My Blog Has Moved!!

Good morning! I have great news for you - my blog has now moved to my new website at www.pointcontentmarketing.com!

Come check it out: www.pointcontentmarketing.com/blog! You can subscribe there and never miss a post.

Thanks so much for following! I look forward to seeing you in my new location!

Why is Content King?

            The saying going around the web is ‘Content is king’. But why? Content is nice for SEO, but is only one part of the puzzle – without quality links, a proper site design, and other tools, your great content will go unnoticed.

            Think about this, though – imagine you had a one on one meeting with your most important prospect. What would you say? What would you offer? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have that kind of face time? Here’s the reality – you do. Through your content.

            Great content is hard work, which is why less honorable marketers try to find a way around it. You may be able to get a Google PageRank of 1 (at least temporarily) through black-hat or questionable methods. But without good content, it won’t matter. It’s like getting in the door of your best prospect but having nothing to show them. Content isn’t just about rank. In fact, its primary purpose is completely different – the primary purpose of all content is to engage your prospects and customers.

Accounting For Twitter Churn in Your Content Strategy

Twitter recently released a paper detailing the very high frequency of changes in their top search queries and terms (churn). Typically, these trending topics follow high profile news events or current popular conversation. Surprisingly, Twitter found that almost 20 percent of the top search queries in a given hour won't be on top in the next hour. How can a Twitter content strategy account for this churn?

1. Post frequently. Like any highly active forum, it's easy to fall to the bottom. Post frequently using your key terms and content will keep you in the forefront of the conversation you are creating. With trending terms changing so often, don't try to follow the crowd - maintain your own voice and create a discussion that's relevant to your followers and potential clients.
         Caveat: Don't post the same tweet every two hours. Be creative and remember you are in a conversation - engage users in different ways about your chosen topic. 


2. Understand that metrics will be hard to capture. Twitter ROI is probably the hardest of any platform, because the community is so fluid and interaction and engagement changes so often. It's hard to capture the financial impact of building community in any case, and it's especially difficult when measurable term frequencies and ranks change so often. If you see Twitter as part of your overall social media engagement strategy, it will be easier to relax and let the relationships happen naturally.

Slapped By Penguin - What Now?

Google seems to like the animal theme - after Panda, we get Penguin as the new, sweeping update to the search algorithm. Not that they are done with Panda yet either - combining their love of animals with a love of numbered updates, Google released Panda 3.6 on April 27th.

As with all large-scale Google updates, the search world is up in arms. Claims of ruination echo through forums across the web. Examples of spam sites still ranking on Page 1 are trotted out as proof that the update is a failure. Internet marketers around the world are scrambling to understand the new algorithm and target their sites accordingly.

As a content provider, I have to admit that I am a bit mystified by all the hand-wringing. It seems clear to me that there is one simple way to avoid being penalized by Google:

Is Marketing To Who Your Best Clients Are Enough?

In marketing, one of the first things you are taught to do when you have a product or service that needs promotion is define your client. Who are the people who are going to buy this item from your company? There are many details that get mapped out at this stage:

• Age
• Gender
• Marital Status
• Income
• Occupation
• Hobbies
• Number (if any) of Children
• Location
• Social Network Usage
• etc...

This is an excellent way to find out who your best client actually is. But is that the best way to get them to buy your product?

Writers and Social Interaction

            As a writer, I struggle with social interaction. Not in the sense that I’m awkward and don’t have the ability to relate to others – no, social interactions just take too much energy. A social event often has to be special or involve my closest friends for me to be interested.

            Many other writers are this way as well. This is because we are introverts. I would have never guessed this about myself. I am confident at public speaking and don’t mind teaching or leading others regularly. Two years ago, I was teaching a weekly adult class at church, speaking monthly at a prison, and creating teaching materials for a class I taught new-hires at work. That doesn’t sound like the typical life of an introvert. But what I learned was that introverts aren’t necessarily anti-social, they simply use a lot of energy to be social. They need lots of alone time to recuperate after social events.

            Extroverts, on the other hand, gain energy by being social, and being alone and reflective uses a lot of energy. Most people in American society are extroverts, and there’s a lot of misunderstanding between these two groups.

            Even the most introverted among us has social needs, however. And everyone, introverted or not, needs to stretch outside their own comfort zones and create relationships with others. This is especially true with writers and marketers, who rely on relationships to gain clients and market their work. So what's an introvert to do?

Take Care of Your Body to Boost Your Mind

As writers, or really as professionals in most settings, we spend a lot of time sitting in an office behind a computer screen. We focus largely on mental work, and our physical bodies are often neglected. Unfortunately this leads to a huge variety of health problems. Obesity, heart disease, and even diabetes can be caused simply by sitting for long periods of time with no breaks. An article from Women's Health also noted that regular exercise after sitting may not be enough - you actually need to take breaks from your sitting time if you want to take care of your health. Even a walk to the coffee machine or water cooler would be an improvement.

Many of us would make the excuse that we simply don't have time in our busy day to get up and move around. We get into creative flow - or we look for creative flow - and we don't want to interrupt that by distracting our minds with something else. We think that sitting still and focusing makes us better writers and better employees. However, studies have shown a strong link between a sedentary lifestyle and mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety.

As writers, or professionals of any sort, we can't afford to be plagued by these physical and mental issues if we want to produce our best work.