I am always finding ways to return a favor (or favors) to all my readers, followers and even subscribers. I wouldn’t have made it so far without you. Seriously.
I would have given up within the first one week but thankfully, you guys are here to help, guide and show me the way. I really appreciate that!
You might be asking me so what’s this all about, right? C’mon, I know you are eager to know!
All of you have either retweeted, shared and even liked my articles on social network. I even received some trackbacks too which is great. So, here I am today … offering you a platform where we can exchange social media profiles, spend some time connecting and following each other.
Yes! I mean it. I want to give you free backlinks!
So, feel free to promote yourself, website and even social profiles. All you have to do are the below:
Your website or article you would like to share (just one)
Twitter
Facebook profile or page
Google+ profile or page
So, what’s the catch?
In order for you to get a DoFollow backlink, you just got to Tweet, Like or +1 this post. Once you have added me, I’ll add you back and let’s start sharing!
If you have yet to follow me, this are a few ways which you can connect to me:
Getting backlinks from quality website is basic SEO 101. It is a long, expensive and time consuming task. What’s makes it more challenging is that every blogger in the world is trying to get good backlinks pointing back to their sites.
Well, if you’re having some backlink woes, you have came to the right spot. I’m going to share with you how you can get a free and high quality backlink from a page rank (PR) 8 website … for free!
Yup, you don’t have spend a dime for this. All you need is just 10 minutes of your time and you can enjoy the free backlink. Of course, assuming that you have a good content blog.
Allow me to introduce to you, the Technorati blog.
What is Technorati blog?
I prefer to describe Technorati as a blog directory. You can submit your blog URL and it helps you to syndicate it on its site.
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.[3] The name Technorati is a blend of the words technology and literati, which invokes the notion of technological intelligence or intellectualism. – Wikipedia
With a page rank scale of 8, I bet it is a no brainer to get at least one backlink from there back to your website right?
As good as it may sounds, I know there are still people who dislike it. Well, for most obvious reason is on how they actually calculate your website ranking. Okay, since we’re talking about getting a good backlink, let’s talk about the good part only, shall we?
Setting up your account and claiming ownership on Technorati
The first and easiest step is to get yourself an account with Technorati. Yes it is free and it won’t cost you a dime.
Next, complete your profile with all the details for others to connect to you.
Once that is all set, you need to claim your blog’s ownership.
Submit your blog’s RSS and select ‘Claim Ownership’.
Check your email for the Technorati claim token.
Place the token code on any of your active posts.
An issue that you might face when claiming website ownership
I’m not sure about the rest but personally, I experienced one devastating issue; I wasn’t able to claim ownership for my website!
So, what was the problem?
Basically, when you request for a Technorati claim, Technorati will send you an email and requesting you to place a code on your website like this:
Email from Technorati informing about the website claim.
Now, you need to place the code on your website … specifically in any of your live post and must be available via RSS.
Example:
Technorati Claim Token: 52QT5MQXJN9G
Yes, Technorati syndicate your website using RSS feed. Remember the part where you submit your blog’s RSS to Technorati in the settings?
At times, it takes some time to get your RSS feed ‘sync’ with your posts. Therefore, I would suggest waiting for at least an hour before you proceed to verify your website ownership with Technorati.
For your info, I uses FeedBurner as my RSS and it took me about 6 hours before I finally get my site approved for my Technorati claim. Weird huh?
Go figure!
So, don’t panic if Technorati informed you that they are not able to verify your website ownership. Give it few hours or so and it should be just fine if you’re doing everything correctly.
Help! I’m not getting the free backlink from Technorati!
I know some had issues trying to get backlink from the site. The simple reason could be either you have low quality content or your blog is probably new. This means that Technorati would still need some time to syndicate your content first before anything else.
Now, read the above sentence again.
Did you read the part where I say Technorati syndicate your content using RSS?
Yes! This means that you need to make sure that your website is having a working RSS URL. You can easily sign up for a free RSS address using FeedBurner.
Now, the next step is totally up to you. You’re going to get more traffic and backlinks from Technorati if you start writing quality content. Well, it’s fair right? You won’t get free backlink if you aren’t doing anything good.
Back to you…
Have you registered your website with Technorati? I did recently and my site score is only 23,557. Crazy far away huh? Hit the reply button below and let’s discuss.
If you find this article interesting, I would be very grateful if you could share it using the red button below.
Recently. WPTemplate shared an infographic on WordPress security issue. The figures were shocking. Each year, thousands of websites are compromised and the figures keep increasing every year.
In year 2012, more than 170,000 WordPress sites were hacked and that’s crazy!
The million dollar question could easily be, “Are you doing enough when it comes to securiting your website security?”
So, what you can do to improve your WordPress security?
Did you notice two of the biggest contributor to WordPress security are hosting companies and WordPress themes? And heck, most of thought that WordPress security has always associated with weak security password.
WordPress is one the biggest blogging platform in the world and thus, it is not something new that it is targeted by hackers every single day.
Being said that, you should not take WordPress security for granted and therefore, you should act now.
Yes mate, right now … by doing these easy steps!
1. Practice frequent updates
When was the last time you upgraded your WordPress or plugins? Usually, the latest updates are the one that has security patches or even newer features. If you have yet to get them updated, do it now. It wouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes.
At least, do it for the sake of your website security. Seriously!
2. Perform housekeeping and clean up on your website regularly
Safety first when it comes to website security
Do you know that it is best to delete or uninstall those unwanted plugins you have on your database? Yes, even though they have been deactivated, you should … and by all means remove them immediately. Having lesser plugins also provide a better website loading speed and not to forget, leaving a better experience for readers as well.
The main reasons is because there are many plugins which might pose a threat especially to WordPress. You have to remember that even though you might have deactivated them, they are still accessible in your website database.
3. Avoid using Admin username
This is the same mistake everyone does. You should never use Admin as your administrator ID. I know some WordPress sites advice users to create Admin username without any administrator access. For me, it is best to leave Admin untouched.
The first thing a hacker would try is to brute force login using Admin or Administrator ID. If you are using either one of those username, then you are basically making their life (of hacking) easier!
It is always best to have a mixture of words, symbols and numbers. Of course, you can further boost your WordPress security by adding capital letters as well.
4. Turn off membership registration
Proper ‘security check’ for members is vital to improve your WordPress security
Yes, I don’t allow open registration at all for my sites. Instead, I’ll manually add members myself. This is to ensure that I have complete control over security matters. Small security actions goes a long, long way when it comes to securing your WordPress site.
If everyone is able to register on your site freely, then you might have problem when you’ll find spam bots and potential hackers trying to break the website security.
I truly understand that adding membership manually might be a real pain but it is worth it for those who really cares about security matters. Of course, if you are running a big company, uses WordPress and has a full list of members, Premise might be the best WordPress membership for you.
5. Changing table prefix
This is one hell of efficient method when it comes to WordPress security. Better WP Security plugin makes it sound easy with just a press of a button. No, it isn’t that easy!
You got to learn how to change the prefix correctly or else, you are going to destroy your website … literally. I changed the last round and I accidentally ‘destroyed’ my theme. Ouch!
6. Backup, backup and backup
Nothing goes more important than backup … when it comes to website and stuffs. Lucky for you, there are some seriously good backup plugins and programs that work perfectly for WordPress. Why backup you may ask. Well, imagine you are being hacked or something bad happen to your site today. You can easily restore everything in a very short period since you have a backup file. What happens if you have no backup files? Then you would need to start back from scratch!
Real case scenario. Three months ago, I had several websites running and when ‘something’ bad happened to them, I practically lose hundreds of articles. Yes, I do backup but I only did once a month which is clearly, insufficient! However, it was good that at least, I still have a month old backup. If not, I would be doing everything from scratch … and for over five websites!
7. Security plugins could help
Hello, you’re being monitored.
Let’s say you are less geeky and need help with securing your website. There are WordPress security plugins such as WordFence and Better WP Security which could provide above average security features with just a few clicks of the mouse. Can’t decide which to use? You may find my review here, Wordfence vs Better Wp Security plugin.
Basically, these plugins will boost your WordPress security level and even provide you the well needed security notifications. Definitely worth a shot for those who prefer to be on the safe side.
8. Increase your security features with Content Delivery Network (CDN) services
Content delivery network or CDN could provide minimal security especially when you are using a free service. Well, some security is always better than no security right? No? 🙂
I always consider CDN to work very well especially when it comes to preventing Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and also improving the website loading speed. Personally, if you are using a CDN for security, Incapsula has a very good security background while Cloudflare is much better of with improving website loading speed (with some security features).
9. Know your WordPress plugins
We all talk about WP everyday.
Now, ask yourself a question. How much do you know about your plugins?
I used to download and try all types of plugins last time and without even bother to check the reviews. Now, I do check their reviews first and even a little bit of Google-ing before installing anything. Some malicious plugins could be hacker’s backdoor to your admin area and protected files. So, always have a good grip of what you are installing and decide if they are really worth the time (and your website security).
Nothing is too personal when it comes to website security!
10. The last level of security comes from you
Me? Seriously?
Yes this is true! Who is your best, most accountable and trusted watch guard for your website? It’s you for Christ’s sake! You got to be on your toes and at least, check on basic changes done that you should be worried about. Let’s take a simple example below.
I had Better WP Security installed on one of my niche website and every time changes are done to my site, I”ll receive an email notification immediately. Imagine small changes such as uploading an image to my gallery and it triggers an email notification. Good? Excellent I would say!
Thing is, you got to at least know what’s happening on your website. Well, you might not have the technical skills to know what to do but at least, you’re still able to alert your hosting provider or developer to check on that.
And when you think that are all …
Hold on there tiger! The above are 10 important security tips when it comes to WordPress and I still have two more under my sleeves!
11. Choose the right WordPress theme for your website
Do you know that 29% of security problems originated from using the wrong WordPress themes? There’s absolutely no denial that there are thousands of free WordPress themes out there. My personal advice?
Ditch those free themes for crying out loud! Jesus! Don’t you see it? These themes might have some codes inside which could compromise your security. Not all, but certainly, I know a lot of them who actually are!
I don’t get it … I really, really don’t get it on … you know … free WordPress themes.
If you are willing to buy premium WordPress theme, you have to be careful as well as not all themes are coded properly. Badly codes one will actually affect your website in many ways.
Genesis 2.0 says out with the old (XHTML) and in with the new (HTML5), and if you want your website to be future-compatible it needs to use HTML5
Genesis 2.0’s support of Schema.org code — used by Google, Bing, Pinterest, and many others — allows you to incorporate microdata into your site’s code, further enhancing your SEO
Genesis 2.0 has code that, if you can believe it, is even cleaner and more lightweight than ever before — which means less bloat and faster load times for readers
Genesis 2.0 is responsive, and thus most of the child theme are as well
Genesis 2.0 is backwards-compatible (which makes update a brief)
Don’t take my words for that. Check them out yourself and decide which is best using the links below:
Last but not least, the infographic provided by WPTemplate proved that hosting companies play a huge role in terms of WordPress security. With 41% of website hacks originated from website hosting, I bet the figure explains it all.
Personally, I know there are so many hosting companies that are offering cheaper than usual hosting packages. I totally get it that hosting is a competitive industry but have you ever thought that cheap hosting might not provide even the slightest security features for your lovely website?
Let’s take some ‘stats’ for example, shall we?
Yoast SEO, Chris Brogan, Jay Baer and Chris Pirillo uses Web Synthesis hosting
HTC, FourSquare, SoundCloud and Balsamiq uses WP Engine hosting
Volkswagen, Samsung, Sony and dribbble uses Media Temple hosting
Now, does all these makes any logical sense to you?
The above are examples of big brands trusting their hosting companies. Do you see why they don’t go for cheaper corporate hosting? C’mon, give me a guess and I’ll wait! Yes, you got it right mate. It’s all about security.
When it comes to WordPress security, it is best to leave it to the pros if you have limited expertise.
Obviously, these brands are having a much bigger package but it doesn’t mean that you can’t join the big boys’ club. There are packages below $20 which could work very well on your budget and most importantly, a piece of mind 24/7.
You may be using a package say $5 per month but you have to do all the job and maintenance yourself. Simply by adding $15 a month, you would can leave all the maintenance work to the pros … for free.
With proper web hosting, you can forget about spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on webmasters who will take care of your websites (no offence though).
Last time, I was with GoDaddy and then, moved over to HostGator. Even though I was happy with my money spend with them, I wasn’t too happy about the support. What can you expect from a $4 or less web hosting package right?
Again (and like what I always say), don’t take my word for it. Go have a look at their websites have to offer.
If you think that SEO and all those blogging tips are important, think again. WordPress security is much more important nowadays. Thousands had done them wrongly and I certainly do not hope that you are one of them! Remember that hackers are always out there and you need to be ready for them.
Do you have any other WordPress security tips to share? If you do, drop me a comment below and let’s discuss it over.
**If you find this article interesting, I would be very grateful if you could share it using the red button below.
Since the last Google algorithm update, there are many rumors about link building and the white hat SEO strategies. I recently wrote about the importance of social engagement in contrast to SEO and it became a pretty hot topic. I believe the biggest question nowadays would be the important the the old school link building method.
Before we go any further, this is a snippet from Google Webmaster Tool:
Previously, Google said …
‘In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.’
And everything changes now with …
‘In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by creating high-quality sites that users will want to use and share.’
Does this really means the end of link building techniques in search engine optimization? Of course not!
This doesn’t prove that link building is no longer in use. In fact, this makes link building even richer and more valuable! And at the same time, this new Google algorithm makes link building … yes, you got it right … harder but definitely not impossible.
Important disclaimer: This article is more than 2,000 words and I dare you to do read it in just one go. If not, bookmark this page right now and come back anytime when you are ready!
What did we learn from the latest Google update?
Oh no! Another Google update?
Every time an update takes place, there are many things Google are showing us … or at least, hinting us. Here are some things that I had learned which are the number of backlinks, using the right link building techniques and even using the right search engine optimization methods. And the only way to learn this is by watching those videos posted by Matt Cutts and his team.
So let’s discuss on the proper link building strategies that work for search engines today.
1. Using the right SEO tools for link building
For those who really into SEO, it’s a very known fact that you probably need at least one SEO tool to help you with those ranking and link building tactics. Seriously.
I know many people who uses paid SEO tools like this one are having crazy time trying to create more quality backlinks to their articles. I would say, maybe they are having the time of their lives! 🙂
You might be thinking that, “Hey, take that you !@#$ paid SEO tools!”. Here’s the reality check. These SEO tools will actually … and still be rocking like any other days.
Yes! Let me repeat; link building isn’t dead but it just got tougher. That’s all.
For those who are using various link building tools, well, you just got to play smarter. You need to change the game plan but slowly.
Why? Google still loves quality backlinks and this doesn’t mean that you can’t get the best out of ‘virtual assistance’.
One thing for sure is that using SEO tools will not make you any safer from Google updates. You need to use SEO tools the right way and focus in your strategies. Always remember that misusing these SEO tools will actually destroy your traffic and your SEO ranking.
*p/s Looking at this article length, I’m going to write the so call ‘SEO game plan’ on another post.
2. Write articles for readers and not for bots
Optimize your website for your readers and not for search engines
Link building isn’t really link building only. For me, link building also means website marketing and communications. The more visibility people has on your website, the better chances you are going to create the ‘brand awareness’.
And with that (assuming you write great articles), people are going to share your articles even more!
More shares = More love from Google.
There ain’t any trick about link building and content sharing if you ask me. Write good stuffs, get your name out and let the people (readers) do the rest for you.
What you really need to learn about link building is you can’t get everyone to love your writing or even share your articles. Okay, remember that every visitor who comes to your site is a potential ‘buyer’.
Take the opportunity to get them spread the word for you and how you can possibly do that?
It really depends on how generous are you. For me, I do a win-win situation for my readers. I am using CommentLuv for WordPress and what this plugin does is simple. It allows users to share one of their links after they commented.
Wait! That isn’t all.
For those who share my articles on social media, they will automatically get a DoFollow link back. Sounds good right?
You see, blogging is all about giving and just not taking completely. I see absolutely no reason why one should be so secretive about backlink.
3. The relationship between backlink, social communities and tribes
Recently, I’m very active on several sites such as BizSugar and Triberr. I wasn’t actively sharing my links though. Instead, I was commenting and sharing other articles I felt useful.
The effect? One word: Tremendous.
As I had said about in #2, sharing is caring and there’s no better way than helping a fellow blogger to share their articles. Heard about karma or what goes around, comes around?
Whenever you share an article on social networks, you are creating a good chance for others to visit your website in return. And most of the time, they would probably return a favor by giving a shout (hey, that’s free publicity) for you.
Blogging isn’t everything about yourself. Instead, it is all about relationship building and sharing of information. Grow your audience indirectly by doing good to others.
So, stop being a link whore and start linking out to others!
…
…
…
Yes mate. Right now! Don’t worry, I’ll wait!
4. Link building is closely related to sitemap
You have written an excellent article and you published it. After one week or probably a month, you ain’t getting a hit and you are no closer in creating a viral article that drives hundreds of traffic to your website. So, what’s wrong?
Okay. Here’s the deal. You want to build good traffic, link building etc. You probably won’t go far if you are not focusing enough on SEO. One of the search engine optimizations best practices is to have a sitemap.
Google just won’t put you on first page of SERPs if Google is not aware of your existence. This is where sitemap plays a huge role in your website ranking.
So, yes. The first thing is to get your sitemap up immediately … (moments of silence) …
What’s a sitemap? Site what?
A site map (or sitemap) is a list of pages of a web site accessible to crawlers or users. It can be either a document in any form used as a planning tool for Web design, or a Web page that lists the pages on a Web site, typically organized in hierarchical fashion. There are two popular versions of a site map. An XML Sitemap is a structured format that a user doesn’t need to see, but it tells the search engine about the pages in your site, their relative importance to each other, and how often they are updated. HTML sitemaps are designed for the user to help them find content on the page, and don’t need to include each and every subpage. This helps visitors and search engine bots find pages on the site.
Makes any sense to you? Maybe this image from Google might help out.
Sitemap usually gives search engines a list of links that you have on your website
If you are using WordPress, you can probably use WordPress for SEO (which comes with Sitemap functions) or Google XML sitemap. You won’t wrong with any one of those.
Creating a sitemap is no hassle and you can do that within 5 minutes or less. Once you have your sitemap ready, head over to Google Webmaster Tool and Big Webmaster Tool to submit your sitemap.
5. Guest posting – The pros and cons in link building techniques
We can’t deny the importance of guest posting especially when you are looking for a quality backlink. Writing good guest post will certainly drive traffic to your website without fail but there’s something you need to know first!
Backlink building from guest posting is a double sided blade. Handle with care at all times.
Google and other search engines understand that many bloggers are actually trying to gain momentum and getting some quality backlinks from good page rank sites. When it comes to guest post, there isn’t any difference.
Don’t get me wrong. Guest posting is definitely worth it considering the quality of backlink. However, you do not want to over do it to avoid any penalty. The easiest methods which I see best fit for guest posting are:
Writing quality articles
Use maximum of three links per post
Taking advantage of the rel”nofollow”
Huh? Isn’t that rel=”nofollow” means zero backlink?
Yes indeed. This is my link building strategy. You don’t want search engines to consider your site as a link juice or link farm. Therefore, if the content in the link doesn’t provide quality information for your readers, it is better off with a no follow rule.
Do you understand why I say it as a double sided blade now?
6. The viral factor and link building under one roof
Go nuts … like Holmer!
Have you heard about viral video or viral content? So, what does the word, viral actually means?
For me, it means an action which is hit the world by storm … unintentionally. Here’s an example:
Years ago, a kid made a video to promote his band and uploaded it to MySpace. Sounds like, “duh” right?
The video was about a kid who ran around the garden smashing two Barbie dolls together, throwing tomato source all over the place and screaming the name of his band in a variation of pitches while his MySpace page flashed at the bottom of the screen.
And, guess what?
He received two million hits to his band’s MySpace … in just two days.
The kid didn’t do much … and probably took around 20 minutes trying to clean up the mess he did plus uploading the video.
Viral content, whether it be images, videos or quizzes – has the potential to drive massive amounts of traffic and generate a large amount of business leads or subscribers.
So, what the heck this has to do with link building?
Take the kid’s case study for an example. Do you think that out of the two million hits the kid got, how many people actually share the video or his band?
I call this … indirect link building since … it’s viral and we can’t really control it, could we? I totally understand that there is no possible way to actually create a perfect viral content.
Math lesson: Let’s say you manage (accidentally) create a viral content and it drives you tons of traffic. Do you know how much website traffic you are going to gain?
7. Old fashioned link building techniques. Are they dead?
I read so many articles about changing SEO techniques, so on and so forth. Question is, do you really need the traditional SEO building strategies now?
From what I see it, yes you need them and it is never advisable to ditch them. With all these Google Penguin and Google Panda, it is harder to score points with the old methods. But, each point you earned will worth even more than ever!
Fair deal for you?
We discussed about guest blogging, marketing techniques and SEO tool like this one above. Anyone of these could help you with SEO and this certainly doesn’t prove that ancient SEO methods won’t count anymore. Remember that most search engine optimization methods are based out of the trusted, ancient ‘recipe’.
Since so many algorithms are calculated based on page ranks and number of links, I bet you totally understand where this is heading.
Personally, I would advise you to start changing your game plan. Like me, my approach to SEO is way different than three years back. I even created SEO Blueprints library which consist of every SEO techniques I’m practicing right now.
8. Avoid the BIGGEST link building mistakes
Oh no! Holmer does it again!
For me, the biggest sin you can ever do when it comes to SEO is when you think you had done enough. The truth is … you aren’t able to to completely do SEO.
Why?!
Because SEO is a learning process and it has many implementation phrases. This means that what works today, might not work for tomorrow.
Now, tell me if you have ever (and I really mean e-v-e-r) thought of giving up.
Yes, you thought search engine optimization is too hard and you probably done everything you could. Yet, you’re ain’t seeing the results. People say you need to be patience and you waited for months and still, goddammit nothing happens!
Sounds familiar? Don’t be shy and admit it. It happens to you, to me and nearly every blogger out there. It felt like a never ending war right?
Now, this is the cold hard fact. SEO doesn’t happen overnight and certainly, there isn’t any proven methods for us to judge how far we had done or accomplished.
Giving up hope is definitely a no-no here. Content, article and website optimization are all, ever growing activities which will always keep you on your toes (and for some, might even make you stay awake at night).
Agree to disagree?
Back to you
Wow! This is a longest post (as of now) which I had written! So, how do you like it? If you had read this in just one shot, I’m going to give you my salute. No doubt on that.
As for the topic, these are the top 8 workable link building techniques that we all can practise to build authority and at the same time, traffic. I used these nearly every day and whenever I’m blogging.
What do you think? Tell me what you think and you can easily do it right below.
*If you like this article, could you please share this for me using the red Google+ button below?
[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]MailChimp Email Marketing Services. This post was published on 9th July 2013 and it is time for an update because there are a lot of things that had changed over the years. Not only MailChimp had changed, everything from list building to email marketing solutions had evolved with technology.
So, are you planning to use MailChimp for email marketing or already using MailChimp but is actively looking for alternatives? Today, I’m going to share some important things you should know about disadvantages using MailChimp which can impact your email marketing strategy dearly.
This article is not about flaming or putting MailChimp down. Instead, it is just several small information which could affect you, your website or business if you are not careful with. More importantly, these disadvantages might impact your online marketing strategies!
BONUS RESOURCE: Click here to learn more about MailChimp competitors (ConvertKit and Drip) here!
What is MailChimp (or ChimpMail)?
MailChimp has came a long way and over the years, it had it shares of improvements done to email marketing. MailChimp is currently the market leader for free email marketing solution.
Here’s what MailChimp looks like in the past.
It’s bloody old school to say the very least!
Those days, the tagline for MailChimp is “Send Better Emails” and now, the latest MailChimp tagline is “Marketing Platform For Small Businesses.”
While MailChimp may have changed its logo, branding and tagline, the same old MailChimp email marketing model (which are highly sought after) remains:
Forever free account for email marketing
Manage up to 2,000 email subscribers free
Send up to 12,000 emails per month for free
I know thousands of businesses around the world who stand by MailChimp when it comes to email marketing service. Even bloggers (both beginners and professionals) use MailChimp to manage their email lists!
So, why is MailChimp such a popular email marketing service?
I bet it has nothing to do with the chimpanzee who dressed up as a postal service previously. While I think that it is a great mascot as it serves a good balance between fun and work, the new mascot for MailChimp looks better and portrays quality.
MailChimp got its name and fame by offering pretty much forever free email marketing solutions to those who need it.
Small business owners, email marketers, bloggers and entrepreneurs use MailChimp because of the excellent pricing structures and of course, very good delivery rates.
In short, MailChimp is an online email marketing solution to manage your contacts, send emails and track results. It offers forever free membership for the first 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails monthly.
For me, forever free email marketing solution is very tempting and mouthwatering feature especially when you are new in blogging or Internet marketing industry. We are always trying to grow our mailing list and if you are just starting a new venture, you wouldn’t want to spend $20 to $100 a month for premium email marketing services.
Hey, I get it … I’ve been there myself! When I first started Marketing Lancers (digital marketing agency in Malaysia), the entire company’s was going on lean marketing/setup. Minimum staffs and leveraging as many free tools as possible to reduce the overall cost.
With the very interactive user interface, excellent back-end dashboard and forever free MailChimp email marketing services, your email marketing problem is solved, right?
Well, I wished that was the case but it isn’t. There are some MailChimp weaknesses and disadvantages which you should be well aware off, or else they are going to bite you where it hurts the most (destroying your email list).
Carry on reading to learn more about MailChimp email marketing solution.
BONUS: If you want to learn how to use MailChimp effectively, here’s an awesome guide for you. The Complete Guide In Using MailChimp Email Marketing Solution (Step By Step Guide).
1. No affiliate marketing with MailChimp
The single biggest problem with MailChimp email marketing solution is their legal policies. MailChimp legal policies is pretty strict especially for many bloggers and work from home Internet marketers.
Why?
I got this shot from the main website (source below).
Prohibited Content on MailChimp
Please don’t use MailChimp to send anything offensive, to promote anything illegal, or to harass anyone. You may not send:
Pornography or other sexually explicit emails
Email offering to sell illegal goods or services
Emails that violate CAN-SPAM Laws
Alternate Comment TimesMarketing or commercial email with permission
Some industries have higher-than-normal abuse complaints, which can in turn jeopardize the deliverability of our entire system. Nothing personal, but in order to maintain the highest delivery rates possible for all our customers, we can’t allow businesses that offer these types of services, products, or content:
Escort and dating services
Pharmaceutical products
Work from home,make money on online, and lead generation opportunities
Alternate Comment TimesOnline trading, day trading tips, or stock market-related content
Alternate Comment TimesMulti-level marketing
Alternate Comment TimesAffiliate marketing
Alternate Comment TimesCredit repair and get out of debt opportunities
Alternate Comment TimesMortgages and loans
Alternate Comment TimesNutritional, herbal, and vitamin supplements
Alternate Comment TimesAdult novelty items or references
Alternate Comment TimesList brokers or list rental services
If you send this sort of content, most email services providers won’t be able to help you. You might want to look into setting up your own mail server. MailChimp’s Delivery Guide explains how that works.Source: MailChimp
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you blown?
For the benefit of the doubt, I understand that MailChimp wants to protect its delivery rate but do you agree that MailChimp terms is not even an advantage to consider for online marketers and bloggers?
I was made aware thanks to Adrian and you can read it all here (comment section).
Personally, I wouldn’t mind the first few disadvantages but not allowing affiliate marketing is definitely the stop point for me. As a professional and seasoned affiliate marketer, using MailChimp email marketing solution means that I’m at risk of losing my whole email list and more importantly, going to impact my affiliate earnings severely!
I could be wrong but Internet marketing is either selling/promoting products (affiliate marketing) or creating some sort of lead generation for business.
Editor’s Note
If you are in the affilaite marketing niche like I do, I recommend you to understand the terms and conditions of MailChimp before using it. MailChimp has the tendency to remove your account without any notice and this means that all your hard work will just go straight into the drain!
When it comes to MailChimp abuse reports, the risk is high and you need to know that you are not allowed to promote any affiliate products (apart from your own) using MailChimp.
2. MailChimp pricing structure is misleading
This MailChimp review is not complete without talking about the MailChimp pricing structure.
MailChimp pricing structure is really bad. Take a look at both of these screenshots.
Basic pricing structure
When you have more than 2,000 subscribers
For me, the MailChimp email pricing structure is really misleading. Compare both the left and right side of the images.
Let’s assume you are at 2,000 email subscribers and you are required to go for paid email marketing by MailChimp. You are no longer paying $10 but $30 for 2,000 email subscribers (up to 2,500 email subscribers).
Do you see the big jump in pricing? That’s an additional of $20 on top of the base $10 per month! For bloggers, this is definitely not worth the money and effort.
Sure, professional email marketers (even other blog posts) will say that when you have 2,000 email subscribers, you will be able to make sufficient money from your list.
But, is that the real truth? For a fact, I know many bloggers and Internet marketers who have more than 2,000 email subscribers and not making a single cent from email marketing.
If I’m putting myself in the shoes of new bloggers or low-income online marketers, MailChimp pricing is definitely one of the biggest disadvantages using MailChimp.
Plus when include in the terms and conditions of not allowing affiliate marketing, it gets even worse!
I will not be surprised the number of bloggers who have this question in mind, “How do I make money with email marketing with MailChimp?”
Personally, I rather pay for AWeber anytime of the day compared to MailChimp based on the pricing structure (no offense, MailChimp).
3. MailChimp support is bad
Based on industry standards, MailChimp has one of the worst support you can ever image.
If you are using MailChimp free account, support will only be given to you on the first 30 days via email only (refer above).
Yes, I know EXACTLY what you are thinking.
It is rather safe to say that when you use MailChimp free account, there is absolutely NO support given and I can’t even imagine MailChimp has such feature. Sure the knowledge base for MailChimp is very detailed but in today’s business world, data suggests that customers see fast, friendly and consistent customer service as the gold standard.
Should I still use MailChimp?
I think this is one important question to cover. MailChimp has many disadvantages but I still use MailChimp for some of my blogs and businesses.
When it comes to email marketing, MailChimp is pretty awesome and has a very unique pricing model. If you are a small to medium sized business and doesn’t require much from an email marketing solution, MailChimp is an excellent choice.
If mailing list is under 2,000 email subscribers and you are not willing to pay for an email marketing solution, this ChimpMail is worth the try.
The most important factor when considering using MailChimp is that you are not opening in the industry or markets which they do not allow (refer to their terms above).
MailChimp is just like any other email marketing solutions such as AWeber and Convertkit. It is common to have emails delivered via MailChimp going to spam. This happens!
The problems (in most cases) don’t sit on MailChimp servers but most of the the time, the email domain that you used or the content in the email that triggers the spam filters. Here are some samples:
Using Gmail or Yahoo to send email
Having words like “free” and “sale” in the email body
What’s your thought on MailChimp?
What do you think about MailChimp and all these issues?
Again, this doesn’t prove or mean that MailChimp is bad choice for email marketing. I got to admit that the above sounds a little … biased … but I promise I’m not!
Maybe, just a little frustrated as an avid Internet marketer myself.
If you’re able to live with it (like the thousands who do), why not right?
MailChimp offers:
Free and pay as you go (services)
Acceptable level of reliability (delivery)
Simple to use and intuitive dashboard/email marketing features
Personally, I would use MailChimp if I’m running a small blog or a non-business site. However, I would rather pay a little bit more to have a better service especially when it comes to business matters. Moreover, Internet marketing is all about the ‘list’ and without one, you are basically nothing.
My only concern about MailChimp are their terms and MailChimp pay as you go mechanics which can be very expensive as you grow your email list.
Are you convinced with what I have to say about MailChimp? If you are thinking that hey, MailChimp is free to sign up and no strings attached, go ahead and register your free account here. Moreover, you have nothing to lose, right?
Now, what’s your take on this? Will MailChimp be able to restore confidence among its member? Hit the reply button below and tell me what you think.
………
Thinking twice of MailChimp or looking for another email marketing provider? How about AWeber?Try it out for FREE today (plus 30 days money back guarantee)!
And if AWeber is not your cup of tea, here are 4 more MailChimp alternatives to start your email marketing campaigns today. Read here.
Overall, there are many other MailChimp alternatives that you could use. It all boils down to your email marketing requirements and the budget you can afford to commit to every month.
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For many bloggers, search engine optimization or SEO is very important when it comes to growing a website. And yes, this is wrong! Hell wrong … I should be focusing on reader’s engagement and let me tell you why.
I did two case studies last month and the figures really opened my eyes. Through my experience, new websites on competing on moderate to high competition keywords usually get very less traffic for the first few months. When I read Neil Patel’s Quick Sprout, it made me realized that I could actually grow my website from nothing to something … within days.
What’s worst is that I’m competing on super high competition keywords such as:
Blogging
Internet marketing
Search engine optimization
WordPress
Do you know how much competitions I’m actually facing? Literally, it felt like competing with a quarter of the total websites in the world.
So, this is probably not the question of the year but it sure sounds important for you and me; Why should you focus more on social engagement than plain, straight-forward search engine optimization techniques?
This is not about ditching your SEO strategies but to improvise it. Start thinking out of the box!
Here’s what Google said in the past:
‘In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.’
This is what Google says now:
‘In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by creating high-quality sites that users will want to use and share.’
Does this make any sense to you? I even underlined the important words for you. So, ask yourself again now; How important is social engagement in Google point of view?
The below are two case studies which I did to see how social engagement affects my website growth and traffic.
Case Study 1
Focused on:
Search engine optimization techniques
Quality content
Using right keywords
My website traffic was pretty low considering that it is new and limited social engagement
Look at the graph. Does that look familiar to you? For me, absolutely yes. Regardless how many new websites I started up, my graph and website traffic has always be like that.
20 to 50 views a day? That doesn’t make the cut! I need to do more and think out of the box; Is there any other way to improve and increase my website traffic?
Case Study 2:
Focused on:
Social shares (social media)
Reader’s engagement
Commenting on other blogs of the same niche
My website traffic increase dramatically when there was comments done on Google+ and social media
Even a young boy could tell the difference right? My website traffic exploded, skyrocketed and increase more than what I expected.
This is H-U-G-E …
In just one week:
Website traffic increase at least 2.5 times more
Over 50 comments received
Bounce rate reduced by 10%
And my Gooogle Adsense revenue grow by 33%
This is H-U-G-E …
Case study 2 isn’t much about the normal SEO stuffs most bloggers talk about … you know, content, keywords and the list continues.
Instead, case study 2 is how clever bloggers and writers grow their websites. Just look at how Traffic Generation Cafe, Kikolani and CopyBlogger grow their websites.
Practically, they did everything every one was doing. From search engine optimization techniques to writing great contents.
But, they did everything with a twist … they added human touch.
What? Human touch?
Human touch is more than just hand shaking
Read some of your articles and tell me if these articles are written for search engines and not for readers. I admit it, even I have some article written for search engines and that’s bad.
I classify human touch as one part of social engagement. When your readers hits your website, you got to make sure that you try your best to get to them and welcome them.
If you are writing a blog or article, make sure you are catering for your human readers and not bots. Readers want to read facts and not SEO optimized articles. Period.
Be a reader yourself to be engaging
Nowadays, reader’s engagement is way more important than content itself.
Always put yourself in the shoes of your readers. Imagine you are visiting a blog and the writer is actually writing for search engines and not for the reader. Would you be back? I guess not.
Sames goes here. When a reader leave a comment, reply to them and tell them how much you appreciate them. I know a bunch of bloggers who don’t reply to comment and this is absolutely why you should … starting now!
You want to your website to grow in terms of traffic, search engine ranking and even subscribers right? You got to do something to make them come back for more! And, you wouldn’t go any wrong with some customer service or human touch I would say.
Small steps could create big improvements in social engagement
Before you even thinking of going into social media, make sure you are ready for it. Update all your profiles and make sure they are good. Yes, real good.
Tip when writing a profile: Compose a short profile where readers can get an idea of what you are in just 15 seconds or less.
You want your readers to engage with you and you want to create a good platform for that. There’s no better way then showing to people what you really are with a good profile and a nice photo of you. Please … no fake photos or some celebrities. That’s a recipe for disaster 🙂
Why reader’s engagement matters?
It doesn’t really matter if the reader is leaving a negative or positive comment. Taking for an example, I received a comment yesterday by Adrian Jock. He pointed out that I had overlooked one of the facts and I didn’t delete that. Instead, I published it and did the right amendment as what pointed out. You can find the article here: The Truth About Aweber And MailChimp.
I used to be a blogger myself who deletes all bad comments and leave good ones instead. Well, even though that is absolutely doable, I wanted to be slightly different.
Now, do a little thinking and do you get the point?
The fact is that any discussion could be a great discussion. It really depends on how you talk it out. I know some comments turned out to be heated one instead. And that, by all means … please avoid it! 🙂
Thank your readers who left comments on your website
A small note of thank you goes a long way especially for bloggers
This is another important part that is important for most readers following from the above. They love to see your reply and yes this is the real deal. I know quite a few bloggers and writers who do not respond to their reader’s comment. If you’re following their footsteps, you should stop right now!
If you want to boost your social engagement level and get your readers to come back for more, you should start talking to them. There’s no better way then thanking them for their time visiting and even reply to their feedback.
For me, I reward my readers and those who leave a comment by using CommentLuv plugin. Basically, anyone can entitle for a free DoFollow link as long as they comment and share the article on social media. Don’t hear my words for it. Instead, here’s the link (it’ll open a new window for you): What is CommentLuv WordPress plugin?
Start leaving your comments on other blogs!
Have you ever encountered a time where you stumbled upon some article on the web and liked it? Why don’t you leave a comment and thank the author for the hard work? Moreover, they deserved it since they had provided some sort of important information for you.
When you are leaving comments on blogs, make sure you make it as insightful as possible. This means that you must scrape off all those thank you and goodbye stuffs. Instead, thank them for the hard work and add some of your thoughts into the matter.
I know probably 90% of the blogs out there do not allow links on their comment right? This is where you should take advantage of CommentLuv enable sites. Sharing good comment and get a link share in return?
I don’t think there’s anything else better than this!
The importance of social share (social media)
Like it or hate it, social share is important. Imagine the webpage had just opened and immediately, your eyes are attracted to the total number of social media shares it has on that page. I bet your mind is telling you that the article is pretty impressive and worth your time reading right?
Yes! That’s it! The more social share you have, the better chance people are going to be convinced on what you’ve to say.
Recently, I’ve been very active on social media and for every like, retweet or share I got on social media, my traffic exploded multiple times. Does this make any logical sense for you?
I bet it do … right?
Writing good content is important but if no one is reading it, there ain’t any point. Therefore, it is best if you can allocate some time around daily for some social shares. Even sharing other articles is also a great move as well!
If you are looking for a good (and free) Social Media management tool, you may want to sign up for SocialOomph.
Over to you …
I’m sure you are now convinced that social engagement is extremely important regardless it is for SEO, website ranking or even increasing website traffic.
What do you think about social engagement and are you practicing it already?
Hit the Reply button below and let’s discuss.
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