by Fronetics | Jan 24, 2017 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing
Long-form content generates more traffic, leads, and social shares than shorter content.
We’ve all heard the aphorism, “quantity over quality.” But when it comes to content marketing, part of quality may well be quantity.
While it can seem intimidating, the value of high-quality long-form content cannot be overstated. According to a 2012 study, long-form content converted 30% higher than shorter-form, and the same holds true today. Additionally, long-form posts generate more social media shares and have a higher average Google rank.
Here are some ideas for generating longer-form content that engages and informs your readers, and promotes your business in a meaningful way.
3 tips for creating longer-form content
1. Know your audience.
You first and foremost consideration should be your target audience. Take the temperature of your readers by frequently checking your comments sections, social metrics, and Google Analytics. It can also be useful to conduct a survey, which serves the dual purpose of directly engaging and communicating with your readers and giving you valuable information.
2. Chose relevant ideas.
Read all the articles that are on the first Google search page for your topic, and make sure your post contains relevant information you find. You should be answering as many of the questions that appear in Google Suggest at the top and bottom of the search page.
3. Write good content.
It seems painfully obvious, but it’s worth keeping quality at the top of your priority list. The idea of longer-form posts is to keep readers engaged and encourage them to peruse as much of your site as possible.
Neil Patel suggests that if you “strive to provide enormous value with every word you write,” your writing becomes more targeted. Keep posts visually accessible and easily digestible with short paragraphs, subheadings, and relevant images. Another key element of good content is research. Posts that include actual examples and case studies perform better than data-free posts.
Creating longer-form content may mean that your business needs to devote more resources to its content marketing efforts. But the benefits are well-documented and far outweigh the cost.
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by Fronetics | Nov 15, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing
People don’t want to read it. It does you no good. So why are you still using your blog to talk about your business?
It seems like a natural use for your company blog. But I’m here to tell you that writing about your products, services, and business is hurting your blog more than it’s helping it.
You shouldn’t write posts to push certain products. You shouldn’t conclude every post with promotional language about your company and what it does. In fact, your business should be virtually invisible in your blog content.
That may seem counterintuitive to some. But it all goes back to basic content marketing principles: Demonstrating expertise and building trust will drive profitable customer action when the customer is ready to purchase.
Why your sales pitch is bad for business
Today’s consumers have no tolerance for overt, interruption-based marketing. You can probably think of examples from your own life to prove this point.
For example: when you’re trying to find something to watch on TV, how often do you stop on a channel to watch a commercial? Probably never, right? If you’re flipping around, it’s probably because you’re looking for content that is appealing to you, not seeking advertisements.
Or, consider this scenario: You are in the market for a new car. You’ve done extensive research on different makes and models and have narrowed your list down to a choice few. You head to the dealership to do a few test drives. Once there, you are greeted by an enthusiastic salesman. Brushing aside your questions, he launches into his pitch about his dealership’s unbeatable prices and repeatedly pushes a model that you that isn’t what you’re looking for. Turned off by his tactics, you make a quick exit.
Remember those two examples when you think about blog readers and internet browsers. They have their pick of the 27 million pieces of content shared on the internet every day. If they sense a sales pitch, they’ll ex out of your website faster than a Google search query.
What’s more, studies show that B2B buyers are about 60% of the way through the purchase decision-making process before ever engaging with a sales person. That means they are actively avoiding sales pitches in favor of their own research. If your blog is just another avenue to pitch your products and services, your content will fall on deaf ears.
Well, then, what should you write about?
DemandGen’s 2016 B2B Buyer’s Survey Report offers some interesting insight on why buyers end up choosing a particular vendor. After timeliness of vendor response (98%), 97% of respondents said that the winning vendor “demonstrated [a] stronger knowledge of the solution area and business landscape.” Not that the vendor had the most modern products. Not that they got the best deal. That the vendor understood the solution area and business landscape.
That’s what your blog should be all about.
Write about the problems your products solve (without mentioning your products). Write about the kinds of businesses you can help (without mentioning your name). Use content to demonstrate your expertise and to inform prospects about the solution area and business landscape in which your clients operate.
See, it’s not about you. It’s about them. They want a vendor who understands their pain points and how their business operates. If you and your content provide value, offer information, and demonstrate expertise, your audience will come to know you as a trusted source of knowledge.
And that’s who buyers purchase from. Vendors who understand their business. Not those that can only talk about themselves.
So, please, don’t use your blog to push your products or your business. Salesy and self-promotional language will only turn buyers off. Instead, use this platform to show your prospects that you understand their situation, and they’ll come running when it’s time to make a purchase, no sales pitch required.
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by Fronetics | Oct 3, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
The top-performing business blogs have these six things in common, from posting frequency to outsourcing writing.
Maintaining a blog for your business can be somewhat of a guessing game. How often should you publish? Should you do all the writing in-house? Will anyone read our posts?
A recent survey of 428 marketers conducted by Curata sought to identify any patterns or trends among those with the most successful business blogs. Specifically, the authors grouped together those whose blogs had more than 10,000 views per month and compared them to those with less than 10,000 views per month.
The most successful blogs (those with over 10,000 views per month) have several things in common. Here are some highlights:
1) Size doesn’t matter.
You may suspect that the larger the company, the more traffic its blog gets. That’s not the case. In fact, two-thirds of the most successful blogs were run by smaller companies (<$100M revenue).
2) Age is a factor, but it’s not everything.
Of the most successful blogs, 44% had been up and running for 5+ years. Time gives companies a chance to build up their readership and perfect their content strategy. Yet 65% of businesses who have had a blog for 5+ years did not get 10k+ views/month — meaning there is more to successful blogging than age.
3) Frequency is key.
Blogging frequency impacts factors like search engine rankings and audience engagement. So it’s no surprise that 90.5% of best bloggers blog at least once a week.
4) They set standards.
Interestingly, 80% of the best bloggers have a governance team for blogging activities. This can be many things: ensuring post quality and accuracy, determining best practices, outlining a code of conduct, etc.
5) Outsourcing helps.
The best bloggers rely more on external resources and less on internal resources. They outsource an average of 23.6% of their content production, compared to only 11.8% by blogs with less than 10k views per month.
6) They send more subscriber emails.
To promote their posts, 39% of the best blogs send a newsletter with their blog content to their subscriber base at least weekly. More than half of blogs with less than 1,000 views per month sent subscriber emails as infrequently as once a quarter or, in some cases, not at all.
Read the full report from Curata’s survey here to get more insight into the best business blogs.
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