That which is less complicated is often better understood and more appreciated than what is more complicated; simplicity is preferable to complexity; brevity in communication is often more effective.

Website Design – Often Less is More

Many people think that creating a website is about what to have on the site. Certainly content is very important. I am not going to make a case that you need to scale back on your content. Rather, I want to inspire you to think about how to create content where the message is crystal clear. Where there is no “fluff”. Where there are no extra words placed on the page or in the post to “attract” the search engines.

What is Evergreen Content?

It’s Long-Lasting Content Which Is Great for SEO

A Guide to Evergreen Content

If you’re involved in content marketing — and virtually anyone who has a well established position on the web is — I am sure that you have heard the term “evergreen content” and probably also have heard that your center of content (your website or blog) needs to have it.

Shakespeare and SEO

Gifts for Our Audience

What did Shakespeare teach us? He taught us that for sustainable and long term success we need to write well. We need to write what people want to read. We need to create content that they do not see everywhere else.

We need to write regularly and with an effort to create variety and depth of content while entertaining and providing new stimuli.

Online Marketing

You Can’t Do It All by Yourself

I spend a great deal of time in the online marketing space and it can be a bit overwhelming as more and more ways to market online are developed and some become more powerful while other wan in value.

Also, I want to make it clear that online marketing is not just about SEO. Knowing search is imperative to online marketing but it not as big a driver as it was 5 to 7 years ago. Now social media plays a significant role and also simply to have the traffic is not worth as much if the user experience is poor and your conversion rate is low.

In fact I may be so bold as to point out that if you do not have a good conversion rate online then you do not have a business online.

Web Content – The Scalable Asset

Online Content Scales Sooooo Easily

One of the big reasons you need to publish your content online is that it is so easy to reach an audience. If you create web content for one of your visitors then you have spent some time and effort. This time and effort is almost the same if the content is consumed 100,000 times. Content is and will continue to be a vital and essential part of marketing.

Content is not a fad.

High quality web content has always been a smart way to build a loyal audience. It also allows your audience to grow.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Working to find materials for your blog can be very good for you personally! You have to conduct research – which provides you with information and insights.

You have to think about what you have just researched. This provides you with greater insights and helps you to “own” the material.

You have to write about it making you to think even more about the topic. To be able to write about your topic makes you better. You have to ratchet it up a bit to be able to explain what you just researched.

Therefore, the simple act of doing the research and writing about a blog topic causes you to improve.

Also, when you are writing you are in a creative zone and this is valuable for your brain. The creative zone is a time when you brain is not preoccupied with mundane items such as getting through your e-mails or paying your bills or washing the dishes. These things have to be done for sure but you do not have to be so creative to do them.

To set aside quality time to blog is good for your soul.

If you have a blog or think that you should then you have to set aside time to blog. I suspect that the most common reason, explanation, justification excuse for not blogging is that you are too busy.

I am sure that you are busy. However, are too busy to grow your business, educate your clients and potential clients, educate yourself and invest in your online community by providing your expertise with your Blog?

Perhaps you really have nothing to say. If this is the case then you cannot call yourself an expert. Blogging helps to present yourself as an expert. After all you have done the research, you have thought about it and now own it and if you blog then you are explaining your expertise to others.

Perhaps you have nothing to say because you are just not all that interested in your topic. Perhaps you feel that no one will think your blog posts are worthy. Maybe you don’t really know your audience and then do not know how to please them with interesting and valuable blog posts. Maybe you do not believe in your company so why waste the time.

This is all self-defeating noise in your brain. It can be paralyzing. It can keep you from blogging.

Guess what? We have to work at inspiration just like we do anything else.

You need to understand the value you can offer. You need to understand the business case for blogging. You need to see how it benefits you, your readers and your business. Blogging is good for you personally, good for your customers and potential customers and good for your business.

Look for more posts on blogging and its value. I have been thinking about this quite a bit of late and see great opportunity in blogging. Let’s see if I can convince you of the value of blogging for your business.

Write Like an Expert

You probably know already that by writing quality articles and blog posts your website is a sure and steady path to becoming an “expert” in you’re the eyes of your audience. If you write well for your target audience you will look far better than the competitor that does not write.

One way that you can write like an expert – and this works for any business or industry – is to take a process that you do and explain how and why you do it to your customer. Show them the value it provides to them as you explain this process.

It’s very easy to do and by communicating this to your audience, you show your audience that you:

• Know about interior design, or
• Know how to run a pet shop, or
• Know how to install satellite dishes, or
• Know how to search engine optimize a website

It’s the difference between someone who tells you they’re a good cook, and someone who can give you a step by step recipe (with tips from experience) that elevates the recipe and their expertise to a new level.

Do not be concerned that you are giving away your trade secrets. You will not make yourself redundant in the eyes of your potential customer. Telling your customer how you do something and the value it brings to them will not prevent you from being hired. When a customer is researching how to get something done . . . researching how to solve a problem they are really looking for someone that can solve the problem for them. They are not looking to do it themselves.

On the other hand they will be more likely to trust and select you if you have a number of articles or blog posts that demonstrates you know what you’re talking about. If your competitors are not demonstrating their expertise then you have the advantage.

Here are some ideas on how to write and demonstrate your expertise:

Write About Details

Pick something very small and specific that you can examine in detail. Do not worry about selecting something too small. Perhaps the smaller the better as details demonstrate that you know the material well.

For example if you eliminate pests from homes you could write about how to protect a home from pests. However, this is very general. You could be more specific and write about how to protect a home from wasps or go even deeper and write about how to protect a lake house from wasps when you are not there. This is how experts write. They do not write in generalities. They write specifically.

Focus On the Process – Leave Your Specific Talent Out of the Article

Here is an example. Let’s say that you are an Interior Designer. You have certain skills that may be very difficult to explain. These skills may be more like instincts. You may have an “eye” for color combinations but would have a tough time explaining how you get the colors just right. This may be too difficult to explain.

You could instead write about your favorite paints for certain situations or your favorite fabrics and why you like them.

If the explanation of a process is not the best for you then you could explain your best tool for doing something and why you like it. If you are an Accountant you may have a favorite piece of software and you are truly an expert in the use of this software. Explain to your reader why you like the software so much. Demonstrate to your potential customers how well you know the software and how this enables you to do a better job for them.

Give Your Readers the “why”

If you really want to seal your “expert” status then give your customers a “why” after explaining each step of your process.

For example:

We often use brand X paint for a child’s room. It never leaves an odor, is very durable and once dry you can wash it clean better than any other paint we know.

Your expertise comes shinning thought with insights such as this. You are more credible in your potential customer’s eyes.

I encourage you to add content to your website by blogging on topics that add value to your customers and potential customer and that also demonstrate your expertise.

Blog Improvement Ideas

12 Easy To Implement Concepts

 

 

 

Use a well designed graphically pleasing Blog Theme

There are many places to find a great Blog Theme or be willing to spend a small bit of money to have one designed or an existing theme customized for you. 

SEO Market Segments

How well do you know and your best clients and potential client market segments? 

Many targeting and personalization best practices are based on three simple truths:

 

• Different visitors respond to your website in different ways.
• Visitors with shared characteristics constitute segments.
• Matching content and features to segments pays dividends.

You need to define and then understand the differences in your websites visitors. If you are a B&B and near an international border does your website have a way to appeal to people from both countries? If you are a company based in the United States your product could appeal to visitors from the UK and you can see that people from the UK visit your site then it is wise to match your web copy to this market segment.

Consider what happens when you open an online store on the World Wide Web. Even if your marketing focus is domestic potential customers from around the world will eventually visit your site and, depending upon what your site is selling, they may want to buy  from you. This is an international segment and it may be more lucrative than you think.

To find out how lucrative, first check your site metrics to see how much international traffic you have and how it is converting. If this segment is converting below average, consider targeting some of your site content to the top 1 or 2 countries in the international segment.

For example, let visitors from the UK know that your business is happy to sell and ship to the UK. It could be a simple as that to boost conversion.

International traffic is but one example of visitor segmentation. Do you know your markets? Have you considered how to speak to your segmented markets and how adding certain customizations could help key segments convert? Give this some serious thought and increase your conversion rate.

Does the Google’s Link Operator Tell You Anything Meaningful?

The simple answer a NO! Typing link:www.yoursite.com into Google’s search box often won’t even show you any links. It certainly will not show you all your links. When it does show you some, they’re usually not the best ones.

Don’t bother to use this command because it is mis-leading at the very best. While there are some helpful tools that can find some backlinks, there is no foolproof method for finding out about all the links that point to your site or to your competitors’ sites. The good news is, just because you can’t find them all doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Keep making a great site with great content that delights your visitors and also continue to create fresh web content. Then work to get the word out in as many ways as you can.

Keep building your link profile and link network. Do not worry too much if you cannot generate an accurate list of all your links. As you create great web content and gain in-coming links you will see your site rise in search and you will see your traffic grow and this will be proof enough.