Content Marketing – Page 28

15 Awesome Tools To Assist Your Content Marketing

June 19, 2024August 15, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Content pieces are the indispensable aids that highlight the cool factor of your company, products and services, increase brand awareness and customer loyalty and help you get (and stay) on the same page with your prospects. But unless you are commercializing your product—whether it’s the fairy dust that can prevent aging or sleek cars that run on tap water—chances are that you have a lot of competition in your sector. Why Should You Invest in Content Marketing Tools? A customized, cohesive content marketing strategy can help you separate yourself from other players in your field, reflect the best features/most notable benefits of your products and interact with your target audience in an ideal manner. In this context, great storytelling skills could guarantee your success. You may ask: what makes a good story? While your merchandise may be truly mundane, the story of your company and the message that you’re trying to send to your potential buyers should be anything but tedious and unoriginal. A Plethora of Handy Tools for Every Conceivable Marketing-Related Problem Maybe you’ve got a mean case of writer’s block. Perhaps you don’t speak SEO or don’t know how to adapt your content flow to the real necessities and expectations of your audience. Maybe in the absence of awesome content distribution strategies, your web writing looks like a crowned king who is yet to find his influent queen. Last but not least, maybe you’re the real ninja of words, but can’t or don’t know how to measure the success of your current content marketing strategy. Regardless of the real root of your problem, a great variety of content marketing tools can enable you to overcome any challenge and step up your marketing efforts the easy way. What Are the Main Categories of Content Marketing Tools That You Should Focus on? According to an awesome infographic introduced by ClickZ, content marketing enhancement tools can be broken down into 5 main categories, based on the specific purposes that they have been designed to serve: Content research Content organization Content creation Content organization Content marketing analysis It is advisable to use at least 1 or 2 tools listed in each category, to make sure that all your everyday tasks, ranging from extensive research that represents a major first step to content marketing analysis, are absolutely flawless. 15 Excellent Content Marketing Tools That Will Help You Steer in the Right Direction Most content marketing tools are free or almost free. If you need another great reason to put them to good use, think about the fact that everybody else is already doing it. Without any further ado, here are 15 excellent aids that every online marketer needs in his life. Quora. One of the most popular sources of knowledge, Quora is one of the basic tools that you should use while doing your homework. By simply selecting the topics that actually interest you (technology, luxury fashion, economics, history, psychology and so on) and following them you can stay in the loop and expand your knowledge database. Moreover, Quora defines itself as an accessible place to create new content and share existing pieces that float around the Internet. Content Forest. Do you feel lost in the middle of a thick, dark forest of unwritten thoughts? If so, you should know that you can actually exit this labyrinth by using Content Forest, a handy end-to-end, complete marketing solution that ensures the hassle-free automation of all your daily operations, ranging from content creation to marketing and analytics. Flexible, modulated and powerful, this tool could become a valid substitute for your marketing consultants who are costing you a small fortune. Pinterest. A great image is more valuable than 1,000 carefully chosen words. This is not a cliché; it represents the mechanism that made Pinterest so popular in the first place. People like to collect and organize images that reflect their style and aesthetic demands. Why wouldn’t you turn this hobby into an activity that could boost your content research efforts? Analyze different boards and create your own to become a cool trend scout and find out how you could put your products and services in a different light, to increase their power of seduction. Curata. Content curation is one of the hottest trends that you cannot afford to ignore. If you are an avid collector of rare written gems that are only a few clicks away, give this useful tool a try to achieve business success in 3 easy steps. With Curata, you just have to find, curate and share first-class web content that can truly make a difference in the lives of your readers. Contently. In case you are interested in finding the ultimate storytelling platform, remember to check out Contently. This handy tool ensures a win-win situation for brands looking forward to perfecting their marketing strategy and also for freelancers who are eager to get new assignments. Driven by the desire to create a “better media world” governed by great content and not by mercantile goals expressed via more or less compelling ads, Contently arms brands with all the tools and the talent that they could ever require to compete with the most gifted and influent publishers. Storify. Your images are breathtaking and your calls-to-action are compelling. Your body copy is 100% unique and your headlines make your visitors ignore the fact that curiosity killed the cat. But what is all these essential elements don’t add up? Use Storify to glue all the pieces together and create an awesome whole. You just have to collect media online, publish the best pieces on Storify, share your content with the whole world and go viral. In addition, a Storify VIP subscription would enable you to unlock real-time updates and additional customization options that could come in handy, when it comes to telling a convincing story about your brand. Percolate. Percolate defines itself as the complete content marketing software that is good enough to provide great answers to all your daily web writing-related problems and concerns. … Read more

What Are Content Delivery Networks (CDN)?

January 1, 2021July 23, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Have you been noticing the term “content delivery networks” or “CDN” hanging out around a few of your favorite sites? Have you heard that it is really quite useful to use content delivery networks (CDN), but still aren’t sure what this means? This blog is perfect for you! We are going to explore just what CDNs are, how to use them, and why you should be using them for your blog. What Is A CDN? Simply put, a CDN is a collection of several servers that work together to get end-users’ information quickly. The information is stored on one server, but is accessed by multiple ones throughout the globe, giving quicker access. This is a common technology used by online streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu. Did you ever wonder how you were able to download and stream that episode of House M.D. so quickly and why it is so easy to continue streaming episodes until you’ve watched 8 hours worth of TV? Now you know! You can blame the CDNs for your Netflix binges. While this is common for streaming services, it is also becoming increasingly common for webpages that don’t require videos to stream. This helps to get a webpage to load quickly, on any device, anywhere in the world. For example, if you are looking at Filofax UK to find the best planner or inserts for your planner and you’re in the States, you’ll notice how quickly it loads. This is because of a CDN. There is a cache of information from the Filofax website in a server that is much closer to you than one in London. It is helpful and makes it much easier to get what you desire. Doesn’t this sound like something you want for your site? It should! Now let’s take a look at how you can use it and some more reasons as to why you should. How Do I Use It? You will need to choose an adequate CDN service to use this for your site. One of the key elements in using and choosing a CDN service is that you research everything before choosing one. A few good things to know are the types of services you will need such as streaming, progressive downloads, on-demand, live, or combinations of these. Contact several different providers and ask them your questions. Don’t decide immediately on which provider to go with; take some time and compare notes from the different providers. This will help you weigh the options, as well as reflect over each conversation. You should definitely trust your gut when it comes time to choose. If you felt weird about a certain provider, even if they offered some excellent benefits, you should move them lower down the list. This could be because the offers sounded too good to be true or just that you weren’t keen on how the customer service representative handled your questions. Whatever the reason, trust your gut. Why Should I Be Using It? Seeing that you’d need to choose a provider might have made you raise an eyebrow and think, “Well, maybe I don’t need this!” However, nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s take a look at a few simple reasons why you should be using a CDN. 1. Better User Experience. One of the biggest perks of using a CDN is that user experience will be significantly better. A CDN helps to make the website load quicker and be available in more areas around the globe, which is important when it comes to the world now. If you have poor user experience, you will lose ranks and visitors quickly. Aim to make the experience on your site better with optimal flow and by switching to a CDN. 2. Perfect For Mobile Users. CDNs help tremendously when it comes to having a website that is mobile friendly. A CDN is perfect for mobile users because many aren’t near your area or server, so if there is a server that has your information stored already, it will make it available to mobile users no matter where they are. Remember, making your website available for mobile users is crucial to a successful website. 3. Pre-cache Is A Big Help. What does pre-cache mean? Well, if someone accesses the CDN your information is on, even for a different website, he or she will already have the network downloaded when that person goes to your website. This will keep the user from having to download the network again and give him or her almost immediate access to your website. Nifty, isn’t it? In Closing Start looking into investing in a content delivery network soon to start seeing excellent results on your website. You’ll be pleased with the success of your site when it comes to user experience, which can rank you higher on Google. However, you won’t be the only one who is pleased; your users will be just as pleased if not more so because they are able to access your website quickly. Speed is everything when it comes to the Internet!

How to Avoid Content Clutter

January 1, 2021July 16, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Great content is a top way to get in Google’s favor today. But with all the content variations you could and should publish, how do you correctly sort? Blogs, articles, web pages, landing pages—don’t pile ‘em up and forget to organize! Avoiding content clutter amounts to a basic principle that we all learned at a young age. Do you remember your mom or dad telling you to put your toys away and clean your room? The idea was to put things where they belonged, thus cleaning up your space. Well, to avoid content clutter the same principle applies. You need to know where all of your cool toys go and properly put them away after you’ve played. Your Cool Content Toys We all love show and tell! It’s time to show off your super cool content toys. So whatcha got? Well, here are a few of the toys that should be somewhere on your website floor, and if they’re not, you better get them: Niche and product specific content: Back in the day when businesses marketed on a local level, competition was fierce. The Yellow Pages and highway side billboards were prime advertising real estate, and the potential audience pool was seen as huge. Successful marketing took specifics. Imagine how much more important this is today. The Internet isn’t local; it’s international. Your potential audience pool is a lot less pool and a lot more ocean. Niche and product specific content are essential content variations you must utilize. So if you haven’t already, focus on reaching you sales goals by creating various blogs and content for precise products and niches. Storytelling your way to sales: According to Forbes, “storytelling is used to create an emotional investment” in marketing content. The ultimate goal of storytelling is to make the audience pay attention. Emotionally charged headlines grab attention. Investing the readers’ emotions as they read keeps them reading all the way to the most important part of your copy: the call to action. Storytelling is a good start, but it isn’t a standalone toy—it’s like the hot wheel that needs a racetrack. You also need to organize your content logically. Otherwise, your audience won’t have a clue. Well-organized content: Structured content can break down into a lot of detail, but for the purposes of this post, we’re going to focus on the big picture: your publishing platform, tags and categories, SEO, and meta tags. Your publishing platform: Get a good one. It should be easy to use, easy to understand, and capable of basic search engine optimization features. A recommended and epically popular platform is WordPress. Build in SEO: Most publishing platforms hand you simple SEO tools. For example, WordPress sports several plugins that offer full site, per web page, and per blog post optimization options including keyword and meta information insertion. Utilize tags and categories: This takes a little finesse. You create blog categories and tags to logically sort and label your posts. The trick is to keep it simple. Each post should fit into a specific category, not a ton. And each post should carry relevant tags, not every possible tag under the sun that applies just a smidge. Your audience will use your categories and tags for search purposes. Keep them simple and highly accurate. Don’t be afraid of meta tags: Wait just a minute! Am I talking about HTML? Yes, I am, and it’s nothing to be afraid of! I’ve seen people react to meta information like these little tags are the gigantic spiders just in from the Forbidden Forest of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. There’s nothing to be afraid of, folks! Meta tags are easy to use, and they structure the big picture of your content. Don’t be without them! Tap into the power of a monthly newsletter: Use a monthly newsletter to pull together your best blog topics and send them out to all your clients. It doesn’t matter if these people subscribe to your content updates and social media channels. You should still leverage the power of a newsletter because chances are they’ve been too busy to catch everything. In fact, they likely missed that one topic that was just for them. Help them out. Hand them a monthly newsletter. Get the most mileage out of your content: Use social media. Share, share, share! Think of shares as miles. For each share, you gain a mile of exposure. The more miles you gain, the farther your content traveled, and the more area your message hit. Always Put Your Toys Away To cut down on clutter, you have to put your toys away. Copyblogger points out that we are all “searchers” seeking the best way to solve our problems or satisfy our desires. We make split-second decisions about clicking on a headline, and the last we want to do is trip over a scattered mess of toys the moment we land on a website. Now, putting your toys away isn’t just about putting up your content when you’re done. No, it’s about putting it where it belongs. That means completing the following steps logically: Sorting: Meticulously order your content. Ensure that the how and why of its labels and the display make sense to the audience. If it’s not organized, it’ll just look like endless, chaotic, and unhelpful clutter. Publishing: Be sure your content is proudly published. Build in SEO, use the tools provided by your publishing platform, and don’t be skittish of meta information. Publicizing: Maximize your miles. Use social media. Publish a monthly newsletter. Don’t just publish and hope it gets to the right people—publicize it straight to them! It’s a content jungle out there, and your audience won’t hesitate to ignore less than stellar content because if you can’t provide it, someone else will. Your goal should be to display your best toys proudly, as they relate to your uniqueness; i.e. avoid content clutter by putting the proper tools in the proper place.

7 Do’s and Don’ts of Online Content Curation

January 1, 2021July 14, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Content curation, it’s not a term we hear overly often in the content marketing world, which is more than a little surprising. You can’t call yourself a content marketing expert unless you know more than a little about content curation. Why? Because content marketing as we know it involves a basic set of responsibilities, which include content creation and distribution, otherwise known as writing and publishing or content curation. Even if you haven’t seen the term often, you’ve seen the basic set of responsibilities religiously! What’s The Big Deal? Writing and publishing is pretty standard stuff, right? So, what’s the big deal? Why is curation a trending topic? The big deal is that content curation is an ever-growing trend in which a certain individual or an organized team find, organize, contextualize, and share the highest quality and most relevant digital content on a precise topic for a targeted audience. It can be a huge SEO plus. According to Curata.com, curation hands marketers the ability to publish what people want: fresh, relevant content at a higher volume than a 100 percent content creation strategy would allow. That’s powerful! Curation also offers a diverse variety of insights published for readers, effectively handing them diverse perspectives while allowing them to read peer published and other third-party source content. What does all of this create? Credibility. It actively positions your organization as a go-to resource. Now, you just might be wondering if sharing already published content is a good idea. I mean, Google will rip rankings right out from underneath you if you start dabbling in duplicate content. So, again, what’s the big deal? The last thing you want to do is hurt your SEO. If content curation is performed properly, it won’t create duplicate content or hurt your SEO. In fact, content curation can improve your SEO. And that brings us to all important part of this content curation: The Do’s and Don’ts. The 3 Major Don’ts You always want to avoid the don’ts, which is why we’re considering them first. When it comes curation, here’s what you should circumvent: Duplicating the full text of an article. First of all, duplicating content is unethical. It borders on copyright infringement, and it will hurt your SEO. Second, Curata points out that if you repost too much of the original text, especially without annotating, search engines won’t have the ability to know which content to index or rank in query results. Do this excessively, and Google will likely label you as spam. Curating from the same source multiple times. Variety is the spice of life for readers and search engines. Avoid curating from the same source a thousand times over. Instead, favor a variety of sites. Your readers and Google will see your content as credible and educational. Avoid duplicating full size images. It can seem like a quick means of getting that all important image factor into a post, but it’s a bad idea. You should only use a thumbnail size of the original image. Curata recommends that for the best SEO results, you should alter the image alt text, adjust the size, and create a relevant image name. The 4 Powerhouse Do’s Now that we’ve gotten the negatives out of the way, let’s talk about the things you want you do. These are the tips that turn curation into a stout tool: Work with a view toward your audience. As is the case with any tool used for SEO, we sometimes tend to think more about making it work for the search engines versus the people reading the content. Take this tip from the pros: always keep your target audience in the forefront. If they like your content, they’ll be back…with friends. They’ll even link back to you as an industry source, which means SEO boost. Select your curations carefully. Once you start curating, it’s easy to get carried away and start pulling, well, everything! Keep your topic firmly in mind and only curate what is highly relevant and annotated with your own insights and opinions. As a result, you’ll increase content value and give your audience a broader perspective. Retitle all of your curated posts. This one is important. By retitling, you ensure that you are not competing in the search results with the original article. Search engines consider the title more than the body text. Take advantage of this by retitling with your own keywords. Include your perspective. Annotation and inclusion of your organization’s perspective are a massive must. Your written content should be longer than the excerpt taken from the original article. By giving more than you take, you promote strong ethics and improve SEO by avoiding duplicate content. Tools to Help You Grow Online content curation is a viable way of killing two birds with one stone. It helps populate your site with fresh, relevant content while simultaneous building your credibility as an expert resource. As you start to flex your curation muscles, you might consider using some of the awesome tools currently available. Some of the most popular web-based tools currently include Curata, Listly, Scoop.it!, and Storify. Content curation is a trending and effective content marketing strategy. It can and will increase credibility while driving leads and SEO in positive directions. However, it’s not a point and click tool. It takes work. You still must be willing and able to craft your own unique content and incorporate your spin on each and every piece you decide to curate. Low-quality website copywriting kills. As long as you use curation as a means of increasing your standard of high quality copy, it will benefit your content marketing plan tremendously. Whatever you do, don’t use it as an excuse to copy and paste quality copy from other places without giving more than you take. Otherwise, you just might find that Google takes a lot more than they’ll be willing to give back when it comes to your search rankings.

Does Content Rule The (Online) World?

January 1, 2021July 9, 2014 by Adam Oakley

What comes to your mind when you hear the term “online content?” You might think of anything from the content populating your website and blog to social media presence, and you would be right. Online content is basically everything you put online. It can include your website, blog, social media posts and shares, and even e-commerce. It’s everything floating around cyberspace with your name on it. So if online content were to rule the (online) world, how lofty would your throne be? A New King Ascended the SEO Throne In 2014 If you’ve asked why it’s important to publish content online, you’re not alone. Many business and brand owners have posed this question. Isn’t it enough to create eye-catching graphics, slap those puppies onto your website and social channels, and let them do the selling? After all, good marketing happens when the product or service sells itself, right? If this were 2010, and if Google were still supporting old SEO tactics, you’d have a winning strategy. But it’s not. It’s 2014. Google’s beastly search algorithms are poised to shred online presences clinging to old habits while increasing rankings for those that play by the rules. The new rule is that content is king. 5 Types of Content You Can’t Do Without Content comes in all sorts of flavors. It can be short or long. It can be black and white, gray, or colorful. It can take on whatever shape you need. It is 100 percent customizable and capable of achieving whatever you need, if it’s crafted with skill and care. Although the current content menu on display at copywriting agencies all over the net is sizeable, there are five types of content you simply cannot do without: Blog posts: Blogs are super important to businesses and brands. Your goal should be to blog at least a few times per week or month. Each topic should be relevant to your specific products or services. Be educational and informative versus sales oriented when blogging, but don’t be afraid to subtly point out the benefits or value your product or service brings to the table. A meaty blog packed full of solid material hands your audience the ability to be well informed and educated. They are much more likely to buy from an industry expert versus a company that focuses solely on conversion. News: Your business is constantly growing. Show your growth by creating and sharing interesting news content. Press releases are a great way to tackle newsworthy topics. Don’t shy away from posting news from your industry as well. News content has the ability to position your business as a subject matter expert that is in the know and in touch with current news and trends. Timely: It’s vital to ensure your content is timely and properly positioned. For example, displaying outdated news or information on your site’s main page will give the impression that you’re not prioritizing. In fact, the audience might conclude you are outdated and unworthy of attention in the now. Take the time to inventory your content. Either ensure it is timely and that old information is positioned in older, dated content for those conducting research (recommended), or weed it out completely. Products and services: The goal of your online content is no doubt to develop interest in your business and compel the audience to take action. Therefore, your copy should include enough of an explanation about your products and/or services to generate audience appeal. They should know enough to either want to research more (via your online presence) or contact you. Always take care in deciding how much information you will present about your products and/or services. You don’t want to overwhelm your audience with so much info that they lose sight of the value you’re offering. Social media: It’s the “in” thing of 2014. Social media and search engine rankings go hand-in-hand because the strength of your social media will affect the strength of your overall rankings. Building this type of content is an absolute must. The key to creating killer social media is in crafting the sort of content people simply must share. This requires interesting and fresh content. Variety is vital. Give your audience a generous mix of both serious and entertaining material while keeping self-promotion to a minimum. 6 Tips for Writing Killer Online Content According to Social Media Today, we’ve reached a point in the content marketing industry where “the line between writing [killer] SEO copy for search engines and engaging copy for humans has all but disappeared.” It sounds silly, but writing for humans means you’re writing for search engines and writing for search engines means you’re writing for humans. Confused? Don’t be! It all boils down to the basic ingredients of killer content: Get to the point. Don’t beat around the bush. People don’t have time for that. They want value, and they want it now. They are inundated with information at an alarming rate. Get to the point quickly or risk losing their attention. Keep it tight. The majority of your audiences are likely using mobile devices, which means they’re viewing your content on a compact screen. Make your copy user friendly by keeping it tight. Sentences and paragraphs should be short and concise. Headings and subheadings should be easily visible and contain the main point of the text beneath them. Don’t be shy. You must compel your audience to take action. Don’t be shy! Tell them what to do. Make each call to action logical and blunt. Ensure copywriting from one web page to the next transitions smoothly. Be professional. There’s nothing wrong with a little entertainment value, but your copy should reflect your professionalism. Tap into personal stories, funny anecdotes, and peppy wording, but don’t go overboard. Oh, and don’t misspell words either. A typo or two is understandable, but if you display a pattern of misspelling, people won’t take you seriously. Stay active. What’s the old adage? “A body in motion stays in motion.” The … Read more

LinkedIn Posts: Today’s Newest & Greatest In Content Marketing

December 31, 2020June 30, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Did you know that LinkedIn allows actual blogging ON their platform? In February 2014, numerous sources, including Search Engine Journal, announced that LinkedIn’s blog platform was now open to users, not just influencers. According to SEJ, “250,000 members [would now] have the ability to publish content on [the platform].” If you missed the news or haven’t had time to look into it, you’re not alone. We didn’t until just recently. And our conclusion is that this platform is an untapped breakthrough asset in content marketing, and too many people aren’t aware of it! What have we discovered, and what do you need to know? Let’s take a look: Our LinkedIn Posts Case Study Once we learned that blogging was allowed on this powerful business platform, we jumped right in. We had to first “apply” to be contributors and were successfully approved. We immediately started publishing a handful of posts, including this one about copywriting; and we kept a close eye on the provided analytics, curious to see just how large of a reach we would see. Here are the results, just 3 days after posting! Over 1,000 views, 60+ likes, and comments on our very first LinkedIn post: We also discovered that LinkedIn will FEATURE your posts publicly on your profile, like so: LinkedIn sent us some insider emails after we published some content, with these helpful tips: Tapping Into LinkedIn as a Content Marketing Asset Our case study indicates some solid potential. LinkedIn posts get a lot of views and shares for content, much more than a single blog would get, especially if your network is extensive. And if you’ve been a marketer for over a year with a LinkedIn presence, you probably have a decent network. Let’s face it; those of us already using LinkedIn likely have an extensive network, and growing that network is super easy using their platform and our own connections. Strengthening your profile will contribute to this, and all of this adds up to one epic revelation: you have an untapped audience at your fingertips! A few Dos, Don’ts and common sense tips are important to review before using this platform. LinkedIn has been built on a very simple concept: career growth and advancement. Therefore, it only makes sense that, according to InformationWeek, the “blogging tool [is for posting] career advice and insights to share with your connections.” How can you best use this tool? Let’s take a look at the top tips: Write about what you know. According to InformationWeek, your LinkedIn posts should reflect your profile. In other words, write about what you know. Consider choosing topics that range from the career challenges you’ve faced, the opportunities you’ve successfully seized, and important trends in your industry or field of expertise. Be professional. Obviously, you don’t want to knowingly (or unknowingly) break your company’s privacy policies. The rule of thumb when blogging on LinkedIn is to stay professional at all times. Don’t post anything that you wouldn’t bring up in normal conversation with an individual you just met at a professional event or conference. Keep to the point. InformationWeek reports that, according to LinkedIn data, an ideal post will be approximately 700 words in length. The idea is to compose a blog long enough to cover your topic and position without running the risk of losing the reader’s interest. You can add a combination of images, videos, SlideShare presentations and external links as appropriate. Be a sport and comment. If you have any blogging or social media experience, you already know that audience engagement is important. Unlike some other networks, LinkedIn is closed and requires an account for complete profile viewing AND commenting. Therefore, the comments you receive on this platform are likely to be high-quality. Not only are they absolutely worth your time to respond to, but commenting will boost post engagement, thus promoting it beyond your network. Pay attention to your analytics. As you saw from our case study, LinkedIn isn’t shy about disclosing how many people clicked on, liked and commented on your post. Take these analytics into consideration as you prepare future blogs. What topics triggered great engagement through comments or brought in more likes? Use popularity trends to guide future content choices. Share your content. InformationWeek noted that people don’t have to set-up a LinkedIn account to read your posts. And once you publish, anyone—from your connections to your followers—can see it. You should share the links to your posts outside of the LinkedIn network. Before posting, you should have the option to automatically post to Twitter. Once a blog post is live, you can share it with audiences on your other social networks by using the available media buttons. This type of out-of-network sharing can assist in increasing your LinkedIn network. Seize the Opportunity With the rise of today’s self-publication mediums, everyone wants to be a publisher. It’s no secret that content drives marketing and sales because people flock wherever it is. It’s also no secret that building an audience is hard work. While LinkedIn’s platform offers an opportunity to seize a new, untapped audience, you should plan content with care. The last thing you want to do is alienate your audience or damage your Google ranking. What are we talking about? The dangers of duplicate content! Remember the tip to share your LinkedIn posts with your other social networks? While this is a great piece of advice, we have to stress the need for continually focusing on the creation and production of FRESH copy. In other words, don’t jump onto this platform by reposting a piece of content you’ve posted on another network. Yes, you can repost your work, but you run into two huge risks: Audience estrangement: “Did I see this before?” It’s the question you NEVER want a reader to ask. It’s recommended to post unique content to each of your social networks. Otherwise, readers who follow you on three different networks will see the same content three times over. Decreased Google ranking: Duplicate content annoys users, therefore … Read more

The Write Era: Why & How Today Is the Day of Online Content

December 31, 2020May 27, 2014 by Adam Oakley

As sad as it may be, the times are quickly moving away from print and heading towards online content. It is more expensive than ever to get something printed because of the decline of the printed word. This means one of two things: 1) either you can spend a lot of money participating in antiquated methods or 2) you can save money and get a lot of bang for your buck. Online content is a great way to gain access to a wider audience and a much wider audience than you got with paper content. This blog is going to explore why today is YOUR (and our) day; the day of online content; and how this powerful tool can benefit you. Let’s Clear Up The Myths, First The Internet isn’t the swamp monster. It isn’t here to destroy everything you hold dear. In fact, it is here to promote what you hold dear and make it successful. Your business is close to your heart and you want to see it succeed; the best way to do this is to jump into the 21st century with both feet. Once you’ve jumped in it is time to get ready for some awesome results! How Can Online Content Work For Me? Simple. It can bring in more customers than you could have dreamed of when you were relying on print content. All someone has to do is type in a keyword with the location and your business will show up on Google’s results page. Did you realize that one simple investment into an online press release can be instantly published to over 4,000 online media locations? Pretty awesome, huh? This is what online content can do – it can get you more coverage than ever. It is super exciting! What Types Of Content Do I Need, Sensei? Let’s take a quick look at a few forms of content that will be excellent for your business: 1. You’ll Need A Blog. Have you watched the latest Sherlock series? If not, we are sure you’ve at least heard of it. In the series, Sherlock’s cases come to him not just from the police but also due to Watson’s blog postings. Sherlock tends to scoff at the postings, but the reality is not everyone is keen on the different types of pipe tobacco ash out there. Watson understands how important a blog is to a small business and he utilizes this so that he and Sherlock can actually afford their rent payments for that London flat. Just as it is important for Sherlock’s consulting detective business, blogging is important for your small business. It is a great way to interact with your customer base and provides you with an amazing way to give updates on what is going on in the company. If you are worried about staying up with a blog or writing great quality, you can always hire a copywriter who is trained in SEO (search engine optimization) and will craft excellent content for your site. 2. Online Press Releases Are Very Important. Just as in print, press releases are still crucial to a successful business. These are great ways to let everyone know what your company is up to and what to expect in the coming year. It lays everything out in a professional format and is easy for news outlets to use. The main change to the modern press release is the need for it to be social media ready. This is crucial when it comes to anything written for the Internet, which you will see in the next point. 3. Let’s Talk Social Media. If you aren’t on social media, now is the time to create a profile. It isn’t as terrifying as news outlets make it sound and, in fact, is very crucial to a successful small business. You don’t have to be an expert in using social media; you can have someone else in your company be in charge of that aspect. Just find a person who knows, and understands social media, and ask them to take over. The most important outlets are Facebook and Twitter, though many companies are finding Instagram and Pinterest to be very beneficial, as well. Social media gives your client base a way to interact with you and your company, and also provides you easier access to advertising specials coming up in your shop. It is important to remember to use this to your advantage but don’t abuse it (i.e. Don’t over-share on social media). 4. Don’t Scoff At Email. Email campaigns still bring in a lot of success for many a small business. Reports show that people are checking their email constantly throughout the day and many of us check our email when we are still in bed. We wake up and check our email on our iDevices. This is a great opportunity for you to create marketing campaigns that will lead to some awesome sales for your company. Again, don’t abuse this excellent tool! Learn how often your customers expect an email from you and don’t go over that expectation. You don’t want to annoy them into avoiding or unsubscribing from your email updates. 5. Does All Content Have To Be Long? No! Short content is honestly one of the best approaches to having a successful marketing campaign. Shorter content is also one of the best ways to go viral, according to Quicksprout. You can hire graphic designers to craft short, sharable content like an infographic. These are really handy tools to use for Internet content, as they tell about your company and highlight the important information you want customers to know. You can also do videos, write shorter articles, and even repurpose your content to make it last longer. You don’t have to be constantly creating new and unique content. Utilize the content you’ve already crafted and you will get a lot of mileage out of it! It’ll also save you significant amounts of time. The Internet Is Good, Use … Read more

6 Ideas For Keeping Up With Content Demands

January 1, 2021May 22, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Today, one of the biggest investments for your online marketing is content. Just how big? Check out this interesting formula on how to calculate how many “questions” you could possibly “answer” with content for your niche audience. Take the example of a typical business content marketing flow and need. Let’s say you sell dog food. Some possible content marketing for that simple, down-to-earth industry would include newsletters, blogs, print brochures for your local clientele, and possibly an infographic or two if you want to be trendy with your content. Now let’s take a look at the content need for just one of those avenues. Since blogging is one of the best ways to rank with Google (confirmed by SocialMediaExaminer experts) and long and frequent blogs are better, you’ll need at least 3 topic ideas per week. Getting those topics can be easy, if you know from which bucket to pull ideas. For example, what do your clients often ask you when they call in? If it focuses on grooming, come up with countless topics based on toenail grooming instructions, hair grooming, and then God only knows how many breeds you can come up with for different grooming instructions, from Pomeranians to Labradors. How to Keep Up With Your Content Demands Your content demands are going to be simple, but they sure can overwhelm you quickly. We are going to take some time to go through various ideas to keep up with the demands. 1. Make Your Content Available Everywhere. There is no greater letdown then trying to access the company’s website on your smartphone and realize it is only available in desktop mode. Another letdown is that a website may have a mobile platform but when you load it on your tablet, it is terrible. A great example of this is Instagram. You can only view the app on your tablet in mobile mode, but it is the size of a phone screen. If you resize it, everything is blurry and ugly looking. It makes using Instagram on a tablet difficult. It might be silly, but that frustration is real and it can make someone ignore your site. Make sure your site content is available in different formats from desktop mode to mobile to tablet. By doing this, you will limit the amount of complaints you get each month, lessening the overwhelming feeling that your content strategy is way too big to manage. 2. Have A Focused Campaign. If your campaign is all over the map, you will definitely feel overwhelmed with your content, B2BMarketingInsider.com writes. You’ll feel like it is impossible to keep up with and this can cause you to burn out and not reach a wide audience. Keeping with the dog food motif, make one campaign solely based on keeping your pet healthy with natural foods, run some blogs during that campaign that deal with why it is important to feed certain foods to certain dogs. You can even break it down into breed or age specificity. For the next campaign, talk about how food can help a dog’s coat and write a blog with various grooming tips. This helps you stay focused and sends a clear message to your customers. 3. Utilize Different Formats and Repurpose. You don’t have to keep using one format. More formats equal more viewers and will help generate more buzz for your product. We listed some of these great formats above such as blogging, infographics, newsletters, and brochures. We think you should give them a shot! Now, you are probably wondering if you need to craft all sorts of new content for these different formats, the good news is you don’t. You can repurpose the content you’ve already written and use it in multiple formats. Quicksprout offers a really handy guide to do just that and this will definitely ease your content demand woes. 4. Make Accessible Goals For Your Content. A major reason your content demands are becoming overwhelming is because you have set some unattainable goals. Sure, your goals might be what you want in the future but right now, you’re going to have to give yourself time. Start by making smaller, more accessible content goals and grow your goals along with your company and how much content your clients are expecting. The demands won’t be as overwhelming for you by starting out small and slowly growing. 5. Work With Everyone, No Matter His or Her Language. Are you getting comments in French, Spanish, or Russian? Well, those comments probably aren’t spam like many people think and thankfully most browsers (i.e. Google Chrome) offer the ability to translate on the spot. Utilize those available translations and see what people are writing. This could be a very good indication that your product is starting to go global. Now, don’t let this overwhelm you! There are many tools out there that can help and you can start working on a strategy for global content writing. First off, start by using a translating tool to respond. Always make sure the person knows you don’t know their language when using a translation program. This will help you engage with your customers, no matter what. Secondly, if you are getting more comments and views from overseas, start considering the steps to write for a global market. 6. Dedicate A Staff Member For Content Purposes. If content planning and strategy are becoming way too overwhelming for you to maintain, consider hiring someone solely for content. This can be either someone who is an outside source or someone who works within your company. You will still have a say in the matter, but let them do the ultimate crafting to keep the pressure off of you. This will be a great way to ensure you have quality content all the time. Stick To These and Everything Will Be Fine By following these 6 tips, you will find that you aren’t as overwhelmed with your content demand as when you started. These tips will help relieve a lot of unnecessary stress and will help keep your content … Read more

What Guides Your Content Strategy?

January 1, 2021May 21, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Just think about it: having an excellent content strategy is like having money in the bank. There’s at least one good reason why you should always plan ahead when it comes to crafting content: it’s easier to reach your destination when you know where you’re heading. Truth be told, at this point your prospects can be influenced to respond to your calls-to-action through a plentitude of marketing channels. But the question is this: do you promote and distribute your web writing randomly or is your content strategy as elaborated as a well-played game of chess? 3 Dangerous Pitfalls of Content Strategizing A cohesive, personalized, long-term content strategy can help you become an extremely competitive player in your industry over a short period of time, leading to: Improved conversion rates Increased brand visibility A solid community and a bigger client database built around your brand Superior organic search rankings Reinforced social following However, these improvements can’t be witnessed overnight and require sustained efforts on your part. To stay on the right path to content strategizing success, you have to be able to spot and avoid the most common pitfalls associated with this process. 3 of the Worst Mistakes You Could Make Instead of a Great Content Strategy 1. Putting the responsibility on somebody else’s shoulders. (Half-heartedly tossing a list of keywords at your secretary and having her come up with a few blogs for the week, for example. Is this you? Don’t feel too bad…we have some helpful steps for you below.) 2. Thinking that your product, brand or industry is boring. There are no boring products; there are only boring marketers. Every item available for sale has a value, a price and a well-defined market. Your job as a marketer or content creator is to put its unique features and benefits on full display and make it look insanely attractive in the eyes of all potential buyers. 3. Acting like what you write and how you write about your company won’t affect your online reputation and your bottom line. In a world in which online interactions are your most powerful ally when it comes to getting and staying on the same page with your audience, what you write helps your readers determine who you are and why they should (or shouldn’t) do business with you. 10 Ways to Guide Your Content Strategy 1) Evaluate Your Unique Marketing Techniques and Unique Business Objectives. Before getting to work, make sure you know what you’re trying to achieve and how you plan to accomplish your mission. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s not. Many content creators, strategists and marketers get stuck at some point simply because they don’t know which business goals they are supposed to follow. So ask yourself this: why are you investing time, money and energy in a content strategy in the first place? Do you want to rank higher in search engine results, boost customer loyalty or increase conversion rates? All these objectives are different and require different courses of action. Instead of opting for an overarching goal that doesn’t say a lot about who you are and who you plan to become, it would be better to come up with a list of smaller, manageable ones. For instance, if you run a small-scale auto shop ensuring affordable repairs and you also sell used cars, you will try to attract 2 different segments of prospects: those who wish to get their car fixed and those who are interested in buying a used vehicle from a local dealership. In this case, you will most likely try to grab the attention of local clients by promoting your inexpensive, high-quality repair services, while spreading the word about your decently-priced line of used cars. Based on these small goals, you can elaborate your own content strategy and make wiser decisions. 2) Understand Your Audience. According to Search Engine Watch, it is extremely important to build your content marketing strategy based on the particular interests of your targeted audience. We all get it: your end goal is to improve sales and increase brand awareness but to do so, first you need to build credibility and trust. Keyword research and social media listening tools are two valuable elements that you can rely on to find out what makes your segment of public tick. 3) Understand Your Industry. If youwant to win big you have to become familiar with the rules of the game. Find the most accurate answers to the following questions: What motivates your prospects make online purchases? Who are the most powerful influencers in your industry? Is your audience service-oriented (and eager to spend more on premium packages) or price-focused (and always determined to pinch pennies)? Are you out-shined by an influent competitor that is currently dominating the entire industry? (If the answer is yes, it wouldn’t hurt to take a closer look at its community, web content and social media presence). What type of content is received with more enthusiasm in your niche? Are there any gaps in the content creation strategies displayed by your competitors, which you may be able to fill? Would you be able to create and maintain solid relationships with industry experts and influencers? 4) Find the Perfect Distribution Channels. How exactly do you plan to reach your audience while distributing your first-class content? According to The Guardian, the mix of media channels that you select to broadcast your message is extremely important. You should evaluate the strengths, drawbacks and costs associated with every single channel before making a final call. 5) Use Surveys and Rely on Real Customer Input. Do you want to know how your digital content, blog or website is performing? Are you really ready to assess the quality and effectiveness of your web writing? If so, explore the unmatched power of surveys, accessible online or included within a certain publication. Surveys are the 21st century oracles that will tell you what you need to know about your current content strategy and the best … Read more

Dragons, Sphinxes, Dark Lords: How Harry Potter Wins at Marketing

January 1, 2021May 19, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Image credit: HDWallpapers.in It has been almost three years since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two came out and almost seven years since the last Harry Potter book was published, yet Warner Brother’s is still winning at marketing. They have yet to give up on Harry Potter as quickly as most companies give up on their mega-films, which is proving to be an excellent strategy for them. Scholastic’s marketing team is also not giving up on Harry Potter bringing in customers and money. Both of these companies know just how to engage everyone while also providing people with wonderful items to buy. People say Harry Potter is a cash cow for these two companies and they’re right! Let’s take a quick look at how these companies are still making millions by using excellent content. Pottermore: Which House Are You? This is an excellent example of utilizing fun content while convincing people to buy your brand. J. K. Rowling and Scholastic teamed up to offer fans an experience with the world of Harry Potter by immersing them in Hogwarts and the wizarding world. They started with beta users to test out the site and, in fact, made a big hoopla about becoming a beta user. You were able to take a trip into the virtual world of Diagon Alley to purchase your books, your wand, your animal (cat, frog, or owl), your robes, and anything else Hogwarts required of you. While doing so, you were able to find random little things along the way such as chocolate frog cards or Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. The wand purchasing required you to take a test written up by the master herself, J. K. Rowling, ensuring you got the correct wand. “The wand chooses the wizard, Harry.” You can then go through Harry Potter’s first chapters in the Sorcerer’s (or Philosopher’s) Stone and then proceed to be sorted into your house. This was the moment every Harry Potter fan was waiting for and the moment new fans are excited about. This quiz was, yet again, written by Rowling, ensuring you couldn’t guess your way into your favorite house and made sure you were sorted correctly. This caused much rejoicing and much sorrow, depending on house loyalties. The lesson you can learn from this is that you should be creating content that is fun and engaging for your customers. The more engaging you make your content, the more likely your client base will grow, bringing in more revenue and readers. In addition, you should be involved with your content just like Rowling. This will make sure adequate knowledge is shared about your product and people will enjoy that you took the time to be involved. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter To keep audiences craving Harry Potter goods, Warner Brother’s studio created an excellent Harry Potter theme park for all the old and new fans. At first, the park was limited in what it offered, yet it was still, dare we say, a magical experience for everyone. People got to go through Hogwarts, purchase wands, and drink Butterbeer, and, of course, purchase many other Harry Potter items. The park is a huge success and because of this, the park will be expanding to allow people a ride on the Hogwarts Express, head to Gringotts, and many other fanciful locations we all want to experience. How can copywriters take inspiration from this? Copywriters can use this as inspiration to keep their product out there in different ways. You don’t have to go to the extreme of the Wizarding World, but come up with some neat ideas to let people use your product in various ways. This could also be a great time to do some storytelling with your product. Basically, anything that engages your audience will keep your product out there longer and will bring in more buyers and customers. You can also use this as a chance to recycle and repurpose old content. As you can see, the possibilities are endless. Accio New and Gorgeous Covers! Older Harry Potter fans all enjoy the older covers and remember seeing them revealed upon release. It was an exciting time seeing the latest artwork but now there is a new audience growing up and that audience needs new covers. Or so says Scholastic. The new covers are just as gorgeous and still capture the magic of Harry Potter but connects with a newer audience. These new covers aren’t only for the newbies though, because many old-time Harry Potter fans are finding themselves purchasing the new books just for the covers. In fact, the spines of the new books make the castle of Hogwarts and who wouldn’t want that on their bookshelf? What a great marketing ploy, Scholastic! Gain Marketing Inspiration from the Boy Who Lived Sure, your product will probably never reach the Harry Potter level but Scholastic and Warner Brother’s Studio can give you great inspiration. Follow a few of their steps by engaging with your clients, using your product in different ways, and spice things up with new content. Try implementing these three elements and watch your content and product soar! You’ll graduate from the realm of Muggles to the wonderfully magical Wizarding world in no time.