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If you are serious about turning a blog into income and then your business, then laying the right foundations is important. It means sitting down and doing some planning. It means asking some questions What am I going to focus on? What should the branding and design be like? What should I develop it on? The list goes on. If you do mean business then you need to create the right framework and foundation for your blog. A framework for the future Sometimes a little thought, the right framework and resources can be time saving and stress relieving in the long run. Here are 10 key building blocks to get you started....
This is not a blog post about writing. This is a blog post about creation. Creating content that actually matters. If you’re writing to increase conversion rates, then, yes, SEO matters. Proper grammar matters. Page layout matters. Verbal flourish might matter. But those are all details – aspects of content writing that come only after you’ve answered the more fundamental questions. Whether you’re developing a content strategy for the first time or you’ve been writing to increase those conversion rates for years, it’s time to touch on some fundamentals. Before whipping up that next blog post, ask yourself these seven questions, and start creating content that actually impacts your audience!...
For the last year we’ve written about 2 blog posts each week on our blog LogMyCalls. We said we had a content strategy, but we really didn’t. Our blogs were read, but not all that much. It sort of felt like we were writing into an empty box. Then I came across a blog post by a guy who had written 50 blog posts in 25 days. His traffic went up, his organic traffic went up, his referral traffic went up. Everything went up. So, we decided to do something similar at LogMyCalls. We decided to write 150 blog posts in 50 days. We did this from Feb 3 until April 13. We only published blogs on weekdays, so the experiment lasted 10 weeks. Three blogs a day, 5 days a week. We wrote on marketing and call tracking related topics. The results of this test speak for themselves...
Blogging for business can be a lucrative investment for companies of all sizes. Find out what blogging means, who uses blogs, and which brands are doing it right.... According to a recent NM Incite report, there are over 181 million blogs around the world. The way many companies treat blogs in their content marketing mix is to incorporate blogs into their website as a section or subdomain, or host them on their own domain name as we do. With that kind of popularity, you would think everyone in business would know what a blog is and would be using them to their maximum advantage. Trust me, I’m in the content business and they don’t. In fact, brands split just 11% of their total social media budget between blogging and influencer outreach. So just to clear up any ambiguity and to follow the format for this series, here goes:...
...The infographic is a vertical timeline. Various different kinds of bloggers are introduced with some subtle humour throughout. My favourite quote from the infographic is: “The next generation of bloggers is believed to be the micro-blogging bloggers. These bloggers, mostly seen on Twitter, have taken what old bloggers would see in 12,000 words and condensed it down to 140 characters of pure emotion.”...
Internet marketing, organic traffic is web traffic that comes from listings that aren’t paid for. These listings can include guides, search engines like Google or Bing and directories. Typically, when you want to make money blogging, search engines are the best source of organic traffic. Below are 6 smart ways to drive organic traffic to your blog or website....
Regularly blogging awesome material does so much for your business. It provides a reason for your readers to return. It establishes new connections, and strengthens older ones. It brings you exposure in front of a new audience. Achieving the right level of SEO for your blog is like walking a tightrope. Not enough or too much, and you’ll fall over on either side. Here are five SEO mistakes to avoid as you continue to write...
Want your content marketing to stay top of mind for your prospects and customers? Then use photographs to tell your story but understand that the images you choose are important elements that contribute to making your message memorable. 3 Tips to make your photographs more memorable To make your photos memorable, you need a story and context. Here are three simple tips based on scholarly research entitled, “Understanding the Intrinsic Memorability of Images” by Phillip Isola, Devi Parikh, Antonio Torralba and Aude Oliva. - Show people. Images of people are the most memorable. People are hard wired to focus on other people. Use human-scale space. - Provide context for your visual story about your product. Related to this point, utilize product close-ups. - Skip landscapes. No matter how amazing a vista may be, your viewers will find it totally unmemorable. The one exception to this rule that the researchers found was when the image featured something unexpected. In other words, your image needs a story to make the scene memorable. 7 Ways to incorporate images into your content marketing Here are seven ways to enhance your visual content marketing using these three tips. Note that many of the photographs are used on social media....
Use these examples and key points to convince your clients and your peers to rise above the sea of jargon we all navigate every day... . .. So before you reach for jargon when you create content, ask yourself questions like, “What message am I trying to communicate here?” “Will my target audience find it both relatable and compelling, or am I resorting to jargon as a crutch because I don’t honestly know what I’m attempting to say?” Or, even worse, “Am I inventing made-up language to create what can be promptly dismissed as pseudo science?” If the answer to that last question is “yes,” then you’ll risk allowing jargon overload to defeat the purpose of the content by undermining the messaging campaign. An influential teacher inspires desired outcomes from students (i.e., acquired knowledge) by demystifying the unknown. As content marketing professionals, we should push ourselves — and our clients — toward this same standard....
Learn how you can use your blog not just as a traffic and lead generator -- but also as a lead nurturing tool.... When it comes to the role of business blogging in inbound marketing, there's no question that it fits quite nicely into the 'Attract' stage of the methodology. Because blog content makes excellent social media fodder and is naturally discoverable through search engines, it can be a phenomenal way to attract new visitors and prospects to your website. Furthermore, blogging also plays a critical role in the 'C onvert' stage, since we all know how effective it can be for lead generation. But there's another part of the inbound marketing methodology where blogging also fits -- and doesn't get enough credit. And while it may not be where most marketers would primarily put it, it can definitely have a significant impact here, as well. That, my friend, is in the 'Close' stage -- the stage of the methodology in which marketers are actively trying to nurture leads to a point of sales-readiness. Because not all blog readers are brand new visitors, right? I bet many of the leads in your database are reading your blog -- shouldn't you pay them some attention, too? That's right! Not only can your blog help you bring in qualified visitors that you can convert into leads; it can also be a powerful lead nurturing tool. A bit of a marketing Swiss army knife, that business blog. So, are you ready to start squeezing more juice out of your blog in the middle of the funnel? Here are 11 great ways to start using your blog as a tool to nurture your existing leads....
From videos to SlideShare presentations to quotes, consider adding these content types to your editorial or social media calendar. In building my blog over the last four years I have discovered some insights and important principles about creating content that people want to read. Here are some ideas for creating shareable content...
...Towards the end of 2012, WordPress recorded more than 56.6-million blogs on its platform. That doesn’t include Blogger, Tumblr and a host of other blog platforms available.
So why do people blog? Some have an opinion they want to share, others simply enjoy writing and many are blogging because the digital marketing folk are telling them their business needs them to — search engine optimisation, being considered an expert in your field… there’s a variety of reasons they’ll tell you this a good idea.
Blogs beat traditional mainstream media in that there are no fast and hard rules governing them. Bloggers are free to express an honest and unedited opinion. Didn’t like the service you received at a restaurant? Absolutely horrified that the latest skin product you used left your neck in red patches? Well, blog about it.
Brands have realised that the readership of a blog is far more loyal than that of a magazine. Readers have a personal relationship with the blogger, they interact with them on other social media channels and therefore they trust them – far more than their copy of Car or Cosmo magazine. Their opinion matters and it only follows that their opinion sells.
The blogging bandwagon has taken off and it has hit a few potholes in the road....
While social media delivers a potentially more immediate reaction from your audience, blogging delivers long-term value and develops a body of work.... In the past few years, social media has eclipsed blogging in terms of where many writers spend their time when online. Many now choose to tweet, post to Facebook, or review on Goodreads instead of blogging on their own website. While social media delivers a potentially more immediate reaction from others, I am still a big believer in blogging. There are many reasons for this, but let’s just focus on two specific reasons. Then we’ll discuss how to deal with blogging exhaustion—or when to kill a blog entirely....
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Everyone wants to cut the fat from their work flows. Good news: Applying lean methodology to your efforts is simple, and can result in more effective content marketing. Use these 6 steps to go lean...
Via Ally Greer
It’s hard to imagine a world without Twitter. It was the faster-growing social network in 2012, and 1/5 of all US Internet users are also active on Twitter.* For bloggers especially, the world would be very different without Twitter. But maybe there’s something we can learn from that. Twitter is an amazing way to reach your community, but it can perhaps cloud our vision. By thinking about what the world would be like without Twitter, we can perhaps find some new opportunities for our blogs. Here’s how blogging would be different if Twitter did not exist...
Business blogging: learn how businesses with top marketing blogs generate leads with social media and content marketing.... Does your business have a blog? Would you like your blog to bring in more leads for your business? You already know you need to create awesome blog content, but there’s more to business blogging than just that. You also need to include a few tactics to help you bring in the leads you want. Here are some useful tactics to entice and capture leads used by top marketing business blogs!...
After Penguin hit a lot of sites hard last year, it seems many SEOs have turned to guest blogging for alternative methods of link-building.... It seems that Google is now taking a serious interest in guest blogging, so what are the risks for the bloggers and the sites hosting guest articles? I've been asking some SEO experts for their views on the potential risks and how to avoid them... There has been plenty of talk about the dangers of guest blogging. Indeed, one of our own guest bloggers was contacted by Google, who pointed at a 'suspicious link' from this site. The link in question was in the author bio under a guest post. It has since become apparent that the reason for this suspicion was nothing to do with this blog or any links from it, but it was alarming to see our links being highlighted....
Do you want to become known as an industry expert, attract traffic to your website and boost sales? Blogging just once a month can deliver all that—and more. More than half of companies that blog at least once a month have acquired customers through their blog, according to HubSpot’s The 2012 State of Inbound Marketing. (Sixty-six percent of those who blog weekly, and 78 percent of those who blog daily, have gained new customers.) However much time you choose to invest, here are 10 tips for successful blogging....
When people ask me the No. 1 change they should make to their website, I always the same thing: add a blog and update it often.... ... the reality is starting a blog for your local business comes with unique challenges that can prevent you from gaining the momentum you need for your blog take off. When done right, though, your blog can help you build an audience in your community and generate qualified leads for your business. Here are the traits you want to focus on in your local blog to help you get there....
Here are four things you should do before starting a blog. These tips and tricks can be applied to someone who has been blogging for years or even days.... The entire concept of blogging may not be rocket science, but there is still a large component that drives a formula for success. If you’re starting a blog and you want your content to spread, you have to do a few things to ensure that the content is worth sharing. You need to focus on creating valuable content and not making the typical content marketing mistakes. Over the last 5 years I’ve learned how to successfully create content for both my personal blog and clients. Furthermore, I’ve learned what not to do and the importance of kick-starting your blogging efforts the right way. If you’re new to blogging or planning to get into it, here are a few things you should do:...
An in-depth overview of the changed buyer journey and how it fits with a content marketing strategy, content formats and buyer personas.... How the customer journey has changed and how content and social are involved We know the customer journey has changed. It includes more touchpoints via different channels than before or in many cases more contact moments via a limited number of touchpoints. The idea of touchpoints originated in the CRM world and is now used by many large organizations. You can read a bit more about it here and view some typical graphical representations here. There are also tools to map the different touchpoints and customer experiences buyer personas have across their buyer journey. So, the customer journey has changed. It has also become more ‘social’ in the sense that people use social mechanisms and networks than before. In B2B marketing most searches for content in the buying journey start on search engines. But, as lots and lots of research (ITSMA, BuyerSphere, etc.) and actual customer interviews by smart B2B marketers such as Kristin Zhivago have shown, many B2B buyers now use social, look more for content during their journey (hence the importance of content marketing) and are what we like to call “empowered”....
Anytime a new visitor comes to your blog and reads more than one page that’s a good thing. It means he likes your blog and he’s finding value in your content. Sometimes those new visitors leave after that first page because your blog just isn’t their cup of tea, and that’s OK. You can’t please everyone. But sometimes they leave because they don’t realize you have a lot more to offer, and that’s not OK. Here are 4 quick and simple ways to increase page views on your blog so those new readers can see what a star you are....
After years of blogging I've learned to love a select assortment of tools that have helped to make blogging easier, quicker, and more fun. Some of these tools may not be "the best", but they are the ones that I love and the ones that I have a strong affinity for; so I figured I'd share in the hopes that they will benefit other bloggers like they did me....
You may have heard that content is king, but the truth is that informational content is king. It’s estimated that approximately 50-80% of search queries are informational in nature (pdf).... In previous articles, I’ve written about the importance of theming content – developing a strategy that truly plays to your customers’ search intent. But usually, very little of that is informational content. The average website has a ratio of 80/20 navigational or transactional content to informational content — the opposite of how people are searching. If you have a blog, the ratio usually doesn’t get much higher than 60/40, and even then, most of that content is either not keyword rich or it’s what we call “time-limited” content. Types of Informational Content There are two primary types of informational content: “time-limited” and “evergreen.” The former describes the category that most blog posts fall into: a summary of some industry event, a commentary on recent news, or an opinion piece that will be outdated in a few months. Evergreen content, on the other hand, will continue to be relevant for many years. The most popular of the latter type is “how to” content; but, that content has unfortunately earned a bad reputation due to sites like ehow and wikianswers, where you are as likely to find content on how to tie a shoe (not particularly useful) as you are on how to tune a guitar (useful). If a how-to is useful, then by all means, you should write it and include it on your website....
Blogging smarter... A blog post shouldn’t just be a blog post. Any time you put the effort into writing a blog post, you should consider how to deconstruct it into several pieces of shorter form content to feed your business’ social media content pipeline....
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Really good read and reminder about blogging and social business fundamentals.