What’s the future for unbranded content sites? SAP runs an unbranded content site whose future’s so bright, that the team behind it had better wear shades (to paraphrase that old Timbuk 3 song).

The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience earned the tech brand a finalist nod for Best Content Strategy and Best Multi-Author Blog in the 2021 Content Marketing Awards (CMAs).Continue Reading

Google works hard to give searchers answers without making them click through to content pages. That’s why the quantity of no-click answers on its search engine results pages seems to grow every day.

Meanwhile, content marketers work hard to improve their rankings on search engine results pages because they want searchers to click on their content.

Given these seemingly opposing goals, does it still make sense for content marketers to invest time and valiant effort in SEO?Continue Reading

Ever play jargon bingo?

You mark off a square on your card every time you hear one of those words or phrases that sounds like fingernails on the chalkboard. Maybe it’s a word so frequently used as to render it almost meaningless. Or perhaps it’s an acronym that makes readers have to pause (or Google) to remember what it means.

The winner of jargon bingo crosses off all the squares in a row or diagonally first (yep, basic bingo rules).

But, in truth, nobody wins when jargon sneaks into content.Continue Reading

Health Essentials boasts some impressive vital signs. The content brand, owned by the Cleveland Clinic, earns more than 12 million visits each month. That’s 60 times the traffic it earned a decade ago.

Not surprisingly, the content team’s mission expanded over time to include the organization’s website and health library, too.Continue Reading

The lazy days of summer are the perfect time to clear the haze from your content marketing program.

Sources and approvers take vacations, which can throw off your program’s pace. Instead of letting that frustrate you, why not use the downtime – and extra resources, if you’re fortunate enough to have summer interns – productively?

I’m not advocating that you push yourself and your team out of the relaxed zone and into the extreme sports zone. But you can work on useful things that don’t necessarily require much brain power (or close supervision) but fall off the priority list during busier times.

The results will inform and improve your content marketing strategy year-round. Try some of these ideas.

Continue Reading

In its early days, USA Today was dubbed “McPaper” for its very short stories.

Unlike their peers at other newspapers, USA Today reporters had to digest big news into just a few paragraphs. Many in the profession criticized USA Today articles for their brevity. But I think those critics missed the talent required to synthesize and write concise copy.

It’s a skill that content marketers can appreciate, especially now that every piece of digital content needs a meta description. Our task is even more difficult than the one USA Today journalists face. We must summarize the content – no matter how long it is – in 156 characters.Continue Reading

Updated June 21, 2022

This single most important sentence of an article can’t be found inside the article.

The headline must do more work than any other portion of the content. It must attract interest from the target audience, give potential readers a sense of the article, and demonstrate the brand voice. It may hint at the purpose or context of the article. The language needs to be intriguing, grab attention, and not to mention be accurate. Finally, it needs to be concise.

With so much riding on the headlines, coming up with the perfect sentence to appear above the article can be challenging. Here is a seven-point checklist to help you create effective headlines every time:Continue Reading

It happens every Jan. 1. People set goals for the new year – and most stop working to achieve them within a month.

The same thing happens after webinars, conferences, how-to articles, goal-focused podcasts, or motivational videos. People feel inspired to do something. As with New Year’s resolutions, people get hyped up and may take a step or two toward executing new ideas.Continue Reading