The Essential Landing Page Checklist: 16 Things You Need to Double Check
By Ginny Soskey, @gsosk
Creating effective landing pages is such a core part of inbound marketing that missing one or two steps could seriously damage your conversion rates. Which is something you were already aware of unless you’re new to inbound marketing. Let’s assume you’re not a newbie, you’re just another busy inbound marketer with a laundry list of things to accomplish in a given work day. No matter your job title or length of your to-do list, we all get the same 24 hours in a day. So, the question is, how do you keep up with everything you have to remember when creating a landing page?
Answer - a handy checklist provided by Ginny Soskey of Hubspot. That’s how. Ginny was so kind as to create an online checklist that’s divided into three sections: Landing Page Content, Landing Page Form, and Landing Page User Experience. Each of these components are critical to a landing pages’ success and conversion rates. So, the next question is, are you sure there’s nothing you forgot to do when creating your last landing page? If your answer isn't a confident 'yes', take a peek at this checklist to see if anything fell between the cracks. Add ‘complete landing page checklist' to your list of duties to make sure you remember to do this every time.
Resist the Temptations of New Social Media Content Channels
By Tom Fishburne, @tomfishburne
The internet is inundated with articles about the latest and greatest development in social media. As enticing as those new channels may be, you should practice chanting the title of this article to yourself. Resist the temptation to adopt every new channel you come across. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and a place for experimentation and adopting new tools, but real professionals know when it's not that time.
In this article, Tom Fishburne reminds us that we should only adopt a new social media channel if our audience is on it. Forget Lynx and Taco Bell’s cool SnapChat campaigns. Understand that those brands didn’t invest in SnapChat, because it’s a new fad, but because it truly held some value to their target audience. How much can you afford to invest in a one-to-one messaging app that destroys content after a few seconds? Is that a realistic strategy for your company? Probably not. Read Tom’s article and you’ll find out a few other considerations to chew on before adopting a new social media channel. You’ll also see how SnapChat was leveraged by a few big brands.
Handing Over the Keys to Your Company Blog: An Experiment
By Inken Kuhlmann, @InkenKuhlmann
Everyone has trust issues when it comes to letting outsiders contribute to the company blog. And it’s a completely justified and reasonable concern. So, when an inbound company like Hubspot decides to take the plunge, the immediate question that comes to mind is ‘why?’ Why would you hand over the keys to your company blog and what outcome do you hope to achieve, Hubspot? In this blog, Inken Kuhlmann explains just that in a brief, but detailed overview of Hubspot’s German guest blogger experiment.
What I like about this blog is that they came up with a familiar solution to an unconventional situation. Hubspot launched a blog in Germany and hired German bloggers to produce content for a guest contributor week. They didn’t go ‘all-in,’ turning over their blog completely. They did so on a limited basis, which undoubtedly made the process more easy to manage. If you’re interested in learning about that process, why they chose this route, and how you can apply it to your own situation, check out Inken’s article.
How to Go “All-In” with Content Marketing: 8 Experts Weigh In
By Arnie Kuenn, @arniek
What’s stopping our company from going ‘all-in’ with content marketing? Is it lack of leadership support/commitment, no budget, or something else? I think it’s safe to say that most B2B and B2C businesses accept the theory of inbound marketing and the importance of content marketing, but most still aren’t consistently producing, quality content. Why is that? Arnie Kuenn poses this very question to eight of content marketing gurus and they gave some interesting responses.
Read this article to get answers from Scott Abel of The Content Wrangler, Jay Baer of Convince & Convert, Bernie Borges of Find & Convert, Heidi Cohen, Barry Feldman of Feldman Creative, Casie Gillette of KoMarketing Associates, Robert Rose of Digital Clarity Group, and Jon Wuebben of Content Launch.
Need More Website Visitors? Get Back to Basics
By Rachel Goodman Moore, @GoodmanRE
So, imagine you’ve just spent months designing a new website and creating fresh content all with the hopes of attracting more visitors. The only problem is that neither a website and nor content alone will increase web traffic. While they are key components in the overall plan, the act of generating traffic consists of much more. In this blog, Rachel Goodman Moore explains the successful tried and true traffic generation strategies and marketing activities that should be consistently implemented if your goal is to attract visitors. It’s a useful ‘reality check’ for marketers who need a refresher on what definitely works and should always be a part of an inbound marketing strategy.
How to Think of Good Ideas [SlideShare]
By Ginny Soskey @gsosk
Don’t you wish there was a bank of endless ‘good ideas’ that you could borrow from? That’d make life as a content creator much easier. Sadly, there is no such thing and we’re all responsible for coming up with our own good ideas. We’ve all experienced the much hated state called ‘writers block’ which leaves you completely idealess and insecure about your abilities. Fortunately, there are ways to keep your creative juices flowing with ideas that don’t make you look like an idiot.
Ginny Soskey found a SlideShare presentation by Mark Johnstone of Distilled, which can help you brainstorm your way out of a creative rut. She shares the entire 100 slide presentation, which I encourage you all to review. It’s not the normal boring presentation. If you don’t have time for that, at least digest the tweetable tips provided at the end of her article. There are only 5, but it’s just the kick you need to reignite your brainstorming fire. We’re all responsible for our own creativity, so let's stop making excuses, take the bull by the horns and be proactive about it.
