After working in marketing for a little while, you start to think differently. The other night I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and saw an interesting article. Pause. Interesting article. What made it interesting? I had to stop and think about it, because I am my own audience, and if I know what interests my own brain, I can understand what interests my audience.
The internet continues to shake up the world of copyright law. Most people don't know exactly what copyright infringement entails, and it's constantly getting them into BIG trouble.
One of the more popular cases over the years that ended up favorably was Lenz versus Universal Music Corp. In 2007, a very proud mother posted a video of her daughter lip syncing to a Prince song, then posted it on Youtube for all the world to enjoy. Universal Music Corp was not amused and forced Youtube to take the video down because they felt the mother's video violated their copyright of the song.
"Search engines love content." We have made that comment over and over throughout the years. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing use your content to connect it to people who are searching for you or your service. The more quality content you have on your website, the greater the chance your site will be indexed by the three major search engines.
Having quality content on your site is only the first step. Your content must always be evolving.
Why?
People evolve. Their habits evolve, and their needs evolve.
There is a long, long, long list of do’s and don’ts of professional blogging. Writing in a blog is not very complex, but there are a few guidelines which should be respected as much as possible.
Create events to bring interactivity to your blog. You could for instance organize contests asking your readers to write posts and submit them to you so that you would give them an ability to be published on your blog. You could also ask your readers to vote for some of your articles. Contests like this would generate visits an increase reader loyalty.
Recently we had an issue with a new client. The old website provider decided that they were not happy we took over web marketing for this client and sent us a nice letter telling us that we needed to remove the website under the DMCA.
Before we had a chance to even think about responding we got a notification from our hosting provider that they were going to take it down because of failure to comply with the DMCA.
The problem was that all the brand elements on the site were brand elements of the client (taken from their artwork). All the images on the site were stock photos... pretty sure that this web builder doesn't own those images. And the content was so bad that we changed it this week anyway as part of the new contract.
The best part is that the bottom of the old website said, very specifically, that the copyright was our client's. So, it was reasonable to assume that our client owned the copyright.
You'd think that, too, if it was yours, right?
If you have done any research on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) then you have heard over and over again that fresh, relevant content is the way to go. But most business owners are not writers nor proficient in blogging, and the thought of asking those business owners to write a weekly blog is like asking them to cut off their own pinky toe. However, writing a blog is not at all complex. Below are a few guidelines that should be respected as much as possible.
Community building is a necessary component of being successful online. The stronger the community you have, the more likely it is that you will be able to sustain your online business, whether you are selling goods online, making money through advertising revenue or selling a service. Having a strong brand is key on the web, especially with so many other businesses vying for that coveted spot as the leader of a specific industry or niche.
If you’re ready to enter the world of blogging, you may still be a little confused on how to execute a proper plan. Blogging for those who aren’t familiar with the practice can be a little daunting and making sure you’re covering the right topics can certainly be overwhelming. Finding your voice in the blogosphere definitely takes a little bit of time, however, once you’ve found it, you will know how to run with it.
