10 blog posts I read this week, and you should too
I’ve read quite a few blog posts this week. Some useful, others not so much. I thought you might like a roundup of what I’ve read, together with how each post will help your business. Take a look and if you like what you read, why not follow the publisher?
How to use a content scorecard to publish better blog posts
I love Social Media Examiner and always read their posts. I found this blog post particularly interesting as I hadn’t heard about using scorecards to improve the performance of your blog post. Once I read it, it made perfect sense. Why wouldn’t you go back over your old posts and see which ones performed the best so you can replicate their success? Here are the things you’ll learn:
- What a scorecard is
- How you create one
- How to analyse your content
- How to create posts that score 100% against your criteria
Read how you can create your content scorecard
Need a way to plan out your blog posts? Download my blog post planning template.
The ultimate guide to Google Analytics resources for 2018
If you’re not monitoring your Google Analytics, why not? Google Analytics is one of the most important measuring tools for your business. It helps you understand your website’s performance, which in turn helps you understand how your website is contributing to your business. You can use every little piece of information from it to help you make decisions about your marketing, and especially any changes you want to make to your website.
If you don’t know where to get started with Google Analytics, read about the 5 metrics I regularly look at. I’ll tell you why you should be looking at them too.
Read about the resources you can use with Google Analytics
How to optimise your LinkedIn profile for better visibility
I told you I loved Social Media Examiner! They’ve made it onto this list twice. For me, LinkedIn has perhaps been the toughest social media network to figure out. Yes, you read that correctly. I’ve always used LinkedIn as an employee. Now, I’m trying to understand how to use it as a business owner.
If you’re a business that sells to other businesses (B2B), this is the social network for you! But, having an optimised profile is critical. You need for people to be able to find you. By the way, I use a profile, rather than a company page, which is why I like this article.
Use LinkedIn to make connections, network virtually, share good, informative content and potentially bring those relationships into the real world!
Learn more about how to optimise your LinkedIn profile
5 proven social media engagement strategies for 2018
I regularly read posts from Hubspot. They write for people like me – people who run marketing businesses. This doesn’t mean you can’t learn from what they write about!
I liked this post because of the framework for engagement they use. It’s called the AEIOU list. When you read it, it makes complete sense. Engagement is what we should all be trying to achieve on our social media networks. After all, the word social is in there for a reason!
I’m not going to spoil the article for you. Read about the AEIOU list yourself!
Are you guilty of stealing images? How to avoid breaking copyright law
Whilst a US-based article, it still holds true for marketing in the UK. How would you feel if someone came to your website and copied an image, then passed it off as their own? I think you’d be pretty peeved. I know I would.
There are lots of royalty-free image sites (my favourite is Pixabay) that you can use to find the images you need.
But, if you’re still not convinced, read why you shouldn’t steal images!
How to personalise emails based on what you know
Emails that are personalised get better results. How would you feel if you got an email that started off ‘Dear Reader’ versus ‘Dear Chris’ (assuming your name is Chris!) Wouldn’t you feel better that you were being addressed by your first name?
Personalisation goes beyond just using a person’s first name. It could be any number of things. And, given that email marketing consistently produces better results than social media, why wouldn’t you want to make the effort to enhance what’s already great?
Are you ready to start personalising your emails? Learn how you can do that based on what you know.
The 5 biggest networking mistakes people make
Networking is absolutely critical for small businesses. If you’re not out networking, then you’re doing your business a big disservice. Often, we see networking as what we can get out of it. That’s just one of the mistakes we make.
Networking can and should be part of your marketing plan for your business. You just need to make sure you do it well. One of the ways to achieve that is to do it often. After all, practice makes perfect.
When you do go networking, make sure you’re not making these 5 mistakes.
If you’re not sure about how to find the right networking event for you, read this post.
Do your sales emails suffer from these 5 things? Here’s how to fix them
How often do you send sales emails? If you’re like me, not often enough! My issue is where to get started. But, as my friend, Alison Edgar, says, if you don’t sell, you won’t have a business. So, start perfecting the art of the sales email.
I liked this article because it gets to the heart of mistakes we’re all guilty of when it comes to selling. So, if you’re not sure how to get started with writing a sales email, start by reading about the mistakes you should avoid.
Why reading books should be your priority, according to science
I know I should read more books. I tell myself I don’t have the time. Now, I’ve started to make the time. When I was employed, I made a New Year’s Resolution one year to read on my commute instead of staring at my phone. If you’ve commuted in London, you’ll know it’s not the most pleasant of experiences. Reading made those journeys bearable. But now I’ve found that reading helps me with my business. I stop thinking about work and become engrossed in what I’m reading, be it fiction or non-fiction. Well, I was surprised to find this article and read about how beneficial reading is.
Read it yourself and find out why reading books should be your priority too.
Watch out! These 9 tips may boost your creativity as an entrepreneur
Sometimes, I feel like I’ve run out of creativity. I bet you do too. That’s why I was glad that I came across this post. It’s hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes and you can easily feel demotivated.
My husband often tells me I should just take the afternoon off and read a book. I think he’s probably been reading up on this kind of stuff more than me! Anyway, creativity drain affects the best of us. But there are things you can do. You never know, one of these 9 tips may work for you.
I hope you found these blog posts as useful as I did. If you liked this round-up of what I read, let me know and I’ll do it more often!