 Image credit: Anete Lūsiņa from Unsplash If you are just getting started with blog marketing then you will probably be wondering what the point is of blogging. In fact if you are a new blog owner then you probably have questions such as how do I promote my blog, how to get people to pay attention to my blog and also where do I get the inspiration to write about what I am passionate about?
Well, you should not have those questions right now. You have a good website that people are just passing by. So, the key to blogging success is knowing what your blog is all about. In fact you should ask yourself what you want your blog to do for you right now and then you should work on giving your blog value to your visitors. Before you start building your blog start asking yourself these questions What do I want my blog to do for me right now? It is all about the visitors, your blog is made up of good content that others pass by and eventually like and read. But what they REALLY want is for you to tell them what you know about a particular subject. You do that by writing about it over and over again and making it meaningful to your readers. When you have written several posts on a hot topic, the next thing to do is to keep writing about it. You will be amazed at how well your blog will do and how you can use it to get people to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Tumblr and even Instagram and YouTube. It is the constant blogging that will make your money, just think if you keep writing about the same thing, you will get traffic. As they say, what happens on blogs stays on blogs and is no different on your blog. If you keep blogging about the same things, people will see that you have a knowledge on these things, and will start to see that you have relevant content on your blogs. The more you write the greater the chance some of your readers will find you on sites like Google and connect with you. If they do that then they will also click through to your own site. This is how you make money off your blog. Now that you know what your blog is all about and why you are blogging, get out there and start blogging. Just think, what could be better?
0 Comments
 Image credit: Andrew Neel from Unsplash It is no secret that blogging is fun and can be a great source of income. The question many people have is how to blog in order to make money. I have listed my tips to making money blogging below.
1) You should think about yourself and your family. You should make sure you understand the potential dangers of blogging. I have seen some blogs that are absolutely horrid and are not worth reading. I know a great blog was shutdown because of copyright infringements and other such things. It is your blog, so think about what is important to you. Is there something you wish to achieve? How about money? Perhaps you wish to make money blogging. The potential is there and you should weigh the pros and cons. 2) I am not a blogger that enjoys seeing blogs and pages in the search engines. I like sites that provide information on a particular topic. I think it is important for a person to be informed. You should not post anything just for the sake of making money. 3) You should consider adding a "donation box". If you have readers that are interested in buying products or services, why not provide a way for them to contribute. I am of the opinion that people are decent and they are good people. It is just that they are unaware of what you blog is about, or you might want to sell your products and services. By adding a donation box, you may make a great start to making money blogging. 4) You should think about your readers. You have a lot of people coming to your blog. How do you keep track of them all. Consider the question of how can you increase the blog readership? There are so many things to learn from bloggers. You can easily add a "tag" to your blog that will allow readers to a tag the content. You have a lot of options to add a "donation box" to your blog. 5) You should think about your niche. It is important for you to know your audience so you can easily cater to them. You should be able to cater to your readers needs and wants because that is what is best for them. 6) You should think about the search engines. You have to be indexed in the search engines because this is the key to succeeding in this business. 7) It is important for you to be consistent. There are many alternatives to making money blogging. Many alternative means to make money can be found on line. Some ways to generate an income are through pay per click ads, affiliate links, selling your own products and services etc.  Image credit: Ben Robbins from Unsplash Sometimes you get in a slump. You feel like the same ol' same ol' just isn't going to cut it. You start questioning yourself. What is going on? What am I doing? You try new things. You make changes. You try to motivate yourself. You ask for advice. But nothing seems to work. You are stuck in a rut. Can you get out of it?
When you feel like you are in a rut you need to find out why. If you don't know why you will keep repeating the same ol' same ol' and that is not acceptable to you. Sometimes you might even start questioning your parents. Your parents are there to help you and guide you. If they are not helping you is it so wrong for them to be guiding you in different directions? Maybe your parents have different ideas on how to make things better. Do you want to follow their different ideas or do you want to go your own way. Maybe you want to try something new. Be prepared for the unexpected. I'm not sure how to get out of my slump. But here are a few pointers which might help you out. If you follow these pointers you will start to see a different light. And this light will lead you to get out of your rut. 1. Understand and accept that what you are doing (or not doing) is your business This is the first thing you need to do is to accept and understand that what you are doing is your business. It is not anybody else's business to tell you what to do. Everybody is entitled to their own business. You are entitled to yours. If somebody else is running your business they are just running it in order to make you feel guilty. If they don't make you feel guilty they make you feel like you are useless and unimportant. When you accept that what you are doing or not doing is your business it is a lot easier to stop noticing it and the more you notice it the easier it will be to change it. When you can accept that what you are doing is not anybody else's business to do then you are ready to accept the guidance and help from the people who really do know what they are doing. 2. Take responsibility for your own business It is your own business. Whether you are doing well or poorly your business is up to you. If you need some help you can seek it from your family, friends or work colleagues. But do not ask your boss or your boss's boss to take responsibility for your performance or losses. It would just make you feel guilty. It is great when people recognize that their business is their own responsibility. They will give you proper direction and help to improve you performance and results. It is a great feeling when people take responsibility for their own business. When you take responsibility for your own business you will feel accomplished. Not only that but it will lead you to feel fulfilled and at peace with yourself. Feeling fulfilled and peaceful will help you maintain a healthy amount of behaviours. This will surely help you to stop thinking negatively about yourself. This will surely help you to start seeing the sun again and not just the dashboard of your car which is a very unhealthy place to live in.  Image credit: Jeshoots from Unsplash Just like Transformers, there’s more to video games than meets the eye. They’re mainly used for entertainment, but many titles also have lessons to teach through their storylines and gameplay. An invested player can walk away with more than they realize. You can learn a lot from video games that can apply to your lived experiences; surviving a zombie attack with Resident Evil, ride a flying bike in Grand Theft Auto and scale a building in Assassin's Creed... all essential skills! 'Make Use Of' give you the rundown of some of the skills you can gain out there!
 Image credit: Ivan Samkov from Pexels When you are trying to get more people to see your blog, the problems don't always present themselves. When you are blogging, the goal is simple, to get as many people to see your content and engage them. And for every successful blogger that is utilising it to their abilities, there are many people who just cannot get it to fly. What does it take to improve a blog, and what can we learn from those who have not been able to try and ascend to the next level?
The Lack of Quality Content We have to start with the content. After all, content is king. If you are blogging on the side, and you're doing it for fun, if you really want to make a success of it, you've got to keep pushing the envelope and make sure that you exude quality in every single way. Content, naturally, lends itself well to being shareable, but it's also about making sure that you are providing that engaging experience through your blog. When you address the variety of digital transformation solutions out there that completely reinvigorate blogs and businesses, they are more than aware of the importance of engaging content. This boils down to one simple thing: having an understanding of your industry. And if you are running a blog that provides a wide variety of subject matter, this is where you have to bring the experts in, and get people to guest post. But the best approach is to streamline your efforts because this means you can focus on one type of industry and one type of content. You Are Not Playing the Game If you think that all you need to be successful is to create a blog and make sure you get people to read it, there's more than meets the eye. You've got to play the game of networking. And this is where you have to adopt a more business-oriented mindset. Your blog is your product, but also, you are your product. This means you have to start thinking about how you promote yourself. Every little thing about your online personality will have significant repercussions. When you start to guest post on other people's sites, this is a fantastic way for you to promote your blog. If you start to guest post, you naturally begin to network with others, and you expand your pool of contacts. You Are Not Working to Monetize Your Blog If you do not have a successful blog, you may have to invest more into it, financially speaking. Enhancing awareness of your brand is about making sure that you strengthen your social media presence, but also, if you are not treating your blog seriously, investing in practices like affiliate marketing could be an ideal way for you to finally focus your attention on the blog. It's time to stop treating it like a side project. In order to make your blog successful, you have to be consistent and be dedicated. If you want to have a successful blog, you will have to understand why you are failing.
Food blogs are an amazing way to make your mark online with a pretty much guaranteed audience. After all, everyone’s gotta eat, and more of us than ever now turn to trusted online resources over traditional cookbooks. Get this right, and you could even be rubbing shoulders with top dogs like Gordon Ramsey in no time.
The trouble is that according to the latest exhaustive survey, there are as many as 16,588 food blogs online. In other words, anyone starting out here is certain to come up against a fair amount of competition and, sometimes, that alone means you struggle to truly get cooking (excuse the pun.) This can be disheartening, especially given the runaway food blogger success stories that often come to the fore. Luckily, it is possible to overcome even a lukewarm response for success later on, and doing so simply relies on considering whether your slow start is due to the following common mistakes. Failing to write your own recipes 
Image credit: Annie Spratt from Unsplash
Food blogs come in all forms, with some reviewing food, while others trace the process of cooking every recipe in existing cookbooks. The trouble is that blogs like these will always have a shelf-life. By comparison, the food bloggers who are really making their mark are doing so by putting their own recipes at the forefront. Following in their footsteps is, by far, your best chance at broadening your blog for ongoing appeal, and ensuring that readers return time and again, even if just to revisit that much-loved recipe.
No room for growth Ultimately, readers love a blog that they can grow with. As such, you should always be moving forward in some. There are an array of options here, with many food bloggers starting subscription boxes, launching cookbooks, or even selling to stores. Or, you may want to reach for the top with a restaurant business that sees you hiring a hospitality unit, employing an entire team, and even designing your own equipment using photo etching and expert advice. Either way, readers will want to know that your foody efforts are likely to come to something they can enjoy. Otherwise, it’s unlikely that you’ll gain the loyal following you need to find real success. Failing to leave your readers hungry Food blogs that are intermittent and afraid of the notorious ‘CTA’ (call to action) are never going to drive any urgency or passion. This will see people failing to engage, or even return. To avoid that, work at leaving your readers hungry. In some ways, a drive towards one of the business ideas mentioned can help, but you should take things even further, with regular recipe upload days, and a call for readers to take some action, be that social media shares, comments, or cooking challenges. Like cliffhangers at the end of a book, these efforts can make a huge difference to adding peril, excitement, and a general drive to return to your page. 
Image credit: Tamas Pap from Unsplash
So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to turn up the heat and get cooking at last.
 Image credit: Estee Janssens from Unsplash What's important is how you accomplish it. You will be able to change your behavior if you can change your goals.
When you take the time to write out your goals in the first instance you're going to have a better chance of achieving them. Here's what I do to help me accomplish my goals. 1 - I always begin by writing down why the goal is important to me. If I really don't have a good reason why, my goals will most likely not get accomplished. In that case I'll try to come up with some kind of solution that will keep me motivated to keep working toward achieving my goal. 2 - I always look at all the reasons why the goals aren't being accomplished. There is usually going to be many reasons why one goal will be done quicker than another. 3 - I don't accept that I am the only one who doesn't know how to work toward achieving their goals. There are going to be many people in many parts of the world who don't know how to achieve their goals. In that case they need to learn how to work toward achieving their goals. 4 - I look at what I've accomplished thus far in my life and see what I've needed to learn how to work toward achieving my goals. I always try to take a look at what I've accomplished thus far in my life and think about what I've done so far and see what I need to learn how to work toward achieving my goals. By looking at what you've accomplished thus far in your life, you'll be able to see what you need to learn how to work toward achieving your goals. As you accomplish each goal you set for yourself, you'll be going on to the next goal. That's what has the MO MO - more is more. It's best to set big goals for yourself. It's also important to make sure you are realistic with your goals. Realistic means something that is easy to achieve. That doesn't mean easy to obtain either. You have to work hard to get the goals accomplished. You're going to have to be patient. As you start working toward achieving the next goal you'll also need to manage your expectations. Your goals should be realistic enough that you'll have no problem getting the achievement of the goal. Then they should be big enough so that they are attainable with some effort. That they are big enough so that you're going to be proud of your accomplishments once you get them. The biggest mistake people make is setting unrealistic goals. It's important to break your goals down into smaller goals so you'll be able to get to the next goal and get to the next goal and so on. That way you'll be able to build up your confidence each time you accomplish a smaller goal so that you can take on bigger goals.  Image credit: NeONBRANDS from Unsplash As a blogger, you are going to have to find ways to get people to come to your blog. This is an area where all bloggers differ. There is a range of approaches to get people to your site, some involve direct marketing, while others focus more on building traffic. You will find that the two approaches differ greatly when it comes to how you get people to come to your blog. You will find that some bloggers tend to have a very active commenting community, whereas others find that a large amount of visitors will have to be nudged.
The two ways you can get people to come to your blog are: 1. Get them to see your blog as another media outlet with articles, videos, images etc. - This means you can make changes or improvements at anytime by making a post. This is one of the key points here. 2. Get them to come to your blog by nuzzling them - If you keep talking to people as an intermediary step, they will be prompted to visit. This blog is about getting people to visit your blog, and nuzzling them is one method that all bloggers find effective. A blog can be one of several blogs that is getting a lot of traffic, but these two approaches can help you get traffic to your blog. If you have to get them then you have to start by teaching them how to get to your blog. This means if you want people to get to your blog then teach them how to get there. This is a key point. If you want your blog to get a lot of traffic then you have to get them there. The best way to get people to get to your blog is by giving the best content he can find. This means you have to focus on the right things that will drive your readers there. Once this is done, you can direct them to the pages on your blog that will get them to enjoy the things you have to offer. Another way that you can get people to get to your blog is by building a reputation of good writing. You can do this by sharing good writing with readers on your own blog, or you can share it with other media outlets (like social media), and they will tag you or mention your blog. This means as you write you can leverage all the traffic you are getting.  Image credit: Pixabay from Pexels It’s not uncommon for bloggers to hit a wall and begin to wonder what steps that they need to take to keep moving forward. If you want to take your blog to the next level, we have some ideas that should hit the target beautifully.
Explore Guest Posts We’ve talked in the past about how to build up authority with your blog and that’s important. When you have authority, you’re going to gain more attention from people interested in viewing your content, but that’s not all. You’ll also gain attention from the media who are interested in using your blog as a source. One of the best ways to build up authority will certainly be through guest posts. You just need to make sure that you are forming these links with the right websites. Brand Choices Next, you should think about building up your business brand. You have to remember that your blog is a business and it does have a brand or at least it should. If you can establish a brand for your blog, it will instantly be more recognizable. There are a few ways that you can do this. However, one of the best would certainly be to explore sponsored merch and promotional merch. If you browse around, you’ll find that there are countless different possibilities for merch that you can plaster with the brand for your blog and spread the word. You could also take this one step further. Usually, sponsored merch is given away for free to loyal users and visitors. However, you might also want to think about exploring more possibilities like setting up a shop that is connected to your blog. To do this, you need to make sure that you look at the right eCommerce platforms. You should also consider speaking to a designer to ensure that this page can be added seamlessly to your blog. You might also need to consider using a different hosting service. Go Bigger With Content Finally, you might want to think about adding different types of content to your website. Within a few years, most of the content that you find online is going to be video. So it does make sense to start exploring vlogging possibilities. To do this, you just need a high quality set up and a few basic skills. You can find plenty of YouTube guides that could be perfect if you are interested in learning how to vlog sooner rather than later. You should also explore how to share this and reach the biggest audience possible across different platforms. We hope this helps you understand some of the key ways that you can take your blog to the next level. In doing so, you could earn more profits with your website and ensure that you can expand your audience to tremendous new levels. Ultimately, with the right steps here, your blog could be a key source of info for countless individuals online and you could become a major player in this industry.  Image credit: Pixel Creatures from Pixabay There are over 500 million blogs in the world at the moment and they are growing year on year. If you are just starting or you are a seasoned blogger, you will want to ensure your blog stands out from the crowd. Check out this post which shows you some ways to better your blog. Another important area that will help with your blog is increasing the Domain Authority. For those not familiar with this phrase, the Domain Authority is a calculation that rates your blog from 1 to 100. The higher you are on the scale the higher your blog will appear on search engine rankings. Also, if you wish to make money from your blog, the higher your Domain Authority the more you can ask for paid opportunities. Below are some ways you can improve your Domain Authority and get your blog higher up the rankings.
Link Building Building links to your site is a great way of increasing your Domain Authority. A word of caution though, you want backlinks from quality sites, sites that have a higher Domain Authority to your own. Focus your time on getting links that will improve your site, if you don’t have a lot of time to do this yourself, consider employing a link building service. Internal link building As well as getting backlinks from other websites, you can increase your Domain Authority through the internal structure of your blog. This means in each blog post you should include 2 or 3 links to other posts you have. This is such an easy way to build your internal link structure and get your Domain Authority moving in the right direction. Remove broken links Having broken links can impact your Domain Authority so go through all your posts and ensure all links are working. This may be time-consuming but it is worth it in the end. It’s an easy fix to ensure it doesn’t negatively impact your Domain Authority. Be an Authority in Your Niche Having quality articles is important, especially to your Domain Authority and to Google. Choose a niche and write high-quality posts within that area. An area that people will search for time and time again. If you are helping your audience Google may even use your article for a snippet which means you will be the very first link on page one. Search Engine Optimisation Ensure your blog is SEO optimized so that when search engines crawl your site they can see your content and offer this up to those who are searching. This means ensuring you have a meta title and meta description especially on your pictures, your home page and you make use of heading tags too. Once you start using all these tools they will become second nature and it will make all the difference to your Domain Authority. It can be daunting considering all these things to improve your Domain Authority but with practice and determination, you will increase the authority of your blog.  Image credit: Free-Photos from Pixabay All parents want the best for their children and for many parents this means giving their child the possibility of making it as a child star. From television, to modelling, to film; there are several opportunities for children to make it big from an early age. However, these are very unique markets, and you need to know your stuff before you and your child embark on this journey. Thus, keep reading to discover ten top tips for getting your kid into the world of stardom…
 Image credit: Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels The start of a new year can signal a time for big changes in your life. If you own a blog, it's a good time to begin thinking about ways you can improve it. One idea that springs to mind is the concept of broadening your content.
What does this mean? In essence, you seek ways of offering your readers more content in different ways. Instead of posting similar blogs every week, perhaps you look for ways to branch out and offer other forms of content. Here are a few ideas to whet your appetite: Video content Start adding videos to your blog as a way of giving people fresh content. Human beings respond well to videos, and it's a great way of reeling in a new audience. People may start visiting your blog that never would've gone on there before. It also opens a new revenue stream as you can upload the videos to a YouTube channel and potentially earn ad revenue. You still talk about similar things, but the video format lets you try new ideas. You can have other people in the videos, serving as a great way of interviewing others. It can be a podcast format, or you may want to make 'how-to' videos that are easier to follow than a blog. Or, you could even repurpose old content in the video format, getting more out of it! Ebooks For the most part, blog posts are short-form content. Even a 2,000-word blog post is relatively short-form, particularly when compared to things like ebooks. An ebook gives you a chance to cover topics in more detail and really dive deep into things. So, perhaps you should start publishing some? If you have topics that demand a lot of work and attention, an ebook can be a fantastic way of covering them. Plus, it serves as a marketing tactic to drive people to your blog and get them on a mailing list. You can work with a CGI company to draw up a product 'photo' of your ebook, then use it in adverts. Basically, people will see the book, and be inclined to click it. From here, you promise them a free download of the book if they just provide an email address. Instantly, you will gain lots of emails, which helps you market your blog and grow your audience. Alternatively, you could sell the ebooks for a small price, as a way of making more money. It depends on how much work went into the book and if you think it's worth selling it for money. Either way, ebooks are another way of broadening your content. Guest posts Last but not least, you can diversify your content through guest posts. Invite other bloggers to post on your site, offering your readers fresh insights and ideas. While they're still reading blog articles, the content itself can be very different from yours. The topics may be similar, but the style and angle of the writing give them something new to enjoy. Broadening your content is a smart way of keeping your audience engaged and entertained. It stops them from getting bored with the same old stuff, while also helping you draw new readers to your blog!  Image credit: Wallpaper Cave 2020 will always be known as a tough year and for some people, the toughest. Whether is was work, relationships, mental health, or physical fitness––we all learned a lot about ourselves and how we react to massive disruptions to our daily lives. The Rock Dwayne Johnson recently took to Instagram to share his thoughts on 2020. You can find the link via the feature in Men's Journal...
 Image credit: Pixabay on Pexels Whether you’re publishing a blog as a commercial endeavour or as a hobby, you’ll want to do everything you can to optimise your content and increase your readership. However, it isn’t always easy to know what changes to make or how to implement them. To make things easier, take a look at these simple ways to better your blog in 2021: Increase Page Loading Speeds Before you begin thinking about content for your website, you’ll want to ensure your blog is operating optimally. Page loading speeds have a considerable impact on your search engine rankings, so it’s important to make sure you’re not losing readers because your blog loads too slowly. By optimising your site structure or switching to a different hosting provider, you can increase page loading speeds and potentially boost your rankings. Create a Content Calendar If you create content when you have a great idea for a post or you publish new content based on breaking news, you run the risk of issuing repetitive content or only posting sporadically. Publishing new posts regularly gives users a reason to return to your blog frequently, so having a reliable posting schedule is beneficial. However, regular posting should never compromise the quality of your content. By creating a content calendar, you can ensure that you cover a range of topics, rather than inadvertently posting similar content on a frequent basis. Similarly, you can brainstorm ideas for original content in advance and ensure you’ve always got something fresh and new to write about. Incorporate Social Media Social media is an excellent tool for bloggers, so be sure to make the most of it. When you share the link to your posts on social media, you can increase brand awareness, generate more website traffic and build your audience. Additionally, social media allows you to communicate with other users about topics that are relevant to the theme of your blog. Of course, you aren’t the only person who can share links to your posts via social media. Adding social media buttons to every post allows readers to share your content quickly and easily, which helps you to reach a wider audience. Develop an SEO strategy If you want to attract new readers, you need to have an effective SEO strategy in place. With effective search engine optimisation, you can ensure that your blog posts appear at the top of search engine ranking pages (SERPs) when users search for relevant keywords and terms. Search engine optimisation can be labour intensive, so don’t panic if you don’t have the time or resources to plan and execute a strategy yourself. Professional SEO services are an easy and cost-effective way to access the expertise you need. With assistance from experienced SEO experts, you can ensure your blog becomes a go-to resource for users within your target audience.  Image credit: Picography on Pexels Use Different Content Formats
Most bloggers rely on the written word to share information, put forth their opinions and engage with readers. However, this shouldn’t prevent you from using other forms of media on your blog. After all, a wall of text isn’t very enticing for users. By using images or infographics to break up your text and add visual content, you can make each post more appealing. Similarly, incorporating video content into your blog could be an effective way of appealing to a different demographic. How To, Step-by-Step and Q&A posts work well in video format and could give you an edge over other bloggers. Secure Backlinks Backlinks are a form of off-site SEO, so check that they’re included if you plan to outsource your search engine optimisation to a third-party specialist. Securing backlinks from websites with high domain authorities can increase your own rankings and lead to a subsequent increase in traffic. Additionally, backlinks help to direct readers straight to your blog, as well as increasing the authority and trustworthiness of your content. When your links are featured on reputable and popular sites, for example, your brand is elevated in the minds of both search engines and users. Take Your Blog to the Next Level When you’re creating, managing or maintaining a blog, it’s useful to have an overall strategy in mind. Whether you’re planning to monetise your posts, creating content for a company website or see blogging is a fun hobby, setting yourself a goal will help you to stay motivated. With the right planning and preparation, you can hone your content, increase your core readership and take your blog to the next level.  Image credit: Burst on Pexels Your blog is a place where people come to read interesting content and regardless of genre, a lot of blog sites can end up turning into full-time businesses. It’s important to think about the ways that you can improve your blogging, whether you’re still in the early days of your blog or if you’ve managed to finally go full-time with your blog. Here are four ways to improve your blogging business.
Define Your Audience When you’re blogging as a hobby, paying attention to your audience’s demographic might not necessarily be on your radar. Perhaps you’ve been writing for a while and write for the enjoyment of the topics you cover. It might be that you write for a specific industry, and you know somewhat about what your audience likes and doesn’t like. When you’re blogging professionally, it’s important to define your audience because the more content you create that your audience likes, the more views it’s going to get. When you look at your analytics, it’s worth implementing Google Analytics if you haven’t already implemented it on your site. Whatever host platform you use, it’s likely to give you at least some degree of knowledge on who your audience is and what they like and don’t like. Look specifically at things like bounce rates, which tell you how long they stay engaged on your website and specific pages. Get Promoting Every Aspect Of Your Business When you’re a business, you need to be promoting yourself from every angle. Whether it’s promoting the content via your personal social media pages or through paid advertisements on other high-ranking websites. Try to promote in every way you can, even during those occasions where you might be invited to conferences or events. These custom printed banners can be a great way to showcase your work and who you are as a business and individual. Never be ashamed or afraid of promoting yourself! Network With Other Bloggers Networking with other bloggers is important because there’s a lot that you can learn from other people within the industry. For example, if you’re just starting off in the industry, then you may find that networking with bloggers who have been established for a while, have plenty of advice to give you. You also never know who might be able to help you on your way up the career ladder of blogging. Always be grateful and appreciative of others you meet and collaborate with. You don’t know someone until you meet them properly. Focus On Quality Not Quantity Quality is a lot more important than quantity when it comes to blogging. Your audience wants to read high-quality content and not something that’s been thrown together without much thought. If you do that, then you’re likely to lose your following and your loyal followers are the ones that are the most important. Improving your blogging business is important and so it’s good to use these tips to help get the most out of it where it’s possible.  Image credit: Thabang Madnsela on Unsplash In an age where the average attention span is thought to be worse than that of a goldfish, doing nothing could be the secret to happiness (and success). Never have those two little words “I’m bored” been uttered so much by all ages than in 2020. The Sun has more on why boredom could be the key to success...
 Image credit: Jason Yuen on Unsplash Every Christmas, Ryohei Ando gathers his family together for a holiday tradition. Just like their father did as a child, his two children will reach deep into a red-and-white bucket and pick out the best piece of fried chicken they can find.
Yes, it’s a Merry KFC Christmas for the Ando family. It may seem odd anywhere outside Japan, but Ando’s family and millions of others would never let a Christmas go by without Kentucky Fried Chicken. Every Christmas season an estimated 3.6 million Japanese families treat themselves to fried chicken from the American fast-food chain, in what has become a nationwide tradition. You can read about this KFC Christmas event over at BBC.com!  Image credit: Marleen Kuiper on Pixabay Dear Santa,
I've been a good dad all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my two children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of chocolate bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground and figured out how to attach nine patches onto my daughter's girl scout sash with staples and a glue gun. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years. Here are my Christmas wishes: I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache after a day of chasing kids (in any color, except blue, which I already have) and arms that don't flap in the breeze but are strong enough to carry a screaming toddler out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere amongst the countless cans of pepsi I've drunk. If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like a car with fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to watch the football live on my phone for just 5 minutes. On the practical side, I could use a talking daughter doll that says, "Yes, Daddy" to boost my parental confidence, along with one potty-trained toddler, two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, "Stop turning the taps on" and 'Leave the cat alone,' because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. And please don't forget the Playdoh Travel Pack, the hottest stocking stuffer this year for mothers of preschoolers. It comes in three fluorescent colors and is guaranteed to crumble on any carpet making the in-laws' house seem just like mine. If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair (if I had any) in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container. If you don't mind I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could make my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family; or if my toddler didn't look so cute sneaking downstairs to eat contraband ice cream in his pajamas at midnight. Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the chimney and come in and dry off by the fire so you don't catch a cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet, I've only just managed to finishing the hoovering. Yours Always.. Dad. P.S. - One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.  Image credit: Dayne Topkin on Unsplash A survey has found that Brits feel most content when spending time with loved ones, having a cup of tea and sleeping! After a lonely and separated 2020, almost four in 10 feel at their most relaxed and happy when in the company of friends and family, and 27 per cent when having a hug. The Sun has more on this...
 Image credit: Gundula Vogel on Pixabay We all have to live in this world that runs on money and, for as long as that is true, that means that we do need to take our money management seriously. However, there are a lot of people to whom any potential financial issues, even small ones, can become a heavy weight that can drag them down, paralyse them, and prevent them from chasing what they want, whether it’s to invest in a business, buy assets, or otherwise. If your financial anxiety is dragging you down, it’s time to think about why that is and see what you can do to let that weight go. Get to know where you’re really at If you feel like you’re constantly on the back foot when it comes to your finances, it can help to gain a little perspective. Indeed, you might be right that, for instance, you owe more than you own. But you won’t know and thus you won’t be able to accurately implement any solutions until you get an actual idea of the situation. Put a list of all of your assets together, all accounts owed to you, and any debt you owe. Subtract the debt from the assets and money owed to you in order to get your net worth at the current time. Make some plans for the future Anxiety is mostly a sense of fearing the worst possible outcome when it comes to the future. These outcomes in your head are rarely based on real logic but more a kind of fear. However, that doesn’t mean that common sense solutions can’t help you dispel them. If you’re worried about being destitute in the far future, then make it a priority to put together some retirement savings as soon as you can. Put together annual savings goals after figuring out how much you need to put aside each year for a healthy retirement, and stick to those financial goals as well as you can. Don’t forget to budget By far one of the most useful pieces of financial advice that anyone can ever offer you, and one that can transform how you look at your money situation, is to put together a budget. A budget effectively looks at how much money you have to spend in any given period of time and helps you find out where you should be spending it. For instance, the 50/30/20 budget involves putting aside 50% of your money ahead of time to pay for the essentials, such as your home, groceries, bills, and so on. 30% of that is for discretionary purchases, such as new clothes, nights out, entertainment and so on, and 20% is for financial planning, such as saving towards emergency funds or investing. You don’t have to follow that specific example, but having a set plan for where your money is going and then ensuring your money does just that can offer a sense of security.  Image credit: Chris Pastrick on Pixabay Start building from scratch again You might be feeling a little low because a recent cost, such as a car repair, home repair, or major bill has knocked your finances for six. Your savings might have had to have been recently emptied, setting you back more than a few steps in your future plans. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s all pointless. There’s a good chance your situation would have been worse had you not had those savings to rely on. It’s time to pick yourself back up again after life knocks you down and get started with your savings once more. So long as you are a step in the right direction next week compared to where you are now, you are doing your financial health a world of good. Don’t get paralysed by debt A lot of us owe some sort of debt or have done in the past. When your debt is at its highest point, then it can feel almost pointless to think about what life would be like without it. However, the only bad decision to make when facing more debt than you can currently pay is to ignore it. You could get in touch with your creditors to talk about repayment plans and let them know about your situation. You can also look to other solutions, like debt consolidation that can make it easier to pay off the sum of what you know. However, the longer you wait, the more your debt will build. Take the time to research your options, but don’t put off the situation. Put some protections in place In future, you want to prevent yourself for having to raid your savings or to fall in debt. There’s no way to prepare for absolutely everything the future might through your way, but investing in a few protections can do you a world of good. Informally, having an emergency savings fund could help, but in a more formal sense, you should take a look at what kind of insurance you might need to protect your current lifestyle and assets.  Image credit: Jan Vašek on Pixabay Address your habits
Do you have some bad financial habits that either fuel or are caused by your financial anxiety? If so, they can keep you from building the financial protections that can serve as a long-term cure. There are a host of habits that can be destructive to your sense of money security. Overspending is an obvious one, but cost-tracking apps can help you identify cases of overspending so that you’re less likely to do it again. Excessive frugality and hoarding can be just as financially unhealthy since they often involve sitting on money that could do more good if you’re saving it for a specific goal or using it to pay for some manner of security. Take a close look at your financial habits are and learn which ones you should curb. Being conscious of your finances is all well and good, but if it’s getting to the point that it’s stopping you from taking action, it’s time to rethink your money situation. Hopefully, the tips above help with that.  Image credit: Geralt on Pixabay If you imagine being a teacher, you’ll probably think about teaching children. After all, this is the usual way of things, and it’s how things are most often done. Children need to learn, and they attend school where a teacher gives them the information they have to know.
Yet this is not the only form of teaching; there are many more. One of these forms of teaching is adult education. Adults who feel they want to gain more information about a specific subject, or who want to enhance their education in general, can sign up to classes and be taught by another adult, sometimes on a one to one basis, so that their knowledge base is shored up. For the teachers in this situation, it is very rewarding. Of course, teaching children is terrific, but there is something special about teaching adults and seeing the direct impact your teaching has on their lives and careers. Why is it so rewarding to teach adults? Read on to find out. You Will Learn When you teach adults, whether you’re teaching art classes, science, or helping them learn to speak English online, among many other options, you will be using your vast wealth of knowledge and passing that onto your students. However, in return, you will also learn a lot. Adults who have gone back to school or signed up for additional classes will have much life experience behind them, no matter what age they are. As you get to know them better, you will discover things that you never knew before. This is not something you can usually get when teaching children, but when teaching adults, not only will you teach but you will learn. Action Is Taken Children have to attend school even if they would prefer not to. It’s not their choice; it’s the law. Adult learners do have a choice, and if they have chosen to attend your class it’s because they want to, not because they are being forced to. This means they will be more interested in what you have to say and will engage in your lessons much more fully. When this happens, you can see progress being made as it happens. You will start the work in class, but a fully engaged and interested adult will seek out more information or practice what you have said in between lessons, so by the time you see them next, you can see that action has been taken, and the lessons you are teaching are making sense. This is incredibly rewarding. Changing Lives The biggest reason why teaching adults is rewarding is that you are changing lives. Someone who wants to learn, someone who has chosen to learn, will have done so for a reason. It might be because they never finished high school. Perhaps it’s because they want to make someone proud of them or be proud of themselves. Maybe they want to do more in their career, and they know they need a better education to do it. Whatever the reason, once they have learned what they need to learn, their lives will change, and you will have made that happen. It’s not everyone who can say they can do this regularly, but as a teacher of adults, you definitely can.  Image credit: Jonathan Petersson on Pexels Life will always find a way to knock you down at various times, but it’s how you respond to these things that matter the most. You need to always be willing to get back up again, no matter how many times you get knocked down or what life throws your way. We’re not saying that it’s going to be easy, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the things that you may need to do when life has knocked you down, so keep reading if you want to find out more. Sort Out Insurance The first thing that we’re going to look at is getting insurance. Now, you may need home insurance, car insurance, contents insurance and a number of other policies. The best thing that you can do is look around online until you find a company who can offer you the insurance cover you need at a price you can afford. Now, keep in mind that if you are a higher risk, the premium is going to cost you a lot more than it normally would, and you need to be prepared for this. It’s for this reason that you might need to think about only getting the insurance that you 100% need right now. For example, if you need car insurance but you are struggling to get cover, you might want to consider one sure insurance or another company like this.  Image credit: Pixabay on Pexels Another thing that you may need to do is save some money. It’s often the case that life comes along when you least expect it and then takes everything that you’ve got. All your savings have to go on something, and you’re back to square one. It’s super disheartening when this happens, we know, but we’ve all been there, and if you haven’t, you probably will get there at some point. The only thing that you can do is pick yourself back up and start building up your savings once again. Make sure that you’re employing all of those money-saving tips and tricks you’ve got, and live within your means rather than wracking up a debt.
Find A New Job Or, it might be the case that you have recently lost your job. This is never a pleasant experience for anyone, but there’s nothing that you can do about it now. The only thing that’s left is to move on and find something else. It’s not always easy, and it might be the case that you have to take something temporary while you look for something permanent, but you’ve got to be willing to do this. Employers are more likely to hire you if they see that you are hard-working, and if you’re working a job you don’t particularly like to ensure that you’ve got a means of income, this is going to speak volumes to your potential employer. Image credit: Pixabay on Pexels A blog is a great way to generate revenue from advertising and product placements, as well as an effective way for companies to increase engagement and secure high SEO rankings. However, if users aren’t returning to your blog more than once, you won’t reap these rewards. To increase your online success, take a look at the top reasons that stop users from coming back to your blog:
There’s no new content If you don’t update your blog with fresh, new content regularly, there’s simply no reason for users to return. A high bounce rate may signify that users are checking your blog and immediately going elsewhere when they realize nothing new has been posted. If you want to ensure users keep coming back to your blog, you need to give them a reason to return, so be sure to upload new content on a regular basis. It takes too long to load Page loading speeds have a major impact on user experience and SEO rankings, so it’s vital to optimize them. From switching your web hosting provider to using a different content management system, there are various ways to keep page loading times to a minimum. Remember – page loading speeds should be low on all devices, so be sure your site performs optimally on a range of devices and operating systems. It doesn’t work on mobile devices If your blog doesn’t load properly or doesn’t look visually appealing on mobile devices, then you’re going to miss out on website traffic. The majority of web users now rely on mobile devices, which is why Google introduced mobile-first indexing. While it’s important to ensure that your blog is functional on desktops and laptops, mobile functionality should be your top priority. The content is repetitive If you’re churning out the same content week after week, users don’t have a reason to keep returning. Being innovative and creating original content that excites, informs, or entertains is vital. Creating a content schedule is one of the most effective ways to ensure your posts are varied, particularly if you tend to cover similar topics. Posts take too long to read If your blog only features long-form content, then it might be time to change things up a little bit. While longer posts do have their advantages, users don’t always have time to read an in-depth article. By combining shorter posts with alternative formats, like video, images, and infographics, you can ensure that users are able to enjoy a variety of posts every time they visit your site. Increase the Popularity of Your Blog If you want to boost your business or generate income via a blog, it’s vital to cultivate a loyal following. By producing unique and original content, you’ve got the basis of a great blog. However, it’s vital to promote your content via social media, PPC ads, and SEO if you want to increase your reach. By doing so, you can engage your target audience, monetize your content, and give people a reason to keep people coming back for more.  Image credit: S O C I A L. C U T on Unsplash Social Media Marketing can be a real headache for plenty of people just starting out and while one guide you read will tell to do something one way, you can guarantee another guide will tell you the complete opposite! But the good people over at The Guerrilla Agency have 'the' guide for you!
 Image credit: Hive Boxx on Unsplash How do you know you've reached a turning point in your life? How can you recognise that maybe you need a change? Entrepreneur Europe has 5 signs for you...
|
Author - Chris
Author, Editor, Creator of Learn Develop Live Archives
April 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed