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Free Content Marketing Tools from Google

July 11, 2017/0 Comments/in Content Marketing /by Brahmadas R

Free Content Marketing Tools for Content Marketing Professionals

This blog post presents free content marketing tools provided by Google. Reading this blog post can help you to enhance your content marketing results. Because these free tools are simply awesome. These free content marketing tools can help you to simplify your tasks. As a content marketer, I use these tools in most my projects.

You may have many years of experience as a content marketing professional. Then you would certainly agree that there are different ways to improve your performance. Or you can use these free content marketing tools. You would certainly agree if you can try these tools. If we say that social Media as number one platform for online exposure, along with Google’s Keyword Planner which would help you become a powerful content marketing professional. Some of these free tools like Google Keyword planner, Analytics, Web masters tools (search console) etc are most favorite tools in my SEO practices.

There is something really appealing for you! You can choose to follow these simple steps to enhance the performance yourself as a Content Marketing Specialist!

Many of you would call Google simply as a search engine. It’s certainly not wrong to have your website ranked as number one. However; you should not forget the process that is involved in getting your website to be ranking as number ‘1’. You need to have the right set of tools to rank your website at top. You can achieve significant impact good results if you use these free content marketing tools from Google.

It doesn’t matter if you’re an amateur in content marketing field. Even if are an expert in this fields, this post would certainly change your perspectives of approach towards content marketing in the future. Below are the ten free content marketing tools available for free; which can be used by all the content marketing folks. Do not worry about using all these tools all at once or may be even once. But, it is certain that these tools are going to create an impact on the content, from a search engine point of view.

1. Google AdWords: Keyword Planner

Are you in search of a tool that can help you focus on the right kind of keywords for your business?

Though there are a lot of tools available in the market, which can give you good results, Google Keyword Planner tops the list. It is one of the most suited tools that would perform a keyword search. There are a lot of good things to be liked about this tool along with its user-friendliness.

It becomes the job of a content marketing professional to search for those kinds of keywords which would boost the performance of your write-up, blog or a website. The only suggestion to make use of this tool would be through, thorough experimenting process. You need to run a lot of searches to understand the functionality of this tool better. You can also choose to run multiple searches in order to get a different perspective on how the tool works.

For instance, “content marketing” could be one of your focus keyword. You know that this is the best keyword. However; you would certainly know how difficult it is to rank number ‘one’ with such simple keywords .You need to have long-tail terms which would better your search results. Try to check for different keywords that are suitable for your article or write-up. Try to use a long tail keyword as your first important keyword to increase the search results.

You should know that ‘Google Keyword Planner’ is just a fundamental tool, but it is one of the most effective ‘Free Content Marketing Tools’ for content marketing professionals who would like to do research on the keyword strategy to increase the search results.

2. Google Analytics

What are your goals for your content marketing strategy?

If you are unable to answer this question, you should sit back and think thoroughly, because your website performance is completely based on the kind of strategies you make. It’s good to have some goals set and if you are aware of them already, it’s now time to understand the other functionalities of ‘Google Analytics’ in depth. ‘Google Analytics‘ functions differently to different people and if you are into content marketing, there are a few mandatory things to know about it.

Start using this tool to get a quick view on the performance of your website for a particular time period. Google Analytics is one of the means to track the status on the goals you have set to achieve. You can slice and dice the data with the usage of Google Analytics. You would be able to extract data in depth as you start exploring every section on ‘Google Analytics’. Details on the real-time users, bounce rate and top visitors along with demographics can be checked using Google Analytics and this will set your goals even clear.

3. Google Search Console or Google Webmasters Tools

This tool is another boon for all the content marketing professionals. The more you spend time on exploring this tool it makes your content marketing life better. As there’s a lot knowledge to gain from Google Search Console or Google Webmasters Tools, do not be surprised if you get lost in data mining that is needed for your website analysis.

Apart from keeping a tab on the website status, there are a lot of other things that you can achieve using this tool. As a content marketer, you need to know the entire working functionality of ‘Google Search Console’ to gauge the performance of your website.

4. Google Trends

Are you facing challenges to constantly come up with some amazing concepts for your website? You would certainly not deny that, ‘Keyword Planner’ helps you with a lot of keywords with relevance to your industry. But it is good to have an alternate tool to perform the key search alongside the ‘keyword planner’. Hence, it becomes important that you check ‘Google Trends’ to get newer ideas to write articles or blogs for your website.

You can use ‘Google Trends’ to check the trending topics along with the “trending stories,” to check if there is something relevant to the business or industry you are into. For instance, any topics related to politics especially, the upcoming political debates on the candidature for ‘President Debates’ are sure to be trending.

You can always check ways to link these things to your website, blogs or any other content marketing concepts. Every time you write something about politics or any latest news, you know that there is a lot of scope as there is a lot of information available. In such cases, ‘Google Trend’ will help you to explore the creative side of yours. Keeping the above example on mind, you can probably choose to write a blog post entitled: “How Donald Trump is Using Content Marketing.”

While you connect on a trending topic, you are also giving a lot of information on what your target audience would be interested to know about, isn’t it? You do not have to be experienced to know the functionality of this tool; all you have to do is review the topic and start writing creatively.

5. Google Sheets

It becomes very important to maintain a systematic recording of every task you do as ‘Content marketer’ and at times you may have to discuss these details with your team as well with different accessibility options. For instance; I’m often asked about the best way to keep a tab on the outreach campaigns that happens through e-mails.

While you have a lot of other software to perform this task, there are a few with high-end features as well but, you may not want to spend money for any of these. These features may not be available on ‘Google Sheets;’ But it is one of the amazing means to keep a systematic track on the data and it would also allow you to remain organized. If you are looking for a good impact on the efforts you are putting on ‘Content Marketing’, it is necessary to have the sheet updated timely.

Pro tip: try to use ‘Google Sheets’ to maintain a task list for the to-do things, and a lot of content marketing professionals rely highly on this to keep them organized.

6. Google+

Though Google+ has not be able to take that spot in the list of ‘Social Media Websites’ like the others, It is still considered to be one of the best tools that can be used to grow the audience. Google+ helps you to establish connections with your prospect clients and also helps you to share content effectively. It is great to have a profile created on G+ and post the content, though you don’t want to be as active as in any other channels. Check out Google Plus company page of SoftLoom IT Solutions.

As a content marketing professional myself, these are three ways I suggest to all of you; If you are planning to grow as a professional Content Marketer using ‘Free Content Marketing Tools’.

1. Share the details on content with your fan followers
2. Try to increase the number of contacts
3. Check for content that would help you increase and have a positive growth on your business.

Like you post regular updates on your other ‘Social Media Websites’, updating your G+ profile with relevant content is also equally important.

7. Gmail

You need to keep in contact with a lot of your contacts if you want to excel as a content marketing specialist with ‘Free Content Marketing Tools’.

You can always use Gmail to send your write-ups and articles to your contacts. Emails are one of the right means to achieve your Content Marketing goals. Gmail has always been one of my favorite email clients; I would like to thank the in-built functionalities that Gmail offers. Apart from the features that you see, there are a lot of other hidden features of Gmail.

Wide ranges of plugins that can make your Gmail account work the way you want it to. You can create custom signature using ‘Wise Stamp’. You can also use ‘Followup’ to keep a tab on the follow-ups on the emails related to content marketing.

Check if you can start using Gmail services as a service provider to meet all your email requirements. You can save a lot of effort, time and money if you choose to make this change happen. You can always customize your Gmail inbox to meet your requirements.

Pro tip: You may go ahead with any email service provider for communicating with your team and clients. But you can still stick to Gmail as part of your content marketing strategy.

8. Google My Business

For larger companies, ‘Google My Business’ would not be a great deal but for local businesses it becomes little important as you would be able to achieve a free business listing on Google. It allows you to add a lot of information apart from the basic information; like name, contact details and business type.

The benefits of using ‘Google My Business’ include:

You can attract a lot of potential customers and also tell about your business to people; who would be interested about your business.
There are chances of people getting to know about your business to a greater extent.
Always use appropriate images that show the uniqueness of your business along with the customer reviews.
Content Marketing strategy should involve everything alongside having high quality write-ups and blogs.
When you start searching for results; the listings made by Google My Business are on top priority. You can choose to use it to be one of your content marketing strategies.

9. Google Docs

Always keep a tab on my blogs, you would certainly realize that I keep updating my blogs very frequently and as you know it takes a lot of effort in creating good quality articles or write-ups. This is one of the ways to improve your efficiency and in the quest to achieve that excellence; I always prefer to use ‘Google Docs’ as there are a lot of features that comes along to be explored.
Here are some of the things that I love about ‘Google Docs’.

It automatically performs a check for any spelling mistakes by providing a proper count of the words used.
It helps you to insert the necessary screenshots and sharing of the document becomes simpler.

There are a lot of content creation tools available in the market. Yet it is important to choose the one that you are comfortable working with. Content marketing also involves a lot of content creation and if you are not comfortable; It becomes very difficult to provide high-quality posts.

10. Google Calendar

Organizing your day by keeping Content Marketing on mind is one of the important things and to achieve this, you can go ahead and use the ‘Google Calendar’. You can utilize your time to its maximum with the usage of Google Calendar. May be Google Calendar does not have all the features like all the other paid tools. But it is certainly useful to keep a track on all the things you would want to do; as a content marketing professional. You can do the following, using ‘Google Calendar’.

Marketing tasks are very important things and it will be necessary to have events created for it. This can be easily done by using Google Calendar.
Using Google Calendar , you can create necessary events
Share your available time and slots with your team.
It is good to understand “open spots” in your schedule, as this allows you to organize your day better.
Google Calendar may not be used like any other tools; but it will certainly help you to organize your day better for sure.

No matter how much ever you claim your efficiency as a content marketing professional, you should always know that there is a large scope for improvement. You can always improve your search by using long-tail keywords in all your write-ups and articles. I have a personal liking towards almost all the tools developed by Google. Some tools are a lot more effective and powerful than the others. You can always give it a try to use these effective tools. If you have used any of these ‘Free Content Marketing’ Tools that are available from Google; Do not forget to put up your thoughts in the comments section. Do share this post if you found it helpful to improve your content marketing efforts.

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Best Lead Generation Tips with Content Marketing

May 29, 2017/1 Comment/in Content Marketing /by Brahmadas R

Lead Generation Tips

This blog post can help you to improve your knowledge on lead generation tips with content marketing. Article is mainly useful for digital marketing professionals, content marketers & SEOs

One of the most important components of inbound marketing is the Content. If the content is not relevant, compelling or timely, inbound marketing may not be able to succeed as a form of lead generation tool. Your website might be thought of as a marketing machine, but technically speaking it is the content that should be considered as the fuel; the fuel which generates the leads, drives the conversions and creates engagement.
Yes, that doesn’t sound too easy, doesn’t it? But contrary to how it sounds, creating compelling content is not an easy task. The entire process boils down to one simple thing – and that is getting the most apt content for the right audience. Here we have given you some tips which would help you generate leads.

Get in touch with your Principal Personality

Like we just mentioned above, great content is that which is apt and that which speaks to the audience; the audience which is considered right for you. All this needs to start with the personalities of the buyer – that is your target audience’s representations. This is where your creativity and research should come in. Your content would not be able to bring in any apt leads if you are not familiar with your buyers. You need to create buyer personalities so that you can create targeted content as well. Start the process by asking questions – question their goals, concerns or motivators. The following are some questions you should be asking while creating the buyer’s personality –

•   What problems is she/he trying to find a solution to?
•   What concerns does the industry bring up?
•   Is the buyer a decision maker? What would his/her role be in the company?
•   What are the factors that drive the buyer’s needs?

Use Analytics to your advantage

You need to use the analytics in such a way that they work for you. Take advantage of the site’s analytics and use them to create compelling content as per your buyer’s personalities. Give attention to the most popular pages or posts. When you go through popular content, you would get an idea of what the visitors consider as interesting. You would find out the rates of bounces as well. If you find that too many new visitors are ‘jumping off’ the site then that means that something is wrong and that you need better and good quality content. Use the metrics and get in touch with the factors which drive page views, landing page conversions or page views. Run A/B testing, analyze, monitor and see what is working and what isn’t. So a landing page development must be completed after grabbing enough lead generation tips.

The following are four ways in which analytics can be used to boost leads
Find out what kind of content brings in more site visitors and connects with them.

•   The CTA or call to action content’s alignment needs to be improved.
•   The rates of visitors which get converted to leads across channels needs to be compared.
•   The content that is reproduced needs to be successful.

The Content Needs to be Audited

You might be an expert or a long time creator of content. But you still need to take a breath and evaluate the content. This is extremely important as far as the lead generation campaign goes. Everything boils down to the most important motive which is to align the content with the personas of the buyers. When you audit your content you might come up with some loopholes or errors which would push you to cut them out and get right on track.

• You need to make up a spreadsheet and make an inventory of the content’s catalog right from the previous year. Take into account everything right from eBooks and blog posts to presentations and Webinars.

• Make up groups of the type of content, the topic, the persona of the buyers, the creation of data and the customers or leads that have been generated.

• Bring up each of the buyer persona profiles and take a note of the content that was created for every persona. Check how many was based on text and how many say based on the visual content.

• Check the response rates for each audience and content.
The audit findings for the content can help you in the content marketing strategy. It is pretty much like a roadmap for you. Whatever you learn from the audit, apply it and keep a track of the results on a periodic basis.

Line up the content and the buying cycle

Through the entire buying cycle, the prospect’s behavior might differ. While a customer is in the research phase, he might have a different interest as compared to a customer who is in the evaluation stage. Hence, to generate more and apt leads, you need to align your content with the entire buying cycle. Imagine yourself as the buyer and think of the various issues that might matter to you during every stage of the buying cycle. The content that is created for the sake of generating awareness would be naturally different from the content which is created for the purpose of lead conversion into customers.

For example, a prospect who is in the research phase might have just come to know about your brand. So then is this person the right candidate for content that is educational? Yes, Absolutely!

You need to make sure that the content is right for every stage of the sales process – Knowledge, Research, the comparison and the final purchase. It has been seen that the kind of content can actually affect the decision of the buyer at particular stages of the cycle.

Knowledge – Educational Webinars, social media updates and Blog posts.
Research – Tip sheets, eBooks, videos on how-to, industry reports and webinars.
Evaluation and Comparison – Data sheets, case studies, customer testimonials and demo videos

The final purchase – Live Demos, analyst reports, free trials and consultation
Set and commit yourself to a budget for the ongoing content –
It is but obvious that resources are needed for content marketing. In fact, online content is probably another mode of paid advertising. Some of the marketing funds need to be allocated to ongoing content creation. If required, move some funds to content marketing and development from other paid media. This is how important content is. This way you would better your offers, bring in more leads and convert those leads into customers.

The conclusion – Lead Generation Tips

Imagine you are a sales manager at a fashion retail store. A customer walks in and is just browsing around. Whether she becomes a customer or not, depends on how you approach her. If you start pushing a dress on to her; you might throw her away and get her annoyed. This is her awareness stage. So depending on what she is looking for, you need to educate her and give her the information that would be useful to her. Be open to questions. If she finds you impressive and the information that you gave her as useful, she would be open to the idea of coming back and picking up more dresses.

This very same concept is applied to online buyer personalities. Buyer personas differ during every stage of the buyer cycle. Some might be just weighing their options while some might be ready to purchase. However, the one thing that is similar in all stages is that the buyer wants themselves to be approached in the right way.

The right content needs to be aligned with the right audience with the help of marketing intelligence. Also the content calendar needs to be regularly evaluated to make sure that pathways are laid out for the generation of leads.

But mind you, once you have attained your goals of lead generation the content alignment should not end. It has been seen that usually out of the leads 50% are qualified enough but are not ready to buy immediately. Hence, the content creation needs to be able to solve their problems. You need to make sure of that. Your leads need to be nurtured; and there needs to be an ongoing tactic for it.

Make sure that you implement all the above important points and build the groundwork for a thriving lead generation platform. Combine your content with social media, SEO, nurturing of leads, analysis and measurement and thus charge up the lead generation campaign.

If at all you are ever doubtful, you just need to evaluate the process from the point of the view of the buyer. You need to ensure that you push solutions and not push purchases.

If you like this blog post on lead generation tips with content marketing, please feel free to share with your friends and you can give your suggestion in comment portion.

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10 Incredible Content Creation Tips to Turbo-Charge Your Content Marketing Strategy

October 15, 2016/0 Comments/in Content Marketing, SEO /by Maryam

Could you characterise what precisely is “High-Quality Content”? All things considered, it can’t be clarified plainly as there are such a large number of methods for composing content and every visitor likes to read different types of content- some like descriptive and some like to read only the highlight points.

Creating quality content that is tempting to the audience out there is the most critical variable in making your website stand out like hot chicks! Considering that there are so many bloggers taking part on the web, it can be a quite a challenge crafting content that has the top notch substance, to the point that’s noteworthy as well as feed the visitor’s needs. Obviously, blogging nowadays is not all that simple and you need to surpass such a large number of obstacles to get on top.

Secrets to Creating Killer Content

So here I give you certain insider facts that are not privileged insights but rather hot tips that can make your content and SEO strategy better than average and emerge from the group.

1.Charming Blog Headlines

This is the one that catches a visitor’s eye when he’s going through Google’s search results. Since this is where he is going to begin judging what’s on your site, the headline should interest the visitor, so he clicks on to your site.

Regardless of whether the nature of the content is extraordinary and upgraded to the best, all endeavours go futile if the user is not going to click onto your site/blog.

Other than containing a fascinating feature, it ought to appear rare and if possible, even weird and negative. You can have a go at utilizing numbers, power words (or adjectives) like “important”, “unbelievable”, “fantastic” and trigger words like “what”, “why”, “how” and “when”.

Invite the visitor with a promise and deliver your content based on that promise.

2. An Interesting First Paragraph

Now the visitor has seen that great headline and has clicked into your site. He has begun reading the principal section, the first paragraph.

What he needs there is something that conveys the promise made by that dazzling headline. A few bloggers do the strategy of making astonishing headlines and after that compose a content that is absolutely boring and dull.

The result? It’s an immediate press of the “Back” or “Close” button on the user’s browser. One out of ten individuals look down through an online blog entirely and read the whole article.

After the headline, your duty has increased more. You have to snare the visitor who’s trying to run away from your site with a powerful content that describes in a simple and brief way, what you will be discussing in the coming paragraphs of your blog. This section of your blog is where the visitor figures out if reading this entire content is worth his time and attention and you can’t afford to lose it with boring sentences.

3. Express What You Know Best

Obviously, the matter in your blog ought to be enlightening and fill in the blanks of the user. It should give knowledge into some new regions in the niche which you are blogging/selling on.

It’s best to compose on what you have solid knowledge about. If by chance, which is highly likely, you are composing something new or something that is not your specialty, do an intensive and broad examination on the subject before you write the content.

4. Pass on something special like a story

A story-line always interacts with a reader. Attempt to make a few stories that match with your content in some or the other way. This can catch the user’s psyche and if he or she has gotten some experience like the one in your story, he is intrigued to go further and read more.

5. Pick a Target Audience

Despite the fact that positioning higher on Google is important, it is much more critical that individuals who click on to your site like you and trust you. When they believe you, they will hear whatever you say and take what you bring to the table for them.

Making trust in a vast crowd is not all that simple and I agree it’s a Herculean task. But be sure to particularly address and speak out to each one of the guests who is searching for what you are blogging about or those individuals who are now in the same field as you are in.

Devote all your efforts to offer them the answers to their questions in a proficient and conversational style. It is best to keep 10 out of 100 guests connected with you as opposed to making a decent attempt to get a 100 out of the billion individuals on the planet to go through your site.

6. Create content that is shareable

After you have figured the group of people that ought to visit your site, you have to figure out how to make content that is convincing and sufficiently enticing to make individuals share that on online networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Research on existing content online that has been shared significantly on online networking and take notes on the quality points the content has got to offer and makes it shareable.

On that note, construct something new based upon your insight and as your individual writing style.

7. Add links to other powerful websites from your content

Backing your content with links from high-power sites (like Wikipedia) enhances your reader’s trust in your website. Give credits to an influencer’s blog or website that has given you thoughts to create content for your site.

Connecting to such authority websites increases your Page Authority significantly and you are giving your visitors all the right reasons to stay associated with your blog.

8. Your content must compel them to make a move or take a step they haven’t done before

In spite of your content being of shareable worth, it ought to be one that initiates some sort of activity from the reader.

A content that challenges the reader to explore a new territory or do something that’s different makes your content an actionable one.

9. Have an incredible website design

Since individuals skim a content whatsoever, an awesome content should be presented with great design. The use of pictures which gets the user in touch with any of his feelings or by arousing his interest can expand the engagement rate for your article rendering it a converting piece.

10. Attempt to make Timeless Content

An immortal or timeless content, basically, is one which is intriguing and is significant for a long stretch of time. If your content is ceaselessly new and applicable, odds are that the content will get more linked and voted for popularity. So try and create content that’s immortal and evergreen.

9 Marvelous Ways to Get Everyone to Read Your Content

October 12, 2016/0 Comments/in Content Marketing /by Maryam

You slaved, carefully crafted each phrase. Your precious words and sentences. You just know that they will attract the audience you are targeting. You finally hit the “publish” button. And then, what happens?

No one reads them. No likes, no comments, no shares and tweets! You keenly watch the number of page views in your Analytics dashboard but they move at a snail’s pace!

It’s enough to send a blogger into a stage of grief and depression and de-motivate him from producing great content consistently.

Do you think spending another 10,000 hours perfecting your writing skills will improve it? No way!

As a matter of fact, the solution is just a lot easier than what you would expect!

Write less and style your text so it’s easy to read or rather scan (more on that later) could be all you need to do to attract and hold attention.

Consider those Impatient searchers out there

According to Jakob Nielsen’s study on “How Users Read on the Web” in 1997, 79 percent of web users scan rather than read. And only 16 percent read word-by-word.

Just pause and think how you would use the web. You are searching some information. And if you don’t get in the page you visited, you click on “close” or “back” button, to go look for it elsewhere.

The web is more like a “lean forward, concentrate & participate” type of medium. Contrarily, television is a “lean back, relax & let it wash over me” type of medium.

What writing tactics can you use to engage your readers so they lean into your content, pay attention to the information you have written out, and interact with it?

1. Write in the Inverted Pyramid Style

To write successfully for the web, you need to forget some of w1hat you learned in English composition class. You might be familiar with the writing that starts with an introduction to a particular subject, then gradually builds up on it in the body part only to end with a conclusion.

It’s totally boring!

Accept that people just scan your page, rather than reading it in detail. Work and write with this reality in mind, rather than trying to fight it.

If you are covering a complex subject, consider breaking it into a number of posts. It’s also a great tactic to make people come back for more. And your reader will easily be able to digest your content as you provide them in controlled portion sizes.

Use the inverted pyramid style to structure your paragraphs. With this style, you start with your conclusion first, support it with the important facts in the sentences that follow and then give a background. It’s used widely by journalist and as readers break away in the middle of reading the content, they have already grasped the most important information.

The inverted pyramid style helps scanners move from one point to another in a breeze. As they read along, they get to decide where they want to dive in deep.

Next, use these easy design techniques that follow and get your content to be more reader-friendly.

A few minutes is all it takes to turn a post from an overwhelming block of black text to something that magnetises the reader’s senses and pulls him/her in.

2. Break up your content with compelling subheadings

A basic writing technique often repeated around everywhere, is to write your headings and subheadings first.

A strong, promising headline is essential to get readers to check you out first. And when you combine them with solid subheads, it keeps readers engaged. Subheadings are like “mini-headlines” that keep your readers moving throughout the rest of your content.

Make your subheads thought-provoking and informative. Don’t tick off your readers’ BS meters, by exaggerating or you are going to lose credibility. “Compelling” doesn’t mean “hyping.”

After you have written your subheadings, review them to see if the readers/scanners will understand your article by just reading them. Have they got a compelling storyline? Will they get the gist of what you are saying?

3. Embrace lots of white spaces in between your content

This is one of the few easiest ways to render your content more readable. Even complex, tough content could become more reader-friendly with the simple usage of lots of white space.

Keep your paragraphs short and feature just one idea per paragraph in three to four sentences, nothing more nothing less.

And write some paragraphs with just one sentence only.

4. Use bulleted lists

There’s a reason why they are called “bulleted” lists.

They create a compulsion that your readers just can’t resist.
They can be easily scanned to infer multiple points.
They are like visual breaks for your reader as they look different from the rest of the text.

5. Harness the Power of Numbers

Think that numbered lists are boring and way too plain? Think again.

Incredibly, numbers are an effective way to capture attention and keep the reader on your page.

Just by numbering the main points, you can make a post much more compelling. Give it a try yourself.

6. Add links to relevant and helpful content

Internal links benefit you by backing to the cornerstone content on your website itself. It keeps people lingering on your site, reading your best material.

External links prove that you have done a research on the topic and want to credit the other experts. A good piece of content uses both internal and external links to give insights to your reader besides adding value.

7. Use image captions

As studies have shown, images are processed 60,000 times faster than text.

Pair an image with a caption that’s two to three sentences long. It’s enough to get your reader intrigued to dig and dive into the whole of your article.

8. Highlight certain parts of your content strategically

Add emphasis to certain parts of your content by bolding important facts. It helps the reader as he is scanning through the page and grasp the most important information in just a glance.

Don’t highlight each and everything as they would simply have the same effect of highlighting nothing. Instead, bring emphasis to the key points so the reader can easily single them out.

9. Format and Re-Arrange your content to turn the scanners into your readers

After you incorporated all pf the above design techniques, read through the whole article again — looking only at that part of the text you have drawn special attention to.

Will your readers get the gist of what you are saying? Have you singled out the interesting and relevant words, the words that will be singled out by your scanners in and converted by them into your readers?

How about you? What are your favourite tactics for captivating your readers with your content? Let’s talk about it in the comments section.

10 Quick Editing Tips to Create Awesome Content

August 14, 2016/3 Comments/in Content Marketing, SEO /by Maryam

Whether you are a bestselling novelist or a small online blogger, you have got to edit your work. Your first draft is always a garbage of your thoughts disorganized and points that are uncertainly stated. Ever since writing dawned, it started with chaos and was restructured to end in order. Editing is such an important part of writing that you should be dedicating a big chunk of your writing time. While you go through your first draft, you need to check if your content is the best you have to offer and whether it’s got a flow or a rhythm going on in it.

Every writer creates a piece of content with a goal. For most of us, saving time while also polishing our writings is the main goal. Here are ten quick editing tips just to help you achieve this goal of presenting your best work in no time.

Write Awesome with these 10 Quick Editing Tips

So you have just finished writing your first draft and now it’s time to edit before you hit that “publish” button. But before you edit, I suggest you run away and leave off that piece you have been writing. If you were to do it all in just one sitting, you are committing the big blunder of letting all the errors fool your eyes into believing they don’t exist. Talk about ghosts in your content! When it’s time, wear those horn-rimmed eyeglasses and use these quick editing tips to make sure that you have hit the right notes and end up with the perfect final piece of content.

Tip #1 Skim the cream off your content

People read quickly these days and skim your content as much as possible without going over each and every word. So why not make it easy for your audience by keeping your content crisp, brief and fat-free? For your readers’ sake, don’t add so much fat into content by dragging out your sentences. Break up your content into bullet points with interesting benefit-driven sub-headers.

Take a look at these sentences and see the difference when reading them without the bolded words.

Every single person should read.
But the real issue here is people have a short attention span.
You are going to have to keep your writing short and brief.

Don’t you feel that these sentences are better off with the bolded words?

Tip #2 Use commas only wherever needed

In the English language, there are lots of rules to be followed when using punctuation. Even the usage of the little comma is subject to so many rules and regulations. Don’t over-complicate commas by putting them here and there like mayo on your sandwiches! The idea is to read your sentences out loud and if you feel that a certain sentence is longer than ordinary, break it up with a comma. Alternately, use commas on those spots you feel that the reader is going to stop reading.

Tip #3 Remove Empty Filler Words

The use of phrases like “here is”, “it takes” and “there is” takes the focus from the nouns in a sentence. They require other filler words to combine with them like who, how and when. Such phrases also stretch your sentences longer than necessary.

If your sentences contain a lot of these phrases, then it’s time to rewrite them.

Here are some examples so you can teach yourself to rectify them:

It’s fun to read- Reading is fun
There are many people who love to read- Many people read
Here are some DIY ideas for you to try- Some DIY ideas for you to try are

If you have already given a little description on the subject, then it’s okay to use words like “here”, “it” and “there”. For instance: I love being an SEO Analyst. It’s a great profession.

Tip #4 Replace weak verbs with strong ones

Certain words can reduce the impact of what we are implying. Look out for those words and replace them with strong, powerful verbs. It can drive home the point you are stating through your content, besides making it interesting.

Certain examples:

She had gone from Greece to Rome- She traveled from Greece to Rome
Dominos is giving out coupons- Dominos offers coupons
Make out a plan- Create a plan

Tip #5 Use Powerful Adjectives

Avoid using so much of “really” and “very” when you are describing something. Many people use “very good”, “really bad” to emphasize something while speaking. It looks good when you speak but when you write it down on paper, you get to see the difference. Words like “very” and “really” sound inadequate and are so much less of an intensifier than they ought to be. Keep in mind your reader’s time is precious. It pays not to waste his time by being as concise as possible. Get straight to the point with confidence using power words.

Really bad- Dreadful
Really good- Exceptional, Marvelous
Very Huge- Enormous, Tremendous
Very impressive- Catchy

Example: 5 Marvelous Benefits of Data Entry Service Outsourcing

When you use power words, remember to deliver your readers something that’s in pace with those adjectives. Don’t charge up your audience’s expectations and then give them some mediocre content to read. I gotta tell you, it’s a crime!

Tip #6 Use contractions

Contractions make your writing sound more friendly, conversational and informal. You don’t want your reader thinking that he’s reading a newspaper or a textbook. Examples of contractions are it’s, I’m, you’re, gonna, wasn’t, haven’t and so on. They are easy to pronounce and make your post easy to comprehend. So do me a favor and use as many contractions as you can in your post and connect better with your readers.

Tip #7 Remove those unwanted ings in your posts

“I am writing about…”, “She was running to…”, or “We are thinking about…” When you see so many ings in your copy, think twice about whether they are really needed or not- simply because you probably don’t.

You can get rid of an “ing” and say “I write about…”, “She ran to…”, or “We thought about…”. This gets your copy clear and easy to read.

Tip #8 Use Bullet points that match up

Talking about breaking up sentences, you might be doing it with bullet points. Bullet points state points quick and clear (like a bullet!) without much fuss. They are popular for breaking up long content and making your copy more readable. When using bullet points, make sure it matches up to the blog post title as well as the surrounding content. Many of the writers do the mistake of creating bullet points that are completely different and totally not related to each other.

For example, in a post that’s titled “5 Mistakes that could ruin your interview”, here’s a bullet point that actually goes along:

Forgetting to prepare a formal introduction

Here’s one that doesn’t go along with the title (because it’s not actually an error- you are suggesting what is to be done, not the mistake):

Prepare a formal introduction

If you are writing a post with a title that goes “5 Tips for Instant Success at Job Interviews”, you should be laying out “tips” in your bullet points.

Another quick tip for bullet points is keeping them symmetrical as possible. If your first bullet point finishes in a line, make the rest of them finish in a line. It’s good to the eyes and hence, easy for the reader.

Tip #9 Unpack longer sentences

A simple guide to writing better is to use one idea in a sentence. Long sentences make your writing a drag. Hunt for those long sentences in your copy and fix them as follows:

Eliminate unnecessary words
When you see a comma, think twice about whether it could be a full stop
If you see the words “which” and “that”, think if you can start a new sentence
Rewrite and rephrase

Tip #10 Track your mistakes while editing

As a final piece of advice, keep track of the mistakes you make. It can be a spelling mistake too. Certain words are hard to spell correctly. For example, I tend to add an s after onward. So when I edit my posts, I keep an eye out for onward so I can make sure I was not butchered again. When you keep a list of your writing mistakes, it becomes an important reference resource. It just helps the task of editing in future a lot easier and is a sure fire way of not making the same mistakes over and over again.

In Conclusion

Grammar is something you might hate right now. But a good writing that encompasses good grammar earns so much respect and credibility from its readers. (Personally, bad grammar is my pet peeve!)

If you care about your readers, you must edit your copy and proofread it over and over again. Tweet it!

It’s key to making your content marketing strategy work out great for the long term. Have more editing tips that worked out for your content? I would love to hear it over your comments.

The Ultimate Content Marketing Checklist

June 14, 2016/0 Comments/in Content Creation, Content Marketing /by Maryam

The tedious content marketing drudgery, we have all been there. Everybody must have experienced some weakness with content marketing at some point or the other. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try you can’t seem to:

=>Get enough content to write on
=>Engage the audience with your content, especially if you are marketing content in a boring niche, say insurance
=>Bring interesting ways to innovate the content

Content Marketing can sometimes be a Herculean Task. And as the current SEO Statistics state, the need for engaging content can never get extinct like the dinosaurs!

Ever wondered if you had a checklist handy to tick off while producing content? Well, look no further, here’s the ultimate content marketing checklist that you can look up to whenever the need arises.

LOOKING TO MAKE A GREAT IMPACT WITH YOUR BLOG?

1. Consider your objective- Each piece of content you create should be part of one and only puzzle and that’s your objective. The content you create should aim to achieve the goal you have in mind.

2. Analyze the type of content and where the focus has to be- What are you intending to achieve? What part of the buying cycle -awareness, research, comparison, purchase- are you focusing on?

3. Stay specific and focused- Concentrate on a particular topic and convey your opinions on it. This attracts a lot of attention as well as creates inherent trust for you to the visitors

4. Select your audience- What is the type of audience you are looking for? Who can buy what you are selling? Which category of professionals/people should refer to your post?

5. Perceive your audience- Respond to people’s opinions and questions with your content

6. See past yourself and connect with your audience- Connect with your audience for inspiration for new blog topics. People ask questions if they have listened. Get them to listen to you with engaging content that’s responding with answers to their questions, a content that’s also creating more discussions

7. Get your audience to inspire and feel something- Dare your reader into thinking about something he never did. Drive your reader to take an action!

HAVING A WRITER’S BLOCK?

A writer’s block is a creative shutdown, where you are unable to think of something to proceed. As I said earlier, we all face this sometime or the other. Here’s a way out of it:

8. Create a rough outline- Research on what you are going to write about and create your personal outline on it. The next step is to add more substance and grow your rough outline to a big piece of content.

9. Strike a conversation with your reader- Speak to your reader as if he was your long time companion. Write as if you are talking, exaggerate if you wish!

10. Avoid perfection- Aren’t you a human being? As you try being perfect, you are stuck at some point and you revert. Be yourself and write what think- even if it’s rubbish. After you are done, turn on the editor inside you and improvise, rearrange and rescript what you’ve written.

11. Find your comfortable time- I can write content when I am at a quiet place. I write best during the day. Find your best time to be creative and bring out the best in you at your own comfort. Of course, stay away from all distractions when you are writing your piece of content.

HAVING TROUBLE WEAVING CONVERSATION INTO CONTENT MARKETING?

12. Develop an effective story in your content- Make your content powerful with story- something that everyone can relate to. Stories help to create strong brands and a long lasting impression on people.

13. Show out the numbers- Try using statistics and percentages that support the facts in your content.

14. Share an influencer’s thought- Give examples of what a leader in your niche is speaking to your target audience.

15. Visualize the message– Inspire your audience with an image or infographic that portrays the whole message that’s in your content.

HAVING DOUBTS ABOUT REPURPOSING YOUR PUBLISHED CONTENT?

Repurposing your content means recycling your existing content in the form of videos, podcasts and webinars. It helps to engage a new set of audience as well as make you get the most out of your endeavors.

16. Break your content into different parts and then customize- Separate your existing content and repurpose it into the way people prefer- YouTube, Slideshare, podcasts or Webinars

17. Create a list of all the new topics you are going to convey- Collect distinct resources and rank them as per the needs of the target audience going to look at it.

18. Select the way you will be presenting your repurposed content- Choose the medium you want your content to be on. Maybe it can be an infographic, a presentation or a webinar.

19. Incorporate influencers’ thoughts and quotes- Find live or recorded clips of famous influencers’ quotes or tips that are relevant to your niche and incorporate the same in the content you’ve created.

Hope this checklist has been of great use when intending to make an outstanding content marketing strategy for your brand! What’s your gimmick that’s helped you in content marketing?