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Content marketing extends reach as ad execs tune into benefits

5/29/2013

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Content marketing is growing all the time as interruption advertising falls by the wayside in favour of brands creating a conversation with followers.

Indeed, an April 2013 survey of US marketing and advertising executives by MailOnline reveals 70% of brands and 77% of agencies used content marketing for advertising purposes during the previous year.

According to eMarketer, executives are sourcing the content for their marketing from a variety of angles.


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By Ingridarcher Ingrid Archer (Own work made by spotonvision)
Over half (58%) of agencies obtained branded content from the publishers from whom they purchased media.

Clients were the second most popular origin for content, at 49%, followed by third-party content creators (37%) – that's us!

And agencies are branching out, finally realising that content writing services don't just need to pigeon holed for web copy.

Seven in ten distributed content in digital media other than email or the brand's own website – content marketing is more than just a few words on a company's site.


Why are businesses turning to content marketing providers?

Clearly there is a major change going on as we move away from brands aggressively filling users' space without their consent to a more democratic approach.

Content marketing by its very nature simply helps brands and organisations reach the people they want, while allowing those same people to find them easily.

Put simply, content marketing is a way of putting people with needs in contact with the organisations or individuals who can fulfil those needs.

A recent blog post explained some of the key ideas.

As well as rolling out the old word-of-mouth exposure angle (social media shares) and the (still vital) search engine ranking boost benefits, the author, 
Phil Lauterjung, highlighted this growing trend away from interruption-based ads.

"The focus of your web content must be to educate people so they will get to know you and trust you enough to buy from you. E-mail and direct mail campaigns should be focused on providing a steady stream of information to convince prospects that your products or services offer the best solution for their situation
," he says . 


"Drip e-mail campaigns can even be put on autopilot with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Just remember, an overzealous sales pitch will turn visitors off and direct them toward your competition.

"The type of content you share is closely related to what you sell. You must develop useful content that will help your target audience solve a problem or answer an important question. Your informative content should achieve what advertising is supposed to achieve. If you could watch TV at night and fast-forward through the hemorrhoid cream commercials, would you? Your website visitors feel the same way."


Billy Connolly would approve!

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Google rolls out Penguin 2.0

5/23/2013

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Google has confirmed that its next generation webspam algorithm – Penguin 2.0 – has been rolled out.


It's Google's fourth Penguin update, but it's much more hard-hitting than previous refreshes carried out by the search giant.

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In a blog post, Google's search chief Matt Cutts explained that about 2.3 per cent of English-US queries are affected to the degree that a regular user might notice. 

He said: "The change has also finished rolling out for other languages worldwide. The scope of Penguin varies by language, e.g. languages with more webspam will see more impact."

Google seems to be pressing forward with it has described as its desire for "white hat search engine optimisation, or even no search engine optimisation at all".

No search engine optimisation? Sounds mad, doesn't it? Well, perhaps not, as Google makes the case for awesome content to be the objective by "creating amazing, compelling websites".

Spamming, keyword stuffing and link-building practices are being penalised heavily – what is generally described as black hat SEO. White hat, on the other hand, is all about finding ways to make your site rank well because it genuinely deserves to.

"Sites affected by this change might not be easily recognisable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; we believe they are engaging in webspam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings," the Webmaster Central Blog explained in April.

White hat versus black hat

"White hat search engine optimisers often improve the usability of a site, help create great content, or make sites faster, which is good for both users and search engines," the blog explained.

"Good search engine optimisation can also mean good marketing: thinking about creative ways to make a site more compelling, which can help with search engines as well as social media. 

"The net result of making a great site is often greater awareness of that site on the web, which can translate into more people linking to or visiting a site."

The opposite of white hat SEO is black hat webspam.

"In the pursuit of higher rankings or traffic, a few sites use techniques that don’t benefit users, where the intent is to look for shortcuts or loopholes that would rank pages higher than they deserve to be ranked. We see all sorts of webspam techniques every day, from keyword stuffing to link schemes that attempt to propel sites higher in rankings," explains Google.

Check your site ranking now to see whether you've been affected. If you have, it might mean you need to think about producing great content and a genuinely engaging experience for users, rather than simply trying by hook or by crook to get on page one.
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Content marketing quote of the day

4/30/2013

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"The bottom line is that content marketing is a great way of generating inbound traffic and making money online. The success of your online marketing depends on timely and effective implementation of online marketing plan. You also to use the right channels, engage your audience, and evaluate the effectiveness of your activities periodically. With all things in place, there is no reason why your content marketing should fail."

This come from this excellent blog post on How Content Marketing Delivers Customers.

Ultimately, that's what copy writing should be about - generating customers for your business. It's no use spending all your cash on loads of words if it doesn't improve your top line profits. Or, as this post points out, brand visibility.

There is loads to digest in the article and we suggest you check it out if you are unsure about the benefits of having loads of great content on your website and elsewhere.

Just to recap here are some of the benefits:

Improve search ranking 

Increase brand visibility

Generate sales by inbound marketing

Boost brand prestige

Generate buzz on social media via sharing of articles

Of course, these are just a few of the major benefits - find out more about our content marketing consultancy service.
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Google Zebra update: online merchants watch out

4/22/2013

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Content marketing aside for once, the latest Google update – dubbed Zebra – will have some serious implications on traffic for online merchants.
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At SXSW in Austin, Google head honcho on these matters, Matt Cutts, said there will be a large Penguin update in 2013.

Apparently Google’s search quality team is working on a major update to the Penguin algorithm, which he dubbed significant.

Penguin affects the way we do SEO and content marketing for all websites, but now merchants are being singled out for the algo treatment with Zebra.

"We have a potential launch later this year, maybe a little bit sooner, looking at the quality of merchants and whether we can do a better job on that, because we don’t want low quality experience merchants to be ranking in the search results," Cutts said.

Search Engine Journal helpfully explains the full ramifications (what we know), but here is a quick rundown of what Google is likely to be wanting 'good' merchants to have.

  • A “view your shopping cart” link that stays on the same site.
  • A shopping cart that updates when you add items to it.
  • A return policy with a physical address.
  • A shipping charge calculator that works.
  • A “wish list” link, or a link to postpone the purchase of an item until later.
  • A way to track FedEx orders.
  • A user forum that works.
  • The ability to register or login.
  • A gift registry that works.


So what does it mean? We'll all have to keep improving our websites and content to ensure we stayed at the top. So not much then, just the usual one-step ahead game we have to play all the time to satisfy Google.
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Online marketing budgets set to soar

4/11/2013

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Spending on content marketing and other forms of internet advertising looks set to soar over the coming months as brands get more optimistic.

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Global ad spend will increase by three per cent in 2013 based on current prices, according to Warc. The report also shows spending will rise by 5.4 per cent in 2014.

The forecasts cover TV, newspapers, magazines, internet, outdoor, radio and cinema advertising.

So the global market place is looking healthier, but what's the situation look like in the UK?

The IPA Bellwether report reveals over a third (36 per cent) of marketing executives plan to raise 2013 budgets in comparison to last year.

Internet advertising was the strongest performer in the first three months of 2013, rising 8.9 per cent, according to the survey.

In terms of content marketing, online search/SEO spend was up 1.8 per cent.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit and author of the Bellwether report, said: "An upturn in business confidence and corresponding increase in budgeted marketing spend for 2013 augurs well for the wider economy. However, while the Bellwether is suggesting the economy is recovering, it looks set to be another challenging year for businesses and the pace of economic expansion is likely to be modest."
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UK content marketing benchmark survey: findings

3/11/2013

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Content marketing budgets are set to rise in the UK.
Businesses in the UK not harnessing content marketing are fast becoming the minority, a major new report claims.

Virtually all marketers in the UK are utilising content marketing to engage consumers, boost website rankings and improve SEO.

Nine in ten (94 per cent) of UK marketers have adopted content marketing, with the figure rising to 97 per cent among B2C marketers, according to the — Content Marketing in the UK: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — conducted by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and the Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA).


On average, 27 per cent of marketing budgets in the UK are allocated to content marketing and if anything this figure will only rise.

Two-thirds (64 per cent) say they will increase the amount they allocate to content marketing over the next 12 months.

On average, UK marketers use 13 content marketing tactics, whilst their North American and Australian peers use 12. 

The most popular tactics are “articles on your website,” “social media (other than blogs),” and “eNewsletters.”

Improving SEO and site ranking is key, with marketers in the UK, Australia and the US consistently ranking website traffic as their top metric.

The biggest challenge for marketers is producing enough content and creating engaging content strategies.


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Google reaffirms link-building rules for SEO in Interflora case

2/27/2013

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If you were in any doubt about how important it is to approach SEO properly by building up great content for your site, just take a look at Interflora.

The company has been removed from Google rankings for manipulating links to improve its search ranking.

According to Google, the flower seller has been selling links to bypass PageRank, which goes against all that's good and true in the world of SEO.

In a blog post for Google Webmaster, engineer Matt Cutts outlined the reasons for the decision to strike Interflora.

"Google has said for years that selling links that pass PageRank violates our quality guidelines. We continue to reiterate that guidance periodically to help remind site owners and webmasters of that policy," he wrote.

He added: "Selling links (or entire advertorial pages with embedded links) that pass PageRank violates our quality guidelines, and Google does take action on such violations."

The first consequence for a site that sells links is that it will start losing trust in Google's search results, as well as reduction of the site's visible PageRank in the Google Toolbar.

Another consequence could be lower rankings for that site in Google's search results, explained Cutts.

"We do take this issue very seriously, so we recommend you avoid selling (and buying) links that pass PageRank in order to prevent loss of trust, lower PageRank in the Google Toolbar, lower rankings, or in an extreme case, removal from Google's search results," he concluded.

All this does is reaffirm the stance that great content is the best way to improve search rankings. Why? Because truly great website content is the only reason another site will link to yours.

Find out how great content marketing can help your business reach the top of Google

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    Alex McLean

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