How to conduct content research

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Thursday, April 4, 2013

When it comes to Inbound Marketing, content is king. If you’re writing video scripts, podcasts, website copy, ebooks or guides, articles or corporate blogs, you know the value of putting some meat on those beautiful bones. Sure, you can easily make a blog or ebook pretty, but if it doesn’t deliver the goods, it's really not worth much to your reader.

Great content is the fuel that drives inbound marketing. If you don’t have high-quality content, you risk diluting your audience's perception of your brand with low quality material...which is the last thing you want to do. 

Whether you’re a local expert or completely ignorant is irrelevant - most likely, your writing would benefit from some solid research. So, where should you start your currently unwritten masterpiece?

Write what you know

We recommend beginning with what you know, especially if you’re passionate about it. Most likely, you have amazing insight into a specific topic that you can share, whether that be in a blog post or e-book. If you’re a business owner that sells European luxury cars, write about how to keep them looking shiny and new. (Your readers will eat it up!) Chances are, you are a wealth of information in your specific field. Think of writing as your opportunity to share it with the world. (“We are the world...”)

...but what if I don’t know anything about my topic? (Reiki...what’s that?) Not everyone is fortunate enough to be an expert on their particular topic. If you don’t happen to know much about your subject, then use it as an opportunity to learn. (How’s that for being positive?)

Search the web

Google and Wikipedia will become your very best friends. (For the record, Wikipedia says that reiki is a Japanese form of energy therapy.) But you should keep in mind that while the Internet may be the most convenient source for data, it may not always be the best. As you likely know, not all websites are created equally. In fact, some information you find out there is just plain wrong. That’s why you need to be particular about where you get your facts. 

Evaluate your sources

If you find an article in The New York Times online edition, that’s obviously a trustworthy source. Traditional publications (books, textbooks, newspapers, scholarly journals, magazines) are usually safe bets. The American Massage Therapy Association website? Perfect! 

But what if you find an article about massage on a personal blog? Even if they give you a perfect quote, avoid the temptation to use it without researching their credibility. If the writer is a local massage therapist, you could probably glean some insight. But if it’s just a random person spouting off about one random massage they had this one time 17 years ago, it may not be the best source for your research. After all, people want to convince you to buy their products, agree with their opinions, rely on their data, vote for their candidate, consider their perspective, and accept them as expects, even when they have no business doing so. All that to say, choose (and filter) wisely as you find sources online. Similar to Santa, you’ll want to get your facts and check it twice (at least)!

Conduct interviews

If you can’t seem to find credible information - or simply desire more - go straight to the source! Returning to our previous reiki example, call up a local massage therapist to see if you could conduct an interview. Check out massage training schools to potentially connect with some of their teachers. By searching on LinkedIn, you might find that you know someone who knows someone who is currently a massage therapist in training. He/She would make a great source!

Do a survey

Surveys are a great way to get the opinion of a larger group of people. It usually consists of a list of simple questions. Just make sure that you tailor your questions to the feedback you really want. There’s obviously no need to ask about their favorite masseuse if you don’t care about their response.If you’re in a time crunch, do a quick survey on Facebook asking if your friends have had a massage. Or - if they haven’t - ask why not? It’s a great way to get some data to back up your points. (Get it? I said “back,” and we’re talking about massages.) 

We know it can be overwhelming to sift through so many sources of information, but it can lead you down a path of discovering just the right nugget of wisdom that can transform your writing. By having solid research behind your content, you are increasing its value, which means that you will likely end up with higher search engine rankings in the end. And isn’t that what inbound marketing is all about?

Happy researching!

English majors are your new marketing team

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Marketing is sometimes thought to be a fun, glamorous, fast-paced profession full of shiny toys and parties. While we sometimes get to do these things (Inbound Conference, anyone?) the reality is a bit less exciting. Much of the time, marketing directors and professionals spend their time making spreadsheets, proposing budgets, and attending meeting after meeting.

Despite all this, we still love it. We love being able to create campaigns and processes that generate leads and move the needle. We love exploring new technologies and networks and pushing the envelope of creativity.

Marketing has changed a bit over time. It used to involve lots of ad buying, flashy campaigns, and traditional media. These tactics are still in use today with some success stories.

However, fast-forward to the modern marketplace and you'll find evidence that these techniques are not as effective as they used to be. Today's buyer is more research-driven (using Google), more apt to look for peer recommendations (using social media), and has access to multiple ways to get (and filter) information.

So what does this mean for you as you plan your marketing strategy?

It's time to embrace the content revolution. Content can be created in many forms, like blogs, articles, videos, infographics, webinars, presentations, etc. However, the foundation for a modern inbound marketing strategy is the written word.

Along with other forms of text-based content, blogging is often the centerpiece of a good marketing plan. Blogging has a number of benefits:

• It can dramatically boost your SEO efforts
• It demonstrates thought leadership
• It creates "fuel" for social media communications
• It encourages company innovation
• It assists the sales and customer service teams

B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads than those who don't, while B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads than those who don't (source: HubSpot). Blogging can be a powerful marketing tactic.

In order for your blog to be successful, it must be well-written. Too often, companies try to post articles that are half-hearted attempts at company announcements and lack any sort of structure, theme, or strategy. Good blogs posts are written with the right mix of professionalism and style and are authored with good writing techniques in mind.

So how do you make sure your marketing campaigns are effective? Make sure you have a team of good writers!

Good writers are the next generation of marketing professionals. They can write snappy copy for that call to action. They can create thoughtful, educational blogs posts that Google will love. They can write ebooks that teach and inform your target market. They can storyboard video campaigns.

Today's marketing tactics rely on high-quality content more than ever before. This means tapping into the expertise of high-quality writers.

So if you think that English degree was a waste of time... think again. Good writing skills are going to be very much in demand.

Is all of your homepage content still "above the fold"?

Posted by: Katie Pellerin in General on Monday, March 12, 2012

My main focus here at SpinWeb is to help clients develop a unique website strategy based on their individual needs as well as website design and functionality best practices. Something that comes up quite frequently during the planning phase with clients is the desire to have as much content and information as possible "above the fold" of their homepages.

In other words, back in the old days (ok the '90s wasn't that long ago— but it's ages when it comes to the web) many sites were built with the idea that all important content (or all content) should be seen without a user having to scroll down the page.

I'm always delighted when I can share with them that this particular concern is no longer a focus of great web design. In fact, it can make for a pretty terrible homepage.

The idea comes from newspaper layouts where the most eye-catching story was displayed at the top of the paper so when it was folded on display, it would catch a buyer's attention. When web design and internet was new, web designers adopted this same mentality and it seemed to be the way users browsed, as well. In fact, there was actually a time when AOL wouldn't allow scrolling at all within their interface and designers were forced to use a specific pixel range. (Check out Milissa Tarquini's research for more on that.)

Well, clearly much has changed since the early days of web design and along with this is the fact that the "fold" no longer matters. Actually, it no longer exists.

Today, with mobile devices, tablets and a wide range of screen sizes there is no standard "fold" on a homepage. It all depends on how you are viewing the site. And with the ever-expanding world of social networking sites, today's web users have learned to scroll. In fact they expect to scroll. This is why you see many sites today with important information in the footer and some that are even built entirely on one page.

So what does this mean when it comes to designing a homepage? Well, it's easier to start with what it doesn't mean.

It certainly doesn't mean to plan for endless scrolling. Your visitors still want to quickly find a compelling reason to become more engaged with your website and ultimately your company or organization.

What it does mean is there's a lot more that goes into planning a well-built homepage. It's more important now to provide your visitors with the right information throughout the entire experience rather than in one spot on one page. It's also important to use each element to guide them to the next place you want them to go.

First impressions do still matter. That hasn't changed. What has changed is how users arrive at their first impression. Essentially, it's quite a bit more complicated. But, that's why companies like SpinWeb exist.

So, if you have an outdated site that has an enormous amount of content "above the fold", please (I'm begging) let SpinWeb help you. If you bombard your website visitors with too much information too soon, you'll lose them immediately. And doesn't that completely defeat the purpose of the entire "above the fold" concept?

How often should I blog?

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Monday, March 5, 2012

As you may know, maintaining a high-quality corporate (or non-profit) blog is a powerful component of content marketing and can be a keystone platform in your digital strategy. I enjoy helping our clients understand how to effectively use blogging to strengthen SEO efforts, achieve positions of thought leadership, and reach new markets.

One question I get a lot is "how often should I blog?"

It's a great question, and like a lot of things the short answer is "it depends."

At SpinWeb, we blog once a week. This is a deliberate choice that takes into account lots of other factors. I know some companies that blog every couple of weeks, or simply whenever they feel like they have something to say. On the flip side, I also know organizations that blog every day (or more), like my buddy Doug Karr who runs the award-winning Marketing Tech Blog. While I think Doug is insane, I also know (based on his reports) that he gets a lot of SEO benefit from this schedule along with many other benefits.

So how do you decide on a content schedule for your blog? I look at the following factors:

Goals

First, decide why you are maintaining a blog and what the goal is. Are you mostly interested in strengthening SEO? If so, a daily schedule could be a good move for your organization. Additionally, if you have the time, staff, or budget (for outsourcing) to maintain a daily posting schedule, then this may make sense for you.

However, what if your goal is more focused on thought leadership and SEO is not as important to you? In this case, you can probably get away with a weekly publishing schedule or maybe 2-3 times per week. You can still get great SEO benefits (especially using Scribe), but you don't need to be as aggressive. Additionally, a less-frequent publishing schedule can be appropriate if you have other components in your marketing system. For example, do you maintain a video presence, strong social media interaction, a Learning Center, PPC campaigns, and a regular webinar series? If so, a weekly blog can be integrated nicely into this system because you have other types of content that provides support.

Staff

Let's be realistic... a lot of organizations simply don't have the in-house staff to maintain a daily posting schedule. Maintaining a high-quality corporate or non-profit blog is not easy. In fact, it's just plain difficult and time-consuming. Because of this, many organizations give up after trying a few half-hearted posts because they get distracted and discouraged. If you have a team of great writers in your organization, by all means go for a daily posting schedule. However, if you're like most organizations that we encounter, a weekly schedule might be more realistic. I would rather see you maintain a steady weekly blog schedule and stick with it rather than try to post every day and then fizzle out.

Budget

So what if you don't have the internal resources to blog every day or even every week but you do have a marketing budget? In this case, you can revisit your goals and decide what makes sense within your budget. If you want to spend a good deal on SEO, a daily blog can provide great support for this. If your budget is more limited, scale it back and complement it with other components and platforms.

Audience

Who is your audience? If your audience is a community of knowledge-hungry marketing/tech professionals who read 25 new articles every day, then posting every day will make your readers very happy (see Marketing Tech Blog or Copyblogger). However, if you're targeting small business owners, professionals, HR people, or another specific group, be mindful of what their worlds look like. Do they have time to read a daily post? Will they get overwhelmed if you try to talk to them every day? If so, scale it back a bit so that you don't bombard them with too much content.

Industry

What is the culture of your industry? Are you in a fast-moving industry like technology or politics? If so, daily posting can make sense. However, if you're in a slower-paced, more conservative industry (such as a non-profit or an association), you might do just fine with a less-frequent posting schedule. This goes back to knowing your audience, as well.

Conclusion

As you can tell, there is no right or wrong answer to the question how often should I blog. It depends on a number of factors and I would encourage you to experiment.

I don't like to see any organization post less frequently than once a week. My reason for this is that we tend to divide our lives up into segments of time called the "week" and so most people have a logical work cycle that restarts every seven days. By aligning your content with this cycle, you have the opportunity to insert your content into the routines of your audience. Any less frequently and I think you lose some momentum.

Hopefully this has been helpful but I would love to hear your comments below. A strong corporate or non-profit blog can strengthen your lead-generation, retention, and growth efforts so if you're not doing it yet, consider giving it a try. You might be surprised at some of the long-term benefits.

It's not just about SEO anymore

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Monday, January 23, 2012

I cannot count the number of times an organization has come to us looking for us to "do SEO" for their website. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has been a hot topic for a while and seems to be in no danger of losing steam.

SEO is powerful, practical, and effective. When executed well, it can bring high-quality traffic to your website and can lead to qualified prospects and customers.

However, when people think of SEO, a lot of times they seem to have the impression that it's a switch that can be "turned on" for a website, or that it involves sprinkling the right keywords all over certain pages.

There are some misconceptions about SEO and especially about how it functions today that I would like to address.

The Google factor

Google (and other search engines, but who uses other search engines?) changes its algorithm just about every day, as explained in this video from Matt Cutts (head of the webspam team at Google). This may seem like a lot, but often these changes are minor so don't fret.

However, sometimes Google makes significant changes. You may have heard of the recent "Panda" update released on February of 2011 which aimed to increase the quality of search results by putting more weight on quality content over link-building techniques. Then, at the end of 2011, Google released its "freshness" update (described in this article from Entrepreneur Magazine) which placed more weight on fresh content.

Then, as if that weren't enough, Google made another significant change in early 2012 called "Search Plus Your World" which more heavily integrates signals from social media into search results, most notably focusing on Google+ as explained in this video from SEOmoz.

Is your head spinning yet? So what does all this mean to you as a business owner, marketing director, or communications manager?

Greater focus on content

It means that the game has changed. Many of the old techniques and practices use to boost search rankings are no longer as relevant. So what do we need to focus on to get noticed? Content. High quality, socially-distributed, frequently updated content.

Google is paying close attention to content and, while it's always been important, is now even more significant to your promotional efforts. Bloggers, content creators, and copywriters rejoice! It also means that SEO has more closely converged with content marketing - in a big way. For a primer on content marketing, check out this video: Strategic Content Marketing, in our Learning Center.

Bottom line: SEO is not just about building a well-structured website and getting lots of inbound links. Google has clearly warned us that well-optimized websites will contain lots of great relevant content that is fresh and frequently updated, and will also have a social media presence with a heavy emphasis on Google properties like Google+ and YouTube.

Social signals play a big part

Other social properties are also important since SEO is not the entire package. Content marketing tells us that multiple channels of content are important when creating a system for lead generation. Some prospects may find your organization through Google, but others may connect with you through other channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. And how does your message get shared and seen by more people? By being interesting, useful, or relevant enough to get shared.

As you can see, the game has dramatically changed even in the last year. SEO, while once thought of as "king" by many, is still significant but looks different than it used to. It's not just about the old methods of link-building and structure. It's a more interconnected world of social networks, content, and behavioral signals from the people who use these networks.

It also means stepping out from behind your brand and showing your face (and the face of your CEO, your customer service people, your sales team, etc.) online. More weight is being placed on personal social profiles and it's easier to get engagement from your prospects as a person as opposed to a brand. Brand properties are important and are a great way to plant seed of information and content. However, CEOs and marketing people that hide behind logos and brand pages will have a harder time achieving their goals than those who engage as people.

How to market in the new digital world

So what can you do to ensure a prominent place in this new game? One of the best ways to stay ahead is to create and execute a content marketing plan (also known as a digital marketing plan at SpinWeb). This plan will likely include tactics such as blogging, ongoing videos, press releases, active social media engagement, and relevant onsite content (case studies, knowledge bases, etc.) And as you can see, it's time to stop ignoring Google+. Not sure where to get started? Sign up, circle me, and I'll help you out.

Business and non-profits alike will benefit from a strong content marketing plan that includes multiple channels and a relevant story. It's not just about "sprinkling some SEO" on your site. It's about creating and connecting. Organizations that embrace this mindset will be very successful at marketing their organizations.

How about you? Are you ready?