Does Your Content Have Purpose?

So big question, hey? No, I’m not talking about whether your content is deep, meaningful and will cause a life-changing epiphany for your readers.

Not at all…good content doesn’t have to be your life’s work or anything close to it.If you’re writing content for business purposes, it simply needs to serve a need for your readers…and in turn, how does it benefit your business?

A few days ago Annette, gave us some advice on using an editorial calendar and Kathryn provided more tips for planning your content.

All that planning is all well and good, but what I’m wondering is if you have a reason WHY you publish your content? It may not be something you think about consciously, but if you’re creating content, having a PURPOSE for that content is going to go a long way for you and your business. Because let’s face it, publishing content for content’s sake is only going to drain your time and/or wallet. So instead, consciously think about the purpose for each piece of content you publish.

Here are some purposes that your content might serve:

Search Engine Food: Get people to find your site through keyword searches that lead to highly targeted content pages. In other words, create content the subjects your target market is readily searching for.

Word-of-Mouth Material: Content that gets people talking candrive traffic. Whether it’s informative, entertaining or controversial, it can build traffic and readership.

Pre-Sell Material: Pre-sell your readers on your products or services. For example, if you sell a potty designed for easier toddler training, write articles on potty training that talk about your product, publish reviews, show product comparisons, etc.

Ethical Bribes: Quality information can serve as an ethical bribe to get someone on your list. If you sell debt consulting services, give your readers something they can use to learn more about solving their debt issues. For example, a report on understanding your credit, information on how creditors actually work against debtors, etc.

Establishment of Expertise: Content can establish your expertise, so that people will call on you to work with them. Whether it’s as a contractor or contributing author, good content can get you noticed. Put together a report, publish articles, make guest blog posts that highlight your skills and knowledge. Just make sure the people who read the content know how to join your mailing list, request your products and services.

Reader Satisfaction: There’s something to be said about keeping your current readers satisfied. They come to expect certain quality from you, so deliver that. If you use content to build an audience and generate sales, do it with some consistency. That doesn’t mean YOU have to write day in and day out. You can employ ghostwriters, use PLR or guest writers.

Customer Relationships: Content for customers that helps them consume your products, make BETTER use of them and shows how further products can help them is a win-win for all. Give them a surprise bonus guide that shares stories from other parents who successfully used the potty (and include information on other helpful products for parents of toddlers). Or give them even further strategies and introduce products that will help your clients reduce their debt even faster.

A Product to Sell: Of course some content is a product itself. Sell ebooks, checklists, resources, spreadsheets…whatever satisfies your target market’s wants and desires.

So what purpose does YOUR content serve? Are you just publishing content because you heard it was a good idea…or do you have a purpose?

7 Comments  

More Steps for Content Calendars

Annette asked if I was using an editorial calendar for my website. I had to say no. But an editorial calendar is a great idea for managing my content and keeping that content fresh and flowing. Taking my website to the next level means pushing beyond the ordinary. Creating a list for what I want to write and when I want it posted is definitely NOT the ordinary way I do things.

Most of my life has been spent meeting deadlines by the skin of my teeth. Planning things in advance might be an option, but procrastination kept them in the planning stage. I have always been a very good procrastinator. These last several months have helped me to understand the value of following the plan if I want my website to be all that it can be.

5 Easy Steps for Planning and Writing Content

1. Review your website. Start your content calendar session by reviewing the content that already exists on your website. It is always a good idea to link back to your own articles whenever possible and relevant. Knowing what you have already been writing will help make that possible. Reviewing past content will also give you an idea of the topics that you tend to make the focus of your content.

2. Discover the purpose and direction of your website. Reviewing what you have written is one of the best ways to determine what you want to be writing. Knowing the vision and mission of your website will help you develop the right content for your site.

3. Create content blocks. Break up the content that has already been written into specific topics or subjects. Also consider any topics that have been raised in comments or emails to you that you have not covered. These new topics may be opportunities for you to invite in some guest bloggers.

4. Brainstorm ideas. Spend a few hours or a few days coming up with potential content titles for your different topics. Use this time to visit other blogs, forums and websites in your niche to see what are on the minds of people in the industry.

5. Work the content into your work schedule. Set aside time every day or every week to produce some of the content for your site. You can pre-post the content or keep it in a folder to be posted as needed.

Organization may not be the easiest thing for you, but it is essential to your content writing success. Not only will a content and editorial calendar organize you materials, but it will also help you get the writing done. Knowing what you are going to write and when you are going to write can be a great deterrent to writer’s block. Creating an editorial calendar may be that new step you need to make all the difference on your website.

2 Comments  

Are Your Using an Editorial Calendar?

A few month’s ago the esteemed Alexis Rodrigo blogged about New Year’s Resolutions for Content Marketer (It’s #8 on the list).  So the question is….are you using an Editorial Calendar?

What is An Editorial Calendar?

Quite simply, it’s a list of the content you’re going to publish with corresponding publication dates. You can find samples of what an editorial calendar can look like here:

Notice that this particular calendar from PC World has a schedule for print and online content.  While your calendar doesn’t need to be presentable to the public, you will likely have numerous categories listed.

For example, online, autoresponder, article marketing, reports and so on.

Why Use an Editorial Calendar?

Planning your content in advance offers a number of benefits:

• It makes it easy to outsource your content.
  
• It makes creating content a breeze because you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to write about.
• It helps you plan your marketing and advertising promotions.
• It reduces stress.
• You’re less likely to miss blog posts if it’s scheduled in advance.
• You’re able to focus your attention on other profitable tasks.

How To Create an Editorial Calendar?

The easiest approach is to grab a notebook and a desktop calendar and to plan your content.  It’s recommended to plan a year in advance, however you’d prefer, you can plan three or six months in advance.

Once you have a plan on notebook paper, then consider taking two steps. The first is to create your plan in an easy to access manner. That may be printed out and tacked to your bulletin board or saved as a document on your computer.

Additionally, consider adding the content to your daily/weekly planner, Outlook for example. That way when you’re busy you’ll be notified automatically when you have content scheduled.

If you’re not using an editorial calendar, consider adopting the tool. It’s tremendously useful and it’ll help you stay on top of your content and ahead of your competition.

12 Comments  

If Email Marketing Dies, I’ll Eat My Shoe

A few weeks ago, I gave you some encouragement when you just don’t feel like blogging (it’s OKAY!), And in that post, I honed in on an area that deserves plenty of your attention…and that’s email marketing.

And a little later, in my sheer frustration at people who claim email marketing is dead or at least dying some slow death, I asked social media enthusiasts to look at the big picture.

In that post, I mentioned that email runs across all platforms (i.e. you don’t have to be on Twitter to get your messages…people have choice of pop3s, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) and for the online business owner, it also provides:

• Private communication: It’s how your customers can ask questions and get support. And even if you use a ticket system, it’s still in conjunction with email. And yes, while some companies provide basic help to customers through Twitter and other platforms, detailed and private help comes directly through you.

• Privileged communication: Let’s face it, our customers should be treated in a privileged manner. They’ve shown they’re interested and that they are willing to spend money. You want to give them special offers, advanced access and other perks you don’t give to just anyone who becomes a Facebook fan. You can make a TON of cash, just by treating your customers better than everyone else.

• Direct communication of any length: No 140 character limits with email. Say what you want and how you want to say it…no extra clicks to the sale required. THAT is priceless.

• Continuous access: Not everyone checks email every day, but you can bet that IN GENERAL the consistency with the average individual checks it is more consistent than with social media accounts. Of course, there are exceptions for those who live and breathe social media, but we’re talking about the general public here. And yes of course, you need to understand your own market to know what is best for you and for them.

But if that’s not enough for you, here are a couple more reasons why email isn’t going anywhere:

- It’s how people often communicate when more depth and detail is needed. And for many, it’s the only or main way they communicate online.

- It’s how people are notified of their new messages in social media and other collaborative sites. You can bet social media sites are sending out a TON of automated notifications via email each and every day.

For some reason, people feel lower delivery rates (due to aggressive spam filters) has somehow put a nail into the coffin for email. While deliverability is an issue, you have the same issue when it comes to social media sites (not everyone will see your tweet, update, etc.) and many will never drop by or open their RSS feed to read your blog post.

The fact remains, despite some challenges, email is an important part of just about every net savvy person’s life…

Even Facebook is Getting in on the Email Game

You may have heard that Facebook is rumored to be launching its own web-based email application. For the blinded-by-the-light social media starlets this may just seem like further proof that social media is taking over.

But for the shrewd business person, it’s a clear indication that Mark Zuckerberg and the gang understand the power of email. They know this is how people communicate and it’s the missing key to getting all the Facebook addicts completely locked on to their site.

So it’s up to you if you want to believe the hype or not. I recommend building your mailing list, building your RSS subscribers and making tons of “friends” on the net. Then let’s see what brings the best and most consistent results and what really fuels all your marketing, generates new sales and repeat sales. If I’m wrong, I’ll take a little salt and pepper and perhaps a nice glass of Cab Shiraz with my shoe.

15 Comments  

Featured Article Directory: Articledashboard.com

ArticleDashboard.com is a free article directory website and ezine that provides a place for authors to submit their articles and for website owners to access content. The directory was established in 2005 and continues to stand as a solid provider for a wide range of topics.

Article Dashboard has been working to establish itself as a top content provider since it first came on the scene in August 2005. It not only provides content, but also provides free software that allows sites to establish their own article directories. Websites can use this software to build resources for their visitors and the software can be customized for a specific need or niche.

Articledashboard.com lets people from around the world view your content. It currently boasts a unique visitor count of around 125,000 per month. This means that your content will be exposed to new eyes from around the globe through the Article Dashboard site but also through those sites that repost your content.

According to the Articledashboard.com website, there are only a few simple rules to submitting material to their directory. Some of the rules are basic guidelines about how the articles can be used.

• Articles must be the original work of the person submitting them. You must have the rights of all the articles that you submit to Article Dashboard.

• Article Dashboard has the right to used submitted material on any of its outlets – including website, blogs or RSS feed.

• Others also have to the right to use articles that are posted on Article Dashboard in their newsletters and online magazines (with the stipulation that articles be left in their original state, including the resource box and any links).

• There is no guarantee of acceptance into the directory database. Each article will be reviewed. Submitting an article to Article Dashboard does not mean that it will be published.

Article Dashboard is a free article directory. This means that all submissions are done without monetary compensation. Writers do not get paid for submitting material to ArticleDashboard.com. The best thing about article directories, like Article Dashboard, is compensation comes in the form of help establishing a writer as an expert in a particular niche through the published content.

Article Dashboard has a strong standing on the internet. It currently holds a 5 out of 10 Google Page Rank. The Alexa rank of ArticleDashboard.com is 4753.

Submitting material to different article directories is a good way to build your own visitors. Article directories can also be a solid source for discovering content for your own website.

No matter how you choose to use article directories, you should take some time to review Article Dashboard. It is one of the leading article directory websites and provides you with more opportunities to expand your online presence.

Leave a Comment  

Free Guide to Maximizing Your
Affiliate Profits with Autoresponders

I’ve got a post in the works on email marketing, but wanted to share this freebie first. Okay, it’s a bit of a rant in response to those who claim email marketing is dead.

Email marketing is dead only for those who refuse to use this powerful tool and instead focus on higher-maintenance, lower converting efforts. Ummm…I’ll take email marketing over that. ANY. DAY.

Email still boasts some of the highest conversion rates. Perhaps it’s because email is personal and direct. Or perhaps because the expectation of a blog post or content on a website is different than with emial (i.e. it’s easier to get away with a pitch via email). I tend to think it’s BOTH, making it a very powerful marketing medium.

Anyway, Mila and I have put together a new report you can grab NO OPT-IN REQUIRED – how ironic, since we’re talking about email marketing, hey? We’re feeling generous and we like you.

Just click here to get it (PDF).

2 Comments  

Next Page »