What bloggers should not do

Date: 9 April 2016

Where: CTMeetUp

Who am I, and what do I do

• Professional troll, online comedian, podcaster, agent provocateur, sexist, feminist, men’s rights activist, communist, socialist, anarchist, government shill, liberal, libtard, etc. all =

Don’t fret, these ‘titles’ were all calculated and planned

• SEO, Digital Marketer, the blogging guy, Digital Marketing consultant, Influencer Marketing Manager = The Professional

What bloggers shouldn’t do

• Don’t work for free• Don’t follow back or like for like• Don’t “follow back” or “like for like”• Don’t rely on one source of traffic or income for your blog• Don’t try and be everything to everyone• Don’t be afraid to invest in your blog and your traffic

1. Don’t work for free

Why you should not work for free

• How do I start making money on my blog? STOP WORKING FOR FREE

• Charging for work, no matter how small your fee, will increase your income

• Your biggest commodities are your audience and the time you spend creating content for that audience

• Working for ‘exposure’ and ‘product’ will not make getting a paying job easier later on. Charge from the beginning, and charge more as your audience grows

• Your blog is your art

2. Don’t follow back or ‘like for like’

Why ‘like for like’ doesn’t work

Why asking for likes and follows is killing your blog’s influence:https://medium.com/@RuanStixFourie/why-asking-for-likes-and-follows-is-killing-your-blog-s-influence-ba86123eb174#.5r5l8372s

An authentic audience makes Facebook powerful

Total media spend:

R40

Total media spend:

R250

3. Don’t rely on one source of traffic or income

• Just because you’ve mastered one, doesn’t mean you can start neglecting the others

• Social networking sites come and go

• Google Rankings fluctuate, and the Google Sandbox is real

• If you are simply getting vanity stats (high pageviews, but higher bounce rates), apply your time elsewhere. Rather reach a real audience than just try and inflate figures

• Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google (SEO), Pinterest, YouTube, Bloglovin, StumbleUpon

• Don’t rely on one source of income

4. Don’t try and be everything to everyone

Rather be something to someone

5. Don’t be afraid to invest in traffic

• Spend some of you money on generating traffic

• Facebook posts, promoted tweets, promoted Instagram posts etc.

• Focus more on creating exceptional content, than the amount you share

• Target the people you know would want to come back to your blog for more

• Make sure you determine your goal for your traffic before spending

6. Don’t neglect your newsletter or email subscribers list

• Your email list subscribers have given you direct access to their inbox. USE IT WISELY

• Make it as easy as possible for new people to subscribe

• Be wary of using pop-ups to gain subscribers

• Consistency is key

• When launching a new product to sell, your email subscriber list should be the first to know

The advantage of a healthy email subscriber list

7. Other quick don’ts

• Don’t suck up to brands online, this will not lead to work

• Don’t think work is going to just fall into your lap

• At the end of the day it all comes down to campaign objectives. If you convert sales for a brand with your sponsored content they will keep coming back for more, and this is how a real working relationship is created. If you don’t meet campaign objectives, the brands will let their feet make the noise

• Don’t think that success (paid gigs) will fall in your lap from day one. For some it does, for the rest it takes time. It took me over 2 years to start making sponsored content income. In the meantime, focus on growing your audience and improving your craft as content creator and digital marketer.

• Consistency is key. Sporadic posts can work. Regular content that your audience will be expecting works much better

• Don’t get hung up on the details like SEO. The more you blog (and harder you work) the better you will get at it all

• Forget about vanity stats. These are becoming redundant. Focus on what really matters: ATOP, BR, CONVERSION

For more:

• http://gevaaalik.com• http://rampedupdigital.com

• @gevaaalikdotcom• @RuanStix

• Slideshare link for the full presentation