Why should you bother with that when you’ve launched a blog to help people and make the world a better place? Every post you write is packed with valuable information and compelling content. For you, that’s most important, and it should be.

However, it’s hard to change the world if you can’t reach the world, and SEO increases the chances that readers will discover this life changing blog of yours.
You still might think SEO is mostly fake and contrived and not worthy of a serious writer’s attention and time. You might view SEO as a spammer’s bag of tricks, even with Google’s efforts to make it harder to manipulate the system.

I understand that you’re a truly passionate blogger who wants to distance yourself from the kind of malignant marketing that clogs your spam folder. But there’s more to it.
Basic SEO practices are also good blogging and writing practices. More than just helping your site show up in a search engine, SEO can help improve a blog’s focus, readability, and value.
Here’s how it happens naturally.

Focus keywords: passion and niche

Keyword usage is possibly the number one strategy for bloggers, likely because it’s one of the simplest. But keywords have gotten a reputation for destroying perfectly good writing by making it annoyingly repetitive. That’s because spam writers pack keywords into every sentence, thinking it makes a difference.
Instead, the only keywords you need to focus on are passion and niche. Your blogging niche is probably your passion.

Of course those two terms won’t be your actual keywords. Instead, your keywords are the names of the category/sub-category that your niche falls under. For example, your niche and therefore your keywords might be rooftop gardening, comic book collections, or backswing.
This is far from contrived, and you’re probably already using these words because they’re the subject of your blog. It’s actually what your site is about and what your posts are about from any number of angles. The majority of your posts, therefore, and your titles, should naturally include these words on a fairly consistent basis.

If readers can’t tell what your blog is about, they probably won’t come back. If it’s clear that your blog is all about rooftop gardening, then rooftop gardeners will keep returning for more information. Otherwise, they’ll think you’re some sort of generalist blogger who once wrote about rooftop gardening on a whim.
So it’s bigger than keywords. It’s about the focus of your blog.

Still concerned about the quality of the writing? SEO can help improve the reading experience of your posts.

Titles and language: be direct

Honest, soulful, non-spam blogging is all about the readers, isn’t it?
Beginning with the title, SEO reminds you to tell readers exactly what to expect from an article. They shouldn’t have to read hundreds of words only to realize your post won’t give them what they’re looking for. Readers are busier than ever and they literally have a million other things they could be giving attention to. If you don’t respect your readers’ attention, they may never bother to read your work again.
It’s only fair that you don’t waste their time with misleading, ambiguous titles or introductory paragraphs that dance around the subject. More than likely, they won’t even click the link if the title is bad and isn’t somehow informative. You can still keep intrigue and shock, but the topic should always be clear and specific.

Another value of being SEO minded is that it reminds you to write in a clear, conversational tone. As the saying goes, “Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.”
This is more than search engine friendliness. Conversational language helps you connect with your audience and convey those brilliant ideas to the broadest, possible range of people.

Before you could ever think about the “how” of language, I’m sure you determine the “what.” What’s the value in everything you’re doing, and how does SEO help you improve that value?

Length and links: offer valuable content

When I’m grading student papers, I can estimate how well-developed or under developed the papers are by looking at the word count. Word count factors into the quality of writing because many students make strong claims, but they fail to support illustrate, or expound on those ideas.

For instance, students would probably say they can sum up this entire post in one sentence.
I can too: SEO can help improve a blog’s focus, readability, and value.
But if I had just stopped there, would you be convinced? Would you really walk away with a renewed perspective on SEO if I had left it at that?
That’s where elaboration comes in. Make a wonderful claim, and then tell readers how to apply it or how it relates to them.

Readers like posts that are packed with insight and helpful information. Being vague and general won’t give them that. Write it plainly, but also write it completely.
Include links wherever they’re truly relevant. Give readers the opportunity to continue learning beyond the single post they’re reading.
All of this is in line with your noble mission, not contrary to it.

SEO with soul

Unfortunately, a system put in place to measure the value of sites so that Google could deliver the best value to its users has been hacked by people trying to make a quick buck. But like any form of technology, a few people who abuse the system don’t make the system inherently worthless. Like Facebook, Twitter, and television, it’s about how you chose to use the tool, and the kind of value you bring to it.
If you’re a regular at ProBlogger, you’re probably someone who uses technology for legitimate, even charitable purposes. Your good intentions should lead you to an honest use of SEO. I call it SEO with soul.
So I urge you not to let the spammers keep you away from a great thing. Take back SEO, and show the world how to do it right.

Source: SEO for Bloggers

In practice, it’s not always that smooth. Good blogs get approached all the time with free content offers. They are learning fast that the content is often not the kind they want or need. Face it, unless you’re a well-known figure or have something extremely interesting to say, good blogs don’t want your content.
The solution? Offer bloggers and their audience value beyond the written word. Here are seven “better than content” ideas to get you started:

1. Hold an event for bloggers in your (client’s) area that will interest bloggers. A client of mine in the finance industry (i.e. boring) is scheduled to hold an event for Sydney mommy bloggers about "personal finance and planning for the future." Response rate for this event has been huge.
   
    
2. Offer a discount (or better yet, something free) to the target blog’s audience. For an ecommerce website, you can generate a promo code specifically for a blog. Otherwise, offer (or have your client offer) a discount to anyone that mentions the blog's name (e.g. one month free storage if you mention “Bob’s travel blog”).
   
    
3. Let the blogger try your product for free. A local hotel I work with consistently offers free nights to travel bloggers, which in return generates great interest and links.
   
    
4. Offer bloggers a custom graphic to enhance any post. Perhaps a comic, infographic, or a simple stock image. Anything that can make their blog prettier.
   
   
   
   
   
   Image credit: jonnjonnz on Fiverr
   
   
   
    
5. Hold a contest and notify bloggers. Bloggers are often happy to let their readers know about fun contests out there, especially if the competition and prize relates to the blog in some way.
   
    
6. Send the blogger free stuff. Everyone likes free stuff. "Hey photography blogger, here is a free mug in the shape of the new Canon lens." If it’s cool enough, they will write about it.
   
    
7. Help bloggers out with something. Help them with that coding error you spotted on their site, or how to set up a captcha to minimize their comment spam. I love giving bloggers SEO advice, as well as pointing them in the direction of tools they might find helpful (e.g. Google Trends, Like Explorer, SEOmoz). How does this get a link you ask? It might not right away, but once you get on the blogger’s good side, working with them in a way that will lead to a link will likely be much easier.

There are many ways to offer value to bloggers that will result in a link. Get creative and think beyond offering just content, and before you know it, bloggers will be approaching you for more.
Have more ideas?
I would love to hear your thoughts and comments below.

Source:  Guest Blogging

When it comes to social media, it’s pretty obvious: if you not on social then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Over the past several years, businesses have realized that social is not some kind of fad. No, today social media is now viewed by businesses as something that is here to stay permanently. As companies adapt and shift towards becoming social businesses, one new challenge managers face is learning how best to accurately track their efforts.
There’s no question that everyone understands the importance of ROI, however most companies have jumped feet first into social without thinking about what important metrics they should monitor and track. In light of this common problem, I’ve outlined four typical business goals, how social media can impact them, and most importantly how you can measure the impact of your social media efforts on these goals courtesy of Andrew Kirk off of Social Media Examiner.

Brand Awareness

Who doesn’t want to raise brand recognition and online influence? With so many messages pushed out at consumers today, it’s important to stay on top of mind. Kirk aptly points out, “if customers aren’t aware of your brand and what it stands for, your business may be spinning its wheels.” When customers are aware of your brand and interact with it on different social media platforms, they are more likely to recommend it to their friends. Kirk points out that one good way to measure your brand awareness is via Klout. I’m sure you’ve already heard about the hot San Francisco startup. Klout is a service that looks at your profile from across the web to assess influence and assigns you a score from 10 – 100. But Klout offers more than just a score, it also analyzes your true reach (how many people you influence), amplification (how much you influence people) and network impact (how influential your audience is). Kirk recommends recording these stats every month, this way you can understand which campaigns are working.

Website Traffic

Another good metric to track is website traffic. “Besides sales opportunities, the more people you have visiting your site, the more chances people have to engage with your blog content, click your social media widgets, interact with your brand or share your site with friends and followers using your share buttons,” says Kirk. Google Analytics makes tracking this statistic pretty easy. To track web site traffic coming in from social media click Google Analytics Social Reports. Here Google offers numerous reports showing site data that is generated directly from over 400 social sites. As the case with brand awareness, it’s best to record this data at least monthly so that way you can easily see which of your campaigns are having a positive effect.

Site Loyalty

It’s one thing to have a lot of people visit your site one time, it’s an entirely different challenge to have a lot of people routinely visit your site. The math here is simple, “The more time people spend on your page, the more likely they are to buy from you,” says Kirk. So, it’s important to not only drive visitors to your site, but also give them an experience that makes them want to return. Another reason why you want to track site loyalty is to get an understanding of on average how many site visits are required for one visitor to convert. Site loyalty from social media can be tracked through Google Analytics, however it’s a little complex. So, rather than bombarding you with all the steps needed to achieve this, I recommend checking out this post.

Conversion Rates

To a lot of managers and executives it’s all about ROI, and there’s no better way to prove that your social efforts are worth it than by showing its effect on the balance sheet. Again, this too can be easily tracked via Google Analytics – of course you’ll have to have goals previously set up in Google Analytics for it to work. Once set up though, it’s a relatively simple process. Once inside Google Analytics under the Traffic tab there’s a Conversions report which nicely displays your site’s conversions.
There you have it, four social media metrics that you should be actively tracking. They will not only help you understand what campaigns and strategies are working, but also they will help you and your team ensure the best use of their time and resources.

Source : Social Media Metrics

Guest blogging is riding high right now and the whole Internet Marketing sphere is buzzing with talk about it. Some people consider guest blogging to be one of the more powerful of available tactics, while others disparage this viewpoint, saying that guest blogging is highly misunderstood and that people are misusing it.
In my honest opinion, both mindsets are correct. I recently did a cartoon post on my blog discussing (in a humorous style)  how guest blogging is powerful and how it is misused by many who have failed to understand the scope of awesomeness in this practice we call guest blogging.
Guest blogging is, indeed, one of the powerful ways of building strong, high-quality relationships that may help you in multiple ways, including developing business opportunities and professional connections, setting brand value and, of course, acquisition of link juice.
But, there are many people in the industry who aren't grasping the real worth of guest blogging. They tend to view guest blogging as just another link building tactic. Because of this, they continue to build low quality content for submission to blogs that accept guest posting. Sadly, I estimate that one out of ten blogs actually publishes this junk, polluting the web with garbage.
Discussion about guest blogging as a relationship development tool vs. guest blogging as yet another vehicle for mere linkbuilding is all over the web.  What makes this post different from others is that I will provide case studies and success stories to back my opinion of the real potentials of this practice. Read More

The devil is in the detail- PLAN

It is virtually never that a project is initiated with a precise and complete set of project requirements. Besides being complicated, SEO strategies are also iterative to allow the project to the adapted to ever changing demands. This means having a plan in place to know how the team will manage any and all starting from scope change, risk, quality, communication, and so on. Besides being meticulous about the project management, it also requires a pro-active attitude to ensure that the team and all stakeholders are aware of how the project will be managed.

Actions speak louder than words – EXECUTE

An SEO strategy with no actions is terrible- an actionable strategy with no-one to actually do the work is so much worse. Prioritize based on importance and time-sensitiveness, know the capabilities of your team, and delegate tasks. Doing these keeping in mind deadlines and who’s responsible for what will do wonders here. More importantly communicate what works, and make sure everyone’s up to speed and ready to go.

A good workman never blames his tools- USE THE RIGHT TOOLS

Finding the right tools to work for your project is essential, and different projects teams use different tools based on what works best for them. It is not the complexity of the tool, but the aptness of the same that matters. Depending on the requirement, people use various tools for tracking time and keeping up with dates, to share docs and files, and to communicate. SEOmoz software is also used to handle everyday SEO tasks, right from analyzing keywords, researching back-links, doing on-page analysis, finding accessibility issues and tracking rankings all in one easy-to-use management platform. The tools will not do the work but assist in managing SEO projects effectively.

Round and round we go – REVIEW

As mentioned earlier, search engine optimization is not a onetime proposition. It requires constant iterations and during planning stages provisions are made keeping this in mind. As the client’s product and service offering changes, the keywords may change; content and blogs will need to be written and updated and link building never ends. Besides planning the SEO in stages, there is a need to control the changes and keep track of things moving forward.

Customer is King

In the project the ultimate aim is to optimize, improve ranking, increase traffic, build links and create buzz to generate revenue for the client. Idealistic and impressive as this is, it is also pertinent that the client is happy. Effective project management will ensure the client is happy, while the best efforts are made to achieve the goals. This is may mean making choices that may not be the best possible in a particular scenario, but without compromising on the ultimate goal of the project. At times it is required to manage the project so that possible negatives are borne but it is better than to push effective SEO/link building tactics for short term gains, and losing the client to someone who’s going to harm their business.
In conclusion, having a strategy is better than none at all; an actionable strategy with people to do the work is better than one with no one to implement it; a plan with the proper tools to implement it, is better than one attempted with ineffective tools; a dynamic and actionable strategy is better than a stagnant plan that becomes stale with time; and finally a happy client is better than none.

Source : business2community

The term “content marketing” sounds like a hip buzzword to describe the latest marketing craze, but in reality, the concept has been around since the first newsletters came rolling off the presses.
And if there’s one single reason why companies around the world continue to incorporate “content marketing strategies” into their yearly plans – it’s because it has been working for hundreds, if not thousands of years!
Let’s go over a short recap as to why content marketing is a good marketing strategy to employ for today’s online audience:

• Show You’re an Authority on a Subject – When you offer unbiased and valuable information on a given subject matter, you earn trust with people who visit your blog or website. And as well all know, increasing the trustworthiness of your brand, tends to increase business.
• Search Engine Traffic – Ten years ago, piling on content was a surefire way to grow traffic, but thanks to content farming and Google catching on to other SEO trickery, it’s not that easy anymore. However, the more content you create, the more search engine traffic you will accumulate simply because you will be increasing your longtail search visibility. But more importantly, well written content gets linked to – and backlinks are vital for climbing search engine rankings.
• Build Your Marketing List and Readership – And as you commit to writing great content day in and day out, hopefully you are building up a list of readers whether it’s through Twitter Followers, Facebook Fans or email and RSS subscribers. As your marketing list grows, the more flexibility you have to promote and share offers to your subscribers.

The following resources below will help anyone learn about why content marketing is important to any business and how to get the most of it.

For Beginners

For beginners to people looking for primers on content marketing, these links will get you on the right track.
1. What is Content Marketing – Copyblogger’s introduction to the world of content marketing. If you don’t know what content marketing is, then this is the perfect place to start.
2. The Beginner’s Guide To Blogging & Content Marketing – Learn how to source freelance writers, promote your content, and more with this free e-book.
3. Creating Consistent Content: A Content Marketing Plan – This post will help you create a content marketing schedule and (hopefully) stick to it.
4. Why You Need To Be Doing Content Marketing – This post outlines 10 content marketing goals worth pursuing.
5. The Time For Content Marketing Is Now – A call to arms post on why you need to be jumping on content marketing now. Post also includes stellar examples of content creation done right.
6. The Periodic Table of Content – Types of content broken down into ‘elements’ on a periodic table. An easy way to look at what types of content there are and approximately how long each type of content should be.
7. 7 Content Marketing Myths: Selling the C-Level – It’s not easy to get executives to buy in to new marketing initiatives – use some of the tips in this post to learn how to sell the c-level on content strategy.
8. The Content Marketer’s Guide To Web Content – This is an introductory post to the different types of content on the web with some examples of where + how you can use them. If you ever need a primer on content, this is the post to refer to.

Content Marketing Ideas

Writers block. We all have it and sometimes we’re kicking ourselves because it’s really hard to come up with remarkable content. The following resources will help you break through your writer’s block and have you producing great content again.
9. 22 Ways To Create Compelling Content When You Don’t Have A Clue – An epic infographic that will help pull you out of rut when you can’t think of great content ideas.
10. How To Brainstorm Blogposts – How is it possible to consistently come up with great topics to write about? This post will guide you through how you can brainstorm blog posts like Copyblogger’s Brian Clark.
11. How To Turn Your RSS Reader Into a Topic Generation Machine – If you need a topic generation hub of sorts, this post will guide you through how you can set one up through your RSS reader.
12. How To Never Run Out Of Story Ideas – One of the hardest parts about content marketing is thinking of great things to write about. This post contains actionable tips to help jumpstart potential ideas.
13. 7 Headline Writing Links That Will Revolutionize Your Content Marketing – Get your headlines right and it’ll transform the spread of your ideas. Botch your headline and you’ll watch your content fall flat.

Tips & Tricks

14. How To Create An Editorial Calendar – Learn how to create an editorial calendar for social media (or any content).
15. 26 Tips for Writing Great Blog Posts – Producing great content is just a piece of the puzzle, you’ll also need to know how to optimize your posts for social sharing, include call to actions, relevant links, and more. Here are 26 tips to juice up your blog posts.
16. The 10-Minute Technique to Becoming a More Productive Writer – Learn how to write more words and be more organized with your writing in a shorter amount of time.
17. 10 Must Have Templates for Content Marketers – You’re sure to use one or two of these templates. Keep them handy for future content marketing engagements.
18. 12 Things That Will Kill Your Blog Post Every Time – Avoid these blogging mistakes that will cause people to run the other way. For example, if you want people to click through to your post, don’t mess around with cute or confusing headlines.
19. How Forbes Stole A New York Times Article And Got All The Traffic – This article shows you why it’s important to have a good headline. If you don’t, someone can write a better headline than yours and attract MUCH more traffic and social shares.
20. 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic – Helpful tactics to make sure that you’re doing blogging the right way. An example would be using Google’s Doubleclick Ad Planner to target relevant websites to engage with.
21. Advanced Content Tracking with Google Analytics – Want to use Google Analytics to track how far people are scrolling on your content? Want to know if they even started reading your content? Check out this article.
22. How To Get 50,000 Visitors To Your Blog In The First Month – A case study on the formula used to generate massive amounts of traffic in a blog’s first month.

ROI of Content Marketing

A question you’ll likely hear is ‘what is the ROI of content marketing?’. Use these links to prepare yourself for that moment.
23. Everything Marketers Need to Measure and Prove Content ROI - Another resource with tips on how to figure out the ROI of content marketing.
24. Reporting Content Marketing ROI to the C-Level – It’s important to provide measurable results and often times, executives ask for reports. This post will go over some basics for content ROI measurement.
25. How To Measure the ROI of a Content Marketing Strategy – 68% of CMOs say they are shifting budget from traditional advertising to content marketing – they obviously want to see a return on investment. This post will give you additional tips on how to measure content marketing success.

How To Spread Your Content

26. How To Get People to Care About Your Best Posts – Here’s the secret sauce to getting people to care about your content.
27. Influencer Marketing – What it is, and Why YOU Need to be Doing it – Merely posting great content isn’t enough to attract visitors. Finding influencers to help your content get more exposure is a great way to gain traction. This post goes over how you can do it.
28. 12 Things To Do After You’ve Written a New Blog Post – You know that finishing the content is half the battle – what do you do next? This post will give you 12 tips on what you can be doing after you finish your masterpiece.

Tools

Batman needs his utility belt to fight crime. You need your arsenal of content marketing tools to help wow the world with your great work. Here are a few helpful tools to add to your tool belt:
29. SEO Gadget Content Strategy Generator Tool – Fantastic Google Docs tool that helps you generate content ideas. All you need to do is enter in your keyword into cell B3 and watch content ideas magically appear in the spreadsheet.
30. Quora – Quora is a Q&A site where you’ll find people actively asking and answering questions on topics from technology all the way to dog training. There’s a good chance you’ll find some great content ideas here.
31. Yahoo Answers – Yahoo Answers is another Q&A site that can help you come up with topic ideas.
32. LinkedIn Answers – If your content is more business related, chances are LinkedIn Answers could be a place to start for content brainstorming. LinkedIn Answers is the Q&A section of LinkedIn (similar to Quora and Yahoo Answers).
33. Why IFTTT Could Be the Best Blogging Tool Ever – Need a time saving tool to automate tasks such as content curation? Wouldn’t it be nice if your starred items in Google Reader were automatically sent to Buffer for tweeting later? Check out this post.
34. Google Insights – Google Insights allows you to compare search volume patterns over time. This is a good way to make sure your target keyword is still generating interest. This tool also allows you to find other related/trending keywords.
35. Uber Suggest – Generate thousands of query ideas with this tool. A favorite keyword research tool used by many.

Content Marketing Sites

36. Copyblogger – Copyblogger is one of the premier sites for content marketing. You’ll find tips on copywriting, content marketing, SEO copywriting, e-mail marketing, keyword research, landing pages, internet marketing, and more.
37. Contently – Contently’s blog, The Content Strategist, provides actionable tips on how to improve your content strategy.

Content Marketing On Different Platforms

Content marketing isn’t the same on all platforms – the following resources will give you some insight on how strategize on different platforms.
38. Content Marketing On Google+ -Google’s social media baby isn’t going to be letting up any time soon so it’s important that you jump on Google+ to get a headstart.
39. Content Marketing On Tumblr – Tumblr is a rapidly growing blogging platform that can be useful for various brands – here’s how you can maximize your Tumblr exposure.
40. Content Marketing On Instagram – With over 27 million users to date, Instagram is a powerful social media tool. Learn how to harness the power of this neat app.
41. Content Marketing On Pinterest – Social media darling Pinterest is reportedly the fastest growing website. Ever. Learn how to get started on this hot platform.
42. Content Marketing With Video – Create diverse content for your readers is a great way to keep them engaged. Video is continually growing and more brands are starting to pour more cash into video. It’s worth taking a look at this post to see how video might be a fit for your needs.

Stellar Examples of Content Marketing

43. How 3 Companies Took Content Marketing to the Next Level – Here are 3 companies that really know what they’re doing when it comes to content marketing.

Coca Cola Content 2020 Videos

44. Coca Cola tells everyone why it’s going all in on content marketing because the media landscape is rapidly shifting. If you need more help to get C-level buy-in, try sharing these videos with executives to show them how important content is.




What are some other can’t miss content resources you’d like to add?