A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an Autoresponder That Subscribers Can’t Wait to Open

Email autoresponders are the holy grail of marketing.

You set up a sequence of emails once, and you’re done.

Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of people will get exactly the same emails from you, in the same order.

This allows you to create an unbelievably consistent level of service.

Perhaps the most underrated benefit of autoresponders is that they exist within email marketing, the most profitable channel of marketing.

Capterra found that every one dollar spent on email marketing resulted in $44.25 of revenue. So, not only can autoresponders save you a lot of time, but they can also be extremely effective in driving profit for your business.

Of course, there are two sides to everything, and autoresponders are no exception: they have some limitations.

If you don’t understand these limitations and take appropriate action, you will end up with autoresponders that suck.

Remember that an autoresponder is just a tool. It’s how you use it that counts.

One marketer can achieve amazing long-term success with an autoresponder, while another will never make a sale.

I want you to be in that first group.

And if you follow the five steps in this post, you’ll be well on your way to efficient and effective communication with your email subscribers. 

How does an autoresponder fit into your business

As you might know, there are two main types of emails you can send with any email marketing platform:

• broadcasts
• autoresponders

Broadcast emails are written to your list and sent once at a particular time.

Autoresponders, on the other hand, are all automated. You create a sequence of emails to send to your subscribers after they sign up for a list.

The downside of using broadcasts to email your list is obvious: it takes time—time to create emails on a regular basis.

Sometimes you should use broadcasts—typically for one-time, time-sensitive events and news.

However, a few situations are perfect for autoresponders, and that’s what I’m going to focus on in this post.

Situation #1 – Introduce new subscribers to your content: In a distant past, any new subscriber you got already knew your content and loved it. They had to; otherwise, they would have never filled out a plain opt-in form.

But now, with the use of tactics like content upgrades, blog owners can double, triple, or even quadruple their opt-in rates.

You offer an attractive free bonus in exchange for a reader’s email address. As a result, you get way more opt-ins.

This is great!

However, there’s a downside to this.

A large portion of your subscribers have only read one or two pieces of content on your site.

So while they might like you, they mainly signed up because of the free bonus. In other words, you don’t really have much of a relationship with them.

To fix this, you want to show them your absolute best content that you’ve written over the years.

Blow them away so that they recognize the value you have to offer and let you start building a relationship.

Obviously, you don’t want to have to send each new subscriber an email of your best posts manually.

And since you want to deliver it soon after they sign up, an autoresponder is perfect.

A great example of it is this email you receive from James Clear after you join his email list.

He sends an email early on dedicated to his best articles:

Not only does he show his subscribers his best content, but he also organizes it by category so that the subscriber has the best chance of finding content they are most interested in.

Situation #2 – Create an automated sales funnel: Selling a product through an email sales funnel is a delicate process.

You need to consider the types of emails you send as well as their timing.

With some launches, you have no choice but to send emails manually. If you open and close a course at specific times, you have to stick to broadcasts.

However, if you’re selling a product or service continuously, you can build it right into your autoresponder (which is what I do at NeilPatel.com).

Situation #3 – Use it as a lead magnet course: In general, the more valuable the free bonus you offer to your new subscribers, the more likely they are to opt in.

The most valuable thing that most bloggers could offer would be coaching or consulting help. But giving that away just isn’t viable. Not only would it take a ton of time, you’d sacrifice a lot of profit as well.

However, with an autoresponder, you can provide a fairly good level of coaching or training and automate it.

Email courses are highly valued in many different niches.

Assuming your course is actually good, you get one more benefit: you’ll “train” your subscribers to anticipate and open your emails.

Step 1: Understand the 4 factors that affect open rate over time

Before even thinking about making any sales through email marketing and using autoresponders, you need to get your emails opened.

There are many reasons why subscribers might want to open your emails:

Your name is an obvious one, but it is often messed up, even today.

If you write all the content on your site under your name, your subscribers expect (and want) to get emails from you.

They don’t want to get emails from “support,” “customer service,” or someone else they don’t know even if that person works with you.

People mainly open emails because of relationships, so always send them your emails using a name they know.

Beyond that, four other factors influence long-term open rates (which is what you should be aiming for).

Factor #1 – Enticing subject lines: In a typical email box, a user will see the subject line of an email, followed by the sender.

In certain emails, they will also see the first line of the message, but it’s not as prominent.

Obviously, the subject line matters a lot.

Somewhere around 35% of email users will open emails based on the subject line alone.

So, how do you create a good email subject line?

First, make is short.

Subject lines with 6 to 10 words get the highest open rate.

This is mostly because most email inboxes only show about 10 words at the max before cutting off the rest of the subject line.

The second important part of a good subject line is that it induces some curiosity—it’s interesting.

Here’s where many email marketers mess up.

They see that they can use certain tricks to get great open rates.

For example, if you send an email with “(No subject)” as the subject line, it will get opened by nearly everyone.

But that’s the wrong kind of curiosity.

With tricks like these, the reader opens your emails just to see what they are.

Unless you have the most interesting, compelling content inside, the reader will feel tricked. Tricked readers are not happy ones and won’t be opening your emails much in the future.

If you’re going to use tricks like these, use them very sparingly.

The alternative, and better, option is to send your readers valuable content they are interested in.

If you’re on any of my email lists, you know that I don’t get cute with subject lines. I simply put the name of the post or topic I’m writing about in the email:

Why?

For two main reasons. First, I know you’re already interested in the topics I’m writing about if you’re on my email list. As long as it’s clear that I’m writing about a relevant topic, emails will get opened.

Secondly, I’ve already spent a good amount of time crafting a powerful headline. Because of that, I know that the message will be clear, and there will be some sort of a curiosity gap built-in.

Getting emails opened is not about tricks.

Factor #2 – Your topic matters: Although you may want to send all your most popular posts at once, you can also spread them out over time.

As we’ve discussed, sending information on interesting topics is the best way to build a relationship with your readers and get your emails opened now and in the future.

The best place to get the best email ideas is from your most popular posts.

Go to Google Analytics, and navigate to “Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.”

You’ll see a list of all your posts sorted by pageviews. Make sure that you set the time period to at least the last year.

Use these top posts as your email content, or just give these links to your subscribers. You can be reasonably confident that they will enjoy them just as much as your past visitors did.

Factor #3 – Deliver on your promise: I’ve mentioned that you need to be building a relationship with your subscribers over time.

You need to prove that you can be trusted on an ongoing basis.

As soon as you betray that trust by tricking your subscribers or not living up to your word, you destroy that trust and the relationship.

So yes, sending emails about interesting topics is important. But so is what happens after that.

If I wanted a great open rate for an email, all I would have to do is make a crazy promise in the subject line.

If I delivered, readers would, of course, love it. But if my content didn’t live up to that promise, I would lose a lot of trust immediately.

An email by CoSchedule promised 21 ways to increase an email list by 552%.

That’s a big promise:

Did they deliver?

You bet. You can see so in the comments of the article they linked to in that email:

The next time CoSchedule sends an email, those happy readers will be excited to open it. That’s how you build a relationship.

Factor #4 – Give much more than you take: At the end of the day, email marketing needs to produce sales.

And it can.

But you need to be careful about how often you’re promoting products.

In general, subscribers don’t like pitches, but they don’t mind them as long as the value of your overall communication heavily outweighs the pitches you are sending.

If you look at the emails that someone like Bernadette Jiwa sends, you’ll see they are almost all value, no pitch:

Over time, your subscribers will see that you’re not just trying to make a sale from them, but that you actually care about improving their lives.

Once that barrier of skepticism gets knocked down, your subscribers will start opening your emails without worrying that you’re just trying to profit from them.

Future pitches will be much more welcome because subscribers understand that you want to help them, not take advantage of them.

Step 2: The often misunderstood purpose of emails

The first lesson of all modern copywriting is that you should write to your readers in a conversational tone.

Your blog posts as well as your emails should sound like something you’d send to a friend.

It’s not bad advice, but you need to remember that you can have many different levels of friends.

You wouldn’t talk to someone you’ve just met (even if you liked that person very much) like you would talk to a close friend you’ve known for years.

But, of course, some marketers take this advice way too literally.

They’ll send their new subscribers something like:

Hi (name),

What’s up? Just heading out for the weekend to the cottage! :p

If you’re in San Diego next weekend, let’s grab dinner.

-N

That might be okay if you were writing to a really close friend with whom you talk often.

For a new relationship, this is not even close to being okay. New subscribers would think, “Ummm..okay? What the heck was that?” and be creeped out by it. Unsubscribes would follow.

Bottom line: Be friendly, write in a conversational tone, but remember that there are many stages to a friendship. Your typical email subscriber is a good acquaintance at the most.

Your style reflects you: For some reason, many marketers have a hard time writing good emails.

They write great blog posts, but when it comes to composing an email, they panic and end up producing emails that sound as if a robot wrote them.

Email may be a different from a blog channel, but you should write emails just like you write any of your other content.

Your subscribers opted in because they like how you write.

Why would you change that?

Your emails should both sound and look like you (the way you write on your blog).

Let’s look at an example…

Brian Dean writes in a unique style on Backlinko. He uses extremely short sentences and paragraphs as well as very casual phrases like “I’m pumped”:

You’ll even notice in the above picture that he capitalizes words to add emphasis.

Guess how he writes his emails?

You guessed right—exactly the same way:

He uses short sentences, casual language, and a similar font and even capitalizes “PUMPED!” to add emphasis.

An email doesn’t have to be an announcement: There’s one part of writing a great blog post that is always difficult to overcome.

Blog posts are typically one-sided: the writer writes, and the reader reads.

This can make it difficult to get your readers to engage with your content. Additionally, you can’t build a relationship without having some communication from both sides.

That’s why email is an amazing medium.

It’s designed so that people can respond to your communication—they expect a two-way conversation.

But if all you do is write your content and link to your posts in your autoresponder, you’ll get some replies, but not many.

To fix this, you need to encourage responses and actually reply back to any emails you get. Although this will take time because you can’t automate it, these interactions will help you build strong customer loyalty.

You can encourage a reply by asking your subscriber to either answer a question you pose in your email or let you know something.

For example, in one of the first emails Derek Halpern sends his new subscribers, he asks if there is anything they are struggling with:

He specifically asks his subscribers to reply to him to begin a dialog.

Step 3: You don’t need to sell in your emails

Email is amazing for driving sales, which you probably already know.

The mistake, though, that most marketers make is selling directly in an email.

People don’t really buy in emails.

They discuss ideas, they learn new things, but they don’t buy.

People are wary of email scams these days and don’t want to purchase anything through links placed directly in emails.

So, how do you make money from email marketing if you can’t sell in an email?

You send subscribers to pages, where they can buy safely and confidently.

Essentially, you want to use your emails as a pre-sell to warm up your subscribers before they get sent to a landing page.

That way, they don’t just get a buy button slapped in their face without expecting it.

You can pre-sell in emails in a few main ways.

Option #1 – Link to reviews: If you’re promoting an affiliate product, you can either link directly to a landing page for it, or you can create a review of a certain product and include affiliate links throughout it.

A few weeks ago, Jon Morrow created a new list for subscribers who care about WordPress site speed.

In all his emails about this topic, he linked to a thorough review:

In the article he linked to, there are several affiliate links pointing to the hosting company he is promoting. He gets paid whenever someone signs up through those links:

Option #2 – Link directly to a landing page: Alternatively, you can warm up your subscribers and send them to one of your landing pages.

Talk about the benefits of your product or service, and tell your subscribers that if they want to learn more or to purchase, they can check your landing page.

Instead of feeling tricked or pressured, the subscribers will feel in control. Since you’ve hopefully built a relationship before pitching something, they will typically give your offer a fair shot.

Here’s an example: Peep Laja is a conversion rate expert. When promoting his coaching program, he sent an email with the most important details and benefits of his coaching.

Then, at the bottom of the email, he made it clear that anyone who clicks the link would be going to a landing page about his program.

No one gets tricked, and you still drive a lot of targeted traffic to your landing page.

Step 4: Don’t be the “boring” friend

We talked about the fact that you need to write emails as if you’re writing to a friend.

There’s one part of it that we haven’t looked at:

Don’t you like getting emails from certain friends more than others?

Maybe you wouldn’t tell them that to their face, but I bet you occasionally ignore emails or other types of messages from certain friends (or at least delay your response).

Conversely, you probably get excited when other friends send you a message.

Obviously, you want your autoresponder emails to fall into this second group of emails.

To do so, you need to avoid all the things that your “boring” friends do.

Emails are reserved for value: I realize that everyone is different, but for the most part, email isn’t used for much “chit chat.”

If you want to ask someone about their day, you text them or use some other messaging app.

Over time, you get conditioned to pay attention to those emails that you know will give you some value.

This also means that when you read an email that just wastes your time, you are less likely to open another one from the same sender (your “boring” friend).

Here’s what you shouldn’t do:

• Email frequently about nothing in particular
• Send any email without a point
• Send emails about everyday topics (not of high interest)

My subscribers want to learn about SEO, marketing, and a few other related topics.

Every single one of my emails needs to be about one of those topics.

It’s fine to include some personal details to try to build more of a connection with your subscribers, but you need to always tie those back in with your main topics.

Do you only contact “friends” when you need something? Everyone knows that one person from school or work who only ever talked to their peers when he needed help with something.

The first few times, you’d give that person the benefit of the doubt and just assume they are having an unusually difficult time with something.

However, as time goes on and behavior doesn’t change, you realize that if this person gives you a call, comes up to you, or sends you an email, she wants something.

Don’t be this person.

Everyone gets sick of them at some point and stops giving them any attention.

Instead, be the person who gives others value and offers assistance more often than asks for help.

Fifteen out of the 17 emails in the picture above are asking the subscriber to do something.

If you do that, most subscribers will either unsubscribe soon after they realize what’s going on or just mark your messages as spam.

Step 5: Don’t let your emails lose their impact

There’s one last main problem we need to address.

Have you ever been excited to sign up for a list in the past, only to slowly lose interest?

I know you have because we all have.

As the email sender, you’ll find it’s one of the hardest things to prevent, but it is possible.

Length should match value: When it comes to the length of your communication, you need to consider two aspects.

First is the length of your emails.

Second is the length of your autoresponders.

Despite what some will claim, there’s no perfect length for an email.

The length of your emails should depend on a few key factors:

• How interesting your topic is - the more interesting it is, the more willing people are to read more about it
• What they expect – if you always write short emails, subscribers will expect short emails. Don’t expect long ones to get as much attention as your regular email would.
• What needs to be said - If you’re simply linking to another page that you want your subscribers to visit, less is more. Only include what is necessary to prepare your readers and build up curiosity for that page.

The last point is perhaps the most important.

If you send an email with a lot of fluff in it, you might not realize the problem at first.

Your readers will still read it if the topic is interesting enough.

However, they will lose interest in your emails over time. It will become a chore for them to sort through the junk in order to find the gold.

If you see your open rates decline significantly over time, that means you are driving off your subscribers for one reason or another.

What about the length of your autoresponders?

If you’re offering a course or introduction to your content, your autoresponder has to cover that specific topic.

If it’s a complex topic, it might take 30 emails to cover it.

If it’s a simple product, it might only be a 5- or 7-email series.

Match the complexity of the product and the interest your subscribers have in it with the length of your autoresponder.

If you create an autoresponder course about “how to format a blog post,” don’t send 50 emails.

By the time you get to your third or fourth email on a simple topic, most subscribers will lose interest.

All autoresponders must come to an end: All autoresponders should be about one or two specific topics.

They should be used only for those cases when visitors to your website want to learn about a specific topic and signing up for those targeted emails will give them those answers. 

We just discussed what happens if you send too many emails about a topic.

In addition, if you start talking about different topics, most readers will stop reading your emails.

They’ve learned what you have to offer about topic “A,” and that’s what they wanted. They didn’t ask to learn about topic “B,” which is why they are no longer interested.

Whenever you create an autoresponder, determine the scope of what you’re covering, and divide the material into however many emails you think is necessary.

Then, write those emails. Don’t add more emails to the autoresponder in the hope of automating 100% of your email marketing.

What happens at the end of an autoresponder? You’re probably wondering what happens to these subscribers once they hit the end of an autoresponder.

That’s a great question.

There are two main options that you can use either individually or together.

The simplest option is to move your new subscribers to your main subscriber list. Then, you can continue sending them emails when you publish a new post or want to send out another broadcast email.

If you’re on my main broadcast list on Quick Sprout, for example, you get three emails per week letting you know there’s a new post published.

The second option is to give your autoresponder subscribers the chance to join a new autoresponder.

Instead of assuming that they would also be interested in topic “B,” you can send them an email saying something like:

This is the end of your course, and I hope you got a lot out of it.

I also have a few other free email courses you might be interested in. If you are, just click the link below, and sign up for the one(s) you’re interested in:

1. Email course about topic “B”

2. Email course about topic “C”

3. Email course about topic “D”

I mentioned Jon Morrow in this post. He did something very similar.

He knew that a large portion of his broadcast list is interested in WordPress hosting. So he sent a broadcast email that offered a free email course about this specific topic.

So, although all autoresponders must end, that doesn’t mean that a subscriber couldn’t keep signing up for other autoresponders you’ve created.

They’re an easy way to continue to provide value and generate sales without any repeated effort.

Conclusion

Autoresponders are a fantastic tool for businesses to use in their email marketing.

However, it’s still just a tool.

If you want to get great results, you need to know how to use it properly.

If you follow the principles and concepts that I’ve broken down in the five steps in this article, you’ll be able to create an autoresponder that subscribers enjoy and that actually produces revenue for your business.

Creating a solid autoresponder isn’t easy, so if you have a question about any part of the process, leave it below in a comment, and I’ll try to answer it.

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Effective Strategies to Get More Social Engagements

Of course, getting more engagements on social media is one of the best ways to make your social presence stronger but this is not easy and majority of the people fail to do so. However, they are some great tips and tricks which can be quite helpful for you to achieve the level of engagements that you are looking for in shortest period of time. You can’t boost such engagements overnight but surely you will be to see results very soon. Some of the most important tips are discussed below in this post.

1: Get Your Readers’ Attention

When you are updating your social pages to inform your readers and followers about your newly written articles, you should also add a question or statement which can help you raise enthusiasm in them as in this way, you can describe a particular point from your article which will surely help you increase the number of clicks, comments, likes and shares.

2: Focus on Individual Platforms

There is no need to build your presence everywhere at the same time because this will cause you divide your focus on different directions and you will not be able to focus on a single channel. The best way to get more engagements is to focus on one channel at a time. For example, if you are trying to win Facebook likes and comments, you don’t have to get yourself involved in twitter or other channels at the same time. However, when you have developed a strong presence on one place, you can go to others too.

3: Promotion of Events

Many people throw out lots of links or information which is quite wrong strategy because engagement should not be taken as a way to replicate news in a digital context. You better have promotion services/events on a limited number of posts. You actually need to understand the actual essence of social media and once you understand it, you can get maximum out of it. Give your reader something interesting rather than just the bunch of links pointing to other sites.

4: Recycling Content

There is no harm in recycling your content. For example, if you are posting a piece of content on your page in the first week of September, the same content with little change or with a different image can be reposted in the last week of same month. This may allow you to bring your audience a different experience without making lots of efforts. In this way, if some of your audiences miss out the information in first post, most probably, they will catch it in the second post. However, it is also important to consider what content is doing well on social media.

5: Keep Simple & Short Posts

Majority of the people have been extremely busy in their everyday life. Therefore, you better use just the few but stronger words in your post instead of using large text. Usually large content is ignored by the readers if they are busy but using smaller content usually gets across and gets more engagements. Keep your posts simple, short and interesting to read.

6: Give Promotions to Clients

The use of promotions has been proven to be an effective way to encourage more engagements. Offer your readers, clients or customers freebie or special discounts on sharing your post. If it works, your post can get spread like wild fire throughout popular social networks. You can also give them special promotions at the selling point. If they are delighted to get such a surprise, the chances of engagements will get much higher than the usual.

7: Effective Call-to-Action

If you don’t let your audience know what you are actually trying to get from them, most of them will not understand it. Therefore, it is really important that you tell them directly what you want them and the best way to do this is to create a call-to-action in each post. You can ask them an exclusive question whose answer can be given in comment box or you can simply ask them to visit a link.

8: Reward Your Followers

There must be many followers who have been constantly showing their responses on your posts. Don’t you think they also deserve something more than just the content? Why don’t you reward your fans and followers with a gift card, a T-Shirt or something else? If you do it in a clever way, you can get huge interaction on social media. In addition to engagements, you can also collect their phone numbers and email addresses which can be used later for email marketing.

Author Bio

Katherine Doris is a young social media enthusiastic who also works as professional assignment writers UK. She is an expert blogger and writer and users her skills to promote effective marketing, social media and learning strategies. Follow her on Twitter.

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The Success Factors of Freelancing

Have you ever wondered what it is that causes one freelancer to make more money (based on their claims) than a regular “day job,” while others struggle to make ends meet? Have you ever contemplated freelancing and wondered about those numbers?

I have been doing it for several years, and I didn’t want to have a bias toward what I think is the key success factor. Instead, I went looking for the answer in some journal articles, to see what the research says about the topic and sub-topics. Before covering the research, I want to provide you with the ultimate guide.

The “Ultimate Guide to Freelancing”

If you have any inkling toward becoming a freelancer (if you are not one already), it is a good idea to see what is involved in becoming one. Even if you are just “checking it out,” it helps to understand everything you can about freelancing. This is especially true if you are considering dropping a “day job” to pursue it.

Recently, a friend told me about a great article that was specifically written for the Freelancer, called the Ultimate Guide to Freelancing. It was put together by the team of John Rampton and Murray Newlands at their site, Due.com. The site offers software that helps you to manage projects, time track, and most importantly, invoice your clients. Obviously, these are needed functions for a freelancer, if you want to survive.

I even interviewed John Rampton on the topic and here is that video:

The guide includes many important factors that should be considered before becoming a freelancer, but also a good refresher course if you are already freelancing. I wish that it had existed when I started!

I’d like to highlight a few sections for you but also relate those back to the research that the professionals have done, on the topic of freelancing. This gives some real-life analytical data that supports what the authors of the guide (John and Murray) already know and what they are sharing with you. So, here we go…

What Causes a Freelancer to Be Successful?

In a journal article that appeared in “Journal of Organizational Behavior,” there was a study of freelancers and what the driving factor of success was, according to the research. In fact, the article was called “Drivers of Freelance Career Success” (written by Born and Witteloostuijn). Interestingly, one of their findings was that freelancer success was about environment. That isn’t only the environment (i.e. office space) where the freelancer works, but also the environment that is created by networking and their relationship with clients and other employees.

The researchers determined that freelancers are also a sort of employee, since they do report to a company as a contractor. Even though the article was based on a survey of 1600 freelancers and 51 one-on-one interviews in the Netherlands, there is still quite a bit of relevant results that confirm much of what we have observed.

In the freelancer guide, there is a section that talks about “Setting Up Your Workplace” that also highlights the advantage of being able to work at your favorite place, even a coffee shop. An example of environment not only includes the interaction with the existing client but also your interaction with potential other freelancers that you may meet up with at the coffee shop. This can be a rewarding experience, as well as a networking opportunity. The research supports this within the context of what they observed as the work-life balance that their subjects mentioned.

More recently, I have been studying ”branding” and “messaging” with a little more scrutiny. I have even hired a coach who specializes in that area. One of the things that I am learning that is missed is how to describe oneself, even as a freelancer. For example, you wouldn’t want to only call yourself a “freelancer” when trying to get that gig with the next client. You are likely calling yourself a writer or designer or whatever area it is that you are covering. But, let’s think outside the box and bit and realize what it is that you offer, as far as solution, and also what your value proposition is. Don’t think in terms of job role or title, but think in terms of the “brand of you.” Fortunately, the Freelancer Guide gives you some direction on that in the section called, “Branding Yourself.”

Another important point is that the Ultimate Guide to Freelancing operates as a sort of checklist for you and if you are contemplating whether you want to quit your day job and start freelancing, it also gives you that checklist of considerations. However, you do not have to limit yourself to only the bullet items there. The guide is meant to be digestible and not overwhelming. An example is that I took a step further, personally, in hiring a business coach who specializes in areas like helping a freelancer to brand him or herself. You can do the same, going a step further in any of the topic areas.

Joining a Community of Freelancers (and the benefits)

Another study, appearing in “Qualitative Sociology,” about eight years ago, talked about “Individual Needs Versus Collective Interests: Network Dynamics in the Freelance Editorial Association” (written by Debra Osnowitz). The article was based on the personal experience of the author (one of the founding members), as well as qualitative interviews with six former members). Fortunately, even though it is not considered “current” (by the five-year standards), it still contains relevant and interesting research in the area of freelancing.

The article itself describes the differences between an individual freelancer approaches a gig and how a collective group can assist in many areas. For example, the area of confidence. Though the freelancer may be highly qualified for the gig, he or she may not feel that way, feeling like they are alone and have to represent their skills as an island, all alone. That same person can sometimes be more confident when working as an employee, representing the company where they are employed. With the example of the association, there is that feeling of support, and sometimes that is enough to help the individual to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves and have more confidence. Obviously, this depends on many factors, as well as the personality type of the freelancer.

Sidebar: There may be some confusion in attempting to find “The Freelance Editorial Association.” According to the author of the journal article, the organization no longer exists. Interestingly, there is a professional organization called “Editorial Freelancers Association,” that isn’t the same but matches many of the models and structure, based on the article. In other words, the “good stuff” and it may be worth the look for any freelancers who are editors.

Back on the topic of joining a community…

This fits (in this context) under the category of “Where to Find Work.” The Freelancer Guide has a section on that and lists some great ideas like using specific websites that are set up for that very purpose. These listed freelancer sites are also communities in and of themselves, opportunities to network and meet other professionals as well as bidding for jobs with future clients.

The purpose of a specific community, like the one profiled in the research article, is networking on a specific area and providing community events, meetings, webinars, conferences, etc. This is yet another networking opportunity where you can 1) speak with your peers and encourage each other and work on paid projects together; and 2) get ideas on how to find clients, as well as professional job listings and directories (depending on the community or professional association).

A simple Google search for ”professional association” along with your specific area of interest will help to find a relevant community or association that appeals to you and your needs. Keep in mind that there are likely free communities (i.e. Google Plus Community and Facebook Groups), but the amount of ROI (return on investment) will likely be related to the cost. You may get a better ROI with a small membership fee with some of the professional organizations (associations).

A Project Manager’s View of Freelancing

A little more recently, there was an article in the “PM Network” entitled “So You Want to Freelance” (written by Margaret Rhodes). Many of the recommendations that Ms. Rhodes makes are similar to the Ultimate Guide to Freelancing. She includes such suggestions as “volunteering during the lulls,” and keeping tabs on the continuing education arena, to ensure that you are keeping up with your skill set. (This is also something that a professional association may help with, too).

Speaking of project management, the providers of the Freelancer Guide also have the software that I mentioned above that handles the time tracking for you, as a part of your own project management efforts as a freelancer. By using software like that, you can invoice your clients and not have to mess with the calculations. Your invoices can be set up to include a PayPal payment link for your clients.

In Conclusion

As a bit of a sidebar, before we go, here is a list of startup resources that I helped compile, that will help any freelancer to find tools and resources that can assist them in being more effective and efficient. And, by the way, if you wanted to build on that list, here is an effective way to build a list article: The Quickest and Easiest Way to Create a List Post That Goes Viral by my friend, Dave Schneider of Ninja Outreach.

To review a bit, there are several different aspects to consider before getting into freelancing. Or, if you are already a freelancer, you might want to review these different aspects. An easy, free way to do so is to use the Ultimate Guide to Freelancing as a sort of checklist. You can also read the journal articles above, for in-depth discussions and research. However, sometimes the articles cost money to view, so free might sound like a good alternative.

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What Are The Best Ways to Develop Your Social Media Skill Set?

Most of us are familiar with using social media, whether it’s for connecting with friends and family or finding out more about a company or celebrity. We may therefore be lulled into a false sense of security when we decide to use one or all of the social networking platforms to generate more traffic for our own business.

If you want to use social media as a sales tool however there are fundamental issues you need to know regarding marketing practices, especially if you are going to invest in paid forms of advertising through the social channels. One of the best ways to gain a clear understanding of business and marketing strategies is to undertake a degree. The good news is that while this used to be a full-time undertaking you can now fit a part-time course around your business, other paid work or even family commitments.

Once you have a strong grounding in marketing what is the best way to develop your social media skills?

Learning through Experimentation

Many of us dive in and explore this option. First because it is free and second because we believe it can’t be that difficult to get started. While we may muddle our way through creating our social media profiles, what we forget is that some guidance on how to set them up to best effect would get us off to a better start. In addition, setting up your profiles is only the first step you then have to update them consistently with content which will engage your audience; encourage readers to interact; and finally entice your followers to take a look at what you offer in terms of products and services.

Also, while we may feel this option is free it can in the long run end up costing us a great deal. This is because we have to invest so much of our time and we may also lose potential new customers because our content is not attracting traffic quickly enough.

Attend a Course Run by a Social Media Expert

There is a multitude of courses run by social media experts, both online and in your local community. While these can definitely provide a framework on which to build your marketing strategy it is important to remember that one course won’t provide you with everything you need to know long term. This is partly because social media is constantly evolving and because your knowledge will need to increase over time as you try out new strategies.

However, a course can help you get off to a good start. When you are choosing a tutor ensure you carry out thorough research to make sure they truly are an expert in their field by looking at their own social media profiles and those of clients they have worked with. Also look at their testimonials and see whether they are used to working with business owners at your level of experience. Above all ensure that any teacher is able to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

Learn From Online Experts

The last option, and probably the best over the longer term, is to take time to learn from others across the web, people who have already built successful social media followings.

There are thousands of bloggers and social media sites which offer advice on developing your social media skills. By learning from these people you can progress at your own pace. So when you are first starting out you will need beginner tips and then as your knowledge grows you can utilise more advanced strategies. As outlined above the internet and social media in particular is not a static landscape. Therefore, as changes are made by the social media networks, or when new platforms such as Periscope are introduced, you need to keep up to date so that your profiles remain effective.

Financially this is also the best option as there is no initial outlay, apart from your time spent studying, and at least you know what you are learning can be implemented immediately and will take your marketing strategy in the right direction. Again it’s important to carr
out due diligence to ensure you are learning from sites which can demonstrate their own success.

Which Method Should You Choose?

The first of these three options is probably not the way you want to go if your aim is to be successful relatively quickly. Options two and three both offer advantages when you are first starting out, but option three will carry you through and allow your knowledge to evolve as your business grows. This is definitely the path to take for long term success.

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It’s My Money and I want it Now..

It’s my money & I want it now

We all know that the phony calls promising us millions of dollars are a complete hoax. However a modern con has emerged and it’s taking over people’s bank accounts. This popular scam is called “card cracking” and has been emptying out people’s bank accounts faster than a slot machine. What exactly is it? Criminals are depositing fake checks into victim’s bank accounts in exchange for a small cut of illicit profits. Young folk are being lured via online contests, scholarships, & social media campaigns. The victims often give away their banking information and the fraudsters deposit a fake check, then immediately withdraw money from the ATM. What’s new is criminals are now turning to sites like YouTube to brag about their feats. Rapper Kevin Ford “Kevo” is famous for trying to illicit money via social media. (Source CBS News)

Amazon launches their own Uber.. Kind of.

The lucky city of Seattle is the first to have the new Amazon Flex service. This new system pays part-time drivers to deliver Prime members their orders within one hour. The drivers are paid a modest fee of $18 to $25 dollars an hour, and must provide their own vehicle, smartphone, and pass a security background check. Shifts range from two, four, or eight-hours. The service was inspired by companies like Uber, Lyft, and Favor with the tagline, “Deliver when you want, as much as you want.” The timeline for expansion is not yet posted but the next cities inline include Dallas, Manhattan, Austin, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Portland, and Baltimore. (Source The Verge)

In case you need a Halloween Costume…

The famous dress that broke the internet earlier this year is available for purchase as a Halloween costume. The famous blue and black dress blew people’s minds when the debate gold & white vs. blue & black took to social media. The Halloween costume is split directly in the middle with one set of colors on either side. The dress is $46.95  hopefully people can be a little more creative. (Source HollywoodLife)

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Social Media Can Space Out Your Life

It’s something many of us want – more space.

We try to constantly organize and clean out, but the space just seems to be getting smaller. Whether it’s for your work space at home or office or spaces at home for projects, how can you make the best use of what you’ve got?

Again, just like most of us want more space, money is a factor for many people and you just can’t go out and buy everything to make a perfectly organized, space saving area. So turn to DIY.

With social media, you can find just what will work for you and with a little DIY gumption and a small amount of technique, you can create a beautiful space when you don’t have much room or budget at all.

As the following article looks at, check out these places to find DIY-Space-savers for your work space:

• Pinterest – Well, of course, Pinterest! The trick may be using the right key words, and also knowing that Pinterest creations may not always turn out as they look in the picture. Be strong and know that you can put your own touch on anything; it doesn’t’ have to be exactly like the Pinterest pin. Especially for ideas like this, which involve a space, you are working with what you have, so Pinterest is excellent for inspiration, not necessarily re-creation. Start by creating a board to store all the ideas that you like. Maybe search DIY work space ideas and look at things like containers, storage, colors you like. You can find it all on Pinterest.

• YouTube – When you find an idea you like, you may want to see it actually done, instead of just the finished product. Search YouTube and you’ll find step by step videos on whatever it is that strikes you. You’ll see how easy it is to DIY!

• Check out some of the big names in DIY and their websites – Go take a look at sites and blogs from HGTV and DIYNetwork. You’ll find incredible, easy to do ideas. You’ll also find that inspiration you’re seeking and maybe come up with some great things on your own.

• Put your own social media to use – Ask your Facebook friends and Instagram followers what they do to save space. Your own friends may have some super ideas you can incorporate into your own space.

Make It Your Own

The charm of DIY is not just making it yourself, but also making it your own.

You can take ideas from 10 different projects and turn them into what works perfectly for you, in your space with your budget.

At the end of the day, you’ll be surprised to see what you have around the house that works, and how easy projects can be.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

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5 Things Everyone Should Know About Social Media Marketing

We are now living in the age of social media, and companies that fail to harness the power of this technology are quickly going to find themselves falling behind the competition. While these accounts can be powerful tools when used correctly, there are also a number of legal essentials for a marketer and legal issues that all business owners will need to consider. Here is a closer look at some of the legal issues that can take place when businesses utilize online marketing and how to craft a comprehensive social media policy for your company.

1. Every Social Media Outlet Is Different

There is no single set of rules or laws that cover every single social media outlet. A few of the stipulations in Facebook’s terms of service could actually be quite different than those of LinkedIn or Twitter. Marketers need to carefully review each ToS and ensure that they stick to all guidelines. Even apparently minor issues such as asking customers to share a link to enter them into a raffle could result in a permanent banning of that company’s account.

2. You Cannot Prohibit Negative Reviews

One of the most important legal essentials for marketer to understand is how they can handle negative reviews and when lawyers will be needed to protect them against slander and libel. The primary benefit of social media is the fact that companies can connect with their customers on a personal level, but that also leaves companies open to huge amounts of negative feedback if they are not careful. Business owners and their marketing team will need to read through their own state’s laws to see what can be done to limit bad reviews. Companies that require customers to waive their right to leaving a bad review could face penalties of $10,000 or more.

3. Full Disclosure Is Vital

The Federal Trade Commission is scrambling to keep up with new technology, and this means that new laws are often made well after a major problem has developed. One common mistake made by marketers is not researching how disclosure works when it comes to reviews, how-tos, white papers, and any other form of digital advertising. The FTC has recently revised its Endorsement Guides to include all social media. If you or any other representative of the company pays an individual or offers them free goods/services to write a review or speak about the company in any manner, then both you and the private party must disclose that information in a manner that is clear to the reader.

4. Employees Need Training

From the moment that you hire on your first employee, it is important that you have some training in place that discusses social media. Some cases have come up where employees casting their company in a negative light were legally allowed to do so on public digital forums such as Facebook. Business owners and anyone with access to their social media accounts must make their stance clear on these issues and consider adopting some rules to protect the company’s reputation and property.

5. Understanding Copyrights

Copyrights are much more difficult to understand when it comes to social media. Countless private parties might share photos and music, but that does not mean that companies are allowed to do the same. Even pictures that seem as if they are public property could have been taken and used without asking. Companies that would like to use any form of media including pictures, infographics, songs, sound clips, and GIFs should trace them back to the original owner. Those that fail to acquire the consent of the owner could be looking at huge fines and fees.

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Take a Diet of Social Media for Better Skin

You are what you eat, right?

This old adage may be more spot-on than you know. What you eat truly is reflected in your health, your general well-being, and your appearance.

One of the most apparent things about your appearance is the way your diet is reflected in your skin.

And if you are looking for some great tips on what to eat and what not to eat to keep healthy, glowing, youthful skin, take a look at social media.

Finding out the Truth

Sometimes it’s hard to weed out the nonsense from the truth when skimming around on the Internet and social media, but by searching smartly, you can find what you’re looking for.

As the following article looks at, finding easy diet tips for great skin is pretty easy itself.

Basic Diet Tips for Beautiful Skin

Among the factors to keep in mind:

• Drink water – You hear this all the time pertaining to so many aspects of health, and skin is a major one that water will affect. Any bit of dehydration will sap your skin of its radiance, making fine lines more apparent. Keep a big bottle of water with you at all times. It doesn’t have to be fancy; straight from the tap is more than fine. The key to how much is that you should never be thirsty, some recommend six to eight glasses a day; some say it goes more towards body weight;

• Eat colorful food – And that means fruits and veggies, not processed and artificially dyed foods! When you begin your social media search, you’ll see all kinds of vitamins and minerals listed for healthy skin. One of the easiest ways to get all of them is eat the colors of the rainbow – grapes, strawberries, broccoli, carrots, kiwi, berries, sweet potatoes, bell peppers – your skin’s color will be healthy and radiant;

• Don’t do the wrong stuff – Smoking, drinking, over dieting can all sap your skin of its beauty by drying it out and depleting it of what it needs. Be kind to your skin and feed it lovingly.

Using Social Media

Social media is full of excellent health and wellness sources and you can find so much information on diet and skin by taking a little look:

• Be a liker – Like social media pages of your favorite sites and you’ll see them more often. If you have a favorite site or two; like them on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll get great articles direct to your social media and you won’t have to search;

• Ask questions on Twitter with hashtags – If you want to know the best foods or what’s bad to eat, ask on Twitter. For instance #skinandchocolate may get more feedback than you’ve ever thought;

• Read blogs – Blogs are such great sources of information. Check out some of your favorites on a regular basis or have them sent directly to your inbox.

Social media is so much more than a place to share your vacation photos. You can get loads of information; ask questions and share recipes and tips.

Use your social media and before you know it, your skin will be glowing.

Oh yeah, fill up that water bottle before you settle in to your social media search!

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

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Today’s Biz and Buzz

THE STORY – Volkswagen…Again

Volkswagen cannot get a break. After the emissions scandal, CEO Martin Winterkon stepping down and a new CEO being named, you would think they’ve had enough.

What to say when the investigation begins…

German prosecutors said they have launched an investigation on Winterkon. Someone who was probably a little upset with the company complained that he should be responsible for the whole scandal. Whether this person was upset with his resign or if they already had some bad blood is not known but Winterkon should be worried. (Source: The New York Times)

DA SKIM

If Winterkon is found guilty of fraud, he could face up to 10 years in prison. In the meantime, new CEO, Matthias Mueller, has a lot of work to do considering shares have gone down an additional 7% and 11 million vehicles have been manipulated. (Source: CNN)

Quote of the Day: “Sales have been phenomenal, take that Android!”

The day finally arrived and the iPhone 6S was released. Analysts, or psychics, predicted the new iPhone to sell between 12 million and 13 million during the first weekend aiming to beat the previous record of 10 million in 2014. Apple achieved their goal and sold over 13 million. Tim Cook said, “Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history.” Apple is happy. Customers are happy. Win-win for everyone. (Source: Reuters)

In case you missed it…

Everyone freaked out Sunday night over the Super Blood Moon. The event that only happens every 32 years was taking over Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter feeds. In case the clouds were blocking your view or you were sleeping, don’t worry you can go check it out on Snapchat Live.

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Social SEO Simplified: How to Optimize for the “Other” Search Engines

Do you want to compete with the best SEOs in the world?

It might be fun, but chances are you’ll either get crushed or have very slow success.

But that’s exactly what you’re doing when you try to rank for keywords on Google.

Sure, you can go after long-tail keywords to avoid the sharks, but you’ll still have some decent competition.

But what if you could go back in time when SEO wasn’t so evolved? You would be able to rapidly rank for terms and grow your organic traffic.

And although I can’t help you with time travel, I can help you find similar scenarios in the present that could deliver far better results than your current SEO strategy.

What am I talking about?

I’m talking about spending less time focusing on Google. Why? Because that’s where 99% of SEOs spend their time.

I’m talking about taking advantage of ranking for the “other” search engines—the ones on social media sites.

I’ve seen very few marketers and SEOs take full advantage of these opportunities, which means two things:

• Less competition – it’s much easier to beat out amateurs and hobbyists who are accidentally ranking for terms than it is professional SEOs
• Simpler rankings – since there aren’t a ton of people trying to manipulate search results, their algorithms don’t need to be as sophisticated as Google’s.

In this post, I’m going to show you how you can take advantage of these search engines. 

Why ignoring social media means missing a big opportunity

I know what you’re thinking…

Google is the only search engine big enough to be worth focusing on.

It’s true, Google is massive.

Google gets about 40,000 searches per second, which is around 3.5 billion searches per day.

Obviously, Google is the largest search engine.

The misconception, however, is that social search engines aren’t large themselves.

Take Twitter, for instance, which gets an impressive 2.1 billion queries per day. That’s not far behind Google.

Consider that Facebook reached 1 billion searches per day back in 2012, which has only grown since then.

And finally, YouTube—the largest video site—gets over 3 billion searches per month. It may not be as big as the others, but 3 billion searches is still a lot.

Other social sites also get millions of searches per day.

Although those are small fractions of what Google gets, all you need is a small percent of that traffic to build and sustain a very successful business.

One caveat: I’ll admit, social search traffic is different from Google search traffic. A large percentage of the searches performed are meeting the needs of people on a particular network—they are not traffic generators.

However, as I’ll show you later, there are still other types of searches on these networks that can be used to grow traffic to your site if you optimize for them.

There are some networks that are better for some types of businesses than others, but I’ll make those clear when the time comes.

1. Facebook has invested in search, so take advantage of it

Facebook is all about connection.

Users connect to friends, things they like, and communities on the biggest social media site by far.

It’s really hard to convert Facebook’s search traffic into traffic for your own business, but it can be done.

Facebook SEO for local business: Local businesses, particularly entertainment businesses, need to be on Facebook.

A significant portion of Facebook’s daily searches, billions of them, is used to find local businesses.

Users look for businesses for a few main reasons:

• to read reviews
• to get recent and upcoming deals, news, etc.
• to get more details (hours of operation, location, etc.)

Getting found in Facebook’s search results can get you immediate business. In addition, if you are active on the platform, you can often get the searcher to “like” your page.

This means that you have another follower that you can market your business to in the future.

Let’s look at an example…

Pretend that our user either lives in Chicago or is visiting the city. They are looking for a nearby pizza place, so they search for “pizza Chicago”:

Facebook’s algorithm understands that our searcher isn’t looking for people, photos, or groups, so all the top results are “pages” or “places.”

Note that if someone just types in “pizza,” Facebook will return results in the city they live in.

There are a few things to note in these results:

• Reviews are not king - The top result has the worst rating of the top 5 results at 3.8 out of 5. While high ratings are probably better for conversions once someone is on your business’ page, they are not mandatory for high rankings.

• Likes are also not king - Similarly, the second result has an amazing 340,000 likes, but it ranks below the page that has 3,700 likes. If likes were a huge part of the algorithm, this wouldn’t have happened.
• Facebook understands location - Facebook knows that “Chicago” in the search refers to a location, not a name. Even though the second result doesn’t have “Chicago” in the title, it ranks because its locations are in Chicago.

Reviews, likes, and having the exact search phrase in your title are all likely ranking factors, and they do count. However, it’s likely that they only count for a bit, and the benefit of having more quickly yields diminishing results.

Make sure to get a few hundred reviews and a few thousand likes, and you’ll likely come close to maxing out the effect they will have on your rankings.

The main factor, for local businesses, is location.

Unfortunately, this isn’t very easy to change. If you do have a business with a flexible address or are considering a location change, change your address on Facebook and see how that changes the way your business shows up in the results.

Search for “(your business type) + city”, and study the results.

An alternative strategy is to add a longer-tailed keyword to your business.

For example, instead of calling your page “Chicago Pizza,” you could call it “Chicago Pizza – Deep Dish Pizza and more.”

Looking at the search results for “Chicago deep dish pizza,” you can see that they are less competitive (pages have fewer reviews and likes):

Despite being a much easier keyword to target, it still likely gets a good search volume.

A quick check in the Keyword Planner reveals that it gets about a third of the volume of “Chicago Pizza”:

If you’re just starting out on Facebook, it will take time to get hundreds of reviews and likes. However, you can target a simpler keyword in your title and on your page (mention a few times) and still get some organic Facebook traffic to your page.

For non-local businesses, there are groups: Beyond people and local businesses, there is one other main thing that Facebook users search for—interests.

The first thing a new user does is search their favorite topic. Most of those searches will bring up a combination of groups and topic pages.

If you can rank highly for a relevant search in your niche, you can then funnel that traffic back to your website.

Here’s the plan:

Create a group or page in your niche around a popular interest, and rank for the main search term. Then, include a link in the page/group description back to your website, and periodically include links in your posts.

It might sound a bit complicated, but it’s very simple. Let’s walk through it.

If a Facebook user is interested in marketing, they might search for “content marketing” in the search bar.

All of the top results in this case are groups. For other searches, the results may contain pages in addition to the groups:

Groups are pages, where any group member can create a post. The creator of the group serves both as a regular member and as a moderator (can choose who gets to join the group and can remove posts).

While the number of members for each group may not seem very impressive, you can regularly drive thousands of visits a month to your site with just a few hundred active members.

These groups have two main components.

First, there is a group description on the right sidebar, where you could potentially put a link back to your site (if done tastefully).

This is the main place, other than your title, where you can include keywords. Note that “content marketing” appears three times in the above description.

The other main part of groups are posts, which can be made by any member.

Although it would make sense for groups with more engagement to rank higher in the search results, this doesn’t seem to be the case (perhaps in the future). Plenty of groups full of spam rank highly for broad terms.

You have two main options to take advantage of search traffic that leads to groups:

1. Create your own for a niche community, and build it up
2. Join groups already ranking high for your main keywords, be active, and then drop links back to your website occasionally

If you do make your own page, how do you get it to rank high?

The group search engine is very primitive and seems to focus mainly on:

• keyword in title
• keyword in page description
• number of members

The search results are terrible, i.e., irrelevant, for broad keywords such as “marketing,” so try to get more specific. Put your keyword in your group’s or page’s title as well as a few times in your page description.

It will take some work initially to grow your membership. However, once you get a few hundred members who regularly participate in the group, it will take less active work on your part to maintain the growth.

2. The 2 tactics behind Twitter search success

I’ll admit, it took me some time to understand Twitter. You might still be struggling with the platform, but once you do understand it, you’ll see that it can help almost any business.

The Twitter search engine is often used to look for other people to connect with, but not as often as Facebook’s.

The Twitter search engine is mainly used for two things, and you can use both of them to get more followers and, subsequently, more traffic to your website.

Tweeting about trending topics: Twitter is built so that great Tweets can quickly spread, while all the rest fade away.

This is why Twitter is one of the best ways to find what topics are trending in the online world.

Users of Twitter are naturally curious about what is trending, so they either click the trending hashtag or search for it.

When signed into Twitter, you can see a sidebar section just for trending hashtags:

The bar will show you trending tweets in your country. If you want to see trends in another country, use a tool such as this.

Just click the name of the country you’re interested in on the right sidebar, and it will load the current top 10 trending tweets:

Tons of people search for those trending hashtags.

When someone searches for a trending topic, they see results like these:

They will see the tweets that mention the trend—in this case, “Jorge Posada”—either in the text itself or in a hashtag.

The cool thing is that someone who searches that topic will see all the tweets about it, even by those who don’t have many followers.

If you want to get in front of an audience right away, this is an opportunity.

To take advantage of trending topics, you need to tweet about things that include one of those trends. However, you need to relate them to your business/niche.

Obviously, you can’t do this for all hashtags. But the idea is that if a lot of people see your tweet, at least a few of them will also be interested in your niche and could then follow you.

Assuming you have a social media strategy, you will be able to get your Twitter followers to go to your site later.

Twitter is run by hashtags: The other thing that people use Twitter to search for are hashtags.

Again, someone searching for a hashtag will see all recent tweets with that hashtag, no matter who made them. The only SEO that you have to do is strategically include hashtags in your tweets.

Your goal should be to include 1-3 hashtags for each tweet you make. They also need to be popular enough that people actually search for them, which means that you should keep them broad.

To find hashtags that are good for your business, use a free tool like Hashtagify.me. Search for your general niche:

The tool will show you other popular relevant hashtags:

Write down any that apply to your regular tweets, and include them when you get a chance.

There’s one more way to take advantage of hashtag searches.

When you search for a hashtag, the first results are often photos:

People obviously click on these; otherwise, Twitter wouldn’t prioritize them in the search results.

These can drive direct traffic to your site, and all you need to do is include relevant hashtags along with a title and link:

See that time stamp above? Even though this picture tweet was made 24 hours ago, it’s still showing up at the top of the results. That’s simply because the vast majority of tweets are text-based, not picture-based.

To take advantage of Twitter search traffic, tweet regularly: What you’ll quickly notice is that most tweets are short-lived unless they get re-tweeted a bunch of times.

I scrolled down about 30 tweets in the marketing hashtag results and got to posts that were only 9 hours old.

Very few people will search a hashtag and go past the first few results.

This means that it’s important to stay on top.

Other than trying to get re-tweets, the way you do this is by posting often.

You should tweet at least 3 times per day and test tweeting even more frequently. You can use social media tools to schedule all your tweets at once to save time.

3. LinkedIn is for thought leaders and finding clients

If you are a freelancer or B2B service provider, you have a lot of opportunity to market yourself on LinkedIn.

In addition to using the search engine to find people to connect with, people also use it to find potential people and companies to hire.

Some good LinkedIn optimization can lead to high paying clients down the road, which is why it’s so valuable.

Here’s an example. Let’s say a small business owner is looking for SEO help. He goes on LinkedIn and searches for “SEO consultant”:

Right away, you can notice that keywords are huge on LinkedIn. However, there isn’t too much of an advantage to have the exact phrase “SEO Consultant.”

It probably is still better, but as long as you have the words “SEO” and “Consultant” somewhere in your profile, you could still show up in the search results.

LinkedIn bolds all the keywords searched in the results.

In addition, if you click any of the results, LinkedIn highlights all the keywords on the person’s profile page:

Start by optimizing your profile: In order to show up in any search results, you need to have the right keywords in the right place.

LinkedIn shows your listing in the results if you have your keywords in three places:

• Your personal job description
• Your current job title
• Your past job titles

Obviously, having a keyword in your past job titles may make a prospect think that you’re not doing that kind of work anymore, so we’ll ignore that.

First, let’s pick some good keywords to target. It will depend on your niche, but try to include commonly searched for words such as:

• Freelance and freelancer
• Consultant
• Specialist
• Coach
• Strategist

To edit your professional description, view your profile while you are logged in, and click the pencil icon beside it:

This is the most important area of your profile. It shows up right under your name in search results.

You may not be able to do much with your current section, which lists your company name.

However, if you can find a way to incorporate a keyword into your current company, it can help you rank.

Get more profile views by connecting: You may have noticed one other thing about those search results, which is that they show how closely connected you are with someone:

It makes sense from LinkedIn’s point of view. If someone is looking to hire someone, they probably want to hire someone they know or who is trusted by someone in their network.

If you’re connected with someone, you’re their “1st” connection and will rank higher as long as you also have the keyword.

To take advantage of this:

• Connect to everyone you know
• Accept all requests, even if you don’t know them (you’ll show up higher for other people in their networks)
• Look for opportunities to connect with people with a lot of followers (like bloggers that you’ve emailed or connected with through comments)

Or…connect to the right people: You can also take a much more tactical approach by targeting people with certain job descriptions.

For example, if you were a freelance SEO or writer, you’d typically be hired by marketing directors. Luckily, you can type in “marketing director” in the search bar, and then explore the top suggested results.

Then, you have a few options:

• Just send a connection request
• Send them an Inmail message

If you have a related job (like a freelancer to a marketer), most people will just accept the request. However, you do run the risk of being marked as a spammer if you do it too much, so be careful.

“Inmail” is LinkedIn’s internal messaging system. You can pay to send anyone a message even if you’re not connected with them.

You could ask them to connect, explaining that you’re trying to grow your network. This will eliminate the risk of being flagged. If they say no, leave them alone.

4. Not surprisingly, Google+ has a search function that beats the rest

Google+ is not as big as Facebook, but it’s probably the better social network from a user experience point of view.

One of its better aspects is its search engine—for discovering new content. This should probably be expected, considering it is Google after all. However, it’s nowhere near as complex as the real Google algorithm, so don’t be scared about doing some SEO.

Users can search for their favorite topics, e.g., “content marketing”:

They get a nice collection of people, pages, and mainly recent posts. Since the posts make up such a large portion of the page, focus your efforts there.

Keywords are still important: First and foremost, you need to mention the keywords in your post if you want to be shown to searchers.

Start each post you create on Google+ with a description, where you can type whatever you want.

Then, you can attach pictures or links, and the title and the description will also be shown.

You should include important keywords in both the description and any content you link to (choose the titles of your content carefully beforehand):

One mention is good, but two or three is even better.

Always include tags: You can add hashtags to your post descriptions, just like on Twitter. Similarly, if you include the individual keywords searched as separate hashtags, they will be highlighted for the searcher:

Add hashtags to your description to help your rankings and to stand out more to searchers on the network.

Google+ also makes it really easy to find hashtags.

Search for your main niche, and then click on any of the hashtags that show up. Google will load the search results for that hashtag.

In addition, in the top left, there will be a box with a ton of popular relevant hashtags. Use these whenever you can in your descriptions.

Plus ones and shares matter: As you might have guessed, time is an important ranking factor.

On any social network, users want to see content that is new, so new posts are prioritized.

But unlike Twitter, which displays information mostly in chronological order, Google+ relies on much more than time to determine which posts to show to searchers.

We’ve already looked at keywords and hashtags, but the popularity of the posts also matters.

Here’s an example:

These two posts were by different people, who shared the same piece of content.

Although one was almost a day older, it still showed up side by side with the other one. The main reason for that is because the older one had a lot more engagement. The left one had zero engagement, but the right one had 38 plus ones and 6 shares at the time.

You can see the number of plus ones, comments, and shares at the bottom of each post.

This last ranking factor you can’t do too much about.

At first, when you have only a few connections on the network, you won’t get much engagement.

But if you plan to incorporate Google+ into your social media marketing strategy, you will get more engagement over time as you grow your network, so be patient.

5. For video content, YouTube is #1

One of the biggest sentiments I hear when it comes to social media is that “social media isn’t right for my business.”

Many platforms might not be, but YouTube is a platform where even “boring” niches come to life.

You can find multiple videos with hundreds of thousands of views about drywall—as boring a topic as it gets.

Ranking well on YouTube will not only get your video a lot of views from internal searches but it will also help you show up on Google. YouTube videos rank incredibly well on Google.

Considering how much videos stand out in Google’s search results, they also get good click-through rates, even when ranking in spots #4-6.

Keyword research has two functions: When picking keywords to target with your videos, you want to target those keywords that not only get searched on YouTube but that also get shown in Google’s video results.

There are 5 main types of keywords that typically have video results in Google:

• How-to keywords (“How to shave a cat”)
• Reviews (“Bluehost review”)
• Tutorials (“Setting up WordPress”)
• Anything fitness or sports related (“Cardio kickboxing”)
• Funny videos (“Cute animals”)

Include words related to those searches (e.g., “how to”, “review”, “tutorial”) wherever possible in your video title, which is the most important ranking factor.

Become an authority: In Google searches, content of the sites with a high domain authority ranks easier. Google knows that searchers trust the people behind the site, so it ranks their content better.

The same goes for YouTube videos. As you make more and more high quality videos and get subscribers, views, etc., your videos will start to rank easier and faster because YouTube will know that you make videos people generally like.

Take full advantage of your description: YouTube doesn’t know what’s in your video, and it’s not changing anytime soon. That is why basic keyword optimization is so important here.

You have two main places where you can include keywords:

• The video title
• The video description

You can also include keywords in the video file name, but it doesn’t make sense for that to be a significant ranking factor.

Here are some things to keep in mind for your description:

• Include links to your site (convert viewers into email subscribers)
• Include main keyword and secondary keyword(s) in the first 1-3 sentences
• Don’t stuff your keyword, but aim for 3-4 mentions in a 200-word description

User experience is crucial for ranking: Another way that YouTube can tell if people like a video is whether or not people interact with it.

Years ago, YouTube ranked videos purely on views, but those are easily faked with a bot or a gig on Fiverr.

Now, YouTube can tell which views are fake, partly by how much of the video was watched.

It’s unnatural for most viewers to watch a small fraction of the video. Or it could also mean that the video sucks.

YouTube provides a statistics panel that shows how many people make it to different parts of your video:

If your average view duration is 50% or more, that’s pretty good, but it doesn’t hurt to aim for a higher percentage.

You can also see other engagement statistics:

How do you take advantage of this?

Well, make great videos in the first place—that’s the most important factor. But you can also improve your videos by listening to the comments people leave.

If a comment says that your intro is too long or your video has volume problems, it’s likely that many other viewers thought the same and abandoned the video early.

Don’t forget your tags: While you are uploading a video, you can also add tags to it. These don’t play a very big part in ranking but are still worth quickly adding:

Conclusion

I hope you recognize the potential of ranking highly on social media networks.

It’s much easier than ranking for searches on Google and can still produce worthwhile results.

Your business probably isn’t suited to all of the networks I went over in this article, but it’s probably suited to at least one.

Your first step, if you haven’t already done it, is to create a social media marketing plan, which will tell you which networks to target.

If you also optimize your posts and profiles according to this post, you will get better results and get them faster.

If you’ve had some good results from performing SEO on a social network, please share your story in a comment below.

from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1iEZd4S via transformational marketing
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