Author: Christopher Jan Benitez

  • Netpeak Checker Review: Analyze URLs in Minutes!

    In this Netpeak Checker review, you will learn everything you need to know about this URL analyzer tool.

    This isn’t your usual SEO tool, mind you.

    If you want to break down every URL you come across with using different SEO parameters to help you make an informed decision for your campaign, then this is for you!

    Great content? Check.

    Fast-loading site? Check.

    Impressive backlink profile? Check.

    Despite observing the best SEO practices, you still find your site at the bottom of the pile.Why is that?

    Hours spent on doing all these things, all for nothing.

    This is probably you right now:

    via GIPHY

    SEO is so competitive nowadays that your site will barely make a dent in your industry despite how optimized your site is. Tried-and-true tactics no longer work in general – you need something new and fresh to maximize your results of your efforts.

    In fact, a simple tweak to help you boost your site’s organic search performance matters. It’s not about the depth of the tactic you will implement. Sometimes, even the smallest changes in your current SEO approach can make the biggest impact.

    Therefore, instead of thinking big, why not think granular?

    For example, instead of looking at a page as a whole, why not analyze the page using the different factors that govern organic search?

    This reason is why you probably need Netpeak Checker in your SEO arsenal more than ever.

    Note

    All links that point to Netpeak Checker are affiliate links. If you click on the links and successfully subscribe for an account at Netpeak Checker, I will receive a commission of the sale. If you like the tool, then I would highly appreciate it if you sign up for Netpeak Checker using any of the links here or by clicking here.

    Why do you need to analyze URLs?

    When analyzing a URL of a page, whether it’s from your site or competitors’, you probably look at it from a user’s perspective. You look at how fast it loads, how informative the content is, and how easy the presentation of the content is to the eyes.

    At the same time, you also want to balance that viewpoint from the perspective of a search spider.

    I’m aware that it’s best to think like a human when it comes to building your site pages if you want them to rank on Google search for your target keywords. By creating content that people will find helpful, you can attract more site traffic and retain them to browse other pages on your site.

    However, you want search spiders also to love your site. That means:

    • Looking at your site’s backlink profile (same with your competitors!)
    • Analyze your site’s social media performance (while social media has no direct effect on SEO, your performance in this channel is considered a social signal, which could have an indirect effect on your organic ranking)
    • Compare pages based on SEO parameters of well-known services (Moz’s Domain Authority, Majestic’s Trust Flow and Citation Flow, and more)
    • Evaluate competitors based on different SEO factors and see how you fare against them (also shows you what you need to improve on)
    • and more!

    Having this data at your disposal allows you to dig deeper into your SEO campaign. It’s probably more work, but as mentioned earlier, a potential change in your strategy for the better could be the difference from last to first place on organic search rankings.

    What is Netpeak Checker?

    netpeak checker

    Netpeak Checker is a mass SEO analysis tool developed by Netpeak Software.

    While as crucial as analyzing URLs is, the actual process of doing so is a royal pain in the ass.

    To analyze a page, you must use different tools to unearth the other SEO metrics. For example, to find its Domain Ranking, you’ll need to log in to your Moz account to find the score there. You need to log in to Majestic for the Trust and Citation Flows.

    In other words, you will have to cross-check with reliable tools to find the data you need to determine the SEO factors of a URL. A single URL could take over an hour to get all the data required for your SEO research. If you’re to include the other URLs to review, it’ll probably take you weeks and months to fetch all the data before you can fully conduct your analysis!

    With Netpeak Checker, you can review as many pages as you want and SEO factors as possible with a click of a button. From here, all you need to do is sit back and relax, as the tool will do the heavy lifting for you.

    Instead of the weeks and months of struggling with each URL, Netpeak Checker can help you analyze hundreds of URLs and data in minutes!

    How to Use Netpeak Checker

    There are many uses for Netpeak Checker as part of your SEO strategy. Here are some to get you started:

    • Find sites to submit guest posts
    • Analyze your (or competitors’) backlink profile
    • Determine how optimized your site pages are and get an overview of your overall site performance

    For the sake of this example, let’s do the third way on how to use Netpeak Checker.

    Launching the tool

    Once you subscribe to an account, download and open Netpeak Checker from your desktop. The tool is currently available for Windows users only, but they’ll make it available to Mac OS and Linux users soon.

    The tool will take some time to load on your computer and sync with the online database. The speed depends on your hardware specs as well as your internet connection.

    netpeak checker desktop

    Netpeak also developed Netpeak Spider, which is similar to Screaming Frog SEO Spider. I could probably review this tool in the future if all goes well (Netpeak, I’m looking at you 🙂 )

    Click on the Start button to launch Netpeak Checker.

    netpeak checker dashboard

    Before starting a project, you want to determine the parameters that the tool will fetch from each URL you enter. Netpeak Checker can review over 1,200+ parameters (!!!) related to SEO. While you can use all parameters as you wish, you need to focus on only the most important and influential factors to help make it easier for you.

    Choosing and setting up the parameters

    Most of the parameters that you can gather from Netpeak Checker are free. Below are some of the ones that you should use when analyzing your URLs:

    • On-page – Get down and dirty with multiple parameters to choose from under this category. Aside from the usual on-page factors (title, description, subheadings, etc.), you can also see content download time, content size, and links to social media sites to help you better understand the page’s SEO.
    • Google SERP – You want to check how the URLs appear on search results by checking on the Title and Description under URL parameters. If you’re checking on homepage URLs, you may want to consider finding out the page’s indexed URLs, related pages, and site links under host parameters.
    • Bing SERP – Bing could bring value to your site as the second-largest search engine in the market. You can analyze the page based on URL parameters only.
    • Alexa – Global Rank is a good enough parameter to help you determine how your site stacks up to sites all over the world. If you want to focus on your performance locally, then choose Local Rank instead.
    • Social shares – Find out pages with the most shares on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Stumbleupon.

    To see the different parameters you can check using Netpeak Checker and the explanation for each, click here.

    You can easily set up the parameters for your project by clicking on them at the left side of the dashboard.

    netpeak checker parameters

    While these parameters will help you dig deeper into the SEO performance of each URL on your list, you’ll need better data than. I’m referring to the ones provided by third-party services like Moz, Majestic, SEMrush, and others.

    However, to gain access to these parameters, you need to enter the access token and other details from those sites into Netpeak Checker.

    Accessing premium parameters

    Click on Settings > General from the menu bar. A new window will open that will show you the parameters that you need access tokens to access.

    netpeak checker settings general

    Unless you’re subscribed to Ahrefs, Semrush, Serpstat, and others or at least have an access to their respective API/access token, I’m afraid you won’t be able to use them as part of your analysis.

    However, it’s not a total waste because you can still gain access to Moz’s data from here.

    netpeak checker moz

    While Domain Authority (DA) is only an approximation of how Google views a page, it’s still one of the most sought-after parameters in SEO. The higher the DA, the more authoritative the site is. So, if you want to determine how valuable a page, you should track its DA to get an idea.

    Click on the Moz API link to visit the page to get your Access ID and Secret Key. You must be logged in to your Moz account first before going to this page.

    A new window on your browser will open. Click on the Dashboard link on the upper right part of the page.

    moz api

    Once on the Moz API Dashboard, click the Access tab to show you the details you need to enter on Netpeak Checker.

    moz api dashboard

    Enter these details, and you’re set to go!

    Note: If you plan on running lots of pages using lots of parameters, then you should consider using an anti-captcha and HTTP proxies from this page. Both will help you gather data efficiently without entering CAPTCHA or getting flagged by Google for asking multiple requests at a time.

    Running a project

    Now that you have the parameters in place, you need to enter your URLs now.

    Since we want to simply get an overview of your site’s SEO performance, you can run a quick Google search using the search operator “site:”domainname.com” to unearth the links.

    Before conducting your search, make sure that your search will deliver 100 results (maximum) so you can gather more pages for each query from Google.

    For the sake of example, we’ll use the search operator to get the indexed pages from QuickSprout.

    google quicksprout

    To download the URLs, download and activate the Mozbar to export the URLs into a CSV file.

    Once the extension is activated, you will see the Export icon on the upper left-hand corner of the page. Click on that.

    google mozbar

    You will be able to download a CSV file of the first 100 results of all the indexed Quicksprout pages on Google.

    Open the file and copy all the Quicksprout links on column B of the sheet.

    quicksprout csv

    Copy the links and go to Netpeak Checker to paste the URLs. Click on List of URLs > Enter manually and paste there and click Add.

    quicksprout netpeak checker

    Once you’re ready, click on the Start button. Depending on the parameters you will be using, it could take a few minutes to an hour. In the meantime, you can use your computer for other tasks as the tool continues to gather information for your project.

    When the report is finished, you will receive a message at the bottom-right corner of your page.

    netpeak checker results

    You can export the data for further review. To download the sample of the data, click on the link below.

    Download Sample Data

    Analyzing the data

    Now that you have the data from Netpeak Checker, it’s time to crunch the numbers and see how you want to improve Quicksprout’s SEO performance.

    Here are questions that you want to ask yourself in reference to the report:

    • Do your pages with titles and descriptions over 65 and 160 characters, respectively? Metadata that exceeds the suggested characters will be truncated from SERPs, which could lower your CTR. It’s best if you could shorten them so you could display the pages better.
    • Are your pages loading more than four seconds? 1 second is equivalent to 1000 milliseconds which is the metric used in Netpeak Checker. If your page loads more than 4000 ms under Content Download Time, then you need to find a way to decrease the loading time. You can also use the Content Size parameter for reference. Decreasing the Content Size by compressing the images and removing Javascript is the best way to go.
    • Which pages have the highest shares? Find out the pages with the most social shares on a specific channel (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). You may consider updating the pages (if they’ve been published years ago) and re-promote them to the same channel where they got lots of shares to replicate your success.
    • Which pages have the highest Page Authority (PA)? This parameter from Moz allows you to determine the value of each page. You could use this information to help you spread your link juice to pages with low Page authority. For example, from your page with a high PA, link out to related internal pages with low PA to make your link juice flow to these pages.

    These are just some of the many things you can do with the data gathered by Netpeak Checker. Depending on the applicable parameters you can use for any purpose you have in mind, you should be able to dig deeper with your SEO strategy by spending less time gathering data and more time developing and implementing a sustainable SEO campaign!

    CLICK HERE AND SIGN UP FOR A 14-TRIAL OF NETPEAK CHECKER PLUS A CHANCE TO GET A 5% DISCOUNT FOR 1 YEAR!

    The pros and cons of this tool

    Pros

    • Time-saving SEO tool
    • Good price point

    Cons

    • Doesn’t provide access to premium parameters
    • Annoying start-up process

    PROS: Time-saving SEO tool

    As mentioned, Netpeak Checker allows you to unearth massive amounts of data for lots of URLs in minutes, if not seconds. You don’t need to fill out a data entry or VA position to help you manually sort out the URLs using your preferred parameters. Simply run the tool and gather the data instantly. You can then focus on more important matters, such as refining your SEO strategy to increase your site’s SEO performance.

    CONS: Doesn’t provide access to premium parameters

    ahrefs subscription

    The available parameters are decent enough to help you analyze the on-page SEO performance of each site. However, if you want to get better parameters such as search traffic, total backlinks, and others, you will have to subscribe to paid SEO tools first and get their data (with the exception of Moz.)

    Also, most of the tools can go as high as $69/month, which could be too pricey for some. Therefore, you’re left with parameters that are publicly available and doesn’t give you better insights into the SEO data of each URL.

    This is not a knock on Netpeak Checker as it is a great tool and offers good parameters to help you establish your baseline. My suggestion is that Netpeak could hopefully offer the tool with access to the APIs and access tokens of the premium SEO tools, even if it means hiking up the price. I think this would be helpful to all Netpeak Checker users and will definitely put it up there as a must-use tool.

    PROS: Good price point

    netpeak checker pricing

    For $19/month, Netpeak checker is definitely an affordable tool. It’s not a turnkey SEO solution like SEMrush or Ahrefs, but what it does, it does great and it reflects on the pricing. As a complementary tool to your SEO strategy, the tool is something that SEO experts would be willing to pay for.

    CONS: Annoying start-up process

    It’s ironic that a time-saving tool can be slow and bulky at the same time, and yet Netpeak Checker manages to be exactly both.

    Opening the tool feels like a drag at times. Unlike cloud-based apps, you don’t have to wait for the data to sync with your computer. Netpeak Checker not only makes you wait by syncing the data online but also brings you to a splash page that shows both Netpeak Checker and Spider. I only bought Netpeak Checker, so I shouldn’t see Netpeak Spider when opening the tool.

    I understand that showing Netpeak Spider is their way of upselling the tool to Netpeak Checker. However, the fact that you keep seeing it makes the entire experience disruptive from a user experience standpoint.

    Netpeak Checker review: Verdict

    Netpeak Spider

    • INTERFACE
    • USEFULNESS
    • USABILITY
    • EFFECTIVENESS

    Conclusion

    Overall, Netpeak Checker is a great addition to your arsenal of SEO tools. It helps you automate your SEO research and cuts down the time of gathering the data. The strong price point easily makes this tool a must-buy for SEO experts and agencies who want to double down on their SEO services to provide clients with better and more comprehensive data.
    The main criticism of not having access to premium parameters probably won’t be a problem for big SEO agencies who are most likely subscribed to those tools.
    Again, Netpeak Checker is your one-stop solution for fast and effective SEO analysis.
    4.6/5

    This video summary is created by InVideo.

  • Website Speed Optimization Tips for a Faster Freelance Site

    Website Speed Optimization Tips for a Faster Freelance Site

    Statistic Number 1: According to a March 2017 study, more than 80% of the respondents used a search engine to look for a local business.

    Let’s get real reader, this means you need an online presence irrespective of what kind of business you are into. A website is an absolute must-have for all businesses to reach their audience and vice-versa. But creating a website is not enough. It’s more important to create a positive user experience through your website.

    Positive user experience is based on a multitude of factors including the overall design, the user interface, the simplicity, credibility, and conviction of your content, and of course, the website speed, to name a few. Let’s look into the latter.

    Statistic Number 2: A staggering 57% of online visitors will likely leave your website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, while 80% of the online visitors will probably never return to your website.

    Clearly, reader, the speed of your business website plays a significant role in the quality of your user’s experiences and inevitably their choices.

    A slow-loading website can frustrate online visitors and make them look for the same service elsewhere. And if you’re a freelancer, that spells catastrophe. Now you might think, “Isn’t it better to focus on improving my service or product? If it’s a good product or service, wouldn’t people want it?”

    The answer is no. Not unless you’ve invented the time machine. Whether you are running an online retail shop or are a freelancer, a slow business website can kill new prospects for your business.

    To what end, you ask? Let’s look at exactly what a slow website could mean for your business.

    1. Impact on sales

    A recent research study found that nearly 79% of online visitors never revisit slow or poor-performing websites, while 44% of those users caution other potential users by sharing their negative experiences with them.

    Studies have shown that slow loading can result in a serious increase in unsatisfied consumers who are not buying any of the offered products or services.

    This undoubtedly has an adverse impact on your sales and conversions, especially if you are a freelancer with limited work-time.

    2. Impact on web traffic

    At a time when Netflix was consuming 15% of the Internet traffic globally, they decided to perform basic compression on its website’s bandwidth. It resulted in a 43% drop in outbound traffic.

    Clearly, a fast-loading website encourages users to spend more time on your website, leading to increased conversions and additional traffic to your website.

    3. Impact of bot attacks

    There are Good bots that help in improving a website’s SEO. When you search for a website or its products and services, the search page lists the appropriate results- which in turn is made possible with crawler bots or search engine bots.

    But there also exists Bad Bots. These bad Automated Bots currently make up a whopping 50% of the total web traffic! PriceMinister-Rakuten, a popular French E-commerce website, found that 75% of its website traffic came from bots. These Creepy Crawlies can make your wallet as empty as their hearts- they reduce your website’s processing power, increase its load time, and can even shut it down!

    To prevent bad bot attacks, use WordPress security plugins like MalCare.

    malcare

    A security plugin developed by the team at BlogVault, MalCare can safeguard your website from unwanted bot traffic and attacks, preventing website compromises and shutdowns. Powerful security tools like MalCare identity bad bots and prevent them from accessing your freelance website.

    4. Impact on search engine ranking & bounce rates

    median bytes downloaded

    Image source

    A slow-loading website could lead to a high bounce rate, and this is what Google interprets from it- “The user left too soon. The user isn’t happy. Other users probably won’t be either.”

    And, there you have it reader, the truth. While many other factors also determine the Google search engine ranking, Google frowns upon slow website speed as it makes the user’s experience unpleasant which basically means a lower ranking.

    A faster website enhances the user experience and engagement pushing users to spend more time on your website. In turn, this improves your page views and search engine optimization (or SEO), which basically means a better search engine ranking.

    5. Impact on mobile users

    Compared to desktop users, mobile phone users (especially, online shoppers) have lower attention spans and patience levels. This is why, from July 2018 (surprise), Google has made website speed an important ranking factor for searches made online from smartphones.

    A 2018 statistic by Stone Temple revealed that more than 58% of the website visits globally were made from mobile devices.

    Google reported that a web page that takes more than 3 seconds to load on a smartphone notes 53% of its visitors leaving the page.

    Since websites are usually optimized for functioning well on a desktop computer, they may perform sub-par on a mobile device. Online users are thus, less inclined to engage with companies with badly designed mobile websites.

    Now, that we have seen the extent to which website speed can affect your business, it’s time to answer a simple yet persistent question.

    So what are the best website speed optimization tips to get more leads and brownie points from Google?

    Let’s put our thinking hats on.

    Website speed optimization tips for a freelance site

    1.  Optimize your Images

    Size matters. The file size of an image is often much larger than it needs to be.

    Just compressing your images can go a long way in reducing the load time. It is also important to use the right format for images.

    You can reduce your image size by nearly five times with the right combination of file format and compression type.

    However, you’ll need to experiment with each image or file format to see what works best.

    Here are some more tips-

    • Use fixed-width and auto-height to make your images responsive.
    • Prioritize the quality and source of your images. Original high-quality images will make you stand out in the search results than images from a stock site or a low-quality image. Put up pictures of your previous work, if possible. Not only is it original, but it also goes a long way to act as social proof of your capabilities.
    • Use JPEG images wherever possible. Their file size is lesser than those of PNG images.
    • For logos and icons, use PNG format to save up on those dearest bytes.
    • Try to avoid using GIFs, BMPs, and TIFFs.
    • Make the file name of your image descriptive of its contents by using appropriate keywords.

    You can use Image Optimization plugins such as TinyPNG, Imagify, and Optimus as well.

    shortpixel for a faster website

    However, I would suggest using ShortPixel*, a WordPress plugin that automatically optimizes the images for you after upload. You can also tweak the settings to adjust image size and format to your liking.

    2. Scrutinize those plugins

    Considering that WordPress powers 1/3rd of all websites, it’s important to address the various hindrances to the speed of WordPress websites.

    First, identify what is causing your website to slow down.

    There are many plugins that can improve your website load speed, however, too many plugins or a large, heavy plugin can do the exact opposite.

    Use a Plugin Performance Profiler to identify those plugins that are outdated and/or bringing down your speed. Delete these plugins.

    Secondly, evaluate your plugins in terms of functionality. What value are they adding to enhancing your user experience? Remove the plugins that aren’t significant.

    blogvault wordpress management

    Alternatively, you can install widgets or find lightweight alternatives for plugins. If it’s too complex to handle, get a WordPress management solution that will help you optimize your site’s speed.

    3. Avoid complex themes

    Choosing the right WordPress theme that fits your requirement is integral to shaping the user experience.

    As a freelancer, it is important to focus on how efficiently the theme helps you to convey the quality of your services than just how it makes the website look. Choose a theme that adds functionality efficiently.

    Keep in mind that using graphics-heavy themes will drive down the value in terms of sales numbers, particularly in the case of e-commerce websites that need a large number of product images. This happens even if the UX is selected to suit your exact needs. Do not forget, every second count.

    4. Fewer Ads

    Revenue generation through ads may be tempting but the adverse impact on the overall UX deserves serious contemplation.

    Remember, the user is visiting your site to see what you have to offer, not someone else.

    The negative repercussions of an ad-heavy site clearly prevail over the monetary benefit of selling your online real-estate.

    In some cases, pages may even simply refuse to load in case of any service interruptions caused by the ads.

    Interrupting pop-up ads aggravate your customers to get irritated and easily ready to churn.

    In addition, a user clicking on an ad on a page will be lead to a different web page. In essence, you are pushing them to leave your site. This would invariably lead to a lowered interest in coming back to your site simply because it is not on the top of their head.

    Alternatively, focus on making your content more convincing by providing social proof of your service or product. And if you are placing ads, make sure they are at least relevant to your product/ service.

    5. Use better fonts

    Readability and typography play a crucial role in enhancing the user experience.

    Evaluate which character sets are supported while picking a font. If your page calls for the support of multiple languages, use a font that can deliver a balanced experience to your users. Foregoing a “full” web font and compressing web fonts results in delayed text rendering.

    Also, do not use fonts that are over-the-top. Make sure your users know you mean serious business. Ensure you have clear, appropriate headings and subheadings and a proper structure to your website.

    In the online space, speed sells. Frankly, the real sign of how well your website is performing is your sales performance.

    Saving those precious bytes automatically drives up your website speed and lets you continually deliver an unparalleled user experience in the online market.

    Google, Walmart, and Amazon also continually test their performance considering the importance of speed in today’s fast-paced world.

    Are you ready to follow these website speed optimization tips

    Video summary created using InVideo.

    Simple tasks like the website speed optimization tips above will unfailingly help you serve content that increases user engagement by removing the problem areas. Speed sells and it sells effectively.

    Website conversions are equivalent to user site experience and a seamless website loading speed can go a long way in reigning in those conversions.

    Visitors come to your freelance website looking for a service that you can deliver; the faster you deliver it to them, the more likely they are to come back.

    website speed optimization tips

  • Social Animal Review: The Only Buzzsumo Alternative That Matters

    SOCIAL ANIMAL REVIEW - featured

    If you’re looking for a Buzzsumo alternative, then this Social Animal review is for you!

    Let’s face it – as good as Buzzsumo is as a content research tool, it’s too expensive for bloggers who are just starting out.

    The lack of competitors Buzzsumo has in the market doesn’t make things easier. Until now!

    In this post, you will learn everything you need to know about Social Animal and how you can use it to create compelling content and promote it to the right influencers.

    Social Animal review: The Buzzsumo killer?

    Before we start, I’d like to inform you that this post was titled “ContentIdeator by Content Forest: Finally, a Buzzsumo Alternative!”

    It was published in 2017 – back when Content Forest was still active.

    After a year or two, ContentIdeator and Content Forest are no longer available.

    That’s why I’ve rewritten the post to look at another Buzzsumo alternative in Social Animal.

    If you still want to read about ContentIdeator, you can view the original post with the help of Wayback Machine by clicking here.

    Now that’s out of the way, are you ready to know if Social Animal can kick Buzzsumo’s butt?

    Let’s find out together!

    What is Social Animal?

    social animal - buzzsumo alternative

    Social Animal is a content marketing tool divided into five specific features:

    • Content research – Analyze your or your competitor’s published content and break down its performance according to different metrics. Also, find trending topics that you can piggyback on to increase your online visibility.
    • Content curation – Find relevant content that you can share on social media or discuss on your blog.
    • Influencer outreach – Find people on Twitter related to your niche with thousands of followers who can help promote your content.
    • Facebook marketing strategy builder – Search across millions and billions of Facebook posts to help you gain valuable insights. Then use the data to develop an effective strategy for this social platform.
    • Competitor monitoring – Find out updates and the latest news about your competitors in different online sources

    Let’s dig deeper into its features to see how you can perform these tasks using this tool.

    Features of Social Animal

    While reading this Social Animal review, you’re probably looking closely at what it does and see if it compares favorably to Buzzsumo.

    And you have good reason to do that! You probably love Buzzsumo but you simply can’t shoulder the monthly costs.

    Well, I’m happy to report that Social Animal is very similar to Buzzsumo which is a good thing!

    Here’s how much they are the same, if not probably better to some extent:

    Articles

    If you click on the Articles link on the menu, Social Animal will show you topics that you can click on and use as inspiration to jumpstart your content research.

    social animal articles

    However, you’ll probably just find your topic using its search bar.

    If you enter “content marketing,” it will show you these results:

    social animal article search for content marketing

    Just like Buzzsumo, you can see the engagement numbers for each social media platform and their respective total figure.

    Use this information to help you find content that people share the most in your niche.

    Since there’s interest in this type of topic, you can use it as a template to create an even better version for your blog!

    Now, I want to talk about the filters on the left sidebar.

    If you’re not happy with the initial results, you can refine the posts that you want to see.

    Here are the filters you can customize to get the best results for your search:

    • Search Mode – determine whether to show published or shared content in the results
    • Filter by Date – select the date range when the articles were published
    • Content Type  – choose from listicles, how to guides, guest posts, and more.
    • Deep Search – Type the keyword or phrase you want Social Animal to find in the articles and show them in the result. Take note: Buzzsumo does not have this feature!
    • Domain – reveal posts published only on your desired domains
    • Author – find content written by a particular author
    • TLD – only show top-level domains on the results
    • Word Count – choose how short or long the posts you want to see from the results
    • Sentiment – show articles with positive, negative, and/or neutral sentiment

    And that’s just one way you can use Social Animal for your content marketing efforts!

    Let’s look at the other options available for each entry.

    Headline Analyzer

    Say you want to create the same content as the one with the most shares. In this case, it’s the article from prdaily.com.

    When rewriting the post, you need to come up with an even better headline to complement your content.

    The goal of the headline is not just to introduce what the article is about.

    With the right headline, you can attract the most clicks when it appears on people’s social media feeds and search results.

    And Social Animal has a tool that can help you create click-worthy headlines!

    To do this, click on the Headline Analyzer option of the post on Social Animal.

    You’ll see something similar to this:

    social animal headline analyzer

    It tells you the strengths and weaknesses of the headline. Use this information to create a better headline version for your post!

    Other factors you will see to help you analyze the headlines of competitors are:

    • Emotional Analysis – shows the emotions the headline evokes from readers
    • Sentiment of the Headline – tells you whether the headline has a positive, negative, or neutral sentiment
    • Quick Scanning Eye – reveals to you the first words people see from the headline. Also shows which among the words are rare and common.
    • Dictionary and Synonym analysis – lists down similar words of words used in the headline

    Using this option of Social Animal, you can be sure to come up with a headline that people will click on and read!

    Add to compare

    If you want to pit two high-performing articles against each other from your search, you may do so with Social Animal!

    Click on the Add to Compare option for the two posts you want to analyze.

    social animal add to compare

    Comparing posts with the most shares gives you even more insights on how you should develop content similar to these titles.

    For example, if a post received more Facebook shares that the others, then you need to see what made it more shareable on that platform and emulate its success!

    View sharers

    Let’s say a post generated tons of Twitter shares.

    With Social Animal, you can see who those sharers are and analyze their influence.

    To do this, click the View sharers link on the post you want to review.

    social animal review - view shares

    From here, you can see who the sharers are and the number of followers and tweets they have.

    Most importantly, you can export the list and reach out to them one by one once you have published a better version of the post they just shared.

    Insights

    Now, onto the fun part!

    When writing the best content possible, you need to refer to actual and proven data.

    The insights provided by tools like Social Animal helps you target the right angle for your topic to maximize its impact with your audience.

    The Insights feature does exactly this:

    social animal review - insights

    You will see how much the topic is shared on social media, when the best times of publishing content about the topic is, and more!

    The graph above shows you the number of shares and published articles about the topic attracted during that day.

    However, it’s really difficult to differentiate which ones in the graph are the number of shares and published content.

    More importantly, you can export the data and crunch the numbers using a spreadsheet.

    Domains

    If you want to see which domains generated the most engagement for the topic, then click on the Domains tab.

    social animal domain insights

    It shows the overall performance of the domain relative to social shares across the most popular platforms.

    However, it doesn’t factor in the number of articles published in the domain about the topic, at least on this view.

    Therefore, click on the Explore link to the domain that you want to analyze so you can see the articles with the most shares published in the domain.

    Authors

    This tab shows the most prolific writers of the topic.

    social animal author insights

    Their performance is The number of social shares determine the performance of the authors.

    Similar to the Domains tab, you can click on Explore to see the other articles attributed to the author.

    Content analysis

    If you’re about to hit “Publish” on your post draft, stop.

    You need to know first which days of the week the topic gets the most shares on social media.

    The Content analysis tab shows you the total or average engagement the topic gets from different platforms each day.

    social media content analysis

    Judging from the results above, it’s best to never publish posts on weekends and Friday if you want to get the best results from your content.

    And that’s just for this keyword! The results vary depending on your topic and niche.

    Influencers

    Similar to Buzzsumo’s feature, Social Animal’s Influencers feature shows you the different influencers in the keyword or topic you entered:

    social animal influencers

    It shows you the Twitter users with the most followers and tweets.

    You can filter the results using the options on the left sidebar to find specific influencers that suit your needs.

    Personally, I feel this is where Social Animal misses the mark.

    The data provided is limited and it doesn’t show more important metrics as seen on Buzzsumo (retweet and reply ratio, etc.).

    Nonetheless, the results found here should at the very least help you identify whom to target once you’re ready to promote your content.

    If you’re huge into Facebook marketing, then this Social Animal feature is right up your alley.

    social animal facebook

    After connecting with your Facebook account, the tool will find posts related to your search query with the most shares and comments.

    Use this information to join the conversation and build relationships with like-minded people.

    Also, you can filter the results by date and post type so you generate the results you need.

    As a suggestion, it would help if Social Animal can filter via language so you can exclusively get Facebook posts in English.

    Analyze posts

    Dig deeper on Facebook about your topic using Social Animal.

    social animal facebook analyze post

    See how many published posts about your query and determine the best times, day, and content types to publish.

    Also, you can view other factors like sentiment analysis, post analysis, and reaction splits.

    These let you break down the Facebook activity of the topic and capitalize on aspects that your competitors haven’t worked on.

    How to use Social Animal

    So, that’s how Social Animal works!

    If you’re a Buzzsumo lover, you can immediately spot the similarities and differences between the two.

    However, one thing is certain:

    Social Animal is an indispensable tool that can help you develop a solid content marketing strategy!

    For now, let’s take the tool for a spin and create a project to better see how you can use it to your advantage.

    Sign up for a 14-day trial by clicking here*.

    Once you’re logged in, you need to create a project for your blog or site.

    social animal add a project

    Enter the best keywords and competitors you want to track for your project.

    If you do this correctly, you will see the most popular articles for the keyword you entered.

    social animal popular articles

    If you scroll down the page, you will also see the most popular influencers, domains, authors, and Facebook post about the topic.

    social animal popular metrics

    So how can you use the information found here to build your content marketing strategy?

    For example, let’s take the popular domains for example.

    Click on any one of the domains to view articles published there related to your topic.

    Filter the results until you find the ones that suit your needs. For instance, you want the latest content that’s published within the last week.

    social animal share article

    If you like any of the articles that appear on the results, click Share Article to share them on your social media.

    social animal social media sharing

    Ideally, it’s best to copy the link and schedule the post using a social media management tool like SocialPilot or similar.

    But the point is this:

    You can find the best and most relevant content about your topic to share and curate on your social media!

    Here’s another example:

    Let’s say you found a new influencer to reach out to or a Facebook post that you need to engage with later.

    Instead of letting them slip away from your fingers, you can save them in Social Animal instead for future reference.

    This allows you to organize your data and proceed according to plan.

    So, not only is Social Animal a research platform for your content marketing. It’s also a platform where you can build and develop your project from the ground up!

    Finally, there’s an option called Keyword Mentions on the Projects page.

    social animal keyword mentions

    Use this option to find the latest and most relevant mentions of your keywords and competitors.

    However, it’s only the graph that you see from this page.

    This option would work best if you can also see links to the keyword mentions for easy access.

    Regardless, the data provided by Social Animal should help you understand the topic and your competitors much better.

    Social Animal price

    As mentioned in the introduction, Buzzsumo is expensive as hell.

    And as much as you want to discontinue using that tool, there’s no other alternative in the market that you can move to.

    From what you’ve seen so far, Social Animal is indeed a legitimate replacement for Buzzsumo.

    But the real question is this:

    How much does it cost?

    See for yourself:

    social animal price

    For half the price of Buzzsumo, you get unlimited searches and data from your subscription.

    You can also export data at least 50 times depending on your plan.

    Finally, monitor and receive five (5) alerts minimum regarding your keywords and competitors to keep a tab of their activity.

    Comparing its price to Buzzsumo, Social Animal is a very efficient product!

    There are stark differences in some of the features. But if your goal is to develop content that works, then Social Animal is a much better choice for you.

    Social Animal review: Pros and cons

    So we’ve blasted through the jam-packed features of the tool.

    I discussed what the tool does and some of the things it doesn’t.

    But to formalize my thoughts about Social Animal, below is what I feel are the pros and cons of the tool.

    But before I begin, I want to say that I don’t consider pricing as an advantage for Social Animal.

    I think that pricing is correlative to the results the tool brings to the table. And in my opinion, Social Animal’s price is just right.

    Just because it costs lower than Buzzsumo, it doesn’t automatically make it a “steal.”

    I’ll try to explain this factor as you proceed reading the review:

    Pros

    • Awesome filtering features – I love how you can find the results you’re looking for by simply tweaking on filters to your needs. It’s a great way to find what you’re looking for without having to browse through all the data.
    • Breaking down the topic and most shared articles is a breeze – If your purpose of using Social Animal is to create better content, then you’re in for a treat! You can compare the best-performing articles and analyze their headlines to come up with more effective ones. The Insights help validate your topic and whether or not it’s worth pursuing and writing about in your blog.
    • Effective project management – You can save articles, influencers, domains, and any data from Social Animal. Do your research now and plan in advance by saving the most relevant entries for your project and perform additional research on each.

    Cons

    • Influencers feature provide insufficient information – The tool doesn’t show the most relevant information about the influencers. Aside from the posts and followers, there’s nothing much to know about them. What are the chances they will reply to me? What kind of topics do they tweet about the most? These questions remain unanswered by Social Animal. And this is probably the most crippling aspect of the tool. If you can’t break down the influencers according to more advanced metrics, then you can’t create an effective outreach strategy.
    • Facebook Search feature feels half-baked – It does show you posts with the most engagement. And the Reaction Splits are a new touch. But I’m not very happy with the results for a single reason: it doesn’t let you filter out the language. If Social Animal can find a way to screen out non-English Facebook posts, then we’re on to something. But as of writing, this feature isn’t as impressive as it should be.

    Verdict to this Buzzsumo alternative?

    Now we’re at the end of this Social Animal review.

    I’ve expressed everything I need to say about this alternative to Buzzsumo.

    But let’s make it much simpler:

    As a Buzzsumo alternative, I like Social Animal.

    It does what Buzzsumo can do to a limited extent.

    I think Buzzsumo is more loaded and provides better data and insights.

    But from a price standpoint, Social Animal compares very favorably.

    The Influencers and Facebook Posts features need more work, but the Articles and its filtering options are more than enough to justify the value of this tool.

    As a stand-alone product, I enjoy using Social Animal.

    As an SEO guy, I prefer tools like Serpstat to conduct my content research. But that doesn’t do justice to what Social Animal brings to the table.

    At the same time, it’s not a social media management and scheduler like Social Champ and ContentStudio.

    Nonetheless, if you’re looking to generate ideas for your social media activity, you can’t go wrong with this tool.

    Expect to generate unique insights to creating content that resonates with your audience using Social Animal.

    But the only way for you to do this is by signing up for a 14-day FREE trial*.

    Video created using InVideo.

  • Naming Your Freelance Business the Right Way

    Naming Your Freelance Business the Right Way

    Naming your business is an important part of launching your brand as a freelancer.

    It is very frequently the first thing that your leads will find out about your business.

    It needs to be compelling and engaging so that it will draw clients in while also summarizing your brand and identity.

    Although naming a new freelance business can feel difficult and challenging at first, it should not have to feel like you are stepping off the edge of a cliff while wearing a blindfold.

    With these steps described in the article below, you can improve the organization of your ideas and get the most out of your freelance business name.

    Naming your freelance business: Everything you need to know

    Before we begin, I would like to introduce the writer of this post: Grant Polachek of Squadhelp. Here’s his bio:

    Grant Polachek is the Director of Marketing at Inc 500 company Squadhelp.com, the worlds #1 naming platform, with nearly 20,000 customers from the smallest startups across the globe to the largest corporations including Nestle, Philips, Hilton, Pepsi, and AutoNation. Get inspired by exploring these good names for your business.

    So if you have concerns with coming up with a name for your freelance business, don’t hesitate to reach out to Grant and Squadhelp!

    Also, I’ve edited the article to make it better. Nothing but the best for my dear readers 🙂

    So, let’s begin!

    Build your brand

    When choosing a name for your freelance business, it is useful to gather all of your branding ideas in one central place.

    If you make a handy document, then you can check back to it throughout the entire naming process.

    On your document, write down some of the things that you want to be central aspects of your freelance brand.

    For example, you can answer questions like:

    • What do you do?
    • What are the values of your brand?
    • Why are the freelance services you are providing important?

    If others don’t feel that you are passionate and invested in your own brand, then they will likely begin to question why they should care about your freelance business either.

    naming your freelance business - taking down notes

    Writing down a number of existing freelance business names that you think are effective can help you brainstorm names for your own new business.

    Make it a point to take down notes on each of these names and write down what do you like about them and if you want to try to achieve a similar feel or vibe.

    Keep writing down existing freelance brand names that you like until you end up with a list of eight to ten of your ideal names.

    After you have gathered the top names then you can start to dissect them.

    Go through this catchy business name list to give yourself a head start.

    Write some notes in the form of bullet points that describes what exactly you like about each of your favorite names and why they work so well for their company.

    Analyzing and dissecting your top existing freelance business names in your field can be a great exercise to give you some direction for the naming process.

    Think about your audience

    Another thing that you should consider when launching your freelance brand is the audience you want to appeal to.

    For example, a clothing line targeted at older, accomplished, and professional women will have a very different voice and tone than a fashion line for women in college. And there’s a good reason for that!

    Your brand name needs to focus on who you are appealing to and more than just you.

    Most of the popular brand names have a target audience in mind and connect to them through shared values and emotions that resonate with them.

    Take, for example, the investing app Robinhood.

    This app helps people make the investment process free and simple for the typical person, not just the ultra-rich.

    Their brand name for their business not only encapsulates their values to a tee by utilizing the story of the heroic bandit Robin Hood.

    Robin Hood is a great choice for a narrative because it appeals to the millennial audience.

    The name is both fresh and fun and also aligns with the values of convenience and fairness that millennials hold in such regard.

    Look into the future

    Where do you want your freelance brand to be in five years? What about ten years down the line?

    If you are planning on starting a freelance business that might grow into different areas in the future, be wary of selecting a name that pigeonholes your brand.

    At the beginning of launching your business, you may be creating a sock brand. You may feel that the name SuperSocks could be a great fit for your business.

    But if you want to expand into other territories later on such as hats or gloves, SuperSocks would no longer a suitable name.

    This means that you would have to change your established name which could confuse customers and ultimately lose business. Planning ahead can help you avoid a costly rebranding process down the line.

    Try to capture your mission and values in just a couple of short project statements like these:

    • We need a name that captures our young, unique approach to selling high heels.
    • We need a name that establishes us as a traditional and trustworthy brand.
    • We need a name that hints at our animal-friendly business practices.

    You can begin by writing a couple of project statements for your own freelance business.

    Make Tough Choices

    Now that you have put all of your ideas in one central place and have figured out what the type of name that you want, you can begin the process of coming up with name ideas.

    One of the most important decisions that freelancers need to make early on when coming up with a name for their business is whether or not use their real name or a brandable name.

    While there are merits to both of these options, it is typically preferable for freelancers to incorporate their own name into the business. This helps solidify the connection between the business and yourself.

    Especially if you are the only freelancer working for your business, incorporating your own name into the brand name will make it clear to clients just who they’re working with.

    On the other hand, if there is any possibility of expansion down the road, separating your name from your company name is a must.

    Collect some names

    brainstorming for freelance business names

    Now, it’s time to put your thinking caps on.

    Jot down every name you can muster that might work with the brand you are creating.

    Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box, and don’t judge any of the names that you come up with at first.

    Even if you don’t like it now, you may find that one of your brainstormed names could really resonate with your target audience.

    Continue writing down as many names as you can think of because the more you have to cross off the list, the better idea you will have of the type of name that you are looking for.

    When coming up with names, you must start broad.

    Some names can be descriptive, intellectual, poignant, or classic. You can merge words to form a name or use two separate words to summarize your business’s appeal.

    One helpful way to come up with brand names is by writing down an example for every type of name you can think of.

    Getting out of your comfort zone when coming up with names will help you in the future and give you a variety of names to choose from.

    Cut down your options

    Finally, it is time to start making some decisions by cutting down the number of name options that you have brainstormed.

    Start removing freelance business names that you know won’t work for you until you have only five or six favorite names remaining on your list.

    Now that you have some great options to move forward with, this is a great chance to start getting second opinions from your friends and family. Another group to get feedback from would also be your target audience!

    When asking questions about your name choices, don’t just ask, “Which of these names do you like the best?” Make sure you frame your questions more neutrally by asking something closer to, “Which of these brands would you be interested in learning more about?”

    Lock down your domain name and assess your risk

    A solid domain complements a great brand name. This is because your website is where your prospective clients will find out more about what services you offer.

    So, it is best to have as close of a match to your name as possible.

    [mks_pullquote align=”left” width=”720″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#333333″ txt_color=”#ffffff”]Editor’s note: Now hold up, playa!

    Signing up for a domain name is another problem altogether. In fact, it deserves a post of its own.

    However, instead of making it difficult for you, here’s what I suggest:

    When signing up for a domain name, go with Siteground*.

    It’s a web hosting platform that offers domain registration.

    So why Siteground?

    Simple: It makes your site load faster and respond better for your visitors.

    After signing up for a domain and a hosting plan, you can build a WordPress site within minutes and enjoy its blazing-fast servers and excellent customer support!

    Again, click here* to sign up now and set up your freelance business website so clients will come knocking on your door.

    [/mks_pullquote]

    Trademark validation for your freelance business name is another great way to secure your name.

    Run a trademark risk test so that you can rest assured that your brand name isn’t already in use by a similar freelance business.

    Being proactive in preventing trademark risk will help you avoid any complicated legal issues.

    Naming your freelance business is no walk in the park!

    Video summary created using InVideo.

    Coming up with an effective name can feel like a daunting task. So much of your success rests upon a name.

    It is the crux of your freelance brand’s identity, and it is the first connection between you and your clients.

    You might think that all of the best names are already in use, or that you lack good ideas, but don’t worry.  The perfect name for your business is out there and if you follow the steps then you’ll find it in no time!

  • 11 Habits of Highly Effective SEO Article Writers

    11 Habits of Highly Effective SEO Article Writers

    Being in the SEO game for a long time, you know the value that great SEO article writers bring to the table.

    They help rank websites for their target keywords by observing the best on-page SEO practices on the articles they write.

    Ultimately, they convert fairweather site visitors into customers with their compelling writing style.

    So, if you’re:

    • an aspiring writer who wants to turn his/her passion for writing into a profession
    • website owner or agency looking to hire talented writers to help their business

    Then you’ve come to the right place!

    This post discusses the skills and discipline that the talented and most sought-after SEO article writers have. If you want the full process from keyword research to publishing, my complete SEO content writing guide covers it step by step.

    By knowing these skills, you can build your writing business on these foundations or find a writer who meets these qualifications.

    What separates good SEO article writers from the bad ones?

    Before we start, this post is written by Rana Tarakji. Here’s a short bio about her:

    Rana Tarakji

    Originally from the U.S., Rana Tarakji is an SEO analyst, the founder of One SEO – a multinational link building company -, and author of Off-Site SEO Guide: A Hands-On SEO Tutorial For Beginners & Dummies, who now lives in Beirut, Lebanon. Rana’s work has appeared in a wide range of publications in print and online, including Life Hacker, Upwork, Christian Today, Newswire, and many other outlets.

    Also, I’ve edited the post and added my thoughts to make it more useful to you dear readers.

    Get it? Got it? Good.

    Let’s begin!

    Researches for keywords strategically

    One of the main factors that bring visitors to a website is when the content matches the keywords they searched on Google.

    For professional SEO article writers, they never write content without a target keyword in mind.

    This means they conduct adequate research prior to using keywords in their articles.

    They dig deep and find out which words to best use if you want to rank for a niche.  Professional article writers in the SEO scene also learn about SEO trends and use them to their article’s advantage.

    longtailpro - tool for long tail keyword research
    A tool to help you find low-hanging fruit keywords is Long Tail Pro. It helps writers brainstorm for keyword ideas to optimize their articles.

    For example, people expect voice search to dominate SEO in 2019. Therefore, writers optimize their content for long tail keywords to rank for spoken (versus typed) keywords when the time comes.

    Editor’s note

    As an SEO writer, I use tools to help make keyword research efficient. With a few clicks, these tools can extract hundreds of keywords complete with their search volume and keyword difficulty. This information helps me decide which keywords I should choose to optimize my content.

    Among the countless keyword research tools out there, I highly recommend Long Tail Pro. It’s one of the first and best tools to help you unearth keywords to optimize your articles.

    To learn more about Long Tail Pro, click here to read my review about it. You can also sign up for a FREE 7-day TRIAL” and take it for a spin!

    LongTailPro EXCLUSIVE OFFER

    30% OFF ON ALL PLANS!


    Addresses user intent

    The best professional SEO article writers know that behind every keyword possess an intent.

    For instance, if you want to rank high for a keyword, you need to understand why users are searching for that keyword in the first place.

    You can classify user intent may be classified as:

    • Navigational – Do they want to learn more about the brands specific to that keyword?
    • Informational – Are they looking for information about that topic?
    • Transactional – Do they want to buy something that relates to the search phrase?

    As you can see, for each type of intent, users have a corresponding agenda!

    Professional SEO writers take the lead here by producing content that is most fit and helpful to the user intent behind your customer’s search query.

    By imagining a preset persona of your target customer, they can generate articles that can offer a solution to each search query.

    In turn, users get more enticed with every targeted solution your site has to offer them.

    And the more users your writers attract with this intent-based strategy, the better your site’s organic traffic can become!

    To learn more about intent-based keyword research, read this post at Search Engine Land.

    Establishes content credibility

    Creating content that matches your customer’s needs is one thing. But SEO article writers also ensure that each write-up they produce mirrors niche authority and credibility.

    A mark of content credibility is its uniqueness and how insightful it is to readers. Regarding the latter, SEO writers research for information that can help back up their claims in the content.

    Aside from fact-checking and source-citing, professional SEO article writers also take time to thoroughly proofread their work.

    This is because they know that SEO-wise, well-written and error-free articles always attract natural links and stand a greater chance at ranking on top as opposed to those that are poorly written.

    Editor’s note

    Sorry to butt in again, but we need to talk more about proofreading your work.

    In case it’s not yet obvious to you, but writing error-free content is of utmost importance!

    A couple of Facebook members in a group made fun at a post I promoted with incorrect spelling. I covered that embarrassing ordeal in this post.

    And you know what, they have every right to do it!

    That’s why you must be vigilant with your content before sharing it to an audience.

    And that’s why I’ve been using Grammarly Premium ever since!

    If I have to choose one tool that I have to use, I’ll go with this tool any day of the week.

    Read my review about Grammarly Premium to understand why. (Hint: Grammarly got the highest score among all the tools I’ve reviewed!)

    SEO article writers produce content that is readable and engaging

    Professional SEO writers aim for the readability of their articles.

    They are aware that engaging articles are the ones that are clear, organized, and, simple.

    They lessen “fluff” and go straight to the point.

    Every word and sentence on their articles are deliberate and purposeful.

    That means simplifying industry jargons to help their target users understand the article.

    The more logical and smooth-flowing the article, the better!

    Aiming for the top (via featured snippets)

    Another secret that professional SEO article writers keep is their constant goal of getting to the top of SERPs.

    Your typical SEO strategy already addresses this with the usual on-page and off-page SEO campaigns. But professional SEO article writers may take a different route.

    Remember the trend of voice search and the rise of search assistants (think “hey, Google”)? SEO writers aim their articles to respond to them through their articles.

    So, when a user asks Google via voice search, their articles can turn up at the topmost part, also known as a featured snippet.

    featured snippet - seo article writers
    Here’s an example of a featured snippet for one of my posts. Search “missinglettr review” and you will most likely see this.

    All they have to do is to make your site’s articles structured to a voice search-friendly format.

    They do this by answering queries in a direct to the point manner. They can also make use of bullets and numbered lists so that the assistant can read the information one by one.

    Finally, they fill their articles with statistics and facts to back up their content.

    Maximizing content length

    SEO article writers take time generating high-quality content. That also means (but is not exclusive to) lengthier content.

    This hits your SEO goals in two ways.

    One, it appeals to web crawlers and search engines more since longer content means a better chance to spread and utilize your target keywords.

    Two, it enhances user experience. Assuming the content is comprehensive all throughout its 1,000-2000-word length, then you give more value to your site’s visitor as you offer him with more information.

    Adding the right images

    Professional SEO article writers know that articles are not just all about the text. They know that adding visual content like images and videos can help keep their focus.

    This is because they understand that your site’s readers respond well to SEO best practices of including images within text posts.

    Apart from providing a break from paragraphs, images can also help clarify the information that your articles convey.

    For example, infographics and diagrams can help customers understand a complex concept that can otherwise be too wordy to elaborate.

    But they do not just dump images and add an alt text tag to make it more SEO-friendly. Professional SEO writers attach images that are appropriate to the content.

    When it comes to infographics, they either create one or choose a pre-made version. In any case, they include the ones that will increase your site’s organic traffic and not drive them away.

    Creating catchy titles and headlines

    Aside from ensuring that the title, headers, and tags of your articles contain your target keywords, professional SEO article writers make it a point to make the article titles catchy.

    Titles are also a factor when you click on a search result. An article with an ambiguous and keyword-stuffed phrasing is less appealing than the one with wit and flair.

    Leveraging social media

    Professional writers who create content for SEO purposes use social media for SEO advantage.

    Because social media feeds like that of Facebook are full of attention-grabbing content, they write posts with click-worthy headlines to gain traction to their social media followers.

    They leverage the power of likes and shares to build better brand recall and recognition for your business.

    They never fail to include a link of your site’s website URL on every post, so their followers can visit their site for more information about them.

    Advantageous use of analytics

    Aside from their content, professional SEO article writers also take their time to review the results of their content.

    The information you can gather from platforms like Google Analytics contains useful SEO insights that SEO article writers can leverage.

    Take for example data from bounce rate analytics.

    A professional SEO article writer can infer which posts entice more users and which ones need improvement such that users stay longer in the page.

    They then tweak the content of their articles to lower the bounce rate of each page and aim for more conversions.

    Knowing what to avoid

    Finally, what separates professional SEO article writers from others is how they keep track of which methods lead to penalties.

    They don’t stuff your articles with keywords for the sake of optimizing them!

    They know better than to use exact match keywords repeatedly and go for latent semantic indexing (LSI) to boost your overall SEO strategy.

    They also avoid stale and old content and produce articles on a regular basis to keep their audience in the loop.

    Lastly, these SEO writers know which tactics are useful and which common SEO mistakes to avoid.

    Wrapping it up

    These are just some of the things a capable SEO article writer can do.

    Now, if you want to become one, then you need to take these tips to heart as well as their content writing advice.

    Let’s face it – creating great articles are not enough in this day and age.

    You need to get your articles that extra “oomph” that clients are looking for.

    In this case, you need to hone your SEO skills to help your clients rank higher on SERPs.

    Moreover, integrating SEO into your writing will help you land more clients in the future!

    As for businesses, all you need to do is refer to these habits when looking for a writer for your blog or website.

    Granted, there aren’t a lot of talented SEO article writers out there. But don’t give up and keep looking, they’re probably just around the corner!

    Or maybe you’re reading one of their posts!

    At this point, all you need to do is just ask! 🙂

  • Get Paid to Write Articles: 180+ Websites that Pay You to Write

    Get Paid to Write Articles: 180+ Websites that Pay You to Write

    Hundreds of websites pay writers between $50 and $2,000 per article, across niches including technology, marketing, travel, health, and creative writing. You do not need an existing portfolio to get started. You need to know which sites to pitch and how to approach them.

    I’ve been a freelance writer since 2013 and have been published on Search Engine Journal, Niche Pursuits, Blogging Wizard, and dozens of other industry publications. I know which sites actually pay on time, which have editors who respond, and which are worth your effort.

    Every site in this list has been personally verified as of 2026. Sites that shut down, stopped paying, or changed to unpaid submissions have been removed.

    Let’s get into it.

    The 10 Highest-Paying Sites on This List

    If you want to start with the best opportunities, these ten sites offer the highest confirmed rates across all categories. Each one is included in the full list below with submission links.

    SiteNichePay RateNotes
    FusionAuthTech / Security$500 to $1,000+One of the highest-paying dev writing programs active today
    CopyhackersMarketing / Copywriting$300 to $1,000Ideal for writers with marketing or conversion expertise
    TwilioTech / APIs$500Pays flat rate for tutorials and developer guides
    VonageTech / Communications$500Developer-focused content, fast payment turnaround
    HoneybadgerTech / DevOps$500+Ruby, Elixir, and server-side content
    Draft.devTech / Content$300 to $500Connects technical writers with software companies
    Auth0Tech / SecurityUp to $450Authentication and identity content via their Apollo Program
    DigitalOceanCloud / Linux$300 to $400Long-running community writing program, reliable payment
    CSS-TricksWeb Dev / CSS$250 to $400Tutorials and deep dives on frontend development
    Smashing MagazineWeb Dev / Design$200 to $350One of the most respected publications on this list

    How to use this table: These rates are confirmed as of early 2026 but can change. Always check the current submission guidelines before pitching. Payment timelines vary — some pay on acceptance, others on publication.

    Technology and Web Development

    These sites pay for tutorials, how-to guides, and technical articles. Perfect if you have coding or tech skills.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Smashing Magazine$200-$350Web dev, UX, designWrite for Us
    A List Apart$200Web design, developmentContribute
    SitePoint$150-$300JavaScript, Python, ReactWrite for Us
    DigitalOcean$300-$400Cloud, DevOps, LinuxCommunity
    LogRocketUp to $350React, Vue, FrontendGuest Author
    CSS-Tricks$250-$400CSS, JavaScript, HTMLGuest Posting
    Auth0Up to $450Security, AuthenticationApollo Program
    CircleCI$300CI/CD, DevOpsGuest Author
    Linode (Akamai)$300Linux, Cloud HostingWrite for Linode
    TutorialsPoint$250-$500Programming, ITWrite for Us
    FusionAuth$500-$1000+Authentication, DevWrite for Us
    Hasura$300GraphQLWriter Program
    Vonage$500APIs, CommunicationsDeveloper Blog
    Twilio$500APIs, MessagingVoices Program
    Honeybadger$500+Ruby, Elixir, DevOpsWrite for Us
    Real Python$300PythonWrite for Us
    VultrUp to $300Cloud, Server AdminDocs Program
    Geekflare$60-$250Cloud, SecurityWrite for Us
    Plesk$50-$200DevOps, Web HostingWrite for Plesk
    CodeCov$500Testing, CI/CDWrite for Us
    Draft.dev$300-$500Developer ToolsApply
    ContentLab$300-$500Technical WritingApply
    SQL Server Central$150+SQL, DatabasesGuidelines
    Semaphore CI$100-$300CI/CD, DevOpsWrite for Us
    Couchbase$200NoSQL, DatabasesWrite for Us
    Atlantic.net$75-$300Cloud HostingWrite for Us
    Paperspace$200-$300Machine LearningWrite for Us
    Appsmith$200-$400Low-Code, DevWrite for Us
    Strapi$200Headless CMSWrite for Us
    Envato Tuts+$100-$250Web Dev, DesignWrite for Us
    Stack Abuse$150-$200ProgrammingWrite for Us

    Business, Marketing, and Finance

    This is the niche I know best. I’ve been writing about SEO, content marketing, and digital strategy for over a decade, and most of the highest-paying opportunities I’ve landed came from publications in this category. If you have real marketing experience or can write with genuine authority about business, you’ll find some of the best pay rates on this entire list here.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Ahrefs Blog$500–$1,500SEO, Content MarketingWrite for Us
    CXL$800+CRO, Analytics, GrowthContribute
    Copyhackers$300–$1,000Copywriting, ConversionWrite for Us
    HubSpot Blog$500+Marketing, Sales, CRMWrite for Us
    Shopify Partners Blog$500+E-commerce, DevWrite for Us
    Forbes$500+Business, FinanceContributor Network
    Entrepreneur$1.50/wordBusiness, StartupsContributor Network
    Fast Company$1/wordInnovation, LeadershipContact
    Search Engine JournalVariesSEO, PPC, Content MarketingWrite for Us
    Moz Blog$250+SEO, Link BuildingContribute
    Content Marketing Institute$150–$300Content StrategyContribute
    MarketingProfs$200–$400B2B MarketingWrite for Us
    Niche PursuitsVariesNiche Sites, SEO ToolsContribute
    Blogging WizardVariesBlogging, Content ToolsWrite for Us
    Income Diary$200–$500Online Business, SEOWrite for Us
    Business InsiderVariesBusiness, TechnologyContributor
    Inc. MagazineVariesBusiness LeadershipSubmit
    The Penny Hoarder$75–$800Money, Side HustlesWrite for Us
    ElitePersonalFinance$300Personal FinanceWrite for Us
    Wise Bread$100–$200Personal FinanceWrite for Us
    Money Pantry$30–$150Earning, SavingWrite for Us
    Dollar Stretcher$0.10/wordFrugal LivingSubmissions

    Sites I’ve personally written for

    Search Engine Journal is one of the best places to build SEO writing credentials. I’ve been published there multiple times over the years, and it’s a publication I’d recommend to any writer who covers search, content, or digital marketing seriously.

    The editorial process is rigorous. Expect multiple revision rounds before anything goes live. That’s not a bad thing. It means the final piece is solid and the byline carries real weight with SEO professionals. Don’t pitch broad topic overviews. SEJ editors want a specific angle, a clear takeaway, and ideally data or a case study to back it up. A pitch like “5 tips for better SEO” won’t get you far. Something like “How I recovered 40% of lost organic traffic by fixing keyword cannibalization” will.

    Pay varies by piece type and contributor status. Response times have ranged from a week to a few weeks in my experience. If you don’t hear back, one follow-up after two weeks is appropriate.


    Niche Pursuits is Spencer Haws’s publication, and it’s one of the most engaged audiences in the niche site and SEO space. I’ve contributed to Niche Pursuits and found the process straightforward. Spencer and the team are responsive, and they know their readers well.

    What works here: original experiments, real data, tool comparisons with honest takes, and case studies from your own sites. The audience is full of people who’ve read everything. They know when something is generic. If you can share something you’ve actually tested, a keyword strategy that worked, an income report breakdown, a specific tool review with genuine pros and cons, that’s what gets picked up. Aim for practical, first-person, and specific.


    Blogging Wizard is Adam Connell’s site and covers blogging tools, content marketing, and monetization strategies. It’s a well-organized publication with clear audience targeting. I’ve written for Blogging Wizard and found the editorial guidelines easy to follow.

    The readers are bloggers at various experience levels, many of them building their first site or trying to grow beyond a few hundred visitors a month. Write with that person in mind. Tool reviews and tutorials perform well here. If you’re writing a comparison post, be direct about your recommendation. The audience appreciates a verdict, not just a list of features.


    A note on the high-ticket opportunities in this section: Ahrefs ($500–$1,500) and CXL ($800+) are among the highest-paying publications on this entire list. Both require genuine expertise. Ahrefs wants SEO content from people who actually use SEO tools and can back claims with real data. CXL wants conversion and analytics content from practitioners. Neither will accept surface-level writing.

    If you’re new to writing, start with sites like Money Pantry or Dollar Stretcher to build clips. Once you have published work in the business or marketing space, move up to CMI, MarketingProfs, and Moz. After you’ve built a track record there, Ahrefs and CXL become realistic targets.

    Food and Cooking

    Food writers can pitch recipes, restaurant stories, and culinary essays to these publications.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Food52$200-$500Recipes, How-TosPitch Guidelines
    Bon Appétit$250-$0.50/wordFood Culture, EssaysPitching Info
    Eater$0.31-$0.67/wordRestaurants, Food CulturePitch Guidelines
    Serious Eats$0.20/wordRecipes, TechniquesPitch editors directly via site
    Edible Communities$0.25/wordLocal Food, FarmsFind Your Local Edition
    Taste of Home$100+Home Cooking, RecipesContributor Guidelines
    EatingWell$350+Healthy EatingPitch Guidelines
    Saveur$0.33/wordGlobal CuisinePitch Guidelines
    Food & WineVariesFood, Wine, TravelAbout Us
    Life & Thyme$200-$500Food JournalismContribute
    Smart Mouth$400Food CulturePitch Guidelines
    Modern Farmer$350+Sustainable FarmingPitch Guidelines
    KitchnVariesHome CookingSubmissions
    Wine Enthusiast$1/wordWine, TravelSubmission Guidelines
    Punch$0.50/wordDrinks, CocktailsPitch Guidelines

    Travel and Adventure

    Share your travel stories and destination guides with readers around the world.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Travel + Leisure$1/wordTravel, DestinationsPitch Editors
    International Living$75-$400Expat Life, RetirementWrite for Us
    BBC Travel$0.50/wordCulture, DestinationsContributor Brief
    AFAR$1/wordExperiential TravelContribute
    Condé Nast Traveler$1/word+Luxury TravelPitch Editors
    Atlas Obscura$0.25/wordUnusual PlacesContribute
    Transitions Abroad$75-$150Work Abroad, StudyWrite for Us
    Lonely PlanetVariesDestinations, TipsContribute
    Matador Network$60-$150Adventure TravelWrite for Us
    World Nomads$150Adventure, SafetyContribute
    Go World Travel$30-$200DestinationsWrite for Us
    Great Escape Publishing$50-$200Travel WritingSubmit
    Roads & KingdomsVariesFood, Politics, TravelPitch
    Adventure.com$0.25/wordAdventure TravelWrite for Us
    Hidden Compass$550+Narrative TravelSubmit
    Perceptive Travel$100Narrative TravelGuidelines
    Alaska Airlines Magazine$150-$700DestinationsGuidelines
    Texas Highways$0.50/wordTexas TravelPitch
    Escapees Magazine$100-$200RV LifestyleSubmit
    Wanderlust£220/1000 wordsAdventure TravelGuidelines
    Hawaii MagazineVariesHawaii TravelGuidelines

    Creative Writing and Literary

    Fiction writers, poets, and essayists can find paying markets here.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Clarkesworld Magazine$0.12/wordScience Fiction, FantasySubmissions
    The Sun Magazine$200-$2,000Essays, Fiction, PoetrySubmit
    Narrative Magazine$150-$1,000Fiction, EssaysSubmission Guidelines
    Asimov’s Science Fiction$0.10-$0.12/wordScience FictionGuidelines
    Analog Science Fiction$0.10-$0.12/wordScience FictionGuidelines
    The Threepenny Review$400Essays, Fiction, PoetrySubmit
    One Story$500Short FictionSubmit
    Tor.com$0.25/wordFantasy, Sci-FiSubmissions
    Strange Horizons$0.10/wordSpeculative FictionSubmit
    Apex Magazine$0.08/wordDark Fantasy, HorrorSubmit
    Fantasy & Science Fiction$0.12-$0.15/wordFantasy, Sci-FiGuidelines
    Lightspeed Magazine$0.10/wordFantasy, Sci-FiSubmit
    The Paris Review$1,000+Fiction, PoetrySubmit
    VQR$200+ fiction, $200 poetryLiterarySubmit
    Ploughshares$45/pageLiterary FictionSubmit
    Zoetrope: All-Story$1,000Short StoriesSubmit
    The Missouri Review$40/pageFiction, Essays, PoetrySubmit
    GrantaPro ratesLiterary Fiction, EssaysSubmit
    The Iowa Review$0.08/wordFiction, Poetry, EssaysSubmit
    The Kenyon ReviewVariesFiction, Essays, PoetrySubmit
    The Gettysburg Review$30/pageLiterary Fiction, EssaysSubmit
    CRAFT Literary$100-$200Fiction, Creative NonfictionSubmit
    Chestnut Review$120Fiction, Poetry, EssaysSubmit
    Boulevard MagazineUp to $300Fiction, Poetry, EssaysSubmit
    Orion Magazine$0.25-$1/wordNature, EnvironmentPitch
    AGNI$30/page (max $300)Fiction, Essays, PoetrySubmit
    Colorado Review$200Fiction, Poetry, EssaysSubmit

    Essays and Personal Stories

    Publications that pay for personal essays, memoirs, and opinion pieces.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Narratively$750+True Stories, MemoirPitch Us
    Longreads$500-$1,500Essays, FeaturesSubmissions
    The New York Times Modern Love$300+RelationshipsSubmit
    Dame Magazine$200Women’s IssuesWrite for Us
    Catapult$100+Personal EssaysSubmit
    Electric Literature$100-$500Literary EssaysSubmit
    Guernica$100-$500Personal Essays, FictionSubmit
    The Rumpus$75-$500Essays, ReviewsSubmit
    Creative Nonfiction$50-$1,000True StoriesSubmit
    Brevity$45Flash NonfictionSubmit
    Fourth Genre$100+Literary NonfictionSubmit
    River Teeth$100+Literary NonfictionSubmit
    The Gay & Lesbian Review$100-$250LGBTQ+ Essays, ReviewsGuidelines
    The Audacity (Roxane Gay)$1,000Literary EssaysSubmit
    Salon$100-$200Essays, FeaturesPitch
    HowlRound$200-$400Theatre EssaysSubmit
    LiisBeth$100-$2,000Feminist EntrepreneurshipPitch
    Bright Magazine$500Social Impact EssaysPitch

    Health, Fitness, and Wellness

    Write about physical health, mental wellness, and lifestyle for these publications.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    SELF$450+Health, FitnessPitch Guidelines
    HealthlineVariesMedical, WellnessWrite for Us
    GreatistVariesFitness, NutritionPitch Guidelines
    Experience Life$1/wordHealth, WellnessWriter’s Guidelines
    Well+GoodVariesWellness, FitnessContribute
    Men’s Health$1/wordFitness, NutritionContribute
    Women’s Health$1/wordFitness, WellnessContribute
    PreventionUp to $2/wordHealth, WellnessPitch Editors
    Shape$0.50-$1/wordFitness, NutritionPitch section editors via masthead
    Runner’s World$1/wordRunning, FitnessContribute
    Bicycling$1/wordCyclingContribute
    Outside Magazine$1-$2/wordOutdoor FitnessPitch
    Yoga Journal$0.50-$1/wordYoga, MindfulnessPitch section editors via masthead
    Brain & Life$0.75/wordNeurological HealthSubmission Guidelines
    Psych CentralVariesMental HealthWrite for Us
    VerywellVariesHealth TopicsContribute
    Vibrant Life$100-$300Health, WellnessGuidelines
    MindBodyGreenVariesWellness, SpiritualityContribute
    The Mighty$75-$150Disability, HealthPitch

    Parenting and Family

    Sites that pay for parenting advice, family stories, and child development content.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Parents Magazine$1/wordParenting, FamilyWrite for Us
    Scary Mommy$100Parenting EssaysSubmit
    Your Teen Magazine$100-$300Teen ParentingWrite for Us
    ADDitude$150-$300ADHD, LearningWrite for Us
    Motherly$50-$500MotherhoodContribute
    FatherlyVariesFatherhoodContribute
    RomperVariesParentingWrite for Us
    A Fine Parent$75Positive ParentingWrite for Us
    Her View From HomeUp to $100Family, MotherhoodSubmit
    Metro Parent$40-$200Regional ParentingGuidelines
    Chicago ParentVariesRegional ParentingWrite for Us
    Freelance Mom$75-$100Working MomsWrite for Us
    PTO Today$125-$500School VolunteeringWriter Guidelines

    Environment and Outdoors

    Publications focused on nature, conservation, and outdoor recreation.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Sierra Magazine$1-$1.50/wordEnvironmentContribute
    Audubon Magazine$0.50-$1.50/wordBirds, ConservationPitch
    National Geographic$1+/wordNature, ScienceContribute
    bioGraphic$1.05/wordBiodiversityPitch
    High Country News$0.50-$1/wordWestern EnvironmentPitch
    Hakai Magazine$0.50-$1/wordCoastal SciencePitch
    Backpacker$0.50-$1/wordHiking, CampingContribute
    Outdoor Life$0.50-$1/wordHunting, FishingPitch via masthead editors
    Gray’s Sporting Journal$600-$1,250Hunting, FishingWriter’s Guidelines
    Field & Stream$0.50-$1/wordHunting, FishingPitch via masthead editors
    Adventure Cycling$150-$250Bicycle TravelWrite for Us
    Paddling Magazine$0.20-$0.35/wordKayaking, CanoeingWriter’s Guidelines
    Climbing Magazine$0.25-$0.50/wordRock ClimbingSubmit
    Trail Runner$0.25-$0.50/wordTrail RunningSubmissions

    General Interest and Lifestyle

    Broader publications that accept various topics.

    Site NamePay RateTopicsGuidelines
    Listverse$100Lists, FactsWrite for Us
    Cracked$100-$250Humor, CultureWrite for Us
    Mental Floss$150+Interesting FactsPitch Guidelines
    Atlas Obscura$0.25/wordUnusual StoriesContribute
    Smithsonian$0.50-$1/wordHistory, ScienceContribute
    Popular Science$1/wordScience, TechPitch
    Discover Magazine$300-$1/wordSciencePitch Guide
    Wired$500+Technology, CulturePitch Guide
    The Atlantic$1/word+Culture, PoliticsPitch
    SlateVariesNews, CulturePitch
    Vox$400+Explainers, AnalysisPitch firstperson@vox.com
    The WeekVariesNews SummaryContact
    JSTOR Daily$200-$300Research-BasedPitch Us
    Reader’s Digest$0.50-$1/wordHuman InterestSubmit
    Real Simple$1/wordLifestylePitch via Hearst masthead editors
    Good Housekeeping$0.67/wordHome, LifestylePitch via Hearst masthead editors
    Cosmopolitan$0.25-$2/wordLifestyle, RelationshipsPitch via Hearst masthead editors
    Bustle$0.25/wordCulture, LifestylePitch Guidelines
    Refinery29VariesCulture, StylePitch
    ViceVariesCulture, NewsContribute
    Upworthy$150+Positive StoriesPitch
    The Progressive$50-$1,000Politics, Social JusticePitch
    Dissent MagazineVariesPolitics, CultureSubmit
    Informed Comment$100Politics, Foreign PolicyGuidelines
    Christian Science Monitor$200-$225News, FeaturesGuidelines

    You’ve Found the Sites. Now What?

    Read their guidelines carefully. I can’t stress this enough.

    Every site has specific requirements. Some want SEO-focused content. Others want personal stories. Missing these details is the fastest way to get rejected.

    At the same time, you need the skills to write content that meets their standards.

    If you need a refresher on how to write high-quality content, these articles will help:

    Best of luck!

    Quick Tips Before You Pitch

    Here are some things I’ve learned from years of freelance writing:

    Read their content first. Spend 15 minutes reading what they publish. Understand their tone, topics, and audience.

    Follow their guidelines exactly. If they say 1,500 words max, don’t send 3,000. If they want a Google Doc, don’t send a PDF.

    Pitch ideas, not finished articles. Most sites want to approve your topic before you write. Don’t waste time writing full drafts before pitching.

    Start with realistic expectations. Higher-paying sites are more competitive. Build clips at smaller publications first, then work your way up.

    Be patient. Some sites take weeks to respond. Follow up once after two weeks, then move on if you don’t hear back.

    Important Notes About This List

    Some sites pause submissions when they have a backlog of content. This doesn’t mean they’re not legit. It just means you need to check back later.

    Pay rates can also change. The amounts listed are accurate as of my last verification, but always confirm with the site’s current guidelines.

    If you notice a site that’s no longer paying or has changed its rates, let me know so I can keep this list updated.

    Do You Want Us to Include Your Site in the Table?

    If you’re paying contributors to write content for your website, we would love to feature your site above so you can attract talented writers who share your passion.

    Fill out the form below and we’ll include your website in this list ASAP:

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