Sunday, 2 June 2013

How Long Should A Blog Post Be?

Answer: Both long and short.

Blog Post Length
What? That doesn’t make sense. It will if you read on ….

Over the last few months I have read article after article, forum post after forum post and training course after training course on this topic. Some recommend blogs posts of at least 800 words, others over 1000. Nearly all use the term “quality content” without really defining what that is. Everyone agrees that “fluff” is to be avoided, but few will tell you what “fluff” is.

One content watchdog helpfully described quality content as “you’ll know it when you see it”.

Last week I struggled to get my head around a blog article on, quite prophetically, becoming a freelance writer. I knew what I wanted to convey, but the structure and words eluded me.

So, it ended up taking me more than a day to complete and it is much longer than my typical blog posts. I wondered how I could improve my writing productivity and learn to “churn them out” more quickly.

So, I read everything I could lay my hands on, including this post about productivity written by a writer suffering from ADHD and another on writing “epic shit”. Then I referred back to some training on traffic generation under today’s rules.

The conclusion from synthesising all of this – you need to write a mix of both short and long blog posts.

Why You Need both Short And Long Posts


Let me explain.

Why You Need Short Posts


Search engines take into account how active a blog is. Have you noticed how traffic drops off if you don’t post anything for some time?

Not every post can be a trove of magnetic content. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t take a valuable snippet and turn it into a short, valuable post that is useful to visitors.

The best tip from the ADHD blogger is to separate blog post preparation from writing the post itself. I have come across this idea before, in Mark Levy’s book, Accidental Genius. It makes the point that, by researching and preparing the ideas behind the content beforehand, you will allow yourself greater freedom in the writing itself.

That way you can produce short, valuable posts quickly.

And, Why You Also Need Epic Posts


All the experts agree, though, that the long-term success of your blog is determined by your ability to produce “epic” posts at regular intervals.

What is an epic post? The top 10 search results for most keywords run to over 2000 words. This does not mean that you should set out to write as verbosely as possible. It means that you need to find the occasional topic that is so “meaty” and thought-provoking that to do justice to it requires a longer article.

Epic articles blow people away with their usefulness, change lives (or at least prompt people to change course) and build a raving audience.

If it takes you over a day to write an epic post, it is time well spent.

I must admit that I am a lot more encouraged than I was after taking over a day to complete the freelance writing post. And, I don’t worry so much about writing productivity.


It is the end result that matters.

Saturday, 4 May 2013

How To Do Quick, Effective Keyword Research Using All Free Methods

Keyword Research Using Free Methods
If you want to goad an internet marketer into a passionate reaction, use the "K" word - "keyword research"! Everyone has an opinion about the best way to go about it.

I am afraid I am going to disappoint you - this article isn't about the best way to do it. It is about an eclectic way to do it, using all free methods (which should be music to Potpiegirl's ears!).

Eclectic: To obtain from different ideas, sources and styles and mesh them all together.

Over the last 6 months or so I have used several methods to research keywords:

  • Google Adwords Keyword Tool (GAKT)
  • Market Samurai
  • Jaaxy
I could have spent even more of my hard-earned on shiny new objects - the keyword research tools options are endless. Thankfully, I didn't.

It seems to me that the main pros and cons of each are:
  • GAKT 
    • free, straight from the horse's mouth, a measure of commercial potential (CPC), crude indicator of competition, exact/phrase/broad match options, 800 results per search
    • no quoted search results (QSR), a bit cumbersome to use
  • Market Samurai
    • one off fee, strong indicators of commercial potential based on CPC, strong indicators of strength of competition (including domain age, PR, etc), exact/phrase/broad match options plus phrase-to-broadmatch ratio, 800 results per search
    • can be slow, fairly complicated, for more advanced users, no QSR
  • Jaaxy
    • easy to use, quick, one click QSR
    • expensive at >$200 per year, no measure of commercial potential, exact match only, typically 20-50 results per search
What if we could take the strengths of each of these tools and combine them into a method (not a tool) that was 100% free? What should this method include?

For me, the main requirements are:
  1. Traffic
  2. Competition
  3. Commercial Potential
Many internet marketers also like the ability to sort  keywords based on phrase length, because they can then consider the long tail keywords first. That is often where you find the gems.

Also, wouldn't it be nice to be able to generate 20,000+ long tail keywords in a few minutes? You're joking, right? No, let's add them to our list:
  1. Sort  keywords based on phrase length
  2. Generate a huge keyword list in minutes

Setup

There are a few things to do to get set up for this method:
  1. If you aren't already using Google Chrome, it is easier to switch to it. Then, instal the Context Menu Search extension from this link. Be careful, there are more than 1 with the same name. This one allows easy right click keyword assessment.
  2. Go to Window-Extensions and select Context Menu Search-options.
  3. Enter these 4 additional search options:
    1. Google QSR http://www.google.com/search?q="TESTSEARCH"&start=900# 
    2. Google video QSR http://www.google.com/search?q="TESTSEARCH"&tbo=p&tbs=vid:1&source=vgc&hl=en&aq=f&start=900# 
    3. Bing QSR http://www.bing.com/search?q="TESTSEARCH"&first=900#
    4. Yahoo QSR http://search.yahoo.com/search?vc=&p="TESTSEARCH"&pstart=1&b=900
  4. If you don't have a Google Adwords account, open one.
  5. If you don't have Excel, instal Openoffice.
  6. You need to be able to merge .csv files. If you don't want to use your console and the DOS command (cat), which is a bit fiddly, instal one of these free tools:
Right - you're set.

The Method

Step by step:
  1. Set up a folder for each project. Log in to GAKT and do your keyword research. After each search, download the .csv file into the folder, by selecting "download-all search results".
  2. Merge the .csv files using your file merge tool from above.
  3. Open the merged file in Excel (or OpenOffice Calc). I'm not an expert on OpenOffice, so you will need to find the Excel equivalents as we progress.
  4. First, we need to eliminate the duplicate keyword results from our list. Select the keyword column and then data-advanced filter-unique records only. Duplicates are gone.
  5. To sort the keywords by number of words, create a new column B (say). Throw this formula into   it: =VALUE(LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))+1 & "." & TEXT(LEN(A2),"0000")
  6. You can now sort by this column and you will have the whole file sorted by number of words.
  7. I like to start by going through the file and selecting the words I like by traffic and CPC (an indicator of commercial potential). Mark these words (with a number in a new column) and sort them to the top.
  8. Print/save the spreadsheet to a pdf file.
  9. Now, open the pdf file in Chrome, select the keywords and right click on them. Select Context Menu Search from the menu and you can go straight to the QSR for that keyword phrase. Add the QSR number to your Excel sheet.
That's it! Once you are set up, and you have done it once, it really isn't hard to do. And it's pretty quick. With Jaaxy you have to click each keyword to get the QSR. So, using Context Menu Search isn't really any different. You just have to get your spreadsheet into a form readable by Chrome. I think a PDF is the best way.

I'm sure there are more experienced keyword researchers than me who can add refinement to this.

Anyhow, it is pretty comprehensive. Oh, and I didn't mention - you can see Google video QSR, Bing QSR and Yahoo QSR quickly too. A nice little bonus.

Most importantly, it is all FREE. Enjoy!

If you want to give me some feedback, please feel free to comment below.






Sunday, 24 March 2013

You Don't Have To Be Badass To Wear A Diesel Mens Watch, But It Helps!

How do you know if Diesel watches are for you? Simple. Do any of these adjectives apply to you:
  • rash
  • cool
  • irreverent
  • bold
  • creative
  • daring
  • stylish
If the answer is "yes" to any of these, then Diesel badass watches will suit your personality.

There is only one way to find the right Diesel mens watch for you - browse collections, like Mens Diesel Watches or Best Mens Diesel Watches.

The range is incredibly wide, but every watch has a distinctive Diesel attitude to it - chunky, bold, oversized and rugged.

Saturday, 23 March 2013

How To Choose A Coach Women's Wallet

I made a Pinterest Board recently to help women find the right Coach wallet for their needs.

There is such a wide array of Coach wallets for women that it can be hard to find the style and features that work best for you, personally.

There are 2 ways you can go about it:

1. Decide on all the features you want and then look for a Coach wallet that has them all.

The features are:

  • Appearance: Color, size, capacity, profile (slimline or full)?
  • Strap: Do you need a wristlet style?
  • Closure: Foldover with button, zip or turnlock?
  • Configuration: Slots for bills, credit cards and receipts, ID photo holder, billfold pocket?
  • Materials: Patent leather, leather or jacquard fabric?

2. Browse the pictures of Coach wallets until you find one that you like and then check its features.

I also created an Indulgy collection that will help you too.

Enjoy your wallet shopping!

Wednesday, 13 March 2013

How Do I Start A Home Based Business?

107 Home Business Ideas
Starting an at home business has many pitfalls. There are scammers and get-rich-quick schemes as well as Business Opportunities (bizopps) that expect you to pay a fee up front to participate.

Fortunately, the FTC has strict rules for bizopps. Check out their video at How Do Franchises And Home Business Opportunities Differ?

We recently published a new Squidoo lens called The Legitimate Home Based Business Guide that covers the range of tasks and issues you will need to consider when starting a business at home.

It created a flood of interest and many comments right from the outset. In particular, the link to the Huge List Of 107 Ideas For Finding Your Perfect Home Business is popular with visitors.

The lens covers:


CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

  1. Home Business Ideas
  2.  
  3. Huge List Of 107 Ideas For Finding Your...
  4.  
  5. The Challenge of Starting A Home Busines...
  6. "He who fails to plan is planning t...
  7.  
  8. How To Start A Home-Based Business
  9.  
  10. FREE HOME-BASED BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE
  11. "Half the money I spend on advertis...
  12.  
  13. Marketing And Growing Your Small Busines...
  14.  
  15. Running The Business
  16. Please give us your thoughts about runni...
  17.  
  18. Great Books About Running A Business Fro...
  19.  
  20. Did You Miss Anything?

Sunday, 13 January 2013

The Best Walk In Closet Organizers

If you are looking for walk closet ideas so that you can plan, design and install your own walk in closet, have a look at my page called "TOP WALK IN CLOSET ORGANIZERS 2013". Doing it yourself is easier than you might imagine.



Achieving a well-organized walk in closet has so many benefits:

  • You will be able to separate and find your items so much easier
  • Your bedroom will be de-cluttered
  • You will save an enormous amount of space by using 3 dimensional space more effectively.
  • You will be able to see and access individual items much more easily.


Thursday, 3 January 2013

The Very Best 17 Inch Laptop Bag 2013

Looking for a 17 inch laptop bag can be a daunting task. There are pages and pages of alternative laptop bags online. And, there are so many different styles, too - messenger bag styles, backpacks, rolling cases and laptop cases.

What should you look for in an ideal 17 inch laptop bag? Size, ease of carrying, style, material it is made from and compartments.

Above all, it needs to be made by a specialist in the carrying and organizing technology industry. The foremost specialist is Case Logic.