Some bloggers specialize in promoting local businesses (like IBA Member Felicia from Wedding Connections of the Hudson Valley). But most of us think of larger national or regional businesses when we think of sponsors, promotional products and other business relationships for our blogs. Last year I realized that local small businesses are a vast untapped resource for bloggers. Why didn't I think of that? I posted a photo of my Community … [Read more...]
How to Use Seasonal Blog Posts and Get Killer Traffic
How soon should bloggers start publishing seasonal blog posts to gain maximum traction for their posts? Well, the answer may surprise you. Many people complain when they start seeing Christmas items available in craft stores in July.... Except for the crafters. It takes months to create all of those items sold at Christmas boutique sales that start in November. Those sellers know they need to plan and create early to meet demand. Those … [Read more...]
How to Get the Most Out of Education Bundles
More Resources on Blog and Self Improvement: SEO for Bloggers: A 30-Day Plan for Growth Monkey See – Monkey Do: 8 Easy Steps to Improve Your Blog 4 Great Ways to Balance Blogging and a Full-Time Job How to Power Up and Perfect the Most Important Project—YOU! #IBAchat Must-Have Blog and Self-Improvement Resources: Get a FREE Discovery Call with Sarah of ND Consulting - get your blog on track with some expert guidance Your … [Read more...]
What Bloggers Can Learn about Expanding Your Reach from YouTube Gamers
Every Blogger wants to go about expanding your reach and their audience, but knowing how to achieve that can be elusive. I recently found inspiration from a rather unlikely source: YouTube Gamers. Yes, I mean those people that create videos of themselves playing video games on YouTube. Some have over 3 million subscribers, others have a few thousand people watching and interacting with them as they live stream on a Monday night, and some have … [Read more...]
4 More Ways to Outline, Write, and Strengthen Your Landing Page
Have you ever thought about the difference between a mediocre movie - and one that pulls you into the story? There’s a lot of elements in a movie - which means there’s an awful lot that could go wrong. That’s why proven, reliable directors, actors, and writers are in demand. And wouldn’t you know? It’s the same thing with your landing page - so now let’s take what you’ve got and strengthen your landing page. Don’t have your landing page … [Read more...]
Are You Making the One Mistake that Keeps People from Staying on Your Blog?
Is your bounce rate high and your session duration low? I am going to tell you a little secret that may be hard to for you to hear. It's you. Well, maybe not you. But, your blog could be too painful to navigate that people simply aren't staying on your blog. Look at your blog from a reader's perspective: Can I find what I am looking for? Is there too much clutter in the sidebars? Am I bombarded with ads and opt-ins the second I hit … [Read more...]
Creative Briefs in Action – Looking at 3 Stellar Landing Pages
Okay, so let’s just get this out in the air before we start: we aren’t going to be able to look at actual creative briefs. They’re “internal documents”, so they aren’t something that businesses usually share. Because, well, they’re precious, precious data. But what we **can** do is look at their landing pages, sales pages, blog posts, or whatever else they’ve written. Because when we look at those, we can get a pretty dang good idea of how … [Read more...]
The Creative Brief: 13 Questions to a Have Successful Landing Page
*Turns on mp3 player…* “Are Y'all ready for this???” It’s game time, folks! So let’s bust out the old-school basketball game music and get the creative brief started. (Dance moves are optional.) Okay, so last time we talked about the function and purpose of a creative brief - and how it’s the key ingredient in creating a great landing page. And, well, that’s true. However… a creative brief is good for so much more. In fact, this creative … [Read more...]
IBA Badges
We love to reward our members with badges! On this page, you will find the best IBA badges to use on your blog. We designed these badges to show on sidebars, footers, or blog posts we have syndicated. … [Read more...]
Become an SEO Master to Drive Blog Traffic
SEO is one of those critical things you need to learn in blogging. The sooner you master Search Engine Optimization, the better off you will be. Until they change the rules again. In a nutshell, SEO is a method of optimizing your blog posts to help them to rank higher in search engines, thus generating more traffic to your posts. I was reminded this week of how important it can be. Years ago, I wrote a quick post about making Daniel Tiger's … [Read more...]