All posts tagged content marketing

5 Reasons Why Your Content Is Not Being Shared

Posted by on January 21, 2016

In content marketing, even if your content may have no virality, it should be shareable at the very least. Shareability is critical particularly for startups and those companies that have a relatively small community, especially in the social realms. The goal is to make your contents as easily shareable as possible. But, how can you possibly do that when you are making it so easy for them to ignore your contents? How come, you might ask. Below are the reasons.

1) No one knows your content exists

What do you do after hitting the publish button? Leave it as it is? How can you expect your readers to share your contents when even you are not sharing them? Now, ask yourself. Will you share your own content? Can you honestly tell if your content is highly shareable? If you can’t even judge the shareability of your own content, no one will also do so.

It is one measure of the shareability of a content – when you actually want to share it with others and so others they can share it with their own networks. While there are various ways of discovering contents, the basic premise is that distribution starts with the content creators themselves. Make me aware of it. That’s the very first thing you must do.

IMPORTANT: DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT

2) No one knows who you are

Let’s say that you’ve written a share-worthy content. The question now is – why will I share it when I don’t even have a clue who the writer behind such? Trust is a big word, and even more so today when even the media are tricked of believing a hoax as an actual news. No one wants to be a part of those-who-don’t-verify-the-veracity-of-a-content-before-sharing-it statistics.

With that said, before anyone shares your content, you must prove your trustworthiness and credibility first. Trust in you means trust in your content, too. Content sharing is also a form of recommendation. Thus, you must give your target audience some good reasons before they can recommend you. Publish information about yourself and make it easy for others to find.

IMPORTANT: CREATE AN AUTHOR BIO

3) There are no share buttons

A classic! How can your audience share the contents they’ve just read when there are no social widgets to support the task? Some sites or blogs put them buttons, but these are hidden somewhere that is not so visible. That’s another mistake on your part that kills the chance of your contents being shared online.

Did you know that if a person thinks that your content is so great it is a sin not to share it, he or she will copy and paste your link and share it with his or her friends? Make it easy for this person and other people to share your content by putting your share buttons where it must be placed, in the first place. Social widgets are no longer an add-on, these are now a must. And, make sure these are working otherwise, the person might lose interest in sharing the content.

IMPORTANT: MAKE THE SOCIAL ICONS NOTICEABLE

4) Your content is boring

When I say boring, it means not the actual content, but how it is structured. READ: Text without any picture. Admit it or not, but images give articles more substance. Of course, when putting an image, make sure that it is relevant to the contents because people will judge not just the text, but the image as well based on its relevance and shareability. Likewise, make sure that the image is in the right format because each social network has its respective image dimension requirements.

Have you heard of visual content marketing? Indeed, contents that are accompanied by relevant images get 94% more views than those contents that have no images whatsoever. Take it from Facebook. The social network giant updates feeds with giving links with pictures more reach than those links that don’t include any image. Images increase content visibility. Don’t forget that.

IMPORTANT: PUT THE RIGHT IMAGE

5) Your content lacks value

Long-form content is emphasized more than ever. This means reading a content entails at least 3 minutes of your readers’ time. What can you bring to the table that your readers can takeaway from your content in exchange for spending their time reading it? Put simply, is reading your article worth a readers’ time? If not, then that’s a major problem.

Sometimes, it is not about how short or long the content is. If your blog post is divided into ten parts and yet a reader can learn lots of things from each part, then there is no reason he or she won’t read the succeeding nine parts. It is better to publish a 500-word article that is packed with practical and actionable tidbits than read a 2,000-word post that is full of fluff.

IMPORTANT: BRING VALUE EVERY TIME

BONUS

Your contents are indifferent

Contents must show compassion, too. If it focuses too much on the brand, no one will share it. They should not be too salesy because I, for instance, would only think that you are after my business, and you don’t necessarily care for your audience. There is no goodwill enough to make me believe that you care for the greater good.

As such, your readers are human unless otherwise you are writing and publishing contents for optimization’s sake – traffic and ranking, that is. Even so, experts would always say to write for human, not bots. Us, humans, value relationships more than brands and if a brand can show genuine concern for its public, it is easier to build a community of content advocates. Connect with them at the individual level.

IMPORTANT: BE HUMANELY RELATABLE

Perhaps, the last one is the one of the most important content marketing tips that this article can share with you. Put your readers front and center, knowing what ticks them, what piques their interest and what causes they support are surefire ways of making the contents you publish as highly shareable as possible.

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Deadly Excuses That Hold You Back

Posted by on November 20, 2015

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She sat at her desk working a 9-to-5 job. As she perused her old photos lifted from an album on social media, she saw herself happily mixing batter in a silver bowl making Christmas cookies. She sighed as she had envisioned herself being a prominent chef with her own cooking show or at least her own restaurant.

But instead she works in finance sitting behind a desk taking calls day by day. And by this point in her life, she doesn’t see any of her dreams materializing anytime in her future. Besides, dreams are for the fresh and young people. Old people, way past their prime, have no business in making dreams. Dreams are for those who can afford them, and the endeavors entailed in reaching them.

What erroneous notions those two are.

Dreams are not exclusive for the wealthy but are accorded for anyone who is willing to make the struggle in accomplishing them. However, this misguided belief and statement becomes a justification for those who have failed themselves and their ambitions. Such misleading impression and belief of dreams being exclusive for the wealthy is a prospective threat to the doe-eyed people intent on attaining success.

What keeps us from progressing in our lives? What are the obstacles that hinder us from realizing our true potential? Are the things that impede us from our achievements truly innate in us?

All of us, if not most, have imagined futures where we see ourselves succeed. We all have dreams, aspirations and various goals that we all hope to come to fruition one day. Only the road to achieving these is not set on a straight path. That path is littered with many trials. Humans as we all are, we are not proof against committing errors in our day to day activities.

Some of us will try our hardest to make sure we reach these dreams. Some of us think of excuses on why we never got there, doing a great disservice to oneself shall you proffer inexcusable reasons for failing to reach our dreams. Some of these reasons are deadly, and here are some of them that may be keeping you from achieving your dreams.

“I do not possess an impressive work experience.”

This is a deadly cop-out and is almost synonymous with saying you do not find yourself worthy of your own dreams. You might not boast stellar credentials and impressive work experience, but that should not be a roadblock in chasing your dreams. Additionally, this excuse also becomes the reason some people settle for less than what they are truly worth. They slave for hours on minimal compensation without stopping to consider that they might be qualified for a higher position and a better salary bracket. Never let this excuse restrict you from attaining your goals. In one way or another, we have had all the experience we need, and this is called ‘life experience’ that can be utilized for any work we are involved in.

“I am too young or old.”

As the adage goes, “Age is just a number” and in this case, it still is. Age is no basis of whether you should start or cease chasing success. Either way, whether you are young or old, you possess innumerable advantages. When you are young, you are filled with boundless enthusiasm and energy. Whereas, when you are old, you are more knowledgeable and experienced which will work to your advantage. Don’t let this excuse serve as an obstacle to achieving your dreams. After all, age should not matter.

“My education is unremarkable.”

A common reason for delaying the chase of dreams is people lamenting the fact that they do not possess a college degree. Most of us were misled to believe that to be truly successful in life, we should go to school and get a job – a rather formulaic take on success. Because of this misguided belief, people are committing themselves to a self-imposed prison and have ultimately disabled themselves from a race where they could have won. Possessing a college degree in no way makes you smarter than anyone else; we are all smart in our own way. Proper application of our intellect will take us places, and that in itself is more than enough.

“Time is not on my side.”

In essence, it is like you are saying that you do not have time to achieve all that you envisioned for yourself. This deadly excuse is the lamest one among the ones listed in this article. Achieving an ultimate goal is not set in stone, and the logistics involved in it is not always the same for everyone. There is no definite time frame for it. So, if anything, you should be navigating the road to achieving your dreams today. You may not possess all the needed resources you want, but there is no harm in starting small today which would eventually get bigger day by day. Remember, there is no effort so small as to render it insignificant. Every little thing you do today counts tomorrow. So start now.

“I do not have enough support.”

This excuse shifts the blame towards others rather than focusing the blame on yourself. The truth is, you need to have a proper self-awareness before you can truly attain your dreams and succeed in life. You do not need to source support from others in achieving your dreams. In lieu of garnering support, you should create and find it. There are a lot of people out there who will be more than willing to see you accomplish your dreams and succeed. You just need to find the right kind of people whose dreams are in line with yours. They are looking for you as much as you are looking for them.

“I do not have the necessary finances.”

Money is a tight issue and remains to be one of the biggest reasons people would neglect chasing their dreams or avoid them altogether. We may not possess sufficient funds today, but are capable of generating those funds and saving them. We should be wise about the money we earn and be creative with the money we have saved. In time, when enough finances are accumulated, you can start making your dreams come true. There is no exact formula for success, but one way of doing it is to attain money sufficient enough to sustain your dreams.

These are the biggest deterrents and excuses in achieving one’s dreams. More often than not, you may have heard it or even used it yourself. Consider these if ever you feel the need to chalk it up to these reasons when you are in the midst of an impending surrender:

  • A dream remains a dream if you have no intent on achieving them.
  • An aspiration becomes an inspiration when a plan is thoroughly laid out in achieving it.
  • A goal is a dream with a deadline.

Remember, your dreams are your grandest possessions today and realizing them and having them come true will be your biggest accomplishment. Time, age and money are not your enemies. Your excuses are. So, it is up to you how you can change that.

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Sneaky Techniques That Hurt Your SEO

Posted by on August 20, 2015

 sneaky techniques_SEO (1)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO, for brevity) is not dead. No matter what the critics may say — SEO remains as a powerful marketing strategy with the majority of SEO companies offering link building services guarantee results. However, SEO is not as straightforward and as easy as many of us wants it to be.

 

More often than not, even SEO specialists themselves will encounter a few kinks and bumps down the road, resulting into a very frustrating workflow. So, what do stressed and frustrated SEO specialists do? They resort to shortcuts.

 

Underhanded and offensive shortcuts at that with hopes that these black hat techniques would get them roughly the same results as the legitimate techniques, only with lesser hassles and stresses. However, this is not exactly the best way to optimize your website. In spite of giving you substantial and fast results, it may very well be the main cause of your website’s death. Sure, it’s fast, easy and it gives you the desired results, but it is rarely worth it.

 

Many might think that black hat SEO is a thing of the past, but this is a very common misconception. Black hat SEO still remains as one of the most obnoxious ways to garner website traffic. However, due to specific circumstances, SEO specialists are pushed to implementing these black hat techniques. Some choose the lesser evil which are gray hat techniques.

 

This post aims to make you aware of the many underhanded methods that website owners and even optimization experts may utilize to game Google’s ranking system. Though each of these may sound incredibly enticing, the implementation of any of these would inevitably result in being penalized by Google. Yes, Google will know that you are intentionally being deceptive. The post categorizes these techniques into three, ranging from bad to the extremely terrible and will give you samples for each proffered category.

 

THE BAD

 

These strategies are tricky and stealthy. You may be using them unwittingly with the misplaced notion that they are not hurting rankings. They are not done deliberately and can temporarily increase rankings.

 

1.)    Keyword stuffing

 

Sure, you managed to craft content that is both rich in information and compelling. However, at a second glance, you would see that it is rich in something else as well – keywords. And by that, it would mean that almost every line of your post is literally laced with a keyword or keyphrase. This may get you ranked. However, nowadays, it’s not as effective. Keyword utilization is still necessary and beneficial, but writing excellent content that offers rich themes and substantial information should be a priority rather than keyword density.

 

2.)    Keyword stuffing your image tags

 

Some SEO people, especially the inexperienced ones, utilize this technique. Those who did this has a misguided notion that since nobody is minding their images, they might as well stuff it with keywords. However, this misconception should be debunked. Though this will not result into any sort of penalty, it would be a challenge to your visually-impaired visitors and will not do anything good for your on-page SEO.

 

3.)    Guest blogging for the sole purpose of link building

 

In building your brand and expanding your reach, this seems like a necessary  action. But take caution as guest blogging on irrelevant sites just to gain links is             never okay. This could potentially get you in trouble more so because the mantra nowadays is earning editorial links.

 

THE EVEN WORSE

 

These are the techniques you are very well-aware are not so acceptable. However, for the sake of page rankings and favorable web traffic, you are willing to look the other way. These are the techniques that might cause an initial increase, but take heed; you will eventually have to face the consequences.

 

1.)    Using irrelevant keywords in order to rank

 

There are days wherein we need to produce topnotch contents. However, there are also days wherein we could not find relevant themes to fit the barrage of keywords we are given for the week. So what do some optimizers do? They utilize them anyway. This is one of the shortcuts that marketers do for the sole purpose of ranking for those keywords. Unfortunately, Google has been sharpened its algorithms to identify a page’s real topic through Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI). So, using this otherwise unacceptable technique is moot anyway.

 

2.)    Meta keyword stuffing

 

Over-optimizing your Meta keywords does not hold any real consequences, but it does not do much either as it would not give you any sort of advantage in terms of rankings. The same can be said for your Meta description. Though Google would not use the content of your description as a ranking factor, it serves as your ad copy in the SERP’s. So, with that in mind, make sure you craft the meta description in such a way that it describes your page accurately, enticingly and appealingly.

 

3.)    Irrelevant footer links

 

Footer links are extremely necessary for helping visitors navigate your site. However, there are some sites which utilize footers but not necessarily aimed at helping users. They do it so they will garner more rankings for their keywords. Keep in mind that if you are indeed providing a link in your footer, make sure it is actually useful for your visitors. Do not do it for ranking purposes.

 

THE EXTREMELY TERRIBLE

 

You are well aware that this is wrong, but you do it anyway. You are enticed by the easy rankings and you just cannot help it. A word of warning though. This is going to get you penalized. Best case scenario would be you preparing to receive a manual penalty. However, there could also be a complete de-indexing of your site.  

 

1.)    Baiting then switching

 

In a nutshell, this involves waiting for a page to rank, then stealthily replacing it with a different page. This will get you irrelevant ranking for a while, but nothing bypasses Google. They will eventually figure this strategy out. You may see this as getting ranking, but it would also send your bounce rates through the roof. Thus, this is hardly worth the risk.

 

2.)    Doorway pages

 

These are pages crafted for the purpose of intentionally getting a keyword ranked by merely diverting visitors to a different page in the process. Doorway pages offer little to no content at all and often result in many useless pages, taking up all the top rankings for a given keyword.

 

3.)    Invisible text

 

As archaic and obsolete this strategy may be, it is still rather rampant and happens rather regularly. What happens here is that webmasters would disguise keywords on a certain page by matching the text color to the background. In some instances, they position the text off the screen using CSS, making it only visible to search engines.

 

In closing…

 

There are a lot more black hat techniques including link schemes that are not covered by this article. However, we have glossed over some of the most common strategies that are still surprisingly utilized today despite being corrupt.  Always take into consideration that these techniques may increase your traffic and give your keywords ranking in the short-term. But, more likely than not, it would damage not only your rankings but your reputation as well in the long-term.

 

And are you really willing to take that risk just for the sake of doing things easier and faster? I think not.

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How to Find Blogging Ideas

Posted by on August 14, 2015

Blogging for search engine optimization (SEO, for brevity) is not at all straightforward and direct. In fact, it can be rather complicated. It is not always easy to do and it is not always as effortless as bloggers and writers alike want it to be. There are days wherein you hold all the ideas in the world and nothing seems to stop you from writing. But there are also days where your mind would be blissfully blank and ideas are not as plenteous as they should be.

These are the days where bloggers and writers torture themselves for hours thinking about an appropriate topic that they could write about. And these are the days wherein a writer’s block is the most dreaded predicament. However, it is a common erroneous inference when people think that it is difficult to write and that this is the main reason for encountering a roadblock in writing.

No. Writing is a relatively easy task. but finding topics is rather arduous. Most especially, if you need one that fits your keyword best and if you have a certain quota of write-ups as well as a designated word count to make, it’ll be even more complex for you. This is why writers and bloggers alike who get rather commonplace keywords (or even ones that do not get any at all) for their blogs write fast and publish their articles well within the time frame given to them.

Still, for those writers and bloggers who write articles for an SEO company that specializes in link building services, finding a topic is rather taxing. This is precisely why finding blogging ideas and topics that are especially fitting and appropriate to your keyword is akin to finding the Rosetta stone.

However, with the world in your hands at the tap and click of a finger, finding relevant information to your keyword or topic should not be so difficult. This is a common oversight most bloggers and writers have. This is because even if you are granted unlimited access to various information online, more often than not, finding one that is appropriate to your theme, your keyword and your blog is similar to winning the lottery – chances are slim. Additionally, you have to scour through millions to billions of relevant information online in order to craft the perfect article. Let’s face it; you just do not have that kind of time.

If you are a writer yourself who encounters this kind of problem every single time you are given a new keyword or a bunch of keywords that are rather uncommon, then this article aims to help you. This write-up aims to walk you through the different ways that you could potentially find blogging ideas for your next article.

In this post, you will find different ideas on how to do just that. However, before that, here are a few tips that should aid you in maximizing every blog topic generation technique offered in this post.

  • Synonyms and technical terms from successful posts and pages are your friends. Make sure to include them in your article as this will help improve your page’s relevancy and search ranking potential.
  • Instead of focusing on the target keyword of a relevant post, understand the topic being discussed instead and craft a comprehensive post from that.

Now let’s discuss the different ways to find blog post ideas.

1.)  Utilize and exploit the success of other website’s pages

This one is fairly straightforward. Most bloggers and writers are already using this technique currently. Additionally, this is one of the easiest blog topic generators. By getting inspiration from other brands’ successful posts or pages, you can tap into their success and generate convert-ready traffic. This is because these pages already successfully brought traffic to their blogs and has traction on other blogs. That’s why, you can be assured they have potential in sending organic, social and referral traffic to your blog as well.

2.)    Answer the queries your target audience seems to have

To utilize this technique, there are several question-and-answer based platforms online where you can find and potentially answer the questions your audience has. Most of these queries are found in Yahoo Answers and Quora because these two sites are user-friendly and extremely trendy and popular for beginners to certain topics. Create a profile and select a niche and read through the most popular questions. From there, you can generate an article that would potentially attract readers.

3.)  Explore other sites

Look for other sites that host popular content and identify their most-shared content around the web. From this, analyze what is trendy and what has been big recently. You do not necessarily have to zero in and focus on your niche only. Browse various popular articles online and observe how they craft their headlines and the type of format that they use. Look at how they present their content and peruse their feedback. All these elements can be of real help to you when you create your own topic and your own content.

4.)  Know what your audience wants

Never make assumptions on what your audience wants to read. Remember, they are reading your articles for a reason and they are not as well versed about it as you are. Do not write your articles as if you are conversing with a pundit. Keep in mind that your audiences are basically novices so craft something that they will enjoy. To do this, you need to put yourself in their shoes and think of the type of questions they might ask. From this, you can generate a blog that would aid your audiences and aid you in gaining traffic.

5.)   Read and write a lot

This technique is pretty obvious, but largely overlooked. This is because most writers and bloggers no longer have the luxury of time for extracurricular writing and reading when they have a quota to meet. However, should spare time be available, never neglect reading and writing as this helps you get fresh ideas and a different point of view and another perspective. Writing often will also help you polish your skills. As the age-old saying goes, the more you do something, the better you are going to be. Designate at least thirty minutes of your time every single day to writing. It does not have to be groundbreaking and inspirational. Just make sure you do write every day. This will help you when you encounter an obstacle when it comes to crafting articles.

In sum…

It is not always easy to find topics for our blogs. No matter how hard we scour for resources and relevant information online, there are just some topics that will evade us. Writing will become more arduous than it was fun. But, it is important to develop a momentum and the tips offered above will help you do so. Once a flash of inspiration hits you and gives you a stride, you will realize that generating ideas is not that difficult at all.

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10 Quotes from the Content Experts That Will Keep You Motivated

Posted by on August 3, 2015

Have you ever tried staring at your paper for minutes with an empty mind? Have you ever feel like you don’t know what to write and where and how to start you first sentence? Writer’s block. Every writer struggles with it, and it is inevitable. We lose our inspiration and we don’t feel like writing at all. However, if you are working in an SEO company, it is a must for you to come up with fresh ideas for your content. Not an easy task to do, right?

As a content marketer, we want our writings to be perfect, but we also want the paper done as soon as possible. The undeniable truth is that writer’s block strikes any time of the day, causing us not to have any content output at all.

Well, sometimes, you just need a little break from what you are doing and take the time to organize your thoughts and things around you. And since professional writing is as fiercely competitive as it is desired, a little bit of motivation from the content experts might inspire you to do more and be better than what you did before.

10quotes

1. “Content is the reason search began in the first place” – Lee Odden (TopRank Marketing)

Content marketers play a big role in other people’s lives. When people need to know something, they search for contents that can address concerns. We marketers provide these people some information about various topics. Without content marketers giving information, there might not be enough things to know and learn.

2. “Ask yourself, what simple twist on a familiar theme will entrap your audience?” – Drew Davis (Brandscaping)

One of the reasons why people try to search something on the web is because they want to know something. They don’t search a particular thing that they already know unless they want to verify the info that they already have. That is why, it is a must for us content marketers to make interesting and informative contents that can immediately grab the readers’ attention. Getting their attention is critical in our line of work. But without those catchy twists on our content while not deviating to our main goal which is to inform our audience, then it might be impossible for us to let them engage.

 

3. “Content is anything that adds value to the reader’s life.” – Avinash Kaushik (Google)

Writing content is not just merely writing, we write for our readers. We want to make them feel that we, content marketers, contributed to their knowledge. That is, through writing and giving them the information that they need to know right when they need it. Isn’t it a great feeling knowing that we are a part of their growth?

4. “Content: there is no easy button.” – Scott Abel (Content Strategist)

Content marketing is definitely not easy! If you are serious enough on making your readers feel that you are a part of their learning, then you also have to be serious in coming up with fresh and engaging topics for them. And yes, this is not easy, too! The struggle is real! Well, if you feel like you are struggling with keeping the fresh ideas flowing, why not take a little break, breathe some fresh air and of course, research!

5.  “Useful + Enjoyable + Inspired = Innovative Content” – Ann Handley (MarketingProfs)

As a content marketer, if you are going to put yourself on your reader’s shoes, you definitely do not want to read crappy contents, right? Thus, it is important for us to know how to make our contents useful to them. For instance, we must be adept on knowing how our content can help them increase their learning and how they can apply it on their everyday lives.

6. “Be the best answer.” – Lee Odden, (TopRank Marketing)

There are thousands to millions of answers people can get with just a single search. Naturally, they cannot read these answers one by one. Gather and select – that is one of the things people usually do to find the right and best answer to their questions. Creating a content that would be the best answer for your readers increases your credibility as a content marketer.

7. “If your content isn’t driving conversation, you’re doing it wrong.” – Dan Roth

Again, the purpose of creating content is readers’ consumption as they will be the one to receive and utilize the content. With this, your content should be written as if you are talking to them in person. Isn’t it great when a person seems to be directly talking to you? If your readers feel that they are out of the picture, they might feel that your content is not intended for them and they won’t read it.

8. “A successful content marketing strategy is dependent on how well you know the customer’s information needs. Listening is required.” – Joe Pulizzi

The number one reason why content marketers exist is to create good content for the readers. If we fail to meet their expectations in giving them what they need, we are only defeating our duty and responsibility. We cannot make good contents if we don’t know what kind of content our readers want to read, what kind of content that can best answer their concerns, or what types of contents can change their lives forever. Without listening to their needs, it might be hard to meet those expectations on our end.

9. “New ideas are sometimes found in the most granular details of a problem where few others bother to look.” – Nate Silver

Our mentors, whose opinion we respect the most, usually tell us to think out of the box, think big or think beyond our imagination. Yep, that’s true. However, there are certain things that can be found in small things which we most likely to skip, thinking that these are just “small.” Such a small thing can be made into a bigger and more engaging idea for your content. Well, technically, you are also thinking out of the box hence you were able to notice the small details that others did not bother to look at at all.

10.    “The future of content marketing is in your hands.” – David Hahn (LinkedIn)

Living in this generation, it is impossible for the people not to rely on the web. Whenever they want to know something, the web is their best friend. Of course, as a marketer, it is our duty that we give the information that these people need. We are the one who can help them with whatever concerns that they have in life. There is the unyielding need for content. And in order for us to be part of their growth, we must give them the best content that they need now and what they might be needing in the future.

Being a content marketer is not as easy as you might think it is. There are various things that must be taken into consideration before going public. Sometimes, we have to think twice or even thrice whether our target readers will going to read our content or not. If they aren’t reading it, then, as Dan Roth says, we might be doing it wrong.

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6 Things You Should Do After Publishing A Post

Posted by on July 13, 2015

“What are you going to do after hitting the “Publish” button?” – That is one of the crucial questions that you are about to face. Indeed, it is! Since we all know that publishing and posting a certain article would definitely not be the end of the process in having a guaranteed SEO, taking a step further can help us reach a particular goal in the marketing industry.

solidgoldcreativity.com

Spending hours on a particular content, and posting it on the web to help other people in giving out information is a rewarding thing to do, especially when you know that your target market engages with it. That is one of the reasons why we continue to make and post one every day. However, rewarding as it may seem, there are instances when we also spend some of our time thinking on what to do next after hitting the “publish” button.

Aside from merely publishing your content, there are 6 simple strategies that you can do to have a successful blog post. Generally, these strategies are all effective when you know what and how to do it.

 

1.  Answer all comments

movabletype.org

movabletype.org

Most bloggers and marketers, if not all, would not care letting their readers leave a comment. For as long as they have posted something, then they are done. Nope! This is a fallacy.

Bloggers or marketers have to admit! It is not easy to make people leave a comment on your post. However, for some reasons, making your target audience react or engage by leaving comments can make your blog look more authoritative, which also makes it as a social proof. The more good and satisfying comments you get, the more people would also engage to your posts. Also, they can stir an interesting idea for your next content.

Whether you like it or not, you can’t control what kind of reviews they are going to give you. That is why as much as possible, you have to acknowledge and answer their comments in a right and informative way.

2. Schedule your promotions

slideshare.net

slideshare.net

The promotion of your content plays a big role in creating and having high quality traffic on your post. Without doing so, your content will be stagnant and perhaps, forgotten. Promoting your content constantly is important as publishing your post since it drives new traffic every time you share it socially.

One way you can track the promotions of your content is to make a to-do list or a timeline on what social media platform you will be using on a specific day, week or month. When sharing on Twitter for example, you have to share it more than once in its first day, and a few times throughout the next few weeks.

Moreover, in order for you to drive more traffic, choose a social media platform that can help you gain quality traffic on your post. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr and LinkedIn are some of the social platforms that can help you with your promotions.

 

3. Email the world

blog.mailchimp.com

blog.mailchimp.com

Aside from sharing your content in social media platforms, another way to promote your content is through emails. This is one of the reasons why you need to build your email list now. Your followers and subscribers will automatically receive the email that you have sent. Of course, these are the ideal people that will most likely engage in your emails.

Promoting your content through emails is simple, and it works. Basically, you have to include the link that will direct them to your post. You don’t need to include complicated themes or templates every time you use the email.  With the right composition of your content, you can definitely drive new traffic in your emails alone.

Moreover, you can also include a call-to-action. You can ask your followers to comment on the new post or share it on their respective social media accounts. In that way, your content will be disseminated all throughout social media.

 

4. Call in favors

entrepreneur.com

entrepreneur.com

Asking some favors from your followers is also one thing that can add traffic to your post. However, asking them to share your post can may also sound demanding. Sometimes, we feel embarrassed to email them and ask their help when we don’t even know their works.

The problem is, most bloggers or marketers would accept your favor if there is something that you do in return. Let’s take your content for example, if you link their name, brand or a particular quote coming from them, they will also feel obliged to return the favor to you, by sharing or mentioning you and your posts in their content as well.

That is why, it is also important to let them know that you have included or mentioned them on your content. Obviously, not everyone that you have asked will share your post, but many will.

 

5. Take advantage of groups

lrandcom.com

lrandcom.com

An online group is a great place to connect with people, and joining one is a great opportunity to share your content. Basically, joining groups gives you the chance to share any of your contents since there are no restrictions when it comes to post counts. Your reputation in the group is based more on your recent contribution and on how active are you socially.

There are actually a lot of groups that you can join with, but first, you have to make sure to find the best groups to join. You can join in LinkedIn groups and meet hundreds to thousands of professional bloggers and marketers, know who else have the same interest as you do in your Facebook groups, and accumulate followers in your Twitter account.

These are just some of the groups that you can take advantage of. Do not just stay on a particular blog without doing something. Extend your niche by joining groups.

 

6. Social Media

socialmediaexaminer.com

socialmediaexaminer.com

When we talk about publishing and promoting our content, having it on social media is our first priority. Where else? We usually think of which effective social media platforms are we going to utilize, what kind of strategy are we going to follow to have a successful blog post and gather high quality traffic, and on how to get our target audience’s attention.

Considering these concerns, it will always start and end with social media. That is why, choosing the right social media platform to use is as important as your content. You do not just post it anywhere and let your target market struggle in finding your content. As much as possible, make your content visible to every social media platform. With that, you will definitely gain high quality traffic on your posts.

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4 Reasons Why SEO is the Best Partner in Business

Posted by on February 20, 2015

In the world of business, most, if not all, must be perfect. However, situations that can affect and hinder business improvements are inevitable. Without any good strategy to boost your sales, your business might fail. It is a breakthrough for a company to have a guaranteed SEO that helps improve business growth. Yet there are still a lot of businesses who have doubts about integrating search engine optimization (or simply SEO) in their business. Perhaps, they still don’t understand how SEO works when it comes to helping and boosting their sales.

You might ask, what SEO is really and in what way it can help my business? Well, for one reason, SEO promotes your business to the people. That is why, people who are into business needs it. Here are the reasons why every business people must have SEO on their side.

SEO builds brand awareness

You should always put in mind that not all businesses are known to the people. And your business might be one of those that are not that known to them. The lack of knowledge that your company exists is one of the reasons why your business might go down. Letting the people know what your company or business is all about is one way to promote or publicize your products. With that, it will boost your sales in the process.

SEO makes your business visible to the people. It lets the people know that your company exists. Yes. SEO tries to put your business on the top rank in the search engine. The higher the rank is, the more visible your company gets. People get to see it whenever they search something that is related to your business. Through it, more and more people will recognize and learn what your company is all about.

When people noticed that more people go to the page where your business is, the more intrigued they are and tries to go to your business page as well. With that, you may guarantee that your leads and conversions will go up since more and more people are now aware of your company’s products and services.

SEO improves business credibility

When one learns that many people recognizes and likes your company just by viewing and reading your company profile and what is it all about, he or she might like your company as well. The mob influence is there. And one way to influence other people to try your business or products is through their reviews. Reading and giving reviews or feedbacks and comments are one way to know whether your customers appreciate and are satisfied with your services or not.

A good review from a client adds an impact to the people who want and are still planning to try your offerings. Just like how visible your company is, the better and satisfying reviews you get from the customers, the more people would want to associate themselves with your company or brand.

Just be careful of the people who have a negative review since it also affects the credibility of your company. Make sure that you attend to them diligently. The tendency of having a negative comment is that people may have doubts in trying your services and that can really affect the sales of the company. If you don’t want that to happen, you can always choose to approve or disapprove their reviews before posting it to your page. In that way, you can minimize the negative reviews from the clients.

SEO encourages other entities to do business with you

There are investors who scout for people who are also into a business. Sometimes, they search for people through the web. Taking good care of your business page keeps you in the top rank of the search engine, making it easier for investors to find you and learn what your core business is. When your business page makes a good impression to the investors, they will definitely want to invest in your company.

Investors can be critical in choosing which company to have business with. They look into the popularity of your company or products. They also look at the reviews from your business page whether you have volumes of happy and satisfied customers. Investors also try to assess whether your company is worthy enough for their investments. That is why, making use of the SEO is important when you want to attract investors.

When you have a good strategy on how to attract more and more investors, and with the help and the use of SEO, your business will surely be on top than any other businesses. Just make sure that your rank on the search engine is sustainable despite the ongoing SEO efforts of other companies that are also looking for investors to invest in their companies.

SEO helps business growth

SEO plays a big part in the business growth. It gives a big impact to your company and to the people who are also interested to be part of your company. Finding you company in the web gives them an easier access and more transparent way of knowing your company.

When you make your customers satisfied with your products and services, they usually tend to share your business with their families and friends. This is word of mouth. When they do, these people will try your products as well, expecting to experience the same thing that a happy customer experienced. And the cycle goes on as other happy customers share the experience with others, increasing sales in the process.

There are actually a lot of ways on how to make your business be known to the people. If possible, you will try  every single way on how to make your business be on the top from other businesses, right? SEO is just one way of growing your business. Nonetheless, this can be the most important thing for your business and what your business might actually need. Staying on top of the search engine has its many benefits, business-wise. Indeed!

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4 Things Every Blogger Must Know

Posted by on February 13, 2015

The number one rule, when you are into blogging, is to know that the web is a battle place. A place where every blogger is in a competitive mode, competing on which blog wins the heart of the reader and which blog gain more shares and likes. Even SEO Cebu or Manila competes to gain more readers and make their blogs at the top rank of the search engine.

blogging-tips-300x225

A tough one, isn’t it?  It is daunting to compete with other bloggers who rank on the top. Perhaps not, when you just understand and know how successful bloggers did the work. It doesn’t need to be that complicated when you try and apply their techniques on how they attract readers and win their hearts.

Topics/headlines

Admit it! When you don’t like the topic, or you don’t like the title of the topic, you would skip it. You don’t want to read it. Who would want to read an article when the headline is not even that engaging? Headlines play a great role in your blog. It catches the reader’s attention. It grabs their interest. Because when they read an interesting headline and got hooked up, they will stay on your blog a little longer.

Don’t kill a good headline by having a long and wordy title because when you do, expect to have fewer readers. There are limitations in composing a good headline. The ideal length of the headlines is only 6 words. But, there are times when 6 words won’t be enough for the headline. You can have up to 65 characters as the maximum before the search engine truncates your blog post’s title.

Another way to attract the reader’s attention is to add numbers or a negative word to your title. With that, the reader will be intrigued by your article. The more intrigued they are, the more they want to stay and read your posts.

Remember, it is just only the headline.  There are still a lot of things to consider if you want your blog to gain more readers.

Contents

The content of your article is the meat of your blog posts. Without it, there is no point of having and making one. Of course, there will always be contents for the people to read. This is where the challenge takes place. You already got the reader’s attention through your headlines, the challenge for you is to make the readers stay and read the whole article.

You already have an engaging topic. And now, you have to make sure that your content will also be as interesting and engaging as your headlines. Writing the content for your blog is always critical. It needs attention so as not to make the readers feel dismayed.

Good blog content is when people can relate to what you are trying to impart through your article. Readers would want to feel the connection between you as an author or a blogger and them. Of course, one way to know what readers want to read is to know what topics that are now trending, the talk of the town (including the social media) or the ins and outs of daily living. And that what makes your blog more interesting when everybody wants to talk about it.

And, don’t ever forget the grammar, the punctuations and the spelling of your words. Having a bad grammar, misplaced punctuations and wrong spellings can turn your readers off. It doesn’t look good on your blog, and it is a must of every blogger to check each word to make sure it is properly used.

If you are not comfortable with self-editing, you can use online editing sites. There will be suggestions on how to make the sentence more understandable to the readers. With that, it will help minimize the grammar errors in your articles.

Share

Publishing your articles on your blog is not just enough. One way to make your blog post noticeable is to share. Because readers won’t make an effort to find and read your blog posts if you don’t share it with your friends or other social networking sites. Sharing is one way to make your blog post be seen and read. Don’t have Twitter accounts, Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler, and other social networking sites? Now is the time you make one.

Sharing your blog posts on the social media sites would be a great help to increase the viewership of your blog. In that way, many people will be intrigued what your post is all about since many would like, share, and tweet your posts. Just be careful about which and what sites you will be posting your blog since there are sites that are not that as noticeable as the other leading sites.

The beauty of sharing your post on the social media is that when you share, there are people who love your post will also share it with their social media accounts. And through that, more and more people will take notice and read your blog.  That is one way to make your blog post rank on the top. The more views, likes, tweets, and shares you have, the more your blog will be placed in the top rank of the search engine.

How do you like it? Great isn’t it? That is why every blogger must share their post on social media to gain more readers.

Update

Constant update on your posts also plays a big role on your blog. Updating may give you more reviews from the bloggers or readers. When you update your posts, people would want to interact with you as the author. Most bloggers or other people who just read your articles may want to comment and share their thoughts regarding the topic. When you interact with them, more and more readers would also love to join the conversations that you have.

A constant update on your blog posts means you are an active blogger. And, that is one way to gain more readers to read your posts. When you do the updates, you might want to tag something from the other sites that can be related to your topic for better and wider information that you can give to your readers.

None of these things should be treated more important than the other, all of them are. In the world where the social media consume much of the time of the people, it is important to share and update. Nonetheless, this might not be possible without truly engaging and interesting article.

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How to Create Customer-Centric Contents, Really

Posted by on January 13, 2015

As digital marketers, we all know what content marketing is. You, as our readers, may not know that we are doing some sort of marketing through the contents you are reading from our website, blog, Facebook page, etc. That is, an SEO company may churn hundreds of relevant contents for the readers without the readers realizing it. With this, it would be great to know why we are publishing content consistently from both writer and reader’s perspectives and how we come up with contents to publish.

content-marketing-online-marketing

Why content marketing is important to us – digital marketers?

There is nothing absolutely new about content marketing. Remember infomercials? Well, they are not actually published, but we consume this type of contents nonetheless. Further, a study conducted by Content Marketing Institute revealed that about 93% of marketers are using some form of content marketing in their marketing portfolio.

How content marketing revolves along with the changes in the digital landscape is profound. However, there is no denying the immense benefits of doing content marketing. Compared to traditional marketing, content marketing is a very cost-effective strategy and it generates more and highly-qualified leads. Because it is inbound, it can generate up to 54% more leads. Aside from that, it breeds consumer satisfaction and loyalty. About 90% of online consumers find the contents very useful. They are more confident in buying from companies that publish content regularly.

You can say that we regard content marketing as a specialized strategy. Why not? It puts the consumers at the center of our overall marketing strategy. Content is more attractive to consumers than blatant, intrusive marketing. It keeps their interest and gives them the freedom whether to buy or not, that is, after consuming the content.

content-marketing-digital-landscape

 

Why content is important to you – readers?

Well, it is easy to discern why contents is and should be important to the readers – it is in-depth learning in a capsule, to say the least. Our goal is making your lives easier and more convenient while solving your problems on hand. That’s empowerment. So, the next time you are reading an article or watching a video, be reminded that you are being empowered in the process.

Knowing why consuming content is important to you is paramount to the success of our content marketing strategy. We call this customer-centric content, which is not an easy process. If we want to produce content that you will find informative and useful, we need to get to know you first. This is a common pitfall wherein getting to know your customers and really knowing them are two very different concepts. Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge of who we are marketing to will reflect on the implemented strategies.

For us, it will take a lot of activities such as below:

1) Conducting a market research

More than knowing your demographics and behaviors, we will talk to current customers. We would like to know your needs, likes, and preferences. Admittedly, the market research can be lenient to our brand, products, and services, but the main goal is how we can keep you as patrons. We would also like to know the reasons you will no longer patronize our brand. We might get you involved through the media that you are most familiar with including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.

customer-centric-content-marketing

We’d like to hear your voice, too. Including what you think about our contents and what will motivate you to share them. This is how value is spread, and this is only possible if we have valuable contents. One possible pitfall here that we, content writers, must avoid is thinking that the perception of usefulness is universal. Well, it is not. What we find useful may be useless to our readers. This is where the importance of knowing your audience comes in.

2) Define the target audience

After developing an in-depth understanding of our customers, we can now define who our contents must target. Through this, we will only create contents that solve your problems by answering your buying questions, for instance. Nevertheless, we will not just develop the contents on a whim. We still need to understand how you consume our contents. For example, we want to know if our customers are reading articles through their desktop or mobile devices.

Evidently, these are concerted efforts. Having a good grasp of the interests, preferences and pain points are serious since we can only start looking for the right topics and right formats after knowing all these. As such, the content that we should develop must resonate and appeal to our target audience. This leads us to the next logical step.

3) Produce dynamic content

When we say dynamic content, it means contents that are highly valuable and shareable. Another pitfall that content writers face is that no matter how well we acquaint ourselves with our audience, our readers will eventually get bored. That is, if we cannot produce contents that will keep their interest and energies high. We are always on the losing end if we think of content marketing as a mere process of churning out ‘fresh content.’ It is more than that.

Some examples of dynamic contents are how-to guides, e-books, podcasts, infographics, videos, and images. This can be either branded or non-branded. Notice the diversity in the types of contents that audiences from around the world are consuming – be it on World Wide Web or social media. That’s because the diversity of devices where contents are consumed. There should be a balance there. The mantra is making the right contents available for the right audience at the right time at the right place using the right device.

 

Our jobs don’t stop there. We still need to track whether our content strategies are successful or not. Basically, we need to determine which types and formats of contents drive the best results. We need to improve our efforts just so we can align more useful contents to you – our audience. So, you see, even if our strategies are geared toward profitability, our main aim is to provide our readers with a unique value. This is a more worthwhile pursuit.

 

Image credit: Practicology.com | Discuss.io | Spotfire.Tibco.com

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Tips to Boost Your Content Marketing Strategy

Posted by on August 26, 2014

Wondering if you can produce more content to increase your site’s performance but have been missing a lot because of too much information? You may even have been jammed by a lot of things online and can’t decide how to simply put the marketing strategy. Well, just like any other SEO company that is aiming for the same goal as you, here are some tips on how to boost your content marketing strategy and make those write ups shareable online.

Know your audience

Take time to research the demographics of the different social media marketing platforms you will be using to share. Continue to be updated on what your audience interests are, what they are doing and what their needs and wants are. By this, it would be easier for you to create the information you want to give because you now have the idea of what your audience’s continuing needs and interests are.

 

Keep content relevant

Check also what your customers are sharing on social media. By this, you can base your content on what you have extracted from those social media sharing. You can also keep track on what contents to write and to share. Making your content unique is also one factor to make your content strategy even more effective and worthy to be read and shared because it contains your audience’s interests.

Constant self-reference is a no-no

Direct your message to your readers to stimulate engagement. Make it more personalized by using the word “you.” In this way, your posts will directly address the interest of your community.  As much as possible, make it to a point that what you have as contents will illustrate the benefits your business has to offer and not just something that tells them what you are and what you do.  As social scientist Dan Zarella says, “Stop talking about yourself.” Instead, “start talking as yourself.”

 

Share what works

Content sharing becomes plausibly effective if you know which works or not. And by this, it would mean creating collaterals that are effective and efficient. Consider also your own time schedule and talents. There are different formats wherein you can communicate your message. Some examples are writing short-form articles, infographics, photographs, short product demos or instructional videos, etc. Choose which format is more comfortable for you which will not only reveal what your business is like, but also on how creative you can get in relaying a message to your readers.

Curate

In content sharing, curating can be a necessary way in order to create relevant and shareable articles. It may sound like a lot of work because curating would need a human being to find and read and qualify digital content that is relevant to your readers. There are advantages on why curating is also a good move for a business. It is because in sharing content from others, your audience will look to you as a reliable source for information on a specific topic. Moreover, it would benefit you on broadening the conversation with others within your industry from being a third-party content sharer.

Write headlines

And not just any headline, but unequivocally humane headlines. There is nothing more notable and read-worthy than a very humane content title. By this, it would mean making topics that are interesting for humans to read like lifestyle, food, home, news, business or technology and relationships, the least. These are primarily categorized as highly shared topics because they tend to be very ‘human’ by nature.

Topics that discuss ‘what we eat’ or ‘how we live’ make up a huge portion of what we share online. And that is a challenge for content marketers to begin directing headlines in that direction.

Measure emotional value 

Emotions are what best triggers a human’s interest. Contents that contain such emotion-driven words or images prompt your readers and may allow them to share these to their friends which can be of good use or to let them share the same emotion inflicted upon them. More so, measuring the emotional value of your contents would help you know which and what kind of contents you should focus on and write about.

Content can be properly viewed

Contents, in this case, should be properly viewed in such a way that it can be accessed across different platforms and devices. Most web traffic is now coming from mobile devices, but sometimes—if not all—content does not look good or convert well for mobile visitors. Hence, it should be noted that your website content should be optimized for smartphone and tablet devices, so that readers can effectively consume the content.

Responsive design is one solution to this kind of problem. With regard to website ranking in search results, it is important to take this into consideration because Google is now including this standard for mobile user experiences. So if your site is not providing users with a great cross-platform experience, you may be putting your site at risk of losing Google ranking as well as prospective customers.

Make navigation easy

Users should be able to easily navigate around your website and quickly find what they are looking for. Navigation is one key feature a website could probably make or break its statistics. It enables the readers scan through your website, read from left to right, top to bottom and see what they can benefit from your website content presentation. With just a few clicks, probably made the experience worthwhile for the readers, which means, sales.

Tell a story 

Telling a story may be as easy as 1, 2, 3 but doing so would mean making it interesting. You can present your product by making a brief story of how customers would solve an on going problem with your product by doing it in a creative way.

Provide product reviews

Customers would love to read legit product reviews especially when they are looking out for more details on how they could benefit from your products or services. Provide a platform that makes it easy for visitors to access product reviews and comparisons.

You should be trustworthy 

Your site visitors would want to know that you are a trusted business. By this, it would also mean a lot for your readers if they see customer testimonials on your site that would speak highly about your product and services.

Quality over quantity

This is pretty much explainable. Although sometimes, contents are just being disposed with no further research and are written without pure depth and for content’s sake, which is pretty much a flawed approach. More pages or copy does not equate more traffic, engagement or sales. What’s important is your content delivers value (whether informative or pure entertainment) to your consumers, and therefore your brand.

 

Brand your content 

Your contents should say a lot about you, even if it only means having an infographic or an image or a video that is being shared. Make it to a point that your content associates and at the same time, complements your business’ brand. And with that, it would not only mean having being remembered, but also, allowing your readers, consumers and your audience that it is you they are reading, sharing and talking about.

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