6 Blogging Tips for the Newbie & the Veteran!

Is there anyone without a blog these days? It's estimated that 6.7 million people blog through blogging sites and over 12 million people blog via social media networks. But with all those blog posts floating around, are we writing the best content we possibly can? The truth is whether you're a blogging newbie or a seasoned veteran, we can all learn a thing or two about writing better blogs!

Here are some tips on how to write a great blog-post:

1. State your purpose.
This may sound obvious, but it's truly astonishing how many blogs aren't clear about what it is they are writing and why. With so many blogs out there it is important to know what your blog is going to be about from the get-go or else your reader may just advance to GO and collect information from someone else's blog.

2. Be authentic. Be yourself.
Whatever you do, always remember to be YOU. Write about things that inspire you - that you love and take an interest in. Write about things that matter. Having this focus will help enhance your writing.

3. You can't win them all!
Remember that not everyone will love what you write about and it really doesn't matter. While keep your audience in mind is important, writing to please everyone is impossible.

4. Your title and/or headline should not be lengthy and boring - they should instead grab people's attention.
Be honest. Was that headline not painful to read? Were you not praying for it to be over? Exactly. I believe in keeping headlines simple but smart. Blogger Jeff Goins has a great blog-post with 5 tricks to help you catchy headline!

5. Design has it's place.
Aren't we all a sucker for beautiful things? Well, blogs are no different in my books. Even if your content is amazing, if it's being overshadowed by a hideous, dysfunctional and cluttered design then you might as well never hit the publish button.

6. We're visual creatures.
adding relevant visual components to your blog will only further enhance it. Don't bog your reader down with unrelenting text!

Now let's look at 3 Blogging veterans and see how they measure up!



1. Bernadette Jiwa, TheStoryofTelling.com
    Blog-post: "Being Undervalued vs. Being 'The One'"

I absolutely loved this post and love her blog in general. There are always catchy titles and headlines, visuals in all of her posts. She writes honestly and opening - almost conversational - and has a clear focus and purpose at the beginning of her post. The design is also clean and simple with a uniform color scheme throughout. Bravo Bernadette!




2. Mitch Joel, TwistImage.com
    Blog-post: "Watching Me Blog"

While the headline might not be catchy, it is concise and to the point. Mitch is clear with his message and writes from an honest and authentic point of view. The design of the overall blog and blog-post is also neat using bolded headlines, italics for better readership. However, Mitch fails to use any visuals in his post which makes it a little boring - but who am I to say anything?



3. Seth Godin, SethGodin.com
    Blog-post: "Understanding Luxury Goods"

Zzz... Ok. While the post is focussed, written authentically and has a straight-forward title, there are absolutely no headlines, no visuals (or anything visually interesting for that matter) and the design is lacklustre to say the least. The post goes on seemingly forever that I lost interest. But I suppose his blog fits in with tip #3 - you just can't win them all, can you?



So, what have we learned? Blogging isn't always easy and no matter how experienced you are as a blogger we can all improve our writing. What are some of your blogging tips? What rules do you live by when writing? Love to hear your thoughts!

Top 5 Social Media Trends for 2014

While the importance of social media for Millenials is pretty self evident, employers and businesses are quickly seeing the merit in a social media marketing strategy. However, with so many platforms to choose from it can be difficult to determine where to allocate resources. Where is social media going?

I have searched high and low, and thanks to Jayson Demeyers, contributor at Forbes, here are some 2014 Social Media marketing trends that you can start thinking about!

1. Investing in Social Media will be a NECESSITY, not a Choice.

Many companies are seeing the value in social media and are allocating time and resources into forming comprehensive social media marketing strategies. However, in 2014 it is likely that we will see a shift from wanting to invest in social media marketing to having to invest in social media platforms.

And this is not surprising as social media offers a variety of benefits including:

• Increased exposure & traffic
• Company branding
• Develop loyal fans
• Generate Leads
• Improved audience reach & influence
• Word of mouth

Social media is also one of the pillars of SEO!

2. A Picture says more than 1000 Words!

There's no denying that photo-sharing (and video) platforms have been all the rage this year. Marketing with social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram are great for companies to produce shareable non-text based content!

As Jayson Demeyers points out:

Visual content will increasingly become a critical piece of any solid content strategy, and social networking site Pinterest will continue to shed its reputation as a ‘women’s only’ network and become an integral part of retailers’ marketing strategies.

3. The Rise of Google+

Google+ may not be new, but the social network has found its purpose now that the "+1" button is linked to Google's search rankings and is becoming an integral component of SEO and personalized search. And for those of you still wrapping your head around this whole Google+ thing, Here is a Quick Guide & How-To from Lisa Myers, CEO of Verve Search.

4. Foursquare who?

With platforms such like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram offering location-based "check-ins", Foursquare very well might become a thing of the past. It won't be long before Foursquare users (many of whom are already using the other platforms) will be absorbed into other location-based features of the networks mentioned above.

5. Are you LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is undoubtedly the most successful social networking site for professionals with an impressive 225 million users to date. LinkedIn is positioning itself as "one of the largest sources of content creation and curation for professionals."

Conclusion
So, for those of you who have yet to invest time and resources into a social media strategy - it's not too late! Do some research and see how you can best incorporate social media into your marketing strategy this year.

Mobile Sites: 5 Tips to Convert Visitors to Customers

With a nearly 125% increase in mobile usage, brands are experiencing higher traffic to their company websites via mobile device - primarily smartphones and tablets. What is interesting, however, is close to 90% of websites are not ready for optimization!

In an article from search engine watch, a study concludes that although mobile usage has sky rocketed, in most industries conversions are a third lower than that of desktop conversions. The truth is, marketers "need to do a better job at addressing the user experience on smartphones."

Furthermore, companies really need to capitalize on the missed opportunity in mobile traffic by "ensuring sites are following [the] best practices for mobile optimization" (a great resource is Google's Guidelines on Mobile)

So, what does this mean? Is there an opportunity for mobile sites to convert its visitors into customers? The answer is ABSOLUTELY! In fact, in an infographic from Sanera Camp it was estimated that by 2015 the expected U.S. revenue from online mobile sales will reach $31 billion, up from $11.8 billion in 2012.

Here are 5 tips to help convert those visitors into customers from Social Solutions Collective:

1. Create a clean and easy to read mobile website. You really don't want to clutter an already limited screen with too much information up front. Instead, you should include your important information and try and build your site as if YOU are the mobile user on a mobile device. This information can include: location, phone number, "contact us" button, and a brief overview of who you are and the products and/or services you offer.

Are you mobile ready?

2. Offer multiple payment options. If you want  people to buy from your  mobile site you need to pull out all the stops and give them various payment options - and don't forge to make those payment options visible with user-friendly and easily accessible clickable icons.

3. Provide security to your customers! Make sure customers know that your site is secure enough for them to actually feel confident - and comfortable - enough to make a purchase. Be sure to include any Chamber of Commerce of industry-related organizations you are a member/involved in.

4. Stay up-to-date. Let's face it - customers (including myself ..and probably you) have no time for a site that is out of date or simply serves as a catalogue. Ensure that when your customer is visiting that they know  immediately that your site is up-to-date.

5. It's all about the call-to-action. What is it you want your customers to do? It sounds basic - but you should be telling them what it is you want them to do by asking them to buy, to take advantage of a limited time offer, or to prompt them to ask for more information. Those who do not ask shall not receive!

It's time to take advantage of the power of mobile sites in converting visitors to customers - I hope that this post has helped!

Why Content Marketing Reigns Supreme

In the last few years there has been a real shift in how people consume information and communicate with one another. In a world where the flow of information was once published and controlled amongst a few, now, anyone with an internet connection can produce and publish content. And this certainly has its consequences.

On the one hand, consumers now have a vast and sophisticated landscape whereby they can search the web, connect on various social platforms, as well as educate themselves on potential purchases. But this now crowded and saturated place called the internet makes it much more difficult for people - and businesses - to be heard.

What the Heck is Content Marketing?

content marketing:

"...is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable consumer action."

It's purpose?

"...to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer behavior. It is an ongoing process that is best integrated into your overall marketing strategy, and it focuses on owning media, not renting it."

Now that we know what content marketing is and it's purpose - let's gain a little understanding in how it has evolved. Here is a brief video from the Content Marketing Institute about the history of content marketing:

It becomes clear that content marketing is not new. In fact, it has a history that dates back as far as 1895!

Why Content Marketing Reigns Supreme

According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is not only the present, but the future of marketing. Marketing is impossible without great content. It's that simple. Quality content is "part of all forms of marketing" including: social media, search engine optimization (SEO), public relations (PR), Paid Per Click (PPC) and inbound marketing.

In addition, in an article by Jonathan Lister from Fast Company, Lister highlighted that content marketing was the leading tactic for 18.9% of marketers worldwide in 2012. In 2013, this percentage has grown to 34.8% which shows that marketers really are seeing the value in creating quality content.

1. Content is Forever

While it may seem as though content marketing may only provide short-term value - the truth is that once you publish content on the internet it really is forever. Even if you decide to take down published content there is always the possibility that your content has been shared, curated and thus archived in some fashion elsewhere.


2. Good for Consumers, Good for YOU

Content published is not only valuable in engaging with consumers, it's also good for you as a business and helps improve your search rankings.

Essentially, producing high quality content amplifies your authority within your specified industry.

3. Content Gains Trust

What is any good relationship without trust? But really. Companies like Apple understand how fundamental trust is in their relationship with consumers. Trust gains consumer loyalty. Content is designed in order to usher consumers through the buying cycle by educating them on your industry, product and/or service

4. Skeptics Who?

According to an article posted in Business Insider "not only do [Millenials] not necessarily trust traditional advertising anymore, they don't even see traditional advertising anymore." Thus, while advertising doesn't speak to Millenials - content does.

And why are Millenials so important to content marketers? Because the Millenial generation (the nearly 80 million people born between the early 1980s and early 2000s) are expected to yield a purchasing power of $170 billion per year in the United States alone!

When content is valuable, reliable and easily found on the platforms Millenials spend the most time, then marketers can better tap into this truly massive market!

5. Content is Constant

Although the popularity of social platforms will rise and fall, content is constant. Content is easily transferable between platforms and networks.

"Creating quality content that has longevity will continue to bring value to your brand long after customers have moved on to new platforms or have downloaded newer social apps to engage with."

Some Thoughts from the Leaders

So, now that we know what content marketing is and why it plays a crucial role in engaging in conversations with customers the question remains: how do we create quality content?

Here are some tips from content marketing thought leaders from Michael Aagaard, a blogger for Content Verve

1. Sean Work, KISSMetrics

Don't publish junk. Pretty self explanatory.

Yearn for beautiful layout and design. "Having great content is one thing, but ugly packaging can really ruin the experience. Ask yourself, would Steve Jobs approve of our “content packaging”? How would he “box” it?"

Be consistent! If you're going to publish content, you need to maintain a regular momentum. And if you're involved with a brand where it's difficult to stick to a regular process, Sean suggests outsourcing your content marketing.

2. Oli Gardner, Unbounce.com

Make your content last. According to Oli you should "use social recycling to ensure you get a consistent flow of shares. You can also add a few of your latest posts to the footer of your emails to help with customer retention."

Effective blogging. "For your own blog, reach out to subject matter experts in all the categories you discuss on your blog to build a stable of “paid” writers, and create an editorial calendar to ensure both you and the writers are prepared." Oli also suggests that planning content in advance is ideal.

Be a curator. Much like this blog you don't always have to produce your own content. Once people realize that you're a source for sharing relevant content, people will keep coming back for more.

3. Marcus Sheridan, TheSalesLion.com

Don’t be afraid to address any and every possible question a consumer might ask. "if someone asks you to compare yourself against your competition, that’s a blog post you should write...if someone is asking it or thinking it, we need to be writing and teaching others about it. That is the essence of a great content marketer." Nothing is off limits.

Content is key. "It should be used again and again and again throughout the sales process. The more content a prospect reads, the further down the sales funnel they go, which is why it is a must that we as sales professionals and marketers make sure they are viewing, reading, and consuming out content."

And here are a couple more industry thought leaders that are worth looking into!

4. Mitch Joel, TwistImage.com

5. Seth Godin, SethGodin.com

6. Daniel Burstein, TheMarketingSherpa.com

So, what have we learned? Content marketing is king. Without good content marketing is impossible. Good content is consistent, reliable, valuable, transferable, trust building and forever.