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Scheduling allows you to completely prepare a post so it’s ready to go — but it won’t publish until the designated time. Let’s take a quick look at how to do this …

Once you’re logged into WordPress, and you’ve started working on a new blog post, you’ll find the scheduling option under the Publishing tab on the right-hand side. If the tab isn’t already expanded, click on the arrow in the upper right corner. You should then see the following:

By default, your blog post is set to publish immediately. But if you click on the edit button, you have full control of when the post will actually go live:

Once you’re done, be sure to click the “OK” button, and then click on the “Schedule” button to complete the process. When the day and time you scheduled arrives, your post will publish immediately!

Once it’s published, be sure to share your latest content on social media!

I hope this blogging 101 tip helps you brew a better blog!

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In this installment of the series, we cover an important blogging tip: why your blog needs to be a subpage of your website — not a subdomain.

Check it out to make sure your blog is working to improve engagement AND your overall website authority …

We hope this tip helps you brew a better blog!

The post Two-minute Tuesdays: Why Your Blog Needs to be a Subpage of Your Website appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Being an expert in your industry makes it possible to provide relevant solutions to your customers. It also makes it easier to identify trends that can help your customers even further.

And although experience can make you an expert, constant learning is also a key component to your remaining one. Whether it’s from articles, blogs, a mastermind group, trade shows, or some other medium, fresh input is critical to remaining a thought leader in your industry.

What I’ve found, though, is that people who are experts in their industry often feel that they have nothing to write about. They don’t feel like an expert, or they believe nobody would want to read what they have to say.

Although there are many reasons behind these concerns, there’s one thing I’d like to share. To you, what you do every day feels common place — it’s natural to you, so it’s easy to believe everyone has the same information/understanding you do.

This is simply not true. You’ve probably worked for years to become really good at what you do, and what’s “well-worn” knowledge to you is BRAND NEW to the rest of us that don’t do what you do. Sharing this knowledge can be super helpful — and has great value — to your clients.

And that’s what a blog is all about — sharing relevant, useful information with people who need it.

Think about it. You know what your customers’ biggest problems and pain points are. You know exactly how your products and/or services can solve their problems. The only difference is, instead of discussing these pain points and solutions face-to-face with a client, you’ll need to put it into words and write about it on your blog.

So, if you’re thinking “why would anybody want to read what I have to say?” The answer is, it’s the same reason your clients come to you in the first place — because you have something of value to offer.

Remember, things that are common place to you, are NOT common place to your clients! And I don’t know anybody who finds a solution to one of their problems boring or irrelevant, do you?

In my industry, clients want to know more about SEO, user experience (UX), web design, conversion (CV), blogging and social media. Each of these main topics has many, many sub topics that I can focus on in a blog post — giving me hundreds of things to write about.

This is quite possibly the most important of all the blogging tips I share, because a blog cannot exist without content. And it will never engage with readers unless that content is relevant and useful.

Want more blogging tips?
– Blogging 101 Tips: With Inconsistency Comes Weakness
– Blogging 101 Tips: Set Up Your Blog as a Subpage (good) vs. a Subdomain (bad)
– Blogging 101 Tips: Creating a Blogging Campaign

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 appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

One of the top comments I receive during every Blogging 101 webinar or workshop is that people find the thought of blogging stressful. This is understandable, especially if you’ve never blogged before, because the entire process is one big question mark.

Today, we’ll be laying out our process on how to create a blog campaign — which will make blogging more fun and less stressful.

How Often Should I Blog?

We’re asked this question all the time. Blogging three times per week is optimal for most businesses, but it’s often not feasible because of time constraints. Twice a week is better than once, and once is better than none.

Since it’s the easiest, let’s go with publishing one blog post per week. This is the minimum amount of times you should blog on a weekly basis. Every other week, or once in a while isn’t very effective. In many ways, its like exercise — with consistency comes positive results, and with inconsistency comes weakness.

Many of you may be thinking, even one blog post per week sounds daunting, so let’s dive right into the process of making a blog campaign.

How to Create a Monthly Blog Campaign & Lower Your Stress

1) Schedule Time
Just like you’d schedule an appointment with a client, the dentist or your doctor, you need to schedule time for yourself to create a monthly blog campaign. So, take out your analog or digital calendar and schedule one hour exclusively for blog campaign creation. Treat this appointment with the respect you would any other.

Schedule time in April to work on your May blog posts. In May, schedule time for your June blog posts (and so on). You always want to create your campaigns a month in advance. This takes the stress off when you actually sit down to write your blog. It also gives your brain time with the subject matter — either consciously or unconsciously — which makes it easier to actually write the blog post.

2) Choose Your Blog Topics & Titles
That’s it. No need to figure out every detail, just think of 4-5 blog topics for next month and write a tentative title for each. I know what you’re thinking, “what should my blog topics be about?” The answer is easier than you may think. Topics should be about the pain points and struggles your customers are experiencing. In other words, your blog topics can be about the questions and problems your clients talk with you about (that you help them solve).

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you have nothing of value to say. This occurs because since you do what you do every day — it’s common place to you. But it’s not common place to your customers!

3) Write a 2-3 Sentence Overview
Think of this as the cliff notes version for each of your blog posts. What is it about exactly? Or even better, write three sentences that describe the beginning, middle and end of the post. The overview DOES NOT need to be well polished, it just needs to be clear and relevant. If you think you’re going to need to do some research on a particular topic, it’s a good idea to pull together 2-3 pieces of online research material (other blog posts, articles or websites) that you can review before writing your post. If you’re quoting or heavily referring to one of these sources, be sure to site it in your blog post so the origin of the research is noted.

4) Save, Smile & Treat Yourself to a Coffee!
Once you’ve completed steps one through three, you’re nearly done. Make sure you clearly name and save the document, something like, “Blog Campaign for May 2016.” But before you do, create a “Blogging” folder to save it to. There’s nothing worse than doing all this prep, and then not being able to find your work. Next, brew up a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy!

Now, when next month comes along, you’ll know exactly what you will be writing about each week on your blog. No more staring at a blank page, under pressure, wondering what to do.

I hope these blog campaign tips help you blog consistently, week after week!

Learn More
To learn more about blogging, feel free to sign up for our complimentary Blogging 101 Webinar.

You can also click on “Blogging” in the categories section to your right.

Happy blogging!

The post Blogging 101 Tips: Creating a Blogging Campaign appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

In this installment of our Understanding Online Marketing series, we’ll be taking a closer look at the power of blogging.

If blogging is new to you, here’s a quick definition …

What is a Blog?

In a nutshell, a blog is a place where you publish articles online — specifically, on your website — and it’s a fantastic way to connect with customers, increase traffic to your website and improve your search engine rank.

Blogging is one of the most effective ways to create a buzz with your clients and potential clients — while positioning you as a thought leader in your field, adding credibility to your website, team, products and services.

The Next Natural Step in Online Marketing

Once you have a well-crafted site — with SEO, a solid user experience (UX) and conversion brewed into it — the next natural step in your online marketing timeline is the creation of a blog on your website.

Notice that I said “on your website,” which means that your blog needs to be a subpage of your site, not a subdomain. For more on this, feel free to check out our article Blogging 101 Tips: Set Up Your Blog as a Subpage vs. a Subdomain.

When you start writing a blog, it becomes the source for fresh content on your site, which is very appealing to Google’s Penguin algorithm. In addition to pleasing Google, fresh content is also very appealing to the human eye — which is why a blog is so effective in building relationships with clients.

Blogging needs to precede social media marketing. When you post on social media, you always want to drive traffic to YOUR website, as opposed to someone else’s, and having a fresh blog post each week makes it super-easy to do that.

If you’re wondering why this is important, think of it this way: when you share someone else’s article on social media, it may be helpful but you’re just delivering someone else’s content to your followers. In other words, you’re kind of like the mailman delivering someone else’s letter.

When you share YOUR content that lives on YOUR website, now that traffic comes to you and all of the wonderful products and services you offer can be easily be found by the reader. Of course, all of the other benefits listed above — like being seen as a thought leader — occur, too.

The Content Marketing Model

Blogs have altered the very fabric of the marketing model, moving us away from a selling philosophy (thank goodness) and into an era of content marketing, which is a fancy term for building relationships.

The best way to develop relationships is by offering rich, relevant, benefit-driven and insightful content — while asking for nothing in return.

As you build relationships, your readers will continue to come back to your blog — and they’ll tell their friends or associates about you. Once you’ve become their trusted source for what you do, you’ve gained a customer and a brand advocate.

Sure, an occasional call-to-action in a blog is totally fine, but an outright sales pitch is a sure-fire way to ruin your chances of developing a healthy, long-term relationship with your readers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Blogging on your website, at least once per week, can also help you get found easier in search engine results. In our blogging experiment last spring, we found that consistently blogging at least once per week can significantly improve your website’s authority (credibility) in Google’s eyes, helping you rank considerably higher in search results that are relevant to what you do.

In Conclusion

There’s so much to discuss about blogging and what we’ve covered merely scratches the surface. But if you’re serious about growing your business, it’s a critical component to success — especially if you have a lot of competition in the marketplace.

Want to learn more about blogging?
Sign up for our Blogging 101 Webinar. It offers many tips and best practices to help you brew a better blog.

For more on online marketing…
You can sign up for our complimentary Holistic Approach to Online Marketing webinar.

You can also check out other articles in this series:
– Understanding Online Marketing, Part 1: Your Website
– Understanding Online Marketing, Part 2: User Experience (UX)
– Understanding Online Marketing, Part 3, Conversion

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When your blog is a subpage of your main URL, it’s part of the site & supports its authority.

When your blog is a subdomain, it’s actually a second website that competes with your main URL.

A subpage blog looks like this: www.YourWebsiteURL.com/blog/

A subdomain looks like this: www.blog.YourWebsiteURL.com

I hope you enjoyed this Bleet!®

The post Blogging 101 Tips: Set Up Your Blog as a Subpage (good) vs. a Subdomain (bad) appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Maybe you went from publishing a new post once a week to posting once a month, or not at all for long stretches. If this has happened to you, you know how hard it is to get back on schedule. 

One of the reasons it’s so hard to get back on track is because your entire brain, including the part that writes blog posts, is like a muscle. Use it consistently, and it remains strong. But once you start publishing blog posts inconsistently, your “blogging muscles” get weak.

The good news is that once consistency re-enters the equation, you start working your way back to a place of strength.

Some of the things that weaken when you stop writing regular blog posts include:

Writing Skills
Without constant practice, the act of writing can become more laborious, and your content more disjointed. So blog at least once a week! And if you don’t have time for a full-length blog post, write a Bleet!®

The Freshness of Your Blog
One of Google’s algorithms, Google Penguin, looks at your blog to determine if there’s fresh content there. If you’re blogging regularly, Google Penguin takes notice and gives you a little extra credibility. If not, your credibility goes in the other direction.

Website Authority
With websites, there’s something I like to call the “buoyancy factor,” which essentially means how much authority (credibility) your site has with Google and the other search engines. The better your buoyancy, the higher your ranking in search results. Your authority is affected by many things, including how often your publish blog posts.

Case Study: Cuppa SEO’s Blog

You might be wondering just how much weight a consistent blog post — written week-in-and-week-out — carries. Although I’ve cultivated many blogs to robust health, I’ve never tested the effects of removing a consistent stream of fresh content from a healthy blog. So I decided to conduct a test on my own blog. Here’s what happened …

• Before the experiment, Cuppa SEO ranked 1st & 2nd for my top two keyword phrases in Google search results
• I stopped blogging completely for 15 weeks (don’t try this at home)
• After about 90 days my position started to slip, and after 15 weeks my ranking slipped off of page one for both keyword phrases
• Once I started blogging again, I began to improve my ranking after a few new blog posts were consistently published
• After 9 weeks of blogging 1X per week, I’m ranking on page one for both keyword phrases again, although I haven’t worked my way back to the #1 & #2 position … yet

As you can see, the simple act of blogging can have a dramatic influence on where your website ranks in a Google search. The higher you rank, the more likely it is that customers will find you — which of course means more business.

If you’d like more blogging tips, feel free to download Cuppa SEO’s free Blogging 101 E-book.

Happy blogging!

The post Blogging 101 Tips: With Inconsistency Comes Weakness … appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

The article focuses on three tips which can help you create awesome blog titles that are attractive to the human eye, as well as to search engines like Google and Bing.

Check out the article in its entirety.

Thank you for visiting Cuppa SEO!

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