• • This is an exchange with one of the members of TheTrafficProfessor that I thought worth sharing (with minor editing). It will definitely save you time (if you are doing your own writing) and money (if you’re outsourcing content).

    It answers one of the most basic and important questions a blogger will ask.

    What is the optimal length for a blog post?

    ————-

    

    December 22, 2011

    Sue Anderson LaPointe

    • Hi Bill
      Hope you’re doing great, and getting ready for a wonderful Christmas.

    Got into a bit of a blogging conversation/debate and was telling another writer about how much I’d changed my blogging process since your course. He’s got a mentor ….., who’s swearing by 2000 word posts, which seems nuts to me.

    I told him about your idea of frequency, and he replied: “If Bill Belew built his sites in 2005+ era, that strategy would have worked. And now that his sites are *already* authority sites from before, it doesn’t matter what he posts because it’s already an authority site. But he’s mistakenly projecting past Google conditions onto today. A new site won’t rank with that same strategy that way have worked even just 5 years ago. So the question is, did Bill Belew start these sites back then or did he start them very recently?”

    I think your sites are more recent, but didn’t want to answer incorrectly. Also, figured that might be a great question to answer on your blog! and in the marketing.

    Hugs and all warm wishes -
    Sue

• 

  December 22, 2011

  Bill Belew

  • I started back in 2006. Still…2000-word posts are great but they are not for Search Engines. Ask yourself how many times you have searched for something and found it in the 400th or 1000th or 2000th word section of an article. Doesn’t happen. SEO = a balance between what appeals to a real person and what appeals to a search engine. 2000 word articles don’t have much appeal to readers either. Invariably when you do a search, find the link you want and click on it, the very next think you do is scroll down to find out how long the article is…if it is too long, you go away, right? This is called Bounce. And the higher the bounce rate, the worse the SE findability. The ideal length for a blog post is something that will fit above one click of the scroll. Make sense?

• 

  December 22, 2011

  Mike Maunu

  • In addition, not all the blogs were started then and many of Bill’s students only started in the last 18 months and they are getting the same results based on the lower word count.

• 

  December 22, 2011

  Sue Anderson LaPointe

  • THAT is fantastic news, then… because I’m getting totally hooked on these little 200 worders  Totally makes sense for readability – If I want to read 2000 words on something, would rather read 10 posts on it than one post. I’m in the process of creating blogging packages for my writing clients based on this and was SO hoping/then glad to find 200 words will get it done!
    Thank you guys for getting back to me so fast.
    HUGS!
    Sue

• 

  December 22, 2011

  Bill Belew

  • 200-300 words will suffice. Each blog posts generally answers one question. It never takes 2000 words to answer a question unless you are a preacher…. 

• 

  December 22, 2011

  Sue Anderson LaPointe

  • Lol. True that!!!!! I’m loving how much easier it is to blog like this. It’s actually getting done rather than languishing months between posts!!!

    ———

In this 35-minute video I address why blogging is still the King of Social Media. And Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and that other one, oh, Google+ are just princes.

I also cover:

4 items that all writers/web owners want.

4 problems a blog can solve

and the

4 next steps all bloggers and web site owners should take if they want to get more web traffic.

The Traffic Professor knows.

Traffic Professor Teaching Blog as a Platform for Writers

Blogging is the platform of choice for writers/authors.

Even if I do say so myself, I made that point quite clear when I spoke to the High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club this past weekend (October 8th.)

How to Get Good Web Traffic in the High Desert

and a link to the audio part 1 and part 2.

The participation was great. There was quite a buzz after I was finished as the 70-some authors and writers learned what it would take to make a blog their platform of choice to get more readers, to get an agent, to get published, to get paid to write.

They learned why a blog is the social media of choice, why a blog trumps Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter.

We covered a LOT of ground in the 75 minute lecture and 25 minutes of Q&A.

All 20 books I carried with me disappeared in a matter of minutes. Thank goodness I got paid for them, too! That does NOT always happen. I mean, people do NOT always pay for them.

Here is the link again to the power point presentation for those who attended.

How to Get Good Web Traffic in the High Desert

and a link to the audio part 1 and part 2.

Need more information?

Go to TheTrafficProfessor and buy my online course. It’s a small investment with HUGE possible returns. Really. It works.

The Traffic Professor will be speaking at the High Desert Branch of the California Writers Club (scroll down) on October 8th, 2011.

If you live in/near the area, please come out to meet me, ask questions, learn more about blogging, platform building or to just chill.

Traffic Professor at High Desert Valley

My topic is

Blogging as a platform for writers, still the king of Social Media

In this one hour presentation, including 15 mins for Q&A I will cover the following topics:

1. Four reasons why a blog is the social media platform of choice for writers.

2. Four biggest obstacles to getting a blog started.

3. Four key ingredients to attracting significant traffic to a blog/web site.

4. Four next steps every writer must take to bring attention to their work.

I have taken 10 different and unrelated blog topics to more than 1 million unique visitors each, and well over 50 million views overall.  I have two published books, and have addressed Mexico’s largest Writers’ Conference, Asia’s Largest Publishing Convention, and have spoken in Thailand, New York City, as well as to many of the California Writers Club branches.

The event will be held at the Apple Valley Branch Library at 10 a.m. on Saturday, October 8, 2011.

Call Carol Warren at (760)242-3367) or email to califcarol@verizon.net

President Bob Isbill at  (760)242-4148) or email to risbill@aol.com

20258 Hwy 18 Ste 430-PMB 281

Apple Valley, CA 92307

One wonders what it takes to be a successful travel blogger.

Some wonder what it takes to be a successful blogger in any niche.

Travel blogger Wilby discovers traveling light

Problogger Wilby knows the answer…what it takes to be a good travel blogger, what it takes to be a successful (choose your niche) blogger.

1. Experience counts. Lots of bloggers what to claim authority in their chosen niche when in truth they just read and regurgitate stuff from elsewhere on the net. A real travel blogger has experience. NomadicMatt is a good example of an experienced travel blogger. He has a good following but could use some SEO help.

2. Sitting in a chair counts. It’s one thing to have the know how and (more…)

5 Questions a Problogger is NOT afraid of when creating a blog

Wilby teaching on how to create a blog

Wait! I hear voices.

I wrote a post just before this one on How to Create a Blog – a tutorial by Chris Abraham.

As I wrote it, I could hear voices. Questions.

When it comes to how to create a blog:

1.  Bill, why are you, a problogger, telling people about another blog teacher?

2.  Aren’t you afraid you might lose a customer?

3.  Aren’t you worried about losing some blog consulting business?

4.  Aren’t you concerned that people will think he is better blogger than you?

5. Aren’t you terrified that people will learn how to create a blog for free when they would otherwise pay you to teach them?

Um, in reverse order the answers are, no, no, no, and no. And I am telling readers here about a high quality video tutorial. Why wouldn’t I want to do that?  Why would I possibly want to recreate something that has already been thoughtfully and thoroughly done (51 minutes!) Andwhy wouldn’t I want to give credit where due?

Blog Backlink Love

And here is my big reason – giving Chris Abraham a back link  is the right thing to do for a service well rendered, no? Bloggers linking to other bloggers is good form all around. And the more attention he gets on this topic - how to create a blog, for example, the more attention all of us bloggers get.

I am not afraid, concerned, worried or terrified (all synonyms) at all.

There is much to learn in the blog world beyond just how to create a blog. I’ll tell you two of them in the next post – 2 questions I prefer to be asked instead of how to create a blog.

I guarantee you I can teach you how to create a blog, too.

Check out my blog consulting rates and contact me if you’re in a hurry.

One of the key characteristics of a problogger is, well, and this may be a ‘duh’ factor, but I say it because you’d be surprised at who writes about what under auspices of being the expert.

Problogger Wilby and Super Mario Bros

Example: I have seen some really big people giving diet advice.

Here’s an image of Wilby getting into character.

No contest, Mario Bros was one of the pioneers in video gaming.

I confess, I have NOT played a video game, and I will date myself here, (more…)

What a difference a preposition or lack of one will make.

Problogger Wilby passing the Big Apple, um, passing through.

Earlier this year, Problogger Wilby was invited to the Big Apple to do blog training.

I followed up that visit with a couple of posts including this one -

Blogging about the Big Apple

There are probloggers that cover all sorts of niches.  I do believe someone could make a living blogging about New York City. Gosh, they could make a living blogging about not a few niches within that amazing city.

But to do that, a problogger would indeed have to get into the city deeply…much like Wilby is doing in this image.

Wilby didn’t pass the Big Apple. He passed through it.

Oh, the image was created by an amazing illustrator  - Benjamin Belew.

What’s a Problogger?

A problogger needs to wear many hats, many faces, get in and out of character. Wil.by is no exception. Wil.by doesn’t just blog. He gets into his blog.

I have been around the world in the past year…literally…flew east through Canada to Frankfurt and Bucharest then Mumbai and other places in India. Back in the US I ventured west to Tokyo then Thailand….Oh and south to Mexico.

On each occasion, my personal, hmm, not a biographer…what do I call a guy who creates a character? My personal animator or illustrator perhaps. My personal animator/illustrator…has taken Wil.by and put him in (more…)