Posts Tagged ‘engaging content’

Content Marketing – Jargon Buster

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

The Serious/Not Serious Series

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS:

In the hierarchical land of the internet they say that Content is King. And well he might be, after all he wears the cyber-crown. But, who is it that books his appointments, tells him where his socks are and hand picks the druff from his important monarchic shoulders? Now don’t all scream ‘wife’ at the same time, you’ll make yourselves look sexist and old fashioned. Things aren’t that archaic. No, no.

The person responsible for keeping King Content’s botty wedged into the seat of his web throne is Content Marketing. No, it’s not a particularly attractive or impactful name but, Content Marketing is responsible for everything that King Content is. She (for Content Marketing is a woman) enjoys her job and throws herself wholeheartedly into it. She’s a bit like a piranha fish in lipstick but she gets results.

She is a devotee, Miss Content Marketing; she works weekends and on the rare occasion when she does have a day off she wears a T-shirt with the slogan King Content Rules emblazed across it.

It has long been said that behind every great man there’s a great woman. Behind the King of Content lurks this success-oriented ambitious missy always looking for the next way to promote the sovereign.

Some say she and the ruler are having a passionate lustful affair, but this is unlikely as they are both abstract concepts without physical attributes, invented purely as a means to illustrate a point. Honestly! People see sex everywhere.

SERIOUSLY:

Content marketing is the process of creating and sharing content for the purpose of engaging users and ultimately making sales. The basic idea is that if you deliver high-quality, relevant, informative, useful, engaging content on a consistent basis to prospects, they will learn to trust you. When it comes time to buy, you will be their natural choice.

There’s a useful description of the concept over at Copyblogger.com:

Content Marketing is a broad term that relates to creating and freely sharing informative content as a means of converting prospects into customers and customers into repeat buyers. The primary goal is to obtain opt-in permission to deliver content via email or other medium over time. Repeated and regular exposure builds a relevant relationship that provides multiple opportunities for conversion, rather than a “one-shot” all-or-nothing sales approach.”

Your online business can engage in content marketing through your blog, Twitter account, newsletters, Facebook account, webcasts and podcasts. Content marketing is not about the hard sell. It’s an informational form of marketing.

By educating and informing the reader, the idea is that the business gains a position of trust and becomes a thought leader; it establishes the brand. Content marketing earns you the right to make future sales. It’s a form of pull marketing.

How much emphasis do you put on content marketing in your online business?

Other Jargon Buster Articles:

Attraction Marketing;  Buzz Marketing;  Content Strategy;  Duplicate Content;  Fresh ContentInterruption MarketingLinkerati;  PageRank; Permission Marketing; SEO;  SERPS;  The CloudUser Experience

Welcome to The Wittery Blog (aka The Witty Writer Marketplace)

You’re in the right place if you’re looking for Witty Freelance Writers to add zest to your business content. (Simply click here,  click the Register button [remembering to wipe your feet first] and give us some info about you. We don’t do spam (can’t stand the taste). There’s even a limited free trial where you can post your project for free.)

Witty Freelance Writer with a burning desire to join the wit mob? Click here, remove your shoes and then come through to the application form (you can’t miss it. It says “Apply”)

If you’d prefer to follow the scenic route instead, start off at the home page. See you soon.

User Experience – Jargon Buster

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

The Serious/Not Serious Series on Jargon

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS:

We give our guests a great user experience. We want them to like it so much that they want to come back, and guess what? Most of them love it and we have our “regulars”. Here is our “Recipe for Success” :

The San Quentin Guide to Providing a Good User Experience.

Make It Easy To Get In

It sure is easy to get in here. Johnny Cash comes here all the time, singing to our guests. He even stayed overnight in Bubba’s cell. He said that he got the inspiration for his song “Ring of Fire” from his visit here. I think it was because of the habañero chilli soup.

Make It Easy To Stay

Our guests here don’t want to leave. Once they get in, we just can’t get them out. Take “Mad Mick” Murphy from Dublin. Please take him because we don’t want him. He shows up drunk before breakfast, starts fighting and upsetting the other guests. We tried getting him to sober up but then he got sad and started singing about Ireland. Twenty four of our guests escaped that night to get away from him, and they were happy before that.

Make Sure Your Visitors Remember You and Come Back

Rob “Razor” Capone will never leave. He signed up for 25 years, but wants more. He says the premises are great, and he can get apple pies “just like mamma used to make” for $4. Nobody has the heart to tell him that for just $5 he can get apple pies just like mamma thought she used to make.

Our User Experience is second to none. Yes, San Quentin is one 4-star Prison.

SERIOUSLY:

You want some candy. You see a store nearby. You walk into the store. The floor is dirty and the store is badly lit. The products are scattered all over the place in no particular order. There’s no signage.  You can’t  find your way around.  You can’t find the candy. You ask the sales assistant. He’s not very helpful and tells you to find the candy yourself. How would this experience make you feel?

Your Virtual Store

Your website is no different. It’s a virtual store. It’s vitally important that you provide a great User Experience to the visitors that cross your website’s threshold.  User Experience (UX) is all about the overall impression, satisfaction and feelings that a user gets from visiting a site. Your business success is heavily dependent on User Experience.  Do all that you can to give your visitors a positive User Experience. This will improve customer satisfaction and drive referrals and repeat business.

Chasing the User Experience

Matt Cutts (of Google) recently highlighted that “… by chasing after a good user experience, you help ensure that you and the search engines are both working in the same direction. That’s much better than you chasing the search engines, which are in turn chasing what we think is best for users.”

There are a number of elements to User Experience including functionality, design, branding and content.  It’s about the overall package. Things that you can do to improve UX include:

  • factoring in UX elements into the design,
  • ensuring site navigation is intuitive,
  • improving site speed (load times) and
  • producing relevant engaging content on an ongoing basis.

Content & User Experience:

When it comes to content, the folks at The Wittery believe that if your content makes your site visitor smile, then you have achieved something very special from a User Experience perspective.  Aim to make your content induce positive feelings in your site visitor.

Websites and the internet are full words.   Don’t let the collection of words on your website fall into the “instantly forgettable” category. When commissioning content (or when writing it yourself), always keep your reader in mind. Aim to reach into their heart, soul and mind with your content. That’s how you can distinguish yourself in your visitor’s mind and improve their User Experience. Your visitor will then be  more likely to stay longer on your site, remember you when they leave, buy from you, re-visit your site and tell others about you.

The Journey and the Destination

If SEO is about getting search engines to bring visitors to your site, then UEO* is about making sure those visitors have a good time when they get there. “Driving traffic to your homepage is important, but making the destination worthwhile is vital” according to Entrepreneur.com.

Next time visitors arrive at your site how are you going to make sure that your store is in order and that your visitors get the experience they deserve?

*UEO (or UXO) is an acronym for “User Experience Optimization”.

Other Jargon Buster Articles:

Attraction Marketing;  Buzz Marketing;  Content Strategy;  Duplicate Content; Linkerati;   PageRankSEO;  SERPS;  The Cloud

Welcome to The Wittery Blog (aka The Witty Writer Marketplace)

You’re in the right place if you’re looking for Witty Freelance Writers to add zest to your business content. (Simply click here,  click the Register button [remembering to wipe your feet first] and give us some info about you. We don’t do spam (can’t stand the taste). There’s even a limited free trial where you can post your project for free.)

Witty Freelance Writer with a burning desire to join the wit mob? Click here, remove your shoes and then come through to the application form (you can’t miss it. It says “Apply”)

If you’d prefer to follow the scenic route instead, start off at the home page. See you soon.

SERPS – Jargon Buster

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

The Serious/Not Serious Series on Jargon

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS:

SERPS is an internet word that stands for “Stop Entering Restricted Porn Sites”. It is used as a warning sign that appears to sleazy surfers when they repeatedly try to access highly unsuitable web pages.

Being clever, those running the internet know not just what search term has been entered, but what are the intentions of the user. (This is known as “Just Ask Core Knowledge On Form Filtering” or JACKOFF.)  For example, users who search for “how many laid” will get different results depending on whether their previous search was for “fresh eggs” or “Debbie Does Dallas”.

The SERPS warning appears after 69 consecutive rude search phrases, although teenagers do not usually get this far.

“Stop Entering Restricted Porn Sites” is not just a warning sign. It is not a “suggestion” from the search engine either, it is a command. As well as the full-screen warning sign, the computer of the user is infected with a virus. SERPS may therefore be thought of as the virtual clap, and it cannot be cured, even with a visit to www.cure-my-pox.com

No, SERPS is serious, and results in the destruction of the user’s online life. No respectable website will go near a SERPS-infected user, especially not www.virgin.com.

SERIOUSLY:

SERPS stands for Search Engine Result Pages. They are the pages that are returned by  search engines  (ok, let’s just call this Google from here) when you enter a query in the search box. The pages contain a list of website pages that Google (Bing, Cuil) thinks are relevant to your search term.  Your site is likely to benefit from organic (unpaid) traffic if it appears in the organic listing on Page 1 of the SERPS.

Let’s Get Personal

Things are happening with SERPS.  Personalized SERPS is now here to stay and it will be interesting to watch the effect of this on traditional SEO practices over time. Personalization of the SERPS means different users get different SERPS results, depending on their browsing history.  Google is serving up results which it thinks are best suited to you, based on what it knows about you (and it knows way more than you think).

Personalized SERPS is the default setting and most users are unlikely to change the default setting.  Personalized SERPS applies even if you’re not logged into a Google Account.

As a website owner, it’s important to be aware when you’re being served personalized SERPS. The reason?  If you check your site’s SERPS on a regular basis, you’ll get a false sense of where your website appears in the SERPS for others. Google will return your most visited sites high up in your personalized SERPS results. You may end up gloating that your site is appearing in the number one position for your search term, when in fact it could be buried deep down in the SERPS for other users.

Incognito

There are a few ways to get a better indication of where your website appears in the SERPS for others. One of those ways  is to go “incognito” using Google Chrome (please correct me if I’m wrong on this one).  Get your dark shades and grubby rain mac on before taking the following steps:

  1. Click on the wrench icon at the top right of the Google Chrome Screen.
  2. Click on “New Incognito Window”.
  3. “You’ve gone incognito” the new window tells you.  There’s even a spy icon to remind you what you are up to.
Ignorance Can Be Bliss

Probably the best way to improve your site’s positioning in the SERPS? Try Ignoring it most of the time. Don’t spend too much time trying to understand Google and how its algorithm works. Try to understand your users instead.

Concentrate your efforts on developing your engaging content, learning to understand and connect with your website visitors, building relationships and working on elements that will improve the User Experience.  Your efforts in these areas will help your site in the battle for position across personalized SERPS.  These efforts will also help you to get traffic from sources other than search engines. Whilst you’re chasing after your position in the SERPS remember that the search engines are chasing after websites that are optimized for the User Experience. Remember also that SERPS is very fond of dancing.

How much attention do you pay to your website’s position in the SERPS? Do you spend as much time concentrating on User Experience Optimization?

Other Jargon Buster Articles:

Attraction Marketing;  Buzz Marketing;  Content Strategy;  Duplicate Content;  Linkerati; PageRank;  SEO; The CloudUser Experience

Other Resources:

Nathan Thompson has an informative post over at MarketingExperiments.com which covers the effect that the roll-out of Google Caffeine will have on SERPS results. It is well worth a read. We mentioned  Caffeine in January in this blog. Google announced last week that this new indexing system is now complete. The essential thing to note about Caffeine is that it aims is to provide fresher results to users. In the context of content, this will of course mean that fresh content will continue to become more important and will influence where your website shows up in the SERPS.

Welcome to The Wittery Blog (aka The Witty Writer Marketplace)

You’re in the right place if you’re looking for Witty Freelance Writers to add zest to your business content. (Simply click here,  click the Register button [remembering to wipe your feet first] and give us some info about you. We don’t do spam (can’t stand the taste). There’s even a limited free trial where you can post your project for free.)

Witty Freelance Writer with a burning desire to join the wit mob? Click here, remove your shoes and then come through to the application form (you can’t miss it. It says “Apply”)

If you’d prefer to follow the scenic route instead, start off at the home page. See you soon.

Content Strategy – Jargon Buster

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

The Serious/Not Serious Series on Jargon

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS:

Content with your content? You can’t just put any old thing in there, as the Vatican Council said to the bishop.   Imagine if women didn’t take a firm line with the management of content vis-à-vis their handbag.  Handbags require monitoring in order to retain a high quality of outgoing product.

How would the world proceed if women handbags (or ‘man bags’ if that doesn’t prompt an inexplicable cold shudder down the spine) became a black hole of eyeliner pencil stubs, foreign coins, used tissues and hair-laden combs?  It would be a disaster, a ‘chrome-plated, steam-powered ocean-going disaster’ as David Niven once said about a truly dreadful movie for which he was at least partially responsible.

But this isn’t the case, for has there ever been any example in the record of any woman, anywhere, admitting that her handbag was bang out of order?  Obviously since no one can ever recall such an admission, there are no handbag horror stories, so therefore it stands to reason that all women are perfect. Dipso facto, notonyournellium.

See how logic is so important to providing coherent content? Content that exists outside handbags is clearly not so very vital to the space-time continuum, so can be left to the devices of those that only carry wallets, and who stuff them unappealingly into the back pockets of their trousers, thereby creating content that’s one-sided and the enemy of good tailoring.

SERIOUSLY:

The very mention of the phrase “Content Strategy” can drive the most confident, hardened (online) small business owner to the verge of a nervous breakdown. Chillax, it doesn’t have to be this way. With a little bit of planning and thought your content handbag doesn’t need to be empty or mixed-up, dazed or confused.

Publish and be Damned – Use that Soapbox

If you have an online business you are a publisher. Accept this basic fact and start thinking and acting like a publisher.  Plan ahead for the creation and publication of your content. That’s what Content Strategy is about.

Your website Content is your soapbox. It’s how you deliver your message online. Content marketing helps you to reach out and connect with your potential customers. By having a Content Strategy, you can plan more effectively for the delivery of your business message over a sustained period of time.  You can build relationships with your prospective customers through your business blog. You don’t need an elaborate content strategy, but it helps to have a general roadmap so that you have an idea where you are going with your content.

The Cure for The Content Development Headache

Content development can be difficult for small business owners. However, by taking a bit of time to plan ahead you can ease your workload (and stress levels) in the long run. Set aside some time to have a brainstorming session dedicated to developing a content strategy. Try using some of these questions to help you find suitable topics for your business blog:

Who are your customers, what problems do they have and how do you solve these problems?

What questions/information do your customers most frequently ask?

What specific problems have you solved for individual customers in the past? Could you use some of these as stories or case studies in your business blog?

What news/developments are there in your business niche?

Are there terms or practices in your business/niche that you could explain in ordinary language to your customers?

Are there other blogs in your niche that you can look at for inspiration?

It is a good idea to stock up on some timeless blog pieces ahead of time.  This will give you freedom to write about topical items if the need, inclination or opportunity arises, but you will also be comforted by the fact that you have fall-back, timeless content for publication.  You will then have the freedom to diverge from your planned publication schedule if you choose. The key here is that it is your choice.

Get Close and Share

Building relationships with your customers through the development of your content can become an enjoyable experience.  Encourage feedback.  If you allow comments on your blog, you may find inspiration for future posts in the comments that your visitors leave. Remember that whilst you are developing your content, you are building the case for why your visitors should trust you and buy from you. Share your knowledge with your visitors and make it easy for them to buy from you when they are ready to do so.

Don’t underestimate your own expertise.  Brainstorm with other co-workers, employees, family or friends about your content strategy.  Think about engaging a professional freelance writer to assist with tidying up your content (or adding personality) for publication.  If you have the skills to do this yourself, lucky you.  By involving an experienced writer in the process, your business knowledge can be transformed into compelling, engaging content that will bring your blog content to a higher level.  Your customers will notice. Your accountant will notice too in time.

Other Jargon Buster Articles:

Attraction Marketing;  Buzz Marketing;   Duplicate Content;  Linkerati;  PageRank;  SEO;  SERPS; The CloudUser Experience

Other Resources:

Copyblogger.com is an invaluable content marketing resource.  The tagline (Copywriting Tips for Online Marketing Success) aptly describes what you will find inside this Pandora’s Box of a website.

D.J. Francis has a neat video over at Online Marketer Blog where he explains Content Strategy in under 3 minutes using post-it notes.  (“What is Content Strategy and Why Should I Care?”) Nice work Mr Francis.

A guy by the name of Oscar Wilde once wrote a play in which a chunk of humanity (called Earnest) was found in the contents of a handbag.  It serves as a reminder that a big dollop of Earnest and a hint of humanity works well in your Content Strategy (and your handbag or man bag).  The mention of this resource is nothing other than a shameless attempt to squeeze in a reference to one of the greatest Wits of all time.  At the risk of being pedantic, you will notice the clever way that I managed to connect handbag contents and Content Strategy in order to justify the appearance of Mr Wilde in this Resources Section. (At least I thought it was clever, so please don’t burst my bubble – go burst someone else’s bubble if you must). Remember The Importance of Being Earnest in your Content Strategy and the next time you are trying to recall the name of a good play.  A little bit of trivial comedy for serious people can also add a splash of magic to any content strategy.

How’s your content strategy coming along? Are you a seat-of-the-pants content strategist or do you have all your blog posts lined up well in advance of publication? Feel free to pop a comment in the box and let me know the issues you encounter or any tricks that you use. If you’d prefer to waffle on about Mr Wilde instead, that’s perfectly fine with me.

Welcome to The Wittery Blog (aka The Witty Writer Marketplace)

You’re in the right place if you’re looking for Witty Freelance Writers to add zest to your business content. (Simply click here,  click the Register button [remembering to wipe your feet first] and give us some info about you. We don’t do spam (can’t stand the taste). There’s even a limited free trial where you can post your project for free.)

Witty Freelance Writer with a burning desire to join the wit mob? Click here, remove your shoes and then come through to the application form (you can’t miss it. It says “Apply”)

If you’d prefer to follow the scenic route instead, start off at the home page. See you soon.



Attraction Marketing – Jargon Buster

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

The Serious/Not Serious Series on Jargon

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS:

It’s all about arousal. It’s making people forcibly aware of just how alluring you are. And this is a serious business.

Such is the dangerous state of the dating scene today that it would take an unbalanced individual to even think about opening up negotiations with a potential mate, who may be:

a)  a spotty giggling schoolboy
b)  a flatulent pension fund manager
c)  irrational and inebriated.

So it’s easy for any sober marketing professional to see the problem.

Obviously what is required is a systematic approach to overcoming a natural opposition towards engaging in any sort of silly sex-talk or crouching outside someone’s bedroom window in the fork of a handy tree. In the normal course of things, this sort of behavior will lead only to disappointment and athlete’s foot, not to mention a citation.

Therefore, what is needed is a multi-media campaign that clearly demonstrates the benefits of being attracted to someone, while drastically minimising the afore-mentioned drawbacks.

It’s beyond the scope of this forum to elucidate further upon how exactly this would be achieved. And I’m bloody glad I don’t have to come up with it.

SERIOUSLY:

Attraction marketing is a technique where you create a relationship with the prospective customer well in advance of the sale.

Your online business can do this by providing informative, engaging content so the potential customer starts trusting you in advance of considering a purchase.

An updated, informative, engaging business blog is an effective attraction marketing tool. It establishes your reputation and encourages the visitor to revisit your website.

Attraction marketing can turn your business into the buyers’ natural choice when they’re ready to buy.

(Yes, you’ve guessed it. The Wittery ghostwriters have interfered again.)

Other Jargon Buster Articles:

Buzz Marketing;  Content Strategy;  Duplicate Content;  Linkerati;  PageRank;   SEO;  SERPS; The CloudUser Experience

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