Many bloggers will agree that on-page and off-page SEO will dramatically improve your traffic while building your brand. If you’re not getting the results you feel you should, then you should implement these simple but effective strategies within your content.

1) Basic SEO

There is no alternative to having the right keywords embedded within your content, title and descriptions. Search engines will index your website looking for these signs when ranking your content. You have free resources available online which teach you the fundamentals of SEO. It’s important to apply these techniques before publishing your content.

Keep an eye on the following:

• Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
• Proper Formatting of Content
• Keyword Targeted URLs
• Internal Links

2) Slow Loading Website

People searching the web are looking for information immediately and won’t wait for a website to load. If you’re unable to provide searchers information quickly, they will leave and head over to your competitors. Google has made it clear they use “site speed” as a ranking factor within search engines. Having a slow loading website means you lose rankings in the search results, leading to a slimmer chance of people finding you through organic search.

If you’ve produced quality content make sure people can read it by loading it quickly when they need it most.

3) High Quality Link Building

It’s no secret Google uses “backlinks” as a ranking factor, however they must be from authority websites. When building links to your website, make sure you choose high authority websites which are relevant to yours. Spread out your link building campaign by incorporating links from article directories, blogs, forums and through guest posting.

Make proper use of anchor text by inserting your “targeted” keyword each time you building a link to your page. After the recent Google update, it’s a good idea to mix up the anchor text using both targeted and related keywords.

4) Awesome Headlines

When people are searching for content they are very specific in what they’re looking for and pay close attention to keywords within the content title. When writing content, you should focus on enticing the reader into clicking by using “targeted” keywords related to hot topics. When Google displays search results, you’ll be found on a page with other relevant websites. It’s important you stand out, so use headlines which strike a chord with people searching.

Start by performing research looking for high volume keywords you can use to create content. Don’t forget to add these keywords within your title, content, URL and description. Your title will be displayed within the search results so do a quick search using the keyword looking for competition. Create a headline better so you stand out the next time someone does a search.

Useful Resources

Blogging SEO Tips (and pitfalls)

What’s Going to Change in SEO in 2014?

The Best SEO Tools For Keyword Research

The post 4 Reasons You Don’t Get Organic Clicks appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Start With a Problem

The best way to start a how-to post is to put some time aside to do research identifying common problems people are having. You have various tools available which can help with keyword research. Do a quick search focusing on your target keyword and find what people need help with. You can skim through relevant blogs, forums or communities to find questions people have posted and focus your content around them.

Remember, the best how-to content is based on actual problems people have and solutions which are difficult to find.

Break It Down

Now that you have a list of problems people are facing, it’s time to think of a game plan. For example, when you have a problem in mind, write down the sequence of steps that will help you reach the solution. With these smaller points written, you can go through them filling in the gaps while writing. Remember the start and end goal, making sure that each sequence brings you closer to the solution.

This part can be done using your word processor or on a piece of paper. Write down the title and the solution you’re trying to solve, then the points in sequence so you have a guide you can follow.

Writing Process

Writing can be easy as long as you follow the points you wrote down in the last step. Start with an introduction and don’t have a maximum word limit because it will restrict you from going in depth. Make sure you cover everything from start to finish, ensuring you’ve provided what you promised to your readers. Ask yourself this question…

When a visitor lands on this page, will they be able to solve their problem?

If the answer is “Yes”, then you’ve done a great job providing everything they need. However, if the answer is “No”, you need to go back and tweak the content so it provides them what they need and won’t need to go anywhere else.

Review Content

Go back and check the content for spelling and grammar mistakes. The last thing you want is a solution which is not easy to follow because it’s scattered with errors. Give it a critical review from a third perspective making sure it’s easy to follow and you can even add images or videos to make it more exciting.

Ask yourself these questions while reviewing…

• What’s the point of this post?
• What impact will this post have on my readera?
• Will this actually solve my readers’ problem?
• What questions will my readers still be asking at the end of this post?
• Have I clearly communicated what I’m trying to say?

Time to Publish

When you’re done, publish your post and share it on your social profiles. If your content solves a major problem, you’ll have no issues building traction. If you have a network of people within your niche you communicate with, you can ask them to share it on their social profiles too.

Additional Resources

Tips on writing content for your blog

Why Writing a Good Outline Matters

Content Topics and Ideas For Your Blog

The post 5 Steps to Writing Great How-To Content appeared first on The Blog Herald.

Let’s look at the 5 most important factors which will increase your open rate.

Personalized Emails

It’s been proven that emails with a personal touch increase open rates. Much of the success of personalized emails has to do with the psychological aspect which involves “special” treatment that has impacted the way we interact in society. It builds a level of comfort with the recipient, which translates to increased engagement with follow-up messages.

Going forward, always send your email messages including the first & last name of the recipient. You may want to add a short question after the person’s name ,as we are programmed to respond to questions more consciously than anything else.

Send Time

If you can schedule your emails to be sent at the right time, you’ll dramatically increase your email open rates. There is no point in sending emails during times when people are occupied and won’t be able to engage with them. For example, statistically it’s been proven emails sent during 8pm-12am have the highest open rates. During this time people have come home from work, had dinner and have spare time to check personal emails. Anything before that time, their usually busy checking work related emails and would skim through deleting anything that looks like spam.

Image by mailermailer.com

Send Day

Tuesday to Thursday have the highest open rates with weekends having the lowest as people are enjoying time away from home and work. Monday is the first day back to work and people are skimming through their inbox cleaning anything not related to work. If you want to increase your open rates, send emails from Tuesday to Thursday since people spend more time paying attention to other types of messages entering into their inbox.

Email Regularly

Frequent email sending is a great way to build trust and loyalty. When people subscribe to your newsletter, they expect to receive regular updates with quality content. However, many bloggers make the mistake of sending emails once or twice a month which is not frequent enough. Subscribers often forget they opted in to your newsletter so when you finally send a follow-up it gets marked as spam or they unsubscribe.

It’s easy to setup a frequent sending schedule as many ESP’s have the option to schedule follow-up messages. Simply create a few messages and schedule them a few days apart which would put each new subscriber into the sequence when they opt in.

Provide The Best

When emailing your subscribers, send them your best content every time since that’s exactly what they’re looking for. They joined your list because they read content that provided value to them, so it’s important to keep the quality your priority. If subscribers receive content that does not resonate well with them, they’ll unsubscribe and getting them back will be difficult as they don’t trust the quality of your content.

Useful Resources

4 Free Email Subscription Tools to Keep Readers in the Loop

How to Get Your Email Ignored by Influencers

The post 5 Effective Strategies to Increase Email Open Rates appeared first on The Blog Herald.

However, many people don’t utilize social media as a tool in growing their blog because they fail to make use of it the right way. If you don’t know how to create a converting social media campaign, you’ll lose out on enormous growth potential, and your blog will become stagnant.

Implement these strategies into your existing social media to build momentum and increase user engagement, and get results from a winning social media campaign.

Start With a Goal

All campaigns need to have a goal in mind which will help you formulate your plan going forward. A clearly defined goal helps you stay on track and keeps you focused. The biggest problems seen with social media campaigns is people tend to lose sight often investing time and money into the wrong purpose. However, with a goal in mind, you’ll make sure that every action taken on your part compliments the result.

It’s very easy to define your social media goal. Grab a piece of paper and start by writing down your answers to the following questions…

• What am I trying to achieve?
• What type of people am I trying to attract?
• Am I trying to sell a product or service?
• What is my budget?
• Can this be automated?

Share Content

Once you have a clearly defined objective, it’s important to start putting it into action. One of the best ways to increase social media activity is through “high” quality content. It’s important to share only the best content so that people start spread it across social media networks. If all your content is top notch then, you won’t have a problem choosing the right one to circulate across social networks. For those with a few “hot” pieces of content on your blog or website, skim through finding ones that will create a buzz, grow your social profile and increase traffic.

Reason to Engage

Other than high-quality content that resonates well with your readers, it helps to provide an incentive to engage with your content. Top bloggers have done very well by providing free eBooks, special offers & coupons or even access to a limited time program. Beginners in the same niche will often jump at the chance to gain valuable knowledge from experienced bloggers and would be more than happy to share or tweet content in return for an incentive.

Start by analyzing your content and what your blog provides to its readers. You might want to do some keyword research looking for questions relevant to your niche. You can find a trend and develop a product or free eBook answering these questions then offering it to those who share or engage with content, etc on social media.

Analyze, Rinse and Repeat

It’s important to analyze every strategy you implement to find out if it’s working and producing the desired results. When producing a winning social media campaign, you need to have tools in place which will show you what changed since implementing the strategy. Google Analytics has been the tool of choice for many because it gives you a complete breakdown of the traffic, landing pages and most importantly referrals.

 Additional Resources:

Beyond Google: 5 Social Media Strategies for 2014

How Social Media Can Help Create Your Next Blog Post

Social Media’s Biggest Blunders [Infographic]

The post Forming a Winning Social Media Campaign appeared first on The Blog Herald.