4 Steps to a years worth of content

The new year is coming and is time to create a plan for adding content to your website. One of the easiest ways to get potential and current customers to return to your site is by adding useful content to your site regularly.

Creating a content plan of action can be broken down into four easy steps.

Step 1: Create a yearly goal. Maybe your goal is writing 52 articles a year to add to your website.

Step 2: Break the year down into months. 12 months a year. You can then create a theme for each month. Let’s say you operate a nutrition website. January can be Getting and staying on a diet for the new year. You can then develop articles around starting a new year’s diet and maintaining the diet.

Step 3: Decide on the articles that you will publish for the month. Decide on a publication date, say every Monday.

Step 4: Spend each day researching and writing your article. Write your first draft, review and polish, then publish to your website.

The key to accomplishing your yearly goal is to remain consistent, set a schedule and break large goals into small manageable goals.

Have you started working on your marketing goals for 2009?

Crank up your website content

The government says we are headed into a recession, many believe we are already in a recession. There are ways to keep the recession from killing your business and one sure fire way is to crank up your content marketing. Even in a recession, there will be buyers. Newt Barrett has written a wonderful article on putting content marketing to use in your business. http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2008/10/24/6-ways-content-marketing-can-help-you-survive-the-recession/

 

Check out his article.

 

I would like to hear from you.

Are you planning to use content marketing to increase your business?

Are you using social media in your business?

Lately there has been a lot of talk about social media. Businesses are starting to use social media platforms to interact with customers and potential customers. Services such as Twitter can help you build trust with potential customers.

I recently read a few good articles on using Twitter for business and I want to pass this information on to you.

http://123socialmedia.com/2008/09/09/101-business-twitter-ideas-tactics-and-strategies/

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/

http://www.carbongraffiti.com/notebook/2008/08/28/how-to-use-twitter-for-marketing/

Are you using Twitter in your business?

Let us know.

11 ways to use your website to gain trust with potential customers

It is common knowledge among marketers that people do business with people they know and trust, or feel they know and trust. So how do you build trust with potential customers so that they will feel comfortable choosing you to do business with.

Here are 11 ways to increase your likeability factor with potential customers:

1.       Address your potential customer’s problems on your website. Do not use your website to tell customers all about you. Tell them how you understand their problems and know how to help them solve their problems.

2.       Add client success stories to your website that potential customers can read. Show how you successfully helped customers with problems like theirs and how happy the client was with your solution.

3.       Use client testimonials on your website with actual customers telling how happy they are to work with you and that describe their loyalty to your business.

4.       Add videos to your website so that potential customers can see you and your employees and begin to feel as if they know you and like you.

5.       Encourage feedback from potential customers, offer forums where customers and potential customers can ask questions and offer honest, helpful answers.

6.       Update your website often to encourage potential customers to continue to return to your website for updates and news.

7.       Offer audio files in topics that are of interest to your potential customers.

8.       Create articles for potential customers to read and offer a newsletter.

9.       Profile yourself and employees on your website.

10.   Offer free webinars for your potential customers to download and watch.

11.   Create free reports and white papers for potential customers

 

Getting potential customers to become engaged in your business increases the likeliness of them becoming a future client. You can also use these tips to increase business with current customers and increase customer loyalty.

Hiring a professional copywriter

The economy is teetering on the edge and many business owners are looking for a way to cut cost. Although we hear everyday how shoppers are cutting back, there will always be buyers no matter what the economy looks like. This is the best time to hire a professional copywriter. A professional copywriter can help you create copy that targets your ideal buyer, one who is purchasing right now.

I read a post by Ray Edwards on hiring copywriters and I decided to pass it along to my readers. http://www.webcopy-writing.com/blog/2008/03/27/how-to-choose-a-copywriter/

My questions to you:

What changes have you made to your marketing and why?

What does content marketing have to do with branding?

There is a lot of talk about content marketing and branding. Creating a brand begins by deciding how you want your brand to be known. Do you want to be known as a leader in your industry? When people think of the products you sell, does your company come to mind first?

When you think of washing powder, is one of the first products you think of Tide. This is branding, being first in the mind of the consumer. One of rhe easiest ways to do this is through content marketing on the web. When prospective customers search for your product, increasing the odds of your company landing on the first page is greatly increased with the use of quality and quantity content on your website.

This can include:

• Articles
• Podcasts
• Videos
• Press Releases
• Forums
• Blogs
• Social Networking and Marketing

Dad Schawbel writes an excellent post about branding and content. Please check it out. Being the Top-of-Mind Brand Will Make You Extremely Successful

Are you using content to create and maintain your company brand? If so, how?

Newsletter: Are yours serving the purpose they were created for?

I was reading the blog “Anything goes Marketing,” and the post about Newsletter Content that Engages Your Marketing Database. Reading the post got me to thinking about newsletter and how popular they are among businesses. Do businesses create a plan before they start sending out newsletters or do they just wing it? How serious do businesses take the newsletters that they create and send out.I have a couple of questions to those who create newsletters for your business:
1. When writing your newsletter do you have your customers in mind or your company?
2. Do you write one general newsletter, or do you offer newsletters geared towards specific customers?
3. Do you offer newsletters for customers, prospects, employees and do you gear the conent in these newsletters toward your target audiences?
4. How do you measure the efficiency of your newsletters?
5. Do you use newsletters to achieve certain goals, for example; keeping in touch, promotions, moving prospects towards clients, employee moral, etc.
6. Do you know why you are sending newsletters, or is it something you are doing because other businesses send newsletters?

I would like to know, what is the purpose of your newsletters and are they meeting your goals.I was reading the blog “Anything goes Marketing,” and the post about Newsletter Content that Engages Your Marketing Database. Reading the post got me to thinking about newsletter and how popular they are among businesses. Do businesses create a plan before they start sending out newsletters or do they just wing it? How serious do businesses take the newsletters that they create and send out.I have a couple of questions to those who create newsletters for your business:
1. When writing your newsletter do you have your customers in mind or your company?
2. Do you write one general newsletter, or do you offer newsletters geared towards specific customers?
3. Do you offer newsletters for customers, prospects, employees and do you gear the conent in these newsletters toward your target audiences?
4. How do you measure the efficiency of your newsletters?
5. Do you use newsletters to achieve certain goals, for example; keeping in touch, promotions, moving prospects towards clients, employee moral, etc.
6. Do you know why you are sending newsletters, or is it something you are doing because other businesses send newsletters?

I would like to know, what is the purpose of your newsletters and are they meeting your goals.