Entrepreneurs Need to Stop Doing These 10 Things, Right Now

Being an entrepreneur is hard. It's really hard. There isn't a playbook, instructional manual, video or biography that can possibly provide you with enough information to make it easy.

 

While the difficulty is just part of the deal, there are a number of things that founders often find themselves entangled in that, without question, make it harder. Let’s take a look at a list of the things that you, as a founder, need to stop doing -- right now.

 

1. Lying to yourself or others about your traction

 

It’s awesome if you’ve had 70,000 downloads for your new app in the first three months or that you generated over $1 million last year in revenue. It’s not awesome if you only have 2,000 monthly active users or actually lost $2 million overall. These are numbers that you are hiding behind, lying both to yourself and everyone else as you shout them from the mountaintop. At some point, you’ll begin to believe them -- then you’re in serious trouble.

 

2. Focusing on too many things at once

 

Guess what? You only have 100 percent of your time to split up between your professional activities. If you do too many different things simultaneously, you’re just splitting up your 100 percent into pieces that ultimately resemble slivers of poor performance. Instead, spend 100 percent of your time and focus on becoming excellent at one thing.

 

3. Working yourself to death

 

The concept that you need to work grueling hours to be an entrepreneur is not a rule, it’s a choice. Technology has advanced to the point where you can get inexpensive help with literally anything. If you’ve chosen not to learn to use the wealth of outsourcing and automation opportunities that would allow you to have a life and a normal night of sleep, that’s your fault and nobody else’s.

 

4. Following shiny objects

 

There’s no quicker way to drown your new enterprise than chasing too many opportunities. Yes, it’s in our nature as entrepreneurs to notice new opportunities and look for solutions to them, but you must remain focused on the task at hand. The best entrepreneurs in the world remain unshakably focused, and you must too.

 

5. Building terrible "lean" products

 

The "minimum viable product" (MVP) concept has a lot of value, in theory, but doesn’t always translate to production-level quality. So stop using the lean startup methodology as an excuse to put out crappy, underdeveloped products. You’re only wasting your own time.

 

6. Using the word "I"

 

Humility is important, particularly when your company begins to grow and bring on outside team members. There is no better way to disenfranchise them than to take credit for everything that comes out of the door. Stop being arrogant and replace “I” with “we.”

 

7. Building companies with no revenue

 

If I hear one more pitch where the entrepreneur says, “we’re not worrying about revenue until X happens,” I’m going to poke my eyes out. You’re starting a business, not a hobby, and the likelihood of you building the next Snapchat is fantastically low. Instead, create something that provides users with this magical thing called “value.” If you’re lucky (or smart) people will be willing to pay for it.

 

8. Asking investors to sign non-disclosure agreements

 

If you’re doing this, you’re screaming, “I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing”, which doesn’t typically bode well for potential investment. Here’s the thing, investors are investing, not stealing ideas and building companies. On top of that, it can take quite a long time to build your brand and networks as an investor and I can assure you that if they were indeed stealing ideas, it would fly through the startup community like wildfire.

 

If you’ve found the secret to creating nuclear fusion and are truly worried about it, be sure to work only with known and respected investors.

 

9. Thinking that you're the only company in your space

 

When you claim to not have competition, you’re either being dishonest or ignorant. Here’s the problem: competitors aren’t always direct replicas of your business -- think Walgreens and CVS -- but can be other larger companies with potential interest in your space -- Apple or Google -- that have huge amounts of cash to throw at the problem you’re trying to solve.

 

10. Building photo sharing and mobile dating apps

 

Sorry to break your heart, but those ships have sailed. You need to stop building companies that are incrementally, or 10 percent, better than what already exists. Instead, be creative and build your business around new innovations, ideas and even industries.

 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243324

 

Old SEO vs New SEO: What You Should Stop Doing and What to do Instead

The process of optimising a website for search engines like Google (SEO) is a constantly changing field, and it’s important to keep up with these changes if you want to succeed online.

 

Using old techniques that Google now considers spammy may work in the short to medium term, but you can be sure Google will catch you out eventually and slap you in the face with a penalty that could take you months to recover from.

 

For what’s hot and what’s not take a look at this infographic from Digital Marketing Phillipines.

 

 

http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2014/12/08/old-seo-vs-new-seo-what-you-should-stop-doing-and-what-to-do-instead/

 

How to Become a Millionaire by Age 30

Getting rich and becoming a millionaire is a taboo topic. Saying it can be done by the age of 30 seems like a fantasy.

 

It shouldn’t be taboo and it is possible. At the age of 21, I got out of college, broke and in debt, and by the time I was 30, I was a millionaire.

 

 

 

Here are the 10 steps that will guarantee you will become a millionaire by 30.

 

1. Follow the money. In today’s economic environment you cannot save your way to millionaire status. The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that. My income was $3,000 a month and nine years later it was $20,000 a month. Start following the money and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities.

 

2. Don’t show off -- show up! I didn’t buy my first luxury watch or car until my businesses and investments were producing multiple secure flows of income. I was still driving a Toyota Camry when I had become a millionaire. Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy.

 

3. Save to invest, don’t save to save. The only reason to save money is to invest it.  Put your saved money into secured, sacred (untouchable) accounts. Never use these accounts for anything, not even an emergency. This will force you to continue to follow step one (increase income). To this day, at least twice a year, I am broke because I always invest my surpluses into ventures I cannot access.

 

4. Avoid debt that doesn’t pay you. Make it a rule that you never use debt that won’t make you money. I borrowed money for a car only because I knew it could increase my income. Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things that make rich people richer.

 

5. Treat money like a jealous lover. Millions wish for financial freedom, but only those that make it a priority have millions. To get rich and stay rich you will have to make it a priority. Money is like a jealous lover. Ignore it and it will ignore you, or worse, it will leave you for someone who makes it a priority.

 

6. Money doesn’t sleep. Money doesn’t know about clocks, schedules or holidays, and you shouldn’t either. Money loves people that have a great work ethic. When I was 26 years old, I was in retail and the store I worked at closed at 7 p.m. Most times you could find me there at 11 p.m. making an extra sale. Never try to be the smartest or luckiest person -- just make sure you outwork everyone.

 

7. Poor makes no sense. I have been poor, and it sucks. I have had just enough and that sucks almost as bad. Eliminate any and all ideas that being poor is somehow OK. Bill Gates has said, "If you’re born poor, it’s not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is your mistake."

 

8. Get a millionaire mentor. Most of us were brought up middle class or poor and then hold ourselves to the limits and ideas of that group. I have been studying millionaires to duplicate what they did. Get your own personal millionaire mentor and study them. Most rich people are extremely generous with their knowledge and their resources.

 

9. Get your money to do the heavy lifting. Investing is the Holy Grail in becoming a millionaire and you should make more money off your investments than your work. If you don’t have surplus money you won’t make investments. The second company I started required a $50,000 investment. That company has paid me back that $50,000 every month for the last 10 years. My third investment was in real estate, where I started with $350,000, a large part of my net worth at the time. I still own that property today and it continues to provide me with income. Investing is the only reason to do the other steps, and your money must work for you and do your heavy lifting.

 

10. Shoot for $10 million, not $1 million. The single biggest financial mistake I’ve made was not thinking big enough. I encourage you to go for more than a million. There is no shortage of money on this planet, only a shortage of people thinking big enough.

 

Apply these 10 steps and they will make you rich. Steer clear of people that suggest your financial dreams are born of greed. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes, be ethical, never give up, and once you make it, be willing to help others get there too.

 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234454

LinkedIn Marketing: 8 Huge Benefits and 8 Awesome Tips to Master It

Ae you using LinkedIn as a platform to market your business? Do you need convincing about its benefits and want some tips to get started?

 

If you’re a B2B company LinkedIn is an absolute must, but that’s not to say a B2C company can’t achieve success too. LinkedIn offers a unique platform to build brand awareness amongst a targeted professional audience.

 

QuickSprout have put together this infographic showing the benefits of LinkedIn and some tips on how to implement your strategy.

 

 

http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2015/02/17/linkedin-marketing-8-huge-benefits-and-8-awesome-tips-to-master-it/

 

How To Grow A Business To $100 Million In Sales, From Someone Who's Done It Twice

Zeta Interactive CEO David A. Steinberg has lived through remarkable success and failure alike as a serial entrepreneur and executive. In his 20-year career, he's learned hard lessons that have made him wiser, more effective, and especially more prudent, he tells Business Insider.

 

Zeta Interactive CEO David Steinberg

 

Steinberg jumped into the growing cellular-phone industry a year out of college, founding the retail chain and business-to-business provider Sterling Cellular in 1992. He then founded the telemarketing company Sterling Communications, which he sold in 1999 along with his retail business, starting online cellular commerce and business-to-business company InPhonic that same year.

 

At its height, Steinberg says, InPhonic was bringing in approximately $400 million in revenue. In 2004, it was named the fastest-growing private company in the US by Inc. magazine and went public that same year. By 2007, however, it was in bankruptcy due to mismanagement and a host of other factors.

 

He quickly moved forward, founding the digital marketing firm that was rebranded this year as Zeta Interactive with his business partner John Sculley, former PepsiCo president and Apple CEO. Steinberg tells us that Zeta brought in revenue of $90 million last year and that it's already passed $100 million this year. He projects year-over-year growth of 90% and says its operating margin is in the mid-teens and rising, meaning that Zeta is on a healthy, fast-growth path.

 

Here are some powerful growth lessons Steinberg says he's learned from being at the top to being at the bottom and how they are helping him today:

 

Set Up People and Processes for Sustainable Growth.

 

One of the reasons InPhonic ultimately failed is because it grew too quickly, Steinberg says. It went from offering 100,000 phone rebates to customers to offering 1 million in the span of a year — and the company simply wasn't ready to handle it, both in terms of manpower and technology. Customer service began to suffer significantly due to the inability to adapt, and Steinberg tells us that rebate turnaround times increased from one month to six months.

 

Looking back, Steinberg says he should have eased the company into a more manageable direction, in addition to replacing certain employees that were not good fits for a new direction. "The people who got you to where you are won't always get you where you need to go," he says.

 

At his current company Zeta, Steinberg says he has chief information officer Jeffry Nimeroff focus on making sure that the company's technology is always able to handle Zeta's growth. By using a data-based growth strategy, Steinberg is able to avoid unnecessarily risky initiatives that the company may not be able to adapt to.

 

Hand Off Responsibilities.

 

"It took me 20 years to realize I'm not the best at everything," Steinberg says, laughing.

 

For example, he says that 15 years ago he wouldn't have been able to effectively manage his current chief operating officer, Steve Gerber, because he wouldn't have been able to hand off day-to-day management decisions to him.

 

Steinberg says that he's learned that to increase your chances of developing leaders within your own company, it's necessary to hire very intelligent people for your team. "You can teach smart people to do almost anything," he says.

 

Pivot Every Six to Nine months.

 

Steinberg thinks that a high-growth company needs to constantly reinvent itself to stay relevant, and that doesn't necessarily mean that it needs to go in a radical new direction.

 

Zeta started in the education sector before pivoting over to big data marketing solutions, and it's worked out well.

 

He says that as head of InPhonic he should have acquired an outside wireless company to keep InPhonic interesting and able to handle accelerated growth.

 

Never Put Yourself in a Situation You Can't Get Out Of.

 

On that note, Steinberg says he made the mistake of setting self-imposed limitations on what InPhonic could be. Part of this had to do with his former obsession with getting press for InPhonic when it was still young, which resulted in excessive coverage of certain initiatives he should have dropped when they stopped working.

 

This time around with Zeta, he focused on finding what worked before reaching out to the media. He says that today it's "the biggest tech company in New York that no one's heard of." It's better to figure out a growth strategy under the radar than limiting your ability to change course, he says.

 

Don't be Afraid to Let the Market Come to You.

 

"Most startups wait to start in a time that's hot for their industry," Steinberg says, but that's not necessarily the best option. If you sit on an idea and wait for the market to open its arms to it, then you risk reaching an opportunity for scaled growth at a time when that particular market cools.

 

If you happen to have a great idea, Steinberg recommends building a company regardless of what the market is doing. And if that great idea turns out to be a great company, then you can still find an audience.

 

Similarly, Steinberg says, he's never started a company with an exit strategy, as some serial entrepreneurs do. "The exit will find you," he says.

        
http://www.businessinsider.com/david-steinberg-how-to-build-million-dollar-company-2014-9?IR=T

8-Step Mantra Marketing Action Plan For Growing Your Brand & Presence

If there is one thing I have learned about marketing it’s this: marketing feels awkward and uncomfortable.

 

Why?

 

You have great things to share, you want to share them and profit from your knowledge and expertise but somehow, the marketing part feels icky and itchy, and you just don’t have the time to commit to marketing and growing your brand. Right?

 

Is that really why?

 

I bet that is part of the reason, but here’s the REAL reason why:

 

There’s a little voice inside you that starts talking and she is stopping you. She is saying: Who do you think you are? You are not good enough! You don’t deserve to have fabulous clients! Everybody knows you are not going to really deliver all that you say you can!

 

Or: fill in the blank for what your personal inner meanie tells you.

 

One of the secrets to my own personal achievement has been shutting up that little voice and creating simple actions to move myself forward. I learned through lots of trial and error that the actions don’t work unless I attach a strategy for quieting the voice.

 

This is where mantras come in.

 

A mantra is a phrase (or sound or word) that you repeat when you meditate or pray.

 

When I grew my business from 100K to 1M it took me eight years. Yep, eight steady years of intentionally (and sometimes painfully) moving myself out of the way over and over again. During this time, I found powerful mantas to be incredibly helpful.

 

So, since my area of expertise is coaching people to their own online marketing greatness I have created this 8-step mantra marketing action kit for you!

 

Why would a marketer choose the number 8? We are supposed to stick with 5, 7 and 9s for maximum effectiveness, right? Even my book and signature system is called Music Success in 9 Weeks for goodness sakes!

 

A trip to numerology.com revealed my answer:

 

“The number 8, more than any other number, puts the emphasis in the areas of career, business, finances and authority. However, as with many other single-digit numbers, the shape of the number reflects its most important attribute, and in the case of the number 8, that is, first and foremost, balance… When the 8 comes knocking, you can be assured that you will reap what you’ve sown.”

Hmmm… Coincidence that it took me eight years to build my business? I think NOT!

Meanwhile, here we go with a mantra system just for you:
 

CYBER PR’S 8-STEP MANTRA MARKETING ACTION PLAN FOR GROWING YOUR BRAND & PRESENCE

 How do you break through and get noticed on social media? Don’t try to get noticed. It’s all about relationships, conversation, and interaction. But it’s also about believing that you can. Behold:

 

Action #1: Identify Your Ideal Customer and Only Speak to Her.
Mantra: Less is More.

 

You’ve seen all of the numbers. There are a billion people on Facebook, and 500 million on Twitter etc. etc. The landscape is vast. Don’t even try to think you can talk to everyone.

 

Instead, consider the characteristics of the ideal customer you would most like to engage. What’s her name? Does she have kids? What does she like to do, eat, and read? Most importantly, what makes her tick and what objections would she have if she were buying what you have to offer? All of these questions should lead your content. Write posts and create content only to her and she will show up to read it.

 

Action #2: Don’t Hype.
Mantra: I am Helpful.

 

Sales pitches have their place and they will emerge when the time is right, however too much and your followers will tune you out.

 

If you are going to take the time to get it right and ultimately establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche, be genuine and share what is meaningful to you. People will connect to your passion and therefore connect with you.

 

Action #3: Shine a Light on Other People.
Mantra: Social Media is not a Competition.

 

If you are willing to lift people up in public, it shows that you are a person of integrity who is not threatened by others. Highlight other people’s ideas, successes, and talents often. Share links to great blog posts, congratulate a promotion on LinkedIn, and Tweet a fantastic quote from someone you admire (or even better from your competitors).

 

Action #4: Make Your Content Easy to Share.
Mantra: I Share My Knowledge & Expertise.

 

If you have a blog, be sure you include ReTweet, Facebook like and Google+ buttons on each post. Add social sharing tools into your newsletters so people can spread your compelling content. Make short links for people so they’re more sharable by using bit.ly. Always think: How can I make what I do online as viral as possible?

 

Action #5: Answer Everyone.
Mantra: I Care About Others.

 

If you don’t care about your audience, they won’t care about you. If someone comments or likes or says something thoughtful about what you’ve written or shared, take time to answer.

 

Everyone is important, so treat everyone that way. They will notice and your social karma and currency will rise quickly.

 

Action #6: Be Bold, Stay Your Course.
Mantra: I am Bold & I am Authentic.

 

Fitting in and neutrality defeats thought leadership. You have important things to say, do not be afraid to say them. Be you, be real, and be bold. Stand out from all the other voices and be consistent and authentic with your message.

 

Action #7: Invite Participation.
Mantra: My Friends Are Here to Help Me.

 

Have friends and colleagues who you consider whip-smart, funny, helpful and an asset to your community become part of your content contribution team. Ask her to guest post and add her own thought leadership to your conversation.

 

It doesn’t have to be someone with a huge social following. In fact, it’s helpful if they don’t already have a large online presence because when others Google them they will be directed to your content! So, get collaborating!

 

Action #8: Put Yourself Out There.
Mantra: Others Benefit Because of Me.

 

While building a platform you have to simultaneously do so in World 1.0 as well as on Web 2.0! Get out there and speak in public, go on TV (or make your own TV on YouTube). Use your content to eventually publish a book. Writing a book is the most amazing calling card in the world.

 

Print the infographic below out and hang it where you can see it next to your desk or bed, or on the fridge. Repeat, repeat and repeat till they sink in.

 

http://cyberpr.com/2014/02/8-step-mantra-marketing-action-plan-growing-brand-presence/

 

How to Get More Likes on Your Facebook Page

Every brand on Facebook is on Facebook for one reason -- to (eventually) get more business. But getting more business from Facebook means different things to different types of businesses. Different brands will have different objectives, such as driving in-store sales, increasing online sales, launching a new product, building awareness, or promoting a mobile app.

 

Regardless of the objective, there are a few steps that happen before Facebook fans can turn into real business. You have to first build an audience on Facebook, then drive inbound traffic to your website, then turn that traffic into qualified leads, and then nurture those leads into customers.

This post is all about the very first step in this whole process: building an audience of fans who actually have an interest in what your company sells. If you recently set up your Facebook Page or could simply use a few pointers on how to get more Facebook Likes, this post is for you.

 

 

How to Get More Facebook Likes

 

1) Fill out your Facebook Page with searchable information. 

 

To grow your number of Facebook fans, every section of your page should include content that's relevant and helpful, but also searchable. Remember: All of the content on your page will be indexed by search engines, helping you attract more Fans to your page.

 

By no means should you should go on a keyword-stuffing spree -- but you should spend time optimizing each section of your page with keywords appropriate for your business.

 

For example, once you’ve created your Facebook Page, make sure the About section of your page includes:

• An overview of what your business has to offer
• A link to your website
• Any other information that will help prospects understand your business better

2) Include Facebook Like Boxes on your website and blog.

 

Making your Facebook Page as discoverable as possible includes promoting your Facebook presence using the marketing channels you already have, and removing any barriers for existing contacts to like your page. 

 

If you have a website or blog, use Facebook’s various social plugins to get people to 'Like' your page without having to go over to Facebook.com.

 

While Facebook's Like Button allows users to like individual pieces of content on the web and share them on Facebook, the Like Box is designed only for Facebook Pages. The Like Box is a great way to leverage social proof to amplify your page. It displays your page's number of Likes along with the faces of some of your Facebook fans.
 

3) Invite existing contacts to Like your page.

 

Chances are, you already have friends, family, and existing customers who would be more than willing to connect with your business on Facebook. All you need to do is ask. Whether in person, via email, or via Facebook, try asking for Likes and positive reviews. Just be cautious about over-promoting to uninterested connections.
 

You can also encourage existing connections to become fans by making it more likely that they'll see a suggestion on Facebook to like your page. How? You'll have to upload a list of emails to Facebook, and those from that list who are on Facebook will be made more likely to see a suggestion to like your page in places like "Recommended Pages." Your contacts who aren't on Facebook won't see this suggestion.
 

To upload a list of email contacts through Facebook, open the "Build Audience" menu (located at the top right of your Facebook Page) and select "Invite Email Contacts."
 

From there, you can upload a maximum of 7,000 contacts per day per page -- and a maximum of 5,000 contacts at a time.
 

4) Invite employees to Like your page.

 

People are more likely to Like pages that already have some sort of following, and your employees can help your business build its initial numbers. After all, they are your strongest and most effective brand advocates.
 

Ask them to like the official Facebook Page. Then, encourage them to share, Like, and comment on the content your team posts on Facebook, too. Employees who really want to share the love might include a link to your Facebook Page in their email signatures or on their personal social media profiles.
 

5) Incorporate Facebook into your offline communication channels.

 

Have a physical storefront? Think about ways to encourage patrons to become Facebook fans. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Place stickers in your front windows promoting your page's name.
• Include your Facebook URL on your receipts.
• Run a promotion where customers who become Facebook fans on the spot get small discounts.

Market your business offline? Include links to your Facebook Page and other social media profiles on printed ads, flyers, coupons, catalogs, business cards, and direct mail assets.
 

6) Cross promote on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

Add a link to your Facebook Page on your business's Twitter and LinkedIn profiles (and your personal profile, for that matter). Tweet about your Facebook Page occasionally to encourage your Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections to stay in contact with you on another network.
 

Add your Twitter link to your Facebook Page, and occasionally tweet about your Facebook Page. Don’t stop with Twitter and Facebook; you could also cross-promote on LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, etc. Just be sure that your cross promotions are sparing and strategic -- you don't want to spam the other audiences that you've worked so hard to develop.
 

7) Post valuable content.

 

The best way to increase your following on Facebook is by treating your fans like people -- and that means consistently delivering content that is valuable to them. Delivering value really comes into play with the content you create and share with your fans, and how you interact with them.
 

It's all about building long-term relationships with your Facebook fans. They might not remember one individual post to Facebook, but if they notice you consistently publish high quality, helpful, and relevant posts to Facebook, they'll think of you as a valuable resource.
 

So, how do you know what to publish? If you’re in tune with your buyer personas, you probably have a good idea what types of content your ideal customers like. If not, or if you just need some inspiration, consider spending a week taking note of the types of content in your own News Feed that compels you click, comment, or share. What inspired you? Use your observations to inspire future posts.
 

8) Be active.

 

Getting more Facebook Likes isn't just about profile optimization and an initial push. To continue growing steadily, you need to maintain an active, ongoing presence.
 

Not only does this mean posting educational, insightful content on a regular basis, but it also means monitoring your presence and interacting with your fans. Ask questions, answer questions, and participate in discussions with those posting on your page. Find, follow, and build relationships with others in your industry. Create a presence worth following.
 

9) Use Facebook Ads to expand your reach.

 

Growing your Facebook Likes organically is the best way to drive engagement and, ultimately, convert fans into customers. But if you have the budget for it, incorporating some paid advertising into your Facebook strategy can help augment the hard work you're already putting in.
 

Facebook offers a type of ad called a "Page Like Ad," which contains a CTA suggesting that users Like your Facebook Page. These ads can appear in users' News Feeds or in the ad column on the right-hand side of their web browser when they're on Facebook. Here's what a Page Like Ad looks like on a mobile News Feed:
 

Image Credit: Facebook

 

If you’ve exhausted your existing contacts and want to reach people who don’t know about your page yet, but would be interested in hearing from you, you can use Facebook’s granular targeting capabilities to reach your ideal buyer persona(s) and grow your audience.

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/get-more-facebook-likes
 

9 Reasons Why Your Internet Marketing Strategy Will Fail Without a Blog

There’s no getting away from it, your business needs a blog if you want to succeed online!

 

Google’s algorithms demand that you create content that people will want to share and your customers demand information that will help them.

 

Take a look at the infographic below from QuickSprout which gives you 9 reasons why your business should be blogging.

 

 

http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2014/07/25/9-reasons-why-your-internet-marketing-strategy-will-fail-without-a-blog/

 

7 Ways Marketers Can Get the Most out of LinkedIn

When you use the site to bolster your personal brand, you also strengthen your company's brand image.
 

LinkedIn may tag you an “All-Star” on Your Profile page—but you're a minor leaguer if you don't fully exploit the marketing and sales powers of the social medium used by more than half the world's professionals. “If your profile has the wrong information, it might as well be your tombstone,” says Mark Amtower, a consultant who specializes in LinkedIn strategy.

 

At stake are the current 313 million members, as well as the two joining per second, as LinkedIn reports. And let's not forget 3.5 million companies present there.

 

Facebook may have the B2C sex appeal, but when it comes to B2B marketing—and personal branding—LinkedIn is where it's at. Marketers can boost their own and their firm's reputations, market their wares, establish themselves and their organizations as industry thought-leaders, and harvest sales leads—with most of those benefits costing nothing.

 

“In my 30 years as a marketing consultant, I've never seen a platform that does so much,” Amtower says. “Traditional B2B direct marketers that do not fully embrace LinkedIn miss the opportunity to develop deeper relationships with key customers or be found by prospects looking for what they sell.”

 

Here are seven ways marketers can maximize LinkedIn themselves and their companies:

 

Juice Up Your Profile

 

LinkedIn Profiles average 53 million views daily. A marketer's profile should reflect that she's the face of her brand, not a job hunter. To entice prospects, marketers should share their expertise areas, the market they serve and what their company does, Amtower says. “Top the profile with a summary that's informative and fun, so it'll be read.”

 

Also upload six to 12 slides, PowerPoint presentations, or videos of your work to intrigue prospects without giving away too much to competitors, he says. And remember the basics: phone and email, so you can be easily reached.

 

Maximize Your Company Page

 

Sporadic updates aren't enough. See a company page as a mini website with appealingly packaged and SEO-jammed information, links, and contacts.

 

Look to marketing software firm HubSpot, which feeds its page almost daily with visually-adorned entries on products, achievements, new hires, and industry-related trends. It also cross-promotes the page across blogs, emails, and other channels. “We ask customers who give appreciative feedback on surveys to consider sharing their opinions on LinkedIn,” says Kipp Bodnar, VP of marketing.

 

The result: HubSpot touts 40,000 followers, 272 product recommendations, and a Culture Code slide share that's been viewed nearly 2 million times.

 

Each follower and comment packs heat, amplifying the firm's visibility on his or her own LinkedIn feed, Bodnar says:  “For us, LinkedIn traffic converts into leads more than traffic on other social platforms.”

 

Leverage Your Employees' LinkedIn Profiles and Activities

 

“Employee profiles become mini-marketing reaches that put your best face forward,” says Mike Derezin, LinkedIn's VP of sales solutions. “The more you provide, the more likely the message will be uniform.”

 

All of HubSpot's 900 employees have personal profiles and active feeds, Bodnar says. Executives set the tone by posting blog entries on their LinkedIn pages, and the firm provides profile tips, professional headshots, and a clear mission statement to new hires.

 

Join or Form a Likeminded Group

 

Sharing insights about an industry pays off: 86% of buyers say they'd engage with salespeople if they offered such knowledge, LinkedIn reports. Become a known thought leader and that rises to 92%.

 

HubSpot launched its Inbound Marketers group seven years ago, where 111,000 members currently discuss strategies and trends. Those who participate get 4 times the profile views of those who don't, Bodnar finds.

 

“Each member is a potential prospect,” Amtower says. “Useful entries also reinforce your name and brand.”

 

Use “In Messages” to Follow Those Who Check You Out

 

Look regularly to see who's examined your profile, as Amtower does thrice daily. Then pounce.

“Check out their profile, and if you see potential, reach out via message or In Mail,” he says. “You can say, ‘Hey, I saw you looked at my profile. Are you interested in chatting or connecting?' Start a conversation while it's hot—not two days later when they might not remember who you are.”

 

Use Sales Navigator to Convert Cold Calls

 

You can arm yourself with the personal information that thaws cold calls into warm introductions via LinkedIn's Sales Navigator app. Stats and analytics on targeted accounts reveal who you know in common, where workers went to school and other information, whether you're LinkedIn or not.

 

“It's hugely valuable, especially if you're B2B,” says Bodnar. “It's a lot easier to get prospects.”

 

Reach Those Who Really Matter Via LinkedIn Ads

 

Why advertise to the irrelevant? LinkedIn's display ads can target a desired audience by job title, company size, or other attributes—and HubSpot occasionally uses this feature along with its other LinkedIn efforts. “We've used some display ads in sponsored updates,” Bodnar says, “but we're advertising less on all channels, thanks to the success of nonpaid efforts, like those on LinkedIn.”

 

http://www.dmnews.com/7-ways-marketers-can-get-the-most-out-of-linkedin/article/371328/

 

7 Really Easy Ways to Get More Twitter Followers

Some people want more Twitter followers as they think it makes them look good, some because they like to be social and engage with others, the rest know that more targeted followers means more web traffic, more potential leads and ultimately more sales.

Whatever your motivation for gaining Twitter followers here are 7 really easy ways to get more of them. Infographic brought to you by Wishpond.

http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2014/03/27/7-really-easy-ways-to-get-more-twitter-followers/

Boost Your B2B Marketing With Google+

Despite a rocky beginning, Google+ has grown significantly in the past years and now is the second largest social media network with over 500 million active monthly users. While its numbers continue to climb steadily, there are still many marketers who have yet to embrace it as an effective tool for B2B marketing. In fact, only 39 percent of B2B marketers use Google+ to reach out to interact with current and potential customers. If you are daunted by the task of learning yet another new social platform consider this: 70 percent of brands now have a presence on Google+. There's no better time to get started on Google+ than now and the following steps can help you increase your follower base.


 

Engage with Others

 

Social media is all about interaction and this holds true for Google+. The difference is that Google+ focuses more on finding people who share the same passions and connecting with them. This makes it much easier for you to find people who are actually interested in your industry and start meaningful conversations. There are several ways you can do this:

• Circles - Circles gives you control over how you consume content as well as who you share your content with. This targeted sharing ability can improve your engagement rate and retain your niche following.
• Communities – Like Facebook Groups, Communities brings together people who share similar interests. As with all groups, you should take the time to listen more than you speak. Keep track of what others are saying and leave thoughtful comments to other people's posts. The more informative your comments, the more you will position yourself as an expert on the matter.
• Influencers – It's easy to find and add people on Google+. All you need to do is search for a name and then add them to the appropriate Circle. Once you add them you then can read their updates and comment when appropriate. The more you interact with these influencers, the better your chance of capturing a portion of their and their audience's attention.
• Hangouts – Hangouts is by far the most popular feature of Google+ for good reason. You can video conference up to 10 people and record these sessions to share with people who could not attend. It's a great way to connect with others and create content for your content marketing strategy.

 

Create Quality Content

 

Content marketing continues to be the most effective way to build an audience and this is where Google+ really shines. Unlike other social sites, Google+ gives you the ability to format your text to be bolded, italicized or striked through for additional emphasis. As well, there is no character limit to your updates, so you can use it almost like second blog platform. There are also standard features you can use to improve the reach of your content like hashtags and @mentions.

 

Like other social networks, your posts should provide informative or entertaining content first and promotional content second. Once you've built a large following you can level off the ratios a bit, but even then remember that your content should always provide some kind of value to your followers. The more you share the more authority you will build, but it's still best to practice some moderation. Keep it to 2-3 updates per day if possible.

 

Encourage Easy Sharing

 

Social shares are one of the many signals included in Google's search algorithm so it stands to reason that shares and +1s on Google+ will greatly impact your search engine ranking. And in a way it does. When people are logged into their Google+ account, they receive personalized results based not only on their previous searches but also their Circle. The best part is that the improved search ranking doesn't just apply to your followers, but also the followers of the people who +1 your content. This means that if a major influencer +1's your content, you can potentially get a lot of exposure.

 

If you want to take advantage of this huge boost in your search rank, the easiest thing you can do is add a +1 button for each article on your site. If you want your Google Plus followers to +1, sometimes all it takes is to ask.

 

Master Google+

 

It will take some time to see the fruits of your labor, but the longer you use it, the more you'll understand how you should approach your target audience. Keep track of the posts and updates that do the best and try to see why it performed so much better than others then apply this information to future posts. You'll soon see your follower count and engagement rate grow and you will most certainly boost your B2B marketing with Google+.

 

 http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/boost-your-b2b-marketing-google-0
 

How to Create a Successful Blog Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide

Today, age and experience no longer necessarily determine your credibility. Instead, people care about your ideas, your generosity, and your willingness to take risks and learn from mistakes -- those are the kinds of things that can give you a voice in the conversation.

 

We've witnessed a blogging revolution over the past fifteen years, where individuals have become famous on the back of 500-word snippets or rants that resonate with some online audience. Many of the thought leaders of our time became well-known because of their blogs. But as more people blog, the quality of blog content is becoming more important -- and this is especially true for businesses who are blogging to get found on the internet.

 

 

It isn't enough to simply have a blog -- businesses need to spend time creating a blogging strategy that allows for high quality content creation so you can, slowly, build a reputation for thought leadership that will pay off big time in the long term.

 

It's the strategy part that trips up a lot of businesses. I've found that documenting your blog strategy is a great way to bridge the gap to successful execution. Check To help you get started, here's a nine-step process for creating a successful blog strategy for your business. Each step is marked by a question. Adapt it based on your business needs and experience. 

 

1) Purpose

 

Why does your blog exist?

 

What to document: One defining statement articulating the purpose of your blog.

 

Before you can dig in to the strategy of your blog, you need to clearly articulate its underlying purpose. Take a moment to ask yourself these questions:

• What is the greater purpose your company is trying to fulfill?
• What story supports this purpose?
• Who shares your passion for this purpose?
• Is your team aligned with the meaning of this purpose?

If you can answer these questions with some clarity and then collate them into one defining statement, you create a powerful anchor for all future blogging (and marketing) decisions.

 

2) Buyer Personas

 

Who are your ideal customers?

 

What to document: A clear, detailed description of your ideal customer(s). 

 

Ideally, you'll tailor your blog content to people who might buy from you -- after all, your blog will become a great lead conversion tool. But who are these ideal customers? Once you can answer that question in detail, you'll be able to write blog posts that are better tailored to their interests. (Here's a helpful template for creating a buyer persona to get you started.)

 

Once you've arrived at detailed descriptions of your ideal customers, you'll need to research their behavior so you can adapt and tailor blog content for their biggest challenges, interests, and curiosities. But isn’t customer research expensive, you might ask? Sure, it can be -- but if you want to bootstrap it, here are a few places to start:

• Question and answer forums like Quora, Yahoo! Answers, and Fluther.
• Social media. I find LinkedIn Groups, Twitter Advanced Search, and Google+ Communities excellent resources.
• Tools that tell you about other content being created in your niche and how popular it's been with your potential customers (at least according to social shares). Examples include BuzzSumo and Topsy.
• Blog comments on other blogs your potential customers might read. What type of content are they already engaging with on other blogs?

One main goal of inbound marketing is to build trust with your audience. If you discover the information your customers seek and then become the go-to blog for providing that information, they will likely start to trust you. This trust gains momentum over time, and before you know it, that high trust relationship will bring your customers back time and time again -- and they'll probably bring their family and friends with them.

 

3) Competition

 

Which of your competitors have blogs?

 

What to document: A list of 5-10 of your closest competitors with blogs you could conduct a content audit on.

 

Do you want your customers seeking purchasing information from your competitors? This is a rhetorical question -- of course you don’t. But if your blog doesn’t provide the information your customers are looking for and your competitors’ blogs do, what choice do they have?

 

Try conducting a content audit of your biggest competitors. If they're ranking higher than you for crucial keywords, then write and promote better content for those keywords. If you see gaps in the content on their site, capitalize on those gaps.

 

4) Keywords

 

Which keywords are you targeting?

 

What to document: A list of 5-10 keyword groups you want to rank for and their associated long-tail keywords you can include in blog content

 

Keywords let search engines understand what your content is all about. When one of your customers searches for a specific phrase, you want them to find your blog (or web page), not a competitor’s. But what are your potential customers searching for? You'll need to dedicate some time researching which keywords they tend to type into search engines, and then including those keywords in your blog posts.

 

Just remember: Google's algorithm is constantly changing and is becoming more and more intuitive -- and old tactics like keyword stuffing will hurt your ranking nowadays. Instead, marketers are better off writing copy that engages humans first, and search engines second. 

 

5) Distribution Platforms

 

Where will you distribute your blog content? 

 

What to document: A list of the platforms where you will distribute your blog content.

 

Rand Fishkin, SEO Expert from Moz, once quipped: "'I hit 'publish' for the first time, and everyone just showed up' – said no blogger ever."

 

I love this quote. Writing quality blog content is a great start toward running a successful business blog, but the hard part is getting that content discovered and turning your platform into an authority.

 

But creating blog content can be time consuming, especially when you aim to command authority in your niche with well-researched posts. One tactic I've found very useful is repurposing your blog content. Take a look at the content you used to write a blog post -- the ideas, research, structure, and stats -- and using that same information in a different form. You'll reach a wider audience and engage with people that may not have read your blog the first time.

 

There are many things you can do to get better results from your blog. Here are a few:

• Take key quotes and takeaways from your blog post and schedule them across your social media networks, including links to the blog post. Even better, put these quotes into images using a platform like Canva and post them on social media.
• Split up the blog post as a string of emails to your community, with links back to the blog post.
• Create a SlideShare using content, stats, and so on from your post.
• Create an infographic. This isn't as hard as it sounds, and all you really need is PowerPoint.

 

6) Promotion

 

How will you promote your blog content? 

 

What to document: A list of potential influencers in your niche, as well as all the other promotional tactics you will use to get your blog content discovered.

 

When it comes to blog strategy, "promotion" simply means getting your content out there so people discover it, read it, and (hopefully) share it with others. There are lots of inbound marketing tactics for promoting your blog posts, but for the purpose of this post, I’d like to focus on influencer marketing.

 

Using an inbound approach to promoting your blog content requires a lot of deliberate effort up front. You need to identify key influencers in your industry -- people your customers perceive as credible and trustworthy. These influencers command authority in their field and provide access to authoritative sources.

 

First, create a list of influential people in your niche. Then, you can start placing deposits -- for example, if they have a blog, read it, comment on it, and share it. If they have an email list, sign up for it and respond to (some of) their emails with thanks, and encourage others to join up. If they have a book, read it, review it, and generously promote it to your network. In the words of Adam Franklin, “Lead with generosity."

 

It's important to remain in regular contact with your list of influencers. I schedule time into my calendar to place further deposits with certain people. Typically, this looks like a brief email message or a social share, but sometimes it might play out as something more meaningful. If you work hard on placing deposits you expand your network to a group of people that command great authority with your ideal customers.

 

Now you can leverage the combined power of an extended network next time you publish a blog post. Influencer marketing is just one component of my blog promotion strategy, but I believe it's the most important.

 

7) Headcount

 

Who will run your blog?

 

What to document: Exactly who is accountable for each role within your blog strategy.

 

You need to decide exactly who will execute on your strategy. As you can see from this blog post, there are lots of moving parts -- and if you don’t create ownership around each of those components, your chances of success decrease. Here are some examples of the roles you need to effectively implement a blog strategy. (Depending on the size of your marketing team and the skills available, you may find one person holds responsibility for multiple roles.)

• Keyword research
• Facts, stats and examples research
• Copywriting
• Editing
• Strategy and editorial calendar governance
• Creative
• Promotion
• Repurposing

 

8) Rhythm

 

How many blog posts can you commit to scheduling?

 

What to document: An editorial calendar and the number of blog posts you can commit to scheduling per week.

 

The beauty of creating a blogging rhythm and publishing that in an editorial calendar is that it’s not about frequency, it’s about creating accountability. It makes sure that every blog is optimized for keywords, CTAs and is developed and scheduled on time. This gives you a consistent stream of blog content that your readers can get in sync with.

 

Your editorial calendar should be designed to align with the rest of your blog strategy. I like to incorporate the specific promotional tactics, goals and resources required for each individual blog post.

 

9) Metrics

 

Which metrics matter to you?

 

What to document: The goals you aim to achieve from blogging and the metrics that contribute to those goals. (I recommend setting goals over a 60-day period. This gives you long enough to see whether your strategy is working, and allows you to then adapt and change your goals based on the results you experience.)

 

Traffic, likes, plus ones, re-tweets, follows, backlinks, subscribers… What do all of these metrics mean? How do any of them contribute to your bottom line?

 

Metrics are helpful, but they're pointless if you can’t track them back to a meaningful outcome. Perhaps the most important element of an effective blog strategy is accurately defining the goals you want to achieve. Here are three helpful questions you can ask yourself while defining a goal or outcome:

• Does this goal help us achieve our purpose, or is there something more relevant we can aspire to?
• Is this goal aligned with the initiatives of other parts of our business?
• Which metrics track the progress towards this goal? Are these metrics complementary or counterintuitive?

Answering these questions will help you set meaningful goals, and consequently, understand the metrics that will help achieve them. There is no exact science to measuring the effectiveness of your blog strategy, but this process creates a direct line of sight from your activity to a desired outcome. Once you understand exactly how many of a specific metric -- say, a social share -- contributes to a specific outcome -- say, a sale -- then your strategy becomes more targeted.

 

Growing an influential blog in your niche is a surefire way to nurture your potential customers. By creating regular content that solves the challenges of your readers and fulfills their biggest curiosities, you'll start to build a vault of trust and advocacy, which will inevitably contribute to the overall success of your business. Start with your purpose -- the big why -- and slowly unpack the individual levers that will contribute to your blog marketing performance.

 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blog-strategy-guide?utm_campaign=blog-rss-emails&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=15415390

 

The 10 Biggest Social Media Myths for Small Businesses

Despite the mind-boggling pervasiveness of social media today, certain myths persist about its relevance for small businesses. Can social media really help drive sales and, if so, how and where? Is social media genuinely worthwhile or an enormous waste of time?

 

Here are 10 common social media myths about small business, and reasons to disregard them.

 

1. When I set up a social media account, sales leads will follow.

 

Establishing a presence on Twitter or LinkedIn is just the first step in the process. What you do after that determines whether or not you can generate new business.

 

2. Time spent on social media might be better spent elsewhere.

 

A commitment to social media marketing might seem to be robbing you of time better spent elsewhere. But when you look at social media as a long-term resource for building customer loyalty and gathering a community around your brand — the ultimate benefits of an effective social media strategy—there’s little question that the time and effort are worth it.

 

3. Social media activity requires a daunting amount of time and effort.

 

Mastering a few social media activities will quickly make it clear that you don’t have to be hunched over your keyboard 24/7 to make it work for you. If you post engaging content — a survey question, a fresh idea, eye-catching imagery — people will respond. Plus, online tools to streamline and automate the posting process reduce your own time commitment.

 

4. If my Tweet or Facebook post doesn’t go viral, it’s not worth the effort.

 

Corporate marketing campaigns have the limitless funds and creativity to come up with a message or image that snags millions of views. For your small business, going viral isn’t critically important. The objective is attracting a steady stream of visitors due to the value you offer, one Tweet or blog post at a time. If you keep at it, your fan base (and pool of prospective customers) will grow.

 

5. I can’t attract older customers on social media.

 

This might have been true in the earliest days of social media, but the facts make this myth one of the least convincing. A recent Pew Research Center and Docstoc study shows that people aged 30-49 use social media, and more than half of those aged 50-64 (52 percent) are active on social media, too.

 

“Don’t neglect social media as a means of connecting with older customers,” says Monique Torres of Business 2 Community. “You will be excluding a significant number of potential clients if you ignore places where they can already be found.”

 

6. Twitter works for rock stars and high-profile athletes, but not for me.

 

Any small business would love a million followers, but the truth is, a small but targeted group of loyal followers will likely translate into more revenue. It’s not necessary to tweet 10 times a day, nor do you have to depend on an avalanche of mentions and retweets to succeed (though they’re nice to have).

 

“To make Twitter matter, you need to make your tweets timely, relevant to your customers, and not entirely self-promotional,” says Michael Mothner, CEO of the online marketing firm Wpromote. “Also, make sure that you use Twitter to monitor and engage with Twitter users who reach out to you or mention your company or products.”

 

7. A Twitter profile or photo is unimportant.

 

No one wants to buy something from a business with no description or image. Taking time to craft an appealing profile (and adding a people-friendly image) makes a difference, as does the careful selection of keywords in your bio. 

 

8. The more I post on Facebook, the greater the returns.

 

Posting selectively on Facebook for your small business is different than a teenager posting 12 times about her upcoming prom date. In this particular area, less is better than more. In fact, as Monique Torres notes, “Facebook’s ranking algorithms can penalize too-frequent posters, reducing the chance that future posts will be seen.”

 

9. Video social media is too costly and time-intensive to work for me.

 

Video content marketing is getting a lot of buzz these days. The good news is, it doesn’t require expensive equipment or Spielberg-level production values to work. Something short, snappy and produced on the cheap can attract a surprisingly large number of users.

 

10. Personal branding doesn’t work.

 

These days, it’s hard to separate one’s personal brand with his or her business reputation. Consumers still want to connect with people, and the more they understand who you are as a living, breathing person (through your profile, the type of content you share, etc.), the more inclined they are to seek out your business as well.

 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240502

 

Is Your Blog an Asset to Your Business?

Readers of Social Media Explorer will already know how content marketing can improve your site’s SEO, but what else can a blog do for your business? A blog is more than just an SEO tool, it can also be a valuable asset to your business, demonstrating your authority in your industry and helping you to generate leads online. In this article we will look at how you can turn your business blog into a valuable lead generation tool by building your company’s authority in your industry.

 

Building Trust with Your Blog

When it comes to online marketing, many of the same concepts of offline sales and marketing apply. No one is going to buy from a person they don’t trust, whether that’s via a website or face-to-face in a meeting.

 

Nowadays, it’s essential to overcome any trust issues with your customers before you even make contact with them. In the old days, sales reps would diagnose customers’ needs, align products and services to those needs, then sell these solutions. But with the wealth of information that the internet provides, customers now define solutions for themselves, contacting vendors much later in the buying process. In fact, a study by CEB showed that 57% of B2B customers typically made a decision on a purchase before even speaking to a supplier. This means your blog and website content needs to assure visitors that you are a credible business before they will even contact you, and you can do this by building trust with your content.

 

Using Offline Trust Signals

 

A lot of the same trust signals for the offline world also apply to the online world when it comes to B2B sites. Ultimately, the purpose of your business blog is to generate leads and enquiries for your services, so the trust signals that you use to show the quality of your offering can also be used on your blog.

 

For example, suppose you were a management consultant or other business service provider. You may therefore want to use your blog to build trust with potential clients, showing your service is high quality and can easily compliment your clients existing processes. One way of doing this is becoming ISO 9001 certified, which is often a prerequisite to working with government and blue chip contracts.

 

If you already have ISO 9001 certification to work with these types of businesses, make sure your blog talks about your certification! This is because as the CEB research shows, the majority of potential clients will be conducting their own research prior to contacting a supplier, so it’s essential that they are made aware of your certification if this is an important factor in their decision. Similarly, for potential clients where ISO certification isn’t a make or break factor, your blog needs to have content to show why being certified sets you above the competition.

 

Therefore, a great starting point for your business blog would be to consider all the factors that are important in a client’s decision to choose you, as well as ‘nice to have’ benefits of your service. Then, ensure you have a detailed blog post on each of these, optimized for relevant keywords. For instance to capture management consultancy buyers where having a quality management system in place is essential, your may want to optimize a post for “ISO 9001 Certified Management Consultancy”.

 

Blog about Case Studies

 

Client case studies are another great topic for blog posts. Chances are, however, that you already have case studies on your site; however, if you’re not repurposing content for other channels, then the cost of your online marketing is multiplied.

 

So how can you repurpose case studies into blog content? One way might be to group several case studies that used a common service or strategy to deliver results. You could convert those three case studies into a single article that specifically talks about that single strategy used as part of all three campaigns, and how this helped each of the clients. This post can then be optimized for a keyword relevant for that particular strategy.

 

An example of this in the SEO industry could be to write about three clients who each had link building as part of the SEO strategy. A new blog post could be crafted to explain the importance of link building in SEO and three examples of how this tactic specifically helped improve their online visibility.

 

Ensure Articles Live Up To the Promise of Their Titles

 

A business blog is a great way of humanizing your brand, which means similar rules about promises made by sales people in face-to-face meetings need to be adhered to online, as well. For example, if you were in the market for a new car and the sales person made exaggerated claims about its mileage or performance which you knew to be false, you’d likely be skeptical about anything else they said. Similarly, anything you convey about your brand is a promise. Every conversation, download, or subscription is an agreement that you promise to provide something of value, while they promise to engage with you as a result.

 

In a study by Salesforce of over 400 B2B buyers, 71% had been disappointed with the content they downloaded from a business, with 25% of those saying they would never read content from that business again due to disappointment.

 

This also applies when it comes to writing your blog content. To establish your blog as an authority in your industry, building trust is essential, meaning your content needs to live up to every promise you make. That means if you write an article about “how to double your revenue in 5 steps”, be sure to have evidence to back your claims up through citing external resources, studies, or case studies of your own clients or projects.

 

Without credible content that lives up to the promises you make, your authority can be eroded in time, negatively reflecting on your brand. Over time, this can cost you traffic and sales.

 

Wrapping Up

 

Ensuring your blog presents your business as an authority in your industry is essential if you want your blog to become a lead generation tool. A great way to apply the advice above is to consider all your brand values, write them down, then look at your blog content and decide whether it conveys those values. However, beware of being overly bias about your own site. One way around this is to utilize User Testing, a service allowing you to recruit people in your target market to test your website. You are able to design a test for them with questions to establish whether they trust the information presented or if they are unsure about its credibility.

 

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/how-to-establish-your-business-blog-as-an-authority-in-your-industry/