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The Foundations of Good Content Marketing

Allow Online Site Exposure to take you deep into the world of content marketing. Below the surface, is the core of whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish online. Words certainly hold a power all their own however, without a largely invisible foundation which intensifies your words, they may as well be as invisible themselves. Here is the first of three “going deep” lessons we’ve learned over the years which you’ll find might make a world of difference in the visible content strategy you us for your actual website content.

Be consistent

Now this may seem strange but take a moment to think on your favorite television program. It comes on once a week, we’re not talking about binging on Netflix here. In a small way, you really look forward to watching it. When it’s time for it to come on, you’re set up and ready on the couch or in bed, thrilled to check out for an hour following a tough day at work. Now imagine, tonight’s episode is just a rerun. Or worse, it was shoved off the air by a special event or promotion. While it’s certainly not the end of the world, it’s a major bummer. Imagine canceled tickets to a live event. That would be even worse.

The point is that the thing you’re a fan of has let you down by not being on when you expected. Now, multiply this scenario by a few time. Imagine the show or concert taking weeks to come back or never returning at all. You’d likely give up waiting pretty fast. This something to remember with your own marketing strategy, no you’re not on cable but you have an audience waiting for regularly updates. They depend on you in some small way and if you can’t be reliable for them, they’ll move on to another place to get the info, entertainment, or education, and fast. So, be consistent and constant about your posts.

Let Online Site Exposure know how consistency, whether for the good or the bad, has affected your business in the comments below.

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Getting Consistent Traffic to Your Content

What sparks traffic? Is it a noteworthy social share? Do you spend a fortune on a pay-per-click? Catching a link in another newsletter? It can be all or none of these things, but newsletter links certainly hold power. Once an email-based audience is built, you can create custom content which you know will work with your customers because you’ve taken the time to research what they’re interested in. An example, our biggest traffic days at Online Site Exposure is the day we release the weekly email digest. Below we’ll discuss the power of these email newsletters and how they can help you.

Audience Equals Email

What we teach here at Online Site Exposure is simple: build an audience with appreciated content prior to selling. The audience of an internet publisher has several components such as social platforms, sites like Google, YouTube channels, podcast subscriptions, RSS, and email. However, all aspects of audience are not equal. Email is the most beneficial audience channel. A Twitter post or Facebook ad which has been boosted don’t get you nearly the same traffic as an email newsletter. High placements on Google and the like are gold. However, if that traffic leaves without becoming a part of your real audience, what was it really worth? Your clicks from an email newsletter post simply do more work for you.

Email Converts Better

When it comes to content distribution, don’t forget about email. You’re likely better off just carefully focusing on building the best list of email subscribers. These steady traffic blasts to your content can help with social and placement and they also drive what you’re really working towards which is sales. No matter how successful your social media and placement efforts are, the area where prospects convert to customers is still email. Think about these stats:

·         Monetate- Email marketing drives more conversions than any other marketing channel.

·         McKinsey- Email is 40x more successful at obtaining new customers than Facebook or Twitter.

·         DMA- When it comes to purchases made because of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate at 66%.

Content Leads to Sales

A valuable email list is made through the promise of valuable content. Why not just spam them with your offers afterward? Today’s savvy customer is more likely to unsubscribe as soon as the pitches begin. When you keep posting helpful content, you’re training people to open your emails and click on your links. You want your emails to be opened and expected. Then, when the occasional offer comes, it will be viewed with a much more compliant frame of mind. Email is still useful after all this time. Try this out for yourself and you’ll see that when it comes down to it, a smart content marketing strategy is chiefly an email marketing strategy.

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Build Trust and Improve Influence with Content Marketing

To know, like, and trust. At its core, these three points are why we perform content marketing. If you’re not getting all of them, your content probably isn’t successful. Traditional marketing focuses a lot on the know aspect, creating awareness in the marketplace. When choosing between two or more brands we know, trust becomes critical. This is one of the advantages which content marketers have over competitors who don’t create and freely share helpful content. Below, we at Online Site Exposure have put together a few techniques on how to create this content that provokes trust.

The “Reluctant Conclusion” Method

A traditional persuasion method is the “reluctant conclusion.” You detail to the audience how you had a change of heart because of overwhelming evidence. For instance, you’ve currently raised the price of a product and learned that it’s making your sales tank. You could simply silently return the item to the previous price and hope no one notices. Or, if you explain that you were wrong about the increase in price and will be putting it back you’ll build more trust and favor with your audience. In the meantime, you’ve also met your aim of improving latent sales. It’s a triple win scenario when you count the added trust that you’ve built with the audience for future items and promotions.

The “Personal Sacrifice” Method

Another tactic used when trying to build trust through content marketing is the “personal sacrifice” method. Have you ever taken a free online workshop? Or used a white paper for your own success? Or read something for free which really helped you out? Well, those all could have been paid products, but the company decided not to charge for them so they could help more people. This is very common and you’ve probably seen it in a great many places. You just need to handle it well. The key to handling it well is, as always, to understand who your audience is. This is very important because it allows you to speak directly to what they need and what to read about.

The “Abraham Lincoln” Method

And lastly, there’s the “Abraham Lincoln” method. Lincoln was an interesting-looking fellow with a Deep South accent and a whiny voice. When he performed speeches when he was running for president, he added fuel to his own fire by stating that he was a poor public speaker with nothing new to offer. However, Lincoln was an extremely bright man with an outstanding grasp of the country’s problems. He reduced expectations by making his audience see him as a sincere fool, and by the end of a speech he had won them over completely. So, if you’re a real estate agent who also does content marketing, it’s easy to claim that you’re not an expert, even as you start to offer some persuasive copy. Again, know your audience for this one.

Online Site Exposure hopes you have learned some helpful tips. Tell us your experience below.

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Email Marketing for Novices

One could argue that the inbox has become our beach, our place of solitude amongst the chaos. Therefore, as a team of entrepreneurs, we here at Online Site Exposure believe that building successful email marketing campaigns has never been more important than it is now. There is a main problem is that most people do not how to do it right. Tweets, likes, and status updates have taken the place of “You’ve got mail,” but there is always a way to reach out to new clients, and we will help you understand how to do it right, and build it from the ground up.

Get your foot in the door

Here at Online Site Exposure we know that no email campaign was ever built without getting permission to get started, so first we’ll need to focus on building a sizable email list. There are many ways you can do this of course. Some prefer to give something away for free while others simply offer a newsletter or product updates. It is important to have a clear purpose when ask for an address. This is where a strong call to action comes into play and copywriting is super important. Simply posting “enter your email for updates” isn’t going to get anyone excited to do so. Instead, consider sharing specifics like a free catalog or important updates.

Use your head

When you need inspiration to do your job better, at one point or another. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a marketing vet who has navigated through years of changing tech or a newbie fresh out of college, we all need new inspiration. It helps us get through creative ruts. Email marketing entails sending one message to many people-dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people. It may sound complex, intimidating, and time-consuming but it’s not as hard as you might think. Before you start designing, writing, and sending campaigns, you should define your audience.

When all else fails, mimic

While email has managed to stand the test of time, many marketers have failed to update their strategies since its inception. So to ensure you're sending modern emails that warrant some of your recipients' precious time and attention, you will want to see what others have done. Some of the best tricks and tips, you can see by just looking in your inbox. Things like clear concise copy and the reflects a relatable benefit of using the service. If you're going to change the way you communicate with a lead or customer, give them clear, fair warning so, if they aren't on board, they can make the necessary adjustments to keep their inbox clean.

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Content Converting to Email Subscriptions and Sales

When we discuss content marketing strategy, it is important to know what it look like in real life and how it relates to email marketing. Content marketing is a wider specialty than email marketing, but your email list will be the central focus. In fact, the chief purpose of content which is dispersed in other ways, such as social, search, and ads, is to start the email relationship. So, allow us at Online Site Exposure to walk you through an invented campaign which takes you from a recognized strategy to a successful funnel.

Objective and Audience

What is the objective? Here, it’s to sell StudioPress Sites to those who want to create a new website. In the “who” phase, we recognize a single identity that we’ll keep in mind as we create content. This example will focus on freelancers wishing to move away from serving clients by transferring to a product-based business model. The “persona” here will be John. John wants to develop a business based on his passion for cooking, not by educating people about writing. He wants to create his own site that he can break from the many managers he feels he has as a freelancer.

The What Phase

We classify the information order required to achieve John’s goal. And because we’re trying to sell a StudioPress Site, we’ll also need to communicate why this product is the best. Here are some broad thoughts that we will turn into specific pieces of content:

·         John needs content which addresses his desire to go from just a hobby to a career.

·         The trustworthiness of the source will be vital to overcoming any skepticism.

·         Given his freelance practice, John needs to know that he will have time to do this.

·         He’ll need a way to authenticate his ideas and acquire confidence.

·         John wants to see specific instances of how those like him have been successful.

These points can be mapped as a sequential journey. Or, you can create a story outline for each piece.

The How Phase

We take what we know to determine how best to present the information. John is a creative business individual striving to become more entrepreneurial. Describing the full process as an act of creation will attract John’s sense of pride as a professional writer. We think of how this type of person will want to be addressed and incorporate it into the content’s tone. The goal is to powerfully distinguish the advice from the stuff business-opportunity individuals are looking for, and instead present this as an effective way to build a business which serves others and has value to the owner. When you know how you need to write something, you just have to execute it. Stay tuned for more from Online Site Exposure about actually writing content.

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Developing a Strategy for Building Link Campaigns

Link campaigns require strategy and link building can be difficult and time-consuming. Plus, you won’t be able to see results quickly. However, strategic link attainment is essential to accomplish long-term enhancements in organic placement. You can create “quick win” links from time to time, but you will need a continuing operation to attain supportable outcomes. A campaign model guarantees research, strategy growth, and enduring review and analysis as a venture advances. Whether you’re forecasting your pursuit of links in 2017 or continuing an existing project, December is a great month to review your campaign strategy and get ready for the next year. We at Online Site Exposure have put together a short list of things to help you take advantage of this time.

Perform an Audit

Website audits should be the basis of your entire site development strategy. They are crucial for successful link campaigns. It is beneficial in planning a campaign and it’s important to audit a site intermittently to confirm there aren’t any new or lurking problems affecting performance. An audit should divulge:

·         technical issues: crawling/indexation, slow page speed, title tags, H1/2/3s, meta descriptions

·         internal linking openings

·         redesigns or migrations issues: 404s, 302s, redirects, orphaned pages, images vs. text

·         forgotten or undervalued pages: pages which serve as a resource to your audience

·         content gaps

Issues can make links less effective. If Google isn’t crawling your site, links won’t impact traffic. There are several great tools to help you understand site technical performance like:

·         Raven Site Auditor

·         MySiteAuditor

Review Current Link Strategy

You’ll need to understand how you’ve captured links previously and which pages appeal most to your audience. If you’re debuting a new campaign, investigate your backlink profile. For existing campaigns, check your reports and site’s backlink profile. Analyze your links and ask yourself:

·         What kinds of sites link the greatest?

·         Which kinds of pages have the most links?

·         What led to links? What authorized our link acquisition?

·         Which tactics fell short?

·         What was the typical turnaround time on gaining a link?

·         Could relationships be leveraged in the future?

·         Can you revisit old prospects?

Reviewing past strategies and analyzing results must be part of the link-building process.

Analyze Your Competitors

Competitive analysis is a keystone of any strategy review. Studying the present competitive landscape will inform your campaign and help you understand why competitors are placing and you’re not. You’ll also be able to set reasonable expectations, goals, and find new link opportunities. Evaluate and identify the following:

·         Number of fresh links with competitors

·         Compare competitor backlink profiles to yours

·         Common and successful strategies

·         Potential tactics you could use

·         Pertinent link openings

·         Changes in competitive landscape and marketplace

·         Broken links going to competitors

·         New industry relationships

You should revisit this at least once a year, though it often continues throughout the campaign. There are always more terms to target. At Online Site Exposure, we love to hear about your tricks of the trade. Let us know in the comments below.

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The Effects of Google Pushing into Branding & Messaging

Branding is important to all marketing clients. No matter which marketing channel utilized, you want firm control over the look and feel of marketing collateral. Which is why the idea of Google creeping into PPC branding makes many very nervous. Are automatically created PPC ads a substitute for individual, hands-on creation? To find out, Online Site Exposure takes a closer look at two recent AdWords initiatives: responsive ads and those added by AdWords. Below we’ll talk about our concerns based on what is currently known. We would love to hear your thoughts and concerns about the issue in the comments below.

Responsive Advertisements

Some changes have taken place in the PPC ad world. Google changed GDN (Google Display Network) campaigns. Until lately, PPC authorities had two ad choices on this network: display ads and text ads. Usually, display ads are bigger and show at the top or side of web pages. Text ads are smaller and fit practically anywhere. While we naturally set up both for clients, text ads seemed to convert really nicely for some industries. However as of January 31, Google discontinued text ads in GDN campaigns. In its place, advertisers are to use new responsive ads. Responsive ads seem great, like a responsive website, they can render in assorted sizes for display on several devices. You won’t have to make different ads for different mediums.

The Problem with These Ads

AdWords offers four options for these ads: Scan website, Upload, Stock images, and Recently used. We tested the “scan website” first. Not good. The images chosen were hidden deep in the site and had little significance. Now the upload option, which needs two images and a logo. It was pretty easy to use and created three ads: logo, square, and vertical. However, the results weren’t great. The ads were ugly and we lacked control over the result. The logo was the best, maybe we could just use that one? Nope. Advertisers must permit all three ads, or none. At least we still have display ads, right? Alas, as we continued testing, we found that responsive sometimes take priority over display ads.

Added by AdWords

Basically, Google is testing automatically adding new text ads in AdWords accounts. So far, these are being created by real people. The process may become automated as it grows however. The ads are built on existing ads and landing page content. The idea is to create ad distinctions which could help with campaign performance. Pilot participants are told to not pause them and let them run indefinitely. Likely, ads that perform poorly will run less. What’s particularly concerning is that Google defaults these ads to live. Advertisers must pause them themselves. Most of our concerns relate to the unknown. The details remain murky. Things might clear up and maybe Google will listen to feedback and tweak the programs. Online Site Exposure certainly hopes so.

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The Best Content Marketing Suggestions You Could Ever Need

Creating the right content to engage with customers has become increasingly important. It is one of the most important parts of any comprehensive online promotional effort. Having a full and detailed understanding can only help you gain more online traction and build a stronger brand. There are so many different content marketing and analytics tools available for users. Here at Online Site Exposure you can learn the best ones to use for your business. There are plug-ins to get content shared and scheduled and anything else you could possibly need to reach your customers and possible audiences.

Mistakes to avoid

Content marketing is both a science and an art. Aside from creativity, there are also proven strategies and tools that can be used and implemented to drastically increase your chance of success. One of the biggest things that you need to look at is evaluating what you do and do not know about this industry. To be successful, you need to constantly be up to date with the rapidly changing field of content marketing. Another mistake to avoid is to ignore your measure of what’s working. You need to constantly be measuring what is working and what is not working as part of your efforts.

Things to consider

You will want to have a clearly defined target audience. In other words, know who you are writing to attract, who will buy your product and who is genuinely interested in your service. From there, you will want to give the user several options to interact with your website and the content on it. One major thing though, you will want to start by educating and guiding before forcing your product down their throats. Not that you can’t sell at the same time, but in the long run, you will be more successful if you are patient about your product.

What to do with your visitors

So, you’ve got great content, your website is fully optimized, what now? You do not want to, metaphorically, be sitting in a full store with no customers. What you need to do is make sure that someone visiting your website can interact and “opt in” and leave their contact information, like their email address. If you can’t make that conversion, dust is going to start to settle and here at Online Site Exposure we want to make sure that you aren’t having to rest on your laurels. One of the best ways to make the conversion is to offer free stuff. You can always get people to turn up for free stuff and there’s no exception online.