30 Types of Content You Can Publish Online

by Nicole Munoz

When you think of creating online content, what flashes immediately into mind? Most likely, “blog posts”. But did you know there are at least 30 types of content you can publish online? Here they are.

1. Blog Posts

We had to say it. But take note that short blog posts are going out of fashion again. Google has let it be known it will penalize blog posts that are so short, Google feels they are nothing more than excuses for ads and affiliate links. Their emphasis on “quality, original content” has all the top bloggers writing posts over 500 words long and very often, twice that number of words.

2. Infographics

Still at the height of popularity, the latest trend is to impart information in visual format people can absorb with a single glance.

This works so well not so much because many people are visual learners, but because all of us internet-and-mobile age denizens have trained our brains to scan-and-glance digital content, to see if it’s worth spending time exploring further.

3. Slide Presentations

Social platforms such as SlideShare make it easy for people to share slide presentations. You can create these as stand-alone information modules… or as accessories for webinars you are holding.

Plus you can have people follow you from SlideShare – and share your work across other social networks.

4. Media Page

Every online entrepreneur should have a Media Page (section) on his or her blog or website. Within this tab, radio hosts, news reporters and readers should be able to find:

Photos they can use (including your headshot)
Archived newsletters
Archived Press Releases
Bio information
The latest news about you/your business

And anything else you’d like them to share.

5. Skype Chat Text Interviews

This is a brand new, dynamic and interactive way to present Skype interviews – a live link for people to join in and a blog transcript for those viewing the post after the call has completed.

Again, you can generate shares and follows for this type of content – as well as sharing your interviewer/interviewee’s website link, as Vera Raposo of Creative Biz has done with Kristen Eckstein’s Ultimate Book Coach site.

6. Landing Pages

Short pages you send people to so they will sign up – either for your newsletter, a “freebie”, your website or blog – or a paid product.

7. Sales Pages

Not-always-longer versions of Landing pages, promoting your paid offer. Sales pages can come in many formats:

Traditional long letter format
Short landing page format
Horizontal
Vertical
Video
Audio

Pick the format that best suits your audience’s engagement style.

8. Podcasts

You can make your website more interactive by providing Podcasts — .MP3 audio files your visitors can listen to (or download, if you let them).

They can listen in real-time, if you provide a teleseminar phone link – and then enjoy the recording in podcast format on your blog.

9. Newsletter Archives

Everyone who owns a blog or website should have a newsletter – and archive old newsletter editions either on a Media page or in an Archives page. Newsletter provide an instant history of your business. People can go through each newsletter, from your very first one, and see where you started out – and where you are now. If your newsletters are high enough in value you can even choose to keep them in a hidden section for paid members of your membership site.

10. Templates

People will return again and again to your site if they know you have great resources such as templates at your site. These can be blog post templates, review templates – even HTML templates.

11. Tip Sheets

This is another desirable type of content to offer as a sign-up incentive on your blog or website. The key is to make it highly specific to their most pressing interest at this time – or to new technology that is affecting their niche: (E.g. “30 Tips For Making the Most of Facebook Changes”).

12. Images

We don’t just mean “stick a picture in your blog post”. Image use should be an integrated strategy you use to brand your business and tell your story. They should consistently support your online identity and “voice”.

13. Animated Gifs

There’s been such a prejudice against “distracting” animations, this is not a method most people think of, when it comes to content creation. Yet under the right circumstances, they can be used effectively. There are two keys to creating a positive rather than a negative effect: a) Choose a “loop” that looks natural repeating (e.g. a candle flame flickering, water gently tossing in a bay), rather than a moment in time endlessly replaying. b) If you just want to catch attention, simply set the animation to repeat only once, as laid out in this Yahoo answer.

There are many free sites that allow you to create animated .gifs. Two that are easier than most are Lunapic and Makeagif, with tutorials and wizards respectively. (Click on this link for an example of the sort of thing you can do.)

14. Video

Every online entrepreneur should make videos and share them across platforms like YouTube, Pinterest and Vimeo. The real issue is what type of video best supports your business?

“How to” demonstration
“Talking head” update from you to your followers
Animation
Recorded webinar with slides
Video blog entry

15. Downloadable .PDF files

You can offer eBooks and reports in .PDF format as sign-up incentives for subscribing to your blog or website.

16. Checklists

Another great sign-up incentive – or bonus. People love checklists – it helps make them feel organized in a world of chronic digital overwhelm!

17. Google Hangouts

You can host a meeting, interview or seminar by creating a “Hangout” within your Google+ account. Ask fellow Circle members to join you. Better yet, choose the live streaming option to help it go viral, if it’s something you want everyone to see, and it will automatically be recorded and uploaded to your YouTube channel.

18. Logo

A Logo that captures in a blink the essence of your business (and helps people instantly think of it) is essential, if you’re branding your business rather than you, yourself.

19. White Papers

A “white paper” is much like a report, but is usually a formal presentation of statistics or a document analyzing something of great importance to your website visitors. If your target market are corporate-minded, white papers are usually deemed of more value than “reports”.

20. About Page

This is one of your best pieces of online real estate. While you are talking about yourself, you are doing so to build identification and rapport with your ideal visitor, so even when talking about yourself, it should really be all about her. Use your top keywords in your About page contest. And it’s a great spot to put a headshot, if you haven’t done so anywhere else on your site.

21. Bonuses

Bonus downloads and perks add value to your offers, blogs and websites. These can take any format – video, .MP3, tip sheets, reports… And they can be created by you… or by a JV partner. Or simply purchased as Master Resale items to share with your list. (Pick the format your target customer or client would love best!)

22. Coupons

A coupon can also add value to your offer or website. You can make them printable, if you have a local business… or give a coupon code at checkout to sweeten an offer. Just be sure to set a start end date (and limit the number), to keep your ROI in the black!

23. QR Codes

Are your best paying customers avid Smartphone users? Then put QR codes on your website, blog, business cards, flyers, merchandise – and more. You can also set this digital bar code to take people straight to:

A telephone call (your number)
A text message
Your website
A coupon or special offer

24. Cartoons

You don’t often see cartoons in digital marketing – but that’s all the more reason to consider using them, if your niche members are highly visual-oriented.

25. Statistics

Sharing statistics can be a huge draw for many business niches. You can share them in:

Chart format
Graph format
Tables
Lists

26. FAQ Pages

Having a list of Frequently Asked Questions on your site is a great way to please visitors – and cut down on repetitive emails. A FAQ page is also indispensable in your Affiliate section, if you have affiliates.

27. The Legal Stuff

If you are an affiliate marketer, you’ll know you need to provide a Disclaimer or Disclaimer Page, stating that you may receive compensation for recommendations. Other types of “necessaries”:

28. Maps

Indispensable, if you’re a local business and want people to either visit your premises or see your range of service.

29. Reviews

If you are recommending products, use a review template to provide consistent reviews. Your aim should be to become a trusted resource for people in your niche, so that yours is the site they turn to first, when looking for product information.

30. “How to” Tutorials

These can be in video, diagram, audio, graphic or written format… or a combination of any of these. (An added bonus: “How-tos” turn your site into a resource.)

There are many more content types you can use on your website – but whichever you choose, be original, unique – and tuned in to your visitors.

Top 10 Tips for Creating an Editorial Calendar

by Nicole Munoz

If magazine editors waited for inspiration or for free time, no magazine would ever get published. So how do they churn out high quality content, month after month?

By using an editorial calendar. And top bloggers have learned this secret too.

An editorial calendar is a plan for producing regular written or media content, at regular intervals (e.g. monthly) at a perfect pace. It leaves you with deadlines you can use as a roadmap. You won’t have gaps in your postings and there’s no chance for people to forget who you are or give up on your blog.

And it can help eliminate writer’s block and reactivity – the sort that leaves you realizing you forgot that your readers and subscribers were expecting Part Three of your series… yesterday!

1. Use the Method that Works Best With Your Learning Style

An editorial calendar is only useful if you use it. And if you set up a physical calendar that doesn’t work with your natural learning style, you’re more likely to forget to use it… or even, ultimately, abandon it.

a) If you are a kinesthetic learner who likes the hands-on approach, a paper calendar may be your best option. (Tip: You will most likely to be able to find plain desktop calendars with large enough slots to be useful in your local Dollar Store.)

Just be sure to put it in a place where you are likely to see it, rather than hiding it away in a desk.

b) If you are an aural learner, make an audio recording of your upcoming schedule.

c) If you are a visual learner, paper or digital will work – it’s just a matter of preference

d) If you are a read/write learner, a dated, chronological list format will probably work better for you than a graphic calendar format.

If you want to find out or confirm your ideal learning style, try one of the free online questionnaires or quizzes, such as the VARK model.

(No sign-up required for the basic assessment.)

2. Create and Coordinate Monthly and Annual Calendars

Many people find that two versions of their editorial schedule work best:

A monthly calendar (e.g. WordPress Editorial Plugin)
An annual calendar (manual or digital)

The reason for this? On your Annual Editorial Calendar, you can enter important posts to tie in with events scheduled far down the road; or with seasonal events.

Then, every month when you sit down to fill out your monthly Calendar, a quick visual check with the Annual Calendar will allow you to transpose these events onto your monthly Calendar before you input new posts for the current month, making sure nothing gets double-booked – or missed.

(If you like the format in the example above, download it by going to Angela B.me.)

3. Use the WordPress Editor Calendar Plugin

If you use WordPress, then the free WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin can be your best post-scheduling friend. So do install it.

While you’re writing your posts or maintaining your blog, you have access to the Editorial Calendar at a click of the button. And you can log in and glance at your Calendar to see what you have to do today before writing a word.

4. Use MS Excel to Create Your Editorial Calendar

If you are more comfortable using Microsoft Excel or you are a text-based learner, you may find Excel the best tool for creating your Editorial Calendar.

Another reason for using MS Excel: If your business is highly fluid, and you know you are going to be tweaking and adjusting your Editorial Calendar perhaps more than the average blogger.

In fact, there are many MS Excel templates for doing precisely that. (You can download – without signing up; just right-click and save – a very nice template courtesy of Vertical Measures.

5. Use Color Coding

If you are a visual or kinesthetic learner, try color coding the different cycles – then highlighting scheduled posts according to each cycle color.

This is also a fabulous trick if you have learning disabilities or any other form of cognitive impairment, as the visual stimulus and cueing helps you mentally “sort” and remember better.

You could also designate cycles by creating a Category field in your Calendar, along with corresponding two- or three-letter Category codes… or combine both categories and color coding. (Tip: Include a Legend at the top of your chart-style annual Calendar or beginning of your multi-page or monthly Calendar.)

6. Include Your Calls to Action in Your Editorial Calendar

Write down the call to action (CTA) for each item on your editorial calendar. Not only will this ensure you remember to include it in your blog post, but you will be able to more objectively judge the level of engagement your post is likely to create.

And yes: You could designate a color and highlight your CTAs too, if you wish

7. Learn to Think in Cycles

No matter what your learning style, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to think in a linear fashion – I. E. A B C D E F G.

Your blog will feel fuller, richer, more organized and more enjoyable to your readers if you learn to schedule your blog in multiple cycles.

Take your Annual Editorial Calendar and go through using the following “cycles” (and any others unique to your business), one after the other:

Seasonal cycle (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter)
Holiday cycle (Christmas, St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, etc.)
Events cycle (e.g. Annual Cycling Workshop, Victoria Day Race, etc.)
Contest cycle (e.g. Summer Photo Challenge, Christmas Giveaway, etc.)
iscal Cycle (e.g. . Your annual business quarter-years, from beginning to end)
Product Cycle (All your scheduled, upcoming product launches)
Sales Cycles (High and low buying trends – base these on previous sales metrics)

Learning to plan your editorial calendar in this fashion will really help ingrain your business’ “big picture” in mind – and make much better business (and editorial) decisions.

8. Formalize Your Editorial Calendar Management Protocol

It really doesn’t matter whether you alone update the calendar and distribute information, or your authors or staff are allowed to cross things off and add them – the important thing is a clear understanding of the ground rules – and a clear chain of communication.

So decide on…

a) Who will update the Editorial Calendar(s)

b) How the Editorial Calendar(s) will be updated

c) Who will notify the rest of the team of necessary changes or completions

d) How they will do this

Making sure everyone understands the system is the best way to avoid scheduling conflicts or omissions.

9. Create Other Types of Editorial Calendar too

Consider adding social media coding – or a separate Social Media Editorial Calendar. If you don’t coordinate your social media campaigns with your posts, you could be missing opportunities to allow each platform – blog and social media – to enhance the other.

Plan on the keywords you are going to use in your social media posts, as well as in your blog posts. Align these with ad campaigns, if you are planning any. (Yes. Have an Advertising Editorial Calendar too.)

**10. Consider Publishing Your Upcoming Editorial Calendar**

Not only will it inspire you to meet your own deadline (since there is nothing more lame than not following through to your readers) but you may attract quality submissions – leaving you with great content to use for your blog and the time to plan next month’s editorial calendar in comfort.

You don’t have to publish it in full Editorial Calendar format: You can simply make sure you create a section of upcoming stories (with Submission Guidelines) on your website or blog, just as many online magazines and publishing companies such as Chicken Soup for the Soul does.

But when all is said and done, remember that Editorial Calendars are simply tools: Only you can decide what type works best for you.

And, of course, they’ll be no use unless you use them!

20 Ideas for Marketing Your eBook

by Nicole Munoz

Get your book reviewed by review clubs. Each book store (E.g. Kindle store, Nook store, iBookstore,) has an active community of people who’re happy to review books for one another.

Get bloggers to review your book. Pay them to review the book if necessary. (Note: This isn’t a bribe, as you’re only paying for the review, regardless of what the review actually says. However, they should disclose the fact that they’ve received a free copy.)
Get on the radio. Buy an ad in the Radio Television Interview Report (RTIR) to promote yourself as an expert.
Contact podcasts and offer to be interviewed. Send them a free copy of your eBook first so they can make sure they like what you have to say. You may be asked for a sample of you on audio so they know you sound good when recorded. Look at PodcastDirectory.com for some ideas.

Do a search for your competitors’ books. Look at who’s promoting them and contact those websites. Offer a generous affiliate payout if you’re selling on Clickbank, or try to find some other “in” with them.
Tap into a pre-existing community. For instance, if you’re selling a fishing eBook, get involved with online fishing forums. Build a reputation for yourself, then promote your book.
Try to push your eBook to the top of your category, if you’re on an eReader platform. Have all your readers buy your book on one day and give them a bonus if they do so. This can send your book skyrocketing into the top charts, which gets you even more visibility.
Start your book cheap. Start your book at $0.99 cents, even if you eventually plan on selling it for $4.99. Starting it off cheap lets you get a bunch of reviews and initial traction right off the bat.
Buy ads on reader-oriented websites like Goodreads. This gets you in front of people active book lovers who’re already in the habit of buying books all the time.

Guest post on other blogs in your industry. Contact bloggers you know and ask if you can write a free article for them. If you don’t know many bloggers, write a brief line about yourself and what makes you credible and offer to do a free content piece for them.

Create a compelling affiliate program for your book. Be unusually generous. For example, offer a 100% payout for the first 3 books, or offer a $50 bonus to anyone who sells ten books. This can attract a lot of new affiliate talent towards your book.
Comb your LinkedIn and Facebook network. Look for people you know that have audiences, host events or have a large online presence. See if they’d be willing to promote your book. Make sure to phrase it as a win for them as well by offering to help them in some way.
Send your first chapter to BookDaily. This site gives avid readers one free chapter every day, on books topics they’re interested in. If you wrote a business book for instance, your first chapter can be sent out to everyone who’s interested in business.

Lookup conventions and conferences in your industry. Go to all of them. Meet other influencers in your niche and see if you can work together to promote one another. Who knows? You might also sell a few book copies.
Head to Twitter and search for questions that someone who needs your book might ask. For example, if you have a book about making your computer faster, you might type in “computer so slow” or “why is my computer slow” and so on in Twitter. Find people who recently asked relevant questions and shoot them a message.

Keep publishing! Publish lead-in books. If your main book is a $6.99 book, consider publishing a slew of $0.99 or free books just to get more traction and to build more of a brand. All of those sales will feed into the sales of your larger book.
If you’re publishing the book on Clickbank, try driving some traffic from Google AdWords and from Bing. Paid traffic can convert extremely well. This works much better for Clickbank than Kindle, because Clickbank books tend to sell for a lot more money.
As a long term strategy, create a blog. Post high quality content to that blog every week. Get ranked in the search engines and build a loyal following. This is a great way to sell books on a recurring basis, as well as a great way to launch new books.
Create a competition. The competition should be related to content within your book. Prizes can include free consultations with you, ten copies of your book, your help on their next project, a personalized plan for their project, etc.
Use Google Alerts to keep tabs on your topic. If someone writes a new blog post about something related to your book, be one of the very first people to respond to the post. Link to your Kindle book from your “name” and “website” field.

Speed Up the Publishing Process with these Ebook Formatting Tips

by Nicole Munoz

Before you publish an eBook, you need to format the eBook. The way you format the eBook depends entirely on how you want to publish your eBook. Formatting for a Clickbank product is very different than formatting for a Kindle eBook, for instance.

There are a few different things to take into consideration with eBook formatting:

How it’ll look to the end user.
The format required by the eReader, if applicable.
Graphics.
The “vibe” you want your book to convey.
How the eBook will be read.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common types of eBook formats and look at how you format each type.

Clickbank, PDF and Digital Downloads

Clickbank eBooks are best in PDF format, as are most other digital downloads. Sending a Word document is too unprofessional and sending an .exe reader is perceived as too dangerous. There really is no option except PDF.

Here are a few tips for formatting your PDF:

Header graphics. Having a header graphic as well as a footer graphic can make your book seem a lot more professional. Choose a graphic that has the same colors as your brand to promote brand continuity.That said, try to make sure the file size is small by using a GIF with just a few colors or a lower resolution JPEG. This avoids the “really laggy PDF” problem because of graphics.
Font. A good font in print is different than a good font for eBooks. In print, most fonts are serif fonts. For instance, the ever popular Times New Roman was popularized because it was so good in print.In eBook however, sans serif fonts are much better. Tahoma, Verdana, Calibri and Century Gothic are all good choices.
Note: Sans Serif fonts are fonts without the little marks at the end of characters.
Have a cover image. This helps welcome people to the experience of reading your eBook. It’s also an opportunity to look more professional.
Spacing. You’ll usually want to have spacing that’s more than single spaced. Sometimes double spaced is too wide though, so play with your spacing a bit to get the perfect effect. You want your text to be easy to read, so people don’t have to squint, without it looking like a lot of white space.
Font size. There’s no hard and fast rule on font sizes. Again, you want it big enough to be readable, but not so big that it looks abnormal. Play with different sizes. Many publishers use between 12 and 14 point sizes, though there are eBooks that go a bit larger as well.
Margins. Play with your margins, especially if you’re using header and footer graphics. Your text shouldn’t collide with the top, the bottom or the sides.
Images, tables and sidebars. All other page elements in your eBook should have some spacing around them. Try to have your tables and sidebars be colored to make your pages seem less monotonous.

Once you’ve got everything together, try sending your book to a few friends to review before having it published.

Formatting for Kindle

Publishing on the Kindle means taking out a lot of the formatting that you’d normally put into a PDF. For example, font sizes are chosen by the reader, not by you. You can still use italics and bold, but you shouldn’t use bullets.

Graphics can only be in black and white. You need to page break after every chapter so the Kindle knows when a new chapter is beginning. So on and so forth.

To learn about all the Kindle formatting guidelines, go to:

http://kindlegen.s3.amazonaws.com/AmazonKindlePublishingGuidelines.pdf

Formatting for Barnes & Nobles Nook

Formatting for the Nook is quite different than the Kindle. You can use bullets, as well as underlines. Indents should be done using the paragraph formatting tool, not with the tab key.

Unlike the Kindle which uses page breaks, the Nook uses section breaks. Page breaks are ignored completely.

For a complete list of the things you need to check off in your Nook formatting process, visit:

http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn?t=support

Formatting for the iBookstore

The best way to format your book for the iBookstore is to use Apple’s proprietary iBooks Author software:

http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/

You can also go through the Lulu to publish your iBookstore book:

http://www.lulu.com

You can also submit your book through iTunes Producer:

https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wa/bookSignup

Since there’s no set iBookstore application process, there’s no set format. Lulu for instance doesn’t accept iBooks Author format, while other publishers do.

Adding Images to Your eBook

Images can be a huge part of your book’s content. There are a few different places you can get images.

Take photographs. If you’re doing something that involves demonstrations, take a lot of photos. Choose the best ones after the fact. For example, if you teach a workout in your book, make sure to get photos of all your poses.
You can create the graphics from scratch. For example venn diagrams, pie charts, mindmaps and other teaching tools can be created from scratch with a variety of different tools.
You can get free stock images from morguefile.com or sxc.hu.
You can get paid stock images from iStockPhoto or Dreamstime.

Note: If you use stock image, make sure you get permission to use it in book format.

Links Inside Your eBook

Every device except the Nook supports linking. Formatting your links depends in part on what device people are using to read your book. An iPad reader for instance has a lot more web access than a Kindle reader.

Links inside your book should point to other resources that people might be interested in. You should also have links back to your website and to other products that you offer.

Your eBook should be only one piece of your entire marketing apparatus. Use it to demonstrate your credibility, as well as to get people interested in other products you’re selling. Don’t over promote, but do make sure your audience knows you have more to offer.

For example, in Tim Ferris’s bestselling book “The Four Hour Workweek,” he repeatedly mentioned free bonuses and guides that were only available on his website. This drove tons of traffic to his site.

That’s how you format your eBook for a variety of different formats. Make sure you read the formatting guidelines for whatever eBook you’re publishing before you try to upload your book. If you find the process confusing, you can try outsourcing the actual conversion process. That said, if you follow the eReader platform’s directions, you should generally have no trouble getting your book up within one or two tries.

4 Proven Methods to Find Popular eBook Topics

by Nicole Munoz

If there’s one thing that’s clear from more than a decade of eBook publishing, topics tend to go in trends. One moment motivational topics might be all the rage, then a year or so later it completely dies down. Then eBooks about online options trading take off. That might die down a little, then all of a sudden a whole slew of “How to Start an E-commerce Website” eBooks hit the market and make millions.

Finding popular eBook topics is a great way to jump in front of an emerging trend. Instead of trying to come up with an idea that people might like, you can figure out what people do like right now instead.

So how do you find popular eBook topics? Here are a few different tactics you can use.

Using CB Engine for Clickbank Products

Clickbank is the largest eBook repository on the internet, second only to eReader bookstores (like the Kindle store.) It’s a great place to look for eBook ideas. It’s also a great place to feel out potential new trends.

Unfortunately, Clickbank’s marketplace is quite a poor research tool. You can sort by popularity or gravity – And that’s it. It doesn’t give you much data.

Instead of using Clickbank’s native marketplace, many internet marketers choose to use websites that aggregate data from Clickbank instead. There are a few of them around. CB Engine is one of the most popular ones, with most of its features available for free.

Begin by going to “CB Best Gain” in the left hand side column. This shows you the Clickbank products that have improved in rankings the fastest recently. This is a much more useful statistic than gravity or popularity, because you want to look for new ideas that are catching on rather than products that have already been popular for months.

Here’s what the screen looks like:

You can change the criteria you’re searching by along the top. You can look at high momentum products, products moving up, products that are gaining steadily, products that are getting more popular and have big payouts and so on.

If you click on a product, you’ll be taken to that product’s data page. Here you’ll see all the vital stats you need to know about the product.

Click “Graph” along the top to see a visual representation of the product’s gravity trend, as well as its previous gravity stats by date.

This technique can help you find new eBooks as they’re taking off, but before the market gets saturated. Look for trends, look for big jumpers, look for multiple eBooks on the same topic that are taking off at the same time. Look for things that seem to indicate a new opportunity.

Doing Keyword Research

Another way to look for potential popular topics is to do keyword research.

Begin by jotting down a bunch of different potential ideas for your book. For instance, let’s say you’re in the weight loss industry. You might jot down ideas like:

Weight loss for people who’ve just had a baby
Weight loss for video gamers who don’t get exercise
Weight loss for vegetarians
Weight loss for people who love chocolate
Etc

Come up with as many ideas as you can. Then head over to the Google Keyword Tool, then type in some of the ideas you’re thinking of using, one at a time.

Google will tell you about how many people search for your keyword every month. Below the keyword you typed in, Google will also tell you the search volume for a number of related keywords.

In this case, you can see that the general topic gets about 40,000 searches a month. Smaller sub-topics get quite a few searches a month as well. So you might put a check mark next to that idea as having strong potential.

Do the same with your next topic. For instance, let’s look at post pregnancy weight loss.

In this case, it seems that vegetarian weight loss is about three times as popular as post pregnancy weight loss.

One important thing to notice is that the keyword “pregnancy weight loss” does get 90,000 searches a month. But if you type it into Google, you’ll find that this search phrase encompasses people who want to lose weight during pregnancy, people who are losing weight during pregnancy and are worried, among a myriad of other topics, including weight loss after pregnancy.

It’s less clear cut because of that one keyword, but it still seems vegetarian weight loss generally has more demand than post-pregnancy weight loss, based on the numbers.

Rinse and repeat this process for all your ideas to get a sense for how many people are looking for the solution you’re thinking of providing.

Browsing Amazon

The Amazon bookstore can be another great way to come up with popular book ideas. Start by heading over to the Editor’s Picks section. You can choose other sections, too. Look through these different lists to see what kind of books are doing well.

You can also sort the category further by going to a more specific subcategory. That’ll really help you get a sense for what’s doing well in your specific niche.

Count Forum Questions

Another way you can find problems that people are eager to solve is to go to internet forums and look for common questions.

For example, if you’re in the fishing niche, you might head over to a fishing message board and spend some time looking around. What kinds of questions are people asking? Is there an abnormally high amount of questions around certain topics? Are there new questions you haven’t heard before? Are there questions being asked that seem to have no good answers?

You can also conduct a search for terms like “how to” or “how do I” or “question.”

This brings up exactly the kind of person you’re looking for: People who came to the forum looking for help. Again, look for patterns in the questions people are asking. The more people asking about it, the better your chances of success with an eBook on that topic.

These are four different ways you can find popular eBook topics. Do your research before you start writing and make sure you’re jumping into a market that’s positioned for success.

50 Tips for Marketing Your Website

by Nicole Munoz

As amazing as your website may be, it’s not going to market itself. If you want people to come to your website, you have to get the word out there. Once a few thousand people see your website, it can start to pick up steam and spread through reputation. In the beginning however, you have to do the ground work.

Here are 50 tips for marketing your website.

1. Add a ton of original content. There is no better way to market your website than having content that people love to spread. This method doesn’t work overnight, but in time is extremely powerful.

2. Pick keywords and put them in your title tag. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find good keywords and put the in your title tag. Note: use only several relevant keywords.

3. Write a good META description tag. Your META description tag goes under your title tag in the search engines. It helps convince people to click on your ad.

4. Look at your analytics logs and see who’s sending you traffic. Use these traffic sources more readily.

5. Contact people who comment on your blog. See if you can get them to link to you or talk about you in a blog post.

6. Start a YouTube channel. Upload videos that people in your industry would love and want to pass on to their friends.

7. Submit your site to directories. Use DMOZ and Yahoo! Directory for high powered backlinks and smaller industry specific directories for targeted traffic.

8. Write for offline newspapers and magazines. Reach out to editors and let them know that you’re an expert on a subject and would like to do an editorial or opinion piece.

9. Write a press release and submit it to online press release services like PR Web. Bloggers and editors will receive this release and potentially write about your company.

10. Get in contact with traditional press editors. Pitch them a story about why your company is unique, or find a way to help them in a story they’re already working on.

11. Submit a high quality piece of content to Reddit. Make sure you submit it to the right sub-reddit to get as many interested people as possible.

12. Submit your content to StumbleUpon. If your content is good, this can send tens of thousands of visitors your way very quickly.

13. Create a Facebook page. Use your website to promote your page. Your page will allow you to stay in touch with your fans, as well as launch new viral campaigns.

14. Use Twitter regularly. Befriend other Twitter influencers and ask them to retweet things when you’re doing a promotion. Likewise, do whatever you can to help others succeed, as eventually they’ll want to reciprocate.

15. Search for people to reply to on Twitter. Search for common questions people in your industry might ask and @reply them directly.

16. Join internet forums and contribute. Find relevant forums in your industry and post high quality content replies.

17. Put your site in your email signature. Anyone who interacts with you should see your content website in your email.

18. Create an email newsletter. Use it to follow up with your guests, to build a long term connection and to make regular sales over the guest’s lifetime.

19. Do an online contest. Give away amazing prizes that people would want to fight for. If your prizes are really top notch, people are going to talk about the contest and pass it along to other people.

20. Advertise in other people’s emails. Advertising opportunities start as low as $25.

21. Launch your own affiliate program. Get other people to promote your products for you.

22. Buy pay-per-click advertising. Buy relevant keywords for products that you’re selling and get traffic from Google and Bing.

23. Contact local businesses about joint marketing opportunities. Look into advertising together, doing products together, doing local promotions, etc.

24. Speak at events related to your topic. Ask the event organizer to link back to you. Mention your site when you’re speaking to bring in more traffic.

25. Use Pinterest. It’s one of the hottest social networking sites at the moment. It’s great for attracting a female crowd.

26. Add your business to Google Maps. If you run a local business, it’s essential that you have a well setup Google Places page.

27. Post on newsgroups, Google Groups or Yahoo Groups. Don’t spam, instead look for ways to add value by giving advice and answering questions. Have a small link to your site at the bottom of your messages.

28. Comment on other people’s blog posts. Make well thought out, intelligent comments that add to the discussion and get people curious about you and your site.

29. Interview a well known person. Make the interview available for free.

30. Have great guest blog posts. Often times your guests will link to their own article, driving a lot of quality traffic.

31. Create an RSS feed. This makes it easy for people with RSS readers to follow your blog.

32. Advertise on Craigslist. If you run a local business, this could bring a lot of targeted traffic.

33. Use My Blog Guest to find opportunities to write for other websites. Write for those sites and include a link back to your site.

34. Review products and books. Especially try to review products and books while they’re hot.

35. Answer questions on Quora. Not only can you get good traffic from Quora, but you also position yourself in front of a very high powered crowd.

36. Cover a live event. Update frequently, once every hour or so. People who can’t make it to the event can still feel like they’re there by reading your coverage.

37. Post on portfolio sites. Look for places where you can showcase your work or your ideas. If you get good reviews, a lot of people will come to look at your site.

38. Start a podcast. Publish once a week to start. Build a list of fans who listen to you every week.

39. Get a custom designed header. It can really make a big difference on how people see your website.

40. Comment on current events. If a major shift is happening in your industry, talk about it and give your opinion. If you have a unique take, it could gain a lot of traction.

41. Give something away for free. Give away a free eBook, a free audio MP3, a free DVD, a free software package, etc. Free stuff always gets a lot of attention, especially if there’s a high perceived value.

42. Break a record. Pick a record in your industry and try to break it. If you do, you’ll get a ton of press and blog coverage, which will all translate into website traffic.

43. Ask your customers what they want. Then give it to them. When you do this, customers will often be so surprised and thrilled that their request was heard that they’ll tell a lot of their friends about you.

44. Do a weekly roundup of your industry. At the end of each week, go through and pick out the best posts in your industry and link to them. You can write a small summary as well. Make your blog a resource for people to go to for good content in your industry, even if you don’t write the content yourself.

45. Answer questions on HARO. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a great place to find reporters who need to interview people for their stories.

46. Organize a local meetup. This will bring you a small amount of connections, but get you a ton of valuable connections.

47. Do a free live chat Q&A. Doing these live Q&As regularly will help you build your connection with your audience as well as get a lot of people linking to you.

48. Spend as much time growing interest in your content as you do on writing. After all, what good is content if you nobody sees them? Split your time in half: Half on marketing, half on content.

49. Promote your content on Social Buzz Club and Triberr. Submit your blog posts or videos to these two sites to have the chance to be promoted by leaders in your industry.

50. Create infographics. Gather relevant data, create a scenario and ask a graphic designer to give life to the data you have collected. Promote the infographic on all available channels: infographic sharing websites, Pinterest, social media sites, bookmarking sites.

‘Dropping’ Images to Your Articles – Using Photo Dropper to Find and Insert Images into Your WordPress Blog Posts

by Nicole Munoz

Photo Dropper is a WordPress plugin that makes it easy for you to search Flickr for photos with Creative Commons License and insert appropriate images into your blog. Information about the plugin can be found at: http://wordpress.org/plugins/photo-dropper/

Installing the Plugin

You can install the plugin by logging into your WordPress control panel and click on “Plugins -> Add New” on the left menu.

On the next screen, search for Photo Dropper. When you find it, click “Install Now”:

You will be asked for your FTP information in order to perform the installation.

Once you click “Proceed’, you’ll see a screen that indicates your plugin installation has become:

When the installation is complete, click “Activate Plugin”:

Now your plugin is ready to use.

Using Photo Dropper

Now you can create a new post and use Photo Dropper. When you create a new post, you can see the Photo Dropper icon as one of your options at the top of the post.

Click the icon to search for images. In our example, we are searching for “red rose” and get the following results:

You can choose the image that you’d like, choose small (S), medium (M) or large (L) size and it will insert the appropriate attribution into your blog post.

Warning: Confirm Licensing Details

While ongoing use of Photo Dropper seems to indicate it’s pretty accurate in using appropriate images for commercial websites, you should always confirm the license allows you to use the photo for your website. You can see the image information by clicking the arrow icon in the bottom left before you add the image:

This brings you to the image page and you can find the license information on the right menu:

Click the “Some rights reserved” and you’ll see the details about using the image. Make sure to read them completely.

Need New Images for Your Blog? How to Use Google to Find Images for Your Articles

by Nicole Munoz

select-images

While you cannot simply search Google Images and use the images you want, Google does provide you with the search tools to find images that are under the Creative Commons License. Creative Commons License is a group of copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted work, according to certain specifications that vary from license to license. This guide will show you how to find the right type of image for your website project.

Advanced Google Image Search

To get started, go to the Advance Google Image Search at http://images.google.com/advanced_image_search On the search form, you will see an option called “Usage Rights”. The drop-down box gives you the following options:

If you have a commercial website of any kind, you should choose “labeled for commercial reuse” or if you want to actually edit the image, choose “labeled for commercial reuse with modification”. Here’s are the results for a search for “kitten”, “photo content” and “labelled for commercial reuse with modification”:

Before you use any photos, you need to confirm the Creative Commons Licenses are correct as noted in the following Google warning:

Confirm License – Wikimedia Commons

Again, before using an image, make sure you confirm the precise terms of the Creative Commons License. You can do this by clicking on the image and then click the X in the top right of the corner of the image, so you can see the actual web page the image came from.

This particular image is on the Wikimedia Commons Website (http://commons.wikimedia.org), so the information on the license is easy to find and are shown below:

If you want to use an image from Wikimedia Commons, you can click the “Use This File on the Web” icon to the right of the image.

A screen will pop-up, giving you the location of the image and the proper attribution. If you click the HTML box beside the attribution (as shown below), it will make copy-and-paste code for you.

Confirm License – Flickr

Another common source of Creative Commons License images is Flickr. If you see a Google Image Search result that is from Flickr, here’s what to do. We’ve now searched for “sad puppy”, “photo content” and “labelled for commercial reuse with modification”:

We are interested in using the first image and see it is from Flickr. We click it and then click the X in the top right corner of the image to see the web page it came from.

To use an image from Flickr, check the License information on the right menu:

If we click “Some rights reserved”, we can see the conditions of this license. Be sure to read the full terms prior to using the image.

Then you can click the “Share” tab at the top of the page:

If you click the “Grab the HTML/BBC code”, you will get copy-and-paste code that includes the proper attribution, if applicable and in this case, it is. You can also modify the size of the image, according to the options available in the drop down box.

Images and Copyright – How and What is Safe to Publish on Your Blog?

by Nicole Munoz

Creative Commons License is a group of copyright licenses that allow the use of and alteration of documents in other works, including websites and blogs. These licenses can be used in different combinations, making it possible to different uses for a variety of works.

These licenses were released by Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org) in 1992 and make it easier for you to find free images that you can use on your website or blog.

Types of Licenses

When searching for images, you will see combinations of the following four core licenses. They are also often abbreviated and you can see the abbreviation for each license in brackets below.

Attribution (by): You can use image, as long as attribution for the work is provided.

Non-commercial (nc): You can use the image for non-commercial purposes only.

No Derivative Works (nd): You cannot create derivative works only. You cannot edit the work.

Share-Alike (sa): You can make derivative works and modify the work, only if you distribute the work under the same license as the original work.

Possible License Combinations

There are 6 possible combinations of these licenses:

Attribution (by): It can be used for commercial purposes, derivative works can be created, but only if proper attribution is provided.
Attribution AND Non-Commercial (by + nc): It cannot be used for commercial purposes, but derivative works can be created and proper attribution must be provided.
Attribution AND No Derivatives (by + nd): It can be used for commercial purposes, but derivative works cannot be created and proper attribution must be provided.
Attribution AND Share Alike (by + sa): It can be used for commercial purposes, derivative works can be created, but only if the derivative work is released under the same license. Attribution must be provided.
Attribution AND Non-Commercial AND No Derivatives (by + nc + nd): It cannot be used for commercial purposes and no derivatives can be created. Attribution must be provided.
Attribution AND Non-Commercial AND Share-Alike (by + nc + sa): It cannot be used for commercial purposes and derivatives can be created, as long the derivative work is released under the same license. Attribution must be provided.

Understanding these licenses will make it easier for you to find the images that suit your needs.

Graphical Representation of Licenses

While some sites may use different images to indicate certain licenses, you will likely see the images used by the Creative Commons.

You will often see a CC, which stands for Creative Commons and indicates a Creative Commons license:

Then the following images, show the 4 possible licenses that can be used in the variety of combinations mentioned earlier.

1- Attribution (by)

2- Non-Commercial (nc)

3- Share-Alike (sa)

4- No Derivatives (nd)

Run An Autoresponder From Your Own Server In WordPress

by Nicole Munoz

Did you know that instead of using an outside autoresponder, you can run it all from your own server? Using the Free WordPress Autoresponder, you can place subscribe boxes, add leads, schedule emails and send email blasts.

Here’s how to download, install and configure Free WordPress Autoresponder.

Step 1: Download and Activate the Plugin

To download Free WordPress Autoresponder, go to: http://freewordpressautoresponder.com/

Scroll down to the bottom and enter your contact information.

Check your email and click on the confirmation link. Go to the members area.

Scroll past all the sales and promotional material until you reach the download link.

Once you have the .zip file, upload it to WordPress and activate the plugin as usual.

Step 2: Setup Your Options

Scroll down on the WP Admin panel to access Free WordPress Autoresponder’s settings.

Go to Setup to setup your unsubscribe messages, footers and other basic options.

Step 3: Add Fly-In HTML (Optional)

If you want to have a hover-over style of opt-in box, do it in the Fly-In HTML box tab.

Start by customizing your fly-in box to look however you want. By default it edits in WYSIWYG, but if you want to edit in HTML just select “Plain Text” from the drop down box.

Once you’re ready, click “Test Fly In Display” to make sure the fly-in look show you want it to.

Then click the “Activate” button and hit submit. Anyone who’s coming to your site for the first time will see the fly-in opt in box.

Step 4: Add Normal Opt-In Box

To add an opt in box anywhere else on your site, use the Form HTML tab.

Again, start by editing the opt in box in WYSIWYG. Once it looks the way you want it to, change the display option to “Plain Text” and paste the HTML anywhere on the blog.

Here’s the “Plain Text” view:

Alternatively, you can also just drag and drop a Widget from your Widgets tab into any sidebar. This works just like any other Widget.

Step 5: Add Autoresponder Messages

Now that you have your basic setup complete, it’s time to add some messages to your autoresponder.

Go to the messages tab to get started.

Click on Add New Message.

Enter in your first autoresponder subject.

Click Add Message when you’re finished. Repeat the process for each email you want in your autoresponder.

Step 6: Send a Message Blast (Optional)

Want to email your entire list? You can do so from the Send Message tab.

Just specify which parts of your list should receive your message, enter your message and hit send.

Step 7: Manage Your List

To import contacts, export contacts or manually delete contacts, just got to the leads tab.

Then click “Delete Checked,” “Add Leads,” or “Export Leads” to do just that.

Congratulations! You’ve now learned how to install, setup and use Free WordPress Autoresponder. It can do just about anything an industrial grade autoresponder can do, right from your WordPress setup, for free.