If you are launching your business from complete scratch, you might be looking for effective ways to enlarge your subscribers circle and broaden your business’s horizons. Expressing yourself on the market by promoting your products online is a great start. Having an impact, sharing your personal knowledge, and making some good money on the side sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?
However, opening up a blog is not enough. In order to build up a loyal audience and boost profits, you’ll also need to make your blog clickable. Along the way, you will need to:
- Define your writing skills,
- Choose the content you want to share,
- Learn how to make money online.
Endless content writing is not enough. If you want to be paid for your ideas, advertising should be an essential component in your equation. If you do choose to share your knowledge, you may as well be paid for it, right?
There is no “special formula” that boosts your profits and brings you endless traffic. However, there are techniques that will help you develop on the market, and exponentially increase your company’s financial gains. Here are eight of them.
1 Keep a Structured Webpage
One of the things that users hate the most is haphazardness. If your content is unorganised, your subscribers will get tired of browsing through your posts until they find what they need, and they will quickly leave the page. Readers love lists, bullet points, numbers, and digits. If you want to attract more subscribers to your page, avoid long, boring paragraphs.
Keeping your content well-structured is a must. Here are some sub ideas on how to do that (observe how I am using bullet points to make it easier for you to follow!):
- Design a user-friendly interface – the first thing readers pay attention to is your home page. Don’t let that be chaotic and unsystematic. Users won’t understand the value of your page and content, so they will leave. Make it crystal clear that your website is designed for those searching for X, Y, and Z. Be specific, avoid ambiguity.
- Design a special space for testimonials – there are so many websites that offer great deals nowadays. Customers have seen thousands of them already. In order to capture their interest, include testimonials of former customers into your home page. Even if you have only a few, that’s still better than nothing.
- Build an effective “About Us” page – it’s important to show your clients who you are, what your goals and core values are, and what your main company’s purpose is. Being honest creates strong bonds and connections with your subscribers. It shows them that you are serious about your business, and that they can always rely on you. Not including enough information will be considered unprofessional.
- Present your team – Write short stories about each one of your team members. Include their personal goals too. Why should your clients trust them, and thus, trust your company?
- Keep a well-designed products page – why is your product or service important? What need does it solve? Did you include enough information in your description? Most companies do not provide enough details on their products or services, and that makes it challenging for clients to figure out whether they want to purchase the products/services provided. Give your customers a chance to comprehend what you company is all about before asking for their money.
Keeping a structured webpage is essential for providing a great user experience. If you want them to surf your page for longer than three minutes, make sure you keep your content objective, and include enough details on your products. Remember: your home page plays a crucial role in your success!
2 Create Quality Content
It’s not enough to use amazing marketing techniques. In order to bring traffic to your website, it’s essential to create quality content as well. There are different post types you could choose from, it truly depends on your style and preferences. Here are some ideas:
- “Those epic” posts – depending on whether you like writing funny posts or truly comprehensive articles, “those epic” posts are the ones that will make you famous online. You will need to include lots of knowledge and interesting facts within these types of articles. You must think about meeting a need, or solving a problem. After you pick your niche, write from the bottom of your heart. Be daring! Address your readers directly. Be funny. Be you!
- “How-to-do-this” posts – think about what the community needs, and what their inner desires are. After researching the market really well, design a how-to-do-this post, explaining the necessary approaches that people must take in order to succeed in their areas of interest. Choose the least popular niche, and make the best out of it. By building up great how-to-do-this content, you gain your readers’ trust, and develop closer relationships.
- List posts – as I’ve specified in one the previous points, you should keep your content structured by creating list posts. Having numbered ideas will keep your readers engaged. Creating list posts is also an amazing way to create valuable content without digressing from the subject. By creating numbered content, you will stick to the point, and won’t fail to inform/amuse your readers.
- “My story” posts – sharing personal stories is a great way to develop good relationships with the wider audience. People empathize all the time – if you make them empathize with you, there’s a high chance they’ll revisit your webpage. Whether you travel, lost weight (and want to share your story), or simply like to cook, share ideas and knowledge with the public. It will bring them closer to you, and who knows? Maybe they’ll even recommend you to a friend.
Creating good content is extremely important if you want to connect with your audience. Whether you choose “those epic” posts, “how-to-do-this posts,” list posts, or “my story” posts, you are on the right path. Just make sure you stay true to yourself, are honest in your articles, and give out the proper advice. If you need copywriting advice, you should consult with writing services, such as Essays.ScholarAdvisor: that will make your work a lot easier.
3 Choose the Right Headlines
Even if your content is amazing, you still need powerful headlines in order to catch you readers’ attention. So, how do you choose genuine headlines?
- Use numbers – look at my article’s title again. “8 Tips on How to…” The key: number eight. I gave my readers an idea of how my article is structured from the start. Now they know what to expect when scanning through my post.
- Put some emotion into it – of course titles such as “9 Effortless Ways to…” won’t work for every single one of your posts. You can’t use words such as “effortless” everywhere, but you could use other types of emotional words, such as: “amazing,” “incredible,” “essential,” or “fun.” They will attract your readers’ attention, and give them an insight on how your articles are going to look like.
- Use really important keywords – doing your SEO research is truly important, especially when you want many people to access your website. As I’ve said before, research the market really well before coming up with a specific headline; it’s important to integrate explicit words into your titles. That way, when customers use Google as their research tool, they’ll run into your article.
- Address your clients, and don’t use passive voice – your title must have a strong impact on your readers. If the latter are not attracted to your headline, they won’t access your blog. One of my favorite techniques to use is “the shocker technique.” Shock them by stating something really bold or controversial. That way, even if your article is not that daring, they will still click the link that leads to your website (that doesn’t mean your content should not be daring, it was an example!)
- Introduce something funny into your title – the so-called curiosity gaps work as well as shockers do. Ask your readers something funny, or include a question that makes them think twice. It’s always good to come up with innovative content – readers are really triggered by amusing stories or truly funny titles.
- Leave room for mystery – another great way to increase clickability is using a mysterious headline. For instance, “9 Unbelievable Facts You Haven’t Yet Considered” is a great trigger. Curiosity will definitely bring people to your webpage.
Try to avoid bummer-titles, such as “How to Create Music.” It’s better to keep your titles more innovative. For example, “How to Create Great Music: an 8 Steps Guide” sounds way more attractive.
4 Optimise Your Website for SEO
As scary as it might sound, optimizing your blog posts for SEO is not that difficult. You must stick to certain rules and have a well-structured strategy. If you can do that, the rest will follow.
Step 1: Analyze
- Analyze the keywords/meta phrases that other similar websites use
- Analyze top search engines such as Google, and see what their prioritized keywords are
- If you research well enough, you’ll have a pretty clear idea of where you are standing
- Last but not least, choose the perfect keywords for your niche
Step 2: Set your goals
- Set your main objectives for both the long and short term
- In step one, you’ve analyzed your position – where do you see yourself in 1 month/1 year?
- What are the biggest challenges that you could face?
- If you run into any problems, do you have a professional that you could reach out to?
Step 3: Design a plan
- After you’ve set your goals, it’s time to design a good plan
- Write down your main ideas
- Write down sub points on how you are going to accomplish them
- Give yourself a specific time frame for each one of your goals
- Work hard for reaching your objectives
- Give it time, don’t rush into anything
Step 4: Test your plan
- Create meta descriptions and test different page titles
- Analyze your rankings after optimizing
- Test for each keyword performance individually
- Measure your results, and see if there’s any improvement
- Keep adding new keywords and track your ranking on Google (or your favorite search engine)
Quick tip: pay attention to your backlinks as well – linking back to your webpage within another article is essential. Another good idea is linking to well-establish blogs such as Forbes or The New York Times.
5 Be Present
In order to get high rankings and become well-known, you must be truly present on the market. Some useful tips:
- Write guest posts for people whose blogs are similar to yours to build greater authority on the market. Give out quality feedback, or simply ask them how they made it. It’s important to have someone experienced by your side. More than that, commenting on other profiles is a great way to increase your audience, raise awareness of your presence, and bring in more traffic.
- Comment on people’s blogs and engage in different conversations with a wide variety of users. If people see that you have something important to say, they’ll definitely access your profile and boost your rankings.
- Use platforms that allow you to share content with your audience. For example, slideshare.net is a great way to learn about what’s going on in the online world. You can also show readers your most important blog features by using this platform.
If you are not present, you won’t be noticed. It’s important to reach out to people you admire, or to simply open up conversations with other bloggers. Making friends always helps!
6 Promote Your Content
After coming up with quality content, the next step is promoting it. Don’t forget: it’s important to expand your circle of subscribers before you reach out to your clients.
- Build up an e-mail list and send them daily e-mails. Promote your products or services by designing special offers and giving out discounts. Double or even triple your e-mail list by SEO optimization. Use CTAs (call-to-action buttons that expand sells and bring profits) to attract even more traffic to your website.
- Use social media. Online platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter are great ways to promote your business. When you share your posts, there are high chances your subscribers will share it too (if you are providing quality content!). Your content might be shared by your subscribers’ friends as well, and thus, promoting your blog becomes way easier than you’d imagine.
- Mention important names. Another good way to promote your content is mentioning popular names within your posts. However, don’t forget to shoot them an e-mail and ask for permission. Give them a heads up, and tell them that you’re a fan of their work. If they don’t agree with being mentioned, they’ll ask you to remove their names. Simple as that, yet it’s worth the try.
- Join a community. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s important to have a circle of friends that you could always rely on. Connecting with a mentoring group is a great way to get the support you need. When similar minds gather together, stopping them from achieving their goals is close to impossible. Combining focus, creativity, and innovation will bring in extremely rewarding results for all of you. Team work makes the dream work!
- Pay for ads. If money is not a problem, you could easily get more traffic by spending some extra dollars on social media. Strategy not recommended for people on a tight budget (like me, and most of the freelancers nowadays!)
Try all of the above marketing strategies, and see which one fits you the best. Be very flexible in your approaches; don’t stick to one single technique if it doesn’t work out for you. Try as many as you possibly can. Experiencing means learning.
7 Network, Network, Network
I know I’ve said this before, but I would like to emphasize it again: networking equals amazing benefits. We cannot do everything on our own. We need help in different situations and circumstances. Getting to know people who work in the same domains as we do is very beneficial. I have personally learned so much from my mentor, Karen Sleeve. I don’t know where I would be without her help. Thus, always remember to:
- Figure out who are the best ones in your field. Try to get close to those “amazing few” by contacting them directly. First, post intelligent comments on their blogs to catch their attention. If you do manage to get in touch with them, be sincere and open about your intentions: yes, you respect and admire them, but you are also interested in a long-time partnership. Ask them to meet up, and expose your ideas.
- Be a Masterminder. My friends and I started a Mastermind group 4 years ago. We had weekly meetings to talk about our progress and development in our field. It was interesting sharing our experiences with one another. You should definitely try doing the same thing with other bloggers!
- Develop good relationships with the elites. If you are taking an online (or offline!) course, connect with your instructor. Build a good relationship with them. You never know when you are going to need their help. When learning new things, try to be as involved as possible. Get to know the professor really well. They have lots of expertise, and that is always valuable for beginners.
- Find ways to help other freelancers. Find something valuable to offer, and help out a friend in need. In the future, they might be of great help to you as well. Help yourself by helping others first.
Reach out to the elites and to the “amazing few,” start a Mastermind group, develop mutually beneficial relationships with other freelancers, or find ways to help other bloggers – whatever you do, never stop networking!
8 If Everything Fails, Restructure
There are moments when we must admit we’ve failed. If you’ve tried the above strategies and they all let you down, it means you might be doing something wrong. There is something that needs to change. First thought? Your plan’s structure. You might need to revise it in order to bring more people to your website. Here are some things you might have gotten wrong:
- You might’ve targeted the wrong audience
- You might’ve promoted your content on the wrong pages
- You might’ve forgotten to analyze your competition thoroughly
- You might’ve stolen content
- You might’ve forgotten to structure your home page
Analyze your progress and take things step by step. Don’t freak out if things don’t go right at first. It takes patience and lots of commitment to climb the success ladder. If you don’t get it from the start, it only means you have to try harder. Don’t be afraid to recognize your mistakes and restructure your plans and goals. Being too proud to admit that you were wrong makes you lose important time and energy. Be honest with yourself!
9 Wrapping Up
Starting a business from scratch is quite challenging. You need the time and the energy to make things work in your favour. Don’t forget to: keep a structured webpage, create quality content, design a proper marketing strategy, use SEO to optimise your webpage, choose the right headlines, be present, and network constantly. If your plans need to be restructured, do it! Keep your head up, and your mind set on your goals. Good luck!