SEO tips for beginner's 2022

Case study on the premium coffee company

Coffee 2016

Andrea Illy is CEO of the global premium coffee company that bears his family’s name. As one might expect, he is passionate about coffee – its science, its health benefits, its taste, its beauty. Illy also has a dream that someday soon the coffee market might be transformed into something approaching the market for wine. Where connoisseurs discuss the fine points of various origin coffees and blends, where customers are willing to pay a premium for the finest examples of the coffee-making art, and where the growers, roasters, and baristas will be compensated fairly for the expertise they contribute to every cup.

Unfortunately, the current coffee market differs from such an ideal. Coffee growers in most parts of the globe work at a bare subsistence level. One bad harvest (made all the more likely by the ravages of climate change) or a sudden decline in the commodity price of coffee can drop them below subsistence to hunger. Even in good times, growers have little incentive to improve their operation – they have minor contact with the roasters or customers and no knowledge of how their crops get translated into the cup. This disadvantages not only the grower but also the consumer – coffee sourced from good quality beans are hard to find.

lly believes that the solution to the sad state of affairs is to initiate a “virtuous circle” that draws the grower, the roaster, the barista, and the customer together. Growers with better knowledge of the market will work to improve their crops or experiment with new varieties. Roasters and preparers will educate their customers as to the qualities of various beans, roasts, and preparations. Customers, in turn, will be willing to pay more for the best beans and that premium will be sent back up the chain to pay for even more quality and variety. And so on.

Certainly, there have been some positive signs. Indeed, many observers argued that a “third wave” of transformation in the coffee market was already starting. (The first wave is said to have occurred when Maxwell House and Folgers made coffee a mass commodity, the second wave when Starbucks initiated a move to quality and higher prices.) Specialty coffee roasters had worked to build cafes and brands around origin-based beans sold directly to the roasters without reference to the commodity prices of coffee. With these third-wave roasters, every coffee came with a story of its origins and growers could count on occasionally eye-popping premiums for their beans.

As yet, specialty coffee represented a small sliver of the overall market and there were other signs that it might not ever grow beyond a small circle. New trends like coffee-based drinks and single-portion coffee in pods (e.g. K-cups, Nespresso) actually shifted more of the value-added towards roasters without a premium for growers. A consolidation was taking place among mass roasters that were even sweeping-up third-wave roasters in its wake. Observers argued that could lead to greater uniformity with even less emphasis on origin-based, direct-traded coffee.

Illy’s hope is that someone would come up with an innovation that would solidify the beginnings of the third wave and help reshape the market. Such a change would not necessarily have to involve illycaffè; Andrea Illy believes as the world’s premium brand, an increased emphasis on quality in the market would only help his company. The most important thing was to make the coffee supply chain more equitable and coffee better-tasting.

10 tips for becoming a successful entrepreneur

Here is a collection of 10 of our all-time best pieces of advice to help you make it as an entrepreneur.

1. Have a solid business plan

Planning plays a crucial role in any business's success. A business plan is a good place to start – defining your skills and weaknesses, what you offer, how it’s unique, and how you plan on growing your offering. What’s more, try to prepare yourself mentally and practically for anything that could go wrong and how you would deal with it. For example, what happens if you get injured? What if clients pay you a month late? What if a weather disaster affects you? Or a trusted supplier goes bankrupt?

2. Prepare for financial challenges

Most of the 600+ small businesses start-up surveys said that cash flow was by far their biggest challenge. Deal with cash flow blows by saving for a month’s worth of expenses or by getting creative with how you lower your overheads.

You could offer clients a discount if they pay a deposit or the full amount upfront, or even an incentive – e.g. pay 10% less if you deliver your product or service a week earlier. Whatever you do, be extremely careful of debt – this is one of the biggest killers of small business success.

3. Be frugal – remember you’re a start-up

Resist the temptation to splash out on fancy offices, expensive equipment, and over-the-top marketing. Your company’s livelihood depends on what’s in your wallet so every rand and cent must be triple-checked. Maintain a low overhead and manage your cash flow effectively. For one of our 1001 days survivors Jamie Pike, this meant foregoing a physical shop at first and selling his wares at a market; for design duo Jesse James it meant sharing their premises with other small businesses.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

There are loads of resources out there for networking, knowledge sharing, and advice. Networking is not just for new business opportunities; it can be a wonderful source of support and fresh ideas. Attend events such as Leaders (free masterclasses)  Don’t hesitate to ask for advice from those around you (such as your intermediary, bank manager, landlord, or neighboring businesses),  or online forums and Facebook community groups in your area.

5. Put your faith in a trusted mentor

It can be a family member, former boss or colleague, or even a trusted online source or blog. A mentor is an invaluable sounding board – someone who’s been where you are; someone with whom you can have regular, non-judgmental check-ins. 61.9% of respondents in our survey didn’t have mentors – however, those that did say that they found mentors to have a significantly positive impact on their businesses.

“My mentor pushed me beyond my biggest fears”, said one female entrepreneur who took part in our survey. “It’s not somebody who will take over”, agrees Cooked Inc’s Mariam Jakoet Harris. “It’s someone who’s going to nurture and help you.” 

6. Marketing on a shoestring budget

Marketing your new business is extremely important but doesn’t have to cost the earth. Social media is your friend – creating your business page on Facebook is free and will help your online search ranking. So is submitting your website URL to search engines like Google and Bing – it’s completely free.

Also, keep an eye out for community Facebook groups – some will require a small advertising fee while others allow you to advertise your business on certain days of the week. The bottom line with marketing is to try anything and everything. You won’t know what will work for you until you try it.

7. Look after number one

Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle – the days of 9-to-5 are over. That’s not to say that you must work yourself into the ground. Exercise regularly, eat healthily, and find the time to relax or you’ll end up being less productive. Of our survey respondents, 64% said that they had to give up precious time with their family and friends due to work responsibilities. Working on your time management skills will help you clear enough time in your day to spend with loved ones. 

8. Build a team that shares your vision

It’s simple: great people make a great company. As your business grows, you might need to hire staff. Firstly, take the time to interview people thoroughly to ensure that they fit your culture and share your values. Secondly, it can be hard to let go but it’s important to learn how to delegate tasks. Finally, don’t expect people to be your clones. Be open to new opinions and suggestions. It’s always good to get fresh perspectives on old ways of working. 

9. Never stop learning

Starting your own business is a constant process of growth and learning. It’s important to enrich yourself with both practical and emotional skills. Take a look at free or low-cost e-learning resources such as the Hubspot Academy, Udemy, and Inc.edu.

Sharpen your project or time management skills, learn a new software program or teach yourself how to run your own social media campaigns. You can also work on your management, presentation, and motivational skills. If you travel a lot, podcasts and things like TED talks are great ways to inspire and educate yourself.

10. Safeguard your venture

The best entrepreneurs don’t seek risk, they seek to mitigate risk. Small business insurance is one of the best ways to look after your livelihood, and it’s more affordable than you think. Make sure that your precious stock and premises are covered in an emergency such as a fire or theft.

HOW TO GET CLIENTS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

 

Even if Facebook Ads and Chatbots are a hot marketing topic, why is it so difficult to get clients and convince prospects of selling these services?
And how can we find clients that could be interested in social media marketing?

In this article, I’ll explain how I started creating and selling ads and chatbots for an average of 6 clients per month. Let’s get started.

THE INTUITION

Living in London, my mailbox is always full of flyers. Restaurants, shops, bars… Every business in my area uses flyers to promote their product and offer discounts.

One day, while I was throwing away the usual amount of leaflets, I had an intuition. All those people were spending a lot of money sending pieces of paper around, and the majority of those flyers ended up in the garbage.
Were these businesses using Facebook Ads as well?

So I jumped on my computer, and I start searching for their Facebook pages. I wanted to figure out if they were promoting ads for discounts and coupon codes.
The first time I’ve done this was 3 years ago, so finding ads for a particular page wasn’t a piece of cake.
Nowadays we can know immediately if a page is running ads or not. You just need to visit the page and click on the link “Info and Ads”.

THE MESSAGE

So, back at the time, I did my research, and in the end, I came up with a list of businesses that weren’t using any ads. I reached each one of them with an email saying more or less this:

Dear company, I’ve just received your flyer, and I was wondering if you’re using Facebook ads.

The reason I write to you is that I’m an online marketer and I manage Facebook campaigns for several businesses. Through my long experience, I came to the conclusion that you can get a lot more results with an online ad campaign than with old-school advertisement. Not to mention that online promotion guarantees a lower cost, and the possibility to retarget visitors and customers of your shop.

If you want, I can create an ad for you, like the one I’ve attached. The ad is connected to an automated set of messages in the Facebook chat and ultimately, leads to the coupon code.

If you want to try, we can collaborate for the first month spending $200, and if you like the result, my fee will be $500 from the 2nd month.”

All you need is a mock of the ad, personalized to the client and attach it to the mail. If you want to get fancy, you can append the chatbot flow that leads to the voucher.

THE RESULT

In my first attempt to search for clients, I got 5 businesses that replied yes to my proposal. 2 of them decided to continue after the 1st month, raising my fee to $500.

Counting that I spend $50 per month in ads, my profit is $150 in the first month and $450 from the second one.

In my strategy, Facebook Ads and Chatbots were what in online marketing is called “tripwires”. A tripwire is a low priced offer that’s sole purpose is to convert an audience into customers. The aim is to sell afterward expensive products.

And this is precisely what I’ve done with the 5 businesses that decided to start working with me.
I showed them an upsell in line with the tripwire.

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High Paying Photography sites For Selling Photos!

Photography Site #1. Pond5

Pond5 is reported to have the world’s largest collection of stock footage hosting which has more than 10.5 million pics as early as 2018.

When you sign up they will give you 50% off the sale of your photo which is actually quite high compared to a lot of the other websites we’re going to detail out within this post!

They focus on professional royalty-free photographs and pictures which is exactly what you should be looking for.

A lot of people who use Pond5 are very happy with them and they have thousands of five-star reviews to back it up.

You can become part of an artist-friendly marketplace that enables you to license a variety of media types to buyers from all over the world.

Photography Site #2. Alamy

Alamy made it to number two on the list because it has over 155 million stock images, vector videos, and 360-degree panoramic images.

Another reason why Alamy is a great choice to be a part of is that a girl named Helen Sessions makes well over $100,000 a year on this one website alone!
So it is possible but you do have to put in the work.

Right now Alamy pays a 50% royalty per photo, but they are going to lower it to 40% which will go into effect starting February 2019

Photography Site #3. EyeEm

The third website that makes this list is EyeEm. This site is for photographers because their community is huge bosting more than 22 million photographers to date!

They give a 50% revenue on your photos so you could very well see success with this one website alone.

They even have an in-app Magazine that delivers regular content to keep you inspired to help you become a better photographer.

Photography Site #4. Getty Images

I am sure you’ve heard of Getty before because it’s a very popular photography site.

You can put our talent, access, and expertise to work by using Getty Images to sell your photography.

If Getty approves your submissions you could very well earn 20% to 30% royalty per photo.

Take note that for an image to be available for commercial use a release is required for any recognizable people or property in the image.

Share with your friend who wants to earn money

 

Why You Should Add Hashtags to your Instagram Posts

The monthly
users of Instagram have reached an all-time high of 1 billion in 2019, and that
figure is only projected to rise month by month. Every day more than 100
a million posts are created on Instagram. If you are a business owner who doesn’t
have any idea on how Instagram ranks content, chances are your post will just
be obscured by the millions out there.
You will
never reach your intended audience. You’ll have minimal follows. And you’ll
never grow your brand the way you intended to. That scenario defeats the
purpose of Instagram as an effective social media marketing tool.

What Else Do You Need to Know About Instagram Hashtags?

#1 Users can now follow Hashtags

This update was just launched last year, but it changed the game of online marketing big time. Following Instagram hashtags mean a user can be up-to-date on the recent posts under the tags they are most passionate or interested about.
For businesses, this means that people can discover your brand. It’s an opportunity that allows your brand to regularly appear in a user’s feed. If your business has great content and you are able to up your engagement every now and again, that could translate to a lot of people following what you have to offer to them.

#2 You can add a hashtag to your Instagram Stories

If you are
not aware, Instagram Stories is yet another powerful feature of Instagram
that’s perfect for businesses. Instagram Stories are temporary versions of your
regular Instagram posts. They last only for a period of 24 hours and are meant
to share more casual in-the-now moments that you don’t necessarily want to
appear permanently in your regular Instagram page. And of course, you can add
hashtags to them. The hashtag limit for Stories is 10.
Hashtag
follow apply to Instagram Stories as well.
If you want
to know more about how to leverage Instagram Stories for your business, check
out my previous post-Instagram Stories

#3 You can add clickable hashtags to your bio

Another
the recent update that Instagram launched is the option to add a clickable hashtag
to your bio. An Instagram bio is an important virtual facade for every
business’s online presence. Your business bio should be engaging enough to catch
the attention of users almost instantly as soon as they read it, effectively
converting them as a follower. It should also encapsulate what your business
has to offer.
Adding a clickable hashtag to your bio makes it more functional. For example, you can add a hashtag highlighting your brand’s content, which when clicked transports the users to the many fabulous products, content, and campaign you’ve have created thus far. You can also use it to promote upcoming events.

2019 Instagram Hashtags Best Practices

Keep Tabs of your best hashtags

You should
take note of all the hashtags you have used on all your posts. Keeping tabs
will provide you with insights on which ones perform the best. You should
particularly note which hashtags generate a lot of engagement and which ones
are linked to your most popular posts. You’ll be surprised that results could
vary; one hashtag could be good for a certain post, while others are not. Keep
the best performing of the bunch, and shut down those that do not.
To help in monitoring, you can use spreadsheets to manually input all the relevant data you’ve taken. This process could be painstakingly laborious, especially when your profile has grown quite a lot in terms of following. If you’re not down for manual tabbing, you might want to consider a tool to track down your hashtag activities such as Iconosquare. This tool allows you to know which hashtags reach the most users and automatically stores them for you.

Use relevant hashtags only

While
Instagram allows you to add as much as 30 hashtags in a single post, you cannot
just insert any random hashtags you think would fit. They have to be relevant
to your post and totally not out of context. Be as specific as possible when
creating or choosing the right hashtag.
Irrelevant
hashtags could annoy a lot of users, and this will lead them to report your
post as spammy to Instagram.
Remember, the only way to increase your engagement is to provide your followers with the content that they want to see. And a big part of your content is the caption you write and the right hashtags that goes with it.

Know the right amount of hashtags 

Earlier I
have presented a statistic that suggests using more hashtags generate more
engagement. For established brands, however, they don’t necessarily follow this
generalized rule. A widely popular brand doesn’t need to include as many as 6
hashtags on their post because the sheer number of followers they have already
guaranteed high engagement.
For start-up accounts, using as much as 15 hashtags might be a good starting point. Or you can follow the optimum count of 9 hashtags. Later on, as you grow your follower base and through constant experiment, you will realize how many hashtags really work best for your content.

Use hashtags that have low content volume

It’s a given that your post should include a couple of popular ‘relevant’ hashtags, but don’t shrug off totally unpopular hashtag. That’s because a smaller pool of content allows your post to get discovered more with less competition. Hashtags with volumes ranging from a few hundred thousand to less than a million would be a great idea. Less competition means your post’s likelihood of getting into the top search result is higher. Making it to Instagram top 9 posts provide an opportunity for your content to be discovered by random users.

Do not use banned hashtags

Instagram
is now banning hashtags. If you are not aware of that, let me break it to you
now for your own good. Banned hashtags are those used for inappropriate content
such as pornography, nudity or terrorism. It could also be those hashtags that
are widely overused by users, causing it to be spammy. Instagram has also
banned random words which seem to be totally harmless. The reason for banning
is unclear as Instagram has not given enough information on how they decide
which hashtag is due for banning.
If you
happen to add a banned hashtag to your post without you knowing, it will
probably not be discovered by users. Also, using banned hashtags lowers the
engagement you receive. It is Instagram’s own way of penalizing spammy
accounts.
So, the next time you post, make sure that the hashtag you’ve chosen is not banned. You can easily search google for the updated list of banned hashtags. The list is being constantly updated so give it a visit every now and then.

Do not use the same hashtags every time

Do not use the same hashtags over and over and over again. Doing this could alert Instagram algorithm that your post is a possible bot activity. Moreover, posting the same group of hashtags, again and again, is considered spammy.
My suggestion is to use sparingly the hashtags that work best for you. This is where the record of hashtags you’ve been using comes in handy.

Research the hashtags your competitors and audience
are using

Let’s admit
it, competition elevates the quality of products or services offered by
businesses. It works the same way in online marketing. Call this copying,
espionage or whatever, but for me, this is one sure way to stay on top of the
game and stay relevant to your followers. Sometimes, your competition uses
hashtags that are well received and generate tons of engagement for them; I
say, it is not a negative thing to borrow an idea. If you could tweak the tag
to suit your brand, all the better.
In the same
way, find time to research what hashtags your audience is using and searching.
Use the ones that are most relevant to your post. This way if your follower and
the audience follow a certain hashtag, you can be assured that your post will have
a constant presence in their feed.
 

 

10 Proven Ways to Make Your Content Go Viral

10 Proven Ways to Make Your Content Go Viral

1.  Longer articles get almost double the shares

• 3,000 to 10,000 words –>
• Under 1000 words –>

2.  Post your content on the right days of the week

• Monday –> Pinterest, LinkedIn
• Tuesday –> Facebook, Google +, Twitter (in general, Tuesday is the best day to post)

3.  List articles get way more shares than other articles

• 1st place Winner –> lists with 10 items
• 2nd place –> lists with 23 items
• 3rd place –> lists with 16 items
• 4th place –> lists with 24 items

4.  Always add at least 1 image to every article you post

• on average twice as many people share posts with at least one image.

5.  Cute and happy articles get more shares

• Awe, so cute –> 25% of shares
• LOL –> 17% of shares
• Entertaining –> 15% of shares (articles, quizzes, etc.)

6.  Quizzes feed egos, and humans love to feel important

• Quizzes are hot right now! In fact, of the 10 most shared articles, 8 of them were quizzes.

7.   Make your articles visual by turning them into infographics

• List posts –> most shares
• Infographics –> 2nd most shares

8.  Repost your content to get way more shares

• You can double, triple and even quadruple shares by reposting your content after about 1 week.

9.  Get top influencers to share your content

• 1 influential person’s share got 32% more shares.
• When 3 influential people shared a post, social shares doubled.
• When 5 influential people shared a post, social shares quadrupled.

10.  Be transparent and get way more shares

• Google+ articles with a byline/bio have 42% more social shares.

7 Strategies to Improve Your Facebook Reach

 

 

7 Strategies to Improve Your Facebook Reach

 

1. Reliability & Consistency

Use Facebook to keep your yoga students up to date on what’s going on: consistently post class schedules, events, workshops…
Even when they don’t see all your updates in their feed, they’ll visit your page when they’re looking for specific information – if they know that they’ll find it there. But you have to be consistent; otherwise, people won’t bother visiting your page again. More people visiting your page because they are interested in your content will help you get more organic reach on Facebook.

2. Get the Camera Rolling

Sharing videos and using Facebook Live will help you reach more people and improve your Facebook reach without having to pay for an ad or a boost.
That’s because currently Facebook is giving more organic reach to videos and live video. Include posts of both types and you are more likely to get better organic results on Facebook.

3. Post About Trending Topics

A trending topic is something that a lot of people are talking about at the same moment. This could be for example the election in the US, the unfortunate death of someone famous or a holiday.
Posting something that relates to this topic will automatically get you more organic reach on Facebook. This is because people are reacting to this topic already and Facebook thinks that this content should be interesting to them.

4. Add Facebook Events

Create Facebook events for each of your classes, workshops and retreats. Once you created them, pin the schedule to the top of your page. It will automatically update and show the next 3 classes on your schedule.
When your followers respond and click on ‘going’ or ‘interested’, they will not only get reminders and thus won’t forget your event, their friends will see this in their feeds too. More exposure and Facebook reach for you!

5. Be Active in Facebook Groups

Find Facebook groups where your audience might hang out – for example, groups for yoga retreats, for yoga in your city, for health and detox…
Be super helpful in these groups (never spammy), professional and friendly. If you share helpful info continuously, people will get to know you and will check out your profile.
To make sure that they will come to your Facebook business page, include a link to it in the work info on your personal profile. I also use the same profile photo on my personal profile and my business page so people can recognize me.

6. Promote Your Facebook Page

Add social media follow buttons to your website and your emails so it’s easy for your people to find and connect with you on Facebook (and other social networks).

7. Boost Your Posts

Boosting a post means paying Facebook to show your post to more people. All you need to do is click “Boost Post” in the lower right corner of your post.
Many people will tell you that you should never boost posts, instead only use the ad manager. But if you have a great post that works as an ad and simply wants to drive traffic to your website, you don’t need an ad, a boost will work just as well

How to get views on YouTube with 0 Subscribers

How to get views on YouTube with 0 Subscribers

They say that the most difficult part of starting something new is to actually just get started. When it comes to YouTube, this can be very true. Especially when you post video after video without seeing much results. This can be very frustrating, having put in so much effort to create awesome content.
You may be wondering then, how do you get views on YouTube?
The problem is that you don’t have any interested subscribers yet. Viewers don’t know that your videos are as good as they are & neither does YouTube. If no-one but yourself knows how great your content is, how are you going to get views & subscribers?
It’s something we’ve all faced when starting out on YouTube, and in this article, I’m going to look at some of the best practices & top tips you need to follow to get views on YouTube with 0 subscribers.

No-one is going to watch your videos if there is nothing to watch.
No-one is going to subscribe to you if you only have one video up, at least, not many would. Why would they? They don’t know if this is the style of video you make if you’re ever going to upload again when that would be and if they actually like you or just that one video they’ve seen.
Get started, get creating and uploading and you’ll be presenting more opportunities for people to find your videos. YouTube’s algorithm also rewards those that upload regularly. If you can stick to a schedule and keep it pretty regular, there’s a good chance that your videos will start showing up in recommended tabs & on potential viewers home screens.
You’ll also learn more by doing than you would by just contemplating what if. What if I started a YouTube channel last year? Well, you’d have at the very least a years’ worth of YouTube experience already!

YouTube SEO

YouTube’s algorithm ranks your videos for search results & recommends them on similar videos to your own. You see, YouTube is for entertainment & also for information.
It is the 2^nd largest search engine in the world… Second to its parent company Google of course. This means that you can get views on your videos by asking yourself a few questions.

• What is it that people are looking for in my niche?
• Is my content really based on these topics?
• Can I offer something of value to these potential viewers?

If you can answer these questions positively, you’re going to be able to get views with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
This is the process of optimizing your videos so that search engines, in this case, YouTube, ranks your content higher than others.
You can do this with YouTube by implementing a number of methods.

YouTube SEO Checklist

• Add longtail keywords to your video titles.
• Use longtail keywords in your video descriptions.
• Create thumbnails that clearly emphasize what your video is about & make viewers want to click through.
• Tag your videos with the related keywords & search terms.
• Include keywords & search terms in your profile.
• Create playlists & adding applicable videos to them.

This may seem like a lot of work, but you can make things easier by using TubeBuddy.
TubeBuddy offers a range of plans, but the free version includes a powerful browser extension that makes keywording and titling your videos a walk in the park. It’s a tool that all YouTubers should be using, regardless of channel size.
By implementing good SEO practices, you’re telling YouTube exactly what your videos are and how to find them. Unless you’ve got millions of subscribers, optimizing your videos is a must in order to get your channel growing.

Take advantage of social media

BUT I DON’T HAVE ANY FOLLOWERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
Don’t worry, that’s not where I was going with this anyway… Although, it wouldn’t hurt if you had some followers to promote your YouTube video to.
Even if you don’t have any followers on social networks, take advantage of some of their features.
Instagram is great for short clips & you can rank quite easily for Hashtags & get your content in front of people. You can then drive those people to your YouTube videos!
Add videos to IGTV, include your YouTube video or channel in the description & get viewers to visit your channel from there!
Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your blog or directly to your YouTube channel. If you’re solving their problems, you’ll get longer watch times & your videos will rank higher on YouTube = even more, views.
Facebook is great for shareable content. If you’re creating entertainment, food, travel, etc. clips on Facebook can be used to get people over to your YouTube channel.
Look into these channels & see how you can use them to drive viewers to your channel. A lot of the time you won’t even need to create extra content for those channels if you plan things out in advance. For example, you could cut a 30-second clip from your YouTube video for Instagram, or take out a 2-minute piece for Facebook & use that as a trailer for your video.

 Ask your friends & family to watch your videos. Opening yourself up like that may be intimidating at first, but these are people that should want you to succeed & they can provide those first 100 views that can be so hard to come by.

Reach out into your community

If you’re creating videos about food, you’re most likely already a part of Facebook groups, Reddit communities & other food-related communities. This means you can easily find out what your ideal audience wants to see, and once you’ve made it, you can give them your link.
This doesn’t mean you should just spam your link throughout groups. Provide value by answering questions, engaging in conversations & being a part of the community.
Some groups have days where you can share your post, but it generally works best when someone asks a question. You can then provide some value with an answer & then give them more information by directing them to your video that covers that topic. You’ll probably even gain a couple of subscribers that were too shy to ask themselves.
It’s not just Facebook & Reddit though, Quora is a great site for finding questions to answer. By providing good valuable answers you’ll be regarded as an authority in the field & when readers value your answers, they’ll be shown as the featured answer.
Quora questions are usually quite high ranking in Google as well, making them a great source of very targeted traffic. This is especially useful if you have a product or service associated with your YouTube Channel or website.

Connect with Bloggers

An often overlooked, yet highly valuable, way to get views on YouTube with 0 subscribers is to reach out to bloggers in your community.
Many bloggers don’t make video content because of a number of reasons. It may be something they do not believe in or have the time to learn, or they may just be too shy to step in front of the camera. This is an excellent opportunity for you to provide them with quality content.
Have a look at their contact or work with me page to see if they allow guest posts. If they do, read through any guidelines they may offer & then pitch them your video idea.
Some bloggers may be alright with a short 300-word post along with the high-quality video link, but others may prefer if you would present the content in the video in written form as well.
If writing isn’t your strong suit, contact them via email & let them know that you create quality content on a specific subject & they can feel free to embed your videos in their posts. You could even look through some of their posts and if you find a place where one of your videos would be great FOR THEM, let them know. Remember to provide value first, if they use your video, it’s a win-win as you will still get the views & you may have built a lasting relationship with an influencer with a good following.

Leave comments

Leaving comments on YouTube videos is the definition of grinding for those views.
These comments need to provide value & be related to the YouTube video you’re commenting on. Spam comments are just going to get ignored or deleted, whilst unrelated comments are not going to get people to click on your profile to check your videos out.
When you provide value like this, your comments will get likes & rank higher in the comment section. This means more potential viewers see your comment and have a chance of clicking through to your channel. If you’re lucky, your comment may even be pinned by the video creator.
This won’t bring in a lot of views in the early stages, but that’s why I call this the grinding method. Each view will be earned because you need hundreds of good-quality comments to start seeing results. Do not spam or ask for views, provide value first & make yourself active on YouTube.

Ask for comments

Like views, watch-time, clickthrough rates & like to dislike ratios, comments also add value to your rankings. So, go ahead and ask for them in your videos.
Pose questions to your viewers & let them engage with you in the comments. Reply to comments left on your videos and feel free to link to another video of yours if it may help in answering a comment.

Just keep on going!

I know that it can be frustrating starting out, but if you just keep uploading, learning & improving, you’ll make it eventually.
It’s a lot of hard work and if you think it’s going to be an easy ride where you don’t have to put in the effort, then I’ll save you some time & let you know that you’re not going to be cut out for this.
If you are going to put in the effort and work through the good & the bad times, then I can only say that creating content & videos is a hugely satisfying in more ways than one & there’s nothing else quite like it out there! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOP DIGITALMARKEING TREANDS

Top Digital Marketing Trends 2019. Looking back, 2018 has been a pretty wild year for content creators. We’ve seen big changes in the algorithms in the past 12 months that have made marketing on some platforms more difficult than ever.
Google had a big change that affected SEO. Pinterest went through several ups and downs, and Facebook and Instagram had all that annoying shadowbanning hooey.

Table of Contents

The Shadowban And Facebook Privacy Issues

I’m referring to Facebook auto-deleting comments that have links in them, and Instagram hiding accounts that use banned hashtags.
Facebook started slowing down or blocking users from being able to send multiple messages or message replies at once

Top Digital Marketing Trends 2019

Growth Hacking

The term ‘growth hacking’ has been making its way around the internet for a few years now.
In 2019 growth hacking is going to continue to rise in popularity and become an even more important marketing strategy for businesses.
Growth hacking entails finding low-cost or free solutions to rapidly grow one’s business/social presence/awareness/customer base in a short amount of time.
Growth hacking is the name for what businesses do when they take on the job of growing their company themselves, instead of hiring an agency.
It’s a tactic that is popular for startups and bloggers.
If you take on all of your own:

• Website building & management
• SEO
• Social media management
• Viral content creation
• List building
• Design
• Product creation
• Customer acquisition
• Sales funnel management
• …ect ect

Then, it’s pretty likely that you are a growth hacker!

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing and micro influencer marketing is the business of paying social media influencers to promote your products to their followers.
Influencer marketing has been picking up steam over the past year and it shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
Consumers are becoming more and more tired of being ‘sold to’ by big celebrities in traditional advertising of TV commercials. As a result, social media influencers are becoming major players for businesses.
Working with the right influencer can be a great way to have your products seen by a whole new audience in a seemingly more ‘organic’ way than traditional advertising spots.
Instagram is the main app where most of the influencer business takes place, and Instagram is taking note.
It has been announced that Instagram is currently testing new Creator Accounts which give influencers special creator-specific features.

Voice Search

The ability for Internet users to be able to shop and discover items online by voice command is massive right now.
320 million users are searching using voice search, with Google stating that 20 percent of all searches have voice intent.
Siri is becoming smarter every year, too.
Furthermore, Amazon sold tens of millions of Echo (Alexa) devices in 2018 alone.
Now is the time to jump on what is becoming one of the biggest digital marketing trends.
Learn how to optimize your website for voice search, and make it part of your marketing strategy this year.

Visual Search

Currently, Google has its visual search tool Google Lens, which is available through the camera app in Pixel phones. This tool recognizes objects and landmarks.
Last year Pinterest launched the Pinterest Lens feature, which is a visual search tool that allows users to find out where to buy a product, simply by taking a photo of it.
Optimizing your images for Google image search and Pinterest can easily be done by naming your image file and alt text with keywords.
But in 2019 we are going to go even deeper.
Google has filed a patent on contextually disambiguating queries which will allow a user to get information about an image on their device by vocally asking Google to search about what they are seeing.

Blogging

Blogging is the ultimate growth hack for your business.
Adding a blog to your website and writing content specific to your products/services is a fantastic way to reach new customers, create engagement and awareness for your brand, and build your authority in your niche.
But more so, as these blogger’s income reports prove (some are making 7 figures a year!) blogging is big business in and of itself.
Blogging is one of those digital marketing trends that keeps on rising.

Pinterest Marketing

Pinterest’s popularity as a marketing tool continues to rise. It is the secret ingredient for many bloggers to grow their blog traffic, especially new bloggers.
As Pinterest is used as a quick traffic generator where big amounts of traffic can be achieved, regardless of ones DA.
Considering traditional Google SEO efforts can take a while before results are realized, Pinterest SEO results are almost immediate.

Tailwind Tribes

Tailwind is a Pinterest and Instagram scheduling app that is a fan favourite of marketers.
Within the app is an additional feature called ‘Tailwind Tribes‘ where members repin each other’s Pinterest pins, and help grow one another’s accounts in a form of group-power-marketing.
Tailwind’s popularity continues to snowball each year – and I don’t see that snowball melting any time soon.

Facebook Live

Appearing in regular Facebook Live streams for your followers is a great way to build your authority and grow your business.
People like seeing a real person on social media, and putting a face and voice to a brand.
Making yourself visible in 2019 is a smart resolution to strive for, and showing up in a Facebook Live cast is a great way to do it.
Someone who really stands out to me as someone who has her Facebook Live marketing game on a lock is Lacey of ALitUpLife.
Lacey frequently appears live streaming in her Facebook group, several times a week.
She uses Facebook live videos to consistently discuss her current offers and services, answer questions, and have open discussions about topics related to her niche.
This keeps her at the forefront of her followers and clients minds as an authority figure, while it also keeps the doors to communication open on a personal level.
Facebook Live is one of the more extroverted strategies on this digital marketing trends 2019 list.
Will you be putting yourself out there and confidently go live this year?

Email

Email marketing is and will always be one of the best ways to make sales while building long-term relationships with your customers.
In 2018, public privacy concerns prompted the GDPR regulation, which came into effect in May.
The GDPR law and its big fines affect anyone worldwide who may run a business, email campaign or website where European visitors may visit and give their email address to.
Because of this, it is extremely important that your website has the right privacy page and legal information.
This Legal Bundle gives you a template with all the information you need.
How can you improve your email marketing strategy this year?

• Prioritize your email list building efforts this year by creating some amazing new opt-in freebies.
• Reward your current subscribers for their loyalty by giving them bonus material and special content.

The shift in email marketing and improvements to privacy standards makes us all better marketers.
And above all, we are building better relationships with our customers.

THANK YOU 

GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM

#1 – Optimize Your Profile

Your profile is the first thing potential followers will see. It’s kinda like your storefront… and if it isn’t inviting they are going to walk right past.

There are four main components to your profile:

    Profile Picture
    Username & Tag Line
    Bio
    Website URL

#2 – Connect With Others In Your Niche

Find similar accounts in your niche and connect with them, and their followers.

What do I mean by this?

Well, if you find other accounts in your niche who have good growth and engagement rates their followers must be interested in the content they are sharing.

SaveWith Emma Louise1Emma Louise | Online Business + Blogging Tips + Grow Your TrafficOnline Business + Blogging Tips + Grow Your Traffic >> withemmalouise.com

And if your content is similar, then those followers may be interested in what you are sharing as well.

Don’t wait for potential followers to just stumble upon your profile – shove your profile in front of their faces!

Another great way to connect with others in your niche is to use the ‘suggested accounts’ that Instagram shows you. These generally pop up when you follow an account, and a list of other profiles will appear.

#3 – Post Regularly!

Instagram is all about consistency, so if you want your account to grow you need to post daily.

Now don’t go overboard and post five times a day, because that will just be annoying and turn followers away.

Quality over quantity!!

Use your analytics or track your engagement to know when it’s the best time to post (what time of the day are your followers most engaged). You need to stay relevant and show your followers they can rely on you for content.

Post one or two quality posts a day, at optimized times.

#4 – Use Relevant Hashtags

I want you to think of hashtags of like your best mate.

They are there to support you on your journey and to keep people engaged in your content.

These are the search terms that people will type in to find relevant photos or accounts to follow. You need to show up where you should, so using appropriate hashtags is vital.

Get specific about what you do as this will attract more targeted followers to your account (people who are actually interested in your content).

You have a total of 30 hashtags that you can use. Mix it up! Use a variety of hashtags that describe the particular photo you are sharing, as well as what your entire account is all about.
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#5 – Post With A Purpose

To get the most engagement on your posts, you need to have a purpose for their creation.

What do you want the post to achieve?

Is it going to inspire, motivate, inform, sell, cross-promote etc.

Just chucking up any old photo with a quick crappy caption is not going to get you anywhere. This is where strategy comes into play.

Winging it will only get you so far! You need to understand your followers and post content that they are interested in and will engage with.

THANK YOU

19 OF THE BEST MARKETING ACTIVITIES YOU CAN DO IN 1 HOUR OR LESS

If you’re like most bloggers and business owners, you probably feel like your marketing activities are never-ending. Just when you think you’ve done it all, you realise there are a few other things you have to do. Can you relate?

One of the best ways to get a handle on your marketing is to make it a habit and set aside just ONE hour a day for your marketing activities. Is that even possible? It sure is and it’s where I recommend all my clients start out. It’s amazing what you can get done in an hour if you are intentional with your time and have a plan.

Think you need more than an hour to do something productive? Think again! In this post, I’m going to share 19 marketing activities you can do in just one hour or less.

*Bonus: Many of these marketing activities are 100% FREE and some take far less time than an hour!

#1 | START A BLOG

If you don’t already have a blog, this is absolutely where you should start. Your blog is where you attract readers and get social shares and links to your website. It’s key to establishing trust with your audience through sharing relevant, valuable tips and information.

#2 | CREATE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS FOR THE WEEK

If you follow me on all my social media platforms, you know how much I love posting eye-catching graphics. Thankfully, there are so many amazing tools out there so anyone can create their own social media graphics quickly and easily. This includes:

• Cover photos
• Profile photos
• Blog post graphics
• Quote graphics

The possibilities are endless!

I personally love using Canva to create my social media graphics for all my marketing activities. Read a tutorial on how to use it here.

#3 | DO A FACEBOOK LIVE

Facebook Lives are a great way for you to connect with your audience in a more casual, personalised way. Here are some ideas for your Facebook Lives:

• Product tutorials
• Interview
• Q&A’s
• Contests and giveaways
• Flash sales
• Behind-the-scenes videos
• Workshops

#4 | CHECK OUT YOUR WEBSITE ANALYTICS

Regularly monitoring your website activity is so important when it comes to marketing activities. It can help you figure out which topics and content-types your visitors ACTUALLY want more of. It can also show you exactly where your visitors are visiting your website from and this can be key to knowing how and where to promote your stuff. Here are some key areas to pay attention to:

• Top site content
• Top landing pages
• Top traffic sources/medium
• Monthly users
• Time on page
• Bounce rate

Discover more about how to use Google Analytics in this blog post.

#5 | WRITE A BLOG POST

Now, not every blog post can be written in an hour or less. But some can. Here are some tips for writing a super quick, valuable blog post:

• Write a list post (10 of the best ways to do XYZ)
• Cut out all distractions while you write
• Create a brief outline before you start writing
• Always remember who you’re writing for

If you keep the problems or issues of your readers at the front of your mind, it can help you write lightning fast.

Bonus tip: Use the Facebook Live tip from tip 3 above and have it transcribed for a blog post. This is definitely smart marketing!

#6 | CREATE A FACEBOOK AD

Facebook ads can be a quick and inexpensive way to increase your page likes, build your email list, and get more traffic to your blog. And keep in mind: I’m not talking about the “Boost Post” button - that doesn’t give you nearly enough flexibility.

#7 | SCHEDULE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT FOR THE WEEK

Coming up with consistent content to post on social media can feel overwhelming at times. But doing it ahead of time - especially in batches - can make the whole process so much easier and faster.

#8 | DO SOME KEYWORD RESEARCH

Many bloggers and business owners think SEO and keyword research is a long, involved process. And while there are definitely aspects of it that can take a while, basic keyword research isn’t one of them. Take an hour to pinpoint a bunch of topics and keywords, and keep them in a document or spreadsheet for future blog posts.

#9 | SEND OUT AN EMAIL TO YOUR LIST

The weekly letter that I send out every Tuesday always takes me 30 minutes or less. So, don’t assume you need to spend hours slaving away at your newsletter in order for it to be effective. Here are some ideas for your next newsletter:

• A weekly roundup of what’s happening in your industry
• A flash sale
• A note of support or encouragement
• Repurpose an old blog post
• Give a list of industry-related tips or tricks

#10 | CREATE A QUICK OPT-IN/CONTENT UPGRADE

Some opt-ins will take longer than an hour to create. But creating a simple one or two-page guide, checklist or template shouldn’t take you more than an hour. Here are some ideas for your opt-in or content upgrades:

• Cheat sheet
• Worksheet
• List of tools
• Script
• Tutorial
• Industry report
• Survey responses
• Quiz
• Resource list

#11 | FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT YOU ONLINE

It’s super important that you regularly set aside time for social listening when it comes to your marketing activities and online reputation management. Whether people are saying good or bad things about you, you NEED to know so you can respond. Be sure to search for keywords like your full name, business name, product name...and even your competitor's names.

#12 | FIND TOPICS FOR FUTURE BLOG POSTS

There’s nothing worse than sitting down to write a blog post and having ZERO ideas. To avoid this, take 30 minutes or so to brainstorm topic ideas you want to write about in the future. Here are some ideas to help trigger your inspiration:

• Note down popular keywords when doing keyword research
• Look at top sites in your industry to get inspired
• Do some searches on BuzzSumo to see which topics have already proven popular
• Read through your blog and social media comments to look for common questions
  
  
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