The Issues In Content Marketing Today: We Ask the Experts With Content Marketing being on every digital marketer’s lips at the moment, it’s time to really sink our teeth into the subject. As businesses all over the world begin to invest larger sums of money into this burgeoning marketing form, we thought why not ask the leading voices on the subject a question or two? So we did, and here’s what we found out. In one form or another Content Marketing has been around for a relatively long time. However, it’s only really been in the past couple of years that companies and businesses have started to take this form of marketing much more seriously, especially in the world of SEO. With this in mind, we wanted to know what the big issues are surrounding Content Marketing. Ann Handley Ann is CCO of MarketingProfs and co-author of Content Rules, a best -selling book on Content Marketing. Joe Pulizzi Joe is the founder of Content Marketing Institute, and author of Managing Content Marketing and Get Content Get Customers. Ann Smarty Simon Penson Kelvin Newman
16 Free Tools That Make Content Creation Way Easier Creating content isn't always a walk in the park. (In fact, it can sometimes feel more like a sprint in a swamp.) While other parts of business and marketing are becoming increasingly automated, content creation is still a very manual job. Automation hasn't yet replaced what we do (thank goodness). That being said, there are plenty of tools out there to make creating content much easier. Click here to download our full collection of content creation templates for blog posts, ebooks, infographics, and more. Below, you'll find a list of 28 fantastic tools and resources to help you research, write, edit, and design content more easily. Let's get started. 28 Free Tools & Resources to Make Content Creation Easier For Researchers 1) Google Drive Research Tool Google recently added a tool to Drive that allows you to conduct Google searches without ever leaving your Drive window. 2) Site:search This is a handy Google hack I use every day. 3) Google Webmaster Tools Doing SEO and keyword research?
The Content Strategist’s Reading List - Brain Traffic Break out your reading lists, content strategists. You’re going to want to add these titles to your to-read pile. I recently asked Twitter, “What books should be on a content strategist’s bookshelf?” But, who are we kidding—I already own a lot of these, and my Amazon cart was soon sagging under the weight of the rest of them. I’m so grateful to everyone who contributed—folks had terrific suggestions that included content strategy classics, hot-off-the-presses works, and a solid set of inspiring works that have shaped perspectives and purpose. And so, presented here in alphabetical order, is this crowd-sourced list of books every content strategist should have on their bookshelves—or Kindle—or phone—or whatever. This is by no means a complete list, but it’s a good start. The content strategist’s reading list Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag Audience, Relevance, and Search: Targeting Web Audiences with Relevant Content by James Mathewson, Frank Donatone, and Cynthia Fishel By
Developing a content marketing strategy - without creating any content | Outbrain partner zone | The Guardian This is not another article about content marketing. It's not intended to convince readers that content marketing can help differentiate them from their competitors, showcase thought leadership, drive traffic, or engage their customers. A quick Google search of the phrase 'content marketing for small businesses' yields more than 200m search results, meaning that there are already plenty of people out there talking about these things (and probably trying to sell small businesses something in the process). So who is this article for? Anyone who's convinced, but not sure how they can make it work for their business. It's for anyone who's ever wondered whether it's possible to have a content marketing strategy without creating any content. While the short answer to this is no, there is good news. That said, content creation still needs to play a role in your strategy. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
75 Resources for Writing Incredible Copy that Converts Writing great copy is one of the most useful skills a marketer can develop. After all, copy is a key element of successful internet marketing across the board, from emails with sky-high open rates to blog posts that get shared hundreds or even thousands of times. Masterful copywriting plays a big part in the difference between a website that converts like crazy and one that simply falls flat, failing to engage potential customers. Case in point: in Conversion Rate Expert’s redesign of the Crazy Egg website, copy had a big role in growing the site’s conversion rate by 363%. This resource guide provides links that will give you a strong foundation for writing great web copy. E-books, Articles, Infographics, and Guides to Get You Started with Web Copywriting 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 20 Killer Web Copywriting Tips – Internalize these 20 web copywriting tips and you’ll be well on your way to writing great copy for your website. 7. 9. 10. 11. Must-Read Books on Direct Response Marketing and Copywriting
Same same but different: reflections of a copywriter-turned-UX-writer — Greta van der Merwe “So, how did you get into UX writing?” is a common question… among UX writers. You’d think that we would know the way, because, here we are! But nah. There seems to be no clear, direct path into the field. It’s been almost a year now, and I thought I’d reflect on how my practices have changed from writing copy for ads to writing copy for products. Butchering vs Garnishing The limited space on a user interface doesn’t exactly leave much room for any extra adverbs. Even though ‘cutting copy’ had always been a part of my process, as a copywriter I’d still try to get to the smartest or wittiest way to say something. To really butcher copy, you need to keep chopping away and discard the unusable bits until you end up with a practical, actionable (consumable?) What’s changed in my practice is now, instead of asking myself if people will get my copy, I ask whether they can use it. Showing vs Revealing This is probably my favourite thing that’s changed since switching roles. Don’t get me wrong.
Contently - Content Marketing A Complete Content Audit and Spreadsheet Template 1.4K Flares Filament.io 1.4K Flares × The very first Buffer blog post—Want to Tweet While You Sleep?—was published in January 2011. Three-and-a-half years and 595 posts later, we’ve covered a lot of ground, learned a huge number of social media tips, and written a ton of helpful, actionable content. Many others have just as much—probably even more—awesome content sitting in the archives. If you’re just starting out, you’ll get to this point, too. We ran a content audit on the Buffer blog and came away with several key action items and quick wins that we’re excited to implement. How to run a content audit on your blog Before you get to the takeaways, you first need to grab the data. 1. The free Screaming Frog SEO spider will pull out all the relevant pages that are indexed on your blog. Screaming Frog analyzes each of your pages and returns a host of valuable information on the specifics of each page. 2. To do this: Select all cells. Click the Filter icon. Click “Clear.” Done! 3. 4. 5. 6. 1.
5 principles for effective experience content - Optimal Workshop When we think of a product redesign, our minds tend to focus on aspects of visual design. New colors, bold typography, a more minimalist design. While starting with design can feel exciting, we also have to ask ourselves what content lives in that design. What story are we telling? What information do our users need? How are we helping them to complete the task at hand? Content is a critical, though often overlooked, part of the user experience. Here are five content principles you can abide by to make sure you’re better serving your users. Content should be clear and concise. Content should speak the user’s language in familiar words, phrases, and concepts. Example: Shopify’s content guidelines specifically instruct their writers to write for a grade 7 reading level and to avoid technical jargon. Content should be easy to find and interact with. Airbnb’s homepage nails findability. Content should be meaningful. Good content says the right things at the right time. Content should be useful.
WordPress SEO Plugin • Search Engine Optimization Plugin Yoast SEO Premium ensures that your site meets the highest technical SEO standards. It also gives you the tools to optimize your content for SEO and overall readability. Find out how Yoast SEO Premium can help you compete and learn about all of the additional SEO features we add to your site! Are you about to get started with Yoast SEO? We can imagine you still have some questions. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions and their answers. What is Yoast SEO? Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that helps your site perform better in search engines with a variety of features. How much experience does Yoast SEO have? Yoast SEO has over 10+ years of experience in helping users with their SEO. What benefits will I get from using Yoast SEO? Having your own site is great, but of course, you would like to have visitors that check out your content. What other WordPress/SEO plugins do you offer? What does Yoast SEO cost? Is there a free trial for Yoast SEO Premium? Yes!
Integrating Content Thinking Into Your Design Workflow In early March I attended Convey UX, a three-day conference in Seattle focused on the impact of UX design, the possibilities of user research, and the importance of designing with humans in mind. The agenda included talks on everything from machine learning UX and designing for the pluriverse to designing for underserved communities. There were also interactive workshops, social breakfasts and lunches, and guided networking sessions. One of the most impactful sessions for me, a senior interaction designer by day, was Wednesday’s workshop entitled “Integrating Content Thinking Into Your Design Workflow.” Role Assignments When attendees first sat down in the workshop space, we were split into teams and presented with one of five project roles: Creative Director, Facilitator, Project Manager, Strategist, and Subject Matter Expert. It turns out content strategy and UX design have a lot in common, like building around user needs and forming information architectures to guide the project.
Creating Compelling App Descriptions for iTunes and the iOS App Stores | rob's blog When you submit an iOS application for review, you’ve got to make sure your ad copy is tight. The app description may be the last thing holding back a tap to buy your app. Apple doesn’t give much guidance on this important chunk of text. We know that 4000 characters is the limit. Since you probably have very specific points you want to get across, and users have a very short attention span, you need to pay attention to how Apple will format what you write. Word Wrap and the Fold Word wrap occurs in app descriptions when enough characters fill up a line. The fold is the point where iTunes, Web Preview or the iPad App Store app decide to make the user click or tap the More… button. All this means is that you must use the space above the fold as effectively as possible. All app purchase vectors limit the top of fold line display to three lines. Blank lines count as lines.Lines over 120 characters in length will lead to word wrap and the use of an additional line above the fold line.