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I get pitched constantly from people who want to speak at the Elite Retreat. In fact just this week I have gotten over 200 emails from people looking to “speak”.

So what do we look for in leaders? Well, we are not looking for speakers first off all. People come to the Elite Retreat because they want to take their business to the next level so here is the basic criteria I look for:

1. They must have made an enormous impact on my businesses.
2. They must enjoy sharing with others things that made them successful and actually want to sit down and work with people one on one for 2 days to help them achieve their goals.

We DO NOT EVER solicit for pitches from people to speak. I ONLY invite those who I personally have built a relationship with and I KNOW will actually want to spend 48 hours with the attendees. Its a very rare person to have the knowledge and social skills. So my job is not easy.

All of the speaker’s bio’s below are hand written by me. So.. you will probably see some typos =P.

I do not allow anyone to submit some publicist hyped biography.

I cut to the chase of how each speaker has affected my business and what they bring to the table to work with you, the attendee.

So without further a due here is this years expert lineup:

John Carlton – Expert Copy Writer

I first was introduced to John 3 years ago when a close friend purchased his $5000 copyrighting course. At first I could not believe someone would pay $5000 for a course…. But after implementing the techniques in the course and profiting over 10 times the cost of that course in the first month alone I saw the value.

I met John for the first time in person last winter and in person he was more than happy to look at what I was doing and give me some tips that have helped me make well over five hundred thousand dollars.

John rarely speaks at public events and there is nobody better at writing copy that sells. I am truly honored to have him as a part of this years cast.

Stephan Spencer – SEO/Entrepreneur

Stephan is a search engine optimization wizard by trade. He not only wrote the best selling book – the art of SEO, but also Stephan built a multimillion dollar global SEO company, servicing some of the largest companies in the world. Last year Stephan sold his SEO company to pursue other opportunities. Most SEO’s are a flash in the pan. Stephan has broken the mold of what you think of in a SEO.

Having Stephan as a friend has been an enormous asset to me personally both in search engine optimization tips but also in general business advice.

Stephan has taken part in the Elite Retreat before and is always rated the highest rated expert in terms of value given.

Stephan tells me he loves the Elite Retreat format because being its only 30 people who have all signed non disclosure agreements he feels comfortable exposing his best tips which really make a difference in getting your site to rank for keywords. Tips that he would never give out at a huge public event. For obvious reasons.

I am very happy to have Stephan participating once again at the Elite Retreat.

Matt Mickiewicz – Entrepreneur, Business Growth Expert

I first met Matt in person after his keynote speech at an industry event a little over a year ago. I was amazed at the empire he had built and wanted to get to know him more.

Matt is a lot like me in that he has not only built a successful business, but continued to leverage his successes to the next thing. In Matt’s case he has virtually cornered the market for website commerce.

Matt originally started a webmaster forum called Site point. He grew the forum by putting out tons of excellent content. Once he had a decent following site point started to publish books on about every subject dealing with having your own website. He has almost 100 books published to date in over 20 languages.

After that Matt noticed there was a lot of buying and selling of websites going on in his forum so he created a website called Flippa. The site quickly became the go to spot if you wanted to buy or sell a website and became a cash cow for Matt’s empire very quickly.

After building Flippa Matt came up with the concept of servicing people who needed low cost logos by making designer from around the world compete Against each other. 99 designs was launched and the site did several million dollars in revenue in the first couple month alone.

To this day Matt continues to grow his amazing empire leveraging each of his past successes into the next one. Its great to have the Aussie on board for this event.

Matt has been an awesome help to me personally on not only growing my company but also the daily tasks that come with being a CEO.

A one on one Q&A with Matt about growing your business will leave you with a book full of action items to do when you get back.

Allen Baler – Super Affiliate, Product Fullfilment, Business Advisor

I was originally introduced to Allen by Clickbank. In addition to being in the top 10 of Clickbanks over 11,000 publishers, Allen also provides product fulfillment services and handles the majority of product fulfilment on Clickbank. We use Allens service for our own ShoeMoney System. He makes the DVDs and workbooks and ships them anywhere in the world for us for an unbelievable price.

But Allen’s real value came to us as an advisor with the ShoeMoney System. Allen not only fulfills our products, but he is also a wealth of knowledge on just about every possible subject because he has worked so long in this industry. Everything from merchant services, to customer support best practices, and all the little insider tricks with Clickbank that really made a HUGE impact on our bottom line.

Andy Liu – Startup, Merger & Acquisition, Investor expert

Just 3 years ago Andy came to the Elite Retreat as an attendee. He quickly got my attention when our keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki interrupted his own key note, pointing out Andy in the audience, and talking about how Andy was one of the few company founders that Guy had made money from investing in.

Come to find out Andy is a born serial entrepreneur with several huge accomplishments under his belt. Andy’s daily role is CEO of BuddyTV. Currently the largest TV related website on the Internet. Andy also led a group of investors in purchasing icanhascheezburger and growing that site to an enormous multimillion dollar empire.

Andy is the first person I talk to before considering selling or buying.. or lately even starting a new company. Andy brings a perspective of a multimilliondollar venture capitalist and the things you need to think about with that. His tips and tricks for buying businesses and websites for next to nothing and flipping them for an enormous profit is always one of the biggest values for attendees.

Troy Meyerson – Legal – General Council

Troy has been our general legal council for ShoeMoney Media Group, INC for the last 5 years. He has delt with over a hundred issues for us… everything ranging from contractual issues, to clauses, and Troy even handled selling a company for us a couple years back for multiple millions of dollars.

Tory is my personal attorney and is very well rounded specializing in patent and copyrights.

Pat Cooper – Legal – Chief Litigator

Pat is the guy who argues our cases in front of a jury or judge. Pat’s advice to us has made the difference between being awarded millions of dollars in a case or being capped at only a few thousand.

I asked Troy and Pat to come to this years event because, lets be honest, right now its a very scary time legally to be in our business. But these 2 guys have years of experience not only representing me but many other Internet related cases.

I get more legal related questions than anything else and while I can talk from my experience I am not qualified (or licensed) to give actual legal advice.

As you are brain storming with other attendees and leaders, there is no doubt going to be some legal questions that will arrise. Anything from how to structure the business to what policies to have in place…. Having these two top notch intenet legal masterminds at your disposal on my dime will be a huge value to you as an attendee.

Michael Sprouse – Marketing Mastermind

This years Keynote speaker will be Epic Direct’s Chief Marketing Officer, Michael Sprouse. Previously Michael was Chief Marketing Officer for Playboy INC.

Michael is one of the primary reasons why you have seen Epic Direct (formerly AzoogleAds) grow into the leader in the affiliate space.

Michael is a guy that just “gets it”. He has become a close personal friend of mine and even though he is 2nd in command of one of the most powerful names in Internet marketing, he still has time to brainstorm with me on my latest craziest idea.

I can guarantee you that Sprouses keynote is going to be one of the most insightful talks you have ever heard.

Jeremy Schoemaker – Hey that’s me! I am pretty well rounded can solve virtually any problem or issue you have. My main points of e expertise are monetization and growth but I am happy two work with you on whatever you need. I also am happy to make introductions to any major company anywhere in the world.

In the next couple days I will send you an email about the official agenda and logistics.

We will open registration next Tuesday September 28th, 2010.

FYI – We have plenty of sponsorship opportunities available and will have a media kit out soon. Email ersponsorship@shoemoney.com

Get a sneak peak at the all new ShoeMoney System

Interested in advertising on Facebook? Check out my latest post on Facebook Advertising

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Studies show that, on the Web, people don’t actually read content, instead they skim it and read less than half the words, even on short articles. Some of this is due to the greater distractions on the Web but much of it has been true since the age of the newspaper.

While this may seem to be bad news for writers, who have to accept that readers aren’t hanging on every single word, it can actually be used to the advantage of bloggers to help convey information more quickly and effectively.

However, to do this, you have to master two writing techniques that will make your writing instantly more skimmble.

How to Use Subheads Effectively

The first tool is subheads, which are mini-headlines that are sprinkled into the post to separate sections, usually every 200-500 words. They break up the content visually and also provide good SEO value if they are loaded with keywords and use one of the header tags (H1-H6).

Readers, when skimming the article, will often read subheads first and make decisions on if the article is worth reading and all and, if it is, what sections are worth delving deeper into.

So use subheads as you would any other headline, this means making them keyword-rich, usually 5-8 words long and descriptive of the content beneath it, this will make even your shorter works much easier to navigate.

Include Lists to Highlight Key Points

Another powerful tool to make your article instantly skimmable is to include lists. You can use subheads to do this, turning your entire article into a list such as the articles you routinely see on Cracked.com or you can integrate a shorter list using HTML to bring out key points.

Lists have three key advantages.

1. They Organize Information Well: Humans naturally want information in and ordered fashion and lists provide that.
2. They Draw Attention: HTML separates lists from the rest of the text, making it stand out and easy to attract attention to key points.
3. They Build Interest: A well-written list will make readers want to go back and go through the rest of the text to see how the list was compiled. However, for those who don’t read more they still gain some bite-sized information through the list itself.

In short, a list is a great way to introduce the reader to the key points of an article in an appealing fashion and then encourage them to read more.

Writing for the Eye Isn’t Hard

In the end, though writing for the eye might seem to be difficult, it really is not that hard. It’s a matter of formatting text so that it can be quickly understood, at least on a surface level.

Fortunately there are many HTML formatting tricks to help with that and these are just two of the most important ones.

For more tips on this, you may wish to check out the writing techniques preached by advertising legend David Ogilvy as he was using many of these exact same methods over fifty years ago in his ads.

These methods are a major part of why he is widely considered one of the best copywriters and advertising geniuses to have ever lived.

This post was written by Lior who works for an online task management tool start-up from new york and also advises to a breastfeeding wear company.

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Yesterday, we hosted an incredibly popular webinar called “Google Instant: Major Change for SEO.”  It was attended by over 1,500 viewers, and by the end of the webinar, we had collected close to 200 questions. If you missed it, you can watch the webinar on-demand in our archives! We couldn’t answer them all, but I’ve done my best to answer some of the most common questions and address some of the major changes we feel the release of Google Instant has brought about. I’m no Google, but I hope these responses were quick enough for you

 

1.  How is Google Instant going to change my ranking for keywords and keyword phrases?

In releasing Google Instant, Google made no change to the ranking algorithm. This means your rankings for specific keywords immediately before and immediately after the release of Google Instant would be unaffected. What Google Instant does change is the user experience and how people interact with Google. Because Google is now predicting what people are searching for and displaying the results before the user even hits enter, more and more website are going to be targeting predicted keywords. This will most likely cause these keywords to become more competitive and, in turn, make it much more difficult to maintain a high ranking for these specific keywords. 

 

2.  How does Google Instant affect my SEO strategy? 

Because Google Instant presents results before the user even hits enter, there is little reason for the user to visit the second page of search results or possibly even scroll below the fold. It is also much easier for the user to just rephrase the search they are attempting if they’re not getting the results they’re looking for. This makes it much more important to rank on the first page and, more specifically, in the top three results for specific keywords and keyword phrases, since these are the results that are going to be getting the majority of the traffic. 

 

3.  Are there any specific aspects of SEO that are heavily affected by Google Instant?

We believe that page titles and meta descriptions will now play a more important role than ever. Even though the page title is just a minor part in a website’s SEO relevance and the meta description doesn’t affect ranking, these are the two items that a user will see as they scan the page when they search. If you can write something compelling, grab searchers’ attentions, and stop their search process, you will get a better click-through rate. If the keyword is present within the page title or meta description, it will be bolded and even more likely to grab searchers’ attentions, so make sure to focus on creating great page titles and interesting, relevant meta descriptions. 

 

4.  How does Google Instant affect my PPC strategy?

Once again, the importance of ranking in the top three positions is increasing. When thinking about the effect Google Instant is having on PPC, it is important to remember that Google is still a business with the main objective of making as much money for its shareholders as possible. The increased competitiveness due to the desire for companies to rank in the top three will most likely lead to higher CPC costs (and more money in Google’s pocket). This makes it even more important to do thorough keyword research before you start your campaign and to constantly monitor your keywords and analytics to adapt to the ever-evolving search ecosystem. 

 

5.  How does Google Instant affect the definition of an impression?

Google now defines an impression as an instance when a user clicks on the page causing the search results to be displayed, when the user hits enter, or when the user types in the search box and pauses for 3 or more seconds. 

 

6.  How will this affect my PPC campaign?

Users that use Google AdWords do not pay on an impression basis. Google AdWords charges users on a CPC (cost-per-click) basis, so your spending will not be affected by the new definition of impression. However, what is likely to occur is that the total number of impressions will go up. This will cause your click-through rate (clicks/impression) to decrease since the total number of impressions is likely to increase. 

 

7.  Should I optimize for short tail or long tail keywords? 

There is no clear-cut answer as to whether you should optimize for short tail or long tail keywords. The factors you should consider when trying to decide are how competitive the short tail is versus how much traffic the long tail keywords receive. You should also look at the traffic each type of keyword drives to your site and try to determine which keywords drive the most qualified leads (the ones that are most likely to convert to customers). The key to this is keyword research (please excuse the horrible pun). Once you have the data to analyze the cost and benefit of optimizing for each type of keyword, you can make an educated business decision. 

 

8.  Should I optimize for partial searches?  For instance, if my keyword starts with a “W” and weather is the first keyword Google Instant returns when a user types a “W,” should I try to optimize for this keyword?

No, you should not try to optimize for keywords that are not relevant to your business or the product you are offering. If someone is searching for something else and your website did pop up as a result, it is unlikely that they would not be a good lead anyway. You should continue to focus on the keywords relevant to your business/product and continually monitor your keywords and analytics to see which ones are producing good results and which ones are performing poorly. Then focus on the well-performing ones. 

 

9.  How will Google Instant affect the Bing and Yahoo alliance?

We don’t really see this as a play by Google to try to completely knock Bing and Yahoo out of the game. Google’s main goal is to try to return the most relevant result to the user. This means attempting to return more personalized search results, an area that companies like Yelp and Facebook have been trying to secure. Early polls show that not many people have strong enough negative feelings to actually switch away from Google, so it is likely that if people used Google before, they will continue to use Google. Only time will tell how much more search traffic Google gets because of the Google Instant change. 

 

10.  How does Google Instant affect people who use browser-based search boxes?

Google Instant does not affect how users interact with browser based search boxes. Users who use these search boxes must continue to type in their query and hit enter in order to display search results. It is important to remember, however, that once a user hits enter, they will be taken to Google and any subsequent searches will take place using the Google Instant interface. 

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This week we published a moving story on ProBlogger from Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz.

When Naomi sent me the post a few days before we published it I immediately knew that it was going to be one that would do well and it was. 100+ comments within 4 hours of publishing – and not just any comments – they were comments that were heart felt (I’ve never seen so many readers admitting being moved to tears by a post), in depth and engaging.

Read them for yourself – the comments section is as compelling as the post itself.

These posts don’t happen every day and I feel honored to have witness it first hand here on ProBlogger and wanted to take a moment or two to reflect on what I saw.

So what was it about the post that connected with readers so deeply?

Here’s a few reflections on why I had a hunch it would hit the mark (feel free to add your own):

It was a Story – almost every ’story’ post that I’ve published here on ProBlogger has connected with readers. Read more on Why stories are so effective on blogs.

It was Relevant – right from the opening line (‘I’ve sat where you sit.’) Naomi strove to connect the situation that the readers of ProBlogger are in with her story. She showed an awareness of one of the needs of readers and the empathetic way she told her story showed an understanding that just connected with people.

It was Relatable – one of the things that I felt reading the post myself was that parts of it reminded me of my own story. The comments section shows I’m not alone – many of those who read it seemed to just find it comforting to know someone else had experienced the things Naomi shared. It’s powerful to know that you’re not alone.

It was Honest – this story is raw and honest. She shared an experience from one of the hardest times of her life in a way that many of those leaving comments admired and related to.

It was Inspirational – the story was honest about the tough times but also about the good ones. Naomi shared some of what hanging in there through the tough times brought her to – personal success but also being able to do some inspirational things for the world. She gave those reading the story hope for their own situation which many needed to hear as they face their own tough times.

As a result of that above we see a comments section that is filled with honest, engaging, raw and heartfelt stories.

Some felt compelled to comment for the first time, others were moved to tears, and others felt moved to share some of their own stories.

The post ‘connected’.

Why do you think it was so powerful?

This Post is from: ProBlogger Blog Tips.

How to Deeply Connect with Your Readers

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If you would like to see your website or company featured on Free Shirt Friday click here

Interested in advertising on Facebook? Check out my latest post on Facebook Advertising

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Technology and gadgetry used to represent the realm of geeks, but as it turns out, being geeky is increasingly mainstream. Whether or not you’re technologically inclined, there’s a good chance that you’re lusting after a new smartphone, a new computer, or a new camera. We all want one, two, or all three.

There are innumerable sites on the Internet that cater to this market and one such website happens to serve as the subject of today’s review. We’re taking a quick look at TechPatio, a tech blog run by John Chow dot Com reader Klaus. He only has a first name and no last name, kind of like Prince or Madonna.

What Is Tech Patio?

According to the about page, Klaus envisions Tech Patio as a “decent and respectable blog where people will feel at ease, at home – like on their own patio.” He aims to “write articles that most tech interested people will find interesting and hopefully educational.”

This doesn’t really separate it from the masses of other technology websites, but it’s good to see that Klaus does put a little of his personality forward. For instance, while it is a tech blog, the site focuses mostly on Apple-related products. He does deviate from this, but that is a prominent theme.

Klaus mentions two other things in his about page that I feel are worth noting, if only for his upfront honesty. First, he says that he will have ads, not because he needs to make a living, but because he wants to see what kind of money he can make from the blog. Second, he lets us know that English isn’t his first language.

A Look at the Content

I was going to cut Klaus a little slack, because English isn’t his first language, but I have to say that the writing is generally quite good. It’s definitely better than some native English speakers that I know.

The shorter news pieces don’t offer much other than a brief news snippet, but slightly longer reviews can certainly come in handy for people shopping for new technology. Klaus didn’t write it (Emily did), but the Samsung Epic 4G review article is a good example of this.

In discussing the hot new smartphone on the Sprint 4G network, Emily acknowledges the Samsung Galaxy S platform as its base and says that the “Epic possesses the best keyboard” with keys that are “nicely spaced” and “have a good clickiness to them.”

She goes on to discuss the user interface, camera quality, multimedia functionality, and overall performance. My one major suggestion would be to use real photographs of the product, since you already have it in front of you, rather than use the stock press pictures that the PR people give you.

General Layout Feedback

Tech Patio makes use of the popular Thesis WordPress theme platform, so you may already be familiar with some of its elements. Even so, there are at least a couple of things worth mentioning.

You can see in the first screenshot in this review that Klaus has embedded a series of social media icons along the left side of the screen. These are “docked” so they follow you as you scroll through a page. They’re not intrusive and they could serve well to encourage readers to share.

I also like Klaus is providing two options for comment subscription. You can get email notification only if someone responds to your particular comment or you can be notified of every new comment on the post. The top commentator widget, complete with avatars, is a nice touch too. I’d only suggest limiting the text length so that a single person doesn’t wrap onto a second line.

Relaxing on the Deck with Tech

Tech Patio doesn’t really stand out as a premier tech blog, but it wouldn’t be completely fair to compare it to the much larger sites with much larger budgets. As an enthusiast blog, it’s definitely better than most.

The general layout is a little cluttered, but that’s to be expected in the tech blog realm. Updates are frequent enough and the content is generally well-written. If you’re looking for more on tech, it wouldn’t hurt to give Tech Patio a second look.

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Gone are the days when I used to obsess with Google PageRank. Especially with the nomimal PageRank, which is the 0 to 10 scale we see on the various toolbars around the web. Why is that? Because as the name implies, the nomimal PageRank is just an indicator of how much trust Google has on a certain website. It doesn’t have a direct impact on your organic traffic, and certainly it doesn’t have a direct impact on your profits, which is the most important metric for any online entrepreneur. Even the real PageRank, which influences your search rankings, is only one out of hundreds of factors that Google’s algorithm takes into consideration.

That being said, I still find myself curious to check the nominal PageRank updates rolling out. I like to track the frequency of the updates, as well as the PR fluctuations on my and other people’s websites. Out of vanity, perhaps.

The last PageRank update happened early in April, and the next one was expected late in July/September, but so far nothing has happened.

Thinking about this issue, one questions came to my mind: What if Google completely removed the nominal PageRank? That is, what if all the toolbars stopped working, and no one would be able to see the indicator of how much trust (or how many backlinks) any website has?

What impacts would such a change have upon the webmaster/blogging/SEO industry?

Some people argued in the past that removing the nominal PageRank would kill the market for paid links. I don’t think so. As long as backlinks play a role in the search ranking algorithm, there will still be people buying them.

But without the PageRank the link buying process would change a bit. I believe that paid backlink analysis services would gain many more clients, as this would be the best way to evaluate the link authority of any website.

I think that more important than that, however, is the effect that such a change would have on the mind of most website owners. Probably most of them would realize (as most experienced webmasters do sooner or later) that it is better to worry about more tangible metrics like traffic and profits. As a result they would focus more on producing quality content.

Another interesting aspect the consider is the linking one. I believe that if the nominal PageRank was gone bloggers and website owners would become less paranoid about linking to external websites, feating to leak PageRank.

But what do you think? Would this change be positive or negative? What other aspects would be influenced?

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Original Post: What Would Happen If Google Removed The Nominal PageRank?

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When you hear the word “outline,” do you give a little shudder?

You’re not alone. For so many of us, the outline evokes painful memories of five-paragraph essays, clumsy thesis statements, and prayers for snow days.

Outlines tend to make writers, especially younger ones, feel confined and boxed in, forced to quell their creativity for the sake of structure.

It’s time to let those middle school nightmares go. An outline can be so much more than where Roman numerals go to die.

In fact, when you learn the right approach, an outline can actually make you a better writer. I know it sounds hard to believe, but keep reading and I’ll explain what I mean.

MAP it out

Effective writing has structure, no matter what kind of writing you’re doing.

An outline is just a way of making that structure visible. A well-crafted outline makes you a more productive writer when it’s time to put pen to page.

It’s also the foundation of your MAP.

Sorry for the caps … I’m not yelling. It’s actually an acronym that stands for:

• Medium
• Audience
• Purpose

Most forms of media writing (and yes, a blog post counts) can be boiled down to these three basic elements. The scope and nature of a writing project can change, sometimes dramatically, if one of those elements shifts.

Say, for example, you want to create a news release about your company’s latest innovation. The way you present and organize information for that project will be different than if you were going to write an article for a respected industry publication instead — even if you’re writing about the same innovation.

In that case, two elements — audience and purpose — shift. That means the entire article has to change its focus. With a workable outline, you can make that change much more easily.

A fluid outline is crucial to knowing where you are on the MAP. Writers who work from a rock-solid outline tend to save time and energy by avoiding the hassles of heavy edits and rewrites. That foundation also makes it easier to change when one of the elements that make up your MAP changes.

Here are a few ways to help improve the process:

1. Start with a brainstorm

It’s difficult, if not downright impossible, to simply sit down and write that speech or company memo from start to finish. It can also prove hazardous to those who cherish coherent and logical writing.

Don’t come in cold and expect to start pounding out paragraphs effortlessly. In this regard, not much has changed since that persuasive essay you had to write in high school on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Embrace the “pre-outline outline” methods that favor ideas over organization. Brainstorming, mind mapping, or free-associating words and phrases on your given topic can help you think of innovative new ways to approach your material.

From that freeform mish-mash of ideas, you can start to refine and craft your outline.

2. Develop a core message

This is the calm after the brain storm. Forming a central message or concept is key to a successful piece of writing. This message and its tentacles will weave throughout the piece, carrying readers through all corners on a wave of cohesion and comprehension.

If you can’t boil down your writing project to a single sentence, you probably need to sit down and think about it some more.

This is the central nervous system of your outline. Everything is built to support and strengthen this concept. Scour those pre-outline outlines and cull all the information you can find that helps flesh out and develop your core message.

Every new concept, every thread within the body of your writing project needs to come back to this idea. A writer who asks or expects readers to connect the dots themselves isn’t writing effectively.

3. Refer to your MAP

Once it’s finally time to use your outline to start writing, be sure to refer to your MAP.

What’s the medium? Is this a blog post or an article or a business communication? And how should your style change to accommodate that?

Who’s the audience? Who, specifically, are you talking to? What specific language do they use? Do they want a formal or an informal approach? Would they consider some kinds of writing to be completely inappropriate? Mentally fix a single member of your audience in your mind and write as though you were speaking directly to her.

What’s your purpose? Are you trying to persuade your reader to take a new point of view? Are you asking her to invest time or money or energy in a project? Do you have a call to action?

Make sure you know what the point of your writing is. You’ll need to remember to drive that purpose home in several places, but particularly at the end. If your audience doesn’t know the purpose of the writing, it’s going to be difficult for them to do what you want them to do — even if they like what you have to say.

4. Give yourself some deadlines

Build staggered deadlines into your outline. Tweak them as needed, but don’t let yourself wander around your writing project without specific deadlines. This is a simple productivity tool that can help you balance all the projects on your to-do list.

The degree of flexibility may shift considerably if you’re writing a book as opposed to a time-sensitive document like a speech or report. Most writers work better with deadlines, and these built-in markers can help shepherd you through a more efficient writing process.

About the Author: Chris Birk is director of content and communications for VA Mortgage Center.com, the nation’s number one dedicated VA lender, and Growth Partner, a unique firm that provides angel investment and online marketing expertise to emerging companies. He blogs at Write Short Live Long.

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Writing a great blog post is just like making a fantastic dinner. You spend a lot of time producing remarkable content that you want potential customers to eat up and rave about to all of their friends. Still, the meal isn’t the only critical ingredient to a truly great experience. You need to create a clear and relevant menu while setting an inviting table to draw them in and get them to read what you serve up.

Here are 6 steps to setting a great SEO table after you’ve made the meal.

1. Setting the Right Utensils  – Choosing Target Keywords.

Before you begin setting the table, you should know what you’re going to eat with. You wouldn’t set the table with different sized spoons if you’re eating sushi, would you? Keywords should be focused around what potential customers may be searching for or discussing on social media sites. Most meals will only require a couple pieces of silverware.  You should follow the same rules by choosing 1-2 specific keywords or keyword phrases for each blog article.

2. Be Clear About What’s on the Menu – Write a Great Page Title, Headline and URL.

Your page title, headline and page URL are the most heavily weighed factors in on-page SEO. The keyword you selected in step 1 should be included in all three areas. Menus are categorized so that restaurant patrons can easily find a specific section of food they feel like having. Your website should also be setup so that visitors can easily find the content they’re most interested in, because search engines spiders were able to properly index it.

Feel free to spice up the page title and headline a little beyond just inserting keywords to make it enticing enough for someone to want to read, but keep in mind you have other opportunities to further describe the content in the page description.

3. Getting People to Choose Your Dish – Crafting a Compelling Page Description.

Although it doesn’t affect how you rank, a great page description can get a search engine user to click through to your site over another.  It still helps to include keywords in the description to reinforce what the content is about to search engines and users.

This is your chance to really describe the content, and in the case of menu that specific meal and why its so great. You may even want to include a call to action. “Our angel hair pasta is served in our superb garlic sauce with fresh jumbo shrimp. Try it today!”

4. Setting the Table with Flowers and Candles – Enhancing the Visitors Experience with Descriptive Imagery.

The mood and setting of a restaurant will have an impact on your experience. By using appropriate images associated with the blog post you’ll keep the visitors attention and give them a visual reminder of what the blog article is about. Images are great for humans, but search engines can’t understand images unless you describe it with text. Include the keywords or keyword phrases for that page in the image caption, alt-text, and file name of the images.

5. Give Visitors the Opportunity to Rave About the Meal – Add Social Media Buttons to Every Post.

Restaurants love it when people tell others about the great experience they had. Word-of-mouth marketing is extremely effective, and getting your readers to share your articlewith their network can help drive considerably more traffic back to that post. Add social media and social sharing buttons to the top of each article so content can be easily shared right from your blog. The more sharing that goes on, the more opportunity there is for people to find that article remarkable and attract inbound links.  

6. Putting a Meal on the Right Dish – Making Sure Your Blog Sits on Your Own Domain.

It’s important to put your meal on the right plate. It all has to fit and be on the appropriate dish. In order to get all the credit from the inbound links you acquire, your blog needs to be connected to your website through a subdomain or subdirectory of your main site. Many blogs are actually hosted by outside providers such as WordPress or Blogger and look like this:

Yourcompany.wordpress.com

In this scenario, all of the authority from inbound links you gain are passed to the blog software provider’s website and not to your own website. The number and quality of inbound links accounts for 75% of how you rank in search engines, so it is critical that all of the authority you’re gaining from your blog is passed on to your website.

Make sure that your blog is either setup as a sub-directory of your website like yourcompany.com/blog or a subdomain like blog.yourcompany.com.

What other tips can you apply from the kitchen to optimizing your blog articles?

Photo credit: urbanitystudios

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One of the problems that website owners and bloggers encounter on a regular basis is coming up with ideas for posts. One of the tactics that I like to employ is creating a regular ongoing post series.

So let’s tackle the big questions first: what’s an example of post series? How about “Sandwich Mondays” from NPR. The basic premise is every monday they publish a post about sandwhiches. Sometimes these are reviews as in the case of the Denny’s Fried Cheese post. Sometimes there’s a travel/tourism theme as in the case of the Pop Tarts Restaurant in Times Square. Other times it could be a flashback pop-culture reference like the Pixy Stix and Cap’n Crunch Cereal sandwich from The Breakfast Club.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can take this concept and use it on lots of different sites. For example, on a real estate blog, how about writing an in depth post about a school district in a neighborhood you work. On a clothing site do a series that features, each week, one pair of fashionable shoes under $25. This is a pretty easy concept to run with. All it takes a little imagination.

To get the most out of this approach you should try using an editorial calendar. Now this doesn’t mean you have to eat a sandwich every Monday. You can get 3-4 weeks or more ahead of yourself and schedule the posts in advance. You can also have multiple series. In the example of the real estate website, maybe you’ll also have a series about local libraries and programs they offer. If you keep each of the posts narrowly focused, you can tie it all together with the head and tail content approach. These types of posts are something that will benefit from having a bit of personality and opinion to them because it’s what makes them interesting. Additionally, the more opinion you use, the less you are going to be able to outsource. Lastly use tags and maximize internal anchor text to  get the most SEO value, silo your content, and better target your ads.

What are the takeaways here:

• Choose 1-3 series of weekly, biweekly, or monthly posts
• Use an editorial calendar to help you plan and publish your content
• Keep each of the posts narrow and focused
• Interlink the series with other series using the “head and tail” concept
• Maximize your internal anchor text by interlinking to other related posts
• Tag your posts to help you serve the most effective advertisements

photo credit: adactio

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis WordPress Theme review.

Content Ideas – Creating an Ongoing Series

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