Content Marketing Archives

55 Content Marketing Tools To Boost Your Productivity

June 19, 2024January 21, 2016 by Adam Oakley

For all of its effectiveness and value, content marketing is hard. Fortunately, there are a variety of tools to help make your content marketing efforts easier, more effective, and more productive. 55 Great Content Marketing Tools To Help You Get More Done Here are 55 of our absolute favorite content marketing tools. (Note: they are in no particular order.) 1. Buffer: Buffer is a fantastic tool for scheduling social media content across platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn and for optimizing posts for the best time possible. I love this tool and use it nearly every day to schedule all my social media content across nearly 15 social media profiles, including Pinterest and LinkedIn. The business plan at $50/month is totally worth it. Their community also hosts the popular, friendly Twitter chat #bufferchat on Wednesdays at noon EST. 2. Canva: The brain processes visual information at a rate 60,000 times faster than it does textual information, so why not give your readers something pretty to look at? If you’re like most marketers, it’s because you don’t know how to create visual images. Fortunately, Canva is here to fix that. The platform allows you to create attractive headers, flyers, featured images, and Facebook profile images, even if you’re not a design whiz. They have an awesome Design School where you can get great resources on creating visuals, too. 3. IFTTT: IFTTT (which stands for “If This, Then That”) is an automation tool that allows you to quickly schedule events, set reminders, organize email, sync files across the cloud and track the hours you spend working. It can also help you connect apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Dropbox for a more streamlined marketing experience. This is one of my favorite automated content marketing tools. Just be careful: if you automate too much in one day, your followers might think of you as… uh-oh… “spammy.” 4. Sprout Social: Sprout Social is intuitive social media management software for busy content marketers. Perfect for streamlining your life. They host #SproutChat on Twitter as well and have a good community there. 5. Bitly: Bitly is a convenient URL shortener that allows you to include URLs in character-restricted social media sites like Twitter, or to use them as a citation in your infographics. 6. Google Web Designer: Google Web Designer is an easy DIY banner-creation service that allows you to easily create banners for any device you want. 7. Instagram Ads: Even if you don’t have an Instagram account, you can still use Instagram ads to your advantage. Ideal for attracting new leads and pointing traffic directly to your site, these ads can go a long way toward helping you generate new traffic. Not on Instagram? Make that one of your tools this year! It’s been huge for our social growth. 8. Google AdWords: AdWords the pinnacle of keyword research innovations and content marketers have been using it for years to help them determine which keywords to target in their marketing campaigns. Use it to gauge local bids, use keywords dynamically, track converted clicks and target devices separately. 9. SEMrush: SEMrush allows markets to track which keywords their competition is using. It also allows you to do things like locate trending content, find industry influencers, and research topics. SEMrush also has an awesome community: they host the popular #SEMrushchat Wednesdays at 10 am CST. 10. Salesforce: Salesforce offers CRM solutions that allow companies to automate their business processes like lead management and conversion. It also allows companies to manage projects and synchronize systems with mailboxes and calendars. 11. Skitch: Perfect for content marketers who want to insert text or arrows into images to be shared in posts or social media statuses, Skitch integrates with Evernote and allows you to pixelate sensitive information (such as addresses and phone numbers) when sharing data. 12. Sidekick: Sidekick is a HubSpot tool for marketers who want to see who opens emails and when. This platform allows content marketers to track emails. 13. AngelList: AngelList is a Silicone Valley investment platform that allows marketers to invest or raise money for a variety of projects. Great for finding funding for a project or linking up with other online companies, AngelList offers the largest pool of funds dedicated to early-stage startups in the world. 14. Time Doctor: Time Doctor allows content marketers to track the productivity of a team, including tracking time spent working and managing hours. 15. Trello: The organized marketer’s dream come true. Trello allows you to organize all of your spreadsheets, sticky notes, emails, and paperwork visually according to project. 16. Google PageSpeed Insights: Perfect for optimizing pages and ensuring that you’re staying competitive in your field, this tool allows marketers to track how quickly a page is loading on mobile and desktop while also showing you where you can improve. 17. Google Mobile-Friendly Test: The Google Mobile-Friendly Test allows you to earn a “Mobile friendly” label below your organic search results when you pass the comprehensive mobile efficiency test. It’s easy, free, and can help you land more organic search results. 18. Uberflip: Uberflip is an innovative software designed for content marketers, and is a great content marketing tool. This platform displays different content on your site depending upon who is viewing it, which makes it perfect for targeting unique audiences and providing valuable material. 19. Yoast SEO: Yoast SEO is a free WordPress plugin that allows marketers to evaluate blogs for keywords and to preview a post’s performance in organic SERPs. 20. Publicize for WordPress: This convenient feature can save you time when it comes to your social media sharing. Publicize for WordPress allows you to automatically share blogs to Google+ profiles and other platforms you may use. 21. Instapage: For anyone who has ever struggled with landing page creation, this tool is for you. Quick template-based creation, this software makes creating landing pages a snap. 22. Crazy Egg: Crazy Egg is a fantastic platform that allows marketers to see where users are clicking and what they’re interacting with while they’re on your website. It can also help you understand why people leave your site and how they’re interacting with your calls … Read more

How to Do Your Best Content Planning This 2016

December 31, 2020January 12, 2016 by Adam Oakley

2016 is here – another year is upon us! And many people just like you are wondering what they’re going to do about their content marketing in the New Year. For many creators, the task of content creation became stressful a long time ago and, now, many view it as more of a chore than a joy, especially given the importance and stress of it all. It’s one of the key marketing principles to include if you have a website and presence at all online. Fortunately, there are ways to hack your content planning in order to ensure that you’re doing your best work in 2016 and that all the content you create is content that your readers are excited to interact with. As a busy group of expert content creators, we know just what you need to know in order to do your best content planning this 2016! Here are our best tips. First: Defining Good Content Planning The concept of content planning is pretty simple: content planning allows you to plan your content in advance in order to avoid frantic, last-minute crushes to create something as well as allowing you to ensure that your content is doing what it’s supposed to do: attract readers. Content planning has many benefits, not the least of which are planning for seasonal content, ensuring proper keyword usage, taking action on reader requests, and promoting content variation. The 5 Steps of Effective Content Planning Great content planning is a little bit like planning a road trip: you need to know where you’re going, how you’re going to get there, and what you’re going to do once you have. In order to ace your content planning in 2016 and beyond, you’ll need to follow these 5 steps: 1) Define your Destination In order to plan content effectively, you’ll need to know what purpose you want your content to fulfill. Maybe 2015 saw you with large traffic numbers but low conversions or maybe you want to make more sales. In any event, you need to define the goal of your content before you begin creating it. A fantastic way to do this is to compile a list of primary and secondary goals. Once you’ve laid out your goals, you’ll want to set a time frame for achieving them. Building relationships with your audience is going to take time and it’s unfair for you to expect anything to happen overnight. So, for example, maybe you say you’d like to increase your sales through content 20% by June of 2016. This gives you 6 months to test new theories, plan your content, and make changes to your company. 2) Identify Your Target Audience Once you’ve identified your goals, it’s time to identify the people who will help them become a reality. Enter your target audience. These people are hugely important to your company and it pays to ensure that you’re doing everything you can to nurture and create content for them. Even if you’ve defined your target audience in the past, the beginning of 2016 is a great time to reevaluate it. Target audiences do change over time and it’s important to keep your marketing personas up to date and current. To begin this process, sit down and consider the following questions: What demographics (age, location, income, gender, education, occupation, marital status) comprise your target audience? What do they value (interests, morals, attitudes, values, lifestyles, hobbies)? What are they interested in? What content medium (text, videos, podcasts) are they most likely to interact with? To get a fuller feel for your target persona, take a look at your current site visitors to determine what the typical reader is and what they want. For more information about creating a buyer’s persona that helps you get a handle on who your target audience is and what they want, consider this buyer persona card from Manobyte: 3) Define your distribution channels Once you know what your goals are and who you’re speaking to, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to get your message out. Content planning extends far beyond blog posts and entails social media posts, video content, and a variety of other web-based platforms. In order to determine which of these many channels will most benefit you, you’ll have to consider where your target audience likes to hang out. For example, if your audience loves Twitter and Facebook but isn’t so into Instagram, you’d be wise to begin your content distribution efforts on those platforms. If you’re new to content creation, a great benchmark to start with is Twitter, Facebook, blog posts, and Instagram. These four platforms combine to offer short- and long-form content, visual content, and interactive content, which is a fantastic foundation for new marketers to start from. So, in conclusion, you’ll want to spend some time considering where your audience is, what content types they expect to see, which channels your audience is currently interacting with and where, if any, the content gaps are. Considering these things will help you put together an effective content strategy that truly caters to your unique readers. 4) Establish your team According to Hootsuite, any content marketing strategy that’s up to snuff will follow the Rule of Thirds. The Rule of Thirds suggests that of all the content you post, 1/3 should be promotional, 1/3 should share ideas from industry thought leaders, and 1/3 should seek to build personal relationships with readers. This is one of the reasons content planning is so important: creating good content takes time and no business can expect to adhere to the rule of thirds and create quality material without extensive planning ahead of time. For this reason, you’ll need to establish a team that’s dedicated to your content creation needs. Ideally, you’ll have a writer, designer, editor, and publisher to create content and help distribute it. In some cases, however, there aren’t enough people on-staff to handle these roles or a company simply doesn’t have the time to create content in-house. In … Read more

Love at First Click: 10 Ways To Create Your Best Headlines This Year

December 31, 2020January 7, 2016 by Adam Oakley

Of all the people that visit your blog, 80% of them will read your headline: and only 20% of them will go on to read your body copy. While that may seem like a dismal statistic, it holds some serious power for the people who get headlines right. The reason for this is that when you craft great headlines, you boost your chances that people will go on to read the rest of your content. But how exactly do you craft great headlines? Here’s what you need to know. Get your free resource: 120 Power Words for Your Headlines & 10 Top CTA Phrases The Lowdown on Creating Headlines: It’s an Art If you want great results for your content, you can’t expect to just whip out headlines left and right. In fact, QuickSprout recommends spending half the time you spent creating your content creating a headline. While this may seem overkill, there’s no underestimating the importance of headlines. Part of this is due to the fact that there are upwards of 2 million blog posts, 864 thousand hours of vide, 294 billion emails, and 400 million tweets being created on a daily basis. With that much content on the web, it’s clear that a headline is one of your only chances to grab a reader who’s distracted by a million other things and say, “Hey! Click here.” When you get it right, you have the potential to boost your traffic, earn more readers, and rise to web fame. But how do you do it well? Here are 10 tips to help you get started. 10 Tips for Headlines So Good They’ll Break the Internet Writing great headlines is an art form. There are several tried-and-true formulas that work well every time and, as a content creator, it’s important to get familiar enough with these that you can include them in your arsenal. Here are some of our favorites: 1) Use numbers “9 Facts about Elon Musk, according to Elon Musk,” “20 Ways to Have the Best Day Ever,” “5 Fitness Tips to Help You Rock the New Year” …. what do these headlines have in common? They all use numbers to draw readers in. According to a study conducted by Moz, 36% of readers prefer numbered list headlines. And according to the BBC, this is because list posts tell us exactly what we’re getting. Plus, list posts are easy to read, easy to skim, and easy to draw value from. This helps readers feel like they’re getting a great deal and creates content that is highly shareable. 2) Address the reader “Have you Ever Wanted Anything as Much as This Cat Wants This Laser?” “Don’t Know What to get your Father for Father’s day? We can Help.” “Your Complete Survival Guide to the Holiday Madness.” According to the aforementioned Moz study, 21% of readers prefer headlines like these. The reason is simple: when a headline addresses the reader directly, it breaks the previously-held barriers between a writer and a reader, creating a more personalized experience that’s easier for the reader to relate to. 3) Offer valuable information Imagine this: you’re having trouble setting up your new Bluetooth speaker. You head to the internet to search for answers and several results pop up. There are Q&A boards, a lengthy description of your Bluetooth speaker, and an article titled “How to Configure Your Bluetooth Speaker Without Ripping Your Hair Out.” Which one are you going to click? Chances are, you’ll choose the how-to article. The reason for this is because the how-to article offers immediately actionable information in a simple-to-read package, which saves you from combing through Q&A boards or scrolling endlessly, in search of answers to your pressing questions. 4) Steer clear of superlatives “The 13 Best Ways to Create the Most Perfect, Smartest Kid Ever.” Is that headline a little too superlative-dense for you? We thought so. Moz recently surveyed respondents for their tolerance to superlatives. What they found was that about 51% of them were more inclined to click on a headline that featured only 0-1 superlatives. In other words, most readers prefer a headline that is descriptive, yet understated. The reason for this may be that, most of the time, superlative-dense headlines feel a little too unbelievable. For best results, and to attract the most readers, keep it toned-down, believable, and clear. 5) …. Or go all out In that same Moz survey, a full ¼ of respondents went the other way entirely. Instead of clicking on the understated headline, they leaned toward headlines that were packed with up to 4 superlatives. The takeaway? When crafting your headlines, readers either want you to keep it simple or to go big. Just remember that when using superlatives, you’ll want to keep them positive (think “perfect, largest, funniest, strongest, best, fastest, easiest”, etc.) in order to craft strong, emotionally appealing headlines. 6) Offer the best information Today’s readers area all about efficiency. They want to know the best way to do something in the shortest amount of time. This is part of the reason sites like Lifehacker have become so incredibly popular. Because of this, headlines that offer “the best” path to anything are much more clickable than those that beat around the bush. Take, for example, the recent New York Magazine article titled “The Best Ways to Fake Clean a House.” Who wouldn’t click that headline? 7) Back it up While being the best and piling on the superlatives is all well and good, it’s not worth much if you’re just making it up. For this reason, it’s important to back your outlandish claims up. Take the recent Lifehack article titled “10 Scientifically Proven Ways to Stay Happy All the Time.” It has over 5,000 shares and we’re willing to bet a good deal of that is because the words “scientifically proven” back the claim up enough that people find it immediately trustworthy. 8) Get real Just like people love authoritative information, they also love authentic information, … Read more

Expert Weigh-In: Content Marketing Predictions For 2016

December 31, 2020December 31, 2015 by Adam Oakley

We talked to more than 15 content marketing experts (19, to be exact) this month and asked them for 2016-geared content marketing predictions on our industry. Here’s what they shared. Longer insights directly from the experts are shared below the infographic. The Experts Weigh-In: 19 Content Marketing Predictions For 2016 1. Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Evangelist, Founder of Content Marketing Institute, Author, Speaker, Twitter @JoePulizzi “Focus everything on building subscribers – one content type, one platform and consistent delivery over time.” 2. Kevan Lee, Content Crafter at Buffer, Twitter @kevanlee “Really excited to see where content marketing goes in 2016. I have a sense that we’re nearing some really big changes, perhaps even a bit toward segmentation of sorts. I’m kind of thinking back even to blogs like Daring Fireball and Kottke that have been curators of a sort, while also taking occasion to go longform on a topic if need be. This mix – long plus short, or rich media plus plain text also – is one direction I could see things heading, as it might support the varied tastes of readers who might want different things!” 3. Steve Rayson, Director at BuzzSumo, Twitter @steverayson “The job of content marketers will be challenging in 2016. The volume of content published will continue to grow exponentially and getting your voice heard will be harder. Thus it will be important to research content opportunities before you start creating content. For example, what content does your audience love, what emotional elements engage them, what formats do they like and what content do they particularly like to share such as quotes, facts, images, tips, research, news, etc.? What is the best content in your space and how can you improve on it? It will also be increasingly important to have an amplification strategy before you create content. Who will share the content and who will link to it? You need a clear outreach strategy for influencers and link building. Building relationships with key influencers will grow in importance. In 2016 the battle for content engagement will be won or lost before any content is even written.” 4. Ted Rubin, Social Marketing Strategist, Keynote Speaker, Brand Evangelist, Acting CMO of Brand Innovators, Twitter @tedrubin “For marketers thinking about approaching content marketing from a networking and community building aspect rather than a marketing and sales aspect can be very difficult. Brands need to attract customers, but breaking through the clutter is challenging. Every day brands and marketers are spending millions trying to get you to use, keep using, and share that you love their brands. But why aren’t they doing everything they can, and using some of those millions to do it (probably way less that they are spending on those marketing campaigns), making experiences with their brand remarkable. Opportunities to do this are given to brands each and every day and they simply, turn their heads, rave about their latest and great “campaign’ as if it were a military conquest, and pass up ways to really create customers for life. 2016 needs to be the year of doing what I call… Looking People in the Eye Digitally. The last few decades of marketing tactics have made us lazy communicators and I’ve had just about enough. Most often we don’t even pay attention to who we are talking to other than via the data we collect (and even that’s a maybe). In order to fix this and really start to benefit from the content we produce (both as individuals and as companies), we need to start looking people in the eye digitally.’ Brands, in 2016, and going forward… Standout by “LIKING” them BEFORE they “LIKE” you. #RonR… #NoLetUp!” 5. Michael A. Stelzner, Founder of Social Media Examiner, host of Social Media Marketing podcast, Twitter @Mike_Stelzner “360 Degree Live Video Experiences: The year 2015 started an era of live casting with the introduction of new technology such as Periscope, Facebook Live and Blab. 2016 will take some of these live broadcasts to an entirely new level with the introduction of live 360 degree broadcasts that will allow people to move their mobile phones and experience the action as if they were actually present and moving their heads. In addition we’ll see the wide scale adoption of cost effective virtual reality devices that will enable fully immersive 3D experiences that are live. Much of this will be enabled by low cost 360 cameras like the Ricoh Theta combined with economical devices like Google Paper that transform the smart phones everyone already owns into a virtual reality device. This represents an entirely new opportunity for marketers to give factory tours and any other form in-person experience the mind can imagine.” 6. Mark Traphagen, Top 10 Expert for SEO & Content Marketing, Speaker, Sr. Director of Marketing at Stone Temple Consulting, Twitter @marktraphagen “Make 2016 your year of quality over quantity. Rather than straining to get out as many content assets as you can, concentrate on producing fewer but truly epic pieces, and then repurpose and re-promote them over and over again.” 7. Brian Fanzo, Change Evangelist & Keynote Speaker, host of #SbizHour, #CloudTalk, SMACtalk, Twitter @iSocialFanz “Content Marketing in 2016 will see a new focus on creating great content that embraces real-time input from the community while creating and delivering the content at the right time! “Content is king” inspired marketers to create content just because they knew that content was powerful rather than asking for feedback, leveraging data and creating great content. Thanks to apps like snapchat, periscope and Facebook live streaming brands can now crowd source content ideas in real-time while also surveying their audience to better understand the content they should be creating for their community. Live streaming will also drive a new focus on creating more authentic content and dissolving the notion that customers prefer perfect content. 2016 is an exciting year for content marketing as I believe the content will be more data driven and include the community in the creation like never before ultimately making happy customers, … Read more

10 Tips To Knock Your 2016 Content Marketing Out of the Park

December 31, 2020December 11, 2015 by Adam Oakley

It’s almost the New Year! What will your resolutions be? Maybe you’re dedicating yourself to a daily gym routine or you’d like to make a career change. Maybe you want to move to an exciting new city or maybe you just want to stop binge-eating Oreos and watching bad reality TV. Or maybe, just maybe, you want to make 2016 content marketing the best Internet marketing you’ve ever done, yet. While I can’t help you with the other resolutions (good luck with those Oreos), we can certainly help you boost your writing habits to the next level and get your content into shape for the coming year. 10 Hot Ways to Get Your 2016 Content Marketing in Shape Here are some tips to help you get started on great content for the upcoming New Year. 1) Always on the lookout for interesting topics If you’re a copywriter, it’s likely that the world around you is literally teeming with ideas for great content. Maybe you’ve noticed a new algorithm update that has changed the way you search or maybe you’re seeing that all the holiday ads on TV are using storytelling tactics to make connections with customers. Maybe you’ve heard about a hot new tech development or you’ve learned something that has made your content creation process easier and more fun. Whatever the case may be, keeping your eyes open and your ear to the ground can help you gather unique content ideas that nobody else is writing about. This will be especially true as 2016 and all the new developments the year will bring begin to roll out. Some copywriters choose to carry a small notebook around in order to jot down ideas as they occur. By doing this and developing them later, you can ensure that you’ve always got an arsenal of topics at your disposal and that you’re writing about things that apply to real people…like you! 2) Get organized It’s tough to be great at anything if you’re not organized. How many times have you tried to remember something you read but not been able to recall the website or the book it came from? How many times have you lost track of which version of a project you’re currently on or what you’re supposed to be doing that day? We understand. As you head into 2016, one of the easiest things you can do to beef your content creation game up is to simply get more organized. Use tools like Google+ and Evernote to file research, take snapshots of interesting things on the web, and store your ideas so you can refer back to them later. As a side note, both of these services can also be used to store your business and personal expenses and receipts, because nothing kills your content creation process quite so much as stress borne from disorganization. 3) Find your voice Every writer wants to find his or her voice, but it’s easier said than done. In order to get better at writing in your own voice throughout 2016, get a head start now. You can do this by paying special attention to the writers you admire. Why do you like the way they write? What grabs you about their copy? What does the introductory sentence look like? Does the writer use a specific style throughout all of his or her pieces? While it’s important to answer these questions, it’s also important to do so from a standpoint of learning rather than imitation. In other words, you don’t want to read this writer’s stuff and go out and copy the form exactly. Rather, you want to focus on bringing the structure, techniques, and style into your own writing. Remember that finding your voice takes time, especially if you haven’t been writing very long. Be patient with yourself and continue auditing your content and the content you admire. Over time, things will click into place. 4) Stay on topic If you’re like every other writer in the universe, it’s likely that at some point in your life, a teacher wrote “wordy” in red pen on one of your papers. It’s easy to be wordy – wordiness comes naturally to us and it can be difficult to maneuver away from it. For business or professional writing, however, it’s important to learn to trim the fat and stay on topic. One of the most helpful pieces of advice on writing is called “The Day you Became a Better Writer” by the creator of the Dilbert cartoon strip. The piece advocates auditing your sentences, doing away with anything unneeded and focusing on keeping your work simple, clear, and to the point. Even if you’re a professional writer who’s been honing the craft for years, we can all benefit from working on being succinct and clear in our writing for 2016. 5) Focus on fulfilling a need We live in the age of the content sea and with millions of pieces of web copy flying around computer screens every day, it’s hard to stand out. To get your content into shape for 2016, start focusing now on how you can get better at finding a unique angle to address topics. For example, there are hundreds of articles about local SEO on the web so it’s unrealistic to think that you’re going to write one that is different from every other article out there. You can, however, approach the same topic in a different way. Maybe you focus on local SEO for new businesses or how local SEO is going to change in light of some new Google update. These topics approach the same fundamental idea from a different angle, and are thus valuable to customers. 6) Get better at titles 8 out of 10 people read your headline so it’s wise to make sure each one is as good as possible. To write great headlines, make sure your titles are answering a question, providing breaking news, or telling readers a secret (as in “The top _______ secrets … Read more

Is The Amount of Content Plagiarism on the Web Embarrassing?

December 31, 2020December 10, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Some say he was drawing on intellectual tradition. Some say he was a plagiarist. Others just call him Thomas Jefferson. Hang on a minute. Did we just call Jefferson a plagiarist? Maybe a little. There was a man named John Locke, and it’s said that Jefferson copied directly from it for the Declaration of Independence. (Check out the reasoning behind this claim here). This meme sums up how most of us would probably feel regarding this claim: Does plagiarism go back that far? Has it gotten worse in the age of all things digital? Content Plagiarism of Olde: Let’s Take a Little Peek Content plagiarism didn’t suddenly begin when the Internet happened. A poet in 80 A.D., Martial, wrote some poetry aimed at a plagiarist that was copying his work. The original word he used, a Latin word plagiarus, described his unnamed thief – and was the formulation of today’s word, plagiarism. Interestingly enough, the word originally meant to kidnap. Yikes, Martial was pretty angry at the copier of his poetry – but hey, I totally get his anger. But before and after Martial’s age, it was common practice to copy off other people, even in writing complete history books, with little repercussions. It is said that Benjamin Franklin plagiarized entire volumes. (Whoa, dude!) Jefferson reportedly stole from John Locke to create the Declaration of Independence. Shakespeare even swiped entire plot scenarios from others. He took entire whole phrases from Plutarch and copied them in his play Antony and Cleopatra. But, some have stolen from Shakespeare, too (the famous early author, T.S. Eliot). So as you can see, it’s actually “olde practice” to copy off others. But not all olde practices are good practices, especially this one. In the 18th century, originality really started becoming an idea, or a thing. In 1755 the word plagiary was added to Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, defining a plagiarist as a thief in literature. More recently, there was a plagiarism fiasco that went on at the widely Internet-famous BuzzFeed. It was related to some crappy content going out (never put out crappy content, folks). Do you remember the controversy of that Washington Post live chat where Gene Weingarten held forth on that Benny Johnson plagiarism scandal that happened at Buzzfeed? To jog your memory: Johnson took full lines from sources that ranged from Wikipedia to Yahoo! Answers. That plagiarized content was then used for some rather bottom-of-the-barrel posts. What Weingarten had to say about this was “…to be guilty of theft one must steal something of value.” You can find the full, hilarious opinion here. Is It Merely About Repackaging? Let me put this to you: one man’s treasure is another man’s trash. Of course, using direct quotes without the right citations or marks is indefensible. But is there anything inherently evil about repackaging another person’s ideas in a way that resonates a little more loudly with audiences? I mean, isn’t this a variation of the entire model used by some of the biggest Internet platforms, from Pinterest to Facebook? Let’s Talk Content Attribution Attribution. This is where the problem lies. The bad thing about the Internet is that it’s just too easy to steal stuff. The good thing about the Internet is that it’s just so easy to link to the primary source. This was probably the biggest crime in Benny Johnson’s piece – there was a lack of quotation marks in some of the direct quotes, but had he included a link to the source, it would’ve been more acceptable. The entire practice of linking is a service for both terrible and good content. It gives the original writer their credit or alerts readers to a questionable source when content isn’t up to par. What about Content Originality? Did you know there’s an unwritten rule in advertising – you can steal from a book, movie or anything else so long as you don’t steal from another ad. The principle here makes a fair point. Originality sells. Finding that smidgeon of reality that is appropriate to your client and their product is basically advertising’s holy grail. But hasn’t the Internet gone and changed what we perceive to be wholly original to a more widespread, collaborative type of originality? While the World Wide Web had transformed our view of “originality,” it’s also made it a lot easier to plagiarize and even detect plagiarism. So you can go and, um, ‘borrow’ ideas from ads. Or you can use the Internet to check you’re not unintentionally ripping someone else’s ideas off. Does That Make Every One Of Us A Copy Plagiarist? Doesn’t that seem like a level playing field then? Or have we all become plagiarists? Or, gasp, have we always been? A lot of teachers view plagiarism as a clear cut issue. They bring it up when you’re starting out a research paper, discuss it during, maybe, one period, and never come back to it, unless a student is caught copying. Teachers warn us not to copy or there will be consequences. They tell us to present detailed citation guides; they teach us how to quote, summarize and paraphrase. Then the onus is on us to use these techniques properly. But It’s All Right There – Online – Staring At Me In an age when students can gravitate to online sources for their research, and when copious amounts of both questionable and reputable information is available – many people have come to regard the Internet as a culprit in plagiarism. Some teachers will even go so far as to forbid their students from doing research online, mistakenly believing that if they use hard-copy sources only, the problem will go away. Can We Completely Blame The Internet? Many a commentator blames the easy accessibility of the plethora of information online as the main cause of student plagiarism. Sue Carter Simmons, a researcher, dispelled this myth, though. She has shown that we have been plagiarizing since the 19th century. In fact, a 1986 survey of high school students – a time long before the Internet was a cultural phenomenon, confirmed this finding: as … Read more

10 Key Ways To Stand Out From The Crowd & Be A Thought Leader

December 31, 2020December 7, 2015 by Sarah Shade

To be a “thought leader” is one of the most sought-after titles a marketer can hope for. Thought leaders are influential individuals who play a huge role in informing the public, leading the direction of the industry, presenting new information and breaking barriers. Theirs is the content that is loved; shared; read; and sought-after. You can’t just go to school to be a thought leader, though. It requires the careful cultivation of a set of particular skills, strengths and networks. It’s not enough to simply be intelligent, hard working or interested: you also need to be passionate, unique and unafraid of pushing the boundaries of possibility. What is a True Online Thought Leader? Thought leaders are many things but, to put it simply, they’re the people to whom everyone else goes for new ideas and key questions. They are informed individuals who offer valuable opinions and inspiration for the people who learn from them and they serve the amazingly important purpose of turning intangible ideas into solid realities. Thought leaders make things happen and, more often than not, they undertake the task of transforming industries and instigating great change across varieties of platforms. Thought leaders in the content marketing world include Brian Clark, the CEO of CopyBlogger; Brian Halligan, the Co-Founder of HubSpot and Joe Pulizzi, the Founder of Content Marketing Institute. How to Be a Thought Leader: 10 Solid Tips Becoming a thought leader is a little bit like becoming a unicorn: it takes a lot of effort and just a little bit of magic. Fortunately, you’re totally capable of both of those things. In the world of content marketing, the process of becoming a thought leader boils down to having unique ideas, expounding upon them in a unique way and offering people real, tangible value. Follow these 10 tips to become a thought leader in your industry. 1) Be Authentic Although it’s part of a thought leader’s job description to create high-level content that answers tough questions and provides real value for readers, it’s also important to know yourself and know your audience. This is especially difficult when you take into account the external pressure that is exerted on though leaders all the time. While it can be tough to avoid becoming distracted by things like the analytics attached to your blog, it’s important to remember that those things don’t provide a real window the to the big picture. Additionally, they make it hard to remember that there are actually people behind all those swoopy lines and numbers. Because of this, the first step to becoming a thought leader is to be authentic, both to yourself and your audience. You came to this business because some aspect of it was interesting to you. Therefore, there is very little that is more important than continuing to chase that interest. By writing what you know and are passionate about, your content will already have an edge over a great deal of content available on the Internet. Additionally, doing this will allow you to draw a series of followers who genuinely care about your topic. How We’re Being Authentic (On Social) One way we’re working on our authenticity is bringing a new level of transparency in our social media. In August 2015 we opened an Instagram account. We’ve started to feature a weekly #virtualworkforceculture post about our remote writers, with a picture of their faces, in their location: and our CEO has been traveling weekly to local businesses for a #localbusiness feature. among other things. Here’s a glimpse: Featured #virtualworkforceculture of the week – our full time creative #writer, Oana G, based in Milano, Italy: “As you can see, I’m fighting a lost battle with clutter. To be honest, I like to surround myself with eclectic, odd, one-of-a-kind things that offer me the highest dosage of inspiration and energy. I love to connect objects with places and experiences, and I adore my job, because it allows me to get creative in my own environment.” #workfromhome #homeoffice #copywriter #copywriting #writing #marketing #SEO #contentmarketing #blogging #SMM #content #inboundmarketing #growthhacking #marketing #webtraffic #success #sales #expresswriters #photooftheday #loveit #selfie #instadaily #picoftheday #igers #instacool A photo posted by Express Writers (@expwriters) on Nov 5, 2015 at 6:49pm PST This is the start to a very transparent social account that shows just what we’re up to in the office, and ties together faces in our work-at-home based team. 2) Seek to be a Hub of Information Nobody wants another loudmouth marketer who takes over a huge portion of the Internet by hawking products or hard-selling readers. For this reason, one of the most important steps in becoming a thought leader is to dedicate yourself to being a hub of information rather than a blaring siren. Business and personal blogs should act as platforms for reader engagement and should seek, primarily, to offer value to customers. Additionally, these platforms should offer a place for people to gather and engage in conversation via blog comments, tweets and re-tweets or social media shares. By doing that, you serve the most important purpose of a thought leader: inspiring ideas and facilitating cohesion. 3) Inspire Action One of the most important purposes your content can serve is to inspire action within your readers. Your content should be so irresistible that people want to share it on social media, read the book you mentioned, try their hand at something new or travel to the exotic locale outlined in your most recent post. The goal can vary but the outcome should be the same: in order to be a thought leader, your content needs to move people to action. 4) Cultivate Your “Breakthrough Idea” One of the traits of thought leaders everywhere is that they’re associated with a breakthrough idea. Depending upon your niche, your breakthrough idea could be an area of expertise or a particular approach to an old topic. Whatever your breakthrough idea is, it should inform the rest of your content. For example, if you’re going to run a blog … Read more

Strategy Success for Content in 2016: Reach Out to Millennials

December 31, 2020December 1, 2015 by Adam Oakley

It’s that time of year… December 1, and it’s time to think about how to truly nail your content in 2016. I’m not touting a lose-weight-fast or get-rich-quick New Year resolution (those are usually broken by the next week). I’m talking about long term, dedicated strategy–and a vantage point that will get you winning content this upcoming New Year. Right now, there are about 80 million millennials living in the US. That translates to about ¼ of the total population and since this group wields a buying power of about $200 billion dollars, they’re currently the single most lucrative market in all of advertising. That said, you probably want to reach out to them with your content in 2016, right? They will be a bigger demographic than ever next year – they are the big, smart, and buying crowd YOU need to attract. Just how do you go about it? We have some tips to help. 10 Tips to Effectively Market to Millennials with Your Content in 2016 1) Get authentic Millennials spend about 25 hours each week online and they want authentic content. Buttoned-up ‘50s style marketing tactics don’t work on this crowd and they’re scouring blogs, social media, and websites for content they can truly connect with. In fact, 43% of millennials rank authenticity as more important than content when they consume news and, as a result, they’re on the search for content that mimics their feelings, opinions, and passions while also offering unique value and a distinct voice. Take Taco Bell, for example, which recently began a program to reach out to millennials with its “Millennial Word of the Week” program. This program makes the brand appealing, approachable, interesting, and relatable. Plus, since the whole program is curated by Taco Bell employees the same age as millennials, it’s authentic, which is what millennials have been looking for this whole time. 2) Focus on inbound Have you ever been curious how many millennials will gladly navigate away from your page due to an unwelcome or intrusive ad? The grand majority of them, that’s how many. In fact, according to Wired, millennials alone have killed off several outbound marketing tactics that are inauthentic, invasive, or not valuable. What’s more, 84% of millennials just plain don’t trust traditional advertising, which creates a sticky situation for advertisers. This is true because millennials know what they want, they’re tech-savvy enough to find it online, and they’re not willing to suffer websites that make them sit through unwanted or intrusive ads. When millennials spend time online, they’re doing research via social media, blogs, websites, and YouTube, which means that inbound marketing tactics are the best and the only way to reach them. By focusing harder than ever before on creating and distributing high-quality, relevant content that actually meets the needs of millennials and helps to answer their questions, you can ensure that your site doesn’t earn a swift “back” click. 3) Strive to be informative Possibly more so than any generation before them, millennials are hungry for information, and this means that they’ll support businesses that are dedicated to offering informative content. Millennials are drawn to eBooks, videos, tutorials, blog posts, how-to’s, and customer reviews more than they are product listings, and this means that if you can create content in 2016 that offers an expert’s perspective on an everyday challenge, millennials are going to bite. This is because millennials are 247% more likely than their older counterparts to be influenced in sales decisions by blogs and social media. With that in mind, consider offering tutorials and videos for your millennial customer base. Keep in mind that considering their tech-savvy nature and their propensity for sharing, they’re much more likely to share your video than they are to pull your flier off of a bulletin board and pass it around to their friends. 4) Focus on tailor-made Millennials are plentiful, powerful, wealthy, and what else – oh yeah! They’re smart too. This means that millennials have a stronger-than-usual B.S. detector and they’ll be onto you in an instant if you create content in 2016 that’s meant solely to get into their pocketbooks. Instead, focus on creating educational content that caters to their interests. One great way to do this is to focus on selling a lifestyle rather than a product. This means that you should be showcasing the ways in which your product, good, or service can help enhance their lives, produce unforgettable experiences, and equip them with great stories. Trust us, these things are far more valuable to millennials than product descriptions on some stagnant web page. 5) Get collaborative 42% of millennials want to help companies develop products and services and that’s why it pays to use them as a resource when creating products for consumption. Consider, as an example, Lays’ “Do us a Flavor” campaign in which they encourage consumers to come up with the next potato chip flavor to be marketed in stores. Campaigns like this make millennials the co-creators of a company and increase the likelihood that they’ll buy your product once it hits the market. It also engages their sense of self-expression and personal branding, helping to fuel the values of individuality and uniqueness in marketing, sales, and beyond. 6) Consider the difference between usage and ownership According to HubSpot, millennials prefer to use things rather than own them. Rather than owning housefuls of things they only seldom need, millennials would rather pay full price to rent items when they need them. Consider examples of this like Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, and Rent the Runway, a popular rental clothing site. To apply this to your content, consider creating forms of content like classes, webinars, and eBooks that millennials can rent rather than buy. 7) Offer a full-spectrum experience Unlike their Baby Boomer parents, millennials may actually enjoy the act of shopping more than actually purchasing items. This explains the popularity of sites like Pinterest and Etsy and provides a definite edge for any content creator that can master the … Read more

Why Today is the Era of the Online Content Writer

December 31, 2020November 24, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Anyone who has ever studied English or writing knows just how hilarious people think they’re being when they ask “What in the world are you ever going to do with that?” It’s long been considered a source of fun and frivolity to pick on writers for their delicate sensibilities and their seemingly useless talents and training…until now. Right now, you and I are living in the era of the copywriter as the online content writer, or SEO copywriter… and it’s arguable that there are few other skills that are in such high demand right now. That’s right: high demand. Copywriting is a broad profession that embodies many things and, now more than ever, people need copywriters to make their online businesses go around, to help their pages show up in search results, to execute good SEO, and to master the written word in order to provide value and excitement for readers. The Evolution of the Copywriter To The Online Content Writer The role of the copywriter as it is today, with many jobs in online content writing specifically, has metamorphosed hugely since the inception of advertising. Back in the ‘30s and ‘40s, copywriters were charged with developing ad copy people would love, which typically meant it was full of puns, over-explaining, and outrageous exaggerations (like the 1937 Camel Cigarette ad whose headline was “for digestion’s sake – smoke Camels!”). In the ‘60s and ‘70s, the job of copywriting began to change when Bill Bernbach, the first man to put copywriters and art directors together on projects, created a new-age copy creation team that was dedicated to producing ads that were more honest, stark, and open. Throughout the ‘80s and the ‘90s, copywriting continued to change: long copy dominated advertising and visuals became more important but in the year 2000, it all began to change. Suddenly, visual gags were all the rage and body copy all but died altogether. Throughout the next several years, copywriting became a spammy profession that was focused on cramming as many keywords into a piece of content as possible or building sneaky, unethical links. Thanks to the pressures of the market and the overwhelming trend of copy in general, copywriting became an environment in which crappy content was king and black hats were in vogue. Today, however, copywriting is a high-brow practice that requires extensive knowledge of SEO, marketing, and a wide variety of writing tactics that can help businesses put their best face forward. The Changing Tides of Copywriting: Google, Value, and Other Factors The reason for the evolution of online content writing that has taken place over the last decade has to do in large part with Google. Over the years, Google has released a series of updates aimed at targeting so-called “black-hat SEO” practices, such as keyword stuffing, doorway pages, invisible text, or page swapping, and rewarding sites that feature high-quality, original, valuable content. These changes have made it nearly impossible for crappy sites to scrape by and, as such, the algorithm updates have created a brand new demand for talented, knowledgeable copywriters that know how to produce great site rankings through skill and technique rather than spammy, dark-side practices. As Google’s algorithm updates have only continued to press forward, this need has become more and more pronounced and, nowadays, it’s impossible for a site to rank or survive without a team of talented copywriters and other marketing professionals on staff. 4 Important Things Copywriters Need to Know Despite its great demand right now, very few people know what copywriters actually do. We’re confused with journalists and, when the profession comes up at a dinner party, are often regarded with raised eyebrows and a deer-in-the-headlights sort of “Ohhhh” from the person who mistakenly asked what it is that we do. Nobody knows what copywriters do and that’s because we operate largely behind the scenes. Despite this reality, copywriters play a large part in making the digital world go around and there are dozens of things copywriters need to know in order to do their jobs well. Here are just a few: 1. How to Write Electrifying Headlines What makes you decide to read an article as you scroll through your Facebook feed? If you’re like most social media users, it’s the headline or the featured image or some combination of both. Little did you know that copywriters have a hand in both of those things, but specifically the headline. One of the most important jobs a copywriter has is to create magnetic headlines that draw audiences in and make them want to click on an article. This requires a little bit of a magic, a little bit of technical skill, and a whole lot of technique. 2. How to Use SEO Components in Writing Copywriters are asked to create great content that wants to go viral and, aside from writing clearly and providing value to readers, there’s only one way to do this: SEO. SEO stands for “search engine optimization” and is the practice by which writers make content easy to read for both people and search engines. SEO entails everything from keyword usage to meta titles and descriptions and is an important part of making sure you can find exactly what you’re looking for online. Additionally, good SEO helps sites get their content out there in front of consumers and makes sure that google users can always find what they’re looking for when they enter a search queries in the search box. 3. How to Provide Value to Readers People use search engines to ask and answer questions and one of the most important jobs of a copywriter is to ensure that the content that pops up in response to search queries is valuable, useful, and helpful. This means that copywriters must be able to anticipate reader questions and answer them from an empathetic and informative standpoint. They must also be able to cite sources, provide trustworthy research, include visuals for reference, and do everything in their power to ensure that the reader’s questions are answered … Read more

How To Use 3 Major Content Game Changers: Infographics, eBooks & Brochures

December 31, 2020November 10, 2015 by Josh McCoy

Alecs is the Client Accounts Manager at Express Writers. Content is a little bit like clothing. We all know which types we like best and, after awhile, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut so to speak, recycling the same 4 items time and time again, leaving 90% of the vast closet untouched. While you may not be literally reusing the same pieces of content over and over again, I’m willing to bet you probably reuse the same types of content – blogs, tweets, links, etc. While there’s nothing wrong with this content on its own, it can make your brand feel stale, boring and predictable if you don’t branch out – just like that dingy grey sweatshirt you love so much. But what if you brought in fresh new infographics, ebooks and brochures into your content wardrobe? It might make your brand feel a little like this… 3 Amazing Content Forms & How to Benefit From Them: Infographics, Ebooks, Brochures In order to switch it up and give your brand new life, try experimenting with the following types of content. 1. How To Use Infographics Infographics are the belle of the ball right now in content. Their most obvious winning factor is that they drive insane traffic to your site. Just how insane, you ask? Infographic search volume has increased over 800% in the last 2 years. The brain processes visual information at a rate 60,000 times faster than it does textual information. 65% of people classify themselves as “Visual learners” People who use infographics on their site grow an average of 12% faster than those who don’t. Infographics are shared on social media 3 times as often as all other types of content, which means they have a high potential to go viral. Personally, our brand infographics, like this one, have garnered 3x the average shares one of our blog posts gets. How’s that for content that is in-demand? In addition to being in-demand, though, infographics are also amazingly functional. This owes to the fact that infographics pack a ton of information into a small, easily digestible mechanism and can help your readers better understand your topic. Because of this, they’re shared more often, viewed more often and understood more comprehensively than text-based content. In order to use infographics effectively in your content, there are several things you need to consider. First of all, the infographic should be strictly information-based. Don’t ever use an infographic to pitch your company’s many virtues. These infographics defeat the point (viral information sharing) and use the infographic’s power for evil rather than good. Instead, focus on taking an issue your industry faces, a hot topic that will encourage sharing or an interesting development and breaking it up to provide your audience with further information. If you need help coming up with an in-demand and genuinely interesting topic for your infographic, consider consulting resources like Google Trends or viral Twitter hashtags. Once you’ve chosen a topic, you’ll need to gather information. When citing sources for your infographic, make sure they’re reputable sources comprised of industry experts and high-profile sites. Pulling information from obscure sites increases the likelihood that the information will be incorrect and decreases the likelihood that your infographic will receive a good reception (people don’t like sharing faulty information, after all). When gathering info, think about which statistics will make a good visual. Increase or decrease in revenue, for example, can be illustrated by a bar graph. Stick with great sources and highly visual statistics and you’ll have a great infographic in no time. When it finally comes time to design your infographic, you can either pay a designer (don’t be surprised, though, if prices top out around $1,000) or you can do it yourself. Free web-based platforms like Easel.ly, Piktochart, Infogr.am get the job done with professional results and can help you stand out from the pack in an instant. 2. How to Benefit From Ebooks Ah, eBooks – the quiet princesses overthrowing the palace one step at a time. Ebooks now top paperbacks in sales numbers and are set to completely overtake the paper dynasty any day now. As a marketer, though, it’s possible that you don’t want to sell your eBook and that you only want to use your eBook as an incentive. This is without a doubt how eBooks rose to prominence in marketing and is still one of the primary ways they are used within content strategy. The reason for this is that bundling has long been a market strategy to help consumers make purchasing decisions and to help differentiate a company from its competition. For example, when a consumer purchases a piece of clothing from an online outfitter and finds a $100 voucher for a new online wine club (a sister company of the clothing retailer) enclosed, that consumer is much more likely to buy from that retailer in the future. Similarly, when a customer visits your site and finds that you’re offering samples of your content or (better yet) entire courses for free in eBook form, they’re very likely to stick around to see what else you have to offer. This approach also proves to consumers that a company is so confident in the quality of its product that it is happy to literally give some of it away. Though compiling an eBook may sound complicated, it’s pretty simple. All you need to do is find a topic you want to write about (consider serialized topics you’ve blogged about in the past, consistent questions your customers ask, a problem many of your customers have or a new development you’re excited to debut) and write content (for more information about how to actually write an eBook, check out this HubSpot resource). In order to ensure that your content is as good as it possibly can be, ensure that it compliments your current brand, that it looks professional and that it is executed with precision. Enlist professional help to get your cover image on point … Read more