Create an Agenda and Solve Your Content Anxiety

Sample cartoon for a staffing firm to use on “Funny Friday”.

What should I post today? What can I say that is different or helpful today? How can I find the time to write anything? Every writer has asked these questions as a deadline for an update rolls by them. Developing relevant content on a regular basis challenges everyone responsible for social media. A pre-planned agenda for your postings guides and inspires you. Use an agenda to post across all of your social media outlets such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and your blog.

Here are some ideas for a staffing company we recently helped. No matter what your industry is, you can use the same concept. Brainstorm with your team for creative, relevant ideas for marketing your services tailored to your company and industry. Just remember, the key ratio in social media is 80% education and only 20% sales, so soft pedal the sale pitch for your business or services.

Moving Mondays – focus on people looking for jobs. Post positions you would like filled.

Talent Tuesday – target corporations hiring. Highlight great candidates you could place.

Wise Wednesday – share tips for candidates such as resume, interview and career tips. What to look for in a job. Warning signs of a potential job

Thorough Thursday – provide hiring tips for corporations. Document the cost of a bad hire. What to look for in a potential candidate. How to match talent and the job. How to woo the perfect employee.

Funny Friday –Share some of your war stories, favorite relevant cartoons and videos

Staffing Saturday – Promote your firm. Highlight your successes, jobs you filled, people you placed and non personal Info about your team

Sunday News –Articles from the Sunday paper about jobs, economy, anything topical.

You will find it will be easier to come up with good relevant content which can be created then scheduled ahead. And, remember, this is just a guide. If something relevant and hot comes up, no one will know but you, that you changed your plan.

11 BLOG TIPS

Blogs are one of the biggest factors of SEO and allow you to expand your network, establish credibility & authority. A good blog, while it looks easy, takes planning. I have noticed, though, that some blogs have more than 1000 words and I am sure are not read. People have a tendency, when reading online, to scan information.Therefore, when writing your blog, make it easy to scan.

1. Keep it short, under 300 words (anything more is an article) and use a bullet format to maximize “scanability”. And, where ever possible, use a describing/relevant graphic. Something people can look at if they are scanning and do not have time to read.
2. Posting on a regular basis is key to develop a following. You have to be committed to get committed followers. Determine your agenda and posting schedule and pre-write your blog entries so they are ready to go when scheduled.
3. Put social media links on your blog and share it on all venues such as your business facebook page, twitter, website, linkedIn.

It just takes some organization, insight and patience to get a successful blog going. Good luck!

3 GOOGLE SEO TIPS FOR YOUR BLOG AND WEBSITE

You have great content on your blog and website, how do you drive people to find you? 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an ever changing algorithm designed to keep the internet relevant.  

Here are 3 easy tips for SEO and your blog or website.  This way, the people looking for your services will find you.

1. Keep your url short, easy to remember, appropriate to your topic and ideally with a keyword or two.  Google gives the first 3 to 5 words in a url the most weight. 

2. Engaging images, video and diagrams are not just for entertaining or introducing color to a bland text document.  They reduce your bounce rate (how often people hit on one page and stay a second and leave your site), increasing your visitors’ time on the site or blog.  These are two hot button factors for Google Ranking – low bounce rate and length of time on your readers stay around. Obviously, the longer they stay on your site reading your content, the higher your ranking.

3.  Your keywords (the words people would put in Google search to find someone like you or some company like yours) should be in the 1st 100 to 150 words of your article, blog or website. This shows Google that the article is about that content, making it easier for Google to index your writing.  

Hope this helps…good luck!

 

The challenge of writing an excellent blog!

As I launch this blog, I continue to research & study other blogs and writing, looking for words of encouragement or the “secret sauce” of a great, compelling blog.  This morning, I found a great little blog (little in terms of the number of posts) and the surprise is, it has not been updated in 8 years!  Yet the limited content & journal entries are well written and the posts are relevant today, in this fast-paced changing world.  

http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/notablog/story/good_blog

Now that is key.  The fact that the last post is 8 years old and yet the content is relevant today proves the excellence of the blog.  It stands the test of time.  So now, not only do I need to write relevant, interesting content that has the SEO keywords, action verbs, proper grammar and spelling, it has to have a life span exceeding 8 years.  Eek.  What do you do to make your blog outstanding??