Content creation, search optimization and social media will be less siloed as specific areas of focus and treated more like skills that need to be integrated for your organization to be successful. As you think about your content plan for 2015 think about how to integrate your approach and work on the five aspects of your online marketing highlighted below.
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To know what’s available and to become skillful at using a particular tool is part of being a social human in this new age. Also, it good for business!
What Content Marketing Format Do People Like Best?
If you are a content marketer then you may often think about what content format will work best for your audience. Should you blog or create podcasts? You may not be any good at making videos but you think your audience will like them. You may be a specialist at white papers but your audience may not enjoy them as much as the same topic and information in a different format.
Here are some data and some insights for you.
Content Marketing StickinessI really like the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. I own both the book and the audio CD.
They go into detail about a framework that can be used to evaluate whether an idea is “sticky” or not.
Here are the six core parts of their framework:
This book is required reading if you create content to market your business. Here is a summary of the framework so that you can get an idea of how it can help verify your content ideas.
Building a Powerful Link ProfileBack linking has become more difficult since Matt Cutts’s famous blog post on the use of guest posting to produce backlinks. He states in no uncertain terms that this is no longer acceptable. Therefore, this way of gaining backlinks is no longer effective.
Of course, this is due to the amount of abuse that guest blogging attracted. Many SEO experts were touting this way to generate links into your site. The resultant link profile did not look natural. It was not hard to figure out when most of the links came from blogs and even more obvious when they came from the comment section of blogs.
Here is some link building advice . . .
StorytellingThose who tell stories rule the world – Plato
Storytelling can improve the success of your project or your business initiative. A wonderful story can also promote your brand.
Many projects do not result in success because few take the time to develop a “storyline” to support the project or the initiative.
Also, I realize that many projects are not progressed because the idea is not worthy. However, this is a post about storytelling and the premise is that the idea is worthy but the story is lacking.
This is a post about how business storytelling created a successful result for multiple business parties.
SEO Tactics for SuccessEvery small business with an online presence has to deal with the issue of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Most, in my experience, need a bit of help understanding how good their competition is and what to do to gain position versus their competitors. There are seemingly endless articles on the subject. This can create a feeling of being overwhelmed. For many, the task of being found in search for keywords valuable to your business seems daunting and endless.
In truth, SEO is not rocket science. While it can be a complicated formula, there are very clear and effective ways to enhance your position in search. There are essential SEO tactics that are key to your success. They also provide the perfect foundation from which to build your SEO strategy and boost you above your competition.
Don’t let yourself become overwhelmed.
Educated yourself!
Online Marketing – There Is a High Cost to Blending InWhen it comes to marketing I see that many companies copy one another. Rather than trying to stand out they try to fit in. It is almost as if they are trying to blend in.
To be successful you need to understand your audience and then stand out from the crowd. There is a high cost to blending in.
Content Marketing or AdvertisingI teach classes on Content Marketing and I notice that people sometimes have a problem distinguishing between advertising and content marketing. I often explain that advertising and content marketing can work together. That advertising helps to make people aware and then if they want to dig in deeper then advertising can hand off to content marketing. Here is an examination of both advertising and content marketing.
Both have their place.
Real life is not fair, unfortunately. This seems to be even more true when it comes to matters of wealth and success. Critically, this is true also in the world of Internet marketing when it comes to acquiring links – sometimes it’s just not fair.