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?

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.