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7 Dust-Busting Ways to Clean and Refresh Your Blog

April 3, 2012 By 1 Comment

Having a blog on your company’s website or linked to your website is a cost effective online marketing tool. It’s important to provide content that will attract visitors, keep them interested, and convert them into customers. Place social media icons on your blog to make sharing easier. Have a conversation on Facebook and Twitter to show followers and fans that your company is interested in what they have to say. Show your care and concern.

Below you’ll find 7 dust-busting techniques that will clean your blog and make it shine again.

How to Clean and Refresh Your Company’s Blog 

Redesign it.

The design implemented three years ago could be out-of-date today. It’s important to stay on top of the latest design trends. Pay attention to the color scheme. A bold color scheme could work for an entertainment business, but not for your medical practice.

Rewrite blog content.

Rewrite or hire a freelance writer/blogger to rewrite old content. This is a great content strategy to breathe new life into your blog. Perhaps, the content is outdated or didn’t make a good first impression when it was originally posted. Perhaps, blog posts weren’t optimized with keywords/phrases.

Rewrites could dramatically increase web traffic.

Tip: A headline on a blog post is just as important as a headline on a print article. You still have to ‘hook’ readers.

Ask questions.

Asking questions at the end of blog posts is a web traffic building strategy that most freelance writers and bloggers use. A question shows visitors that you want to know what they think — your company’s interested in having and maintaining a conversation with them.

Revise the writing style and tone.

What’s the tone of the current blog content? Style and tone can affect blog traffic. This is why it’s important to know ‘who’ the target audience is. For example, if your target audience is marketing directors, the content should be targeted to this audience by incorporating industry jargon and lingo. However, if your target audience is the ‘everyday’ consumer, avoid using industry terms. Your message will become muddled and lost. Customers will gravitate to your competitors’ content because it’s easy to understand.

Change the structure of blog posts.

There are many ways to structure blog posts. The most common way is:

  • Headline
  • Bullet headline
  • Information

However, you don’t have to follow this pattern. Be bold and try something new such as:

  • Headline
  • Quote
  • Information
  • Headline
  • Quote
  • Information

Tips

  • Keep sentences short and to the point.
  • Use bold headlines and bullet points.
  • When it comes to links, use a different color to stand out from the crowd.

Test different structures to see which ones receive the most ‘tweets’ and ‘likes.’ One thing that never changes is that web content must be compelling and interesting.

Post consistently.

How fresh is your company’s blog content? Is it posted consistently? You don’t have to publish a blog post every day; however, choose a schedule that works for your company. Perhaps, you’ll post twice a week or twice a month. Whatever you do, be consistent.

Try new angles.

Types of posts such as “How To” and “Lists” work because they’re fast and easy to read. But, you may want to ‘shake’ things up by publishing a controversial post here and there. If you disagree with your competitors, say so. If you disagree with industry trends, write about it (or have your freelance writer/blogger, write about it). There’s no harm in voicing your opinions. It’s a great way to jump start a conversation.

Use these blog ‘dust busting’ techniques to wipe the slate clean on your company’s blog. Experiment with different types of posts from “How To” to “Tips.” What works? What doesn’t work? Analyze the results to find out which posts had the most visitors and comments. Remember to keep your target market in mind when posting web content. Once your company discovers a strategy that works, stick with it. But don’t ignore new trends either. Stay on top of the ever changing world of blogging.

What are you doing to prevent your blog from collecting dust? Share.

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Warning: Twitter Followers Could be Unnatural

March 29, 2012 By 1 Comment

You may be shocked to know that some companies and entrepreneurs buy their Twitter followers. Can you believe it? Talk about being fake and unnatural! Why would anyone by followers? Well, it gives the ‘illusion’ of having a strong Twitter following.

Did you know that followers could be spam accounts? What happens when clients or customers start to follow some of the accounts that follow your company only to find out they’re spam? They probably won’t be too impressed with your company for too long.

You can increase your Twitter followers the natural and organic way by following the steps below. You don’t need artificial Twitter followers!

How to Gain Twitter Followers the Natural, Organic Way Instead of Buying Them

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

Upload your company’s logo.

Please don’t use the ‘egg’ which is the default image Twitter uses. You don’t want your company to be labeled as a ‘spam’ account. If this happens, you risk not having any followers.

Uploading your company’s logo is easy to do. Adjust the size to Twitter’s max size of 700k.

An eye-catching bio attracts followers.

Tell everyone on Twitter about your company in 160 characters or less. If you’re not sure what to write, here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • What makes your company unique?
  • What sets your company apart from other companies within your industry?
  • How do your employees contribute to the success of your company and its customers?
  • What do you offer that other companies don’t?

Write or hire a freelance writer to write a compelling bio that ‘shows’ everyone on Twitter ‘why’ they should follow your company. Don’t forget to include links to your company blog, other web pages, or other social media accounts.

Tip: Hold a contest and ‘tweet’ about it. People love to enter contests. More importantly, they love to win free stuff!

Use Twitter on a daily basis.

How much time do you spend on Twitter? Many social media experts and gurus will advise you to hire a community manager or social media manager who’ll spend 30+ hours per week on social media. Before you do this, answer the following questions:

  • How large is your company in terms of sales and revenues?
  • How many employees do you have?
  • How large is your client, consumer, or customer base?
  • What is the vision for growth for the next three to five years?
  • Where do you see the company in five years?

If your company is as large as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, etc., you may want to hire a social media manager (or outsource) who’ll work 30+ hours per week handling your social media networks.

Small business owners, consider hiring a part-time employee to handle your social media efforts. Spending 15 minutes per day on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc. can increase your web presence and traffic. You can adjust the amount of (+ or -) time needed to be spent as your social media networks grow over a period of time.

Engaging with clients and customers shows that you’re doing everything possible to interact with them; you’re taking an interest in them. They’re not just a sale to you.

Share valuable content that will be retweeted.

Having a blog could work for your company. If you’re not interested in having a blog, consider posting free articles or giving away eBooks, white papers, tutorial videos, power point presentations, etc. Just give something away that readers will find valuable.

Tip: Retweet your followers’ posts share their content as well.

Don’t be afraid to add “Please Retweet” at the end of a tweet because studies have shown that ‘tweets’ without it receive less retweets. There’s no harm in asking your followers to share what you’ve posted.

Upload pictures.

Don’t be afraid to ‘tweet’s pictures from your company picnic or charitable event. This is a great way to show how your company ‘thanks’ employees for their hard work. It’s also a good way to show how your company and employees support a charitable organization within the community.

If your company started its own not-for-profit as a way to give back to the community, Twitter is smart way to ‘spread’ the word about it. Ask for the community’s support in terms of volunteering and or donating money. This is a good way to show how your company cares about the community and everyone in it.

Remember, sometimes a picture is worth more than 1,000 words!

Have patience.

You could grow your Twitter followers overnight if you buy them. However, it’s always best to grow followers the natural, organic way. Think about the following question:

What’s more important, quality or quantity?

You could buy Twitter followers and suddenly have 25,000, 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, etc. followers. However, what good does it do if you’re not converting them or receiving leads and referrals? If you want authentic followers, be patient and grow your Twitter followers over time.

These are some tips on how your company can gain Twitter followers the natural and organic way. No preservatives added!

How has your company increased its Twitter followers? Share.

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5 Blog Post Tips to Increase Web Traffic

March 27, 2012 By 3 Comments

Your company may have incorporated a blog on its website or have a blog linked to your company’s website. Your company probably uses social media, hoping it will increase your web traffic, sales, and revenues. Unfortunately, if a blog post (or other web content) isn’t compelling or you don’t have enough posts, your blog will remain stagnant.

Follow the five blog post tips below to increase web traffic.

5 Blog Post Tips to Increase Web Traffic 

 

Content-Content Interaction (Formal)

Content-Content Interaction (Formal) (Photo credit: jrhode)

Select the right primary and secondary keywords/phrases.

You’ve probably heard this a million times already, but it begs repeating. Selecting and optimizing the ‘right’ primary and secondary keywords/phrases for your blog posts can increase web traffic.

To find out which keywords/phrases work for your company, test them by using the “A/B Testing” method.

Select a couple of keywords/phrases and use them within pages and Google AdWords (if you advertise on the web) in addition to blog posts.

Look at the number of clicks and impressions for the keywords/phrases. Which keywords/phrases receive the most clicks and impressions? What are the conversion rates? Knowing this information is useful when your choose keywords/phrases.

Once you have your primary and secondary keywords/phrases, hire a freelance writer, content manager, or social media manager to write your company’s web content, ‘tweets’ and Facebook status updates.

Optimizing ‘tweets’ and Facebook status updates with your keywords/phrases can increase web traffic. Try it today!

Write a blog post in a conversational tone.

Writing for the web is different than writing for print. A blog post should be written using simple and short sentences. If you don’t already use the Flesch-Kincaid method to analyze your blog posts, you may want to consider it.

Flesch-Kincaid Score 

90-100 : Very Easy

80-89 : Easy

70-79 : Fairly Easy

60-69 : Standard

50-59 : Fairly Difficult

30-49 : Difficult

0-29 : Very Confusing

It’s important to write web content that has a score of at least 60 or higher. The higher the number means the web content is easy to read.

Most journalists write newspaper and magazine articles that score a 70 and above. They use simple language to get their point across.

Pay attention to the word count of a blog post.

Most freelance bloggers and freelance writers will tell you a blog post should be 300 words to 700 words. However, I’ve read many blog posts that are over 700 words. Heck! I write blog posts that exceed 700 words.

Tip: About Pages, Bios, and other pages are usually 500 words.

Base the word count on your audience.

Ask a question at the end of a blog post.

If you want to start a conversation, ask a question at the end of a blog post. This is a good way to entice visitors to post comments which begins a dialogue between you and your target market.

You could automate an email response such as, “Thank you for reading our blog. We appreciate it!” However, you may want to answer a few emails personally or have your social media or content manager respond.

Tip: Ask a question or take a poll on your social media networks.

Speaking of responding … Make sure your content manger or social media manager responds to comments. Readers who make thoughtful comments want to know if someone from the company is paying attention to them.

If you receive too many comments (100 or more) you could always close comments.

Bold headlines get attention.

Writing headlines takes patience and practice.  A bold headline will stop readers’ in their tracks — they’ll have to read your web content.

Most copywriters will spend at least 30 minutes or one hour writing the perfect headline. This may seem outrageous, but it really isn’t.

Think about it. How much do you think the writers at top selling magazines earn for writing headlines? I won’t keep you in suspense — they earn a boatload of money! It is worth it to pay writers a high salary if a magazine receives a high ROI.

It’s all about ROI (return on investment). If your company wants to increase their ROI, it’s worth it to pay a copywriter top dollar for writing headlines.

These are some blog post tips that can increase your company’s blog web traffic.

Make sure your freelance writer or staff writer keeps the company’s target audience in mind when writing a blog post.

Writing a blog post is different from writing an editorial article. Most of the time a blog post will be shorter than a 1,000 word print article. However, there are exceptions to the rule. This is why it’s important to know your target audience. Write for them!

What is your biggest challenge with blog posts? Share.

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Why is Social Media an Important Marketing Tool?

March 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If your company hasn’t taken advantage of social media, you could be missing out on the opportunity to increase business results and profitability. Social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, and others are free to use. When they’re used properly, they can drive traffic to your website, convert visitors to customers, and increase your sales and revenue. Let’s find out why social media is important and how it can help grow your business.

 

Social Media is an Important Marketing Tool

 

Social Media Week 2012 SP

Social Media Week 2012 SP (Photo credit: Fora do Eixo)

Connect and effectively communicate with customers.

Your customers use social media. They’re on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Some of them can be found on StumleUpon and other social networking sites.

The bottom line is that your company wants to be where your customers are.

 

Here’s an Example:

Bank of America uses social media to communicate and assist their customers with any questions they may have.

Customers with a specific question can connect with Bank of America at @BofA_Help. This is a good way for Bank of America to track how many customers use this feature.

 

Your industry has a social media presence.

Google your industry and other businesses in your industry, chances are they have a social media presence. See what they’re doing and find out how you can set yourself a part from them. Don’t get left behind!

 

Social networking sites will continue to develop.

Let’s face it; other social networking sites will be created and the current ones will evolve over time. Choose the best ones that work for your company. The ‘big three’ are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

 

Tip: Social networking sites will come and go. Pay attention to social networking trends and use social networking sites that have staying power.

 

FYI: The newest social networking site is Pinterest. However, make sure you READ ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS because there’s been chatter about the legalities of using Pinterest.

 

Social Media: What Your Company Can Do Now

 

Get employees involved in social networking.

Employees may resist the idea of social networking and social media; however, it would be in there best interest to get behind your company’s online marketing strategy.

 

Mashable’s social media demographics INFOGRAPHIC clearly shows who’s using social networking sites and where they can be found. It’s no surprise that most people use Facebook.

 

Embrace social networking, it can be fun.

It’s amazing that your company can connect with customers on a national, international, or global scale. Have fun with social media — keep the tone light and conversational.

 

Display social media icons on your website.

Make sure icons are visible on your website. Don’t make visitors hunt for them. Place icons at the top and bottom of your website. If you have a blog, include a ‘share’ button on posts.

 

Be active.

Hire a social media manager and or ask a freelance writer to ‘tweet’ and post Facebook status updates (manage your social networking).

 

FYI: Most social media managers put 30+ hours into social media.

 

Automating social media sites could appear mechanical and cold. Break it up by having blog posts automatically post to Twitter and Facebook. But engage in ‘real’ conversations too.

 

How has social media increased your business results and profitability? Share.

 

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A Freelance Writer Gets Results, Increases Profitability

March 13, 2012 By 5 Comments

As a freelance writer, I work with clients in various industries. A month ago, I started working with a client in the travel industry. I’m thrilled because not only do I get to write quality content such as editorial articles and blog posts, I get to teach everyone about SEO and social media. I enjoy teaching and have taught classes such as Blogging & SEO at a recreation center in Downtown Chandler in Arizona. Below are ways a freelance writer can help grow your business, and perhaps, teach you and your employees’ new skills such as social media and social networking.

A Freelance Writer Increases Business Results and Profitability
Freelance Writer and Ghost Writer Amandah Blackwell

Amandah Blackwell, Freelance Writer and Ghost Writer

1. A freelance writer is objective. Since a freelance writer isn’t a part of your organization, they’ll have an objective viewpoint of your projects whereas employees could be too emotionally attached to certain company projects.

2. A freelance writer has a high accountability — writes quality content. A freelance writer does not get paid unless a project is completed Most freelancers charge 1/2 or 1/3 up front; however, they won’t receive the final payment until the work is completed.

On the other hand, employees get paid either way. In the end, organizations could pay a lot more, especially if an employee quits or is fired. Plus, there are costs such as PTO, health care, continuing education, etc.

3. Experience. A freelance writer has a wealth of experience writing quality content. They could also have experience with graphic and web design, social media, SEO, and other professional skills. Your freelance writer can help you increase business results and profitability in the short and long run.

Tip #1: A freelance writer is probably familiar with social media and SEO along with providing quality content such as blog posts, articles, eBooks, white papers, newsletter content, and more. You may be surprised how many skills they possess.

4. Adds value. A professional freelance writer understands the meaning of value. Not only will they write quality content and eye-catching headlines, they can provide suggestions for blog posts and articles. They could rewrite web content if necessary.

A freelance writer could assist with keyword/phrase research to make sure the ‘right’ keywords are being used.

Tip #2: Social media is great way to promote a company’s services and products. Ask a freelance writer to write ‘tweet’s and Facebook status updates to increase web traffic and sales. They could manage all of your social media accounts.

5. Can fill-in for staff writers. A freelance writer can fill-in when staff writers go on vacation or a leave of absence. This way the remaining staff writers won’t feel that much pressure to pick up extra work.

Have you hired a freelance writer? How are they adding value to your company? Share. 

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