3 Ways to Master Social Media Content Marketing

Learn from these great business bloggers.

I dart around the Internet, mindlessly searching. I attach to things that are familiar, almost on autopilot. And then... a shiny, new idea or object catches my attention for a brief second. As a business owner, that’s the moment you need to generate and repeat, again and again, to connect with customers and win their trust and loyalty.

Great writers and business leaders create this environment of attraction through storytelling, the human brain’s most primitive and powerful form of communication. How do they do it? And how can you tap into their secrets to make your online content and social media continuously sticky and memorable?

1. Draw the reader in quickly with action and surprise.

Focus on the headline and first 10 words. Make it a game; make some new thing happen in six words or less. Use quirky verbs, surprising examples, uncanny twists. Seth Godin is the master of this. “Short order cooks rarely make things happen,” one recent headline proclaimed, with the subhead “How far does your agenda extend?” Or take Mr. Money Mustache, who almost always begins with a story: “It was a beautiful evening, and I was enjoying one of my giant homebrews on a deckchair I’d placed in the middle of the street…” You keep reading to make sure he doesn’t get run over!

There is a shift toward long-form content on sites like Medium and LinkedIn. Content marketers have coined the phrase “10x content” for social content that delivers radically new ways of thinking and solving problems. But even the best content is entirely lost without a way to reel your reader in, so focus there first.

2. Show how things changed in a palpable moment.

Once you have your readers’ attention, you keep them engaged with simple, human stories -- a story in which something happens and the protagonist is transformed. Bernie Sanders’ campaign has mastered the fundamental dynamics of storytelling. His marketing team highlights individuals who embody the campaign’s promise. Take Sanders’ “America Beyond” YouTube video: a young boy grows up so impoverished he uses buckets of snow to flush the toilet. He does poorly in high school. When he later lands at college, he discovers he’s a great student. He becomes a teacher, with the hopes of helping every student understand his or her full potential. If your business isn’t building momentum on social media, you’re moving backwards. Who are your core customers? What are their stories? How does your product or service change their lives for the better? 

3. Use specific details to deliver your message.

On the Internet we’re overwhelmed with visual detail: perfectly cropped and filtered photos, sunsets and selfies, and products galore. In a sea of visual stimulation, authentic stories are increasingly valuable. Every sentence matters. When you work with an implicit story structure, the readers experience your message through their own memories.

It’s a bit counterintuitive, but the more specific you are, the more powerfully your story will resonate with other people. Starbucksconjures a whole world of experience through a single detail, and you’re invited to participate in that experience with your purchase: “Savor the complexities of our single-origin Sulawesi from Indonesia. Available in stores and online for a limited time only.” You can also use details to paint a picture of the future. Arizona State University asks a simple question -- ”What if we could detect diseases before symptoms even appear?” -- to draw visitors into their commitment to medical research.

Your brand is the accretion of these fleeting but memorable moments, when your company speaks to customers through the stories of our shared human experience. To succeed in social media, you need to maintain a cliché-free zone. Real people don’t respond to marketing lingo. Young people arrive suspicious, and will click out the instant they sniff anything inauthentic. As the world spins faster, and your customers’ attention is harder and harder to maintain, storytelling draws your customers into your vision and sustains their connection with your products and your brand.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/273733

6 Ways to Increase Landing Page Conversion Rates

So, you’ve got your landing page all setup. But, you’re not getting the conversions you’d like. To put it simply, if your site is not converting, then you’re not going to get enough sales.

Fortunately, there are several steps that you can take right now to increase the effectiveness of your landing pages. If you want to boost sales, use the following 6 tips to increase conversion rates.

Remain Consistent with Your Details

When promoting a product or service, it’s common to include various statistics or to provide a list of features. Just make sure that your content is consistent.

For example, if you claim at the top of your page that your software has helped thousands of people and then you mentioned that you’ve helped hundreds, people may notice the inconsistency. They don’t care which number is correct. They’ll simply leave your site.

Keep Your Content Relevant to Your Ad

Along with remaining consistent, you need to keep your content relevant to your ad. Whatever you promise in your PPC ads should also be discussed on your landing page.

Users are clicking on your ads for a reason. Make sure that you match the content of your landing page copy to the content of your advertisements.

This step can actually help lower your cost-per-click for PPC ads. With Google AdWords, the cost-per-click is partially based on the overall quality and relevance of your landing page.

You Should Only Have One Call to Action

Your landing page only serves one purpose. You should never try to promote multiple products, services, or offers on a single landing page. Focus on a single action.

If you have multiple calls to action, they should be for the same action. Otherwise, you should create a new landing page for the other actions you visitors to complete.

Create a Sense of Urgency on Your Landing Page

Creating a sense of urgency is a great way to increase conversion rates. If a visitor feels that they may miss out on an opportunity if they don’t act now, they’re more likely to complete the desired action.

You can create urgency in your titles, headers, and your call to action. Reminding visitors to act now or that your offer is available for a limited time only will help create this sense of urgency.

Include Customer Testimonials on Your Landing Page

Include a section on your landing page where you provide customer testimonials. There’s a reason that you often see testimonials on landing pages. It’s because they work.

You can pull testimonials from social media comments or send out a survey to your existing customers. Send out a mass email to your subscriber list asking for their input.

Create the Ultimate Headline for Your Landing Page

The final tip is to create the perfect headline. This is what really grabs a reader’s attention. The headline is the first thing that a visitor reads. Your headline should be direct and easy to understand.

Write several different headlines and compare the differences. Which one speaks out to you? Create multiple headlines and choose the one that works best.

Increasing your conversion rates isn’t overly complicated. There are many different steps that you can take to boost sales.

Along with these suggestions, you should also consider using A/B split testing. This lets you compare different headlines, calls to action, and layouts. Compare different versions of the same landing page to see what works best.

Start using these tips now to see an increase in your conversion rates. For additional help, find out how to get conversion-ready prospects. Click here to learn about my done-for-you system.

Writing Web Content People Will Read

Creating web content is hard sometimes. Creating web content that people will actually read is even harder. When it comes to writing for the web, you have to create content carefully and intentionally. People on the internet have short attention spans and with all of the content out there, you are competing for every second of their attention.

Many web content creators don’t really understand the people who read content online. This is the major problem that causes web content to go unread. People don’t read content on the web, they scan. They want to pull out the important things from the articles without spending a lot of time on it.

Thankfully, there are some things you can do to make your content more attractive to those people that scan. Here’s a quick guide to creating web content people will read.

Not every word will be read

It is important for you to acknowledge that not every word that you write will be read by the person who opened your content. The sooner you accept that fact, the better.

Because not every word will be read, make sure you make the important parts of your content stand out. Use subheadings, bold font, and lists to capture the reader’s attention and draw them in. The more confident they are that your content has what they are looking for, the more likely they are to actually read it.

Most important things first

A lot of people only read the first few lines of an article or blog. Because of this, you need to put your most important facts and points first. People want to know what they are reading and if they should keep going right away.

When you put the important things first, readers are more likely to continue reading to learn the specifics. The more important information you can get in the first few sentences and paragraphs, the better.

Don’t over-complicate language

As tempting as it is to use diverse and sometimes complicated language, do not do it. Use common words that are familiar to the reader. Web content should not seek to expand the vocabulary of the reader. Web content is there to drive a point home in the simplest manner possible.

If you use language that is too complicated, people are not going to read it. Using simple language makes the content easier to get through making it more attractive to people on the internet.  Bottom line, keep it simple. You readers will thank you.

Write a little lazily

People on the internet are generally lazy. They want short sentences in short paragraphs that don’t have unnecessary words or jargon. In short, write for lazy people. More often than not, people reading web content don’t want to work hard to read it. The easier it is to read, the better.

Keep articles to one topic

When you are creating an article for your website, keep that article to one topic. People who are looking at your articles are looking for specific answers and insights. For each article talk about one product, one service, or one question that a lot of customers ask you.

Articles that have too much information on too many topics are unattractive to readers. When you keep articles focused and succinct, people are more likely to read it in its entirety.

Keep design in mind

Your written content needs to work with visually with your website. Font choices, photo choices, and colours are all important. Articles are an extension of your brand and consistent branding is important for success.

When you are writing your article, think about how it fits into your brand look. Consider where you want to places images, what the size of the font will be, and if you will use italics or boldface type. Design is just as important as the words.

Improving your written content so people will read it is simple. If you want to learn more about how you can make your written content work for you, take a look at my done-for-you system.

Write Attention Grabbing Headlines With These 5 Super Simple Tips

An attention grabbing headline can be useful for improving your email marketing, increasing conversion on your website, and for any other form of content marketing that includes its own header or title. This is the first indication that a reader has as to what to expect from your content.

You don’t need to be a professional writer in order to create great copy for websites, landing pages, blog posts, and emails. But, you should start with a killer headline. Here are some extremely easy to follow tips for writing effective headlines.

Write a Summary of Your Content

The first step is to summarize the main point of your content in a single sentence. Don’t worry about how it sounds. Keep it simple. Just write a sentence. You’ll edit it to improve the flair of the headline.

For example, this article is about writing headlines. So, the main point is “how to write headlines that will grab people’s attention”. But, this is not quite effective. It still needs some polish.

Use Numbers in Your Headlines

People like numbers. This applies to almost any headline. Whether you’re writing headlines for emails, blog posts, or any other marketing campaign – numbers are effective.

If you are listing steps, providing tips, or offering any other content that could be put into a list, then consider giving your headline a number. Take your original sentence and see if you can add a number to your headline.

Include Exciting Adjectives

Next, try to include an exciting adjective in your headline. These words help inspire action and grab attention. Here are a few examples for your consideration:

• Essential
• Excellent
• Effective
• Fantastic
• Important
• Mind blowing
• Valuable
• Ultimate
• Simple

Keep Your Headline Short

You should also keep your headline short. If you’re writing a headline for a blog post or web page, your headline will also work as your title. Google recommends a maximum of 70 characters. Along with the character count, you should pay attention to the number of words.

In most studies, headlines with between 10 and 12 words tend to perform best. You could go as low as 8 and as high as 14. But, these may not be as effective.

Try to Include Your Focus Keyword

Even if you don’t pay close attention to keyword density, you should try to include a focus keyword. Use Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool to find a relevant keyword that has decent search volume with low competition. Work into your headline if possible.

Once you’ve completed your headline, using these tips, read it out loud. Does it grab your attention? It should convey the subject of your content and encourage people to want to read the rest of your content.

These suggestions can be used for writing any type of headline. Improve the conversion rates of your landing pages, boost traffic to your blog posts, and increase click-through rates on your emails.

In addition to these suggestions, you may want to try writing 5 or 6 different headlines. Create a list of headlines and then consider which one sounds best.

You could even use A/B split testing to test the effectiveness of two different headlines. Create two separate versions of your content, with two different headlines. See which one works best.

You can start using these tips today. Go through the headers and titles of some of your older blog posts or landing pages. See if you can put a new spin on previous headlines.

Along with effective headlines, you could also benefit from additional online marketing tips, such as using a lead generation system. Click here to learn more about my done-for-you system.

Expert Tips for Improving Your Conversion Rates

Are you finding it difficult to increase your conversion rates? If you can’t convert your traffic into sales, then what’s the point of your marketing efforts? It can be incredibly frustrating to spend time and money attracting visitors to a landing page or sending out mass emails without noticing an increase in sales.

Conversion rate optimization isn’t always easy. If you’re not happy with the current performance of your marketing efforts, then take a moment to explore these 5 expert tips for improving conversion rates.

Keep Your Content Simple

Whether you’re creating an email or website copy, you need to keep the content simple. Don’t get carried away explaining all of the benefits of your product or service. Too much content can turn visitors away.

Consumers are smart. They’ll see through lengthy sales pitches. They want immediate solutions to whatever problem you’re addressing.

Keep Your Forms Simple

In addition to keeping your content simple, you’ll want to keep your forms simple. If your visitors need to fill out a form, it should be as simple and straightforward as possible.

For example, if you’re just collecting their email address, you don’t need their phone number, address, and last name. You could just ask for the information you really want—their email address. Though, including their first name, can help you personalize emails.

Basically, don’t require your visitors to fill out any information that you don’t really need. Market research has shown that conversion rates drop dramatically as you begin adding more elements to a form.

Make Your Call to Action Visible

Make sure your call to action delivers. Your call to action should not only entice visitors to move on to the next step, it should be highly visible. Otherwise, your call to action won’t have the impact that it needs to have.

Make sure that your call to action is larger than the main text of your content. Many companies place the call to action in a button, to help it stand out. Use bold lettering, make the text bigger, and make it noticeable.

The call to action should also be placed early enough in the copy that readers get to it within 1 to 2 minutes of reading. Consider placing your first call to action below your second or third paragraph.

Create Catchy Headlines and Sub-Headlines

You should put just as much thought into your headlines and sub-headlines as you would your call to action. If you’re sending out emails, you should use the headline in the subject line. This will be the only chance you have to get readers to open the email.

The headline should grab their attention. It should offer readers something of value, without giving away too much information. It should be short, to the point, and intriguing.

Add Customer Testimonials

You can round out your emails or landing pages by including customer testimonials. Consumers are more willing to listen to another consumer. If a consumer is unfamiliar with your brand, they’ve no reason to trust the claims that you make.

With the addition of a few customer testimonials, you’re showing your visitors or readers that your solution really works. You’re promoting the idea that if the reader takes action that they can enjoy the same benefits as the customers that provided their testimonials.

If your product or service is new and you don’t have any customers yet, you could start your marketing efforts by sending out some freebies to a select group of individuals, in exchange for their feedback. Just make sure that you let them know that their comments may be used for commercial purposes.

It’ll take time and energy to start improving your conversion rates. But, you can get started now by employing the strategies provided.

In addition to this advice, you should explore more internet marketing advice. Click on the following link to discover the power of my done-for-you system.

Learn How to Write an Effective Press Release in 4 Steps

Press releases provide an additional solution for building backlinks, increasing online exposure, and gaining web traffic.

Though, if your press release doesn’t deliver the right message, it won’t be effective. A press release isn’t the same as a blog post or sales page. You need to pay attention to a few important details.

Here’s some advice on how to write a killer press release in just 4 steps.

Choose the right topic for your press release

You need to choose the topic before you start writing. The topic needs to have a newsworthy angle. This means that the topic should be relevant and current.

Examples of common press release topics include:

• New store opening
• New business launch
• New product or software release
• Major update or development

Always ask yourself if the topic is something that you’d read about in a newspaper or in a blog. Searching for press releases will provide examples to give you a better sense of common topics and writing style.

Introduce the newsworthy information

Write two to three paragraphs discussing the topic of your press release. Don’t worry about an introduction. Just jump right in and start writing about the details of the news release.

Remember to write in the third-person (he, she, her, him, they, and them).

These paragraphs are the main body of your press release. This discusses the newsworthy topic in a straightforward manner.

Don’t use any hype. Stick to the facts.

You need to address the following details with your press release:

• Who will be interested in this topic or who is it about?
• What is the subject of the press release?
• Where can people find more information?
• When will this event or product release occur?
• How does this benefit the reader?

Answering these questions will help you stay on track. You have limited space.

The press release will typically be between 300 and 700 words. This doesn’t provide an endless word count to go into great detail.

Write the Introduction and Conclusion

After you’ve written the main body of the press release, you can write the introduction and conclusion. The intro paragraph should summarize the body in several lines. It introduces the topic and your business or personal brand.

The conclusion offers a short bio for your business or brand. You can discuss your area of expertise and provide some background information.

At the end of the conclusion, you’ll typically have a spot to provide contact information, such as your email address, web URL, and phone number.

Create an attention-grabbing headline

The headline should be the last thing that you write. You’ve already written the body of your press release, so you already know the exact message or story that you’re promoting.

Summarise the main message of your press release in a single sentence. Press release headlines are often longer than a typical blog headline. Make sure that it fully explains the topic.

You may also have the option to include a sub-headline. The sub-headline should provide further information about the topic of your press release.

It’s an extension of the headline. Don’t repeat what you’ve already stated in the headline.

Before submitting your press release for publication, make sure that you check it for spelling and grammar errors.

You should proof read it by reading each line aloud. This is the best way to catch errors and also to find ways to improve your content.

Writing an effective press release isn’t difficult. Take it one step at a time. If you’d like more internet marketing tips and suggestions, and a method for generating conversion-ready internet traffic, click here to learn about my done-for-you system.

5 Ways to Increase Paid Click Through Rates

An effect paid advertising campaign depends on your ability to get people to click on your ad. At the same time, you want to get the right people to click on your ad. You want visitors that are actually interested in what you’ve got to offer.

When pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements aren’t bringing in the sales leads that you expected, you don’t need to scrap your entire campaign. You just need to start tweaking your campaign to improve click through rates (CTR).

Here are 5 ways to increase paid click through rates.

Improve the Headline

The first place to start is with your headline. It’s the first thing that people see and it’s how you get them to click on your ad. This makes the headline the most important part of your PPC ad campaign.

The headline needs to be 25 characters or less. You have limited space. Use it wisely. Keep these tips in mind:

• Use keyword phrases in your headline
• Don’t use your business name in the headline
• Solve a problem or ask a question

Include Keyword in Display URL

The focus keyword of your PPC ad should be used in your display URL. This is the visible URL that appears under your headline. You’re allowed to edit the display URL, even if it doesn’t match the destination URL.

You can include up to 35 characters in the display URL. This will include your domain name, along with space for your keyword. The ad will direct users to the URL that you specify.

Don’t Include the Price in the Ad

When you include the price of a product or service in your headline or description, people are reminded that they’ll be spending money.

Instead of showing the price, you could display a discount or savings. For example, if you’ve got a product that regularly costs $50 and it’s on sale for $25, you could highlight the 50% off or the $25 discount.

Deliver a Specific Message

Before you go live with an ad, you should review it and ensure it delivers one specific message. Your ad can’t be ambiguous.

You should never try to promote more than one thing at a time. When a person views your ad, they should know exactly what they’re going to find when they click the link.

When you finish writing your ad, read it and ensure its direct and to the point. Don’t fill it with keywords. Write in a way that a person can easily understand.

Use Ad Extensions

Google introduced ad extensions several years ago, and they are available for free. They offer additional ways to entice people to click your ads. This includes site links. Site links allow you to include additional links in your ads.

Your ability to include extensions depend on your Ad Rank. The Ad Rank is determined based on the quality of your ad and your landing page.

In the end, improving your click through rate depends on a quality ad. You need to use a short headline that gets to the point quickly.

The body of the ad provides a line or two to elaborate on the message presented in the headline. You only have a few lines to make an impression and attract the right visitors.

As a final suggestion, you should take a look at what your competition is up to. View ads for relevant keywords and examine their landing pages.

Tweak your PPC campaign using these tips to boost click through rates. If you want more internet marketing suggestions, plus a way to generate conversion-ready prospects each month, click here to learn about my done-for-you system.

Not Converting? Here’s What Your Landing Page Should Have

This video shows the viewer how to create an effective landing page. Initially, it would help much to know your target audience and the product/service you are promoting. The 6 main components of a landing page that converts are given next. If these steps are followed, conversions will be seen on your web page in no time.