A lot of website owners are taking a "ready, fire, aim" approach to search engine optimization. They optimize their content like crazy - putting keywords in their post text, titles and subtitles, and anywhere else they think Google might look.
Most of the time, "quick fixes" are bogus. Magic systems to make $100K a year in five minutes a day? Bogus. Eating plans to lose 20 pounds this week? Bogus. Five-second techniques to find the romantic partner of your dreams? Bogus.
It seems that a huge segment of the online content industry that had been previously vilified by "respectable" online "journalists" (use of quotation marks intentional and appropriate) is also finally being seen as another savior of online content. Some are even trying to call it "commerce journalism." It's actually called affiliate marketing.
Think of a story, any story. How about Cinderella, for instance. If you remember it, what does that story bring up right away in your mind? If we examine the Cinderella story closely we see three basic elements ...
I discovered Torre DeRoche's fun and exciting blog a few years back, when she was in the process of self-publishing her book, Love with a Chance of Drowning. Since then, Torre has taken the international publishing world by storm.
I don't think there's a single topic in online marketing that's as misunderstood as SEO. Partly it's because on the surface, SEO has changed so much. What worked even a few years ago will destroy your rankings today. Oddly enough, though, the SEO strategy at Copyblogger has stayed remarkably consistent since Brian Clark started the blog in January, 2006.
Editor's Note: This podcast is syndicated from Brian Clark's Entreproducer project. In this episode of the podcast, Brian Clark and I answer eleven questions that the Entreproducer audience asked about content marketing.
Let's imagine I arrive at your site - or Google your company - and I've got my credit card on the desk in front of me: I'm ready to buy. But, after a few minutes (or, more likely, a few seconds) I close the browser and make myself a cup of tea ...
Did you know that people will rush to do business with you if you can help them achieve their dreams, calm their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them cast stones at their enemies? Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, it's not.
When I met Jen Waak at a group dinner for women bloggers during the South by Southwest conference, I was impressed with her warm, engaging personality. Then she stood up from the table and (with Sonia Simone's help) demonstrated what a good kettlebell swing technique looked like - and I noticed what an amazing athlete she is, as well!
Howdy writer, Remember when I said that profitable advertising was a planned and purposeful neglect of everything except making the sale ... and that you should treat copywriting like a salesman? Well, there is something else you should know: the difference between copywriting and face-to-face salesmanship is that the salesperson can't be ignored ...
There's no easy way to say this ... online marketing can be hard. It's hard to get attention. It's hard to get people to subscribe to your email newsletter. It's even harder to earn the kind of trust that turns a reader into a paying customer.
You've probably heard this writing advice before: content is king, write 500 words a day, and commit to a regular posting schedule. It's frustrating advice because it's so damned correct that it almost hurts. The "secret" to enjoying success online has always been about producing great content.
Traditional marketing isn't inherently flawed, but it hasn't evolved much despite changing technologies. Even with so many new tools with which to convey our messages to prospective customers, especially social media like Facebook, Twitter, and beyond, few businesses are actually doing anything markedly different than they used to.
If you're an online publisher or content marketer using WordPress, understanding the value of great hosting is a must. In my 15 years of online publishing, I've found that it can make all the difference. Page load speeds impact your visitor experience and your search engine rankings.
Twitter. Google+. Facebook. Tumblr. Pinterest. These (and many others) have become the darlings of social media. The press loves to rave about their features, droning endlessly on about upgrades, acquisitions, VC rounds, and user numbers. Though you can gain a lot of good market information and make valuable connections from participating in social networking sites, don't expect to sell much.
How seductive are you? I'm not a great seducer. I don't have a string of conquests to boast about. I'm no modern Cleopatra. But as a marketer and copywriter, I've studied the seductive techniques that big brands use to win customers.
Life and business are full of lessons if you look for them. Some you learn the easy way, and some you learn the hard way. A few years ago, I started creating content for my brand-new site. It wasn't easy - I didn't consider myself a writer, so cranking out blog posts on a consistent schedule was daunting at first.
You know the stages. First, denial. "No way, dude, that's got to be a rumor." Then anger. " Don't Be Evil my $%&! How could they do this to me?" Bargaining. "Could a new version of Google Reader really save Digg?" Depression. "I can haz no more LOLz."
In spite of being a literary snob, when I was first introduced to the world of direct-response copywriting ... I fell in love. I fell in love with the thought of using my writing to influence and persuade people. I also fell in love with the idea of getting rich.
There was a time - not too long ago - when you could solve your sales problems by simply throwing money at television, print, and radio ads. And that approach can still work ... if you've got a lot of time and a lot of money.
Editor's Note: This podcast is syndicated from Brian Clark's Entreproducer project. A few short years ago Brett Kelly was busy living the life of an experienced and talented programmer, when he stumbled across a new software service called Evernote. He quickly became a passionate customer, as well as one the company's most ardent unpaid evangelists.
There's a preconceived notion among some in the B2B world that marketing automation is a bad idea, one that's right up there with pop-under ads. This misconception likely comes from the early days of social media marketing, when desperate, unscrupulous companies used automated third-party services to blast what truly amounted to spam across their social channels 24/7.
Are you familiar with the phrase Permission Marketing? If you're trying to sell anything online (including your ideas), you should be. In 1999, a certain smart marketer made some observations about what kinds of persuasive communication worked well as we moved into the 21st century ... and what kinds didn't.
If you define influence by the size of your Klout score, you can stop reading this right now. If you believe influence is driven by the creation of a relationship between two parties, where one sees the other as truly knowledgeable about a particular product or service, then let's talk about the science behind that influence.
