Why Blogging is Critical for Today’s Digital Network Marketer

Lacking leadings in your business?  Starving for more recruits for your team?

Do you have no real plan for what you are doing to not only get more leads and recruit more…but also scale this and bring in large numbers?

This post is for you if so.  I was wondering aimlessly just kinda following the majority in the industry but not really making a big splash.  Until I found a purpose and a goal for myself and this website that was just sitting here.  I wanted to learn to really scale my business into significant profits.

So I want to share a training I just recently dove into about this very topic from a mentor I follow Andrew Draughon.

Take a look at the information on why you should start blogging for your business and how it could really help you rise to the top.

Why Blogging is Critical for Today’s Digital Network Marketer

GET NOTIFIED FOR FUTURE LIVE TRAININGS ON FB  BY CLICKING HERE

Want more leads, recruits, and sales for your network marketing business?

Well, here’s a not-so-secret secret of today’s most-successful digital network marketers…

If you’re not already building a brand and establishing your authority through a blog, then it’s time to get started today (or get left behind).

There’s simply isn’t a more effective tool to convert traffic into leads, leads into customers, and customers into a sustainable, long-term business.

With that said, there’s an effective way to blog like a modern, 21st century network marketer…

And there are about a million ineffective ways to blog, which will eat up loads of time and get you nowhere.

So, before we dive into how to create an effective recruiting machine that drives real results, let’s get clear on the challenges you face starting out (before we talk about how to gracefully overcome them).

Try to wrap your head around these stats…

Today, over 3.5 MILLION blog posts went live.

That’s over 145,000 posts every hour…

2,500 posts per minute…

40 every second.

That’s just today.

There’ll be even more tomorrow. Lots more.

Given these mind-boggling stats, it’s easy to think…

“How on earth am I supposed to compete when clearly the world doesn’t need yet another blog!”

Well, here’s the not-so-obvious secret of 99% of the content published today…

It’s useless, mediocre, uninspiring, inauthentic, impersonal, spammy nonsense NO ONE wants to read!

Ever heard the phrase, “content is king?”

Well, a few years back when marketers got wind that content is the most effective way to generate leads on the Internet today, they started producing content.

Lots and lots of content.

Millions upon millions of pages of utter CRAP!

But here’s the thing…

Crap content doesn’t work!

Search engines don’t like crap content, and even more importantly…

PEOPLE don’t want to read crap content.

Matter o’ fact, search engines are actually penalizing spammy marketers of crap content.

And no one’s going to share crap content they wouldn’t even dream of reading on social media.

The jig is up for spammers!

The days of hiring freelancers on the cheap to churn out 200 blog posts in a week—“spinning” and thinly rewriting previously posted articles—are over.

And you know what?

This is great news for you!

Because there is almost ZERO competition for exceptional content!

All of that crap content currently online creates the illusion of competition.

Most of the content on the first couple of pages of Google results for any given topic (aside from the paid ads) was created years ago.

(Trust me, I’ve checked.)

Therein lies your opportunity. 

You don’t have to blog every day, or every other day, or even once a week – especially if all you do is add to the pile of humdrum, mediocre, useless information that’s already out there.

As a matter of fact, if all you’re doing is blogging for blogging’s sake, hoping you’ll stand out from the pile, you probably SHOULDN’T blog.

Even if you think you’re creating “good” content.

Because “good” content isn’t enough.

Instead, if you want to get noticed, there’s only one thing you MUST do…

Create content that’s BEYOND “good enough”

Remember that old thought experiment…

“If a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Now apply that same thought experiment to blogging…

“If 40 blog posts per second are being added to the Internet and nobody ever reads them, do they make any difference?”

The truth is that most of what’s published online goes unread.

It just sits there taking up ones and zeros.

It’s all “sound and fury, signifying nothing,” to quote Shakespeare.

According to a joint study by Moz and BuzzSumo, analyzing over one million online articles, less than half of those articles received more than two shares on social media.

And if it’s not read or consumed, “good content” is useless.

All that effort to write and promote is wasted, if it’s not read, consumed, promoted, liked, and shared.

So how is a brand new blogger supposed to survive?

Well, you must create, share, and promote exceptional content on your blog.

EPIC content.

Content that…

• Is valuable, credible, unique information that establishes you as an authentic human being who can help solve real people’s problems
• Is well-researched, deeply-felt, interesting, useful – even remarkable – information that your visitors won’t find anywhere else
• Stirs an emotional response from your readers: joy, surprise, awe, admiration, or gratitude
• Answers a question or solves a problem in a unique way, and provides information, insight, or resources your readers will find exceptional
• Establishes you as someone your visitors can feel they know, like, and trust enough to do business with

Why?

Because exceptional content is what gets you noticed, generates traffic, and creates relationship with your visitors.

Exceptional content establishes your credibility and authority and positions you as a thought leader in your industry.

Exceptional content earns you a higher ranking in the search engines.

And exceptional content will become the backbone of your business and ensure your online survival.

Is it easy to create exceptional content for your blog?

In a word, no.

(Which is why almost no one does it).

There aren’t any shortcuts.

But here’s the thing…

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Creating an exceptional blog will require time, commitment, deep research, and some degree of creativity.

After all, your blog is your digital home – your digital resume, if you will.

It’s the foundation of all of your online marketing efforts.

You owe it to yourself to invest the time to fill it with extraordinary content.

Is all your blog content going to be exceptional from the start?

Probably not, but you have to start somewhere!

Establish a strategy for creating exceptional content for your blog

In the movie The Imitation Game, Alan Turing (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) tells an old joke you might remember…

“There are two people in a wood, and they run into a bear. The first person gets down on his knees to pray; the second person starts lacing up his boots. The first person asks the second person, “My dear friend, what are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear.” To which the second person responds, “I don’t have to. I only have to outrun you.”

The moral of the story is this…

You don’t have to be stellar right out of the gate.

You just have to be better than the next person.

Which, nine times out of ten, simply means you just have to start.

Don’t spin your wheels or waste your time banging out pointless 500-word blog posts every day just to furnish your site with content.

Instead…

Start by analyzing your “competition”

• Look at their blogs
• Subscribe to their lists
• Examine and analyze their content

Trust me, after you’ve explored just a few of your competitors, you’re likely to find that you can do better.

In fact, you can use your competition for content inspiration.

Rand Fishkin, the co-founder of Moz, wrote an exceptional post called, “Why Good Unique Content Needs to Die,” where he offers a six-step process to help you analyze your competition.

To paraphrase…

1. Notice the questions that your competitor’s blog addresses. What did you search for to find them? How well did they answer or address your search?
2. What’s the quality of your experience in using your competitor’s site? Is it fast? Mobile-friendly? Easy to navigate? Is everything where you expect it to be, or do you need to click around to find the information you want?
3. Is the information detailed and thorough? Is it exceptional? Or is it “fluffy,” lacking in meaningful detail?
4. How well does your competitor’s site use visual content? Are there charts? Graphs? Diagrams? Video? Stock photos? Or just walls of words? What’s the readability? Are their strange fonts, colors, or other elements that interfere with your ability to see and understand the information?
5. Is the writing easy to read? Are there typos? Misspellings? Grammatical errors that make you stumble when reading? Did an obvious intern write it? The cheapest freelancer at Fiverr? Or an expert who took the time to write it well?
6. What is the quality of the data and information on the site? What is the source of the information? Are the sources credible, authoritative?

Now, see what I did there—turning my research into original content by synthesizing my source material and citing its source?

You can easily do that too.

You don’t have to be the expert, you just need to do your research (hint: this is what authors do).

And once you’ve conducted your analysis, the next question is the most powerful question you’ll ever ask…

“What’s missing?”

Answering that question can lead you to creating truly exceptional content for your blog.

If you take a day or two to analyze the first page of results for your competition, you’ll be well on your way to discovering where your blog can make an impact.

And once you’ve discovered that, the fun begins.

Create exceptional content that earns shares and links

Remember what I said earlier about the illusion of competition?

The Moz/BuzzSumo study of over a million online articles mentioned earlier identifies a “sweet spot” for the kind of content that gets the most shares and links.

While more than 85% of the blog posts or articles online consist of less than 500 words, more than half of that content got fewer than two Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ (RIP) shares.

In contrast, longer, more thoroughly-researched content of 1000 words or more generates consistently higher numbers of shares and links…

• 3.4 shares on average for posts 1,000-2,000 words,
• 4.2 shares on average for posts 2,000-3,000 words, and
• 5.8 shares on average for posts 3,000-10,000 words

The most shared of these are “how to,” “list,” and “why” posts.

(Note the title of this post for an example of “why” content.)

Most marketers don’t take the time to generate long, well-researched posts for their blogs

Nor are they concerned with establishing a reputation as a thought leader.

There’s an opportunity.

The other online content that earns the most shares and links is video – specifically video designed for entertainment or education.

Most bloggers never even attempt video, never mind think of ways to combine education and entertainment for their audience.

There’s another opportunity.

Before you write a word, sit down to create a video, or design a graphic to post on your blog, ask yourself a few questions…

1. For someone to actually find this piece online, what must they be searching for?
2. What is the searcher’s intent? Is it to get a question answered or solve a particular problem? Is it to be entertained or amused? How urgently do they want this information?
3. Where can I find credible sources for the information I’m about to deliver? What research do I need to conduct to address the issue thoroughly?
4. Now that I know what’s missing, what can I do to provide useful, relevant information in a surprising, entertaining, authentic way?

Then get to work.

Remember: you don’t need to outrun the bear

You just need to outrun the other person!

Also remember: all that “competition” you think you’re seeing in the first page or two of Google results for your topic might just be an illusion.

Most of what you see out there is worthless.

If you can devote your time, energy, and resources into creating not just good, unique content, but exceptional content, your blog will stand a good chance of ranking well and getting the likes and shares that drives clicks and eyeballs.

But remarkable, exceptional content alone isn’t enough.

To turn your blog into an irresistible magnet for prospects, leads, and customers, you’re going to need one more thing…

Traffic.

Traffic from visitors who are already looking for you.

But Just like the Google rules for content have changed, so have the rules for finding qualified visitors online.

You can’t just spam a list, slime social media with garish hard-sell ads, or actively pitch your products on discussion boards.

You’ll get booted off faster than you can say “ban hammer.”

So, you have a choice…

You could spend countless hours scratching your head over how to drive traffic to the exceptional content you’ve created.

Or you could just get Google, Facebook & YouTube to tell you who is already ready to join your business and buy your products!

Hint: people are already telling the social media platforms what they want and like, and you can get these platforms to tell you exactly what that is to target prospects like never before.

Ready to learn how?

That’s it! That’s what I have for today!  Wasn’t that good!?!

Ferny is very intelligent in this area and has taught me so much about how to run my business.  I hope you got value out of his wisdom today.

So…I like convos where it’s two way you know right? so I just spoke for a while so now it’s your turn.

Hey, thank you!

Thank you for jumping on this post!

Hopefully, I have added value to you here.  I would love to hear from you on this post and/or on the live stream!  Tell me what your experience is and what tools you use.

Until next time, have a great day!

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