As I started researching, trying to decide what I would write this blog article about, I was poking around the Internet hoping for a bit of inspiration to hit me so I could focus on a topic for my article.

I decided to see what kinds of social media statistics I could find that might be interesting to pass along and pretty soon, after checking out several articles dealing with statistics, it hit me – what is a list of amazing statistics worth if the article which contains them is not dated?

The Importance of Current Information

Whether offering statistics or simply offering information relevant to any topic, I believe there is more credibility and value if the reader knows whether the information was published in 2006 or 2012.

I admit this could have something to do with my English-teacher instincts, but it seems pretty darn important to me! I constantly nagged my students to search for the most current information available when they were locating reference material to write their papers, and I think the same practice is important when it comes to providing a date on blog articles.

Add the Value of Consistency and Be Proud of It

I’ve written about the importance of consistency  in previous blogs. People want to know that you are consistently attempting to provide them with useful information via your blog, and they want to know they can count on a new article frequently – otherwise they will strike you off their list and stop coming back to your blog. It’s like calling an old friend on the phone – if you keep calling back and she never answers, pretty soon you give up – or at least most normal people do!

When you set up your blog, it’s also a good idea to share the date of publication. It shows your audience how consistent you are and it gives more value to whatever you are writing about by showing that it is current.

Archive Your Previous Posts

If you are interested in older information, you can check the archives, which is also an important element of a successful blog. You should make certain your readers have access to previous information you have shared with them in the past.

So, my vote is the value of a date is quite important to both readers and writers.

By the way, did you know…

•    There are 70 million WordPress blogs worldwide.
•    There are 39 million Tumblr blogs worldwide.
•    4 out of 5 Internet users visit social networks and blogs.*

*Source: The Social Skinny  – and, yes, there is a current date!!!

Until next time, keep blogging and let us know how it’s going by leaving a comment below. If you need help developing a content marketing strategy, Xcellimark can help. Contact us today for more information.

Did you hear the latest? Google appears to be getting into organic farming. Or at least it seems that way.

Google does a major algorithm change every year in the 4th quarter, ensuring that they shake up the search results right before the holiday buying season. But if you’ve been following our advice throughout the year, you should be ok with this year’s major change.

Google “Freshens” Up Its Results

Google’s latest “Freshness Update” promotes newer, “fresher” content and moves it higher in the search results than older, “stale” content. They even have a little green leaf symbol that they place next to some search results to indicate that it is new and fresh.

So what does that mean for you? How can you play the Google game and market fresh content as well?

Here are four (4) ideas that can help you on your way:

1. Get a Blog and Start Blogging

   We’ve been saying for quite a while now that a Blog is one of the most important and powerful tools you can use to not only provide fresh new content for the search engines, but also to get great incoming links to your site if you know how to effectively bookmark and distribute your articles. And if you actually write something interesting that people want to read about, then you will naturally attract even more readers and visitors to your website. It is the hub of all Social Media and can be tied into many different platforms including Twitter and Facebook.
2. Use Timestamps in Your URL if Possible

   You should not change your existing urls if you already have lots of blog articles bookmarked throughout the web, but if you are just getting started then you should include the date format in your blog url. That helps show Google just how fresh your content is and it helps encourage the search engines to rank your article over your competitors website.
3. Use Social Media as a Great Way to Stay Fresh

   You need to be sure to leverage social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to “push” your blog articles out to a larger audience. The search engines are now listing social media content such as Tweets in their search results. So it gives you multiple ways to highlight your latest content.
4. Publish Press Releases on a Regular Basis

   Press Releases are a very important part of our Content Marketing strategy and it is a wonderful way to push out fresh content to the web. What could be fresher than your latest news? Google automatically knows that a Press Release is a time-sensitive piece and they therefore tend to list new press releases in relevant search results. It’s important to understand how to optimize and effectively distribute your press releases to get the most for your money, but they are truly a fabulous way to get shown in the search results – especially now with the emphasis on “fresh”.

All of these ideas are things we’ve talked about for over a year now and they are part of our Content Marketing strategy that we use to help clients move up in the search results so you can ultimately receive more leads and sales.

Unsure how to get started or know that you really just don’t have the time and expertise to pull off a Content Marketing plan? No worries. Xcellimark can help you get started or we can do the whole thing for you from soup to nuts. Give us a call or drop us an email to get started.

Have a Happy New Year!

When consulting with clients about content marketing, I often times find that they have writer’s block on what to blog about and are dubious about how blogging will really impact their business. They also have concerns about how to generate content and who they can get to write blog posts. Here are three steps that can put you on the path to building a better blog for your business:

1. Generating Ideas for Blog Topics

Informative and compelling content is a must in driving high-quality traffic to your website. Your blog posts should be related to your business while being relevant to current topics that may be of interest to customers. Here are some tips on how to find topics to write about:

Google Alerts - If you have a Google account, you can sign-up for Google Alerts. Google Alerts allows you to input your keyword of choice and you can get an email notification when that keyword is mentioned in the news.
eNewsletter – your inbox is probably flooded with eNewsletters featuring blog posts from gurus and respected business people in your industry. After reading those emails, you should find yourself inspired to write a unique blog post.
Personal Experience – blog posts based on a personal experience tend to connect well with readers and come across as more authentic. Relating it to something in your industry can help tie it to your business model while still providing a personalized connection.

2. If You Blog It, They Will Come

While keeping it interesting is important, interesting blogs are useless if they're not effective. Interesting topics can drive traffic, but you must keep the overall goal of your website in mind: is it to generate more leads? Get people to make a purchase on the website? Or share information as a resource site?

To get current and potential customers engaged in your blog and encourage them to do word of mouth marketing for you, invite them to comment, email or share your blog posts via social media. If you want readers to try the product or service you are offering through the blog post, then include a call to action with a special offer that can turn a reader into a customer.

3. Getting Your Team to Blog

Now that you have some idea on what to write about and why you should write, you need a team of people to write about these topics. Try to assemble a group of writers from amongst your staff – the key is to have them focus on their areas of expertise. Don’t try to make them write about any and everything – it can dilute the content and make your employees appear inept in areas they are not specialized in.

While having a team of bloggers is ideal, a lot of times business owners find themselves being the primary author of the blog. If you don’t have time to blog, you can hire a company to handle your content marketing so it gets written and published on a consistent basis. Contact Xcellimark to learn more about how we can help you blog for your business.

In the first half (Part 1) of "Content Marketing - Key to Internet Marketing Success" I discussed the outdated model of individual Internet marketing silos and how content marketing is the blood that runs through the veins of Internet marketing. But today, I'm going to go deeper and talk about what content marketing is and how you can use it to increases your business' revenue.

So What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is broken down into 3 categories:

• Content components related to your website
• Content that is published and distributed to other websites
• Content delivery platforms

It All Starts With Your Website Content

Be sure that your website copywriting is fresh, relevant, updated, informative, persuasive and optimized for search engines. Websites are the marketing hub of all successful companies.

Blogging is the Backbone to Your Content Marketing and Social Media

Once you are set with your website, a company blog is the hub of all social media  initiatives. You should publish a blog post at least twice per week, and for the most competitive industries, daily. Your blog content needs to cover pertinent information about your industry, products, services, and any other helpful information that will interest your clients and potential customers.

Each blog post should be bookmarked to key social bookmarking websites. This allows your articles to be found by people not familiar with your company, helping to promote your company through positive word-of-mouth. Plus it drives inbound links back to your blog and website, which helps you to rank higher in the search engines. 

Feed Into Other Social Media Platforms

You can feed your blog to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. for additional content exposure. Images and videos  on your website and blog can be optimized and posted on Flickr and YouTube. Millions of interested people visit these social media outlets daily to view, comment and interact, many times leading them back to your website and blog through your articles, images and videos.

Online Press Releases Another Key Element for Promotion

Online press releases can play a significant role in promoting your company. By optimizing and publishing your press releases online, it allows you to have your press releases posted to hundreds of websites for people to view. In addition, the search engines will place your press releases in the search results for relevant key phrases if they are optimized correctly, providing you with additional opportunities to drive people to your website and to keep your competitors out of the top search results. And the press releases include links back to your website, allowing you to increase incoming links to your site, which helps with overall SEO results.

Tie It Together with Email Marketing

Email marketing closes the loop for all of your inbound marketing efforts by allowing you to continue to remarket your company to those who have expressed interest. Content in your email needs to be relevant, informative and help to establish your company as an expert in your field.

Run Your Business or Market Content – That’s the Dilemma

The common element in all of these Internet marketing efforts is content marketing. It is the crucial element to your search, social media and email marketing efforts. However, according to research, the challenge for most companies in effective content marketing is time and resources.  The chart below shows business responses to the question of “What is the biggest challenge in content marketing?”

Each content marketing channel (website, search, blog, email, online press releases) requires a different format, style and technique to deliver the results you want – more customers.

There Is Help for Your Content Marketing Dilemma

Xcellimark has helped many companies overcome the challenge of producing and distributing enough engaging content to help you gain more customers through our content marketing services. We help our clients remain focused on running their business while we do the heavy lifting by handling all aspects of content marketing for you. Contact Xcellimark to find out how you can get the blood flowing through your Internet marketing efforts today.

There are so many aspects to Internet marketing, it’s tough to decide what you should do to really make a difference in your business. Should you redesign your website, implement more SEO, social media or email marketing? What kind of company should you hire to pull off what you think is the right direction? One that does websites? Maybe a social media company. Or an email marketing company.

Which Specialty is the Right Choice?

Individual Internet marketing silos, including website development, SEO, social media, and email marketing, no longer work as independent units. This is an outdated model from companies that only work within individual product segments and it no longer reflects the reality of successful Internet marketing. Instead, these marketing silos have been merged together through a common element – content marketing.

Content Marketing is the Nucleus to Internet Marketing

The blood that runs through the veins of Internet marketing is content marketing. You can no longer implement an effective SEO campaign by simply optimizing your website. You must have a content-focused social media marketing campaign that, at a minimum, includes a blog. And your optimized blog posts need to be bookmarked on authoritative social bookmarking websites and portals.

In addition, a key SEO strategy includes search engine-optimized online press releases. And you should continue to remarket to your clients and potential customers who opt-in to receive newsletters and articles through an ongoing email marketing campaign.

So what components make up content marketing? We’ll cover that in the second half (Part 2) of “Content Marketing – Key To Internet Success”. It gets into the details of what content marketing is and how it works to help your business increase revenue by expanding your online brand’s exposure and credibility.