Blogs are so ubiquitous in the online world that it may seem like it’s not worth the effort to maintain your own. After all, blogs can take a lot of effort to maintain. You need to be current, consistent and relevant. Is it worth all that time and energy with so many blogs out there? Continue reading “How to Build Thought Leadership Through Blogging”
Category: Blogging
In Search of Viral Content: Is It Worth the Effort?
Online marketing is a crowded arena. Just check out Internet Live Stats to get an idea of the massive amounts of blog posts, websites, tweets, etc. It’s hard to stand out in the crowd, but every once in a while, some gem emerges that catches the attention of the masses and forms part of the collective consciousness. In other words, something goes viral. But how does that happen? Continue reading “In Search of Viral Content: Is It Worth the Effort?”
Blogs: A Natural Starting Point for Content Marketing
At Strategic Communications, blogging is a big part of what we do, both for ourselves and for our clients. A robust, well-managed blog is a key element of any content creation strategy. As we’ve discussed in the past, quality content is a must when driving traffic to your site. Blogs are a great vehicle for this.
Obviously, part of implementing an effective blogging strategy require developing quality content for the blog. Assuming you’ve got quality content, your blog posts can serve as a great starting point for repurposing content across a variety of channels. Here are some of the things that we do to leverage the value of our, and our clients’ blog content: Continue reading “Blogs: A Natural Starting Point for Content Marketing”
Building Better Blogs Through Quality, Targeted Content
In the digital age, so much of your marketing success depends on your online presence. Just as you wouldn’t run a shoddy, run-down brick and mortar store, you simply can’t have a tacky-looking website. By the same token, you need to give potential customers a reason to come to your site. Gas stations operate on razor-thin margins on gasoline to get customers into their convenience stores — the real moneymakers. Similarly, many business websites use a content-rich, regularly-updated blog with appeal to their target audience to drive traffic to their site. And just because you aren’t a digital marketing expert, doesn’t mean you can’t put together a great blog your audience will be drawn to. Continue reading “Building Better Blogs Through Quality, Targeted Content”
Podcasts Offer Potential for Advertisers
About 10 years ago, in June 2005, Apple began supporting podcasts through iTunes and the rest, as they say, is history. The popularity of podcasts has ebbed and flowed since then-most recently flowing as popular programs like Serial, NPRs Fresh Air and the TED Radio Hour attracting masses of listeners on a regular basis. Marketers haven’t been immune to the trend. Continue reading “Podcasts Offer Potential for Advertisers”
Thanks Google! Content Really is King Once Again.
by Linda Pophal
The world suddenly seems to have a voracious appetite for content as online marketers compete with each other in an attempt to capture the eyeballs and eardrums of current and potential customers. Not just any content, but high-quality, unique and relevant content.
It wasn’t always this way. The bottom kind of fell out of the writing industry back in 2008 as the recession hit full force. Media outlets were laying people off in droves, or closing entirely, and the demand for freelancers was rapidly diminishing. I know because I had been a freelancer for a number of years. Even while employed full-time, I made a very nice “extra income” from writing for a variety of trade and professional publications.
It was this extra income that I felt would help provide me with a cushion when I launched Strategic Communications in 2008. But I was wrong.
Continue reading “Thanks Google! Content Really is King Once Again.”
An “Inside Out” Approach to Engaging Your Audience
We work with companies and individuals in the business-to-business (B2B) space on content marketing planning and implementation, including the use of social media. The greatest challenge—and opportunity—for companies of any kind is generating content that is going to be valued by their audience. That often means thinking, as we like to say, “from the outside in.”
Continue reading “An “Inside Out” Approach to Engaging Your Audience”
Why Your Homepage Isn’t Really Your Homepage
by Linda Pophal
For me, the summer months represent a relatively quiet time to catch up on some professional development activities that tend to be at the bottom of my list during busier times of the year. This summer, I’ve signed up for a few Coursera courses, including one called “Digital Analytics for Marketing Professionals.” One of the reading assignments led me, as is often the case, down a rabbit hole to more and more intriguing topics until I found myself looking at Continue reading “Why Your Homepage Isn’t Really Your Homepage”
Best Blogging Practices
By Linda Pophal
Blogging can seem like a big commitment and, to a certain degree, it is. After all, you don’t want to start a blog without committing to posting to it regularly. But the time and effort don’t have to be overwhelming. I started this blog in February 2009 and have been posting to it regularly ever since. Over the past few years, I’ve been posting a couple of times a week.
I have five tips for those wanting to start a blog, or do a better job of managing an existing blog: Continue reading “Best Blogging Practices”
The Biggest Mistake You May Be Making With Your Blog
A client contact asked me recently what I consider to be the “biggest mistake” bloggers make as they attempt to connect with their audiences. I’m sure there are many! I have been publishing this blog for several years now, and we also work with various clients to create and manage their blogs. There are a variety of mistakes that I have made (and, hopefully, learned from!) and many missteps that I see others make as well. Continue reading “The Biggest Mistake You May Be Making With Your Blog”