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Archive | January, 2013

Tags: content writer

10 Tips To Becoming A More Interesting Content Writer

Posted on 31 January 2013 by Toby Gonzales

Not everyone starts out as a great content writer, but everyone can become a great content writer. Here are ten tips to start you on the path toward greatness.

1. Learn a lot. The more you know, the more topics you’ll be able to write knowledgeably about. It will make your articles more interesting, and your writing process easier.

2. Write like you talk. Too many content writers have styles that are overly formal, or sound awkward, or are hard to read. But few people have these troubles when talking. So listen to how you talk, and write the same way.

3. Write fast. Write a lot, and don’t get hung up on small details. You’ll get more practice this way, and that will make you a better writer.

4. Be descriptive. People like descriptions of exactly what they are reading about. Make sure that your writing includes lots of detail and description, so that people can image what you mean when you are writing about it.

5. Tell stories. Stories are an important component of description. Make sure you use anecdotes in your writing. Use lots of these stories, and learn to tell them in an interesting, engaging manner.

6. Inject humor. There are lots of ways to make your writing engaging, but perhaps the one readers enjoy most is humor. Humor is fun for the writer, and fun for the reader. If the reader gets the sense you enjoyed your writing process, it’s more likely they’ll enjoy your writing.

7. Keep your sentences short. Your writing should be easy for the reader to understand. Long sentences become confusing, and they force readers to go back and reread to understand your meaning. Avoid confusion and keep sentences short.

8. Break your articles into sections. Not every reader will read your entire article, but you’ll have something interesting for almost everyone. Use sections and section titles, so readers can quickly pick out what appeals to them.

9. Plan out your articles. Too many articles sound like they were written in a rush, with no plan for where they were going. Write with a plan, and your writing will read better.

10. Use more exclamation marks. Strange, but true: Research shows that readers find sentences that end in exclamation marks more interesting. Use this to your advantage, and throw in a few more exclamations.

What could be added to this list?? Does writing come easy to you?

Still have questions?? Check out our Facebook Page, our blog, or contact us and we will respond quickly.

Toby Gonzales

Toby Gonzales is the Revenue Manager for FBiframes. Besides taking out the trash at FBiframes, he enjoys helping businesses implement their social media marketing plan. If your business' marketing plan or strategy needs new insight, drop him a line.

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Tags: SEO

How Content Marketing Affects Your Search Results

Posted on 28 January 2013 by Toby Gonzales

So you have a website that describes your service or product. It is beautifully formatted, has great back end security, tells customers everything they need to know about your company, and gives them a fast and easy way to purchase what you’re selling.

Only problem is, no customers are coming to the website. There are hundreds of other companies offering similar services, and people who need your service go to those websites instead. Or when they need your service, they have no way to find your website. In any event, they don’t end up at your website and they don’t pay you a dime.

How to reach them? Well, one great option is content marketing. In content marketing, companies publish information relevant to their area of expertise, and use that information to draw in customers, who then migrate from the content to the sales area, and ultimately buy the products.

But how will customers find your content if they couldn’t find your website?

Easy…

First search engines will find your content, and then they will point potential customers towards it.

Search engines use advanced archiving machines called “spiders” to crawl the entire web, find every page (or almost every page) out there, and then add those pages to their search results. The spiders determine which pages are most relevant to a given search term, and then the search engine displays those pages for interested web surfers.

Spiders on the Web

Because of this, you can get your page to show up when web surfers search for topics relevant to whatever you are selling. For instance, if you run a roofing company, people may search for something like, “how to choose a good roofing company.” If you have a web page addressing this very topic, then Google, Bing, and perhaps other search engines will display your web page to people searching for that topic.

Those people will then arrive at your website. Not all of them will choose your roofing service, but some of them will first read your guide to choosing a good roofer, then click to the rest of your site, and eventually call and ask you to do their roof.

If you have many such pages—”how to choose a good roofer,” but also “what makes a good roof,” “when to get a new roof,” and so on—then search terms related to all those terms will lead to your web page. Soon enough, you’ll get a flood of visitors interested in these roofing topics, and some of them will choose your company, and give you an easy injection of new, paying business.

Has your business increased since you started a serious content marketing campaign?? Share your growth with us!!

Still have questions?? Check out our Facebook Page, our blog, or contact us and we will respond quickly.

Toby Gonzales

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Tags: social sharing

5 Ways to Grow Your Content Marketing By Social Sharing

Posted on 24 January 2013 by Matt DeWyer

The classic approach to content marketing is to publish lots of information that readers might want, and then hope that search engines will push those readers to your website or blog. This relies on search engines ranking your website well, which can take time, and readers who find your website through a search engine won’t necessarily trust it. Far better is drawing traffic through social sharing. Here’s how that is done.

1. Add social sharing buttons

Every page on your website or blog should include social sharing buttons. These are small, unobtrusive buttons that allow readers to click just one button and share a link to your page on their social network of choice. You should use buttons for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Google Plus. Others can help, but won’t provide as much traffic.

2. Make accounts on social networks

Your company or website should have accounts on all of the major social media networks. These accounts should be current, active, and have as many followers as you can recruit. Then, every time you post new content, share it on these networks, and use them as funnels for readers and page views.

3. Write viral content

When you are writing your content, ask yourself whether it is good enough that readers will want to share it. If not, keep trying to improve its shareability. If readers don’t want to share it, there’s a good chance it will not convince them to buy your product or service, either. Make shareable content, and you’ll get more views, and far more interested customers.

4. Be prolific

The key to succeeding in social media is to produce a lot of content. Some of it will stick, and turn into viral hits that bring in new readers who want to learn more about you and what you do. So don’t stop writing, and don’t limit yourself to just one blog post per week, or one tweet per day. Create a lot of content, and be confident that eventually, some of it will connect with the audience.

5. Give rewards for sharing

Give your readers an incentive to share your content. Offer discounts for those who retweet links you publish, or have a giveaway contest for everyone who likes on your statuses on Facebook. This will spread your message to new customers, and generate renewed interest among old customers.

How else have you used social sharing to grow your content readership?

Still have questions?? Check out our Facebook Page, our blog, or contact us and we will respond quickly.

Matt DeWyer

Matt is the founder and one of the owners of FBiframes. He's a developer by day.. and night.

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Tags: content writing

6 Tips For Generating Article Ideas For Content Marketing

Posted on 22 January 2013 by Toby Gonzales

When you are practicing content marketing, it is important to put a lot of content out on the web. One or two articles isn’t enough, nor is one blog post each month. You need lots of content to increase your website’s value and draw in more readers. But many people have trouble thinking up topics for all their content. If that’s your problem, have a look at the six tips below for generating good article ideas.

1. Read related blogs

One good way to think up ideas for content is to read blogs that publish content similar to yours. You don’t have to take their ideas exactly. Instead, ask yourself what your reaction was to their piece, and then write up your reaction, link the original post, and publish your reaction.

2. Ask readers what they want

Use your readers as a resource. Every so often, publish a post asking them for feedback on what they want to know. When you do this, readers will send in questions and comments, and you can make a series of posts answering reader questions.

3. Keep a notepad on you

Many writers think of good ideas throughout the day, but don’t write them down and can’t remember them when it is time to write. To avoid this problem, keep a notepad handy at all times, and write down ideas whenever they come to you.

4. Link good articles

Not all of your posts have to be original content. Some of them can simply be links to other posts that you found interesting or informative. Readers will appreciate you sharing good links, and it will keep them coming back to your blog for more such links.

5. Brainstorm

Every so often, you should sit down in a quiet room and force yourself to come up with 10 or 15 topics that you can cover on your blog. If you set aside time specifically for coming up with ideas, and then really work at it, you’ll be surprised how many good ideas will come to you.

6. Ask your colleagues

If you are blogging for an organization (even an organization with just a few members), you’re lucky, because then you can use your colleagues as idea generating machines. Ask them what you should write about. They will have encountered situations and ideas you haven’t, and you’ll be surprised how many ideas they have.

How do you brainstorm when generating article ideas for your content marketing?? Share a helpful tip that you use.

Still have questions?? Check out our Facebook Page, our blog, or contact us and we will respond quickly.

Toby Gonzales

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Tags: content marketing

How Content Marketing Drives Community Engagement

Posted on 18 January 2013 by Matt DeWyer

Content marketing is a strategy employed by many different companies. The usual suspects for using this strategy are large, nationwide corporations, or online businesses that can service people throughout the country, or even throughout the world.

These companies put content on their websites or blogs, and then use that content mostly to draw in visitors who reach their websites through search engines. They don’t necessarily target any one geographic area or region; instead, they put out lots of content, and expect that some of the hundreds of millions of people who could use their services will find the content, and through the content learn about their company.

Dont hide from your potential community

For more localized businesses, this may not be an option. A business in California has no need to attract web visitors from New York, who it cannot help and who aren’t, ultimately, going to pay the business any money. Because of this, such local businesses may not see content marketing as a viable strategy for them.

But in fact, content marketing is a great strategy for local businesses, it simply must be handled in a different way than it would be handled by a larger, nationwide business. Instead of throwing out tons of general content and hoping to attract visitors, these local businesses will have to publish more specialized content that will bring in visitors from their specific area.

The most basic way to do this is simply to write content for that geographic area, and then let search engines push relevant visitors to the site. For instance, a nationwide shoe retailer might publish articles about “choosing a reliable online shoe seller,” and then draw in visitors from all over the country.

On the other end of the spectrum, a localized shoe store could publish articles like, “finding a good shoe store in Los Angeles.” Then, when web surfers search for “shoe store” and “Los Angeles,” that article might appear toward the top of the search results.

Rather than drawing in readers from all over the country, this company’s content will be drawing in those from a very targeted region. In effect, it will be reaching out only to its community, and its business will grow through such efforts.

And local businesses have a leg up, because there are far fewer businesses doing localized content marketing. If they do it well, they can bring in hundreds of new readers, some of whom will eventually be new customers, too.

Do you use content marketing to drive community engagement for your business? Share some of your techniques…

Still have questions?? Check out our Facebook Page, our blog, or contact us and we will respond quickly.

Matt DeWyer

Matt is the founder and one of the owners of FBiframes. He's a developer by day.. and night.

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Tags: content writing

6 Steps To Writing Content for your blog in 25 Minutes

Posted on 15 January 2013 by Toby Gonzales

When writing content for a blog, it is important to write quickly and use your time wisely. After all, blogging is not just about writing. There are other important parts, like promoting your blog, thinking of new topics, and commenting on other blogs to build a following for yours. So follow these six short cuts to get the writing time for your blog posts down to 25 minutes or less.

1. Plan Ahead

This may seem like it’s wasting time, but in fact planning ahead will save you time in the long run. Planning reduces the need to stop and brainstorm during your writing process. By separating planning and writing into two phases, you will be able to write your content faster.

2. Use Bullet Points

One of the most difficult and frustrating parts of writing is thinking up transitions. Not only is this annoying for the writer, but transitions in articles often just waste words and take up space. Cut them out, use bullets, and you and your readers will save time.

3. Write Like You Speak

Don’t worry about making your blog post sound like a textbook or encyclopedia. People don’t enjoy reading those things anyway. Write with the same phrases and sentence formations you use to speak, and writing will become far easier and faster.

4. Learn To Type Faster

For many inexperienced writers, typing is one of the hardest parts of writing a blog post or internet article. If you can’t type fast, your writing time can go way up. There are many free, online typing tutorials. Use one, and speed up your writing. I just used Typing Web they also have a google chrome plugin.

5. Link Other Blogs

Don’t waste time and page space rephrasing points that other people have already made. Bloggers like getting quoted (and, of course, linked) on other people’s blogs, and they will thank you for the exposure you give them. Meanwhile, linking their material will expand your posts and help your reach your target word count much, much faster than putting every last thing in your own words.

6. Hire An Editor

Editors are available on sites like eLance and oDesk for very reasonable rates, especially if you are only writing short blog posts and articles. An editor can clean up spelling and grammatical mistakes, tighten awkward sentences, and generally improve the quality of your writing. They’ll also save you time, and it will hardly cost you a thing.

Do you or your company use a process when writing articles or content, so it wont take forever?? Let us know…

Still have questions?? Check out our Facebook Page, our blog, or contact us and we will respond quickly.

Toby Gonzales

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Tags: content marketing

6 Tips To Enhance Your Content Marketing By Telling Better Stories

Posted on 10 January 2013 by Matt DeWyer

People love stories. They are the primary way that we communicate with other people, and when you have a point that you want to make, there is no better way to make your point than by telling a story to illustrate it.

However, storytelling does not come naturally to everybody. Some people have trouble with this essential skill, and their blogs and content suffer for it. If you fall into this group, use these six easy tips to improve your storytelling.

1. Listen To A Lot Of Stories

Or read them. Or watch them. But, however you do it, make sure you are hearing other people’s stories. Television writers, novelists, and journalists are usually great storytellers. Listen and watch what they do when telling stories, and try to learn from their examples.

2. Give Your Story Structure

A proper story has a beginning, middle, and end. Content marketing for your brand should be no different. At the beginning, the reader (or listener) knows less than he does at the middle. At the end, he knows more than he did in the middle. Make sure your stories have discernible sections, and that the reader learns more and more as the story goes along.

3. Use Multiple Punch Lines

We think of punch lines as only occurring in jokes, but in fact, punch lines occur in stories too. A punch line is any “payoff” line, where the reader or listener learns something especially interesting or surprising. You want the biggest punch line at the end, but use smaller punch lines throughout to keep the audience interested.

4. Evoke Emotion

It doesn’t really matter what emotion you evoke, but your readers ought to have some emotional reaction to the story that you tell. They can feel sad, happy, surprised, or amused—whatever you want. Any of these emotions will seem important to them, and they will be more likely to remember your story.

5. Be Conversational

Storytelling shouldn’t feel too formal. If the stories in your blog posts sound like they are excerpts from encyclopedias, they are too formal. Keep your tone conversational, and readers will be more interested. Content marketing can be better understood if you act like you are having a face to face conversation with a potential client

6. Hide The Ending

Every story has an ending. It can be a surprise twist, a moral, or funny joke, but every story builds to a final “point.” Don’t project this ending. Keep readers guessing, so that they stay engaged all the way through the last line of your story. They’ll enjoy it more, and it will be more memorable, too.

Do you have to always tell a story when you are posting content? Let us know your thoughts.

Still have questions?? Check out our Facebook Page, our blog, or contact us and we will respond quickly.

Matt DeWyer

Matt is the founder and one of the owners of FBiframes. He's a developer by day.. and night.

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Tags: content marketing

6 Simple Ways to Get People to Read Your Content

Posted on 07 January 2013 by Toby Gonzales

Even if you have great content on your blog or web site, nobody will be able to appreciate your hard work if you don’t have a plan to get those readers to your site. Luckily, it is not hard to attract readers, so long as you use sound methods and are persistent in your efforts. Here are six ways to bring in the readers and hold their attention.

1. Tell your friends

Your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and anyone else you come into contact with regularly (or even not so regularly) should know about your web site. You already have a web of hundreds of readers, you just need to let them know about your site. Don’t be shy. Tell these people to read what you’ve written.

2. Market on message boards

Message boards relevant to your topic are great for aggregating potential readers into one easy to access place. Go to these boards and become a regular poster. Add a link to your site into your signature. The more you post, the more people will see your link and check out your stuff.

3. Write with confidence

Make yourself sound like an authority. Don’t sound like you are simply speculating on your topic. You want readers to trust you, and see you as a worthy source that they can pass onto friends. When people trust you, they’ll be more likely to recommend you and forward your site to those they know.

4. Write a lot

If you want to get search engine traffic, one of the easiest ways is to simply have a lot of content. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of people will come to your blog every day, simply by searching for information relevant to topics that you have covered. So write a lot, and get a lot of links on Google and Bing.

5. Write viral content

You don’t need every post to get one million hits, but you do want some that get passed around and rack up a few thousand hits, and expose new readers to your work. When writing, ask yourself, “Would I share this?” If your answer is yes, you’re on the right track.

6. Cover an important topic

People don’t want to read about your daily routine, or your pets, or what you ate for lunch. Choose a topic that other people need to know about, and give them the information they seek. Build a site and cultivate the content on a topic that people need, and they will come.

What other ways do you get people to read your content; bribery, guest blogging??? Let us know.

Still have questions?? Check out our Facebook Page, our blog, or contact us and we will respond quickly.

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Archive | January, 2013

Tags: content writer

Tags: SEO

Tags: social sharing

1. Add social sharing buttons

2. Make accounts on social networks

3. Write viral content

4. Be prolific

5. Give rewards for sharing

Tags: content writing

4. Link good articles

Tags: content marketing

Tags: content writing

1. Plan Ahead

2. Use Bullet Points

3. Write Like You Speak

4. Learn To Type Faster

5. Link Other Blogs

6. Hire An Editor

Tags: content marketing

1. Listen To A Lot Of Stories

Tags: content marketing

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