The Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Scannable Content

Rarely do people read content from beginning to end.

Maybe it's because of our “microwave,” instant gratification culture. Maybe it's because millions of other articles are vying for people's attention.

Or maybe it's because reading from screens takes about 25% longer than reading from paper. Research has even indicated that readers experience an unpleasant feeling when reading online text.

Whatever the case may be, it's crucial to take the right approach when writing for online readers-a new approach.

There's a certain art to digital writing that differs significantly from writing traditional paper text.

If you expect to convert more of your audience into actual customers, you need to crack the code.

You need to switch up your game plan.

In my early days of writing, I didn't realize this. I had an eye for visual appeal, but I was unsure of how this applied to blogging. There I was, blogging away every day without realizing how people were viewing my articles.

Now, I have a better idea of how people interact with written content online.

What you're viewing right now is a result of my research and testing.

It's about scannable content.

What you're up against

First, let me set the stage for the idea of scannable content.

Did you know that 55% of people spend fewer than 15 seconds actively on a page?

That's not ideal when your goal is to keep visitors exploring and to get them interested in your product/service/brand.

You've got only a small window to grab their attention and motivate them to read your content. And it's not realistic to expect visitors to read it in its entirety. Hardly anyone does that anymore.

In fact, research on the way people read websites found that only 16% of their subjects read a webpage word by word. Most participants-79% of the test subjects-scanned new pages they came across.

The takeaway is that less than two out of 10 people will actually read an entire blog post. The vast majority will be highly selective about what they read and will merely scan through it.

Another interesting thing is that just because content gets shared doesn't mean reading engagement increases.

Chartbeat analyzed 10,000 articles shared on social media and found “that there was no relationship whatsoever between the amount a piece of content is shared and the amount of attention an average reader will give that content.”

This graph illustrates this phenomenon:

What's the solution?

It's simple. You need to become adept at writing scannable content. This is what the modern digital reader is looking for (whether they consciously know it or not).

What exactly is scannable content?

According to Forbes,

“scannable content is short, sweet and to the point. Sentences and paragraphs are brief. Bold text and bullet points highlight key points. Links to other content are used to provide your readers with supplemental information.”

This writing format is geared toward 21st century readers, who primarily read content on a screen as opposed to a book or any other print publication.

It's specifically tailored to streamline the way readers absorb information to keep them interested.

And it works.

Dr. Jakob Nielsen even found that scannable online content boosted readability by 57%. If you're used to conventional writing (e.g., large blocks of text), you need to throw that approach out the window.

You need to embrace scannability. Fortunately, there's a step-by-step process you can follow.

1. Write short paragraphs

You might have noticed that I prefer to use short paragraphs in my content.

Really short. In fact, a lot of my paragraphs are only a single sentence in length.

That's not by accident.

I would say that this technique is perhaps the most important when it comes to creating scannable content.

Allow me to provide you with an example. Here's a large, ugly block of text:

You probably find yourself straining your eyes to read through it.

And here's some text broken down into much smaller, more digestible chunks:

Which do you find more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read?

I would bet you'd say the second one.

It's broken up in a way that allows you to move seamlessly from one point to the next without it taxing your brain in the process.

The key is to include only one idea per paragraph and make it a maximum of four sentences. However, I try to stick with just one to three.

Remember that white space is your friend, so use plenty of it to break up text into smaller chunks.

2. Keep your sentences short

There's no reason to drag your content out by writing long-winded sentences and using PhD-level vocabulary words that only the academic elite will understand.

You need to remember that your audience will consist of a lot of different readers with varying levels of education (and vocabulary).

If readers have to continually check the dictionary just to understand what you're trying to say, it defeats the whole purpose.

That's why you're better off keeping your sentences fairly brief and not getting overly wordy just for the sake of sounding smart.

As a rule of thumb, any more than 16 words per sentence is too long.

Be practical, and try to simplify complex information as much as possible so that everyone can understand it. “Dumb it down” if you have to, but keep the value high.

3. Follow the four-syllable rule

A simple strategy to ensure your writing isn't wordy is to avoid using any words with more than four syllables.

For instance, you would want to stay away from:

• Unintelligibly


• Appropriation


• Lackadaisical

You get the idea.

Your readers should be able to maneuver their way through your content without becoming exhausted during the process.

4. Use subheaders

Most readers won't be interested in every single point of your article.

Instead, most readers would prefer to bounce around to seek out the few pieces of key information that interest them the most.

You can accommodate this desire by including several subheaders throughout the body of your content.

This breaks it down in a logical way that makes your content “flow.”

If you read posts from any of my blogs including Quick Sprout, Crazy Egg, and Neil Patel, you'll notice that I take full advantage of subheaders.

They serve as a quick and easy way to locate main points and accelerate the scanning process. Just make sure that each subheader encapsulates what the following paragraphs cover.

Also, try not to get too clever or cute about it. Instead, keep your subheadings simple and practical.

5. Use bullet points

Who doesn't love bullet points? I know I do.

They seamlessly break down information so readers can extract key data without having to think too much about it.

Here's a good example of bullet points used to perfection:

Rather than writing out your list in a sentence, separating your points by commas, create a bullet list, and your readers will love you for it.

6. Sprinkle in images

Images serve two distinct purposes.

First, they serve as an eye candy and fulfill your reader's subconscious desire for visual stimuli.

Second, they provide periodic breaks between blocks of text.

Both help keep readers on your site for longer and encourage them to engage with your content.

I try to throw in an image at least every few paragraphs or so because I know the images I use enrich my content with information and add validity to my points.

I recommend using data-driven pictures (like graphs) or images to serve as examples, rather than merely using “placeholders,” because these will really add to the overall depth of your content.

7. Add links to external sources

To add authority and credibility to your writing, it's a good idea to include quotes, data points, graphs, etc. from reliable sources.

I do this with pretty much every piece of content I write. It backs up my argument and proves that I'm not just pulling statistics out of thin air.

But since it's not practical to include every gory detail, you'll want to simply include a key sentence or two and insert a link to the original source.

If your readers wish to learn more about a certain topic you cover, they can simply visit the link. As a result, this won't bog down your content with extraneous information.

8. Create lists

I love lists.

There's something about breaking down content in a logical, sequential order I find satisfying. It keeps things neat and tidy.

Apparently, I'm not alone.

A study performed by Buzzsumo and Okdork analyzed over 100 million articles to determine which received the most shares. According to their findings, lists were the second most shareable format (only infographics were shared more).

If you really want to maximize the scannability of your content, use plenty of lists.

I'm not saying do this for every single piece of content you create because it will become redundant, but 50% or so should be a good number to shoot for.

Lists are a great weapon to have in your arsenal because they lend themselves to being scanned naturally.

Conclusion

Creating scannable content has arguably never been more important than it is today.

By accommodating the modern online reader and presenting information in a streamlined, visually appealing way, you can improve the reader's experience.

This technique is also effective for preventing “cognitive overload,” which can drain a reader's mental energy.

The end result is happier readers who spend more time on your site and who are more likely to convert.

Can you think of any additional techniques for making content more scannable?

The Anatomy of Virality: How to Engineer the Perfect Viral Blog Article

You hear the term viral all the time.

I'm regularly reading Internet content that has “gone viral” or watching the latest viral video post. I research virality, and I read articles about content virality.

Virality is a big deal. If you think about it, viral content is what shapes our culture.

The idea of viral content has become rooted in Internet culture. It's obviously something that most bloggers and marketers strive to achieve with their content.

Viral content can come in many forms and mean different things to different people.

For example, by some standards, I've written several “viral” articles-articles that were viewed by millions and shared by thousands. But when I compare my little blog article to other viral pieces of content, I see that its reach is tiny.

The underlying quality of a viral piece of content is that it circulates rapidly across the Internet and reaches a widespread audience in a short period of time.

It can go from obscurity to mass exposure overnight.

Whether it's a meme, video, blog post, or commercial, viral content has a way of capturing the attention of people from all walks of life.

There's something exceptional about it even if you can't necessarily put your finger on it.

Although there's no magical recipe that instantly makes a blog article epic and uber-sharable, there is certainly a formula you can follow to achieve virality. After all, virality is a scientific phenomenon, even if achieving insane levels, like 2.5 billion views, isn't predictable.

You can engineer virality to a certain degree. You start by understanding a few factors and elements that unite viral content.

Here's a sequence you can follow to engineer the perfect viral blog article.

Content type

First things first. Which types of content receive the most shares?

I think you'll agree that it's easier to watch a four-minute music video, for example, than to read a 2,000-word article.

I'm interested in written content for the purposes of our discussion, so I'll stick to long-form articles.

OkDork and Buzzsumo analyzed over 100 million articles to uncover underlying patterns that contribute to virality.

Here's what they found in terms of what content was shared the most:

When it comes to blog content, you'll notice that list articles performed the best overall by a fairly large margin.

This is followed by “why posts,” “what posts,” and “how-to articles.”

So, in theory, you'd have the best odds of your article going viral if you created a list-more specifically, a 10-item list because it increases your odds even more.

According to OkDork, “10 item lists on average received the most social shares-on average 10,621 social shares. In fact, they had four times as many social shares on average than the 2nd most popular list number: 23.” The next best performing articles were lists of 16 and 24 items.

The exact number isn't as important as the fact that it's a list. BuzzFeed, the king of listicles, regularly produces viral listicles. When I checked on Buzzsumo the most popular articles in the past year, two of the top five were listicles.

The number seems a bit arbitrary. But the fact that it's a list? That's the appeal.

Keep this in mind when deciding on the number of items to include on a list.

Content length

The word count of an article is another huge factor in determining the potential for virality.

There's a common misconception about long content.

It goes like this:

• If the content is long…


• …then nobody will read it.

Guess what? That's totally false.

Obviously read is a slippery term, so I won't get into the mechanics of what reading means to people.

Here's what I do know: longer content gets more shares, backlinks, views, and all the good things that great content deserves.

Here's what the study mentioned above revealed:

By analyzing this graph, it's clear that the higher the word count, the better the likelihood of a blog article going viral: 3,000-10,000 words generated the highest overall number of shares.

And this totally makes sense if you think about it.

I've definitely noticed a pattern where long, well-researched, in-depth content kills it, while your average, run-of-the-mill 500-word articles achieve only marginal results.

Although people may not read a long article in its entirety, they're still likely to scan it. To me, that's important. I try to create articles so people can get value from them even if they don't read every word.

Aiming for at least 2,000 words per post is ideal if you want your content to get shared across a wide audience.

Evoking the right emotions

Next, there's the issue of getting readers to feel certain emotions.

The same study from OkDork and Buzzsumo revealed which content received the most number of shares based on the emotions it evoked:

According to these findings, the top four emotions to target are:

1. Awe


2. Laughter


3. Amusement


4. Joy

What's the underlying pattern of these emotions?

They're primarily positive emotions.

Although awe could be positive or negative, laughter, amusement, and joy are all emotions that make people smile and bring about good feelings.

You'll also notice that negative emotions, like anger and sadness, don't perform as well. What's the takeaway? Positive content has a far better chance of going viral than negative content.

Capitalizing on trends

Striking while the iron is hot is also important.

If you can create blog content based on something that's wildly popular at the moment, the potential for virality increases exponentially.

Although this approach is likely to have a fairly short shelf life and probably won't be evergreen, you can still generate some massive exposure for a little while.

And if your content is epic, there's a good chance that many readers will return to your site to see what else you've been up to.

Buzzsumo offers a great example.

They mention an article on Fox News Travel from 2015 that talks about a zombie-themed “Walking Dead” cruise.

This article managed to generate a whopping 1.5 million shares and over 400,000 comments. Not bad for a piece about undead brain eaters.

The lesson here is that writing content based on current trends can definitely work in your favor.

Visuals

People love visuals. They make even the most mundane content come to life and bring the points of a blog article into a cohesive whole.

So as you might imagine, images play a considerable role in virality.

To put it simply, including images in your content increases your odds of getting shares.

Skipping images reduces those odds.

Here's a graph that shows the impact images can have:

As you can see, articles with at least one image greatly outperform articles without any images.

In fact, having just one image will theoretically double your number of shares.

However, I wouldn't stop at just one. The more visual appeal, the better.

That's why I always make sure I include at least a handful of images in every blog article I write.

Author byline

There's also the issue of a byline, which briefly tells the reader who the author of an article is.

In this case, that's you.

OkDork and Buzzsumo found that this is also a factor in virality:

Overall, content with a byline/bio receives more shares than content without one.

While there's virtually no difference in terms of shares on Facebook, it definitely makes a difference on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

But why?

It's simple. Having a byline lets readers know who the author is, which adds to the article's credibility.

More trustworthiness = more shares.

Do yourself a favor and make sure to include your byline with each article, ideally with a professional-looking headshot.

Posting at the right time

One factor that's commonly overlooked is the day of the week a blog article is posted.

Research has found that the odds of content going viral are increased considerably when the article is posted during the weekdays. More specifically, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays are your best bets.

There's a very clear drop off on the weekends, which makes sense, considering many people are out and about and less likely to be glued to the Internet.

For the best possible chances of your article going viral, it would be smart to post on a Tuesday.

The power of influencers

One last thing. If you can get influencers to share your content with their audiences, the potential for virality goes through the roof.

Here's what I mean:

Even if you can get just one influencer to share your content, the results can be significant.

But if you can somehow get five influencers to do this, it can have a monumental, earth-shattering impact.

Of course, this is easier said than done.

But one strategy for getting an influencer on board is to first see which types of content they've shared in the past.

You can then base your article around a similar topic and reach out to the influencer once it's completed.

Putting it all together

Here's the deal.

You can never tell for sure whether or not any given piece of content will go viral.

There is a nearly infinite number of factors involved, and you can never fully predict how people will react.

However, you can follow a formula to give yourself the best possible chance.

Let's recap.

• Create a “list article,” ideally with 10 items. Otherwise, lists with 23, 16, and 24 items work best.


• Make sure it's a fairly long article with at least 2,000 words. However, the more words, the better. Pieces with 3,000-10,000 words receive the most shares on average.


• Try to stick with positive themes that evoke awe, laughter, amusement, and joy. Don't kill the vibe of your audience with overly negative themes.


• Base your article around a popular trend that's sweeping the world at the moment.


• Include visuals. One image is a must, but don't be afraid to go a little crazy with your images. Your audience should respond favorably.


• Insert your byline/bio at the end of the article to boost your credibility.


• Post during the weekdays. Tuesday is ideal.


• Reach out to relevant influencers, and try to get them to share your article with their followers. If you can manage to get five influencers to share, your exposure will quadruple.

Conclusion

Just think of all the benefits a viral blog article can have.

You can create instant exposure for your brand, grow your social media following, generate a massive volume of leads, and increase your brand equity.

Along with this, it's reasonable to expect that your sales numbers will increase significantly as well.

By understanding the key elements contributing to content going viral, you can devise a more effective strategy.

And once you “crack the virality code,” you can simply rinse and repeat.

What do you think the most important element of a blog article is in order for it to go viral?

How to Use Humor to Power up Your Content Marketing

When I write content, I'm usually not that funny. My written jokes don't go over too well, so I stick with solid, meaty stuff that helps my readers solve problems and achieve marketing goals.

But I know humor is important.

Some of you reading this article are funny people. You have a knack for creating content that makes people laugh.

I'm here to tell you that's awesome. Humor is a powerful tool.

Have you noticed that more and more brands are incorporating humor into their marketing these days?

Old Spice, Geico, and Dollar Shave Club are just a few companies that come to mind.

Well, there's a good reason for this trend. Humor sells. That's why I applaud you if you're able to insert humor into your content.

In many cases, making your audience laugh is the key to winning them over, boosting your brand equity, and creating the perception of authenticity.

There's even hard data showing the appeal humor can have.

Nielsen conducted extensive research on which marketing themes resonate the most with a global audience.

Here's a breakdown of how advertising appeal differs around the world.

As you can see, the European and North American audiences respond most favorably to humor at 51% and 50% respectively.

So, at least theoretically, throwing humor into your campaign should help you win over half of your audience.

If you do it right, you can use humor to propel your marketing and branding to epic heights.

Why is humor so effective?

The way I see it, there are three main reasons why humor works.

First, it forces people to lower their defenses.

Let's face it. Many people are skeptical when it comes to advertisements.

And it's easy to see why.

Because we're so used to a constant barrage of ads, we tend to close ourselves off from hearing their messages.

Humor works well because it catches people off guard.

It's like hitting them with a right hook. All of a sudden, they find themselves laughing, amused with the hilarity of a situation.

In turn, this often reduces their skepticism, and there's a bit more openness to hearing your marketing message.

Second, you can use humor to connect with your audience.

Numerous studies have shown that humor acts as an inherent social bonding mechanism.

In an experiment, Dr. Robin Dunbar found that:

…laughter not only plays an important role in social and non-verbal communication, but it also provides evolutionary qualities that encourage group bonding and protects us from physical and psychological pain. 

In other words, humor brings us closer together and can make your brand more relatable to your audience.

Third, humor often leads to sharing.

Think about it. What's some of the most shared content on social media?

It's stuff like crazy cat videos and ridiculous memes.

Take Grumpy Cat, Condescending Wonka, and First World Problems, for example.

If a person comes across something that elicits a legitimate laugh, there's a high probability they'll share it with others.

If you play your cards right, a humor-infused content marketing campaign can go viral.

Leveling the playing field

In my opinion, humor is also a great equalizer and has the potential to bridge the gap between small companies and their much larger counterparts.

Just take Dollar Shave Club, for example.

This is a fairly small company specializing in razor blades and shaving accessories.

It's a drop in a very large bucket of the shaving industry, and it's up against mega competitors such as Gillette, Remington, and Bic.

But somehow they've been able to carve out a nice niche for themselves and, as of mid-2015, had a net worth of $615 million. Not too shabby.

I would say that a large reason behind the success of Dollar Shave Club is their humor.

Although they didn't have the massive budget of their huge corporate competitors, they understood how to capture the attention of their audience with humor.

One of their most notable slogans is “Our blades are f**king great.”

Do some people find it offensive? Probably.

But guess what? The company crushed it.

As of October, 2016, this ad was viewed over 23.5 million times on YouTube.

This just goes to show that even obscure brands who are up against seemingly insurmountable odds can claim their piece of the pie (and more) by weaving humor into their content marketing.

Now that we've established why humor works, let's talk about how you can use it to amp up your campaign.

It all starts with YOUR demographic

Humor is subjective. What may be funny to a high-schooler may be offensive to someone in their 60s.

For this reason, it's critical you fully understand your audience and come up with an approach they'll find legitimately funny.

You need an angle that makes sense and that will hit its mark.

What you don't want is for your message to come across as being overly offensive, crass, or distasteful.

This obviously won't do your brand reputation any favors.

The key is to come up with an angle that your specific audience is likely to respond to.

You don't need to worry about pleasing everyone, but it's absolutely essential to create (or curate) the right humorous content that's going to stick.

Humor needs to align with your brand identity

Authenticity is another key ingredient in the success of humor marketing. It needs to reflect what your brand is all about.

Let's look once again at Dollar Shave Club.

You could consider their brand of humor as edgy, blunt, and non-conservative.

They don't fit the traditional mold of razor blade suppliers, and they're totally fine with that.

In fact, they fully embrace their brazen and brassy behavior.

That's why their humor-centric ads hit just the right note. The ads align perfectly with their brand identity, and people have responded positively.

To recap, you first need to know exactly whom you're trying to reach and then align your content around your brand.

If you can do these two things, your chances of success will increase exponentially.

Keep it simple

The more complex and complicated your humor is, the more likely it is to miss the mark.

If it needs to be explained, it immediately loses its effectiveness.

In other words, people shouldn't have to think too much about it. Why it's funny should be obvious.

Keeping it simple and to the point is your best option if you want your message to resonate.

What kind of humor works?

Perhaps the most straightforward way to evoke laughter is to simply make a joke or snide comment about something.

Take this cynical blog post from The Onion, for example.

Most people immediately get the fact this is mocking the 2016 presidential candidates. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, and it's quite humorous.

In fact, The Onion is an expert at being satirical-humor is woven into its very fabric.

If you're looking for inspiration on how to be funny in a classy, sophisticated kind of way, this is a good resource to check out.

Another option is to utilize a casual, tongue-in-cheek style.

Maybe you use ludicrous images or snarky pop culture references to grab the attention of your audience and form a bond.

Here's another example from Wait But Why that pokes fun at the presidential race.

Notice how the simplicity of their content and their ridiculous hand-drawn image instantly resonates with readers.

Going this route typically requires a little more brainstorming than simply making a joke or comment but can have a really big impact when you do it just right.

A third possibility is to shock your audience into laughter.

This is where you create content that catches people off guard by being over the top.

It's a technique that doesn't necessarily require a lot of thought or effort. It's more about taking things to extreme and being so ridiculous that people can't help but take notice.

A good example of a company who does this well is Skittles with their “taste the rainbow” commercials.

Most of their ads are pretty far out there, e.g., a teenager confessing that he has “Skittlespox.”

A final note

Keep in mind that you don't have to be a standup comedian to inject humor into your content marketing. You don't have to leave your audience rolling on the floor laughing.

All you usually have to do is get them to smile and “get it.” That's enough.

The key is to keep it simple while being authentic and relatable.

If you can win them over with humor, this should allow you to make a genuine connection and leave them more open to exploring your product or service.

Conclusion

Humor is no joke when it comes to content marketing.

It can be very potent and potentially help you win the hearts of your audience.

There's even firsthand proof that humor can catapult a small, no name company into the upper echelon of its industry, allowing it to compete with big name titans in a way that would otherwise be impossible.

But in order to capitalize on this tactic, you need to do your homework and come up with a game plan that allows you to hit the sweet spot.

By taking the right approach, you can achieve some highly important goals, including building valuable rapport, boosting your brand reputation, and generating a high volume of leads.

Can you think of any other companies who have nailed it by being funny?

12 Tips for Making a More Engaging Video for Facebook Live

As a marketer, you know how important it is to create a connection with your audience.

It's essential for slashing through the barriers that divide us, for establishing a unique brand identity, and for building trust.

There have been times I've been successful in doing so. But at other times, I've fallen flat.

It's getting easier than ever to create a unique connection because we now have the technological tools to do so.

One of the best tools enabling you to do this is Facebook Live, which “lets people, public figures and Pages share live video with their followers and friends on Facebook.”

The concept is simple. You record a live video your audience can watch in real time and respond to by commenting.

Facebook Live provides the perfect framework for connecting, and its personable nature is ideal for facilitating interaction.

In fact, initial data has found that people comment over 10 times more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos.

But how can you ensure your videos are engaging?

Here are some tips that should point you in the right direction.

1. Consider investing in some equipment

First things first. You really want to strive for quality with your videos.

You want to look like a professional.

Any sign of amateurism can drive a wedge between you and your audience.

That's why I recommend buying some basic equipment to enhance your quality.

This doesn't need to be anything over the top, but a simple tripod can help stabilize your videos so they don't look shaky.

You can usually find a decent tripod for as little as $10, so this shouldn't break the bank.

Or if you're recording from a location where a tripod isn't viable, you can always use a selfie stick to serve as a stabilizer.

2. Experiment with lighting

Lighting is important for producing a good video because it can impact its overall quality in a big way.

If you're filming outdoors, this shouldn't be a problem as long as it's reasonably sunny.

But if you're filming indoors, you'll want to try out different lighting options to see what looks the best.

Generally speaking, the more lighting, the better.

If you're in a room with dim lighting, you may want to bring in an extra lamp so that you're more visible.

3. Test the process before going live

Let's be honest. You'll probably run into a few glitches when first starting out.

It can also be a little nerve-racking when you start broadcasting yourself to a large number of your followers.

That's why I recommend testing everything beforehand and getting comfortable with the idea of being in front of the camera.

You can do this by switching the privacy setting to “Only Me,” which can be found by clicking on “More” and scrolling to the bottom.

Record a couple of test videos until you're familiar with the nuts and bolts of the way things work.

This way everything should go relatively smoothly, and you'll be less likely to freeze up once you're live in front of an audience.

4. Make sure you've got a solid connection

You definitely don't want a weak connection when recording a video.

According to Facebook, “WiFi tends to work best, but if you can't find a nearby network, you'll want a 4G connection.”

This shouldn't be an issue if you're indoors. But if you're in a fairly remote outdoor location, it most definitely can be.

If you've got anything less than 4G, you're probably better off choosing a different location.

If you see that the “Go Live” button is grayed out, you have a weak signal.

5. Create an outline

From my experience, it's best to have a basic game plan when using Facebook Live.

You don't want to jump in without knowing what you'll be talking about.

Of course, you'll want to ad lib to some extent, but I recommend having at least three or four main points to cover.

You'll also want to address each point in a logical, sequential order so that your audience doesn't get confused.

6. Leave some room for spontaneity

At the same time, you don't want your outline to be so rigid that there's no wiggle room.

Because your video is in real time, you never fully know what's going to come your way.

An interesting idea may pop into your head, or a viewer might ask a question that steers your video in a slightly different direction.

This is why I suggest trying to achieve a nice balance between an outline and spontaneity to ensure things stay on track but don't become boring.

7. Provide context

Before you jump into all the gory details of your broadcast, it's important you briefly explain to your viewers what's going on.

You'll want to introduce yourself, identify where you're at if you're out in the field, and provide a basic rundown of what you'll be talking about.

This will inform your viewers about what's happening and will provide some essential context.

8. Recap what's going on

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that viewers will tune in at different times.

Here's what I mean.

At the beginning of a video, you may have only 10 viewers. But at five minutes in, you may have 100.

At 10 minutes in, you may have 250 and so on.

In order to keep everyone in the loop, you'll want to periodically restate who you are and what's happening.

This is why it's smart to recap the details from time to time. I've found that the following intervals tend to work well.

• Two to three minutes in


• 10 minutes in


• 25 minutes in

Just make sure you keep your recaps brief because this can be annoying to viewers who have been watching from the start.

9. Be yourself

This little snippet of advice is quite possibly the most cliché thing ever.

But nonetheless, you'll want your tone and verbal delivery to be hyper-authentic and match your brand identity.

Most people can spot phoniness a mile away, so I discourage you from trying to be something you're not.

If you're polite, courteous, and friendly by nature, keep your video content in line with this.

Or if you're a little cynical and snarky, that's fine too. Just keep it real, and let your personality shine through.

The bottom line is that you should make your videos match your brand.

10. Be relaxed

Okay, this is easier said than done.

It's common to get a case of the jitters and be a little unnerved by the whole prospect of being broadcast live to potentially hundreds, or even thousands, of viewers.

But it's important to get yourself in the right headspace when recording.

Although it's normal to be a little nervous, especially if you're new to Facebook Live, you'll want to remain as calm as possible.

This should help you be more fluid with your delivery and make your content more interesting.

11. React to viewer comments

One of the easiest and most effective ways to crank up the engagement level is to simply respond to what your viewers are saying.

During a video, viewers can leave their comments and ask questions. Be sure to spend part of the time reacting. This is key to making the process as intimate and organic as possible.

I even recommend addressing some of your viewers by name because this really gets them in on the action.

And because people have a natural affinity for hearing their own names, it'll give you some brownie points that can pay off in the long run.

If you know you'll be so preoccupied with recording a video that you won't have the time to respond to comments (this can be really difficult when comments come in fast), I suggest having a partner who is also logged into to the primary account.

They can be responsible for answering comments and can help facilitate the overall process.

12. Stay live for longer to extend your reach

Want to reach as many viewers as possible and maximize the engagement level?

Stay live for longer.

Facebook recommends you stay live for at least 10 minutes per video, but you can go for as long as 90 minutes.

Think about it. The longer you stay live, the better your chances of reaching a larger audience will be.

While 90 minutes may be overkill when you're first getting the hang of Facebook Live, somewhere between 15 to 30 minutes can be the right formula.

Once you're more familiar and comfortable with the process, you can go live for longer and longer.

Conclusion

Facebook Live is no doubt a powerful medium for bridging the gap between you and your audience.

If you use it correctly, you can create incredibly engaging content that “pops” and allows you to connect in a personal, intimate way.

This form of two-way communication can be just the ticket for tightening your relationship with your audience and for taking your brand to the next level.

What has your experience been like with Facebook Live?

A Thirty-Day Plan for Gaining 100 Authoritative and Relevant Backlinks to Your New Website

Link building. It's the backbone of SEO.

The way we build links has changed quite a lot over the past decade, but links themselves are no less valuable.

Like me, you may remember the early days of online marketing, when generating backlinks to a website was as simple as requesting links from link farms and other sketchy sources.

Google put a stop to that, so generating backlinks for a brand-new website is a bit trickier these days.

That doesn't mean that it's impossible, though. The sooner your site has a decent number of backlinks from authoritative, high-quality websites, the sooner its performance on the major search engines will improve.

Although this is largely a waiting game, there are things you can do right now to generate first-rate backlinks to your new site.

Follow the advice here, and you can easily generate upwards of 100 authoritative and relevant backlinks to your new site in just 30 days. 

Forget the old way of doing things

First, don't even think about employing black-hat techniques to generate backlinks to your site. Google's algorithms are far too savvy to be fooled, so such efforts are bound to backfire.

As frustrating as it may be, quality trumps quantity every time when it comes to building a top-notch link profile.

Link building has long been the most volatile field in SEO. There has been much misinformation and rancor over the best way to build links, how quickly to build links, which links to build, and even whether or not to attempt link building at all.

Google's algorithm changes are less frequent and impactful than they once were. However, we're still discussing algorithm changes around the subject of links.

The latest of these was the September 2016 update to the Penguin algorithm:

The most substantial change of the algorithm was that “Penguin doesn't penalize for bad links.” The conversation among the SEOs suggested as much:

What does this mean for link building?

Link building today: What matters most

First, don't be afraid of link building. No, you shouldn't be pulling any old-school link wheels, but neither should you be afraid of creating and unleashing a link-building strategy.

Unlike in the past, when a link was a link was a link, effective backlinks today share a few key characteristics.

First, they occur naturally. Rather than being compelled to add a link to your site for whatever reason, website owners link to yours because your content is too terrific to pass up on.

Effective backlinks come from authority sites relevant to yours. I'll delve more deeply into what constitutes an authority site later, but suffice it to say that your links shouldn't come from just anyone.

As for relevance, a hundred links from sites that have nothing to do with yours pale in comparison with a single link from a highly relevant site.

What constitutes an authority site?

Authority sites usually share the following traits:

• They're credible


• They enjoy a high ranking on major search engines such as Google


• They receive huge amounts of traffic and lots of shares on social media


• They're influential

Additionally, they lack the characteristics of a bad website, which include blatant keyword stuffing, high link-to-content ratios, excessive numbers of ads, and low-quality content and website design in general.

How to find relevant authority sites

The first step in your 30-day plan is to identify authority websites relevant to yours.

You can easily use Google for this. Use search operators to zero in on suitable sites more quickly. For example, use site:.gov, .edu, or .org to limit your search to such sites.

Search for the keyword of your choice to find sites that rank highly for it, and go from there.

Another option is to use the Moz SEO toolbar, which is offered as a free extension for Firefox and Chrome.

It displays useful metrics and information about the site you are currently visiting, including its page authority, domain authority, links, and a general analysis of the page itself.

What to offer

Okay…so far, so good.

Here's the rub, though: You can't approach these authority sites without offering anything in return.

Since your website is brand new, what can you possibly offer?

I hate to break it to you, but you should ideally build up a decent content library before attempting to solicit backlinks from authority sites.

Luckily, the content doesn't have to rank well. It just has to be top-tier in terms of the quality of the information it provides.

Prior to launching your site, devote a few weeks to developing a small arsenal of content. When the time comes to work on your link-building strategy, you'll have stuff to offer other website owners.

After all, why would they link back to you if you have nothing for them to link to in the first place?

Making contact

When it comes to approaching website owners for backlinks, you already know what to do. Navigate the site in question to track down contact information.

If you can't snag an email address, use a contact form.

Don't be blatantly promotional. In fact, you might even hold off broaching the subject until you've had a few exchanges.

Flattery will get you somewhere, so try breaking the ice by complimenting the site owner on a piece of content.

Later, show them some of your stuff, and suggest swapping links.

10 tips for getting quality authoritative backlinks to your site this month

Okay, now that you got the gist of tracking down and soliciting relevant authoritative sites for backlinks, it's time to get down to brass tacks regarding effective link-building strategies.

I have all sorts of tricks up my sleeve, and I'm sharing the very best ones right here.

1. Blog – A LOT

According to HubSpot, companies that blog on a consistent basis have up to 97% more backlinks than those that don't. From day one, commit yourself to posting new posts consistently.

Quality still counts, though; so, create a schedule that allows you to post regularly while offering readers real value.

2. Offer free resources

You've got something to offer free, right?

Like you, other website owners are always looking for useful, credible sources of information. There's no reason why you can't provide it.

Create a library of white papers, e-books, and other pieces of content that provide detailed, useful, and well-researched information.

Offer these resources free, but make one small request: credit in the form of a link back to your website.

Alternatively, offer the content free as long as it's directly linked to from your site.

3. Become a PR whiz

When they're done properly, press releases can effectively plant seeds for new backlinks to your site.

By “properly,” I mean that they provide newsworthy information and that they include a non-promotional link back to your site.

Reserve press releases for truly newsworthy events.

You should have plenty to go on with a new site since so many things are in the hopper.

4. Create and share infographics

Breaking up text with high-quality images is smart.

Not surprisingly, there's a strong demand for top-notch images online, and infographics are especially popular. Build a library of infographics that relate to your industry or niche.

Whenever possible, create an infographic for an important trending topic that affects your industry or business. Readers love to share newsworthy graphics and use them as a form of social currency on social media.

Source: youthnoise.com

Sprinkle in a bit of SEO to ensure your infographics are easily found through the search engines.

People will want to share and use your infographics. When they do, organic, high-quality backlinks to your site will ensue.

5. Develop charts and tables

Humans are visual by nature, so charts, tables, and other visual representations of data tend to go over very well.

Load your site with tables and charts pertaining to your niche to plant the seeds for more backlinks.

You don't have to be a data scientist to make this happen. Find reliable sources of information, and put their data into graph or table form.

Use a site such as OnlineChartTool.com to quickly and easily create eye-catching charts and graphs others will gladly link to.

6. Build an image library

Website owners are always looking for images in general-especially if they are offered free.

Make sure the images are of high quality. If you don't possess the skills to take excellent photos yourself, you need to be willing to hire someone who does.

Post each image on its own page. Include a detailed description, and use SEO best practices to increase the odds of it ranking well in Google Image Search.

Include a form for quickly grabbing the file and link code to ensure you get your links.

7. Repurpose effective content

A quick note: never, ever copy content from the Internet.

I'm not just saying this because plagiarism is wrong; I'm saying it because Google will penalize you so hard that your site may never recover.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with identifying useful pieces of high-ranking content from other sites and repurposing them to suit your needs. But make them truly your own by optimizing them to be relevant to your website.

And don't just repurpose text-based content as text-based content.

Take a text-based piece and turn it into an e-book, an infographic, a video, or some other form of media.

8. Fill a gap

Yes, the Internet is jam-packed with content.

Chances are, much of what needs to be said regarding your niche or industry has been said. Still, others have surely overlooked important topics. Identify those gaps, and fill them with high-quality content of your own.

Similarly, look for gaps in the types of available content. For example, perhaps there's an overload of posts and articles about a subject but no in-depth pieces or e-books.

Be the first to provide them, and you will reap all kinds of great link karma.

9. Interview influencers

Seek out influencers within your niche, and create a roundup post.

Such a post essentially includes several links to several different influencers while covering a specific subject.

A great way to round out this type of content is by interviewing the influencers in question. After finding key influencers, follow them on social media. Interact with them to establish a relationship, and then approach them about interviewing them.

Even very busy influencers can usually take time to answer a question or two via Twitter or another social media site, so this is a worthwhile option to consider.

10. Scope out the competition

What kinds of backlinks do your competitors have?

Chances are, you could benefit from receiving links from similar sources too. Do a little sleuthing to discover who's giving them link love.

Use a site like SEMrush.com to track down your top competitors based on relevant keywords. Next, input each competitor's URL into a site like OpenLinkProfiler.org.

You'll get a list of links to your competitors' sites, and you can follow them to see where you might want to concentrate your efforts.

11. Try broken link building

This technique is especially valuable for new websites.

Put simply, you seek out broken links on relevant websites and approach site owners with replacement content they can link to instead.

Since 404 pages can negatively impact a site's ranking, website owners usually appreciate being alerted to the issue. Use something like the iWebTool Broken Link Checker to search a specific URL for dead links.

Contact the owner, but make sure you have something for them to link to instead.

12. Make useful comments

In the old days, conventional wisdom said to post links back to your site in comments sections to boost your link profile.

These days, that comes across as spam, so you need to take a subtler approach.

You need to keep up on industry news anyway, so get into the habit of regularly reading relevant blogs and websites. When you have a useful comment to contribute, do so.

When someone comments on your site, acknowledge the comment!

Chances are, they'll remember the gesture and reciprocate in the future. Even if they don't, it's good karma.

13. Write guest posts

As you already know, generating enough content for a business isn't easy.

Site owners are often happy to be offered free content for their sites, and you can do so by offering to create guest posts and articles for them.

Get to know a website or blog before approaching the owner. Make sure your content complements theirs. Have a unique angle or insight to offer, and then make your pitch.

One more thing: reciprocate by offering to let them guest-post on your site too.

14. Solicit backlinks in person

If it's feasible, attend trade shows and other events within your niche to meet influencers in person. Face-to-face interactions go a long way.

When interacting with an influencer in person, make sure you know who they are and why you want a link from them. If the opportunity presents itself, ask about getting a link.

At the very least, you can forge a new connection that could pay off well in the future.

15. Harness the power of social media

Your site is new, so your social media game has to be strong.

Whenever you create new content, promote it across all social media channels. Even if each post generates only a few shares, the odds of backlinks being generated increase.

Later, don't be afraid to promote old content on social media again. You may have new followers now, so it certainly doesn't hurt.

Conclusion

The trick to getting backlinks from the tips provided above is putting them to work right away.

Again, before doing anything else, get a decent stockpile of quality content.

If necessary, pay good money for it. It will be worth it in the long run.

Which of the suggestions above are you likely to try first?