5 Helpful Content Marketing Posts from 2014

This is money

Wow, 2014 ended two months ago now! 


It’s probably best to leave the past in the past, but gosh, do you think there’s anything we can learn from it?

I mean, people went to work, and they did things, and sometimes two sticks were even rubbed together and amazing new thoughts came out. 


Yes, I’m talking about content marketing, and 2014 wasn’t the wasteland we thought it was. In fact, it had some good stuff.

I’d like to share a little of that stuff with you today. These are posts I collected in my Midweek Content Roundup posts and then bundled into my 2015 SEO book, Stand Out.

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I hope you get some good tips, and I hope you buy the book. If you don’t, you’ll probably be OK. But OK isn’t going to get you to the top, now is it? 


Thanks!

#1 Enticing Readers
Adrian Leighton had a post on Oxygen 2.0 on October 20 called How to Write a Blog: 80 Power Words to Entice New Readers to Your Blog. In it he’s got several power words divided into these lists:

• Persuasive words;
  
• Exciting words;
  
• Positive words;
  
• Cause & effect phrases or words;
  
• Tempting words;
  
• Words to increase curiosity;
  
• Words to add time pressure to your reader.
  

This is a really fun and useful post, and you’ll be tempted to print those lists out and hang them above your desk. Well, why not?

 

#2 Examining Infographics
At the beginning of July, Scott Ayres put up an infographic on Post Planner called Here’s How to Use Social Media for Online Lead Generation. This is a bit of what it looks like:

I know why I saved the link to this infographic – it’s got large print that’s easy to read. It might not have a lot of flashy art or cool images, but it does give me valuable information that makes me nod my head while I calculate new ways to conquer the world.

That’s valuable, but more than that, it stands out in a crowded social group or community or feed. Yep, when you’re posting infographics, you want to avoid that tall and narrow look and go more for a full-figured or at least short and plump feel.

Everyone might say they like those sexy infographics better, but from what I’ve seen at the hangouts, that’s just not the case. Consider that in early 2015 when you’re making your infographic marketing plan for the quarter or year.

Since we’re on the topic, let’s look at some infographics and how they can look in a Google+ community. Here’s one that’s fairly easy to see and read when you’re quickly scrolling down the feed:

Good infographic for social media

This one just a few posts below it, however, is much worse. It may have great information, but I can’t see it clearly enough to tell, and I’m not going to scrunch up my eyes and narrow in on it – I’m just going to move on.

Decent infographic for social

I mean, gosh – even the big SEO picture next to that is just drowning it out. Still, that’s not the worst, not by far. This is what the worst looks like:

Terrible infographic for social

I mean, how can I read that infographic? That’s the tall and narrow I’m talking about, and you do not want that. Comparing the social likes on those three posts just hours after they went up:

The first infographic got 19 +1’s and 18 shares;
The second got 8 +1’s and 2 shares;
The third got nothing.

Remember, we went down that group in the order that had us seeing the most recent posts first. So even being in that group the least amount of time, that larger and clearer and better infographic had more shares and more likes.

You can tell which infographics are doing their job and which aren’t, and also which will make you look bad or just foolish if you send them. Keep that in mind in 2015, because you don’t want someone like me going through and taking a screenshot of your crappy infographic and sharing it in a book.

And what did this infographic from Ayres say, the one that started this whole discussion? Pretty much that social is on the rise. It’s got a lot of stats, but honestly, there’s nothing new and I think it’s just preaching to the choir. Again, the real value in these short-term stats infographics is dissecting them so you can use their template ideas and presentation qualities yourself.

 

#3 Content Curation Facts
Jayson DeMers had a post on Scoop.It on March 11 called 6 Facts About Content Curation You Might Not Know. Those six facts were:

• When combined with original content, curated content ranks well;
  
• Curated content can create inbound links;
  
• The quality of the sites you link to is important for SEO;
  
• ‘Link hoarding’ will damage your relationships;
  
• Content creation increases your site’s ‘freshness’ factor;
  
• You can rank for both short- and long-tail keywords.
  

Again, these are all good things to consider when you begin doing content curation posts, or just get a bit more serious about yours.

This whole book that you’re reading came about from my weekly Midweek Roundup content curation posts, which I started back in March of 2014. No one visited when I began, but by the end of the year I was getting a hundred hits on that post on the day it went up…which is really good for my site.

And that increased traffic meant a bit more social shares, a few more followers, and a bit more advertising revenue. Multiply that by the forty or so weeks that I put out a content curation post in 2014 and you’ve got some sizable earnings.

Still wondering if content curation is something you should consider for 2015? You shouldn’t be.

#4 Tons of Experts
Adam Connell had a post on Blogging Wizard on July 15 called 43 Experts Share Their Top Tips To Grow Your Online Presence. This is actually a pretty good expert roundup because each person is given a couple short paragraphs, and some of them even get a bulleted list!

I think a lot of this has to deal with what the experts themselves say, and if you want to stand out on an experts post, perhaps do more than what’s expected of you. Connell sure did a lot more that most expected, and I think this will be one post you’ll want to hold up as something to strive for in 2015.

 

#5 About Us Pages
8 Ways To Create An About Page That Sizzles For Your Blog was a post I just had to click on. It appeared on April 7 on Twelve Skip and was written by Pauline Cabrera. Those eight ways are:

• Describe your blog;
  
• Tell them about yourself;
  
• Add your picture in;
  
• Share your story;
  
• Show off your favorite and/or most popular posts;
  
• Include your contact info;
  
• Add a call-to-action (CTA);
  
• Add extra fun stuff.
  

Wow, that last one there tells you nothing, huh? What Cabrera’s getting at is having fun quotes, images of where you work, maybe a video…things like that.

I’m continually surprised by the amount of traffic my About Us page and also my Contact page get. Sometimes they do better each month than quite a few of my posts. And that’s why I have some ads there, but also some calming and peaceful images. I also have some sass. Curious? You’ll have to check it out.

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