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10 Quick & Easy Formats to Use for Your Blog Posts

MyBlogDealer on March 22, 2021

Are you running out of ideas for your blog? Or maybe you’ve been churning out the same type of posts and your web visits are already taking a plunge?

Whether you want to increase web visits or sustain your audience’s interest, you can use any of these ten blog formats to hook them in and spice up your content.

But first, make sure you’ve identified your target audiences or buyers. Think about their most pressing concerns and what questions they often ask.

Then create a post that can help solve those issues, using one of these blog formats.

1. How-To Articles

People turn to the internet whenever they need guidance, and this makes detailed instructions beneficial for your site’s SEO.

Whether you’re selling a product or service, you can come up with a how-to blog post to teach your buyers. Show them different ways or applications of your product.

If you offer software, teach them how to maximize its features. You can even create posts that are specific to your audience’s skill level, crafting separate articles for beginners and advanced users.

2. Expert Tips

The Internet is flooded with advice, and people are becoming more discerning when picking tips to adopt. Featuring tips from well-known, successful experts serves as proof that the advice has been tested or applied by credible individuals, and they actually work.

When writing these blog posts, you can list tips from one famous expert, such as Evan Carmichael’s compilation of Warren Buffett’s investment advice.

An alternative is to focus on one issue and feature answers from different specialists. TwelveSkip took this route in the post 23 Influencers Share How To Get On The Radar of Influential People In Your Industry that included tips from Neil Patel, Lewis Howes, and Pat Flynn.

Another example is the Social Media Examiner post Social Media Marketing Tips from the Pros that combined actionable advice from entrepreneurs, content managers, podcast hosts, and published authors. The post had also been a clever segue to their social media marketing event.

3. Announcements

If you’re launching a new product, holding an event, or providing limited-time offers, one of the best ways to promote it is through a blog post. Sharing it on your website and other online channels helps create excitement or anticipation for your event.

Aside from including details like the date, venue, contact details, and sign-up instructions, grab this opportunity to discuss how your products or service will benefit your customers.

For example, if you’re running promos on HVAC products, educate your future clients about the lifespan of their units and the benefits of upgrading their system or replacing outdated ones.

You can also share some lessons you learned while creating a product, which can help readers who are on the same boat. One example is Marie Forleo’s post and video on what she wished she knew before writing her manuscript. The post wraps up with a question on where readers pre-ordered her book and a chance to get an advanced signed copy.

4. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Aside from how-to questions, there are probably tons of queries your target customers are typing in search engines. This is your chance to provide the information they need, while also positioning your company as a reliable, trustworthy expert in your field.

When making FAQ posts, your content can focus on one question, or you can group related queries and address them in one article. Aside from adding the post to your blog, consider including them in your website’s FAQ or Help section, where your audience can easily find it.

5. Listicles

Listicles are numbered lists sharing multiple tips or products in short, easy-to-digest paragraphs. These make them so much easier to scan, which is ideal for busy audiences or those looking for quick, straightforward answers.

Make your listicles enticing by putting a number on the title (such as 10 Quick & Easy Tips) so readers know what to expect, then deliver on that promise. Make it a worthwhile read and include images like infographics to help readers visualize your points and encourage shares.

If your goal is to build internal links, consider doing roundup lists and include links to your blog posts where you cover each item in detail.

If you’re aiming to get more backlinks to boost your SEO, create a longer listicle. Aim for quality long-form content of over 1,000 words. Moz found out that these longer posts often get more links and shares than shorter articles.

6. Case Studies

Case studies feature a client’s experience with your product or service. It shows your readers how you’ve helped them reach their targets or increase their sales, thus helping you establish your expertise. Additionally, you provide readers with proof that your offer or solutions have been tested and delivered stellar results for other clients.

Case studies have multiple SEO benefits too. Being original content, people who want to cite your results will have to link to your site or at least mention your company’s name in their article. These also boost your featured clients’ search engine results, as their name comes up multiple times on your case study as well as on posts of other writers who cite your article.

7. Dos and Don'ts

Supporting your clients and audiences in their goals involves not just telling them how to do things, but also what to avoid and why, and what to do instead.

One excellent example is Bel Marra Health’s article on yoga for osteoporosis patients that includes poses these individuals must avoid and other reminders.

8. Interviews

Like case studies, interview-based blog posts enable you to publish content your readers aren’t likely to find anywhere else.

Interviews can be done face-to-face or purely online, such as through emails and voice calls. Ask your interviewee to share a story about their business, the lessons they learned, and advice they’d give to your readers.

You can even create multiple types of content from one interview. Aside from creating videos and infographics, you can pull out lessons from the interview and add these to your next expert tip blog post or listicle.

9. Reviews

Aside from customer feedback, buyers check online reviews before making purchases, especially high-ticket items or subscriptions.

Take this opportunity to review a product or service’s features and limitations, and highlight who or what businesses it can best serve. Include images to help readers visualize the product features, or screenshots to give them a preview of the software’s dashboard.

10. Comparisons

Like reviews, comparison blog posts help your readers make an informed purchase. But while reviews focus on just one product, comparisons present two or more alternatives. As such, it helps bring your readers (or future customers) closer to clicking the “buy” button.

Your comparison posts can juxtapose different products you have. For example, if you sell garage doors, present the door types you have and list each one’s pros and cons, and factors clients must consider when selecting one.

You can also feature your product vs. another company’s, allowing you to highlight your strengths. Find a way to approach this positively, as slamming or criticizing your competitors will only give your readers a bad impression of you.

Producing consistent, high-quality content helps in every phase of client acquisition: from helping your ideal customers find you online through SEO, to letting them see you as an expert and a company they can trust.

If you want to produce any of the content forms above but are pressed for time, consider hiring a blog writing and management service. MyBlogDealer will take this task off your plate and deliver high-quality articles.Check out our content samples online, and visit our website to view our price list and place your order. For inquiries, send us a message.

7 Freebies to Get More Blog Subscribers

MyBlogDealer on March 22, 2021

Giving away free items and discounts has long been a successful marketing strategy by businesses and is even backed by science. It helps create a positive image for brands and makes customers happier. Your blog can benefit from offering freebies too. They give people an incentive for subscribing to you. If you’re still looking for freebie ideas you can try, check these out.

7 Blog Freebies To Get You Subscribers

1. eBooks

Electronic books or eBooks have become a staple freebie because of their simplicity. You can write everything on a word processor, save the file as a PDF, and create a landing page on your blog for it. It doesn’t have to be a costly endeavor, making it ideal for new blogs on limited budgets.

eBooks are also popular for their versatility. You can write about any topic that you want, be it a statistics report on your niche or even a compilation of your best blog posts. It doesn’t matter what niche you’re in, because there’s always someone in your target audience that reads. But don’t give away everything you know for free. Give readers something to look forward to -- a free preview of what they’ll get when they avail your paid content, service or product.

2. Tutorials

Starting a blog for your business means setting yourself up as an expert in your niche. What better way to show said expertise than through a tutorial? They can help your readers find solutions in exchange for subscriptions. By being someone who has the answers they need, your business becomes more trustworthy.

You can create manuals on how to install one of your products, or write a how-to guide for maintaining them. If you sell air conditioner parts, you can teach customers how to install and clean air filters. You can then place a subscribe button on a related blog post that offers the guide.

However, if you’re selling a service, you’ll have to choose tutorial topics carefully, since you’ll want people to come to you for help, not help themselves. If you’re a social media manager, for instance, a tutorial on DIY Facebook page management is not going to do you favors.

3. Courses

Free courses aren’t just useful for sites that offer online classes. It can be used for blogs that provide advice or news in their niches, like financial or parenting blogs. For instance, you can develop a 5-day intro course on stock market investment, or a week-long course on anger management with children. You can have it emailed to your subscribers on a set schedule so that you’ll be a regular and memorable presence in their inbox.

Courses can also work for businesses with products with steep learning curves, like computer software. A web hosting blog can start a free course on creating a website, while a project management program can have one that goes in-depth on its features.

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4. Calendars

A calendar is another great freebie that can be used by any business. Your readers will like them since they’re actually quite handy to have in their daily lives.

Calendars are straightforward and simple enough, but you can still modify them to suit your niche. A cooking blog’s calendar can suggest recipes to try each day. A crossfit calendar can have a workout planner or tracker that you can follow. You could also design the calendar to go with your business’s theme.

You don’t have to create physical calendars either. You can offer it as printables that can be downloaded instead. This way, you’ll save on printing and shipping costs.

6. Free Products

People love free stuff. Offering some to your readers provides plenty of incentive to sign up. For example, an online pet supplies store can offer free sachets of shampoo for every purchase when buyers also subscribe to their blog.

But it doesn’t have to be a physical product. If you’re a stock photography business, you can offer subscribers free photos templates on a weekly or monthly basis. People are already coming to you for photos -- giving some for free regularly might get them interested in paying for premium too.

6. Exclusive Access

Giving exclusive access makes readers feel special when they subscribe. Businesses that are developing new products can use this to great effect. If you’re creating an app or a game that’s still in beta, you can offer access to your subscribers as a way to let them test it and see if they like it. If you’re writing a book, you can give them a peek at the first chapters.

7. Consultations

Another way to be recognized as an expert is by providing free consultations with your subscriptions. This can be helpful if you’re marketing yourself as someone who provides tailor-made solutions. It’ll let your readers know first-hand that you really are equipped with the right knowledge.

You can offer them in your CTA after a blog post, or as a standalone landing page when someone visits your site for the first time. Some businesses offer free consultations without asking for subscriptions, but you can give subscribers perks such as giving them a higher priority than non-subscribers, or offering discounts if they’ll avail your services after consultation.

We Can Help!

Enticing freebies definitely help you get subscribers, but content is what keeps your blog alive.

Schedule a free consultation with MyBlogDealer today, and let’s make a plan for growing your blog!

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How to Find Your Blog’s Target Audience

MyBlogDealer on February 21, 2020

Blogs are an excellent way to introduce or share your insights on new products and services. What's more, they are easy to start and require little to no upfront financial investment. While you can write a blog post without spending money, you will still need to invest precious time.

Did you know that the average blog post takes about four hours to research and write? And, out of the millions of blogs that crop up online each year, most will never find an audience or generate any sales.

Perhaps the biggest reason why blogs fail is that they don't have a clearly defined target audience.

Lots of businesses simply pick a topic and run with it without taking the time and effort needed to identify and grow an audience.

Not knowing the readership you want for your blog is like driving on a dark road with your headlights off — you have no sense of direction and you're likely headed for disaster.

Before making the first entry on your new blog, here's a guide to help you figure out your target audience:

What’s a Target Audience?

Generally speaking, a target audience is a group of people defined by demographics or personality types and interests. They're people within your niche who are most likely to find your content relevant and helpful for them.

Here are some of the most common target audience demographics considered by businesses:

Age
Gender
Race
Location
Education level
Marital status
Occupation
Annual income

Keep in mind that the terms "target audience" and "target market" are often interchanged, but they are actually distinct from one another. A target market is your group of potential customers, which can be quite broad. On the other hand, a target audience is a specific group within your target market.

For example, a mountain biking blog's target market may be mountain bike enthusiasts, but their target audience could be mountain bikers ages 50 and above, like this e-biking blog for seniors. You don’t see blogs like that every day!

Why Do Target Audiences Matter?

Helps Create a Persona

Understanding your target audience helps you develop a reader persona. The persona is a stand-in for a member of your audience — both of which share similar traits.

One example is this particular mommy blog, which doesn't give parenting tips like others do. Instead, it helps interested mothers start blogging, and connects with fellow blogger moms through their shared experiences as parents.

If you like, you can have around three personas in your blog to portray the different kinds of people in your target audience.

Make Better Content

After finding your target audience and developing relatable personas, the process of creating high-quality content for your blog becomes simpler and takes less time. You'll know what kind of message resonates best with your readers, making it easier to plan appropriate blog topics and figure out what kind of writing tone and visuals to use.

Boosts Popularity, Subscriptions & Sales

The better your content, the more people will share it, subscribe to your blog, and buy your products. You'll also find that other blogs will link to your content, too. This gives you more credibility and further improves your search engine rankings, which can bring even more people to your content.

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How to Find Your Target Audience

Self-Reflect

Many people write for a niche that they love or at least know a lot about. If that's you, then you're probably a member of the audience you're trying to target. Your staff could be as well. As such, consider making a persona out of yourself. Using a list of your own interests, lifestyle habits, and even your relationship status, you can start aiming for similar folks.

Use Analytics Tools

Tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights can help you find out what kind of people are engaging with your blog or your social media pages. They provide you with several demographic breakdowns, including age, gender, and location. You can even learn what times they're most active online, which can help you to optimize your blog post schedule.

Make the Most Of Social Media

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are powerful mediums for attracting customers and gaining detailed analytical information about them. There are three billion people around the world using social media today, and somewhere in that huge numbers is your target audience! You can participate in groups that are in your niche and learn more about the people in them. The posts you make for social media will reveal what kind of content works and what doesn't.

Leaders in your niche are often very active on social media. You can study the type of followers they have, which probably has your target audience, too.

Check Out Other Blogs

Depending on your niche, there's a good chance other blogs have already made content on things you also want to write about. But that's not really a bad thing. You can use this as an opportunity to observe their audience, especially those who comment on content that's close to your chosen topics. It's also a chance for you to review your work and try to improve your future content's quality and uniqueness.

Study Your Current Customers

One of the simplest ways to know your business blog's target audience is to take a look at the customers that you already have. Don't be afraid to ask them questions like why they like your products. Even just some friendly small talk can go a long way to understanding them better. Chances are you already have an idea about their lifestyle and hobbies. This way, you can write your blog posts with an existing client in mind. You could even tell an anecdote about them to help you connect better with readers.

With these tips in mind, you'll be well on your way to finding your target audience and creating well-written, relatable content for them.

But, if you don't have the writing chops or the time to grow your blog on your own, count on MyBlogDealer to do the job for you. Schedule a consultation today, and we'll help you build a blog content strategy tailored to your business goals.

10 Easy Ways to Get Subscribers to a New Blog (Without Spending a Dime on Ads)

MyBlogDealer on

Promoting a blog with paid advertising is one of the biggest ongoing trends in digital marketing today. More and more small businesses and solopreneurs are attempting to grow their new blogs, using paid services like Facebook Ads and Google Ads. While these methods can be excellent for traffic and lead generation, they tend to work best when you're proficient at setting up targeted ads or you've already established a following for your blog. Otherwise, you could quickly spend a small fortune advertising on these platforms with little to show for your time, effort, and hard earned money. In fact, one survey by Small Business Trends showed that 62% of small business owners think Facebook ads are ineffective.

Luckily, there are organic ways to reel in more subscriptions for your new blog without having to empty out your wallet. Let’s take a look at some of them, shall we?

How to Get Subscribers for Your Blog Without Breaking the Bank

1. Know who your audience is.

Figuring out who your audience is will make the content creation and marketing process for your blog a lot more straightforward. You can more readily create content with the right tone and imagery, speaking directly to the interest of the people in your niche or industry. Here are some fundamental questions you should ask yourself when narrowing down your audience:

What industry is your audience in?
Which are the demographics of your audience?
What’s their persona?

> Before attempting to build a list of subscribers, first learn > How to Find Your Blogs Target Audience.

2. Have an SEO strategy.

In a nutshell, search engine optimization or SEO is a term for methods used to increase your “free” or “organic” website traffic. This involves using keywords in content and optimizing your site’s layout, among other things. Essentially, you take steps that will get your web pages to rank high in search engines like Google. More people will see your site and subscribe to you if you’re closer to the first page. However, different businesses have different needs, and you might need SEO services to help you with planning.

3. Create content with care.

Your audience is a driving factor in what you’re writing for your blog. If they don’t find your content useful, they’re not going to take you seriously, much less subscribe. Quality is the key to successful content. You want it to draw your readers further into your blog. Making your format easy to digest, using short, jargon-free sentences, short paragraphs, bullet points, and crisp relevant images will help keep their attention for your entire post.

And don’t forget to sprinkle in your keywords! Your blog posts won’t rank high in the search results if you don’t include keywords in them.

4. Plan a posting schedule.

While the quality of your blog posts are crucial for attracting subscribers, the quantity and timing of your posts are also important factors to consider. Posting too much could annoy your audience. Post too little, however, and you could lose their attention. You'll need to strike the right balance.

Also, research what times your audience is most likely to be online to view your new content and schedule your posts to publish at that time. That way you'll reach more people.

5. Promote on social media.

Some businesses struggle to increase their blog subscriptions but have a much easier time building up a following on social media⁠. If this is the case with your business, use it to your advantage. You can tell your followers, “Hey, why don’t you check my blog out?” or let them know that you’ve posted something new. You can also share your blog posts to groups that you’re in — as long as they’re related to your industry, of course.

> Find out How to Grow Your Blog Using Social Media.

6. Work on your networking.

No man is an island, even in the world of blogging. Seek the help of other bloggers who can help increase your subscriber count by linking back to you on their blog posts. You can do the favor of linking back to them too. Most bloggers link to content at their discretion, but you can take a proactive approach to getting a link by politely asking for it. This method works best if your posts offer a lot of value-rich information for readers. The more high-quality blogs that link to your site, the better your search rankings will be.

7. Start guest posting.

Guest posting is when you write an article and publish it on a website that is more popular than your own. The guest post also has a link leading back to your blog. Implementing this strategy can significantly boost your online presence since you’ll be reaching a wider audience. By contributing something relevant to the site’s community, you gain favor with the readers there, which can earn you more subscriptions.

> Find out How to Get More Traffic with Guest Blogging

8. Give them an incentive.

One surefire way of attracting new followers to your blog is to offer something in return for their subscription. Some common examples include member-only discounts or a free eBook. Whatever you choose, freebies and perks are always tempting for readers.

>Use these 7 Freebies to Get More Blog Subscribers.

9. Use subscription widgets and landing pages.

How are you going to get more subscriptions if readers don’t know where to subscribe? Having a subscription or registration box ready in your blog posts eliminates the need to search for the Subscribe page. You can usually see them at the end of an article with a Call To Action, telling readers to sign up to the site or asking for your email address.

You’ll also want a landing page to pop up when someone visits your website for the first time, not just to your blog posts. Landing pages are used for requesting a visitor’s contact details in exchange for something useful, like a discount on a blog writing service.

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10. Don’t forget your CTA.

But of course, if you want people to hit that subscribe button, you’ll need to say something convincing to them. CTAs or Calls To Action are phrases used in marketing that tell the audience to do something in particular. Examples include downloading an app, scheduling a free consultation, or in your case, subscribing to your blog. No beating around the bush with CTAs — you should be as obvious and straightforward with what you’re offering to the reader.

It can be something like this one right here:

Got the ideas but not the time and skill to write blog content? Book an appointment with MyBlogDealer and let's start planning affordable, high-quality blog posts to boost your subscriber count for years to come.

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