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Let's jump in live to discuss content marketing for startups...
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Topics to cover: 1) Keywords, 2) Editorial Calendar, 3) Hiring Writers, 4) Promoting Content, 5) Metrics
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Hey Dan, caught you at Big Omaha looking forward to this.
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So, keywords - the most important, most overlooked aspect of blogging
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Pro Tip: Use google keyword tool to identify related keywords with enough search volume (10K+ / month) to make it worth while.
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Then, run paid traffic using those keywords to understand the cost per conversion for each keyword - so you can rank order the value of the keywrods to target for your blog.
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Using paid traffic will quickly help you identify which keywords are best ($$) for your product .. then backfill ranking using your blog & SEO.
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*Quick programming note*: please take a second and go RT this tweet so we get more good people in here: https://twitter....79066626
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so just use the cpc to see which one is most valuable to rank *without* paying?
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I just added a new topic, which should help drive some females to join the thread
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The key is to use google keyword tool to identify 6-10 keywords that have decent volume. Then run paid traffic to those key words to understand which convert the best for your product. Then build your blog to rank for those terms.
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If you don't get the right keywords that make you money .. the rest of your blogging strategy looses half it's punch
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@Scott Magoon I do both .. for pillar content I use short slugs with the target keyword .. and for viral content I use long keyword stuff urls.
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Pillar content = guides, master references, everything you need to know kind of stuff. Things people would bookmark to review later.
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So search engine is still the most valuable source for traffic to blogs ? For me I don't trust google search for quality content.
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Viral content = Stuff people tweet / share on facebook
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how do you balance your efforts on pillar vs viral?
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FYI: 1) Keywords, 2) Editorial Calendar, 3) Hiring Writers, 4) Promoting Content, 5) Metrics
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For all our new friends here: (A) Welcoem! (B) FYI, a little pro tip: to respond to someone click on “Mention ______” by their comment, or type “@” and then start typing their name. An auto-complete dropdown will appear and you can select them from it.
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Editorial calendar consist of 20 post in your backlog and really smart / focused headlines. I always write the headlines first keeping in mind the keywords I want to rank for.
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@Dan Martell Is there any particular tips you use to write engaging headlines? Do you intentionally try to stir the editorial pot?
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Out of the 20 post .. I do a mix of 1 pillar content for every 6-9 viral pieces.
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Writing great headlines requires some creativity. Depending on your brand, you can decide what's a good fit. For me, I don't mind being funny or stirring the pot.
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I have no idea how to write something with the intent that people will re-share it, except the title should have a number in it
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To learn how to write great headlines - just visit any douche magazine .. vogue, enquirer, etc .. they're the pro's
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Also, I find http://copyblogg...eadlines pretty great to reference when I'm building my editorial calendar.
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@Dan Martell do you have any methodology to the types of backlog content? For example would you alternate heavy/light, news/social, long/short, or anything like that.
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@Scott Magoon I don't do news cause then I compete with other news outlets but I do follow trends and try and write for areas that re-inforce our brand, that are trending up (search volume) and help me position my focused keyword strategy.
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Editorial calendar should be spreadsheets and always include performance data for previously published stuff (traffic, social shares, comments)
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1) Keywords, 2) Editorial Calendar, 3) Hiring Writers, 4) Promoting Content, 5) Metrics
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Paying writers .. if you're cheap, $20 per post - if you're funding and want to be serious, then $80-$120 per post
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Totally agree regarding news, there's plenty of news, but def room for sources that go deeper on the real implications and tie in more personal stories
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If you need to seed your blog (super early days) then you could get away with using something like http://mediapiston.com - I've used them for seeding Q&A sites
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@Dan Martell let me know if you want to pay me to write, I will take $120 and you don't even have to negotiate 8-)
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@Willis F Jackson III I only pay the pro's (known entities in that space with huge followings, etc) $120 ;)
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We've pulled back on the blog since our product pivot (a way longer discussion) so the content for the past 3 months hasn't been focused - more life support
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Prior to that we were doing 200,000 uniques and signing up 1000's of accounts into our paid product.
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@Dan Martell Is that cost for both viral and pillar? Would you recommend writing pillar yourself? Or can that be outsourced (thinking it can).
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@Andrew Skotzko if you want to be cheap, look at people that write for regional sites like siliconprairienews.com, I bet finding people that are unpaid writers will give you a better chance
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the links I am getting right now are easily making this worth my time
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@Max Leisten you can outsource all your content - unless you want to write and love to do it .. for a startup (especially funded) then you should be building product - not writing a blog for the business. (personal blog excluded).
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@Max Leisten yep, guest post are great - just needs management and can suck up time .. but totally recommended.
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Finding writers. Outbound - Make a list of the top writers for your space and email them asking if they'll write for your blog.
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Hiring great bloggers that already know you space and are looking for extra income is golden. Most can't make $100 per post on their blog (via advertising) and will welcome the chance.
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We went after anyone who wrote on the top social media blogs and reached out to 20+ to find our writers.
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Benefits: They have existing networks (to help with promotion) and they know their stuff (way less post editing required)
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@Todd Nagle writers that I loved reading was my criteria. If I don't want to read their stuff / style / etc .. then why should my readers.
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ah, I get it, presumption is that since they already write about the same or very similar topic elsewhere, their network will be interested in the content, thus they help with distribution
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@Dan Martell So your content strategy was build on building traffic and driving conversions to your product. What about a GigaOm model of viral (free) content and pillar (paid) content. Does that still have legs?
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@Brian Norgard I don't from an SEO point of view (re: link backs) but I do guest post for personal branding and product positioning
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@Max Leisten I don't know how their model is performing (although I can assume it's kicking ass). I've always been focused on content to bring traffic for SaaS products / signups.
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Inbound hiring: Running a job ad. Here's the trick.
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I usually recommend this for small businesses and startups pre-funding when you want to hire writers at $20+ per post.
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Is there a way to export all this knowledge in the chat to a doc or something? Really enjoying this.
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Ask for these 2 things 1) samples of their past work, 2) some question they need to answer (ex: What's your favorite post on this site right now?) - if they don't provide 1 & 2 - just delete the email.
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@Ian Matthews between $60-$120. I like to do base (per post) of $80 for someone amazing, then do social share bonuses ($20 / 100 shares above 200 avg for us).
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@Casey Armstrong This link will be alive for as long as Namesake is in business and, if you really like, you can write a summary for all of us later. : )
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yeah @Casey Armstrong maybe you can write a summary and sell it to @Dan Martell to publish on the flowtown blog 8-)
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The social share bonuses helps align your interest and theirs .. they'll be motivated to promote through their networks and write better content (then just filler crap)
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So, if you do the job posting - you'll get a bunch of applicants who don't read and will apply without relevant experience or answering your question .. don't hire them - delete the email.
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@Dan Martell What are your thoughts on budget allocation pre & post funding for this type of marketing/brand building. (% of rev or $) I'm sure there are a few of us running lean these days.
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If they do answer accordingly, check out their past work to see if their writing style works for you. This is super important .. writing style / tone / etc .. needs to be good.
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Then, ask them to write a sample post - give them 5 headlines to write about and ask them to include - links to reference material, links to other blogs, strong heading image, well named subheads that draws the user to keep on reading.
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@Todd Nagle spending $1-2k is a very efficient use of capital even if you're bootstrapped to get your blogging up and running
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@Todd Nagle pre-funding: $200/month, post-funding: $1000-$10,000 per month. There's really no upper limit if you start off doing your research on keywords and correlate cost per acquistion cost, cause every keyword your rank for saves you money in the long run and the blog becomes an asset.
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@Dan Martell Is there a tool you use or can recommend for managing social shares / commission-based writing?
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@Max Leisten nope, just count em' out 10 days later .. I just use the numbers from the blog plugins and it's added to my editorial calendar either way.
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@Dan Martell From what I've seen from your team, you are *just* as proficient at what happens after the post is live (echoing @Andrew Skotzko 's comment). What's your strategy?
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That's the comp sheet used by a MAJOR startup blog (and you all know it's name) to comp promoters on CPA to their product.
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1) Keywords, 2) Blog Design, 3) Editorial Calendar, 4) Hiring Writers, 5) Promoting Content, 6) Metrics
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Most people don't know this .. but you can hire content promoters based on traffic.
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If you have an amazing piece of content and want it to get on the home page of Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, HackerNews, etc .. you can pay for this support.
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Timing plays a big part and I can't go into it too much .. but promoting content is all about getting it out, then promoted in a timely maner.
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Spending time the day before giving early access to something amazing, for others to digest and maybe repost is always a good idea.
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@Gaia Dempsey everything is listed above .. but my step 1 is about picking the right keywords to drive traffic that converts.
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I haven't built a process for this part - although I should .. but the right way is to prime the pump.
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Build a small internal email list of friends that will promote ... people that are your brand ambassadors and give them early access.
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@Dan Martell where does one begin when trying to target promotion? Example: MD's in a geographic region.
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@Dan Martell question, and this may be obvious to everyone but me, but why would anyone care about having early access to a blog post?
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@Mark A find out where they currently visit and maybe offer to do a join infographic with that publisher - just make sure you put your logo in the top right corner.
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@Willis F Jackson III I love when I get early access to share with my followers something that just went live.
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Hey everyone .. I got to wrap things up .. sorry started late. Any last minute questions?
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@Dan Martell Can't wait for the next office hours! This was freaking awesome.
Everyone, please take a second and go endorse @Dan Martell . Thank you. -
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This is awesome info! U rock Dan :)
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The big thing to remember is that it takes time. In the early days I spent 2-3 days per week coordinating / managing / measure the blog. Optimizing the templates for conversions - making sure the content was rocking, etc.
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@Dan Martell thanks very much Dan. I have Maritime roots. Good to see a fellow Canuck leading the charge. Let me know if you have a line on fiddle heads
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@Dan Martell I hope you can come back for another conversation like this. It was really valuable and helpful. Thanks!
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@Dan Martell Around the preview, how do you share it early? Email the content or alert as soon as it is up?
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@Dan Martell Have you heard of Triberr.com? Seems to be effective in terms of generating RTs and traffic.
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@Benjamin Yoskovitz I haven't .. checking it out now. We've built some internal tools to help with this ;)
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It will take a while to digest a meal this big
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@Dan Martell @Brian Norgard @Andrew Skotzko Thanks for this great conversation :) You all are amazing, and inspiring to young entrepreneurs!
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Anyone have an active link to the comp sheet linked by @Dan Martell ? I'm getting an error message...
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@Deena Varshavskaya Now it's showing blocked by the firewall here at work. Oh well, I'll wait until I get home I guess.
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@Casey Armstrong just posted this amazing link about this Namesake Office Hours Conversation:
http://webbroi.c...ups.html -
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What do you think?
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