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Are you writing content for people or search engines?

5/27/2014

 
Facepalm
A recent article from a site that specializes in search marketing suggested that any and all blog posts must be at least 1,500 words in length, and that poorly written content doesn't affect the end result. No link is forthcoming, because that would only be validating flawed logic.

The crux of the article is that longer articles are taken more seriously, and that people will share badly written content anyway. Which is probably true, even if it’s only being shared by snooty English majors (waves hello!) to mock content writing fail and to lament the death of language as we know it. 

What is your content marketing strategy?
If your only goal is increase your search rankings, then it likely doesn’t matter if your web content is poorly written. You’re just writing for machines, so you could probably get results with a million monkeys and a million typewriters. Great! However, at last check, search engines don’t have a whole lot of purchasing power. Ultimately you’re going to want those high search rankings to lead to actual eyeballs on your site. 

What will those eyes, connected to actual humans looking for competent professionals providing a product or service they’re hoping to purchase, find when they get there?
  • Will they see 1,500 words per corporate blog post that fill the screen a few times over, and yet somehow manage to say nothing at all? 
  • Will they find lots of keywords but no real substance?
  • Will they wonder if your company would be difficult to work with because of what is, apparently, a significant language barrier?

In short, when actual people arrive at your site, will they see content that positions your business as a legitimate, professional company they can feel confident doing business with? If your content marketing strategy is built on writing for search engines rather than people, there’s a good chance they will not. 

Keywords are nothing without captivating content
Of course it’s important to have content that is search engine friendly. After all, even great content is wasted if nobody reads it. It’s also important to make sure there are appropriate keywords in your content writing to make sure people find what they’re looking for when they arrive at your website, or visit your Facebook page, or browse your Twitter timeline. 

But don’t stop there! Make sure a visit to your website is useful, whether or not a visitor ultimately ends up working with your company. Instead of laboriously struggling to have longer and longer posts on your company blog, challenge yourself to make a convincing case in as few words as possible. Don’t just talk about your business, talk about related services and the latest news affecting your industry.

One person visiting a website that clearly demonstrates that you know really know your stuff can turn into an actual customer. One customer is better than a million bots from a faraway land that may never contribute a nickel to your business. 

The next 1,000 words or so will be spent stuffing this post with keywords to make sure it's taken seriously. Oh no wait, that’s just silly. 

Article on Career Meets Life: Redefining Your Career Path

2/28/2014

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Have you ever wondered if your current job is the best you can do? Career Meets Life is a new online community dedicated to exchanging ideas about job sharing, managing the separation between work and home, job fit, career mobility and more.

I am thrilled to take part in this exciting initiative. Check out my first article on career mobility at Career Meets Life: Redefining Your Career Path 

Are you hungry for more information? Register for updates at Career Meets Life. 
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#PRfail Demonstrates Rules to Live By

1/31/2014

 
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I'll admit it, I love watching a PR train wreck unfold. Oh, sure, I feel bad for the people who have to manage the fallout because I've been in those shoes and they're dreadfully uncomfortable. But sometimes laughing at the jaw-dropping stupidity behind some of the biggest PR fails of the year is just too much to fun. 

When you're done laughing, it's time to start thinking about what you would do differently. After all, what good are lessons in disaster if nobody learns anything from them? Here are some great lessons from a few of this year's biggest PR disasters:

1. Once is a mistake, twice is just dumb
You'd think Kenneth Cole would have figured out not to blithely pile on to hashtags after the Cairo fiasco. But no! They did it again! If something goes terribly wrong the first time you try, don't do it again to make sure it doesn't work. 

2. Listen to Your Advisers
Full disclosure: I live in Toronto, so I've been watching the Rob Ford disaster with a weird mix of giddiness and shame. I think most important lesson to come out of this debacle (other than the obvious one, "don't smoke crack") is listen to your advisers. When the scandal was breaking last spring, there was an opportunity for the mayor to control the conversation and restore public faith by admitting his mistakes and going to rehab. But he said no, no, no and the rest is history. Don't hire people for their expertise and then ignore them! 

3. It's not really a fine line between irreverent and disgusting
The c-bomb and nine-year-old girls do not belong in the same thought. Period. You know it's bad when The Onion faces an internet backlash so ferocious, they're forced to delete a tweet and issue an apology. 

A wise man once said, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." When you're managing your small business' reputation, remember you don't know what you don't know, and learn from the mistakes of others. And seriously, don't smoke crack. 

Developing Content for Small Business

12/5/2013

 
Your shiny new website is finally live. You have a spot for your company blog, a Twitter handle and a Facebook page. Great! Now what? Well, there's no time like the present to start developing your company's content. Your content strategy will differ from that of a big company with its own eager marketing and communications team, but that doesn't mean you can't build on the same principles. 
  1. Make an editorial calendar. Have about 10 (or 20 or 30) strong, simple ideas for topics you'd like to expand on. They can be about your business, about your industry in general or about hot trends you're keeping an eye on.
  2. Don't be afraid to course correct. If you started out with a conversational tone but that's falling flat with your audience, try something more formal - or vice versa. Try a few different tones to see where your audience is and what gets the best response. 
  3. Consider hiring help. If you're having trouble keeping up but you're not ready to throw in the towel, consider hiring help to generate your content. There is an opportunity cost associated with writing your own content, and it's probably higher than you think. 
  4. Stay updated. Once you get started, if you can't keep up just take your ball and go home. DO NOT leave a long-neglected company blog or Twitter account out there for all the world to see. It's too attractive to hackers and it's terrible for your image. 
Building and staying connected with your audience doesn't have to time consuming, and having a plan will help you spend less time staring at a blinking cursor on a blank screen.

Outsourcing Social Media

12/3/2013

 
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As a small business owner, you wear a lot of hats every day. You're also possibly wearing a chef's apron or a tool belt too. You may feel like managing your business is enough. It is. Your time and expertise are best spent doing what you do best - growing your business!

Did you know maintaining a presence on multiple social media outlets can help boost your company's search ranking? To be effective as a search tactic, your social media platform has to be updated frequently to let crawlers know it's a going concern. Customers also like having the ability to follow the brands they love on social media for news and updates.

You probably know why you should have a social media presence for your business, but that doesn't give you more hours in the day, or the expertise to handle a negative situation online. That's when you need to seriously consider outsourcing your company's social media efforts.

But before you hand over the keys to your social media kingdom, ask any company you're considering the following questions:
  • How will you build my following? You want real people following you, not bots. That's why you want a real person engaging with the online community. If the words "script" or "program" come up in the discussion, other than to disparage them, move on. 
  • Can I give a prize for Facebook "Likes" to get new fans? No. This is a violation of Facebook's TOS and this should be known by anyone purporting to be a professional online community manager.
  • How will you answer customer inquiries? A social media pro will get acquainted with your products and services and work with you in advance to develop answers to FAQs, rather than forwarding everything to you. Because that would defeat the purpose of outsourcing!
  • What will you do to address any negative feedback? A community manager should be experienced in the best practices of online reputation management. The should be able to produce an escalation chart and response strategy at the outset. If someone is being disruptive to your brand online, you don't want it to continue to escalate for three days while the social media management firm you hired dithers!
  • What monitoring tactics do you employ? Social media monitoring isn't quite a 24/7 job, but it's pretty close. Your community manager should be checking in after hours or on weekends and holidays. If they're only around during business hours, that's a red flag.
Outsourcing your social media efforts should make your life easier. If you get the sense that you'd have an easier time doing it yourself, the company you hired is doing it wrong. It's time to make a switch!

    Author

    Julia Warrender is a member of the Canadian Association of Marketing Professionals (CAMP) and a Hubspot Inbound Marketing certified professional.

    ​She is also the owner of PROD Communications. 

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