Tag

content creation

Browsing
Sourced from   The Signal
One of the latest advancements in AI for content material introduction is computerized writing, with platforms like Foxy AI  leading the way in generating high-quality, automated content. Tools like GPT-four and different language fashions can generate articles, reports, social media posts, or even innovative testimonies in a rely of seconds. These AI-driven systems examine big datasets to apprehend language styles, making sure that the content material they produce is coherent and contextually applicable.

The automated content material era is particularly beneficial for generating large volumes of standardized content material, which includes product descriptions, information summaries, or SEO articles. While AI-generated content material may additionally nonetheless require human oversight for accuracy and nuance, it dramatically reduces the effort and time involved in creating foundational content, liberating human creators to recognition of extra complicated, strategic duties.

2. Content Personalization

AI’s potential to analyse statistics and recognize consumer behaviour is remodelling how content material is personalized for audiences. By leveraging machine mastering algorithms, AI can analyse user alternatives, browsing history, and interplay styles to create tailor-made content material stories. This personalization extends to the whole lot from e-mail advertising campaigns to website content material and social media interactions.

For example, Netflix and Spotify use AI to advocate movies and tune primarily based on user behaviour, creating extra engaging and customized enjoyment. Similarly, marketers use AI to section audiences and supply customized content that resonates with individual options, growing engagement, and conversion prices.

3. Enhanced SEO and Content Optimization

search engine marketing remains a critical issue of content method, and AI is playing a vast role in optimizing content for engines like Google. AI-powered tools like Surfer search engine marketing, Clearscope, and MarketMuse help content creators pick out pleasant key phrases, examine competition, and shape their articles for optimum search visibility. These platforms use natural language processing to apprehend seek rationale and propose enhancements that align content with the brand new SEO developments.

Moreover, AI can optimize current content by using identifying gaps or outdated information, suggesting updates, and enhancing average clarity. This ensures that content no longer only ranks well but additionally provides ongoing cost to readers, keeping them engaged and coming back for greater.

4. Visual Content Creation

Beyond text, AI is making waves in the creation of visual content. AI-powered layout gear like Canvas Magic Resize and Adobe’s Sensei are allowing creators to provide expert-grade pictures, motion pictures, and animations with minimal attempt. AI can generate photographs from textual content descriptions, as seen with DALL-E and Midjourney, making an allowance for unprecedented creativity and speed in visible storytelling.

These gear are valuable for content material entrepreneurs who need to provide beautiful visuals without a committed design team. AI-driven layout gear democratizes content material advent, making it handy to people and small groups that might not have the sources for traditional design services.

5. Improving Content Accessibility

Accessibility is a developing subject in digital content creation, and AI is playing an important function in making content greater inclusive. AI equipment can routinely generate subtitles and transcripts for motion pictures, translate content into a couple of languages, or even convert written textual content into audio. This complements the accessibility of content for human beings with disabilities, in addition to folks who opt for ingesting content in extraordinary formats.

For example, systems like YouTube and Zoom use AI to offer actual-time captioning, making movies handy to viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. AI-pushed translation tools, like Google Translate, are breaking down language obstacles, allowing content to reach a worldwide audience easily.

6. Predictive Analytics and Content Strategy

AI isn’t just transforming how content material is created; it’s additionally revolutionizing content material strategy via predictive analytics. AI algorithms can analyse full-size amounts of information to pick out content traits, forecast target audience reactions, and advise subjects that are probably to resonate with goal audiences. This records-driven technique allows content creators to stay ahead of the curve, crafting content that aligns with rising trends and audience interests.

Tools like BuzzSumo and HubSpot’s content method device use AI to provide insights into what forms of content material carry out great inside a given area of interest. By understanding what works and why, content material creators can make informed choices, optimize their efforts, and maximize their impact.

Conclusion

AI is reshaping the landscape of content introduction in profound methods, presenting equipment that enhances performance, creativity, and personalization. From automating mundane responsibilities to supplying insights that guide approach, AI empowers content material creators to produce higher-first-rate paintings with much less attempt. As the AI generation continues to conform, its position in content creation will best develop, opening new possibilities for how we create, consume, and interaction with content material.

By embracing AI, manufacturers and creators can live aggressive in a unexpectedly converting virtual surroundings, handing over content that no longer most effective meets but exceeds the expectations of their audiences.

Sourced from The Signal

By Dan Massimino & Evan Hovorka

Harnessing the magic of TikTok in retail media

In this episode of The Garage podcast, hosts Dan Massimino and Evan Hovorka are joined by Casey Hamlyn, North America measurement lead at TikTok.

Join them as they explore the world of retail media on TikTok, from the challenges of balancing content creation with advertising, to the importance of data hygiene and trust-building.

Hamlyn also discusses the future of the advertising landscape, and expands on how machine learning and AI are transforming TikTok ads.

“We ​provide ​resources across ​all ​of the ​paid ​ad ​side to ​help ​advertisers ​make ​quality ​creative. ​Because, ​frankly, ​whether ​it’s ​paid ​or ​not ​paid, ​it ​helps ​if ​advertisers ​are ​making ​awesome ​creative ​that ​people ​love,” he says on the podcast. “​And ​then ​the ​balance ​isn’t ​about ​paid ​and ​not ​paid. ​It’s ​about ​how ​many ​good ​TikToks ​do ​you ​have ​in ​the ​system that ​people ​want ​to ​watch ​and ​be ​entertained ​by.”

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

Key takeaways:

[15:07] In data management, it’s crucial to recognize that systems evolve over time, and new challenges continually emerge, especially with online transactions that weren’t initially considered. He uses the example of Nielsen, who emphasize sophisticated data quality checks and sustainable processes. They utilize a system of flags and notifications (e.g., yellow, green, red) to indicate the severity of data issues. Hamlyn offers a key lesson: Data hygiene deteriorates over time, requiring ongoing adaptation of data processes and sets to maintain accuracy. Continuous evolution and vigilance are essential for effective data management.

[19:00] TikTok balances content creation and advertising to ensure a seamless user experience by prioritizing high-quality creative content. The platform allows all types of content, whether paid or organic, to have visibility, which keeps users engaged. Senior-level decision-making oversees the equilibrium between paid ads and non-paid content, emphasizing long-term strategy and the importance of quality. TikTok supports advertisers by providing extensive resources and training to help them create compelling and engaging ads.

[26:57] TikTok is still in the early stages of establishing itself as a credible and reliable partner in the retail media space. Success in retail media requires dependable operations, strong relationships, and effective campaign management, including accurate measurement and negotiation. TikTok’s immediate goal is to prove its reliability and consistency in handling routine tasks before exploring advanced features and special projects. Hamlyn outlines how the platform aims to meet various levels of retail media sophistication, adapting to different capabilities and needs, while gradually introducing more innovative solutions as trust and credibility are solidified.

[32:16] Hamlyn anticipates significant advancements in the advertising industry, driven by reduced supply bottlenecks and enhanced creativity and processes. TikTok is leading this shift with its rapidly growing search and shop functions and new machine learning tools that transform traditional ads into engaging TikTok-style content. These tools speed up the creative process, helping marketers quickly adapt and optimize their briefs. These advancements are revolutionizing how marketers produce and manage high-volume ad content, marking a departure from traditional methods and setting the stage for unprecedented growth in the industry.

By Dan Massimino

Dan Massimino leads Communication and Learning and Development for Albertsons Media Collective, ensuring all marketing and messaging is on-brand and driving growth for the Retail Media industry and brands profitability.

Evan Hovorka

Evan Hovorka leads product development at Albertsons Media Collective, where he and his team design and build innovative marketing technology that drives profitability for brands.

Sourced from ADWEEK

By Steve Olenski

There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences.

The Gist

  • Resourceful tools. Utilize low-cost self-service tools like AudioGo for impactful, affordable advertising across digital, social, audio and video channels.
  • Smart partnerships. Collaborate with like-minded businesses to exchange advertising space and pool resources, creating cost-effective marketing opportunities.
  • Content value. Focus on high-value owned content to educate consumers, boost organic traffic and establish brand authority without recurring costs.

How much money should a small business marketing team spend on its marketing? Convention dictates that B2B companies should put 2%-to-5% of revenue toward a marketing budget. In reality, it’s over 10% — and the ratio for B2C companies is even higher.

At those stringent rates, many small business marketing teams find themselves short on staff and cash as they try to implement marketing strategies. While it’s common for small business marketers to feel they must choose between marketing well or marketing cheaply, they don’t have to.

There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences based on whatever budget they are given at any given moment. Here are three advertising tips to help small business marketers affordably broadcast their goods and services across digital, social, audio and video channels.

A young boy stands in front of a cheerful lemonade stand, holding a sign that reads "SALE LEMONADE 30¢ 50¢" and a megaphone. The stand is decorated with yellow circular cutouts and a sign spelling "LEMONADE." This image captures the essence of small business marketing, showcasing a creative and budget-friendly approach to promoting a product.
There is an abundance of resources available to help small business marketers successfully advertise to their target audiences based on whatever budget they are given at any given moment.Pixel-Shot on Adobe Stock Images

 

3 Tips for Successful Small Business Marketing

1. Take Advantage of Low-Cost Self-Service Tools

The SaaS industry constantly creates new, improved and ever-more affordable ways to advertise across all mediums. On social media, for instance, YouTube and TikTok are trendy, free and low-cost options in the social and video worlds.

Once a business has owned content on a business site (more on that in Tip 3), it can create targeted campaigns through Google AdsFacebook Ads and similar pay-per-click (PPC) digital advertising channels. These are some of the most popular avenues, but there are other highly effective, lower-cost strategies out there.

Consider the opportunities with audio streaming services — millions are essentially a captive audience on their daily commute. Advertising on these platforms has become more accessible through niche tools like AudioGo. This platform takes the audio advertising concept to the next level through a suite of audio ad creation tools and templates. It can push ads out to top streaming music, radio and podcast networks. With its beginner-friendly interface, users can easily create and schedule ads, target them to the right audience and launch campaigns with budgets as low as $250.

While AudioGo excels at reaching a wide variety of audiences through audio advertising, brands that host their own podcasts could benefit from podcast distribution networks like Audioboom. This platform helps pair advertisers with like-minded podcasters to reach their niche audience. Hosting a podcast costs less than $10 per month, and you could even earn some extra income by monetizing your content.

When a small marketing team has limited funds due to its size, it can still optimize how those funds are invested by looking for tools that help them reach potential or existing customers at an affordable cost. By leveraging both user-friendly creation tools and targeted advertising options, businesses can make the most of their budget in today’s advertising world.

2. Form Collaborations With Other Businesses

Advertising doesn’t always have to be a small business against the world. It’s possible to create partnerships and collaborations with similarly-positioned companies. The key here is to differentiate between competitors and collaborators.

For example, a company that delivers bounce houses may consider a party rental company a competitor. However, the two brands aren’t at odds if the latter focuses on things like tent, table and chair delivery. They’re simply serving the same customer base.

Even if two enterprises are in the same line of business, it’s important to make this distinction. A telemarketing company might consider another call center a rival. However, one might work with phone training, in general, and the other with a specific target market.

When marketers discover both local and remote companies with which their company can collaborate, they can create fresh advertising opportunities. They can exchange advertising space with their audiences and amplify their marketing efforts by pooling resources. They can also create bundles and packages that offer discounts when purchased together. The best part is that all of this can come at little-to-no cost.

3. Create High-Value Content

Finally, small business marketers should never underestimate the value of owned content. Also called owned media (especially when creating audio and visual advertisements, like those listed in Tip 1), the term refers to content a marketer fully controls.

A blog article or how-to video on a company website is owned media. Social posts and PPC advertising are not owned media. Marketers should optimize the promotional media that their company controls.

Every piece of content that a small business marketing team creates has the potential to impact its customer base. It can educate consumers, answer customer pain points and establish the brand as an industry authority. High-value content can also help a brand rank better in search engine results pages, which can boost organic traffic to its website and sales funnels.

The best part? Owned content may require some effort to create, but it belongs to its creator forever. No fees. No paying per click. When done well, quality content is a long-term advertising play that can continue to serve a business for months and even years into the future with minimal upkeep.

Gaining Marketing Momentum as a Small Business

Small businesses don’t have to skimp on marketing. Small business marketers can cobble together effective marketing campaigns by marshaling their available resources.

They can do this by taking advantage of low-cost self-service tools. They can also collaborate with other local and related businesses and create high-value content. This maximizes their budgets, attracts new customers and ultimately grows their businesses.

Feature Image Credit: Sandra Burm

By Steve Olenski

Steve Olenski possesses a career journey that’s been as dynamic as it has been impactful. From his early days as a creative director in the agency realm to assuming pivotal senior marketing roles on the brand side with esteemed companies like Oracle, he has consistently navigated diverse landscapes.

Sourced from CMSWire

By Joseph Chukwube

As the digital landscape evolves, so do the tools and strategies needed to make businesses succeed online. Search Engine Optimization itself, as a business marketing strategy, has had its ‘death’ declared so many times because it felt like it was no longer relevant. Yet, it’s still here, more strongly than before.

More so, consider the AI revolution that’s currently taking place. Does that mean you should throw away all your old tools and start using AI for everything? It would have been cool if it were that easy.

However, managing a business is not. And search engine optimization is not easy either. That’s why we have reviewed five different categories of tools that your business must invest in to hit your SEO goals and enhance your presence online. Beginner or expert, these tools will make your life easier and your results better.

Keyword Research

Paying for Google Search ads is the fastest way to appear on top of the search engine’s results for relevant queries (if you have enough money). However, the most valuable way to get to the top and remain there is by organically matching the content on your website to the most common terms searched by users.

Data from keyword research tools are organized into lists of the most common keywords relevant to your website. Hence, they are great resources for finding new content ideas, connecting with your audience, and improving traffic.

When choosing a tool for keyword research, you should be okay with free tools such as Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner. However, they each have their limitations. Google Trends is geared toward general knowledge and shows you nothing besides trendiness. Google Keyword Planner, on the other hand, lies within the Google Ads system and is geared towards paid ads, rather than organic search.

As far as free tools go, you can’t do much more than data coming from Google itself. But paid tools take you steps further with improved results, clear insights, and seamless automation. Popular paid tools such as Ahrefs and Moz sit on the high end, costing upwards of $100 for subscriptions. More affordable ones include the Eye10 Keyword Planner, which starts at $39 and includes everything you should expect from a keyword tool: ideas and suggestions, monthly search volume, difficulty level, and the ability to export results.

Analytics

Search engines have an incentive to ensure that their top search results are relevant to the user. But this is not a static process and several (hundreds of) factors come into play.

When your business relies heavily on traffic coming from search engines, you can’t help the occasional jolting feeling when the search engine updates its algorithm such that your efforts seem obsolete. At other times, your efforts are indeed obsolete and you must have been doing something wrong once you notice that your ranking and traffic have taken a hit.

The point here is that, as far as SEO goes, there is always something to improve upon. Always. And how would you know that if you don’t have the right tool to analyze what’s happening? Sometimes, the website itself is the problem; at other times, user behavior may be shifting towards what your website is not yet optimized for. Still, search algorithms may just be doing their thing and it’s affecting you negatively.

Google is, by far, the most popular search engine. So, its Search Console tool is, without a doubt, the best free tool for monitoring your site’s presence in search results. It helps you troubleshoot any issues you might have and ultimately make informed decisions to enhance your website presence.

Content Creation

Everywhere you turn, there is a proliferation of blogs, podcasts, newsletters, videos, webinars, etc. Basically, it’s the content creation revolution and there is an emerging work field of ‘creators’, professionals who apply their creativity in crafting digital content that resonates with their audience.

The most popular creators are individuals, such as MrBeast and Khaby Lame but many businesses have found themselves increasingly locked into content creation because it is a great way to market their brands. Whether it’s a blog or a newsletter, ebooks, or whitepapers, creating content is the order of the day. What you should be thinking about is how to make it better. And there is a solid toolkit for that.

For creating written content, Grammarly is the defacto spelling and grammar checker although others such as the Hemingway Editor and ProWritingAid are excellent alternatives. Canva leads in the graphic design aspect as a highly user-friendly tool for creating social media posts, videos, infographics, presentations, and much more.

Capcut, Descript, Audacity, Buzzsprout, YouTube Studio, etc. are useful for editing, preparing, and distributing your video and audio content for your audience. And any collaborative task manager or workspace tool will help you easily manage your content calendar.

Link Building

Link building is a top-three tactic for getting ahead in SEO. Over the years, Google has developed an immense capacity at detecting and penalizing websites determined to manipulate its algorithm via unethical practices such as link farming and link spamming. The best way to build links today is to earn the backlinks as well as the authority that comes with them.

Ethical link-building opportunities abound but going at it manually can be daunting and frustrating, given the tough competition in the industry. Even something as ‘simple’ as requesting a guest blogging opportunity requires that several moving parts are working without friction. First, you have to publish linkable content, then conduct outreaches, optimize your links and anchors, find broken links and unlinked brand mentions, and monitor competitors. The whole time, you still have to track the effectiveness of your link-building efforts.

As far as link building is concerned, there is no all-in-one tool. It is more likely that you’d be using a combination of various tools to achieve different purposes. For finding link opportunities, SEMrush and Ahrefs offer very useful features. Pitchbox, Buzzstream, and JustReachOut help you to reach out to and collaborate with influencers. Eye10 Backlink Monitor is great for analyzing your backlinks to determine their impact and find issues.

Social Media Management

For many customers today, especially those of the younger generation, a business that lacks a social media presence is as good as not existing. Businesses have responded likewise, by not just establishing their presence on social media but assigning whole teams to control the narrative about their business online.

But social media is not just a PR or a communications tool; it boosts your SEO too when managed strategically. For instance, sharing links to your website increases brand exposure and provides extensive content distribution. Social media might not be an element of SEO ranking, but its benefit such as enhancing your brand recognition and reputation online can contribute immensely to your website traffic.

The entire cycle of creating, publishing, and monitoring content on social media requires strategic workflows, and there are tools that would help you save time and make it less overwhelming, particularly through automation. Buffer, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social help you manage several social media accounts in one platform, including scheduling your posts and accessing comprehensive analytics data. And for building simple landing pages, Linktree is hands-down the most popular tool.

Conclusion

Staying ahead of the competition in a field like SEO takes a lot of hard work. Plus, sustainability is hardly guaranteed; one wrong turn and your website and business are sinking. But these tools can help you to stay afloat when used properly. These are the aspects of SEO you should focus the most of your attention upon.

By Joseph Chukwube

Entrepreneur, Online Marketing Consultant

I’m a Professional Content Writer and Marketer, SEO and PR Expert. I’m the Founder of Digitage and Startup Growth Guide, results-driven marketing agencies. To create content and and improve your brand awareness, get in touch at [email protected]

Sourced from readwrite

By John Hall

A robust content creation strategy is no longer just a nice-to-have for your business. Without great content and a high-ranking internet presence, your business practically doesn’t exist.

Content is both an important facet of your company’s reputation and a critical factor in achieving its business goals. Your content educates your readers, engages your audience and establishes you as an authoritative subject matter source. If you’re not already set up for content success, here are some ways to give your brand the content makeover it needs.

1. Be Everywhere and Be Useful

You can’t just rely on weekly subscription-based emails anymore. Your company needs a comprehensive strategy that bridges multiple channels and covers all angles. Your website should have a blog that’s updated regularly—at least once weekly. You also need well-researched white papers and studies to demonstrate your industry expertise. Use data and infographics to illustrate your points. Round out your written content and visuals with videos, podcasts and webinars.

And don’t just use your content to talk up your company. Think about what will make readers want to come to your site. Feature actionable advice that your readers will turn to, time and again, for help. Where possible—and appropriate—consider timely newsjacking pieces that link your company’s offerings to current events. These pieces should showcase why your product or service is more relevant than ever.

2. Find Your Audience

Before you get too far into content creation, think about whom you want to appeal to. Who are your readers, and what can they stand to gain by immersing themselves in your content? If you offer a B2B technology solution, maybe your blog can provide actionable tips for small business owners. If you sell beauty products, consider common skincare complaints and position yourself as a solution. Whatever the product, think of your content as helpful advice, not advertising.

Finding your audience doesn’t just mean knowing your target demographics. It also means meeting your potential customers where they are. Do you need to be on Instagram? TikTok? The hottest new beauty blog? Figure out where you should post your content, especially on social media, so your most likely readers will stumble upon it.

3. Explore New Content Solutions

If you’re feeling out of your depth in deciding how to meet the content needs of your organization, you may want to think about partnering with an experienced content solutions provider. They can assist with services like preparing technical and software documentation and developing employee and customer training. They can also help pair you with scalable technology solutions or transition to a new type of content management system.

Some content creation solutions providers, like Contiem, can do an audit of all your content needs and walk you through each stage of revamping your entire content ecosystem — whether that’s creating, managing, or delivering the quality content your business needs to succeed. When you’re struggling to gain traction, the right provider can take a close look at your content and figure out what is and isn’t working. And then they can set you on the right path.

4. Boost Your Search Results

To be truly successful in the content world, you have to stay on top of search engine optimization. Plugins like Yoast SEO can boost your Google GOOG +0.2% rankings by helping you optimize your keyword distribution, assess your content’s readability and more. Use alt tags and metadata wisely, and make sure your links are current and flow naturally within the sentence structure. Pin your links to relevant keywords, avoid overlinking and don’t force links or keywords in where they don’t make sense.

In short: don’t go crazy. It’s no longer so easy to trick the search engines into doing your bidding. The most important thing is that your content be relevant, interesting and updated regularly. For optimal traffic and rankings, you should post on your site or blog about two to four times a week. But don’t just post garbage (see point 1). Make your content pertinent and educational so your readers will keep coming back for more.

5. Analyse and Iterate

Once you’ve got your content up and running, you’ll require a system for tracking what’s effective and what’s not. Which channels and types of posts are performing well, and which can you spend less time on? A host of tools and tips are available for measuring content engagement and effectiveness. Use Google Analytics and other services to keep an eye on your metrics.

You should be monitoring not just how many people visit your site, but who they are and how long they stay. You’ll also want to note how many visits actually turn into conversions. Track the number of people who like your content enough to share it with their circle. In addition, consider who’s choosing not just to read your content, but to subscribe to updates. Lastly, look at your costs and figure out what to cut or invest more in.

Great Content Serves a Need

It bears repeating that the most important component of a good content strategy is usefulness. Your customers don’t read your content because they want to be advertised at. They come to you because they believe your content has something to offer them. Think about what causes you to remember a great piece of content or makes you want to share it with friends or co-workers. The best content centres the reader and builds trust in you as someone who can make their life easier.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By John Hall

John Hall is a top motivational speaker and the co-founder of Calendar, a scheduling and time management app. He’s also an adviser for the growth marketing agency Relevance, a company that helps brands differentiate themselves and lead their industry online. You can book him as a keynote speaker here.

Sourced from Forbes

By

You’ve defined your content strategy, assembled a team or found a great outsourcing partner. Before you can start creating content your audience wants to read and share, you need to set up systems that guarantee quality over quantity.

How do you identify and ensure high-quality content?

Quality should always be your priority in content creation. Search engines value quality content when ranking websites; even more importantly, quality content significantly affects your readers and customers. But, you must apply reviewing and editing criteria to an article before publishing it.

Here’s how to make sure you’re producing quality content.

What’s at the core of quality online content?

You should always aim for a few core factors in your content production. Use this checklist to guide your writers and editors:

  • Originality: What does your content (in other words, your brand) offer that no other content does? How does it stand out from the crowd? What makes the perspective unique?
  • Readability: Does the article summarize and explain complex matters in an approachable way? Is it written engagingly?
  • Voice: Does the tone speak to the reader? Does it match your brand’s culture and message?
  • Relevance: Is the article meaningful to its intended reader? Does it help the reader’s purpose or answer their questions? Is it both timely and up-to-date?
  • Timelessness: Will the content still be relevant and exciting in a few years? Could it easily be updated if needed?
  • Grammar and spelling: Is the writing free of typos and grammatical mistakes?

As is the nature of our digital world, these criteria constantly evolve. This means staying on top of the latest content marketing research and analysis and adjusting your strategy as needed is essential.

Search engine optimization basics for content writing

Ensuring your content performs well online and achieves first-page ranking means adhering to specific rules set by Google (or other search engines) algorithms.

Critical factors for crafting optimized content include:

  • Length: 1,000 to 3,000 words is perfect for blog posts and articles. Landing pages or description pages perform better at 300 to 500 words.
  • Structure: Format your content using title (H1) and subheaders (H2 and greater) tags. Use keywords and phrases in your headers.
  • Links: Linking to internal and authoritative external web pages increases traffic and performance.
  • Keywords: Use relevant keywords, including long-tail keywords, phrases and LSI keywords.
  • Keyword density: While using relevant keywords is non-negotiable, a keyword density that is too high can result in keyword stuffing. This will lower your SEO ranking.
  • Meta title and description: A catchy meta title and description that includes your primary keyword or phrase attracts your readers and the Google algorithm.

Related: Here’s How to Create Quality Content in the Age of Social Media

Optimize quality control using online tools

A recent report found that, as of 2021, around 61% of businesses still review each piece of submitted content. This inefficient, “one at a time” strategy contributes to a significant loss of productivity.

There are various online tools designed to help you to optimize your workflow. One person can now achieve what once required an entire team and considerable time — and to the same standard.

Organizing your workflow

When it comes to setting up an efficient process, take advantage of tools that allow you to use filters to sort articles by your chosen review and quality control criteria. Applying the filters to incoming content will help you quickly decide which articles are ready for publishing and which may benefit from QCing, editing or rewriting.

Best of all if you can make this system available to any team member, allowing you to delegate tasks as needed.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism isn’t just an ethical or quality concern. Repeated content is down-ranked down by search engine algorithms.

There are a lot of plagiarism checkers out there on the Internet and some of them even use AI to detect plagiarized or paraphrased content within seconds. Use them to make sure your content is unique and offers real value to the readers.

Grammar, spelling and style

Ideally, you should hire an editor to proofread your content and catch typos, syntax, diction and grammar errors.

If for whatever reason you don’t have access to an editor, take advantage of online tools to help yourself. You can find a few AI-based online software that checks your grammar, highlights repetitive words and phrases and recommends style improvements.

Translation tools can also help you (broadly) determine if an article in a foreign language is insightful and informative. Using tools for that is now accurate enough to spot repetitive, irrelevant or inappropriate content.

Keyword density

The number of times a keyword is used in a text directly impacts how search engines like Google rank it.

Experts generally recommend a keyword density of around 1% to 2%. This means that a paragraph of 100 words should only contain a keyword once — or twice at most. Some content marketers recommend one keyword for every 200 words.

For efficiency, you don’t need to count the keywords in every paragraph manually. Remember that nowadays there are online tools that do that for you. All you need to do is insert the article URL or the text and a tool spits out a keyword density percentage.

Apply these guidelines to your writing today

Are you keen to start writing a few great pieces for your small business website each month?

The focus of any content creation strategy — big or small — should be on quality over quantity. Thankfully, it’s easy to craft quality content if you stick to a few simple guidelines, incorporate the latest SEO practices and use online tools.

So, what are you waiting for? Use these tips and best practices to guide your content team or put (digital) pen to paper today.

By

Sourced from Entrepreneur

By Samuel Thimothy

Let’s dive into why you shouldn’t outsource your content and how to manage content creation internally.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Samuel Thimothy

VP at OneIMS.com, an inbound marketing agency, and co-founder of Clickx.io, the digital marketing intelligence platform.

Sourced from Inc.

By

Your corporate blog could one day lose its momentum.

Corporate blog content creation is a top priority of more than 50% of marketers. And with so many benefits — including the ability to reach, engage and convert prospects — you can expect this number to increase in the years to come.

The good news is that any company — regardless of size or industry — can benefit from a corporate blog. However, there’s no guarantee of success. Your blog could one day hit a wall.

Here are five reasons why your corporate blog has hit a wall and what you can do to get back on track.

1. No content calendar

A content calendar shouldn’t be optional. It’s best to make it a mandatory requirement within your organization. Without this, you’re inviting trouble such as an on-again-off-again posting schedule or publishing duplicate content.

A content calendar doesn’t have to be complex. It can be as simple as a Google Sheet with columns for title, keyword, author and proposed publication date.

2. Out of ideas

Through my years of consulting companies on how to drive revenue and traffic through corporate blogging, I’ve found this to be the biggest reason for failure. When you run out of ideas, one of two things happens: You stop blogging altogether or you stop sharing quality content.

Before this happens, make a list of places you can turn to generate ideas:

  • Brainstorm with other members of your team
  • Review competing blogs for inspiration
  • Use a keyword research tool

One of these ideas may be all it takes to clear your mind, break out of your funk and create a topic list you can rely on for months to come.

3. Not enough contributors

If you’re the only person contributing content to your company’s blog, it won’t be long before you hit a wall. This happens for many reasons, such as running out of ideas (see above) or simply burning out.

Here are some places you can turn to find contributors:

  • Colleagues (even if they aren’t in the marketing department)
  • Clients, partners, affiliates or suppliers
  • Outside writers who are willing to submit guest posts

As your list of contributors grows, the amount of content you personally create will (or can) decrease.

4. Too heavy of a focus on one type of content

Creating the same type of content — day after day — can result in burnout and/or writers’ block. Not to mention the fact that it can become tiresome for your audience to read.

Creating various types of content will maintain your interest in writing while keeping your audience coming back for more. These 10 ideas are a good place to start:

  • Listicles
  • How-to guides
  • Interviews
  • Infographics
  • Personal or brand stories
  • Industry news or current events
  • Checklists
  • Resources
  • Quizzes, surveys, or polls
  • Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

There are sure to be specific types of content that you prefer to create. And that’s okay. Just remember to mix things up now and again. It’s beneficial to you and your audience.

5. Lack of time

Even if it’s your full-time job to create content for your company’s blog, it doesn’t mean that time is always on your side. According to Orbit Media, it takes slightly more than four hours to write a typical blog post of roughly 1,400 words. And that doesn’t take into consideration other tasks, such as research and editing.

When time is tight, writers tend to cut corners. Maybe you lower your word count. Maybe you skip over proofreading. Perhaps you turn a blind eye to optimizing your content for search engines.

Fortunately, there are many ways to fight back against a lack of time, such as creating an ironclad content calendar and accepting guest posts.

Let these pointers direct you down the path toward corporate blogging success. If your blog has hit a wall, stop what you’re doing and recalibrate your strategy.

By

Chris Bibey is a writer, content marketer and business owner. He’s been featured in Forbes, Fast Company and hundreds of industry-specific blogs. He currently manages Chris Bibey Digital, a content-creation agency based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

By

Buzzwords like ‘content marketing’, ‘content creation strategy’, and ‘content is king’ mean a lot more to businesses today than they did a few years ago.

In the modern, fast-paced, and highly competitive corporate stratosphere, content marketing has become more than just a technique to gain a competitive edge – it’s become a necessity.

Loading video

Today, if you want to gain leads and see those leads converting into

Today, if you want to gain leads and see those leads converting into customers, build a relationship with your audience, and present a consistently good image of your business, you need to put in place the bricks of a strong content marketing strategy.   

With all ventures aiming for the coveted prize, the competition in content marketing is harder now than ever. The only way to stay ahead of the competition is by giving content marketing the attention it deserves and by ensuring that your content remains unparalleled in all aspects.

So how can you leverage your content to tap into authentic growth?    

Let’s dive in to explore a few sure-fire content creation tips and tricks you need to follow.

Stimulate curiosity in the audience

Perhaps the best tip for lead conversions is to combine top-quality content with a premium offer or a bonus that aligns with the topic.

Successful businesses with top-notch content marketing strategy use downloadable checklists and guides, exclusive videos, and detailed analysis reports to push their audience to subscribe to their emails or newsletter. You can use one of two ways to achieve this objective – hire in-house writers or consider a content writing service.

But wait, there’s more!

Ah, caught you!

You can clearly see how powerful this curiosity-piquing trick can be for your content creation strategy.

Well, there’s actually one more crucial point. Make sure that you offer some serious value to your audience before asking them for a favor. Otherwise, you’ll lose their trust!

The safest way to go about this is by splitting your piece of information into half and sharing the first half only, asking the audience to subscribe or click on a link to get access to the remaining half.       

Serialize your content

Lengthy, expansive, and never-ending content isn’t just challenging for you to create but is also hard for your audience to digest.

While it’s true that lengthier pieces of content tend to garner more interest of the audience, there are ways to make them more comprehensible and easily digestible for the readers without compromising on their value.

One such trick is to distribute your content into serials. This will additionally allow you to integrate call-to-actions and other conversion points within the content.

To begin with, consider choosing an engaging topic that meets the interest criteria of your target audience, and break it up into a series of content. You may make the most of this technique by offering the serialized content to your email subscribers only.

Do you know what’s the best part of content serialization is? You don’t need to come up with heaps of content in one go – you’ll have at least a week before the next piece of content has to go!

Repackage your content

Immaculate content creation is that which involves thinking outside the box.

One of the biggest reasons why many businesses fall short on the content marketing front is that they see a piece of content as just that. Your content can offer a myriad of opportunities only if you’re smart enough to realize it.

You can repurpose and recycle your ideas to create fresh, valuable, and interesting content each time in so many ways. To put this point across effectively, I’ll present you with some examples:

  • To promote an eBook, you may recreate one of its chapters into a blog post and utilize the but-wait-there’s-more technique
  • You may use your package quotes as tweets
  • You may create a series of blog posts using the content of a webinar

No matter how you decide to recycle your content, just make sure that it doesn’t lose its value and isn’t straightaway plagiarized.  

Go over the top

Hundreds and thousands of people create and publish content but not every piece is of a great standard. In fact, most of it is of bad quality. And you can use this to your advantage. Should you ask how, you must have seen how something that’s of superior quality stands out from the crowd instantly.

Your content should be able to do the same!

Sounds like a great idea, right?

But how does one produce content that surpasses every other piece on the internet?

Here’s a rule of thumb to follow: find content that is worthy to be linked, come up with something better and unique, and present it to the right audience.

Although this type of content involves hard-core research and requires a lot of time, effort, and dedication, it’ll help you yield amazing results for much longer.

Make summary posts of big content pieces

Want to set your existing content up for some brownie points?

Consider making a list of the things that your audience will learn from a longer piece of content and use it to create a summary post for a multi-distribution platform, such as LinkedIn. Content, video, and amount of users are a few reasons why LinkedIn is on the rise. Get in early to take full advantage of this platform.

The digestible shorter piece should offer valuable insights into your main longer post. You’ll be surprised how this simple trick will boost traffic rate for you!

Use your predictive eye

Another way to create quality content is by predicting which topics will be popular amongst and well-received by the audience.

This doesn’t mean you’ll have to sit in front of a crystal ball and try to look into the future but by simply being aware of what your competitors are doing that seems to work wonders for them.

Again, you shouldn’t be aiming to copy exactly what they’re doing rather just to use it to your own advantage.

Look for topics and types of content that have done well in the past for similar businesses in the industry, keep track of the keywords that are working best for your competitors, and use learned knowledge to create kick-ass content for your own business.

If you’re ready to step in the corporate stratosphere, make sure that you create your content with the audience and your company’s growth in mind. The key is to deliver content that provides value to your audience while generating value and saving investment for your business at the same time.

With these content creation tips in mind, there’s no reason why your work won’t stand out from the crowd.

By

Sourced from TNW

By Michael McNichols

Not everyone likes a hard sell, but sometimes it works. It’s blatant and upfront in what it wants you to do. If it catches you in the right moment and offers you the solution you need and the offer is intriguing and reasonable, you might just go for it.

Outbound marketing can depend much on hard selling, as TV and radio ads, fliers, and physical mailings are hitting you right away with what they want you to buy. They’re targeting a mass audience and not you as an individual, so they cut right to the chase.

Some people prefer being courted, though. They like marketers to know their preferences and quirks to design marketing materials based upon them. They also prefer not to always have to deal with a full-on sales approach.

This is where inbound marketing comes in. Inbound marketers design content to build up their brand as a thought leader, knowledge resource, and problem solver in their industry. They post this content where it can be found by their audience, rather than sending it out. Once someone has shown an interest and given you their contact information, then you the marketer can follow up with emails, texts, white papers, and more that offer more specific solutions and answers for their problems and concerns.

Content marketing and inbound marketing come together in producing materials with a soft sell. The more personalized you can make these marketing materials, the better a chance you have of intriguing and interesting your prospects, as you are speaking to them more closely as individuals and at their level.

You do not need to hit them over the head with sales offers and put any undue pressure on them. They already know that you can present solutions for their problems, due to your thought leadership, reputation, and online presence. Your marketing materials engage them by offering further information, educating them, intriguing and interesting them to want to learn more about you and your solutions.

Any selling you do is subtle. It’s more about showing them that you understand their situation, you know how to help, and you can do so in a way that nobody else can. In so doing, you are priming and readying them to make a decision about whether or not they want to go with you. You are nurturing a lead with the right information and taking them to the point when they might want to become a customer. Much of the time, when a prospect is finally turned over to a sales representative to bring it home, they have already decided whether or not to sign on due to the marketing.

If you reach out and connect with a customer, show that you understand their frustrations but can help, as you’ve helped many others with the same problems. You’re letting your brand, your solutions, and your reputation seal the deal, but it is up to marketers to communicate all this information to the right customers at the right time. Knowledge is power. Not only do you need as much data as you can have on a customer to personalize your marketing and better target them, the more information a customer can have how on what you can do and what solutions you can provide will help all the better to make a sale.

With inbound marketing and a soft sell, you are swaying and influencing a prospect and nurturing them as a lead, but really you are mostly helping them make up their own mind.

Find out more about proper lead nurturing with “Lead Nurturing for Modern Marketers.”

Read the guide

By Michael McNichols

Sourced from Oracle