Is your blog bland and boring like the one shown here on the left? Then there’s no wonder no one’s coming back! To get more people to read and subscribe to your blog, you need to make it visually enticing to match the intriguing content that adds value to the reader. Many writers forget that blogging is a VISUAL experience. With today’s visual media, you need to make sure you add pictures, diagrams, images, MindMaps and of course embed videos from YouTube.

A bland blog like this is created purely for SEO purposes and that won’t be worth much in the long run. Sure the immediate SEO effect will be there, but without HUMANS going to the pages, STAYING on the pages AND coming back, it will die a slow death within the indexes.

Don’t forget that when you launch a blog, you’re doing it for the end game – to have a loyal readership that wants to hear from you.

Make what you have to say exciting, appealing and attractive. Go from Bland To Brand!

Otherwise your blog will languish and all your effort will be for naught.

If you’re going to put in 90% of the effort (writing the content), why not go the extra 10% and get the REWARDS?

Just ask yourself one simple question…

“Would I read and come back to this blog?”

Today’s post is special, it includes an AUDIO interview with Magic Barclay of Fitness Driven in Geelong as well as a downloadable checklist. Magic cares for people the various conditions and afflictions noted below with a holistic, non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical approach, producing, well… exponential results with a holistic approach that involves the patient and his or her carer. Her blog is becoming the central source of up-to-date information and research for people who want solutions that work.

Australian Blogs is proud to support Magic’s incredible devotion to this cause that helps so many who need better information. Information that actually solves problems, reduces pain and discomfort.

To listen to Dr Marc Dussault’s Interview of Magic Barclay at Fitness Driven <- Click on the hyperlink.

5 Exponential Blogging Lessons are included below:

Read More »»

Want to get better results from your email marketing efforts and grow your email list? Here are the elementary steps of list building, as well as some more creative ideas.

The Basics of Blog List Building

When you first get started with email marketing, it’s normal to have a smaller list. It takes a concerted effort to get in the habit of asking for email addresses. There are people who have been email marketing for years and still aren’t taking advantage of all the opportunities they have to grow their list. Don’t let that be you!

Here are a few simple things that you can do to build your list:

• Put a “Join My Email List” sign-up box on your website or blog. Your website is the first place most people look when they want information about your business. It’s great when they visit your website, but are you capturing their email addresses? Don’t miss the chance to start building a relationship with them.
• Ask your customers for their email addresses and permission whether it’s over the phone or in person. Don’t forget to tell customers about your email communications and ask if you can add them to your list. If you have a physical store, put out a sign-up book in a prominent place. If your business is Internet-based and your only customer communication is through email, send them a follow-up email after an order and ask if they want to join your list. If you have employees who interact with customers, train them to ask as well.

• When you meet people at networking events and trade shows tell them about your free e-newsletter or your email-only specials and ask them if they would like to join your list.

Want to take it to the next level?

Here are some creative ideas that you can put into practice: Read More »»

As you know by now, my short blog posts are rare. This is one of them. This YouTube video is a must watch for anyone involved in Internet Marketing. It is absolutely priceless. I know you’ll want to watch it more than once and forward this blog link to colleagues and friends.

The Social Media Revolution Is Here

Check out the blog post I just published on my Internet Mastery Blog called “Make $100/Hour Cash Flipping Websites For Profit“. It has all the details. If you’re still a little apprehensive, you can then go to my Business Mastery Blog and see how REAL BUSINESSES are getting FREE leads…

If those two blog posts don’t convince you, then this isn’t for you. If you are even a little bit intrigued – attend the Investor Briefing – your head will be spinning with excitement. Want to know HOW to think like this? Check out this new updated site I just re-launched… Where you can Discover Your Own Exponential MasterMind Thinking!

That’s it for today… Well there is one more thing you can check out… I’m about to add a few bonuses to my Exponential Blogging 101 Audio Program and when you register now, you’ll automatically receive them when they are released…

You may or may not know that we’ve posted a FREE AUDIO PROGRAM on blogging… I just thought I would remind you that it’s still there, it’s still FREE, but who knows when we’ll decide to start selling it. Why not take a minute to get instant access and give it a listen over the weekend!

Click on the URL to access the Exponential Blogging 101 Audio Program.

Within one hour, you’ll discover:

• The one thing that makes a blog different from a conventional website and why you MUST be blogging if you aren’t already.
• The top 3 reasons why search engines love blogs and what it means to your bank account
• How to get started blogging, or taking your blogging to the ‘next level’ where thousands of people subscribe or you start to generate cash from your readership.
• Special blogging tips for search engine optimisation that will increase FREE organic traffic by as much as 100% in less than 30 days.
• How to manage content and publishing – the pros and cons of different strategies including the pitfalls to avoid at any cost.
• How to gain link popularity ethically and exponentially.
• How to get noticed in the ocean of blogs that are out there – if you don’t do this, you’re putting in a LOT of effort for little or no result/reward – that’s no fun.

Take this anonymous ‘one click’ poll and in a few days I’ll let you know the results… It’s a new feature with LinkedIn. Something you might want to add to YOUR blog…

How much would it take to ‘change’ your life?

It’s an interesting question that I am sure will yield interesting answers!

If you haven’t Linked In to me yet, you can ‘Dussault’ at the button below… You’ll get 1.2 MILLION connections INSTANTLY…!

The geniuses at Stanford University have just developed technology allowing you to insert ads (or any images) into any flat surfaces within your videos. The potential for advertisers is really exciting.

Insert ads into any video

The creators liken it to adding Google Adsense to your blog – if you create a lot of videos, why not make money from it while you’re at it?

You can create an account and start making videos here, or have a look at the gallery where others have inserted logos into popular movies and TV shows.

Blogging is well established in the online/virtual space, but in my observation comparatively few Aussie businesses are successfully harnessing blogs as a traffic generation and customer engagement tool.

Some of our business clients have been blogging for over 2 years now and I have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised by the quantity of search engine traffic (particularly “long tail” traffic) that is now being generated (typically 25 – 40% of search engine traffic will come via a blog within 3-6 months.)

At this level of traffic, the strategy starts to become financially viable within a short timeframe.  The biggest roadblock for most business owners is that they don’t have the time (or the writing skills) to keep up regular posting.

The solution is to either outsource the whole blog creation and marketing process, or to outsource just the content creation and manage the posting process yourself.

The strategy is pretty simple:

1. Set up a blog on your own domain (WordPress or Movable Type are recommended).
2. Get a bunch of relevant articles written (contractors can be sourced cheaply on Elance or Guru)
3. Load the articles into your blog and schedule them to be published at a pre-set date.  This means you can set it up once and the articles “publish themselves”.
4. Make sure your blog is accessible from your site and to search engines.
5. Organic traffic will start to trickle in and grow the longer you run the strategy.

Yes, there are much more “high-concept” blogging strategies that normally require the business owner to “drive” the content creation.  My experience is that most business owners don’t have the time (or don’t prioritise this activity) for long enough to see results.  For this reason, a “set and forget” strategy can be more practical.

Here are a few examples of sites using this strategy.  The articles may not always be great writing, but they do get the job done of attracting long tail traffic and converting it into site visits and enquiries.

• Sydney pest control blog
• Sydney catering blog
• Investment property finance blog
• Brisbane property management blog

Standardzilla focuses on the Australian web industry with topics such as web standards development, accessibility, usability issues and search engine optimisation. Popular articles include Corporate Web Standards, Is SEO Evil and Developing Websites with Meaning.

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