Tag: Copyblogger

A 3-Step Process for Painless Keyword Research

Beth Hayden @ CopyBlogger has a great post I’d like to share with you…

Keyword research is one of the most important types of research you’ll do throughout your content marketing career. It’s also one of the most difficult.

In this series, we’ve already discussed the fact that research isn’t sexy, glamorous, or fun. We’ve also talked about how you need to do research consistently — just like you need to work out in a consistent manner in order to see the real physical fitness results you want.

But there’s something particularly arduous about conducting keyword research. Many of the tools available are confusing and counter-intuitive. We don’t know what we’re supposed to be looking for, and we often don’t have a system in place for how to do keyword research effectively.

But, in putting this series together, I took a very close look at the process of keyword research, and I realized that there’s a better way to find the keywords I needed for my work … without tears, gnashing of teeth, or the desire for hard alcohol.

I always seem to get lost in the data of keyword research. I feel like all of the information I find is incredibly important, and I can’t figure out what to focus on and what to ignore.

Sometimes I make a half-hearted effort to research the keywords I should use in my content, then get aggravated and toss my lists aside in favor of doing less frustrating work.

In the next two posts of this research series, I’m going to give you the solution to your keyword research woes. I’ll teach you …

  • How to stay focused when doing your research
  • How to avoid getting bogged down in the stuff that doesn’t matter
  • How to take a shortcut that will save you tons and time and energy

Let’s get started…

Get focused on your goal

Your goal when conducting keyword research is to identify the topics that matter most to your target audiences, and then discover the exact language they use when they search for information and discuss their questions on social networking sites.

To reach that goal, you need a simple, effective system for keyword research. Follow these three steps to clear up the fog of procrastination and confusion that surrounds the process of finding target keywords for your content.

Full story at: A 3-Step Process for Painless Keyword Research | Copyblogger

Discovering the exact language people are using is the key to aligning your writing with the value demands of your target audience. You may want to elevate your status by calling yourself a ‘purveyor of fine previously owned automobiles’ but the target audience is just looking for a good used car. If you don’t discover what people are looking for and bring your message into alignment, you’re whistling in the dark! Get a grip by following the link and reading the rest of Beth’s perspective. I’m always here to help, too! Comment below or connect with me so we can talk about how this applies to you and your situation…

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Most writing could be better.

Not just a little better — significantly better.

If you start out with a solid topic, a good knowledge of your audience, and a reasonable degree of writing ability, you’ll usually end up with a pretty good piece of writing.

But you don’t have to settle for “pretty good.” A little attention to the final details can kick “pretty good” to “magnificent.”

Whether you’re creating blog posts, special reports, sales letters, a video script, email autoresponders, or whatever else, you can take your writing up a level just by applying some simple principles:

via copyblogger.com

I love the first way; write drunk/edit sober. Follow the ‘via’ link to read all 5 ways…

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‘Thought leadership’ marketing takes time! Here’s one man’s perspective on taking that time to ‘make media’ as he says…

This is a chicken or the egg causality dilemma for me: as I create more media, my media consumption has changed or my media consumption has changed, hence I’m able to create more media. I really don’t know which came first but what I can tell you is that I definitely watch much less TV, read more than I ever have in my life, and listen to industry specific podcasts.I rarely watch TV anymore and when I do it is usually a sporting event, a movie, or Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. I just don’t find sitting mindlessly in front on the TV exciting anymore. Rather than watch TV, I take time with my family or read. Speaking of reading, I read all the time. Whether it’s a book, a blog, or the newspaper, not only do I find enjoyment in reading – I also find blog topics and ideas.

Finally, I have become a fan of podcasts. In my never ending quest to find time to exercise, which I still don’t do often enough anymore, I’ve started to walk and listen to podcasts at the same time. I feel like I’m killing two birds with one stone. There are many great podcasts out there but two I would recommend are John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing and Copyblogger’s Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio.

via schneiderb.com

Brendan Schneider has put together a thoughtful post on ‘making media’ [you can follow the ‘via’ link to read the whole post] in which he talks about ‘Getting Things Done’, staying away from the ‘idiot box’ [as my father was so fond of saying’], and creating a SMS — a social media system — for managing his social media outposts. I have a lot of similar needs and biases as Brendan and my social media system is called the ‘e1evation workflow‘ — kind of a ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ cycle for ‘thought leadership’ marketing [my way of saying ‘make media’]. Comment or ‘connect’ above so we can talk about a ‘practical, tactical’ approach to social media how this applies to you and your organization…

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Mr. Rogers on blogging

Are you a blogger?

“As bloggers, we put a lot of effort into telling our readers how to do things.

We believe that if we can just give them enough informative content that they’ll subscribe to our blog and never leave. We try to become the best teacher we possibly can, instilling wisdom down into short, usable posts that our readers can put into action right away.

But what if that’s not what they really want?

What if they don’t want a teacher to tell them what to do?” Source: The Mr. Rogers Guide to Blogging from the Heart | Copyblogger

Go to the source for the rest of the article…

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