How to Start a Career in Influencer Marketing as a Blogger

How to Start a Career in Influencer Marketing as a Blogger

Featured image by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

Influencer marketing is a challenging but fulfilling career. This is largely because influencers are one of the main drivers of company branding and brand awareness nowadays. In fact, the field has become so rewarding that bloggers who have been into blogging for a few years have started jumping on the bandwagon to become influencers.

Getting a start with influencer marketing involves identifying potential bloggers whose particular demography and interest matches yours. Bloggers who are influencer marketers write about the products and services various companies offer.

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Becoming an influencer marketer is not easy to do. It requires an ample amount of research, creativity, and hard work. However, it is worth it in the end. The following article discusses some tips on how to start a career in influencer marketing as a blogger.

1. Know Your Niche

When you decide to become a blogger, you must know your niche. If you also want to be an influencer marketer with your blogging, it is imperative to identify the niche that will help your blog grow.

There are various influencer marketing services today that attract bloggers and influencers. These services track blogs and have a database of influencers who can write about particular products and services. However, finding an influencer marketing platform interested in your niche can be complex. This is where you need to do your research and discover influencers who share your interest.

2. Choose Your Audience Wisely for More Successful Influencer Marketing

To be successful with influencer marketing, you need to identify who the readers are that you want to target. Try to segment them into age, interest, and gender if possible. You can also try to identify the number of readers your blog has. Once you have secured a good set of audiences, choose the blogs you want to target before going on to the next step.

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3. Find the Best Bloggers in Your Niche

There are many blogs out there on various topics. However, you want to find high-quality blogs with active bloggers who regularly engage new followers and provide valuable content. Going through blogs will help you determine which ones are worth approaching as you kick off your career in influencer marketing. You can use all sorts of methods to find these, but here are some ways you can consider:

  • You can use databases to find the most influential blogs in your niche. Blogging is a fun thing, but it can also get tedious. On average, bloggers write three posts a week. Most of the time, it takes them up to six hours or more to do so.
  • Visit blogs and ask them to follow you on social media. This can be a great way to get their eyes on your blog.
  • You can look through the directories of top blogs in your niche on reputable platforms.

4. Know What Makes Good Content

To get an influencer to accept you as a new blogger in their marketing niche, you should have something unique for them. A good way of getting started is to find ways to solve your audience’s problems. Look at your competitors. What are they doing? What works for them? When you blog in this way, your content will be successful.

5. Stay Motivated About Influencer Marketing

One could easily get demotivated with blogging. That is why you need to stay motivated by setting goals regularly and monitoring your progress. It would be best if you also got support from family, friends, and online communities where you can find people who share your passion for influencer marketing as a blogger.

6. Diversify Your Content

Once you have secured an audience for your blog, you should diversify your posts. You don’t need to do this all at once. Instead, write a few posts each week. This will be a great way of getting readers’ attention for your blog.

Make sure that you are writing content that is useful to the audience. A blogger must not just produce the same content over and over again. You might want to change the format of your posts. For example, you can try a list article if you repeatedly do the same content.

Influencer Marketing Could Be the Perfect Career for You

Influencer marketing might be a perfect choice if you love to write and have a keen interest in the blogging world. It can help improve your income as well. However, it takes time to build up a good reputation and get noticed by brands in your niche. Hence, you should be ready to put in extra effort and work hard if you want to reap benefits from it.

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How to Start a Career in Influencer Marketing as a Blogger

Reasons to Have a Certified Mortgage Broker By Your Side

Featured image by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

When you want to buy a house, but need to take out a loan to make it happen, you’re confronted with numerous mortgage options. While you can certainly research these mortgages and try to choose the one that’s best for your circumstances, it’s often better to deal with Certified Mortgage Brokers. A mortgage broker is someone who is specially trained to act as an intermediary between you and the various mortgage companies.

But that’s not all they do. Here are several other reasons to have a certified mortgage broker by your side when you’re negotiating a mortgage.

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A Mortgage Broker Will Work for You

This is probably the best reason to work with a certified mortgage broker. After all, you want someone to assist you in the home loan process who is looking out for your interests.

Since they do not work for a single bank or lender, mortgage brokers want you to choose the loan that’s right for you. They aren’t going to try to push one mortgage on you instead of another. They just work to get you the best rates and the best terms to help you purchase your home.

Mortgage Brokers Have Access to an Extensive Lending Network

There are so many types of mortgage lenders available that you simply won’t have time to research all of them. But it is a mortgage broker’s job to know all the various options. They will inform you about the options that will give you access to getting your loan approved with terms that work for you.

If you only seek a mortgage from the big banks, you might end up getting denied. This is because many of them have extremely stringent requirements.

But a mortgage broker will know about lenders that are more lenient on certain requirements. This might help you get the loan you need. And if you do end up going through a big bank, a broker may be able to get you an even better deal than what lenders present to the public.

They Are Paid by the Lenders

In most cases, you don’t even have to pay for the services of a certified mortgage broker. This is because the lenders pay them when a broker closes a loan with them. They do the work on your behalf to find the right mortgage for you. And they do this knowing that they will only get paid once your loan closes with whichever lender you ultimately decide to use.

Rarely, you might have to pay a fee to your mortgage broker if you choose a private lender or if the lender refuses to pay the mortgage broker fees. But your broker will discuss these scenarios with you prior to closing on your loan. With this knowledge, you can make an educated decision.

A Mortgage Broker Will Handle Any Challenges That Arise

As you know, finalizing a mortgage can be a complex process. There are usually minor issues that crop up along the way.

When you have a mortgage broker, they’ll handle these inconveniences for you. You don’t have to stop what you’re doing to take care of them. This is a major perk because you probably don’t have time to constantly take time out of running your business to deal with the lender’s demands. But your mortgage broker will.

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Conclusion

There are really no drawbacks to using a certified mortgage broker to help you find a mortgage and close on it, especially since you don’t usually end up paying for their services. Why go through all the hassle that comes with applying for and finalizing a mortgage when you don’t have to? Hire a mortgage broker to take care of the entire process for you.

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Cloudways vs SiteGround: Which Host is Right For You?

Cloudways vs SiteGround: Which Host is Right For You?

For many WordPress website owners, a managed hosting service is a must. Managed hosting services tend to cut down setup time and maintenance, guarantee against downtime, have simple use dashboards, and provide on-demand customer support. Depending on your website needs, you can choose from a huge pool of managed hosts. Two of the most popular are Cloudways and SiteGround. If you’re curious about which is the better choice for you, Cloudways vs SiteGround,  we’ve got you covered. Let’s jump right in and see these two giants duke it out.

Cloudways vs SiteGround

Both Cloudways and SiteGround include Divi integration for Elegant Themes members. You can link your member account to your hosting dashboard and take the idea of managed hosting to an all-new level.

Both services are powerful and offer many user-friendly features, but there are some key distinctions between Cloudways vs SiteGround. Let’s take a look at each individual service, followed by a comparison breakdown.

1. Cloudways

Cloudways is a unique managed host that offers many of the same features as other major companies, including SiteGround, Pressable, and Flywheel. It offers a full security package and custom dashboards that make building and managing a WordPress site both efficient and fairly seamless.

Additionally, Cloudways offers modular hosting options from five different hosts: DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. Therefore, users only have to pay for the exact features they choose and use. As a result, there’s no specific set fee for plans.

Key Cloudways Features for Site Owners

Other user-friendly Cloudways features:

  • Host as many sites as you want on the server you pay for
  • Allows users to host not only WordPress sites, but also Joomla, Drupal, and other CMS options
  • Lets users host multiple websites on multiple servers, from one dashboard
  • Users can easily switch websites from one server to the next within the dashboard
  • Highly customizable options for individual servers
  • Automatic Divi and WordPress installation
  • Fast, efficient hosting that meets Divi’s server requirements
  • No plugin blacklist unlike most managed hosts, meaning site owners can use any plugin of their choice
  • Site servers that can handle a high volume of traffic — even a 10x increase if needed
  • Dev toolkits for advanced users, including WP-CLI, SSH access, and Git integration
  • Collaboration tools that allow multiple users to maintain and update your websites
  • Staging and cloning interfaces for private and secure website building
  • Includes CloudwaysCDN integration if desired
  • Excellent managed security, regular updates, and 24/7 support
  • A tech stack optimized for stellar WordPress site performance and less downtime
  • Easy configuration for external SMTP email services
  • Includes a free SSL certificate
  • Site storage distributed across the Cloud

Cloudways Pricing: Price varies, but standard options begin at $10/month | Learn more about Cloudways.

2. SiteGround

SiteGround is a highly popular website host for WordPress site owners. It boasts excellent server stats, impressive uptime, fantastic customer support, and a simple user dashboard. SiteGround uses a proprietary Site Tools platform for site management rather than cPanel, but that is a normal practice for managed hosting providers. Additionally, SiteGround includes a marketplace where site owners can purchase domain names right from the dashboard, as well as SSL certificates if they prefer a non-free version.

Key SiteGround Features for Site Owners

Other notable SiteGround features:

  • Automatic Divi and WordPress installation for Elegant Themes members
  • Superfast hosting that checks all of Divi’s boxes (including server requirements)
  • Regular updates and security protection to safeguard your site
  • Excellent customer support, available 24/7
  • Access to WP-CLI tools and SSH in SG’s dev toolkit for advanced users
  • Collaboration tools that, as a result, allow multiple users to maintain and update your websites
  • Sites built on Google Cloud architecture
  • Free Cloudflare CDN or beta native CDN
  • Includes a free SSL certificate
  • Built-in SG Optimizer plugin, which compresses images and caches automatically
  • Built-in email service using your domain names
  • Staging and cloning tools for easy site-building before you publish
  • Automatic site backups to protect you from data loss
  • Option to host multiple websites from your account
  • Dedicated help desk for support whenever you need it
  • Offers managed hosting for non-WordPress CMS platforms, including Joomla, Drupal, and more
  • Free Sitebuilder software included
  • Option to purchase SiteScanner and a dedicated IP address for your server
  • SSD site storage

SiteGround Pricing: Standard options begin at $3.99/month | Learn More About SiteGround

Features Unique to Cloudways vs SiteGround

When it comes to choosing Cloudways vs SiteGround, there are some unique features to consider. While both managed hosting services support WordPress and Divi integration, there are many characteristics that set them apart. As a user, you need to know the major differences before you decide.

Cloudways: Modular Hosting

When it comes to Cloudways managed hosting, site owners pay for only the features they use. While this is truly a great option that sets Cloudways apart from other providers, keep in mind that many of its features are more expensive than other site hosts. In fact, server pricing tends to run higher at the base level. It really comes down to what you need in order for your sites to succeed. You can scale Cloudways easily, adjusting your hosting specs from your dashboard at any time.

Cloudways: No Plugin Blacklist

If you want the option of using WordPress plugins liberally and with fewer limitations, Cloudways offers you more freedom than other managed hosting providers. It does not disallow plugins — meaning that it doesn’t restrict users from selecting which plugins they can install and activate on their sites. This speaks to Cloudways’ commitment to WordPress site customization and modular site control.

Cloudways: Technical Interface

The Cloudways interface is fairly technical. Therefore, it may be more difficult for beginning users to learn. Advanced users, particularly web developers, might find it easier to wrangle.

Cloudways: Multiple Sites on Multiple Servers

Cloudways allows users to host multiple sites on multiple servers, all from one interface. As a result, site owners or agencies that need a variety of options could potentially host all their client sites in the same place. Having a central location for all servers and sites means a more streamlined experience. If you’re an agency owner or freelancer, this feature could be invaluable to the way you operate.

SiteGround: Site Tools Interface

For full details, we suggest reading our full breakdown of the SiteGround Site Tools dashboard and capabilities. The interface is solid, easy to navigate, and allows users to access most of the same functions that cPanel formerly did. While it is a proprietary dashboard, this is common for managed hosts, and Site Tools is one of the cleanest and most user-friendly we’ve seen.

SiteGround: Lower Pricing

Users who opt to host their websites on SiteGround will enjoy lower pricing in comparison to Cloudways. As of this writing, SiteGround’s hosting starts at $3.99/month for 10GB web space, plus a free CDN, email services, and SSL certificate. SiteGround includes a number of powerful features, as well as paid add-ons such as a custom IP address. Still, its price is likely to be significantly lower per month than Cloudways, which starts at a more expensive baseline price of $10.00/month before add-ons.

Cloudways Is Right For You If…

…you’re an agency or freelancer and could benefit from the multi-server, multi-site options at Cloudways. Managing multiple client websites, on multiple servers, from one place could help to streamline your site management processes. Hobby site owners might find Cloudways a bit overwhelming because of its modularity.

If you’re an advanced user or website developer, the learning curve at Cloudways might not be as daunting for you as it would be for a beginner. Likewise, if you prefer using Cloud architecture for your sites, Cloudways is a solid go-to. Pricing may start a bit more expensive than the lowest at SiteGround, but the pay-as-you-go method means you will likely not be hit with any surprise rate increases.

SiteGround Is Right For You If…

…you’re a website owner looking for an easy onboarding experience. SiteGround is a solid option for hobby site owners, as well as professionals. The user interface is a bit less technical than Cloudways, making it friendlier to non-developers. The Site Tools area is intuitive, and you can handle most tasks for your site within its various tabs.

And, if you prefer SSD storage for your site rather than Cloud distribution, SiteGround might be the way to go. Plans start cheaper with SiteGround vs Cloudways, but renewal fees can be a sharp increase if you’re not aware they’re coming.

Conclusion

Whichever you choose between Cloudways vs SiteGround — or even another managed hosting like Flywheel or Pressable — there really isn’t a bad option. Both hosts have tools available to help you host, launch, and maintain your sites, and in the end, it depends if you need more of an all-in-one solution (SiteGround) or want to maintain complete control of every aspect (Cloudways). Either way, you will have a secure, fast, reliable host that supports and integrates with Divi without a hitch.

So, which one will you choose between Cloudways vs SiteGround? Drop a comment below and let us know what you think.

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How to Allocate Your Social Ad Budget

How to Allocate Your Social Ad Budget

When it comes to scaling your ad production, one of the biggest questions you have to contend with is how much of your budget to allocate to what goals. Setting your budget is an important, critical first step when it comes to social media spending. The following is a guide on what to consider if […]

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Business Insurance Near You: How to Find an Agent

If you’re looking for business insurance near you, you’re probably searching for a local agent you can trust. After all, you might get small-business insurance from this person for years and rely on them for help navigating crises like natural disasters and employee injuries. If your insurance needs are simple and you want coverage right…