There are several types of web content writing we’ll cover over the course of the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge. For example, we’ll talk about how to create compelling blog posts, off-site articles, incentive reports, guest posts, email messages and backlink-building comments.

In addition, we’re going to focus on how to get the most mileage out of all this great content we’re creating! So, expect a lot of emphasis on promotional activities throughout the next 90 days, as well.

Of course, it takes a lot of time to research, write and promote your web content. In fact, it can get downright overwhelming if we let it.

But, don’t panic and drop out now!

Lack of time is a challenge for everyone. I have yet to meet or talk to anyone who has unlimited amounts of time to devote to these tasks. From what I’ve seen, it is one of the biggest struggles many online business owners face – myself included. I perform these services for my paying clients and the time left over to work on and develop my own projects is really limited.

It doesn’t take long to realize how important strategy, time management and goal setting are in this equation. So, let’s start there.

Developing a Clear Strategy – and a Concrete Action Plan

I didn’t want to launch into a big, longer-term project like the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge without a solid plan in place. Therefore, I’ve spent a lot of time in recent weeks researching topics and developing an outline/game plan for it. I am laying it out here so you can see the thought process and apply it to your own Content Marketing strategy.

Here Is How the 90-Day Challenge Will Be Structured:

• Introduction: (this week) – a look back and getting started

• Week 1 – Week 12 Each week will focus on a different topic – i.e., link building and article marketing. (Week 1 starts 09/06)

• Conclusion: Review of accomplishments, final results and opportunities for improvement

Here is my Web Content Publishing and Promotion Schedule for this challenge: (You can adopt this one “as is” – although I highly recommend establishing one that fits your own goals and objectives).

Daily and Weekly Action Items:

• Blog Posts – 3x/week (I am going to shoot for 5x/week – but will focus more on making each post really count long term vs. posting for the sake of posting)
• Guest Blog Posts – 1x/week
• Article Marketing (write and submit) – 3x/week
• Backlink Building – 30 minutes/day – goal: 5 new anchor text links a day during this time
• Social Media Sharing – we won’t focus on social networking until later in the challenge. This isn’t my area of expertise, but is somehow one of my largest sources of traffic. (Go figure, right? ) Don’t worry – I’ll conduct interviews and gather tips from real experts to share with you here! For now, I will continue to utilize Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as part of my promotional efforts.

“Set It and Forget It” Tasks

In addition to these daily and weekly action items, there are also a number of one-time projects we’ll talk about during the challenge. These are larger, more time-consuming projects – but they can benefit your business well into the future. Examples include creating an opt-in landing page, a follow-up email autoresponder series, and a viral incentive report.

As you can see, there are a lot of different facets to a comprehensive Content Marketing plan. The great thing is you don’t need to do everything – you simply need to do something.

Til Next Time,

PS If you’ve signed up for the 90DCMC, you’ll get an email from me this weekend with action items for Week 1, plus a worksheet you can use to create your own plan and track your progress. (If you haven’t signed up yet – you can do so by completing the form below)!

Let me say it again… Consistent Link Building = Better Search Engine Ranking

Yes, I am repeating that point as much for my benefit as I am for yours.

When it comes to my own web projects (vs. for clients) – I am what could be described as a very lazy backlink builder. I tend to view it the same way I do strenuous exercise – I know I NEED to do it, yet always seem to put it off because there are other things I’d rather do.

However, once I get a good workout in – I am always really glad I did.

(I am trying really hard to convince myself this will also be the case when it comes to developing a consistent link-building strategy).

Because backlinks are so critically important to the success of your online business, we are going to focus on them quite heavily throughout the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge. In order to see what kind of progress we make in this area over the next 90 days, let’s figure out our baseline – or how many many links we have today.

How to Find Your Backlink Baseline

I use Yahoo Site Explorer for this task – you can find it here: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com

At the top of the page, you’ll see a search field with a submit button that says “Explore URL” – enter your domain there.

Note: I don’t include the “www.” in front of my domain when I check (and when building backlinks). You can include the “www.” – as long as you remain consistent. We’ll talk more next week about why this matters – but for now, just keep in mind that it does.

Once you enter your domain, 1.) click on the “Inlinks” tab,  2.) use the drop down arrow to select “Except from this domain” (to exclude internal links) and 3.) select “Entire Site” – this will show links to all pages of your site and not just your home page. (See image below for a visual explanation of these instructions).

If you’ve signed up for the 90-Day Challenge, go ahead and enter your results in the worksheet I sent out yesterday. If you are just joining us, you can still grab a copy of this worksheet to help you get started, plus future weekly action plans by signing up at the bottom of this post.

Anyway, here is where my site is today:

Based on my notes from last year’s challenge, WebCopyResults.com had 18 backlinks in August 2009 and 94 by November 2009. In case you can’t read this screenshot on your monitor, the result is “252.”

(See, I told you I am a lazy backlink builder!)

I am suddenly feeling a little embarrassed, because I would never allow this to happen with a client’s site. I guess this is what happens, though, when you don’t have a solid game plan in place.

Oh well. Can’t change the past – so best to learn from it and chart a different course for the future.

To help me step up my game in this area, I’ve been studying a great link building program by Susanne Myers. You may already know Susanne as the Hillbilly Housewife – or from her awesome resource site, AffiliateTreasureChest.com. If so, then you already know she really knows her stuff – and she definitely over-delivers with her link-building course.

(I am actually amazed at how much I am picking up from every single lesson. I have a good grasp on “how” to build backlinks – but am still having lots of “a ha!” moments while reviewing this course).

Now, of course, it is up to me to put this information into action… and I’m going to need a clear strategy to make that happen.

Tomorrow, I’ll post the content publishing and promotion schedule I plan to follow for the rest of this challenge. Plus, we’ll talk about how to customize a plan that works for you.

Til Next Time,

PS My plan is to follow Susanne’s 13-Week Link Building course alongside this 90-Day Challenge and report my results from it at the end. (Kind of like a “mini” case study within a case study). My natural strength is in content creation – so I am excited to see what focusing more on the promotional side of the equation will do in terms of results.

In the last 12 months, WebCopyResults.com has become a living case study for the long-term benefits of Content Marketing.

Therefore, before we start the 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge, let’s take a look at what has happened in terms of traffic, etc… over the last year.

Note: I sent out a worksheet last night to everyone who signed up for this year’s challenge. Much of what we talk about today will cover how to establish your own baseline. (To get a copy of this worksheet and future action plans – you can sign up at the bottom of this post).

First, a Quick Look Back

By the conclusion of the 2009 90DCMC, this site had approximately 120 pages/posts – 90 of which were added during the challenge itself. Today, the site has just under 180 pages/posts – so less than 60 new pages were added in the last 9 months.

In fact, I took a major step back from this site about 6 months ago – and have only added about 2 dozen posts since then. (“Bad Blogger!”) I didn’t abandon the site because I got bored or lost interest – I’ve completely revamped it since then in order to tie it in better with my long-term business goals. (We’ll talk a lot more about branding and developing a long-term strategic vision throughout this challenge).

I am pointing this out for 2 reasons:

1.) This makes the results I am about to share even more encouraging.

2.) Imagine how much better these numbers would be if I had maintained a consistent publishing schedule over those 9 months?

Lesson learned!

Okay, Let’s Look at the Numbers:

The following screenshots show August 2009, November 2009 and August 2010 results in terms of Unique Visitors and Number of Visits to the site:

Note: The average number of visitors per day to the site has increased from 21.65 in August 2009, to 107.73 in November 2009 and 163.48 in August 2010

Also, check out the dramatic increase in incoming links from search engines staring with August 2009, (also shows November 2009 and August 2010):

Number of Keyword Phrases Returning Organic Search Engine Results (for the same 3 time periods):

Remember, each keyword phrase represents one more doorway into your site – so the more of these you have delivering traffic to you, the better!

CONCLUSION: As each of these series of screenshots demonstrate – traffic to the site has continued to grow IN SPITE OF a drastically reduced publishing and promotional schedule over the last 6 months.

Of course, there is A LOT of room for improvement – and that is where we will focus our efforts during the 2010 Challenge. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about backlinks and how they will tie into the 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge.

Til Next Time,

PS Don’t forget to sign up below to join the 90 DCMC – you’ll receive worksheets and weekly action plans to help you get the most out of your Content Marketing efforts

The 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge is about developing – and sticking to – a content creation and promotion schedule. It is about evaluating where you are right now, today, with respect to your online business – and deciding where you want to be.

Oh yeah – and figuring out how to make it work with the rest of your life!

Once you have a better idea of where you are today (your baseline) and where you want to go – you can start working on a systematic approach to get from Point A to Point B. However, if you don’t have a clear vision of what, specifically, you want to accomplish – you may end up wasting a lot of effort by creating content simply because you’ve heard that’s what you need to do.

The 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge is About Leveraging Your Efforts to Get the Greatest Results

Over the course of last year’s 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge, I created and added over 90 pages of unique content to this site – mostly in the form of daily blog posts. There are 2 things that exercise confirmed for me:

1. Daily blogging drives more traffic – without question, the more I blog, the more traffic the site gets.
2. That type of traffic is rather short lived – UNLESS that particular blog post happens to rank well in the search engines. If not, older posts tend to get buried by newer ones and slip from the radar all together.

Actually, I knew this. However, the drive to keep up with a daily blogging schedule often took precedence over establishing a well-defined strategic vision for my business.

Fact is, creating new content day after day after day without a plan to leverage it is … well, kinda like a hamster wheel to nowhere.

Have You Experienced the Same Thing?

If so, you already know how frustrating it is to invest time and energy into researching and creating great content – only to have it quickly fall off the radar. Fortunately, there are 3 things you can start doing TODAY to stop this from happening in the future: (We’re going to discuss each of these in more detail in the coming weeks).

1. Utilize Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tactics: Performing keyword research and creating content around what people are actually looking for is a great first step – as is optimizing the on-page factors you can control – title tags, meta-descriptions (not for SEO, but to get better click-thrus rates), and image file names, ‘alt tags’ and descriptions.
2. Build Quality Backlinks: Specifically, you’ll need incoming anchor text links pointing to specific pages and posts – the more, the better. Commenting, article marketing and guest blog posting are 3 ways to do this – and we’ll look at each of these in more detail over the course of the next several weeks.
3. Find – and Re-Purpose – Hidden Gems. Search your archives for long-buried posts or articles. Then, update them into something fresh and new for your site – or convert them into articles, videos or audio presentations for off-site promotion. In other words, look for ways to leverage the work you’ve already done to boost your current content creation and promotion efforts.

Week 1 Objective: Develop a Gameplan

If you’ve signed up for email updates on the 90-Day Challenge (you can use either the form below this post or in the sidebar to the right) – you will receive a downloadable action plan worksheet to help you get started.

If not, here are a few things you’ll want to consider:

• Who do you want to reach?
• Why? (What EXACTLY do you want to accomplish?)
• How much time (or money) do you have to invest into your Content Marketing campaign over the next 90 days?

Tomorrow, we’ll look at some actual numbers from the last 12 months to demonstrate how Content Marketing results accumulate over time. Then, the rest of this week, we’ll focus more on how to develop a workable action plan you can live with for the next 90 days.

Til Next Time,

PS Have questions? Leave a comment below  – and don’t forget to add your targeted keywords and link to a specific page or post!

The “official” kickoff to the 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge is just 2 days away!

Today and tomorrow, we’re going to talk a bit about getting an accurate picture of where you are right now with respect to your online marketing efforts and how to establish an effective content publishing and promotional schedule that will help you achieve your long-term business goals.

Establish Your Baseline

Over the next 3 months, we’re going to focus on measuring the results of your Content Marketing efforts. Therefore, we first need to establish a baseline of where your site is today in terms of traffic. This will help you to accurately measure how much progress you are making – and it will give you a better idea of what is already working for you – and what isn’t.

On Wednesday, I will publish actual stats from this site to show how traffic has evolved over the last 12 months (since the start of the first 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge). We’ll look at numbers for August 2009, November 2009 (when the last challenge concluded) and August 2010. I can’t wait to share this with you – I hope you’ll find the numbers as motivating as I do!

Use a Stat Tracking Program

I currently have a couple of analytical tools installed to track web traffic: Google Analytics and Awstats. A lot of people love and rely on Google Analytics – and if that works for you – great, stick with it. However, I almost never look at mine. Instead I focus on Awstats to track my progress. (It is included with cPanel hosting services. If you have access to it, but aren’t using it – let me know if you need help setting it up).

For the 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge, we are going to track the following:

1. Number of Unique Visitors - to track how many individual visitors land on your site
2. Total Number of Visits - to get an idea for how often each visitor returns to your site
   
3. Links from an Internet Search Engine – to measure the amount of organic or non-paid traffic delivered to your site
4. Search Keyphrases – to measure how many keyword phrases are ranking well-enough in the search engines to deliver traffic

We’ll also talk about (but not measure) a couple of other factors that can help you get a better idea of where your traffic is coming from – and how you can maximize results from what is already working for you. For example, we’ll talk about “Links from an External Page” because this is a great way to see results from your social media, guest blogging and/or article marketing efforts.

Finally, we’re also going to measure backlinks pointing into your site. Quality backlinks make the online world go round – so we definitely need to focus on building lots of them. To track progress for this challenge, I’ll use Yahoo Site Explorer - I’ll go into more detail on this when I reveal stats on Wednesday.

This should give you a good idea of the baseline numbers we’re going to be looking at for the 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how to develop an effective publishing/promotional schedule for your business.

Til Next Time,

PS I will have a downloadable worksheet available tomorrow which will make it easy for you to get started with the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge. If you haven’t already – don’t forget to sign up below to have updates to the challenge and other free resources delivered to your in-box!

Developing a plan to monetize 404 error pages is not something I would have ever thought of on my own. In fact, I’ve never really thought twice about my 404 error pages  – other than trying to avoid them whenever possible!

However, I recently signed up for my friend Denise O’Berry’s Passive Income Guide and in it, she  discusses how to monetize 404 error pages (and opt-in ‘Thank You’ pages). It struck me as a novel idea – and thought you might benefit from this tip, as well. I figure anything that can maximize our efforts online is worth a second look, anyway.

(By the way – if case you haven’t heard of Denise: She is a well-known small business expert and the author of the hard-copy book, Small Business Cash Flow: Strategies for Making Your Business a Financial Success. I met Denise about a year ago through Lynn Terry’s Elite Mastermind Group and had the chance to meet her in person at NAMS4 last January. If you have any interest in developing more passive income (um… who doesn’t? ) – you can sign up for her free series on this topic using the NON-affiliate link to her Passive Income Guide above).

There are a number of examples around the Web of cool customized 404 error pages (For example, check out this post from Smashing Magazine). However, none of the examples really focus on how to monetize them (with either affiliate links or your own products or services).

If coding isn’t your thing, there are a number of WordPress plugins available to help you customize your own 404 error pages. (Just do a Google search for “custom 404 error page wp plugin”). I use the Thesis theme for this (and all) my sites – LOVE IT! – and use the Thesis OpenHook plugin which allows you to customize your 404 pages, as well.

I’m working on mine right now – I am still tweaking what I want it to say and how I am going to monetize it – but will unveil it once I have it complete. (Taking ACTION on good ideas when you find them is a cornerstone of the upcoming 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge – so don’t forget to sign up below for updates!)

Til Next Time,

PS Would love to hear your thoughts on this tip – have you customized your error pages? How are they working for you? Leave a comment below!

I have a new favorite phrase: Conversion Content Marketing.

As a writer with over 17 years of outside sales and sales management experience behind me, this phrase speaks to both sides of my brain.

As the name implies, Conversion Content Marketing focuses on leveraging your Content Marketing efforts to boost sales and improve your bottom line. In the coming weeks, we’re going to talk about this topic a lot. (The principles of Conversion Content Marketing form the foundation of the 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge).

Before we talk about what this means to you and your business, take a look at this description of traditional Content Marketing:

Thriving at the intersection of SEO and social media, content marketing has become central to digital marketing strategy. Its objective is simple: create genuinely useful or entertaining content for many specific niches of your target audience—not to overtly promote your business, but to build rapport and brand equity—and give it away for free.

–  Scott Brinker, guest post on SearchEngineLand.com

Unfortunately, this is where too many people stop with their online promotional efforts. They never find that happy balance between freely sharing their expertise and running a profitable business.There comes a point, however, when you need to see a healthy return-on-investment for the time and/or money you invest into your Content Marketing efforts.

In other words, simply creating a steady supply of informative or entertaining content won’t guarantee the long-term success of your business. It’s a great start, but you also need to connect all that valuable content into your overall business objectives, too.

In the coming weeks, we’re going to talk a lot more about how to get better business results from your Content Marketing efforts. I’d like to invite you to participate in the 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge  – so be sure to sign up below to have updates automatically delivered to your in-box.

Til Next Time,

PS For more on Conversion Content Marketing – check out the full post by Scott Brinker.

Something really amazing just landed in my inbox and I wanted to make sure I posted it here right away. I’m guessing if you visit a site called “WebCopyResults.com” – you probably have some interest in learning how to create better online content and sales copy.

The best part is the resource I am about to share with you is FREE!

Renowned copywriter and author Karon Thackston has teamed up with Internet Marketing specialist Chris Cobb to put together a 10-Day Beginner’s Copywriting Telesummit starting on September 1st.

If you haven’t heard of Karon – she is the author of many popular books on copywriting, including the recently released Wordtracker Masterclass: eCommerce Copywriting. I know Karon personally and have been fortunate enough to work with her professionally – and I can assure you if her name is on it – it is going to be good.

(Although I am not a beginner copywriter – I am registered to attend this event, as well).

(click here to register now)

In addition, their lineup includes some of the biggest names in copywriting and content creation including:

• Kevin Hogan on the Science of Persuasion
• Michel Fortin on Sales Letters 2.0
• Lynn Terry on Blogging
• Jeff Herring on Article Writing
• Shannon Cherry on Press Release Writing
• Brian Massey on Landing Page Creation

Here’s the Schedule:

Session #1 Wednesday, September 1:
Copywriting’s First Commandment: Know Thy Target Audience by Karon Thackston

Session #2 Thursday, September 2:
Copywriting Basics & Planning: Two Steps Pros Never Skip by Karon Thackston

Session #3 Friday, September 3:
Sales Letters 2.0: More Than Long, Scrolling Copy by Michel Fortin

Session #4 Saturday, September 4:
Busting the Press Release Writing Myths by Shannon Cherry

Session #5 Sunday, September 5:
Blogging Basics That Make All the Difference by Lynn Terry

Session #6 Monday, September 6:
Article Writing Secrets Your Mother Never Told You About by Jeff Herring

Session #7 Tuesday, September 7:
Dissecting, Diagramming and Delivering Exceptional Landing Pages by Brian Massey

Session #8 Wednesday, September 8:
Applying the Science of Persuasion to Copywriting by Kevin Hogan

Session #9 Thursday, September 9:
The Myths & Musts of Writing Search Engine Optimized Copy by Karon Thackston

Session #10 Friday, September 10:
Crafting Intriguing Headlines That Pull by Karon Thackston

If you want to learn online copywriting for free, this is a great opportunity – sign up today!

I can’t believe it.

In less than 2 weeks, the 2nd Annual 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge will kick off here at WebCopyResults.com.

For the first 90-Day Challenge, the goals were pretty basic – drive more traffic and increase off-site exposure for a brand new site. (WebCopyResults.com was only about 6 weeks old at the time).

To review last year’s results, check out this link: 2009 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge Wrap-Up

This year, we’ll build on that basic foundation and focus more on achieving very specific, measurable business goals. Driving more traffic is great – but what REALLY matters is what that traffic does once it’s on your site.

In addition, we’ll talk about how to make this challenge scalable to your own situation and offer examples of how to use these techniques for different business models (online and off).

The first official post in this series will be published on Monday, August 30, 2010.

In the meantime, I’m working on a few things behind the scenes and will post periodic updates over the next 2 weeks. (For starters, I am creating a daily action plan template that you can apply to your own web content marketing efforts).

Stay tuned for more details – or better yet, use the opt-in form below to sign up to receive timely updates.

Til Next Time,

PS To make the 2010 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge even more interactive, I just added the KeywordLuv plug-in. Now, when you leave a comment, you can add targeted keywords to build backlinks to your site. Just remember to link to a specific post or page, rather than to a general ‘blog’ or home page… (unless that is the exact page you are optimizing! )

I’ve had “social media icon envy” for a while now.

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? I’m referring to those neat non-standard social networking icons all the “cool kids” have on their sites. Yeah, the ones that practically jump off the page and demand that you follow, Stumble, Digg, or become a fan of that site…

The problem is I had no idea how to add them to my own site. (Ok, I could add them, just didn’t know how to make them work!) Plus, I didn’t want to spend a ton of money for someone else to do it for me. (To be honest, I kept thinking if I ignored the whole social media thing long enough – especially Twitter – it would go away and I wouldn’t have to tackle it).

No such luck.

If you are in the same boat, I have a couple cool things to share with you today!

First is a link to a post that walks you through how to add social networking icons to a WordPress sidebar.

You can read the full post here:
http://internetmarketingformommies.com/adding-social-networking-buttons-to-your-blog-or-website/

I think you’ll agree, this is about as simple and straightforward as it gets.

(To make # 3 even easier, you can create a “sandbox” page (privately published) within your admin panel and upload the images there instead of creating a new folder in the public_html area of your site. While you are uploading the image, fill in the “Link URL” with the web address where you want visitors to land – i.e. your social media url for that particular site). Once you do that, switch to html view and copy and paste the code for the image into your text widget).

Also, I fell in love with some very cool, non-traditional social media icons (check out the sidebar to the right) – and best of all, they are FREE!

You can find (and download) them here: http://www.dawghousedesignstudio.com/archives/2009/free-social-media-icons-old-bottle-crowns-icon-set/

Enjoy!

Til Next Time,

PS If you like this post, please share it on your favorite social networking site (and by all means, let’s connect through my new social media icons!)