Content Management

Collecting, curating, cultivating, and organizing your content on an ongoing basis is the difference between successful and stale content marketing.

Here are some posts to help you manage content:

5 Reasons You Won’t Read This Blog Post

why you won't read this blog post

Whether I’m writing for print, online, or in cuneiform, my job as a content producer is to serve you, the reader. You are investing precious time with me, and I better not disappoint you. There are, after all, at least a few other sources you could visit instead. So why do I ignore this?

How to Avoid Awkward Silence in Your Comment Section

avoiding awkward silence in your blog comment section

There are a lot of lurkers on the web. You know, those people who visit websites, consume content, and move along. We’ve all done it. (You’re probably doing it right now!)

Want Your Message to Resonate? Say it Again. Want Your Message to Resonate? Say it Again.

repetitive marketing messages

Growing up, my mom had to constantly remind me to do the things she needed me to do. After the fifth or so reminder, I’d reluctantly get up and put my clothes in the hamper (or complete whichever menial task she’d requested of me). On my way back to couch potato land, I’d let her [...]

Quit Daydreaming and Focus on Your Website

work horses

That one big idea—the one that will bring the masses to your website overnight and lead to more Twitter followers than Lady Gaga sees is not worth waiting for. I’m all for brainstorming and trying big new  ideas, but if you really want to improve your pageviews and build community online you should place your [...]

7 Steps to Dealing with Information Overload

dealing with information overload

Be honest: How many tabs do you have open in your browser right now? And how many times will you stop to check your email, IMs or Twitter while reading this post? There are too many links to click, blogs to subscribe to, Tweets to Retweet, books to read, and oh yeah, work to do. So [...]

What to Do with Twitter When You Aren’t on Twitter

while you weren't tweeting

Let’s face it: Twitter is a bit addicting. Even as a former Twitter-hater, I’ve gotten somewhat swept up in the RTs, the #FF and that special feeling of being listed. Every article you see has the “How to Act on Twitter” and “What You’re REALLY saying in 140 characters.” But the truth is this, my [...]

10 Things I Hate About You (As a Blogger)

broken heart blogger

You broke my heart. So you leave me no choice: I have to break up with you. Don’t get me wrong; it was fun while it lasted. You were always making me smile with your clever headlines and funny captions. And I’ll never forget all the times you thoughtfully gave me advice. I thought we were [...]

How to Monitor Social Media Conversations

monitoring social conversation

There’s a lot of social media static out there. And sifting through it is not an enviable task.

4 Things My Mom Taught Me About Social Media

moms social media advice

Mothers are the conduit of all wisdom. They know how to mend a scraped knee, a broken heart, and a fractured ego. And of course – and you knew this was coming – they incidentally have taught us a lot about social media. In honor of Mother’s Day here are 4 things my mom taught [...]

Editors Gonna Edit

editors gonna edit

I’m having a hard time saying this: I don’t really like being edited. (I also have a hard time saying the word “edited.”) And I’m an editor. Everyone thinks her words are just right, brilliant even, that there’s no better way to say what she’s trying to say, that she needs those 400 extra words [...]

Battle of the Brands: How Nothing Sells Itself

brands need tlc

From the CEO running a global corporation to the preteen hustling for loose change with a lemonade stand, anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes in the business world knows one thing for sure: nothing sells itself. It takes hustle. It takes guts. And it takes persistence. But as competition for shelf space in the minds [...]

How Marketing is Like Competitive Eating

Marketing is Like Competitive Eating

You might not know this, but I can eat eleven hot dogs in less time than it will take for you to finish reading this sentence. Mmm. They were delicious. But I’m not just trying to impress you with my gastronomical feats. I’ve actually learned a lot being a food warrior, and a lot of [...]

5 Myths About Customer Reviews and the Wild Web

customer reviews and the wild web

The web, as we’ve been told, is the Wild West. Anything goes. Villains can terrorize freely without showing their face; they post scathing anonymous reviews on Yelp, they troll forums, and they blast brands and products on Twitter. So why would you let them have their say on your site? You’d be setting yourself up [...]

How to Make an Editor Happy

how to make an editor happy

Times are tough for freelance writers, so you need every edge to secure work and maintain good relationships with your clients. This is especially important in a custom media environment, where many magazines operate with a small staff. Editors have to know their writers will hit the mark every time. Deadlines are always fast-approaching and [...]

What the Top 10 Blogs in Content Marketing Are Doing That You Probably Aren’t

what the best content marketing blogs do that you probably don't

If you want to have one of the most-read blogs in all of content marketing, the formula is actually pretty simple. All you have to do? Write 2.4 posts per day with an average word count of 1,278 every day for the next 6.7 years. Think you have the stamina?

That’s Just, Like, Your Opinion, Man

tin foil troll

You have written the perfect blog entry on a topic that seems harmless enough: “Five fitness tips for fighting flab.” You publish, and then you wait for the healthy dialogue to begin.

Content Marketing: Forget About the Glamour, Focus on the Grindstone

glamour versus grindstone marketing

A kindergartner came home excited after his first day of school. Talking a mile a minute, he began telling his mom about all the fun things he did: finger painting, arts and crafts, alphabet games. The list went on and on as he breathlessly detailed each moment, the story goes. Bright-eyed and encouraged, his mom [...]

Content Curation: If You Can’t Be the Source, Be the Resource

pizza and content curation

People used to come into my sandwich shop craving pizza. I could see it in their eyes. They wanted melted mozzarella on a bed of tomato sauce with black olives, pepperoni and maybe just a touch of roasted red pepper. They wouldn’t be satisfied with a sandwich – not this time anyway. Their craving knew [...]

Social Media Disaster Recovery: It’s All About the Response

social media disaster recovery

“With great power comes great responsibility.” The owner of the sandwich shop I managed in college said this to me prior to my first time flying solo as the shift supervisor for his store. He was only kidding, or so I told myself, so I rolled my eyes and shrugged it off. Really, it wasn’t [...]

Why SEO Would Matter Even If Search Engines Stopped Running

seo without search engines

“Isn’t SEO just the practice of gaming the search engines?” If you’ve ever had to make the case for SEO, this Molotov cocktail of cynicism has likely been lobbed your way. “But good content doesn’t need an SEO strategy.” Right. It doesn’t. And horses don’t need saddles. But things go a heck of a lot [...]

7 Grammar Mistakes that Make Editors Hyperventilate

grammar mistakes for editor hyperventilation

It’s time to declare a war on bad grammar, misuse of words and cringeworthy punctuation and capitalization. In today’s fast-paced media environment, perfection seems to have been traded for speed, making room for these unwelcome villains on the pages of publications everywhere. But who is enemy #1? Do all editors loathe the same mistakes, or [...]

Social Media Monitoring Made Simple

social media monitoring

If you’ve been monitoring social media for mentions of … social media monitoring, you’ll likely have noticed more people discussing how to listen better on behalf of your brand. There are tools. There are services. And there are case studies on how your organization can sift through social media static and glean out useful nuggets. [...]

What I Learned About Content Marketing While Shoveling Snow

snow shovel content marketing

The first snowflake of the season always brings excitement. We know that with it comes sledding, skiing, snowball fights, and maybe – if we’re lucky – a good, old-fashioned snow day. Trillions of snowflakes later? It’s sort of a drag. When you reach the stage in your life where snow days no longer mean cancelled [...]

Are Customer Reviews Good For My Website?

whats the buzz thumbnail

Rolling the dice by letting your customers post reviews on your site is a gamble many brands are inclined to pass on. They figure the risk is not worth the potential reward. The juice is not worth the squeeze. “What if they say something bad?” “I don’t like the idea of losing control.” “I have [...]

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