6 Ways to Breath New Life Into Old Blog Posts

When I publish a blog post, the large majority of the traffic comes on the day of publication, mostly because that’s the day it’s fresh, and there is a lot of sharing across social platforms, as well as fresh delivery via email and RSS feed. But every once in awhile I’ll have a post that has a longer shelf life, or even more interestingly get’s a second life, well after it’s “freshness” date. It doesn’t mean that the post is no longer relevant, just that it’s “old news,” at least to my regular audience. Don’t give up on your old content. Yes, you should always be creating new content on your blog, but just because a post is old, doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant. After all, that’s the body of work that is your best friend when it comes to SEO; it provides the kind of content that keeps Google happy. But beyond that, sometimes your old content will surprise you, and sometimes there will be opportunities to resurrect that old content. Here are a few scenarios and tips: 

1) Monitor your analytics regularly

  Just the other day I noticed a real-time uptick in traffic for a post on finding images online that was a few months old. I’m not the type of person who just looks at that and is pleased. I want to know WHY that is happening. I noticed that there were more than a dozen people, all from Wisconsin, all on the same post at the same time. Clearly something was up. I clicked through on the inbound link, and ended up at an internal Moodle network for staff and students at a school district in Wisconsin. Turns out my post was required reading for students to make sure they weren’t stealing images from the Internet that were protected by copyright. Someone had found the post, shared it, and gave it new life. Plus I then was able to talk about it and reshare the post across my social networks, thereby spurring on more traffic. If you check your analytics and find an old post resurfacing, find out why, and see if there are opportunities for getting even more traffic. 

2) Monitor the news regularly 

  Sometimes watching what is going on in the world, or in your industry, will give you ideas as well. Last week Facebook announced that they were adding support for the use of hashtags on the platform. Again, I noticed an uptick in traffic. The reason? A post I wrote earlier this year about the many uses of hashtags. People were apparently curious about hashtags and were searching for info, driving quite a few to my website. I realized that while my post didn’t really talk about Facebook, the principles still applied, so I started sharing it across platforms, positioning it in light of Facebook’s announcement. No matter what business or industry you’re in, you probably have older blog posts and content that can be reshared in light of current news events. Take the opportunity to give people the information if it is relevant to what is going on. 

3) Monitor what your customers are saying 

  When I meet with clients and potential clients, they have lots of questions for me. People will also send me messages on Facebook and Twitter asking questions about some aspect of social media or marketing. In some cases, when it’s not a paying client, I’m hesitant to give them too much for free, but more often than not, I’ve already answered the question in the form of a blog post. I can share the link with them as a way of answering their question. With actual clients, I’ll answer the question, and then leave them with the relevant post(s) to look over for more information. If you’re creating content that your customers want, this should be happening. Some businesses will even PDF some of their posts as on site handouts for customers to answer those questions when they happen face to face. Not only are you providing them with the information they need, but you’re letting them know that that information, and more, exists on a blog that they can access regularly from home. 

4) Link back to old posts 

  As you create new content, you are probably referring to other things that relate to old content you’ve written. I make it a policy to always use my blog posts to link back to older posts which illustrate certain points. If someone is reading your new post and doesn’t understand something, a link back to an older post might help them. Additionally, for someone who has never read your blog before, it gives them added reason to nose around a little and spend more time familiarizing themselves with you and your business. Linking back to your own posts also has the added bonus of providing a nice bread crumb trail for the search engines, while also helping you find those who might be scraping your content illegally. 

5) Automate the sharing of old posts 

  I suggest doing this sparingly, but I use a plug in called “Tweet Old Posts” that randomly tweets out some of my older posts. This isn’t done willy-nilly, however. I have very specific time parameters set, and I also exclude certain posts so that a post with very dated content doesn’t go out and confuse people. A Christmas post in March might seem a little odd. Some people don’t like this sort of thing, but I figure that my audience on Twitter is always growing. I have new followers all the time who might not be familiar with my older work. So I’ll occasionally send out that old content to draw them in. And it works. Often one of those older posts will gain some social traction and bring more people to my site. 

6) Repurpose old content 

  Not sure what to write about? Go back and look at some of your more popular posts from the past and see if you can find a way to freshen it up, update it, and republish it. Or some of that content might work well as the impetus for an ebook, white paper, powerpoint, or slideshare presentation. Once you have a strong body of work, you’ll find that a lot of your older can be used in a variety of ways. How are you finding ways to use your older blog content? Have you tried any of these methods, or use any other methods?

*Note TrulyShare has reblogged this content from a 3rd party*

Please see the original source here

 Original  author and post date: Ken Mueller   06.26.2013

Bloggers: Don’t Bet on Display Ads

There are all different kinds of blogs out there with all different kinds and quality of content, but one thing these blogs have in common is that display advertising won’t enhance them. But native advertising can.

There’s a simple truth about blogs: Readers rarely, if ever, come to one to be marketed to. Advertising runs counter to the raison d’etre of the blogosphere. Ads are an interruption, a betrayal of the natural flow individuals expect of a well-written, informative blog.

Yet blogging and revenue-generation don’t have to be at odds with each other. What many bloggers, online forums, product review sites and other “independent” sources of online content haven’t yet embraced is that the very thing people come for, credibility, is a trait that has economic value.

Native advertising — the ability to create an income stream that integrates organically into the user experience — takes advantage of that hard-won credibility without resorting to “tacked on” display advertising. Google’s paid search results are similar in effect. Looking and feeling like organic search results, these paid search results come across as credible, familiar and consistent. Moreover, Google relentlessly ties ad serving to ad quality, making the ads they do serve both relevant and effective.

Bloggers translate their particular brand of credibility into opportunity when they establish themselves as a go-to expert in a particular niche. Their authenticity compels readers interested in the same industry or topic to listen. In fact, a blog that documents a personal point of view or expounds from a position of authority is considered more trustworthy than almost any other form of Web-based content.

According to estimates, online purchases driven by content sites is growing more quickly than overall e-commerce. It’s becoming easier than ever for those who generate content, including bloggers and other independents, to turn their pages into profit through native advertising. Most bloggers have no idea how to incorporate native monetization into their sites. Yet every time they insert a link from their content to another site — especially a retail site — they establish an opportunity to produce revenue organically. Like a Google paid search result, these links meet stringent quality and relevancy criteria. They surpass the high bar of editorial integrity while also feeling familiar and consistent with the site’s intent.

If properly handled, independent content publishers can realize the benefits of native advertising without betraying reader trust. Today’s Web user, of course, knows what “marketing” looks like — they’ve been targeted by ads for years. When they encounter a site that appears to exist for the purpose of making money, they flee. This was one of the reasons Facebook was able to steal MySpace’s thunder. When MySpace began to look like one giant advertising billboard due to ad clutter, Facebook benefited because its perceived intent was simply to help friends connect with one another.

Whenever new forms of economic value emerge, those who are inherently positioned to take advantage benefit the most. Independent bloggers are the fortunate ones in this new era of democratic social media. By maintaining authenticity while also exploiting new technologies like automated link monetization, private content publishers have the unique opportunity to turn native monetization to their long-term advantage.

Note TrulyShare has reblogged this content from a 3rd party. 

Please see the original source here

 Original  author and post date: Oliver Deighton   06.06.2013

Install the TrulyShare Widget on Blogger [4 Simple Steps]

This tutorial will show just how easy it is to install our widget on a Blogger Blog. 

The only thing worse than a badly designed and broken webpage, is a site riddled with ads.  Most readers are driven to installing an ad blocker, allowing them to browse in peace.

Here at TrulyShare, we understand this common dilemma. We understand the fine line website owners walk when deciding between monetization and reader satisfaction. We have been working hard at designing our new monetization widget and now is time for you to try it out. 

Step 1

Become a publisher on the official TrulyShare website.  

Our signup process is simple; we require your business name, country, url, and valid email.  Unlike many other sites, we only collect payment information when necessary.  Once your balance reaches $20, we get some additional information so we can pay you.

Step 2

Copy your HTML code

Now that you are an official publisher it's time to make some money. We provide you with an analytics page where you can update information and view earnings progress. Here you will need to copy your code under the Get Widget field, this will go in our blogger HTML code.

 Step 3

Edit HTML code on Blogger

Login to your blogger account and scroll to the bottom link labeled Template. From here you will need to press the Edit HTML button.

Step 4

Insert the TrulyShare code on your blog

You will now be prompted with a screen full of HTML. This step can be completed with little to no knowledge of programming. Search for the ending </body> tag of the code. Paste your code before this line, this will allow your widget to show on your site.

Congratulations! 

The installation is now complete.

 It is time to make some money. This code can only be used once per site. We have a "Shop" tab on our Tumblr page too, the process is as easy as adding another line of code to your HTML just like you did here.

Please ask any questions here in the comments or email us at contact@trulyshare.com

Monetize your site better with TrulyShare

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INFOGRAPHIC: Survey Reveals Which Demographics Use What Social Media

A massive survey of internet users reveals trends in social media usage across numerous platforms, ages, races, genders, population density and more. Which social media sites should you be focusing on for YOUR target market?

The Pew Research Center has released the results of a comprehensive social media survey, conducted over several years to evaluate which demographics were using social media, and on which platforms. Which social networking sites emerged on top?

Of the online adults surveyed at the end of 2012:

• 67% use Facebook
• 20% use LinkedIn
• 16% use Twitter
• 15% use Pinterest
• 13% use Instagram
• 6% use Tumblr

A decent amount of Americans appear to be using social media, but which demographics use social media in greater numbers?

It appears that women use social media 9% more than men do, at a whopping rate of 71%. Other frontrunners with the highest social network activity in their demographic include city dwellers (70%), Hispanics (72%) and adults with a household income below $30,000 annually (72%).

The most pervasive and consistent divider amongst social media users remains, unsurprisingly, their age. 83% of the young adult demographic (18-29 year olds) use social media, which is well over double the activity of online adults over 65 years old (32%).

When it comes to age, social media usage has regularly been divided on a sliding scale, with consistently less social networking activity as age increases. This has been the case since the survey began back in 2005. However, there have been several interesting age changes to note…

• Although 18-29 year olds have always maintained the highest percentage of social media usage, their activity dropped for the first recorded time in December 2012, from 92% to 83%, bringing them lower than their numbers over two years prior.
• The only age range that increased its social networking usage in December 2012 was 30-49 year olds, who increased from 73% to 77% of users.

This could indicate an increasing trend of middle-aged social media users, a number which may continue to expand as the younger generation ages.

Aside from obvious division of age, there are still certain social media sites that attract specific demographics much more heavily than others. You may be able to better target your specific markets by keeping the demographic tendencies of each platform in mind:

• Pinterest: Significantly more rural residents, women, Caucasians, people with some level of college education and individuals with a middle to higher income
• Twitter: Significantly more slanted towards the 18-29 demographic, African-Americans and urban residents
• Instagram: Greater use amongst African-Americans and Hispanics, urban users, 18-29 year olds, and women
• Facebook: There’s less demographic distinction on Facebook, since it’s already so ubiquitous. However, there are 10% more women than men, and like most networking sites, it is heavily used by the youngest adult age group.

Source: Pew Research Center

**Note: TrulyShare has re-blogged this content from docstoc.com 
Author: Docstoc ArticlesOriginal Publish Date: Tuesday, April 09, 2013

The “Macklemore Effect”: How to Rocket to The Top of Any Industry –Even If You’re a Nobody Right Now

Years ago, when I lived in Silicon Valley, there was a core group of about 50 people–the “cool kids”–who would make or break any social application that came about. Even though it often seemed, back in those days, that Twitter was down more often than it was up, the “cool kids” persisted in their use of it, and so it grew. Twitter’s founding team befriended and embraced the “cool kids” and success ensued.

Twitter was successful on a small scale until 2009, when Oprah joined it and Ashton Kutcher became the first person to get 1 million followers. The “cool kids” had started the revolution, but Oprah marked the day when Twitter became mainstream.

Over the years, the core group of “cool kids” slowly fragmented. Some of the influencers, like Robert Scoble, went on to grow huge networks of their own. (Scoble currently has 325,049 followers on Twitter and nearly half a million followers on Facebook.) Others returned to running startups, blogging, or even working a day job, much as they had done before. The “cool kids” didn’t as heavily influence Facebook’s rise to the top of social media, and they barely registered a blip as Pinterest pulled in record-breaking amounts of obsessed followers.

Many startups today try to implement that same model of getting Silicon Valley’s “digerati” to pay attention to their app/website/new social media network/whatever. The founders are convinced that if only Robert Scoble will do a video of their new company, or if TechCrunch will write an article about their latest round of funding, that they, too, will be successful. They see the outside results of something like Twitter, without understanding the view from inside the Valley–and how much things have changed over the past few years.

Are the “Cool Kids” Really the Ticket to Success?

You see, the influencers aren’t all in one place any more. It used to be that most of the tech press was in Silicon Valley, and that “core” of cool kids all hung out together at private San Francisco shindigs and swapped stories about the latest social media find. Back when no one knew what social media was, that was great. And so, back then, it was easier–if your app or company attracted the cool kids, you were in. And if it didn’t, scrap what you were doing and try again.

Along with Twitter, Facebook, and other sites, the Internet itself has gone mainstream. In under 20 years, we’ve gone from a handful of geeks broadcasting themselves live online (1995) to a Korean pop star getting 1 billion views of his video and dominating the worldwide Billboard charts for weeks. Anyone can be a celebrity, but at the same time, it’s harder than ever to stand out amongst all the noise.

Most startups and businesses jump right in to the top celebrities–the “cool kids”–in their industry, figuring that if those celebrities endorse their product, they’ve got it made. In rare cases, that does happen. But what’s more powerful is building a powerful product that pleases a small subset of people, and working out from there. Let’s call it the “Macklemore effect.”

In case you don’t know who Macklemore is, he’s the guy who sings the popular song “Thrift Shop.” He seemingly came out of nowhere, an independent artist whose latest album is now at the top of the charts.

But if you read deeper into his background, you’ll find out he’s been performing since 2000. His releases have been spotty, owing to an on-and-off drug addiction. But his music is addictive. He describes it this way in an interview with the Seattle Times:

“‘These days, there’s two different ways bands blow up,’ or get big, he says. ‘One of those, is they make a piece of work that the critics jump on right away … and that takes it to the next level very quickly.’

‘And then there’s another way, which is organically, spreading amongst the youth. To the point where those tastemakers can’t help but notice, ‘Hey, he’s selling out shows all over the place. Something’s happening here.’”

That interview, by the way, was published in 2011–before most of us knew who he was.

The “American Idol” Way

The first way is “American Idol.” And it’s what startups and business owners hope for. It is, in fact, the middle-class dream: To get “noticed”; to get a “big break”–to build something successful without having to do much work. Just sing your little heart out, and hope Simon Cowell or your industry’s biggest “cool kid” will pick you up for a contract.

Unfortunately, as many “Idol” contestants will testify, it also means you don’t have full control over your destiny.

The Macklemore Way

So what’s the other way? First, make something good. Really good. You’ll know you have it when people are spreading the word about your business–encouraging others to use your product without you having to do much marketing.

Then, focus on finding the smaller influencers in your niche. Twitter knew who they were in the Valley–before the Valley was big. They’re the people who write blogs about your market and who have a core group of people to whom they recommend products they love. Show them your product, and get them to fall in love with it. Then help them spread the word. (If your product is innovative and interesting, they’ll be happy to do so!)

There are some tricks, though. First, you have to know who in your niche is the right person to contact. Then, you have to get that person interested–tough, in a land where many non-famous folks receive hundreds of emails or messages a day!

And then, you have to get that person to take some action. Do you want a meeting? Do you want him or her to try out your product? To get results, you’ll need to ask for the specific thing you want from that person, and make sure he/she follows through.

Source

• Tue, Apr 16, 2013 by Erica.biz