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How to Write Blog Posts for Your Buyer Personas

The post How to Write Blog Posts for Your Buyer Personas appeared first on HostGator Blog . Quick quiz for business bloggers: In one sentence, describe the audience for your blog. If you had your answer ready, you’re ready to write must-read content for your customers. If you had to stop and think about who your audience is, or if you said “everybody,” it’s time to get a clear picture of your readers so you can create more effective content. In both cases, the key is to research, build, and use buyer personas. Write for a Specific Persona If you aced the quiz, it’s because you have a customer persona . Personas are like character sketches for marketers and bloggers. They define types of audience members by their interests, age range, online behaviors, and shopping habits. You create personas based on data from your site analytics, social media monitoring, site-visitor surveys, and interviews with your readers and customers. If you’re just starting out, research the types of people you’d like to have in your audience. Start with the persona that represents the largest part of your audience. Let’s say you have a blog for your hobby farming supply business. Your primary persona might be a retired banking executive (let’s call her Daisy) in her early 60s whose partner is also retired. She recently bought a vintage farmhouse on a small acreage. Her interests are raising flowers and herbs for market and she’d also like to set up a duck pond and a rental cottage on her property. Daisy likes to carefully research purchases and she prioritizes quality over price. Here’s a sample persona template you can use to create your own website personas: Speak the Same Language as Your Customers Whoever your persona is, write in a voice that they’ll understand. Let’s stick with the hobby farm supply example for a bit. Maybe your background is in agribusiness. Daisy, your retired banking-executive persona, won’t know the ag jargon that you do. She searches for terms like “how much to feed ducks,” not “how to formulate balanced poultry rations.” Include the keywords she’s likely to use in your posts to show her you’re speaking to her, so she’ll stick around. Bonus: Better SEO is a natural outcome of using the phrases your personas use. Not sure how your persona talks about or searches for their interests? Look at your blog and social media comments and email messages from your customers. Monitor your Google Search Console data to see which keyphrases bring readers to your blog. And check out other blogs, vlogs, and podcasts in your niche. The goal isn’t to copy anyone else’s voice but to connect with prospective customers by speaking their language. Tailor Post Length to Your Audience and Your Goals How long should your business blog posts be? That depends on your goals for each post and the time your persona has to read it. Daisy is retired and has time to focus on her interests, but an audience of mid-career professionals with small children will have less time to read. Short and long posts both have their place on your posting schedule, but you’ll want to skew toward what your audience prefers. The Case for Short Blog Posts Short blog posts of at least 300 words are a great way to tackle niche topics. That’s good for readers who want specific information. It’s also good for SEO, because narrowly focused posts can help you rank well for longtail search phrases . For example, if the persona you’re writing for is a pet rabbit owner, it’s going to be hard to rank well for “rabbit care,” which generates more than 443 million results. By going into more detail with posts on “elderly rabbit grooming,” “safe chew toys for rabbits,” “how to build a rabbit castle” and so on, you’re more likely to reach readers searching for those topics. You can later compile all your short posts on one topic into a PDF to give away to readers who join your list. The Case for Long Blog Posts Long posts —1,000 words and more—are more challenging to write and require a bigger time commitment from you and your customers. Long content typically does well in search results, so it’s worth your time to create at least a few. These can be mega-posts that combine and expand on previous short posts. They can also be new content, like a list or a how-to guide, to promote an upcoming launch or new product. For example, if you’re preparing to start selling an online course , a long post that includes a sample of the class material can help prospective students decide to register. Take your time writing and editing long posts to make sure they deliver what your personas want to know, using the same language they do. And if you’re planning a product launch, review your current site hosting plan to make sure it can handle launch-related spikes in traffic. You may want to upgrade to a more powerful plan like HostGator Cloud Hosting for more speed and bandwidth, and add on CodeGuard daily backup service to easily restore your site if your launch-prep site changes temporarily break things. Pace Your Blog Posts Properly Ask your readers how often they want to hear from you, then build a calendar to match your persona’s preferences. If you don’t have a big audience yet, remember that most people are happy to read one or two new posts a week from a blog they value. Less than that is probably okay, too. Too-frequent posts may overwhelm subscribers and lead them to drop your blog. Save daily posting for when you can hire help, have a large audience, and have specific marketing goals that require lots of new content. Keep an eye on your blog, email, and sales metrics. Over time, you should see how your publishing schedule affects page views, time on the site, email opens and clickthroughs, unsubscribes, and conversions. Tweak the schedule if you need to so your readers stick around. Close with a Call to Action What separates good bloggers from great bloggers? Great bloggers who build thriving online communities and businesses have a clear goal for each blog post before they write it. Before you write, decide what you want your readers to do when they reach the end of your post. Do you want them to join your email list ? Share your post? Buy your duck brooders? Once you know, ask them to do it. Don’t assume it’s obvious. Life is filled with distractions, so make your calls to action clear: Join the list. Get the book. Register now. Reserve your appointment. There’s one other benefit to building personas before you blog. It helps to make your posts more conversational and builds rapport with your audience. So, whenever you’re ready to write, think about your persona, what they want to know, how much time they have to read, and the keywords they search for. Then you’re ready to write posts that will connect. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading

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3 Best Monetization Methods for Bloggers

The post 3 Best Monetization Methods for Bloggers appeared first on HostGator Blog . Blog monetization is something that many site owners, content creators, and bloggers will spend a lot of time on. However, only a few will actually master the art of generating enough traffic to their site in order to make some serious money with it. At the same time, before even thinking about site monetization, you must know who your target audience is, how to create the best content possible, and have an ultimate call to action in place. These focus points will vary heavily based on the type of content you are creating, and the audience you are going after—but the monetization methods and the process still work the same. Below I will highlight some of the best ways to make money with content on your website or blog. 1. Lead Generation and Online Webinars Being in the “make money online” industry, I see a ton of bloggers and experts selling their own products and services. This usually happens after a blogger or authority figure has already established themselves within a space. Not only can you make money with a blog, you can also change your life with one in the process. No matter when you are going to start the monetization process, lead generation is something you should always be working on—but it ultimately comes down to the quality of content you are offering, and the perceived value by the end user. Here’s an effective and simple way to get started. First, you need to have a mailing list . Most of us already have one of these in place. If you don’t already, set one up today . Second, have an offer to give away in exchange for a user submitting their email and joining your list. This can be as simple as a free PDF or access to a private section of your site. Third, have an autoresponder and solid call to action in place. This simple three-step process works wonders. For those who are looking for the best results possible and wanting to sell higher ticket priced items, I recommend using each of the three methods above, but also adding a webinar into the mix. Not only are webinars easy to set up and work wonders for lead generation and sales, it can also blow your conversions and ROI through the roof. Even more exciting is what companies like ClickMeeting are doing with their integrations for Facebook and YouTube live streaming . With users already active and familiar with these social and video platforms, it simply leads to increased engagement, leads, and conversions for anyone using webinars to grow their brand or business. This is especially true for anyone looking to market and sell coaching or live training sessions . While many websites and blogs are selling access to pre-recorded videos and text content in a member area, the opportunity to sell live training sessions is also possible.   2. Affiliate Marketing with Focused Offers Having been in the industry and making money for well over twenty years now, affiliate marketing is where I got my start , and it’s still one of the best and most effective ways to make money online. The concept is simple: Refer traffic to another website, and earn a commission on any leads or sales that are generated. Affiliate marketing works so well, because there is no inventory to hold, and nearly every website and brand has some form of commission based marketing in effect. In fact, HostGator also has an affiliate program of their own, in which they pay out millions of dollars to their site partners every year. There are also affiliate networks like Shareasale, Commission Junction, and Rakuten Linkshare that make it free and easy to join their platform and then gain access to hundreds of individual affiliate programs. However, just promoting affiliate marketing offers on your site isn’t enough to find success. You need to choose the right offers, and have content that makes the user want to take action. A perfect example of this can be seen on any of the review or coupon sites you might come across in the search results. When someone is searching for a coupon or review online, they are already in buying mode. Most of these pages will provide audiences with testimonials, offers, and where to buy the individual product or service they are looking for. They are also limiting distractions, and have only one call to action in mind. If you want to find success with affiliate marketing, keep all of these winning methods in mind.   3. Google Adsense and Native Advertising Google Adsense? Yes… I’m actually recommending Google Adsense as a way to monetize the content on your site. When it comes to making money with Google Adsense, you either understand it or you don’t. The reason why Google Adsense is one of the most used and recommended methods for making money online is that it’s dead simple to use, and Google does all of the work for you. All you, as the site owner, have to do is join their program, and then place a line of code on their site. If it’s so easy, you might ask, then why is it so hard to make money with? This all comes down to how Google Adsense is being used. As someone that has been able to make six figures with their Google Adsense account, I will tell you that it’s all about being able to blend Adsense ads into your site and content, so they don’t look like ads. By this, I mean don’t place banner ads in your sidebar or at the top of the page. Instead, have your ads actually shown within the content on your site. This is how you grab the attention of the audience, and put Google’s ad targeting to work. You can learn more about the best banner locations and sizes here . Whether you are using Google Adsense or not, I would also recommend looking at native advertising and content recommendations. Site owners all around the world are making some great money by running ads through platforms like RevContent, OutBrain and many others. The key takeaway here is to understand your audience and the end call to action. If you have a website or blog that is pushing a high value CPA offer, or your own product, Google Adsense and contextual advertising likely isn’t a good fit—as it will pull users away from your site for a fraction of the potential commission and earnings you could be getting from your target offer.   Going from Blog to Business to Brand Starting a blog is easy. Making money with a blog and becoming an authority isn’t. However, if you are willing to put in the time, work, and effort, this is quite possible. For more on this process, be sure to read this article where I will walk you through the process. No matter what niche market you are in, or the monetization method you choose, always focus on the final call to action and getting real users to your site. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading

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HOA Website Ideas

Hi guys, I need your advice. I am tasked to create a HOA (Homeowners’ Association) website with ability to post documents in PDF, and invoic… | Read the rest of http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1720497&goto=newpost Continue reading

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Help : Choosing Better Hosting Plan

Hi, I have a website where I sell downloadable tutorials (videos – PDF – Audio etc) Every tutorial (product) is about 60 to 100 GB (user… | Read the rest of http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1717277&goto=newpost Continue reading

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Want Your ISP to Respect Your Privacy? It May Come at a Cost

Comcast has filed an argument (PDF) this week with the FCC to allow it to charge broadband users more to offset the burdens of maintaining their privacy. Continue reading

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