Blog - Page 16 of 22 - Michael Dillon

January 29, 2017January 30, 2017

A System for Easily Publishing Consistently Great Content – A Pamela Wilson Series

This five-part series is a guest contribution from Pamela Wilson of Big Brand System . Content marketing works — you know that. It’s one big reason you read ProBlogger! You like the content here and you want to learn more about how to create it yourself. It’s all well and good to talk about how to write content effectively, of course. But at some point, you’ve got to actually do it. Regularly. Content marketing works best when it’s done consistently over time. One single piece of well-written content won’t turn your business around. It’s the act of creating and publishing useful content over time that creates business results. Prospects and customers begin to trust you when you show up and are helpful week after week. You become like a wise friend who’s always there to lend a hand. Which, of course, can seem like an incredibly daunting task and […]

How Virtual Reality Could Change Content Marketing

No longer the domains of ultra-early adopters and video gamers, virtual reality and augmented reality are poised to take off in the coming 24 months. “We see qualities in VR/AR technology that can take this from niche-use case to a device as ubiquitous as the smartphone,” Goldman Sachs Research wrote in its Virtual and Augmented Reality report. More consumers are expecting to see the power of virtual reality too. According to Greenlight Insights 62% of consumers say they would feel more engaged with a brand that sponsors a VR experience and 71% of consumers think a brand is forward-thinking if it uses virtual reality. Expert insight Sarah Hill is the CEO and chief storyteller for StoryUP, one of the early pioneers in virtual reality for brands. She explains why VR is finally gaining a foothold, and what marketers should understand before they dive in. CCO: Describe what virtual reality […]

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January 29, 2017January 30, 2017

The 7 Traits of Successful Content Marketers

One of the most influential authors of my personal and career journey is Napoleon Hill. Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich was first published in 1937. Now, in its 80th anniversary year, Mr. Hill’s lessons are still extremely relevant and valuable. I had the opportunity to dust off my copy of Think and Grow Rich (from 1960, with dog-eared and coffee-stained pages) a few weeks back during the holiday break. In its relation to content marketing, I noticed some clear takeaways that most corporate marketers simply do not embrace. In the book, 15 powerful chapters are helpful to all individuals, but seven chapters were spot-on relevant to content marketing . Here are quotes from the seven chapters with my notes for each one. Caution from Joe: The book is extremely chauvinistic. If you read it, just prepare yourself for that. 1. Desire “Whatever the mind can conceive and […]

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January 28, 2017January 28, 2017

We have now entered a phase where it is no longer sufficient to just provide content and products online

A few years later, the concept of Content Strategy helped shift editorial understanding of web content as more than just uploading a catalogue, to the art and craft of combining writing, linguistics, digital assets and technology in a hyperlinked medium. We have now entered a third phase where it is no longer sufficient to just provide content and products online, but to offer customers a full smorgasbord of consumables from products to rich media with social interaction that can keep them busy for hours. Businesses refer to this as maintaining their Feed.

A few years later, the concept of Content Strategy helped shift editorial understanding of web content as more than just uploading a catalogue, to the art and craft of combining writing, linguistics, digital assets and technology in a hyperlinked medium. We have now entered a third phase where it is no longer sufficient to just provide content and products online, but to offer customers a full smorgasbord of consumables from products to rich media with social interaction that can keep them busy for hours. Businesses refer to this as maintaining their Feed.

A few years later, the concept of Content Strategy helped shift editorial understanding of web content as more than just uploading a catalogue, to the art and craft of combining writing, linguistics, digital assets and technology in a hyperlinked medium. We have now entered a third phase where it is no longer sufficient to just provide content and products online, but to offer customers a full smorgasbord of consumables from products to rich media with social interaction that can keep them busy for hours. Businesses refer to this as maintaining their Feed.

In 1983, Thomas Wolf wrote an essay for Esquire about Intel Founder, Robert Noyce . Noyce grew up in midland Iowa on a family farm and he revolutionised office design by incorporating the egalitarian landscape of his childhood. Gone were the cubicles, offices, and hierarchy. Instead, he introduced the first “open plan” space where employees were perceived as equals and had free range of the farm, er, I mean firm. A few years later, the concept of Content Strategy helped shift editorial understanding of web content as more than just uploading a catalogue, to the art and craft of combining writing, linguistics, digital assets and technology in a hyperlinked medium. We have now entered a third phase where it is no longer sufficient to just provide content and products online, but to offer customers a full smorgasbord of consumables from products to rich media with social interaction that can […]

How to Diagnose Your Traffic Issues with These SEO Tools

Believe it or not, SEO is not a rocket science. In most cases, it comes down to the most obvious common sense things, like easy-to-understand website structure, well-written relevant copy, carefully picked descriptive page titles, etc. Some more complicated problems may occur (those that require professional help) from time to time, but in most cases, you can identify and fix things with tools. Here are 5 SEO issues preventing your site from getting more traffic and tools that can handle those: 1. Broken Links and Redirects It’s the most widespread problem, for both big and small websites. The Internet never stops growing: Many pages go down in redesigns, website moving or selling, outdated or sold-out product page, etc. There are plenty of reasons why a page may cease to exist. An estimated 37,000 websites are hacked every day which results in hundreds of thousands of non-existent pages and broken […]

Why aren’t we building a wall on the Canadian border?

Answer this question: Why aren’t we building a wall on the Canadian border? Don’t we want to secure our northern border as well? The common answer is simple: Canada is not a threat to us criminal or otherwise and Mexico is. BUT, within that answer lies the real issue: WHY is this true with Mexico?

If you go to your doctor, with say, a sore on your arm, their first reaction is not “OH GOD LET’S CUT OFF YOUR ARM” but rather, “What is causing this sore on your arm in the first place?” Medicine treats the source of the problem, not the symptom, so you won’t have any problems in the future.

The diseases on our southern border we need to treat are drug use in the United States & corruption and poverty in Mexico (and to a larger extent, Central and South America). Simply, the drugs and criminals and illegal aliens (and guns, going the other way) crossing our border unimpeded are the symptoms of a disease that cannot be cured with a giant wall.

Drugs: Face it, if there wasn’t a market for drugs in the U.S. we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Trump people: The Cartel Drug Lords are businessmen: they go where the market is. And it’s big money.

Illegal immigration: If life in Mexico did not seem so hopeless and infused with corruption to these people who risk death, incarceration and discrimination by crossing into the U.S., many more would stay in their own country: just like they do in Canada.

Forget the $20 Billion for the wall (that will never work & cannot logistically be completed in under 4 years) and re-invest in drug treatment and education. Instead of antagonizing the Mexican government, begin working with them to help settle their political corruption and poverty problems. Having a positive policy in our sphere of influence is better for the long-term interests of our country. Treating the disease, not the symptoms, is the better way to a longer-lasting cure on our southern border.

January 27, 2017January 28, 2017

8 Awesome Ways to Declutter Your Digital Marketing Life

Digital clutter is anything but Zen. It’s the problem every marketer has and nobody talks about. Easy to ignore, hard to see, but what is all the extra stuff and fluff really costing your digital marketing life in time, money, and resources? The number of messages, files, accounts, passwords, subscriptions, notifications, tools, and networks seem to be growing at supersonic speed. Yesterday’s bright and shiny must-haves are ready for the virtual museum of has-beens. There is no doubt: clutter in your digital space will have a negative impact on your mind, mood, and motion. Just take a look at these facts and read on: 80% of what we have, we will never use. The average professional spends six weeks a year looking for something we can’t find. We spend 30 hours a week checking email. People spend up to four hours a week preparing for meetings. The Zero Inbox […]

What Type of Content Marketing Gets the Most Social Shares?

With organic social content from brands reaching new lows in reach and effectiveness, content marketers must look elsewhere for mechanisms to drive views and downloads. Social sharing is key here, as recommendations from real people are more trustworthy than recommendations from brands , in most cases and circumstances. Thus, if a reader/viewer/listener likes the content enough to recommend it to their friends/followers in social media, the producer of that content has a heightened opportunity for exposure, often to a net-new audience. But what type of content is most likely to trigger that sharing behavior , and how does it vary by industry and social network? New content marketing research from ClearVoice answers those questions (and more). ClearVoice is software company with a nifty content marketing management platform and network of content creators. They are a Convince & Convert partner. What Type of Content Marketing Works Best? In their study, […]

3 Brands Driving Change With Social Video

Cause marketing can be a tough sell. You need to tell a story that compels the audience to take action, while resisting the pitfalls of coming across as desperate or preaching. The medium can make a big difference. Unlike static images or text, video gives cause marketers the sensory tools to tell the type of rich, moving story that delivers important information while conjuring necessary emotion. To be successful, cause-related content needs to be sufficiently informative so viewers understand the cause, as well as appropriately digestible so they find it easy and enjoyable to share with others. It also has to be timely so it can be part of a larger conversation happening around the cause. Like any video, it needs to grab the viewers’ attention in 3 to 10 seconds to stop them from scrolling past. And it needs to be relatable and relevant to your audience so […]

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January 25, 2017January 28, 2017

5 Reasons SEO Should Take a Back Seat With Website Content

It makes sense at times to produce content without worrying too much about the SEO aspects. (Please know it isn’t easy for me, an SEO professional, to write that.) Some SEO purists suggest that website content be optimized at all times. It’s inevitable that someone – or a team – will follow an internal process and think about the content with an everything-SEO mentality. But there are situations when you don’t need to sweat SEO – or can at least scale back the effort. Here are five occasions to consider. 1. You’re writing about a new trend B2B and B2C brands sometimes want to be out front with a new industry phrase – long before it’s widely used. The phrase may not even have any or much detectable search volume. Businesses should write about emerging trends to underscore their expertise and vision and SEO may not be top of […]

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