“8 Reasons Why Your Email Open Rate is Nosediving” plus 2 more |  |
- 8 Reasons Why Your Email Open Rate is Nosediving
- 3 Important Questions To Ask About Posts in Your Blog Archives
- Content Marketing Smart – Why Your Blog Article is Just the Beginning
| 8 Reasons Why Your Email Open Rate is Nosediving Posted: 13 Mar 2014 09:41 AM PDT
It’s amazing how blogs have exploded within the last 10 years – take ProBlogger for instance. Blogs like these can provide a good living for the owner if the traffic remains strong and healthy. But how do these blogs retain the traffic and keep a steady flow? There are many ways, but I want to discuss with you a vitally important one: your email list. Usually more email subscribers would mean more traffic. Right? Well, not anymore. Bloggers are facing diving open rates today like never before. Small bloggers and the celebrity bloggers alike suffer. But why? Let me give you 8 Reasons Why Your Email Open Rate Is Nosediving.1. You have lots of images within the email.When it comes to email open rates, fashion is not how you make waves. Simpler is better in this case. HTML is good, but text based emails are even better. I know we're tempted to be flashy, but if no one is seeing it, what's the point? Your email is going to be seen more when images aren't within them. They flag filters many times, and can annoy the reader also. It's best to simply state your message and get to the point quickly. 2. Way too long!In the blog world an article of 200-1000 words is considered an informative post (View Darren's Post On Word Count). Reading one of these could take 5-7 minutes to read, and 15 minutes to fully understand. In email this is simply not so. Why? You're simply updating them with short exclusive information, and persuading them to spend a minute on this unexpected message from you. Think of your email newsletter as a bite-size sample of your blog. Let every bite be extremely pleasant and leave them wanting more. Where do they get more? Your blog. In order to do this, your email must be short, sweet, and fulfilling in bite-size. 150-450 word count would be best when writing. You're sharing exclusive content, updating, and telling them about your new blog post kind-of-thing. 3. Links Everywhere.When all they see is outlined sentences everywhere, landing somewhere in the unknown, the word SPAMMY is the first thoughts of most readers. They get the idea that all you're trying to do is send them to a place they don't want to go, to spend money they don't want to spend. Put only one link in your article, and give them many good reasons why they should click on that link. Not one reason to click on 10 links, that’s not as effective. So choose your link wisely, and this also will prevent your email from getting vacuumed by the email filters. 4. Your agenda appears to be making money.When they see your email appear, what should they expect? If it's another course, eBook, or program in which they must buy, there's a good chance you're going to get turned off eventually. A good rule of thumb is to give your reader 10x more. Instead, offer freebies just so they will warm up to you. If you need some freebie ideas, go here: 6 Freebies That Will Spike Engagement In Your Blog I know we're all trying to come up with ways in which to make money, but it's better to have our customers coming to us with their money, not the other way around with us chasing them and their wallet. When they understand that you're for them and wanting to help more than to make a buck, they will come. 5. Your email is only a result from an RSS blast.Your emails should be exclusive content, not an email blaster from your RSS feed. Many will disagree with me on this, because they don't want another article to write. I understand their pain, but what's the point of offering this option of RSS if they're not going to read it? With Google's Gmail Algorithm, RSS is a turn off and a good chance it will never make it to their inbox. How will they find out about by my new blog post then? you might be asking. Give them many reasons within that email why they should read that article and give them a link to it. The reason shouldn’t be because it's new. It should be because it's helpful and can be found almost no where else. You're just pointing them back to it so they won't miss this amazing content. 6. Not full of helpful information.You thought that tips, helpful information, and how-tos were only for blogs? Not so, it will apply to your email rate as well. Except you have only a few seconds to persuade them to read it, a few more seconds to finish reading it, and finally to click on whatever link you may have for them (that was the point of the email right?). The only thing is with email, shorter is better. Why? When trying to catch the eye, you have only a few seconds to persuade them to read it and consume your information. As for a blog post, most were searching for the solution you have to offer and were willing to spend the time to solve their problem. So make it short but powerful since your message was unexpected! 7. They don't feel a personal connection with you.If all you do is sell, command, and write like you're talking to the wall, they're not feeling what you write. To avoid this, write as if they're your friend. Instead of writing to your readers, write to your reader specifically. Pretend that you're writing to one of your readers, and let them feel that one-on-one connection. It's about winning their trust, which is key to any business. 8. You're boring.If you're doing all of the above, it's time to face it. It's time for a recharge. Sometimes to make our tips more helpful, and our writing voice more inspirational, we need to read more and be inspired. Like an athlete, we must eat more than we burn. If not, we don't have much to offer. Go out in your niche and explore again. It could be the simple fact that you are burned out and need to refill with more helpful information. Ways to improve email letter quality: 1. Read a blog post like this one by Darren Rowse On Passion: Passion – Do You Have It? 2. Interact more in the comment section. 3. Listen to podcasts. 4. Talk to pros in your niche. 5. Take a course. 6. Think more, and spend more time with that writing piece. 7. Study your competition and how they write their emails. Read this to be inspired: Learning Your Foes Makes You a Better Hero So basically you're defeating two things here, the email filter and the reputation of scammers. It's so easy to be flagged as a scammer these days and you must work extra hard to appear the very opposite. These tips will make that happen, and will also get your emails to bypass the filters. Mission Accomplished. You're going to see great results from this if applied correctly. I've learned by not selling, you kind of are. When they know you're in business, and all you do is help, curiosity takes over them. When they see your free tips work tremendously, what will your paid versions do? Thanks for reading and I wish you higher email rates! Did I miss something? Leave a comment below and let's see what you have to offer to the Problogger community. Luke Guy is both graphic artist and blogger, publisher for LukeGuy.com, and graphic designer for hire. He's loves to blog and helping people with dreams in starting a business.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger 8 Reasons Why Your Email Open Rate is Nosediving     |
| 3 Important Questions To Ask About Posts in Your Blog Archives Posted: 12 Mar 2014 09:32 AM PDT  Image via Flickr user theunquietlibrarian. Here’s a quick exercise that I encourage you to do every now and then. Identify a post in your archives (preferably something that is a year or more older) and then ask yourself these three questions: Can I update it?Many times the posts in your archives can do with a refresh. While you might not want to do this with every post – if you have an older post that gets traffic from search engines it can be well worth doing! It might be that you can add newer or up to date information, fix broken links, add some further reading to other articles you’ve since written, correct errors etc. Can I Promote it Again?Many of the posts in your archives could probably be promoted in some fresh way. The key is to find ‘evergreen’ content that hasn’t dated (or to update older posts with fresh information). Late last year I wrote a post about how every day I try to find at least one post in my archives at Digital Photography School that I share on social media. Can I Do a Followup Post?The posts in your archives can be a great source of inspiration for future posts on your blog. There are many ways to extend a post without simply rewriting the content you’ve already published. These might include:
In each case above you not only are creating an extra post but you also can link back to the previous post to give readers a more holistic perspective on the topic. By doing so you also potentially are taking your readers on a bit of a journey through your archives and creating some momentum with your content over time. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger 3 Important Questions To Ask About Posts in Your Blog Archives     |
| Content Marketing Smart – Why Your Blog Article is Just the Beginning Posted: 11 Mar 2014 09:23 AM PDT This is a guest contribution from James Scherer, of Wishpond  Image via Flickr user captainmcdan Monday: a couple hours of research, six hours of head-down writing, two (five?) coffee-breaks. End result: One 2000 word, comprehensive article on Facebook Ad best practices. Publish. Tuesday: a couple hours of research, six hours of head-down writing… Rinse. Repeat. Let's rethink how we create content. In this article I'll dive into content marketing smart, not hard. I'll discuss re-using your content in five awesome ways that will save you time, energy, and increase your content ROI in the new year. Introduction to content marketing smartYour blog article is just the beginning. Think about it as a river, and the rest of your content as streams coming off it. The source is great, but the streams spread wider and do totally different and amazing things. Content marketing smart is all about using your existing content in creative, practical ways that save you time and energy but give you a great return on your investment. Primarily, it's about thinking outside the box to use your time more intelligently. Start with a well-researched blog article, and end with all types of content that generate brand awareness in different, exciting ways. Why content marketing smart works better in 2014 than it did in 2013: Every prediction article I've read (including the one I wrote) has talked about a shift in content. Here's what's happening: Google is rewarding social shares as much as it is link building. Previously, Google's search algorithm considered a link to, or from, your content as a vote in its favor. Longer blog articles could have a greater number of links, increasing their SEO. Yes, there were other factors, but link-building was at the heart of blog SEO for a long time. With the integration of the Hummingbird Algorithm in August though, Google's search mechanism changed. For the first time ever, the top of the SEO factor list was the number of Google+ social endorsements your content had. Links were still important, but the term 'Social Media Optimization' had attained a whole new meaning nonetheless. What does this mean for your content?It means you need to be producing visually appealing, socially shareable, bite-size pieces of content that people can love, share, and leave. 5 tips to optimizing for social:
Your five pieces of content:
1. Blog Article:Put some serious time and energy into your blog articles. I'm talking 1800+ words (don't worry, you'll get more out of those 1800+ words than ever before). Do your research; check out infographics and case studies from around the web; read academic journals (yes, I do this); talk to peers or experts, etc. Make them awesome. Make them optimized for search. Promote and syndicate the hell out of them. I recommend a running-theme (it makes the ebook easier) for a few weeks. Try around five or six articles giving an in-depth look at a subject. For instance: Article 1: Introduction to [Blank] Fact-heavy, long-form articles are still wanted. There remains a sizeable audience for the comprehensive guides and 25-step how-tos. So you don't get to stop writing them. Plus, they're even more valuable now that you can re-use that awesome content in so many creative and interesting ways. But really, do you want to do two hours of research, write for a day, publish, and then start all over again the next morning? Let's market smart, not hard. 2. Slideshare Presentations:If you're just joining us, Slideshare is a free content-sharing website which makes your business' presentations available to an ever-increasing number of users. Your business' presentations are fully embeddable in your own blog and others. They're easily downloadable, and Slideshare's built-in social sharing tool makes the SMO easy. In fact, I've seen a few of my own Slideshare presentations with a better SEO than their original articles. A few months ago you would have seen me taking an hour or two each day to force every one of my blog articles into a Slideshare presentation. The problem is, not every article lends itself to presentation format. Not every sub-heading has three bullet-points and an example image. I was pushing a square peg into a round hole and my content was suffering. What I do now is find those blog articles I've written that naturally fit the format. Those articles where, without really noticing it, you've found 15 awesome statistics that surprised you and will surprise your readers. Here's what I recommend: Compile the data from one or two of your longer-form blog articles (statistics, facts, case studies, quotes, etc) and compile a couple of visually appealing Slideshares each week. Embed the presentations on your blog with a short description and promote it across your social channels. If you're interested in a more comprehensive look at Slideshare, check out How to Use Slideshare to Market your Business. 3. Comments on Influencer's Blogs and Social Media:Influencer Marketing Ammunition: For those unaware, influencer marketing is the practice of reaching out to online thought-leaders in your sector and encouraging them to help promote your brand's content. Every sector has influencers, it's just a matter of finding them (try Klout, PeerIndex or Kred) and getting in touch. Contacting the right influencer in the right way at the right time can increase your blog's readership (and your brand's online profile) by ten-fold overnight. Really. It happened to Wishpond in July (thanks @MariSmith!). Commenting is where re-using your blog content comes in. Try to comment on 2-3 influencer blogs each day. Use statistics and observations from your blog to write intelligent, insightful observations on articles with the same subject. Ask reasonable questions. Disagree in an informed and respectful manner. Commenting gets your name in an influencer's mind, so interactions on Twitter or Facebook will mean more. Asking for a share of your own blog will be better-received if they know you've shared and read theirs. Social Platform Ammunition: Your blog articles are full of great quotes, statistics and factoids that lend themselves to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest posts. Use them! There are a million articles out there about using social media to promote your blog, but how about using your blog to promote your social media? Increase brand awareness with interesting facts and stats that engage the viewer. Use your article's headers (you, or your graphic designer, spent quality time on them! Don't just use them once) to grab the attention of your Facebook Fans. Remember, across all social platforms, posts with images get substantially better engagement than those without. Don't wrack your brain on a daily basis for engaging social media fodder, simply note down the fodder that you find in your blog research or the especially creative lines in your own writing. 4. Infographic:I mentioned above that 2014 will be the year of bite-sized, visually appealing content. Again, this doesn't mean that you get to stop writing articles. But it does mean you get to learn Photoshop. Like with Slideshare, use the statistics from your blogs (maybe a few of your blogs) and create a visually-awesome, palatable infographic that communicates a ton of information in a beautiful and easy way. Infographics almost always generate more engagement than a blog article and are great for spreading brand awareness as people will pick them up, embed them on their own sites, and credit your business. Yes, for many small businesses without a graphic designer infographics can be difficult. However, I'd urge you to experiment with free design software (if you can't afford or don't already have Photoshop, InDesign or Adobe Illustrator) like Gimp, Info.gram or Piktochart. Remember to offer your infographics as guest posts on other blog sites (once you've posted it on yours). For social media marketers, try AllFacebook, Entrepeneur and Business2Community. And syndicate on sites like BizSugar, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg and Diigo. 5. Monthly ebook:Ebooks are the end product of your content recycling strategy. Once you've written five or six awesome blog articles on the same subject, compile them into a comprehensive ebook. This can be done with free software (even Powerpoint – just export as a PDF), but I really recommend InDesign – as your ebook will come out more professionally done and appealing to the reader. Ebooks are really valuable pieces of content, worth more to your readers and your business than any other piece you create. They're in-depth guides on their subject; something people can download and save to their computer and read and re-read for guidance and inspiration. Because of their value (and the work required to create them) I tend to make my ebooks email-gated. Basically I create a landing page for each ebook I produce and ask visitors to provide an email before getting access to the amazing content I've generated. Because only people interested in my ebook's subject matter will provide their email address, the process segments those emails for you – facilitating your business' email marketing/sales funnel. ConclusionHopefully you now have a better idea of how, and why, you can recycle your content. It saves you time and energy – allowing you to experiment with different formats of your own. Something I'd highly recommend, if you're not already, is organizing your content into a content calendar. Calendars keep your different kinds of content sensible and timely. Try an ebook every month or so, two Slideshares a week, a bi-weekly infographic, and three blog comments a day. Have you had success, or frustrations, with re-using content? Have you found it saves you time or requires you to wear too many hats? Start the conversation below! James Scherer is a content marketer for Wishpond and author of the ebook The Complete Guide to Facebook Ads. Wishpond makes it easy to run Facebook Ads, create landing pages & contests, email automation campaigns & manage all of your business' contacts. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger Content Marketing Smart – Why Your Blog Article is Just the Beginning     |
| You are subscribed to email updates from @ProBlogger To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment