Online Marketing | Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Archive for Online Marketing

How a Product Funnel
Makes Blogging Profitable

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, November 4th, 2015

Building 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.

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Pathway to Profits, Profit

Tags : Attracting Clients, Online Marketing, product funnel, profitable blogs

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

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, October 14th, 2015

Can 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:

Directly
Indirectly

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

Categories : How to...Tips, Profit

Tags : blog marketing, Online Marketing, profitable blogs

SEO and Content Marketing: A Love Story

By Patsi Krakoff

Friday, May 15th, 2015

Once upon a time, SEO met up with Content Marketing, fell in love, and vowed to never separate, to always work together in harmony.

Anyone who’s been around the ‘Net a while understands a little about optimizing content so that the search engines can index it according to topic and relevance to readers. About ten years ago, someone decided to give a name to the type of marketing that occurs that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire and retain customers: Content Marketing. How do the two differ and how are they alike?

This week, I invited Jack Dawson of webfia.com. to share his insights on working with SEO and CM together instead of separately.

Where and How They Met

There are many techniques that make up internet marketing, two of which include search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing. SEO has been around for quite some time, more than a decade at least, while content marketing has only gained popularity in the last few years. Read More→

Categories : Content Marketing, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Blog Content

Tags : blog marketing, Content Marketing, content marketing with blogs, Online Marketing, SEO, Writing for the Web

Content Marketing: How do you know if it’s working?

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, August 13th, 2014

How do you know if your content is working for you? Everybody says they want more traffic, but quite frankly, traffic stats leave me scratching my head and saying “Okay, that’s nice…and so what?”

Maybe it’s because I’m not an analytical type, I prefer big picture thinking and gut feelings and intuition. But if I had a metric I could look at and be able to tell if my content is working, i.e. having an impact on readers, then maybe I’d become more analytical.

You know how those yearly physical exams give you a print out of your lab test and tell you if you’re in the “normal” range or not? Why can’t we have a report for our blogs? Or for e-newsletters? Or for overall Web content marketing?

On Monday mornings, for example, you log into your “Content Marketing Impact” account and get a free print out of how well your content has impacted readers:

Blog…82%
E-newsletter …75%
Articles…56%
Landing pages…
White Paper…
Free Report… etc. etc.

Categories : About Blogs, Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, How to...Tips, Online Marketing

Tags : business blogging, business blogs, Content Marketing, content marketing tips, online content, Online Marketing, web marketing

Newsletters, Social Media, Blogs:
What’s Best?

By Patsi Krakoff

Thursday, July 3rd, 2014

Have blogs and social media replaced e-newsletters? In a poll I did with professionals who publish a newsletter, people shared that they still send out regular e-newsletters, and told me why their subscribers like getting news:

“It helps me stay connected and it provides me with thought provoking ideas, and useful tools to be successful in life.”

Ask other professionals if they’re getting results from an e-newsletter, and then judge for yourself if it’s worth the time and effort (and money). Here are other comments I received:

“I just met with the COO at a company where I’ve been coaching. He told me that the employees (the ones I coach) forward him my newsletter. He said, ‘They want me to read it because they feel the content is often pertinent to what’s going on at the company.’ There are over 100 employees at this company and I’ll soon be asking if I can send everyone my newsletter.”

“The newsletter is an intimate way to stay in contact with clients and a non- threatening resource for potential clients to learn more about me and how my coaching can help meet their needs.”

“It has heightened awareness, helped build our brand and brought in inquiries, referrals and requests for information.”

“… when it goes out, I always receive emails from people I don’t usually hear from, telling me how much they enjoyed reading it, found my information timely and applicable, and in general, thanking me because they look forward to receiving it.”

“… when at business functions, I will often have someone say to me ‘I know who you are, I get your newsletter.’ I believe it keeps my name and what I do ‘out there.’ I see my newsletter as contributing to
my success. It makes a statement that speaks to my brand.”

Categories : Content Marketing, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Newsletter Nuggets Ezine

Tags : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, e-newsletters, newsletters, Online Marketing

Key Content Marketing Strategy: Answer Readers’ Questions

By Patsi Krakoff

Thursday, March 20th, 2014

Does your website answer readers’ questions? This is a key element of a smart content marketing strategy. You must devote a few key content pages to answering readers’ questions about your business products and services.

Otherwise you’re not helping them solve their problems. You won’t keep visitors on your site for long; it will be “click and bye-bye.” Read More→

Categories : Attracting Clients, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Writing for the Web

Tags : business blogs, Content Marketing, content marketing tips, content strategy, Online Marketing

Research Before You Write an Expert Ebook

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

If you want to write an expert ebook that sells well on Amazon, you need to research first to find out:

What’s already been published in your field of expertise?
What titles are selling well?
Where are the gaps in what’s already been published and what hasn’t yet been covered?
What do readers seek out the most?
What prices, what lengths, what covers are best?

I’ve been experimenting with ebook research software and I’m pretty impressed with what the developers have come up with. In particular, there’s a group of programs that can help Amazon authors get the information they need from Amazon sales: KDSuite.

This software has the ability to pull up data from ebooks in categories so you can compare sales info. It provides information on bestsellers, marketing, and keywords. There’s an additional program which creates ebook covers. Read More→

Categories : About Expert Ebooks, Books, Content Marketing, E-Books

Tags : expert ebooks, Online Marketing

Your Business Blog Year 10: Is It Still Worth It?

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, February 19th, 2014

Does blogging still make sense for your business? Is a business blog worth the time you need to research, write, format and publish quality content?

Some busy professionals ask me if it’s worth it to blog or would keeping in touch with people through social media sites work just as well? It’s a good question, particularly for small businesses, coaches and consultants who don’t have staff and a lot of time.

Publishing a quality blog requires time and effort. The average person needs at least two hours to complete all the tasks necessary for one blog post, and should be publishing 2-3 times a week.

Ten years ago, when I first started blogging I declared a blog to be “The best darn marketing tool on the planet!” It was if someone had handed me a microphone and people across the globe started hearing what I had to say. I started getting found online and boosted my business revenues exponentially.

But ten years later, there are a lot of ways to spread your word and publish quality content online. Communication is possible everywhere. Clients can be reached through Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter – the list goes on. Read More→

Categories : About Blogs, Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media Stuff

Tags : blog marketing, business blogging, content marketing with blogs, Online Marketing, social media marketing

Reasons to Attend the AuthorU Publishing Conference

By Patsi Krakoff

Friday, February 14th, 2014

Like you, I’ve had some bad conference experiences. I’ve spent a lot of money to travel and sit in a freezing cold room for days to listen to experts with big egos. What I hate is when I expect to learn something and instead I’m asked to spend more money.

I’ve been pitched to buy a $5,000 weekend in a guru’s mansion, or to invest in a $50,000 mentorship program. Recently I heard of one such speaker who hired people to run to his table at the back of the room in a sign-up frenzy. Unsuspecting audience members were influenced by crowd behaviors.

So I’m picky now. I only attend conferences where I know and trust the organizer and expert speakers.

Recently a successful leadership coach asked me where to go to learn how he should write and publish his book. There are a lot of book publishing conferences to pick from. But only one I know will deliver high quality information from really helpful experts:

The AuthorU 2014 Extravaganza. It’s May 1 – 3 in Denver and you can get details here. Read More→

Categories : About Expert Ebooks, Books, Content Marketing, E-Books

Tags : expert ebooks, Online Marketing

Archive for Online Marketing

How a Product Funnel
Makes Blogging Profitable

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

SEO and Content Marketing: A Love Story

Where and How They Met

Content Marketing: How do you know if it’s working?

Key Content Marketing Strategy: Answer Readers’ Questions

Research Before You Write an Expert Ebook

Reasons to Attend the AuthorU Publishing Conference

Content for Coaches and Consultants

Serenity Virtual Assistant Services

Social Buzz Club