Let’s go…

Q.  Here at Contentrix we love to talk about content. How important is website design software for an online business and how it releases content?

A. The website software is really a huge factor in how much content any online business owner can release. If you have a website that’s easy to update and add content too, guess what? You will add content to it. If you have a website that costs you a lot of money, time or frustration you’re much more likely to shy away from sharing all that you have within you and that’s sad.

Also, when you have a website that’s easy to update and edit you spend your time focusing on great content (versus trying to troubleshoot, find your website designer, or figure out what the heck you need to do next).

Q. What Is a Content Management System?

A. A content management system (or CMS) is basically a website set up to manage a lot of content. It’s generally designed for people who have little to no coding experience.  It is usually a system that allows users to make changes to a website without having technical experience or skills. WordPress is a great content management system.

Q. I thought WordPress was just for blogging?

A. WordPress has come a long way! It was originally released as a blogging software but has grown to be one of the most popular website solutions available online. In fact, (according to Wikipedia) over 14% of the most popular 1,000,000 sites out there are running on WordPress. That is a huge number considering the options. That math works out to 140,000 of the most popular sites and blogs are running WordPress.

WordPress can now be used to create membership sites, sales letters, content sites, blogs and just about any type of content website you can imagine. It’s a content developers dream

Q. So, if I had an old school HTML website, would it be worth the move to WordPress?

A. That’s a great question and the answer is somewhat a ‘it depends’. If your site is small and we could easily redirect your pages then, yes most definitely move on over. If your site is large with a really big number of pages then you might want to consider just adding WordPress and using it from here on out instead of worrying about losing ranking from your older pages.

Q. For anyone who wants to learn more about using WordPress to build a website and add great content, do you have any resources for us?

A. Yes, definitely check out WordPress.org which is where you can download the software and read the documentation about WordPress. I also recently did a webinar on how to get traffic to a WordPress website that got great feedback. You can check that out here:
5 Ways to Get Traffic With WordPress

On that page above there is also an offer for my full six week coaching program (starting Monday September 5th) and I’d love to extend a special invitation and coupon to all Contentrix readers. Save $100 off the course by using the following coupon code at checkout: mojo

What I want to talk about today is how I noticed some of the things Gene does to promote his rock band ‘Kiss’. It got me thinking about the music industry in general and how good they are at creating and promoting their content (the music).

So I’ve come up with what I think are some great content marketing lessons we can all learn from rock bands. Let’s jump right into it with the first lesson…

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

You’ve heard the story before; a random unknown band has a hit song and they seem to suddenly come out of nowhere. What we don’t always know is that band wrote that song years and years ago. They knew it was good, they kept pushing and they made it a hit. Not overnight, but over time. Take this same approach with your content and you’ll realize that getting your content out there is a marathon, not a race.

People Love Their Favorites

36 years later Kiss is still singing ‘Rock and Roll All Night’ (originally released in 1975). John Lennon is still singing ‘Imagine’. Rod Stewart still sings ‘Maggie Mae’. Rock stars don’t write a song and sing it once. They sing it again and again and again. Think about this in your own business with your content. Ask yourself how you can reuse your content and make the most of the work you put

Free Content Grows Your Business

Metallica doesn’t get this, Nine Inch Nails does. The rock band NIN went so far as to make their whole album free. Metallica, on the other hand, took one of their fans to court for stealing their music. Giving away free content, your best free c ontent, can bulid your business. It’s important to note here that Nine Inch Nails didn’t give away any old garbage, they gave away an album that they would and could have charged for (while making good coin), but they decided to create good will towards their fans by giving it away for free. What can you offer your market for free that they’d be more than happy to pay for? Think about that.

Have ‘Fans’, Not ‘Customers’

Why is it when people BUY music and concert tickets they are called fans? Ever consider they are customers enjoying a product just like any other business? Fan is short for ‘fanatical’ and that’s how you want your customers to be about your business. In the case of Gene Simmon’s band Kiss they actual call them their ‘Army’. Whatever they call them, the music industry understands how important it is to build an audience and keep them happy. These people are sometimes referred to as your ‘tribe’ (ala Seth Godin). You don’t need millions in your army like Kiss does to get great results from your content, so start building those fans by focusing on quality, now.

I bet if you think about it you could come up with a whole lot more lessons from rock bands who’ve made it big. They are smart marketers who know how to promote good content. Start with the lessons above, take what you need and start promoting your content. Don’t waste all the time and effort you’d spent to create great content – market it, spread your message and build your business stronger.

All the best in your content marketing and promotions!

Back to reality and we know that we need to give our affiliates great content in order to promote our products. In this post I’m going to share what I’ve found to be some of the most effective pieces of content for affiliate promotions.

Let’s get right to it:

1. Tweets – If you think there’s not much power in 140 characters then arm your affiliates with some good tweets and prepare to be surprised. The effectiveness of tweets comes from the fact that affiliates actually USE them. They are quick and easy to copy/paste and you can send your affiliates multiple tweets that they can use.

2. Banners and Buttons – We’ve all heard of ‘banner blindness’. We’ve been told that banner ads don’t work and people just ignore them. That’s not true. Placed in appropriate places so as not to overload the visitor, banner ads work. However, it’s not just pretty pictures that compel action. Make sure your banner ads are highly relevant and have a clear call to action. By the way, this step doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. You can download a great graphics software program for free from Gimp.org.

3. Emails – Pre-written emails for your affiliates are also very effective. Many people have email lists and always need fresh content. Writing up a targeted email that can be grabbed quickly can and does get results.

4. Blog Posts – Similar to the emails you can write up blog posts for your affiliates. Make it extra easy for them by formatting the post so all they need to do is paste it into the HTML section of their blog.

5. Text Ads – Your affiliates may have a website where they can place an ad. Or maybe they want to run an ad on another website for your product. Give them carefully crafted text ads so that they can run with it.

6. Reviews – Product reviews are a great tool if used properly. You’ll want to encourage your affiliates to customize these with their own input and experience so it is a unique piece that relates to how they view the product. If you’re worried about these seeming unauthentic you may want to give your affiliates an outline of a review and let them put it together themselves.

7. Articles – Most of your affiliates will be running their own websites. Write highly informative articles that leave the reader wanting more and give them freely to your affiliates. The affiliate puts their link right into the bio section at the bottom of the article.

8. Interviews – If you are willing to put in the time you can ask affiliates to email you their questions about your product or program. Answer them and they’ve got relevant, unique content to promote you. Make sure you craft the answers to be useful but don’t give it all away… you want to get those readers back to your site!

As you can see promoting your affiliate program is very much about providing your affiliates with options and quality content. Keep it simple and easy. Affiliates are almost always short on time and need solutions they can do FAST. Good luck and keep writing great content!

Don’t worry. You CAN write an article in your head.

Don’t just brush that idea aside, thinking it’s a lost cause and you’ll never remember it. Play it out in your head. Think out what you’d say from beginning to end.

You’re subconscious mind is a very powerful tool. By reciting a fresh article in your head you’re actually drafting up a first version. Then your mind will play around with the wording, do a few edits and pop out something even better than if you just sat down with a fresh, new, undeveloped idea.

I just used this technique to write two articles: one for my blog and the one you are currently reading.

As I sat at the bus stop waiting for my son I got a great idea for an article. So I sat there and went through what I would write in my mind, just without physically doing so.

Then when I sat down I easily popped out a 600 word article in 15 minutes. Sure it needs a bit of further editing but there was no time wasted sitting and thinking about what I was going to write. I just wrote and wrote because it was all there, ready and waiting.

Then I decided that telling you how I did this would be a great article itself.

So, as I grabbed my shower I thought out this very article you are reading now. I’m typing it up in the 10 spare minutes I have before we leave to go to that school bus stop again.

I’m not saying throw out that smart phone or notepad at ALL, they are great and useful tools.  There are just times when writing isn’t possible. However, our brains are always available!

You can easily turn on your brain to write an article:

• When you’re driving in the car.
• While you’re taking a shower (where I do some of my best thinking).
• While you’re out for a nice fast walk.
• When you’re waiting in line at the grocery store.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting you use every waking spare second to write articles in your head. What I’m saying is that these little opportunities can help you get your writing done faster when you do sit down – giving you more free time for whatever fun stuff you choose to do!

Next time you have a good idea and no appearant way to write it down – use your head and you’ll be amazed at the great content that will come when you’re ready to physically sit down and type it out.

We’re going to talk about ways to write to get targeted traffic to your website or blog. Sound good? Keeping reading!

The first step to getting targeted traffic is to have a clear goal in mind with every written piece. Are you looking to covert a reader into a customer? Or maybe you are looking to add more people to your lead funnel that you can follow up with later? These are the two main goals most online marketers have. If your offer is compelling enough then you might try going right for the sale but it will be tougher. Most of the time I’d choose grabbing a new lead first as your conversion rate will likely be much, much higher.

Here are some practical ways to use your targeted content to pull traffic back to your website:

1. Articles:

If you have a website, post SEO optimized articles that draw readers straight from online searches. This make take some practice but it is entirely possible to get visitors who are looking for answers.

Popular types of articles are ‘Top 10 Lists’, ’7 Tips For…’ and lists of ’101 Ways to…’. Often a well-written article or blog post can go viral and have many people passing your link along.

Other ways to find topic ideas:

• Ask your readers what they want to know next.
• Check your visitor stats to see what people are looking for when they find your site.
• Search popular article directories (such as Ezine Articles) and see what others are writing on in your industry.

2. Giveaway Reports:

Don’t underestimate the power of a few free reports. Do a good job of delivering what your market is needing to know and they’ll likely get passed around.

How do you make your reports a hit? Well you could survey your market to find out what they need most. For example, I have a poll on my blog asking my readers what they’re finding most challenging about building an online business. Many responded that they are just not making ANY money, other said they’re skeptical it’s even possible to make money online. So for my market a good report might be ‘How to Make Your First $1 Online’ (which, by the way, is in the works right now!). $1 might not sound like much but to the frustrated and the skeptical I think it just might sound entirely DO-Able!

Here are some more ideas for finding a topic to write about:

• Look at your visitor stats to see what keywords people are using to find your site – you might get some great ideas there.
• Look at your competition to see what types of reports they have for both paid and free.
• Look through your email inbox and figure out if there’s anything that’s commonly asked that would be best answered in a detailed report.

3. Blog Comments:

Another traffic-generating form of writing that can be highly underestimated is blog comments. Finding targeted, popular blogs to frequent and become a ‘member’ of is a great way to draw targeted traffic back to your site. The blog owner has already created a community, all you need to do is build trust with that community and add value. Eventually many will want to check out what you also have to offer.

I comment on a very popular blog quite frequently and it is actually my biggest source of site referral traffic at the moment. This technique works! If you love blogs, make use of that reading with some thoughtful, useful and enticing blog comments.

This article contains just three ways you can use your writing to build traffic. However, it doesn’t end here. Take any of these methods as a starting point and then ask yourself ‘How can I use this content somewhere else now’. A good blog comment can also become a great blog post can become a fantastic report!

Use what you’ve got and make it go far and you’ll start see the rewards in a trickle, then a stream of new people heading towards your own virtual real estate.