Enjoy your journey
August 20, 2014
It has been approximately nine years since Facebook consumed my life, and Iâm not afraid to admit it. When Facebook first started to catch on, I was a sophomore in high school, and being the rebel that I was, I refused to get one initially. Keep in mind I initially also refused to try Chipotle because I âdidnât like Mexican food,â (but really I was lying to myself, I was just trying to be defiant). Neither of those delusions lasted very long, and soon I was a Chipotle and Facebook addicted teenager; a textbook Millennial.
When Facebook introduced âPagesâ and made a push for them instead of user-created groups, it was a game changer. Gone were the days I spent mindlessly browsing for Facebook groups that I felt encompassed my interests and made my profile look cool. Now, connecting with people and companies was just a quick search and âLikeâ away! And, even better, you could easily see which of your friends shared your Likes as well. With stories from Pages now showing up on my newsfeed, I could easily see what was going on with all my interests, which made it infinitely easier for me to stay connected to things I cared about.
Why am I telling this story from my perspective? ۧÙŰčۧۚ ŰȘŰ±ŰšŰ ÙÙÙŰł ŰÙÙÙÙŰ© Because I am a consumer, and I now stay connected to all my favorite brands through Facebook. I even use Facebook to find coupons or learn about sales only valid for Facebook friends. To this day, I judge a brandâs legitimacy by its Facebook page. If you donât have an updated and flourishing Facebook page, I question your legitimacy. If you arenât keeping up with the Kardashians (sorry Jones family youâre out), you will surely be forgotten. Here are the top 6 reasons I believe everyone should have (at least) a Facebook Page for their business:
1). There are over a billion people on Facebook.
Each month 1.5 billion people use Facebook, trailed by Google+ at 359 million, then Twitter at 215 million, and then Instagram at 150 million. Pretty much this statement says that for a business, the world is your oyster via Facebook. Facebook allows you to connect with not millions but BILLIONS of customers around the world that you may never have otherwise reached with traditional marketing efforts.
2). 30 million businesses have Facebook pages.
But only 19 million have optimized for mobile (or are mobile friendly). If you have not optimized your page for Facebook mobile, then you are making your resources inaccessible to potential consumers who are on the go, have their cell phones glued to their hands, or are not confined to a desktop device, which nowadays seems like most people. If your business is brought up at a Starbucks between 2 Strawberries and Cream Frappuccinos and the two Millennials talking about your Facebook canât access it because it isnât mobile friendly, chances are they will have forgotten about you before even getting home; a missed business opportunity for you.
3). 25% of the Facebook-using population exclusively uses Facebook Mobile.
Following up to my previous point, 654 million people use Facebook on a mobile device daily, and 399 million users exclusively use Facebook mobile each month. Your Facebook page should be an extension of your resources, and not optimizing Facebook for mobile devices puts you at a great disadvantage by limiting your reach. Once again I reference the saying, âIf a tree falls in the forest and nobodyâs there to hear it, does it make a sound?â Similarly, if a consumer goes to your establishment but canât check in on Facebook mobile, were they ever there? Millennial logic says no: if we canât show off on a mobile Facebook check-in that weâve been to the coolest new club or restaurant in town, itâs like we were never even there, and you miss that exposure to that usersâ Facebook friends (which, by the way, was free).
4). 47% of Americans say that Facebook is their #1 influencer of purchases. ÙŰčۚ۩ ۧÙÙۧŰČÙÙÙ
Being able to interact with content, read customer feedback on pages and see the company remedy unsatisfied customers all attribute to a purchaserâs final decision. A few months ago, I purchased a dehydrated vegan soup (I was a huge fan of this brand until this incident), which, upon opening it, prompted live moths to fly out of the container. Furious, stunned, and extremely nauseated, I contacted the company via Facebook and complained about their disturbing lack of quality. Notice how my initial reaction was to head to their Facebook and not their company website. They are a small company, and it took them days to respond. In my post, I stated I did not want any replacements of their products; who would after that incident? What did they do, after taking days to respond? Offered me a replacement. Not only did they not listen to me, they did not remedy the situation, and that was present for their other 800+ fans on Facebook to see. Other people jumped in on the post, disappointed with the company. To this day, they have done nothing to remedy my situation, and I will never purchase their products again.
5). 42% of Marketers said that Facebook is critical to their business.
Although millions of businesses crowd Facebook with their pages, it is something no business can afford to sit out on. If you sit out joining Facebook like stubborn olâ me tried to refuse to like Chipotle, you are ultimately giving your competition the upper hand in reaching the same consumers that you so desperately want. Furthermore, chances are you are already operating in an oversaturated industry. Why do we need another brand of jeans? Or another pizza place? Or another dry cleaners? If you have something special to offer that sets you apart from the millions of other businesses in your industry, your Facebook page is a great place to show it.
6). Itâs a free tool for your marketing toolbox.
Yep, for the most part maintaining a Facebook Business Page, posting content, generating a following for your great content, interacting with new and potential customers, and posting about your products and services are all free. Facebook is an ideal platform to help you promote all the marketing material youâre creating and writing across social media platforms, in hopes that itâs intriguing enough for people to share it with their friends (all free exposure for you!) Paid advertising obviously costs money as does sponsor advertising, and paying for likes is something you should NEVER do. But that doesnât mean you canât be successful sticking to just the basics of Facebook for Business. If you have a great product to sell and have interesting content to share and a knack for interacting with even the toughest of consumers, thereâs little chance you wonât be successful.
Of course, while social media like Facebook offers a great platform to engage with your audience, having eye-catching visuals is just as important to capture their attention. This is where a strong graphic design agency comes in. If you really want to elevate your business marketing and make your brand stand out, professional design can make all the difference.
Whether it’s creating logos, infographics, or social media graphics, Graphically can help take your brand to the next level. A well-designed visual not only grabs attention but also communicates your brand’s message clearly and effectively, helping you stay ahead in todayâs competitive market. With the right blend of creativity and strategy, even the simplest content can become compelling enough for customers to engage and share, amplifying your reach without costing you a dime.
While I admit that Facebook has its flaws, having a Facebook presence is an undeniable marketing advantage for your business. Donât try and be that hipster business that is âtoo coolâ for Facebook, because you arenât. ŰšÙŰ§Ù ŰŹŰ§Ù Social media is there to connect you to your customers and open doors to new customers: use it to your advantage. Thereâs a whole world of untapped business opportunities out there, so go get âem Tiger. If you arenât sure where to begin with content, weâve got you covered.
Just like social media, a well-designed business card is a powerful tool that should not be underestimated. It’s often the first impression someone will have of your business, so why not make it count? A sleek, high-quality business card tells your potential clients that you’re serious about your brand and the services you offer. Think of it as a mini-billboard that fits right into someoneâs wallet.
And if you really want to stand out from the crowd, consider Metal Kards. These premium cards donât just sit in a pileâthey make an impact, giving your business that extra edge and professionalism that people remember. In todayâs competitive landscape, itâs all about making your brand memorable. Sure, digital marketing is great, but tangible items like business cards give people something to hold on to, something that lasts beyond the scroll.
Imagine handing out a metal business card at a networking event. The weight, the feelâitâs a conversation starter on its own. Itâs not just about giving your contact info, itâs about making a statement that says, âHey, Iâm here, Iâm serious, and I mean business.â So, whether youâre killing it on social media or making waves in face-to-face meetings, donât overlook the simple yet effective power of a killer business card.
August 20, 2014
Peak Seven is proud to announce that the Promenade at Coconut Creek has been awarded South Florida Parenting’s Kids Crown Award for Best Shopping Center in Broward” for 2013 and now 2014! ŰšÙÙŰŹÙ Ű§ÙÙ ÙۧÙÙ Local businesses and service providers awarded the Kids Crown Awards are considered to be the best-of-the-best in the tri-county South Florida area. Winners are chosen by local South Florida Parenting Magazine readers and confirmed by a panel of local readers and judges. Ù Ű§ÙÙÙۧŰȘ ۧÙÙÙ Ű§Ű±
Peak Seven has played an active role in facilitating and promoting all of the great family events held at the Promenade, including the South Florida Parenting Holiday Festival, Water Fun & Sun Event, Easter Egg-stravaganza, Halloween at the Promenade, Chanukah Menorah Lighting, Christmas Tree Lighting, and more! This year, Peak Seven introduced the Annual Fashion and Food Event at the Promenade, featuring food and wine samples from everyone’s favorite restaurants, as well as a fashion show featuring the Promenade’s most fashionable and trendy retailers!
To see all of the great upcoming family-friendly events at the Promenade at Coconut Creek, please visit www. ÙۧŰČÙÙÙ 888 ThePromenadeAtCoconutCreek.com/News or “Like” the Promenade at Coconut Creek on Facebook!
August 19, 2014
These past two months has been a great experience for me. As a native New Orleanian, coming to South Florida was a much anticipated change. Spring semester this past year I realized that I wanted to leave New Orleans for the summer for an internship elsewhere. My only criteria was that I wanted to go somewhere sunny with a beach. I eventually began searching for opportunities in Florida.
I found Peak Seven Advertising through a simple Google search and saw that they were a small boutique agency with some major clients. At first glance, I figured this agency may be a good fit so I emailed Kata Breman my resume and cover letter, and called many times (most likely more times than necessary) until I received a response.
Once I arrived to South Florida I knew it would be different for me. Though the weather was very similar to New Orleans: it was distinct simply because I was away from home. ÙŰčŰšÙ ŰšÙŰ§Ù ŰŹŰ§Ù My first day at the office, everyone made sure to make me feel welcomed as I became acquainted to the agency. I learned many hilarious things about this office on my first day which made me feel as if this could be a place I would come to enjoy and it did.
Here at Peak Seven I learned how daily agency life goes including how hectic it can be to how completely calm some days are. I was able to sit in various creative meetings and client meetings. I was able to witness how we the agency interacted with the client as well as client/agency frustrations all a part of daily agency work.
I unexpectedly learned the most about online marketing. ۧÙŰčۧۚ Ù Ű§ÙÙÙۧŰȘ ÙÙ Ű§Ű± At Loyola University of New Orleans I am studying mass communication with a focus in advertising, this sequence allows me to learn about the creative side of advertising, like how to develop a campaign and social media strategies. ŰŽŰ±Ű ÙŰčŰšÙ Ű§ÙŰšÙÙ۱ With my sequence I havenât learned as many online marketing techniques and practices. Though this year will be my senior year and I will most likely learn some about online marketing, it was great to be able to get a head start learning this useful information.
I was able to work with Google Adwords and create a few landing pages for some of our clients. In the process of working with both of those tools, I learned basics of how online marketing works and its purpose. I also became acquainted with moz blog, inbound.com, and kissmetrics blog. These blogs are all great online marketing tools that will be useful in whatever field I decide to go into. Iâve learned some about SEO and how valuable it is.
Overall, I have enjoyed my time in South Florida at Peak Seven Advertising. I will go on to use all of the tools and skills I have learned this upcoming year and in my career. This internship has been a valuable experience for me and am thankful for the opportunity.
August 11, 2014
Last week, I visited the topics of basic content strategy and blogging. If blogging is your tortilla, then content is the filling â nobody wants to read a blog (or eat a burrito) without some tasty content. As I previously touched on, blogging and content creation are much easier when you set a content schedule. When you plan ahead, you ensure not only that you stay on track, but also that you are never without ideas for content. The next step is creating the content that ranks highly with search engines, and thatâs where Iâm picking up this week. Thanks to our friends over at CopyBlogger, I bring you your fresh weekly burrito: content creation with a side of salsa and sass.
An Overview of Your SEO Burrito
You know the age-old saying, âIf a tree falls in the forest and no oneâs there to hear it, does it make a sound?â Similarly in blogging and content creation, if you blog and no one read your content, are you relevant? The answer is no, in case you were wondering. Thatâs part of the magic of Google and Search Engine Optimization (SEO): connecting billions of people to billions of sources of information by only typing in a few words into a search bar. SEO is a websiteâs contentâs relevance on search engine results. What determines contentâs relevance? The number of users finding the content âorganicallyâ or without a website using paid keyword search to appear at the top. âOrganicâ or ânaturalâ search results typically represent a website that offers both meaningful and useful content for the majority of users searching keywords that website mirrors.
To achieve optimal results, many businesses turn to premium choices from letsgetoptimized.com, which specializes in boosting a website’s visibility through effective SEO practices. With their expertise, your website can climb the search engine ranks, ensuring that your content reaches a broader and more relevant audience. By focusing on key elements like content quality, backlink strategy, and technical optimization, LetsGetOptimized helps businesses stand out in a competitive online landscape. Their personalized approach to SEO not only drives organic traffic but also helps businesses build a stronger online presence that sustains long-term growth.
SEO doesnât stop there: it is not limited to being found organically on Google, but also reflects social sharing, such as linking in blogs, tweeting, posting to Google+, sending to friends through Facebook chat, and the like. Because we are all emotional beings, we are compelled to share things that hit a chord, be it funny, sad, disturbing, or inspiring. The purpose of SEO is to help people find answers to the questions they type into search engines: the focus is on the value that certain websites or pages bring to consumers. While consumers must follow the yellow brick road of keywords to find their answers, there are many misconceptions about SEO, content creation, and keywords.
Content: The Protein
Compelling content is the meat (or beans if youâre vegetarian) of your burrito. You want your content to be useful for thousands of readers, not just you, and you want your readers to share your content with thousands of other readers. Though normally I donât like to share my food, a great SEO burrito is something I would want to share with the world. Furthermore, when curating your content, it is important to remember one thing: you are writing for people, not for search engines. A common misconception is that truly great SEO content is ugly and littered with keywords and other unreadable mumbo-jumbo to trick search engines into ranking them higher. The truth of the matter is the best content is content that people can benefit from and easily read. Remember: search engines are not the ones sharing your content; people are. Search engines only help lead people to your content. Though there are many technical aspects to blogging and content creation, emotion should never be forgotten.
Keywords: The Salsa
As previously stated in last weekâs blog, finding a niche for your content and blog is one of your first steps. Additionally, you must use the correct keywords and keyword phrases for your audience. Keywords are the salsas in your burrito, and you need to find the right spiciness that best suits your taste. You donât want salsa that is too bland or too spicy for your tastes because then you canât enjoy the burrito to its fullest extent. Similarly with keywords, if readers canât find you using their search terms, then you wonât be relevant. Ideally, you want to be as specific as possible in your use of keyword phrases â if youâre too general or vague, youâll be outranked by a high-traffic competitor. In other words, do your keyword research. It is smart to include variations of keyword phrases in the event a higher-traffic site on a particular phrase outranks you.
A common misconception about SEO is utilizing âkeyword stuffing,â or using a certain keyword as many times as humanly possible to have your page rank highly on search engines. We can relate this to saturating a burrito with salsa: when your burrito has too much of a good thing, it falls apart. Google has algorithms that sniff out people who overuse keywords on their websites, and punishes them by essentially removing their ranking. Why? Because mindlessly using a keyword is not going to help the consumer find their answer: think of it as search engine spam.
Titles and Headlines: The Cilantro Rice
Headlines are your one shot to communicate to the consumer that you have all the answers to their question they just searched. They are the cilantro rice in your burrito, and influence the initial bite into a burrito. Some people donât like cilantro (what freaks) and may decide they donât want to eat the burrito. Similarly, a person may not be grabbed by your headline and surpass your article. However, you donât want to overload your burrito with too much rice, just as you donât want a super long and heavy title for your content. Furthermore, it is ideal to work your keyword phrase into it while remaining compelling and while also promising to answer their question. If you write a great attention-grabbing headline peppered with relevant keywords or keyword phrases, people could link back to you using just your headline, also called âanchor text.â
Link Building and Linking Out: The Guacamole
Link Building
When youâre the new kid on the block, you need clout, and as a new website or blog, you can get that clout by having older, popular blogs and websites link anchor to your website. How do the cool kids notice you, you ask? You write better than them, you make them look twice at your blog and go, âWOW! That person can write well! I want to link them to my blog!â This strategy is âlink building,â and is obviously used to increase inbound traffic on the site or blog. Link building is the guacamole in your burrito, because who even wants a burrito without guacamole? Itâs essential and boosts the burritoâs overall taste. Similarly, when you develop your clout as a smaller, newer blog with the help from older, more popular blogs, your search engine results improve, and youâre on your way to a higher ranking (or better tasting burrito). You can also link build by guest blogging on a more popular blog. By choosing to contribute to an already established blog, you can attract attention to your writing and in turn, your blog.
Linking Out
Similar to link building, âlinking outâ is defined as engaging readers and bloggers on other websites with your content or other relevant content. There are multiple ways to link out, including through your blog posts and on social media. However, the key is how you share it. As previously touched upon in last weekâs blog, you want to engage social media influencers to read and share your content to build clout. Get the influencerâs attention and share your work, but donât go about it in a spamming or obnoxious way, as you may get the wrong kind of attention.
Social Interaction: The Jalapeno Peppers
Search engines like to provide users with the newest, most-updated links as these are seen to be the most relevant. Search engines also like to know that you interact with other websites and social platforms (clearly this whole thing is a popularity contest). When you update your blog or website frequently, you are opening the social forum to anyone who stumbles upon your content. Staying active and encouraging social interaction is equivalent to the jalapeno peppers in your burrito â they give the taste a little kick and oomph. By encouraging participation, you develop your general websiteâs authority and open the floor for discussion. Free discussion also allows for opportunities for you to plug your related content, also known as older, previously written blog posts. Getting readers to stay on your website through related content is better for your page, allowing you to lower the bounce rate and keep around potential customers longer. Furthermore, never assume your readers know what youâre talking about, because if theyâre just joining in for the first time, chances are they donât. Linking to previous posts in blogs can convert your new readers to repeat readers.
Conversions: The Grande Finale
While seeing spikes in traffic can be a great indicator that youâve created successful content (or a delicious SEO burrito), it should not be viewed alone as a measure of success. Chances are, youâre trying to sell something, which is why you created your content in the first place. Furthermore, a consumer likely landed on your page because they are looking to purchase what you are selling. Therefore, unless you see an increase in your sales conversions, then you cannot truly say your content is successful based on page views alone. Before you can even begin with your content campaign, it is crucial to know your base point in order to measure your successes.
How do you know when youâve made a truly delicious SEO burrito? When youâve combined the protein (compelling content), salsas (relative keywords and keyword phrases), cilantro rice (attention-grabbing headlines and titles), guacamole (link building and linking out), and peppers (social interaction). If you are selling more SEO burritos than you were a month ago thanks to some savvy new burrito content youâve created, then you indeed are successful. Keeping these things in mind, do you think youâre ready to create your own SEO burrito? Or do you want to make a quick trip to Chipotle first? Iâm kind of hungry!
August 5, 2014
One of the largest sources of online traffic for many brands comes from âDirectâ visits to your website. Direct traffic is one of the few metrics that gives you insight into how your branding is actually doing in terms of your marketing efforts. The problem that many people run into when they see drastic increases or decreases in Direct traffic is figuring out what happened and its cause. Here are some helpful tips on how to analyze the change in Direct Traffic.
Campaign Annotations
One of the most under-utilized features of Google Analytics is the annotation tool. If youâre launching any campaigns or ads, itâs crucial to make annotations to gauge their performance. Utilizing the annotation tool helps keep things organized and may answer any questions as to what caused the change in traffic. Itâs best practice to annotate when you run print, radio, or television ads due to outside forces influencing the amount of direct traffic to your website. Determining which external ad that canât be tracked with parameters usually makes for big changes in Direct traffic.
Landing Page Analysis
You should also be studying what landing pages people are arriving onto directly. Your homepage more than likely will be the highest visited page opposed to your internal pages. If there are any other URLs that are generating large amounts of traffic, youâll want to figure out what is causing traffic to be directed to that particular URL. Youâll want to compare different date ranges to see if the traffic fluctuation is being caused to these internal URLs instead of the homepage.
Traditional Advertising
External forms of traditional advertising play a major role in the fluctuation of visitors coming to your website directly. Be aware of the bumps in traffic that can result when using direct mailers, billboards, radio ads, newspaper ads, and the like. Also note how much of an increase the advertising created for organic and possibly even direct traffic. You will generally see a rise in both direct and organic traffic when running traditional advertising, but, forecasting how much of an increase the traditional advertising makes to Direct traffic helps demonstrate how a specific change in ads may have performed.
Location of Users
Getting information about fluctuations is difficult, but one of the best areas to look for answers is analyzing where the visits came from. You may be targeting a specific city heavily and wonder why direct traffic may have dropped after all the effort youâve put into that market. When looking at a breakdown of locations, direct traffic may have increased in visits in that targeted location. Â However, the overall drop of visits outside that target market accounts for the bigger drop in direct traffic.
Device Trends
The rise of mobile devices such as tablets and cell phones is occurring dramatically. One way to get more insight about your direct visitors is observing what type of device they are using when typing your website into a browser. If youâre running physical banners or billboards on the highway, for example, you could see a major increase in mobile visits for that particular month due to people driving in their car and using their phone (we don’t recommend). ÙŰčŰšÙ Ű§ÙÙÙ Ű§Ű± Another example commonly seen is when there are increases in brand mentions in an online article or announcements of partnerships but there are no links listed for your site. The lack of a link online is often the culprit of people directly typing in your brand name into their browser with  â.comâ at the end, causing the direct traffic to rise via desktop.
URL Parameters
We LOVE tagging our links with parameters and highly recommend using them, because it gives you insight about which campaigns drove the most traffic and conversions. Unfortunately, sometimes tools like Google Analytics are confused about what to do when a parameter is used in a URL. ێ۱ۧۥ ÙۧÙŰ”ÙŰš ۧÙÙ ÙۧÙÙ If Google Analytics doesnât know how to handle a specific parameter, youâll usually see it appear under âDirect traffic.â Itâs a great exercise to see if there are any odd URLs that contain parameters that fall into the Direct bucket. It is common to see a successful piece of content fall into Direct traffic due to sharing via social media. The reason is simple: we are social beings and we take links we find on social media platforms and share them directly with others via any chat program or e-mail. When the user visits the link we share, there could be a parameter in the URL. However, Google Analytics will designate that userâs visit as Direct instead of using the parameters defining its source or medium. ÙÙÙÙŰ© ۧÙÙŰčŰš ÙÙ bet365 It is also possible for certain tools and applications to cut off parameters at the end of the URL and record those visits as Direct.
Organic Traffic
Recently, Search Engine Land conducted a study to test how much of Direct traffic was actually being accounted for as Organic traffic. The study determined that as much as 60% of Direct traffic might actually be misrepresented as Organic traffic. We donât recommend you running this test, but itâs something that you should be aware of.
July 30, 2014
I have always been one to follow a schedule: get up, workout, eat, go to work, come home, eat some more, sleep, and repeat through Friday. When I fall off this schedule by either by skipping a workout or even a meal, I become stressed, which in turn affects my productivity and mood.
Blogging and content strategy go hand in hand, and require the author to follow a schedule and have a strategy. If you go in without a plan, you are setting yourself up to fail: you can easily make excuses and procrastinate until you no longer see the need to write that blog entry from over a week ago. To learn more about blogging, content strategy, and staying on track, we read Contently.comâs e-Book called âBlogging and Content Strategy.â
Why People & Companies Fail at Blogging
According to Contently.com, there are three main reasons why companies fail at blogging and content marketing:
1.   They don’t invest in quality content.
2.   They don’t execute consistently. Ù ÙÙŰč ۧÙÙ Ű±Ű§ÙÙۧŰȘ ۧÙŰčۧÙÙ Ù
3.   They don’t promote or optimize their content.
More so than time and research, blogging is about knowing your content, knowing your audience, and having a desire to grow and share that content with the world. If you are a fashion blog whose target audience are Millennials, and you blog about mom jeans and Crocs being trendy, you not only do not know your audience, but probably donât have much of one either. Furthermore, many fashion blogs die out because their writers fail to post consistently. Ù ÙÙŰč 1xbet How is your reader supposed to know when to check back for new updates? And even more importantly, if you donât promote yourself and try to get your name out there, you can never grow or go beyond your current reach. Now is the perfect opportunity to look into creating a game plan and strategy to ensure youâre on the path to success.
Starting On Success: Goals
Before writing your first post, you should define goals for your blog. Ask yourself questions such as how many subscribers do I want to obtain ultimately? Who do I want to share my content and to represent me in the niche I blog for? What do I consider success, conversions or ROI? Having solid goals before even starting will help you begin your path to success.
Strategizing Your Goals
Having a strategy is crucial to your blog’s success: if you have a plan to follow, you cannot make excuses for getting lost on your way. For example, many people who swear by eating clean follow a routine called âmeal prepâ where they prepare all of their take-to-work-lunches on Sunday night. Having a pre-made lunch for every day of the week ensures they will stay on their diet because excuses for not having time to make lunch during the week will be obsolete. Here is where content calendars come into play: make a content calendar so you never have writer’s block and subsequently can’t make excuses for never feeling inspired. Many blogs use Monday as âMotivational Mondayâ and Friday as a day to post lighter more fun content.
Making Great Content Your Reality
Content is the main ingredient in your cookbook to success. After all, why else are people looking at your blog in the first place? They have a hunger to learn, and you are a chef that will teach them the recipe.
You can find inspiration almost anywhere. You can grab content from looking at news articles online, be it Google Alerts, Twitter, or even just CNN.com. You can offer your critique on current events, celebrity gossip, or try and decode a celebrityâs cryptic tweets and Instagram posts. Piggybacking off of hot topics ups your chances of your content being read.
Selecting a Headline
Never underestimate the power of a good headline. Headlines are the first item a reader sees ultimately what triggers their interest to read the article. Your headline should reflect the content in your blog post, but should also be attention-grabbing. Your sub-header should contain more information on your main points, but still maintains your readerâs interest in clicking on your post.
Luring Your Audience In
Another strategy to engage your readers is linking to related posts. If you put links to related posts on your blog at the bottom of your post, you can see an increased engagement among your readers, as they will stick around longer to check out your content. Contently.com also recommends utilizing the âWikipedia Link Luring Wormholeâ strategy, which involves putting links to previous related posts in each paragraph, engaging your reader to spend more time checking out your posts.
Influencing Your Audience
If you are a chef and your audience is your guests, you want them to leave feeling satisfied and happy. If your guests were all vegetarians, for example, you would not want to serve them any meat. Similarly in blogging, you do not want to provide your audience with content that is not relevant to them, as surely they will quit reading your blog.
Before you even begin writing, you should define your audience. Are you trying to reach the 20-somethings who love to club-hop on the weekends and frequent Chipotle? Or are you trying to reach the 30-40-year-old stay-at-home moms who are only interested in healthy, low-carb recipes? Knowing the profile and preferences of the audience you are trying to reach will help you determine your content and when to post your content. Per Contently.com, you want to be relevant to your readersâ daily lives and become part of THEIR routine.
Delivering Your Message
The tone in which you set for your blog is part of your identity and one of the reasons your readers continue to turn to you for information. When defining your tone, be distinct and stick to it. If you are that same fashion blog catering to Millenials, you donât want to sound uptight and too formal. Instead, you would want to sound more casual, maybe pepper your writing with a little sarcasm and some abbrevâs (abbreviations, for all you non-Millennials). If you are selling a product or service, it is imperative to not sound like a sales pitch. Instead, use customersâ success stories as content strategy. Write a quick story focusing on the person, how the product or service helped them, and explain how their life improved: your product should not be the focus.
Getting Your Name Out
Sharing is caring, and that same phrase applies to blogs and content. Sharing your content across multiple social media platforms increases your search engine rank, which means people will see your content sooner when they use Google or Bing. However, different social media platforms should communicate your post in different ways as each platform reaches a different audience. On Twitter, for example, you have a very brief amount of time to grab the userâs attention, and here is where having a strong headline comes in. Tweet the article title as well as a link; without a provoking headline or an interesting image to go with it, you could easily be overlooked. However, on LinkedIn, however, you have slightly more time to make an impression on your readers, so you could include an interesting quote plus a link to the blog.
Another way to spread your content is by reaching out to an “Influencer.” An influencer is somebody who can influence the actions or thoughts of others; be it a popular blogger, a site like Mashable, or a popular Twitter account. While you are ultimately writing for an audience, you want the big influencers to be part of that audience as well. Having an influencer share your content can mean increased traffic and subscribers to your blog. Beyond just increased subscribers and traffic, reaching a larger audience can mean more sharing across social media platforms, exposing even more readers to your content that you would never have otherwise reached.
How do you know where your readers are being directed from to your blog? This brings me to my next point of tracking.
Tracking & Beyond
How you view your blogâs success is ultimately up to you, but before you even write your first post, it is imperative that you establish tracking for your blog. Tracking allows you to see how many readers are looking at or signing up for your content, where they came from, and how long they stayed there. Knowing what types of content clicks with your readers as well as doesnât will make content generation much easier. Many bloggers use Google Analytics to get key insights their blogs, such as how many visitors, percentage of bounced visitors, and time spent on the blog entry. So whether you measure your success in the number of blog visitors, ROI in the form of opt-ins to newsletters or conversion of leads to the completion of sales, tracking will help you see your milestones and set goals.
Each instruction of this brief guide is imperative to your blogâs success. Again, I visit the idea of a cookbook: if you follow all of the instructions and ingredients for your red velvet cupcakes, you will have red velvet cupcakes. If you skip an ingredient or undercook your cupcakes, you probably wonât be very happy with your product. Ű±ŰšŰ ÙÙÙŰł First, define your goals and create a strategy that you will follow. This strategy should include a pre-determined content calendar, as well as frequently checking top headlines. Next, decide on your tone and stick with it â it is how your readers with identify you and identify with you. Create your content, create strong headlines, share your content, and be sure to utilize as many social media platforms as possible. Put links to previous posts on your page as well as in each blogâs paragraph to up your search engine rank. Reach out to the influencers to expand your contentâs reach to readers beyond your scope, and donât forget to track all of your results! Practice makes perfect, and your blogâs success may not be immediate, but with trial and error as well as dedication and passion, you will eventually get there. Now, where are those red velvet cupcakes you were baking?
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Privacy Policy: By filling out and submitting this form, you are giving consent to receive communication from Peak Seven in the form of email, text, phone, and mail. Your data will only be used by Peak Seven. We will take all the steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and that no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization outside of Peak Seven's companies. We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and we hold certain information. No method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is one hundred percent secure. We strive to use all commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data. You may unsubscribe at any time.