The 3 Ultimate Secrets Every Content Marketer Must Know

I love content marketing, do you love it?      

If you’ve ever written articles online, then this post is for you.

Most of us don’t still get it.

With all the news flying around the web, there are only 3 secrets that can change the way you run your blog and bring you fulfillment.

It can transform the way you relate with potential customers, too.

It can set you in motion, so that you can quit complaining and become a problem solver.

Content marketing is all about using emotional words to communicate your brand {Tweet this}. Your blog isn’t just a personal diary, it’s a goldmine.

I can show you how to use emotional words to bring readers, maybe not in thousands, but the few you get will stand and listen to you.

Most content marketers are wasting time

Do you realize that most content marketers are wasting a lot of time? See, you’ll find them tweeting, chatting with friends and always on the move.

But we’ve been called to do something much more rewarding – writing.

Until you’ve content worth sharing, don’t even log on to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or even Pinterest. It can be very difficult, but it’s smart.

Often times, website owners don’t want to sit down and write epic content that truly matters.

I’m sure that if you spend eons of time setting goals for your business and where you want to be, success will become so real. You can literally touch your target audience. And that brings me to something unique.

Does your target audience know you?

Before I share with you the three ultimate secrets, I want to ask you a simple question.

How real are you to your audience?

I mean, can a reader describe you. Let’s forget about you knowing your readers for now, do they know you?

Most likely, you want people to listen when you speak. When you recommend an affiliate product or offer your professional services, you truly want to get hired. Right?

Well, those are good plans but it doesn’t matter. If you’re a great writer, and can change the world with your words, does it really matter?

The end product to your content marketing effort is to communicate who you from the inside. You’ve to BE, before you can EARN.

By accident, you could persuade few persons to buy from you. Potential clients may even hire you just to test you. This isn’t trust, it’s not conviction either. And guess what, your days are numbered.

Most freelancers don’t know how potential clients behave and that’s why they waste time bidding for projects. You don’t really need that. You’ve to be personal. Don’t hide behind the walls anymore.

If you don’t have your personal picture on your blog, go and fix that now. And when you write a blog post for your target audience, don’t appear like a wicked person who doesn’t care.

Let them feel your emotional touch. Pick on question that’s bugging their mind and address it.

Allow the creative ability in you to touch your reader’s life. Don’t try to fake it, before making it. It’s not so difficult to engage people. You’ve to be real – your story has to strike a chord in their hearts.

Are you ready to uncover the 3 secrets about content marketing? This is going to change your attitude.

If you spend time doing these three things, your website will become a place of refuge and solution, rather than one-of-those-crappy-blogs that wouldn’t change anyone’s life or add a tiny value. There you go:

 

Capture – Convince – Convert

1.     Capture Your Audience Emotionally        

 

 

The first secret is this: capture your audience emotionally.

Let them see the problem they’re facing and how much you want to help them. Do readers have problem? Of course they do. You’ve to research what the problem is and challenge yourself to solve it.

If you’re observant, you’ll notice the new design on my blog. I’ve really spent some great deal of cash trying to customize a design that can appeal to my audience.

And if you must capture your audience emotionally, you’ve to speak to their minds. Your design has to speak volumes that you’re the right one.

Do you’ve a unique design?

So, start with your blog design. Is your theme captivating? Gone are the days when you can run a blog without good designs. All A-list blogs I know of have fantastic blog designs.

There is no shortcut to building a profitable business – once the eye can see it and feel happy, half the battle is won already.

Today, the number of blogs and website is growing by the second. Don’t forget that your readers are also bombarded by Ads and they’re on everyone’s list. At least, you aren’t the only one.

Apart from having a unique blog design, the other ways to capture your audience are:

• – Write headlines full of benefits.
• – Start your blog post introduction with a bang (arouse curiosity, ask a question etc).
• – Make it easy for readers to access your products and services.
• – Look out for ways to dazzle your readers every time.
• – Always produce quality content, don’t take shortcuts.
• – Answer questions because you care, not because it’s important.
• – Don’t fake it until you make it. It’s for casino gamblers, not for bloggers.
• – Share your best secrets; don’t hoard your best posts no matter what you feel.
• – Never compete with anyone. You’re called to complement.
• – Always think about your brand. Nothing beats a cognitive brand. Trust me.
• – Your logo is more powerful than you think, create a unique impression.
• – Capture people from their mind-pocket, and they’ll spend money buying from you. They’d also spend quality time reading your posts. Yes, I know it works!

2.     Convince your audience, don’t push them

To convince or push, which strategy do you use?

I’ve read hundreds of blogs, listened to audio clips and watched internet marketing videos. It’s like 85% of bloggers and internet marketers are taking the same old route – the path that leads to failure.

You’ve to stop pushing people to read your blog. Don’t try to use deceptive headlines that promise a thing and doesn’t deliver. Haven’t you read similar headlines?

Recently, I came across a powerful headline that promised to share the “7 steps to building an email list that converts.”

Ironically, when I clicked and read through, the article wasn’t about email list, it was about traffic generation using guest posting. That doesn’t just cut in. Does it?

Yes, writing a catchy headline is a basic rule, and we all know that. But to the target audience and blog readers, they want results.

Most of them have pressing problems, they need your help. You’ve to convince them that you’re the right person who truly cares. No, you don’t want their money so desperately.

And you don’t want to earn money that you didn’t labor for. If you help them truly, you’ll have earned the right to ask for their money. That’s pure marketing.

What does it mean to push? Wow…. I can imagine how readers would feel when you ask them to buy a product that can bring instant results.

Within you, you know quite well that no product can bring instant result. Becoming a success story takes time.

Or when you recommend an affiliate product and hide behind your shell, what does it mean?

So, if you want to convince people to go the extra mile, here is what you must do:

• – Write and publish quality content regularly. (Daily schedule could drown you. 1 – 2 quality blog post per week is ideal).
• – If you recommend an affiliate product, can you vouch for it? If not, DESTROY the hoplink right now and move on with your life. What can $20 commission do for you… please tell me!
• – Don’t push people against their will, that’s not content marketing. It’s hype.
• – If you’ve a secret, share it wholeheartedly and don’t ever regret it
• – Stop creating “I’m sorry posts.” If you didn’t meet up with your posting schedule, don’t apologize or whine. Just start from where your last post stopped.

Of course you could exp lain why you didn’t meet up last week, but do it creatively. “I’m sorry posts” will only

destroy your credibility. It doesn’t build it.

• – Convince people with the right solutions. Don’t trick or use marketing Grammar to confuse readers and target audience who can’t pronounce “marketing.”

 

3.     Convert your target audience by being simple

Content marketing without a call-to-action is a waste of time and money (for those who advertise).

If people don’t implement your tips, they won’t get the results they want for their lives and businesses. So, how do you convert readers into customers and fans?

The answer will shock you – Just be simple!

If you want a reader to join your email newsletter, be simple about it.

Write your headline, highlight few bullet points about the benefits of joining, and offer your short report, e-book or whatever list-bait you’re exchanging for their email address.

Unfortunately, most content marketers are making a big mistake. They’d pick a simple topic, which is already known in the blogging industry and instead of breaking it down into simpler forms, they would complicate it.

Is SEO complicated? I don’t think so. Google may release the weirdest Panda, Penguin or Lion, but they’ve an end goal.

According to Google, they want to make the web a better place, where web users (you & I) can conduct searches and find the best answers.

Second, they also want to make more profit from their advertisers (adwords). So, rather than complain about Google’s decision and blame Google for hating you, switch your mindset and focus on doing what Google wants. Period!

And if you can’t do that simple task of providing quality content continually, and building relevant links gradually, then forget about organic traffic and use other traffic generation sources.

Guest posting, social media, article marketing, Image hosting, domain traffic redirects and PPC advertising can be helpful. Content marketing isn’t all about SEO, it goes beyond that.

Content marketing rule: be simple

Now, I’ve shared the 3 ultimate secrets every content marketer must know.

No matter the level of success or failure you’ve attained, if you can capture, convince and convert your target audience, your blog will become one of the top blogs in the industry.

The same secrets apply to ecommerce sites, corporate websites and social media networks.

Write blog posts that could benefit the people you serve. BE simple about it. Go the extra mile to back up your claims – can you do that?

Leave a comment below, see you at the top!

Photo Credit: Istockphoto: happy retirement | flickr