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!
If you’re a successful agency in any part of the digital realm (web marketing, SEO, digital media, you-name-it) you probably have a lot of success stories to share and happy clients who wouldn’t hesitate to recommend you. All of that is great – but, how useful is it, if you aren’t letting everyone else out there know your existing value and the fact that you don’t need to prove yourself, since you’ve already had successes? This is where a case study comes in. You can send it to new clients, show it off as a downloadable marketing material to new subscribers, send it to anyone questioning your successes (how dare they!), and so much more.
3 Great Reasons Why Case Studies Can Become One of Your Most Valuable Content Tools
Creating and publishing case studies is a great strategy, especially if you plan to highlight your authority and build credibility and trust in your line of work. You cannot and should not harvest the fruits of your own labor without letting the whole world know how resourceful, competent, successful and client-oriented you really are.
Bragging about your own success stories can take you a long way, as long as all your claims are backed by solid evidence. This is precisely why a case study is such an important content tool these days: it enables company owners to separate themselves from unreliable, boastful competitors who speak very highly about their own affairs without actually being able to list their accomplishments. In this context, there are 3 main reasons why you should invest time, money and energy in creating a case study:
1) Case Studies Give You the Chance to Tell a Compelling, Factual Story about Your Clients. This will obviously help you attract new customers and/or partners who may need a bit more than a string of fancy words to choose to do business with you. A skeptic may ask you: “Why should I invest in your goods or services?” Case studies provide the shortest, most accurate answer to this question. A good case study should put your selling skills and first-class marketing strategies on full display. Remember that your goal is to seduce both the hearts and the minds of your targeted audience. 2) Case Studies Help You Gain a Competitive Edge. Whether we like it or not, we live right next to impostors and people who can’t make a single move without exaggerating their positive attributes. In a world where it is still very difficult to separate the ugly truth from an overly adorned lie, case studies can reflect your transparency, sustained efforts and your good name. They can also come in handy if you want to separate yourself from your main competitors who are nothing but talk. 3) Case Studies Help You Promote and Run a Real Business. Ask yourself the following question: does your business seem real, or does it sound as fantastic as a fairytale with pink unicorns? Case studies can make many people realize that they need your products or services in their lives; a well-written study will highlight your competences, your previous results and awaken a powerful emotion. You can use this valuable content tool to evoke sympathy, admiration, joy or curiosity, based on your end goal and the nature of the facts presented in the study. Either way, a content piece that resonates with your readers, stimulates their empathy and encourages them to take action will work to your best advantage.
Don’t know how to draw the line between truth and necessary braggery? In this case, we’ve got news for you: superlatives and exaggerations can hurt your business, as long as all the claims that you make are not supported by solid, 100% verifiable evidence. Case studies can help you keep your feet on the ground, keep track of your success stories and put them to good use to diversify your clientele, boost brand awareness and maximize your gains.
Getting Started: How to Write a Killer Success-Oriented Case Study in 6 Easy Steps
Even if you’re goodand you know it, and you have a virtually endless list of satisfied customers who would vouch for your business at any given point in time, it may still be difficult for you to write a concise, genuine and persuasive case study. Follow these basic guidelines to overcome your own limitations. Leave your modesty and the door and you’ll manage to come up with an awesome client case study in 6 easy steps.
Gather the Most Relevant Details Related to the Success Story of One of Your Customers. Focus mostly on quantifiable aspects (like for instance monetary advantages, website traffic increases, improved sales and so on)
Opt for a Punchy Headline That Manages to Introduce Your Most Important Accomplishment. Your goal is to explain how your services improved the life of a certain customer in a very succinct, compelling manner.
Include Convincing Client Testimonials. Don’t turn your case study into a boring, pointless monologue. This is not a church sermon; it is your best chance to attract new clients, accentuate your best qualities and capabilities and make a name for yourself. Keep things interesting and highlight your realness by including relevant client testimonials that introduce at least 2 or 3 key benefits associated with your brand, product or service.
Create Subheads for the Most Important Details Listed in Your Case Study
Shed Some Light on the “How” Aspect. Unless you are a mysterious magician who is recruiting spectators for his next show, get ready to talk a bit about the aces up your sleeve. How did you manage to trigger the complete satisfaction of your customers and deliver the promised results? Use powerful action verbs and avoid using passive voice in your content piece; passive voice minimizes your efforts and may make your audience believe that major improvements could have been witnesses even without your contribution.
End the Study with a Short, Relevant Quote from a Customer. The quote should summarize all the info presented in the study and reveal the fact that you are a top-rated, trustworthy player in your line of work.
Showcasing: Express Writers’ Case Study
We’ve presented case studies in the past on our blog, including one on short vs. long content, which was also a successful SocialMediaToday guest blog with over 1,000 shares. Besides blogging our successes, we also have an official “case study” PDF branded to our company with our clients’ success stories. We started the case study document by featuring our own company and blog – what better way to present success than to show your own company is a success in what you offer? We asked about 10 of our satisfied clients if they wouldn’t mind being featured in the case study; not only were they receptive to the idea, but they gave us screenshots of statistics and data to use and full permission. It was a success to create and collaborate on – and now we have a record of just a few sample successes we’ve had when it comes to creating and publishing high quality content.
Case reports are an extremely valuable content tool, which can boost you popularity and profitability in no time, without forcing you to spend a small fortune to make things happen. At the end of the day, a good case study should let you put solid facts where your mouth is and prove that you have legitimate reasons to brag about your business success.
You’ve taken the time to develop a content strategy, perhaps you’ve spent a lot of time creating a strategy, but it’s just not performing as you had hoped. Sometimes even the best content strategies need a little extra help. Luckily there are plenty of tools out there that help you during each stage of the content strategy planning process, implementation and analysis.
Know What’s In Your Content Strategy Before Creating It
Your content strategy should already include this, but if not, it’s time to add it. You should know what you’re posting and when you’re going to post it — that goes for web content too. There are a few tools out there that can help you keep track of your content and create an editorial calendar. Even if you don’t run a blog, having a calendar that schedules out everything from articles to press releases to social media posts is important. If you’re not sure how to create a calendar or you want to know how to organize it, read up on setting up your editorial calendar in this article by the Content Marketing Institute.
Some great content planning tools to look into include:
Google Docs – Google docs is free to use (as long as you sign up for a Gmail account). You can use the spreadsheets or use the Google Calendar to write down what posts launch and when they’re supposed to launch. Since you can add people to your calendars, you can keep the entire company in on what’s happening with your content next.
WordPress Editorial Plugin –WordPress.org has an editorial calendar plug-in that you can integrate in with your WordPress website. The plug-in is free and works with most WordPress platforms.
Make Sure Your Strategic Content Isn’t a Copycat
There’s nothing more detrimental to your website’s rank than copied content. Even if you don’t intend to copy, you have dozens of websites that might carry similar content (which means a few words might register on a plagiarism checker). There are a few tools out there that can help you scan your content before it’s published to keep you copycat-free.
Write Content That is Error-Free
You might be the authority in your industry, but if your content is riddled with spelling errors and grammar mistakes, your readers won’t think you’re the “go-to” for advice. Poor grammar can also impact your brand and your SEO, according to an article on Business2Community.com. Luckily you don’t have to be an English professor to get your grammar right, especially with today’s grammar checking tools.
PolishMyWriting.com – This unique tool offered by After the Deadline reviews your content for grammar, style, and spelling issues. Each correction is a suggestion, leaving you in control of what is changed. You can download the app directly into your browser to scan your content as you write it or just copy/paste into the site’s app.
Copyscape.com – Copyscape is a paid subscription, but it is also one of the best checkers on the market. You pay about $0.10 per scan and that small fee goes far. Copyscape will flag portions of your content that are copied, tell you how much of your content is copied and highlight the copied text so you know what to correct.
Grammarly.com – Grammarly offers a paid grammar checker that can catch up to ten times more mistakes than Word. It offers vocabulary suggestions, helps correct active and passive voice styles, and locates grammar errors instantly.
PaperRater.com – Check the grammar, spelling and style of your content for free with PaperRater. While it may not catch as much as Grammarly, it will catch a lot more than you might proofreading yourself.
Get Your Keywords Right
Keywords are still crucial to your rank, but only if they’re used in combination with good content. While Google might have taken away their Keyword Tool, there are still options out there to help you plan out the right keywords for your website, including Google AdWords Keyword Planner. Once you know your keywords, you want a healthy density in your content. Avoid going over three percent, if you can. To check your keyword density there are plenty of free and paid tools you can try. Live-Keyword-Analysis.com, for example, allows you to plug in your keywords, copy/paste your content and quickly tells you the density of your targeted keywords in your content. Another free tool to try if your content is already published on your website is KeywordDensity.com. Simply enter your URL, the keyword or key phrase, and let the app analyze your pages for density.
There are plenty of tools out there, plenty are free too, that can take your content strategy to the next level. With the investment you’ve made in making a content strategy, you can almost not risk wasting that effort by not using these killer tools.
Download your Free copy of What Are Content Delivery Networks (CDN)?
