Youre Writing Blogs Wrong

Youre Writing Blogs Wrong If youve been maintaining a blog to draw traffic to your website, hows that going for you? Are you seeing the traffic you hoped to see from it? If youre running a business, does that web traffic include the right customers (or audience)? If not, then lets look at some things you might be doing wrong and discuss the best ways to correct those mistakes so your blog will do what it is meant to do- reach the right audience and help you grow your business or succeed in personal branding.Common mistake 1 – Expecting immediate resultsTheres no doubt that blogs are incredibly useful in building a business or reputation. However, a common mistake that bloggers make is assuming that this benefit will be instantaneous. As soon as the blog goes up, business will start pouring in, right?Well, no. Not exactly. A blog is different than print advertising in traditional media in that an audience must be built- steadily and over time. Blogging is not an immediate results type of advertising for several reasons. First, a blog helps you increase your sites visibility on Google, but that takes time to happen. Second, a blog helps you show your expertise, but to be considered an expert, you need to demonstrate a lot of knowledge (more than one or nine or even twenty posts can convey). Finally, a blogs audience isnt instantaneous. Your audience will grow from activities like sharing on social media and word of mouth, and that will take some time to happen. So dont give up within a few months if youre not seeing the results you want to see. Be patient, keep blogging, and give the blog time to grow. Youll be glad you did.Common mistake 2 – Focusing on SEOWeve all heard about SEO and using it to help Google index your site closer to its front page results, and a blog can certainly make this happen. However, writing a blog strictly for this purpose is not a good long-term plan and there are plenty of reasons why. First, your primary purpose in writing a blog is to share you r expertise and build influence in your field. Second, you want your audience to share the content you write- thats how your blog will grow its readership. If you overload your blog with too much SEO content without focusing on the quality and voice of the information, your expertise is buried beneath keywords and the content will be moderately interesting, at best. Put simply: write for your customers, not for SEO. Keeping focus on your customers will ensure that you publish high-quality content that they will want to read and (ideally) share with others.Common mistake 3 – Not allowing your content to have personalityNo one wants to read boring writing, even if its about a topic that interests them. Think of some of the best writers you know and think about what makes them so unique. Its the personality of their writing, isnt it? Its the voice of the author that makes them interesting, familiar, and almost seem like theyre speaking just to you when you write. Its that trait that makes favored writers so engaging, and you should use that exact approach when writing a blog for your business or personal brand.This means youll need to be personable. Write as if youre speaking with your client instead of like youre writing for a text book or press release. Its this voice that will make your audience want to read more because we all like to read writing that speaks to us on a personal level. Engage your audience with humor, stories, photos- anything that can draw people in on a personal level. An SEO-laden, 500-word, boring blog entry simply wont do that.Another great benefit to personable and engaging blog entries is that it keeps your business from seeming faceless. It adds character and projects something about you, as the owner, that your customers want to know. People like knowing theyre doing business with other REAL people, not just faceless corporate enterprises.Common mistake 4 – Not being consistentMany bloggers begin with a lot of fireworks and end up sizzling out. Not publishing consistently means that not only will you lose the audience youve gained so far- youll also be seen as potentially out of business or dated. This does not mean that you have to publish a new post daily (or even weekly). Sometimes publishing too much content can be just as harmful, particularly if the content youre publishing becomes stale, repetitive or boring to read.The best way to ensure consistency in your blogging practices is to make a good judgment about how often you can reasonably publish new content. If you can publish once a month consistently, make that your goal. If you can manage more than that- biweekly or even weekly- then thats even better, but the important thing is publishing consistently.Common mistake 5 – Making it all about youFinally, keep in mind that while the blog is meant to show your expertise, it shouldnt be all about you. The main reason for this is your readers will become bored very quickly, even if you lead the most exciting life imaginable. Instead of constantly publishing about your accomplishments, ideas, event participation, etc., focus instead on current events related to your line of work. Showing your audience that you understand your field and keep up to date on current happenings reveals as much about your level of expertise as constantly writing about yourself and your own viewpoints.

Julius Caesars Rise to Power in the Roman Republic

Julius Caesars Rise to Power in the Roman Republic By the time of the First Triumvirate, the republican form of government in Rome was already on its way to monarchy. Before you get to the three men involved in the triumvirate, you need to know about some of the events and people that led to it: During the era of the late Republic, Rome suffered through a reign of terror. Terrors tool was a new one, the proscription list, by which large numbers of important, wealthy people, and often senators, were killed; their property, confiscated. Sulla, Roman dictator at the time, instigated this carnage: Sulla now busied himself with slaughter, and murders without number or limit filled the city. Many, too, were killed to gratify private hatreds, although they had no relations with Sulla, but he gave his consent in order to gratify his adherents. At last one of the younger men, Caius Metellus, made bold to ask Sulla in the senate what end there was to be of these evils, and how far he would proceed before they might expect such doings to cease. We do not ask thee, he said, to free from punishment those whom thou hast determined to slay, but to free from suspense those whom thou hast determined to save.Although when we think of dictators we think of men and women who want enduring power, a Roman dictator was: A legal officialDuly nominated by the SenateTo handle a major problem,With a fixed, limited term. Sulla had been dictator for longer than the normal period, so what his plans were, as far as hanging onto the office of dictator went, were unknown. It was a surprise when he resigned from the position of a Roman dictator in 79 B.C. Sulla died a year later. The confidence which he reposed in his good genius... emboldened him... and though he had been the author of such great changes and revolutions of State, to lay down his authority....Sullas reign drained the Senate of power. The damage had been done to the republican system of government. Violence and uncertainty allowed a new political alliance to arise. Beginning of the Triumvirate Between the death of Sulla and the beginning of the 1st Triumvirate in 59 B.C., 2 of the wealthiest and most powerful remaining Romans, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 B.C.) and Marcus Licinius Crassus (112-53 B.C.), grew increasingly hostile to each other. This wasnt simply a private concern since each man was backed by factions and soldiers. To avert civil war, Julius Caesar, whose reputation was growing because of his military successes, suggested a 3-way partnership. This unofficial alliance is known to us as the 1st triumvirate, but at the time was referred to as an amicitia friendship or factio (whence, our faction). They divvied up the Roman provinces to suit themselves. Crassus, the capable financier, would receive Syria; Pompey, the renowned general, Spain; Caesar, who would soon show himself to be a skilled politician as well as a military leader, Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul and Illyricum. Caesar and Pompey helped cement their relationship by Pompeys marriage to Caesars daughter Julia. End of the Triumvirate Julia, the wife of Pompey and daughter of Julius Caesar, died in 54, passively breaking the personal alliance between Caesar and Pompey. (Erich Gruen, author of The Last Generation of the Roman Republic argues against the significance of the death of Caesars daughter and many other accepted details of Caesars relations with the Senate.) The triumvirate further degenerated in 53 B.C., when a Parthian army attacked the Roman army at the Carrhae and killed Crassus. Meanwhile, Caesars power grew while in Gaul. Laws were altered to suit his needs. Some senators, notably Cato and Cicero, were alarmed by the weakening legal fabric. Rome had once created the office of tribune to give the plebeians power against the patricians. Among other powers, the tribunes person was sacrosanct (they couldnt be harmed physically) and he could impose a veto on anyone, including his fellow tribune. Caesar had both tribunes on his side when some members of the senate accused him of treason. The tribunes imposed their vetoes. But then the senate majority ignored the vetoes and roughed up the tribunes. They ordered Caesar, now charged with treason, to return to Rome, but without his army. Julius Caesar returned to Rome with his army. Regardless of the legitimacy of the original treason charge, the tribunes had vetoed, and the disregard for the law involved in violating the tribunes sacrosanctity, the moment Caesar stepped across the Rubicon river, he had, in legal fact, committed treason. Caesar could either be convicted of treason or fight the Roman forces sent to meet him, which Caesars former co-leader, Pompey, led. Pompey had the initial advantage, but even so, Julius Caesar won at Pharsalus in 48 B.C. After his defeat, Pompey fled, first to Mytilene, and then to Egypt, where he expected safety, but instead met his own death. Julius Caesar Rules Alone Caesar next spent a few years in Egypt and Asia before returning to Rome, where he began a platform of reform. Julius Caesar granted citizenship to many colonials, thus widening his base of support.Caesar granted pay to Proconsuls to remove corruption and gain allegiance from them.Caesar established a network of spies.Caesar instituted a policy of land reform designed to take power away from the wealthy.Caesar reduced the powers of the Senate so as to make it an advisory council only. At the same time, Julius Caesar was appointed dictator for life (in perpetuity) and assumed the title of imperator, general (a title given ​to a victorious general by his soldiers), and pater patriae father of his country, a title Cicero had received for suppressing the Catilinarian Conspiracy. Although Rome had long abhorred a monarchy, the title of rex king was offered him. When the autocratic Caesar rejected it at the Lupercalia, there were grave doubts about his sincerity. People may have feared he would soon become king. Caesar even dared to put his likeness on coins, a place suitable for the image of a god. In an effort to save the Republic although some think there were more personal reasons 60 of the senators conspired to murder him. On the Ides of March, in 44 B.C., the senators stabbed Gaius Julius Caesar 60 times, beside a statue of his former co-leader Pompey. Sources (www.herodotuswebsite.co.uk/roman/essays/1stTriumvirate.htm) How and why did the so-called First Triumvirate come into being? Suzanne Cross: [web.mac.com/heraklia/Caesar/gaul_to_rubicon/index.html]Gaul to the Rubicon The Rise of Julius Caesar www.republic.k12.mo.us/highschool/teachers/tstephen/ 07/13/98