Author: Abhijit Kapuria

Hi, This is Abhijit Kapuria! I am a Marketing Professional with more than 22 years of rich experience in Strategy Planning, Marketing, Business Development with Franchisee Management & Marketing Network Development, Brand Management. Presently working on improving traffic and conversions for websites. Critical thinker & adept negotiator who can apply extensive knowledge of the industry towards creating value for customers, facilitate achievement of revenue & profit growth for the organization. Spearheading initiatives towards realigning the focus in the Branded Consumer Market on factors like steering change, creating brand identity, quality services.
Social Media Marketing Trends 2021
December 20, 2020 Abhijit Kapuria

Social Media Marketing Trends for 2021

Want to tap into the latest social media marketing changes? Looking for expert insight to help you get your marketing plans on the right track?

In this article, 10 top marketing experts share their predictions to help you prepare your social media marketing plans for the coming year.

#1: SEO Drives Organic Instagram Visibility

When it comes to gear up for 2021, especially with Instagram marketing, there are two things that all marketers should take advantage of SEO and Reels.

In November 2020, it was officially announced that Instagram will become more search-friendly. Now, without the use of hashtags, if you search for a keyword in the search bar, relevant videos, profiles, and posts should populate.

This will be game-changing for marketers as we should expect increased opportunities for more reach on posts. My recommendation to take early advantage of this update is to make sure your captions include relevant keywords that will help Instagram identify what’s being shown or talked about in your post.

To further help Instagram categorize your account, you want to consistently post content that’s relevant to your niche. To illustrate, if you run an Instagram account for your dog training business, you’ll want to focus on posting content about dog training and avoid content that strays into an unrelated category. Other ways to help you show up in search within your category include following other similar accounts and adding a relevant keyword to your name in your bio (i.e., Alexa | Dog Trainer).

To compete with the rise in popularity of TikTok, Instagram launched Reels, a new form of video content delivered in 15 – 30 seconds to create quick, attention-grabbing moments in a creative and entertaining way. Instagram’s new UI update, which put IG Reels front and centre, should hint to marketers that Instagram Reels will be here to stay in 2021.

If you don’t know where to start, my biggest tip is to leverage what’s already working. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to build on what’s already working on another platform. Even if you aren’t a TikTok user, create a TikTok account and see what’s already going viral on TikTok. Take notes, figure out which sounds are most popular, and decide how to put your own spin on it. Then create that content on Instagram Reels.

We’ve found that 15-second content pieces outperform 30-second content pieces, as the Instagram Reel preview is limited to 15 seconds before people need to click See More. Stick to creating Instagram Reels content that is 15 seconds long so that the full video plays on Preview mode.

Make sure that you add text to your video content to increase watch time, and also add a value-based caption to encourage your followers to “save” or “share” your Instagram reel. Remember, your Instagram reel will stop the scroll but the value you add in the caption will encourage people to take action on your piece of content. This will help your content perform better in the algorithm.

By taking advantage of these two big Instagram updates, marketers should expect to get more visibility and attract followers who could be ideal customers for your business. Remember, the most important thing is to stay consistent with your Instagram strategy as results happen over time, not overnight.

#2: Reels Ignite Organic Instagram Exposure

Though there is plenty of fun and fancy features rolling out for marketing on Instagram, the trend is clearly moving towards video – especially short-form video.

We’ve seen this pattern when Stories came out in 2016. Engagement and reach for feed posts decreased as Instagram moved the attention of its users to 24-hour disappearing Stories. Now in 2020, we’re seeing the same thing happen; reach is dropping for Stories and feed posts but is exploding for Reels. I’m talking 10 times the number of views you’d expect for your stories or feed posts.

The time to embrace short-form video marketing is now. Instagram Reels can be 15 or 30 seconds long and I like to think of them as stories on steroids. Reels don’t have to be intimidating. They can be as easy as talking to your camera, just like stories. What makes reels so engaging is the fact that you can add music and text to keep things interesting. My favourite is to time the text so it appears and disappears to the beat of the song, as well as using the Green Screen effect.

The Green Screen effect is uber-powerful for small businesses in Reels because it gives you the ability to share photos, screenshots, or videos in your reel. Photos could be before-and-after images that illustrate the transformation that your business delivers. Screenshots could be used to showcase questions your business gets via email or Direct Messages—where you answer the question as a “talking head” in front of the screenshot. The options are endless (and better explained in a visual way!) but I do recommend getting comfortable with the Green Screen effect in Reels and watch the views, leads, and customers roll in.

#3: Brick & Mortar Stores Embrace the Shift to Online Shopping on Instagram

As we become accustomed to the “new normal,” businesses need to pivot to ensure sales keep coming in and numbers exceed previous years. But with new mandates and measures in place to keep consumers safe, what does that look like?

While eCommerce has been a popular monetization method for many brands over the last few years, it typically isn’t utilized by brick-and-mortar stores.

In 2021, I predict your local gym and yoga studio will offer classes online in a range of formats—from free Instagram Lives, Zoom calls, or their own integrated and propriety platforms. Grocery stores will have 1-hour turnaround online shopping, professional services like banks and lawyers will offer online meetings, and your favorite retail stores will offer local delivery or curbside pickup.

Any traditional operation that can be turned into an online process will do so, and all in-person contact will be limited. This change is bound to be adored by some and loathed by others as it significantly augments the way we’re used to conducting business. This makes it even more important that the online version of your product or service is delivered at its highest quality and standard.

This shift toward contactless shopping will allow eCommerce stores to thrive even further in 2021. With social platforms such as Instagram and Facebook already beginning to integrate in-app purchasing, the steps traditionally required to convert a user to a customer will be reduced and the gap between ‘scrolling’ and ‘shopping’ will be significantly blurred.

To take advantage of these changes, your local business will need to:

  • Survey your audience to determine their true wants and needs from an online offering
  • Research and test multiple video platforms to find one that supports your new offerings
  • Collect contact information from customers to ensure you can be in touch at any time
  • Sign up for Instagram and Facebook shopping to link products to your social posts

And all brands should consider the following:

  • Set up retargeting ads. A majority of your traffic won’t purchase on their first visit to your site. Implementing a retargeting strategy will ensure you capture them later and increase your overall revenue.
  • Focus on user experience. If your website is slow, not optimized for mobile, has a clunky checkout process, or lacks shipping and return policies, now is the time to fix it. Any inconvenience can significantly reduce your conversion rate.

This space will be ever-evolving but if you and your brand can get on board now, you’ll be better equipped for the unprecedented changes expected to happen in 2021.

#4: Brands Must Humanize

Smart businesses will understand that being transparent, authentic, and even vulnerable is smart marketing in 2021. People connect with people. This means the brand should be personified in a way that reveals who they stand for and what they stand for.

Get more faces out there, create more video, and talk about what matters to your core tribe.

#5: Facebook Advertising Success Is Tied to the Customer Lifecycle

My advice for 2021 is two-fold. As the online marketplace continues to become more saturated and Facebook advertising costs continue to rise, returning to the foundational aspects of running ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram will be critical to success.

Central to that success will be accurately assessing the customer life cycle and the average customer value so you know how much you can pay for a lead and still remain profitable. Review the records of your past customers to get a solid sense of how leads join your list, the length of time between someone joining your list and becoming a paying customer, and how much your average customer spends with you.

Use that information to build out your projections and a Facebook advertising strategy that reflects your true customer data. Then you can move into developing innovative ad campaigns that play to Facebook’s preferences with creative.

For example, because Facebook is giving more prominence to Reels on Instagram, I predict that video ads will convert better than images. I recently tested ads that featured an image with audio, a static image, a moving image, and a video and found that the ad with video converted at as much as half the cost of the others. Test videos, GIFs, and Reels in your own ads to see which perform best with your ideal customer.

#6: Flexible Strategies Fuel Facebook Ads Success

Typically, Facebook advertisers experience a drastic reduction in advertising costs (CPM) once it’s no longer feasible for consumers to order online or shop in-store for holiday gifts. There’s a sweet spot between the reduction in market competition and the decline in consumer spending.

After the holidays, purchases tend to shift from gift-giving to self-improvement. Under normal conditions, consumers shift toward purchases that improve their lives as they make New Year’s resolutions and attempt to keep them. Some B2B sellers roll out huge discounts to get businesses to make end-of-year big-ticket purchases to reduce their tax liability. People are typically still buying but they’re buying different things.

That could change because 2020/2021 is complicated by a global pandemic with unprecedented economic impact. If there’s anything that 2020 has taught us, it’s to be prepared for unprecedented changes and pivots because success is for the nimble.

My best advice is threefold: 1) have a solid grasp of Facebook advertising fundamentals so you can adapt strategy accordingly, 2) get ahead of the impact privacy restrictions will have on user tracking (and consequently, advertising), and 3) be flexible.

#7: Facebook Ad Creative Becomes Less Static, Favors Positivity

One thing’s for sure: Advertising on Facebook (and Instagram) will see more ingenuity than ever before in 2021.

Following are four Facebook ad creative trends that I predict advertisers will experiment with and see success in 2021:

GIFs: GIFs have proven themselves to be a staple among intermediate and advanced advertisers, and they’re incredibly easy to produce. Simply take 3–15 seconds of any video and create your own GIF on a site such as Giphy.com. Remember, while GIFs are short and sweet, they’re still counted as video views so you can retarget them, too.

User-generated content (UGC): Sometimes your most creative and persuasive content comes directly from your actual customers and clients. More and more marketers are recognizing the power of UGC and finding clever ways to incentivize it among their customer base for use in their marketing. UGC content can range from testimonials to fun and snappy Reels-style edits of how to actually use your product or service. Smart advertisers make sure they have permission to use this UGC, of course, and then use it in their ads. This will become increasingly central to many advertising campaigns moving forward as companies recognize the ROI.

Collages: Collages are making a comeback in a big way right now. And it makes sense – they’re eye-catching and encourage people to pause their scroll to check it out. That pause can be all that’s needed to float the eye through the remainder of the ad (from copy to headline) and cause the click. So try your hand at some on-brand collages for your company and see how they do.

More text-heavy ads: Now that Facebook has removed the 20% rule from its platform (though this is an unspoken rule removal; there’s been nothing official from Facebook itself), you see more advertisers playing with larger, bolder text ads. Think about how popular quote cards have been on Instagram for many content creators. Why not play with some of those same styles for your ads? See how they do.

And one final bonus hint: 2021 will hopefully bring us into a lighter mood collectively and I predict ads that play to that feeling will have the best chance of success.

Of course, you’ll always want to put these techniques and others that you come across through a robust testing process to ensure that you’re actually seeing results and ROI, but since the algorithm is increasingly favouring fresh content, why not give some of these ideas a try?

#8: Personality Becomes Key to YouTube Growth

Online business is exploding and YouTube is no exception. Many channels—even newer channels – are seeing exponential growth right now.

In the midst of this growth, differentiation will be key to standing out and reaching your ideal customer. As YouTube becomes more saturated with topical niches it’s also becoming more personality-centric. This means your most valuable differentiator is your unique personality – the way you speak, the way you explain concepts, etc.

Leaning into what makes you different and injecting that into your channel from day one will make it easier to attract and build loyalty with a new audience on YouTube.

#9: LinkedIn Culture Shifts Toward Conversational Transparency

2020 was a massive year for LinkedIn. The platform rolled out LinkedIn Live, Events, Polls, and Stories. In the coming year, marketers need to embrace not only these new features and content formats but also the shift in culture created by the rise in remote working from home.

Professionals working remotely are engaging with conversational content because it mimics the team environment they’re missing.

On the personal brand side of LinkedIn, you’ll want to focus on mastering conversational marketing. Create polls that your audience will want to vote on, ask irresistible open-ended questions in updates, share candid photos from your workday in stories, or post about celebrating career milestones.

On the LinkedIn page side of things (for businesses), 2021 will be a game-changer for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who are hyper-focused on their LinkedIn pages. The LinkedIn team is looking for ways to appeal to SMBs like never before with the rollout of upcoming features that will help SMBs build a community of raving fans around products or services. Many businesses are already taking full advantage of the interactive new features available.

Here’s where it gets interesting on both the personal and corporate brand sides of things. Conversations on LinkedIn, typically a place where conversation centers around business, have been focused on public, political, social, and economic issues. Why does this matter? Because this shift is forcing professionals and brands alike to speak up and share their values.

If you want to be successful on LinkedIn in 2021, be prepared to adopt transparency into your marketing efforts.

#10: LinkedIn Networking Behavior Changes

LinkedIn is currently plagued by mass-outreach spam, which is making people more hesitant and skeptical about connecting and more easily offended by a sales pitch. Outreach spam ruins relationships and reputations but real relationships build them.

In 2021, marketers will want to focus on building relationships rather than collecting connections whose sole purpose is to drop a sales pitch after two interactions. Real 1:1 connections begin when the connection request is customized for the recipient, making them feel valued.

The sophisticated social media marketer will put effort into building meaningful, long-term relationships on LinkedIn that aren’t perceived as transactional.

The effect will be not only stronger relationships. A more sizable cohort of one’s ideal target audience will see and interact with your posts and those relationships will continue to add value to your career for far longer than a current campaign.

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Write Sales Copy That Makes Money
December 20, 2020 Abhijit Kapuria

Write Sales Copy That Makes Money

#1. Write in the Tense You Sell In. It Starts With Avoiding the Past

For the sake of business, don’t dwell in the past. If it happened there, then that’s where it stays. In the past. Discussing the past when selling is forgetting you exist now with a solution at hand. You get one chance with writing. Going back is not moving forward. It’s not taking action.

Talk about today and what your vision makes of tomorrow. Not what tomorrow “will be” but what your ambitions, product or service says it is.

And I’m not suggesting the past is escapable. The secret to talking about it without rambling on is in the power of “ed.” The “ed” is a suffix. You know, like talked, walked and called. “We talked yesterday,” is more direct than, “Our conversation yesterday is when we spoke.”

Notice how the absence of “ed” forces more to be written in that sentence. Using “ed” eliminates the clutter. The B.S. from your writing. Extensive details about the past are rarely necessary anyway. So “ed” only leaves you with what’s important. Think in absolute terms, so your readers know EXACTLY what they must do today.

#2. Write with certainty, avoid “was,” “might,” and “would”

If he “was” going to do something, then he won’t or hasn’t yet. Bear with me. If you “will,” then the outcome is uncertain. Think about it. You either “are” or “aren’t.” Anything you “would” do has a strong chance of never occurring. Whenever you write that something “is to be,” it’s because reality, as in this moment, says it’s not.

I hope you’re catching on. These are simple shortcuts that keep you from going around in circles as you sell with sentences. No one online has the time for “maybes.” So to write with certainty, avoid “was,” “might,” “would” and phrases like “to be.”

Those tend to go nowhere.

You can eliminate “will” while we’re at it. Sentences that sell. …use “will” to convey power only. Or one’s will power. The other means “possibly.” Here’s what you use instead: “are,”

“am” and “is.” The sun “is” hot. I “am” hungry. You “are” here. Healthy sales conversions depend on that brevity.

#3. Cut Out %50 of Your First Attempt At Selling With Words

This is trial by fire for the uninitiated. Professionals understand it, but it’s truth is vague without trial. No matter how pretty a sentence is, if it’s the first time you wrote that particular sentence, cut out 50 percent of it. That’s a minimum. Do more if you can. Close your eyes if you have to, but deal with the pain because you must.

Sentences with clutter don’t convert well. Their message isn’t optimal. Beginners feel conversions are perfected the first time around. Here’s the thing, sentences carry more weight than necessary at first. ALL sentences do! So pros give them a makeover as they’re committed to paper. A CTA is more powerful slimmed down to important points only.

#4. The Difference Between Latin, Anglo-Saxon and Which Converts best?

You weren’t taught it in school. This is a history lesson that converts. Consider these languages: Latin, Italian, Spanish and English. Each conjugates differently though the words are often similar. They’re variants of the same in many ways. We, we’ll stick to the words of the Anglo-saxons.

Here’s why: Words like determination–or others with four to five syllables–come from Latin derivatives. The Latin words that are snobbish and overly intellectual. Seriously. Here’s an example: “The exceptionality of independently existing without the departmentalized features of imprisonment is an establishment for exhilaration.”

These are words that have “dent,” “ment” and “tion.”

And that multi-syllabic sentence above actually makes sense. It’s just too much for anyone to deal with. That’s where the Anglo-saxon words come in. They’re optimized by today’s technology. The Anglos inhabited Britain. Their English was short, one to two syllables words that express all under the sun.

Like plate, bed, hope, saw, walked, bead, ate, slept and loved. Those are the words your readers connect to when buying. They say everything with less.

#5. A Verb Sells a Noun as an Auxiliary Sells a Pronoun

Here’s where you get confused. It’s not your fault though. We use grammar based on our education. For example, verbs and nouns are related. Everyone knows what a verb is. It’s the action that a noun takes. Everyone knows what pronouns are. But few people can tell me about auxiliaries.

Hmm. …

I call auxiliaries the pronouns of verbs. Or the verb’s version of pronouns. Pronouns represent a noun without referencing the nouns’ name. They help avoid, ” ‘Gary’ was sad when ‘Gary’ got home and into ‘Gary’s’ bed where ‘Gary’s’ blanket was.” We write sentences that sell by eliminating that.

With pronouns: “He was sad when “he” got home and into “his” bed where “his” blanket was.”

The same effect occurs with auxiliaries. But auxiliaries take place of actions.

They improve sentences that use flowery verbs, complexity or useless repetition. Some auxiliaries include, “am,” “are” and “is.” “The dog ‘is.’ ” Without that auxiliary to shorten the dog’s verb of being, often you get: “The dog stands there with brown fur and breathes heavily while thinking of food.”

The first sentence uses three words. Without “is” to substitute the dog’s many verbs, you get standing, having fur, breathing, and thinking. Not only do readers want less naturally, but technology makes a greater need for it. No one has the time or wants to give it online. To improve your sells with less written in the first place.

#6. Define Your Subject But Start With It To Get It Sold

As an editor who’s managed up to 12 writers at once, I’ve seen a lot. In attempt to sound cool or be creative, we make our biggest mistakes. With poetry or funny Twitter statements, the rules might change. But we need rules to improve conversions.

Being vague about a subject is common. But getting an action from readers requires forward thought. Front and centered. There are two rules to achieve this. Rule one is leading with the subject. Writing about “Doris the cat” means you start the sentence with “Doris the cat.” For selling’s sake.

The second rule is “one thought.” Your subject is defined. Now keep one thought to it. That’s one thought per sentence. Having more is too risky. Especially if you’re not a professional. Write sentences with one thought when you’re selling. Mention the subject of that thought first, and start with it.

#7. Throw Out Your Dictionary! Pitch With A Damn Thesaurus!

Dictionaries tell you what words mean, but a thesaurus will tell you how to use them. Trimming sentences down is best done with one word to substitute many. There’s usually one word to do it. Visit my Twitter profile, and you’ll find the quote: “One word to say it beats out ten that sound good.”

But that means nothing if you can’t find the right word. Find it with the help of a thesaurus. Casually read one now and then. Get in the mindset of inherently knowing the substitutes. While you’re writing, have a thesaurus handy. With a digital thesaurus or one online, you type a phrase in. The best single word match then appears.

Readers appreciate it. They don’t have to think about pulling out their credit cards. They’ll know it’s exactly what you meant by requesting it.

#8. Yes. Vernacular Does Not Convert Well

What we’ve covered deals with common habits WE all have. What tradition taught us. Instead, think outside that box. Stop. Look at what you wrote. Take it out if it resembles typical language. “A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush,” is an amazing proverb. But the same person benefits with, “This option is better.”

Flowery prose is your enemy when convincing readers to act. It misdirects them from the quickest resolution.

#9. What IS The Action Verb’s Leverage to Sell Anyway

There are two types of verbs. One is passive. The floor that gets walked upon, or the tree that gets watered. The other does the action. That’s the person who walks on the floor, or the one who waters the plant. It’s the difference between the kid who got punched and the one actually doing the punching.

If you got hit, you were passive. But doing the hitting makes you active. Writing sentences that sell requires an active voice. A way of writing where solutions and ideas behave. The reader never impresses behavior on them. Sentences that take charge sell. Those that lack surety fall prey to whims and fancies of the reader.

#10. How In One Shot, YOU Write Sentences People Buy

Here you close your eyes. Pray. Think less when seated to write. No fancy skills required. Writing is never perfected the first time. There’s a process involved. When in it, aim to use little. Write ten sentences in one paragraph for example. Make each five words, no more and as an exercise. Don’t worry about coherency.

It’s only important to think of proving and not suggesting. Confirming and not asking. Clarifying and not assuming. The above guide is for referencing while editing your work. Until you get the hang of it and it comes naturally. Until you see readership improve, conversions increased and sell happen more often.

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Attention Grabbing Headlines
October 25, 2020 Abhijit Kapuria

112 Attention-Grabbing Headlines

  1. Top 30 Most Influential People In _____ (Industry- Blogging, Web Design, Photography, Golf, Gaming etc)
  2. [INDUSTRY] changed my life forever. (Blogging changed my life forever)
  3. How to create viral [INDUSTRY] posts on your website.
  4. 10 Reasons Why It Rocks To Be a _____ (Blogger, Web Designer, Photographer, Golfer, Gamer etc)
  5. 10 Reasons Why It Sucks To Be a_____ (Industry – Blogger, Web Designer, Photographer, Golfer, Gamer etc)
  6. 10 Christmas Gifts For _____ (Bloggers, Web Designers, Photographers, Golfers, Gamers etc)
  7. 17 Tips To Cure _____ (Bloggers Block, Bad Converting Websites, Crap Photos, Golfer Elbow, Gaming Addiction etc)
  8. 20 Bloggers To Follow on _____ (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ etc)
  9. Top 20 Young _____(Bloggers, Web Designers, Photographers, Golfers, Gamers etc)
  10. The Top 20 _____ Who Make The Most Money (Bloggers, Web Designers, Photographers, Golfers, Gamers etc)
  11. 20 Websites To Visit If You Want To Be a Better _____ (Blogger, Web Designer, Photographer, Golfer, Gamer etc)
  12. 20 Best Blog Posts of 2019 For _____ (Bloggers, Web Designers, Photographers, Golfers, Gamers etc)
  13. 20 Great Quotes To Inspire You To Be a Better _____ (Blogger, Web Designer, Photographer, Golfer, Gamer etc)
  14. 13 Movies All _____ Should Watch (Bloggers, Web Designers, Photographers, Golfers, Gamers etc)
  15. 7 Traits All Successful _____ Have In Common (Bloggers, Web Designers, Photographers, Golfers, Gamers etc)
  16. 21 Life Lessons From _____ (Famous person in your industry,
  17. 9 Reasons Why You Suck At _____ (Blogging, Web Design, Photography, Golf, Gaming etc)
  18. Top 30 Female/Male _____ (Bloggers, Web Designers, Photographers, Golfers, Gamers etc)
  19. 11 Things I Wish I Knew About _____ When I First Started (Blogging, Web Design, Photography, Golf, Gaming etc)
  20. 12 stupid things _____ don’t do when first starting (Bloggers, Web Designers, Photographers, Golfers, Gamers etc)
  21. 11 Instant _____ Boosters (conversions, photo, design, swing etc)
  22. Thousands Already _____ and here are 12 ways you can too (create awesome headlines, make beautiful designs, drive the fairway etc)
  23. 10 Reasons Civilization May Collapse Because of Your_____ (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  24. 9 ways _____ makes you rich/happy/healthy. (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  25. 11 Reasons You’re Too Clever For _____ (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  26. 10 Ways to Immediately Improve Your _____ (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  27. 10 Types of _____ – Which Group Are You In? (Bloggers, web designers, photographers, golfers etc)
  28. 20 Reason Why This Is The Ultimate Guide To _____ (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  29. 12 Reasons Every _____ Regrets Not Doing This Sooner (Blogger, web designer, photographer, golfer etc)
  30. 13 Reasons This Post Will Make You A Better _____ Guaranteed (Blogger, web designer, photographer, golfer etc)
  31. 12 Things Every _____ Regrets Not Doing This Sooner (Blogger, web designer, photographer, golfer etc)
  32. 24 Rules I Follow To Create Successful _____ (blogs, web designs, photographs, golf swings etc)
  33. 9 Ways To Dramatically Improve Your _____ – Even If You’re Just Starting Out (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  34. Top 10 _____ Mistakes To Avoid (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  35. 10 Reason You Shouldn’t Even Think About _____ Without Reading This (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  36. 9 Reasons Some People Always _____ (make money online, make great designs, take incredible pictures, hit a par 4)
  37. 10 Reasons Thousands Now _____ Who Never Thought They Could (make money online, make great designs, take incredible pictures, hit a par 4)
  38. The 12 Strange Techniques That Improve Your _____ (blogs, web designs, photographs, golf swings etc)
  39. Free Book Tells You The 12 Secrets Of Incredible _____ (blogs, web designs, photographs, golf swings etc)
  40. 11 Reasons Why Most _____ Fail (Blogger, web designer, photographer, golfer etc)
  41. 5 Amazing Discoveries Kills _____ Quick! (bad blogging, bad designs, ugly photographs, horrible golf swing etc)
  42. 10 “Friendly” Pieces Of _____ Advice You Should Never Take (Blogging, web design, photography etc)
  43. Top 5 things to happen in_____ in 2014 (blogging, web designer, videogames, golf, etc)
  44. Top 10 weirdest ways to be a better_____ (blogger, designer, golfer)
  45. Top 10 Strange Ways to Get _____ (more traffic, more designs finished, clients, more distance on your golf drive etc)
  46. 5 Most Useful _____ Skills To learn in 5 days (blogging, photography, golf, photoshop, etc)
  47. Top 10 Things a _____ should never do if you ____ (blogger, photographers, golfers, designer etc) (want more traffic, to take great pictures, improve your swing, etc)
  48. 10 Great _____ – A Top _____ Best Advice (headlines, traffic tactics, low light images, responsive designs etc) (Blogger, photographer, designer etc)
  49. Why Your _____ Sucks, 10 Fresh Insights (blog, photos, designs, etc)
  50. 10 Subliminal Tricks That Make Your _____ Adored (blog, designs, photos, pickup lines etc)
  51. Great _____! 20 Ways to Make Your _____ Even Better (Blogging, photography, layouts, etc) (Blog, photos, designs, etc)
  52. 3 _____ Instincts To Master – And 2 To Ditch (Blogging, photography, design, golf etc)
  53. 10 Secret Codes: Top _____ Seem To Use A Clever Formula – But Not Clever Enough. We Cracked it! (Blogging, photography, web design, etc) (Bloggers, Photographers, designers etc)
  54. The 7 Sneakiest Things To Do Before _____ (creating your first Blog, taking your first picture, designing your first site etc)
  55. _____ Taboo – The 5 Dirty Little Secrets _____ Don’t Want To Talk About (Blogging, photography, golfing, web design etc) (Blogger, web designers, photographers, golfers etc)
  56. 5 _____ Rules You Gotta Break ( blogging, photography, golf, web-design etc)
  57. 5 Things That Sway You From Good _____ Decisions (Blogging, web design, photography, business, golf etc)
  58. 5 Ways To Be A Better _____ Without _____ (blogger, photographer, designer, golfer etc) (blogging, taking photos, designing, golfing etc)
  59. The _____ Brain Exposed – 20 Fascinating Facts (Bloggers, photographers, golfers, etc)
  60. 50 Ways to Have More Fun With Your _____ (Blog, photography, designs, golf, business etc)
  61. 10 Hilarious Confessions Of Desperate _____ (bloggers, photographers, golfers, designers, etc)
  62. 10 _____ Habits That Hold You Back (blogging, photography, golfers, designers, etc)
  63. 5 Things Smart _____ Never Tell (bloggers, photographers, golfers, web designers, etc)
  64. 10 Advanced _____ Tricks – When You Whip Out One of These Doozies, They’ll Know They’re With A Real _____ (blogging, golfing, photography, design, etc) (blogger, golfer, photographer, designer)
  65. 9 Reasons Why I Won’t Be ______ Any Time Soon (Drinking Bottle Water, Wearing a Skirt To Work, Having Negative Thoughts)
  66. 9 Reasons Why I Won’t Be Dating Any Time Soon
  67. Debating the 25 Best _____ of the decade/ 2014 (bloggers, blogs, photographers, web designs, designers, golfers, golf etc.)
  68. 15 Things _____ should stop making a big deal about (Bloggers, photographers, designers, entrepreneurs, etc)
  69. 20 _____ share their secrets to success after tasting failure (bloggers, entrepreneurs, designers, etc)
  70. 5 Problems_____ face Just Starting out (bloggers, entrepreneurs, designers etc)
  71. 8 Signs you’re failing as a _____ (bloggers, entrepreneurs, designers etc)
  72. 8 Things _____ Are sick of hearing in 2014 (bloggers, entrepreneurs, designers etc)
  73. 9 reasons society still needs _____ (bloggers, entrepreneurs, designers etc)
  74. 15 Reasons _____ (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc) Make The Best _____ (friends, business partners, business decisions, prophets, husbands etc)
  75. 15 Ways Successful _____ Travel Abroad (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers, golfers etc)
  76. 22 Important Differences Between _____ and you (successful bloggers, successful entrepreneurs, successful photographers etc)
  77. 10 Ways to Turn Your Day-to-Day _____ Into _____ (blog, posts, designs, time on the green, photos etc) success, money, massive traffic, large following, etc)
  78. 5 Things to Keep in Mind Before you ditch _____ (blogging, photography, entrepreneurship, your wife, the gym, golf etc)
  79. 18 Simple Things All _____ Should Remember (bloggers, husbands, 20 somethings, photographers, golfers, designers, etc)
  80. 11 Reasons Why I Don’t Like _____ : A Cautionary Tale (bloggers, photographers, designers, sorority girls, golfers, etc)
  81. The 10 Different Kinds of _____ (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc)
  82. 20 Things Only _____ Know (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc)
  83. 10 Things I Can’t Help But Judge Other _____ For Doing (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc)
  84. 27 _____ Reveal The Most Ridiculously Crazy Things They’ve_____ (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc) (written about, did for traffic, took photos of, said at interviews, done to reach success)
  85. 7 Things Nobody Tells You About Successful _____ (blogging, photography, golf, web design, etc)
  86. 18 Qualities Successful _____ All Share (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc)
  87. 23 _____ Share Their Weirdest Experiences _____ (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc) (online, designing, on the course, at seminars etc)
  88. 10 Ways You’ll Fall In Love With A _____ (blogger, developer, entrepreneur, photographer, designer etc)
  89. 10 Truths All _____ Need To Hear (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc)
  90. 9 Things You Should Know About _____ _____ (successful, unsuccessful, new, seasoned etc) (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc)
  91. 12 Phrases _____ Should Add To Their Vocabulary (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc)
  92. Is The Point Of _____ Just To _____ (blogging, taking pictures, designing, golfing etc) Make Money, express yourself, look cool, sounds intelligent, impress your girlfriend’s dad etc)
  93. 5 Signs People Just Aren’t Into Your (headlines, blog, blog posts, designs, songs, poems, websites etc)
  94. 5 Lies _____ Need To Stop Telling Themselves When It Comes to _____ (bloggers, entrepreneurs, photographers, designers etc) (creating engaging content, making money, taking amazing pictures, etc)
  95. 5 _____ That Changed My Life (blog posts, photos, poets, entrepreneurs, quotes, books etc)
  96. 7 Best _____ To Look To For Inspiration (Blogs, web designs, entrepreneurs, books, etc)
  97. 33 Things Only _____ Do (bloggers, photographers, web designers, dog groomer etc)
  98. 6 Of The Weirdest Realizations You Have As A _____ (blogger, photographer, golfer, cow-milker, web designer, etc)
  99. The 12 Incredible People You’ll Meet _____ (blogging, as an entrepreneur, at a rave, on the fairway, etc)
  100. The 12 Terrible People You’d Meet _____ (blogging, as an entrepreneur, on the subway, on the fairway, etc)
  101. 7 Things Nobody Tells You About Declaring You’re _____ (a blogger, a photographer, retired, golfer
  102. If You’ve Ever Thought About _____ Here are 7 Things To  Convince You (Blogging, Becoming an Entrepreneur, Ordering a Bride, etc)
  103. 23 _____ On The Creepiest Experience They’ve Ever Had
  104. 10 Things You Need To Know About (bloggers, entrepreneurs, golfers, swingers, etc)
  105. 15 Surefire Signs You Made It As _____ (an entrepreneur, retiree, parent, photographer etc)
  106. 17 Things That Happen When You Fall In Love With A _____ (blogger, Yankees fan, golfer, entrepreneur etc)
  107. 7 Awesome Things_____ Shouldn’t Feel Bad About Enjoying
  108. 60 Wonderful Things For _____ To Rejoice (bloggers, golfers, web designers, babysitters, etc)
  109. 12 Things I Dislike About _____ (blogger, web designers, online dating, photography etc)
  110. 15 Things That Show You’re _____ (From California, A blogger, an entrepreneur, retired, married etc)
  111. The 7 Good Things About _____ (being an entrepreneur, blogging, riding horses, etc)
  112. 42 Undeniable Signs You’re (A blogger, an entrepreneur, writing clickbait, wealthy etc.
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August 4, 2020 Abhijit Kapuria

How to Create a Lead Gen Funnel

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You need to get people’s attention to your lead magnet, which means you need to drive traffic to the lead magnet.

In this email, we’ll briefly discuss it because this is something you all know very well and very proficient with.

To set up your lead generation campaign, you need

  • your audience
  • lead capture and lead magnet delivery mechanism and
  • a traffic campaign

Let’s talk about each briefly.

1. Audience

You should have this covered because you already know who your audience is and defined them while creating the lead magnet.

2. Setting up lead generation machine

Once you have decided the audience, you should set up your lead capture and lead magnet delivery mechanism.

This involves:

  • a page that people can visit, learn about your lead magnet.
  • A lead form your audience needs to fill before they can access your lead magnet.
  • A thank you page where you deliver the lead magnet.
  • An email software or CRM tool where you store the leads.
  • An integration connecting your squeeze page to the email software

I’ll quickly explain each one.

A. Squeeze page:

Squeeze page or landing page is where you put up the details about your lead magnet.

You can use one of the landing page tools like OptinChat or Unbounce or tools like Thrive or Elementor.

There are plenty of tools out there. You can learn more about them in detail in my digital marketing tools training program.

You can pick whichever suits your need and budget.

B. Lead Form:

Your lead-form plays a crucial role in your lead generation performance.

The number of leads and the quality of your leads you get is directly proportional to the number of fields in your lead form.

If you want more leads, you should limit your lead form to one or two fields max. You can ask for an email address only or the first name and email address.

But if you are a b2b business with a longer sales cycle, you might need to collect more details like name, email, business type, website name, profession, number of employees etc.

As the number of details, you ask increases, the number of leads you get decreases, but it also increases the quality of the lead.

C. Thank you page:

The third component is the thank you page that comes after people fill in the details.

What goes on this page depends on how you deliver the lead magnet.

If you are delivering the lead magnet immediately after the form is filled, your thank-you page can give the download link or a link to access the lead magnet with instructions on how people can access the lead magnet.

If you are delivering it via email, you can instruct the leads on how to confirm their email subscription to get the lead magnet and whitelist your email address.

You can also use this page to ask them to connect with you on different social networks.

Or you can share testimonials from your happy customers.

This probably is the most underrated page ever been used in lead generation.

D. Email or CRM tool:

The next is the email or CRM tool.

You need to communicate with your leads, aka email list.

To communicate your email list you need to send them emails – indoctrination sequence that introduces you and your product or services to them, nurturing series that educates them about the problem and solution, and a sales sequence that persuades them to make the purchase.

You need an email platform or tool to send the emails, tag the audience as they interact with your emails, and so on.

Now you might need a simple email platform or a full-fledged CRM depending on your business, sales cycle etc.

The last thing is integrating all these pieces.

E. Integration

You need to connect your squeeze page to your email tool and thank you page etc.

You need to automate the entire process, so when your lead submits their detail, his details are posted to your CRM or email tool, and he or she also gets the lead magnet delivered.

Most of the landing page builders and email tools have the facility to integrate these things.

But if your tool doesn’t have native integration, you can connect them and make them talk with external apps like Zapier.

And there you go.

Your lead capture and the delivery machine is ready.

And you don’t need to worry much about the cost of setting up this machine. You can set up this mechanism or system without spending much or even free.

The email tools are free up to a certain number of leads, and landing page tools are free to start with some traffic limitations. And so on.

Ok, so, you have the lead magnet and the lead capture/delivery machine ready.

3. Traffic

Next comes the attention, aka traffic part.

You can choose either the less-cost, more-time consuming organic approach or more- cost but quick results paid approach to drive traffic to your landing page.

I’d recommend the paid approach because it can help you validate your lead magnet idea and audience quicker, helping you make sure you are on the right track.

Because the organic route takes a while to get the results, and it might delay validating your idea.

It might be crucial to validate your idea as early as possible because if your idea/audience is wrong, you might have wasted your precious time on the wrong idea.

Regardless of the approach you choose, you also have to select the platforms or networks and formats.

You need to decide whether to focus on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or Instagram as your primary channel for organic or paid promotion.

You also need to decide whether you want to go with text first content approach or video first approach or audio first approach for organic approach.

That’s it.

You are ready to drive traffic to your lead magnet and build leads.

With that, you are half-way on the lead generation game.

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Learn Digital Marketing Skill
December 15, 2019 Abhijit Kapuria

How To Learn Digital Marketing Skills

Do I Need to Learn Digital Marketing?

Whether you are the owner of a startup or the CEO of a successful business, digital marketing will be an essential part. The advertising strategy your organisation undertake to improve brand awareness and increase sales.

Companies are reliant on successful digital marketing campaigns to gain visibility and sales via their online portals. Chris Brogan, CEO of Owner Media Group says, “marketers need to build digital relationships and reputation before closing a sale.” The traditional forms of one-way advertising no longer work. You’ll need to engage your online customers in a two-way conversation in order to convert them. That’s where effective digital marketing campaigns come in.

Even if you think that digital marketing is not an essential part of your day-to-day tasks, you might be surprised to realise that, in actual fact, it is. Every time you tweet, post, share or comment on social media, you are marketing yourself. You are working on building your own personal brand online using your presence in Social Media. If you tweak the wording of an email campaign, amend the imagery for a banner campaign or reach out to a potential online advertising partner, you are actively engaging in digital marketing.

By learning how to be an effective digital marketer, you can ensure you’re delivering the message you intend to. Developing these skills will also help you better monitor the work your employees are putting out. So that you can understand whether the campaigns are optimised for success, as well as identify areas of improvement.

Which Skills Do I Need for Digital Marketing Success?

There are many different facets of digital marketing. It is essential if you want to understand how different disciplines work together to drive success.

When recruiting digital marketing professionals to join your team, you should look for those who possess this general grounding and also excel in one to two specialist areas. Rand Fishkin, of leading search engine marketing site Moz, calls an individual with this basic understanding of multiple digital marketing disciplines and specialism in one or two areas a “T-Shaped Web Marketer”, and says that candidates like this are valuable assets to companies because they understand how different disciplines fit together and can step in to support in different areas where necessary.

How to Learn Digital Marketing at Home for Free: A Step-By-Step Guide

The good news is that learning the skills you need for digital marketing is often possible at home, in your spare time, thanks to the wealth of free online resources available. We discuss our favourite resources below and give our advice on how to get started.

Here are our six steps to digital marketing success:

1 – Study

Acquire the necessary knowledge to become a successful digital marketer by learning digital marketing. Need to know everything from blog posts to eBooks and must be created by experienced marketers.

2 – Practice, Practice, Practice

The best form of education is actively putting into practice what you’ve learned. Create test campaigns, monitor the results, optimise the campaigns and learn from your mistakes. You’ll be following the instructions provided by the study materials you’re using and there’s no risk involved as you aren’t yet dealing with digital advertising budgets for real businesses.

3 – Get Certified and Qualified

Now that you’re confident with the study materials, take the associated certifications and qualifications to test your knowledge.

4 – Start your own Digital Marketing Blog

Having your own digital marketing blog will help you practice what you’ve learned and demonstrated your expertise. It will also help you start to make connections in the industry as you seek out guest writers, invite opinions on your posts and offer to write for other publications.

5 – Seek Out Training and Support from Experienced Digital Marketers

Put those new contacts you’ve made to good use. To become a digital marketer, you need support and guidance from experienced professionals. They can point you in the right direction.

6 – Keep Learning and Improving

Digital marketing is an ever-changing and evolving field that requires its practitioners to be constantly evolving too. Never stop seeking out new learning materials and opportunities to improve your skills.

How Can I Practice Digital Marketing?

Get the Right Course

Join the course Start your online business & Earn Money in 100 Days. easy to follow Live Online Classes, Problem Discussion & Solutions, Video Tutorials, Articles. We will explain our strategies and show you exactly what to do, giving you practical, real-world training you can do in your own time, at your own pace and from any device. You can also read our in-depth digital marketing training guides, prepared by expert Digital Marketing Professionals who really know their stuff.

Test Things out by Starting Your Own Digital Marketing Blog or Personal Project

It’s vital to try out your own ideas and test whether they could turn into viable campaigns for a potential client or your own business. You should try your hand at SEO, PPC, social media, email and content marketing. This a great way to do this is to set up your own blog on a topic you’re interested in. Where you can test different types of content and campaign to see which are the most effective. This will give you valuable insights into the different platforms and help you really get to grips with using them.

Build Your Personal Brand

According to Matt Sweetwood in his article for Entrepreneur, “Personal branding has become a requirement for anyone looking to grow their business, get a better job, get noticed by the press, take their career to the next level or meet new, high-quality friends.”

Every Business Owner needs a strong online presence and an effective personal brand that promotes their achievements and accreditations. In today’s increasingly competitive online marketplace, customers don’t buy from businesses anymore; they buy from people. That’s why Elon Musk’s personal Twitter profile has more than three times as many followers as his three main businesses do. Why CEOs like Arianna Huffington and Richard Branson place so much emphasis on their social media profiles?

Stay Updated

As a digital marketer, part of your role is to stay up to date with key movements in the industry. You can do this by following news and stories released on major digital marketing sites. This is an essential time investment for anyone truly serious about digital marketing, as Google, Facebook and Twitter regularly tweak their algorithms and platforms to better serve their users, which means the type of content coming out on top in the search results is constantly changing. This is all while big and small players alike make moves that could change the industry in a matter of moments.

Start with our related reading list below. Then, it’s your turn to start researching new digital marketing blogs and websites to help your campaign – whether you opt for SEO, content marketing, PPC or more – be a success.

December 15, 2019 Abhijit Kapuria

123 Niche – Start your Online Business

  1. Selling Products & Services
    1. Products Marketplace (Amazon, Urban Ladder etc.)
    2. Service Marketplace (Fiverr, Urban Clap, Ola, Swiggy etc.)
    3. Training & Education (Teachable, Udemy etc.)
    4. Ebook, Music, Video download (NotionPress, Scribd, Gaana, Vimeo etc.)
    5. Subscription Plan (Zoom, InVideo, Vimeo etc.)
  2. Directory Services
    1. Real Estate directory website
    2. Job Directory website
    3. Online Business directory
    4. Restaurant/Hotel Directory website
    5. Events directory/Online events portal
    6. Travel Directory site
    7. Review Directory website
    8. Coupons/Deals Directory
    9. Online Classifieds Website
    10. Article Directory/Knowledge base
    11. Contact Directory Website
    12. City Directory
    13. Online Video Directory website
    14. Automotive Directory
    15. Online Marketplace websites
    16. Wedding Directory
    17. Yellow Pages Directory
    18. Course Directory/Learning Management System
  3. Travel (5)
    1. City Guide: Explore your own city and its surroundings. Recommend unusual places to visit. Great for budget travelling.
    2. Travel Tips: Share your tips and tricks for travelling. Getting through long flights, packing efficiently, etc.
    3. Cultural Differences: Share what you’ve learned about the customs and proper manners in a foreign culture. This is a great niche for helping expats and travellers respect local customs.
    4. Language and Travel: If you like learning languages, why not create a blog about it? Help your readers learn some basic words and useful phrases for their next trip. For even more value, create a few helpful PDF cheat sheets that your readers can print out!
    5. Travelling for Work: Do you work for an airline or just travel a lot for work? Use your layovers to capture the essence of each city and country. Share your stories with the world – you have a global audience waiting!
  4. Health (10)
    1. Diets: This is one of the most profitable blog niches out there. There’s always a new trendy diet to focus on – you just need to start your blog asap to outdo your competition!
    2. Nutrition and Supplements: We all know we should eat better foods – but why is it so difficult? Help your readers achieve their goals and nourish their bodies with healthy foods!
    3. Meditation: Share your experience and tips for achieving a clear state of mind with meditation. Provide beginner-level guided meditations to attract new readers and grow your reach.
    4. Herbal Remedies: Teach your blog target audience how they can benefit from what nature has to offer.
    5. Mindfulness: This is a big thing in the health and wellness niche. Mindfulness is a great blog topic to make money online, too. Just share your tips for practising mindful living in everyday life.
    6. Mental Health: Help your readers find the root causes of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. Keep your tips simple and make sure you don’t give medical advice if you’re not a certified practitioner.
    7. Self-Care and Self-Worth: We do so many things for so many other people every day. How can your readers achieve a happier life by dedicating more time to themselves instead of spending their days working for the needs of other people?
    8. Confidence Boosting: Help your audience with self-esteem issues. If you’ve struggled with feeling good about yourself, share your story and how you overcame the issue! How can your readers achieve better confidence to succeed in life and become happier in general?
    9. Skincare: There are plenty of skin health topics to write about. Acne and ageing are probably the most popular niches out there.
    10. Traditional Medicine: Alternative medical treatments are becoming more and more popular. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, acupuncture – the list is long!
  5. Fitness and Sports (10)
    1. Yoga: This niche has incredible potential for making money by blogging. If you’re a certified yoga instructor, create a series of articles and publish them as an e-book.
    2. Weight Loss: Dieting and losing weight is an endless source of blog post ideas! It’s one of the most popular niches when it comes to starting a blog to make money.
    3. Crossfit Training: Share your story, experience, and tips on how your readers can achieve their fitness goals with Crossfit training.
    4. Cycling: How to take care of your bike? What to pay attention to when buying one? Write about the best biking trips in your region or make it into a travel blog on two wheels!
    5. Running and Marathons: Running is one of the most popular forms of exercising with huge global readership potential. Write about running tips and techniques, seasonal training for summer and winter, training for marathons, running equipment etc.
    6. Extreme Sports: Parachuting, base jumping, you name it! This blog niche is easy to turn into a travel blog if you tour the world looking for the next adrenaline rush.
    7. Hiking: Write about urban hiking, day trips, hiking challenges, or pilgrimage routes.
    8. Cheerleading: This is the most interesting part of a football game to many, but it’s also a great sport!
    9. Pilates: If you know pilates, why not share your tips and experience with the world?
    10. Personal Training: This would be the ultimate traffic magnet for your blog. If you can write about exercising tips and offer workout and meal plans, you could make yourself a big name online. Write about fitness tips for busy people!
  6. Hobbies (20)
    1. Gardening: Tons of different areas to focus on: urban gardening, growing flowers, organic gardening, growing vegetables, etc.
    2. Drawing: Create a series of articles where you teach your readers how they can become better at drawing.
    3. Art: Share your own work or those of others. Give tips on where to go in your city for great art.
    4. Music: Make your own music or blog about that of others. Teach your readers how to play an instrument!
    5. Writing: Copywriting is a popular topic these days. Why not show your readers how they can become successful freelance writers, for instance?
    6. Motorcycles: Blog about the best models, vintage pieces, or maintenance advice, for example.
    7. Gambling: How to play poker? How to become a successful gambler online?
    8. Technology: Write about the latest gadgets, new technologies, tips and tricks for using them.
    9. Programming and Web Development: help your readers learn to program so that they can start new careers in the technology industry. How to build a website? How to create a mobile application to sell on the App Store?
    10. Boating and Fishing: review equipment, give your recommendations, and share your experience out on the sea.
    11. Photography: You could offer photography tips and write a helpful beginner’s guide for taking beautiful photos. If you want to, you can niche down to portrait, nature, or product photography, for example.
    12. Fashion: Blog about fashion trends, share your best looks, and establish yourself a name in the fashion blogosphere.
    13. Makeup: Write a blog and create YouTube videos with makeup tutorials. Lots of makeup gurus are already going viral online – you just need to add your own flavour to the soup and you can do it, too.
    14. Golf: Share your golf hacks and learning tips. If you travel with your golf bag, share your experience with the best golf courses around the world.
    15. Astronomy and Horoscopes: writing about start signs is a great blog niche to sell personal horoscopes and teach your readers about astronomy.
    16. Horseback Riding
    17. Self-Defence and Martial Arts
    18. Interior Design
    19. Dancing
    20. Dogs, cats, pets
  7. Food (11)
    1. Wines and Champagne: If you know a lot about wines, share that passion with the world.
    2. Craft Beer: a blog about what makes craft beer so awesome and establish yourself a name online. How to make craft beer at home?
    3. Exotic Cuisine: Share your favourite tips and recipes for preparing authentic meals from countries far away.
    4. Cooking: Choose a niche and help your readers with easy but tasty recipes. How about blogging about 30-minute meals or affordable cooking for families, for example?
    5. Home-Cooked Meals: We all love a delicious home-cooked meal, right? There’s just something about traditional cooking that warms our souls and makes us feel good. Share your family recipes and gather them together to publish a branded cookbook!
    6. Health Foods, Super Foods: how to cook and eat to stay healthy? What seasonal foods should your readers focus on in each month of the year?
    7. Baking: Muffins, cupcakes, pancakes, frosted cakes. If you can spell it, you can bake it!
    8. Recipes: Gather the best recipes you can find for a particular niche. Then cook them and write roundup posts on them. Recipe blogs are huge right now – especially if you plan on using a solid Pinterest strategy to attract massive traffic to your blog!
    9. Kitchen Equipment: share your tips on which pots and pans to use. There are tons of utensils to make cooking easier and more enjoyable. Write honest reviews and make sure to include affiliate links for your readers to click and buy the products right away.
    10. Veganism and Plant-Based Diet: how to become a vegan step-by-step? Share your tips and favourite recipes with your readers! What should your readers do when they start feeling a craving for something non-vegan again?
    11. Coffee or Tea: Write for all of us caffeine addicts – and drop me a link so I can check it out! Share your coffee tips and teach your readers new things about their favourite hot beverages.
  8. Entertainment (6)
    1. Movies: Review films, create lists with the best movies for each genre out there.
    2. Tv Shows: similar to movies – rate and review! If you’re using Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, you can focus on a single streaming service and rate the most recent shows out there, for instance.
    3. Funny Cat Videos: find the funniest videos online and make them go viral. Attract enough visitors and make money with ads on your blog.
    4. Theatre, Opera, and Ballet: Review pieces in your region or write about old and new pieces for your visitors to read and learn more about.
    5. Stand-Up Comedy and Improvisation: offer tips and create fun, helpful content you can turn into a book someday. Why not offer workshops, courses, or 1-to-1 coaching, too?
    6. Upcoming Events: write about events that attract attention in a specific target group, such as families with kids, single guys and gals, or people looking to network within a certain industry, for example. The more people are interested in reading about them, the more traffic you get.
  9. Gaming (5)
    1. Video Game Tutorials for Beginners: help others enjoy their games more!
    2. Game Walkthroughs and Tips: Adventure games are the ideal candidates for walkthrough posts, like Tomb Raider.
    3. Strategy Game Best Practices: there’s so much to learn about an advanced strategy game like civilization or cities: skylines. Write a blog or start a YouTube channel – or both!
    4. Card and Board Games: although not digital, playing cards and board games is still popular! Why not share your opinions on board games and make it into a blog where you review games.
    5. Outdoor Games: get your readers out in nature! Write an article about 50 different outdoor games for kids and publish the collection as an e-book. Sell it at a discount to schools!
  10. Finance (5)
    1. Personal Finance and Frugal Living: how to manage your finances the best? Everyone is interested in making the most out of their bucks. Frugal living is one of the most popular blog topics right now!
    2. Financial Independence: share your tips for achieving financial independence by saving, investing, and planning for the long run.
    3. Insurances and Savings: How to find the best insurances and save wisely?
    4. Retirement and Pension Savings: we are all ageing and getting closer to retirement every day. Although it might be decades away, most of us are interested in learning how we could start saving now already.
    5. Managing the Family Budget: it’s not always easy to make ends meet with a bigger family. Share tips for saving money on daily things like groceries, transportation, hobbies, clothing, etc.
  11. Relationships (5)
    1. Dating Guide: everyone is looking for love! Write a dating guide – you can choose to be serious, satirical, or funny, for example.
    2. Moving Together and Starting a Family: How to make it work with the significant other? Blog about tips for new couples who want to start a family.
    3. Weddings and Marriage: Wedding blogs are HUGE right now. Help people plan their weddings and come up with wedding concepts. Offer your help as a wedding planner!
    4. Relationship Advice: How to take care and cherish your relationship and make it last?
    5. Divorce: Well, it just doesn’t always work out with relationships, right? Help your readers overcome their divorce. There are many different topics you can help people with: legal advice, self-care, dealing with frustration and anger, forgiveness, etc.
  12. Family and Home (10)
    1. Pregnancy and Becoming Parents: Write a series of blog posts about pregnancy! Every mother and father have a bunch of questions they need answers for during this time.
    2. Parenting and Childcare: Every parent needs help with their kids from time to time. Solve their parenting problems with helpful articles on your blog. How to be a cool mom or a cool dad? How to deal with a tantrum at the supermarket?
    3. Family Holidays: Where to go with the whole family for the holidays? How to make the most out of the holiday budget and pinch a few pennies?
    4. Hobbies for the Whole Family: What to do and where to go together with the entire family?
    5. Saving Money: Help parents come up with ideas for things they can do for free with their kids. Or how they can save money when doing groceries or buying clothes for their kids.
    6. House and Garden: Write helpful how-to posts with tips about taking care of the house and garden. Renovation, makeovers, maintenance – the list goes on and on!
    7. HomeSchooling: Share your knowledge and experience of homeschooling. How does it work? Who can do it? Where do you start?
    8. School and Bullying: How to help children who are bullied? What signs should parents pay attention to so that they can intervene as early as possible? How to stop bullying altogether?
    9. Education: Blog about different options for school or college. How to finance your kid’s college degree? How to write the perfect college application?
    10. Eco-Friendly Homes: Write about how to turn any apartment or house into an eco-friendly, green home. Also, you could blog about how your family takes care of the environment at home in your daily life.
  13. Education and Career (5)
    1. Career Path Advice: how to find your passion and the right career and job to fit?
    2. Promotions and Career Coaching: Help your readers achieve their career goals more quickly.
    3. Learning New Skills: Languages, management skills, IT & software skills.
    4. Study Hacks: How to learn more efficiently? How to party in college but still nail your exams?
    5. SAT Tips and Tricks: How to prepare for your SATs and get top scores?
  14. Social Networks (4)
    1. Instagram Celebrities: How to become a social media celebrity on Instagram?
    2. Mastering a Social Network: How to boost your business on social media?
    3. Social Media Detox: help your readers with their phone addiction!
    4. Beginner’s Guides: write about the basics of social networks. How to start using them and how to make the most out of them?
  15. Politics and Society (4)
    1. News and Current Events: Write about your own views on the hottest topics in the media right now.
    2. Political Satire: Capture your readers’ attention with witty perspectives and your personal touch to current political events.
    3. Society and Politics: Address political issues in society. Choose a matter you wish to stand for and create a community around it.
    4. Educational Blog: Teach people about political systems, processes and why their voice matters in every election they can participate in.
Create Great Blog Titles
December 15, 2019 Abhijit Kapuria

10 Tips for Creating Great Blog Titles

You probably spend a lot of time creating the content you publish on your blog. Obviously, creating great content is important. If you’re going to get the most out of having a business blog, but people won’t bother reading the content you create unless you create a good title.

Titles are the first part of your blog that readers will see and that is responsible for getting more clicks. They’re frequently what people use when they share your blog post, meaning that any time a reader likes your content enough to share it with their social network, it’s the part of the blog their followers will see.

Learn the Great Blog Title Formulas.

A lot of bloggers and marketers have done the research to see how different types of headlines perform in comparison to others. They’ve found some clear trends in what people choose to click on. You can benefit from the work others have done by studying up on the formulas that are proven to work.

1. Number Headline

Any headline that starts with a number, introducing a list post (like this one does – and it worked in this case if you’re reading this post).

2. How to headlines

This is a simple option, but a good one. If someone’s trying to figure out how to do something, a headline that lets them know the blog post will deliver on that need gets the most important point across (but your post better deliver on the headline’s promise).

3. Famous comparison

These headlines borrow on the popularity of a person or piece of entertainment to get people to click. Depending on the famous thing or person you choose, they can add an element of fun to your blog, e.g. # Business Lessons I Learned from Watching Beyoncé.

4. Scarcity headline

This headline promises that the reader will be getting something few people have. Headlines that start with “The Secret of…” or “Little Known Tips for…” are playing on this principle.

5. Big promises headline

These headlines are assuring the reader that they’ll be getting a lot of information if they click, this category includes headlines that start with “The Ultimate Guide to…” or list posts that have a particularly high number at the beginning.

Buzzsumo has also done extensive research into the words and phrases that perform best in headlines (at least on Facebook). Obviously, you can’t just insert these words into your blog titles thoughtlessly, but if you keep them top of mind and look for opportunities to use them effectively, they could help you build better titles.

This is a good starter list, but you can find a lot more if you do a little digging into blog title examples and formulas. It’s worth devoting some real time to studying the research that’s out there and learning from other people’s experience on this.

Pay Attention to Headlines You Like.

Every day you encounter titles – not just blog titles, but also the titles of newspaper and magazine articles, the titles of YouTube videos, the titles of emails you receive, etc. You always have a response to those titles, even when your response is to ignore one and keep scrolling.

In the same way that starting to read more can make you a better writer, starting to more actively pay attention to the titles you encounter in your life and the way you respond to them will get you thinking regularly throughout the day about what works and why. And that thinking will lead to you getting better at crafting good headlines.

So as you scroll through a blog, flip through your favorite magazine, or wade through the links people share on social media, start analyzing your response to every headline you see. Think about which ones made you click, which ones annoyed or offended you, and which ones just didn’t make much of an impression. When possible, jot down notes on how you responded and why. While you’re only a sample set of one, even just by starting with your own responses, you’ll begin to gain some insights into what makes headlines work.

Practice Writing Great Blog Titles.

Ah yes, the familiar tip that goes on most lists of how to do anything well: practice. The more you do it, the easier it will be to do it well, so give yourself the assignment of writing blog titles regularly. Not only for the blog posts you write, but just for the practice of writing titles.

Justin Blackman challenged himself to write over 10,000 headlines over 100 days and found that there was a tangible difference in the quality of his headlines and how quickly he could produce good headlines by the end of his project – which should surprise no one, of course, that’s what happens when you commit to practising something at that level.

Luckily, you don’t have to go that far to get better at writing blog titles. You could commit to doing it for 30 minutes each week or 10 minutes a day and still see a difference. Figure out what level of practice you can fit into your life and start doing it.

Use Your Keyword Research.

If you have a blog, you’re probably already doing keyword research to help you figure out what your audience is thinking about,  looking for, and the terminology they use when doing so. Put that information to work in your blog titles.

You want to be using the language your customers use. It’s good both to improve SEO of your blog posts and for getting them to click on the post. You need to be careful that you don’t try to force a target keyword into a blog title awkwardly. But if your blog post is on the subject you’re targeting, you should be able to include the keyword naturally.

Write Multiple Popular Blog Titles

I get it. You just did all that hard work of researching website copywriting tips and writing the post. You’re ready to be done and get it out there! But as we’ve already mentioned, all that hard work is worth a lot less if people don’t click to read your post. That means your title has a disproportionate amount of power versus the rest of your post and you’ve got to get it right.

Some experts recommend spending as much time working on blog titles as you do on the blog post itself. If you do that, you may well find the difference in results is worth the extra time. At the very least though, commit to writing several blog titles for every post you publish (in addition to the headline writing practice you’ve committed to). Share your headlines with friends or co-workers to get feedback. This will accomplish two things at once:

  • You’ll have an easier time selecting the best blog title of the list for each post.
  • Get more information on which titles people respond to.  Expanding your sample set of one to however many people you can get to review your title options and weigh-in for each post.

Don’t Oversell.

If you’ve heard anyone use the term click bait, you know it tends to get said in a tone of derision or at least annoyance. People hate clicking on a link based on the promise of an appealing headline, only to be disappointed in the content that’s actually there. For websites that have a business model where they make money based on the number of clicks they get, these types of titles may make a certain amount of sense to use. But if you have a business you want people to trust, they’re a terrible idea.

Make sure the blog title you use matches the content of the post. Don’t say your content is going to “blow your mind” when it probably won’t (how would someone measure that anyway?). Don’t say your blog post is the “definitive guide to” what you’re writing about if it’s a short post only covering the basics of the topic.

Appeal to Emotions.

Whether or not we recognize why we click and share blog posts in the moment we do so, researchers have found that it’s often an emotional decision. Blog titles that appeal to the reader’s emotions are therefore powerful, especially for inspiring shares. CoSchedule analyzed the number of shares different posts got based on their Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) Score and found that those with the highest scores got considerably more shares than those with low scores.

Where possible, use terms that evoke emotions in your readers, like surprising, exclusive, or delighted. Think about what you want your readers to feel when they click and work on providing that in the post and describe what they can expect in the blog title.

Be Specific.

People want to know what they’re clicking on. You may feel like being a little vague could make people more interested or give the blog title broader appeal. But more often it will just make it easier for people to scroll past your title without interest. A specific blog title tells them what questions you’re answering and information you’re providing. The reader will recognize if that’s information they want or need and can make an informed decision on whether or not that click is worth their time.

HubSpot’s data backs this up. In testing over 3 million headlines, they noticed that titles that give people more information about the type of content format they’re getting (e.g. putting [Interview] or [Template] in the title) performed 38% better than those that didn’t include that information.

Do A/B Testing.

You can do a lot of headline research into what generally works well. But ultimately, you need to figure out what works for your target audience. For that, you need to do A/B testing. While every blog post you publish gives you some data on what headlines work. You can figure out more detailed information by putting two headlines against each other.

Whenever your title brainstorming leads to two strong contenders, set up an A/B test and see what happens. You can make some conjectures about what makes the winning blog title work better in each test, but where you’ll really gain insights is by looking at the trends over time. Maybe your audience responds better to blog titles with negative wording in them than positive.

The more data you collect in your testing, the more you’ll know about how to get clicks in future blogs.

Great Blog Titles for your Audience.

You don’t need to think about everyone on the internet to like your blog titles. But you do need the people in your target audience to like them. General knowledge of best practices for writing blog titles is good to have when getting started. But the longer you publish on your blog and analyze what works for your audience. The more your blog title strategies should be based on your own data.

You’re not writing these blog titles for you or to sound clever to other marketers or even your boss. The only people that need to respond to your blog titles are the ones you want reading your blog. Always keep that in mind when deciding which titles you go with.

December 15, 2019 Abhijit Kapuria

The Different Ways To Trade Forex

Traders in Forex Market came up with a number of different ways to invest or speculate in currencies. Among these, the most popular ones are 

  • Spot Forex,
  • Currency Futures,
  • Currency Options, and
  • Exchange-Traded Funds (or ETFs).

Currency Futures

These are Futures Contracts on currencies, which are bought and sold based on a standard size and settlement date. FX Futures were created by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) way back in 1972. The CME Group is the largest foreign currency futures market. They offers futures contracts on G10 currency pairs as well as emerging market currency pairs and e-micro products.

Since Futures Contracts are standardised and traded on a centralised exchange, the market is very transparent and well-regulated. This means that price and transaction information are readily available.

Currency Options

Foreign currency options give the choice holder the right – but not the obligation – to buy or sell a hard and fast amount of a foreign currency at a specified price on or before expiration date. If a trader “sold” an option, then he or she would be obliged to shop for or sell an asset at a selected price at the expiration date.

Options are also traded on an exchange, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the International Securities Exchange (ISE), or the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX).

There are some disadvantage in trading FX Options. Those are as follows,

  • Market hours are limited for certain options.
  • The liquidity is not nearly as great as the futures or spot market.

December 15, 2019 Abhijit Kapuria

Forex Market Size And Liquidity

Like other financial market like NYSE or LSE, the Forex market has neither a physical location not a central location. The bulk of Forex Trading takes place using the system called “Interbank market“.

Forex market is consider a Over the Counter (OTC) Market. It is because the entire market runs electronically within a networks of banks 24 hours a day. It means the Forex Market is spread all over the world with no central location. So it means your trade can take place from any where as long as you have an Internet Connection.

The Forex OTC market is far bigger and biggest than most of the popular financial market in the world, traded globally by a large number of Individuals & Organisations.

In Forex OTC market, participants determines whom they want to trade with looking on the trading conditions, the attractiveness of price and also the reputation of the trading counter-party (the other party who takes the other side of trade).

The below chart shows the most actively traded currencies.

Two currencies are involved in each transaction. The sum of the percentage shares of individual currencies totals 200% instead of 100%

The Dollar is King in the Forex Market

The U.S. dollar is the most traded currency, making up 84.9% of all transactions! The euro’s share is second at 39.1%, while that of the yen is third at 19.0%. As you can see, most of the major currencies are hogging the top spots on this list!

You’ve probably noticed how often we keep mentioning the U.S. dollar (USD). If the USD is one-half of each major currency pair, and therefore the majors comprise 75% of all trades, then it’s a requirement to concentrate to the USD. The USD is king! In fact, consistent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the USD comprises roughly 64% of the world’s official exchange reserves!

Because almost every investor, business, and financial institution owns it, they concentrate to the U.S. dollar.

There are also other significant reasons why the U.S. dollar plays a central role in the Forex market:

  • The United States economy is the LARGEST economy in the world.
  • The U.S. dollar is the reserve currency of the world.
  • The United States has the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world.
  • The USA has a stable political system.
  • The United States is the world’s sole military superpower.
  • The U.S. dollar is the medium of exchange for many cross-border transactions. For example, oil is priced in USD. Also called “petrodollars”. So if Mexico wants to buy oil from Saudi Arabia, it can only be bought with the U.S. dollar. If Mexico doesn’t have any dollars, it has to sell its pesos first and buy U.S. dollars.

Speculation in the Forex Market

One important thing to notice about the Forex market is that while commercial and financial transactions are a part of the trading volume, most currency trading is predicated on speculation.

Most of the trading volume comes from traders that buy and sell supported the worth movements of currency pairs. The trading volume caused by speculators is estimated to be quite 90%!

The scale of the Forex market means liquidity is extremely high. This makes it very easy for anyone to shop for and sell currencies. From the attitude of a trader, liquidity is extremely important. Because it determines how easily price can change over a given period of time .

A liquid market environment like Forex enables huge trading volumes to happen with little or no effect on the worth , or price action.
While the Forex market is comparatively very liquid, the market depth could change counting on the currency pair and time of day.

December 13, 2019 Abhijit Kapuria

Buying And Selling Currency Pairs

Trading of Forex is buying of one currency and selling of another currency. Currencies are traded through a broker or dealer and are always traded in pairs.

For example, the Euro and the US Dollar (EUR/USD) or the British Pound and the Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY). When you trade in the forex market, you buy or sell in currency pairs.

Exchange rates fluctuate based on which currency is stronger at the moment.

Major Currency Pairs

The currency pairs listed below are considered the “majors.” These pairs all contain the U.S. dollar (USD) on one side and are the most frequently traded. The majors are the most liquid and widely traded currency pairs in the world.

CURRENCY PAIRCOUNTRIESFX GEEK SPEAK
EUR/USDEurozone / United States“euro dollar”
USD/JPYUnited States / Japan“dollar yen”
GBP/USDUnited Kingdom / United States“pound dollar”
USD/CHFUnited States/ Switzerland“dollar swissy”
USD/CADUnited States / Canada“dollar loonie”
AUD/USDAustralia / United States“aussie dollar”
NZD/USDNew Zealand / United States“kiwi dollar”

Major Cross-Currency Pairs or Minor Currency Pairs

Currency pairs that don’t contain the U.S. dollar (USD) are known as cross-currency pairs or simply as the “crosses.” Major crosses are also known as “minors.” The most actively traded crosses are derived from the three major non-USD currencies: EUR, JPY, and GBP.

Euro Crosses

CURRENCY PAIRCOUNTRIESFX GEEK SPEAK
EUR/CHFEurozone / Switzerland“euro swissy”
EUR/GBPEurozone / United Kingdom“euro pound”
EUR/CADEurozone / Canada“euro loonie”
EUR/AUDEurozone / Australia“euro aussie”
EUR/NZDEurozone / New Zealand“euro kiwi”
EUR/SEKEurozone / Sweden“euro stockie”
EUR/NOKEurozone / Norway“euro nockie”

Yen Crosses

CURRENCY PAIRCOUNTRIESFX GEEK SPEAK
EUR/JPYEurozone / Japan“euro yen” or “yuppy”
GBP/JPYUnited Kingdom / Japan“pound yen” or “guppy”
CHF/JPYSwitzerland / Japan“swissy yen”
CAD/JPYCanada / Japan“loonie yen”
AUD/JPYAustralia / Japan“aussie yen”
NZD/JPYNew Zealand / Japan“kiwi yen”

Pound Crosses

PAIRCOUNTRIESFX GEEK SPEAK
GBP/CHFUnited Kingdom / Switzerland“pound swissy”
GBP/AUDUnited Kingdom / Australia“pound aussie”
GBP/CADUnited Kingdom / Canada“pound loonie”
GBP/NZDUnited Kingdom / New Zealand“pound kiwi”

Other Crosses

PAIRCOUNTRIESFX GEEK SPEAK
AUD/CHFAustralia / Switzerland“aussie swissy”
AUD/CADAustralia / Canada“aussie loonie”
AUD/NZDAustralia / New Zealand“aussie kiwi”
CAD/CHFCanada / Switzerland“loonie swissy”
NZD/CHFNew Zealand / Switzerland“kiwi swissy”
NZD/CADNew Zealand / Canada“kiwi loonie”

Exotic Currency Pairs

Exotic currency pairs are made up of one major currency paired with the currency of an emerging economy, such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Turkey, or Hungary. The chart below contains a few examples of exotic currency pairs. Wanna take a shot at guessing what those other currency symbols stand for? Depending on your FOREX broker, you may see the following exotic currency pairs so it’s good to know what they are. Keep in mind that these pairs aren’t as heavily traded as the “majors” or “crosses,” so the transaction costs associated with trading these pairs are usually bigger.

CURRENCY PAIRCOUNTRIESFX GEEK SPEAK
USD/BRLUnited States / Brazil“dollar real”
USD/HKDUnited States / Hong Kong
USD/SARUnited States / Saudi Arabia“dollar riyal”
USD/SGDUnited States / Singapore
USD/ZARUnited States / South Africa“dollar rand”
USD/THBUnited States / Thailand“dollar baht”
USD/MXNUnited States / Mexico“dollar mex”
USD/DKKUnited States / Denmark“dollar krone”
USD/SEKUnited States / Sweden“dollar stockie”
USD/NOKUnited States / Norway “dollar nockie”
USD/RUBUnited States / Russia“dollar ruble” or “Barney”
USD/PLNUnited States / Poland“dollar zloty”
USD/CLPUnited States/ Chile

It’s not unusual to see spreads that are two or three times bigger than that of EUR/USD or USD/JPY. So if you want to trade exotics currency pairs, remember to factor this in your decision.

G10 Currencies

The G10 currencies are ten of the most heavily traded currencies in the world, which are also ten of the world’s most liquid currencies. Traders regularly buy and sell them in an open market with minimal impact on their own international exchange rates.

COUNTRYCURRENCY NAMECURRENCY CODE
United StatesdollarUSD
European UnioneuroEUR
United KingdompoundGBP
JapanyenJPY
AustraliadollarAUD
New ZealanddollarNZD
CanadadollarCAD
SwitzerlandfrancCHF
NorwaykroneNOK
SwedenkronaSEK
DenmarkkroneDKK

The Scandies

Scandinavia is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. The term “Scandinavia” in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Together, their currencies are known as the “Scandies“.

Back in the day, Denmark and Sweden established the Scandinavian Monetary Union to merge their currencies to a gold standard. Norway joined later.

This meant that these countries now had one currency, with the same monetary value, with the exception that each of these countries minted their own coins.

But then World War I happened, and the gold standard was abandoned and the Scandinavian Monetary Union disbanded.  These countries decided to keep the currency, even if the values were separate from one another. And this remains the state of things.

If you notice their currency names, they all look similar. That’s because the word “krone or krona” literally means “crown”, and the differences in spelling of the name represent the differences between the North Germanic languages.

COUNTRYCURRENCY NAMECURRENCY CODE
DenmarkkroneDKK
SwedenkronaSEK
NorwaykroneNOK

CEE Currencies

“CEE” stands for Central and Eastern Europe.

Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in Central Europe,  the Baltics, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc (Warsaw Pact) in Europe.

Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) is an OECD term for the group of countries comprising Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Regarding the FX market, there are four main CEE currencies to be aware of.

COUNTRYCURRENCY NAMECURRENCY CODE
HungaryforintHUF
Czech RepublickorunaCZK
PolandzlotyPLN
RomanialeuRON

BRIICS

BRIICS is the acronym coined for the association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, and South Africa.

Originally the first four were grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”). BRICs was a term created by Goldman Sachs to name today’s new high-growth emerging economies.

BRIICS is the term created by the OECD, when it added Indonesia and South Africa.

COUNTRYCURRENCY NAMECURRENCY CODE
BrazilrealBRL
RussiarubleRUB
IndiarupeeINR
IndonesiarupiahIDR
ChinayuanCNY
South AfricarandZAR