 It oughta be a law, or something. As a simple condition of their continued existence, internet merchants should be required to buy all of their material needs online. I’m talking everything: from toilet paper to shoelaces, and from DVDs to food (Omaha Steaks serves up an absolutely delectable Chocolate Lover’s Cake). In my opinion, it’s an idea that’s been way too long in coming.
Think of the positive implications. First of all, it’s never a bad idea—always a great one, in fact—to support the local economy. And if that “local” economy just happens to be the world wide web, so be it. Same principle, right? But there’s actually an even better reason for it. It’s something that could be easily filed under “educational purposes” but would really be more of a “public service” issue. Because maybe (just maybe) if online merchants really knew what it was like to live a day in the shoes of us cybershoppers, life would get a lot easier for everyone.
Believe it or not, shopping cart abandonment is a serious deal. And it actually comes as a surprise to some online merchants that upwards of 75 percent of their shoppers are walking away (clicking away is more appropriate) before finalizing their transactions. It’s become a point of controversy so severe that some have even hired help to try and figure out why their shopping cart abandonment rates are so high. They should have asked me. I’d only have charged them $20.
The secret? Don’t give me an opportunity to change my mind! If your checkout process is so long and tedious that I actually have time to get buyer’s remorse before finalizing the sale, your process needs a serious overhaul. A smart merchant compares their checkout process against all others, and wastes no time making improvements.
Vince Font is a freelance writer with a burning desire to teach the world the difference between there, they’re and their. He currently resides in Utah with his wife, two dogs and a mouse he’s convinced the D-Con didn’t get rid of.
Image from www.grokdotcom.com
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 Website content comes in many forms. Implement these innovative ideas to set your site apart from the millions of other pages of content on the Web.
White Papers
Nothing says authority like a white paper. Go beyond the mundane, and infuse yours with your corporate personality, humor, even graphics and video.
A professional freelance writer can take even the most technical topic and make it easy for anyone—even beginners in your field—to understand.
Not Your Ordinary User’s Manual
Have a new product? Re-print the user’s manual on your website. But we’re not talking about the same, boring content. Spice it up with a blend of humor, anecdotes and quick tips and tricks to make using your new product the fun experience you know it can be. Well, unless you make something like dentist’s drills, of course.
Articles
Anyone can write articles, but only the best content providers will offer timely, unique information helpful to your site’s visitors. Every article you post on your site should give the reader information they didn’t have before, that will help them in some way.
Dawn Allcot is a full-time freelance writer and blogger. She frequently writes about technology, business, parenting and paintball.
Image from blog.eicrasoft.com
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 We love Betty White's appearance in this year's Super Bowl ads! Most people really don’t care for advertisements and blatant marketing pitches. The popularity of the Tivo is evidence of that. However, each year, people who have zero interest in football gather around the television – to watch the ads.
Why is this? Because the cost of a spot during the Super Bowl is so expensive, advertisers pull out their big guns to make their commercial truly worth it: Memorable, entertaining, surprising, uplifting – even controversial – and all in 30-second, 45-second and 1-minutes bites. In case you missed them, you can take a look at all the 2010 Super Bowl ads on Creativity Online (oh, and New Orleans won by the way).
It goes to show you that if you can give value to people and entertain them, which is the whole premise behind content marketing, people don’t mind the sales pitch that comes with it. We also learn from the Super Bowl ad phenomenon that prioritizing the audience and what they get out of your marketing effort makes a big difference in your final product (be it an ad, a blog post or another content marketing tactic). Compare one of the Super Bowl XLIV spots to a non-Super Bowl ad of the same company. Which one is primarily about your entertainment and which one is primarily about product features? Which one shows the most creativity and which one features predictable (even cliched) writing? By simply setting a different audience-driven goal the outcome is better.
Think about this when you’re developing your content marketing. Are you thinking about whether your audience, readers or customers are truly getting anything out of your work? Is it unique? Is it something people will want to talk about and share with others? It’s a big task, so consider contracting a content marketing company or hiring a freelance writer to help you achieve something truly buzz-worthy.
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When you’re brainstorming content ideas for your next SEO campaign, try asking yourself a few questions about your site and take some notions from the answers. Your site may have [...]
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Your website visitors look to you as an authority in your field, and they read the content on your website looking for tips and advice that will improve their lives. [...]
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Those who work in a marketing agency or marketing department of a company have likely encountered a client, colleague or boss who was very excited about Internet trends. Some examples [...]
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While the algorithms that determine a website’s page rank are both confidential and complicated, quality inbound links seem to have the most impact. A strong internal linking strategy, therefore, will [...]
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When people talk about content marketing and website optimization, the focus is often on search engine optimization (SEO) and how you can attract people to your site.
This is all important, [...]
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Even if the weather may be lousy (or not – thank you, global warming!), it’s important for us to all pry ourselves away from the computer and get out there [...]
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I tend to believe the old adage that there is very little to be said that hasn’t already been said before. About anything. My job as a website content [...]
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Hiring a writer to produce content for your website is similar to hiring any other independent contractor. To ensure a smooth business relationship, follow these tips.
Be clear about your needs. [...]
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If you use a link building strategy to drive traffic to a deeper page on your site, it’s important to plan carefully. If you’re running a sale or special [...]
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Let’s be honest, when Apple unveiled its new, giant version of the iPod Touch, err…iPad on January 27th, the usual sense of wonder and sparkle just wasn’t really there. The [...]
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With Conan O’Brien off the air and Jay Leno still around, we figured you could use a laugh. Well, some people (like freelance creatives) might find the video below funny [...]
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Creating contextually-strong, embedded links improves your website’s search ranking. Follow these linking strategies to get the maximum benefit from external and internal links.
Don’t permit “orphan” links on your site. Links [...]
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As more marketing moves to the web more and more traditional writers and journalists are selling their writing services to write web content. At first, this seems great, you can [...]
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Yesterday morning, the blogosphere and Tweeps were all abuzz (to put it mildly) in anticipation of Apple’s big reveal of their tablet product. Many a joke was made about iMoses [...]
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The world of online marketing is astir over Google’s recent unveiling of its real-time search function, which now ranks search results by relevancy and publication date. The odds are, despite [...]
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Ever wonder what link building strategies work and which ones don’t? There is plenty of advice out there, some good, some bad and some hopelessly out of date. What works? [...]
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When you hire a freelance writer, you should approach it in the same way you would hire any professional sub-contractor. While most writers work remotely, you can still garner a [...]
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Have lunch plans tomorrow? If not, consider having that roast beef sandwich and Activia with us!
January 28th, 1 PM EST
Join us for the monthly ideaLaunch Content Marketing Webinar v8 focused [...]
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Content marketing isn’t about increasing visibility. In the end, the goal is ultimately to increase sales. It’s important not to lose sight of that when you get entrenched in search [...]
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Interested in boosting your website’s conversion rate? If not, you should be. Your conversion rate is what happens after you’ve attracted a visitor to your website through smart search [...]
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When you hire a freelancer, we know you want that perfect balance between price and quality. The value sweet spot where you get amazing work at an amazing price. Here [...]
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Think your organization is too conservative to get into blogging? Too bureaucratic to start content marketing efforts?
Regardless of your religious affiliation, it may be time to take a cue from [...]
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When you hire SEO writers to do content creation for your website, SEO research is a very important part of creating new campaign ideas. You may know what keywords are [...]
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When you hire a freelance writer, you are purchasing “rights” to the work he or she has created. Publication “rights” tell you—the client—how you may use the work supplied by [...]
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There are two basic types of SEO content you can build campaign ideas for. One is for SEO optimized tips—small, bite-sized content that is quickly readable and provides useful advice [...]
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I love getting content creation ideas from things that seem to have nothing to do with the topic I’m writing about. Getting away from industry news, expert analysis and the [...]
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I was recently forwarded a link to Web Designer Ledger’s gallery of “30 Examples of Latte Art“. For these baristas-slash-artists, there is no such thing as a small job. They [...]
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Byron White, President of ideaLaunch, and Carolyn McKibbin, Director of Content Services, presented a Webinar entitled “Tracking Content ROI” at the BrightTALK Content Marketing Summit on January 20th.
Byron started by [...]
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We’ve all been to the site that sells some product and there are a hundred testimonials that say how amazing and life changing the product is. But upon closer inspection [...]
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You hired a writer, you have great content – now it’s time to promote it.
As we’ve said many times here at ideaLaunch, the Field of Dreams idea that if you [...]
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If you’re going to hire a writer, there’s a good chance that you’ll be sharing information that’s not open to the public (internal branding documents, information about upcoming products, etc.). [...]
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That’s right, you heard me.
Clearly you are a grinch and a talentless hack who has never won anything.
All true – but, actually, I love some contests. Hosting a hot dog [...]
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Remember the last time you stood in the middle of a store looking around, wandering kind of aimlessly even though you had an idea of what you wanted?
Then a [...]
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If you’re new to SEO writing and hiring writers, there’s a big pitfall you should avoid when formulating your SEO strategy. Those with a good deal of experience with [...]
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It’s a good idea to have a contract in any business arrangement. When you hire a freelance writer, a contract protects your business and will make the writer feel more [...]
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My name is Britt Reints, and I’m a professional guest blogger. Seriously. There’s a line on my resume that says “guest blogger”. That’s how I ended up posting here, as [...]
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A creative vocabulary is a useful tool to have when it comes to SEO writing.
When making a list of potential keywords, it’s helpful to think of synonyms and alternative phrasing. [...]
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Practitioners of shady black hat schemes and propagators of questionable SEO content beware! There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Google. Okay, so maybe Sheriff Google doesn’t [...]
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Whether you know what conversion rates are or not, one of your most important goals is improving them. Chances are you’ve already tried a few experimental techniques to raise those [...]
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In life and business, things are not always sunshine and lollipops (and if that’s news to you, I’d like to switch places with you for a week, please). While public [...]
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When it comes to marketing a business, there are several tools you can use in your swiss army knife of promotion. At ideaLaunch, our primary focus is content marketing – [...]
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Freelance writers are professionals—treat them as such and you will enjoy a smooth business relationship.
It’s okay to have certain expectations when you enter a business agreement and hire a freelance writer. You [...]
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One part of a strong SEO optimization plan is having a good link building strategy. If you’re going to rank well on a search engine, you need other people to [...]
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If you hope to market content through online articles, a blog, podcast or vlog – even SEO writing – one of the best ways to endear an audience is [...]
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You wouldn’t hire a mechanic to perform brain surgery. And you’d never hire a lawyer to re-shingle your roof. Some jobs are best left to the experts. So why wouldn’t [...]
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When you’re looking for content marketing advice there are so many places to get free advice it can make your head swim. From people you’re not sure you even [...]
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