Content Roadmap

Learn how to create a content roadmap to help streamline your content marketing strategy.

Content Roadmap

A content roadmap can enhance your marketing efforts, improve organization, and help you achieve your business goals.

A content roadmap is your guide to executing a successful content strategy.

In this lesson, you will learn how to create and implement a content roadmap that will enhance your marketing efforts, improve organization, and help you achieve your business goals.

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What Is A Content Roadmap?

Having a clear and structured approach to content creation is essential for success. This is where a content roadmap comes into play.

A content roadmap is a strategic tool that visually represents your content marketing objectives, strategies, and tasks over a specific period.

It outlines the specific steps, timelines, and milestones required to implement your content plan and achieve your content marketing goals.

So, a content roadmap acts as a blueprint, guiding your team from the initial stages of content ideation to execution and evaluation, while ensuring that all activities align with your marketing goals.

Why Is A Content Roadmap Important?

The importance of a content roadmap cannot be overstated. It ensures that all content efforts are aligned with the overall business and marketing objectives, providing a clear direction and focus.

By having a content roadmap, your business can streamline its content creation process, avoid redundancy, and ensure that every piece of content serves a purpose.

This organized approach not only enhances efficiency but also helps in maintaining consistency in messaging and brand voice across various platforms.

Content Roadmap Benefits

A content roadmap:

Improves collaboration within your team by setting clear expectations and deadlines.
Allows for better resource management by prioritizing tasks and allocating resources effectively.
Provides a mechanism for tracking progress and making data-driven adjustments to optimize content performance.

In essence, a content roadmap provides the following benefits to your business:

Alignment: It ensures that all team members and stakeholders are on the same page regarding content objectives and strategies.
Efficiency: By having a clear plan, you can streamline your content creation and distribution processes, reducing wasted effort and resources.
Consistency: It helps to maintain a consistent voice and message across all of your content, reinforcing your brand identity.
Measurement: It provides a framework for tracking progress and measuring the success of your content initiatives, enabling continuous improvement.

Let’s explore this in a little more depth:

Content Roadmap & Marketing Alignment

A content roadmap ensures alignment with overall marketing and business goals by providing a structured framework that ties content initiatives directly to strategic objectives.

Here’s how it accomplishes this:

Goal Setting and Alignment: A content roadmap begins with the identification of content-specific goals that support broader business and marketing objectives. This ensures that every piece of content produced serves a clear purpose and contributes to overarching goals like brand awareness, lead generation, or customer retention.
Strategic Planning: By mapping out content initiatives over a defined period, a content roadmap helps in visualizing the journey from current state to desired outcomes. It outlines key activities, deadlines, and milestones, ensuring that all efforts are strategically planned and timed to support business goals.
Resource Allocation: The roadmap provides clarity on resource needs, helping allocate budget, time, and personnel efficiently. This alignment of resources ensures that high-priority content projects receive the necessary support to achieve business objectives .
Cross-functional Coordination: A content roadmap serves as a communication tool that aligns various teams (e.g., marketing, sales, product) around a unified strategy. This integrated approach ensures that all departments work towards common goals, fostering synergy and preventing siloed efforts.
Performance Tracking: Regularly updated roadmaps allow for ongoing tracking of progress against set goals. This enables timely adjustments based on performance data, ensuring that content efforts remain aligned with evolving business priorities and market conditions.

In summary, a content roadmap connects every aspect of content creation and distribution to the company’s strategic goals, ensuring a cohesive and goal-driven approach to content marketing.

Content Roadmap & Content Production Efficiency

A content roadmap is an invaluable tool for organizing content production, setting priorities, and managing resources effectively.

Here’s how it facilitates these processes:

Organizing Content Production

Structure and Timeline: A content roadmap lays out a clear plan for content creation over a specific period, detailing what content needs to be produced, when it needs to be completed, and the steps involved in the process. This helps in ensuring that content production is systematic and consistent.
Milestones and Deadlines: It includes key milestones and deadlines, helping your team stay on track and meet content goals on time. This prevents last-minute rushes and ensures a steady flow of content.

Setting Priorities

Task Ranking: By listing out all content tasks and ranking them based on their importance and urgency, a content roadmap helps to prioritize tasks that align closely with business objectives.
Alignment with Goals: It ensures that the most critical content projects, those that support key marketing and business goals, are given priority. This ensures that content efforts are focused on what matters most.

Managing Resources Effectively

Resource Allocation: A content roadmap provides clarity on the resources needed for each content project, helping in the efficient allocation of budgets, personnel, and tools. This ensures that resources are used where they are most needed and can be tracked efficiently.
Team Coordination: It facilitates better coordination among team members by clearly outlining roles, responsibilities, and timelines, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working towards common goals.
Avoiding Resource Conflicts: By planning and scheduling content production in advance, a content roadmap helps avoid resource conflicts and overburdening of team members, leading to smoother operations.

In summary, a content roadmap helps streamline content production, prioritize tasks effectively, and manage resources efficiently, ensuring that content marketing efforts are strategic, focused, and productive.

Content Roadmap & Brand Consistency

A content roadmap is crucial for maintaining a consistent voice and message across all content, thereby reinforcing your brand identity.

Here’s how it achieves this:

Centralized Planning

Unified Strategy: A content roadmap centralizes the planning of all content-related activities, ensuring that every piece of content aligns with your overall brand strategy. This unified approach prevents discrepancies and maintains consistency.
Clear Guidelines: It includes guidelines for tone, style, and messaging, providing a reference for content creators to ensure that all content pieces convey your brand’s voice accurately.

Consistency in Themes and Messaging

Content Themes: By outlining specific content themes and key messages, a roadmap ensures that all content pieces revolve around central ideas that reflect your brand’s core values and goals.
Alignment with Brand Identity: It helps in aligning your content with your brand identity by consistently reinforcing your brand’s mission, vision, and values across different content types and platforms.

Efficient Coordination

Team Collaboration: A content roadmap enhances coordination among team members by clearly defining roles and responsibilities, ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding the brand voice and messaging.
Consistent Execution: It facilitates the consistent execution of your content strategy, making sure that every piece of content, regardless of who creates it, maintains the same quality and tone.

Monitoring and Adjustments

Tracking Progress: By tracking the progress of content initiatives, a roadmap allows for regular reviews and adjustments, ensuring that your content continues to align with your brand’s evolving identity and market trends.
Feedback Incorporation: It provides a structured way to incorporate feedback and make necessary changes to your content strategy, maintaining consistency while adapting to new insights and audience preferences.

In summary, a content roadmap plays a vital role in maintaining a consistent voice and message across all content, reinforcing your brand identity by ensuring alignment, consistency, and effective coordination.

Content Roadmap & Progress Measurement

A content roadmap is an essential tool that provides a structured framework for tracking progress and measuring the success of your content initiatives.

This facilitates continuous improvement through the following mechanisms:

Clear Objectives and Metrics

Defined Goals: A content roadmap starts by setting clear, measurable objectives aligned with business goals. These objectives provide a baseline against which progress can be measured.
Key Metrics: It includes specific metrics to track performance, such as engagement rates, conversion rates, and traffic analytics. These metrics help in assessing the effectiveness of your content efforts.

Regular Monitoring

Progress Tracking: The roadmap allows for ongoing tracking of content production and performance, ensuring that all initiatives stay on course and meet the set milestones.
Visibility and Accountability: It provides visibility into the status of various content projects, enabling your content team to identify bottlenecks and address these promptly. This accountability ensures that deadlines are met and quality is maintained.

Feedback and Adjustments

Performance Analysis: By regularly analyzing performance data against predefined metrics, your team can gain insights into what is working and what is not.
Continuous Improvement: This analysis allows for data-driven decisions and continuous optimization of your content strategy. Adjustments can be made to improve content quality, enhance engagement, and better align with your audience’s needs.

Strategic Adjustments

Agility: A content roadmap provides the flexibility to pivot strategies based on real-time feedback and changing market conditions, ensuring that your content remains relevant and effective.
Alignment with Business Goals: It ensures that content initiatives remain aligned with your overarching business objectives, thus contributing to long-term success.

In summary, a content roadmap is instrumental in tracking progress, measuring success, and fostering continuous improvement by providing a clear framework, facilitating regular monitoring, enabling data-driven adjustments, and ensuring strategic alignment.

How To Plan Your Content Roadmap

Content Roadmap Chart — Content Roadmap planning steps.

Planning an effective content roadmap involves the following steps:

Goal Setting: Start by setting clear, measurable goals for your content marketing efforts, such as increasing brand awareness, driving more traffic, or generating leads.
Audience Research: Understand your target audience’s needs, preferences, pain points, and behaviors to create relevant and engaging content. Use tools like surveys, analytics, and customer feedback.
Content Audit: Assess your current content to identify gaps, areas for improvement, and high-performing content that can be repurposed or updated.
Content Themes and Topics: Brainstorm and prioritize content themes and topics based on your objectives and audience research. These should align with your brand messaging and address the needs of your target audience.
Create a Content Calendar: Plan the types of content you will produce and develop a calendar to ensure regular and timely content delivery, outlining when each piece of content will be created, published, and promoted. Consider seasonality, industry events, and holidays in your scheduling.
Resource Allocation: Allocate resources such as time, budget, and personnel to support content creation and distribution efforts effectively.
Assign Responsibilities: Designate team members for each task, from content creation to distribution and analysis.
Content Creation: Develop high-quality content assets, including articles, videos, infographics, and podcasts, based on the identified themes and topics.
Distribution Plan: Determine how you will distribute and promote your content across various channels, including social media, email newsletters, and industry forums.
Measurement and Analysis: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your content strategy. Regularly review and analyze content performance and performance data to identify areas of improvement and adjust your roadmap accordingly to stay aligned with your goals.

Content Roadmap Examples

Now that we’ve looked at what a content roadmap is, it’s importance in aligning your content strategy with your marketing objectives, and how to create one for your organization, let’s look at some practical examples of how a content roadmap can actually help businesses achieve their content marketing goals.

Using A Content Roadmap To Increase Brand Awareness

A fashion store can increase brand awareness using a content roadmap by following these steps:

Set Clear Objectives: Define goals such as increasing social media followers by 20% and boosting website traffic by 30% within six months.
Identify Target Audience: Conduct research to understand the preferences and behaviors of their target audience, such as young adults interested in sustainable fashion.
Content Planning:
- Blog Posts: Publish bi-weekly blog posts about sustainable fashion trends, styling tips, and behind-the-scenes stories of the brand’s production process.
- Social Media: Create daily posts on Instagram and TikTok featuring outfit inspirations, user-generated content, and influencer collaborations to engage with the audience and promote new collections.
- Email Newsletters: Send weekly newsletters with exclusive discounts, new arrivals, and fashion advice to keep customers engaged and informed.
Content Calendar: Develop a detailed content calendar scheduling all planned content across different platforms to ensure consistent and timely delivery.
Collaborations and Influencer Marketing: Partner with fashion influencers and bloggers to expand reach and attract new followers. Share their content and feature them on the store’s social media channels.
Monitor and Adjust: Use analytics tools to track the performance of the content and adjust their strategies based on what content performs best and engages their audience most effectively.

Using A Content Roadmap To Drive More Website Traffic

A camping equipment store can drive more traffic to its website using a content roadmap by following these steps:

Set Clear Objectives: Aim to increase website traffic by 25% over the next six months and improve search engine rankings for key camping-related terms.
Identify Target Audience: Focus on outdoor enthusiasts, families, and adventure seekers who are interested in camping gear and tips.
Content Planning:
- Blog Posts: Publish weekly blog posts on topics like “Top 10 Camping Gear Essentials” and “Best Camping Spots for Families”. Include keyword-rich content to boost SEO.
- Product Reviews: Create detailed reviews and comparisons of camping equipment to help customers make informed decisions.
- How-to Guides: Offer practical guides on topics such as “How to Set Up a Tent” or “Campfire Cooking Tips” to provide valuable information to visitors.
- Video Content: Produce engaging video tutorials and gear demonstrations to attract a broader audience and enhance user engagement.
Content Calendar: Develop a content calendar that schedules blog posts, product reviews, guides, and videos to ensure a steady flow of new content.
Social Media Promotion: Share all content on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Engage with the audience through comments, contests, and live Q&A sessions.
Email Marketing: Send out monthly newsletters featuring the latest blog posts, product reviews, and exclusive offers to keep subscribers engaged and drive repeat traffic to the website.
Collaborations and Influencer Marketing: Partner with outdoor influencers and bloggers to expand reach. Share their content and feature their camping experiences using the products.
Monitor and Adjust: Use analytics tools to track website traffic, user engagement, and content performance, and adjust the content strategy based on what works best to continuously drive traffic.

Using A Content Roadmap To Generate More Leads

A men’s hair salon can generate more leads and hair cutting appointments using a content roadmap by following these steps:

Set Clear Objectives: Aim to increase the number of new client leads by 30% and boost online appointment bookings by 25% over the next six months.
Identify Target Audience: Focus on men aged 18-45 who are interested in grooming, fashion, and convenience.
Content Planning:
- Blog Posts: Publish bi-weekly blog posts on topics like “Top Haircuts for Men in 2024” and “Grooming Tips for the Modern Man.” Include relevant keywords to enhance SEO.
- Social Media Content: Share daily updates on Instagram and Facebook featuring client transformations, grooming tips, and behind-the-scenes content to engage followers and attract new clients.
- Video Content: Create monthly YouTube videos and Instagram Reels demonstrating different haircuts and styling techniques to showcase the salon’s expertise and attract potential clients.
Content Calendar: Develop a content calendar to schedule blog posts, social media updates, and video content to ensure a consistent and strategic online presence.
Google My Business: Optimize the salon’s Google My Business profile by regularly updating it with new photos, client reviews, and posts about special offers or events.
Email Marketing: Send out bi-weekly newsletters to subscribers featuring exclusive promotions, new services, and grooming tips to encourage repeat visits and referrals.
Collaborations and Influencer Marketing: Partner with local influencers and fashion bloggers to increase brand visibility and reach a wider audience. Feature their haircuts and reviews on the salon’s social media platforms.
Monitor and Adjust: Use analytics tools to track lead generation, website traffic, and appointment bookings, and adjust the content strategy based on performance metrics to optimize results.

Content Roadmap – FAQs

Here are frequently asked questions about content roadmaps:

What is a content roadmap?

A content roadmap is a strategic plan that outlines the creation, publication, and management of content over a specific period. It helps align content efforts with business goals by detailing themes, topics, timelines, and responsibilities.

Why do businesses need a content roadmap?

A content roadmap provides direction, ensures consistency, and aligns content with business objectives. It helps teams stay organized, prioritize tasks, and measure progress, leading to more effective and efficient content marketing efforts.

What are the benefits of a content roadmap?

Improved Planning: Ensures a steady flow of content aligned with marketing goals.
Enhanced Consistency: Maintains a consistent voice and message across all channels.
Resource Management: Allocates tasks and resources effectively, avoiding bottlenecks.
Measurable Progress: Provides metrics to track the success and impact of content initiatives.
Stakeholder Alignment: Keeps everyone on the same page, ensuring cohesive strategies.

What are the challenges of developing a content roadmap?

Time-Consuming: Requires significant time to plan and coordinate.
Flexibility: Needs to be adaptable to changing market conditions and business priorities.
Resource Allocation: Demands careful resource management to meet deadlines and goals.
Stakeholder Buy-In: Ensuring all stakeholders agree and adhere to the roadmap.

What are the pros of implementing a content roadmap?

Strategic Alignment: Aligns content creation with business objectives.
Efficiency: Streamlines content production and reduces last-minute scrambles.
Focus: Helps maintain focus on key content areas and goals.
Collaboration: Enhances teamwork and collaboration by clearly defining roles and responsibilities.
Performance Tracking: Allows for tracking progress and measuring success.

What are the cons of implementing a content roadmap?

Time-Consuming: Initial setup and maintenance can be time-intensive.
Rigidity: May become too rigid, limiting responsiveness to new opportunities.
Complexity: Can be complex to manage, especially for larger teams.
Over-Planning: Excessive detail can lead to complexity and inflexibility.
Maintenance: Requires ongoing updates and adjustments, which can be resource-intensive.

How does a content roadmap enhance resource management?

A content roadmap helps allocate tasks and resources efficiently, avoiding duplication of efforts and ensuring that all team members know their responsibilities and deadlines. This leads to better use of time and skills, and helps in meeting content goals without overburdening any single resource.

How can a content roadmap improve content consistency?

By defining a clear voice, tone, and messaging guidelines, a content roadmap ensures that all content aligns with the brand’s identity. Regular review cycles and a shared understanding among team members help maintain this consistency across all channels.

What tools can assist in creating and managing a content roadmap?

Many popular project management tools can be used to create and manage content roadmaps. These tools offer templates, task management features, and collaboration functionalities that will help you create a clear and organized content roadmap, and streamline processes like tracking progress, setting priorities, and managing resources effectively.

Are there templates available to help get started with content roadmaps?

Yes, many content production tools provide templates to help get started with content roadmaps.

How can a content roadmap help in tracking progress and measuring success?

A content roadmap provides a framework for setting clear objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs). By regularly tracking these metrics, your business can measure the effectiveness of your content strategies, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to enhance future content efforts.

What should be included in a content roadmap?

A comprehensive content roadmap should include:

Content Themes and Topics: What subjects will be covered and why.
Publication Schedule: When and where content will be published.
Responsible Parties: Who is responsible for creating, editing, and publishing content.
Metrics and KPIs: How success will be measured.
Review and Update Cycles: When and how the roadmap will be reviewed and updated.

How often should a content roadmap be updated?

A content roadmap should be reviewed and updated regularly, typically on a monthly or quarterly basis, to ensure it remains aligned with business goals and market trends. This flexibility allows for adjustments based on performance data and new opportunities.

Can small businesses benefit from a content roadmap?

Absolutely. A content roadmap is beneficial for businesses of all sizes. For small businesses, it provides structure and clarity, ensuring that limited resources are used effectively to achieve maximum impact with their content marketing efforts.

What is the first step in creating a content roadmap?

The first step in creating a content roadmap is to define your content strategy. This involves understanding your target audience, setting clear goals, and identifying the key messages and themes that will guide your content creation efforts.

Resources

See these resources for useful tools and software that can assist you in creating and managing a content roadmap:

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Image: Road

Augmented Reality

Enhance your marketing with Augmented Reality content to increase business sales.

Augmented Reality

Enhance your content and marketing using Augmented Reality to increase engagement on your website and generate more sales for your business.

Augmented Reality (AR) enhances the user’s perception of their environment by integrating virtual elements with physical surroundings, creating an interactive experience that can be accessed via smartphones, tablets, AR glasses, and other devices.

This section provides an overview of Augmented Reality and provides a list of affordable AR tools and technologies for businesses of all sizes.

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What Is Augmented Reality (AR)?

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital content, such as images, sounds, and other sensory enhancements, onto the real-world environment in real time. This creates an interactive and immersive experience that enhances the user’s perception of reality.

AR In Content Production

AR can revolutionize content production by adding an interactive layer to traditional media.

Here are some ways AR can be used to enhance your content production:

Interactive Marketing: Transform static advertisements into engaging and dynamic AR experiences that capture attention and drive sales.
ECommerce: Allow customers to visualize products in their real environment before purchasing, increasing shoppers’ confidence, and reducing returns.
Product Demonstrations: Create immersive tutorials and demos that provide a better understanding of the product’s features and uses.
Education and Training: Create immersive training modules, educational content, and learning materials that make complex subjects more accessible and learning more engaging and effective.
Entertainment: Develop interactive games and storytelling experiences that blend the virtual and real worlds.
Enhanced Publications: Bring printed materials like magazines, books, and business cards to life with interactive elements such as videos, animations, and 3D models.
Event and Location-Based Content: Enhance live events or tourist attractions with AR to provide additional information and interactive experiences.

AR In Content Promotion

AR can boost your content promotion efforts with attention-grabbing and highly engaging campaigns.

Here are some ways AR can be used to enhance your content promotion:

Transform Traditional Media: Enhance business cards, emails, flyers, websites, and ads with interactive AR experiences that capture attention and drive sales.
E-commerce Innovations: Let customers visualize products in their home, create engaging demos and tutorials, and implement AR-powered product info and upsell features.
Creative Campaigns: Design treasure hunts, contests, and AR-powered promotions that boost engagement and brand loyalty.

The possibilities are endless with AR, making it a powerful tool in content production and promotion that is rapidly taking over the world.

AR Statistics

Companies like Apple and Meta are investing billions of dollars into augmented reality and rapidly creating suites of products to prepare for the switch from boring 2D internet experiences to new immersive AR experiences, which will soon be the norm.

These billion-dollar companies leverage technology to create augmented reality experiences that generate hundreds of millions of dollars in return.

The AR market is exploding. Consider the following statistics:

Market Growth: The AR market is projected to reach $50 billion by 2024.
User Adoption: There are 1.4 billion AR user devices currently in use, expected to increase to 17.3 billion by 2024.
Consumer Engagement: In 2020, 100 million consumers shopped with AR, and this number is expected to skyrocket.
Sales Impact: AR increases engagement by 200% compared to non-AR products and conversion rates are 40% higher.
Adoption by Companies: 67% of advertising agencies are increasing their use of AR.

Source: Exploding Topics, Statista

AR Tools

Below is a list of Augmented Reality tools that you can explore to improve your content marketing and content production..

ARMagic

ARMagic is a surprisingly affordable tool that enables businesses to create eye-catching AR content effortlessly using a no-code editor.

This revolutionary AI-powered tool transforms traditional marketing materials into captivating, interactive augmented reality (AR) experiences without the need for additional apps or hardware.

The tool’s cutting-edge AR technology, ease of use, and powerful features, lets you market your business competitively in ways like:

Marketing Materials: Convert business cards, flyers, brochures, images, lead pages, and QR codes into interactive AR experiences.
Cost-Effective: Save thousands by quickly generating AR content that previously required extensive resources.
Diverse Content Creation: From AR business cards to dynamic lead generation campaigns, the possibilities are extensive.
Enhanced Engagement: Drive higher clicks, leads, and sales with content that engages customers directly on their devices.
Commercial Use: Use the technology for your own business or sell AR marketing campaigns to other businesses.

Use this tool to easily create AR marketing materials like:

AR Business Cards
AR Flyers
AR Brochures
AR Images
AR Landing Pages
AR QR Codes in Videos:

Key features of this tool include:

Pre-built 3D AR Scenes: Choose from a vast library of pre-built 3D AR scenes across various niches.
Extensive 3D Assets Library: Access a wide array of 3D assets by simply typing a keyword.
Device Compatibility: Works instantly on any device using innovative multiscene 3D technology.
Drag-and-Drop Editor: Easily build 3D AR scenes with a zero-code editor.
No Apps or Hardware Needed: Interact with AR experiences without the need for additional apps or hardware, a first in the industry.

ARMagic’s additional standout features include:

Zero-Code Editor: Drag and drop to build scenes without coding.
Extensive Scene Library: Pre-built 3D scenes for various small business niches.
Comprehensive Asset Selection: Choose from numerous 3D assets.
Built-in Marketing Tools: Place AR QR codes in ads, business cards, and flyers effortlessly.
Offline and Online AR: Display AR on physical and digital surfaces.
Multiscene 3D Technology: Recognize multiple images in one view.
Interactive Experiences: Include videos, CTA buttons, and social media links in your AR scenes.
Fully Cloud-Based: Accessible from any device without additional apps or hardware.

ARMagic Benefits

Simplified AR Content Creation – Creating AR campaigns is typically complex and costly, often requiring substantial time and financial investment. ARMagic eliminates these barriers with AI-driven, easy-to-use tools that let you create immersive AR experiences in minutes, not years.
Versatile Applications – Use ARMagic to create diverse marketing campaigns:
- AR Sales Campaigns: Showcase products with direct links for purchase.
- AR Lead Generation: Embed opt-in forms and CTAs to build your list.
- eCommerce Product Experiences: Let customers visualize products in their own environment.
- Social Media Engagement: Add links to make your content go viral.
- Augmented Product Packaging: Enhance packaging with interactive AR experiences.
- Educational Campaigns: Offer immersive educational content that encourages repeat business.

How to Use ARMagic

AI-Powered Creation: Start with a pre-made template or create from scratch using a blank canvas.
Customize with Ease: Use the no-code editor to drag and drop 3D elements, resize, and position them as needed. Access a wealth of 3D models and assets, or upload your own.
Embed Magic QR Codes: Generate QR codes or images that, when scanned, load the AR experience instantly.
Ready-to-Use Marketing Assets: Create business cards, flyers, social media ads, and more, incorporating your AR QR codes for immediate use or client delivery.

To learn more, watch the demo video on ARMagic’s website to explore all the unique features and see how this tool can revolutionize your marketing strategies.

More info: ARMagic

8th Wall

8th Wall provides WebAR technology, allowing businesses to create AR experiences that run directly in a mobile browser without needing an app.

Key Features: No app required, easy publishing, real-time insights, support for ARKit and ARCore.

More info: 8th Wall

Blippar

Blippar is an AR creation tool that allows businesses to create engaging AR experiences for marketing campaigns, education, and training.

Key Features: Easy-to-use interface, analytics dashboard, image recognition, 3D content creation.

More info: Blippar

Zappar

Zappar offers a suite of tools for creating AR content, including an AR app and an online content creation platform.

Key Features: ZapWorks Studio, custom-branded AR apps, analytics, support for WebAR.

More info: Zappar

Vuforia

Vuforia is a comprehensive AR platform that supports the development of AR applications for mobile devices and digital eyewear.

Key Features: Advanced image recognition, object recognition, cloud recognition, extensive SDK.

More info: Vuforia

Meta Spark

Developed by Facebook, Meta Spark enables the creation of AR effects for Facebook and Instagram.

Key Features: User-friendly interface, comprehensive tutorials, integration with Facebook and Instagram, extensive asset library.

More info: Meta Spark

Adobe Aero

Adobe Aero is an intuitive tool for designing and sharing immersive AR experiences, part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite.

Key Features: Integration with Adobe Creative Cloud, intuitive interface, real-time AR preview, extensive asset library.

More info: Adobe Aero

Augmented Reality – FAQs

Here are frequently asked questions about augmented reality:

What is augmented reality (AR)?

AR is a technology that overlays digital information, such as images, videos, and sounds, onto the real world, enhancing the user’s perception and interaction with their environmen.

How can AR benefit businesses?

AR enhances customer experiences, improves training efficiency, and boosts marketing engagement by creating immersive, interactive experiences that capture attention and drive sales.

What are some practical uses of AR in marketing?

Businesses can use AR for interactive product demos, virtual try-ons, enhanced product packaging, immersive advertisements, and engaging social media content.

What are the advantages of using AR in marketing?

AR increases engagement, provides a memorable customer experience, allows for innovative brand storytelling, and offers detailed analytics on user interactions.

What are the potential drawbacks of AR?

Developing AR experiences can be costly and time-consuming, requiring specialized skills. Additionally, there may be resistance from users unfamiliar with the technology, and concerns about data privacy and security.

Is AR suitable for all types of businesses?

While AR can benefit many industries, its applicability depends on the business’s goals and target audience. Industries like retail, real estate, education, and entertainment often find AR particularly advantageous.

What is needed to implement AR in a business?

Businesses need AR development tools, content creators familiar with AR technology, and possibly partnerships with AR developers. Additionally, a strategy to integrate AR into the existing marketing framework is crucial.

How does AR improve customer experience?

AR allows customers to visualize products in their own environment, receive detailed product information interactively, and enjoy a more engaging shopping experience, leading to higher satisfaction and loyalty.

Are there any successful examples of AR in marketing?

Numerous brands have successfully used AR, such as IKEA with its furniture placement app and cosmetic companies offering virtual try-ons. These examples highlight AR’s potential to drive sales and enhance customer engagement.

What future trends can we expect in AR?

Future trends include more sophisticated AR experiences with AI integration, broader adoption across various industries, and more user-friendly AR development tools, making the technology accessible to smaller businesses.

Resources

ARMagic – ARMagic harnesses the power of AI and AR to create stunning, interactive 3D augmented reality (AR) video marketing materials that significantly boost sales.

References

Get more facts about Augmented Reality here:

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Image: AI-generated smart home

Press Releases

Learn how to use news releases to grow your business more effectively.

Press Releases

Learn how to use news releases effectively to boost your search engine rankings, drive more traffic to your website, and generate new leads for your business.

No matter what business you are in, press releases are a powerful and cost-effective way to help you promote your business online.

We have created a free video course that will not only help you understand how to use press releases as a key part of your online marketing strategy but also show you how to create and distribute effective press releases to promote your business online and help you reach and engage your target audience.

What Is A Press Release?

A press or news release is a written statement issued to media outlets with the purpose of announcing news or events of interest to the public.

Press releases typically contain information about a new product launch, company merger, or other newsworthy events, and are intended to generate media coverage and raise public awareness.

A press or news release can be a valuable tool for your business.

By distributing press releases to relevant media outlets, your business can reach a wider audience and generate interest in your products or services. This can lead to increased media coverage, which can drive traffic to your website, improve your search results, and enhance brand recognition.

Additionally, a press release can help to establish your business as a thought leader in your industry, further boosting your reputation and credibility.

News Release Traffic Formula Video Course

“News Release Traffic Formula” is a practical step-by-step video course created by the author of this site that will teach you how to use news releases to rank faster and higher in search engines for hundreds of keywords, drive more targeted traffic to your website, and generate new leads for your business.

This video course provides a unique, proven, and cost-effective strategy that will help your business get better results online using news releases. The lessons contain actual case studies and real-life examples showing you how to get results using the methods described in the videos.

This course will cover everything you need to know about crafting and distributing press releases to effectively promote your business online.

It covers all the key elements of a successful press release, including how to write compelling headlines, how to optimize press releases for search engines, and how to distribute press releases through online PR distribution networks.

You will also learn about the latest best practices for promoting your business online through press releases and how to measure the success of your PR efforts.

Case Study: ContentManagementCourse.com

After launching this website, we created and sent out a news release using the methods covered in the ‘News Release Traffic Formula’ video course.

Here’s the news release we created (you can read it here):

Press Release: New Free Content Management Course For Business And Content Creators Launched — This is the press release we created to promote the launch of this website.

As you can see from the report, the release was sent out on December 6, 2022…

According to the report, the new release was distributed to almost 500 news and media outlets…

News Release Distribution Details — The news release was distributed to 497 news and media outlets.

Two months later, the press release was still indexed and showing in Google search results…

Google Search - ContentManagementCourse.com news release search results. — 2 months later, the news release is still indexed in Google search results…

And Bing too…

Bing Search - ContentManagementCourse.com news release search results. — The news release is also still showing on Bing search results…

Additionally, the press release gained over 75 backlinks…

Ahrefs ContentManagementCourse.com news release - backlinks report — 2 months later, the news release has 76 backlinks, according to Ahrefs…

And over 80 referring domains from news media sites…

Ahrefs ContentManagementCourse.com news release - referring domains report — …and 86 referring domains.

The above results came from sending out just one press release.

We then followed up with another press release, promoting our free 12-part video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.

News Release: ContentManagementCourse.com Launches Free 12-Part Content Strategy Video Course — This is the headline and date of our second news release…

Here’s the content of press release #2 (full disclosure: we mostly used an AI tool to generate the content of this press release)…

ContentManagementCourse.com news release — Here is the AI-generated content of our second news release.

This release was then distributed to 446 news and media outlets…

ContentManagementCourse.com press release - Distribution Details — This press release was sent to all these news and media outlets.

The press release ranked in the #1 position in Google for 92 keyword phrases and was in the top 10 for 103 phrases. (See further below to learn how to achieve this for your own press releases in our free video course!)

Press Release keyword rankings. — Over 100 keyword phrases in Google’s top 10 results!

Within hours of being distributed, it had already recorded over 590 search results on Google…

ContentManagementCourse.com press release - search results — We got over 590 search listings just hours after distributing our news release.

When we checked later on that same day, Google had indexed even more results for our news release…

The press release also started ranking on Google’s top 10 results for a number of keywords…

ContentManagementCourse.com press release - Google search results — We ranked #6 in Google for “content strategy video course” after only 7 hours … not bad!

It also appeared in the Google News results within hours of publishing…

ContentManagementCourse.com press release - Google News results — #1 in Google’s News Section 6 hours after publishing…even better!

And Google even picked up the featured image included with our news release and displayed it in its Images results…

ContentManagementCourse.com press release - Google Images search results. — Google even picked up our news release featured image!

To learn how to create and distribute your own press releases effectively, watch the full video course from the playlist below or click on the links below the video to access individual video lessons with full transcripts:

Press Releases

Learn how to use news releases to grow your business more effectively.

View Lesson

News Release Traffic Formula – Overview

Part 1 - An overview of the News Release Traffic Formula video course.

View Lesson

News Release Traffic Formula – Introduction

Part 2 - Learn why news releases are your secret weapon to get higher search engine rankings, drive more web traffic, & generate new business leads.

View Lesson

News Release Traffic Formula – Strategy

Part 3 - Learn how to achieve great results online using the News Release Traffic Formula strategy.

View Lesson

News Release Traffic Formula – Kash Method

Part 4 - Learn the secret to getting multiple search result listings with every news release you distribute.

View Lesson

News Release Traffic Formula – Content

Part 5 - Learn how to structure your news or press release for maximum results.

View Lesson

News Release Traffic Formula – Approval

Part 6 - Learn how to get your news or press release approved fast for distribution to hundreds of news and media outlets.

View Lesson

News Release Traffic Formula – Ranking

Part 7 - Learn how to use news and press releases to keep your listings and website ranking faster, higher, and longer in search engines.

View Lesson

News Release Traffic Formula – Publishing

Part 8 - Learn how to set up a publishing system using news and press releases that will keep generating new traffic and new leads for your business.

View Lesson

Press Release Distribution Services

Here are some press release services you can use to distribute your news release:

EIN Presswire

EIN Presswire is a press release distribution service that can help your business reach a global audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.

Key benefits of the service include:

Wide Reach: EIN Presswire has a vast network of media contacts, journalists, and partners that ensures your press release is seen by a wide audience.
Targeted Distribution: The service offers targeted distribution options, allowing you to target specific countries, industries, and media outlets.
Increased Visibility: By distributing your press release through EIN Presswire, you can increase your visibility, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
Cost-Effective: EIN Presswire offers cost-effective solutions for press release distribution, making it an affordable option for businesses of all sizes.
User-Friendly Platform: The service has a user-friendly platform that allows you to easily create and distribute press releases, without the need for technical skills.

More info: EIN Presswire

eReleases

eReleases is another reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.

The service offers targeted distribution options and provides expert support to help you create an effective and optimized press release, as well as detailed analytics and reporting, allowing you to track the success of your press release and make informed decisions for future campaigns.

More info: eReleases

24-7 Press Release

24-7 Press Release is a press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes and provides a reliable and cost-effective way to reach a global audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.

More info: 24-7 Press Release

Press Releases – FAQs

Here are frequently asked questions about press releases:

What is a press release?

A press release is a written communication that reports specific but brief information about an event, circumstance, or other happening. It’s typically tied to a business or organization and is provided to the media through a variety of means.

Why are press releases important?

Press releases are important because they help to communicate a company’s key messages, promote its image, and inform the public and media about newsworthy events, enhancing overall visibility and credibility.

What are the key components of a press release?

Key components include a headline, dateline, introduction, body paragraphs, and a boilerplate. Additionally, a press release should provide contact information and may include multimedia elements to enhance its impact.

How long should a press release be?

A press release should be brief and concise, generally about one page, or 300 to 500 words. It should cover all the essential information in a compact format to maintain the reader’s interest.

What types of press releases are there?

There are several types of press releases including new product announcements, business mergers and acquisitions, events, executive hirings and promotions, awards, and research findings, among others.

When should a press release be sent out?

The timing of a press release is crucial; it should be sent out when it is relevant to current news cycles, typically a few days before an event or as soon as possible after a newsworthy incident occurs.

Who should send a press release?

Press releases can be sent by any organization seeking to share information with the public via the media, including businesses, government agencies, non-profits, and public relations professionals.

How do you distribute a press release?

A press release can be distributed through several channels, including email to journalists and editors, press release distribution services, posting on the company’s website, or through social media platforms.

Can anyone write a press release?

Yes, anyone can write a press release, but it must be well-written, factual, and engaging to be effective. There are also professional services and tools that can help create compelling press releases.

What common mistakes should be avoided when writing a press release?

Common mistakes include making it too long, using overly promotional language, lack of a clear focus, failing to include contact information, and not stating the news value upfront.

Resources

The resources below will help you submit more effective press and news releases. Click on the links to download (no registration required):

News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

***

Image: News

News Release Traffic Formula – Publishing

Part 8 – Learn how to set up a publishing system using news and press releases that will keep generating new traffic and new leads for your business.

News Release Traffic Formula – Part 8: Publishing

Learn how to use news and press releases effectively to promote and grow your business. Part 8 of 8.

This is Part 8 of our free News Release Traffic Formula video course.

In this lesson, you will learn how to set up a publishing system using news and press releases that will keep generating new traffic and new leads for your business.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello, and welcome to module 7 of the News Release Traffic Formula course. This is the last module of our video course on using news releases effectively to promote and grow your business.

In this module, I am going to share with you an effective content publishing strategy that you can use to keep driving more traffic to your website and generate new leads for your business.

Let’s quickly recap how the news release traffic formula works.

First, you create a news release targeting low to medium-competition keywords in your headline using the KASH method.

You do this once a month and get your news release distributed to hundreds of trusted news and media outlets.

Google will then hopefully pick up and index your news release in 24 to 48 hours or less.

This will help boost your rankings for multiple longtail keywords in areas like Google search results, Google news, Google maps, and local search listings.

Your news release can also get picked up by many content syndication websites and blogs.

All of this helps to build your site’s trust and authority.

You then rinse and repeat the process again to boost your site rankings further, and drive more traffic and new leads to your business.

Sending out a news release every month should become a regular event in your digital marketing calendar.

If you’re looking at ways to grow your business online, then keep in mind that sending out news releases is just one of many regular activities that you should be doing as part of your digital marketing strategy.

Other areas include things like publishing content on your website, social media marketing, email marketing, video marketing, online advertising, and so on.

It’s beyond the scope of this course to cover these other digital marketing strategies, but there are some things that I want to show you that will make your digital marketing strategy more effective when using news releases.

The first thing you need is a digital vehicle that you can drive. This is especially important if you’re not a technical person.

If you want a website that you can manage yourself and make changes quickly, add new things, and move things around without depending on people like coders and developers, then I recommend using WordPress to run your website.

WordPress is used by millions of businesses around the world.

In fact, over a third of all websites are built using WordPress, so if you have a website, it probably runs on WordPress.

WordPress is also free, it’s easy to use, and more importantly, it puts you in complete control of your web presence.

You may not know this, but you can configure a WordPress website to automatically send you traffic, whenever you publish new content.

With an expertly-configured WordPress site, all you do is publish new content, and your site then automatically notifies search engines, social media sites, and many other online directories and content syndication sites.

This gets your content indexed in Google quickly and automatically, so people searching online can find you more easily.

So, here’s the content publishing formula that I recommend using, to get the best results online with news releases.

Start by sending out news releases straight away to build trust, authority, rankings, and traffic for your business and your domain name.

Next, find out if your website uses WordPress. As I just mentioned, most websites are built using WordPress, so yours is probably too. WordPress is used to build all types of websites, including e-commerce stores, directories, corporate websites, and so on. You can even set up a marketing blog using WordPress and configure it to drive traffic to your main website.

As well as configuring your site to automatically drive traffic when new content is published, you also want to make sure that you have a newsletter or email opt-in form to capture emails from visitors. This way, you have a system for generating more traffic and new leads.

Once these things are in place, you then focus on implementing a regular content marketing strategy. This should include things like sending out a monthly news release, posting articles on your blog, emailing newsletters to subscribers, publishing videos, and posting on social media.

With news releases, I recommend republishing these as web content on your site, 3 to 4 weeks after their original release date. This way, you’re repurposing your content and getting the most out of something that you have already spent time and money to create.

The last step is just to rinse and repeat this process every month to keep driving more traffic and generating new leads for your business.

I mentioned at the beginning of this course that I run a free online business training website that attracts thousands of visitors every month.

The site is called WPCompendium.org, and it provides hundreds of free and detailed step-by-step tutorials on how to use WordPress.

The site runs on WordPress and uses the same strategies to grow traffic and rank well in Google that I’ve been showing you in this course. I have expertly configured it, so all I have to do is focus on adding new content, and WordPress automatically does the rest.

I then publish a news release every month to promote the site, and three or four weeks after sending it out to hundreds of news and media sites, I then republish it as web content on my site, under a category called ‘Press Releases’.

I also run another WordPress training site called WPTrainingManual.com, which also provides free and comprehensive tutorials on how to use WordPress, and another free training site called ContentManagementCourse.com, which teaches you how to manage your content more effectively and provides e-courses on how to generate new content ideas for your site.

I recommend that you visit these sites and take a look around. You can use the free tutorials to learn how to use WordPress, and how to set up an expertly-configured WordPress site or blog for your business.

There’s one more thing I want to show you.

You can use news releases to send traffic anywhere. You can send traffic to your home page or any other page or section of your website, or anyone else’s website, like a directory listing or an event page.

You can send traffic to your e-commerce store, physical store, your social media pages, social media events, and so on.

What I recommend you do however, when sending out news releases or doing any kind of marketing promotion, is to focus your strategy and your efforts on ways to build your own asset, instead of someone else’s.

Let me show you what I mean.

Let’s say that you plan to send out a news release to promote an event on Facebook. The logical thing to do would be to write a news release announcing the event and then add a link to the event page on Facebook where people can register.

In other words, as shown in the first diagram, your news release would send people directly to the event page on Facebook. Even if this is your Facebook page, you’re still promoting someone else’s asset, which in this case, is Facebook.

I recommend instead that you consider the second option.

Create a page on your own website to promote an event on Facebook, then drive traffic from your news release to your own site. Visitors can then click on a link from your content to go to your Facebook page, and register for the event.

This way, you’re still sending visitors to the event page on Facebook, but you’re driving traffic to your own website, and hence you’re building your own asset.

Let me show you what I’m talking about.

One of my clients runs a truck accessories store and they are involved in supporting good causes and community events.

One of these events was to help raise money for a young family going through tough times.

So, here’s how we used a press release to help promote this event.

Instead of sending visitors directly to the event page on Facebook, we posted an article about the fundraiser on the truck store’s blog, and we then added a link from their blog article to the event page on Facebook.

So, that’s number “1” linking to number “2”.

We then published a news release to promote the fundraiser and directed visitors to the article on the blog for more information.

So, that’s number “3” linking to number “1”.

A few weeks after sending out the news release, we then republished the news release on the client’s website.

So, even though it would have been easier to just promote their Facebook page in their news release, setting things up this way not only allowed the client to promote the fundraiser on Facebook, but they also benefitted in terms of boosting their rankings, generating more traffic, and increasing awareness online for their business.

This is a win-win way to use news releases to promote an external event, and improve your results online, while also building your own digital assets.

So, to recap the press release publishing formula.

Step 1, Use press releases to build trust, authority, rankings, and traffic for your website.

Step 2, if your website or blog runs on WordPress, make sure that it’s configured to automate traffic when you publish new content, and that you have a way of capturing visitor details.

If you need help setting all this up, visit WPCompendium.org, and WPTrainingManual.com for free WordPress tutorials.

Step 3, implement a regular content marketing strategy. Send out a monthly press release in addition to posting articles on your blog, sending email newsletters to subscribers, publishing videos, and posting content on social media.

Step 4, republish your press release as web content 3 to 4 weeks after it has been distributed. [weak break]

And the last step is to just rinse and repeat.

Doing this will help to boost your search rankings, and keep driving more traffic to your site.

Now that you know the power of using news releases to grow your business, the next step is to start writing and distributing regular press releases to news and media outlets!

You can either ‘Do It Yourself’ or get it ‘Done For You’.

If you write your own news releases you will save money, and if you choose a ‘done for you’ service, you’ll save time!

Something to keep in mind if you hire someone to write press releases for your business is that most writers probably won’t be familiar with the KASH formula, so you may need to rewrite your headlines.

This brings us to the end of the News Release Traffic Formula course.

Hopefully, now you know how to use news releases to help grow your business, get multiple search rankings, get more traffic and generate new leads for your business, get published on hundreds of trusted news and media sites, get indexed in search engines in 24 to 48 hours or less, and keep your site ranking faster, higher, and longer in the search engines.

Thank you for watching these videos, and I wish you great success!

Return to the video course outline.

Resources

Press Release Distribution Services

EIN Presswire– Use this press release distribution service to reach a global audience through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.
eReleases – A reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
24-7 Press Release – A reliable and cost-effective press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes.

Downloads

Submit more effective press and news releases using the downloadable resources below (no registration required):

- News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
- News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: News, Music Bensound

News Release Traffic Formula – Ranking

Part 7 – Learn how to use news and press releases to keep your listings and website ranking faster, higher, and longer in search engines.

News Release Traffic Formula – Part 7: Ranking

Learn how to use news and press releases effectively to promote and grow your business. Part 7 of 8.

This is Part 7 of our free News Release Traffic Formula video course.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use news and press releases to keep your listings and website ranking faster, higher, and longer in search engines.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello, and welcome to module 6 of the News Release Traffic Formula course.

In this lesson, you will learn how to keep your listings ranking faster, higher, and longer in the search engines.

So, let’s talk about using news releases to get better results.

Let’s start with how to get faster rankings in Google search engine result pages.

As we’ve already seen, Google can pick up and index press releases in 24 hours or less.

I’ve also seen Google pick up and index news releases in less than 2 hours.

And I’ve also seen news releases showing up in Google’s search results in less than 30 minutes.

In fact, I’ve even seen Google pick up news releases less than 5 minutes after being sent out!

In terms of getting ranked faster then, it’s hard to beat press releases, because as we talked about earlier, Google favors content from trusted authority sites.

If your website is new, it’s going to take time to build authority and trust with Google, even if you’re publishing a lot of great content on a regular basis.

There seems to be a hump that new sites have to get over before Google says, “ok, I trust you and I’ll start to pick up your content faster now!”

In the next lesson, I’ll show you how to speed up this process, but the fact is, trying to get content on your site ranked faster, takes longer than ranking content on sites that Google already trusts.

This is why news releases are a great way to get your content ranked faster while you build trust and authority for your website.

Let’s talk now about getting higher search rankings.

As we’ve already seen, if you focus on targeting long-tail keywords, and apply methods like the KASH formula in your headline to create lots of keyword combinations, your news release will get you ranked in dozens…even hundreds of listings, for multiple keyword phrases!

If you have access to keyword ranking reports, you can click on the keywords in your report to check your rankings.

Sometimes, you can also improve your rankings by tweaking your titles and using data from keyword ranking reports to create new content targeting those keywords.

So, as we’ve seen earlier, a single news release can get you ranked for multiple keywords.

Getting ranked for multiple keywords helps to build your authority, which then helps your site get ranked higher.

So, the strategy is to use regular news releases to rank higher for multiple long-tail keywords, using KASH formula headlines.

This will not only get you multiple search listings, but it also helps to build authority for your website, and drive your site’s rankings higher.

Keep this process going, and you could find that in some cases, you’ll start to get multiple rankings in multiple search listings, and maybe even own the results page!

We’ve talked about using news releases to get faster and higher rankings. Let’s talk now about how to stay ranked longer.

Here, you can see that 4 months after this news release was sent out, Google was still indexing over two hundred and fifty entries.

When I checked the first 5 news releases that WPCompendium.org sent out, Google was still indexing over 300 entries over one year later.

Press releases, then, can keep you ranking longer in Google’s search results.

So, what’s the magic formula to getting faster, higher, and longer search engine rankings with news releases?

The magic formula is this.

Send out a news release every month using the KASH formula, and this will boost your search engine rankings, drive more traffic to your website, and send new leads and customers to your business!

You’ve seen the proof!

I’ve worked with a number of businesses that don’t have much time or money to spend on digital marketing, but you can start to improve your results straight away just by sending out one news release every month to hundreds of news and media outlets!

The secret science behind this magic formula is the cumulative effect of sending out just 1 news release every month, targeting multiple longtail keywords using the KASH formula.

So, consistency is the key.

Large companies send out press releases all the time because they know it works.

Most small businesses, however, don’t know how to use news releases effectively.

Just 1 news release per month is all you need to start improving your results.

One last thing I want to cover in this video is using news releases to drive more traffic to your website.

You need to commit to publishing at least one news release a month.

Don’t stop after sending out just one or two releases. Keep going with it for at least 6 to 12 months and monitor your traffic.

There is a certain tipping point, where the cumulative effect kicks in, and your traffic then goes to a whole new level.

Of course, it also helps if you’re doing other things to promote your site and not just relying on news releases to do all of the heavy work. I talk a little bit about integrating news releases into your content marketing strategy in the next lesson.

So, to summarize what we’ve covered in this video, the magic formula and the secret to success with press releases is consistency.

Just 1 news release per month using the KASH method can boost your search rankings, drive more traffic to your website, and send new leads and customers to your business.

This is the end of Module 6.

In the next module, we’ll look at how to set up an effective content publishing strategy to keep driving more traffic to your website and generate new leads for your business.

Thank you for watching this video, and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to the next lesson: Publishing Formula
Return to the video course outline.

Resources

Press Release Distribution Services

EIN Presswire– Use this press release distribution service to reach a global audience through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.
eReleases – A reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
24-7 Press Release – A reliable and cost-effective press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes.

Downloads

Submit more effective press and news releases using the downloadable resources below (no registration required):

- News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
- News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: News, Music Bensound

News Release Traffic Formula – Approval

Part 6 – Learn how to get your news or press release approved fast for distribution to hundreds of news and media outlets.

News Release Traffic Formula – Part 6: Approval

Learn how to use news and press releases effectively to promote and grow your business. Part 6 of 8.

This is Part 6 of our free News Release Traffic Formula video course.

In this lesson, you will learn how to get your news or press release approved fast for distribution to hundreds of news and media outlets that can help boost your search engine rankings and send you traffic.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello, and welcome to module 5 of the News Release Traffic Formula course.

In this module, I am going to show you how to get your news releases approved and distributed to hundreds of traffic-generating sites.

There’s really only one thing you need to do to get your news releases approved, and that is to follow the guidelines of your distribution service provider.

We covered most of those guidelines in the previous training module.

If you don’t follow the guidelines, your news release may not be approved.

For example, if your headline exceeds the maximum number of characters allowed, then your news release won’t be approved until you edit your headline and resubmit for review.

The most common reason why submissions are rejected is that the body contains content written in the first or second person. For example, “I”, “You”, “We”, “Our”, and so on.

Unless you’re quoting someone directly, don’t use 1st or 2nd person pronouns in your content.

Always write your news release in the third person.

Before submitting your news release for review and approval, use this checklist to make sure that you have completed the following.

Check that your news release has a newsworthy headline, and doesn’t exceed the character or word limit.
Make sure that the body content is at least 300 words long.
Make sure that all facts and details are correct.
Make sure that the content is written entirely in the third person, except when quoting someone directly.
Check all spelling, grammar, and punctuation in your content, and fix any mistakes.
Check that all of the hyperlinks are working and that URLs have been written correctly, and
Make sure that your contact information is also correct.

Keep in mind that you can’t change anything in your news release after it’s been sent out.

So, if you don’t want mistakes showing up on hundreds of news sites, read your press release carefully one more time, and get other people to read it too before submitting it for final approval!

Now, for the second part of the process, which is getting your news releases distributed to news and media outlets, the service provider submits your news releases to as many sites as they have a distribution agreement with.

For example, I use a distribution service that submits press releases to over 500 media sites, so each news release I send out has the potential to reach many thousands of readers with every submission.

After news releases are sent out, I also get a submission report that lets me see where my release has been submitted to.

This report includes a Google pickup report showing how many entries have been indexed by Google, and a keyword ranking report that lets me see how well the release is doing in the search results.

So, to summarize, to get your news releases approved, you need to follow the guidelines.

Make sure you write in the 3rd person and use the checklist before submitting your news release for final review, approval, and distribution.

This is the end of Module 5.

In the next module, we’ll look at the Ranking Formula, where I’ll show you how to keep your listings ranking faster, higher, and longer in the search engines!

Thank you for watching this video, and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to the next lesson Ranking Formula
Return to the video course outline.

Resources

Press Release Distribution Services

EIN Presswire– Use this press release distribution service to reach a global audience through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.
eReleases – A reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
24-7 Press Release – A reliable and cost-effective press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes.

Downloads

Submit more effective press and news releases using the downloadable resources below (no registration required):

- News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
- News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: News, Music Bensound

News Release Traffic Formula – Content

Part 5 – Learn how to structure your news or press release for maximum results.

News Release Traffic Formula – Part 5: Content

Learn how to use news and press releases effectively to promote and grow your business. Part 5 of 8.

This is Part 5 of our free News Release Traffic Formula video course.

In this lesson, you will learn how to structure your news release for maximum results.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello, and welcome to module 4 of the News Release Traffic Formula course.

In this module, I am going to show you how to structure your news releases for maximum traffic and results.

So, let’s talk about how to structure your news releases.

In Module 3, we talked about the 80-20 rule, and how you should focus 80% of your time and efforts on your news release headline.

The other 20% of your focus should be on the content of your news release.

Creating the body of your news release is not difficult if you apply the formula that I am going to show you.

Most press or news releases follow this structure, which consists of 5 basic elements.

The headline, which we’ve already covered in Module 3.
A summary of your news release.
Media content, such as an image, your logo, or a video.
The body of your content, and
Your company details.

Each of these sections is important and contributes to the overall success of your news release campaign, so let’s go through each of these sections in more detail.

First, is your headline.

The purpose of your headline is to attract readers and make them want to read more of your information.

As we saw in the previous training module, your news release headline is the one element that will make the biggest difference in your results.

As we also talked about, you will get far better results if you apply the KASH formula to your headline than using a typical headline format.

In addition to the KASH formula principles we talked about in Module 3, there are rules you have to follow to get your news release approved for submission, and we’ll cover these in more detail in the next lesson.

For example, most news release distribution platforms include guidelines that need to be followed, like your headline not being too long, and having an active verb and subject.

Although the criteria can change slightly depending on which service you use to distribute your news release, typically you need to make sure that your headline stays under 80 characters, and a maximum of 15 words.

Your headline should also reflect the content of your press or news release, and be newsworthy, important, and recent enough to be announced.

Don’t use special characters and symbols in your headline, such as a trademark or copyright symbol.

Also, many services will ask you to create 2 headlines. 1 headline for your news release, and 1 headline for sites that post releases using a blog format.

Here are some examples of headlines I’ve used with my clients.

You can see that all these headlines use the KASH method. They also comply with maximum character guidelines and word limits.

I’ve also added an example of a News Release and blog headlines. You can see that the blog headline version is slightly longer. This way, we can target even more variations of keywords using the same news release.

Once you understand how the KASH formula works, you can combine KASH and traditional headline formats if you like.

For example, here is a list of active verbs commonly used in press releases.

Words like…

Releases or Released.
Reveals or Revealed.
Launches, and Launched.
Announces, and Announced.
Donates, Donated.
Warns, Warned.
Finds, Found.
Etc.

You can use these verbs with basic headline formulas like Company XYZ Releases Free Report On How To Build Equity In Your Home, or whatever the topic of your report is.

Or,

Website ABC Launched New XYZ App To Help Hearing Impaired Children.

Some more examples of other headline formats you can use include XYZ Clinic Reveals New Case Study On Migraines In Stay-At-Home Parents.

And,

Bedlam Furniture Store Donates $50 From Every Sale Made To Starlight Foundation.

One headline formula that can be very powerful to help boost local search rankings is to use the Location| Profession | Active Verb | News Angle format.

This creates headlines like Austin Children’s Dentist Says “Tooth Decay Rates Are An Embarrassment For Texas”.

So, in this case, “Austin” is the location, “Children’s Dentist” is the profession, “Says” is the active verb, and then we have the quote with our news angle… “Tooth Decay Rates Are An Embarrassment For Texas”.

The other headline in this example uses the same format,

“Sunnyvale Roofing Expert Warns Home Owners Of Serious Maintenance Neglect Risks”.

These headlines follow proven formulas, but they also include many relevant terms that will help the news release rank for multiple keywords in search engines, while serving its purpose, which is to attract readers and make them want to read more of your information.

The next element of your content formula is your news release summary.

The purpose of the summary is to let readers know what information is included in your news release, as most people will only spend enough time scanning your headline and summary, before deciding whether to keep reading or move on.

Your summary should clearly describe the content of your news release.

It should be one to two sentences long, and you will need to create two summaries: 1 x news release summary and 1 x blog summary.

Your news release summary should contain no more than 45 words, but your blog summary can be a little bit longer.

And don’t use the first paragraph of your news release as your summary.

I’ve included here two summary versions used in a news release that I created for a client, so you can see what these look like, and how they are structured differently, to conform with the guidelines listed here.

The third element of your news release is Media.

You can attach an image to your news release, as long as the file size doesn’t exceed the specified limit, which in this case is 1MB. Images must also be uploaded in an approved format, typically jpeg, png, or gif.

You can also normally add a video or video URL to your news release.

Now, there are ways to maximize your results when using media in your news releases.

For example, most platforms will let you add an image to your news release, such as your company logo.

Depending on what you are trying to achieve, however, a better use of your image real estate is to combine your logo with a call to action.

With Mirren Investment Properties, for example, we’ve added a call to action below the logo inviting readers to call the number shown in the image for a FREE consultation.

We did the same thing for the Pizza restaurant. Call Sergio’s number for Newtown’s best wood-fired home-delivered pizza!

And WPCompendium.org lets readers know that the site provides FREE WordPress tutorials for non-techies.

So … what we’re doing here, is kind of like embedding an advertisement with the company logo, but without making it blatant.

All the images shown here were approved and went out with news releases, so they all conform with the content guidelines.

When sending out news releases to promote the launch of a new guide or report, we found that adding an image of the report works really well, so these types of images can also be used with press releases.

The aim here then is to further maximize any opportunities you have to promote your business by using media in your news release to actively help drive more traffic and generate more leads.

In other words, don’t just add your logo. Add your logo with a call to action.

The 4th element of your news release is the body of the content itself.

This is where you get to say whatever you have to say, about whatever you are promoting or announcing.

General Guidelines for the body of your content are normally provided by the distribution platform and include things like…

Your content should have a legitimate news angle. It should announce something new, and or timely, and the tone of your content should be formal and factual, not casual or entertaining like a blog post.

Also, don’t make your news release read like an advertisement or a sales letter. This is very important if you want your news release to be approved.

Don’t announce discounts, bonuses, price cuts, sales, coupon codes, products, or service promotions, or include advertorials.

Another important guideline is that your content should have an impartial tone. Don’t include opinions, questions, or duplicated content.

There are also a few guidelines for the content itself that you have to comply with.

For example, news releases must be at least 300 words long. The ideal content length is 300 to 400 words.

You should include the city from where the release originates, which is usually the location of your company headquarters or main store, or principal place of business.

One of the most important guidelines for getting your content approved, is to use only 3rd person language.

In other words, don’t use words like “I”, or “we”, as this will make your release start to look more like an advertisement or opinion piece.

In a moment, I’ll show you the only allowed exception where you can use words like “I”, or “we”.

Another thing to keep in mind is that news releases should not contain sexually explicit material, illegal material, or profane language.

So, don’t use news releases to promote things that will get your press release rejected.

In addition to what you can and can’t promote, your content also has to follow specific formatting guidelines.

For example, you need to make sure there are no grammatical or spelling errors.

Use uppercase and lowercase lettering appropriately.

Make sure that each paragraph is spaced out with a line, and that your news release is formatted properly. For example, don’t use unnecessary double spacing.

Use appropriate punctuation and symbols, and avoid inserting JavaScript or other markup languages in your content, like bold or italicized text. The only formatting allowed using markup tags are hyperlinks.

With hyperlinks, make sure that links are formatted correctly, and limit the use of links in your content to 1 link for every 200 words or so.

Something that’s also very important, is to add a call to action at the end of your news release. Ask readers to contact you, or book an appointment, or visit your site to download a guide or special report, and so on.

Remember that no call to action leads to no results!

You should also include available contact information where possible, but don’t place email addresses within the body of your news release. We’ll discuss this in more detail in a moment.

The typical structure for the body content of a news release includes things like a minimum of 300 words and a maximum of 800 to 1,000 words. The ideal length is around 300-400 words.

This would consist of an initial paragraph, 3-5 main points, 1-2 links, 1-2 quotes, and a call to action.

Traditionally, a news release is written as an “inverted pyramid,” where the most important information goes at the top, and the less important information goes at the bottom.

The first paragraph of your news release, therefore, should contain your most important information.

Your headline should grab your reader’s attention, your summary should make them want to learn more, and your first paragraph should make them want to read your news release all the way through to the end.

An easy formula for writing the body of your content is to use the 5 Ws: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

So, for example, when creating your news release, ask the following questions:

Who is this news release about?
What is the news release about?
When is the event or promotion happening?
Where is the event or promotion happening? And…
Why is the person or business doing this?

Here is an example of the body content of a news release that conforms with the guidelines and specifications, so you can see how it’s structured.

Here, you have the 1st paragraph containing your most important information, then a link to the website where readers can go to for more information, followed by a few paragraphs with the main points of the release, and a quote from the client.

The content then ends with a call to action and links to more information.

This is just over three hundred and fifty words long, and it’s all you need to create an effective news release.

Another important point to keep in mind about the body of your news release is the power of using quotes in your content.

A quote kind of lets you sell or promote your business in your news release without breaching guidelines that would see your news release get rejected for being a blatant sales or promotion piece.

Quotes also let you use first-person pronouns like “I”, “we”, “our”, etc., which you can’t use anywhere else.

A good habit to form then is to think about what you really want to say to your target audience, then build a number of quotes based around this, and save these in a file.

You can then use these quotes in future news releases, and add them to pages on your website as part of your content marketing strategy.

Here are some examples of quotes that were published in our press releases. You can see that we have used these quotes to promote the client’s business while complying with all the guidelines for submission and approval.

The last element of your news release content is your company and contact details.

This section should contain information like the name of the person to contact or interview, your email address, organization or business name, your address, phone number, and your website URL.

Now, while your company and contact details are important information in and of themselves, they also play an important role in our news release strategy, as they can help to increase search engine rankings, and drive more traffic and leads to your business via the Google local maps section.

Let me show you what I mean.

Here’s how your company and contact details can be used in your news releases as part of an effective SEO strategy.

First, you need to set up a local business page in Google.

Next, and this is very important, you should use the same contact information listed on your local business page in every news release that you distribute.

Publishing news releases on a regular basis using the same contact info gets you more citations, and more citations lead to better local search rankings.

So, what are citations?

A citation is when your company is mentioned, cited, or referenced on other websites, online directories, review sites, etc.

Citations provide Google with credible information about your business. Google uses citations to verify that your business actually exists, that it’s a legitimate business, and that your business information is accurate.

Citations from multiple sources boost your rankings in local search results and Local Map Listings.

So, make sure that you have a Google Local Business Page set up, and use the same contact details in your news releases.

The important elements of a citation are your Company name or branded trading name,

Your telephone number including country and local area code, and the physical address of your business.

So, in summary, there are 5 main news release content elements.

Number One, is your headline. Create a headline using the KASH formula to attract readers and maximize your search rankings.

Number Two, is your summary. Use the summary to attract your reader’s interest and make them want to read your news release.

Number Three, is media. Don’t just display your logo. Try to incorporate some form of Call To Action, like getting people to call you to make a booking or appointment.

Number Four, is the body of your content. Use this section to funnel more traffic and leads with newsworthy content, links, quotes, and a call to action.

And Number Five, are your company details and contact information. Keep the information in this section consistent with every news release you send out, to increase citations and your rankings on Google Maps.

This is the end of this lesson.

In the next module, we’ll look at the Approval Formula, where I’ll show you how to get your news release approved, and distributed to hundreds of traffic-generating sites!

Thank you for watching this video, and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to the next lesson: Approval Formula
Return to the video course outline.

Resources

Press Release Distribution Services

EIN Presswire– Use this press release distribution service to reach a global audience through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.
eReleases – A reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
24-7 Press Release – A reliable and cost-effective press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes.

Downloads

Submit more effective press and news releases using the downloadable resources below (no registration required):

- News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
- News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: News, Music Bensound

News Release Traffic Formula – Kash Method

Part 4 – Learn the secret to getting multiple search result listings with every news release you distribute.

News Release Traffic Formula – Part 4: Kash Method

Learn how to use news and press releases effectively to promote and grow your business. Part 4 of 8.

This is Part 4 of our free News Release Traffic Formula video course.

In this lesson, you will learn the secret to getting multiple search result listings with every news release you distribute.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello, and welcome to module 3 of the News Release Traffic Formula course.

In this lesson, we’ll go through the KASH formula, where you will learn the secret to getting multiple search result listings with every news release that you distribute.

Before I show you what the KASH formula is, and how this secret formula works, let’s talk a little bit about keyword research.

What I’m going to show you in this video, requires no keyword research tools, or complex SEO methods to help you rank well in the search engines.

So, forget about keyword tools or SEO algorithms, because you don’t need any of this stuff when you use the KASH method.

There is a really simple and powerful way to rank for multiple keywords in Google using news releases.

It’s all about…the Headline!

Most people have heard of the 80-20 rule, which is also known as The Pareto principle.

80% of your results will come from the keywords used in your news release headline.

With news releases, the headline is what helps you rank higher in the search engines, and the content of your news release is what turns readers into leads.

So, focus on the headline for search engines, and focus on the content, for leads.

In a previous lesson, we talked about targeting low-hanging fruit keywords that you can easily rank for.

SEO experts call these low-hanging keywords, long-tail keywords.

Let me show you an example of a short-tail keyword versus a long-tail keyword.

Let’s say that your business is repairing laptops. If your business came up in the number 1 spot in Google when people type in a keyword like “laptop repair”, you would probably get a ton of traffic. The problem is that everyone in the laptop repair business also wants to be number 1 for this keyword, so you have to compete with everyone else, especially against big companies with big marketing budgets.

You have a much better chance of getting to the top of Google if you focus on ranking for a longer keyword with things like the brand name, model, and the name of your town city, or suburb included in the keyword phrase.

So, for example, if your business is located in a town called Springfield, and you repair Dell laptops, then a long tail keyword that you could target would be, “dell inspiron 3565-A453 laptop screen repair springfield”.

Long-tail keywords have less competition and are much easier to rank for.

They also tend to be keywords that users search for when they are ready to buy something or solve a specific problem. So, people who search for long-tail keywords, are more likely to be targeted prospects.

So, the first rule of the KASH formula is to target low-hanging fruit keywords in your news release headline, that you can easily rank for.

In our previous training module, we talked about targeting lots of low-hanging-fruit keywords, with low-to-medium competition, that attract a little bit of traffic each, as the best way to compete against big companies with big marketing budgets, who are aggressively targeting those more competitive keywords.

For example, we saw that if you can rank well for 50 targeted long-tail keywords that send you just 10 visitors per month each, this would increase your traffic by 500 visitors per month.

Likewise, if you could rank well for 100 targeted long-tail keywords that send you just 30 visitors per month each, this would increase your traffic by 3,000 visitors per month.

Let’s assume that your strategy then, falls somewhere in between these figures and that only 1 out of every 100 visitors contacts you for more information, or fills out an inquiry form when they visit. This would still give you between 5 and 30 new business leads per month.

Ranking for lots of “low-hanging fruit” keyword phrases, then, can be very effective at driving more leads to your business. It can also boost your ranking for more competitive keywords!

The other rule or principle of the KASH formula is not to put all your eggs in one basket.

In other words, don’t focus on the one keyword you want to rank for. Create as many keyword combinations as you can fit on your news release headline!

The intention behind this strategy is that we want to target low-hanging fruit with low competition and stack as many combinations of these keywords as we can, in our headlines.

I’m going to show you what this looks like in just a moment. What’s important to understand right now, is that you don’t need any expensive or fancy tools for this.

The only tool you need is 100% free, and you already own it.

It’s called…your brain!

Let me show you how to use this powerful tool with the KASH method.

To understand the power of the KASH method, let’s start by looking at some typical news or press release headlines.

Here are three actual press release headlines.

The first headline reads, Pizza Hut launches new pizza and gifts for the holidays.

The second headline says, RefToken Announces The Launch Of A New Cryptocurrency.

The third headline says, Drucker and Falk Named as One Of America’s Best Places To Work In Property Management.

These press release headlines were crafted by experienced marketing professionals, and they were written for well-known companies. So, if you were to hire an experienced marketing agency to create a professional news release for your business, they would probably write you headlines that look something like these.

Now, what’s wrong with these headlines?

Well, there is nothing actually wrong with these headlines. These are press release headlines created by experienced marketing professionals.

But, let’s take a closer look at these headlines, and see how many useful keywords each of these headlines actually contain.

If we focus only on the keywords that search engines will pick up on, you can see that there are not many useful keywords in each headline.

In the first headline, for example, we have the brand name Pizza Hut and the keyword pizza. The words launches, new, and, for, and the are generic, so they’re really not useful for getting ranked in search engines.

What about the words gifts, and holidays, is this something that people searching online associate with pizza?

How many people search online for Pizza gifts or Pizza Hut holidays? Not many.

So, in this headline, the only real useful words, are Pizza Hut, and pizza.

In the second headline, if we cross out all of the generic words, all we’re left with is the company name RefToken, and the word cryptocurrency.

The third headline is pretty much the same thing. Cross out all the generic keywords, and all you have left is the name of the business, Drucker and Falk, and Property Management.

So, in terms of SEO, the only useful keyword phrases that would rank in Google for these three press releases, would be Pizza Hut pizza, RefToken cryptocurrency, and Drucker and Falk property management.

Now, let’s compare these typical press release headlines with the KASH formula.

KASH stands for Keyword Stacked Headlines.

The examples I’m going to show you now are all from actual clients. You will see that they all use a unique method that is very different from the method that most press release writers use.

In fact, most press release writers don’t even know about the KASH method.

Let me show you three different news release headlines that I created for three different types of businesses, all using the KASH formula.

Hopefully, you will see that regardless of what type of business you run, you can also get the same types of results as these businesses have been getting.

The first client owns a pizza restaurant.

This restaurant is located in Sydney, Australia, and delivers pizzas to homes in the Sydney suburbs of Newtown, Enmore, Stanmore, Sydenham, and Camperdown.

So, we created a news release with the keyword-stacked headline Newtown Pizza Home Delivery To Enmore, Stanmore, Sydenham & Camperdown Launched.

If we ignore everything else in this news release but the headline, and focus on how many useful search engine keywords we were able to fit into the headline, then here are the results we got with just one news release.

First, let’s remove the generic word to, the & symbol used for the word and, and the generic word “launched”.

We are now left with a number of useful search engine keywords like Newtown, Pizza, Home Delivery, Enmore, Stanmore, Sydenham, and Camperdown.

With these words, we can generate lots of different useful combinations that Google will then pick up from this headline.

For example, here we have, Newtown Pizza, Newtown Pizza Delivery, Newtown Delivery Pizza, Newtown Pizza Home Delivery, and Newtown Home Delivery Pizza.

And the same for all the other different suburbs.

Enmore Pizza, Enmore Delivery Pizza, Stanmore Pizza Home Delivery, Stanmore Pizza Delivery, Camperdown Delivery Pizza, Camperdown Home Delivery Pizza, Sydenham Pizza Home Delivery, Sydenham Pizza Delivery, and so on.

It doesn’t matter what order the words are in. As long as they appear in the headline, Google will pick it up.

So, with words like Pizza Home Delivery, we can create additional word combinations like Home Delivery, Pizza Delivery, Home Delivery Pizza, etc.

We can also create all different combinations and permutations for each of the Suburb words in our headline. In this example, words like Newtown, Sydenham, Enmore, Stanmore, and Camperdown.

So, what kind of results did the client get with this news release?

Well, as you can see here, Google picked up the news release from over 300 news outlets less than 9 hours after we sent the news release out, and began ranking Sergio’s Pizzeria for all these keyword combinations.

Sergio’s Pizzeria not only started ranking in Google for all the keyword combinations in the news release headline, but the restaurant also got a boost in Google Maps, and search listings for neighboring areas, like the suburb of Saint Peters, which is near the restaurant’s location.

If we come back and compare the regular headlines that most PR companies create for their clients with the KASH formula headline, you can see just how powerful the KASH formula is.

Look at the headlines we created for the first two news releases that were sent out for Sergio’s Pizzeria.

Here, I’ve underlined all the keywords that Google will rank these news releases for.

With the bottom headline, for example, combining the words, creates many long-tail keywords like Newtown Woodfired Pizza Restaurant, Newtown Italian Pizza Restaurant, Newtown Authentic Italian Woodfired Pizza Restaurant, Authentic Italian Cuisine Restaurant Newtown, Newtown Woodfired Pizza Menu, and so on.

All these combinations got ranked in Google for this news release.

Notice too, that although this headline is designed to help the news release rank for many different search terms, it still makes sense to anyone reading it.

The secret to creating a successful KASH headline is to use your brain to create a headline that contains as many relevant search keywords as you can fit, and as few generic words as possible, while also making sense to anyone reading it.

Let’s move on, and take a look at the next case study.

Here is another example of a KASH headline that we created for a client who runs a property investment company.

Using the KASH formula to create the headline, the client began ranking in Google for all of these keyword phrases, with just a single news release.

All these keyword phrases are just combinations and permutations of the keywords used in the headline.

With only 4 news releases, this company was ranking in Google for dozens of low-hanging fruit keywords. Some of these keywords get no traffic, but some do.

If you remember what we talked about earlier, we want the cumulative effect of dominating lots of keywords that get a little traffic each.

So, if just some of these keywords get some traffic each month, this can translate to hundreds – possibly even thousands, of new targeted visitors, and a number of new leads every month.

Here are the results that Mirren Investment Properties got after sending out their news release.

In less than 24 hours, they were showing up all over the place in Google’s search listings.

You can see here, the cumulative effect of publishing news releases on a regular basis. You not only get to rank fast, but you can also start taking over multiple listing spots for multiple keywords and give your site a boost in places like Google maps and featured sections.

The idea behind the KASH formula, then, is to use news releases to throw a deep and wide net, to try and automatically catch loads of low-hanging-fruit keywords that no one else is even thinking of targeting!

You can also combine news releases with strategies like article writing, and paid advertising, to systematically start going after more competitive keywords.

Let’s take a look at one more example of using the KASH headline formula, and then I’ll take you through an example of how you can use the KASH formula to build headlines for your own business.

As you can see here, this news release got ranked in Google for over four hundred and eighty keywords. It also ranked number 1 for 285 keyword phrases and was in the top ten for over 420 keywords.

This screenshot from the Keyword Rankings report shows all the keywords that this news release ranked number 1 for.

I hope you’re starting to get excited! I know I was when I first discovered this method and started using it to get results.

Now that you understand how the KASH formula works, let’s go through an exercise to create a keyword-stacked headline of your own.

Remember, all you need is your brain.

For this example, we’ll create a news release headline for a dentist or a dental clinic in the suburb of Rouse Hill.

Here’s how we might start the process.

Open your browser and go to Google Maps and type in the type of business that you own, and the area where you operate in.

In this example, we’ll type in dentist rouse hill.

Now, it doesn’t matter if you’re already listed. We want to make sure that you stay ranked not just for this search phrase, but for many other related search phrases as well.

So, the first step that I recommend you take, is to make a list of all the neighboring suburbs or towns that you want to target for potential customers in your business.

In this example, our client operates their dental practice in Rouse Hill, but you can see from this map, that they can also target customers in neighboring areas like Riverstone, Schofields, Annangrove, Kellyville, and more!

So, write down or type in the names of all these suburbs or locations where you can target people for your business into your notepad or a text file.

The next thing we want to do is use Google’s own keyword suggestion tool to find more related keywords.

So, go to Google, and type in your keyword. For our example, we’ll type in dentist rouse hill.

This brings up a number of related keyword suggestions.

Look at the list, pick any suggestions that make sense to you, and add them to your KASH list.

Also, as you go through the exercise, add any other keywords that come to your mind.

So, for this example, some of the keywords you can see that I have added to my KASH list, include words like Dentist, Rouse Hill, Emergency, Children’s, Bulk Billing, Family, Dental, Care, and 7-Day.

Also…Clinic, Orthodontist, Implants, Open Weekend, Open Saturday, and so on.

Okay, so far so good.

Now, we have a list of related keywords, and neighboring areas and surroundings.

After just a few minutes of brainstorming, you should have enough keywords on your list to make up some great KASH headlines.

Here are just some examples of KASH headlines that we could create using the list of keywords that we’ve built in this example.

Rouse Hill Dentist Launches 7-Day Emergency Family and Childrens Kellyville Dental Care Clinic

or…

Weekend Emergency Dental Care Clinic Open For Rouse Hill Kellyville and Riverstone Children.

Now, how many keywords could we rank for in Google with these headlines?

Let’s take a quick look.

Here are just some of the keywords we would rank for with this headline.

As you can see, there are over 50 keyword phrases in this headline that someone searching online for a dentist in this area could type in.

Sending out a news release with this headline would not only get you ranked for all these keywords, but it could also result in hundreds of new visitors each month and new customers for your dental clinic.

To rank for these many keywords, you would have to write and publish dozens of articles or bid on dozens of keywords in Google Ads, and none of this dentist’s competitors are even targeting all of these keywords.

The same thing applies with the other headline that we created for this dental clinic.

So, publishing a news release with a headline like Weekend Emergency Dental Care Clinic Open For Rouse Hill Kellyville and Riverstone Children would get your business ranked for dozens or even hundreds of related keywords like the ones shown here.

And all it took to come up with two news release headline ideas that would get your business ranked for hundreds of keywords that can send you more traffic, and new leads each month was a few minutes of using your brain.

So, let’s recap the main points of using the KASH Formula.

Focus most of your time and effort on your headline. Remember the 80-20 rule.
Target long-tail keywords that are easier to rank for.
Use your brain to create a list. You don’t need keyword or SEO tools for this.
Stack as many relevant keywords as you can fit into your headline.
Use as few generic words as possible. You can create a headline for search engines that makes perfect sense for humans, using a single word like “Launched” or “Announced”.
And finally, just rinse and repeat this process with every news release that you write and distribute.

If you apply this secret KASH formula to news releases, you could start ranking immediately for dozens or even hundreds of keywords in the search engines.

And you can start seeing search results in multiple listings for multiple keywords, in as little as 24 to 48 hours after sending out each press release.

This brings us to the end of module 3.

In the next module, we’ll look at the Content Formula, where I’ll show you how to structure your news release for maximum traffic and results!

Thank you for watching this video, and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to the next lesson: Content Formula
Return to the video course outline.

Resources

Press Release Distribution Services

EIN Presswire– Use this press release distribution service to reach a global audience through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.
eReleases – A reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
24-7 Press Release – A reliable and cost-effective press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes.

Downloads

Submit more effective press and news releases using the downloadable resources below (no registration required):

- News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
- News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: News, Music Bensound

News Release Traffic Formula – Strategy

Part 3 – Learn how to achieve great results online using the News Release Traffic Formula strategy.

News Release Traffic Formula – Part 3: Strategy

Learn how to use news and press releases effectively to promote and grow your business. Part 3 of 8.

This is Part 3 of our free News Release Traffic Formula video course.

This video decodes the News Release Traffic Formula strategy and shows you how you can achieve great results online using actual case study examples.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello, and welcome to module two of the News Release Traffic Formula course.

In this lesson, we’ll decode the News Release Traffic Formula to show you how to achieve great results using press or news releases.

Ok, let’s talk about how news releases can help boost your search engine rankings and drive more traffic and new leads to your business!

Let’s start by reviewing how press or news releases work and what kind of strategies we’re going to implement to get better results online.

We’ll break this down into five key processes.

Number one, is writing your news release. We want to create a professional quality news release targeting keywords that we can rank well for in the search engines.

The next step is distribution. After your news release has been approved, we want to send it out to as many trusted authority sites as we can, including news, TV, radio, and media outlets.

Step number three, is ranking. After your news release has been published, we want Google to immediately pick it up from all the news and media outlets that your release has been sent to.

This gives your site’s rankings visibility and credibility a boost, and it will happen automatically if you set things up correctly.

The fourth key process is syndication. Your release could get picked up by hundreds or even thousands of other websites and blogs looking for content related to your industry or niche.

Number five, is Traffic. We want to attract new prospects and more visitors from search engines picking up your content, and people visiting sites where they read your news release.

Let’s go through each of these processes now in more detail.

Step 1, is writing your news release.

Here are the key points to keep in mind when writing your news or press release.

First, a news press or media release is not a blatant advertisement or a promo for your business or your products or services! Remember, your news release must be newsworthy to be approved. If the content of your news release looks like blatant advertising, it will be rejected by the distribution platform.

So, your news release must contain quality and newsworthy content that will engage your readers.

As we will see in a moment, it’s best to target low to mid-competition keywords that you can easily rank for in your news release.

You must follow submission guidelines to get your news release approved. This includes conforming to guidelines when using the KASH formula that we’ll talk about in the next lesson, to help you get multiple keyword rankings, Google Maps listings, and local search results.

Typically, a news release can be around 300-800 words long. Ideally, it should be about 300-400 words.

You should also always include a clear call to action letting your readers know what you want them to do after reading your news release.

You should also include links to your website, or wherever you want people to go for more information. News releases can include links to your website and an image, such as your logo or a video.

There are many topics you can write a news release about.

You can announce something new like a product or service launch, the release of free information like a free webinar, free e-book, or report, or awards that you have recently won or been nominated for.

You can use news releases to announce contests, invitations, personnel changes…even weird or interesting news about your business.

News releases can also be used to promote good causes, like charities, community events, fundraisers, and so on.

The important thing to keep in mind is that you can use any of these topics to help promote your business, as long as there is a newsworthy angle in your news release.

After you have written your news release, the next step is to get it approved and distributed to as many news, TV, radio, and media sites as you can, locally, nationally, and globally.

With the distribution process, you also want to have access to submission reports and search engine ranking reports, so you can check all the places your news release has been published to and know how your release is performing in the search results.

In case you’re wondering why you’d want to send your news release to news and media outlets in other countries when you are only running a local business or promoting a local event, it’s all about the underlying strategy.

Publishing your news release on hundreds of trusted sites helps to increase your site’s authority, and boost your search engine rankings.

Not only that, but one of the key benefits of distributing your news release to hundreds of media outlets everywhere, is that your content could get picked up by journalists, bloggers, and social media users looking for stories or case studies to write about.

Another benefit is that with most distribution platforms, your content will often stay published, as most news and media sites publish, and archive news items under their own separate URL.

Step 3, is ranking.

Trying to rank number 1 for a keyword or search phrase that most of your competition is also trying to rank number 1 for, can end up being a long expensive, and hard battle that you might not even win.

How then, can your business compete against bigger companies with bigger marketing budgets, and more resources, who are aggressively targeting the most sought-after keywords in your niche or industry?

The key is to use a smarter keyword ranking strategy.

Instead of trying to go head-to-head against competitors for keywords that you may not be able to outrank, a smarter strategy would be to try and rank for lots of low-to-medium competition keywords that your competition isn’t even targeting, and that you can get to more quickly, and more easily!

For example, if you could rank well for 100 search phrases that deliver 30 searches each per month to your site, that’s 3,000 visitors per month visiting your site.

If you can rank for 200 search phrases that deliver just 50 searches each per month, that’s 10,000 visitors coming to your website every month.

A smarter strategy, then, would be to target low-hanging fruit keywords that you can easily rank for with every news release that you send out!

So, what’s an effective way to rank for hundreds of keywords?

Typically, to rank for hundreds of keywords, you would normally have to either pay for it, like bidding on hundreds of keywords using a paid method like Google Ads or publish loads of quality search-optimized content using methods like article writing, blogging, etc.

Ranking for hundreds of keywords then can be expensive and time-consuming, unless you know an easier, faster, and more cost-effective way.

In the next lesson, I’m going to show you how to apply the KASH keyword ranking strategy to publish news releases that can get you ranked for hundreds of keywords with every news release that you send out.

Here, for example, you can see that this news release got over 270 keyword phrases ranked in the number one position in Google, and over 300 keyword phrases ranked in the top 10 results.

Using the KASH keyword ranking strategy will help you rank for multiple keywords and multiple spots in Google’s search results quickly and inexpensively, increase your online visibility and drive more traffic, boost your credibility and authority online, and knock out other competitors from top search engine ranking spots.

We’ll go through all of this in detail in Module 3.

Step 4, is syndication.

News agencies, syndicate content from other news sites around the world, and so do thousands of websites and blogs!

They do this because all these sites need lots of content and writing lots of quality content is very time-consuming!

Syndicating content from news sites saves you time researching and writing content yourself, and lets you leverage quality content written by others.

Let me give you an example, so you can see why other websites or blogs may want to syndicate your content, which would then help to increase your rankings and traffic.

One of my clients runs a small business in the trucking industry. One of the methods we used to grow their business online, was to publish a monthly article and newsletter with industry news highlights.

Just so you know, I have no knowledge or expertise in this industry, so in order to create the content, I would look up recent press releases each month that were relevant to the trucking industry, and then create summaries with links pointing back to the original source.

This allowed the client to publish, and promote useful content on their website and newsletter that brought in more visitors, and new subscribers each month. The sites containing the original content also benefitted from this arrangement, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

Now, I spent about 30 minutes each month creating an article with industry news highlights, but this saved the client hundreds of hours of research and content writing every month.

There is an even easier way to syndicate content and that is to simply publish another site’s feed on your website, as shown in this example.

Syndicating content from news sites then is a great way for businesses to provide visitors with fresh new content without having to do all of the work of writing content themselves.

When you publish news releases, your content can show up in areas like Google news, Google alerts, RSS feeds, and so on, and many websites and blogs look to these sources for content that they can syndicate.

Google can pick up, and index your news release from websites and blogs that syndicate content from news sites.

The more sites that syndicate your news release, the more exposure and traffic you will get.

Content syndication of news releases, then, is an effective and sustainable way to grow traffic.

This brings us to step 5 of the News Release Traffic Formula, which is driving more traffic.

Publishing news releases on a regular basis, will boost your search engine rankings, and drive more traffic to your website!

Here, you can see proof that publishing regular news releases as part of your content marketing strategy, can drive more traffic to your website.

This site publishes a regular news release every month as part of the publishing strategy discussed in module 7.

So, let’s recap the key points of the news release traffic formula.

Start by focusing on targeting low-to-medium competition keywords that you can easily rank for. Ranking for lots of keywords that bring in a little bit of traffic each can add up to a lot of consistent traffic.

Next, commit to publishing a news release on a regular basis – sending out just one news release every month is an effective strategy.

Get your news release distributed to as many trusted news and media outlets as you can.

Google will automatically pick up your news release, normally in 24 to 48 hours or less.

Use the KASH method that I’ll show you in the next training module to rank for multiple keywords, and boost your search rankings in areas like Google’s search results, Google news, Google maps, and local featured listings.

Finally, rinse and repeat this process to boost your rankings, and increase your traffic.

This brings us to the end of Module 2.

In the next module, we’ll go through the KASH formula, where you will learn the secret to getting multiple search results listings with every news release that you send out.

Thank you for watching this video, and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to the next lesson: KASH Formula
Return to the video course outline.

Resources

Press Release Distribution Services

EIN Presswire– Use this press release distribution service to reach a global audience through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.
eReleases – is another reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
24-7 Press Release – A reliable and cost-effective press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes.

Downloads

Submit more effective press and news releases using the downloadable resources below (no registration required):

- News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
- News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: News, Music Bensound

News Release Traffic Formula – Overview

Part 1 – An overview of the News Release Traffic Formula video course.

News Release Traffic Formula – Part 1: Overview

Learn how to use news and press releases effectively to promote and grow your business. Part 1 of 8.

This is Part 1 of our free News Release Traffic Formula video course.

This video provides an overview of the course structure. Please watch this video first before watching the other videos in this course.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the News Release Traffic Formula course!

This course will teach you how to use news and press releases to boost your search engine rankings, and drive more customers and leads to your business!

This course was recently updated, and the video’s audio narration has been re-recorded using an AI voice and text-to-speech software as part of an experiment and research into using AI to create digital content.

I hope that you’re ok with this approach and that you will focus on the message, not the messenger. Go through this course, glean the valuable information it contains, and use it to benefit and grow your business.

Before we get started, let me just tell you a little bit about the course creator.

This course was originally created by Martin Aranovitch. Martin has been building businesses online since two thousand and one.

He has presented seminars and workshops and authored many training books, e-courses, and digital products.

Martin also runs a number of websites, including a free content management course website called ContentManagementCourse.com, and a free WordPress tutorials website for beginners and non-coders called WPTrainingManual.com.

The examples that I will be showing you in this course come from clients that have used the methods taught in this training.

The aim of this course is not just to teach you how to write an effective news or press release, it’s also to show you how to use news and press releases to get better search engine rankings in Google, drive more traffic to your website, social media, or event pages, generate new leads and customers for your business, and a whole lot more!

What you will learn in the News Release Traffic Formula course can be used with any press release service. You can even use this information to start your own business, offering news release writing services.

No matter what type of business you own or what kind of event you’re promoting, this course will show you how to get better results faster and more cost-effectively.

The News Release Traffic Formula course takes you step-by-step through this process. In these video lessons, I’ll show you what kind of results you can expect to get and teach you the strategies that will help you get similar results.

Module 1, Introduction, provides an overview of why news releases are your secret weapon to getting higher search engine rankings, more traffic, and new leads for your business.

In Module 2, Success Formula, we decode the News Release Traffic Formula and look at key processes that will improve your results.

In Module 3, KASH Formula, you will learn the secret to getting multiple search listings with every news release that you send out.

Module 4, Content Formula, shows you how to structure your news releases for maximum traffic and results.

Module 5, Approval Formula, shows you how to get your news releases approved quickly and distributed to hundreds of news and media sites that will get you indexed and ranked quickly in search engines.

Module 6, Ranking Formula, shows you how to keep your listings ranking in search engines faster, higher, and longer.

And in Module 7, Publishing Formula, you will learn how to keep driving more traffic to your website and generate new leads for your business, using an effective content publishing strategy.

This course contains video tutorials, practical assignments, case studies, links to useful resources, downloadable templates, and additional information.

So, what kind of results can you expect to get from the News Release Traffic Formula course?

Typically, all news or press releases follow the same process. You write a news release, make sure that it gets approved for submission, and then distribute it to as many sites as you can.

What makes the News Release Traffic Formula different, is that we add a clever twist during the writing stage. This is the secret KASH formula that you will learn about in training module number 3.

This clever little twist ensures that your news and press releases can rank for dozens or even hundreds of keywords.

Once you understand how the KASH formula works, you will then start to see results like what I am about to show you.

So, here are just some of the results we obtained with a client who owns a pizza restaurant.

Google picked up their first news release around 9 hours after submission and indexed over 300 results, many of those ranking in the number 1 position of the Google news section.

We then followed this up with a second news release one month later.

After only 2 news releases, Sergio’s Pizzeria started ranking for multiple keywords, as you can see here.

The restaurant not only ranked well for many search terms, but it also started getting featured in the local maps section.

If you own a local business, this is the spot where you want your listing to show, when customers search online for businesses like yours.

Here are the results of another client who runs an investment property company.

This company got ranked very quickly for multiple keywords on many different results pages, as well as listings on Google Maps, and featured listing sections.

Here, for example, you can see that this company was listed in positions number 1, 2, 3, and 6, as well as in the local map section.

This is just one example of dozens of keywords that this company ranked for with the news release strategy that you will learn in this course.

What makes the News Release Traffic Formula strategy so powerful, is that it only takes a few press releases to rank for hundreds of keywords.

To rank for hundreds of keywords using other methods, you would either have to publish hundreds of articles or bid on hundreds of keywords using a paid method like Google ads.

With the News Release Traffic Formula course, however, you will get consistent results with the simple strategy that I’m about to show you.

First, you will learn how to create effective news releases designed to boost your search rankings.

Next, I will show you how to get your news releases approved, and submitted to hundreds of news sites and media outlets.

After your news release has been sent out, Google will then index it very quickly, normally in 24 to 48 hours or less.

Sometimes, you won’t even have to wait 24 hours for Google to pick up your news releases!

Once you understand the News Release Traffic Formula strategy, all you need to do then is rinse and repeat this strategy every month.

This will help you get ranked for multiple keywords with every news release that you distribute.

Ranking for multiple keywords can drive more traffic to your business. The more keywords you rank for, the more traffic you can get to your website.

In the training modules, I’ll explain the keyword ranking strategy that we use to get multiple search listings.

You will also learn how to grow and multiply your results.

I’ll show you how to rank for multiple keywords in multiple listings, including Google Maps, and Featured listing sections.

You will also learn how to keep ranking faster, higher, and longer in the search engines, to keep driving traffic to your website, and generate new leads for your business.

As I mentioned earlier, this course is not just about teaching you how to write a press release.

It’s about showing you how to get better results online using a cost-effective and sustainable marketing strategy.

It’s also about giving your business a competitive edge.

What you will learn in this course will help you outperform your competitors, rank for keywords that your competition isn’t even targeting, drive your competitors’ rankings lower, create more visibility for your business or brand, build trust and authority with Google faster, and boost your reputation and credibility online.

After completing this course, you will have a strategy to help you drive more traffic to your website and generate new leads for your business, increase search engine visibility, and get front page rankings in Google for low-to-mid competition keywords, in as little as 24 to 48 hours.

This will also improve your listings on Google maps, boost your brand and authority with Google, and help you outrank your competition.

You will also learn how to use news releases as a reputation management tool to help increase positive coverage about your business online, be able to profit from trending topics to capitalize on time-sensitive events, get a better return on investment for your marketing dollars, and use news releases as part of your content marketing strategy to grow your business faster and more cost-effectively online.

This brings us to the end of the course overview.

In the next video, I’ll show you why news releases are your secret weapon to getting higher search engine rankings and more traffic.

Thank you for watching this video, and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to the next lesson: Introduction
Return to the video course outline.

Resources

Press Release Distribution Services

EIN Presswire– Use this press release distribution service to reach a global audience through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.
eReleases – A reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
24-7 Press Release – A reliable and cost-effective press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes.

Downloads

Submit more effective press and news releases using the downloadable resources below (no registration required):

- News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
- News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: News, Music Bensound

News Release Traffic Formula – Introduction

Part 2 – Learn why news releases are your secret weapon to get higher search engine rankings, drive more web traffic, & generate new business leads.

News Release Traffic Formula – Part 2: Introduction

Learn how to use news and press releases effectively to promote and grow your business. Part 2 of 8.

This is Part 2 of our free News Release Traffic Formula video course.

In this lesson, you will learn why news releases are your secret weapon to getting higher search engine rankings, driving more web traffic, and generating new business leads.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello, and welcome to module 1 of the News Release Traffic Formula course!

In this lesson, you will learn why news or press releases are your secret weapon to higher search engine rankings, and more traffic and leads!

Let’s start from the beginning.

Since the dawn of humankind, businesses have been trying to get to the top of Google’s search results!

Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but most businesses would love to rank at the top of Google for keywords that can bring them more traffic, more leads, and more sales!

So, how do you get to the top of Google’s search results, and more importantly, how do you stay there?

One way to get to the top of Google’s search results is to pay. You can use Google Ads, but this can be expensive, and if you stop paying, your ads immediately stop working.

Another way to get to the top of the search results is organic, by writing and publishing content on your site. This method is effective, but it’s also time-consuming.

There is another method that you can use to get immediate results and start building sustainable rankings and traffic, and that’s by using news or press releases to leverage the trust and authority of news and media sites.

As this course will show you, news releases can get you ranked very quickly, and help build trust and authority for your website, which is what you need to keep ranking at the top of the search results.

There are many benefits to using news releases.

News releases can help you build trust and authority with Google.

This can boost your search rankings.

Higher search rankings can drive more web traffic to your business, and more web traffic can help you generate more business leads.

Applying the News Release Traffic Formula strategies to news releases, will help you rank for multiple keywords, rank faster, higher, and longer in the search engines, outrank your competition, and grow your business faster online.

So, what is a news release?

A news release is a written communication directed at members of the news media, for the purpose of announcing something newsworthy.

You can pretty much promote anything using news releases, as long as you can find a newsworthy angle for your message.

Big companies use press or news releases as part of their marketing strategy. Why? Because it works!

There are many ways to promote your business online, but press releases have been around for a very long time, and all big companies are still using it because this marketing method is very effective!

A common misconception is that press releases only work for large companies with major announcements to make.

This is great news if you’re a small business because most of your competition is ignoring the power of using news releases to grow their business. As you will see when we get further into this course, this gives you a secret weapon and a tremendous competitive advantage.

News releases don’t just work for large businesses, they work for all types of businesses! It doesn’t matter what type of business you are in, or how small or local your business is, once you discover the secret power of using
press or news releases, you’ll be able to use it to your own benefit and advantage.

To understand this secret power, let’s start with a simple example.

I just mentioned that you can promote anything using news releases, as long as you can find a newsworthy angle.

An obvious example is the launch of a new product or service.

When you combine news releases with other content marketing strategies, you can start to own multiple listings in the search results.

Here, for example, you can see that Google not only picked up the news release used to promote this book launch in less than 3 hours, but entries related to this book took up positions number 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 in the search listings.

That’s 6 out of 10 spots on Page 1, sending traffic to the same product.

When you combine this with the KASH formula that you will learn in Module 3, you will be able to do the same thing across many different keywords.

This will not only help drive more traffic to your business, it will also keep your competitors from showing up in these spots.

Another thing that makes news releases so powerful, is that you can use them to promote all kinds of businesses and send traffic anywhere.

You can send traffic to your website, blog, e-commerce store or physical store, and your social media pages. You can also promote all kinds of events, like workshops, conferences, trade shows, fundraisers, and so on.

So, news releases can be used to build sustainable traffic quickly, and cost-effectively, to promote just about anything you want!

Now, why are news releases so effective?

Well, imagine going to a news site, and seeing the same old news, day after day after day.

Pretty soon people would get bored of seeing the same thing, stop visiting the site, and there would be no return visitors.

So, the web needs endless fresh new content, and so does Google!

Now, why is this important?

It’s important because content drives advertising!

Companies like Google, Facebook, and other free platforms need fresh new content to keep users coming back to advertisers!

Content brings traffic to Google, and this drives the advertising that keeps Google in business!

Millions of users, thousands of advertisers, and content syndication sites around the world depend on Google to keep providing quality content in its search listings.

If people stop using Google, Google will lose billions of dollars, and their business model would probably collapse.

So, to satisfy millions of users and advertisers, Google needs fresh new quality content.

But there is a lot of rubbish, spam, self-promotion, hype, and false information online. So, how does Google filter out all this rubbish to ensure that only newsworthy, engaging, accurate, and relevant content gets through to their search results?

This is where trust and authority comes in. Google depends on trusted and authoritative sites, like established news and media outlets for quality content. Sites that Google trusts, get rewarded with faster indexing and higher search engine rankings.

So, how does all this help your business?

It’s really very simple!

Give Google quality content via sites that Google trusts and Google will reward your business with faster content indexing, and higher search engine rankings.

Getting your content to show up faster and higher in Google’s search results, translates into more traffic!

This is one reason why news releases are so effective! Google already knows and trusts many established news sites and media outlets. These sites also syndicate newsworthy content from media distribution agencies that employ people to filter out rubbish content.

So, when established news sites and media outlets syndicate your news release, Google immediately picks it up.

This is why news releases can appear in Google’s search results within hours of being published, and why press releases also rank well in search listings.

As you can see, news releases can be a very powerful marketing tool. What makes news releases your secret weapon then, is that most businesses have no idea how to use news releases effectively.

By the time you complete this course, you will know how to do this.

This brings us to the end of module 1.

In the next module, we will begin to decode the News Release Traffic Formula and look at the processes that can help you get better results online.

Thank you for watching this video, and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to the next lesson: Success Formula
Return to the video course outline.

Resources

Press Release Distribution Services

EIN Presswire– Use this press release distribution service to reach a global audience through a vast network of media contacts and partnerships.
eReleases – A reliable press release distribution service with a vast network of media contacts that can help you reach a large audience, build brand awareness, and improve your online reputation.
24-7 Press Release – A reliable and cost-effective press release distribution service that offers affordable pricing options for businesses of all sizes.

Downloads

Submit more effective press and news releases using the downloadable resources below (no registration required):

- News Release Guidelines – Refer to these guidelines when creating news releases.
- News Release Topics – Use this cheat sheet of 30+ topics for news release ideas.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: News, Music Bensound

How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Course Overview

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 1.

How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Part 1: Course Overview

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 1 of 12.

This is Part 1 of our free How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business video course.

This lesson provides an overview of the course modules, what a content strategy is, why your business needs one, and the benefits of having a clear content strategy.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to this video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.

My name is Martin Aranovitch. I’m a professional content writer and the blog editor of a global software company.

I also run a number of business training websites including ContentManagementCourse.com, where you can learn how to manage your content more effectively for free.

So, why a course on content strategy?

Well, in case you haven’t noticed,

Content is everywhere!

All businesses and websites need content, all content needs management, and all management needs a strategy.

So, whether you are a business or website owner, or someone who creates, promotes, or manages content for a business, or you work in any kind of business that wants to grow using content.

This course will show you how to create a content strategy that will help you produce more targeted content, drive more traffic to your website, generate more leads, and manage your content more effectively!

The aim of this course is to help you develop a sustainable way to grow your business by targeting the right audience, using the right content, at the right time, to get whatever outcome you set as a goal.

This could be buying your products, subscribing to your newsletter, or signing up for a membership.

I designed the lessons in this course to help you create a practical content strategy quickly and easily.

So, if the purpose of having a content strategy is to help your business grow using content, then the first thing we need to do is understand who our target audience is, and set goals for what we want to achieve with our content.

Once we have set our content goals, the next step is to decide which content types and formats will work best to deliver results that will help us achieve our goals.

After we have a clear picture of the content types and formats that our business will create, the next step is to do a content audit of our business.

This will help us assess if any existing content we have fits our strategy and if not, what do we do with it?

The content audit will also help us identify if there are any missing gaps that we need to fill and any content opportunities that we can take advantage of.

Once we have the full picture of the content we will need to create and the resources we have available to work with, the next step is to create a content plan.

We’ll then break down our overall content plan into three key areas and develop a content production plan, a content promotion plan, and a content management plan.

These plans will then be used to execute our content strategy, to put systems in place to measure how our content is performing and to assess and improve the results of our content strategy to make sure that we are meeting our business goals and objectives.

Finally, we will look at troubleshooting any content-related problems to make sure that our content strategy is delivering our expected results to our business.

So that’s the logic behind this video course.

Now, let’s take a brief look at what the lessons in this video series will actually cover:

So this is Module 1, and after this overview, we’ll look at what a content strategy is, why your business needs one, and the benefits of having a clear content strategy.

In module 2, we look at what you need to know and do before you can create an effective content strategy for your business.

We’ll look at the challenges of managing content effectively and the things that need to be put in place first.

In module 3, we’ll define our target audience.

And we’ll look at ways and methods to identify the demographics, interests, and pain points of our target audience, create user personas for our business, and understand the buyer’s journey and what type of content will be most relevant and valuable to our audience at each different stage.

In module 4, we’ll use our target audience information to set content goals.

First, we’ll define our business goals, then we’ll align our content strategy with our business goals, and determine what we want to achieve with our content. For example, drive traffic, generate leads, build brand awareness, etc.

We’ll then set SMART goals for our content that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

In module 5, we’ll decide which content types and formats will best help us reach our goals.

We’ll choose the types of content that will be most effective for achieving our goals and resonating with our audience, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, ebooks, podcasts, etc., and consider the format and delivery of our content. For example, digital content delivered online, in-person, in print format, and so on.

In module 6, we’ll look at effective ways and tools to do a content audit.

This will help us to identify the types of content that our business is currently producing, assess the performance of our existing content, and identify gaps in our current content offerings.

In module 7, we’ll create a content plan.

We’ll cover topics like planning out the frequency, topics, and distribution of our content, coordinating with other teams and stakeholders to ensure a consistent and cohesive content plan, deciding which content management tools to use, establishing a content publishing schedule, and assigning tasks and deadlines to team members.

In module 8, we’ll develop a content production plan.

We’ll look at using a variety of sources and methods to generate content ideas such as using keyword research, customer feedback, industry events, etc., developing a workflow process, and how to follow best practices for creating high-quality and engaging content.

In module 9, we’ll develop a content promotion plan.

We’ll look at ways to identify the channels to distribute our content and create a content distribution plan. Develop a plan to promote our content using a variety of tactics to get the content in front of our target audience. For example, social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and so on, and using analytics and metrics to track the performance of our content, to measure the effectiveness of our content distribution efforts, and determine what is working and what needs improvement.

In module 10, we’ll develop a content management plan.

Here we tie in our goals, audience information, content types, and resources with workflow processes, tools & technologies, content performance and measurement, content documentation, security & storage.

In module 11, we look at troubleshooting and fixing issues with our content, our content strategy, and our content plan.

And in module 12 we’ll bring everything we’ve discussed in the course to a conclusion and discuss the next steps, plus we’ll look at some useful tips and resources.

So, as you can see this is a fairly comprehensive video course.

Now, here’s what I suggest you do to get the most out of this course.

First, go through the entire course and make sure to watch all of the modules and video lessons.

After watching the videos, refer to the online tutorials on ContentManagementCourse.com for more details.

I have spent over a year writing these lessons and tutorials and they are very comprehensive.

I also recommend subscribing to the free email course on the site for additional information related to this course, plus tips, links to useful resources, and updates.

So, that’s an overview of what this course is all about.

Now, let’s just get straight into it.

So, what is a content strategy?

A content strategy is a plan for creating, publishing, and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to achieve specific business goals and objectives.

A content strategy helps you define who your target audience is and understand their needs and interests, create the right content to address their needs and speak to their interests, determine the most effective channels for distributing your content — so this could be your website, social media, email marketing, or even offline channels like events or print materials, and track and measure performance so you can continue to improve your results.

So, basically, a content strategy provides an organized and sustainable plan to help your business reach its goals using content.

Now, there are many benefits to having a clear content strategy.

Let’s go through some of these.

So one of the main benefits is consistency. Ensuring consistency in the quality, tone, and style of your content helps to build trust with your audience and establish your brand as a reliable source of information.

Another benefit is improved audience targeting. A content strategy helps to identify your target audience and create content that’s tailored specifically to their needs and interests.

Also, increased brand awareness: Publishing content of a consistently high quality helps to increase awareness of your brand and establish your business as a thought leader in your industry.

Another benefit is greater customer engagement. By providing valuable and relevant content, you can better engage and build relationships with your customers, which can lead to increased loyalty and greater customer retention.

Also, higher search engine rankings. Optimizing your website’s content for search engines leads to higher search rankings and increased organic traffic.

Another benefit is enhanced reputation management. By proactively managing your brand’s reputation, you ensure that all content will align with your brand values and messaging.

Also, increased sales and conversions. By providing valuable and relevant content, you can drive more traffic to your website and convert more visitors into customers.

A content strategy also helps to improve internal communication. Aligning the goals and messaging of different teams within your organization helps to improve internal communication and collaboration.

Also streamlined content creation. A content strategy helps to streamline the content creation process by defining the types of content that will be created, who will create it, and how it will be distributed.

And finally, reduced costs. A content strategy helps you avoid wasting time and resources creating ineffective or redundant content and lets you focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.

So, those are some of the key benefits of developing an effective content strategy.

Without a content strategy, your business will just drift aimlessly like a rudderless ship in a vast ocean of digital information.

A content strategy provides the map and the compass that helps you navigate this sea of information and reach your destination.

So, my aim for this course is not just to give you a map and a compass, but a complete GPS content navigation system for your business.

In the next video training module, we’ll look at what you need to know and do before you can create an effective content strategy for your business.

So, thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to Lesson 2.
Return to the video course outline.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

- Free Content Management Course – Email Lessons
- Content Strategy

***

Image: Robin Higgins. Music Bensound.

Free Video Course: How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free 12-part video course.

How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Free Video Course

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free 12-part video course.

Welcome to our free video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.

In this course, you will learn the key principles and best practices for creating a successful content strategy that drives results for your business.

Whether you are a small business owner, marketer, or content creator, this course will provide you with the tools and knowledge you need to create and execute a content strategy that is tailored to your business goals.

Content is a critical component of any successful marketing strategy, and an effective content strategy is essential for building brand awareness, engaging your audience, and driving business results.

In this course, you will learn how to develop a content strategy that aligns with your business goals, resonates with your target audience, and drives results.

From defining your target audience and identifying your business goals to creating a content calendar and measuring your success, this course will walk you through the entire process of creating an effective content strategy. You will also learn about the different types of content, how to create and promote content, and how to measure your success.

So, whether you are just starting out or looking to improve your existing content strategy, this course is for you. By the end of this course, you will have the skills and knowledge you need to create an effective content strategy that drives results for your business.

This free and comprehensive video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business consists of 12 video lessons with links to detailed step-by-step online tutorials for all topics covered in the lessons.

***

Video Course Description

Part 1 provides an overview of the course modules, what a content strategy is, why your business needs one, and the benefits of having a clear content strategy.

Part 2 covers what you need to know and do before you can create an effective content strategy for your business. Learn about the challenges of managing content effectively and what you need to put in place first.

Part 3 looks at ways and methods to identify the demographics, interests, and pain points of your target audience, create user personas for your business, and understand the buyer’s journey and what types of content will be most relevant and valuable to your audience at each different stage of their journey.

Part 4 covers how to use your target audience information to set SMART goals for your content, plus defining your business goals, aligning your content strategy with your business goals, and determining what you want to achieve with your content (e.g. drive traffic, generate leads, build brand awareness, etc.)

Part 5 covers deciding which content types and formats will best help your business reach its goals.

Part 6 discusses effective ways and tools to do a content audit to identify the types of content your business is currently producing, assess the performance of your existing content, and identify gaps and opportunities in your current content offerings.

Part 7 covers creating a content plan – what a content plan is, why your business needs one, and how to create a content plan for your business.

Part 8 covers creating a content production plan specifying the strategy and the schedule your business will use to create and publish its content.

Part 9 covers creating a content promotion plan specifying the strategy and tactics your business will use to distribute and promote its content.

Part 10 covers creating a content management plan specifying the processes your business will use to manage and maintain its content.

Part 11 covers troubleshooting and fixing issues with your content, your content strategy, and your content plan.

Part 12 provides a recap of the course, discusses the next steps for implementing a content strategy for your business, and provides useful tips and resources.

Click the links in the gallery below the video to visit lesson pages with the video and a full transcript with screenshots…

How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Course Overview

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 1.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Challenges

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 2.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Target Audience

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 3.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Goals

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 4.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Types

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 5.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Audit

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 6.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Plan

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 7.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Production Plan

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 8.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Promotion Plan

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 9.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Management Plan

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 10.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Troubleshooting

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 11.

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Next Steps

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 12.

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Or access the full video playlist below:

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: @contentmanagementcourse

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How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Next Steps

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 12.

How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Part 12: Next Steps

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 12 of 12.

This is Part 12 of our free How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business video course.

This lesson provides a recap of the course, discusses the next steps for implementing a content strategy for your business, and provides useful tips and resources.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.

This is module 12 and it’s the last lesson in our video series.

In our previous lessons, we covered all the steps we need to develop a strategy that will allow us to create, promote, and manage our content effectively.

We also looked at how to troubleshoot any problems and issues that can affect our content’s performance and results.

In this final lesson, I want to recap what we have covered in this course, talk about the next steps to take after creating a content strategy and provide links to additional information and useful resources.

If your business has done everything that we’ve talked about in this course and put all of the right foundations in place, developed a content strategy, created a sound content plan, and implemented plans to create, promote, and manage your content effectively, then you can expect your content to perform well and deliver your business great results.

And here is why your business can expect this.

Your business is thinking about content strategically. Strategic thinking lets you adapt and respond quickly to changes. You don’t change your destination, you just change the methods and tactics you are using to get there.

You can also expect great results if your business has set clear goals and objectives and you understand your audience’s needs, interests, and pain points, then create the right content, delivered at the right stage of their buyer journey, in the right type and format, and distribute it using the right channels, so that your content production and promotion are fully aligned with your business goals and your audience’s needs.

And you can also expect great results if your business uses documented systems to create, promote, manage, track, measure, and improve its content, and has a methodical approach to troubleshoot and fix issues.

This is what an effective content strategy aims to do. It lets you examine every area of your business that involves using content and make sure that everyone involved is aligned with the right goals and objectives and is working toward achieving these.

Now, I admit that this is not easy to do, especially if your business is already going full steam ahead and hasn’t put in place the systems and processes that we’ve discussed in this course…

…but this is the map that will get your business there and deliver you success using content.

So, now that you know what the purpose of having a content strategy is and how to create one, where do you go from here?

Well, if you plan to start a business or a website and haven’t started yet, then the first thing you need to do is put all the right business foundations in place, develop a content strategy, and create and implement plans to produce, promote, and manage your content effectively, as shown in this course.

And if your business is already going full steam ahead and it hasn’t put in place the systems and processes that we’ve discussed in this course, then that’s what you need to do next.

However poorly you do it, any attempt to develop and implement a content strategy with plans, systems, and documented processes is better than none at all.

The worst thing that can happen if you attempt to develop a content strategy for a business that hasn’t got one is that it will show you why your business actually needs one.

So, once you have this awareness, you can begin to do something about it.

So, regardless of whether you are planning to start a business or trying to manage content for an existing business, here are the practical steps that I recommend taking next…

First, I suggest that you review all of the video course lessons and any accompanying notes that are included with this course.

Next, go through all of the detailed tutorials that expand on these lessons. They are all available for free on ContentManagementCourse.com.

If you haven’t already, I also suggest that you register for the content management course email lessons on the site. It’s also 100% free and it will take you step-by-step through everything you need to know to manage content for your business or website effectively.

I have created another comprehensive email course on how to generate new content ideas for your website, blog, or newsletter. It’s also completely free to subscribe and will help you create an endless content pipeline for your business.

If your business uses WordPress as its content management system, I have created detailed step-by-step tutorials on how to use WordPress that you can access for free at WPTrainingManual.com

And I also run a site that provides thousands of video lessons that will help you develop digital business skills and master using WordPress. This site is not free but there’s a very low subscription price, so it’s extremely affordable.

So, I hope that you have found this video course instructive, useful, and practical.

I’m Martin Aranovitch, thank you for watching, and make sure to review the accompanying notes for ways to stay connected and updated.

Also, make sure to visit ContentManagementCourse.com for additional information and comprehensive tutorials that expand on everything we’ve covered in his course.

This is the end of the video course.
Return to the video course outline.

***

Image: Robin Higgins. Music Bensound.

How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Content Troubleshooting

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 11.

How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Part 11: Content Troubleshooting

Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free video course. Part 11 of 12.

This is Part 11 of our free How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business video course.

This lesson covers troubleshooting and fixing issues with your content, your content strategy, and your content plan.

***

Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:

Video Transcript

Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.

This is module 11.

In the previous lessons, we looked at creating a content strategy and implementing plans for creating, promoting, and managing your content.

Now, what we want to do is look at what we can do if our content strategy isn’t working as expected, and how we can troubleshoot and find ways to fix any issues related to our content.

So, in this lesson, I’m going to introduce you to a systematic approach for troubleshooting content-related issues.

We’ll look at the general principles of this approach, and then look at how to troubleshoot issues with your content strategy and your content plan.

Everything covered in this lesson is documented in detail in a Content Troubleshooting Guide that you can refer to by visiting the link on your screen.

So here is the simple model we’ll use.

Basically, it’s a drill-down approach. So, when you run into a problem with your content, we start at the top to see if we can address, correct and eliminate the problem at that level, and if we can’t fix it at that level, we then drill down to the next level below it and start diagnosing the issue at that level, and so on.

Now, before we get into this, let me show you what I believe is the most important slide of this entire course.

Ok, this chart looks very simple, but if you really get it and understand what it means, you will realize that it is the key to fixing not only problems related to your content but also most of the problems in your business too!

And I’m not exaggerating here about the importance of understanding this chart. I showed this same chart to someone who was struggling to grow their business many years ago and it completely transformed their business.

Every business has three levels of decision-making and you can’t get away from this. So, even if you are just a one-person business, your business still has these three levels. You’ll just have to wear three different hats when making business decisions.

So let’s go through these.

The executive level is where strategic decisions get made, like defining your business vision and setting targets, goals and objectives.

The managerial level is where decisions get made that affect how your business will achieve the strategic goals and targets set by the executive level.

Now many people think that the managerial level is about managing people, but that’s the wrong approach.

Managerial-level decisions should be about implementing and managing the systems that the business will use to achieve its strategic goals and objectives.

So it’s about managing systems, not people.

And the tactical or technical level is where people do the actual work that will help the business realize its vision and achieve its goals and objectives.

At this level, people should be trained to follow the systems put in place by the management level, to hit the targets and goals set by the strategic level.

So, ideally, the way this works is that the executive level sets a strategic target, like for example “to increase annual sales by 20%”.

The managerial level then figures out which systems the business needs to put in place to achieve that 20% increase in sales.

The managerial level then also implements those systems and makes sure that the people hired to fill the tactical or technical roles have the skills and the training to operate those systems because when they do that, it will help to achieve the vision and goals set at the executive level.

Now, let me show you why understanding this is so important to fixing problems in your business like content-related issues.

So, let’s say that you have a small business and you want to grow your business with content marketing.

So you put together a content team with an editor, a couple of content writers, an illustrator with video-making skills, and a marketer who can do email marketing and social media marketing.

So everything is going well. Your team is publishing regular articles and blog posts, posting social media updates, uploading videos online, sending out newsletters, and so on.

A few months down the track, your manager informs you that the content is not really performing too well in terms of generating new leads, increasing engagement, and improving conversions.

And your content team also tells you that they’ve run out of content ideas and that the content pipeline has run dry.

So now we have a couple of serious problems on our hands.

We’re running out of new content ideas and our existing content isn’t delivering us the results that we need.

This is all costing us time and money so we need to find a solution.

At this point, many businesses kind of get stuck and start looking at short-term solutions.

So you can start running regular brainstorming sessions with your team each week to try and keep your content pipeline going, but if your content is not delivering the results you need, then just creating content for content’s sake isn’t going to fix anything.

It’s also kind of hard to know what to do to improve things like increase traffic from organic search or get more engagement on social media or convert traffic into sales if all you have is lots of data from analytics reports, but no systems or processes in place for turning this data into specific actions.

So what do you do to fix these problems?

Let’s go back to our chart with the three levels of decision-making and let’s map it on top of this scenario, and let’s see if it can help us troubleshoot and fix these problems.

First, if you really understand what this chart is about, you will see straight away why asking your writers to brainstorm new content ideas to create a content pipeline is not going to fix your issues and improve your results.

Why? Because you’re asking people at the tactical level to fix issues that should have been addressed at the strategic and managerial levels.

So you can come up with new content ideas all day long but if the content isn’t helping your business grow, then you’re just wasting valuable time, money, and resources.

But you can’t brainstorm new content ideas unless you first have a clear idea of what you are aiming to achieve, of who your target audience is, what kind of content you should be focusing on, and so on.

All of these questions need to be answered by the managerial level in the form of a content plan spelling out in nitty-gritty detail what kind of content needs to be written, how it should be delivered, and so on.

But the managerial level can’t create an effective content plan if the executive level hasn’t defined a content strategy with realistic and achievable goals and objectives, allocated sufficient budget for resources, tools, and training, and so on.

So the point here is, if your content pipeline runs dry, it’s not the responsibility of people at the tactical level to fix the issue. The responsibility is at the managerial level.

A business owner has the big picture of their business but everyone below that level doesn’t.

So, your editor and your content writers, they don’t have the big picture, which means that putting them in charge of your content strategy is only going to create more problems.

And if your content isn’t performing well, the problem may not even be at the managerial level. It could be at the strategic level, which is the responsibility of the business owners to fix.

This is where many businesses say “well… I’m too busy trying to run other parts of the business to fix content issues and come up with new content ideas – that’s why we hired all these content experts!”

Well, how can you blame the body for following a head that doesn’t know where it’s going?

So this is what this chart is telling you. That the executive level has to know where it’s going and the managerial level has to put the systems in place to help the business get there before your business can start putting people into tactical or technical roles and giving them responsibilities for getting the work done.

Without putting those foundations in place, your business will just keep running into problems.

This is why outsourcing areas of your business like content production, content promotion, or even content management to a digital agency or freelance writers without first putting systems in place to manage the outsourcing process can often lead to poor results.

The chart tells you that an external digital agency is not part of the executive level of the business and so they shouldn’t make executive-level decisions, and that freelance writers won’t build managerial-level systems that will help the business realize its vision, so a lot of the time, what businesses think is outsourcing is really just abdicating their responsibility for making executive and managerial-level decisions.

Once you know which level is responsible for doing what in the business, you can start troubleshooting and fixing issues with your content.

Until this happens, any short-term fixes are really just a game of “passing the buck” where nothing is really going to get fixed in the long run.

So, now that we understand this, let’s apply our content troubleshooting approach and see how we would solve the issues of getting our content pipeline running again and improve our content’s performance.

So we’ll use our simple content troubleshooting model and map our chart of decision-making levels on top of it.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a top-down approach, so we’ll start at the top by making sure that our basic business principles are in place.

This means looking at things like:

Has the business clearly defined its vision, mission, and core values?
Has the business set clear, realistic, and achievable goals and objectives?
Does it have a business plan, marketing strategy, and marketing plan that flow logically from its vision, mission, and core values?
Is there an allocated budget for resources and is it realistic?
Are the business and marketing plans aligned with the goals and objectives of the business?
And more importantly, is all of this documented and accessible to everyone in the business?

If all of the above are not in place, then the business is going to experience problems at the levels of implementation.

Let’s assume, then, that everything checks out at the foundational level, so the next level to look at is your content strategy.

As you can see from this chart, creating a content strategy is an executive-level responsibility.

The managerial and tactical levels can be involved and contribute to the content strategy, but the responsibility for setting the overall strategy for the long-term vision and direction of the content ultimately lies with the executive level.

So let’s look at some of the key areas to assess and review when troubleshooting our content strategy.

I’ve listed here a number of areas that can lead to content issues when certain things aren’t addressed at the content strategy level.

You will notice that many of these areas will also show up at the managerial level, i.e. the content plan, but for different reasons.

For example, if poor search engine optimization is identified as an issue that’s affecting your content performance, the strategic level is responsible for outlining in its content strategy that all content must follow SEO best practices.

The managerial level then has to figure out what these SEO best practices are and put together the SEO systems, guides, and guidelines that the content team should follow to make sure that SEO best practices are being implemented.

Another example is the allocation of resources.

Your content strategy might allocate a budget for content marketing based on their total budget for all business areas, but when the managerial level tries to implement their plans, they might find that their allocated budget is insufficient to cover all of the costs needed to meet the content strategy’s specifications, like hiring or training new content team members, investing in tools and technologies, and covering production costs like creating high-quality videos, and so on.

In this case, either the executive level needs to find and allocated additional funds or re-evaluate their specifications.

So as before, let’s assume that our content strategy has all of these areas covered, but that our content team still has no content pipeline and that our content isn’t performing as well as expected.

So, we have to go down one more level and see if we can try to locate the issues at the level of the content plan.

Here are some of the key areas to look at when troubleshooting your content plan.

What you will find with most of the areas listed here, is that the real time-consuming work of building systems, processes, and procedures to make the content strategy work is the managerial level’s responsibility. The executive and tactical levels can be involved in helping to document the content plan, but it’s not the responsibility of the content team to create it.

So, with areas like no content measuring or evaluating, a content strategy will tell us which metrics are important to track, but setting up the systems, processes, and tools to measure and report on those metrics is a managerial-level responsibility.

A content manager might choose to create and run those systems themselves, or assign it to someone else in the team, or even to outsource the task to experts, but it is their responsibility to create a content plan first that addresses all of these areas.

So the point here is that these are all managerial-level decisions and responsibilities. And if any of these areas is deficient, then your content team will struggle to have an ongoing pipeline and your business will struggle to improve its content performance.

Your business will keep running into problems if managers are trying to manage people instead of putting systems and processes in place for tactical and technical-level roles to follow.

So if the strategic level has clearly outlined the metrics that are important to track in its content strategy and the managerial level has implemented an effective content tracking system as per their content plan, and the same thing has been done for all of the other important areas like understanding the target market, defining content types, setting guidelines for your content, branding, SEO, etc. then you should be able to identify and pinpoint exactly what’s causing the issue with a content pipeline or with your content performance.

You would have all the systems in place for creating, promoting, and managing your content effectively and your content team would know what content topics and themes they should be focusing on.

This is where and when they can help brainstorm new content ideas to keep the content pipeline running.

If everything at the content plan level is fine and there are still issues, then the next step is to drill further down into your content plan and look at the specific components like your content production plan, your content promotion plan, and your content management plan.

Once again, creating these is the responsibility of the managerial level.

So, for example, if having no content pipeline is still an issue, you would look at your content production plan and see if there are any issues or problems like poorly-defined production workflow processes, or a lack of documented procedures, or are people just not following the documented processes and guidelines, or is there no content calendar, or are there unclear roles and responsibilities, or lack of skills or training in using the right tools, and so on.

Now, if your content performance hasn’t improved after reviewing your content plan, then you would look at your content promotion plan and see if there are any issues or problems like whether your team is following the marketing plan, if they have access to analytics data and reports and can understand the metrics, if they are using the right distribution channels and the right tools to track content performance, improve SEO, and so on.

Similarly, if after drilling all the way down there are still issues, then you would go through your content management plan and review whether any areas here are causing issues.

For example, issues at this level may be related to poor organization, poor time management, work overload, blurry roles and responsibilities, or a lack of documentation, or even issues with content tracking and content protection, poor content linking practices, failures to backup content, a lack of knowledge of using management tools, and so on.

So, in summary,

Understanding the three levels of decision-making in a business is very important, as it helps to work out who is responsible for doing what in your business.

Use a top-down approach to diagnose and troubleshoot issues with your content. This is an effective approach because as you address and eliminate issues at the higher levels, your business will experience fewer problems and get better results as time goes on.

Also, keep in mind that most content-related issues are caused by the lack of a well-defined content strategy, so the more you focus on getting your content strategy clear from the outset, the fewer problems you will experience later in other areas of your business.

And finally, keep in mind that your content strategy is really an outline of the work that needs to be done but most of the time-consuming work of implementing the strategy is done at the managerial level, such as documenting system, processes, and guidelines, making sure that the content team is trained to follow systems, guidelines, and procedures, and troubleshooting and fixing issues with your content systems.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, you can refer to the comprehensive Content Troubleshooting Guide and tutorials on ContentManagementCourse.com if you need help with any of these areas.

So, that’s all for this video.

In the next and final lesson, we’ll wrap up this course with a recap and useful tips and suggestions for taking the next steps.

Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Go to Lesson 12.
Return to the video course outline.

Tutorials

See the following lessons and tutorials for more information about the topics covered in this video lesson:

***

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