Too much of it.

I was consuming way more content than I was producing. I call it “Information Constipation”. No one wants to talk about it but we all get it sometimes.

I knew something needed to happen because it was so frustrating and distracting so I implemented three small things that have helped my businesses immensely over the past few years.

It’s made me more productive, more profitable, a better marketer and freed up a ton of time.

So what’s my secret? Here’s how to free up more time without changing your entire schedule.

Track your time

Do you know what your day really consists of? How much time you really spend on email?

Use a free time tracking app like Slim Timer or do a 30day free trial of Time Doctor to figure out exactly where your time is going. Try doing this for at least one or two weeks. After your finished, export your results and categorize them into urgent vs important.  What did you spend more time doing? Reacting or being proactive? Putting out fires were executing your plans?

Information just in time instead of just in case

In his book, The 4-Hour  Workweek, Ferris talks about how we learns rapidly by actually cutting out all of the information he consumes that does not relate to his goals. So instead of reading the newspaper back to back or a blog post that pops up because it has a catchy headline, he suggests ignoring everything that will not move you closer to accomplishing your goal.

Instead of consuming information just in case you need it for Jeopardy later, shift your focus to consuming only the information you need at that moment to accomplish whatever you are doing. You will retain more because you’ll be motivated to learn it and you won’t waste time on useless things you probably won’t remember.

Vet your Sources

Think for a second about all of the little information sources that you pay attention to throughout the day. It’s tough to make a list off the top of your head but here’s a few common ones:  Mobile apps, email newsletters, Facebook, Tweets, Linkedin, Newspapers, TV, mail etc…

Have you ever heard someone say that they are sick of Facebook? If you think about it, it’s not really Facebook you’re sick of, it’s your friends on Facebook. It’s the same group of people that you groan out loud when you see them at the top of your newsfeed complaining about the same thing. So why not get rid of them? Unfriend them, they won’t get notified. Promise.

Here’s a good rule of thumb to live by: if you can’t think of why you are following something or somebody then unfriend, unsubscribe or unfollow them!

Conclusion

I’ve found that making any change starts with inspiration. Being a content marketer, it isn’t easy to cut back on my content. But after I tracked my time for just a week, I was so shocked by all the useless time I was spending on seemingly small distractions that it spurred me to take action on applying information just in time and vetting my sources.

If you want to modify my approaches to something you know you can implement, go for it! These are just suggestions for finding places to start.

Try one of these three ideas and let me know what happens in the comments below!

Image by Thinkstock

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And the traffic came…but not like I’d hoped. I wasn’t getting a good return on my time. Something had to change.

Most people follow this same strategy. They think great content or a great website is enough to attract customers.

It is not.

The reason no one visits your website is because they’re not looking for it. They’re not interested. So you have two choices.

1) Spend a lot of money on online ads and traditional marketing to get your customer’s attention.

2) Spend zero money and show up where your customers are already looking.

Personally, I’ll choose number two every time. And as a result, my business is getting more leads, more traffic and more NEW customers every month. How do I do it?

It’s simple. Guest blogging.

I target the websites my customers visit frequently, then I write guest blogs for those sites. And it works!

It’s no secret that I think guest blogging is one of the BEST strategies being ignored by businesses today. And I’m tired of watching businesses struggle unnecessarily. I want to help.

That’s why I just launched my new course, Guest Blogging Blueprint, which will help you no matter what level you’re at.

Here’s What You’ll Learn

1. Earn credibility by becoming a published author on multiple websites
2. Build high quality inbound links for your website to increase organic traffic
3. Attract qualified traffic through guest posting on other blogs
4. Identify the blogs your customers visit most
5. And much more!

Check out the trailer for the course

Click here to visit the course page and get 25% off!

https://www.udemy.com/guest-blogging-blueprint/?couponCode=fluxeblogreaders

This offer won’t be around forever so register for the course and don’t forget you have a 30day full refund – NO questions asked.

Here’s what others are saying:

The first big guest posting push I helped create for a client using Joel’s system landed a post on ProBlogger and dozens of other great sites. - Will Hoekenga

By applying the practices found in these lessons, I have increased traffic, personal productivity, and have been inspired beyond measure. You need this! -Lyle Phillips

Joel did a splendid job of putting together a well-structured and actionable guide for guest blogging. The course is jam-packed with information and fully prepares someone to take on the world of guest posting. He offers real world viable examples and templates to get the party started.  I’d never heard of some of the tools that he presents in the course.  There are a couple that I hadn’t thought of — but you’ll have to see for yourself. Fortunately, they’re easily picked up and easily shareable with the rest of the population.  It is indeed a reasonable blueprint for conquering the guest posting world.  -Seth Czerepak Master VDT Business Practitioner and Owner of Penetration Media

Have a question about the course?

If you have any questions, reply to this post in the comments right now and I’ll be happy to answer them.

I know what it’s like to feel like you’re doing everything right and not have any customers to show for it. And I know I can help you. Go ahead – hit reply.

Here’s the link one more time!

https://www.udemy.com/guest-blogging-blueprint/?couponCode=fluxeblogreaders

The post Introducing Guest Blogging Blueprint appeared first on .

Have you been wanting to write more? Maybe on your blog, a guest post on someone elses blog or a newsletter? Not sure what to write about or how to get started?

Use these 19 easy templates as a starting point to get writing!

Biggest questions you want prospects to ask

What questions should your prospects be asking that you know will set you apart from your competition? Your prospects may not know what to ask so why not give them the right questions to ask to help make the best decision? For example,

“6 questions you need to ask before considering [Your Service]”

Tell a story

Do you have a story you always find yourself telling to people you meet to help explain your business? Turn it into an interesting way to describe a part of your business while relating personally to your audience.

Opinion on Relevant News

Have you ever scanned through the paper and had a strong opinion on a news story in your industry? Write a post sharing that opinion, good or bad, but relate it back to principels that are timeless so your post won’t become outdated in a week.

How To…

This type of post was MADE for blogging. Take a confusing topic in your industry and break it into 7-10 steps and walk people through it. The key is short, consumable information.

5 Biggest Questions about…

Go through your email and find a handful of questions your clients have asked you a few times. Chances are you answered them in a flash without thinking about it. If they are asking several times, more people are sure to have the same questions. Turn those into an FAQ post!

Existing Content

What do you already have internally that you can repurpose? Make a list of things you have like ebooks, whitepapers, presentation decks, notes from conferences and manuals and repurpose them in a way that would be captivating for your audience.  .

Click here to read the rest of the post and get 13 more ways to create a great blog post!

The post 19 Ideas For Your Next Blog Post appeared first on .

I used to be a radio DJ and can talk all day.

But there was one exception.

If I had to talk about my company and services, it just felt wrong. Slimy. Salesy and self-serving.

But I had my definitions mixed up.  I was lumping shameless self-promotion, marketing and sales into one definition.

They couldn’t be more different.

Shameless self-promotion is talking to anyone that’ll listen about yourself the matter if they want to hear or not.

Marketing is telling your target audience a timely story in such a way that they can’t help but want more.

And sales is closing the deal. Marketing’s job is to produce leads for the sales department.

By saying that we hate or are not good at promoting our brand or content because we don’t want to come off slimy is making the assumption that no one wants to hear what we have to say.

What does that say about our target audience?

Consider this…

Your message reaches four types of people:

1. The right people at the right time

2. The right people the wrong time

3. The wrong people at the right time

4. The wrong people at the wrong time

Obviously the people in group one are your target audience.  But we spend way too much time making sure every one of our customers fits this profile.  If you only spend your time here You will never truly grow to your potential because you’re missing out on some of your best customers. Let me explain..

The people in group two may not be ready for what you have to say but that doesn’t mean they might not save it for later or they’re going to hate you for it, it just means that they can’t act on your message at the moment. Think of them as late adopters. But when it is the right time, they become your most loyal customers.

The people in group three might not be your picture perfect audience but they might just be your most powerful group. They may not need what you are offering but they probably know someone that does. They are your greatest source of referrals.

Everyone that doesn’t fit into the above three groups go into group four. These are the people you don’t need to worry about.  You’ve probably spent a lot of time on these people. Rather than spending anymore, forget them and start spending your time in the other three groups!

You are what you focus on. If after this you continue to focus on group for, your marketing message is going to follow and turn into nothing but shameless self-promotion because I’ll be talking about yourself to people who do not want to hear it.

But if you really believe that there are three other types of people out there who just might want to hear your message, by focusing on them you can turn it into something the right people really need.

The post Stop Attracting Unqualified Buyers appeared first on .

The question is, can you can really justify spending time on guest blogging?

So I’ve given you my top guest blogging benefits and explained each one so you know if it’s right for your business and worth your time.

Build Lasting Connections

The truth is you can make connections online without ever guest blogging. What guest blogging does is take that to the next level. Rather than making small exchanges that don’t take much thought like a tweet or comment, you are making a bigger commitment with a blog post. This move alone, separates you from 90% of your competition!

It also gives you other ways to interact with the blogger. For example after you’ve written a post, you can help promote it for the person, and you have a great excuse to follow up and keep in touch with them because you’ve already created the personal connection. Just think of the exciting opportunities that creates!

Do you know what separates good guest blogs from great blogs? Good blogs don’t want to connect, they want your content. They don’t care what it is, they’ll take anything, they don’t have time to connect. Great bloggers realize the value of quality and are picky. They won’t just take any post that comes along, in fact there’s probably a waiting line to get published on their blog. So building a relationship is going to benefit at every stage with them.

Increase Credibility & Brand Awareness

One of the biggest frustrations new bloggers have is they start writing on their own blog and after a few weeks or months, they look at their analytics and pull their hair out because they can’t figure out why people aren’t flocking to their blog from Google.

To grow a successful blog,  you need social proof. You can’t grow a blog by only posting on your website and claim the Lone Ranger. You need to be interacting with other people not only through social media but through other blogs as well.

When prospects Google you, what do they see? If all they see is a LinkedIn profile your site and every single other result is from you, they have no context to put you in because it’s you you you. Most people don’t realize they can control the results that come up in Google more than they think. You want to be able to show that they can look around at a variety of sites and not just take your word for it but see that other people trust you enough to post and interact with you online as well. That’s building credibility.

Earn Backlinks

Getting backlinks is probably the biggest reason why most bloggers guest post today. Although it is important, I think you’re selling yourself short if you only focus on that. Getting backlinks  is just including a link back to your website in the article that Google can crawl and see that the blog you are posting on links to you. The more authoritative the blog is that links to you, the more authority you’ll have in Google’s eyes.

That’s why we’ve  seen many low-quality spammy blogs get penalized in Google’s recent Algorithm updates because they were accepting guest blogs from anyone and everyone and really just becoming article submission sites. Quality should always trump quantity.

Generate Targeted Traffic

Guest blogging on the right blogs can transform a marketing strategy from a traditional shotgun approach to a laser-targeted sniper approach. For example, if a website designer submitted a guest post about the elements of a good website to their local paper, they’re getting anyone and everyone. Some may be qualified, some may not be. But take that same post and submit it to the business journal, they go from a huge pool of people to a much more targeted group of mostly local business people and decision makers. Yes, you may get more people but more people doesn’t mean more activity. If those people never act, never visit your site, never sign up for your list, they’re useless no matter how many there are.

You need to define what targeted traffic means for your niche. If you want to attract peers, blog on industry specific websites. If you want to attract prospects, write for industry related websites.

Pure Objective Feedback

I saved the best for last!

The feedback you get from guest blogging is pure gold. Here’s why: When starting your blog, the first people to read it are usually people you know like family, friends and coworkers. And that’s great! BUT you don’t want them for feedback. Chances are they aren’t your target audience and they aren’t going to want to hurt your feelings. If you want an ego boost, they’re great but if you want pure objective feedback, seek out the strangers on someone else’s blog who have no prior opinion on you. Those are the people that you really need to hear from.

The value in this is being able to test what resonates with your audience and what they respond to so you can test on someone else’s audience, find what works and apply it.

Guest Blogging Conclusion

Guest blogging is essential if you want to grow your blog and reach a wider targeted audience. There are a lot of different benefits you can get from guest blogging, but I recommend you choose your top 3 and focus on those.

I’ve found a combination of these tactics help focus my guest posts get results.

What other benefits do you get from guest blogging?

Image by Thinkstock

The post 5 Surprising Ways Guest Blogging Can Grow Your Business appeared first on .

Or left the same typo in multiple emails because the computer didn’t catch it?

If you know me, you know I LOVE finding new tools, apps and software to make my life easier. If a trivial task can be done for me, I DON’T want to do it!

When I stumbled onto text expanders a few years back, I knew I had found something that was going to drastically reduce the hours I spend typing at my computer every day.

A text expander is simply an app on your computer (PC or Mac) that allows you to create shortcuts on your keyboard that automatically expand to whatever you want. For example, if if I’m writing an email and commonly use the phrase “Looking forward to hearing from you.” I just type “lfti” and the text expander recognizes that and changes the abbreviation to the full sentence.

Or if I type, “adr” it will automatically expand to my full mailing address so I don’t need to put it in every time I order something online, fill out a form or give directions. Pretty cool, right?

The app that I use on my Mac is called Typeit4me. If you use Windows, I’ve heard Texter works well) It’s super simple to use and doesn’t have a lot of unnecessary features. There are others out there but this one is by far the cheapest (a whopping $5) and has a 30-day trial if your skeptical. (No, I’m not affiliated with it)

Once I started using this, I was hooked! I immediately searched to find what other people were using it for because I wanted to simplify every keystroke that could be simplified. Sadly, I didn’t find a huge number of resources on what other people were using it for I thought I would.  Therefore,  I’m starting my own ongoing list below starting with my favorite shortcuts. If you have a shortcut, let me know in the comments and I will add it to the list!

• Personal names
• Business names
• Important addresses
• Phone numbers
• Website URL’s (for company website etc.)
• Emails
• Email signatures
• Canned emails and responses (Follow-ups, meeting confirmations, customer service…)
• Directions
• Order form lines
• Typos: common typing mistakes (“teh” to “the”)
• Spreadsheet info
• Templates (proposals, blog posts, inquires..)
• HTML markup
• Evernote tags (This is amazing for forwarding emails directly to Evernote Notebooks)

Quick Tip:  One way to avoid accidentally activating a shortcut you did not mean to type is to add a punctuation mark like a comma before or after your shortcut. For example the shortcut for one of my email signatures used to be “tx” which would expand into

Thanks,

Joel

It worked great until one day I was researching something in Texas and needed to use TX  in the address. I quickly learned that something needed to happen or this would be a pain so by changing the shortcut to “t,”  I never had a problem again.

If you are an iPhone user,  You may or may not know that this feature is already built into the iPhone. You can find it by going to:

Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts

Shortcuts like fixes to common typos, addresses and phrases you use in texts are especially helpful.

Now that I’ve shared my favorite shortcuts with you, make sure to add your favorites to the list by leaving a comment below!

Image by Thinkstock

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Not because it’s your first hire, It’s difficult because you don’t know what you don’t know.

How do you evaluate a potential marketer’s knowledge when your a small business and your not sure exactly what your digital strategy should be?

This is a question I’ve encountered with several clients and finally decided to tackle it here.

But then again, I’m NOT a hiring expert so I asked my friend, Kayla Barrett, Owner of Organization Impact, and  an authority in hiring amazing people and HR. She was gracious enough to share the answers to the three biggest questions she gets about hiring the right people in marketing.

How do you get the job description right the first time?

The job description is key in the process as it should create the roadmap for your interview questions. A few key components include the technical skills (tactical, hands-on, measurable aspects) required for the job along with the relational skills (communication, ability to get along with others, initiative, etc.) that are equally as critical to success.  State clearly how the role relates to other functions in the organization (leadership responsibilities, community roles, etc.).  Finally, the job description should include the expected deliverables of the role (what will the employee be accountable for, what results are expected, etc.).

Should you ask for outside help when hiring?

The need for external assistance in this search really depends on 1) the employer’s knowledge of what they need in the organization, and 2) awareness of the marketing space today.  What has become the norm in marketing and branding in the digital world?  A new set of skills will likely need to be added to the organization which broadens the organization’s thinking and capabilities.  External input can ensure a comprehensive approach is taken with the role.

How do you qualify something like social media experience?

Most applicants today will tout some degree of social media prowess on their resume.  However in this important role for your organization, a Facebook and Twitter account does not qualify a marketing professional.  Instead, focus on candidates who can qualify their experience by showing you the results of proven marketing leadership.  For example, based on their performance, which customers are reading digital ads and how long are they staying on your website?  A proven (and potentially) successful candidate will have evidence of skill and can quantify it for you in some way.  As equally important, determine the cultural fit for the applicant as well.  Ask questions that force the candidate to show you how they have handled the “people” dynamics of the workplace – difficult co-workers, demanding deadlines and individual accountability.  A technically competent employee who cannot fit into the team is as dangerous as someone who cannot perform the job.

You can’t have a successful and consistent marketing system without a dedicated person championing it. This isn’t a position to rush and is one that I’ve found you really need to have a wide range of applicants to evaluate fairly. By doing this, you’ll find an employee who is sure to be an excellent fit for your company and deliver great results!

The post How to Hire Your First Full-Time Marketing Employee – 3 Answers from an HR Pro appeared first on .

Do you wait for someone to try and sell it to you to decide?

Do you jump online and do some research?

Or are you so overwhelmed with everything else, you just ignore and hope it’ll go away?

Figuring out the solution to almost anything is easier when you have the right questions to ask. That’s the goal of this post. These are the 5 biggest questions I ask all my prospects and myself whenever starting a new content marketing strategy.

What’s the goal of my website? 

There are only two main types of business websites. Brochure sites and direct response sites.  Probably 90% of all websites are brochure websites.  This is a website that goal is to inform visitors about the business and have a presence online. I often hear people refer to their brochure websites as branding collateral as well.  If you put a blog on a brochure website, you may get readers but it will work against you when trying to convert those readers into customers.

Direct response websites are built to sell. They have a clear path from beginning when the visitor lands on the site through any page, to lead them through a conversion. That conversion might be entering your email address to subscribe to a newsletter, calling a phone number to learn more or buying a product. No matter what it is, a direct response website always leads you to that goal throughout any page you’re on.

Content marketing is great on direct response websites because it adds value to the visitor which in turn builds trust. It also provides a clear next step after reading each article on a website so the visitor always knows what to do next.

If your site is a brochure website, don’t worry! Often, it just takes a few tweaks to help transform it into a direct response website. Though this may not be a long-term solution, it can help you get started quickly.

Who will champion our content marketing?  

This is one of the most important and underrated questions I see companies forget to ask. Someone needs to be responsible for it.

Building and managing a blog in addition to running content marketing campaigns is no small task. Even though it’s tempting to shove the content marketing responsibility onto anyone, remember that person will be the face of your brand online. When you think about it like that, it puts a little more pressure on the person!

One person needs to be responsible for keeping the blog up and tracking the metrics making sure all the pieces are moving together. It’s very tempting for a small business or even a large business to have the point person on the project take the responsibility until they can find someone. What almost always happens though, is that person is not committed to it and they lose momentum trying to find somebody in the project dies.

Before you start, appoint a content marketing champion that not only enjoys it but has the background and strengths for that position.

How does content marketing fit into my sales process? 

A few years back, I was talking with a smart business owner in the consulting industry about incorporating content marketing into her business. She insisted that there was no place for content marketing in her business and that starting a blog would just be a waste of time.

So I asked her a few questions to see if this was really the case. “Do prospects come to you ready to purchase your services and sign the contract at the first meeting?” ” Of course they don’t.” she answered. “I take the time to get to know them and their needs. Then I discuss the different services that I offer and which might be the best fit for them.”  It turned out that even if a prospect found her on her website, they went through the same education process in person that sometimes took hours for this busy consultant,  When I suggested that she could start the education process on her website through a series of articles and even an email campaign, she smiled and then said, “Yes!”

She’s gone onto write a few books and continues to blog and successfully attract qualified leads. Even if you know that content marketing can fit into your sales process, you need to take the time to figure out how. There are different stages of every sales process and each stage requires a unique type of content.

What are my marketing outcomes? 

What marketing outcomes do you really want for your business?

Do you want to build your brand, grow your email list or what about attract higher quality prospects?

The approach that you take will vary depending on the outcome that you want. For example, if you want to build your brand a key focus should be not just blogging on your website but seeking guest blog posts on other quality sites.

If you want to build your email list, you need to focus on creating a free value add download and an email newsletter strategy before you start trying to attract prospects to sign up for your email list.

And, if you wanted to attract higher-quality prospects, you may want to focus your blog on educational posts and series that guide prospects in the beginning stages of your sales cycle to help them evaluate your solution compared to your competitors.

All of these strategy examples have the same foundation but as you can see, the approaches widely vary. Make sure you have a clear objective before you start on exactly what success looks like for your content marketing.

What are the best types of content for my audience? 

If you’re still with me,  I know your not going anywhere and I’m so glad because we’re almost finished! I saved this point for last because it’s equally important as every other point but if you get it can be the difference between massive growth and engagement and dismal results.

Right now, video is one of the hottest trends. And it’s easy to see why. It engages more senses than any other content marketing channel. It allows the user to engage by seeing, hearing and even clicking with their mouse. It’s an excellent medium for many industries but if your in an industry where your customers need dense information, organized well and they need it quickly, trying to watch a 50 minute video and skip to the parts they need is going to be a pain compared to just downloading a white paper or scrolling through a blog series. And believe me, no industry is too boring to create content for.

How do you find this out? Don’t worry, it just require good listening skills and a bit of patience. Here’s two posts that I wrote that cover each part of how to identify the right channels to reach your target audience.

How to Snoop on your Curious Customers and

4 Hard-Hitting Insights You Can Learn From Your Target Audience.

Now what!?

It’s time to get started answering those questions! But if you have any questions of your own, don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments below!

The post Is Content Marketing a Smart Move For My Business? appeared first on .

One evening, I jumped on the site while I was unwinding and came across Arnold Schwarzenegger doing an IAMA. He was promoting his new movie but taking questions relating to everything from his german accent to his position as Governor of California. It wasn’t any different than anyone other community interview but then I noticed something that made it stand out.

About halfway through answering questions, Schwarzenegger switched His replies from typing to writing out his replies by hand then taking a picture and uploading them. That way every person received not only an answer but a personalized message  they’ll remember and keep forever.

One of the 15 or so handwritten responses was from a father who asked, “My daughter Chloe who is 9 is a big fan of yours. She would like to ask which role is more fun to prepare for action or comedic roles?”
And he responded with this:

He certainly doesn’t have the best handwriting and his answers were groundbreaking but I’m pretty sure he made both the father and daughter a fan for life at that moment.

It was a great reminder that a small personal touch can make a big difference.

The post How Arnold Schwarzenegger Created Lifelong Fans on Reddit appeared first on .

The biggest reason and the reason that works the best is to reach out to influential bloggers in your industry and purely build relationships with them in a mutually beneficial way. Your business does not exist in a vacuum and nor should it. I believe in surrounding yourself with people who constantly help you grow, challenge you and hold you responsible to your goals.

It’s easy to get distracted though. Many times when we make ourselves too busy, proximity beats quality of people and we lose sight of expanding our circles. But you can use proximity to your advantage.

One of the best ways to do this is to find people that you have something in common with. And they may actually be closer than you think. Literally. One thing I’ve found to work well is to start by discovering influencers right where you are. These are influential people who live near you and for that reason automatically share that in common with you. I use this technique for finding really good subcontractors for marketing projects. Say I’m looking for a copywriter for a project, I Google “copywriters in Nashville” and search Twitter for the same thing. Then I compare the people that I find by looking at their social proof, websites, engagement with their audience and see who not only does good work with who has proved it. That solidifies my decision. Chances are that person’s going to be someone I want to establish a relationship with and use repeatedly as well as help anyway that I can in return.

The other reason to reach out to influencers is for a more specific. And that’s to ask their help in promoting a product or service. This is by far, the most popular reason for reaching out to influential bloggers to tap into their audience to help build your own.

I use this strategy when working with authors during their book launch. We help them identify blogs that share their target audience and would benefit from a guest post from that writer on a topic that’s related to that person’s blog, NOT about the author’s book.

The top reasons to reach out to a blogger

• Guest Posting
• Build Relationships
• Link Exchanges
• Partnerships
• Permission to use content
• Interviews

There is a right way and a wrong way to go about this and it’s all in the execution and intent. I believe that you should enter into every guest posting opportunity and view it as a win-win win. A win for you to make it worth the effort, a win for the blogger to make it worth their time, and a win for their audience that is reading the blog post to build value for them.

How to make sure everyone wins

• It must be a win/win/win
• Always personalize your outreach email or any other type of communication
• Always have a goal before you start. Don’t reach out just because or you’ll just waste people’s valuable time

If you are only just posting to get a link to your blog post or trying to get some free advertising you probably won’t get accepted in the first place and you’re going to have more enemies than friends by the time you’re done.

How do you find influencers online?

Here’s my secret. The most interesting people often aren’t the most popular people. “That’s ridiculous!” you say. Well hear me out…

Just because someone has a huge following doesn’t mean that the quality of the audience is there. Many times a bigger audience just means they are less targeted. I’d rather have 100 super targeted and engaged readers who are known to take action after reading rather than 500 untargeted readers on a blog that specializes in five different things instead of one targeted topic.

One way to quickly start finding influential people in any industry is to let others do the work for you. Here’s what I mean. Head over to Google and type in “top + your industry/location + blogs” For example, “Top marketing blogs” or “top gardening bloggers Nashville”.  Someone else has already done the work to scour Google for great blogs in almost every industry. Why not start with them?

Start making a list of the top influencers in the category you’re looking for. I like to use a spreadsheet for this.

Now that you’re finding more bloggers than you know what to do with, how do you qualify them? Which ones are quality and which are a waste of time?

Questions to ask before reaching out

• Does the influencer have a history of guest posts? If not, they might be less open to a guest post.
• What is the consistency of their monthly traffic?
• Do they engage with their audience through comments and social media?
• Are they active on other social channels?
• Do they provide a way to contact them? Do they even want to be contacted?

What questions do you have about reaching out to bloggers? Let me know in the comments!

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