New Year, New Opportunity for Bloggers, Knowledge Geeks and Others Who Can Write

Hey, the Biofortified Blog is seeking articles written by scientists, doctors, farmers, chefs, and anyone who eats food. This opportunity is open to anyone, no matter your views. The public needs people with first-hand knowledge and this gives people the opportunity to write about what they know, engage in a moderated discussion, and be part of a community of writers and readers that want to give these topics the attention they deserve.

We have a wide reach, with a network of scientists, science enthusiasts, and more who seek out our content. We will post and promote your work on social media and can help you build your personal brand as a writer while you write with us. Some of our writers have gone on to start their own successful projects and organizations.

Here are some of the topics that the Biofortified Blog is seeking:

*Plants, genetics, biotechnology. If you are a plant scientist, geneticist, breeder, or other scientist with expertise in this area, you could talk about the science, or one of the many issues that intersect the science.

*Agriculture. Cover crops, fertilizers, pesticides, organic, environmental impact, climate change, land use, farmer’s markets, and more! We want to hear diverse voices and first person accounts.

*Food. Who doesn’t love talking about food? Nutrition, culture and traditions, modernization, world hunger, food distribution, even recipes are welcome!

*Ethics. What are the ethical implications of new innovations in crops, food, or production practices? Help our readers consider important issues in bioethics.

*Education and science communication. Are students learning enough about where their food comes from? What are innovative ways to reach more people?
Law and regulations. Are you a lawyer, policy geek, or someone who thinks about the consequences of current or future policies and laws? Is there a better way to regulate new technologies?

*News and media. How is the media covering science, ag, and food? You could write a short summary of some interesting news, or comment on the media’s coverage of important issues.

*Interviews. Interviews with scientists and others are a great way to contribute. We can help put together questions, and so can our readers. If you have an idea about someone to interview, check with us first. We can also contact your interviewee for you, which might make it more likely that you will get the interview.

*Art, music, video. We invite all types of communication methods. Feel like videotaping yourself with your plants and telling us something cool about them? We can feature it on the blog, and upload it to our YouTube channel.

If there is something you want to contribute to the blog, please ask the Biofortified Blog before you put a lot of work into it. We can provide advice and make sure that your work is a great success! Find full contact information on biofortified.org

Five Interesting Statistics About Blogging For Bloggers to Consider

Want some interesting stats about blogging? Here are a few top ones to consider.

* Websites with a blog have tend to have 434% more indexed pages.

* Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website.

* 70-80% of users ignore paid ads and only focus on organic results.

* B2B marketers that use blogs get 67% more leads than those that do not.

* 36% of people prefer list-based headlines

How to Maximize Your Internet Income with Social Media Including Instagram

Are you a social media influencer? Are you maximizing your Internet income? If you are a blogger and/or maintain an e-commerce site you may already know that Instagram doesn’t allow users to add links in their posts, resulting in other users only being able to window-shop your Instagram. The fact that there are more than six million users with over 10,000 followers on Instagram leaves a lot of business to fall through cracks.

A service called Scoutsee solves this problem by allowing users to create shoppable posts on Instagram. For instance, you can create a storefront and add a link to it in your Instagram bio. Then when you share photos of your products, mention in the caption that users can click on the link in your bio for more info. Shoppers click on the link and are taken to your personal storefront.

Scoutsee provides a mobile app and tools that allow anyone to make money by promoting products in their Instagram, Facebook and Twitter posts. If a product is purchased via the post, the Scoutsee user receives a commission from the sale, typically between six and ten percent of the purchase price. When purchases are made, the commission is transferred to the Scoutsee user's PayPal or bank account.

Questions to Ask Before Starting A Blog

I'm switching gears in this post to talk to blogger's with regard to content and starting a blog. Before begin a blog you need to determine what really interests you. What topic would you be interested in finding out more about and posting about on a regular basis?

Sometimes your blog topic is obvious such helping to support an online or local business that you have. If you are not selling anything, then you may be blogging to support your place in a professional field or your may be a writer and simply choose a topic that you are interested in and feel the need to share with others. You may also plan to write a book on the topic, so that the blog posts can become a book or help to promote the book.

Once you have that narrowed down to one or two areas, determine the targeted audience for each. Then do a Google search to determine how many blogs are already out there. If the topic has minimal exposure, you can step in to fill an overlooked niche. If it is a crowded topic then you need to find a name for your blog that can be easily found. Make it original, easy to spell and easy to remember.

If you find yourself in a crowded field make sure that you use a unique voice for your blog and cover areas that may not be well addressed by others. Don't be discouraged if the field for your blog topic is crowded. Many times readers will follow several blogs on topics that interest them.

How Does Your Content Marketing Measure Up?

The results of the new 2015 survey by The Content Marketing Institute found that only 23% of Business to Consumer marketers successfully track their return on investment in content marketing. This year's survey reached more than 5,000 marketers,representing 25 industries in 109 countries.

Fifty-one percent, an increase of 15% over last year, say that measuring the effectiveness of content is a challenge. Only 27% of B2C marketers have taken the time to put their strategy in writing, while 50% of those surveyed only have a verbal strategy.

Other findings from this year's survey revealed that 69% of those responding are creating more content than they did a year ago and 45% of B2C marketers now have a dedicated content marketing group in their organization. On average they are using seven social media platforms this year compared to only six last year. The use of blogs dropped from 72% last year to 67% this year.

Seventy-one percent use print or other offline promotion, and while it is the paid method that they use most frequently to promote and distribute content, only 46% say that it's effective. The majority, or 57%, say that search engine marketing is the most effective way to promote/distribute content.

The 2015 survey included new questions showing that the average number of paid advertising methods for promoting/distributing content is four and that 48% of those surveyed say that they publish new content daily or multiple times per week. The average number of content marketing initiatives being worked on at the time of the survey was 13.
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For more information on the findings from the 2015 survey visit the Content Marketing Institute site.