by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

In my last article we covered what to do before you start blogging.


Now, you need to actually set up your blog.


How do you go about setting up a blog?



1. The first step to setting up a blog is picking the right topic.

For a personal blog you’re only concerned about enjoying the topic and having fun.

But, if you want to create income you need a winning blog topic.

Don’t try to be unique or clever. Pick a topic that has an existing audience and popular blogs already competing for the audience attention.

Who will link to you if there is no competition? Where will you get your audience? How will anyone find you?



2. The correct blogging platform is vital. To test the water you can start with a free blog at Medium.com and check ideas for viability. (A suggestion only. No compensation for me.)

When you’re ready to build an audience and make money online, use self-hosted WordPress.

That’s WordPress.org NOT WordPress.com

You can check out the difference here.



3. Now, decide on a domain name. Make a list of topics that interest you. These could be topics you think might be profitable, hobbies, or something random you’ve read about.

When your list is complete, check out these questions:

Do blogs on this topic have a Facebook page with more than 10k fans?
Do any blogs on this topic more than 50k followers on Twitter?
Does Amazon have any books with more than 30 reviews on this topic?
Are there any Google ads when you search for words and phrases related to this topic?
Do any words or phrases related to this topic have more than 100k searches in Google’s Keyword Planner tool?

If the answer to these questions is yes, you’re good to go.


Your domain name needs to represent your audience, a specific topic, and a benefit. For example:

Name the Audience.   TheBlogStarter.com

Name the Specific Topic.   TechRadar.com

Name the Benefit.   MakeALivingWriting.com


Once you’ve made a decision on your domain name, you need to check its availability and purchase it through a domain registrar. Any one of the following would be a good choice, and the fee is about $8 to $10 per year for a .com extension.

http://www.godaddy.com
http://www.namecheap.com
http://www.networksolutions.com
http://www.onlydomains.com



4. Purchase a web hosting plan. You need a place for your website on the Internet. You can pay a small fee to keep your website on the Internet, handle all your visitors, back up your website, provide customer support, manage the security of your website, and so on.

There are loads of WordPress hosts, but I recommend HostThenProfit.com (affiliate link).


Do not purchase anything else when you buy a domain name. The registrars will try to get you to do so, but don’t take the bait, as you’ll be setting everything up under your web hosting plan.

You’re now ready to roll.


So, how do you set up a blog?

By following these steps you can create your blog, grow an audience, and start earning a real, tangible income.

Don’t wait days, weeks, or months to get started. Start a blog today — right now.

Get Your System With Autoresponder Here

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

If you’re just now thinking about setting up a blog, the first thing you need do is start building your list, on the first day.



Why Build a List First?

You need to start building your list ASAP! It’s absolutely necessary if you want to run successful email marketing campaigns and reach people who are truly interested in your business.

Despite the popularity of social media channels, email marketing remains one of the most used digital marketing techniques.

If you want a successful business, you need people to market to.



What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing as defined in Wikipedia, is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email… Email marketing strategies commonly seek to achieve one or more of three primary objectives, to build loyalty, trust, or brand awareness.

An email is often the first step in a customer’s journey with you, the initial communication.



What is the Connection Between an Email and Your Blog?

You can think of your blog as your main base of operation, the place where you send people for your products/services or any related information. It’s a marketing tool.

It is also the place you can acquire their information in order to begin a relationship with them so they can get acquainted with you, and begin to like and trust you.

These are the people who will receive your emails. This is a part of your list building. Once your blog is set up, you can strategically place opt-in forms on it asking visitors to fill in their information – full name and email address – so you can contact them. Stick to the basics, name and email. Nobody wants to fill out much more than that.



How Do You Get People to Give up Their information?

1. Pick an email marketing service. I use Host Then Profit (affiliate link).

If you’re just starting out and your budget is tight, you can use a free service. You’ll need to check around and compare the pros and cons so you can choose one that best suits your purpose.

2. Place opt-in forms on your blog.

3. Give visitors a reason to give you their email address. Offer them an ethical bribe (subscriber bribes, lead magnets, opt-in bribes, free offers, free gifts, and content upgrade).


Most people won’t give you their email address out of the goodness of their heart, even if they like you.


Freebies are proven lead magnets.


Give them a free worthwhile gift.


Your subscriber’s bribe should be simple.

Don’t fall into to the trap of trying to get too large and creative with your lead magnet, which could end up in you not creating one at all.

You can educate your visitors by giving away free downloads filled with actionable tips and helpful tools they can use.


Some things you can give away:

Free blog articles
Emails with coupons
Videos
Tutorials and courses
Templates
E-Books


You can start with a one-page simple short PDF checklist offering tips on a particular subject.



To build an email list from nothing you need:

 1. To understand your audience

Decide who will be your audience — name, job title, work, demographics like age, gender, education, etc. In other words, create a persona.

You can find out a lot about people through social media channels.

2. A website

Your blog will, eventually, become your website.


In the meantime, you can use a landing page, a single-page website that contains your email opt-in form.


You can use any of the services below to create an opt-in form.


Some of them have free trial periods.

Landerapp.com
iContact.com
Hubspot.com
Leadpages.net
Wix.com


Note: Some advertising channels require that you have a multi-page website that includes pages such as Contact, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policies.


3. An email marketing service. I use Host Then Profit (affiliate link).


4. A great offer, a free worthwhile gift.


Now that you have some pointers on what to do before you start blogging, start building that list.

Hosting and More

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

On the web most of the entries in an average comments section are spam. Akismet is a tool that filters out comment spam for you. Comment spam can have a negative impact on your site’s search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.


Do blog comments still matter or help in any way?

You might think that, with so many social media platforms available to discuss pieces of content, blog comments no longer matter. That depends on your goals.

Many businesses with a large following see no need for blog comments as social media allows them to interact with more people.

However, if you’re a small business just getting started online and only now taking steps to grow a social media following, having a comments section on your blog can prove to be beneficial to your business.

Top brands often benefit by commenting on blog topics. You may not realize this because you don’t see influencers’ names in the comment sections of popular industry blogs.

That’s because they outsource the task. They hire virtual assistants and other freelance writers to write useful comments on recent blog posts.



How do you write good comments that people will notice?

Blog comments are still powerful, if you write high-quality, genuinely-good comments worth noting. They can still get you noticed by popular bloggers and influencers.


Writing a good comment requires:


#1 Letting People See the real You

Don’t use an animal or a generic faceless silhouette. Show you and all your pearly whites with a smile.

If your message is flagged as spammy, a gravatar gives you an increased chance the blog owner will approve your new comment.



#2 Using Your Real Name

Don’t use a fake name or a nickname that your friends and family use or any other name. And don’t use a fake or inactive email address. That will break the communication avenue between the commenter and author.



#3 Not Embedding Links in Your Comments

WordPress, Disqus, and other commenting systems view these links as spam. They come across as sales pitches, a cheap attempt to sell something. The blogger will feel no inclination to view it.



#4 Reading the Post Before Commenting

Although it takes time, reading a post thoroughly before commenting is a must. You don’t want your response to be inappropriate or silly.



#5 Not Having a One-Sided Long Conversation

Long-winded blog comments are not better than short ones. They’re just boring.



#6 Not Being a Parrot

Do not repeat what you’ve just read. Your comments need to offer some insight.



More Pointers:

A) Include a friendly greeting using the author’s name, spelled correctly.

B) Offer a compliment about the post, something about why you chose to be on this blog. Be sincere.

C) Do something that makes you appear valuable to the blogger you’re aiming to entice— anything that establishes you as a person worth knowing and helps develop a personal relationship.

D) Let the blogger know you’re interested in a longer-term relationship. Make a promise at the end, like telling the author you’re going to share the post on your favorite social media platform.

Be sure to do what you promise. When you share the post on your favorite social media platform, be sure to tag the blogger — let them know you followed through.

Show some personality. You can craft your comments like you’re writing an email to a friend.



Good comments alone won’t launch you to world domination, although they’re effective and often overlooked, now that so many bloggers think they’re extinct.

Good comments can get influential bloggers’ attention.



So, you can still use blog comments to benefit your online marketing and SEO and get more traffic to your site when utilized properly. However, not every comment will drive traction and credibility for your site and brand.

You cannot use blog commenting to build backlinks.



Hosting and More

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

What is Link Building?

According to Wikipedia, “Link building is the process of establishing relevant hyperlinks (usually called links) to a website from external sites. Link building can increase the number of high-quality links pointing to a website, in turn increasing the likelihood of the website ranking highly in search engine results.”



How Important are Links?

Link building for your online marketing is very important.

Before, Google search engines ranked their search results 100% based on the content on a webpage. Things changed with Google’s PageRank Algorithm which looked at how many people linked to a page.

Backlinks still remain the best way of determining the quality of a webpage. That’s why they’re still Google’s go-to ranking indicator.

With more updates Google’s focus is not just on quantity but also linkquality.


Page Authority

The authority of the page linking to you matters most. Links from authoritative pages pass more PageRank to your site. Google doesn’t share PageRank information publicly, although it’s the foundation of their algorithm.


Relevancy

When it comes to links page authority matters as well as relevance.

For example, if you operate a website all about photography and you get a link from an authoritative site about sports, that link won’t really count.

Generally speaking, you want to get links from authority sites that are closely related to your site.


Position

Your link’s position on a page is very important. If it’s embedded in a section of content, you get more notice. Don’t place it in a footer or sidebar where it counts for very little.

You want to place your links in the main body of the page. They should be “editorially placed,” where someone clicks it because they think your site is amazing, not in a profile you created on a random site in which you dropped a link.

These unnatural links can be considered a violation of Google’s guidelines.


Anchor Text

The clickable text section of a link is known as the anchor text. Anchor text needs to be relevant to the topic of the page you’re linking to rather than generic.

Don’t use anchor text excessively as that is considered spammy, just as excessive keyword use (keyword stuffing) is spammy.

A spammy anchor text is a link with an anchor text that has no relationship to the page on which it exists or the page it is linking to.

For natural anchor text links to your website, create beneficial content and the links and anchor text should come naturally.

You don’t want to be penalized.


Guest Posts

Be careful of guest posts. They can be spammy if:

Someone is paid to publish the post
The post contains exact match anchor text
The site exists solely to publish guest posts
The site is unrelated to yours

But, if you publish an awesome guest post on an authoritative, relevant site, that link CAN help your rank.


Nofollow vs. Dofollow

Both types help boost your SEO for search engine rankings because you get lots of clicks from many different sources. For instance, social media.

Nofollow links may not build you as much SEO juice as dofollow links, but they still drive traffic and build your SEO.

After all, your end goal is to drive leads, traffic, conversions, and revenue. SEO just happens to be one of the best ways to accomplish these goals.


Hosting and More

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

Your moneymaker is content.



Why is this?

You must have a plan because your content is also your sales pitch, billboard, brochure, and portfolio all combined into one.


Successful Internet marketing requires planned content.


Therefore, you must lay out a plan for implementing your moneymaker – content.


Your content must be structured and organized to reach your audience.


Whether you’re a blogger, a professional marketer, or a social media strategist, you need good well-organized content.


When laying out your plan consider the following for content development:


How to reach a larger audience through organic promotion
How to design content for different readers
How to produce new quality content
How to create trust
How to convert visitors into repeat (paying) customers


It needs to be well-written, shareable, and educational, and it should confirm your reputation as an authority.



What is content development?


Content development has two sides.

1. Engineering

The engineering is strategic planning of how and when to distribute content.


2.  Architecture

The architecture is side two, content creation – the actual writing.


You have to master both. Put as much effort, or more, into planning as you do producing content.



Content development is very important.

It’s the plan you use to envision the structure of your goals and the strategies to achieve them.


Content development prevents you from missing deadlines and eliminates procrastination and other distractions. There are steps to take when developing content.



What are the steps or stages in content development?


1. Define Content Goals

The first thing you need to do is define your content goals.

Does your content add value such as education and problem solving?
Who is your audience?
Where will you post your content?
What is your schedule for getting out your content?
What is your strategy for having your audience find and interact with content?
What makes your content unique and innovative?



2. Learn About Your Audience

Research your customers’ buying habits and behaviors. Pay attention to their comments and suggestions. Use Google Analytics tools.



3. Create a Content Development Calendar

This calendar shown contain what to post, how often, and dates of postings. The calendar helps avoid duplication and gaps in content. They also help you plan for milestones, so you make the most of important events and holidays.



4. Use a System

Use a system for your writing process for efficiency and performance. Utilize templates for blogs, white papers, infographics, video scripts, charts, and graphs. Set up writing guidelines to ensure consistency in branding and quality.

Test out content variations and different tones for different audiences. Collect performance data and which content generates the best results?



5. Study Your Competition

Analyze your top competitors and stay relevant using their best practices. Find out what they’re lacking and fill that gap.

Don’t give visitors any reason to bounce to your competitors. Ask your audience what they want and start giving it to them.



6. Use Social Media

Use a variety of social media channels and post regularly but not too often, and make it easy to share your content.



7. SEO

You need search engine optimization for effective digital marketing.

Know and use the fundamentals of good SEO writing:

Make sure all your web content is indexed.
Be sure to use proper formatting tags (H1, H2, etc.)
Keep individual page URLs short and use dashes to separate words.

Learn to rank for Google.  Produce authoritative content and Google will prioritize your content.

Regularly perform keyword research.  That means using tools like SEMrush to find the best and most relevant keywords for your content.

Keep up with changing trends.  SEO marketing changes all the time. It pays to stay abreast with industry experts.



8. Free Content

Give away free content to your visitors. Educate them with free downloads filled with actionable tips and helpful tools they can use. Teach them a skill, so they feel empowered and grateful.

If visitors don’t stay on your page, they can revisit your portable download later.

The downloads establish you as an expert, expand your network, and are easy to share, spreading word-of-mouth interest.


Your free content can be:

Blog articles
Newsletters
Infographics and memes
Emails with coupons
Videos
Tutorials and courses
Templates
E-Books


Freebies are proven lead magnets that make visitors happy and draw them closer to buying your products or services.



9. Know What Constitutes Top-Performing Content

Capture the attention of visitors with a platform rich in quality content so they convert into paying customers.

The best content promotes interest, solves a problem, and leaves customers wanting more.

It establishes your reputation as an industry expert.

Generating consistently top-performing (and high-ranking) content is easier than you might imagine:

Stay focused and concise.
Be engaging.
Answer your readers’ questions.
Quote industry experts.
Be adaptable and agile.
Write for your audience.
Link to High Domain Authority (DA) Sources
Learn to Write for “Scanners,” those who only scan and glance.



10. Educate While Entertaining

The best content creators use compelling storytelling to captivate readers and sell their message; to explain problems and solutions through relatable narratives using analogies, humor, and emotion to make their stories memorable. So, tell some stories, and don’t get lost in the narrative. You’re not writing a novel. You still have to get to the point.


Now, develop your winning strategy that includes your calendar with short -and long-term goals for success. Remember that successful Internet marketing requires planned content. Write your content with this information in mind.


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Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

Email marketing is an integral part of everyday business. Having a solid game plan when you send out an email to your subscribers is the first step to seeing a higher conversion rate.

Sometimes, even if you follow every email marketing tip there is, you have no guarantee of total success. There is always room for error. Here are nine email marketing mistakes to avoid.


1) Sending Out Poorly-Focused Content

Do not send the same email to all your subscribers. Everyone on your email list is interested in the same content. Segment your audience. Do this by having different opt-in forms that offer different information and freebies.

If you have a blog you can place an opt-in form in different areas for your visitors. For instance, your blog’s main focus may be Internet marketing which includes different sub-topics like home-based business, affiliate marketing, marketing information, etc.

Place a relevant opt-in form offering a freebie in each of these categories. When people opt in, they’ll be added to a particular categorized list. As the site owner, you can then send relevant information to this list of subscribers instead of inundating them with irrelevant emails.


2) One-Way Conversations

You want your readers to get to know, like and trust you. Make sure they have a way to connect and interact with you. Your email should be personable and identify you and your company.

At the end of your emails, initiate a two-way conversation by asking your readers if there is something in particular you can help them with, and include a link to your social profiles.


3) Lots of Offers and no Information

When someone subscribes to an opt-in form, they want useful information and not a bombardment of sales and promotional emails. There’s nothing wrong with promoting your products and services in an email. Just be sure to include useful content.

This can be an informative video, a link to a useful blog post or a great infographic. At the end of the email, you can mention any promotions you have and always add value by actually giving away something for free. Constantly promoting your products and services without giving away anything of value for free will only annoy your subscribers and push them to unsubscribe.


4) Unclear Call to Action

To ensure people see your CTA (call to action) for your awesome freebie or discounted product you need to be sure the CTA is clear. Send out an email to your loyal subscribers to let them know about your offer and include a link.

If that link is hidden in a small piece of anchor text, some of your subscribers will have a hard time finding it. Boldly highlight the link, add bright buttons or ask people to click on a picture to get to your landing page. A few considerations are:

1. Make what you need very clear by including words like ‘Head here’ or ‘Click here.’
2. Very clearly highlight the text that leads to the landing page.
3. Repeatedly mention the CTA throughout their email.


5) Belabored Subject Line

Get to the point! Although you want to make the subject line interesting, if your subscribers can’t figure out what your email is about, they become annoyed. A few tips:

1. Keep it short

Make sure your subject line fits in the subscribers’ view screen. There’s no point in having an awesome subject line if they can’t read half of it.

2. When possible use numbers

Examples:

Join 475 people who signed up for my free online course today!
Happy Valentine’s Day! 50% off all our products.
Here is why 85% of small businesses rely on email as their primary acquisition source.

3. Be personal

Use the name of your subscribers in the subject line.

Hi (first name)! Want access to my free new course?


4. Tell your audience what’s inside (be truthful)

Make your subject line descriptive and honest. It should immediately help your readers figure out what is inside the email.


6) A Welcome Email

Sending a welcome email to your subscribers is fine. Just don’t make it a generic one. Make it informative and useful. Include a great freebie or a link to resources that are only for your subscribers. Make a good first impression by saying something other than just ‘hello.’


7) Attention to Data

If you’re not paying attention to data you could end up with an enormous amount of information each time you email subscribers. This includes the open rate, the time of day when most people opened your email, which links they clicked on, etc.

This data can help you improve upcoming email campaigns you’re working on. You can figure out what’s working, what content your audience likes, and what to get rid of permanently.

Optimizing your email marketing campaigns requires four clear factors:

Personalized emails
Clear headers to optimize email marketing open rates
Clear CTA to optimize email marketing click rates
Updated email list


8) Quantity Over Quality

Focus on the quality of your subscribers rather than how many. Every so often you need to clean your email lists.

Remove those people who are not opening your emails. In the long run, you want only an engaged list of subscribers. Most email marketing services have a ‘Clean Up Inactive’ feature that makes this process very simple.

Doing this will reduce your monthly outgoing cost. You may be paying for a plan that is dependent on the number of subscribers you have.


9) Sending Emails at the Wrong Time

Many studies say the best time to send emails is in the late morning during work hours, at around 10-11a.m. If you send emails when no one checks them, your campaign will probably fail.

Use the tips in these nine email marketing mistakes to avoid to help you build a large list, and create relationships with your subscribers by focusing on a good email marketing strategy.


Hosting and More

by Rahimah Sultan

Do you have a blog set up?


If you have a blog online you have established your online presence in business, and you most likely know the benefits of article marketing.


Use your blog as your marketing tool for articles that promote your products and services. Blog article marketing, can bring more visibility to your site and establish you as an authority in your area of expertise.


Use article marketing to add fresh content to your site and create visibility and authority. It’s a cost-effective way to drive visitors to your website and a way to obtain potential customers. When you write about your offers you can place a link in the article that redirects wherever you wish – to a squeeze page, another article, or a website.



What are some ways to gain publicity and credibility?


Write articles

Writing articles and marketing them via free article directories is one way to get more publicity for your site, products, and services.

There are millions of sources on the Internet with a non-stop appetite for content and articles written by people like you. There are plenty websites and newsletters that need articles daily. If someone uses your article, you get instant publicity and credibility.

The best articles are ones that contain great useful information. They may solve a problem or offer resourceful tips of some type. These are often the kinds of articles that get the most reads and are picked up by other webmasters. Just don’t give away all your secrets at once. You want readers to have a reason to revisit your site.


Do what you say you’ll do

Know the value of what you offer. Whatever your product or service, over-deliver.  Your customers might be pleasantly surprised with getting better service than they’re accustomed to.


Be honest

Honesty is self-explanatory.


Be genuine

Being genuine goes along with honesty.


Communicate clearly

Don’t use a lot of business jargon when writing. Be yourself. Use your own writing style. Write the way you talk.  You win trust by communicating clearly how what you offer will benefit your audience. Position yourself as someone who can help.

Don’t make everything about getting a sale. First, communicate with prospective customers so they get to know, like, and trust you. Then you can present your offers, maybe once in every three or four contacts with them.


Be consistent

When using social media channels like Facebook and others, be sure your message is consistent across all those channels. It should align with the values and mission you’ve established for your business.


Use a resource box

In about 50 words describe what you’re about and include a link back to your site.


When writing be sure you’re reaching your target audience by including a clear call to action. Start with a blogging schedule that you can maintain, maybe once a week.


In summary, you can use your blog as your basic marketing tool for advertising your products and services. As people visit and read the information on your blog, you gain publicity and credibility. Use your blog as your marketing tool for articles that inform people what your business is about.


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Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

Blog article marketing for your business is a cost-effective way to drive traffic to your website or blog. It’s also a way of acquiring potential customers, a way to get your website indexed on search engines, and a way to promote your site and to get backlinks.

Using blog article marketing for your business makes good sense. Since blogging doesn’t cost anything on most websites, you can choose a popular blogging platform and connect your blog with your other marketing campaigns. This lets you connect and have conversations with the people that visit your site and it’s a great way to engage customers.

Starting your own blog doesn’t have to be complicated. Here is an article that was written some time ago, but the information it contains is still current.

Once your blog is set up and you consistently write informative articles, your reputation within your niche will improve and this offers you a good way to improve your income.

A blog is an indispensable tool for your business.


Build Your Following

To build your following offer your readers important information that is helpful. Share useful and interesting content on a regular basis.

Use a warm, friendly casual style even when writing on technical subjects. You don’t want to be boring and drive away readers.


Get Found by Search Engines

To help your article get found by search engines, use your main keyword or keyword phrase in the title, header, sub-headings, and in the URL, which leads to more traffic and sales.

The first paragraphs of your article should be the best and very powerful. Include the best information here to grab the attention of both readers and search engines.

You want your audience to read the entire article so don’t give away too much at the beginning, just enough to grab their attention. Lead them down the page using your sub-headings under which you feed them even more interesting information.


Do Not Duplicate Content

For the best quality content, write your own articles. They should be original and fresh. Put forth your own spin and offer a unique outlook or suggestion to impress your readers. If search engines detect duplicate content you will be flagged and penalized, and your marketing becomes ineffective as search engines will not “pick up” your article.

Even though it’s true that the more people you have viewing your writing the better your chance of success, you don’t have to target large audiences with your article. You want the people that do read your articles to be those who are truly interested in what you have to say.

Never ignore your dedicated readers.

Blog article marketing for your business can be extremely lucrative. One of the most exciting parts about it is you’re building interest in you and your company and offers through unique and interesting articles.

Nothing is more important than drawing in readers and giving valuable information that will keep them coming back time and time again. The key to building long-term business relationships with your visitors and potential customers and clients is in providing them with valuable, quality information.



Your Web Hosting Essentials

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

When you start an online business you’re probably selling one of three things:

Your time (coaching or consulting)
Your products (e-commerce)
Someone else’s products (affiliate marketing)Advertising


With a blog, you can sell all these. Blogging is the ultimate low-risk, high-reward business idea. You can set your plan in motion by starting a blog. You can test the waters by using it as a hobby or you can set yourself up as a scalable full-time business with a business structure such as an LLC, which requires filing certain paperwork for a fee.

You can use your blog to advertise whichever of these Seven Business Ideas for Working from Home that you choose or others.

Now, what are these seven business ideas for working from home?


1. Start a Profitable Blog

You need to be clear on your reason for starting a blog. For example:

To increase retirement nest egg
For the ability to quit your 9-5 job
To be able to spend more time with your family
To take more vacations

When you’re clear about your goals move forward with setting up your blog.

Install WordPress as your blogging platform if your eventual goal is to make money. A WordPress blog can be monetized.


2. Web Development

Front-end web development is a valued skill to cater to the rising demand for starting new websites.

Although there are a lot of tools to help small businesses create their own websites, developers are needed for more custom jobs. New businesses are always looking for efficient coders at cost-effective prices.

You can start by building websites for relatives and friends to improve your skills and then slowly transform your career into a more lucrative business plan.

Developers must have basic coding skills in computer languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. There are several cheap or free online courses that can help you learn and get started with web development.


3. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is a branch of Internet marketing where the advertisement publisher gets paid for every customer or sale provided by him, i.e. publishers and bloggers.

This is not a new concept. It’s essentially, getting a commission on a sale. Affiliate marketing is a quick way to offer products and services without having to create your own.

For more information read my in-depth article on affiliate marketing.


4. WordPress Web Consultant

Small businesses and bloggers use WordPress to start their own website.

If you are experienced at setting up WordPress websites, use your skill to build a business.

Along with your consulting, you can offer digital marketing services to your clients as an additional income stream.

Once you build a successful business as a WordPress website consultant, you can change your business into a digital marketing agency.


5. Freelance Content Writing

There is a huge demand for content writers. If you can create engaging stories and write articles, you can turn those skills into a profitable freelance writing business.

You can write content for a variety of purposes from website copy and sales pages to blog posts and email newsletters. You can also edit and proofread work.

Grammarly is the most popular grammar checker. It enables you to develop your writing by using proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, and better word choices.

As a freelance copywriter, you have the opportunity to work from any location. You need to build your portfolio, and then you can launch your own inbound lead-generating website. You can connect with potential clients on social media platforms like LinkedIn and offer everything from content writing to SEO writing.


6. Computer Repair

Due to the high cost of computer repair at authorized service locations, you have an excellent opportunity to earn money by offering cost-effective repair services. You can approach small businesses and neighborhood homes to get repair projects. Then you and your team can steadily expand and take bigger orders from medium to larger organizations.

The opportunities in this field are immense and include learning to fix networking issues and replacing crashed hard drives.


7. Pet Grooming

Pet grooming is a booming business idea where wealthy pet owners live. People are spoiling their pets with spa and foot massages, haircuts, and massage therapists.

It takes about $2,000 to set up a pet grooming business. You can find clients in your neighborhood or check on Facebook and WhatsApp groups.

For a better understanding of the job, you can take a dog grooming course. If grooming is not for you, you can set up a pet-sitting business which requires a small startup fee.

Of course, there are many more options including but not limited to:

Baking
Child Care
Computer Repair
Crafts
Dog Walking
Home Services
Self-Publishing

You can access many courses here(skillshare.com) to get started with your business idea. This is just a suggestion. I receive no compensation for this recommendation.

Working at home in your own business requires the same discipline as working in an office for someone else. If you treat your business like a hobby it will be difficult to make progress. You must have a plan, a proper setup, and keep good records.

Use these Seven Business Ideas for Working from Home to help you start brainstorming your next entrepreneurial venture.



Hosting and More

by Rahimah Sultan

In my last article I covered writing great blog post headlines. If you missed it Click here to read Part 2



You got your readers to click the headline, enticed them down the page with your introduction, and now it’s time to give them what you promised.



Now the rules for delivering valuable and easy-to-consume content.


CONTENT RULE #1. Add Stopping Points

Use subheadings as stopping points.

Readers are scanners, because there is so much content to be had.

Subheadings are a way to prove your content is valuable. To keep enticing them back into your post when they want to leave.



Four Tips for Writing Your Subheadings:


1. Add a Subheading Every few Paragraphs

Add a few subheadings throughout your post to lead readers down the path your post is heading, making their experience feel clear, easy and enjoyable.

Remember, your blog posts are all about the readers’ experience.

When readers are scanning and see too much text, they feel overwhelmed.

Example:

A short post with subheadings.


2. Avoid Subheading Mistakes That Make Readers Disappear

Subheadings serve the same purpose as headlines; to make readers curious so they keep reading.

Avoid the following mistakes:

The Plain Label Subheading
Again, don’t bore your readers. Treat your subheadings like mini-headlines and be sure they arouse curiosity.

The Spoiler Subheading
Hold back information in your subheading so readers feel compelled to continue reading.

The Cryptic Subheading
Readers don’t like to play guessing games, so don’t try to be witty. Adding curiosity shouldn’t come at the expense of clarity.

Example:

If you’re talking about the effects of diet for good health, your subheadings might be:

The Importance of a Good Diet
Eating the Right Food Will Improve Your Overall Health
Skip the Junk and Feel Better

The first subheading is rather generic, the second doesn’t encourage you to keep reading, and the third doesn’t say much of anything.

The following subheadings will do a better job of getting readers’ attention:

Diet is Important for Good Health
Eating Right for Your Overall Health
Foods to Avoid to Maintain Good Health


3. Compare Each Subheading to Your Main Headline

Each subheading must be related to the overall headline of your post.

Your subheadings must all lead to what you promised in your main headline.

If the subheadings get off track and don’t deliver on the overall headline, readers will feel lost and confused.

If that happens, you’ll have to change your subheadings or your main headline.

Example:

If you’re writing a post titled “Benefits of Meditation in Daily Life” and you include the following subheadings:

1. Using Meditation in Everyday Life
2. Reducing Stress and Anxiety with Meditation
3. Using Meditation to Maintain Focus in Spite of Distractions
4. How to Gain Mental Strength, Resilience and Emotional Intelligence Through Meditation

The fourth subheading is a little long and disrupts the flow. It’s also differently structured by beginning with “How.” The first three subheadings are fine and relatively short.

This inconsistency is distracting to readers.


4. Follow a Format

When you’re listing different “tips,” “steps,” “ways,” “methods,” “signs,” etc., to attain what the headline of the post promises, keep the format consistent.

Let’s say your post is “13 Ways to Invest in Yourself,” and you have a subheading for each of the ways.

If you take your subheadings from the post and list them, you can see if any stray from the pattern.

Example:

So, your first few subheadings are:

Try to Meditate
Make a Gratitude List
Eat a Well-Balanced Diet
Get Plenty Sleep
There is Nothing Like a Morning Walk to Clear Your Mind

Something in the last one seems a little off.

The first four are about the same in length and start with a verb.

The fifth subheading suddenly changes the format and interrupts the flow. It doesn’t start with a verb and it’s much longer than the others.

This may seem like a small detail, but it distracts readers.



CONTENT RULE #2. Add a Little Surprise

Your post needs to be unique, bold and eye-opening; not the same old boring advice.

You can list your main points and add a unique perspective or something unexpected to them.

Do you know something that most people don’t? Is there some system that you challenge? Do you use methods that others won’t know about?

Example:

Seth Godin puts a unique spin on serious topics.

Don’t overdo it just for the sake of shock value. Your information needs to be genuine and useful. You want to challenge yourself as a writer and educate your readers.



CONTENT RULE #3. Follow a Format

This post has a very consistent format.

Each section is quite similar in length. All the subheadings follow a pattern. Each section ends with an example.

Consistency in your posts makes for a better experience for readers.

So you write a list post about seven steps to accomplish something. If the first step is 300 words, the second and third steps are 500 words, the fourth step is 200 words, the fifth and sixth steps are 400 words, and the seventh step is 100 words, it doesn’t look very neat.

You want your readers to have a great experience. Be attentive to small details.

To look even more professional, you can look at the beginning, middle, and end of each section and create a guiding format. You can start each section with a story or a daring statement. Use the middle section for your advice. You might want to add a graphic. Then end each section with a call to action.

Adding formats to your posts makes for easier writing, and they look more polished.

Example:

Here’s a bare-bones example of a blog post format that can be used as a starting template.



CONTENT RULE #4. Be Outrageously Giving

Don’t worry about giving away too much in your posts. After all, your goal is to have people sign up for your paid products or services.

If you’re not giving with your readers in your posts, they’ll have a negative impression of your paid products.

Carefully go through the problem with your readers. Give them thorough solutions and compelling advice. Be outrageously giving and they will become loyal readers and customers.

Example:

This 3,000-word plus post by R. L. Adams is extremely generous. I’ve read longer ones, up to 10,000 words.

Never fear. You can wow your readers with your generosity and thoughtfulness, just the same, with a 1,000-word post.



CONTENT RULE #5. Begin and End Strong

Not only should your introduction and conclusion grab your readers, but you want the main body of your post to also begin and end strong.

Every section should have great content, but if you’re presenting seven ways to achieve something, save your very best tips for the first and seventh. The first will get your readers’ attention while the seventh will leave them totally pleased.

Example:

Nathan Thompson gives you 7 Proven Tips to Create Blog Posts That Convert Like Crazy.

Make an outline containing your main points before writing the main sections of your post.

Make it clear and simple so your post will have clarity and conviction.

Now, it’s conclusion time.


Rules for your inspiring conclusion:


CONCLUSION RULE #1. Motivate Your Readers

Give them a pep talk. Show them what they’re capable of, how far they’ve come, and how things will look once they’ve applied your instructions.

Motivate your readers by showing you expect more of them. Encourage them to immediately take action.

Make them see that no matter what they’ve struggled with in the past, they should believe in themselves. They can achieve the goal you promised in your headline.  They can do this.

Example:

Read the encouraging conclusion in this post.



CONCLUSION RULE #2. Include Nothing New

A common blogging mistake.

Don’t all of a sudden include new information or tips in your conclusions.

It really throws your readers off and leaves them befuddled as to why you didn’t just include it in the body of the post.

Example:

In this post Alex Nerney lists nine blog ideas and topics.

His conclusion begins with, “Okay, that’s it…”

It would be jarring if he added another idea or topic after that.

When writing the conclusion, imagine how your readers are feeling or what they are thinking. How will things change for them if they use your advice?

Put more thought into your closings.

Most readers just skim. Reward those who trust you enough to read to the end. Take the opportunity to tell them the next step to take.

Now that you’ve written your post, carefully edit it. One way to do this is to read it out loud to check the flow, unnecessary wording, and sentence structure.

There are so many things to learn. Blogging platforms. Social media. Content marketing techniques.

So, before you start down the blogging trail, you need to know how to write professional blog posts above all else. The rest doesn’t matter if you don’t.

Good news!

Writing good blog posts is a skill you can and must learn.

Inside you are compelling words and ideas waiting to be released. To transform readers’ lives.

When you’re ready, use this information as a guide.

Your audience is waiting.


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