(upbeat music) – [Narrator] Today, I will be sharing with you, one of my favorite recipes which is lentils and it is very easy, very fast to cook, very inexpensive and highly, highly nutritious with very low calories. As you can see, nutrition plays a vital role for overall good health and it promotes wellness, complete physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being. Well, these are the ingredients that we will be needing and most of them we already have at home and I already have all the ingredients prepared. Remember, before we cook we needed to wash our hands, thoroughly wash all veggies, all utensils that we’re gonna be needing, hygiene, hygiene. These are the instructions, Soup Lentil.
It is very easy, very tasty, very nutritious and that is it. If you just taste it and you can serve it in your favorite bowl and this is how it’s gonna look. And it smells delicious and it tastes delicious..
Ever since they won control of the government in 2016. Republicans have been obsessed with getting this one thing done. Tax reform. We’re going to have a phenomenal tax reform. They’ve passed a bill, the President has signed it, so let’s break down what’s actually going to change.
Imagine that instead of getting paid in dollars, you got paid in cereal. The government takes a certain amount of cereal in taxes. And it uses it to pay other people to do things build roads, fly fighter jets, do research. You get the picture. The more you earn, the bigger the share of your cereal the government takes.
Sometimes the government wants to incentivize you to do certain things with your cereal. Like if you buy a house for a hundred pieces of cereal, and then sell it for 200 pieces of cereal, you’d normally have to pay capital gains taxes on that profit. But there’s a special loophole that says you don’t have to. The tax code is full of loopholes like this, which means if everyone puts their cereal together, there would be two bowls.
One that the government dips into for taxes, and one it doesn’t.
Now, Republicans want the government to take a smaller portion. And they say they want people to keep more of the cereal. But if they do that, the government won’t have enough cereal to pay for what it needs. So part of this new law is taking some of the cereal that’s not taxed, and change the rules so that it is taxable. That way, the government can take a smaller share of the cereal but still pay for the stuff it needs.
This is what politicians mean when they talk about ‘broadening the tax base.’ Here’s the problem: Republicans aren’t broadening the base enough.
They’re taking a lot less cereal from people and adding some new taxable cereal but not enough to pay for what the government needs. To pay for that stuff, the government is going to have to go into debt. This means they’re going to have to take even more cereal, years in the future to pay back the debt they’re taking out now.
Republicans think this will help grow the total amount of cereal available to both tax payers and the government. So what happens to that 1.5 trillion dollar gap? It goes back into people’s bowls but not everyone gets the same share.
If you break the population into five equally sized groups based on how much they earned in 2017 and look at how much each group will earn in 2018 every group does get a tax cut.
But fast forward ten years and you can see that lower and middle class Americans will actually pay more since their tax cuts aren’t permanent. And if you break that top group into smaller groups you can see the very wealthiest benefit most of all. So while this new law does close some loopholes to bring in new tax revenue The bill’s larger purpose is to realize the Republican vision of a fairer tax code.
These are tax brackets for 2019. Simple, right? But many of us make a common mistake when looking at this. Let’s say my income is $84,000. You might think that puts me in the third bracket.
So I would owe the federal government 22% of my income. This is wrong. And it’s causing us to have uninformed debates about tax policy. Here’s how it actually works. Let’s go back to my $84,000 income.
Now, instead of thinking of tax rates as brackets, we should think of them as pockets. But first there’s one special pocket we need to talk about. The money we put in this pocket is not taxed. The government automatically lets single people put $12,000 in this special pocket — and more for couples. But if you spend a lot of money on things like medical expenses or charitable donations, you can sometimes put in more.
These are called “deductions.” With the $70,000 that’s left over we can start filling up the pockets.
This first pocket has room for $9,700, so I only pay 10% on this money. Then I pay 12% on the money in the next pocket. And then 22% on the money in this pocket.
These are called marginal tax rates. And that’s how these brackets actually work. So if I get a raise, that new money goes into the first pocket with empty space. When space runs out, we put it in the next pocket. So the raise, and only the raise, would be partially taxed at 22%.
And partially at 24%. So, when politicians say they want to raise the top tax rate, it doesn’t necessarily mean these pockets — and your money — are affected. They’re talking about the tax rates on the pockets way over there, which are only used once people have filled in these smaller one. Marginal tax rates are a pretty simple concept, once you get the hang of it. So the next time a politician says the government wants to “take away 70% of your income” just send them this video.
I weigh about 80 kilograms. Most of that, let’s say 64 percent, is water — though you can’t tell by looking. I mean, as organisms go, I like to think that I look fairly solid. After water, the next largest proportion of me is protein, about 16% — not just in my muscles, but also in things like the tiny sodium-potassium pumps in my neurons, and the hemoglobin in my blood, and the enzymes driving the chemical reactions in every one of my 37 trillion cells. Then another 16% of me is fat, which I’m totally OK with; Four percent of me is minerals, like the calcium and phosphorus in my bones, and the iron in my blood; and 1 percent is carbohydrates, most of which is either being consumed as I talk to you, or is sitting around as glycogen waiting to be used.
But here’s the thing: It’s not like I just ate 80 kilograms of food and then all this happened. Instead, my body, like yours, is constantly acquiring stuff, extracting some of it to keep, burning some of it for energy, and getting rid of the rest. But even the stuff that my body does hold onto doesn’t last forever. Some of the chemicals that I absorb in my food eventually become a part of me. But enzymes wear out, and membranes break down, and DNA gets oxidized.
So, they get discarded. And then I need more of those chemicals to reconstruct the material that I’ve lost. As a result, over the course of my lifetime, my cells will synthesize somewhere between 225 and 450 kilograms of protein … That’s like 3, or 4, or 5 separate me’s — just made of protein.
And all of the protein and fat and carbohydrates nucleic acids that make up me, of course, come from food. Every organism has to keep taking in and breaking down food, to keep resupplying itself with the raw materials it needs to survive.
And all that activity requires energy, which we also gain from food. So, how do our bodies actually convert what we eat into energy and raw materials? The answer is a neverending series of reactions that are dedicated to doing two vital, and totally contradictory, things: One set of chemical reactions destroys the reactants that you give them, reducing big, complex substances into molecular rubble. And the other set reassembles that rubble into new and bigger products that are put together again to make you.
So our bodies are constantly reinventing themselves — in a perpetual state of loss, but also always rebuilding.
And even though all of this is happening at the cellular level, its consequences could hardly be larger. These two sets of reactions are where everything that we’ve learned so far — about the digestive, endocrine, circulatory, and respiratory systems — really starts to come together. Together, these processes make up your metabolism. Now the sciencey word metabolism has come to have a meaning in popular speech, but metabolism isn’t just one thing. People talk about metabolism as meaning, like, how fast your body burns the fuel in your food, or how high your personal energy level is.
And that’s fine for use by personal trainers and fitness magazines. But physiologically, metabolism really describes every single biochemical reaction that goes on in your body. And maybe more importantly, it reconciles two conflicting chemical processes that are always, simultaneously underway inside of you. One of those chemical forces is anabolism. Anabolic reactions construct things and consume energy.
These are the processes that take the small monomer building blocks in your food — like monosaccharides and fatty and amino acids — and build them into bigger, more complex polymers like carbs, and fats, and proteins that are used in your cells. Then, when you need new building blocks, or you need to release some energy, those polymers in your body, or new ones in your food, get broken up — by catabolic reactions.
The processes of catabolism break down bigger molecules, and in breaking their bonds, release the energy you need to stay warm, and move around, and provide your cells with fuel … to build the polymers back up again. To be honest, your metabolism is a lot like Sisyphus. It works really hard.
But it is never finished. And the boulder that your inner Sisyphus is always pushing uphill and watching fall back down? That’s nutrients — the molecules that your body is forever breaking up, and then rebuilding, only to have them break apart again. And these nutrients — the materials your body needs to build, maintain and repair itself — come in six major groups. By volume, the majority of what we consume — and what makes up our bodies — is water, so that’s maybe the most vital nutrient.
Then there are vitamins, compounds that come in either fat-soluble or water soluble forms. They aren’t used as building blocks or for energy, but they’re essential in helping the body make use of other nutrients that do do those things.
Vitamin C, for example, helps improve iron absorption, while vitamin K is crucial to blood clotting, and some B vitamins are important in the production of ATP from glucose. Minerals, like vitamins, they don’t provide fuel, but they have all sorts of other functions. Calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus harden bones and teeth, while iron is, of course, crucial in hemoglobin.
Plus, potassium, sodium, and chlorine help maintain your body’s pH balance and are used in action potentials. So water, vitamins, and minerals are all … necessary. But the three major nutrients that everyone always talks about — the ones you find on food labels, from oatmeal to Pop-Tarts — are carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. Most of the carbohydrates you’ve ever eaten — with the exception of lactose in milk — originally came from plants.
Mono- and disaccharides come from fruits, honey, sugar beets and sugar cane, while polysaccharide starches come from veggies and grains.
The main thing you need to know is that the monosaccharide glucose is the be-all-end-all molecular fuel that your cells need to make ATP. ATP being the molecule that your cells use to drive anabolic reactions, when they need to make new polymers or get anything else done — whether that’s operating a sodium-potassium pump, or detaching the head of a myosin filament to contract a muscle. But ATP is too unstable to store, so cells often store energy in the form of glucose, which they can then catabolize and convert to ATP when they need it.
Now, some of your cells can get their energy from fats. But many of the most important ones, like your neurons and red blood cells, feed exclusively on glucose.
So most of the carbs that your intestines absorb are converted to glucose for that reason. But, if it’s not needed right away, that energy can also get stored as glycogen in your liver and muscles, or converted to glycerol and fatty acids to make triglyceride fats. And even though there seems to be a marketing war going on against dietary fats, we most definitely need them. The fats in your adipose tissue store energy, of course, but they also store fat-soluble vitamins, and cushion your organs. Lipids also form the myelin that insulates the neurons in your brain and throughout your body, as well as the oil in your skin, and they provide the vital calorie content found in breast milk.
But there are other important lipids, like cholesterol, which is the precursor to things like testosterone and estrogen… ..
.and, of course, phospholipids, which form the cell membrane in every single one of the three-dozen-or-so-trillion cells you have. Now, if you’re into eating meat, a lot of the fat that you ingest might come from that. But guess what: Plants have fat too. Plants use lipids for energy storage just like we do, except they do it in fruits, and nuts, and seeds.
Which, when you think of it, are kind of like plant breast milk — it’s food for their growing babies. Either way, though, when you eat lipids, your body breaks down triglycerides into glycerol and fatty acids. Those molecules can then be processed and used in the making of ATP.
Or they might be converted into other kinds of fatty acids, which your cells can then re-assemble into your very own triglycerides or phospholipids. And your liver happens to be great at converting one fatty acid into another, but there are some it just can’t synthesize.
For example, omega 6 and 3 fatty acids are called essential fatty acids, because your body can’t make them, so they have to be ingested. They get turned into all kinds of useful molecules, like the ones used for synapse formation in the brain, and for signalling inflammation during the healing process. But — if carbohydrates provide energy, and fats insulate and store energy, then just about everything else is done with proteins. They form the bulk of your muscle and connective tissue, but they’re also what the ion channels and pumps are made of in your neurons and muscle cells, and they make up your enzymes, which are responsible for pretty much every chemical reaction in your body.
In other words, your body runs on protein, and pretty much is protein.
Nutritionally speaking, meats, dairy products, eggs, legumes, nuts, cereals are particularly high in protein. But because everything we eat was once alive, and every cell of every living thing contains protein, as long as you’re eating whole foods, you’re at least partially re-stocking your protein supplies. Now it might seem like you’d have eat muscle to make muscle, or eat enzymes to make enzymes, but that’s not how it works. Since all of your proteins are made up of just 20 amino acids, the differences between the thousands of unique proteins are simply in the sequence of those amino acids. And, of course, you have a specialized molecule that knows just which amino acids to put together in what order to make a certain protein.
It’s called DNA. When you consume some hamburger, for example, the protein actin in the meat gets catabolized into its component amino acids, which gets mixed up with all the amino acids from the other proteins in the meat — like the collagen and elastin and titin and myosin — as well as all the protein from the bun and the tomato and the mayonnaise.
Those amino acids then get reassembled using anabolic reactions into your very own, but somewhat different, proteins, as defined by your DNA. Each cell is like a picky little Gordon Ramsay and it has to have every amino acid needed — every ingredient present — before it will even think about starting to make a protein. And just like with your lipids, your cells can improvise, and convert some amino acids to others if they’re missing an ingredient.
However, there are nine essential amino acids that you cannot make from others, and have to eat. Now lots of foods don’t provide every essential amino acid, but when you combine foods, like beans and rice, or pasta and cheese, you do get all of the essential amino acids. Which is important because, remember: after water, you are mostly made of protein. On the order of 16% But what about the one percent of you? The carbohydrates?
How that tiniest fraction of you ends up creating all of the energy, is what we’ll discover next time.
But for now, you’ve learned all about the vital nutrients — including water, vitamins, minerals, carbs, fats, and proteins — as well as how anabolic reactions build structures and require energy, while catabolic reactions tear things apart and release energy. And together, these competing forces form the wonderfully conflicted process known as metabolism. Thank you to our Headmaster of Learning, Linnea Boyev, and thanks to all of our Patreon patrons whose monthly contributions help make Crash Course possible, not only for themselves, but for everyone, everywhere. If you like Crash Course and want to help us keep making videos like this, you can go to patreon.
com/crashcourse This episode was filmed in the Doctor Cheryl C.
Kinney Crash Course Studio, it was written by Kathleen Yale, edited by Blake de Pastino, and our consultant is Dr. Brandon Jackson. It was directed by Nicholas Jenkins, edited by Nicole Sweeney; our sound designer is Michael Aranda, and the Graphics team is Thought Cafe..
This video has been developed by the women’s and men’s health physiotherapy team at Oxford University Hospitals, please follow the exercises in this video as guided by your physiotherapist. Our contact details are provided at the end of the video should you have any questions regarding these exercises. This video includes a series of exercises designed to strengthen the deep abdominal muscles, but firstly we’re going to recap how we can effectively contract the deep abdominal muscles. Your starting position will be determined by the exercise that you’re about to perform, it may involve you being on your back, on your side, or resting on your hands and knees. For the purpose of this recap Natalie is going to stay on her back, additionally you may wish to place a towel underneath your head if you’re lying on your back or lying on your side.
Now we’re going to have a look at engaging those deep tummy muscles which sit just below the belly button, we’re going to take a breath in through the nose and on the breath out we’re going to draw those tummy muscles down towards the spine, I’m going to hold that contraction.
Throughout all of our exercises you may wish to practice this a few times before moving on to the exercises in this video, whichever exercise you’re performing it is really important to continue breathing throughout. All exercises should be completed within comfort so please stop if you encounter any discomfort. Your physiotherapist will be able to advise you on an appropriate number of repetitions and sets to complete which suits your ability. Our first exercise is called the hip twist starting on your back with your knees bent and nice and relaxed through the shoulders, ribs and through your pelvis we’re going to slowly engage through those deep tummy muscles then when you’re ready you’re going to take one leg, I’m going to drop it slowly out towards the floor as far as you can without the opposite hip lifting, keeping tummy engaged.
We’re then going to bring the knee back in towards the starting position and at this point you may wish to actually relax those tummy muscles before re-engaging and transferring over onto the other side, so again the other leg comes out and slowly back in, with the option of relaxing those tummy muscles again, changing over slowly drawing back up, relaxing the tummy muscles if you want to, re-engaging and then transferring over onto the other side.
We’re now going to try an exercise called one leg stretch, again starting on your back with knees bent nice and soft through the shoulders, ribs and pelvis, okay engage those deep tummy muscles drawing down towards the spine and then we’re slowly going to extend one leg, sliding the heel out along the floor as far as we can without any movement through the pelvis, keeping tummy muscles engaged, we’re then going to draw the leg back up towards the starting position. As before you may wish to relax the tummy muscles then draw them back into contraction before transferring over to the other side, extending that leg all the way out, sliding it back up, keeping engaged through the tummy and relax do it once more on each side stretching all the way out and slowly back up again good, and then transferring over and back up once more. This next exercise is the shoulder bridge, it’s a lovely exercise for core and glute strength and spinal mobility.
Starting on your back with knees bent we’re actually going to start by engaging those deep tummy muscles and then tilting the pelvis forwards so that we can slowly curl our way up off the floor, so pushing through our heels to lift the hips up into the air we’re trying to find a nice long line from our knees all the way down to our shoulders and then on the return back down.
We’re going to drop through the ribs first then bit by bit through the spine, roll ourselves down towards the floor once we reach the floor we relax those tummy muscles and then when you’re ready again we engage through the tummy and it can tilt the pelvis, rolling our way back up into the air trying to keep as I said a nice long line from the knees to the shoulders and each hip at the same height on both sides, dropping through the ribs and curling our way down back to the floor.
Let’s now move on to the clam, this next exercise we’re actually going to be on our side, so what you’re going to do is you’re going to bend your knees, keeping your heels in line with your bottom and a nice straight position through your back. Using your uppermost arm in front of you for a bit of support we’re actually going to engage tummy muscles in this position too, so engage the tummy drawing those muscles back towards the spine then holding that position as we float the top leg up into the air, we come as high as we can without the pelvis rolling backwards and then we’re going to slowly close back down again, good, relax the tummy muscles if you need to and then re-engage and we’re going to come back up again, nice and slowly and back down, good.
Once more engage the tummy muscles back in if you’ve relaxed, coming back up and slowly lowering down. Lastly let’s try arm lifts in four point kneeling, we’re now going to come onto our hands and knees.
Resting in this lovely flat back position, to find that position we’re going to think about arching the back all the way up to the ceiling and slowly sinking ourselves down towards the floor and then finding a nice comfortable medium position between those two extremes which should be this lovely flat back position. I want to hold that throughout the exercise, next we’re going to think about drawing those deep tummy muscles up towards the spine whilst keeping that lovely flat back.
From here we’re going to float one arm up in front of us as far as comfortable, around shoulder height is the aim and then slowly lowering that back, down you may wish to relax the tummy muscles in between, then re-engage and we’re going to lift up the other side again, up in front nice and slowly, relaxing the muscles in between then re-engaging, lovely and the few things to think about in this position is making sure that flat back stays and we’re not twisting as we transfer our weight side to side. We want to make sure those tummy muscles are engaged throughout the movement as well and we keep our elbows lovely and soft, we don’t lock them out. If you encounter any issues or have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact the department and ask to speak to your physio.
Caspers House is sitting on Paku Hill which is an old volcano at the edge of Tairua, which is a small township at the base of the Coromandel. It’s very beachy, very relaxed. It’s a nice place to be with lots of surf beaches and estuaries and stuff for the kids to swim in, which is one of the reasons we came to this location in the first place. Our relationship with Glamuzina Architects started in 2013 where we got them to design a house for us in Westmere. We had seen their work and we really liked their style and the fact that they were kind of interesting and different and willing to kind of maybe look at things from a slightly different perspective.
The orientation of the project is to the north west where the view is down to the beach and out towards Tairua township. What we have here now is a building that has a large window aperture out to the view but that is sort of obfuscated by objects in the way like as you kind of come through the space it opens up to this kind of large amount of light and view.
I think the way the space kind of contracts and expands kind of helps guide you through it a little bit as well, that kind of keeps the momentum and keeps you moving forward and then it’s kind of like the prize at the end, you know. You walk through and then there’s like the big picture window at the end with the view of the surf. As an interior designer, I spend a lot of time designing other people’s houses, which is awesome because you get to kind of help them create a space that they want to be in that’s specifically for them, but this obviously being my own home was quite different.
Generally there is like a level of conservativeness in New Zealand and in New Zealand interiors so I kind of use my own projects as an opportunity to really see what happens when you do something a little bit differently. The colour of the walls in the darkness kind of dulls your senses a little bit so it kind of feels like you walk into like a comfy cave rather than a bright white stark environment, which is kind of a little bit jarring. It’s a bit of a contradiction I think; it’s challenging on the outside but I think it’s enveloping and calming on the inside. We really wanted to look at this idea of changing light through the space so there wasn’t always just about this one point, there was also these other slits of light that came in both horizontally down the site and also vertically through the roof. When we originally did the plan for the site, it was really evident pretty quickly that we needed to look at this idea of a split level, but we wanted to find opportunities within that that could create spaces so that split level allows for other spaces to be hung within it; connected but slightly disconnected.
While this house does have an element of open plan living, I think the fact that the kitchen is on a separate level to the lounge means that you can kind of escape from people. Also the fact that there is the mezzanine upstairs means that that’s yet another living space and the bunk room, which is also on multiple levels means that people can kind of inhabit the same space but they don’t have to be in each other’s pockets. One of the things about this house is that across the day it changes it’s like a chameleon you know and that’s why we kind of call it Caspers House, because it’s kind of like kind of ghostly in nature.
We wanted to create this building that had a certain amount of height, that kind of added certain amount of scale to the front. The kind of triangulation of the roof also kind of came from, you know, sessions around other types of forms like A-frames.
This material that we used is kind of corrugated, so it has this kind of idea of the shed and this kind of really simple basic New Zealand material but then it’s fibreglass and when you get up close to it, it has this kind of beautiful netting and you know, there’s different opportunities around exposing structure or enclosing that structure and then that whole envelope becomes the roof; it becomes everything. You know, so you get the sort of singular element from the landscape. My favourite part of the house is the bunk room. We wanted to create something that people could live in and love but didn’t take itself too seriously and was a cozy little respite from sort of everyday life and I think that that is the perfect example of it.
The mezzanine is kind of like, one of my favourite spaces.
You get out there and you’re kind of sitting as high as you can in the space; sort of precarious you know, which is you know, it probably runs back to this idea of we sit on the precarious volcano in the Coromandel perhaps. I feel very fortunate that for this particular project we worked with teams of people that we had worked with previously because without them, being so willing to kind of walk the path with us, we would have never ever have got here. Building on a volcano is challenging to be sure, but of course, when you are up so high the views you get are just so exceptional so at the end once you’ve completed it, it’s all worth it.
Hi, I’m Carole Hudak with Lake Health. Integrativemedicine Reiki is a technique for reducingstress and tension that also promotes healing.A non-intrusive oriental art of hands-on healingthrough touch. Reiki is often used in conjunctionwith medical treatments. During a session, theclient lies comfortably on a table.
Fully clothed.The reiki practitioner places their handson or above the client’s body in specific energylocations, using a series of 12 to 15 differenthand locations.
There is no pressure, massageor manipulation, Reiki complements all types, oftreatments and therapies. In addition, reikican be used to relieve pain and discomfort.It can reduce stress anxiety.
It can reducethe negative impacts of medical treatments andtherapies and it can help build the immune system.
Reiki treats the whole person body, emotions, mind and spirit, creating many beneficial effectsincluding, a feeling of peace and relaxation security and well-being.
Reiki feels likea warm glowing radiance flowing through andaround you, People who receive reiki describe itas being intensely relaxing A typical sessionis 60 minutes 30 minute sessions, arealso available
Consistency is importantfor, better health Contact, a member of ourteam to determine the best schedule for you. You
Cullen nurseries were based in hackathon, county carlow, we are nurseries, growing and supplying native trees and hedging. We sell directly to homeowners to farmers equestrian centres and we deliver all over. So our business has developed from a smaller market of people that we were working for to a much larger market. We encountered the local enterprise office late last year. We met up with pauline, we went over, we had a meeting with her and we discussed with her what we felt we needed to help our business to expand and grow.
In fairness, pauline came back to us with a plan of training and mentoring. That would be advisable for us to take our business to the next level. Robert and katrina of color nurseries have availed of a number of leo carlo programs and supports. They include, for example, mentoring, and particularly in the areas of digital marketing and digital strategy. Over the last number of months, and as a result of that, robert and katrina decided to access the trading online voucher, which is a voucher of up to two and a half thousand euros.
That’S available for businesses to develop their e-commerce offerings. The local enterprise office has helped us to push our vision forward by teaching us to encompass so many different facets of our business. We’Ve availed of trading online, voucher, mentorship marketing training and also helping us drill down into our numbers and understand our sales, where our sales are coming from and also where our costs are going and how to correlate the sales with the costs. So it’s given us an overall view of how we can look after our finances as well as promoting ourselves, and it’s also encouraged us to look at lean properties and principles to make sure that we’re running our business in the most cost and time effective. Because, at the end of the day, this business is to enable us to have a work-life balance with our young family and we’ve learned so much from the local enterprise office to help us to do all of those things.
[ Music, ] at the local enterprise office. In carlow, we’re open to working with the whole business community in county carlow, so if you’re a carlow-based business and if you feel you need support or need to seek advice or if you have queries about grant assistance or mentoring or training opportunities. Please give us a call or send us an email, and one of our staff will get in touch with you and start the conversation with us. [, Music ]. You
You might have heard blogging tips like, “write about your passions” or “write about what you’re feeling.” Well, if these are the only two things you’re doing, your chance of creating a successful blog is slim. The truth is that even if people are interested in what you’re writing about, it’s impossible for them to visit your site if they can’t find you. And even if they do find you, traffic is meaningless unless you can actually get them to read your content.
So today, I’m going to cover some important blogging tips that have helped us consistently get traffic to our blog.
Stay tuned. [music] What’s up bloggers? Sam Oh here with Ahrefs, the SEO tool that helps you grow your search traffic, research your competitors and dominate your niche. Now, while there’s nothing wrong with blogging about your passions, creating a successful blog goes beyond just you. You should be a half-decent writer, understand the technical elements of blogging as well as social strategies that can help you take your blog from nothing to something.
So rather than giving you a popcorn bowl full of random blogging tips, let’s break these down into three buckets to help you get more traction. The first bucket is all about becoming a better writer. And the first tip that falls in this bucket is to focus on a specific part of your niche.
Now, you might label yourself as a food blogger. But by covering the topic of “food” as a whole, you may be spreading yourself too thin.
For example, even if you were able to publish two posts per day for an entire year on subtopics like grilling food, smoothies, vegetarian diets, slow cooker recipes, nutrition, and more, it’d be tough to compete with larger sites or those that are just focusing on one of those topics. So in my opinion, it’s better to focus on being a master of one than a jack of all trades. So focus on becoming the go-to place people go to find smoothie recipes. Become the go-to place where people go for grilling techniques. And after you’ve dominated that niche audience, you can try and expand to other subtopics to reach new audiences.
The second tip is to create content that’s worth referencing. Referencing requires attribution. And attribution in the world of blogging equals links. Links from other websites are important because search engines like Google use them to help decide which pages should rank high in the search engines.
Now, how do you create content that’s worth referencing?
I’ve got three nuggets of wisdom for you. The first way is to create content that’s unique and interesting to your industry. For example, we ran an experiment where we spent over $50,000 on podcast advertisements. And to the best of our knowledge, no one had written this kind of post. And this resulted in around 140 unique websites linking to this page in a short period of time.
Another way to get people to reference to your posts is to include statistics. Ahrefs’ blog has over 2,500 backlinks because of a stat. And this is one of the reasons why we continually publish data studies. They’re literally link magnets. Now, we have access to a ton of data because we integrated into our suite of SEO tools.
But you don’t need anything fancy like this to use this tip. For example, a good chunk of Backlinko’s links come from stats.
And they’re often referencing his own personal results like growing his organic traffic by 111%. And boosting conversions by 785%. And it also works outside of the marketing niche.
Nerdwallet has nearly 29,000 backlinks because of a mention of a stat. Naturally, as people blog, they want to provide supporting resources that backup their claims. Make sure yours is in the mix. Finally, include unique images that are worth “stealing.” Creating high quality images is hard.
Which means that it’s a point of leverage for those that are willing to put in the effort. Within our posts, we often add custom images whether they be graphs from our data studies, or illustrations that help better explain concepts. Not only do they create a better experience for readers, but they result in links. As you can see here, we’ve got around 820 links pointing at JPG images on our site. And then another 1,600 links to PNG images.
Alright, the next tip is to make your posts easy to read. In the words of our CMO, “Nobody likes to read.
They just want the information. If they could download it to their brain, they would.” And to do that, you need to ensure your posts are easy to read and use.
Here are a few tips on how to do that. Use short paragraphs instead of big walls of text. Short paragraphs help readers progress through your article in small and easy steps. Next, break up long sentences because they’re hard to follow.
Break up these sentences by finding places where you used words like “and,” “because,” and “that.
” Next, use multimedia in your posts. So whether that be videos, images or GIFs, they can often help illustrate your points clearer than words. Finally, write in a conversational tone. The easiest way to check this is to read your copy out loud. If it sounds like you’re talking to a friend, you’re on the right track.
But if it sounds like you’re competing in a national debate, try again. The next tip is to write click-worthy headlines that aren’t clickbait. The one thing that separates your website from a user is a click. Fail to get clicks and you fail to get traffic.
Now, since most people will find your web pages through search or social, you want to craft a headline that accurately represents your article without sounding boring.
For example, an article titled: “15 Best Headphones” gets the point across. But it’s boring. Something like “15 Best High-End Headphones For Under $100” is more click-worthy because a) it tells the reader that the headphones are of high quality, and b) high-end headphones are usually a lot more than $100. The next tip is to write introductions using the APP formula. The headline’s job is to get the reader to click through to the page.
Then, your intro needs to hook them in, so that they’ll read the rest of the post. So to do that, we use the APP formula, which stands for “align, present, and proof.” First, you need to align yourself with the reader’s problem. Then you present your post as the solution to that problem. And then you finish off with some proof as to why they should trust you.
Here’s an example from our blog. In the first sentence, we align ourselves with the reader by saying, “Looking to grow your YouTube channel and attract more views?” We then present our solution by saying that “the trick is to target topics with search demand.” Finally, we end it off with proof by showing them that we’ve grown our YouTube channel from 10,000 to over 200,000 monthly views in around a year.
Keep your intros short, on point, and focus on addressing why the reader is on that page in the first place.
The last writing tip I have for you is to create feedback loops. Your first draft should never be your last. At Ahrefs, we’re known to go through a pretty rigorous editing process. The writer generally starts with an outline. After that’s approved, they write their first “final draft.
” And no doubt, they should think it’s pretty good. Then someone else from our team will review their post, question any claims, suggest different formats, or whatever. Anything goes at this point. This usually ends up with a document that’s completely highlighted in yellow with suggestions. Then the writer makes any necessary changes and will have those reviewed one last time before publishing.
This feedback loop helps us to always put our best foot forward on every post we publish. Now, if you don’t have a team to work with, it’s worth connecting with other bloggers in your space who also want to become a better writer.
But don’t just reach out and say, “Hey, can you edit my posts? I’ll edit yours too.” This kind of process can come through relationships, which I’ll expand on later.
For now, let’s move on to the more technical aspects of blogging. The first tip is super-important and that’s to write about topics people are searching for, more commonly referred to as keyword research. 51% of all website traffic comes from organic search. And if you want a piece of that traffic, then you need to use keywords that people are actually searching for.
Fortunately, search engines like Google give you clues through features like Аutosuggest.
Just type in a topic you want to write about, and you’ll see a few other closely-related terms. There are other freemium tools out there like Answer the Public where you can find keywords phrased as questions. Now, the problem with these tools is that you can’t see keyword metrics, meaning you don’t actually know how much traffic you can get. To find this information, you’d have to use premium tools like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, where you can basically generate lists of keyword ideas, see important metrics like Search Volume and Keyword Difficulty, and decide whether they’re worth pursuing for your site. We have a full tutorial on doing keyword research, so I’ll link that up for you.
Another strategy worth doing is to cover your competitors’ best topics.
And by “best,” I’m referring to the pages that are sending them consistent traffic every month. To find your competitor’s popular pages, just enter their domain in a tool like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. Then go to the Top Pages report, which shows you the pages that get the most monthly search traffic. So if I were in the prepping niche, then I would definitely consider going after these topics since they make up around 45% of the entire website’s organic traffic.
Plus they all seem pretty relevant to me. Which brings us to our final technical tip and that’s to do some basic on-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to the practice of optimising web pages to help them rank higher in search engines. So without overcomplicating things, you should include your primary keyword in your title and URL, and make sure you cover your main topic’s sub-points.
For example, if you’re talking about how to make the perfect cup of coffee, you should probably talk about things like finding the right roast, water temperature, grind, and brewing methods.
All of these would be relevant, if not crucial to truly cover the topic in full. We have a full step-by-step tutorial on doing on-page SEO for blogs, so I recommend watching that and mastering this process. And now we’re on to our final category, which is to get social. And I’m not talking about which social media networks you should use.
So the first tip is to connect with other bloggers you admire in your space.
Smart bloggers reach out to forge relationships with one another. They offer feedback, help, and often cross-promote each other’s content. And this is often why it seems like all of the big players in your industry are friends. They started early and they grew together. Now, not everyone is going to want to be friends.
But there’s a good chance that people in your industry want to connect. They just don’t know you exist. At least at this point. So to get started, think of 5-10 people you admire in your space. These might be people who run blogs and newsletters that you’re subscribed to or maybe people you follow on social.
Write their names down on a piece of paper and note something that you actually admire about their work. Now, go and email them with the purpose of just connecting. Don’t ask them to share your content, review it, link to you, or ask for any kind of favour. Just send a simple and genuine email like… “Hey [name], Just wanted to say that I really admire [whatever you do].
Thanks for [whatever you admire].
Cheers, [Your name]” I sent a similar email to the CMO at Ahrefs in 2017, and around a year later, we ended up working together and became good friends. Nothing was manufactured here, it just happened organically. The next social tip is to build an email list from day one. Have you ever had one of those moments where you’re trying to remember which site you were on that had that awesome recipe, or tutorial, or whatever it was? Well, if you had joined that email list, you’d know.
Without any kind of email opt-in forms, you’re preventing your readers from getting future content or product updates. Building an email list also acts as a good way to perpetually get traffic to new posts you publish.
And since subscribers are warmer visitors than cold traffic, some of them might share it on social, or even link to you if they have their own blog. So bottomline, start building a list from day one. Finally is to promote your content in online communities.
Now, this is a bit of a touchy subject because you don’t want to spam Facebook groups or Reddit with things that people are going to get angry about. Instead, spend your time integrating yourself into these communities. Become a recognisable name and face. And as you see a need, share content that can help solve other group members problems. If you nail it, you can get thousands of visitors.
If you don’t, it can get you banned from those communities. So share links sparingly, and spend most of your time just meeting like minded bloggers to build mutually beneficial relationships. Now, I’m wondering if you have any blogging tips that I’ve missed. Let me know in the comments and if you enjoyed this video, make sure to like, share and subscribe for more actionable marketing tutorials. And I’ve linked up a bunch of videos in the description that will expand on some of the tips that I’ve mentioned, so go and check them out.
Dinner is nearly ready Darren be about 5 minutes pet. Yeah, remember I’m vegan now Mom. Yes I Know you don’t eat meat. Yeah. Yes we’re having fish.
I can’t have fish. What about salmon? No fish. Oh for God’s sake. What’s wrong?
Darren’s a vegetarian. Vegan. Oh so you can still have fish? Oh can you? I can’t.
What about mussles? No fish or meat at all. Well they are crustaceans so there might be a loophole. That’s true..
. Plants! I can only have plants.
Well you can stay the hell away from my Begonias A fortune in the garden center they cost me. You know Darren in my day you ate whatever was put in front of you.
Yeah well meat is kinda bad for you. Bad for you? What are you…
I’ve had a fry every morning for the past 35 years and there’s… There’s nothing wrong with me. Well it’s better for the enviroment.
Less meat, means less methane given off by animals. Could have fooled me I was in your bedroom this morning I had to open a window Oh the fumes! Noxious so it was now…
Now who wants a cup of tea. I’d love one paddy. Do we have any non-dairy milk. Non-dairy milk do you hear him? Paddy we are to be supportive.
You’re right. We are to respect his decision. So go out and pick up one of those weird milks in the supermarket.
Right-o. Good man.
And some fillet steaks for tomorrows dinner. Fillet steak? We didn’t have fillet steak when I wasn’t vegan. Of course we did what nonsense. Anne?
Anne come down for your dinner. Where does that girl disappear to? So little bro I hear you are a vegan-a-saurus Rex now. Yeah Ben. No stranger to the old diets myself.
Really? Yeah, currently I’m on sauce diet. Oh ye there we go. No cheat days. No I wouldn’t imagine so.
So I hear you are a vegan Darren. Yeah, Granny. Well I think you are very brave. Oh thank you. You see had a friend who was attracted to women And she regrets not acting on it sooner So I completely understand.
.. It’s more of a food thing Granny Well she had a fierce sexual appetite. Right so, I’m back from the shops. I’ve got 5 different types of milk Darren so We’ve got semi-skimmed, low fat Slimline, organic and.
.. Chocolate. Yeah, they’re all dairy Dad. What?
? For God’s sake. Dad I want to be a Vegan like Darren. Ah Darren look what you are after starting? Sorry?
Anne you can’t be a Vegan until you are older Right now come on in here and eat your greens.
They’re disgusting. Anne. Darren you are after losing weight. No I haven’t.
You are all skin and bone. I’ve only been vegan 2 hours. You need to get more protien I’m going to go to the shops and get you some supplements alright. Good man yourself. Darren what are we going to do for the Christmas dinner?
I don’t know. Well the ham and turkey are out. Yeah. There is sausage in the stuffing. Yeah.
The roast potatoes are done in goose fat. And there is cheese in the cauliflower. Yeah. That just leaves..
. Brussels sprouts. Oh the Brussels sprouts thank God. Don’t worry you are going to love them I’ve done them in a beautiful butter and bacon sauce. Ah for fu.
.. Doomdah! Hi we’re Foil Arms and Hog Thanks for watching the video We have a new video every Thursday Please subscribe to the YouTube channel. That’s right.
That’s right that would be very helpful. Of course this time of year you are wondering what am I going to do for Christmas presents for all my friends and family.
And of course the obvious answer is that Well we are on tour in the UK and Ireland big tour and lots of tickets available And that’s a very easy present to buy Very easy present. It’s lazy But it doesn’t appear lazy It seems thoughtful Why you could buy some Merchandise That my beautiful husband here And my strapping young man And sure that looks great on you now Thanks Mom The quality of that. Takes a lot of weight of me makes me look a lot slimmer It does Dad yeah.
I’ve slimmed down a lot actually. There is also a USB available. With all of the live shows from the lads And I tell you I watched it the other night now with my husband and we laughed and we laughed and we laughed. Until we were sick On the floor Vomitted Everywhere I tried to contain it onto the rug. Well you started it you set me off.
He wet himself. Wouldn’t be the first time of course That’s a problem that’s gone on for too many years.
Don’t tell everyone. He was eight until he was out of nappies. And I kind of regret that.
I think it was early. I think it was the parenting actually. Do you now? Doomdah!.
