Archive for How to…Tips – Page 14

Content Marketing Favorites: 6 Good Article Hooks

This week I'm on vacation, and repeating some of my older yet evergreen posts because they are worthy of being repeated. This one was published in September 2009.

Linkbait Content: 6 Ideas for Article Hooks

Fishing_businessman As you might have read, I'm doing some blog improvements with Easton Ellsworth and his Visionary Blogging program. One of the things we talked about was creating what he calls "linkbait content" for my executive coach marketing site, ContentforCoachandConsultants.com.

I'd like to share his linkbait ideas and some of mine, because these ideas for content are good and easy to translate for any niche.

Unless you are a techy-type, and into search engine optimization, you might not be clear on what "linkbait" really means to you and your online content marketing efforts.

Wikipedia defines Linkbait like this:

Link bait is
any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to
place links to it from other websites. Matt Cutts of Google defines
link bait as anything "interesting enough to catch people's attention."
Link bait can be an extremely powerful form of marketing as it is viral
in nature.

Here's why this is important:

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Where Do You Find Ideas for Fresh Blog Posts?

Fresh-ideas-sign-in-the-sky How do you continually come up with fresh blog posts, fresh material? Many of us sing the same old song, when it comes to writing content.

Here are some ideas for finding  fresh Content Inspiration…

  1. Find out what others are talking about. Open up the Internet and go to an aggregation site where you can get the latest news. Choices: any news site, Twitter, any social site, or your news feed reader to look at your favorite blogs. I use Alltop.com, and in particular my own Alltop page where I can aggregate my favorite blogs on a variety of topics.
  2. Look outside your field. You may find something inspiring in your field of expertise. But I often find an inspiration in an outside topic, then find a creative way to apply it to my own particular niche.
  3. Find relevancy to your audience. After spending some time reading other people's blog posts, come up with your own unique spin, and write it on your own blog post. Save as a draft and re-read it and edit it after letting it rest for a while. Ask yourself this question: "So what?" Answer for your readers, explain why this is important.
  4. Edit twice, once for relevancy to your readers, and once for entertainment value. Re-write your post with fresh eyes, usually later in the day. This will ensure that your writing is sharper, removing excess words, adding brilliant metaphors, finding ways to make it more relevant and entertaining to your readers. This will also give you additional ideas for other posts.

This last tip can be hard to do, but here's how to make it simple:

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10 Snappy Content Creation Strategies

Speed-drawing  The prospect of writing on the web is daunting for some professionals, especially those with years of graduate school indoctrination with academic theses and dissertations.

It's because writing short and snappy is better on the Web than long, convoluted, and detailed. Doctors and lawyers and other highly educated people like to be correct; sometimes that takes more than one sentence.

The problem is too much information distracts a writer from getting to point quickly and clearly. I'm preparing materials for a class I'm teaching to lawyers who want to master online marketing with blog content, articles and ebooks.

I'd say it's a challenge for some lawyers to be fast and to the point about things, for fear of being wrong or misleading people. But maybe that's stereotyping and I'm making assumptions. I usually do.

Nevertheless, I've made a list of 10 content creating strategies to help write blog posts and articles for the Web, with an emphasis on being short and snappy.

Here are 10 steps that I'm sharing with them, to help anyone write faster, clearer, better.

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Making Readers Feel at Home: 10 Comfy Blogging Tips

MakeatHome How long do readers stay on your blog? A minute? Two or three? Your site meter will tell you. It doesn't take long to read a blog post. And it's not the length of time that matters, it's what they do while they're there.

Do they read more than one post, more than one page? Do they check out your bio, easily find related info? Do they see your subscription form and sign up to get email updates to your blog?

Greet visitors to your blog as if they were visiting your home, welcome them in, offer them a comfortable chair, a cup of coffee, and ask them to stay a while. Ask them questions, ask them what they need.

Or do your blog readers whip through your site like they were at a 7-11 store just buying coffee? Here's a few tips for making your readers feel at home so they wanna curl up, stay awhile and keep coming back.

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What Can You Stop Doing? 6 Steps to Becoming More Profitable

Increasing-profit What can you stop doing in your business? There's always too much to do, and if you're smart and ambitious, you're always on the look-out for new marketing tactics that will bring big results.

But you can't possibly use anything new if you're overbooked, overworked, and out of time.

Part of thriving in business has to do with keeping more of the money you make. How can you make your business more profitable?

The best tools and tactics can't make you more profitable if you don't have time to learn and use them.

You've probably already got too much to do. So what can you stop doing? How can you free up time to do what matters and focus on the things that count, that bring in results?

  1. Take a look at your income: what brings in the best revenues? What are the sources of those client leads? How can you improve either the number of leads, or the conversion rates of leads to clients? How can you create more of those products or services that earn the most?
  2.  Take a look at your clients. Which ones could use other services or products? It's a well-known fact: it's easier to sell to someone who already knows, like, and trusts you. Think about including some upsell offers in your autoresponder messages.
  3. Take a look at your work load and schedule. Which projects take up the most amount of time, yet bring in relatively small revenues? Which project takes little time, yet brings in good money? Do more of the latter, and cut down the time and energy on the former.
  4. What can you delegate or outsource? Free up your time to do projects that produce income. Outsource tasks that won't cost a lot in freelance fees. Use low-cost yet dependable VA's such as those found in India. If you don't have someone you can count on, use a reputable VA; it's worth the higher fees to get a job done right the first time. (See MyFastype.com)
  5. What should you learn to do because it's simple, fast, and would save a lot in fees? Some software has become so easy, it's worth your time to learn them. For example, I recently spent money learning a system for teleconferencing bridge lines and AudioAcrobat, and now I won't have to rely on someone else. The same goes for my KickStartCart: once you learn to use it, you can save a ton in fees by running it yourself. (Caution: first time users beware: it's worth hiring a great VA service like Terry Green's MyFastype.com if you are unfamiliar with these programs.)
  6. Stop wasting time with social sites like Twitter and Facebook. I'm not saying social media is a waste of time, far from it. I'm just saying learn to use it wisely, for business, use feeds, aggregate the people you need to stay in touch with. Be smart, not just social. Limit your time.

I have a feeling that some of you spend too much time tweeting, emailing, telephoning, and not enough time posting quality blogs posts or creating cornerstone content.

And some of you are spending a lot of time preparing, learning, studying, taking teleseminars, listening to podcasts, getting ready for business.

You already know enough. You have expertise in your field. Hone in on creating products and services people can buy. Then communicate your core message to those people who have the problems you can solve.

Attract. Let people know you, like you, learn to trust you on your blog. Offer generous free content for download. Build up a list of interested people. Stay in touch with them.

Sell to them. Always overdeliver. Make your products and services small-medium-large. Be impeccable.

Profit. Keep on doing what's needed for your clients, to solve their problems, to help them.

If something you're doing in your business takes up your time, and it isn't falling into one of these three functions: Attract, Sell, Profit… then stop it. Stop doing it. Use the time for something that counts.

What can you stop doing?

How to Turn Your Blog Into a Content Genie…

ComputerGenie What's the difference between a blog and MyKnowledgeGenie? This turned out to be a great question yesterday in the interview with Milo Sindell, founder of the content-creating wizard.

Think about it…visitors arrive at your blog everyday, and they read whatever you've posted that day. If they aren't in a hurry, they'll scroll down the page and scan a few other recent posts.

Maybe what you've written this week is critical to your core message… or maybe not. Maybe you've gone off on a tangent and written something off the wall. Click…and bye-bye. (Photo credit: Shutterstock)

First impressions count, so you absolutely must have a key piece of content they can download before they go. This should be prominently displayed on your blog. (Look at this blog for a good example of this, at the top of the middle column you'll see a graphic image of an ebook Content Marketing with Blogs.)

MyKnowledgeGenie provides an easy way to quickly create cornerstone content that communicates your core message, educates your readers, and also markets your products and services.

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Know Your Business Strengths: SWOT Your A-S-Ps

Swot-analysis The way I see it, being in business is hard. And fun. Even when you're working for yourself, you gotta do what you don't like doing. And you gotta have fun, or find a way to make it seem like fun.

Maybe that's true when you're working a job, working for someone else. When you're employed you have the right to bitch and moan, or think you do. Working for yourself, you expect it to be more fun, which of course, it isn't always.

You must attract, sell AND profit. For some, attracting prospects is the fun part. That's the blogging and social media part. Getting found, getting known, getting leads. Marketing, content marketing involves writing, branding, looking good and being everywhere on the Web.

For others, selling is fun. That's where you look at your product funnel, calls to action, the sales, the numbers, how many leads convert to clients, how much money, honey…

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My Knowledge Genie Teleseminar Update

Oops I type fast, really fast. I double check most links and numbers before hitting send or broadcast. Except yesterday…oops.

…sigh. I'm wiping the mud off my face. I'm rescheduling the call for Monday, November 16 at 4 p.m. ET with Milo Sindell. You can still register and get the recording. Heck, you can even come to the call and ask questions…this time I mean it… honest.

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How to Make Your Readers Feel at Home…

At-home Do first-time visitors to your blog feel at home? How can your site visitors know if your stuff is for them?

Without wading through a lot of blog posts, it needs to be clear in the blink of an eye that your blog or website is written specifically for them.

How can you do that? A good tag line after the title of your blog helps.

Another way is to create a page listing your typical readers and clients.

Is This YOU?

I just added a page to this blog and you can see it in the navigation bar: Is This YOU? On the page, I describe some of the typical clients I've helped over the years.

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Content Creation Made Easy, Interactive, and Affordable: My Knowledge Genie Free Class

Smoking-genie-lamp You may have heard the buzz about it already, My Knowledge Genie is a content creating wizard that will save you a ton of time and energy.

I don't promote products unless I see them as having really good value.  As soon as I set up a free account at MyKnowledgeGenie.com, I had to stop my fist from hitting my forehead too hard. This tool really is a genie.

I started a free trial last week, and I'm almost finished with a comprehensive ebook that includes chapters, checklists, definitions, learning reminders, and summary questions. I'll be publishing it soon, and selling it for $97. Cost for all this? $5/month hosting fees, nothing else.

If I wanted to create a free info product, I wouldn't need to upgrade my account. My "genie" would be completely free, yet hosted, created, formatted, and organized and published on their site. Easy as pie.

If you need to create and sell info products like ebooks, books, and training materials, don't miss this free teleseminar:

Join me on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. ET to take a virtual tour with founder Milo Sindell.

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