10 Little-Known Productivity Hacks For Entrepreneurs With Young Kids

You’re ready to kill it in the business world. You have the ideas, the drive, the know-how, but you have one thing holding you back – your small children who need your constant attention.

You love them with all your heart, but you’re wondering how you’ll ever be able to rock it in the business world when you are being pulled in so many different directions.

Don’t worry. Help has arrived. Here are some productivity hacks to keep in mind when you have young children running underfoot and you need to focus on your business.

1. Take advantage of nap time

If you’re working on your business at home or trying to launch your dreams on the weekend, the second your child closes their eyes for a daytime nap, you should resist the urge to do the same.

Image Source: Tenor

Instead, use this time to start conquering your goals, one at a time. Whether you have one or two hours at your disposal, use laser focus and avoid all distractions. Leave the housework alone if you’re at home – that can wait until later.

2. Plan, plan, and plan some more

At the close of your day, while your child is in bed so you aren’t distracted, make a to-do list for the next day. There’s a reason to-do lists have always been so popular – they really work! They’ll keep you motivated and on-task, and there’s little that feels better than crossing some kind of task off your list.

Image Source: FromUpNorth

But instead of just making a normal list, prioritize your tasks. Make the first task on your list the most important thing you have to do that day. That way, you’ll stay on top of the most vital things you have to accomplish.

3. Start your day before anyone else

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is arguably one of the busiest people on the planet. Between his family obligations – he’s a dad too – and all the irons he has in the fire with his companies and entertainment endeavors, he knows a thing or two about scheduling.

One of the secrets he’s discussed frequently is how he starts his day bright and early, sometimes getting up in the wee hours of the morning to squeeze his workouts into his packed day. While you might not have a team of helpers behind you as he does, it’s still great advice. Those early morning hours in your house before anyone wakes up can be some of the most productive hours you’ll have all day.

4. Exercise even if you think there’s no time

Make exercise a priority. You’ll be setting yourself up for good health and you’ll be able to deal with everyday stresses better. Getting regular exercise will make you feel more confident and give you a positive attitude.

Instead of just walking around the block, try to find exercise in which you set goals for yourself. That can include things like running 5k, counting the number of pushups you’re able to do, or doing some rock climbing.

As you are able to tackle your goals and succeed, you’ll begin to feel unstoppable. That energy will translate into other areas of your life, like work and parenting.

5. Get enough rest

This may seem like it’s a direct contrast to the tip about getting up early, but it’s not. You may not feel like you have time for adequate rest, but you need to make it a priority. It’s okay to burn the midnight oil occasionally, but you shouldn’t make a habit of it.

You should try to listen to your body. If you notice you’re dragging and you know it’s because you’ve been working and not sleeping as well, it’s time for you to go to bed early for a couple of nights. If you skip too much sleep you’ll compromise your immune system, and getting sick will derail your efforts in both your business and your personal endeavors.

Image Source: NewsScientist

6. Avoid time-suckers

You know what the time-suckers in your life are. They are the games you can’t resist playing on your phone, the daily surfing of the internet, and even the morning paper that takes you 30 minutes to read while you drink your coffee.

You need to limit these activities if you’re serious about making time for both your start-up and your family.

When you have time-suckers that you can’t get out of, try to multi-task if you can while doing it. If you’re a parent of young ones, wearing your baby can be a godsend which allows you to stay close while doing chores around the house or grocery shopping.

7. Surround yourself with can-do people

The people in your life can bring you down or lift you up. If someone constantly tells you there’s no way to juggle a business and small kids, you’ll start to believe it. Likewise, if someone says you can accomplish anything, you’ll feel uplifted.

Image Source: QuoteFancy

8. Take a short break to recharge

Sometimes during the day as a parent and entrepreneur, you’ll feel stretched to the maximum of what you can do. When that happens, you may be better off walking away from both duties for a few minutes to clear your head. If you have a friend or family member who can watch your child for 30 minutes, indulge in a power nap or a quick walk, or listen to inspirational music.

That small break can help you be more productive later.

9. Don’t go off on a tangent

Keep your conversations short and do the same for your emails. It’s still okay to have long conversations with the people in your life – you don’t have to cut your spouse off mid-sentence just for the sake of saving time. But you don’t have to get in a long-winded conversation about simple business matters that could be addressed in a three-sentence email.

Image Source: Tenor

As both a parent and entrepreneur, you have to work harder, but you also have to work smarter.

10. Give yourself some uninterrupted work time

When you get up earlier than usual in the morning, don’t look at your phone. Don’t look for emails and start answering them. They would normally wait until you’d wake up at the start of your day so they can wait now too.

Use this time to stay 100 percent focused on what you’re doing so you can get a jump on your day. Worry about those emails and texts later.

Image Source: Twitter

Guest author: Jenny Silverstone is a professional writer, editor, and online entrepreneur. Jenny is the brains behind MomLovesBest.com, a parenting blog which shares tips and hacks to help other mothers who are struggling to do their best but feel totally overwhelmed. When she’s not working on her own projects, or with her clients, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family.

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Are You Generating Demand or Just Identifying It?

Marketers make markets.

It is the core of what we do. When we truly excel at our jobs, we create demand where little or none existed.

Perhaps the quintessential example of this is Apple’s iPhone. Nobody knew they needed an iPhone in 2007 when Steve Jobs stood onstage and introduced the revolutionary device to a bewildered audience. In fact, Apple didn’t even realize the demand it was creating.

“Today, we’re introducing three revolutionary products,” Steve said at the iPhone’s debut. He went on to explain how the new widescreen iPod, the revolutionary mobile phone, and the new “internet communicator” were all contained in one device. The audience had no idea how to react. Apple successfully created a market where none existed.

But creating markets isn’t just related to introducing new, revolutionary products. Great marketers can differentiate in a crowded marketplace to create a competitive advantage and niche for their brand. Think about software company HubSpot. In 2006, the marketplace for email marketing automation software was crowded – and getting more so. HubSpot created demand in a different way. It invented a new category of digital marketing – calling it “inbound” – and carved a niche for itself in the business software marketplace.

Great marketing makes markets.

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Great #marketing makes markets, says @Robert_Rose.
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HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 17 Questions to Break Free From Competitive Content Issues

Demand generation or demand identification

In many cases, businesses struggle with generating new demand. In today’s noisy, fragmented, digital world, reaching prospective customers feels overwhelming. Pressure to deliver against short-term goals and to measure efforts to use valuable content to generate new demand seems tougher than ever. The growing complexity of the buyer’s journey, coupled with the highly competitive and loud marketplace of ideas, makes it arduous to differentiate your solutions, much less educate prospects on new things.

However, demand generation is perhaps the most critical need for today’s business. Marketers must continue to generate more opportunities to support their companies’ growth strategies. Is it any wonder then that many marketers are doubling down on finding people who already ask for their products, services, or solutions?

Most demand generation strategies are relegated to being demand identification programs. Marketing teams exert tremendous effort to optimize content experiences for search terms and questions, and to be ever more different, persuasive, and faster for anyone who raises their hand to say, “I’m interested.”

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Most demand gen strategies are relegated to being demand identification programs, says @Robert_Rose.
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While this approach is important, the results inevitably flatten over time. The total addressable market (TAM) aware of whatever the challenge is will be exhausted. Any marketing effort only focused on identifying existing demand will inevitably go from extraordinary to average to poor.

From a content marketing perspective, how do you go from poor to average to extraordinary? How can you view content marketing as something that can differentiate your approach to demand generation and produce more demonstrable results for your marketing efforts?

Well, we sought to find the current state of demand generation within content marketing and how it might be improved.

5 ways content marketers can maximize demand gen efforts

To explore this concept, CMI’s research team conducted a survey to learn how marketers use content marketing for demand gen. The resulting market brief, Using Content Marketing to Generate Demand, Create New Audiences sponsored by ScribbleLive, urges content marketers to establish the value of their demand gen efforts.

Here are five action items based on key findings.

1. Use content marketing at all stages of the funnel, not just the top

Nearly all respondents reported using content marketing to generate demand from buyers at all stages of the buying funnel, yet activities at the top of the funnel tend to be their primary focus, as reflected in these questions and responses:

• Top reason for using content marketing for demand generation purposes? To generate leads/potential customers at the top of the funnel (87%)
• Stage in the buyer’s journey where the organization receives the most value from content marketing used for demand generation? Early stage – generating awareness/interest (51%)

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Half of marketers say early stage in funnel is where org receives most value via @CMIContent #research.
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• Top metric used to measure the impact of content marketing on demand generation? Website traffic (67%)
• Type of content most effective for demand gen purposes? Blog posts/articles in the early stage of the buyer’s journey (awareness/interest) (73%)

However, interestingly, half the respondents created content in 2018 for deeper parts of the funnel as well. Many of the content marketers also focused on the middle (29%) and bottom of the funnel (21%) where the lead is converted to a customer.

Action item:

To paraphrase the great comedian Jerry Seinfeld – it’s not enough to gather the attention of a new prospect. You have to hold it as well. These results suggest successful demand generation is not possible by simply creating content for the top of the funnel. Success is derived by connecting content-driven experiences deeper in the funnel – the interest and education of the new prospect are held throughout the journey.

2. Experiment with different types of content at different stages of the buyer’s journey

Respondents said blog posts are the most effective type of content used in the early stage, white papers in the middle stage, and case studies in the late stage. In-person events were the only type rated equally effective at all stages. Certain types of content work well at the top of the funnel, though that does not preclude them from working in the latter stages.

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Blogs most effective early buyer stage; white papers in middle stage; case studies in late stage. @cmicontent
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Action item:

Your mileage will vary when it comes to content types and the best success. Stop thinking about content types being only appropriate for one stage of the journey. Experiment with how these content types are even structured. For example, a case study may work wonderfully at the very top of the funnel if it’s structured more as an educational awareness piece. A white paper may work well to convince a customer if it’s more focused on the implications of the change being considered. The key is to not start with form and apply it to the funnel. Instead, start with story (or content value) and apply multiple outputs to that content. Then test like the dickens.

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Stop thinking about #content types being only appropriate for one stage of the journey.@robert_rose
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HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Win at Content Marketing [New Playbook]

3. First goals, then the right metrics to accurately track the effectiveness of your content marketing at all stages of the demand gen funnel

In our study, the top three metrics marketers use to measure the impact of their content are primarily vanity metrics associated with upper levels of the funnel (website traffic [67%], audience engagement [58%], and quantity of leads [57%]).

Action item:

Vanity metrics such as traffic, engagement, and volume of leads are only as important as indicators for how you are progressing toward your goals. For example, if your overall objective truly is to generate new demand – one measurable goal might be to generate x% of leads from a new audience or in a new region. In that scenario, more traffic, engagement, and leads may not be good news unless they are associated with your goals. Design your measurement plan to assist with the ability to meet both short- and long-term goals.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

• How to Stop the Vanity of Your Search Metrics
• How to Measure Your Content Marketing Effectiveness

4. Make sure your personas are well-researched for best results

We asked respondents if they segment their demand generation activities by personas and fewer than half (46%) said yes. However, another 35% said they plan to do so.

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Only 46% of marketers segment demand gen activities by personas. @cmicontent #research
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Action item:

Personas provide tremendous structure and insight that enable you to attract the most valuable visitors, leads, and customers to your business. Remember, however, audience personas and buyer personas are different.

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Audience personas and buyer personas are different, says @Robert_Rose.
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Buyers are, of course, people who have discovered that a solution like yours might be what they need. In short: Demand has been generated. Audiences are the ones who are unaware that they have a need or want, or that a solution even exists. If you are focused on demand generation, you may be better served by focusing on audience personas.

Have a look at alternative ways of developing focused audience personas. The bottom line is you need personas to help you deliver the most relevant and useful content to your audience.

And that brings us to …

5. Create audiences, not leads

The majority (58%) of respondents reported moderate success with using content marketing for demand generation (a finding that mirrors that in our 2019 B2B annual content marketing study). 

Action item:

Marketers looking to improve their success with using content marketing for demand generation should make audience acquisition a core focus for creating value for the business.

This approach requires that marketers look beyond vanity metrics such as website visits, engagement, and even quantity of leads, and be willing to experiment with different types of content and how the audience uses it.

Audiences can bring more value than leads or buyers. They are assets that can provide numerous benefits to the business – and demand generation programs fueled by content marketing can be just the thing to create these assets.

Audiences make the marketer

Ultimately, if you are to be seen as a great marketer, the view will be in context to the market you lead. As my good friend Joe Pulizzi has so wisely said, “Nobody ever sets out to be fifth best in their marketplace.”

The great promise of content marketing is that it builds an audience. And audiences can bring more value than leads or buyers. Yes, some of them will become identified demand. They become leads, opportunities, and buyers.

Most of them, however, won’t – not in the short term. But that doesn’t mean they’re without value. Audiences are not just potential buyers, they are helpful to both generate new demand and give the insight to be continually better.

In short, audiences are not just potential buyers today, they are markets ready to be made tomorrow. In the short term, audiences are benefits to the business to help share and recommend the value of your approach and to be more efficient in reaching their networks. In the long term, audiences are the demand you can create.

Marketers make markets. They not only identify demand, they generate it, too. Content marketing that builds an audience can do exactly that.

Get more insight and survey results; download Using Content Marketing to Generate Demand, Create New Audiences today. 

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Are You Generating Demand or Just Identifying It? appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

Halloween Marketing: 7 Tricks and Treats From Market Leaders

Halloween is the second largest holiday in the world after Christmas. True or false?

The evidence isn’t clear, but the fact that marketers huff and puff to milk their seasonal campaigns for all their worth is apparent.

Sometimes these efforts are hugely successful in generating hype, while in other cases public outrage is the result instead. No matter what, though, businesses hang on for dear life and try to come up with increasing numbers of new ways to create demand for their goods and services.

There’s really not a lot that’s new under the sun anymore, and sometimes the best thing you can do is rely on classic, tried-and-true tricks to get the treat of extra sales and extra income. Let’s take a look at some of the best tricks and treats marketers consistently use to their success.

1. Being the early bird

People are up to their ears in work, and many don’t even start to think about the holidays until the last possible second. That changes, however, if you put some well-executed themed content right in front of them early on.

Last year, M&M’s new Cookies & Screeem flavor was introduced early on, winning the battle against other competitors. Their Pumpkin Pie taste arrived even earlier. This rather unexpected move gave the company the undivided attention of customers and guaranteed that the new Oreo’s rivals won’t remain on shelves piled by marmalade pumpkins or chocolate bats.

People will always respond to seasonal content when it’s done well, and by starting early, you get the edge. Start with your holiday offers as early as you know that customers will start responding.

2. Making it exclusive

Everyone wants to be special, and that goes for your customers too. It’s why loyalty programs are so effective, and why limited edition products go flying off the shelves. In an age where #FOMO is a huge driving factor for Millennials and other shoppers in general, use this to your advantage.

Lush has used this strategy with their “Indulge Your Dark Side” commercial. It utilizes appropriate seasonal themes with a stress on the fact that the product is a limited edition in order to create a strong appeal that resonated strongly with customers.

Limited edition products always do well; if you want another candy example, Reese’s always releases egg-shaped Reese’s cups, and many businesses offer their best Black Friday deals to insiders and loyal customers. The more exclusive and the more limited, the more people will be on board.

3. Hosting competitions

A little rivalry is automatically appealing to a lot of customers, many of whom who are ready to prove themselves, and an incentive in the form of any kind of prize is the cherry on top. Hosting competitions on social media is a great way to increase engagement, build brand recognition, generate discussion about your brand, and even drive leads.

Last year, Cheetos rolled out an ingenious monster competition. Users had to make a monster out of Cheetos, and the winner would get their monster placed in their Cheetos Museum. Even more significantly, the winner walked away with 50k.

Prizes still don’t need to be anywhere close to 50k in order to get entries, however. A gift card or a package of your products or a free month of service can be more than enough to get people on board.

4. Dressing up

Dressing up is one of the central parts of Halloween, so why not dress up your site a bit, too? Seasonal appeal is always welcome, after all, and many customers respond well to brands who add some of the festivities to their site. Think about how much people respond to Google’s themed illustrations, and consider the opportunities available to you for the whole month.

Want an example of how this could work for you? Check out last year’s #SEMrushHalloween, a combination of seasonal design and some utterly useful and funny hacks to leverage your own advertising campaigns. This case study by SEMrush will also show you how to use holidays and other occasions to entertain your users and get them to know your product better.

For example, when Halloween came last year, there was a ghost flying around in the Social Media Poster’s interface.

We got rave reviews and a ton of engagement from this strategy!

This was exactly the time the tool went into open beta, so the promo was a great way to get as many people to test the new tool as possible. Also, the flying ghost does not require substantial investment.

This year, SEMrush’s Pumpkin is back, prompting you to give your followers the shivers by posting your spookiest Halloween GIF!

5. Going for DIY

Halloween is one of the biggest times of the year for DIY. People are looking to do everything from making their own costumes to carving their own jack-o-lanterns, even if they’ve never held so much as a sewing needle before in their lives.

How-tos and Halloween tutorials are incredibly effective content this time of year, especially in video form, which has a high chance of being shared, clicked, and saved. They’ll become even more successful if you’re able to add extra meaning to the tutorial, like the emotional appeal of engaging your kids or maybe using recycled goods to save the planet.

Last year, Body Shop focused on the “upcycling” appeal to convert empty product bottles into trick or treat jack-o-lanterns. If you’re going for this approach, make sure to use terms like “DIY” to increase your results in searches on social media, and mention if it’s kid-friendly, too.

6. Keeping it simple

Halloween is great but it’s not the only holiday in the year. It’s not even close to the only holiday in the season; Christmas is a much bigger focus, and it’s just two months later. Because of this, you don’t want to get excessively carried away with expensive goods.

Sometimes, the best plan of attack here is to offer inexpensive all-in-one solutions that are easy, affordable, and convenient. Customers have enough on their minds right now, so this is speaking their language.

If you’re looking for an example, Aldi’s UK branch promised customers that it could help them have a great Halloween without the terrifying, jacked-up holiday prices. They ran a video campaign that clearly featured the discounts, and they made sure to post affordable and accessible ideas on their Instagram for a comprehensive marketing approach.

7. Booing them all in the end

No matter how many competitors you have in the market, you can always win by finding a unique way to represent your brand.

Last year, Mars was an excellent example to follow. Their “Bite-Size Horror” short movies aired on Fox TV networks during the Yankees’ Game 5 ALDS win in October, and they were actually shockingly scary. The series includes four films – “Floor 9.5” for Skittles, “The Road” for M&Ms, “The Replacement” for Starburst, and “Live Bait” for Snickers.

None of the films say a word about Skittles or Starburst or any other Mars’ candies. According to the rumors, some of the short-film creators didn’t even know they were creating ads and there are 8 more movies to be revealed. Yet despite this, they still became effective advertisements because they were so widely shared.

Getting creative with your marketing campaigns are a great way to stand out, so think outside the box.

Conclusion

When it comes to marketing and Halloween, we’re always working so hard to come up with The Next Big Thing. In many cases, however, utilizing classic strategies that have worked for years and finding exciting new ways to make them appealing to our target audience is a better way to go. Get creative with your campaigns, and use strategies that are the same. Sometimes the classic tricks are going to be the best ways to get the most treats.

Guest author: Maria Raybould is a Content Writer and Strategist at SEMrush. Nothing excites her more than seeing her content make a difference. Working alongside the SEMrush Social Media team, Maria strives to deliver the best toolkit for social media professionals all around the world.

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How to Create Beautiful and Effective Marketing Graphics on a Budget

Tips on how to Create a Successful Blogger Media Kit

Yes, being a professional blogger is a full time job. And bloggers, vloggers, youtubers or influencers work with brands to sustain themselves. But how do you approach brands to work with you when you’re the new blogger in town?

By using creative and professional media kits! Every blogger who wants to be taken into account needs one. And it’s not because I say so. Let’s dig deeper into what a blogger media kit is and why it’s so useful for bloggers to have one. Keep on reading for more useful tips and tricks and two blogger media kits templates freebies from Flipsnack.

What is a blogger media kit?
The simple definition of a blogger media kit is basically a resume or CV that outlines the best features of your online persona. A media kit is a summary of your main achievements, statistics and social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook etc). Basically, the main goal of your media kit is to present your blog to potential advertisers. It lets them know all about your blog, from what kind of articles you write to how many followers you have on Instagram.

It doesn’t have to be long and boring, it can be just one page or if you have a lot to include, make it 2 or 3. But if you’re just starting out as a new blogger/ influencer and don’t have that much to include in your media kit, one page is enough, if you do it right, of course.

What should a blogger media kit include?

-A brief introduction
-Statistics
-Testimonials
-Collaboration options

1. A brief introduction
It’s kind of self explanatory why a solid introduction of your blog is very important. Brands (marketers, brand managers or account managers) need to know who they’re talking to, what your blog is about and the main topics you’re passionate about.

Try to be friendly so that brands can relate to you and feel like they would want to connect and work with you. I would recommend a more friendly but professional approach instead of trying to sell yourself too hard.

2. Statistics

As boring as it may seem, when presenting your blog in a media kit, numbers are very important to gain trust. Brands need to know what you’re bringing to the table.
Stats you can include here:

-Monthly unique visits
-Monthly pageviews
-Demographics: who is your audience: location, age, sex.
-Social media following: how many people follow you on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest. Or if you have a community group, tell more about it.

Now, but what do you include here if you’re quite new and don’t yet have a massive number of followers? You must have something that you can take pride in, like how much growth you had in the past month or so. Or, how you engage with your audience. Sure, numbers are important, but the most important thing is the connection you have with your followers. You might have 100k followers on Instagram, but if they don’t engage with you as a community, it’s less valuable than an account who has 10k but is doing better at the engagement part.

3. Testimonials

Honestly, the best way to do marketing is by word of mouth. And one way to gain trust is to have other people talking good about you. So, if you’ve worked with brands in the past, reach out for some testimonials. A great recommendation from your past sponsors will definitely help you seal the deal faster.

If you’re just starting out in this business and trying to get your first sponsored job, there’s not much you can show here. But again, you can promote your day to day work: how you got started, how good you are when engaging with your community, photography skills and so on.

4. Collaboration options (fees included)

This is where you include all the options that brands can work with you: from product review to sponsored posts or long term advertising campaigns.

Many brands would be interested in a more specific collaboration and discuss the fees later, but it sure helps to include your prices here, as well. It will sure help the account managers or brand managers who would make an overall impression and decide if your blog fits their advertising budget.

Don’t forget to include your contact info so that brands can easily reach out to you. And I would also recommend downloading your media kit and send it as PDF. Make sure your correct e-mail address is everywhere: Facebook, Instagram bio, Twitter, etc.

Blogger media kit examples

You will not reinvent the wheel here, but you can always take inspiration from what others, more successful bloggers and big publishers are doing it.

A few examples of really cool media kits, from big publications to bloggers:

Refinery 29

When it comes to partnering or advertising on Refinery 29, visit their corporate website for more info about their brand and audience and past partnerships: https://corporate.r29.com/#home-advertise

High Snobiety

High Snobiety is a streetwear blog, media brand and production agency launched in 2005 by David Fischer. It covers trends and news in fashion, art, music, and culture. Full media kit here.

The Healthy Maven

Davida, the blogger behind The Healthy Maven decided to add an entire section on her blog called – Work Together. This is yet another option that you can use instead of the classic media kit.

Blogger media kit freebies:

In order to make things easier for you, we created two media kit templates that you can edit and personalize to make them yours.

Blogger media kit for a fashion blog

This media kit design template from Flipsnack is perfect for any beauty, fashion or even lifestyle blog. It’s got plenty of text space to add an introduction, talk a bit about your blog, add photography and social media buttons and that’s it! You’ll have your own blogger media kit within minutes.

Media kit for a lifestyle blog

The second media kit template is suitable for any green blog, could be anything from healthy living or how to go green and recycle more and live a more balanced life. With this stylish green media kit design template from Flipsnack, you’ll have an easier time creating a media kit that looks modern enough to stand out.

Conclusion
Your work here is done! You are now a fully equipped blogger who’s got its sponsorship program ready for take off. Take your blog to the next level with a brand new media kit that will make you stand out from the crowd.

Original post: Tips on how to Create a Successful Blogger Media Kit

This post is courtesy of: https://www.dailyblogtips.com

How to Get Ranked and Read With the Topic Cluster Content Model

Do you struggle to create engaging content that lands you in the top spots of Google?

There is a way to solve that problem, and create content that Google loves, while building a library of content that’s super useful to your target audience.

That way? The topic clusters model.

Topic cluster model explained

The topic cluster methodology, also known as the “pillar-and-cluster” technique, was first detailed by HubSpot Research in 2017. It’s used by both B2B and B2C organizations to streamline their content marketing strategy.

An SEO strategy that focuses on topics rather than keywords, the model is an intent-based approach that simplifies blog archives by creating content around one central topic – referred to as the “pillar” page or post.

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Pillar-cluster #content technique is #SEO strategy focused on topics, not keywords, says @EliseDopson.
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Then several supporting blog posts – clusters – are written to explain sub-topics based on your pillar content and generate internal links to the pillar page.

The structure turns out looking a little something like this:

Image source

Using the topic cluster approach requires treating your blog setup differently because it doesn’t follow the traditional blog publication approach.

The organized structure of pillar-and-cluster content proves to Google a semantic relationship between each page (catering to its latent-semantic-indexing algorithm) and encourages each topic in your cluster to be pushed further up the search engine ranks.

After running this strategy on its blog, HubSpot proved more internal links led to a higher placement on the SERPs:

Image source

That discovery is why the topic cluster method is quickly becoming one of the most effective content marketing strategies.

Fancy getting in on the action?

Here’s how you can use the pillar-and-cluster approach to create content that ranks in organic search.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Create Pillar Content Google Will Love

1. Decide on your overarching topic

Pick your pillar – the primary topic around which you build topic clusters. Makes sense, right?

It’s easy to do, too.

Brainstorm to create a list of relevant topics. Look to your buyer personas for assistance. What type of content are they looking for? Which of their pain points can be addressed by your organization through content?

If you’re a marketing agency, your idea list might look a little like this:

• Content marketing to get leads
• Promotion of blog posts through social media
• Email-generated content ideas

Those bullet points are cluster-type topics. You need one overarching topic – the common denominator for all three.

In the example, the pillar topic would be content marketing strategy.

Google recently announced a shift in the way their algorithm works. A spokesperson said:

For starters, the authority of a web page is now a more important signal in the ranking. If you’re doing a search for DIY shelving, the site behind the image is now more likely to be a site related to DIY projects.

If you can think of a strong topic cluster that underpins the foundations of your business, and you’ve already got content around that topic elsewhere on your site, you’re already on the right path.

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Think of a strong topic cluster that underpins the foundations of your business, says @EliseDopson.
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HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

• How Topic Modeling Can Strengthen Your SEO and Content Marketing Strategy
• 3 Helpful SEO Moves to Get on Topic

2. Do keyword research to define your clusters

You have the list of topics from your brainstorm – many of which now fit neatly as clusters. Don’t leave it there though – you need to dig and compile a bigger list of the cluster content you can create for your pillar page.

Enter keyword research.

Head over to Answer the Public and type your overarching topic to find a list of long-tail keywords that could fuel your list of ideas.

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Use @answerthepublic to find a list of long-tail keywords that could fuel #content ideas, says @EliseDopson.
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Here’s the result for “content marketing strategy:”

Notice how many questions it lists?

Each keyword phrase relevant to content marketing strategy can act as a cluster page if it’s sufficient to act as a standalone blog post.

Here are a few relevant inquiries from my Answer the Public graph, and the cluster content they could inspire:

• How to present your content marketing strategy could become a page on how to present a content marketing strategy to your boss.
• How to manage your content marketing strategy could become the post, “9 Ways to Manage Your Content Marketing Strategy and Stay on Track for Your Goals.”
• How to improve your content marketing strategy might be a page on easy-to-do tips to improve your content marketing strategy.

Another option to find cluster topics is to head straight to the horse’s mouth and ask Google to recommend topics that could form your cluster pages.

To do this, type a prefix (such as why, how, or when) before your topic in a Google search, and browse the auto-populated suggestions that Google recommends:

Boom – there’s another bunch of clusters you could add to your list.

Finally, head over to LSI Graph and double-check you’re not missing any glaring opportunities:

Add each relevant keyword you’ve found throughout this process to a spreadsheet.

If you’ve got hundreds of new keywords to target, awesome. But don’t fall into the trap of treating each one as an individual page.

Similar keywords – like “defining a content marketing strategy” and “how to create a content marketing strategy” – have the same user intent. Users searching for either phrase likely are looking for the same content so they can be grouped into the same cluster and still cater to Google’s LSI algorithm.

It’ll save time, improve your SEO, and make sure you’re focusing on one of the most valuable content strategies of all: user intent.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

• 8+ Tools to Find Related Keywords for Your Content
• 3 Keyword Research Trends to Reshape Your Content Optimization

3. Write your cluster pages

Now you’ve got your list of cluster pages, it’s time to move on to the fun part – creating the content.

Sounds self-explanatory, right?

The process for writing cluster pages is similar to writing a standard blog post, but with two exceptions. Your content should:

• Not mention anything (in detail) covered on another cluster page
• Dive deep into that topic rather than taking a generalized approach

Follow general best practices for writing epic blog content – like posting long-form pieces, adding unique data, and inserting relevant visuals – but always make sure your topic cluster page brings something unique.

In other words: Don’t let it be a repeat of another topic. That’s why you’ve got several different pages.

Here’s a great example of a cluster page from HubSpot:

Instead of taking a generalized approach and covering things like why PR is important, HubSpot dives into building free buzz with a PR campaign.

And, guess what? It’s linked to from its PR pillar page:

That’s how you do it.

Follow this process and write a comprehensive blog post for each topic cluster. Make sure each page is optimized for SEO by including the long-tail keyword in your:

• Page title
• Heading tags
• Image alt text
• Body copy
• Meta title and descriptions

And you’re halfway there.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

• Is Your Blog a Golden Egg?
• The Secrets of High-Performing Online Content

4. Write the pillar page

With your collection of topic clusters ready, you still need the pillar page – the broad view on the overarching topic – so you can incorporate the internal cluster links.

Again, writing a pillar page is similar to writing a blog post with a few key differences. Pillar pages are:

• An overview of one broad topic (Don’t go into too much detail about one aspect of the topic. Link to the cluster pages to explain sub-topics in detail.)
• Usually extremely long-form (3,000-plus words)

To see this put into practice, browse Typeform’s customer success pillar page:

You can see how this page acts as an overview for everything related to customer success without exhausting one specific area.

That’s what you’ll need to do with yours, too.

Confused as to why I recommended writing the pillar page after the topic clusters? Surely, it makes sense to write the overarching topic first and then do a deep dive into the specific, right?

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Don’t write your pillar page first. Do the cluster topics first, advises @EliseDopson.
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Not necessarily.

Diving straight in with the pillar page is a problem for one reason: You don’t know how detailed you’re going to get with each topic cluster yet. That means you:

• Can’t write an overview without running the risk of duplicating points
• Can’t add placeholders for internal links

Leave the pillar page for last.

5. Add internal links between pillars and clusters

The final thing you need to do after publishing your pillar and cluster pages is to add internal links in each piece of content. (That is the point of this model, after all.)

Just head back to each topic cluster and link to the pillar page where appropriate.

Here’s how JSS Manufacturing adds those links in its cluster content:

By the end, you should end up with a structure that looks something like this:

Image source

Those internal links now provide Google spiders with an easy way to find, crawl, and index your topic clusters, and bring stronger SEO power to your pillar page.

Final thoughts

The topic clusters model is a fantastic way to organize your content, while helping both users and search engines to easily navigate through your site’s content.

Remember to choose a strong topic, write your pillar and cluster pages methodically, and add internal links to connect each page.

It might take a while to get a topic cluster boxed at the top of Google results, but just like all content marketing strategies, the best results come from a time and effort investment.

Please note:  All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team.  No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

Technology is a cluster of the content marketing pillar. Sign up today for updates on how to better attack this cluster topic at ContentTECH in April in San Diego.

 Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post How to Get Ranked and Read With the Topic Cluster Content Model appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

5 Reasons Why Users Install Your Competitor’s Apps

App developers are constantly struggling to keep their audience away from competitor apps and retention rates high.

They’re thinking about their users’ needs and wants on a daily basis, but it just isn’t enough to keep them using their app.

According to Localytics, 36% of users are still using an individual app after a month, but 23% of apps are used once before either never being opened again or being uninstalled.

With such a stark number of apps losing user retention, it begs the question: what’s going on? What are these apps doing that’s causing them to lose out to competitor apps?

1. Under-utilized push and local-based notifications

Notifications are helpful reminders that encourage users to actively come back to the app, even if it’s every so often. Roughly 50% of users opt-in for push notifications and about 65% of users tend to return to the app within 60 days.

However, if too many push and local-based notifications are sent, there’s a possibility that users will become irritated and go with a competitor app that features supportive notifications that aren’t too pushy. Users may disable them or uninstall the app completely depending on frequency. Notifications can make or break user retention, possibly even driving them to the competition.

2. Time-consuming onboarding process

Onboarding processes are a necessary part for many apps, especially ones that require users to create accounts. However, apps fail by making a poor impression because their onboarding process is time-consuming and provides little information. According to stats, nearly 75% of users uninstall within the first 90 days. This number can often be attributed to a poor onboarding process.

During the onboarding phase, it’s important that just enough information is given to users, so they understand how the app functions and why they’re going through these steps.

Some of the pages can provide more details on features but should be organized in neat, short sentences to keep the flow moving. If there are dense blocks of text, users will likely uninstall because it’s seen as a waste of time.

If there are two apps that do the exact same thing, but one has a quick, efficient onboarding process, users will likely go with that one. A competitor app that recognizes a user’s time is precious and creates an onboarding process with them in mind will be successfully installed over one that has a lengthy process.

3. Unstable app performance

App stability and bugs are typical stress points that developers have to worry about, especially when users can always uninstall a competitor app. Some studies even suggest that over 50% of users will uninstall due to performance. Google has even stepped up their efforts by removing glitchy apps from the Google Play store.

Even though some apps suffered, the goal was to encourage developers to more closely monitor crash reports and user reviews. Without checking these types of reports or user feedback, developers fail to recognize that a problem exists. This can result in a shaky performance for days or an even longer extended period of time, which causes users to seek a competitor app that won’t disappoint them.

4. Ignoring user reviews

User reviews are an integral part of any App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy to ensure that users aren’t experiencing any difficulties with the app and to let them know their feedback is appreciated. If performance is lacking, there’s a feature that’s causing the app to crash, or an update hasn’t been well-received, users will speak their minds in the reviews section.

If a competitor is engaging with their audience more than another developer, users will take notice. Developers need to continually engage with their users to show that they care about what they have to say. If a competitor app has created a solid user-developer relationship, they’re more likely to turn a negative review into a positive one. All developers need to pay attention to what their users are saying, especially if a review threatens going to a competitor app.

5. App consumes too much battery or space

If an app is draining a device’s battery more than others or taking up too much space, users will find another app that benefits them just the same. Roughly 50.6% of users tend to uninstall if the app takes up too much space on the device to save storage.

Since so many devices are limited on space, users will likely uninstall in order to save space on other apps, documents, etc. For example, if there are two RPG mobile games, one is 1 GB while the other is 500 MB, users will uninstall the larger app because it’s taking up too much storage. Despite the stories, mechanics, and features being completely different, the competitor app takes up less space, so is more likely to be installed.

Don’t suffer from poor retention rates

Developers need to do everything they can to ensure that their retention is up and their userbase doesn’t go with a competitor app. Declining retention rates due to users installing a competitor’s app can be the silent killer for any app’s success.

It’s important that developers prevent the following from happening:

• Underutilized notifications
• Time-consuming onboarding processes
• Shaky app performance
• Ignoring user reviews
• Unnoticed battery and storage space consumption

If any of the above five points occur, there’s a high probability that the app will suffer while competitors prosper. When one app fails another can find success. Developers need to stay ahead of these issues to keep their retention rates high. If these points do occur, users are sure to install a different app, boosting a competitor’s success.

Guest author: Dave Bell is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gummicube. In this role, Dave is responsible for overseeing the business strategy for Gummicube, driving growth and market development. Dave is a pioneer of the mobile entertainment industry with more than 15 years of experience in publishing, marketing and distributing mobile apps and games across carrier, direct-to-consumer and app store channels. 

The post 5 Reasons Why Users Install Your Competitor’s Apps appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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