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Profitable Ways to Spend Time Online

Reviews · May 19, 2017

If you’re anything like me, you probably spend a lot of time online. Tweeting celebrities, checking Facebook, and killing time playing games are all common ways of using the internet, and they might provide us with lots of entertainment, but are they really the best ways for us to spend our time online? Probably not.

You see, the internet has provided us all with unparalleled opportunities to make money online and improve our lives. Here are just a handful of the most profitable ways to spend time online:

Write a Blog

Instead of spending all your time online browsing other people’s blogs, why not divert some of your spare time to creating your own blog. You can have a blog up and running within a matter of hours, and if you take it seriously, dedicate a few hours a week to writing and build up and audience, you could make a full-time income from your new hobby.

Enter Sweepstakes

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Browsing websites like http://www.sweepstakesdaily.com is a great alternative to spending your spare time checking Facebook because they collect together all of the best contests on the web for you to enter. Even if you spend only a few minutes each day looking through and applying to a fraction of the sweepstakes available, there is a good chance that you will get lucky at least occasionally, and win some great prizes. So great are the opportunities for turning a profit by entering sweepstakes that there is a small but growing group of people who treat competition entry as a full-time job and many of them do quite well out of it too!

Writing eBooks

If you’ve always wanted to become an author, but the thought of having to submit your work to publisher after publisher has put you o9ff, now might be the time to give it a go because self-publishing for the Kindle and other eBook platforms is really starting to take off.

Even if you don’t have the time or implication to write a 50,000-word novel, you could make a regular income by creating short instructive eBooks. You can find out more about self-publishing at http://www.copyblogger.com/professional-self-publishing/, and you should consider giving it a try because it’s a great way to create passive income.

Create a Course

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If you have a particular skill that you think other people might want to learn, creating a video course and publishing it on Coursera, Udemy or Craftsy could be a great way to use the internet to your benefit, So, instead of idly passing the time discussing your hobby on your favorite forum, start writing and recording tutorials and make some extra money.

Set Up a Store

Instead of whiling away the hours trawling Etsy or browsing Amazon for bargains, start making the internet work for you by setting up your own online store on one of the most popular platforms. It’ll take some hard work, but with a little determination, you could start making hundreds of dollars per month just in your spare time.

Are you making money online? Which methods do you use to bring the money in?

Want To Enter The World Of Blogging? Here’s How To Get Started

Reviews · April 20, 2017

Blogging has never been so popular. It’s a way to share your thoughts and interests with the world, explore your passions, and engage with other like-minded people. Whether you’re writing about tech, food, makeup, or movies, blogging is a great platform to express yourself. There are some blogging pitfalls to avoid, however, and setting up a successful blog takes time (and these tips!)…

Where To Start?

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The first place to start with a blog is the big idea. It doesn’t have to be an original interest or hobby but always start with what you want the blog to be about. Most people choose to blog about what they’re passionate about or opinionated about. Before you go live it’s a good idea to come up with some content for your blog. Most viewers are put off by patchy content which isn’t regularly updated. Choose your categories and get creating. Creating is the key word here. If you’re not much of a wordsmith but are a dab hand with a camera, photos can be the main part of your posts. Similarly, artwork, quotes, and any other creative nuggets can be used in place of lengthier content.

Generating Traffic

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For some having a blog is a hobby and they don’t mind about how much exposure they get. Others want to grow their blogs so their opinion reaches more people or they can monetize it. Beginner WordPress SEO is a good place to start if you’re looking to expand. SEO stand for search engine optimization, it’s about creating searchable content that search engines put to the top of their lists. You can do this by using keywords that you think your target audience will be searching for. Another good way to promote your blog is to link to it on other social media platforms. Try and convert your Instagram following, for instance, into a blog following too. The more footfall you get on your site the better.

Key Things To Keep In Mind

You should update your content regularly to keep people coming back. You should also make sure that you write about things which are important to you. Don’t just follow the trends, content which you care about will do much better. Blogging is also supposed to be fun. Try not to become too bogged down with the details. Lots of bloggers find the experience to be cathartic and relaxing, so enjoy what you do first and foremost. Most blogging sites have comment sections, these are a great way to interact with your readers and hear their thoughts. These are the best places to start a dialogue and create interest around a post.

#Blogging For Beginners: 5 Key Questions To Master Your Craft

Reviews · March 27, 2017

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Developing your first blog is a very exciting process for any creative individual. However, it’s imperative that you build a framework engineered for success. Otherwise, investing your life into the project is a little pointless.

As an inexperienced blogger, it’s good to know that the digital arena is very flexible. Nonetheless, you’ll still need to focus your attentions on key areas to generate the response that your hard work merits. Use these five questions to spur you on, and you won’t go far wrong.

What Is The Purpose?

It might sound a little obvious, but having a plan of action is key. Is your blog a platform to connect people together while expressing your views on a subject? Or is it something that you aim to utilize as a moneymaking venture?

Knowing what your blog sets out to achieve is key, and will aid the website creation and hosting process. Fail to prepare, and you essentially prepare to fail. Ensuring that your blog is designed to accomplish its aims will create a far greater platform for success.

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Who Is It For?

The quality of your blog will ultimately be decided by its readership. Even if money isn’t on your mind, traffic levels and user responses will have a huge influence on whether you deem the project successful or not.

Finding ways to generate new visits is vital. However, mastering the art of gaining repeat readers is the true key to victory. Not only for the numbers, but also due to the fact this hardcore following can direct the blog’s evolution.

What Should It Look Like?

Imaginative and engaging content is vital for the long-term success of your blog. However, it’s important to realize that users will judge the platform from the second they open the website. Therefore, ensuring that it looks great should sit top of the agenda.

Again, choosing the right platforms is key. In today’s climate, though, you need to remember that a large percentage of your audience will access the data via their smartphone devices. With this in mind, launching the blog as an App can be an extremely useful way to stay open to all. At the very least, the site should be optimized for the smaller screens.

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How Can The Platform Grow?

When first starting the blog, most creators will think solely about short-term aims. In reality, though, a successful platform will be geared towards sustainability. Given that the entire industry is growing at a rapid rate, it’s imperative that your platform evolves alongside it.

This could involve taking on extra writers, launching a sister blog, or various other tasks. Either way, allowing the site to become bigger and better over time is the only way to build long-term success.

What Equipment Do I Need?

Once the blog has been launched, you could produce content with nothing more than a laptop and internet connection. In truth, though, imagery brings it to life. Equipping yourself with a decent camera is vital. Whether you use it for photos or videos doesn’t matter. That added personality will have a telling impact.

Working online allows 24/7 communication too, especially if you have a strong social media presence. A portable battery charger, internet dongle, and phone Apps are all killer additions for your blogging platform. Embrace them, and your prospects will look better than ever.

The ‘Write Way’ To #Blog

Reviews · March 24, 2017

Is there a wrong way to blog? In a way – yes. By not committing to a regular and consistent schedule. While there is a right and wrong way to do almost anything – the wrong way to blog is to avoid it altogether. The right way to do it? Write.

Why blog? Well it can be a passion, a hobby – it can be the business you run from home or as part of the business you are already running. Blogging is content!

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Content creation is a key cornerstone of any business marketing plan. Even the greatest products and services on the market can’t market themselves!

A blog and the content posted onto the blog (videos, podcasts and written content) creates interest in your brand. This interest can build into interest, or even a sale of a product. Sometimes – it is the blog that is technically the product, with visitors visiting your web page just to read your blog! Products are sold as an aside – this is called merchandise. The content created and cultivated by you might just make you some money!

What should you write about? Well, it really does depend on why your blog exists in the first place. If you want to write about technology, you’ll cover all manner of things from computing to gadgets and coding to inventions & science. Find brackets that you can fit yourself into. Some blogs might specialize and write about sports teams, or a single sports team. If it’s a personal blog, it depends on your interests. If your blog is professional, it depends on the industry that your business is based in! Companies that manufacture sports equipment will naturally blog about sports! It’s all situational.

The foundation of every blog is the internet – it has to be! The internet offers a lot of avenues for expansion, collaboration and marketing. Your blog should have social media accounts so that you can share your content across multiple fronts to increase your followers and thus your view count.

We mentioned product’s a while ago and some blogs do sell merchandise – that means you need to be a dab hand at packaging and postage too. Even if you aren’t – running a blog online requires you to have some form of home office address to conduct your business on. Assess your needs and if you are selling, make sure you can get your products out efficiently.

Now, your writing. It needs to be authentic and truthful, no matter if you are presenting a blog in a personal or professional environment. If you’re personal and you’re laying on the constant hard sell, people will get turned off of you. If you’re not professional enough in a business environment people will turn off of you easily. Just be yourself above all and tone it up or down depending on your writing environment.

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Above all – be consistent and write to a schedule. Like a radio show people will be tuning in on a consistent basis for your writing, so don’t let your followers down!

The Art of Keeping People Coming Back to Your Blog

Reviews · March 21, 2017

ne of the most challenging aspects of writing a blog is encouraging people to come back time and time again. Often, people will only come to read a single post but will not stick around to look at what else you have to say in the future. With so many other competitors all clamouring for attention, you are certainly in a highly competitive marketplace. But with time, commitment and the right strategy in place, you are more likely to be able to attract the long term readers that you are looking for.

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Here are just a few of the top ways that you can hold people’s attention and keep them coming back to your blog.

Establish Your Expertise

People often come to blogs because they are looking for expert advice. One of the most common types of blog post is the ‘how to guide’. If you can provide people with solutions to specific problems, they are more likely to come back to you when they need some advice. Everyone will listen to someone who knows what they are talking about. That’s why it is a good idea to focus your blog on some core subjects if you are running it all by yourself. Otherwise you could risk spreading yourself too thinly and people will not have as much faith in your expertise.

Stick to a Blogging Schedule

You should have a schedule of posts that extends several weeks or months in advance. Nothing looks worse than a blog that hasn’t been updated in a long time. People are likely to turn back as soon as they see your page and not come back again. Some of your posts may not be time specific, so you can be flexible with them if there is any breaking news that you would like to cover. Other posts will be about specific times of the year, so these will need to stay in place. Stick to your schedule as closely as possible to show that yours is an active site that is worth coming back to.

Respond to Comments

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If you continually write interesting content, people are likely to want to comment on your posts. You should make sure to respond to each comment individually, therefore encouraging more people to get involved. This shows that you actually care about what your readers think and you’re not just focused on creating content that fills your site. It also demonstrates that you’re committed to your blog. As well as this, it helps you to build up new relationships – potentially with other bloggers who write about a similar subject area.

Connect with Social Media

The best bloggers nowadays are active on social media, as well as keeping their page updated on a regular basis. This can be one of the most effective tools to attract new readers, as well as keeping the ones that you have already. Once you have a big following, you may want to do a Facebook privacy checkup to make sure your account is safe as it is likely to be a valuable commodity to you. Social media allows you to let people know about your latest blog posts, as well as post shorter comments reacting to developments in your industry. It is another way to get in touch with your audience to gage what posts are working best and what type of content they are looking for.

Serial Blog Post

Sometimes, you will have a blog topic that is simply too big to tackle in a single post. You should break this up into bitesize chunks and set up a schedule of when you will be posting the rest of it. It may well be a certain long anecdote, so you can leave cliffhangers at the end of each post encouraging people to come back. You should make sure to include links back to previous posts so people can catch up if they are late to the party. If you have captured people’s attention, this is one of the best ways to keep them coming back for more.

Send Out Newsletters

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When you create a blog, make sure to include a signup page so people can input their email address and you can get in touch with them whenever you have something interesting to say. Remember not to overuse this technique as people are likely to be signed up to a huge number of mailing lists these days. Try to make your content helpful or exciting, not just a deluge of self-promotional emails. A newsletter can provide a timely reminder to check back on your blog page for any content that they may not have read yet.

Vary Your Posts

People are much less likely to come back if they see that you are posting about the same type of thing again and again. Instead, utilise the range of different blog post styles that are out there. We’ve already mentioned the ‘how to’ posts, but you could also write ‘checklist’ posts, giving people a clear guide of the steps they need to take to complete a certain task. You could also write product reviews, either about a single one or comparing and contrasting different items.

News posts are a regular feature on many blogs, while you could also create ones which are more personal in style, drawn from your own experiences. To get a fresh perspective, you could interview an influential person in your field or encourage people to submit guest posts. This helps to take some of the burden off yourself. Surveys, polls or FAQ posts encourage your readers to get involved, and may also help you to come up with a clear direction for anything you choose to write about in the future.

Write Engaging Headlines

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Often, people will judge whether or not they want to read a blog post based purely on the strength of the headline. That’s not to say that they all need to be over the top or sensationalist, but you should take the time to make sure they are engaging and give a good overview of what is in the post. Try to keep them short and snappy if possible. People who glance briefly through your blog may see a whole range of things that they want to read, keeping them coming back at a later date.

You’re Only as Strong as Your Last Post

The best bloggers put a huge amount of time and thought into their posts because they know how quickly people can switch off and go elsewhere. Like a sportsman is only as good as their last game, you are only as strong as your last post. Again, this comes back to making a detailed schedule. If you just sit down in front of a blank page and expect magic to happen, you are likely to be sorely disappointed!

Link to Related Posts

As we said at the start, people are often drawn in to read a single post on your blog page and don’t come back on a regular basis. Make sure that single post is strong by linking it to other related posts on your page. People are likely to open this up and follow the links like a trail of breadcrumbs, showing that you are so much more than a one hit wonder! This is definitely a technique that you should use for all your blog posts as you never know which one people will be drawn to.

Share Your Personality

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Posts that tend to be dry and generic are likely to get passed over pretty quickly. With such a wide array of content out there on the internet, make yours stand out by making sure your unique style shines through. Show off your sense of humor and try to make people laugh. Share personal anecdotes and write as if you are only speaking to your best friend. If people get to know you and enjoy your own unique take on the world, they are much more likely to come back to read more of what you have to say.

Optimise Your Posts for SEO

If your posts regularly rank highly on search engines, people are more likely to see you as an authority on a particular subject and trust your site to provide them with the type of information they are looking for. There are numerous techniques for making your posts SEO friendly including using backlinks, keywords and making your content unique. If you are not well versed in these, now is the time to brush up on your skills.

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These are just a few of the best ways to keep visitors coming back to you blog time and time again. Ultimately it all comes down to creating fresh and readable content, and making sure you promote it as widely as possible. It may take some time to find your voice and a style that works, but always try to improve wherever you can and you are likely to build up the loyal readership you are looking for.