Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

How to Write for the Web

Writing web content sounds easy enough: if you can write, you can write for the web, right? Not necessarily. Some small business owners find writing for the web to be a time consuming and frustrating task. It’s not always easy to put your thoughts into words–and optimize those words for search. Here are a few tips on how to write for the web from The Website Wordsmith, Alexa Steele .  

Web Writing Tip 1: Start with the headline

Headlines are, in many ways, the most important aspect of your website content. They are the first thing your reader sees and must therefore be attention-grabbing. They are also indexed by search engines, and so need to be optimized with keywords. Writing your headline first can focus your writing and help you establish a connection with these two distinct audiences.

Web Writing Tip 2: Know your keywords

One of the biggest differences between writing for the web and writing for other media is the need for search engine optimization (SEO). Keywords are at the heart of all SEO. By using a tool like Google AdWords Keyword tool you can identify keywords and key-phrases people are using to search for your topic. You should then include at least two or three of these keywords in your content.

Web Writing Tip 3: Know your audience

Who’s going to be reading your content? Do they know your subject well or are they beginners in need of detailed explanations? Are they looking for information or entertainment? Are they familiar with your brand or do you need to introduce yourself? The answers to these questions–and others–will impact how you write your content so get an idea of who your audience is before you begin.

Web Writing Tip 4: Make it an easy read

Web surfers are notorious for their short attention spans. They have a tendency to scan webpages before (or instead of) reading them thoroughly. By including headlines, sub-headings, lists, quotes, and bold lettering you can highlight important points and make skimming easier . Also, unless you know your audience is more advanced (see tip #3) it’s a good idea to keep your writing at about an eighth grade reading level. Have someone proofread your writing, too, to edit out errors that can trip up and confuse a reader.

Web Writing Tip 5: Give it a call to action

Ultimately, you’re creating your content for a reason: you want the people who read it to take an action. Including a call to action like “call now,” “click here,” or “leave a comment” lets your readers know what they should to do next, which increases the likelihood that you will get conversions.

SEO copywriter Alexa Steele works with marketers and small business owners to create engaging, persuasive, search engine optimized copy for websites and other forms of Internet marketing. To read more of Alexa’s articles–or to engage her for your next SEO copywriting project–visit www.thewebsitewordsmith.com.    

Happy 2011!

The core thing that influences the success of every business is the viability of your customer list. While there is much debate over quality vs. quantity, I will always take that stand that you need BOTH. You want a large list (quantity) that contains your ideal customer (quality). (I’ll be sharing more about this on my free teleclass “5 Simple Keys to Attract Your Ideal Customer: How to Get More Leads, Build Your List and Grow Your Business FAST!”)

As we enter this new year, I asked you to share with me what are your biggest priorities in 2011. I specifically asked you to tell me what you most needed to focus on most when it comes to list building, lead generating and traffic building. This is what you said (listed in order)…

1. Blogging
2. Referrals
3. Keywords
4. On-page SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
5. Video
6. Joint Ventures
7. Teleseminars
8. Article Marketing
9. Affiliate Marketing
10. Facebook & Twitter [tied]

So what do you think? Do you agree with this list? What would you add or change?

What marketing expert should you be working with for each marketing tactic that you want to implement? This is a short list to help you figure out who you need to call. In a larger business, it is typically the brand or product manager that writes the marketing strategy and plan and then oversees all the specialized experts who make it happen.  Here is a brief list of who to work with…

• Marketing Communications: could be an AD agency or just a graphic artist, copywriter and web designer. The Ad agency would also have a creative director that oversees the other 3 specialists. They create your identity, logo, brochures, website, packaging, ads (both online and off) and most materials. Can also create email newsletters. A direct marketing specialist would also fall into this category.
• Web site: web designer works on the visual representation, web developer handles ecommerce, community forums and other functionality, SEO expert gets your chosen keywords emphasized,
• Social Media: blog/community manager oversees blog content and responds to community members (blogger could also be in a different dept. like PR). Twitter and forum communicator.
• PR: gets feature articles written, product placements, press tours, press kits, press releases, speaker placement, quotes,and more.
• Event Marketing: identifies, schedules and prioritizes marketing events, creates booths, demos, etc.
• Channel Marketing: work with resellers, OEM, Affiliate managers and Evangelists: who get 3^rd parties to sell your products or services or use them in their own products
• Business Development & Sales – works directly with key customer accounts to close a sale.

This is most of the major categories of specialists. The ones you need to work with can vary depending on your type of business.

What other marketing specialists have you used?

How do I automate the marketing of my blog?

Do you automate the marketing of your blog posts? Here’s what I’ve done.

My blog posts are relevant to small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to market their business better. As such, I have them automatically posted to places that small business owners can find them such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and more. I have spent some time automating this process so I can focus on the creation of content and not the marketing of it. Here are the methods and tools I used to automate the updates of my blog posts.

Twitter

I have two twitter accounts; the first, @expertmktgcoach, I tweet each post once, and the second, @debzimmer, I use to repeat the tweets throughout the day.

I use Hootsuite to import the RSS feed from my blog to twitter. This sends out one tweet per account. With Hootsuite, I can also schedule tweets on that second account so that the tweet reoccurs throughout the day.

LinkedIn

My blog headline posts to my LinkedIn status using Hootsuite. Hootsuite also sends the status to Ping.fm which updates numerous other sites that I visit less often.

My blog is then imported into my LinkedIn Profile using the LinkedIn WordPress Application.

Facebook

I use Facebook Notes to import my RSS feed into my Facebook Page. This creates a duplicate copy of my blog on Facebook. I can also use Hootsuite to import the headlines into my wall on my personal Facebook profile or public page.

Social Bookmarking

Using the WordPress Plugin tool for OnlyWire, my posts are automatically bookmarked to numerous bookmarking sites with which I have accounts. It creates bookmarks at more bookmarking sites than I can reach through Ping.fm. Ping.fm reaches other social media sites that OnlyWire doesn’t, such as Plaxo.

RSS Reader

I use Feedburner for those who want to get my blog posts in an RSS reader format.

Kindle

If you are a Kindle user, you can read my blog by subscribing through the Amazon Kindle Store.

SEO

Each post I write is search engine optimized. I use a number of tools including WordPress plugins to assist me with search engine optimization.

Email

There’s one more automation tool I’m considering but haven’t yet implemented. I see that AWebber is now integrated with Feedburner and can send the RSS feeds in email to your subscriber base. I think that sounds way cool. I just wish the tools I currently use offered that service.

That’s all I’ve got on blog marketing automation. Do you have any tools or systems you use that you particularly like?