blog promotion Archives

Why Do Best-Selling Authors Brown, Kiyosaki, Rubin, Maxwell, and Godin All Blog?

April 6, 2020March 3, 2020 by Hugh Culver

“Connection is why we’re here; it is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.”
Brené Brown

Guess what in-demand professional speakers: Bené Brown, Robert Kiyosaki, Gretchen Rubin, John Maxwell, and Seth Godin all have in common?

They all blog.

Strange, right?

I mean, after all, aren’t they all successful – too successful to bother with blogging?

There must be a good reason why busy authors and speakers are still using a blog to get their message out and attract the business growth they want.

Let’s dig a little deeper…

You connect

There is something very special about sharing your voice with readers. You connect. You can also instruct, advise, direct – even admonish, but you always connect.

It’s hard to connect in a 140 character Tweet or as people scroll past your post on Facebook or Instagram. You need time to connect.

[bctt tweet="“It’s hard to connect in a 140 character Tweet or as people scroll past your post on Facebook or Instagram. You need time to connect.”" username="YourBlogWorks"]

At BlogWorks we commonly see blog articles holding readers’ attention for 4, 6, even 13 minutes! That’s an eternity in Internet time. Imagine you had 100 people in a room taking in your advice for even 5 minutes every day, year-round.

You have time to share your position on complicated topics like marriage, financial planning or selling a home. You have time to share your style, or unique approach and build rapport. You have time to invite readers to learn more about your company, your team and your solutions.

That’s what a blog can do.

Let’s look at how some of the most sought after speakers, authors and thought leaders use their blog.

Bené Brown

Prolific, best-selling author Bené Brown has been blogging since 2007. Her posts range from 400 word thoughtful muses like this one to 2000 essays like this one.

Not afraid to “let it all hang out” Brown allows her readers to see all of her vulnerabilities as an addict, mother, wife and, of course, as a celebrity. Just like her books, reading a Brene Brown blog post is like listening to her speak—authentic, often raw, insightful and always positive.

If you’ve ever looked into improving your personal wealth, you’ve most likely come across serial author and celebrity finance wizard, Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki’s empire includes real estate, books, games , coaching, retreats – you name it. If it has to do with making money, Kiyosaki has his hands on it.

He also has a massive following and uses his blog (written by both Robert and his wife, Kim) to nurture his list of over 1.5 millions subscribers.

At BlogWorks we are huge fans of updating and reposting old blog posts. Kiyosaki uses this strategy and goes the extra distance with not only updated content but also images.

Updating and reposting old blog posts saves time but can also result in boosted traffic.

Gretchen Rubin

One of my favourite books about mindset and living with self-awareness is Gretchen Rubin’s bestseller The Happiness Project. And I remember reading that about half-way through writing the book, Rubin decided to share her monthly experiments with happiness in a blog.

What was most remarkable about her blogging exercise was how her reader’s feedback started to inform her writing. Her blog became a kind of two-way conversation.

Your blog can become a kind of two-way communication with readers.

John Maxwell

You don’t have to always be the author of your own blog. Best-selling author, speaker and leadership expert, John Maxwell blends his own writing with posts from his CEO, Mark Cole. True to brand, all of the articles are about Maxwell and his teachings.

Regardless of your workload or age (at the time of writing, Maxwell is 73), you can invite other writers to contribute to your blog. In fact, it can be a win/win. You get an article to publish and your contributor gets exposed to your audience.

Inviting other writers and speakers to your blog can be a great win! — Inviting other writers to your blog can be a great win/win.

We recently published a post on the BlogWorks blog contributed by editor Barbara McNichol and by communications expert Lauren Sergy.

Seth Godin

Seth Godin is the epitome of marching to your own drummer – including how he runs his blog. Millions of daily readers return to Godin’s quirky, short (his posts rarely exceed 400 words), but consistently insightful thoughts on life, thinking, marketing, and success.

Godin’s blog and followers are a big part of his success as an author, speaker and thought leader.

Why Do Best Selling Authors and Speakers All Blog? — Your blog can be a feeder for attracting new followers and clients

You don’t have to be famous

You don’t have to be famous to blog. Your blog is a powerful way to connect with readers and to attract more followers. All of the authors profiled in this post are successful and they still use their blog as a core part of their marketing strategy.

Sure, social media, video, podcasts are great ways to get your message out. But if you want to attract people to your message and have them convert from readers to followers and then to buyers, you won’t do it with a Facebook update or Tweet.

Want to be able to write like a pro? Download our Ultimate Writing Template.

Enjoyed this article? Here are 3 more to help you with your blogging success:

21 clever ways to attract more readers and boost blog traffic this year
How to increase your blog traffic by almost 30% in only 90 days-a case study
How to (finally) make money with your blog

11 Blogging Statistics That Might Surprise You

February 14, 2020February 11, 2020 by Hugh Culver

Although some might think that the blog is on it’s way out, the truth is that even in 2020 blogging can be one of the most valuable components of your marketing strategy — when you do it right.

After all, how else can you showcase your best ideas, solutions, strategies, and insights and create a captive online audience?

Here are 11 blogging statistics that might surprise you – maybe even enough to get that next blog post published!

1. More than 75% of regular internet users read blogs regularly. (HubSpot)

It may seem like there is a lot of content out there, but apparently, a lot of people are reading blogs too.

Creating quality content that is on-brand and useful is the key to getting your blog working for you!

2. Blogs can help keep people on your website for longer.

Your blog articles can stop future clients from clicking away and lead them from your article to your about page, products or courses… anywhere you want them to go next in your sales funnel.

People spend more time on your blog than they do anywhere else on your site.

3. Blog content with quality backlinks can improve traffic and generate up to 97% more inbound links to a business’ site. (HubSpot)

Your ideas are great, but publishing and optimizing posts take some knowledge of SEO.

The good news is that it’s easier than ever to outsource this work to the experts!

4. Prioritizing your blogging strategy has the potential to bring in up to 13x the ROI! (HubSpot)

Top marketers and businesses are investing even more into their blogs as a major component of their content marketing strategies – and it’s worth it.

Read up on more remarkable blogging statistics.

5. The most popular blog content format is how-to articles. (Statistica)

If you’re trying to think of new blog topics, it’s a good idea to come back to the basics: What do your customers want to know more about? How can you demonstrate your expertise while sharing useful information?

Learn about how to start a blog post.

6. Repurposing your blog posts could bring in up to 106% more views through organic searches. (HubSpot)

If you have a lot of older content, it’s possible to simply re-use it in different ways, including rewriting blog posts! This is an easy way to recycle and reuse what you already have instead of creating new work.

7. Over half of the industries say that their most important marketing tool for inbound marketing is blogging. (HubSpot)

Did you know that you can use blogs in all parts of the sales funnel? They’re great for building brand awareness, but you can also use them in more specific ways — for instance, as lead magnets and to promote special offerings.

Read more about crafting blogs for lead generation.

8. 43% of marketers who market to other businesses claim that blogging is the most effective type of content. (Social Marketing Industry Report, 2017)

This is one of the blogging statistics that really points to the power of blogs to use in the B2B space. But it’s also extremely versatile for the consumer space.

9. Over 20% of social media posts include a blog link. (Quora Creative, 2019)

Blogging and social media go hand-in-hand! Try experimenting with social posts and blogs, mixing up titles, images and using quotes from various blogs to create social posts.

10. Well-researched content brings the most traffic through sharing and links. (HubSpot)

Quality is key, here, and this is the case more than it was a few years ago. The reason why is that Google punishes websites that look like they are resorting to sneaky tactics to beat the algorithm.

11. Blogs are positively correlated with improved lead generation. (HubSpot)

In our new world of social media and instant gratification, your blog could be your best marketing strategy.

Are you ready to get your blog working for you? Call or email us for a free consultation!

Enjoyed this article? Here are 3 more articles all about putting your blog to work:

10 surprisingly simple tune-ups to make your blog sexy
5 brilliant ways to start your blog post with a bang
9 blog topic ideas your audience will love

How to increase blog traffic by almost 30% in only 90 days – a case study

November 15, 2019September 11, 2019 by Hugh Culver

Busy street symbolizing an increase in blog traffic

At BlogWorks we love to see results.

Especially when the results are fast.

And we really, really love seeing client results when we’re using one of our favourite techniques.

What we call re-loving old posts.

The idea is simple…

If you have been blogging for a while, your inventory of posts will have been indexed by the search engines. In other words, Google will have decided how to “rank” your blog posts against all the other posts about similar topics.

This is why some of your posts show up on the first page of search results and some on the 13th page.

Updating old content can fix that.

Let’s start with why updating old posts works.

Why you need to update your old content to increase blog traffic

The strategy of updating old content to increase blog traffic works best if you’ve already published at least two dozen blog posts. This post explains in detail how to use this strategy.

Here are the most important reasons why we love this strategy. Book a call today to learn if this can work for your business.

1. Better click-through. When you update that old content you improve your click-through rate – the volume of people who choose to click on your article – simply because the date is more current.

2. Google likes fresh content. One of the many factors Google looks for in posts is how fresh is your content. When you update your old posts you also will update the publish date. More recent equals more results.

current dates in search engine results page — In this example, 6 of 7 search results were posted in the last 12 months

3. Improve your title. Your post title tells readers what the article is about but also should attract and intrigue the reader enough to want to jump in. Now is the time to turn that boring headline into a killer question, or use any of the 5 techniques described in this article.

According to Convince and Convert, a great title is clear (what will I get if I read this?) but intrigues the reader to dive in. Remember, you are competing with everything else on their phone or laptop – you need to get and keep their attention!

blog post title matters — The best headlines are about 8 words and 70 characters

4. Fix grammar and spelling. Updating your old posts gives you a chance to catch those spelling mistakes or tighten up the grammar. A quick improvement is to remove the word “that” – it will make your sentence read better and improve the flow of your post.

5. Link to “revenue” pages. Here’s a quick test: in the first third of your article does you post link to at least one “revenue” page, like a product or service page? When you update the old post, also update internal links to your site.

6. One less article to post. Updating an old post takes a fraction of the time it takes to write a new one. Many of our clients combine one new article (we do that as well!) with one updated article each month.

Now that we’ve looked at the reasons, let’s look at an example of how one BlogWorks client used this strategy.

The Speaker Exchange

Like many small business owners, Brittanny and Julie at The Speaker Exchange were aware of the value of content marketing, but needed an outsourced solution. They had been using newsletters to stay in touch with their audience.

They reached out to BlogWorks for a solution.

The goal was to create consistent inbound traffic using original blog posts targeted to the event planner audience. At BlogWorks we have a team of local writers, each with specialties.

We write blog posts for a wide variety of wonderful clients ranging from leadership authors and public speakers to cyber security experts. And in this case, we have writers who know the speaking industry.

The BlogWorks solution

The BlogWorks solution was to write one original post and to update one older post every month, plus promote the blog through social media. In the first 90 days, site traffic was up almost 30%! Even better, Sessions and Pageviews were both up over 20%.

A part of the solution was more consistent blog publishing, but the biggest results was from updating old content with better keywords, headlines, and content.

The client example we shared in this post could be yours(!) Contact us today to learn how to increase your blog traffic by updating old posts.

Liked this post? Got another 5 minutes? Here are 3 more of our most popular posts all about writing blogs:

How to start a blog post – 5 examples that really work!
5 brilliant ways to start your blog post with a bang
9 blog topic ideas your audience will love

How to (finally) make money with your blog

November 27, 2019May 17, 2019 by Hugh Culver

You want your blog to make money. Right?

Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’ve been badly fooled.

Yes, thousands of dollars later, you have no idea what’s going on with your web site.

How do I know this?

Well, for the last 5 years I have been talking with business owners about their blog and for the most part…they are clueless. Of course, I’m sure you’re not in that boat and you can tell me what your blog is converting into dollars – right?

Typically, when I ask about measurements I discover there are no numbers, measurements, metrics, ouija boards, dashboards…nada, zip, zero, nothing.

But (sorry, I’m feeling a bit cynical), no worries, because your friendly web designer will happily charge you $5,000 more to “redesign” your site (one more time). Oh, and don’t forget to politely mention that maybe, just maybe, it would be really nice if they would think about installing Google Analytics so that you could, you know, see what’s actually working!

It’s time to change all that. You own your business and you need to take charge of your web site and your blog.

Let’s jump in and look at 5 ways to increase the money you make with your blog.

1. Get the numbers

As you might guess from my rant, if you want to make money with your blog, first you need some numbers. In this post learn how to make sure Google Analytics is installed. In this post learn how to begin reading Google Analytics to learn what’s really happening on your site.

The basic numbers you need to watch are total traffic and traffic to your “revenue pages”. These are the pages for your products and services. Overall traffic is reported as “users” and you can see traffic to revenue pages by going to Behaviour > Overview and entering the URL of your revenue page in the search bar at the top of the display table.

2. Make it obvious what you do

This will sound obvious…if you want to make money with your blog you need to make it obvious WHAT YOU DO.

Look, I can read 100 blog posts about leadership, customer service, or how to have a great marriage and I’ll guarantee you only about 10% ever mention what they do.

I can read 100 blog posts about leadership, customer service, or how to have a great marriage and I’ll guarantee you only about 10% ever mention what they do. Click To Tweet

Imagine you go to a sales presentation and the sales person never asks you to buy. Strange.

mention what you do to make money from your blog — Don’t make your readers work: every blog post needs to mention what you do.

The fix is easy. Mention a client experience, talk about a speech you gave, refer to a coaching client you helped. Don’t make the reader work hard…tell them what you do.

3. Drive traffic to your store

When readers come to your blog they stop and read. On average, visitors will spend 3-10 minutes on a blog. Whereas they might spend per visit an average of 1 minute on all your pages combined.

That’s a huge opportunity to make money with your blog! When we re-publish our clients’ articles we always include at least 2 links to their revenue pages.

to make money from your blog, tell people what you do — Every blog post would point readers to your revenue pages.

Instead of waiting to the end (only about 30% of readers get to the end of your blog post), insert links in your blog to your revenue pages.

On average, visitors will spend 3-10 minutes on a blog. Whereas they might spend per visit an average of 1 minute on all your pages combined. Click To Tweet

Look for words or phrases that describe what you do. Next, insert links to your products or services pages. It’s that easy—2 to 3 links in every post will start getting more traffic going in the right direction.

4. Build your list

Nothing beats a mailing list. Unlike social media posts that disappear in minutes, an email might get opened hours after arriving in your prospects’ Inxox – even days later. And when you write with a personal tone – your email can be perceived as more helpful and less like a sales pitch.

The trick is to keep building your list.

Start by making it easy to join your list. You can include an optin offer beside your blog, or use a free pop-up tool like OptinMonster or SumoMe.

And, just like traffic to your website, if you want your list to get bigger you need to track the numbers. At least once a month record in a simple spreadsheet the total list size and the change for that month.

5. Ask for the money

If you want to make money with your blog you need to start by doing what any good salesperson would do…ask for the money!

Ridiculous, right? Of course you ask for the sale.

Let’s try a little test…

Go to your latest blog post and count how many times you ask for the sale. Here’s what to look for:

Point your readers to your revenue pages: “To learn more about coaching click here.”
Invite your readers to download a self assessment: “Thinking about selling your home? Download my free guide ‘15 things to do before you sell your home’”
Send readers to your contact form: “Looking for a speaker for your next event?”

Here’s the bottom line. Your investment in a website and especially in a blog should be returning revenues. You need an ROI on your blog.

The good news is it is possible to retrofit those old articles and put them to work. Instead of collecting digital dust, your blog posts can be generating leads.

That’s what we do. We identify blog posts that have the most revenue potential and then supercharge them with SEO juice (to get higher ranking in search engines) plus drive traffic to your revenue pages.

It’s time to put your blog to work.

Enjoyed this article? Here are three more of our most popular posts:

51 ways to get more business from your blog in the New Year
90 seconds to becoming a better writer
How to write a blog post in less than 60 minutes

How to Track Blog Performance: 5 Quick Ways

January 6, 2020April 28, 2019 by Hugh Culver

5 Quick Ways to Measure and Track Your Blog Performance

If you’re wondering whether and how to track blog performance, let me ask you a question:

Would you drive a car without a dashboard or put your money in a bank if you couldn’t see your balance?

Not likely – right?

So why are you investing in a website, but not measuring and tracking results?

Of course, if you are measuring your results, please pat yourself on the back and go back to your spreadsheets.

If not…you really need to take 5 minutes and read this article.

Every day at BlogWorks we speak with wonderful, hard-working business owners who have a website and a blog. Almost all fail to measure results.

No numbers, no comparison of this month to last month—no way of knowing what’s working.

Meanwhile 78% (I just made that up) want to invest more money into their website so it will “perform better”!!

What if you knew how to track blog performance and could get basic feedback – without having to hire a pimply 21 year old or having to learn SEO?

What if you knew how to track your blog's performance and could get basic feedback - without having to hire a pimply 21 year old or having to learn SEO? Click To Tweet

Great, right?

Well, it is possible to measure your blog’s performance stats and do it quickly and easily.

Here’s 5 ways to get you started…

1. Dollars in the Bank

The most basic question to ask yourself is: does your blog put money in the bank? After all, you should be getting a return on your the investment you put into your blog.

The most obvious return on that investment is enquiries from prospects who read your blog:

- a prospect replies directly to the email you sent announcing your latest blog post.
- prospects are responding to an offer in your blog announcement.

When you email your blog to your list do you get a spike in traffic to your site (see Google Analytics below)? That spike in traffic can drive more attention to your product and services pages. This article will show you 7 ways to include a Call-To-Action in your blog posts.

2. Comments and Shares

This isn’t the most scientific measure of blog performance, but reader engagement is a sign to watch. On the most simplest level, more comments and social shares equates to performance of that post.

Let’s face it, we all have blog posts that miss the mark and complete winners that haul in half your traffic. More comments on one post is a positive sign, just as posts that get shared more mean your readers found value in your content.

We wrote about social sharing plugins that are free and easy to use in this article.

3. Growing your list

Your mailing list is one of the most powerful ways to reach your audience and boost blog performance. Even with the incredible power of social media, emails have more shelf life—an email might be opened, read and responded to days – even a week – after you send it.

So consider your list growing strategy. Do you have obvious opt-in invitations on your blog? Is the incentive to join your list working? Do you have a simple email sequence that is sent out automatically when someone joins your list? This article is all about adding call-to-actions to your blog.

As a speaker, I invite my audience to sign up for my blog. At a typical presentation 50-80% of the room complete a simple form to sign up. My blog becomes a way into those businesses. That’s a value I can measure.

4. How to Check your Numbers

The real data behind how your blog performs comes from Google Analytics. This is a must-do for anyone who wants to know how to track blog performance.

Once you know Google Analytics is installed, you can dive into the data as simply or as deeply as you are comfortable. Learn more about using the data in this article.

Once you log-in, set the date range for the last 30 days (top-right hand corner of display). The basic 3 numbers to pay attention to are:

Users – this is the number of unique visitors (each person is counted once).
Pages/Session – average number of pages per visit (session) indicates if readers are exploring your site.
Avg. Session Duration – the higher this number, the better – you want readers to spend enough time to go from reading your blog to your “revenue pages.”

If you want to go a bit deeper (and impress your friends), set your dates to the last 30 days and then click “compare.” Now you can see how your site performance compares to the past 30 days.

Dashboard Delivery

It’s unlikely you’ll log into Analytics very often which is why we recommend it comes to you! In one minute you can set up Analytics to send you a simple dashboard report every month to help you track blog performance:

Click “Share” (top right corner)
In the pop-up window, enter your email address.
Choose “Attachments” – PDF
Choose “Frequency” – Monthly
Click “I’m not a robot” > Send

5. Think long term

You have lots of marketing choices – always will. And one of the best marketing strategies is to create relevant, valuable unique content to attract prospects. That takes time.

With a little planning, some consistent effort and learning how to track blog performance, you can outdistance your competitors.

Blogging is not a bright-shiny-object you do for a week. It’s about thinking long-term and committing. The good news is, measuring your results results not only will let you know what’s working and what needs attention, but you’ll also get to enjoy watching your investment pay off.

Enjoyed this article? Here are 3 more articles to help boost your blogging efforts:

51 ways to get more business from your blog in the New Year
90 seconds to becoming a better writer
How to write a great blog post – FAST!

5 brilliant tips on how to start a blog post with a bang

November 5, 2019April 23, 2019 by Hugh Culver

Most blogs suck.

You might have the most brilliant advice, but nobody reads it.

The solution starts with…the start.

A recent survey found that only 30% of readers make it to the end of a post. Just like a YouTube video – if you don’t grab your readers’ attention in 3 seconds it’s sayonara.

They’re gone.

In this post you will learn a 5 step approach to quickly retro fit old posts gathering digital dust, or tweak new posts to start working miracles.

Let’s jump in with some mind work on how to start a blog post.

1. Enter the conversation

To capture your readers’ attention you have to first enter the conversation going on in their mind (Robert Collier). In other words, grab their attention with something they’re already thinking about.

– If you’re a financial planner, tell me how to avoid costly mistakes.
– If you’re a realtor, tell me how to make more money when I sell my home.
– If you’re an IT consultant, tell me how to choose the best IT consultant.

Not sure where to start? Start with a list of the most common questions your prospects ask you.

2. Get my attention

This is key—make me stop and want to read more. Your reader found your latest post via your email or social media. But, they’re not committed yet—with the click of their mouse they’re gone – never to return to that post.

So, hook them with bait that makes them hungry for more.

Start with your first sentence. Its job is to get me to read your second sentence. And so on.

In your #blog, the job of your first sentence is to get me to read your second sentence. And so on. Click To Tweet

Don’t force me to wade through a muddy dissertation. Instead, start with a bold statement, a bit of controversy or a question.

For example, I could have started this post with something like:

“The problem with all too many blogs is that they fail to get the attention of readers and, as a result, don’t drive traffic to your products or services.”

Ugh.

Instead, I started with:

“Most blogs suck.”

3. Tell me the Problem

Here’s a blogging secret. If the reader doesn’t care about your topic, they won’t care to read about it.

So, make it obvious.

In the first 2 sentences you need to TELL ME THE PROBLEM you will solve.

Here’s a blogging secret. If the reader doesn’t care about your topic, they won’t care to read about it. Click To Tweet

Even better: choose only one problem to solve.

Here are 3 examples from our blog:

1. In this post we tackled time management:
“Let’s get one thing straight. I waste time, you waste time…everyone wastes time.”

2. This post is all about getting more traffic:
“And it’s time to get serious about your business and your blog. You want more traffic—the right traffic.”

3. This post is about restarting your blog writing:
“You haven’t published for at least a month – not so great.”

4. Make a promise

Every salesperson worth his/her salt knows this. To keep your prospect’s attention you need to make a promise of what you have to offer.

It could be as simple as “Let me show you how we can fix that”, or “I think I have the perfect solution for you.”

It’s no different in your blog—once you get my attention, tell me what comes next.

For example, this post is about blog performance:
“In this post we’re looking at super simple tune-ups to make your blog work better and, maybe, even a bit sexier. Sound good?”

5. Please get to the point!

time on site screenshow showing how to start your blog post with a bang — The average time we see on our client’s blog posts is 2-3 times more than other pages.

Finally, a great blog gets to the point.

You got my attention, you entered the conversation going on in my mind, you even described a problem you know I have – great! Now, get to the point and deliver the goods.

The average visitor time on our client’s websites is about one minute. The average time we see on their blog posts is more like 3 to 7 minutes. Wow!

Your blog has the ability to stop readers from clicking away. Your blog can also drive traffic to your revenue pages.

If you do it right.

A few small changes to the start of your post can improve time on site, list growth – even conversion to sales.

It all starts with…the start.

Enjoyed this post on how to start a blog post? Here are 3 more all about blog writing:

5 easy steps to publishing your next blog post (even if you don’t have time)
90 seconds to becoming a better writer
How to never run out of blog ideas ever again