There’s a whole lot more to blogging than just writing a couple of posts a week. I mean, you could just rely on that, but you’re not going to get much exposure that way. What you really need to do is create a whole online persona and image that people can use to connect you to your business and/or products. Now, we’ve already talked about Social Media and the wonders it does in effortless promotion, but there’s more that you can do. And best of all? It won’t cost you a penny.
One of the things you can do to increase your marketing reach is to read other people’s blogs. I know, you’re actually going to have to research – such a drag. You want to look for blogs that pertain to the same subject matter your blog writes about. Why? Because you want to comment on their posts. In order to write informed post comments, you have to know what you’re talking about as well as have a general knowledge and understanding of what the blog is talking about. Informed post comments are important because they help you create solid backlinks, which are used to elevate your ranking in Google. The more backlinks you have, the better your rank. But before you go commenting on every blog you can find, you should know that the quality of the page matters. So you can’t just write comment after comment on every page you come across and expect to move up the Google search ladder. It doesn’t work that way. Not only do your comments need to be informed, but they also need to be posted on reputable sites. The more well known the site, the more weight the backlink carries.
Ok, so you’ve got a few backlinks under your belt – now what? Because you’re only taking the time to comment on posts relevant to your own blog (right?), the people whose sites you visit are likely to check out your blog. And guess what? They’ll probably leave you a comment or two, filling out your comment section, and making your blog look pretty impressive in the process. This will spread your name around your target market, where it matters most, and you might even make a few contacts in the process. One thing to note: make sure you leave your contact info and a link to your blog when you comment. That way, traffic from the blogs you comment on will flow over to your blog, essentially providing you with a steady stream of free traffic. What did I tell you – free is good!
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Filed under: Blogs, Google, Writing by Caren Romanyschyn
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Ok, so we’ve talked about starting your blog and how to insert yourself into the public through social media sites, but what now? Maybe you’re having a little trouble getting that gravy train started. I mean, we’ve all heard that success doesn’t happen overnight (turns out, it’s true). But don’t get discouraged! Keep researching and writing your top notch blog posts, and while you wait for your checks in the mail, we’ll get you set up with some other gigs.
If you’re a writer, like me, you probably thought that your college education was wasted on language and syntax. Did you know that there’s a whole mess of people out there who don’t want to deal with the content aspect of their business? They would rather outsource these menial writing jobs to someone who knows what they’re doing, rather than butcher their website and destroy their credibility. The good news is that there are a ton of sites out there that will hook you up with paid writing gigs. The bad news? Everybody and their mother is looking for a piece of that “easy money” so the competition can be stiff.
Let’s not dwell on the negative though, ok? If you’re a decent writer, chances are you’re going to stand out from the pack. One place you can look for writing jobs (and a ton of other freelance outsourcing) is Elance. Elance has everything from Writing & Translation to Web & Programming to Design & Multimedia. You know, maybe you’re just getting started in Internet Marketing, but you’re a little untalented in the design department, you can hire someone to design your site for you using Elance. But for right now, let’s just focus on the writing aspect of Elance, shall we? There’s a whole mess of different skill sets that are in demand for competent writers. On the writing specific front, there’s content writing, article writing, copywriting, report writing, technical writing, etc. If you’re a more technical writer, there’s also editing, grammar, proofreading, spelling, and punctuation. All you have to do is find the category that suits your talents and then peruse the jobs listed for one that you feel qualified to undertake. You put in a bid for the job, and if your bid gets chosen, congrats! You now have a nice little writing job lined up. Because your employer can rate your job performance, the better you do on this job, the better the chances are that you’ll get hired for the next one.
Another site similar to Elance is Pay Per Post. In case you couldn’t figure it out from the clever name, you get paid for each post you write. Pay Per Post operates in the same vein as Elance, but it’s more content writing specific and it’s usually on a smaller pay scale. Some posts will be as simple as writing about the weather, but because there’s little to no effort required, there’s also usually little to no money involved. Some posts will pay around $6-$10, but you have to qualify for those. See, this is where Pay Per Post differs from Elance: Pay Per Post requires you to have a fully functional blog for at least 3 months before you can be accepted (which shouldn’t be a problem for you because you’ve been rocking it, right?) and then jobs are offered based on your blog’s quality ranking.
So while Pay Per Post might sound like an easy answer because the jobs are small, they also pay less and require more information up front. Elance, on the other hand, pays more on average for each job, but that’s because the jobs offered are usually a bit more involved. So which is better? It’s really up to you and the time you want to put into it. Just make sure you don’t get too sidetracked and forget about your own blog. Speaking of which, I gotta go…that post isn’t going to write itself!
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Filed under: Blogs, Writing by Caren Romanyschyn
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