What about getting your existing blog off the ground or simply attracting more clients to your company through strategic and skillful product marketing?
There’s a man who can help you with all of that, and his name is Darren Rowse.
As CEO of the popular freelancing site ProBlogger, Darren Rowse helps people learn to create great content, but he also does much more than that.
Rowse is an entrepreneur, quasi life coach and the hero of professional writers far and wide.
Darren Rowse’s Story
Currently located in Melbourne, Australia, Rowse is a family man who got into writing as a form of exercising his passion for building, enhancing and creating two things: community and communication. Rowse broke into the professional blogging scene after he starting blogging as a hobby.
After some time in the field, he decided to see if he could make money writing and began to do some Internet research on the topic. As Rowse searched the web, however, he realized that there was a distinct lack of information about making a living blogging and he decided to fix the problem by starting his own web-based community.
The subsequent site, ProBlogger, grew out of a need for great information, helpful resources and job listings for bloggers and freelancers across the web. Today, ProBlogger reigns as the top ranking authoritative site on the topic of blogging professionally and it would seem that we all have a thing or two to learn from Mr. Rowse.
Ready to be inspired?
Ten Tactics You Can Learn from Darren Rowse
Here are the top ten lessons Rowse has to offer from his career and personal experience:
1) If You Want To Get Anywhere, You Need To Write Daily
As much as we might love to believe otherwise, there are no free lunches and it’s tough to have a career as a blogger if you’re not in the trenches writing on a daily basis.
Rowse credits the success of ProBlogger to two things: the fact that he was one of the first voices talking about the topic and also that he sat in a chair and wrote every day for three and a half years. Dedication pays off and daily writing is one of the best ways to become a recognized voice in your field.
2) In Order To Succeed, You Have To Stick It Out
Blogging can be a tough business and if you’re hoping to make a living doing it, you’ve got to develop a knack for sticking with it during the tough times. Unless you have a previously established platform, it is difficult to experience immediate success as a blogger. Stay at it, write great content and, eventually, people will notice.
3) Write What You Know
Part of becoming a successful blogger is establishing authority and its hard to establish authority if you’re not writing what you know. ProBlogger, for example, boasts 4,000 niche-related blogs in its archive. Sharing your knowledge freely and learning the value of dominating a niche will go a long way toward creating success.
4) Don’t Sugarcoat It
People are smart and they’ll know if you’re blowing smoke. If a subject you’re discussing is difficult to learn, don’t be afraid to say that. People will appreciate your honesty.
5) Make Your Content Actionable
Readers appreciate tangible tips. If you’re writing about how to make money blogging, provide your readers with a ten-step list that includes do-able tips like “utilize affiliate programs.”
Creating actionable content provides readers with tangible information that they can apply to their own lives which, in turn, helps make your writing credible and important.
6) Network, Network, Network
Bloggers don’t exist on islands and, in order to achieve success, it is important to reach out to people in the community. Offer and invite guest posts, read related niche blogs, comment, interact, conduct giveaways and surveys.
Rowse began ProBlogger as a platform for community interaction and its obvious that focusing on communication is one of the first steps towards building or refining a blogging or content career.
7) Don’t Quit Your Day Job
It sounds like tough advice coming from someone like Darren Rowse, but it’s valuable. Blogging is a tough market and it’s important to take a long-term view of the career. Dedicate yourself to your writing but make sure you have realistic expectations in the meantime.
8) Be Yourself
There is a massive amount of content on the web and, because of that, it is important to be unique. Stay true to your own interests but be sure to dedicate some time to identifying market gaps and thinking about how you might be able to fill them. As Rowse has proven during his career, the bloggers most likely to succeed are the ones who create unique content.
9) Experiment
If you’re just beginning to blog for money, dedicate some time to experimenting with monetization techniques.
Each blog works differently and what works for Darren Rowse might not work for you right now. Explore your options and don’t be afraid to experiment until you find something that fits.
10) Consider your Reader’s Needs
Great content needs to be relatable. By taking the time to think about and then define the needs of your readers, you also set yourself up to meet the need and solve the problem. The most valuable content gives people a solution to an issue and encourages them to communicate more openly with your platform.
Darren Rowse is more than just one of the best-known faces of the blogging community, he is a teacher and a resource for bloggers and content marketers far and wide and his career and personal experience offer a whole host of lessons to take advantage of.
Although blogging can be a tough business, people like Rowse prove that, with some hard work, dedication to quality and preservation, anything is possible.
Upworthy is a site best known for video. Once a king of viral content, the site rose to fame by unearthing uplifting videos from the dredges of the web, pairing them with attention-grabbing and highly shareable headlines and sending them out into the world of Facebook, where they garnered tens of thousands of shares almost immediately.
The video content format was so popular, in fact, that by November of 2013, the site had gained 90 million unique readers in this fashion.
It wasn’t all gravy, though, and by August 2014, Facebook had altered its policy on clickbait headlines and Upworthy’s readership began to take an alarming plunge, due to the aggregated content.
The site has since recovered its former level of popularity but, in order to do so, it had to make a somewhat uncharacteristic move.
Rather than aggregating content and throwing it out to the Internet at will, Upworthy was forced to begin creating original content, which quickly allowed the company to get back on track and revitalize its subscriber numbers. The Upworthy saga, as it turns out, is perfect anecdotal evidence as to the power of original content and dozens of brands, blogs and companies would benefit from taking notice.
Upworthy’s hand was forced – and now they must play the original content card.
The Dangers of Content Aggregation
Aggregation is the act of gathering together existing content and repackaging it for new use. Although it is a royal flush in terms of convenience, it’s not ultimately a sustainable tactic, as Upworthy recently learned. The reason for this is that aggregation relies heavily on sensationalism. In order to be effective, aggregated content needs to be sensationalized enough to draw clicks and shares.
This process of sensationalism often entails taking run-of-the-mill content, affixing a jolting, curiosity-grabbing and sometimes misleading title to it and then pushing it out onto the web. Before its recent turnaround, Upworthy did this very well.
Upworthy has long been known for its carefully crafted headlines. They are immediately recognizable: long (often up to three sentences) and demanding, these headlines call upon people to recognize a social or cultural injustice, click for a miracle cure, learn an incredible secret in six seconds or simply to be amazed by a video display of human compassion or ignorance.
It is obvious that Upworthy’s headlines follow a carefully crafted format and are geared towards eliciting the maximum amount of reader response in the least possible time. An example of Upworthy’s sensationalist headlines was included in the Fall 2013 roundup of the site’s most shared articles: “This Amazing Kid Just Died. What He Left Behind is Wondtacular.”
This headline is a perfect example of the baiting and hyperbole that underlies aggregation. Although the practice of sensational headlines is misleading and often criticized for being exploitative and underhanded, tying dramatic headlines to dull, aggregated content was wildly successful…until it wasn’t.
Upworthy began to realize the dangers of aggregation when its content began being filtered by Facebook’s spam guards and the social media platform moved toward auto-play video. When this resulted in a massive drop in readership, Upworthy realized it was time to take a tip from the Phoenix and rise from the aggregation-induced ashes. They did this by making the radical and very wise move from curation to content.
The Transition to Original Content
Thanks to its previous position as a powerhouse of the curation and aggregation field, Upworthy had a unique and intimate understanding of what its readers and subscribers would relate to and choose to share and they brought this understanding into their mission to create original content.
While the company still deals heavily in video, the videos are now methodically framed, edited and distributed so as to invoke the highest possible emotional response from readers. Additionally, Upworthy now has a team of writers on hand to craft original content.
The reason for Upworthy’s switch to original content comes down to the fact that aggregated content is easy to copy and, with so much content flooding the net on a daily basis, being easy to copy is a death sentence. As Upworthy gained popularity, other sites caught on and began applying Upworthy’s viral headline format to their own content, which lead to Upworthy being outranked and overlooked in favor of the copycats.
While aggregated and curated content is easy to copy, original content is not, and Upworthy was forced to take notice. Upworthy’s transition toward original content was first reported in June of 2015 and, since then, the company has enjoyed an uptick in traffic. This goes to show that, as the web at large pushes harder and harder to move away from mass-produced, shallow content, and Google continues to update its algo software to versions like Panda and Phantom, sites that produce original content are more likely to take the lead.
The Battle for the Lead: Curation vs. Content
With such a deluge of content available on the web today, it’s clear that original content has the power to overtake and undermine curated content.
While aggregated and curated content may be easy to produce and capable of attracting a huge number of readers in a short period of time, it is not a sustainable system and ultimately runs like a boom and bust economy. Spammy content only works for so long and, eventually, spam filters, reader preference and the press of high-quality content will catch up.
While it may seem like a quick road to readership, aggregation and curation are not in a company’s best content marketing interests. If there’s one thing we can learn from the Upworthy saga, it is that there are no free lunches and companies, brands and blogs are much better served, in the long-term, by outfitting their brand with high-quality, original content from the get-go.
Have you seen Google’s recent blog post about link-building?
Well, SEOs and web masters alike have been tearing their hair over it. Well, maybe not that extreme, but close.
According to the Portuguese piece, ANY asking for a link is actually unnatural link building and you could be facing manual fines.
We had our translator translate the words of the article to get to the bottom of things. Here’s what she came up with: “Artificial link schemes, PageRank manipulation, and unnatural positioning techniques in search results directly jeopardizes our capacity to measure a websites’ reputation. Employing artificial link schemes leads to a negative impact on a website’s search results positioning. We take manual action on individual websites that destructively and intentionally violate our Webmaster Quality Guidelines…Our stance regarding links that point to your site has not changed. Link schemes and purchasing links that pass PageRank with the purpose of distorting organic search results are still considered in violation of our Webmaster Quality Guidelines.”
So, here’s what it really says, in English.
What we take away from this is that if you ask for links, you could be hit with penalties. There’s also reference to buying and selling links which Google have spoken about previously. Not the same thing as no-linking.
Google has since clarified that link building isn’t all-together an archaic no-no. Just have a look at their Link Schemes section. There’s no talk about not being able to ask for links at all. There is, however, reference to buying, selling and exchanging of links.
Google is striking down their crazy thunder on all marketers once again.
Google & Their Link Building Statement: Let’s Talk About That
Buying, selling and exchanging links refers to valid, authoritative links that pass PageRank. This even includes exchanging cash, goods or services for links or sending a blogger a free product to mention and link to.
So it might be safe to say that not asking for links is actually aimed at people who try to use other ways of acquiring links. Case in point: Thumbtack. In this instance, points were given for links that were thought to be neither bought nor sold and were therefore acceptable.
Is It a Good Idea Not To Ask For Links?
It probably is if you’re a newbie to SEO and web antics. Especially if you’re not quite familiar with the difference between a dodgy and legitimate link. Google’s post, if you look a little closer, is aimed more at those who have already been slapped with penalties.
For the experienced SEOs out there, well, you know the nuances of link building and you know you should only be asking for quality links for the very best sources without any worry of harming the site.
Where to From Here? 2015 and Further
The rules to link building are dynamic. So what exactly is considered safe and what isn’t? And is it worth just “having a go and hoping for the best?” You might as well be no-linking.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Google webmaster trend analyst, John Mueller, was as confused as many an SEO. But check out his recent Google+ live hangout. It’s here that he tackles the question of whether or not link building serves any good.
He mentions that he tries to avoid link building. That’s a bombshell. And we’re left thinking, again, that Google is rather anti-link building. But Mueller goes on to elaborate. He says the web giant do still take links into account as part of their ranking algorithm.
He expands on that by mentioning that building links directly isn’t the best way to go about it. Instead, the goal should be to ensure content can stand on its own and is easy for readers to share on their own platforms. It all comes down to that old adage of “content is king”.
During the chat, Mr. Mueller downplays the importance of links. He insists that the ranking algorithm in fact takes several factors into account.
That Means Link Building Can Do More Harm Than Good
For ages Google has thought of link building as soft link manipulation. Instead, they find the most pertinent pages for a query and then rank them on quality and authority. Any inorganically acquired signals of quality or authority, including links, may inhibit the accuracy of the rankings.
And it’s in this context that Mueller dismisses link building.
Look at Google Penguin. This updated ranking algorithm sorts out what it thinks is spammy or low-quality links. Results with too many links or links from irrelevant source can result in a penalty.
So we start to understand why link building could do more harm than good.
However, just because this old practice could be dangerous, doesn’t mean it is. If it’s approached properly and with care along with an understanding of what will be a success and what will get a penalty slapped on you, then you can carry on happily.
Actually, There’s a Right Way to Do This Link Building
You can do link building “right”. It just requires a bit of extra time and resources. If Google considers you trustworthy, credible and authoritative, then your links will be considered valuable. When another site links to yours, it shows you have something valuable to offer and in turn you become more valuable.
But if you’re building links on your own, your chances of credibility are low. Google doesn’t want to see you voting for yourself. Rather work on coming up with top notch content that is more likely to be shared on the web.
The main types of content that are shared most frequently include detailed blogs, infographics and videos. The higher the quality of your content, the more links it will attract with very little effort. Once you’ve got that down, syndicate the content via social media and watch the rest take care of itself.
Another way to build links is through guest blogging. Go ahead and establish relationships with other bloggers who will invite you to contribute to their sites and get you link building without having to be too passive about reaching out.
The Pros and Cons
It used to be “best practice” to source keyword-rick links on article directories, bookmarking sites and website directories. But today those values will only devalue your site and very possibly see you dealt a manual penalty.
The Answer: Link… Properly
The bottom line: it’s all about quality content. You can enjoy tons of value and no risks. But it does take time and resources. Don’t write-off link building altogether. Google certainly values external links. It’s likely time to redirect your online strategy.
Focus on stellar content and throw in a small bout of traditional link building and you won’t have to worry about those penalties. No matter if Google really does start saying no-linking. You can take your content to a whole new level right now. Check out our content marketing services.
Way back in 2011, content marketing as we knew it was completely upheaved when Google updated its algorithm with what is known as the Panda update.
Since then, Google has updated its update by refreshing Panda, but nothing that seems as major as that grand 2011 update.
According to Search Engine Roundtable, though, there hasn’t been an official update in 9.5 months and there has not been an unofficial update in 8.5.
It should be here soon, though.
However, the questions now become – when will it get here and what will it do when it does?
Don’t be fooled – the Panda from Google isn’t very cute or cuddly.
The Original Google Panda
Google’s Panda update began the movement of ‘content is king’ that we know, and hopefully love, today. After this update, Google started ranking poorer content sites or sites with thin content lower, which made room for higher content sites to finally rise to the top.
However, because this was not the way things were done at the time when quantity was key, a lot of sites swiftly saw its rankings fall. And the thing about Panda is that it ranks sites, not pages.
What Does That Mean?
Well, if you have a lot of bad content on your site but also some good content, don’t expect to be ranked high for those high-quality pages. If your overall site is ranked poorly, so is that incredible piece you crafted that would have explained everybody’s problems if only anybody had found it.
This means that sites who all of a sudden found themselves … wait, I take that back… this means that sites who all of a sudden didn’t find themselves (because they weren’t being pulled up on Google, obviously) in pleasant situations, well, they had to start revamping their entire site.
3 Other Things Panda Punished
Poor content is not the only thing that you cannot get away with and still rank high under Panda. There is a lot else as well.
1. Duplicate Content
Meaning you can’t write one article five different ways (or even two different ways) and act like you had a lot of content on your site.
2. Generic Content
So the writing itself is good, but what is the point? In order to be considered good content, it needs to actually be able to help readers.
3. Non-Quality Rater Approved Content
Google’s Panda update is largely dependent on quality raters that determine how trustworthy and credible sites are. The higher a quality rating, the better the site will do under the Panda algorithm.
Basically, what you have to do in order to be Panda-approved is have trustworthy, beneficial content where every page on the site adds value to the rest of the site instead of just rephrases it.
That’s not too hard, is it? Since many sites went up with Panda, it must not have been too hard for them.
What Have Been The Major Panda Updates?
For many, Panda updates are a blessing in disguise.
How so?
Let’s say you have a website that was hurt by a version of Panda. Since then, you have built a strong site filled with cutting edge content that will be a boon to anyone who reads it. You also got rid of all of your bad content.
In other words, you made over your site to catch Google’s eye. When an update comes, then, you should feel great about yourself. All of a sudden, you are ranking high again just like you did pre-Panda.
That’s a big reason for these updates. Yes, they fix some more problems and clean up some old ones. However, one of the biggest things these updates do is reward the people who worked hard to get their site back to the quality their reader’s expect and to punish those who slipped.
From the original Panda release in February 2011 until the last release in October 2014, Panda has been updated 27 times. If you do the math, you will see that adds up to an update on average less than every other month. That’s a whole lot of updating. For a history of the updates, Moz sums it all up for you.
Now, think about the fact that it has been 8.5 months since any type of update has occurred. As Search Engine Roundtable reports, that is a long time for websites who are ranked lower to have to wait in order to see if they can get bumped back up to the top.
What Is Coming? Some Announcements Straight From Google
It has been a while since Panda has been updated, but Google has made plans to make an update soon. However, we are all left guessing as to when soon might be.
As Search Engine Land reported, Google’s own Gary Illyes announced this upcoming update and said he expected it to be released within the next two to four weeks. The only problem with this statement, though, is that it was said on June 2 – which was six weeks ago.
So where is the update? According to Illyes Tweet from June 9, it is still in the “soon” phase, but no ETA can be given for technical reasons.
As for what will be effected, Illyes has stated it will be a data refresh, as opposed to an algorithm change. No matter how it is worded, though, things will change whenever it is updated.
Here’s My Tip: Be Panda Prepared
One of the best things you can do in order to be prepared for anything that Google throws your way is just keep getting rid of bad content and churning out good content (or turning your bad content into good content instead of just trashing it.)
The whole algorithm making you rank high or low all comes down to that. Google might change things. You might have to do some adjusting at times. However, if you make your content the best it can be, then the changes will not affect you all that much, nor will the adjustments be that time-consuming, expensive, and/or burdensome.
As more information is learned, for example when the update actually occurs, we will make sure to keep you in the know.
If you want to take that worry completely off of your plate, then check out our content services, and let us do the preparation and upkeep for you.
You might feel a little like that googly-eyed fella after spending too much time on social media one day.
The Social Media Syndrome Overview
In its perfect form, social media allows us to connect with people we would never have been able to communicate with a hundred years ago. It lets us make friends or business contacts with people all over the world.
But in its current form, could it be ruining our health?
Medical News Today has some social media stats that begin to shed a light on this potential problem.
42% of adults use more than one social media platform.
The average American spend 7.6 hours a month on social media.
40% of Americans log on to social media more than once a day.
Over 25% of respondents to a UK survey said social media has negatively affected them.
2/3 of respondents had trouble sleeping after using social media.
55% said they felt uncomfortable and worried when they couldn’t check their social media.
Those are some pretty serious numbers. And to add to it, a Contently infographic points out a University of Michigan study showing that people feel sadder when they get off Facebook, and eventually they start to feel unhappier about life in general.
All these problems are only likely to get worse as more and more social media platforms hit the market. Between This. and that, it feels like we are adding more and more to our social media marketing mixes every day.
Symptoms of SMS
So let’s say that social media can ruin people’s mental, and perhaps even physical, health. How do you recognize the problem in yourself?
Symptoms of Social Media Syndrome (SMS) (my name for this problem and not a medical term) have been reported to include:
Difficulty relaxing and sleeping, often occurring after bouts of social media use
Increasing unhappiness and dissatisfaction with your life
The inability to stop going on social media
Lack of productivity
The inability to type or write in complete sentences
Information-Overload (brain burnout)
The inability to be alone
The use of shortened words that are already really short (e.g., bae for baby)
SMS is characterized by the need to be a part of things even when you are not actually a part of those things.
As far as FOMO goes, I think of it as the baby factor. Have you ever noticed that babies don’t like to fall asleep in crowds? You can tell they are tired. Their heads are nodding and their eyes are closing and they are crying their heads off. Yet they often don’t want to fall asleep.
This is because there is too much going on around them, and they don’t want to miss a thing. FOMO causes the same problem in over-stimulated adults.
SMS is related to Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) (a term not made up by me), which has symptoms similar to chemical dependency. According to the Contently infographic, this disorder affects over 8% of the population.
Diagnosis and Testing for SMS
When social media starts to affect your health, you should be able to tell by asking yourself the following questions and giving yourself an honest answer.
Could I go a day without logging on to any social media account?
Do I communicate through social media more than I do through face to face communication?
Has social media use ever interfered with my work performance?
Do I ever feel stressed-out or restless after using social media?
Do you recognize any of this in yourself?
Other ways to diagnose and test for this problem is to ask around.
Have friends, family, or co-workers noticed any odd or worrisome behavior from you?
Do they ever contact you through social media because they know that is the best place to reach you?
Have they ever felt like you were more into your phone/tablet/computer than them?
If you find that you don’t even have to ask the people that know you if they think you have a problem, they just tell you, then you really know it has gotten bad.
Treatments and Cures
Once you have been diagnosed, you need to find a way to fix the problem. The most obvious option to do this is to cut back on your social media use. Take some time to just be by yourself or talk to people IRL (in real life).
Things you can do to pass the time:
Read a book.
Go outside and take a walk.
Work on your novel.
Build a house.
Volunteer for your favorite charity.
Get some work done.
Clean your house.
Pick up a hobby.
Sing a song.
I could keep this list going for a long time. The important thing here is not what you do, though. Do whatever it is you’d like. The point here is to do whatever it is you like to do without needing social media to do it.
Try going longer and longer periods without using social media. When you have broken the need to be on social media, take steps to keep yourself from a recurrence. You can do this by learning the difference between healthy social media use and unhealthy use.
Home Remedies
Social media has so many good features.
It makes you feel powerful and important.
It helps you make friends.
It lets you sell your product to people all over the world.
It connects you to networks.
But if it is ruining your health, maybe you need some social media-cation. Quitting altogether does not have to be the solution. But cutting back to healthier doses just might be what you need.
If you are looking for a cure to your SMS, then try this for a natural remedy: take a look at our social media services. You rest your mind, and we can keep your accounts running.
