Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

What is web content and why do you need it?

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Web content is information that you post online to attract, interact with and assist your prospective clients. It includes:

Web content goes beyond your brochure website that tells your visitors who you are and what you do. It engages your prospective clients in a conversation that is based on who they are and what they are dealing with.

It starts you out on the right foot by demonstrating your expertise and providing service right from the start – with valuable information they're looking for right now.

With high-quality web content, you can:

  • Keep your website fresh, so you can get found online
  • Keep your prospects interested, so you can make offers to help them
  • Keep your all of your business relationships warm, so you stay "top of mind" 

What if you don't know how to write these things?

Writing is a skill like any other. You can use the information and resources here on the Content Mastery Guide website to learn how to write for the web (you'll even find support for getting it done), or you can focus your time and energy on serving your clients and building your business.

For you, writing may be a struggle, and so you may not be getting the results you could be. For a writer, it's a pleasure, plus you'll have a specialist who understands how to use web content as a marketing strategy that gets results. Why not let everyone do what they love?

If you're concerned about having someone else write on your behalf, check out my post about the ethics of ghost blogging.

If you'd like to spend more time doing what you love, check out these content marketing solutions or contact me directly. 

Blogging: Passive marketing, or an introvert’s dream come true?

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Did you see the first post in this series? Click here for Ghost blogging: Unethical, or an extrovert’s dream come true?

When I first started building a coaching practice and learning how to be successful in self-employment, I heard the idea that there are two types of marketing: active and passive.

Active marketing included tasks like networking, giving free sample sessions, speaking to groups – basically the activities that got me in direct contact with another person who was a prospective client or referral source.

Passive marketing was “behind the scenes” work, things like setting up a website or sending a newsletter – quiet, solo tasks that were pretty appealing to an introvert like me.

(Actually, I’m more of a combination, as most of us probably are. I’m extroverted when it comes to performing – I love being in front of a group, whether I’m singing or speaking.)

This early education may have warned me against spending too much time on blogging, as a passive activity that would keep me hiding out and not getting in front of real people. But I see blogging as a wonderful opportunity to combine both forms of marketing, active and passive.

Writing is a task I can enjoy in my quiet time. Then, by publishing relevant content to my blog on a consistent basis, I create the opportunity to have active conversations.

Readers email me or post comments to my blog, or a post may serve as a conversation starter on Twitter. When I write connective content and link to other bloggers, that is another chance to correspond with someone I may not have met otherwise.

What’s more, most of these conversations happen in writing, so I can think as long as I need to before responding (something else introverts really appreciate).

Nancy Ancowitz, author of Self-Promotion for Introverts®, wrote about introvert authors as social media mavens, and how blogging and other forms of social media give the introvert more control over social settings. (There are more fascinating insights and comparisons in her book.)

Blogging and other social media tools have really leveled the playing field for people who aren’t as comfortable in traditional networking forums. Introverts, let’s show them what we’ve got!

Ghost blogging: Unethical, or an extrovert’s dream come true?

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For some extroverts who don’t enjoy writing, it can be almost painful to sit still and write out your ideas. The longer you sit, alone in your office, the more energy is drained from you.

Engaging in a conversation is much more appealing, where you can talk about your ideas and what excites you about them. Some extroverts funnel their energy into creating video and audio recordings. But if you rely on recordings for all of your content, you will miss making a connection with certain members of your audience.

Some of your readers and prospective clients can only learn from what they see and read – for them, audio or video simply aren’t enough.

Ghost blogging is an attractive solution, and a smart, efficient way for extroverts to use the strategy of content marketing. I’ve been ghostwriting since 2005, taking my client’s voice, ideas and personality and putting them to paper. My clients are very involved in the writing process (without having to do any actual writing), and we communicate back and forth until we’ve got it right.

Apparently this kind of collaborative approach isn’t what people first think of when they hear the term ghost blogging. In “5 Alternatives to Ghost Blogging,” Tax Anderson suggests ethical ways that executives and others in the corporate world can get help with their blogging (some of these practices are remarkably similar to exactly what I do as a ghostwriter).

I definitely understand when people express concerns that ghost blogging is ineffective or unethical. How can a blog effectively build trusting, long-term relationships with prospective clients unless the posts are written directly by the person providing the service?

And isn’t it unethical for posts to be “signed” by a business owner, when that person had no direct involvement in the writing process?

Because it’s so easy to publish content to a blog, I think we sometimes forget that blogs are a form of a social media, meant to be a conversation. Even when you hire a ghostwriter to help create your blog posts or social media updates (conversation starters) (hey, we do all that!), I believe you should still respond personally to any (and all) comments and social media responses.

Mark Schaefer agrees, and thinks it’s ridiculous to argue about ghost blogging (thanks to Rebecca Leaman who posted this link via Twitter). He offers his own guidelines for corporate ghost blogging, which encourage the author to be involved in the writing process, including any follow-up conversations.

If you’re interested in reading more about this still ongoing debate, Laura Spencer sums up and compiles more links in her post on Everything PR.

Stay tuned for my next post, when I’ll answer the question: Blogging: Passive marketing, or an introvert’s dream come true?

 

Content mastery myth: If you can’t keep up with your newsletter, you can’t handle a blog

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One of the reasons I've heard for not having a blog is: "I can barely keep up with my monthly newsletter, how would I ever manage a blog?"

Here are two ways that posting to your blog 2-5 times per month will actually make your monthly newsletter easier:

1. Your content will already be done. It's no longer a big production to write a mind-blowing newsletter article, because you'll be writing content all through the month. You can choose your best post and feature it in the newsletter, or you can present a short introduction (with a link) to all of your new posts and let your readers choose.

2. You'll be a writing machine. It's no longer a struggle to get started when it's time to write for your newsletter, because you'll be constantly in the flow of the writing process. You'll be running on momentum, not climbing a whole mountain and then starting from the bottom again the next month. 

Writing is a skill like any other – the more you do it, the easier it gets. You may even start to enjoy it! 

(Here are more tips on making the shift from newsletter to blog.)

Is your business a service? Top 5 reasons to blog (and more often)

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In a recent chat with trust marketing expert Kristen Beireis, we discussed how blogging is such a good tool for people who provide a service. Here are the top five reasons to be blogging (and more often):

  1. Content marketing works. By giving prospective clients a taste of what you think and how you help, you help them get to “know, like and trust” you and see that you are a good match to meet their needs.

  2. You like to write. Of course you can get help with this task (wink, wink), and of course you can learn how to do it better (nudge, nudge). But if you're someone who naturally likes to write, then blogging will be a pleasurable task that never feels like “marketing.”

  3. You love to help. Obviously you provide a service because you like to help other people grow, improve, learn and change. Providing valuable suggestions and solutions via your blog is just another extension of that helping activity.

  4. You have a creative side. Maybe you don't get to use it all the time in working with your clients or managing your business activities, but it's there and just itching to get out. From the different types of content you can write to the multitude of blog design options, blogging gives you a creative way to grow your business and serve your clients.

  5. You have more time than money. Blogging is a very inexpensive way to attract people to your website where they can join your community, enter your marketing funnel and sign up for your services. And there are smart ways to manage your article writing time.

If you've never considered blogging, please look over these reasons again and see if they make sense for you. If you're already using writing as a marketing tool, e.g., sending a monthly newsletter, consider making the shift from newsletter to blog.

Please let me know if you have any questions about how to get started with blogging.