Hey everyone, this is a long time coming, I know, but session number 2 of the "Above The Fold" podcast series for bloggers and entrepreneurs is live!
Little dance celebration going on in my office right now.
So, folks, it took me the best part of 6 hours to create this 20-minute episode, whoa???
A stark reminder that podcasting is one heck of a time-consuming way to create content. Especially for a newbie like me.
But I really enjoyed putting this show together and I already have several other sessions ready for recording next week for the New Year.
I really want to try and make this a regular thing, I know I keep saying that. Hopefully, with more practice and time, the process of creating podcasts won't take as long.
OK, enough ranting from me here's the transcript to session Numero Deux, of Above The Fold, enjoy!
"Hey, folks Fabrizio Van Marciano here and welcome to episode 2 of Above The Fold, the podcast show for bloggers and entrepreneurs, and for anyone else who cares to tune in for that matter, it's great to be here again.
I know it's been a good number of months since I put out the first show folks, and it's just not good enough, but I have been busy, very busy.
The last seven months have been crazy, the summer was just filled with taking on new projects, blogging, doing family stuff which is always fun, but now we’re in autumn, I’m still playing catchup with a lot of stuff with my blog, my online business, as well as stuff in my personal life too.
My girlfriend and I have been busy planning for our wedding next year, so exciting times to come. And like I said we've been doing a lot of family stuff which I enjoy, going off on driving holidays and long weekends away and so on.
So it’s all fun really, and that’s what its all about, that’s what I love about being my own boss and working from home and doing this whole blogging thing - so that I can spend way more time focused on my family and doing fun things.
And I'm sure any of you listeners in a similar situation can relate, and appreciate that running an online business from home or blogging is hard work and time consuming, but it gives you a lot of time to do the things you want in life, and focus on the things that really matter as well.
But of course with all that being said, family is important and doing fun things is great, I still need to be able to prioritize work and hopefully next year will be better, with my kids extending their time at school, because at the moment they're only there for a few hours each day, so next year when they're at school for much longer, I'll be able to organize my work around their school time, and not have to work when I should be spending time with them.
OK so let’s dive straight into the content for this episode and what I want to do is share with you 4 rock solid ways, to get onto the radar of top bloggers and influencers in your industry, in your niche.
So I'm talking about getting noticed by bloggers that are much higher up than you perhaps in terms of popularity and authority, so hopefully, the tips I'm going to share with you will help you stand out more and get noticed more."
"OK, so the first thing you want to be seen doing is creating great content for your blog...
YES, yes, I know this sounds like a cliche, and yes you’ve heard this piece of advice a million times before already, folks, you must create great content, you've GOT to create great content, content is king, and all the rest of it, but it’s true, and that's where it all starts in all honesty.
To get noticed by the top bloggers in your industry etc, your content has to stand out.
And I’m not talking about creating boring old mediocre, rehashed, heard before, generic, call it whatever you want 'type of content.'
And I'm not talking about going out and buying a bunch of crappy spun articles in bulk so that you can publish on your blog every now and then.
To be honest, there’s enough boring rehashed content around, and not just in the form of articles and blog posts, there are videos and endless PDF books that all repeat the same old thing. And most of the time those types of content have little to no engagement value.
I’m talking about creating pure gold quality content: Actionable content, problem-solving content that people want to read.
I'm also talking about writing your own content as well, not buying content in bulk as I mentioned, but writing your own content, that's very important in the interest that you wish to give your blog a unique voice and show off your personality and make your blog memorable, and also give your brand some authenticity.
Let me give you a couple of examples of the types of blog posts for instance, that could really help you create some stand out content for your blog.
1) Case studies - You know, Neil Patel and Mathew Woodward are two examples of authority bloggers that are crushing it right now with case studies! A lot of other bloggers are starting to follow suit as well. And it's these kinds of posts can really help to make you stand out as an authority blogger too.
If you're not aware of what case studies are, they're simply monster blog posts that are packed with tons of information, data, and statistics based on research. They contain reports, theories, findings and provide proof as well for whatever cause. They just offer a ton of value. There's an awesome article on HubSpot titled 15 Important Ways To Use Case Studies In Your Marketing, do check it out sometime.
2) Expert roundup posts - Something I've just started experimenting with myself. Last week I published my first expert roundup post on this blog, and boy did it help me get noticed. That post alone doubled my daily referral traffic, social shares, comments, backlinks and a whole lot more.
I also saw an increase in email conversions, and people were signing up for my exclusive offers etc. I also added a content upgrade to that post to make it even more valuable. I'll talk more about content upgrades in another episode. In addition to all of this, I was also able to generate a few affiliate sales as well.
So I highly recommend you try creating a few expert roundup posts for your blog too. You can outsource this service if you don't have the time, but creating them yourself is far more rewarding.
By the way, if you missed my expert roundup where I asked 23 top bloggers what their favorite marketing tactic was for new blog posts, I'll have a link in the show notes. I'll be writing up another post in the coming months where I'll be sharing the very steps that I took to create my first successful expert roundup post.
3) In-depth tutorials - These types of blog posts don't get the credit they deserve sometimes, tutorials are great problem identifiers and problem solvers. Now if you can create a bunch of useful tutorials on your blog, perhaps on how to use certain tools, or how to do something to achieve something, or perhaps share something that's been working for you in particular. Do it, because they can get you noticed and they can give your blog the credibility and authority it deserves.
Tutorials combined with case studies and well-constructed product reviews are the posts that I love to create on my blog, and the posts that are mostly responsible for the affiliate sales I make here on Magnet4Blogging.
So, folks, those are just three examples of post types that you can create to help you stand out and get noticed online. But essentially whatever you decide to do, just remember that each post you put out on your blog has to offer value beyond comprehension.
When I sit down to write a post for my blog, I keep two things in the back of my mind always."
"OK, so peeps, that's the first thing you want to be seen doing: creating amazing content. Because if you can’t create great compelling content for your blog for whatever reason, you might as well forget about moving forward and getting noticed and growing your blog as a business. You might as well also forget about the other three tactics that I’m about to share with you in this episode because they simply won’t matter."
"Ok, so number 2 is to have a design that matches the quality of your content.
Now, why is this so overlooked by a lot of bloggers and marketers out there? For me, the concept of "don't judge a website by its design" doesn't work.
And I cannot begin to tell you how many sites I’ve visited over the years that have actually hurt my eyes looking at them, and have tested my patience as well.
Now as a web designer I’m not trying to be picky or biased or anything like that, but your blog needs to look the part if you’re going to impress influencers in any way, it needs to stand out.
Even if you have great content, it needs to be presented nicely. And also having a great blog design says a lot about the owner of that blog, it shows they're committed to making a real difference and wanting to get noticed.
So with that said, you need to have a blog design that's clean and bold, well structured and organized, and one that serves a purpose.
Now to achieve a great looking blog design, you don't have to go out and find a web designer to create a custom blog for you, you can make some of those changes yourself to optimize your site better, just by removing the needless things. Or you can just invest in a new cleaner modern looking theme, perhaps something like Genesis or Thrive.
If you need any help with the design by the way, please do check out my design services page to see how I can help you in this area."
"So the third tip I have for you to help you stand out and get noticed in your blogging niche is to actively engage with other bloggers and influencers.
To get noticed by other top successful bloggers, for instance, you need to get in front of their audience, especially if they have a much larger crowd than you.
So that means commenting on other relevant blogs and adding value and encouraging interactions and conversations.
It means sharing other bloggers content on social media sites frequently, and if you’re doing link roundup posts on your own blog, it can work wonders to mention those bloggers by linking back to one or two of their posts from time to time.
Now from my own personal experience of doing this, this doesn’t work all of the time, you kind of learn to identify the bloggers that are interested in engaging with you and wanting to make a connection, and the ones that are simply not interested in responding to anybody let alone take notice of you.
But it is important that you do make a conscious effort to try and interact with other bloggers as much as you can, because all it really takes is making one critical connection with one top influencer, and for them to mention you on their site or their blog, or to even offer you the opportunity to guest post on their blog, and that could literally change the course of your blogging path in a positive way.
Networking and making connections is just one of the major key ingredients to help you get noticed online.
Doing blogger outreach is something a lot of top bloggers are doing to help promote their content, their latest post, and get noticed by the top dogs in blogging right now.
There are some great tools to help you create very effective blogger outreach campaigns out there, NinjaOutreach is the tool I'm currently using myself and recommend for finding bloggers and influencers in your industry. One of the benefits of using this online application is that it's a huge time and money saver.
I'll have a link to this online tool in the show notes for you to check out."
"OK, so tip number four is to be everywhere. Something I learned a long time ago listening to one of Pat Flynn's podcast show's.
And I'm sure you’ve probably heard that phrase before too. But when I say be everywhere, I don’t mean comment on every single blog you find out there, or to pitch your guest post to every other blogger you bump into.
I mean use every available platform that you can comfortably use, to promote your content on, and other people’s content as well.
There are so many tools, services, apps and technology available out there. There’s more opportunity for us now to get noticed out there than there ever was even just a few years ago, yet I still see a lot of bloggers and marketers stuck in the same dimension as they were last year or the year before.
I mean let me ask you a few questions.
The tools are available people, it’s all well and good telling me you don’t have the time, or you don't like doing videos or creating other types of content. Well in which case you’re probably in the wrong line of business, and really don’t expect to make as much progress with your blog, let alone try to stand out to get noticed.
Please use the tools, a lot of them are free and I know there are some premium ones out there as well, but it’s all available to you, so make the time to use them.
If you want to check out some of the tools I'm using to build, run, and manage my blogging business, do check out my tools and resources page. I update this page each time I discover a great tool that I'm using and want to share.
OK so we're coming to the end of episode two folks, and I know I've only touched on 4 tips to help you get noticed online by your peers and top influencers, there's plenty of other things you could be doing as well, like email outreach and guest blogging and exploring deeper into influencer marketing and so forth.
I hope these four tips will help you get more noticed online, it's hard work but peeps I know, but it's so worth your time.
OK so thanks for tuning in peeps, I hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, please consider heading over to the iTunes page and leaving a review, you'll find the link at the bottom of this episode show notes. I appreciate you tons as always.
Bye for now."
- End of podcast broadcast -
Links and resources mentioned in this podcast episode:
So peeps, thanks for tuning into the second episode of my podcast Above The Fold to hear me rant on for 20 minutes or so, I appreciate your time.
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You can also leave me an honest review of Above The Fold podcast on iTunes here, only if you wish to, of course, no pressure. The ratings and reviews I receive honestly help me to promote the podcast, so I really appreciate it, folks.
OK, so until the next show, happy blogging 🙂
Your blogging friend - Fabrizio.
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