Every successful blog needs to be able to snag the reader’s attention from the very first moment. However, it can be difficult if the subject matter isn’t exactly the most exciting topic in the world. But, it is possible. First of all, the reader has visited your blog because they have some interest in whatever topic you are writing about, so with a little bit of thought you can make sure they stick around for more.
Don’t Owe A Thing: Tips for Bloggers Filing Taxes
Tax season is still three months away, but it’s good to start preparing now. After all, 2016 has been an incredible year for bloggers. There are more of us doing this professionally than ever before. With all the newcomers, it’s always good to remind them that the income you make from blogging or writing online is still taxable. Furthermore, if you aren’t careful–Uncle Sam can give you a nasty surprise at the end of the year.
So, how should we file taxes as bloggers? Here are a few quick and dirty tips for bloggers filing taxes.
Squirrel Away A Small Percentage Every Time You Get Paid
A fairly obvious little trick that we hope you’re already doing, setting aside a small percentage of each check you collect and depositing that money into a savings account is the easiest way to make sure you’re covered come tax season. Even ten to fifteen percent is more than enough, especially when compounding interest is added. [Read more…]
10 Things You Should Do When Starting an Online Store
Starting an online store is one of the easiest ways to do business these days. However, what is tricky is to drive rankings on the search engines, converting the visitors into actual sales and retaining them so that they keep coming back. It is between these points where the success of online business lies.
You can consider these points before starting your own online store. While these steps may not be easy, it will definitely help your e-commerce business to get the throttle it needs!
Effective Ways to Get Relevant Traffic
Heavy traffic in real life may be a bane to a commuter’s everyday life, but when you’re running a website, it’s gold. Having internet users visit your website is a really good thing, but for your website to be effective, the traffic needs to be looking for what you have to offer. They should be seeking the product or service of your website, be it a legitimate business or a simple blog site. Driving relevant traffic to your website can be done through effective marketing, and here are ways on how to quarry this valuable resource:
How Penguin 2.0 Puts Up A Tougher Fight Against Web Spam
Google’s website states that: Every day, millions of useless spam pages are created. We fight spam through a combination of computer algorithms and manual review. Penguin 2.0 is their latest spam-fighting algorithm update.
The problem with spam websites is that they saturate the internet and show up in search engine rankings. When these devious sites appear higher in search engine rankings, what do you think happens to your site? That’s right – it gets pushed to the bottom of the list. [Read more…]
Are You Oversharing On Your Business Facebook Page?
Social media as we know it today is not even 10 years old, and like children that same age, it can be unruly, wild and amazing. But the opportunity to reach thousands and beyond with a single web page or a well-placed post is attractive to small business owners.
If you spend even a week on Facebook, you’ll discover that identifying and connecting with your “fans” takes real effort. Your target audience doesn’t just show up because your page exists. You have to engage them, consistently. You have to share and give a little insight into what your business does and the people behind your brand. The goal is to put out just the right amount of information so you don’t come off cold, distant and too corporate to connect; all while avoiding a deadly dose of TMI – too much information. [Read more…]
Will The Blogging/SEO Bubble Ever Burst?
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with a start. There’s a cold sweat running down my forehead and my eyes are wide with panic. My girlfriend turns over and switches on the light to ask what’s wrong, but I can’t tell her. It’s too horrible…
What is this thought that haunts me and keeps me up at night? It’s the idea that someday I may not be able to make a living online anymore the way I have been for the last five years. You see it doesn’t make sense when you think about it: we can earn money online because we put ads on our websites and bring in lots of visitors, but then how are those advertisers making money? Often they make money by putting ads on their sites, or by selling products on their sites that people hardly ever click. The money goes round and round, but when is anything actually bought? [Read more…]
How to Handle the 11 Most Common Scenarios in Guest Blogging
If you’ve ever tried guest blogging then you know that it’s not always as easy as some people want you to believe it is.
For instance, there’s an awful lot of articles online talking about the importance of guest blogging and the benefits it can bring, which is all fine.
However, there’s lot less info on how to actually deal with guest blogging on the networking side (how to handle the common scenarios you can encounter when contacting people and sending your articles).
Basically, the idea of guest blogging itself is quite simple. You find a blog, send an article, and get published, but the practice shows that things often get a bit more complicated. Here’s how to deal with this.
Image credit: ScottieT812
The stages of guest blogging
Finding quality and relevant blogs where you can guest post is something you can surely do on your own, so I’m not going to talk about it here. What I am going to focus on is what happens after you decide to target a given blog.
Tips to Charge Your Business Ahead Using Social Media
A business needs momentum to sustain itself. For momentum, growth is essential. There are many ways in which you can see growth in business. For instance, advertisements, marketing promotions, extending offers, freebies and discounts. Of course, it goes without saying that you need to ensure quality products for all this to work.
To give your business a real boost, you can use other avenues too, the internet being a prime example of taking your business forward. In fact the net has taken shopping and allied services to a totally different level. With a large number of online shopping sites, consumers can explore shopping options they would seldom have had access to. The net is also a boon for small businesses to spread the word of their existence. Your website will generate more footfalls when a larger number of people are aware of your products and services. And what better way to do it than the social media sites? The sheer reach of Twitter with its 100 million users, Facebook with 800 million devoted users and LinkedIn with 64 million in North America alone is nothing short of staggering. [Read more…]
Effective Guerilla Link Building Strategies
There are many strategies that are effective in achieving the goal of increasing a blog or website’s page rank in search engines. A high page ranking means you’ll get more visits to your website, which is what all blog or website owners want. Among the many strategies that you can use, link building remains one of the most effective strategies.
There are many ways of implementing a good link building strategy for your website or blog. One of the more effective ways of doing this is by using certain guerilla tactics that will generate the links that you need. For example, a popular guerilla link building tactic is to write link bait articles. These are articles that have a compelling content that other sites will want to link to it. It could be a controversial topic or a polarizing opinion. [Read more…]
