Marketers will face increasing pressure to drive traffic, leads and sales through content marketing efforts. With the right data and strong analytics, marketers will have to prove that their efforts are more than brand lift – they will need to show real business impact. 

This pressure will force marketers to figure out how to sustain and grow their marketing efforts. This can only be accomplished through technology and the investment in contenty strategists. Using part-time college students or even on-and-off freelancers won’t be enough. There will need to be an investment in customizing content to target audiences with content that resonates, engages and compells -- resulting in a defined action that can be measured for business success.

To learn more about content marketing, content strategy and content evolution, review the following timely resources.

Resources:

What is a Content Strategy and Why do you need it?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2012/09/18/what-is-a-content-strategy-and-why-do-you-need-it/

7 Strategies for Developing Compelling Content in 2013

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/7-content-marketing-strategies-for-2013/

Think Content Marketing, Not Copywriting

http://jontusmedia.com/content-marketing-copywriting/

Best,
Denice MacDonald

Content Strategy within the Design Process is an excellent article written by Brad Shorr at Smashing Magazine on how: Content Strategy is the glue that holds a project together AND that language influences behavior.

I loved how Brad gave an objective overview of how content is an emerging practice area that needs recognition and integration into the development process from the beginning -- and through -- any digital project or initiative. If anything, you need to read the barter and exchange of team members during the process - hillarious and spot-on!

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Likewise, Brad provides a compelling infographic [right] as well as additional resources on the subject:

The New Rules of Marketing and PR - David Meerman Scott
Explains content strategy better than anyone. The third edition was published in July 2011.

Content Strategy - Google Knol
For a thorough overview of content strategy and links to books, blogs and other resources, check out this fantastic Knol.

Call to Action Buttons: Examples and Best Practices - Jacob Gube
To promote creative compatibility, designers and writers alike should study this Smashing Magazine article.

Top Ten Mistakes of Web Management - Jakob Nielsen
For insight into design-related project management, read this post by the brilliant Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen.

Lastly, you need to subscribe to Smashing Magazine’s network or obtain their free five year anniversary eBook here! Well worth the download and/or sharing with others.
                                                                                                                (Image credit: Chris Depa, Straight North)

Best,
Denice MacDonald

Page Trawler is a content audit tool for people who make websites - user experience designers, content strategists, marketers, information architects, and anybody who makes bits of the web.

What is Page Trawler?

It's a content auditing and site-mapping tool. Page Trawler lets you see what’s on your site, and you can download a content inventory as a CSV file.

Automating your content audit saves you valuable time, and makes it easier to understand and plan your website. Page Trawler helps you speed up web projects and simplify content curation.

When will it be ready?

The alpha version is ready to use right now - try it out. In the coming weeks, they will be adding new features, making the Page Trawler inventory richer and more informative.

Why should I Sign Up?

Page Trawler is in alpha right now. You can preview your content inventory on the site. Sign up, and you can download reports as CSV files. They will email you as they add features and they won't pass on or share your details with anybody.

By the way, I downloaded the CSV of my website and noticed I needed some major meta data/keyword updates to pages. Also, I could see what was not performing well. Great tool - I'll be anxious to see how it evolves.

Enjoy!

Denice

For more learning, connect with Denice on Google+.

I'll make this quick everyone! I really love this website paidContent.org. Based in New York City, the company covers the business of digital media, serving decision makers within the media, entertainment, publishing, advertising, marketing, and technology sectors.

Founded by journalist Rafat Ali in 2002, the company's news sites chronicle the economic evolution of digital content that is shaping the future of the media, information and entertainment industries. Their belief is that in the near future, all media will be digital media, and are helping define sustainable business models and innovation within this sector.

Parent Company ContentNext Media operates:

paidContent.org - providing global coverage on the economics of digital content

mocoNews.net - covering the business of mobile content

contentSutra.com - India's media news monitor

paidContent:UK - covering the UK's digital media economy

Also, don't forget to check out The paidContent 50: The Most Successful Digital Media Companies in the US - great ideas and resources!
http://paidcontent.org/list/the-most-successful-digital-companies/

Best,

Denice MacDonald

If your website content is out of date, off-brand, and out of control, you're missing a huge opportunity to engage, convert, and retain customers online regardless of that new and shiny social media plan you are about to launch.
 
Without meaningful content, your website isn't worth much to your key audiences or viable for syndication to your various communities. Creating and caring for meaningful content is far more complicated than we're often willing to acknowledge.  

Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson explains how to create and deliver useful, usable content for your online audiences, when and where they need it most.

It also shares content best practices so you can get your next website redesign right, on time and on budget.  

For the first time, you will:

1.  See content strategy and its business value
2.  Find out why so many web projects implode in the content development phase
3.  Learn how to audit and analyze content
4.  Make smarter, achievable decisions about which content to create and how
5.  Find out how to maintain consistent, accurate, compelling content over time
6.  Get solid, practical advice on staffing for content-related roles and responsibilities

To order this book, simply go to Amazon now. You can also download it to your ebook here. 

More about Kristina Halvorson:

Website: Brain Traffic 

Blog: Content Comes First

RSS: Sign up for Feed

Twitter: Follow Kristina 

Best
Denice MacDonald 

[Credit: Book description modified from Amazon.com]

With social networking, twitter, blogging and web page content creation at an all time high – how do we evaluate the quality of content that we are posting and syndicating? In most cases, we are writing content that is too technical, only makes sense to internal personnel or blatantly boring. 

The following are resources to help identify the quality of content and if the content is being written so everyone understands it. 

20 Tips for improving your web writing: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/web-content/20-tips-for-improving-your-web-writing-005409.php  

10 tips for improving web writing (same, but different angle plus a lot of links to more content usability tips): http://webdesign.about.com/od/writing/a/aa031405.htm    

3 checklists for web content and intranet authors: http://www.contented.co.nz/Contented-writer-checklists.pdf  

According to the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test, we should be writing content at a seventh or eighth grade level. To help evaluate what level your content is set at simply update Word and Outlook as follows: 

MICROSOFT WORD

Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.

Click Proofing.

Make sure Check grammar with spelling is selected.

Under When correcting grammar in Word, select the Show readability statistics check box.

OUTLOOK

On the Tools menu, click Options.

Click the Spelling tab, and then click Spelling and AutoCorrection.

Click Proofing.

Under When correcting grammar in Outlook, select the Check grammar with spelling check box.

Select the Show readability statistics check box.

After you enable this feature, open a file that you want to check, and check the spelling. When Outlook or Word finishes checking the spelling and grammar, it displays information about the reading level of the document. 

BTW – the grade level for this blog is 8.1 – not too bad. 

Best

Denice MacDonald

Everyone wants to create useful rich content. But it's not as easy as it sounds. Content needs to reflect user needs and requirements, contain an adequate amount of words to support search engine optimization while reflecting the organizations' unique brand proposition. 

Know Your Industry - Know Your Customer.

In order to create relevant content for your web site, gather information about all aspects of your industry – including competitors. Then, determine exactly who your customers are.  Are they busy professionals or non-techie information gatherers?    

The More Relevant Content You Provide on Your Site, the Better.

Relevant content is not only helpful in gaining the interest of search engines, it also piques the interest of diverse web site visitors. Let visitors know quickly that they are on a site that has information related to what they are interested in. Doing so will help lessen friction in the users experience and lead to conversion (act or buy). 

Summarize, and then Expand.

Most content developers start with bloated brochure copy. Instead, begin with a well thought summary picture paragraph (100 words) and then provide additional content within your site’s category subpages to provide more information regarding expanded learning. Well-written, persuasive copy should be moderate and to the point.

Place Top Keywords within Your Text.

Search engines have always loved content paragraphs and keywords. In order to further optimize your site, combine the two by placing relevant keywords within each content paragraph

Check out these great resources: 

How to Create Web Content that Works by Leanne Bergey

Web Content, Writing for Web Sites by WebsiteTips.com

Best

Denice MacDonald