79 Power Words to Create Striking Content For Your Blog

Our physical and emotional state of mind directly depends on words.

While positive words can block out anxiety and fears, negative words, on the other hand, exert the opposite effect.

What does it mean?

It means: A single word matters!

The words you use in the title of your post and in the body of the article will determine the reaction of your readers.

What will they do? Press 'like' and share it through their social media, or ignore and pass it by.   

Scientists on our response to words

According to scholar Andrew Newberg, it is all about neural functioning of our brain that is easily affected by the words we use.

Jeremy Lack, a co-founder of Neuroawareness Consulting Services, tried to outline the main neuro principles influencing our way of communication and response to a situation.

It turned out that we anticipate fear and danger from communication more than pleasure or rewards. Besides, our initial perception comes through emotions, but not through conscious regulators.

So, do you want to be aware of unrivaled tips to improve your blog content with power words?

Then here you go!

Powerful words for terrific content

I won't be announcing any miracles today, however I will emphasize one more time the most remarkable and powerful words that may come in handy whenever you need to make your content lively and mesmerizing.

I've been keeping an eye on those magical words that do not wear out as time goes by. Finally, I have come up with an upgraded list of the power words you can rely on when you have a low point in your writing career.

You can find the initial part of these strong words in the list below:

• Profit


• More


• Bonus


• Health


• New


• Safety


• Money


• Now


• Today


• Results


• Anniversary


• Plus!


• Challenge


• Bargain

How to use these in practice?

If you are still eager to learn how to be convincing, keep reading.

Tips for embodying power words into your content 

Although the myth has it that it is primarily body language and voice tone that play a dominant role in our perception, the message content matters no less.

'Forever' vs 'never' 

After writing a sentence or two, pay attention to separate patterns and ask yourself “How does it make me feel?” Do you see the difference between “We separated forever” OR “We separated to see each other never again”.

The content is the same but the words “forever” and “never” are opposite words that evoke different cognitive effects in our mind.

Use 'and' instead of 'but'

Also, avoid using a conjunction such as “but” since it causes negation of the second part of the sentence. Instead, try out using “and”. It will not reject the second part and will not trigger negative cognitive responses on your reader's part.

The simpler the better 

Any words that do not add to meaningfulness and don't convey the message disrupt your readers' trust and attention. Too much garbage in our text increases skipping.

So, make sure to avoid the so called adverbial verbs (to glare, to stare). Instead, use unambiguous power words that don't demand a strenuous additional thinking from your reader to decipher the message. The simpler an output, the higher a response to your content will be.

Use wh-words 

If you want to pose a central problem or question for your readers, avoid words such as “would” or “should”.  Instead, “why”, “how” and other wh-words create much greater response rate.

Avoid 'I am' constructions 

Some researchers,  including Alfred Korzybski (the creator of General Semantics), also offer to avoid the constructions such as “I am, you are, she is, we are” because they presuppose the equality of two things that cannot be accepted by our mind.

Add 'ing' ending 

Robert Dilts, a Neuro-Linguistic Programming expert, recommends to add an ending  '-ing' if possible because these words often bring movement to our inner representation.

“How are you depress-ING yourself?” is better that “Are you stuck in depression?”

Similarly, the phrase “What is your motivation?” can be replaced by the more effective one “What is motivating you?”

No frozen words! 

By adding the '–ing' ending you will also avoid using “frozen” nouns like “depression” or “motivation”. Give these excercises a go to perfect your abilities of changing “frozen” words into more effective ones.

Resist the urge of including frozen nouns by adding these 10 helpful verbs. They can instantly bring effect to your reader's mind and set in motion any unfulfilled intention.

• Improve


• Trust


• Understand


• Know


• Guarantee


• Protect


• Help


• Compare


• Hurry


• Save

5 Additional persuasive words

As the saying goes, all words are equal but some words are more equal than others. Gregory Ciotti conducted a research revealing top 5 words that are damn efficient. They can encourage your reader to seek more.

You

As it is directly connected with our own identity, it attracts attention a lot.

Because

It's enough to mention the Xerox experiment to demonstrate the importance of reasoning. Only those people who stood in line and were given a reason agree that another person can cut in line.

Instantly

It is quite enticing since we want to have everything in a matter of a minute.

Free

People can rarely stand the temptation to pass on a deal. 

New

It presupposes a novelty aspect and activates our metal reward center. 

Do not forget about the headline!

Your headline is the first thing people see on your blog and if it is interesting and eye-catching they will click on your article and share it on social media.

The statistics show that 8 out of 10 ten people read the headlines and only 2 of 10 will proceed reading the rest of the article. So, it is worth spending a lot of time crafting your heading!

The universal formula of a good headline is to make a direct reference to a reader. This kind of headline leaves a reader no choice but to follow the headline link.

Word count

A perfect number of words for a headline is considered to be 6 words. Use negations as it leads to more shares.

Use numbers

You had better use numbers, followed by words to describe quantity. For example, the headline “100 useful things to take along with you on holiday” would be perfect in terms of digital representation.

Add adjectives

Last but not least is an interesting adjective to be included into the headline. How do you like such words as “incredible”, “effortless”, “essential”?

Take a look at the statistics which shows the number of shares if a heading contains a powerful adjective.

Superlative Words	Facebook	Twitter	LinkedIn
Amazing	15,600	538	14
Inspiring	7,340	125	6
Surprising	2,700	87	38
Successful	1,067	137	135

Source: BuzzSumo

Here are some more adjectives that you can use in your headlines:

• Hot


• Powerful


• Best


• Hot


• Special


• Exclusive


• Proven


• Easy


• Extra


• Latest


• Extraordinary


• Ultimate


• Complete


• Worst


• Hot


• First


• Big


• Premiere


• Basic


• Revolutionary

Whenever you decide to use these kind of adjectives and feel like running out of interesting ideas, turn to this site.

Some more powerful words that work for your headline:

• Amazing


• Apocalypse


• Crisis


• Fooled


• Horrific


• Invasion


• Panic


• Mistake


• Terror


• Stupid


• Victim


• Warning


• Agony


• Cheer


• Devoted


• Hope


• Hero


• Miracle


• Spirit


• Stunning


• Surprising


• Victory


• Wonderful


• Magic

Must-use components of your headline 

The adjectives form the so called emotional element of your headline. In order to make your headline even more powerful make sure to add a topic and promise element.

The topic element means that your headline should follow current issues in the world. For example, Donald Trump or The Game of Thrones would go perfectly.

Longevity, cute gods and cats, love and sex are those topics that are always in trend.

The diagram below shows the number of shares for the articles with a topic-included headline.

Topic	Facebook	Twitter	LinkedIn
Donald Trump	18,061	514	21
Dog	14,412	286	11
Love	5,587	124	60
Sales	2,856	260	208

Source: BuzzSumo

The promise element is represented by such words as “how to” or ”best tips”.

In short, these are some indications of guidance on how to do something or how a reader can improve some kind of skills.

Readers need to be convinced from the very beginning that they are going to experience a potential benefit from the article.

• Discover


• Learn


• Win


• Create


• How to


• Best Tips

 

Wrap

So, keep your creativity flowing and try out different techniques for your content.

Remember about the cognitive response of your reader and don't neglect the tips of using power words in the content as well as in the headline.

Guest Author: Veronika Kavanova

The post 79 Power Words to Create Striking Content For Your Blog appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

How to Use Snapchat Memories to Improve Your Marketing

Ever want to share pictures from your camera roll on Snapchat? Interested in resharing your best snaps? Snapchat now lets you publish multiple snaps and pictures from your camera roll in a single story-like Memory. In this article, you'll discover how to use Snapchat Memories to publish more content on Snapchat. #1: Navigate the Memories Feature On the [...]

This post How to Use Snapchat Memories to Improve Your Marketing first appeared on .

- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

Why Most SEO Budgets Are Being Wasted

SEO is powerful whether you believe in it or not. Throughout the years we have seen magic happen for our clients, and gigantic returns on their investments. We were able to achieve this because we were good at it and were able to be different from the rest of the industry. We were a success because we didn't take short cuts, and we used the combination of content, optimization, outreach, etc. However, we have seen a lot of clients, or potential clients, come to us with “scars” from performing SEO without understanding SEO best practices.

The reasons for them having “scars” and having a negative outlook about SEO are usually the same. They tried it, and it didn't work. There are numerous reasons for this to happen, but here are the reasons it generally did not work, and why their budgets were wasted.

Discover SEO Best Practices by Turning These Mistakes Around

No Content Promotion

If you do not promote your content, it does not exist. Creating the best content does nothing for you unless people see it. Google figures if your content is the best, people will share it and link to it, but if they don't see it, how are they supposed to know it is good? Incorporating content in social media posts, social media advertising, email newsletters, etc. can go a long way toward promoting it.

The reason most businesses do not promote it is because promotion is difficult, it is hard to see returns for the first couple months, and it is time consuming. Generally, what happens, and what has happened, is they take the shorter road by either buying links, sponsoring posts, or just doing nothing, which generally results in no results and the mindset that SEO does not work.

Wrong Keyword Strategy

This one is the most egregious error the majority of businesses make when it comes to SEO. It is easy to get “big eyes” and try to achieve high rankings for short-tailed phrases like “Dog Food,” “Unhealthiest Foods,” or “Running Tips,” but you have to remember that each one of those phrases has over 10 million pages indexed. That means you have to beat out 10 million pages to be in the top 10.

It is important to choose keywords which are most relevant to your products, or the services you are offering, and the keywords that will be achievable. Trying to target keywords that do not have much to do with your products or services, or which are too hard to rank for, are both a recipe for disaster.

Ineffective Tactics or Accidental Black Hat Tactics

A tremendous number of businesses make the same mistakes Google corrected for years ago. Here are some things even people new to SEO do not realize, despite these mistakes being common knowledge in the SEO community:

Keyword Stuffing: Putting a certain keyword into the title, description, URL, or content as many times as possible, even when it makes no sense.

Article Spinning: Taking an article found on the web, then rewriting it on a lower quality scale and publishing it. If you didn't learn it in school: Plagiarism is bad.

301 Redirecting Bad Domains: Some businesses buy domains which were penalized by Google or that have terrible links to them, and then 301 redirect them to their main domain.

Buying Links: Link building is a huge part of SEO; however, you want to acquire them in legitimate ways, not through purchase, which doesn't give you as much value anyways, and which, sometimes, if bought from bad sources, can negatively impact you.

Creating Poor Quality Links: Creating low-quality backlinks manually. One way that this is done is through spam comments, spam forum links, or web 2.0s, which create “free” backlinks. However, these have no SEO juice, so they are really pointless.

Adding Thin Content Pages: Adding landing pages only helps if they are good quality pages with useful unique content on them. If you do not have this, then you are doing no favors to yourself or the Google user who is searching. Google pushes down websites with too much overall thin content.

Ignoring the Three Focuses of SEO

There are generally three main focuses for SEO: on page optimization and off page optimization, which I have broken down to content creation and promotion.

Optimization: The technical aspect of SEO that works to optimize your website, from technical fixes or content creation, so that search engines have a better chance of understanding your content and, therefore, serving you higher in the rankings.

Content: Your content creation needs to be research-based so that you can give your target audience something that they will actually value and share.

Outreach: A main part of an SEO strategy is building relationships with others in the industry through outreach. This can be done through guest blogging, social media, and other tactics in order to help you not only get your content out to more people, but also to help you gain backlinks and social media signals.

Conclusion

It is easy to waste a lot of money on SEO. There are thousands of companies, and most of them are ineffective at SEO. With the right strategy, the right resources in place, and an understanding of the SEO best practices discussed above, you can make a huge impact.

SEO Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Why Most SEO Budgets Are Being Wasted" was first published on Small Business Trends

How to Use Facebook Live From Your Desktop Without Costly Software

Are you looking for new ways to use live video? Have you considered using Facebook Live to host an on-screen walkthrough? Using Facebook Live from your desktop opens up a new world of marketing possibilities. In this article, you'll discover how to broadcast with Facebook Live using free open-source software. #1: Install OBS Studio OBS is free software [...]

This post How to Use Facebook Live From Your Desktop Without Costly Software first appeared on .

- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

How to Create a Mind-Blowing Instagram Video Strategy

With over 500 million active users per month, and more than 20 billion photos and videos shared, Instagram has become the emerging social media tool in the marketing world.

Recently Instagram got a makeover, and changed its logo. But did you know, along with the logo changes, there were a lot of other BIG changes.

From introducing new business profiles, to the unveiling of the new tools, and the one I'd like to talk about today – increasing video length from 15 seconds.

Instagram increased the 15 second limit of its videos to a whopping 60 seconds in length.

Image Source: Tech Crunch

Instagram and video marketing are now even more of a match made in heaven.

To help you stay up to date with the ever evolving Instagram and to make your video marketing strategy a success, I have put together few tried and tested strategies adopted by the famous brands to excel in Instagram marketing. 

Know the Instagram culture

Ever heard about cross-cultural marketing mix fails? The reason behind these failures is when you market a product without knowing the culture of a specific region.

When Pepsi expanded their market to China, they launched with the slogan, “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life”.

What they didn't realize is that the phrase translated to “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave”.

This may seem like a pretty funny mistake… but to Pepsi, this was a huge blunder, especially when you're trying to build a brand on a global level. Yikes!

So always try to contact a native before marketing in any other country.

How Instagram is different

Likewise, all the social media platforms have a different type of audience, and using each and every platform is different.

One mistake brands make is to think that Instagram and other image-sharing sites and applications are all interchangeable; they're not. Each one has its own culture.

Instagram is the site where brands show fans who they are; it's about shaping perceptions about a brand's personality.

On Instagram, you only have 60 seconds to explain your product and grab the attention of the audience, and writing long captions can be a major fail because it's a platform where people share images and videos.

Starbucks, a top brand on Instagram, clearly gets the culture. In curating their brand story, they're definitely playing the role of your fun, artsy BFF. Virtually every video and photo are clearly branded in some way – whether it's a shot of a paper cup elaborately embellished by a fan, or just a distinctive green straw poking through a mountain of whipped cream.

They manage to avoid seeming too commercial. This is largely due to the fact that Starbucks displays so many fan-created images. Not only reframing fan images helps the brand build a sense of community, it also helps prevent the brand from seeming too “corporate” by making the visual aesthetic more varied.

 

Understand the ins & outs of Instagram

To be successful on Instagram using video marketing, it is very important to know the insights of the platform.

One of the most important things a brand can do is to make sure that customers have all the information they need to find them, follow them, and connect with them on both Instagram and other platforms.

Fill out your profile, fill out your bio, and make sure you have a clear link to your main site. And, by the same token, make sure that visitors to your main site know that they can connect with you on Instagram.

The main idea behind Instagram is sharing videos and images to build your own credibility on the platform. You can ask other famous brands to give you a shout out and to get reviews. Also, ask your fans to create testimonial videos because it means a lot to any new follower.

Key tools to be used

Another key tool is hashtags: successful brands use them, and use them effectively. Some of the most obvious tips for best practices include:

• Keep your hash tags focused. The Instagram blog uses the example of “#van” versus “#vwvan.” The latter focuses the search, while the former leaves the user wading through all types of vans to get to the brand they're looking for.


• Use hash tags selectively. Cluttering up your post with a dozen tags suggests a lack of direction. Edit your tags down to the most relevant.


• Watch out for language fails. When words are smashed together, they can become difficult to parse the sentence the way the writer intended.

Post videos worth watching

Instagram gives you the unique chance to tell great stories through visual content. Instagram videos are highly effective at telling your brand's story within 60 seconds. Storytelling is an amazing way to market your brand and create engaging images or videos.

Get creative when it comes to standard marketing techniques by showcasing your brand or services in a new light. This isn't to say you need to completely rebrand yourself, but instead, try to show your brand's versatility.

The best way to make your product stand out from the competition is to create animated explainer videos because animation is the best when you have to explain complexity in a short period of time. Considering you have a small budget, these videos are low cost when compared to live action videos, so for all the startups out there this is a must try startup strategy.

How-to-videos

What better way to add value than to create a short video showcasing how to solve a common problem or just teaching people how to do something new.

You can take this a step further by using your own products in the videos you create. Sometimes it's easier to show how your products can be used with a video instead of just a user manual.

Don't settle for static images. Go dynamic by using the power of video to get the maximum conversions and signups. Since Instagram videos are bite-sized, people are much more likely to watch them. Tastemade and BuzzFeed are both great examples of how-to videos on Instagram.

Know the right use for video

On Instagram, there is no option of scheduling a post so you should post your content very smartly. I know I have mentioned many times that quality matters much more than quantity. It's prudent to try to post often and during optimal times, and especially when you're sure that your audience will find your post.

Also, quality content keeps your audience coming back. According to research from Union Metrics, data showed that on average, most brands post 1.5 times a day on Instagram. However, the research stated no direct correlation between post frequency and engagement rates.

Increase your visibility

Having a great video and using your video efficiently can be a real challenge in increasing your conversions and sign ups. It is essential to post three to four times a day as this doubles your visibility and credibility. 

Give people a reason to follow you

Sitting around, waiting for users to follow you might not get you very far. On the other hand, when you find different avenues to promote your Instagram account, you increase the chance of getting discovered. Once you have a visitor on your profile page, you want them to stick around, so give them a strong reason to hit that follow button.

One way to do this is to directly reward visitors for connecting with your brand on Instagram. For example, juice brand Bolthouse Farms, created an Instagram campaign in which users got a $1.50 coupon for uploading photos of Bolthouse products or other Bolthouse imagery.

By asking participants to use the hashtag “#carrotfarmers” along with “#gotcoupon”, Bolthouse was also able to drive awareness of what it feels is one of its most marketable features as a brand – the fact that it produces juice using carrots from its own farms.

Create compelling content

But this does not mean that you have to reward visitors all the time. You can also generate traffic by posting compelling content. Offer behind-the-scenes glimpses. Give followers sneak peeks of upcoming products or services. Be relevant to their interests.

Most importantly, remember that emotional content is shareable content and trust me; the best way to express emotions and feelings in 60 seconds is to make an explainer video, because animation has the power of unleashing the emotions.

Don't dismiss Instagram analytics

Identifying where you are among the crowd can have serious payoffs for your social media strategy. By using tools such as Sprout Social you can easily calculate the analytics. Their Instagram analytics tools have the ability to:

• Track post performance


• Monitor Instagram trends


• Track comments and hashtag usage


• Measure audience engagement


• Identify influencers


• Report across multiple profiles

Analytics can tell you what's working and what needs improvement. Over time, you can build a large scope of data to track and measure performance. It's critical to know when and how your audience is engaging with your Instagram content.

Wrap

As video on Instagram continues to develop and grow, there's going to be even more opportunities for marketers to reach audiences. The company rolled out video ads to advertisers, which is a whole new element to explore.

But you don't have to wait. Be an early adopter and start putting all of these awesome tips and strategies in place right now to grow your social media presence with Instagram video marketing. 

Guest Author: Mehroz Khan is an Entrepreneur and Co-founder at Videoexplainers-Video production company. He is a blogger, strategist, social media marketing specialist and growth strategist. His expertise includes marketing and video production. He regularly writes on Videoexplainers where he talks about explainer video, its various business advantages (increased website conversions, high sales, qualified leads, and facilitating customers' understanding level) and the massive video impact on the customers. Follow Mehroz on Twitter: @mehrozanwer, connect with him on LinkedIn: Mehroz Khan or email him at mehroz@videoexplainers.com.

The post How to Create a Mind-Blowing Instagram Video Strategy appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

Afraid of Online Reviews? Here's How to Face That Fear Head On

Online reviews for a business owner can be downright intimidating.  Tens of thousands of businesses exist without one single review online, and though they would love to start getting positive online reviews, they are scared to get started and have no idea what they can do to get traction.

The Fear of None or One

These two scenarios are the most common I run across for a small business.

1. They have zero reviews and are happier keeping it that way for fear of a negative review happening once they start asking for reviews.  They see it as opening Pandora's box or poking the bear, so they choose to do nothing.

2. They finally get one review on Google, Yelp or Facebook and it's a BAD review. Now the only reputation they have showing online is a bad one.  The business below has had to live with just one review online - a 2-star bad review - for over 4 years!  Just getting two positive reviews would dramatically offset this.

I want to share a few tips with you to help break you free of the fears of online reviews if you fall into one of the above situations. You're best bet is to take control of reviews, not ignore them.

3 Tips To Get Your First Online Reviews

1. Work Hard to Break the Ice

Getting that first online review on one of the main review sites can be hard work.  Accept that and understand you will need to put in some effort to help it happen.  One of the best ways is asking your customers in person.

Asking Sara, who is a frequent shopper or client, if she would write your business a review on her experience with your business is your best bet. It doesn't hurt to ask these customers if they ever write online reviews and what sites the write them on first.  Asking a customer to write their first online review ever for your first review ever might not turn out, especially if they try to write you a Yelp review.

Once you have one review on a site, the ice is broken and the next customer doesn't have to be the first.

2. Personal Emails

You can scale your efforts of my first tip by creating a personal email to your best customers.  Letting them know that their opinion of your business will help attract new customers on sites like Google, Yelp and Facebook instills responsibility to help out the business they love.  You can make it easy for them by including direct links to your businesses profile on these sites, making it simple to review you.

3. Flyer/Handout

While working away on number one and two above, create a simple business card or flyer you can give customers. You can use this template from Whitespark that outlines the Google review process.  Handing out these materials at the post sale or service is a great way to ask for reviews in mass.  Training your staff to distribute these to customers who are satisfied and happy with your business at the close of a transaction is a great opportunity to let them know reviews matter to you.

Things to Keep in Mind

Earning online reviews is not easy … notice I said earn.  Do NOT offer up an incentive, discount or anything else to your customers for writing a review. Review incentives are illegal and can be very damaging if you are caught.

Make sure you involve your staff so that each employee understands the value that reviews hold for the business and the benefits of your team talking to customers about leaving reviews.  These personal connections lead to positive online reviews.

Once you have a few reviews at the main sites that are important to your business, you can then consider using a customer feedback system that can fuel even more reviews.  The best review strategy is one that consistently builds positive reviews for your business over time. But first, you need to get over the fear of none or one and earn your first reviews.

This article, "Afraid of Online Reviews? Here's How to Face That Fear Head On" was first published on Small Business Trends

Reddit Lets Brands Promote User Posts: This Week in Social Media

Welcome to our weekly edition of what's hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What's New This Week Reddit Announces New Ad Offering: Reddit introduced Promoted User Posts, a new ad offering that gives marketers the [...]

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- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle