| May 2013 |
Friends:
Did you know that companies that blog 15 or more times per month get five times more traffic than companies that don't blog? If your company has not yet made the leap, now's the time.
In this issue, we share five tips to help marketers get a jumpstart, as well as other articles that address guest blogging, SEO plugins and social media integration with your blog.
We hope you enjoy this issue!
Kind regards,
Peter
@peterbaron
@carabinerpr
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It's Never Too Late to Start Blogging: Five Tips to Help Marketers Get a Jumpstart
If you've been reluctant to launch a corporate blog, then there's no time like the present to start investing the time and energy into what most marketers consider to be one of their company's greatest online assets. Not only will a blog give you the opportunity to start establishing thought leadership and building relationships in your industry, but it will also help increase website traffic, improve search rankings, and drive leads through a fresh dose of relevant content chockfull of keywords.
Here are five quick tips to help ensure you maximize the benefits of your blog.
#1: Plan to update frequently
According to HubSpot, companies that blog 15 or more times per month get five times more traffic than companies that don't blog at all. And even more interesting is the impact of blog frequency on lead generation. According to the same study, companies that increase blogging from three to five posts per month to six to eight posts almost double their leads.
Don't be daunted by this frequency. Instead, plan ahead and build an editorial calendar that will serve as a content plan for your blog. For tips on content calendars, see our post on the Venture Atlanta blog, "Using Editorial Calendars to Drive Your Content Marketing Strategy."
#2: Make your blog part of your overall SEO strategy
With the right content, your blog can be valuable to your overall SEO strategy and will help your prospects and customers find you. Remember to use keyword-rich topics and titles, working them into your copy early and often (without overusing). Finally, use an SEO plugin for your blog. We happen to like WordPress SEO by Yoast, but there are many from which to choose. Here's a great infographic that shows some of the most popular.
#3: Remember visuals drive SEO too
Utilizing optimized video, infographics and other images will not only make your blog more appealing to readers, but also, if titled and summarized properly, can boost your traffic and increase online visibility. Blog content and visuals play an equally important role in SEO. You may find this article particularly helpful in optimizing images on your blog.
#4: Repurpose content
The content on your blog should not exist in a silo. Content should be repurposed and shared with your audience through other channels, for example in a company newsletter, as part of an HTML email campaign, and within social media programs. In order to reap the full benefits of your efforts, make sure you take advantage of every opportunity to link back to content on your blog.
#5: Invite conversation and social sharing
If you are active on social media, then it's important to integrate your blogging with your social media activities. Your social profiles and blog should work together to grow your audience. Be sure to have a process in place to monitor and respond to comments and include social sharing buttons on your posts to make it easy for your readers to share your content with their networks. To invite conversation on your blog, include a question or a call to action at the end of each post. This demonstrates your interest in your readers' thoughts and feedback. By creating an interactive and social environment, your audience is easily able to join the conversation, engage with information, and validate your point of view–ultimately increasing your credibility and enhancing your position within the industry.
To discuss how a blog strategy can work for your company, give Carabiner a call or drop us an email. We invite you to follow along at our blog, The Connector.
Guest Blogging: Why It's Important & How to Do It Well
Content is good.
Blogging is great.
Guest blogging is fantastic.
Guest blogging carries all of the benefits that your standard blog brings to the table: fresh new content, SEO value, "thought leadership," or whatever you'd prefer to call it, etc.
However, guest blogging takes these principles one step further by exposing you to a new audience on a new site. If you're new to blogging/guest blogging, this post can help you capitalize on the opportunity.
3 Questions to Ask Before You Agree
Before you can start guest blogging, you need to have some blogs in mind for publication. You probably already know the top blogs in your industry, but getting a post accepted on one of these blogs can prove difficult.
Read more »
5 Ways to Make the Business Blog More Personal
Not everyone can blog – it's a very niche style of writing. However, it seems like every business is trying to jump on the blogging bandwagon. Kudos to business owners for staying on top of web trends, but that doesn't mean everyone should start publishing willy nilly. Business blogs tend to be – well, business-y. Here are 5 easy ways to make that business blog a little more personal.
1. Imitation is Flattery
Well before anyone starts blogging, they should know a few blogs that they like. What is it about these blogs? The high-quality writing, the personal narrative, the total lack of the third person? The best writers have their favorite authors, so read a few favorite blog posts before sitting down to write. Imitation really is the best form of flattery.
2. Talk to the Reader
Using the word "you" can instantly make writing more personal and less formal. Talk directly to those readers so that they'll feel a connection. Remember that this is a blog, not a white paper. There's nothing wrong with addressing the audience directly. Ask questions, try to relate to them and make them understand there's a real person on the other end of the blog.
Read more »
Top Wordpress SEO Plugins for 2013
SEO plugins are often something that people take for granted–if one works, they stick with it forever. While this works just fine, many are surprised to discover that there are many more SEO plugins and many different features designed for specific businesses and websites. Below is an extensive list of these plugins and some of the features each can offer.
WordPress SEO Plugins: The Master List
Before delving into the list, it's important to understand that you can have more than one plugin installed on your SEO WordPress site. Most experts feel that you can have as many installed as you'd like, but just make sure you're installing the right ones. In other words, don't install two plugins when there is a plugin out there that will do both. Now back to our list:
The Most Popular
- SEO Yoast. This is a free plugin that does wonders for on-site optimization. The plugin is very easy to use, free, and helps teach you about SEO and what you need to improve upon in order to optimize the article. It also makes it easy to write Meta titles and descriptions as well as see a preview of your rich snippets.
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If You Use the Web, You Are a 'Curator'
When you were four, you imagined "engineers" as men in striped overalls who shouted "all aboard!" from trains. Later you learned that most engineers study more than just locomotives: mechanics, chemicals and even complicated structures like roller coasters.
Similarly, you pictured "curators" as snobby museum employees who talk about brush strokes and Impressionism. Today, however, curation encompasses a whole new catalog of professions, brands and tools – and most revolve around the web.
In other words, a curator is like that person at the beach with the metal detector, surfacing items and relics of perceived value. Only, a web curator shares those gems of content with their online audiences.
And since people create 571 new websites every minute, tweet 175 million times per day and upload 48 hours of new video each minute, a curator's work is never done.
Read more »
How to Improve Your Social Media Marketing With Blogging
Do you blog? Are you active on social media?
Have you integrated your blogging with your social activities?
Blogging can help you improve your social media marketing.
In this post, you'll discover four tips to enhance your social media efforts using your business blog.
#1: Share Your Blog Posts in Your Social Status Updates
Not sure what to post on your Facebook wall or Twitter profile? How about links to your blog posts?
The rule of thumb is to have a 80/20 split with 80% of your updates not self-promotional and 20% self-promotional. If you use the 20% self-promotional updates to share links to your blog content, you'll give your followers something more valuable to read than a product or service sales page.
Read more »
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