Go to the Next Level: 10 Characteristics of a Good Leader

10 characteristics of a good leader feature image

Learning the 10 characteristics of a good leader will allow you to unlock the life that you want. If you want to achieve more in life, the solution is always to become a leader.

Whether that’s a leader in your family, a leader in your industry or a leader to — yourself, it’s a must.

“Leader of one leader of many if you can’t lead one you can’t lead any” – unknown

If you’re ready to go to the next level in your life, continue reading this article to learn the 10 characteristics of a good leader.

Contents

1. Self-Discipline

I have to say that today I had to use self-discipline myself.

A lot.

I wanted to give up. I had all of my “normal” work done and then I knew I had to write this blog post, create the Pinterest pins for it and more.

I had to keep telling myself that I committed to myself that I would do this and I also told my good friend that takes care of my Pinterest what I was going to do. And I took it one step at a time.

I know if I am going to be a leader, I have to be dependable. And that starts with discipline. If you say you’re going to do something — do it.

Discipline yourself and make it happen. It’s the most important point out of the 10 characteristics of a good leader.

Truthfully, I don’t hang out with people that don’t love themselves enough to discipline themselves to do what they said they were going to do. If you aren’t going to show up for yourself — who is?

Plan out your day and make sure you know what is going to happen before you come to it. Visualize your day and make it happen. Use that discipline and create a life that you don’t need a vacation from!

2. Resilience

I promise you that life is not going to be easy. You’re going to have challenges that come at you more than not.

A good leader knows they have to bounce back quickly if they’re going to achieve their goals. If you’re a good leader, you don’t have the ability to lay down on the job and cry about things.

When a good leader gets knocked down, Les Brown says you should hope to fall on your back because if you can look up, you can get up!

If you want to become a thought leader or an authority in your field, you have to be resilient. You’re going to get people that don’t agree with you. People might call you bad names on Twitter or say that you talk funny — or anything else!

You have to give yourself a time limit to feel bad and then get back at it. I’m talking — 90 seconds for something minor.

3. Honesty

When we’re talking about honesty, we aren’t only talking about honesty to other people but also honesty to yourself.

Always be honest. I’m not saying you have to tell everyone everything. I am saying — if you say something make sure it’s truth coming out of your mouth.

I’d rather someone hate me for a truth I said than love me for a lie I said.

4. A Positive Attitude

Can I just say that if you don’t have a positive attitude, you’re not a good leader? A good leader isn’t going to lead people down a road of negativity, so keep this in mind as you’re learning the 10 characteristics of a good leader.

Leaders can be negative. We’ve seen some pretty bad leaders in our time but we want to be a good leader so work on that positive attitude.

5. Confidence

Why would you follow someone that wasn’t confident?

How do we get to the local grocery store? I’m not sure… I think it’s that way.

You’re not following that guy. You’re looking for the person that says they can show you where to go.

People aren’t born being confident. Confidence is built by showing up for yourself time and time again. You don’t have to accomplish great feats before you can be confident in your abilities.

Show up for yourself one day at a time. Take it one step at a time and know that you’re going to do what is necessary to achieve what you set out to achieve.

6. Good Communicator

A good leader with the 10 characteristics of a good leader knows how to show people what is important and why it is important. Someone with fewer communication skills may be trying to get people to do something but is unable to move them. Mr. Good Communication comes in and has the same idea and people start to move.

People think it’s magic but it’s simply the art of communication. The art of allowing people to see and feel what’s in your mind and heart.

To be a good communicator, you have to be brave. Communication is at its best when you’re sharing a piece of yourself vs. only sharing facts and findings.

7. Passion

No one ever got excited about following someone that wasn’t passionate about what they were doing. It doesn’t matter how boring a topic is — if someone is passionate about it, you’re likely to pay attention.

A good leader is able to transfer their passion to the people they are leading to achieve great things. A group of passion-filled people is a hard group to stand against and you’re going to be able to accomplish anything you can dream of if you can transfer your passion to others.

8. Empathy

Being able to feel for other people is essential with a good leader. If you don’t feel the pain and joy of the people you’re leading, why are they following you?

Whether your empathy is for your employees, customers, friends, family or others in your life, it is essential if you’re going to get to the heart of the matter and truly be helpful in any situation.

9. Patience

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and no matter what you’re doing, you’re going to have to understand that if you want to be a good leader.

It’s easy to put in some work and look around to see if you’ve gotten the results that you want. But a true leader knows that patience is key and that you won’t reap the harvest the day you plant the seed.

Patience is especially important when you’re working toward a major goal. While you can break the goal down, it can still be very trying to wait for the accomplishment of your final achievement.

10. Influence

Influence is leadership. Without influence, you’re not a good leader, you’re not a bad leader, you’re not a leader at all.

Influence is often the most difficult thing for people to develop. It takes the perfect amount of all of the ingredients to turn into a beautiful and tasty influence soup.

You need things like trust, effective communication, and negotiation skills to be able to influence people. And to become a good leader or even a great leader, you’ll have to learn to influence leaders.

10 Characteristics of a Good Leader – Does It Sound Like You?

Now that you know these 10 characteristics of a good leader, does it sound like you? If you don’t think it sounds like you — don’t beat yourself up.

Instead of wasting time beating yourself up, take the time to plan out the next step you need to take to build those character traits into yourself.

This month, I am pushing myself to go above and beyond and doing a blog a day for the month on top of all of my normal work and I would love to hear from you on these posts.

What characteristics other than these 10 do you believe should be included in the characteristics of a good leader? Leave a comment and let me know.

What’s Smart.bio from Tailwind? And How It Boosts Instagram Results

Jessica Lauren Vine

What’s Tailwind Smart.bio?

Tailwind Smart.bio is a way to easily put links to your blog posts and showcase your favorite Instagram content all in one place. I’ve only been using Tailwind Smart.bio for a little bit and I’m way underutilizing it.

I have been sporadic posting on Instagram because I’ve been focusing on using Tailwind for Pinterest to grow my blog traffic.

But before we get into how I feel about Smart.bio, I have to tell you this –

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. And I’m also receiving a bonus for putting this content together. Thanks, Tailwind!

Now, back to it!

Smart.bio is free. Yes, f-r-e-e even for people that don’t use a paid subscription of Tailwind for Instagram or Pinterest.

Smart.bio is the most powerful FREE Instagram bio linking tool. Grab yours today!

Here’s what mine looks like right now. I took all of 5 minutes to throw this together because I wanted to take advantage of it but I’ll be fancying it up soon. lol

You can also put images on your smart.bio page which makes it looks really nice. I am going to go through adding images and playing around trying it out, so make sure to check out the video.

How Does Smart.bio from Tailwind Boost Instagram Results?

Are you tired of changing out your Instagram bio link every time you put up a new blog post or want to promote something?

Yeah. I didn’t like to do that either. That’s actually one of the reasons I haven’t done more with Instagram already.

Now when you add a new blog post, you can easily update your smart.bio link and design it to look however you want it to look. People will be able to easily see what you’re trying to promote.

If you don’t have over 10,000 followers and you want to make it easier for people to go from your stories to the link you’re promoting then Smart.bio is a must.

Check out this little screenshot of my results already. I haven’t even been posting on Instagram since I put smart.bio up except for a couple of times.

Isn’t that crazy?

I had 13 clicks and 30% of people clicked on the links.

I do have to say that you need to write compelling link descriptions so people want to click on them so that will factor into your click-through rate.

Once you know the best time to post on Instagram for the most engagement as well as how to write a good Instagram bio and link descriptions, you’re going to be on fire.

Replacing your normal link in your bio with a smart bio will also allow you to track your results and see which links people are clicking on most. You’ll learn what your audience is interested in so you can create more content around those topics.

Give the people what they want after all, right?

I do have to say that my results aren’t typical. You can see the typical results on this blog post from Tailwind.

Since Tailwind smart.bio is forever free, you have nothing to lose so go ahead and check it out for free. Enjoy!

How to Make it Easier For Your Customers to Buy from Your Business

Jessica Lauren Vine

So, you have great products or services that are just waiting to be discovered by your customers? If so, then it’s time to make it easier for them. Remember the old saying “easy sells best?”

It is absolutely true! Customers want things that are easy and convenient, not difficult or complicated. So, to make it easier for customers to buy from you, here are four steps!

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#1 Offer a Variety of Payment Methods

The first step is to offer a variety of payment methods. Customers vary in what they are willing and able to pay with, so it’s good business sense to make sure that you have as many different payment options for customers as possible. Make sure you try to accept all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover too!

Also, if you can accept debit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay, you’ll also be going a long way to making things easier for your customers. Offering different methods also gives customers more flexibility when they’re shopping around online, which can help increase your conversion rates.

#2 Have Clear Shipping Rates and Options Available

This is another essential step. Customers need to know how much it will cost them in shipping and what options are available, especially when they’re buying from a company online that’s outside of their country or city. In your shopping cart, make sure you have clear information on the shipping rates for different products or services before customers add items into their bags!

This way, if the prices change by weight or destination, then they’ll be able to see this straight away without going through the entire checkout process first. You should also have easy-to-understand FAQs explaining all of these details so prospects can get more information at any time, which helps develop trust with potential buyers too!

Also, provide a variety of delivery options. Make sure you have express shipping options available, including overnight, two-day, and even same-day delivery if possible. Not only will this help with conversions, but it can also be a great way to stand out from your competitors!

#3 Make Orders as Simple as Possible with One-Click Shopping

As you probably already know, customers are always looking for the easiest way to get things done. So make your online shopping experience as simple and easy-to-use as possible by including one-click ordering on your website.

This is an extremely popular feature with shoppers because it provides a quick and convenient option when they’re in a rush or just want to make their purchase quickly!

Also, provide social media integration so people can share items directly from within their news feed which helps create more exposure for those products. In addition, if you have a physical store, consider looking into why your business needs a mobile point of sale system and how it can benefit you.

#4 Provide Good Customer Service

Last but not least, make sure you have good customer service. If things go wrong with a purchase or they need help after their order has been placed, it is vital that your company provide the best support possible to ensure customers remain happy and satisfied!

It’s also a great idea to include contact details on every page of your website so people can get in touch quickly, too, which will boost conversions even more because visitors won’t want to leave empty-handed.

4 Reasons Why Your Marketing Growth May Be Stunted

Jessica Lauren Vine

Marketing, pursuant to a certain goal (such as increasing lead generation, product sales, and more), can also be assessed on its own merits. For instance, by analyzing the metadata, you can more readily see if your current marketing strategy has outperformed your previous.

If you use social media tools, you may even be able to glean more information, such as the demographics of those who may be visiting your website, how your audience may be changing in their spending habits, and more.

But despite all these competent tools used for analyzing ready and waiting for our use, sometimes, marketing growth can feel stunted, and campaigns may feel like they hardly may a splash. This can be concerning, particularly if your investment in such a promotion has been significant compared to your past campaigns.

Where are you supposed to go from here? Well, don’t lose heart. Marketing may seem like an art, but it’s also a science, and can be properly analyzed, considered, and retried to come to different solutions. Furthermore, there’s no guarantee that a marketing campaign that works now would also work a six months from now. In this post, we’ll discuss how to reinvest life into your marketing strategy, and more:

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A Singular, Weak Approach

While it’s true that marketing to an audience has never been this accessible, competition has never been so rife. This is why it’s important to use PPC methods, SEO, web design, and more to totally cultivate a reinforced marketing campaign that makes sense, as opposed to one that is singular and without substance. Often, third-party services dedicated to this efficiency can provide more in the way of advice and even a custom-organized campaign to help you get all of these necessities in order.

In this age of social media relevance, a company that wishes to compete must have all platforms registered and the willingness to provide content to each profile as suitable. This way, you curate the strongest possible opportunities, and may even herald further decisions, such as starting a business blog.

Failing To Pay Attention To Competitors

As we mentioned above, competition has never been so rife. This means we need to understand exactly what it is that our competitors are doing, and where their successes may lie. How is their marketing formatted?

What kind of social media approach are they taking? Are they leveraging multiple platforms, like posting videos on TikTok intended to go viral? What innovations are being pushed? Could it be that while you have more to offer, another firm can present its ideas in a much more accessible way? How does this relate to your target demographic? Questions like this can keep you sharp, and always a step ahead.

A Brand That Hasn’t Evolved

Sometimes, brands get stuck in the past. For instance, often brands that try to engage in ‘meme culture’ do so much later than when those ‘memes’ are actually relevant, and it just comes across as an overly sanitized and easy means of marketing a product. Additionally, think of how two years of a worldwide pandemic have changed consumer spending and confidence. Brands with vision, innovation, and a social conscience are hot right now, and transparency is the name of the game. If your brand’s image isn’t properly aligned, no amount of marketing can perfectly promote it.

Poor Market Analysis

Every product or service must be offered within the span of a market, and it will be defined by that market demand. Even companies that sell to a highly niche audience, such as those who sell original art worth millions, will need to understand the clients, collectors, and other players in this space in order to properly calculate what their market expectations can be.

This is why we’d recommend every business establishes a go-to-market strategy [learn more here]. This will help you identify the span of your pricing, the idealized or general target demographic, including how competition and distribution will affect your ambitions here.

Overall, this approach can quite literally define your success, as it helps you remove as much vague unpredictability by using common sense and market statistics to help define your path forward. Jumping in the deep end and risk-taking can be beneficial for companies, but there’s no benefit to depriving yourself of knowing what’s ‘under the water’ when possible.

With this advice, we believe you can identify a few means by which your marketing growth may be stunted, and you’ll feel equipped to counteract it.

Instagram Removing Likes? Learn Why and What Influencers Can Do Now

Jessica Lauren Vine

I’ve been reading about Instagram removing likes.

With it’s 1 billion monthly active users, this has been causing quite the ruckus and I’m not sure how I feel about it yet either!

I decided to do some more research and see why Instagram is getting rid of likes. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I noticed that I use Instagram likes to figure out if I want to follow certain people — if they are popular then their content must be good — right?

Truthfully, this isn’t always the case but a lot of times, it is. I am still a little bummed over that. Enough about that though, let’s get into it. Continue reading to learn what’s going on with Instagram and what you can do about it.

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Getting Into the Why of Instagram Removing Likes

I searched a little deeper and I saw that Instagram was claiming Instagram removing likes was because they wanted to help mental health.

Uh, what?

In Instagram’s tweet, they tell us that they want us to focus on the photos and videos we share vs. how many likes they are getting. Since we can still see our own likes, does this tweet make that much sense?

When I think about Instagram and mental health, they really don’t go together. Truthfully, I do think going on Instagram can either be really depressing or really inspiring. It’s all about who you follow and why you’re following them.

Perhaps Instagram is trying to recover from being ranked as worst for young people’s mental health in 2017. And of course, things have only escalated since then with even more people using Instagram.

Here are the top problems reported on the mental health survey in 2017. Maybe you’ve experienced some of these issues when using social media but didn’t even notice the connection.

I honestly find myself looking at the number of likes on my posts on Instagram, Facebook, this blog and more and if they aren’t high it does put a kink in my day sometimes.

I’m not saying it’s a non-issue. I’m just not so sold on the fact that Instagram wants to help us improve our mental health by hiding likes. They’re a business, right?

How is this benefiting their bottom line?

No Likes = No Influencers?

If people can’t see how many likes people have on Instagram, how is this going to work for Instagram influencers? I’m not even that big of an influencer and I’m pretty curious about how this is going to play out.

With people spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on influencer marketing on Instagram, this is no doubt hurting the amount of money they could be making off these companies with ads.

Influencer marketing is oftentimes less expensive than using ads and companies know that followers are more likely to take action when something is recommended by an influencer vs. being recommended by an ad.

As you can see in this chart above, there are a lot of factors that go into how much an Instagram influencer gets paid but Instagram doesn’t want any of its money going to anyone other than itself.

I mean, this makes sense. They are doing the work of keeping the site up, so why wouldn’t they want to make all of the money?

Just because it makes sense, that doesn’t mean removing the likes is for our mental health. I never trust a company to sacrifice profits for the sake of its customers. Not happening.

If you spend a lot of time trying to figure out the best times to post on Instagram, how to get more likes on Instagram and how to grow your following, you might be freaking out a little bit.

I always recommend that you diversify. No matter what platform is showing you all the love right now, you should at least be building your following on a couple of other platforms. You never know when a major update like this is going to put a kink in your plans.

What Do You Do As an Instagram Influencer?

If you’re an Instagram influencer and you want to stay on top during this major change, what do you do?

Well, while Instagram removing likes is supposed to help our mental health, the focus on likes it just going to shift to the focus on getting comments.

Travel vlogger @heynadine tells Business Insider that comments will become the new likes and she’s right.

With almost 100k followers, she is going to be reading A LOT of comments.

Focus on Quality Engaging Content Because of Instagram Removing Likes

When you want to win at the Instagram game, no matter if it’s going for likes, comments or some other metrics that may become important in the future, you have to focus focus focus on creating quality and engaging content.

Now you might need to tweak the content to be content that people want to comment on.

I am a little nervous to see what this is going to inspire on Instagram. I am thinking of more controversial posts, risque posts, gossip, etc. becoming the norm. As for the travel vloggers, maybe more daring adventures that make people say “OMG! I can’t believe you did that!”

Look out Instagram, you might not have helped our mental health at all. Facepalm!

Ask for Comments

Many of us don’t even think to ask for comments on our Instagram post. People will comment if they want to comment, right?

Not necessarily. People might not want to bug you or they might not want to take the extra time to drop a comment unless they know you actually value them.

When you ask for comments, give people a reason to comment other than the fact that you want them to. Maybe they will be entered into a drawing or perhaps, you just say that you’re going to reply to them. It doesn’t have to be something major.

What are your thoughts?

Did you even notice? Or do you even care about the Instagram removing likes update?

Drop a comment and let me know. I always reply to everyone, so comment away. I <3 them. Hint: Comments are good for your blog too!

Getting Your Biz Online The Cost Effective Way

Jessica Lauren Vine

If you want to tap the largest market there is without all of the costs associated with opening a brick and mortar store, then getting your business online is the way to go. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s free or takes no effort.

Indeed, if you’re not careful, you can see your initial marketing budget growing and growing. As such, here we’re going to look at cost-effective ways to manage your online launch.

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Rely on Freelancers for the Branding Basics

You might have a name in mind, a logo, and some aesthetic choices that your brand is going to maintain. Rather than hiring an established graphic design team, you might instead be able to spend a lot less by looking for graphic design freelancers. You might not always get the same level of quality and you might have to be more personally involved in getting the end results that you want, but it can cost a whole lot less.

Build Your Own Website

You don’t necessarily need to hire a web design team or even a freelancer to build the home page and the online base of your business.

There are plenty of great website-building tools out there and, they might not always be free, but access to no-code websites can allow you to run entirely by yourself. Paying for the tools to do the job yourself is almost always going to be less expensive than hiring someone else to do it.

Let Content Drive Your Marketing Approach

Aside from launching your online presence, you want to make sure that you get it out there, too, and there are free methods of doing that. Starting a blog and writing content for it can cost as little as nothing. From there, you can use social media to get that content out into the world, with some management tools coming with no cost, too.

Learn to Make Use of SEO

When it comes to cost-free marketing, there are few more effective approaches than search engine optimization. Of course, writing that blog content as mentioned above is one step towards search engine domination.

Take a free SEO course to learn how to optimize your site so that it works together with search engines, making sure that more traffic is getting directed to your site from those who use the appropriate keywords in their searches.

Keeping Your PPC to a Budget

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with spending some money when the results are worth it.

Pay-per-click ads are a very effective way of reaching your audience quickly and getting fast results, such as conversions when you have a sale going on. Just make sure that you know how to manage your PPC budget, such as learning how to set up bids effectively so that you’re never paying too much for a click.

As you go on, a mix of paid and organic marketing is going to be the key to the most cost-effective approach. Hopefully, the tips above help you get started with that.

Four Creative Ideas to Increase Customer Flow for Any Small Business

Jessica Lauren Vine

If you are a small business owner, you know that getting stuck in the same rut is easy. Day after day, your customers come into your store and buy the same items. This can be frustrating for both you and them. So it’s time to shake things up! This blog post will discuss four creative ideas that will help increase customer flow for any small business.

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1. Ask For Referrals

Did you know that your happy customers are your best source of new business? If a customer comes into your store and is truly happy with the product they have received, ask them if they would be willing to give out referrals. This can work for products as well as services.

In return, offer discounts or special deals on future purchases! In an article from Entrepreneur Magazine, they mention how asking for referrals was one of the small businesses’ most effective marketing strategies in 2016. Not only did this strategy get more people through their door, but it also helped generate 40% higher revenue than other advertising methods! This method could potentially help grow any small business very quickly.

2. Create A Network

As a small business owner, how often do you network with others in your industry? If the answer is not enough or never, then now is the time to start. Networking has so many benefits for both parties involved and can even help generate more business from referrals created at these events.

In addition, networking with other people who own similar businesses as yours means that there will be an ongoing flow of new customers coming into each of your stores regularly. This also helps create large customer bases, which can mean higher revenue for everyone!

3. Improve Your Website

Believe it or not, many people are still unaware of websites’ power when trying to generate new business. Small businesses need to have a professional-looking website to be taken seriously by potential customers. Make use of a small business web design service to get your website up to date.

Yet another article from Entrepreneur Magazine states how effective an e-commerce based website was in 2016 compared with other traditional marketing methods such as word-of-mouth advertising and printed brochures/flyers. These numbers prove why creating an improved online presence should never fall behind when thinking about making more customer flow for any small business!

4. Participate In Community Events

As a small business owner, it is essential to feel like you are giving back and not just taking from the community. Participating in local events such as school fundraisers and sports leagues for children can help create more customer flow by increasing awareness of your store or business. More importantly, though, these things show that you care about the people around you, making them think twice before going anywhere else!

Customer flow is important in any business, but not just for the sake of increasing revenue. Business owners have a responsibility to create an inviting atmosphere that keeps customers coming back again and again! By implementing some or all of these ideas into your small business, you are sure to see more people through your doors which will only mean higher profits in the near future!

Running A Business In A Pandemic Period

Jessica Lauren Vine

The beginning of a new stage of Covid-19 signals the beginning of a period of reflection about the future of running a business.

There are numerous adjustments you will have made over the past two years, some of which you can begin to consider putting to rest, and others that you may wish to put into effect permanently. Let us have a look at a few examples of these.

Working from Home

As we begin to progressively ease our way out of the pandemic, it is becoming increasingly evident that enterprises can be operated from home offices. People will be able to be more flexible with their commute and travel to and from the office. Perhaps it makes sense for your organization to relax the work from home limits it currently has.

Keep in mind that some people may choose to remain at home for the time being for safety reasons; therefore, make sure you are considerate of everyone’s requirements, including those who are eager to return to the workplace. As a result of the shutdown, it has become clear that while offices are convenient, they are not essential for the operation of many businesses.

Following Covid-19, business leaders should keep in mind that talent can be found virtually anywhere, and that includes remote workers. There is a wealth of talent outside of the confines of big-city offices. Make certain that whatever business practices you implement are applicable to everyone in the organization.

If offices are opened, hand sanitizers should be readily available for all employees, employees should be given clear directions on how to enter and exit the facility, and people should be able to feel completely at ease in their work environment.

If you are unable to allow employees to work from home – for example, if you own a retail business – ensure that both employees and customers feel safe by implementing measures such as cashless payments – try this contactless card swiper, for example – and keeping screens at payment points up and running.

Technology Is Always Evolving

Throughout the pandemic, technology has played a critical role in enabling people to work from the comfort of their homes. If And, if their technology was not working before, lockdown made it very evident.

The return to the office is a welcome sight for many of us, but it is vital to remember that, if your platform has changed, it is equally important to inform the appropriate people of the procedures.

Continue with Virtual Events

Even if hybrid events are a possibility, going along the virtual approach is simply smarter at this point in time. While it may be tempting to return to conventional gatherings, your consumers will feel much secure if they continue the events at their homes instead. The only difference is that there may be more convenient access to your offices.

Irrespective of whether you choose to continue events online at home or in the office, make certain that your audience is aware that your organization is taking the necessary safety procedures to protect them.

Tips on How to Get More Blog Traffic from the Author of The Viral Pin Guide

Jessica Lauren Vine

learn how to get more traffic to your blog

Do you want to learn how to get more blog traffic?

I know how frustrating it can be to spend hours writing detailed blog posts that you can’t wait to publish.
… But you finally finish it, and *crickets*.

Having nobody read your blog posts can be really disheartening.

And I know because I’ve been there.

When I first started easyblogemily, I’d spend forever writing really detailed blogging tutorials to help other readers (plus I use screenshots, so I’d spend time preparing step-by-step screenshots too). I knew my posts would be really helpful for beginner bloggers. But nobody was reading them- I was lucky to get around 50 page views a day, at most.

To my despair, this went on for months.

Until finally, one day I realised I needed to start working on a strategy that would help me get more blog traffic.
And whilst I’m not one of those bloggers who gets hundreds of thousands of page views, I am now averaging at just under 20k page views a month. And I have been able to monetise my blog because of it!

So if you’re a blogger who wants more blog readers, this post is for you.

Because I’m going to be sharing my best tips for growing your blog for when you’re stuck in a traffic rut you just can’t seem to break out of.

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THE 1 THING THAT WON’T WORK

Before I tell you what will help you get more blog traffic, it’s so important you understand what 100% won’t work. And that’s sharing more blog posts. As a beginner blogger, you’re still in the learning stages. So if you go full speed ahead and write 50 blog posts before you’ve learnt how to write a traffic generating blog post?

Well, those 50 blog posts will not be as good for generating traffic as they could have been if you’d waited and learnt a bit more first. Not only that but if you’re sharing — say 1 blog post a week and nobody is reading it…. Then doubling the amount you post isn’t going to double your blog traffic.

Because any number times 0 is still 0!

So tip #1: Ditch the “write and they will come” thought process. Because it’s not true, and writing 7 blog posts a week is a guaranteed way to burn out and make you want to quit.

BEFORE YOU WRITE: LEARN SEO

If you’re a beginner blogger and haven’t heard of SEO (I certainly hadn’t!), it stands for search engine optimisation.
And whilst it sounds really fancy, it basically means making sure Google finds your blog posts and ranks them for search results.

Organic search traffic from Google is the best traffic you can get, because:

1. It’s passive, meaning you don’t have to actively search for people to read your blog. They are Google searching for something, so they are coming to your blog instead.
2. It’s targeted. Because these people are actively searching for something on Google, they want answers to a specific topic. So if your blog post can deliver, these are going to be the readers who buy the products you have recommended in your posts, sign up to your email list, etc.

Organic search traffic FTW!

Now, SEO can seem really overwhelming to new bloggers.

But there are basically two parts to it;

1. Optimising on page
2. Optimising off page

The second is something you can learn to do after you’ve been blogging for a while.
But as someone who has almost 70 blog post published, I really wish I had learnt how to optimise on-page before I had written them.

Because on-page optimisation simply means making sure your blog posts have the best chance of showing up on Google that they can. And as I only started to care about SEO for my blog posts months into my blogging journey, loads of my posts aren’t optimised (and won’t show on Google results).

I have recently started to take SEO more seriously; some of my blog posts rank first now, and I get around 1,200 sessions a month from Google.

But for tip #2: learn how to optimise your blog posts for Google before you start writing them.

FOCUS ON PINTEREST

Whilst organic traffic is awesome, it can take a few months to see results from it. But something that can be pretty much instant is Pinterest traffic. If you’ve heard of Pinterest already, you might just think of it as a place to save pics of your favourite outfits and recipes.

But Pinterest is the perfect mix of:

1. A social media platform
2. And a search engine for pictures

Which makes it pretty awesome for getting blog traffic.

I speak from experience; I was stuck at under 100 page views a day, but after one of my pins went viral my traffic soared to almost 600 page views in just 24 hours!
Pinterest is now how I get the majority of my blog traffic.

In fact, I love it so much, that I actually created a free called Easy Pinterest with Emily that will show you how to get more blog traffic from Pinterest.

So if you want to learn how to master Pinterest for your blog, be sure to check out the free course here! I also have a full guide called The Viral Pin Guide where I break everything down and give you all of the keys to success for Pinterest traffic. Get it here.

<<Disclaimer – Jessica here. I am an affiliate for the Viral Pin Guide so if you make a purchase of it through the above link, I do get a small commission for telling you about it — at no cost to you. Thanks for that. :0)>>

Tip #3: Focus on Pinterest for immediate blog traffic.

“TOP UP” YOUR TRAFFIC

One of the biggest mistakes I see new bloggers make is trying to use “top up” traffic as their main source of traffic.
What I mean by this is scouring different platforms, just to get a few page views here and there.
I’m guilty of it; when I first started, I loved posting a link in a Facebook group as it gave me a little surge in traffic. Or when someone tweeted my blog post.

But these are not solid methods of getting traffic.

Because as soon as that post in the Facebook group dies out, or the tweet stops getting attention, you stop getting traffic.

Now, this is not to say you should never use Facebook or Twitter. I love being in Facebook groups for example, as they allow me to find like-minded bloggers. But they are not solid methods to get more blog traffic.

Posting in Facebook groups and tweeting help me get more traffic here and there, but they are not something I focus on anymore. As top up methods don’t get the same amount of results as SEO and Pinterest do, for the same amount of effort.

So sure, if you want to get a little surge in traffic for the day, spend all your time writing comments in Facebook groups. But I don’t recommend it for getting serious blog traffic.

Tip #4: Don’t spend too much time on methods that won’t bring you traffic in the long run. Use these strategies to get “top up” traffic later on instead.

SIDE NOTE: Yes, there are some bloggers who get all their traffic from their Facebook pages, or hosting Facebook groups. And lots of bloggers find success on Twitter, and using links on Instagram too.
But just from personal experience? SEO is where traffic is in the long run, and Pinterest efforts will be almost immediate. So I recommend these as your main traffic sources, then use top up traffic later on in your blogging journey!

DON’T SPREAD YOURSELF TOO THIN

With there being so many methods of gaining traffic available, it can be overwhelming.
And actually, focusing on too many ways to get traffic can be detrimental to gaining traffic. You’ll wear yourself out posting on Facebook and Instagram daily, tweeting multiple times a day, pinning loads, etc.

So what I recommend is just focusing on one or two traffic sources at a time:

1. Start with SEO and Pinterest, as these are solid ways to get serious blog traffic.
2. Once you’ve mastered these, move onto one other platform e.g Instagram if you’re a food or fashion blogger. Or create a Facebook group for weight loss motivation.
3. Then once you’ve mastered that or tried it for a couple of months, try another platform.

As nobody has the same blogging journey, and you’ll never know what method of getting traffic is the best for you and your blog until you try it. But what I can say with confidence is that you are just one person, and can’t do it all in one go!

So tip #5: focus on one traffic source at a time (2 at most).

GETTING TRAFFIC: FINAL THOUGHTS

I hope this post has helped you figure out how you can get traffic to your blog! I know it can be very frustrating.
But making sure you’re focusing your efforts in the right place and not wasting your precious time will make sure you start getting traffic fast.

And lastly, believe you can! If I can do it, there’s no reason you can’t too 🙂

This post is by Emily from EasyBlogEmily.com ! I hope you enjoyed it.

Emily is an advertising graduate from the UK and has been blogging online for 2 years and helps others start and see success with their blogs.

How to Start Full-Time RV Living Before You Retire

Jessica Lauren Vine

full-time rv life — We had an amazing time in the Florida Keys. Thanks 1st Class RV Adventures for the great pic!

With over 1 million people in the US full-time RV living — it’s obvious that this lifestyle isn’t exclusive.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait until you’re retired to hit the open road. If you’ve been trying to figure out how to start full-time RV living before you retire then you’re in the right spot.

Here’s the short answer:

When you want to learn how to start full-time RV living before you retire, all you need is an on the road budget, a source of income that allows you to work remotely or workcamp and your shiny new (or used) rig.

Don’t have enough time to read this whole post right now? Drop a bookmark and come back later.

Contents

The Down & Dirty on How to Start Full-Time RV Living Before You Retire

Did you know that most Americans aren’t saving close to enough money for retirement? So, will they ever fully retire? Many won’t!

I’ve met more than a few people that are saddled with a big house that won’t sell but they wish they could hit the open road in their RV. If you don’t want to be one of those people then continue reading.

Why Start Full-Time RV Living Before You Retire

Myself, my husband and our four kids have been living in an RV and traveling full-time since Nov 2017. Before then, I thought I wanted the big house in the prestigious neighborhood — but the truth is — it was all about my ego. I wanted to look successful and have people I admired pat me on the back.

I was a prisoner to an expensive house and working every day. The house was big and it looks nice from the outside but inside, I was sad sitting there knowing that most of the people I cared about were too busy with their own lives to even come by. And I was too busy to leave too — because I was paying for this house!

The thought of RV life and being away from everyone really scared me but then I realized that I hadn’t seen some of these people I lived near for almost a year! Why was I staying in one place, never taking vacations and not seeing the people I cared about anyway?

Time to hit the road.

The biggest reason I would personally give to hit the road before you retire is that we’re not promised tomorrow. You never know when you or someone you care about isn’t going to be around anymore. If you want to hit the road and travel with your partner or your kids — do it ASAP. Don’t wait until retirement.

Another reason is that you’ll be able to save money when you RV smart. If you’re staying at expensive RV parks constantly, you’ll burn a hole in your wallet.

Here are what a few other people I know say about hitting the road for full-time RV life before they retire.

full-time rv family — Our friends Sandra, Luis (Mom and Dad) with Julez and Mimi

We decided to sell pretty much everything we owned and hit the road in 2016 because we were at a crossroads in life.
Our house lease was on a month to month basis and we weren’t sure where we wanted to settle down. We did know that we were tired of not taking vacations because our children were so small and RVing full time made sense to us.
It allowed us to still travel with our kids and have everything we needed on hand. If you’re a parent you know that traveling with toddlers requires a ton of extra items. We also wanted to teach our kids by example the importance of collecting experiences and not junk.
Fast forward to today – It’s been the best decision for our family. We didn’t know it at the time but living our own lives and sharing with others has inspired multiple people to also live out their own definition of freedom. Helping others along the way has been an incredible experience as well.
– Sandra from 1st Class RV Adventures

full-time rv couple — John & Laura from Hebard’s Travels

full-time rv setup — Check out their rig!

It’s very simple really, I wanted to live before I died.
I may only be 37, but I’ve had my share of close calls. There’s been more than a few times I wondered how the hell I walked away alive. I spent three years in combat, deployed for the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, been run over by a semi at 65MPH, been shot at, been shot at by snipers, narrowly escaped ambushes, had RPG’s fired at me and even had grenades thrown at me. But perhaps the most terrifying, surgery at the VA.
So, when Laura presented the idea of fulltime RVing to me, I jumped at the opportunity. I know exactly how fleeting life can be, and I wanted to live life while I still could. Tomorrow is never promised. I feel that expecting to live until 65, and waiting until then to enjoy life, is pretty reckless. No one knows if they’ll live another 40 years, or only another 40 minutes.
I’ve gambled with my life enough already. I wanted to do something worthwhile, memorable and fun with my it while I still could. I wouldn’t go back to living in a stationary house if you paid me.
— John from Hebard’s Travels

Camping is a great way to see some amazing places and spectacular views. Sometimes those views come at a high cost, but thankfully some of our favorite views are the ones we found for FREE!
There are lots of beautiful free places to park made accessible through Boondocking. That means getting off the beaten path, with no hookups, and just enjoying the view.
Some of our favorite resources to score these great places are Campendium and the Allstays App. We love being out in nature, enjoying our family time, all while being budget-friendly.
– Marissa from Less Junk More Journey

traveling family — Caroline & Craig Makepeace and their family from yTravel

For a country like the United States, we felt full time RVing was the best way to fully explore it. I love the flexibility of RV travel and having my creature comforts with me as we move from place to place.
We love the extra space it offers us, especially when traveling with kids. It can also be quite cost effective as you can boondock (if self sufficient) and cook your own meals. Mostly I love spending so much time in the outdoors and having nature surround me!
– Caroline & Craig from yTravel

It was 2017 and my husband had just gotten deployment orders with roughly 4 weeks notice. The same day he got orders I quit my job. We came home to tell each other the news and were both in a bit of shock at how quickly our life had changed.
Little did we know the deployment would be the tipping point that thrust our life in an entirely new direction. During his deployment we talked about him going into the National Guard and being home more.
We talked about him getting out and us moving somewhere new. We talked about our dreams of travel, but never once did the mention of RV life come up. It wasn’t until he got back from his deployment and we were both just worn out with military life that we truly gave RV living full-time a serious consideration.
I had begun building an online business and was 2 years into that when we made the decision. At that point we had 1 year to prepare for this lifestyle. Military life has given us a new perspective on life and how quickly things can change. So here we are just barely 30 living a life of true freedom.
– Heather from Wheeling to Dream

Are you ready to hit the road with us yet? lol

Now that we’ve got you all riled up, let’s talk about the how-to part of RV life.

How to Prepare for Full-Time RV Living

A big part of preparing for full-time RV living is mental. You have to learn how to let go of things so you don’t overcrowd your rig and you’ve got to understand you won’t get to see everyone you’re used to seeing regularly.

Once you get through those two things, the rest of it is easy. lol

Finding the Perfect Rig for You

You need to find a rig that is going to work for you and your family. You may be able to get away with a small RV but I highly recommend doing a test run if you possibly can. If you’re used to a big house, it might be a major challenge downsizing.

If you have a family, you want to look for a bunkhouse so you can fit everyone. Even if it is just two of you, you might consider an RV that sleeps more people because then you can have people come over for sleepovers!

Look at the different floorplans that are available and really think about how you’ll use the rig before you jump into a purchase.

Create an On the Road Budget

Just like you have to budget for sticks and bricks, you have to budget for on the road life when you’re full-time RV living.

Besides the normal things you have in your budget, you need to think about how much money you’ll need for campgrounds or if you’re going to boondock and save some money. Even if you’re boondocking, you need to think about propane you might use for your generator when you need electricity.

When you’re creating your on-the-road budget, over-budget because things are going to come up that you didn’t think about before you hit the road.

Since you’re going to be in new places when you’re full-time RV living, you’re going to want to explore and some of the things you’ll want to see will cost money. Price some of the types of attractions you like and get an idea of how much the average cost is going to be for each outing and then figure out how often each month you’re going to go out and do something that costs money.

For us, we do a date day and then we have big family activities 2 or 3 times a month.

Making Money on the Road

One of the biggest things that hold people back from hitting the road is the fear of not being able to make money on the road.

The good news?

There are plenty of jobs you can work remotely so you can live wherever you want to live.

I wrote a couple of blog posts that covered making money on the road or just being a digital nomad in general. Here is a blog post I did with other 100 digital nomad job ideas: 103 Top Digital Nomad Jobs

Getting Started with Your New RV Lifestyle

How to start full-time RV living before you retire? One step at a time.

Once you take the first step and start planning, it will start to come together. You’ll meet other people just like you and you won’t think it is so far-fetched.

Know someone that wants to hit the road full-time? Share this article on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and beyond and help someone make their dreams come true. 🙂 Sharing is caring.

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