Olivia Dello Buono says, “It’s easy to become obsessed with the latest and greatest “tricks” in email marketing: the formula for creating an effective subject line; the perfect call-to-action copy that will influence more of your subscribers; the ideal way to design an email that will bypass the spam filter. While it’s certainly a good thing to stay on top of the latest email marketing best practices, there is one key to boosting subscriber engagement that is often overlooked. And that’s sending valuable content your subscribers expect and want to receive from you. But how do... [...]

Christina Baldassarre says, ” Content marketing has been around for centuries. Benjamin Franklin began publishing the journal Poor Richard’s Almanack to promote his print business back in 1732, Michelin launched the Michelin Guide back in 1900, and Jell-O began offering free copies of the Jell-O Recipe Book back in 1901. Those fore-founders of content marketing had the right idea. Offer engaging and useful content to your customers, and it will boost sales, grow your community and increase brand loyalty. Jell-O’s sought-after recipe book contributed to more than $1M in revenue in just... [...]

Lux Narayan says, “As with most undertakings, before you begin writing or otherwise creating content, you should ask yourself some stock questions: why, what, when, and where—the 4Ws of content creation. And because creating marketing content is as much science as it is art, the most powerful weapon you have at your disposal is data. So, before you start working on your next piece of content, consider the 4Ws. Also keep in mind how you can use data to resolve the concerns you should be addressing with each question. 1. Why write/create content In marketing, visibility is key. After you... [...]

Stacy DeBroff says, “While both Influencer Marketing and Content Marketing strategies generate rich, compelling storytelling, copy, images and video, their approaches and results couldn’t be more different. In today’s rapidly morphing marketing landscape, brands often find paid-for content confusing particularly when it comes to differentiating between content marketing and influencer marketing. With brands and their agency partners increasingly confusing the two, they risk diluting the powerful attributes that come with each. With content marketing, brands pay to have very specific content... [...]

Matthew Torren says, “For most blog, news, and content website owners, ad revenue is essential. It feeds the budget required to deliver the content that your readers have come to depend on. Unfortunately, in the quest to increase ad revenue, many site publishers have fallen into the trap of adopting aggressive ad placement strategies that wreck the user experience and trigger the tremendous ad blocker adoption rate that now threatens the industry’s survival. Many content companies have responded by trying harder to cultivate relationships with readers, but site owners are also under pressure... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “Last week, we talked about how to really understand who is in your audience. This week, we’re shifting into what kind of message they want and need from you. Brian kicked off on Monday with a piece of classic marketing advice (exemplified by a classic American comic film): It’s not enough to just know your audience. You also need to put their interests and desires ahead of your own. That might sound impossibly idealistic — but in fact, it’s pure pragmatism. On Tuesday, Beth Hayden gave some specific thoughts on how to do it, by creating extraordinarily generous... [...]

Lindsay Colowich says, “Creating content isn’t always a walk in the park. (In fact, it can sometimes feel more like trying to swim against the current.) While other parts of business and marketing are becoming increasingly automated, content creation is still a very manual job. That being said, there are plenty of tools out there to make creating content much easier. Below, you’ll find a list of 36 fantastic tools and resources to help you research, write, edit, and design content more easily. (You’ll notice there are a lot of design tools in here — that’s because... [...]

Steve Lazuka says, “If your content doesn’t provide readers with value, solve a problem, answer a question or entertain, then it doesn’t really serve a purpose. Have you ever had what you thought was a great post idea, but it failed to resonate or, more importantly, get shared? It’s frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be. Writing content that readers will love isn’t only about what you write, but how you write it. Here are four keys to help you unlock your creative juices and increase your chances for writing content that readers — and Google — will love. Be irresistible Great... [...]

Brian Clark says, “It’s been almost two years since I started Further, my curated email newsletter about personal growth. And there’s no mistaking that the project was inspired by Dave Pell’s NextDraft. Content curation is all about becoming a trusted editorial source that finds the best information within a certain topic from amongst the valueless clickbait and mediocre dross that overruns the web. Pell’s NextDraft takes on the daunting task of delivering “the day’s most fascinating news,” plus commentary that’s often better than the links themselves. Even though Further... [...]

Beth Worthy says, “One of the keys to building credibility with search engines is to keep creating fresh content. But not every website owner has time to create the quantity of quality content favored by search engines or like-minded thought leaders. Here are ideas to speed up the content-generating process without sacrificing quality. Avoid fluff Rule No. 1 when trying to produce several 500-1,000 word articles per week is to not fall into the trap of creating fluff that doesn’t benefit anyone. Users certainly won’t keep coming back to your site if all you give them is useless... [...]