Blog Marketing to Increase Choice Confidence

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“Choice confidence is an important driver of buying behavior,” Associate Professor of Marketing Demetra Andrews writes in the Indianapolis Business Journal. Together with colleagues, Andrews examined the influence different forms and quantities of information on consumers’ willingness to buy, naming certain types that tend to be most effective in building buyer confidence:

  1. Information that is diagnostic makes it easier for prospects to distinguish the differences among available options.
  2. Increasing the number of “cues” (individual pieces of information) increases customers’ perception of their own knowledge.
  3. Information presented in verbal format (vs. numbers) is most effective in building purchase intentions.
  4. Product ratings increase choice confidence.
  5. Testimonials from “influencers”, including consumers who provide insights into their own experience with the product or service encourage confidence.

Each of these valuable insights can be translated into blog content creation:

Diagnostic information
In order to facilitate informed decisions by readers, data needs to be presented and “analyzed” and broken down in terms of results. Remember, searchers are asking themselves “What’s in it for me?” Along with features, effective blog posts describe benefits.

Increasing the number of “cues”
Chunking refers to the strategy of breaking down information into bite-sized pieces so the brain can more easily digest new information. Blog posts are ideal for serving up “bites” of information, creating impact over weeks and months.

Ratings and comparisons
One core function of blogs for business is explaining yourself, your business philosophy, your products, and your processes.  An effective blog clarifies what sales trainers like to call your “unique value proposition” in terms readers can understand.

Testimonials
Customer success stories and client testimonials boost your credibility with new prospects, helping them decide to do business with you. But, as webcopyplus.com explains, website testimonials “also foster commitment from those providing the testimonials.”

“By tailoring information form, format, quantity and source, businesses can help customers make better, more confident choices that will meet their needs,” Andrews concludes. By tailoring the presentation of information as presented in blog posts, content writers can enhance blog readers’ confidence and encourage them to become customers.

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Don’t Just Blog There – Engage!

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Kudos for the most-watched Netflix series used to be based on how many households had watched a particular movie or show, Mental Floss magazine explains. But watched is a loose term. Anyone who who clicked “play” on a title would be counted, even if they made it only 10 seconds into the material, the authors explain.

When Netflix’s switched its popularity model (where only subscribers who’d watched a show for at least two minutes (and only then within the first 28 days of the show’s release) were counted, there were dramatic shifts in the popularity rankings, Mental Floss authors explain…

When it comes to blog marketing, getting found is most certainly a primary goal, but even after searchers have “found” your blog site and clicked “play”, the job of engaging those readers has just begun.

Steve Mehler of Techsling names things blog readers “really want from you”, including:

  • timely topics
  • a simple read
  • information
  • problem solutions
  • entertainment
  • visuals
  • emotional connections

“The definition of engagement has changed slightly over the years.” Jim Henshaw of Raventools explains. While early measurements focused on Bounce Rate and Pages per Session, that’s not enough (users may keep clicking on different links because they can’t find the content that interests them!) Truly engaged readers continue reading through to the bottom of the article.

Online publishers have spent the last few years trying to attract as many visitors to their website and apps as possible, but were later forced to rethink their online strategy and to put greater focus on maximizing loyalty and engagement, Jorrith Schaap observed in Crowdynews. Enhancing audience engagement is important, Schaap explains, because engaged users:

  • are more likely to trust the publisher’s brand
  • return more often to the website
  • visit more pages during a session
  • are more inclined to sign up a newsletter or RSS blog feed
  • are more likely to become customers and clientsAbove all, do not annoy your readers, Nick Stamoutis of BrickMarketing warns, with:
  • Slow loading
  • Cluttered design
  • Confusing navigation systemSo, don’t just blog there – engage!
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Blogging Can Bring Dead Horses Back to Life

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This week my Mensa Bulletin is sparking some thoughts about content and content marketing. In “Politics Aside”, Editor Chip Taulbee explains that, while the Mensa organization itself strives to be apolitical, it’s perfectly OK for any Mensan to express his or her own political views. The important thing when writing about any topic, Taulbee stresses, is to come up with novel thoughts. “We’re not trying to be part of the echo chamber. We don’t serve dead horses.”

There’s no doubt about the fact that business bloggers face originality challenges. First of all, as Susannah Gardner and Shane Bailey, authors of Blogging for Dummies, point out, “Anything and everything you see on the Internet is protected by copyright.”  Blog content writers can avoid plagiarism by properly attributing statements to their authors in any of several different ways:

  1. direct quotes
  2. paraphrasing others’ remarks (and explaining where the idea came from)
  3. creating links in your blog posts to other websites

In order to move higher in search rankings, blogs must provide fresh, relevant content. Perhaps even more important, though, bloggers need to introduce fresh ideas simply in order to engage readers’ interest.  But, with the sheer volume of information on the Web on every topic under the sun, how do we keep providing new material in our blog posts week after week, month after month, even year after year?

Almost a decade ago now, in a totally unexpected way, I was fortunate to discover an answer to that very question. I had seen – and absolutely loved – an old TV movie about Marie Antoinette. On the surface, historical film making in general seems the very antithesis of fresh content-centered blog writing for business. As a viewer, I knew how the story would end before it began! Why, then, I asked myself, did I find “Marie Antoinette” so riveting?  Why did I hang on every word of dialogue, waiting for what I knew had long ago already taken place? It wasn’t about the material itself being “fresh”; it was about the “fresh“ point of view. Sure, in high school and college I had studied the events leading up to the French Revolution, but I’d never experienced those events through Marie Antoinette’s eyes.

Readers may know some or all of the information you’re presenting in your business blog, but they need your help putting that information in perspective.  In fact, that’s where blogging for business tends to be at its finest, helping searchers with more than just finding information, but helping them understand its meaning and significance.

“Fresh” doesn’t have to mean “new” facts.  If our content is “fresh” in that it offers a new perspective on familiar information, we have a chance at having our online readers find value in every word.

 

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Guest Post: How to Increase Organic Traffic to Your Blog

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The term “organic web traffic” describes the way visitors arrive at your website as a result of “natural” search.

Organic traffic is the reverse of paid traffic, which defines the check-outs generated by paid ads. Organic visitors locate your site after making use of an internet search engine like Google or Bing, and are not “referred” by any other web site.

The simplest method to increase the natural web traffic of your website without getting a traffico anomalo google error is to routinely publish quality and relevant content on your blog site.This is, nevertheless, just one of several techniques to use for getting new visitors.

The science that focuses on enhancing organic circulation is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. Organic traffic comes as a result of searches used by readers through search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

Since organic traffic is free, that is the kind of website traffic that proprietors want the most.

HOW TO BOOST NATURAL WEBSITE TRAFFIC:  11 LEADING SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TIPS

The challenge for any type of organization ensuring that when people look for a product and services like your own, they find you and not your rival. But there’s no need to rely on pricey pay-per-click advertising and marketing; there’s plenty you can do to increase natural web traffic at no charge except your time.

1. Direct content to your readers, not to internet search engines
Get to know your customers’ personalities, in order to know whose problems your content is solving. By producing quality educational content that reverberates with your perfect customers, you’ll naturally boost your Search Engine Optimization.
Talking about those primary problems, using the keyword phrases they use in search queries is the best path to increasing your audiences. Writing for search engines alone is useless; all you’ll have is keyword-riddled rubbish.
Pleasing your target audience will result in also pleasing internet search engines.

2. Feed your blog site routinely
Blog writing is perhaps the most efficient method to raise your natural site website traffic. Blog content lets you go deeper than your website permits, creating a big, expanding brochure of practical, persona-optimized web content targeted to your market niche.
On the other hand, poorly-written, “spammy” web content will do more damage than help. Avoid it.

3. Connect to the blogosphere
The blogosphere is an area for reciprocators.
Read, comment on, and link to other individuals’ websites as well as their blogs, specifically those operating in your market. That will encourage them to read, comment, and link to your content bringing in even more leads.
An excellent area to start is Quora. A cool tactic for getting your voice out there is to spend some time answering individuals’ concerns on Quora as well as supplying genuine, valuable and concrete understandings for the certain location you are a professional in.
Tip: Always use a VPN while using Quora, which will give you more specific results according to the country designated in your VPN.

4. Use long-tail keywords
Better than using the most prominent search phrases in your market is choosing keywords that are more detailed and specific to your services or product.
In time, Google as well as other internet search engines will certainly recognize your website or blog as an information source for that certain subject, which in turn will boost your web search position while helping your perfect clients find you.
Keep in mind that positioning on Google has to do with having a sphere of influence for a certain niche topic.
This article, for example, is targeted tor those that want detailed advice on enhancing natural website traffic. We’re not targeting every SEO-related keyword.

5. Get your meta down pat
The meta title, the URL, and the description are the three crucial ingredients for maximizing traffic for a website or an article. It’s simple yet reliable.
Meta summaries and meta data are your way of telling Google precisely what you’re speaking about.
We make use of a variety of devices, including Yoast Search Engine Optimization plugin for WordPress, HubSpot’s SEO tools, and Ahrefs to help us optimize our web pages.
But it’s not enough to just ‘mount a plugin’, You need to work on describing each web page in turn.

6. Continually create quality content
Try to compose and release content as often as possible, but not at the expense of top quality! The more high-quality content — including full-sized articles as well as posts — you have on your site or blog, the more opportunities you provide for getting found through organic web traffic.

7. Use internal links
As soon as you’ve accumulated a respectable catalog of content, you can link to older posts, as well as to your own website, guiding visitors to appropriately related content.
Internal linking keeps visitors on your website longer, which helps improve your search rankings.
Don’t, however, overuse interior links. Overuse may begin to look like spam.

8. Encourage incoming web links
Google prioritizes websites that have a lot of inbound web links, especially those coming from other reliable sites.
Urge clients, buddies, family members, distributors, industry mavens, and fellow blog writers to connect to your website.
The more inbound web links you have, the higher your website will rank, because the more reliable sources link to you, the more reliable your site becomes in the eyes of search engines.
Beware Search Engine Optimization “snake oil salespeople”, though. Attempting to trick Google with spammy links from low-reputation websites is a sure path to failure.
Some web links can in fact, damage your Search Engine Optimization.

9. Blow your own horn
In addition to linking to other websites and getting them to link to yours, you can promote your blog content by linking it to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon etc.
If individuals are “hanging around” your web content on social media, that sends a strong signal to Google that the material is relevant, helpful, and intriguing.

10. Use social networks
Build visibility on social media networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
This is a way to get your name and internet site address out on the net. Add “share” buttons to your website to make it easy for individuals to share your content.
Most important, of course, is to compose material worthy of sharing!

11. Use metrics to maximize results
Use Google Analytics to track site visitors to your website and blogsite.
Learning where readers are coming from and which search terms led them to you allows you to fine-tune your content.
Ultimately, to enhance natural, organic website traffic, Give searchers what they want – quality, guidance, and insight..

Millie Oscar writes SEO and technology-related articles and her articles have appeared in a number of sites, including EzineArticles.com, ArticlesBase.com, HubPages.com, and TRCB.com. Her articles focus on balancing information with SEO needs–but never at the expense of providing an entertaining read.

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Curating Without Copying – the Mayberry Man

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“An arrogant movie star is trapped in a modern day Mayberry where he’s given a chance to discover the true meaning of friendship and family,” reads the review of the new movie Mayberry Man.

“The Mayberry Man movie nods to ‘Andy Griffith Show’ without copying,” writes Domenica Bongiovanni in the Indianapolis Star. The movie’s creator, Stark Howell, had assigned himself a tall order, the reporter points out – capturing the spirit of the original show without mirroring The movie was meant to appeal to a very targeted audience (fans of the former show and of the Mayberry festivals), and finding ways to be original was going to be the challenge.

Howell himself refers to the film as “almost a period piece without being a period piece,” noting that the message is one for post-COVID, 21st century viewers re-examining their priorities in light of the world of yesterday, where there seemed to have been more generosity along with more pie-eating contests.

From my blog content writer’s point of view, what this film’s creator has achieved is curating without copying, serving up existing material and then offering his own unique insights relative to that material.

“Curated content and duplicate content are NOT the same thing,” explains Kudani.com. “Duplicate content is frowned upon, while curated content is encouraged.” Content curation is going out on to the web, and finding high quality content, and then organizing and streamlining that content in a way that provides an additional level of value to your readers and followers.”

Needless to say, as we teach content writers a at Say It For You, the content being curated must be properly attributed to its original author. Howell hardly pretends to have created the persona of Andy Griffith; he is demonstrating to modern day viewers a way to glean wisdom from that earlier and more innocent environment.

“Remember, the internet is all about sharing,” Kudani reminds readers. I agree, I think of curation as sharing+. As a freelance blog writer, I’ve always known that linking to outside sources is a good tactic for adding breadth and depth to my blog content.  Linking to a news source or magazine article, for instance, adds credibility to the ideas I’m expressing on behalf of Say It For You client companies. What’s more, I tell owners and content writers, when you link to another blog content writer’s comments about the subject you’re covering, that’s a way to reinforce your point, at the same time showing you’re staying in touch with others in your industry.

As the Mayberry Man clearly demonstrates, curation is capturing the spirit of original content without mirroring!’’

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