Content Marketing Arrives on Main Street in a Stretch Limo |  |
- Content Marketing Arrives on Main Street in a Stretch Limo
- The Hidden Value of Long Tail Keywords for SEO
- Heatmaps to Help Your Google+ Profile Image Appear in Search Results
- Groupon Acquires Glassmap to Better Target Deals to Consumers
- 5 Types of Conference Speaking Opportunities and the Value of Each
- How The Multitasking Myth Is Hurting You
- Blackberry 10 to Debut January 30 at Under $199
| Content Marketing Arrives on Main Street in a Stretch Limo Posted: 22 Jan 2013 03:00 PM PST
Econsultancy, in partnership with Adobe, reports the top key digital trend for 2013 will be: “. . .the year of creating, optimizing and marketing great content, spread through social channels and consumed everywhere.” But, what exactly are we talking about here? Content is simply valuable, relevant and helpful information that we share. It is not a new idea. Remember when traditional media content transformed our world with television, cable, radio, newspapers and magazines? We still have that, plus we are now authors and publishers – publishing information on websites, blogs, videos, podcasts, emarketing, ebooks, books and social media. Effective marketing is impossible without solid, strong content today. Great content allows us to stand out, get noticed and defines our expertise and professionalism, no matter what that is. The content marketing Institute defines content marketing as the marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Content marketing is actually not salesy up front. It is designed to get people to take notice and take action, to click, forward, share, link, include, reference, comment, email, pick up a phone, go meet in person, discuss. The salesy part comes, but later. Roper Public Affairs reports 80% of business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement and 70% say content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company. These statistics and findings confirm just how much content marketing is influencing people. Traditional media content is still very much in play. In fact, according to Brian Solis, T.V. is a major factor and catalyst for search. People are accessing and, as he puts it, are multi-screening information while they are watching T.V. The top B2C content marketing tactics we are using, according to the 2013 Content Marketing Research Report, are:
This is what people are doing and what they are using to find, engage and build community. This is where people are congregating, socializing and making contact, becoming known for what they do, how they can solve problems and yes – sell. Content marketing is our best strategy to help solve problems, pain and to offer our solutions. Content marketing helps us help others. Getting serious about having a dedicated, thoughtful content marketing plan and strategy can and will accelerate your success and advancement. Here are some keys to creating your content marketing plan and strategy:
How exciting are these times, where we have so many ways to articulate and communicate our personalities, intelligence and spirit to serve and help others, which it turns out – helps us even more? There’s no magic wand, fairy dust or cliff notes to successful content marketing. It’s a commitment we make each day to do it. By having the right plan, mix and strategy that fits us and organically grows our reach and reputation, we can see our content marketing impact grow with each article, podcast, video or Facebook post we create and publish. Limo Photo via Shutterstock The post Content Marketing Arrives on Main Street in a Stretch Limo appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| The Hidden Value of Long Tail Keywords for SEO Posted: 22 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST Long tail SEO (a.k.a long tail keywords) is a white hat SEO process that involves targeting less competitive, highly specific search terms. Seeing that over 70% of all search queries are for these long tail key phrases, there can be incredible value in having great visibility for the phrases that are relevant to your business model. Targeting long tail keyword phrases in your SEO strategy can be an incredibly powerful technique for building up ones organic search engine traffic. Research suggests that long tail keywords are easier to rank for, bring in more combined traffic, and convert more visitors to customers than the more popular “generic” keywords. Learn more about the power of long tail keywords SEO strategies in the infographic below created by the folks at HitTail.
[Click here for full size version] The post The Hidden Value of Long Tail Keywords for SEO appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Heatmaps to Help Your Google+ Profile Image Appear in Search Results Posted: 22 Jan 2013 11:00 AM PST
The content should be claimed by the author in order for this to work. The photo is being grabbed from the author’s Google Plus profile, which brings us to a good question: How huge is an impact that your photo makes when the user is browsing Google search results and chooses which result to click? They say, the impact is huge. In this case study, Cyrus was able to achieve a 30% higher click-through and he didn’t even try that much. There are plenty of variables (the main one being the topic) but it doesn’t mean we can’t invent interesting theories. My own theory is based on heatmap case studies. A heatmap is an aggregate graphic showing overall eye activity on an image (red-orange areas indicate the most eye activity). 1. “You Look Where They Look”There’s an absolutely hilarious article by James Breeze on how the direction of people’s eyes in the photo influences where we look. We all know that photos of babies make us stop and look. But did you know that if a baby looks at text (instead of straight in the camera), the photo will also make us “read.” Here's a combined heat map of 106 people looking at two pages: One with the baby looking into the camera and one with the baby looking at the heading of the page. Notice how much more exposure the heading and text gets when a baby is looking at it:
The important thing to remember here is that faces in the photos work great to “cuing” us to look at the key components of the page. More evidence:
Google Plus avatar implementation: Based on the study above, it may be a smart idea to slightly turn your head to the left in your photo – to the search results. This way, searchers will not only stare back at you, but will actually notice your article (instead of being distracted, they will be directed) and might feel more willing to click your search result.
2. Closeups Are BetterThe bigger the face, the better. Poynter often stresses high visibility of faces, but the following two screenshots caught my attention. People lose attention if the face is not easy to see. Look at these screenshots containing photographs of people (both photos have headline type placed on top of them). However, in the first screenshot, people would not even look at the headline, while in the second one, the headline gets much more attention and the less clear photo is mostly ignored:
Google Plus avatar implementation: Make sure your avatar is a big, clear headshot of you. It’s better if it’s just a face, which is easy to “scan.” This way, it has a good chance to be the first to draw an eye – and thus your search listing will better stand out. Mind that in-search pictures are tiny. It’s not easy to make a clear close-up, but it’s worth the effort:
3. A Smile Draws Closer AttentionThe heatmap below clearly suggests that a smiling person is more thoroughly examined. That may mean you will be better remembered from social media networks to search results.
Google Plus avatar implementation: Don’t underestimate the power of “being remembered.” Most search results are personalized nowadays, which means people that have you in their Google+ circles will most likely recognize your search result because they already know you. (Here’s a case study featuring me). A smile plays a big role in that because it helps your headshot to be remembered. Of course, no need to overdo: You don’t want to distract attention. Instead you want to draw and direct it. Thus a subtle, natural smile is best.
Get Creative!Yes, we can read studies and draw necessary conclusions but it doesn’t mean we can’t get creative. Per my experience, a photo inside search results takes as little as one day to update (after you update your Google+ profile picture). So you have huge room for testing. Just keep experimenting:
Are there any other Google+ profile picture tricks you are aware of? The post Heatmaps to Help Your Google+ Profile Image Appear in Search Results appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Groupon Acquires Glassmap to Better Target Deals to Consumers Posted: 22 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST Groupon has just acquired location-based social app Glassmap, allowing the daily deals service to potentially gather more relevant data about its users and thus better target deals from businesses to them. Glassmap first launched early in 2012. The app includes a real-time map that shows what friends are doing and where, with activity processed from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The app analyzes data from its users' other social platforms and updates them on what is happening around them. The photo below shows a map that includes user locations and activities. The posts on the map can also include photos and other media.
In addition, Glassmap offers a business solutions service where it designs, builds, and maintains custom apps for businesses, keeping customers updated on deals and company news while also learning valuable insights about customers and their habits. As far as Groupon is concerned, this acquisition seems like a move to help revitalize the service in a time when daily deals sites are losing some of their relevance and users. By gaining more information about users and their everyday activities, along with their friends and their everyday activities, Groupon could hope to better target users with relevant deals and potentially even work on new mobile or social technology to improve the relevance of the service itself. For example, if a Glassmap user mainly checks in at concerts and quick service restaurants, a service like Groupon could take that information and present them with deals that fit into those categories, rather than constantly sending them deals for upscale dining or fitness classes. It could also take the information and use it to better target offers by neighborhood or specific locations where they normally spend time, rather than just using a general metropolitan area. The Glassmap team stated in a blog post announcing the acquisition:
So for small businesses thinking of hopping off the daily deals bandwagon, this news could mean that new options are in the works by Groupon to provide better access to deals for consumers, and that could mean that deals reach more relevant consumers who are more likely to become loyal and returning customers. The Glassmap team will be joining Groupon, and the Glassmap app will close on February 15. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed. The post Groupon Acquires Glassmap to Better Target Deals to Consumers appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 5 Types of Conference Speaking Opportunities and the Value of Each Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST
Having just returned from Affiliate Summit, the conference at which, over the years, I have been able to try myself in each of the below-described capacities, I have decided to look back and analyze the lessons I’ve learned from being placed into each of these different roles: 1. Solo PresenterThis is, by far, the most challenging of all speaking opportunities. Do not overestimate yourself here. Prepare your presentation well in advance – to allow yourself plenty of time to practice. Some of the best solo presentations out of the ones I have delivered were practiced for twenty of more times prior to coming up on that stage. To prepare a quality solo presentation you must mobilize all of your research skills, imagination, discipline, and fearlessness. If you’re lacking any one of these, start by participating on panels or co-presenting instead. If you’re lacking any two of these, cultivate them in yourself prior to proposing to speak in any capacity. 2. Co-PresenterWhen a conference has more than one worthy expert apply to speak on the same topic, in reply to your speaking proposal, you may be asked to co-present with somebody. Over the past six years, I have done this once, and really enjoyed it. You get to plan together (who covers what), yet remain very flexible in how you deliver your content. Also, co-presenting always comes with a covert but important "who will shine brighter" challenge. Turn it into an opportunity. 3. PanelistThe best panels that I have listened to (and/or participated in) gave every panelist a chance to make their points, and only after that – went into the Q&A time. And it is the collaborative effort (on putting the content together, and making the final product coherent and digestible) that I find most useful in participating on panels. It teaches you such important skills as listening, thinking, flexibility, and team-working. 4. Panel ModeratorI have seen moderators that introduce the panelists, and then almost immediately remove themselves from it, jumping in (with questions) only when the audience does not participate (i.e. no questions are being asked), and the panel is at risk of failing. As anything passive, I believe this approach to be detrimental to the actual quality of the final product. As a moderator, you want to contribute both your leadership skills, and your expertise in the field. Give your panelists sufficient room to participate (ensuring that no one participant takes over), but make sure you participate as well. 5. Expert/Roundtable Discussion LeaderThis type of breakout sessions can be tremendously effective, but requires significantly more patience than any one of the above-mentioned speaker roles. Ask-the-expert types of discussions are, generally, much livelier than stage presentations or panels. As a speaker, you want to combine the above-mentioned panel moderator skills with active listening, and keeping your audience engaged at all times. Don’t just come to the these without any questions, examples or case studies of your own. Lead the discussion in a way that is beneficial to all listeners/participants. In conclusion, regardless of the capacity in which you will present at a conference, the benefits are always tremendous. Whether you have an hour all for yourself, or have to share the time and stage with other co-speakers, it is always worth participating. Keep in mind, too, that this comes from a speaker who strongly prefers delivering solo presentations. Woman Speaker Photo via Shutterstock The post 5 Types of Conference Speaking Opportunities and the Value of Each appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| How The Multitasking Myth Is Hurting You Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:00 AM PST
So it gives one pause that Standford University, that great think tank of innovation and launchpad of so many successful startups says that not only is multitasking not good for you, you’re not even good at it. The study entitled Cognitive control in media multitaskers, authored by Eyal Ophir, M.S., Clifford Nass, Ph.D., and Anthony D. Wagner, Ph.D. says our intuition (not to mention our pride) has got it all very, very wrong. Mythical Abilities of the MultitaskerThe study focuses on three key abilities:
It turns out that while many people have problems with one or more of these abilities, chronic multitaskers are bad at all three and they are worse at each of them than the average person. One would assume a habitual multitasker must be excellent at filtering out noise from their multiple streams of input and at focusing on relevant information. Not so. It turns out that high multitaskers are suckers for “red and shiny”. If it is distracting, they run to it. If it is irrelevant, they jump on it. In fact, the more irrelevant information they see, the more they’re attracted to it. They are moths to the flame. Surely then the high multitasker must be methodical and organized about memory so that they can store and retrieve information from this flood of data that they continually draw. Alas, that is also not so. It appears that they are much worse at compartmentalizing information. Additionally, they are slower to recall information. Once again, the non-multitasker has them beat. Finally, the committed multitasker is slower at switching from one task to another and has a harder time making the transition. This may be completely counterintuitive but, well, science. Do We At Least Have Our Priorities Straight?Another observation the study made was that the multitasker may not realize the priorities they are applying to their multiple tasks. For instance, a favorite multitasking scenario is talking on the cell phone while driving. You would think that driving would be the primary task while the phone call would be the distraction. But, in fact, the phone call becomes primary with the driving as the distraction. This gives you a hint why multitasking causes problems. Startup Objectives Vs. Multitasking ObjectivesHow can this be? It seems to fly in the face of what we would like to believe. One key may be in the objectives of our intrepid multitasker. If you want to explore rather than exploit, multitasking, even poorly, will feel more satisfying. Exploration, after all, is just about gathering lots of information. Exploitation, however, is about concentrating information to put it to some practical use. In the startup realm, exploitation is far more important on a day by day basis. But I’m Special (So Very, Very Special)If you are thinking that maybe you belong to a special group to which these results don’t apply, think again. The study found no significant deviation in results based on agreeableness, conscientiousness, creativity, extraversion, intelligence, neuroticism, openness, nor the big one, gender. That’s right, men and women are equally bad at multitasking. Furthermore, being smart doesn’t help and neither does being well adjusted. We are running out of excuses. But maybe it’s a generational thing, you hypothesize? Nope. While there is an enormous desire among Gen Yers, teenagers and 20-somethings to attempt to multitask, they do no better than the more resistant baby boomers. Motivation does not improve results, nor does peer pressure. Yes, the younger crowd may work their smartphone better. But when it comes to actual results, technological superiority doesn’t make up for the fact that our brains operate basically the same whether we are 25 or 55. Join Multitaskers AnonymousSo what is a recovering multitasker to do? Plan for monotasking. Reward yourself for completion of tasks rather than counting how many plates you have spinning. Close down the input sources: don’t have Facebook AND Twitter AND LinkedIn AND twelve Web pages open at once. Don’t surf the Web and watch television and listen to the radio at the same time. Give tasks your full attention in short but concentrated bursts. The less you multitask, the more you will accomplish. And accomplishment can become habit forming. Have you figured out how to kick the multitasking habit? Multitasking Photo via Shutterstock The post How The Multitasking Myth Is Hurting You appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Blackberry 10 to Debut January 30 at Under $199 Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:30 AM PST The business tech horizon is morphing again, and as tools and services continue to evolve, so will the possibilities they offer entrepreneurs. What small businesses make of these new tech tools and services depends upon the kinds of products they offer and the customers they are trying to reach. But no matter what markets they serve, businesses will be able to take advantage of these evolving tools to improve efficiency and increase their capabilities. Mobile MigrationA close call. Research In Motion, a pioneer in the mobile communications market, is soon introducing a new operating system, Blackberry 10, and two smartphones, the Z10 and X10, packed with features that should give both longtime Blackberry fans and potential new business users pause. All of this is expected to be offered at a price below $199 (perhaps around $149), guaranteed to be competitive with other mobile communications options, giving your company more choices than ever. BGR Getting friendly. It should go without saying that just as your business has more mobile options, so do your customers. Your Web presence, in particular, must be more mobile-friendly to accommodate your audience, and focusing on this should be a top priority. Rieva Lesonsky has some simple solutions that should definitely be on your list of things to consider when preparing your Web presence for a mobile customer base. Don’t lose sales because your Website fails to measure up. Grow Smart Biz Online DesignArmed to the teeth. Creating the right kind of Web presence requires an arsenal of creative tools, and for entrepreneurs and small business owners using WordPress, the tool box is, indeed, considerable. From familiar plugins to a few you may not have heard about, design and Internet marketing expert Dave Gray takes us on a tour of the 16 WordPress tools he uses most often for spectacular results. BrandAdvance A gracious host. The last thing you think of when establishing your new business Web presence should probably be the first. Web hosting is not simply about finding the provider with the best reputation or the cheapest price, opening an account, and uploading your site onto a server. We’ve all heard the horror stories about unexpected downtime and security issues that put you and your customers at risk. But there are also other things to consider before deciding which company is the right fit, says guest blogger Claire Broadley. The Frugal Entrepreneur Intelligent design. Likewise, when choosing a Web designer for your site there are many questions you should ask. Think about how carefully you vet your potential employees before making a final offer. A designer who will hold the fate of your company’s Web presence in his or her hands should be evaluated just as carefully. Here are some questions SEO expert Alex Gavril suggests you answer before letting a designer anywhere near your site. Durham Web Designer The Latest and GreatestThe paperless trail. Who needs paper? Well, most offices, actually. But as it turns out, most offices and most businesses would be a lot better off if paper was gone. Having less paper in your office “improves efficiency, reduces stress, saves money, and helps the environment” writes blogger Matthew Stibbe, and though going completely without it isn’t quite a reality yet, a number of tech tools from free solutions like Instapaper to paid services like Turbine can help. GetApp Learning Center Gizmos for geeks. There are plenty of other gizmos out there to improve your business capabilities and efficiency in ways that may be hard to imagine. And even if tools like these might once have been reserved for computer geeks alone, today any business owner can learn the basics. Here online marketing consultant Melissa Fach gives us a look at SnagIt, a tool that helps you screen capture just about anything and adds powerful cropping, drawing, and social sharing features to the mix, too. Small Business Trends The post Blackberry 10 to Debut January 30 at Under $199 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
Content and marketing are officially married and have arrived in a big stretch limo to “Main Street” to celebrate. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t hear about, talk about and discuss content marketing.
The year of 2012 saw a great move of Google: Giving more visibility to content authors by showing their photos in search results.
When applying to speak at a conference you always have options as far as the format in which your content will be delivered to the audience. The two most frequently used presentation formats that we witness at conferences today are:
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