I’ve often been told that I could make a nice career for myself just by advising companies how to start and maintain a blog and social media channels. I sometimes do such consulting, but not that often. One of the reasons why is because too many companies are focused on learning the social media tools […]
Selling Your Passion vs Selling Your Product
The vast majority of companies I work with are using social and digital media to build awareness for their brands. Typically, they contact me because their efforts aren’t getting the results they need. One of the first mistakes I often find is that these companies are selling before the buyer is ready to make a […]
What’s Next For Blogging? Delivering Personalized Content Based on Visitor Intent
Recently I’ve been discussing how blogging will have a bit of a Renaissance soon as users move away from a centralized experience (social media sites like Twitter and Facebook) and back to a decentralized experience (like blogging). I believe blogging will become popular again as we look for ways to better gain control of the […]
Social Media is Destroying Our Ability to Create Impactful Content and Meaningful Connections
Go scan your timeline on Twitter or your news feed on Facebook. Look at the articles being shared, and more importantly, look at the headlines. After a while, you’ll begin to notice something. The headlines are written in a way to attract people that are already on Twitter and Facebook. This is important, because the […]
Marketing Shouldn’t be a Nuisance, it Should Be Sexy
Writing about marketing can be challenging. If it’s treated as merely a business function, writing on marketing can get very boring, very quickly. Not just for the reader, for the writer as well. But marketing can often be so much more than it is. The best marketing is never noticed, and you could argue that […]
How I Increased One Post’s Traffic by 255% in One Year
As content creators, there’s always a push on to create more content. Bloggers know that on average, the more often they create content, the quicker their traffic and readership grows. But one of the best ways to grow your traffic is to actually improve your existing content. For the past year, I’ve been ‘remastering’ my […]
Your Content Not Converting Has Nothing to Do With Your Content and Everything to Do With Your Customer
If you want to improve the ability of your blog to grow your business, you need to focus on creating content that converts. In simplest terms, a conversion is an action that the customer takes as a result of interacting with your content. There are many actions the reader can take when interacting with your […]
How to Republish Your Old Posts Like a Rock Star
Republishing old blog posts has become increasingly popular among bloggers over the last few years. I’ve been doing this for about a year now, and I’ve seen spectacular results. I use a specific system for republishing my old blog posts, and I wanted to share that system with you. I’ve often talked about how you […]
It’s Time For Your Company to Move on From Facebook and Twitter
This has been a frustratingly difficult post for me to write on multiple levels. For years, I have advised my clients to ‘plant in the gardens that they own’ when it comes to social media. Focus on your blog and newsletter, or the delivery channels that you control versus putting all your eggs in a […]
The Two Keys to Creating Amazing Content: Empathy and Relevance
I’ll Fly Away is believed to be the most recorded gospel song ever. It’s been covered by everyone from The Kossoy Sisters to Andy Griffith to Johnny Cash to Kanye West. This is one of my favorite versions, by Alan Jackson: The song’s enduring popularity is thought to be rooted in how it takes the […]