Cornerstone Service: Content Marketing & All It Can Include

The saying ‘content is king’ could not be more true. In today’s day and age, marketing looks a lot different than it used to, and the tactics that worked well 10+ years ago don’t cut it anymore.

A big reason for this is that people don’t like being sold to. We’re all getting much better at detecting a sales pitch from a mile away, thanks to the overload of advertisements we’re all bombarded with on a daily basis. It’s almost as if those old tactics – cold calling, direct sales, and advertising, etc. – are white noise at best, and annoying at worst.

If you want to truly be helpful, and cut through that white noise, then consider something new…

Consider, Content Marketing

Content marketing is all about creating useful, informative, and just generally good content for your readers. This could be anything from blog posts, emails, e-books, webinars, and videos to social media posts.

In the end, some of your readers might not convert into customers – they might just be there for the free stuff. But in the long run, you’re going to convert many more casual readers into loyal customers than you would have using traditional advertising and marketing methods.

And ultimately, you’ll be recognized as an authority figure in your industry since you’re always publishing such good content, which will only help you to land more leads and close more deals as time goes on.

Content marketing is definitely not a quick fix. It’s a labor of love that takes some blood, sweat, and tears to get right. But in the end, it’s totally worth it. And it’s even more worth it when you’re not the one shedding the blood, sweat, and tears – like when you work with a content marketing company.

JSL Marketing & Web Design (+ Content Marketing)

We’ll do the heavy lifting for you when it comes to content marketing so you can get back to running your business.

To start, we’ll sit down with you and talk about your goals and expectations. We’ll also take a detailed look at your audience. Once we have a clear idea of what you’re marketing and to whom, we’ll begin to develop a content marketing strategy.

Your personal content marketing strategy might include:

  • Blogging
  • Email Marketing
  • E-book Creation
  • Online Courses
  • Webinars
  • Videos
  • Social Media Posts
  • Podcasts
  • Infographics
  • Etc.

Strategic Blogging + Content Creation

Through our blogging services, we’ll help you develop SEO-targeted blog posts that will really work for your business. We can write just one blog, but it’s usually best to keep the ball rolling once you’ve started. In fact, many of our clients choose to have us continually produce high-quality content on a regular basis, which is great for their readers (and Google, too).

Our talented team of writers has written for companies in many different industries, and chances are good that we’ve written for your industry as well. All of our writers not only love to write but also love to learn, something that is important for writing great content. 

Content Marketing is the Future – & We Can Help You Get There!

Each content marketing strategy is a little different, but they are all based on your needs and your audience. And as time goes on, we will tweak things to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

Content marketing really is the way of the future. If you’re not already doing it, or even if you are and just want some help bringing your content marketing strategy up to speed, we can help!

Contact us today and we’ll get back to you within a day or two!

Content Marketing 101 – The What, The Where, & The Why

Content marketing is more than just putting some words to the page or writing blogs. Content marketing actually covers all of the words you read on a screen. From website copy to emails, case studies and white papers and yes, even blogs.

Here are just a few of the areas that content marketing can include:

  • Website Copy – think keywords and your brand’s unique online ‘voice’
  • Blogging – answers, articles, information, and entertainment
  • Emails – from personalized to automated, email marketing is content marketing
  • Infographics and eBooks – writing to inform and creating lead magnets along the way
  • Scripts – video is huge, and writing for your video scripts needs just as much care as designing them
  • Case Studies – these tell your company’s story, successes, services, and build trust
  • Social Media – every tweet, post, or photo caption should reflect your business and your voice

Content Marketing for Any On-Page Copy

The words on your website aren’t just for your customers, in fact, in order to even get those customers, you should be writing with Google in mind.

A large part of content marketing is, of course, the keywords – but where should you put these keywords? How many? And how many should you even target per page? Luckily, we’ve been at this for a while, and we know just how to craft the perfect content for your webpage.

Keywords

We recommend targeting 3-5 keywords (or keyword phrases) per page. Make sure you have your keywords in these four locations for the biggest impact:

  1. Page SEO Titles: Your page title is one of the most important places for your keyword to appear. Your page title is the purple text below and is the ‘title’ that shows on search engines for users to click to visit your webpage. Each page of your website should have a unique title between 40-60 characters that includes relevant keywords for that page. A recommended formula is: Page | Relevant Keyword | CompanyGoogle Snippet for web design company
  2. Meta Descriptions: Metas are the grey text above, showing a snippet of what is on the page. This is a great place to put keywords, so the user knows what to expect on the page. A good meta is between 140-160 characters, too short and you are wasting prime real estate, too long and it will be cut off by Google. Like titles, metas should be unique to each page.
  3. Headers (H1, H2, H3): Your headers are like an outline of your content with H1 being your subject at the top of the page (in the biggest font). You can have multiple H2, H3, H4, etc per page, but only one H1. Since headers are ‘subject lines’, they are weighted more heavily by Google and a great place for keywords! Instead of having your H1 be your name (JSL Marketing) use keywords (Web Design & Digital Marketing That Convert | Dallas Web Design) as this gives multiple keywords and includes location factors. Keep headers under 70 characters for the best results.
  4. Content: Content is any written word on your page, the text you read. Of course, having your keywords in your H1, title, and metas are more visible and therefore most helpful, but if you are going to talk about a subject fully and thoroughly, then these keywords and phrases will naturally be throughout your on-page content as well. Google likes to see ‘in-depth content’ that shows you know what you are talking about – it’s one of the ways it judges your expertise!

Blogging

Blogging is essentially like on-page content, in the way that it is a new ‘page’ you are able to create weekly that gives you more space for content. This content can teach, entertain, or inform your readers and should be both in-depth and keyword rich – just like your webpage copy.

If you can write a solid Home, About, our Services page, then you can create a great blog too – just remember to update it often (weekly or at least monthly) and provide helpful topics related to your industry. You really are trying to give value to your readers when you write a blog, so give them useful and actionable information!

Email Templates

Email templates should be personable and personalized – because no one wants a generic email sent out to thousands. And if that’s what they think yours reads like, it will go right into the trash bin

Write in a conversational way, show your value, and never be pushy. Writing emails or email templates are less about keywords, and more about making connections and (once again) giving value to your readers.

Scripts

As video marketing grows and shows no signs of slowing, then the art of creating content for scripts must also be growing, right? Unfortunately, a lot of people write scripts like they would an email template, with little thought towards SEO. But actually, the words you say in a video can and should be uploaded as the transcription. And if they are words on a page, then Google is reading it!

Think of your scripts for videos more like blogs than email templates, as you are producing content that gets ‘read’ by Google and should therefore include relevant keywords and have a length that shows you know what you’re talking about.

Additionally, make sure you are still being friendly, conversational, and interesting, as most people don’t want to watch a droning 15-minute video that will put them to sleep.

Contact JSL Marketing Today for More Tips, Help, or Our Professional Content Marketing Services

We’re here to help you in any way you need, whether that be an on-page content audit, information about digital marketing, email marketing or blogging, or in case you want someone to take the whole project off your hands so you can focus on your business.

We are here and we are ready to help!

Contact JSL Marketing & Web Design to start your content journey today!

11 Tips for Creating Content When You Feel Tapped Out [Never Run Out of Blog Topics Again]

Did you know that most bloggers post anywhere from several times a month to 6 times a week? That means there is a lot of content being created, and a lot of content ideas being generated every single week. But how do you avoid burn out, writer’s block, or any of the other hurdles that consistent, quality writers sometimes face?

Well, as JSL Marketing & Web Design blog for both us, our clients, as well as write copy for web pages, eBooks, infographics, case studies, and more every single day, we know a thing or two about flexing your creative muscles.

Here are 11 of our top tips for creating content (even when you feel tapped out).

1. Ask Questions

This is a great blog topic area – questions. Of course, we love our lists formats too (like this blog post, for example) and Google loves lists too, but sometimes simply answering a question is relevant, simple, and helpful.

Think of your industry and the questions you get from others when you tell them what you do. Can’t think up any questions? Check out our next tip:

2. Check Forums in Your Industry

If you are so tapped out you can’t think up any questions on your own, then give a cheeky look to what others are asking in industry-specific forums.

These questions might be more technical, but you don’t have to shy away from them. Just make sure your answers are appropriate for the level of your readers’ understanding and comfort when it comes to your industry.

3. Look at the Competition

No, this isn’t cheating. Looking at what your competitors are posting is a great way to understand what is relevant, what is gaining traction, or simply leach off their creative efforts when you don’t have it flowing.

And don’t worry, your creativity will come back, your content-generating prowess comes in waves, and that’s perfectly natural. But since your editorial calendar doesn’t always listen to your creative waves, creeping in on the competition doesn’t hurt either.

4. Read the Comments

Whether you are reading the comments on your own blog, other blogs, forum comments, or even social media posts – understanding what the general audience thinks, wonders, likes, and doesn’t like is a great way to better understand what content does well and, more importantly, why. So, instead of searching for topics, let the people (and their topics) come to you.

Sometimes it’s okay to work smarter, not harder.

5. See What People Are Posting/Reposting/Reblogging

Simple, yeah? But many people don’t bother to see what is doing well, and so they flounder to find topics that they think will do well instead of simply seeing what topics are doing well.

Make it easier on yourself and let others do the testing, then take what they’ve learned and improved upon it. This could even look like using a tool like Buzzsumo.

6. Look Up YouTube Industry Videos

I don’t know about you, but JSL Marketing & Web Design knows the big players and thought leaders in our industry (Neil Patel, Backlinko, Hubspot, etc) and we follow their social media in many avenues and on many platforms.

And this is great because we don’t just get emails or new blog posts from them, but we also get notified of their new videos. Sometimes videos are repurposed content, but sometimes its new and able to give us a whole slew of new ideas, questions to answer, or areas we want to dive deeper into with our posts.

Plus, you better believe these thought leaders put thought into what content to put out and what is trending/doing well. It’s two birds with one stone, plus, you get to learn as you watch their videos too!

7. Google Search Suggestions

Have you ever begun searching for something on Google – maybe ‘Best Café in ____’ and then Google starts auto-populating similar searches in the drop-down menu? Have you ever read those suggestions? If not, you’re missing out on absolute free gold.

Google uses its own history to populate these ideas, which means people searching the term you’re searching for might also look for suggestions or click on links that deal with those suggested terms too.

It is essentially giving you free help and free data and understanding about what your ideal clients might be looking for or wanting to read about.

8. Share Stories & Snapshots

Sometimes writing about only technical fixes, products, services, or other ‘obvious’ business subjects can get old for both you and your readers – and that is where the ‘share’ comes in.

You can share stories from your job, business, even the history of how your company got to where they are now. Sometimes, being more approachable and less ‘industry’ can be helpful in your posts or content creation ideas.

Make sure you stay true to your voice (I.E. if you are a highly technical company with a high-held professional image, then maybe talk about the history of your company more than ‘a day in the life’) but have some flexibility as well.

9. Sign Up for Newsletters

Newsletters are great ways to learn, see what others think is relevant, and gain ideas for future content posts. Don’t understand something in a newsletter or email update? Learn it and then make a post explaining what you learned.

Having a full inbox isn’t bad. Instead of thinking of it as being full of clutter, think of it as being full of ideas for better content.

10 Data, Data, Data – Let the Numbers Speak

Studies, or reviews of studies, explaining changes, projections, or statistics can be a great way to show your knowledge and help your client base.

Of course, one of the best and simplest ‘data’ styles can be a list of trends, a list of findings, even a list of tips if you add in the correct valuable links.

Adjacent to ‘data’, making lists of tips (like this post) is a great way to get multiple chunks of helpful, actionable content out to your crowd as well.

11. Get a Professional’s Help

When all else fails, you can always hand off the baton to a professional. We love writing, no really, we do. And we are happy to write for you, complete with an editorial calendar that spans the entire quarter, so you know what we’ll be talking about and you can have the final say in all posts, content, topics, and voice choices.

Contact JSL Marketing & Web Design today to talk about blogging, content marketing strategies and more – we love making businesses grow and thrive, and we can’t wait to start with you.

Is a Picture Really Worth a Thousand Words?

Pictures or visual aids on your website, blogs, Google My Business, social media accounts and more are incredibly useful for both search engines and for your clients and customers.

From showing your location to your style and team, or maybe just letting customers know about your new products, pictures really can be worth a thousand words.

Plus, why write something when you can simply show it?

Of course, you shouldn’t go photo-crazy on your sites, blogs or social media pages, but knowing where the power of pictures lies is becoming exceedingly important to the future success of businesses.

Where Are Pictures Important?

Pictures serve many purposes, and these purposes are quite different for Google versus for your customers, but both are equally important for making real headway in your market.

For example, Google likes seeing photos uploaded and updated regularly on your Google My Business because it shows that you are current and not stagnant.

However, on the other side of the coin, your customers like seeing photos because it is visually appealing, quicker than a huge block of text, and can give information that they would otherwise have to see in person.

But how do you merge these two facets of pictures’ strengths?

How do you use photos in the best way on your blog, website or social media pages?

Don’t you worry, the JSL team has got you covered, I mean, look at us, don’t we look trustworthy?

JSL Team

Photos for Your Blogs

Person Typing on Laptop Motivational Sign Marketing on a Laptop

Here’s a little exercise, each of the above photos represents ‘blog’, but they each give off a very different feel, don’t they?

The first looks calm, the second a little younger, the third looks busy, and the last, well, he isn’t having a very good time trying to get his writing to flow.

This is an example of the power of pictures on your blog.

Maybe you’re writing is about health and wellness, maybe it’s motivational, maybe it’s professional. Regardless, you have to have and use photos which keep your story cohesive.

If you got an email and the title, description, and body didn’t match, you would be confused and unhappy. You might even feel tricked into opening it.

These are not feelings we want our or your readers to have.

So, understand the power of the picture, and make sure you are showing the same as you are saying.

Photos for Your Website

Pictures on websites make Google happy, of course, but we aren’t just making websites for another website to judge, now are we?

We ultimately want human clients to visit our site, browse our services and products, and make a selection.

This is where pictures for people can come into play.

If we have products or previous projects that we are proud of, then showing them off on our site is a great way to show (and tell) our potential customers what we can do for them.

For example, if I say ‘JSL makes the most beautiful websites for our customers’ that’s a bold claim, but if I show you the beauty we have created for our customers’ websites, that’s a whole different matter.

Vault Aviation Client Flatlay VIP Finance Flatlay

Pictures take some of the risks out of working with a new company. Pictures show your customers what to expect.

And if you’ve ever bought clothing online and been disappointed when it arrived, you know how important high-quality photos are.

Photos for Your Social Media Pages

Ah, social media, a blessing to some and a thorn in the side of others, but whether you love it or hate it, you have to embrace it.

Social media has many platforms, and therefore, many ways to use photos. Your picture strategy is going to be very different on Instagram than it is on Twitter than it is on Facebook or LinkedIn.

However, the one thing that will stay constant across all the platforms? You need photos in some way, somehow, and with some amount of consistency, branding or cohesive style.

Take a look at our Instagram for example,

JSL Instagram Screenshot

Colors all match, branding on point, yet we have a healthy mix of our team, our services, and our past work.

How about our photos on Facebook?

JSL Facebook Screenshot

We make sure that we have a healthy amount, updating often, but all of it still speaks to us as a company, a team, and a culture.

Photos are not all about quantity, but they aren’t all about quality either, it is about merging these two concepts and making something that blends the very best of both.

In some ways, using photos is like blogging – you can’t post one great blog every six months and be upset when it doesn’t take off, but writing six blogs every day that are poor quality won’t do you any good either.

Don’t use an all-or-nothing model in your picture-usage, or in your blogging, or even in your life. Let there be a healthy balance in all aspects of your business and use the power of pictures in each.

Get the Picture? Get in on it With JSL Marketing

If juggling photos and posting and more seems like a lot to heap onto your plate, then we would love to help.

We have photo pros, Google geniuses, alt-tag aficionados, branding beasts, content curators and social media savants all on our team who can make your business soar.

Don’t have photos to use? We can help you there as well.

Whatever the needs are, JSL Marketing & Web Design’s dedicated team can meet them, and we would love to work with you.

Call or fill out a form today and we’ll get back to you surprisingly quickly.

Oh, and have a very

Merry Christmas

Blogging for Customers + Search Engines

Blogging is hugely important to your SEO health, your website’s visibility and, ultimately, your business’ success.

And though there is a lot of information on the web about blogging dos and don’ts, tips and tricks, the truth is that most people are only covering half of the field.

Some companies blog for the humans, meaning that they are writing directly to their customers and speak and explain as if their only audience is, well, human. But how do your customers find your blog if Google isn’t ranking it, or if Google doesn’t understand it?

Some companies go the opposite route and blog for the robots, or Google, with keywords in the meta, headings, subheadings and throughout the text – even when it isn’t natural. This might work to help Google understand your topic, but it sure doesn’t help your readers enjoy what you’ve created.

As you can tell, both of the above ways of writing have their purpose, as of course, Google helps your customers find your blog, and therefore your site, and your customers are the ones supporting your business, not Google.

But what is the relationship between this pair, between the humans and the robots? And how can we write for two entirely different entities in one 700-1,200 word blog?

Let the blogging experts at JSL Marketing help straighten this out with our 3 overlapping tips for both customers and Google.

3 Tips for Blogging for Both Humans & Robots

Don’t Be Too Longwinded – or Typed

When people want to read a book, they read a book, not a blog. And when people want to read a blog, well, it shouldn’t be the size of a book, now should it?

This doesn’t just go for total length, it’s for paragraph length, sentence length and, in many cases, even word length.

So, don’t use a run-on sentence that will be confusing, winding or too long, as your customers don’t want to read it. Don’t use paragraphs that are bulky with intimidating 12-lines of text, and don’t use overly complex words just because you know how.

Instead, break up your page with line breaks, as we have above. It might seem strange, but isn’t this how we talk? And doesn’t the whitespace above make the total length of your blog seem more manageable?

Turns out, it does!

Both for your readers’ eyes and for Google.

You see, Google likes to see ‘whitespace’ around your paragraphs, and your customers like to be able to read something without it hurting their eyes or them losing their place.

This is a great example of how Google and customers agree.

So, hack those sentences down, break up those paragraphs, and for goodness sake, don’t be magniloquent, uh, I mean, just speak plainly.

Use Long-Tail Keywords & Synonyms

Google is becoming smarter, and though this might worry some of us who believe a technology revolt is nigh, most of us will actually benefit from more tech AI.

How?

Well, you understand that ‘Best Digital Marketing Company in Dallas, Texas’ is the same as ‘Best Digital Marketing Company, Dallas TX’ is the same as ‘Best Digital Marketing Company in Dallas, TX’, right?

However, do you know who didn’t always understand that everything above is saying the same thing?

Our good friend Google.

This means that a lot of companies were trying to say the exact phrase or keywords they wanted to rank for over and over again in their blogs, on their pages, and in their social media posts.

Unfortunately, that’s quite annoying for the human readers.

So, Google learned – or rather, had a series of updates that helped it understand synonyms – so ‘the best’, ‘great, and ‘top-rated’ are all understood under an umbrella, sort of like how we understand them.

If you aren’t sure what a long-tail keyword is, it simply means that people are more likely to search ‘what is the best digital marketing company’ more often than just ‘digital marketing’.

Post Regularly (But With Quality)

This is the final area that companies often trip over, but it shouldn’t be, as the humans and robots once again agree.

Google wants to see fresh content.

People want to see fresh content.

Google wants your posts to be quality.

People want your posts to be quality.

It’s really quite simple when it’s laid out like this, isn’t it?

Essentially, Google is trying to like the same things as its users. It is trying to rank the same things that its users would rank, this means there should be more overlap between humans and robots than division.

So, write what your customers want to see and read, but remember that someone else is watching and looking to understand, rank and place that blog too.

Reach Your Blogging Goals With JSL Marketing

The best thing you can do is help Google help you, and the best people to do that are your friendly Google-experts at JSL Marketing & Web Design.

Give us a call or check out more blogs here!

Or, even if you don’t feel the need to seek out SEO services just yet, remember our takeaways to make your next blog post a success:

  • Write with whitespace – because everyone likes that
  • Write naturally and with understandable keywords or synonyms
  • Write often enough to stay current, but sparsely enough to give yourself time to create something of value and quality

Happy writing (and happy Thanksgiving, too).