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How do you decide what to write about? Does your blog have a content plan? Do your social media posts have some structure and relationship to your blog posts or your other marketing programs? If your answer to any of these questions is “no,” you are likely missing opportunities to extend the reach of your marketing, to reinforce other promotions and activities, and to encourage your audience to make connections to your website, your blog, and other content you are producing. Effective social media marketing strategies need a powerful content plan....
As a blogging business, where should you be promoting your blog to help connect with readers and help them fall in love with your content? Below are a few places to start. Email Signature: Include a link to your blog URL in your email signature so that every time you message a customer, vendor, new contact, colleague, or even friends from high school you’re promoting your blog and encouraging them to check it out. Email Newsletter: Already investing in email marketing? Why not incorporate some of your blog content to help customers catch up on what they may have missed? This may mean republishing posts via email or setting up a From The Blog section in your newsletter that provides a snippet of article text before driving readers back to your website. Print Promotional Material: Hey, just because that brochure or handout resides offline, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be using it to promote what you’re doing online. Make sure customers are aware you’re a business whose blogging by putting the URL and blog-related CTAs on printed promotional material....
I am frequently asked about blogging and how to use it effectively for marketing within social media. I decided to put together a list of my top ten tips that is specifically designed for the individual marketer or small to medium business. This list is not at all for the large brand, affiliate marketer, the social media author or speaker. Those specific groups are typically about numbers, driving less than targeted traffic, ego inflation and/or putting out volume over substance. Exactly what you should NOT be doing if you are serious about being effective with your blog within social media. If you want to measure REAL results that is – You know things like sales, revenue and new customers. But I digress…
Improve your text instantly with this simple rule: Eliminate “to be” and all forms of -ing. Your sentences will gain purpose and strength as you articulate exactlywho does what. You will no longer lope along with constructions that posit a vague notion of activity—someone is going to be doing something—instead you will claim the subjects and their predicates with equal enthusiasm.
Don't blog in the dark. If your business has a blog, these simple steps help you set conversion goals and measure and track them with Google Analytics. First understand that blogging is an awareness channel, positioned at the top of the conversion funnel. Conversions assigned to the blog should be things that create another connection between you and the audience, like a newsletter sign-up or Facebook like. The goal of the blog is to have people actively choose to connect with you elsewhere, a position that will put you at the customer’s top of mind when a need for your product or service surfaces. A 2011 State of the Blogosphere report from Technorati Media surveyed bloggers, and the results of the question, “How do you measure the success of your blog?” saw a variety of responses....
...What can you achieve with a blog? As a content management system that can be optimized for search and social shares, blogs with great content can help a company attract new customers, engage existing customers, connect with journalists and connect with potential new hires. There are many business communication goals that can be realized through blogging. How? The fundamentals that many companies seem to gloss over include: - Create a hub and spoke framework for blog publishing and promotion. - Source content that customers care about and that can influence sales or other goals. -Integrate blogging with SEO, Social Media, PR and Content Marketing efforts to amplify content where customers are actively looking. Those are general guidelines, so here are 4 steps for small business blogs to get big business results...
So, corporate blogging is NOT dead. Who’s doing it well? By now, we’ve all heard about the Southwest Airlines and Starbucks blogs of the world. But, what about other larger companies? Those we might not hear about as often–but those who continue to blog month after month. And do so with what appears to be some success (I say “appears” because we can never know for sure how these companies are measuring success with their blogs). Here are five companies that aren’t talked about quite as much when it comes to blogging–and how they’re pulling the right strings when it comes to corporate blogging....
By effectively using a blog as the centerpiece of their social media, content marketing and search optimization, small businesses and solopreneurs can effectively compete against the big boys. While small businesses can be more nimble and react more quickly to a dynamic environment, they still need overall planning to ensure they keep their business on track for success. Otherwise, if you’re only responding to the latest fire, you’re not working towards your long-term business objectives. To help organize your small business and maximize your limited resources, you need a blog and a marketing plan. Here are thirteen tactics for building a better business blog....
Here's a blogging blueprint you can put into action... ...As I said in an earlier post, the Internet is littered with abandoned blogs that failed because their owners neglected to construct a strong foundation. They either didn’t didn’t realize they had to, or they were arrogant enough to believe they were above all that grunt work. But if you remember the story of the three little pigs then you’ll realize how important it is to build your blog on a strong foundation. It’s Time To Start Planning Your Strategy Break It Down With A Timeline: Your action plan will contain specific tasks with an eye toward your ultimate goal. Break those tasks down into manageable bites that you can realistically achieve. It also helps to set time limits. For example...
Mobile is a must for your blog: learn how to create a mobile version of your website and the different options available to support your blog. Do you want more mobile subscribers and readers? Is your blog suitable for a mobile device? In 2012, mobile users spent 63% more time on their devices accessing mobile websites and apps and this is set to increase. In this article I’ll explore the importance of mobile for your blog and the different options available to support your blog on a mobile device....
There is a lot of conversation around the topic of building a community around your blog. It is a fantastic technique, but it is actually an extremely complex issue. The ‘rules’ differ for each community. A business blog doesn’t have the same goals as a personal blogger. In this post, I curate my favourite resources on building a engaged and loyal blog community.
Social media marketing: learn how to enhance your social media efforts using your business blog. Do you blog? Are you active on social media? Have you integrated your blogging with your social activities? Blogging can help you improve your social media marketing. In this post, you’ll discover four tips to enhance your social media efforts using your business blog.
Content - Does your content sound like everyone else's? Did you do any research before producing your content? Do you always use the same media format? And do you tailor your content ... Editor's note: The previous installment covered three content marketing mistakes: Your content doesn't have specific goals; your content doesn't have anything to sell; and your content didn't bother asking for the transaction. In this installment, the author lists and discusses four more content marketing mistakes. 4. Your content sounds like everyone else's Am I imagining it—or does it sometimes feel as if the same blogger writes for every blog? Word choice, metaphors, structure, cadence, they all sound the same! Don't be assimilated into the blogger Borg collective. Write with vulnerability, enough that it makes you nervous to hit the publish button....
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...That’s why I’m writing this post. I’ve compiled a list of websites that produce great content, each of which has its own unique qualities. I’ll break them down and explain why they’re good and what you can take away. So whether you’re new to content marketing or have been involved in it for years, my goal for this blog post is that it will give you some ideas and inspiration. Now, let’s examine the best content sites and what we can all learn from them...
Even though social media is often in the spotlight, business blogging is still vital to your marketing success. Original, high-impact content still needs to be the lure for your audience.... There are a number of ways to ramp up the reach and exposure of your content, including syndicating it on websites like Social Media Today and Business 2 Community and sharing it on the big four social networks—Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Posting your content to popular social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us, can be another source of increased exposure. While taking these steps to promote your content will no doubt be beneficial, it is critical to address the issue at the core—ensuring that you produce the kind of content that compels a great deal of social content curation. If you can create highly shareable content, others will promote it for you. Publish relevant, information-rich and share-worthy content, and your search rankings will inevitably improve, as Google is increasingly informing their algorithms with social signals, such as +1s. 13 Google-Friendly Content Guidelines To achieve maximum impact with your company blog, create content according to Google best practices....
This is going to be a lengthy post, so I’ll briefly recap and then jump right into it. This is the sixth in a series of posts about how to craft blog posts. So far I’ve covered choosing your topic, titles, the opening paragraph, “So What?“, and calls to action. Today we’re going to talk about adding depth to create a more engaging blog post. Let’s get started, shall we? Dimension, or depth, is what makes an ordinary blog post into something remarkable. Your reader may read your ordinary post and he may get your message, but when you add depth to your content, it becomes more meaningful. It resonates with your reader. It adds that “Wow!” factor that makes readers want to share your content and subscribe to your blog. Here are 13 ways you can add depth to your content and turn an average post into something extraordinary....
Your business blog is one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox. But how do you know that your lean, mean lead generation machine (aka your business blog) is running as efficiently as possible? We’ve created a master checklist of everything your blog should be optimizing for and how to do it. Seem overwhelming? Don’t worry! This post will act as a step-by-step guide for everything you need to know. If you have questions, we’re happy to address them in the comments section. Let’s break it down....
Not to take away from the amazing results that can be achieve by reaching a large and highly targeted audience with your blog content, but not every benefit of maintaining a business blog is dependent on having huge readership. The reality for most business blogs, at least when they’re first starting out, is that readership can be low… very low. It can be discouraging to those who are contributing content, and working like crazy to keep a blog afloat to not see unique visitors, page views and subscribers come in droves from the get-go. Additionally, it can be tough to justify the ROI of your business’ blog to supervisors, management or ownership without having incredible reach. If this feels familiar, don’t sweat it. There is huge value to be had in maintaining a business blog, even if your readership is low....
It’s one of my favorite pieces of writing advice from Ray Bradbury, and it’s blindingly brilliant in its utter simplicity. If you want to identify the ideas you should write about, the themes you can write passionately and believably about, follow this advice: Make a list of ten things you love, ten things you hate, and ten things you fear. Write to celebrate the things you love, and write to destroy the things you hate and fear. Bradbury put it this way in an interview with his biographer, Sam Weller: “You can’t write for other people. You can’t write for the left or the right, this religion or that religion, or this belief or that belief. You have to write the way you see things. I tell people, Make a list of ten things you hate and tear them down in a short story or poem. Make a list of ten things you love and celebrate them. When I wrote Fahrenheit 451 I hated book burners and I loved libraries. So there you are.”...
Try these 11 social and blog content creation tools to get organized, inspired and more efficient at creating content your audience loves.... I wanted to share a few of the tools I absolutely couldn’t live without as I go about the content creation tasks that, over the years, have resulted in 60 e-books, thousands of blog posts, dozens of technical or educational manuals and over 300 assorted client writing projects. The right tools make content creation easier and faster, but also more purposeful. Give these 11 tools a try and see if they can help you get organized, more easily access information, and produce higher quality content....
Become the best guest blogger & you'll get more traffic, links, partnerships, exposure, credibility & ultimately more business. Do it with these 10 posts.
The new social web provides that all important leverage of “world of mouth” to reach and engage with a global audience. In this article we will look at: Step 4: Creating content that engages your audience Step 5: How to market to a global audience with social media Step 6: Maintaining momentum These final three steps will assist you in building a global and engaged audience for your blog....
Ian Cleary shares excellent advice. How to improve Google ranking for blog posts so your posts appear higher in search results..... You spend so much time creating great content ideally you want Google to reward you by placing your blog post high in Google search results for relevant searches. Optimizing your content can be difficult and it can be like a maze trying to figure out the best approach. But have no fear, there are ways to improve this! The following is a list ways that you can improve google ranking of your content....
...After you’ve thoroughly researched keywords that customers are searching for and organized them into the glossary template above, the next step is to form an editorial plan. Managing content creation schedules will help you stay on topic and consistent with content creation. The template below considers everything from topic to keywords to customer segment to position in the buying cycle for every blog post, article or video. I really shouldn’t be giving this one away, but you know what? I know these kinds of basic spreadsheets can be really helpful to DIY marketers. If you think these are just a little useful, you’ll find Optimize a LOT useful....
What makes a good science story? There's no one-size-fits-all rule, since stories come in many flavours, shapes, colours and sizes. There are Eureka moments, disasters, personal battles, amazing discoveries, baffling mysteries, power struggles, quirky findings, weird insights, you name it. Here's one way you can tell: if you find yourself excitedly recounting a story to a friend who cares not one jot for science, and they don't reach for their beer in despair, or start twiddling with their mobile phone, you're in business. What do you need to know to write well about science? Whatever the subject, angle, tone, length or style, your story has to tickle the fancy of your readers and maintain their interest to the very last word. The aim is not to impress a professor with your knowledge, amaze your mum or to get something off your chest. Think hard about your intended audience. They may be ignorant but they are rarely stupid. They have all kinds of interests and preoccupations and, when it comes to getting their attention, these are the best places to start. Remember that they always have better things to do with their time. If you don't grab them with your first sentence, you might as well give up...
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![How to Optimize Your Business Blog [Checklist] | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/IPAEKj9LMVoFj8L91O6wXDl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
This grid is helpful tool to make your content marketing more effective.