So you’ve made it through writing your guest post! You’re in the home stretch now and there’s only one thing standing in the way of you and getting your contribution published – the author bio.
Compared to the body of your article, the author bio is a relatively small part with only a few words. For many guest blogging campaigns, however, it’s one of the most important parts of your contribution. Your author bio needs to convince readers to follow the plan you envision for them. The problem though is that it needs to pack it all into just a sentence or two. This makes crafting the perfect author bio vital to the success of your guest post campaign.
Consider Your Goals
Just as how your articles should be in line with the goals of your guest blogging campaign, your author bios should follow suit. The needs and style of your author bios can differ from goal to goal.
For example, if you’re guest posting to build a relationship with bloggers in your industry, the author bio isn’t hugely important. If you’re attempting to drive traffic to your website, however, the author bio should entice readers to visit your landing page.
Avoid Overly-Promotional Bylines
Your author bio isn’t just a text space to stuff with links. Likewise, it’s not just free advertising space. Bloggers and readers both dislike overly-promotional author bios, so take caution to avoid them in your guest posts.
The best author bios are the ones that show how readers will benefit by clicking through to your landing page without extra advertising fluff. Convince visitors why your company is the perfect choice for solving their problems rather than telling them how great it is.
But Don’t Forget a Call to Action
The author bio of a guest post is also likely your last chance to convert readers into visitors to your site. Too often, guest bloggers create weak author bios that just tell a little bit about them and their company. Even though it shouldn’t be overly-promotional, it should have a strong call to action.
For most goals not implementing of a strong call to action is effectively like wasting all of the work you’ve done so far. Sure, you might produce a great, well-received article. But if few of the readers click on your links, then your results will be minimal.
Your call to action should tell readers what you want them to do next. Are you offering a free report for signing up on your landing page? Make sure you use your author bio to tell readers to click through and why it will be beneficial to them (they’ll get additional free information)
For the campaigns focused on building relationships with bloggers and showcasing expertise in your field, a call to action isn’t highly critical in achieving your goals, but can still be an added benefit to your efforts.
Don’t Just Link to Your Landing Page
Most bloggers will allow you to place 1-2 links in your guest posts’ author bio. Take advantage of this to link to more than just your site. Use these extra opportunities to provide readers with links to your social media profiles. Depending on the goals of your campaign, these could be for your business or for you personally.
When building credibility and establishing expertise, you should link to your personal profiles on professional social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter.
If you’re trying to increase brand awareness, promoting your company’s page on Facebook or Pinterest may yield the best results.
Linking to your Google+ page in your author bio can also be a way to set up Google authorship for your guest posts for enhanced search engine results.
Writing your author bio is the last part of creating a great guest blogging contribution. The bio is very important for the goals of most campaigns as it’s a way to recommend what actions readers should take next. Without a short, efficient author bio and a strong call to action, even the best articles can fail to generate substantial results. Take the time needed to create the perfect bio for every article by focusing on your goals, the guest post’s subject and what would appeal to the blog’s target demographic.
Being a beginner on pinterest is quite daunting. I remember not knowing anything about this visual world. It was a little difficult for me to start as a beginner. Following wrong or poorly explained pinterest marketing advice, I got my account blocked in the first week! From there I started to look more into pinterest marketing and started my journey afresh!
Combined with my experiences and top notch advice from other amazing content creators, I went from the naive pinner who followed every tip and got herself blocked to a steadily growing pinner!
From my experiences, I compiled a list of pinterest tips and advice to avoid at all cost! They are damaging and may result in total pinterest failure!
Alt-text: pinterest marketing tips to avoid
NO FOLLOW TIPS:
1. Create pins that are visually appealing to females!
I believe you already know what is wrong with this tip. It is true that 71% of pinterest users are females and 60% of new sign ups are males but this doesn’t necessarily mean you should create pins for only that 71%
What about the 29% of male users on the platform? If everyone is creating pins for the larger half of the pie then where/who will the 29% turn to?
Make pins that appeal to all audiences, you can do this simply with Canva which I adore. You may never know which demographic your source of traffic may come from so treat every pinterest user as a piece of special family heirloom you may never want to lose and you’ll start seeing good results?
If your main target is the female audience, go right ahead and serve them with your pins. However, If your company or business serves both sides, don’t miss out on this opportunity to really serve both!
2. Repin all your pins or Pin to as many boards as you can:
Here is one thing my short and turbulent arrival on pinterest marketing has taught me:
Never pin from your own personal boards to anotherboard!
This has been proven to reduce engagement time and I can testify to that. After I got my account unsuspended, I got back to my old pinterest ways due to lack of information!
I used to pin every single pin of mine manually to all my boards. Not long after, I witnessed my pins dropping from their hundreds of daily impressions to one or zero. Then unfortunately, I got my account blocked! From there I created my new account which is doing successfully well!
Secondly, please don’t pin too many boards. It doesn’t matter if you are a member of 1000 boards, which is not possible, Pinterest now recommends that its users avoid sharing the same pin to more than 10 different boards.
Disobey Pinterest and they reduce your pins potential leading to low views and engagement! So simple.
Pin all your pins from the site or album directly. This is an accepted practice by Pinterest (although no one knows why!)
You can also go in for smart pin schedulers like Tailwind. I use tailwind and it has great and amazing benefits for all users. From analytics to tailwind share tribes, it is the perfect tool for beginners! Another cheap yet reliable auto pinner with multiple functions is Ninja pinner!
I will recommend these two for anyone beginning on pinterest! About pinning to group boards, it is a recommended practice to pin to your best group boards.
3. Follow as many people as you can so they will follow back!
This is just a no! I tried this and I got blocked! This was part of the reasons for my account suspension so just don’t try it!
Similar: Get as many followers as you can to increase reach!
Yes! The more followers you have, the more people your pin may reach. The problem here is the incomplete advice or tip this creator is giving.
Alt-text: pinterest marketing tips to get more followers
First of all, only newbie pinterest users or failing pinterest users will look for and engage with such posts on this topic so this tip is actually useless unless they provide a magic tap through which you can quickly fetch thousands of followers.
The reason I disagree with this tip is that it leads to frustration and self hate. New and desperate pinners want to find ways to increase their reach so suggesting that getting followers is the only way out is a NO BRAINER!
Plus, getting lots of followers on any social platform is not the only way to get engagement. I know people with lots of followers who barely get any recognition!
CORRECTION:
Follow people whose pins you love or relate to. It is not everyone you should follow, it doesn’t matter how many followers they may have!
Pin posts you love and enjoy to gradually build your following and reach. It may take time but that is life and as long as you love what you do, nothing is impossible!
To simply get legit Pinterest Followers without much hustle, you can use Media mister. It is safe, accurate and true.
4. Pin at the right time for more engagement.
You have probably heard of this tip everywhere. It is a great one, in a factual sense, but let me explain why I don’t agree. Pinterest is a free search engine and a social platform to share great content from your blog. This means over time, your pins will grow and get more engagement!
Alt-text: right timing is always important to post content on social media
So in my opinion don’t feel pressured to share your pins on these prescribed dates and times, pin whenever you like or may get time because I can guarantee that most of that engagement you seek won’t arrive on that day!
There is a certain pin I posted over a month ago using the best time principal and I received next to nothing. Recently, when I checked my analytics I noticed it has been able to achieve 65,000 impressions, and this all happened this week!
Plus, considering the different time zones, it is quite a stupid and lazy advice to give unless your target group is well defined.
‘What does best time even mean?‘
For example: An ice cream track waits in your neighbourhood all day, everyday. The owner promises to give an extra cup to whoever buys an ice cream on some specific days. So just like the rest of your neighbours, you flood the ice cream shop on those days just to buy your ice cream.
What then is the possibility the ice cream won’t get finished before it gets to your turn?
CORRECTION:
Pin when you are free or when you feel it is the right time. Don’t keep great posts locked up in your gallery waiting for that right moment like I did!
That right moment may never come. Just as i said before, pinning consistently with autopinners like Ninja pinner or tailwind is a surer way to success.
Also read: Pinterest For Beginners, What I Wish Everyone Knew.
5. Join group boards with high followers only for more engagement!
Group boards are a great way to get your pins recognised by pinterest users. This tip was suggested by many content creators I read and I am glad to tell you that this narrative is totally false!
Yes, joining such groups with many followers may increase your reach but, aside from that, what you as a pinner is looking for are boards whose members repin a lot!
Most high following group boards have lazy members! That is because they think that their posts will do well because of the number of followers the board has which is false. I am a part of boards with huge followers but whenever I add my pins, the highest amount of traffic I get is 3 to 10 views!
Not to mention the struggles you have to go through just to not be invited in the end!
CORRECTION:
Join boards that focus on your niche and have friendly members who love to share. Don’t forget to share their content as well! It doesn’t necessarily have to have thousands of followers, it is the community and its members that is most important!
6. Create only vertical pins or long form pins!
Pinterest is full of long vertical pins. Mainly because of the myth that only vertical pins perform well. This may be true because of how easy they are to view and include in feeds but not wholly.
My most successful pin while I had my old account was a tiny square pin I uploaded directly from my blog! It had thousands of impressions and a generous amount of saves.
So, this is one of the proven pinterest marketing tips that ‘ONLY VERTICAL PINS GET GREAT ENGAGEMENT IS NOT ENTIRELY TRUE!’
CORRECTION:
Create pins that are easy to read or see. Vertical pins don’t always mean success! Look at your pin and determine if any tweaks will destroy its beauty.
Let’s be honest here, not every image or pin looks great when it is vertical! Let Canva help you with its simple to use tools as well.
7. Join as many group boards as possible!
Well, I am glad to inform you that this is also a myth! From my experience of having two accounts, I can prove to you that this tip is a pinterest fallacy.
As I said earlier, pinterest boards are great for beginners but recently, their impact on the performance of a pin is drastically reducing! After joining as many boards as I could with my first account, I thought that was the end of my marketing!
Most of these boards had thousands of followers but my pin only received 1 impression or none at all within the first week! This goes to prove that joining as many groups as you can doesn’t always mean SUCCESS.
When I started out, I found this Pinterest marketing tip in various blog posts and I began my mission to join as many group boards as I can. Funny enough, that broke me and brought my quick pinterest downfall.
In order to join these boards, you have to follow, move mountains, share, comment and send loads of messages to these people that don’t follow you, so what would that make you look like?
A spammer!!!
My account was suspended the next day! Due to this, I couldn’t pin and my engagement kept on dwindling. I almost gave up on pinterest as they took forever to get back to me.
CORRECTION:
Join group boards that resonate with your topics. At least minimize your group invite send out to only three a day or a week. Group boards are great but having a handful of good boards is enough to ensure great content engagement.
I am a living testimony. With my new account, I asked to join only a handful at a time.
Although I am not among as many group boards as my old account, I have gotten much more engagement on my pins in my first week than I had in a whole month on my old account!
Must Read: Top ten quotes for newbie bloggers!
8. Use Sans Serif fonts in your pins!
Since when did this become a determining factor in the success of your pins? I can name 101 font types that are much more stylish and attractive than the Sans Serif.
Canva and Crello, which I love, provide countless fonts for both free users and premium accounts.
CORRECTION:
Use the right font for the right pin. Try out as many fonts during the creation stage to see the one you find most appealing! My all time favourites are Chewy, Jingleberry and Alice.
9. Make all pins funny for more engagement!
This is by far the FUNNIEST tip I have ever read, literally. So what happens if the post isn’t funny or it has no sense of humor at all?
Do I make all my pinterest pins humorous? What if I am paying a tribute to a dead person, should that be funny too?
The lack of explanation and logical reasoning backing this tip is woefully insufficient.
What then do I do to get the right amount of engagement?
CORRECTION:
Create appropriate pins for appropriate posts. If you have to add an element of humor, go right ahead but if there is nothing funny about the post, just go with a visually good image or pin.
No need to worry about being funny, just be yourself and that may be the best humor anyone could ask for!
10. Use as much colour in your pins!
This is simply a horrible idea. Using various and/or unmatching colours in your pin will be the quickest downfall for your pin.
People will avoid your pin like a plague or the Coronavirus.Here is my biggest takeaway:
When making pins, aim for simplicity and avoid clutter. I used to combine many things into a single pin and they always turned out horrible. I wouldn’t say I am great now but I can say I have become better.
CORRECTION:
Use matching and visually appealing colours. Black and white is a great and timeless combination. If you are as colour and beauty blind as I am, you can search for amazing colour pairings or schemes to create your first or next viral Pin!
Bold and eye-catching colours like red, pink, yellow and sometimes blue are perfect for Pinterest but combining all of them is lethal!
You can also use the easy to customise templates readily available to Canva users!
Ending remarks:
Winning the pinterest game will take time. Sometimes your success may come faster than others or much later but don’t ever discredit yourself and your abilities based on your analytics for the first month or week!
Everyone who creates good content wants their thoughts to be seen and engaged with, but don’t let that factor be the determinant of your happiness.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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…
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.
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.
