Owner at 5 North Marketing. I help businsesses with copywriting, conversion rate optimization, and content marketing.
I've written blog posts that have been shared 1300+ times and counting for startups like KISSmetrics, CrazyEgg, Switch Video, Rejoiner, SlideShare, Conduit, and Wibiya. I also help startups come up with content marketing planning and strategy.
I write conversion focused copy and recently helped Switch Video increase conversions by 221% with a one-word-button-copy change.
The best marketing book I've ever read is Buzz Marketing. It's not quite about marketing plans, but it will expand your understanding of marketing and help you to think outside of the box to find effective ways to generate awareness and interest for your business.
My opinion is that it comes down to traffic and conversions. Most people don't know how to drive targeted traffic, so they get lots of bounces and very few conversions. If someone isn't interested in what you sell, but you pay for a Google ad that isn't a good fit, then you aren't going to be very happy with the lead and sales results.
Going one step further, if your site isn't designed to generate leads and sales, then you'll likely be disappointed as well. Lots of designers design for aesthetics not conversions which is a big mistake. Every design should start with goals in mind, and this influences the information architecture, the design, and the copy which ultimately is what will lead to sales and results.
So it comes down to two things: 1) Making sure you can drive targeted traffic and not just traffic (although traffic of any sort is a big problem for most people and 2) Designing your site for conversions, not just looks.
I don't have an answer but do understand the question since a lot of people would love to have this kind of access to Craigslist.
Follow-up question: If you pay someone to enter these manually (say someone working minimum wage), does that conflict with Craigslist's terms of service? If not, that might be a possibility.
I agree with the previous answer that Google Analytics and the built-in Facebook stats are a great place to start for this. One question to ask is what the goals are for the business. If your goals are to increase Facebook page likes (which usually isn't a top recommendation), then your reporting will be different than if your goal is to get people to your site to order a product (a much better way to use Facebook).
It's difficult to say which key figures to use without know more about the business. The top ones are traffic, traffic sources, and conversions (if you have goals set up in Google Analytics). If you don't have enough traffic, then you need to focus on generating that, and if you are getting enough traffic but aren't converting, then you need to work on improving conversion rates. The good news is that all of this can be done with Google Analytics so long as you have it set up properly.
I don't think it's dying, but do agree that it's evolving. One way it's changing is placing more emphasis on content. You need to have good content that ranks in Google in order to generate more search engine traffic. If you only have five pages, you're only going to generate so much traffic, but if you have 100 pages, you're going to generate more. High-quality content is what takes you from less to more and is becoming increasingly important for a complete SEO strategy.
One of the most significant results I've seen was for a client of mine - Switch Video. We changed one word on their call to action button and increased leads generated by 228%. How'd we do it, you ask? Well, first we surveyed their customers to find out what questions they had, and then we made an educated changed based on the survey results. It always helps to start with research so you're not just guessing about what to test.
It all comes down to your goals and your budget. If you have a decent budget to begin a PPC campaign, that's an easy way to start driving traffic and generate conversions (you just need to know how to manage PPC so you don't burn through all of your money too quickly). If you have less money but more time, you can consider blogging and some of the other content items you mentioned.
I've had bad experiences with India and know people who've had good experiences in Eastern Europe. It obviously depends on who you hire, but I've found more than once that India is cheap but the work quality isn't great.
I agree with some of the answers that have already been posted. The first step is writing for your audience and making sure you write something people want to read and share. That's why it's called search engine OPTIMIZATION. You're optimizing for computers, not writing for them.
The next step is to optimize, which actually could end up being step one when you conduct keyword research to identify post ideas. If you come up with good post ideas based on sound SEO research and you write great posts for people, then there's a greater likelihood your posts will rank well for SEO. At this point, you just need to make sure you use the keyword phrase in the title and write it in a way that appeals to both people and computers. You can also take a little time to optimize your post and make sure you use the keyword sufficiently in your article without over-using. The Yoast SEO plugin is great for double checking and optimizing after the post is written. Premise by Copyblogger is another tool you can use.
Recap: 1) Write posts that will appeal to people and write for your audience first. 2) Make sure to use the primary keyword in the title and in the post and write the title in a way that will appeal to both readers and Google. 3) Double check with a tool like the Yoast SEO plugin or Premise (although once you get the hang of it you don't have to check as much).
Here are two great marketing blogs for entrepreneurs: http://blog.crazyegg.com/ & http://blog.kissmetrics.com/.
Content curation is a great idea because it provides a great source for "easy" content. Lots of businesses have trouble coming up with blog post ideas and finding time to write the post ideas they do come up with. If you fit curation into your posting schedule, then that takes some of the pressure off of the idea generation and writing cycle. This could be something you do once a week or once a month, and the real key is to figure out if it's content that your target audience would want to read and share. In the end, they won't care if it's curated or not; they just care about great content that teaches them something they don't already know or helps them to keep up with their industry.
We got great insights on content marketing and the content development process from an experienced practitioner.
Joseph was great to talk with and we have some interesting plans to move forward with around content and content marketing. Get in touch with Joseph!
I am very glad to have talked to Joseph, he is super-friendly and he provided me with excellent expertise. He cares very much about what you're working on and I'm very grateful for that.
Joseph was enormously helpful and had even researched my questions before the call, and gave a lot of thought to my questions. Joseph had great insights into into the questions I really should have been asking. Would definately refer and call again.
We're about to do some changes on our website and Joseph was of great help. He listened (I talk a lot AND I have an accent) to what we're trying to do and give us both feedback and great suggestions. I'm really looking forward to implement some of the changes he mentioned, and hopefully to ask for some more advices on marketing an copywriting further down the road. I'm glad I requested that call!
Joseph is my new "go to" writer for internet / content marketing purposes. He's a real pro, was on time, and just flat out great to work with. I couldn't be happier with the results of our engagement. I highly recommend his services.
Joseph is a great copywriter. I hired him for the Definitive Guide to Copywriting and he was able to finish it on time, come up with creative ideas for it, and even help promote it. It was a huge hit.
Had a call with Joseph regarding changes we're about to do to our Apptamin.com website and blog in order to increase conversion and sales.
Joseph was really good at understanding what we want to achieve and provided great feedback and specific suggestions. Really looking forward to implementing those changes and hopefully to get some more great advices from Joseph.
.JPG?1394569744)
