Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Where to Get Free Content for Your Website or Blog

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We all know that readers and search engines love fresh content, and lots of it. But keeping a fresh supply of content flowing is hard, especially if you have more than one blog, or you have a website and a blog that need frequent updating.
One option is to hire writers to provide posts and articles. However, paying for content—good content—can get expensive.

So what’s a blogger to do? Here are some ideas for adding fresh, free content to your site.

Solicit guest posts. There are many writers who would be glad to contribute a post to your site. Why would they write for you for free? They get exposure to your audience, plus a link to their site. It is a great way for a new blogger to build an audience and credibility, but even experienced bloggers can benefit from guest posting.

So how do you find these generous souls? View the Local Viking website for the steps you take.

  • Let your readers know that you are looking for guest posts. Your best prospects for guest posts will come from among your readership. Add a page to your blog with instructions on how to submit a guest post.
  • Submit a request for guest posts to Blogger LinkUp (BLU). BLU is a free service I offer to bloggers. Just sign up at http://BloggerLinkUp.com/ and you will get emails (currently three times a week) with notices from people who are looking for guest posters, offering guest posts and more. You may also submit your request for guest posts at the site.
  • Approach other bloggers and ask them to guest post. The biggest bloggers in your niche may not agree, but there are lots of great bloggers who would be flattered to be asked, and happy to contribute.

Use content from article directories. Article directories are repositories for content submitted by writers. Most article directories allow publishers (that’s you!) to use articles from their directories at no charge. If you choose to republish articles from directories, there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Know the terms of service. You are usually prohibited from making any changes to the article, and you must include the author information including any links. You may be required to credit the article directory as well. Some directories may limit the number of articles you may use from them. For example, EzineArticles has a limit of 25 articles per site per year.
  • Look for quality. Some articles found in directories are very good, others are unreadable. Only use the ones that add value for your readers.
  • Don’t overdo it with republished content. The search engines want to see unique content at your site, not just a bunch of stuff they can find elsewhere, so use republished articles here and there, but do not make them a significant portion of your site. They can, however, be a good way to fill in once in a while when you do not have time to write something yourself.

Some of my favorite article directories are:

http://EzineArticles.com/

http://www.Amazines.com/

Post a video. YouTube and many other video sharing sites allow you to use their videos on your site, and even make it easy. To add a YouTube video to your site, simply go to YouTube and do a search for videos using some of the keywords for your site. When you find an interesting video you want to share, look for the “Embed Code” on the right side of the page, near the top. Click on the button next to the embed code to customize the display options. Then copy and paste the embed code from the YouTube page to your site. You may want to add a few sentences of commentary or an introduction, or just post the video.

Repurpose your existing content. Have you written a book? Magazine or newsletter articles? A handout for a speech or seminar? I wrote a newspaper column for more than three years—that is more than 150 columns that could be posted on my website after they were published in the newspaper.

What are your favorite sources for free content?

Web Content Writing Tips

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This is a guest post from Elizabeth McGee,the owner and editor of Homenotion.com.

Writing content for the web isn’t like writing for most other publications, your web content has to grab the reader’s attention and get specific results. 

Whether selling products or posting the latest information to your personal site, you’ll want to develop web content that grabs attention, is interesting and connects with your reader.

Here are a few web content writing tips that I think you’ll find useful…

– Relate to your reader

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a blog post, an article or a sales page, writing for the web means relating to your reader.  Start by thinking about who your reader is, what they want to know and then relate to their emotions, wants and needs.

One of the things I learned early as a parent was the idea of relating to my kids feelings.  When they had a problem, frustration or even misbehaved I would try to relate to how they were feeling emotionally.  This showed them that I understood their sadness, anger, frustration or whatever it was. Showing them that I understood their feelings gave them a sense of connection and they in turn responded in a much more positive manner; even when they misbehaved and had to be punished.  It worked every time wink

Your readers will respond the same way if you can draw them in by connecting with their emotions and their feelings. 

– Be short and to the point

Readers on the web are looking for useful information that they can find quickly. Most people read off a monitor all day long so they appreciate copy that is short, to the point and won’t waste their time. 

Write short paragraphs that consist of 2-3 sentences and make each sentence a complete thought that is easy to understand.  Don’t be tempted to ramble or lecture on a topic.  You’ll lose your reader’s interest.

– Use bullet points

Bullet points automatically draw your eye to important information as well as capture an idea in just a few words.  They are ideal because they make it easy to find pertinent information fast.  Bullet points can be graphic symbols, numbers or letters. When using bullet keep each point to one line if possible.

– Write conversationally

So many people often say, “I don’t know how to write”. Nonsense!  If you can talk you can write. Picture your audience as one person sitting across the table from you.  Simply write down the things you would say to that specific person.

One of the things that helped me write more conversationally was to record myself and then transcribe what I recorded onto paper.  After writing it down go back and flesh out the copy so that it makes sense and isn’t too wordy. 

Simply going through that exercise just once or twice will help you get accustomed to writing in a conversational tone. 

– Write content that is unique and fresh

Due to all the duplicate content on the web nowadays, demands have been put on writers to develop content that is unique, fresh and interesting. That doesn’t mean you can’t write about a familiar topic, it just has to be written in a style or manner that readers find interesting and isn’t spread everywhere around the web.

Writing about how to train your dog for example, is far less interesting than if you take a unique approach and write about your own personal dog training experiences. You could even take a dog training poll and post the responses, write a rant or analogy or even write ‘what not to do’ training tips.  Readers will find these a lot more interesting and the content won’t be something found everywhere else on the web. 

– Keep your content relevant

Keep your content relevant to its title. Content on how to train your cat should not include ideas about how to train your dog. The more relevant and on topic your content is the better, not only for your readers but it’s also what the search engines look for. 

– Use Text Links

Make use of good text links. This gives your reader the option of getting more detail if desired.  They are also a great web page optimization technique that the search engines love. 

For effective use of text links be sure to use keyword based links meaning that the text link uses the primary keywords associated with the page you are linking to.

– Proofread your work

Running your work through the spell checker takes only a few seconds so make it a consistent practice. Also make sure your content flows smoothly and makes sense logically. If your work confuses your reader they won’t stick around to figure it out, they’ll click off.

Always read through your work 2 or 3 times and then have someone else read through it as well, a second pair of eyes has saved me on many an occasion. 

Internet home business Coach and Marketing Enthusiast Elizabeth McGee, is the owner and editor of Homenotion.com, an internet home business ideas website complemented by her free marketing tips blog.  Grab her free newsletter tips and bonus guides. 

How To Create an E-book To Promote Your Business

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This is a guest post from Chuggin McCoffee of TheCoffeeBump.com about using an ebook giveaway to attract customers.

As a small online business, you have a world of opportunity at your fingertips, which is Internet marketing! One easy way to draw attention to your small business niche and beef up your website is to offer a small e-book on your website for free or a small price.

Keep in mind that people are always attracted to something that is free, so they will be likely to request your free offer, which can provide more information about your niche market. This is the perfect way to get your foot in the door! E-books are often called reports, and these small reports should be no more than 15 pages. You can easily hire someone to write your e-book for you or write it yourself ranging anywhere from 5 to 15 pages.

From that point, you can promote the e-book on your niche market on your website and elsewhere, which will give you the opportunity to gain more exposure to your small business. Even though this may seem like an overwhelming task, one of the easiest rules of thumb to use is to write a How To e-book. With the wealth of content available on the Internet, people are instantly attracted to content that will teach them something, making a How To e-book more likely to be a hit. To get the idea for your e-book, all you have to do is brainstorm based on your niche market and your keywords.

If you are selling beauty products, then consider writing a free How To makeup or skin care e-book. Likewise, if you are selling furniture or home decor products, then consider writing a How To e-book on easy steps for interior design. Do you see what I am getting at? It’s actually quite simple to create a small e-book to give away or promote on your website, but it does need to relate to your niche market and leave your customers wanting more! The primary purpose of this e-book is to bring customers to your website so that they will be interested in your products or services that you are offering.

If you want to promote your e-book to gain more exposure to your business elsewhere, then consider the use of ClickBank. ClickBank will partner with you to sell your e-book, and they also have many affiliate marketers working through them. This will gain immediate exposure to your niche market so that even more people will pick up your How To e-book on skin care tips for a small price to potentially come back to your website to purchase products. This is something that can jumpstart your niche market to offer more exposure and credibility to your website for an increase in sales!

Chuggin McCoffee is a coffee fanatic that has spent the entirety of his career cultivating and studying all of the best uses and brewing styles for optimal coffee and espresso flavor. His specialty site for all coffee needs, supplies, and Bunn Filters can be found at The Coffee Bump at http://www.thecoffeebump.com.

Blogging Tips – Easy Blog Ideas

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One of the challenges many bloggers face is finding the time to blog regularly. Here are some blogging tips that will help you quickly and easily create blog posts.

You might start by revising your expectations. It is great if you can blog every day, but it may not be realistic for bloggers with many other responsibilities. Perhaps three times a week is a more achievable goal.

Another thing that may get in your way is the idea that every post has to be a certain length. Many of the articles and posts I put online are in the range of 400 – 600 words. Some bloggers write longer posts, perhaps 800 to 1000 or more words. However, there is no rule that says posts must be at least a certain number of words, or that all of your posts must be the same length.

Try mixing it up. Continue to write some posts with your usual word count, but also do some that are short. For example, if your usual posts examine an issue in depth, do some quick tips that are just 150 – 250 words. Or link to a blog post or website that you found useful, with a brief description of what you liked about it.

These short posts can be created as you run across interesting ideas and sites, or you can set aside an hour or two now and then to stockpile several posts.

Here are some additional ideas for quick posts:

Put up a poll. Many blogging platforms have poll applications built in. Run a poll and get input from your readers about an issue.(Then write a post about the poll results.)

Answer a question from one of your readers. I get lots of email questions, and sometimes publish a question and my answer as a blog post.

Share a favorite quotation, and add a bit of commentary about why you like it or what it means to you. Here’s a recent example from my blog: https://idealady.com/does-success-mean-you-can-slow-down.

Do you ever write blog posts such as “Seven Ways to …” or “Six Things You Need to Know About…”? Take a point from one of those articles and expand on it. For example, I could take any of the individual suggestions from this article on creative ways to grow your business and create a new post with more details on that idea.

Have an open mind about what a blog post can be and you will find many opportunities to create interesting and useful posts for your readers.

I Love Movies, How Can I Become a Film Blogger?

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movie-blogger

This is a guest post from Dave Taylor, of DaveOnFilm.com. Dave has been a successful blogger for many years, and here he shares tips on turning your love of movies into a popular film blog.

I know you. You’re like me, you’ve been watching movies for as long as you can remember, and when your friends are curious about whether a new movie is worth seeing, you’re the one they call or IM. Harry Potter?  Saw all of ‘em opening night. Indiana Jones?  You not only didn’t like the fourth installment, some goofy nonsense about a Crystal Skull, but you know why it wasn’t a good addition to the franchise.

Heck, you think of movie series as franchises and even if you think Star Trek was lame, you also understand that it was a remarkable accomplishment, having that many films in a series that did at least reasonably well. If you’re as far into the business as I am, you also track directors, producers, cinematographers (known in the biz as “directors of photography” or “DPs”) and even production studios.

That’s all well and good, but how do you turn your passion into an interesting blog about movies that people will want to read and track? That’s what I’ve done, with my Dave On Film site, and it has proven great fun, but a lot of work too.

Why? Because talking to your friends about why a film is cool is very different to writing a coherent and thoughtful review of a film on your Web site, a review that’s going to have to stand on its own even when you fly in the face of other critics or even disagree with 800-pound gorillas like The Rog (you know, Roger Ebert).

One way to get started is to not just read film reviews, but ask yourself what makes them interesting or stupid and boring. Does the reviewer share their own life experiences (as in “I’ve always loved Jaws since I was stranded on a buoy just outside of San Pedro for 4 long hours”) or compare movies with their favorites (“I couldn’t help but think about the monster in Rocky Horror when watching Gollum in Lord of the Rings”)?

To me, a good film blog is primarily a place to find good, smart, thoughtful film reviews. Don’t say “Saw IV sucked eggs, Saw III was far better” without explaining why you think that. Was it the acting (uh, sorry, that’s not so relevant in a gore flick grin , the set design, the story, the editing, the fake blood or ?

If there’s a facet of film that you’re really into, talk about that. For me, I pay attention to cinematography, costume and set color palettes, and what I call the “rhythm” of the storyline. It’s rare for me to write a review that doesn’t touch on one of those factors, or perhaps two or three.

As I said earlier, don’t be afraid to buck the trends too. I am not a fan of WALL-E, for example, and complained vocally when people started saying it deserved a Best Picture nomination. Not in my book. I still argue with people about that, actually, and that’s okay. We’re all entitled to our own opinions.

Finally, don’t forget the secret to success in the blogosphere: contribute valuable commentary to other film blogs too. Whether you’re adding your two cents to a big player like Joe Morgenstern of the Journal, A.O.Scott at the Times, a film site like Rotten Tomatoes or Slashfilm, or even other film blogs, participate. Become part of the discussion!

Good luck, and I’ll see you at the movies and, perhaps, online too.

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Dave Taylor has been involved with movies longer than he can remember and in addition to his popular blog also writes reviews for the Boulder Weekly and Colorado Business Magazine. You can find him on Twitter too, as @FilmBuzz or just stop by DaveTaylorOnline.com