'Net Features : blogging

20 Terrific Tumblr Themes

Michael Garrity — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:00:00 GMT

The biggest Internet news this week was unquestionably Yahoo’s massive purchase of the popular microblogging website/platform known as Tumblr.

Once considered nothing more than a haven for angsty teenagers and aficionados of unmentionable content, the site has quickly become an effective marketing platform for numerous major brands over the last couple of years, particularly content providers, although many e-commerce companies and service providers are slowly getting on board as well. In some cases, Tumblr blogs even serve as the primary websites for writers, artists and other creative professionals.

A big part of the appeal of Tumblr is the wide variety of available themes and looks that people can incorporate on their blogs that are visually appealing and conducive to sharing all types of content. The website itself hosts a number of great free and paid themes that users can put on their blogs, but other websites, such as ThemeForest, also have additional themes that users can implement if they don’t like what Tumblr has to offer.

So if you’re looking to get started tumbling, or you have been and just want to change things up, maybe you should consider one of these 20 terrific Tumblr themes.

The Squared Magazine

Timeline

Effector Theme

Rapture

Observer

Incorporated

Optic

UltraMnml

Pixelated

Vision

Pop Gallery

Inkhorn

Squared Folio

Tumbl News

Heterotelic

Polaroid

Elegantem

POPCASE

Tumblair

Create Your Own

Did you know that you can basically create your very own Tumblr theme by simply clicking on the “Edit HTML” button in the left-hand sidebar of your blog’s customization page? Once you’re in there, you can customize anything about the theme you’re currently using, or you can insert your own HTML/CSS and – tah-dah – you’ve just made your very own, totally unique Tumblr theme. Of course, doing this requires pretty extensive knowledge of both HTML and CSS, as well as the Tumblr format, but for experienced designers, this can be a great way to get a little extra mileage out of their Tumblr blogs.

4 Writing Resources for Content Marketers

Amberly Dressler — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:02:00 GMT

Not all of us our Web Hemingways, and not all of us try to be either. But when we’re responsible for our company’s marketing initiatives, we must not only put together coherent sentences, but we must also drive consumers/users/readers to take action (e.g. click through, sign up, read more, etc.).

With that in mind, let’s review a handful of resources on writing and style that can help turn a perpetually blank page into content marketing at its finest.

The Associated Press Stylebook

Considered the journalist’s Bible, the AP Stylebook is handy for any digital enterprise, because it can create the consistency most marketing departments desire. It can also serve as the final voice of authority between coworkers, because it contains resolution to many disputed words, rules, abbreviations, etc. While it’s not much for inspiration, the AP Stylebook, often referred to as just AP Style or AP Style Guide, is an essential reference for writers to create a uniformed content marketing campaign. While this editor, prefers the traditional hard-copy book (with even a preference toward the spiral bound book, instead of the flat binding), the AP Stylebook is also available on the Web and multiple users can be added to a company’s account.

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

Think tools, not rules for this book by one of America’s most influential writing teachers, Roy Peter Clark. His book distills decades of experience into 50 tools that will help any writer become more fluent and effective. It’s a book any content writer will want to keep on their book, open any page and read again, because the information is valuable and easy to consume.

The Writer’s Idea Book:
How to Develop Great Ideas for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Screenplays

Thanks to the SEO impact of on-site blogging and links from contributed articles, the Web has made writers out of, well, people whose calling shouldn’t have ever included a byline. Luckily, there are guides like The Writer’s Idea Book that contains more than 400 prompts and exercises to help aspiring writers to generate intriguing ideas and turn them into quality content for company blogs or guest posts.

The Everything Guide to Writing Copy:
From Ads and Press Release to On-Air and Online Promos

This step-by-step guide to writing effective copy for a variety of media including print, Web, radio, trade journals, and much more is packed with tips and tricks used by the pros. The Everything Guide to Writing Copy is basic and more informational than example driven, but it’s a perfect starting point for those newly interested in creating copy that sells.

Check Out these Other Writing Resources:

Blogging Basics: Fighting Writer's Block and Learning SEO

Blogging for Success: Weekend Warrior

12 Effective Corporate Blog Designs

Michael Garrity — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:35:00 GMT

In the age of likes, retweets and shares, content marketing has suddenly become the best way to spread the word about your brand to bring in new customers and rack up conversions.

However, since social media has its limitations, in terms of both branding and the type of content that companies can offer, many businesses have taken to blogging to provide insightful and valuable information to their customers, while also producing likeable and sharable content that can benefit their SEO efforts.

Look, plenty has already been written about how blogs can improve a brand’s content marketing campaigns or increase leads, but we’re here to be a little more superficial than that. While content is undoubtedly and absolutely the most important aspect of a valuable, successful blog, it’s not the only thing that matters. After all, we’ve all heard about the effect that a good (or bad) first impression can have on new consumers. That’s why all of that great content on your blog should look nice, as well.

If you’re in need of some inspiration, we’ve compiled this list of 12 of the most effective corporate blog designs on the Web. Each of them takes a different approach; some are design-heavy and visually striking (e.g. Whole Foods, Southwest), while others take a simpler, less bold approach that is more in line with what the brand offers (e.g. LinkedIn, Bigelow Tea).

Which designs are your favorites? Let us know in the comments section, or share some other great corporate blogs that you know about!

Bigelow Tea Blog

The Official LinkedIn Blog

7Gen Blog by Seventh Generation

eBay inc. Ink

Disney Parks Blog

Whole Story by Whole Foods

The Cleanest Line by Patagonia

Nuts About Southwest

The Dropbox Blog

All Songs Considered by NPR

TOMS

Ice Cream Journal by Turkey Hill Dairy

Bring Content Marketing Functionality to Your Blog

Michael Garrity — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:40:00 GMT

When blogging first became a thing, it was primarily utilized by online content publishers and bored teenagers. It wasn’t really until years later that their usefulness as a content marketing tool really became evident.

Unfortunately for marketers, blogs were not traditionally built with them in mind, and modern online content marketing often requires greater flexibility in blog creation and management.

Because of this, the all-in-one marketing platform Genoo has released a new blog management tool for marketers and business owners that provides them with a suite of tools for content management, search engine optimization, lead nurturing and social integration.

This blog management tool lets users post and connects relevant content to their blogs, other posts within the blog and relevant landing pages on their websites. Moreover, Genoo’s blogging tool makes it possible for marketers to feature new sidebar content on every blog post, rather than simply putting up static sidebar content on each page, which can include links to other posts, contact forms or other various calls-to-action. Users can even turn all of the content of a single post into different sections with a table of contents that links all of the sections together.

Each blog post can be directly connected with Google Authorship qualifications, which adds information about the author’s Google+ presence, bio and a photo to their blog posts when they appear in Google’s SERPs.

In updating its blog content management tools, Genoo has also integrated lead management capabilities, which allow bloggers to track their visitors, subscribers and commenters and place them into a lead nurturing process.

Blogging Basics – Fighting Writer's Block and Learning SEO

Administrator — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:45:00 GMT

Almost everyone who starts out blogging is told to write about something they love – it's common advice because it's sensible advice.

But even if you are hugely passionate about a subject there are going to be days when the thought of sitting down in front of a blank page and filling it with words isn't going to happen. You might be too busy, too distracted or you might be suffering writer's block. The sooner you face up to the fact that blogging won't always be easy, the better. But there are some tactics you can to do to minimize the disruption these periods will bring.

Store up ideas from periods when the words are flowing and use them when things dry up.
When you start blogging draw up a list of 15-20 ideas and whenever you cover one of them add another to replace it.
You might find you write five entries without putting an idea back on the list, but as long as you refresh it when inspiration strikes, you'll never run out of content ideas.
You might also be the kind of person who likes to have specific blog titles in place before you start writing, but it doesn't matter if your ideas list is headlines, rough thoughts on a post or a mixture of both – having it in the first place is what matters.

So you've got your blog, you've got your ideas list and maybe you've even written a few posts - it's time to talk SEO.

SEO is as important as writing

If you're writing for the sheer fun of it then you won't have to worry about search engine optimization if, however, you want to attract visitors to your blog then you need to focus on more than just producing content.

SEO is all about making your blog attractive to search engines. If you do that, you're more likely to rank highly for terms relating to your site and attract more visitors. To start, think of your own experiences of using Google – when you search for something how often do you look any further than the first result on a page?

Around 80 percent of people who use Google click on the first result they see – so the benefits of having your site as that result, and hence the benefits of SEO, should be obvious.

The bad news is some SEO tasks can be very boring. The good news is others are a lot of fun. There is so much to learn about SEO, however, that it's important to remember you won't become an expert overnight.

Google wants to help you

A good place to start for an absolute beginner is by taking a look at Google's Webmaster Guidelines. This will give you a solid overview of the kind of thing you should (and equally importantly shouldn't) be doing. There are a few technical terms in there, but it will pay for you to get a grip on these areas early in your blogging life.

As you grow in confidence you may want to start using things like Google Webmaster Tools in order to make SEO improvements to your site. But as promised, there is another side to SEO and one which involves plenty of human interaction.

Links are crucial to boosting your search engine rankings and getting them should be a key focus for any blog. However, you need to be choosy about the kind of links you're getting.

Good links and bad links

Anyone taking their first steps into the world of SEO will find it impossible to avoid ads for services that promise thousands of links for very little money. But like most things in life, if an SEO offer seems too good to be true, it is.

You'll get your links alright, and they may even boost your Google rankings for a short while. But sooner or later the search engine will realize you are buying links (a big no-no in the Webmaster Guidelines mentioned above) and your site will plummet down the rankings.

Exactly why Google doesn't like link buying, and the full horror of getting caught doing it, would fill at least one blog post on their own, but anyone interested in such things can get a rough overview by reading the Wikipedia article on one of Google's most recent algorithm updates.

So if that's the wrong way to get links, what's the right way?

Firstly, you need to make sure your content really stands out – linking to something is a way of endorsing it and people are more likely to do that if your blog is of a high standard.

There are a few ways of doing this but the best one is to try and ensure you bring something new to the debate each time you sit down to write. Not every post needs to be a thesis, but if you draw on your own expertise and experiences you'll find you can bring a fresh spin to almost any topic.

Make the most of the social side of blogging

Great content on its own won't bring in the maximum number of links – to do that you need to get out there and make friends. Blogging is a social activity and whatever you are writing about there will be a community that revolves around that particular subject. Twitter and Google are your friends here – use them to find other bloggers and start a conversation.

If you're both passionate about the same thing this should be easy - by tweeting people and commenting on their articles you'll start to form a relationship which will be beneficial for your blog. This should be two people talking about something they love – there's no need to fake anything. If you're friendly, open and honest, you're far more likely to get a link than if you brazenly ask a stranger for one. Gently making someone aware of your blog will reap all sorts of benefits – if they like what you're doing they'll link to it and tweet about it – you won't have to ask.

Blogging is what you make of it

This is only the beginning though – we haven't even touched on SEO topics like guest posting or linkbait. And that's the beauty of blogging – you can treat it as just a way to get your thoughts down on the page or as a long-term project with specific goals and aims. Professional bloggers do exist and if you want to start on the road to becoming one, following the tips here will make sure you are heading in the right direction.

About the Author: Will Stevens – a journalist and SEO expert who is part of the 123-reg.co.uk blog team. The company is the UK's largest accredited provider of domain names.

Blogging for E-Commerce – Part Two

Allison Howen — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:00:00 GMT

An effective blogging strategy can help merchants increase their site traffic significantly, and as we inch closer to the busiest shopping season of the year, most merchants live by the mantra, “the more traffic the better.”

In fact, a recent HubSpot study reveals that on average, companies that publish 15 or more blog articles per month generate five times more Web traffic than companies that don’t blog at all. But aside from bringing in more traffic, blogging can also help merchants foster better relationships with customers and increase their brand’s visibility on the Web.

While Part One of Website Magazine’s Blogging for E-commerce series focused on helping merchants develop their content ideas and blogging calendars, Part Two offers tips for the publishing and promotion process. Once the first blog post has been assembled, merchants have many different options for spreading the word about their content, including on their websites, through social channels and within emails – to name a few. So after your copy editor is finished proofreading your first post, review the strategies below for assistance with the promotion process:

Website

If this is your first go-around with blogging, you need to let your current customers know about your new content. The best way to do this is by promoting your blog on your website’s landing page, so that the content can be easily discovered by site visitors.

Although you may not want to dedicate a portion of your landing page’s valuable space to promoting your blog (especially during the holidays), this problem can be counteracted with two different approaches:

1) Simply add a “Blog” tab to your site’s navigational menu bar so that you’re not taking up valuable landing page space.

2) Feature a product-centered blog post on the landing page so that you are promoting both products and content.

For example, an apparel retailer could feature a women’s gift guide article (which features many of the retailer’s products) on the landing page instead of an informative article about fabric types. This solution promotes both the retailer’s most popular products and the company’s new blog.

Social Media

Word of mouth advertising is easier than ever before thanks to social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which is why merchants should always promote their blog’s content within these channels. Not only are your status updates viewable to your brand’s social audience, but also any interaction a fan takes with the status update (comments, likes, replies and retweets) will also be visible to all of that fan’s friends, which gives content items a better chance of going viral.

Seventh Generation is an example of a retailer that uses a variety of social networks, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, to promote its blog. Furthermore, this company’s blog posts feature a combination of videos and time-sensitive topics, which helps engage customers and also provides Seventh Generation with a reputation of being an authority on health and the environment.

Email

Although typically a channel for promoting new products and upcoming sales, merchants can also leverage email to share blog content. In fact, customers may find it as a relief to discover a different type of message in their inbox from their favorite retailer, which can help build the brand-customer relationship dynamic. However, with a little innovation, merchants can also take a two-step approach to promoting both their products and their articles.

For instance, a pet supply merchant who wants to promote a new dog collar collection could assemble an email campaign that endorses the new collar line, but also includes a blog post on the topic of collars vs. harnesses. This message has the ability to capture the attention of a variety of consumers, including customers who are actively looking to purchase a new collar, as well as new dog owners who need more information about collars and harnesses before they make a purchasing decision.

Guest Posts

One of the best ways to gain visibility for your blog outside of your immediate customer base is by featuring a guest blogger. Merchants simply need to ask an authoritative figure within their niche to write an article on a popular topic. Once the article is published the merchant can execute the aforementioned strategies to promote the article, as well as have the author promote the article via a link on his or her website and social profiles.

However, merchants can also feature guest content from their community members. For example, shoe and eyewear retailer Toms recently published an impactful blog post about Movember and cancer, which centered around one of the company’s customers. While this blog post may not have received as many links as an article written by an industry professional, the message is forceful enough to resonate beyond the Toms community.

Distribution Engines

Last, but certainly not least, merchants can gain visibility for their articles by submitting them to news distribution websites, such as PRWeb, PRNewswire and Businesswire. Numerous journalists and publicists scour these sites every day looking for intriguing topics. By submitting appropriately tagged content to these sites, merchants increase the chances that someone will publish their content or link to their blog. However, it is important to note that merchants will typically garner the best results from these distribution engines by submitting product-specific or metric-driven articles rather than opinion-based topics, because these distribution sites are news driven.

Blogging for E-Commerce (Never Too Late) – Part One

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:00:00 GMT

With less than 50 days remaining in 2012's online shopping season, Internet retailers will need to dig deep into their virtual bag of tricks to make a positive impact on sales. While you could increase your advertising budget, accelerate your email sends, and ramp up your social media participation, another way is to start blogging. I know what you’re thinking – isn’t it a little late to start blogging now? No way, in fact, now may be the perfect time to put that keyboard to use in creative retail ways.

The reason? Well, you’ll have something to advertise, you’ll have something relevant to include in those emails you’re about to send (anyway) and you’ll have something to share on the social networks (more on that in part two). But what do you actually blog about and when? That, fortunatel,y is our focus in Website Magazine's two-part Guide to Blogging for E-Commerce.

First, Segment/Expand your Niche

Most retailers we encounter either don’t really think about their buyer at all, or think of them in a very “restrictive” fashion. For example, you don’t just sell roller skates. Rather, you sell equipment for sports enthusiasts, you sell modes of transportation for the environmentally conscious and you sell toys for kids.

OK, you sell roller skates, but the point is that merchants often think of their product as serving only one need or purpose, when in reality, it can serve many (and many at once) – particularly when it comes to blogging. By segmenting and expanding the definition of the product’s potential audience, you’ll not only find new opportunities to sell a product, but also reach out to a far larger audience in the process with content – an audience that in the next few weeks is going to be looking for some creative gifts to give.

It might seem silly at the time, but you’ll be amazed at all of the possibilities to promote a product that emerge when you brainstorm. To brainstorm effectively, you must first know the two rules of the process – all ideas get written down (good or bad) and no discussion takes place. Once you have a starter list, a discussion will be imminent. But spend that time choosing those suggestions you are confident will produce results or are worth exploring more fully in the future.

Second, Prioritize Ideas Based on Value

There will be instances, once the initial research is concluded, of course, that you’ll need and want to know just which of those ideas have legs enough to warrant putting the digital ink to virtual paper at your e-commerce weblog (you can’t do all the ideas, but you do want to create those which will resonate most and drive the most attention/conversions). There are a few ways to do this – and one way not to do it.

Your instincts are important to lots of things – like survival – but never (or rarely) are they accurate when it comes to understanding the mysteries of human behavior (past, present or future). That’s the beauty of the Web. You can understand without question the degree of the Web’s interest in the brainstormed ideas you came up with, the products you are selling and the degree of interest in them (as a category), and finally, how your content ideas and your available products can be used in a content marketing campaign together. Only by accumulating and combining this information can you make this (or any) research matter.

This may seem elementary to most, but you would be surprised to learn just how few merchants actually do the research about their audience, their previous year’s sales winners, and the content marketing that is being employed by their competitors, that is required in today’s competitive Web retail landscape. But why not start with proven winners? Using numerous sources of available data isn’t cheating – it’s just good blogging (er, business). There are some terrific ways to do this and you are likely familiar with them (if not all, then at least some). First, fire up the keyword research machine and determine if there is any related search volume. If there is not, there is little incentive to keep the brainstormed idea or to invest resources in marketing content that will inevitably generate little in the way of sales. If there is a respectable level of search volume, prioritize the idea (and all ideas) based on how much attention might be generated (e.g. number of local queries per month).

There will be content ideas that receive lots in the way of search volume but may not be a great fit for your weblog and content marketing efforts. That’s OK though, because with a little organizational muscle we can start taking these creative ideas to the bank.

Third, Work Smart not Just Hard

There’s no replacement for creativity (and lots of it), and no replacement for taking the time to understand what is going to resonate most with your audience and lead to the most sales. Once you know what ideas (and products) will be promoted and which are most important to the blogging campaigns’ success, you can finally start executing – but not without a plan. Before you start clicking that keyboard to create the next epic blog post about those roller skates of yours, it’s necessary to execute – but not the post itself. The next phase/step is to craft an editorial plan for your e-commerce blog. Lame? Not really. You have a very limited amount of time (and likely limited resources to make it happen), which is why prioritizing content ideas is so crucial.

Working “smart” in your e-commerce blogging campaign starts with developing an editorial calendar. Say for example that you have 50 days remaining in the holiday shopping season (as we do). Your editorial calendar would contain a few of your “heavy-hitting” content ideas in the first few weeks (to make sure that enough product will be in the inventory), and trailing off to include items/products that are cheaper and faster to ship for those last-minute shoppers.

There are literally dozens of ways to create an editorial calendar but working smart by at least considering how interest levels, available products and remaining time play into your strategy, is truly working smarter than harder.

There’s More to Come

Keep in mind that expanding your niche, prioritizing content ideas for your blogging campaign and developing blogging calendars for your editorial team, will serve your business well, but executing the campaign is where a lot of the work comes into play. Website Magazine will publish part two of this article in an upcoming edition of E-Commerce Express. It will focus on actually creating blog posts for Internet retailers and promotional methods for merchant content marketing through blogging.

Google's Affiliate Ads Cross the Pond

Michael Garrity — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:45:00 GMT

Earlier in 2012, Google launched Affiliate Ads through its Google Affiliate Network for Blogger users in the United States. The program was such a smashing success that the company has decided to ship Affiliate Ads across the Atlantic for Blogger in the U.K.

The Google Affiliate Network allows affiliate marketers to earn money from their blogs with ads that pay based on conversions. Affiliate Ads come in the form of a gadget that bloggers can easily insert into a blog post. Then, anytime a visitor clicks on the link, goes to the advertiser’s site and purchases something, the publisher will get paid.

Among the advertisers included in the program are Cheapsuites.co.uk, Crooked Tongues, eFlorist, Diamond Manufacturers, Bestbathrooms.com, The Snugg, Hudsonreed.com and Perfume Click, though Google is apparently hard at work adding new advertising partners every day.

U.K.-based bloggers can being using Affiliate Ads tody by simply signing into AdSense and going to the “Earnings” tab in Blogger (of course, they’ll have to sign up with AdSense first, if they haven’t already). Once they’ve clicked the “Get Started” button, they should see the “Advertise Products” gadget appear when they go to write a new blog post. They can go ahead and search for and select a relevant affiliate ad from the gadget, insert it into their post and then publish it. All they have to do next is wait for the money to roll in.

It should be noted that right now the gadget is only offered to “select” bloggers in the U.K. (and U.S., for that matter) whose blogs match the ad categories that are currently available.

Blogging for Success: Weekend Warrior

Administrator — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:00:00 GMT

With recent changes to the Google algorithm and the continuous growth of social media, using a flexible online platform to engage customers and generate prospects is essential. That’s why many online marketers are turning to blogging as a vital part of their integrated marketing communications strategy.

The expansion of popular blogging platforms such as WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr, has made it extremely convenient and easy to start a blog or to integrate one into an existing website. Content management features, plugins, and other tools allow site managers and marketers to continually add fresh, original content that engages audiences. As search engines place more of an emphasis on unique content and user engagement, companies have focused their efforts on building and maintaining blogs.

If you are considering the development of your own blog or would like to do a better job of leveraging an existing blog, focus your efforts on these proven optimization strategies to generate organic traffic and to build a loyal base of followers. Today’s most effective blogs depend on a loyal base of readers and advocates who share content willingly. With the addition of social media sharing and other ways to “spread the word,” engaging blogs can grow quickly. If you want to effectively develop your blog, consider implementing the following blog-winning strategies.

1. Create expert-generated content. One of the most essential aspects of any blog is creating sticky content that attracts both existing customers and generates interest among your target audience. By leveraging experts at your company or industry, your blog can become a valuable resource that readers turn to again and again. Focus on utilizing experts to create content that meets and exceeds the needs of your target audience. Make sure that experts provide something to your blog that’s truly unique as opposed to the same advice they give over and over. The more unique the information, the better. When posting, use bullets, italics and other formatting that make your posts easy to read.

2. Make regular updates. Each year, millions of blogs are created and quickly abandoned. This is because blog managers quickly realize that launching a blog is the easy part. The more challenging aspect of blogging is producing content updates on a frequent basis. To be effective you must have a plan for making content updates. Consider how frequently content will be updated on your blog, 2-3 times per week at a minimum, and who is responsible for posting. Having a specific owner that makes content updates is one of the most important roles associated with blogging success.

3. Focus on social media engagement. Everyone knows that social media is a significant driver of online success. However, not every site, especially blogs that update content frequently, makes it easy to share content across social networks. From a user’s perspective, consider how quickly and easily they can share your posts, images and other blog-related assets with their various networks. From Facebook to Pinterest to plain old email, remove all obstacles to social sharing. Most blogging platforms provide builtin tools that allow for effective social sharing. Other sites like AddThis.com provide snippets of code that can be used to implement social sharing icons into your blog.

4. List building. Another great way to leverage a blog is through list building and lead capturing. As readers engage with blog content, it’s important to offer multiple opportunities for opting in or converting through some lead-capture device. Something as simple as a newsletter sign-up or free download is a great way to build a powerful list that can be used for marketing, research and referrals. Consider what type of resources and information appeal to your audience and consider no-cost offers designed to build a list. Blog readers tend to be highly responsive when given offers that are relevant to their needs.

5. Monitor user-generated content. Encouraging visitors to leave comments, share articles and interact with different sections of your blog can change the dynamic of your blog. The one caveat is that user-generated content must be carefully monitored. This is easy with moderation tools offered by blogging platforms, but they must be turned on. Consider moderation an essential part of blog management. Although user-generated content shouldn’t be edited, blog managers can benefit by considering which content is relevant. A blend of positive and negative comments can encourage additional engagement and dialog.

6. Manage promotional activities. Blogs serve to communicate value-added information and provide resources that are appropriate for your market segment. Making offers and running promotions through a blog can be effective if the delicate balance between information and promotion is managed properly. Too often however, once a blog has built a large or loyal following, bloggers tend to push promotions in favor of valuable content. This can turn off your audience and negatively impact engagement. Before running a promotion, consider how it may be viewed among your audience. If there is any doubt as to the value created by the offer, consider other ways to siphon prospects into a lead funnel such as utilizing free offers or auto responders.

Developing an authoritative blog takes time. Starting with a well through-out strategy that meets or exceeds the needs of your target audience is the best place to start. Blogs can only be effective if proper planning is utilized to leverage experts for quality content and information is updated regularly. As individuals engage with your content, encourage them to share across social networks and provide feedback. This helps to direct future content generation and interaction among your target audience. Blogs are an essential platform for any business to communicate with prospects and customers, engage their audiences and improve site visibility.

About the Author: Michael Fleischner is the author of Blogging Made Simple: Powerful Strategies For Blogging Success! (Volume 1) and other Web-related publications. He is the founder of The Marketing Blog, providing marketing related information, tips and resources to small business owners and marketing professionals. Michael provides marketing related consulting services to leading brands and has appeared on the TODAY Show, ABC World News and other major media outlets. You can follow Michael on Twitter @mfleischner.

6 Tips for Creating Moneymaking Content

Michael Garrity — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:00:00 GMT

At the end of the day, content drives the Internet. It’s an important aspect of any Web presence, but especially for affiliate marketers, who depend on their content to interest visitors, attract advertisers, and make money.

When an affiliate is just getting started with blogging, it can seem like they’re wandering aimlessly trying to find the best ways to create compelling content that will help them successfully lure in merchants and consumers alike. However, in the mad rush to just get anything out there, many affiliates are willingly sacrificing quality for quantity.

Fortunately, as the best and brightest affiliates out there will tell you, that doesn’t have to be the case. It’s entirely possible to publish engaging, insightful, and lasting content that will also help fatten your wallet.

Just keep these six simple tips in mind every time you sit down to start blogging:

Get to the Point

One of the biggest turn-offs for many Web users is clicking on a link only to be met with a giant wall of text. Unless they’re super interested in what you have to say, chances are they’re only going to skim your article, at best, or just leave the page immediately (in other words, “tl;dr”). It’s not that what you have to say isn’t worthwhile, but most Web readers prefer their content in bite-sized, easy to manage doses so they can just read it and be on their way. Say what you have to say and get out of there.

It’s also important to consider your headline, since most users won’t read any more than that. If you want to get eyes on your site, you have to write good, informative titles that will encourage users to click-through and see what it’s all about.

Relevance is Essential

This should go without saying, but readers (especially those looking for very niche-specific information) absolutely want you to publish content that is relevant to their needs and interests. Your posts should be actionable and deal with both common and more esoteric topics about whatever industry it is that you choose to cover. Give the people something that won’t be a waste of time.

Make it Timeless

Evergreen content, information that is always useful and never goes out of date, is a great way to keep users coming to your blog. Anything that will always be relevant to your industry makes for an excellent topic, as it can ensure consistent traffic for an extended period of time, both from first time visitors looking for the information and regulars using it as a refresher. Not all of your content needs to be as timeless as the theme song from Titanic, but the more you have on your site, the better off you’ll be in the long run.

Don’t Forget Your Ads

Since the goal of your blog is to make money, you’re going to need ads. And if you want to utilize those advertisements for profit, you have to make sure that what you’re writing about compliments what merchants are trying to sell on your site. Remember, at the end of the day, your job is to help convince your readers that these advertisers offer the solutions to their problems.

Be Creative with “Content”

Too often, bloggers fall into the trap of thinking of content in a bubble – a horribly boring text bubble. Don’t get me wrong; text content can be great, and offers a solid foundation upon which to establish your blog, but you shouldn’t stop there. Believe it or not, not everyone likes to read or has time to read or can spend all of their time at work reading your content instead of actually working. Thankfully, the solution is simple; just produce and publish other types of content that supplement your regular blog posts. Popular and practical choices could include videos or podcasts.

Outsource

Sometimes, you may be too busy to consistently sit down and churn out a high volume of good content. And sometimes, you may just have writer’s block (it happens – trust me). In these cases, it’s good to have contacts that allow you to find guests to write posts and produce content for your blog. The best part is, you literally have to do no work.

Content Marketing Your Way

Linc Wonham — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT

You have a strong, well-defined brand identity that suits your company’s values and serves the image you wish to portray. Your products and services are valuable, well-researched and carefully aimed at a specific audience.

You have all the pieces in place to succeed in your business venture, so there is no better time to begin a successful content marketing campaign to attract a potential client base to your company, your brand and your products.

What is Content Marketing
The Content Marketing Institute has put together a fantastic definition that I will borrow here: To engage in content marketing is to create and distribute “relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience, with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

In other words, content marketing is the act of communicating with your target audience in a way that does not involve selling to them directly. Rather than pitching your audience on your products and services, you are providing them with informative content that allows them to decide for themselves that your products and services are exactly what they are looking for. Content marketing represents an invaluable opportunity to educate and inform your potential client and customer base, allowing for a more engaged and intelligent interaction with your brand.

Forms of Content Marketing
Content marketing is composed of many aspects, and in a successful content marketing campaign, these various parts of the campaign work together to engage your target audience. Content marketing can take the form of blogs, social media strategies, e-books, whitepapers, case studies, newsletters, reports, custom publications, podcasts, videos, webinars and infographics.

The most successful content marketing campaigns involve several of these forms, all working together in tandem to communicate a consistent message to your audience. Members of your target audience will each engage with your brand in a variety of different arenas, so using several different forms and techniques ensures that your content marketing strategy reaches the widest possible audience.

It is also advised to tailor your content and corporate message subtly, depending on the form that the message is being delivered, to more successfully and accurately target the needs of certain constituents of your audience. For example, you may find that you fine-tune your blog content slightly to appeal to a specific online community, such as mommy bloggers, whereas the content you present via social media may be designed for younger, single professionals.

Effective Content Marketing
The key to an effective content marketing strategy is to make sure that the content you produce will engage your audience, will be valuable to them and will ultimately increase their ability to intelligently interact with your brand and the products and services that you offer through it. The content that you offer should be easy to read, relevant to the interests of your audience, and provide them with valuable information that they are actively looking for. Well-written, thoughtful and well-placed content is essential to the success of your content marketing campaign.

Content Marketing as a Call to Action
Content marketing is essentially about ideas. Your brand, your company and the products and services that you offer are essentially extensions of that idea.

The content that you create and offer to your target audience should engage with the ideas that fuel your company's mandate and products. Always keep in mind that the end goal of any content marketing is to spur your target audience to action.

You have a unique opportunity through content marketing to communicate your company's vision to your target audience. The more that your audience learns about the concepts behind your products and services, the ideas that inform your corporate mandate, they should be all the more inspired to engage with those ideas.

The Practical Benefits of Content Marketing
Many of the quantifiable, palpable benefits of content marketing are laid out beautifully in this infographic (which is a fine piece of content marketing in itself). First and foremost, content marketing drastically increases your brand's visibility. Having a blog on your company's website will increase your traffic 55 percent. Even more impressive, the number of inbound links you will get will increase by 97 percent.

Your brand, and your brand's message, is also given a much wider reach via content marketing. A blog with regularly updated content will give your site 97-percent more indexed links and a staggering 434-percent more indexed pages, increasing your Google page rank and SEO profile very positively.

Perhaps even more importantly, content marketing campaigns have a tangible impact on the way that your target audience behaves. Sixty percent of Facebook and Twitter users are more likely to recommend a brand that they follow on social media. Sixty-seven percent of Twitter users are more likely to buy from brands that they follow, and blogs are shown to influence purchasing decisions 63 percent more than magazines.

Content marketing is an invaluable tool when it comes to not only influencing the way that your target audience perceives your brand, but also in the way that they then choose to interact with your products and services. With a thoughtful, well-executed content marketing strategy built on high-quality content, your brand and your business will succeed online.

About the author: Matt Goulart is the founder of and lead consultant at Webstar Content, and can be reached at Matt@webstarcontent.com.

Hottest Summer Jobs Will Be in Development, Writing

Linc Wonham — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:40:00 GMT

Development positions with in-demand technologies such as Facebook API and Android SDK continue to enjoy the largest growth with no signs of slowing, according to the May Online Employment Report recently released by oDesk.

Also experiencing dramatic increases were a variety of online writing jobs, with technical writing positions up 1,758 percent since last year and blogging jobs up 974 percent. The summer months are an excellent time for employers to leverage on-demand talent online and tap into contractors with needed skills, while also presenting increased opportunities for freelance workers to build and develop relationships with new employers.

Despite the national unemployment rate recently edging up to 9 percent, oDesk experienced a record number of job postings on its site for the month of May. That figure was a 7-percent increase from the previous month, and has grown 81 percent since 2010.

Employers spent over $17 million in May while contractors worked over 1.6 million hours on oDesk.

WordPress 3.1 'Reinhardt' Arrives

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:30:00 GMT

Blogging/CMS software WordPress announced the release and immediate availability of of WordPress 3.1 – named Reinhardt. Before you rush off and upgrade to a fresh install, take a moment to review some of the more notable changes.

Perhaps most important to Web marketers using WordPress is that 3.1 features a redesigned linking workflow which makes it easier to link to existing posts and pages. When linking in the visual editor you can now choose to link a word or phrase to existing content by searching through existing posts. Incredibly helpful and a great way to showcase content new readers may not know exists.

WordPress 3.1 also features an administration bar which includes access to frequently used pages, and a streamlined writing interface that enables WP users to hide panels that are not used with any frequency.

Those using WordPress to run multi-site networks also benefit from the upgrades in 3.1. The Super Admin dashboard menu has been replaced by “Network Administration” and all of the options have moved to its own dashboard that can be switched over to when managing the site/network.

MSN and Yahoo's Perfect Content Storm

Mike Phillips — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:47:00 GMT

Yahoo and MSN are on a mission to produce un-fathomable amounts of content on the Web. Yahoo's acquisition of Associated Content -- since rebranded as Yahoo Contributor Network -- relies on thousands of freelancers (just about anyone can participate) to supply a never-ending stream of content. Yahoo pays for that content, albeit not very much. For the freelancers, speed is the name of the game. The more that can be produced, the more one can earn. One of the consequences of this model is that much of the content can be of questionable quality.

MSN has an entirely different problem; one of usability. For one, many of the story links on MSN.com look something like this: "Bing: German dog births 17 puppies". Click on that one and you get search results, not an actual story. In fact, any time you see "Bing:" followed by a story title you will get search results after a click. A quick scan of the MSN home page today shows that linked search results account for five of the first 10 "stories" on the home page. And that's not even accounting for the entire right side of the page which is all linked search results. This is hardly "content."

But the worst is in the form of the content itself -- excessive links, promotions and downright trickery. MSN, as it stands, is the worst offender. The image at right is taken from the MSN.com website. The familiar content slider is split into three parts. On the right you see an ad, in the middle is linked content and on the left are images. But a closer examination shows that the middle section is actually an overlay coming from the ad, designed to look like content. It doesn't stay there long, but long enough to be mistaken for content -- long enough for a click -- even by a Web veteran such as myself. That tricky ad didn't seem to last long, thankfully. I haven't seen it in weeks. Perhaps the folks in the editorial department suddenly remembered something about ethics in journalism and click fraud.

So what about the actual stories? Below you will find a screen capture from a recent story about the top earning actors in Hollywood, linked from MSN.com. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? It would be, if one could reasonably get through the entire article. The first two sentences contain three highlighted links (in hot pink, no less). After the fourth sentence is another recognizable distraction: "Bing: 2011 Oscar Predictions". Two sentences later, another interruption: "Also from Forbes.com: Photo gallery: Hollywood's highest-grossing actors and actresses". And so it continues throughout the article. All told, this piece of content contains 21 links. Five of those links break the content flow itself. That's one very difficult article to read on a very simple topic.

It appears that the drive for content (Yahoo and MSN) and search (Bing) are literally dominating their respective Web properties, and superseding the user experience. It's soiling the Web. And the Web is already messy enough. The last thing we need is it to be useless, too. This is why I have come to appreciate smaller, simpler and cleaner Web properties. And I know I'm not the only one.

SAY Media is Born

Mike Phillips — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:30:00 GMT

VideoEgg has finalized their purchase of blogging platform Six Apart (purveyors of blogging softwares Movable Type and TypePad) and renamed itself SAY Media. While this might seem like just another acquisition news item, under the surface this signals a very interesting shift in the blogging universe.

VideoEgg has become known as an ad network specializing in cost-per-engagement video ads with AdFrames -- a system that shows snippets of advertiser videos in banners. When users click, the remainder of the video is played. Six Apart is responsible for one of the most widely-used blogging platforms on the Web. Put them together and you get SAY Media -- a social blogging platform with its very own ad network built-in. In short, SAY Media is looking to take a simple blogging platform and turn it into a full-blown media property.

Troy Young, president of SAY Media, has a sharp focus on utilizing VideoEgg's capabilities and years of rich media advertising experience to its fullest extent. And that's a good thing for both publishers and advertisers.

"Why can't we put together a solution for a major brand that rivals what AOL or Yahoo would provide?" asked Young. "We have the scale, superior ad tech and access to content."

"We're building a modern media company," he added.

According to them, the new company now has a reach of 345 million people globally.