Monthly Archives: February 2017

Essential Guest Posting Rules that Must Not Be Ignored

 

Guest posts are powerful tools that can improve a website’s authority, enhance brand visibility and bring more traffic to a business website or web store. In order to enjoy the benefits of a well written guest post, it is imperative for writers to know the rules that should never be ignored.

 

Enjoy the process and detach

 

This is about setting the right mood, so your writing comes naturally. Unless you can detach yourself from all fears and possible outcomes, you won’t be able to function fully and be your best creative self. Bloggers who allow themselves to feel good and who stay detached have the best results in the end. Fearful, tense writers fail to impress their audience.

 

 

Focus on high authority blogs

 

This approach is still the best you can have when it comes to quality guest posting. You need to read big blogs regularly and to make friends with their owners/writers. If you’re good enough, you might even get invites without needing to push for it. It’s better to stay focused on these big, high authority blogs instead of investing your time in loads of small ones.

 

Give it a great title

 

The title is crucial to a blog post. The writer needs to aim to surprise and engage the reader right away. It must not be misleading though. Deliver what you promise. The title is the way you ‘pack’ your post – make it create interest in readers.

 

Adding value

 

Good writing has certain traits that cannot be alienated – it usually adds something to a known topic, it provides a new perspective, it challenges views and so on. To make your guest post valuable, you must figure out what you can bring. Is there a novelty, a different perspective, a supplementary piece of information on the given topic? Posts that don’t add value are overlooked. You can also pick a topic that isn’t covered by the chosen blog, as long as it’s connected and therefore relevant.

 

 

Read your host blog thoroughly

 

Don’t just pick a blog to write on; spend time reading it, getting to know its style, its preferred topics etc. This will also help you see what’s missing on it, so you can step in and have your say (and get attention). Read as much as you can on your chosen host blog before you attempt guest posting on it.

 

Skip the branding

 

Once you find such an opportunity, you’ll feel compelled to give your best and start an enthusiastic branding effort, but this will backfire. Branding should be kept out of guest posts. Keep these informative, educational, interesting or intriguing and refrain from speaking about your own offer. Don’t brad about your expertize, make proof of it. This is how you are going to convince people to click on your link. Avoid telling them how good you are or how terrific your brand is.

 

If your post gets rejected, it only means one thing: that you haven’t yet honed your tactic and writing skills. Or, the writing could be flawless, but you are missing on another important aspect.

The Road to Better Content Writing: A Content Audit

 

 

Content marketing strategists insist on the quality and novelty of content – which isn’t a bad thing at all; after all, this is what search engines prefer. It’s an uphill journey if you are new on the market, but if you have been around for some time, then you need to look bad at what you’ve done so far in terms of content.

 

Content audit: why and how

 

This is where a content audit comes into the picture. It’s good to know where you are standing before making any changes to your strategy. Did your existing content bring enough traffic? Did it convert well enough? A professional audit will consider all factors involved and reveal to you how your content has been performing up to the given point. The best practice is to schedule a content audit each year if you want your strategies to be successful. However, this is largely influenced by how much content you’re adding to your website and how frequently. It may therefore be a more or less laborious task. What is even more important is to schedule one right before anything else – it is an assessment of all your posted content. Do this before content writers begin to work on more material.

 

The effects of an audit

 

A content audit can get you to reconsider old content and refresh or repurpose it. Moreover, you will preserve good tactics and change what hasn’t worked. Audit results are used to identify any gaps there may be. It can certainly lead to a better understanding of the available solutions. Your writers will know what to focus on and how to create content that works. In addition, you will see which pages are indexed by Google, what is in place and what is missing in terms of SEO elements, what your URL authority is. An audit can get you to stop spending money on tactics that don’t work and also save more as you reuse existing content. A content audit can ease your maintenance efforts, improve the SEO and enhance the user’s experience.

 

All in all it will render a marketing strategy more efficient and allow you to make tweaks to the budget.

 

 

How to use it to your advantage

 

A professional will conduct a content audit based on a series of strict rules and tools. You may then consider certain aspects and parameters, to be used in shaping better strategies.

 

  • Identify the URLs that drive more traffic,
  • Find out what is being shared the most and provide more of that,
  • See what content type and word count yields better results and use it more,
  • Find the pages that generate more user engagement,
  • Begin to revise content, now that you’re armed with relevant data.

 

Make sure to get recommendations so you can adjust your strategy, including audit frequency. A content audit is different from a SEO audit but encompasses more, including SEO related elements of high relevancy. Use the data you acquire to create content that is better in terms of word count, approach, tone, information contained, shape, linking, optimization and so on.

Top 7 Reasons to Take Content Marketing Seriously in 2017

 

New year, new you. How about a new approach to online sales, too? In 2017, it’s all about the targeted efforts to promote your business and gain customers.

 

You need to develop a content marketing strategy that works. This is why all big or competitive companies now have content creation managers and directors. This aspect is vital and it requires the converging powers of various professionals. Here are the top 7 reasons why you must invest in this as soon as possible if you’re promoting your business online:

 

1.) Content marketing is cost effective

 

Although it may seem expensive at first, content marketing is an umbrella concept that covers many crucial aspects. It boosts organic traffic but also engagement, so it gets you more committed visitors and customers. In the long run, it can increase your revenue exponentially.

 

2.) Customer loyalty is increased

 

Your site visitors want consistency and quality through and through. Once they see it, they return to your website. Through a sound marketing strategy, it is made to suit their queries and provide them with the information or solutions they’ve been seeking for.

 

3.) Content becomes shareable

 

When your brand has content that inspires people to share it, your business can become viral. It gets a visibility boost, which in turn gets you more customers. Shareable content is extremely effective and its benefits can spiral outward for spectacular results.

 

 

4.) Amplified ROI

 

Because content marketing touches and improves so many areas, any of these becomes powerful enough to boost the return. Thus, the money you’re spending on such strategy can come back as a much amplified return of investment.

 

5.) Reaching key demographics

 

A good strategy does not mean only increasing traffic. It’s about targeting the right demographics, based on criteria like age, gender, professional status, industry or geographic region. When your website shows high up in search results, it shows to the people who matter – the ones with the highest chance to become your customers.

 

6.) It’s better than ads

 

Traditional advertizing no longer earns people’s trust. A percentage as high as 90% of people looking for products and services are rather convinced by recommendations or by good content. This is why it’s essential to market your content (which must be helpful, informative and relevant) instead of investing in ad creation and other such types of customer persuasion.

 

7.) Satisfying the need for information

 

We are all looking for information on a constant basis. This is especially valid when searching for products or services. We want to see how these are able to help us. Through content marketing, businesses meet people’s desire for information. Firstly, your goal should be to inform individuals, then to educate or inspire. Selling comes later.

 

Your brand’s position benefits greatly from professional content marketing. Your website becomes useful and authentic to its niche. It’s the way to keep up with online audiences and their ever changing behaviors. Act now and you might actually be saving money on your marketing strategies.