You only get a few seconds to make a good impression when a potential customer first visits your site. Your landing page needs to grab their attention right away. Effective landing pages are vital to successfully converting your potential customers into paying customers. However, it is not just the design of the page that matters; it's the content that matters most.

The question is…how do you make sure that your landing pages are doing what you need them to do? Most importantly, is your copy writing having a positive effect on your conversion rates or are you missing the opportunity to put your best foot forward to your potential customers.

So you have a blog, it’s been around awhile, and you’ve gotten comfortable with publishing excellent content regularly. You take care to write well. You add images, format the post well, and do as much SEO optimization as can be expected from someone who isn’t an expert. You’ve built yourself a small audience, but still you wonder how to get your blog noticed so it can go from being a clichéd sideline to something that actually matters.

It’s not easy but it’s not as impossible as it seems.

As a copywriter, headlines are some of the most important words you write. They are so important, in fact, that if you spend more time copywriting headlines than you do the articles that go with them, you are probably doing it right.

It is easy to see why. In our connected world, we see thousands of headlines every day. Every blog post, e-mail, social media update, and every article in every newspaper and magazine begins with a headline. The competition for attention is steep.

Everyone has a Facebook page, why is yours special? Before 2010 having a Facebook page with a few likes was all it took to see who was engaging your brand. Well not any more. Creating silo pages for customers to land on does nothing more than take up digital real estate. You need to fill your pages with content that leads customers through an incentive loop. Read this, click this, share this, buy this. Each point of the loop should be more engaging than the last. Ideally, ending in a sale.

Every couple months a list of new marketing trends tends to go viral. Why? Simple. Consumers are constantly looking for new ways to engage businesses. All you have to do is give it to them. This list of online marketing trends are a must in today’s crowded digital marketplace.

With 90% of adults using mobile devices, it is safe to say that mobile is the first place customers encounter your content. If you haven’t already, it’s time to build a dedicated mobile site or update your old one to be responsive. If a customer looks for you on their smart phone and the page fails to load, you just lost a customer. Spend some time with your web developer or use a template from Wordpress or Squarespace to get your site updated and mobile ready.

To no one’s surprise, Facebook has stepped up their video ad game. Facebook is quickly stealing the video ad market from long-time champion Youtube. How? By providing easily integrated tools, free “call to action” buttons and better formats for advertisers. If you’re ready to start video marketing on Facebook remember to keep it short, include a strong call to action and create shareable content. Don’t worry, all it takes is a smartphone to make a decent video.

The traditional value chain is dead. Customers have become the heart of the modern day value chain because of customer to brand interaction on social media. I’m talking about Social Currency. 

Tweet for Products

For those of you not familiar with Social Currency, it is using a consumers social network in return for your products. Handbag designer Marc Jacobs sold handbags in return for brand advocates. Customers looking to purchase the handbag were asked to tweet to their social media networks about the product. 

The more impressions the tweet received the cheaper the bag. Simple and brilliant. So, I ask you, What are you doing to create brand advocates? 

Why is conversion on your website so important? 

Let’s say you are currently converting 2% of the people who visit your blog into customers or enquiries. If you can tweak your website and double that to 4%, that will mean you will have twice as many customers without needing to have any extra visitors to your website. That means twice as many customers for no extra advertising cost!

Sometimes just a few small changes can bring major improvement in conversion rates. 

Check out these simple tips to get the most out of every visitor to your website:

Online marketers often rethink their strategy, especially in terms of marketing efforts that might be outdated or no longer providing the results they need. With so many changes in technology, the online marketplace and competitor strategies, it might be time to review your own marketing efforts to make sure that you are still on the right track and set up for online success. 

Google’s Matt Cutts posted on his personal blog that webmasters should no longer use guest blogging as a way to gain links. And if you do accept a blog post from a writer, make sure that it was written by someone you are willing to vouch for in terms of credibility and quality. Cutts’ statement made SEO agencies quite worried. And the question over the success of guest posting remains an important one. 

You know content marketing is where it’s at for online marketing success. But how do you know if you’re doing it right, faithful to your brand and building the right customer audience? 

You’ve got renegade freelancers on one side, a web team that doesn’t know the new editorial schedule on the other, and you’re defending your content marketing budget from other departmental poaching by the skin of your teeth.

After all, creating content marketing strategy and effectively executing it are two wildly different things. The answer you’re looking for is found in content marketing workflows. 

Content marketing workflows is the structure behind your content strategy. Breaking down your content strategy into processes to keep your content subject matter and editorial schedule on track. 

Workflows include:

• Identifying individual tasks
  
• Assigning owners for those tasks
  
• Setting deadlines for each task
  
• Establishing an editorial hierarchies to keep your content aligned and perfected
  
• Structuring an approval ladder to advance each task forward to completion
  
• Measuring success of strategies to learn which tactics are the most effective for your brand and audience
  
• Create content distribution path and the tools needed to measure success
  

Before creating a workflow process or even deciding what type of content that you need to create, be it utilizing social media, curating blog content, or writing an eBook for your industry niche, there are a few steps you need to go through to be effective. 

This is perhaps one of the most common errors in blog writing. Run-on sentences might be something that writers have heard of before, yet they continue to make this mistake. A run-on sentence refers to a sentence that connects two independent clauses together inappropriately. What exactly is an independent clause? Quite simply, it refers to a complete subject and a complete verb that can stand on its own as a sentence. So, in plain terms, you can refer to an independent clause as a sentence on its own. To avoid this mistake, do not connect two independent sentences together unless you can use a comma or a semi colon, or even a conjunction (for, but, and, or, so).

Did your readers fall asleep while reading your blog? 

You know whose fault it is – yours – but don’t worry – there’s a centuries-old technique that makes a blog post on how to do your taxes seem so awesome it invokes excitement.  Not only does it keep your reader awake, it keeps them coming back for more.

Most of what you read about the process of writing great guests posts shares a common theme – content must be unique and compelling. In fact, some bloggers have gone so far as to consider it the golden rule. While I can’t argue with any of that, I can say there’s a worthy alternative approach:  Tell a Story. 
 
When you tell a story, you’re relating something in a way that resonates and connects.   It’s simple, unexpected, credible and it taps into our emotions.  This is the best way to grab a reader’s interest, especially someone with a very short attention span who quickly scans content on a smartphone looking for solutions to a problem.  

Great storytellers (and great bloggers) follow a narrative technique called the dramatic arc or more officially Freytag’s Pyramid. 

The last year has seen the rise of a new kind of advertising that moves beyond the traditional banner advertising. It has been credited with an 82% increase in brand recall. It has performed exceedingly well in clickthrough rates vs traditional display ads and people view native ads 53% more than they do banner ads. 

With the decrease in clickthrough rates on traditional online advertising, publishers have been on the lookout for the Holy Grail of ad revenue. And they may have found it in native advertising. 

For the unititiated, there may be some confusion  on the difference between native advertising and branded content. In branded content, the company simply creates content that is published on their own platforms – such as on their website or branded apps. For example, American Express runs the Open Forum targeting small business owners or even Footsmart’s Running Health Resource Centre.  It isn’t the same as placing advertisements on a webpage. The company creates the content (images, blogs, articles, infographics, etc.) and places it on their own property. 

What differentiates native advertising is where the sponsored content is published. To be considered native advertising, the content must be published on a media property or a publishers site. It is a type of branded content that treats branding as secondary to the content. The goal of native advertising is to present the branding in a way that’s doesn’t interrupt the consumer’s experience of the content. A good example is what The Onion did for H&R Block. 

So, your startup has a great story to tell. And you know that as soon as everyone hears it, they would be lining up the proverbial door, ready to join you towards your awesome vision. 

Now, all you need is to get The New York Times to cover you. No, WIRED… 
Or how about Fast Company? Now that would be cool. 

Just getting the attention of an established journalist will catapult your story to readers, viewers, and listeners across the nation, or perhaps around the world. You’ll get tones of traffic! You’ll be rich! Maybe get a quick exit to Facebook for a few billion. 

So…you send a quick email to the Sr. Editor at Fast Company and explain how awesome your startup is. But you don’t hear back. Seconds go by. 

Hours. Days… and nothing.    

Unfortunately, this is how hundreds of new entrepreneurs go about their publicity campaigns. Not only do you frustrate yourself, you also make journalists tear their hair out from every bit of spam they receive in their emails. 

Well, here’s how to grab the attention of journalists in three easy steps and not file you away in their spam folder.

There are thousands... no...millions of bloggers out there. 

And yet, they all sound the same. 

Kinda boring, don't you think? As a reader, take a look at what blogs you spend the most time on and the places where you leave the quickest. 

If you were interested in healthy foods, would you spend more time reading someone who wrote like this:
 
" I made these a couple of weeks ago because I had a wicked craving for fish tacos and all I had on hand was shrimp. So I made a command decision: I made shrimp tacos.

It’s called troubleshooting! I’m good at it, but only if it involves food.

Put me in the desert and tell me I have to find my way out using my awesome sense of direction? Goodbye forever. Ain’t happening.

Did you know I can spin Marlboro Man around a thousand times with his eyes closed and with his eyes still closed he can point in any direction and determine whether it’s north, south, east, or west simply because it’s so embedded in his being?

Did you know I can spin around a thousand times with my eyes closed and throw up?I digress. Let’s move ahead with the tacos, okay? " 

From The Pioneer Woman

Or would you like to hang out at this blog:

Who is Matthew Hooper?

I was originally from a small town in northern British Columbia but I eventually ended up in Taiwan for over seven years after getting tired of the rat race lifestyle. Now I help individuals, small businesses and organizations build an internet presence.

Why did you start MatthewHooper.com? How does your website make money?

MatthewHooper.com has had many incarnations over the years. It started nearly a decade ago as a personal site. In its current incarnation, I originally started to use it as a way to answer questions that I got asked repeatedly. Anything from software recommendations to website best practices. I started to get asked more about websites and then to make websites for other people. That is what led to what it is now.

Back in the blistering cold of Montreal’s latest winter, I was soon to graduate from one of Canada’s top Universities. 
Hoping my career was about to take off, I had a few options up my sleeve.

Many of my peers had landed jobs at investment banks, real-estate firms and major marketing agencies. I had good enough grades to do the same, but the corporate office was not for me. I am the entrepreneurial type, I wanted something different, I wanted to learn, and I wanted to learn fast. 

It turns out the web is great place to do this. It is not only humungous but ever evolving.  It was pounded into our heads at business school that “nothing is more constant than change”, a saying never more appropriate for the online world. 

If I wanted to learn something useful, something that would stick with me forever, online marketing was a great skill to have, and to take with me for the long haul.

Here’s what I’ve picked up:

It’s time to forget about the old days of spammy link strategies and poor quality content. As a search consumer, you no  longer have to worry about going through hundreds of badly written articles and spam sites to find the one that gives you good information. 

Like Apple back in the early days, Google+ has its fair share of skeptics. Recently, a report from RJ Metrics was published indicating that, although Google+ has seen some solid user growth, engagement still lags far behind Facebook and Twitter. 

Google claims the report is skewed because of a small sample size and only publicly shared data is included. However, numbers aside, Google has made it clear that Google+ will play an important part in its continuous process to improve its search algorithm so that they can provide quality search results for their users. 

If you’re a blogger,  this is important. You cannot overlook the importance of social media and Google+ in your efforts to get more visibility and higher rankings. 

Here are 3 reasons why you should consider Google+ as part of your social media and content strategy...

The last few months have been an interesting time for the city of Montreal. Blocked traffic.

Molotov cocktails.

Smoke bombs in the metro.

Students being forced to not goto school.

Sounds like an uprising in a Third World country doesn't it? (Many people who live here sometimes consider Quebec to be a third world province, but we digress...)

It all started when students rose against the government over the increase in tuition prices, but, somehow degenerated into a protest against everything that the current provincial government stands for. Whatever you political affiliation, what is fascinating though, is how important social media and the internet plays in the keeping the movement alive.

And how the people and even the police have used social media to push its points and maintain communications. A few lessons can be learned from this event for online marketers and we've boiled it down to two:


1. Real-time social media monitoring is necessary in order to keep up with the latest trends.

The Quebec student strikes seem to follow a similar pattern: organize, gather, protest, disband and often repeat. In scale the protests are quite significant, but the most remarkable component is the organizational abilities of the students, amidst the Montreal Police’s valiant efforts to put them to a halt.

If it were not for social media, student protesters would never be able to effectively organize and communicate in such an effective manner. Through Facebook groups, status updates and tweets, everyone is aware of the most up to date information - in real-time.

It may seem obvious, but the student’s dependence on social networks is a glaring sign of today’s reliance on the most up-to-date information through social networks.

So, what's the lesson for the online marketer??

In relation to online marketing, today’s newest trends and success stories will stem from the ability to monitor and respond to emerging consumer sentiment online.

In order for companies to develop strong relationships with their clients, they need to be constantly monitoring the social networks that their customers hang out at. Just as the police are monitoring the same networks that the Quebec students are using and likewise, the reliance Quebec students have on these same networks to communicate with each other.

Within minutes, hundreds of thousands of Quebec students can be informed and unite; the same should be said for online marketers looking to cash in on new trends.

2.  Organizational mistakes or alterations can be amplified to have disastrous impacts.

The Charest government never thought that a $254/year increase in tuition fees would result such a massive uprising. Although small in monetary value, the scope of backlash has caught on to 83% of Quebec’s students. The protests show no signs of slowing and recently, the Quebec Minister of Education has resigned under the increased pressure of her duties.

The same could be said in the world of online marketing.

The ability of news and ideas to spread instantly means even small mistakes can have disastrous effects for companies.  Back in January, McDonalds tweeted the hashtag #McDstories in an effort to promote positive stories from their suppliers.

However, unhappy customers hijacked the hashtag, unveiling a wide variety of unpleasant experiences they’ve had - such as finding fingernails in their burgers. @SkipSullivan tweeted, “One time I walked into McDonald’s and I could smell type 2 diabetes floating in the air and I threw up. #McDstories”.

Within minutes a parade of similar tweets was sent around the twittersphere, all in criticism of the Golden Arches.

As news and ideas spread can now spread to hundreds of thousands in less than a second, organizations must be extra cautious regarding the messages they send out, and also the people they put in charge.

Here is a recap on what's happened this week in regards to content marketing.. Enjoy! 

The content conundrum: 5 ways to create expert content with little resources 
If you're a small business, it's more than likely, there is one person handling not only social media, but also the content marketing. This involves blogging, writing email newsletters, answering social media comments, and writing guest posts as part of blogger outreach. As your customers are more than likely to use social media as a way to do their research before purchasing, it's extremely important that you produce great content that will build your credibility and develop relationships....  Anita O'Malley from PerspectivMarketing.com shows you how. 

General Mills explain their success in content marketing 
An interesting article by Forbes who interviewed the top 3 leading advertisers and their content strategy. General Mills discusses their magazine Tablespoon and how it helped their brands. 

How to be a formidable content curator - a 17 step guide. 
A great post on how to share awesome, relevant content for your audience using the simplest of tools. Chris Lake of econsultancy.com explains that being a resource can mean finding information that your readers can't find on their own. 

7 New things to do after you've written a new blog post
A week late, but here is a great update from Brody Dorland from DivvyHQ on how to promote your blog post to get maximum visibility. We highly recommend #3 - tie in Google+ to your blog especially with the Panda and Penguin updates.

 

A great way to keep up-to date on the newest online marketing tactics and trends is by learning from the best. Many of them share their knowledge on their their own blogs and Twitter feeds . We have a small list of some of the top internet marketers, their blogs and Twitter accounts. Read and learn from them! 

Jill Whalen ( @JillWhalen) is considered to be an old-timer of the online space. She has been involved in SEO since the early 90's as CEO of High Ranking, a SEO agency in Boston. She maintains a great SEO newsletter called the High Rankings Advisor  and is a prolific tweeter. She is highly engaged with her followers and provides some great insight into the SEO world. 

Rand Fishkin (@randfish) is the CEO and one of the founders of SEOmoz.org. He has managed to grow SEOMoz to become one of the most respected companies in the SEO space. His knowledge of online marketing, SEO and social media is great. He and his team write extensively on internet marketing and have some great insight on how to rank well.  

Todd Malicoat (@stuntdubl)  is an SEO teacher who creates and organizes certification programs in online marketing for Market Motive. Another one of the old-timers in online marketing, he has been involved in the internet industry in many capacities. Most recently as a consultant for various companies such as Meredith Corporation, PBS and Real Networks. He has a great blog on StuntDubl.com , where he writes about SEO, social media and online marketing.  

Dan Zarella ( @danzarella ) for lack of a better term, can be considered a geek. He is the original madman scientist of social media for Hubspot, always experimenting and trying to figure out how to improve online marketing.  He also maintains a blog at DanZarella.com outlining some of his experiments. An interesting experiment he recently did for a federal intelligence agency was the use of Twitter to predict social unrest and map it.  

We were lucky to interview Kellie Leigh when she came into Montreal for the MTL140 conference..She kindly took the time from her busy schedule to answer our questions about her newest gig for Zoocasa.com (Rogers Communications owned real estate based website). Being in the media industry since 1998, she brings a lot of experience to her position, handling social media marketing, online branding and content marketing.


What is Zoocasa and how does it benefit home buyers?

Zoocasa is Canada’s Fastest Growing Home Search website.  It benefits buyers by providing them with valuable and up to date information about the neighbourhoods.  We have extensive neighbourhood demographics on each and every listing.  People can see the age, ethnicity, occupation, education and age of the people in every neighbourhood across Canada  We also have Google street view, a mortgage calculator, gas calculator and Walk Score.

How does Zoocasa make money?

Zoocasa.com is fully supported by our local and national advertisers.  We offer targeted, neighbourhood level advertising to local Realtors as well as standard IAB banners.

How are you reaching out to potential users or prospects?

I have used Social Media such as Twitter, Facebook & YouTube as my way of reaching out to Real Estate and Mortgage Professionals.  Many of my clients also introduce me to their colleagues in the industry.  I also write a blog called What Is New @ The Zoo!

We educate Real Estate professionals on how to use Zoocasa.  They see the value, and take it a step further to educate their clients.

Are you supporting Zoocasa's social media with other marketing tactics?

Zoocasa has partnerships with companies such as Re/Max of Western Canada, EXIT Realty, The Real Estate Book, Homes & Land,  OBEO & Point2.

We have also been actively sponsoring events such as Realtor Quest, Agent Reboot, REBar Camp, Richard Robbins IGNITE as well as many other events & golf tournaments nation wide.  These events get us out into the community and allow us to have conversations about our product.  From there it is all word of mouth.

With so many social media platforms out there, how do you know which to use? Which has worked for you?  

I believe that one should be actively involved in all of the top Social Media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn.  The reason why I am active on all is because people usually have preferences for one.  I connect with different people in different places, the place or places of their preference.

How would you measure the success of a social media campaign?

I measure the success of our Social Strategy by increased awareness of our product, which has contributed to Zoocasa’s audience growth at 95% year over year.

How did you create a social media strategy for Zoocasa? And where does content fit in?

My social strategy has been to connect with the Real Estate community across Canada and engage in conversation with them, getting to know everyone as a person before it translates into business.  I have built very real relationships with agents and that has translated into full support of our business.  My clients promote Zoocasa on their websites, and we promote them.

As far as content goes,  What Is New @ The Zoo is focused on marketing efforts of the Real Estate community, comparing different mediums to advertising on Zoocasa.  There is no medium that is as targeted as Zoocasa.  Over half a million people come to our site per month,  66% of them are looking for an agent, and 54% don’t have a pre-approved mortgage.  You can’t get more targeted than that considering that online is where people begin their search!

Are there specific formats that you follow when you create content for social media?

The content ranges from Real Estate Marketing to commonly asked questions about Zoocasa from the Real Estate community.  I believe that the only rule to social media is that you be authentic and I am a true believer in sharing the knowledge of marketing that I have gained in the last 14 years.

Twitter has been used as a communication tool to stay in touch with agents I have met with as well as to introduce myself & Zoocasa to the community.

What social media trends can affect the way Zoocasa use content?

Zoocasa is always at the forefront of technology, so staying up to date on all of the latest Social Media trends is very important.   It’s also great to be able to listen to our community and take their suggestions on how we can make a better user experience, for people searching for a home as well as Realtors and Mortgage Brokers.

As part of our ongoing series on successful bloggers to answer the question - what makes a successful blog, we've interviewed Nick Thacker. He is the owner of Livehacked.com, a great blog for writers on how to achieve success in the publishing world.

1. Who is Nick Thacker?

I'm a creator. Writing books, blog posts, articles--or music, building businesses, or whatever--I enjoy the process of creating something from nothing. I've been an entrepreneur for around 7 years, most recently at LiveHacked.com, where I am trying to help people find out their inner passion for building and creating cool stuff, then find the confidence to "ship" it!

2. Why did you start Livehacked.com? How does Livehacked.com make money?

LiveHacked.com is part personal blog, part resource center for budding writers, entrepreneurs, and creators. Its target focus is "productive writing," "platform building through blogging," and "getting more done in a distracting world." The current stage it's in is solely as a content-center--the monetization will come through books and paid resources for people who like what's going on (for example, I'm just about finished with a book on creating a business plan for a blog by answering 101 "questions" about your passion and topic.).

The next stage will be community-driven: creating a tribe and launching a movement of people who want to engage and interact with others and create content out of it.

Eventually, I hope to roll out a publishing resource site for authors and bloggers--we'll see!

3. Why not a video blog? Or a podcast? What made you choose to write a blog?

Truthfully--quality control and consistency. I don't have good enough equipment to create high-quality video and do the lighting. I know I could do something simple with my MacBook Pro, but spending years doing A/V production in church sort of ruined my ability to accept that quality! If I do it, I don't want the quality to be a hindrance to the brand.

The consistency part is why I haven't done podcasting. I read and write all the time, so blogging is easy (or easier!). Podcasting, though, might be fun for awhile and then become a chore--I don't want to either be stuck producing a podcast that's not fun for me, or worse: produce something people can TELL I don't enjoy!

Both mediums are amazing ways to capture and exchange ideas, though--I hope to be able to incorporate them into my platform soon, but for now I'm sticking to my guns!

4. How do you come up with the content that meets your readers' needs?

The first thing I do is ask myself what I would want to read--is there a question I had (or have) that I can try to answer? If so, I'll do some research and write about it.

Second, I ask anyone who reads the site--if you sign up for the newsletter, I ask, "what are you struggling with?" (thanks to Derek Halpern for that AWESOME advice!), and then personally respond to the email, thanking them for their response. Then I try to help. If it's a question they ask ("how do I promote my book," or "how can I get people to read my blog?") then I can do some more research and provide an opinion. If it's a more intangible response, like "I'm struggling with getting started on my big projects," I might try to offer some insight based on what got me through the bigger projects, etc.

The last way to come up with content is to steal it! Not steal the actual content, necessarily, but to steal the subject matter or the idea: if there's a post a certain subject that's getting massive response, there's a good chance people want to read about that subject! If it's something I know about and have an opinion on that might help others, I'll write something on the same subject, or from another perspective, that explains a different aspect of it. That way, I'm not actually "stealing" anything--just writing on a topic I know is currently popular!

5. How long does it take to create a blog post for you?

I'll spend anywhere from 2 hours to upwards of 4, but the longer I spend on a post the more I tend to think it can better served in another format, like an ebook or course or something. Length isn't really the issue--I write quickly enough--it's the organization of my thoughts into a coherent format that makes sense, and finding the research/studies/images to support the post.

I have the exact same process for posts on LiveHacked.com as I do for guest posts--neither is "more important," and both are permanent, so I try to write equally in-depth stuff for other websites as I do for my own. The only difference is that I might try to leave a guest post more open-ended to get traffic to my site, and on my own site I'll end with a call to action ("sign up," "leave a comment," etc.)

6. What's your marketing strategy?

1. Always add value. If it doesn't directly add value to someone's life, I probably won't put it in the rotation. Buying ads might generate traffic, but they won't "add value" for someone, and you'll pay a premium for less of a result. On the other hand, engaging and interacting with people through social media sites, guest posts, and email courses is cheaper and much more effective.
2. I try to position myself and my blog in front of people the way I would want to see myself. If that didn't make sense, I try to pretend like I am my own target market--what would get me motivated? By that measurement, I don't respond as well to "free ebook!" as I do to "how can I help you?," so that's what I try to offer. Furthermore, I want to read highly actionable and immediately useful content--so that's what I create, no matter where it gets posted.
3. Be consistently helpful. This is two things in one: be consistent, AND be helpful. So I'll consistently write for other blogs, consistently use things like Buffer to leverage my social media reach, and consistently try to add value to every connection I make with other people.

Those are the lofty, idealistic things you'll find in my marketing plan. Here are the things in my marketing "bag of tricks:"

1. Guest post. It's free, positions you in front of the perfect audience, and is "evergreen" in the sense that as long as the blog is there, your content is pointing back to your site.
2. Create an "In List" for social media interaction. We can't connect with everyone, even in our own niche. So we need to seek out the people we can directly and consistently affect and be affected by. For example, I have an In-List for Twitter: a private list of about twenty people who have audiences slightly larger than my own, and I promote their content and their stuff way more often. That means I'm going to be in their face much more often, but I'll be promoting THEIR stuff, not MINE, and they don't have a massive following, so they're not totally swamped by people shouting their name. By the time I want or need some help promoting my own stuff, they'll know my name, hopefully like me, and help me get the word out.
3. Build cranes. I started with a newsletter list of 200 (personal and professional emails, none of which actually signed up! oops), and it sat stagnant for TWO YEARS while I did nothing.

In February, I relaunched my site as LiveHacked.com and focused on building a small "crane" that could build a small "platform." That meant I guest posted on some small blogs and urged people to sign up for my list--it grew to 250 by March.

In April, I focused on the next size up: a bigger "crane," that could help me build a bigger "platform." I wrote a bunch more posts, and sent people to my Fiction Writer's Guide to Writing Fiction 20-week free course. The results? I DOUBLED the signups in about two weeks, and am now focusing on the next biggest phase:

An even bigger crane--more posts, more content, more courses, and more books...

Basically, the crane/platform strategy is an exotic form of "start small." But it really works, and got me in the right mindset!

7. I noticed that you have a free course on writing a novel. Why's that?

I've always read fiction thrillers as my escape from the real world, and so I decided to write one awhile ago. I learned so much during the process--not just on writing fiction, but on goal-setting, productivity, and creation in general--that I thought it would be helpful to other writers as well. Half of my readership is made up of people who love to write, but can't get to "The End." The other half is people wanting to build something from nothing; to get noticed. Writing a novel may not help, but the tools I found and used certainly help me build other stuff as well!

And it's free because it's a crane--leading to a larger platform!

8. On Problogger, you mentioned that leaving comments on other blogs is a great way to drive traffic back, however, with Google disallowing any backlinks from commenting, is this still a good strategy?

I think it's a great way to develop the long-tail in your overall traffic strategy. Looking at Analytics data over the few years I've maintained my site, I see tons of incoming traffic from sites I've left an insightful, thoughtful comment on. Sure, I REALLY want to leave a comment on those sites that aren't rel="nofollow" or whatever, but I've had real traffic in the long run from people who clicked over from another site.

It's not something I'm going to recommend as an SEO tactic--there's just too much work involved for too little payout. But for overall traffic and engagement, absolutely. Plus, as a blog owner, I understand the feeling of getting a great comment on a blog post--so it's a way I can "pay it forward!"

9. What is the best way to discover guest posting opportunities as a way to drive traffic back to your site?

I start by looking at the sites I already read! What works really well for me is to find a search bar on a site I read, and search for "guest post" on it. Many times I'll find a long-forgotten page detailing the guest-posting policy, or at least a contact form. I don't spend too much time seeking out sites I don't already read--it takes too long to get acquainted with the readership by commenting and interacting.

However, whenever I come across a site I love, I'll subscribe immediately and start the process of becoming a "regular reader"--and whenever I'm ready to guest post, I'll already have more of an "in" with the site owner.

10. Is guest posting one good way to create backlinks or part of a larger strategy?

Definitely part of a larger strategy; that of getting targeted readers. To me, there's no reason to focus only on SEO--my site will be successful by building long-term relationships with actual readers, not by generating traffic and clicks. Yes, the backlinks help--but they don't pay the bills.

11. What is your opinion on Google's action against blog networks such as Buildmyrank and others? How does it change your blog marketing strategy?

You know, it's upsetting that the Panda update and Google's recent actions have hurt certain "repository"-style websites. But if you build an entire business model around a proprietary algorithm that you don't fully understand nor control, how can you be expect to maintain the status quo at all? In all honesty, I've always focused on SEO as an integral part of an overall strategy, but nothing more. I'm focusing on capturing long-term readers, and whether or not a backlink increases my external SEO or not, it definitely increases the chances someone will find LiveHacked.com!

Google has a stranglehold on the entire Internet currently, but it won't last forever. I have no idea what it's going to look like ten years from now, but I can bet that our current understanding of SEO won't be anything close to the future understanding of it--except that people like great content, and they want to figure out how to answer their questions and solve their problems.

If we can help them do that, it won't matter what Google or any of the other search engine players decide to do.

12. What are some of the mistakes that people do in promoting their blog?

I can answer this one very well, because I've made most of the mistakes! First, thinking that the online world is any different than the offline world in terms of what people want. They want engagement and relationship, NOT self-promoted hype and hyperbole.

Second, I made a big mistake when I first started in online marketing by trying to offer what I thought people wanted, rather than what I was passionate about. The result was a quick level of growth, then a plateau after I lost interest, then a decline.

A third mistake is trying to do a little of everything. The web makes it easy to try so many new things in promoting our work, but that doesn't mean we should. It's great to explore the traffic strategies to see what works, but we can quickly become spread too thin and fizzle out. Instead, it seems like focusing on a few or a handful of proven growth strategies and sticking with them for some time would be the best long-term strategy.

13. Where do you see Livehacked.com in the future?

Planes, trains, and spaceships, entire branded theme parks, and becoming a household name. No, really--I hope LiveHacked can grow, for sure, into something that more people can get use out of. Everyone has a "big project" or "lifelong dream" that they're completely and totally capable of accomplishing, but for whatever reason, don't.

I want LiveHacked.com to become the site that helps people figure out what that reason is, and get over it. Eventually, I see LiveHacked moving from a personal blog to more of a community-driven publishing and content-creation project. We'll see!

Here at CustomContenFactory.com, when we’re not writing cool articles, creating ebooks or working on cool things, we’re checking out some awesome blogs! Today, we're bringing some of our favorite health blogs that you could learn from... Take a look:

Ben Does Life
Ben Davis' story is one of challenge and inspiration. On 2008, Ben made the decision to start changing his life around on a promise to his grandmother. A few years later, he has lost 120 pounds, finished marathons and competed in an Ironman. He not only has won his battle over obesity, but also his was against depression. This blog is an example of a man who's living life to the full.

Primal Toad
Primal Toad is written by Todd Doesnberry who focuses on the Paleo Diet, a form of nutrition that goes back to the caveman days - only lean meats, fruits and vegetables. No Bread or flour-based products. The recipes that he lists are great and cheap to make..  We highly recommend the Chocolate Cinnamon Malt Smoothie!  He provides some great information on how to live in a smart, scientifically accurate way to optimal health.

StrongLifts
StrongLifts is all about weight training. If you're a fitness freak, take a look at this site for tips and tricks on how to up your strength. It has a large and vibrant community that supports and encourage each other to get stronger.  The site contains dozens of  guides and instructions on how to live a healthy life including suggestions on nutrition.

Fit Bottomed Girls
Everything you want to know about health, fitness, nutrition and leading a healthy, balanced life for women. They've won awards for their writing and knowledge put on the website. A site filled with great information that can make a difference in your life!

How different is small business marketing online vs. online marketing for corporations?

The most obvious difference is resources (more money to invest/spend and more people to help out).

But the other thing is that successful companies in online marketing understand how to systematically scale and grow their businesses.

They know what the Cost of Customer Acquisition is, and the Lifetime Value of a Customer. So they know how much they can spend on paid channels, and how to optimize conversions and testing to improve.

They have a long-term strategy set in place, and the individual tactics they use or experiment with follow that strategy.

Smaller companies, or less successful corporations spend too much time obsessing over tactical issues (that usually don’t have a huge influence), and may lose sight of their goals because they don’t/can’t quantify their effort.

How can the small business stand out online?

1. Have a voice (personality): I was once at a conference, and one of the panelists was in charge of PR for a large multinational.  She literally had a list of “social media responses” that her legal team blessed. She (and her team) weren’t allowed to deviate from that.

That is the exact opposite of how social media works. No one will feel passionate about a brand that hides behind a list of standard responses.

So you can be more human, and use speed to your advantage.

2. Stand for something: SImon Sinek has a great TED talk about how people buy “why you do it”.  Almost every product or service you can sell today is a commodity. So what you need to realize is that people don’t buy your “product” or “service”, they’re buying a solution.

So Simon’s talk hits this point home and gives you pointers on how your business can stand for something.

3. Have enemies: If your business is going to stand for something, then there needs to be examples (whether it’s other companies or ways of doing something) that you don’t agree with. You’re not trying to market to every single potential customers. You’re trying to market to customers that buy into your worldview.

So these customers will respond when you get them emotionally engaged and committed to your cause - not the other persons.

What is content marketing in your eyes?

Content marketing is the process of creating content for the purpose of increasing awareness, attention and engagement around your brand.

It can help companies create their own media marketing asset - which gives them the ability to build an audience and market directly to that audience over time.

The result is that you’re able to acquire customers for much less, and keep them around longer (all while decreasing your costs related to advertising, etc)

Which forms of content marketing are effective for small businesses?

1. Blogging: It gets people “in the door” and keeps them coming back. This format is also most widely adopted and distributed - giving you the best option for reach.
2. Email newsletters: Email is still the best converting online channel by far. So invest in creating email marketing campaigns for prospective, current, and past customers. You can even automate and schedule lifecycle emails (http://fixcourse.com/lifecycle-email-marketing/) to give you the best return on your effort.

What are the 3 most important criteria that a business owner must look out for in creating a content strategy?

1. Why should my target customers care?  Most businesses produce terrible content, so it doesn’t compel people to take action (like share their content, subscribe for updates, or purchase).
2. Are your expectations realistic?  Successful content marketing is really difficult. Even coming up with one post could take a long time. So you need to have realistic expectations. Not only in terms of success, but also what it takes to succeed. You can’t hire cheap writers, produce mediocre content, and expect huge results in the first 90 days.
3. How does this support my business?How are these actions going to support your revenue goals?  Most people start social media because they hear about it on TV and in the news. But a bad social media presence is worse than none at all. So don’t fully commit unless you understand what you’re getting yourself into.

With all the talk about social media (Facebook, Twitter and even Pinterest), should I have a blog or just use social media instead?

Your blog, hands down!

Why should a business (or any person interested in making money online) get involved in social media / blogging in the first place?

The answer is to get attention. (That’s why blogging is like a media marketing asset). You want to provide value (by doing these things) in exchange for their attention.

So the most valuable thing to an online marketer needs to be their audience’s attention (and data).

When you’re on other social networks, you don’t have control or ownership over your customer’s information. If your company page violates Facebook Guidelines (which is really easy to do), then you’ve just lost all that data and valuable information.

Is there a great example of a small business using content marketing and the web to stand out and increase sales?

The best (and most well known) that come to mind are Copyblogger, SEOmoz, and HubSpot.

They’re all software companies that use content marketing as a way to get customers.

It helps them reach new customers, but it also helps them keep existing customers around longer (so they buy more products, or buy more frequently).

If you believe having a blog is important, what are your top 3 words of advice on how a small business can leverage it today?

Define - What does your company/brand really stand for?  Who do you serve?  And what is the unique solution you provide? This helps answer #2 below.

Positioning - How will your blog be different from all the competition? Make sure you come up with a unique positioning (i.e. Blue Ocean Strategy), otherwise people won’t remember you.

Goal - What is your content marketing/social media goals?  Unless you have realistic goals set, you won’t know what daily actions or tactics to use.

What advice do you have for the small business owner who has trouble coming up with engaging content?

1. Niche down to focus on a specific market segment
2. Focus on what your product/service does for your customers (experience, etc.)

I just wrote a post about this -> http://fixcourse.com/blog-content-ideas/  

What are the biggest mistakes that a small business owner could make in online marketing?

1. Can’t define success - You need to be able to define success, or what success will look like, before investing time and effort into this. Because it will take a lot of commitment, and consistent actions to achieve anything significant.

2. Chasing latest shiny tactic - Most small businesses owners get obsessed about the latest social network, etc. because it’s “all the rage”. You’ll waste a lot of time and effort if you chase everything. Instead, identify the biggest priorities for your business - no matter how sleek or sexy - and get to work on those first.  For example, if you don’t have email marketing campaigns set up for prospective, current and past customers, then don’t even think about other social networks.

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As writers, we love anything related to content marketing and writing, which is why we've compiled a list of great content tips and articles from around the web... Check it out:

• 27 awesome ways to get people to listen to you
• 3 tips for increasing your content productivity
• 12 important steps bloggers should never forget
• 10 must have templates for content marketers

If you want to learn more about content marketing and blogging, subscribe to our RSS feed above!

27 awesome ways to get people to listen to you
As a blogger or content marketer, not only do you need to create and maintain your editorial schedule, but you also have to do some blog marketing. This involves commenting on other sites, doing guest blogging, promoting your posts and connecting with others through social media. All this is tough to maintain over a period of time. This article shares a few ways how to get your readers to listen to you... 

3 tips for increasing your content productivity
Being productive in your blogging is a problem that many online marketers have. Your success in blogging is dependent on being consistent, organized and relevant. This article outlines how you can produce quality content frequently.

12 important steps bloggers should never forget
A blog is a great way for you to get your message out. However, if you're not showing up on Google and your traffic is low, make sure that you follow these steps.

10 must have templates for content marketers
Being organized is key in your content marketing strategy. These templates will help you clarify your vision and create an content map that will allow you to provide fresh, relevant content that meets your prospects needs.

Who is Benny Hsu?

I'm 34 years old and I live in Florida. I have a regular job, but I have my passion in making iPhone apps and in blogging. 

What is your blog about? How did you start it?

My blog is about helping people bring out the best in them to live a better life. I started it in the beginning of 2011, but I actually had the domain for almost three years. I just didn't know what to write about so that's why I didn't start a blog earlier. Finally I found a topic, personal development, that I really wanted to talk about and knew I would be interested in it to write for a long time. 

When did you realize you made it as a blogger?

Well I don't think I've made it as a blogger yet (still shooting for the top), but I do remember my first post that went viral for me. It was a list post about 40 bloggers that were doing great things online. I got so many comments and retweets from it. Brought me a lot of recognition and new readers. 

Since then I would say being asked for an interview makes me realize I've done something right with blogging. 

How does your blogging career differ from your previous careers - especially in terms of life satisfaction?

It's much more satisfying. I love it. I could spend all day reading about blogging and working on my blog. It allows me to be creative which I love. I get to meet people all over the world. I get to inspire people and hear from people how much I've helped them. It's really rewarding. 

What were your challenges in starting the blog and how did you overcome them?

Getting readers was a big challenge. We always want more readers. We don't just want ten visitors a day. I overcame it by constantly commenting on other blogs. I would share other great posts. I would focus on writing content worth sharing. It wasn't an overnight success. I had to do everything a little at a time. 

How has your success as a blogger affected other aspects of your life?

It's given me more confidence. It's opened more opportunities that I would have never had before. I've been able to meet some amazing people. 

How did you grow and market your blog? 

I did it one step at a time. I did a lot of commenting on other blogs. It wasn't a quick "Great post" comment, but I took the time to really read their post and leave a good comment. I created a Facebook page and slowly got followers. Now Facebook is one of my top sources of traffic. I created a free ebook to give away and that's helped with gaining new readers. I love Twitter so I use that to share any new post. 

What are the most effective revenue generators for your blog?

Right now my biggest source of revenue is affiliate marketing. I'll promote products I trust to my readers and make a commission from them. 

Blogging takes a lot of work - how do you balance your life? 

I try to focus on only blogging when I have time. I try to not let other distractions bother me when I'm blogging. 

What would be the best advice for people new to blogging?

Just get started. Don't wait to be perfect before you start. Every A list blogger started as a beginner. Start now and focus on learning as you go. It's much better that way. 

What is your vision - where do you see yourself in the future?

I see myself as having a media empire. I love being an entrepreneur. I'd love to be in video, writing, speaking, and creating products. I'd share my experience and knowledge with others to help them perform at a higher level and make more money.