Online Marketing - Commenting on Blogs is an Effective Marketing Strategy

Contributed by Karen Cioffi

You may be an author or writer who takes the time to comment on other websites. This is an effective online marketing strategy. It builds bridges to other blogging neighborhoods, it forms connections, and it helps increase your visibility.

But, after using this strategy for a short while, what if you don’t seem to see any difference in the traffic to your site or the comments on your posts?

Should you continue commenting on blogs?

YES, absolutely. Commenting on blogs is still an effective marketing strategy, in fact, even more so than before. Getting a ‘post conversation’ going and sharing content is high on Google’s list of what bloggers and marketers should be doing. Today, it’s all about creating optimized content that readers find valuable enough to share to their social networks.

Knowing the effectiveness of this marketing tool, I try to use it as often as I can. And, recently I left a blog post comment on a high-traffic, high-quality site. When I comment on a site, time allowing, I usually browse the other comments. On this particular blog CommentLuv is used and one of the post comments in particular seemed to be informative, so I clicked on the author’s latest post link. Doing this, it brought me to a site with great content and I actually tried to subscribe to the email post feed. Unfortunately, it seems the feed wasn’t enabled, even though the site owner had the opt-in for it. But, that’s another story.

Commenting on sites that offer the commenter’s last post link  is an excellent way to broaden your reach and easily bring visitors back to your site. Just like I clicked on that commenter’s link, based on an effective post title, the same can happen to you. 

 
CommentLuv is a commenting system plugin for WordPress. Simply click on ‘Plugins’ in your WordPress dashboard, go to ‘Add New,’ search for the plugin, and install and activate it. That’s it.

This is a WordPress plugin; I'm not sure if it can be used on Blogger.  When this post was originally written, it could be. But 10 years later, I couldn't find any information on it.

Hopefully, Blogger will add CommentLuv to its gadgets to make blogging with a blogger site more effective.

In addition to the obvious benefits of commenting, such as broadening your marketing reach and making connections, the activity you create online is picked up by search engines. This includes comments.

Make commenting on blogs an important element of your online marketing strategy.
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MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

Keyword Search and Article Marketing – Tips for More Effective Book Marketing
Memes and Themes
Being Social can Bring Extra Promotion

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P.S. To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi, Children's Ghostwriter, Rewrite, Coach, and Author Online Platform Instructor

 


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Headlines That Increase Website Traffic and Conversion Rates

 

 Marketing research from MarketingExperiements.com shows that headlines are the most important factor if you are striving to increase website traffic and website conversion rates.

In an experiment, in which various elements of a website were tweaked to determine which would have the greatest impact on conversion, having an effective headline was more important than changing elements of the landing page or shopping cart process. In fact, changing a headline generated 29 percent more leads. That’s close to one-third more leads.

Let me pause a moment though. For those of you who aren’t sure what the term ‘website conversion rates’ is, it’s the ratio of visitors to buyers on your site. So, if you have 100 visitors and only 1 person buys, you have a 1% conversion rate.

Okay, back on track.

While quality and informative content is a must, the headline is kind-of-like the magnet for your website. It’s what will attract the surfer/browser to stop, pay attention, follow what’s going on, and follow the process to opt-in or buy.

As a writer/marketer, you need to have your message focused on what the customer’s interests are. This is especially critical for the headline. You need to craft a headline that will (1) quickly grab a surfer or visitor’s attention and (2) clearly define the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) or the value. If the visitor knows what the benefits are, he’ll be more receptive to ‘following the yellow brick road’ you have in place for conversion.

To increase website traffic and website conversion rates, the most effective headlines are ‘value-centric.’ This relates to number one and two above. You need to ‘hit’ the target customer’s interests and you need to convey the value of opting-in to your mailing list or buying what you’re offering. And, you need to let the visitor know just how significant the benefit/s will be.

An effective title might be: Get Paid to Guest Blog.

In five simple words you’re telling the reader what the benefit is and what’s involved.

“The Value Litmus Test,” an article at ValueCentricSelling.com, explains that along with having the value front and center, you should also provide the ‘timeline.’ This is another factor that will help increase website traffic.

The timeline is the length of time it will take the customer to achieve the benefits. This may not always be applicable to your product or service, but when it is it’s important to include it.

Finally, the headline and offered value must be credible, in other words realistic and actually doable.

Here are two headline examples:

Write an Ebook in 7 Days
How to Get Increased Traffic to Your Website in One Day

The example headlines/titles above each have a value proposition. They’re each promising a benefit and a specific timeline. The writer or marketer must be sure the promises/claims stated are realistic. But, even more than realistic, the value proposition must be believable. If the visitor wonders if it’s really possible, you’ve lost him.

So, breaking it all down, there are four elements to an effective headline that will increase website traffic and increase website conversion rates:

1. Grab the reader’s attention by focusing on his interests
2. Convey the value or benefit of what you’re offering
3. Provide a timeline, if applicable
4. Make sure the headline ‘promise’ is believable and doable

Add these elements to your headlines to generate and increase website traffic that will be receptive to your offers. It will also go a long way in boosting website conversion rates.

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author and successful children’s ghostwriter/rewriter. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Writers on the Move and an author online platform instructor with WOW! Women on Writing.

If you need help with your author platform, check out Karen's e-classes through WOW:
http://www.articlewritingdoctor.com/content-marketing-tools/

 

MORE ON BOOK MARKETING

Published Writers Must Be Pitching

Tips for a Better Zoom Experience

Authors Can Get Reviews Without Paying for Them

 

Book Marketing - Bring It Up A Notch by Creating an Effective Author Online Presence

CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE:
Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales

I'm conducting another online class through WOW! Women on Writing that will definitely benefit you if, you want to:

•     Create or increase your author online presence
•     Build or tweak your website for better conversion
•     Learn to blog for success
•     Learn how to do effective article marketing
•     Learn how to create an ebook and cover as a freebie or for sale
•     Learn how to use PayPal buy buttons to sell your books
•     Learn how to create your own product line

CHECK OUT THE LESSON TITLES

1. The Bare-Bottom Platform Basics: The Foundation and Creating an Author Website

2. Blogging for Success: Creating Effective Content

3. Article Marketing: 10 Steps to Writing for Article Directories with Properly Formatted and Optimized Content

4. How to Create eBooks for Freebies and for Sale, Including Creating a Cover with Microsoft Office 2010

5. How to Create PayPal ‘Buy Now’ Buttons for Your Site/s

6. How to Create a Product Line and Attracting Customers Through Information Marketing

This class is for authors and those who are trying to get a foot in the online visibility door, and for those who want to become more effective marketers.

So, go to the WOW page NOW for the details. You'll find out exactly what each Lesson includes. And, there are two bonus lessons and at least one screen-sharing webinar!

The class size is limited, so SIGN UP FOR CREATE YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE TODAY!

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Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketer, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

It's that time of year again . . .

As I write this, Thanksgiving is only a few days away and I have not had time to write a proper blog post!

For those of you who celebrate this American holiday:

What are you thankful for this year? How are you going to spend your holiday weekend? Will you do any writing? Perhaps you will get some ideas while traveling, cooking, eating, shopping, decorating, watching Christmas movies, attending special events, and spending time with family and friends.

And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, you might get more writing accomplished this week than the rest of us. J

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe and fun holiday weekend.

Debbie A. Byrne has a B.S. in Mass Communication with a minor in History. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and is currently working on her first children’s book.

How to Avoid Blogger Burnout by VS Grenier

Today, I'm going to share a post I did for the Brand Buzz Network and their mommy blogger members. As writers we also do a lot of blogging, guest posts, social networking, etc. It can be overwhelming at times, stressful...and just plain hard work to sit down and just post away. All of this got me thinking and after reading a few status updates from other writing friends of mine...my little article came to be. I hope you enjoy it and also share some words of inspiration and tips in the comments section below. ~VS Grenier

How to Avoid Blogger Burnout

I’ve noticed lately a few of my blogging friends have been taking some time off from posting to their blogs. A few of them have taken months off with no mention of when they plan to return. It started me thinking about something…blogger burnout.

The first thing you need to consider are the warning signs you’re experiencing blogger burnout. Some of the signs are hard to recognize due to the nature of blogging. To help you identify if you have blogger burnout or on your way to experiencing it, ask yourself these questions. Count up how many you answered ‘yes’ to and then read on.

1. Are you putting up blog posts the day they are due to show up on your blog?
2. Do you have more reviews than you can finish each day, week and/or month?
3. Are you having a hard time finding things to blog about?
4. Do you forget to announce winners of giveaways only a few days after it ends?
5. Are you staying up late or getting up early to get posts up and feel tired because of it?
6. Do you have more than 50 emails still waiting for your reply?

Blogger burnout can happen to the best of us. You may be very organized but still feel the stress of having more on your plate than you can manage. So the question is…What can you do about it? Of course you can take a hiatus from your blog. This may or may not affect your blog readership. But I have a few suggestions to try before you take this step.

1. Take a week vacation from your blog. It is okay to take some time from your blog from time to time. Just don’t make it a habit or do it for too long if you can avoid it. I suggest when you do take a vacation from your blog to plan on taking pictures of some of the things you did while you were away to share with your readers when you return. This not only gives you a break but will also help give you something (or a few things) to post about upon your return.
2. Have one or two days a week where other bloggers can do a guest post on your blog. I find this really helps me and keeps the stress of for topics to write about on my blog daily and weekly.
3. Share other blog posts from blogs you follow. I don’t do this often, but I have a few blogging buddies who once a month or even once a week share blog posts from other blogs. This is easy to do because you only need to share an excerpt or quick reason synopsis of the post with its link.
4. Don’t post daily. Some bloggers feel they have to have a blog post everyday or almost every day of the week. I do try to have at least a new blog post bi-weekly on my blog, but daily is too much for me. At most, I post three times a week. Find what works for and don’t worry what others are doing.
5. Have different types of post for each day of the week. When I first started blogging, I thought I had to stick to my blog them for every post. Then I realized I could do what I want on what day I wanted. I found making a theme schedule for each day of the week helped to give me ideas for posts. Here is my theme schedule: Monday is grammar tips or information about my blog talk radio show (if I have one), Tuesday is when I post a writing tip or an update, Wednesday is for guest posts, Thursday I share reviews or updates on my personal writing/books, Friday is for interviews or show information (if I have a show). I don’t post on Saturday or Sunday.
6. Use article content sites. One of the easiest things to do is use article content sites to find posts for your blog. There are a lot writers out there looking for places to showcase their writing. You can use these articles free and have some great content by professionals on your blog.
7. Schedule your blog posts at least a week ahead of time. I find using my Sunday nights to plan and schedule my blog posts for the week allows me to have more time during the week for other things like my kids and personal writing. If you’re able too, try to schedule two weeks ahead of time or even the whole month!

Blogger burnout is a real thing and can happen without you realizing it. If you start feeling like you don’t want to blog anymore, take a week off and then use my suggestions above to help get you back into blogging with less stress.


 About VS Grenier:
When she isn't busy talking with authors and illustrator on her radio shows, working for Stories for Children Publishing, Brand Buzz Network or Halo Publishing, and spending time with her children; award-winning author and editor VS Grenier is busy writing adventures in the World of Ink. Learn more at http://vsgrenier.com or http://worldofinknetwork.com

Productive Writing Projects for Young Writers

Productive writing projects for ambitious young writers and college students

Guest Post By Nancy Wood

Many new writers approach their craft with sense of urgency. They expect to produce great work immediately, and they aspire to publish that work even faster. Likewise, some college students don’t want to wait for graduation to start realizing their potential. They want to test the entrepreneurial waters here and now while they're in school to determine if they're pursuing the right field. This naïve ambition can be a powerful impetus to propel both college aged writers and beginning authors.

Personally, I salute those who have the drive to test their skills in the real world to see what happens. Writing is no easy profession to take on full time, and the shaky US economy only complicates the issue of employment after graduation. It's a smart move to try out projects while in the stability of a college environment. It allows for entrepreneurial writers to take big risks without worrying too much about the consequences. If a writing endeavor falls through, a student can always rely on their classes and academic network to determine a viable career path.

I have a few suggestions for starting professional writers and young writers who want to embark on their own personal projects while attending college. Check them out below!

Start a blog based on your greatest passion

Starting a blog may seem like the most obvious option available to the entrepreneurial writer, but that shouldn't deter someone from trying it out. The web offers the most visibility for unknown authors and writers than any other venue for trying to get noticed by a publisher, a magazine, or a hiring employer.

One of the most appealing aspects of starting a blog is the freedom that it lends to its creator. As the webmaster, writers can turn their blog into just about anything that they want, from a how-to cooking blog to a running commentary on college life to a glorified portfolio of recent clippings. I've seen author blogs that combine photo collages with their prose, drawing on powerful images to inspire impressionistic short form writing. I've also seen blogs that serve as a platform for publishing an author's novel in episodic form.

In short, a blog's potential is only limited by a writer's imagination.

Form a writer's group among your peers

A writer could also start a writing group among fellow writers at school (for college students) or in their localized community (for career-level writers). Sometimes the most important relationships that a writer can make during college are the ones made among peers with whom they've shared their work.

A writer's group can help students overcome thematic and structural obstacles that they might have in their writing just by virtue of sharing it with someone on their level.

Likewise a career-oriented writer could definitely benefit from a support structure of their peers when they're just getting their feet wet in the industry. There's an intimacy in sharing one's work with their peers that a writer simply can't find often with professors and more established authors. I highly suggest this option for struggling writers.

Write stories, poetry, or essays for submission to small and large publications

This point applies to young writers and college students with writing ambitions. No matter what kind of writer someone aspires to be, they won't get any credit unless they can show that they've published their work in a reputable publication. Clippings are everything to a writer, and the earlier that someone cuts their teeth in some publication—even an obscure one—the better chance they'll have at getting more work in the future. I heartily suggest that ambitious writers spend some time crafting works for submission at various publications, both large and small. A publisher or general employer looking for new hires will definitely take notice of a writer if they published anything at all during college. After all, it is a considerable feat!

Nancy Wood is a freelance education writer. Nancy loves writing about technology in the classroom, and she often muses about what the classroom of tomorrow will look like. She also gives business tips to entrepreneurial writers such as herself. Feel free to send some comments her way!

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More on Writing

Writing an Ebook – What’s Stopping You? 
Building an Writer’s Portfolio

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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Keep it Simple with Blogging

The busy, busy world crowds into our lives each day and pushes itself (often rudely) into our minds. Some of us have a difficult time shutting our thoughts off as we pull the comforter over us at night. We have goals and objectives and deadlines - all taking turns showing up in our thoughts for the next day or week.

Sometimes life has to come in sound bites.

Writers have much to say. And we like to say it! We are thinkers. We can look at a person, an object, a situation, and create a story. But with blogging: keep it simple.

Sometimes one solitary flower speaks more than a whole bouquet.

With writing my own blog, which is partly to build my platform, but also to bring hope and encouragement to someone who may be hurting, I have come to realize that less is best - for me writing it and for the one reading it.

I have also come to understand that writers have a tendency to go on and on and on - like a good cook on Thanksgiving Day - good food but waaaaay to much!

So I will end. right. now! 

Kathleen Moulton is a freelance writer and nature lover. She is married, has 8 children, ages 10-28, and has been homeschooling for 25 years. You can find her passion to bring encouragement and hope to people of all ages at http://kathleenmoulton.com/

Book Promotion: Creating an Informational Funnel

When thinking of book marketing, there are a number of rungs on the marketing ladder. The first involves creating a quality product, in this case a book. You want a book that you’ll be proud to offer for sale, and a book that customers will want to buy.

Once you have a finished product/book, you need to move onto the promotion basics. This rung on the ladder involves establishing a presence - you’ll need to create visibility and a platform. To do this, the first step is to get a website or blog. Next, you will need to join writing groups in your genre, groups in your target market, and other social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook.

After you’ve established a presence, the next step is to create an informational funnel leading back to your website. The purpose of this funnel is to bring traffic and inbound links, to your site.

The more traffic to your site the greater your visibility in the search engines. More traffic also means a greater chance of visitors purchasing what you’re offering.

When it comes to an informational funnel, content rules. Here are three strategies to increase traffic to your site.

1. Add Content to Your Blog

Make your presence known by offering information in the form of content on your blog. Content is what will make you an expert in your niche, genre, or area. But, just posting the content to your site will not create the traffic you need. Each time you publish content to your site, you need to let your social networks know about it.

Tweet it and post about it to Facebook and your other social networks. Be sure to always include a clickable url link that goes directly to the article. This is a part of inbound marketing – it leads visitors back to your site through an information funnel.

In addition, using effective keywords in your posts and the post titles, related to your site’s platform, will help the search engines index your content.

2. Article Marketing

Once you feel comfortable with adding content to your blog, you can now venture out into the article marketing arena to capture a larger audience. While most article directories have guidelines, they are fairly lenient. Follow the guidelines and post an article to one, ten, or a hundred different directories. Most of them don’t require original articles, so you can use articles you’ve posted on your blog.

Usually you will be allowed to include a brief bio in the form of a resource box. Make it short and sweet. Be sure it links back to your website or blog, whichever you want the traffic to go to (if you have more than one site).

Those who click on the link will be creating inbound links to your site which is a feature Google and the other search engines like. In fact, quality inbound links are an important aspect of search engine optimization (SEO).

3. Offer to be a Guest on Other Quality Sites

Another avenue of inbound marketing is offering your articles to other quality blogs or sites; you become a featured writer on the site by providing a guest article. It might be viewed as visiting another neighborhood. The particular site you are featured on has its own set of visitors, thereby broadening your visibility.

Do your research though, before you approach bloggers. Make sure the fit is right by checking prior posts on the site. In addition, when you approach the blog owner to ask about a guest post, let him know that you are familiar with his site.

And, be sure to always make it a win-win situation. Let the blog owner know that you will promote your feature post, and you might mention that you’ll include his site in your newsletter.

Finally, self-edit all your articles before you post them or send them off.

Tip: Using content to draw visitors back to your site is inbound or organic marketing. It is free, and it works by creating an informational funnel leading back to your site. In order for inbound marketing to work effectively, you need to provide valuable content on a regular basis.

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author and children’s ghostwriter / rewriter. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Writers on the Move and author online platform instructor with WOW! Women on Writing.

If you need help with your author platform, check out:

Build Your Author/Writer Platform

This 4-week interactive class shows you Basic Website Optimization, Blogging Smart, Email Marketing, and Social Media Marketing