The Only 5 Ways You Need to Boost Creativity

Have you ever felt stuck? Have you ever felt like you cannot, for the life of you, come up with an idea that works? Have you ever felt so hopeless that innumerable cups of freshly brewed coffee did precious little to pull you out of the rut? Whether or not you are involved in a creative profession, chances are that you must have definitely gone through one or all of these above situations. Though as normal as forgetting to water your plants on some days, getting into a blocked state of mind is something we all would like to avoid as much as un-watered plants. You would like to sit at your desk, your fingers poised over your keyboard, and you would want your ideas or your code to spring to life! So how do we make sure that the story always ends happily, like this? Let us try to go through some ideas which might help you pick yourself up, give your ideas a shot of freshness, and boost your creativity!   1. Get away from it all   It is not uncommon to feel that you simply cannot move ahead or come up with a new idea or concept, regarding writing or designing, among other things. The first step to tackle this block is to step away from it, far away from it. Give it all a break and do something else entirely. Remove yourself from the situation and try to take a hard, close look at it later. The new perspective will shape your mind in a way that you would never have thought possible. For me, it comes most often in the form of a walk. This is the easiest and most practical way out-out of home and out of my mind, especially if the day is beautiful outside and the kids are at school. Sometimes, if deadlines are not looming right up ahead, a day of ‘not-doing-any-work’ or simple binge-watching Netflix works wonders for me. In the best case scenario, if time and your purse permit, a short vacation to a beautiful place, away from your trials and tribulations, would act as a tonic and pep you up no end. A change of scene or activity helps you clear your head and if not anything else, takes your mind away from the depression that comes from being stuck. In most cases, the simple idea of a change in your routine will add that extra spring in your step and an added zing to your creativity. You will be able to get a new idea for a story or come up with a new angle to tackle your problem from, and voila! You will be out of that depressing, mind-numbing rut that had been so bothering you Immerse Yourself in a Related Hobby   Most creative people are passionate about their work. So much so that they end up having hobbies that are directly related to their work. A creative writer most often will love to read – anything and everything, that helps him or her cull nuggets of writing styles or patterns that can help future projects. A digital communication professional will invariably be drawn to new updates in his or her field – the latest trends on Twitter or Instagram or the new things that Facebook and Snapchat throw at you, at regular intervals. At the same time, an online marketer will probably always want to keep abreast of the latest quirky ways of attracting potential consumers online and hooking them while spreading the good word on the Internet. Being on top of the scene in the periphery of your actual work as your hobby goes a long way in keeping your interest alive and kicking, in your head. If you have to groom your mind to feel that way, then do it. It helps, trust me. I, for one, am hooked to blogs on all kinds of writing. While bloggers share their own experiences dealing with a  variety of projects, I can at times identify myself with them. I have later tried their approaches to solve my problems or tackle a situation, and I have benefited. So my blog-following hobby has been my key. It would help you a lot if you could zero in on yours and embrace it. The newness of updates or experiences can get your own creativity going, big time. Engage in Conversation   Different people, with their different mindsets, will have different ways of looking at a problem and working towards its solution. Getting to know new people and talking to them, picking their brains, not necessarily about your specific problem at hand always, can open new horizons for you. You can read somebody’s articles and wonder about the whys and hows but nothing works better than talking to the person and getting your doubts clarified from him or her, face to face. Even without an ulterior motive of finding something exciting from a conversation, it always makes sense to talk to people. I was once speaking to a lady sitting beside me in a tram, while going through a particularly dangerous bout of writer’s block. The conversation I had with her, regarding her small-sized business of party orders for cakes and desserts and how she was using Facebook and Instagram to draw customers from around her neighborhood, made me go back home and check out her Facebook page. And boy, did that little lady know her business and marketing! Needless to say, I was awestruck and that talk was just the right jolt I needed to crawl back out of the hole I thought I had fallen into. So, yes, converse, engage. You never know how it might be of help  Storm your brains out!   What I love best about brainstorming, be it with a group or just picking your own brain from various angles, that the process lets you be. You can think of anything, open the windows of your mind, and let go.

Find content proofreading boring: Here are 7 brilliant ways to get the job done

Sitting down to write is one thing. Sending it across for consumption is another. And making sure that your copy is clean and error-free – that is the most important thing of all. For a good piece of writing that offers the impact it was designed to have, you should first make sure that there are no mistakes! Good flow of language, crisp words and catchy phrases, and even timely humorous touches can get lost and overlooked if the copy you send out is pockmarked with errors − the direct result of a not-so-thorough proofread. So, let’s get down to business. Let us try to make a list of strategies or methods we can follow to avoid those unsightly kinks in our writing armours. HERE ARE 7 BRILLIANT WAYS TO GET THE JOB DONE.   1. First of all, just focus More than anything at all, proofreading is an activity that requires you to concentrate, very hard. While you can rely on spell check for some of your mistakes, to spot other than those in spelling, you need your complete and utter focus on the job at hand. Make sure to be in a quiet place, where no one will distract or disturb you and your proofreading activity will not disturb anyone. For example, no matter where I am, I have found that it always helps me if I make it a point to log out of Facebook, put my phone on vibrate mode, and shut down notification alerts for mails, messages, updates etc., to start with. Cutting out the thought of temptation or distraction is always a good place to start.   2. Get a glass of water No, you really don’t have to. What you could do, however, is take a breather after you are done writing your piece. Don’t feel forced to steamroll into the proofreading activity as soon you have typed in your last period. Stop and do something else for a bit…surf a little, take a walk around the room, check your WhatsApp messages, or maybe even get a glass of water… hydrating is always good! Come back to your piece a little later and then attack it with overwhelming force to proofread the errors out of it. I have found that if I proofread my writing, right after typing it out, I am still so in the throes, so to speak, of the content I have just written, that I am sometimes not able to catch even glaring mistakes. They might be staring at me right in the face but I cannot detect them, as I am still caught up in the way my article flows. I am still at the big picture level and too rushed to look at the small issues and brush out the tiny errors. These could be in the form of a wrong comma placement or skipping of a word that MS Word has not caught, or using a long sentence where two short ones would have read better. I have found that the less rushed I am and the longer the time between the writing and the proofreading, the fresher my mind is. This translates directly into a better final output.   3. Show them the finger Relax! I know this sounds much more scandalous than what I am going to talk about now. What I mean is, use your finger to track your words during proofreading. Though it might seem child-like, there is no shame in this finger-tracking process. It is a very useful tool to focus on your work with the keenest of eyes. I highly recommend you to go ahead and try it. I have found that when I am merely reading my copy for mistakes, my eyes generally look for the big words and important parts of sentences. I end up not concentrating on each word separately. This means that a lot of the copy goes practically unread, as my automatic scanning leaves much space for estimation and supposition. The best part of this method is that the forced convergence of tracking and visual acuity slows me down considerably. This, consequently, makes it easier for me to focus on the words better and catch mistakes like a boss.     4. Shout it out Again, no. You do not need to yell. Just say the words aloud. Do it in a way you can hear yourself clearly. It is easy if you are home alone and run no risk of disturbing anyone. It might be a little difficult if you are in a common space, like in an office or at a coffee shop. Then, you need to get creative and create your own personal space, if you want to avoid looking like you are missing a screw, talking to yourself! Close the door to your office cabin or step outside to the terrace or pavement or even the restroom or custodian’s closet, with your copy and read it aloud to yourself. If you think you feel silly doing it, I insist that you try it at least once. I am sure by the end of the process you will be able to figure out for yourself how exactly helpful this method is. I, for one, always do it. This is because when I read my copy aloud, I make sure to take my own sweet time to enunciate each word with a lot of care. This helps me track many kinds of errors, such as mistakes in placement of commas, apostrophes, ‘em’ and ‘en’ dashes, etc. Detecting errors in spelling becomes a rather effortless task when you are hovering a little over each word while reading it aloud. You should understand that the best way to read out our copy would be to read it the way you think your reader will read it – that is, minus your voice intonations or modulations to specify feelings and emotions associated with your copy. Become a robot for a while and read like one. My own

25 Content Marketing Resolutions That Will Make 2017 A Great Year

Well, hello 2017! It’s the first month of the new year and we are at it again – making resolutions. I am not sure what exactly it is about the new year that pushes us into this fiercely resolution-making mode, but here is my guess – it’s perhaps the hope that you have 12 months to plough through and achieve it. Or probably, it is simply good to hope that life will be better this year. Now come the professional goals. For people like us – the army of content marketers who like to think that the weight of the internet is upon our shoulders – the aim is always to show the world how to generate awesome content, how to create that amazing blogs, how to craft that fantastic story… well, you get the flow! The thing with content marketing is that we are constantly dancing to the tunes of a quick changing song. Just suddenly, there is a trending story about how important video is and how Google is playing it up in its search results and we are caught up in the frenzy of creating one. Hence, it’s good to keep an eye on what is trending while you wade through the everyday task of creating authoritative content and high-quality link building. But what you need to change with your content marketing to make progress is something you’ll need to work on every single day. So this is what have done at Justwords.  We’ve created a list of the best 2017 content marketing resolution and stuck it on our board. This is the list that you can go to after creating every single piece of content. If you can tick this list off at the end of the year, we bet you’ll be the among the content gurus predicting content trends for 2018. Sounds exciting? So here goes – The Best Content Marketing Resolutions to help you meet your business goals in 2017.   1. Move from text-only content to visual content That photo doesn’t speak a thousand words. You’ll have to write them. But you might as well use photos and images to create a beautiful looking piece of content. Photos, as you may know, goes a long way in serving as a click bait. A good photograph on social media can immediately get more attention from the text-only content. It also breaks the monotony of reading a 2000-word article and makes it easier to skim through until the end. There is scientific proof too. Apparently, 90% of all information that comes to your brain is visual and it is processed 90,000 times faster than text!   2. Start incorporating that video into your blogging strategy   Did you know that according to Tech Crunch, 100 million hours of video are watched every day on Facebook alone! Check this amazing list of facts on the benefits of using videos in your content strategy.   In fact, 7 out of 10 millennials are likely to watch the company video when shopping online. As content marketers, there are three types of videos you can create: millennials are likely to watch the company video when shopping online. As content marketers, there are three types of videos you can create: How to present a video from a webinar: Host a webinar on a popular topic and make the video available only to your subscribers. New subscribers can sign up to see previous webinars. Eg: 10 easy ways to create a 3000-word content. Interviews: Interviews can be another way to use videos where you can showcase your FAQs in the form of an interview. Usage tips: There are a lot of new tools being continuously introduced in the market making everything from There are a lot of new tools being continuously introduced in the market making everything from curation to analytics easy for content marketers. Not everyone will have the time to keep updated or try and test the tools. You can do it for them with a video AMA.   3. Increase engagement with your followers Though this statement seems like a no-brainer, content marketers often get so lost in the preparation and dissemination of their content that they totally forget about how to engage with their followers and influencers. Engagement also means different things to different people. While a ‘like’ is a positive sentiment, a ‘retweet’ or ‘share’ is an endorsement, the most valuable form of engagement comes with queries or leads. Do not forget to track each form of engagement to see what sentiment your content evokes.   4. Post on our blog more frequently Most content marketers, like the ones at Justwords, are guilty of not being able to devote time to promote themselves while going on an overdrive to get their client’s content to the top. If you are nodding yes to that, think of writing for your blog as a way to showcase your most recent research and knowledge. We already know by rote the statistics we dole out to prove how content creation services every day can increase your traffic drastically. So boys and girls, let’s get on with it right away.   5. No waiting till the last minute to come up with blog post ideas What do I write this week’s blog about? That is one of the major questions that floats around our team of writers. Even though I have been vowing to make that long bank of blog titles so that we stop wasting our time on this time-wasting question, I haven’t been able to do it. If that’s your situation too, then solve it right now. Last-minute blog titles are not really the best blogs from your stable since your main concern is to just get the blog out for that week, or for that matter – that day. Good blogs titles come out of good research and well, sometimes, as Neil Patel says, just tweaking what your competitors are doing. If you are writing one blog a day, you will need at

Google does not want these 13 mistakes in your content

  Google-friendly content is the most overused word in the industry today. As a content marketer, its one of the phrases I probably use every day – sometimes to push my team of writers to create better stuff, sometimes to the editors to make them understand what the client wants, sometimes to the client who want rankings on Google but does not want to invest in a good blog. And, then there is the client who just wants quality content, no matter what. So what is this Google-friendly, quality content? Is there any standard definition for it? Who decides what content we should use? The answer to all these questions, at least in the world of search engines, lies with Google. Quality content is important, says Google. And so good quality content is important. That’s it.   What Google wants    And to do that Google started introducing major changes to its algorithms, starting 2002. Although there have been more than 500 algorithm changes till date, the major ones like Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird and the Pigeon, have changed the way search engine marketing works. The intent of every algorithm change is to improve search results and make search more relevant. This also means that Google is watching over its content and making sure that only relevant and quality content gets ranked for every query that is made.   What does this mean to content marketers and writers?  Taken together, this means that shoddily written content churned out by content farms and SEO companies for manipulating rankings results will no longer work. Google wants you to write what will make sense to the user. It does not want you to create content by obsessing over keywords but rather write it to answer a particular question and create value. The meaning and intent of an article hence becomes more important than just keywords. An advanced research project recently undertaken by engineers and leaders at MOZ and SEMrush point to just this. Over 203,900 data points were analyzed to see what type of content really mattered to Google. The research showed that the quality of content was the most decisive factor in helping it rank.   So what are the quality guidelines according to Google? This is what I am arriving at. Google values good content and rewards you with traffic if you create high quality. That is no secret. In fact, Google has even written a complete section on creating valuable content. Google’s mission has always been to help each search user to get the exact information they are looking for in the quickest amount of time. As Larry Page states in this video, Google wants to organize the world’s information and give people the exact thing that they are looking for. Based on Google’s own quality guidelines, we have created a list of 13 content mistakes that Google wants you to avoid. Avoid these and you can pretty much be assured that you will land in Google’s good books. So here we go.   1. Don’t use auto-generated content Creating a tonne of quality content takes a lot of hard work and time. But there really is no easy shortcut. At times, we may be tempted to use programmatic help to generate content quickly but cast the thought aside as soon as you have it. Google’s algorithm has grown smarter by the day. It can now not only catch lazy and copied writing but also penalize you badly for it. Here’s what to look out for – Don’t literally translate text When translating text from another language, see to it that the final output actually makes sense and is not a literal word-to-word translation. A literal translation often jumbles up the grammar and brings down the quality of the output. For eg:   Avoid synonymizing or obfuscation techniques Synonymized plagiarism is one of the emerging threats in the content sector. While plagiarism checkers check for direct copy pastes, replacing the text with words of similar meaning can cloak it to pass on as an original piece of content. Google has fortunately seen through this and set up a penalty for it. Stitching content from different web pages without adding sufficient value There are two aspects to the above statement – the first being that you are already doing non-original content by taking it from other web pages and the second being that you aren’t adding “value” to it. This is a common problem seen with “listicle” articles that tend to quickly make a top-10 list without adding sufficient reasoning for the ratings. If you want to do this, make sure there is enough original content on the page to anchor the article.   2. Be careful about your redirects Setting up redirects is a common practice and is often done for genuine reasons. We often consolidate content from different pages into one page and then redirect the old urls. We also set up redirects when we are moving our site to a new address. Sadly, some online touts have used redirects to create a veil of cloaked content, which takes users and search engines to different pages. Search engines like Google prioritize user experience as a key ingredient in their ranking. This makes such cloaking activities an offence punishable with a huge penalty that could take a lot of time to recover from.   3. Opt only for genuine links   Links have been used and abused consistently to sometimes gain ranks and other times game the search engine into believing that your website had authority. Fortunately, Google shut down link farms and black hat practices to a good extent. Even then, if you get your hands on some old reading material for building links, you may be tempted to try these spurious practices. Stay away from- The old practices of buying links, using link directories or randomly posting in forums are all considered bad practices. Paid advertorials are also under the scanner and will be prohibited from giving out link juice

Want rocking social media posts? Try these 10 ideas

One of the discussions I often have with my social media content writer is how to create social content that is sticky (which basically means creating content that is memorable) and contagious (which means more shareable). Is there any set way to produce interesting content, is there any process through which we could churn out stuff that people will absolutely read, is there any secret recipe of creating successful content on a constant basis.  Well no straight formula there, but the good news is – you do not have to be a creative genius to write great stuff on social media. What you need is to know first is what people on the other side of the screen want toreador share; and what is that will make your content stick. What makes People Share According to research, people share because they want to entertain others, and be useful. In the book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, author Matthew D. Lieberman, who is a professor of psychology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences, explains this:   To be more precise, The New York Times Insights Group published a study that delved into the reasons of why people share content. According to the study, the main reasons why people shared content was to – To share valuable content to others and be useful To define ourselves To nurture and grow the relationships we have in the community To support a cause or a brand For content writers and marketers, these are important points to understand before they start getting down to content creation.   So what sort of content should we create? Now that you know what people like to share, you should probably know what will make your content stick. One of the most useful pieces of literature that I have found on this was the book Made to Stick by educators Chip and Dan Heath who explore why certain ideas and things stick to our mind, while others fade away. So if I was to apply their research on what makes ideas stick to written content, it would be simply THIS –   What every you do with your content, don’t forget to tell a story. Keep your message simple and uncomplicated.  Make your content detail oriented and compelling.  Create a sense of urgency through what you write. Build trust by relying on good sources.  Try to build an emotional connect through your content.    Finally, what I have discovered through the years is that it all starts with one simple fact – producing quality content and not marketing content. Content that is high in quality mostly tends to market itself in the long run, albeit with a little social media push here and there.   From science to content writing hacks  According to a recent statistics shared by the Content Marketing Institute, while 70% B2B marketers are creating more content than a year ago, over 50% find it difficult to produce engaging content. When you are a content creator or marketer whose job is to serve up great content everyday, the hacks matter more than the science of it. And that is what this blog post is really about – killer content marketing ideas about how to create successful social media content. Most social media ideas here are structured around specific goals and you’ll need to use a mix of them in any given month. The best part is that when you start using them all, you won’t have a dearth of ideas on what to post next. In fact, you’ll also have insights on what works best for your audience and schedule more of such post types. Here you go –   1. Court the Quote One of the easiest non-confirmative tasks to do on social media is to give a ‘like’ or a ‘favourite’ to something that catches the eye. It doesn’t involve a transaction, an in-depth thought process or a strenuous physical activity. It requires a simple ‘click’ that says that you agree with something that totally makes sense or something just hit the cord and you reciprocate with a ‘like’ that allows your friends and family to know about it. Inspirational, funny, sad or thought-provoking, quotes are an easy magnet for this action. The stats do the talking: One search on Buzzsumo for ‘inspirational quotes’ and you’ll see the statistics of a huge amount of engagement. Most brands would love to have that level of engagement, especially now that it is getting more difficult by the day for brands to reach their own followers organically. Needless to say, funny quotes work really well on social media. Quotes can be momentous – shared on an occasion, event or even birth or death anniversary of a well-known personality all tend to trigger the crowd mentality. There is also a lot of debate on the point of generating this ‘type’ of engagement and if the effort is really worth it since you aren’t targeting a captive audience. With each quote, let’s say that you manage to reach 100 of your fans and 150 new people. You have an excellent opportunity here to educate these new people about your brand. Here’s how: Don’t post a random quote: Always try to create content that resonates with your brand’s mission and values as closely as possible. If you are selling a photo book, quotes about memories and moments can resonate well with your brand. If you sell funky tees, you can easily do a market test by sharing slogans and maybe even print and sell the ones that seem to draw attention. Use your own image: Most marketers tend to give this step a miss fully knowing how powerful an image is because of the technicalities involved. Images can enhance brand recall. Use a simple tool like Canva to do a text overlay over your own image. Don’t overdo it: Just because your audience likes it doesn’t mean you can do 10 quotes a week. One good quote in a couple of days should

A Master Chef who has the perfect recipe for Content Marketing

What would you say if I told you that one of the most celebrated faces of Indian cuisine is the one from whom you can pick up content marketing lessons? Food. Content. Marketing – mix the three ingredients in the right proportion to get a perfect marketing lesson.   Background Chef Sanjeev Kapoor doesn’t need an introduction. He was the first male face taking centre stage in a woman’s domain in India with his TV show Zee Khana Khazana. I still remember the show being one of the eagerly awaited shows of its time. The show has had an amazing 17-year run and like most things associated with Sanjeev Kapoor, morphed and adapted to the audience’s liking without altering its core value proposition. With over 150 books and DVDs, several awards, restaurants and his own TV channel – Food Food, this chef extra ordinaire’s fan following from India and around the world easily reaches millions. Behind his recipes and lessons on cooking lies the unique path he has followed that has made him a formidable force not only in India but around the world. Here’s what we can learn from him about marketing yourself and your brand.   Allow your content to be accessible A leader is only as good as his number of followers. And our dear chef has always put his followers first over everything else. His shows, earlier restricted only to Sundays, allowed him to share only a couple of his expert recipes. As a leader, he wanted to do better for his fans and followers. By creating over 150 cookbooks and DVDs back in the days, he allowed his content to be shared via more than one medium, reaching out in the best ways possible. With the increasing popularity of the internet, not only are his recipes available online but so are his videos. He was an early adopter for presenting his TV show videos online which has also given an important dimension to disseminating his content. The chef now disseminates his content via his personal TV channel ‘Food Food’, which is growing to be one of the leading food channels in India. Another great example of adaptability that we can learn from Sanjeev Kapoor app available for both Android and iOS. One other thing that deserves a definite mention from a content marketing perspective is making recipes available in Hindi, the local Indian language. This move ensures that not only do the recipes reach a wider core audience but also reaches them in the language they understand.   Quantity matters It’s not just the deliciousness of the recipe. The sheer variety of it is mind boggling. Being a chef for the past two decades or so comes with a treasure trove of marketable content. The lesson we learn here is that while our content bank can’t be built overnight, neither are brands. It takes constant work over decades to build a bankable brand – and the work for it starts today and is to be done every day. Here are some numbers that do the talking- 17 years, 120 countries, 500 million viewers for Zee Khana Khazana making it the longest running TV show in Asia! 10 million copies of cook books sold 8 Lakh+ Youtube channel subscribers 25 million hits a month on www.sanjeevkapoor.com 10000+ recipes on the website 12+ restaurants owned This is one case where there is a free flow of available content making it difficult to pick and choose. And yet, the website has won awards for its user-friendliness which makes it a great example of not just having content but knowing how to market it. As marketers, we mentioned in our previous blog on how a website having 400+ blogs  was more likely to direct visits than one that didn’t. This number puts things in perspective on how Sanjeev Kapoor, has, over the years, ensured that that content he creates via different channels is assimilated well on his website as a central source to attract traffic.   And here goes the SEO The other big part of content marketing comes from the power of its organic traffic. Being one of the most popular chefs in India, it is a fairly common practice for people to search for random recipes appending the chef’s name to the keyword string. It also helps that a ton of recipes has been his own creation. Long tail key strings like ‘Sham Savera recipe Sanjeev Kapoor’ are so common that his name appears in Google’s auto-suggest whenever you look for a recipe! But the SEO goes a step further to ensure that not only does the website rank when people search by brand name but it also ranks well when searched for recipes. Try it yourself. Google for ‘chicken biryani recipe’ or ‘palak paneer recipe’ and you’ll invariably find the website in the first page results. The same can be said for thousands of Indian recipes. The website is even optimized for “No Onion No Garlic” – a popular search term with a large population of vegetarians.   Building upon partnerships Once you have the upper hand in creating quality and quantity content, it is time to offer your users a little more than before. Sanjeev Kapoor endorses a select set of products ranging from modular kitchens to artificial sweeteners. Each of these products hitches a piggyback ride on the chef’s marketable qualities and ability to reach millions and themselves add to the expanding numbers. Exploring synergies and creating new avenues to market your brand is a great way to expand your story line and take your brand to the next level. Sleek, in this case, reaches 10 Lakh Indian homes annually.   Expand your offering From restaurant franchisees to the Wonderchef line of products, Sanjeev Kapoor has stepped out of the television in your living room and entered your kitchen to bring out the master chef in you. And he is doing this while constantly innovating his core offering of Indian cuisine. You see

5 easy ways to create great content, without wanting to break anyone’s head

There are umpteen facts floating around about the power of content marketing. From improving search rankings to driving relevant traffic and leads, good content can be a game changer in the online competitor space. In its 2015 Benchmark Report, Hubspot found that companies with 400+ published posts get double the traffic than those with 0 – 100 blogs. 400 blogs? Really? That seems like a super daunting number from any angle. How long will it take to write that much content? Do you have enough (valid and bankable) ideas to create 400 blogs? The answer is yes.   Image Source: http://neilpatel.com/ Technically, creating just one good blog a day for the next one year can let you hit the number. While one blog doesn’t seem like a lot, doing two a day will double your pace in reaching your content goal! All you need to do is follow our simple content creation guide, albeit judiciously, and you’ll be on your way to achieve your content goals before you know. That brings us back to the starting line of our content marathon.   And let’s go.    Start by chalking down specific goals from your Content creation activity. It may be sales or leads for one or many of your products and services. Your content marketing schedule will entirely revolve around these goals that you set today. If you are selling a single product (for example T-shirts) and have variants like slogan tees, graphic tees and superhero tees, you content goals will revolve around each variant too. This goal sheet is a sacrosanct document in your content creation activity. Whenever you create content, you’ll need to go back to your goal sheet to check on a few questions –   Does the content educate my customers? Does the content delight my customers? Does the content compel my customers to explore my product offering? Does the content make a user want to come back for more? If you are saying yes to one or more questions, then the content is fit to roll. So how do you create ideas and variations in your content? Here are 5 ways to do it.   Identify your source of inspiration   There are blogs you like and there are blogs you love. Writers who you like to go back to. Writers who somehow make the most sense with content that rings the right bells. We all have them. We all like to follow them. Now let’s take your inspiration a step ahead. Compile all your favourite blogs using an aggregator like Feedly. These can be blogs from your industry, sector, product line and even those from your competitors. This gives you a single window to keep track of the content you love and even learn to improvise on what’s working for others. The great thing about Feedly is that it also allows you to automatically categorize the incoming content, making it easy for you to source specific content for specific needs. As a next step pick, out your favourite content headlines or create new ones and mark them out to one or more goals from your goal sheet. Do this once a day, everyday, and you’ll never run out of blog topics for the entire year!   Listening to social channels   Social is where you customers ‘hang out’.  And it it’s the place where you get to discretely listen to what they are saying and device a way to give them what they are looking for. What most companies don’t realize is that social is not only a medium to disseminate your content but also a place to find content that will make your brand come alive. For example if you are an ethnic wear brand and your customers are following what ethnic clothing leading actors are wearing on the red carpet, you can devise content that interests them and draw them into your world about ethnic wear without overselling it. Another interesting place to look for topic ideas is QnA sites Quora. While it is not only customers who may have questions, you’ll notice Quora to be a place where industry leaders hang out personally answering questions. Now all you need to do is spin off a topic from one of the answers from questions and answers that have the most upvotes!   Look up trends and keyword research   When you take up keyword research for SEO strategy, it will give you a clear view of the exact terms customers are using to find your brand or service. While you use the primary keywords to optimize your site, the long tail keywords are great for content creation for your blog. Let’s say you recommend shopping destinations within a city and know that your customers use ‘Silk sarees in <location>’ as one of their prime search terms. An insightful 2000+ original article on Top 7 tourist destinations in the city (with one being a popular silk saree store) can be a great way to lay the bait. Another free tool that content marketers often use for the “now” audience is Google trends. As Google says “Trends gives you a glimpse into the topics the world is searching for.” Though many blogs recommend that you create content as per the trending topic, it is not always possible as a brand owner to do so unless you have a team of experienced content marketers on board 24×7 to look this up. We recommend instead use it to understand search patterns. Did you know that, for example, “birthday party ideas” and “baby shower ideas” tend to peak in January! You can use an insight like this to create topical content for a particular period.   The content idea tool you didn’t know you had – Your own website   The way users act on your website can also be a great insight into what they are looking for. All that data which is hidden within Google Analytics can be a great source for re-marketing old content and

13 actionable SEO and website copywriting tricks to get your content rocking

Well let’s get this one fact straight. Most of us who are writing today are trying to get some benefits out of that writing. We either want to rank high on Google, or want loads of traffic from that content to our website. In short, everyone is trying to get some Google love for their content through which they can reach their targeted audience. That in very basic terms is what I would call SEO copywriting. Let’s understand this a little bit better SEO and website copywriting SEO and Website copywriting can be explained simply as this – writing with the intent of getting ranked by Google. This is how it is done – You find keywords that you know rank well for your category You write content around the keyword You share it in different places and get people to share it to so that there is valuable traffic coming to your website. You also want Google to rank you for that particular keyword. That is what people the world over are doing. And yet as Brian Clark of Copyblogger points it out that “If there’s any one thing that can be said about SEO with certainty, it’s that it manages to cause a lot of confusion.” A lot of people even today get SEO and website copywriting completely wrong. One of the main reasons for that is the world over there are millions and zillions of SEO agencies who want nothing but a tribe of copywriters who can churn out endless articles of 500-1000 words. The ultimate aim of these website and SEO copywriting articles or content is this: Use the keyword that is relevant for the client business and use the content in several places around the Internet to get traffic. The end result that we all want from this sort of SEO writing or SEO articles is this – The client should rank on Google for that particular keyword. Is that; wrong. Well definitely no. We are all in it for the same thing. So what is wrong? While this sort of keyword-pushing SEO content writing has been happening for a long time, Google decided to get smarter with the sort of content it was bringing to its people. And there is enough reason for it: When it comes to search, Google is the godfather. Being the largest search engine, Google sends more traffic to your site than anyone else. Google has even created a whole course to make you understand what Google wants from your content. Here are the main points that Google highlights: Create quality content that is useful for everyone. Make it exciting and engaging Do your research well and write the good stuff. Don’t bother with rubbish writing. Write content that is unique. Don’t copy paste. So now that we know what Google wants, let’s understand more about how we can write for the search engines. We all know that Google and its algorithms are getting better by the day. Their engineers admit to releasing over 500 changes in a year – that’s almost two a day. These are changes that aim to increasingly put forward content that people perceive as valuable. Some are minor like Google experimenting with the change in colour of its links from blue to black to major ones, like giving a boost to mobile friendly updates. Between the Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird and Pigeon updates (may be they’ll get creative and name the new ones Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion soon), the one fact that remains unchanged is this- Google wants you to write content that is of good quality and original keeping people in mind. If you are reading this article, you probably want to create powerful, targeted content that can convert these readers into customers. And the steroid that’s going to accelerate your reach and put your content in front of them – when they are looking for it – is SEO. If you are in the mode of writing SEO articles and blogs where you simply stuff it up with keywords without paying much attention to what is getting written, it’s time to stop since you are not likely to rank for it. Even if you do rank for a particular keyword, your visitor will most likely never visit you after the first time. Google immediately notices this and scores your content accordingly. It definitely wants to take its viewer to places where they can find relevant information. Google explains how the process works in its very elaborate “Document scoring based on document content update”. So what should you be doing in order to write SEO copy and also get some Google love. The single most important factor that should influence your SEO content writing is the GOAL behind writing it. SEO writing works with a simple equation – better ranking is equal to more traffic. What most people fail to do is ask a key question – “What happens after you get the traffic flowing?”  Some sites like those thriving on advertising or affiliate marketing do have traffic as their key goal so it works for some. But it’s different for brands. Brands that put out content in their blogs need to learn to use content as a business tool – just like a presentation or sales pitch. In addition to content being original and relevant, it needs to link to your brand’s goals. It needs to create measurable impact and value in the long run for you to consider it as a front runner in your marketing arsenal. SEO content writing is about the romance between the principles of SEO to the creativity of copy writing Copy writing serenades, engages, appeals and finally persuades the reader into taking action. SEO requires specialized expertise with knowledge of tech that will get the content in front of readers when they are looking for it. Marry the two off in your writing and you have a winning formula. 1. Get into the “Inception” mode. Get the

SEO, SEO, SEO, How do I master art thou?

Heard enough about SEO and want to learn the basics to boost your website’s ranking on Google. Here are three basic ways to kickstart your SEO campaign. It is the most heard word of web. It has more than 30,0,00,000 results on Google. It can put the bravest of digital marketers in a tight spot. But once you get to know it, you will thank you lucky stars you got to know of it. You must have guessed it by now – we are talking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)! Even though SEO is darn complicated thing for the common person, who has no understanding of Google algorithms, on page and off page optimization, it’s also true that with a little effort you can understand the basics of search engine optimization and yield the benefits of the process. And may we safely claim here that the benefits are immense if you are planning to generate through the online world. So here we go, the top 3 SEO basics for you to master: The assumption game never works with keywords. Hence, the Google Keyword Popularity Tool should be your go-to source in order to understand, which keywords drive the maximum traffic for your genre of For instance, if you are an owner of an organic produce outlet, instead of using “local organic produce” as your keyword, if you use specific keywords, such as “where to buy best local organic produce in Rajouri Garden” or “quality organic Rajouri Garden” or “quality organic produce in West Delhi”, you are much more likely to rank well. Localised keywords work like a charm to boost your SEO reach, giving you the leverage of getting bang-on targeted readers. But the story doesn’t end here! Always zero-in on one particular keyword for your subject and then pump the same keyword in your first sentence, page description, post permalink, and page title. This would ultimately let the true SEO magic happen, ranking you right at the top for selected few particular search terms. Google’s search algorithm checks only your title, headers, social endorsements, images and hyperlinks in your post/article/story or content. Mentioned below are top 4 factors that Google search automatically prioritizes: The amount of links to your post or page. Popular keyword usage. The amount of characters in the body copy. The number of Facebook, Twitter and Email shares, likes and comments. Also, do note that shares are worth a lot than likes and comments. Number of links and hyperlinks present in the post or page. We suggest you ace the game of hyper-linking by linking back to your own posts, search terms and internal website pages in relation to the topic. Social media is without a doubt the sexiest buzzword of digital. It can help you get your name out to a wider audience. And when that happens, you increase the overall awareness of your brand. Google search heavily rewards (yes, monetarily heavy too!) blogs that are shared, liked and commented on in healthy numbers. And, if your website/blog is ‘liked’, ‘commented’, ‘shared’, and ‘Re-tweeted’ a lot by social media influencers on a variety of social media pages, then you can be rest assured to feature right at the top of Google rankings. Many social media websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Vine have high domain authority and ranking potential, which has the power of easily creating multiple listings for a brand. Moreover, social media provides an ideal scenario to draft reputation management campaigns too. There you have it our list of top 3 SEO tactics, which SEO beginners must get acquainted with to taste the initial fruit of organic reach success, and ultimately widening their reach! Want to add something else, feel free to comment

Is it worth marketing on Facebook?

Facebook Marketing – “To Be” Or “Not To Be” Facebook is one platform which has broken all the barriers of social representation, outlook & linkage; to become the ultimate source of connectivity. To add to that; Facebook has come up with the most unique & un-pestering ways to help businesses reach their target audience smoothly. Hence, keeping in mind the immense popularity amongst the masses; there has been a strong rise in businesses joining Facebook. These marketers are using every means possible such as buying likes, paid ads, and many more to reach out to their target audience. While many are seen to be getting a lot of business via Facebook, the rest of the lot is seen to be failing to achieve success. That’s majorly happening because these failed businesses are seen to be blindly following the footsteps of others without even knowing the ‘hows-&-whats’ of their doings! So with the increasing records of failures, it has created a huge doubt amongst the whole bunch of marketers and is making them wonder if; Is it actually worth marketing on Facebook? To begin with, YES – it is extremely important to have an active presence on Facebook. Why? A latest survey conducted by iStrategyLabs revealed that, the demographics of Facebook has changed drastically. The users of the age group 13-24 have either left Facebook or just don’t visit it anymore. Now on the other hand, there has been a sharp rise in the usage of Facebook amongst the age groups 25 to 54 years.iStrategyLabs revealed that, the demographics of Facebook has changed drastically. The users of the age group 13-24 have either left Facebook or just don’t visit it anymore. Now on the other hand, there has been a sharp rise in the usage of Facebook amongst the age groups 25 to 54 years. Does this mean that Facebook has lost its charm? Not really! Look at it this way, the initial users of Facebook i.e. ‘13-24 year olds;’ although were pioneers to make Facebook what it now is. But the fact remained that these ‘pioneers’ survived majorly on pocket money and didn’t have much riches to spend! This, in actuality was bad for businesses marketing themselves, right! Now with the demographics changing and 25 to 54 year olds entering Facebook; the spending capacity of the Facebook users is increasing drastically. Thus, making it even more necessary to be on Facebook! So what are the ‘do’s-&-don’ts’ of marketing via Facebook? Like always, marketing tricks remain the same only the way it is presented keeps changing! So if you wish to reach out to your audience before and more than your competitors, you need to make sure your ideas are out-of-the-box! Having said that, below mentioned are some of the basic yet most important Do’s-&-Don’ts to market your business on Facebook: – DO’s A Facebook page is your business’s identity on the social platform; use it wisely. Content is King! So keep posting relevant content that keeps the users engaged such as articles relevant to your area of business, images with quotes & videos (funny & / or inspirational), important info about your industry, etc! Keeping social media interactive always helps; so make sure to have someone regularly talking to the followers and most importantly taking feedback from them. Posts must be strategized; depending on the time at which you’re posting, daily events across the world, etc! Keep rolling out interesting contests, quizzes & offers (if & when possible) which followers can relate to!   DON’TS  Make sure you are reaching out to the right audience; or you will never get the desired response! Never make your page sound boring, uninteresting; pestering & monotonous; you will lose your followers! Make sure not to copy your content from others; keep it unique! Your posts should not always be just sell, sell & sell and should also have other light content! Never have thousands of bought likes; users are very smart and will immediately notice it! All-in-All, social media or rather Facebook is one platform which has immense potential to drive enough business for you to solely rely on. But that is only possible if you know how to play your cards well. Do you Want us to manage your social media accounts? Write to us at sales@justwords.in for a quote