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MenuHow do I find an audience and build a community around my media website?
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Social media is a good way to spread the word, but first you need to make sure you're delivering solid content and that search engines see you as an authority. The majority of new traffic to a site comes from Google and Bing. Sign up for Google Webmaster and from there you'll be able to see if you're getting indexed and what keywords people are using to find your blog. You may be surprised to find that you're not attracting the audience you think you're attracting.
Good and consistent content is key.
You know how Peter Cashmore built his media empire from his parent's home in Scotland? By working his fanny off and talking to EVERYone who ever tweeted anything from Mashable and responding to EVERYone who tweeted at him. But this was also right at the start of Twitter - he recognized a whole new form of media was rising and rode that wave. For the first three or four years, the operation was completely Pete in Scotland and his team here in the U.S. who worked out of the COO's apartment in Manhattan.
Mashable was a specific focus at a special moment in time - lightning in a bottle, and you can't try to do what he did.
As for yourself, you need to figure out where people who are your target are. And be there. And share and talk and share other people's content if it's on target. Get other people to contribute, and share their posts giving credit to them, getting them to share it, too.
You need to come up with a solid plan for releasing the content and what you'll do on social to back it up. It's very difficult to launch a new content website without money behind it, a recognizable name, or a special niche with content people can't get anywhere else.
Not that it can't be done. but it's difficult. And you need to draw up a fully realized plan.
The key to growing your media empire is distribution. You have to nail down your systems so that every piece of content you create reaches the most people possible.
Focus on one network first and try to build from there. I usually recommend starting with Twitter.
1. Create a few accounts and share via RSS content from other industry blogs. You can set that up via Twibble.io
2. Follow your competitors' followers with those accounts. Unfollow those who do not follow back via ManageFlitter.
3. Share your articles on your main account.
4. Retweet and favorite from the other accounts.
This will create a "network effect" especially if you target specific keywords. Eventually you will be able to get your content to rank high when people search the hashtag you targeted.
Would love to jump on a call and get more involved in the project!
There really isn't a "market" for your own personal blog posts. You need to be publishing in OTHER media sources like Buzzfeed, Vox, etc...Of course link back to your site so you can collect email addresses and build your list. Think of your customer or target audience? Where do they live already? What blogs are they visiting, what groups do they belong to, what newsletters do they subscribe to? Should be easy if your customers are just like you.
Related Questions
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Where is the best place to find high quality writers to write premium content for a blog?
The highest quality and cost is https://contently.com/ - $200+ per post. Alternatively, I've uses http://jobs.problogger.net/ job board to post an opportunity, and then create a simple "test" for the writers. If they read the instructions and the content is great, try em' out .. if not, then pass. It takes time but you can find great people who will blog for $30-50 per post. Another way - not fast but high quality - is to approach existing blogs in your vertical with smaller audiences ... ask them to guest post or ghostwrite for you .. they already know the subject matter and blogging + if they have an audience you can incentivize them to promote the content via their social channel (by paying social share bonuses). Hope that helps.DM
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What is the best way to write blog articles to maximise SEO benefit? I know the needs of my audience, will address them but also like SEO traffic.
Great question, To get traffic from SEO it must be done diligently. And the best way to do that is from a well structured article. The key things to remember that will help your pages rank well: Keyword Headings Put your most important keywords here. They must be coherent, simple yet descriptive. If your blog allows you to insert H1 headings into your article, do so. Don't cram too much info into keywords though, Search engines are smart and recognize when someone is spamming. Maybe do a bit of research using 'Google Keyword Tool' In Google Adwords and see if your keywords are popular search terms. Links and Back links Include links to relevant info when you can, the more credible sources your website links to, the better appeal it has to search engines. Also include back links. Back links are links to a location somewhere that also features a link going directly back to your site, these also give your article good standing. Duplicate Content Try not to say anything twice, and if you do use different terminology. But the main focus here is to always write fresh content. If the content of your article has been written word for word somewhere else first how can yours possibly be more credible? Also write often, the more frequent you post articles, the more frequently your site will be "crawled" by bots. If you do this well your listing can only rise. Be Unique and have the Best Info This entails just doing what you do and doing it well. It might be difficult to compete with other websites if the topic your discussing is already covered in great detail. The best position to be in is one of having information that everyone wants but cannot find anywhere else. A good tip for this is finding a specific niche that suits you well to draw in traffic to your general topic. Hope this helps you get started. For an in depth look at SEO rankings, take a look at the 'Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors' http://searchengineland.com/seotableCR
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How can you start a blog and make it popular within a month?
This depends on your definition of popular, but I can help you out. You're not going to be getting thousands of hits per month, but you can gain some popularity. 1. You're going to need to publish two posts per week, so you better be ready to write. One for your blog, and one for someone else's. 2. You won't be publishing any "round up" content, like 10 best tools for "blank". You're going to need to deliver ACTUAL value here. 3. Make sure that the topic of your blog is first about something people are actively looking for online. User Google Trends to test out some keywords. 4. Use BuzzSumo.com to search for keywords of blog posts and check out how many people are sharing those. Take a look at the most popular posts and then out do them. Write an even more comprehensive and valuable post than that one. 5. Build your email list as quickly as you can. Use Appsumo.com and install their list builder app. 6. Provide a content upgrade for each post. For example, an eBook, a checklist, anything that relates to the value of the article you wrote. Exchange the free item for their subscription to your email list. 7. Email your list once per week with a new article you just published. Ask them to share it if they like it. 8. Guest post for the second article you wrote each week. Find popular, related blogs and pitch them a post idea. Link back to your blog, but to a landing page that specifically outlines the value of signing up for your email list. OR 8a. Link back to a landing page that gives away content bonuses that you mentioned in the guest post. 9. Run a contest where you give something away related to your blog topic. (don't give away an iPad if you're a real estate agent, you want to attract subscribers that have to do with your niche.) 10. Die from exhaustion.CM
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What are some exclusive social networks for entrepreneurs and startups? (Excluding major SNS like FB/Twitter & Fundraising platforms)
I imagine a lot of it happens in private FB groups already. I'm a member of Dynamite Circle, which is a private community of location independent entrepreneurs http://www.tropicalmba.com/innercircle/DM
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What keywords would work for 'general' lifestyle blog about life in Sydney, Australia?
Creating successful (you define what this means) content online, no matter the topic or audience, is dependent upon research. Use online tools such as Google Trends, Google Suggested Search, Keyword Planner, etc., to discover what people are searching for. You can then use this data to create "buyer personas" - which allow you to build profiles of the different types of people that you want to consume your content. Once your buyer personas are accomplished, you can assign specific keywords and phrases to each and begin writing. If you're interested in learning the details of each, along with the next steps, I'd be happy to help! Good luck!JF
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