What is all the buzz about content, anyway? Content is that necessary component of your online marketing that has a very soft voice, but carries a pretty big stick. While copywriting is specifically related to marketing, content has more to do with reputation building and link strategies.

No, I’m not implying that you have to hit anyone over the head, on the contrary.

Content lets others know you have an online presence, and good content gives them confidence that you are the ‘go-to’ guy when it’s time to purchase a product or service. Screaming won’t work … or hitting … or telling them how smart or great you are … it’s really going to be all about being a helpful resource.

Don’t skimp on adding quality content to smart locations, and pay special attention to areas where you know your topics will be well received.

• MerchantCircle – post to your blog, newsletter or answer questions
• Article submission to EzineArticles.com or EvanCarmichael.com
• Manta.com
• Your business blog
• Squidoo.com
• StumbleUpon
• Posterous
• Business Email Marketing – blasts, newsletters, and autoresponders

I think these areas are premium locations. They’ve been tremendously helpful for our clients. If your demographic includes a range of locations, make sure you’ve mentioned them in your profile and ‘claimed’ it wherever possible.

Your content doesn’t have to be long, but you’re wise to edit and revise for more concise and professional writing. Part of the convincing nature of content marketing is the presentation of your profile, carefully written work, and useful linking to your corresponding business website copy.

In a remarkably short period of time you can build your online reputation with a well-thought out branding strategy. Start adding your content to several of these locations on a regular basis and watch how quickly your phone will start to ring.

Are you posting content online? Why or why not? Are you noticing results? Encourage our readers by sharing, we love to hear from you!

Content is so important to your online efforts. It’s a mountain to tackle, though. There are so many places to continually update, it can seem like a daunting task. Even when you love to write, it’s not always easy to conjure up the passion necessary to crank out quality work.

I suggest free writing to everyone I know. It’s a simple, 10-minute strategy to start the ball rolling. Simply, set the timer and go for 10-minute intervals with no regard for anything but the subject matter. The revising and editing done after it’s set for a day will turn your lump of clay into very useful material.

That’s not the end of the story, though.
There’s still quite a bit that can be – and needs to be – done to get the most out of your content if you intend to increase back links to your website, improve your Google ranking, or generate sales.

Take that useful material and consider where you can use it most effectively. Content can be used to promote your business on article submission sites, blog posts, email campaigns, and even landing pages, so think about your strategy.

Keep these points in mind to make your content irresistible when revising and editing again:

• Write in bite-sized paragraphs.
• Keep the focus of your content on benefit to your audience.
• Ask the questions your reader is asking.
• Delete thoughts that don’t contribute to your main purpose.
• Delete words that don’t contribute to the sentence.
• Break your sentences down, keeping commas to a minimum.
• You’re either communicating with one person (preferable) or several. Keep your pronouns consistent.
• If your material will be distributed sequentially, revise and edit in one Google Document. Separate your content with a dashed line, and make sure your content flows easily from the beginning of the series to the end. Keep your message smooth and your offer clear.
• Pay attention to the length of your content. The length should be consistent with its distribution method. Articles, for instance, are better at around 400 words, where email campaigns require far less content per email.

These tips used with your compelling content will greatly improve the response rate of whatever distribution method you’re using. Don’t forget to use a well-thought-out link strategy to get the most out of your work.

Your blog isn’t under the same scrutiny as your other, more direct marketing methods. A blog is more of a place where your readers and potential customers can learn more about you before they purchase, as well as interact with you after the sale. A blog is designed for two-way communication, and that means it should be written more conversationally than articles, for example.

That being said, we can’t just post garbage and expect a decent reputation. Basic rules still hold true. If you want your business to be taken seriously, you’ll have to spend a little time making sure you don’t appear to be unlearned or unskilled, without much to offer. All it takes is a little – and I do mean a little – common knowledge, reference material, and proofreading. If in doubt that a sentence reads correctly, wait a day and read it out loud. Errors in grammar are often found there.

If you don’t care, your readers will notice. It’s almost a respect issue. If you have problems in this area, hire someone to help you write or edit. Don’t neglect this detail.

Here are a few things to remember before you post.

Read the rest of this post in The Richardson Copywriter.

Do you write your own Web site and blog content? Your own articles? If you are paying to have your content written, consider the source.

There’s an old saying that still holds true – you get what you pay for. If you purchase from freelance writing boards and only offer low-ball pay, the odds are good that you may end up with regurgitated content that was previously written for someone else, or student work. Now, that may not matter to you when you get the great idea to stick a Web site up as a feeder and fill it up with inexpensive copy to pull the reader into another site, but a quality job of feeder site building can be done without sacrificing reputation.

Not that you can’t find good writers on a freelance job board, of course you can. But some writers who are willing to work for less may not believe your project is worth their best effort. If you do hire off of a job board, offer a decent rate of pay for the job to be done. This benefits everyone and gets you closer to the writer who knows what good content is worth and is willing to do a great job if paid fairly.

“Fairly” isn’t the lowest price. Fairly understands that a writer has to know style, grammar, punctuation, and often conduct research. Your writer may need to be capable of writing in your voice. You may need the material to be humorous, edgy, maternal or technical. All of these characteristics make up more than most realize when it comes to a writer’s competence. Some writers just can’t deliver creative, original, style-appropriate copy. The ones that can’t, often don’t understand what good writing is worth. Some offer their services on the cheap because after all, at least it’s money … and there probably won’t be much effort required for such a low-paying job. So do you want 20 inexpensive, somewhat usable, lower quality posts? Or do you want four, great, keyword-rich, insightful and professional sounding posts at a higher rate per post? It’s all in how you look at it.

If you don’t want to take chances, get your writing done by people who understand the writing business. Hire writers who have their work reviewed, and are knowledgeable about how to convey your perspective in the correct style to the right people in the right arena. At Zero To Sixty Marketing, that would be Shari Voigt and Susan Hamilton. Call us today for more information about how we can help you with all your copywriting needs, and be sure you’re getting the best copy for your money.

We’ve been talking quite a bit about content marketing between Express Marketing Memo and our blog here at Zero To Sixty Marketing. By now you’ve probably got a good idea about what content is, basically:

• the milk in the jug
• the words in the paragraph
• the  media that gets your expertise from your company to the   public who will be buying your service or goods.

Content marketing is not sales and it’s not advertisement. It is, however, the most effective way to promote yourself online. Certain names have always been associated with certain products or services, and like branding, content marketing promotes you over time through reputation.

Content Marketing Options

What vehicles you decide to use are completely up to you, however, some are more effective than others and even that depends on your market, and how often you can or should communicate with them. We recommend:

• articles submitted to article directories
• blog posts
• social media profiles and updates
• video
• blog replies/comments to other authors
• web copy
• newsletters

Content Marketing Packages

Every circumstance is unique. One company may need all of these services on a regular basis, another may only need the holes filled in that they cannot get to or have no personal interest in doing themselves. One company may need articles submitted for them, another may only need their blog updated. Some businesses can easily find the time to provide and distribute their own content.

When figuring out what your company’s particular needs are, keep in mind:

• How much time do you have to devote?
• What is your writing and computer skill level?
• Is your target market local?
• What is your marketing budget?

Many times answering these questions will help you decide how to proceed. No matter what you decide, you’re not alone. We hope the information we provide on this blog will have you up and running successfully in no time. What solutions work best for your company?

Photo Credit: kellypuffs on flickr

Related Posts: Marketing: The Times They Are A-Changin’

So many new online marketers and small businesses new to the online aspect of their business ask us, “Just what is content marketing?” As my mentor and co-worker, Shari Voigt,  pointed out so well in her post to Express Marketing Memo, it’s the many ways you present yourself interactively online. In order for you to be useful, you need to offer a constant stream of information, and quite frankly, it’s hard for most businesses to  offer content effectively and still do the day-to-day activities involved in running a business. Many companies choose to outsource that function, and in an effort to meet that need, we offer content marketing packages.

Shari and I were talking about the difficulties beginners face when it comes to content marketing. As we mulled it over, we started talking about what doesn’t work. Basically, there are businesses we would never respond to because of their annoyance factor or the poor presentation. I’m sure you wouldn’t want that to be you. Let’s hit on those issues so you’re better prepared when you hit the online world.

Blogging:

Let’s keep it relevant. Your title should reflect the material being covered in the blog. Links should be helpful and serve to support statements made by you.

Newsletters:

Is your newsletter just a sales page invitation for an expensive program that I have to purchase to know whatever the heck you’re talking about in the first place? An opening bait title question should be answered without having to read an entire, meaningless newsletter that when finished, still has not answered the question. Hint: If your title asks a question, answer it and please do it quickly.

Social Marketing:

This is an important component to your content marketing strategy. Its effective, fun, and time-consuming. When I’m interacting with other businesses and potential clients, getting constant machine-gun style rapid fire updates on your next teleseminar, countdown to it, or repetitive quotes that are obviously automated, I don’t see who on earth would respond to that. Those type of updates don’t make me say to myself, “OOH! OOH! I’m dying to talk to YOU, obviously you have what I’m looking for!”

Also, if you catch yourself talking about food constantly, and you’re not a chef selling food or marketing your restaurant, think about how that looks to everyone in the free world.

ALLRIGHTEE then. Enough about that from me, any of you agree with me? Love to hear it, comment below!

Photo Credit: Chris Friese on Flickr

Related Posts: What Is Content Marketing?

MacroMosquito by Wendy on Flickr

Last weekend, on a routine check of our copy productivity, Shari and I were going over analytics and realized that an unusually high number of republishing had occurred on a lesser known article I’d submitted to Ezines before Christmas.

We had been supplying content for our pet project on http://educationalhobbiesblog.com, and bringing awareness to our work through our favorite article directory, EzineArticles.com. One thing we enjoy about that medium is the ability to offer our work publicly, and then retain the credit for researching and writing the piece when it’s republished by another content provider, whether news magazine or blog site. It’s good for our company to have our names associated with our published works, and this is one of the methods we offer our customers who are looking for blog and website traffic building through social media. Many companies don’t have the time to market their expertise through copy the way we can for them.

Some submissions are more effective than others, and we learn from each scenario what better to do next time, and repeat effective strategies. I believe that’s called business marketing! We always walk away with information, one way or another. We sure learned a thing or two this past weekend.

Although several months had passed, and we were well overdue for our quarterly check, we decided to check up on the articles and see if they had been published elsewhere. Not expecting much due to our more pressing projects this first quarter, we were pretty amazed to find it had been republished 238 times. That’s darn good for a pre-Christmas article discussing the buying trends of remote control hobbies! It didn’t make sense, and it didn’t take long to figure out why.

Apparently a guy by the name of Ronald Eapen decided to take my article, slough off the title, use my topic sentence as the new title, and republish my article under his name, taking all the credit for himself. This man then superlinked the material to his easy money making scheme which was totally content unrelated. 238 times he had submitted that article to every known reputable and otherwise article directory and linked back to a page containing otherwise unrelated content and offered yet another link to his easy money scheme.

Every article was heavily endowed with every social bookmarking plugin and affiliate link you could think of. And he’s been making money off my content for the past three months, giving me no credit or kickback for my word-for-word duplication.

People, I clearly copyrighted that work under Zero To Sixty Marketing!

We spent several hours tracking my article from directory to directory, demanding credit and compensation. We also learned who we will consider credible article submission directories for the future! After sending him personal comments on every article that was set up for comments, I remembered we had a friend in the copyright infringement business. Its clearly time to talk to him!

GoArticles promptly removed the content and sent us email confirmation. That was pretty cool. Soon we’ll know who else was willing to comply with copyright law.

Long and short of it, make sure you are being vigilant about protecting your work. It’s not bad to have your work republished all over, that’s pretty much the goal when you’re building you’re reputation. Thing is, you’re reputation is shot when a disreputable person uses it for spamming and the promise of easy money for his customers. If I hadn’t copyrighted my work like this:

Copyright 2009, Zero To Sixty Marketing, LLC, Susan Hamilton
All Rights Reserved

or even just used the word Copyright, the year, and name, I wouldn’t have had the legal right to demand that my name be associated with my work, my work remain unchanged, and compensation for monies earned. That doesn’t mean I’ll ever see a dime. This was small potatoes. But he had everything in place to be well on his way to monetizing my work under his name. Totally uncool.

To recap: beware of bloodsucking plagiarists.

Photo Credit: @N00/266164980/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wendy on Flickr

Related Article: One Minute With Plagiarism

If you market to other businesses on any level, and haven’t yet subscribed to B2B Magazine, you’re missing out. We receive both the print and online versions, and tend to read them cover-to-cover each month. Today’s issue just arrived in the mail, and the first thing to catch my eye was the “New Channels” column by Paul Gillin, titled “New PR Reality: Link over Ink.”

Gillen hits the nail on the head when he says that “clients and executives mumble ‘That’s nice’ about a Web link, but get excited about a reference in their daily Wall Street Journal.” We’ve definitely found this to be true. But the rules have changed, and one or two good links can now return far greater results than a mention in the most prominent print publication.

It’s a rare business that won’t find its audience online these days. Unfortunately, it’s also a rarity for small businesses to know how to get found online. Publishing a Web site or starting a blog is not enough. Adding your Web address to your print marketing collateral is not enough. Sending out press releases that mention your business or your site … even that is not enough. Don’t neglect any of those activities, but to achieve your online objectives, you’re going to need links … quality, inbound links from other Web sites, blogs, social networks, and relevant directories.

How many times in the past month have you searched for something you read about in a newspaper or magazine? Ok, now how many times have you followed a link from Google or from within a blog or other online article? Is there any comparison?

By the way, you can subscribe to B2B Magazine and a variety of other useful trade publications for free at www.tradepub.com.