Who could say no to more leads? I bet your business couldn’t! Inbound marketing is focused on reeling people in with amazing content. There’s also a business objective behind it, which is usually to sign up more customers.
A lead is essentially a person who has shown an interest in your business’s products or services – either through contacting you directly or filling out a form with their email address.
Just because somebody handed you their email via a form, doesn’t instantly make them a lead where you can hard sell. When they first sign up, they’re just contacts that have given you permission to email them. But now have the chance to convert them into qualified leads through email marketing.
If you’re looking to generate more leads for your business with inbound marketing, check out these tools that are ideal for attracting and capturing email subscriptions.
6 Essential Lead Generation Tools
Blog
It goes without saying that your website needs a blog delivering valuable content to attract inbound leads. Publishing regularly on your blog will attract more visitors from search engines and social media. Another thing to bear in mind is that a blog post will probably be the first page people stumble upon.
Here’s a short list of ideas to get you started:
- Interview an industry thought leader
- Blog about a happy customer
- Share productivity tips
- Analysing industry news
- Report on an event
- Review a product
- Curate content
For more information check out: What To Publish When You’re Short On Ideas?
Offer Downloadable Content
Who doesn’t like free stuff? Content like whitepapers, webinars, podcasts and ebooks can all be used to attract more inbound leads.
With ebooks and webinars, the idea is to deliver so much value; people won’t have a problem giving away their email address.
Downloadable content also helps position yourself as a trustworthy expert on the topic. You did in fact write the “book” on it after all!
Opt-in forms
Make it easy for visitors to contact you and sign up for a freebie. People view websites in different ways, some might ignore the header and focus 100% on the content. This is when you need to include multiple opt-in form throughout your website.
Make sure to include forms at least in the sidebar and footer. You can also put forms inside the body of your content and as a notification bar at the top of your website.
Email marketing provider AWeber offers a variety of opt-in forms to embed on to your website. Mailchimp‘s offering is more limited, but with a little coding you’ll be able to design your own custom opt-in form.
Here’s a useful step-by-step guide for creating your own Mailchimp form: Designing a Cool Mailchimp Signup Widget
Experiment with a Popup
I’m not a big fan of popups, I usually look for the close button before reading the content. But then again, I’m probably not your target audience.
It appears a lot of major blogs such as Social Media Examiner, FreelanceFolder and Content Marketing Institute are using popups . The aim of the popup is that all the attention is focused on it since everything else becomes blurred out.
Dan Zarrella conducted an experiment to see the effects popups had on his email subscriptions. Below you’ll find a table of his data, which shows a dramatic decrease with no popup.
Remember that every website is different and the best way to find out works is to test it out and eliminate any assumptions.
Use Hello Bar
Hello Bar is an elegant notification bar that’s placed at the top of your website. It lets you create a call-to-action and link to a landing, which can stay on top as visitors scroll down.
It’s a neat way of grabbing people’s attention without being obtrusive. Hello Bar offers a free plan of up to 25 clicks per month. Its pro plan starts at $4.95/month for 100 clicks and also offers additional features such as RSS and Twitter feeds, SSL support and unbranded bars.
Another alternative worth checking out is Attention Grabber, which you can buy for a one-time fee of $12.
Install Welcome Gate
In an episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, DJ Waldow – co-author of The Rebels Guide to Email Marketing – said half of his email list comes from a plugin called Welcome Gate.
If you’re not a fan of popups, you might want to look into it. It’s basically a combination of a popup and a squeeze page, but considered less aggressive.
The way it works is when someone visits your home page (and only the homepage), they’re redirected to your Welcome Gate. Visitors will see it only once, unless they use a different browser or clear their cookies.
It’s always wise to sit down and review how effective your inbound marketing is. If you’re not drawing in the leads you want, you need to look into other alternatives. But some of these tools are sure to give you a boost in lead generation.
What about you? What tools have been working for you? Let us know in the comments below!
Image by mikequozl
]]>
Who could say no to more leads? I bet your business couldn’t! Inbound marketing is focused on reeling people in with amazing content. There’s also a business objective behind it, which is usually to sign up more customers.
A lead is essentially a person who has shown an interest in your business’s products or services – either through contacting you directly or filling out a form with their email address.
Just because somebody handed you their email via a form, doesn’t instantly make them a lead where you can hard sell. When they first sign up, they’re just contacts that have given you permission to email them. But now have the chance to convert them into qualified leads through email marketing.
If you’re looking to generate more leads for your business with inbound marketing, check out these tools that are ideal for attracting and capturing email subscriptions.
6 Essential Lead Generation Tools
Blog
It goes without saying that your website needs a blog delivering valuable content to attract inbound leads. Publishing regularly on your blog will attract more visitors from search engines and social media. Another thing to bear in mind is that a blog post will probably be the first page people stumble upon.
Here’s a short list of ideas to get you started:
- Interview an industry thought leader
- Blog about a happy customer
- Share productivity tips
- Analysing industry news
- Report on an event
- Review a product
- Curate content
For more information check out: What To Publish When You’re Short On Ideas?
Offer Downloadable Content
Who doesn’t like free stuff? Content like whitepapers, webinars, podcasts and ebooks can all be used to attract more inbound leads.
With ebooks and webinars, the idea is to deliver so much value; people won’t have a problem giving away their email address.
Downloadable content also helps position yourself as a trustworthy expert on the topic. You did in fact write the “book” on it after all!
Opt-in forms
Make it easy for visitors to contact you and sign up for a freebie. People view websites in different ways, some might ignore the header and focus 100% on the content. This is when you need to include multiple opt-in form throughout your website.
Make sure to include forms at least in the sidebar and footer. You can also put forms inside the body of your content and as a notification bar at the top of your website.
Email marketing provider AWeber offers a variety of opt-in forms to embed on to your website. Mailchimp‘s offering is more limited, but with a little coding you’ll be able to design your own custom opt-in form.
Here’s a useful step-by-step guide for creating your own Mailchimp form: Designing a Cool Mailchimp Signup Widget
Experiment with a Popup
I’m not a big fan of popups, I usually look for the close button before reading the content. But then again, I’m probably not your target audience.
It appears a lot of major blogs such as Social Media Examiner, FreelanceFolder and Content Marketing Institute are using popups . The aim of the popup is that all the attention is focused on it since everything else becomes blurred out.
Dan Zarrella conducted an experiment to see the effects popups had on his email subscriptions. Below you’ll find a table of his data, which shows a dramatic decrease with no popup.
Remember that every website is different and the best way to find out works is to test it out and eliminate any assumptions.
Use Hello Bar
Hello Bar is an elegant notification bar that’s placed at the top of your website. It lets you create a call-to-action and link to a landing, which can stay on top as visitors scroll down.
It’s a neat way of grabbing people’s attention without being obtrusive. Hello Bar offers a free plan of up to 25 clicks per month. Its pro plan starts at $4.95/month for 100 clicks and also offers additional features such as RSS and Twitter feeds, SSL support and unbranded bars.
Another alternative worth checking out is Attention Grabber, which you can buy for a one-time fee of $12.
Install Welcome Gate
In an episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, DJ Waldow – co-author of The Rebels Guide to Email Marketing – said half of his email list comes from a plugin called Welcome Gate.
If you’re not a fan of popups, you might want to look into it. It’s basically a combination of a popup and a squeeze page, but considered less aggressive.
The way it works is when someone visits your home page (and only the homepage), they’re redirected to your Welcome Gate. Visitors will see it only once, unless they use a different browser or clear their cookies.
It’s always wise to sit down and review how effective your inbound marketing is. If you’re not drawing in the leads you want, you need to look into other alternatives. But some of these tools are sure to give you a boost in lead generation.
What about you? What tools have been working for you? Let us know in the comments below!
Image by mikequozl
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/20/6-tools-to-help-generate-more-inbound-leads/feed/ 0 ]]>
There’s a reason why the default homepage on most web browsers is Google. And that’s because your online session starts with a search query.
A search query is basically the text you type in the search bar. Think about it, when you open up a browser, your intention is to either visit your favorite website (navigational), seek out information (informational) or buy something (transactional).
Those are 3 types of search queries I’ll be discussing today. And I will tell how it can help your business beat the competition on Google.
So where do you start? Here’s the rundown on each search query and what you can do to attract more sales for your business.
3 Types Of Search Queries You Need To Target
Navigational Queries
As the name suggests, navigational queries are a way for people to get from point A to point B via a search engine. For instance you might type “Twitter” or “BBC” into the search engine instead typing out the URL.
These queries can be your name, brand name or product names, so it’s important that you own the website people are looking for. Otherwise there’s not much use targeting those search queries.
One thing to remember is that navigational queries are also used to search for news on a brand or a product. For example instead of typing in LinkedIn and going to the site, someone might want to get the latest news topics on the social network.
And this brings us to the next type of search query which is informational.
Informational Queries
Let’s continue with the previous example. So somebody is searching for news on LinkedIn, which means they’re looking for more information on the topic.
This is what informational queries are all about, satisfying people’s need for knowledge. This means you should create content that’s relevant to your target audience. For instance a good example of an informational query is: Should I Begin to Use Google Adwords?
Here are a few ways you can get started with targeting informational queries:
- Start a blog and deliver valuable tips to make people’s lives easier
- Film how-to videos relevant to your business (remember YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google)
- Publish a definitive guide on a topic your audience needs help with. For instance our Beginners Guide To Growing Your Google+ Audience
- People are hungry for statistics, especially when they’re presented as inforgraphics
- The thing with informational queries is that people aren’t at the buying stage yet. So don’t be overly self-promotional in your content here because it will discredit you, just like an overly positive product review with affiliate links does.
The idea with targeting informational queries is to build awareness for your business and position yourself as a credible source.
Transactional Queries
People use transactional queries when they’re at the end of the sales cycle and ready to buy. These queries generally include your brand name (if it’s well-known), names of your products, call-to-actions and generic product terms (e.g. portable speaker, presentation software, etc.).
Because people are at the buying stage, you want them to find your product pages when they are searching online. So here’s what you can do to get found by potential customers:
- Do a keyword search
- Optimize your product pages with relevant keywords
- Consider Google Adwords because sponsored results can take up most of the search results that are above the fold (see picture below)
- Google Adwords also offers some neat features to distinguish your offering, such as; image ads, rich media ads and video ads
- Use location to your advantage, e.g. Helsinki pizza restaurant
Keep in mind that with product pages, you can publish as many pages as you want. It doesn’t cost you anything to add a new page on your own website. So you might want to create a page to target several transactional queries. However don’t use the same content, as Google doesn’t appreciate duplicates.
There’s a fine line between writing content for humans and search engines. While it’s important to target search queries with relevant keywords, your task here is to keep it natural.
Google is getting smarter at spotting spammy content, and your safest bet is to write quality, unique and valuable content. Its social network Google+ and authorship markup also play a role in determining how relevant and popular content is based on the number of +1s, shares and comments.
For more tips on how to get started with SEO, check out: Search Engine Optimization: The Bare Minimum You Have To Do
Image by dullhunk
]]>
There’s a reason why the default homepage on most web browsers is Google. And that’s because your online session starts with a search query.
A search query is basically the text you type in the search bar. Think about it, when you open up a browser, your intention is to either visit your favorite website (navigational), seek out information (informational) or buy something (transactional).
Those are 3 types of search queries I’ll be discussing today. And I will tell how it can help your business beat the competition on Google.
So where do you start? Here’s the rundown on each search query and what you can do to attract more sales for your business.
3 Types Of Search Queries You Need To Target
Navigational Queries
As the name suggests, navigational queries are a way for people to get from point A to point B via a search engine. For instance you might type “Twitter” or “BBC” into the search engine instead typing out the URL.
These queries can be your name, brand name or product names, so it’s important that you own the website people are looking for. Otherwise there’s not much use targeting those search queries.
One thing to remember is that navigational queries are also used to search for news on a brand or a product. For example instead of typing in LinkedIn and going to the site, someone might want to get the latest news topics on the social network.
And this brings us to the next type of search query which is informational.
Informational Queries
Let’s continue with the previous example. So somebody is searching for news on LinkedIn, which means they’re looking for more information on the topic.
This is what informational queries are all about, satisfying people’s need for knowledge. This means you should create content that’s relevant to your target audience. For instance a good example of an informational query is: Should I Begin to Use Google Adwords?
Here are a few ways you can get started with targeting informational queries:
- Start a blog and deliver valuable tips to make people’s lives easier
- Film how-to videos relevant to your business (remember YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google)
- Publish a definitive guide on a topic your audience needs help with. For instance our Beginners Guide To Growing Your Google+ Audience
- People are hungry for statistics, especially when they’re presented as inforgraphics
- The thing with informational queries is that people aren’t at the buying stage yet. So don’t be overly self-promotional in your content here because it will discredit you, just like an overly positive product review with affiliate links does.
The idea with targeting informational queries is to build awareness for your business and position yourself as a credible source.
Transactional Queries
People use transactional queries when they’re at the end of the sales cycle and ready to buy. These queries generally include your brand name (if it’s well-known), names of your products, call-to-actions and generic product terms (e.g. portable speaker, presentation software, etc.).
Because people are at the buying stage, you want them to find your product pages when they are searching online. So here’s what you can do to get found by potential customers:
- Do a keyword search
- Optimize your product pages with relevant keywords
- Consider Google Adwords because sponsored results can take up most of the search results that are above the fold (see picture below)
- Google Adwords also offers some neat features to distinguish your offering, such as; image ads, rich media ads and video ads
- Use location to your advantage, e.g. Helsinki pizza restaurant
Keep in mind that with product pages, you can publish as many pages as you want. It doesn’t cost you anything to add a new page on your own website. So you might want to create a page to target several transactional queries. However don’t use the same content, as Google doesn’t appreciate duplicates.
There’s a fine line between writing content for humans and search engines. While it’s important to target search queries with relevant keywords, your task here is to keep it natural.
Google is getting smarter at spotting spammy content, and your safest bet is to write quality, unique and valuable content. Its social network Google+ and authorship markup also play a role in determining how relevant and popular content is based on the number of +1s, shares and comments.
For more tips on how to get started with SEO, check out: Search Engine Optimization: The Bare Minimum You Have To Do
Image by dullhunk
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/17/targeting-3-types-of-search-queries/feed/ 0 ]]>Say Hi to the New Starter Plan!
Let me introduce you to Cuutio Starter, a plan which gives you most of the benefits from our earlier Silver plan. Perfect for businesses who are starting to develop their visibility or to those, who don’t have the need to monitor hundreds of keywords or battle against a dozen competitors. For a monthly fee of only 29€ you’ll get:
- 25 keywords
- 3 competitors
- 2 market areas (search engines)
- Unlimited domains
- 24 weeks of historical data
It Gets Even Better With Silver and Gold
The users of Silver and Gold plans experience a huge increase in their monitoring scale. Silver includes now 200 keywords (previously 25) and 10 competitors (5). With the Gold plan you are able to monitor 1000 keywords (100) and unlimited competitors (10).
Bronze is now Free
From now on the users of the entry plan, Cuutio Free (previously Bronze) are able to monitor 1 domain with 10 keywords and 1 competitor in 1 market area with 4 weeks of history data. Cuutio Free remains, like the new name may suggest, free of charge.
When you upgrade to a paid plan, you are now able to pay with your credit card via Paymill’s secure service.
Check out the pricing plans more closely or log in to your account to see what has changed. Have questions? Visit our support site.
]]>It’s been a busy spring for us. Our user community has spread to 36 countries and we are planning to roll out new awesome features soon. But first things first. As a result of many discussions and feedback from our users, we are excited to announce several changes in our plans and payment methods.
Say Hi to the New Starter Plan!
Let me introduce you to Cuutio Starter, a plan which gives you most of the benefits from our earlier Silver plan. Perfect for businesses who are starting to develop their visibility or to those, who don’t have the need to monitor hundreds of keywords or battle against a dozen competitors. For a monthly fee of only 29€ you’ll get:
- 25 keywords
- 3 competitors
- 2 market areas (search engines)
- Unlimited domains
- 24 weeks of historical data
It Gets Even Better With Silver and Gold
The users of Silver and Gold plans experience a huge increase in their monitoring scale. Silver includes now 200 keywords (previously 25) and 10 competitors (5). With the Gold plan you are able to monitor 1000 keywords (100) and unlimited competitors (10).
Bronze is now Free
From now on the users of the entry plan, Cuutio Free (previously Bronze) are able to monitor 1 domain with 10 keywords and 1 competitor in 1 market area with 4 weeks of history data. Cuutio Free remains, like the new name may suggest, free of charge.
When you upgrade to a paid plan, you are now able to pay with your credit card via Paymill’s secure service.
Check out the pricing plans more closely or log in to your account to see what has changed. Have questions? Visit our support site.
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/14/new-starter-plan-is-here/feed/ 0 ]]>
“Build it and they will come.” Well not so much when you’re online! Sorry to burst your bubble, but the reality is your website, in the beginning, is just a little dot in the online universe.
Whether it’s a website or blog, you probably want more traffic coming your way. It’s definitely the top priority of every website owner, because without visitors you will not be able to make any sales.
So how do you go about promoting your web presence and driving more traffic to your site. Here are 12 ways to get you started.
12 Ways To Promote Your Website
1. Tell friends and family
Cover the basics first and tell everyone you know about your new website and blog. Don’t worry about it coming off as spam, it’s just a tiny reminder to let everyone know what you’re working on.
Send out a simple, “Just wanted to quickly let you know about…” email to your contacts. And also announce it on your social media accounts.
2. Business cards
Yes I know there are apps that let you exchange contact information such as Bump. However they need the other person to have the application too which doesn’t make it every practical.
Based on my experience attending events, business cards are still the way to go. Make sure you include all the essentials such as email, Twitter handle and of course, your website URL.
3. Use SlideShare
SlideShare is a place where you can upload presentations, PDFs, videos and Office documents. This is arguably the largest community for sharing content among professionals. And according to ComScore, SlideShare has five times more traffic than LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
To ensure you get traffic back to your website, make sure your slides include your website URL with a compelling call-to-action.
4. Links on social media profiles
You’re probably on a handful of social networks. Personally I’m on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. That makes at least five place where people can view your profile and click on your website link.
5. Giving talks
Take the conversation offline and ask non-profit organisations if they need a speaker for future events. And just like the content you upload to SlideShare, make sure your URL is on every slide.
The beauty of presenting in public is that you already have an audience in front of you. During which you can suggest everyone to visit your website for more information. If you have a free ebook or special report to give away, even better!
6. T-shirts
A great way to draw attention to your website is printing your URL on a t-shirt (hoodies and jumpers also work). Wear it where ever you go to raise awareness about your website.
7. Blogging
When you start delivering unique and valuable content, that’s when you give people a reason to visit your website again. Publishing a blog post 1-3 times a week gives people an entry point to visit your blog. The more you blog, the more ways folks can visit your website.
8. Social media marketing
This is where blogging comes in handy for your business because now you have a reason to post an update on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. Whenever you publish a new post, promote it on social media. Also share it in Groups you’re a member of and get a discussion started.
9. Search engine optimisation
This list wouldn’t be complete without search engine optimisation (SEO). 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine meaning you can attract quite a bit of traffic by making your website easier for Google to index.
To get started on SEO make sure you check out: Search Engine Optimization: The Bare Minimum You Have To Do
10. Google Authorship
This is Google’s way of ranking content based on your authority. You’ve probably noticed those small pictures of people next to search results and that’s basically Google Authorship at work. It’s how the search giant verifies that you own the content. The reason this helps drive more people to your website is because it increases click through rates (CTRs) by 150%
For information on Google Authorship, check out: Top 3 Reasons To Implement The Google Authorship Markup Today
11. Networking
That’s right – get out of the office! Look for events to attend and start working the room. Remember that networking is not only restricted to business events! Anywhere you go is a chance to meet someone new. The thing is that you never who that person next to you is – they might very well be a potential client!
12. Freebies
Ever complained about getting free stuff? Thought you haven’t. Case in point, people love freebies! Ebooks, special reports and webinars work well in attracting more visitors to your website. For the same reasons as blogging, it gives people an entry point to your website.
So there you have it, 12 ways you can start promoting your website today. It takes time to build an audience so hang in there and get active on social media and also offline. Always try to take the relationship offline because that’s how strong relationships are made.
What tricks are you using for promoting your website?
Photo by Johan Larsson
]]>
“Build it and they will come.” Well not so much when you’re online! Sorry to burst your bubble, but the reality is your website, in the beginning, is just a little dot in the online universe.
Whether it’s a website or blog, you probably want more traffic coming your way. It’s definitely the top priority of every website owner, because without visitors you will not be able to make any sales.
So how do you go about promoting your web presence and driving more traffic to your site. Here are 12 ways to get you started.
12 Ways To Promote Your Website
1. Tell friends and family
Cover the basics first and tell everyone you know about your new website and blog. Don’t worry about it coming off as spam, it’s just a tiny reminder to let everyone know what you’re working on.
Send out a simple, “Just wanted to quickly let you know about…” email to your contacts. And also announce it on your social media accounts.
2. Business cards
Yes I know there are apps that let you exchange contact information such as Bump. However they need the other person to have the application too which doesn’t make it every practical.
Based on my experience attending events, business cards are still the way to go. Make sure you include all the essentials such as email, Twitter handle and of course, your website URL.
3. Use SlideShare
SlideShare is a place where you can upload presentations, PDFs, videos and Office documents. This is arguably the largest community for sharing content among professionals. And according to ComScore, SlideShare has five times more traffic than LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
To ensure you get traffic back to your website, make sure your slides include your website URL with a compelling call-to-action.
4. Links on social media profiles
You’re probably on a handful of social networks. Personally I’m on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. That makes at least five place where people can view your profile and click on your website link.
5. Giving talks
Take the conversation offline and ask non-profit organisations if they need a speaker for future events. And just like the content you upload to SlideShare, make sure your URL is on every slide.
The beauty of presenting in public is that you already have an audience in front of you. During which you can suggest everyone to visit your website for more information. If you have a free ebook or special report to give away, even better!
6. T-shirts
A great way to draw attention to your website is printing your URL on a t-shirt (hoodies and jumpers also work). Wear it where ever you go to raise awareness about your website.
7. Blogging
When you start delivering unique and valuable content, that’s when you give people a reason to visit your website again. Publishing a blog post 1-3 times a week gives people an entry point to visit your blog. The more you blog, the more ways folks can visit your website.
8. Social media marketing
This is where blogging comes in handy for your business because now you have a reason to post an update on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. Whenever you publish a new post, promote it on social media. Also share it in Groups you’re a member of and get a discussion started.
9. Search engine optimisation
This list wouldn’t be complete without search engine optimisation (SEO). 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine meaning you can attract quite a bit of traffic by making your website easier for Google to index.
To get started on SEO make sure you check out: Search Engine Optimization: The Bare Minimum You Have To Do
10. Google Authorship
This is Google’s way of ranking content based on your authority. You’ve probably noticed those small pictures of people next to search results and that’s basically Google Authorship at work. It’s how the search giant verifies that you own the content. The reason this helps drive more people to your website is because it increases click through rates (CTRs) by 150%
For information on Google Authorship, check out: Top 3 Reasons To Implement The Google Authorship Markup Today
11. Networking
That’s right – get out of the office! Look for events to attend and start working the room. Remember that networking is not only restricted to business events! Anywhere you go is a chance to meet someone new. The thing is that you never who that person next to you is – they might very well be a potential client!
12. Freebies
Ever complained about getting free stuff? Thought you haven’t. Case in point, people love freebies! Ebooks, special reports and webinars work well in attracting more visitors to your website. For the same reasons as blogging, it gives people an entry point to your website.
So there you have it, 12 ways you can start promoting your website today. It takes time to build an audience so hang in there and get active on social media and also offline. Always try to take the relationship offline because that’s how strong relationships are made.
What tricks are you using for promoting your website?
Photo by Johan Larsson
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/02/promote-your-website-for-maximum-visibility/feed/ 0 ]]>
It’s a well established fact that LinkedIn is where people go to do business. You won’t see any cat posts or food picture on this social network. Instead you’ll find people sharing posts about their business, useful industry related content and the good old congratulations on a well deserved accomplishment.
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is focused on developing business relationship. That is why you’ll find your colleagues, past employers and former classmates there. Ever since the economy has tanked, folks have been using LinkedIn to find jobs. While recruiters have been intensively sourcing candidates. And others have turned to LinkedIn as a sales tool.
Some people think it’s just an online rolodex to store your contact. But it’s more than that when you know how to use LinkedIn the smart way. And that usually happens right at the beginning when you set up your LinkedIn profile. Here’s your checklist for getting started with LinkedIn.
Your Checklist For Getting Started With LinkedIn
Define Your Goals
Something everybody needs to asks themselves before diving into a social network is, why do I want to be here? What am I hoping to get out of being on LinkedIn?
It could be to grow your professional network, attract leads to your business, close more sales or find a job. Heck it can be all three of them. The point is that clearly defining your goals helps you focus on activities that will help you reach them.
Dig Up Your Resume
LinkedIn’s core function is as an online resume. Instead of starting from scratch, dig up your resume and just copy and paste the information. Alternatively you can just import it. However I think it’s a good idea to go through it and make sure everything is okay. You may also want to make some changes for it be more online friendly.
SEO Your Profile
You can choose to make your profile public, which means that search engines can index it and you’ll appear in search results. And just you like would include keywords on your website and blog for a higher search engine ranking – you can also do with your linkedIn profile to get more love from search.
For more information on searching for keywords, check out 4 Ways To Find Out What Keywords Your Customers Use For Greater Visibility Online
Beef Up Your Profile
Nothing says, “I don’t care!” than a bare bones profile. Give it some meat for people to chew on. And most importantly see all the great things you’ve accomplished.
That means writing a summary about yourself, adding descriptions to your previous work experience and choosing a nice picture to display. This is all to build trust with whomever views your profile. After all, we tend to do business with people with like and trust.
Connect With People You Already Know
Obvious I know. But something I get asked a lot is, “Who should I connect with? Is it okay to invite my boss or an old friend?”
The answer is a profound yes! Don’t be shy – the bigger network you have – the more opportunities will come your way. It’s okay to add people who’ve met at networking events and been interacting with in LinkedIn Groups.
Join LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups are a fantastic way to get on more people’s radar. They’re similar to Google+ Communities and Facebook Groups as places where like-minded people can get together and exchange ideas.
To help get you started here’s a list by Bradley Will of top Groups for entrepreneurs to join: Top 20 LinkedIn Groups All Entrepreneurs Must Join
Ask For Recommendations
Having recommendations builds your credibility. And it goes back to trust factor I mention before. It’s pure social proof at work, and it’s a way for others to vouch for you.
You want to request them from people you know well and have worked with in the past. You can also write recommendations for people you know and have worked with.
Just don’t go around asking folks with whom you have a weak relationship with – trust me it doesn’t go down well with the person you’re asking
Show Off Your Achievements
LinkedIn now allows to feature projects, publications, patents and certifications on your profile. Again this is another way for people to get to know what you’re capable of doing. Plus it’s a fantastic way to show something concrete.
As with any social network, active participation is a MUST! Start sharing tips and resources in LinkedIn groups, comment on updates and share interesting posts to your profile. It’s about engagement and being genuinely helpful. And unless you cultivate relationships, those connections will just remain numbers on your profile.
How do you use LinkedIn? Let us know by commenting below.
Photo by Coletivo Mambembe
]]>
It’s a well established fact that LinkedIn is where people go to do business. You won’t see any cat posts or food picture on this social network. Instead you’ll find people sharing posts about their business, useful industry related content and the good old congratulations on a well deserved accomplishment.
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is focused on developing business relationship. That is why you’ll find your colleagues, past employers and former classmates there. Ever since the economy has tanked, folks have been using LinkedIn to find jobs. While recruiters have been intensively sourcing candidates. And others have turned to LinkedIn as a sales tool.
Some people think it’s just an online rolodex to store your contact. But it’s more than that when you know how to use LinkedIn the smart way. And that usually happens right at the beginning when you set up your LinkedIn profile. Here’s your checklist for getting started with LinkedIn.
Your Checklist For Getting Started With LinkedIn
Define Your Goals
Something everybody needs to asks themselves before diving into a social network is, why do I want to be here? What am I hoping to get out of being on LinkedIn?
It could be to grow your professional network, attract leads to your business, close more sales or find a job. Heck it can be all three of them. The point is that clearly defining your goals helps you focus on activities that will help you reach them.
Dig Up Your Resume
LinkedIn’s core function is as an online resume. Instead of starting from scratch, dig up your resume and just copy and paste the information. Alternatively you can just import it. However I think it’s a good idea to go through it and make sure everything is okay. You may also want to make some changes for it be more online friendly.
SEO Your Profile
You can choose to make your profile public, which means that search engines can index it and you’ll appear in search results. And just you like would include keywords on your website and blog for a higher search engine ranking – you can also do with your linkedIn profile to get more love from search.
For more information on searching for keywords, check out 4 Ways To Find Out What Keywords Your Customers Use For Greater Visibility Online
Beef Up Your Profile
Nothing says, “I don’t care!” than a bare bones profile. Give it some meat for people to chew on. And most importantly see all the great things you’ve accomplished.
That means writing a summary about yourself, adding descriptions to your previous work experience and choosing a nice picture to display. This is all to build trust with whomever views your profile. After all, we tend to do business with people with like and trust.
Connect With People You Already Know
Obvious I know. But something I get asked a lot is, “Who should I connect with? Is it okay to invite my boss or an old friend?”
The answer is a profound yes! Don’t be shy – the bigger network you have – the more opportunities will come your way. It’s okay to add people who’ve met at networking events and been interacting with in LinkedIn Groups.
Join LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups are a fantastic way to get on more people’s radar. They’re similar to Google+ Communities and Facebook Groups as places where like-minded people can get together and exchange ideas.
To help get you started here’s a list by Bradley Will of top Groups for entrepreneurs to join: Top 20 LinkedIn Groups All Entrepreneurs Must Join
Ask For Recommendations
Having recommendations builds your credibility. And it goes back to trust factor I mention before. It’s pure social proof at work, and it’s a way for others to vouch for you.
You want to request them from people you know well and have worked with in the past. You can also write recommendations for people you know and have worked with.
Just don’t go around asking folks with whom you have a weak relationship with – trust me it doesn’t go down well with the person you’re asking
Show Off Your Achievements
LinkedIn now allows to feature projects, publications, patents and certifications on your profile. Again this is another way for people to get to know what you’re capable of doing. Plus it’s a fantastic way to show something concrete.
As with any social network, active participation is a MUST! Start sharing tips and resources in LinkedIn groups, comment on updates and share interesting posts to your profile. It’s about engagement and being genuinely helpful. And unless you cultivate relationships, those connections will just remain numbers on your profile.
How do you use LinkedIn? Let us know by commenting below.
Photo by Coletivo Mambembe
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/26/getting-started-with-linkedin/feed/ 0 ]]>
Imagine spending hours or even days creating content that you’re proud of, and when you finally hit publish – nobody cares!
That’s what happens when you fail to research your audience properly. The key to successful inbound marketing and attracting leads for your business is getting your content shared online. But that can only happen when you deliver remarkable content.
Your task here is to find out what your audience’s needs are and how you can create content that offers a solution for them.
Luckily, researching your target audience has never been easier. Here 13 ways you can learn more about them using social media.
How To Research Your Audience Using Social Media
With over 1.06 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social network on the planet.
1. Polls and surveys – Asking questions is a great way to get your audience involved. It’s also a neat tool to get to know them better and find out what they like (and dislike).
2. Join network, alumni and industry groups – Simply search for groups using keywords relevant to your industry. Some will be open while others are private.
3. Set up your own group – Setting up your own group allows for a more intimate setting for your users. You can set one up to be open for all or keep it private. One way you can use Groups is testing new ideas and products to see how people react.
Twitter is probably the best tool to use here for 3 reasons:
- You can follow events globally
- It’s real-time
- You can easily reach out to people
4. Twitter search – This is how you can follow real-time conversations globally. Search for keywords related to your industry and save the search to come back to it later.
5. Follow people – One of the simplest ways to find out more about your audience is to just follow prospective buyers. Another way of doing it, is to use Lists to group people into segments such as; buyers, competitors, journalists, etc. WeFollow and Twellow are great resources to help you find people based on their interests, and build a strategic following.
6. Follow hashtags – This is the # symbol used to mark keywords in a Tweet. You can set up searches for hashtags specific to your industry to follow and add your voice to the discussion.
7. Advanced search – If the standard search isn’t working for you, try Twitter’s Advanced Search. It allows you to search for local tweets and a whole lot of other things too. Twitter explains how to use it in this guide: Using advanced search
8. Tweet! – This might seem obvious, but you can tweet links to your polls and surveys on Facebook and any other service you’re using. Likewise, you can Tweet questions and see the response you get.
LinkedIn is the social network for business with more than 200 million members. And based on our findings, it’s where B2B businesses need to be (see Which Social Network Is Right For Your Business).
9. LinkedIn Groups – Search for groups where your target audience will be participating. Groups are a great place to connect with like-minded people and for getting feedback.
10. Connect – Naturally you’ll connect with people you already know. But if you want to broaden your network, you can also connect with Group members you’ve been interacting with.
11. LinkedIn Polls – Similar to Facebook’s feature, LinkedIn Polls allows you to ask questions and lets people respond and leave comments.
Google+
Google+ is similar to Twitter in the sense that you can follow whoever you want. But it allows you make your profile as private or as public as you like.
12. Follow people – Again, follow people who fit your target audience. You can use Google+’s suggested users feature, and the search bar. Another handy tool is Find People On G+ which helps you search by age, location and occupation.
13. Join Communities – Google+ Communities are similar to LinkedIn Groups and Facebook Groups. To get started, check out the Discover Communities section in your profile.
Remember not to hard sell in groups, because that is one way to get booted out. On social media, you need to contribute first before receiving.
Last piece of advice, which I think is the most important is: Participate! You want to be active on each social network you’re on and genuinely help others. That’s the only way to build a following and get found on social media!
How do you use social media for business? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section.
Photo by mkhmarketing
]]>
Imagine spending hours or even days creating content that you’re proud of, and when you finally hit publish – nobody cares!
That’s what happens when you fail to research your audience properly. The key to successful inbound marketing and attracting leads for your business is getting your content shared online. But that can only happen when you deliver remarkable content.
Your task here is to find out what your audience’s needs are and how you can create content that offers a solution for them.
Luckily, researching your target audience has never been easier. Here 13 ways you can learn more about them using social media.
How To Research Your Audience Using Social Media
With over 1.06 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social network on the planet.
1. Polls and surveys – Asking questions is a great way to get your audience involved. It’s also a neat tool to get to know them better and find out what they like (and dislike).
2. Join network, alumni and industry groups – Simply search for groups using keywords relevant to your industry. Some will be open while others are private.
3. Set up your own group – Setting up your own group allows for a more intimate setting for your users. You can set one up to be open for all or keep it private. One way you can use Groups is testing new ideas and products to see how people react.
Twitter is probably the best tool to use here for 3 reasons:
- You can follow events globally
- It’s real-time
- You can easily reach out to people
4. Twitter search – This is how you can follow real-time conversations globally. Search for keywords related to your industry and save the search to come back to it later.
5. Follow people – One of the simplest ways to find out more about your audience is to just follow prospective buyers. Another way of doing it, is to use Lists to group people into segments such as; buyers, competitors, journalists, etc. WeFollow and Twellow are great resources to help you find people based on their interests, and build a strategic following.
6. Follow hashtags – This is the # symbol used to mark keywords in a Tweet. You can set up searches for hashtags specific to your industry to follow and add your voice to the discussion.
7. Advanced search – If the standard search isn’t working for you, try Twitter’s Advanced Search. It allows you to search for local tweets and a whole lot of other things too. Twitter explains how to use it in this guide: Using advanced search
8. Tweet! – This might seem obvious, but you can tweet links to your polls and surveys on Facebook and any other service you’re using. Likewise, you can Tweet questions and see the response you get.
LinkedIn is the social network for business with more than 200 million members. And based on our findings, it’s where B2B businesses need to be (see Which Social Network Is Right For Your Business).
9. LinkedIn Groups – Search for groups where your target audience will be participating. Groups are a great place to connect with like-minded people and for getting feedback.
10. Connect – Naturally you’ll connect with people you already know. But if you want to broaden your network, you can also connect with Group members you’ve been interacting with.
11. LinkedIn Polls – Similar to Facebook’s feature, LinkedIn Polls allows you to ask questions and lets people respond and leave comments.
Google+
Google+ is similar to Twitter in the sense that you can follow whoever you want. But it allows you make your profile as private or as public as you like.
12. Follow people – Again, follow people who fit your target audience. You can use Google+’s suggested users feature, and the search bar. Another handy tool is Find People On G+ which helps you search by age, location and occupation.
13. Join Communities – Google+ Communities are similar to LinkedIn Groups and Facebook Groups. To get started, check out the Discover Communities section in your profile.
Remember not to hard sell in groups, because that is one way to get booted out. On social media, you need to contribute first before receiving.
Last piece of advice, which I think is the most important is: Participate! You want to be active on each social network you’re on and genuinely help others. That’s the only way to build a following and get found on social media!
How do you use social media for business? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section.
Photo by mkhmarketing
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/18/research-audience-social-media/feed/ 0 ]]>
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest. That’s six social networks businesses can use to reach their target audience! And as if that wasn’t enough, we’ve got new social media sites like Vine, Pheed and App.net popping up.
Case in point, there’s just not enough time in the day to maintain an active presence on all the major social networks.
So how do you decide where to invest your time? Ideally you want to be where your target audience is hanging out. Otherwise you will not see the results you were expecting.
Each social network caters to a different demographic. Which means you can’t use a one-size fits all strategy. Let’s take a look at some statistics of the six major social networks and see which one is a good match for your business.
30 Social Media Statistics To Help You Decide
- Facebook is the larges social network on the list with 1.06 billion monthly active users (Source)
- 680 million monthly mobile active users (Source)
- Facebook’s audience is almost level in age distribution with 57% of Facebook users aged between 18-44, and 10% being over the age of 65 (Source)
- The average age of a Facebook user is 22 (Source)
- Males account for 43% of users (Source)
- 60% earn less than $60k annually (Source)
- 77% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies acquired customers from Facebook (Source)
- Twitter’s audience is more middle-aged with the average age of a user being 37.3 years old, with 55% are over the age of 35.(Source)
- 60% of users are female. (Source)
- 17% earn more than $100k (Source)
- Interesting content, personal connections and humour are the top 3 reasons why people retweet (Source)
- LinkedIn has the oldest audience out of the social networks on the list with 15% over 65 (Source)
- 55% of their audience earns more than $60k, of which 27% earn more than $100k (Source)
- Gender distribution is equal at 50% (Source)
- B2B business experienced a 61% success rate in customer acquisition via LinkedIn, compared to 39% for B2C (Source)
- Largest industry on LinkedIn is information and services, followed by financial services, higher education, computer software and telecommunications (Source)
Google+
- 60% of Google+ users are under 45 (Source)
- 22% are aged 35-44 (Source)
- 68% of Google+ users are male, while 32 percent of Google+ users are female. (Source)
- 30% of Google+’s audience has income over $100k (Source)
- Student is the top occupation on Google+ at 20,01%, followed by software engineer at 2,65% and consultant at 1,99% (Source)
Tumblr
- Tumblr’s audience is among the youngest out of all the social networks on this list with 45% being under 35 years old. (Source)
- 47% of US Tumblr users are male (Source)
- 35% of Tumblr users make less than $30k (Source)
- 65% of Tumblr’s audience has a college education (Source)
- The most popular age group on Pinterest is 25 – 34 year olds at 30% (Source)
- 80 % of Pinterest users are women, while 50 percent of all Pinterest users have children. (Source)
- 28.1% of Pinterest users have an annual household income of $100k (Source)
- Visitors coming from Pinterest spend 70% more money than referrals from non-social channels (Source)
- Tutorial, DIY & recipe pins experience 42% higher click-through rate than other types of pins (Source)
So what can you do with this information? Well if you’re wondering whether your target audience can afford your products, simply look at their annual income. Are you a B2B business? Chances are, you’ll have better success with LinkedIn.
These statistics give you a basic idea of who’s using what and where your target audience is. Just because everyone else is on a social network is not a good enough reason for you to be on it. The only way to grow an audience is to be active, follow people and have content with substance to contribute. At the moment the top 3 for businesses are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
What social networks are you using?
Image by Jason A. Howie
]]>
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest. That’s six social networks businesses can use to reach their target audience! And as if that wasn’t enough, we’ve got new social media sites like Vine, Pheed and App.net popping up.
Case in point, there’s just not enough time in the day to maintain an active presence on all the major social networks.
So how do you decide where to invest your time? Ideally you want to be where your target audience is hanging out. Otherwise you will not see the results you were expecting.
Each social network caters to a different demographic. Which means you can’t use a one-size fits all strategy. Let’s take a look at some statistics of the six major social networks and see which one is a good match for your business.
30 Social Media Statistics To Help You Decide
- Facebook is the larges social network on the list with 1.06 billion monthly active users (Source)
- 680 million monthly mobile active users (Source)
- Facebook’s audience is almost level in age distribution with 57% of Facebook users aged between 18-44, and 10% being over the age of 65 (Source)
- The average age of a Facebook user is 22 (Source)
- Males account for 43% of users (Source)
- 60% earn less than $60k annually (Source)
- 77% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies acquired customers from Facebook (Source)
- Twitter’s audience is more middle-aged with the average age of a user being 37.3 years old, with 55% are over the age of 35.(Source)
- 60% of users are female. (Source)
- 17% earn more than $100k (Source)
- Interesting content, personal connections and humour are the top 3 reasons why people retweet (Source)
- LinkedIn has the oldest audience out of the social networks on the list with 15% over 65 (Source)
- 55% of their audience earns more than $60k, of which 27% earn more than $100k (Source)
- Gender distribution is equal at 50% (Source)
- B2B business experienced a 61% success rate in customer acquisition via LinkedIn, compared to 39% for B2C (Source)
- Largest industry on LinkedIn is information and services, followed by financial services, higher education, computer software and telecommunications (Source)
Google+
- 60% of Google+ users are under 45 (Source)
- 22% are aged 35-44 (Source)
- 68% of Google+ users are male, while 32 percent of Google+ users are female. (Source)
- 30% of Google+’s audience has income over $100k (Source)
- Student is the top occupation on Google+ at 20,01%, followed by software engineer at 2,65% and consultant at 1,99% (Source)
Tumblr
- Tumblr’s audience is among the youngest out of all the social networks on this list with 45% being under 35 years old. (Source)
- 47% of US Tumblr users are male (Source)
- 35% of Tumblr users make less than $30k (Source)
- 65% of Tumblr’s audience has a college education (Source)
- The most popular age group on Pinterest is 25 – 34 year olds at 30% (Source)
- 80 % of Pinterest users are women, while 50 percent of all Pinterest users have children. (Source)
- 28.1% of Pinterest users have an annual household income of $100k (Source)
- Visitors coming from Pinterest spend 70% more money than referrals from non-social channels (Source)
- Tutorial, DIY & recipe pins experience 42% higher click-through rate than other types of pins (Source)
So what can you do with this information? Well if you’re wondering whether your target audience can afford your products, simply look at their annual income. Are you a B2B business? Chances are, you’ll have better success with LinkedIn.
These statistics give you a basic idea of who’s using what and where your target audience is. Just because everyone else is on a social network is not a good enough reason for you to be on it. The only way to grow an audience is to be active, follow people and have content with substance to contribute. At the moment the top 3 for businesses are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
What social networks are you using?
Image by Jason A. Howie
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/11/social-media-right-for-business/feed/ 0 ]]>
A blog is the hub for all your content. While we’ve come to associate blogging and inbound marketing with writing – it’s easy to forget the other forms of content businesses can use for promotion.
Webinars, ebooks, images, videos and podcasts all have their place in inbound marketing. But the reason why blogging is so commonly used is because a) it’s been around for ages, so we’re used to it and b) it’s incredibly easy to start blogging.
Today’s topic is Podcasts – a digital audio or video file that can be downloaded from the web to a media player or computer. Podcasts are focused on a specific topic, with listeners able to subscribe via RSS.
Podcasting gives you another outpost to deliver content in an audio format. What’s more, you’re able to reach people in places where blog content would be dangerous and inconvenient. You wouldn’t jog and read blog posts at the same, but you would listen to audio content.
Podcasts often are overlooked because people think that a major recording studio is needed. But as you’ll see with this checklist – starting a podcast can be a relatively easy process.
How To Start Podcasting
Equipment
First things first – make sure you have the necessary equipment for recording. Luckily all you need is a computer, headset, and a microphone.
On the software front, you’ll want to have an audio editing and recording program.
For Windows users, check out Audacity (Free). For OS X users, Garageband comes preinstalled on all MacBooks and iMacs.
In this video Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income compares microphones and talks about some of the practicalities of podcasting.
Podcasting Tutorial – Video 1: Equipment and Software
Audio from video
Starting a podcast can be easier than you think. Have you got a presentation, interview or lecture recorded on video? Simply export the audio from the video and you now have your first podcast episodes.
Seth Godin’s Startup School podcast is a perfect example of this.
Listen to other podcasts
Each podcast has its own style, and yours needs one too. Browse through the iTunes library for podcasts focusing on your topic and the ones you’re already subscribed to. You’ll notice some incorporate a lot of humour, like the Get It Done Guy podcast does. While others take on a more professional approach, such as Michael Hyatt’s podcast.
Decide the length
Podcasts can range from 5 minutes in length to well over 1 hour. Depending on your topic, you want your podcast to be long enough to get your message across. Another thing to consider is to make your podcast cover the length of a jogging session or a commute.
It’s really up to you and there’s nothing wrong with a 5 minutes podcast as long it delivers value.
Submit to iTunes
There are other directories you can submit to such as Podcast Alley, Stitcher, and Blackberry. However Apple’s iTunes is the most popular and considered the go-to place for podcasts.
For more information on where to submit a podcast check out: Top Podcast Directories and How to Get in Them
Plan your podcast episode
Before you get started with recording your episode, plan out what you’re going to be talking about. Having a structure in place makes you stay on topic and helps you remember everything you need to cover.
You also want to jot down any links and people you’re referencing in the podcast so that you don’t forget.
Use your blog
Another benefit to planning out your episode, is that you won’t have to transcribe it later on. And you can use it as show notes when you publish it on your blog. Giving you another way to get the word out about your recent podcast.
Use music in moderation
Using music is a great way to start and end your podcast. Other than that, there’s no reason to put more tunes into it unless you’re a music podcast.
Avoid using music you do not own and don’t have permission from the owners to avoid legal problems.
You can use GarageBand’s free music selection, Fiverr.com for voice over and Freesound for sound effects. You can also search SoundCloud for Creative Commons content to use.
Edit, edit, edit
Here is where you edit out those awkward silences and moments when you’re thinking of what to say. This happens occasionally when you interview guests. Take a moment to listen through it and clean up any unnecessary sounds.
A podcast can be your very own radio station, you set the schedule, you decide the theme and pick the guests. It can be about anything that interests your target audience.
Here some things you can do with a podcast:
- Expand on a blog post
- Interview an expert
- Talk about recent industry development and how it affects your audience
- Topics you’re passionate about
Just like blogging, it takes commitment for it to deliver results and become a success. Starting a podcast can help you expand your audience reach and strengthen your relationship with them.
What are your thoughts on podcasting?
Photo by laffy4k
]]>
A blog is the hub for all your content. While we’ve come to associate blogging and inbound marketing with writing – it’s easy to forget the other forms of content businesses can use for promotion.
Webinars, ebooks, images, videos and podcasts all have their place in inbound marketing. But the reason why blogging is so commonly used is because a) it’s been around for ages, so we’re used to it and b) it’s incredibly easy to start blogging.
Today’s topic is Podcasts – a digital audio or video file that can be downloaded from the web to a media player or computer. Podcasts are focused on a specific topic, with listeners able to subscribe via RSS.
Podcasting gives you another outpost to deliver content in an audio format. What’s more, you’re able to reach people in places where blog content would be dangerous and inconvenient. You wouldn’t jog and read blog posts at the same, but you would listen to audio content.
Podcasts often are overlooked because people think that a major recording studio is needed. But as you’ll see with this checklist – starting a podcast can be a relatively easy process.
How To Start Podcasting
Equipment
First things first – make sure you have the necessary equipment for recording. Luckily all you need is a computer, headset, and a microphone.
On the software front, you’ll want to have an audio editing and recording program.
For Windows users, check out Audacity (Free). For OS X users, Garageband comes preinstalled on all MacBooks and iMacs.
In this video Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income compares microphones and talks about some of the practicalities of podcasting.
Podcasting Tutorial – Video 1: Equipment and Software
Audio from video
Starting a podcast can be easier than you think. Have you got a presentation, interview or lecture recorded on video? Simply export the audio from the video and you now have your first podcast episodes.
Seth Godin’s Startup School podcast is a perfect example of this.
Listen to other podcasts
Each podcast has its own style, and yours needs one too. Browse through the iTunes library for podcasts focusing on your topic and the ones you’re already subscribed to. You’ll notice some incorporate a lot of humour, like the Get It Done Guy podcast does. While others take on a more professional approach, such as Michael Hyatt’s podcast.
Decide the length
Podcasts can range from 5 minutes in length to well over 1 hour. Depending on your topic, you want your podcast to be long enough to get your message across. Another thing to consider is to make your podcast cover the length of a jogging session or a commute.
It’s really up to you and there’s nothing wrong with a 5 minutes podcast as long it delivers value.
Submit to iTunes
There are other directories you can submit to such as Podcast Alley, Stitcher, and Blackberry. However Apple’s iTunes is the most popular and considered the go-to place for podcasts.
For more information on where to submit a podcast check out: Top Podcast Directories and How to Get in Them
Plan your podcast episode
Before you get started with recording your episode, plan out what you’re going to be talking about. Having a structure in place makes you stay on topic and helps you remember everything you need to cover.
You also want to jot down any links and people you’re referencing in the podcast so that you don’t forget.
Use your blog
Another benefit to planning out your episode, is that you won’t have to transcribe it later on. And you can use it as show notes when you publish it on your blog. Giving you another way to get the word out about your recent podcast.
Use music in moderation
Using music is a great way to start and end your podcast. Other than that, there’s no reason to put more tunes into it unless you’re a music podcast.
Avoid using music you do not own and don’t have permission from the owners to avoid legal problems.
You can use GarageBand’s free music selection, Fiverr.com for voice over and Freesound for sound effects. You can also search SoundCloud for Creative Commons content to use.
Edit, edit, edit
Here is where you edit out those awkward silences and moments when you’re thinking of what to say. This happens occasionally when you interview guests. Take a moment to listen through it and clean up any unnecessary sounds.
A podcast can be your very own radio station, you set the schedule, you decide the theme and pick the guests. It can be about anything that interests your target audience.
Here some things you can do with a podcast:
- Expand on a blog post
- Interview an expert
- Talk about recent industry development and how it affects your audience
- Topics you’re passionate about
Just like blogging, it takes commitment for it to deliver results and become a success. Starting a podcast can help you expand your audience reach and strengthen your relationship with them.
What are your thoughts on podcasting?
Photo by laffy4k
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/04/starting-a-podcast/feed/ 1 ]]>
Despite suggestions that email is dead and social media is the way to go – email is still very much relevant for inbound marketers.
Social media has been great to us in the sense that it allows to reach a huge audience without too much effort. All those followers and likes are all good to have, yet the troubling thing is that do we really own them. they don’t belong to your business.
Go on Google+ and you won’t be able to import your contacts from Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Nor at the very least be able to see who’s on the social site.
With an email list – you own the contacts on it and it’s yours to use how ever you like.
And the best part about it is that the people who sign up are warm prospects. They are interested in what you have to say and want to receive information delivered to their inbox – and folks just don’t give away their email unless they want something!
So how do you begin growing an email list? Here are five simple tips to get you started.
5 Ways To Grow Your Email List
1. Put a sign up form in the sidebar
Use your sidebar to place a sign up for email list. Let people know you have an email subscription option by displaying it somewhere that appears on every page. Make it stand out by using vibrant colors and come up with a compelling reason for people to sign up.
2. Offer an incentive
People are not going to give you email just because you’re asking them to. Instead, offer them a free eBook or a special white paper as an incentive to sign up for your mailing list.
Most people bulk at the idea of writing an eBook because they think it will be too much work. It doesn’t need to be long, just 5-10 pages. Make sure to follow these 7 tips for fast writing and content creation to get it done in no time!
3. Social media promotion
Going back to the first point – folks won’t be aware of your email subscription unless you tell them. Login to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn , Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr and any other social network you’re on and promote the hell out of it.
4. Social proof
In his book Influence, Robert B. Cialdini describes how, “Advertisers love to inform us when a product is the fastest-growing or largest-selling because they don’t have to convince us directly that the product is good, they need only say that many others think so, which seems proof enough.”
That’s social proof at work. Using other people’s actions as evidence that something is the right thing to do.
For your email list, use the number of subscribers you already have. Content Marketing Institute does a great job of this in the image below.
But what if you’re just starting out, and don’t have 40 000 subscribers? Use a testimonial from a happy recipient in the sign up form. You can also put up social sharing buttons with counters on your blog posts to show how popular your content is.
5. Deliver valuable information regularly
Lastly promise to deliver valuable information such as regular industry report analysis. Having an email list is only good if you use it. And the best way to remain top of mind is to touch base with prospects at least once a month.
Unlike social media, where your message can get lost in all the noise – your email campaigns are guaranteed to make their way to your prospects’ inbox. You can’t count for how people will filter them and what labels they’ll assign your emails to. But you’re able monitor click through rates and how many people are actually opening your emails to determine how successful your email campaign is.
MailChimp and AWeber are popular tools for managing lists and email marketing campaigns. Which email marketing software do you use – and why?
Image by Ryan McFarland
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Despite suggestions that email is dead and social media is the way to go – email is still very much relevant for inbound marketers.
Social media has been great to us in the sense that it allows to reach a huge audience without too much effort. All those followers and likes are all good to have, yet the troubling thing is that do we really own them. they don’t belong to your business.
Go on Google+ and you won’t be able to import your contacts from Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Nor at the very least be able to see who’s on the social site.
With an email list – you own the contacts on it and it’s yours to use how ever you like.
And the best part about it is that the people who sign up are warm prospects. They are interested in what you have to say and want to receive information delivered to their inbox – and folks just don’t give away their email unless they want something!
So how do you begin growing an email list? Here are five simple tips to get you started.
5 Ways To Grow Your Email List
1. Put a sign up form in the sidebar
Use your sidebar to place a sign up for email list. Let people know you have an email subscription option by displaying it somewhere that appears on every page. Make it stand out by using vibrant colors and come up with a compelling reason for people to sign up.
2. Offer an incentive
People are not going to give you email just because you’re asking them to. Instead, offer them a free eBook or a special white paper as an incentive to sign up for your mailing list.
Most people bulk at the idea of writing an eBook because they think it will be too much work. It doesn’t need to be long, just 5-10 pages. Make sure to follow these 7 tips for fast writing and content creation to get it done in no time!
3. Social media promotion
Going back to the first point – folks won’t be aware of your email subscription unless you tell them. Login to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn , Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr and any other social network you’re on and promote the hell out of it.
4. Social proof
In his book Influence, Robert B. Cialdini describes how, “Advertisers love to inform us when a product is the fastest-growing or largest-selling because they don’t have to convince us directly that the product is good, they need only say that many others think so, which seems proof enough.”
That’s social proof at work. Using other people’s actions as evidence that something is the right thing to do.
For your email list, use the number of subscribers you already have. Content Marketing Institute does a great job of this in the image below.
But what if you’re just starting out, and don’t have 40 000 subscribers? Use a testimonial from a happy recipient in the sign up form. You can also put up social sharing buttons with counters on your blog posts to show how popular your content is.
5. Deliver valuable information regularly
Lastly promise to deliver valuable information such as regular industry report analysis. Having an email list is only good if you use it. And the best way to remain top of mind is to touch base with prospects at least once a month.
Unlike social media, where your message can get lost in all the noise – your email campaigns are guaranteed to make their way to your prospects’ inbox. You can’t count for how people will filter them and what labels they’ll assign your emails to. But you’re able monitor click through rates and how many people are actually opening your emails to determine how successful your email campaign is.
MailChimp and AWeber are popular tools for managing lists and email marketing campaigns. Which email marketing software do you use – and why?
Image by Ryan McFarland
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/03/28/grow-email-list/feed/ 0 ]]>
How does your blog compare to others? If you’re looking to improve you blog, you’ve come to the right place! I’m subscribed to well over 100 blogs with RSS. And after a while you tend to pick up on a couple of things that make them great.
Blogs come in all shapes and sizes. From the business blog of your local marketing agency to a genuine web journal of a foodie. A successful blog to me, is one that delivers value on consistently and draws me in every time they publish something new.
Below you will find 5 characteristics my favorite blogs all have in common.
Common Characteristics Of Successful Blogs
1. Awesome design
Your blog design is the first thing people see. It’s also the most distinguishable feature of your blog. And a way for you to express yourself and what the blog stands for.
If you’re using WordPress or Tumblr – avoid using the default themes! Seriously, they are the most bland and uninspiring designs available. You’ll certainly not see Twenty Eleven as the Theme for any reputable blog.
Why? Because it tells people you’re too lazy to make an effort. The default themes are generic and it suggests the content will be generic too. What’s to say the content will be of any quality – especially with a default WordPress theme?
Hire a developer, or buy a theme and customize it yourself. Custom themes show off your personality and look more professional than the free themes available.
2. A clear focus
Great blogs have a clearly defined focus. They don’t try to be all things to everybody, and they can summarize what the blog is about in one sentence.
Blogs who try to cover everything are doomed to fail – simply because you can’t cover everything with any credibility. Choose a niche and focus on a topic you’re passionate about.
To help you with your focus check out 5 Questions To Help You Decide The Focus Of Your Blog
3. Regular content
Blogs that hardly publish content get lost in the fog! The reason is because everyone is competing for people’s attention.
Your job is to stay top of mind with regular content relevant to your audience’s needs. However, strive for quality over quantity with at least one blog post a week. If you can manage to publish 5 times a week without sacrificing quality, even better!
Stanford Smith wrote an interesting post about blogging everyday on his blog PushingSocial that’s worth checking out.
Usually what’s needed is a good strategy to outline your content marketing efforts. For information check out How To Develop A Content Strategy That Rocks
4. Spectacular images
Images play an important role in pulling visitors into your content. They are also great at complementing your post and can help reinforce a point you’re making.
Just be sure to avoid the cliche and over-used images of boardroom meetings and two people shaking hands. Instead look for some unique and eye-catching photos to make your posts pop.
I find most of my images through Flickr by using the Creative Commons Search. It’s free and I have no problem crediting the maker in my post. But it can take up to 30mins to find the perfect image.
5. Vibrant Community
Take a look at Social Media Examiner and Problogger, and you’ll notice an endless stream of comments at the end of each post. This is because they’ve created content that builds relationships with readers.
Almost all of their posts end with a question for the reader to comment on. Make sure you do the same. And also use a commenting system like Disqus or Livefyre, which also integrates social media, accounts.
So how does your blog measure up? If you ticked all the boxes above, well done! If not – don’t worry; it takes time to build a successful blog. The hardest part is usually starting and committing to an editorial calendar.
What’s your favourite blog? Tell us what makes it special by commenting.
Photo by Kei!
]]>
How does your blog compare to others? If you’re looking to improve you blog, you’ve come to the right place! I’m subscribed to well over 100 blogs with RSS. And after a while you tend to pick up on a couple of things that make them great.
Blogs come in all shapes and sizes. From the business blog of your local marketing agency to a genuine web journal of a foodie. A successful blog to me, is one that delivers value on consistently and draws me in every time they publish something new.
Below you will find 5 characteristics my favorite blogs all have in common.
Common Characteristics Of Successful Blogs
1. Awesome design
Your blog design is the first thing people see. It’s also the most distinguishable feature of your blog. And a way for you to express yourself and what the blog stands for.
If you’re using WordPress or Tumblr – avoid using the default themes! Seriously, they are the most bland and uninspiring designs available. You’ll certainly not see Twenty Eleven as the Theme for any reputable blog.
Why? Because it tells people you’re too lazy to make an effort. The default themes are generic and it suggests the content will be generic too. What’s to say the content will be of any quality – especially with a default WordPress theme?
Hire a developer, or buy a theme and customize it yourself. Custom themes show off your personality and look more professional than the free themes available.
2. A clear focus
Great blogs have a clearly defined focus. They don’t try to be all things to everybody, and they can summarize what the blog is about in one sentence.
Blogs who try to cover everything are doomed to fail – simply because you can’t cover everything with any credibility. Choose a niche and focus on a topic you’re passionate about.
To help you with your focus check out 5 Questions To Help You Decide The Focus Of Your Blog
3. Regular content
Blogs that hardly publish content get lost in the fog! The reason is because everyone is competing for people’s attention.
Your job is to stay top of mind with regular content relevant to your audience’s needs. However, strive for quality over quantity with at least one blog post a week. If you can manage to publish 5 times a week without sacrificing quality, even better!
Stanford Smith wrote an interesting post about blogging everyday on his blog PushingSocial that’s worth checking out.
Usually what’s needed is a good strategy to outline your content marketing efforts. For information check out How To Develop A Content Strategy That Rocks
4. Spectacular images
Images play an important role in pulling visitors into your content. They are also great at complementing your post and can help reinforce a point you’re making.
Just be sure to avoid the cliche and over-used images of boardroom meetings and two people shaking hands. Instead look for some unique and eye-catching photos to make your posts pop.
I find most of my images through Flickr by using the Creative Commons Search. It’s free and I have no problem crediting the maker in my post. But it can take up to 30mins to find the perfect image.
5. Vibrant Community
Take a look at Social Media Examiner and Problogger, and you’ll notice an endless stream of comments at the end of each post. This is because they’ve created content that builds relationships with readers.
Almost all of their posts end with a question for the reader to comment on. Make sure you do the same. And also use a commenting system like Disqus or Livefyre, which also integrates social media, accounts.
So how does your blog measure up? If you ticked all the boxes above, well done! If not – don’t worry; it takes time to build a successful blog. The hardest part is usually starting and committing to an editorial calendar.
What’s your favourite blog? Tell us what makes it special by commenting.
Photo by Kei!
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/03/21/characteristics-of-successful-blogs/feed/ 0 ]]>
Who could say no to more leads? I bet your business couldn’t! Inbound marketing is focused on reeling people in with amazing content. There’s also a business objective behind it, which is usually to sign up more customers.
A lead is essentially a person who has shown an interest in your business’s products or services – either through contacting you directly or filling out a form with their email address.
Just because somebody handed you their email via a form, doesn’t instantly make them a lead where you can hard sell. When they first sign up, they’re just contacts that have given you permission to email them. But now have the chance to convert them into qualified leads through email marketing.
If you’re looking to generate more leads for your business with inbound marketing, check out these tools that are ideal for attracting and capturing email subscriptions.
6 Essential Lead Generation Tools
Blog
It goes without saying that your website needs a blog delivering valuable content to attract inbound leads. Publishing regularly on your blog will attract more visitors from search engines and social media. Another thing to bear in mind is that a blog post will probably be the first page people stumble upon.
Here’s a short list of ideas to get you started:
- Interview an industry thought leader
- Blog about a happy customer
- Share productivity tips
- Analysing industry news
- Report on an event
- Review a product
- Curate content
For more information check out: What To Publish When You’re Short On Ideas?
Offer Downloadable Content
Who doesn’t like free stuff? Content like whitepapers, webinars, podcasts and ebooks can all be used to attract more inbound leads.
With ebooks and webinars, the idea is to deliver so much value; people won’t have a problem giving away their email address.
Downloadable content also helps position yourself as a trustworthy expert on the topic. You did in fact write the “book” on it after all!
Opt-in forms
Make it easy for visitors to contact you and sign up for a freebie. People view websites in different ways, some might ignore the header and focus 100% on the content. This is when you need to include multiple opt-in form throughout your website.
Make sure to include forms at least in the sidebar and footer. You can also put forms inside the body of your content and as a notification bar at the top of your website.
Email marketing provider AWeber offers a variety of opt-in forms to embed on to your website. Mailchimp‘s offering is more limited, but with a little coding you’ll be able to design your own custom opt-in form.
Here’s a useful step-by-step guide for creating your own Mailchimp form: Designing a Cool Mailchimp Signup Widget
Experiment with a Popup
I’m not a big fan of popups, I usually look for the close button before reading the content. But then again, I’m probably not your target audience.
It appears a lot of major blogs such as Social Media Examiner, FreelanceFolder and Content Marketing Institute are using popups . The aim of the popup is that all the attention is focused on it since everything else becomes blurred out.
Dan Zarrella conducted an experiment to see the effects popups had on his email subscriptions. Below you’ll find a table of his data, which shows a dramatic decrease with no popup.
Remember that every website is different and the best way to find out works is to test it out and eliminate any assumptions.
Use Hello Bar
Hello Bar is an elegant notification bar that’s placed at the top of your website. It lets you create a call-to-action and link to a landing, which can stay on top as visitors scroll down.
It’s a neat way of grabbing people’s attention without being obtrusive. Hello Bar offers a free plan of up to 25 clicks per month. Its pro plan starts at $4.95/month for 100 clicks and also offers additional features such as RSS and Twitter feeds, SSL support and unbranded bars.
Another alternative worth checking out is Attention Grabber, which you can buy for a one-time fee of $12.
Install Welcome Gate
In an episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, DJ Waldow – co-author of The Rebels Guide to Email Marketing – said half of his email list comes from a plugin called Welcome Gate.
If you’re not a fan of popups, you might want to look into it. It’s basically a combination of a popup and a squeeze page, but considered less aggressive.
The way it works is when someone visits your home page (and only the homepage), they’re redirected to your Welcome Gate. Visitors will see it only once, unless they use a different browser or clear their cookies.
It’s always wise to sit down and review how effective your inbound marketing is. If you’re not drawing in the leads you want, you need to look into other alternatives. But some of these tools are sure to give you a boost in lead generation.
What about you? What tools have been working for you? Let us know in the comments below!
Image by mikequozl
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/20/6-tools-to-help-generate-more-inbound-leads/feed/ 0 How To Attract More Sales And Leads By Targeting 3 Types Of Search Queries http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/17/targeting-3-types-of-search-queries/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/17/targeting-3-types-of-search-queries/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 08:08:45 +0000 Kostas Papageorgiou Search Engine Optimization google visibility lead generation search engine marketing search queries seo http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=551 There’s a reason why the default homepage on most web browsers is Google. And that’s because your online session starts with a search query. A search query is basically the text you type in the search bar. Think about it, … Continue reading
There’s a reason why the default homepage on most web browsers is Google. And that’s because your online session starts with a search query.
A search query is basically the text you type in the search bar. Think about it, when you open up a browser, your intention is to either visit your favorite website (navigational), seek out information (informational) or buy something (transactional).
Those are 3 types of search queries I’ll be discussing today. And I will tell how it can help your business beat the competition on Google.
So where do you start? Here’s the rundown on each search query and what you can do to attract more sales for your business.
3 Types Of Search Queries You Need To Target
Navigational Queries
As the name suggests, navigational queries are a way for people to get from point A to point B via a search engine. For instance you might type “Twitter” or “BBC” into the search engine instead typing out the URL.
These queries can be your name, brand name or product names, so it’s important that you own the website people are looking for. Otherwise there’s not much use targeting those search queries.
One thing to remember is that navigational queries are also used to search for news on a brand or a product. For example instead of typing in LinkedIn and going to the site, someone might want to get the latest news topics on the social network.
And this brings us to the next type of search query which is informational.
Informational Queries
Let’s continue with the previous example. So somebody is searching for news on LinkedIn, which means they’re looking for more information on the topic.
This is what informational queries are all about, satisfying people’s need for knowledge. This means you should create content that’s relevant to your target audience. For instance a good example of an informational query is: Should I Begin to Use Google Adwords?
Here are a few ways you can get started with targeting informational queries:
- Start a blog and deliver valuable tips to make people’s lives easier
- Film how-to videos relevant to your business (remember YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google)
- Publish a definitive guide on a topic your audience needs help with. For instance our Beginners Guide To Growing Your Google+ Audience
- People are hungry for statistics, especially when they’re presented as inforgraphics
- The thing with informational queries is that people aren’t at the buying stage yet. So don’t be overly self-promotional in your content here because it will discredit you, just like an overly positive product review with affiliate links does.
The idea with targeting informational queries is to build awareness for your business and position yourself as a credible source.
Transactional Queries
People use transactional queries when they’re at the end of the sales cycle and ready to buy. These queries generally include your brand name (if it’s well-known), names of your products, call-to-actions and generic product terms (e.g. portable speaker, presentation software, etc.).
Because people are at the buying stage, you want them to find your product pages when they are searching online. So here’s what you can do to get found by potential customers:
- Do a keyword search
- Optimize your product pages with relevant keywords
- Consider Google Adwords because sponsored results can take up most of the search results that are above the fold (see picture below)
- Google Adwords also offers some neat features to distinguish your offering, such as; image ads, rich media ads and video ads
- Use location to your advantage, e.g. Helsinki pizza restaurant
Keep in mind that with product pages, you can publish as many pages as you want. It doesn’t cost you anything to add a new page on your own website. So you might want to create a page to target several transactional queries. However don’t use the same content, as Google doesn’t appreciate duplicates.
There’s a fine line between writing content for humans and search engines. While it’s important to target search queries with relevant keywords, your task here is to keep it natural.
Google is getting smarter at spotting spammy content, and your safest bet is to write quality, unique and valuable content. Its social network Google+ and authorship markup also play a role in determining how relevant and popular content is based on the number of +1s, shares and comments.
For more tips on how to get started with SEO, check out: Search Engine Optimization: The Bare Minimum You Have To Do
Image by dullhunk
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/17/targeting-3-types-of-search-queries/feed/ 0 New Starter Plan is Here! http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/14/new-starter-plan-is-here/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/14/new-starter-plan-is-here/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 10:45:25 +0000 Jarno Wuorisalo Cuutio Features cuutio starter payments pricing http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=541 It’s been a busy spring for us. Our user community has spread to 36 countries and we are planning to roll out new awesome features soon. But first things first. As a result of many discussions and feedback from our … Continue readingIt’s been a busy spring for us. Our user community has spread to 36 countries and we are planning to roll out new awesome features soon. But first things first. As a result of many discussions and feedback from our users, we are excited to announce several changes in our plans and payment methods.
Say Hi to the New Starter Plan!
Let me introduce you to Cuutio Starter, a plan which gives you most of the benefits from our earlier Silver plan. Perfect for businesses who are starting to develop their visibility or to those, who don’t have the need to monitor hundreds of keywords or battle against a dozen competitors. For a monthly fee of only 29€ you’ll get:
- 25 keywords
- 3 competitors
- 2 market areas (search engines)
- Unlimited domains
- 24 weeks of historical data
It Gets Even Better With Silver and Gold
The users of Silver and Gold plans experience a huge increase in their monitoring scale. Silver includes now 200 keywords (previously 25) and 10 competitors (5). With the Gold plan you are able to monitor 1000 keywords (100) and unlimited competitors (10).
Bronze is now Free
From now on the users of the entry plan, Cuutio Free (previously Bronze) are able to monitor 1 domain with 10 keywords and 1 competitor in 1 market area with 4 weeks of history data. Cuutio Free remains, like the new name may suggest, free of charge.
When you upgrade to a paid plan, you are now able to pay with your credit card via Paymill’s secure service.
Check out the pricing plans more closely or log in to your account to see what has changed. Have questions? Visit our support site.
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/14/new-starter-plan-is-here/feed/ 0 How To Promote Your Website For Maximum Visibility http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/02/promote-your-website-for-maximum-visibility/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/02/promote-your-website-for-maximum-visibility/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 09:05:30 +0000 Kostas Papageorgiou Inbound Marketing google visibility offline marketing online marketing seo social media marketing http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=533 “Build it and they will come.” Well not so much when you’re online! Sorry to burst your bubble, but the reality is your website, in the beginning, is just a little dot in the online universe. Whether it’s a website … Continue reading
“Build it and they will come.” Well not so much when you’re online! Sorry to burst your bubble, but the reality is your website, in the beginning, is just a little dot in the online universe.
Whether it’s a website or blog, you probably want more traffic coming your way. It’s definitely the top priority of every website owner, because without visitors you will not be able to make any sales.
So how do you go about promoting your web presence and driving more traffic to your site. Here are 12 ways to get you started.
12 Ways To Promote Your Website
1. Tell friends and family
Cover the basics first and tell everyone you know about your new website and blog. Don’t worry about it coming off as spam, it’s just a tiny reminder to let everyone know what you’re working on.
Send out a simple, “Just wanted to quickly let you know about…” email to your contacts. And also announce it on your social media accounts.
2. Business cards
Yes I know there are apps that let you exchange contact information such as Bump. However they need the other person to have the application too which doesn’t make it every practical.
Based on my experience attending events, business cards are still the way to go. Make sure you include all the essentials such as email, Twitter handle and of course, your website URL.
3. Use SlideShare
SlideShare is a place where you can upload presentations, PDFs, videos and Office documents. This is arguably the largest community for sharing content among professionals. And according to ComScore, SlideShare has five times more traffic than LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
To ensure you get traffic back to your website, make sure your slides include your website URL with a compelling call-to-action.
4. Links on social media profiles
You’re probably on a handful of social networks. Personally I’m on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. That makes at least five place where people can view your profile and click on your website link.
5. Giving talks
Take the conversation offline and ask non-profit organisations if they need a speaker for future events. And just like the content you upload to SlideShare, make sure your URL is on every slide.
The beauty of presenting in public is that you already have an audience in front of you. During which you can suggest everyone to visit your website for more information. If you have a free ebook or special report to give away, even better!
6. T-shirts
A great way to draw attention to your website is printing your URL on a t-shirt (hoodies and jumpers also work). Wear it where ever you go to raise awareness about your website.
7. Blogging
When you start delivering unique and valuable content, that’s when you give people a reason to visit your website again. Publishing a blog post 1-3 times a week gives people an entry point to visit your blog. The more you blog, the more ways folks can visit your website.
8. Social media marketing
This is where blogging comes in handy for your business because now you have a reason to post an update on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+. Whenever you publish a new post, promote it on social media. Also share it in Groups you’re a member of and get a discussion started.
9. Search engine optimisation
This list wouldn’t be complete without search engine optimisation (SEO). 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine meaning you can attract quite a bit of traffic by making your website easier for Google to index.
To get started on SEO make sure you check out: Search Engine Optimization: The Bare Minimum You Have To Do
10. Google Authorship
This is Google’s way of ranking content based on your authority. You’ve probably noticed those small pictures of people next to search results and that’s basically Google Authorship at work. It’s how the search giant verifies that you own the content. The reason this helps drive more people to your website is because it increases click through rates (CTRs) by 150%
For information on Google Authorship, check out: Top 3 Reasons To Implement The Google Authorship Markup Today
11. Networking
That’s right – get out of the office! Look for events to attend and start working the room. Remember that networking is not only restricted to business events! Anywhere you go is a chance to meet someone new. The thing is that you never who that person next to you is – they might very well be a potential client!
12. Freebies
Ever complained about getting free stuff? Thought you haven’t. Case in point, people love freebies! Ebooks, special reports and webinars work well in attracting more visitors to your website. For the same reasons as blogging, it gives people an entry point to your website.
So there you have it, 12 ways you can start promoting your website today. It takes time to build an audience so hang in there and get active on social media and also offline. Always try to take the relationship offline because that’s how strong relationships are made.
What tricks are you using for promoting your website?
Photo by Johan Larsson
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/05/02/promote-your-website-for-maximum-visibility/feed/ 0 An 8 Step Guide To Getting Started With LinkedIn http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/26/getting-started-with-linkedin/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/26/getting-started-with-linkedin/#comments Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:56:27 +0000 Kostas Papageorgiou Inbound Marketing facebook linkedin social media marketing twitter http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=526 It’s a well established fact that LinkedIn is where people go to do business. You won’t see any cat posts or food picture on this social network. Instead you’ll find people sharing posts about their business, useful industry related content … Continue reading
It’s a well established fact that LinkedIn is where people go to do business. You won’t see any cat posts or food picture on this social network. Instead you’ll find people sharing posts about their business, useful industry related content and the good old congratulations on a well deserved accomplishment.
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is focused on developing business relationship. That is why you’ll find your colleagues, past employers and former classmates there. Ever since the economy has tanked, folks have been using LinkedIn to find jobs. While recruiters have been intensively sourcing candidates. And others have turned to LinkedIn as a sales tool.
Some people think it’s just an online rolodex to store your contact. But it’s more than that when you know how to use LinkedIn the smart way. And that usually happens right at the beginning when you set up your LinkedIn profile. Here’s your checklist for getting started with LinkedIn.
Your Checklist For Getting Started With LinkedIn
Define Your Goals
Something everybody needs to asks themselves before diving into a social network is, why do I want to be here? What am I hoping to get out of being on LinkedIn?
It could be to grow your professional network, attract leads to your business, close more sales or find a job. Heck it can be all three of them. The point is that clearly defining your goals helps you focus on activities that will help you reach them.
Dig Up Your Resume
LinkedIn’s core function is as an online resume. Instead of starting from scratch, dig up your resume and just copy and paste the information. Alternatively you can just import it. However I think it’s a good idea to go through it and make sure everything is okay. You may also want to make some changes for it be more online friendly.
SEO Your Profile
You can choose to make your profile public, which means that search engines can index it and you’ll appear in search results. And just you like would include keywords on your website and blog for a higher search engine ranking – you can also do with your linkedIn profile to get more love from search.
For more information on searching for keywords, check out 4 Ways To Find Out What Keywords Your Customers Use For Greater Visibility Online
Beef Up Your Profile
Nothing says, “I don’t care!” than a bare bones profile. Give it some meat for people to chew on. And most importantly see all the great things you’ve accomplished.
That means writing a summary about yourself, adding descriptions to your previous work experience and choosing a nice picture to display. This is all to build trust with whomever views your profile. After all, we tend to do business with people with like and trust.
Connect With People You Already Know
Obvious I know. But something I get asked a lot is, “Who should I connect with? Is it okay to invite my boss or an old friend?”
The answer is a profound yes! Don’t be shy – the bigger network you have – the more opportunities will come your way. It’s okay to add people who’ve met at networking events and been interacting with in LinkedIn Groups.
Join LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups are a fantastic way to get on more people’s radar. They’re similar to Google+ Communities and Facebook Groups as places where like-minded people can get together and exchange ideas.
To help get you started here’s a list by Bradley Will of top Groups for entrepreneurs to join: Top 20 LinkedIn Groups All Entrepreneurs Must Join
Ask For Recommendations
Having recommendations builds your credibility. And it goes back to trust factor I mention before. It’s pure social proof at work, and it’s a way for others to vouch for you.
You want to request them from people you know well and have worked with in the past. You can also write recommendations for people you know and have worked with.
Just don’t go around asking folks with whom you have a weak relationship with – trust me it doesn’t go down well with the person you’re asking
Show Off Your Achievements
LinkedIn now allows to feature projects, publications, patents and certifications on your profile. Again this is another way for people to get to know what you’re capable of doing. Plus it’s a fantastic way to show something concrete.
As with any social network, active participation is a MUST! Start sharing tips and resources in LinkedIn groups, comment on updates and share interesting posts to your profile. It’s about engagement and being genuinely helpful. And unless you cultivate relationships, those connections will just remain numbers on your profile.
How do you use LinkedIn? Let us know by commenting below.
Photo by Coletivo Mambembe
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/26/getting-started-with-linkedin/feed/ 0 13 Easy Ways To Learn More About Your Audience Using Social Media http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/18/research-audience-social-media/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/18/research-audience-social-media/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:20:04 +0000 Kostas Papageorgiou Inbound Marketing facebook Google linkedin research audience social media twitter http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=520 Imagine spending hours or even days creating content that you’re proud of, and when you finally hit publish – nobody cares! That’s what happens when you fail to research your audience properly. The key to successful inbound marketing and attracting … Continue reading
Imagine spending hours or even days creating content that you’re proud of, and when you finally hit publish – nobody cares!
That’s what happens when you fail to research your audience properly. The key to successful inbound marketing and attracting leads for your business is getting your content shared online. But that can only happen when you deliver remarkable content.
Your task here is to find out what your audience’s needs are and how you can create content that offers a solution for them.
Luckily, researching your target audience has never been easier. Here 13 ways you can learn more about them using social media.
How To Research Your Audience Using Social Media
With over 1.06 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social network on the planet.
1. Polls and surveys – Asking questions is a great way to get your audience involved. It’s also a neat tool to get to know them better and find out what they like (and dislike).
2. Join network, alumni and industry groups – Simply search for groups using keywords relevant to your industry. Some will be open while others are private.
3. Set up your own group – Setting up your own group allows for a more intimate setting for your users. You can set one up to be open for all or keep it private. One way you can use Groups is testing new ideas and products to see how people react.
Twitter is probably the best tool to use here for 3 reasons:
- You can follow events globally
- It’s real-time
- You can easily reach out to people
4. Twitter search – This is how you can follow real-time conversations globally. Search for keywords related to your industry and save the search to come back to it later.
5. Follow people – One of the simplest ways to find out more about your audience is to just follow prospective buyers. Another way of doing it, is to use Lists to group people into segments such as; buyers, competitors, journalists, etc. WeFollow and Twellow are great resources to help you find people based on their interests, and build a strategic following.
6. Follow hashtags – This is the # symbol used to mark keywords in a Tweet. You can set up searches for hashtags specific to your industry to follow and add your voice to the discussion.
7. Advanced search – If the standard search isn’t working for you, try Twitter’s Advanced Search. It allows you to search for local tweets and a whole lot of other things too. Twitter explains how to use it in this guide: Using advanced search
8. Tweet! – This might seem obvious, but you can tweet links to your polls and surveys on Facebook and any other service you’re using. Likewise, you can Tweet questions and see the response you get.
LinkedIn is the social network for business with more than 200 million members. And based on our findings, it’s where B2B businesses need to be (see Which Social Network Is Right For Your Business).
9. LinkedIn Groups – Search for groups where your target audience will be participating. Groups are a great place to connect with like-minded people and for getting feedback.
10. Connect – Naturally you’ll connect with people you already know. But if you want to broaden your network, you can also connect with Group members you’ve been interacting with.
11. LinkedIn Polls – Similar to Facebook’s feature, LinkedIn Polls allows you to ask questions and lets people respond and leave comments.
Google+
Google+ is similar to Twitter in the sense that you can follow whoever you want. But it allows you make your profile as private or as public as you like.
12. Follow people – Again, follow people who fit your target audience. You can use Google+’s suggested users feature, and the search bar. Another handy tool is Find People On G+ which helps you search by age, location and occupation.
13. Join Communities – Google+ Communities are similar to LinkedIn Groups and Facebook Groups. To get started, check out the Discover Communities section in your profile.
Remember not to hard sell in groups, because that is one way to get booted out. On social media, you need to contribute first before receiving.
Last piece of advice, which I think is the most important is: Participate! You want to be active on each social network you’re on and genuinely help others. That’s the only way to build a following and get found on social media!
How do you use social media for business? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section.
Photo by mkhmarketing
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/18/research-audience-social-media/feed/ 0 Which Social Network Is Right For Your Business? http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/11/social-media-right-for-business/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/11/social-media-right-for-business/#comments Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:58:39 +0000 Kostas Papageorgiou Inbound Marketing facebook marketing google+ tips inbound marketing linkedin marketing social media marketing social media statistics tumblr statistics twitter marketing using pinterest http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=510 Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest. That’s six social networks businesses can use to reach their target audience! And as if that wasn’t enough, we’ve got new social media sites like Vine, Pheed and App.net popping up. Case in … Continue reading
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest. That’s six social networks businesses can use to reach their target audience! And as if that wasn’t enough, we’ve got new social media sites like Vine, Pheed and App.net popping up.
Case in point, there’s just not enough time in the day to maintain an active presence on all the major social networks.
So how do you decide where to invest your time? Ideally you want to be where your target audience is hanging out. Otherwise you will not see the results you were expecting.
Each social network caters to a different demographic. Which means you can’t use a one-size fits all strategy. Let’s take a look at some statistics of the six major social networks and see which one is a good match for your business.
30 Social Media Statistics To Help You Decide
- Facebook is the larges social network on the list with 1.06 billion monthly active users (Source)
- 680 million monthly mobile active users (Source)
- Facebook’s audience is almost level in age distribution with 57% of Facebook users aged between 18-44, and 10% being over the age of 65 (Source)
- The average age of a Facebook user is 22 (Source)
- Males account for 43% of users (Source)
- 60% earn less than $60k annually (Source)
- 77% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies acquired customers from Facebook (Source)
- Twitter’s audience is more middle-aged with the average age of a user being 37.3 years old, with 55% are over the age of 35.(Source)
- 60% of users are female. (Source)
- 17% earn more than $100k (Source)
- Interesting content, personal connections and humour are the top 3 reasons why people retweet (Source)
- LinkedIn has the oldest audience out of the social networks on the list with 15% over 65 (Source)
- 55% of their audience earns more than $60k, of which 27% earn more than $100k (Source)
- Gender distribution is equal at 50% (Source)
- B2B business experienced a 61% success rate in customer acquisition via LinkedIn, compared to 39% for B2C (Source)
- Largest industry on LinkedIn is information and services, followed by financial services, higher education, computer software and telecommunications (Source)
Google+
- 60% of Google+ users are under 45 (Source)
- 22% are aged 35-44 (Source)
- 68% of Google+ users are male, while 32 percent of Google+ users are female. (Source)
- 30% of Google+’s audience has income over $100k (Source)
- Student is the top occupation on Google+ at 20,01%, followed by software engineer at 2,65% and consultant at 1,99% (Source)
Tumblr
- Tumblr’s audience is among the youngest out of all the social networks on this list with 45% being under 35 years old. (Source)
- 47% of US Tumblr users are male (Source)
- 35% of Tumblr users make less than $30k (Source)
- 65% of Tumblr’s audience has a college education (Source)
- The most popular age group on Pinterest is 25 – 34 year olds at 30% (Source)
- 80 % of Pinterest users are women, while 50 percent of all Pinterest users have children. (Source)
- 28.1% of Pinterest users have an annual household income of $100k (Source)
- Visitors coming from Pinterest spend 70% more money than referrals from non-social channels (Source)
- Tutorial, DIY & recipe pins experience 42% higher click-through rate than other types of pins (Source)
So what can you do with this information? Well if you’re wondering whether your target audience can afford your products, simply look at their annual income. Are you a B2B business? Chances are, you’ll have better success with LinkedIn.
These statistics give you a basic idea of who’s using what and where your target audience is. Just because everyone else is on a social network is not a good enough reason for you to be on it. The only way to grow an audience is to be active, follow people and have content with substance to contribute. At the moment the top 3 for businesses are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
What social networks are you using?
Image by Jason A. Howie
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/11/social-media-right-for-business/feed/ 0 Your Checklist For Starting A Podcast http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/04/starting-a-podcast/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/04/starting-a-podcast/#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 08:23:55 +0000 Kostas Papageorgiou Inbound Marketing creating a podcast how to podcast inbound marketing user engagement what is podcasting http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=494 A blog is the hub for all your content. While we’ve come to associate blogging and inbound marketing with writing – it’s easy to forget the other forms of content businesses can use for promotion. Webinars, ebooks, images, videos and … Continue reading
A blog is the hub for all your content. While we’ve come to associate blogging and inbound marketing with writing – it’s easy to forget the other forms of content businesses can use for promotion.
Webinars, ebooks, images, videos and podcasts all have their place in inbound marketing. But the reason why blogging is so commonly used is because a) it’s been around for ages, so we’re used to it and b) it’s incredibly easy to start blogging.
Today’s topic is Podcasts – a digital audio or video file that can be downloaded from the web to a media player or computer. Podcasts are focused on a specific topic, with listeners able to subscribe via RSS.
Podcasting gives you another outpost to deliver content in an audio format. What’s more, you’re able to reach people in places where blog content would be dangerous and inconvenient. You wouldn’t jog and read blog posts at the same, but you would listen to audio content.
Podcasts often are overlooked because people think that a major recording studio is needed. But as you’ll see with this checklist – starting a podcast can be a relatively easy process.
How To Start Podcasting
Equipment
First things first – make sure you have the necessary equipment for recording. Luckily all you need is a computer, headset, and a microphone.
On the software front, you’ll want to have an audio editing and recording program.
For Windows users, check out Audacity (Free). For OS X users, Garageband comes preinstalled on all MacBooks and iMacs.
In this video Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income compares microphones and talks about some of the practicalities of podcasting.
Podcasting Tutorial – Video 1: Equipment and Software
Audio from video
Starting a podcast can be easier than you think. Have you got a presentation, interview or lecture recorded on video? Simply export the audio from the video and you now have your first podcast episodes.
Seth Godin’s Startup School podcast is a perfect example of this.
Listen to other podcasts
Each podcast has its own style, and yours needs one too. Browse through the iTunes library for podcasts focusing on your topic and the ones you’re already subscribed to. You’ll notice some incorporate a lot of humour, like the Get It Done Guy podcast does. While others take on a more professional approach, such as Michael Hyatt’s podcast.
Decide the length
Podcasts can range from 5 minutes in length to well over 1 hour. Depending on your topic, you want your podcast to be long enough to get your message across. Another thing to consider is to make your podcast cover the length of a jogging session or a commute.
It’s really up to you and there’s nothing wrong with a 5 minutes podcast as long it delivers value.
Submit to iTunes
There are other directories you can submit to such as Podcast Alley, Stitcher, and Blackberry. However Apple’s iTunes is the most popular and considered the go-to place for podcasts.
For more information on where to submit a podcast check out: Top Podcast Directories and How to Get in Them
Plan your podcast episode
Before you get started with recording your episode, plan out what you’re going to be talking about. Having a structure in place makes you stay on topic and helps you remember everything you need to cover.
You also want to jot down any links and people you’re referencing in the podcast so that you don’t forget.
Use your blog
Another benefit to planning out your episode, is that you won’t have to transcribe it later on. And you can use it as show notes when you publish it on your blog. Giving you another way to get the word out about your recent podcast.
Use music in moderation
Using music is a great way to start and end your podcast. Other than that, there’s no reason to put more tunes into it unless you’re a music podcast.
Avoid using music you do not own and don’t have permission from the owners to avoid legal problems.
You can use GarageBand’s free music selection, Fiverr.com for voice over and Freesound for sound effects. You can also search SoundCloud for Creative Commons content to use.
Edit, edit, edit
Here is where you edit out those awkward silences and moments when you’re thinking of what to say. This happens occasionally when you interview guests. Take a moment to listen through it and clean up any unnecessary sounds.
A podcast can be your very own radio station, you set the schedule, you decide the theme and pick the guests. It can be about anything that interests your target audience.
Here some things you can do with a podcast:
- Expand on a blog post
- Interview an expert
- Talk about recent industry development and how it affects your audience
- Topics you’re passionate about
Just like blogging, it takes commitment for it to deliver results and become a success. Starting a podcast can help you expand your audience reach and strengthen your relationship with them.
What are your thoughts on podcasting?
Photo by laffy4k
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/04/04/starting-a-podcast/feed/ 1 5 Ways To Instantly Grow Your Email List http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/03/28/grow-email-list/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/03/28/grow-email-list/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 09:04:04 +0000 Kostas Papageorgiou Inbound Marketing email marketing inbound marketing prospecting social media marketing http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=487 Despite suggestions that email is dead and social media is the way to go – email is still very much relevant for inbound marketers. Social media has been great to us in the sense that it allows to reach a … Continue reading
Despite suggestions that email is dead and social media is the way to go – email is still very much relevant for inbound marketers.
Social media has been great to us in the sense that it allows to reach a huge audience without too much effort. All those followers and likes are all good to have, yet the troubling thing is that do we really own them. they don’t belong to your business.
Go on Google+ and you won’t be able to import your contacts from Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Nor at the very least be able to see who’s on the social site.
With an email list – you own the contacts on it and it’s yours to use how ever you like.
And the best part about it is that the people who sign up are warm prospects. They are interested in what you have to say and want to receive information delivered to their inbox – and folks just don’t give away their email unless they want something!
So how do you begin growing an email list? Here are five simple tips to get you started.
5 Ways To Grow Your Email List
1. Put a sign up form in the sidebar
Use your sidebar to place a sign up for email list. Let people know you have an email subscription option by displaying it somewhere that appears on every page. Make it stand out by using vibrant colors and come up with a compelling reason for people to sign up.
2. Offer an incentive
People are not going to give you email just because you’re asking them to. Instead, offer them a free eBook or a special white paper as an incentive to sign up for your mailing list.
Most people bulk at the idea of writing an eBook because they think it will be too much work. It doesn’t need to be long, just 5-10 pages. Make sure to follow these 7 tips for fast writing and content creation to get it done in no time!
3. Social media promotion
Going back to the first point – folks won’t be aware of your email subscription unless you tell them. Login to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn , Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr and any other social network you’re on and promote the hell out of it.
4. Social proof
In his book Influence, Robert B. Cialdini describes how, “Advertisers love to inform us when a product is the fastest-growing or largest-selling because they don’t have to convince us directly that the product is good, they need only say that many others think so, which seems proof enough.”
That’s social proof at work. Using other people’s actions as evidence that something is the right thing to do.
For your email list, use the number of subscribers you already have. Content Marketing Institute does a great job of this in the image below.
But what if you’re just starting out, and don’t have 40 000 subscribers? Use a testimonial from a happy recipient in the sign up form. You can also put up social sharing buttons with counters on your blog posts to show how popular your content is.
5. Deliver valuable information regularly
Lastly promise to deliver valuable information such as regular industry report analysis. Having an email list is only good if you use it. And the best way to remain top of mind is to touch base with prospects at least once a month.
Unlike social media, where your message can get lost in all the noise – your email campaigns are guaranteed to make their way to your prospects’ inbox. You can’t count for how people will filter them and what labels they’ll assign your emails to. But you’re able monitor click through rates and how many people are actually opening your emails to determine how successful your email campaign is.
MailChimp and AWeber are popular tools for managing lists and email marketing campaigns. Which email marketing software do you use – and why?
Image by Ryan McFarland
http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/03/28/grow-email-list/feed/ 0 5 Common Characteristics Of Successful Blogs http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/03/21/characteristics-of-successful-blogs/ http://www.cuutio.com/blog/2013/03/21/characteristics-of-successful-blogs/#comments Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:23:47 +0000 Kostas Papageorgiou Inbound Marketing blogging content marketing online presence successful blogs thought leadership user engagement http://www.cuutio.com/blog/?p=481 How does your blog compare to others? If you’re looking to improve you blog, you’ve come to the right place! I’m subscribed to well over 100 blogs with RSS. And after a while you tend to pick up on a … Continue reading
How does your blog compare to others? If you’re looking to improve you blog, you’ve come to the right place! I’m subscribed to well over 100 blogs with RSS. And after a while you tend to pick up on a couple of things that make them great.
Blogs come in all shapes and sizes. From the business blog of your local marketing agency to a genuine web journal of a foodie. A successful blog to me, is one that delivers value on consistently and draws me in every time they publish something new.
Below you will find 5 characteristics my favorite blogs all have in common.
Common Characteristics Of Successful Blogs
1. Awesome design
Your blog design is the first thing people see. It’s also the most distinguishable feature of your blog. And a way for you to express yourself and what the blog stands for.
If you’re using WordPress or Tumblr – avoid using the default themes! Seriously, they are the most bland and uninspiring designs available. You’ll certainly not see Twenty Eleven as the Theme for any reputable blog.
Why? Because it tells people you’re too lazy to make an effort. The default themes are generic and it suggests the content will be generic too. What’s to say the content will be of any quality – especially with a default WordPress theme?
Hire a developer, or buy a theme and customize it yourself. Custom themes show off your personality and look more professional than the free themes available.
2. A clear focus
Great blogs have a clearly defined focus. They don’t try to be all things to everybody, and they can summarize what the blog is about in one sentence.
Blogs who try to cover everything are doomed to fail – simply because you can’t cover everything with any credibility. Choose a niche and focus on a topic you’re passionate about.
To help you with your focus check out 5 Questions To Help You Decide The Focus Of Your Blog
3. Regular content
Blogs that hardly publish content get lost in the fog! The reason is because everyone is competing for people’s attention.
Your job is to stay top of mind with regular content relevant to your audience’s needs. However, strive for quality over quantity with at least one blog post a week. If you can manage to publish 5 times a week without sacrificing quality, even better!
Stanford Smith wrote an interesting post about blogging everyday on his blog PushingSocial that’s worth checking out.
Usually what’s needed is a good strategy to outline your content marketing efforts. For information check out How To Develop A Content Strategy That Rocks
4. Spectacular images
Images play an important role in pulling visitors into your content. They are also great at complementing your post and can help reinforce a point you’re making.
Just be sure to avoid the cliche and over-used images of boardroom meetings and two people shaking hands. Instead look for some unique and eye-catching photos to make your posts pop.
I find most of my images through Flickr by using the Creative Commons Search. It’s free and I have no problem crediting the maker in my post. But it can take up to 30mins to find the perfect image.
5. Vibrant Community
Take a look at Social Media Examiner and Problogger, and you’ll notice an endless stream of comments at the end of each post. This is because they’ve created content that builds relationships with readers.
Almost all of their posts end with a question for the reader to comment on. Make sure you do the same. And also use a commenting system like Disqus or Livefyre, which also integrates social media, accounts.
So how does your blog measure up? If you ticked all the boxes above, well done! If not – don’t worry; it takes time to build a successful blog. The hardest part is usually starting and committing to an editorial calendar.
What’s your favourite blog? Tell us what makes it special by commenting.
Photo by Kei!
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