Content Marketing for Small Businesses. Expert Tips Just for You!

For the past few years, content marketing has been a definite leader in the field of digital promotion. People are constantly looking for the right information on social networks, watching videos, and reading blog posts. They focus only on useful and high-quality content, so the only way to gain their trust and, eventually, close a sale, is to be the first and only one who’ll provide such content. And this is exactly what content marketing is for.

What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services. It focuses on creating and distributing content for a targeted audience online. Social media is an integral part of content marketing

Content marketing thus is promoted through content. In other words, you do not just create any text but write something that will increase sales growth, recognition, or attracts potential users.
Before we dive into some tips and specifics of content marketing for your business, let’s identify the technique itself. It’s all kinds of content that talk about what you do: texts, videos, pictures, animated images, information graphics, podcasts, etc. Basically, they are various types of materials that are used by Internet users visiting your site or reading about you on the web.
The Primary Benefits of Using Content Marketing for Your Business
Here you can see how content marketing can be useful for you:

1. You’ll get highly targeted organic traffic from search engines through the publication of helpful content on visited sites (media, thematic resources);
2. It’ll ensure comprehensive coverage of the audience of social networks and increased brand/product recognition through the targeted distribution of exciting content and its further “sharing” by users;
3. You’ll be able to influence the user’s decision to purchase at each stage of the sales funnel and get the corresponding increase in engagement;
4. Your SEO will boost as a result of an increased number of links to your business site from third-party resources, which will also improve behavioral factors.
As you can see, content marketing allows not only to convey information to the target audience, but also to establish an open dialogue with it, to find out the current opinion of customers, and to build brand loyalty.
According to a recent study, 90% of companies are actively using content marketing; 50% of published messages evoke a lively response and interest from the audience. And yet, only 5% of the posts lead to real actions: transitions to the site, registration, or other targeted efforts.
So let us provide you with some actionable expert tips that can help gradually improve your business.

Content Marketing Professional Tips
Focus on publishing relevant content. The first tip is easy to follow. When creating content, follow the rule of conformity with the professional field and subject. Post relevant content that is consistent and aligns with the overall goals of your site. Let’s say you sell coffee machines online. In addition to providing all the technical information about the product (photos, reviews, videos), you’d want to post articles related to coffee on the blog (preparation, use, recipes, etc.) d.), in other words, relevant content. Studies show that more than 50% of consumers are happy to read such materials on company websites.

Double-check your content formatting before you post it. Good content requires original, well-developed, and unbiased information on a specific topic. But even if it is just that – useful, unique, and expert – it can easily get lost on the Internet, among other publications if users struggle with reading it and following your train of thought. Proper presentation of any text implies improvement through breaking it into paragraphs, as well as through the use of bold and italic styles, headings, a suitable font size, etc.
Caring for content formatting is also good for SEO because it is a direct sign that you’re trying to create a high-quality website. If you decide to combine different types of content (text, images, video), this will improve the user’s impression of reading the material, which will undoubtedly lead to certain advantages.

Your title can be the key to success. What we’re talking about is the basics of SEO, which don’t get any less important. So, an extensive and bright title performs several functions at once:
● It helps search engines understand the content of your text;
● Gives social networks an understanding of the semantic direction of your materials;
● It attracts the attention of users and stimulates an increase in click-through rates to a specific page.
Do not underestimate the importance of the first impression of the text, so think a hundred times before clicking the “Publish” button.

Try to keep tabs with your competitors. There’s a chance that the number of players on your market is massive. And if you want your content to work effectively for your business, it should be better than that of competitors.
Before you start creating any material, check out related publications on Google, Facebook, Twitter (or another social network that is more suitable for your audience) and find out what type of content they like in the first place. Pay attention to such things as volume, quality, and format, and try to create content that will surpass the others in all respects.
Content that doesn’t outperform competitors’ content can’t cause the hype you need in search engines or social networks, so it’s preferable to spend some more time and work on improving your texts.

Create a perfect schedule for your content. In addition to the desire for relevance and accuracy of content, you should remember the need for its regular publication. If possible, post materials not only on specific days but also at particular times of the day. Having such a “calendar” will help you organize your workflow and create a group of loyal users.

Your content should be helping with conversions. Remember that the primary goal of creating content is to increase conversions. In other words, a conversion can be considered anything from increasing the number of your email subscribers and clicks on banner advertising, to growth in sales of goods.

Good Content and Social Media
Content marketing for small businesses can be very powerful. You can even consider adding a blog to your business website, or post content on social media platforms like Twitter, Linkedin, Foursquare, or a short video to Youtube. Remember people want information. And good content can provide information that your prospective customer is looking for. brand

 

How to Leverage Pinterest to Increase Business Sales

PinterestIt has become one of the fastest growing social media platform and one of the most popular in usage online to promote personal ideas or products to sale. Since E-commerce has been around for years and the number of online businesses is still growing rampantly, businesses or store owners tend to influence the social media idea as an avenue to grow their sales. Inclusion to these are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Among these social media platforms, it is Pinterest that raises virtual interest the most among online users, making it the “new kid on the block.”
Whether you want to increase your daily, special, or holiday sales, Pinterest can help you attain the upper hand. Depending on your marketing scheme, your sales can skyrocket from its baseline. This is made possible because Pinterest is inclined towards company’s products that combines both the ideas of vivid images of magazines and best deals of catalogs of some sort.
Before you promote your business or store, you need to probe a bit deeper on Pinterest. Nevertheless, there are ways that business owners need to undertake to jump-start their way to success.

Run a Test
One of the best things that you can do for your business is to invest time and resources in Pinterest. Simply open up an account and start building a following by following others-especially those similar to your niche. Then observe how others use Pinterest to promote. You will notice “Boards” and “Pins.” Boards are like your category and the pins are your post. Some have multiple categories, but you can be very effective with just one.
Here are some interesting facts about Pinterest.
• Pinterest users: 70 million

• Page views: with an average of 2.5 billion views per month

• Frequency of use: ranks 4th for most-used social media platform

• Average time spent by Pinterest users: 98 minutes/month

• Average amount per order: $140 and $180

The digits appear to be favorable, but letting the platform work in your favor is a formidable challenge. Just for a fact, you have to conceptualize your plans efficiently and competitively because your competitors are doing the same thing. Include in your strategy the identification of popular pins. You can do this by using a Pinterest analytic program like tailwindapp.com -a paid site that can help you track popular pins, followers, likes, and many more.

Work on Striking Visual Content
If you are geared towards marketing, you can make use of stunning images in Pinterest. Just for a fact, people love wonderful pictures as it can express a lot more than words can tell. When people get enthusiastic about your pin, users can re-pin it resulting to spread of your content.
You might be in an enigma of what kind of images can capture the hearts of the users. Of course, the bottom line here is that it should appear pleasing and worth the time. Earthy colors and reds can mesmerize your audience while a full background can give them a whole picture of what you want to portray.

Rich Product Pins
Pinterest Screen-shotDo not forget to change your pins into rich product pins. It comes in six types: app, article, movie, place, product, and recipe. It adds extra information and help the pin itself stands out from the others. With the rich product pins around, Pinterest had also came up with a rich pin validator. It is made for e-commerce sites to safeguard against fraudster. At this point, information is always updated because it is link to site.

Good Advertiser
Just like any other ads, Pinterest is also keen towards high standards. If you want your advertisement to get noticed and appreciated, you just have to follow the basic advertising principles. According to Pinterest, these include being authentic, promoting your best pins, and obeying applicable laws and regulations. When these are met and with some homework, everything else will fall as you want it to be.

Coupons
Take your daily sales an extra mile by giving coupons to your valuable consumers. Remember, people want to spend their hard-earned money wisely, so it is up to you to give them a hand by virtue of your promos and great deals. Your coupons pinned in Pinterest may contain discount, free product or service, or anything that will greatly benefit your customer.

Fiery Competition, New Approach!
Marketing scheme is not just all about the ideas. With the rise of Internet and other social networks like Pinterest, there now comes a need to employ a photographic approach to reach the desired sales of every company despite the heated competition.

6 Effective Ideas on Getting Traffic to Your Blog

BlogHow to Get Traffic to Your Blog

 

Blogs are popular ways to create an online presence for individual or business reasons. You can create a blog for free and start posting content immediately. But if no one is reading the content, what good is it?

There are many successful blogs on the internet, and you obviously want to be one of them. But a successful blog takes a lot of time and creative thoughts and learning a few tricks and ideas won’t hurt. Some new bloggers aren’t prepared for the work that goes into creating a successful blog. Just building the blog doesn’t make it automatic that people will come to it. Your targeting the right audience and giving them a reason to see what you have to say will draw readers. Here are 6 effective ideas on getting traffic to your blog.

1. Fresh Content  Update your blog at least twice a week. This can be accomplished by writing several posts ahead of time and uploading on your blog and scheduling them to post at different times.

2. Keywords for SEO  Be sure to use relevant keywords by doing good keyword research. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your topic. This will help you with your search engine optimization. Keyword density between three and ten percent works well in getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your topic.

3. Social Networking   By joining social networking sites and engaging with people on Facebook, Twitter, Squidoo, and Pinterest, you can promote the articles you post which in turn will draw traffic to your blog.

4. Use RSS Feeds   RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Readers can subscribe to your feed and receive email notification when new content is posted. It is a simple way for your subscribers to keep up with your blog posts.

5. Submit Your Blog to Search Engines  Doingblog this allows your blog to be indexed on your three popular search engines-Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Just remember that being indexed and being ranked high are two different things. For the latter, a little more work and time is required.

6. Visit other blogs  Visiting other blogs and posting a comment is an effective way build friendships and add links to your blogs. Make sure the blogs you comment on are a similar niche to your own or Google will not give you credit for the link.

By using these ideas, you may not experience instant success, but you will start traffic moving in your direction! With a little time and effort you will begin building the readership you are looking for.

5 Things Your Competitors Can Teach You About SEO

CompetitorsWhat your competitors can teach you about SEO

Search engine optimization or simply SEO is one complex mechanism that even professionals get a hard time in cracking out the shell. For a fact, the algorithm has been changing overtime as search engines always want to give the people justifiable and reliable results for their queries. If you are an SEO professional, how can you get your hands on the top page?
To keep the content in top rankings, your search engine optimization strategies should always be legit and updated. Any foul schemes can be detected and eventually will sink your ranking to a lower level. In light of this, here are some tactics that you can practice to catch up with any search engines’ changes in algorithm.

Lesson #1: Content is king

Over the years, the content has remained as one integral factor in search engine optimization success. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo have always known that people are up to valuable content and not something empty-worded article. If you want your content to live up with the results, then you better affix high quality attribute. Furthermore, avoid putting duplicate content into your website. Observe your competitors articles in relations with their SEO technique or strategy.

Lesson #2: Getting reliable links

One thing that will surefire the success of search engine optimization is the links. This still works until today, but it now has to do with “natural and earned” links. Even if you buy links, there is no absolute guarantee that these links will count.
So how are you going to earn these links that are acceptable to the search engines? It may take up a lot of hard work and luck, but you can earn these links through endorsements. If you influenced other bloggers or journalists to write something about your business and link it to your site, then the search engine will count it in. You can get a good idea on how your competitors are doing this.

Lesson #3: Not overdoing keywords optimization

A content enriched with keyword can be the downfall of search engine optimization. You should take note that search engines can read between the lines. Therefore, keep the specific keywords at bay and use other keywords instead. You will notice how a certain site have good use of keywords but never overdo it.

Lesson #4: Work on social media

Social media plays an integral role in uplifting your online ranking. It should be remembered that the stance of social media is wide and so is its capability to bring quality traffic. Therefore, be active in updating your social media accounts and do not forget to link your content back to your site as part of your search engine optimization strategy. Look at your competitors site and notice how well they do this-normally on the right side of their pages.

Lesson #5: Be patient and always be updated

One time search engine optimization will not instantly make your site recognizable by the search engines. It takes times as you implement several tasks to attain a long-lasting impact on your website’s traffic and rankings. Apart from being patient, you also have to keep yourself updated on the current happenings on the algorithm of search engines. It is through knowledge that you can tailor your strategies in optimizing a website.

If you don’t know who your competitor is simply “google” your keyword or phrase, and the first three sites are going to be the competition. But you’re not going to want to compete with the “big boys” as of yet, so look for websites close to your size for they will be your real competitors.
Indeed, working with search engine optimization is no easy task. In order to be successful, you should unify all the factors or techniques in SEO to reap out justifiable and good ranking.

9 Effective Practices for Social Media Success!

Social Media Success

Every businessman dreams out to be successful in his chosen industry. The fact that you will have a lot of competitors, it would not be easy to scratch the surface of success. For this very reason, you might be betting on establishing an online presence and one of these is through social media.

In today’s technological advancement, businesses make use of social media for many purposes. These include getting in touch with their clients, driving sales, or reducing the cost for marketing. No matter what the purpose it may serve, social media success is essential to fulfill any businesses’ objectives.

Speaking of social media success, “How to be successful?” is often the inquiry. The step to victory does not end in merely creating social media accounts, but rather on how you will tailor your strategy and put them into unwavering motion? In light of this, here are some practices that could be beneficial in your online endeavor.

·     Create simple social media references. When you create social media references, make it simple and short. The simplicity of these references will warrant your prospect target ease of remembering your brand and high chances of social media success. So whenever your consumers heard the advertisement on TV or radio, the references will ring easily in their heads.

·          Do your share in offline marketing. Do not simply rely on online campaign of your brand or company. To achieve social media success, employ as well the offline strategies to influence those within your target audience. Examples of which are incorporation of your social media references on business cards, invoices, product packaging, and even broadcast materials.

·     Be genuine. When you really want to gain the trust of your clients and truly achieve social media success, be true to yourself and to them. Therefore, use your real identity or the company’s name. You should take note that people can sense it whether you are being true or just fooling around.

·       Know your audience. Having a keen understanding on your target market can contribute to your social media success. Once you know how your audience interacts in social media platform, you can then tailor schemes on reaching out to them.

·       Listen to the public. To attain social media success, having all ears is one integral trait that all businesses should possess. You should acknowledge what your consumers’ concerns and what they think about your products or services. By being an active listener, you can address your consumers’ concerns more precisely.

·         Share awesome content. In social media, do not be self-centered. Instead of focusing on yourself, share content related to your industry that will interest your consumers. You should take note in social media success; interesting topics make people hooked into it. When you do so, people will talk about you through your content.

·        Communicate your mission and vision. Whatever social platform you are using, make it sure that you effectively convey your company’s mission and vision. In this aspect, you make your business appear in imbued professionalism and high credibility. In addition to this, you give your consumers a hint of what your company is all about and for what purpose it exists.

·         Do not annoy your followers. One thing that hinders social media success is being an annoyance. If you do not want your audience to draw back, then stop making requests that will do no good in their favor. Therefore, refrain from sending more than three messages or requests in a week.

·      Be consistent and remarkable. This would be easier said than done, but being consistent and living up for excellence will bring all your actions to social media success. Hence, do not falter in sharing valuable content, updating your account, and getting in touch with your audience. These actions will make you a remarkable company in the near future.

Discovering social media will not instantly bring you tangible results. However, keeping up with the best practices in social media will earn you success in the near future. As you attain social media success, there is the likelihood that it will do the same with your business!

6 Effective SEO Tips to Guarantee Good Website Traffic

Woman In Traffic

6 Effective SEO Tips to Guarantee Good Website Traffic

When was the last time you found yourself stuck on a freeway during rush hour, or downtown in a traffic jam, or just  simply trying to cross a busy street? There just doesn’t seem to be anything good about the word “traffic.” But that was before the wonder world of the internet. Now if you have a website of any kind, and you want to be found-you need traffic. Good traffic! And the more the merrier. So it’s important that we touch on a few effective seo tips to guarantee good website traffic.

Whether you are running an eCommerce website or a blog, it should speak for itself and reach millions of people online. This would only be possible if you get through of what you can call as Search Engine Optimization or simply SEO. However, many beginners and even veterans encounter troubles in making it on top of the search engine results due to complexity and demands of the process.

According to Blog Growth, there is more than 100 billion searches that occurs on a monthly basis and 70% of it takes place on Google. With this, SEO come into the picture to resolve your conundrum on how you can be on top. Speaking of being on top, SEO is quite demanding and yet, it will greatly contribute to your website’s reputation and credibility.

To get ahead against your competitors and earn massive traffic, bear these tips in mind. Efficient execution of the following  6 seo tips will highly tantamount to your success. So let’s get started!

  • Focus on Long-tail Keywords. One of the basics of SEO is keyword research.  If you are struggling to be on top, then try finding long-tail keywords through the Google’s Keyword Tool. Long tail keywords are a type of keyword phrase that has at least three, and some times as many as five words in the phrase.  For example, “home remedies for bed bugs” or “how to get rid of depression” are long-tail keywords compared to the more competitive search terms “bed bugs” or “depression”.

For a fact, the significance of keywords is undeniable to SEO. It is through these key terms that Google looks on articles, images, and website pages as they are being searched by the users. Although there are thousands of helpful articles or content, not all of them are being brought on the first page. Only the most relevant are shown.

  • Create Quality Content. “Content is king.” This is what SEO will always say in optimizing a website. Well, there is no doubt to it since people are always searching for quality articles. Therefore, always do an extensive research and write uniquely.
  • Optimize the Articles. Once you have created the article, it is about time to optimize it. The essentials to these are keywords, descriptions, and meta-title. As for the keywords, these are the terms that can be found in the post. Insert the keyword in the title to make the permalink keyword-rich as well. The second one which is the description should be concise around having less than 160 characters only. It should be in a descriptive paragraph form. Lastly, the meta-title should have less than 60 characters and should be SEO rich.
  • Practice Ethical Link Building. SEO does not only have to work on-page. It also covers the off-page aspects and embedding keyword links is the pillar to off-page SEO. You can ask someone or a credible source to embed the keywords back to your site. Anyhow, it will yield good results. Apart from this, you can also link your new post to your previous content covering the same niche.
  • Make Use of Multimedia. Images and videos are contents that generate more clicks in   comparison    with texts. Therefore, you will also have to optimize them by adding keywords and descriptions.
  • Ease of Websites. You should remember that search engines also consider the interface of websites. If it is poorly designed and burdens a user to navigate the site, then it will not attract the search engines. Therefore, avoid putting large files on your website that delays loading. Nevertheless, make it more appealing and friendly to the search engines and searchers.

SEO
So all traffic is not bad traffic anymore. Now there’s good traffic! There are a lot of ways to let your brand or website known in the cyber world. It only requires hard work and efficient execution of SEO strategies, and these seo tips will help. Nevertheless, it is only right to say that SEO is the mastermind behind organic searches so that others can find you online.

I hope you enjoyed this post on 6 effective seo tips to guarantee good website traffic.

Reginald Jackson
Social Media Specialist and Blogger in Dallas Texas

What Is Social Media

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...