What Will The Future of WordPress Look Like?

The future of WordPress is bright like a thousand suns for lack of a better simile. Once a run of...

The post What Will The Future of WordPress Look Like? appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/future-wordpress/

The Beginner’s Guide to Showcasing Your Photos With NextGEN Gallery

Whether you’re a photographer or a blogger with image-heavy content, photo galleries can be a beneficial addition to your website....

The post The Beginner’s Guide to Showcasing Your Photos With NextGEN Gallery appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/beginners-guide-nextgen-gallery/

10+ Free CDN Services to Speed Up WordPress

In today’s world where the average Internet speed of technologically advanced regions exceeds 10 Mbps, it’s no wonder that CDN...

The post 10+ Free CDN Services to Speed Up WordPress appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/free-cdn-services-for-wordpress/

What is Markdown for WordPress? And Why Should You Care?

If you’ve ever used shortcuts, or even the Visual tab, when writing blog posts, you know how easy converting plain...

The post What is Markdown for WordPress? And Why Should You Care? appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/markdown-for-wordpress/

How to Build a WordPress Hotel Website with a Room Booking Engine

Focusing on growing your direct hotel bookings or just need to create a WordPress hotel website for a client? Good....

The post How to Build a WordPress Hotel Website with a Room Booking Engine appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/wordpress-hotel-website/

Simple Tools to Build Your Newsletter Subscriber List with WordPress

If you’re looking to build a successful website, it’s a smart idea to first create a subscriber list. The larger...

The post Simple Tools to Build Your Newsletter Subscriber List with WordPress appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/newsletter-subscriber-list-wordpress/

The Best E-Commerce WordPress Themes for Creative Entrepreneurs

The availability of flexible and free CMS systems like WordPress means it’s never been easier to set your stall out...

The post The Best E-Commerce WordPress Themes for Creative Entrepreneurs appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/wordpress-creative-ecommerce-themes/

How to Add Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site

You spend hours or even days to write a valuable piece of content so that the audience can read it...

The post How to Add Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/push-notifications-wordpress/

How to Monitor Social Media Analytics with WordPress

The reason for monitoring social media is very simple. We want to learn what is working and what isn’t. It...

The post How to Monitor Social Media Analytics with WordPress appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/social-analytics-wordpress/

5 Reasons Customer User Experience Has To Come First In Any Business

Customer user experience is one thing that can make your business grow in popularity and outperform its competition. This is why a lot of businesses and corporate organizations are investing more and more resources into making sure that the experience their customers have while doing business with them is positive.

There is no doubt that businesses are done with a lot of emotions attached. If you treat a first-time customer shabbily, the tendency is that the customer goes away with that horrible experience chiseled into his brain, and he/she would never want to be reminded of you in the future.

The way you treat your real or potential customers, what they feel about your brand, and how satisfied they are with your product would make or mar your business in the long run.

It would suffice to say; therefore, that customer user experience is an integral part of any business success and must never be overlooked. In this post, we shall take a look at 5 reasons customer user experience has to come first in any business.

We firmly believe that recognizing this fact would go a long way in helping to put your business on the right pedestal and aid you to retain the bulk of customers that transact business with you.

So now, what’s the meaning of customer user experience?

To put succinctly, customer user experience is simply the perception that customers have regarding how they are treated by a business or company. The perception goes a long way in determining their memories and behaviors toward the company.

Why is Customer User Experience Important?

Until we are able to provide an answer to this relevant question, our services are not likely to improve, and the customers would continue to have poor experiences in the hands of business and corporate owners. It is easy to assume that your customers are satisfied with your service because of the growth you have seen over the years.

But are they delighted? A lot of them are not. 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer Report has it that “customers that trust businesses are more likely to patronize their service or buy their products.” The same customers are more likely to also recommend such goods and/or services to their family and friends. So, why should we make customer user experience to come first?

(source)

1. Improves Customer Satisfaction

One major reason why customer user experience is vital is that it improves customer satisfaction. The way a buyer is treated when he/she transacts business with you would create comfort even though the product he buys does not necessarily meet all the expected qualities. Improving your customer relationship and treating customers better would lead to more customer satisfaction.

Your business is likely to make-up to 33% more customers to be satisfied just by improving the way you treat those customers. Do you know that 86% of customers will pay you more if they have a better customer experience?

It is paramount to make your buyers have a great customer experience. Research shows that 13% of unhappy customers would usually tell 15 more people about their sad experience. Unfortunately, about 72% of satisfied customers relate their beautiful experiences to just 6 or more persons. What this simply translates to is that unsatisfied customers can quickly pull down your business by driving away potential buyers.

2. Improves Customer Retention

The easiest way to retain a customer is to keep them satisfied from the outset and as they continue to do business with you. We earlier noted how positive user experience led to customer satisfaction. Now that the customer is satisfied with your product or service, the next thing is that such buyer is retained based on the fact that he/she has no reason to leave and search for alternatives.

Research made on “Smallbiztrends” shows that 20% of your existing customers would be responsible for 80% of your future revenues. There’s also a 60-70 percent probability that you will sell to your existing customers while it is only 5-20 percent probable that you will be able to sell to a new prospect. Hence, every business owner that is keen on making more profits in the future must learn how to treat his customers well.

3. Responsiveness is the language in mobile browsing

(source)

Desktop used to be the primary available browser for internet users in the time past. However, all that became history in 2014 when mobile browsing officially overtook desktop. For visitors to your website to have a positive user experience, you need to consider making your mobile version highly responsive while developing your site.

Any website that is not mobile-friendly is losing a sizeable percentage of potential customers. Adopting responsive themes for your sites makes it easy to access on different devices thereby improving the user experience and then more sales. In a blog post on the Temok blog, Oleg stated that “smartphones are no longer used for just calls and texting,” and I couldn’t have agreed more.

Using myself as an example, I have two mobile phones — one is just a small Nokia phone that I’ve been using for over 5 years now. The Nokia phone is not internet enabled hence, I use it to just make calls and texting alone because the battery lasts. However, I have another big smartphone that is really smart (in the sense of features). Now, I can’t remember the last time I used this phone to answer a call. All I do with it is surf the internet especially when I’m not at home (which is usually the case).

Now, I know this is the same thing for most people (even you).

Therefore, if your website is not yet optimized for mobile, you really (really) should consider that immediately. Today, it’s no longer difficult to achieve this, just get a good premium theme (like the StudioPress themes) that is HTML5 compatible. Most of them are already made to blend with mobile devices. Apart from that, there are also a lot of WordPress plugins that can help you with that.

4. Google insists on quality content

Nobody understands the usefulness of user experience more than Google does. Google is keen on making sure that people get value for their money by insisting that every site should be structured in such a way as to improve the experience that visitors have when they get to such sites.

When Google demands that people should have useful and informative, credible, high quality, and engaging content, what do you think they are trying to achieve? They simply want your site visitors to have a better user experience.

You may have noticed that the top performing sites in all niches have the above-listed features hence it is difficult for their users to ditch them for another site. If a customer keeps coming back to your site, it means that something is going on well for him/her. That is what customer user experience is about.

5. Trust is important

Have you ever tried to get in touch with the support staff of a company to have your money refunded after being dissatisfied with their product? What experience did you get? A lot of buyers share their nasty experiences daily online regarding the shabby ways they are treated by the customer service of some companies.

Well, one way to build trust in buyers is to improve user experience in a way that makes them willing to return to you in the future. For instance, the majority of businesses have customer service in place; meaning that you can always come to them to lay your complaint or express your concerns. Having a reliable customer service in place means giving customers the confidence they need to have about you and your services.

Serious companies have a return policy which ensures that any good purchased that doesn’t meet the expectation of the buyer is either returned and the money refunded, or the product is replaced. When such arrangements exist, they give the customer a reason to trust you and part with their money without the fear that they might lose out in the long run. In a nutshell, positive user experience builds trust.

Conclusion

Customer user experience is the most important aspect of your business if your dream is to have customers who would be there with you through thick and thin. When your customers are happy with you and satisfied with the way they are treated, they would always come back to patronize you.

Therefore, improve the way you treat your customers and your sales would certainly go up.

The post 5 Reasons Customer User Experience Has To Come First In Any Business appeared first on All Blogging Tips and is written by Theodore Nwangene

Special: 86+ Premium theme for $39: Check out Elegant themes

from
https://allbloggingtips.com/reasons-customer-user-experience-has-to-come-first-in-any-business/

The Best Contact Form Plugins for Your WordPress Website

Whether you’re a blogger, freelancer, or a small business owner, there’s a good chance that making connections with potential clients...

The post The Best Contact Form Plugins for Your WordPress Website appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/best-contact-form-plugins/

8 Proven Ways to Make Money with WordPress

Now days many people have found ways to make tons of money with WordPress. There are many different ways by which you...

The post 8 Proven Ways to Make Money with WordPress appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/make-money-with-wordpress/

Video Trends in 2017 to Boost WordPress Video Marketing

If you’re looking for the latest video trends to boost your marketing efforts, take a breather mate because you are...

The post Video Trends in 2017 to Boost WordPress Video Marketing appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/video-trends-wordpress/

Free Tools to Scan Your WordPress Website for Vulnerabilities

It’s a stroke of luck for mischief makers on the internet if they can find a way to harm WordPress...

The post Free Tools to Scan Your WordPress Website for Vulnerabilities appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/scan-wordpress-website/

Top WordPress SEO Tips for New Businesses

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a broad subject and can seem a little overwhelming when you are starting out as...

The post Top WordPress SEO Tips for New Businesses appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/wordpress-seo-tips/

How to Craft an Outstanding Guest Post

Last week, I explained why guest posting is so valuable (and not just for link juice). Then, one of our regular contributors, Ali Luke, wrote about how to find opportunities and pitch your post.

Today I want to dig further into coming up with an idea and writing your post itself.

As a guest poster, you want to provide a great post that readers love … but also one that helps you achieve your own goals. There’s nothing greedy about this: reaching your goals may well help readers reach theirs too (e.g. if you want them to subscribe to your newsletter so you can provide them with great weekly tips).

Before You Write Your Post,

Think About:

What value will you provide?

How will your post change readers’ lives? (This might be a small change rather than a huge one, but there should be some important benefit.) Will readers understand something new, feel reassured, get inspired..?

What outcome are you hoping for?

New readers, new subscribers, new customers? Or is your main goal to build your brand by getting your name out there? By getting clear about your goal up-front, you can design your post to ‘funnel’ readers to different things – e.g. if you want to get new subscribers, you might mention your newsletter during the post then link to it in the bio.

Once you’re clear about what you want to achieve, you’ll want to write the best post possible … not just to get it accepted, but to make a great impression on readers.

Here’s how to do that:

#1: Always Research the Blog Before You Begin

Even if you’ve been reading your target blog for months, you may not be sure what the audience is like … so don’t skip this step.

You want to figure out:

• Who the readers are: their typical age, where they live, whether they’re highly educated or not (demographics)
• Why readers read the blog
• What their problems, fears, questions, dreams and goals are (psychographics)

Look at some of the blog’s previous posts on Buzzsumo: which ones have done well? What types of posts get shared and commented on a lot? (You can learn more about Buzzsumo in the second point of Chris Crawford’s post here: Four Blogging Tools to Make Your Content Go Further.)

See if you can replicate these formulas without just doing the same thing: find a topic that hasn’t been covered, but use a style that’s worked well in the past. For instance, if big list posts tend to do well on that blog, come up with an idea that would suit that format.

#2: Make a ‘Heart’ Connection

Show readers that you see them – that you know what they feel. The comments on a blog, or in a blog’s Facebook group, can often give you a good idea of this. For instance, readers might be:

• Stuck about where / how to begin
• Discouraged by slow progress
• Overwhelmed by lots of (perhaps conflicting) advice

Writing with empathy is so important. You could give a post full of good, solid information, but if you don’t make any emotional connection, readers will simply use it and move on.

Jon Morrow’s post, which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, is a good example. While Jon talks about his own story in How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World, his focus is on the reader.

Take a look at that post again, and see how he uses the introduction to talk about what bloggers want (using ‘we’ to position himself alongside the reader) and to hone in on what many bloggers worry about: are their dreams unrealistic?

#3: Solve a Small Problem or Deliver a Quick Win

Not all guest posts need to be as epic as Jon’s, and you don’t have to fix every problem that readers have. If you can help them them solve one small problem, they’ll look to you for help with bigger ones.

Here are some recent guest posts on ProBlogger that did a great job of solving specific problems for the readers:

• These 5 Rules Will Help You Work More Productively at Home (Nicole Avery)
• The Psychology of Comparison and How to Stop (Ellen Jackson)
• How to Avoid Writing Boring Outlines using the IKEA Method (LJ Sedgwick)

Try to focus your post around providing a solution or answer that readers have been looking for.

#4: Craft Your Content Carefully

I’m sure that you always try to produce well-written posts on your own blog … but it’s worth going that bit further for a guest post.

That might mean:

• Spending a little longer planning before you begin, so you can make sure your post is solidly put together and reads logically.
• Writing a really engaging introduction that hooks the reader and draws them into your post. (It doesn’t necessarily need to be long.)
• Making sure readers can easily navigate through the middle of your post, using subheadings and linking sentences.
• Crafting a great title that “sells” your post – remember, this will go in your pitch, and it’s the first indication the host blogger gets of your ability to write a good post!

This can be a good place to involve a friend: once you’ve written your post, ask a fellow blogger to look over it and give you feedback. They may well be able to point out paragraphs that might be better rearranged, or sentences that aren’t quite clear.

#5: Use Links in Your Post and Bio Wisely

Almost every blog that takes guest posts will give authors a “bio” – you get to write this yourself and your can normally put anything you want in it (though do check if the blog has any restrictions in their guidelines).

A lot of guest posters simply link to their front page from their bio, but it’s much more effective to link to a page that will convert in some way. You might create a special landing page that points new readers to your best posts … or an opt-in incentive to encourage readers to sign up for your newsletter.

During the post itself, you may want to put in a link or two to your own blog (if that’s allowed by your host blog), but don’t only link to your own content. Aim to:

• Link to other posts on the blog you’re guesting for. This is helpful for the host blogger and shows that you’re very familiar with their blog.
• Mention and link to other bloggers in your niche. This shows readers (and the host) that you’re well read … and it’s a brilliant way to start or develop a relationship with the bloggers you’re linking to. They may well link to your guest post from their blog or newsletter, too.

#6: Don’t Forget the Details

Make sure your post is as polished as possible before you submit it: edit it carefully, and proofread to make sure you haven’t made any typos.

Yes, the host blogger will likely edit your post too … but you shouldn’t rely on them to do so. If your post gets lots of attention, you don’t want there to be any glaring mistakes in it! (Plus, look at it from the host’s perspective: would you want to take on a guest post that takes you an hour to edit?)

Make sure you’ve formatted your post correctly – check the guidelines to find out how. Common requests are:

• A Word document attachment
• A Google Document
• HTML code (you can create this by pasting your post into your own blog’s software and copying from the “Text” or “HTML” tab … be careful not to accidentally publish it!)

Think about visuals, too. Some blogs will do this themselves, especially if they have a particular “branded” look to their images, but many bloggers will appreciate suggestions or even images you’ve created yourself.

Earlier this year, Pamela Wilson wrote a five-part series of guest posts here on ProBlogger that was beautifully crafted, complete with graphics: A System for Easily Publishing Consistently Great Content.

I know there’s a lot to take in here. You might want to work through this list one point at a time, as you develop your ideas for a guest post and start to write it.

Don’t aim for perfection, but do aim to make your guest post an example of your best work: after all, if it goes well, there’ll be a lot of eyes on it.

Guest Posting Series

Next week, we’ll be looking at how to follow up once your post has been published.

So far in this series:

7 Powerful Non-SEO Reasons to Try Guest Posting

Find and Pitch the Perfect Guest Posting Opportunities

 

The post How to Craft an Outstanding Guest Post appeared first on ProBlogger.

      

from
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney/~3/vAPzuEI3G_A/

How to Use Yoast SEO to Bolster Your Search Engine Rankings (3 Simple Tips)

WordPress is easily the go-to solution for creating a website with powerful functionality. However, there’s much more to succeeding with...

The post How to Use Yoast SEO to Bolster Your Search Engine Rankings (3 Simple Tips) appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/yoast-seo-tips/

201: The Secret to Building a Blog with Big Traffic and Profit

Top 10 WordPress Jobs Sites: Do You Have What It Takes?

Let’s talk about money, and more precisely, WordPress jobs. If you’re looking for a WordPress job, we all know how...

The post Top 10 WordPress Jobs Sites: Do You Have What It Takes? appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/wordpress-jobs-sites/

Find and Pitch the Perfect Guest Posting Opportunities

Today ProBlogger Subject Matter Expert Ali Luke is guest posting about guest posting.

So, you’ve realised that guest posting has loads of benefits for you and your blog, but you’re not quite sure how to go about it.

Maybe you’re worried that you don’t have enough experience.

Perhaps you haven’t even got an active blog of your own right now.

That’s absolutely fine. Most host blogs just want someone who can write reasonably well.

(It’s also OK to guest post even if you don’t have your own blog: some authors do this to promote their books, for instance, and freelancers do it to promote their services.)

If you’re worried about whether your writing’s good enough, ask a blogger friend to help you edit your guest post: a second pair of eyes can be invaluable here.

Choosing a Blog to Target

Where should you post? It makes sense to aim for a well-known blog with a big audience, though if this is your very first guest post, you may not want to go straight for the top. (Some bloggers do, though – so if you’re feeling confident, try it!)

Great blogs to guest post for are:

#1: Blogs that you already read regularly. This is definitely the best place to begin: after all, you already know these blogs well, and you may have left comments or shared posts, meaning there’s a chance the host blogger is already familiar with you.

#2: Blogs that are new to you, but well-established in your niche. I’ve been blogging for 9 years and I still keep coming across great blogs I never knew about! Check out the blogs that big-name bloggers in your niche link to (either in posts, in their sidebar, or on social media).

I don’t recommend Googling “list of blogs to guest post for” and choosing a list with hundreds of blogs on it. Guest posting isn’t a numbers game: it’s much better to write one or two great posts for one or two great blogs.

How to Know if a Blog Takes Guest Posts

The first thing to look for is a page on the blog titled something like this:

• Guest post guidelines
• Submission guidelines
• Write for us
• Submit a post

(Check the navigation menu, the sidebar, the About page, and the Contact page for these. Or you can type into Google: guest post guidelines site:[URL of the blog] to find any page/post on that blog that mentions “guest post guidelines".)

If there aren’t any guidelines visible, look to see who’s writing for the blog. Are there any recent guest posts? Anything written by someone who isn’t the blog owner / editor might be a guest post … though if the same names keep coming up again and again, they’re probably freelance writers.

Once you’ve found a blog to target, it’s time to come up with your idea.

Coming Up with an Idea

If you generally find it difficult to come up with ideas for blog posts, you might want to check out the six months of blogging prompts (free).

When you’re pitching a guest post, your idea should be:

• In the right niche. I know this sounds obvious, but there’s no point in sending a post about credit cards to a blog about parenting toddlers!
• A good fit for the audience. Copyblogger and Helping Writers Become Authors are both excellent blogs with an interest in good writing … but Copyblogger is about copywriting and Helping Writers Become Authors is about fiction.
• Not too similar to other recent posts on the blog. You might want to find a category on the blog that hasn’t had many posts recently, and come up with an idea to fit that category.
• Appropropriate for the tone of the blog. Most blogs, for instance, won’t be keen to publish an angry, ranty, sweary post. (Of course, on some other blogs, that would work perfectly.)

I’d suggest coming up with two or three ideas for the blog: personally, I like to offer one main idea and a couple of alternatives.

Note: We’ll be going into more detail about guest post ideas next week and providing extra guidance on how to shape these not only to the blog itself but also to your own objectives.

Developing Your Idea into an Outline

Before you pitch, your main idea should be fleshed out with a brief outline or idea of what you’re going to cover. A list (with or without bullet points) is fine here. For instance, for this post, that list might look like:

Title: Finding Great Guest Posting Opportunities and Pitching the Perfect Post

This would cover:

• Where to find blogs to post for (and what NOT to do)
• How to come up with ideas that are a good fit for your target blog
• A sample email for pitching your ideas
• The importance of following guidelines

A quick list like this makes sure that the host blogger’s expectations line up with what you plan to deliver.

Occasionally, you may find that a host blogger likes your idea but wants you to cover different or additional points – it’s always easiest to get this clear up front, rather than to write a whole post only to end up making substantial changes.

Should You Write the Whole Post Before Pitching?

Some blogs like to have the pitch alone (title plus outline); others prefer to see a finished post. Check their guidelines to see what they specify.

There’s nothing stopping you, of course, from writing the whole post before you pitch (and just keeping it to yourself): if you’re feeling a bit anxious about doing justice to your pitch, this can help! You may, though, have to make changes based on the blog owner’s response to your pitch.

Writing a Pitch Email to the Blog’s Editor

This is where many would-be guest post writers get stuck! It can be really daunting to sit down and email a big-name blogger who you’d love to write for … what if you screw it up?

If it’s any comfort, that big-name blogger probably gets dozens of terrible pitches from SEO companies every single week.

To stand out from the crowd, just:

• Present an on-target idea (you should have that already!)
• Be clear and concise (don’t give detailed paragraphs about your backstory)
• Use correct spelling and grammar (ask a friend to proofread for you)

You don’t need to have any special credentials … you just need to show that you can write decent English and that you won’t be horrible to work with.

In case you think I’m setting the bar too low here, this is a real email I received a couple of weeks ago, for my blog Aliventures (my tagline there is “master the art, craft and business of writing”):

Hey,

I am content writer specialized in Health & fitness niche, and I chanced upon aliventures.com. I must appreciate that the content of your website is par excellence and exceptionally useful.

I’ve been a blogger for about 10 years, with special interests in Health & fitness, Ayurvedic counselor, and Sexologist. Today I am a recognized expert in the subject, and over the years, have consistently contributed articles and blogs to top sexologist related sites.

I am looking forward to attaching myself as a guest blogger to your site by contributing an article to aliventures.com. I assure that the article will be highly informative and educative to your audience. While I am not looking at any monetary benefits, instead we could consider the possibility mentioning my site/resource just once within the article.

Do let me know if this sounds good and works for you.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

[name removed]

Content Writer & Editor

I’m sure you spotted some of the glaring problems with this pitch:

• It’s clearly been sent to lots of different blogs. You can tell because it doesn’t address me by name and it has my URL instead of my blog’s name in the first paragraph (which means the writer likely has a long long list of blog URLs that they’re contacting).
• The topics are completely irrelevant to my blog on writing. I have never posted anything on Aliventures about health and fitness (or sex)!
• The writer doesn’t pitch an actual topic at all, but they assure me the article will be “highly informative and educative”. I’m not convinced.
• It’s pretty clear their aim in guest posting is purely to get a link.

Trust me, you can do a million times better than this.

Sample Email to Use When Pitching a Guest Post

Here’s an email you can use for your pitches: just fill in the [bits in square brackets].

Subject: Guest post submission: [title of post]

Dear [blog owner],

Would you be interested in a guest post titled [title of post]? It would cover:

• [Key point 1]
• [Key point 2]
• [Key point 3]

If that’s not a good fit, would either of these suit you?

• [title of alternative post]
• [title of alternative post 2]

I blog at [name of your blog] and I’ve also written for [any other blogs you’ve guest posted on, if applicable].

Many thanks for your time,

[your name]

If there are specific guidelines about how to submit, make sure you follow those: for instance, if you’re asked to include links to samples of your work, do that!

Tip: Some blogs have quite detailed guest posting guidelines, and I find it helps to print those out and go through them point by point so I don’t miss anything.

Following Up on Your Guest Post Pitch

If you don’t hear back (and there’s no Out of Office reply or similar), follow up after 2 weeks. Anything sooner looks a bit pushy – remember that big bloggers will get a LOT of requests, and if you press too soon, it’s easier for them to say “no” rather than take the time to review your post.

Don’t leave it forever to follow up, though: it’s embarrassing for a host blogger if they lose your email and only find it again two months later. (I’ve had this happen not only with guest post pitches but also a magazine article submission: trust me, it’s best for you and for the editor if you follow up politely rather than assume that they didn’t want it…!)

Here’s an email you can use when following up:

Sample Follow Up Email

Dear [name],

I just wanted to check if you received my guest post pitch on [date]? I’ve copied that email below just in case it went astray.

No problem if it’s not quite right for you, or if you need some time to think about it.

Thanks very much,

[your name]

(Make sure you do include the original pitch. Don’t expect the blogger to trawl through their inbox for it… and there’s always the possibility it ended up being eaten by a spam filter.)

Guest posting is one of the best ways to boost your blog’s traffic and to build your own profile within the blogging world. Pitching can be a little scary – but once you’ve done it a few times, it does get much easier!

Have you written any guest posts yet? If you’re nervous or if you’ve got questions about finding opportunities, coming up with ideas and pitching your post, just leave a comment below.

Guest Posting Series:

Next week, we’ll be covering writing the guest post itself: making sure you’ve got an idea that’ll work for your host blog and for you, using your bio wisely, including links, and even including visuals.

So far:

7 Powerful Non-SEO Reasons to Try Guest Posting

The post Find and Pitch the Perfect Guest Posting Opportunities appeared first on ProBlogger.

      

from
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney/~3/PY10HSNlLSk/

How to Create Facebook Remarketing Campaigns for WordPress

Have you noticed that when you search for a product on Amazon, or read an article online, the products or...

The post How to Create Facebook Remarketing Campaigns for WordPress appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/facebook-remarketing-wordpress/

How to Integrate Google Analytics with WordPress (and Why You’d Want to)

If you’re a business owner, a lack of website traffic can be a real issue. The amount of traffic your...

The post How to Integrate Google Analytics with WordPress (and Why You’d Want to) appeared first on WPExplorer.

from
http://www.wpexplorer.com/interate-google-analytics-wordpress/

7 Powerful Non-SEO Reasons to Try Guest Posting

This is the first post in our series on Guest Posting, with a focus on benefits other than just SEO, for a more successful and fulfilling approach to finding readers for your blog.

Guest posting is not all (or even mostly) about SEO.

My first experience of ‘guest posts’ was back in 2005 here on ProBlogger when I decided to take a month off blogging to have a holiday with Vanessa and wanted to keep posting on the blog.

I put up a post calling for people to contribute posts while I was gone – and had a great response.

Here’s my post announcing the guest posters.

This opened my eyes to the potential of hosting guest posters on my blog – but I also got feedback from many of the contributing bloggers that guest posting on ProBlogger was hugely positive for them too.

Among the benefits they saw were:

• Spikes in traffic to their blog
• Building their brand
• Showing their authority

One blogger even told me that it led to them getting a dream job.

Some of these bloggers then started to offer to ‘guest post’ on other blogs and continued to see benefits.

How Guest Posting Developed

Over the next couple of years we saw numerous bloggers leverage the power of guest posting to launch their blogs: Leo Babauta from Zen Habits comes to mind, and also Chris Garrett.

Both of these guys would do bursts of guest posts on numerous blogs over a few weeks – they’d seem to be everywhere – creating high quality content, building their brand, driving traffic to their blogs, and getting their work in front of a wide audience.

It was a win-win-win situation: Leo and Chris benefited, of course, but so did the host blogs (who got great posts for free) … and so did the readers of those blogs (who got access to fresh new voices).

Around 2010, though, things started to change.

Bloggers I’d never heard of would pitch to post on my blogs.

The posts they submitted seemed to be more about inserting links than providing value or showing the author’s expertise.

People had realised that there was another benefit of guest posts: SEO/link building.

A few things happened at this point: an explosion in the amount of people doing guest posts, lower quality posts, and people just wanting a link – not caring about delivering value.

Some people even paid to have their posts/links inserted onto blogs.

This went on for several years. Everyone was doing it, but then in 2014 Google put a stop to that, and Matt Cutts (who was the head of the web spam team) caused a huge stir in the blogging world with this post: The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO.

As a result, many bloggers stopped guest posting and looked for different ways to grow their blogs.

I wonder if people threw out the baby with the bathwater. They’d become so obsessed with link building that they forgot the other many benefits of guest posting.

7 Great Reasons to Guest Post

Why guest post, then, if you’re not using it as a link building strategy?

#1: Get Your Name Known

When you guest post on a major blog in your niche, you instantly boost your authority and credibility: your writing has been featured somewhere impressive.

At the very least, guest posting on several blogs in your niche will get your name recognised. It allows you to get your work in front of a new audience … and it can also impress big-name bloggers. However, to even be considered by other blogs, your writing needs to be of high quality and value to their audiences. Earn the opportunity and earn the authority.

#2: Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Blog

Guest posting will bring in traffic: not just any traffic, but quality, targeted traffic (if you appear on a blog with a similar topic and audience to yours).

This traffic can turn into qualified leads: people who are a good fit for your products or services.

Check with the hosting blog about what you can and can’t include in your bio at the end of the post, in terms of linking to your own site.

#3: Build Your Email List

If you direct guest post readers to a sign-up incentive, you’ll quickly grow your email list … giving you a ready-made base of potential customers to promote your products to.

Some bloggers link to a “landing page” for their newsletter in their bio, and you may even want to customise this so you have different versions for the different blogs you’re guest posting for.

#4: Network with Other Bloggers in Your Niche

While commenting on blogs can be a way to build a relationship with a blogger, the best way to impress someone quickly is to send them a great guest post.

This provides real value for them (content their readers will love … that they didn’t have to write themselves!) and the power of reciprocity means they’ll be more likely to do you a favour in the future.

Bonus points if you take the time to get to know the blogger and their audience, and check if they actually accept guest posts, rather than cold pitching them.

#5: Open Doors to New Opportunities

I mentioned before that one of the first guest posters on ProBlogger landed a dream job as a result. You never know who might read a guest post (or who might be impressed by seeing your name on a major blog).

Guest posts also offer social proof: on your website, you can name the blogs you’ve written for – which could impress a new reader enough to get them to stick around. You may even want to use some of your guest posts as a writing portfolio, especially if you’re looking for freelance work.

#6: Improve Your Writing Skills

When you don’t yet have many readers on your own blog, it can feel like the tumbleweed is blowing past: no-one’s commenting, and certainly no-one’s pushing you to create your best work.

By guest posting, you give yourself more opportunities to write … the more you do so, the better your writing will become. You may also get feedback from the blogger (or blog editor) you’re writing for: this can really help you grow as a writer.

#7: Develop Your Ideas

As you put your ideas in front of different, larger audiences, you’ll get feedback. Some of this may be negative or critical, but in my experience, the vast majority of blog comments are positive.

If you get lots of positive feedback about a particular post, perhaps it contains an idea that you’ll want to develop further (maybe even as an ebook or ecourse). Or maybe you’ll get a comment that offers a different perspective – one you’d not considered before – or a way to deepen your work.

All guest posts will bring some benefit … but you may even find that one particular post is a game-changer for you.

That’s what happened to Jon Morrow when he guest posted for ProBlogger back in 2011. He wrote How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise, and Get Paid to Change the World.

This post did much, much more than just give Jon some link juice (which, of course, wasn’t his reason for writing it anyway).

It moved people and inspired them.

It showed Jon’s ability as a writer.

It sent Jon a lot of traffic.

It won Jon many new fans and deepened his engagement with his existing audience (many of whom weren’t aware at that point of his story).

It also got him 9,000 (yes, 9,000!) subscribers, as Ahmed Safwan explained here.

In case you’ve been skimming: SEO isn’t the only reason to guest post. There are a whole host of benefits to guest posting, whether you’ve just started blogging or whether you’ve been doing it for years.

In a couple of days one of our regular guest contributors, Ali Luke, will share how to find guest blogging opportunities and how to boost your chances of getting your submission accepted. I write a weekly newsletter with a wrap up of the latest ProBlogger content. Sign up so you don’t miss out on the rest of the series.

What has been the best thing you’ve experienced from guest blogging? 

The post 7 Powerful Non-SEO Reasons to Try Guest Posting appeared first on ProBlogger.

      

from
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney/~3/YqX3OUak5mg/