What Does Being Digitally Literate Mean?

Let’s understand it this way- back in the day, knowing excel used to be a big deal. Every resume that I made for myself during college days said ‘Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PPT, Word’. Today, using excel is a minimal requirement. Similarly, today’s equivalent of being digitally literate means knowing the basics of all online platforms. What makes you stand out today are skills like coding and data analytics.

Tomorrow, they too will be a minimal requirement, this is the inevitable future.

The four pillars of digital include

• Coding

• Digital Design

• Digital Marketing

• Data Analytics

Why just these four? Because that’s all you need for building the companies of tomorrow. You need a coder to build it, a designer to make it look good, a marketer to sell it and an analytics person to optimize it.

Hence having even one of these digital skills can prove to be a great asset for anyone today.

Opportunities that being digitally literate bring on board:

1. Take any business online

The number of customers to be found online will always beat the physical limitations of brick and mortar. Roughly, only 18% of the world’s businesses today are online and the rest don’t know how to get there.

2. Build your own brand

“Developing your personal brand is key to monetizing your passion online.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

Don’t think of it as being an influencer, look at it as - following your passion. Being socially active and sharing valuable content that you’re passionate about could get you the recognition only fifteen-year long hardships could bring.

The idea is to create an audience that loves the authentic you.

This can allow you to not only start a product line in a matter of weeks but also put you in the limelight.

2. Start your own blog

You can earn massive payouts with advertising options such as Ad Sense, Facebook Audience Network and many other options that are available out there today.

Having a large number of visitors on your blog can give you an opportunity at a great earning opportunity similar to the old school broking - Affiliate Marketing. Today, all major e-commerce websites offer a program for affiliates that offer a great commission.

Best part? It’s all passive income.

4. Freelance or Digital Nomad

A freelancer is a person who is self-employed and is not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. And it is high in demand. So today, being a freelancer can easily mean earning better than most desk jobs have to offer.

While a digital nomad is similar to a freelancer but is not restricted to any physical location, they travel from place to place. Hence the term - Digital Nomad.

If you Google -“Top Freelancing Industries”, the top results are- graphic design and web design. Hence, digital skills are extremely vital.

Also, it’s super easy to get gigs to work on with a great freelance platform like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, Indifolio and many more.

5. Build your own business

As discussed earlier, the four pillars of digital are the foundation to build companies of tomorrow. If you think you have a vision and want to see it come to life, all you need is a little digital literacy, the right skill set and you can truly actualize your dreams.

6. Be a consultant, you’ll be most valuable

 

Most people don’t have these skills. So anyone who’s ahead of the curb gets the most benefit of mastering these skills which are being financially secure.

Quick Bonus - Types of income

You may already know this but there are two types of income primarily:

1. Earned/active Income - The income you basically exchange your time for.

2. Passive Income - Recurring or non-recurring income that is generated with activities that require a one-time effort or zero-time investment from your side.

We can sum up the article in one sentence, it would say:

“Create enough passive income to cover your active expenses, and then you won’t need any active income and will be financially free”

Most digital jobs offer the opportunity to earn money passively, which is what we need today!

Conclusion

The only thing AI and Machine Learning is doing for humans is taking away the manual labour intensive jobs human beings used to do. It is taking the jobs away from us that were redundant and didn’t require much mental capacity. These redundant jobs are being automated so that human beings can use their brains for innovating and doing better for humanity. This is where digital skills play an important role. Just like all the jobs today require you to know how to use a laptop, all jobs tomorrow will need you to have the general knowledge of digital skills.

Culled from Entrepreneur

 

6 Tips for Book Marketing with Little to No Budget

 

Book Marketing is important, but it can quickly get expensive. Author, BK Walker, she shares some great tips to help you promote your book with little to no budget for marketing.

Oh the thrill!

The thrill of wanting to write a book and making the decision to actually do it. For months, maybe even years, you pour your heart and soul into each page, until what will soon become your baby is finally finished. You then submit your completed manuscript to publishers, doing the Happy Dance because your writing is good enough to receive an email back from a publisher wanting to take your book under their wing. Maybe you are an indie publisher who hit the “Publish” button to see your book go live to the world.

What most authors don’t realize, whether traditionally published or self-published, is that you’re responsible for the marketing and promotion of your new release. I know…Shocking!

It’s not as hard as you think, but it does take consistent, persistent work on your part. While some authors spend thousands of dollars in their marketing campaigns, there are some things you can do that cost little to no money at all.

Start marketing your book at least 6 months before its release. This means building your author platform, sharing information about your book with blogging and social media.

Create a mailing list. You can create this free of charge using Mailchimp. Your mailing list will become your life line when your book releases and for future books, sales, KDP free days and special promotions.

Make friends with other authors. When your book releases, ask them to share the news with their readers and in return, you can do the same for them. Author cross promotion is a great way to increase exposure, sales, and gain new fans to your reader base.

Become visible. Be active on social media, posting every day, several times a day. You can even set this on autopilot, scheduling posts with platforms such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social.

Get graphics. Design stunning graphics/images with teasers or excerpts from your book and share with your readers. You can get amazing graphics done for you for $5 at Fiverr.

Be easily found. Create a website that has your amazing bio, all of your works so readers know what you write, how they can get their hands on a copy of your book(s), and how they can connect with you.

While writing a book and becoming a published author is exciting, it’s important to realize that building a strong author platform is crucial to the success of your book(s).

It doesn’t have to be a drag either. You can make marketing and promoting your book(s) fun while connecting with some amazing people. Stop by and listen to my free podcasts for more ideas and tips for marketing and promoting your books at BK Walker Writing.

BK Walker is just like every other ordinary woman – a wife, mom, caregiver, and animal lover, who just happens to also be an Amazon bestselling author. BK loves to share her knowledge coaching authors to break through the marketing masses making their mark on the world at BookIt BK, and giving their books the attention they deserve with increased exposure organizing virtual book tours at the Virtual Book Tour Café.

 

8 Ways to Do Big-Time Marketing Without Spending a Fortune

 

Marketing is essential to any company’s bottom line. However, traditional advertising channels such as newspapers, radio and television can get expensive really quick. Furthermore, they may produce little or no ROI. Contrary to these earlier practices, your own marketing strategy does not need to break the bank. Here are several tactics for saving money on marketing while still ensuring that your message reaches your target audience.

1. Do partnered giveaways.

Team up with other brands to generate large contests with grand prizes instead of organizing small, standalone giveaways. All of the involved businesses should pool distribution support and marketing manpower, as well as share email lists and social media followings. One example to take inspiration from is Oklahoma’s News on 6, a TV station that has partnered with different local businesses in Oklahoma to promote giveaways.

2. Foster user-generated content.

Get users to build content and broadcast your company. BuzzFeed utilizes this method by encouraging community posts. HerCampus.com is largely community-driven, with the majority of its site content created by university women. Another tactic is to create a contest for the best user-generated content. For instance, Doritos hosts a yearly Crash the Super Bowl contest with a cash prize to get fans to produce Super Bowl video commercials for the brand.

Related: Millennials Spend 18 Hours a Day Consuming Media -- And It's Mostly Content Created By Peers

3. Promote customer referrals.

Encourage customers to refer their friends to your product or service. Airbnb and Uber grew considerably thanks to their powerful referral programs, both of which only involved small incentives. All you need to do to bolster your referral program is to provide a little money or discount to the source and recipient of the referral.

4. Use social media.

Social media provides many cost-free avenues for advertising your brand, including Facebook and Twitter. Another growing opportunity is hosting a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) and inviting Reddit users to ask any questions. A wide range of individuals and companies have hosted Reddit AMAs, from celebrities promoting movies, to employees of large corporations, to founders of start-up companies. Before hosting one of your own, be sure to read through a few relevant threads to get a sense of what the best practices are for marketing your business and for answering questions.

If you have more money in your social media budget, consider creating a YouTube video. Get ideas from “Dumb Ways to Die,” a safety PSA for a local Australian train company that went viral due to a skillful combination of animation, catchy music and black humor.

Related: If Marketing About Avoiding Death Can Be Funny, Why Is Your Content So Somber?

5. Hire brand ambassadors.

Employ friendly individuals to be brand ambassadors for your product or service. Brand ambassadors act as representatives of the company and spread the word to the public in many types of ways. Businesses like Lyft and Amazon hire university students as brand ambassadors to advertise their services across college campuses.

6. Transform old campaigns into new ones.

Instead of starting a marketing campaign from scratch, repurpose or update a previous one to save time and money. Refashion what works and toss out aspects of the campaign that were not successful. Moreover, this strategy should help maintain the consistency of your message, and according to Rand Group, a consistent advertising message may improve brand recognition. An inconsistent one on the other hand can be costly – it can lead to significant setbacks for brand recognition.

7. Exploit online marketing tools.

There are many free or low cost marketing tools on the Internet that help companies save money and time on marketing efforts. For market research, SurveyMonkey provides free online survey and questionnaire tools for polling your target market and analyzing their responses. MailChimp offers a free email marketing service for sending emails using newsletter templates, managing subscribers and tracking email results. If you want more powerful tools, try a 30-day free trial of HubSpot, an extensive inbound marketing and sales software.

8. Dispose of weak ads.

Stop wasting money on poorly performing ads. This may sound like common sense, but an estimated 46 percent of ads go unseen, so many businesses do spend money on ads that never reach an audience. Keep track of what you are paying for and why you are pursuing certain tactics. If there are marketing channels that have little ROI, then curb your ad spending, reevaluate your current strategies and carry out more effective advertising approaches.

Marketing your brand can be an overwhelming and costly process, but these tips will save you loads of money and time. There are many more free and inexpensive tools available today than ever before – take advantage of them!

4 Techniques for Improving Your Writing Style

 

Not all these strategies will be right for everyone, but it can’t hurt to at least consider them.

Focus on the whole as well as the parts

Any time you add or revise some words, reread what surrounds them to ensure that everything else still fits. Often, a change in one place will necessitate a change in another. Naturally you must focus on each line as you create it, but as soon as you have the first draft in place, back up a few lines and read through the earlier text again. You will sometimes find that the latest addition doesn’t fit in quite as it should—perhaps it restates a point already made, or doesn’t make a smooth enough transition from what came before.

 

As you form each new sentence, keep going back and rereading it from the start to ensure that all its elements mesh together. (Don’t worry about the technical stuff, like whether or not you should underline book titles in your writing or how many spaces to leave after a period). As you form each new paragraph, keep rereading it from its first line to see how its sentences fit together: perhaps the topic shifts enough that the paragraph should be broken up, or perhaps a particular word now is repeated too many times within a short space.

 

Put your work aside for a while and then come back to it

You may be confident that you have polished your words into their final form, only to find that when you look at them a little later, problems jump out: illogical connections, clumsy sentence structures, a strained-sounding tone, subtle grammatical errors. A lapse of time enables you to come back to your work with a more objective eye. A day or more away is ideal, but even a few hours can make a difference.

 

Have someone else look your work over

Any writer, no matter how skilled, can benefit from getting a second opinion, because by definition one is always too close to one’s own work. Given that any writing is ultimately intended for other people’s consumption, it only makes sense to find out how other people perceive it. The individual whose opinion you seek need not be a better writer than you, since the goal is not necessarily to have this person correct or revise what you have done. Rather, it is to provide you with feedback on how your points and your tone are coming across. If your critic doesn’t get your jokes, or finds a character you meant to be funny and sympathetic merely irritating, or can’t follow some instruction because you left out a step you thought would be perfectly obvious to anybody—at least consider the possibility of making changes (and do your best to remain on speaking terms afterward). A professional editor is ideal, but if this is not practical or affordable, select someone whose opinion you respect and who represents your intended readership as nearly as possible.

 

Read your text aloud

This strategy will be super helpful if your writing is intended for oral presentation, but can be useful for other genres as well. Hearing your own words, as opposed to looking at them, may change your impression of them and expose weaknesses such as pretentious-sounding terms, wooden dialogue, or rambling sentences.

 

Writer's Digest

 

How Poetry Can Improve your Copywriting Ability

 

Advertising copywriters are often told that they need to get to grips with poetry. After all, the ability to express complex images and emotions in just a few lines is what makes a copywriter great.

Actually, poetry can help writers of all breeds, be they novelists or nonfiction writers, to improve their craft. The ability to play music to the reader through words or conjure some unforgettable images is something all writers aspire to achieve.

Read lots of poems

Of course, the best place to start improving your writing craft is by reading poems, and lots of them. Poetry has the advantage of being short, which allows you to experiment with many different styles. Try to read a few and see what kind of feelings and images they inspire in you. If they leave an imprint on you, ask yourself why, what was it about this poem that affected you so?

For a start, try reading “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Diameter of the Bomb” by Yehuda Amichai, and “Hope is the Thing of Feathers” by Emily Dickinson.

Learn to stimulate the senses

The poet paints pictures with words, but that picture is not limited to images; the poet should stimulate our sense of sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste just as a picture can do. The poet becomes a kind of camera that produces striking, fresh images that remain fixed in the mind’s eye. This line, for example, offers a strong image: “Sunlight varnishes oak trees crimson.”

Try to play around with images in your own writing, or practice writing a poem or two. See what kind of images you can conjure, and try to understand why imagery works well at stimulating the senses.

Learn to use concrete words

Poetry also teaches us that it’s better to use a concrete word in place of an abstract one. An example of a concrete word is “warm.” It’s concrete because you can experience warmth with your senses—it’s a real thing. An abstract term might be “freedom” or “happiness” because you can’t see or touch them.

Using abstract words in poetry bypasses the reader’s senses, meaning they don’t experience your idea to the fullest. For example: “she feels happy,” isn’t as powerful as “her tomato cheeks radiated warmth.” The image of a tomato, strange as it may seem, will last longer in the reader’s memory because it’s concrete.

Learn to convert clichés

Any writing style that relies on clichés loses its impact. Overused phrases are a bit like stale bread—no one wants to eat it. He may be blind as a bat, or busy as a bee, but these clichés are tattered and worn and have lost all their power.

Instead, you can convert your clichés. For example, try listing all the words you associate with being busy and create a new phrase. For example: “Busy as an old lady knitting.” Finding original phrases will inspire your writing with new life.

Learn to subvert the ordinary

The strength of poetry lies in the poet’s ability to see ordinary objects, places, or ideas in a completely new way. You might see a young child standing in line with his mother, but a poet will imagine the boy painting the walls with nail polish and the mother struggling not to be angry. Just try looking at something ordinary and attempt to see it in a completely new way, and your writing will love you for it.

Learn to think about themes

Poets love themes, and your own writing should include them too. Yet many novice writers find it hard to get to grips with themes. A theme isn’t just an idea. You can’t say that your book covers the theme of war because that’s a topic, not a theme. You can define themes as an idea with an opinion attached. Thus, your theme might be: “even though we claim to be peace-loving people, war is a natural aspect of the human race.” This is the poet’s opinion.

Of course, there’s far more to poetry than this. The best advice is to read a poem at least once a day and internalize the images, the rhythm, and feelings. Study things like metaphor, simile, and other literary devices employed by poets. Once you’ve got to grips with poetry, your writing craft is sure to have improved.

Culled from iuniverse.com

A 5-Step Online Reputation Management Guide (That ANYONE Can Follow)

 

Have you ever Googled yourself (or your company) and seen a negative comment or review? Then you should consider proactive online reputation management.

But it’s not just negative reviews you need to be aware of.

For example, Google “hellofresh pricing” and you’ll see this.

I’d be willing to bet that those who type this into Google are one step away from signing up to HelloFresh (as the query has high purchase intent). Yet the first thing they see is a featured snippet introducing their competitor!

(This probably has a dire effect on conversions for HelloFresh.)

Let’s learn more about online reputation management and how it can help.

 

What is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management (ORM) is the practice of crafting strategies that shape or influence the public perception of an organization, individual or other entity on the Internet. It helps drive public opinion about a business and its products and services.

But what does this actually involve?

Well, it may involve using Twitter to jump in on conversations and tackle negative or defamatory comments about your company.

Oxfam are great at this.

 

 

By responding to such criticism in an open and respectful manner (notice that they weren’t even tagged in the tweet — that’s real dedication!), they are able to defend their reputation and hone customer perception.

But while social media is important, I’d argue that SEO reputation management is even more important.

To illustrate, try Googling “t mobile reviews”. You’ll see this.

the #1 result for “t mobile reviews” — a search term with an estimated 8.5K searches/month in the US!

Oh dear… this is certainly not the most desirable #1 result for t-mobile.

A bit of proactive reputation management—well, a lot, in this case—could potentially “fix” this.

If you have a bad review (like T-Mobile does), you should first and foremost try to resolve the CAUSE of this bad review.

(This may mean improving your product or service, offering better customer support, or something else—it depends on what the CAUSE of the bad review was.)

You should ONLY turn to reputation management if the review is subjective and unfairly biased.

But search engine reputation management is about much more than quelling unfair reviews.

It’s about making sure your brand, products and services are accurately represented in the search results. (Remember the HelloFresh example I shared at the beginning of this guide?)

 

You can be perfect at online reputation management

Here's how:

1. Check the first page of results (in Google) for your company… and make sure you OWN the bulk of them

OK, let’s start with the basics.

It goes without saying that when someone Googles you or your company, your website should be the first result.

NOT RANKING IN POSITION #1 FOR YOUR BRAND? HERE’S HOW TO SOLVE THIS…

This is usually caused by one of three issues:

1. your website isn’t indexed;
2. you have a Google penalty;
3. you don’t have any backlinks to your website.

Read this article for more details about (and solutions for) the first two issues.

If you feel that your website may not be appearing due to a lack of backlinks, then go to:

Site Explorer > enter your domain

You will then see how many backlinks and referring domains you have. (Read our link building guide if you need help in this department.)

But what about the rest of the results on page one?

Ideally, you want these to be predominantly “owned” search results (i.e., those where you control the content). So that includes your:

• Twitter;
• Facebook;
• LinkedIn;
• YouTube channel;
• Behance;
• Etc.

The easiest way to do this is:

1. make sure you have any appropriate profiles (and that you’re active on them)
2. link to them from your website (ideally using a sitewide footer link)
3. link to them from other third-party websites on which you’ve registered (e.g., forums, directories, etc.)

This will tell Google that these are your “official” pages and increase the chance of them ranking in the SERPs.

But this will only usually be the case if you keep them active, which can be quite a tedious task in itself. So I recommend using something like Buffer or Hootsuite, as this will allow you to syndicate a single message to all your social platforms.

SIDENOTE.

Keep in mind that certain types of content are better-suited to specific platforms (e.g., images for Instagram or Pinterest, etc.). I would, therefore, recommend that you don’t attempt to automate this fully. Just use these applications to take care of some of the heavy-lifting and reduce the time needed to manage your social profiles.

But, what if you don’t own all these results? What then?

Two options:

1. If the unowned content is positive in nature (e.g., a good review, or a well-written guide), don’t worry about it. Just keep your eye on the SERPs and monitor for any potentially negative changes in this department.
2. If the unowned result is negative in nature, reach out to whoever wrote it and see what you can do. If it’s unfair or overly-subjective, work with them and see if they’re willing to change it.

SIDENOTE.

There is a third option, which we’ll talk about a bit later in step #3 🙂

2. Find high-traffic articles that negatively reflect your brand… then fix them!

People have probably mentioned your brand, products or services in their articles in the past.

This may be in reviews, guides, stories, competitor comparisons (i.e., “your brand vs. competitor”), etc.

But that’s a good thing, right!?

Not always.

What if these mentions unfairly portray you and your company, or are simply outdated and inaccurate?

And what if such articles receive thousands of visitors organic search traffic each month?

That’s a lot of people reading negative, outdated or inaccurate things about your company.

The solution? Find such articles and nip them in the bud asap!

Here’s how:

Content Explorer > your brand name > select “everywhere” > exclude your own site

This will find all mentions of your brand on sites other than your own.

Next, use the built-in filters to refine these results to show ONLY pages with a decent amount of estimated organic search traffic (e.g., 1000+/month).

SIDENOTE.

It’s also worth filtering for English results, too.

Here’s a post by Matthew Barby with an estimated 1.2K visits from organic search per month (that mentions Ahrefs).

Matthew hasn’t updated this post since March 2016, so it still contains screenshots of the old Ahrefs UI.

If you find any mentions like this, it’s worth reaching out and requesting that the outdated or inaccurate information be fixed.

This is because such inconsistencies and inaccuracies can cost you customers and cause a lot of frustration, as they set the wrong expectations.

So, reach out to the person who wrote or published the article and ask them to fix the issue(s). You can even offer to fix it for them (i.e., rewrite the inaccurate part of the post and send it to them to upload.)

EDITOR’S NOTE

We reached out to Matthew Barby about the outdated Ahrefs screenshots in the article on his blog.

This was his response:

So I did exactly that—I sent him updated screenshots for his article.

It doesn’t look like he’s had the chance to update it yet, but I’m sure he’ll get round to it. (C’mon, Matt!) 😉

 

* * *

But what if you find something more serious? E.g., a scathingly negative review.

If the review is objective, you should ALWAYS first fix the root cause before asking the author of the review to update it. But if the review is subjective and there’s no way to fix it from your end, or if the author simply refuses to revoke their unfair critique, then keep reading 🙂

3. Push negative reviews (and mentions) down in the SERPs… and pull positive ones up!

DISCLAIMER: You only need to pay attention to this section if (a) you found at least one negative review using the tactics above, and (b) you’ve done everything in your power to reach a mutual agreement with the publisher of the negative review or article and resolve the issue. We don’t advise trying to bury bad reviews if they’re objective. That’s not “reputation management.” That is a SCAM. But if the review is not objective, and the author is unreasonable and unwilling to remove it, then this is the last resort.

Some negative reviews are more of a problem than others.

It all depends on if and where they rank. And if they receive a lot of traffic.

For example, let’s say that you manufacture microphones.

What if a potential customer Google’s something like “blue snowball ice review” (we’re assuming this is one of the mics you produce) and see’s a negative review on the first page of results?

Well, this will probably put them off ever doing business with you.

this page ranks in position #1 for “blue snowball ice review.”

Same goes for ANY negative review that gets a lot of organic search traffic.

SEE WHICH KEYWORDS ARE SENDING THE MOST ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC TO NEGATIVE REVIEWS

Did you find a negative review in step #2? (I.e., in Content Explorer)

Details > Organic Keywords.

This will show you which keywords send the most organic search traffic to that page.

If you didn’t find the review in step #2, but have the URL, then do this:

Site Explorer > enter URL -> Organic Keywords

But why do these negative reviews rank and attract organic search traffic in the first place?

It’s usually because they have more—or perhaps stronger—backlinks than the results ranking below them.

Let’s take a look at this page in Site Explorer to see the backlinks situation.

Site Explorer > paste URL > Overview

Hmm, looks like it only has one backlink from one referring domain in this case.

So why is it ranking?

Let’s use the SERP overview feature in Keywords Explorer to find out.

We can see that all of the pages competing for this query have very few (if any) backlinks.

So that’s why the negative review (with only a single backlink) is able to rank #1.

But here’s the thing:

One of the reviews that rank below this review is much more positive.

So it would be preferable for this to rank on page 1 in place of the negative review, right?

Definitely. And here’s the good news: this is pretty doable; chances are you would just need to point one or two good links to this page and it would push that negative review down.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Remember, you should ONLY do this if the review is unfair or inaccurate.

Never try to bury a subjective review.

In this case, I would personally say that the review is a little unfair.

I used one of these mics a while back (before upgrading to the Blue Yeti) and I would give it higher than 3-stars.

If you check on Amazon, it would seem that the majority of people agree with me.

 

A good starting point is to add a link to the positive review from your own site (i.e., you could quote it on your testimonials page, then add the testimonial to your homepage);

But if that isn’t enough to push it up a few spots, you can also link to it from guest posts.

Here’s the process for this:

1. Find a few sites in your niche that accept guest posts (learn how to do this here);
2. Write a post for them. Note: this should be somewhat related to the keywords you want to rank the positive review for. (E.g., in this case, we might write a post entitled “the ultimate guide to podcasting” that featured the Blue Snowball mic)
3. Link to the desirable review (i.e., the positive one) that you want to rank from your guest post

For example, if I was to write “the ultimate guide to podcasting” as a guest post on, say, smarthustle.com, I would link to Techradar’s positive Blue Snowball review from that post.

Do this a few times and that review would almost certainly push the negative review out of the SERPs.

4. Find popular branded search terms… then create content to address those searches

People are searching for all kinds of things related to your brand—it’s not just reviews.

If you’re not there (i.e., in the SERPs) when they search for these things, they’re going to end up getting their information from a third-party.

This may not be desirable.

For example, if someone searches for “ahrefs vs. moz”, well, it’s important to us that the first result (which gets the most traffic) is objective and accurate.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to own this result, but this is one way to ensure that details relating to our product are accurate.

But how do you find popular branded search terms?

Simple; use Keywords Explorer.

Keywords Explorer > your brand name > phrase match

SIDENOTE.

You can also filter for queries with high search volumes if you wish to narrow these results down further.

You can see that “ahrefs vs moz” has an estimated search volume of 80 searches/month.

So what ranks in the top spot for this query?

It looks like it’s this post from Process Street, which hasn’t been updated since 2016.

As such, some of the facts and screenshots in this article are out of date and inaccurate—like pricing, for example:

This is an issue.

We want to make sure that potential customers’ expectations are accurately set.

So we have two options:

1. Reach out to the author and ask that he update the post with accurate and up-to-date information. (This is what we covered in point #2, remember?);
2. Create our own piece of content around this term… and try to outrank him.

In all likeliness, the first option will be quicker and easier. So it’s usually worth giving that a shot before moving onto the second option.

EDITOR’S NOTE

We reached out to Benjamin Brandall—the author of this post—to see what we could do.

This was his response:

So this is exactly what I did—I sent over a Google Doc highlighting inaccuracies, and also added updated screenshots.

We’re hoping this post will be updated soon. 🙂

 

* * *

But the second option is a good call in some cases … especially as you can often quite easily rank for branded terms.

Just remember that if you do create your own content around such terms, the aim is to rank #1 and ensure that your brand is accurately represented. You shouldn’t write a sales pitch. Keep it as fair and unbiased as you possibly can.

WANT TO TAKE THIS A STEP FURTHER? FIND NEWLY DISCOVERED BRANDED TERMS AND CREATE CONTENT BEFORE ANYONE ELSE!

For most brands, new branded search queries pop up all the time.

So while you may already have created content around such popular terms (e.g., “you vs. bigger competitor”), how do you keep up with new branded searches your potential customers are making?

Simple; use the “newly discovered” feature in Keywords Explorer.

Keywords Explorer > enter your brand name (e.g., Ahrefs) > Newly discovered

This shows you the queries (containing your brand name) that have recently been added to Ahrefs’ database. Thus, they’re things potential customers have been searching for very recently.

You can often find some real gems in here, including issues your customers are experiencing with your product or service.

For example, here’s a newly-discovered query for Cloudapp—you can see that their Windows-based customers are clearly having trouble with their Windows app.

As software updates occur all the time, this is probably a new issue that Cloudapp may or may not already be aware of.

But awareness aside, the SERPs for this query are definitely a problem, as the top two results are totally unrelated to Cloudapp.

This means that their frustrated customers aren’t able to find a solution to their problem, because Cloudapp hasn’t created content (i.e., a “help” article) around this term.

The bottom line? Ranking for and carefully addressing the queries your customers have in relation to your brand will ensure that they aren’t left feeling stuck and frustrated—a feeling that very rarely leads to long-term conversions.

So, once you identify worthwhile queries, you can then create content around them in order to rank.

5. Set up alerts for your company name… then tackle any potentially reputation-damaging reviews and mentions in real-time

You should now have solved most existing negative reviews and mentions.

But your work isn’t done yet, as people are likely talking about you or your company all the time.

This means that NEW negative reviews and mentions will pop up in the future.

Unless you’re actively monitoring for mentions of your brand, you won’t have a clue what people are saying about you. This means you can’t possibly react in a timely manner and potentially lessen the blow of any new negative reviews or comments.

Even worse, unless you’re quick to nip such negatively in the bud, who’s to say that such articles won’t be ranking in Google in a few weeks?

That’s why you should actively monitor brand mentions using an alerts service, such as:

• Ahrefs Alerts;
• Mention.com;
• Brand24;
• Google Alerts;

Here’s how to set this up in Ahrefs Alerts:

Ahrefs Alerts > Mentions

Create an alert for your company name (e.g., “ahrefs.”)

To prevent Ahrefs from sending alerts for mentions on your own domain, add your website as an excluded domain. I also recommend adding sites like youtube.com, sites.google.com, and any other sites you prefer not to monitor.

SIDENOTE.

There are many dedicated tools for “social listening” (i.e., monitoring brand mentions on Twitter, Facebook, etc.). But it’s important to remember that social posts usually aren’t as important as article mentions; that’s why we don’t crawl LinkedIn or Twitter for the Content Explorer database. I would also say that so-called social listening is more a job for your SMM and customer care teams.

Leave the mode as “everywhere” and set the language to “English” (unless you wish to monitor mentions in multiple languages.)

Now, whenever you’re mentioned on the web, you’ll get an email telling you about it.

You can then dig deeper and tackle any negativity head-on by:

• Requesting the removal of any inaccurate reviews or comments;
• Tracking rankings of “negative” pages and making sure they don’t rank for terms that may hurt sales;
• Etc.

And if the negative review or comments were caused by an issue with your product or service, you can fix said issue to make sure it’s not a problem for anyone else in future.

Final Thoughts on online reputation management

Like I said earlier, online reputation management is NOT about quashing negative reviews—especially not if they’re objective and fair.

(That’s dishonest and something we absolutely do not advocate.)

It’s about making sure your brand is accurately represented wherever your customers (and potential customers) are looking for you… i.e., on Google.

Because Google rankings change all the time, reputation management is an ongoing process.

You should, therefore, proactively monitor for new mentions of your brand and deal with any potential issues in a timely manner.

Don’t have time to do this yourself?

Hire an online reputation management company to do it for you.

Just ask them about the details of their service and ask if they’re able to do any of the things mentioned above.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other cool reputation management tips! 🙂

 

 

Credit: Ahrefs Blog

7 Ways Twitter Can Improve Your Writing Skill

 

Imagine a place where you could easily improve your writing by publishing 30, 40 or 50 blog posts a day.

In this place, you’d automatically receive individual feedback for each blog post on whether it touched base with your readers.

You’d be sure that every one of your blog posts would be read, and some of them would be widely shared.

Each blog post you write in this place improves your writing.

Such a place exists and, chances are, you already hang out there.

Twitter launched in 2006, at the dawn of the golden age of blogging. Nowadays, it’s known as a social network, but back then Twitter was a microblogging service. Twitter made sense to bloggers because, in simple terms, it was a blogging platform where blog posts had to be squeezed into 140 characters.

Twitter is a blogging platform and a place to improve your writing skills.

As a writer, here are seven things you can use Twitter for according to writetodone.

1. Practice your writing.

Twitter is a writer’s sandbox. You can be creative, try out new things, see what works and what doesn’t. Because each update is so tiny and transient, your mistakes are quickly forgotten. But when you do something that resonates with your readers, it can reach thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of minutes.

Some writers use Twitter to share micro poems. (Check out these 100 little Twitter poems, or search Twitter for the #sixwords hashtag). Others use it to tell stories from their day or promote their work.

2. Network with other writers

Twitter is known as a social network because it’s fantastic for networking. You can use it to talk directly with all kinds of writers from established old-school writers to successful self-published writers to superstar bloggers.

Perhaps most important of all are the thousands of all-around friendly writers and editors who are still on the journey and are happy to chat, ask for feedback on their writing, and give feedback on yours.

As you network with other writers, you’ll discover writing tips, new writing challenges, and writing communities where you’ll feel right at home.

3. Keep your writing concise

“Eliminate the non-essential” is Write to Done’s advice on keeping your writing concise.

Twitter gives you only 140 characters to play with, so it squeezes the excess pith from your words, leaving only the nourishing juice. You’re forced to write concisely, to discard the ore and share only the gold.

4. Track your results

I know many writers prefer the romance of poetry and stories to the hard, concrete facts of numbers and raw data.

Yet to succeed as a professional writer, you must take a keen interest in numbers. How many dollars you’re earning. How many books you’ve sold. How many readers are subscribed to your blog?

Twitter allows you to track the success of your writing in hard numbers. You can see whether your follower count is growing, whether your tweets are being shared, and (using simple web apps such as Buffer) whether people are clicking the links you share.

If your follower count is flat-lining and your links aren’t being clicked, that’s useful feedback, and you can start to do things differently.

5. Find out what your readers want

One way of attracting more readers is knowing what your readers want. The simplest way to do this is to ask them, and Twitter provides the perfect platform to fire out questions to your readers.

Also, take note which tweets are most popular with your followers – either through retweets, replies, or clicking the link you shared. When readers share or reply to your tweets, they’re saying “More like this, please”.

6. Learn what entices

In the web age, writing is copywriting. And copywriting means attracting attention.

Twitter, with its built-in systems for tracking results, is ideal for learning what gets attention and what gets ignored. In particular, you can use Twitter to practice writing headlines that get the most clicks. The better you are at writing neck-snapping headlines, the more readers you’ll attract to your blog posts, ebooks, and articles.

7. Improve your writing with creative inspiration and ideas

Twitter is a playground of ideas. Everywhere you look, you’ll find ideas for stories to tell, research to pursue, and people you could interview for your next article.

Whenever you feel stuck for writing ideas, turn to Twitter. In just a few minutes you’ll find an idea or story angle that excites you and you want to pursue.

So what are you waiting for? If you’ve yet to sign up to Twitter, or you’ve allowed your Twitter account to fade away into zombie status, get started today!

Beyond Writing: 5 Reasons You Should be a Published Author

 

It is possible you are a very good writer, and you have written many books, but you haven’t published any, because you are yet to see a reason to publish one. Aside from the obvious: Why would you write a book and then not share it to the world? Or why would you write a book and then nobody reads it?  Here are five reasons why you should become a published author:

1. It is an opportunity for you to build a personal brand: The best and easiest way to build a personal brand is to write a book about who you are, what you stand for, your challenges and how you have overcome them; then, get it published. Once you have done that, it would be easy for people to see you for who you are and not make speculations about who they thought you were.
2. It is an opportunity for you to establish yourself as an authority in your industry: The best way to establish yourself as an authority in your industry is to write about what you do. It is easier for people to see you as an expert, when you have actually published a book in that line.
3. It is an opportunity for you to become an inspiration to people: In a world filled with so many people with struggles, and thus, yearning for inspiration, your book can reach millions of people; and you can become an inspiration to some or most of them. That is also one way to change lives and make an impact, without necessarily having to talk to millions of people in a face-to-face conversation.
4. It is an opportunity for you to make a passive income: The royalty you can get from a published book can be a big deal. Even if you don’t sell a large bulk of book at once, you still get to make some money on a frequent basis.
5. It is an opportunity for you to have a legacy: The best part of publishing a book is that you live on through it. You may die, but your book can never die, so far it’s still in existence. So, it is an effective way to have a legacy.

Aside from the benefits and opportunities mentioned above, your writings deserve more than being stuck in a folder on your computer, or on some leaf in your notepad at the corner of your shelf; they deserve to be read and enjoyed by millions of people who can benefit from them. So get a copy of books you have written, and get them published!

Beyond writing is to be a published author.

5 Tricks to Step-Up Your Self Promotion Skills

 

No one wants to be super annoying, and that’s what a lot of people’s greatest fear is when they think of self-promotion.

Self-promotion comes much more naturally to some people than others – the task is obviously more difficult for introverts or people that generally like to keep out of the limelight.

Self-promotion also means having to indulge in that dreaded word - networking. Yes, it can strike fear into mere mortals, but networking is a key part of a business, and of building your personal brand.

So, how can you make self-promotion a little easier for yourself, and ensure you’re not becoming obnoxious with your messaging?

Here are some tips.

Self-Awareness

Self awareness is so important to keep in mind when you’re self-promoting, or indeed, in any of aspect of your life.

Being self-aware is about having an understanding of your place in a conversation, and being conscious of your actions and choice of words. It’s basically thinking of other people and their perception, considering how you would see yourself.

For some people this is just normal, but you’d be surprised how difficult lots of people seem to find it.

To start with, don’t intrude on every conversation at an event or on social media and seek to railroad through with your message or what you’re up to at the moment. Self-promotion is a subtle art, and it’s about building foundations and relationships, instead of the equivalent of getting out your microphone and blaring out your resume.

Listen to others, engage with them - and where appropriate, and relevant, tell them a bit about yourself too.

Promote Others

Give and you shall receive.

Practice being someone that gives to other people around them, or those in your industry, by promoting others for cool things that they’re doing. If you look like a positive person who likes to help and support others, then other people around are more likely to return the favor.

Of course, you shouldn't just say things for the sake of it, but if you’re principled about promoting people doing good things, then chances are that you’ll start to see people doing the same for you.

Being generous and sharing others success is a positive action, and whether you get anything back or not, the other person will feel valued.

Ask People to Promote you

Another thing you could consider is asking your close buddies to do your self-promotion for you. If you hate writing about yourself, ask someone else to come up with something.

Or you could ask someone to post something from their own account, or do a joint post about something you’re working on together.

This can work really well, because sometimes, if people see that someone else is saying something good about someone, it can carry more weight then you personally telling someone how great you are.

Keep it Interesting

No one has the time to hear your whole life story, however interesting it might be. Try to keep your self-promotion concise and impactful, and only include the really good parts that pack a punch.

A good practice is to write down your key points at home, so that if you get into a conversation or you’re asked anything online, you can quickly reel off some of the best parts about you, instead of a monologue that goes nowhere.

Be careful not to sound too robotic though, and try not to come across too polished - otherwise it’ll just sound like a sales pitch.

Also, be light-hearted, and don’t take yourself too seriously.

Stay Authentic

Self-promotion is obviously about trying to convey positive messages - but this doesn’t have to mean that you make everything sound 'hunky dory' all the time. Being honest and authentic about your struggles and failures can be just as effective - if not more so - than pretending everything’s been plain sailing.

People can relate to and connect with vulnerabilities, as they too have had their own, so sharing your story in a way that's authentic, and even self-deprecating at times, can be a really good, truthful way to promote yourself, which people will notice and pick up on in the long-run.

Final Thoughts

Self-promotion doesn’t have to be sparkling, loud and super positive 24/7. Be relaxed, true to yourself, and be honest when you’re building your personal brand, whether online or in-person.

A version of this post was first published on Bryan Kramer's blog.

3 Tips to Expand Your Content’s Reach

 

Nobody likes crafting a stellar press release, blog entry or even social media post, only to watch it disappear into a black hole with little or no exposure.

Here are three ways to optimize your online PR content for greater reach, readership and results:

1. Punch up press releases via social media. A/B test your press release headlines on social networks to compare effectiveness using metrics like retweets, favorites, mentions and clicks. The metrics will tell you which is more effective, removing the guesswork and ensuring a more productive release.

"First, create two headlines for an article or press release that you think will perform well,” says Peter Methot, managing director of executive education at Rutgers Business School. “Then tweet both of these headlines roughly one hour apart and compare the data for each tweet."

The headline that has received more clicks, mentions and RTs obviously performed better. Use this one for the press release or any other type of content you’re distributing. “Let the data be the determining factor—not a gut instinct,” Methot says.

Register for PR Daily’s Aug. 6 PR University webinar “The New SEO for PR: Skyrocket Reach and Budget with Optimized Content” to learn how to vault your brand or news to the top of today’s search rankings.

2. Share content with variations to different time zones. Share any given press releases socially at different times to reach prime viewing audiences in key geographical regions. This will expand its reach and shareability.

“We found that 10 a.m. Eastern is the best time of day to push releases,” says Methot. “We want this content to be seen in different time zones in that sweet spot, so we push it again via social media with slight variations so it falls at roughly 10 a.m. in whichever time zone we want it to be seen.”

3. Frame content to address audience wants, needs or pain points. Use words and images your audience would use, rather than company-centric jargon or technical speak. This is how your key audiences will look for answers to their wants, needs or pain points, so deliver solutions in the same way.

Methot gives this example: The heartburn relief drug Nexium is also referred to as “The Purple Pill” or “esomeprazole magnesium,” its clinical name. Each of these names can help segment audiences and shape the content and words used to aid them in searching for the drug online.

For instance, someone using the search phrase “purple pill” has likely seen the product’s marketing materials and may have a need for more information about the benefits and risks. Someone using “Nexium” in a search is more likely in the buying phase and wants to know where to purchase the product or find a prescribing doctor. A person using the drug’s clinical name is probably a doctor. This person’s information needs would more likely be about dosage and other prescriptive guidelines.

In each of these situations, content end users will use different words in their research and reading—and the content they search for and engage with must be useful, understandable and relevant to their given moments of need.

Hitting that sweet spot will go a long way toward giving your content greater reach and results.

Brian Pittman is a Ragan Communications consultant and webinar manager for PR Daily’s PR University. SEO-PR’s Greg Jarboe and Rutgers University’s Peter Methot will search engine marketing tactics in the Aug. 6 University webinar, “The New SEO for PR: Skyrocket Reach and Budget with Optimized Content.”

 

How to Write Better: 7 Straightforward Techniques to Try Today

Whatever you write, you want to get your thoughts across as clearly and effectively as possible.

If you’re a novelist, you don’t want awkward word choices or repetitive sentence structures to distract your readers from the story.

If you’re a freelancer, you don’t want your work to seem sloppy or poorly edited.

If you’re a blogger, you don’t want readers to switch off because you’re far too wordy.

Want the good news? Even if your writing isn’t as strong as you’d like, there are plenty of straightforward techniques you can use to improve it.

1. Cut unnecessary words

Here are two paragraphs that say the same thing. Which one is stronger?

In my opinion, the majority of freelancers should probably avoid working for free (or for a nominal sum) unless they are at a very early stage of their career and as yet have no pieces for their portfolio at all.

Freelancers shouldn’t work for free unless they’re just starting out and don’t have any pieces for their portfolio.

The second clearly states a stronger case.

If you’re writing a blog post, most readers will assume that it gives your opinion. You can be clear, firm and direct.

2. Avoid well-worn phrases

Some phrases are so familiar that they’ve lost their impact: they’ve become clichés.

For instance:

• At the end of the day…

• Like stealing candy from a baby…

• For all intents and purposes… (sometimes miswritten as “for all intensive purposes”!)

• Let the cat out of the bag…

 

When you edit, you don’t need to cut every cliché…but do check whether a rephrasing might work better.

In dialogue, or in a first-person narrative, clichés can be a helpful way of characterizing someone’s speech or thought patterns — but do make sure you’re being careful and deliberate.

3. Write directly to “you” (in nonfiction)

Although this isn’t appropriate for every form of nonfiction, bloggers and freelancers often write directly to the reader as “you”.

This is a great way to make your writing direct, conversational and stronger.

Blog posts and articles quite often use “you” or “your” very early on, in the title and/or introduction.

You generally have two options: You can seek employment as a staff member of a publication, or look for freelance writing opportunities.

Unless you prefer your friends to be story nerds or those who lean toward obsessive-compulsive tendencies when it comes to grammar, you shouldn’t necessarily seek to befriend your editor.

(Emphasis mine.)

As in these examples, use the singular “you” and avoid phrases like “some of you may know”. Yes, you (hopefully!) have more than one reader, but each reader experiences your piece individually.

You can also use “I” where appropriate (e.g. to give an example from your own life) – though usually it’s best to keep the focus of your piece on the reader.

 

4. Vary sentence structures

What’s wrong with this paragraph?

You should write regularly (not necessarily daily). You should aim to write at least once or twice a week (I recommend a total of 3 – 4 hours per week). You may find it difficult to keep this up at first (especially if you’ve not written much before).

The advice in it is perfectly reasonable. There’s nothing hideously wrong with the actual words used. But the three sentences are very similarly structured: each one starts with “You” then a modal verb (“should” / “may”), and each one ends with a phrase in parentheses.

When you have several sentences in a row that follow the same pattern, they stand out…in a bad way.

Sometimes, it’s appropriate to structure your sentences like this — e.g. in a bullet-pointed list — but in regular paragraphs, it’s often unintentional on the author’s part, and it seems artless and poorly edited to the reader.

 

5. Use subheadings as signposts

If you’re writing blog posts, articles or sales copy, subheadings are crucial.

They break up long pieces and help readers stay focused; they also offer “signposts” to readers who may be skimming for specific information.

When you craft your subheadings, think about:

• Making them clear and direct (just like titles / headings) — don’t try to get clever!

• Keeping them short — subheadings have a larger font than regular text, and don’t generally look good when they wrap around the end of a line.

• Being consistent with the structure — for instance, each subheading might start with an imperative verb (as in this post).

 

6. Use direct, straightforward language

It’s very rare you’ll want to write something deliberately indirect! Instead, you’ll want your words to come across clearly and strongly to the reader.

This may mean avoiding the passive voice – advice that you’ve probably heard before! In case you need a recap:

Active voice: John threw the ball. — succinct and clear

Passive voice: The ball was thrown by John. — wordier and less direct

The passive voice allows the agent (the person performing the action) to be omitted from the sentence altogether:

The ball was thrown.

This can be useful; for instance, you might be writing about something where the agent is unimportant, or where you want to conceal the agent. (“Mistakes were made” is a classic example here.)

In general, though, you should write in a direct, straightforward way.

Make it as easy as possible for readers to engage with your ideas or your story.

 

7. Read aloud (or edit on paper)

No one’s first draft is perfect, and the above six suggestions should help you rework yours.

Often, it helps to go through your piece slowly and methodically — many writers find that reading aloud helps, as this highlights the cadence of your words.

If you prefer not to read aloud (or if your colleagues, family or cat would give you funny looks if you tried it), then print out your draft so you can edit on paper.

Using a different format makes it easier to spot typos and repetitive phrasings.

At times when printing isn’t practical, I’ve also found it helpful to convert my draft digitally: that might mean turning a Word document into a .pdf, putting a novel manuscript onto my Kindle or previewing a blog post so I can get closer to the reader’s experience.

Confident, powerful writing will help your message (or your story) have its full impact on your reader.

What will you do this week to strengthen your next piece?

Ali Luke blogs about the art, craft and business of writing at Aliventures (when her 3-year-old isn’t demanding to “write on mummy’s laptop”). Her in-depth post, Your Two-Year Plan for Writing, Editing and Publishing Your Novel (However Busy You Are), explains how to get a novel completed even if you can only spare 30 minutes a day.

 

How to Write for Children

 

Writing for children is quite different from other styles of writing. Some people might even argue it is harder to write for children than it is to write for adults. Writers tend to put themselves in the minds of their readers, but how do you put yourself in the mind of a child? It is possible but can be quite an uphill task.

Here are some tips on how to write for children:

1. Do not be limited: If you are given a project to write stories for children, you will probably need to do some research on what kids like now. So if kids are into video games, you will probably write about that. But this is a very wrong approach. You need to realize that kids are still learning every day and they are easily drawn to new things and interests. Do not be limited. Write about new stuff and you will grab their interest.
2. Don’t treat them like babies: Yes, you can write about deaths and tragedies. There are limits, but children are tougher than you think. As for the vocabulary, do not overthink it as they can easily understand new words from the context. If they don’t, remember they are learning and can easily search for the meaning. Having a glossary at the end will help as well.
3. Do not sound like you belong: You might be tempted to input things they are familiar with, especially pop culture references. Unless this reference is essential to your story, this will simply sound desperate and will make you look out of touch even more. It gets worse when this reference gets outdated. So do not try to act like you understand what kids like just to keep their interests.
4. Help the kids break free: Kids live in a world limited by the knowledge and rules of grownups. Use your character to create worlds of endless possibilities for them. Let your characters cross boundaries, have adventures, learn new things, and build their self-confidence and sense of independence.
5. Be relatable: While you have your protagonist crossing boundaries, they should not be perfect. They should make mistakes children make so that readers can relate. They should make a mess they have to fix and this would help the kids relate to them more and be inspired.
6. Read More Children’s Books: You need to read what others are writing for you to have a grasp of a flexible and ever-changing age group. Do not be afraid you might not sound original because the more you read other works, the more you find your own distinct voice.

 

Finally, you can always contact The Ready Writers Consult as content creation is our forte. We have a record of amazing ghostwriting services including content for children.

 

Samuel Ejedegba

How to Describe Characters in a Story

 

The way a writer describes characters in a story can either bring the characters to life or make them seem flat. Finding the right words for the description of your characters can be a bit tricky. Especially if there is so much to convey about them. However, you would not want to give everything away in a single paragraph. No reader enjoys hindered immersion when reading a fictional book. This is more reason why you should learn how to describe characters in a story using these simple and appropriate techniques.

Avoid listing out a character’s features:

Writers who don’t have descriptive adeptness tend to list out the features of their characters. Some even skimp on their character description. While the former doesn’t only seem boring, and forgetful, the latter might make readers build for themselves the imagery that counters what you intend to portray.

For instance, “Chelsea was a girl with blonde hair. She was tall and had dark knuckles.”

The above character’s description looks boring. More so, it doesn’t give room for adequate visualization.

Choose details that show your character’s personality:

You need to decide the personality of your character, and weave your description around it. You might choose to focus on your character’s profession. You might also choose to describe why he does certain things the way he does them and so on.  You should however be careful not to choose so many details to lump together. Choosing a single detail to focus on is usually advisable.

For example, “She had chosen the black hijab over the red one because she perceived red to be a harbinger of evil. This was the perception of every maiden in Umutu. It doesn’t even really matter to her if she was in a different town. She was definitely not going to thrash her life precept because… ”

The above description obviously portrays a stark religious female who found herself in a different town. Readers are immediately aware that this particular character may not welcome civilization over her beliefs.

Also Read: How to Create the Perfect Antagonist for your Story

Use similes and metaphors over adjectives:

While adjectives will tell what your character looks like, similes or metaphors will show your character. It will even make them step out of the book pages because of the imagery deposited in the imaginative minds of the readers.

Rather than write; “Ade was a very tall man”, you could write something like; “Ade’s feet loomed as the baobab tree in Benson’s Park”

Because the tree used is a very tall tree, your readers can begin to imagine how tall Ade really was. You don’t need to have a strong suit in descriptive writing to get this right. Employing simple similes or metaphors in your character description will go a long way in bringing your characters to life.

Describe your character through another character’s point of view:

Here, you simply need to adopt a character’s perception of another character. It should however be noted that gender has serious roles to play here. For instance, what makes a woman alluring to a man could be: hips, breasts, facial beauty, or generally the physique. While fragrance, command of respect, level of intelligence, or general masculinity could make a woman find a man attractive. Whichever gender’s point of view you choose to describe a character with, you should consider the popular perception. That way, your story seems more real.

Read Also: How to Choose the Right Diction for your Manuscript

Express your character’s emotion through action:

How people react to certain things goes a long way to show their personality. If your character is impatient, or one who is short-tempered, let it reflect through actions rather than in narrative.

Rather than simply state that a character got angry, show your reader what he did to show he was angry.

With the above tips on how to describe characters in a story, you might as well discover you don’t need all the finesse to write an appealing character description for your story.

Chima Rachael J.

4 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand in a Congested Marketplace

 

The beauty of free enterprise, capitalism, or whatever you want to call the backbone of an economy is that anyone from anywhere can launch a business.

As a result of this freedom, the Marketplace is full of small businesses and locally-owned enterprises. This makes the marketplace congested.

This high competition makes it challenging for even the most successful brands to stand out. As a business owner, or marketer tasked with elevating the status of your brand, it’s imperative that you find a way to rise above the crowd and overcome the burgeoning list of industry competitors.

Here are four tips to get you started:

1. Pursue alternative pricing

The quickest way to get noticed is to offer alternative pricing that stands in stark contrast to the competition. There are three general ways of doing this.

Low pricing: The first option to consider is low pricing. If you’re able to sell a similar product or service at a lower price point than the competition, you’re going to garner attention. This is obviously much harder than it looks, though, or everyone would offer lower prices.

Premium pricing: The opposite strategy involves developing premium pricing. If your products are extremely high quality and your target market has the budget to pay a higher price, then you can benefit from differentiating your brand in this manner.

Unique structure: The third option is to offer a unique pricing structure. If everyone in your industry offers a 90-day retainer for services, consider offering a month-to-month payment structure. People like alternatives and a unique option can grab attention.

It’s a good idea to start with dollar signs, since most markets are based on how much products and services cost the consumer. However, it’s not the only way to stand out.

2. Devote your brand to customer service

Establishing a customer-centric culture is the second best way to stand out in a crowded industry. According to Andrew O'Connor, director of search at American Addiction Centers, customer centricity is important for three reasons:

• The balance of power has shifted to consumers, who can now amplify their pleasure or displeasure with businesses via social media.
• Automated business models have made personal customer service less frequent.
• Long-term loyalty of a customer base is the best way to guarantee profitability for years to come.

By building a customer-centric company, you can stand out against the collection of other organizations in your industry that turn a blind eye to customer issues.

3. Forge partnerships

At some point, you have to realize you can’t do everything on your own. Even the most powerful brands find it valuable to forge partnerships and relationships with other businesses. This doesn’t necessarily mean the competition, though. This isn’t about mergers or acquisitions. This is about cross-industry partnerships that help you offset deficiencies and leverage resources you don’t have.

The Coca-Cola Company and Ericsson recently did this to help rural communities that needed access to better resources. Are there any businesses in other industries that you could combine forces with to strengthen an aspect of your business or increase recognition?

4. Don’t be afraid to pivot

The term “pivot” often gets exaggerated in entrepreneurial circles. People assume it means you completely abandon your core business activity and spin off in other direction. It’s not always this dramatic, though. Sometimes a pivot is nothing more than a very subtle decision to specialize.

For example, let’s say you’re a full-service landscaping business that earns 75 percent of your revenue from mowing lawns. Instead of competing with the other lawn care companies in your area that offer the same services, why not dedicate all of your resources to offering cost-friendly mowing? It’s part pivot, part specialization.

The majority of businesses in crowded industries fail to stand out because they don’t do anything to differentiate their brands. They simply do what everyone else does, content with scraping by and ignoring the scary proposition of taking a risk.

While part of the problem is the sheer volume of competition in industries such as law, health and construction, the other half of the problem is that many business owners are afraid of standing out. They like the idea of differentiation, but when it comes down to taking action, they can’t seem to step out on a limb.

If you truly want to stand out in a competitive industry, you must take action. The tips mentioned in this article are a great place to start. As millions of new businesses launch in 2016, it’s important that you stop following the crowd and start forging your own path.

Culled from Entrepreneur