Tag: Steve Bicknell

SteveJBicknell Blog gets 450,000 hits with over 9,000 followers

Yes, its true, our blog has been read over 450,000 times, keep reading and help us to reach the half a million mark.

We now have over 9,000 followers and we have made 804 post.

Google has become our best friend and is the source of around 94% of our visitors.

That’s pretty impressive for a blog about accounting and tax!

What’s more, we don’t pay to boost posts or use any other ways to gain advantage, we just post content that our followers and readers value.

Our blog was started to help business owners resolve common issues, its purpose is to help people and to explain how tax works and where the problem areas are. Its designed to give complete answers, rather than ‘here’s a problem, now contact us for the answer’ . We want readers to be able to resolve basic and common problems themselves for free and if their problems are more complex or they need extra help then to contact us or their own accountant.

We don’t ask subscribers and followers to pay and we don’t sell advertising.

So why do we bother?

  1. We really do want to help people, why should tax and accounting be a black art, lets help everyone to understand it
  2. By helping you, we also increase our own knowledge and understanding – so we all learn together
  3. The 804 posts are a huge resource for anyone seeking the solution to a problem
  4. Our blogs are a great reference source as we generally have links to the specific HMRC rules and helpsheets, we often quote our blogs when our clients ask about an issue they face
  5. We enjoy writing them

What lessons have we learned from blogging?

  • Always have a picture
  • Choose a good title for the URL
  • Post regularly

Did you know…

  • There are more than 1.5 billion blogs
  • The majority of blog readers are aged 18 to 36
  • Most people read more than 5 blogs per day
  • Most bloggers share their blogs on social media

steve@bicknells.net

 

www.stevejbicknell.com blog smashes through 300,000 hits!

Blog 300000

http://www.stevejbicknell.com has now had over 300,000 views, nearly 200,000 unique visitors and on Sunday reached a new daily views high of 1,396 views in a single day!

I think that’s pretty impressive for a Tax and Accounting Blog!

Looking at phone

We have over 7,000 followers and our most popular day is Tuesday and the best time is 1pm, which is interesting as last year it was Wednesday at 10am.

Our top 3 blogs of all time are:

  1. https://stevejbicknell.com/2012/04/07/a-quick-guide-to-vat-on-sandwiches-takeaway-food-cakes-and-pasties/
  2. https://stevejbicknell.com/2013/01/31/self-assessment-payment-shipley-or-cumbernauld/
  3. https://stevejbicknell.com/2012/12/15/when-should-you-charge-vat-on-inter-company-recharges/

January 2016 has had the highest monthly number of hits at 12,000

So why do people read my blog?

  1. Useful Content – I learned a long time ago that if you want followers and readers you have to write about things that will interest as wider audience as possible. My blog is about Accounting and Tax, which you might think is boring but it does affect everyone, we all pay tax! and there is plenty to blog about.
  2. Accurate Content – Its important to get the content right but even if you do make a mistake you can bet your life someone will tell you. Fortunately most readers are very helpful and will also contribute suggestions.
  3. Regular Posts – you have to post regularly, I post 2 or 3 times a week, I prepare them in advance and schedule them
  4. Variety – I try cover a wide variety of topics and my audience appreciate it, I even get special requests
  5. Pictures – Blogs without pictures, charts and graphics are boring
  6. Share – Post your blogs every where on Social Media and encourage others to do the same
  7. Pick a good title – The title will be found by search engines so try to think about what someone might search for
  8. Video – You Tube has plenty and most people would love you to link to their video as it will increase their hits as well as yours
  9. Infographics – I love infographics and I try to create my own when I have time
  10. Keep it simple – Lets face it Tax is complicated, so I try not to make the blogs too complicated otherwise I will lose followers

steve@bicknells.net

BBA-small

WordPress Blog – www.stevejbicknell.com 2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 17,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 4 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

My top 10 free local activities and things to do

Following the massive popularity of my Bay Radio (102.8 FM) discussion on air today, here are my top 10, totally free things to do:

Corfe Castle Museum – Corfe

Southampton City Art Gallery – Southampton

Tolpuddle Martyrs – Dorchester

Russell Coates – Bournemouth

Red House Museum – Christchurch

The Waterfront Museum – Poole

Guided Fossil Hunting Walks – Charmouth

Swanage Regatta and Carnival 30th July to 6th August

Bournemouth Carnival Procession 7th August

Bournemouth Fireworks on Friday Nights starting 22nd July 8pm to 10.30pm

I hope you enjoy them and please let me know what you think

steve@bicknells.net