Articles in The 'Blog' Tag

5 Tips to Help with Blog Content Curation

by Shanine Dorta

It happens to the best of us. We sit down to create a blog post or article but are faced with writer’s block. What do I write about? What will my audience be interested in? How can I keep my readers engaged? Following are 5 ways to help overcome the sometimes-frustrating task of blog content curation.

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To Blog or Not To Blog?

by German Parra

To Blog or Not To Blog?
That is the question.
 
A blog’s purpose is pretty simple, to provide useful content for readers and consistently feed the site fresh and relevant content. Ideally, the post should contain keywords and phrases that your prospects will be searching for, as this will help your post gain organic positions.

To achieve effective results from blogging, it’s important to make weekly updates to ensure the site stays high and relevant among the top search engines. – I know, I know! Sometimes it’s hard to come up with topics for a new blog – most good blogs don’t talk about the company or the blogger themselves. When trying to figure out what to blog about, think about your reader (prospect/consumer). What are they searching for and what’s hot at the moment? Sometimes a good topic is to talk about difficulties and challenges most of your readers face. Example: if your clients often find themselves thinking if they should or should not blog, you could blog about the benefits of blogging. – do you get the picture here?

By blogging, you can also establish the company as an expert in the field. Writing good content that is relevant to your readers will help convey that your company and site are a valued, trusted resource. As you can imagine, by doing this, you will be bringing back your readers and encouraging them to contact you or your company.

So…. to answer the question, “To Blog!”

Don’t Limit Your Online Marketing Initiatives

by Marni Weinberg

Clients will often indicate that their online marketing efforts are in good shape because they have a Search Engine Optimization Strategy in place. Or some will say they‘re all set since they are involved in a Pay per Click program with Google AdWords. Some may actually tell me they don’t need to do either and that all of their business comes from word of mouth.

The best case scenario is to truly cover all of your bases and the only way to do that is by engaging in all components of online marketing. This can be a daunting task, given the fact that there are so many options available today. I’d suggest starting out with baby steps and then broadening your efforts slowly, but surely. Below are just a few of the most commonly utilized forms of online marketing initiatives to take into consideration:

Search Engine Optimization (frequently referred to as SEO)
According to Wikipedia’s definition, Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.  Clients love achieving high organic rankings in the search engines. This is especially true when it comes to Google, which is no surprise considering it holds about 65% of the market share. Remember: organic rankings equate to FREE traffic.

Pay per Click (also known as PPC)
In this platform the advertiser is paying or bidding on keywords based on their specific business or industry, in an effort to have their ad displayed in the sponsored section of the search engine. This section is typically on the very top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) as well as on the right hand side, listed vertically.

Onsite Blog + Blog Postings 
In my opinion, having an onsite blog is no longer an option, but rather a necessity. The main reason it ought to be onsite versus offsite is for the SEO benefits your website will gain. Blogs should have fresh and regular content on them, which the search engines love when crawling. You will want to ensure that your blog is updated on a regular basis (minimum of once a week).

Mobile Website
Nearly everyone has a Smartphone or iPad these days and more often that not, most are surfing the web via their device. You ought to make sure that you have a simplistic, mobile friendly version of your website that allows for easy navigation.
Social Media Marketing + Strategy
This form of marketing has become increasingly important the last few years and continues to maintain its necessary place within a marketer’s ad budget. Social Media is an excellent medium to reach and engage your consumers and should be utilized to its fullest potential. Just having a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn page is not enough, however. You must have a solid strategy in place before diving in.