Rainmaker Rewind: How to Book Engaging Podcast Interviews

According to The Showrunner hosts Jerod Morris and Jon Nastor, there is one path that stands above all others as the simplest way to build an audience of responsive and loyal listeners.

It’s a path that removes the burden of constant content creation, places you at the forefront of a brand, and harnesses the power of experts and their audiences.

This path is an interview-based podcast.

In this week’s episode of The Showrunner, Jerod and Jonny thoroughly discuss the essential steps necessary to book engaging interview guests for your podcast — from tips about finding guests, to crafting your pitch to increase the odds of getting a “yes,” and all the way to tools you can use to make the process simple and effective.

Listen, learn, enjoy …

Here are two more episodes you shouldn’t miss this week:

Brian Clark and The Side Hustle Show host Nick Loper dive into the details of monetizing a blog, what it’s like to start a blog today, and what it means to be “unemployable.”

Elsewhere:
Brian Clark on The Side Hustle Show

Sonia Simone has a short episode for you this week, honoring the life of Prince and sharing some ideas about leadership, community, and building something that matters.

Confessions of a Pink-haired Marketer:
Leadership, Categories of One, and Purple Rain

And one more thing …

If you want to get my Rainmaker Rewind pick of the week sent straight to your favorite podcast player, subscribe right here on Rainmaker FM.

See you next week.

The post Rainmaker Rewind: How to Book Engaging Podcast Interviews appeared first on Copyblogger.

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Getty vs Google, Long Tail Rants, and More: Weekly Forum Update

There’s plenty of news to discuss this week! Not much SEO-wise, though; most of it is focused on the business aspect of things.

Getty Images is in a spat with Google in the E.U., Google has a new ad design that has folks on WebmasterWorld talking, and Google has promised to get tougher on clickjacking, among other stories.

We’ve also got a fun rant about keywords from SEO Chat and some privacy-focused topics from Cre8asiteforums!

Getty Images Files E.U. Complaint Against Google for Enabling Image Piracy

Getty Images Files E.U. Complaint Against Google for Enabling Image PiracyClick To Tweet

This is a complicated legal case, but here’s a brief summary: Getty Images is extremely protective of its image portfolio. Google Images displays images to the public in response to search queries.

When Getty’s images get pirated by third parties and begin to rank well in Google image searches… Getty feels that Google is encouraging piracy. Users on WebmasterWorld are talking through the details. WebmasterWorld engine writes that

“This complaint is really important, and it may shape the ways this and a number of aspects of Google’s information sources are displayed. For example, the Knowledge Graph panel.”

User Andy Langton writes that

“The easiest comparison is probably with the Google Books case,”

where the courts sided with Google. In that case, the courts determined that Google Books was a “public good,” a “transformative” medium, and that it was respectful of copyright holders.

New Ad Unit Design For Google AdSense

It’s a very minimal design – white space with just a dash of color – but that’s not what WebmasterWorld users don’t like about it. What some users don’t like is that it doesn’t really look like an ad. Martinibuster writes,

“The ad unite is nice looking and will definitely blend. But… user expectation contributes to what gets clicked. Think about this in terms of user expectation. It looks like a block of content… In short, it does not resemble anything that a site user would actually click. So in theory that ad unite may result in less clicks.”

You can take a look at an example ad in the thread, and share your thoughts!

Google’s Gary Illyes Indicates the Next Penguin Update Will be the Last

Google's Gary Illyes @methode Indicates the Next Penguin Update Will be the Last Click To Tweet

The Penguin to end all Penguins! Well, sort of. What Illyes probably means is that Penguin will move to a “real-time” model, so there will be less of the drama and nail-biting of waiting for constant updates. Martinibuster writes that a real-time model will be more fair:

“People who knowingly got spammed got what they knew were coming to them…However, updates that take several months are cruel to the businesses who are victims of poor advice, misinformed or shoddy consultants and to those who are small mom and pop amateurs who were making it up as they went along.”

User Ebuzz agrees:

“…it has been 1.5 years so far since the last update. A very long time and no end in sight. Now that’s cruel…to make people wait an eternity for a shot at redemption.”

What do you think?

Clickjacking Draws Action From Google

You may not have heard the term before – clickjacking is when you click on a video to play it, for example, and instead a new window opens up with an advertisement. Threadwatch has the details on Google’s new crusade against such practices.

Google has said:

“When our system detects a clickjacking attempt, we zero-in on the traffic attributed to that placement, and remove it from upcoming payment records to ensure that advertisers are not charged for those clicks.”

There’s a bonus discussion on WebmasterWorld, where users wonder how fair and accurate Google will be in identifying actual clickjacking attempts.

Ads in Google Get A Little Sneakier

Here’s an update to a Threadwatch report from last week! Adam W wrote last week that Google’s paid ads were starting to appear more and more organic in the E.U. That could lead to confusion over which results are paid and which aren’t. Now Google seems to be adding some new ad entries. For now,

“…it does not look like these ads appear in the standard 3-pack and will only be seen after clicking ‘more places’ on the search results page.”

What do you think? Too many ads, or is this fair play?

What ARE Long-Tail Keywords?

Here’s a compelling rant from a user on SEO Chat. User knuckles writes,

“I’m sick of seeing stuff like ‘long-tail keywords are phrases consisting of [x number of] words. A lot of experts and ‘gurus’ keep repeating this nonsense. All those graphs where 1 word is a head, 3 words is a body and 5 words is a long-tail. It’s all a bunch of crap.”

What do you think about the length of keywords and phrases? Does it matter at all? Knuckles thinks that it doesn’t:

“…keyword length has nothing to do with its properties, some short/long/medium keywords are trash some are head…”

There’s plenty of room for friendly debate in this thread!

Ethics: Name Dropping to Promote Yourself Or a Company

Over on Cre8asiteforums, folks are wondering if it’s fair or ethical to use someone’s name without their permission. Link bait projects often name people as “the top 10 in X profession” without asking them first.

The goal, of course, is to get the people on the list to link back to the article. But what if those people have moved on to different careers? What if they don’t want to be associated with X industry anymore?

Mobile Usage Trends

Over 70 pages of charts and information from comScore is up for discussion in this Cre8asiteforums thread! Users are talking about how mobile usage “continues to explode in 2016.”

You’ve probably also heard that desktop usage may have “peaked.” Are we really reaching a turning-point in how the Internet is used?

Subscribe to our search and social news on Flipboard!

View my Flipboard Magazine.

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The 5-Step Process that Solves 3 Painful Writing Problems

I once asked the Copyblogger community to name their biggest writing challenges.

From the many responses, a pattern developed:

• How to get started
• How to cut the fluff
• How to finish

These three issues are really symptoms of the same painful problem, which boils down to not clearly understanding what you’re trying to accomplish with your writing. Don’t worry … it’s a fairly common ailment.

There’s a five-step process you can work through that will help clarify your objectives, which leads to greater clarity in your writing.

This method also helps you kick-start any writing project (and finish it) with only the necessary elements, because you’ll know exactly what you’re after and how to make it happen.

Step #1: Begin with the end in mind

The most important step in the process happens before you even write a word.

You must understand your objective for the content.

You have an idea, but what’s the goal? From a content marketing standpoint, you’re usually seeking to educate or persuade (often both, and as we’ll see in the next step, they’re actually the same thing even when intentions vary).

Having a “great idea” and sitting down to write can often lead to a half-finished train wreck.

What’s the “why” behind the idea? Figure this out first, or move on to another idea.

Step #2: Identify questions

Okay, so now you have a goal in mind — a mission, if you will.

What’s standing in the way of your mission?

The obstacles you face are the concepts your audience does not understand yet, but must accept by the time they’re finished reading. These are the questions you must answer before you can achieve the goal you’ve identified in Step #1.

In copywriting circles, we say an unanswered question (an objection) is a barrier to buying.

With education, an unanswered question is a barrier to learning. Education is persuasion (and vice versa) when you realize this fundamental truth.

Step #3: Write the headline and subheads

With your goal in mind and the questions you must answer identified, now you start to put things down on virtual paper.

Some people open a word processor during Step #2; I do everything up until now in my head. Do what works for you.

What promise are you making to your audience with this piece of content? What will you teach them? And why should they care? That’s your working headline.

Then, each of the major questions you must answer to achieve your mission (and the promise your headline makes) becomes a subhead. Your subheads don’t ultimately have to be phrased as questions, but this technique helps you compose a focused draft.

Take some time to decide if a particular question is its own subhead or part of the content below a subhead. It’s simply outlining at this point.

Step #4: Fill in the blanks

Want to write lean copy?

Answer the questions designated by each subhead, and answer only that question.

Do not digress. Do not go off on a tangent.

Just answer the question. Do it as simply and clearly as possible.

Step #5: Now … edit

If you’ve followed these steps, you’re not likely suffering from fluff.

Rather, you might find that you need to add more details or rephrase for clarity.

This is also the time to refine your language. Experienced writers can often pull the perfect turn of phrase in some places of a first draft, while in other places there are opportunities for better, more precise word choices.

Finally, review how the piece of content turned out:

• Does your working headline still reflect the fulfilled promise?
• Does your opening keep the momentum going?
• Can you revise the headline, opening, and subheads so that they are even more compelling?

Over to you …

Everyone’s approach to the writing process is different. This process works for me, and I wrote this article fairly quickly using the process as a demonstration.

What works for you?

Any tips you can pass along that might help your fellow content marketers?

Let us know in the comments.

Are you a writer who wants to become a Certified Content Marketer?

We open our Certified Content Marketer training to new students periodically. Click the button below to find out more.

Join the Copyblogger Writers List

Editor’s note: The original version of this post was published on October 6, 2011.

The post The 5-Step Process that Solves 3 Painful Writing Problems appeared first on Copyblogger.

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Cornerstone Content Defined in 60 Seconds [Animated Video]

Cornerstone content is vital for both seasoned bloggers and anyone launching a brand-new website because it can help you accomplish many of your content marketing goals.

Goals like:

• Getting links to your website
• Finding new readers
• Attracting subscribers
• Ranking in search engines for competitive keywords
• Highlighting archived material

But what exactly is cornerstone content?

Watch our short video for cornerstone content

With help from our friends at The Draw Shop, we whipped up 12 definitions from our new Content Marketing Glossary into short, fun whiteboard animated videos.

Here’s our video for the definition of cornerstone content:

Animation by The Draw Shop

And for those of you who would prefer to read, here’s the transcript:

Online, cornerstone content is the basic, essential, and indispensable information on your website that answers common questions, solves problems, entertains, educates, or all of the above.

The key is creating compelling content that’s worth linking to and then finding ways to get the word out. A page hosting cornerstone content helps readers by pulling all of your content about a specific topic together in one place.

You’ll often link to your cornerstone pages in your everyday content because they help define common topics you talk about on your website.

Each cornerstone content page is a home for related content. It groups basic, essential, and indispensable information onto one page.

Cornerstone pages let you highlight your most important archived content. They also help you attract links, get subscribers, and increase traffic.

And that’s the goal of every profitable website.

Share this video

Click here to check out this definition on YouTube and share it with your audience. You’ll also find 11 additional Content Marketing Glossary videos.

Additional cornerstone content resources

More in-depth cornerstone content education can be found in these articles:

• Your Cornerstone Content Blueprint: Answers to 9 Common Questions
• 11 Essential Ingredients Every Cornerstone Content Page Needs [Infographic]
• A Practical Approach to Using Powerful Cornerstone Content on Your Site
• This Simple Illustration Explains the Difference Between a Cornerstone Content Page and a Blog Post
• How to Create Cornerstone Content That Google Loves

Learn more from the Content Marketing Glossary

We’ll feature the other videos soon, but if you don’t want to wait, you can watch all the videos now by going directly to the Content Marketing Glossary.

By the way, let us know if you have any definitions you’d like us to add to the glossary! Just drop your responses in the comments below.

The post Cornerstone Content Defined in 60 Seconds [Animated Video] appeared first on Copyblogger.

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How to Write Subheads that Hook (and Re-hook) Your Readers

Have you heard about RADD?

(I doubt it, because I just invented it.)

RADD refers to a purely made-up syndrome called Reader Attention Deficit Disorder, and almost every adult I know suffers from it.

The symptoms of RADD are:

• Inability to read one page of a book or magazine without the urge to “look something up real quick” on a digital device
• Extreme fidgeting whenever several pages of text must be read in one sitting
• Aversion to fully reading and absorbing any content longer than 500 words

RADD is a result, I believe, of the excessive time we spend reading on screens and devices. Even though RADD is a made-up syndrome, the struggle to read better online is real.

As content creators, we can help make online reading easier. And one of the most powerful tools of our trade is the humble subhead.

Subheads: big results from a little line of text

In the grand scheme of your piece of content, a single subhead might not seem very important. After all, it represents a tiny percentage of your overall word count.

But I like to think of subheads as signposts.

When you’re on a long road trip, it’s comforting to see signs along the way that confirm you’re driving in the right direction.

Subheads do this for your reader. They draw them down the page and through your content, letting them know they’re moving toward a conclusion.

If you’re not currently using subheads in your online content, it’s time to start adding these signposts that will help make your content easier to read.

There’s more — subheads actually have three jobs to do at the same time. Read on to learn how to make them work for you.

1. Subheads invite skimmers to read your content

Readers suffering from RADD appreciate well-crafted subheads because they help them decide whether they should commit their precious attention to reading your information.

To get distracted online skimmers to engage, write subheads that shamelessly promote your piece of content.

For example, let’s say you’re writing an article about how to design a perennial garden.
 
Instead of this subhead:

There are thousands of perennial plants available today

 
Write this subhead:

How to save money and choose the right perennials for your garden plot

 
And instead of this subhead:

Available colors for perennial flowers

 
Write this subhead:

3 tips to easily pick the perfect perennial color scheme

 
In the examples above, the second subheads promote the content better because they explain how the reader will benefit from consuming it.

If the distracted skimmer is about to start a perennial garden and she’s looking for help, these subheads will convince her that this content will deliver the information she needs right now.

2. Subheads that “sell” each section keep readers engaged

Congratulations: you’ve hooked a reader on your piece of content.

Now use compelling subheads to “re-hook” them all the way down the page they’re reading.

It’s no wonder readers feel distracted while reading online. Between links that invite them to click away and read something else, to ads, notifications, and invitations to check out another part of a website, readers have to force themselves to stay on track all the way down the page and through your content.

Well-written subheads can help.

If you write them carefully, your subheads will “sell” the section they’re sitting above. They serve as “ads” for each section that convince the reader to consume it.

To write subheads that invite your reader to consume each section of your content, remember to:

• Highlight the benefit of the knowledge offered in each section.
• Use your best headline writing skills to craft compelling subheads that inform and intrigue.
• Focus your reader’s attention on how she’ll use the information that follows.

There’s one more thing to remember about subheads — an extra layer of information to consider.

Read on to discover how to write subheads that become their own standalone content.

3. Subheads that tell a story make non-readers want to share

Let’s face the ugly truth: sometimes trying to get RADD-afflicted readers to consume your entire piece of content is a losing battle.

Some readers simply won’t read all the way through your content, despite all your best efforts to make it easy to read and to write subheads that pull them down the page.

But all is not lost. Even non-readers are valuable.

You see, even non-readers share your content. And compelling subheads that tell a story all by themselves will help convince those non-readers to spread your content to others who will read it and act on it.

The key here is to have established natural authority with your content. If these non-readers trust your site and perceive it as a reliable resource, they will share your content without even consuming it themselves.

After you’ve written your subheads, go back through and look at them again. Ask yourself:

If I only read the subheads, would I think this content is valuable?

If you can’t answer “yes” to that question, edit your subheads until you can.

Eradicate RADD with subheads that hook your readers

If you’re interested in improving your subhead-writing skills, you’re in the right place.

We have a wealth of information here on Copyblogger that will help you polish your subheads until they hook those distracted readers and encourage them to read, consume, and share your content.

Here are my favorites:

• Sonia Simone’s The Deceptively Simple Steps to Persuasive Writing That Works is an ode to the humble subhead and a great read to inspire you to use this powerful tool to make your content easier to write and read.
• For more about how you can adapt your writing style to fit the new reality of online reading, take a look at my post 6 Easy Ways to Adapt Your Writing Style to the New World of Content Consumption.
• Stefanie Flaxman’s post How to Spot the Weakest Part of Your Blog Post (and What to Do About It) will give you an overview of how subheads fit into your larger content plan. It shares concrete tips for making your article look and sound more compelling.

What’s your favorite subhead advice?

What’s the best advice you’ve heard about writing compelling subheads? Enrich the information on this page by sharing your best subhead-writing techniques below.

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3 Surprising Stages of Successful Landing Pages

Landing pages support content marketing.

The tricky thing is … landing pages are not home pages. They’re not blog posts, cornerstone content, white papers, case studies, product description pages, or even sales pages.

And you can’t treat them like they are.

High-converting landing pages consist of three action-driving stages: before, during, and after.

Tragically, when many content marketers build landing pages, they focus on just one stage: during.

But if you don’t invest effort into what happens before and after you present your landing page, it doesn’t stand a chance of achieving the results you want.

1. The “before” of landing pages

While landing pages are not about you — your company, your product, or your service — the “before” stage is because you first have to establish your goal.

As Demian Farnworth said:

“[Landing pages] force readers to focus on one thing — and one thing only.”

Determining that one thing is the only time you get to be self-centered in this process. The best way to set your goal is to complete this sentence:

I want my visitor to …

• Like my Facebook page
• Subscribe to my email newsletter
• Watch my demo video
• Register for my content library
• Make an appointment

Naturally, there are plenty of other actions that might be the goal of your landing page. Whatever you select, your goal should be singular: the one desired action will guide everything else.

For example, let’s look at InvestorCarrot’s landing page for their SEO Keyword Bible.

The crucial thing to notice isn’t what’s on the page, but what’s left off the page.

There’s no header navigation, no footer, no social media icons, and even their logo in the top left corner isn’t clickable.

Essentially, there are two roads out from this landing page: “Get My Free Report Now” or “No thanks, I’ll pass on this opportunity.”

InvestorCarrot knows exactly what they want their visitor to do and they eliminate every other navigation option.

The result of this singularity — along with other factors I’ll address in the next two stages — is a whopping 45.89 percent conversion rate.

Take heed: when it comes to planning your landing page — the before stage — select one goal. Remove anything that doesn’t support that goal.

2. The “during” of landing pages

The “during” stage of your landing page consists of five on-page elements.

1. Headline

The headline of your landing page is arguably the most crucial on-page element. Why?

Because while 8 out of 10 people read the headline, only 2 out of 10 will read the content that follows.

So, how do you create a headline that grabs, compels, and drives action?

Easy. You don’t.

Instead of trying to create the perfect headline, steal it.

First, steal the heart of your headline by building it around your audience’s own keywords.

Whether you drive visitors to your landing page with paid advertising (PPC) or organic search, your headline must include the words your audience uses.

This is precisely what makes our previous example so compelling. Instead of including vague keywords about SEO, the headline targets a specific audience: Simple SEO ‘Hacks’ To Help Real Estate Investors Get More Traffic & Leads.

Next, steal successful headline templates.

Copyblogger’s How to Write Magnetic Headlines ebook is a great place to start.

You can also steal from my own 25 heaven-and-hell-themed headline formulas or go even more in depth by diagnosing your audience’s “state of awareness” and then systematically crafting breakthrough headlines from inside your market’s mind.

For instance, Yoobly’s webinar landing page — “The $100K Case Study: How to Generate New Rockstar Prospects & Explode Your Downline Without Selling Friends & Family” — leverages a host of proven headline ingredients:

The landing page:

• States the big benefit (“$100k Case Study”)
• Appeals to those who want to learn (“How to”)
• Offers useful information enlivened by verbs (“Generate” and “Explode”)
• Uses direct language (“Your”)
• Makes contrasting statements against common approaches (“Without Selling Friends & Family”)

2. Subheads

With all the information that bombards us on a daily basis, most of us scan content.

Enter the subhead.

The subheads on your landing page should not only structurally guide your reader through your major points, they should stand alone and relentlessly focus on the benefits of your call to action.

Remember that what the headline does for the page itself, subheads do for each section.

This means making your subheads enticing, bite-sized nuggets of “I just gotta keep reading” copy.

A fantastic strategy for building compelling subheads is to make a list of all your product or service’s features … and then transform those features into audience-centered benefits.

Henneke’s A Simple Trick to Turn Features Into Benefits (and Seduce Readers to Buy!) makes this transformation process easy by asking one question, “So what?”

“The oven preheats quickly.
So what?
It’s quickly ready to start cooking your lasagna.
So what?
Your food is on the table sooner.
So what?
Life is less stressful. There’s less hanging around the kitchen waiting for the oven to get ready. And you don’t have to worry you might forget to preheat your oven.”

3. Body copy

Just like every other on-page element of your landing page, effective body copy does not come from you … it comes from your visitor.

Your aim should be to unearth the very words your audience already uses when they talk about your product or service.

How? By digging into user-generated content from:

• Amazon reviews
• Comments on blog posts
• Customer FAQs
• Email responses
• Social media posts
• Forum sites
• Question and answer sites
• Qualitative surveys

4. Proof

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “People buy with their hearts, then justify it with their heads.”

So while you must speak to the heart of your visitor, you also need to provide proof for their heads.

Testimonials are the primary way you provide that proof. Unfortunately, testimonials are often too general and fail at providing proof in one of two ways:

1. They aren’t framed in a problem-then-solution format.
2. They don’t highlight measurable results.

A shining example of the problem-then-solution format is Chris Brogan’s testimonial for the Rainmaker Platform:

Brogan’s testimonial nails exactly what’s wrong with most content management systems — the problem — and then explains exactly how the Rainmaker Platform addresses those deficiencies for him — the solution.

How do you generate your own proof-producing testimonials?

Ask for details.

Instead of just soliciting bland reviews (or waiting for them to roll in), reach out to your customers and clients and ask them to tell you about:

• The problem they were facing
• How you helped them find a solution
• The results (real data) that back up that win

5. Call to action

The call to action (CTA) is copy that asks your visitor to take your desired action. CTAs will commonly appear throughout your landing pages and at the very end.

To write your CTA buttons, you can follow Joanna Wiebe’s masterful advice.

Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes, and your call to action button should state how they’d finish the following sentence:

I want to _____.

That little trick is how we design buttons that say unique phrases like “Find Out How to Ride a Bike” and “Make Sense of My Finances Fast.”

3. The “after” of landing pages

So far, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground. However, we’re not done yet.

Why?

Because even if you create a high-converting landing page with all the right on-page elements relentlessly driven by your own all-consuming and singular goal … and even if people are actually taking the action you want them to take, the job of your landing page isn’t finished.

In fact, if you stop there, all your work could be for nothing.

The most neglected element of every landing page ironically isn’t even on your landing page itself.

It’s what comes next — the “after.”

When standard “Thanks for signing up” pages and “Click here to confirm” emails are off-putting, they squander the momentum you’ve worked so hard to create.

What should your follow-up look like? Here are two examples.

Let’s look at InvestorCarrot’s landing page again. After signing up for the SEO Keyword Bible, the new lead is redirected to the page featured below, which offers immediate access to the report itself.

Immediate access is vital to keep the landing page’s momentum rolling.

In addition to offering immediate access, the page also presents the user with two videos about the report as well as the opportunity to deepen her relationship with InvestorCarrot by signing up for a live webinar.

Your own follow-up doesn’t need to have as many options.

Whenever someone signs up for my Content Creation Checklist, I send him this conversational follow-up that includes tons of white space, one link to click, and ends with a question.

Whichever method you adopt for your own follow-up:

1. Give your visitors immediate access to whatever they’ve just asked for.
2. Write to them like one human communicating to another.

Don’t ignore these two landing-page stages

When you build landing pages with these three stages, they are hinges that transform visitors into actual leads: real people with real problems in search of real solutions.

Don’t make the mistake of just focusing on what’s on the page: the during.

Start by selecting one goal and one goal alone: the before.

Then, don’t drop the ball after all your hard work. Customize your follow-up and keep it rolling: the after.

Oh, and be sure to share in the comments if you’ve got a tip or landing page of your own you’d love for me to check out. However, be careful … I just might actually take a look.

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10 Handy Tools to Create Mini Videos: Marketing Through Micro Moments

In our era of extremely short attention spans (Who else reads news on Twitter: It’s even worse than reading the headlines only…) micro-videos have been the most logical extension of social media evolution.

And brands have been quite quick to keep up! Just watch one the millions examples now to get inspired:

Are you still behind?

These ten handy tools will give you everything you need to produce your own micro videos to post online.

Vine

Vine has been popular from the moment it was launched, but it has now become a full on phenomenon. You can create your own looping videos that are only a few seconds long, and hey can launch you from obscurity to serious visibility in no time.

Better yet, it puts you in with a community of supportive creators who are always looking at new content. Youtube users are even uploading Vine compilations now!

Animoto

Animoto is one of the most popular video editing software services on the web. That is mainly due to the ease of its use, versus the quality of its final product.

You can make professional looking videos with pretty much no know-how whatsoever, thanks to their easy to follow platform and useful automated features. Pricing starts at $8 per month for personal, $22 per month for professional, and $33 per month for business.

WeVideo

Do you need to create a video that is being collaborated on by others? Then WeVideo is probably the best option for you. It is a cloud based video editing service that allows you to maintain full creative control between yourself and your team.

You can work on the project together, even from across the world, and see all changes as they are made. They offer a basic free account so you can try it yourself, which is great for micro videos.

PowToon

If you are wanting to create an animation, PowToon is aimed at the task. Short videos or long presentations, completely animated, are all available.

It is a powerful Powerpoint alternative that is much easier to use, and much more creative. Everything you need is already there in their database, you just string it together and fill in the blanks.

Boomerang For Instagram (iOS, Android)

Instagram primarily focused on images for many years. Now they are finally getting on board with promoting the video service that was always there, as they rush to compete with Vine.

You can make micro videos that loop and share them on your account, using your Apple or Android phone. It works by stitching together ten photos and allowing you to reverse, repeat, or edit them.

Legend

Have you ever seen those typography videos that animate words? Legend does that for you. You put in the words you want to say, and it creates an animation that can be shared with anyone.

All it takes is a few taps of your phone and you are on your way. Simple, easy, and effective, it is a great way to make short bits of digital content that get you noticed. All for just the $1.99 price of the app download.

Magisto

Already have your footage shot, but it isn’t really doing it for you? You need an edit. Magisto takes your chosen video, allows you to add enhancements and a theme, and put in a sound track.

This gives your video a more quality look and feel, rather than the bland clip you may have had before. Plus, it is ridiculously easy to use. Within minutes you can be done and ready to post.

You can also add in photos, or string photos together if you would prefer a slideshow. If you need something business quality you can choose their Business account for $9.99 per month.

Flipagram

You may have noticed a trend on sites like Tumblr of non-looping micro videos, or collections of flashing pictures set to music. Most of those are made on Flipagram, which allows you to make and share both.

You download the app for free, and start making and editing your images. It is that easy. You don’t have to deal with any complicated software or gimmicks, just give it a little time. Then post it on the site where you can share with others looking for content just like yours.

Kizoa

Kizoa is a free video editor isn’t as slick or thorough as the others. But it is easy enough to use, and it has plenty of features. You can create a video, a slideshow, or a collage.

They support full movie editing, which is an interesting plus if your footage is a lot longer. Though I would honestly keep it as a tool for mini videos, which only take a short time to edit and refine.

Giphy

What is an animated GIF other than a micro video? (Read more about cinemagraphs, emotion gifs) If you don’t mind the lack of sound, this is a great way to create a visually stimulating bit of content that is easy to share (and even easier to push to viral status).

Giphy has a database of already made gifs, but they also have a generator. There are two options: upload from your computer files, or search a URL from YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, or other hosting services. From there you select your section, edit, and wallah! You are ready to share.

Also make sure to bookmark the following links:

• How-to Post a Pre-recorded, Edited Video to Instagram by @ReelSEO. Read this before creating videos to be able to upload them to Instagram!
• Read here about Vine video specs
• Read here about Instagram hashtags

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Do you have a tool to add to this list? Let us know in the comments!

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A Simple Way to Turn Your Email Subscribers into True Fans

Do you ever find yourself with a list of email subscribers, only to not know what to say or when to say it?

There is one simple way that content marketers and digital entrepreneurs can develop their relationships with their email subscribers.

It’s the tried, true, and often overlooked … email newsletter.

Creating an email newsletter for your audience is an exceptional way to build a trust-based relationship.

A consistent email newsletter enables you to give, give, give.

Giving makes it easier when it comes time to ask for feedback, input — or for the sale.

More importantly, it enables and allows you to listen and have real conversations with your audience. This is where you can begin to go deep and turn your email subscribers into a true audience.

Where does a newsletter fit into your content strategy?

Once you’ve created a smart content marketing strategy, you work hard to promote your valuable content.

With consistent and effective content promotion, people visit your website and you direct them to sign up for your email list.

Perfect.

Then you get busy creating more content, which also needs to be promoted. It can be a tough cycle. Luckily, as a smart content marketer, you are up for the challenge.

Your content’s goal shouldn’t just be to generate traffic; you should aim to connect with your audience — and draw them closer to your solutions.

Starting and running a remarkable newsletter is about creating an experience by enabling your subscribers to connect with you and your message.

Your newsletter is a valuable piece of content. Make it a priority in your schedule, so you can create an experience for your readers that will take them on a journey deeper into your brand.

So, which type of newsletter should you start?

There are three main types of newsletters to choose from.

Each has its own benefits and hurdles to overcome — but each will help and encourage your readers to know, like, and trust you.

1. Offer your best work

This email newsletter type (at least within the marketing space) has been brought to popularity by Chris Brogan and his weekly email. It must be unique and cannot be found anywhere else before it is sent to your subscribers’ inboxes.

Chris promotes his newsletter as simply the best work he does — and he follows through on his promise every Sunday morning.

According to Chris, his newsletter accounts for 70 percent of his revenue and builds authority for himself and his company, Owner Media Group.

Of course, writing a weekly email can be a lot of work.

Don’t make it an afterthought — think of it as an integral piece of your content strategy. This mindset shift will allow it to become as valuable to you as it is to Chris.

Your best-work newsletter provides the reader with a fresh piece of unique content and the feeling that they’re part of an exclusive group. It feels like a friend writing to a friend.

To craft an effective best-work newsletter, you will need to:

• Write exclusive content every week.
• Set a schedule and stick to it.
• Start writing even before you have a lot of subscribers.

Writing your best work each week is an effective way to show up for your audience, build relationships, and produce significant revenue.

But committing to the task may also be daunting. If that’s the case for you, you may prefer a different style of newsletter.

2. Curate content to become a helpful resource

Do you spend countless hours every week scouring blogs, news sites, and social media to consume all the latest and greatest information written in your industry?

Maybe you have what it takes to publish a curated newsletter.

Collect the most valuable information in your market, and then add your personality and unique voice when you summarize and introduce the links.

Most of us love to consume great content, but we don’t all have the time or patience to do the legwork and look for the best content. This is where your curation skills provide value for your audience.

Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin have done this with enormous success. The two have taken their passion for the news and turned it into a brilliant business.

They publish a daily curated email called theSkimm, and they have built an email list of more than 1.5 million subscribers.

To craft an effective curation newsletter, you will need to:

• Add your unique voice to the newsletter.
• Choose an overarching theme but cover several topics.
• Publish the archives to your website and encourage sharing.

As an effective piece of content and audience-building tool, a curation newsletter has been proven time and time again to be a component of a winning content marketing strategy.

Plus, you now have an excuse for endlessly browsing the web — you’re curating!

3. Summarize and highlight your content

What if your business already produces a ton of valuable, useful, and remarkable content each week?

If so, producing another piece of unique content may not be necessary.

This doesn’t mean you should overlook starting a newsletter. It simply means you have an opportunity to focus your time and resources on increasing the value of the content you have already crafted — you do this with a summary newsletter.

A summary newsletter specifically showcases the best and most valuable content your business has created throughout the previous week.

Sean D’Souza at Psychotactics writes my favorite example of this type of newsletter.

Sean writes twice each week and uses his newsletter to showcase his latest article or podcast episode, a product offering, a list of his top-selling products, and free resources. He uses a template for each newsletter, which makes it easier to produce.

To craft an effective summary newsletter, you will need to:

• Produce a steady stream of valuable and useful content.
• Have products or services to promote and showcase.
• Design a template and use a consistent layout.

Summary newsletters don’t typically have a lot of space for you to show your personality, but they are an effective way to regularly update your audience.

Make your choice and go deep with your subscribers

No matter what your content strategy or schedule looks like right now, you’ll benefit from putting an effective email newsletter in place and consistently staying in touch with your subscribers.

You can start today by committing to write a unique piece of content every week, curate the highlights from your industry, or simply summarize the content you have created during the past week.

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Rainmaker Rewind: How to Write a Book Without ‘Writing’ a Word

Jim Kukral, host of Authorpreneur, has a fantastic guest on this week’s show to discuss how to write a book without “writing” a single word.

Tucker Max, best-selling author and film producer, joins Jim to chat about what it takes to write a best-selling novel, and how sharing the ideas in your head with someone who can get them down on paper may be the best way to write a book.

Tucker Max’s first book, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, is a #1 New York Times Best Seller, spent five years on the list, and has more than two million copies in print.

He has also been credited with being the originator and leader of a new literary genre, “fratire,” is only the third writer (after Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis) to ever have three books on the NY Times Nonfiction Best-Seller List at one time, and was nominated to the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential List in 2009.

Listen and learn.

Here are two more episodes you shouldn’t miss this week:

This week, Patrick McGinnis joins Hack the Entrepreneur host Jon Nastor to discuss the importance of aligning a business idea with the passions and strengths of its founder.

Hack the Entrepreneur:
How to Become a ‘10% Entrepreneur’

In this episode of The Showrunner, Jerod Morris and Jon Nastor discuss the many benefits of mini courses and why your podcast is the perfect place to start prepping.

The Showrunner:
How (and Why) to Teach a Mini Course via Your Podcast

And one more thing …

If you want to get my Rainmaker Rewind pick of the week sent straight to your favorite podcast player, subscribe right here on Rainmaker FM.

See you next week.

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The Fall of Desktop Unnatural Links and More: Weekly Forum Update

Security, zombie traffic, and the recent batch of manual actions from Google are on our docket this week!

Everyone on the Internet seems to be riled up by Penguin rumors.

Our communities are no different, but they also offer a wide breadth of more substantive fare. Take a look!

Over 750,000 Web Hijacking Incidents Tracked by Google in One Year

Between July of 2014 and June of 2015, Google tracked a stunning number of hijacking events through its Safe Browsing and Search Quality programs. As WebmasterWorld admin engine explains,

“One of the issues the study goes into is how well the incidents were managed, and 80% of cases were cleaned up after the first alert from Google.”

But even if they were cleaned up quickly, as many as 12% of affected sites were hijacked a second time within just 30 days. The angle Google is speaking from here seems to be that webmasters need to take more preventative measures after the first hijacking.

Users on WebmasterWorld took the news with some cynicism. User smilie wrote,

“How about Google hijacking everyone’s images? Hypocrites.” User tangor added “This is news? Gotta ask, what took so long? (NOTE: Irony and Satire)”.

More About Google’s Batch of Unnatural Outbound Link Messages

For the most part, it appears that bloggers were the group most often impacted by Google’s round of manual actions last week. The manual actions focused on “unnatural outbound links,” and are rumored to be about Google’s new stance on the disclosure of promoted and sponsored posts and links.

Their new stance was announced last month, and you can find details about it in this Threadwatch update. In an interesting thread on SEO Chat, one of our users seems to have received the reverse of the “unnatural outbound links” message.

It’s a little confusing, but Google calls it “unnatural links to your site – impacts links, some incoming links.” User Hawaii explains that

“It says they are devaluing…links that point to my site and not my site.”

Whether it’s related to unnatural links from bloggers or not, Ann Smarty and forum moderator Chedders have great advice for how to deal with this type of message!

Is Zombie Traffic Just Mis-Matched Traffic?

Zombie traffic is a popular topic on WebmasterWorld these past few months. If you haven’t been keeping up, zombies are visitors to your website who shuffle slowly from page to page and leave without converting or providing you with any benefit. Webmasters first began noticing an increase in this type of visitor late last year.

In a new thread on WebmasterWorld, as summarized on Threadwatch, users are wondering if zombie traffic is just an ordinary phenomenon dressed up in a trendy name. Mis-matched traffic is what people think the zombies could be.

User sqimul of WebmasterWorld describes how they live in Bangladesh, but are constantly redirected to Indian websites in product searches.

Those Indian websites seem helpful at first, but only after thoroughly investigating the website is it understood that they don’t deliver products out of the country. Google may be pointing users to websites that they think will be helpful… when in fact, it’s impossible for that traffic to convert.

External Links in New Windows – Target=_blank or JavaScript?

Opening a new window or tab for an external link can be helpful to your users. But is there a proper way to code such an action to get Google’s approval? In this SEO Chat thread, user Doodled wonders if JavaScript or a target=_blank solution is superior. Other users point out that Google might not be as against target=_blank as you may think. Ann Smarty writes,

“Either way, I’d imagine [Googlebot] would be able to read both target=”_blank” and the javascript if they wanted it to be in a ranking factor…”

Chedders writes that the target=_blank solution

“…[is] quite a common and valid thing to do to help users in some cases and not something I have seen anything about. I know there has been some talk about this approach being deprecated in the future and I think I am right in saying its gone already with XHTML 1.0 and 1.1 but I could be wrong there.”

What have you heard? We’d love some sources to settle this mystery!

Danny Sullivan Marks 20 Years Covering Search

Help us congratulate Danny Sullivan in a celebratory thread over on Cre8asiteforums! As Kim Krause Berg writes,

“I had a filing cabinet stuffed with articles and info written by Danny from my days as an SEO in the late 90’s. The only people I followed and trusted were he and Jill Whalen and later… Ammon Johns. They gave me the confidence to keep testing and analyzing and getting around the B.S.”

In the year since I started reading Mr. Sullivan’s works, I’ve also enjoyed and appreciated his ability to cut through B.S. with a clear-headed and fact-driven mentality. Share your stories and congratulations here!

How Important is Site Speed? When Does it Become Important?

A nuanced site load speed discussion was picked up on SEO Chat. In the full thread (which you can find a link to on Threadwatch, above) users are discussing the diminishing returns that site speed brings, as well as how and why those returns may diminish. Chedders writes that

“Back in the 80’s…we were told that 7 seconds was an acceptable time frame…but even then that was the maximum.”

Doodled adds support to that limit, writing about a study he read wherein it was discovered that

“…it was somewhere at around 10 seconds that the user’s chain of thought was definitely broken…”

What do you think should be the absolute maximum for a page’s load time? What do you think is a good time? When should you stop worrying about your load speed?

comScore: Data Suggests U.S. Desktop Use Has Passed Its Peak and Now Declining

Google – and everyone else, really – seem to believe that mobile browsing is the future. New data from comScore may support that train of thought. WebmasterWorld admin engine writes that

“If it were just one month you’d just put it down to aberrations, but, as it appears to show a trend, it should be noticed.”

Or…is the data actually an overblown piece of marketing? That’s what user iamlost says when they write,

“You know, for a group (webdevs) that tend to utilize various analytics programs daily you’d think the statistics hogwash being passed in that piece would cause laughter not consideration… Most reporters (and marketers) should not be allowed near stats.”

You can read iamlost’s full rebuttal of the piece in the thread, and I recommend you do. As user J_RaD writes,

“Ever year we get some kind of ‘death of the desktop’ story,”

and this could be one of them, I suppose. Or do you agree that desktop may really be dying?

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