12 Content Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

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Liliana Long
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Content Marketing Tips Use your words wisely 12 Content Marketing Tips for Small Businesses How can you get the most out of your content marketing and promote your business to best of your ability?

1 Content Marketing Tips Use your words wisely 12 Content Marketing Tips for Small Businesses How can you get the most out of your content marketing and promote your business to best of your ability? Read on 1) Listen To What Your Customers Ask You 2) Small business content marketers struggle with what they should be talking about online. It is easy to get into sales pitch mode and push our products and service on our customers, but that isn t what they want from us. They want the same thing that they want in the store advice. One of the simplest tips for small businesses that are using content marketing is to simply answer the questions that your customers are asking. Figure out the top ten questions that your customers ask most frequently. What do they want to know about? Make a plan to write a blog post (or several) answering each question one by one. Do this regularly, and you will soon build a library of practical content for your future customers. 2) Know That Google Search Is Local Google search is a powerful force in content marketing. With each new blog post you write, you increase the chances that a potential customer will find you vicariously via search. Search is local. Do a search of your own business to see for yourself. This is valuable, because Google search is local. Google knows where you are, and it knows how to connect local content to your customers. This means that content marketing, with a focus on search, is a smart move of the savvy small business that wants to get found. 1. JUSTINTIMEVIRTUALASSISTANT.COM

2 3) Use Because It Converts Better Content marketing without marketing isn t content marketing at all. Every business needs an list to keep in touch with customers and promote its content. By tying your blogging and content marketing into an campaign, you maintain a relationship with those who join your list, and you stay at the front of their mind. They are also more likely to convert to a paying customer. marketing simply makes sense for everyone especially the small business using content marketing. 4) People Convert Best As a small business, you are an important part of your brand. People connect to people, not logos. If you are really small, post things as yourself, or at least include a picture with each post like we do on this blog. You are a big part of your brand, and people will connect with you and build trust. 5) Don t Copy The Big Guys Big guys and big budgets do things that don t work for small business, so don t be tempted to copy their methods. Some good examples of this are contests and giveaways. While these things may work well for a big-box retailer, they don t translate well to a small business looking to connect with customers. You will waste a lot of time and energy on something that can t return the value you need. Don t use your content marketing to promote a contest; use it to promote your best customer advice. 6) Develop An Editorial Calendar Stick to a schedule and be consistent. It can be hard to post every day or even every week so how do you stick with it? Schedule! For a copy of my Content Planning Schedule (and more) click here! 2. JUSTINTIMEVIRTUALASSISTANT.COM

3 7) Google+ Matters To You Most small business owners don t use Google+, but they should, search is and Google+ ranks well in search. Make sure that you have a Google+ page for your small business, and even more, make sure that you are sharing your content on that page each time a new post goes live. 8) Longer Content Is Good People often ask how long their blog posts should be. The correct answer is somewhere in-between as long as you can possibly make them and as long as you need to say what you need to say. The reality is that Google rewards longer content, so you shouldn t skimp out on your writing. Make sure that you cover every angle of a topic. A good way to do this is make sure that I fully answer the what, who, how, when, and why of every post. Many bloggers like to keep their posts short and sweet. This is better than nothing, but a larger time investment will make a big difference in the long run. 9) Write Often!! In some ways, content marketing is more of a change in mindset than anything else. We need to form new ways of thinking about marketing, and then form new habits to make them happen. Write often, even daily especially in the beginning. For starters, practice makes perfect, but also, daily blogging forces us to develop the habit of writing and translating our thoughts and ideas into blog posts. This ability is one of the most important secrets of content marketing, and worth learning early. 10) Write For Your Audience One idea is to join local Facebook groups and answer questions that users ask to form a blog post. Write out a thorough answer, and then post the link back into the Facebook group. This connects directly with the things that your audience are wondering about, and a great way to write for your target audience. Don t be afraid to connect to your own audience. If nothing else, you may just want to ask them what they would like to hear about. 3. JUSTINTIMEVIRTUALASSISTANT.COM

4 11) Tell Your Story One of the most valuable things that you have as a small business is your story. Telling your story and sharing who we you are resonates well with your audience. Small businesses always have a story. People connect to stories, don t be afraid to tell yours. 12) Use Keywords There are certain words and phrases that your audience will use more than others. These are called keywords, and they can make a big difference when you blog. Good content marketing should target important keywords and longer phrases that your customers may be searching for. You can do research on what these terms are, and I always recommend that you add them to your editorial calendar for safe keeping. Make it a point to post at least one keyword-based blog post each week Content marketing is all about sharing your advice and ideas with your audience through a blog or online social network, and it is perfectly suited for you as a small business owner because it leverages one of the natural strengths of your business: you! Think of what you do all day long, and the reason your customers keep coming back instead of going to the big-box stores: you give them more. You give them more advice, more service, and more attention. Content marketing is all about taking that winning formula of success and putting it online, using the same techniques that you use every day to reach a new set of customers. So, what if you could catch someone right when they had a question they needed answering, and direct them to your website with practical advice ready and waiting in the form of a blog post? By publishing articles online, this is exactly what you can do. By simply publishing some of your best ideas and advice online, just as you would in the store, you provide a way for people to find and connect with you. You earn their trust and respect, and their business. Source - Garret Moon - 12 Content Marketing Tips That I Always Share With Small Businesses Was this useful? Now grab your tools.scroll down.. 4. JUSTINTIMEVIRTUALASSISTANT.COM

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MODULE 7 WHY AM I NOT MAKING MONEY?

MODULE 7 WHY AM I NOT MAKING MONEY? Introduction Hi, this is Stefan, and welcome to Module 7, Why am I Not Making Money? Answer These Questions There are many reasons why you may not be making money yet.