read. There are many wonderful blogs that get a lot of their content from guest bloggers. You can submit articles that you have already published on your own blog or create something new that you think the particular blogger would like for their blog. They may even have a request for a specific kind of content they would like from those interested in guest blogging.

Along with contributing to blogs that you are following already, make sure that you are also using services that will connect you with other bloggers. These are great for not only getting your content posted elsewhere but also for getting guest bloggers on your blog. These blogger connection services already have a great network of bloggers who would love to share content. It would be a waste of a resource if you didn’t use something like this.

Getting others’ guest content on your blog is another great way to link up with more bloggers. These guest bloggers may not have a particular need for your content yet, but they will most likely read your blog if they are contributing to it. This is great because not only have you acquired another reader, but they will be more inclined to request permission to use one of your blog posts on their own blog in the future or to spread the word about your wonderful blog to all their friends and associates who it would appeal to as well.

Remember when submitting a guest blog post to include the byline that you would like the blogger to use for your guest post. You want to make sure that they give proper credit for your blog, and it makes their job easier if they don’t have to ask you for it. Conversely, remember to request a byline or resource box from each of your guest contributors so that you may give them proper credit as well.

2. Publishing on Reputable Websites: There are numerous well established article databases and other content-based websites where you can submit your content. These websites are selective about the content that they publish which increases their reputability. This is positive for you because when your content is accepted by these websites and published, you know that your content is top quality. Those who find your content on those websites will also know how valuable your content is by virtue of the fact that it has been published by an already well-respected source and they will be more likely to want more content from you.

Be sure to read the submission guidelines of these websites. If you continue to submit content that is substandard, your future submissions will likely be ignored. If there are minor things to tweak in your content that will make it worthy of publishing on these websites make sure that you aren’t missing out on this. Overlooking necessary but simple corrections is an easily avoidable mistake.

Make sure you are running with the top dogs. If you think your content is worth submitting to a well-respected site, don’t hesitate to do so. Overcome your fear of rejection and go for it. You may be surprised at how valuable those leading authorities find your content. Don’t deprive readers of your information.

3. Keep Track of Published Content: When syndicating your blog posts and submitting them for inclusion on several different websites, you will want to make sure that you are keeping track of each place they have been submitted to and published. Part of building your credibility is that the content that you write is applicable to more than just your immediate readers. Make sure that you are keeping track of where your content has been published in order to write more content that appeals to those particular audiences.

Remember that part of interaction with readers and customers includes responding to comments and questions. How can you respond to these if you don’t even remember where your content has been published? Keeping track of comments and questions is easy when you are managing content posted on your own blog because you will receive a notice every time there is a comment left. Some blogs offer an option to notify you when anyone posts a comment after you have already posted, but you won’t know about initial comments unless you are keeping track of the post.

One last but very important aspect of keeping track of published content is that, like all marketing strategies, these efforts need to be measured and analyzed in order to create more appropriate future content. If the published content is receiving a lot of positive feedback, be sure to create more like it in the future. If the feedback is negative, adjust your content until it becomes something that readers find useful. Success relies on customer and reader satisfaction. Be sure that you are monitoring this.

4. Publish Press Releases: When an article, blog post, or video is being syndicated, it is completely appropriate to submit a press release. This doesn’t need to be an incredibly formal, pricey press release. There are many free press release publication services that will allow you to post as many press releases as you wish. Having your content syndicated is big news, make sure that you are reporting it!

Every time we have an article or blog post syndicated, we publish a press release about it. Our excitement about sharing our content with the world is equally felt by our readers who find out via press release. Creating a mutual interest, such as excellent content, with our readers is key in building relationships with them.

Press releases also get picked up by bigger news sources. The syndication of press releases lets even more people know about your incredible content and the cycle of content distribution continues. Make sure that you don’t skip this step because you may find new readers to provide with valuable content. Let the world know that others think your content is as great as you do. Write a press release!

5. Tweet and Digg About Published Content: Tweets and diggs are like mini, severely informal press releases. If you don’t have the time to sit down and write a press release the moment you find that one of your posts or articles has been published, make sure that you are at least tweeting about it. All of your twitter followers will immediately be aware of your content being published and if they haven’t already had a chance to read it they will be more inclined to do so.

The same concept goes for Digg. You can digg about your content to let even more of the world know what excellent content you have created and where they can find it. Let your friends and business acquaintances know that they can digg this content, too. You can let them know through your other social media platforms such as Penote, Facebook and Twitter.

Creating great content is extremely important. The next step is to distribute that content throughout the internet so that it can be found. Make sure that you are publishing your content to other bloggers and websites and telling everyone you know that your content has been published there as well. This will increase the effective reach of your information. Start your distribution and information dissemination now!

Author/Brad Hess

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