Picture this: it’s your best friend’s wedding. The two of you have been best buddies since grade school. You’ve been through it all. You’ve seen each other weather the best and worst of what life has thrown your respective ways. As your best friend gets ready to enjoy what is destined to be one of the most memorable days of their lives, you’re on the front lines of wedding preparations. Even though your friend is on a budget, some expenses just aren’t spared—like the caterer and photographer. Why is that? Can’t Aunt Josephine cook just as well as the $25 a plate caterer, and isn’t Uncle Jim a crack shot with a camera?
The truth is Aunt Jo makes a mean mashed potato, and Uncle Jim takes gorgeous photos, but neither one are in the wedding business. On this one and only day to say, “I do,” your friend spares no expense on these two venues for a very simple reason: they can’t afford mistakes.
In much the same way, a lot of business owners hire out their copywriting needs because they can’t afford (nor do they want) mistakes. But just what mistakes can be made? I mean, we’re only talking about writing a few words and making people want to buy stuff, right? How hard can that be? I bet that friend of yours—the one who aced a few high school papers—could handle it. Let’s see why that couldn’t be more wrong.
Why Copywriting Is Hard
We’re stepping into the debate box to cover a controversial subject. A lot of people will tell you that copywriting isn’t that hard. Others will say it’s easy as pie. Still more will compare it to the piano; easy to do poorly and exceedingly difficult to do well. Well, here’s the skinny on writing:
Mechanics Matter – Can you guarantee excellent spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation? By excellent, we mean 99.9% perfect 99.9% of the time, which means following the rules of English perfectly and knowing when it’s okay to break them in favor of audience appeal.
It Requires Skill – If you were handed a piece of wood and told to craft a statue of a bear, could you? If you were a carpenter by trade, probably! If not, doubtful. Writing is the same. It takes skills, the kind of skill that results from years of practice and firsthand experience.
It’s Art – No joke, writing is part art. If writers merely crafted sentences per the stringent rules of English, there would be no such thing as audience appeal. It’s like the difference between the computer code that makes your favorite app and the beautiful bright interface you know as your favorite app. Both parts of needed to make it work, and you can’t have one without the other. Good copywriting isn’t mere raw skill. It’s part skill and part art, and the percentages change based on the project.
So, can just anyone write? Let’s put this into perspective: can just anyone perform heart surgery? I mean, it’s just major surgery, right? What could possibly go wrong?
It’s All Fun and Games
Getting your friend to tackle your copy, or striking off into the unknown on your own are all adrenaline rushes. But the fact remains that they’re all fun and games until someone—likely your business or a reader—gets their eye poked out. 25 of the simplest copywriting mistakes are easy to make if you lack experience:
Writing for the company: People have one burning question on their minds when it comes to your product or service: what’s in it for me? According to Crazyegg.com, they don’t care about your company, your life story, or your sheer awesomeness. They care about what’s in it for them. Don’t bore them with endless company drivel.
Missing the target: Audience, that it is. Do you know exactly who your target audience is? More importantly, does your copywriter? Your copy has to hit that target dead on. It has to hook, captivate, and motivate. If your writer doesn’t know your target audience intimately, they might as well be trying to shoot a moving target with no ammo—it’s not gonna happen!
Bad formatting: You can write an epic article, but it’ll never meet the reader’s eye if it’s badly formatted. Bad or no headings, long and tedious paragraphs, and a dull visual presentation will kill your copy on publication.
Failed headlines: According to Copyblogger, your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you can make before a prospective reader either clicks to your content or passes you by. A strong headline tells the reader why they can’t miss your article before they even open it. Can you pack an informative, emotional, and curiosity causing punch in 5 to 10 words?
Improper tone: How often doesn’t the wrong tone spark an argument?Couples will be the first to admit that slipping into the wrong tone at the wrong time can spark a blowout that’ll leave somebody sleeping on the couch! So too can choosing the wrong audience tone. Tone is a thousand times more important in copy because it’s written; there’s no body language to save the day, only words and context. It takes an experienced pen to not only choose the proper tone, but also hold it from start to finish.
Address the right customer: Your target audience isn’t made of universal customers. In fact, it’s likely your customers break down into categories of people all searching for similar yet unique solutions to several problems. Each piece of copy from your company must address the right customer, and your combined pieces of copy need to be all-inclusive yet easily structured for a breakdown for those detail oriented customers.
Invest the audience emotionally: Creative storytelling isn’t just old school, it’s a staple of the savvy Internet copywriter. Storytelling invests the audience emotionally, which keeps them reading and makes them come back for more.
Stay on topic: People are flooded with information on a minute-by-minute basis. Between Twitter, Facebook, and G+ feeds, and then multiple news feeds and e-mail subscriptions, the average person has more material hitting their devices than they could read in a lifetime. Chances are, if you haven’t made mistakes 1 through 7, they’ll give your copy a glimpse. But you had better stay on topic. Take a surprise trip down the rabbit hole mid-article, and your audience will bail.
Get to the point: If you’ve avoided the rabbit hold, then the next thing to dodge is taking your time getting to the point. You and I don’t like being held up in the Starbucks line. Why would be spend an extra five minutes reading for the writer to get to the point? Hit us with that bad boy fast, and then we’ll decide if we should read more.
Stay relevant: This applies to each piece of copy AND your content as a whole. If it isn’t all relevant to your product, service, and brand, then readers will drop like flies. They won’t understand why you’re writing what you’re writing, and they aren’t going to try to figure it out.
Rely on facts: Factual content is credible and authoritative. It tells people you’re more than a sales machine; you’re a resource. People want to be educated. Weave proven facts backed by evidence into your copy, and you’ll be creating a golden egg.
Build in proper citations: If you’ve made it this far and haven’t made mistakes 1 through 11, then it’s time to build in proper citations to show that evidence that backs your facts. But any old citation won’t do. You need to cite credible material. Do you or your writer know how to use tools like MozBar to determine a website’s credibility and authority, and then choose the cream of the crop to link to?
Assuming the reader knows what you mean: This is an epic error. Never, ever talk down to your audience. But never, ever assume they know exactly what you mean. You have to strike the perfect balance between general writing and jargon.
Closing correctly: The best copy ends on a motivational point known as a call to action. The CTA will tell the reader what to do. The writer has to know just how hard to push without coming across as pushing. A CTA could be as simple as encouraging them to contact you or read more on your website, but if it isn’t presented properly, it will fall on deaf ears—or is that blind eyes?
Remain PC (politically correct): In other words, don’t offend! Word choice is everything. Leave copywriting to an inexperienced soul, and you just might find a large portion of your audience taking offense to the words or ideas that are conveyed.
Focusing on features: It’s one of the most common and repeated copywriting mistakes. People don’t care about the features as much as the benefits. What’s in it for them? Why are you more beneficial than the other guy?
Saying too much: According to Crazyegg.com, it’s not about long vs. short copy. It’s about rambling. The inexperienced writer has a tendency to say more than needed. Say too much, risk losing your audience.
Keyword optimization/density: Over or under optimize your keywords, and you’ll feel it in your search engine rankings. Does your writer know the ins and outs of the most recent keyword standards?
Too much product focus: The customer wants to know about your product and/or services, but they also want to know a bit about who they’re buying from. Don’t forget to give them a taste of what you and your company stand for.
Too much fluff: We all love marshmallow fluff, but only in moderation. Strong copy cuts the fluff in favor of the meat and potatoes.
An adjective overdose: According to Shopify.com, adjectives are the handy dandy words that help us explain what our product looks like, what it does (features), and how it makes the buyer feel (benefits). They’re fine in moderation. But if you over do it, the reader will OD; thus, slowing them down and causing confusion.
Lack of personality: Appealing writing has personality. It speaks. Your brand should reflect its personality through your copy. Fail to do this, fail to produce quality.
A sheer lack of editing: The pro copywriter has an editor. Somebody proofs over their work and catches the tiny errors that can make or break the copy. Working with a pro is like getting a two-for-one. Doing it yourself or hiring a friend means you had better get yourself an editor, and they had better know what they’re doing.
Lack of a unique selling point: Why are you different? Your writer has to understand how and why you are unique and then highlight that selling point to the customer. Otherwise, you’ll blend into the crowd.
And The Biggest Mistake of Them All
Investing in the wrong pen: Copy is the blood of your online presence. It is essential to life! Sure, you can opt to do it yourself or hire a local buddy, but is it worth the risk? Revisit your best friend’s wedding. What if Aunt Jo catered? Her mashed potatoes are spectacular, but can she make them for 1,000 people? Can she create a thrilling three-course meal for such a huge event? Does she know how to bake the cake? And what about Uncle Jim as the photographer? Is he going to capture every once in a lifetime moment in stunning clarity, at the perfect angle, with the best light? As much as we love Aunt Jo and Uncle Jim, they’re just not cut out for the task. To put them in such huge and stressful positions would jeopardize the day AND their relationship with the family. Why would you put yourself or your buddy in the line of fire when it comes to your copywriting needs?
Advertising and copywriting go hand-in-hand much like caterers, photographers, and weddings. According to BizCommunity.com, if you search back through the history of advertising, you’ll discover that the industry was built on copywriting. It’s a hard, cold fact that not all copywriters are created equal.
Don’t entrust the very survival and livelihood of your business to just anyone. Can you guarantee anyone other than a skilled expert could avoid the 25 mistakes we’ve covered? And these mistakes are just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t be the Titanic! Avoid the pitfalls of second-rate copy and make an educated investment
Have you been noticing the term “content delivery networks” or “CDN” hanging out around a few of your favorite sites? Have you heard that it is really quite useful to use content delivery networks (CDN), but still aren’t sure what this means? This blog is perfect for you! We are going to explore just what CDNs are, how to use them, and why you should be using them for your blog.
What Is A CDN?
Simply put, a CDN is a collection of several servers that work together to get end-users’ information quickly. The information is stored on one server, but is accessed by multiple ones throughout the globe, giving quicker access. This is a common technology used by online streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu. Did you ever wonder how you were able to download and stream that episode of House M.D. so quickly and why it is so easy to continue streaming episodes until you’ve watched 8 hours worth of TV? Now you know! You can blame the CDNs for your Netflix binges.
While this is common for streaming services, it is also becoming increasingly common for webpages that don’t require videos to stream. This helps to get a webpage to load quickly, on any device, anywhere in the world. For example, if you are looking at Filofax UK to find the best planner or inserts for your planner and you’re in the States, you’ll notice how quickly it loads. This is because of a CDN. There is a cache of information from the Filofax website in a server that is much closer to you than one in London. It is helpful and makes it much easier to get what you desire. Doesn’t this sound like something you want for your site? It should! Now let’s take a look at how you can use it and some more reasons as to why you should.
How Do I Use It?
You will need to choose an adequate CDN service to use this for your site. One of the key elements in using and choosing a CDN service is that you research everything before choosing one. A few good things to know are the types of services you will need such as streaming, progressive downloads, on-demand, live, or combinations of these. Contact several different providers and ask them your questions. Don’t decide immediately on which provider to go with; take some time and compare notes from the different providers. This will help you weigh the options, as well as reflect over each conversation.
You should definitely trust your gut when it comes time to choose. If you felt weird about a certain provider, even if they offered some excellent benefits, you should move them lower down the list. This could be because the offers sounded too good to be true or just that you weren’t keen on how the customer service representative handled your questions. Whatever the reason, trust your gut.
Why Should I Be Using It?
Seeing that you’d need to choose a provider might have made you raise an eyebrow and think, “Well, maybe I don’t need this!” However, nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s take a look at a few simple reasons why you should be using a CDN.
1. Better User Experience. One of the biggest perks of using a CDN is that user experience will be significantly better. A CDN helps to make the website load quicker and be available in more areas around the globe, which is important when it comes to the world now. If you have poor user experience, you will lose ranks and visitors quickly. Aim to make the experience on your site better with optimal flow and by switching to a CDN.
2. Perfect For Mobile Users. CDNs help tremendously when it comes to having a website that is mobile friendly. A CDN is perfect for mobile users because many aren’t near your area or server, so if there is a server that has your information stored already, it will make it available to mobile users no matter where they are. Remember, making your website available for mobile users is crucial to a successful website.
3. Pre-cache Is A Big Help. What does pre-cache mean? Well, if someone accesses the CDN your information is on, even for a different website, he or she will already have the network downloaded when that person goes to your website. This will keep the user from having to download the network again and give him or her almost immediate access to your website. Nifty, isn’t it?
In Closing
Start looking into investing in a content delivery network soon to start seeing excellent results on your website. You’ll be pleased with the success of your site when it comes to user experience, which can rank you higher on Google. However, you won’t be the only one who is pleased; your users will be just as pleased if not more so because they are able to access your website quickly. Speed is everything when it comes to the Internet!
One way online content really wins the game for Internet marketers is through local keyword optimized landing pages. How so? Well, let’s put this in action. For example, if someone were to search for “Atlanta bathroom plumbing,” the written 800-word landing page for an Atlanta plumber’s website addressing bathroom plumbing would show up.
Backlinks, domain authority, and other technical SEO elements, which are useful in other ways do not come close to the power of a locally optimized landing page for local SEO keyword searches. Now, just how exactly do you create them so they work that well? Let’s look at that.
Long Tail Keywords Are Your Local Keywords
These locally-focused keywords are also called long-tail keywords; as long-tail keywords, they are often easy to rank quickly for because of the low-competition amounts, if you utilize one of Google’s favorite ranking elements: an original, well-researched, 800-word-minimum landing page. Yes, yes, 800 words. It doesn’t seem like a landing page should have so many words, but it works out in your favor quite significantly!
Examples In Action
“In & Out Plumbing” has a great example of how to locally optimize and use a landing page.
This is one we are quite proud of since our team wrote it up. Take a look at how this is written for a specific town in which this company offers services. This helps the company rank in local search results and also helps to keep them from being slapped with a ban or penalty from Google for duplicate content, which is something many websites suffered from the release of Google Panda 4.0.
Let’s take a look at another example, but this time of one page that doesn’t utilize local search help.
This is another plumbing company, but instead of having separate pages for the various areas they service, they have one. The landing page is approximately 100 words and the footer serves as what brings in the search results. This makes the content duplicate across different sites, which makes this website rank poorly and can eventually get them in trouble with Google.
Do you see the difference? Which one speaks positively to you as a viewer? Now think about how these pages speak to the search engine. Site number one is going to get incredible results from utilizing multiple local pages without duplicate content, whereas site number two is going to feel the burn of low ranks and views.
How To Write Locally Optimized Landing Pages – 5 steps
Now that you’ve seen the outcome of how important local SEO is to websites let’s take a quick trip with five steps on just how to go about locally optimizing your site! 1. Include Location Facts. Talk about local landmarks, the area, and be relevant so the reader knows you truly know about their current location. This is best done in the middle of the page or the footer – you want to address what they’re looking for right away and then show them you know the location. If you hire an out-of-area copywriter to write your content for you, you can always include information about local landmarks so that he or she can adequately write up a local landing page for your business. 2. Correct Length & Keyword Density. Longer content is always better than shorter – a 2,200 word page, according to QuickSprout’s study, could make it to the top of your analytics. Consider investing in more than 800 words. And while keyword density seems to be something of the past, making sure it is still a decent number can be important. This can help you make sure you know just how many keywords you use in your content to make sure you don’t over optimize. This is yet another thing that can get you a penalty and eventual ban from Google – avoid it. Most people believe that a keyword density of about 3% is a great aim to have, just make sure you don’t go above it and remember that it is fine to be below 3%. 3. Optimize Your Meta Tags For Local Search.
When you are writing up your meta tags, make sure to include the city and state. For example, if you are a business located in Kansas City, MO then use “Kansas City, MO” for one of your pages’ meta tags. If you service the areas around, such as Independence, MO, then make sure you have a separate page for that location with a meta to match. This includes your title tags, descriptions, URLs, and headings. 4. Give Tips For Customers. We all love a great DIY; these help us learn how to do awesome things around our homes or at our offices and are all incredibly useful. Sure, you want your customers to use your services, but a DIY is going to show that you really do want to help them. Start by giving useful DIYs that are easy to accomplish and then suggest that if they are finding it difficult to complete the task, your company is there to step in and help. Consider using words like “help” or “assist” instead of “take over.” Sometimes, the reader might interpret “taking over” as a negative statement about their abilities to accomplish something, but everyone at some point knows they will at least need help. 5. Double-check For Duplicates And Get Rid Of Them. Duplicates, as we’ve said, are dangerous for your company to have and you must avoid them as much as possible. Unfortunately, this can sometimes be difficult for businesses as they forget to change and delete information once they’ve moved locations or had a previous website that they have long stopped using. No matter how long ago the move was or the website has been vacant, Google will always remember. Make sure to search for your company and remove all duplicate results. Moz gives some great tips on doing your own investigations into the duplicate content, helping you find the best way to clear it and move away from potential Google penalties.
In Closing
We hope you see just how important local SEO is for businesses and that you will start to optimize all of your content for local searches. This will help your business become successful in your area, and keep your website free from bans or penalties. Start making notes of all the areas your service, how many webpages you’ll need, and what keywords will work the best with your area. You’ll be pleased with the results you get once you put your plan into motion!
The 2014 Olympics were filled with talented people, glorious uniforms, and humor. It had its own twitter feed, and memes from different events were usually on the Internet within an hour of the event occurrence.
Although the Olympics may seem like a spectacle with no substance, we as copywriters can actually take inspiration from various things that happened in the two-week span that was the Winter Olympics. Let’s take a look—shall we?
How to Handle those Annoying Mess-ups
The most memorable moment outside of the #sochiproblems twitter trend was that pesky Olympic ring not opening. Memes started popping up everywhere, joke articles posted, and people talked about it for the entirety of the Olympics. It is something that will live on for years and give Type A personality types nightmares until the end of days. There is an important lesson to be learned with this particular mess up, though.
At the closing ceremony, watchers were not expecting Russia, of all countries, to make fun of itself. Many people had, and still do have, preconceived ideas about Russia and were completely surprised when Russia did something a lot of people are afraid to do by mocking themselves and turning a bad situation into a humorous one. They took and implemented the old saying of “it is better to laugh with people then have people laugh at you,” into the closing ceremony. That was quite epic! It was on the Internet in minutes, maybe even seconds. Twitter exploded with tweets exclaiming how amazing it was, and everyone seemed to enjoy it completely.
What can we take away from this mess up? Well, we all know we will mess up eventually and possibly mess up just as epically. We write our copy, read it, re-read it, and send it off to editors, but undoubtedly something will happen. That is Murphy’s Law for you. There is likely to be some time when you find information online and share it or quote it only to find out it is a farce. That is embarrassing, and it is understandable if all you want to do is hide from the world. Instead, follow Russia’s example of making fun of their flub. Joke about your mess up with followers and readers; do not try to hide the fact that you messed up. Everything will be fine, and people will enjoy and appreciate that you are laughing at yourself and your mistake, as well as being honest.
Staying Current with Your Copywriting
Keeping up with the trends is important in every aspect of advertising, hosting sporting events, and copywriting. If you are not current, people will turn away from your events or stop reading your material. You do not want this to happen because those attendees and readers help keep you successful!
When it came to advertising the Winter Olympics, the BBC went about it in a very current way. Their commercial leading up to the Olympics had a Game of Thrones vibe to it, very dark and full of treacherous landscapes. Not only did they play off of the darkness and wintry aspects of Game of Thrones, they also got an actor from the show to do the voice over. Fans of the TV show were very excited when they heard Tywin Lannister’s (aka Charles Dance) voice begin. Another way advertisers got people to tune into the Olympics is the “Loser Gets Bieber” billboard that went viral. It was set up in Chicago for the men’s Canada vs. USA hockey game and many people who otherwise might not have watched the game, tuned in. It quickly became the “most important” game of the Olympics.
Photo credit: Command Sign
We are not suggesting making fun of celebrities who are in the news for some of their most raucous behavior, but we are showing that keeping up with current events brings in more viewers, and in your case, more readers. As Hubspot points out, many of the athletes at the Olympics were down to earth and kept up with the current trends, particularly those within the extreme sports category. The word “stoked” was used 14 times, someone joked “Wu-Tang” was for the children (which, we will say, they aren’t), and people were just generally easy going. This is a big part of society now, especially with the millennial generation. Due to this laidback approach many millennials tweeted and talked about the Olympics.
Staying True to You and Your Readers
Another important lesson you can take inspiration from in your copywriting is how many athletes were unassuming while also managing to please their fans. When people tune in for extreme sports, they want to see laidback people, not people in shiny costumes who use exquisite language. When tuning in for figure skating, viewers want to see those sparkly, and sometimes outlandish, costumes. Let’s not forget that Bermuda stayed true to themselves and wore shorts to the Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.
Photo credit:Mashable
The Olympics are all about knowing which audiences tune into which events, and making sure advertisements and uniforms, or costumes, appeal to that demographic. The same goes for copywriting. Knowing whom you are writing for and whom you are writing to is very important. If you do not know the demographic you are appealing to, eventually people will lose interest in your writing.
Creating a Buzz
One thing that can be said about the 2014 Winter Olympics is that the opening and closing ceremony fashions were eye-catching and, in most cases, memorable. Twitter was ablaze with people discussing the different uniforms each country wore. America had gigantic Cosby sweaters while Canada had striking red coats, and let’s not forget those curling pants worn by Norway and Russia. While many fashion experts found the American and German teams to have terrible fashion sense, many people online loved the bright and crazy color combos. When the opening ceremony ended people were not just talking about that fifth ring, they were also talking about all the crazy fashion, and which aspects of the fashion they loved or hated.
Photo credit: Ints Kalnins/Reuters
How can you learn from the fashion of the Olympics? As we said earlier, many fashion experts really hated the uniforms worn for the opening ceremony. They talked hours on end about how terrible the fashions were, but this is actually great. When it comes to writing your material you may think people saying negative things about your content is the worst that could happen when in reality it can be pretty good. Having haters on your site shows that your content is engaging enough to have people disagree with you.
People love to disagree with others. We just do! We love to debate, and we love to show that we are right. Having content that gets people debating with you is a great sign you are doing something good.
Photo credit:Mashable
Lightning Fast: The Internet Responds
It is a well-known fact that the Internet responds to crazy things at lightning fast speeds. It seems like a race now for people to post responses as quickly as possible while also creating the best response. Just any old response is not going to cut it when it comes to Twitter and Tumblr, it has to be something memorable and something that will go viral. The Olympics proved this true as people responded to various political elements all the way through the events that had some of the craziest moments. Buzzfeed is one of the first sites to compile the Internet’s reactions, and after the fifth ring failed to open, they created a list of the different responses. This list had a total of 657k views! It was highly shared on social media sites; specifically Facebook and people are still sharing this post.
Copywriters should take note of how quickly the Internet responds to things, especially if it is a mistake. The good part? You can actually use this to your advantage if it happens to you. It will generate more site traffic and more interest in your writing. JCPenney was recently at the forefront of a Twitter prank/hoax drunk tweet that have since generated a lot of buzz. In 6 Ways to Fix Your Social Media When Drunk Tweets Get Out, it’s easy to see how you can make a negative event such as working quickly and decisively, being completely honest, and using it to build up publicity, work to your advantage. We understand just how fast the Internet will respond to your mess up, and it is important for you to understand this, as well. By using the Internet’s rapid response time, you can garner more interest by essentially rolling with the punches, whether the Internet is responding to you or another situation.
Final Thoughts
The Olympics provide an interesting backdrop of conversation for copywriters as they look for inspiration. It may not seem like one can get much inspiration from something filled with extreme sporting events, but it is absolutely possible. Next time you write, think of these few ways that you can get inspiration from major events that come around with more frequency than the Olympics. You will be amazed by how much you can learn!
Great content is a top way to get in Google’s favor today. But with all the content variations you could and should publish, how do you correctly sort? Blogs, articles, web pages, landing pages—don’t pile ‘em up and forget to organize!
Avoiding content clutter amounts to a basic principle that we all learned at a young age. Do you remember your mom or dad telling you to put your toys away and clean your room? The idea was to put things where they belonged, thus cleaning up your space. Well, to avoid content clutter the same principle applies. You need to know where all of your cool toys go and properly put them away after you’ve played.
Your Cool Content Toys
We all love show and tell! It’s time to show off your super cool content toys. So whatcha got? Well, here are a few of the toys that should be somewhere on your website floor, and if they’re not, you better get them:
Niche and product specific content: Back in the day when businesses marketed on a local level, competition was fierce. The Yellow Pages and highway side billboards were prime advertising real estate, and the potential audience pool was seen as huge. Successful marketing took specifics. Imagine how much more important this is today.
The Internet isn’t local; it’s international. Your potential audience pool is a lot less pool and a lot more ocean. Niche and product specific content are essential content variations you must utilize. So if you haven’t already, focus on reaching you sales goals by creating various blogs and content for precise products and niches.
Storytelling your way to sales: According to Forbes, “storytelling is used to create an emotional investment” in marketing content. The ultimate goal of storytelling is to make the audience pay attention. Emotionally charged headlines grab attention. Investing the readers’ emotions as they read keeps them reading all the way to the most important part of your copy: the call to action.
Storytelling is a good start, but it isn’t a standalone toy—it’s like the hot wheel that needs a racetrack. You also need to organize your content logically. Otherwise, your audience won’t have a clue.
Well-organized content: Structured content can break down into a lot of detail, but for the purposes of this post, we’re going to focus on the big picture: your publishing platform, tags and categories, SEO, and meta tags.
Your publishing platform: Get a good one. It should be easy to use, easy to understand, and capable of basic search engine optimization features. A recommended and epically popular platform is WordPress.
Build in SEO: Most publishing platforms hand you simple SEO tools. For example, WordPress sports several plugins that offer full site, per web page, and per blog post optimization options including keyword and meta information insertion.
Utilize tags and categories: This takes a little finesse. You create blog categories and tags to logically sort and label your posts. The trick is to keep it simple. Each post should fit into a specific category, not a ton. And each post should carry relevant tags, not every possible tag under the sun that applies just a smidge. Your audience will use your categories and tags for search purposes. Keep them simple and highly accurate.
Don’t be afraid of meta tags: Wait just a minute! Am I talking about HTML? Yes, I am, and it’s nothing to be afraid of! I’ve seen people react to meta information like these little tags are the gigantic spiders just in from the Forbidden Forest of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. There’s nothing to be afraid of, folks! Meta tags are easy to use, and they structure the big picture of your content. Don’t be without them!
Tap into the power of a monthly newsletter: Use a monthly newsletter to pull together your best blog topics and send them out to all your clients. It doesn’t matter if these people subscribe to your content updates and social media channels. You should still leverage the power of a newsletter because chances are they’ve been too busy to catch everything. In fact, they likely missed that one topic that was just for them. Help them out. Hand them a monthly newsletter.
Get the most mileage out of your content: Use social media. Share, share, share! Think of shares as miles. For each share, you gain a mile of exposure. The more miles you gain, the farther your content traveled, and the more area your message hit.
Always Put Your Toys Away
To cut down on clutter, you have to put your toys away. Copyblogger points out that we are all “searchers” seeking the best way to solve our problems or satisfy our desires. We make split-second decisions about clicking on a headline, and the last we want to do is trip over a scattered mess of toys the moment we land on a website.
Now, putting your toys away isn’t just about putting up your content when you’re done. No, it’s about putting it where it belongs. That means completing the following steps logically:
Sorting: Meticulously order your content. Ensure that the how and why of its labels and the display make sense to the audience. If it’s not organized, it’ll just look like endless, chaotic, and unhelpful clutter.
Publishing: Be sure your content is proudly published. Build in SEO, use the tools provided by your publishing platform, and don’t be skittish of meta information.
Publicizing: Maximize your miles. Use social media. Publish a monthly newsletter. Don’t just publish and hope it gets to the right people—publicize it straight to them!
It’s a content jungle out there, and your audience won’t hesitate to ignore less than stellar content because if you can’t provide it, someone else will. Your goal should be to display your best toys proudly, as they relate to your uniqueness; i.e. avoid content clutter by putting the proper tools in the proper place.
