Starting a Blog? Have a blog? Avoid the 3 Most Critical Mistakes People Make when getting started! When we nailed #2 our traffic tripled. This is not your typical 'tips' slideshare. This is an in-depth walkthrough on the most common mistakes bloggers make these days. If you make these three mistakes during this startup process, it's all for nothing. These go way beyond tips on starting a blog, these are flat out necessities. We want to not only discuss these 3 mistakes here but also give you a roadmap on how to avoid them altogether. This will make your blog stand out from the masses and give your readers the best experience possible. More importantly, give them reasons to keep coming back. Get access to the full post as well as a 32 page PDF for you on our blog: https://blog.myleadsystempro.com/starting-a-blog-definitive-guide

2. The3mostCRITICALmistakespeoplemake
whenstartingablog
• Not Defining Your Target Market
• Not Figuring Out Your Site Structure
• Not Doing Basic Keyword Research
Now that you know them - let’s figure out how to avoid them!
NOTE: This presentation assumes you will be using Wordpress for your blog

3. TARGETMARKET
Defining Your

4. WHATDOWEMEAN?
Figure out who you want to serve, and then figure out how you can serve
them. Once you do this, everything else falls in line. Before you begin any
type of content creation, marketing, or monetization strategy, you have
to know who you are talking to!

5. HOWDOYOUDEFINEYOURTARGETMARKET?
The first step in figuring this out is to answer the following questions:
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Who are you?
What do you stand for?
Who do you serve?
How can you serve them?
THE FIRST 2 QUESTIONS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
You need to figure out what you are passionate about. What's life all
about for you? What do you like to talk about? What are your values?
What's important to you? If you don't base your blog around
something you are passionate about, you will lose interest quickly.

6. FIGUREOUTTHEIRNEEDS
Once you pinpoint who your target market is, then it's time to figure out what
their biggest challenges, concerns, and problems are. What do they REALLY
want? Use these resources to FIND OUT!
SOCIAL MEDIA
Use Facebook and Twitter. Look
at hashtags that may be used by
your market. What are they
talking about? What words are
they using? What questions are
they using? Are there Facebook
groups based around your target
market that you can join?
REDDIT
Reddit is an online community that
provides 'sub-reddits' or small
communities of specific interests.
There is a sub-reddit for pretty
much every topic. Find your
relevant community on there and
join the discussion!

7. FIGUREOUTTHEIRNEEDS
Q&A SITES
Question and answer sites like
Quora & Yahoo Answers can give
you great insight in to the actual
questions your target market it
asking when searching in Google.
Find out from their mouths what
their most pressing questions are.
ANSWERTHEPUBLIC.COM
This is an awesome resource that
provides you with questions that
your target market is asking in
Google and Bing. It even allows
you to export the information they
give you in a very nice visual data
sheet!
bottomlineis:Findoutwhereyourtargetmarket
hangsoutonline,andjointheconversation!

8. SITESTRUCTURE
Figuring Out Your

9. NOWYOU’VEGOTYOURTARGETMARKET…
It's time to figure out what you are going to be talking about, what topics you
are going to be covering, the type of content you are going to be creating,
and how you are going to organize it on your blog. THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR
MANY REASONS!

10. 1:HELPSGOOGLE
A good site structure gives Google
clues on what your site is about
AND how to find your most
important content

11. 2:HELPSYOUR
READERS
A good site structure makes it easy
for PEOPLE to find the content on
your site that THEY WANT. Give them
a GREAT USER EXPERIENCE!

12. 3:CONGRUENCY
A good site structure allows you to
EASILY target your audience with
relevant offers and lead magnets. IT
ALSO KEEPS YOU FOCUSED & ON
TOPIC!

13. You end up with a log of blog categories because you didn’t
put much thought into them before you started. Or you created
them on the fly as you wrote. You end up with category bloat,
and your ‘niche’ blog went off track.
ASCENARIOYOUWANTTOAVOID…

14. IDEALBLOGSITESTRUCTURE
SHOULD BE PYRAMID OR
TREE-SHAPED
A good site structure gives Google
clues on what your site is about
AND how to find your most
important content.
Your brand is at the very top, below
that is your cornerstone content for
your ‘head’ keywords (the keywords
you care about the most), below
those are dozens – if not
hundreds– of posts, strengthening
your site’s structure.
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15. INTERNAL LINKING
Remember we want to make it easy for
users to find related & your BEST CONTENT!
You want to consider linking from your ‘tail’
of your pyramid to the ‘head’ where your
best content is. Basically - link your smaller
‘filler’ posts to a related piece of pillar or
‘cornerstone’ content
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EQUALLY LARGE CATEGORIES
This is important to maintain an
accurate reflection of what your site
is ABOUT. If you are blogging too
much in one category, you may
want to rethink your structure

16. KEYWORD RESEARCH (BASIC)
It’s important that the words you are
using in your structure (categories, tags,
etc.) MATCH what your target market is
actually searching for. Proper keyword
research will help you find out what
search terms are used by your audience!
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A FEW MORE TIPS
• Try to have a maximum of 5 to 8 core categories
• The category names & tags should MEAN SOMETHING to your audience
(don’t get cute!)
• As you move down your pyramid, you get more and more specific with
categories and posts
• Link from these more specific ‘filler posts’ up to your pillar content -
ALWAYS guide the reader where you want them to go

17. WHYKEYWORDRESEARCH
CASE STUDY 1
An old side blog of ours used to have a main category with the keyword of
Get Leads. The image below illustrates why a few seconds of keyword
research could have given us a better idea of what people are searching for

18. CASE STUDY 2
Colleagues of ours were starting a blog geared toward people who wanted
to be able to start their own business while traveling the world. They were
targeting the term ‘Travel Business’ - Simple keyword research shows their
target market was using the term Digital Nomad.
WHYKEYWORDRESEARCH

19. ACCESSTHEFULLBLOGPOST!
To read the full post about starting a
blog and making sure it’s successful,
click here & get access to your very own
free 32 page pdf walkthrough!

20. CATEGORIES,TAGS&
PILLARCONTENT
Let’s chat about

21. THE3RULESOFCATEGORIES
RULE 1
Categories are used to create LARGE groups of content within
your site. They bundle content that has a similar HIGH LEVEL topic
RULE 2
Categories are ‘hierarchal’ - simply means they can have
subcategories to bundle small groups of content (more ‘niche’)
RULE 3
By creating categories & subcategories you end up creating the
‘tree-like’ structure by organizing your content!
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22. THE3RULESOFTAGS
RULE 1
If categories are your sites Table of Contents, tags are it’s
index. You can use these to ‘micro-organize’ your content
RULE 2
Think of them as popular keywords or ‘search terms’ you can
use to relate your posts. This helps with your websites internal
search and related posts.
RULE 3
TAGS DO NOT EQUAL META-KEYWORDS! Do not try to ‘stuff’ your
posts full of tags to try to trick Google. You’ll do more harm than
good
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23. IMPORTANTNOTE:
As with all aspects of your site structure - tags are meant to
make it easier for YOUR USERS to find related content on
your website. If every post/article receives yet another new
unique tag, you are not structuring anything!

24. WHATISPILLARCONTENT?
MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLES
These are posts or pages that
literally provide your audience with
MASSIVE VALUE
DO THE HEAVY LIFTING
This type of content gets shares,
backlinks, engagement and can
eventually rank for competitive
keywords
MAKE YOU THE AUTHORITY
Supports your brand promise,
establishes trust & credibility
HIGH IN YOUR SITE STRUCTURE
Easy to find, quick to reach, linked to
and referenced REPEATEDLY from
related posts

25. WHATISPILLARCONTENT?
A GOOD DEFINITION:
Pillar content is the content that pretty much sums up what you have to say
from now until kingdom come. It is the end-all, be-all for your target market.
These posts will be the definitive answer to your target markets biggest
questions, concerns, and problems. It’s highly likely that they’ll be the longest,
most well-researched, and best content on your entire site–if not the best
writing you’ll do anywhere else online.
EXAMPLES (clicktoview)
Starting a Blog -
The Definitive
Guide
Facebook Messenger
Marketing: A Complete
Beginner’s Guide
Content Marketing
Strategy: The
Ultimate Guide

26. HELPSWITH
CONGRUENCY
Clear Site Structure

27. MAKESSEARCH
RELIABLE
Your internal site’s search bar is
important for your users. Having
your content properly tagged and
categorized makes it easy for YOUR
USERS to find the content they want.

28. MAKESRELATEDCONTENTWORKFORYOU
Wordpress uses mainly your categories and tags to display related
posts to your reader. If your structure is all over the place, who knows
what they’ll see!

29. EASILYTARGETYOUR
READERSWITH
CONGRUENTOFFERS
A solid site structure let’s you
TARGET YOUR READERS with HIGHLY
congruent offers, lead magnet and
optins based on the type (or topic)
of content they are reading!

30. SITESTRUCTURE
BESTPRACTICES
Summing Up With

31. SITESTRUCTUREBESTPRACTICES
TREE LIKE STRUCTURE
The closer you are to your
homepage the more general
topics should be. Use categories
and tags to group related content
together for a better user
experience.
RIGHT MESSAGE TO RIGHT
MARKET
The head sections of your site
(categories, pillar content) should
correspond with your primary
offers, and/or services.
(Remember your target market
training)

32. SITESTRUCTUREBESTPRACTICES
PLAN OUT YOUR CONTENT
Start by labeling sections/
categories, and work to refine
them. Section names and the
overall flow of the site should be
clear and make sense to everyone!
Not just you.
BASIC KEYWORD RESEARCH
Conducting keyword research can
shed light on which terms may be
most relevant to your content.
What is your target market
searching for? What words are
they using? DON’T ASSUME YOU
KNOW!

33. KEYWORD
RESEARCH!
Do Some Basic

34. WHYDOATLEASTBASICKEYWORDRESEARCH
Your goal when conducting keyword research is to identify
the topics that matter most to your target audiences, and
then discover the exact language they use when they
search for information and discuss their questions on
social networking sites.
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35. WHYDOATLEASTBASICKEYWORDRESEARCH
Will also give you the ability to craft headlines and topics
that you KNOW your target market will click through
when they see it
(Like on social media, or email blasts)
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36. WHYDOATLEASTBASICKEYWORDRESEARCH
It’s incredibly important (and therefore, valuable) to know the
exact language that your audience uses when they describe
their biggest desires and challenges in your industry.
REMEMBER
Travel Business VS. Digital Nomad?
Get Leads VS. Lead Generation?
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37. KEYWORDRESEARCHTERMS
Extremely hard to rank for
HEAD KEYWORDS
Somewhat difficult to rank for, but
depending on your content and strategy,
it’s possible. Also good for categories &
pillar post content
MIDDLE or MID-TAIL KEYWORDS
More specific, less competitive
and less popular. Easier to rank
for. Good for blog posts
LONG TAIL

38. THEKEYWORDCURVE

39. KEYWORD
RESEARCH!
Steps to Perform Basic

40. Think about the topics you want to talk about in terms of generic “buckets” –
and select 5-8 – these will be your categories. This will be the overall
information and topics you discuss on your blog. (or anywhere)
• These would be the topics you create content about most frequently
• The types of topics your audience would search for that you want to
be found for
• You will use these topic buckets to help come up with some specific
keywords later in the process
STEP1:LISTYOURTOPICS

41. Come up with keywords and key phrases you think your target market would
be searching for.
Brainstorming for something like Lead Generation may lead to:
• Online lead generation
• How to generate leads online
• Lead generation tips
• Lead generation strategies
STEP2:FILLYOURTOPICSWITHKEYWORDS

42. If you're struggling to think of more keywords people might be searching
about a specific topic, go to Google.com and take a look at the related
search terms that appear when you plug in a keyword.
STEP3:RESEARCHRELATEDTERMS
BOTTOM LINE:
You just want to make sure that the content you are creating is BEING
SEARCHED FOR by your target market. You can do this by figuring out
‘search volume’ with a very simple tool.

43. KEYWORD
RESEARCH!
Tools to Help You With

44. KEYWORDS EVERYWHERE
• Taps in to a ton of resources to
show you keyword volume and
difficulty data
• Can ‘mass-upload’ your whole
list of potential keywords to get
search volume
• Can export as a CSV
KEYWORDRESEARCHTOOLS
KEYWORD SHITTER
• Terrible name, I know
• Good at getting long-tail
keywords you may not have
thought of
• Works with Keywords
Everywhere to show search
data & volume

45. KW FINDER
• Gives you great keyword
suggestions
• Gives SERP results of pages
ranking for keyword
• Gives pretty accurate
competitive data
KEYWORDRESEARCHTOOLS
ANSWER THE PUBLIC
• Turn your keyword in to
questions, giving amazing
content ideas
• Excellent long tail keyword
options
• Pairs with Keywords Everywhere
to give you search volume
data!

46. SUMTHISUP!
Let’s

47. AVOIDThe3mostCRITICALmistakes
peoplemakewhenstartingablog
CONTINUE LEARNING!
To read the full post about starting a blog and
making sure it’s successful, click here & get
access to your very own free 32 page pdf
walkthrough!
• Define Your Target Market
• Figure Out Your Site Structure
• Do Some Basic Keyword Research
https://www.mlsp.com/starting-a-
blog
https://blog.myleadsystempro.com/starting-a-blog-definitive-guide