Tag: Target audience

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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Heidi Cohen writes:

“Social media isn’t the holy grail,” according to Social Media Examiner’s Mike Stelzner, author of Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition, speaking at Content Marketing World 2012. At first blush this may sound ludicrous coming from the founder of one of the largest social media blogs but the reality is that social media isn’t a business goal!

Rather, social media is a conduit for delivering content to and engaging with your prospects, customers, fans and the public, and to answer their questions. To this end, Mike Stelzner recommended becoming a publisher in order to build your own audience cost effectively by creating valuable content for your target audience. This requires knowing who you want to reach and asking them what they want to know. Once you have answers to these two questions, it’s a matter of giving your audience relevant content that’s educational and easy-to-digest.

Otherwise, “social media is just talk without listening” in the words of Content Rules  co-author, C.C. Chapman. Without taking the time to hear what your prospects and customers want to know, you’ll never create what Social Media Explorer’s Jason Falls, co-author of No Bullshit Social Media, refers to as “holy smokes content.” This information drives social media because it gets you in front of your prospects and customers by providing solutions to their problems. Therefore, optimize your content for people by using the words your audience uses to get found because your ultimate goal is to sell your prospects and customers your products and services, not just build a social media following as an end in itself.” Get the rest here: Why Social Media Isn’t The Holy Grail (& Neither is Content Marketing) | Heidi Cohen.

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English: Facebook icon Español: Ícono de Facebook

Not all social networks are created equal. Knowing which one to use in order to reach your target audience is critical. This infographic may be of some help…

Visual Loop – A Who’s Who of Social Media

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WordPressOne of my new, favorite bloggers Heidi Cohen has these thoughts on blog design for you to ponder…

Writers at heart, many bloggers rush through selecting their blog design elements without much thought when they first start. But the reality is that design is core to your blog’s brand and readership. Therefore, out-of-the box blog set-ups most likely won’t work for you.

Blog design doesn’t require artistic training. It requires strategic (read: high level) thought, determining your blog’s goals and target audience (aka: persona) before you jump in and start blogging.

Review the blogs you read frequently to become familiar with your options. Consider which blogs you like and which elements of those blogs attract your attention. Make a list of those elements you want and those that you don’t want.

Here are twenty-one blog design elements that you don’t have to be a graphic designer to select…

Source: How To Design Your Blog | Heidi Cohen

Go to the source if you are interested in her 21 elements. Me? Through a long and rigorous evaluation process, I have decided to become a Woo Themes developer. I won’t bore you with the details of my search, but it literally lasted years. Woo offers over 100 themes that look good ‘out of the box’ but are also very easy for me to customize to a client’s specifications…

Heidi’s right! Much more important than the design is the actual strategy. Adam Osborne said “Adequacy is sufficient. All else is superfluous” and I agree. When it comes to design, I believe a tweaked Woo theme may be all you need – as I tell my clients, ‘Google doesn’t search for pretty’. I focus instead on delivering to my clients a system or toolkit with a repeatable process that is easy to use based on the premise that if it’s easy and fun to do, they might actually do it. On the back end, I have been working hard this year to link my ‘e1evation workflow’ more deeply to the value demands of my target audience by linking keywords to the problems my target audience is trying to solve. If you use a repeatable process like mine for your blogging and use a Woo theme for your site, you will draw your target audience in and the design won’t scare them away!

Heidi’s thoughts on determining your blog’s goals and target audience are must read before getting started — comment or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization…

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