How to Maximize Your Blog’s Potential

Whether you’re building a blog as a means of launching your own business, using it as a promotional tool to display your freelance portfolio, or even creating a new social media hub, it can be tricky getting the right people to see it.

It’s important to regularly accrue new visitors to your blog, and it’s even more important to keep them coming back. Having recurring visitors will transform your blog from a one-person show to a vibrant community.

Know your Audience

The first step is perhaps one of the most important.

Before you even write your first blog post, take a minute to sit back and think about who your target audience is. Who you’re talking to will affect everything from the tone you use to what the layout you pick and the subjects you cover.

Decide what you want to talk about and who is most likely to be interested in hearing about it. Then, tailor your posts to directly engage with your target demographic on a meaningful level.

Keep Post Sizes in Mind

Once you know your audience, try to figure out the best average post length for yourself.

Generally, blog readers like posts that feel substantial without feeling too long. A paragraph or two might feel like there’s no valuable content, but somewhere around 500-700 words is generally a good length. Anything too long, you risk losing the reader.

But all of this will depend on your readers. Check similar, popular blogs and see what kinds of posts your ideal readers are responding well to.

Tag your Posts

These days, many popular blogging sites like WordPress offer the ability to tag posts, similarly to Twitter’s hashtag.

Tagging your posts is important not only to make your site easier to navigate (allowing readers to only view posts about a certain topic), but it will make your blog easier to find to potential readers searching for what you’re talking about.

It’s important to tag the most accurate, relevant things about a post. Tagging one-hundred different terms will just become a mess, but using specific, targeted key words will drive visitors to your site.

Foster a Sense of Community

You may be the one writing the blog posts, but the readers who follow your work are the ones who will keep you afloat. Actively engage with the readers to create a true sense of community.

Don’t be afraid to ask them what kind of posts they’d like to see in the future. As always, you’re the editor, the owner, and have the final say on what you will or won’t do, but being able to tailor your content specifically to the readers will keep them coming back.

Consider other ways of interacting as well. You can have relevant polls on your blog, and ask questions about what your readers think. Encourage people to comment and help shape the community themselves.

Reply to Comments

Step four goes hand-in-hand with step five.

Building a sense of community means nothing if you’re not actively a part of that community. Whenever possible, engage with the people who are leaving comments and share in the joy of the discussion.

It may be best to leave negative comments alone, as that kind of thing can quickly explode and drive people away, but do comment with any productive, helpful, or friendly thoughts you have wherever possible and help to encourage people to talk more.

Give People a Way to Subscribe

You could potentially lose out on a good portion of recurring readers just because they leave your page and don’t easily find a way back. There are a thousand other things to do on the Internet and you can’t always compete with that.

What you have to do is find a way to make yourself as accessible as possible, instead.

There are a few different ways to handle subscriptions. You could put a link on your site that will let people easily subscribe to an RSS feed, or you could set up a mailing list so that people get an e-mail any time something new is posted.

Sites like WordPress also offer built-in subscriptions for readers, so it’s just a matter of finding the widget and adding it to your blog’s layout.

Keep Track of Statistics

Take the time to either familiarize yourself with your blog’s built-in statistic tools, or find one (like StatCounter) that you can add to the code of your page, if your blog doesn’t have one already.

These statistics provide valuable insight into who your readers are. With these tools, you can see at a glance what posts are attracting the most attention and what search terms people are using to find your blog. You can also find out what isn’t working.

With this information at hand, you can tailor your future posts to capitalize on your successes.

How to Build and Develop a Passive Income Website

For those of you interested in making money from home, this is accomplished by building abusiness from home.

Most people never accomplish making significant money from home because they treat their online making money endeavors as a “hobby” and never as a “business.”

Once you make that distinction and start treating your online endeavors and results as your primary source of income, you will see that the way you treat your time in front of the computer starts to become much more constructive.

So let’s start slow. What kind of a business can you build and work on from home to make passive income? One of the simplest ones is building websites designed to generate traffic from search engines that are monetized with Google Adsense.

Most people who have dabbled in home entrepreneurship have made at least a couple of sites like this.

So how exactly does this passive income website work? Well the first step is to pick a topic about something that interests you (something like photography, watches, gardening…it could be anything!).

Once you know what you’d like to build a website about, it is time to start doing keyword research. Go to the Google Keyword Tool and look up the global monthly search volume of all keywords related to your topic (make sure the setting is set to “exact” and not “broad”).

Then go to SpyFu.com and look up what the average Cost-Per-Click is for the main topic keyword. An example would be:

Photography Lessons: 5,400 global monthly searches per month

Photography: $2.00 average CPC

Once you have these two pieces of data for the keyword you’re researching, we can determine how much a website ranking in spot #1 for a keyword will make from Google Adsense Ads. How? By using this formula:

(keyword global monthly searches per month) * (average CPC of keyword category) * (0.42) * (0.64) * (0.04)

The 0.42 is the percentage of visitors that will land on a page ranked #1 in Google’s search results, the 0.64 is the percentage of the CPC that Google will give to the owner of the website that is monetized with Google Adsense, and the 0.04 is the average percentage of website visitors that will click on an Ad.

Therefore, when you multiply all those numbers together, you get a good idea of how much passive income a website will make for a keyword. So let’s take that same example:

(5,400) * (2.00) * (0.42) * (0.64) * (0.04) = $116.12

A webpage ranking #1 for “photography lessons” would make $116.12 dollars per month in passive income if it were monetized with Google Adsense.

The next step is to take that database of keywords, and find out which ones are easily rankable in Google through competition analysis. I analyze the top 4 current ranking websites for each keyword and determine if that keyword is worth targeting based on the current websites’ pagerank (there is more information about that strategy on my website). Any keywords that are too difficult to rank for are crossed off the list.

Next, take any keywords that will make less than $20 per month in passive income and cross those keywords off the list. Your goal for a website you are just starting out on is to find enough keywords where the total amount of income will add up to at least $500 per month in passive income.

Once you have that final list of keywords, you build out your website with each page of that website targeting one of the keywords on the list. Then you start your link building campaign with the goal of getting every single page on that website to rank #1 for that keyword within the next six months.

That is how you build a passive income business. Through calculated keyword research and competition analysis.

Once you have a portfolio of websites all ranking for several keywords, that is when thisbusiness becomes really exciting.

Your efforts to increase your traffic to your websites multiply exponentially because your websites are already somewhat established, and you can start experimenting with different monetization techniques that generally result in MUCH higher earnings per visitor.

What other tips would you share to develop a passive income website? Share with us!

5 Tools to Create Your Website

Have you been smothered with so many online success stories that you are thinking about starting something online yourself? With all the big named stories and biographies, it can sometimes be intimidating with just the thought of starting.

It is simply sad to see a good idea go to waste because they were just afraid to start.

With all the apps and tools available online, creating your first website has never been easier. Below is a collection of tools that could definitely help create and kickstart your online presence through a website.

Backgrounds

Websites have changed quite a bit over the past years and nothing is more important than a nice clean, no intrusive background. This also differs from site to site as we are all trying to sell different services and products. But for starters, a nice website background is key.

Service: SubtlePatterns

Like most good things, choosing the right background color, tone, style takes time. The website features an online collection of backgrounds submitted in by designers and is a great online resource amongst designers and developers. Designers submitting their backgrounds find it is a way of giving back to the next generation of designers/developers, therefore everything is free on the site.

Icons

Whether it be your logo or the small details on your site, icons have never played a more important role in websites. An image which is easily understood and in the end, eases navigation for your customers. Sometimes the perfect icon is all that is necessary. No text required!

Service: IconFinder | TheNounProject

For colored and more jazzed up icons, IconFinder plays the perfect role for your website. Search the site with specific keywords of icons that you are looking for and tada . . . it works like magic.

The Noun Project is also another decent site that I would like to recommend. With a very clean and clear way to project information, the site has created an online visual language for everyone to understand. A collection of symbols and icons to quickly deliver messages across. Great tool for websites in need of great user navigation.

Fonts

Have you seen a great website get killed just because of the font it uses? Too many colors seemingly blinking into your eyes? Most commonly used techniques to test this is through Photoshop or firebug, but this can be too work intensive and time costly.

Service: WhatFont Tool

The WhatFont tool has created one of the easiest ways to find out how certain fonts will work on your site. Simply click and download and you are done! Now go to your website and click WhatFont button and select any font you want.

Photos

The perfect photo on your homepage could make or break your website. So many have wondered why customers are staying on their website. Little do they know, first impressions are everything. It’s the same thing with advertising. A great advertisement has great pictures. Anything less, and users quickly become uninterested even though you have great content.

Choosing the perfect picture or uploading the perfect picture could also be risky. Have you ever gone to a website and it just simple takes too long to load? Most of the reasons are due to the large image sizes. People are still stuck to the fact that quality images means you need to upload a larger file sized image. This is untrue and is clearly explained by this service.

Service: JPEGmini

Their slogan ‘your photos on a diet’ helps reduce file sizes but not image quality. Play around with the slider on their homepage and you will spot that there is no difference in the 2 images even though the files clearly have different file sizes, thus lowering the time it takes to load up the image.

Load Time

Keeping on topic of website load times, this could potentially be a make or break for your customers. If keeping customers on your site is key, then load time is key. This is crucial both for your customers and for Google. Having a better load time means your website loads faster and is not stuck on loading some image, javascript or codes.

Service: Pingdom 

With an easy to use interface, users simply enter in their website domains and within a few seconds, they make complicated issues easy to understand. The analysis will show you everything form loadtime (in seconds), page size, performance grades, files loads etc.

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What other tools do you use for your website? Share with us in the comments!

5 Things To Pratice For Effective Communication Skills

Having effective communication skills is imperative for your success. Positive communication will certainly increase the opportunities you find in your career and business. Having good communication skills will enable you to get ahead in certain areas where others who are less assertive may not succeed. A few things to keep your eyes on while practicing the fine art of communication are:

Body Language

Do not shy away from the person with whom you are speaking. Be sure to maintain a relaxed, but not slouching posture, regardless whether you are the one speaking or listening. Other things that ensure your body is communicating your attentiveness to the conversation can include:

• Making eye contact.
• Nodding occasionally to acknowledge a strong point in the conversation.
• Standing with hands clasped in front of you, never crossing your arms.
• Not displaying nervous ticks such as wringing hands, picking at your nails, or anything that the person communicating with you will view as a distraction from their conversation.

Speech and Attentiveness

When speaking, you need to be clear and concise. Speak on important matters directly and do not waste time with long drawn out stories that will cause your listener’s mind to wander. Make sure you ask whether they understand, and be willing to further explain any of your points. Do not expect someone to just “know” what you are saying, even if it is crystal clear in your own mind.

In addition, one of the most important aspects of verbal communication is the ability to practice active listening. This is not just actively waiting to talk. Always make mental notes of key points when someone is speaking to you. That way once you are given a chance to speak, you can respond to the most vital issues being dealt with. When others are speaking, try to think about the exact words that they are saying. If you practice this, you will comprehend and contain 75 percent more of the information that you hear.

Communication Consistency

Maybe your weakness is in the quality or quantity with which you communicate to your employees. Communication seems to have dwindled to superficial small talk. Great communicators practice the ability of consistent communication by remaining available. Do not be afraid to be the one who voices any concerns or difficulties. However, ensure that you are practicing open and honest communication with those who may depend on you. Be available and bold with tact.

Be sure to leave communication lines open to those who may need to address problems with you. You will find that you prevent the small issues that normally have the habit of becoming large ones by making those in your life aware that you are open to discussing issues at any time.

Patience

During your communications with others always give them time to communicate their issues as well. Remaining focused on what they are trying to communicate will show them that you are indeed open to assisting with their issues. Many of people’s communication lines tend to break down on the side where impatience is in a rush to get out of the conversation. Since you cannot control the other side, do yourself a favor and take a breath. The conversation you’re involved in is important.

If you are confused as to what someone may be requesting, than repeat back to him or her what you think they said and ask if that is correct. Often this will inspire the speaker to be more in-depth about their needs, which will help you to understand them fully.

Practicing Effective Communication Skills

If someone has communicated a need or an issue to you, then your main priority should be to aid him or her in repairing the problem. Following up on an issue is the only way to convince others whom you need to communicate with that you have listened to them and that their problems or issues are important to you as well.

Practicing strong follow-up will also leave the impression that you are involved in the bigger picture. When people see this commitment, they will know you are open to future communications. This creates a loyal and discerning surrounding that cultivates positive movement and communication. This will develop a strong sense of confidence in those with whom you communicate.

Conclusion

Since the world is so incredibly diverse and communications come in such a wide variety of forms, it is important to know many appropriate and helpful interpersonal skills. By practicing the few suggestions found here, you will find yourself understanding more of what people say and repeating yourself less to other people. Your co-workers and friends will have the confidence to come to you when they find themselves in need. Remember, great communication skills take practice. Do not give up on Day One. Your ability to express yourself will grow almost daily as long as you apply yourself in improving communication skills.

How People Learn and Decide to Buy?

The question above is intended that we as humans learn something and buying something because we got outside through the stimulation of our senses . According to psychologists , human learning , and decided to buy something dominated by the stimulation received by the eye through visual means as much as 83 percent . Through pendenganran much as 11 percent , 3.5 percent learning through smell , touch malalui 1.5 percent and 1 percent by feel only .So we can conclude humans learn and decide something over stimulation from the outside is dominated by what is seen .


 For those of us who want to socialize and communicate with humans, the most important thing is how we can affect vision , causing the communication opponent positive perception of us . Begitulan humans learn and decide , tererah next to you .Skills using this communication medium for those who work and relate to humans as a consultant credit / loan , lawyer or attorney , and the seller of goods or services . This is helpful in business communications , training and socializing the business world , political and legal . May be useful .

Tips to Improve Memory

What methods are most appropriate to deliver stimuli to humans so that the message or information submitted has a high recall. According to a psychologist said Les Giblin variety of methods instruction and memory in the following matrix: 

Of the matrix was apparent that the method gives the highest effect on memory is to inform and demonstrate to the opponent's object of our communication.
It is beneficial for us in communicating with others. What's more important in the world of education to make sure that the material or information provided can be absorbed well by the learners. Thus need to be considered in teaching methods.
In the business world is also useful in shaping our product image in the eyes of consumers. Consumer products will be easier to remember us if we tell the complete product information by showing its products. may be useful.

Understanding People and Human Nature

The first step to remind your skills in dealing with people is understanding people and human nature correctly . Understanding people and human nature is simply a matter of recognizing and acknowledging people for who they are - not what you think , or you are thinking about them , and not what you want them to be ." Human Especially Interested In Themselves , Not On You "Humans ten thousand times more interested in himself than interested in you . Instead you own more interested in yourself than anyone else in this world .Remember that human actions are governed by their own thoughts , interests him is very strong qualities in man so prominent in the minds of affection is the satisfaction or pleasure obtained giver to give, not to receive .Try to take photos containing your image and some of your friends , then surely you will locate your position in the picture , then look at your friends .Humans are very selfish, and will remain so until the end of time . We are similar in this regard .This knowledge , that people are primarily interested in themselves, provide a solid foundation for you to connect with other people .So really this is the key to life for you to realize that people are primarily interested in themselves rather than on you .