Archive for Online Marketing – Page 20

39 Experts Foresee Content Marketing Trends for 2010: ClickPredictions

  • How is online marketing changing?
  • What do you need to know about content marketing trends for your own business?
  • What are marketing experts telling us you need to pay attention to?

ClickPredictions-2010-CoverPage  You may not have a large marketing budget or staff that keeps up with these things. Before you spend your precious money, you better be sure you're heading down the road of good investment, not letting money fly out the window.

There's no question that traditional marketing has been changing at a rapid pace, given technology and social media and new tools coming up every day. How is it going to affect you and your marketing efforts?

Here's a free ebook chock full of expert predictions, offered by ClickDocs, a specialty firm supporting best practices for whitepapers and ebooks. Ambal Balakrishnan and her colleagues have produced a fabulous ebook.

I recommend you read this because:

  1. It's a fast read
  2. It's important
  3. It's full of tips on what's needed for good marketing

Besides, I was asked to contribute my two cents, and I'm proud to be among these content marketing experts.

Want to know what's in it, briefly?

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16 Must-Have Marketing Tools for Blog Design

Blue-man-taking-a-bow What should you put on your blog if you want to use it for marketing, to attract clients?

Content is king, but if your design stinks, visitors won't get past the banner. They won't stay, they won't get to know you and they won't subscribe to your blog.

Worse, you could be spending a lot of your valuable time blogging for nothing. Bad blog design = bad marketing = no new business. Stinks, doesn't it?

If you care about attracting the right people, get a professional blog design or theme installed. You can do it yourself on Typepad, but you'll need a graphic designer to supply the banner with a tag line built in.

There are plenty of good freelancers available, but you'll need to know what to tell them. Here are my tips for good blog design and set up.

Design for Branding, Trust, Personality

Everything on your blog should reflect your branding theme, personality, and the problems you solve for your readers. Your banner should clarify what the blog is going to give readers.

These are branding issues that need careful thought. You may even need professional help if you want to get it right.

Joan Stewart is a good example of this. Her blog, at PublicityHound.net, features tips for people seeking PR and media attention. You know this immediately after arriving on the blog.

[15 second commercial break: Joan and I are teaching Time-SavingTips for Smart Blogging in two days, Wednesday Jan. 20, 2010. Sign up here…]

Personality Counts

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Wanna Be First? Save 75%? Join Patsi’s Private List

GiftTagPatsi's Private List is now closed. Subscribe to this blog to find out when it re-opens again. In upper right, submit your email address. And don't worry, Feedburner keeps your email safe and secure… Happy New Year!

What Is a Content Marketing Information Funnel?

Pipeline-2 Are you building a content marketing information funnel? If not, you're leaving money on the table. Not only that, you're missing an opportunity to solidify the relationships your hard-earned content marketing efforts are creating.

It's odd that Wikipedia doesn't have a page written about this key internet marketing strategy. There's a page for purchasing funnel and one for sales funnel. And there are over 3 million results on Google for product funnel. Okay, don't go there now, here's what you need to know:

Content marketing works because you take a reader through the steps of getting to know you, like you, and trust you. This is the KLT factor. Here's how it works:

  1. Your blog should have cornerstone content pieces to communicate your core values and passion and business mission. These are stand-alone pages to highlight your core information.
  2. Your blog (or website) should have a well-crafted bio or About page, which tells your back story, who you are, and why you care.
  3. Your blog or website should have client stories, case studies and testimonials everywhere to tell your clients' experiences with working with you, your products and services.
  4. And next, you need continual, clear calls to action, so that readers can take the next steps.

Next Steps

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10 Places to Publish Online Content

Circles-of-influence How many different places online are you publishing content that markets for you and your business?

Rapidly, as new software and user-friendly Web tools emerge, the Internet has been changing the way we communicate with words. Almost too rapidly, some would say.

Here’s a partial list of where you could (and should) write and publish online:

•    Blogs and web pages
•    Ezines, e-newsletters
•    Web-based press releases
•    White Papers, special reports
•    Articles posted on directories
•    E-books, e-courses and autoresponders
•    Surveys & Quizzes
•    Podcasts and audio files
•    Video clips, YouTube
•    Social communities and networks, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn

What am I missing on this list?

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11 Content Marketing Steps to Master on the Web:
Bridging the Gap

Holiday-table-xl What do Holiday dinners have in common with the Internet? Apparently the two are becoming more friendly.

It's inevitable…at every holiday or family gathering,  the discussion eventually rolls around to the Web, and the latest weird video on YouTube. Last night was a first for me, however: someone went and got their netbook and brought it to the table to show a clip of the "middle aged cracker rapper."

Such discussions about the Web are always eye-openers to me because the average person doesn't spend the majority of time connected to the 'Net like I do. Many of them aren't sure what a blog really is or how it's used for business. Email is (finally!) a normal communication channel.

But for most people, the use of Twitter and Facebook is still a rarity. Here's how most are using the Web: entertainment and education.

"I'll Google that question when I get home," one guest said. We were searching for the name of the evil character in the movie "The Usual Suspects." Another guest said, "What did we do before Google?"

Using the Web for Content Marketing

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2010 Musings: How can I work less and double my $$?

PatsiRobKrakoffDec09AjijicMexico How do the "Holidays" affect your work life? Do you slow down and enjoy things, or hurry up and finish so you can leave? It's sometimes hard to be work-focused with so much cheer around!

Here's a Holiday pic of the Hubby and I sending you best wishes from Ajijic, Mexico.

I tend to get a little laid back this time of year, which means my brain isn't always thinking about the next tasks that need to be tended to. It opens up possibilities, creative thinking, and I get new ideas for projects.

I write them down and let them simmer and filter through the "is this really a good idea?" process. Sometimes my best ideas are way too much work. I want to work less this year, but double my income. It's not easy to double your income without doubling your work load. But that's my goal for 2010.

I've got a couple of things simmering right now. The best way to know about them is to sign up for Patsi's Private List. I'm going to leave it open for sign ups until Dec. 31. You'll get private access to previews of my new projects, plus big discounts.

Two things I think are in the cards for 2010… more fun woven into my work, more social media and more video. And, a great big info product is going to be announced soon, using MyKnowledgeGenie.com.

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How to Replay the Social Media Webinar

Ist1_11272737-pointer-clicking-on-the-word-internet-isolated-with-clipping-path  If you missed Thursday's call with Jeanne Hurlbert, PdD, and Joan Stewart on "Cutting through the Clutter, Chatter & Confusion on Social Media Sites," you missed an hour packed with helpful tips that many people are already starting to use to make their lives easier.

Joan's one tip on how to build your credibility and enhance your reputation, with almost no work on your part, was well worth the one hour. I shared how I've been getting clients on Twitter and LinkedIn, without spending much time there, simply because I was doing a few things right.

Here's a way for you to get access to the replay, but I'm not sure how long it's going to be left up, so go there now.

http://www.MySocialMediaRx.com/subscribe

When you listen, stay tuned for an announcement of some special bonuses you can access.

Go here right now and sign up to listen to the replay:

http://www.MySocialMediaRx.com/subscribe

The Importance of Being “Cool”…

Rock-star-kid A big "Thanks "to Lorrie Morgan Ferrero for compiling a list of "50 Coolest Marketers for 2009" on her Red Hot Copy blog and for including me on the list. This is a good list to check out because there are some very smart people on it, besides being "cool."

Some people on this list you may not know yet, they are up-and-comers in Internet marketing niches.

Why is it important to get to know people on a list like this? Because they're doing things that work. They're doing things you could be doing. I'll bet you could be on this list next year…

Some of them like Ali Brown and Alex Mandossian and Adam Urbanski have been around for years and you would expect them to have huge numbers of followers (and they do!). When they do an email promo, even if they only get a small percentage response, it translates to big money, by virtue of the numbers.

More people on your marketing list, more results you will get. But how do you build up a big list that's responsive?

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Social Skills: What’s Needed for Social Media

Groups "Getting or giving anything is about social skills. The world is about being comfortable where you are and making people feel comfortable, and that’s what social skills are.

"What’s important is to be kind, and be gracious and do it in ways that make people want to do that for someone else." ~ Penelope Trunk, founder of BrazenCareerist.com. Her blog is blog.penelopetrunk.com.

I read this on page 75 of Seth Godin's new ebook, What Really Matters. There's even more wisdom in these words of Penelope Trunk when you realize she's got Asperger's Syndrome, a brain disorder. Penelope Trunk says she's had to learn to mimic socially appropriate responses because it's not a natural skill for her. Her brain doesn't pick up on things like that.

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