But in addition to marketing there is the urgent need to keep costs down while promoting at maximum efficiency. Knowing that your Webmaster / Internet marketer is utilizing paid time appropriately will help to speed up the process and keep expense at minimum levels. Continue reading to learn two necessary steps required to successfully promote a website and how monitoring software will give employers a better return on their investment.

Software that delivers

Before delving into “the big two” it is important to address the starting line – the Webmaster or Internet marketer you have hired to build your website and market it successfully. There is a surge of self-proclaimed Webmasters and marketers out there (they are typically one in the same) who may not be as efficient as someone who has actually received formal training in web development and marketing.

More and more businesses are paying Internet marketers to come to their physical location at specified times to work on promoting the website. By doing this business owners have more control over how the employee is spending his time (as most charge by the hour). Some businesses are even investing in keylogger software as a way to monitor the time it actually takes their employee to complete his tasks. These systems allow businesses to monitor what sites their employee is looking at. One can even use the program to see how long it takes someone to write an article or draft a document. Since most business owners don’t have the time or the know-how to market their own website, having a good system in place to make sure a second party isn’t cutting corners is a sound investment.

Blogging

Blogging is a great way to promote a website. By carefully researching sites that permit guest bloggers, businesses can utilize these channels to display their brand or services. Make sure the site you consider utilizing has a big social media buzz. The more the content is being talked about and shared through social media, the better your chances are of drawing more traffic and new clients. You will also want to make sure the site offers dynamic author bios for guest bloggers. This will permit for customized branding with a link to the business website at the end of each published article. Another thing to do is make sure you post blogs to relevant sites. In other words, if you own an Italian restaurant you don’t want to blog for a site that deals with basket weaving.

You will also want to make sure that your marketing expert enriches your content with links that will drive traffic to your website. This will also help with your search marketing endeavors and give you better organic placement in the search engines.

Where is the guarantee?

How do you know your Internet marketer is doing everything he says he is in the time it takes him? Unless you have an employee monitoring system, you don’t. Any good system will capture tasks and time and translate them into readable data that anyone can make sense of. These programs allow employers to see what sites were visited, and what tools were used. If an employee swears to have used an analytics tool for an SEO package, this claim can be verified with the right software. These systems are simple to install, use and are beneficial to any business that outsources paid online. Not only is such a tool necessary for monitoring blogging activities, but it also provides the same service in ensuring that work is being dedicated to social media marketing.

Social media

Be sure your marketing person showcases your business on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Have them create a Facebook page for your business that fans can follow. However, there are certain methods to doing this that prove to have greater success than others. In an article published by ‘Forbes’ on how to promote your business with Facebook, the author says to create content and lots of it before asking people to follow and “like” you. Often businesses are eager to get as many fans as possible, but by first providing quality content you will be giving people a reason to follow and support your business. Furthermore, by linking to feeds via YouTube you will be fueling your website to climb the search engine’s organic placement rankings. And be sure to use Twitter. Instruct your marketing expert to get as many people in your industry as possible to follow you. This will provide you with an audience to tweet links to that direct the multitudes to your articles and website. Twitter also allows businesses to make others aware of special promotions and events that are running.

These tips are very general, but provide a great starting platform for new businesses.  There are more advanced strategies for business promotion within the folds of blogging and social media. Make sure your Internet marketer has a masterful command of these subjects. But also, take control of the reigns. Invest in an employee monitoring software package and before you know it your website should eventually see more traffic and sales.

Image source: http://agileirony.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/face-keyboard-sleep.jpg

The post 2 Tips to Promoting Your Business Website in Spy-Mode appeared first on AddMe Blog.

A blog is like a tree, it takes years to grow a tree but in order to cut one, you just need an axe and half an hour of your time. In the same way, you can achieve the apex of your blogging success in 5 years and then crash like a rocket, if you’re not careful with basic blogging principles.

If you’re a new blogger or someone who has been around for awhile, these mistakes will ensure that you kill the blog yourself. If not by readership or traffic, but surely by its nature and the genre it was once known for.

Not Being Regular – Losing your blogging Tempo

Being consistent is important if you want to be successful in anything, not just blogging. When you have a blog with a decent reader base, you should be consistent and literally “feed your readers mind” with new content on a regular basis.

By “regular”, I don’t specifically mean “daily”. You don’t have to write daily but you should decide a healthy blogging schedule and stick to it, no matter what. Some bloggers post daily, some thrice a week while some choose to blog only once or twice in two weeks. Whatever your speed is, you should stick to it and meet the expectation of your readers. If you post only twice a week and have a lot of time, do not rush to double your posting frequency.

When you increase or change the frequency of new blog posts, your readers adapt to the new habit and they expect more from your. A few months back, you come down to your previous schedule and your readers are disappointed. Lower or improve the number of posts slowly, give your readers the time to adapt themselves to your blogging tempo. Too many posts on a single day and nothing to read on other days is a surefire way to turn off your loyal reader base.

Not Being Consistent With Your Post

Every blogger has a voice of his own and every blogger is known for his style and approach of how he writes, what he writes and more importantly, “why” he writes. Seth Godin, for example, is known for small and direct pieces, it’s his style and readers love him for that. Now, there are a range of bloggers who write descriptive posts, explaining their thoughts and ideas with suitable examples but Seth Godin’s style is tied to his name and brand. If he changes his style and the tone of his blog posts, not many of his loyal readers will love the change.

This is true for your blog as well. Be yourself, your readers love you for being you, you should be consistent with your tone, style and approach. Yes, you can improve or change the tone once in a while but do not try to imitate another blogger, thinking that his style or approach is better than yours.

Remember – a blogger is an artist and two artists can never be compared. An artist’s biggest and only competitor is he himself.

Selling Out Too Early

Monetizing your blog is a good idea, every blogger has the right to earn revenue from his blog to compensate for the time and energy he has invested into it. But before you monetize your blog, you should consider some scenarios.

• What is the authority of your blog in its niche? Is it still struggling to rise above the noise or is it considered a reputed blog?
• Do you have a growing reader base?
• Can you sustain your readers, do they come back and engage in conversations?

If your site is fairly new and you have been blogging for only 6 months, it is too early to monetize it. In my opinion, one should wait at least for a year before deciding to monetize the blog or use the traffic or readership to convert to revenue. If you plaster ads all over your website, annoy your readers with newsletter subscriptions or inundate theirs inbox with promotional stuff, they are not going to come back.

You should monetize your blog only when you have some authority and trust, too early and there is a high chance that the blog might fail to take off in the first place.

Not Giving Due Credit and Acclamation to Other bloggers

This is one of the basic mistakes I see many bloggers doing in their posts and the worst thing is that they keep repeating the same mistake time and again, which kills their reputation and destroys their credibility.

Getting influenced by another blogger is easy, we all live in a world of influences. Sometimes, while going through your reading list, you may find something really interesting. You will be tempted to blog about it and since the idea or topic is fresh and new, you might churn out a really well written and informative blog post. But before your publish the blog post, you should give due credit to the source blog and clearly mention the fact that you derived the inspiration from his blog.

If you skip the credit part, you lose respect. There is a high chance that some of your readers also read that source and when they see you re-hashing or deriving an idea, news or story idea from another blogger, they will not take your word as a “credible source”. If you keep repeating this mistake every other day and never give due credit to fellow bloggers, you’re slowly destroying the reputation and credibility of your blog as a whole.

Not having a User Friendly site

When was the last time you re-designed your website? When was the last time you refreshed the color scheme, added or removed anything from your website? Just as we change clothes every day, and buy new ones every once in awhile, your blog needs a fresh coat of paint. I am not saying that you should completely change the design and feel of the site every few months, but you should make sure the blog adheres to the changing trends in web design. Some questions to ponder upon:

• Have you tested the blog in different browsers? Are you sure that your blog looks neat and clean in all major browsers and operating systems?
• Is your blog’s design mobile friendly?
• Have you optimized the design for faster loading, so that it loads faster in slow connections?
• How often do you check and fix broken links?
• When was the last time you checked your website’s contact form and comment forms?

Remember, your readers will only take interest in reading a blog post, if the design and usability is user friendly. If the design breaks, the color scheme is difficult to the eyes and the site does not look clean and professional, they will feel irritated and annoyed.

Losing the Spark

Before you write the next blog post and hit “Publish”, ask yourself – “Did I really enjoy writing this, or is it that I am writing just because I have to write something in the blog?” Are you losing interest in your niche? Do you feel the blog more as a burden – that the concept of writing is hogging down your creativity?

Probably, you’ve started to lose the spark. You are probably fed up with the topic or niche and not learning new things. It is very much possible that you have reached a level of saturation and it is becoming extremely difficult for you to write with the same zeal, with the same passion, with the same energy you had some years ago. Maybe, you are inspired by a new idea and your brain is refusing to produce ideas for the blog. Whatever it is, only you can figure out whether you have really started to “Lose the spark” and if “Yes” is the answer, you have to find a way to keep that spirit alive.

Losing focus – Writing about an array of topics

This is something which happens to us in different spheres of life, not just blogging. Regardless of how large or small your website might be, sometimes, you’ll not get the energy and drive to continue it. There will be times when you will be tempted to start a completely irrelevant section on your website. For example, if you are a sports blogger and you’re finding it difficult to blog about sports every once in awhile, you might get tempted to start a new “photography” section of the same site or domain. You’re learning photography off late, you’ve been enjoying it and now you want to share your photography experiences with readers.

This is one of the surefire ways to turn off your readers, they are not going to love something they do not expect from you. You will be much better off writing about a completely new topic on a separate site rather blogging about irrelevant topics and clogging it into something which cannot be related to a specific niche or voice.

As a blogger, the last thing you would want to do is stop caring about your readers and let arrogance or greed take over your thoughts. Your goal is to meet the demands and requirements of your readers, any action which does not complement or reinforce this goal is actually hurting the site. When your blog is not growing in terms of traffic, readership or subscriptions, when you see your blog is not attracting new eyeballs, it’s not getting comments or conversations – you can arrive at the conclusion that you’ve stopped caring about readers and now you’re more inclined towards satisfying your own goals.

That is when your blog dies a slow death.

This post was written by Lior who is a consultant to Billguard, a company that developed a Passbook application and he also works with a startup that created a shopping cart abandonment solution to ecommerce websites.

The post 7 Ways to Kill Your Blog appeared first on AddMe Blog.

Here are a few things you should consider when crafting a killer blog:

Content Quality

Content quality is the first consideration when it comes to writing a blog that won’t bore your readers. However frequent your posts, if they are jammed full of mistakes or jar in the mind of the reader, it is unlikely that they will want to return, no matter how exciting your next title sounds. Your blog content needs to be well-written and easy to read, but it also needs to be appropriate for your target audience. If the quality of your content is high and your copy is appealing to your niche, you are already on your way to crafting a blog of value.

Scannable Content

Internet users want fast, easily digestible content that tells them exactly what they want to know in short, snappy copy. A good way to break up a lengthy boring blog is to make it scannable. Include subheadings between paragraphs to enable readers to get to the juicy stuff sooner rather than later. Highlight different sections with relevant images and infographics that help your readers to visualize your content and encourage them to read more.

Bullet Point Lists

Bullet point lists are a great way to capture the attention of your readers and tell them what they need to know quickly. They are also a good way of introducing lengthy copy in the form of a contents list. Ensure you link each bullet point to the appropriate section of your page to make it easier for readers to find exactly what they are looking for.

Series Posts

Series posts are useful for teasing your audience and maintaining their interest in your blog over time. A series of informative posts can help you to break up complicated topics for your readers into less daunting snippets. Create a content calendar to help you plan out series posts for when they will be most relevant and useful to your readers.

Title Crafting

Let’s be honest, the articles you tend to click read first are the ones with the most enticing titles. As a result, it makes sense to take the time to carefully craft your blog titles, not just in terms of making them search engine friendly but also naturally make searchers want to read more. However, be careful not to overhype your article when your content does not do it justice.

Controversy

Controversy is not always a bad thing. You don’t want your blog to encourage a war between your readers but controversial issues are a great way to start healthy debate when done the right way. Don’t be afraid to state your point of view in your blog as long as it is aligned with your brand persona and target market. Give people something to talk about, ask them a question and make it clear that you are open to ideas from others as this will encourage engagement.

About the Author:
Kira works for The WebMarketing Group, an SEO company specializing in increasing traffic and conversions. If you are looking to create linkable content for your website to attract high quality links naturally, talk to The WebMarketing Group today to find out more. Alternatively, you can find them on Twitter.

The post How to Write a Killer Blog that Won’t Bore appeared first on AddMe Blog.

Standing out in a crowd is a difficult task, but new blogs are started everyday that go on to become social hubs and sources of influence. Successful bloggers often have a plan and an understanding of what the right move should be. These five tips will help any new blogger find their way towards success.

1. Focus on Building an Audience

Every day, millions of people use Google, Bing or Yahoo to find information on all types of topics. Because of this, many bloggers start optimizing their blogs for search engines, and not for people.

This is an approach you should avoid.

People make links, share on social bookmarking sites and social networks, and they leave comments and spread stories by word of mouth. People make up an audience.

Look at two important resources for guidance.

One is Facebook. When starting a Facebook Page, one of the available tabs says “Build an Audience”, which is code for “run ads”. The key word is audience. An engaged and responsive audience is the most important factor in a blog’s success, so optimize for people.

The other is Google Analytics. The traffic statistics are presented as “Audience Overview”.

2. Learn the Basics of SEO

Your main focus should be creating content for people, but this does not mean that Search Engine Optimization is to be ignored.

There are a handful of steps that a new blogger should take to set up their blog for maximum search engine exposure without using shady tactics.

• Keyword research using Google’s Keyword Tool to find relevant terms with reasonable search volume. Anything over a couple hundred searches is plenty.
• Optimize the meta title tag and meta description to include your targeted keywords.
• Emphasize your keywords in the content by using an H1 or H2 heading title tag.
• Optimize your images by utilizing the ALT tag.

SEO can be far more advanced and complicated, but the fundamental basics are good enough for most bloggers.

3. Design is King

Powerful and engaging content are vital, but an ugly design will never entice users to bother reading what you have to say. Take the time to find a clean and easy to navigate theme that is free of clutter and any other confusing elements.

Making sure that your blog is also set up to recycle visitors through social sharing and eventually email opt-ins is an important element of blog design. Take the time to measure social sharing and email opt-ins to make sure your design is optimized for both audience experience, as well as retention.

4. Master the Art of Writing Headlines

It does not matter what masterful point you may make in your blog posts if nobody bothers to read them. Headline writing is key to getting clicks from search engine users, as well as social media and (eventually) email subscribers.

Headlines are far more than article titles. Learning how to write effective headlines can lead to spikes in traffic and significant buzz around a new blog.

There are a number of resources to help you learn to write good headlines, but the best resource is practice. Before publishing an article or post, write several headlines, narrow down the best two or three, then work on those until they’re perfect.

Headlines are often the key to new blogs generating off-site discussion and achieving near instant success.

5. Be Yourself

It is fine to be a novice on some, or even all, of the topics your blog covers. Not everyone is an expert, and readers can tell when a blogger is faking expertise for whatever reason.

However, bloggers who are genuine and are obviously putting in the work to learn more and present useful content in a unique way will eventually become an authority on their topic.

More importantly, they will earn the trust of their audience and build a brand. When a blogger becomes seen as both a person and a brand, the ultimate success has been achieved.

Building Something Worthwhile Takes Time

Popular blogs do not sprout overnight. Not usually. To grow a blog, it takes a clear and focused plan, patience and determination to make something that others believe is special.

As a final tip, a successful blog requires a certain level of daring. Great design, slick headlines, and an engaged audience are all more likely to happen when you dare to make something great.

The post From Nobody to Influencer: 5 Tips to Building a Successful Blog appeared first on AddMe Blog.

Every niche has particular questions that are frequently asked, but rarely have conclusive answers. Whereas this recommendation can be helpful for most content based sites, it is particularly applicable with blogs. Invest the effort and time to research, compile and deliver, and you are guaranteed linkable content that will draw new subscribers and visitors.

2. Pay attention to analytics

Visitor tracking software can show you which posts your visitors like best, which ones are not viewed and how search engines are directing traffic. You can use these clues to act and improve your tactics. Feedburner is ideal for RSS. Action tracking can also be a great addition to your blog. This will enable you to see which sources of traffic are attracting the best quality visitors (in terms of number of page views, time spent on the site etc.).

3. Use a human voice

Charisma is a vital quality, both offline and online. In a blog, it is mainly judged by the voice presented to users. People like compassion, empathy, honesty and authority. Keep these in mind when writing and you are very likely to succeed. It is also vital that you remain humble in your blogging. When users begin feeling that a blog is losing its unique characteristics, they begin seeking new sources of content. Be careful to control not just what you say, but also how you say it.

4. Use smart URLs

Blog URLs should be as short as possible, and still contain enough clues for one to make a guess about the content likely to be found on the page. Having a short and relevant URL will significantly improve traffic to a blog.

5. Reveal as much as possible

In the blogosphere, you should feel free to share what might normally be considered private information. If you offer information that is usually private – pricing, trade secrets, contract issues or even harmless rumors, your blog can benefit greatly. Decide what is off-limits and see how far you can go within the limits. Your community will repay you with traffic and links.

6. Create expectations and fulfill them

When you are writing for your target audience, your post timing and area of focus will become linked with your individual style. If you deviate from that style, you run the risk of alienating readers who have been relying on you for particular data. Therefore, if your blog presents you as an analytical expert in your niche, you will need to deliver according to your readers expectations. This also applies to post frequency. If your blog usually publishes two posts per day, reducing this to two posts per week will have an adverse effect on traffic.

7. Build a brand

One of the most vital elements in blogging is brand building. A great brand is one which people are proud to associate themselves with. Insider jokes, exclusivity and emails with regulars may put off new readers, but can be great for sharing common brand experiences with loyal readers. Once you establish a brand that works for you, stick with it. Breaking the mould will result in severe repercussions.

Author Bio

Charles Mburugu is a professional content developer and an entrepreneur. He often writes about real estate, finance, business start-ups and internet marketing. In the past few weeks he has been writing for blogs where you can get the latest Network Solutions promo codes.

The post Smart Tactics for Increasing Blog Traffic appeared first on AddMe Blog.

• Look for a Subject

Ask yourself what you’re interested in, what you’re an expert at, what interesting blog topics are missing on the Internet, and such questions. If you want good ideas, read popular blogs, and take inspiration from them.

• Define your Audience

For the new blogger, the target audience will also define the blog’s content. For instance, if your blog is primarily for keeping in touch with friends and family, then your blog would mostly be filled with personal, interesting blog topics. If you want to target other professionals in your industry, however, the blog’s content should contain tips, strategies, commentaries and other relevant information about your business.

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