“Did-You-Know?” Content Marketing

/0 Comments/in , , /by

 

This week, my Say It For You blog posts were inspired by the 2024 Farmer’s Almanac…

“Growing up a city girl, I thought many people were farmers because they were incapable of doing any other work. Then I moved to the country and made a bumbling discovery: To be a successful farmer, you need to have the smarts – and not just in one area.” A good farmer, the author belatedly realized, is a jack-of-all-trades – a) ace problem-solver b) soil scientist  c) marketer  d) mechanic, someone who knows how to fix a range of low-tech to extremely high-tech equipment such as drones and water sensor devices.

One of the most important “powers” of content marketing, we’ve found at Say It For You, is the ability to turn a false perceptions – of an individual, of a business, or even of an entire industry – on its head. Not only can the myth-busting power of blog content correct misinformation reflected in customer questions and comments highlight a business’ strengths, myth-debunking makes for engaging -reading!
.
In just the way the information in Farmers’ Almanac about farmers using high-tech drones, did-you-know content “teasers” can spark interest when used in blog post titles. Little known details can be used to describe a unique business policy, to clarify the way in which a product works, or explain why one of the services provided by that business particularly effective in solving a problem.

“Harvesting” tidbits of information will always prove useful to content writers. While “tidbit” posts are just one of the dozens of different “genres” we can use to lend variety to out posts, unusual tidbits of information put writer and reader on the same side of the presentation, with both experiencing wonder about the unusual “byte” being shared.

Online visitors searching for a product or a service, I explain to business owners, typically have no idea what it takes to do what you do and how much effort you put into acquiring the expertise you’re going to use to their benefit. Did-you-know content has the power to close that gap, showing the level of preparation and effort on the part of both owner and employees which will be devoted to delivering the expert advice, service, and products they can expect.

As the Farmer’s Almanac shows, “did-you-know?” content marketing is a great way to “plant” trust in prospects!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

In Your Post, It Pays to Explain Why

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

 

This week, my Say It For You blog posts were inspired by speaker and humorist Todd Hunt…

 

Both signs outside a store convey essentially the same message – but do they?

  • Sign #1″ No dogs allowed!
  • Sign #2: Unfortunately, the Chicago Health Department will not allow us to have dogs in our shop.”

In content marketing, calls to action (CTAs) often use imperative verbs. Why? To provoke readers to take immediate positive action, from requesting further information to actually signing up for a newsletter, to actually making a purchase. The CTA aims to create a sense of urgency around the offer.

But, just as Todd Hunt demonstrated, the “No dogs allowed” sign is a big turn-off. Online visitors who’ve found themselves at your blog want to know why they ought to keep reading and why they should follow your advice. Because the second sign answers the “why”, it overcomes resentment and skepticism, Todd Hunt explains.

Some of the answers web visitors are going to need include:

  1. Why me?  Why did you target this particular market?
  2. Why you (the author)? What is your expertise and experience?  Why do you care?
  3. Why this (the offer)? What are the specific solutions you provide?
  4. Why now (the urgency)?
  5. Why this price (the value)?

Even more important, we teach at Say It For You, can be explaining the reasons behind your policies, your way of “running your shop” as compared with others in your field. There’s one caveat – while you want to compare your products and services to others’, it must be done in a positive way, explaining why: We offer…..We believe…. We value…….  Rather than devaluing other companies’ products and services, stress the positives about you and yours.

In store window signs and in blog posts, explaining the “why” can make the difference between a turn-off and a turn on!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

The 3-Act Structure for Plays and Blog Posts

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

 

The three-act structure dates back to the days of Aristotle, Gabriel Pereira reminds readers of Writer’s Digest. In Act I, the status quo is revealed, describing the world in which the story is going to take place. This first act sets the tone and gives the story a reason for starting at this particular place and time. At the end of Act I, there is either an event that shakes things up for the character, or a choice the character must face.

Act II is usually the longest of the three acts, Pereira explains. Here subplots and supporting characters can be added. It is in Act II that the character makes a choice and changes his or her outlook. By the beginning of Act III, the character has reached his/her lowest point, and, by the end, readers get a sense of closure and resolve.

One function of any marketing blog, of course, is to provide valuable information to consumers highlighting the benefits to be gained by using a certain product or service or by following a certain plan. But writing for business needs to draw attention to the “flip side of the calculator”, meaning the costs of waiting to take action. In your blog post, “Act II” might be a good place for the post’s first CTA (call to action), showing readers how to put what they have learned to use.

While the three-act design is by no means the only possibility, Pereira admits, many works of fiction do follow that design because it has a clear beginning, middle and end. “Done well, it takes the reader on a satisfying journey.”

The three-act structure has great relevance to the order in which information is presented in effective blog posts. Online readers will have landed on your blog because they are interested in finding information on your topic and possibly making a purchase. They need immediate confirmation that they’ve come to the right place. To that end, according to blog mavens Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos, key words and phrases should be among the first words in your blog title and then reappear in your first lines of the post. Then, at the “back end”, (Act III), the “pow” closing statement should tie back, we teach at Say It For You, to the opener.

Of course, when it comes to content marketing through blogs, the reader’s “journey” isn’t over at the end of the post. As writers, we can do well today what we may not have done so well yesterday or the day before.  Since blog posts typically appear in reverse chronological order, I explain in Say It For You training sessions, your best blogs will be the ones searchers see first!

The three-act structure can work well for both plays and blog posts!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Guest Post: 5 Best Ideas for Driving Organic Traffic through Blog Posts

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Are you wondering if blogging is actually worth it for your business? Blogs may seem time-consuming to create, especially for a small business owner, but they have shown to be extremely beneficial for driving traffic.

Why are blog posts important for online businesses?

Obviously, this article is all about encouraging more organic traffic through blog posts but what other benefits do blogs bring?

Firstly, the more articles your website has published, the more keywords you are likely to rank for. Increasing keyword ranking will contribute to your website’s SEO rankings and authority within your niche. With a blog, you’re able to address more questions and thoughts that your target audience is looking for and are therefore more likely to rank higher within their search results.

Secondly, blog posts are essential to the educational part of your funnel, the top entry level. People come to blogs for answers to their queries and will start pushing them through your funnel. Helping to create warm leads by getting them to sign up to your email list or explore and purchase your products and/or services.

Thirdly, unlike social media posts that have a short life span, results from blog posts can get better with age. Over time, your articles may attract more links, more shares, and gain higher SERP positions. Blogging will provide long-term results and ensure a continued flow of traffic, leads and potential sales.

This is only a touch on all of the potential benefits you will find from blogging. So, what are the best ways to start?

5 best ways to boost organic traffic with blog posts

1. Writing List Posts
Our first recommendation is to write list posts, exactly like the post you are reading right now. Want to know the specific data behind the success of list posts? In a recent study reported by Conductor, a global SEO agency, 36% of the participants noted that they were more likely to click on list posts and list headlines.

Here are some examples of good list headlines that are sure to increase traffic:

  •  10 ways for using the Pomodoro technique in everyday time-management
  •  3 open-source alternatives to Adobe Photoshop
  •  5 free workout programmes for busy people and their benefits

If you want to increase your search rankings, your list posts have to offer something unique and valuable. This is typically done by following these  recommendations:

  • Offering expert advice based on your personal experiences. Referring to existing case studies and data.
  • Sharing valuable anecdotes and tidbits relevant to your topic.
  •  Including practical recommendations addressing topical issues.

 

2. Sharing Third-Party Resources and Links
When blogging, it’s easy to see other bloggers as your rivals. This attitude, however, is destructive and unhealthy if you’re planning to blog professionally.

Collaborating with other bloggers is one of the most effective means of growing organic traffic and is a cornerstone of white-label link building. A great way to achieve this aim is by writing and curating a resource page.

A good resource page should do all of the below.
? Include links to respectable blogs, and third-party products and services.
? Disclose if you’re partnered with other blogs or are sponsored by the companies that you are linking to.
? Be topical; you should update your resource page at least once a month to keep track of the latest issues and provide value to your readers.
? Include your remarks and comments about the content you’re linking to.

Some platforms (e.g., Hubspot) are so large that their entire resources page only includes links to their own resources and tools. This is simply not feasible for smaller bloggers. Because of this, don’t worry if your resources page needs to link to other popular blogs. Other blogs are not out there to ‘steal’ your readers. Your readers will appreciate you trying to provide as much value as possible and will return to your blog for more. In addition, resource pages can be a great place to connect with other bloggers and perhaps gain links back to your blog and grow your rankings.

3. Writing Detailed Reviews
Let’s face it, everybody likes reading a good review. But what exactly should you review? Well, practically anything goes. Book reviews are incredibly popular right now as reading is seen as a highly prestigious and thoughtful hobby in a world that is overwhelmed by information. The average time spent reading books in the US has remained consistently around 15 minutes per day since 2014.

Other great review options are online platforms, tools and courses. Online learning is experiencing a huge boom right now due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, a lot of people simply don’t know what courses or online universities they should choose. You could (and should) become a very valuable guide in a rapidly expanding industry.

Reviews of products are also encouraged. There are always new and emerging products and brands within every niche. Product reviews will always have a place in blogging and gain organic traffic from the people looking specifically for reviews before purchasing anything. This can also easily lead to affiliate sales and sponsored review posts in the future.

If you want to write a captivating review, follow the below guidelines:

  • Include links to respectable sources of secondary data.
  • Clearly mark your own subjective opinions.
  • Don’t be afraid to share personal stories and anecdotes.
  • Always remain critical but don’t nitpick.

4. Using a Keyword Ranking Tool
Two of the most widespread mistakes made by bloggers are failing to integrate new keywords into their posts and not getting rid of keywords that are no longer valuable. You’ve already made the same mistakes if you’ve done at least one of the following things:

  • Only use a single spreadsheet including all your keywords.
  • Do not check the keyword statistics for your older posts.
  • Do not use any third-party tools to monitor the rankings of your current keywords.

If you’ve recognised your blogging practices in the above list, then it’s time for a change. Luckily, two of the best keyword ranking tools that are available to bloggers are completely free.

  •  Ahrefs provides free monthly updates to its keyword database and can search keyword popularity across different domains. The tool also focuses on non-conventional metrics such as keyword difficulty and the estimated organic traffic provided by each new keyword
  • MOZ can be used to easily generate infographics about specific keywords and is a great daily tracker of keyword popularity.

Make a habit of spending at least 10-15 minutes per day to check the status of your keywords and update your SEO spreadsheets and documents. This is not only a great time management exercise but is practically a guarantee of achieving solid organic traffic figures.

5. Guest Posting Featuring Opinion Leaders
We’ve already discussed that bloggers become stronger by cooperating and writing extensive resource pages. The same principle also applies to guest posting and inviting opinion leaders to give valuable tips on a specific subject.

A good guest post:

  • is written by a well-known personality and includes the distinct features of this personality’s style.
  • offers a unique perspective on a topical issue (e.g., new updates to the Google algorithm).
  • credits all contributors and details why these people are considered experts in a given field.
  • includes links to the guest contributor’s other publications.

We know that guest posting might seem a bit scary. After all, you’re willingly relinquishing creative control to a person you might not have met before. Nonetheless, it’s a great way to grow traffic and increase the authority of your web page.

You can also provide high-quality, guest post content to other websites yourself. This helps to establish you and your business as an authority in your niche and can bring organic traffic from other blogs.

Another way to collaborate with opinion leaders is by creating interview-type posts or list of snippets from multiple personalities. The wealth of information in these posts can attract a lot of attention from potential visitors and links from other bloggers.

Conclusion:

In our opinion, the optimal time to start growing your organic traffic is right now. With the rise in teleworking and similar digital services, more and more people turn to bloggers to adapt to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. If you follow the above strategies, you’re sure to become a valid opinion leader in your own right and strongly grow your loyal following.

Author Bio
           

 Catherine Smith is an online Marketing Manager at PhD Centre, specializing in PhD thesis writing. She is passionate about researching and writing on various topics, including Education, Marketing, and Technology.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Content Lessons From the Stanley Cup

/0 Comments/in , , /by

 

“Of all the major sports trophies, none can compare to the storied history and quirkiness of the Stanley Cup, Sean Hutchinson explained in a fascinating 2017 Mental Floss magazine article. Although hardly an avid hockey fan, I couldn’t help noting – and sharing with Say It For You readers – quite a number of valuable content writing lessons in Hutcheson’s anecdotes and observations….

A new Stanley Cup isn’t made every year.
Unlike other major league sports trophies, a new Stanley cup isn’t made every year.  Instead, after each championship, the names of the players, coaches, management, and staff of the winning team are added to the cup.

Unlike a personal diary written in a notebook, Artem Minaev explains in firstsiteguide, blog entries are displayed in reverse chronological order, with the newest post on top, pushing previous posts down the list.. Older posts remain on the site, accessible in the “archives”, providing valuable resources available to readers.

The cup is always changing.
Between 1927 and 1947, a new, more streamlined and vertical incarnation of the cup was used. with a cylindrical shape. But, by 1948, the trophy had become too tall to hold or put on display, so the shape was changed to the tiered version used today.

Unlike the more static web page content, blog posts allow new insights and information to be constantly added without losing the cumulative power of older posts. The content can  incorporate the company’s history while showing what is being done to adapt to modern trends.

The cups are not always perfect.
Many champion player and team names are misspelled on the Stanley Cup. The name of the 1980-’81 New York Islanders is misspelled as “Ilanders,” and the 1971-’72 Boston Bruins’ name is misspelled as “Bqstqn Bruins.” Most of the errors are left as they are—it would be too costly to fix the mistakes. However, after 1996 champion Colorado’s Adam Deadmarsh’s name was spelled “Deadmarch”, it was correct after he publicly stated he was heartbroken by the error.

One function of any marketing blog is updating and correcting information, including your own older entries. Mistaken data may have been inadvertently published on your business blog. There may have been updates in a company policy, or in one or more of the products. Or, there might have been a recent development in your industry that makes one or more of your former blog posts “incorrect”. At Say It For You, we recommend going back periodically to former blog posts and insert corrections, perhaps in bold type.  That way, when online searchers find that “old” post, they can see that the company is keeping its readers current. Failed links and misspellings can be fixed as well.

Watch for more Stanley Cup content lessons in Thursday’s Say It For You post!

 

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail