Optimizing Content for Consumers NOT Just Keywords

Keywords are important, but your consumers are more likely to engage with your content and consequently your brand, if the content you provide actually gives them what they want.

Consumers will favor brands whose content includes the following:

• Clear and simple answers to consumers’ questions
• Clear, easy-to-follow directions to consumers’ most common online paths (i.e. checking out with a coupon or signing up for an email newsletter)
• Unique, creative content with little to no grammar and spelling errors
• Information and facts relevant to the products and brand and that the consumer is interested in
• Relevant and desired “Calls-to-Action” (CTAs)

Consumers want content that is:

• Fresh
• Exciting or entertaining
• Easy and quick to read or view
• Funny, Sad, happy—in some way emotional
• Worth sharing with friends/family
• Unique and individual when compared to their competitors’ content (doesn’t necessarily mean the subject matter itself, but can be the way its presented, the voice used, images chosen, or overall layout)

So how do you optimize content for consumers?

1. Find out what your consumers like! Use simple on-site surveys to ask consumers what type of content they prefer (video, blogs, infographics, etc.) and adjust your strategy accordingly.

2. Figure out the voice your brand uses and ensure its still resonating with your desired customer base. Brands grow and change as their consumers do, so be sure that over time, your content voice is “evolving” accordingly.

3. Talk to them as a human not a brand or computer. They want to connect with you on a personal level so they know they matter to you as more than just a source of profit.

4. Be aware of outside trends related to your consumers from either competitors or other non-competing brands and products within your industry.

5. Ask consumers what they want to know more about, hear more about, see change, or have clarified. This is an easy way to generate content and acknowledge customer needs and desires while also providing key information that’s most likely keyword rich.

6. Adapt to your customer base’s age, generation and demographic. This one is simple. As your brand grows older, your customer base either grows older or undergoes a general shift. For example, if your customer base was Baby Boomers and is now Seniors, the concerns, way of talking, imagery and way content is presented will change. If your products target young teens, you will see a generational shift from Millennials to
Generation Y or Z and will need to adapt your strategies according to each generation’s way of thinking or utilizing technology and your products. Finally, as times change, so too does the value of a given product or the financial capability of many consumers. Be aware of the economic influences on your target audience and be looking for ways to help get more customers by altering costs. The once overly expensive Apple Watch is a good example. Apple has since begun lowering its price to reach more customers as smartwatch desires decline.

Original post: Optimizing Content for Consumers NOT Just Keywords

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Vidyard’s Home for the Holidays [Video]

The holidays are upon us. If you’re anything like us, you’re probably busy wrapping things up and getting ready for a few days full of festivities, reuniting with family, and eating more food than you can reasonably handle.

But at Vidyard, there’s a certain someone that doesn’t want us to go home for the holidays…

Happy holidays to you and yours from all of us at Vidyard!

The post Vidyard’s Home for the Holidays [Video] appeared first on Vidyard.

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How to Stay Up to Date on Blogging and Content Marketing Trends

Perhaps you’re doing well now, but will you still be competitive in six months, a year, or five years? If you continue using the same techniques and processes, then chances are, you’ll eventually fade into obscurity. That’s why we recommend developing a method of staying up to date with new trends and industry developments.

5 Ways to Stay Current

While the growth of the internet means the average persons has access to more information than ever before, the ironic thing is that – much of the time – it’s actually harder to consume that information.

If we used to drink from a garden hose, we’re now trying to drink from a fire hydrant. Sure, more is coming out, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting more. In order to tame the deluge of information and stay current on content marketing, you need a plan.

1. Personal Networking

The very first thing you should do is build up a core network with other content marketers and those familiar with your industry. You don’t need a group that meets once a month – or even someone who you have a regular lunch meeting with. You just need some contacts that you frequently brush shoulders with and are able to contact when you have questions or issues. The more exposure you have to other people in the industry, the less likely it is that you’ll fall behind.

2. Industry Blogs

There are thousands of blogs and websites dedicated to content marketing. How can you possibly sort through the worthless to find the valuable tidbits of information that you need to thrive? The solution is to find the right blogs and curate information from them.

According to Consultants 500, there are 19 content marketing blogs worth following. This includes well-known blogs like Content Marketing Institute, The Marketing Profs, and Convince and Convert, as well as lesser known ones like Digiday and Spark Sheet.

3. Competitor Analysis

Believe it or not, you can learn a lot by studying your competitors. Create a list of three of your closest competitors and make it a point to spend 30 minutes on each of their websites and social media profiles per month.

When conducting competitive analyses on these three competitors, you aren’t trying to mimic or copy what they’re doing. The goal is to get a pulse on their activities and see what they’re writing about, offering, saying etc.

4. Continuing Education

When most people think about continuing education, industries like medicine, law, and real estate come to mind. However, continuing education – in a less formal sense – is very much important in content marketing. It may come in the form of online courses, webinars, and tutorials.

5. Google Alerts

“Use Google Alerts to set up email updates regarding the trends that are the most pertinent to you. They will show up in Google results if you just state your topic of interest, which could be social media, content writing or anything related to digital marketing,” content marketer Jaykishan Panchal suggests. “You can filter these results further by region, occurrence and relevance.”

If you aren’t familiar with Google Alerts, then you need to read up on them. They allow you to track specific topics without having to manually input searches. This is a wonderful way to track the evolution of subjects in a very hands-off fashion.

Stay Up to Date

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to stay current without overwhelming yourself. Try to focus on these five methods and you’ll find that you’re up to date on just about everything you need to know to be a better content marketer.

Original post: How to Stay Up to Date on Blogging and Content Marketing Trends

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7 Tips for Writing Better Instructional Content

The better you convey information to your readers, the more chance you’ll have of attracting new readers as well as retaining your existing audience. When it comes to instructional content, which entails teaching a lesson or providing a tutorial, this is of particular importance.

You need to become an effective teacher when you write this kind of content, so your students — your readers — will keep investing in your material. So how can you do this?

Why Instructional Content Is So Effective
First, we have to discuss what makes instructional content such a powerful tool in content marketing:

– Practicality. First, instructional content is practical, which means it has the potential to make a difference in someone’s life. It’s not just entertaining; it’s helpful.

– Demand. People will always desire instructional content because nobody knows how to do everything. So there’s always a demand for this kind of content.

– Opportunity. Because instructional articles and content come in a variety of different forms, on all sorts of different topics, you have countless opportunities for new development.

– Search optimization. Instructional content is also valuable because people frequently search for it online, which makes it a viable strategy for boosting your SEO.

How to Become a Better Teacher (in Writing)

When you’re ready to start becoming a better teacher in your writing, here are the strategies you’re going to want to employ:

1. Be a problem solver. As described by guitar teacher Tom Hess, one of the best ways to create better instructional content is to play the role of a problem solver. Instead of trying to create instructional content in the format of a flat “matter of fact” piece, focus on the problems your audience tends to encounter. For example, if you’re writing about baking cookies at the proper time and temperature, focus on the problem of getting cookies that are too soft or too crispy. This approach will make your content more relatable, and more appealing to an audience.

2. Write specifically to one niche. When you’re getting started, it’s better to write for one specific niche rather than a general audience. This may limit the total number of people you’re apt to reach with your content, but you’ll bring those people greater relevance and significance. It’s better to have a few hundred loyal readers than a few thousand casual and fickle ones, especially when you’re initially trying to find your footing as a content marketer.

3. Include resources for multiple learning styles. Not everybody learns the same way. In fact, there are dozens of different learning styles that affect how people receive and interpret new information. For that reason, it can be useful to readers, and beneficial to you, to create content that appeals to as many different learning styles as possible. Include written content, visual content, and audio content whenever you can.

4. Use figurative language and storytelling. According to Peter Fuda, metaphors are one of the most powerful rhetorical devices we have at our disposal because of their ability to encapsulate complex topics in simple, easily digestible concepts. Storytelling works much in the same way: by spinning an entertaining, approachable narrative that stands for a much deeper or more complex situation. Learn to use these devices effectively and you’ll be able to teach better and create a unique “voice” for your brand at the same time.

5. Learn from your competitors. The odds are, you won’t the first person to publish instructional content in your particular niche. Take some time to research your competition and see what they’re writing, how they’re presenting it, and who their audience appears to be. Take care not to duplicate their tactics directly, but do try to learn from what they’re doing, and apply those lessons to your own writing.

6. Be willing to adapt. Great teachers don’t maintain the same tactics for too long; they recognize that true effectiveness comes from improvement and adaptation over time. Turn a critical eye on the work you’ve done up to now, and pay attention to which of your articles is performing better than the others. The more you learn, and the more you’re willing to adjust your approach, the more potential for growth you’ll enjoy.

7. Seek feedback. Go out of your way to collect feedback from your readers and students. Read the comments you get at the tail end of your posts and on social media, and thinking about circulating an occasional survey so you can gather more quantitative, objective feedback about your work. It’s the best way to learn your strengths and weaknesses, so you can adapt accordingly.

You probably won’t become a masterful instructional writer overnight, but given time, patience, practice, and a willingness to learn, there’s no limit to how powerful your content may become.

Remember, the student-teacher relationship operates in both directions, so the better you understand your students’ needs, the better you’ll be able to address them. Work actively to tap into your readers’ mindset, and continue to give them exactly what they need.

Original post: 7 Tips for Writing Better Instructional Content

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3 Tips to Outsource Like a Boss

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

I am guessing you want your website or online business to go far, right? If that is the case, you need to start bringing more people in and stop doing everything yourself.

At this point you might be thinking: “But my website/business is small! I don’t make nearly enoough to hire employees!”

But who said anything about hiring employees?

While you are small, a cheaper a more efficient solution is to outsource. That is, to hire the services of other people and companies to help out with your business. Here are 3 tips that will help you with that:

1. Identify Where you Add Value

If you are a talented writer and that is what drives people to your blog or website, there is no point in wasting time dealing with technical details. This means that it would be wise to outsource the website and hosting management to someone who is good and likes doing that kind of stuff.

Similarly, if you are a tech person but ends up writing content just because you need to have a freshly updated blog to attract customers, why not hire a writer to create that content while you focus on developing technical features?

Focus on your strengths and outsource the rest. This will help your business grow and make more money in the long run.

2. Find Outsourcing Candidates Efficiently

The whole point of oursourcing is to gain agility and to be able to focus on the things where you add value. If you spend a whole month posting job listing on several sites it will beat the purpose, right?

One thing you can do to speed up the process is post your job at Betterteam.com. It is a platform that will automatically broadcast your job listing to 100+ job sites around the web. Pretty cool huh? This will allow you to reach a much wider range of candidates, and it will allow you to find the right person to outsource much faster.

3. Measure the Results

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Ideally, write key aspects of your business down for a month or so before you start outsourcing, and then track the numbers after you start doing it.

You obviously want to see improvements on those key variables. For instance, if you are a writer, once you outsource the technical details of your website you should see an increase in both amount of content you will publish on the site and monthly site visitors. Google Analytics has several functionalities that will help you measure not only web visitors, but actions and special events that you can setup.

If the numbers are improving, keep going and consider outsourcing even more stuff! If they are not improving, consider what might have gone astray and try to fix it.

Good luck!

Original post: 3 Tips to Outsource Like a Boss

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Have You Met V-Bot?

When you think of technology and software, do you think of something that’s cold, mechanical, and unfriendly? Software is something for the IT department to deal with, right? Something you have to use to get your job done. It works well enough sometimes, and other times it causes you to glare at your computer and sigh exasperatedly.

At Vidyard, we’ve always prided ourselves on being different. Yes, we’re a software company. But more importantly, we’re a company that loves people. Everything we do is focused on the people who use our product. We focus on how we can help our customers become the best versions of themselves, and how we can help them learn about and inspire their own audiences. That’s where V-Bot comes in.

Hi, I’m V-Bot!

If you’ve taken a look through our website, watched our videos, and gone to some of the biggest industry events and parties, chances are you’ve already seen or even met V-Bot. But who—and what—is V-Bot? Our mighty green robot mascot has been a part of our Vidyard family from the very beginning, as a ‘living’ symbol of the qualities we believe in: unmatched power and knowledge, combined with friendliness and human connection.

Birth/first drawing of V-Bot, circa 1 AV

In V-Bot, not just our platform is represented, but the experience of our platform. Our Vidyard platform provides customers with online video hosting and streaming tools, and an abundance of in-depth analytics like which videos viewers are watching, what (and when and from where!) they’re sharing and downloading, and how long they stay engaged. V-Bot’s friendly eyes, anthropomorphic form, and contagiously fun personality are a reminder that knowledge isn’t just data and cold facts. It means getting the insights you need for your business to truly understand your audience, so you can relate to them not just as an organization, but as people.

Ta da!

At Vidyard, we’ve come to realize that V-Bot is beloved not just by us, but by our audience and customers. We see the love that V-Bot gets at events, and the worldwide trips he goes on with customers, and we know that V-Bot is thrilled to be embraced (literally!) by the families of our Vidyard customers, igniting the desire for knowledge, creativity, and human connection for years and years to come.

V-Bot getting some help with Tree pose at an industry conference

V-Bot is beloved by our customers…and their children, too! (And sometimes even family dogs!)

That’s why, if you’re keen of eye, you will have noticed that our logo has changed during this past year. V-Bot deserves pride of place in our logo…we couldn’t think of a better way to share what Vidyard and V-Bot stand for!

Previous Vidyard logo

New, glorious Vidyard logo

Whether you’re in a marketing, sales, communications, or support role, V-Bot wants to help you set your business apart from the crowd, create awe-inspiring results like you’ve never had before, and reach your own incredible potential. V-Bot was made for you.

What’s your favorite experience or memory of V-Bot? Let us know and it’ll be sure to put a smile on V-Bot’s face!

The post Have You Met V-Bot? appeared first on Vidyard.

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The Difference between Inspiration and Plagiarism

Plagiarism has become one of the biggest problems in the sphere of modern writing. Many of you would agree that we are not able to reinvent the wheel. We live in the society and surrounded by other people and their works. Without any doubts, all this influences on us.

When writing something, we certainly use the words and thoughts of other people. We take them as role models. When we read their stories or works, they truly inspire us. Due to this, we are able to create something by our own hands, but would it be considered plagiarism? How to draw the line between plagiarism and inspiration, when we use others to get inspired? In fact, it’s not so easy to answer the question.

What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the process of borrowing the thoughts and ideas of others and pretending them to be your own. It’s okay to quote other sources if you show the reference of the quote. If there are any similar thoughts or topics, similar to the works of others, you should certainly indicate the reference.

There are so many plagiarism checkers this day. Unfortunately, they made people think that plagiarism is only a word-for-word copying. In fact, even copying the ideas can be considered plagiarism. If you are unsure about your writing, there are so many plagiarism checkers to figure everything out. Due to them, you’ll be able to see those, who have stolen your works and published them on their own website. Telling the truth, plagiarism is a frequent phenomenon even among well-known writers. In many universities, a plagiarized work can be a reason for dismissal.

What is Inspiration?

Inspiration is a sudden creative clever idea, which is inspired by another person, event, and work, thought or even daydreaming. In some way, it’s a driving force, which inspires you moving ahead. You are inspired to collect different facts to complete your research. However, this bunch of ideas, should have evidence and be proved during the research. It’s not illegal to write something if you are inspired by the work of another author. Don’t you agree that all famous writers began as simple story readers?

At the same time, one should understand that creating your own work would never happen in a vacuum. Everything, which exists have already been said or invented, so no matter what you create, it would be always be based on the works of other people. You just only get inspired by that.

How to Distinguish Between Inspiration and Copying?

If you find some information and simply add it to your paper, it’s considered to be plagiarism. If you find something and start doing the research into it: reason about the topic, consider the sources, check its logic- you are inspired.

Many say that quoting one source can be considered plagiarism, but many – inspiration. In fact, this phenomenon is very scary, when it comes to creating an essay. Telling the truth, all the essays and articles are changed works of other people detailed research.

Plagiarism & Law

Plagiarism is closely connected with law. Here is a list of things law considers to be plagiarism infringement:

-Creating derivative works, which are based on the works of other people;
-Displaying copied works of others;
-Publicly performing the works of others, without their permission;
-Reproducing the works of others, without their permission;
-Distributing the works of others, without permission.

The development of Web makes it really easy to use the works of others while creating your own. All of us can see that there are many sources, which are so similar.

College Plagiarism

It’s really difficult to draw the line between inspiration and plagiarism when it comes to college. If your text is similar to one online or handed in by another student, it’s considered to be plagiarism and you are simply out. If you re-write someone’s work, it’s also plagiarism. In fact, stealing the ideas of others is also plagiarism.

At the same time, the Internet is packed with all possible information, so even if you write something and consider it to be your own thought, it would certainly be mentioned somewhere on the Web by another individual.

Yes, the question is quite controversial. However, what is bad, when we use the thoughts of others? The ideas can’t be locked in our head – they should be always shared. If you don’t want others to use your ideas, you’d better communicate with no one.

In fact, there is a positive moment about it: if people take your thoughts and copy them, maybe you have created something right, something which inspires many.
In conclusion, it can be said that copying is a primal process. We imitate everything we learn and see. Is it bad? Why should we avoid all those fantastic ideas, many people have created and it’s really silly to omit them?

Alexandra Foster is an ex-English teacher who helps parents/students and organizations with educational planning. She is a tech savvy, who loves education and technology, that makes studying process more convenient and collaborative. Currently working with Noplag.com team as a consultant

Original post: The Difference between Inspiration and Plagiarism

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5 Tools All Marketers Should be Using for a More Engaging Blog

Do you have a roadmap in place for developing high-quality blogs? Do you know which writing styles resonate with your audience? What about which topics they love and how to approach them most efficiently? Do you know which blog development tools are at your disposal?

Using blogging tools correctly is one of the most efficient things bloggers can do, but many overlook it completely.

Today, there are dozens of fantastic tools on the web designed specifically to help bloggers share their thoughts and build a more engaging platform.

With that in mind, here are the top five top blogging tools that you should be using (10 more here if you have time!).

1. Grammarly

Grammarly.com is a powerful spelling and grammar checker that picks up mistakes Microsoft Word will not. From overused words and passive voice, to confused possessives and contractions, Grammarly does it all, and it’s a critical tool for any blogger who wants to escape the embarrassment of pushing out a blog riddled with typos. Plus, since it plugs directly into Google Chrome, it checks all of the text you write online, including your emails. There’s a desktop version, as well, for those times when you’re offline.

Grammarly offers both a free and a paid plan, and it’s well worth the investment for bloggers to hop in on it.

2. BuzzSumo

Content fatigue is a real thing for busy bloggers, and it can be tough to keep the creative juices flowing when you’re feeling exhausted by the sheer volume of content you have to create. Fortunately, a tool like Buzzsumo.com can help. BuzzSumo is a simple, far-reaching tool that can do everything from helping you research keywords to showing you which content is performing the best for a given topic.

Here’s how it works: just select the “content research” tab at the top of the screen and type in your keyword or phrase. Click “search,” and BuzzSumo will give you a list of the top-performing posts for that phrase.

You can also use the platform to search for influencers and monitor keywords or topics.

3. HubSpot’s blog topic generator

HubSpot is one of the leading names in the online marketing industry, and their blog topic generator tool is made by bloggers, for bloggers. While BuzzSumo can combat content fatigue by showing you which content is performing the best on social media, HubSpot’s blog topic generator fights fatigue by simply giving you an actionable, exciting list of blog headlines to choose from.

Here’s a sample list of blog topics created with the input words “digital” and “marketing.”

4. Hemingway app

Did you know that the most desirable reading level for your online content is about 8th or 9th grade? Do you know what an 8th or 9th-grade reading level looks like, though? If the answer is “no,” there’s a fantastic tool out there to help you. It’s called the Hemingway App.

A simple app that you can just copy and paste your text into, Hemingway shows you places where you can swap out complicated words for simple ones, shorten sentences, and correct overly-difficult words and phrases. Ideal for anyone who works in the online space and worries about the clarity of their writing, Hemingway is a fantastic check-in that can work wonders for your online material.

5. Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer

As a blogger, you know that your headlines are critical, and that they’ve got to be good to draw readers in. But do you know how to measure their emotional impact? If not, head to the Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer by AMI. Just input your headline and the tool will give you an immediate analysis of its quality. For best conversion rates, shoot for an EMV score of between 50-70%. For an example, here’s one of the HubSpot headlines, plugged into the EMV analyzer.

Simple Tools for Better Blogging

Every great blogger wants his or her blog to succeed, but this can be easier said than done. If you’re looking for a way to transform the success of your blog and make writing it easier, these five tools are for you.

Dave is the CEO of Dave’s Computers Inc. He writes a weekly column for Daily Blog Tips covering the best tips about blogging and Internet marketing. You can also find him on LinkedIn.

Original post: 5 Tools All Marketers Should be Using for a More Engaging Blog

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How to Find Sites Accepting Guest Blog Posts

Guest blogging or guest posting involves one person writing a post for the blog or website of another person. As it turns out, this is a very efficient promotion technique, pretty much for everyone involved.

The hosting site gets a free and usually high-quality piece of content. The guest blogger gets the possibility to reach a new audience and to gain some new readers or clients via the credit link. The readers of the host site get to see content from different writers and with a different perspective on things.

Exactly because of those benefits guest blogging became a widespread trend on the Web. Even major sites like HuffingtonPost or TechCrunch use guest posts these days.

If you are just getting started, however, it might seen intimidating. Where do you find sites that accept guest posts? How to you pitch your ideas? How to you keep track of everything?

If that is you, last week I came across a site that will help you figure it all out. GuestPost.com offers a ton of tools and resources on the site, including Email scraper, website scraper, list of guest blog sites, pitch email generator, and so on.

For instance, on the “Resources” section you’ll find a list of websites that accept guest posts, and they update it regularly to make sure you won’t reach out to non-existing sites. Similarly, they have a list of marketing influencers who have written high-performance guest posts, so that you can check and emulate what they are doing right.

The “Tools” section allows you to get the hot keywords of websites that offer guest posts, so that you write posts aligned with the topics and audience of each website. There is also a tool to help you write your email pitch, and one that will help you find the contact email of any website or blog.

If you use or plan to use guest blogging as a promotional strategy, check out those tools as they might make your life a lot easier!

Original post: How to Find Sites Accepting Guest Blog Posts

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Book Review: Wealth Management 2.0

Pretty much every week I receive requests to review books (both paper and digital). I rarely do so, however, because either the topic is not relevant to our readers, or because the quality is not that great. A couple of weeks ago Andrei Polgar (owner of DomaningTips.com and other online businesses) got in touch, saying that he was about to launch a book titled Wealth Management 2.0: Financial Education for Internet Professionals. Interesting and very relevant topic, so I decided to take a look.

Boy am I glad I did! The book is fantastic, and I got hooked right in the foreword, written by another Internet entrepreneur called Eric Borgos. His story of Internet riches is quite interesting, so don’t skip it!

As I mentioned above, the book is about financial management for Internet professionals and entrepreneurs. If own some blogs or websites, if you freelance as a writer or designer online, or if you have an online business, this book is for you. It will guide you about the best ways to invest your money, cause leaving it sitting in the bank is the worst thing you could do (actually the worst thing would be to make bad investments that will make you lose money, but that is covered in the book too!).

Lately I am reading a lot and trying to learn more about investing, and I believe that everyone should do the same. Making a lot of money is one way to get rich or achieve financial freedom, but making average money and investing really well is another way! If you combine both (earning a lot and investing well) you will reach complete financial freedom very fast!

The problem is that investing your money efficiently is not that easy. On chapter 2 you’ll find this apt quote by Robert Arnott:

“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.”

Back to the book. The first 3 chapters are more or less an introduction, explaining what the book is about, what it is not about and so on. On chapter 4 the real deal begins. Chapter 4 itself is about understanind why and how most people waste away the money they make.

Chapter 5 is about wealth management. Andrei breaks it down into 11 virtues. They are:

1. Balance
2. Courage
3. Detachment
4. Diligence
5. Discipline
6. Foresight
7. Frugality
8. Humility
9. Patience
10. Purposefulness
11. Self-improvement

Chapter 6 is about understand the economy, and being able to see what is really happening and what the media says it is happening. In this chapter you will also understand what is “fear mongering,” and how it can affect your investment decisions.

Chapter 7 is where you’ll finally think about where and how to invet your hard-earned money. Andrei discusses how to invest in a diversified portfolio, the differences between starting a business and being a passive investor, real estate investing, stocks, bonds and so on.

Keep in mind that this is a very brief list of the topics discussed in the book. It has 457 pages, meaning that Andrei goes into a lot of detail in each section, and the explanations are very clear and straight to the point. As I told you, I am reading a lot about investing and financial management lately, and this is one of the best books I came across lately.

Bottom line: A must read in my opinion, especially if you are an Internet professional. The book is being launched today, and Andrei is running a launch promotion, selling it for just $2.99. Yes, that is 2 dollars and 99 cents. Here’s the Amazon link. Go get it!

Original post: Book Review: Wealth Management 2.0

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4 Essential Branding Tips for Bloggers

Have you ever thought about your blog as a brand? Well, I think you should. You don’t need to brand it only if you use it as some diary and is a private website. Besides that, you should really pay attention to it, because branding can help you grow and expand your blog’s reach.

You may be asking myself “Why should I brand my blog?”. And I’ll say what David Brier says, one of the most popular branding strategists: “Branding is magic!”. The blog is like your company, you spend time on it, sometimes money and the most important is that you believe in it. So let’s brand your blog in order to make your time valuable.

For starters, branding is the marketing practice of creating a name and symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product or company from others. Your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services and gives you a margin over your competitors. Your brand comes from who you are, who you want to be and how people perceive you to be.

Your brand influences how customers interact with your company and how you interact with them, so without a clear brand, your company may struggle to communicate your mission or purpose. There are 3 reasons to care about Branding:

1. Builds your reputation
2. Helps you connect with your public and
3. Simplify your products and services.

The meanings of branding are always related to business, so you might say it’s actually not for you because you don’t own a company. But, think with me. Your blog could be your company. Earning money from the time you invest in it is a pretty good idea and has worked out for many people. So why not with you?

If you dedicate a little time and effort on the topics below you have a great chance of achieving your goal.

1. Define who you are

Never forget that you are unique. It may sound like a cliche, however it’s true that among world’s population, with more than 7 billion people, there is nobody like you. So, between thousands of online blogs, there should be none like yours. Your blog must reflect your singularity in all of its aspects. The first aspect is the name of your blog. You should have an exclusive and original name that matches your personality plus is easy to remember.

You could also have a slogan to follow your blog title too. A short but intense phrase that sum up the essence of your blog and your expectations. The reader have to understand who you are and what you do or what is your objective.

There is a small exercise you can try to get there: describe your blog in a Tweet. Could you describe your essence in 140 characters? It could be something like a brief presentation and a short description of what you will do or show on the blog. You can start by writing words that define your blog idea and objective, then you elaborate a phrase using them. It is a helper in terms of branding. When you have this description, you use it and remember it forever. This will guide you through your blog life.

2. Visual Identity

Just like in real life, in the web your first impression matters a lot. I mean, everyone who bumps into your blog or find you by organic research need to be fascinated by it. Maybe the images, the subjects, your language or personality. What matters is that something needs to stand out. You have about 3 seconds to make your reader to understand you before they start reading you, because they will judge you based on how it looks.

Focus on having a clean, clear and very personal unique style. The layout, graphics, color palette and types should reflect your brand and identity. Everything must work together and combine with your essence. This is the only way people will believe what they see and read. For example, if I had a blog about my veggie lifestyle, probably I would use an alternative layout, light colors, that remind people of nature, and a light easy type to read.

Of course that depends on the personality (brand) that I assume. Because if I’m veggie but want to share on my blog how much the animals suffer, violence and death it would look different. Maybe a little bit of red or black, that reminds blood and death. I would choose an image driven layout, to show more pictures instead of texts and a little bold types to highlight the titles.

This is not real, but could be. And I bet you could visualize it. There is no rule, you should always rely on your personality and the Twitter message that defines your essence to lead you through the blog details, including the visual appearance.

3. Consistency

Talking about personality and essence – yes, I’m going to repeat it over and over for you to memorize – we arrive in the consistency tip. By consistency I mean maintain the pattern you create after branding your blog (colors, style, fonts, images, language, categories and so on). But as a blogger, I know it’s hard to keep yourself in the path that I determined myself years ago when I started my blog. So everyday when I write a post, choose a photo, re-write an “about me” page or add a new category in my blog I keep in mind the pattern that I’ve created.

But over the years we start having new ideas, we change tastes and interests. So how could you manage this change? Well, I’ll say that if you are not changing from fashion to Marketing tips, you can always look for a way to connect this new idea to your actual blog and expand your horizons (or your blog’s horizons) by adding new categories that are somehow related to the base of your blog.

If you want to talk about sports or business, you can talk about fashion, trends and make-up on this subjects too. There is no limit on the internet! But I really suggest you that if the category you are about to add has nothing to do with this blog’s essence, so you should create a new one. No boudaries for your mind and creativity. But always keep the consistency on your work to respect and follow your branding.

4. Social Media

Last but not least, comes your online presence on social media. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter and whatever other platforms you have a “professional” account as a blogger you should keep the same profile picture, name and bio. This is an additional tip on the previous point – consistency. So if anyone wants to find you on the web, they will easily do because you were true to your branding, which helps on social recognition.

It’s interesting to point out that every social media works differently. The subject is always the same because the source is your blog. But you could post a photo on Instagram that is not related to an actual blog post of yours. And even though you would maintain the branding and consistency I keep on repeating.

For example, if you own a beauty blog and talks about fashion, trends and make-up, you don’t need to wait until you have a full post about Victoria Secrets Fashion Show to comment and share photos about it. You can share images and hot info on Instagram and Facebook during the show or right after. Just keep the same informal (or formal) text, style of the picture and always be sure that the subject you are about to explore is truly related to your blog content. It’s not that difficult. Branding is among every little decision we make from creating the blog to communicating with followers and publishers. Once the branding is well determined and defined online and in your head, there is no way you will crush it.

Good Branding for all!

Luanna Hedler is a journalist and communicator in the essence. Passionate about Design, Marketing and Branding she is a content writer who loves to spread the power of tips and freebies.

Original post: 4 Essential Branding Tips for Bloggers

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How to Stay Motivated When Blogging Isn’t Easy

No matter what you’ve heard before, making a living blogging isn’t easy. Despite what some YouTube guru may tell you, it takes years of hard work before you can ever enjoy enough of an income to live comfortably. In fact, some never see any success at all. With that being said, you must find ways to stay motivated. Otherwise, you’ll end up throwing in the towel prematurely.

Four Tips for Maximum Motivation

Everyone finds motivation in different things. For some bloggers, the idea of generating enough revenue to live a comfortable lifestyle is motivating. For others, they simply want to know that people are reading the content they’re writing. But regardless of what specifically motivates you, the following tips will keep you on pace:

1. Set Short-Term Goals

Every blogger has this idealistic view of where they want to be in three, five, or ten years. But the problem is that many don’t know what they’re doing up until then. “It’s those annoying, time-consuming, in-between parts that keep most people from truly attaining the financial success that they desire,” entrepreneur Timothy Sykes believes. “While they want the amazing end result, they don’t understand how much work is required to actually get there.”

That’s why it’s critically important that you set both short-term and long-term goals. The short-term goals – which may include daily, weekly, and monthly checkpoints – keep you motivated in the present, whereas the long-term goals give you vision for the future.

2. Accomplish Two Things Every Day

Have you ever had one of those days where you spend 10 or 12 hours at your desk working on various tasks and putting out fires, only to look back at the end of the day and wonder what you really got done?

You should never end a day without being able to accomplish at least two things. They can be incredibly small things – such as sending out five tweets or responding to comments on your latest blog post – it doesn’t really matter. The point is that you should finish very day knowing that something positive has been done.

3. Track Progress

If you’ve ever worked for a major company in a sales or marketing role, then you’re probably familiar with progress reports. Managers often require weekly, monthly, and quarterly progress reports so they can track how things are going in different areas of the business.

As a blogger, you should be tracking your own progress. You can do this via Google Analytics. It’s as simple as checking in, identifying specific metrics, and then compiling those numbers into customized progress reports that you can look back on in the future to see where things are going.

4. Network With Successful People

“If I were starting out in blogging today knowing what I now know I’d invest significant time each day into connecting with others online,” successful blogger Darren Rowse admits. “The old adage of ‘it’s not what you know it’s who you know’ rings true in blogging.”

When you network with other bloggers, you’re able to see what they’re doing, bounce new ideas off them, and even enhance your blog’s visibility through guest blogging relationships.

Thankfully, networking with bloggers is fairly easy. Most of it actually takes place behind your keyboard and via social networking platforms, message boards, and online communities.

Push Through the Hard Times

Blogging isn’t easy. It takes months and years of consistent writing, marketing, and networking to build up an audience that allows you to enjoy financial freedom and make a difference. With that being said, make sure you’re finding motivation – especially in the hard times.

Original post: How to Stay Motivated When Blogging Isn’t Easy

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On Fears, Possibilities, and Realities

I LOVE blogging.

It’s my passion.

It’s my motivation.

It’s the love of my professional life.

Yes, I love blogging… buuuuuut it hasn’t always loved me back.

I have name and brand recognition, traffic, community of readers – everything I need, really – to make Traffic Generation Café a financial success.

Yet it isn’t… Still.

I’ve recently ...

The post On Fears, Possibilities, and Realities appeared first on TrafficGenerationCafe.com. Don't miss Ana's free Bite-Size Traffic Hacks email series - short actionable traffic tips to double your traffic in no time.

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Emotional Marketing: How to Supercharge Your Results

If you’re a marketer who’s done any dabbling in video, you likely already know all about how important emotion is in your video marketing. Throw in some awww-worthy puppies or use some slapstick Three Stooges humor and you’ve got it made. If you can get your viewers laughing or crying, you’ve probably hit the jackpot, right?

Turns out, emotional marketing is a little more complicated. But don’t sweat – at Viewtopia, the world’s best video marketing summit, Chris Harmon of boutique consultancy firm theBATstudio gave a great talk on what’s really involved in emotional marketing, and how to take it to the next level to develop a real and lasting connection with your audience.

So what’s really involved? Even if you couldn’t be at Viewtopia in person, we’ve got you covered with exactly what you need to know! Here are 6 key points from Chris’s talk:

1. Empathy can have a significant impact on the success of video marketing

Marketers know that emotion in marketing is key. But it goes deeper than that; you don’t just want to settle for any old emotion. You need to create empathy! Empathy, as Chris puts it, lets your audience know that you understand who they are, and you feel their emotions and connect with them. Essentially, you understand and share your potential customers’ feelings.

Video is the perfect medium to express empathy – you can display emotion so much easier than in other formats, and elicit it in your audience. When they see what you’re feeling, they’re likely to feel the same. It’s science.

If you can go beyond just trying to make someone laugh to discovering their emotions, and then empathizing with them through your video, you’re more likely to hold your audience’s attention, speak to their needs and desires, and get better results. It’s a must that you get your company (and your execs) on board with moving beyond talking about “speeds and feeds”, as Chris says, and stop jabbering about your product to instead focus on how you will solve your audience’s problem. You need to show them that you can either alleviate their pain, or increase their sex appeal (a.k.a. give them something they really want). If you want to learn more about the secrets to emotional marketing videos, check out this post!

2. Learn to understand and empathize with your customer through their mindset

To create empathy in our videos, first we have to understand how our employees are feeling. Chris talks about the five steps that help you get to the bottom of it all:

• Customer voice – The customer voice is what a business “thinks” its customers believe. Many companies start – and stop – here when trying to understand and relate to their customers. It’s not fully effective because perception does not always equal reality.
• Reported activities – Through interactions with you, (also considered reported activities), your customers are telling you to some degree what they feel about you. (e.g. If they visit your website and bounce quickly, they’re telling you about their lack of interest and engagement with you.)
• Observed behavior – You can get a better, more honest impression of what your customers truly feel if you go where your customers are and watch them.
• Feelings and emotions – What are the emotions people are going through as they engage in behaviors with you? (e.g. looking at your website). Try to engage with them based on what they would be feeling during different actions.
• Pain/Pleasure – Remember that people think in terms of how they can avoid pain, and how they can gain pleasure. If you can tune your message so it answers those questions and provides the feelings your customers are looking for, they’ll have a stronger connection with you.

 

3. Demonstrate empathy through your content

When you know what your potential customers are feeling (and what they want to feel), you don’t need to force product-heavy messages onto your audience. When theBATstudio worked to create videos for Oracle Eloqua, they didn’t just create a bunch of product videos from their point of view.

Instead, they had Eloqua customers do the talking. Why? Because they felt the same things, went through the same struggles, and wanted to feel the same emotions and achieve similar things that potential customers do. That meant that potential customers could empathize with the customers and the customer-centric storytelling much better than they would relate to any brand-constructed message. These customer stories, which are still available on their website, achieve a great level of success because the key is to create a message that isn’t about you, but rather what you do for others.

4. Create an ongoing narrative

You can try to create a funny video over here for this campaign, and a tear-jerker over there for that landing page. But you know what’s a better idea? Creating an ongoing narrative that brings your viewers through a journey. This helps them connect deeper and deeper to your message (and you) as they are swept into your story. That’s what theBATstudio did with Lenovo when they created the “Users Happen” campaign. Watch the three videos in the campaign series to experience the continuous story for yourself:

Now, to create an ongoing narrative, you don’t need to have the same actors, set, or specific situation. In this case, Lenovo introduces a problem to relate to their IT audience, sets up a worse problem to create empathy and let IT people know that Lenovo really understands their ongoing pain, and in the final video, the IT workers are positioned as the heroes that solve problems and save the day. The narrative doesn’t focus on “speeds and feeds”, but rather on the hero’s journey, bringing the audience through a relatable and emotional narrative that ends with them as the star. The campaign, which helped potential users understand the ruggedness and reliability of Lenovo products, was a success: 85% of viewers watched the videos all the way through, and the campaign brought in 2,318 MQLs and $10 million in revenue!

5. Connect video engagement to business drivers

One of the key takeaways Chris emphasized in his talk? That you must connect the dots between your audience’s engagement with your videos, and your results. It’s not enough to create funny videos and have people watch them. As marketers know, just because someone watches a video doesn’t mean they’re willing or even interested in buying – they may just want to be entertained.

Look at your metrics to determine not just views, but how long people are watching, which videos they’re watching, what the click-through rates are, and more. While video is becoming more and more accessible to everyone, it’s still not as cheap to produce as a whitepaper or infographic. So if you can prove how your video marketing is impacting your business results, including MQLs and closed deals, then you’ll reach greater success.

6. Your video marketing can positively impact you – and your customers

One of the most interesting parts of Chris’s talk proved the full impact of video marketing. Working for the company that built the most powerful video marketing platform, I already knew how much it can do for businesses, and the impressive results companies can get when they use video. But when you create videos to educate your audiences and sell to customers, are you thinking about what those videos can do for your customers? I’m not talking about the direct impact of your video and your product on your customers’ business.

Chris shared an anecdote about how theBATstudio had worked with Oracle Eloqua on creating videos about how their customers are having great success with Eloqua. They were personal and created empathy because the viewers would relate to what the customers on camera were saying (see point 3). But the really interesting thing?  Almost 80% of the customers who were in the videos went on to become VP or CMO of marketing in their company or at another company within a year! What does this suggest? Possibly that video marketing helps you establish so much empathy that, if you’re on camera and talking passionately about what you believe in, you can build trust and credibility in your professional role. Video marketing clearly has an amazing impact not only on your own business, but on your customers’ lives!

Interesting, huh? If you went to Viewtopia this year, what was the most interesting thing you learned? If you didn’t get to go, there’s always next year, and in the meantime, check back on the blog or the Viewtopia hub for more takeaways from the best video marketing summit!

The post Emotional Marketing: How to Supercharge Your Results appeared first on Vidyard.

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Where the Action Is: Foregrounding Your Site’s Best Content

How do you organize your website? If you’re like many bloggers, you might have a landing page with a series of orderly category links, or maybe your home page just links to clips of the most recent posts in chronological order.

Both of these structures are very popular, but they aren’t necessarily the smartest ways to organize your website. Rather, why not welcome readers with the highest quality content and most popular posts your site has to offer? You wouldn’t go to an empty museum or visit the zoo to look at empty cages. It’s why people go zip lining in rainforests – zip lines run through the most active parts of the rainforest, the canopy. That’s where all the action is.

The same goes for your blog; by positioning your best material at the front of your blog, you encourage readers to engage fully and dig deeper. But first, of course, you need to identify what your top content is.

Check Your Stats

The easiest way to determine what content performs best on your site is by checking your page analytics. Google Analytics offers plenty of tools to help you do this effectively.

Make sure that when you look at your numbers, you aren’t just checking for the greatest number of page hits. In some cases, repeat edits or other insider activity can cause the page activity to jump. Luckily, with Google Analytics you can exclude specific tracking information – any hits resulting from editors or other specified users. You want to isolate page hits that come from external readers.

Make Time a Factor

It’s also important to use your common sense when determining what your top performing posts are. For example, a post from a year ago that has more comments or views than a post from two weeks ago isn’t necessarily a more popular post. Rather, an older post should have more views and activity.

When you select your most popular content, you should consider two different factors. Either you want to target those posts that show the greatest amount of initial engagement – the most views or comments in the three days, for example – or the posts with the greatest recent activity. It’s possible for older posts to experience renewed relevance or for them to be evergreen, attracting readers all the time.

Focus on Value

Depending on the kind of blog you run, your most important content isn’t always your most interesting. Maybe it’s an introduction to technical terms or background on your site that all readers should be familiar with. Although this content might not register as many hits via search or get as many comments as more interesting material, you may still want to foreground these foundational posts, or at least offer a roundup of these background posts on your landing page.

Ultimately, when organizing your site, you need to exercise your expertise – you know what’s in your blog’s complete archives, what information people find helpful, what they find interesting, and what posts are generally passed over. By helping your readers identify both the useful and the engaging in equal measure, you demonstrate a further degree of commitment to your audience.

Your blog isn’t just a platform, but a conversation, and curating your front page posts enhances your site beyond what the numbers can measure.

Original post: Where the Action Is: Foregrounding Your Site’s Best Content

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How Fear Held Me Back from Reaching My Potential

How Fear Held Me Back from Reaching My Potential

Episode: 288

Today’s episode is a deviation from what I’ve been doing for the last few months.

There’s no interview, and it’s not all about blogging, business, social media or any of the usual topics.

While I do talk about business, I get into something much deeper – fear, and how it has held me back for too long.

I share some struggles that I’ve been dealing with since starting my business. These are struggles that have only intensified over time.

And the truth is this – I’ve allowed fear to cripple my progress.

This is one episode where the show notes won’t be as detailed as I normally have them. Why? Because in order to fully grasp what I’m trying to share, you have to listen to it.

So go ahead and listen, and then leave me a comment.

Warning: This episode is different from my other episodes. While I do talk about business, I also go into the spiritual realm.

I talk about God, Christianity, my purpose, etc. If you don’t want to hear any of that, this may not be the episode for you.

Question: If fear were not a part of your life, what would you do differently?

The post How Fear Held Me Back from Reaching My Potential appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.

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3 Sales Emails Proven to Boost Reply Rates by 8x

If you’re like most sales reps, you know how hard it is to stand out and get noticed. The average prospect receives more than 100 emails a day, and you have just 8 seconds to get their attention. So how can sales emails cut through all the noise, increase click-through rates by 5x and send open-to-reply rates soaring by over 8x? Keep reading…

At Vidyard, we’ve been obsessing over how to reach our prospective customers in a way that not only grabs their attention and elicits a response, but also puts the ‘human’ back in selling. Automation tools and the rise of AI in selling, have made it incredibly easy to reach masses of prospective customers with seemingly hyper-personalized outreach. Inevitably, buyers have become numb to these so-called “personalized” emails, which is why our team at Vidyard has chosen to use video in order to connect with our leads via email.

Since our team began prospecting with video, we’ve seen our click-through-rates surge by 5x, and our open-to-reply rates jump to 25%.

Here are three easy ways you can use video for higher impact in prospecting and selling:

1. Webcam Selfie Videos

The first video email that’s going to help you stand out is a webcam selfie video. This sales email allows you to speak to your prospect directly. Think of this as a “video voicemail”, allowing you to put a face to your email and clearly articulate why you’re attempting to reach the recipient of your email.

Check out Heba’s webcam selfie video:

When coaching SDRs on how to create and send these videos, focus on the importance of authenticity and being genuine. Best practice is to not overly script these videos so that they don’t come across as robotic. Plus, people can tell if you’re reading – which immediately sucks the personal nature out of the video. Jot down a few key points, take one dry run and then go for it!

Pro Tips:

• Keep it short (60-90 seconds). The number of people who sit through a video greater than 90 seconds drops to just 37%.
• Use a pair of headphones with a built-in-mic to improve the audio quality of your video
• Set your laptop up in a windowsill to get better, more natural lighting on your face

2. Screen Capture Videos

Need to share more than your pretty face? No problem, share your screen in a sales email to capture attention and communicate more information.

Dave’s is a great example:

With tools like ViewedIt, you can quickly create, send, and track screen capture videos directly within your browser. Here are a couple ideas to help you use this approach to stand out and get noticed in inboxes:

• LinkedIn Profile: Craft a video walkthrough of your prospect’s LinkedIn profile, highlighting key aspects of their accomplishments that compelled you to reach out to them.
• Owned Content: Walk through their website or an article they wrote to show them that you’ve taken the time to research how you would be able to add value to their role or company.
• Product Tour: Capture a guided tour of your product or service created specifically for the prospective customer. Include their name, company, or logo in the demo to help them envision using your product.

The key here is finding the right thumbnail image or splash screen to include in your email. The thumbnail image can make all the difference as to whether or not your prospects click play on the video that you’ve made just for them. Better their LinkedIn profile or website than your product or website. Remember, this is about them, not you.

Just think: if you opened an email and your own LinkedIn profile was staring back at you, wouldn’t you be interested to hear what that video had to say about you?

Pro Tips:

• Start with a compelling thumbnail image that will capture the recipient’s attention by showing them the video is custom just for them
• Have all your tabs set up and loaded ahead of time so as not to waste precious time loading pages in your video
• Be mindful of what’s in your inbox if you’re showing your email (sensitive company data, customer names or email addresses), or what notifications might pop up if you’re sharing your whole screen.  

3. Recap and Repurpose Content

After you’ve connected with a prospective customer, sending a video call summary can be easier and more effective than typing up a long email.

Record a personalized thank you message that will help build rapport by putting a face to the voice your prospective customer just spoke with over the phone.

If you have multiple points to cover, put them on a slide and capture your screen on video to help keep the conversation focused.

This is also a great opportunity to re-purpose existing video content from marketing and sales enablement like customer testimonials, product overviews or how-to content. Jenn shows how she does this in the following example:

You can curate the best video content to help keep the deal moving forward, and personalize it to the prospect by recording a custom introduction video. The end result is a highly personalized follow up that leverages the best assets you have to offer – all in just a few seconds.

Pro Tip:

• Content without context is meaningless! Be sure to add context to the videos you’ve attached. Explain how they are applicable to the prospective customer and how they tie back to your recent conversation. This will make off-the-shelf video content feel super personalized and custom.

The post 3 Sales Emails Proven to Boost Reply Rates by 8x appeared first on Vidyard.

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Nothing Breaks Barriers Like Trust: Wise Words from Yotam Dor

When you ask someone what they wanted to be when they grew up, chances are the answer you get doesn’t exactly line up with their current day-to-day. But for Notch Video’s Director of Community, Yotam Dor, his career isn’t too far off.

Having spent his childhood making stop-motion animated videos with his parents Hi8 camcorder, Yotam followed his video aspirations straight to post-secondary education. “After completing my masters in film and TV at the Savannah College of Art and Design, I was hired by SCAD to run the Research & Development centre they just launched. Getting that position at the centre was like a mini MBA,” Dor told me in an interview. He stayed at SCAD for two years before returning to Toronto. While he didn’t have a position lined up, Dor took advantage of the opportunity to build a network.

“I scheduled hundreds of coffees and met with everyone in film, TV and advertising,  even though everything in those traditional mediums felt a bit confined — especially after seeing the big world of R&D.” Eventually Dor met up with the team at Notch Video, and joined on as one of their earliest employees. “I wanted to do something that broke through the clutter, and I got really lucky to land at Notch Video at the incubation stage. And I was able to help build it from the ground up with some very talented people.”

Dor now wears many hats at Notch Video, working with new customers on business development all the way to serving as executive producer on larger projects. He also works closely with Notch’s network of over 800 freelancers, spread out across the entire country.

To find out more about the world of video production, and learn how companies and agencies can work more closely together, check out these videos from the rest of our interview:

What’s your favorite part of working in video production?

When I started making stop-motion videos with my parents Hi-8 Camcorder, I thought I was going to be an animator, and I treated video like an art. More of a one-person endeavor. Once technology got a bit more democratized though, with non-linear editing systems, I started making movies that required multiple roles, and I got the collaboration bug. So today I would say my favorite part of working in video production is the collaborative environment. Because making videos is such a team sport, you really have to build the right teams for every project. Every once in a while, I’ll grab my cellphone and go into the field and shoot a mobile video just to scratch that itch, but for the most part it’s collaboration that makes me feel really fulfilled.

How has video evolved since you started at Notch Video?

We started Notch Video as a reaction to a broken system. When we started Notch over four years ago, we saw that there was this massive opportunity to create video content for digital channels. At the time, there were no such things as social videos or micro-content, so the spectrum was TV on one end, viral videos on the other, and nothing in between. Client expectations were all about eyeballs. Currently I feel the scrutiny on video and video data is less about views and more about engagement and conversion, but that’s all very early days.

Are there any industries that you see missing out on video?

It really feels to me like almost every industry is using video these days, which we think is great! But there’s this amazing development in the B2B video world that we get really excited about.

There’s an awakening that business and customers are made of — shockingly — people. And that people want to watch engaging stories. I feel it certainly came around when Van Damme’s Epic Split video for Volvo came out and it’s continuing with everything that GE is making. So I’m excited by the potential to see more exciting B2B content, because that’s an exciting area to create content in!

How can businesses and agencies work together better?

Businesses and agencies need to build trust on both sides. If there’s this sentiment that one side is smarter or better you just lose trust. The strongest client relationships are forged over many years by delivering time and time again.

And there’s always going to be better tools, stronger workflows, and all those things. But trust building takes so much time to build, and moments to lose. Nothing breaks barriers like trust.

The post Nothing Breaks Barriers Like Trust: Wise Words from Yotam Dor appeared first on Vidyard.

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How to Use a Blog to Sell Your Products Online

If you’ve ever thought about making money online, then you might have considered starting a blog or setting up your own eCommerce store. You don’t have to choose one or the other. They can both work hand-in-hand to help you make money online. Here’s a brief overview of how a blog can help you sell your online products.

Use it as a Marketing Tool

Blogging is primarily a marketing tool. The statistics show that:

• Business that blog get 67 percent more leads than those that don’t.
• Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to see positive ROI.
• Companies that blog see 97 percent more links to their website.

While you won’t make money directly off writing blog posts, the practice does boost overall profit by driving more traffic to your website. Blogging for eCommerce websites means there are more ways for people to enter your site. With more links back to your content, a greater database of keywords, and continuously updated content, you’ll also see higher search engine rankings, which will drive even more traffic to your site to improve your chances of converting leads and making sales.

Aside from traffic generation, blogging also helps you attract the right customer. Through helpful articles aimed at solving your ideal customer’s needs, you’ll bring in the type of people who are most likely to buy from you. The more you get noticed and build your authority through blogging, the more trust people will have in your site, and the more they’ll buy from you. Blogs are among the top five trusted sources online, giving you a chance to build relationships with long-time customers and build your brand.

The key to using a blog as a marketing tool is context. This is what draws the line between content and commerce. You want to choose topics that appeal to your target audience but can also be linked back to your product offerings.

Use it to Build Your Email List

Marketing experts agree that email lists are one of the most valuable marketing tools today. Expert Neil Patel says, “Out of all the channels I tested as a marketer, email continually outperforms most of them.” The stats show that:

• You’re six times more likely to get a click-through from email than from a tweet.
• Email is 40 times more effective in acquiring new customers than social media.
• Email marketing drives more conversions than search and social.

Here’s a good list of most popular email marketing services you can use. But how do you attract people to your email list? It all starts when you launch your blog. When you attract people to your content and they want more from you, they’ll sign up for your email list. It’s particularly helpful to offer a lead magnet, or a gift, to new subscribers. For example, you might offer a discount off their first purchase or a free gift when they sign up for your newsletter.

Once you have them on your mailing list, you can share deals, discounts, and more from your shop that you think will interest them. It gives you a direct line of communication to the people most interested in your products. And it works.

Offer Your Products as a Solution to Readers’ Problems

Blogging is not a direct sales platform. It is about offering useful information to your readers to build a relationship with them. However, you can organically mention and link to your products if it applies to the content. It’s not unusual to see calls-to-action in the last paragraph of a blog post offering your products as a solution. The key is to work with it in a way that comes across as useful, not as a sales pitch. Here are three ideas on how to incorporate this strategy.

1. Include a call to action. Let’s say you sell yoga products and videos. You could write a post on yoga poses for flexibility. At the end, you could mention using a yoga strap help you ease into the poses if you have tense muscles or are recovering from an injury. (Make sure to link to your yoga strap.) Your product is not the focus of the article, but it is mentioned as a solution to your readers’ problems.

2. Write a product roundup post. Here, you’ll mention several of your own products to drive people to your sales pages. But again, it has to be useful to the reader. For example, an online clothing retailer might write about “10 Trendy New Fashions Coming This Spring.” A few of their products will make the list, but it’s more about educating their readers and making useful fashion suggestions than trying to sell to them.

3. Highlight how to use your products. These posts can be in a tutorial format, which would work well if you’re selling phones or computers, for example, but it’s not limited to that. A clothing retailer, for instance, could write a post on five different ways to wear scarves, using one of their products as an example.

You don’t have to use this technique in every blog post Again, your blog is about building a relationship. Focus on that first and then on sales. The sales will come as you show your customers you care.

Tell Stories With Your Products

A great way to drive web traffic and sales is to use real-life stories to highlight what your products can do. A retailer selling hiking, camping, and survival gear could start a blog series detailing one of their team member’s adventures out in the backcountry. The blog posts would focus on the adventure and offer useful tips and advice for people wanting to travel themselves. However, each post would mention some of the products the blogger used on his travels—and yes, they’d be the exact same ones the retailer is selling.

The same could be done for retailers selling culinary products, in which they’d highlight a cook’s experiences in the kitchen using the products on their site. A company selling smartphones could have a team member blog about the camera tricks they used while on a recent snowboarding trip. A cosmetics company could blog about different customers’ experiences with their products.

Notice how all these examples tell a real story coming from a real person all while keeping the conversation on the company’s products. This helps create a more personal connection with your readers, and ideally it will provide them with tips and advice they can apply to their own lives.

Again, not every blog post you write has to follow this story-telling format. Consider using this tactic as a blogging segment with a set time frame for featuring each story. If you can tell a story in multiple blog posts, it encourages readers to come back for more.

With these ideas in mind, you can build an eCommerce site and blog that complement each other and boost your bottom line. Are you ready to get starting selling online? Then the first step is to set up your website. With the WordPress software, you’ll have everything you need to make a WordPress WooCommerce store and set up a blog on the same site. What will you sell, and what kind of blog posts will you write to help you make money online?

Original post: How to Use a Blog to Sell Your Products Online

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Authentic Marketing is More Than a Myth: The Right Way to do Real People Campaigns

We all hear the same buzzwords in every meeting we sit down in. We all say the same buzzwords, including them in our PowerPoint presentations and word clouds. But in this industry, I think we can all agree that sure, ‘authentic’ has become a buzzword we all know we’re supposed to say – but is anyone actually doing authentic marketing?

The idea that ‘real people’ supposedly equals authenticity is one I hear a lot in this line of work – the idea that content should include a specific demographic because “Look, there’s your key to seemingly-genuine content!” But it doesn’t necessarily have to be about finding a real family simply because that’s another box you want to tick off. It’s about finding a real family because they have a story to tell. Because they already have the creative to help drive your campaign. So you want to launch a real people campaign? Here are the top 3 things to keep in mind:

1. Find the stories that matter

Quakers 2015 spot The Recital resonated with me to the point that I continue to reference it a full year later. Why? Because the people in it told a story I wanted to watch unfold. I myself am a working dad. I get the struggles of work/life balance. This story struck a chord with me because it’s 100% relatable and real – not just the people, but the story too:

How to use this for your own videos: Like I said above, think about yourself as a consumer – what resonates with you? Find the stories that resonate because they are powerful stories, not because there’s a hyper-relevant current event that you should probably force a story line around. Talk to people. Cold call. Fall down every hashtag rabbit hole you can find and build your narrative around the characters you stumble upon.

2. Let the characters speak for themselves

It’s obvious when this isn’t the case — when the brand speaks for that ‘real person’. When you see that text on your screen proclaiming that this isn’t a set up, that ‘these are real people, not actors’ and then listen to some clearly scripted brand plug come out of their mouth while the product sits conveniently — and obviously — on screen.

So what’s the solution? Let the people speak for themselves. The power of Pedigree’s ‘Dark to Light’ campaign, for example, isn’t in the fact that a brand is showing us a real person, saying “Look at us! We’re an authentic brand!” The audience is moved because this is a human being letting us in on her life.

She has a story to tell – and this video empowers us to actually hear it.

On the same token, Jack Daniels’ Our Town is a cool example of a campaign built completely around the people and the tone they evoke. This is the tone that seemingly guides the creative; it feels natural, entertaining and is fun to watch.

How to use this for your own videos: Once you’ve found your story (see above), bring this character into the equation as early as possible so their story can help guide the ebbs and flows of the narrative. It’s much more challenging (and far less effective) to do it the other way around. Audiences are getting smarter and smarter. The ‘these are real people’ captions on a screen don’t cut it anymore. Audiences need to believe this is a genuine story they’re watching unfold, so don’t tell them with some text and forced narrative. Show them with a story they can believe in.

3. Understand that ‘real people’ aren’t actors

I mean, actors might go to 3+ callbacks a week. They know the drill. The average Joe might not even know what a callback is, and likely doesn’t want to go to an audition or callback in the middle of their workday for the chance of maybe being in a commercial. The entire process has to be different, and it isn’t about fitting real people into a mold you’ve previously developed. It’s about digging for the stories your brand wants to tell and and allowing a little flexibility to let them unfold.

How to use this for your own videos: Be flexible. Understand that timelines might be different, that headshots aren’t a thing, and that having a script you want ‘real people’ to read from might not translate into the most believable commercial. To put it bluntly, most people aren’t good at acting – so don’t get them to act in a commercial.

That’s the biggest takeaway here in my opinion, because ultimately the key to these kinds of campaigns doesn’t lie in finding a real person. It lies in finding the right person. And it’s about letting that person be exactly what you hired them to be: authentically themselves.

The post Authentic Marketing is More Than a Myth: The Right Way to do Real People Campaigns appeared first on Vidyard.

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