Content Marketing Strategy: Research, Analyze, Tweak to 100,000 Visits

If you search for content marketing, SEO, Internet marketing, content curation, social media, or any number of other similar keywords you get tons of advice on your content marketing strategy. It is almost like a favorite bed-time story that starts with “once upon a time…” only these posts frame their ideas as simple “all you have to do is” and then fill in the blank.

Your Content Marketing Strategy Grows Like a Flower in a Field

Growing Your Content Marketing Strategy

I am not talking about the push-button schemes that make the tables at Vegas look honest by comparison. I am talking about the posts that suggest to practice a content marketing strategy by creating a blog post that is then redone as a podcast, video, infographic, PDF download, newsletter content, alongside posts unique to each social media platform. All the while this same content satisfies the cravings of random strangers customers by answering their undying questions in such fun and quirky ways they shove aside their baby pictures to share your post to their friends and family on Facebook begging them to view it. The result is a social media buzz storm that you ride into fame and glory. [Read more...]

A Basic Guide for Evaluating WordPress Plugins

Woman Using Binoculars to Search for WordPress Plugins

Searching for WordPress Plugins

Soon after setting up a WordPress site there are always a ton of potential plugins calling like a song from the island of sirens. Don’t give in to the temptation of instant solutions to everything from Facebook like buttons, SEO guidance, to Karoke player lyrics from the currently 22,404 WordPress plugins available and counting. Sure many are free and work at a click of a button but at what cost? The following will give you a window into evaluating WordPress plugins alongside solutions for filtering out the bad and insecure from making your website perform worse than your competitors. [Read more...]

On-Page SEO Completed, Post Published, Now What?

More Than On-Page SEO, Each Post Needs the Love and Attention of It's Parents and Siblings Before It Can Stand on It's Own | Picture of Parents with Their Young Child

Each Post Needs the Love and Attention of It’s Parents and Siblings Before It Can Stand on It’s Own

Everyone knows on-page SEO is important but it is good to remember that it only makes up about “25% of what impacts your spot in SERP” (Hubspot, see link at end of post). Making full use of your content within social media is one of the many other factors. If you are a small business or individual you need to leverage your time. Consider why Rand from SEOMoz follows the 80/20 rule with on-page SEO.

Nothing in the on-page world is going to provide exceptional ranking influence, but getting perfect is often only marginally better than just nailing the title and headline. If you’re spending a ton of bandwidth on the last 80% of work (providing 20% of value), I might re-consider your to-do list.

The time getting to the remaining percent of on-site SEO perfection is often better spent within the other 75% of factors, of which there are many.

[Read more...]

Creating Engaging Online Connections

Earning Online Connections | Lady Reading Book

Engage Through Content

It is easy to see how many followers you have but takes more effort to measure their actual engagement with you. That engagement is the start of something greater, a community. It isn’t about the numbers but more about how you and they interact over time that matters most. Sonia Simone from Copyblogger puts it this way:

“I’ll take a small, involved community any day over a big, unresponsive one. There’s nothing inherently wrong with getting big. Big has certain advantages, especially when you can maintain a real sense of connection. But engagement matters a lot more than gross numbers.” [Read more...]

Content Curation Guide and Tools List

Fort Zachary Taylor, Key West, Florida: Mr. Ho...

Fort Zachary Taylor, Key West, Florida: Mr. Howard S. England, Curator (Photo credit: Caroline Starr)

While starting a website with WordPress is relatively easy, creating content on an ongoing basis is part of a constant struggle and what often divides successful websites from those that come and go. Unlike a business website, a personal website is often more subject to ongoing challenges from daily life. Content curation offers a way to connect with other people while also providing ongoing relevant material for your website. This is of course as long as you remember, it is meant to compliment original content, not replace it. The following content curation guide along provides basic ideas and tools to get started with the being an effective content curator.

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How to Improve Your Headlines Using Other People’s Content

Engagement is the ever illusive golden grail of website success. Although social media engagement is one of the hardest to measure, there are ways to improve what you can measure. It all starts with headlines.
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Three Reasons Author Tags are Essential

It is getting harder and harder to stand out in search results. Sure you can write regular blog posts with solid answers but what if no one clicks through to view them? The more people find your content and link to you and share what you post the more search engines trust you. Author tagging is another signal that helps build trust and make your site show well in Google search results. Here are three reasons to take advantage of this easy to implement tool.
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An Essential Basic Guide to Google Alerts

It seems impossible to stay current with updates on any given topic given the vast amount of online information. Have you tried keeping track of mentions of your business online? Does anyone realistically have time for that? The answer is yes-Google does through Google Alerts. Leverage Google and find targeted information waiting in your inbox with this simple yet effective free online tool.
[Read more...]

Favorite Tests From Which Test Won

Knowing what targeted changes you need to make on your website to effectively increase conversions is like gold in the bank. Testing your website can help reveal how potential clients respond and give you insight into the changes to make. The website Which Test Won does this on a regular basis and has a wealth of data to draw upon. Although this data is specific to the clients they work with, the tests are fun to look at and can give you insight into what is possible on your own site. The following are some common and interesting tests provided from their archive of tests.
[Read more...]

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