Found a new motivation
So I have been having a hard time. I try to keep my website updated with content, but work bogs me down. I’m trying to bring visitors to my website, but social media and using keywords is hard. I have been trying to get more viewers and upload more videos on my YouTube channel, but work takes all my time.
I was having a really hard time last night. But, I had somebody there for me, somebody very important to me. She reminded me the very words I told her when she wanted to get started.
Getting a lot of followers/viewers/subscribers takes a lot of work. Build the content and they will slowly come. She was trying to start a niche based Instagram account and was having a really hard time getting new followers. I told her to just keep at it, it takes time. Well, I had forgotten my own advice and she reminded me.
Starting a website is one thing. Anybody can do it. Even a free website hosted by one of the many different providers. It’s easy. Pick a topic/niche and upload some pictures, write some articles, etc. That is not the challenge though. Even creating YouTube is easy. Make some videos and upload them.
The hard part is getting visitors.
Nobody will know about your content. You could have the best keywords in the world, but still likely won’t get any visitors. All the search engine optimization (SEO) does is help you get placed on the search results. But nobody will find you without some help.
This is where social media really helps.
Here I will go over some basics of each social media service. Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Facebook is a great way to connect with people. The connection seems a bit more personal. Facebook uses an algorithm that will decided what the best content to show you is. This is a good thing and a bad thing. It shows you the things it thinks you want to see the most – Good. It doesn’t show you everything – Bad. Even if you have 1000 friends, you will only likely see the top 50. Being active on Facebook really helps, especially posting with media.
Google+ is great because the content also gets indexed into Google searches. The downside, not nearly as many people use it. Sure, the number of accounts are huge (likely due to gmail accounts), but it’s the active users we look at here. The active community on Google+ is approximately 10% of account holders. In my honest opinion, Google+’s best use is to post stuff to help Google indexing. Otherwise, being active here doesn’t do much.
Twitter is a great site. It allows quick posts. Follow users and they will likely follow you in return. Tweet, ReTweet (RT) and use hashtags (#) to get attention. Many services will also auto tweet for you, such as Wordpress and YouTube. Upload a new video – instant tweet. Twitter also doesn’t use the same algorithm as Facebook. All tweets are displayed in the order they were received. This is nice…up to a certain point. The more accounts you follow, the more your feed fills up. It will easily get very overwhelming. If you want to keep up with Twitter, you literally have to be reading it constantly. It can eat up a lot of time. The best use for Twitter is to tweet or auto-tweet and kind of let it go. Only checking it once or twice a day to keep up with some followers and/or follow some more people.
Pinterest is an interesting idea for a social media website. Pinterest is pretty much only for pictures. Pictures that are used for motivation and other ideas. You can upload or “pin” pictures found on the web. All pictures are linked to their origin. This is actually a lot better than it may seem at first glance. If somebody finds your picture, they might click on the picture to see its origin. Leading them back to your website, (or wherever you pinned it from.) Pinterest is a great website that can just be used to get attention to your website. Make a post with some pictures, and pin them. People will follow you if they find your pins interesting or motivational. The best part, is you don’t even have to do any crazy hashtags or keywords. Just name the picture and choose the board with the relevant category, and it will show up in everybody who searches that category. It is possible to upload your own picture, but I wouldn’t recommend that being your only method to pin pictures. Make sure you have plenty of pictures that are from your website.
YouTube is a service dedicated to videos. Everybody has heard of it. It brags itself as the second largest search engine. But using it to share your content is different. Videos must be interesting enough for viewers to watch. YouTube uses a similar algorithm as Facebook. It sorts content based on how interesting it is. The more likes, comments, and watch time on a video, the higher it will rank. New users may have a hard time getting additional viewers. The videos probably won’t even show up in search results. Don’t give up, and just keep at it!
Finally, there’s Instagram. I’m still learning all the features of Instagram, but I can at least describe its use. Instagram is a photo sharing service. You can only upload pictures from your phone or mobile device. Unlike Twitter, Instagram doesn’t have a character limit to the caption, so use as many hashtags or tag as many people as you like. Instagram also connects with other social media services, and can automatically post to them if you choose. This is an excellent service if you take a lot of pictures with your phone, and can use them to bridge your social media services.
There are many other social media services that I have not covered here. Do your research on them, they each have their own use.
Each social media service has its own pros and cons. Use the ones that benefit you the most. Just remember a few key points.
·Figure out how you will use each service. Create a plan that outlines the purpose of each service. If necessary, create a schedule.
·Don’t spend too much time in each one. Try to maximize your efforts, but minimize your time. Spending too much time can be wasteful.
·Don’t stress about getting followers. Concentrate on content. The followers will come.
·Don’t post too much content too quickly. It can be seen as spam and you will not show up. Try to post once or twice, maybe 3 times per day at maximum.
·Don’t worry about how beautiful it looks. Basically, don’t spend too much time on something before you post it. Write your post, record your video, take your picture, and then post it. Give your followers a reason to leave a comment.
The most important thing to remember! You will not be successful overnight! These things take time! You are in it for the long haul. Invest the time and it will eventually pay you back.
TL:DR - Use social media sparingly. Figure out how to use each one. Success doesn't happen overnight. Seek motivation from those around you, family/friends/WA...etc. It's everywhere! Don't lose hope!
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Great content, man!