Content strategy is King, not content.

When you write persuasive, interesting and well-written content, it helps convert web traffic into paying customers and ensures your organisation comes across as both professional and credible.

But that’s not enough. Its just the beginning.

These days, its not just about web design and good copy; powerful, action-oriented content is an essential part of every successful marketing strategy.

And as you know already, continually producing remarkable content worthy of links and generating leads is not easy. It takes a lot of time and resources, management support, long-term vision, copy-writing talent, internal expertise and often a willingness to share knowledge you once would have kept to yourself.

Not only do you have to become a highly effective copy-writer, week-in and week-out, to generate content which both engages audiences and motivates them to take action but, as the economic, political, and global landscape is changing so rapidly, you must also develop a content strategy, to constantly draw people in and keep them interested.

What is an effective content strategy?

At the heart of inbound marketing is content strategy. Let’s take a look at the seven core elements for developing an effective content strategy to help you win new customers, more donors, supporters and fans.

Rather than give you a rigid framework, which may or may not apply in your case, make sure your content strategy follows these guidelines.

It has to be strategic

This bit is tricky. Web content has to appeal to the audience and at the same time connect with business goals and brand messaging. This requires talented writers who understand both content strategy and how to deliver compelling copy which integrates across web, social and search.

It also has to be brand-centric

Some call it a brand; some an “image”. Whatever you call it, a brand is the sum of audience experiences and perceptions. As soon as someone hears your business name, or sees your logo, it’s what comes to mind.

When they visit your website do you immediately try and sell them something or is it inviting, informative and creates a memorable experience? How about the last interaction with a salesperson or a customer-service representative; was it a haphazard experience, or one carefully crafted?

Whether we like it or not, more than ever, words, images and actions define your brand every day and, with selective attention, websites and web content often serve as the first ~ and possibly only opportunity ~ to make a memorable first impression.

So copy-writing, design, layout, and calls-to-action must convey core brand messages, tell your story, *AND* create positive perceptions that motivate a customer to act.

It must be customer focused

Hopefully, this comes as no surprise, but you, the seller, are not in control anymore. The buyer is in control.

They will decide, often without your knowledge, whether you will get their business/support/contribution, or not. Your web content therefore must connect with readers. Your content strategy needs to speak directly to buyer personas, address their pain-points and bring real value.

The hard part is ~ this is a continual process. It’s not just a clever web design which allows you into the game, like it might have done five years ago. It’s about continually creating content that is SEO optimised, and recognised by Google, to where it ranks well, has authority and is easily found.

Whether internal or outsourced, copy-writers must follow your content strategy, have clear direction and understanding of each of your target audiences, know how to engage them, plus all the tactics around your on, and off-site, SEO.

It needs high-value content optimised for search engines

Web content must tell a story but it must also be optimised for search engines.

Google, which controls about 70% of the search market, is telling companies in very plain terms that duplicate, low-value content is bad, and original, high-value content is good. If you want to know how this relates to you, step into Google’s mindset and answer the 23 questions they are asking about what counts as a high quality website.

This means there are no shortcuts. If you think your content strategy can get by with a few SEO tricks and average content, you’ve already lost out to your competitors.

In short, SEO is an evolving art and science and requires talented SEO specialists and top-class copywriters to work together, who are continually measuring and refining content that can be found and produce measurable results.

It has to be creative

Web content involves a creative team that is talented and provides expertise around strategy, content creation and editing, project management, sales process, information technology, web design, video, mobile, graphic, SEO, process management, thought-leadership, automation and marketing.

Phew! Almost as difficult to say as it is to get your head around.

Take a look at your website. No, really look at it.

You have to bring real talent to bear. That impossible to SEO “tree hugger” web design ~ your fearless leader’s son created in his gap year ~ just doesn’t cut it. And probably, like most community ventures, Third Sector, green business and more-than-profit company sites I see, neither does 85% of the content.

It must be technically sound

Technically sound copy is concise and powerful. It uses proper grammar and is written at the appropriate reading level. It is also consistent in person, voice, tone, and format. Copy-writers need strong technical writing skills and the ability to apply these skills whatever the task, medium, or subject matter.

And of course, it has to be results-driven

Content needs to be closely tied to the organisation’s objectives.

It should play a key role in the organisation’s sales process and deliver measurable results which includes generating leads, educating customers and determining customer intentions.

This is achieved by tracking the content’s success through metrics and reporting of page-views, calls-to-action, content downloads, social media reach and leads for the sales team. This involves constantly revising content strategy based on past performance and promotes the incorporation of new ideas and topics that drive traffic and capture audiences.

The greater the value of your content, the greater the return on your investment.

It’s not the regular brochure and sales-letter kind of copy-writing you might be used to. So if your website’s not doing as well as you’d hoped, you have to ask yourself ~ is it what you’re writing about, that’s not capturing those hearts and minds, or the way you’re writing about it?

Frankly, most of the writing and content production I do for my clients is because they simply don’t have time or the desire to learn how to become professional writers and develop a content strategy.

Its more cost-effective to have me to do it for them, because then they can get on with what they are good at, and care about. The result is a website full of powerful, action-oriented content ~ they don’t have to lose sleep over ~ plus consistent, high quality links and leads.

No doubt their high ROI web design has something to do with that too.

Original Post From Social Strategy - Social Enterprise Inbound Marketing

Rank Tracker

SEO Software from the SEO PowerSuite by Link-Assistant.Com ~ To be successful online, you need to have all the metrics and site analytics at your finger tips, to analyse your website’s performance.

To come to any meaningful conclusion you must have ALL the data.

If you want this information in a way that’s comprehensive and easy to understand, Rank Tracker will provide it all for you.

Rank Tracker is a world-class keyword research and rank checking tool that checks your website’s search engine ranking and finds high-traffic keywords, all in automatic mode.

In a matter of minutes Rank Tracker will provide everything you need to know about your search engine rankings, including your website’s position in any of the 350 supported search engines worldwide, the exact URL found for each keyword, how many times this keyword is being searched for, how powerful each keyword is, and lots more!

Rank Tracker is just one of four modules

Rank Tracker is one of four modules from the SEO PowerSuite by Link-Assistant.Com ~ SEO software which since 2005 has become the de facto standard for website optimisation.

What does it do?

No more spending hours manually checking your site’s positions in search engines. Just sit back and let Rank Tracker do this boring job for you! Every time you check your rankings, Rank Tracker will show you the ranking difference, so you can easily see if your site has moved up, or down, for whatever reason. Rank Tracker lets you:

• Easily track search engines positions in 350 supported search engines
• Monitor an unlimited number of sites for an unlimited number of keywords
• Track your competitor’s rankings and compare them to yours (or compare any two websites in the same niche.)
• Use its powerful keyword suggestion methods to discover profitable keywords you’ve been missing
• Keep history records of your ranking to help you see how well you’ve been ranking over time
• Create attractive progress graphs to see your progress visually
• Plus more!

Who is it intended for?

Put simply ~ Rank Tracker’s target audience is anyone who needs to attract more visitors to a website, in other words, anyone who needs SEO software. This can be a social entrepreneur, a community venture, Third Sector organisation, ‘Green’ business or more-than-profit company, in fact anyone who needs to develop an online presence.

Even a social enterprise inbound marketing agency like Social Strategy.

It can also be used to help online marketing managers, like my clients, in organisations that outsource their SEO, but need to objectively assess and track their SEO agency’s performance.

Unlike other SEO products I could mention (but won’t), Rank Tracker lets you work with an unlimited number of domains and pages ~ so if you have several sites, you won’t have to pay any extra to use Rank Tracker with them all. Plus, Rank Tracker lets you continuously monitor an unlimited number of keywords. In fact you can manage your keywords by the thousand if you want to!

Why is it better?

My personal opinion ~ because keyword analysis and strategy is at the heart of all good SEO, personally, I like the keyword research functionality ~ the 19 methods combined are amazingly powerful.

Rank Tracker includes a powerful “Suggest Keywords” feature. With this feature, you’ll be able to grab traffic-generating keywords using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, SEMRush, Wordtracker, and many other methods.

Rank Tracker provides almost all the SEO data online marketers, SEOs and bloggers will need. In fact, you can almost shape your SEO strategy from its data abundance alone. And last but not least, Rank Tracker is extremely accurate.

I’ve tested it time and again, and I know I can fully rely on this SEO Software, because Link-Assistant.Com have gone to great lengths to build-in the technologies which allow them control the accuracy of their tools as the Internet evolves.

When should I use it?

When you want to make any kind of informed decision about measuring or enhancing your online presence. Or if you have a lot of pages to optimise and maybe an in-house SEO department where you have people with different levels of expertise working, you’ll find it invaluable, if you want to keep everyone informed.

It depends on your goals, but I like the in-built report writing functionality. I like the way Rank Tracker lets me generate ranking and traffic reports and email them at the click of a button.

Also, to prepare for meetings and presentations, you might like having all the ranking and traffic data in one place – which is now possible thanks to Rank Tracker’s Google Analytics integration.

Where can I get it?

Rank Tracker is available for Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. Its cross-platform, and runs seamlessly on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Which means you can run it on your Windows based home PC or your Mac laptop without a problem.

Link-Assistant.Com has a free version for each SEO Software tool separately and for the whole suite as well, so you can play around with it before buying.

The nice thing is that the free version never expires and they don’t ask for any credit card info during signup. The free version has a somewhat limited functionality, as you might expect, but it will let your try it out and get a good feeling for how it will work in your situation.

Original Post From Social Strategy - Social Enterprise Inbound Marketing

Just the other day I got an email from a young lady calling herself a “Cookie Compliance Consultant”, with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

She said she was “contacting websites that are not compliant with the new EU cookie law”. Then she went on to say, “Your website is currently illegal in the EU as it’s not asking users to accept cookies”, so I started to pay attention.

According to LinkedIn she was educated at the University of Oxford and has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Intellectual Property Law.

Why wouldn’t I believe her?

But eventually, she threw the ‘sucker punch’  ~ “I am willing to make your website compliant with the new laws for a nominal fee of￡25”.

Just what kind of scam is going on here? If you can believe all this nonsense, not only is the ICO making the law which renders your website “illegal”, but for a small consideration, they will fix up your website and make you “legal” again?

Nah ~ I don’t think so.

Don’t be sucked in by this EU Cookie Law

Of course, I wrote back immediately and politely refused her very kind offer ~ ending with the words “…where the sun never shines” ~ metaphorically ~ but it got me thinking. So I started to do some investigation of my own.

I know not everyone is as sceptical as me, nor do they have years of Internet Marketing background ~ which I guess is at least partly responsible for much of the scepticism ~ but it did cross my mind that some folk are going to get taken for a ride here.

Now you might think £25 is not a lot of money, but for cash-strapped charities, social enterprises and ‘Green’ businesses, every Pound is a prisoner. And to stay “legal” for just £25, I could see how many might be tricked into parting with much needed money, for what I imagined was something trivial, and probably not even necessary.

And as it turned out, I wasn’t wrong.

OK, so what is a cookie?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites.

This website uses cookies, as almost all websites do, to help provide you with the best user experience. Some things on this website won’t work without cookies and there is simply no way to prevent them being set, other than to not use this website.

So now you know that, by using this website, you are implicitly agreeing to allow cookies to be placed on your device, and if you want to know more about how I use cookies, you need to do some reading. For all you ‘cookie monsters’ out there, my Privacy Policy goes into all the excruciatingly boring details.

But now let me tell you why, like a lot of well intentioned but largely anti-business BS that comes out of Brussels ~ this “EU Cookie Law” idea is just plain cookie!

The EU cookie law is simply a bad law, a restraint to trade online at a time when UK business needs all the help it can get; won’t make anyone more secure or less harassed by advertisers; and is impossible for you to implement effectively.

Apart from that, its quite a good idea ~ by Brussels standards.

Another stupid law ~ thanks to Brussels

The UK Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations Act (PECR) was enacted on May 26, 2011 and the UK commissioners allowed a further year’s grace for UK websites to become compliant, which expired on May 26, 2012.

The law requires all UK businesses ~ and e-commerce sites that do business in the UK ~ to notify users of cookies on the site and obtain consent from those users in order to continue to use cookies during the online session.

And PECR also applies to applications developed for mobile devices as well as traditional online websites.

The move to institute this UK-specific legislation was prompted by a similar EU “Cookie Law” directive which requires website administrators and e-commerce sites to monitor and maintain control over the types of cookies present on their sites, especially those that can be used to track the browsing activities of users.

I wonder how many of those nice folk in Brussels and at the ICO, for that matter, have actually set up from scratch and managed a busy website, personally? My guess is not one of them has ~ so its the blind leading the blind again.

And in the land of the blind, that makes me King.

Hey, don’t knock it ~ its good to be King ~ even if I only have one eye!

PECR could seriously damage your website’s health

On a website ~ your website, for example ~ you might sell some of its space for marketing, say, to Google AdWords, or some other online advertising provider.  Now this space is auctioned off in real-time, to their client advertisers, which since you can’t control the cookies they use, makes it damn near-impossible to show your users immediately which cookies are going to be used on your website.

So here’s the first “gotcha”, if you believe all the hype, and you want to be strictly compliant with PECR  ~ its a big No No. Now, thanks to Brussels, you can no longer earn money for effective, well targeted and lucrative Advertising on your website.

And here’s another.

Do you know how many cookies each of the 40 or so different WordPress plugins I run on this site places in your browser cache?

No, neither do I. And if I did know today, I wouldn’t know tomorrow, because there’s no way to ensure the plugin authors will ever tell me what changes they make. Either before or after they make them.  And this stupid law doesn’t even address that.

Then there’s the question of “adequate notice” and how it can wreck your business.  No law should ever do that, but this one does.  Pop-up windows to get consent are often a safe bet for compliance, but the evidence suggests website use drops off dramatically ~ including at the ICO’s own website!

Its a catch-22 situation. The more interruptive and eye-catching the cookie law message, the more folk will click on the OK button, but people will bounce off your site in far greater numbers than ever sign up to accept cookies ~ why should they?

Getting consent through Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy can also work, but only if people agree to them ~ again, why should they?

A more subtle approach is specific notices placed on the website indicating that cookies are used ~ which is what most have decided to do.

This is the least offensive option to people visiting your website and has a much better chance of visitors having a positive reaction and thus staying, buying, donating and becoming loyal supporters.

Threats of “legal action” and fines of up to £500,000

The FUD factor ~ Fear of the Unknown and Doubt ~ is almost always used as a scare tactic, and its no different this time.

As I did my research I saw no end of sites popping up everywhere and telling me ~

The effects of this law will be profound and far-reaching. In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has given UK businesses 1 year’s grace until May 26th 2012 to become compliant with this law or potentially face legal action.

and another ~

Failure to do so means you can be fined up to £500,000.

Now, I am no legal expert, and I cannot give you legal advice, but I am telling you right here, right now, this is all a load of bollocks, essentially put there to get you to pay them money.

The ICO has yet to investigate a single website over these new PECL rules, because its investigative team isn’t even ready to start work ~ more than a year after the new laws came into force.

And according to a recent Freedom of Information Request response, since May 26th 2011, 320 sites have been reported via the ICO’s online submission tool, but not a single site has ever been investigated.

Shows you how seriously they are taking it.

The ICO added that sites (reported via their online tool) “may not necessarily be investigated”, that they “are not being taking forward as individual complaints”, and that “the purpose of this feedback form is to help us to monitor and identify sectors where further advice or enforcement activity may be required”.

Sounds like a cop-out to me.  Why am I not surprised?

They had also previously said, “the ICO is unlikely to fine sites for not complying, but will instead insist they start to follow the rules”.

So bang goes all those half million Pound fines. See, told you not to worry.

So where does that leave us?

One of the most balanced articles I have read on the subject is Wrapped in red tape: cookies law for charities. And the Voluntary Sector Network Blog is not normally known for sensationalising ~ unlike a few software developers, SEOs and web designers in the UK I’ve found lately.

Now the ICO initially said websites would need to get “explicit consent” before dropping cookies, but just a day before it was set to start enforcing the PECL rules they said “implicit consent” would be enough ~ meaning sites can simply tell users that cookies will be used.

Which is good news, because its much easier to put into practise and, done right, won’t lose you visitors.

Finally a response from the lawyers ~ Kelly / Warner International Defamation Lawyers, who have commented and their conclusion is as follows ~

PECR is likely to have a significant impact on websites that depend on advertising as a revenue stream. However, recent adjustments to the U.K. guidance on compliance appear to weaken the consumer protection aspects significantly. These changes may actually allow businesses to assert compliance without making any changes to their existing sites at all, allowing the status quo to continue despite both the E.U. Directive and the provisions of PECR legislation.

And that my friends is where we are right now ~ “implicit consent”.

So please, please don’t give anyone £25 just because they tell you they’re a “Cookie Compliance Consultant” ~  University of Oxford educated, or not! You don’t need to, and I bet you can find a much better use for it.

But if, once you’ve read this article, you still feel you really must install some kind of cookie warning or pop-up, click that big orange tab up there on the left, marked FEEDBACK, give me your information, and I will do it for you ~ absolutely free!

Free, as in no credit card, no sign-up and no catch!

So you can get back to doing what the world needs you to do, as soon as possible.

Original Post From Social Strategy - Social Enterprise Inbound Marketing

It always amazes me.

So many social enterprises, ‘green’ businesses and more-than-profit companies with little or next to nothing in the way of marketing budget.

Yet they expect to be on Google’s Page #1.

They simply don’t understand the problem they’re facing.

There’s no doubt we are living in amazing times. The Internet has significantly lowered the cost of starting and maintaining a social enterprise. And, of course, social media has made it relatively easy to connect with people all over the world.

But ~ with everyone and his brother out there telling his story and selling their stuff, it’s harder now than ever to market your Cause ~ especially if you’re a small social enterprise with no money for marketing.

Two important changes have to happen, if you want to be successful online.

Tight budgets no longer work

The signal-to-noise ratio makes it very difficult to stand out, even for uniquely talented individuals. And that’s just as true for a major corporate brand with a £5,000 a day keyword habit.

Marketing today is confusing, chaotic, and constantly changing. And what worked yesterday may not work today. Google, for example, now changes the way its algorithm works over 500 times a year.

For more years than I care to remember, I’ve prided myself on getting results despite having to work with tight budgets. I’m a small business owner, too. I know what it takes to make the decision to spend money on a custom-built website versus putting that money back into your family, your house or other endeavours. I’ve always had fair pricing ~ I’m not out to gouge anyone.

But first thing to learn is ~ tight budgets no longer work.

Effective marketing takes time, it takes consistency, and it takes money. Winning strategies and talented individuals don’t come cheap.

So what’s the answer?

Well, for a small social enterprise to succeed today, a couple of mind-shifts have to occur.

First, it begins with realising the game has changed. I’m sorry to say this, but you’re not going to get on page one of Google with a monthly marketing spend of £500 or even £1,500 a month. Just as sure as you won’t generate leads by letting your site sit neglected month after month.

The second shift is this very important realisation.

Marketing is an asset ~ not an expense.

Effective marketing is an asset ~ not an expense.

It’s an asset because marketing is all about investment in building relationships, which happens way before a sales conversation is even considered.

And you need to protect, nurture and grow that investment over time.

When I look at my own personal budget: far more money goes into my biggest asset ~ my house ~ than anything else. This is because my house sustains me and my partner.

It’s the same for marketing. Inbound Marketing, which used to be the poor relation to Sales, now does the lion’s share of building those relationships that pave the way to endless supporters, donors and paying customers.

So once you understand that ~ and you begin to see marketing as an asset ~ next thing is, you’ll realise your budget has to grow. You’ll realise you have to invest more if you want it to be worth more. Then, the more you invest the more you can expect to your asset to increase, until it’s actually producing the return on investment you need.

Now you’ll understand why you can’t put the minimum into a ‘bargain basement’ website ~ then expect stellar results. Well you can, but you’ll be disappointed.  You’ll begin to understand why you need compete with an amazing website design and content that fascinates and attracts your audience.

To be constantly creating remarkable, actionable web content is a crucial part of successful online marketing. For most people, website content writing means hiring professional writers who can create content for you, because ~ let’s face it ~ you don’t have the time or the specialised expertise to do it yourself.

And when you finally do call someone who has effective marketing know-how and a solid track record, it will mean you won’t be surprised when that person has to charge money, to help you develop your asset and get you the results you want.

Its either that, or you don’t succeed.

And from where I sit ~ observing what dozens of organisations do online, every day ~ it really is that cut and dried.

But what are your thoughts on marketing budgets? How do you decide what’s enough and what is too much to pay? I would like to hear how you decide how you allocate money to generating effective marketing in your organisation.

Original Post From Social Strategy - Social Enterprise Inbound Marketing