For years, some web designers have adhered to a long-believed newspaper philosophy that the only content that matters is the content “above the fold.” In the paper-and-ink world, that term refers to stories that appeared on the upper half of a folded broadsheet newspaper. In web design, it speaks to the first thing visitors see when they pull up a web page. There’s increasing evidence, however, that the “fold” in web design isn’t as important as some people think. In fact, according to a 2009 study by British web design agency CX Partners, eye tracking data suggests the “fold” isn’t…

For the most part, blogging is universally regarded as an advantageous tool for businesses.

Not utilizing a blog is a poor decision because there is an untapped wealth of potential out there that a blog can help reach. Consider all of your customers-in-training that would want to see the side of your company only a blog can show. You can use a blog to add that personal touch to a company that may not necessarily have such an image.   One of the only problems with this, however, is that blogging requires…

You know about Quora and its potential to drive web traffic, but how can you get started using Quora for your content marketing strategy? Here are five ideas from Clare McDermott at the Content Marketing Institute: #1 – Follow Your Customers Find out what interests your customers and get a leg-up by answering their questions thoughtfully and intelligently. #2 – Follow Your Competitors What better way to gain competitive advantage than to know precisely what your rivals are chatting about? #3 – Find Blog Fodder David Reich of SixEstate Communications thinks Quora…

When asking yourself “Is content strategy really that important?” think about whether you’d trust, respect and follow a strategy that consisted solely of: C’mon, let’s blog! You need to be more strategic with content than that! A great content marketing campaign is much more likely to succeed with the solid support of a well thought-out content strategy. Making the case for strategy is The Content Marketing Institute’s Kathy Hanbury. She writes: “Content strategy activities are scalable and can be modified to fit any budget. You don’t necessarily need a large, formal content…

You can’t have a blog, newsletter or company site without content.

As a result, there is a lot of content that needs to be created, edited and disseminated by your company. Yet there are people that are untrained or uneducated about what it takes to put forth a viable content marketing strategy that centers around engaging writing. If you can’t captivate an audience with your content, your auxiliary efforts will fall short and your competitive positioning will suffer. Here’s how you can take a step toward improving your content: Don’t bury the angle of…

Why do some businesses struggle mightily with keeping their blogs updated, while others post fresh content multiple times a day?

It’s about perspective and dedication. When you believe that blogging is a fad, you can’t be fully dedicated. You don’t have the correct perspective to consistently maintain your blog. To the person that doesn’t believe in blogging, keeping a blog updated is a chore. But to the person that understands the power of a blog and its role in a comprehensive content marketing strategy, it’s simply a job function. There is another factor to…

A blog schedule can set apart a prepared corporate blog and an unprepared one.

The blogs that are prepared for longterm success are those that have mapped their editorial course. One of the main benefits of having a corporate blog and the team of contributers that comes with it is that writing duties get divided up. And yet this can quickly become an issue when trying to maintain a consistent content marketing strategy. To circumvent this problem, you’ll have a few options. One rather straightforward approach would be to…

You say you want an engagement revolution?

Before you get married to the idea that engagement is tough to build, first consider the possibility that it may just boil down to three specific questions. If you can answer these questions about your content, more than likely, you can create engaging content. Here are the questions: Would your content be considered relevant? This is the pinnacle question. Irrelevant content is irrelevant. It has no purpose to the reader. It would be lucky to even get skimmed over. Know your target audience and cater to…