Bridget Willard | SaaS Marketing Agency

Category: Content Marketing

  • Auditing Your Blog Posts – Keep, Delete, Revise

    As your website grows and you’ve been regularly publishing, there comes a time to audit your blog. What articles should you keep, delete, or revise?

    Auditing Your Site Is A Lot of Work

    So, when will you audit your site? You could do this every quarter or every year. It really depends upon your industry and how much it changes. If the things you write about change often (interest rates, for example), then you will want to audit posts of that type.

    Regardless of how you decide to do it, it should be done. By all means, don’t just willy nilly delete posts that are older than X years. These aren’t tax records you’re throwing out. It’s content. Content is easier to revise than create. So, be mindful.

    Of course, Yoast has extensive articles on this subject. You should definitely read their article on how to perform a SEO audit. My approach is less data-centric and more brand-centric. Is it true? Is it mostly true? Or is it total crap?

    Keep These Posts

    You read the post and you’re still proud of it. It resonates with your brand. The message is spot on. The facts are still true. Maybe this is an article you should post on Facebook and boost for $20. Get that bad boy some more traffic! It deserves attention.

    Delete These Posts

    When you’re writing about things that evolve, sometimes products and services die. There may be some parts of the article that ring true and could be salvaged, but unlikely. If you read it and feel completely embarrassed. Delete it. I’ve deleted articles about Blab.im and Google Plus. If you even know what those are. They died.

    If you have two articles that are similar they could be merged — then you revise them. Honestly, I think that’s more work.

    You can 301 these articles or not. It depends on the SEO professional that you listen to and your own business goals. If I didn’t like it, I’m doubtful people are also looking at it. But refer to your own Google Analytics. I’m not going to pretend I’m an SEO professional.

    Revise These Posts

    Revising posts can be a great way to keep content fresh. Maybe you’re writing about Twitter like I do. Twitter changes things — often. I am constantly having to edit posts for technical details that have changed.

    If the article still rings true to you and your brand, then keep it but update it. Maybe add in a video. Find quotes from your peers and their blog posts. Spruce it up. Spend maybe 30 minutes once a week on these.

    Questions to Ask Yourself

    • Has technical information changed but the premise is solid?
    • Does the feature image need to be updated to reflect my current branding?
    • Is the meta description there and/or can it be revised to look better?
    • Is the headline good?
    • Should the URL be changed? If yes, then be sure to put in a 301 redirect.

    After the Post is Revised

    Blog Audit: Start Somewhere

    For me, downloading some sitemap or looking at a giant spreadsheet of all of my articles would be so overwhelming, I would do nothing. My philosophy is that something is better than nothing.

    So, I use Revive Old Post on this website to cycle my content on Twitter. When people respond to those tweets, it comes to my attention. I make it a point to look at one of those articles once a week. It’s part of my block of time that I dedicate to my business on Friday afternoons.

    Oh yeah, have you downloaded my content planner yet? This might help you organize your writing and social posts!

  • How To Be A Good Podcast Guest

    Being a guest on a podcast is an important way to market yourself. As Warren Laine-Naida would say, being a podcast guest is great off-page SEO. You’re finally invited to be a guest. Easy right? Wait. Let’s talk about this a little bit.

    To get the best response to the podcast — and to be invited again — it’s important you’re a good guest. So, I bet you’re wondering how you can do it well? Is it easy to be a good podcast guest? You’d think it would be. But it isn’tI

    Aside from being on a few podcasts and interviews, I was the co-host of The Smart Marketing Show (WPblab) from 2015-2021. Believe me, you can be a bad guest on a podcast. I’ve also started my own series of interviews called “.”

    It’s important for podcast guests to get the tech right, be prepared, show up on time, not deliver a monologue, and actually listen to the podcast.

    A Good Podcast Guest Gets the Tech Right

    WPwatercooler, for example, has guest guidelines (which you can read here). If the podcast host or producer gives you guidelines, follow them.

    Suffice it to say that you should have the following:

    A Good Podcast Guest is a Prepared Guest

    Every host has their own style. Some of them like to ask specific questions and others riff. You may even receive critical questions ahead of time. Read through them the day or week before. Be a prepared guest. Unprepared guests aren’t invited back. And the podcasting world is very small. Hosts talk to each other about guests. So, if you’re not a good guest, you may hurt your reputation.

    A Good Podcast Guest Listens to the Podcast

    Listen to at least one episode of the podcast you’ll be on. Two may be better. You want to understand how you can fit into their podcast, not the other way around. Being a good guest means serving someone else’s audience. So, it’s not about you. If that bothers you, start your own podcast. And, don’t forget to promote your episode — before — and long after it’s been recorded. Even better; write a recap and include a link to the podcast. As an example, Scott Rogerson of UpContent did this when he was on my show.

    A Good Podcast Guest Is Concise

    It’s tempting to deliver a monologue but, remember it’s not your show. It’s also not about you. Allow the hosts to ask their questions. Give concise answers — soundbites. It’s good to elaborate but be mindful. Allow the hosts to ask follow-up questions. Try to stay on track. This is even more important if the podcast is edited. Take breaths. You don’t have to say everything that comes to your mind. I promise.

    A Good Podcast Shows Up Early

    Be on time. And when I say on time, I mean early. We all have bad days. All of us. But schedules are crazy for everyone. Do your best to plan for buffer time. Live podcasts may start at 9:00 AM for example but the pre-show is at 8:45 AM.

    Want More Podcasting and Speaking Tips?

    I’ve built a playlist on YouTube. This includes tips for podcasts that include video as well as in-person tips.

  • Are One-Word Comments Really That Bad? TL;DR No

    So many people rant and rave about comments that aren’t “valuable.” Are one-word comments really that bad?

    TL;DR: No. It’s called small talk.

    All comments on your blog and social media posts are valuable including one-word comments. Comments are reactions to posts.

    Are one-word comments useless?

    One-word comments are not useless. They are input from your community. I’ve come across the attitude (which, frankly, seems a bit entitled) that one-word comments are not useful more often than not. I’d argue that any comment is feedback.

    “No single word comment is helpful. It doesn’t contribute to the conversation, or add value to the post. Writing ‘Nice’ may seem to him to be friendly and forthcoming, and certainly it isn’t a horrible word, but it doesn’t stimulate me into wanting to reply to him.” Allice Elliot 

    I completely disagree with this post from the Commenting Club. Generally, I appreciate them as I also do social media for Postmatic – the best commenting plugin for WordPress.

    I love all comments (save spam) because it tells me they read the article. It reminds me of who they are and who is reading. When 90% of our audience just consumes, you have no idea who is affected.

    Of course, a longer comment allows for the conversation to continue, but a moderator can also extract more information.

    “Thanks for the comment, Daniel. I’m glad you read the article. What part of it strikes you most after thinking about it a while?”

    Remember that introverts need time to process. They may be commenting to be polite. I’d rather have a comment than none at all.

    Comment Entitlement

    Do you really believe your content deserves prose in response? Should people just stop reading your blog because their feedback isn’t good enough for you?

    Seriously. If your article answered the question they had, then there is no reason to contribute to the conversation. If you want a conversation, ask a question.

    I’m so done on this subject.

    By the way, I tried to leave a lengthy comment on that post and, ironically, it was marked as spam.

    “I completely disagree. I love all comments (save spam) because it tells me they read the article. It reminds me of who they are and who is reading. When 90% of our audience just consumes, you have no idea who is affected. Of course, a longer comment allows for the conversation to continue, but a moderator can also extract more information. “Thanks for the comment, Daniel. I’m glad you read the article. What part of it strikes you most after thinking about it a while?” Remember that introverts need time to process. They may be commenting to be polite. I’d rather have a comment than none at all. “

  • About Page: Hire a Copywriter

    It’s pretty tricky to write an about page. It’s hard to write this yourself. Either we’re too clinical or too coded. It’s even weirder if we have inside jokes in our online bios. Let’s fix that.

    How did I start writing About Page bios?

    It may seem weird that I do copywriting for web pages. But, in social media, you’re constantly copywriting. It’s published as a post or a tweet.

    After seeing so many people tweet about hating to write their own speaker bios, I came up with my secret menu. By the way, it’s always good to experiment with your pricing.

    It was a bit controversial, actually, and there are some tweets about it floating around the Internet, but I kept doing it.

    (more…)

  • Schedule Time to Write and Publish Your Blog Posts

    Who has time to write blog posts for your already-busy business? You do have time. If you don’t, then you should outsource but that’s another blog post. That said, scheduling your time is a good way to ensure it gets done.

    You have a business. It has a website. You know you need to publish articles for your blog but you don’t. Why? Usually, it is because of a lack of time management or reluctance to delegate or outsource. Let’s talk about the former.

    Bonus: Video on Time Blocking

    Your Business Matters: Set Aside Time

    You make time for your clients. Why? Because they bring in money. Why don’t you make time for your own marketing?

    I was just on the phone with a client who confessed he needs to blog more often. (I know “blog” is a part of a website, but we use it as a verb, so excuse the colloquialism.) I simply told him to block out two hours every week. Write until the time is up and publish or not. Then next week, go back to those drafts and keep writing.

    Not everything needs to be 1200 words. It’s not a college thesis. We’re trying to help your customers with their common questions, give them reasons to value your work, and remind people that you’re still in business.

    How do you prioritize publishing for your business?

    Well, it’s as easy as everything else: make an appointment. We block out time for clients, why not for our own businesses?

    And as I said it to him, I realized that Friday afternoons are a perfect time for me to do the same.

    What did I do? I immediately made a weekly event in my Google Calendar to publish on my own site.

    Where do I get blogging ideas?

    You have ideas. Everyone does. No one knows your business better than you do. If you need blogging prompts, you can buy my eBook, “If You Don’t Mind Your Business, Who Will?” or download my free WordPress Plugin called Launch With Words.

    What do you find yourself repeating the most? Most of the time good ideas come from client questions and pain points. The issue is recording your ideas and then following up. Ideas without execution are useless.

    There are a couple of ways to go about this. One is to make a braindump file where you write ideas. This can be a paper notebook or a Google Doc. I have a blog draft folder in my Google Drive. When I feel like I have no ideas, they’re all waiting for me there.

    If you’re a project management type person, you could also make a board on Trello or Asana.

    When are you going to start?

    My favorite Chinese proverb says this:

    “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

    Why wait. Make an appointment. Start writing. And treat your business with the priority it deserves.

    to help get your blog and social coordinated.