The 7 Deadly Sins of Content Marketing

Content marketing has become a popular online marketing tactic over the last few years, with many businesses incorporating it into their larger digital marketing strategy. Unfortunately, content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) aren’t always integrated well — or at all — within an organization.

Content creation strategies should be based on a thorough SEO analysis, including advanced keyword research. Without SEO, content marketing efforts can’t reach their full potential with regard to online visibility. Even content that is well-written, attractively presented and expensive to create will underperform without careful preparatory research.

Following are seven common mistakes businesses make by not integrating SEO (and other digital marketing disciplines) into their content strategy.

1. Not doing proper keyword research

Some content marketers imagine keyword research is only about keywords and search volumes. But it’s much more. Keyword research is a tool for planning your content strategically, not just from an SEO perspective, but also for branding, communication and public relations, with the overarching focus of achieving business goals.

It’s astonishing how many content creators don’t undertake keyword research at all, instead going by gut feelings and instinct. They don’t map out a topic to uncover all the relevant keywords. They use guesswork and random brainstorming to find some relevant phrases and trust that that is good enough. But if your content strategy is not based on real data from thorough research, it’s not going to perform to its potential.

Smart keyword research lets you predict what your audience needs — before they tell you, or even before they know it themselves! Guided by a properly prioritized set of keywords, your content team can be creative while anchoring their ideas to data.

Your role, as a content marketer, is to play matchmaker between content and the people searching for it. Look at their intent, needs and wants. Apply that intelligence to create content which converts visitors into buyers.

2. Not testing out content ideas

Tools like BuzzSumo help you predict if your content ideas will work by studying how they worked for others. Use it to find out what kind of content about a specific topic or keyword is more engaging to your audience. Look at statistics to see how many times it has been shared with others on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or LinkedIn. That information helps you plan future content.

3. Not utilizing AdWords data to study conversion rates and performance

With paid search and Google AdWords, you can see how keywords in your search campaigns are converting. Planning your content around the best-converting keywords can make your website more profitable.

4. Relying solely on Google data to guide content topics

Google’s tools are good, but they’re not the be-all and end-all of keyword research for SEO and content marketing.

For example, Google Analytics only reviews data you already have. You can tell which search terms brought you more visitors or which content is more popular. But this tells you nothing about your actual unrealized potential. While Google Analytics should be part of your keyword research, it is not enough by itself.

Similarly, I find that Google’s own keyword research tool, Google Keyword Planner, doesn’t provide reliable search volume data. While the tool is good for spotting seasonal or directional trends, as well as comparing the relative popularity of multiple search terms, the exact search volume numbers themselves should not be taken as gospel.

I also find Google Keyword Planner conceals many long-tail keywords, unless you know how to dig deep for them. This means you’ll miss out on important data. Keyword phrases with three or more words are more specific and can help you discern user intent, letting you can create content that answers their questions and meets their expectations better.

Again, Google tools should absolutely be used in your keyword research for SEO and content marketing, but you’ll need to use other data sources as well.

5. Not measuring performance or taking action on the data

Having worked with omnichannel marketing clients and large companies that have a combination of e-commerce and local retail stores in different cities, I often find they don’t measure performance of the content they have invested in.

Sometimes they simply don’t know how to do it or don’t have the tools, systems or knowledge to do it right. But in many instances, it’s only because they lack motivation.

Let me ask you this: If content producers are given the opportunity to produce ineffective content over a period of several years, without anyone paying attention to the problem, whose responsibility is it?

6. Thinking content marketing is the new SEO

Content marketing isn’t SEO. Yes, high-quality content is important in order to rank well. But search engines demand more than that. Search Engine Land’s very own Periodic Table Of SEO Success Factors offers an excellent overview of how Google works and how SEO isn’t limited to content alone.

Blasting out one blog post after another won’t help you reach your highest SEO potential. In fact, creating a few outstanding, memorable articles that are well-researched and written by experts, ones that others would have a hard time improving upon, can set you apart from everyone else — especially if they’ve been properly optimized for search engines.

7. Failing to apply new knowledge

The most disappointing reason that businesses fail with content marketing is that many business leaders, content producers, agencies and strategists actually know most of what I’ve just said — but they don’t act on their knowledge.

They are passive and keep postponing any corrective action. They know it’s important, but they don’t want results badly enough to make the changes happen. It’s easier to pretend nothing’s wrong and carry on. Sometimes, it takes a serious failure to jolt them out of their comfort zone.

Final thoughts

I hope you liked this compilation of reasons why content marketing fails and found it interesting and helpful. If you found any of the reasons or examples relevant to your own situation, then it’s time to bite the bullet and make changes. Bookmark this page as a reminder. Share it with your team.

Make sure this is the day you change the way you think about content marketing and SEO. Sure, it often hurts to know the truth. But this is also your wake-up call to step out of the shadows and into the light.

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8 Mistakes Even Professional Content Writers Make (And How to Avoid Them)

I’ve done a lot of dumb things as a writer. But that’s okay. Mistakes are the best way to learn, right? 

When we make a mistake once, we usually don’t make it again. And the less time we have to spend correcting our mistakes, the more time we have to actually get things done. 

I've outlined a list of eight common mistakes that professional content writers sometimes make below. The idea is that once you learn about these mistakes, you’ll be less likely to commit them yourself. Let's walk through them ...

8 Mistakes Even Professional Content Writers Make (And How to Avoid Them)

Mistake #1: Thinking that you can’t break through writer’s block.

Some people tend to think that writer’s block is an unbreakable force -- nothing can be written until the block is broken.

The truth is, you can break writer’s block. Some people stand on their head, but there are other helpful tools you can use, too. 

Next time you experience writer’s block, try shifting your mindset. Don’t think, “Oh no! I can’t write.” Instead, think, “Okay, I’ve got this. I’m going to make it.”

Want more advice on how to beat writer's block and actually enjoy writing again? Check out this post.

Mistake #2: Not editing your work.

You need time to edit your writing when it’s cold. In other words, let some time pass before you go back and work on that article again. You’ll view it with a new sense of curiosity, perspective, and insight.

Not everyone loves editing. I get that. Look at it this way, though: Editing turns something great into something even greater. That’s something to look forward to. For advice on how to approach a piece of content, check out these strategic editing tipsfrom HubSpot's Ginny Soskey.

Mistake #3: Not proofreading your work.

After you edit, you need to proofread, too. Editing is making those big changes to the content itself. Proofreading is making the tiny changes to the grammar and spelling.

I’ve made a habit of never releasing a word of content until it’s been edited or proofread at least four times. Proofread, and proofread again. You’ll be glad you did.

Before you publish your next piece of content, check out this helpful proofreading checklist.

Mistake #4: Not doing any research.

You may be the world’s most brilliant writer and master of your subject, but you should do a little bit of research on your subject matter. People aren’t as impressed by your opinion as they are by a breadth of studies, data, evidence, and other information thatcorroborate your opinion.

Get ready for hard work, though. Here’s how one researcher described the researchprocess:

Research is not only a science but also an art and it is not easy. It requires honest and hard work with patience and perseverance. Not everyone is a born writer and authors can fall ill with headaches and backaches during the process of writing the research results."

Research can be fun. When you realize that you’re providing your readers with insight and advanced knowledge, a simple writing project can take on a new level of excitement. Need help uncovering credible statistics to support your content, check out these nine reputable resources.

Mistake #5: Not defining your pronouns.

Huh? What does “not defining your pronouns” mean? Allow me to explain ...

The following words are pronouns:

• It
• This
• These
• Those
• That

There are a lot of pronouns in the English language. Pronouns are helpful, useful, important parts of speech.

What is the problem? Not defining them:

• Those are bad. What are bad?
• That’s no good. What’s no good?
• It’s a problem. What’s a problem?
• Destroy these. Destroy what?

You should define all pronouns either within the context of your writing or within the sentence. Undefined pronouns lead to unclear writing.

Mistake #6: Writing too fast or too slow.

There’s no correct writing speed. Each writer should write at the pace that suits them and allows their creativity to flow. However, be aware that your speed of writing influences your quality of writing.

• If you write too fast, you could make sloppy mistakes.
• If you write too slowly, you could make clumsy mistakes.

When reading, the mind goes over information faster than while writing. Keep this in mind when you write. Your mind easily processes long sentences or big words when you’re writing them. But to the reader -- whose eyes are skimming across your content at 300 words per minute -- your writing is dull, ponderous, slow, and agonizing.

If you write fast, your brain is moving at a closer equivalent to the normal reading speed. Of course, you should still pay attention to your words, sentences, and structure. But at the same time, you’ll be able to get down those thoughts in a more fluid and natural way.

Here’s how the The Huffington Post reported on one writing speed researcher:

Typing can be too fluent or too fast, and can actually impair the writing process,” Srdan Medimorec, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts at Waterloo said in a statement. “It seems that what we write is a product of the interactions between our thoughts and the tools we use to express them.”

A 2016 study from the University of Waterloo discovered, “the quality of your writing will likely get better if you simply type slower.”

Does this mean that you should try to move your fingers slowly, type with one hand, or just trudge along at a lazy pace? Not necessarily.

Each person has their own right pace. And different types of content demand a slower or faster pace. You move at the pace that’s best for you.

In some situations, the ideas and words are coming at an incredibly fast rate. You have to type as fast as you can. In other cases, you might be doing careful research, searching for the precise word, or writing about a sensitive subject. Slowing down is a good idea.

Mistake #7: Not understanding who your readers are.

If you want to become a better writer, become a better student of your reader. It’s actually pretty simple.

Great writing is connecting with readers in a meaningful way. You won’t be able to perform that task unless you get in their heads. I challenge all writers, before putting a single word on a page, to do as much research and gain as much understanding of their potential readers as possible.

The process is as simple as going through the exercise of creating a persona, and reminding yourself of that person every time you write. (Check out this free tool to get started.)

Mistake #8: Not outlining an article before you write it.

Outlining might bring back memories of high school English class. Don’t worry. That’s not what I’m talking about here. 

The process of outlining is simply creating a structure for your article.

I do a lot of writing, and one of the things that helps me write with clarity and speed is outlining. First, I jot down a quick introduction and conclusion. This helps me to lead up to my subject matter, and then sum it up. Doing so also makes me fill the empty space between with something relevant and meaningful.

Generally, my outline simply looks like a few bullet points. My goal is to write down the main things I want to talk about. Usually, they aren’t even complete sentences. (No big deal. I’m not writing my article at this point. I’m just outlining it.)

The whole process takes me ten minutes or so, but it saves me hours of time. Plus, it gives my article more clarity.

Ready to Write?

Writing better is about blowing apart old habits and horrible mistakes. Even though I’ve been writing almost every day for ten years, I still make mistakes. Hopefully, my mistakes are becoming fewer and fewer, but I still catch myself making them sometimes.

At the same time, however, I feel like I’m improving. And that’s what becoming a better writer is all about.

What about you? What mistakes are you eliminating in order to improve your writing?

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Seven Mistakes Killing Your Content Marketing

Creating content in a single format and failing to invest in your own channels are just two common content mistakes, according to the NewsCred #ThinkContent summit.

In the past few years, “content marketing” has gone from buzzword to sophisticated marketing practice, and the NewsCred #ThinkContent Summit has grown along with it - from 150 attendees three years ago to more than 2,000 registrants for this week’s event in New York City.  

At the summit, we heard insights and best practices from content experts ranging from Chobani and MasterCard to Droga5 and BuzzFeed. We also learned what not to do. Read on, so you can avoid these seven mistakes yourself.

1. Making “Branded Content” Instead of “Content”

“Create ads that work as content” has been a mantra for years, but with increased media fragmentation and growing consumer choice, it’s never rung truer. To be successful, content marketers must stop interrupting what people want to watch, and start creating content people want to watch, implores NewsCred’s Head of Strategy Michael Brenner. 

YouTube’s Cenk Bulbul shared research that took this truth one step further: consumers only want to watch ads they can skip! GEICO accepted the challenge, and delivered a great piece of video content that dares you to click “skip,” but proves irresistible. (I watched for the full minute.)   

Expert tip: Create content people actually want to watch. 

2. Confusing Your Product with Your Purpose 

As marketers, we often research who our customers are, but we also need to remind ourselves what business we’re in. After all, Kodak wasn’t in the business of selling film; it was in the business of capturing memories. As NewsCred CEO and co-founder Shafqat Islam points out, GoPro only mentions the word “camera” a handful of times on its homepage – GoPro is in the business of sharing experiences. 

Expert tip: Stay true to the “why” of your brand.

 3. Building Your House on Rented Land

“Content is King, but Distribution is Queen” has become such a maxim among marketers that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.  In our attempt to be on every platform, we’ve neglected our owned channels, warns NewsCred’s Brenner. On-site visits enable the greatest control of the consumer experience and provide the most granular data to help brands build successful relationships with consumers.  

But hubs on owned channels alone aren’t enough.  “Everybody can be a publisher, but few publishers have readers,” reminds Tomas Kellner of GE. Case in point: 21.4 percent of visits to GE Reports come in through referral sites. This piece from GE Reports racked up loads of media pickups – and 3,000 shares from the Independent alone.  

 Expert tip: Don’t forget to invest in your owned channels. 

4. Creating Content in Just One Format

One-size-fits-all messaging doesn’t work, and neither does one-format-fits-all. Create content in multiple formats so it’s easy for others to share on your behalf.  That means turning long-form blog posts into tweets, slideshows, GIFs, Vines, and infographics. One of IntelIQ’s most successful stories (with more than 300K views) was about a Spider Dress, which crawled all over the web in various formats, building awareness and driving traffic back to IntelIQ. 

Expert tip: Take a “package” approach to your content. Slice and dice it so it’s easy for others to distribute. 

5. Measuring Weekly

The next stage in the evolution of content marketing will be demonstrating ROI.  But content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint, Intel’s Luke Kintigh says. Long-term success will require an “always on” approach, building presence and engagement over time.  GE has been at it for 8 years, and it wasn’t hockey stick growth, GE’s Kellner confesses. As you build long-term presence, measure everything, and mine successes for insights to inform future campaigns. As Pixibility’s recent report shows, the most successful creators publish much more frequently and consistently. 

 

 Expert tip: Measure everything – but not in isolation.

6. Thinking Marketing Is Only Responsible for Brand Building 

Seventy percent of the sales process occurs before a prospect ever meets a salesperson, Ben Edward of IBM explains. Marketing’s job is “creating opportunity,” which means taking responsibility for a greater portion of the path to purchase. 

Expert tip: Invest in nurture funnel management software and have a frank conversation about Marketing’s role as a revenue-driver, not a cost-center.

7. Thinking Too Small

“There are no low-interest categories, only low-interest ideas,” says Droga5 Vice Chairman Andrew Essex. And he’s got the portfolio to prove it, including a heartwarming and much-lauded campaign for Honey Maid, showing today’s “wholesome” families. 

Tomas Kellner of GE agreed. “If you can produce content that people want to talk about and share, then you win,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s ‘brand content’ or ‘sponsored content’ or ‘native advertising’ or ‘journalism.’” It’s just great work. 

 Expert tip: Assume you have permission to make great work. 

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10 Content Marketing Mistakes That The Amateurs Make

Content marketing is time consuming

Do you often wake up in the middle of the night saying to yourself that it’s not worth the time and effort. Many of us do.

Blog posts take hours to write, those great images need to be found or created and those social networks meed to be managed and nurtured. It is often not done or persisted with because there are no apparent quick rewards.

This is where the tortoise can beat the hare by slow persistence. It is a marathon and a journey not a sprint.

One way of thinking about great content marketing is that you are building an audience before you need them. Content builds credibility, trust and followers over time. This earns you the right to then sell them something down the track.

When content marketing and social media emerged there were no tools. Today we have so many technology tools that it’s overwhelming.

The real benefit with marketing tools is that you can start to scale your efforts. It was something I realized with Twitter early on. A few years ago I implemented one software platform that saved me 120 hours a month and it still does.

So what are some content marketing mistakes that many amateurs new to the game are making.

1. Not automating

Social media purists will tell you that automating social media to share your content is a crime worthy of naming, shaming and retribution. It is declared to not be social. I get that on a personal level but on a business level it is stupid.

Marketing in the past was a creative pursuit. The art of the headline, copy writing and producing engaging ads. Marketing is now an art and a science.

The art? Copy and creative.

The science? Technology and the analytics.

Social media and digital marketing is made up of many moving parts.

• Social media
• Email marketing
• Content marketing
• Blogs
• Search engine optimization
• Paid Facebook ads
• Google Adwords

And the list goes on and on and on.

To be efficient and even survive in a digital marketing world requires tools. It now needs and demands technology.

Social media is just a tool. It provides crowd sourced sharing of content and for business to scale its marketing there has no choice. Otherwise you will be eating every other savvy entrepreneurs dust!

I use some very effective low cost tools to automate. There are alternatives to these but I am comfortable with how they work.

1. Socialoomph
2. Tweepi
3. Twitterfeed

Want to get serious?

Then you will want to scale your efforts with crowd sourced and user generated content (UGC) technology such as Shuttlerock. This allows you to collect, moderate and publish at scale from content collected and curated from the brands advocates and fans.

What’s made this technology possible?

Smart phones with cameras, high speed wireless Internet and social networks. It sits at the center of the perfect marketing storm. The synergy of social, mobile and visual.

Automation also allows you to do social and content marketing at scale.

To add to the automation you will also need to implement marketing platforms like Infusionsoft, Marketo or Ontraport. These are effectively CRM platforms on steroids.

You can now automate email, social campaigns and marketing funnels that provide metrics at every level.

At a simple layer you need to be measuring clicks, opt-ins and “earnings per click” (EPC)

2. Not optimizing for search engines

Content that is just optimized for search engines is like eating sawdust. Bland, dry and boring.

We saw this when key word stuffing was part of the SEO experts toolkit. Google’s changes saw this practice disappear.

But on the other hand not including SEO in your content tactics is just leaving a lot of traffic on the shelf. I made this mistake when starting. Today before every post is created and published on this blog it has been written to not only engage and capture your attention but it has also been designed to capture Google’s attention.

So find the 25-50 key phrases you want to rank for and start optimizing your website, blog and content today. Down the track you will thank me. If you get it right over 50% of your traffic will turn for free from ranking high in Google.

3. Not hustling your content

Build it and they will come is not a sensible approach.

Content marketing includes two words. There is so much great content that is just languishing behind a wall of  online noise. You need to break through.

How do you do that?

One tweet is not enough. A single post on Facebook is now almost a waste of time. And one email a month is not going to cut it. Just earning attention is now a challenge. Paying for digital ads is also in the mix. A shame, but that is now the game.

Content hustling involves but not limited to:

• A multichannel strategy on social
• Creating viral visual content
• Re-purposing text content into various media
• It requires repeat promotion.
• It means emailing that content.
• Building relationships and  joint ventures with influencers and other bloggers.
• Guest posting
• Building relationships with influencers

If you thought content marketing was a get rich quick scheme then maybe its time to give up before you start.

4. Not working on your headlines

List headlines are everywhere. You know what I mean. They look like this:

• 23 Ways to clean your teeth
• 7 simple tips to keeping fit in only 5 minutes a day

The lists go on and on and on. Most of us are so over them but they still keep coming.

A recent study by Fractl and Buzzfeed over 6 months and 220,000 articles, looked at 5 different types of content and guess which of the five types worked best? Listicles.

Buzzfeed is the master of them. Here is an example titled “”27 Completely Innocent Images That Will Bother You For Some Reason”

So why?

They work! If they didn’t then these top media sites and blogs would stop using them but the metrics tell you the truth.

But that Buzzfeed article also reveals something else.

The power of using strong visuals that almost beg to be shared. If you take a closer look at the technology on Buzzfeed, each image has sharing buttons. 
So you can not only share the post but share each image.

5. Not experimenting

Coca Cola rewrote their marketing strategy and content was at its core. They also created a ratio that highlighted the need for on-going experimentation. Here is the ratio explained.

Part of the Coca Cola content strategy is applying a 70/20/10 Investment principle to creating “Liquid content“.

• 70% of your content should be low risk. It pays the rent and is your bread and butter marketing (should be easy to do and only consumes 50% of your time)
• 20% of your content creation should innovate off what works.
• 10% of your content marketing is high risk ideas that will be tomorrows 70% or 20%…. be prepared to fail

This provides a blueprint regarding moving on from just developing white 
papers, to trying some content that is more visual, courageous and engaging in web world that has embraced multimedia and interactive content.

6. Poor quality content

Forget writing for search engines.

Now I know told you before that you needed to optimize for search. But if that is all you do and your content is designed only for search then it will turn people away.

Content that is fun, conversational and creative will touch people’s hearts and they will come back.

How would you define great quality content? Here are some simple tips:

• Create or find fun visuals that are creative and shareable.
• Write introductions that engage your audience within seconds.
• Simplicity. Posts and articles should be written in a manner that almost everyone can understand.
• Good grammar and spelling. Now I didn’t say perfect.
• Surprise people with an insight that they may not have heard of. It could be a fact or statistic that is revealing
• Conversational. Language is always evolving and people now like to read articles that are written like we speak.
• Solves problems, inspires, entertains

7. Not building and owning your online content distribution

In the past you bought access to your customers by placing ads in newspapers, magazines and even using a direct mail company. In a digital age and on a social web you need to invest in growing your own tribe and network.

It is an unprecedented opportunity that didn’t exist before. It is the digital marketing trinity.

1. Email list
2. Social networks on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
3. Search engines

This is the work of years and persistent effort.

The other task is to own your traffic. What do I mean?

There are 3 ways to create web traffic. Pay for it, earn it or own it.

1. Paid traffic

If you have the money and the budget then paying for traffic is fine.

• Facebook Ads
• PPC (Pay per click) such as Google Adwords
• Banner ads
• Retargeting

2. Earned traffic

This takes time to earn and is a journey of years.

• Organic search engine traffic that comes from ranking high in a Google search
• Traffic from  your social media foillowers and networks
• Referral traffic from people linking to your website and blog

3. Owned traffic

Your primary goal should be to “convert paid and earned traffic” that arrives at your website and “convert it into owned traffic“.

That is “your” email list.

This can be done by converting traffic through a call to action such as a webinar, ebook or premium content that requires registering or subscribing via an email.

With your email list you can reach your customers “when you want” to and not at the mercy of Google or Facebook algorithms!

Neglect this strategy at your peril.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a small blogger or a big brand. The money is still in your email list.

8. Not thinking like a publisher

All of us need to think like publishers. Google hates silence. A website and a blog that isn’t updating content on a regular basis will not be crawled by 
Google’s search engine spider.

You will not earn authority on search engines.  People will not follow you on social networks if your content is poor, not persistent.

So how does a publisher think and act?

Here are some of the types of actions and tactics that all publishers do.

• Consistent publishing
• Creative content
• Listen to their readers
• Market their content
• Test their content

9. Not learning from the innovators

If you are only watching your niche for ideas then you are going to miss out on a lot of insights, tactics and tips that could lead you to become a leader in your industry.

Some of the top content publishers in the big brand area that are worth keeping an eye on are Red Bull and Lego. In the online publishing sector Upworthy, Buzzfeed and Viral Nova are innovative and very successful.

In the blogging space Hubspot, Buffer and Kissmetrics all do great work.

Case study in innovation outside their niche

A great example of a blog that innovated and modelled its content creation and marketing is Movoto a real estate services company. It looked at what Upworthy were doing and used that as a model even though it was outside their niche.

They are a real estate services company that has taken some these ideas and woven it into their content creation, marketing and link hustling. They have taken their real estate blog from 2,000 to 18 million views per month in just 2 years!

10. Not paying attention to conversion and analytics

All marketers have problems to solve and overcome. But there are two key challenges when you boil it down.

1. Traffic problem
2. Conversion problem

Social media and content marketers  are sometimes obsessed with traffic and social shares and miss out on what is really important. Converting that attention and traffic into leads and customers.

This means you need to move from the nice headline metrics to some real hard core numbers. These include Clicks, opt-ins and earnings per click (EPC).

Maybe it’s time to start looking closer at the merics that matter and start optimizing that traffic into paying customers?

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