Guest Blog Posts: 2013

Content marketing isn’t brain science, but if you know a bit about the brain, you’ll be a better content marketer.

I sat down with veteran digital strategist and travel lover Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media to find the answer.But how does he get there? And in this day and age, what is the role of maps for travelers, and therefore for travel marketers and their websites?

Got a start-up with no marketing budget? Join the club. When we started Orbit Media in 2001, we had two computers and a phone. No budget for anything, really. And it was a slow start. It took years to build up our network and our pipeline...

Pages rank higher in Google when they are tightly focused on a single topic. It's unlikely that one page will rank high for a dozen phrases. So if we expect to rank, we need to pick a phrase and create a great page on that topic. But what about just two phrases?

Something's wrong. The marketing team is busy, the budget is spent, the website looks great, but the leads aren't flowing in. There could be a lot of problems with your lead generation pipeline -- It may be clogged, it might be leaking, or it might be dry at the source.

There are lots of ways to measure results. There are just as many ways to compare ourselves and our businesses to others. Modern marketing has given us lots of new yardsticks, both for measuring results and for comparing. We admire, envy, and sometimes brag about big numbers.

This latest installment in our occasional "6 Questions" series, we're talking about a basic format for content, the interview. Interviews are a very powerful tool for any content marketer. Why? The personal tone makes interviews compelling. They give the reader or listener the feeling of being an insider, as if they're witnessing the interaction.

Competition, generally, is a good thing. When web marketers compete, they push to improve quality, to be more relevant, and to connect with qualified visitors. But there's one company you don't want to compete against - your own. Web marketing cannibalization happens when you pull your audience in more than one direction.

The following is a guest post from Andy Crestodina. Andy is the Co-Founder of Orbit Media, a web development firm in Chicago. In content marketing, there are three main types of promotion, and three website traffic sources. They are search engine optimization, email marketing and social media.

Today we bring you the second half of our guest story by Orbit Media Studios founder and content marketing specialist Andy Crestodina (find him on Twitter and Google+). Click here to read the first half. In September I participated in a panel at Chicago Social Media Week and our moderator, Brian Burkhart of SquarePlanet Presentations, called me the king of "free beer."

Today we bring you the first post in a two-part story by Orbit Media Studios founder and content marketing specialist Andy Crestodina ...Every time I speak about content marketing around the city of Chicago, I'll be approached by a journalist-in-transition who was sitting in the audience.

It's a big tool with lots of reports. Google Analytics can be intimidating. It can also be a huge waste of time. Too many marketers just browse through charts and graphs, without gaining any insights, without making a decision.

Everybody's doing it. Sound familiar? It should. It's brain science. People tend to do what other people are doing. Psychologists call this conformity, herd behavior, or the bandwagon effect. Marketers call it social proof. The goal is to increase conversions by giving evidence that you are accepted by others.

These six ideas threaten your marketing. They are truly dangerous notions. Believing even one of these puts you at a disadvantage. Combine a few and you'll be frozen, unable to write, publish, win attention, and earn trust. D: Don't have the time to write. It's the most common and the most deadly.

Adapted re-write of the Cision post for the travel industry, includes tips specific to travel marketers...

Some people are chatty. Other people are salesy. Some people just talk about themselves too much. Others probably should talk about themselves a bit more.

Have a little fun first, and see if you can complete the crossword before you read the blog post below! This is a word-fill/crossword hybrid: Fill in the marketing jargon, across and down, where you think it fits.

Each time Google alters the language in its Webmaster Guidelines, I get questions. A new round came last month, when Google updated its Webmaster Guidelines page with new language under its section on "Link Schemes."

Do you want people to click on your blog posts when others share them on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+? Is your blog optimized for the best visual display when people share your content? Are your posts are accompanied by a nice picture with an accurate description so they stand out in social media streams? Why Does This Matter?

Constant Contact Blog: Every small business has an advantage. Unlike big corporations, smaller companies can be more personal, more relatable, more human. Unfortunately, most small businesses miss these opportunities. Email marketing is a classic example of how the little guys have the edge. In recent posts, we've looked at email strategy for small email lists and a personal approach to list growth.

The most beautiful, engaging website is useless without visitors. But where there's traffic, there's hope. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of ranking high. It doesn't matter if it's a blog post or web page-anything with a URL can rank on Google.

Posted on by Andy Crestodina What link building strategies actually work? Forget link exchanges and start with guest blogging. "How can I get more traffic from Google?" This is one of the all-time most common questions in web marketing. People ask this question hoping to hear a short answer with some high-impact advice.

Have you ever read a runner's entire post-marathon race report? If you said yes, I salute you for your dedication. A 26-part, mile-by-mile report of each step someone took through a marathon is about as interesting as a play-by-play of my morning routine.

Ah, the list post. The cornerstone of so many great blogs, and an enduring source of horrible content around the web. Sometimes they're well-researched, user-friendly, and incredibly useful. And sometimes ... not. List posts are undeniably effective ... and (at least at times) overused.

I talk to a lot of job seekers. Most of them are looking for digital marketing jobs. And why not? It's a fun and fast-growing industry. It's also a big field with lots of specialties: social media, search optimization, content marketing, analytics and others.