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How to Quit Publishing Bad Content

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2012 was the year that mainstream businesses started to get it. They realized that content marketing is where they should be putting their time and energy.

And inevitably, when a particular term gets a lot of coverage, you’ll see a backlash. I’d start watching for “Content Marketing is Dead” posts around the first of next year, if not earlier.

And what will those misguided posts be pointing to?

They’ll point out that an awful lot of content is … how can I put this delicately?

It’s really, really bad.

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A 3-Step Process for Painless Keyword Research

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Keyword research is one of the most important types of research you’ll do throughout your content marketing career. It’s also one of the most difficult.

In this series, we’ve already discussed the fact that research isn’t sexy, glamorous, or fun. We’ve also talked about how you need to do research consistently — just like you need to work out in a consistent manner in order to see the real physical fitness results you want.

But there’s something particularly arduous about conducting keyword research. Many of the tools available are confusing and counter-intuitive. We don’t know what we’re supposed to be looking for, and we often don’t have a system in place for how to do keyword research effectively.

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How to Build a Referral Engine That Works

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Producing a remarkable product is good marketing, but even the best products need help in spreading the word.

Movie producers (now) know the value of a good trailer that’s shareable on social media. A teaser to whet your appetite.

Coke hasn’t changed its product in years, but they always put out feel good commercials that remind you why you like to drink it.

Zappos knew that they needed to create such amazing customer service that nobody could stop raving about them, and they passed the 1 billion sales mark — without shelling out the big bucks in traditional advertising.

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How to Keep Your Audience Interested by Writing Long-Term Story Arcs

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You know it, I know it, and even if you’re as cynical as I am about shiny marketing fads, you probably realize that our lives ultimately revolve around stories.

Human beings are wired for story.

Stories really are how we make sense of the world.

In my role as Content Manager for ProBlogger, I think quite a bit about what makes a good story. If you’re a normal human being with any interest in others, you probably already have a good instinctive sense of story.

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5 WordPress Mistakes Even Experts Can Miss

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I hope you’ve gone through your WordPress website with a fine-toothed comb and fixed all the most common mistakes you could find.

If so, you might be feeling pretty confident. But before you relax, there might be a few more fixes that can make your site perform even better.

How do I know? Because I’ve found (and fixed) them for many of my own clients.

Keep in mind that even though I’m labeling these tips as “advanced,” there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t tackle them.

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7 Email Publishers Profiting From the Inbox

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The oldest form of social media is still the most potent for online publishers.

No, I’m not referring to Friendster.

The first email was sent in 1971, and it definitely didn’t include any “today only” offers on flatscreen TVs or discounted Indian food.

When we think of “social media” we think of faster, sexier platforms like Google +, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or (ahem) Facebook.

But every single minute, some 170 million emails are sent by an estimated 3.3 billion accounts worldwide, and around 100 a day land in your own inbox.

How can this ancient technology possibly drive the profits of a business online?

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