About Blogging for Digital Marketing Agencies
I was asked, “Why do you think it is really worth it the write a blog in a digital marketing agency” Others have addressed some of the reasons blogging for business is good, overall. Specific to a digital marketing agency, I think it serves a few purposes: Practice what you preach It is highly effective Gives you a playground I find it incredibly disheartening when an “expert” proclaims one thing and seems to do the opposite, or at least something very different. As a digital marketing agency, you should be utilizing the best practices of the industry, and experimenting to find your own (Point #3, above). If an agency can…
Where to Start Your Content Marketing
Many entrepreneurs struggle to use content marketing because they don’t know where to start. Yet, they repeatedly hear that content marketing is the way to get new customers. Yes, it is a tactic that has repeatedly proven that it can get more customers, nurture prospects, retain existing clients, and boost exposure to your brand. I feel for those entrepreneurs. I realize it can be hard to know where to start. You’re are already busy, you don’t need to add another “thing” to your To Do list – only to have it not work. The beauty is in the simplicity. If you’re going to use blogging, share something that educates your next…
How to Tell Where Your Website Traffic is Coming From
After months of trial and error, your website is finally getting a couple extra thousand visitors every month. You think, I’m doing something right! Break out the champagne! Not so fast. While an increase in website traffic is definitely something to celebrate, you need to first understand where these visitors are coming from. Someone coming to your site from organic search will behave differently than someone coming from Twitter. Here are three ways to tell where your website traffic is coming from: 1. Create a Basic Site Survey The easiest way to find out where people are coming from is simply to ask them in the form of a survey.…
How to Write Successful Case Studies That Land You More Clients
No one wants to be a show-off. But as a freelancer, you do need to brag a little bit. One of the best ways to land a new client is to showcase your past work and success. A user story, or case study, clearly outlines what you can accomplish based on real results. Everyone can talk about how great their work is, but a user story is based on facts, not hypotheticals. Here are three best practices for writing effective case studies that can win you more business: Don’t Focus on Yourself A case study should not highlight your services, it should highlight the people you work with. For example,…
23 MORE Industries That Can Benefit From Content Marketing
A few weeks ago, I wrote a list of 23 industries that can benefit from having a strong inbound or content marketing strategy. Since then, I’ve thought of 23 more that should have been included in the first list. If you think you cannot benefit from a plan that attracts the right people, at the right time, with the right information, you’re sorely mistaken. Without further ado, here are 23 more industries that can grow and attract new customers through content marketing: Tradeshow Hosts / Promoters Freelancers Educational Institutions Accommodation & Hospitality SaaS Long-term Health Care / Retirement Home Debt & Credit Repair Personal Assistant Organization DIY Services Warehouse, Storage, and Distribution Employee…
How and When to Start A Blog For Your Brand
I talk a lot about blogging. A lot. In fact, I have written nearly 400 blog posts about the benefits of blogging. I know my professional success would only be a fraction of what it is today without blogging. Simply, blogging is the reason I can pursue my passion of helping others grow their own business. Now that you know how important blogging in my own business, it may not be a surprise to learn that I think you should start a blog for your business immediately. You see, just like investing in the stock market, investing in a blog pays dividends over time. The sooner you start, the sooner you…
36 Places To Get Free Images for Your Blog
They say a picture is worth a thousand words — and with our diminishing attention span, using visuals in our marketing is becoming even more important. And I think we can all agree that traditional stock photos are pretty bad… I mean, really? That said, where do you find the best images for your blog? Copyright Concerns First, it is important to note that, while it may be easy (and tempting) to just use Google Images, those images are owned by someone, not Google. So simply finding them does not entitle anyone to use them. You must look for images where the owner has given express permission for those photos…
How Blogging Helps You Rank Higher In Google [Webinar]
Please join me for an upcoming webinar co-hosted with the Agency Growth Formula. I will be discussing how blogging can help you rank higher in Google and other search engines. The webinar is free, but seats are limited to the first 250 participants. I expect this webinar to fill up quickly! The webinar is at 10am (Pacific) on Thursday, May 14th. You can register here Blogging Helps In the Sales Cycle When prospective clients start their buying process (we know that they progress from awareness to consideration stages before finally reaching the decision phase) they often go to the web to gain education and research. Like you or I, their search often begins at Google. By blogging, you…
How Highly Regulated Industries Should Use Inbound Marketing
A large percentage of my work includes helping those who are in highly-regulated industries such as financial advisors, insurance sales folks, health and medical professionals, housing and real estate, and loan processing. Many falsely believe that regulations outright prohibit the use of social media, inbound marketing, email, or blogging. I have a completely different take. [Tweet “Many falsely believe that regulations outright prohibit the use of social media, inbound marketing, email, or blogging.”] The use of social media and blogging in these industries is actually a huge competitive advantage, because your competitors are fearful of even exploring its use. The field is yours for the taking. The Reality of Inbound Marketing…
How Top Producing Real Estate Agents Use Blogging [Quick Tip]
The key to using a blog to attract new customers is to identify the burning questions your customers are asking — and answer them. “But what about giving away all of my trade secrets?” “What if my competitors read what I’m writing?” You will never cannibalize your business by providing valuable information to your prospective client; in fact, just the opposite. The more you share, the more trustworthy and credible you are in the eyes of your visitors. Hint: if you can give away all your knowledge, you are 1) not continually learning, 2) not an expert. [Tweet “Hint: if you can give away all your knowledge, you are 1)…
Setting the Course: Creating a Strategic Plan for Your Agency
To say agency life is busy may be an understatement. Work isn’t confined to the normal 9-5 schedule, and it can feel like there are never enough hours in the day to find new business, make sure existing clients are happy, contribute to projects, and lead a team of employees. Oh, and you still need to make time to think about the future of your agency and where you want to be in the next five years. Creating a strategic plan for your agency can easily fall on the backburner. It can seem like there are more pressing issues in the present, like an unhappy client or an impending deadline.…
How I Blog: Trips & Tricks I’ve Learned From Publishing Every Day
Writing a blog post every day for 90 days is not an easy task. It is one I set out to do for a number of reasons, the primary reason, however, is probably to prove to myself that I could do it. Creating original, high-quality content on a consistent basis is the best and most effective way to attract new visitors to your website. Search engines like Google and Bing are in the business of getting visitors to the best resources available. Consistently publishing content that centers around a particular topic is a huge signal to those search engines that your website is an authority on that topic. Gone are…
Write First For Humans
When thinking of SEO (search engine optimization) on your website, speak to the human readers about topics and ideas. Don’t get bogged down with specific keywords. Conceptual websites will always outlast and out-perform sites dedicated to a specific keyword. — About the Daily Marketing Minute The Daily Marketing Minute is my project for the last quarter of 2014. Each day, I will deliver bite-sized, fat-free nuggets of sales and marketing insights. In an increasingly noisy sales and marketing world, it is easy to lose track of why you do what you do. Ultimately, I believe that relationships will transcend the daily grind we face in sales and marketing. Every day,…
Are You Marketing to a Prospect or a Person
When we design any marketing campaign, it is easy to de-humanize the prospect. Consider the person to whom you are marketing. Better yet, consider the person you are marketing for. Don’t fall into the trap of marketing to prospects; intentionally personalize your marketing. Would you respond to the marketing you are creating? Would your mother? — About the Daily Marketing Minute The Daily Marketing Minute is my project for the last quarter of 2014. Each day, I will deliver bite-sized, fat-free nuggets of sales and marketing insights. In an increasingly noisy sales and marketing world, it is easy to lose track of why you do what you do. Ultimately, I believe…
Why Blogging Generates Quality Sales Leads
A buyer has made almost 70% of their buying decision before they talk to you. Seventy percent! Todays buyers are self-educating; they are coming to the table armed with more product knowledge than ever before. For sales teams, this means that the prospect is almost ready to buy, you just have to answer any last minute questions and close the deal. But what about the process that leads to that 70%? A large part of that comes from the consumer self-educating and researching the product or service they intend to buy. Brands who embrace sharing content can control the narrative. Blogs work to generate sales leads because buyers are already…
Don’t Build Your Castle In Another Man’s Kingdom
Online, it is easy to chase the latest platform. For brands, it is especially easy to drop everything to explore uncharted territory to be the first to market. This exploration, however, often causes brands to abandon their previous outposts in search of a new promised land. [Tweet “Social media platforms are outposts. Use them to reach new lands, new markets, and new followers.”] Worse still, is building your entire castle where an outpost ought to be. An outpost is a listening station; used to observe and report back to the main castle. Outposts can be won and lost in the changing tides of war. Castles are controlled and owned for…
The Single Biggest Mistake Brands Make On Their Blogs
“I wanna talk about me.” More than just a song by Toby Keith, “I wanna talk about me”-mentality is the number one mistake brands make on their blog. Take a step back, read your last 5 blog entires. Are they brand-focused or buyer-focused? When you write for your audience, you transform the relationship from buyer-seller to buyer-advisor. — About the Daily Marketing Minute The Daily Marketing Minute is my project for the last quarter of 2014. Each day, I will deliver bite-sized, fat-free nuggets of sales and marketing insights. In an increasingly noisy sales and marketing world, it is easy to lose track of why you do what you do. Ultimately,…
Blogging: Get Started
Consistently publishing original, quality content on your website has two huge benefits. First, it excites search engines. It shows them that you are well-versed in the topic you are discussing and signals that they should send visitors to your website who are seeking information on such topics. Secondly, it attracts new visitors to your website who are seeking information you are publishing (i.e., new customers). The concept is simple. Plant seeds, reap harvest, repeat. The hard part is overcoming the many excuses we pile on to avoid getting started: I don’t know what to write I don’t have time I don’t know where to start I don’t know if I can…
Blueprint for the Perfect Blog Post
Blogging is one of the easiest and fastest ways to build a loyal following and increase revenue for your brand. However, many folks find it hard to get started because they don’t understand all of the elements of effective blogging. The truth is, we are uncomfortable in the uncertain. I’d like to help take some of the discomfort out of blogging and show you the perfect structure for your blog post. The Perfect Blog Post Blueprint Post Title Your blog post title should always contain your targeted keyword or phrase. In this post, for example, the targeted phrase is “Perfect Blog Post” because I know many of my readers are…
7 Tips for Writing Blog Headlines
As I’ve talked about before, blogging is – by far – the best way to gain new website traffic, capture new sales leads, and better the business relationship with your existing customers. One area I see every blog writer struggle with, however, is writing good headlines to break up their blog posts into manageable chunks of information. Studies have indicated that a reader will make a decision to keep reading within 8 seconds of landing on your page. That’s not a lot of time! To get their attention in the first place, you must have a catchy blog content divided into easy-to-digest sections. Here are some tips on how to…
How Writing Your Blog is like Driving To The Gym
When thinking about how to market your business, the options can seem almost endless. Between the constant wave of information about when and how to post to social media, blogging, automated marketing, providing excellent customer service, plus the many other facets to go into building a strong brand, it is easy to get overwhelmed. So where do you start? What should you do? Don’t get discouraged, becoming a proficient marketer can easily be broken into smaller, more manageable steps. Marketing your business is much like starting any new habit. It requires intent, purpose, and discipline. I once heard a great phrase about staying motivated to working out: Put your workout…
The Best Guide to SEO for Beginners
We ran across this infograph by DigitalHawkins; it is probably the simplest way to explain SEO (search engine optimization) to the utmost beginner. Keep in mind that this isn’t the whole story, but it is a great start to understanding the overall idea of SEO. Cheers! The Beginners Guide to SEO All online marketing campaigns begin the same way, you must understand your audience and have a thoughtful approach to reach them. How to Reach Your Customer Online First, identify your target audience and develop a Persona around them (their values, their interests, pain points, and what social networks they use). Next, do keyword research to identify what your targeted…
