The Guide to Developing a Content Strategy for "Boring" Industries The author's posts are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz. There have been multiple articles that have discussed the value and opportunities that content marketing brings to SEO - from organically building external links and ranking for more long tail keywords, to establishing a community and building brand awareness. As the SEO industry slowly moves away from manual linkbuilding and adapts a more long-term and forward-thinking approach (whether it be forced as a result of recent aggressive Google algorithm updates or because as an industry, we're starting to seek a sustainable methodology to establish authority), the challenge is in figuring out how to set up a proper framework that would help our community develop a content strategy for all websites. Image courtesy of SEOmoz Image courtesy of Distilled Step 1: Asking the Right Questions (Learning About the Industry) How do tire shoppers use the Internet?
12 Things You Should Be Using Your Blog For (Besides Blogging) So you want your business blog to perform better. What do you do? Uhh ... Blog harder? Well yes, you could set to your keyboard and type away 'til your fingers bleed, or you could think of ways to get more out of your blog without just increasing content volume. After all, you only have so many hours in the day, and writing isn't exactly a quick task. Before we get started, let's get one thing out of the way -- none of these tips are intended to be replacements for a consistent volume of high-quality blog content. 1) Solicit Content From High-Profile Sites If that caveat about still having to create blog content was, indeed, a total bummer, this tip should strike your fancy. And not only does your blog's clout skyrocket, but it's also likely that your guest blogger will promote the post to their network, too. 2) Work on Increasing Subscribers Speaking of your blog's reach, it may be worth your time to invest in increasing your blog's subscriber base. 3) Optimize Past Post Titles
6 Social PR Secrets to a Better Website A brand’s website or blog should be its ROI hero, but in many cases it ends up being a public relations liability. The failing truth: “99% of the reasons why websites fail are 100% preventable,” Rebecca Murtagh reminds brands in her new book “Million Dollar Websites”. Critical. This rollercoaster of emotions might sound familiar if you’re working on the design or redesign of a website or blog. By far, one of the most critical components of today’s marketing is an organization’s website; the digital entrance that represents a brand’s aesthetic, culture, personality, mission, vision and business proposition. A recent survey reported by WhatUsersDo reveals: 60 percent of brand owners rate their website as average or below average.Despite the stated goal by 78 percent of those surveyed being “extremely” or “quite” committed to delivering a quality user experience to customers, an alarming percentage of brands admit knowing that their website will disappoint their customers. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Multitasking Makes You Stupid: The Case for Outsourcing Content -- Joe Pulizzi Content Author-blogger Joe Pulizzi is one of the sharpest content evangelists on the Web. In this year-end post, he explains why brands ought to outsource their content and poses the eternal question: Is your content stupid? ©istockphoto.com/Yulia Akatyeva I’m a big proponent of outsourcing content. There are a number of reasons why brands should seriously consider outsourcing their content. Content is everywhere. I could go on. I’ll explain. So now there’s a group of people who have to do their current jobs, and also have this content thing to do as well. In almost all cases this is a bad idea. When brand managers throw content marketing in the mix as just another individual or group task, the result is bad content. Is your brand story important enough to foster in its own right, or is it just another item in the marketing pile? Is your content stupid?
36 Books on Digital Marketing The rapid expansion of both the internet and ecommerce has resulted in some seriously dramatic shifts in terms of business marketing best practices. If you’re feeling a bit lost in this new world of digital marketing, take a look at any of the following recommended resources to help get you up to speed! Digital Marketing The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly – David Meerman Scott If you’ve done traditional direct response marketing or promotional work in the past, Scott’s book will give you all the tools needed to transfer these skills to today’s digital world. Available in both print and Kindle editions. Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Engaging the Digital Generation – Damian Ryan and Calvin Jones Ryan and Jones have produced a great overview of the world of digital marketing, encompassing everything from search to social media to mobile marketing and more.
5 Pillars of a Successful Modern Web Design To compete successfully in today's new media landscape, simply having an optimized website isn't enough. You must now consider a number of new factors when designing your website. These factors include modern design and content, usability and conversion, and search and social media. Not only has the SEO technological market changed with new on- an off-page SEO considerations, the way the consumer views and consumes content and changed. Building Outside of a Silo Gone are the days when a web developer builds a site, the SEO consultant optimizes the site, a conversion expert looks at the site, and then the business owners review the site. To make your new website work for your business it essential that a marketing led approach is implemented that involves technical, search, social, usability, and design teams. Objectives are set by the business so that your site reflects not just your brand but also meets your business objectives and conversion goals . Tip: The 5 Pillar Approach 1. Tips: 2. 4.
Five Lessons from Content Marketing World This is the year of Content. For sure. It’s used so much and by so many people, it must be, right? But I hate the word. I really do. As a wordsmith, I hate that Content is used primarily as a web/digital/mobile “strategy.” I attended two content conferences this year and both were some of the best conferences I’ve ever attended. The indefatigable Joe Pulizzi of Junta42 was behind this year’s Content Marketing World, held last week in Cleveland. Well, actually, he would. Content is fascinating I learned a new word at Content Marketing World. This was the first presentation and it speaks to the high quality of the conference overall that the presentations didn’t let up. In a world where our attention span is down to nine seconds, the key to attention is through fascination. Content has hit the real time The real difference, to me, at least, between “old” and “new” media isn’t delivery or metrics. He’s right. Friend the Muppets It’s the story, stupid. Story, story, story. Be honest
15 social media tips for small businesses You and your small or micro business need to have a social media presence. That we know. If your potential clients, customers, and audience live on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and so on, then it's only reasonable that you go to those places to reach them. Rarely do small businesses have the resources to hire a social media manager, meaning the fate of your online social presence likely rests on your shoulders. The following 15 social media tips are designed to help you set up and manage a social media presence for a small business or brand. 1. I see so many businesses (not just small ones, either) set up social media profiles without having any idea of what they want to do with that presence. Do you want to provide answers and assistance to your customers or readership? If you don't know what results you want, using social media will be a huge waste of your time and resources. 2. 3. On Facebook, use the search bar to look for your business or brand. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
5 Steps to Create a Website That Both Your Customers & Search Engines Will Love A major mistake businesses often make when it comes to SEO is optimizing their website at the expense of their customers. Have you ever entered a website while researching a product or service, only to be confronted with massive amounts of content on a poorly designed website? This probably resulted in not only a frustrating experience, but also your exit from the site, and a lost sale for that business. Here are five steps you can implement to avoid this scenario, and create a website that both your customers and search engines will love. Step 1: Understand Your Customer This seems obvious, but business owners tend to design websites that are appealing to them, rather than figuring out what is appealing to their customers. If you don’t already know, figure out why your existing customers buy from you, rather than your competitors, and make this differentiation readily apparent on your website. Step 2: Don’t Attempt to Create a Work of Art Websites don't have to be beautiful. Conclusion
ntent Strategy Generator Tool - V2 Update > Please give me the tool now! Way back in September we released the first version of our content strategy tool, and due to popular demand and awesome feedback I’m excited to be releasing an even hotter version of the tool! This blog post takes a quick look at some of the cool new features in this latest update. Since the launch of the first version of the tool, there have been numerous updates across a number of websites forcing the xpath to return a null value, or to change the value returned. The first part of this update restores values for any empty fields, and reformats a number of elements of the tool for a cleaner, more digestible appearance. More Insight from Google Insights We all know how useful and powerful Google Insights can be for identifying trends and finding out what is ‘hot’ right now to provide you with the ability to spot opportunities to create new content. Both sets of data for ‘Top Searches’ and ‘Rising Searches’ can now be found within the content tool: