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Content helps small businesses stand out. Here’s how
Big businesses come with big budgets—big budgets that small businesses like yours and mine don’t have. Are they using content marketing? Heck, yeah. In fact, 90% of companies are doing some kind of...
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Content marketing is the one-two punch your referral-fueled business needs
I’m a content marketer, and most of my business comes from referrals. I’m not alone—referrals are huge for small businesses. According to the Small Business Association’s 2014 Small Business Profiles...
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Write honest headlines to get clicks and conversions
Betrayal—it’s what you feel when you click on an article and realize it’s not what its headline promised it would be. I hate that feeling, but what I hate even more is that I feel it so frequently. I...
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Should your business blog? Yes–if you check these boxes
Let’s talk numbers for a second. Take 51. That’s the percent of marketers planning to increase their content marketing budgets in 2016. Now, play with 152 million. That’s the numbers of blogs that...
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The 7 content strategy resources that will change the way you think about...
Today, I want to get back to the most basic driver of all the content that you create and share: strategy. Strategy is important. I’ve talked about it a lot on this blog, but here and here I offer up...
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12 reasons to publish new blog content during the holidays
I love the holiday season. But you know what I hate? Opening up my Feedly to find a big bunch of zeroes. No new content (‘cause I binged on it all yesterday—oops). No fun anecdotes. No fresh advice...
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How to target your ideal customer—without alienating the rest of your audience
We like numbers—big ones, if we can wangle them—which is why the obvious measures for content marketing metrics are all about increasing numbers (think: pageviews, visitors, followers, and likes). But...
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Write a manifesto that excites you about your big business goals—and helps...
I’m so tired of resolutions and goal planning. For me, all that means is writing down what I want and then doing nothing about getting it done. Who has time to waste on that? Not me—and not you, I’m...
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Turn passive readers into active customers with a call-to-action. Here are 21...
Your blog is beautiful. It’s well-written. It’s getting more and more pageviews as the months go by. Why, you ask, does anything need to change? Before I answer that question, I want you to sit down...
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80 questions to target your ideal customer
There are two ways to form a business: 1. starting with a customer problem, which you solve, or, 2. starting with a solution, and looking for potential customers. If you’re the former, grab a cookie...
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What to do with a brilliant blog idea that’s wrong for your business
It’s happened to all of us: You’re got your pillow-head ratio just right, the covers are snugged up ‘round your legs, and you’re so close to falling asleep. Then one single synapse leaps to life—and...
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How to write about mistakes without sounding like a phony
Owning that you made a mistake and that you’ve learned something from it is top-notch personal growth. But doing all of that and then writing about it for your business is about paying it forward,...
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32 unbeatable ways blogging adds value to your business
One of my former clients was in the business of building author platforms through blogging. This was a person who understood how blogging adds value, I thought. I was thrilled to have signed a...
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How (and when) to say “no” in business
There’s a very overt push in the working world for people—women in business, especially, I think—to say “yes.” It’s one of the rules of improve (actually, that rule is, “Yes, and,” which is not...
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The best reason to blow your blogging schedule and not publish a post
Last week, I didn’t publish a post. I came close. The post I almost published is saved on my hard drive, right next to the Word Document containing this one. It’s over 1,000 words, with a headline...
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The ultimate guide to turning a good idea into a great blog post
How many people read the first 50 posts I published eons ago? One—me. My problem was that I was writing for me, not for my audience. People would click in and click out. My bounce rate and...
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Prep for a productive blog post brainstorming session
A good brainstorming session is akin to idea vomit. Idyllic though that phrase is, however, it doesn’t get at the whole picture. The most prevalent myth about brainstorming is that all you have to do...
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Are you losing blog readers to content holes? Find out what your blog is...
Once upon a time in a city approximately 575 miles away, I worked at a magazine. One day, while working at this magazine, I had the brilliant idea to audit our online content. My boss was thrilled....
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The Dream Strategy Fallacy (and how to get practical when planning content...
Content strategy and vacations have a lot in common: There are lots of moving pieces, there are lots of ideals, and there are lots of reality checks. Sure, you can split hairs. Is a hotel like a...
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Paralyzed by brainstorming overwhelm? Try the Macro Approach to blog...
Usually, my blog brainstorming is a productive, streamlined process. For 42 minutes this past March, though, I went a little nuts-o. Here’s the photographic proof. A photo posted by Brittany Taylor...
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