Author: Christopher Jan Benitez

  • Long Tail Keyword: Everything You Need to Know

    Are you struggling to drive targeted traffic to your website?

    Are you tired of trying to rank for short-tail keywords with high competition to no avail?

    If so, look no further than long tail keywords!

    This article discusses a long tail keyword, its benefits, and how to find them using various tools.

    This way, you can find search queries that you can optimize for your website to attract highly-targeted traffic from organic search and increase conversions.

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    What are long-tail keywords?

    On a superficial level, we can define long-tail keywords as those composed of at least four words.

    For example, “best running shoes for flat feet” would be considered a long tail keyword, while “running shoes” would be a short-tail keyword.

    Looking closer at booth keywords, you can also see that long tail keywords are more specific compared to the generic nature of seed keywords.

    As a result, long tail keywords have a much clearer search intent.

    Going back to the example above, people searching for “best running shoes for flat feet” are looking for running shoes designed for people with flat feet.

    This way, they won’t get their soles hurt while running for hours.

    Knowing users’ intent for searching these keywords is vital in helping them create the best content possible. That means publishing a page that provides information people want concerning their search query.

    Below are the different keyword intents you must be aware of:

    keyword intent - how to write a good blog post

    “Best running shoes for flat feet” falls under the commercial intent category. From here, you must publish content that lists running shoes for those with flat feet that come highly recommended to customers.

    Also, long tail keywords tend to have a relatively low search volume. That means only a handful of users enter them on Google and other search engines.

    This makes these keywords less competitive and easier to rank as they are more specific and less likely to be targeted by many websites.

    What Are the Benefits of Long Tail Keywords?

    Considering all the qualities of long tail keywords listed above, they give you all the more reason to search for them whenever your conduct keyword research.

    Below are advantages that make long tail keywords important in your SEO campaign:

    • Less competition – Long tail keywords are less commonly searched due to low demand. While this usually means you shouldn’t target these keywords, it is a low-hanging fruit opportunity for you to rank for them in search engine results.
    • More targeted traffic – They are more specific and detailed, making them more likely to attract your target audience or visitors looking for your website on search results.
    • Higher conversion rates – Visitors who come to your website using long tail keywords are more likely to be further along in the buying process and, therefore, more likely to convert into customers.
    • Better for voice search – Long-tail keywords are more natural for voice search queries, and users are more likely to use long-tail keywords when asking a question.
    • Clear search intent – Long tail keywords are more likely to match the intent of a user’s search query, making them more valuable for SEO as they can drive targeted, relevant traffic to a website.

    Long-tail keywords can also help you create more specific and explicit content, improving user experience.

    They can help you uncover niche topics not covered by your competitors, allowing you to create unique content and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

    How to Find Long Tail Keywords

    To find long tail keyword examples for your website, there’s no better place to start than Google search.

    There are three places where you can find long tail keywords when using Google:

    Google Autocomplete

    From Google’s homepage, enter the seed keyword on the search bar.

    Without pressing Enter on your keyword or clicking on the search icon, wait for Google to provide you with suggestions of queries you may be looking for.

    google autocomplete for finding low tail keywords

    Google is trying to finish your query by predicting what you’re searching for, hence the name “Autocomplete.”

    You can also use the Autocomplete feature in conjunction with the wildcard search operator (*).

    Use the wildcard in the middle of your search query. What Google will do is replace the wildcard with words and phrases that users have entered.

    google wildcard search operator for finding even more long tail keywords using Google autocomplete

    People Also Ask

    When you search for a keyword in Google, you may find the “People Also Ask” section that shows a list of questions related to your search query.

    Four questions appear here. Click on a question, and it shows you the answer and which page it was pulled from. More importantly, it offers two additional questions below the list relevant to the question you clicked on.

    Click on a question in the PAA section to show the answer to the question and open more long tail keywords to address.

    You can repeat the process above to show more questions that you can use to the list of keywords to optimize.

    People Also Search For

    If you open a page on SERPs and hit “Back” on your browser, you will see this section below the page you clicked.

    google people also search for section in SERPs

    The terms you’ll find here are the same queries people have used to visit the page you clicked on.

    The Related Search section on SERPs is located at the bottom of the page.

    Google related search section for more long tail keyword ideas

    They may contain additional long tail keywords you can include in your list.

    If anything, you can search for the keywords you’ll find here to find other related keywords and refine your research.

    It’s also possible that the queries you’ll find here are similar to those in the Autocomplete and People Also Search For sections.

    Again, it depends on the query you entered.

    Best Long Tail Keyword Tools

    Using the process above, you should be able to unearth hundreds of long tail keyword phrases you can use for your website.

    However, going through the same steps one at a time every time you research a topic is time-consuming.

    So, to help you automate the process, we’ve compiled a short list of free and paid keyword research tools you can use.

    They will help you pull long tail keyword ideas with just a few clicks of a button and at half the same.

    Not only that, but they also provide extremely useful data to help you determine which keyword suggestions you should prioritize in your SEO strategy.

    Without further ado, here they are:

    Long Tail Pro

    Long Tail Pro is an old-school keyword research tool that helps users generate long-tail keywords for their online content.

    Create a project to enter a seed keyword to help you unearth ideas. You can also search your competitor’s domain URL, and the tool will extract keywords it ranks for. Finally, upload your keyword list to analyze their SEO metrics.

    From the results, you can filter the keywords according to Average Keyword Competitiveness. This helps you identify which ones to target first in your campaign.

    Nowadays, Long Tail Pro also lets you track your rankings, analyze your backlinks, and audit your website. It’s become a full suite SEO tool for helping you grow and measure your site’s organic traffic.

    KWFinder

    KWFinder is part of Mangool’s SEO tools and one of the better keyword research tools for identifying keywords to target in your strategy.

    First, enter the seed keywords you want to draw ideas from or type in the domain URL of your competitor to see the keywords it’s ranking for.

    The results page shows you a comprehensive dataset starting with its Keyword Difficulty.

    The tool computes this by identifying the Link Profile Strength (LPS) of the pages ranking for each term.

    The lower the average LPS of the ranking pages, the lower the KD, and the easier it is to rank for those terms.

    If the term doesn’t show a KD, just click on it to update the score.

    The tool also provides a “Questions” tab, which can help you find keywords in the form of questions commonly used in long-tail keywords.

    You can also dive deeply into a keyword using MAngool’s SERP Analyzer. Click on “Analyze SERPs” from the KWFinder results.

    You will be brought to a page where you can break down each ranking page according to additional SEO metrics, such as Majestic’s Flow Metrics and Moz’s Domain and Page Authority.

    Answer the Public

    Answer the Public is a keyword research tool that helps users generate long tail keywords for their online content. It can be used to find questions, prepositions, and comparisons people are searching for concerning a specific keyword.

    By entering your seed keyword, the tool will generate a list of long tail keywords based on questions, prepositions, and comparisons commonly used in search queries.

    You can toggle between Visualization or Data view to help you find the right keywords for your SEO campaign. However, you can only save the keywords as a PNG file in the Visualization view.

    You can also view the alphabet soup method that organizes keyword ideas according to alphabetical order.

    Search Response

    Search Response is a free keyword research tool that lets you scrape specific long tail keywords found on People Also Ask, Related Searches, and People Also Search For sections on Google.

    Upon signing up for an account, choose which feature of the tool you wish to use. You can enter your seed keyword, domain URL, or page URL to extract keyword ideas.

    In this case, let’s check the PAA feature.

    The best part about its results is organizing the search queries according to Popularity.

    Search Response computes this metric by counting the times the question appears on SERPs for other search terms.

    The higher the question’s Popularity is, the more reason you should answer it on your website.

    Regarding the PASF feature, it works similarly to a traditional keyword research tool. It provides keyword suggestions with keyword data like search volume, SERP features, and others.

    LowFruits

    LowFruits is a relatively new tool that lets you find suggestions based on your seed keyword.

    The best thing about this tool is its credit-based subscription.

    Most tools above require you to pay a monthly or annual subscription, regardless of whether you burned through your allowed credits. Worse, the credits don’t carry over the following month or cycle.

    With LowFruits, you only pay for queries you spend in your account. That also means it retains the same credits you had in the previous cycle to the next.

    This is handy, especially if you’re not aggressive with your keyword ideas and only do it occasionally.

    The tool possesses most of the features of other tools above. In particular, it is ideal for finding long tail keywords you should target for your brand-new blog.

    It helps identify which relevant keywords to target using its “Weak Spots” feature. It analyzes the search results of an individual long tail keyword and determines pages with low SEO metrics.

    find long hanging fruit keywords in this tool by clicking "Weak Spots"

    If weak websites dominate a keyword’s SERPs, you have the best chance of leapfrogging over them and ranking on top of search engines.

    You can also filter keywords according to your desired intent, particularly for finding commercial and transactional content keywords.

    Filter keywords on LowFruits according to intent

    It helps you identify which search queries have the highest chance of turning visitors into clients, customers, or affiliate sales.

    On the other hand, you can filter PAA keywords if you’re looking to increase your topical authority by creating more informational content.

    Find lang tail keywords on LowFruits by clicking on the PAA button.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What Is Long Tail Keyword in Amazon?

    A long tail keyword in Amazon is a more specific keyword phrase that is less commonly searched for but can still drive targeted traffic to a product listing. These types of keywords are typically longer and more specific than short-tail keywords.

    How Do I Find Long Tail Keywords on YouTube?

    To find long tail keywords on YouTube, you can use the YouTube search bar to enter a broad keyword and then use the suggested search terms that appear as you type. You can also use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to find long tail keywords related to your topic.

    Is Long Tail Pro Free?

    No, Long Tail Pro is a paid keyword research tool. It offers a free trial, but you must purchase a subscription to access all the features.

    Conclusion

    Understanding and utilizing long-tail keywords can significantly benefit your website’s search engine optimization and drive more targeted traffic.

    By focusing on specific phrases rather than broad, general terms, you can attract a more qualified audience and increase your chances of conversion.

    Additionally, by researching and incorporating long-tail keywords into your content, you can outrank your competitors and establish your website as a credible authority in your industry.

    Overall, searching for long-tail keywords to add to your SEO strategy is essential to achieving higher search engine rankings and increased online success.

    The next step is to cluster the long-tail keywords so you can optimize similar keywords together in a post, maximizing its ability to generate more organic traffic.

  • How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: The Definitive Guide

    How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: The Definitive Guide

    Are you tired of creating content that doesn’t rank well in search engines?

    Are you frustrated by the lack of traffic and conversions on your website despite having invested a lot of time and effort into creating content?

    If what you’re doing is not paying off in terms of search engine visibility and website performance, you’re probably not correctly researching and targeting the right keywords for your business!

    This guide will teach you the best practices, tools, and strategies for identifying profitable keywords and incorporating them into your content to increase your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

    We will walk you through the process step-by-step, from understanding your target audience to organizing and prioritizing keywords so that you can see actual results from your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.

    Table of Contents
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    Identifying Your Target Audience and Goals

    Narrowing down your target audience for your keyword research helps ensure that the terms you select are relevant to them.

    Think about it:

    You don’t want to research and optimize content that your audience isn’t interested in, right?

    If so, you’ll just end up attracting people who aren’t interested in what your site is offering, causing them to leave your site immediately after arriving at it!

    Regarding SEO goals, knowing which ones to target helps you prioritize which keywords to focus on and create content tailored to your target audience’s needs and interests.

    Not all websites have the same objectives with their SEO strategy. As a result, each will be researching different types of keywords for their campaign.

    What are the most important goals for an effective B2B SEO strategy? | Smart Insights

    (Image Source)

    Initially, SEO’s main overarching goal is to increase search rankings and generate organic traffic. You can achieve this by finding the right keywords to optimize your website.

    However, you should know how to make the website traffic you’re getting actionable and beneficial.

    Going back to the example above, if users come to your site and leave immediately, then you’re not meeting your SEO goals.

    In this case, you must tweak your keyword research to find terms that meet the other goals above.

    By targeting the most appropriate keywords, you get to attract your desired audience, who, in turn, are likelier to:

    • Click your CTA button,
    • Share your content on social media,
    • Sign up for your email list,
    • Or buy your product or service!

    Later, we’ll determine how you can select the keywords attuned to your SEO goals once we determine their respective search intents.

    In the meantime, let’s dig deep into keyword research, shall we?

    Finding Keywords

    Your initial keyword research process aims to brainstorm and compile keyword ideas into a list.

    From here, you’ll probably gather keywords irrelevant to your website. We’ll deal with filtering the results later.

    Our focus is to get as many keyword ideas as possible to help jumpstart your SEO content strategy.

    SERP Keyword Research

    The best place to start is by looking at SERPs.

    You’re probably thinking:

    Isn’t this where I can find the top pages for a particular keyword? Where’s the “research” aspect come into play here?

    The beauty of SERPs is that it’s pregnant with keywords that you can scoop up and put down in your list.

    Below are some of the section on the search results pages where you can find them:

    Google Autocomplete/Related Searches

    Actually, the first place to find keywords is on Google’s homepage.

    From the search bar, type in your niche or industry.

    However, don’t press Enter on your keyword or click “Search.”

    Instead, wait for a moment for Google to populate the search bar with ideas:

    What it’s trying to do is finish your thought by supplying you with search queries that you’re probably looking for. That’s why this feature is called “Autocomplete!”

    What’s even more interesting is that if you type in any of the suggestions on the search, it provides you with additional ideas based on the suggestion.

    From here, you should be able to mine ideas from the get-go.

    Even better, you can build initial content silos for your website.

    Using the example “content marketing,” you can create categories from the autocomplete keywords.

    Then, from each of those keywords, you can create content optimized for the autocomplete keywords Google will provide you!

    We’ll delve deeper into this subject as we get into content siloing, which is the last step of the keyword research process.

    Another cool feature of Google Autocomplete is to draw ideas using the wildcard search operator (*).

    By entering this symbol, Google will replace it with suggestions of its own in the Autocomplete section.

    This search operator is beneficial if you’re searching for keywords to promote the best products or services to your audience and earn affiliate commissions in return.

    People Also Ask

    Once you’ve searched for a keyword and are on SERPs, you may see this section just below the first few pages:

    The People Also Ask section is where Google features the most popular questions for your search query. These are also considered long-tail keywords, which will be vital in your content siloing efforts later on.

    If you click on any of the questions here, two things happen.

    First, you show the answer and a link to where Google draws the answer from:

    Second, two additional questions related to the one you clicked on will appear at the bottom:

    In fact, you can keep clicking on questions from the section to unveil new questions.

    However, that would be time-consuming on your end.

    To help you automate the process, use a Chrome extension like SEO Minion.

    Once installed and activated, you can extract PAA keywords depending on how deep you want the extension to get.

    Remember that the deeper you get, the longer the extension takes to extract the question keywords.

    From here, you can use these questions to answer in your existing or new content.

    People Also Search For

    Here’s something that isn’t common among many.

    From SERPs, open a page by clicking on it.

    Once you’re on the page you clicked, hit “Back” on your browser to return to SERPs.

    You should see something like this:

    The keywords you’ll find in the “People also search for” section of each page are terms other users typed in to find the pages that appear on SERPs.

    You might have seen some of the terms you’ll find here when brainstorming for Autocomplete keywords.

    Nonetheless, this is a good addition to your keyword research methods for finding ideas.

    Traditional Keyword Research Method

    The above methods are how you’d want to research keywords using SERPs.

    Granted, it’s not the best way to find ideas. But it’s a good place to start, especially if you currently don’t have any budget for your keyword research process.

    What’s better than searching for keywords on SERPs is the traditional method.

    This involves typing your seed keyword using a tool it spits out hundreds and thousands of keyword suggestions for your SEO campaign.

    You can do this in many ways, all involving using different tools.

    Using Google Keyword Planner

    This tool is the gold standard of keyword research tools back in the day.

    It’s not as appealing as today, given that it severely limits user data. But for a free tool, Keyword Planner is a great starting point for your traditional keyword research.

    First, you must sign up for a Google Ads account. You may be required to create an ad campaign, but you don’t have to launch it. Save it as a draft to use the Keyword Planner tool.

    From here, you can choose between Start with keywords and Start with a website.

    The former allows you to type in your seed keyword. The tool will then provide you with keywords related to it to aid you in your research.

    The latter lets you type in your domain URL, as the tool will find the most relevant keywords you can optimize on your site.

    By default, Keyword Planner is set to Start with keywords. Enter your seed keyword here (you may indicate your location if you want location-specific keyword ideas as part of the results).

    You can even search for multiple keywords at the same time.

    Just make sure that the keywords you’ll be entering here are related. This will help you generate search queries relevant to each other.

    On the next page, you should see something like this:

    It reveals to you the different search queries the tool gathered.

    More importantly, it shows you the average search volumes of each keyword.

    This is vital because you want to target keywords with lots of searches.

    So, by ranking your page for a keyword with thousands of monthly searches, you can get most of those users to visit your page.

    As of November 2022, the top three organic search positions on Google are raking in 40%, 15%, and 9% of clicks, respectively.

    That means the top three pages ranking for a search term with approximately 1,000 monthly searches are attracting 400, 150, and 90 visitors every 30 days.

    Unfortunately, Google Keyword Planner only shows you a keyword’s range of monthly searches, ex. 10-100, 100-1,000, et al.

    It doesn’t give you a definite (albeit approximate) figure like it used to.

    Using LowFruits

    In that case, you may want to use a different keyword research tool that provides the precise search volume of keywords.

    This allows you to prioritize which keywords to target based on how many monthly searches they receive.

    There are lots of paid and free keyword research tools available, like Long Tail Pro, but I highly recommend LowFruits.

    It’s a great tool that provides countless suggestions from your seed keyword. More importantly, you can also see the monthly search volume of each query.

    LowFruits offers more than just the search volume of keywords. It also helps you conduct keyword research more effectively using its filtering options.

    We’ll get into its other features once we proceed with the different keyword research steps.

    LowFruits is a credit-based tool. That means you can use the tool depending on how many credits you purchase.

    This is perfect if you don’t want to pay for a monthly subscription to a tool. LowFruits lets you carry over the credits onto the succeeding months until you deplete them.

    So, if you think about it, you only pay for the credits you’ll be using!

    This is unlike most SEO tools, where you must renew your subscription even if you still have credits left for the month.

    Competitor Keyword Research Method

    On the other side of the keyword research coin is the competitor approach. This method refers to scraping for keywords that your competitors are already ranking for.

    The fact that websites like yours are ranking for these keywords means you should also target them!

    To begin, you need to identify who your keywords competitors are.

    You should have a good idea of the websites ranking on top of your SERPs, as there’s a good chance most of them are your direct competitors.

    It’s possible you have other competitors who you haven’t heard of before. To find out who these are, you need to use an SEO tool.

    Using Serpstat

    A tool I highly recommend for this task is Serpstat. It’s a relatively affordable tool that resembles premium SEO platforms like Ahrefs and Semrush.

    Upon logging in, go to Domain Analysis and type in your site’s URL.

    Next, click on Competitors on the sidebar and organize the results according to descending Relevance. This should show you the domains that rank for the same search terms as your site.

    The higher the relevance, the bigger the threat the website is to yours on SERPs.

    From here, we can begin our competitor keyword research.

    The goal is to find keywords your competitors are ranking for, but your site isn’t.

    From the list of websites, determine which competitor you want to analyze first, preferably with the highest Relevance.

    Next, click on the number under the Missing Keyword column.

    The next page should show you which keywords you should target on your site.

    It also shows you how high they’re ranking on Google.

    From here, you still need to do further research. Click on the keyword you want to optimize based on these suggestions.

    The next page shows you additional data about the keyword and whether you should target it for your upcoming SEO campaign.

    Using KWFinder

    If you’re looking for a more affordable SEO tool to help jumpstart your competitor’s keyword research, you can also use Mangools.

    I still prefer Serpstat over this tool because I feel it provides more accurate and comprehensive data. However, Mangools is not a slouch for finding new keyword ideas.

    Upon logging in, go to Site Profile and enter your domain URL.

    The next page will show you data about your website, which includes your top competitors.

    From here, choose which competitors you want to extract its best keywords or those that rank the site on Google and drive the most organic traffic.

    Go to KWFinder from the top menu, click the “Search by Domain” tab, and enter the URL or website you want to analyze.

    The next page shows you a list of the keywords the site ranks for.

    From the same page, you can also see the pages ranking for the term, their keyword difficulty, and search volume.

    This feature doesn’t consider that your site may also be ranking for the keyword it lists down.

    So, you still need to manually check if you have already covered some of the search terms listed here.

    Recursive Keyword Research Method

    To get granular in your keyword research, you want to analyze a competitor page based on how many keywords it ranks for.

    The thing about SEO is that a page can potentially rank for hundreds and thousands of keywords.

    This is what recursive keyword research is about.

    It’s the process of finding search terms a page is ranking for before creating content for the same cluster.

    You can do this using Serpstat.

    Identify your competitors using the process I showed you above.

    From the Competitors page, click on the Domain you want to analyze. This will bring you to the Domain Analysis page of your competitor.

    Next, click on Top Pages under SEO Research. The next page will show you the pages that generate the most organic traffic.

    Note: Just because a page ranks for lots of keywords, doesn’t mean it drives the most organic traffic. You have to factor in the search volume of the keywords.

    In the screenshot above, the page with the most keywords is attracting approximately 2k visits, while the page with the second-most keywords is driving 7x more organic traffic.

    Using this data, choose which page you want to analyze further. Then click on its Organic keywords.

    The next page shows you all the keywords the page ranks for and additional information about each term.

    From here, choose relevant keyword ideas and optimize for them to increase your chances of ranking on Google.

    Google Search Console Keyword Research Method

    If you already have a website ranking on Google, you can leverage Google Search Console to help you find keywords to optimize your published pages.

    Log in to your account and choose the site you wish to analyze.

    Then click on Performance > Search Results, scroll down the page, and click on the Pages tab.

    Once you click on the page you want to analyze, click on the Queries tab.

    This shows you the queries your chosen page is showing up for on Google. It also tells you how many clicks and impressions they received over time.

    Now, organize the keywords according to the number of clicks they receive in ascending order.

    From here, you should see keyword opportunities you can optimize for the same page.

    Also, if you scroll up on this page, you will see a graph of your average clicks and impressions over time. This lets you know how your page performs on organic search based on the keywords it ranks for.

    Using Surfer SEO

    Let’s face it, analyzing each page using Google Search Console for keywords can get tiresome.

    So, to help you automate the process, use Surfer SEO.

    Aside from being a content optimization tool, it’s already chockful of features to help you find keywords you can optimize for your existing pages.

    After signing up, go to Domain Planner and connect your Google Search Console account.

    This way, Surfer SEO can gain access to your website’s GSC data and analyze it properly.

    Once connected, enter the site that you want the Domain Planner to analyze.

    NOTE: Domain Planner can still analyze a site even if it’s not connected to your GSC account. But you want to get the most accurate data for this process, which is precisely what GSC brings to the table.

    Once it’s done analyzing the site, the next page shows you the top-performing pages your site has, according to GSC.

    Surfer SEO categorizes these keywords and provides you with a Content Score for each. At this point, all you need to do is determine which page to work on improving its Score first.

    Another note: Achieving a high Surfer SEO Content Score for your piece doesn’t necessarily mean it will increase your rankings. But it does optimize your page for these terms, thereby increasing their chances of ranking even higher.

    Determine Search Intent

    At this point, you should have gathered all possible search queries for your keyword list. Congratulations!

    Right now, it’s time to at least classify them according to intent.

    Keyword intent refers to the purpose or goal behind a user’s search query.

    There are four types of search intent:

    keyword intent - how to write a good blog post

    Knowing this is important because it helps businesses and website owners understand what their audience is looking for.

    From here, you can write optimized content to rank well in search engines for your target queries. This ultimately helps increase your website visibility and drive more targeted traffic to it.

    To help you find the intent of keywords, you can use LowFruits.

    Upload all the keywords you’ve gathered using the different methods above.

    lowfruits import - how to do keyword research in seo

    After analyzing the keywords, you can view the list’s data report.

    Then you can filter the terms according to your desired intent.

    lowfruits lets you determine intent of keywords - how to do keyword research in seo

    This is important, especially if you’re building topical authority on your website.

    For instance, a brand-new site needs to provide value to its audience first before selling something to them. By creating informational content, you can showcase your expertise in your niche and build trust from your audience.

    Once you’ve achieved this, ranking and converting from your other pages will become much easier!

    Analyze Keyword Competition

    Keyword difficulty measures how hard to rank for a particular keyword in search engines would be.

    It takes into account factors such as the number and quality of websites already ranking for that keyword, as well as the strength of their backlinks.

    Knowing the keyword difficulty of search queries helps businesses and website owners identify which keywords to target based on their likelihood ranking on SERPs.

    A low keyword competitiveness or difficulty means greater chances for your page to rank for it on top of search engines.

    Therefore, use this metric to focus on more achievable keywords.

    You’ve seen how you can view the keyword difficulty using tools like Mangools and Serpstat.

    But LowFruits proves to be a dedicated keyword research that’s cheaper than both.

    To view the KD of your terms, upload your list again.

    Then, to extract data like keyword difficulty into your report, you must use your credits.

    However, LowFruits refers to KD as “Weak Spots.”

    It shows you data about the top pages ranking on each keyword’s first page of SERPs.

    It follows the same concept as Keyword Difficulty, but it doesn’t give you a number between 0-100 (100 being the most difficult).

    Instead, LowFruits shows you an icon under the Weak Spots column.

    identify low-hanging fruit keywords using lowfruits' weak spots - how to do keyword research in seo

    The green icon on each keyword refers to the pages ranking on the first page with low SEO metrics. That means you can leapfrog over these pages if you create better content than them.

    So, the more green icons you have for the keyword (maximum of 10 icons), the more you should target this keyword in your SEO efforts.

    Also, don’t forget other keyword metrics like search volume and intent. Don’t just target pages just because they’re easy. You want to dedicate your resources to optimizing for keywords that will generate the most traffic for you.

    Cluster Keywords

    A keyword cluster is a group of related keywords organized around a specific topic or theme.

    By grouping keywords together, you can create content that addresses all the questions and concerns your audience may have about a topic.

    Doing this successfully allows you to build topical authority, which helps improve your search engine rankings and drive more targeted traffic to your site.

    Serpstat has a keyword clustering feature that lets you group the related keywords you want to optimize on your site together.

    Doing so allows you to target these search terms on your page once you start creating content for it.

    From your Serpstat dashboard, click on the Keyword Clustering feature on the left sidebar.

    On the next page, click “Add a new project” to create clusters for your list.

    clsutering keywords using serpstat - how to do keyword research in seo

    One thing you should focus on is the Connection Strength and Cluster type.

    The former refers to the degree of relationship the keywords have. This is measured by the number of pages that appear on SERPs for the analyzed keyword.

    The stronger the correlation, the fewer keywords will be clustered.

    On the other hand, cluster type groups keywords according to the number of common URLs among each term.

    Playing around with these factors can help you group search terms accordingly.

    How to Do Keyword Research: Frequently Asked Questions

    What is keyword research?

    Keyword research is identifying and analyzing the terms and phrases people use to find products and services like yours on search engines. It’s a foundation of SEO strategy and helps you to target the right audience and increase your rankings on SERPs.

    Why is keyword research important?

    Keyword research helps you understand what terms your audience is searching for to find products and services like yours. You can then use the keywords to optimize your content for search engines and increase website traffic, leads, and conversions. It also helps you understand your competition to target more profitable keywords.

    Is keyword research the same as SEO?

    Keyword research is a foundational element of SEO, but it’s not the same thing. SEO involves a variety of strategies and techniques for improving search engine rankings and traffic. On the other hand, keyword research is one of the critical activities that help identify profitable keywords that you can use to optimize your website and improve your visibility in search results.

    What is the best keyword research tool for SEO?

    The best keyword research tool for SEO depends on your specific needs and budget. However, some popular tools include Ahrens, SEMrush, KWFinder, and many others. These premium keyword research tools offer features such as keyword suggestions, search volume, keyword difficulty, and competitor analysis.

    What is a keyword research strategy?

    A keyword research strategy is a plan for identifying phrases your audience uses to find web pages like yours on organic search. After gathering the keywords using tools and techniques, they must be incorporated into your content to improve their search engine rankings.

    How do you structure keyword research?

    Keyword research can be structured in several steps, some essential steps are: Identifying your target audience and SEO goals, finding relevant keywords using keyword tools, analyzing keyword competition, organizing and prioritizing keywords, and using them in your website content, meta tags, and alt tags. These steps must be done systematically and well-planned to get the best results.

    What is keyword research report?

    A keyword research report is a document that summarizes the findings of a keyword research project. It typically includes target keywords, monthly search volume, competition, and opportunities for optimization. It’s a valuable tool for sharing insights and recommendations with stakeholders and tracking progress over time.

    How do you write a keyword research report?

    To write a keyword research report, conduct thorough research on keywords relevant to your industry or topic, analyze search volume, competition, and difficulty data, and present the findings in a clear, organized report.

    Conclusion

    Keyword research is an essential step in the SEO process that can help you understand the needs and interests of your target audience and the terms and phrases they use to find your website.

    Using the strategies and tools outlined in this guide, you learn how to do keyword research correctly and develop an effective SEO strategy to drive more traffic and conversions to your site.

    Remember, keyword research is not a one-time event but a continuous process requiring ongoing monitoring and adjustments.

    Continually researching and optimizing the keywords will help your website to stay ahead of the game.

  • Best Remote Working Practices to Get More Work Done

    Although not new, remote work is now much more common. According to a Gallup poll, 56% of U.S. workers work remotely. And while some people might also start going back to work full-time or in a more hybrid capacity, the trend toward remote work seems to be here to stay.

    According to Upwork’s Future of Workforce Pulse Report, 36.2 million Americans could be working remotely by 2025, an increase of 87% from pre-pandemic levels.

    Leaders and executives will want to restudy and assume some antiquated techniques for doing things as many businesses and individuals integrate remote work. Remote work is changing how, when, and where we work, from group collaboration and conferences to overall performance control and timetables.

    What exactly is this concept of working remotely? 

    Any job done away from a traditional workplace location is considered remote labor. Working remotely allows employees to accomplish their jobs well, live comfortably, and stay in touch with their coworkers and place of business from any location, including their house or the street.

    The growth of the cloud era and cutting-edge communication and collaboration tools has made it possible for many organizations to join the remote work movement. Additionally, they are starting to benefit from the delivered advantages and increased productivity that remote work may offer.

    What are the good things about remote work? 

    Although more conventional leaders were first hesitant to support remote work as a viable option for the workforce, most people now concur that it has significant benefits, such as:

    • Increased employee engagement
    • Greater productivity
    • Reduced turnover
    • Positive brand image
    • Lower overhead costs
    • Wider talent pool to recruit from

    The control and autonomy that remote work gives employees is something they need and value. A remote work arrangement results in a typical 12% turnover discount because 54% of employees said they would switch employment for one that offered them more flexibility.

    Additionally, businesses benefit from happier employees who are more engaged, productive, and eager to work for the organization.

    A few statistics revolving around remote working 

    Research repeatedly proves the practical impact remote work has had on each personnel and business.

    Understanding how remote work affects your teams can help you deal with capacity concerns, prioritize the topics that matter most to your employees, and be able to have the biggest impact on long-term engagement and performance.

    • 61% of employees prefer being fully remote. According to a Growmotely survey, more than half of remote workers prefer functioning entirely from home. Consider conducting regular check-ins with your workforce to learn about their preferred work arrangements, whether they want a hybrid or fully remote work environment.
    • Only 76% of recent hires concur that they have the necessary tools to complete their work from home. Please make sure all of your remote workers, especially new hires, have the tools and resources they need to do their tasks. This includes hardware and software, protected access, platform logins, channels for verbal communication, transparent regulations, and organizational documentation. Long-distance hires can be successfully installed with a robust onboarding strategy.
    • 77% of remote workers demonstrated increased productivity. The results are in: remote workers typically put in more time and do better work. Ensure you’re setting realistic expectations and encouraging work-life balance so your staff doesn’t burn out.
    • Only 5% of employees are likely to remain at their company permanently, even though 62% believe that working remotely negatively affects engagement. Although employees are more engaged when working remotely, retention does not always follow. You can take tactical actions to engage, connect with, and retain your staff. Keep on having frequent connections with each employee.

    Building a remote work culture

    A group or organization’s attitudes, actions, and ideals form its culture. It is the heart and soul of your company and its employees, to put it another way. The dynamics of your company will change as you incorporate remote work, which will impact how employees and management collaborate. 

    For instance, we are aware that remote work can improve performance and productivity, but it is not always associated with higher employee retention. You may take advantage of the benefits of remote work while minimizing some risks and challenging situations specific to dispersed teams by establishing a robust remote work culture from the start.

    The good things and the not-so-good things 

    Pros: 

    • Most of the time, those who live value remote and appreciate having more freedom and control over their work and schedules.
    •  A high-quality culture of shared accountability and belief can result from this. 
    • Additionally, people will be more involved in group-building activities that promote connection because they will have fewer opportunities to interact naturally with their group members.

    Cons:

    • Other demanding circumstances can have an impact on culture when working remotely. For instance, distance and contrasting timetables can cause misalignment and misunderstanding.
    • In addition, people may start working long hours and struggle to take breaks and sign off at the end of the day or on weekends as the line between work and home life becomes hazier. 
    • This may lead to a dangerous culture of burnout where your staff is overworked, and employees feel like they need to be replaced every day and night.

    Four handy tools to connect with your remote team

    • Zoom: Teams can create connections with face-to-face interaction via Zoom. Collaboration among teams is made simple by features like breakout rooms and display sharing. Real-time human interaction is fantastic for team-building activities like digital happy hours.
    • Slack: Slack is a great option for maintaining clear and fun group communication—from keeping track of progress and checking in to stimulating group discussion to water-cooler talks and sub-channels for specific interests.
    • Lucidspark: A digital collaboration tool called Lucidspark makes it simple for groups to communicate and brainstorm in real time (or asynchronously). The limitless whiteboard is your blank canvas for brainstorming, outlining ideas for projects, and organizing your goals. Use it for business or play to promote team unity and to make remote communication and collaboration easier.
    • Blink: Blink is a remote work control app that enhances the experiences of remote employees. It includes features like calendar management, discussion boards, and a newsfeed, making it simple for employees to stay connected while on the go.

    How to engage the employees who are working remotely

    Strategic initiatives and regular reviews would be necessary to engage remote employees. In other words, offering remote benefits or digitally satisfied hours is no longer sufficient. Genuine, long-lasting engagement requires more than that. It’s about knowing what your team members want and need and ensuring that your culture, procedures, and policies support them.

    Here are a few ideas to play around with when it comes to employee engagement for remote employees:

    • Stay connected via technology
    • Appreciate and acknowledge their efforts
    • Prioritize team building
    • Provide support with proper equipment and resources
    • Set clear expectations
    • Streamline processes
    • Ask for and share timely feedback
    • Keep employees within the loop on any changes in company policies
    • Be flexible and empathetic
    • Implement a smooth onboarding process
    • Hold team meetings every day
    • Have frequent one-on-one meetings

    Managing remote employees 

    The ability to lead their teams from a distance is one of the most significant anxieties and difficult conditions for remote managers. It might be challenging to monitor the overall performance and develop a strong group culture when you don’t all work in the same area.

    However, managing people remotely is ultimately founded on the same management principles as managing people in person. 

    People must be able to depend on one another to complete their tasks, be recognized for their contributions, feel a sense of purpose in what they do, and receive regular feedback to continue improving.

    Some dynamics are :

    • Clear and consistent communication
    • Building connection, trust, and engagement
    • Exploring new ways for collaboration
    • Running practical group discussions and meetings 

    Diversity, equity, and inclusion

    Employees who feel safe and treated relatively are considerably more likely to stick around and may find it easier to get along with their coworkers. Fortunately, remote work improves an organization’s options to include variety and inclusiveness because the skill pool is no longer restricted to a specific area.

    Instead, hiring managers can go to the area outside the office to look for potential employees from various places, backgrounds, experiences, and identities. This will bring fresh perspectives, strengthen your company’s culture, and foster an inclusive workplace where people can do their best work.

    By recognizing this, organizations may create more equitable and inclusive remote work policies that attract and retain the best talent worldwide. Remote-friendly policies can transform and empower your business to include and pay staff regardless of where they are from or how and where they work, from starting the interview process to conducting remote video interviews to allowing flexible schedules for remote workers.

    A vivid remote and hybrid future that we are heading toward

    Remote work is here to stay for many teams, whether full-time or hybrid. Leaders will need to adapt to a completely new approach every day for managing remote teams as employees have more demands for flexibility and remote possibilities.

    Luckily, managing remote workers can be just as rewarding—and effective—as managing an in-house staff with the right technology and employee engagement solutions. Learn how to influence your remote teams and take the initiative (remotely).

    Author Bio:

    Aishwarya Khan Bhaduri is the Content Manager at Engagedly Inc., an award-winning People + Strategy Platform. Experienced Leader, Digital & Content Marketer, Consultant, Writer, and Editor with a demonstrated history of working in the HR, B2B, SaaS, B2C, Leisure, Food, Travel & Tourism industries.
    Besides that, she’s a Certified Yoga Teacher, Pranic Healer, and Spiritual Practitioner.

    LinkedIn profile

  • How to Sell Digital Products: Tips + Main Threats for Online Sellers

    How to Sell Digital Products: Tips + Main Threats for Online Sellers

    Selling goods and services online sounds promising. The benefits include low overhead costs, low barriers to entry, high-profit margins, and more. Not to mention, the business is on a massive market, the internet.

    Statista, a company specializing in consumer and market data, reports $4.9 trillion in eCommerce sales in 2021. By 2025, these sales will increase to $7.4 trillion.

    Entertaining the idea of going into eCommerce with plans of selling digital products? Then, you’re looking at brighter days.

    In this article, we’ll talk about how to sell digital products. Along the way, you’ll get tips and learn about the main threats for online sellers in 2022.

    What Is a Digital Product?

    A digital product is an item you can offer in exchange for cash or other currencies. Unlike traditional products, it doesn’t have physical features. It’s also intangible — you can’t touch it.

    A typical example of a digital product is an online course. Platforms like Teachable, Udemy, and Skillshare can help you create and sell online courses.

    Selling online courses is highly profitable — and so is the eLearning market. With a (CAGR) Compound Annual Growth Rate of 2.61% (2022-2027), the eLearning market is projected to have a market volume of $64.50 billion by 2027.

    9 Tips for Selling Digital Products Online

    Store of laptop software. Apps icons in shopping cart. 3d

    Here are nine tips for selling digital products online:

    1) Think about Different Digital Products

    Selling a product under a niche that encompasses your existing knowledge allows you to use your passion as financial capital. It’s also faster and less expensive.

    Examples of digital products are eBooks, mobile apps, and software programs. Other examples include membership sites, paid content, and exclusive webinars.

    You can also adopt a digital strategy to accommodate your current product offerings.

    For example, Dunkin’, a globally recognized coffee company, offered e-gift cards. The goal is to let people buy Dunkin’ products for their loved ones.

    2) Feel the Market Pulse and Trends

    Create a list containing the digital products you want to sell. Then narrow it down to one or two potential items. By then, see if there’s a market demand for your product.

    Ways to feel the market pulse:

    • Use Google Trends – Enter a keyphrase using the tool. Then see if it’s trending in your target region.
    • Maximize social listening – Find out where your target audience is. Then learn what these people are saying about you.
    • Perform competitive analysis – Know your competitors and find out what they’re selling. Then you can sell similar products for lower prices. Of course, you can also offer something different and better.

    3) Identify the Right Audience

    You’ll attract more leads if you create a buyer persona or a well-defined representation of the consumers you want for your business. It’s key to understanding consumer behavior, streamlining marketing strategies, and creating high-quality content.

    Take it from Olivia Brabbs Photography, a business run by an artist who sells photographs. When she shifted her perspective to a business angle, she committed to capturing still shots of subjects relevant to lifestyle, tourism, and hospitality.

    The result? Her photography business boomed. Now, she offers more services and caters to more clients. Her operations also became more organized.

    4) Start Developing a Digital Product

    Begin creating and delving into your digital product idea. Once your digital product is ready, your product is up for reuse and unlimited downloads.

    • Set goals – Clarify what you want to achieve with your product. And think of definite ways of aiming for these goals.
    • Create a product roadmap – Tell the story of how you want to develop your product over time and follow it. Include details on how you plan to address user experience and marketing.
    • Decide on distribution channels – Do this strategically to get off to a good start with an audience. For example, if you decide to set up a blog, update it and load it with sufficient resources so it can provide regular value.

    5) Launch a Lead Generation Campaign

    lead generation

    Leverage authority marketing from day one. Create effective content and tell people about your product to show your excellence.

    Tips:

    • Guest star on podcasts – Endorse your brand and product casually. Just be sure to select a podcast from an authoritative content creator.
    • Publish guest posts – Benefit from the existing traffic of high authority websites. And structure your post to highlight the benefits and strengths of your product.
    • Host events – Engage with prospects. Invite thought leaders, industry experts, other digital product sellers, and big names in the eCommerce scene.

    6) Set the Prices and Tiers

    You can use pricing as a marketing strategy. It can determine can ramp up interest, increase sales, and attract leads and new customers.

    Tips:

    • Decide payment methods to accept – Include popular modes of payment like PayPal and debit and credit cards with the VISA and Mastercard logo. Also, consider the methods commonly used by your target audience.
    • Offer tiers – Tiered pricing lets you provide different levels of service. Your customers can access information and product features depending on how much they’re willing to pay.
    • Base prices on geographical backgrounds – Focus on your target audience. Set the price according to the market-clearing arrangement in their area or to reflect the shipping costs.

    7) Launch an E-store

    Launching an e-store on the best eCommerce platforms (fully hosted) like Shopify and BigCommerce is an excellent idea. Another excellent idea is to use an open-source eCommerce platform and run an e-store on a self-hosted website.

    Benefits of using fully hosted eCommerce platforms:

    • Lower costs – You wouldn’t need to pay for tools, the skills of a professional web developer, a web hosting package, and more. You can also benefit from the effortless and fast initial setup.
    • Scalability – Fully hosted eCommerce platforms can guide you as your needs change. For example, they can absorb traffic spikes easily.
    • High security – The IT professionals who provide services specialize in eCommerce. Their focus is on guaranteeing the servers are in top-notch condition.

    Benefits of using an open-source platform on a self-hosted website:

    • Challenging to set up – If you’re not tech-savvy, you need to hire someone who can navigate the installation process on your behalf.
    • No centralized support – If you encounter difficulties, you’re on your own. You may need to hire a tech-savvy individual to help you fix issues. 
    • Costs can grow – The long-term costs can overwhelm you. As your revenue grows, so will keeping up with the monthly fees for maintaining your website.

    8) Encourage Sales

    Don’t expect ideal buyers to feel a connection with your product the moment you introduce it. Give them time to identify its strengths and familiarize themselves with it as a solution to their problem.

    How to attract buyers:

    • Incentivize – Offer rewards like discounts, special offers, and lower fees for the first buyers.
    • Be omnipresent – Offer your digital product through different online channels like social media platforms and mobile apps. From the platforms, use a link to direct them to your e-store.
    • Persuade –Pitch your product to your target customers after analyzing customer behavior. For example, if your targets have a penchant for visual appeal and feature-rich products, attract these people by emphasizing the aesthetics and features of your product.

    9) Ask for Feedback and Testimonials

    Invite customers to share their 10 cents worth of your product or brand. Designing a page solely for feedback and testimonials raises their chances of accepting your invitation.

    Tips:

    • Share your intent – Inform customers of why you’re asking for their input. Tell them what you plan on doing with it, too. 
    • Ask directly – Approach customers for feedback — plain and simple. That’s how Etsy, an online marketplace focused on selling unique items, encouraged 25% of customers to leave reviews.
    • Create a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey – Ask a simple question where all respondents have to do is give your a rating. An NPS survey is effective because it’s not easy to do and understand and not time-consuming.

    Potential Threats when Selling Digital Products

    Here are the common threats that sellers of digital products face:

    Issues with the Digital Supply Chain

    Regularly assess your supply chain and ensure everything is working seamlessly. Otherwise, it will negatively impact your credibility, trust ratings, and overall reputation as an online seller.

    Tips on optimizing the supply chain:

    • Use an inventory management system – It allows you to monitor your stock, back orders, and purchase variances.
    • Centralize data – Unify data sources for everyone in your business to know the same information. This prevents misinformation and lessens redundancies.
    • Shorten flow – Eliminate any area that can cause even the slightest delays. The goal is to reduce the processing time required for your operations.

    No Organic Traffic

    Fact: 90% of online stores fail.

    One of the reasons is a dramatic decline in—or zero—organic traffic.

    To rectify this, apply off-page and on-page SEO techniques. Load up on high-quality content, update website speed, manage public relations, build links, and more.

    Data Security

    data security on how to sell digital products

    There’s a swarm of alarming cybersecurity threats to online sellers. Two of them are identity and data thefts.

    Tips to address threats with data security:

    • Secure sensitive data – Putting an email authentication system in place is a way to identify fake accounts. Also, consider using Sender Policy Framework, DomainKeys Identified Mail, and other DNS-based mechanisms.
    • Apply state-of-the-art data security methods – Update software and other tools, use AI for enhanced security, and more. Remember, you process payments and financial details.
    • Work with a well-trained team – Before delegating tasks, train employees on cybersecurity. It helps heighten your e-store’s security.

    Lack of Data Encryption

    While the cases of cyber crimes are increasing these days, some online sellers still undermine the need for proper data encryption. Consequently, this exposes them to data breaches and unauthorized access.

    Tips to resolve problems with a lack of data encryption:

    • Manage access levels – Limit what type of data your employees can access. Ideally, they should have access to the data they use.
    • Use encryption – Encrypt in layers, too. The idea is to make it too labor-intensive so a hacker will lose interest in getting in.
    • Back-up data – Prepare for the possibility of data getting lost with a solid backup system. If such a situation happens, you should have no problem recovering your old files.

    Conclusion

    Now that you have read the article, start selling digital products. Remember, your success as an online seller is also related to your attitude. Don’t go into the eCommerce business half-heartedly.

    Related:

  • 15  Steps to a Better Social Media Profile in Just One Week

    15  Steps to a Better Social Media Profile in Just One Week

    Social media management is a powerful tool that has the potential to either make or break your brand. These days, it’s impossible to ignore how much impact social media has on businesses. If you have a company or are just starting one, you must have an active social media marketing agency presence. There are many different ways to promote your business and build up your following, but the most important is making sure your social media management looks impressive. You can do some things to make this happen more efficiently in less time and with minimal effort on your part! Here we’ll go over some simple things you can do to get your social media platforms looking fabulous in one week.

    1: Elementals of branding

    The first thing you need to understand is the elements of branding. The details include learning about your target audience, what they want and how they want it delivered. You also need to create a unique voice and personality for your brand that sets you apart from the competition. Keep this in mind as you move forward with content and engage with your audience on social media.

    2: Every Social Media Platform Works Differently

    Not all social media platforms are created equal, which means that each one requires a different social media management strategy to be successful. For example, Twitter is all about timely content and hashtags, while Instagram is more visual and personal. Keep in mind that as you create and share content across all social media platforms, it will have to adapt to the needs of your audience on each platform. 

    3: Your Designs Define Your Content

    If you’re not a professional designer, there are still many ways to create high-quality visuals for your social media posts. Canva is a great online tool that allows you to create beautiful designs without experience. Choose a template and start customizing it to fit your needs. You can also learn to use Photoshop from scratch; keep in mind that this tool is beneficial for editing pictures and creating designs out of nowhere. It will take a few days for you to familiarize yourself with any of these tools as you plan the next steps your social media account will take. 

    4: Create unique content

    You can start creating content now that you know which platforms to focus on. This is where many businesses fail – they make content that is either uninteresting or not valuable to their target audience. Take the time to brainstorm ideas and create content that will genuinely engage and resonate with your followers.

    5: Curate your feed

    Once you have some great content, it’s time to start sharing! But before you do, take a look at your social media feeds and make sure they are visually appealing. You will do this by curating your posts and using high-quality images. A well-designed feed will make a big impression on potential customers and followers.

    6: Hashtags Are Your Friend 

    Hashtags are a great way to increase the reach of your posts and connect with new followers. But beware – using too many hashtags can make you look spammy and turn people off from your brand. Use them sparingly and only when they truly add value to your post. Hashtags research helps you make sure each of your posts has a purpose and a real possibility of reaching your targeted audiences. 

    7: Timing Is Everything

    When it comes to social media, timing is everything. You need to post content when your followers are most likely to see it and be engaged. The time varies depending on the social media platform, so do some research to find out when is the best time to post for you. The insights of each app usually provide this information about your audience. 

    8: Interact With Your Followers

    One of the best ways to increase engagement and develop a relationship with your followers is by interacting with them. Reply to their comments, ask them questions, and show that you care about what they have to say. Your interest will make them more likely to stick around and continue following you.

    9: Use Social Media Advertising

    If you want to take your social media management on marketing to the next level, consider using social media advertising. Ads allow you to target specific audiences with your content and drive more traffic to your profiles. It’s a great way to reach new customers and expand your reach.

    10: Leverage Your Existing Networks

    If you have a large following on other social media platforms, leverage them! Share links to your new social media profiles on your other platforms and ask your followers to follow you there. You can also use social media tools like Hootsuite or Later to help you manage all of your accounts in one place.

    11: Stay Consistent

    One of the most important things to remember regarding social media is consistency. People will lose interest and stop following you if you’re inconsistent with your posts. Try to post at least once a day and more if you can. But make sure the content is high quality – you don’t want to post low-quality content to meet your quota.

    12: Be aware of Your Competition

    It’s essential to be aware of your competition and what they’re doing on social media. You can stay ahead of the curve and develop new content and marketing campaigns ideas. Follow your competition on social media and analyze what’s working for them and what’s not.

    13: Use Social Media Analytics

    Social media analytics is a great way to track the performance of your social media profiles. This data can help you determine which content resonates with your audience and which ones are falling flat. It can also help you track your progress over time and see how your efforts are paying off.

    14: Keep Up With The Latest Trends

    Social media is constantly changing, so it’s crucial to keep up with the latest trends. Staying up to date will help you stay ahead of the curve and ensure that your content is always relevant and engaging. Try to read industry news and articles on social media marketing.

    Keep Up With The Latest Trends On Social Media

    15: Be Patient

    Remember that social media success takes time. Building a follower base, creating great content, and interacting with your audience takes time. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see results immediately. Just keep at it and be consistent. You’ll eventually see the fruits of your labor.

    Takeaways

    So, there you have it – 20 steps to creating a better social media profile in just one week! 

    Social media management in marketing is essential in today’s world, and the more you do it, the better off you’ll be.  Follow these tips, and you’ll be on your way to having a successful social media presence. Remember to be patient and consistent, and don’t give up if you don’t see results immediately. The most important thing is to keep at it!

    About Colibri Digital Marketing 

    Made to meet the digital marketing needs of visionary organizations, Colibri Digital Marketing is San Francisco’s first and only full-service, B Corp-certified digital marketing agency. They are forward-thinking digital marketing leaders who reflect the ever-growing need for business leadership that promotes and defends the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. They use digital marketing best practices and technologies to position your change-making brand for success and build the relationships your company needs to thrive.

    Looking for other ways to stay up to date with digital marketing trends? Schedule a complimentary session with Colibri Digital Marketing strategists or sign up for our newsletter.

  • How To Start a Blog For Beginners: 2024 Edition

    How To Start a Blog For Beginners: 2024 Edition

    A blog is a great way to make money online.

    However, it’s never easy to make it big with your blog. It requires commitment, a sheer understanding of niches and industries, and writing prowess. 

    That’s why many are hesitant even to learn how to start a blog for beginners. With so many established blogs out there, many people think beginners can’t do the same.

    But instead of thinking ahead, you must take it one step at a time.

    Following the tips in this post, you’ll learn how to set up, grow, and maintain a successful blog even without initial blogging knowledge.

    You’ll then eventually reach a point where your blog starts drawing thousands of daily visitors and generating profit off display ads and affiliate commissions!

    So, let’s dive in! 

    Table of Contents
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    Pick a blog niche 

    Picking a niche for your blog is one of the fundamental requirements of blogging today.

    To start writing good blogs, you need to understand the niche you want to write. For instance, beauty, health, technology, and entertainment are some of the most popular niches.

    What’s the benefit of picking a blog niche?

    • Ensures expertise in one industry— through research or existing knowledge 
    • Better monetization as a definite audience is easier to write for 
    • Better grip on topics, and you won’t have to research again and again
    • With time, your writing will improve and ensure that you make gripping content

    Besides these benefits, picking a niche will also help you establish your blog in one particular industry. It doesn’t need to be too competitive or have no competition. So, pick a niche with just the right audience.

    Choose a gripping name

    What will be your blog’s name? How are your readers going to react to it? The more creative you get, the better.

    Choosing a blog’s name doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes, things like that come to you naturally, so try to let them come to you naturally.

    Force-fed blog names will only make it get lost in the shuffle; that’s something you don’t want. Moreover, you need something that easily fits into the URL. 

    You don’t want something like: www.itstoolongofaname.com. It’s unreadable and ridiculous. So, try to keep it natural and make sure it’s not extensive in length.

    Choose a hosting and blogging platform

    How you present your blog to your audience is essential. Upon visiting your website, they will notice how your blog looks and how fast it loads.

    Based on these two factors, they will make a split-second decision on whether to stay or leave your blog.

    If they don’t like how your site looks or feels, or if it doesn’t load fast enough, you can say goodbye to them!

    In fact, 22% of visitors will bounce away from your site if your site fails to load faster than five seconds.

    Image Source: Section

    To help improve your site’s performance, you must consider which blogging platform to choose first.

    WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) used by bloggers today. It offers many features that make it suitable for creating content and generating revenue. 

    To be clear, we’re referring here to a self-hosted WordPress blog, not the free blog at WordPress.com.

    The reason for going with the self-hosted version is it gives you more control over how you want your blog to work. This enables you to unlock the potential of your blog and achieve your goals faster.

    The free version hamstrings you with limited options, making it more challenging to get your content across to your audience in the long run.

    But before you use WordPress as your blogging platform, you must first select a web hosting platform.

    A web host is where you store your website files so users can access them anytime.

    There are many web hosts to choose from, but the most critical factor you must consider is speed and performance.

    You want a web hosting service to use servers that load your website fast, regardless of the traffic you receive. This way, you can keep more visitors engaged with your site and build trust with them.

    The web hosting platform I recommend is Cloudways. Its managed cloud hosting platform allows you to receive dedicated resources and support for your blog.

    If you choose Cloudways, you can install WordPress with just a few clicks of a button.

    Customize your blog’s design and layout

    Customize your blog's design and layout

    Even if you’re not a graphic design pro, WordPress makes changing your blog’s layout easy.

    First, you can choose the WordPress theme for your blog.

    From the dashboard, click on Appearance > Themes, then click Add New on the page.

    wordpress themes

    You will then have access to free WordPress plugins to choose from. Use the search bar to filter the list of themes that fit your niche.

    Each theme possesses different features and options. In this case, take your time researching themes that have the features you’re looking for to supercharge your blog.

    But one of the features you should look into is speed. Most free plugins are coded in a way that bogs down your blog’s loading speed due to unnecessary features.

    So, while using free themes is an excellent place to start, you should also look ahead and consider using premium themes. They are coded well and provide the right features to get your blog to the next level faster.

    Among the premium WordPress themes out there, I highly recommend GeneratePress. It’s a lightweight theme with a host of premium templates to choose from, so you can instantly create pages.

    This blog theme also plays well with most plugins, so you won’t experience compatibility issues. We’ll get into plugins later.

    From here, you can upload custom images and use fonts that go with any style or theme in just seconds. WordPress offers a variety of features, customization options, and ease of access that will make it easier to start your successful blog. 

    Unlike other platforms, thanks to Gutenberg block editor, you’ll also have plenty more freedom when featuring elements on your blog.

    wordpress gutenberg block editor

    You can create blog posts and landing pages from scratch, even if you don’t have any design experience.

    Install plugins and add important pages

    To utilize the full power of your WordPress site, consider adding plugins and relevant pages.

    Plugins are essential for bloggers because they can optimize your site and make it easier for readers. You’ll also see increased speed when using plugins, which means you’re more likely than not able to get a better return from them in terms of SEO rankings.

    The plugins you add can change the look and functionality of your website.

    Best of all, most of the best plugins are free and very easy to install. 

    From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Add New in the dashboard menu bar on the top left side under “Add A Plugin.” Next, search for the plugin you’d like to install and click “Install Now” and “Activate”.

    wordpress plugins

    Below is a shortlist of free plugins I recommend you to download to get your blog off the ground:

    • Yoast SEO – Apply its recommendations to increase your blog’s search visibility by ranking higher on Google for your target keywords.
    • W.P. Super Cache – Load your blog faster and more efficiently to boost site speed.
    • Wordfence Security – Set up a firewall on your blog to blog malicious traffic and allows you to scan your blog for malware manually.
    • Ultimate Blocks – Add more Gutenberg blocks to choose from to help you create more engaging landing pages and blog posts.
    • WPForms – Embed easy-to-create forms on any blog page to give visitors a chance to reach out to you.
    • ShortPixel – Compresses all your images to make them load faster and more efficiently on your blog pages.

    Adding pages to WordPress is straightforward. Simply navigate to the Pages section of your site and click on “Add New” at the top right corner. 

    Please make sure you name this page accurately. This is because it will be how people find things when searching through all posts written by other authors or topics relevant specifically to yours.

    Learn SEO basics

    Your blog will need SEO basics to make any sort of rank on SERP. But, you have to remember that you’re gunning for the top spot or one in search engines. So, you will have to learn some SEO basics, such as understanding the concept of optimization.

    A few places for beginners to start are:

    • Learn backlinking
    • Ensure website speed and optimization
    • Make sure your website is fit for mobile browsers
    • Optimize content, such as meta descriptions & titles
    • Adding images and retitling them as your keywords 
    • Adding informative value, quoting, avoiding plagiarism, etc.

    These basic requirements of SEO will put you on the right track. While you can dive into them deeper, later on, understanding the basic concept of each of these search engine aspects will help you write ideal content for SERPs.

    Note

    If you want to learn the basic and advanced SEO tactics, you need to implement on your blog, head on to my white hat SEO guide. I discuss everything you must know about starting a blog that Google will love.

    Brainstorm for blog topics

    When you’ve finally set up your blog, it’s time to start writing. Naturally, you begin by picking a unique title for your SEO blog. 

    This topic will serve as one of the critical essentials of your content moving forward, so make sure it’s something unique.

    Now, after picking a topic, you have to formulate a headline. So, let’s say you’re talking about traffic troubles in L.A.; here’s a generic title:

    “How To Solve L.A.’s Traffic Problems”

    A title like that in today’s age will only make your reader blow a raspberry. Instead, you need to make sure it’s something compelling and, as said before, unique. So, try going for something like this instead:

    “10 Viable Solutions For L.A.’s Traffic Dilemma: How Flyovers & Intersections Can Be Fixed.”

    This title is 10x better than the first one, but why is it superior? First, it offers ten ways a solution can happen; then, it provides one of the subheadings in the article as a glimpse into the information contained within. 

    Elements like that compel the user to click on topics like this. So, make sure you go for numbers instead of the genetic hows and whys.

    But looking at the bigger picture, you want to produce blog posts consistently.

    You can’t expect your new blog post to attract thousands of visitors—that takes years to write and churn high-quality content that your audience loves.

    Before you get ahead of yourself, you must refine your brainstorming process for blog post ideas.

    Coming up with blog topics readers want to see on your blog allows you to create a content calendar for these ideas. If possible, you can schedule them appropriately on your calendar, so you have something new to write about every week.

    Writing the content

    how to start a blog for beginners

    Now comes the most challenging part of blogging: writing.

    At first, writing your very first blog post seems like a breeze at the beginning when everything feels new and exciting. Bloggers mainly observe the following tips below to ensure that their content is in tip-top shape:

    • Don’t let your sentence be more than 15 words
    • Keep paragraphs limited to three lines/sentences
    • Use easy-going words, and avoid jargon/complicated terms
    • Write for the typical reader, not the expert
    • Simplify things, so research a lot before you type a single word
    • Provide informative value, use stats, facts, images, data charts, etc.

    Over time, however, when your blog becomes more of a chore, bloggers begin to dread writing blog posts.

    Upon hitting writer’s block, your content contains careless errors and isn’t as tight as it used to be. It’s challenging to recover from this slump, most likely due to fatigue from writing too much.

    However, you won’t have to experience writer’s block if you have a refined writing process that allows you to create excellent blog posts that your audience and search engines love.

    Below are techniques to help beef up your blog content writing process:

    Do some research on the topic

    Researching before writing is always a helpful way to streamline your work process and ensure you’re not wasting time on something unneeded or boring. 

    This can be especially true when it comes down to the task at hand to get everything done correctly without any unnecessary stress.

    The best way to do research is to organize all the information you’ve gathered about a topic into an outline.

    Once you have the bullet points for your blog post, all you need to do is flesh out the details of each point in your article. This way, you can refer to your outline and not have to go back to researching again for the information.

    Get headlines that will hook your audience

    Headlines are incredibly relevant in any article. 

    They have the duty of enticing readers and capturing their attention before an entire piece is read while appearing on social media feeds or Google search.

    This means they need to be creative enough for people who don’t always read articles thoroughly!

    One of the best tips for writing blog titles is to develop different versions of the same title and split-test them using a tool like Nelio A/B Testing. From here, you can see which version receives the most clicks from visitors via social media or search engine results pages (SERPs).

    You can then run another test by pitting the winning variant against a new version to see which performs better. Keep doing this to help you increase the click-through rate of your blog posts.

    Give your blog an instant personal touch by adding pictures or videos

    Use the power of images and videos in your blog post. In addition to adding personality, they also help readers connect with them.

    The great thing about it is that you can do this without hiring a professional photographer or graphic designer.

    This is because many photo editing apps are out on the market now, making things more accessible than ever. For instance, it can be highly effective to incorporate an intro video on the homepage of your website to draw your visitors in.

    Optimize it!

    Observing the best SEO practices in content writing is arguably the best way to generate traffic to your blog.

    When done correctly, you can rank your blog post on top of Google organic search for multiple keywords that people search for hundreds of times in a month.

    That means your site’s potential clicks can generate from your search rankings can compound to thousands of visitors in a month!

    To do this, you may need to use a tool to help you keep in line with these SEO practices.

    Yoast SEO has a robust Content Analysis feature that lets you know how optimized your content is for your target keyword.

    yoast seo content analysis

    As good as this feature is, it’s not enough to rank your pages for your search queries, especially if you’re going up against authoritative websites on SERPs.

    A premium tool you can use is Surfer SEO.

    Its Content Editor feature alone is worth the price of the admission.

    The idea here is to create content that covers the topic in-depth by mentioning words and phrases relevant to the topic.

    This way, you associate your blog posts with terms that strongly correlate with the topic. Search engines will then view your content as relevant to the topic you’re optimizing for, thus indexing your blog post highly on SERPs!

    Upon entering your target keyword(s), the tool will list down terms and entities relevant to your keyword that you must include in the post.

    surfer seo content editor

    Mention the best phrases that help add value to your post to increase your score.

    Surfer SEO also checks the content for its structure and number of words relative to your competitors.

    This helps you create structurally-sound blog posts with well-spaced paragraphs, straight-to-the-point sentences, and proper use of visual content to break the monotony of text.

    Check plagiarism 

    Plagiarism is one of the things that you need to avoid necessarily. So, head to a free tool to check for plagiarism with your short blog posts. 

    Don’t worry; accidental duplicity can happen, and you can easily avoid that—one percent at a time.

    Fix mistakes and errors

    The last thing you need to do with your blog is ensure it’s up to standards.

    And while you’d think reviewing the post from top to bottom many times should be more than enough, it’s possible that you might miss errors that you normally wouldn’t spot.

    In this case, use an online grammar corrector to fix any errors in your article. This way, your content will be easy-to-read for your readers and search engine crawlers. 

    The tool I recommend (and the only grammar checker tool you’ll need) is Grammarly Premium.

    While the price is steep compared to other tools, it provides you with the best suggestions to help fix your grammar and punctuation and tighten your writing.

    It works well when writing your posts on Google Chrome and straight to WordPress. If you use Google Docs, you can install the Chrome extension so you can see its suggestions on your document page.

    Monetize your blog

    Even before your site generates traffic, you should consider how you plan on making money blogging.

    Your monetization options depend on the niche you’ve chosen and the search intent of the keywords you plan on optimizing for it.

    If there are many related products you could sell on your blog, you must go the way of affiliate marketing.

    This includes writing blog posts optimized for commercial and transactional search intent. Examples include search queries with the phrases “(product 1) vs., (product 2),” “(product) alternatives,” “best (product) for (audience),” and more.

    From here, you should find affiliate programs to sign up for. Start with online marketplaces like Amazon that carry virtually everything related to your niche.

    Another upside is that you can use many plugins to make selling and making money off Amazon products much easier.

    Tools like Amalinks PRO allow you to create irresistible featured boxes and tables showcasing Amazon products instead of just a simple link. This helps increase clicks on your referral links and generate more affiliate commissions.

    amalinks pro

    More importantly, the plugin lets you use its best features without API access. This means that you can create the boxes and table to get more affiliate sales even if you’re a new Amazon Associate or have yet to sell anything as part of their program.

    Once you gain API access upon selling more Amazon products, you can fully unleash the plugin’s power.

    The downside of Amazon affiliates is its meager commission rates. The company recently decreased its rates in 2020, much to the chagrin of Amazon affiliates. And there’s no telling when they plan on dropping the rates again.

    While Amazon remains a viable affiliate program, you are highly encouraged to join other affiliate programs to generate more income from your blog.

    Promoting them on your blog won’t be as easy, but the commission rates should be higher than Amazon’s, making it worthwhile.

    Now, if your niche mostly has informational keywords, you can still monetize your blog via display ads.

    The simplest way to do this is by joining Google Adsense once your site generates enough traffic.

    Once approved, Google can take care of optimizing the ad placements on your blog.

    google adsense 1

    However, the best way to make money from ads is to insert them in your blog and split-test the placements manually. You must choose which banner sizes to feature on your blog and where they should appear.

    When it comes to display ads, Jon Dykstra is the master, as he’s been generating more than $60k/month from his blogs, mostly from this monetization tactic. Check out his blog and subscribe to his excellent email list to learn more.

    The caveat with making money from display ads is the volume of your blog traffic.

    Unlike affiliate marketing, your earning potential depends on how much traffic you can generate for your blog.

    The more visitors you can generate, the higher your income from display ads.

    Start promoting your blog site and watch it grow

    It can be challenging to get people to read your blog posts. You might spend a lot of time writing them, but if you don’t promote them on social media, not many people are likely to see them.

    Promote your blog and start attracting new followers with the following tactics.

    You can start by sharing your blog posts on sites where most of your audience is. Social media is the most obvious answer, with millions daily active on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

    Posting your blog posts on your feed or sharing them with blogging community groups should help your blog gain traction.

    Also, consider pinning your posts on Pinterest, which drives lots of referral traffic to bloggers.

    If you wish to go all-in on social media for your blog promotion strategy, use a tool like MissingLettr.

    Unlike most tools where you have to create the snippets to be shared on social platforms manually, this tool will draw content from the blog post that will be used on the social posts.

    missinglettr

    It also generates images published alongside the text for your social posts. You can then download the photos to be included in the blog post if you wish.

    Finally, its Curate feature allows you to load up your social calendar with relevant posts from other users. You can also get other users to share your posts on their social feeds. It’s a win-win for all parties involved!

    Publish guest posts

    guest blogging

    Guest blogging refers to the process of getting a post published on another site.

    There are two reasons why guest blog posts still work:

    • You get to showcase your writing on a blog with more traffic and popularity than yours. If they enjoy your content, they can check your blog for more of your work. The referral traffic from guest blogging could lead to more subscribers to your email list or clients for your services.
    • You can get a backlink to your site, increasing your keyword search rankings. The more backlinks you can secure from authoritative sites via guest blogging, the faster your blog can rank at the top of SERPs!

    These reasons alone should encourage you to build a guest blogging strategy that allows you to do the following:

    I have detailed most of the steps above in my guest posting tutorial videos that break down the complete step by step. Some of the tools mentioned in the videos are outdated, but most of the steps are still applicable today if you want to maximize your blog.

    Did this how to start a blog for beginners guide help you in any way?

    These are some of the essential beginner elements of writing a good blog. Besides picking your niche correctly, you must ensure your blogs are unique and feature great content. So, focus and improve as you go along. 

    Need help with setting up your blog? I’M YOUR GUY!

    I’ve created multiple WordPress blogs before, so if you’re looking to set up one and create content for your business, call me and let’s make it happen!

    Schedule a Call with Me!