Junta42 Content Marketing blog

Brian Solis Rocks Latest Junta42 Top Content Marketing Blogs

This is our ninth installment of the Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs.  Since our first back in January of 2008, Brian Solis has finished in the Top 10 five times, including a second, fourth and fifth place. This time the popular author, speaker and social media blogger earned a clear first place. Congratulations Brian.

We started with reviewing 81 content marketing related blogs in 2007.  Today's Top 42 contains nearly 400 blogs. For those interested, here's how we judge the Top 42. Special thanks to our lead researcher, Janet Robbins, who goes through each one of these blogs individually every quarter.

37 Reasons to Blog

Today is my birthday.  Lucky number 37.

As part of my birthday celebration, I'm committing to blogging more. Junta42 was started as a blog (this post is proof from April, 2007) and I still believe it is one of the most important things you can do as a business (as long as you have the right strategy).  So, here's my 37 reasons to blog and blog more.  I hope they inspire you.

1. A blog is just a tool, but it is the easiest, most effective publishing tool to share information with customers and prospects.
2. A blog can be the center of your content marketing strategy. As you widen your net to attract prospects and customers through social media, your blog is the place you point them to.  It's your magnet.
3. You don't need a publishing degree to start a blog.  There are no technology barriers.  Wordpress first, then Typepad are two places to look.  For larger corporations, Compendium is an interesting platform.
4. Thinking about writing a book?  Then start the blog first.  This blog was started on the idea that it would serve as the basis for our book, Get Content Get Customers.  It did just that.  Blog with the idea of chapters of your book in mind.
5. You can't be taken seriously in social media unless you have a robust, consistent blog.  That's the truth.  Deal with it.
6. Blogging may be the best way to showcase your employees.  Check out Indium. How much more powerful is this brand with their employees consistently communicating helpful information? How much greater is the employee morale because Indium is embracing social media and conversations with customers? You have employees who are rock stars.  Give them the platform to help you in the process.
7. A blog is search engine candy.  Google loves blogs and Google is hungry.  Feed the beast.
8. A blog is an industry game changer. When the buying decision comes down to three or four companies, the company website with consistent, relevant content is 60% more likely to win (Custom Content Council stats).
9. A blog is a great way to learn to stop talking about yourself and start focusing on what your customers need to hear.
10. Can you really be an industry thought leader without a blog?  Think about that.
11. How can you be successful with Twitter, Facebook and other social media without generating consistently relevant content through a blog?  Remember, content strategy comes before social media.  That content strategy can be executed through the blog.
12. The blog is a great way for us to communicate with our customers on a regular basis without having to constantly pitch them on our products.
13. A blog can serve as the content hub for your enewsletter, print newsletter and company magazine.
14. Your customers want and need to be inspired.  Is there a better way to inspire customers that than through consistent content gifts through a blog.
15. A solid blog will lead to speaking events. I've been invited to more than 30 speaking events specifically because they found me on the blog.  No kidding.  Five of those were international speaking events.
16. Since most websites suck, a blog is a great way to differentiate yourself from the rest of the online corporate brochures.
17. A blog is one of the best ways to share your point of view.  You're take on the industry and customers is unique (or at least should be).  Tell your story.
18. If you can't figure out how to tell a unique story, a blog is a great testing ground for you to find your corporate voice.  Find your compelling story.
19. A blog removes corporate shackles.  By opening yourself up to imperfection and transparency through a blog, you are actually moving closer to perfection.
20. Having a blog forces you to ask questions about your industry and your customers all day long and while you sleep.  Having a blog forces you to become a journalist and think like a publisher.  That forces you to become a more innovative business.
21. Your competition may be able to duplicate your product, but it's very hard, if not impossible, for the competition to duplicate your story.  A blog will help tell your story.
22. You will meet more influential people and gain more contacts through a blog than almost anything else you do.
23. Listening and commenting is extremely important to any social media program.  Without a blog, a listening program is more like eavesdropping.  It just seems wrong.
24. A good blog will lead to blog guest posts on other sites and other free public relations efforts.
25. What other tool can enable you to have real conversations with customers, prospects and influencers?
26. Although a blog can work for any organization, it's simply the most cost-effective way to promote and market your business.
27. Blogging is fun.  Who thought you could write about interesting things that affect your business and have it positively affect you and so many of your customers?
28. Your brand is what your people read and talk about online.
29. A blog forces you to keep abreast of what's going on with your customers and your industry.  Remember, you are the industry expert.  Act like one.
30. A blog promotes customer loyalty.  Customers will look to you for expert insight to help them with their pain points.  When they are ready to buy, they'll buy from the expert.
31. The blog can be the core of your search engine optimization strategy.  
32. If you don't have anything interesting to say, why would anyone have a reason to talk about you or your company?  
33. A blog can be your personal therapist.  It's saved me thousands.
34. Traditional journalists love to interview bloggers.  They know they'll get the information they need because they already see the proof.
35. A blog is a credibility machine.  Any thought leader in the space needs two things - a blog and a book.  One without the other is like Laverne without Shirley or Cafe without Mocha.
36. Everyone is an expert in something. Figure out the intersection between your expertise and your target audiences' needs and find your secret sauce.
37. Repackaging of blog posts will fuel white papers, ebooks, in-person events and just about all the other educational content you'll need for your marketing.  A blog, can literally, do it all for your content marketing program.

For more, check out this free white paper on attracting and retaining customers through content marketing. 

Image Credit: Shutterstock

What’s Your Blog’s Take-Away?

Thanks to Sacha Cohen for this Junta42 guest post.  As you'll read, Sacha's background in traditional journalism pays dividends regarding social media.  Read on.
 
In traditional print publishing, there is a specific style called  “service journalism”, which essentially means that that an article is filled with actionable tips and advice—what editors refer to as “take-aways.” Pick up any copy of Good Housekeeping, Self, or U.S. News & World Report and you’ll find “service” articles such as “Five Stress-Fighting Superfoods” and “Three Holiday Gifts That Keep on Giving”.
 
To write a great service journalism piece, one must think first and foremost about the audience. Consider the following questions:

• What information can you offer that isn’t available elsewhere?
• How can you make the subject easy to understand and accessible?
• What research should you include?
• What experts will provide the best insights?

These days, the most popular blog posts often take a page from services journalism. Whether it’s How to Go Green: Wine or Six Greener Ways to Get Around Town, service sells.
 
When advising clients about content strategy, start with the value proposition first. What’s the take-away? What makes this client’s perspective different than another? And how can you combine those two elements into one must-read post?
 
Each client has something special to offer, a point-of-view that can be turned into a take-away with a real benefit.
 
The types of take-aways you might want to consider include:

• Checklists
• Quizzes
• Lists (best and worst, top 10, etc)
• To dos
• Round ups (Five healthy, road-trip friendly snacks)

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete with a take-away of its own. Here’s a checklist of items that every blog post should include:

• Descriptive, SEO-friendly headline.
• Keywords throughout the copy, aiming for a combination of head and tail terms.
• Metatags (title tag, keywords, and description).
• External links to relevant content using descriptive keywords within the link.

Sacha Cohen is the founder of grassfed media. Reach her at sacha[at]grassfedmediadc.com or twitter.com/grassfedmedia.

10 Corporate Blogging Tips and Strategies

Ambal from Click Documents asked me if I had any tips/strategies for corporate blogging.  The presentation below is a corporate blogging basics presentation useful for beginning bloggers.  That said, here are the main takeaways.  For more indepth understanding of a content marketing strategy, this content marketing white paper will help.

1. A blog is just a tool, nothing more, nothing less. BUT, it can be a powerful tool to distribute consistent and valuable information to your prospects and customers.  Be sure to focus on the informational needs of your customers, and provide helpful content around those needs. The more niche the better.  Find your expertise area and own it!
2. Not sure how to get started with a robust social media presence? First, focus on your blog and use that as the magnet to attract customers from social networks to your site.  You cannot have a social media strategy without first understanding your content strategy.
3. Match your expertise areas with the needs of your customers.  Every situation where you have expertise and your customer has an informational need is a piece of content that leads to a larger content strategy.
4. There are thousands of blogging platforms.  Pick the easiest to implement. Wordpress and TypePad would be my first and second choices. Larger organizations may want to look into Compendium.
5. Get your blogging ears on and listen.  Use tools such as Google Alerts, Twitter Search and Tweetdeck to actively listen to your community.
6. Where are your customers hanging out?  Find relevant industry blogs using Twitter, Google Alerts and Google Blog Search and begin to read those blogs. A bit later, start to engage and comment with helpful tips.  Once you gather a presence on those blogs, guest blogging opportunities should be considered.  Make a list of at least 10-15 blogs.
7. Automatically spread your message.  Use a service like Twitterfeed to automatically post your blog updates to Twitter and Facebook.
8. Choose a consistent schedule.  Whether it's once, twice a week or even daily, pick a schedule and stick to it.  This blog posts 2-3 times per week and has been doing so for almost three years now.  Of all these points, this may be the most important.
9. Track your performance. Use Google Analytics to monitor which posts are being engaged in the most and where people are coming from.  Do more of the posts that are read, less of the ones that are not.
10. Length and style tips:

• Shorter is often better (250 words).  Get to the point and make it actionable.  Link out to ideas that need more explanation.
• Bullets/Lists do better
• Titles are like magazine covers...their role is to get people to open them.  Work on titles that get people to read your post.
• Integrate video or presentations (embed) whenever possible.  Mix it up!
• Actively link to other bloggers.  They will notice.
• Proofread!

Beginner Corporate Blogging Tips

View more presentations from Joe Pulizzi.

Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs Released - Tipping Point Rises to the Top

Well, after a slight delay to coincide with the launch of the new Junta42 redesign, the Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs have finally been released.

Definitely, our most competitive and thorough list, the Top 42 is a collection of the best experts in the world that join in on the conversation about content marketing. The entire list of content marketing blogs can be found here. If you feel one may have been left off the list, please submit the blog at the bottom of the Top 42 main page. We update the list quarterly.

Congrats to all the almost 300 blogs in this round, especially the Top 42.  Special congrats to the team at Tipping Point Labs for taking over the top spot in their debut listing.

Below is the Top 42 in its entirety.

1 TippingPoint Labs
2 Copyblogger
3 Marketing Interactions
4 Online Marketing Blog
5 PR 2.0
6 Marketing with Meaning
7 Post Advertising
8 Conversation Agent
9 Brain Traffic
10 Web Ink Now
11 Buzz Marketing for Technology
12 EyeCube
13 ContentMarketingToday
14 Convince and Convert
15 Influential Marketing Blog
16 Internet Marketing Blog
17 Dan Blank
18 The Harte of Marketing  
19 Writing on the Web
20 The Toadstool  
21 PR 20/20
22 Keysplash Creative
23 Chris Brogan's Blog
24 Social Media Explorer
25 Content Rich
26 Drew's Marketing Minute
27 Seth's Blog
28 9 Inch Marketing
29 The Content Wrangler
30 Greg Verdino's Marketing Blog
31 IdeaLaunch
32 Hard Knox Life
33 Direct Marketing Observations
34 Nigel Hollis
35 Rexblog
36 Daily Fix
37 Sales Lead Insights
38 Techno//Marketer
39 Eat Media Blog
40 Savvy B2B Marketing
41 Social Signal
42 Web Strategy by Jeremiah

Related Posts:

• Junta42 Releases New Top 42 - "Marketing with Meaning" Leads the Way
• Junta42 Releases Top Blogs List - TopRank Sneaks by Copyblogger

10 Content Marketing Tips to Start Now for 2009

One of the reasons I love my job is the different kinds of people I have the opportunity to interact with. Over the past year, I've met with entrepreneurs, thought leaders, agency executives, top marketers, social media gurus, publishing veterans, authors and others - all with particular insights and challenges about how to sell more, do more and be more.

If 2008 was the year social media went mainstream, 2009 should be the year of content marketing, the corporation as media company, the brand as publisher and broadcaster. Why? Because everyone of those incredibly intelligent people I met with, in some way or another, told me that the difference for brands who make it versus those that don't will be relevance. How can we, as brands, be relevant to our customers? How can we create and develop real relationships with them? How do we engage?

As my friend and colleague Kirk Cheyfitz has said over and over - brands can do only two things to create the goal of 100% engagement - we can inform our customers - or give them a good time.

To help, I've put together 10 tactics that I believe you need to seriously consider NOW as part of your 2009 content plan (not in any particular order).

1. Tell the Story Differently through Different Media - It's frustrating to watch the sheer number of marketers tell a great story, but repurpose that story the same way in all their media. Ian Alexander over at Eat Media constantly harps (and rightfully so) on the concept that the story you tell in print versus mobile versus website versus video must be told in a very different manner. Seems obvious, but it's not done. Most commonly, this mistake is made from taking a print custom program and just putting it online. Do you engage with content in the same way in print as you do the web? Most likely, you don't. Do not expect more of your customers than yourself.
2. Raid Traditional Media Outlets - As traditional media continues to lay off the best journalists in the world and layoffs and bankruptcies abound, your opportunity to acquire talent has never been greater. Of course, I'm biased a bit that I believe most marketers should outsource their content and find great providers through our service, but this opportunity is too good to be true. First, the talent is available now. Second, expert journalists are very open to working with corporations today. Third, you need great content to survive as a marketer. To do this, you need talent that understands how to tell a story. Go get that talent today while there is still time (and before they all start up their own content marketing businesses).
3. Why Partner with Media Companies, Just Buy Them - Granted, this is for the larger marketers among us, but a great strategy nonetheless. Paul Conley just posted an excellent read on the shape of the media industry, and his #1 prediction was that content marketers may start to buy b-to-b media companies. I've agreed with this strategy ever since I was at Penton (when I thought Penton should be purchased by eBay Business - and still think it's a great idea for both). Remember, a media company is all about connecting buyers and sellers. Corporations need to do that as well, they only want to limit the number of sellers (to one).
4. Time to Start Using Twitter - I will agree with you...I thought Twitter was stupid when I first tried it. Now, it is an indispensable tool, where I've increased my network, formed partnerships, and led to new business opportunities. To understand the true power you need to use a tool like TweetDeck, which is the ultimately reputation management tool if you can't afford a real reputation management tool. Check out this article by Ann Smarty on using Twitter for Business, as well as Shama Hyder's 101 Ways to Rock Twitter. And finally, if you are distributing relevant content, try sending your RSS feeds through Twitter by using TwitterFeed.
5. Get Serious about a Content Audit - In all honesty, this is a huge task and very challenging to look for all the pieces of content in an organization from the inside.  If you are serious about performing a content audit, look to an outside expert to execute it.  For example, they will look at all your forms of communication and the information you are sending out in order to make recommendations on how to create and fine tune a consistent and relevant message to your customers and prospects.  This includes all the content you have on the web and what's circulating around your company.  Just think about your website…is it consistent?  Does it communicate your vision? If you are serious, we have a number of providers in the Junta42 Match system.
   
   The results of the content audit will help define the purpose, context, types, topics, voice and style for your content marketing plan.  With this information, you’ll have a good handle on where you are currently, and where you need to be in relation to your customers. Hat's off to Kristina Halvorson at Brain Traffic for showing me the light on content strategy.
6. No Reputation Management System? - Work on Your Google Alerts: Of all the listening tools out there, Google Alerts is probably the one I use the most (even more than Twitter).  The way Google Alerts works is that I can monitor keywords and brand names, and whenever anyone mentions them on the Internet, I’ll get a notification.  As a rule, when anyone blogs about me, my company, or my book, I want to know about it and comment to them.  Google Alerts helps me find most of this.
   
   But where this is really of value is to find out what people are saying around they topics that are important to you and your customers.  For example, by monitoring the term “content marketing” over the past couple years, I’ve really gained insight into how the definition has broadened and how more people are using the term in general. It also introduced me to thought leaders like Chris Brogan, who regularly posts and advocates the use of content marketing.
   
   We can help shape the conversation through our own content because we know what’s being talked about on other sites.
   
   So, how do you do it?  Google Alerts is a free tool.  The first thing you need to do is create a Gmail (or Google mail account), which is also free.  Once you have a Gmail account, just type in your keywords into Alerts and set your notifications. To use exact phrases (recommended), try using parentheses like so - "content marketing".
7. Assign a Chief Conversation Officer - Whatever you call it, make sure someone is in charge of listening to customer conversations through blogs, Google Alerts, and Twitter.  Have that person be the personality for your brand.  Customers want to talk to other people, so it’s very important that you put a human face on this.
   
   Remember, a successful content marketing strategy is dependent on how well you know the customer's informational needs. Listening is required.
   
   Here’s an example why you need ownership.  Type in "Kodak" into Twitter Search and you'll find that there are hundreds of people just in the last day that are talking about Kodak in one way or another.  This takes someone’s full time attention to monitor what customers and prospects are saying (which is why Kodak has Jennifer Cisney @KodakCB as their Chief Blogger).  If done right, and with transparency and honesty, there may not be a better way to gain loyal customers than to interact with them in a personal way through social media.  So, I encourage you to take a very serious look at assigning an owner to your social conversation management.
8. Are you BtoB? If so, choose to "Be the Media": Heck, BtoC can do this as well (it's just more challenging). Most brands don’t look at themselves as publishers or media companies right now.  This is starting to change.  Over the next five to ten years, content marketing – or whatever the phrase is – will be the engine behind most of the marketing that happens around the globe.  That’s because buying behavior has changed, and will never go back to the days of mass marketing.  I believe the early movers in providing best of breed industry and educational content will have a clear advantage and be able to position themselves as trusted content providers – which in the long run – will position them for sales and profit growth.  It’s not easy, and right now it takes work to measure, but, as Seth Godin has said, Content Marketing is the only marketing left.
   
   Point is, don't wait for your industry's trade publication or online resource to cover an important topic - important to you and your customers. Go out and develop that information yourselves. Become the trusted content provider in your industry. Not only a good thing to do for your customers and industry, but believe me, it will be good for your bottom line.
9. Find Someone to Be Your Publisher/Media Company - Yes, even though I believe you should grab the journalistic talent when you can, partnering with an organization that focuses on content 24/7 is just a smart move.
   
   You need someone to own your content process.  Select someone to be your turnkey publisher. In my experience, marcom people are not necessarily the most qualified to create story-driven content.  So, if you are serious about growing your business through content marketing, find the expertise now. 
   
   Once you select your publisher or journalist as part of your content team, you should expect them to assist you with the following:
   
   • You can count on this group to help you develop the content plan.  This means that they need to have the best understanding of your customer’s informational needs, and make sure that you have a plan to communicate to each of your customer segments – valuable, relevant and compelling information.  This will involve surveys and discussions with your customers and prospects, and from that you can create a buyer persona for your customer, which is a detailed representation of who your buyer is.
   • Now, Once the content plan is created, you may be asking what types of programs you may need to execute. This will ultimately be dependent on your content plan and the kinds of information that you need them to receive. 
     
     So, you need case studies, interviews with customers about challenges solved. Industry white papers or ebooks that cover a key topic that your customers need to be educated on.  White papers are generally done quarterly by even smaller organizations. For webcasts, you can produce webcasts for resellers, educating them on what’s going on in the industry so they can sell better, or communicate with webcasts/webinars directly to customers.  Key for webcasts is to do it consistently.  Many brands partner with media companies to use webcasts as lead generators.  When done right, there may not be a better lead generator than webcasts.
     
     Believe it or not, custom magazines are still growing, and yes, in print.  Most consumers still enjoy reading print magazines, and even with all the Internet hype, readership in magazines hasn’t gone down.  For distributing in depth information and positioning yourself as a true solutions provider, custom magazines or even online digital magazines are a good choice.  With custom magazines, think retention for your very best customers.
     
     eNewsletters are the most popular content vehicle, and unfortunately most are pretty bad.  You have an opportunity to really position yourself as an expert if you deliver consistently valuable content instead of news release/press release type information. I've always loved what the folks at IMN do with their Pro&Content eNewsletter.
     
     And finally, social media community sites/blogs and content-focused microsites are all growing in popularity.  The key to any successful blog or social media site is this: If you can’t handle customer comments that may be negative in nature, don't go in this direction.  Some companies mask the openness of a blog but don’t allow comments.  My question to that is, what’s the point?  Also, the content needs to be good, and it needs to be personal.  Ghost writing a blog is possible but tough…to make this successful you really need a company personality…but your content provider/publisher can help you get the direction right.
     
   
   Those are just a few…remember, every communication challenge is different, and may require a different content initiative - which is why an expert publisher is so important.  Also, for the most part, none of these initiatives work independently.  For example, there is no such thing as just a custom magazine.  There is always an online component, which may be a microsite, additional web content, white papers and more - and in each of those media channels, the story needs to be told differently for maximum engagement.
10. All this is Meaningless Unless You Measure: Yes, content marketing is a good idea for any size company, but without measurement, how do you have any idea what is working? My former boss at Penton Media, Bill Donahue, used to preach to me all the time that "Hope is not a strategy". Even hope, without an idea of a preferred end result, may actually be defined as insanity.
    
    Before you launch any content initiative, create the content strategy around your marketing program, and be very specific with how you will measure success. Use numbers whenever you can to quantify your plan. Then, have your management buy off on those numbers to support your content plan. Although we finish with this strategy as our last, it probably should be the first. Successful content marketing plans need at least six months just to get any traction at all - so plan for a minimum of 12 to 18 months and continually modify your plan as you gain customer intelligence.

Subscribe  -  Junta42  -  Find Content Vendors  -  Get the Book

Attract and Retain Customers with Content NOW - A Complimentary White Paper

Today’s Internet-savvy buyers are hungry for content. And not just any content...valuable, relevant content that offers solutions to their problems and helps them lead successful, productive, enjoyable jobs and lives. However, they are also inundated by thousands of marketing messages every day, most of which they ignore. To get through, you need to communicate differently—you need to do more than just sell products and services. You need to provide information. Smart marketers know this and are creating strong brand relationships by providing good, authoritative, even leadership-type content.

For that very reason, Junta42 is offering this complimentary white paper entitled, "How to Attract and Retain Customers with Content NOW."

The majority of companies are set up to sell products and services, not to create valuable, relevant and compelling content on a consistent basis. To deliver content that has a chance to create long-term relationships with customers and prospects, businesses need to develop a new content mindset.  This free white paper will help you get there.

Here are just a few of the content marketing issues that are covered in this white paper:

• Content marketing defined
• Why companies have to "Be the Media"
• Six reasons why you need to begin today
• How to develop a content strategy
• Putting the plan in motion
• How to measure your success
• Content + Marketing = Customers

We also include a few case studies from leading brands that are making it work today.

If you are signed in as a Junta42 member, you'll go straight to the white paper.  If not, your name and email address will direct you to the white paper download.

Download your complimentary white paper now! For all you media types and publishers out there, make sure you check out the sister-white paper to this document - "The New Rules of Custom Publishing: Nine Strategies to Create a World-Class Content Marketing Organization." Enjoy.

Subscribe  -  Junta42  -  Find Content Vendors  -  Get the Book

10 Questions to Ask Before You Blog

One of the most frequent questions I receive while traveling is about blogging. The questions revolve around how to get started, what to talk about, and what software to use.

My questions back to them usually startle the person, because so many start thinking about what they want to say, other than what their target audience needs to hear.  Here are a few...

1.  Who are your primary and secondary targets for your blog?

2.  What do you want to tell them?

3.  Do you understand what the key informational needs of the audience are?

4.  Are you reading other blogs on that topic, and ones targeting your customers and prospects?

5.  If you are reading, are you leaving comments that add to the online conversation on the blogs you cover?

6.  Do you have a firm grasp on the types of keywords to focus on that would be relevant to your blog?

7.  Do you follow those keywords on Technorati and Google Blog Search?  Do you have alerts set up around those keywords at Google Alerts?

8.  Can you commit to blogging at least two-to-three times per week? (consistency is key)

9.  What is your ultimate goal in starting a blog?  In one year from when you start blogging, how will your life be different?

10.  Are you looking at blogging as a challenge or something that could be fun?

Of course, I don't ask all of these in order in fear I would scare them off, but these are the general starter questions.  These questions should be the same for individuals as well as businesses.

The majority of blogs out there don't make it.  The worst thing you can do as a business is start a consistent dialogue with your customers and then stop.  Better not to do one at all.

Remember, blogging is just a tool.  Some businesses aren't ready to commit resources or change their culture (full transparency) to adapt to a blog.  That's okay.  But all businesses must understand the power of blogging.  Your brand is what people read about and talk about online.  You have to decide if you want to be a part of shaping that conversation around your brand.

More Helpful Resources:
- Problogger's Blogging Tips for Beginners
- 10 Enterprise Blogging Trends for 2008
- Business Blogging: 5 Lessons Learned and Strategies Discovered

Subscribe  -  Junta42  -  Find Content Vendors  -  Get the Book

Blogging Lessons Learned and Best Practices - One Year Anniversary

It's been exactly one year since I first started blogging. My first post entitled "Why Content Marketing?" still contains the same concept we've been evangelizing from the start - that businesses have a huge opportunity to grow business by creating their own valuable, relevant and compelling content.

Since I left the real world of business and launched Junta42 last year, the concept of blogging on a consistent, continual basis may be the most rewarding part of what I do.

As 365 days pass, I thought it may be useful to those considering blogging about what has personally happened to my professional and online life, and to what is actually possible. I'm showing this information not to gloat in any way (the statistics aren't nearly Copyblogger worthy) - only to show that you can start from absolute zero and still do amazing things through a consistent and compelling message.

A Few Statistics

• According to Technorati, the Junta42 blog is ranked 38,892 of around the 5,137,428 blogs they measure. There have been 507 blog reactions about the Junta42 blog.
• According to the AdAge Power 150, which ranks the top media and marketing blogs, the Junta42 blog is ranked 221 of 608.
• Alexa, which ranks all the websites in the world, has us ranked as the 102,583rd most popular site in the world (by traffic rankings).
• 190 total posts, 16 trackbacks and 201 total comments.
• LinkedIn connections went from 40 to 499. Much of the additional came through blogging connections.

Beginning bloggers PLEASE NOTE: Even after two to three months of consistent blogging, I would regularly get only five to 10 visitors per day (probably none outside of my family). Today, on an average day, we'll get more than 200. We've had a couple days of over 1,000. It could definitely be better, but the blog has come along way.

Many Surprises

• The biggest surprise, by far, is the number of friends and business relationships I have made directly because of blogging. I've been blessed to communicate with some of the best marketing and publishing minds in the world, including the likes of David Meerman Scott, Rohit Barghava, Newt Barrett, Paul Dunay, Paul Conley, Brian Clark, Lee Odden, Ardath Albee, Patsi Krakoff, Greg Verdino, Hans De Keulenaer and too many others to mention. Many of these relationships have led to business partnerships and projects.  Truly, I never would have expected this to happen just by typing a post into TypePad every other day.
• Because of the blog and its following, it was much easier to launch Junta42 as a business. Would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to do it without one.
• I've been asked to present at a number of in-person events, as well interviewed on podcasts and internet radio shows, which came directly from exposure to the blog.
• Requests for consistent writing assignments came directly from what I was doing on the blog, including About.com, Direct magazine, DMNews and multiple guest blogging posts.
• Content marketing, which as a phrase was pretty much nonexistent when I started the blog, is now gaining and growing in popularity.  The first proof of this is that content marketing now has its place as a definition in Wikipedia. Even more proof is that many bloggers have made content marketing their focus, including Newt Barrett, Patsi Krakoff, w00tonomy, and Relevant and Valued.

Lessons Learned

Below are five lessons that I originally posted about on my 100 post anniversary. The copy in red below is my commentary on each one, now six months+ later.

1. Focus on great content. Before launching the blog, most bloggers I talked with pressed the importance of frequency in blogging.  "Post as much as you can," they said. So, when I started, my goal was to post at least once a day or more. I averaged about four posts per week. Although I still believe in the importance of frequency, I now believe that "less posting, more substance" is a much more effective way to build traffic and loyalty. Make sure what you are writing is something important and not just random musings. This may seem like common sense, but a lot of bloggers I've read just ramble on, making no point on certain days between great posts (let me stop here before I ramble). This "more content substance" strategy is something I've noticed from Scott Karp on the Publishing2 blog and Brian Clark over at Copyblogger.
   
   I believe this now more than ever. Three quality posts per week seems to do the trick. Even three can be a challenge for me depending on the week.  I've seen some bloggers such as Bernie at Find and Convert do a great job with one quality post per week.
   
   
2. Leverage social media sites. After a few weeks/months, traffic starts to come in from the search engines. SEO is extremely important, but just as or more important is leveraging the social media sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Sphinn, etc. Also look into niche social media sites like Small Business Brief that are specific to your area of expertise. Depending on the content of the day, social media sites can and will drive more traffic to your sites.
   
   Most of my time is now spent uploading relevant sites to Junta42. I don't spend as much time on the other social media sites. I've recently started noting relevant posts at Twitter, which brings in some traffic depending on the article. I also upload to Facebook and Plaxo as well automatically through TypePad. Altogether, this strategy works. My advice would be to use the most relevant sites where your core audience hangs out, and focus on those. The more active you are in the community (not just posting your own articles), the more impact you will have.
   
   
3. Promote a call to action - Getting Names! Whenever possible, be sure you promote your RSS feed or email feed in and around your blog. Some users may come to your site for the first time, enjoy your post, but then leave. Your goal is to keep talking with them. Make sure they see your feeds! Getting readers through RSS and email is MUCH MORE important in the long-run than search engine traffic. Look at it this way...if you completely focus all your attention on search engine traffic or social media sites, and then one day all that dried up or they changed their algorithms, you'd be dead. If you have a loyal following of readers that willingly receive your material every day, you never have to depend on outside traffic alone.
   
   As of today I have 360 readers signed up through RSS feeds. Not outstanding, but the list of people getting my email RSS feeds through email contain an impressive collection of marketers and publishers. Key here is to make sure they can easily get regular access to your content if they want it. It's not the most traffic that counts, it's the right kind of traffic.
   
   
4. Write at least one "pillar" article per week.  A pillar article is a piece of evergreen content that is timeless, and also works to teach your readers something about a product or industry. They tend to be longer, and if written correctly, tend to generate a lot of links to your post. I worked for 2-3 days on 42 Content Building Ways to Attract and Retain Customers. It was designed as a key pillar article.  I have about 15 now that generate the majority of my traffic. If I made the time, I'd write two pillar articles per week.
   
   This is incredibly important, and still holds true six months later. Pillar posts still account for the majority of my traffic. When you focus on actionable articles that people can use immediately, you'll see traction.
   
   
5. Identify the top 20 blogs in your space and get active. Once you identify the sites, begin to comment on posts, as well as use TrackBacks when you talk about their post in your blog. This is something I've done a bit of, but haven't dedicated as much time as I should have. That said, the little I have done has created great relationships with other bloggers, as well as a good amount of traffic to my site. I'm now working with two other bloggers on projects that resulted from my posting comments on their site. This will be a key effort of mine over the next six months.
   
   I still follow the upper tier of blogs from the Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs. I don't comment as much as I like, but commenting does more than bring traffic. It helps to create long-term relationships with like-minded professionals.  Find the ones that make sense and become part of their community. If someone posts about you, make sure you comment. It makes a difference.

All in all, blogging is just a tool, but it can be a very effective one for distributing consistent and valuable content to your target audience. When done correctly, there may not be a better way to grow your business or professional career. But it takes time, energy and commitment.

It's hard to think about where we'd be now without the blog. It will be interesting to see how things progress one, two or three years down the road.

If you are considering blogging, I can't stress how important blogging could be for you if you can make the time, and if you have something important to say.  Good luck!

Here's to many more years of blogging to come.

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Is the Main Job of Marketing Today Publishing?

I had the pleasure of attending the BtoB NetMarketing breakfast about a week ago while I was in New York. I was really looking forward to this, especially when I saw the panel:

• Jon Carero, VP, Interactive Marketing at CIT
• Bill Stabile, Sr. Director, Brand & Marketing Communications at Siemens Corp.
• Chris Boylan, Director of Internet Marketing at Information Builders
• Eric Andrews, VP, WW Demand Generation at IBM

Here is a link to the videos from the event.

My key takeaway was this: Leading marketing organizations such as IBM and Siemens are focusing the majority of their time, attention and resources on the creation and distribution of their own content to customers and prospects.

Don't get me wrong, companies like IBM buy plenty of TV and online "space", but those buys are part of an integrated communications plan that direct the buyer to their own content.

This is especially important in the business-to-business buying cycle where it may take six to 24 months for someone to make a purchase decision, and involve from six to possibly 20 people who have a say in the final choice (ouch!).

Marketing today is all about publishing.

Considering the vast changes in buyer behavior, these marketers understand that their marketing function is not about getting prospects to buy now (which is impossible in a b2b environment).  It's about getting the prospect engaged in the information provided...making it relevant to their lives and jobs, and motivating them to come back for more (by creating more relevant content).

By providing this type of content marketing and setting up the building blocks for a long-term relationship, the opportunity is now available to actually sell your solutions, because they trust you, have a stake in your brand, and believe in your solutions-oriented message.

The whole idea of this, even ten years ago, would seem like the hard way to increase sales. Today, it's the only way.

I'll have more on some specific takeaways from each presenter tomorrow.

Related Articles:

• To Publishers: Your Customers Don't Need You Anymore
• Media Companies Are Waiting to Make You Publishers
• Corporate Content Will Take Over Media as We Know It

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