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.
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.
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