Archive for How to…Tips – Page 2

6 Big Content Marketing Challenges of 2016

Content-MarketingContent marketing is challenging, but it’s also the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. What more satisfying way to market professional services than by writing from the heart? When you address the problems your readers experience with your own knowledge, experience and wisdom, you help others AND build credibility authentically.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I do not believe in new year resolutions. And, I am not really convinced that goal setting, even marketing goals, is always the best thing, either. (Research has proven this.)

But, I do believe in strategy, clarity, planning and focus. Each year I pick a word, One Word to focus on. No matter what I am doing, I think about implementing that word, in every way I can.

For example, a few years ago my “one word” was “Care.” When I think about expressing care for my clients and readers, it shows up in the quality of my work:

  • I care if my blog has high quality, relevant content that helps readers
  • I care if I stay in touch more frequently with clients and offer to help them out
  • I care if I reach out on social sites more often to share good ideas
  • I show that I care when I ask more questions and listen better to friends and family

If I really do care, I want to get my marketing message heard by more people. It’s not about selling, it’s about being of service.

Last month Kris and I spent some time interviewing clients. We really wanted to know how we can best be of service. (Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the social media and content marketing channels available, especially in the always shifting future.)

What we learned is that while business continues to improve for our clients, their 6 big content marketing struggles are:

  • How to get found
  • How to grow readership
  • How to start a blog
  • How to blog
  • How to use social media
  • How to send out an electronic newsletter

What about you? Are these the biggest challenges you face with your content marketing?

If we weren’t able to connect with you, and you have other questions about content marketing, writing on the web, or creating an ebook, please let us know. Send us an email: patsi@writingontheweb.com or kris@writingontheweb.com

For the next few months, we’ll spend time focusing on these areas, and make sure that we can offer you good, useful information that can help you get found, get known, and get clients.

Oh, and happy new year, or as they say here in sunny Mexico, Feliz año nuevo!

Blog Readers: 7 Psychological Ways to Emotionally Connect

Stuck on my roof

How do you create an emotional connection with your blog readers? More importantly, how do you get them so inspired they want to take action, like join your list, opt-in, comment, or buy something? Here are some psychological secrets to keep in mind.

When writing on the web – either in a blog post, a newsletter or other forms of content marketing, readers are more likely to respond to your offers of service or products if there is a resonance between you. An emotional connection is forged when your reader experiences being on the same ‘wave length’ as you. This can be done several ways.

I have to warn you: this is not always easy to do in an email, ezine or blog. Why? Because people are so different, and what is appealing on an emotional level to one is averse to another. Read More→

How a Product Funnel
Makes Blogging Profitable

Product-FunnelBuilding a product funnel on your blog is key to making all your hard work profitable.

As I explained in my previous post, a great product funnel provides your readers with an opportunity to get to know you, like you and trust you. You make compelling offers to your readers that they can receive from free to fee:

  • Some information for free, immediate download, no strings
  • Some information for an email address, which will prove you can be trusted to deliver good stuff and not abuse their email
  • Some valuable information worth paying for, even if it’s only a few dollars
  • Excellent products and services that deliver much more than expected, worth the price.

Read More→

Build a Product Funnel on Your Blog:
Make Your Content Marketing Profitable

FunnelAre you building a product funnel on your blog?

In my recent blog posts, I’ve been talking about ways to earn money blogging using two different methods:

  1. Sell products directly through your blog (or website)
  2. Sell products or services because of your blog, or indirectly

These are two key elements of a product funnel – a key internet marketing strategy that will help ensure that you are not leaving money on the table or missing opportunities to solidify the relationships your hard-earned content marketing efforts are creating. Read More→

How to Write Blog Posts: Awesome Graphic

Do you know how to write blog posts so that they actually get read? Some people think blogging is easy: Write it and it will be read. If you’ve ever written a blog post, you know that’s not true, and it’s hard to craft a post people will read. This infographic was created for Salesforce Canada and it says it all; it will help you put together a share-worthy post.

Click To Enlarge

Anatomy of a Blog Post

Via Salesforce

How to Make Money Blogging

Do you know how to make money blogging? Let me ask you this: Are you earning money because of your blog?  If so, your blog is a means of indirect sales.

As I talked about in my last post, there are two different methods you can earn money blogging:

  1. Directly
  2. Indirectly

How to Make Money Indirectly from a Business Blog

Read More→

How to Make Money Blogging:
Yes – You Can Still Make Money Blogging!

Profitable BlogCan you still make money blogging? Or is it too late to get in to the game? As I shared in my last post, the blogging has rapidly changed, but it’s not too late to start a blog, or turn your existing blog in to a source of income.

The first step is to identify your blog goals – you’ll want to keep these in mind as you consider the ways you can earn money directly with a blog.

There are two primary methods:

  1. Directly
  2. Indirectly

How to Make Money Directly from a Business Blog Read More→

A Brief History of Business Blogging
(And How to Make It Profitable)

Business-BloggingHow do you make money from business blogging? This is a question I was recently asked by a friend. It seems like a straightforward question, but the answer is complex.

Most blogs aren’t profitable, but people devote a great deal of time and energy to them. There must be a good reason, no? You need to understand how to use business blogging to suit your business goals.

Things have changed in the blogging stratosphere, rapidly. Let’s review how it all started, because it’s revealing.

According to NYMag, the first business blog was created in 1994, Links.net. Do you remember Altavista, Webcrawler or AskJeeves? In case you don’t, that’s how early adapters searched the internet.  And then Yahoo launched in 1994 and utilized man-made descriptions with each URL. This was a game changer for many. Here are a few key dates that led up to business blogging: Read More→

Business Blogging: 4 Tips
PLUS 1 Great Video on Creativity

Business-bloggingBusiness blogging can be frustrating for professionals. Does this happen to you? You sit down to (finally!) write on your business blog, you’ve done a bunch of research, you’ve created lists, outlines and even saved a few great blog post drafts, but you haven’t actually published any of your content… There always seems to be one more thing to check before you pull the ‘publish’ trigger.

I talk to professionals all the time who are ‘blog publishing shy’. Perhaps the most crucial stage of business blogging is implementation: PUBLISH THE POST! In this series of blog posts, I’ve been sharing my tips on the four stages of writing a great blog post. It follows the same steps of any creative process:

Preparation => Incubation => Illumination => Implementation

Business blogging is creative but it also follows steps. If you want to write quality content that reflects the quality of your services as a professional then follow these four steps all the way through to implementation.  Creative blog posts are written by a process. Read More→

Tips on Writing a Great Blog Post:
Give it a Rest

Bird BandageIt’s the rainy season here in Mexico – a great time to do a lot of reading, writing and recovery – at least, that’s what I told myself when I scheduled my shoulder surgery.  But I’m having trouble with my blog writing.  And now I’m stuck. I’ve got Blogger’s Block.  (Yes, even experienced bloggers can get stuck from time to time.)

So I pull out my bag of great blog post tricks, and determine where I’m stuck in the process.  And that’s it.  I had altered my writing process.  But that shouldn’t matter… should it? Read More→