Tag Archives: content marketing

The Weird “Hat” Hack That Will Explode Your Blog Post’s Effectiveness.

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All those hats can get heavy!

Small business owners, on any given day, may find themselves fulfilling duties ranging from CEO to janitor. We wear a lot of “hats”.

And while you’re working your hats off, you may have noticed there aren’t that many folks around you doing the same. HAT HACK for social mediaWhile it may be tempting to demand 5 times more effectiveness from the intern, drivers on your commute and your local barista, it’s not realistic.

The good news is, I’m sharing with you what I call The Hat Hack, which will make your blog post (almost) as an effective multitasker as you are.

You’re probably letting your blog posts off the hook way too easily.

Whether it’s a newsletter, blog post or social media post,  you know you need to do this kind of online marketing work in order to stay competitive and effectively market yourself online.

And once you’ve completed your blog post, typically speaking we just hit publish, feel the relief for a minute and go back to our busy lives.

I’m here to tell you, if you’re doing that you’re making a mistake and missing out on an opportunity!

I believe your blog post should work (at least) 5 times harder than that…

Each piece of content you create should be repurposed so you have five different online marketing assets with, count em, a total of 15 significant benefits and results.

1.Blog Post On Your Website:

Once you’ve completed your blog post, you’ve got the first piece of content done – woohoo! If well written, your blog post should help establish you as a thought leader, help prospective clients know, like and trust you, help you get better ranking on search engines like Google, and keep your website updated. Four major benefits from one web asset!

1.Video :

As the MOST effective online marketing tool, think about summarizing your blog post in a short video. You can then post thevideo to YouTube, upload to Facebook and share on your website.

Videos are effective because they help audiences remember you and trust you, they’re also more likely to share the video, spend more time on your website and buy from you.

(This ads another 5 benefits to your humble blog post, totalling 9 benefits, so far!)

3.Email:

Your blog post should be sent out via email to at least 5 people. You can send it out with a personal note, or a mass email (assuming you have permission to email your list)

Canadians prefer to receive marketing materials via email newsletter and it’s a great way to stay top-of-mind with associates and clients. That’s two more benefits – totalling 11.

4.Social media:

A good blog post should grab attention with a creative headline and keep attention by providing information people can use, or value in some way.

If your blog post fulfils these these criteria than it should get plenty of shares and comments on social media.

A well written and creative blog post can get more free exposure on social media than a paid ad.

Additionally, every share, comment and like acts as a form of social proof, or implicit endorsement.

If my numbers are right that’s 13 benefits – from just one idea.

5.Images:

In the age of instagram, a visual representation of your blog post is all but a requirement.

Create or source and image you can use as the header for your post, and then it gives you another online asset to share on image-only social sites.

A picture is, after all, worth a thousand words and can help folks remember your content.

Additionally, there are many documented cases of consumers purchasing items after they’ve favorited it on Pinterest – another image heavy social media site.

I’ve shown you exactly how one blog post can become 5 online assets giving you 15 solid benefits.

Now, that’s working your hat off 😉

Click the share button now to spread the love and don’t forget to grab more free resources on my website at www.laurelannestark.com

What do you think of the “hat hack”? Do you think you’ll use it? Share in the comments below.

3 Reasons Your Business Needs A Mobile Friendly Website

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mobile content marketingThe sight of commuters on the train, coffee drinkers in the cafe, or employees on their lunch break engrossed in their smartphones or tablets has become ubiquitous through recent years, and is a social trend that should force business owners everywhere to take their mobile content marketing seriously.

However, the single most important aspect for any business with aspirations of engaging with a mobile audience is to have a mobile friendly website that seamlessly resizes all the content to fit whatever screen it is being viewed on.

Not only are those that don’t seen as outdated by visitors, they will also find their Google rankings suffer on mobile searches too. As the internet goes mobile, failing to adapt means being left behind, and all the mobile content marketing in the world won’t help if your website is stuck in the dark ages.

What follows is why your business needs a mobile friendly website.

A mobile friendly public

The days when laptop or desktop internet usage accounted for the majority of time spent online are over, with the tipping point for mobile usage surpassing browsing on more static machines coming in early 2015.

Put simply, more people are using their phones and tablets to browse the internet than are using laptops and computers, and they expect your website to work on their devices.

Responsive websites take all of your content, be that copy or images, sliders, or even products for sale, and automatically resize it to fit the screen it is being viewed on, while menus too are adjusted to enable the user to easily navigate your site.

In truth, the average mobile device user now takes this for granted, and will only notice when it doesn’t happen, at which point they will most likely leave even your best mobile content marketing efforts unread and go elsewhere.

While the obvious benefit here is to the user with the site becoming easier and more enjoyable to navigate than the full web version when viewed on a mobile device, there is a certain search engine giant who will also like your new responsive website more than your old one.

Google responds to responsive

On April 21st, 2015, Google launched a brand new mobile algorithm that rewards responsive sites in their mobile search results.

Those searching for products and services on Google using their mobile device will get results that take into account which sites are mobile friendly, with those that aren’t finding themselves omitted from the search, no matter how good their mobile content marketing.

Google’s new algorithm looks to see whether a site’s text is readable without zooming, if the content is sized so no horizontal scrolling is required, and that links are far enough apart that the correct one can easily be tapped; all criteria that a responsive website should have no fear of fulfilling.

If you want to be rewarded for your mobile content marketing efforts, you will now need a mobile friendly website to rank in mobile Google searches.

Adjusting to fit your market

If you needed any more convincing of the need for a mobile friendly, responsive website for your business, take a look at your competitors.

The chances are they have already made the shift, meaning they have a massive advantage over you when it comes to reaching the ever growing mobile internet user demographic.

As well as providing a better user experience and being more visible on mobile Google searches, your competitors will also be saving time and money behind the scenes that can be put to use in their mobile content marketing campaign.

Before the advent of responsive design, site owners had the option of providing a mobile version of their site, although this meant paying for, maintaining, and constantly updating two separate versions of the same site. If you are still doing this, a responsive website will eliminate the need, allowing you to maintain one version of your site that will function perfectly on any device.

With more people browsing and buying on mobile devices than desktop or laptop, Google rewarding mobile friendly devices to such a degree that those without the functionality are excluded from mobile search results, and your competitors most probably already on the mobile friendly website train, can you and your mobile content marketing afford not to join them?

Check out our One minute tip on Mobile Marketing on Youtube here:

Three Questions to Ask Yourself To Hit the Content Jackpot

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http://clubpenguin.wikia.com/wiki/File:Treasure_Chest_Costume_icon.pngContent development and inbound marketing have taken the lead as business development strategies.

But when it comes to figuring out the best way to reel people in, where does one start?

Many companies are beginning to lean towards blogs or other forms of content marketing in order to showcase their expertise, ideas, and experiences.

Developing a content strategy can seem like a daunting task; content marketing isn’t as easy as simply writing a post and pushing it live. How do you know what content your potential customers or clients want to hear? How much should you write? How do you cure writer’s block?

Here are some questions you should ask yourself when trying to take the first step in Content Marketing:

1. What do people (my future customers) want?

When it comes to developing content, I’ve always found this question to be the best place to start: what do people want?

If you can create content that shows people how they can get from where they are now to where they want to be, you’re a million miles ahead of your competitors. Maybe they want to be lying on a beach in the Bahamas, maybe they want to be building their dream house, maybe they want a kick butt new website for their new company.

As the content creator, you need to learn how to show your potential clients and customers all the possibilities that lie ahead of them.

2. What challenges do my customers face?

People don’t realize how many obstacles they overcome everyday. We defeat cold weather with warm clothing, we defeat long commutes with good music or novels, and we defeat exhaustion with coffee and energy drinks.

We’ve faced and defeated these challenges so often that we forget to see them as problems. Content that shows us how to overcome our challenges, whether it means a service or a product will help you show off your expertise and build a more loyal and trusted following.

3. How did I get to where I am now?

A percentage of your content should be about communicating what you know and what you’ve experienced.

By sharing your milestones, whether it’s actively or through remembering fond memories, you are helping your readers learn a little bit about you; showing a person as the face of your business instead of a company logo. You can choose to create content about anything from quick things you learned in a course, or maybe some motivational quotes that have helped you through the hard days.

When you show people that your company is built up of people who are human and have daily tasks and struggles and motivations, you will build stronger customer relationships.

Building a blog is the same as building a community. Your content needs to show people how you can solve their problems, help them reach their goals, and connect with them.

The answers to those three questions will help you create content that will serve you as a tool for customer acquisition, engagement and retention.

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