The post Blog Content Ideas for August appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

1. Cruel Summer(1983) by Bananarama
2. The Boys of Summer(1982) by Don Henley
3. Summer of ’69(1985) by Bryan Adams
4. WipeOut(1963) by The Sufaris
5. Surfin’ USA(1963) by The Beach Boys
6. School’s Out for Summer(1972) by Alice Cooper
7. Summertime Blues(1958) by Eddie Cochran
8. Summertime(1991) DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince
9. Summer Breeze(1972) Seals and Crofts
10. Summer in the City(1966) by The Lovin’ Spoonful

 
What summertime songs would you add to this list? Why not run a July contest asking your audience to share their favorite summertime songs? Perhaps compile the 10 most popular into a list and create a poll in which everyone could vote. The one who submitted the winning song could receive:
 

• Free product or service from your business
• Discounts to your products or services
• Summertime drink discount card
• Amazon $30 gift card
• ITunes $30 gift card

 
 
Holidays and Special Days
 
July 4 – Independence Day
Thomas Jefferson, is the author of the Declaration of Independence. He led a committee that crafted the declaration from June 11-28, 1776. Jefferson and other representatives from the thirteen colonies, voted and approved it on July 4, 1776. The document declared freedom for the 13 colonies from British rule. It currently resides in the Exhibition Hall of the National Archive in Washington, D.C.
 
July 5 – National Bikini Day
On July 5, 1946, the first Bikini was worn and modeled. That makes this a very special day, National Bikini Day. Oddly, it is referred to as “National”, but it did not originate in the U.S. At that time, conservative Americans largely shunned the bikini, until the 1960s. Perhaps the word “national” refers to France, where the Bikini was first modeled.
 
July 13 – Friday the 13th
Are you superstitious? Then, Friday the 13th is a day you may look forward to with fear! Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day, a day when bad things can happen. Whatever you do, don’t walk under a ladder, and don’t let a black cat cross your path on this day. Throughout most of recorded history, the number 13 has been seen as an unlucky number. If you live in fear of the number 13, you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia.
 
July 15 – National Ice Cream Day
When you get the urge for a snack on a hot, humid summer night, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Ice Cream! Therefore, it’s only fitting that ice cream be given its own special day. On this day, set the diet aside and splurge a little. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July as National Ice Cream Month. He also established National Ice Cream Day as the third Sunday in the month.
 
July 22 – Parent’s Day
Celebrated on the fourth Sunday of every July in the United States beginning in 1994, Parent’s Day is a day for children to honor both of their parents at the same time. Mother’s Day falls in May and Father’s Day in June, which means Parent’s Day completes the trilogy of parental holidays and is a day for children to show their appreciation to both parents at the same time.
 
 
Birthdays
 
July 1, 1916- Olivia De Havilland, actress
July 1, 1934- Jamie Farr, actor
July 1, 1952- Dan Aykroyd, actor
July 1, 1961- Princess Diana, Princess of Wales
July 1, 1961- Carl Lewis, Olympic champion, track star
July 2, 1932- Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s
July 3, 1962- Tom Cruise, actor
July 4, 1872- Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President (1923-1929)
July 4, 1918- Ann Landers, advice columnist
July 4, 1918- Abigail Van Buren, advice columnist
July 4, 1930- George Steinbrenner, NY Yankees owner
July 5, 1810- P. T. Barnum, showman, circus founder
July 6, 1923- Nancy Reagan, First lady of the United States
July 6, 1946- George W. Bush, 43rd U.S. President (2001-present)
July 6, 1946- Sylvester Stallone, actor/director
July 8, 1958- Kevin Bacon, actor
July 8, 1961- Toby Keith, 2003-2004 Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year
July 9, 1956- Tom Hanks, actor
July 9, 1839 – Adolphus Busch, American brewer, Busch Beer.
July 10, 1980- Jessica Simpson, singer
July 11, 1767- John Quincy Adams, 6th U.S. President (1825-1829)
July 12, 1817 Henry David Thoreau, author, philosopher
July 13, 1942- Harrison Ford, actor, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, more
July 14, 1910- William Hanna, “Hanna-Barbera”, creators of the “Flintstones” and the “Jetsons”
July 14, 1912- Woody Guthrie, folk singer, songwriter
July 14, 1913- Gerald Ford, 38th U.S. President (1974-1977)
July 15, 1951- Jesse Ventura, WWF wrestler, MN governor
July 16, 1911- Ginger Rogers, actress, dancer
July 17, 1934- Donald Sutherland, actor
July 19, 1962- Anthony Edwards, “Dr. Greene” on TV series “ER”
July 20, 1919- Sir Edmund Hillary, explorer, mountaineer, first to reach the peak of Mt Everest
July 21, 1899- Ernest Hemingway, novelist
July 21, 1924- Don Knotts, actor
July 21, 1952- Robin Williams, actor
July 22, 1947- Danny Glover, actor
July 22, 1947- Don Henley, singer, songwriter, member of the “Eagles”
July 23, 1961- Woody Harrelson, actor
July 23, 1989- Daniel Radcliffe, “Harry Potter” in Harry Potter moives
July 24, 1951- Lynda Carter, actress, “Wonder Wonam”
July 26, 1894- Aldous Huxley, writer, wrote “Brave Wew World”
July 26, 1964- Sandra Bullock, actress
July 28, 1866- Beatrix Potter, children’s author
July 28, 1945- Jim Davis, cartoonist, created “Garfield”
July 30, 1863- Henry Ford, auto maker, industrialist
July 31, 1963- Wesley Snipes, actor
July 31, 1965- J.K. Rowling, author of “Harry Potter” series
July 31, 1966- Dean Cain, actor “Superman” on TV series “Lois and Clark”
 
What great ways do you plan to spend your July days? How can you leverage these holiday events or happenings to attract customers and impact your business? Share them in the comments and of course, share them with your readers! Until next month, keep jammin’ to those summertime tunes, go barefoot as much as possible, and as always, keep writing!
 

The post Content Ideas for July appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

Holidays

November 1: All Saints Day

The Christian holiday of All Saint’s Day honors and recognizes all the saints of the Christian church, many of whom were martyrs. Over 10,000 recognized saints are celebrated and remembered. All Saints Day was originally in May but was moved to November 1st to downplay the Pagan holidays of Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve).
 

November 7: Election Day

General Elections are held in the United States on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Once every four years, Americans have the opportunity to elect a new president. Every six years, we elect our U.S. senators. U.S. congressman are elected every two years. This allows us to retain good elected officials, and overturn those who don’t serve us well. While Democracy may not be perfect, it offers us freedoms and safeguards that do not exist in many other countries. The U.S. founding fathers created a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and it is every American’s right and privilege to vote for our government officials.
 

November 11: Veteran’s Day

On November 11 at 11:11, 1921, the U.S. France and England each buried an unknown soldier in honor of those who died in World War I. This began the annual Armistice Day holiday. The time and day was picked because fighting ceased in WWI in 1918 on November 11 at 11:11. In 1954, President Eisenhower changed it to Veteran’s Day, in honor of those who served and died from all the nation’s wars. This important holiday honors all members of the Armed Forces who served our country. Veterans gave their time, and risked their lives. In some cases, they made the ultimate sacrifice.
 

November 23: Thanksgiving Day

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims and the Indians in 1621. Life for the early settlers was difficult, therefore the fall harvest was time for celebration. The Pilgrims and the Indians created a huge feast including a wide variety of animals and fowl, as well as fruits and vegetables from the fall harvest. This early celebration was the start of today’s holiday celebration. After the first Thanksgiving, the observance was sporadic and almost forgotten until the early 1800s. It was usually celebrated in late September or October. In 1941, Congress made it a national holiday and set the date as the fourth Thursday in November.
 

November 24: Black Friday

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. It is one of the two busiest shopping days of the year. (The other busiest shopping day is the day after Christmas, when throngs of shoppers hit the stores to use gift certificates and exchange merchandise.) In the world of accounting and business, red signifies a loss, and black signifies a profit. For many retailers, the Christmas holiday sales season represents one half to three quarters of their annual sales, which usually means turning a year in the red into a year completed in the black.
 

Birthdays

• November 4, 1969 – Matthew McConaughey, actor, producer
• November 6, 1814 – Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone
• November 6, 1988 – Emma Stone, actress
• November 7, 1867 – Marie Curie, first woman to win a Nobel Prize
• November 10, 1483 – Martin Luther, reformer
• November 11, 1974 – Leonardo DiCaprio – actor, film producer
• November 12, 1934 – Charles Manson, murderer
• November 12, 1982 – Anne Hathaway, actress
• November 17, 1859 – Billy the Kid, gunman
• November 19, 1962 – Jodie Foster, actress, director
• November 21, 1694 – Voltaire, author
• November 22, 1890 – Charles de Gaulle, former president of France
• November 22, 1984 – Scarlett Johanssen, actress
• November 23, 1992 – Miley Cyrus, singer
• November 24, 1946 – Ted Bundy, serial killer
• November 27, 1940 – Bruce Lee, martial arts expert
• November 27, 1957 – Caroline Kennedy, author
• November 29, 1898 – C. S. Lewis – author
• November 30, 1835 – Mark Twain, author
• November 30, 1874 – Sir Winston Churchill, WWII Prime Minister of England
• November 30, 1985 – Chrissy Teigen, model

Additional Topics

November is Epilepsy Awareness Month

Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disease and affects people of all ages. 1 in 26 people in the United States will develop epilepsy at some point in their lives. For more information visit the Epilepsy Foundation website.
 

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working toward the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel. For more information and to register your participation visit https://nanowrimo.org/.
 

November is National Pomegranate Month

The pomegranate has been revered for 8,000 years as a symbol of health, longevity, new life, virginity and fertility. This little known fruit is crazy healthy and can be used in everything from breakfast to cocktails. For more information visit https://www.pomwonderful.com/.
What special days or observances grab your interest? Are there current events or happenings that will attract customers or impact your business? Share them in the comments and of course, share them with your readers! Until next month, get out the fall and winter clothes, enjoy some turkey, and as always, keep writing!

The post November Content Ideas for Blogging appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

• How to Write Top-Notch Blog Posts for Your Clients – by Melanie Kernodle
• My Process for Writing Top Notch Blog Posts for Clients – by Becky Mollenkamp
• Content = Currency: 10 Steps to Putting Content-Coin in Your Pocket – by Michael Stover

Holidays

September 4: Labor Day

Labor Day was first celebrated on September 5, 1882, in New York City, and was sponsored by the NYC Central Labor Union. Two years later the observance was moved to the first Monday in September. The idea quickly caught on and was adopted by other states as an official holiday. It became a national holiday when adopted by Congress on June 28, 1894. Popularly viewed as the official end of summer, it also marks the beginning of school in many states. Labor Day is to show respect and appreciation for all those who work for a living in businesses large and small, union and non-union, corporate and private. Enjoy this day – you’ve earned it!
 

September 11: 911 Remembrance Day

“Where were you when the world stopped turning” is not just the opening lyrics of a popular song, it’s a question many understand all too well. No one will forget where they were on that pivotal day in 2001 when terrorists used passenger-filled airplanes as missiles to attack the United States. Thousands of Americans and people from other nations were tragically killed. The aforementioned song by country musician Alan Jackson so captured the national mood that on November 16, 2001, it was read into the United States Congressional record, the only song in history to be so honored.
 

September 17: Constitution Day

On September 17, 1787, the framers of the United States Constitution met to officially sign the document so it could be presented to the states for ratification. This was a lengthy process, as the constitution did not go into effect until March 4, 1789, almost two full years later.
 

September 22: Autumnal Equinox

This is the one day at this time of year when there is exactly 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness at the equator. Of course, most people do not live at the equator, so they see a little more or a little less of either. From this point the daylight hours slowly dwindle until the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The Autumn Equinox signals the beginning of the fall season when we traditionally celebrate harvest festivals and the trees becoming ablaze with color as the leaves change.
 

September 29: Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement” in Hebrew, and it is one of the most important days on the Jewish calendar. Work is forbidden; it is a day of prayer, confessing sin, and seeking forgiveness from God. Yom Kippur is one of only two Jewish festivals that do not have roots in a religious event in Jewish history. Can you name the other one?
 

Birthdays

• September 2, 1951: Actor Mark Harmon
• September 2, 1964: Actor Keanu Reeves
• September 3, 1965: Actor Charlie Sheen
• September 5, 1951: Actor Michael Keaton
• September 7, 1533: Queen Elizabeth I of England
• September 8, 1941: Politician Bernie Sanders
• September 11, 1977: Rapper Ludacris
• September 15, 1890: Writer Agatha Christie
• September 19, 1974: TV Host Jimmy Fallon
• September 21, 1947: Author Stephen King
• September 21, 1950: Actor Bill Murray
• September 23, 1920: Actor Mickey Rooney
• September 23, 1930: Singer Ray Charles
• September 23, 1949: Singer-Songwriter Bruce Springsteen
• September 25, 1944: Actor-Producer Michael Douglas
• September 25, 1961: Actress Heather Locklear
• September 25, 1968: Actor Will Smith
• September 26, 1981: Tennis Champion Serena Williams
• September 27, 1972: Actress, Singer Gwyneth Paltrow
• September 27, 1984: Singer Avril Lavigne
• September 29, 1988: Basketball Star Kevin Durant

Additional Topics

September 2 is International Bacon Day

Everything is truly better with bacon. Reports conflict concerning the origin of this day, but no matter is origin, celebrate with crispy strips of pork! Here is a suggested menu:

• Breakfast – Bacon and eggs of course.
• Lunch – A BLT would go nicely, or perhaps a bacon cheeseburger.
• Dinner – How about a bacon-wrapped steak or scallops, with bacon bits in the salad and bacon-wrapped asparagus? And for dessert…. what else but candied bacon!

September 10, 2017, is National Grandparent’s Day (first Sunday after Labor Day)

This day is set aside to honor those special people in our lives who gave birth to our parents and who so wonderfully invest in our lives with love and patience. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed National Grandparent’s Day to be observed the first Sunday after labor Day. If your grandparents are still living, do something to show them just how much they mean to you and your family.

September 15 is POW / MIA Recognition Day (third Friday of September)

This day was first observed on July 18, 1979 as a result of congressional resolutions. In 1986, the third Friday of September was selected as the official observance date by the National League of Families. The date was chosen because it is not associated with any of America’s wars and can truly represent POWs and MIAs from every conflict. The sitting President of the United States issues a yearly proclamation to commemorate this important day.

September 28 is Ask a Stupid Question Day

Normally held on the last school day of September, this day was allegedly created by teachers to encourage students to ask questions. We’ve all heard, “The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.” So, this is the one day a year when you should ask all those stupid unasked questions. Of course, when someone asks a stupid question on this day, it’s bad manners to laugh. After all, it’s what the day is all about!
 
What holidays or topics grab your interest? What’s happening where you live? Are there current events or movements that will attract customers or impact your business? Share them with me in the comments and of course, share them with your readers! Until next month, enjoy the colorful leaves, follow your routines, and as always, keep writing!

The post Deadline Looming What to write about in September appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

The post A Few of My Favorite Things for Blogging appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

Starting a blog can be a successful marketing tool for businesses. Blogging is free or fairly inexpensive. It increases traffic and adds potential leads. Creates a substantial income and old posts never get old. The older posts will always be there building more leads, more traffic and creating an original stream of content. What better way to start the day than with a cup of coffee and a great blog post.

How To Start A Blog

When starting a blog there are a couple of aspects to look at.

1. Where will you choose the location in a website, page, platform to use?

2. What will you want to bring to your blogs? Ads, links, or other affiliates.

3. Goals that you hope to attain while blogging.

Where to Start A Blog

There are some great free sites for blogging. WordPress offers great themes and layouts and professionals use these as well. Getting your own web site with this installed is a major plus to your blogging platform. These already come with laid out plans and functions so you virtually just have to click a button to input text, images, different formats, social media outlets. And you can always buy some more extravagant features. No HTML required.

Tips On Creating A Well Written Blog

1. Use fresh and updated content and speak to your audience.

2. Write for your intended audience. For example, if for business, this is a fantastic way to communicate with customers and keep business information up and available to them. As well as inform them of new techniques and products you have to offer.

3. Headline, headline, headline. This is the most important for any content created online but specifically for your blog posts. Copyblogger has some great advice on blogging headlines.

4. Create an amazing introduction to each blog. An intro should grab the audience and make them want to continue on. If you don’t have a great introduction you may just lose the rest of the blog post.

Keep In Mind That Blogging Should Do The Following

1. Teach everybody something. Whether it be information they did not know or a “how to do” technique, it should provide them with knowledge.

2. Provide up to date and trendy topics that are original content. Never copied from anywhere else.

3. Be inspirational and use humor. Everyone loves to be inspired and have a laugh. Of course all in great taste.

4. Be creative in your approach. Time spent properly planning is optimal and is time saved in writing.

5. Plan by researching subject, getting facts, brainstorming words and ideas that come to mind. Then format your writing down.

You Should Choose To Do The Following Before Submitting Any Posts

1. Check for grammatical errors and proper sentence structure and formatting.

2. Make sure your goals of establishing the points to get across your perspective were properly met.

3. Make sure facts are correct. Check that all links are current and correctly applied. Make sure all video, images, and media content loaded properly. Nothing is worse than uploading a picture of your dog when you were writing about cosmetic surgery. Check over your work a minimum of three times. We can always miss something. Either a misspelling or other error and not notice until the third time we’ve proofread.  It’s easy to be in a hurry and not take the time, I know I am guilty of doing so.  Learn from my mistake and proof read three times or have an editor look over your work.

Blogging Can Provide These Things

1. Create an income. It can enhance business production, sales, and is an advertisers delight.

2. Create traffic to your website, lead to affiliate links, generate real leads.

3. Give you a voice on the big platform and even get you noticed by some major publishing companies.

4. Blogging is fun. It’s a way to offer your creativity and a productive outlet for your mind.

5.  Blogging helps to establish you as an authority in your business niche.

By following all the above tips you should be well on your way to creating a rich, informative, and successful blog.

If you want to jump start the process grab our Ultimate Guide to Blogging.

The post Easy Blogging Tips appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

“Keyword research is one of the most important, valuable, and high return activities in the search marketing field. Ranking for the “right” keywords can make or break your website. Through the detective work of puzzling out your market’s keyword demand, you not only learn which terms and phrases to target with SEO, but also learn more about your customers as a whole.” Moz.com  They have a great beginners guide.

Achieving Visibility through Blogging

Blogging is a very powerful tool for SEO and online visibility. Its power is best exemplified by a few blogs that have been professionally written. Is your blog one of those that showcases great blogging talent? If not, don’t worry it’s not that tough to master, in know time you will be able to do this and enjoy search engine visibility, more traffic, leads and improved sales for your business.
What scares many is finding blog ideas. Evergreen content is what is needed in your blog.

“Evergreen content is content that is perpetually relevant. The word evergreen is most often used by editors to describe certain kinds of stories, stories that, because of their topic, are always of interest to readers.
The idea behind the evergreen stories is that they’re always fresh, i.e. forever green.” About.com

How do you generate content from? There are many ways for you to generate evergreen content ideas. Scour through some of the most popular sites such as Yahoo Answers, Quora, YouTube and other forums where your customers may be seeking answers to their questions.
Now that you have a few ideas of what you may put down in writing you are ready to move to the next stage – keyword research. With the help of Google Keyword Planner which has replaced Google Adwords  Keyword Tool you can see how many people are searching for your phrases on a monthly basis. This tool also gives you suggestions of other related terms that offer a better opportunity to rank higher.
Penning down your ideas starts with the title of your post. The title automatically becomes your web page’s title. Too often businesses provide their blog posts with indistinguishable titles such that their prospects are not able to find these posts. Be very careful with the way you pen down your post’s title. The page title is probably one of the most important variables used by search engines to help prospects find your page.
For maximum visibility use your keywords in the title of your blog post. Generally search engines give more weight to the first few words in the title. Be creative with your post’s title, communicate clearly using the title where possible using numbers in the title e.g. “5 Reasons Why You Should Start Saving For Retirement Early”. And although the title is important it cannot stand alone, it will have to be supported by the rest of your work. The copy that you pen down needs to feature your keyword phrase in the first or second sentence. Then ensure the keyword is used in the rest of the article whilst avoiding over optimization.  Meaning it must be natural and not forced.  Link the keyword to other content within your website that is complimentary to the post you just wrote.  Add a photo to your post and use the keyword in the title and the alt tag of the image.  Being careful to not just grab an image from the internet.  Be certain to have rights to the image or it can hit your wallet at a significant cost.
The constant, new content on your website will allow the search engines to understand what your site is about and give it more relevance in the search results.
You can access a Blogging Guide to get started here.
If you have a blog that you would like to share add it to the comments and other readers can check it out.  If you do check out someones blog leave them a comment about the content or why you like their blog, add the link to your own site and you both will benefit.

The post Blogging for SEO appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

• Build your reputation
• Establishing online authority in your niche
• Building an audience which will result in building your email subscriber list
• Drive more traffic to your website or blog
• And eventually build more sales and opportunities (it does not happen immediately)

If you are going to blog then make it worth your efforts and follow some simple, not always easy rules.

The post You Can't Make Me Blog! appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

The post Discover Why Writing Headlines For A Blog Is So Important appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.

Chris Brogan tells this story so well…

When time gets tight, we stop calling our friends. When our work gets busy, we stop doing those things that please us. When the world gets hectic, we shut big chunks of it out at a time. When our energy drops, so goes our courtesy.
And yet. Keep reading

Solo Business Owners Learn How to Use Linkedin

This week I obtained a new client because of my activities on Linkedin. Hubspot wrote a great post about the worst ways to use Linkedin. Are you doing any of these?
LinkedIn is a powerful social network to connect with industry professionals, especially for B2B. People use LinkedIn to connect with coworkers and industry peers, get business advice, and even find new jobs. It’s a great place for businesses to make relevant LinkedIn users aware of their brand. However, just like Facebook and Twitter, there are several common mistakes that companies make on LinkedIn.
Keep reading

Solo Business Owners Must Be Blogging

Peter Crawfurd’s article on The Huffington Post shared how three blogs made their rise to the top.  You could become one of the elite solo business owners with a well followed blog.
Out of the millions of blogs on the web, only a small group have thousands of loyal followers. Take a look behind the scenes of three successful bloggers as I ask them about their journey and how they got such a dedicated following.
Keep reading

Solo Business Owners This is a Great Resource

Certainly you know the Copyblogger, great content. They are launching a radio program that you will want to follow and listen to.  Great format for the solo business owner to learn new and cutting edge marketing strategies.
Introducing Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio.  After years of saying we’re going to do it, we’re doing it — a Copyblogger weekly podcast (that we won’t be calling a podcast). It’s Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio, and it’s designed to help tie together the things we talk about on Copyblogger into a coherent strategy you can use to build your business with online marketing.
Keep reading
I know how much solo business owners have on their plate.  And a full plate doesn’t always give room to find the best content and resources.  I hope this summary of some of the best I have read this week can serve you in your business helping you to become the best solo business owner possible.

The post Knowledge for Solo Business Owners appeared first on Solopreneur Solutions.