90-Day Content Marketing Challenge

by Trish Lindemood on September 1, 2009

Yesterday, I introduced the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge. I am conducting this challenge over the next 3 months to illustrate how developing a clear and specific “Action Plan” of things to do daily, weekly and monthly can impact the results of your Content Marketing efforts. The 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge will run from September 1, 2009 through December 1, 2009, with updates provided once a month. Key success measures will be 1.) increase in new traffic, 2.) increase in repeat visitors, and 3.) increase in off-site exposure.

Here are the Action Items for the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge:

Daily Action Items:

Update blog
Post blog updates to Social Media sites
Encourage visitors to share topics they like with Social Bookmarking sites
Submit weekly articles (see below) to 5 article directories (25 per week)

Weekly Action Items:

Conduct Keyword Research for all content to be created that week
Write 3 fresh articles to be distributed off-site to article directories (distribution schedule above)
Create 3 unique articles/product reviews (posted on site)
Contribute to 2-3 guest blogs per week (1-2 posts each)
Write and distribute e-newsletter
Identify and comment on one high-quality related blog or forum – but only where my contributions can provide genuine value to that site

Monthly Action Items:

Conduct and publish one book review
Write and distribute one press release
Create information-rich incentive report for email subscribers
Share results with WebCopyResults.com readers and subscribers!

This Action Plan includes many of the key components of any comprehensive Content Marketing program. I will discuss each of these Action Items over the course of the next several weeks to explain how they fit into a well-rounded Content Marketing campaign – and how you might be able to adapt these ideas to your own business model and schedule.

Til Next Time,

P.S. Be sure to sign up for our email updates (or subscribe to the RSS feed!) to stay up-to-date on the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge. Also, click on the “Comments” link below to share your thoughts and ideas on how to make the challenge better.

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{ 11 trackbacks }

Web Content Challenge – Will You Join Me?: September 2, 2009 at 10:51 am
How to Write a Great Author Resource Box: September 15, 2009 at 9:14 am
90-Day Marketing Challenge – Mini-Update: September 16, 2009 at 8:52 am
Moratorium on Information Products: October 1, 2009 at 7:05 am
90-Day Content Marketing Challenge: October 2, 2009 at 9:27 am
Traffic (or lack thereof) at German History Blog | Bill Dawson: October 15, 2009 at 11:15 am
October traffic numbers for German History Blog | Bill Dawson: November 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm
My Cross-Blog Conversation with Nicole Dean Continues…: November 24, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Taking Daily Action Is The Key: December 2, 2009 at 9:54 am
content marketing, game plan: January 12, 2010 at 8:20 am
101 Marketing Strategies: Strategy #3: January 13, 2010 at 2:32 pm

{ 13 comments }

Angie (Losing It and Loving It) September 1, 2009 at 9:10 am: Hi Trish,
It’s Angie from over at the SSWT forum. Love this challenge and I will do my best to follow it. Adding your blog to my reader now. I haven’t had the chance to read your original post yet but I do like how you laid this challenge out.
Lynn Terry September 1, 2009 at 9:18 am: I really like how you have this laid out. A publishing schedule is SO helpful for staying on track with updates, and for keeping readers engaged. Not to mention attracting new readers.

Very well done, and a schedule we should ALL be following along with at our own sites or blogs!
Kayla Fay September 1, 2009 at 11:52 am: I’m also signing on for this challenge. What article directories are you going to use?
Dan Reinhold September 1, 2009 at 12:13 pm: You’ve definitely got my attention, Trish!

This will all be in a “read, do, repeat” format then??

Dan
Coronado Cookie September 1, 2009 at 2:28 pm: What a great start to the Challenge Trish! I love the way you’ve itemized the action items into daily, weekly and monthly tasks. I look forward to reading the details for each action item.
Trish September 1, 2009 at 4:05 pm: Thanks for the comments – much appreciated!

Kayla – I will be doing a series of blog posts (starting Thursday) relating to the specific article directories I am using, including their current page rank, submission guidelines, or other pointers you might find useful. Tomorrow’s post will give more of an overview of how the challenge will come together.

Dan – send me an email at trish [at] webcopyresults.com – I want to make sure I understand your question correctly before answering!

Thanks again for stopping by – can’t wait to hear how everyone is doing with this challenge!
Grace September 1, 2009 at 9:22 pm: I have a new blog and really want to know how to keep it going as I market it with articles, so I am in to see how this is going and to take action. ACTION.
That is the big thing here. I really want to benefit.
Grace
vicque September 2, 2009 at 2:37 am: Ok, I’ll give it a whirl (on the conditions, of course, that 1) there are more than 24 hours in every day during September, October, and November, and 2) I can always hire you to bring this all to fruition for me should I find that a late-night Pepsi can left a ring of pop on my Action Plan List and I find myself forced to choose between answering the call of the hot bubble bath or reprinting my action plan.)
Trish Lindemood September 2, 2009 at 8:54 am: Hi everyone – wanted to let you all know that I have decided to keep the focus of this challenge on just one site (I originally was going to incorporate a second site). I will continue working on the second site as planned, but to simplify reporting and to keep the challenge more focused, I will limit the conversation to this site only.
Susanne Myers September 2, 2009 at 11:30 am: Hi Trish, I’m following right along and am posting my results as well. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of results we’ll get.
Trish Lindemood September 4, 2009 at 11:17 am: Thanks for the great feedback – working on tons of stuff to post to the site over the next several days.

I can’t wait to hear about the progress everyone is making!!
Elisabeth Kuhn September 12, 2009 at 10:09 am: Hi Trish,

Great idea. Looking forward to hearing about your progress.

Since I feel that your challenge is meant to inspire your readers as well, it would be great if you could add a bit more detail — which social bookmarking sites? Just the main ones? Guest blogging — how do you get people to invite you to guest blog?

And I notice you list iSnare.com on your best directories list. Is it functional again? I haven’t been able to get a reaction out of them or an article reviewed since mid-January. I used to use them a lot and I’d be happy to hear they’re back…

Thanks!
Trish Lindemood September 12, 2009 at 11:17 am: Hi Elisabeth

Thanks for the comment – yes, I definitely plan to add more details and suggestions throughout the course of the 90-Day Challenge. Right now, I’m focusing on article marketing and time management, but will also cover guest blogging, press releases, and social media in the coming weeks both here (blog) and in the Content Marketing Toolbox.

I also plan to create a detailed report at the end summarizing the entire experience – results, pros, cons, what worked well, what didn’t, etc…

As far as iSnare.com – they are a new entry to my article database list – but I haven’t had any problems so far (although they do show a default (and very prominent) error message when you log in – I’ve still been able to work within my account – and they are showing new articles published as recently as today (09/12/09). If I run into any problems with the articles I submit, I will definitely update the list and post an update here.

Thanks again for commenting!