Web Writing and Social Content Creation Experts
Why Is Your Web Content Is So Critical?
Conversions - You Need Compelling Web And Social Content To Convert Sales Today
SEO - You Need Content Optimized for Search Engines to Ensure Future Visitors and Revenue
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Continual, fresh content is the life-blood of your web presence; your SEO visibility; your blog; your social media accounts; your email marketing campaigns; everything. You need new, keyword rich content being added to your site often to really compete online these days. But many lack:
- Time to Maintain Publishing Schedule
- Research, Writing and Editing Skills
- Technical Expertise
- Long-Term Commitment Needed (“Start Strong, Slowly Lose Momentum”)
Do You Need A Writer?
One That Can Pull It All Together?
We offer:
Professional Blogging
We can provide professional blogging services to your business, giving you the opportunity to communicate directly with customers while also building your SEO rankings. Your blog can establish you as the trusted resource in your industry, give customers the chance to provide vital feedback, and help spread the word about your company and brands.
Social Media Campaigns
Social networks have fundamentally shifted how our society communicates. If you aren’t sharing via social media by now, you’ve really fallen behind your competition.
We can help you setup, grow and actively manage a company Facebook,, Twitter or LinkedIn account, creating campaigns that generate engagement, and also post to a large number of other niche social networks and bookmarking services.
Email Newsletters
Contrary to predictions made years ago, email is certainly not dead! And still the preferred method of communication for many businesspeople. Utilize your valuable email database by sending a 100% custom-designed and written e-newsletter. We manage the distribution, your email lists, and provide detailed reporting every month.
Website Copy and Sitemap Development
Do you want a new website, or want to revitalize or refocus your current one? Create a new site that converts? Have a site that is SEO friendly?
We can write all of the web content that you need for your entire site: keyword-rich copy designed for the the maximum number of visitor conversions and the highest search engine rankings.
We can develop a sitemap for your new site if you aren’t sure where to start.
Article and Press Release Marketing
We write articles and press releases and distribute via a large number of article directories and/or press release services online. This shares your message with new audiences across the web, while increasing the number of valuable backlinks to your site and boosting its SEO value.
Traditional Print Marketing
While we are experts on creating content online, we can also help with any other offline, print-based projects like newsletters, sales materials, annual reports, articles for print publications, brochures or other collateral.
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Have an English language blog or need content outside the US? Contact us for English language web copy from anywhere on the globe!
The Official Hat Trick Associates:
Web Content & SEO Blog
The Top Social Media Tool for 2011
Jan 10th
If you were told about a marketing strategy that could substantially lower your marketing expenses and produce a ROI of 600% or more for your investment, would you be interested in learning more?
A recent online survey found that 81% of all the marketers report that they would definitely increase their use of this strategy. So what are we talking about? No, it’s not Facebook, YouTube. Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube.
Of course Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are among the top 4 social media platforms. But what is the first? Blogging.
And if you work for a large corporation, you’re probably not blogging yet. Of course, you might have your own personal blog focused on your interests, favorite sport, political or social views, or maybe your hobby. But we are talking about a corporate blog, one that’s sponsored, written and monitored by your organization.
These could be some of the reasons your company isn’t blogging:
- You’re not sure what to write about
- Employees are “too busy” to blog
- You don’t want to give away company secrets
- Can your blogger stay “on message” and “on brand” at all times?
All of these reasons support the fact you really should have someone with a bit of seniority and knowledge of your business handle your blog, or monitor it and approve posts written by outside help, including Hat Trick Associates but also many, many other potential providers or freelance help.
And if you are a small business owner, you should know that almost half of your competitors will be using a blog for marketing purposes by 2012. So why are you holding back? Especially when HubSpot found through research that businesses with an active blog get 55% more online traffic than those without a blog. That is a number you cannot afford to ignore!
So big or small, your organization needs a well written and regularly published blog to compete in today’s online landscape. Because your competitors surely are, or will be soon.
The Fab 5 Social Media Makeovers
Dec 29th
Joy Paley is a science and technology writer based in Berkeley, California. She is a guest blogger for My Dog Ate My Blog and writes on accredited online colleges for http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/online-schools.
We all know that social media outlets are about redesigning yourself. After all, who hasn’t met someone for the first time, after only knowing them through a social network? The first thought is usually, “you’re not what I was expecting!”
But what about when the social media sites themselves decide to embark upon a little image do-over? Their job is to keep giving users new and innovative ways to present themselves to others, and site redesigns are one way to do that. Here are five makeovers that have glammed up the social media sites we know and love.
1. Facebook
Facebook’s latest redesign is all about letting people know more about you, more quickly, and in a more creative way. Your “vital facts” are still at the top—but they’re playing second fiddle to five pictures of you, that help sum up your “you-ness.” Smart move, Facebook—you’ve realized how important pictures are to your users, and you responded accordingly.
2. Myspace
I’ll be honest, I’m still not a huge fan of this social network. Waiting five minutes to load someone’s profile, only to be accosted by a terrible song and several twinkling glitter GIFs was not my idea of a good time. The new interface has sleeker graphics and has helped bring the site into 2010, although it still seems noisy compared to other social networks.
3. Twitter
Twitter got a nice little update in September of this year. Embedded photos and videos from select sites are more easily viewed, and the tweet timelines look cleaner and easier to read. I love being able to scroll over a username to see a little “mini-profile,” rather than having to navigate to their page.
4. Etsy
It’s been four years since this site got a major update, but I’m still including it here. Why? The site’s redesign seemed to make it truly reflect the aesthetics of the makers who sell their goods there—it’s visually appealing, balanced without being overly-sleek, and photo-based to make the products the star of the show.
5. LinkedIn
This Facebook-for-business got a major redesign in 2008. The design moved content up the page, to make it more easily navigable, got rid of the left-hand navigation bar, and created a more comprehensive top navigation bar. While the redesign didn’t exactly make the site more fun, it did make getting around more efficient—and what else would you expect from a business social network?
The Key to Increasing Your Email Campaign Conversions
Dec 27th
Studies have shown that there is one specific element of your email marketing campaign that if done right, can increase your conversions by 60%. And it is NOT the subject line, your email list, the graphics you use or the “From” address. Feeling a little lost? You aren’t alone! And this conversion-boosting element is often overlooked or ignored completely by most email marketers. So just what is this secret weapon?
It’s actually no secret at all. It’s your landing pages - those pages that greet your visitors once you’ve gotten them to click through your email campaign. And landing pages should absolutely be an integral part of your email marketing efforts.
Your landing page can make or break your email marketing initiatives. A good landing page will help email recipients continue through the sales process or funnel them onto the next step. Mediocre landing pages might perform at an acceptable level, giving you an inflated sense of success while you are losing out on quality opportunities to convert. And bad landing pages can be really bad - they can confuse or derail recipients to the point that they become annoyed, leave the site, or even rethink their association with your brand.
Creating great landing pages is a matter of focusing on your customers and their specific needs. Customers want to be assured that they’re at the right place, to understand the benefits of taking the next step and what to expect, to clearly see the action step you want them to take, and to feel confident that they’re making a good decision. Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can optimize landing pages to better meet your customers’ needs:
You’ve Come to the Right Place
Have you ever clicked through an email and then thought, “Huh? What just happened?” If so, you’ve just been the victim of landing page disconnect. This occurs when a landing page greatly differs from the email marketing that led you to it. This can happen as the result of a number of elements:
An offer that is not reiterated: Imagine that you’re driving your daughter to a classmate’s birthday party. You can type the address into your GPS, but doesn’t it make you feel more comfortable to see those ‘Happy Birthday’ balloons tied to mailbox? That’s because even if you’re pretty sure you know where you are, like most people you appreciate a little reassurance that you’ve arrived at the right location.
Landing pages work the same way. An email offer that touts a “Free white paper on email marketing tips” should lead to a landing page that reiterates that offer. Repeating your offer helps people instantly realize they’ve come to the right place.
Your landing page is definitely not the place to test out your company’s new logo or to roll out an entirely different color scheme. Consistency is key to building trust, and having continuity between the look and feel of your email and your corresponding landing page will make visitors feel more comfortable.
You’re Here for the Right Reasons
Reassuring visitors that they’ve arrived at the proper location is the first step in preventing them from bouncing off of the page and moving them towards conversion. But once you’ve passed the first hurdle, your challenge becomes convincing people to take the next step. To accomplish this, you should ensure that the landing page features between 3-5 concise benefits-focused statements that spell out exactly what the visitor can expect as a result of their action.
For example, the benefits for your downloadable white paper on email marketing tips could be something like:
Improve campaign ROI
Increase your deliverability and conversions
Decrease your number of spam complaints
Note that each benefit is brief yet action-oriented, speaking directly to the target audience, and not overly “salesy” either.
You’ve Come to Complete a Task
Some email marketers look at landing pages as just another page of the website, one that should have all of the bells, whistles and navigation that are available on every other page. But smart email marketers realize that the function of a landing page is actually quite different than other pages that are intended to be accessed outside of a specific campaign.
Landing pages are in place to help a visitor accomplish a particular task, such as purchasing your product or signing up for your webinar. Help your visitors stay on task by streamlining your landing pages. Avoid adding any unnecessary links, and consider minimizing the page’s navigation structure to create fewer distractions. If additional information needs to be given before people can be expected to make a decision, you should consider doing so in a pop-up window that allows the landing page to remain in the background.
With landing pages, less is often more. The less distractions and alternate site paths you provide, the more conversions you can anticipate.
You’re Safe Doing Business with Us
Another way to encourage email campaign conversions is to show visitors that they have made a wise and safe decision to do business with you. This doesn’t mean that you should add images of perky customer service representatives or using “Your Business is Safe with Us” as a headline. Remember, you earn a customers’ trust, you don’t just tell them about why they should give it to you.
There are more effective ways of conveying your business’ trustworthiness than resorting to these tired clichés or cheesy graphics. Here are a few that work particularly well:
Third-party testimonials. Landing pages are a great place to showcase brief quotes from happy customers talking about the benefits and return on investment gained from purchasing your product or service. Keep them brief so they don’t take up a too much space on the screen.
Media mentions. If your business or product has been featured in a local, regional or national news broadcast or publication, or received a feature story in an important industry blog, you may want to consider providing quotes from the news stories or using that media outlet’s logo with an ‘As Seen in’ header.
Awards. Similar to media mentions, awards can help establish your business’ credibility. Award logos or quotes should also be brief; you should add additional information or links about the accolade elsewhere on your site in case the visitor decides to investigate later, so they won’t feel duped.
Applicable Policies. Customers are concerned about privacy and your company policies, and will want to know what you’re going to do with their personal info, what will happen if they need to request a refund, and what you’re going to do with the credit card number they just entered. Depending on the nature of your business, a quick link to your privacy policy, return policy, satisfaction guarantee or terms of service - preferably in a pop-up window that returns the visitor back to the landing page once their question is answered - can offer the sense of security customers need to take the next step.
The Secret is Simple: Stay Customer Focused
The secret to improving your landing pages and increasing conversions is quite simple: Just pay attention to your customers’ needs and ensure that your landing pages address them all. Reiterate your email offers to show customers that they’re exactly where they need to be. Showcase your offer’s benefits and design a clear pathway between the customer and the goal. Finally, give your customers the information they need to feel confident about their decision to do business with you. With effort and perseverance, optimization of your landing pages will likely improve your email campaign conversions … and your bottom line.
Some Top Brands Using Facebook Pages and Why They're Successful
Dec 20th
So, your business has a Facebook page. Or you’re thinking about one. But have you ever wondered what successful Facebook page owners are doing right? Well, look no further.
This post examines some of the top Facebook pages from brands you’ll surely recognize. But regardless how large – or small – your business is, hopefully you’ll discover some great ideas that will help you take your Facebook experience to the next level for your fans.
Each of these pages has incorporated unique features that have attracted hundreds of thousands (or even millions!) of fans, as well as the notice of major media publications. That’s no small feat, considering how many new pages are popping up daily on Facebook!
It’s important to remember, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel with your Facebook presence. Instead, why not check out what others are doing, and tweak these strategies to make them your own?
#1: Red Bull
The Red Bull team is very much in tune with their target audience. This is evidenced by their unique content and the custom apps used throughout their page.
Red Bull delivers what they know their audience will respond to best. For example, they’ve created a series of online games for their fans, very aptly called the “Procrastination Station.” The games are geared toward sports and extreme, high-impact competitions.
Red Bull also created a web TV program that’s featured prominently on their Facebook page. There are many different segments, many which spotlight the lives of sponsored athletes. Not only does this web TV show align the brand with celebrity athletes, but it also incorporates video into the page, which gives the audience another way to interact with Red Bull.
Another smart feature of Red Bull’s page is their welcome tab. When a non-fan lands on their page, they see the image shown below. They creatively encourage fans to “Like” their page with this attention-grabbing image. Also, they only put one thing on their welcome tab, making it very clear what action step they want to happen. If you have too much information on your welcome tab, your fans will get confused and are not likely to take ANY action. So less is definitely more. Stick with just one call to action.
Facebook Tip: One area you should consider spending a bit of money on is the creative design of your page. When design is done right, it can really make a great first impression with non-fans. Also, when you design your Facebook page, pay close attention to your call to action, specifically the all-important “Like” button. What can you do to grab the attention of your new visitor and encourage them to click on your “Like” button quickly? The creative design on Red Bull’s welcome tab does just that!
#2: Uno Chicago Grill
Uno Chicago Grill has taken full advantage of the Facebook app FBML to highlight their menu options in an extremely appealing way. They have many tabs dedicated to specific areas of their menu and use imagery to entice their fans. In addition, on their welcome tab they link to the most important areas of their website, including locations and online ordering options. When non-fans come to their page for the first time, they get an instant snapshot of Uno’s offerings.
In addition, Uno has incorporated a Fan of the Week contest on their Facebook page. Fans get their photo posted directly on the profile image of the restaurant’s wall.
This is great exposure and a lot of fun for the fans that participate and get selected.
To take it one step further, Uno does something unique with their Fan of the Week contest—they ask fans to post photos of themselves while at an Uno restaurant, thereby encouraging fans to come in and dine.
This is a great strategy to bring online fans into their brick-and-mortar establishments!
Facebook Tip: If you have a brick-and-mortar establishment as well, think of creative promotions to entice your fans to visit in person. Contests and special offers are all great ways to invite new fans to come in and check things out!
#3: Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has taken a spot near the top of many “best-of” Facebook page lists due to their unique promotions and fun, innovative and interactive features.
During June-August, their promotion focused on the Summer Snapshot contest, where they encouraged fans to take a photo with the summer Coca-Cola cans. Not only did this get their fans involved with their page, but of course the contest also integrated photos of their products with fans into the page.
Photos are viewed more than any other type of content on Facebook. They go viral quickly because when a fan posts a photo, that photo is then sent out to the news feeds of all of their friends. Many thousands of potential new fans ultimately see these photos.
Here’s an example of a photo posted by a fan for the Coca-Cola contest. Notice how others can vote on each photo? This allows *everyone to get in on the fun!
Facebook Tip: When creating a Facebook contest, keep it simple! The less information your fans need do to enter, the better. Make it easy, fun and make sure to incorporate a sharing component so your contest can spread virally.
#4: Oreo
Another brand which does a fantastic job of creating unique experiences for their fans is Oreo. They know that their cookies have been part of many people’s lives since childhood, and they utilize this angle to create a sense of nostalgia with fans. And it’s working, since they have over 8 million fans to date!
A recent campaign was their “Back to School Memories” initiative, where they asked their fans to share their memories and photos directly on their Facebook page. Once again, remember how important photos are. And by offering unique experiences like Oreo has done with their back to school campaign, brands create a connection to the fans, who become loyal followers and keep coming back for more.
Facebook Tip: You’ll usually get the best response when you ask fans to share something about themselves. Ask them their opinions, thoughts and feedback and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly they start talking!
Other great Facebook pages include Jones Soda, the Travel Channel, the promotions for Toy Story 3 and the Twilight series of films, Burt’s Bees and Uno Chicago Grill. Check them out, and get ideas that you can use in your own Facebook promotion!
And remember, if you don’t have the staff or other resources to manage your own Facebook campaigns, you can bring in experts like Hat Trick Associates to help you and your brands create social media campaigns that connect with, and engage with, your fans.
Marketing During Challenging Times
Dec 13th
May you live in interesting times.
Is that ancient expression a blessing or curse? I suppose it all depends on how you define “interesting” and more importantly how you respond and adapt to it.
`If you define interesting to mean unpredictable, challenging and/or threatening, then we clearly live in interesting times. Business these days is more like shooting the rapids in a rubber raft than canoeing in a duck pond.
It’s too easy to be mesmerized by the danger of capsizing. If you focus on the rocks, that’s where you will go. The secret is to look for and steer to the high water and paddle like crazy.
Survival is Never the Goal
If you set your sights on surviving you could slip and sink. If you set your target as thriving then you just might flourish.
How do you thrive in these turbulent waters?
Marketing is the culmination of all the messages and communication that you and your staff send. In fact, your staff sends more powerful marketing messages than all the advertising in the world could ever do. Thus, marketing becomes the end result of almost every business decision you make.
Think Long Term
You should never make knee-jerk decisions - especially about your business strategy. Gather as much relevant information as you can. Seek the advice of people you respect. Be clear on your purpose. Examine both the short term and long term effects of major decisions. Once you decide, act quickly and confidently. Your staff is looking to you for leadership and hope. Be open to course corrections when and as needed while clearly focused on the objectives and purpose.
Prepare for Disaster, But Don’t Fixate On It
The fire or police department prepares for disaster – but they don’t obsess about it. They analyze, plan, acquire the best tools and rehearse their response so they can move swiftly when needed. Where are you exposed and how can you protect yourself? When you are shooting the rapids it is very foolish to save money by not buying life vests.
Review Expenditures
Don’t make across-the-board cuts. That’s a political response and just plain dumb. You are cutting both valuable, ROI positive activities - that make you money and bring you customers - along with ineffective ones. Instead, categorize expenditures and investments into four categories:
Items that are needed because of the turbulent times to keep you above water or deal with potential disaster. Plus, items that generate a solid return. These are new or increased expenditures.
Items that are mission critical and need to be maintained as is. Nothing more to say here. Cutting anything here would be a very poor business decision.
Items that provide variable return. Peg the expenditure level to the conditions and vary as conditions change. Treat this process like an exchange rate and invest accordingly.
Items of questionable value. Eliminate them, modify them or phase them out completely. This is where some of your cost savings comes from.
Review Training
Review does not necessarily mean reduce or eliminate. Training can be even more important during challenging times. This is when your own skills and those of your staff need to be at their best. You don’t want to lost sales because of poor quality control or customer service. Categorize your training needs into three categories:
Key individuals that will steer you through the turbulent times. Provide individualized coaching or training to them. This is the time to invest strongly in your best assets.
Departments that need to stay sharp and ahead of your competition. Provide group training, tele-seminars, webinars or other special attention to improving their skills sets.
Staff that need to be motivated and reminded of overall purpose. Remind them of the little things that make the difference to customers. Get each of them a copy of a good book that best conveys that message. Ask each staff member to report at weekly meetings on an assigned chapter in that book. Make them feel important to your mission. Remember that it only takes one employee’s mistake (or sabotage) to sink your raft.
Review Advertising
Too many companies make the dumb decision to make major cuts in advertising or marketing communications during turbulent times. My guess is that they were the same folks who didn’t review their marketing during the good times. Categorize your advertising into three categories:
Advertising that is measurable and has demonstrated a profitable ROI. Continue to measure as you grow your investment in this profitable avenue. Unfortunately, too many companies don’t measure their return on advertising or they don’t design their ads or online communications in a way that allows the results to be measured. So they have nothing in this particular category. That’s a shame.
Advertising that has gained market recognition and that you believe to be working. You just don’t have a clue how profitable this venue actually is. Start to build in some measurement indicators. Vary the ads and measure. Then increase or reduce investment appropriately.
Advertising that is merely “me too”. You bought an ad because your competitor did. It might be a waste of money, but you don’t know. Reduce the expenditure, modify the message or medium or simply eliminate it.
Build Relationships
In turbulent times nothing is more important than relationships. We will warmly remember those who suffered with us or helped us through the turbulent times. Invest strongly in strengthening the relationship with your best clients. Segment your clients into three categories:
Best clients. Divert more attention to their wants and needs, and instruct your staff accordingly. Jump through hoops for these clients. Provide them additional value-added services to help them. Communicate with them more often.
Average clients. Maintain your service levels and pricing. Attempt to upgrade them to “A” clients by introducing additional services.
Pain-in-the-you-know-what clients. Don’t let them bully you into reducing your prices. Instead, you might reduce your level of service to them. Give them the choice of upgrading or leaving. You’ll have less stress in your life.
Relationships are your most vital assets
Relationships are ALWAYS more important than your branding - especially during turbulent times. When you have the choice to invest in branding or invest in relationships - choose relationships, every time. It is the far more profitable choice for most businesses, especially small and medium sized enterprises. Don’t forget that big businesses invest in branding because they cannot build relationships. Don’t be fooled by the branding hype.
Online Social Media
Don’t hide. Use the Internet to keep your message and name in front of people. If you haven’t yet created your blog, this is the perfect time to begin. Post regular tips and advice, news and positive messages. Register and maintain your accounts on social networking sites like LinkedIn.com, Plaxo.com and Facebook.com.
Explore the use of Flickr and YouTube.com to publish product news and demonstrations. Barack Obama, used these tools to successfully promote his presidential campaign, and he plans to use them to convey his messages to the American people and the world.
May you thrive in interesting times.
25 Sources To Find Content For Your Next Blog Post
Dec 6th
If you’re a blogger, you already know that sometimes the hardest thing to do is come up with new content for your blog. Finding ideas for your blog (especially if you regular publishing schedule like we do – at least one post a week on Mondays) can often lead to you not blogging at all, because you start hitting the wall when it comes to finding topics to blog about. So I thought you might find it useful to share 25 ways to use the web to find fresh content for your blog. And of course, most of these tips work just as well with creating content for your E-newsletter, email marketing, website copy, article marketing campaign, etc!
Blog Comments
1. Using a plug-in like CommentLuv allows your commenter to share their most recent post. I’ve seen blog titles that have intrigued me and clicked through to read, which then have given me ideas for a post of my own.
2. If you see a comment that really resonates and offers a unique viewpoint, contact the poster directly and ask if they’d like to guest for you and expand on their original comment. Very often they will say yes!
3. Similar to above, if you see a comment you disagree with, expand your own view into a post and offer reasons why your viewpoint is different than the counter-point.
Other Blogs
4. As pointed our in #1, CommentLuv is great for sharing the most recent post of a blogger, but not every blog uses it. So click through the URL of someone’s comment and see what they’re writing about, to see if you can gather ideas from there.
5. Blogrolls. While some have called blogrolls out of date, many bloggers still use them to share what they’re reading. Visit the blogs that your favorite blogger reads, and see what ideas you can glean from them.
6. Many bloggers have category lists for Top 10 Tips and other popular posts in their main navigation menu. Take a look and see what’s there, and use these to construct your own content.
7. Talking about popular posts, if a blogger has their most popular posts on display in the sidebar, click on a few to read and see what made these specific posts so popular. Then see how you can take this inspiration and apply it to your own posts.
Social Bookmarks
8. Delicious is a fantastic resource for finding blog content. Just type your topic into the Delicious search bar and you’ll find a ton of results from people that have saved articles or blog posts about your chosen topic.
9. Stumbleupon is a very cool add-on for your browser which lets you browse websites at random. You can land on some great content that will give you your own ideas for your blog.
10. While not quite as popular as it used to be, Digg still has some great shared posts and news on its site, and can be a great tool for finding new content ideas. Look at the most popular posts and see what new take on these topics you can offer readers.
11. BizSugar concentrates on small business news, and is rapidly gaining in popularity. If your blog relates at all to this niche, you can get some really good story ideas from here.
12. A mix of social community and bookmarking service, Blog Engage is similar to Digg and BizSugar with its voting system, but it focuses a lot on just bloggers and is another great starting point for subject ideas.
Blog Resources
13. One of my favorite blog communities is Scribnia. You can find authors and bloggers based on niches, and this can really help you target the content you’d like to get inspiration from.
14. Alltop offers a great collection of blogs in a myriad of different topics – if you can’t find something to write about there, then you really are stuck!
15. Still viewed by many as the Blogger’s Bible, Technorati has more than 133 million blogs registered within their site. Use the top topics or categories to discover content you can get ideas from.
16. Google Blog Search is a resource which offers a treasure trove of information on every topic under the sun. Much like Technorati and Alltop, use the search tool to find your interests.
17. Another popular resource from Google is their “Trends” portal. If you’re a quick writer, you can write a blog post about a trending topic right now - optimize it for SEO - and hopefully be found by those looking at the trends at that exact moment!
18. Junta 42 offers some great tips on content marketing – check out their articles for ways to get ideas for your own blog. find content for your blog
Social Networks
19. If you’re on Twitter, one of the best ways to find content for your blog is to jump into the weekly #blogchat discussion. Great bloggers, great topics – what more do you need?
20. Staying with the Twitter theme, take a look at what’s trending right now on the platform to see if you can get a post written quickly about it. Just don’t be overly spammy with your hashtags.
21. Once again with Twitter, Twitter Search is great for finding out what people are saying regarding the stuff you blog about – type in your keyword, and see if the current conversations give you inspiration to expand on their topics in a new blog posting.
22. A great application on Facebook is called Networked Blogs, which shares content from Facebook users with blogs and also the Networked Blogs directory itself. You can get a widget with different blogs in it, and use this to build some thoughts for your own content.
23. LinkedIn Groups are perfect for finding blog content. Find an appropriate question being asked there and then write a blog post as the answer.
24. Slideshare is more the just a place for file and document sharing has great presentations that are just chock full of ideas for you to take away and build several blog posts from.
25. In the same way as Slideshare, YouTube is also much more than just a video upload site – think about grabbing a Tips and Advice video, as an example, embedding it into a blog post, and then talking about what else could have been said or added to the video to make it an even better resource.
With these tips, you should be able to find plenty to talk about in your own blog. But for some folks, finding appropriate fresh content isn’t the problem – the time required to track it down, write and edit a blog post, and then uploading it – on a established schedule is the problem. But regular readers of our Hat Trick Associates blog already know that having well written, fresh content on your site very frequently is a critical KEY to having a superior SEO ranking – to convert current visitors and bring new ones in the future.
If you are having trouble finding the time to research and write your regularly scheduled blog, or don’t quite have the desire or writing expertise to get it done efficiently, look into our very cost effective blogging services.
3 Social Media Aggregators That Bring It All Together
Dec 3rd
Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a host of other social media services, people are more connected than ever. But keeping up with all the posts, tweets, status updates and social bookmarks isn’t always easy, because they all come from different social media sites. So how do you connect the different services that keep you connected? How do you steer all of that stuff to one spot on the Web where it becomes a lot easier to manage?
New tools called social media aggregators have risen to address that challenge. Their goal: to provide you with one simple point of entry where you can keep track of the streams from any and all of the most popular social networking sites.
A bunch of social media aggregators (sometimes called “life-streaming” tools) have popped up in recent years, but some social media services don’t always do the job you need them to do. Here’s a look at the three that fulfill the promise of social media aggregation most completely, Streamy, Flock, and FriendFeed.
3 Social Media Aggregators That Bring It All Together
How Laura Roeder Created A Business Model By Helping Small Businesses Become Rockstars
Dec 2nd
The most recent video blog at The Rise To The Top, one of my favorite resources for entrepreneurial advice and online marketing strategies and techniques.
From David Siteman Garland:
Laura Roeder is a cool cat. She isn’t literally a cat, but she has created a interesting business model centered around helping small business owners become rockstars. Not like “grab an instrument” rockstar, but instead a rockstar to a specific niche of people.
I invited Laura on RISE for a few reasons.
- She is super cool and down-to-earth.
- We think similarly, and while I love guests with different opinions of course, sometimes it is fun to pull in someone on the same wavelength.
- She has a lot of great stuff going on that we can all learn from.
In this interview, Laura and I discuss:
- Why she decided to work with small business owners as opposed to corporations.
- Her business model and how she makes money.
- How she has marketed and promoted herself.
- Her platform strategy (this is really interesting).
- Advice for creative entrepreneurs, and much more.
See the interview: http://blog.therisetothetop.com/2010/12/how-laura-roeder-helps-small-businesses-become-rockstars/
Online Reviews: Word Of Mouth, Amplified
Nov 29th
It’s no secret that satisfied customers bring you more sales, while unhappy customers can prevent them. People who feel strongly about a service they received or a product they purchased in either a negative or positive way are very likely to tell others about their experience.
Before the internet, this effect was limited to actual word of mouth. A customer could tell his family, friends and co-workers about his fantastic or horrible experience with your business. But this took some effort on the customer’s part to get the word out, however, and many customers wouldn’t take the time. Very few people actually took the step of writing a letter to the business or would even tell friends about their experience more than a few days after their interaction with a business. Only if they were extremely pleased - or displeased - would the word get out.
The growth of the internet has made it much easier to praise or complain about a company in a public way. But there are many online directories that allow anyone to post a comment about a business. Not only does this allow a customer to make their opinion of your products and services known to many more people, it also opens the door to abuse. Business owners pretending to be customers can post positive reviews. Or disgruntled employees and competitors can post negative reviews. There is no verification that the information posted is true.
All of those reviews are about to become ten times more visible to potential customers who are looking for a local business. Google Places, formerly Google Local Business Listings, has displayed reviews entered by users on their site and a number of other directories. Now Google is integrating information from the Google Places listing into the organic search.
So you’ve worked hard to ensure that your company is one of the first few listings that shows up when customers are looking for the services you provide in your area. Now, right next to the organic listing is a link to customer reviews. Immediately below your URL is your address and phone number from your Google Places listing. Often a snippet of a review is there too. If this happens to be a negative review, the potential customer will almost certainly click on a different listing. It’s the online equivalent of someone standing in front of your business with a sign telling people Don’t Shop Here.
What can you do about it? Well, first of all Google won’t remove a negative review just because you ask them to. But they also won’t take the time to find out whether the information is accurate. You must encourage positive reviews and address negative ones - with your customers and online.
Always Encourage Good Reviews
If there are more positive reviews than negative, the odds say there’s a better chance that a review that shows within the body of your listing will be a good one. Also, if a customer takes the time to look at several reviews, hopefully they will be swayed by the happy customers. You could encourage all of your customers to write an online review, but that will result in more negative reviews as well as positive.
So how can you approach only the satisfied customers with a request for an online review? There are a number of great techniques that we use here at Hat Trick Associates. One of the best takes advantage of the system already in place to solicit customer feedback in place at many businesses already, often in the form of a telephone follow-up or written questionnaire. You could sort out those who have responded favorably and send them a request for an online review. If your request is in the form of an email, you could provide links to your business’s listings on various sites that accept user reviews. You could provide something to your customer in return for taking the time to post a review. A free ice cream, 10% off their next purchase from you, or some other prize could entice them to make the effort and make them feel good about your business at the same time.
Address Damaging Reviews Head On
If you can contact the unhappy customer and solve whatever problem he or she had, they just might be willing to remove the negative review. Whether or not you think the complaint is valid, it’s in your best interest to fix it. This may cost you money - but not doing so could cost you even more. Think about how much you spend to bring in new customers. Don’t let a relatively small amount of money get in your way, even if you’re right and the customer is wrong.
Sometimes it will still be impossible to get the customer to rescind his post. But there are still techniques that you (or we here at Hat Trick Associates) can still use to help mitigate the damage by responding to the complaint online. Post your own comment explaining the situation or apologizing to the reviewer and stating your offer to fix the problem. If another potential customer takes the time to read the whole post, they will see that you’re trying to make your customers happy, and will be far more likely to still do business with you in spite of the negative review.
Other Advice
- Occasionally, a negative review will violate the terms established by the review site, for example using foul language. If this is the case, you can flag it for review and it might be removed by the publishing website.
- Don’t enter multiple positive reviews yourself. Online directories try to prevent fraudulent reviews because they make their site less useful to their visitors.
- Google Places displays reviews from sites such as Insider Pages and Yelp, as well as reviews posted directly to Google. If you ask your customers to post positive reviews, give them links to a variety of review sites. It will look more natural if reviews come from more than one site.
It’s always been critical for a business to cultivate a good reputation, but never before has a dissatisfied customer been able to reach the public, right alongside your advertisement. The majority of consumers are bypassing the yellow pages (when was the last time you used one?) and turning to their favorite search engine to find a business instead, making these reviews more important than ever.
You can no longer afford to not know what reviews are out there or to simply ignore dissatisfied customers. They have more power than ever before. But managing your reputation throughout the internet with an Online Reputation Management Campaign certainly takes time and resources, and a long-term commitment from you.
As part of a comprehensive social media platform or as a stand-alone service, Hat Trick Associates can help you manage your online reviews to maximize the positive word of mouth for your business, and minimize the negative. Contact us for more information on how, including a specific pricing quote created just for you.
Google's Instant Preview Feature Joins Instant Search
Nov 27th
Google wasn’t content with just having Instant Search, now it has introduced a new feature called Instant Previews. Searchers and web users can now browse a large instant “preview” of a site’s content by placing the cursor over the small magnifying glass displayed beside each listing. These previews are large and Google sometimes highlights a major paragraph or quote from each displayed site.
Searchers can get a general look at the layout and design of a site, with graphics and bold headlines usually seen from the preview. However, small print and the general content of the page can’t be read, so searchers will have to click through to your site if they want to read your information. Assuming of course, they don’t find what they’re looking for in the headlines or bold print!
Whether searchers will use this new feature remains to be seen, as even Google doesn’t hit a home run every time (Google Buzz, anyone?) but these instant previews could have some ramifications on who gets the “click through” to their site. One would also reason that getting the top spot in the rankings have diminished somewhat, if searchers can quickly preview all of the top 10 listings and then make their decision. So they might not click the top listing, but decide one lower down is worth clicking. This could make any listing on the first page more worth having, not just the top one.
This doesn’t really affect any of your SEO strategies and you should be optimizing for the search engines as usual. After all, getting those top rankings for your targeted keywords in the major search engines is what brings in the quality traffic to your site. In this regard, it’s business as usual.
However, Google’s Instant Previews does change the whole nature of SERPs or rather Google’s search results in that webmasters and marketers have another hurdle to get past before they get that final click. Searchers might click your top number one ranking preview and decide your page is not up to standard or it’s not what they’re looking for, and can quickly try out the other listings instead.
From Google’s perspective these previews could improve the “overall” quality of their results because searchers will come away happy, especially if they have not wasted their time clicking on a link, only to find it’s not what they’re looking for. Now they can easily find the right results more quickly and efficiently.
For the online marketer or webmaster, Instant Previews can be seen as another chance to get that all important click. They must make sure their page design is of high quality, and that pages feature a catchy headline which will draw visitors to their website. Highlighting a well-worded summary could also help attract more quality visitors. Placing your main keyword phrase in bold print so that it can be read from the preview is also a good idea going forward.
Needless to say, web marketers must still always keep their targeted keywords front and center. Highlighting them on your page in the main title is a given, but now you should make sure they can be read from the preview. This could possibly give you an edge with it comes to getting that click from Google!
On a more general note, these previews also add to the time searchers will spend on Google’s results pages. Google has been steadily focusing on this factor in recent months. Why? Because the longer a searcher stays on your page, the more likely they are to click your paid ads. Which makes perfect sense, if the searcher can’t find what they’re looking for in the “free organic listings”, they will look to the Adwords listings.
According to Alexa, the average time spent on Google in 2009 it was about 7 minutes…and today in 2010 that average has jumped to 14 minutes or more. And these numbers don’t include the full impact of Google Instant Search and Instant Previews yet, of course. That number should go even higher in the near future. And while this number still can’t touch Facebook’s average time of 30+ minutes, Google has still doubled the time it had only a year ago.
Previews will no doubt improve the effectiveness of Google’s SERPs, as searchers find what they are searching for more quickly, and leave as happy, more satisfied customers. However, for the webmaster and online marketer, keeping Instant Previews in mind when creating webpages is now a must. Here are some tips you can follow:
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Improve Your Graphics - These can really grab the searcher’s attention in the preview so it’s vital to have eye-popping graphics right next to your important information.
Create Great Headlines - Good headlines quickly capture the searcher’s attention and draws him/her to your page; just make them bold enough to be seen in Google’s previews.
Write An Informative Summary - Place your important information in a short summary which also captures the viewer’s attention. Entice these viewers to visit your site or page.
Take A Multi-Layered Approach - Just don’t aim all your marketing towards free organic search, but try video listings, news listings, image listings… to get other ways onto Google’s first page.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising - This is probably not what you want to hear, but paid listings through Google Adwords is another option. Besides, for extremely lucrative keywords, as more and more major companies throw major funds into SEO and Keyword Link Buying, organic search is not really free or even available to everyone for the most competitive keywords. For the small-time web marketer, paid listings in Google may be your only option, an option that is also quickly becoming quite costly for many.
Of course, how Instant Search and Instant Previews play out in the near future is still wide open to speculation.
Will searchers even use these added features in their daily searches? Or will users opt–out and go back to a more gentle, less hurried Google? Only time will tell. But one thing that all of us can be sure of, Google will be constantly rolling out new features and innovations just to make all our lives a little more interesting. And of course, we at Hat Trick Associates strive to always be a close to that cutting edge - to take advantage of the new rules, options or features being rolled out - so contact us today if you could use some web content and distribution assistance, to keep YOUR business ahead of the curve…and you competition!