email marketing

List Building Made Simple: The Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing

by BusinessDigital MarketingTechnology

If you’re not capturing emails on your website yet, you’re really missing out. Email marketing is one of the most powerful and cheapest ways to advertise your website.

It allows you to transform a one-time visitor to your site into a life-long customer that you can keep marketing to (until they unsubscribe, of course).

This means that you can build a relationship with your website visitors and gain their trust, hence making it much easier to sell your products.

Here are all the different topics the Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing is going to cover:

That being said, get ready to take notes and let’s get started!

Why You Should Be Email Marketing

With all the hype around social media, people tend to forget how efficient email marketing really is.

First off, the total reach that email marketing has is practically unbeatable – there’s currently close to 2.7 billion active email users in the world and the majority of them check their email at least once a day.

Email marketing allows you to build credibility and create a strong relationship with your website visitors.

Since people enjoy doing business with people they know and trust, this will dramatically boost your sales.

Not surprisingly, email marketing is also the traffic source with the highest return on investment – on average, each $1 spent on email marketing returns $43.

Not everyone who visits your website will be ready to make a purchase or sign-up to a service. By capturing their emails, you’re given the opportunity to convince them by providing them with helpful and valuable content while building your brand at the same time.

Also read How To Build Your Networking Strategy.

There’s plenty of statistics that back up the importance and efficiency of email marketing:

  • Email conversion rates are three times higher than social media. (Source: McKinsey & Company)
  • 91% of consumers check their email at least once a day. (ExactTarget)
  • 89% of marketers say that email marketing is their primary tool for lead generation. (Source: Mailigen)

Now that you know why email marketing is so important to you as a marketer, it’s time to learn how you can implement it on your website.

Setting Up Your Email Marketing Software

To start building your email list, you’re gonna need email marketing software. What these programs do is keep track of all your email subscribers and allow you to set up autoresponders or simply send out newsletters to your list.

Most of these softwares cost a monthly price, but I’ll be showing you a great option if you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of money to spend.

Here are some of the best email marketing software out there:

GetResponse:

The reason I like GetResponse is because of how easy it is to use and how many great features they have. You can set-up time or action based autoresponders, create and host landing pages, create visually emails using their builder and other cool features. They offer a free trial for 30 days, then the pricing starts at $15/month.

TRY GETRESPONSE

AWeber:

Aweber is one of the most trusted names in email marketing. Although it doesn’t have all the features that GetResponse does, AWeber claims a 99% delivery rate (getting the email to their inbox rather than the SPAM folders) which is impressively high. Like GetResponse, they offer a 30-day trial and the pricing starts at $20/month.

TRY AWEBER 

MailChimp:

MailChimp is probably the best starting point for beginners since they are one of the few email marketing companies who offer a free for life plan limited to 2000 subscribers and 12000 emails a month. Although this won’t suffice once you have a bigger list and need to send more emails, it’s a great option for those who don’t want to invest into email marketing tools yet.

TRY MAILCHIMP

How To Build Your Email List

To build your email list, your will first need to have traffic coming to your website.

I won’t be covering how to get traffic in this post since I’ve covered the topic in depth in both my guide on making money by blogging and on how to promote blog content.

Once you have traffic coming into your website, you’re halfway done. Now, all that is left to do is capture as many of your visitors’ email as possible so that you can keep marketing to them even after they leave your site.

On average, 83% of people leaving your website will never return – hence why capturing emails is so important.

Creating A Lead Magnet

The most efficient way by far to capture emails is by using lead magnets.

Simply put, lead magnets are basically a bribe that you offer your visitors in exchange for their email. Here are some examples of good email opt-in pages using lead magnets:

A lead magnet can be really anything that you can offer to your website visitors. Here are some ideas:

  • Step-by-Step Guides
  • EBooks
  • Free Shipping
  • Free Trials
  • Templates
  • Checklists
  • Free Consultations
  • Coupons
  • etc…

The key to making a good lead magnet is finding out what your website visitors really want.

The best way to do this is to research more about your target audience and come up with your website’s buyer persona.

A buyer persona is basically the ‘ideal’ person to represent your target audience as a whole. Creating buyer personas can help you figure out what your target audience really wants, and can help you create better, more relevant content.

Another thing you can do to find inspiration when creating your lead magnet is spying on your competition.

Odds are at least one of your competitors will be using lead magnets with their opt-ins, so you can see what’s working for them and learn from it.

Different Ways to Integrate Your Opt-in

At this point, you have a good lead magnet that your audience will want badly enough to exchange their email for.

The next part is making sure that our visitors are actually presented to it in the best way possible.

Using pop-ups is the most popular way people integrate their lead magnets because it works. The problem with pop-up ads is that you’re interrupting the readers browsing and they might not like that.

In fact, 70% of Americans say they get annoyed by irrelevant pop-up ads – this means you need to be offering them something worth their while to make up for interrupting them.

Although it is intrusive, integrating a pop-up email opt-in can dramatically increase your conversion rate.

For example, blogger and crafter Nikki McGonigal experimented by implementing a pop-up email form rather than a sidebar form. This was the pop-up she used:

This resulted in her getting 1375% more sign-ups than from the sidebar form. Imagine if she was using a quality lead magnet! These were her stats after 8 months:

Even though some readers will find your pop-ups annoying, it’s a worthy sacrifice to exchange for super fast list building.

Plus, it’s been found that adding relevant pop-ups to your website barely has any effect on your site’s traffic and bounce rate (visitors who view only one page and leave).

Another way to integrate your lead magnet is within your content. Here is a great example of something like this in action:

Doing this takes a bit more work however because the lead magnet needs to be very relevant to the content of your article, so you will most likely need multiple different lead magnets which can be hard to manage.

In the example above, the lead magnet used was a cheat sheet version of the whole post.

A free and simple way to start integrating email opt-ins to your site is the WordPress Plugin ‘SumoMe’.

SumoMe is basically a complete toolkit to grow your website. You can use it so set up pop-up forms, top bars, and many other cool features. Although full access requires a monthly subscription, they offer a free version for all of their tools.

They also provide super easy integration with most big email marketing software, so you don’t need to know a single line of code to integrate this to your website.

Split Testing Your Email Opt-ins

You should always be trying new things and split testing to make sure you’re getting the highest conversion rate possible on your email opt-ins. If you haven’t heard of A/B Split Testing, it’s not as hard as it sounds.

It’s pretty straight forward – you send some of your traffic to Version A of your website and some to Version B.

Then, whichever is converting better is the winner. You can keep split-testing practically forever as there’s so many different little things you can split test that can affect your conversion rate, such as:

  • Lead magnet
  • Headline text
  • Colors
  • Button text
  • Removing or adding fields to your form
  • etc…

You only want to split test a single change at once so that you have a constant variable to compare too. For example, a blue button vs an orange button while the rest of the opt-in is the exact same.

That way, you can actually see what changes are boosting or decreasing your conversion rate.

If you are making visually appealing email opt-ins with tempting lead magnets, you will be able to convert a good amount of your website visitors into email subscribers and hence quickly build up your email list.

Warming Up Your List

Ok, so you have your email list.

Now, I should start sending them emails filled with affiliate products right away, right?

No. Right now, your list is cold – your subscribers probably just heard of you and still don’t completely trust you.

That’s why you want to spend some time actually sharing good content to your list for a while and make them like you.

If you warm up your list efficiently, you will not only build trust and get constant open rates on the emails you send out but you will also sell your products much easier because your subscribers will actually like you, rather than the email seeming like some SPAM ad.

The first goal is interest. You wouldn’t ask a person to marry you on the first date, would you? This applies to cold traffic marketing.

Creating Emails That Perform

The truth is that most of your email subscribers won’t always open and read your emails.

If you want high open and click-through rates, you need to be creating perfect emails that will excite your readers enough to get them to visit your landing page.

Here are some important components that all successful emails share:

Attention-Grabbing Subject Line

Having a good subject line is critical to have for your email to be successful. In fact, 35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone – this gives you an idea of how important it is to have an optimized subject line.

Remember those buyer personas we talked about? This is another situation where they can come in handy.

You want to make the subject line relevant to your buyer personas’ probable problems or concerns.

For instance, if your target audience is single mothers who tend work too much and don’t get to spend as much time with their kids as they want, a subject line like “Wish you could spend more time with your kids?” could work well.

Another great way to make your subject lines more attention-grabbing is by personalizing them. In fact, emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.

The downside to this is that you need to capture both the user’s name and email rather than just their email and this can result in lower conversion rates on your opt-in.

Recognizable “From” Name

Although this seems like something of minimal importance, it’s not.

With a number of commercial emails people are getting nowadays, consumers are spending less time on irrelevant mail, making it much harder to stand out even with a good subject line.

In fact, 43% email recipients report emails as spam based on the from name – that’s why it’s important that you pick a name that you readers will recognize instantly.

If your real name plays a big part in your branding and you think that you would be recognized with it, using it can make your readers feel like they are more personally connected with you.

Neil Patel constantly brands himself on Quicksprout , so when subscribers receive an email from ‘Neil Patel’, they instantly make the connection.

The key to choosing the right sender name is simply to pick the most logical and recognizable name for your company.

Also, make sure that you stick with the same name and don’t try changing it – with time, people will recognize your sender name as trustworthy if you properly warm up your list and changing your name could screw that up as you won’t be under the name that they are expecting you to be.

Good Body Copy

It’s important to be writing effective copy in your emails so that you can properly convey why they need what you are offering.

Once again, using your buyer personas can be really helpful while doing this – you want to speak to your subscribers on a personal level and make your emails as relevant to their concerns.

A great way to do this is to adopt a conversational type of writing. Conversational content is written in a friendly tone, and the goal is basically to make it seem like the content was written specifically for your prospect.

To do this, you must be writing as if you were having a conversation with your reader. For example:

“Have you been finding it hard to …? I know exactly how you feel.”

Another great way to really engage your subscribers with your emails is by telling stories. People love hearing stories that they can relate to – especially when the outcome of the story is where they want to be.

The solution to the conflict in your story should be the product you are promoting.

Reflect on how much this product helped you and even throw in some specific results to increase your credibility.

Writing good copy is a huge topic on its own and requires years of mastery. It’s a skill that you are going to be wanting to learn, as you will be needing it for nearly every aspect of affiliate marketing.

Strong Call-To-Action

Since the main goal of your email marketing is to generate leads, having a strong call-to-action is arguably the most important part of your email.

Depending on the purpose of your email, you will be using different call-to-actions. Firstly, find the main focus of your email – what is the first thing you want your subscribers to do after reading your email?

Then, use this to create your call-to-action. It’s important that it stands out from the rest of the email and that it is visually distinctive since it is the main focus of your email.

It’s also a good idea to make sure that your call-to-action is located above the fold – this means that your readers won’t need to scroll down to see it.

Here’s an example of an email with a good call-to-action:

As you can see, the call-to-action clearly stands out from the rest of the email and the text tells us exactly why you should take action and what you will get from doing it.

The button is also in a bright orange color that stands out and immediately catches the eye, which is exactly what you want when creating a call-to-action.

Conclusion

Email marketing is a very powerful tool for us marketers and should definitely be cherished.

Focus on building a targeted email list and on creating trust between you and your subscribers.

Always focus on helping your subscribers and providing them with quality content, and the rest will follow on its own.

Get Instagram Followers

25 Best Ways To Get Instagram Followers Fast

by BusinessSocial MediaTechnology

Instagram is an astonishing photograph sharing system, yet it is just fun when other individuals are following you. Notwithstanding, on the off chance that you joined as of late, the chances are that you do not have numerous followers. Thankfully, there are some basic and non-spammy procedures that anybody can use to pick up followers on Instagram, and in this article you are going to find 25 best ways to get Instagram followers fast.

Also read Everything You Need To Know About Pinterest!

So, you need to increase 1000 followers on Instagram? Not an issue! Getting huge amounts of followers is moderately simple, if you know how. The main thing you have to do is situated up a truly incredible account, with a particular subject or reason at the top of the priority list. Besides, you have to begin taking delightful, fascinating and interesting photos and figure out how to label them fittingly. Lastly – and in particular – you have to realize some sharp little-known techniques which will send your number of followers soaring!

Despite everything I recall how disappointing it was when I began using my Instagram account, the previous summer. For the initial couple of weeks I had basically no supporters, and no one loved or remarked on my photographs. That is the point at which I chose to acquire followers on Instagram using the following tips:

Points to consider

Tip 1: Pick A Clear Focus For Your Account

Alt-text: instagram account login page

Before you do whatever else, you ought to pick a reasonable center for your Instagram account. In the event that your objective is to showcase your best photography, you ought to stick to it and never post low quality photographs of you hanging out with companions. The individuals who need to see your masterful photographs presumably would prefer not to see the sandwich you had for lunch today.

Also read How To Get Free Instagram Followers Using GetInsta Application.

Tip 2: Make Inquiries In Photo Captions

Some Instagramers have discovered accomplishment in posting little depictions of their everyday life in a way that their devotees or followers can become acquainted with them better, yet this is much harder than just sharing incredible photography. Unless you are a very important person or a celebrity, the chances are that just individuals who know you, in actuality, would be keen on taking after your every day exercises.

Tip 3: Use Filters And Applications

Alt-text: using instagram application

To give you an illustration, I utilize my @iPhonePS Instagram record to share my best iPhone photographs. Individuals are upbeat to follow me in light of the fact that they realize that I just post intriguing iPhone photographs. I would never post photographs of me hanging out with companions subsequent to the dominant part of my devotees or followers would prefer not to see them.

Also read Why You Need Instagram Followers To Become Popular On Instagram?.

Tip 4: Make Your Account Look Great

Alt-text: make your instagram account great

When you have picked an unmistakable center for your account, for example, sharing your best iPhone photographs, you need to do all that you can to make your account look extraordinary. While a fascinating portrayal and a cool profile photograph can help, it is much more vital that your photograph food looks awesome, in light of the fact that that is the thing that individuals will take a gander at when they settle on a choice about following you.

Tip 5: Offer Images People Can Connect And Relate To

Before you proceed onward to the following step, you ought to construct an arrangement of 20 astounding photographs that match the center of your account, and you ought to verify that there are no appalling or unessential photographs in your Instagram account. Before they begin following you, individuals will take a gander at your food and ask themselves, “Would I like to see photographs like this on my Instagram newsfeed?”

Tip 6: Take Smarter Selfies

On the off chance that you post exhausting photographs, senseless content screenshots, or what you had for lunch today, the chances are that numerous individuals would prefer not to see that on their Instagram homepage. Erase your old photographs in the event that you need to, and recollect that quality is more essential than amount.

Investing energy to enhance your iPhone photographs will unquestionably pay off when you attempt to acquire supporters on Instagram.

Tip 7: Leverage Your Existing Channels

Alt-text: promote instagram professional account

At the point when your Instagram profile at last looks incredible, take the opportunity to tell the world about it, and the least demanding approach to begin is to influence your current channels and stages. On the off chance that you go to instagram.com/username you will get an immediate connection to your Instagram profile, which you can then share on Facebook, Twitter, your web journal and different channels you may have.

Tip 8: Post At The Right Time

You can likewise approach your E-mail contacts and send a brisk email telling individuals that you have needed Instagram, clarifying what sort of photographs you are going to post and when, and requesting that individuals follow you in the event that they are intrigued. Contingent upon the measure of your system, this is an awesome approach to pick up your initial 50 to 100 Instagram supporters.

Tip 9: Get In Touch With Other Instagram Users

After individuals from your current system are now following you, take the opportunity to connect with more individuals who will possibly be occupied with seeing your photographs. Disregard posting a hundred hashtags, requesting shoutouts, exchanging preferences for preferences or takes after for takes after. None of that works. I got a shoutout from a record with 150K followers and it just got me around 10 new followers.

Tip 10: There Are “Right” Words

The most ideal approach to stand out enough to be noticed on Instagram is to leave a decent and mindful remark on one of your photographs. Do not simply say “decent” or “incredible photograph”, say something insightful or clarify why you like that photograph. When you leave a remark like that, that individual will more often than not be upbeat to likewise look at your photographs and possibly follow you.

Tip 11: Get Featured

Alt-text: how to get featured on instagram

Never ask individuals you do not know to follow you. That way you can just disturb them. Be that as it may, on the off chance that you leave a pleasant and insightful remark around one of their photographs – and if your Instagram food looks awesome – a lot of them will be glad to follow you back.

Tip 12: Use Popular And Relevant Hashtags

Alt-text: instagram hashtags

In the first place, you would prefer not to do that from a cell phone. You can leave great remarks such a great amount quicker from a PC. Go to IconoSquare, sign in with your Instagram account, scan for a hashtag that identifies with the center of your Instagram account, and leave remarks at whatever point you have something to say in regards to the photographs that show up in that hashtag.

In the event that you post photographs of autos, quest for hashtags like #Cars, #SportsCars and #BMW as individuals who utilize those hashtags are more prone to take after a record about autos.

Tip 13: Keep In Mind Why You Are On Instagram

Alt-text: downloading instagram app on mobile

You ought to just remark on photographs that were posted inside of the most recent day or two, and that have under 5 remarks. In the event that there are 50 different remarks as of now, the chances are that no one will see your remark. This technique may appear like a considerable measure of work, however, it would not take you long to leave attentive remarks on IconoSquare.

Tip 14: Post Frequently, But Not Too Much

Not at all like the trick systems that a few individuals choose to pick up followers on Instagram, this strategy will just get you genuine followers who really need to see your photographs and who will keep on captivating with them after some time.

Tip 15: Keep Your Followers Engaged

There is no reason for making an account on Instagram unless you keep your supporters connected with, and the most vital thing you can do is post fantastic photographs all the time. You ought to attempt to post consistently, additionally recollect that quality dependably beats amount.

Tip 16: No Filter Is The Best Filter

Alt-text: nofilter-instagram-frame

Then again, on the off chance that you post various photographs without a moment’s delay, there is a decent risk that you will irritate some of your followers who will unfollow you on the grounds that they would prefer not to see such a variety of photographs from you with so many filters. To verify that does not happen, you ought to spread out your posts equitably and never post more than one photograph inside of a six hour period using not-to-many filters.

Tip 17: Follow Others

After you have enough followers, start following them. This will give your followers an impression that you are even interested in their pictures. Like back for a like. Follow back for follow!

Tip 18: Have A Shtick

Truly effective Instagram accounts have a tendency to stick to a topic: a planner who posts in the background looks into the style business; a sustenance craftsman who does astonishing things with rice and string beans; a world voyager with a whirlwind of previews from Paris, Portugal and Peru; a tricky celebrity over the top; and, obviously, a plenitude of adorable puppies and little cats.

Tip 19: Stick To A Schedule

Alt-text: follow a schedule to post on instagram

It is imperative that your supporters know when to expect another picture. “In case it will be day by day, you need to post day by day,” Dasher told The Huffington Post. “Your gathering of people will expect that cadence.”

Tip 20: Host Contests

Lee likewise adheres to a day by day plan holding contests for followers. “On the off chance that I upgrade my account once per week or an excess of at once then vanish for quite a long time, it is impossible that I can fabricate a devoted following,” she told Huffington Post in an email.

Tip 21: Do Not Be Boring

On the off chance that individuals are going to your account for photographs of your frowny-confronted little cat, you most likely would prefer not to toss in a photo of your morning soy latte. Yet, giving the individuals what they need does not need to mean posting the same photographs of nightfalls and cityscapes again and again and over.

Tip 22: Complete Your Biography

Alt-text: Neil Patel Instagram Bio

“The most exceedingly terrible thing for me is to take a gander at my own food and be exhausted,” said Ketron. “I realize what kind of photograph is going to get more likes, yet despite everything I do my best to make presents that I need to see and offer. I like symmetry, I like lines, I like structures. Be that as it may, I do not care if I do not shoot scenes or pictures too.”

Tip 23: Fine, You Can Use A Bunch Of Hashtags

It is simple for a themed Instagram account to become dreary, yet being a travel picture taker implies that you dependably have something new and diverse to share – and that is the thing that a group of people needs. Considerably, use a bunch of hashtags with a couple fan workmanship photographs.

Tip 24: Use Interesting Hashtags

Alt-text: using interesting Instagram hashtags

Hashtags are seen as a definitive approach to get more eyeballs on your post, however, they do not essentially hold individuals returning for additional. Our Instagram specialists have a tendency to shun regular hashtags like #dog or #love, on the grounds that, as Ketron called attention to, “In case I am going to post a photograph of a bicycle, why might I hashtag it #bicycle? There are actually a huge number of photographs with that hashtag.”

Tip 25: Interact With Your Audience

Regardless of the possibility that you are not a slave to the omnipotent “like,” you ought to fare there well to recognize your gathering of people somehow. “I’m deliberate about reacting [to commenters], despite the fact that I am not ready to react to everyone,” Dasher said. “I need them to realize that I welcome them.”

What number of followers do you have on Instagram? What is the best strategy you have used to pull in followers? Do you follow back? Tell us in the comments!

Happy Instagramming, everyone!

about pinterest

Everything You Need to Know About Pinterest!

by BusinessSocial MediaTechnology

I created my first Pinterest account in the later days of July. To be honest, I didn’t even know pinterest was undergoing any changes. I was just going with the flow and doing what I thought was acceptable. Soon enough, I was having loads of problems, from account suspensions to blockings and low impressions, I knew I had to do more intensive research. Through this research, I came across some really helpful answers which I have compiled into a blog post.

Pinterest has undergone numerous changes throughout the years and it sometimes gets hard to keep up with all the demanding changes! For this reason, I made a simple to read and understand guide on the do’s and don’ts of new pinterest.

Why are your impressions dropping on Pinterest?

Alt-text: how to fix reducing impressions in pinterest

Pinterest impressions are a metric used by Pinterest to calculate how many views your pins are getting. They are also used to determine which groups of people relate to your pins the most and which seasons your pins do well in. Due to recent changes, people are experiencing dropping impressions, so below is the reason for this:

According to an email received from pinterest themselves, the reason most of our impressions are falling is not because we are being penalized! In the letter pinterest suggested that the impressions of pins may differ from time to time depending on the season or importance.

Also read 5 Best Infographics Maker Tools.

Alt-text: email about pinterest reducing impressions

 

De-indexed Pinterest Accounts:

Other unlikely possibilities may be that your pins have been deindexed! Interesting right? De-indexed pins simply mean that Pinterest has flagged your account as being really spammy and the penalty is more dangerous than it actually seems!

De-indexing behaves as if blocking and suspension had a very subtle pin killing baby! You lose all your impressions very quickly and they remain very low as they are only seen by your followers! If nothing is done quickly, your pins are automatically removed from pinterest!

How to know if you are being de-indexed on Pinterest?

De-indexing, as I said earlier, is very subtle and easy to miss. To find out if you are a victim, intentionally look for your pins in the my pins section in the search bar. Try almost all keywords you have used as well. If you notice any missing pins, contact pinterest and hope they reply!

With the amount of emails they are receiving from frustrated pinners it won’t be surprising if you get a reply next year! Happy Christmas though!!

Pinterest tips to keep your impressions up:

Alt-text: tips to get more traffic on  pinterest

One thing I want to tell you about Pinterest is that it has undergone a lot of changes within this year and many people, like me, didn’t get that memo earlier on which has affected us drastically. Luckily, these tips I came across are not too hard to implement. After a lot of reading and watching, here is a more detailed and helpful analysis and overview of the new recommended practices for pinterest success.

1. Think like your readers:

I know the title sounds a bit bland but just read this. With the recent increase in the number of monthly pinterest users and new accounts, pinterest is now shifting their focus on their average pinners who are looking for something to engage with. For bloggers and other content creators who use pinterest as a major source of traffic, the average pinner here is your follower! So the more people (followers) engage with your pin the more your pins get distributed. They want people to be presented with informative, actionable and helpful pins that they actually want to see.

All this is an attempt to increase the average user’s experience and keep them coming back for more. Remember, they have tight competition with other large companies  as well (Google, Facebook and YouTube) so if this is what they have to do to earn more and keep users from going to these other sources for what they can also provide, then they will do it. They are not giving much chance to pins that no one actually cares about so don’t waste your time as well.

BEFORE YOU CREATE A POST OR PIN FOR PINTEREST, KINDLY ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS:

~ Who are the readers/customers i am targeting and what do i want to achieve with this pin?

~ Is it attractive, encouraging, informative, actionable or bananas?

~ Will pinterest appreciate this pin? Will my followers and board followers want or need this pin?

If you are able to answer these simply then you are through with the first stage of pinterest pin success.

2. The more relevant it is to your followers the better:

Pinterest came out with some quite disturbing news this year which is really rocking the boats of new and relatively small accounts. This site that used to not place a teaspoon of importance on followers is now placing a full barrel. It was announced that, from whenever they decided, every fresh pin you post would automatically be shown to your followers first. The rate at which your followers engage with that pin would also determine the distribution you can get.

This simply means if your followers don’t like it then they are not going to invest as much impressions into it. This rule is practiced not only by Pinterest. On YouTube for example, the first people that know of the existence of your newly released video are your subscribers and they are used as a pre-test (if that is a word) to see how other people will react to your post.

TO EASILY PUT THIS TIP TO USE, ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS:

~ What has worked for my followers before and what is working now?

~ What are other pinners in my niche doing or trying?

~ How are new pinners in my niche fairing and what can I learn from them?

3. New pinterest is all about new/fresh pins:

Alt-text: fresh pins on Pinterest

Take this into consideration!

As this email emphasizes, pinterest is now placing more importance on what they now call fresh pins! To be honest I was a bit confused at first and really horrified as well. But as I did more research it wasn’t as scary as it seemed any more!

Pinterest is increasingly prioritizing fresh content for distribution as today’s Pinners respond most strongly to fresh content. Pinterest’s algorithm favors content that’s relevant and timely, so creating more fresh Pins means more exposure for you to your followers, in users’ home feeds, and in search results — helping you to maximize your reach and traffic potential on Pinterest. 

What are fresh pins in a nutshell?

Fresh pins basically mean a new image or video that leads to a newly published post or url that isn’t already on pinterest. Also, and gratefully, fresh pins can also be new images or videos for old urls that are performing well. New URLs here mean blog posts or products that do not have a pin already linking back to it. Old URLs in this context means blog posts or products that have a pin already linking to it.

YOU MIGHT CONSIDER CREATING FRESH PINS FOR:

~ Old pins that have been performing really well.

~ High quality landing pages and email forms.

How to keep on creating more fresh pins:

Personally, the first thing I do is read through my finished blog post and look for recurring words and sentences. After doing this, I go onto Google and Pinterest and sometimes YouTube and search for those keywords and see what images show up. I look for inspiration from these images and go onto canva.com, my favourite tool, and start my creation process. With every pin, I make sure to elaborate some popular keywords I found in my searches.

Since these pins are being created for pinterest, i make sure and i also recommend that these special keywords are placed in strategic points (middle or upper part of the pin) to ensure that they are viewable by the visual searcher on pinterest. This will ensure that your pins are found in the related section below the pin or visual search results section.

●You can also include quotes, tips or titles from the blog post when creating the pin.

What pinterest considers a fresh pin and what they don’t:

For a pin to be considered as fresh on pinterest, it must check most of these requirements:

1. It must have a good stock image.

2. The templates must be different from other previously published pins leading to that url. You can find easy to customize templates on Canva!

3. Different colour combinations and illustrations that give off a different effect.

4. Different font, text and text positions

Alt-text: 10 things I wish I knew about pinterest earlie

Alt-text: 10 things to know about pinterest before starting

Below are characteristics of so called “fresh pins” that won’t make the cut:

1. Slightly shifting the image to the left or right without any other major changes.

2. Moving texts up, down, left or right and passing it as a new pin.

3. Using the same pin but pinning to a different board with a different title or descriptions.

4. The quality of your pin is much more important than the quantity:

Pinterest has now decided to place more importance on the quality of your pin. What then do they mean by the quality of a pin? This simply means, if you can’t provide pinterest with good and necessarily fresh then don’t pin as much as you used to. It is that simple right. By reducing the number of pins you publish daily to personal, fresh and diverse pins only, you increase the distribution of your pins which leads to more traffic!

For your pins to be considered as quality pins they must be fresh. This however doesn’t mean throw up some horrible mess and call it a pin. This rule also reduces the effectiveness of Duplicate and Stolen Pins.

What are Duplicate and Stolen pins ?

Duplicate pins are pins that have been shared by a pinner to so many boards usually under a very short period of time. Pinterest has been requesting for more fresh pins so if you go around re-pinning the same old pins then you’ll get less distribution.

Stolen pins, however, are pins that are published on pinterest with the same design, lettering, fonts and colour combinations. These pins usually have the text and text layout to be the difference. This mostly results when people purchase or use a template and make no other changes or tweaks to the pin. Similar pins that lead to a similar content on different blogs may also be considered stolen pins. This usually occurs when people download already pinned images and reuse them for their blog posts.

HERE ARE TYPICAL EXAMPLES:

Alt-text: example of a duplicate or stolen pin

Alt-text: example of a duplicate pin on Pinterest

This is real though!!

Pinterest is making more attempts to punish lazy pinterest creators with these new rules and promote more diversity for the average pinner. If you need more help in creating pins in general or on Canva then sign up to my email list.

 

5. Pinterest favours video pins and story pins:

Pinterest is now investing more in story pins and video pins. Mainly because they are more attractive and fun to watch. You can also see the rise in popularity of tik tok styled videos as a sign that you need to level up.

Tik tok styled videos have been popularised and i believe that soon enough Pinterest is going to release features similar to that just like Instagram has done with the reels. With this in mind, adding video pins to your pinterest strategy is the best move to make. I easily create video pins like the one below by using Canva.

Still struggling with creating attractive and interesting video pins for pinterest? Simply join my Make Canva Easy Email list to get the inside scoop on how to create click-worthy designs that drive traffic.  You’ll also be treated to some tips and tricks used by some of the best bloggers around.

What are story pins?

Pinterest Story pins are ways through which pinterest users can share their ideas and pins simply. Although it has different characteristics, story pins can be described as the pinterest versions of status (WhatsApp) and stories or highlights (Instagram). Your pinterest story is whatever you want it to be. Be it book lists, ingredients, supplies or product lists. With a Pinterest Business account, you can use story pins to record videos, create lists, add images and most importantly grow your followers!

To get access to story pins, you must request for early access from pinterest.

Pinterest allows a maximum of 20 pages and a minimum of 2 pages for every story you create and it is advisable to make stories at least 5-8 pages long. This ensures that your story is long enough to convey your message yet short enough to keep people intrigued.

6. Pin and Repin the right way:

Alt-text: right way to pin on Pinterest

PIN ME!!

I have gone on and on about fresh pins in the posts above but to be honest, none of it would matter if you are not pinning the right way! My pinterest journey has been rough since the very beginning, in order to cope and get ahead I had to avoid some tips and remind myself of so many facts.

Below are the best and most recommended practices for pinners you should definitely try from now onwards:

Best pinning practices for a new url:

1. Create at least 3-6 new/fresh pins for a new url you are publishing on pinterest.

2. Do your seo research and select at least one keyword you want each different pin to rank for. Allowing each pin to rank for a different search result will increase your chances of getting more traffic and site visitors.

*I will recommend pinning every pin with a new title and pin descriptions to help it rank for different keywords.

3. Ensure that every pin is different from your other pins to create a more interesting and diverse account.

Best pinning practices for old urls:

1. Do not pin old images with a different title or pin descriptions (that is still not a fresh pin, it is a duplicate.)

2. Create at least 2 fresh pins each month for pins that perform really well.

3. Do not attempt to create a redirect to old posts in the name of making fresh pins as it is considered spammy and your pin will lose impressions.

Right pinning practices concerning boards:

1. Pin each pin to at least 8 – 10 of your most relevant boards first. Pin to the boards with the closest connection to the keyword you want to rank for.

2. When pinning manually, do not pin from one board to another directly on pinterest, you need to re-upload the pin in order to pin to different boards. To simplify this simply, I recommend using an automaton like Tailwind or Ninja Pinner.

3. Do not schedule to re-pin a duplicate pin to a different board on the same day. The recommended space to be given while pinning a duplicate pin is 24 – 48 hours.

4. Pin at least one fresh pin to one board each day.

5. The recommended amount of pins to post each day is 50 pins and the majority of those pins should be from your personal blog or your own content.

6. Always pin to personal boards first before pinning to other relevant group boards.

Using automatons to get the best out of pinterest:

If you have been on pinterest for a while then you have probably heard of automatons like Tailwind, Ninja pinner, Viralwoot, sprout social and hootsuite. What these technological helpers do is to help pinners keep up with their pinning schedule without any struggles. You can use these tools if you have a busy schedule or you just feel really lazy. I use tailwind to stay up to date with my pinterest strategy and it has helped a lot over these few months. It has tons of tools I adore like the smart guide, tailwind tribes and the analytics.

How I use tailwind smart guide to assist me while pinning:

Tailwind SmartGuide is a set of rules that helps tailwind users make the right pinning choices and decisions to gain maximum benefits while on pinterest.

Alt-text: Tailwind SmartGuide about Pinterest

This super tool aids in reminding you to create fresh content, helps you avoid spammy practices and flagging you when you are making risky account decisions. The Tailwind SmartGuide is in response to Pinterest’s new best practices for users. The tailwind SmartGuide will also suggest easy fixes to help you maintain a healthy queue of scheduled Pins. If you’re scheduling a healthy volume of pins and sticking to the latest Pinterest guidelines then you will see the All Clear SmartGuide badge.

Common pinterest questions many people have:

Alt-text: common questions about Pinterest with their answers

PIN ME!!

Below are answers to the most common questions that are being asked by pinners. Hopefully my answer will help out a lot of pinners who are not sure what to do with pinterest anymore.

Q: What is happening with pinterest and will pinterest still be helpful to bloggers and sellers? Should we be worried?

I dare say pinterest will continue to work the same for a long time with or without constant algorithm change. Mostly, I tend to think of all of this as a way through which Pinterest discovers itself and it’s potential for both the users and its owners. What most bloggers and sellers fear the most is that they may not have the capacity to create new blog posts, products or ideas through which they can market their work. Pinterest, like any other, is run like a business. And like a business their main goal is to serve and earn as well, and these two go hand in hand.

What is presently happening is like a test to see how people will react to their changes. If the response is positive then it will remain but if negative then there will be a switch up. There have been many examples of these on pinterest, Like the hashtags.

If the response of the majority is good then you’ll have to do the switch up and do your research or else pinterest won’t work for your blog or your product like you want it to. I believe no matter the circumstances there should be no need to worry at all.

Q: What happens when you are trying to change the content to write about?

With the recent change in emphasis of a person’s following, people trying to change or branch into other niches (like myself) may not appreciate it at all. But just like with every situation there is always light at the end of the, seemingly long, tunnel. With the majority of my followers interested in book reviews and book lists and all my boards focusing on books, it was a bit tricky so I found a new way.

With every new, I made it a point to make it related to my followers and group boards followers. For example, I made a post on Ten things I wish everyone knew about pinterest and in order to attract my followers and have my pin accepted to the group board, i created a pin with the title, Ten things i wish book bloggers knew about pinterest. By finding a link between my new content and my followers I killed three birds with only one stone!

Q: Do group boards and tailwind tribes still matter?

Group boards have played a crucial role in the success of my pins today. It has helped me make friends on pinterest who share and support my work while helping me get my content to a wider audience. Although group boards are sometimes misused, I still believe it should be included in your pinterest strategy. If you follow my rules on pinning to boards, you can make the best out of your group board.

Tailwind tribes on the other hand somehow act like Pinterest group boards. If the person re-pinning your pin follows the correct pinning practices then you both get to benefit from tailwind! Tailwind tribes also help to drive traffic to content even without getting re-shares. This is because tailwind members can visit your content directly from the site!

Q: What happens if you have no or little followers? How do I build my followers quickly?

Pinterest success is generally slow but luckily, followers are not used to measure the success of a user. To simply get followers you can use Media Mister but I recommend using the old methods, that is, pinning, joining group boards and following people you love.

Q:  Pinterest wants story pins but what happens if it isn’t available in your country?

Story pins are a work in progress and Pinterest wants to ensure that it can provide maximum benefits to its users before they make it available to everyone. It really doesn’t impact you negatively if you don’t have them but while waiting for pinterest to make it available to everyone, i suggest creating more posts and pins and improving your pinterest marketing strategy.

Q: How should I brand my pins if all of them have to be different?

Remember, branding doesn’t necessarily mean publishing the same pins over and over again with different texts. Just because other bigger sites do this doesn’t make it right. Pinterest is changing fast and in order to stay ahead, it’s better to take their directives. In order to still brand your pins on pinterest, you can include your logo at the top, middle or bottom centre of your pin where the visual search can find it. In this way, other pins with your logo will appear!

You can simply upload your logo and add them to every pin you create using canva! Try out Canva Pro Today!!

Q: How many pins should I create and how many boards should I pin each to and at what intervals?

For every post or content, I recommend creating a maximum of seven pins with different keywords. Pin to your personal board first and make sure the keyword is related to that board and pin each pin to a maximum of ten boards. For every particular pin, a twenty four hour interval should be observed before pinning that same pin to a different board.

Q: Do I have to pin at specific times?

No, you don’t. This advice is very shallow and really not helpful at all. You can pin at any time you want as long as you observe the right pinning practices.

Q: Should I delete under performing pins to increase my monthly viewers?

I don’t think that would be necessary. Some pins take a maximum of a year to obtain its maximum views and deleting them will make it impossible. Instead of deleting such pins, I will advise you to create more visually appealing pins to balance it out. In doing so, you make Pinterest happy!

Q: How do I get my content across to people who don’t follow me?

Tailwind Tribes can help you get your content out to different people who don’t follow you, that is, if your pin is re-shared. Group boards are also great for reaching new audiences.

Q: Why are my old pins performing better than my new ones?

Your old pins are probably performing way better because you followed the right pinning practices during the time it was published and so Pinterest is rewarding you for that. Your new pins are doing much worse because you are still following the old pinning practices you used and that is not going to end well for you.

Another reason may be because your old pin is more informative or beneficial to users and your new ones are not. Or your pins are not as attractive as your old pins and for that reason there are low engagements.

Q: Does pinterest hate me and my content?

Most probably not. They just reward people who follow their rules so you should probably do that.

Q: Why do my pins have 1000 impressions one day and 0 the next day?

Pinterest impressions are constantly refreshed so your pin may have 2000 impressions on some days and the next time you check it is at 0.

Q: I just started blogging and I already feel like giving up because my main source of traffic is tanking. What should I do?

Most new bloggers make the mistake of placing all their eggs in only one basket so when they all get broken, they start to lose hope. There are tons of other apps or networks you can use to promote your content so don’t stick with only one! Sign Up to my newsletter to find out the best sites to promote your work!

Q: I create fresh pins (new url+ new images) . I even rank well in the searches but my impressions are still low. Any reasons why?

You may rank for something but if it isn’t being searched for then you won’t get any traffic. As i said earlier, Fresh pins don’t necessarily mean throwing together a bunch of ugly images and text, pinterest won’t reward you for that. So you may create fresh pins but if it isn’t beautiful and of great quality you still get no points.

Also, if you create tons of fresh pins but don’t pin them correctly, it negatively affects those pins.

Q: I sell products through pinterest so how can i keep my pins fresh without creating new urls or blog posts?

Fresh pins doesn’t necessarily mean a new url. You can create multiple beautiful pins for the same url to keep it fresh.

how-to-publish-the-articles-frequently

9 Steps to Publish Articles Frequently To Drive More Traffic

by BusinessDigital MarketingTechnology

The next big thing you would be struggling with starting a blog is to publish articles consistently.

I have seen many bloggers not being consistent with blog posting and waiting for a miracle to happen and boost site traffic. If you are not consistently publishing articles, there are a few chances of building your audience and ranking on search results. And there are some people who publish content every day without knowing the tricks of getting more visitors.

There are a lot of things you need to do, and I have listed them below to make your content creation process easier.  You might be familiar with a few of the things but I am sure, you are still unaware of the gems.  

1. Coming up with content ideas

Alt-text: explore-the-trend-on-the-internet-to-get-the-latest-content-ideas

Your content idea is the first thing you need to care about to publish articles frequently. You should be aware of what your audience is searching for and how you are going to solve their problem.

Once you know the niche you are writing about, you can search for where the audience exists on the web.

Quora: Quora is the biggest online community where you find the best answers to any question. Find out what people are asking and how you are going to write content around the topics.

Google trends: See the latest trends and the most popular search terms on google. The graph is the most important thing to see as it shows the popularity of the topic by time.

Buzzsumo: Search for the top content in your niche that is being shared most on social media. This will give you an idea of popular topics that actually work.

In the same way, you can look for other communities and forums where your audience exists for coming up with content ideas.

2. Keyword research

Alt-text: keyword-research-is-a-crucial-step-to-make-a-blog-popular

Keyword research is the most important step you should never miss if you want to publish articles that more and more people are searching for. Once you get the topic idea, you should then search for how people will actually find your content. You should be thinking of the terms people will search to discover your content.

Brainstorming: Think about the terms that people will look up for and jot them down in an excel sheet. Don’t just think about the exact words but go for long-tail keywords.

Semrush: Once you complete the brainstorming process, enter each word on this tool and check for the number of searches. I personally use this tool as it gives the related keywords and the content that is already ranking.

If your site is new, it’s a bit difficult to compete with high-volume keywords. A good option is to look for low-volume and long-tail keywords. Choose less competitive keywords and add more related keywords that you think fit best for your content.

Keyword planner: Keyword planner is another popular tool to see the search volume for different keywords. Enter the keywords from your excel sheet and look for which keyword is being searched the most.

Once you have analyzed all the keywords, choose the keyword you think is the best fit. If you still have doubts about selecting the right keywords, I suggest you go through the keyword research process.

3. Writing an attractive title

Coming up with a great title takes equal time to spend time writing the whole content. You should not take this lightly. After spending enough time and still not getting a good title, use the below tools to Analytics Help to publish articles with an attractive and catchy title.

  1. Portent content idea generator
  2. Awesome title generator
  3. Tweak your biz title generator
  4. SemRush Title Generator

Here is an alternative way to come up with effective article topics.

4. Choosing a header image

Alt-text: a-good-header-image-increases-ctr

You all would agree with the fact that choosing a great header image really works if your title isn’t strong enough. Title and header image are the only things people see when you share content on social media. So, always try to create a header image that attracts attention and compels people to click.

5. Go through the Grammar checker

Once you are done with writing, make sure your content isn’t full of grammatical errors. Nobody would like to read your content even if it is full of jewels.

Grammarly: Download this tool on your PC and make a habit of checking grammar before publishing your content.

6. Optimize the images before you upload

Alt-text: compress-the-images-in-the-blog-to-optimize-the-content

Nobody likes to wait for your content to load. Before you publish articles on your website, the best practice is to optimize your images before uploading them to the server. This reduces the size of your images and loads pages faster. Below are the two best tools you need to bookmark for your future use.

  1. Compressor.io
  2. Tinypng.com

For large size header images, I suggest you compress with compressior.io first and then with tinypng. For any other image, just go with compressor.io.

Use copyright-free images while creating your article. There are lots of free and paid copyright-free images tools available. Here is the best copyright-free images site list you can check.

7. Optimize your content (On-site optimization)

When your draft is ready, don’t just hit the publish button. The important thing is to optimize your content for search results. Make sure to add the keyword in your title, URL, and the first 100 words of your article. If you are running a WordPress site, I suggest you use the Yoast plugin.  

8. Promote your content

Alt-text: promote-your-articles-through-social-media

Once you hit the publish button, don’t just close your laptop. This is the time to apply the 80/20 rule to your content creation and promotion strategies.

Buffer: Save time by using a buffer. This is very useful for scheduling and promoting your content to multiple platforms simultaneously.

9. Measure the results

Alt-text: measuring-the-results-of-blog-performance

Now it’s time to see the results. Which is the most popular content and where in the world your targeted audience exists.

Google Analytics: Google Analytics is one of the best tools to analyze your site traffic. Using this tool, you can see the top content on your site, your website’s daily visitors, audience location, and much more.

Conclusion

So far you have come to know that creating content does need great effort and time. But by using the tools I mentioned above can make your life easier and save time to generate more content.

If you have read up to this point, allow me to say thanks and comment below with your favorite tools which you think I have missed.

: an-entrepreneur-needs-to-seek-outside-help

5 REASONS AN ENTREPRENEUR NEEDS TO HIRE OUTSIDE HELP

by BusinessOther

Most entrepreneurs work from home and by themselves when they’re starting out. Being an entrepreneur is more than a 40-hour-per-week job. Sometimes, you need help with your work, but you don’t want to hire someone full time. Instead of trying to handle everything in your business by yourself, the following five reasons may convince you to let go and hire some outside help.

To Deal With Finances

deal-with-finances-to-analyze-business-growth

As an entrepreneur, giving up any amount of control in your business can be hard. Preparing business taxes is often one of the first tasks entrepreneurs subcontract because tax preparation can be a time-consuming task, with processing payroll being another time-involved chore.

You should hire outside help to take care of finances because the support will ease stress and help you focus on improving your products and services. Hiring a business coach can also help you learn where to focus your attention.

To Help With Periods of Heavy Sales

an-entrepreneur-monitoring-sales-of-is-business

Most businesses experience fluctuations in sales throughout the year. This scenario is especially true when selling seasonal products and services. When your business enters a period of heavy sales, hiring outside help to handle the transactions is a lifesaver, especially if you get extra customer service help, shipping and handling labor, or an account executive who handles sales.

As an entrepreneur, consider turning to a temp agency to help you fill temporary roles in your company.

To Increase Your Website Traffic

increase-your-website-traffic-to-boost-your-sales

Website marketing is another area where entrepreneurs can hire outside help. Page rank success is not something you can attain overnight, and you have much to learn. Networking system also helps to your business here you can learn how to build your networking strategy.

Instead of trying to expand your business and learn SEO overnight, hire a professional to handle your website marketing so that you can focus on business operations. You can find businesses that can help you improve the design treatment of your website, increase your website traffic, handle content marketing, monitor your analytics, and improve your site’s SEO rankings.

To Handle Marketing and Advertising

marketers-handle-marketing-and-advertising-of-the-business

Every entrepreneur starting out knows that you can’t grow a business without focusing some attention on marketing and advertising. Here is where outside help is useful. You can hire someone to analyze your audience and then create a marketing plan that will convert leads to sales. Marketing and advertising can involve areas ranging from television commercials and online ads to print media.

To Receive Customer Service Calls

employees-receive-customer-service-calls

As you gain more and more customers, your need for customer service representatives also grows. You never know when customers will call in with a question or complain about something with your products or services that dissatisfied them.

As an entrepreneur, you can’t be tied to your phone all day resolving customer issues. Instead, you can subcontract your customer service responsibilities if you hire outside help. You can find many businesses that specifically handle customer service for other companies.

When you reach a point in your business where you can’t do everything yourself, you’re on your way to success. Stop trying to control everything and consider hiring outside help for the tasks that tie you down. If you can’t hire full-time employees, look for business services and software that can help you fill some roles.

networking strategy

How to build your networking strategy: Overview

by BusinessOtherTechnology

If you read any site or book about networking, you will hear that you have to get a networking strategy or purpose to network efficiently.  However, how many times have you seen an article taking you to step by step through how to make your media strategy?  Or one that is solely focused on the special requirements of coaches?

 Everyone, if we realize it or not, is networking all the time and has got their own network. Let us be fair here, networking is just the process of communication to another person, be it via a telephone call, email, letter, face-to-face assembly, Twitter, site comment, or Facebook status update.

However, when I use the word media, what instantly comes into mind?  I bet it is not anything related to LinkedIn!  So many coaches equate networking with operating the space.  Not just any old area; one filled with strangers, topped off with dread, dread, and some hot white wine and curled-up dry sandwiches…

Also, read Best Top 10 Android Apps Must Know.

In fact, working in the area is only a small portion of effective business networking. Successful small business networking is the practice of finding, building, and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships. It’s this definition that offers the framework for designing your personal networking strategy.

“A clear and concise personal networking strategy will permit you to make the choices as to what networking activities you will do, i.e. your networking plan. If you implement your media program, you will, if it goes to plan, reach your networking goals.”

If the definition of successful business networking provides the frame for your personal networking plan, what exactly do we really mean by a media strategy?  A networking strategy details how you will achieve your goals via your media activities. A very clear and concise private networking strategy will allow you to make the choices as to what media activities you will do, i.e. your media plan.

If you implement your networking plan, you will, if it all goes to plan, achieve your media objectives. It’s this absence of a joined-up, well-thought-through personal networking strategy that leads to a lot of coaches failing to network effectively.

There are five phases to creating an effective networking strategy.

Five Steps To Creating an effective networking strategy

Stage 1

Create your media targets – i.e. what do you need to attain as a consequence of your networking activities. Are you wanting to win new business? Locate other coaches to collaborate with, or find your next role?

Stage 2

Audit – i.e. evaluate the suitability of your current network, networking activities, keeping in touch strategies, to help you attain your networking objectives.

Period 3

Find – i.e., who do you have to fulfill, and where and how are you going to fulfill them. Will you bump into them on LinkedIn, Twitter, or by becoming a member of your regional CIPD branch?

Period 4

Build – i.e. what are you going to do in order to advance the connection from just a name, to a deep, strong, and highly beneficial relationship?  How are you going to choose who to deepen the connection with?  What will be your criteria for, A or C-listers or that introducers will be on your internal,’ center’ or outer circle’? How will you define what you mean by an internal,’ middle’ or outer circle’?

Stage 5

Keep – i.e. what will you do to keep your relationships ticking over?  After all, if your network never learns from you or sees you, then the relationship will gradually wither and perish.  

If you want to protect your business then must read this blog.

Conclusion

Should you finish each phase, your networking program will almost write itself. The difference between your networking strategy and media plan is:

Your media technique tells you’how’ you will achieve your media objectives, whereas your networking program is what you may perform on a daily, weekly, monthly basis along with also the projects/campaigns you’ll run to achieve your media objectives.

In another article in this series on building a personal networking strategy, we will have a look at the first phase in the process – defining your networking goals.