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Unlike the yesteryears, freelance writing seems to be the “in thing”. Every person who has the time to write or thinks he or she can write has turned into a freelancer. And there is a reason for it. The market is awash with content work – and every brand (big or small) wants to get content marketing done. Content is the buzzword today and understandably content writers are the bees buzzing around that content hive. In 2017, the benefits of having a career as a freelance content writer seem more lucrative than ever. More and more marketers have created a structured content strategy for their brand and are looking for torchbearers who can lead them to get more conversions and sales. More and more websites have mushroomed with the offer of closing the gap between people who want content and people who write content. But how is that working for the companies, brand and agencies who have started employing this large pool of freelancing talent? What are the things they felt should improve among freelancers? What are the things that would push them to outsource more jobs to freelancers? As an agency, we often work with freelancers when there is work overload or when a client wants a particular industry specialist. So I had a chat with my content manager on her experience in handling freelancers and the things that she expected from her freelance content writers. I posted the same question to my editorial team, a couple of my entrepreneur friends, and another content writing agency who I knew worked with freelancers. This is what they had to say – Advantages of hiring a freelance content resource   i) Cut Costs   Every business house wants to maximise output and minimise costs. Freelancers are sometimes the best fit to an already existing team, bringing in new skill sets at lower costs.   ii) Get the best of content experts     In today’s world, you need a large variety of content to make your marketing work. From blog posts to white papers, to case studies to videos and infographics, it might not possible to get everything done in-house. The best thing to do here, if you have costs to think of, is to hire freelance industry experts to do the job. That way you get to publish authoritative content without burning your pocket. iii) Meet deadlines and be regular One thing about content marketing that everyone needs to know is that it needs regularity. This means that you need the appropriate amount of content at the appropriate time. And that is where the problem arises. Between looking after various priorities, content can get bunted out of the list of priorities. To prevent that from happening, small companies/business can take the freelancer route to content creation. We didn’t want to talk about the disadvantages here. So my next set of question to my peers and colleagues was this – –    What do you want from freelancers? –    What mistakes do you not want them to make? –    What are the things they felt should improve among freelancers? –    What are the things that would push them to outsource more jobs to freelancers? So, freelancers, this one is for you. To ensure those paychecks keep flowing, here are the mistakes you need to avoid. Read, listen, understand, implement.   1. Not having an outstanding pitch Let’s take it from the top. The moment you see a freelance writer job ad that seems to offer decent pay, it seems like an absolute cake-walk that you’ll get it. After all, you have the relevant knowledge, skills and are willing to take up the pay. Guess what, so are a hundred others who applied just before you. Think of the person on the other end of the laptop staring at the 101st application. Will he even get there? And if he does, what reason are you giving him to read it the second time? Being a writer, you have the best arsenal in the world to create an outstanding pitch. But the opening line needs to give enough reason to read what you have to say. Here are some interesting examples: 31 Attention-Grabbing Cover Letter Examples   2. Not following up     Did you think that a job application is going to get you the job? Probably. Probably not. With the deluge of applicants, some tend to fall off the cracks. And it just may be your unlucky day if the fresher HR executive or overworked startup entrepreneur doesn’t get back to you. To avoid this, a follow-up email after a week works like a charm. It shows that you are diligent, can self-manage and are willing to work around your client’s schedule to get the job done. If not, at least you get some answers, which don’t leave you hanging.   3. Not asking the right questions If the client decides to try you out, you’ll have the first opportunity to prove your worth. Asking the right questions can be a great way to find out their expectations. Keep it simple. Get your target persona for whom you will write this article. “A climb to Kilimanjaro” article can be written in many different ways depending on whom you are addressing. It can be a solo woman traveller, a young trekker, an amateur adventure group or just a travel enthusiast. Knowing an expected word count, the frequency of work coming your way and the speed at which you will need to deliver are all very important questions. Also understanding the CTA (Call to Action) for the article and adding it in strategically can be something that your client will thank you for.   4. Not finding stabilizers In the course of a few months of being a freelance writer, you’ll come to understand the reality behind the term ‘freelance’. It does mean that you can choose some of the work you do. But it also means that you’ll have

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.

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

  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

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

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

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

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