August 2010 Guest Recap & Props!

Over the past several months, Matt’s Musings has welcomed a number of contributors who have offered their unique perspectives on a number of subjects including writing, marketing, SEO and business. I like to think that these contributors have added value to my personal blog and am grateful for what I have been able to publish thus far.

Just in case you missed who contributed what during August 2010, I am offering to you the following recap of the month’s guest posts:

Using YouTube Videos To Pick The Right Domain Names — Duncan Heath, in the first of two articles he contributed in August, offers how YouTube can help you find a domain name that will instantly attract visitors. Capitalize on the video phenom to get your new website off to a fantastic start.

Being Creative Under Pressure — Creativity and pressure don’t work so well together, right? Well, pressure is a fact of life and Sonia Mansfield shows us how to keep the creative juices flowing no matter how crazy things can get.

Let Your Negotiating Skills Turn Your Into A Money Maker Outsourcer – Lior Levin explains how letting others handle some of your tasks can be beneficial, even a source of revenue. You can’t and shouldn’t do everything yourself.

Top 7 Timesaving Tips For Entrepreneurs — Entrepreneurs have a lot on their plate which means that making good use of their time is essential to their success. James Adams shares seven tips we can all use to make good use of our time.

Is Blogging Good For The Mind, Body, And Soul? — Lior Levin returns, this time sharing his personal journey into blogging. Read how an introvert loses his solitude to become a blogging extrovert.

3 Things Not To Say To An SEO Client — Duncan Heath returns and gives us sound advice on how to deal with clients for all things SEO. Lose the gobbledygook and speak a language your customers can understand. They’ll be grateful and you’ll come across professional.

How Any Business Can Benefit From SEO — Kara Taylor explains how beneficial SEO is to large and small companies alike. Certainly, small businesses have financial constraints, but they need to optimize their sites in order to be competitive.

If you’re interested in contributing an original article to Matt’s Musings, please click on the contact link to find my email address and send your inquiry my way. Please check the site’s archives [site:matthewkeegan.com] to make sure that you aren’t repeating something published here over the past six months. All contributions are passed through Copyscape before publishing; I reserve the right to edit as needed.

Writing Onsite Content with Branding in Mind

By Steve Lazuka

Writing effective content for a business website can make all the difference between a vibrant, successful site and one that languishes unread and at worst, may even damage your business’s reputation.

But, perhaps you are happy with your website’s content. If this is the case, it is still worth taking a step back and looking at your site with fresh eyes. Perhaps it’s time for a change, or perhaps it’s time to move things up another gear.

While effective content is central to a website, the ability to use it to further your own brand is where an online site can really come in to its own. There are a number of ways of doing this:

SEO Content

Maximizing the use of search engine optimization can really make a site, but even more significantly, it can help enhance your brand so that customers identify easier with what you have to offer. Think about your brand and the words that best describe your product or service. Perhaps you have a brand tag line. If so, make sure you incorporate it into the site so search engines can easily locate it when anyone uses it as search criteria.

Emotional Buy-In

A brand is a great way of getting customers to “buy-in” to what you offer. A website can really come into its own here as you can (and should) tailor its content to enhance the brand. So if you were in the business of selling organic, locally sourced food, it would make sense to extend this brand.

You could have a section of the site with links to farmers’ markets or recipes for healthy meals. You could write articles yourself, or even better, use a business blog writing service to create content that compliments your brand. This helps create a self-contained “world,” which should encourage customers to explore what you have to offer.

Inspire Loyalty

Always working with your branding in mind is a great way to increase customer loyalty. Filling your site with articles, blogs and links that help reinforce the message of your brand will create a sense of belonging for your customers.

Remember that many successful sites aren’t just online stores, but foster a sense of community by discussing ideas, issues and news relating to your product. If you sell CDs, then why not include reviews so customers think of your site not just as a place to spend money, but a resource from which they can learn.

Call to Action

Don’t forget the call to action. What do you want the reader to do after they read what you have to say? Do you want them to fill out a form, call you, request more information? Be sure you use proper calls to action that can help your bottom line, while also considering all the other factors we discussed.

Writing onsite content with branding in mind will help create an overall sense of identity and a place where customers will be happy to return time and time again.

About the Author

Steve Lazuka is owner and operator of Interact Media, a website content company based in Ohio that services social media, content development, a business blog writing service and more. He’s also an avid tweeter (@SteveLazuka), and a guest blogs regularly.