Your YouTube channel is already up and running. Now, you’re wondering how to get traffic to your videos. About 3-out-of-5 brands engaging in content marketing have the exact same problem. Video SEO could be the answer.
Just like Google, YouTube uses algorithms to drive traffic to videos and channels. However, YouTube’s algorithm is quite different from its mother search engine.
You must optimize your YouTube channels and your videos to improve visibility. Most videos never go viral if no SEO tactics are used. They must be optimized for YouTube searches, or most users will never find them.
Video SEO: 10 Tips to Make Your YouTube Channel More Visible, Image Source: Web CEO
What Is Video SEO?
Video SEO is just like website SEO. It’s the process of using specific tactics to help target viewers discover your content online. There’s a lot of competition in YouTube land. So, you must make sure your content is discoverable in searches.
Let’s say you’re uploading a video about “choosing the right keywords for your YouTube videos.” The key is to use related SEO keywords in your title and description. This helps the video show up in searches on YouTube. Some relevant keyword variations might be:
YouTube video keywords
YouTube video SEO
SEO keywords for YouTube
Include these types of SEO keyword variations in your content descriptions. That way, when they are used in searches, your video comes up in results. But it all begins with quality content.
10 Video SEO Tips to Get More Views on Your YouTube Videos
Today, people watch YouTube videos more than ever before on both PCs and mobile devices. This massive online video platform is currently the second largest search engine (Google is the first). The Wall Street Journal reports that over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos are watched every single day.
Building your channel and video SEO is an effective way to increase views. This also helps you generate traffic to your site and drive conversions. Follow these 10 SEO tips for YouTube to ensure your channels grow and your videos get the views they deserve:
1. Conduct YouTube SEO Keyword Research
Use a keyword research tool to help you discover the keywords your target viewers are using in YouTube searches. Stay tuned for my upcoming blog post and YouTube video about How to Find Good SEO Keywords Using Google Search launching this week.
When it comes to getting people to click on your YouTube videos, catchy titles are key to your success. To increase clickthroughs, make sure your titles are informative, entertaining or intriguing. With the right titles, you not only increase views, but your channel subscribers also increase as well.
Do a little SEO keyword research on YouTube. Use the video search engine to play around with keyword variations. Just be sure that your keywords are related to your video. Use those keywords within your video titles.
If your video falls into one or more of these categories, try to create titles that incorporate with the category. This will increase the video’s visibility based on how popular the keywords you use are at the time.
3. Use Relevant Target SEO Keywords
Try to be as precise as possible when choosing video keywords. They should be related to your industry, niche, brand or information contained within the content itself.
The more precise and relevant your video keywords, the less you’ll have to compete to rank for them. Using relevant keywords that people are currently using in YouTube searches greatly increases visibility.
YouTube’s tag features are one of the best ways to improve your channel and video visibility. On the video social media platform, these tags are known as semantic keywords. You must add these tags when uploading your video.
Try to add about 10 semantic keywords to every video you upload to YouTube. Never add more than 10 of these keyword tags. The platform’s algorithm may think you’re performing Black Hat SEO marketing and slam your content.
Think carefully about which tags you want to add to each video. Remember, they must be added before the content goes live. The more relevant and precise the tags, the better your chances of ranking high in the search engines for those SEO keywords.
5. Use Video Keywords Wisely
Never, ever stuff a bunch of keywords into your written content. Use them liberally in various areas, including:
Titles
File Names
Meta Descriptions
Timestamps
Transcripts
Video Description
YouTube’s algorithms check all of this information to determine your content’s relevance in relation to searches.
6. Add a Transcript to the Description
Predictive captions help your viewers and subscribers read along with your video. However, they don’t increase your content’s SEO value because YouTube can’t “see” what’s on your videos.
Therefore, it’s wise to add a transcript of your video in the description area. This increases the amount of written content, improving your chances of ranking for certain keywords.
7. Customize Your Thumbnail
When you upload a video to YouTube, a thumbnail is automatically generated. This is the image that’s shown in search results.
These auto-generated thumbnails aren’t always very eye-catching. Always create your own custom thumbnail to ensure it captures attention and attracts clicks.
8. Publish a Related Blog Post
Create an awesome blog post that targets the same SEO keywords as your YouTube video. This increases the Google ranking of both pieces of content. Do the following:
Upload your video to YouTube and add a link to the blog post in your description
Use the YouTube code to embed the content inside the blog post
Remember: Each time someone views your video on your website, it counts as a view on YouTube. Some users will click through to go to the video on YouTube and actually subscribe to your channel.
Viral Video Marketing Techniques: Make Your Viral Video Count. Image Source: Proceed Innovative
9. Engage, Engage, Engage
Audience engagement is key on this video social network. YouTube makes it easy for users to ask questions or leave comments related to the content they watch.
The more people engage on your channels and videos, the better they rank. This engagement includes:
Likes
Shares
Comments
If someone asks you a question, be sure to answer it. Acknowledge comments and carry on viral conversations with your subscribers and viewers.
Also, always encourage your viewers to like your video and subscribe to your channel.
10. Promote Your Video
Be sure to spread the word about your new content. There are various ways to promote your YouTube video. Here are just a few:
Embed it on your website
Share it on all your social media networks
Add them in marketing emails or newsletters
Email them to family and friends and ask them to share them
Create paid ad campaigns on Google and social media that link to the video or blog post where it’s embedded
Video: How to Get Your YouTube Video on Page 1 of Google Video Results
What’s the key to getting your YouTube video to rank on page one of Google Video search results? It’s all about SEO. You must infuse your videos with valuable, relevant SEO keywords to get your content in front of the right viewers.
Check out this YouTube video featuring Spicey Ky. It shows the conclusions of an experiment that got a client’s promo video to NUMBER 1 on PAGE 1 of YouTube Video search results for a specific set of valuable SEO keywords.
Get Professional Video SEO for Your YouTube Content
These days, with the popularity of video content, it takes an effective SEO approach to help ensure traffic and views. Video SEO improves your content’s visibility, increasing your search engine visibility.
Sounds too complicated and time-consuming? Then, why not professionals to optimize your YouTube videos for you?
The Content Marketing Geek Team are experts in SEO. We will optimize your videos and channels to help you get more views. Click the link below to learn more.
Launching your own brand as an African American woman is a dream come true for most. But transforming your start-up into a successful venture is what truly measures success for any Black woman in business.
The path to success is far from simple. You may fall down a few times. But that’s no reason to give up. Awesome Black businesswomen like Tracey Edmonds, Ursula Burns, Condoleezza Rice, Pamela Thomas-Graham and Oprah Winfrey didn’t give up when their roads got rough.
And neither should you!
Successful Black Businesswomen. Image Source: HipQuake
5 Tips for the Black Woman in Business Determined to Succeed
Two of my 2019 business goals are to do more networking and partake in more mentoring sessions. I’ve been working with life coaches since the beginning of the year. And I must say, I literally feel transformed, and it’s only March.
In particular, my new purpose coach, Joey Chandler, helped change the way I think when it comes to my business life. Through a deep purpose-driven session, he helped me realize that my purpose in life, both personal and business, is to help people. It makes me smile and it fulfills a deep desire within my soul.
So, I’m writing this post to help other Black entrepreneur women not make the same common mistakes I made when I launched my brand. Use these five tips for Black Women in Business to help you and your brand succeed.
NOTE: Black men entrepreneurs can also learn from my mistakes.
No idea is a bad idea. One brand’s trash is some consumer’s treasure. Image Source: Kickstarter
1. No idea is a bad idea… just keep your original idea evolving.
When you came up with the idea for your first product or service, your goal was to provide a solution to a problem other people were having at the time. That solution transformed into a brand, and soon both became your little babies.
But let’s be real. We’ve all seen products for sale online, in stores, on billboards and on TV, and thought to ourselves, “What idiot invented that?” And let’s not get into those weird services I keep stumbling upon like goat rentals and snake messages?
Some ideas are just plain stupid to some, yet they make a lot of sense to others. Think of it like this: One brand’s trash is some consumer’s treasure.
Apparently, there are people in the world who rent goats to trim their lawns. A grand idea if you live in an area where the typical back yard is over an acre in size. But don’t try launching that in the City of Compton. It just won’t survive.
And what about your local “ma and pa” massage spot? How would you feel if one day you walked in for your usual massage to find out they now “utilize various non-venomous snakes to help relieve tension and relax muscles and joints”?
May sound like an awesome idea to adventurous snake-lovers. But to me… I don’t even want to be INSIDE a place that houses snakes. I’m gone. Loyal customer lost forever!
Be Open to Transforming Your Idea as a Black Woman in Business
My point of all this is… no idea is a bad idea. Your idea will always be your baby. But at some point, you have to understand your market. Just like you probably can’t sell many goat renting services to a Black woman in Compton, you probably can’t sell many hand-sewn stuffed animals to elderly Black ladies in their retirement years.
So, if that’s who you’re reaching with your online content, then your SEO is out of whack. It needs to be tweaked so it gets in front of the people already online searching for your solutions.
But the only way to conquer your SEO is to understand the BEST target market for your services and products. Sometimes, that means allowing your current target market to evolve, so you reach people ready to convert, whether that’s:
Subscribing to your mailing list
Visiting your blog or landing page
Reading a specific blog post
Taking part in an online survey
Completing a form of some sort
Clicking BUY NOW
Black Women in Business Transforming Their Solutions
Toiia Rukuni of Mother of the World originally branded herself as a Pinterest Marketing Mentor. And she was awesome at it. But as sales started to decrease, she took a look around and realized that she’d been doing much more than helping Black Women in Business use Pinterest for branding and marketing.
Now, Toiia focuses on Black Women on Missions, versus simply providing Pinterest marketing services. By allowing her original idea to evolve, she’s allowing her brand to grow into something more valuable to the masses.
Why? Because not everyone uses Pinterest. It’s that simple.
Lesson: Don’t marry your idea. Let it evolve as you go. And remain open to changes that lead to transformations.
Remember: Coca-Cola failed when they changed the soda’s flavor. But the brand’s sales SKYROCKETED when they made the choice to replace the old flavor and give fans a new look for the cans. Even after what looked like a failure, they were able to come back by listening to their audience.
As a Black woman in business and the owner of your brand, you want the best employees possible working for you.
2. Hire for quality… never, ever rush the hiring process.
At some point, most entrepreneurs end up on Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, Craigslist and other such sites looking to hire help. Whether we hire employees, contractors or freelancers, we always think we need to hire now, and we want the cheapest help possible in the beginning.
That leads many of us to make the mistake of hiring some foreigner in Africa to write content and perform other jobs, tasks and gigs for us. I mean, why not? He speaks English, and he only wants $5 for 1,000-word blog posts!!!
Then, we spend HOURS editing the garbled English, so it at least sounds like an under-educated American wrote it. We waste money and time by not just hiring a quality content writer right here in the United States in the first place.
But that means paying a bit more. That also means taking your time when vetting the applications. You need to:
Weed out the foreigners
Thoroughly read cover letters
Narrow down your list of candidates
Find ways to test those applicants
Narrow down your list again
Black Women in Business Need to Aim for Quality Employees
The bottom line is… you need to take your time and choose quality people to work for your brand. You only want people on your team who respect your brand, you and your solutions, so they give their jobs their all.
When I first started, I hired a lady on Odesk (now Upwork) from Taiwan to write some jewelry articles for a client. I JUMPED on it because the client was paying me $10 per piece, and she only wanted $3 each.
Well, NOT ONE of those 20 articles passed Copyscape! They were ALL plagiarized. She did a copy/paste job on me. And because it took me two weeks to start editing them, Odesk had already paid her. Done deal.
I spent that entire night having to write all 20 articles myself, so I could meet the client’s deadline. What a waste of time and money… because money IS time!
Lesson: Take your time when looking for people to hire. Your small business means the world to you. Make sure your people understand the quality work you expect for your brand… and they’re capable of and prepared to meet those standards.
Remember: If you have to end up doing the work yourself, or spend hours “fixing” it, you’re hiring the wrong people. And that’s easy to do when you hire too fast.
A Black woman in business must be open to changes and transformations on your journey to business success.
3. The Struggle is real, and the journey never ends.
Whether you launch a brick and mortar location, online store, novel or other types of book, or new or trendy service, you probably won’t become an overnight success. In most industries, competition is fierce.
And even if your solution is innovative and one-of-a-kind, if the right people don’t see it, your venture won’t be successful.
Your brand is a major part of who you are inside. You dream about it, night and day, daydreaming of the day it becomes a million-dollar company with numerous employees.
Be proud of yourself for taking the leap to transform your dream into reality. But know that it’s going to take hard work and sweat to take your brand to the top. And this takes time. Even when sales are great, you must prepare for industry downtime, recessions and changes in your market.
During your entrepreneurial journey, there will be quite a few twists, turns and bumps on the road. You may even hit a few big dips. The best advice I can offer here is to… never give up.
Black Women in Business Must Be Open to ALL Valuable Resources
But that is so cliché, I feel I owe you more than that. So, let me say that the best thing you can do for your brand is to utilize every resource possible. That means seeking out people, tools, apps, programs, etc… that provide resources to help you reach your business goals, such as:
Podcasts
Webinars
Networking events
Facebook groups
Business forums
Books and eBooks
Life coaching
Purpose-driven mentoring
…and most of all, listen to the people around you who know what they’re talking about in real life.
I get so frustrated watching Black women on Facebook rebuke the advice of business-minded winners on group posts simply because they are African American men or women. That’s just silly nonsense. And until we get past it, our Black women-owned businesses will continue to fail and/or become stagnant.
Lesson: Be prepared to put in hard work and reap very few financial benefits in the beginning. Your patience is most definitely a virtue on this journey. Embrace the journey by staying open to all valuable business tools and resources around you.
Remember: Your business goal is to succeed. Utilize good advice offered to you by people already winning in their industries, no matter who they are in real life. And always seek out other resources to help educate yourself and keep you in the right networking circles for your brand’s success.
Race and gender both matter when you’re a Black woman in the business world.
4. As a Black Woman in Business, your gender and your race DO matter.
There are so many things I can say here, but I’m going to keep it light. But the bottom line is… you are your brand, and your brand is you! So, how could it not matter that you’re a Black woman doing business in a man’s world? (I know, I know. I said I’m keeping it light.)
As an African American woman, you already have to deal with the stigma of being “angry” and aggressive. People call us hostile and we all know we can be a bit dramatic at times. (Just check those Facebook groups.) That alone means we have to be much more conscious of how we come across to people as to not “scare them away.”
Then, there are the issues of US WORKING WITH US. Many Black entrepreneurs and small business owners speak about the greatness of shopping and buying Black and working with each other to create and build great things.
Yet, behind the words, the actions of many show that they’re too worried about the next Black person getting “bigger” than them to network together. I call it the “crabs in a bucket” syndrome. It’s the idea of “I can’t share what I know with you because you may succeed using my help.”
Black Women in Business Working with Big Winners
But here’s my question: Why can’t you help me succeed without your own brand failing???
Until we can get past this preposterous idea instilled in our ancestors by their slave owners, we will never succeed as a race or as women on a level that counts:
If you scratch my back, I WILL scratch yours.
If I don’t, someone will pay it forward and scratch your itch because that’s how karma works.
If I make it to the top because of your support, you best believe you’re headed to the top with me (note the Mother of the World plug above).
If we work together to boost each other up, we’ll both reach our goals, creating legacies and lifelong incomes for generations to come
Black Women in Business Must Shake the ‘Crabs in a Barrel’ Syndrome
As I sit here writing this part, I realize just how many Black men AND women have supported me with good information and valuable data over the years.
My cousin and mentor, JaWar, was my sole supporter when I first decided to become an entrepreneur. He hipped me to Odesk, which helped me get my first content marketing gig. That’s also where I began hiring when it was time to create my Content Marketing Geek Team.
Where would I be had I not taken his tips and advice to heart? I’d be a telecom technician with daily back and shoulder pains hating my job, with that hatred trickling over into my personal life. Instead, I’m putting my sweat and hard work into my brand… meaning… ME!
JaWar also hipped me to Ty Cohen, which set me on my path as a published author. How stagnant would my writing life as an author be without the lucrative self-publishing guide I followed from The Kindle Cash Flow Mastermind back in 2011? Thanks to Ty and Ja, I don’t just have one published title on Amazon, I have well over a hundred.
And who knows if my journey would have ever included my upcoming YouTube channel launch without the consistent phone calls, pep talks and sharing of online marketing resources from Cool Water? It’s Black businessmen like him that make Black businesswomen like me proud to say we know them!
Black Women in Business Have Targeted Funding Options
On a positive note, as a Black Woman in the business world, you have funding options not offered to others. You’ll find that most are grants at that. So, that means you never have to pay them back. There are also scholarships and contests that help Women of Color build business brands.
Lesson: Being a woman means people expect you to be over-emotional. Being a Black woman takes those negative expectations to whole ‘nother levels. But we are also strong Black leaders with dreams and business ideas worth taking chances on in life. Allow yourself to stay open to receiving help from others, including other African American women and men in business.
Remember: Others have already reached their goals. There are Black entrepreneurs all around you who are now working on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5thsuccessful business ventures. Can you really afford to ignore the advice of these business-minded winners simply because of Black woman pride?
Redefine Your Target Audience to Reach the People Already Searching for Your Solutions Online. Image Source: Medium
5. Your most profitable target market may or may not look like you.
I have no stats on this, but it’s been my experience that most Black women entrepreneurs start off with essentially the same basic target market: Black Women
And that’s fine, in the beginning. But if you really think about it, doesn’t that feed into the idea that “all African American women are the same”? I mean, what product or service could you possibly come up with that every single Black woman on the planet wants/desires/needs?
When you choose a very broad target market, you give your brand more competition than you can handle. That means you’re competing with the big dawgs to win THEIR customers.
To keep this light, I’ll just use Coca-Cola as an example. There was a time when this top-notch soft drink brand specifically targeted white men and women (because they assumed our people couldn’t afford soft drinks).
Soon, Coca-Cola realized that the only way to stay #1, was to get as many people to drink their sodas as possible, that included People of Color. That’s how Black people specifically ended up enchanted with such marketing campaigns and slogans as:
Things Go Better with Coke (yea, it was that time period)
I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke
Have a Coke and a Smile
Somehow, with such cool phrases, the marketing firm behind the Coca-Cola brand caught our attention. We became consumers of value.
When the brand’s marketing team decided to add Bill Cosby to the mix, the brand won an entirely new market back in the 80s. Fast forward to the 90s, and the marketers reeled in a completely different generation of young Black people with that Tyrese Singing on the Bus commercial! #WattsUp #CaliLife
Black Women in Business Must Rediscover Their Target Markets Regularly
But truth be told, it wasn’t fast-forward thinking that created this transformation from marketing to white people only to including Black people as target markets in Coca-Cola advertising campaigns.
In actuality, most people don’t know that the brand’s #1 competitor, Pepsi, was created for Black people from day one. Check out A Brief History of Racist Soft Drinks if you don’t believe me.
The Pepsi brand launched with an ALL BLACK MARKETING TEAM. So, they quickly took over the entire cola industry when it comes to the African American demographics. And Coca-Cola didn’t like that.
So, the powers that be had to get rid of their original way of thinking and let their target market evolve to include Black consumers too. Just imagine… Pepsi would actually be the #1 soft drink in America had Coca-Cola not smartened up.
Lesson: Target markets evolve over time. Their needs change, thanks to innovations. Their wants change due to consumers aging over time. What captures their attention changes due to innovative marketing tactics. Be prepared to allow yourself to target a different group, even if they don’t look like you.
Remember: You may want your target market to be African American women. However, maybe your product or service better serves a target group that has nothing to do with race or gender. Choose your target market based on who is searching for your solutions online, not who looks like you.
Rediscover Your Target Market with Content Marketing Geek
Black Woman in Business: Rediscover Your Target Market
Need some assistance figuring out who is already online actively searching for your products and services? As the owner of Content Marketing Geek, I’ve made it my personal mission to help Black Women in Business rediscover their target markets.
The goal is to help you reach the people who will actually convert into subscribers and buyers. But you have to be willing to reach out for help. I’m here to help you as a Black women in business when you’re ready to take the leap.
If you’re still targeting the exact same market as you did last year, it’s time to redefine your target audience. That’s the only way to create an effective SEO strategy and inbound marketing plan that actually brings you customers.
One way to narrow down the people you target with your marketing efforts is through market segmentation.
What is Market Segmentation?
This is when you take your group of customers, email subscribers, blog followers, etc… and divide them into smaller groups. Each group is based on related needs and characteristics. There are numerous ways to segment your market.
Here are just a few ideas for segmented groups:
By demographics – Where are they?
By age – How old are they?
By sex or ethnicity – Who are they?
By needs – What are they interested in?
By wants – Do they just want specific content or products only?
Market segmentation allows you to create products, services and online content marketing campaigns that focus on your current and potential customers’ needs.
For Example: To avoid losing B2B email subscribers, put them in a separate group from B2C subscribers. That way, you don’t bug them with irrelevant B2C-focused newsletters.
That’s effective market segmentation.
Redefine Your Target Audience to Reach the People Already Searching for Your Solutions Online. Image Source: Medium
Benefits of Segmenting Your Markets
The best way to segment your market into various, valuable groups is to determine their perceived value for the solutions you provide. In other words, who really wants what you have to offer?
That way, your marketing messages are tailored to meet the needs, wants and desires of each specific group. Here are some tips for redefining your target audience by segmenting your market:
Analyze your markets to figure out which segments you are incapable of effectively servicing or is costing you money
Use the segmented data to help you understand how to expand your solutions so you can effectively service an untapped segment
Now, you can determine which one specific segment you tend to help the most or would like to help more with your solutions. Then, you can work with these customers exclusively as your ideal clients.
Or you can work with all customers, but create content that speaks directly to this new target audience. This is a priceless method for redefining your target market. Now, target that specific audience with your online marketing tactics.
4 Major Benefits of Market Segmentation
The key to your online marketing success is to promote your services and products correctly. That means getting your solutions and content in front of the people more apt to buy them. You need to reach the right target audience… the people already interested in what you have to offer.
Breaking your market up into segmented groups based on who they are and what they need helps you reach them better. That’s because it gives you a better understanding of how to fulfill their needs.
Segmenting your market gives you the ability to:
Put your focus on the right market. Segmented data helps you market your solutions to people who actually need and want them. So, you don’t waste time and money trying to reach the wrong people.
Explain how solutions benefit the audience. With segmented groups, you can create content that specifies how the solution benefits a particular group of customers based on their needs.
Create premium solutions. Market segment research helps you identify customers that may pay premium prices for specialized products and services. This also helps you understand what types of specialized solutions they want and need.
Improves SEO efforts. Anyone can write content using general industry SEO keywords. But when you redefine your target audience through segmentation, you get a better understanding of which keywords your target customers are using in online searches.
How Does Redefining Your Target Market Improve Your SEO?
Online marketing helps you get your brand, products and services in front of people using the Internet. And let’s face it, that’s just about everyone. If your business doesn’t have an online presence, how will people find you when they search for your solutions on Google and other search engines?
Having an online presence helps you get leads that are actually interested in what you have to offer. It also gives your brand a personality. Your images, video, graphics and written content tell your audience what your brand is about, and why they should care.
But how do you reach these people through your content?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the key to success when building your brand’s presence online. This is the process of gaining traffic from Google and its competitors through the words you use in your text.
For Effective SEO, You Must Know Who Your Target Audience Is
But to do this effectively, you have to know what keywords your target market is using in online searches. That requires knowing who they are! There’s no way to directly reach the people interested in your solutions without identifying them and learning about their problems.
The bottom line is… they are online searching for services and products just like yours because they are trying to solve particular problems. You need to let them know, through your content, how your products and services help solve those problems.
However, you have to identify them before you can begin to offer solutions to their problems. SEO keywords help you reach them by using the same words in your online text content that they use in searches in Google and other search engines.
If you’re not reaching the people already online searching for what you’re offering, it’s time to redefine your target audience… because, more than likely, you’re talking to the wrong people.
How Do You Reach Your Target Audience Using SEO?
SEO is the process of optimizing online content, including webpages, blog posts, graphics, videos, audios and images, so it’s visible to people using certain keywords in search engines.
That means optimizing your content, so it includes phrases people in your target market use in searches to find your solutions.
Ranking for specific keywords is a process that takes time. If you want to rank for very popular keywords, such as ‘online marketing’, you may never reach your destination.
There are thousands of brands who came before you that already own those broad keywords. You need to redefine your target audience fast.
But try ranking for something like ‘online marketing for nonprofits in las vegas’ and you have a greater chance of tackling the market. Narrowing down your target market is the best SEO practice you can perform.
Why?
Market Segmentation: An Effective Way to Redefine Your Target Audience? Image Source: B2C
Narrow Down Your Target Market
Well, by narrowing down your target market, you can now create content that includes variations of that key phrase. And you don’t have to be an SEO expert to do it. Just keep your target audience in mind when writing blog posts, webpage content, image, video, service and product descriptions, etc…
That way, you infuse the right SEO keywords into your content and reach the right people online. DIY SEO can be very effective when you narrow down your target market properly, especially when you implement market segmentation.
Ready to redefine your target audience? I can help with that. I’ve created a process that helps you tap into the souls of your brand and solutions to determine who you serve best.
Let me help you reach the people already searching for your solutions online. I will help you redefine your target audience.
How do you transition to Office 365 without causing major issues with security and data? And, once you do, how can you get the most out of this Microsoft Suite?
We have the answers here…
Benefits of Clouds for Businesses
There are enormous benefits for companies running activities through clouds. As a business owner, this gives you access to all your personal settings, data and digital folders from any device anywhere in the world.
Not having such access can lead to security issues as data is shared between users.
Office 365 comes with the same applications your used to in the suite, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The difference with this version is that it’s:
Cloud-based – Your data is accessible from anywhere because it’s stored in the cloud
Web-based – Comes with a local install, but can also be accessed online
Subscription-based – Pay monthly for access instead of buying software packages
Learn how to use Office 365 in 2019. Image Source: Strategics AAS
How to Migrate to Office 365 Quickly & Safely
Just like with any type of migration, things can go wrong. That’s why many business owners turn to other applications to make the transition smoothly.
SharePoint Migration Tool is a free, intuitive, simple way to migrate content from other cloud platforms onto Office 365, such as OneDrive, File Share and, of course, SharePoint Online.
Simply download the SharePoint Migration Tool, which is free, and enter your login credentials for the platform you want to access. Then, select the source files and destination sites for your migration. Now, click “Migrate” and your integration begins!
But, before you begin your migration, you need to create an approach that incorporates not just the technology, but the processes and people involved in your organization.
Train the People Behind the Brand
User-education is key when switching the way you store data. Before migrating, make sure your internal staff is trained on how to use Office 365. Remember, these are the people accessing and sharing your data.
So, it’s important that they understand the basic aspects of the suite for efficiency purposes.
This is also important for security reasons. You need to train your end-users on security awareness, so they don’t invite risks that jeopardize your digital assets.
Video: Office 365 Business Tutorial | Training | Outlook | OneDrive | SharePoint | Skype
Learn the latest tips, training and productivity hacks for Office 365 for Business in this YouTube webinar:
Understand the Processes Before the Migration
The latest version of Office 365 is a bit different when it comes to processes, collaborative workflows and how data is stored. You need to grasp an understanding of what needs to be done to protect these processes to keep your data safe.
Use a platform such as OneDrive to put strong data protection controls in place. That way, you can limit file sharing, so data can only be shared with other staff. Yet, you can still allow external sharing on other platforms such as Dropbox.
Protecting your data from breach or loss is crucial to your brand. Migrating to Office 365 can be a great security advantage for your company. Will you take your business data security one step further by migrating to the cloud?
Let us know your thoughts on this in the comments below.
Do you know the definition of a homeless entrepreneur? It’s a business-minded, go-getter whose brand has no online presence to call it’s own.
Your website is like owning real estate…
What happens when an entrepreneur or small business owner loses the brand’s website or decides not to have one? How does not having your own site negatively affect your brand, when you’re still active on social media and booming on Yelp?
Well, in essence, you’re a HOMELESS ENTREPRENEUR, thriving off of the hospitality of others. It’s time for you to stop helping them build equity in the property, and start putting your efforts into building your own real estate… AKA online presence.
Here’s why:
Most consumer purchases start with online searches. Make sure your brand is visible online. Photo by Rebrand Cities from Pexels
What Is a Homeless Entrepreneur?
A homeless entrepreneur is someone who conducts business offline only. These small business owners either have no online presence… or they put all their efforts into building them on the platforms (the homes) of others.
For example, when you spend time blogging on Facebook… AND YES, every time you publish an FB post, you are blogging… you are helping to bring up the value of Mark Zuckerberg’s home. His platform continues to grow in size and value, while you have no place to call YOUR BRAND’S HOME.
Why You Should Never Let Your Website Expire
I’ve watched many new entrepreneurs come into my virtual world extremely excited about their awesome ideas. They need someone to get excited with them… and for them. Their brands need someone who will take all that excitement and translate it into words… written text… that drives people to want to hear what they have to say.
And, if the content creator’s SEO game is tight, they also get a textual artist who knows how to talk to Google and the other search engines accordingly. So, they get the traffic they need to, at least, start the show.
I do this for them, with the excitement and enthusiasm they need to feel confident about launching their new websites. We get it built. My team of writers gets the content written. And, they’re off!
Then, about a year later… I get those horribly discouraging emails and notifications from their web hosts saying that their websites are no longer active. They simply didn’t renew their domain names.
REALLY? You gave up your website over about 80 bucks a year? And, now you’re a homeless entrepreneur???
What’s the Big Deal with Letting Your Domain & Website Expire?
Your website was your brand’s home. For the small price of just about $80, you could have paid your Home Owner’s Association dues for an entire year.
Instead, you chose to go out there into the world as a homeless entrepreneur. Do you have any idea what being homeless means in the 2019 digital age of business?
Most of you think you have valuable online presences because you are so awesome on social media. Then, there are those of you with local brick-and-mortar businesses, who are killing it on local review sites like Yelp.
But, seriously. Is that enough?
No…… it’s NOT. And, I’ll tell you why.
Your business needs a website to call home. Image Source: Neo Genesis Web
If You Don’t Have Your Own Website, You Are a Homeless Entrepreneur
Let me try to break this down for you so you can get a full grasp of why having your own home is just as valuable as networking at other people’s homes…
Facebook for Businesses
What an awesome idea this was back when it was first introduced. But, because Mark Zuckerberg vowed to never charge us to hang out at his house, he had to find ways to monetize the site, so he can make money. So, he now charges businesses to network in his home instead.
That means, if you want to reach your target market on Facebook, you have to pay for advertising. And, because of the way the algorithms are set up, that’s a hit and miss game.
Plus, it’s a SOCIAL NETWORK. People don’t generally hang out at Mark Zuckerberg’s house to watch commercials, listen to sales pitches, shop and buy stuff.
Instagram for Business
If your brand is a visual one, then you really should be on Instagram. However, this cool little hangout spot created for people who prefer images and videos over massive amounts of text, is owned by Facebook.
Therefore, when it comes to the homeless entrepreneur, the rules still apply. Short of #hashtags, you’re limited when it comes to links and such. So, you better be sure to have a valuable link in the one place IG allows it… in your profile.
This route is not so good for businesses, especially since they too changed the algorithms, making it harder for entrepreneurs to reach personal profiles. But, those are the rules of this extension of Mark’s house.
If you have your own house, you could put that URL in your Instagram profile, and direct your friends (drive traffic) to your own home (your website).
Yelp Profiles & Reviews
This review-based social network has gotten so big, it essentially has the ability to make or break your brand’s name. That’s if you don’t stay on top of your game.
So, if you’re a local business, make sure you have a Yelp profile for your business. Keep it updated and respond to all reviews… good, bad and ugly.
However, if you’re like most businesses in 2019, you’re not a local business. Therefore, this is not a really valuable house for you to hang out at to help your business thrive.
This house is broken up by state, then by city. So, as soon as you walk in the door, you’re only allowed to network with local people. If you’re a home-based mobile detailing company, that’s awesome! But, if you’re a home-based content creator, local networking just won’t cut it.
You need to be able to hang out with the people in your local area, then direct them to your home. There, they can come hang out with you sometimes, and see what you have to offer far above and way beyond the local level.
But, you can’t… because you’re a homeless entrepreneur. You don’t have a home of your own.
Facebook Algorithms: More than 100,000 factors determine whether or not your Facebook posts are shown to your target audience. Image Source: Tech Crunch
Where Is Your Value Now?
In many cases, homeless entrepreneurs became that way because their websites sat dormant for an entire year. So, when GoDaddy or other web host hits them up for that annual domain name fee (HOA dues), they don’t pay it. They figure:
“I wasn’t ‘using’ the site anyway. So, what difference does it make?”
It makes a huge difference, because now… you have no home to call your own.
Think of it like this…
It’s one thing to have a furnished home that you just don’t like hanging out at very much. It’s a completely different thing to not have a home at all.
1. Being a Homeless Entrepreneur Means a Gap in Your Resume
Your website serves as part of your online professional resume. Remember the last time you were hunting for a job? You pulled up that old resume and tweaked it over and over again trying to make it suitable for each individual job application.
When you have your own website, you have that same control. You can tweak your site to meet your current niche, current trends, new message, new target market and so much more.
Do you know how many people Google you or your brand when they’re interested in something you’ve said on social media? People Google you even when you want something or offer them something. They want to know who you are first.
These are just some of the people who want to see your “resume” when they Google you. You are talking potential…
Customers
Clients
Vendors
Creditors
Investors
Lenders
Donors
Employers
Employees
Contractors
Dates (Nlol)
At any given point in time, you have the access needed to update your own resume… your website. You can tweak it for your new niche to reel in new clients or use it as a place to pitch to lenders and investors.
Whatever the case, it’s your house! You set the rules. Because you own it, you control:
Who your target market is
What it looks like
What it is all about
When you post
Where you target market is
How you get your message across
Why people come to visit your house
Just like your home is the most important part of your financial portfolio, your website is the most important asset in your entrepreneurial portfolio.
2. Being a Homeless Entrepreneur Means Having Nothing Valuable to Offer in Return
You can be the coolest friend on the planet. Maybe you’re that friend that loves stopping by Mark Zuckerberg and other people’s homes to encourage other entrepreneurs. People like you are true assets to our lives!
And, if you’re smart enough to hang out at smaller homes, like other entrepreneur’s websites and blogs, then you are really on the path to some valuable networking for your business.
When other small business owners, entrepreneurs and bloggers stop by my home on contentmarketinggeek.com, and leave comments, share posts or send me a message, I feel absolutely honored. Who doesn’t feel all googly inside when someone visits and compliments their home?
That’s what true friendship is about… I come see you… You come see me. We connect on a deeper level when we visit each other’s homes. Right?
Therefore, eventually, I’m going to want to visit your home too someday. But, I can’t… because you’re a homeless entrepreneur.
All You Had to Do Is Just Blog!!!
The way Google and other search engines are set up, this is what happens when your site is dormant…
Search engines crawl your site a few times
They realize you never add new content
So, eventually they just stop wasting time crawling it
No one visits your site
That’s the pattern I’ve watched for years. And, it breaks my heart… ESPECIALLY when I see those same entrepreneurs posting CONSTANTLY on Facebook and Instagram!
LOOKA HERE PEOPLE:
Facebook is a blog
Instagram is a blog
Pinterest is a blog
LinkedIn is a blog
SnapChat is a blog
Reddit is a blog
I don’t know how to get this into the skulls of my customers and clients. But, these social networks ARE BLOGS.
That means… YOU BLOG EVERYDAY. You just do it on Mark Zuckerberg’s blog instead of your own. Now, when you look at it like that, how much sense does that really make?
Get yourself a home of your own. Post those loooooooooong posts on YOUR OWN BLOG, then SHARE THEM on Mark’s blog.
Now, doesn’t that make much more sense?
Some of the major benefits of blogging on your own blog, as opposed to blogging on Mark Zuckerberg;’s blog. Image Source: Slideshare
Show Your Followers Some Homestyle Hospitality
As your follower, there will come a time when I’ll want to hang out at your house sometimes. That’s just how online friendships work.
Don’t believe me? Well, look at it like this…
If you had your own home, I could:
Stop by and say “Hi” sometimes – You invited me to come by your house (shared a blog post of FB). I clicked it and read it on your site. I’ll probably Like it. And, if it’s really awesome, I’ll comment on it and share it too!
Chill and have a couple of cocktails or some tea – I’ve accepted so many of your invites (shared posts), that I now stop by your house regularly and read a post or two on my own. I’m a friend (fan) now, so of course I’ll join your mailing list!
Come through for a nice, hot meal – I read something in your newsletter (because I’m on your mailing list) about a free download, webinar, video tutorial, etc… And, I have got to come by your house to get that! Let it be just what I need, and you have reeled in one loyal friend.
Warm place to lay my head – Now, I’m having a major problem. And, because I know your brand so well from hanging out at your house so much, I know FOR A FACT that you have the solution to my problem. I am coming straight to your home today… specifically to shop and click BUY NOW.
At the end of the day, it’s very hard to get me, and most of the consumers of 2019, to click BUY NOW on social media. We prefer to come to your home to see what you have to offer. We also want to hear what you have to say. So, it better be valuable.
How Much Is Your Budget?
If you’re an entrepreneur trying to get your small business of the ground, you need an online presence in 2019. That’s a fact.
No matter what service or product you sell, your potential customers and clients are Googling what they want and need before going out to hunt for it. If you don’t exist online, how in the world will they find you?
But, in the end, many entrepreneurs do not make marketing a priority. So, they make no effort to create a marketing budget whatsoever. This is one of the biggest mistakes made by startups.
Are You My Coca-Cola?
When you think of the #1 soft drink in the world, the name Coca-Cola comes to mind. It’s by far not the best soda pop on the market… well, at least not to me. I mean, let’s face it. Some of us don’t even like cola.
But, yet and still, from one side of the globe to the next, this brand stands as the #1 soda brand on the planet.
WHY?
…because of the marketing team behind the brand. Coca-Cola has had some of the most successful marketing campaigns in the world:
Perfect Harmony – Went on a campaign to “teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,” which quickly became an international theme of peace
Smiles – Taught us to learn to chill out by simply having “a coke and a smile.”
Share A Coke – What Coca-Cola lover doesn’t like sharing pics of their names on fizz on social media?
And, that’s just three! This brand knows how to get inside our minds and make our souls sing out, even if we don’t drink Coke.
Video: Coca Cola Commercial – I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) – 1971
In 1971, Coca-Cola launched an unsuccessful campaign. But, producer Billy Davis had a vision, a revamped it as a musically-genius ad called Hilltop. At the time, the $250,000 commercial was the most expensive ever made in history.
Since then, the song has been revamped numerous times. It’s even been transformed into full-length songs by The New Seekers and by The Hillside Singers. This is one jingle that truly sticks in your head.
Watch the recently remastered version of Hilltop below:
You Need a Marketing Budget
Do you believe you have what it takes to make your brand the Coca-Cola of your industry? Then, you need to be prepared to put time and money into your marketing.
That means… unless you have time to run your business and market it properly, you need a marketing budget. Even if you only have $100 per month… that $25 per week can get you a couple of decent, well-researched blog posts to help improve your online reach.
Here’s what you do:
Find yourself an awesome content creator
Give her/him two of your proudest social media posts each week
Have your textual artist create two 500-word blog posts from them, including some research, stats, maybe some quotes and links to authoritative sources
Now, for about $25 per week, you will start to increase the traffic to your site in a matter of weeks… because search engines demand that you update your site regularly with what they call “fresh, new content” in order to rank.
Pay Your Website’s HOA Dues
Then, when you get that notice from GoDaddy to pay about 80 bucks… essentially your Home Owner’s Association dues for parking your house in their community… PAY IT.
Stop branding yourself as a homeless entrepreneur! You are an awesome brand to be reckoned with in 2019. This is YOUR YEAR to shine. Get yourself a home, decorate it, nurture it and by all means… invite people over to mingle with you.
Want to become an influential blogger? Well, one thing you’ll have to do is follow other influential bloggers that relate to who you are, your brand and niche. Therefore, if you’re a Black female blogger, then you need to follow some influential African American women bloggers in order to improve your own online authority.
5 Authoritative African American Women Bloggers Taking the Net by Storm
Los Angeles, CA – Black Lives Matter protester shouts during march on City Hall following ruling on LAPD shooting and possible murder of African American female Redel Jones. Image Source: For Harriet
Here are five black women with very popular blogs. They all have impressive Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank and site visit stats:
1. Happy Black Woman
The Happy Black Woman blog was founded by Rosetta Thurman, a professional author, mentor, speaker and coach. Her blog is dedicated to helping other women “create ideal lives.” It launched in 2010, and has since become a community dedicated to supporting women committed to going after big dreams. Rosetta helps women become business owners so they can quit their jobs.
HappyBlackWoman.com is an international training company. Its purpose is to empower black women worldwide to use entrepreneurship and personal development to transform their lives. This member of our influential African American Women Bloggers list is the author of these best-selling titles:
Quit Your Job and Have the Freedom to Travel and Live Life on Your Own Terms
2. Blogging While Brown
The Blogging While Brown blog was created by Gina McCauley in 2008. Today, it acts as a posting place for the planet’s “Black intergenerational and interdisciplinary genius” bloggers to collaborate. Gina’s blog is dedicated to tech savvy people, and reaches more than 40 million unique monthly visitors.
Each year, the site sponsors the Black Social Media Summit, which will be held in Austin, TX on March 11, 2017. This blogging conference deals with innovation, collaboration and education among African American Women Bloggers and other Bloggers of Color. The goal is to bring together, inspire and educate and increase the influential reach of black social media professionals, speakers and content creators.
3. Black Girl Nerds
Jamie Broadnax makes our list of African American Women Bloggers for her blog Black Girl Nerds. Image Source: Black Girl Nerds
The Black Girl Nerds blog is run by Jamie Broadnax as a place for women of color, and all women in general, to collaborate. It’s not just for African American Women Bloggers, but for ALL nerdy women and men who enjoy blogging.
Jamie created this blog to give other nerdy girls chances to “come out of the closet” so they can express to the world just how proud they are to be who they are. Bloggers are given the opportunities to just be themselves as they blog, and not worry about others judging them. The mission is to help other Black Girl Nerds come together to create a growing, flourishing group.
4. Conservative Black Chick
The Conservative Black Chick blog was launched by black conservative woman Crystal Wright. This female blogger considers herself to be a “triple minority: woman, black and a Republican.” She works as a blog publisher, editor and communications consultant.
The For Harriet blog was specifically created by Kimberly Foster for African American Bloggers and bloggers from other African ancestry. Its content is used to “encourage women through storytelling and journalism.” The writing team aims to encourage engagement and discussions related to the complexity and beauty of being a black woman.
Kimberly aspires to entertain, inspire and educate, while providing a collaborative, thought-provoking alternative to mainstream media groups. The goal is to publish content that represents Black womanhood, who we are and who we hope to be in life. ForHarriet.com is a digital community for African American Women bloggers and readers, and reaches more than 2 million visitors monthly.
Know of any influential African American Women Bloggers who should be on this list? Share your thoughts with us and our audience in the comments below.
After launching their new websites, many of my clients come back with the same question: How do I start my own blog? So, I decided to create a post dedicated to how to start a blog for those who have never published content online via their own blogs.
WordPress is considered one of the simplest to learn, user-friendly blogging platforms around today. I still have a couple of blogs of my own on the Blogger platform. But, I’ve found that WordPress allows users to have much more control over backend SEO and various features. So, for this blog post, I will walk you through how to start a blog using WordPress.
In this blog post, we will cover five basic steps to starting a blog:
Choosing a domain name and web hosting plan
Installing WordPress on your server for your blog
Choosing a WordPress theme to customize the design and layout
Adding webpages to your new website
Writing, editing and publishing your blog post
Note: If your blog is already up and running, and you just need to learn how to start a blog post, skip down to step 5.
1. Choose a Domain Name and Web Hosting Plan
First, you’re going to need a domain name, also called a URL, such as contentmarketinggeek.com. Imagine that you’re leasing a home. Look at your URL as the street address to that house. Enter the address incorrectly, and you’ll arrive at the wrong location.
Next you need a web host. This is the company that provides the storage space where your website is stored, or hosted. Look at this as the physical structure, the house, that you’re leasing. Without an actual house to live in on the lot, the address is useless. Having a domain name without web hosting is like leasing a parcel of land with no structure on it.
You can’t learn how to start a blog unless you try. And, you can’t try unless you have a place to blog.
How to Get a Domain Name and Web Hosting Package
When you buy a domain name, you buy it annually. You can purchase it for just one year, or up to ten years. Many web host companies offer URLs for free with the purchase of a web host package. Here are some of the most popular offers going on right now:
1and1 – 1and1.com is offering web hosting for as low as 99 cents per month for 12 months. That’s $11.88 for an entire year. It comes with a free domain name and an SSL Certificate for site security.
HostGator – HostGator.com has web hosting packages for as low as $2.78 per month when you purchase multiple months/years at once. However, with HostGator, you can start your website for just 1 penny for the first month. Yes, just 1 penny!!! Either way, your URL is free.
iPage – iPage.com currently offers web hosting for only $1.99 per month when you purchase an annual package for as low as $23.88 for a year. It comes with a free domain name and a free online store.
GoDaddy – GoDaddy.com sells web hosting packages for as little as $1 per month when you purchase a 1-year plan. With GoDaddy web hosting, you get access to an award winning support team, 24 hours per day. This is one of the reasons GoDaddy is my favorite web host. Plus, of course you get a free URL with all web hosting plans. Click here to check it out.
Once you’ve purchased your URL and domain name, come back to this guide to continue learning how to start a blog.
How to Get Free Web Hosting from WordPress
If you’re not ready to invest in web hosting or a domain name right now, WordPress offers a free option. You can host your blog on the WordPress.com platform for absolutely free. Plus, you can have as many free blogs as you like on the same account.
And, moving your free WordPress blog over to a premium WordPress blog is extremely simple. We’ll help you when you’re ready to make the switch.
If you chose to go with paid web hosting for your blog, you’ll need to install WordPress. Each web host has a different procedure for doing this. So, be sure to choose a company with a comprehensive help guide and quality technical support, just in case.
When installing WordPress, you’ll be asked where you want the software installed. Make sure you install WordPress on the root domain name for now. That way, your site can be accessed by going to www.yourdomainname.com, as opposed to www.yourdomainname.com/thisismyblog.
You’ll also be asked to set up a username and password for your WordPress admin. Experts suggest not using “admin” as a username, as it’s the most common one tried by hackers. We also suggest using a password that includes at least one of each: upper case letter, lower case letter, number and special character.
Once WordPress is installed, your web host will give you a URL in order to access the backend of your new WordPress blog. It will look something like this: yourdomainname.com/wp-admin. Use this link to “get into” your site, so you can customize it and start blogging.
WordPress admin login screen to “get into” the backend of your WordPress blog.
Note: If you’re going with free web hosting from WordPress.com, there’s no need to install anything. Just move on to step 3. Either way, now it’s time to get into how to start a blog, and customize its look.
3. Customize Your WordPress Design & Layout
Now, you need to decide on the look and feel of your blog. Look at it as if you’re leasing the home from step 1, and the landlord is allowing you to choose the design and layout of the home. This is done by making changes within the Themes located within the backend of your WordPress blog.
Choosing a WordPress Theme
Choose a theme that not only looks good to you, but will be pleasing to the eyes of your intended or target audience. It should complement your niche, industry and the type of content (blog posts, images, etc…) you plan to publish. Remember that your readers may notice the look of your site before they even get a chance to check out its content. So, make sure it’s captivating.
When choosing a theme for your WordPress blog, make sure it’s a responsive theme. Responsive designs take note of the type of device a visitor is using when they land on a webpage. The size of the webpage is adjusted in response to the size of the device being used to view it. For example, a responsive theme will adjust one way for viewing on a 19-inch computer monitor, another way for a 6-inch tablet, and another way for a small cell phone screen.
Starter Website created by Content Marketing Geek for Professional Detail Service in Irvine, CA. Image Source: professionaldetailservice.com
Add Your Branding to Your Blog
Once you’ve chosen a theme you like, customize it with your own logo, banner and favicon. Make it even more appealing by adding content, such as text, videos, images, widgets, social media icons, signup forms, etc…
Add SEO to Your WordPress Theme
Make sure Google and other search engines are able to find your site, and easily understand what it’s all about by adding valuable SEO keywords. Add relevant, widely used SEO keywords and meta data to your theme’s customization options (usually found by going to Appearance >>> Customize). Click here for SEO
4. Add Webpages to Your Website
Wondering what the difference is between a website and a blog? Well, basically, one pretty much stays the same, while the other changes regularly.
A website is a static site. In other words, once you add the information to the various webpages, you rarely change them. For example, once you’ve added content to your Home page, you may go in a tweak the look and feel a bit. You may even update it with special offers or new banner ads. But, you won’t change it much, and not very often.
Your blog, on the other hand, is a section of your site that you need to update regularly. Google and other search engines prefer to send traffic to sites that add fresh, new content on a regular basis. With each newly published blog post, you are doing just that.
Navigation menu of webpages created for Women’s Cleaning Service by Content Marketing Geek Corporation.
How to Start a Blog with Static Webpages
Now that you understand the difference between a website and a blog, you need to add some webpages to your website. These are some of the most common webpages found on websites:
Home
Services/Products
About Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
Add written content, images, videos, infographics, submission forms and clickable buttons to your various webpages. Also, be sure to add behind-the-scenes SEO keywords and meta data to each individual webpage of your site. Click here for help with SEO.
5. How to Start a Blog Post
You’ll need to access the backend of your site in order to learn how to start a blog post and start blogging. Your web designer should have given you the URL to “get into” your site, or your web host provided it when you installed WordPress. You can also log into your web hosting account to get the link again.
It will look something like this: yourdomainname.com/wp-admin. Use this link to access the backend of your site, so you can customize it and get started blogging.
How to start a new blog post in WordPress. Under “Posts”, simply click “Add New” to get started.
Start Blogging
Now, it’s time to start blogging. These are step-by-step instructions on how to start a blog post using WordPress:
Hover over “Posts”
Click “Add New”
Give your blog post a captivating title
Type or copy/paste your blog post content into the space provided
Use the buttons in the toolbar to edit your post (toggle the toolbar if no buttons exist)
Use the “Insert/edit link” to add clickable URL links to your content
Create sub-headings by clicking on the paragraph bar
Set featured image (appears as main image of post and when post is shared)
Publish your post by clicking the “Publish” button near the top right corner
Add Categories & Tags to Your Blog Post
Create new categories for your blog post. Once created, all you have to do is check the categories to add posts to them. For my blog, for example, some categories include content marketing tips, social media marketing tips, blogging tips, building your brand, step-by-step guides and SEO tips and tricks. Categories help users find posts related to specific topics. They also help boost your blog’s SEO.
Tags are much like categories, but they take it one step deeper. Let’s say you were browsing through my blog and came across the blog post SEO 2016: Introducing SEO with a Colorful Twist. You see that it’s in the “social media marketing” category, so you click it.
As you go through the various tags listed under that category, you come across Pinterest. You’ve always wanted to learn more about marketing on Pinterest. So, you click the tag, and there you find various blog posts related to social media marketing on Pinterest, specifically. Add tags to your blog posts using this method.
Basic Components of a Blog Post
How to start a blog post? Well, there is no right or wrong way to write a content to post on your blog. But, there are some common elements you may want to include for now until you develop your own way of blogging, such as:
Headline – This is the title of your blog post. It may be seen in social media posts, in Google and other search results, in blog rolls, etc… So, make sure your headline is compelling enough so that users want to click and read.
Introduction – Your opening paragraph should lure users in, and get them to want to read the rest of the post. Be sure to add your target SEO keywords within your introduction paragraph.
Sub-Headings – Also, called sub-headlines, these break your content up into sections, so it can be quickly scanned by the naked eye. When blogging in WordPress, these are represented as Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, etc…
Visuals – At Content Marketing Geek Corporation, visuals are videos, images, infographics, photographs, cartoons, memes, presentations and other forms of media. Visuals also help to break up your content, while making your post look interesting. You must add SEO keywords and other ALT tag info to your images for better search engine performance.
Main Content – This is the main part of your post. It needs to be relevant to your blog title, and satisfy all promises made, and answer all questions asked, during your introduction. For better search engine optimization, your blog posts should be no shorter than 300 words.
Conclusion – End your blog post with a paragraph or two that sums up what readers should have gotten from the content. If they didn’t get the points you noted, they just may go back and read the post again to figure out what they missed.
Call-to-Action – Your conclusion should include a call-to-action. This is the very last line of your post, which tells readers what you want them to do next. Some common calls-to-action for blog posts include:
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Get Help with Blogging and SEO
The bottom line is… if you want your blog to grow into a successful platform, you must publish quality content and incorporate SEO keywords into that content. Stay focused on quality and consistency, rather than quantity and frequency for the best results. Check out this Guide to Starting a Blog for even more blogging tips and tricks for beginners.
Need help coming up with valuable content for your blog? Having a hard time implementing an effective SEO strategy for your website, blog and blog posts? Content Marketing Geek Corporation offers SEO services, web design packages, online marketing packages and blogging packages for entrepreneurs, real estate professionals, authors, bloggers and small business owners. Click here for package pricing.
If you own an online casino business, you know just how popular these websites are for gamblers. These online casino games are popular for those who want to play for free, with no deposit, for real money or simply want to simulate gambling in Vegas. But, the most effective ways to maximize your site’s monetization is to become one of the best online casinos around, or to follow effective tips to market online casinos.
You must market your online gambling site if you want to increase traffic and make more money online. Image Source: pixabay
10 Tips on How to Market Online Gambling
Here are ten of the most effective ways to market your online gambling site in order to attract more players and traffic to your site:
1. Clearly State the Amount People Can Bet
When you market online casinos, transparency is extremely important. You don’t want users placing bets much higher than intended simply because they didn’t understand or couldn’t find the betting terms and limits. So, make it very clear what the minimum playing amounts are for each individual online casino game.
2. Promote Free Plays & Bonuses
Promos lure people in and get them to play your online games. Some may include online casinos free money, doubling opening deposits, free game plays, etc… Many online casino promotions allow players to “try before you buy”, which they really appreciate.
Huge wins are what every player is going for in any casino. So, if one of your online casino slot games features a big jackpot, let it be known when you market online casinos. Use banners, sidebars, widgets and any other creative tools you can come up with for marketing your online casino’s record jackpots. Also, be sure to exploit recently won jackpots, and use icons and links to direct users to areas of the site where potential winnings are the biggest.
4. Spread the Word About Your Online Casino Games You Like Most
When you market online casinos, your excitement about games you actual enjoy shines through. Try out the various casino games on your site regularly. Write reviews, tips and tricks about those games and post them on your website, blog and social media networks. You’d be surprised how excited you can get online gamblers about your favorite games when you’re passionate about playing them yourself.
5. Understand Your Casino Games Through Playing Them
As noted in number four above, you need to play your games in order to understand them. This will give you a greater appreciation for them, in order to promote them effectively. Knowing how your online games work will help you walk your users through the platforms, step-by-step. That way, you can quickly earn the trust of your users, which will also earn you more clicks.
Market Online Casinos using high-quality, relevant, unique blog posts and valuable SEO services from Content Marketing Geek. Image Source: pixabay
6. Create a Valuable Landing Page
When players hit your online casino website, your landing page is the first thing they see. Make sure it looks good and as pleasing to the eyes. Online casinos already have busy webpages with all the gaming material, colors, lights, graphics, etc… So, although you may want to monetize with banner ads (yours and paid advertisers’) when you market online casinos, be careful not to clutter your pages with too much flashy content. Place your ads correctly, and you’ll get users clicking your ads regularly.
7. Offer Unique Sign-Up Bonuses
Gamblers are lured in by online casinos with no deposit. They also love casino sites that offer sign-up bonuses for new players. Make sure your website’s bonuses can be used immediately. This not only helps to establish a relationship with the new player, but it gets the user playing on the spot. But, you must promote these bonuses when you market online casinos via the Web.
8. Use Meta-Tags on Your Online Casino Website
Meta-tag information is very important for marketing an online casino. Google and other search engines use this data to determine what the site is about, and what traffic to send to it. Without this info, your lower the chances of search engines sending online gamblers to your site. So, make sure to add relevant meta-tags to all of your webpages, advertisements and website and blog content.
9. Use Relevant SEO Keywords
Search engine optimization (SEO) is very important if you want to market online casinos effectively. Using the right SEO keywords can get your online casino placed on the first page of Google and other search results. The higher your site appears in searches, the more players will be sent to your site. Don’t “stuff” your content by using the same keywords over and over again. Instead, use them sparingly. And, come up with various variations of those keywords for maximum SEO performance.
One of the most effective ways to market your virtual casino online is through consistent blogging. Why? Well, Google and other search engines genuinely adore fresh, new content. The more you publish new content to the web, the more credibility you earn with search engines. Blogging is one of the most popular ways of publishing new content online without breaking the bank. Just be sure that your blog posts are relevant to your website’s niche, and contain related SEO keywords that your target audience is using to search for sites like yours online.
Need assistance with your online marketing efforts? Looking for assistance with writing new content for your blog or adding the best SEO keywords to your blog posts? Content Marketing Geek Corporation can create unique, interesting blog posts to excite and engage with your target audience. Contact Content Marketing Geek about customizing a website marketing package just for you today.
Have any online casino marketing tips to add? We’ve love to read them. Share them in the comments below.
Nintendo has taken the world by storm with its Pokemon Go reality app launch. The app’s success has led to over 15 million downloads, increasing Nintendo’s market value by almost a whopping 60 percent in one, little measly week. This has also reignited a fire under the buns of ole’ Pokemon fans all over again.
3 Things Pokemon Go Succeeded at in Its Content Marketing Approach
What’s the key to Pokemon Go’s almost instantaneous success? It wentviral, of course! That’s the dream of any online business or brand. You want the word of your products or services to spread like a California wildfire, creating an uncontrollable buzz around your solutions. Nintendo was able to accomplish this with great success. Here are three content marketing lessons you can learn from the Pokemon Go craze created and nurtured by Nintendo.
Seems like the whole world is playing Pokemon Go, and the reality app was never even marketed or advertised. Image Source: flickr
1. Create and Offer High Quality Products and Services
One reason for Pokemon Go’s great success is the fact that Nintendo, the world’s largest video game company by revenue, spared no change when having the game created. A partnership was created with Niantic Labs to produce the reality video game. Yet, neither of the company’s put any efforts into advertising. Rumor has it, that the only advertising that went down were a few tweets and retweets from Niantic.
Much of the traffic this new craze is experiencing can be contributed to word of mouth. But, the fact that the game seems to work as expected majority of the time tends to keep players coming back for more, and more, and more, and more… And, it doesn’t hurt that the game is free to download and play.
2. Pokemon was Modernized to Impress an Evolved Market
What’s driving the Pokemon Go craze so hard? Could it be Nintendo’s content marketing strategy? Image Source: YouTube
Originally, the Pokemon character could be found on trading cards, TV and Gameboy, Nintendo’s handheld 8-bit video game device, more than 20 years ago. The Japanese video game manufacturer decided to take its existing Pokemon content, and repurpose it to capture and recapture both new and old Pokemon fans.
In order to create a brand new game, Nintendo would have had to start from scratch. That would have meant creating new characters, marketing the new game as well as building a brand new buzz and audience for the new game. Because the original Pokemon game had already proven itself to be a valuable asset to the video game world, leveraging (and modernizing) this ole’ gaming solution made much more sense.
3. Augmented Reality is the New “Thing” in Video Gaming
What is augmented reality? It’s the process of integrating digital content in real-time with the user’s environment. The ultimate aim is to duplicate the environment of the real world in a computer. Many experts are pinning augmented reality as the number one reason for the continuously growing success of this reality app.
Snapchat filters are another example of augmented reality. Image Source: flickr
Snapchat is a prime example of just how much users love augmented reality technology in mobile apps. Its users have “gone mad” over the Snapchat filters that give you the ability to overlay (or, literally distort) you face. It seems there’s no turning back from here. Reality apps are here to stay!
Content Marketing the Pokemon Go Way
Why do you believe Pokemon Go has become one of the most popular mobile game apps on the market? Do you believe that reusing old Pokemon content was a smart move on Nintendo’s part? Tell us what you think about this content marketing strategy in the comments below?
We are pleased to announce that “we” are now the New Face of SEO. Remember the days when all SEO experts seemed to be men from India, Indonesia and other far away lands? This left us with low-quality content that read as if the writer had no concept of good English grammar.
Today, you can now hire SEO experts with color, style and flare to attract the audience you’ve always dreamed of engaging with online. Our SEO team calls this… SEO with a Colorful Twist.
“Pinterest users are a different breed. For one thing, pinners are only in the mix for a strictly visual experience. They are not all about sharing personal, intimate details about their lives, or blasting about what they’re up to at any given moment. Instead…
Pinterest users are all about pinning things related to who they want to be… in the future.
Most pin things related to who they want to be, what they want to do or have and where they want to go… in the future.”
Powerful Business Women of Color Board by Content Marketing Geek Board title and descriptions contain valuable SEO keywords that appeal to WoC on Pinterest. That’s the meaning of Pinterest SEO with a Colorful Twist. Image Source: content_geek/pinterest
Pinterest SEO with a Colorful Twist
So, what’s this “colorful twist” all about? Well, these days, WoC (and PoC in general) are taking the business world by storm. We are becoming experts and gurus in all sorts of industries… including online markets.
The New Face of SEO for 2019
Unlike the faces we’ve all encountered in the past when looking for SEO services, WoC are now closing in on the SEO scene… and we’re adding our own “colorful twists”, like only Women of Color can do. Get started adding SEO with a colorful twist to your online marketing mix today.
Kiesha Joseph, The New Face of SEO
Looking for ways to add SEO keywords that will actually attract a more “colorful” audience? That means you need to change the way you’ve been using SEO keywords.
Check out the post and learn 3 Tips on Where to Use Pinterest SEO Keywords to attract more People of Color, Women of Color and Men of Color to your website, blog and other online content. And, that’s what SEO with a colorful twist is all about!
Ready to take your Pinterest SEO to more “colorful” levels in 2019? Content Marketing Geek has what it takes to help you attract the audience that will actually find value in your pins. Increase your search engine rankings for the PoC SEO keywords you need most on Pinterest and your website and blog. Get your free website evaluation from Content Marketing Geek today!
You didn’t know your receptionist did that, did you? Well, a receptionist can be a surprisingly good source of content marketing strategies and inspiration. This is because these front line agents know what your customers are concerned about and they probably have it written on a sticky note somewhere. Customer feedback is extremely valuable. Why […]
When a site visitor starts reading an article, there are certain expectations that must be met. Oftentimes, these expectations are created by the title (headline) and what was said within the first paragraph. If the content doesn’t met those expectations, it becomes a failure in the eyes of readers. So, how do you write content […]
