They are only $5 each, but there is a coupon code good between now and January 27th worth $20 off – meaning you can download 4 Content Accelerators FREE.

Click Here to Check It Out!
Coupon Code: try4

What a brilliant idea! Once you take a look at what all you get with each package, you’ll see what I mean.

Free Content & Conversions Course

Alice also has an in-depth 19-week course that was a great seller titled Better Content, Faster & with More Conversions, that she is now giving away for FREE.

This free course covers:

* Coming up with content ideas
* Publishing enough content
* Creating content that your readers WANT to read
* Growing your traffic from your content
* Building your mailing list and making sales
…and much more

The course includes practical exercises and applications for your business. You will be moving forward and accomplishing your content goals as you go through the lessons. They’re also available for feedback and to answer your questions each step of the way.

Just fill in the form and you’ll get access to the first lesson immediately. They cover everything from coming up with content ideas, writing easy-reading content and getting more RESULTS (sales, subscribers, etc.) from your efforts.

Enjoy!

Best,

One of my main objectives for the year was to be more consistent across my three main blogs. Ideally I would like to blog daily on all three, but would be happy with 5 posts per week on each.

Like I said, it’s Day 12 (January 12th) as I write this. And this is my very first post for the New Year here on ClickNewz.

LOL

As I was sitting here yet another day, staring at a blank WordPress draft, I thought… why not discuss the obvious?

So let’s talk about why consistency is so important, and what to do when you’re not feeling particularly inspired to write an outstanding piece of content…

- – -

I haven’t been at a loss for topics. There is ALWAYS something to blog about. It hasn’t been a lack of time. Honestly I can get a post out in under an hour, and sometimes less than 15 minutes depending on the post.

If I have time to do it, and topics to write about, what held me back?

The truth? Some weird little thought in the back of my mind that I should put out something “significant” or “outstanding”.

Meanwhile, perfectly good posts went into draft and were saved in the queue with no new posts getting published for almost two full weeks.

That’s just plain silly!

But I bet you can relate.

It happens to all of us, I imagine – or most of us at least.

The fact is, every blog post you write is NOT going to be “Pillar Content”. It’s not meant to be. Pillar Content are those exceptional posts that get a lot of buzz. They become the most viewed and most shared posts on your blog. You won’t write one every day, or even every week.

Not to say that other content is just “filler”. Far from it. But that we simply get in our own way sometimes when it comes to creating quality content. Or defining “quality” even. And that’s exactly what happened to me, which like I said… is just plain silly. But hey, it happens!

Why Consistency Is Important

Our readers want to hear from us.

They want to hear our opinion, and they want to know what we’re thinking & doing and how it relates to them or solves their issues.

This applies to your blog, to your email list, and even to your social media channels. Anywhere you provide content and have an active readership.

Going silent is a good way to lose the engagement and rapport you’ve worked hard to build up with them, and to potentially lose their interest long-term as they replace the void in their content stream with other sources.

Google will also take notice. If your content frequency changes, your crawl frequency will change. Meaning if you blog daily, they will crawl your site daily to index new content & links. If you drop down to twice a month, you’ll eventually notice slower indexing. Not good.

Being consistent is important.

What To Do When You’re Not Feeling “Brilliant”

You could always write about not feeling brilliant. LOL.

You can also put out photo posts, share great content you’re reading – maybe a “top 5 blog posts this week” resource, embed a YouTube video you think they’ll enjoy and then ask their thoughts/opinions on it.

Interviews are very easy content as well, especially when you’re not feeling inspired. If you can write 3-5 questions for someone, you have an easy quality blog post.

And of course, you can always invite other bloggers to guest post while you’re feeling a bit quiet.

- – -

You’ll find many more ideas in my upcoming Easy Unique Content guide. For now, I just wanted to encourage you to blog consistently. To be consistent across your social media channels, and with your mailing list. And of course, I wanted to get a post out and get things back on a roll here at ClickNewz.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Do you ever struggle with this yourself? Writer’s block, perfectionism, lack of time/topics… what holds you back from keeping up with YOUR blogging schedule?

Best,

I’m not interested in who’s right and who’s wrong, or opinions about either of these well known online marketers.

What really piqued my interest was the term “content leech”.

We’ve discussed this before. You may recall my tongue-in-cheek post awhile back: I’m a scum-sucking content thief. Not everyone agreed with my delivery there, and not everyone is in agreement on either Ewen or Rosalind’s posts, which means there is still a lot of confusion about what’s right and what’s wrong…

What is a Content Leech?

A content leach is someone that uses automated programs to syndicate content from a variety of sources, and publish that syndicated content on their own website.

The purpose is to generate traffic and revenue, generally through Adsense or affiliate links. It’s often called auto-blogging.

Most people that develop these types of sites rarely write any content of their own. It’s more of a “set it up and forget it” type model. Not a very successful one, mind you. Certainly not a long-term passive income generator as they may have believed, as these sites rarely last long in the major search engines OR with human readers.

leech, noun /lēCH/

An aquatic or terrestrial annelid worm with suckers at both ends. Many species are bloodsucking parasites, esp. of vertebrates, and others are predators

A person who extorts profit from or sponges on others

The point Rosalind was making was the hard work put in by the people who are actually “in the know”, working in the trenches, being stolen by those who simply want to profit from it without doing any real work themselves.

These “content leeches” basically piggy back off of real bloggers by syndicating (stealing?) their content in full on their own domain.

Right or Wrong?

The debate that interested me most in the conversation between Rosalind & Ewen (and their readers) was whether that was ethical or not.

Some believe it is ethical, some believe it is not.

The argument in favor of syndicating content from other blogs seems to be that if you have an RSS feed, and make that freely available, you obviously want people to syndicate your content.

I disagree.

Having an RSS feed is not an open invitation to republish that content via auto-blogging on another domain. Having an RSS feed is a means of allowing your readers to easily subscribe to your content.

It’s a misconception brought on by all the auto-blogging supporters (those creating products for it). But content developers do not agree with that line of thinking.

I know I don’t. Which is why I had a little fun with the content leeches awhile back when there got to be an overwhelming number of them publishing my entire blog posts on other domains.

Rosalind made a point about this in the discussion at her blog, which I agree with. She suggested the appropriate way to share a blog post you like is to publish an excerpt, with a link back to the original post, and add your thoughts to the topic.

Two Examples: Blogging Ideas and Content Marketing Tips from Jason Falls

In both of those examples, the posts were inspired by someone else’s content. I shared the source, and also added my own thoughts to the topic.

This can make for a great blog post, and a great discussion starter with your own readers. But publishing a full blog post with no additional thoughts is just duplicate content. And it’s pointless, in my opinion.

Sharing Content vs Creating Content

Ideally you should be creating more content than you are consuming. And the majority of the content that you share should be your own original content.

Regurgitating everyone else’s content is not ever going to make you a market leader. You’ll be hard pressed to build a readership or a following in your niche if you don’t come up with original, thought-provoking content of your own.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share content. I do it all the time. It’s the ratio that matters. And whether you are adding anything of value to the discussion.

If your content streams consist mostly of links to someone else’s content, how long do you think it will be before your readers stop following you – and start following the source?

Sharing is GOOD. Don’t get me wrong. And it’s part of your job as a market leader in your niche to point out great posts, threads, newsletters, videos, etc.

But the “quality share” is MUCH different than auto-blogging or RSS-scraping…

Your thoughts?

Best,

p.s. Want to learn how to easily put out lots of high quality, unique content without stressing yourself out? Check out Easy Unique Content

So, where does one go to learn the skills and rules that will make anyone a good writer? The Internet has a treasure trove of writing resources. Here are 10 resources that will improve your writing…

Punctuation and Grammar Tools

The most difficult, but also most important skill that should be improved by most writers no matter their English proficiency level is Grammar and punctuation. The Internet provides many really helpful resources, and here are just two:

1.   How to use English punctuation correctly – This is a short concise crash course in punctuation that is quick enough to master, allowing the learner to be almost completely proficient in most punctuation.

2.   Jack Lynch’s Grammar and Style Guide – A comprehensive website containing information about various grammar rules and writing styles that will help any writer increase their skills.

Common English Errors and Mistakes

Often the best way to learn what to do is to learn what not to do, and again there are many sites that show examples of common mistakes that should be avoided.

3.   Common English Errors This is a fantastic detailed report of hundreds of common spelling, grammar and punctuation errors that are made every day.

Writing Skills

Once the basics of spelling, punctuation and grammar are learned, it is easy to think that you now have become a great writer. Unfortunately, that was the easy bit, and writing is and always will be an art form which needs to be learned. Here are two great resources to help anyone become a better writer:

4.   Writers digest This huge online compilation of various resources that can be accessed by anyone wanting to become a better writer; this includes a blog, forum and other resources.

5.   Infoplease: General Writing Skills a list of various articles which attempts, in an interestingly and easy way, to help people become better writers.

Copywriting Blogs and Resources

Copywriting is a writing skill that can be very lucrative, and is a must have in any sales or advertising environment. There are great copywriting Blogs online where the best in the industry give insight into their talents.

6.  Men With Pens A fun, well put together online community that has thousands of members and a huge collection of helpful content.

7.  Copywriting 101 An online guide to the most important writing skill for anyone hoping to make money by selling or advertising through their writing.

Tools to Make Writing Easier

Dictionaries and thesauruses have for hundreds of years been bulky, thick books that people used to get the answers they need. These days the Internet gives you these and so much more. It is therefore imperative that we include it within our article as one of the 10 resources that will improve your writing for real.

8.  Onelook Search dictionary A search engine dictionary that finds spelling, definitions and translates word on one single website.

9. Merriam Webster: Visual Dictionary A unique concept where words are associated with visual explanations which can help gain a better understanding of the words.

10. Advanced Text Analyzer This great online software is free, but does require and online registration. It does the usual word and character number calculations, but also more advanced calculations such as words per sentence, average characters per word etc. On top of all this, it does word and sentence analysis to ascertain what level of writing it is.

Conclusion

Good luck with your continued journey into the wonderful world of writing. The provided 10 resources that will improve your writing for real are great online tools. It will help you become a better writer, and hopefully lead you to a more fulfilled and successful life.

This was a guest post by Lior Levin who works for iAdvize and also advises to a psd to html company that does psd conversions for web design companies.

Does that ever happen to you??

A good starting point for creating content is always keyword research, but there are other sources for great content ideas as well.

I decided to pop into Gmail and knock out that task first real quick. Right there in my Inbox was an email from someone with a great question. He wanted to know how to use social media. This was the first link in a chain of events, and I’ll share with you how that unfolded in detail for easy content development ideas…

Email is a Great Source For Content Ideas

If you get questions by email, or even on Twitter & Facebook, these are one of your best sources for content ideas. While you’ll always want to respond publicly when someone addresses you via Social Media, you’re limited on space.

You can easily expand on that in a detailed blog post and then come back and add that as an addition to your original (short) answer.

But email is a different story. Here you are only communicating with ONE person. And once that email is sent, the reply you wrote (content!) is gone forever.

UNLESS you repurpose it into a great blog post.

Often I will write my response as a blog post, and then reply with the link and a “thank you” for the topic & inspiration. (Note: I never use their full name or personal details in my post without permission)

The Chain of Events Begins…

As I said, yesterday I was browsing through Gmail and I had an email from Shawn about how to use social media. <- You can see the actual question at that link. You'll also see that I replied to that question with a 1,359 word blog post.

Never write to one person when you can write to the whole world.

Would it be a waste to send a 1,359 word reply to ONE person by email? Yes. Especially if you know that other people in your market are interested in that same information. You certainly wouldn’t want to reply individually to each person that asked you a similar question.

Instead, you can point each new person that asks to the ONE blog post.

One Thought Leads To Another

It took me about 90 minutes to write that post, which reminded me of a recent question I was asked over lunch. Since I was thinking it, I saved my Draft and hopped over to share that thought & question on my Facebook page:

This created “content” that got a nice response – 9 likes and 19 comments (so far). And yes, every social media update is “content”. Google considers anything that resides on it’s own URL to be “a page”.

So a single update like this is a page in the eyes of Google. And this particular “page” is full of relevant user-generated content – that of course links back to my profile which links back to my site…

From Blog Content to Social Media Content

Once I published the blog post, I shared the link on both Facebook and Twitter. Here you can see a number of people shared & retweeted my post:

You’ll notice in MY tweet that I invited them to add ideas & resources of their own to the post. This was to encourage comments, of course.

I later shared the link to that post as a resource on Social Media during the #indiebizchat Twitter Chat. I was asked how Affiliates could effectively use Social Media (and if they should), and the link was shared and retweeted again during and after that live chat as well.

One Post Leads To Another!

To put a little icing on the content cake, I created a second blog post detailing out how and why I wrote that one.

You’re reading it right now.

I thought you might enjoy an inside peek at how I come up with content on the fly, and the chain of events that takes it from idea to publishing to sharing…

Best,

p.s. Like these tips? Sign up at Easy Unique Content for more!

By now you’re probably wondering how in the world you’re ever going
to create all that content.

From free reports and opt-in incentives, to content for your autoresponder series & blog posts…

Not to mention articles for article marketing, content ideas for your videos, unique pieces for Web 2.0 sites, etc.
You have a lot of content to create! This is a great time to remind you of one of the best little content development secrets on the ‘net: PLR Content.

That stands for Private Label Rights. You can purchase it at a *very* low price, edit both the wording and the format to suit you, and use it as your own (claim authorship) throughout the various places where you need to publish content…

You can also hire ghostwriters of course, or outsource content writing, but I find that to be a bit more hassle than using PLR content. The upside is that you usually get unique content on the exact topic you specify. The downside is the turnaround time and the cost, and often you have to go through a few writers before you find one that will finish the work and give you the quality you were hoping for.

There can be quality issues with some PLR Content as well, so you want to choose your sources carefully. Fortunately it’s so inexpensive you can “shop around” until you find a source that consistently delivers the topics and quality you want.

One of my favorite sources for PLR Content is EasyPLR.com by Nicole Dean. She offers a variety of topics, high quality PLR content, and *great* prices. She often runs sales and specials so it pays to keep an eye on the site.

And she doesn’t just offer “articles” you can use for blog posts or article marketing – but also PLR reports and e-courses as well!

Here are two examples to spark creative ideas:

• PLR Article Rewrite Dissected & Exposed
• 3 Ways To Use PLR in Your Email Marketing Plan

* * * * * * * * * *

Download This Free Report:

Private Label Rights Secrets: How to Use PLR
to Create a Money-Making Business!

This is a special 2-Part Report. Part 1 focuses on ways to transform PLR content into cash. Part 2 focuses on the 5 steps to creating a “Big Profit, Small Report Business”.

The link above will open the report (in PDF format) immediately. Enjoy!

5 More Resources for Creative Content Ideas:

• Web Content Writing: Tips & Inspiration
• Web Content Writing Resources
• Email Newsletter Ideas
• 5 Types of Web Content That Readers Love
• The Secret To Writing Really Great Content

Best,

EasyPLR is a 2011 ClickNewz Sponsor. There are no affiliate links in this post.

One of those questions was
about Keyword Strategy:
“How often should we incorporate our keyword list into our blog for the search engines? I don’t want it be unreadable for our human visitors…”

It was a great question, and this is an issue a lot of bloggers and content marketers struggle with: “Should I write for the search engines, or write for human readers?”

The answer is both, and it’s easier than it might seem. After you read this post you’ll have a whole new understanding of keyword strategy & content marketing…

Where Keyword Phrases Come From…

The key to understanding how to use keyword phrases in your content, and in creating a proper Keyword Strategy, is knowing where those keyword phrases come from in the first place. It isn’t just random data, or marketing metrics. It’s not a piece to the marketing puzzle that is meant to make writing difficult…

Keyword Phrases come from people. Humans, not bots. Your keyword lists come from specific people: your target market.

Real people type real queries into the major search engines every single day. That data is then compiled and served to us when we do keyword research.

That being the case, there isn’t really a question of whether to write for the search engines or write for your readers. You’re always writing for your readers – or for your target market. Yes, even when you are using a “keyword strategy”.

Keyword Phrase = Question

When a real person sits down and types in a keyword phrase, they are basically asking a question. The search engines then serve the most relevant results (hopefully) and that person chooses a link to get an answer to their question.

This is the reason Search Engine Optimization aka SEO is so important. It gives you an opportunity to meet your target market where they are (searching) and enter that conversation with a response…

Content Marketing = Response To Question

When you choose a keyword phrase, write content for that phrase, and then optimize your content to rank well in the major search engines for that phrase… you are responding to your target market. You are entering the conversation they started when they typed that phrase into a search engine.

This is so much better than “interruption advertising” where you hope to catch your market in the right place at the right time, and compel them to stop what they’re doing to visit your site. Instead, SEO is like the Yellow Pages- it allows you to be in the exact place your market is looking for you, at the exact time that they need you.

When you look at your Keyword Strategy as a means of entering a conversation, in the right place at the right time, it makes it much easier to incorporate keywords into your content.

NOT optimizing your content for a specific keyword phrase is a disservice to your market. It isn’t very nice of you to hide your answers and solutions from them when they need them most…

The Art of Writing with Keyword Phrases

The key to a successful keyword strategy is viewing each phrase as a piece of a longer question, and then responding to that keyword phrase conversationally.

This is referred to as SEO Copywriting, where you combine your keyword strategy with your copywriting skills. To give you an example, here is a recent post on ClickNewz that targets a specific keyword phrase…

Keyword Phrase: “best ecommerce shopping cart”

This is actually two keyword phrases in one. The shorter phrase “ecommerce shopping cart” is more general and has higher search volume. The blog post I wrote to target this phrase can be seen here:

Choosing the Best Ecommerce Shopping Cart

The person (real live human) that searched that phrase is shopping for an ecommerce solution. If they find my blog post in the Google search results, this is what it would look like:

As you can see, the keyword phrase shows up in the title and description and also in the URL (the hyperlink, or in this case: permalink). The person searching that phrase is obviously trying to make a decision about a shopping cart solution. In the description they read there are five things they should consider first.

This serves as a good example of catering to the exact thoughts, and needs, of your target market. Each page of content you create serves your market on the micro level, by responding to their keyword phrase.

Conclusion…

To answer the question “How often should we incorporate our keyword list into our blog?”, the answer is: every single time you sit down to write!

There will be exceptions of course such as breaking news, updates, trending topics, etc. And this will be the case even more as you grow a strong subscriber base and a responsive readership. But ideally, the majority of your blog posts (or your content, period) should be optimized to serve your target market.

Now that you see keywords as conversation starters, and content marketing as a “response”, I hope this helps you come up with a Keyword Strategy that both serves your market and makes your writing tasks easier…

Get a FREE detailed Website Copywriting Tutorial from Karon Thackston, SEO Copywriting Expert.

Karon has another free report you can download titled Demystifying Keyword Research

* * * * *

I have been studying Karon Thackston’s guides and following her model of SEO Copywriting for more than 5 years. I highly recommend you download her generous free reports and learn creative ways to incorporate keywords into your copy (and your titles!) without sounding stuffy or “over optimized”.

Best,

So of course I went, grabbed a spot at
a table right upfront, and enjoyed Jason’s insights live and in person.

I took notes there, and thought I would share them with you. There was one tip in particular (actually a stat) that really got my attention…

The venue for this event was really nice. It was held at Bound’ry in downtown Nashville on the 3rd floor. The event was hosted by PRSA Nashville, with a special invitation to Nashville Social Media Club members – which is how I heard about it.

Content Marketing Tips from Jason Falls

I managed to down quite a few notes on my iPad, so I’ll just share those with you in a quick list. First though, an interesting point. While Jason was speaking he mentioned The Cluetrain Manifesto. I’ve heard several people recommend this book but have never read it.

While he was talking, I grabbed my Droid X and opened the Kindle app, purchased the book (I got the 10th Anniversary Edition), then also sent it to my iPad (the two devices sync via the Kindle app, which I love!).

It makes for a good example of how easy online shopping is, and these days: mobile shopping. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you can whip out your smart phone and make a purchase, then go back to what you were doing – all in under a minute or two.

Let me say that another way: No matter where your customers are, or what they’re doing, they can whip out their smart phone and make a purchase on the spot.

It’s also a great example of how well personal recommendations work, particularly when they are made conversationally and contextually…

Highlights from Jason’s talk:

• What does your market need to know?
  Deliver it to them in a compelling way.
• People don’t share “meh”. They share awesome.
  Note: they define awesome.
• Good content marketing is not about you.
• What does your market think is really cool?
• Email is content. Re-purpose it into an FAQ or into blog posts.
• Quote snippets of your longer content pieces in tweets, as tips in newsletters, as short topical blog posts. Then link back to the original longer content piece.
• Gurus make up rules. Forget the rules. There are no rules except to deliver what your market wants.
• Different social media channels require different forms of communication. Define your audience for each channel. Define your objective for each channel.
• Get likes and comments on Facebook updates to rank higher in the content stream, and to avoid being filtered out of the stream.

Questions To Ask Yourself When Developing A Content Strategy

• How can I make them smarter?
• What do my buyers need to know?
• What knowledge will help them do their job better?
• What knowledge will relieve their stress or pain points?
• What would capture their attention?
• What types of content would they enjoy most?

• What content resources do I have?
• What expertise do I have?
• What tangible items can I share?
• Who can I interview?
• What topics can I have fun with?

• What results do I want from my Content Marketing strategy?
• How do I want people to feel after consuming my content?
• What action do I want readers to take?
• What is the value of that action? How will I measure ROI?

Jason also defined the various content channels, and how they best work together – or not. For example, it annoys friends or fans when you feed your Twitter stream into Facebook. That content contains hashtags and @ references that aren’t relevant on Facebook.

Different things work better on different channels. For example, witty on Twitter but serious on LinkedIn. Entertaining on YouTube, conversational on Facebook.

As I’ve mentioned a number of times before… blasting the same content across every single medium simultaneously, over and over, is boring to your readers. And lazy on your part. A true Content Marketing Strategy ties everything together, and ultimately leads the right people to the right place in the right way.

Hot Tip! Community & First Time Visitors

One thing in Jason’s talk that really stood out to me was a statistic he shared regarding blogs. The stats came from a study across multiple niches, so the numbers are a standard metric across the board.

The lead-in was that bloggers tend to cater to their communities – their active readership. The stats though, prove that approximately 80% of your readers are first-time visitors. Only 20% are “community”.

He made the point that you could argue the 80/20 rule of focusing on “the 20 that count”. But the real question to ask yourself here is this: Am I catering to first-time visitors in a way that encourages them to become part of my community?

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had people visit my blog and then tell me later that they still had no clue what I do or what my blog is about (for them). That point was really driven home with Jason’s stats today…

It makes sense to put something in place to grab the attention of first-timers so that you can strategically lead them into your content and encourage them to become part of your community.

I Left With More Than Just Awesome Tips…

At the end of his presentation, Jason gave away a few books. I won one, Social Location Marketing by Simon Salt, for being the person who traveled farthest to attend the luncheon.

I only traveled 80′ish miles, but it was a *very* local event – LOL.

What a cool win!
I don’t have the first clue how to use things like FourSquare or Groupon, much less use them for marketing. I really look forward to digging in and learning more on the topic.

Jason Falls is an excellent speaker by the way. If you ever have a chance to sit in on one of his sessions, I’d highly recommend it. This is the 3rd time I’ve heard him speak, and it’s been great every time!

Best,

p.s. Proper Content Marketing comes down to knowing who you’re writing for and why – specifically. Alice Seba has just put together a totally free guide (no opt ins required) called “15 Things You Should Know about Your Target Market to Immediately Boost Your Sales” Click Here to Download it Free (the direct download link to the PDF file is right at the top of the page)

Note: Today is the last day to get in Alice’s Content Creation Course
for only $1 ** Special price ends today, May 18th, so act fast if you want in!

So far we’ve looked at article marketing and blogging as a means of Increasing Your Reach and finding ideal subscribers for your mailing list. Today we’ll look at publishing content on Web 2.0 sites as a way to get both targeted traffic and quality inbound links.

For Day 17, refer to pages 42-44 in the 31 Day Guide to Growing Your List

Let me start off by saying that this is not a must-do task for everyone, or for every promotion. There’s a time when it’s necessary, and a time when it can be skipped…

What Are Web 2.0 Content Sites?

Web 2.0 content sites are social content publishing platforms, allowing you to create topical pages or groups of pages on a micro-topic. They generally have internal rating and voting systems, in addition to other social or community features. They operate on user-generated content.

Examples of Web 2.0 Social Content Sites include Squidoo and HubPages.
Here are other sources with lists of popular Web 2.0 content platforms:

• Top 100 Web 2.0 Sites
• Top 15 Most Popular Web 2.0 Sites
• Revenue Sharing & Article Bookmarking Sites

There are many places to publish your content around the internet that will give you both exposure within that community and inbound links to your own web pages. Some of them will also give you “indirect search engine rankings” and a few of them even offer Revenue Sharing options.

When You Should Consider Using Web 2.0 Sites

As I mentioned in the beginning this strategy is not for everyone. For starters, it’s incredibly time consuming. And it simply may not be necessary depending on your specific marketing strategy and/or the depth of your niche.

I mentioned it’s time consuming. Yes you can just publish content there the same way you would with an article directory. But to have a truly successful Lens or Hub Page (etc) you generally need to get more involved and actually participate in the content community. You need votes and likes and such in order for your content to rank well within the community itself. Of course, just posting content alone can have a few perks as well – but not near as many as “working it”.

Personally I find it to be more time consuming than I prefer, and if I choose to use this strategy – I outsource it. Each Web 2.0 content site has it’s own format and community to learn, and I simply don’t have the time and patience to get that involved.

I feel my time is better spent publishing on my own domains, Guest Blogging on popular blogs, and using some of the more popular mediums: YouTube, EzineArticles, etc.

That said, there IS a time and place to use Web 2.0 Content Sites. Particularly if you are working in a deeper, more competitive niche and have hundreds or thousands of long tail keywords to target. In that case, it pays to go the extra mile and get all the exposure and links you can – whatever it takes to achieve a top ranking for your Primary Keyword Phrases to attract potential subscribers to your squeeze page.

It basically boils down to just how many inbound links you need and/or how many keyword phrases you are targeting.

Your Task For Today:

Decide whether this strategy is something you need to use in your marketing plan. If so, determine whether you will invest the time yourself or outsource this task so that you can focus on creating content and products. Either way, create a list of the Web 2.0 sites you want to focus on, and which long tail keyword phrases you want to create content for on these sites.

Best,

p.s. Proper Content Marketing comes down to knowing who you’re writing for and why – specifically. Alice Seba has just put together a totally free guide (no opt ins required) called “15 Things You Should Know about Your Target Market to Immediately Boost Your Sales” Click Here to Download it Free (the direct download link to the PDF file is right at the top of the page)

For Day 13, refer to pages 33-36 in the
31 Day Guide to Growing Your List

To start, we’ll look at how to write an article (correctly). Specifically an article that is engaging enough to get both quality backlinks and clicks, which equals immediate traffic to your squeeze page…

Content Marketing for Backlinks and Human Visitors

If you’re only writing and submitting articles to get relevant backlinks, you’re missing half the benefits of this simple marketing strategy! You should also be writing with human visitors in mind so that you can get immediate targeted traffic to your squeeze page offer, in addition to higher search engine rankings.

Article Marketing, and content marketing in general, is a great way to target long tail keyword phrases and reach your market immediately – while your own site or page is still getting indexed and ranked.

Or, once your page is ranking well for it’s keyword phrase, content marketing is a great way to dramatically expand your reach by targeting all of the related or similar keyword phrases.

See: Driving Traffic To Your Product Reviews
(which works just as well for driving traffic to your squeeze page!)

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How To Write An Article That Gets Readers AND Clicks

There are 3 main things to keep in mind when writing great content:

1) The Headline or Title
2) Well-Written Content
3) Formatting!

The headline will pull them in, the content will pre-sell the reader and lead them straight into your call-to-action, but the formatting – well, that can potentially turn them off to the point that they never even read your great content!

I’m a real stickler about formatting. From image alignment to line breaks, if content doesn’t flow well on the page it makes it very difficult to read. Most of us skim and scan unless something really catches our eye and pulls us into the content.

Even without reading every single word carefully on a page, most of us “skim & scan” all the way to the order button and even make a buying decision without carefully reading the page.

Use that to your advantage (!) and make sure you format your content so that the main points stand out, visitors can easily scan your content, and make simple impulse decisions on your call-to-action.

Creating A Great Title For Your Articles

A great Title is going to contain a combination of copywriting and a keyword phrase. You’ll start by choosing a keyword phrase to target for your article.

This is a means of serving your market because they have specifically told you what they want to read by typing that phrase into the major search engines.

A keyword phrase alone is not enough though! You need to make the Title compelling. It’s the very first thing, and often the only thing, the visitor sees when they have to make a decision whether to click through and read it (or not)…

Article Title Tips:

• Use trigger words like “how to”, “easy” and “discover”
• Offer quick & easy Steps or Tips
• Make it around 7-10 Words

A handy resource is this Free Headline Analyzer.

Using this tool I analyzed the headline example on Page 34 of our free guide: “The quick and easy way to lose weight”. That headline got a score of 37.5%.

A little tweak to the headline: “Three Quick and Easy Steps to Losing Weight” saw a dramatic increase! This headline got a 50% score which is very high.

I also tried another variation: “3 Easy Steps to Lose Weight Fast!” which showed a score of 42.86% (also very nice!).

Bookmark the free headline analyzer and use it for every title you have to create: article titles, forum thread titles, email subject lines, blog post titles, headlines for your pay-per-click ads, etc.

How To Write An Article People Will Enjoy Reading!

If you write a great title, people will click through to read your article. This is NOT the place to lose them! You have only a few seconds before they decide whether to read your article… or click the back button.

As I mentioned earlier, the formatting of your article will be the first factor in that decision. If you article is one big long paragraph with no breaks, you’ve lost them. If your article is written in ALL CAPS, you’ve lost them. So make sure your article is properly formatted for easy reading.

With a great headline and proper formatting, your target market will begin reading your article – or at least scanning your sub-headlines and bullet points.

A well-written article will engage them, get them reading (instead of skimming) and pull them right into your call-to-action.

3 Quick Article Writing Tips:

• Use a Conversational Tone
• Don’t Bloat Your Article
• Include a Relevant, Strong Call-to-Action

It’s important not to bloat your article for the sake of word count OR in an effort to “sound smart”. It won’t read well, and will be counter-productive to your objective.

A conversational tone can be difficult for some people to achieve.

It’s hard to sit down to a blank screen and “talk to it” in a way that sounds smooth and natural. One thing I do when sit down to write articles is imagine that my best friend asked me a question.

Using our example above I might imagine that she phoned or emailed and said, “Okay, I’m fed up with my weight problem. What’s the quickest, easiest way to lose this weight??” From there I would start writing my response.

Note: it’s best to just write. You can edit and format after.

Another strategy I use is to do the formatting first. As you can see in my how to write a blog post, I often format the entire article/post first – with each of the elements I want to include. This includes a quick outline of the topics I want to cover. I then go back and turn those topics into sub-headlines, and flesh out each of the content areas one at a time.

Your Task For Today:

Choose a keyword phrase to target. Ideally this will be an informational keyword phrase relevant to your squeeze page offer. Create a great Title and write your article.

Tomorrow we’ll look at how to write a resource box or byline that includes a strong call-to-action and encourages your readers to click through…

Best,

p.s. If you struggle with writing articles, or creating content in general, you must check out: Write Better Content, Faster & with More Conversions! This is a hands-on, step-by step, interactive course by Alice Seba on creating content that will help you get more traffic and make more sales online. Highly Recommended!

You can get started today for only $1

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What do you do when you’re out of blogging ideas??

I participate in Nicole’s “expert briefs” every chance I get, but since I didn’t contribute to this post I thought I would share my thoughts & tips on the topic with you here.

There was great advice offered in the post, and even a free download. I was inspired with an idea for my next blog post while there (!) and I’ll share the details in a few…

Some of my favorite tips & sources they shared for coming up with content or blogging ideas include:

• Current News & Events
• Questions People Ask You
• Things You’re Reading (Blogs, Books, Social Media updates)
• Keyword Research
• ASK Your Readers/Followers!
• Known & Not-So-Known Holidays

See the full post here: What Should I Blog About Next?

Blogging Ideas for Product & E-Commerce Sites

I mentioned a great tip in my ASW11 Recap post that came from the SEO Site Clinic, regarding blogging and social media content:

If you have a product-based (e-commerce style) site, use social media & blogging for link bait instead of “making a sale”. Use content to engage your market with viral, outrageous, humorous topics – with the focus on getting quality links & valuable exposure.

For those of you with product-based or commercial websites, you’ll want to get creative with your content. Let’s say you have a gift basket site, for example. Blog post ideas might include: Top 10 WORST Gifts of All Time, What NOT To Give A Woman For Christmas, etc.

By keeping it light, fun, and engaging you increase your chances of readers sharing your content – and getting those much needed quality inbound links.

Of course, you’ll always end with a call-to-action and link back into your specific product pages.

From the ClickNewz Archives…

30 Rocking Search Phrases To Inspire Great Content For Your Blog

My Top Sources For Web Content & Blogging Ideas

5 Types of Web Content That Readers Love

The Secret To Writing Really Great Content

THIS Post Is A Good Example

The post you are reading right now… serves as a great example of the tips offered in Nicole’s blog post. I read it, liked it, wanted to share it, and decided to take their advice and expand on it here at my own blog. Bingo – blogging idea turned published post! That was easy, wasn’t it?

Best,

Have you ever heard that advice before? Sure you have, and it’s not bad advice at all. Yet, what happens if you don’t have a list or any readers at this point? Aren’t getting the response you hoped for or are just plain uninspired by the questions you do receive.

Thanks to the tremendous growth of social media, this is how you break in. You find the questions people are asking.

The following is a list of search phrases to get you started. By the time you are done using this list, I guarantee you will have a sweet list of blog posts in your drafts…

1. How do you ___
2. How do I ___
3. How do I make ___
4. How do I get ___
5. How to ___
6. How do I fix ___
7. Where can I get ___
8. Where can I find ___
9. Can you recommend ___
10. Can anyone recommend a ___
11. What is a good ___
12.Any tips ___
13.Any ideas ___
14. ___ help please
15. Thinking about getting ___
16.Looking to buy ___
17. Want to buy ___
18. Need a new ___
19. Things do to___
20. What to do___

The following phrases will yield better results when using a keyword research tool like Wordtracker:

21. Learn ___
22. ___ tips e.g. Hair color tips
23. Fix ___
24. ___ list
25. List of ___
26. Numbers – this probably works best on keyword searched than social
media but wow, you find out a lot with a number. For example, “20
questions to get to know someone” is enjoying 923 searches according
to Wordtracker.
27. ___ checklist
28. ___ cheatsheet
29. Guide to ___
30. ___ ideas

What do you think? Can you start one or two blog posts or articles now? Keep in mind. It doesn’t all have to be in social media. You can use it with a keyword research tool or try the phrases on good old fashioned forums.

What I love about doing it in forums, you can respond there and then. You gain a little bit of exposure, attention and credibility. And since you already started writing, there’s no excuse to stop. Simply copy your response to your blog and expand on the topic – great way to re-purpose your work, getting more bang for your time.

If you’re still stuck with content ideas or you need a different kind of writing prompt, come on over to BlogEnergizer. We’ll show you even more stuff you can blog about every week!

—Enjoy this Guest Post? Learn More About Lynette!—
Lynette Chandler is the technical go-to gal for many small business marketers. You’ll find her any day at http://TechBasedMarketing.com/news where you can sign up to receive tips on leveraging technology and download a list of “180 Free Tools You can Use To Build Your Business”.

Click Here for Your Free Pass to the Online Copywriting Summit

While I was at NAMS in Atlanta, I had a chance to sit down with Karon Thackston and Chris Cobb. You may recognize their names. They are Elite Members in my private brainstorming group, and I have interviewed Karon before. She is the one I learned Keywords & SEO Copywriting from years ago.

Chris & Karon have an upcoming event I think you’ll be interested in. Honestly, it’s a no brainer if you’re working online. It’s a telesummit (meaning it’s a virtual event you can attend from home) called Online Copywriting 101.

Expect to learn A LOT!

The online summit is completely free
if you attend live:

http://onlinecopywriting101.com/dap/a/?a=13

* Once you register for the free event, you’ll receive a referral link so that you can invite your friends & groups if you like.

Whether you’re interested in writing better content & copy, or recommending this to your readers or clients, be sure to check it out. The live event begins on September 1st. Go ahead and get signed up, and schedule it in.

Best,

p.s. You’ll hear my session with Karon & Chris on September 5th, which is one day before my daughter’s 14th birthday. She was only 5 months old when I quit my job to start my first business! If you register today (again, it’s free) you’ll get a reminder email so you don’t miss any of the live sessions. Enjoy!

Today’s technology makes it easy to brainstorm and create content on the go.

Just look at Lynn’s gadget closet – she’s got a Droid, an iPad, MacBook, a handheld video camera… and certainly plenty more handy dandy tools.

This girl can write it, record it and even publish it from absolutely anywhere!

But the good news is, you don’t need to buy all the coolest tools and gadgets to create content on the go.

You probably have what it takes to put together several weeks of content in the next few days…even if you don’t take a step toward your computer. Personally, I have a busy life and my computer screen time is limited, so I work things in where I can…all the while keeping control of my life, my obligations and having fun too…

Of course, technology helps – so I’ll be talking about a few options, but even if you just pick and choose from what you already have readily available…you’re still golden. And who knows, this increased productivity might earn you enough to indulge in a little gadget you’ve had your eye on.

On the Go Activities:

• Idea Brainstorming: Even if you don’t feel like writing out complete articles, posts or emails…you can come up with ideas wherever you are. Set aside some time for brainstorming during a time where you aren’t productive (think waiting for the kids to come out of school, at the doctor’s office) and challenge yourself to come up with 10 topic ideas.

• Ideas on the Fly: Sometimes ideas strike us when we least expect it. If we something happen in a store or we just had a conversation with someone, we might be inspired with an idea. Then we get home – and we forget. Avoid this, by jotting your ideas down.

• Writing Content: Personally, I tend to be very inspired and focused when I am away from the computer, so I do quite a bit of writing on the go. Often I put together email messages, promotions, articles and blog posts when I’m out and about.

• Audio Recordings: Sometimes we can’t stop to write things down, but we can easily create a recording to share with our readers or have transcribed. It might be a recording of just ourselves or an in-person or telephone conversation that we turn into content.

• Videos: Take a video of yourself talking, demonstrating something you’re already doing or anything that would be of interest in your market.

• Photos: A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s easy to take a quick photo wherever you happen to be. Whether you’re sharing something personal from your own life, a scene or something else relevant to your market – there are many photo ops available if you’re ready for them.

Keep these in mind as you’re out and about next time and see what content you might create while you’re having your car serviced, are lounging by the lake or are waiting for your takeout dinner to be ready.

On the Go Tools:

Again, you don’t have to have all of these…but you probably have a few of them available to use, so get in the habit of keeping them handy.

• Paper & Pen: Ah…the good old classic. A notebook and pen are always with me, wherever I go. If you’re high-tech, you might invest in the Livescribe pen what can turn your written words into audio recordings and transcripts.

• Digital Notes or Smart Phone: A digital device that allows you to take notes makes it easy to later import to your computer and you don’t have to fuss with paper. It really depends on your preference or what is most convenient at the time.

• Digital Audio Recorder or Smart Phone: Carry some type of digital recorder with you and you’re ready to create content at a moment’s notice. Record your thoughts and publish them to your blog. If you’re meeting someone who is an expert in your market or a fan of your niche, record a quick interview and you’ve got content! If you’re talking on the phone, call into a teleconference service that will record your conversion. Try freeconference.com – you just dial a U.S. based long-distance number and pay a small fee for the recording.

• Camera or Smart Phone: Most of us carry a camera around with us at all times, right in our cell phones. The quality of phone cameras is ever-increasing and it makes it easy to load our photos to photo-sharing services and social media sites.

• Mini Video Recorder or Smart Phone: Video is becoming a staple on mobile phones as well, so even if you don’t have a Flip camera or other trendy device, you might just have a video recorder available to create content at anytime.

Hmmm…there seems to be a common theme. How many times did I say “Smart Phone”? It is an ingenious device for online business owners. Whether you already have one or don’t have one yet, let’s talk about…

Embracing the Smart Phone:

As I said earlier, you don’t have to have all the fancy gadgets to create content wherever you are. Even if you’ve just got a digital camera with a notepad and pen, you have plenty of possibilities. But if you’ve got a Smart Phone along for the ride…you have virtually limitless possibilities.

Some people shy away from any type of Smart Phone because they hesitate to be “too connected” or “chained to their business”. I guess it really depends on how you use the phone. There’s no need to load up all your business email addresses and check every stat at every given moment because yeah, that would just mean you’re working 24/7. However, there’s something to be said about being able to get away from the computer for the day or however long you’d like (or need to) and still work on building your business value.

Lynn has her Droid. Many have a Blackberry. I personally have an iPhone and there are countless other options. Many apps (or applications) are available across platforms or you can often find something similar available on different phones…but let me share some of the things I can do with my iPhone.

My iPhone (or insert your own device here) is a:

• Phone: Great for recording conversations, with permission of course. I can use Skype or regular old-fashioned dialing.

• Note pad: I use the default note-taking program, but there are many other sophisticated apps you can download to create and organize your notes.

• Camera – Still & Video: A quality camera that makes it super-easy to load pictures online. I even have apps to edit my photos for even more possibilities.

• Audio Recorder: This is a device I’ve recently embraced, thanks to Ed Dale. The recorder creates m4a audio files that I can easily load to my server.

• Social Media Device: Sharing content through Twitter and Facebook is a snap.

• WordPress Management System: The WordPress app allows me to post, edit and manage comments on all my WordPress blogs.

• Feed Reader: Great for content inspiration, sharing and more.

• Dictionary, Thesaurus & Encyclopedia: All the knowledge I need is at my fingertips.

In short, we have so many opportunities available at our fingertips to create content. We don’t have to sit at our computers and say, “I am going to write X blog posts,” or today, “I will write X articles” and then sit there until we’re done. Before you know it, the day is done and we’ve sat there trying to force creativity. Live your life and allow inspiration to come to you…wherever you happen to be.

It’s a sunny day. Forget the computer. Grab a towel and head to the beach instead. You can create content anywhere you go.

About the Author: Alice Seba is the creator of Contentrix.com. With a focus on using content to create relationships, loyalty and results from writing, she loves helping online business owners get more bang out of their content. Click here for your free Profit with Content guide.

For awhile now I’ve been on a one-way street. I’ve been so busy creating and managing my content that I haven’t had much opportunity to read or study anything new.

I’d be willing to bet you’re having the opposite problem – you’ve been so busy consuming and studying content that you haven’t had much time left over to work on creating your own contribution to the web. Am I right?

Both of those scenarios present their own set of problems.

Obviously you are going to have a difficult time getting your online business up and running if you are too busy downloading, reading and studying. There are only so many hours in a day.

Likewise, it’s very easy to become stagnant if you aren’t consuming niche news and information on current trends. One of the keys to being a market leader in your niche is to be in a position to report on that news, and share opinions and actionable tips with your readership.

The key is to find balance between creating and consuming.

I realized that very recently, and have been making strides toward improvements. This is one of the primary reasons that I have been attending more internet marketing events and studying new info products.

On the flip side, if all you do is attend events and study guides & blogs… you aren’t publishing or creating. Which is not going to get you anywhere fast.

Prior to the rise of Social Media, people either got online to publish information or to consume information. Now most users are both creating and consuming information every time they log on. So in addition to following news and trends, you also want to keep an ear on the conversations related to your niche(s). Not only should you read those discussions, you should get involved in them.

The first thing I recommend is that you keep a Time Log for the next 72 hours. Make note of how much time you spend working, and exactly how you are spending that time. Simply keep a notepad on your desk or beside your laptop, and keep an ongoing log of times & tasks.

You can take it a step further and document your entire day for the next 3 days. Including family obligations, tv time, sleep, social events, etc. It’s incredibly enlightening, and you will see areas where you can make dramatic improvements right away. (This is one of the reasons I use paper & pen vs software that tracks online activities only)

Next, set up systems and schedules for both consuming and creating. There are a lot of options including software, outsourcing, mobile apps, and different strategies. What works best for one person won’t be the ideal solution for the next, so you want to choose a system that works best for you.

I put NewsRob Pro on my Droid so that I can access my Google Feed Reader on the go. This cuts out my consumption time in front of the computer, and allows me to keep up with topics and Google Alerts while I’m mobile. I find it’s much more efficient to keep an eye on them when I have a spare minute here and there, than to get completely drawn in for an hour or more while I’m sitting at my desk.

That won’t work for everyone, but it works great for me.

Also set aside a specific amount of time every day to create. Make it a routine until it becomes a habit. Set a timer for 30, 60 or 90 minutes during this time and turn everything else off so that you can focus on publishing for your niche.

Whether you’re working on a new product, blogging, mailing your list – whatever you’re doing, make time to do that consistently.

Start with the Time Log. It’s a simple exercise that can make a huge difference. Are you consuming too much information and not creating enough (or any) yourself? Are you out of the loop because you aren’t keeping an eye on the content & conversations others are publishing? Make it a point to find some balance with all of the information, and make sure it’s flowing smoothly on both sides…

Best,

p.s. If you choose to take the Time Log challenge, I would love to hear what stands out to you most from analyzing the way you spend your time working online. Did you see an immediate area where you can make serious improvements?