Archive for blog marketing – Page 7

Business Blogging: 4 Ways to Have Fun and Profits

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, September 9th, 2010

(Vacation time, so here’s another guest post, this one by Susan Long,  freelance marketing consultant.)

If you’re writing your blog for more than just fun, you’ve probably thought about how you can make some money from it. There’s plenty of ways you can make cash from your writing, and you might not have thought of some of them before.

1) Putting ads on your blog

This is the most obvious way to make money blogging. You can sign up for Google Ads and Adbrite, which are two of the most well-known. The best thing about Google Ads and Adbrite is that you don’t have to have lots of readers to put their ads on your site. If you’re just starting out blogging one of these is the best way to start. You can also sell links in your articles with companies like TNX.net or Text Link Ads.

Once you’ve got more readers – say maybe once you’re getting a thousand hits a week – you can think about approaching bigger ad networks like Chitika and putting more “mainstream” ads on your blog.

And if you have a specialist or local blog, remember you can approach relevant businesses directly and ask them to advertise. For instance if you write a blog about soccer in your country, you could ask sports stores in your city if they want to advertise

2) Putting ads in your RSS feed

If you use Feedburner to optimise your RSS feed (and if you aren’t, why not?), you can easily put ads in the RSS feed of your blog, so people who read your blog through RSS will see ads.

3) Pay-per-post Read More→

Categories : Content Marketing, Pathway to Profits, Profit, Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog
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No More Geek-Speak: SEO for Smart Bloggers

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, September 6th, 2010

How can you learn basic search marketing for blogging in 5 minutes or less?

Scribe SEO Copywriting is a practical tool you install and use for each blog or web pages you want to publish. Once installed, you can get a report BEFORE you publish, which tells you how optimized your content is for search engines.

Before I started using Scribe, I assumed (because I’m pretty smart and I’ve been getting good search results) that if I wrote quality headlines and posts, using the keyword phrases I wanted to focus on, those little search robots would be pleased…

Wrong! By using Scribe, I learned which pages and posts were getting 100% scores… and which were only ranking 52%, 78%, and 90% with the little darling spiders. In seconds, after writing a draft, a report is generated, telling me what’s wrong with my headline, use of keywords, description, etc.

All I have to do is make a few corrections and usually I can get a 100% score on the 2nd try.

Trust me, I’m no geek. This is so easy a 3rd grader can use it. Do yourself a favor and try it out, you can always unsubscribe from the monthly fee ($27 for 300 analyzes a month). I am an affiliate, I recommend it, and I love it.

Here is a sample analysis… Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing
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Content Marketing Tips from Computer Games

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, August 26th, 2010

What can we learn from online computer games about content marketing for business? A lot, apparently. If you write content designed to trigger action in readers, pay attention to this.

My husband, Attila the Honey, plays World of Warcraft, an online game that’s part of the multi-billion dollar gaming industry. If you think computer games are just for kids or young people with too much time, think again. Money spent on games has now surpassed movies and books.

(He swears that his online gaming is market research for his company Razerzone.com, but I don’t buy it.) I do believe it’s true that online games are good for your brain as we age. He’s speaking this weekend at the local Lake Chapala Society about this.

I just watched Seth Priebatsch, a Princeton dropout (something he’s proud of), who’s chief ninja at SCVNGR (“scavenger”), on the online speakers site TED.com. If he’s speaking at a TED conference in Boston, he’s got to have something important to say, right? You can watch it here. (A big thanks to Susan Weinschenck for this link.)

Here are three dynamics we can learn from online games that can be applied to content marketing:

  1. Appointment dynamics: this persuasion trigger is probably what Cialdini would call the scarcity or urgency factor. There’s no greater example than Happy Hour in bars: show up at a certain time, you get rewarded. It’s also at play in the game Farmville, a popular game that already has 70 million players. How can you use this to persuade readers to take action? Think about your business and how you could include an appointment dynamic to urge responses. (Like all things, there’s a cool way to do this, and a way NOT to do it!)
  2. Influence and Status dynamics: When games confer a red badge or gold or virtual money to players, their ego and pride causes them to continue playing. What ways can you inspire loyalty and engagement with your readers/ clients /prospects? What’s in it for them? How can you use the status trigger to persuade people to use your services or products? Read More→
Categories : Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Online Persuasion, Writing Great Copy
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Content Marketing Tips: Seth Godin on Tim Burton

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Are you finding writing slow and tedious? Is your content marketing and blog writing as creative as possible? Are you discovering your unique genius as you go?

What can we learn from really creative people like Tim Burton and Seth Godin? First of all, we know they are really creative because they produce a lot of unique products – films, books, and blog posts that grab our attention.

Both these two professionals are examples of people who’ve found their genius. But we wouldn’t know that if they didn’t “ship.” If they didn’t complete projects and get them out the door.

And that’s the difference between wanna be’s, also-rans, and those who get noticed. In order to be successful, you have to get it out the door. Publish. Produce. And publicize.

My husband, affectionately known as Attila the Honey, decided to write a book about 18 months ago. I watched him do his first novel…then a second. And I just finished editing the third book.  His book blog is here. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Writing for the Web
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Get Search Engine Optimized- Fast

By Patsi Krakoff
Friday, August 13th, 2010

How do you know if your blog posts are optimized for search engines?

Good question… and no  easy answer… well, except for one which I’m going to share with you here!  Here are a few options for optimizing your content for search marketing:

  1. Study Google and search engine optimization (time-consuming)
  2. Hire an SEO person to do some optimization for your web content (expensive)
  3. Become a subscriber to a service called Scribe Content Optimizer (easy, instant & affordable)

Here’s how it works. You go here, you sign up, you install it to your WordPress blog. You start using a free plug in called All-in-One SEO Pack.

You write a blog post, you fill in the information on the SEO plug in, you click the Scribe analyze button, wait a few seconds and get a review of how well your content will do with search engines. You then get a list of things you can do to raise your search engine optimization score.

Okay, seeing is better than me telling you. Here’s a snapshot of a blog post that didn’t score well, and here’s one that got a perfect score. You can see for yourself that the Scribe report tells me what I can do to raise my score, to improve my search engine optimization.

And here is a screen capture of a post that got a perfect score: Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing for the Web
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Online Persuasion: Seeing Through the Eyes of Your Customers

By Patsi Krakoff
Thursday, August 5th, 2010

There’s an important shift in content marketing tactics that affects professionals who want to get found, get known and get clients online. And that shift means a different mindset.

I saw a great blog post the other day. There was a picture of a pair of glasses lying on a bench with this caption: Don’t you wish you could see through your customers’ glasses?

What if you could live in their shoes for a day? Or, track their brains as they go online to your website? What makes them click? What makes them take action?

Here’s where you should start thinking a little differently when writing content for the Web:

Smart content marketers are using persuasion tactics that appeal to emotions rather than reasons. They know that emotions not only guide our decisions and actions, they determine whether or not we buy.

When successful web writers create online content, they appeal to the senses and the emotions. They:

  • Grab attention through outrageous headlines and images
  • Appeal to basic human wants, desires
  • Tell a story of one person
  • Use emotional hot buttons
  • Use persuasion triggers
  • Motivate action with fear, scarcity, urgency

The most effective content marketing occurs with a mixture of both rational and emotional tactics. That’s because people use the emotional parts of their brains to make what they consider rational decisions. Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Online Persuasion, Pathway to Profits
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Website & Blog Headers: 5 Keys for Branding

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

What are the key elements to a custom blog header that work well for online content marketing?

Your header contributes to your blog branding, and also helps readers decide if they want to stay and read or subscribe.

How do you like my new look? I’m talking about the new header and colors… Since switching to a WordPress a couple months ago, I decided to give this blog a face-lift while I was at it.

Suzanne Bird-Harris of Websites in WordPress did the graphic design for the header. If you’ve ever thought your site could use a little face-lift, this is a no-brainer! For a reasonable fee, Suzanne can transform your blog and give it a whole new look with a custom header.

A big thanks to my friend Paul Hart who took the photo.

Having a blog header is obviously an important element to online content marketing. It’s the first thing new visitors see when they land on your blog.

Here are the key elements (you’d be surprised at how many smart professionals forget to add their name, their photo, or the benefits to readers…)

  1. The title (branding elements should define the area of expertise and be memorable)
  2. The author’s name
  3. What’s in it for readers if they stay to read?
  4. Who is the blog for, who is the targeted audience?
  5. An attractive photo

These elements may seem obvious, but often, when working with clients, they are so close to the blackboard, that they forget key elements. I’ve even seen one professional include everything in the header, but forget the title of the blog.

Another common error is being too vague about the topic and the targeted audience.First time visitors shouldn’t be confused when they arrive.

As Malcom Gladwelll writes, people make up their minds in the blink of an eye…

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Online Marketing
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Online Persuasion: What Do Clients Say?

By Patsi Krakoff
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

How are you using client recommendations in your online content marketing? Do you add them as an afterthought?

Maybe you just collect them and put them on a separate page for testimonials? Or are they a major part of your content creation strategies?

Recommendations, testimonials and client stories are a powerful persuasion tactic. It’s one of the key persuasion triggers that get people to take action. It’s called social proof.

Robert Cialdini wrote about six weapons of influence in his landmark book Influence. Social proof is one of the most powerful mechanisms for triggering buying decisions. Here’s why:

Customer ratings and reviews are one of the ways we decide and choose to buy products online. I use them all the time to click and buy: I glance at the number of gold stars other people have given a book on Amazon, or a pair of tennis shoes on Nike.

If there are two pairs of shoes I’ve selected for my size and price, I’ll go with the one that has 5 stars over 4. Think about it: I don’t know these people, they may have feet completely different to mine, they may not play tennis as often as I do, or on the same court surfaces.

My foot is narrow and bony. Not everybody’s version of a comfortable fit is going to be mine. And I know this. But when I see a customer rave review and 5 stars, I’m all in.

Think about it: we let other people influence our buying decisions even when we have nothing in common with them.

We are heavily influenced by social persuasion, we can’t help it. Our brains respond to our strong need to belong and fit in, and it all happens in our unconscious minds.

Do these same persuasion tactics work for sites and businesses that aren’t selling physical products? Does social validation work for businesses selling services and experiences? Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Online Persuasion, Pathway to Profits
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Content Marketing Results: 18 Ways to NOT Get Blog Traffic

By Patsi Krakoff
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

What do you need to know about about the way people read online to make your content marketing efforts pay off?

What are you doing or not doing on your blog that screws up your traffic?

At least a few times a week I get an email from a smart professional who struggles with making their web marketing work to get found, get known and get clients. Here’s a typical one…

“Okay, Patsi, I’ve been following you for a while now, and your blog writing tips have helped. I’m posting twice a week, but I’m still not getting comments, and my traffic stats stink. Can you take a look?”

Of course, I have to point people to my consulting services if they want me to spend time doing a good analysis and provide specific solutions.

But often the problems and the solutions are common and universal. I can almost predict where the low traffic problems come from based on looking at a lot of blogs over the last five years.

Here’s a general overview of things I see many people doing on blogs that don’t bring good results:

  1. Frequency: Not posting enough
  2. Headline: not compelling or even clear
  3. Content: No clearly defined problem and solution, no answer to the “so what?” question
  4. Content: No keyword usage in headline, first paragraph, or in body
  5. Content: Too broad and general, need to hone it down to specifics, need to personalize it
  6. Formatting: Too many long blocks of text, need shorter paragraphs, subheadings
  7. Engagement: Too author-centric, not enough asking readers questions, addressing them as “you”
  8. Engagement: Not enough client stories, no quotes from other people Read More→
Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Writing Great Blog Content
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Blog Marketing: How Readers Find Your Business

By Patsi Krakoff
Monday, July 26th, 2010

What’s your favorite excuse for not blogging for your business? Here are some that I hear:

  • “I don’t have time to blog.”
  • “My clients aren’t surfing the Web reading blogs.”
  • “Oh, that means I’ve got to write about my business every week?”

And yet, if these same professionals realized that a business blog is the best way to get found online, the best way to connect with potential clients, and the pathway to turning readers into clients, they might see things a little differently.

Here’s a drawing I made that shows how readers find your blog and become clients.

There are over a billion people connected to the Internet. I’m willing to bet my lunch money that quite a few of them fall into the category of “your ideal clients.”

It’s not likely they go online looking for you, your business or your blog. I’m not saying that. But they do go to search engines and they type in questions with keywords.

And they do  go to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Here’s what this looks like, how readers find your blog, in this Smart Draw diagram I did:

Like any diagram, it’s simplified. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Pathway to Profits, Social Media Stuff
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