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Online Marketing

Don’t Measure The Easy When It Comes To Internet Marketing

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Are you focused on the easy when it comes to Internet marketing? Clicks, views, subscriptions, and followers when measuring your marketing success with websites, blogging, and other social media.

Rather than focusing on something easy, widely respected marketer, author, and speaker, Seth Godin suggests that you ask:

What is it that you hope to accomplish? Not what you hope to measure as a result of this social media strategy/launch, but to actually change, create or build?

Focus on the real goal — where do you want to be at at the end of the day, not on numbers, per Godin.

An easy but inaccurate measurement will only distract you. It might be easy to calibrate, arbitrary and do-able, but is that the purpose of your work?

I know that there’s a long history of a certain metric being a stand-in for what you really want, but perhaps that metric, even though it’s tried, might not be true. Perhaps those clicks, views, likes and groups are only there because they’re easy, not relevant.

Law firm business development and marketing will always be measured by growth in business. The same is true with Internet marketing.

  • What business have we retained from existing clients?
  • What new business have we realized from existing clients?
  • What business have we realized from new clients?
  • What business have we gleaned from new industries or areas of law we have not worked in before but for which we developed a strategic plan to get after?
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Internet

WhatsApp update makes sending bold, italic text impossibly easy

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Sending Bold, Italic and Strikethrough text own WhatsApp is now much easier

Sending Bold, Italic and Strikethrough text own WhatsApp is now much easier
WhatsApp has tweaked how to send rich text – including bold, italics and strikethrough – inside its hugely-popular messaging app.

The Facebook-owned chat app introduced the ability to send bold, italic, and strikethrough fonts.

Unfortunately, it was not immediately clear how to access the new options since WhatsAppdoes not advertise the new additions anywhere within the app.

However, WhatsApp users could add the formatting options by using the following characters –

• Bold: Add an asterisk (*) before and after the word or phrase you want to embolden e.g. *hello*

• Italics: Add an underscore (_) before and after your chosen word or phrase e.g. _hello_

• Strikethrough: Add a tilde (~) before and after the word or phrase you want to strike a line through e.g. ~hello~

Thankfully, that has now changed.

Starting with WhatsApp 2.17.148, the messenger integrated the new font options within the customisable floating text toolbar available on Android.

WhatsApp has dramatically simplified how users send bold, italic and strikethrough textANDROIDPOLICE • ONEPLUS

WhatsApp has dramatically simplified how users send bold, italic and strikethrough text

First, select the text you want to embolden, italicise or strikethrough, and then tap the overflow button in toolbar (shown with the three-dots symbol in the menu).

You can then choose which rich text formatting option you want to apply to the selected text.

WhatsApp will automatically add the necessary character triggers into the body of the message to make the change.

Elsewhere, WhatsApp also introduced the ability to search for emoji characters with a word.

WhatsApp - Hidden tricks and features you probably don't know, but definitely should be using

WhatsApp tries to surface the Unicode emoji character best suited to the specific word that you’ve typed into the search.

The feature has been available on WhatsApp Web for some time. It can now be accessed on Android, however there’s no word on an iOS launch yet.

The news comes as WhatsApp extended support for a number of older mobile platforms.

WhatsApp had previously announced that older versions of Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Nokia devices would no longer be supported by the chat app.

The technology company advised users running WhatsApp on one of these devices to update their smartphone before the end of 2016.

WhatsApp users can now use bold, italics and strikethrough in their text messagesWHATSAPP • EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS

WhatsApp users can now use bold, italics and strikethrough in their text messages

As 2016 came to close, WhatsApp confirmed the chat app would no longer run on the iPhone 3GS, Windows Phone 7 devices, and phones running Android 2.1 or Android 2.2.

However the company updated its initial blog confirming it would extend support BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40 and Nokia Symbian S60 until June 30, 2017.

And now the Facebook-owned firm has updated the same post again.

WhatsApp has reconsidering the end of life dates for the BlackBerry and Nokia S40.

According to the latest update to the blog post, BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 can be used until December 31st 2017 and Nokia S40 until December 31st 2018.

Meanwhile, Windows Phone version 8.0 and older will atop working on December 31st 2017. And Android versions 2.3.7 and older will conk out February 1st 2020.

Although users will be able to continue using WhatsApp until the aforementioned dates, some features might stop working.

[“Source-express”]

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Blogging

4 Easy Steps to Effective Guest Blogging That Will Make Google Happy

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

4 Easy Steps to Effective Guest Blogging That Will Make Google Happy

There’s no doubt about where Google stands on guest blogging.

Google has repeatedly made it clear to site owners and SEOs that guest posting for the explicit purpose of building links is dangerous.

And I agree.

But this doesn’t mean guest blogging is bad.

It just means guest blogging is being done badly.

What’s Wrong With Guest Posting Today?

Traditionally, guest blogging has followed a specific formula:

  1. Create a piece of content you think will be of interest to other websites.
  2. Ensure the piece of content includes keywords you want your site to rank for, as well as links back to your site — preferably in keyword-rich anchor text.
  3. Create a list of sites who “might” be interested in posting your content.
  4. Approach those sites with a clever pitch which doesn’t sound like spam and will elicit a response. Or, if you aren’t as scrupulous, spamming the heck out of as many sites as you can — playing a numbers game, praying someone will respond (AKA, spray and pray).
  5. Coordinating with any sites which do express interest in posting your content.
  6. Finally getting the content posted somewhere.
  7. Praying the site where the content is posted doesn’t have some sort of SEO issue and is benefitting your site.
  8. Rinse and repeat until either burnout sets in (it happens quite quickly) or you die.

I’ve always hated this method of guest blogging. There are so many things wrong with it.

  • The success rate is abysmal. I don’t have any “official” numbers, but from the people I’ve spoken to, a good acceptance ratio for pitch to success is usually way less than .01 percent. This means you must send a whole lot of emails to a whole lot of sites just to get one piece published. And then, there’s no guarantee any content published is going to move the needle from an SEO perspective. That’s a whole lot of work for little gain.
  • It’s difficult to distinguish the line between spam and legitimate pitching. Back in another life, I used to be in traditional public relations. We would commonly pitch site owners and journalists our content. The difference then was twofold: There wasn’t as much competition so it was easier to get attention for our efforts and we weren’t pitching for any search engine gain. We were trying to establish thought leadership or put our client’s point of view out in front of the public.
  • This type of guest blogging is a form of “digital sharecropping.” By putting your content on someone else’s site, you are literally building your brand on someone else’s land. You don’t have control over what happens once they post your content. They could change it, they could neuter it. And if they get mad at you, they could alter it to make you look bad. Digital sharecropping to some extent may be necessary on today’s web — but not in this case. You don’t have to build your guest posting empire on someone else’s property.

Turning Guest Blogging on Its Head

In a nutshell, the mechanics of this technique are simple to understand. Here are the steps:

  1. Identify industry influencers who communicate well. They don’t necessarily need to have a great website for SEO (this helps, but not a requirement), but they should have a decent following and their following ideally will have websites of their own. If the industry influencers are active on social media, all the better.
  2. Approach the industry influencer inviting them to write on your property. You could invite them to write on your blog, contribute to a white paper, write something for your newsletter — wherever you want to create attention and generate links.
  3. Publish the influencer’s content on your site and promote it to all your relevant audiences. It’s important to highlight how you will be promoting the industry influencer’s content to your audience in the pitch stage. This is a strong benefit for them. Also, the better visibility you have as a brand, the better influencers you will be able to get to write for you.
  4. Provide influencers with easy ways to promote their content to their audiences. Offer to write tweets, Facebook posts, blog teasers, emails, etc. for them. The more prolific the influencer, the more valuable their time is. To get the maximum benefit from this strategy, it is imperative you make it easy for the influencer to promote their content to their audience. After all, the whole reason you’re soliciting the influencer’s content is to tap into their network for links and visibility.

Why Is This Form of Guest Blogging Effective?

This type of guest blogging works really well. Why?

People link to their own stuff. If you give them a platform, they will tell their friends and followers about it. They will do the work of building links for you.

People promote themselves, period. At the very least, you should expect a link from the influencer’s site — and in many cases, this alone can be worth the effort.

Another reason this works: it’s clean. It’s not cheating in any way.

This form of guest blogging is hard to automate, so it’s pretty spam proof in Google’s eyes. Yes, I know it could be abused, but it’s much harder to abuse this than traditional guest posting where paying for articles posted on sites has become the norm.

As long as you aren’t paying for the person to contribute, this is totally legitimate in Google’s eyes. The links are naturally earned — exactly what Google wants. And the links are usually of a much higher quality than those you get from traditional guest posting.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

I’m not entirely sure where this guest posting philosophy came from. I know I’ve been approaching guest posting this way for at least three years.

I remember hearing Gary Illyes of Google say something about using this technique. But, I was also reminded Roger Montti had mentioned a similar strategy in his newsletter almost five years ago.

Since I tend to take data from everything I read, and I read everything, the idea is most likely something I gleaned from either Roger or Gary. I urge you to follow both.

Conclusion

As you can see, this guest blogging concept is simple. Unfortunately, the execution is a bit more difficult.

In fact, I would argue while this is one of the best ways to build links, it’s certainly not something that can be automated and it isn’t a “scalable” solution. But if you put the time in, it works. And it works well.

[“Source-ndtv”]

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Gadgets News

Apple makes move that could improve its gadgets, but it won’t be easy

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Apple could plan to use homemade GPUs for augmented reality in upcoming versions of the iPhone.

Apple Inc. is reportedly planning to design its own graphics chips, which could lead to improvements to its gadgets and services, but could also send the iPhone maker to court.

On Monday, one of Apple’s AAPL, +0.03%  chip-design partners, a British company called Imagination Technologies Group PLC IMG, -61.60%  said it has been notified by its largest customer that it will no longer use Imagination’s designs in new products, starting in about 15 to 24 months. The news confirmed speculation in the past few months that Apple is working on its own design for a graphics-processing unit, or GPU .

Read also: Android projected to top Apple in app revenue for first time this year

The complex but growing arena of graphics processors has received more attention in recent months, with market leader Nvidia Corp. NVDA, -0.50%  using its designs to storm into fields like drones, autonomous cars and robotics. If GPUs are becoming the workhorse chips for deep-learning and machine-learning applications, Apple could tailor its chips to add more smarts to devices and their core offerings, like Siri.

“Nvidia is promoting their GPUs for deep learning…I imagine Apple wants to push the GPU in that direction and offload some of the Siri stuff into the phone itself, to make it respond more quickly,” said Linley Gwennap, president of The Linley Group, a tech analysis company.

 CES in Las Vegas, tech executives, industry analysts and enthusiasts voiced different ideas about when self-driving cars would become widely available. MarketWatch took a spin in a semi-autonomous car to learn more about this emerging technology.

Apple could also plan to use better GPUs for augmented reality, which Chief Executive Tim Cook has said is another possible feature on future iPhones.

“Augmented reality, machine learning and heavy-duty graphics, the kind that you might expect in a notebook,” Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, suggested when asked about features that consumers could see in forthcoming products with an Apple-designed GPU.

While the end result could be favorable for Apple, the journey will not be easy.

“Graphics is more difficult than doing a CPU. There are fewer GPU architects, GPU engineers, development driver writers,” Moorhead said. “That’s why you see a lot more competition [for talent] out there in GPUs than in CPUs. It’s almost like a voodoo science.”

Read: Take an aerial tour of Apple’s epic new campus as its opening date approaches

Moorhead added that it’s almost impossible to create a new GPU without licensing someone’s intellectual property. And that is where Imagination, which plunged more than 60% after detailing the news Monday, could have its revenge.

The company hinted Monday that it would consider suing Apple in the near future, saying it believed that it was “extremely challenging” to design a new GPU without infringing on Imagination’s intellectual property rights.

“I do think Imagination will be looking at the new Apple GPU very closely for any patent infringements,” said Kevin Krewell, a principal analyst with Tirias Research.

Last March, Apple, which owns about 8% of Imagination, actually confirmed that it had acquisition discussions with Imagination in a rare public statement, but added that it did not plan to make an offer for the company at the time. However, Apple did recruit at least two dozen Imagination employees, according to an AppleInsider report, which could lead to accusations that Apple is looking to use their knowledge to replicate Imagination designs in its own chips.

“Those guys are totally contaminated with Imagination IP,” Gwennap said, adding that Apple should be keeping the employees isolated in a completely separate group to avoid problems. “If you talk to the companies that try to do clean-room designs, that’s what you have to do. To prove that you are not contaminated, you put them in a separate facility, they don’t have any access to documents, etc.”

With Apple’s giant war chest of cash, any patent litigation with Imagination would not be damaging, and the potential gain from designing its own graphics chips in terms of improving the iPhone and iPad would likely outweigh any legal battle with a now-former parts supplier.

 

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Tech Update

iPhone Call Logs Easy Pickings on iCloud, Says Russian Security Firm

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

icloud-privacy

Russian digital forensics firm ElcomSoft on Thursday reported that Apple automatically uploads iPhone call logs to iCloud remote servers, and that users have no official way to disable this feature other than to completely switch off the iCloud drive.

The data uploaded could include a list of all calls made and received on an iOS device, as well as phone numbers, dates and times, and duration, the firm said.

Apple retains the cloud-based data for up to four months, according to ElcomSoft’s report. It includes calendars, wallet, books, notes and other data synced with iCloud. Even photos may be retained remotely longer than Apple has indicated.

Apple currently relies on a two-factor authentication system that requires an iCloud token along with an Apple ID and password, but ElcomSoft’s new Phone Breaker 6.20 software can allow law enforcement to bypass those checks.

For its part, Apple has defended the fact that the data is backed up on the cloud.

“We offer call history syncing as a convenience to our customers so that they can return calls from any of their devices,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by company rep Ryan James.

“Apple is deeply committed to safeguarding our customers’ data,” the spokesperson added. “That’s why we give our customers the ability to keep their data private. Device data is encrypted with a user’s passcode, and access to iCloud data including backups requires the user’s Apple ID and password. Apple recommends all customers select strong passwords and use two-factor authentication.”

Privacy or Security?

ElcomSoft made its announcement not so much to call attention to the potential weaknesses in Apple’s data storage practices, as to address how easily its own software can obtain the information. It is billed as a tool for law enforcement, but it’s not too hard to imagine that hackers could utilize similar tools for nefarious purposes.

“It is very concerning, as this can’t be something that is a surprise to Apple; it is baked into their design for the product and services,” said Jim Purtilo, associate professor of computer science at the University of Maryland.

“Only Apple can speak to its motive for orchestrating this behavior, but this is a way to project an image of security to consumers,” he told TechNewsWorld.

These iPhone users may believe their data are encrypted and secure, “which is mostly true, even if only on their actual device, while [Apple] is still working accommodatingly with the feds, who get tremendous value from the traffic analysis made possible by these saved data,” Purtilo added.

Standard Practices

The fact that Apple is being called out this week is somewhat notable in its own right.

“Apple doesn’t seem to be walking its talk in the sense of actually doing what it publicly claims to be doing,” noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

The other part of this is in the lack of transparency customers have into the process, and the fact that there is no easy way to opt out, he told TechNewsWorld.

“If you use iCloud, you’re in whether you want to be or not,” King added.

However, “as several reports on Apple’s situation mention, the company isn’t alone in syncing or saving call data,” King explained, adding that it is standard practice for U.S. carriers to retain call data for up to 12 months.

“Where Apple could run into problems is in foreign markets that restrict retention of caller data,” he said. “The company also risks some egg on its face if ElcomSoft’s contention that more data is collected and that some is retained for longer than Apple says is the case.”

Who Guards the Guards?

The fact that this information is being uploaded to the iCloud is noteworthy, given the showdown that Apple had with the FBI over its ability to obtain information from an iPhone belonging to Syed Rizwan Farook, who carried out last December’s terrorist attack in San Bernardino.

Farook’s phone was protected cryptographically. Apple challenged more than 11 orders to assist in providing access to the phone, issued by the United States district courts under the All Writs Act of 1789.

The question is whether the FBI showdown was necessary, based on ElcomSoft’s findings. Much of the data may have been on the iCloud and hence accessible.

“If most users rely on iCloud services, then police largely don’t need the actual device in order to investigate someone; the data have already been disclosed for far more convenient access by whoever asks,” explained Purtilo.

“Consumers should be so lucky that only the police are accessing their data; in this news, we more or less need to presume other less upstanding groups have been accessing the data too,” he added.

For the vast majority of users, this may be a nonissue, noted Pund-IT’s King.

“Most criminals and ne’er-do-wells probably know enough not to use their personal phones for conducting illegal business,” he suggested.

“How threatening the practice may be is hard to say, but with Apple actively trying to pitch its products for enterprise applications and use cases, companies considering deploying iPhones and iPads may want to question how their employees’ call data is being collected and secured,” King added. “Personal communication is the lifeblood of many businesses, to the point that any threat of injury and hemorrhage should be avoided.”

[Source:- technewsworld]

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Blogging

9 Easy Ways on How to Write a Blog Post That Goes Viral

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

How to Write a Blog Post That Goes Viral In 9 Easy Steps #bloggingtips #blogtips #bloging #blogging #contentmarketing #contentmarketingtips #marketingstrategy #infographic #bloggingstatistics #bloggingforbeginners #blogtraffic #contentcreationAre you wondering how to write a blog post that goes viral? Many bloggers and content marketers are struggling to create viral content. So if you’re at this stage of your blogging career, this article is right for you. Content marketing is a lucrative business and one of the leading digital marketing strategies for B2B and marketers.

Let us examine these blogging statistics by Impactbnd published. The research revealed that:

B2B marketers who’re using blogs in their content marketing mix attract 67% more leads than those not using blogs.
75% of B2B marketers say they’re more likely to use blog posts in their social media content strategy.
53% of marketers agreed that blogging is their top content marketing priority.
Businesses that make blogging a top priority get 13x more positive ROI on their marketing efforts.
There’s more as you can see from the infographic:

Source Image via Red Website Design

Although you might be struggling with how to write a blog post that goes viral, the truth is that many other bloggers are having tremendous success in crafting viral posts.

Hence, the question is:

What are they doing that you’re not doing? What strategies are they using to write blog posts that go viral? Before we go deeper into this article, let us find out why you should always strive to make your blog posts go viral.

Why Make Your Blog Posts Go Viral?
The benefits of viral blog content can never be over-emphasized. Here are just a few reasons. Viral content will:

Increase organic traffic.
Boost website engagement.
Help improves click-through rates (CTRs).
Increase your email sign-up.
Generate and convert more leads.
Boost email opens
Etc
So it is essential to make your blog posts go viral once published. But, as discussed above, your competitors are hitting it big with viral blogs, while you’re still trying to create your very first viral blog post. Therefore, how can you beat the competition with content virality?

In this article, you will discover proven strategies on how to write a blog post that you can apply today and start your journey to virality.

How to Create Blog Posts That Goes Viral In 9 Simple Steps
1. Replicate What’s Already Working
Replicating content strategy that is already working in your niche calls for observation and focus on your part. You must be observant of the top-performing content in your industry and your blog. Then, reproduce your version of the material and publish it on your blog.

In other words, search for blog posts in your niche that have gone viral, study them carefully to find out why they went viral, and craft your copy.

How to Find The Most Shared Blog Content?
There are several ways to identify the most shared blog posts. But we will be looking at a few of them.

A. Perform Content Audit on Your Blog
One of the best ways is to do a content audit on your blog. A content audit will let you see the best-performing content on your blog so that you can create more blog posts on the best topics. You can use the SEMrush “Content Analyzer“ for auditing your site.

Source image via SEMrush

The software provides you the alternative to choose the subfolders you’d like to audit, with checkboxes to streamline the process. And since your blog folder is where you retain your blog, it is the best place to start.

Once you’ve selected your desired folder, the content tool will examine your sitemap to understand subfolders that have the most URLs to audit. Then it will create a list of them on the start page. After that, you can start reviewing your blog to find high performing blogs.

B. Use BuzzSumo
Another way that is common to marketers is to use content research tools to see what content is creating the most buzz. Some of the best in the market are:

BuzzSumo: This tool will show you the best performing content based on the keyword you entered. It helps you to see the most shared posts that have gone viral over time. It’s simple and easy to use.
Google Trends: As the name suggests, Google trends will give you trending topics in your niche according to your search query.
Google Analytics: Google analytics is among the top resource tools for bloggers and freelance writers. This tool will show you the top-performing blog content for your inspiration, giving you blog post ideas that will enable you to create viral blog posts.
These tools offer you the best platforms to find the most shared and most engaging blog posts. For example, BuzzSumo works like Google as a high-performance research tool. So to use the software, head over to Buzzsumo and search for any keywords to use in your writing.

It will give you the most share blog content based on your keywords.

From there, you can filter the result or search through to find and focus on the most popular topic on that keyword. The good thing about this strategy is that you’re not only going to find viral subjects to write, but you’re also going to get tons of blog post ideas for your blog posts.

So, it is a two-way traffic, and a win-win process.

What is more on how to write a blog post that goes viral using BuzzSumo?
With Buzzsumo, you have the option to sort your results by social media networks. For instance, let’s say you want to see the types of posts that are gaining momentum on Twitter. I’m using Twitter as an example because Twitter is my leading social networking site.

In this case, click on the “Twitter Shares” header, and Buzzsumo will do the job for you by sorting through the articles by the number of shares it has generated on Twitter. Now you not only have viral blog content to replicate, but you also have viral blog topic ideas for your next blog posts.

2. Write a Blog Post from Your Audience’ Outlook
Another way to make your blog posts go viral is to put yourself in your ideal reader’s shoes. That means you should create blogs from your perfect reader’s standpoint. Try to think from your reader’s point of view. So when drafting your article, consider the following questions:

What issues is your blog post going to solve for your ideal reader?
Is the blog content going to connect with your readers?
Will your article be a solution to your reader’s needs and interests?
Etc.
There are many more questions for consideration, but let’s leave it at that. So scrutinize your ideal reader by looking through the type of blog posts he is engaging with and sharing with his friends.

The information will give you ideas for what blog content to bring to the table that will resonate with your readers. Base on your findings, re-create what your target audience finds most attractive.

3. Optimize for The User’s Reading Conditions
What am I saying? You can optimize your blog posts for the user’s reading conditions. But how?

Here’s how to do it:

In most cases, your reader is not always at home. He might be in one of these places:

At the office
Running some errands
Doing shopping
Hanging out with friends
Searching for other things online
Etc.
As a result, he is on the move and might not have enough time to read your articles. That is where optimizing for the reader’s reading conditions comes in handy. Therefore, ensure to get hold of your audience’s attention from the get-go with a compelling intro.

Craft an article that will piqué the reader’s interest right away with a remarkable explanatory introduction. But if you’re unable to capture his attention immediately, he will move on to another blog to search for what’s more interesting. Your readers want to share interesting and useful content with his friends.

So give them something to share, and if he cannot read the entire article at the time, he will bookmark it for later reading. That is how your content goes viral. His friends will share with their friends, and the circle continues.

4. Publish on The Best Day of The Week
The day you publish your blog posts can have a significant impact on whether it goes viral or not. Many bloggers do not consider this when publishing content. But it is a good thing you’re here reading this article. Publishing blog content regularly is a fantastic content marketing tactics.

But to help skyrocket your reach and make your articles go viral, find the best days of the week to publish your articles. Your being able to figure out the best day to release content is ideal because more people will be online to interact and share your posts.

That is vitality.

For example, this graphic by OkDork and BuzzSumo shows you the performance of content published on different days of the week.

Graphic via OKDork

The chart shows that Tuesday turns out as the best day of the week for publishing your blog post with the highest margin in social shares. Although there are contradictory results, it also serves as an inspiration for you. So test your blog publishing strategy to pick the best day or posting.

Thus, take advantage of this graphic as a basis for your blogging and content marketing campaigns when publishing your articles.

5. Reach Out to Influencers Before & After
What’s the point of reaching out to influencers before writing your blog posts and after publishing your article?

Here’s why you should:

Before you set out to write blog posts that will go viral, you must create a list of influencers in your industry whom you have built bonds. But, it is also essential to make sure your file has the names of only those who will agree to share your blog content once it’s published.

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When you have your list in place, email them about the article you want to write. In your email, tell them you’d like to feature them in your new article about your chosen topic for which they’re experts. It could be about a subject such as:

How email marketing can improve SEO.
How beginner freelance writers can attract steady writing jobs
Advance SEO tips that will increase your organic traffic and search rankings in 30 days.
Many experts in these fields would like to contribute. However, if the influencers you already know who are ready to share your post are not many, you might want to find and add more influencers to your list to beef up the virality of your content.

How to Find Influencers
As mentioned earlier, head over to Buzzsumo and search for the most shared blog content similar to the one you want to create. From your search result, focus on the ones most relevant to your topic. Then click on the “View Share” tab to see the people who’ve shared the content on social media.

These are people who are most likely going to share your content with their audience. Add them to your list and start reaching out to them. Connect with them immediately by doing the following:

Share their blog content on social media
Mention them on various platforms where they have a presence.
Like their posts
Comment on their blogs
And so on.
Do this for a considerable amount of time before reaching out to them.

There’s more on how to write a blog post that goes viral using influencers.
After that, start sending them emails about your upcoming blog post. For instance, let’s say you’re reaching out to these blogging experts:

Brian Dean of Backlinko
Michael Brenner
Neal Schaffer
Zac Johnson
Mari Smith
Adam Enfroy
Ryan Robinson
Rebekah Radice
Ryan Biddulph
Mike Allton
Adam Connell
Donna Merrill
Anil Agrawal
Lisa Sicard
Janice Wald
Ileane Smith
Your email could go like this:

Hi, Expert’s Name,

I hope your day has been good. I’m writing a blog post on “how email marketing can improve SEO,” where I interview SEO and email marketing experts about the best tips. I would like to include you in the article. Is that something you’d like?

Thanks a lot in advance for your time, as I await your response.

Best regards,

Your name.

The response you get will motivate you to do more. And when you finally publish your article, the influencers you featured will share it with their audience across social media platforms and other marketing channels, including their email marketing.

*Remember*: There is a reason why those experts are called influences. That is because they control the buying behavior of their target market. So if each one of them should share your blog content, there is no doubt it will go viral.

Given this, if you’ve not considered using influencers in your blogging and content marketing mix, please read this article. They have a high capability to help you with how to write blog posts that can go viral instantly.

6. Survey Your Audience (User-generated Content)
Surveys are among the best content marketing tactics. That is because the material you produce is the result of the responses from your loyal readership. The resulting content is called “User Generated Content” (UGC). It has an incredible force to make your blog content go viral.

Your target audience tells you what they want to read from your blog, and you respond positively to their demands. This blogging tip helps you connect better with your blogging community.

It is one of the best ways to write blog posts that will go viral. But you may wonder, how can you do surveys?

Here’s how to conduct a study:

With an idea of what your target audience might be interested in, head over to your preferred social media platform and create a poll. Or preferably, go to relevant Facebook groups and list a few questions for your survey.

There is always an abundance of tools available for your use. Tools like Survey Monkey and Survey AnyPlace are potent tools for conducting surveys. With these survey tools, you can send out questionnaires to your email subscribers.

Here’s a sample survey in the screenshot by the Buffer team on the “Best topic their audience enjoy the most” on the Buffer blog.

Graphic via Buffer

From the screenshot, you can see that the top content the Buffer’s audience want to see more of is a blog “content that will help their readers create and improve their social media marketing campaigns.” Those are user-generated content (UGC) in action,

The top content idea got 214 responses, meaning that over 70% of respondents want the same thing. Therefore, looking at all other suggestions from readers, one can logically say that creating content around those topics will surely go viral.

7. Use Google Analytics to Write a Blog Post That Will Go Viral
Since you are conducting surveys to pinpoint the best content your readers want from you for maximum virality, you should also be using Google Analytics tool to maximize your blogging efforts.

Here’s what Mia Vallo — Sr. Director, Marketing Analytics, National Geographic said about Google Analytics:

“Google’s Analytic products have helped us improve engagement by 33% and click-through-rates by 21% for content promotions on our homepage.” — Mia Vallo

Besides, you can also use the analytic feature of your social media sites where you have a presence to gauge your content performance. Facebook Insights, for example, will give useful data for making viral content.

Moreover, you can use the analytic features of social media management tools. Some of the best are in the marketplace are:

Buffer
HootSuite
Statusbrew
Agorapulse
Blog2Social
These tools will track your social media activities and give you helpful information to create viral blog posts. By using these social media tools, you will get a complete analysis of content that works and what doesn’t with your buyer persona.

8• Include Calls-to-action
Are you using calls-to-action in your content marketing strategy? Don’t answer that, but if you’re not, you should because you’re already losing out on the competition. Call-to-action is an essential element for any business.

These simple copies and buttons are the motivational force that urges people to take a specific action. A call-to-action can move a person to:

Click through to your landing page
Sign up for your email list
Buy your product or services
These are just a few reasons why you should start using this tool. Besides, the study has proven that a simple call-to-action can increase conversion by over 470%. Furthermore, the Unbounce analysis revealed that 90% of website visitors who read your article’s headline also took the time to engage with your call-to-action copy.

Hence, the purpose of a call-to-action is to help users of your site know what action you want them to take. So not using this epic tool will make you lose money. One simple call-to-action can make all the difference in your content marketing campaigns.

But, to increase clicks and conversions, you have to optimize your call-to-action copy correctly. You also need to craft a compelling call to action with designs. Here’s a quick overview of how to design and craft your call-to-action copy as well as the best colors to use, See infographic by Wishpond:

Infographic via WishPond

9. Make Your Blog Posts Go Viral With Social Media Ads
Social media advertising is incredibly useful if you know how to use it. Social media ads are among the most effective ways to make your content go viral. So go to your preferred social media site and create an advertising campaign.

Search for your best-performing blog post and create an ads campaign with it. The cost of Facebook ads, for example, are relatively cheap. You can use it since almost every business has a presence there.

Here is how it work:

Access your Facebook analytics dashboard and search for your content that generates the most engagement. Then head on to your Facebook page and create your campaign. Here’s an ultimate guide to Facebook Ads Manager by Alfred Lua. This complete guide will help you learn the following:

How to use “Facebook Manager Ads” to create Facebook advertising.
How to manage your Facebook ads campaign with ease.
And how to analyze your Facebook advertising campaign.
Bonus Tip on How to Write a Blog Post That Goes Viral: Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO
Since you optimize your articles for the reader’s reading conditions, do the same for search engine bots, as optimizing for SEO will boost your content visibility and search engine rankings. Much has already been written or said about how to optimize for SEO.

Nevertheless, we created an article on the primary ways to optimize your blog posts for SEO. You can also find the best SEO tools for content and website audits. The SEO audit tools will further assist you to increase Google search visibility and rankings.

Pro tips:

Craft catchy headlines.
Use focus keywords and related keywords in the original title and subtitles.
Write compelling copy with the use of the right keywords in the body of content to increase search visibility.
Wrapping Up How to Write a Blog Post That Goes Viral
To create a viral blog post is the primary goal of every blogger and content marketer. But not knowing how to go about it has become a hindrance to many. We have outlined the top proven ways that will help you make your blog posts go viral.

[“source=business2community”]

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Blogging

How to Make Money Blogging in 2019 (+Easy Ways to Start Today!)

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Image result for How to Make Money Blogging in 2019 (+Easy Ways to Start Today!)

The year is 2019. Influencers, bloggers and even racist YouTubers are making money — millions of dollars, in some cases — hand over fist.

Well, not everyone is necessarily making millions, but they can make a lot of money, and you can, too!

Monetization strategies aren’t just advertisements and sponsorships anymore, either. In fact, some aren’t even relying on the website builder software typically associated with the space. Internet personalities have revolutionized and expanded the methods by which they make money on their content.

So, once you’ve learned how to start a blog, you should start thinking about how to make money doing it. In this article, I will cover how to monetize through advertising, selling products, affiliate marketing, and providing services.

How to make money from a blog

  1. Start a blog and publish useful content regularly
  2. Establish and audience by sharing your blog on social media
  3. Engage with your readers! This helps build a substantial readership
  4. Make money by advertising – CPC, CPM, CPA, and private ads
  5. Make money by selling products – merchandise, branded goods, eBooks, apps, etc.
  6. Try affiliate marketing – earn commissions promoting other bloggers or companies
  7. Provide services – attend workshops, speak at conventions, offer classes

How to make money blogging

Many internet personalities will use a blend of different monetization methods rather than just relying on one. They opt to cherry-pick options that align best with what they can handle and are best for their brand. This results in a much more robust, diversified income stream that is more resilient to fluctuation.

Big disclaimer here, friends: while it isn’t necessary to have a large following to monetize a blog, having a large fanbase and a thriving professional network will garner more from the monetization solutions discussed here.

However, bloggers who choose some of the options below stand to make more money sooner compared to those that don’t employ any monetization strategies until they have a substantial readership. Bloggers who start early will be more familiar with the tools of the trade and will typically give themselves more time to think of a long-term monetization strategy.

These steps are the backbone to getting your blog up and running. There will be tips toward the end concerning content posting, but for right now we’re just going to focus on getting your blog online and ready for use.

Advertisements

Advertising is the most popular monetization tool used by internet content creators. From YouTubers to bloggers, advertisements lend themselves to easy money from popular content. Since online advertising has become widespread, the process to set up advertisements on most content sites has become streamlined. There are a few different ways to advertise:

CPC, CPM and CPA ads

In this day and age, it’s impossible to go anywhere on the web without seeing an ad. But not all ads are created equal, and understanding their differences as a blogger is important when considering which kinds to host on your site.

CPC (“cost per click”) ads, sometimes called PPC (“pay per click”) services, are typically images in the sidebar or header of a webpage. If the content is written, the ads can also appear between bodies of text. For this type of ad, an amount is paid every time a visitor clicks the ad.

CPM (“cost per mile”) ads work similarly to CPC ads in terms of their appearance on a webpage, and an amount is paid for every 1,000 impressions, or times, people have clicked the ad.

CPA (“cost per action”) ads are among the least popular for content creators because an advertiser must either receive a sales lead or make a sale for the creator to make money on the ad. While this is a better model for the advertiser, it can mean missed ad revenue opportunities for content creators.

cpm-cpc-cpa

In some cases, advertisement-based monetization systems are built into some platforms, notably YouTube and WordPress.com. However, there are extra hoops to jump through for creators themselves to access that income stream, and until they meet certain criteria like paying for an advanced plan, the platform itself will reap the rewards.

Alternatively, content creators can turn to supply side (SSP) platforms to monetize their site for them by selling ad space on their site in real time.

Private ads and sponsorships

Popular content creators will often be directly approached by advertisers if they drive enough traffic. Content creators also have the option to contact advertisers themselves if they feel so inclined. Either way, working directly with advertisers removes the middle man and allows creators to set their own ad rates.

Private ads are particularly popular in videos or podcasts, where hosts can be heard verbally advertising a product or service before they begin their show. However, it’s not uncommon for bloggers or writers to shout out an advertiser in their works. This type of relationship can be thought of as a sponsorship of sorts. Bloggers that advertise products or services sometimes host giveaways of whatever they’re advertising. (Who doesn’t love free stuff?)

Selling products

As a staple of capitalist society, selling products is an excellent way to make money. Bloggers and influencers are known for advertising products, but many also produce their own products depending on the type of content they’re recognized for. Bloggers with large followings have fanbases interested in buying physical or digital products they create.

With the advent of Patreon and similar fundraising software, it’s easier than ever for internet content creators to host tiered membership systems, with members at each level receiving different products. (If you aren’t familiar with Patreon, it is a membership platform that allows artists to run a subscription content service.)

While it was intended for artists, creators from every corner of the internet have found ways to use Patreon, and with good reason. The intent of the platform was to give artists a viable monthly income in return for things like exclusive digital art, how-to’s and even lessons.

There are examples of each product type below. However, creators should absolutely get creative about their product marketing. Standing out and selling something unique is a great way to generate income and draw more attention to your brand.

Physical products

Everybody loves merch, and a significant following can make physical products a viable stream of income.

  • Merchandise — Many internet celebrities will start producing merchandise related to their content, including items like apparel, mugs and posters. Merch can serve a dual purpose, both driving revenue and serving as advertising.
  • Crafted goods — Many blogs are focused on art or other crafting hobbies. Well-known members in the space can put their goods up for sale on their private websites, e-commerce platforms, or marketplaces like Etsy.
  • Books — Plenty of bloggers end up consolidating some of their work and expanding it into a full, published book. Similarly, sometimes artists will create physical magazines or compilations of their work and distribute them both on- and offline.
  • Branded goods — It’s not uncommon for bloggers and influencers popular in specific spaces like makeup or fashion to start producing their own lines after they’ve become critically successful. While this option usually occurs after some time, it can cement a personality as a more permanent fixture within a space and as an expert.

Digital products

Bloggers and artists are known for their digital bodies of work. Putting some of it up for sale or offering related digital commodities seems like the perfect segue into monetization.

  • eBooks — Many published bloggers will offer eBooks in lieu of, or alongside, physical copies of their books. eBooks are easier to offer since the author doesn’t have to worry about producing, distributing or shipping a physical book.
  • Art — This option is particularly, and not surprisingly, popular among creatives. While many artists will post their work on blogs or online portfolios, they can also take commissions or sell premade works for private use.
  • Online classes and courses — Online classes, offered either in real time or on demand, can be an excellent option for bloggers who are well-known for being particularly good at their craft.
  • Apps, plugins or themes — Plenty of content creators are known for their coding or digital design prowess. Those designing themes, for example, will often put a watermark or a link to their website or page in a corner of their theme to continue to draw traffic.
  • Exclusive podcasts or music — Plenty of podcasters or musicians will sell their works digitally. Others also offer exclusive tracks or podcasts with a paid subscription plan or a one-time payment.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning commissions for promoting another person or a company’s products. It’s similar to a sponsorship, but instead of being paid for a shout-out in a video or podcast, the content creator is paid for every person referred to the product or service via a special banner, link or promo code. Moreover, it’s an easy way to advertise products or services that one has personal experience with and can therefore safely vouch for their quality.

affiliate marketing

Providing services

Popular content creators become leaders in a space, and as a result, can be asked to host a variety of services to supplement the monetization options tied directly to their website or work.

  • Public speaking and meetups — Content creators are frequently asked to speak at conventions and seminars. Often these presentations or talks are recorded; posting them online can serve as a great reference to their work and drive more awareness of it.
  • Workshops and classes — While some bloggers will turn to offering online courses, some prefer hosting them in person. The chance to meet a famous blogger and learn from them is a lot more enticing than just viewing a recorded online seminar.

How long does it take to make money blogging?

That’s a hard one, sport.

A blogger, artist or internet personality will need a substantial and/or devoted following to reliably make money this way. It’s unrealistic to expect that you’ll be able to quit your day job after a few months of blogging. Some bloggers say that you should expect to wait a year or two before making a healthy full-time income — provided you’ve done a good job monetizing your blog.

The time between starting your blog and making decent money with it isn’t easy. Making a living off blogging or creating content requires patience, creativity and a lot of effort.

[“source=learn.g2crowd”]

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Online Marketing

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA HAS MADE E-MARKETING EASY AND AFFORDABLE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Written by Sujain Thomas

Online marketing can sometimes appear confusing for marketers who have to choose between several marketing channels to decide which would be most effective. There used to be a time when SEO was the dominant online marketing platform along with email marketing. Gradually things started changing, and the advent of the social media platform completely changed the perception of online marketing. From the beginning of online marketing, visibility remained the most crucial criterion for marketing success. Social media networks boosted the visibility aspect many more times and proved its enormous abilities in creating wide outreach.  Businesses of all sizes capitalized on the easy access to social media networks and built aggressive marketing strategies around it. However, the biggest beneficiary of social media marketing is the small business segment with local interests. Small businesses that rely on local markets found a robust platform for marketing on social media.

The need for social media marketing

Online marketing that revolves around San Antonio SEO is all about earning high ranks in search results for which it is essential to maintain high visibility of websites. Visibility has a link to search rankings because it facilitates search engines to pick sites against search queries. Since social media is the most frequented place on the internet, the target audience would be comfortable in accessing the business on social media. Moreover, almost 80% consumers depend on online research before making purchases, which makes it imperative for hosting your business on social media.

Social media is especially attractive for small businesses because the majority of searches lead to conversions as buyers search only when they have decided to purchase. Social media has enormous capabilities of driving traffic to websites and is the most prominent reason for attracting marketers. Local businesses simply cannot do without using social media that gives it the most economical option for online marketing.  Why you should use social media for business would become clear upon reading this article.

Generate business familiarity

Social media creates high engagement and provides the opportunity for two-way communication that facilitates close interaction with the audience. You can post all types of content on social media. From images to text, videos, blogs, tweets, and infographics, every piece of content generates viewer engagement, elicits their response and can often go viral by creating an instant connection with the audience. The beauty of social media is the ever-increasing reach of the communication that keeps expanding through sharing.  When the audience finds value in the content, they come forward to re-post it, re-tweet it and share it by other means that keeps on spreading the content almost endlessly. All this happens without any additional effort on the part of the marketers. Automatically, the visibility of content keeps multiplying that gives local businesses enormous exposure without any investment.

Stay connected to customers

The success of a business depends largely on how well your nurture your customer base by keeping in touch with them. Social media has made it easy to connect with customers on a personal level. However, local businesses might find it difficult to remain active on social media networks with a steady flow of content that attracts the audience.  Where would you look for content that could keep your audience connected? The answer lies in presenting stories of your business to the audience that revolves around your business activities. Choose stories that the audience would find interesting and you will be surprised how quickly the audience reacts to it by engaging in conversation. Thus, begins the process of building relationships with customers by using social media that you can extend to acquire new customers too.

Advertise free of cost

Local businesses that have small budgets cannot think of advertising on the traditional channels due to high cost. Social media has now made advertising easy for small businesses, as it does not involve any spending except for creating the advertisement. A social media profile allows display of content that features business achievements besides upholding the products and services through text, videos, and images. It is possible to create a long-term advertising campaign on social media that helps to take your business to the doorsteps of customers regardless of their location.  The advertising campaign on social media acquires good value due to the trust enjoyed by social media that shows your business in good light.

Social signals impact search rankings

Social signals generated by sharing content on social media are highly valuable to marketers because search engines use social signals as a measure of website authority. When you post your business on social media, the response of the audience determines how well your website would rank during searches. Since people keep talking about your business only when they find enough value in it, social signals constitute an element of business value that reflects in the search results. A social media profile becomes visible in search results and opens up new opportunities of earning more clicks in addition to the links displayed in the search results.  For more benefits in rankings, you have to optimize the business profile on social media.

Choosing social media networks

The plethora of social media networks can land marketers in a dilemma when deciding which ones would be right for them. While taking your business across all available networks might sound like an easy solution, it is neither feasible nor desirable. To make it easy, your comfort level in using some platforms is a reason for choosing it. Match it with the choice of the audience because you need to take your business across social media channels where you would find the majority of your target audience. A third factor to consider is the compatibility of the platform you select. How well the platform would be able to uphold your business in the way you want is something to think. Most importantly, judge the traffic generating capabilities of the channel both online and offline.

Implement a social media marketing campaign based on sound strategies that provide the expected returns.

[“Source-irishtechnews”]

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Online Marketing

How Online Marketers Use Facebook Quizzes To Exploit Your Narcissism For Easy Bucks

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

I have a tip for you. Those Facebook intelligence quizzes that claim “only 5% of the population will get all these answers right” are not actual intelligence quizzes. I hope you already knew that. If not, you’re welcome.

Those quizzes are either rigged, disingenuous (almost everyone can see the difference between these little colored squares) or are outright scams designed to get your personal information. Even at their best, quizzes shared on Facebook are marketing tools, either used for ad revenue, cookies, or brand engagement. They are, indeed, the ultimate clickbait.

Using Your Narcissism To Make Money

The one secret marketing companies don’t want you to know? They prey on the narcissism inherent in social media use to get clicks. A University of Michigan study shows that social media “reflects and amplifies our culture’s growing levels of narcissism” and attract individuals most in need of an ego boost. (The jury is out on whether social media is more about making a connection versus a venue for preening and self-promotion, but at least there’s a quiz to help you figure it out).

A high score on an intelligence-measuring test, for example, is one way to signal to your friends what you’ve known along: that you are very, very smart. With some tests that truly go viral, it is a way to one-up others. Take, for example, a vocabulary quiz that in June 2016 was shared more than 78,000 times and liked over 51,000 times.

As always, the results of this quiz should be taken with a grain of salt, not in this case because it is rigged but because the questions start off relatively simple then throw in some very obscure words. Thus, almost anyone choosing to take such a test will likely do well enough that he would share his results without embarrassment, but truly linguistically gifted people can have bragging rights by besting their peers.

Personal Brands Versus Joining a Tribe

Sometimes the bragging rights have to do with specialized knowledge. “Only a true Harry Potter fan,” for example, would get all the answers on this quiz. In other cases, they are much easier than promised, and sometimes, like in this quiz for nurses, they are completely rigged to give someone either 100 percent or 0 percent. Regardless, they evoke a positive dopamine rush in test takers. If not a true test of intelligence, they are at least a test of “trueness,” a belonging to a fandom or a specific group, like a reverse of the “No True Scotsman” fallacy.

People want to belong to a tribe. It might be a tribe of Phish Phans or Trekkies, or it could be belonging to a profession or a generation (after all, only a ’90s kid could identify these Backstreet Boys lyrics). Publicly identifying with a tribe is a part of our social media branding. In fact, almost everything we do online is part of our branding and influences how others view us. It is more advertisement than conversation, more media than social.

We brand ourselves offline as well, but many of those things subsequently get shared online to a wider audience. Christmas cards look more like slick family brochures rather than well wishes. Birthdays have to have themes and the decorations shouldn’t be from Party City. Weddings now have hashtags. We Pinterest our lives then replay every aspect online. In fact, a 2013 “Today” show survey of 7,000 U.S. mothers revealed that 42 percent have “Pinterest stress” about being insufficiently crafty.

Humans Search for Meaning

Part of personal branding is, quite simply, telling people who we are. Social media has enabled us to do so on an ever-increasing scale. A major appeal of early sites such as Friendster, Myspace, and the original Facebook was the ability to proclaim to the world your favorite bands, books, and quotes. Even without a quiz to fuel it, think about how many people shared a viral article about “Xennials,” a term referring to a possible “microgeneration” of individuals born between 1979 and 1983. (There also is a quiz to see if you’re a Xennial.)

Part of the reason the term caught fire was that Xennials like myself are in their mid to late ’30s and therefore in the perfect position to bring their ideas and humor into the mainstream (think the jokes and terminology in “Frozen,” which are perfectly geared to appeal to a mid-30s parent). A discussion of a Baby Boomer/Generation X microgeneration likely would not have the same breadth of discussion in mainstream media.

But a slightly more pejorative reason for the “Xennial” obsession is that it panders to the navel-gazing to which millennials (and Xennials) are prone. Hence the abundance of articles (and quizzes of course) shared on social media about introversion, starting with a veritable classic, The Atlantic’s 2003 “Caring for your Introvert,” or the recent trend du jour of identifying yourself as a particular Myers-Briggs type. When Heidi Preibe’s “The Definition of Hell for each Myers-Briggs Personality Type” went viral in May 2015, Google searches for the term skyrocketed, presumably also with an influx of individuals taking and retaking Myers-Briggs quizzes.

As for the Xennials, Sarah Stankorb made up the term in 2014 for GOOD Magazine. This microgeneration had previously been termed Generation Catalano (in 2011 by Doree Shafir) and later in 2015 by Anna Garvey as the Oregon Trail Generation.

So why did the popularity of the term explode in 2017—three years later? One reason seems to be that the term has been newly misattributed to an Australian professornamed Dan Woodman and recent articles therefore incorrectly make it seem as if this is an official microgeneration blessed by experts. Millennials are obsessed with identifying themselves, but they also want the weight of science behind it, just as they do when they read about the intricacies of Myers-Briggs and Jungian typologies or delve into the neurological patterns of introverts.

This obsession lends itself to personality quizzes, but not just weighty scientific ones. After all, the most popular quizzes shared in Facebook are lighthearted inconsequential fare, such as BuzzFeed’s “What City Should You Actually Live In?” (20 million contemporary views) and “Which State Do You Actually Belong In?” (41.4 million contemporary views).

BuzzFeed quizzes are written so the results feel personal and you can relate to them. “The answers genuinely correspond to the results.” Like Cosmo magazine quizzes of old, BuzzFeed writes the results first, putting people into buckets, then writes corresponding questions and answers.

Don’t Just Blame the Millennials

The example of old Cosmo quizzes demonstrates that this, of course, isn’t just a millennial thing. Personality tests, including Rorscharch’s inkblots and Woodworth’s Personal Data Sheet, came to the fore in the early twentieth century and show we want to quantify the human condition. Nowadays when we take personality tests, we get feedback that confirms our views of ourselves and help justify our behavior. What’s new, however, is that now part of the point is to share the results. By doing so, we not only tell people who we are but confirm it to ourselves.

Our society is self-absorbed, but social media isn’t the cause, and instead a symptom of something that arose in the 1980s.

Our society is self-absorbed, but social media isn’t the cause, and instead a symptom of something that arose in the 1980s. Narcissistic Facebook users are more likely to be middle-aged adults who use social media to gain approval from people in their existing social circles (whereas narcissistic young adults take to the more public arena of Twitter and broadcast their views opinions on an attempt to become thought leaders).

But it’s “the declaration of self, rather than just being” that theorists say represent a societal evolution. Words are not the only declaration; so are the choices we make public, such as our Amazon wishes or our streaming music playlists

Marketers know this. There are articles on “leveraging the social media ego” to get data on customer targets. Individuals want to project a self-image, and by doing so online they basically hand companies valuable information. We do so through our acquisition of things and our loyalty to brands, both which signify “who we are.”

All of this leads to interactive content marketing strategy. Brands know they need to make users feel as if they are gaining some insight into themselves and their lives, and that people want a personal and engaging conversation with their interactive content. Hence the proliferation of quizzes, almost all of which are some sort of marketing tool.

In the end, that’s all just good business and salesmanship. Knowing the psychology of quizzes and how that benefits marketers won’t stop us from taking them. The one thing for us quiz-happy folk to be aware of, though, are quizzes that try to take your personal information and sell it to others. Experts recommend staying away from any quiz that requires access to your Facebook profile to generate a word cloud, or your most popular statuses, or your “soulmate” from your friends list. When we let our ego lead the way, it is best to protect ourselves from being scammed.

[“Source-thefederalist”]

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Blogging

Blogging is an easy way to make your play

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Image result for Blogging is an easy way to make your play

Blogs are a class of website designed for keeping online journals. In fact, the name is a mash-up of the words “web log”.

Blogs represent a social phenomenon, so they are constantly evolving. The internet itself is changing very fast, so pinpointing a single definition for a blog is a hard task.

A blog can be a lot more than a simple diary but, at its most basic, a blog is a website with updates displayed in reverse-chronological order (the newest info is at the top of the page).

Much to the chagrin of many an English teacher, “blog” is also used as a verb, meaning to update or add content to a blog.

If you were ever going to be interested in the weird and wonderful world of blogging or, for that matter, having any type of website of your own, chances are you would have made a start by now, and you probably know what I’m on about already.

However, if you’re just starting out in the online community, there are a few websites that can help you understand what a blog is and how you go about setting one up for yourself, or for a group or association. My favourites are at www.tinyurl.com/wordpress- intro and www.tinyurl. com/blogger-tour, but you can just as easily type “What is a blog?” into Google, and learn that way.

Blogs exist for everything from goldfish (www.thegoldfishblog. com) to Tiger Woods (www.tinyurl.com/ tigerblog) and anything in between. You don’t even need a website to start blogging: there are many free services that allow you to set up and use a blog, and they’ll even cover the cost of hosting the site.

All you have to do is choose a blogging service provider, sign up for an account (no payment or financial information is required), log in and follow the beginners guides.

You’ll be able to log in and start blogging once you’ve verified your e-mail address. Pre-defined templates are available on all the leading blogging services. Customise these to personalise the look and feel of your site.

As these templates have been made by experienced web designers, they are generally very slick and polished – unlike most first-time DIY web designs, which are a real eyesore to a savvy web user.

Blogs are so simple to set up and use that there isn’t really a reason not to have one if you’re a “communicator” – and who isn’t? Arrange social events and then use the same blog to share the photos – you could also blog to stimulate political debate or just share favourite recipes – the choice is yours. You can write a blog on a specific topic or have several blogs about a variety of subjects. You can write as little or as much as you like about anything and everything. You can add photos, music or videos to a blog. (Video-blogging has, predictably, been dubbed “vlogging”.)

Blogs can be fantastic business tools too, as they make the chore of updating a website quick and easy. Keeping your business’s website fresh and up-to-date in this way means customers are likely to return to it.

The added web traffic to your website will in turn help it to appear higher up in search engines’ results pages – which is good news for your business.

Before I talk any more about blogs, get one going for yourself. I use Wordpress at www.word press.com – it’s incredibly easy to get started, just click “Sign Up Now” and follow the prompts.

An alternative is Blogger (www.blogger.com), which is owned by Google – their sign-up process is just as simple.

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