B2B Inbound Blog

Increase Your Blog Page Views with the Difference Factor

Greg Elwell — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:24:00 GMT

Every once in awhile you just sort of stumble upon something that works. And, rather than keep it to yourself you share it with others whom you think might also benefit from the discovery.

Simon Cowell has the X Factor, but you can have the Difference Factor and dramatically increase blog page views, readership, links and more!

About a year ago I was researching online news releases and newswire distribution services. I wrote a guest blog article for the HubSpot marketing blog called, 4 Ways News Releases Boost SEO. I also hosted a webinar with PRWeb and created a News Release Marketing Kit for download.

My journey through this subject also led me to wonder about two seemingly similar, yet potentially different terms: press release and news release. So, I wrote a blog article about it: What's the Difference Between a Press Release and a News Release?

If you Google some form of "difference between a news release and press release" or, "press release vs. news release" you'll find somewhere between 95,000,000 and 257,000,000 results. And my article is pretty much on top, within the first 3 positions.

This article is my most popular article ever in terms of blog page views and inbound links, as measured in my blog analytics. I'm sure I committed a bunch of no-no's publishing that article. Such as the title is on the longish side with 11 words. Oh well...

Why was this post so popular and what lessons can you takeaway from it?

Apparently, topics with similar or seemingly contrasting terms that people wonder about are attention getters. Press release vs. news release: are they one in the same, different, how?

Turns out, I guess, even the hint of contrast drives curiosity and causes people to seek answers - on Google or Bing. So, here's a secret to increasing interest in your blog I'm calling the difference factor: Look at the terms associated with your industry, products and/or services and see if there's an opportunity to blog about two seemingly similar or contrasting terms.

Seth Godin uses the difference factor on his blog. (Not that he needs to drive search traffic to his blog posts!) Over the past month, Godin has published the following blog titles:

Transparent or translucent?
Meeting vs. making
Spout and scout (kind of a play on words that rhyme - another tip!)
Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea (here he contrasts horizontal marketing with vertical marketing)

I believe this also works because of the principle of contrast. Contrast is a key element in effective storytelling. It creates tension which makes things interesting. After all, we love stories and we're wired for contrast. I write more about the significance of contrast here (forgive me for demonstrating this tip by shameless promotion): What's the difference between a blogger and a storyteller?

I'm looking at some of the book titles on my shelf as I wrap up this post:

Marketing 2.0 (I guess there was a marketing 1.0 that's different?)
The New Rules of Marketing and PR (vs. old rules?)
Inbound Marketing... (bet there's an outbound marketing in there too!)
The New Influencers (and out with the old?)
The End of Business as Usual (we at the starting line of unusual business?)
Small is the new Big ('nough said)

So, what are your terms of difference?

Essential Elements of Storytelling Structure - Part 1: The Beginning

Greg Elwell — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:06:00 GMT

The single most important thing about storytelling to grasp is that all stories are told through its structure. Structure keeps everything connected in an orderly and predicted fashion. And, in this way, we recognize and become emersed in the mystery of "what's going to happen next, and how will this turn out?"

Understanding and applying the elements of structure in telling brand, industry or customer stories, whether through videos, blogs, eBooks, web site pages or any other form of persuasive communications (i.e. content marketing) is the secret to achieving maximum audience impact.

It's helpful to liken storytelling structure with what we're familiar with: a play with 3 acts, a movie with a beginning, middle and end, or even a letter with an introduction, body and conclusion. It's within this framework of 3 main structural elements that stories are told and remembered.

Here's the first essential element of effective storytelling structure:

The beginning

This is the, "Once upon a time..." moment when we are first introduced to the hero or heroine of the story and the situation or scene is set. Then something happens and the central figure, whom we are to identify with, encounters an event or circumstance that summons her to an adventure or cause. This is the transistion point or call to adventure element of the story.

In The Hunger Games, we meet a girl called Katniss, struggling to provide the basic neccesites of life for her mother and beloved little sister, Primrose...then the unthinkable happens: Prim is selected as the female tribute of District 12 in the annual Hunger Games, an arena where 24 tributes from the 12 districts will enter to kill or be killed. And just as she's about to step foot on the steps, Katniss sweeps her behind and gasps, "I volunteer!" And with this, the storyteller has swept us too out of a life as usual state and into a mysterious and potentially dangerous new experience.

This works for B2B content marketing, too. (Or for that matter, any business-to-person communications, afterall, it's really about people-to-people.) Do you have a case study or customer success story to tell? What better way to get your audience engaged than by using the "in the beginning" element of storytelling structure.

Perhaps your launching a new product, service or event. Steve Jobs at MacWorld 2007 worked his way into the launch of iPhone by saying, "This is a day I've been looking forward to for two years. Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything...Today we're introducing..."

The beginning part of your storytelling structure doesn't have to be long and drawn out. In fact, it's much shorter than the middle part which I'll talk about in the next post. You just need to cover these 5 things:

Establish the when - "Two years ago..."
Name the who - a person or entity - the hero of your story...
Point to where it took place - in a meeting, division, city, airplane...
Tell what was going on - with the market, situation, status quo...
Make a transition - then something happened...

The beginning of your story must create a sense of wonder, curiosity, mystery, excitement or impending adventure to accomplish a worthy goal; something that engages and resonates with us and makes us want to, well, turn the next page and go on to see how things unfold.

Up next, I'll talk about the place where conflict and uncertainty takes shape in story structure: The dramatic middle.

References and for further insights:

The Hunger Games, fiction by Suzanne Collins
What Drama Musicals Can Teach us About Great Blog Writing, blog by Achim Thiemermann
Resonate, (link to the book's online resources) by Nancy Duarte of Duarte Design
Steve Jobs MacWorld 2007 Keynote Introducing iPhone, YouTube video.
More B2B Inbound blogs on Storytelling for business content marketing.

Once Upon a Time Storytelling was King...

Greg Elwell — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:19:00 GMT

...and then we shifted to blogging. In May of 2004, the interest in blogging on the Internet surpassed that of storytelling as seen in Goolge Insights. But there appears to be a change taking place.

Interest in storytelling in general is on the rise. Consider this chart, again from Google Insights that shows a narrowing of the gap between the terms and more references (news headlines) cited for storytelling on a 7 to 1 basis over the past 4 months:

Interest in Brand Storytelling Rising

"Stories are very, very important to brands, because stories are what binds people together," remarked Rick Wion, social media director for McDonalds in a video interview at the 2012 San Francisco iStrategy Digitial and Social Media Conference. Wion, fresh from having to deal with the #McDStories promotion gone wrong, gave an open and inspirational keynote at the conference, sharing many success stories with customers. You can read a good recap of it here: McDonald's Talks About Social Media and Twitter Haters at iStrategy SF.

Wion wasn't the only voice admonishing attendees to engage in brand storytelling at the conference. Take HubSpot evangelist Laura Fitton (@Pistachio) who proclaimed her 2012 focus: "telling our customers' stories and how they're kicking ass." And that I think is an important distinction. Brand storytelling is first and foremost about your audience - your customers.

There's more evidence that interest in storytelling is on the rise. Here are just a few references I've taken note of or been involved with over the past week or so:

#Storytelling hashtag on Twitter. One of the more interesting and fulfilling ways to use Twitter is by following and engaging hashtag conversations on the topics you're interested in. I spend more time in saved hashtag searches than I do following my home stream. Search #Storytelling on Twitter and see for yourself.

Storytelling Daily from paper.li. Paper.li is a Twitter hashtag search on steroids. Last week I created a curated daily paper with the #Storytelling hashtag and was amazed to see all of the content being produced on this topic. Not only can you curate content from Twitter, you can also pull it in via Facebook, an RSS Feed, a single Google+ user, keywords on Goolge+ or from anywhere on the web. I'm still experimenting with this, but am thrilled to find all the helpful resources and interest in brand storytelling! Checkout the Storytelling Daily and if you like it, please subscribe! (Psst...if you like the concept you can create your own daily paper on a topic you're passionate about.)

More on- and off-line storytelling resources. Here are some of the best articles and publications I've recently discovered on the topic:

Blog: 4 Critical Steps to Seducing Your Customer with Passionate Storytelling
Blog: What Drama Musicals Can Teach Us About Great Blog Writing
Blog: Brand Storytelling Lessons You Can Steal from Hollywood
Blog: Good Content Marketing vs. Great Content Marketing...
Blog: Content Marketing Storytelling: Secrets from the Big Screen
Blog: Step 1 of the Hero’s Journey for Organizational Communication
Book: Resonate - Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences, by Nancy Duarte
Book: The Seven Basic Plots, by Christopher Booker
Book: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, by Carmine Gallo
Book: Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins, by Annette Simmons

So, there's no shortage of interest in learning how to tell compelling stories in business. How are you telling stories? What has helped you develop and promote your brand through story?

What's the Difference Between a Blogger and a Storyteller?

Greg Elwell — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:45:00 GMT

Do you blog or tell stories? Does your blogging include storytelling? Or are these mutually exclusive? Are blogs really meant to be stories? Should we rename them as such?

Stories and those who tell them of course have been around since the beginning of time. Think Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden and the story told of the battle between good and evil. Now think of a recent novel, song, movie or other form of story that captured your attention and compelled you to share it with someone. Why did you do that?

Weblogs (later shortened to blogs) have been around since the early days of the Internet. It's earliest creator and Internet inventor, Tim Berners-Lee regularly updated web pages with a growing list of websites. Today, just about anyone can read/write a blog. The blogoshpere is filled with lists of things, tips, news, how-to's, you name it. Over 4 million blog posts will be published today. Do we care?

So, storytelling has been with us forever while interest in blogging, according to Google Insights overtook it in early 2004.

I'm afraid, the more we've progressed with blog strategy, practice and technology the further away we've journeyed from telling and sharing compelling stories. And this, in my view is the missing ingredient in too many blogs. Blogs where there's too much focus on information, facts and boring sameness. Devoid of drama and a call to adventure these bland tasting blogs tend to calm our emotions instead of stirring up our convictions.

The difference between a blogger and a storyteller?

Storytellers evoke an emotional response. They make you feel what they feel. They strike a chord that resonates with something deep inside you and which may cause you to act, to change, to be moved to a new course of action.

There are certain elements to being an effective storyteller that, when present, have the ability to stir emotion. These are:

1. Structure.

Aristotle, over 2000 years ago first observed that in order for a story to be "whole," it must have, "a beginning, a middle and an end." It's through this framework we are taken on a journey at a point in time when, the stories protagonist answers a call to adventure, deals with obstacles in an unfolding plot until a point of climax results in an ending of tragedy, or in the broadest sense, comedy.

The story you tell to illustrate an idea or point you wish to make can be as short as a couple of sentences, a paragraph or as long as the post itself - as in the case of a customer success story. It's the narrative within this basic structure that is able to connect your audience with what you want them to feel.

2. Contrast.

Fill the middle of the story with the element of contrast. Contrast, creates interest, engagement and stimulates our emotions. We are accustomed to dealing with the ups and downs of life, with what could be with what is, inbound marketing vs. outbound, zone vs. man coverage and on and on we go.

We notice things that stand out. The last thing we want is for our audience to be indifferent or ambivalent about that which we're passionate about. In a marriage, feelings of hurt, irritation and even anger has far greater purpose towards redemption than if you just didn't care anymore. So too, pity the reader who doesn't give a crap, who isn't moved to take a position. Contrast creates tension and that's a good thing. The storyteller succeeds when polarity attracts movement through the stirring of emotion.

I've heard well-known bloggers say blogging is an arduous exercise, tough work, something they just feel compelled to do to reap its benefits. Perhaps you've felt this way too at times? Then, there's Seth Godin the storyteller - a master of contrast - who says it's not something he has to do, rather it's something he gets to do.

Take, for example, Godin's post today, Horizontal marketing isn't a new idea. Go ahead, click that link, see how he contrasts vertical marketing with horizontal marketing. Which has stronger appeal to you? How did he make you feel? Did he make you want to be more one way than the other?

A storyteller stirs emotion with the use of contrast and gets us to care enough to at least take a position, if not change or move closer to the call. On the other hand, a blogger, without elements of story, while dedicated and mechanically sound (use of keywords, proper grammar, etc.) is like monotone to our ears and our emotions having failed to fire, make the experience forgettable.

3. Personification.

Dictionary.com defines personification as:

The attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions.
The representation of a thing or abstraction in the form of a person.
The person or thing embodying a quality or the like; an embodiment or incarnation: He is the personification of tact.

Storytellers connect information with people (and the likeness of human characteristics) we can identify with. It makes the information more entertaining, meaningful, believable and memorable. And when that happens, light bulbs start going off in our minds and hearts.

Volkswagen's 2012 Super Bowl commercial, "The Dog Strikes Back" is the story of a dog, the personification of someone inspired by the 2012 VW Beetle, to whip himself into shape. The twist (contrast) at the end of the 60 second spot has a character from Star Wars IV voting the dog vs. "the Vader kid" from last year as the funniest. And that's when a full-sized Darth Vader appears leaving no doubt which character he believes offers the most comedic power.

This is what good storytellers do. They find ways to translate key and abstract concepts like inspiration and desire for something wonderful into relational experiences that strike our emotional chords. Who hasn't dressed up as a superhero or imagined they could have the power to fly up a staircase - to command a car's engine to start?

What it all comes down to is readers are really looking for some kind of human connection - some kind of personification of your idea, the point you're trying to make. Without this element, too many blogs fall flat and the opportunity to communicate is lost.

Ask yourself, the next time you feel moved by a form of communication: How did its elements of structure, contrast and personification trigger emotion? Then use these elements the next time you write about something - be a storyteller.

3 Personality Traits Of Influencers That Marketers Must Heed

Greg Elwell — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:37:00 GMT

One of the themes coursing through the veins of presentations at the iStrategy Global Digital Marketing Conference 2012 in San Francisco recently was: influencers matter more than followers. It's not about having the most followers but having the best influencers.

Why are influencers important? According to Ted Wright (@fizz_womm) of Fizz Word of Mouth Marketing: "The translation rate to word of mouth from an influencer to their friends is 92%."

Influencers share your story, it resonates and it spreads. Here are the 3 personality traits of influencers Ted shared at the conference with my take on what they mean to marketers:

1. They do things because they're new.

Influencers look to be first to try new things. They're early adopters. They're interested in the story about what makes something an amazing product or experience and why you should try it too.

Sometime ago I learned how another B2B marketing firm was able to customize a time tracking tool to fit their business model. I immediately checked it out and am now using it in my business. After using it for just one month it's practically paid for itself by helping me create greater efficiencies in the delivery of services.

Things and ideas that are new, that innovate and can be put to practical use, or are just plain fun and entertaining in a refreshingly new way are manna from heaven to influencers. What new twist on a common problem do you have? What fresh new insights or clever solutions can you offer?

2. They like to share things with their friends.

The second trait of an influencer you want to look for is that they love sharing the new things they've discovered. These are the ones re-tweeting and commenting, talking about you and spreading your story.

Influencers are catalysts in the sharing economy Randi Zuckerberg said is one of the top 10 social media trends in 2012. And don't think we're just talking digital here, 71% of WOM (Word of Mouth) happens off-line, face-to-face. Getting someone to tell your story off-line just maybe the holy grail of influence.

3. They are intrinsically motivated.

Influencers aren't looking for a promotion and the principle of scarcity probably won't get them to talk about you. Real influencers do what they do and share with their friends because they've gotten into it themselves.

False influencers subscribe to a service that auto-publishes tweets of information with links they've never visited. Authentic influencers, the kind people take note of, get intimately involved and engaged with your idea, your content, your service, tool or product - what ever it is and share how amazing it is with their friends.

Don't despair then if you lack a gizzillion followers. Understand what motivates influencers and meet them on their own turf. You just might be pleasantly surprised by what they can do.

How a Storytelling Blog Can Rise Above the Numbers Game

Greg Elwell — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:36:00 GMT

Can a storytelling blog help you rise above the numbers?

As I began to write this post, worldometers reports 2.1 million blog posts written today. And the number flies upwards as the seconds pass. Towards the end of the day it registered over 3.4 million. It’s downright mind boggling.

Frequent blogging we know is important to traffic, leads and sales, or a bevy of other benefits like branding and thought leadership. But sometimes I fear we get caught up in the numbers and it becomes more like work – something we feel we have to do vs. want to do (or do very well). When we miss cranking out a post or get off schedule we may even feel a sense of guilt.

Here are 3 insights for helping us get beyond the numbers with our blogging:

Develop purposeful mechanics

HubSpot exhorts marketers to be constantly “pumping out content not only at a high frequency but also at a high level of quality.” This post gives some very useful tips on cultivating strong habits – on what I’d call the blocking and tackling, or mechanics of blogging. Things like setting deadlines and goals, thinking like an educator and keeping your customer personas in mind.

There are many practical links shared in the article that can help get you mechanically sound with some fine tips. Like the one on business blogging short cuts for time-crunched marketers. But tips and mechanics alone won’t get you over the hump, won’t help you be just another number.

Utilize effective technology

Platforms like Zerys with its project management, communications and writer marketplace all rolled into one can help you generate blog content efficiently and affordably. And, blogging software tools like in HubSpot with its integrated blog optimizer, keyword tool and blog analytics will help optimize performance. What’s more, HubSpot Professional and Enterprise editions afford users the ability to auto-post from Zerys to their saved drafts with just a couple clicks.

All the mechanics, methodology and technology can work great to ignite activity and generate massive amounts of content. But a person can have great mechanics and use the finest systems available – completely amazing and eye-popping – but if that person can’t convince enough other people in the central idea, to change and be transformed, it doesn’t matter how many blog posts are generated. It's like whirling dervishes spinning to a state of dizziness. Okay, that may have been a little much. But did it stir your thinking, an emotion? Do you want to do more with your blog, like foster change?

Tell a meaningful story

People change because they get emotionally involved with a human connection. Facts and information and lists and how-to guides alone don’t transform behavior. Facts are important, but people make decisions based on emotional appeal. The best way to unite ideas with emotion is by telling compelling stories.

“Storytelling creates the emotional glue that connects an audience with your idea.” – Nancy Duarte, Resonate.

The trick is to combine methodology and technology with a little artistry. Storytelling adds much needed artistry to the mix. Story-based blogs have the power to:

Create interest, attention and a sense of adventure, entertainment
Move an audience from static information to dynamic meaning
Make your idea more digestible, real, memorable and remarkable
Persuade people to change their hearts, minds and behaviors

Blog story writing can be a sentence, a paragraph or be woven throughout as in the example of a case-study (customer success story) type blog that involves real people solving real problems that others will relate to. And that’s the main point: Use Story-based blogging to give us a real-life example of how what you’re writing about plays out in real life. (Disclosure: We created the afore-mentioned case-study blog, “How Porous Asphalt Pavement Helped Expand a Business”.)

Steve Jobs was driven by a sense of perfection and making products tightly integrated (technology), extremely useful and easy to use (mechanics), yet elegant in design (artistry). His unrelenting passion for the intersection of technology and artistry revolutionized industries and transformed the way we live, communicate, and so much more. We’d do well to find that balance in our blogging, and not just put up more numbers in the blogosphere.

Need help pumping out some meaningful blog content? Click the button below to view our blog article writing packages and pricing. We try hard to make sure your blog posts rise above the number game.

How to Generate Big Ideas that Sell

Greg Elwell — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:37:00 GMT

Selling big ideas is like quenching a thirst.

A couple months ago I bought a book that has transformed the way I think about creating blog posts, or for that matter any form of marketing content designed to move people to action. At the time, I was laboring over how to present ideas in a world where people are drowning in information yet thirsty for meaning.

The book I happened to stumble on is Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences by Nancy Duarte CEO of Duarte Design. Resonate is much more than how to generate big ideas, it is a comprehensive work on how to effectively communicate your ideas in ways that truly resonate with your audience.

In chapter 4, Ms. Duarte discusses "The Big Idea" and says, "A big idea is that one key message you want to communicate. It contains the impetus that compels the audience to set a new course with a new compass heading."

She recommends composing your big idea in the form of a complete sentence with the following components:

Your unique point of view on a particular topic. The emphasis is on what you think and not a generalization.
A conveyance of what's at stake. In other words, why should anyone care, what's the compelling reason to adopt your idea and spread it to others?

With these two components, a general idea can be transformed into a big idea with relevant meaning to your audience.

Example of a big idea

As I reflected on the key components of a big idea, I recalled hearing a presentation by volunteers from the Water for People organization about two years ago now (big ideas effectively communicated are memorable!).

They spoke of their vision of a world where all people have access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and where no one suffers or dies from a water- or sanitation-related disease. It's reported on their Web site that 884 million people don't have access to safe drinking water and that 2.6 billion are without adequate sanitation facilities, and because of this 6,000 people die every day.

Clearly, the Water for People big idea these visionaries shared that night: Together, we can fix the broken pumps and filled latrines to help prevent 6,000 people from dying every day.

This is a big idea. It articulate a unique and specific point of view of what needs to happen (fix pumps and latrines), it conveys what's at stake (6,000 lives each day) and it's expressed in a complete sentence.

Applying big idea generation

A key takeaway for me has been to think about what I want to communicate in the context of the larger whole. Create a complete sentence around that and let that be indicated in the title and woven throughout the entire communication piece. We can apply this to blogs, Web content, email newsletters, videos, presentations - you name it.

Mix in some emotional appeal, drama and elements of storytellling and there's no telling how far your audience can carry your big ideas forward.

For more resources on generating big ideas visit our new, Drive Your Marketing to New Peaks page.

How do you generate big ideas that sell?

3 Elements of Blog Storytelling to Woo Readers

Greg Elwell — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 13:16:00 GMT

How do you write compelling blog posts that not only engages your audience, but woos them to consider your point of view? Information-rich blogs with useful data, facts, how-to guides and checklists may do the trick from time to time. But if you've got a unique idea, want to persuade your audience to try something different you may need to do more.

Annette Simmons wrote in Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins: "People don't want more information; they are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith - faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell."

Some will argue that your blog should not be about you, your products or services. It should be about your audience, what they care about. True to a point. But by including some elements of storytelling you'll be able to connect the information with what it means to your audience in a way that truly resonates with them. Nancy Duarte, author of Resonate writes, "Storytelling creates the emotional glue that connects an audience to your idea."

Let's look at 3 elements of storytelling you could incorporate in your blog that would have positive effects on wooing readers to change their minds, hearts and behaviors.

An unique idea about something you want to change

Every story has a central idea championed by the hero representing some achievement, goal or new state of being. This idea is often unique and in stark contrast to the status quo. There's a deep sense of dissatisfaction with the world (as our protagonist finds it) and there's great passion to see it changed.

Think about what you'd like to see changed in your world. What's your unique idea? What would you like to see adopted? This central, unique idea strikes at the core of why you're in business in the first place. It's what makes you a creative force to be reckoned with.

Yes, you are creative!

Most people I talk to think you have to be a "creative type" to have ideas like this. Not at all. My wife tells me all the time there isn't a stitch of creativity in her bones. I beg to differ. She loves to cook (and watch food shows non-stop). She has 3-ring notebooks filled with recipes she's collected from all over the place. She is, however dissatisfied with nearly every single one of them! I don't think she's cooked many meals to the exact specifications and ingredients found in those recipes. She changes it up. She adds or subtracts and gives it her spin. Why, she'll even turn a boxed dinner into a Wolfgang Puck-like masterpiece!

Look at the status quo in your business, your industry and the products and services being offered today. What ideas would you like to see advanced? What are you dissatisfied with? What's your spin - your recipe for serving up a delicious meal unlike anything we've ever tasted before? Next, lets look at how to best create interest in your idea in the story you tell.

Contrast creates tension, interest

Now that you have a strong central idea you're passionate about you need a way to help generate interest in it. Contrast is a powerful element in storytelling. Whether in movies, books, theater, art, speeches or song. Contrast reveals tension and tension creates identification, interest.

"Whenever I'm dressed cool
My parents put up a fight
(Uh huh, uh huh)
And if I'm hot shot
Mom will cut my hair at night
(Uh huh, uh huh)"

In the lyrics of Hair, Lady Gaga contrasts how her dress and attitude is perceived as rebellion against her parents - and how they want her to be. It reminds me (identification) of my own Dad imploring me to get my haircut before visiting home from college in the early 70s. And right now, you may be identifying with contrasting ideals, views, beliefs between you and a family member that created tension and conflict.

Programmed for contrast

Contrast is inescapable, it's everywhere. Instead of avoiding the differences, embrace them. Try incorporating the element of contrast in your blog to either describe the difference between what is with what could be with your solution (idea adopted) or in calling out alternate points of view.

Knowing your audience and how your views may be similar or different from theirs and then dealing with it by injecting a human element of storytelling is a powerful technique to engage interest. Once you've demonstrated that you're on your way to resolving the resistance to inspiring and guiding people to change...to a new beginning.

An ending that is just the beginning

"What we call the beginning is often the end.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from."
T.S. Elliot

What does Star Wars, Harry Potter and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo all have in common? One book ends and the next one begins. There's a continuity and body of work all supporting the main theme or central idea. Once your blog reader crosses the threshold to the new world the real work begins!

You can't just create one awe inspiring, story-based post and call it a day. You need to keep the story going and continue to support your engaged audience. Think in terms of developing a total body work as John Jantsch writes in Content as a Total Body of Work. Change is both exciting and scary. And quite often something must go in order to embrace the new. Help them sustain the commitment to adopt your idea by continuing to support it with more great content in context with their needs.

There are, of course, other elements of storytelling you can inject in your blog posts to woo your audience. Things like

using a story-based structure
instilling a human connection
audience segmentation and mentoring, and
mixing up the delivery with multiple forms of media.

But I'll leave those for the next chapter on incorporating story in your blog writing!

What elements of storytelling have you tried in your blog?

Ying and Yang photo attribution: Flickr oli23000

Finish line photo attribution: Flickr lululemon athletica

Use Story-Based Blogging to Engage Your Audience

Greg Elwell — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:58:00 GMT

“Don’t bother me for a while, okay?” She needn’t explain. I know when my wife is immersed in that enticing juncture of a great novel. It’s not that she doesn’t want me around; she just doesn’t want to be distracted from what’s coming next. She’s totally into it. I’ll bet you’ve been there too.

What is it about certain books, movies, songs, plays and presentations that have overwhelming power to resonate deeply with us and in so doing engage our emotions and transform our behavior? The answer, I believe, is in the art of effective storytelling.

I’m on this story-based blogging journey myself. It started with a blog by Jeffrey L. Cohen that led to watching a Nancy Duarte TEDx video that in turn led to becoming totally (don’t bother me now) immersed in her new book: Resonate – Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences. While her work on this topic is about making persuasive speaking presentations, the concepts and principles are transferrable to blogging or any other form of persuasive communications.

Here are a few concepts of blog storytelling that can help your audience get better engaged with your ideas:

Understand and apply the basic structure of an effective story

In its simplest form all stories have a beginning, middle and end. In the beginning we’re presented with the protagonist’s (hero’s) desire to reach a certain goal. But along the way there’s conflict and tension, opposing forces that threaten to derail the dream. There are twists and turns, ups and downs until finally, after some dramatic turning point, our hero breaks through and learns her lesson, reaches her new state of being. The post by Achim Thiemermann, What Drama Musicals Can Teach Us About Great Blog Writing is a terrific resource on this.

Mentor your audience through a journey of what is vs. what could be

In Resonate, Ms. Duarte exhorts storytellers not to view themselves as the hero of the story, but one who is helping guide, give confidence, insight, advice or training along the way. “The audience,” she says, “is the hero.” The blogger’s job is not to show how brilliant he/she is, but taking a position of humility help move the reader from a state of current reality to, what Nancy terms, the “new bliss.” Stories of your journey in that regard, or of someone else they can identify with, is a powerful vehicle to convey how change in others with similar challenges can, and do become reality.

Use the element of contrast to gain rapt attention

We’re wired for contrast. A common thread in all engaging stories is the comparison of one idea to another, one way of doing it to the, new idea way. Using this element of contrast in story-based blogging structure will enable your readers to engage, at an emotional level with the idea you want to see adopted and spread.

What does compelling, remarkable content look like? Remarkable content stands out because it’s different, it clashes. “Don’t blend in,” writes Duarte, “clash with your environment (and be vulnerable). Stand out. Be uniquely different.” Let this principle of comparing and contrasting through storytelling help an audience visualize what’s possible for them to attain – because they’ve seen how it’s worked out for others.

Here’s the main thing. You have the power to start a groundswell of support for your idea. Your ability to engage your audience with story-based blogging is literally at your fingertips, it flows from your unique experiences.

On my birthday this past summer, I found myself wandering the streets of my home town, Minneapolis. A guy who looked to be 5-8 years my senior walked up to me on a secluded street corner. Holding a shinny object he thrust his hand toward me. Before I could react he boldly asked, “What kind of music do you like?”

I was caught so off-guard, but in a euphoric state of mind, believing nothing evil would befall me today replied, “I like all kinds of music, why?” “Well said the man, because I’d like you to buy this CD, it’s my last one (‘ya sure, you betcha’ the Minnesotan in me thought) and it will help my Son and it will help me - it’s only $10.” “Ah, well I like classic rock,” I retorted, thinking this would be the end of it and I’d be moving on down the road. “Perfect,” said the man, “this music is classic rock, it’s your kind of music!”

“You see,” he continued, “my Son is trying to make it in this band and I’m trying to keep out of trouble. He has this idea of making and sharing his brand of classic rock and he’s giving me 20% of what I sell.”

No longer in fear for my life, instead I saw hope in the eyes of a man who had known trouble and way too much hardship. “I like your idea,” I said. We talked a while longer. I shared it was my 60^th birthday and in surprise, Emanuel said, “I can’t believe it, you look younger than me, I’m 53!” “Well,” I replied, “it was great meeting you, best of luck to your Son, and keep out of trouble.” “Oh, I will,” he said, “and you’re going to love the music.” And I surely did. (Even though it wasn’t exactly my style of classic rock, surprise-surprise!)

So what’s your idea, your story? Do you have the courage to tell it, to be vulnerable? You have the power to create your future – to win us over to your idea. And there’s nothing better or more rewarding than that.

Need to get some blog articles written? Check out B2B Inbound’s blog article writing plans most of which include story-based blogs.

A Highly Efficient, Affordable Blog Writing Service

Greg Elwell — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:41:00 GMT

According to Seth Godin, “Content marketing is the only marketing left.” He could be right. Consider the value of high quality and consistent blog content to:

Generate more traffic
Engage a loyal following
Increase keyword ranking
Attract inbound links

And, ultimately of course, drive business value in terms of leads and sales.

But how do you, a business manager or marketer, already stretched for time create effective (and consistent) blog content at a rate you can afford? Do you write it yourself? Hire fulltime writers? Search for freelancers? You could, but these options take considerable time and money.

What if you could efficiently, and cost effectively, outsource blog content creation? What if you could partner with a professional content agency that provides 3 important features? Features that include:

The right process – that makes things simple and ultra-efficient
The right system – that integrates all the required tools and communications into one place
The right talent – to get the job done, without increasing your full-time payroll

Now for the good news, there is a solution that includes all these features and more! Now you can get professional, engaging and regular blog content at a rate you can afford, without all the headache and time commitment that was previously required.

The solution?

Outsource Blog Writing to a Certified Content Agency

Six months ago I was speaking with a HubSpot customer who needed help with inbound and blog marketing. We had been ghostwriting blogs in-house for some time, but were very near our capacity. We were eager to take on more business but also concerned about continuing to deliver content in an efficient and high-quality manner.

I was then referred to the agency side of Zerys, an emerging content development platform, project management system and professional writer marketplace all rolled into one. We jumped in with both feet and soon discovered how operating as a Certified Zerys Pro Agency could transform our business.

Utilizing the unique, Zerys for Agency platform over the past six months, we’ve been producing professionally written, keyword optimized and high-quality blog content at extremely affordable rates for dozens of clients across multiple industries.

“I thought the articles were interesting and well-written, and your
service/staff were very easy to work with." (IT industry client)

We’d like to do the same for you too!

Use a Blogging Worksheet to Improve Your Website Grade

Greg Elwell — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:39:00 GMT

One way you can improve your site with Website Grader is to continue to add indexed pages to your site. Adding pages has a compounding effect in contributing to inbound marketing success. It has the potential to increase visibility and authority with your target audience and search engines alike. Adding more keyword optimized pages will attract more visitors, inbound links and can also lead to, well, more leads! There's plenty of evidence and data to back this up.

I believe having a strategy and plan to add quality content to your website over time is the single most important thing you can do to not only improve your grade, but to build your business. In fact, for those with limited resources, I will tell, you it's better to invest in creating new, optimized content than it is to spend resources performing on-page SEO on existing pages.

You can (gasp) ignore SEO, but you can never stop creating fresh, interesting and helpful content if you want to improve the business value (and grade) of your site.

We all know one of the best tools for creating and publishing new content is the blog. Or, shall we say, "to blog?" I'm preaching to the choir here. But sometimes even the best preachers and singers backslide. That's OK. We are forgiven. Now, what's one thing you can do to get back on the straight and narrow?

Create and Use a Blogging Worksheet

I like the term, blogging worksheet vs. editorial calendar because to me, it's less formal and intimidating. And believe me, we need fewer barriers when it comes to the planning and doing of our blogs.

I also refer to this tool as a blog calendar. Put it together and you've got a Blogging Worksheet and Calendar. Use it as a tool to help plan and schedule your blogging activity.

I created my own that I also use with clients. It includes:

Target publication date
1-3 long-tail keyword choices
General/Working topic, title or idea
Topic specific notes

And that's it. If it's not simple enough to use, it won't be. Start by picking out 5 to 10 long-tail keywords out of your target keyword list (or Keyword Grader for HubSpot customers). Next, you might do a Google blog search on your keywords to get inspired for creating your working topic. Jot down some notes, and finally enter a publication date.

If you dare, schedule it on your calendar - this is your deadline. But go one step further, schedule a start date. This is the date you're going to start writing. Think of it this way: Start dates are more important than due dates.

I think if you follow those simple, but practical steps you'll be adding more indexed pages through your blog in no time. Check your Website Grade every 4-8 weeks and see if you haven't improved your grade - and your business! You could also keep track of your improvement over time by displaying your Website Grade as a badge on your site. Like this:

Whoa! Now we're really getting committed!

Here's a little bonus for reading this far: Download my Blogging Worksheet and Calendar for free (opens in new window, no registration required).

Need help with blog article writing?

B2B Inbound specializes in providing high-quality blog content. We are an Interact Media, Zerys Certified Agency and offer multiple levels of blog packages beginning with 1 article per week. Find out what we can do to help you grow your blog!

Success Lessons from the Car Park Champion

Greg Elwell — Sun, 08 May 2011 15:51:00 GMT

Sadly, one of golfs most imaginative and brilliant players, Severiano ("Seve") Ballesteros has died at the age of 54. After a gallant effort to recover from a malignant brain tumor, first diagnosed in 2008, Seve passed away at his home in Pedrena, in northern Spain at 2:10 a.m. local time Saturday, May 7th.

Seve won a record 50 European titles and more than 90 tournaments worldwide. He won 5 major tournaments, led Europe in Ryder Cup dominance for two decades and became known as the "Car Park Champion" for his first Open win in 1979 at the age of 22.

Win the British Open at Royal Lytham while hitting only 9 fairways in 72 holes of golf and just one on Saturday's final round? Nothing ever seemed impossible for Ballesteros who came to rely on his imagination as a 10-year-old learning to play the game while smacking pebbles around with the only club he could find - a rusted 3-iron.

After yet another wayward tee shot during the final round, this time into a car park approximately 70 yards off the fairway, Seve took a drop, hit a sand wedge to within 18 feet of the pin. He followed that moments later with the birdie putt that gave him a 3-shot lead; and he was on his way to becoming the youngest British Open champion in 86 years, beating Irwin, Nicklaus and Crenshaw.

"It wasn't because he was lucky," said Irwin who was leading the Spaniard by two strokes beginning the final round. " It was because he created some shots that were unbelievable."

See the shot that made him the "Car Park Champion" on the left; on the right is Seve making an unbelievable shot through a tree and back onto the fairway from, of all places, his knees!

No wonder Nick Faldo called Seve, "golf's Cirque du Soleil." "Seve has been probably the most creative player who's ever played the game" and, "He was a genius," said 14-time major champion Tiger Woods. Tony Jacklin, a former U.S. Open winner and Ryder Cup captain said of the smiling Spaniard, "Pulling off the impossible was an every day thing for him."

As for me, he was an entertaining, inspiring and instructional figure on many levels. The thing that seemed to drive the fearless, swashbuckling hall of fame golfer more than anything was his undeniable passion to succeed.

Johny Miller who faced and defeated then 19-year old Seve at the '76 British Open said of his rival, "You could see how much the guy cared about winning...he just wanted it so bad."

And so I tip my hat to the incomparable Car Park Champion from Spain. And thank him for these lessons of perseverance and success:

1. Have unwavering faith in your ability to overcome trouble.

Trouble happens. Following the victory at Lytham Seve was quoted as saying, "I don't aim for the rough it just goes there."

"He was a man who got into trouble. Only for Seve, there was no such thing as trouble," said South African, Gary Player. Writers and fellow competitors have assigned such attributes of genius, undeniable skill, brute strength, unequaled imagination and unquenchable enthusiasm to Seve's ability to see clear through any trouble and overcome it. Seve had nothing to do with being in trouble, only a vision to see beyond and a will to triumph over it.

2. Keep moving forward.

On another occasion that led to one of the greatest shots he ever made, his tee shot landed near a swimming pool with a 7-foot wall in front and trees all around. With his caddie imploring him to pitch out to the fairway, Ballesteros knocked a wedge up and over the trees just short of the green. He then chipped in for a birdie. "I like to keep going forward," he said.

I don't think Seve ever believed in the 2-steps forward, 1-step back approach. He kept looking to move forward toward the goal. He kept looking for that crack of opportunity. And when he found it he went forward towards the goal. And so should we.

3. Imagination is developed one "club" at a time.

The story is told of when his son, Javier was first learning to play golf. Ballesteros would send him out to play with his friends with just an 8-iron while the others carried a full bag of clubs. And Javier would ask his friends, "Why do you carry a full bag?" "That's how it's suppose to be," came their reply. "No, no. My father says it's supposed to be played with only one club. "One club," he added, "You have to develop your imagination." How many times do we try and succeed with multiple "clubs?" We spread ourselves thin while we try and become the "jack of all but master of none."

Maybe Seve was on to something. Maybe we should take up one club, one tool, one specialty from which to develop a greater imagination in how we might use it to succeed. Then, maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal when we run off course and fall into those traps or rough spots. We'd just trust our abilities, look ahead and with determined imagination create Seve-like magic.

Wouldn't that be something?

For more on Seve Ballesteros, visit SeveBallesteros.com
Sources for this Post:
USA Today, Swashbuckling golf legend Seve Ballesteros dies at 54
Golf.com, Adios, Amigos!
San Francisco Chronicle,Sunday, May 8, 2011: Charismatic shot-maker who 'had it all.' Story by Doug Ferguson, Associated Press.

Announcing the Inbound Marketing Calculator Tool - A Web Widget

Greg Elwell — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:55:00 GMT

For the past couple of months I've been working on developing a new web widget, the Inbound Marketing Calculator Tool. This tool will help you see how traffic, leads and conversion rates impact and are calculated to help you achieve your revenue goals.

In addition, I've also been putting together some associated resources and information, like the calculator story and how-to's that will give you some perspective and help you get the most from using it.

Why a web-based version? There's been lots of downloads of the MS Excel version of the calculator. You can still get it here. It's a great tool to have in your inbound marketing toolkit.

You can pull it up on your local machine, work with it, save and then share it with your team members. But, I also felt having it more readily accessible as a web widget would allow inbound marketers instant access in order to:

Get a quick idea of what's needed to achieve your goals
Help keep you focused on the metrics that matter most
See how changes in conversion rates impact results

So I hope you find it useful. Whether you're just starting out with inbound marketing, making changes to your revenue plan or simply doing a check-up, the inbound marketing calculator tool is now live, totally free and available to use 24/7!

I'd love to hear your comments, feedback and success stories from using the tool.

B2B Inbound Weekly Digest for 3/27/2011

Greg Elwell — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:11:00 GMT

Here are the topics, tools and thoughts that captured my attention this past week.

Add a Widget to Your Web Site to Bring in Fresh Content

In last weeks digest I wrote about a cool social media, content curation service via the folks at SmallRivers and their http://paper.li service. You might want to jump over to that post and get acquainted with the 3-fold benefit of publishing your daily newspaper like my B2B Inbound Daily.

Well now, I've discovered a 4th use or benefit of subscribing to this tool. You can embed a widget that will display the current headlines according to your content curation topic or criteria.

You can see an example of this in the left column of my blog page and also in the side column of my Newsroom page. Once you embed the javascript code where you want it the content in the widget updates automatically. It's kind of like adding a Twitter widget to your site to show your Twitter stream.

Note that you can customize the color in the header and footer to match your color scheme. Like I did with the orange background. The default width is 200px but you can change that too to meet your space requirements.

To get your Paper.li widget first sign up for a free account and publish your newspaper. Be sure to turn the "Promote on Twitter" setting to ON so your daily will be shared on Twitter. Then, click the "Embed" button to copy your code.

Next, you might want to paste that into a text file like Notepad, save it to your computer and customize the color and width before you embed it on your page. Here's what the code looks like before editing:

Pretty cool, huh? So, give it a go for yourself and let me know what you think here on blog comments.

Take your Email to the Cloud via Google Apps

A client contacted me this past week to say her computer had crashed (again) and she needed to have it rebuilt. Her computer guy also recommended she stopped using Outlook Express as it was known to induce viruses that could have been the culprit for her issues.

So I recommended she go with Google Apps. In case you haven't heard, Google provides a suite of cloud- or web-based apps. The free version includes:

Messaging Apps: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk
Collaboration Apps: Google Docs, Google Sites
More: Google Reader, Blogger, Picassa, Web Albums, AdWords

With Google Apps you get up to 50 user accounts. Here are a few of the advantages:

Gmail is one of the best anit-spam email services available
You can use Gmail with your branded domain name: yourname@yourcompany.com
You can access your email and Google Apps from any computer connected to the Internet
You can easily configure Google Apps email and calendar to work with your smartphone or iPad

You will need to prove you own the domain you wish to use with Google Apps. And, you'll need to be able to access and configure the DNS and Mail (MX) settings. I took me about an hour to get my client all set up and running. Google provides helpful and very detailed step-by-step instructions. But, if you're unfamiliar with how to configure the settings at your domain Registrar you may want to hire a professional to do it for you.

So, if you're looking for better email security, use of your branded domain in your email address along with the convenience of accessing your account from any computer, Google Apps may be just the solution for you!

Marketing to B2B: Tactics that Matter Most

Greg Elwell — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:03:00 GMT

Are you marketing to B2B companies on the Web? If so, how are you set up to be found and engage with them? You want to fill your funnel with interested and qualified prospects. Should we say more interested and qualified prospects? If so, you're probably very interested in top B2B inbound marketing tactics for business results. Right?

I snagged a prospect on my Web site this week. My prospect, the the head of marketing at a B2B company found me by Googling the term, "b2b inbound." I was thrilled. I dominate the first page for this term occupying the first 4 of 5 slots. Granted, there's not a lot of traffic one can expect to generate for this search term. But I'll take the 2 daily visits my keyword research tool tells me I can get for being the #1 ranked listing. Besides, it's my name. I should be found on top of the heap for it. But I digress. Or do I?

Back to my lead. He completed my contact form: "Looking for a website redesign, please call."

Naturally, I called. He was sharp and had a definite idea of what he wanted out of a Web site redesign, the process he was using to evaluate "partners," and what he didn't want to get into: No blogging or social media, and "we do quite well with SEO already," he stated.

Really?

He then rattled off a bunch of Web sites he wanted his to be more like. I was already familiar with them (sites like Marketo and Aprimo). They do a fantastic job of marketing to B2B in a buyer-centric manner and all have active blogs, social media engagements and strong SEO.

In other words, here was a B2B company who Googled, "b2b inbound" but had no immediate and strong interest in inbound marketing services.

I was dumbfounded. He said he wanted to be found more on the Web, engage users with information then convert them via a registration process for a demo or more info. But, he didn't want to invest in any of the inbound marketing tactics known to drive the business value he was seeking.

I thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and graded his Web site via HubSpot's Website Grader. It didn't fair so well. The score of 53 out of 100 indicates the marketing effectiveness of his site is better than 53% of the over 3.3 million sites that have been graded thus far. 53% isn't good enough. And, doing a Web site redesign without a content marketing (blog), social media and SEO plan will not help improve it.

What are other B2B marketers investing in for effective marketing to B2B? Well, if you happen to Google "b2b inbound" you'll see the current 6th place listing: B2B Inbound Marketing: Top tactics for social media, SEO, PPC and optimization.

I wish my prospect would have checked this out first. Maybe it would have made a difference in his thinking. It points out that "inbound marketing is growing in B2B companies. Investments in webinars, SEO, social marketing (includes most effective tactic: blogging), and page optimization are all on the rise."

This comes from a MarketingSherpa, 2011 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report which found investment was increasing:

69% for website design, management and optimization
69% for social media
60% for virtual events / webinars (content, content, content)
60% for search engine optimization

Are you marketing to B2B? Thinking or planning to do a Web site redesign? Great. Do that. But don't forget the most important tactics to marketing effectiveness!

My response to this prospect? I think this is it. I think I'll send him a link to this blog post with a copy of his website grader report.

What would you do?

B2B Inbound Weekly Digest for 3/19/2011

Greg Elwell — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 14:43:00 GMT

Here are the topics, tools and thoughts that captured my attention this past week.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys at POS

I don't know about you, but it seems I'm bombarded these days when checking out at the register to: "TELL US ABOUT YOUR SHOPPING EXPERIENCE." It's on the mile-long receipt with enticements to go online, complete the survey and get $2 off my next purchase. "And here's a bag of dog treats for your pouch, and oh, by the way, please give us all 5's!" pleads the clerk.

Speaking of pleading, while discussing this topic with my wife she shared a recent experience with a major national retailer upon checkout. "We get enough negative feedback, it would be nice to get some positive ratings for a change," remarked the woman at the cash register. Hmmm...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against saving money on my next purchase or giving valuable feedback that might help a store improve (my) customer experience. But to me, many of these attempts to collect customer feedback seem way too self-serving. Almost to the extent of seeming to buy favor.

It's also difficult to get me to take the time, after I go home to go online or call a number in order to complete a customer satisfaction survey. I've done it before and it's always taken more time than the value of the incentive.

There are some advanced customer-facing POS systems retailers are beginning to utilize now to actually collect customer feedback at the register, before the customer leaves the store. That's a big step in the right direction. My hope is they implement the survey in a way that is both meaningful to the customer and helpful to the business. (And stop handing me these long survey and coupon-laden receipts!)

Both B2C and B2B organizations need to figure this out. Perhaps it's helpful to think in terms of the "Experience Gap," as Scott Stratten discusses in his book, UnMarketing - Stop Marketing. Start Engaging. Scott describes this as the space between the best and worst service experience a customer receives from you. That's what you want to find out in your customer satisfaction survey. Is there a gap in what you've come to expect with what you've just experienced?

Zero gap is the goal. Let's turn Point-of-Sale into Point-of-Service Excellence, and realize there are no ordinary moments. There is no greater value (or loyalty incentive) than what's delivered in the right here and right now of customer service.

Your Twitter Daily Newspaper is Out!

I'd been seeing some Twiiter friends post tweets saying their daily something or other was out - with a link. Well, I finally checked one out and got hooked on it.

@smallrivers, a privately held startup in Switzerland has come up with, what looks to me to be a real winner of a personal, content curation and sharing tool. Currently in alpha, http://paper.li is a tool that finds and organizes information from Twitter and Facebook based on your criteria, then publishes it on a Web page.

For example, in my case I'm interested to know about information being published and shared relating to B2B marketing. So, I set my (online) newspaper up with the hashtag: #B2B. Now, every day it sends me an email with a sample of the articles and a link to view all of them on the Web.

It does insert advertising which you have no control over, that aside, there are multiple benefits:

I can scan and review content I care about in one place on a daily basis. If I missed something on Twitter (because I don't live there) I can easily catch up.
I can publish a tweet via the settings daily or weekly to my Twitter followers with a Web link to view my paper.
I can promote other content producers and grow my Twitter following strategically around relevant topics. What happens is when your daily tweet goes out it also mentions the twitter user names the daily features. They quite often check out the link then RT it to their followers. They also start following me and I will follow them back. Brilliant!

Here's example of a daily tweet:

Here's example of a RT:

You can use Twitter advanced search to really make your paper very targeted. You can also create and publish up to 10 papers on different topics per account. So, check it out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the value, not only for you but to others as well. And, that's when social media works best - when it's mutually beneficial!

More next week. Subscribe to the B2B Inbound blog where I publish articles twice weekly on B2B inbound marketing subjects and a digest of topics, tools and thoughts. And/or check out the B2B marketing and content curation stories I'm publishing from paper.li:

3 B2B Inbound Marketing Tactics for Top Results

Greg Elwell — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:55:00 GMT

Before diving into tactics, it's helpful to recognize B2B inbound marketing success is not about any one tactic or event. It's a process involving a series of tactical activities and campaigns that when integrated together, over time deliver top business value.

There is no silver bullet. No magic marketing pill that will deliver higher and higher levels of traffic, leads and sales. It takes a serious, intelligent and sustained effort involving a potentially wide range of tactics.

For example, The HubSpot inbound marketing methodolgy of combining SEO with blogging (content marketing) and social media has exponential impacts.¹ Whereas, if you just did any one of the 3 without integrating the others your results would not be as significant.

So, with that backdrop here are my top B2B inbound marketing tactics that DO lead to more traffic, leads and sales for the B2B inbound marketer.

Weekly Blog Posts

Much has been discovered and reported about the correlation of blogging with traffic and lead generation. For example, HubSpot data shows that companies that blog get...

55% more Web site visitors,
97% more inbound links and
434% more indexed pages.

The data also shows median monthly leads by range of Google Indexed pages increases dramatically, upwards of 236% from 176-310 to 311+. A key contributor to growing your indexed pages of course is the blog.

Additionally, new insights from HubSpot's The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing² report found...

57% of companies who blog have acquired a customer from a blog-generated lead,
72% who blog weekly have acquired new customers and
76% have acquired customers while blogging 2-3 times a week.

(Above graph from HubSpot's report: The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing)

From a tactical standpoint, blogging is probably the single most important thing a B2B company can do to grow their business online. But when integrated with some other tactics and channels it can be even more powerful.

Active LinkedIn Channel

The aforementioned report also pointed out an interesting and, what I believe, is a growing trend: LinkedIn is the most effective channel for B2B customer acquisition. In fact, with 61% of companies acquiring a customer through LinkedIn it is even more productive than other social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter:

(Above graph from HubSpot's The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing)

Having a robust professional and company profile on LinkedIn as I wrote about on 4 Must-Haves for a Professional LinkedIn Profile should be the first step towards maximizing your LinkedIn channel. Then, you can also link your Twitter account to LinkedIn. HubSpot users can also auto-publish notices (via the social media tool) of their blog posts to LinkedIn which will include a linkback to your blog. Of course you can also take part in groups or start up your own, post and answer questions and any number of other networking activities.

Knowing how to use LinkedIn will pay big dividends for B2B professionals and companies. It's not rocket science and you don't have to live on LinkedIn 24/7. Last month I received an email from a prospect asking about my services. He found me on LinkedIn, saw my profile was a potential match for a business opportunity, we talked and we're now doing business. LinkedIn works, but you have to invest some thought and time to make it work for you.

Well-Defined Buyer Personas

I'm going off the reservation a bit with this one, and should have listed it first. You won't find buyer persona development or marketing to your ideal buyer segments in the reporting. Still, it's a critical, strategic tactic that drives and sets up everything you do.

It goes beyond marketing segmentation which mostly has to do with selling to your market by effectively leveraging demographic and psychographic information. Persona marketing strikes to the heart of the matter as to what someone comes to your Web site to do - how they want to use it - taking into consideration their primary goals, behaviors and attitudes.

Lately, I've been writing about buyer persona marketing and development under these headings or posts:

I'm also in the process of writing an eBook on the subject so please stay tuned. I regard it as fundamentally important, a tactical exercise that leads to everything we do and the decisions we make. As Steve Mulder points out in his book and slideshare presentation, The User is Always Right³, personas lead to better all-around decisions in the areas of strategy, marketing and design.

(Above slide from Steve Mulder's The User is Always Right presentation taken from Slideshare)

After all, isn't that what B2B inbound marketing tactics is all about - making better decisions? Better knowledge of your personas are the impetus and glue to attract, inform and engage with them. It should drive everything you do.

Attribution:

¹ HubSpot webinar and presentation slides: Inbound Marketing: SEO + Blogs + ¹Social Media by Mike Volpe.
² HubSpot report, The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing, published February 2011 and based on a January 2011 survey of 644 professionals.
³ Steve Mulder's book (affiliate link) and webinar presentation, The User is Always Right - A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web.

What B2B inbound marketing tactics and resources have you found helpful to drive business results upward?

B2B Inbound Marketing Weekly Digest for 3/12/2011

Greg Elwell — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:30:00 GMT

Here are some of the topics, information resources, events or inbound marketing thoughts that captured my interest this past week.

I don't like my coffee like yours

McDonalds got my coffee wrong and so did my wife. McDonalds has undoubtedly done their homework and are catering to the coffee drinking crowd. They've got amazing cups and lids, plus they'll add the ingredients: cream and/or sugar, then stir it up.

The problem with my recent trip to McDonalds for coffee and breakfast the other day is they got it wrong. I ordered my coffee black with one equal, no cream and a #1 meal (Egg McMuffin). I got coffee with cream and a Sausage McMuffin. Ugh.

At home, I make the coffee and sometimes my wife will pour me a second cup - and put too much sugar in it. She likes more sugar than I do. She makes my coffee the way she likes hers. McDonalds just screwed up.

The problem is when you get something you weren't expecting or different than what you want it causes, well, dissatisfaction and friction with the experience. You want to hit the back button and get a do-over. Right?

Now, think about your Web site. Who was it designed for? You or your users? How did you decide to put those ingredients on your site? Because that's what you like, or because it meets a goal, expectation or need from your ideal users?

Steve Mulder has written a terrific, practical book called, The User is Always Right - A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web. One of the steps to creating user-centric web sites is for us to realize, according to Mulder, "You Are Not Your Users."

He goes on to say, "Web site design and development teams assume that their users think and act like they do, so they end up designing for themselves rather than for the users."

Yeah, and they'd probably serve coffee just the way they like it too!

You can check out The User is Always Right slide presentation Mulder did and posted on Slideshare that covers the importance of personas, how to create and use them. Or you can also buy the book on Amazon (affiliate link).

Beware of domain name registration scams

Sadly, one of my clients fell victim to a solicitation to renew his domain name before it expired. You may have seen these official looking notices come in the mail, too. They look more like a bill with claims your domain name is about to expire. I get them and even though I'm in the business will open them up to see what's going on with my domain name.

Bob (not his real name) went ahead and sent in the $30 to renew and register his domain. An email was then received requesting the unlock code so they could take it over. And that's when I contacted Bob, put 2 + 2 together and realized things weren't adding up correctly.

They're not getting his domain, but they have cashed his check. And, this is probably all they care about.

By the way, the sender of the solicitation to Bob was the Domain Registry of America, or DRoA (see above example). I could not find them listed as an ICANN accredited registrar. But, I did find a scam complaint against them.

Here are some tips for registering and managing your domain name:

Use a reputable, ICANN accredited* domain name registrar like Enom.
ID protect your contact information to keep it private.
Be highly skeptical of any mail or email solicitation to renew your domain name before it expires.
If the so-called notice looks like a bill and doesn't come from your existing registrar and your domain name isn't scheduled to expire for about a year it is probably a scam or highly questionable and aggressive solicitation.
Check the expiration date of your domain name before responding to any "offer." (Bob's domain name didn't actually expire for over a year.)
Use a trusted source (domain registration reseller) to register and manage your domain name. (B2B Inbound provides this service.)
Keep domain name registration records in a safe place if you self-manage your domain.

*ICANN stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. About ICANN.

Marketing Ubiquity: Lessons from MLB and Charlie Sheen

Greg Elwell — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:57:00 GMT

I'm a fan of baseball. I live 1500 miles away from my favorite team (Minnesota Twins) and have for years bought the MLB sports package. Usually, I got it through my TV cable provider. Now, I've signed up to get it over the Internet to my PC and on the iPad.

I could also get it on my iPhone or on any number of other platforms and devices (at an additional cost of course). MLB is practicing marketing ubiquity. Their campaign? Watch Baseball Everywhere!

The Ubiquitous Charlie Sheen

Unless you're living under a rock you have undoubtedly noticed the $2mm per episode actor of Two and a Half Men has taken his fight to...well, everywhere. regardless of what you think of the troubled actor, he's a poster child for marketing ubiquity.

Where hasn't he been? From TV network interviews to Ustream, Twitter and offline-online media channels, you can see Charlie Sheen everywhere. Fellow actor, Sean Penn the USA Today now reports would welcome Sheen's help in Haiti.

Baseball and Sheen everywhere. Whether you think Sheen is a raving lunatic or marketing genius there are some common elements of marketing in a ubiquitous way we might learn from both.

Marketing Ubiquity Lessons

Spread your (product) ideas far and wide. How ubiquitous you can deliver your message, service or product ultimately depends on the characteristics of your audience - and where they spend their time. Listen to the market. Find out where they are and what they use. Then be there - in a big way. Is Charlie Sheen on Twitter? I started seeing people I follow actually re-tweeting him. I've also now seen reports suggesting it's not really him tweeting. Doesn't matter, earlier in the week there were 200k followers, today there are over 2 million and he has a verified account. All that on just 52 tweets in the first 6 days.
Make use of modern technologies and platforms. The thing that's a problem for the NFL is the NFL Sunday Ticket is only available through DirecTV. Good for DirecTV, bad for consumers - the out-of-market audience has such limited choices. One year we went nearly every Sunday to a Sports Bar to watch our team. Last year we buckled and got the NFL Sunday Ticket. But I'm not happy about it. The lesson here is to not be limited by technology or delivery vehicle choices and the business decisions you make. Cast as wide a net as you can around the technologies and platforms of convenience for your audience. MLB.TV is doing just that.
Monetize each channel or platform independently. Many people are upset that MLB makes you pay a fee for your account online to receive the games with your computer over the Internet. Then, if you want to see them on your iPad, iPhone or other device you must pay another fee for the MLB.com At Bat 11 application on each of the devices. I've read reviews where consumers (fans) have threatened to go without next year if MLB doesn't succumb and bundle the access to the games through the platforms. MLB isn't stupid and I'm certain they're banking on fans to spend the extra $15 to extend the experience. So, the lesson here is to consider bundled packages, but at the same time, consider how you can leverage each channel or platform and attribute revenue across each of them independently.
Be bold and on the seeming verge of a train wreck. I don't appreciate enough of the nuances involved with motor racing for it to hold my attention over the long course of a race. I watch NASCAR in sputs - for the wrecks. I don't want anyone to get hurt. But nothing excites and captivates my attention like the suspense of racing 190 mph packed two-wide bumper to bumper. The audacity of Sheen: #Winning, #chooseyourvice and on it goes...train wreck about to happen. We pay attention because we want to see it, want to be there when it happens. And so too, to take your marketing to an ubiquitous [viral] level you've got to be a bit edgy, full of yourself, bold - attention grabbing. I'm not suggesting we become obnoxious and alienate the market, but stretch yourself a bit, be bold, interesting and create a compelling presence. You've got to push that driver in front of you and sweep around into the lead. And yes, you have to have a bit of an attitude and not care what others might think or say. Stir up some controversy? You bet. Be different? Absolutely. Will it blend a bottle of Old Spice? For sure!

What other lessons of marketing ubiquity do you see?

B2B Inbound Marketing Weekly Digest for 3/5/2011

Greg Elwell — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:56:00 GMT

Here's the beginning of a weekly post on the topics, events and thoughts that have captured my attention. Sort of a personal curated expose across multiple influences and interactions.

Wherein Lies Transformational Power?

I begin with having just viewed Wael Ghonim's speech at TEDx Cairo. The Google executive shared how the Internet and social media platforms enabled a people to rise up and change their situation in Egypt. "This is revolution 2.0: No one was a hero because everyone was a hero," said @Ghonim at the beginning of his TEDx talk, Inside the Egyptian Revolution (YouTube video). At the end he said: "The power of the people is greater than the people in power."

Reminds me again how Web 2.0 technologies can and have been used for good. How in our lives and work striking chords of relevancy, truth and passion can enable great change and movement towards something fundamentally worthwhile.

For more on TED and TEDx, follow #TED on Twitter or go to TED.com.

How to Beat the Competition

I have a client who wants to beat their competition on Google rankings for specific keywords relevant to their business. This competitor knows almost no bounds when it comes to promoting themselves: they make false claims concerning their capabilities, they buy my client's business name keywords to show up in the sponsored links, etc.

We can understand the emotional fury this might cause and the desire to squash the competition - beat them at their own game perhaps? But wait, there's a better way: Buyer Persona Marketing.

a buyer persona is a realistic profile of a significant group of people representing your ideal customers. It's helpful to create a fictional character with a name and picture for each buyer persona you may have. Include everything you can think of - spare no details: their needs, motivations, goals, how they are influenced and think about your product/service and so on.

Does your website and your marketing clearly speak to your ideal buyer personas? Or, is it unclear who you're trying to reach - who needs what you do? Is it mostly about you, your products? If so, start re-thinking your approach, your content and any compulsion to market against the competition.

What would happen if instead, the keywords you use, the story you tell, the content you offer spoke directly to the core needs, values and problems of the very people your products/services is meant to help? Your competition (enemy) is not the one beating you on Google, it's you.

Start/re-start with discovering who your buyer personas are. Know, in intimate detail who you're trying to reach. Who, specifically needs you and what you have to offer?

Here are a couple of resources that might help you beat your competition by marketing to your buyer personas. The first is an excellent blog post on Copyblogger (don't let the title throw you): 6 Questions to Ask Before You Spend a Dime on Graphic Design. The second is a worksheet I've put together and use with clients early in the process (free, no registration required download): Buyer Persona Development.

Setting up a Facebook Landing Page with iFrame

This one got my attention back on 2/22/2011 when the HubSpot blog published: How to Set up a Facebook Custom iFrame Landing Page Application. Then, I caught a tweet from my friend, @johnhaydon on how to Create a Custom iFrame Tab for your Facebook Page with Wordpress (video), which I re-tweeted. And then got a tweet from @9clouds suggesting I check out their tutorial: How to create a custom iFrame tab on Facebook.

Hmmm...I think someone is trying to tell me something. So, I've checked out all the tutorials (all excellent by the way) and will get to work soon on creating a custom landing page tab on a Facebook Page.

Which one to follow?

Well, if you're on the HubSpot CMS (because the iFrame lives on your website/web server) you could follow the HubSpot tutorial. What you'll do is create a new page then choose the "Blank IFrame" layout in Page Properties.

On the other hand, if you have a WordPress site, check out John's video tutorial and get the plug-in that will make it easier for you.

If you want to know how to create an html file to use for your iFrame page you might want to get the handbook (registration required) from the 9Clouds' folks.

Why create a custom tab on your business Facebook page you ask? Simply put, it's so you can provide valuable, buyer persona-focused content and offers on your Facebook page. You can also then direct people who come to your page for the first time to your landing page vs. your wall. The cool thing about this is you can create a design and unique content outside of Facebook, then bring it into your Facebook page giving you a unique opportunity to market to your audience.

So there are the 3 things that caught my attention this past week. What's got yours?

Beware of Content Farms, Link Farms and Link Exchange Requests

Greg Elwell — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:03:00 GMT

Last week Google announced changes to its ranking algorithm taking action against so-called, content farm websites. These sites offer low-quality content - and a lot of it - in order to game the search engine rankings. Why? The most common reason is to lure you in and hope you'll click on one of the ads - ka-ching, ka-ching - money in their pockets!

While Google regularly tweaks the algorithm used to determine where web pages show up for any given search, this change is more than a tinker. Google says it "impacts about 11.8% of our queries." Still, for the majority of searchers and businesses this change should have little if any negative impact - it should, in fact filter out the garbage and improve results as reported on this HubSpot blog post.

Likewise, related to this are the shady practices of reciprocal link exchanges and link farms. Kissing cousins to content farms for sure!

According to Wikipedia, a link farm is "any group of web sites that all hyperlink to every other site in the group." The purpose is to spam the index of search engines (spamdexing) in order to dominate search results.

We know how important incoming or backlinks are to SEO authority: He who has the most, high-quality links usually wins. Getting these links is the challenge. The best way, we are often admonished, is to create really great, compelling content that others will link to. Paying for links is a no-no. But what about reciprocal link exchange requests? And could these somehow be related to link farms and content farms?

Funny you should ask. Just last week I received the following email from someone I don't know, Emma Murphy. Whether she's a bot or a person, I can't tell. But her request for a link exchange sounded awful fishy:

What's interesting about this if you look at those 3 sites, you find a bunch of low-quality content, anchor text hyperlinks and advertising. It makes you wonder if this is a content farm, link farm with reciprocal link exchange requests all rolled into one?

In any case, beware of these types of websites and link exchange requests. In fact, I coach my clients to turn down, ignore, delete any request you get for a reciprocal link exchange. It's just not worth the chance of having your, reputable site become punished along with the garbage sites.

In fact, Wikipedia, in context of the information on link farms and their relationship to link exchanges states: "The process of building links should not be confused with being listed on link farms, as the latter requires reciprocal return links, which often renders the overall backlink advantage useless."

In summary, if you're doing the work of inbound marketing: creating great content on a consistent basis, optimizing your content for targeted keywords, promoting it on social media while you're adding value to the conversation you'll be making Google happy. And a happy Google is good for your rankings!

Doing Big Things

Greg Elwell — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:54:00 GMT

Here's a tangent for you. Or is it?

Every now and then I get struck with a thought, an idea, a word that sticks out or a line from a book or speech. The other night while watching and tweeting the president's State of the Union Address out popped the line: "We can do big things."

He's right you know. Regardless of your political affiliation, the "we can do big things" is more than just an aspirational slogan. It can be a force connected to a definite purpose and plan of action that produces physical reality.

My big thing last year involved a major shift in business. I left something that wasn't a good fit and became a Certified HubSpot Partner. Built B2B Inbound from scratch, enrolled in a sales development program and 8 months later I'm starting to realize the success I had envisioned.

This year I have three big things I will tackle. One is personal (RV trip from CA to MN), the others are business related. More about those in coming months.

What does "do big things" mean to you? What goals, dreams, aspirations do you have? And, most importantly, what are you doing about it?

Whether your big thing is achieving success with inbound marketing, a business idea or personal endeavor, there are a few things I've found helpful along the way. See if these resonate with you:

Act on your hunches.

Have you ever had an idea to do something but failed to act on it and then some months later saw it become a big thing? "Damn," you thought to yourself, "I wish I would have done something about that hunch I had about that back then!"

Why don't we act on hunches? Do we lack confidence? Are we afraid of failure? Do we succumb to negative thinking? No doubt there's more excuses we could shake a stick at as to why we don't act. But what's needed I feel is to take the first step. You can't steer a parked car. Take the crawl, walk run approach to big things.

If your mind says you can't, why not re-program your mind? We may not be able to control our thoughts but we can counteract negative thinking with positive. One thing I've done is to record a list of positive affirmations of what I will do,and then listen to them on my iPod. Auto-suggestion feeds the subconscious mind and helps develop success consciousness.

Take this to heart: "Whatever (idea) you can conceive and believe you can achieve." (Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich.)

Eat your own cooking.

When I was with AT&T Wireless and the Wireless Data Division back in the mid 90's we were doing big things by bringing Cellular Digitial Packet Data (CDPD) to market. We produced the first Internet browser enabled phone, the PocketNet Phone.

It was imperative for us to use this technology and be able to demonstrate how it worked and what it could do for a business (consumer applications came later). We ate our own dog food.

Likewise today, if you're going to do something big: launch a product, sell a new service or be an expert in something it will be to your advantage to develop specialized knowledge. It's the application of knowledge to a specific goal that counts.

There's so many ideas, positions, programs and plans floating around. The winners will help us understand what to do with what we know.

Be in the way of not way to a big thing.

I get this from Dan Millman and his book, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior. It's great to have dreams and goals to shoot for, but don't get all caught up in the destination. It's more about what we become on the journey than what we get at the end point. This has helped me to view each moment in time as important. We may not be able to control outcomes, but we can control the choices we make and how we respond to challenges.

Fuel your big thing with passion, planning, relentless commitment and action. Have a "Burn the Boats" mentality. But if the rug gets pulled out from under you don't despair. Millman says, "Stress happens when the mind resists what is." Life is sometimes a mystery, goals are elusive and nothing stays the same. Accept the "what is" of right here and right now. What you do with that can be a really big thing.

Have you been in the way of doing something big? What works for you? Comment here or join #DoBigThings conversation on Twitter

Photo: Flickr, anitacanita

4 Must-Haves for a Professional LinkedIn Profile

Greg Elwell — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:01:00 GMT

LinkedIn, the social network for business professionals was established in 2003. It currently has over 85 million members in 200 countries and is available in 6 languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese.

As I wrote in The Two Social Media Tools I Use and Why, I view LinkedIn as a business social network. It's a valuable tool B2B business professionals and companies can use as it is "all Business all of the time." To say, "it's a valuable tool," should be qualified to mean if it's used strategically and effectively.

Professional Networking on LinkedIn

It can be a great tool for professional networking on a business level: posting "what's on your mind" status updates, showcasing your expertise, keeping up with former colleagues, engaging in meaningful group discussions and much more. And yes, it also integrates with Twitter and other business-oriented apps to help keep you and your network connected with what's got your attention.

LinkedIn Company Profiles

It's also for companies. Businesses can build greater awareness of their products and services, as well their career openings by building and maintaining a robust, LinkedIn Company Profile. Here's the Netflix company on LinkedIn. Having your company profile on LinkedIn has the potential to increase visibility, trust and credibility with your brand. It's also a great tool for people outside your company to follow, get to know you/your team and what you've got going on.

Think of it this way, with Twitter you can follow people, with LinkedIn you can follow companies - through the people who work there and are posting updates. (Search and follow a company, click on the Employees tab, scroll down and you'll see the "Company ABC Activity on LinkedIn" section.)

A Complete and Optimized Profile?

The challenge it seems, in talking with colleagues and observing members' profiles is that many don't understand the importance of creating a complete and optimized profile. Or, they don't know how to go about it. In my mind, networking, participation, giving and receiving value hinges on a strong profile. If it's not up to date, complete and optimized it's not going to bring measurable value to the LinkedIn member. It may even turn potential net workers away. It's the value of a strong, first impression.

So everything begins with creating (and maintaining) a professional LinkedIn profile. Here are 4, easy-to-do, yet often overlooked steps for creating a professional, optimized and powerful LinkedIn profile:

1. Create a descriptive professional headline that highlights your specific area(s) of expertise

Your professional headline is what appears directly below your name in the "Profile" view. It also shows up for instance when someone clicks on your name in a Group discussion. It's important people viewing your profile or clicking your name understand what your specialty is, not your title.

Too many professionals put their title here instead of what they're known for doing really well. They then repeat the same title or information in the "Current" (position) section just below. This area of your profile called, "Professional Headline" is important real estate. Use it wisely.

The above is an example of a profile that could potentially be improved with a stronger headline that isn't then repeated in the "Current" position section. You may also note Shannon is not currently showing a profile photo. (I'll talk about considerations of using a photo in the next step.)

Think of this as your professional positioning statement. This is how you want to be known by the business community on LinkedIn. If you are a recognized expert on a particular topic declare it here. If, on the other hand you're not a recognized expert or specialist don't say that you are. Instead, state what your experience is, what your specialty or specific area of focus is and to which industry or market segment you serve.

LinkedIn offers the following examples:

Experienced Transportation Executive
Web Designer and Information Architect
Visionary Entrepreneur and Investor

You might think about updating your professional headline as you acquire new specialties and become accomplished in a particular topic or discipline.

One of my connections, Mark Amtower recently changed his headline to: "B2G consultant, author, speaker, LinkedIn Blackbelt." I can attest to Mark's expertise as a LinkedIn Blackbelt. I took one of his webinars on LinkedIn and many of the tips I'm sharing here I learned from him.

Here's one that says it all in a nice succinct and clear way. Any doubt as to what Helena Bouchez's specialty is and to which market she serves?

2. Include a profile photo that's professional and aspirational

Next, make sure you have a quality photo. You might consider a professional photographer experienced at knowing how to draw out and capture your professional essence. (I learned that tip from Helena above.)

Here's one I think conveys what I'm talking about. It's the LinkedIn profile photo of Joyce Dobervich. I met Joyce (one of my wife's colleagues) at a recent company function (Stratford Fidelity Holiday Party) and we've since connected on LI. To me, her photo carries energy, thoughtfulness, professional looking but with a bit of intrigue mixed in. Kind of makes you want to have a conversation and get to know her. What do you think?

Like it or not, people will form opinions about you by your profile image. Leaving this blank, having a poor quality photo (no cell phone cameras please), or worse yet a shot of your favorite pet could be very detrimental to your "professional brand."

You may also want to consider using the same photo across the various social media platforms you're involved with. It will help create a consistent look or "brand" and fosters better recognition.

3. Optimize your Website links with your domain name keywords

When setting up your Website links, choose the "Other" classification instead of "Personal Website," "Company Website," etc., choices. Then type in the actual domain name of your sites in the middle box followed by the full URL of your sites in the adjacent field, like so:

This will serve to make your profile better optimized for the search engines and make you more visible for your domain name and brand. Try doing a search on Google for your Website or domain name and see if a LinkedIn listing is shown.

Here's my example (shows on the first page of Google for search term, "b2b inbound":

Keep in mind, your profile on LinkedIn is an online digital marketing asset crawled and indexed by the search engines. Assets like this online can be optimized to make you more visible. Why not take advantage of that?

4. Get a custom public profile URL with your name in it

Having a short, public profile URL that includes your name is another sign your profile is professional and optimized. The best practice is to select your first and last name for your custom URL. Like this:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregelwell

Here's an example of the standard or default public profile URL:

Again, think of this in terms of not only a shortened, easy-to-remember URL, but think about search, your brand and being more visible when someone Google's your name.

I've seen some make this the name of their business or include a combination of their personal name with a business name. But, I recommend having this be optimized for the name others know best and would most likely use in search engines. Plus, what happens if you use a company or brand name and you leave that organization? You'll have to start over and request a new, updated and custom public profile URL.

Time to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile?

If you're not sure how to make these changes you may want to register to download my free guide: 5 Steps to Creating a Professional LinkedIn Profile (PDF). In this guide I've also included how to add and configure your Twitter account(s) with LinkedIn.

29 Tips to Help Generate Blog Post Ideas

Greg Elwell — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:52:00 GMT

Do you sometimes get stuck or have writer's block when it comes to generating ideas for your blog posts? Like the woman in the Progressive commercials: "Happens to me all the time!"

Even if you have an editorial calendar or have found ways to keep your blog fire stoked, you may, from time to time, find yourself coming up dry.

Here's a list of 29 tips to help you generate blog post ideas that I've been creating and curating for a while. These have helped me, hope they can get your creative juices flowing too:

1. Examine emails from clients/prospects with questions or problems that may broadly apply to your market and turn these into a “How-To” or “Tips” post. (Check your email sent folder.)

2. Share lessons learned by customers’ working through issues/problems your solution solves.

3. Give practical advice; think about how you may have taught a customer how to do something.

4. Turn FAQ’s from customers and prospects into a blog post.

5. Your thoughts on various trends.

6. Your opinions, positions and perspectives on various issues.

7. Debunking of common myths those in your industry might believe to be true.

8. Do you have a new solution to an old or common problem?

9. Do a series of customer case study videos and/or podcasts.

10. Think like a teacher. Educate your market with information and perspectives on a particular topic.

11. Look at the categories you’ve created in your blog, are there missing categories…can you develop more blog post topics for the ones you have already listed? Do the same for your tags.

12. Look at your most relevant and important keywords. Can you put a title together using these?

13. While keywords and SEO is important, mix in some fun posts too. Be entertaining, use humor, poke some fun, do a blog roast, top 10 list Letterman style.

14. Ideas, conversations, and issues you’ve heard about from coworkers on customer-facing topics.

15. Ask a coworker or colleague to write a post or guest post.

16. You could survey internally for suggested topics that would be interesting and compelling to your readership.

17. Look at the social media keywords you’re monitoring and conversations that spark interest.

18. Repurpose content you/your company have already created into blog posts: PowerPoint presentations, press releases, whitepapers, research reports, etc.

19. A variety of posts about the needs of customers who buy what you sell (products/services): reviews and comparisons, tips on buying, uses of, industry news and trends about, interviews with leading experts or thought leaders, lists of facts, statistics, links, resources, surveys. Etc.

20. Do a “Top 3 Common Mistakes of….” type of post.

21. 4 ways the (insert industry/product/practice) world is changing.

22. Get creative with using metaphors to relate, compare or contrast what you do to something from another time, practice, industry or category.

23. Timely and relevant , “just in time” posts that are closely aligned with your experiences and what is taking place, right now in your company, industry, work flow, etc. Think about what value this might have to your readership.

24. Similar to the above: be aware of and out in front of breaking news, trends or ideas.

25. What new twist, idea, innovation do you have to share that can make you stand out?

26. Get inspired by looking at the featured article titles on the covers of magazines. Titles “sell” and so should your blog post titles!

27. Look at things in a different and interesting way. Don’t be boring. Brainstorm different ways you can stand out and deliver an interesting perspective. See, How to Be Interesting published by Copyblogger for ideas.

28. Put your readers first but write from what you’re passionate about.

29. Be always in a content mindset, think about creating blog content out of the normal course of your day as well from special events or occasions: Emails in your sent mail folder, interviews with customers, discussions or meetings with team members on business challenges, plans and successes, lessons you’ve learned, discussions with colleagues at a conference, etc.

This list of ideas aside. I also encourage you to be in the moment and not get discouraged by feelings or thoughts that may discourage you from writing. Sometimes we just need to exert will power and begin. Sometimes we just need to write our way in.

What would you add to this list?

Why Content Curation Could be the Best Marketing Idea in 2011

Greg Elwell — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:33:00 GMT

It's widely accepted that creating compelling and relevant content and publishing it on a consistent basis can lead to a bevy of benefits for the digital marketer. Namely, increased traffic, links, SEO authority, leads, thought leadership status and sales growth.

"Content is King," we hear. And creating content is at the center of any inbound marketing plan. SEO you might say begins and ends with content; without it we'd have no reason to search. Blogs and podcasts tell us 2011 is the year of content marketing.

How do marketers deal with the mantra of creating more and more content? ContentWise reports over $47 billion was spent on content curation and publishing in 2009. A new study (published Sept. 2010) by MarketingProfs and Junta42 named, B2B Content Marketing 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends found, among other things:

9 in 10 B2B organizations market with content
51% report they plan to increase spending on content marketing
More than a quarter of their marketing budget, on average is spent on content marketing

With modern web technologies everyone can be a content creator and publisher. This onslaught of content gives consumers more choices than ever. More, it could be argued than they know what to do with making it increasingly difficult to find the best content for a specific interest or need. We're finding ourselves in content white-out conditions. There's an ever rising amount of it.

For companies who are content creators and publishers, it's getting increasingly more challenging to get found - to rise to the top of search. Not only that, but add to this the flood of activity around content creating and sharing enabled by social media:

"It's a well-known fact that the game has changed forever when it comes to interacting with customers and prospects. While the Internet has proved an invaluable tool for the rapid sharing of information, the deluge of online content driven by new social media channels continues to grow at an ever increasing and relentless pace," writes Pawan Deshpande, CEO of HiveFire in the ebook: Content Curation: Taming the Flood of Online Content.

So, where does that leave us? If content creation, publishing and marketing is so very important (and it is) how can marketers stand out in this blizzard, and how can consumers/information seekers deal with finding the best, most relevant content that meets their needs? Enter Content Curation.

Content Curation Rising

Rohit Bhargava, a highly-regarded global marketing strategist and founding member of the 360 Digital Influence Group at Ogilvy, one of the largest marketing agencies in the world, recently published: 15 Marketing & Social Media Trends to Watch in 2011 on SlideShare. Take note of Trend #5: Rise of Curation.

"One way, suggests Bhargava, "to deal with the vast amount of information out there is through content curation. I wrote back in 2009 about how I felt the Content Curator would be the next big job of the future. In 2010, this started to become a reality as more companies hired people in these types of roles."

I'll explain a bit more about what content curation is, (or at least how I'm beginning to understand it) but think of it as both a tool and a process - something that may involve both technology and humans to pull off. It can be highly effective for harnessing the best information possible across a vast array of sources while adding credible and actionable insights in an impactful and interactive way. As again, Pawan Deshpande points out in the aforementioned ebook:

"Content curation has emerged as a new and powerful tool for B2B marketers, allowing them to easily sift through the flood of content, cost-effectively advance online thought leadership, and drive business through new and innovative customer interactions."

Content Curation Defined

How do you define content curation? There are some interesting perspectives on the definition of content curation from a number of marketers and strategists as assembled by Lee Odden of Top Rank Online Marketing in his post titled Content Marketing: Definitions of Curation & Context. My favorite is from MarketingProf's Chief Content Officer, Ann Handley who puts it this way:

"Content curation is the act of continually identifying, selecting and sharing the best and most relevant online content and other online resources (and by that I mean articles, blog posts, videos, photos, tools, tweets, or whatever) on a specific subject to match the needs of a specific audience."

Now Hiring: Content Curators!

What we need it seems, are curators amidst the blizzard of content. To gather, shape, and put it to use in a much more benefical way. Somewhat like the pair to the left has done amidst the Snowmageddon of 2010 in Minneapolis! You may view, and rightly so I believe, content curation as an emerging category in the overall content marketing game. As such, we may envision any number of roles. Certainly there will be content creators and thought leaders to provide their insights and to advance a particular point of view. They will continue to create original content supplemented with the curated content. And someone will annotate, editorialize, comment on and put into perspective for us what the curated content means.

The Content Curation Process - Below diagram from a recent American Marketing Association webcast presented by HiveFire CEO Pawan Deshpande and joined by Chris Brogan, President, New Marketing Labs on: Content Curation: The Secret to becoming a Thought Leader.

"A Content Curator is someone who continually finds, groups, organizes and shares the best and most relevant content on a specific issue online." - Rohit Bhargava

And yes, there are solutions, like HiveFire's Curata that help automate the curation and organization of content that's most relevant and useful to a particular audience. What's more, they provide blogging functionality for creating original content, sharing, visitor engagement and more, all in one platform or destination/microsite. I'll talk more, in upcoming articles about how solutions like Curata have helped companies like Airvana, Verne Global and others leverage content curation technology to boost not only SEO, traffic, leads, inbound PR and keyword rankings but thought leadership as well - in a short amount of time - amidst the flood of industry created content and tight marketing budgets.

While automation can be a key component to success with content curation, so too is human invovlement. Like C.C Chapman and Ann Handley wrote in their book, Content Rules: "You still need a human at the helm."

So, whether we employ a content curator to pull in, shape and help advance the company's voice over a particular subject, or we involve multiple folks, the point is: the content we're creating and curating must mean something to our audience. At the end of the day, we want, no need someone to help us understand what it means, what it means to us and how to best act on it.

Content Curation Marketing: Just Scratching the Surface

You no doubt have questions, opinions, interests, concerns over content curation marketing and what it might mean to your organization and content marketing plan. In the weeks ahead I'll discuss more specifics about the practice and place for content curation. With more about the tools and processes involved and share some case studies, real-world examples of content curation at work driving real business results. I'll help you determine whether content curation is for you, and will make a case for how content curation can be your ticket to becoming a recognized thought leader for advancing your brand or particular business opportunity.

For now, your questions/comments are welcome.