LJ Sedgwick, Author at LJ Sedgwick

June 28, 2017 by LJ Sedgwick 1 Comment

4 Ways CoSchedule Will Supercharge Your Blog

You’ve already read the statistics around content marketing. Blogging, despite protestations to the contrary, is far from dying out. But you still need to build an audience so that your customers can find your blog. You need something to manage your blog and your social media. Let me suggest CoSchedule.

So what IS CoSchedule? It’s a blog management, social media management, and content marketing tool rolled into one. Instead of keeping a list of your forthcoming blog posts on a paper calendar, or trying to manage all of your scheduled tweets in dedicated social media software, you can do everything in the same place.

Let’s take a look at the CoSchedule overview video.

CoSchedule from Garrett Moon on Vimeo.

Interested? Let’s look at the 4 ways I use CoSchedule and how it can supercharge your blog.

1) CoSchedule has a built-in marketing calendar

Are you the type of entrepreneur who posts blog content when you remember to? I’m not going to wag my finger at you because we all do it at first (unless, like me, you’re a blogger for hire). Creating an editorial calendar is a really easy way to build a blogging habit. You know what you’re going to write, and when you’re going to write it. No more staring at a blank screen, stuck for a topic!

With CoSchedule, you have a marketing calendar built right in. You can see what blog posts you have coming up, and if you’re working in a team, you can see which posts they’re assigned to.

I can also write and publish content right inside CoSchedule, without needing to log into WordPress. Here’s one of my draft posts for my fiction blog.

Fed up of trying to manage your blog and social media using a range of solutions? Find out 4 ways CoSchedule can supercharge your blog from one app. — Such clean design!

I’ve got the world-beating Headline Analyzer enabled, telling me the title has a score of 80. I’ve assigned an author (i.e. me) and given it a coloured label according to the type of content. I’ve also set up ‘to do’ tasks for the post.

This saves me a whole heap of time. I can write my posts and set them up right inside the calendar. That’s certainly useful if you don’t want a million sets of login details. It’s also handy if you don’t want too many team members having direct access to the website. You can set up your users through CoSchedule and set posts to ‘pending review’ before they go live.

2) Schedule social media content in advance using the calendar

Other scheduling solutions do exist. But the beauty of CoSchedule is you can manage your blog and social media scheduling from the same calendar.

Found an article that’s perfect for your audience? Drop it into CoSchedule and push it out to your social platforms of choice.

This is the scheduling for my fiction blog over at icysedgwick.com for two weeks last month.

I can see at a glance that I share most content to Twitter. I really need to up my Pinterest and Facebook Page game. But most of what you see there is not my content. 80% of it is from other people.

But 20% of it is mine. So have you got a blog post of your own that you want to promote? Do the same as you would if it was someone else’s content!

You can drag and drop content if you want to rearrange when blog posts or social media posts go live.

Or label your updates using colours for easy filtering. There’s much more you can do for teams and projects but as a solopreneur, the colour labels are still a godsend. I can easily see how much of a particular type of content I’m sharing.

There are also functions for social sharing plans, and templates help you to manage social media campaigns. If you go for the ReQueue plan, you can set up your social media messages to cycle through in the background. That leaves you with more time for working on your amazing product, instead of manually popping links into a schedule.

3) Set up your social media schedule for a blog post within WordPress

The CoSchedule plugin for WordPress is another winner. If you prefer to log into WordPress and write your post there, you can use the plugin to schedule the social media. At the bottom of the post, you’ll see an option to ‘add a social campaign’.

Click on the + icon to select a day you want to publish. Write your social media copy, choose an image pulled through from the post, pick a platform, and schedule! You can manually enter a time slot (which is helpful if you’re sharing during a specific Twitter chat) or choose ‘best time’, which selects the best time for your post based on best practice.

It takes a lot of the guesswork out of scheduling content. And it helps to know it’s going to appear the day you publish, the week after, and even a month after. All because you scheduled it before you hit ‘publish’.

4) Enjoy the built-in analytics

There are three strands to analytics; top content, social engagement, and team performance. On the standard plan, I only have access to the top content. But it’s STILL worth looking at. Knowing what gets the highest shares makes it easy to create more of that type of content. And you can share more of what engages the best.

What’s REALLY cool is when you compare that with Google Analytics, giving you a good overview of the popularity of your content.

The analytics also let you see where things were shared. I had a post on my fiction blog which got 2.1k overall shares, which is 1,980 to Facebook and 96 to Pinterest. Nearly all of my posts do well on Facebook and Pinterest, and pitifully on LinkedIn and Google+.

So guess where I share my content now?

But that’s just scratching the surface.

As I mentioned before, you can enable the headline analyser and get real-time analysis of your headlines. You can also connect to Bitly to help you track links.

Use CoSchedule to set yourself tasks, schedule content, manage your social media and post content to your blog. I actually cannot recommend it enough. I’ll admit, I was sceptical at first, but I couldn’t be without it now.

And since they released a mobile app as well, it’s easy to keep on top of social media scheduling on the go. If I read an interesting article on Feedly, I can share it directly to CoSchedule.

I know I said that CoSchedule will supercharge your blog, but remember – you can’t grow a blog if you don’t promote it. And a brilliant way to build a following is to find your audience on social media. Share amazing content as well as your own. Build a community, not just a list of customers. CoSchedule lets you take care of both – the blog, and the social media platform.

If you want to see what CoSchedule can do for your blog, check it out here. It is my affiliate link but I wouldn’t promote it if I didn’t think it was going to supercharge your blog.

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June 7, 2017 by LJ Sedgwick Leave a Comment

Switch: How to change things when change is hard [Review]

You might wonder what a die-hard content writer like myself is doing reading books like Switch: How to change things when change is hard by Chip & Dan Heath.

If you've ever needed to make changes, in your life or at work, then Switch: How to change things when change is hard might be your new best friend. — Switch: How to change things when change is hard

I’m a firm believer that content writers need to read far and wide. You need to absorb ideas from a range of sources. By restricting yourself to just reading about blogging or copywriting, you’re cutting yourself off from those ideas. All you’ll end up doing is regurgitating – consciously or not – the same content you’ve been reading.

At its heart, Switch: How to change things when change is hard is part psychology book, part management guide. In it, Chip and Dan Heath explore the fundamental way that the brain works when faced with change. They use the Elephant and Rider metaphor. The Elephant refers to the emotional part of the mind, while the Rider represents rational thinking and reason.

For any change to happen, both of them need to work together. If you appeal only to the Rider, he gets wrapped up in data and statistics and gets nothing done. If you only appeal to the Elephant, he might get excited and run off in the wrong direction.

The beauty of Switch is its applicability to a range of marketing endeavours.

Why?

Think about it. You’re a tech startup and you have an amazing solution. But you also have a problem. You need potential users to become actual users. That requires a change in behaviour or mindset. If you just provide a string of facts and figures, you’re only appealing to the Rider. The Rider has limited control over the direction or speed of the Elephant.

Without emotional resonance to back up those figures, you’re wasting your time. But if you follow the principles in the book, you stand a better chance at appealing to both the Elephant and the Rider. So you’re more likely to convert browsers into users. Using plenty of case study examples, Switch gives you a good insight into how other companies and organisations have made difficult changes for the better.

The Heath brothers also give you plenty of tips and advice in how to make changes in your own organisation. Like I say, these ideas apply to marketing as well. So their example might deal with the need for a company to streamline their procurement process. You can take similar principles to convince users to stop using so many programs if your solution bundles those processes together.

As with all of their books, they also provide a ton of free resources to accompany the title. It’s a well-written, easily digested book that will get your changing minds in no time!

You can buy your copy of Switch at Amazon (aff link).

February 22, 2017 by LJ Sedgwick 2 Comments

How to create 4 types of easy content to grow your blog

You’ve read all of the blog posts. You’ve watched endless webinars. And you’ve probably also joined dozens of email lists, only for their lead magnets to disappear into your Dropbox, never to be seen/read again.

And you know that content marketing is a pretty straightforward way to get your startup in front of new people.

But your content isn’t just a blog. It might sound heretical coming from a content writer. But you don’t just need to rely on the written word. There are other types of easy content that you can use.

I’ve even included a video in this post to explain the value of video as a form of content marketing.

Why? Because you might take in information better through audio. You might prefer to watch facial expressions while you learn.

You have your own learning styles and so do your potential clients and customers.

Including a range of content types is a great way to appeal to them in a way that works for them.

And believe me, I know how difficult it can be to make it work. Blog posts are an obvious choice. You can work on them in parts.

Then you just post them and share them.

You can hide behind your keyboard.

But the world of content marketing is changing. Relying on blog posts isn’t the only weapon you have in your arsenal.

Let’s take a look at 4 types of easy content that can help to grow your blog.

1. Graphics

Few things will get your point across as quickly as a graphic. And you’re lucky because internet users have been trained for years to recognise infographics, photos, and illustrations.

They’re also perfect for sharing on social media. And with 16% of the US population installing ad-blockers, sharing content on social media is often the only way to get it in front of people.

The demand for infographics has increased 800% in the past year. Companies, including startups, want that easily shareable content.

Mind Development & Design prove with this infographic that your blog doesn't need to rely solely on written posts. Let's look at 4 types of easy content that can really help to grow your blog - and find new leads. — © Mind Development & Design

This infographic by Mind Development & Design demonstrates 5 tips to excellent website copy. It distills the content of their listicle and turns it into an easily understandable graphic.

You can always share images and ask followers to suggest a caption. Caption-competitions are a great way to encourage interaction, and you can always offer a prize to the funniest/best/sharpest caption.

And then there’s the shareable quote-based graphic.

Your blog doesn't need to rely solely on written posts. Let's look at 4 types of easy content that can really help to grow your blog - and find new leads. — © LJ Sedgwick

Images and quotes are pretty simple to make. I use Photoshop, but you can use something like Canva if you’re not Photoshop savvy. Even mobile apps like Pixlr let you add text to a photo.Graphics can be difficult to make unless you know what you’re doing. Especially infographics.

But infographics can be difficult to make unless you know what you’re doing. So you either need to hire a freelancer who can make them for you. Or learn how to make them yourself.

2. Video

Video is crucial to your content marketing. It’s even become Sujan Patel’s favourite form of marketing.

And 69% of companies report their video marketing budget is increasing.

As users get more accustomed to Facebook Live, it’s only going to get more popular.

But here’s the thing. Video just about terrifies most people. It taps into that same fear that most people have when they have to stand up in front of a group.

Humans are a social species. But we work best in small groups. Unless we’re a particular personality type, we don’t like standing up and drawing attention to ourselves.

That invites ridicule or disagreement. And few want to rock the boat and risk being pushed out of the group. Putting up a video is like standing up in front of the whole world.

But LJ! I hear you cry. Why haven’t you been practising what you preach?

The same reason that you haven’t. Fear.

I don’t mind being on video. After 5 years of teaching teenagers and giving papers at academic conferences, public speaking doesn’t bother me.

But I always worry that people won’t be able to understand my accent. So I stick to the written word where I know I’ll be understood.

That isn’t helping me. It’s hindering me. So expect to see more video content from me soon. Like this video below, explaining the 3 benefits of using video in your content marketing.

3. Podcasts

Perhaps you really don’t like being on camera. But you have no problem in talking to people.

Podcasts could be your chosen form of content. For startups, they’re often an ideal way to talk about your subject and position yourself as an authority.

You can interview others to get their take on your industry and give your own.

And because of the way a lot of people consume content – on smartphones – you’re often talking directly into someone’s ear.

It’s a more passive form of consumption. Potential clients can just listen to you while they’re in the gym, making dinner, or using public transport. It requires less input from them.

It’s probably better for a B2B offer. So if your startup is around email marketing, having a podcast that teaches listeners how to use it effectively will be best aimed at marketing managers in your target niches.

But there’s nothing stopping you from trying podcasts for B2C as well. Just make sure you’re helping your potential customers in some way.

Check out these suggested podcasts for startups and entrepreneurs.

4. Webinars

Before you dismiss me out of hand, how many webinars have you actually attended?

I know they sometimes get a bad rap. I certainly think there’s nothing worse than an hour long webinar that spends 15 minutes giving a bio of the speaker, 15 minutes of actual content, 20 minutes of hard sell, and then 10 minutes of Q&A which tends to descend into ‘this is why you need this product’.

But I’ve definitely bought products off the back of a webinar. I invested in Lacy Bogg’s Content Intelligence Academy following on of her webinars. While the free information in the webinar was amazing, I knew I’d get that little bit more from the program. And I was right.

That’s why they’re among these types of easy content.

So think about how you can partner up with someone to do a webinar.

Let’s go back to the email marketing example. You know you’re not really big enough to compete with Mailchimp or Aweber.

But your offering is very different. Your platform would be ideal for the hospitality industry.

Make contacts in that industry, and see if you can guest on a webinar. Maybe a marketing guru in the industry will host you. Use the kind of content you’d put in a series of blog posts to fuel your content in the webinar.

And because people can ask questions, you get plenty of interaction with potential users. You can answer their specific questions right then and there.

If nothing else, you should be able to add the attendees to your mailing list. So even if they don’t buy from you during the webinar, you can keep in touch and make your offer again in future.

You can also direct them to your blog posts, which will (because you’re a good marketer) have the option for them to share to their own social networks on them.

You don’t have to do them all at once.

I’ve given you 4 types of easy content to help grow your blog. But you absolutely do not need to use them all at once. Pick one and try it out. Try creating shareable quotes or graphics for your social media channels.

And pair them with infographics that you post on your blog.

Keep it up for a month or so. Then review your analytics. Is there an obvious difference?

Or you could try guesting on a few podcasts before you launch your own. Remember that any form of content will need to be created and shared on a regular basis before you’ll really see the difference.

But done right, you will see a difference to your mailing list or your blog. Or hopefully both!

If you’ve enjoyed this post, then why not share it to your own social networks? Or get in touch if you want help coming up with scripts for your video content!

February 1, 2017 by LJ Sedgwick 1 Comment

You’re a startup and you need an awesome blogger. Now what?

You’ve read the articles by the marketing gurus. And now you’re convinced. Your startup needs an awesome blogger.

But where do you get one? What are the steps you need to take to hire one?

It can be pretty daunting. After all, you’re a specialist in your field. You know your work inside and out. You probably feel like you should be writing your content yourself. But you just don’t have the time.

Will you be able to communicate what you do to an outsider?And what do you even need to look for in a blogger?

This post will walk you through a process you can follow when hiring an awesome blogger.

It particularly works well if you want to hire me. But we’ll get to that later.

Knowing you need an awesome blogger is one thing. Knowing how to find one is something else entirely! This guide will walk you through the process. — Hire an awesome blogger today.

First of all, you need to decide what your project actually is.

Does your website even have a blog? If not, then you’ll need one.

Most bloggers won’t be in the business of setting them up. I can. And I’m more than happy to provide an audit of your existing blog too.

Either way, you need to work out how many posts you actually need. A single post isn’t really going to cut it. That’s not how content marketing works.

But you might not want to commit to a year’s worth of posts until you’ve seen results. So will you only want a month’s worth of posts? How many posts will you want per week?

Take it from me, you don’t need daily posts. Once a week is fine while you’re establishing your blog.

Next, look for a content writer that specialises in your area.

Why your area? You’re a startup. You want someone who knows tech – and they really need to understand marketing.

So as much as you might just want any writer, trust me. You want a specialist.

You could always advertise on Twitter. Search for #blogger or #contentwriter in the search bar. If you want someone local, you can filter that way too.

Maybe LinkedIn will be more helpful. It’s a great business resource and it’s often easy to check out a potential writer’s portfolio.

And then there’s always Google.

However you come across the blogger, check out their website. Read their samples. Look at their blog. Much as you’re doing now. If you don’t like their style, move onto the next blogger.

Get in touch with your potential awesome blogger and outline what it is that you want. Ask to book a consultation call where you can discuss your needs. The blogger needs to know your ideal post length, type of content, where it needs to be shared, etc.

Make sure you ask them for their rates up front. If they quote a higher price than you’re willing to pay, don’t try to haggle. It’s not a good way to start a business relationship.

I offer a retainer package that offers rolling monthly payment. You can cancel at any time during the first month, but you’ll still get all four posts for that month since you paid upfront.

Devise an editorial calendar with your blogger.

This might not sound necessary if you only want a month’s worth of posts. You might wonder why you need a calendar for four posts while you see if they gain any traction.

Trust me, it’ll make life easier in the long run. I won’t go into the benefits of editorial calendars as that’s another post for another time. But both you and the client will enjoy a much happier relationship with a calendar in place.

It does also mean that if your or the blogger decide you’re not a good fit, you can share the calendar with a new blogger.

Decide on a metric that you’ll follow to see if blogging improves your business

Traffic is a good one. Make sure you set up Google Analytics on your website beforehand to truly get the benefit.

You could also use social shares. If you use functions like CoSchedule or SumoMe, this is easier to track.

One way or another, you’ll need to measure the success of the blogging. It’s difficult to gauge on the back of a month’s worth of content. But if you can see even a 50% increase in traffic then you know you’re onto something.

If you choose to hire me, I’ll also share the content on my own social media channels. It makes sense!

Now you need to come up with ideas for content

You may already have ideas. If so, then send them to the blogger. This will be helpful in the early days while you get to know each other.

If you’re completely stuck for topics, that’s okay. Give your awesome blogger an idea of what you’re looking for.

Then let them brainstorm topic ideas around your niche and your needs. You might need to have an interview to discuss these things. I meet prospective clients if they’re local or I do Skype if they’re not.

Review the topic ideas and see which ones resonate with you. I’ll always provide a justification for any topic ideas I propose. This comes back to that editorial calendar I mentioned earlier – and I always make sure SEO plays a part.

Let the blogger create the first post

Don’t prod them while they do this. Otherwise, they’ll think you don’t trust their ability.

Set a realistic deadline. Then sit back and relax! Your first post will be on its way shortly.

Review the first post

Does it fit what you want? Bloggers will be happy to make any amendments, though you might be content to make smaller ones yourself. If you want to work with the blogger again, it’s a good idea to share what you changed. That’s how they’ll learn your house style.

You can decide if you want the blogger to have access to your blog to upload the content directly. Or you may prefer to do it yourself. Discuss with the blogger if you need images to go with the post.

If your awesome blogger will be sourcing images, check they’re free of copyright restrictions first.

And finally, rinse and repeat with your awesome blogger!

Publish the post. Make sure you share it on your own social channels. If you have an email list (and if you don’t, you really should), send it out to your existing audience.

Then let the blogger get started on the next post in the bundle.

Remember to share posts periodically throughout the week. At the end of the week, review the metric you chose to measure the success.

That way, you’ll be able to decide if you want to keep your awesome blogger around.

Like the sound of this and wondering if we’d be a good fit?

Then it sounds like you need my Tremendous Time Saver package. Click here to find out more and secure your spot.

I’m standing by!

January 25, 2017 by LJ Sedgwick Leave a Comment

How do you justify the price of a good blogger?

More people than ever before enter the world of business. With nothing more than an idea and a simple product, they’re living their lives according to their own terms.

And that can be you. It should be you. But there’s something missing.

How do you get that product or service in front of fresh eyes?

You’ve been reading blogs for a while now. And you know that blogs themselves are a brilliant way to find leads, nurture relationships, and reward customers.

60% of marketers even state blogging is a high priority in their marketing strategy.

But maybe blogging feels like nails on a chalk board to you. Writing isn’t your thing.

And even if you can write about your topic, can you devote the time to it? Or learn how to write in the language of blogs?

So you decide to hire someone else to do it. Sure, you could go to Upwork. Join in the race to the bottom in the search for some content – any content.

Or you could go looking for a blogger. Maybe you’ll advertise for one.

But they don’t come cheap. The good ones don’t work for free.

So, among all of the other demands on your finances, how do you justify the price of a good blogger?

You already have a lot of demands on your time - and finances. You can't pursue them all. So just how do you justify the price of a good blogger? — How do you justify the price of a good blogger?

It frees up your time to do what you do well

You’re an expert in what you do. That’s why you set up your own business. Or founded a startup.

So your time could be worth £200 an hour, or more, if you offer services. And even if you don’t charge hourly rates, chances are that your time is worth a great deal.

Why would you take on blogging yourself when your time is so valuable? It takes me up to 2 hours to research, write, edit and format a blog post. And I don’t charge £200 an hour.

Ask yourself – what could you be doing in those 2 hours instead?

So if your time is worth more than a blogger will charge, it doesn’t take a genius to work out the maths.

Because you’re not paying a blogger for content. You’re paying them for more time for yourself.

Do you really want to learn how to do yet another thing you’re not interested in?

You probably already know how much time goes into marketing. Maybe you’ve already dipped your toe into using banner ads. Perhaps you’ve spent time learning how to make social media graphics.

But blogging is a different ball game entirely. It’s not just about knowing your topic, or the latest research.

It’s about presenting those to your readers. If you’re not used to blogging, it can seem really daunting.

But you can justify the price of a good blogger by handing the task over to them. Let them do what they do best – blogging.

Ask yourself – do you really have time to learn something else you’re just not interested in? Wouldn’t it be easier to just hand it over to a specialist?

And remember, bloggers can be multi-skilled. Look at the Canva blog. It’s a design school to help improve the abilities of its users.

So you can find a blogger that can create product-specific tutorials for your blog. You’re reading an article by one such blogger right now!

Blogging is an easy way to create relationships

I’ve talked before about what your business would look like with better content. Blogs are a great way to provide value beyond what your services offers.

So you can create relationships with potential customers and nurture those with existing customers.

And it’s all on autopilot. After all, someone can get answers from your blog even when you’re offline.

Look at Evernote as an example. Their blog doesn’t focus on company news. It provides value to users.

Visitors can learn about productivity, goal setting, and staying organised. All topics that support Evernote’s core service.

Remember that companies that blog generate 67% more leads than those who don’t. That’s because customers and clients come to recognise – and value – your brand with regular exposure.

So ask yourself do you want to be in the 67% – or the 33%?

Hopefully by now you’re starting to see that blogging as a marketing strategy is worth it. But your time is also valuable – so you need to ask yourself…

Can you now justify the price of a good blogger?

If so, then drop me an email. I’m here to help you knock your blog out of the park.