4 Link Bait Worthy Blogging Styles
Published January 4, 2013 | 
Looking to create natural back links for your site? You need to master the art of link baiting. Link baiting is simply creating content that readers find entertaining, educational and valuable enough to share on social media and link to. Not only will this content create links that drive up your rankings and SEO, the links are organic and create the type of buzz that gets you noticed.
Creating link bait is time consuming but relatively easy once you master the concept. There are really only four simple blogging styles you need to understand to create content that hooks interest and results in links.
Bait #1 – The Educational “How To” Post
Are you an expert? Would you like to be? Create a series of educational posts with clear instructions on how to solve a problem or handle a complex task. People are searching for step by step guidance on a variety of topics. When they find a post that offers understandable guidance accompanied by screen shots or a video they share it, link to it, and talk about it with their friends.
Finding ideas for this type of post is easy. Pick a topic or niche and look for a forum with user questions and comments. Find a few questions you can answer and you’re in business. Writing a series of posts that offer guidance on hot forum topics establishes you as an expert and conveys instant credibility.
Want your post to go viral? Add tasteful humor or a funny video that draws a smile or an outright guffaw. That’s something worthy of sharing!
Bait #2 – The Controversial Post
Do you have something to say? Can you handle the heat of debate and respond to heated comments with respect and dignity? Consider expressing your opinion in a controversial post. Controversial opinions, when expressed boldly and tastefully, attract a lot of attention. They can even go viral quickly and stay there.
The key to a controversial post is respect. Posts like these draw lots and lots of comments and not all of those comments are friendly. Your post must respectfully and boldly share opinions or thoughts and then encourage comments. While you can be inflammatory, you must never be offensive.
The comments will start pouring in. Be prepared to respond respectfully. Your goal is to encourage debate that attracts attention not start an idea war that leaves offended people turned off to your content.
You can only go to the controversial post when you have passion about the topic. Without a genuine passion for your position your post will lack credibility and hurt you in the long run. Throwing in a controversial post occasionally, however, is good for your reputation and your SEO.
Bait #3 – The Ever Popular List
People love lists. They make lists, look for lists and enjoy reading lists. The topics for a list post are infinite. Simply compile a list of any number (3, 7, 12, 100) of opinions, facts, tips, or items and you have the raw material for a list post.
Your list doesn’t have to educate or instruct. It can be silly, funny, or just plain dumb and attract the attention you need. Lists of trivia are always winners. If you can combine valuable information with humor you’ve really got a winner.
Here are some easy rules for creating list posts...
- Use the numeral in the title rather than the word. For example, “10 ways to lose weight” is better than “Ten ways…”
- Mix things up by including surprising items or adding things that don’t seem to fit just because you want to. Keep the reader guessing (and smiling.)
- Count up or down in your list. Using a progression gives logic to your post and makes it more reader friendly.
Consider encouraging readers to comment and share their additions to your list. Just because you’ve listed your “Top 10 Movies of all Time” doesn’t mean everyone agrees with you.
Bait #4 – Newsworthy Posts
What’s hot right now? Trendy, newsworthy topics make great posts. Find a topic that is trending high right now and create a well written post that presents the topic an original way and you’ve got a winner.
Newsworthy posts are all about quality and creativity. You must perfect your writing style and offer an engaging perspective to create the buzz you’re looking for. Simply rewriting a news article on a topic won’t cut it.
Pay attention to format and create catchy headlines and subheadings for your post. Offer a unique spin by highlighting a portion of the topic and making it relevant to the reader. For example, there are lots of posts about unemployment. Your article about finding humor in a job search presents new and engaging content worthy of sharing.
Posted in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media | 
blog, link bait, ranking, SEO | 
Leave a comment
Direct Mail + Social Media: the Future of Direct Response Marketing
Published December 27, 2012 | 
Think direct mail marketing is dead? Think again. Direct mail and social media together are the future or direct response marketing and with good reason. Combining the two forms of marketing creates a compelling campaign that leverages the strengths of both and provides amazing results.
Using Direct Mail to Drive Social Media Engagement
Rather than the traditional direct mail approach of an appeal letter with a call to action and a response card, direct mail is becoming a targeted way to drive traffic to your online social media accounts and website. Postcards with social media buttons and targeted calls to action are delivering proven results. The opportunities are limited only by your creativity.
Consider adding an offer of free stuff or a discount if prospects log into Facebook and post a comment about your business or simply answer a few survey questions. Not only do you gain a response and traffic on your site, the survey can provide valuable market research quickly.
Including a QR code on your postcard along with a call to action makes good sense. By tying the QR code to a YouTube video or interactive mobile site you encourage immediate response.
Contests are a part of social media marketing strategy. You engage your audience and encourage comments and interaction on your site. Announcing the contest during a targeted direct mail marketing campaign can increase the response and give you even greater benefits.
Using Social Media to Power Direct Mail
Using direct mail to drive social media engagement is not the only way to integrate the two forms of marketing. Cross media promotion can include using social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest to power your direct mail efforts.
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest collect useful data about their members. Facebook information, for example, can be used to create personalize mailers and direct mail campaigns. Combining these mailers with a personalized URL and a call to action and including a social media badge on the landing page completes the marketing circle.
Posting on your Facebook page or Twitter account about a promotion available only through direct mail can create anticipation and excitement about your products and promotions. When your followers learn of the 25% promotional discount on your products available only by redeeming the coupon included in your next mailer, for example, they will check their mail box eagerly.
Promoting an event? Promoting a new product or service? You can include a request for literature via direct mail as a part of the social media promotion. Literature mailed in response to a request is more likely to deliver the results you need.
Do your direct mail campaigns include a personalized URL to a landing page? Consider creating a general landing page for social media users. Posting this URL along with a call to action multiplies the effectiveness of your direct mail marketing campaign by engaging social media in the same offer.
The Interactive Future of Marketing 
Social media is changing and growing more powerful every day. Look for interactive marketing opportunities to expand as social media evolves.
Imagine using QR codes or personalized URLs and images personalized from a consumer’s Facebook or Twitter account to create an appeal just for them. Perhaps placing a pin on Pinterest will result in a discount coupon via direct mail or a special survey or incentive. While it’s unclear what the interaction will look like, response rates are practically guaranteed.
Posted in Direct Mail News, Social Media | direct mail marketing, response, social media | Leave a comment
3 Ways to Power Your Direct Mail Profits Using Social Media
Published October 2, 2012 | 
Direct mail has been a powerful, profit driving marketing strategy for decades.
However, it can also get expensive, especially if it doesn’t convert as well as you’d hoped. Perhaps that’s why everyone is talking about Social Media marketing now. Why bother with direct mail when you can just use Social Media to get access to floods of customers without spending a dime on printing?
A better question would be…why not use both?
In this article, we’ll show you three ways to use Social Media AND direct mail to get more new leads, to drive more new sales and to increase your company profits.
#1: Direct Mail + “Pay With a Like” Offers
The “old school” method of direct mail relied mostly on conversions. If you didn’t make the sale on the first mailing, you had to mail again and again hoping the customer would “get it” the third, fourth or fifth time.
By using Social Media in your direct mail offers, you can create a connection and use that connection to follow up on your original mailing. A great example is using a “pay with a like” offer to invite your customers to like your Facebook page in exchange for a freebie product or a digital discount code.
Most consumers have smart phones, and a lot of them use their smart phones to stay connected with their friends on Facebook. If you create an online offer which delivers a free product, coupon or download to all your new Facebook fans, you can include this offer in your direct mail using a QR code.
This way, you capture fans on your Facebook page and have the chance to market to them again and again without paying for extra printing.
#2: Direct Mail + Verified Testimonials and Reviews
The most powerful thing about Social Media is its ability to validate how socially trusted your company is. You don’t always have to connect with customers online to demonstrate your company’s social proof either. By using Social Media and direct mail together, you can deliver social proof directly to your customer’s mailbox.
Imagine having a QR code on your direct mail piece that linked directly to your company reviews on Yelp, Facebook or Google local. The customer could then simply scan the QR code using their mobile device, and suddenly have access to dozens of positive reviews about your company, all of which were connected to real Social Media accounts.
The other option would be to simply print testimonials on your direct mail pieces…but how does the customer know those testimonials are even real? By connecting your reviews to real Google +, Yelp or Facebook accounts, you eliminate this fear by giving your prospect a way to instantly verify your social proof.
#3: Direct Mail + Video Testimonials
If you really want to power up your direct mail profits using social proof, include video testimonials in your direct mail pieces. You’ll need a YouTube channel with some video testimonials from your customers to make this happen; but with these in place, you can use a QR code to send prospects to your YouTube page where they’ll see video testimonials from your happy customers.
Imagine using this strategy in conjunction with the reviews on your company Facebook page, on Yelp or on Google local and adding your “pay with a like” offer to increase your lead capture.
Just try them out when you do your next mailing. You’ll discover that Social Media and direct mail working together can drive more leads, more sales and increase profits faster than either method could on their own.
What is Pinterest?
Published October 2, 2012 | What is Pinterest?
It's a bulletin board. It's a social website. It's both. And Pinterest is a recent marketing phenomena that has caught on like wildfire. In short, Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board - only instead of flyers or posters, imagine the bulletin board filled with photos and videos. And it's a social website that is centered around sharing - sharing photos and videos. One of MSI's most popular blog articles - Why is Facebook so Popular? - has attracted thousands of visitors trying to figure out why so many people use Facebook. Now we are trying to learn what is Pinterest and what is making Pinterest so popular?
Pinterest Uses
Pinterest allows you to share your interests, discover others peoples' ideas, get inspiration from others, and organize images in an aesthetic, clean, and uncluttered fashion. Like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, both individuals and businesses use Pinterest for their own purposes. As an individual, you can create a bulletin board with ideas for decorating your home, plan a wedding, or sharing your favorite sports video clips with friends. Do you like window shopping? Ecommerce sites that are using Pinterest to show their wares with flair are looking for you, and you'll enjoy browsing their highly visual Pinterest boards.
Pinterest for Business
Users of Pinterest are 79% more apt to buy items they see pinned on Pinterest boards, as opposed to what they see on Facebook newsfeeds, according to a survey about social commerce by SteelHouse. And Boticca found that inbound traffic that came from Pinterest spent over $180, compared to the $85 spent by users that came from Facebook.
There are aps that allow you to track which products of yours are being posted on other people's Pinterest boards, such as Curalate. This give you in depths analytics to help you customize and increase your marketing effectiveness.
How Pinterest Works
It's simple. As you surf the web and see an image you like, you just click the "Pin It" button that you previously installed on your browser.
Getting Started with Pinterest Marketing
There are a multitude of marketing techniques surfacing for the use of Pinterest, and new ones being created every day. Here are just a few of the basics to get you started:
Use stunning, original photos. This will help your images get "liked", commented on, and repinned the most, increasing your Pinterest rank, making your photos more likely to get shown.
Get socially involved. Pinning other people's content will help you build a wider following, and increase your own traffic. Invite fans to contribute to your pinboard, and encourage them to invite other users to your Pinterest board.
Get into marketing. Pin offers and coupons that are exclusively available to Pinterest users, and offer the occassional competition with prizes.
Create a collection or catalog. This is especially helpful if you have numerous images that can be inundating to navigate, and will narrow down the focus for the consumer, making them more likely to be drawn to your site's offerings.
Pinterest's Popularity
Pinterest will soon be a common household word, as it's already made its way into the ranks of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LikedIn and YouTube - even topping many of those pillar sites in traffic and sales.
The attraction lies in that fact that people love images, it's easy to use, and it's free. I doubt this will be a fading trend. It has taken off like the invention of airplanes (ok, maybe we are being overoptimistic). One would be wise to not overlook the potential of this new corkboard-style, visual marketing phenomena.
So if you have not already signed up with Pinterest, go sign up and start Pinning and let us know what you think.
Optimize Email, Direct Mail and Landing Pages for Better Results
Published June 10, 2011 | A Winning Combination - Three Marketing Methods
Billions of dollars are spent globally each year on marketing. Thousands of marketing agencies, directors and managers continually develop new approaches and innovative strategies to promote their products and services. Despite the many imaginative and novel campaigns that companies launch annually, many of them still rely on three basic marketing methods which consistently deliver excellent results when managed correctly: targeted or bulk direct mail, which is one of the oldest marketing methods; its relatively young cousin, targeted or bulk email; and the newer ‘Big Kid on the Block,’ the landing page. These three marketing methods can work individually, but are far more effective when they are all encompassed in one campaign. Continue reading
