Writers Tricks of the Trade Vol. 6 Issue 1 | Page 35

PRESS “CONTROL” THEN CLICK “BUY” TO PURCHASE ANY BOOK WHY BLOG? BE CONFIDENT PERRY YELDHAM, FOUNDER AND LEAD DESIGNER 21THIRTEEN DESIGN: WEBSITES THAT CONNECT - HTTP://21THIRTEEN.COM REPRINTED FROM "RICK FRISHMAN'S SUNDAY TIPS" SUBSCRIBE AT HTTP://WWW.RICKFRISHMAN.COM AND RECEIVE RICK'S 131 PAGE "2015 MILLION DOLLAR ROLODEX" It’s the age of Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing. CONTENT MARKETING is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audienc e – with the objective of driving profitable customer action. INBOUND MARKETING refers to marketing activities that bring visitors in, rather than marketers having to go out to get prospects’ attention.Inbound marketing earns the attention of customers, makes the company easy to be found, and draws customers to the website by producing interesting content.Customers want to engage with the companies they buy from. This, by the way is why branding is so necessary. If your company has a “personality”, an “identity”, then there is something with which to engage. The easiest and most inexpensive way to create content is by blogging. “NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.” ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, THIS IS MY STORY THE FIVE COMPELLING REASONS TO BLOG: 1: More Opportunities to Be Found. Each post you publish on your blog is another page of your website that is indexed in the search engines. 2: It Helps Other Marketing Channels. Each blog post can be re-used and shared via Social Media and is something for your followers to share. It can also be used for a newsletter or email campaign. 3: More time to Connect. While your website’s main pages might be perfectly crafted, sometimes a visitor just wants more before they are ready to become a client, customer, or subscriber. A blog will also increase the likelihood of people staying on your site longer. 4: More Communication. If you’re willing and able to take the time and trouble to deal with comments, allowing interaction with your audience builds rapport and a sense of belonging. 5: Increased Search Engine Optimization. The more often content is published on your website, the more often the search engine crawlers will visit your website and the faster new content will be listed on Google and everywhere else. 6: Authority. The more you write about something, the more you will be recognized as an authority on that subject. Even the act of needing to write an article causes you to research that subject, to learn more than you already knew, and to actually come closer to being an authority. “ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE; AND REVEL IN IT.” MITCH ALBOM, TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE Email us at [email protected] or call us at 646 808 0249 for more information WRITERS’ TorRICKSfor OF THE help TRADEin making your PAGE web site truly effective. JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016 27 21Thirteen Design: Websites that Connect - http://21thirteen.com