Steve Shaw

About Steve Shaw

Do you have your copy of Steve Shaw's Content Authority Formula yet? It gives you the proven 1-2-3 formula for building your authority, influence and visibility, at the same time as helping your SEO. Download your copy now - click here.

How to Quick Fix Broken Links on Your WordPress Site

By |October 4th, 2016|

Broken links, such as those leading to 404 errors, can damage your WordPress site in two main ways:

  • It degrades the experience for visitors. Ever click links within a blog post only to find they lead nowhere? If so, you’ll know it reduces the amount of time you’re likely to spend on the page and reduces the credibility of the site in question.
  • It negatively affects your SEO. Google and other search engines understand the impact of broken links on the visitor experience. They prefer to send visitors to pages with up-to-date and intact resources. So if you have broken links, it’s important to remove or fix them as soon as possible.

…a broken link is doing some serious damage to your website, your reputation, and your business. A single broken link can impact your search engine rankings, your site’s user experience, result in lost customers and revenue, or, in worst case, all of the above.
SiteImprove.com

As well as 404 Not Found errors, there are 410 Gone, 502 Bad Gateway, and various other errors indicating a problem with the link.

Fortunately, broken links are easy to fix and keep on top of.

This post shows you different options you can use. The easiest method, as I’ll show you, is to use a simple WordPress plugin designed for the purpose, accessible from directly within the WordPress Dashboard.

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20 Rapid-Fire Ways to Use Twitter to Benefit Your Business

By |September 26th, 2016|

Many businesses use Twitter with only a vague notion of why they are there. They use it because they feel they should be, but there’s little strategy behind it. Consequently, they barely scrape the surface of what Twitter has to offer for their business.

Others may tap into some of the benefits of Twitter, but ignore or fail to utilise many others.

The following list provides you with 20 rapid-fire ways to use Twitter to benefit your business that you can start putting into action today, whether you’re a Twitter old-timer or relatively new on the platform.
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Paid Social Media: Where Should You Advertise? [Data + Case Studies]

By |September 12th, 2016|

Social media continues to evolve. Increasing numbers of businesses are investing in paid social media advertising for both increasing the reach of their content, and for targeting their specific market on a granular level.

Research shows that over half of B2B businesses, and three quarters of B2C businesses, are using paid social media advertising as part of their content marketing activities.

But just look at how it’s grown in the space of a year. As the following charts illustrate, paid advertising usage on social media has shot up sharply for both B2B and B2C.

But with so many social networks available, it’s confusing where to start. There’s no one-size-fits-all social advertising solution. Different networks will suit different businesses and advertising approaches.

This post reviews 10 different social networks that provide paid advertising opportunities. I share the demographics of each network (including network size) and the advertising options available.

Plus, so you can see what can be achieved, I share successful case studies for each platform, along with real data wherever possible.

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12 Big Benefits of Social Media for Business

By |September 3rd, 2016|

We’re continually told social media for business is essential.

But why?

What exactly are the benefits for business owners?

According to Statista, a massive 90% of small and medium-sized businesses use social media, with the number of active users continuing to climb:

Social media growth in 2016

But many business owners only have a notional concept of why they are there. Often it’s just a basic presence in order to tick the box.

For many, it’s all too bewildering and kept at arm’s length, save for the occasional half-hearted update. With only small followings, social postings are often followed by a discouraging complete lack of response. Is it any wonder they fail to invest in a more robust social media presence?

The only problem is, a failure to invest enough time and attention into their social media activities is one reason why the benefits remain elusive. It’s largely self-defeating.

It’s essential that you have a clear idea of why you’re using social media. Most business owners haven’t clearly defined why they are using it or what it will accomplish for them.
National Association of Sales Professionals (Nancy Marmolejo)

Unfortunately, the real benefits of social media for business are rarely explained very well, or only in vague ideas of engagement and reach that many struggle to relate to.

So this post aims to set that straight. What follows are 12 clear but very important benefits your business gains from investing in a real, active and engaging presence on social media.

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Kindle Content: Attract Leads by Repurposing Content for Amazon

By |August 22nd, 2016|

On this blog, I write a lot about how to get your content onto some of the biggest content platforms in the world, growing your authority, influence and visibility, and attracting your marketplace to you.

Amazon is no exception. It’s one of the top ten most visited sites in the world according to Alexa.

Not only that, Google regards it as their biggest competitor:

Many people think out main competition is Bing or Yahoo. But, really, our biggest search competitor is Amazon.
Eric Schmidt, Google Executive Chairman, speaking in Berlin, 2014

If you believe visibility on Google is important, it makes no sense to completely ignore the vast potential Amazon offers for marketing your business.
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How to Get on the First Page of Google (The “Hub and Spokes” SEO Method)

By |August 12th, 2016|

Want to get on the first page of Google?

Let me guess…

You’re desperately seeking that elusive top ten listing for your site’s front page. You’re focused on one or two main keywords. It seems an endless uphill struggle.

Or maybe you made it. If so, congratulations!

But then, heart thumping, you notice you’ve been knocked down again. And so the cycle continues…

If so, you’re not alone. It’s common practice.

The only problem is, this type of old-style SEO is dead. Ineffective. A waste of resources. And an endless cycle of defeat, disillusionment and, if you’re lucky, occasional elation… but then back to the defeat and disillusionment.

The good news is there’s a better strategy that:

  • Is almost guaranteed to work.
  • Attracts more (and easier to convert) search traffic.
  • Allows you to enjoy traffic levels that continue to rise long-term… rather than the occasional peaks and more common troughs of ‘front page’ SEO.

(And if you do SEO work for clients, leaves them far happier).
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My 30-Day Quora Challenge

By |August 5th, 2016|

Following my previous post about using Quora for business purposes, I was conscious that my own usage of the platform meant I was barely scratching the surface of what could be achieved. So, with just 43 answers so far, I set myself a challenge to reach 100+ answers within 30 days.

For 30 days straight, I answered on average two questions a day, and kept a record of my Quora stats throughout.

This post shares all that data so you can see the effect. You’ll see my starting position – and where I ended up after just 30 days.

Although the final results are remarkable on their own, as you’ll see the effect is truly staggering when using the data to forecast the results forward.

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How to Really Monetize a Blog (Easy 1-2-3 Blog Monetization Strategy)

By |July 30th, 2016|

I get it.

You’ve heard about blogging and decided to have a go yourself. All you have to do is post regularly, wait for some traffic, stick some ads on it along with the odd affiliate link, and then the money starts rolling in.

Right?

Sort of. It could work. Well, at least to some extent.

Let’s just say while you’ll probably earn something (eventually), the money won’t exactly be rolling in.

The truth is, this model only achieves a fraction of what your blog could earn if it was monetized more effectively.

Worse, with changes in the way we all access the web, any income you might achieve when using this model is only going down. (More on this below…)

But… if you want to know how to monetize a blog the right way, and maximize your earnings from it (rather than bring in just pocket change along with an unhealthy dose of disillusionment), read on.

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10 Sure-Fire Ways to Convert Blog Visitors into Opt-In Leads

By |July 22nd, 2016|

I won’t beat around the bush. One of the essential keys for blogging effectively and profitably is to be able to convert the traffic your blog attracts into opt-in leads.

Get this wrong, and you’ll struggle to make blogging work.

But by converting as many visitors as possible into opt-in leads, you can:

  • Build trust and credibility through more content and continual follow-up.
  • Encourage them back to your site repeatedly, further building the relationship.
  • Convert them over time into customers for your business (presuming you’re monetizing your blog properly).

Look at your blog and make sure there are conversion points that will in essence turn every post into a landing page.
SocialMediaExaminer

The good news is there are lots of different approaches you can use to capture the email address of your visitors and convert them into opt-in subscribers. They’re relatively easy to implement too, thanks to the various powerful plugins available.

The trick is to find the right mix for your blog that maximizes your opt-in conversion rate.

This post runs through the top ten most effective opt-in approaches for blogs, and shows you how to put them into action today.

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5 Key Ways to Increase Your Twitter Followers (Without Buying Them!)

By |July 15th, 2016|

While dubious-sounding ads promising to increase your Twitter followers by thousands in rapid fashion are ubiquitous, how should you actually approach attracting new followers in a way that genuinely benefits your business?

This post gives you five key ways to increase your Twitter followers and build a genuine community that truly benefits your business for the long-term.

But first, what exactly are the benefits for your business from attracting more followers?

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