Cloud Marketing is the way to take you to the top quickly with great organic growth and super sales for your very own internet business.
Why does Cloud marketing work
First of all let’s define the cloud. If you are new to this style of operation you may be very confused talking of clouds and other mystery words. The internet cloud is simply where you host your own material for access by anyone. Probably the best-known cloud is EMail. Yep, your everyday email is hosted in a cloud. With some minor exceptions, but let’s move on. What about your Website, where is that garaged for everyone to access. Amazon has hosting sites all over the world and you could be in any one of them. I found an interesting article by Ingrid Burrington a writer based in New York that explains somethings and you can read about AWS Data centres here
Therefore email , websites, google, facebook LinkedIn etc are all cloud based services that you can use to market.
The cloud is just a short description of something you can’t see or hold
Yep, there are so many things in the cloud that we could not list them all. but think;
Clouds may be limited to a single organization (enterprise clouds,) be available to many organizations (public cloud,) or a combination of both (hybrid cloud.) The largest public cloud is Amazon AWS.
Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economies of scale.
So how does Marketing come into the cloud?
Nearly everything we do these days is cloud based. in the olden days of Marketing we used Yellow pages, postal service, letter box drops, hand shake meetings all one on one type situations. Now we use Email, Social media, Web Marketing and all things cloud to interact. It is so much more fun, cheaper and quicker to the market.
So if you want to learn cloud marketing here is the answer.
What is Affiliate Marketing Online about and can you still make money? Here Peter Hanley takes you from learning to earning without spending a penny.
Marketing for others
First of all affiliate marketing is bigger than it has ever been, there is no end of opportunities and many people just like you are earning or making big incomes. Six and seven figure incomes and we will take you there as you read on.
Affiliate marketing is selling someone elses product and getting a percentage of the profit. Your job is simply to introduce the buyer and sit back and enjoy the income. You might call it refferal selling or introduction fee or even a Kickback it is all the same thing wrapped up in a trendy word.
The biggest and most well-known affiliate program belongs to Amazon. You join Amazon, market the products and get paid. The percentage may be small but the opportunities are great. Don’t be fooled by the word Amazon, yes they have $5 products but they have $100,000 products as well
Affiliates generally have a webpage
It might be a webpage or Facebook page or even Instagram just somewhere to promote a product by pushing buyers through to a seller.
When you apply for an affiliate program and are accepted you will be supplied with marketing Links and material to promote their products.
Your links contain your affiliate code so the seller recognises this and credits you with the sale.
In affiliate marketing size counts
This is mostly true because making 5% on a $10 product does not compare to making 5% on a $500 product. Same effort but a hugely different result.
The size of the earn also makes a difference because 5% on $500 does not go near 40% on $$500. Both variables you can achieve.
Then there is repeat buyers who take a monthly subscription on a service and stay for years so you get paid a percentage every month.
And finally you wrap this all into one product and you have a triple decker income. good discount, reasonable price and billed monthly for years to come.
I have thrown these example in just to show you two watches, same supplier different prices. The good part of this is if someone links through your page and selects any watch or in fact product you get paid on the sale
Getting excited yet on Affiliate sales?
Now starts the journey
One program I really like is a triple decker product that also gets you high in the knowledge graph. Amazon run a University course that is probably worth the investment once you have a few fundementals in place.
Well you should be because we haven’t really got into this yet. I have used Amazon as my first example because it is the best known program but it is busy and competetive and has some down sides.
Amazon does not accept everyone
To become an affiliate for Amazon or in fact anyone you need to prove that you have the ability to direct traffic to their site. In fact if you have sold nothing in 3 months you get booted out, gone, all over. Well almost.
So how do you get traffic?
Website or Facebook or paid avertising?
There are many ways to get traffic to Amazon and these may include,
A WebPage or Funnel
Doing product reviews
Facebook or Instagram
Paying for advertising
handing out flyers
Writing blogs
Target an audience group by networking
This is not an endless list but you really need a Webpage to start so how do you go about that without spending any of your hard earned. You are also going to need some training on the basics because it is not a walk in the park if you really want to make some money you must have some idea of the basics.
Basic Amazon training available here
You can enjoy some training here that is supplied free by Wealthy Affiliate if you like what you see then simply sign on for a free service.
They will also give you a free website to start your journey and help you along the way. Plus you can sell Wealthy affiliate as an affiliate and make money, not a bad deal and as yet you have not spent a cracker.
They will tell you how to get accepted by Amazon and what you need to do.
Lots more affiliate sites
There are just so many, thousands upon thousands all over the world Looking for your help, they want you promoting their products and willing to pay good money along the way. Can you make a living out of promoting other peoples products? Yes you sure can work from anywhere and at your own time
You really need to be online
By building a Blog site, a funnel or a Website and attending to Social media you are part the way there. It is not all easy if you are new to being online but everything is at hand to teach you more and to open your eyes to a much wider world.
Amazon competes with you
Not always your friend
I am raving on Amazon a bit to much because they are the best known site but they are becoming harder to compete with because they are in the market. Nearly 55% of people will go straight to Amazon to buy direct and not to your site when they know what they want. Just 28% use search engines and 16% retail sites ( sept 2016 figures).
Doing product review for Amazon
Now, this is an interesting idea that can be a gain/ gain for you. Product reviews really work. They say that over 80% of people trust product reviews before even there friends. So you want to buy an Apple watch but is it better than Samsung which is cheaper and can link to Apple. Taking info from Google you write a review recommending one over the other and having a link to your affiliate program. Now read this carefully because you may have been here before. The Samsung people probably won’t believe that Apple is best or vice-versa> Both products are linked so it matters not which one they buy, it only matters they buy from your link.
Reviews draw the search engine lookers
It is no mystery doing reviews work and to take that a step further dong Youtube reviews probably work even better. Youtube is now the second largest search engine available and it is not all that hard. Anyone can do it with a bit of training
Using Youtube for Affiliate marketing
Seach engine
This certainly can get the juices going but again I emphasise you need some basic training. It is basically another channel to use. I use Noble Samurai and am in the Affiliate program because they stand the test of time in providing a reliable and great Video program.
My take on affiliate programs
Amazon is competetive, very low margins, demanding and ultra strict. Break the rules and walk the plank JVZoo , Warrior+, Clickbank, etc are low value products with high refunds. Another site gives a good rundown on many of these I chose the site at random but he has done the work for you .
In conclusion give yourself a chance of success and join Wealthy affiliate. do some training, find out the good and the bad and move on.
Here we look at Popup plugin WordPress. I have tried quite a few of these without success and here I explain my choice and why.
Warning you are in popup territory
First of all, what is a popup? When on a webpage an unsolicited message will jump out in front of you. It might be a full page a Thumbnail in the middle, slide from either side, scroll down from the top usually making you an Offer or asking a question.
Many websites use them for a variety of reasons and many companies provide the way forward with paid and unpaid Popups.
What do Popups really want
Attention-grabbing is the principal aim of any popup. When something is thrust in front of you the idea is you respond to the offer or make a decision.
Question popup as an example
Here is an example that was taken at random. Used on adult sites or age-related material. Ok. everyone probably presses yes but liability moves from receiver to sender. Clever.
Then the discount offer
What about the discount offer as a last minute attention grabber. If you are a fence sitter this will surely grab your attention and lead you to buy.
Example only
example
We could go on with examples but you will have seen quite a few if you have been on a website recently what we want to look at is why.
A nice way to wave a client goodbye after they have paid for the product. Customer touch is everything and this is really a nice one
The reasons for a popup
Attention-getting
a great offer
Perhaps a Thank you note
Go to checkout
You may also like?
Send to another site
Improve your SEO
Improve your SEO with a popup
Two of the critical factors in Website SEO are the time on a site and clicks and this grabs both. On this site alone I reduced the drop out rate down from 90% to just 20% and the click through up by over 100%
What Popup did I use?
As I used several products from IM Income labs I chose a basic one of theirs. Traffic up. Yes, there is an upfront payment and I would go for the unlimited version at about $16.99. One time payment as many sites as you wish. They offer a real 30-day money back guarantee and it is so simple to use. If you are going to an affiliate site your clicks will be so many more, therefore, increasing your opportunity to make money.
Customer Relationship Management is an important part of marketing in any business and here Peter Hanley looks at several key touch points.
Ignore your customers at your peril
Have you looked at the big stores and thought they do a lot of promotion but I can’t afford that? I suppose you may have even though they waste a lot of money and it makes no difference to you? Let me tell you they do it because it works. There is a choice in all areas so why do we stay loyal and mostly to one store?
Loyalty rewards cards
Letterbox drop
Facebook
email
Billboards
Websites
Consider why you go to one store and not another and what has affected you and then think what can you do better. Further discussion on emails here.
My Loyalty is divided
Certainly, loyalty cards and programs have a major contributing factor to the shopping experience. However, value or novelty still pulls you away to the other side.
Coles and Woolworths compete in our town for the shopping dollar. Coles have Flybys and Woolies their own card which is pretty ordinary. There are a few other outlets but these are the main two. A friend of mine loves Coles because of Flybys and only shops there. Until Woolies introduced a must-have novelty pack that was all the rage. Woolworths sales went up for that time but most went back.
I drive a little further to get Coffee because of one free after nine coffees. The thought is just to buy a couple more and I get a free one as I drive by three other outlets.
Recently I was in a hurry and stopped at one closer to home, the customer experience was really good as they joked and laughed with me. What happened? I still need to buy more coffee to get a free one as my loyalty changed to customer service.
Service and satisfaction will win out every time
That is called good customer relations but it still needs to be underpinned with other contact elements.
Therefore, what are the things you can do to support the customer?
A bi-weekly or monthly newsletter by email Cheap and easy to do.
In-store programmes to encourage joining.
win a hamper, evening tutorial, survey
Birthday wishes by email
SMS reminders
Facebook marketing
All social media channels
Know your customers
A golden rule is to know and understand your customers. You market to buyers, not to lookers and this is done by market analysis. Understand every customer and put them in lists within lists so you can target them on a regular basis
Channel marketing rules
Marketing can be done cheaply but it is expensive time-wise so you should concentrate on one channel until it is working.
When your target is varied and mature email is great. Facebook demographic has moved out past millenniums so the over 35 s are still there. The younger 20-35 have generally moved to Instagram as a media of choice.
For younger groups target the parents.
Consistency is the main rule of marketing especially Social Media
It can never be too often but it can be done blandly and without interest.
I understand there is also mainstream advertising like Radio, TV and Press but leave that to the big spenders. If you want to spend money think FaceBook and retargeting as the place to be.
You are lucky in the days of Social Media
It is very easy to brand with Instagram and Facebook and follow the followers. It requires a daily posting of unique content that has readership interest.
In Summary
Keep in contact with your customers regularly. Email, Facebook, linkedIn, Instagram. Provide a great customer experience with service. Loyalty programmes work Use branded giveaways or other gifts.
Reading Time: 6minutes The art of a sale is explained with details here by a true proffessional that delivers real value for everyone.
Reading Time: 6minutes
The Art of a sale is cloaked in mystery to many but the procedure is relatively simple as explained by Peter Hanley in this easy to follow post.
It matters not what you are selling, it is how you sell that matters.
We all get sold to everyday. What is important is that we don’t all buy every day. So what is the difference?
We buy from people we like
Mostly only what we want
It is always for a reason
Price is not a consideration
Trust is important
Know, like and Trust
First of all we need to look at the art of the introduction.
Whether it is a quick sale or a drawn-out process the procedure is the same therefor only altered by time.
Let me run an example. You are introduced to someone at a Barbeque that maybe needs what you are selling. You introduce yourself and chat about generalities and drop where you work or chat about products but there is no selling. perhaps you might follow up the next day or week and reintroduce yourself and suggest you may have something of interest. Then you are known because you met at the Bar-b, liked because you shared a Beer and trusted because you have mutual friends. If you went straight into a sales pitch you are dead in the water. Hey Jim, nice to meet you how about you buy some Life Insurance from me.
Perhaps your introduction goes down the line of meeting Brian, he is looking for some car tyres perhaps you can help. Now you fast track the situation by giving some background to build your credentials. Then establish their need and promise them to follow up with some great stuff tomorrow. perhaps I can help you with a deal.
In the first example, your purpose is to create a need for the product in the second a solution.
I only tell you this because you need to create like and trust before any selling is possible.
Creating attention in a sale
Many buyers have a small attention span as their mind wanders around a store looking for someting else to stimulate them.
This is when you need to keep their interest high by including them in the converstion.
You do this by asking relevant questions. Do you want High performance tyres or Price based plodders?
I believe Michellin are best but would you be happy with kumo?
Asking the right questions and listening to the answers is a skill. Remember it is not about you, focus on their needs and wants and find that buying signal to take them forward. ” My mate just got Kumos and he reckons they are great, so now pushing Michies is a waste of time, change tack and continue, “Off-road or performance” and etc.
This is also a step for
Setting up small decission steps in a sale
They call them soft yesses, the more times they say Yes the easier the final one will be.
Is that your Beemer out the front? Love the colour did you choose it? How many miles / Klms did you get from the tyres, are you happy with that?
Have you heard of Michelin tyres? They come with a great history don’t you think? BMW insist on a high-performance rating tyre and as a true believer, I bet you have to agree.
I have dumbed this down becuse your business is like no other it is just that the rules are the same.
People buy for various reasons.
Fear. Insurance
Prestige Mercedes
Quality Toyota
Reputation Tag Heuers
Money Aldi
Time-saving Home delivery
Location 7-11 local
What is your client looking for, ask the questions and drill down to a few simple conclusions before pushing the point.
Beware, buyers are liars, they don’t mean to be they want to be sold so they keep their cards close. Have you ever done this?
Remember the price is forgotten long before the value is realised so don’t sell on price.
Price is a closer not an opener.
The soft yes, If I could get it for you at $x would we have a deal?
The Cooper Tyres will give you a 100,000 Klms while the Sumo only about 30,000 As a result which way are you leaning? There are however closing signs if you ask the right questions. He responds “my mate bought Kumos and he loves them” You would say “did he get a good price” and then it is about prestige. Everyone loves to Oneup there mates on price, game over.
My most important sales tip ever
Now, this is one any experienced sales person has encountered. It is an awful moment of realisation that you have just messed up, big time.
Your customer says yes so you continue to sell benefits and explaining how good it is. Then you see a thunder cloud come over their face and they say, “Look I need to think about this a little more.”
The customer and the sale are gone forever. There is no coming back.
So when the customer says yes then shut the frig up! and process the sale. Chat about the Weather the kids’ anything except what you are selling.
It has happened to me, the point of no return as your stomach shrinks at the moment you realise you just lost a sale and there is no going back.
The art of Storytelling
Story telling is a sales strategy
” I was reading an article recently about Alby Mangles the explorer and danger man. He was in outback Africa and blew three of the four tyres on the Jeep he was thrashing. It was the second set that had gone in as many days and he desperately wanted something better. This little old African man, all five foot of him, looked him up and down and said to Alby ” that’s really pretty dumb trying to get those soft on road tyres to last in amongst the conditions out here. What you need is these great Out of Africa road grips that will get you to Capetown and Back without a problem.” What choice does Alby have? The sale is made. By the way, I have some in stock want to have a look?
Today I was actually in a tyre store to get a couple of tyres, I knew what I wanted so the discussion came down to price and price only. Well, that’s what I thought. The tyre guy walked me to the car and went to the little tyre plate inside the front door where he said, ” In a BMW x5 you must have a special speed rated tyre as written or you will get a humming noise in certain conditions, have you ever noticed that? Well yes, actually I have I replied. Therefore the Tyres you need are a hundred Bucks more but they stop mechanical damage to your front end. I paid the extra and went out knowing I had the best quality and the fear of damage was satisfied.
Treat every sale as an opportunity to help.
I went to the hardware shop recently to buy some Gate Hinges, bolts, nuts etc to fix a problem with a loose hanger. Told the guy what I wanted and he asked what I was trying to do. The screws in the hinge have come loose and no matter what I do I can’t fix them, So I am going to replace them all. Because he was an older guy, probably an ex Carpenter I listened and he said, Just put a driver in your drill and hit the current screws with a quick drill blast and the problem is fixed.
The guy was correct it worked a treat, hence I saved on the hinges and he missed that sale for the day. Especially relevant is what he got, however, was my return business forevermore.
Selling is a true Art
Finally treat your role with a Professional approach no matter what you are selling. Furthermore, It will pay you handsome returns for caring and sharing with people that will continue to Like and trust you, therefore, they will recommend you to others.
The whole business comes back to the fundamentals of know, like and trust and when you realise these simple rules your life will be one of success. In conclusion, the Author Peter Hanley has over 50 years in selling experience in all manner of products and loves to share this with you on his home page at Newbusinessonline.
It seems like yesterday when there was no Google but it also seems like it has been with us forever. here Peter Hanley looks at how old is Google?
Google comes of age
It was way back in in September of 1998 when google.com was first launched as a project to the public.
Born from an idea by Sean Page and Sergey Brin a couple of Stanford PhD nerds that google was initially a university site. Interestingly it was not the first nor the last but it has certainly claimed the top spot. The first was called Archie and the product of Alam Emtar of Mc Gill Uni in Montreal some 10 years prior in 1990.
Other to enter the frames in the early days were AOL and Yahoo with AOL dominating the US market
Other interesting bits are they bought YouTube and a couple of non-starters in 2006 for a reported 1.65 Billion in stock so they were pretty cashed up by then
The name comes losely from the power of 10 to the 100th
Google plus has been a hit and miss project and Youtube was run as a separate company so it is a situation of staying with what you do well and do it well. With an exception in owning the Android operating system.
So 21 years later Google is a household name following the Verb to Google first used in 2002 in the Movie Buffy and the Vampire Killer. It is now probably one of the best-known phrases used.
What would we do without Google?
How many times a day do we look up something we really need the answer to that before was Impossible.
What did we do with the Encyclopedias that came every year and lined a wall with volumes of Solid covered reading?
What amuses me is that some people have to immediately jump to google when there is any doubt in a discussion. I don’t care how much an elephant weighs I only care that they are big.
Google is not always correct. When I started this post I searched early Google and found many dates wrongly presented. I had to go to the higher authority to confirm them for my post. Wikipedia
Now, what with Google home we can even talk to our Google assistant and get the feed back we need.
This thirst for knowledge has taken over with the need for instant feedback. An answer to any quesrtion in seconds so Quiz nights have to ban phones.
Not quite so old is Wealthy Affiliate a site set up to train you on everything internet. Like Google it is free so you can get instant answers to many questions.
How to Set up a website Maybe a Shopify style site Do your own SEO Prepare sales Funnels Email for business WordPress5 Make money on the line affiliate Marketing Work From Home
That’s just a little on what can be achieved on the Internet and you can be the next Google LOL or at least working independently online
Remember that great movie way back in 1998 with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? Yes, it is 21 years ago so some of you were not sending mail back then and most likely can’t remember the movie. It was a love story and around the start of emailing when it was all a bit personal. But Boy gets the girl so all ends well. I mention this because now 21 years later what has changed? When I look at my emails today none are from Meg Ryan, unfortunately, but I have about 80 from others that want my attention. Here we look at getting notices with email
Here we start a journey
The two most important features in an email have nothing to do with the subject.
Who the Email is from, do they know you?
The subject line or attention getter
Think of your own daily experience with emails. You most likely quickly scan the list looking at the sender’s name. If it gets your attention then we go to the subject line and make a decision, do we open this or not? The average open rate based on the UK experience across all categories is just 19.8% and interestingly this has only changed marginally over the past couple of years. Most noteworthy is that this is to a known audience, not random emails.
First of all is getting known
This all happens early in the series when you introduce your self, your company and what you want to achieve. No selling whatever. I liken it to meeting someone at an event or even a party and firing off into a sales pitch. no one wants that. So your first email is a shake and greet nothing more. At the party, you have exchanged names and pleasantries when the subject of “What do you do for a living” comes up.
Your answer is general in nature about your role in the company and what they supply, perhaps an address and phone number nothing more. We are at a party, not a sales conference.
The next days you catch up and are known and what you do is in line with there needs. You might say Have you had a look at such and such, got some good deals on at the moment are you interested or will I keep you in the loop. The point here is by now you are known, liked and trusted and If they want a deal it will be with you. Your emails are the same.
It is different with your Newsletters or touch emails.
You are already known liked and trusted and done the hard yards, but they are busy people and they can’t be bothered with trivia. You only get one shot so it better be good. Remember the trust thing could last forever the new subject line but a few seconds
Breaking down a subject line
`A direct benefit How will opening the email get them something they want?
Curiosity, my favourite but you can also combine it with News or self Interest
Scarcity, but it must be real, limited quantities, deadlines etc
News, Something that is new to the reader
Social Proof, comparing what other people have done
Story; The start of a story blended with curiosity
Humanity issues
Thanks to Ryan Deiss the Invisible Selling Machine
Any of these can be used to invite the reader in. I did a recent post saying “You have been Pwned.” This blends curiosity, news and social proof embedded in the body. An open rate of nearly 40% double the national average.
Here are a few examples under the headings
Get your business funded in 2019. A benefit
My favourite marketing tool. Curiosity
50 % Sale ends in one day. Urgency
Will 2019 be better than 2018? News
All my customers loved this. Social interest
Did you hear Google+ is closing and why? Story
Merry Christmas to you from? Humanity
All this before they read a word
Email marketing is a lengthy subject because it is so varied.
The training at Wealthy Affiliate has many episodes on all aspects of email and one in particular, Creating unbelievable value is a must read. free and no obligation
Email works as well today as it ever has only the strategies have changed. Customer contact is necessary so keep it up with email.
Here Peter Hanley looks at Money problem solutions and ways to work your way past the poverty trap and feeling like a loser.
Money problems happen to us all
Never feel alone in this, a large part of the population experience some king of financial pain either often or at least occassionally.
Let’s not confuse this with Desire problems and lack of money. We all want a better house, car or holiday and this never stops. Even the very rich want to go out on a limb and express an extravagant need, Plane, Yacht or even a supermodel.
We need to live within our means to stop money problems.
When you can’t pay the rent, buy the kids school shoes or eat at the end of the week you have to change something.
So what are your choices?
Change jobs
Get a side hustle
Take on overtime
Reduce expenses
Alter your lifestyle
Re-home the pets
Have an emergency savings account
Everyone has different needs
It should be accepted that we can only generalise here because we are all different whilst being the same. I often notice that those with less often have lots of pets, Dog, a couple of cats, rabbit whatever the need but they do have a big associated cost. Certainly I am not against animals, in fact, have always had one because they are good for you. I talk to my cat a lot and get great feedback and enjoy her company but there is a cost. Food, litter, treats, vet bills, immunisation and even council fees to register her. Works out to be about $1000 or more a year ( at the least) after-tax money. Two cats and a dog are going to cost you in the region of $5000 a year after tax money or say $7500 a year in earnings.
Cut out the extravagances off life.
Having a couple of cups of coffee a day. Where I live a takeaway coffer is about $4 so my annual coffee bill could be just on $3000. If I only use my Nespresso machine my cost comes down to just on $500 for nearly the same experience. George Clooney might be on to something here.
Snacks, cool drink and other sweet bits
You don’t need them, they are not good for you they mean more Doctor and Dentist visits and another couple of grand without affecting your lifestyle.
First of all I am no matyr in this and as guilty as anyone but I do try and be reasonable with my excesses particularly relating to health. So if you are not annoyed with me by now let’sts move on.
What can be done with your day job?
Should you have no choices for change then you need to consider another occupation. It is understood and in addition it does not always seem possible but let’s look at some alternatives.
Ask for a pay rise! Importantly don’t ask because you need more money ask because you are good at your job and you will contribute to better results for the firm. Work some extra hours, a bit of overtime always helps. Do some training to step up to a new position. There is online training for anything these days and mostly for free. Bonuses for performance, tips, gratuities and other cash forms are all a help.
So let’s talk about a second Job
Weekend work generally pays well and stops your spending at the same time. There are all sorts of examples from stocking shelves in supermarkets to Waiting on tables on peak days.
A great new opportunity is in Air tasking if that is available in your area. Work out what you can do and go for it.
You can make things and sell them online or at local markets There is always an opportunity to pick up trash from others and turn it into treasure.
Online income is not a fable, it is possible and profitable but like anything else requires effort. The best possible start to this is a free course of study at The Wealthy Affiliate. Here you will find many ways to make money and the opportunity to even quit your day job.
Your online experience can make you money
The online community is very broad and no one person can know it all . Targeting one part of this can lead to many opportunies for making money>
Before you start get some grounding on how it all works.
Wealthy Affiliate is a starting point for all online opportunities and is free to start, free to learn and set up your own website, one monthly prise should you ever want to upgrade and no upsells ever. Qualified training
In conclusion I say manage your money daily
Have different accounts
Save enough for three months of living and put that aside in an account that you don’t raid on binge days. This is your back up for crisis times and should not be used for any other reason.
Then save a little for social activities and holidays in a separate account that can be used along the way.
Furthermore do a cash budget and work to it.
I know that credit Cards can be great but the debt is unforgiving at extremes of Interest that no one can afford, cut them up but if necessary just maybe leave one for emergencies but pay it back in time.
The after pay trap. This is a new experience and like credit cards can cost you everything. However, my wife uses after pay for present shopping online. We have a bundle of Kids and grandkids so always a birthday around the corner. Shopping early and planning the payments works really well but you must not miss a payment.
Finally living in debt is a terrible time, therefor take the necessary steps to avoid it at all costs.
Blog writing is hard to start and not everyone is a natural writer so here Peter Hanley looks at Blog writing tips for beginners and seasoned writers.
The most important parts of a Blog
Keyword and Niche
Traffic target
Subject line
Pictures
Headings and sub headings
Number of words
Spelling
Content
Links internal External
Positive writing
Short sentences
Yoast SEO
Ok that’s a big list so let’s break it down
Keyword Niche, Traffic and the subject line do make a difference.
As an example, my niche is Small business and internet marketing. I needed a Keyword that described my subject and then needed to check if anyone would read it. Then I searched for the right balance of traffic and competition and settled on Blog writing tips. You should always use a Keyword tool and the free one at Jaaxy does the job. As a result, I know that this Keyword will get traffic of about 132 clicks a month so not bad but it is quite competitive to get to page one. ( see Jaaxy link below)
Are Pictures important in a blog or just a waste of space?
First up it is good to start with a feature image, something that provides instant attention-grabbing on the subject because you only have seconds to get them to read.
Next is to place visuals to pull the reader to attention and keep them on the site just a little longer
Remember it is important to use the Alt text box with your Keyword.
Headings and sub headings can make all the difference
Again designed to draw attention for the fast readers who like to scan the page looking for excitement. You should have no more than 300 words betwen headings.
Headings go down in size. Start with an H1 or H2 then range down using smaller sizes. I like H3 for mine with a H4 sub if need be.
An interesting aside that may help
As I wrote this I suddenly realised I should go back and check my headings. Especially relevant was that I found them all to be boring. It is an easy habit to get into so I went back and put a bit of padding or interest in them.
Looking for inspiration
How many words should ther be in a blog?
The jury may be out on this. Yoast SEO will say at least 300 but more is best. My understanding from the successful bloggers I know anything under 1000 is not enough. 1500 is a good target. I currently aim for +1000 and at this stage of the post am about half way so a bit of reading to go.
One thing that is certain is that short sentences and short pagragraphs are essention
Those dreaded spelling mistakes should just not be.
Google SEO hates spelling mistakes. Your readers will turn away with even minor blemishes yet your fingers are not always perfect . Mistakes will be made.
TaDa, along came Grammarly to save the day
The good part is that Grammarly.com is a free product, yes you can upgrade to Pro at any time but the basic free product is really very good. I did a web site search yesterday looking for mistakes and there was not a registerd spelling mistake. That for an old bloke who is a really poor speller is remarkable.
Your free spell checker
This is particularly good for those that English is not a first language as it picks up Grammar and spelling offering suggestions.
We really do recommend this product to anyone who is writing .
The content of your blog is not important!
OK, I don’t really mean that of course it is important but most of the above items are more important. You can have the best blog on the net but if no one reads it your time is all wasted. When writing a Blog and after I have done my Keyword research I like to put my headlines in first. Then writing is easy as you fill in the spaces. You can finish at any time and come back and make changes. In this case I listed out the subjects and then created my headings.
Google does love lists so don’t be afrain to employ them at any opportunity.
Links are important to your SEO.
There are internal links where you link to either another part of your post or another blog you have written that has a refference to your current article. It may provide more information or fill in a subject. External links go to an Outside source or what they call Authority links. An example could be Wikipedia to explain something.
How you do your links is really important to keep your reader.
This is not well explained in most teaching on the subject but is really important because you can lose your reader. Let me explain. When you go page hopping your attention can be caught on all sorts of new stuff then when they opt out they are gone.
If you choose Open in new Tab on your link they will automatically come back to your site so they can resume reading. Wikipedia on links With an online link, the three dots have it.
This is even more important if you link to Facebook, we all get lost in really interesting must-read stuff and our whole attention is gone. I love FacebookInstagram and all the others but I don’t want you wandering off, you are mine until I deliver my sales pitch. What? I am selling something. No, actually I am about to give something away that will benefit you for years to come.Therefore just keep going down the page.
Be positive in your writing for better results
Especially releant is this one is the hardest for me and takes me time to correct when I have finished the post or Blog. I have just done a test using Yoast SEO and today I have passed the test, a bonus. SEO demands you are positive about your subject and not wishy-washy.
Furthemore, you can search Google for this or have a look at this article that explains the art of positive writing
Yoast SEO and your writing
I can not do without Yoast SEO as a Word Press plugin. Because other than making sure your template is correct he marks your writing.
Transission list Tick
Paragraph list Tick
Sentence words Tick
passive Voice Tick
Fesch reading score ( over 80)
Subheading distibution Tick.
It is not always like this on a first run
Keyword and meta phrase is included.
I promised you a bonus and I am about to deliver.
The first is learning more on this subject and everthing Internet
Finally my recommendation is a product I use every single day. I host my site, I join the discussions, I search for answers and you can do it for free
The next is the Keyword Tool
Life does not get easier and cheaper searching Keywords, the most important part of your blog.
In conclusion, never start without a Keyword check. you may be wasting your time.
Peter Hanley has nearly 200 posts on small business and Internet marketing.
Peter Hanley
