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Brewing a Fresh Cup of Content

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For those who love coffee, a fresh pot of the black gold will get your day started. Others might choose tea or exercise to get their day started but the same idea of fresh tealeaves or a fresh new pair of running sneaks can all be thought of as a start to an awesome day.

Just like a fresh cup of coffee, fresh and exciting content is becoming scarce. In previous posts we’ve written about plagiarism on a national and local level. The individuals have the pressure of writing by themselves and this is in no way an excuse for what they did. But when you can bounce ideas off of a team member or group, it is a lot easier.

Writing as a Team

Writing as a Team can also become challenging but it sure does help when two or three brains are brainstorming about what topics to write about. Using a white board in your office or meeting room can certainly help a team of people come up with topics to write about and how to organize the content. In team discussions there might be even three or four topics to write about with even more content to elaborate on.

But if you are one person or a two person company writing various blogs, the best times to think of topics is when you talk to someone else over a meal or cup of coffee or road trips. We come up with a topic or several to write about when we are on road trips to visit family or out doing errands. One comment or idea can spark an in depth conversation about a possible topic for anyone of our blogs.

Tools to help with writing

I use both technology and paper and pen to write things down. Raul uses various tools such as Omm Writer and provides a detailed outline here of what else he uses to create blog posts. I also use Mind Node and Word for my blog entries. One cool thing that Raul has been doing lately is writing all his ideas on sticky notes, posting them to a wall, and then arranging them into categories where the ideas start forming into common themes.

There isn’t one way to do things as long as they are efficient for you, the company, and clients. The most important thing about writing a blog post is that you are highlighting these key factors:

How your company provides a service

How your company works with clients to resolve their issues and needs while building long lasting relationships

and most importantly how your company makes clients successful

What is your company doing to create fresh, new, and original content?

 

Original Content versus Plagiarisim

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The news that a well-known writer for CNN and Times Magazine was confronted by another news source for plagiarizing someone else’s content has been an important topic of conversation amongst bloggers and journalists within the last several weeks. You can look at an article about his apology here and what he did.

Mass Quantities of Information

These days I am seeing people consuming mass quantities of information and the writers of blogs, newspapers, and digital newspaper as the people who are trying to entertain the masses with whatever they can find and trying to be the first at it exposing anything that will bring more traffic. We also see how companies approve controversial content for the sake of traffic, comments, and a little notoriety for the employee; this lets the company know that they are moving the masses even if the content can be hurtful to a large group or community of people already in the spotlight.

Writing controversial content for your business blog can backfire on you and the company. It can provoke a swarm of bees at any moment that will sting and hurt your company’s efforts, have your current customers leave you, and persuade possible clients to go to your competitors.

 How does one come up with new, fresh, and original content for your blog without looking towards pre-written content on the web about the same subject?

Writing is a Team Effort at CIMA

At CIMA writing becomes a team effort. I might bounce off an idea to Raul and we might have the same ideas or different ones. We write out drafts, have the other person edit, and ask to provide more detail than what was originally written. One of the most fun exercises we did was putting together this post about original content and comparing that to homemade onion rings for Raul’s blog .

We also make sure that we credit other writers and even clients if we need to use them as an example in our posts. Running multiple blogs can be challenging especially when the CIMA team is committed to writing fresh, original content all of the time.

On few occasions we summarize an already written post or provide our perspective on a current event on our blogs. One of our most highly viewed posts for PapaHeroes was written because of news about a tragic shooting in Puerto Rico just minutes after celebrating the New Year this year. I saw a picture of the parent slumped over in a chair waiting outside his daughter’s room in one of the local digital newspapers. I wrote about how I would feel as a parent if something that tragic happened to me. Unbeknownst to us, that same day the parents decided to stop all medical interventions and their daughter died. Raul noticed a spike in visitors on the parenting blog and people were looking for information about the girl from all over the globe. Till this day, people still search for information on the young girl and the tragic event that took her life.

We know that the more content we write, the chances of us landing a client are greater than if we just sit and wait for someone to call for our services. Last year we landed a new client because of the content we wrote and we showed our ability to resolve a potential clients’ issues. We wrote about an alternative to open tables reservations system for a former client who was in the restaurant business.

The content did several things for the person reading it and searching for information online.

  1. It showed CIMA IT had an expertise in working with restaurants.
  2. We used our established client as a concrete example of how they were successful at using the tool we created for them.
  3. Solved an issue he was having for his twenty restaurants and their reservation system.

We spoke to the client about what he needed in more detail once he contacted us and since then we have been able to resolve other issues for him. As a small company, writing original content for the business blog continuously opens the door for new clients. Plagiarizing someone else’s content won’t show your expertise. It will set you and your business up for failure if you can’t deliver what you wrote about or promised in the article.

In our next post we will write about the tools we use to come up with content in order to show our expertise, highlight the work we have done for clients, and build our company portfolio.

 

6 Ideas to Create Content for Your Corporate Blog

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It still amazes me on how many people don’t see the purpose in writing a corporate blog. On many occasions someone wants to establish their online presence and they just want a static page. When I ask business owners why there is only a static page, their answer is that they don’t know what to write about on their corporate blog, or even worse that they don’t have time to be online.

When individuals are so resistant to set up a corporate blog it is obvious that they don’t see the value in establishing one. But maybe if they could get an idea of what they can write about it might sound more appealing to them.

5 Suggestions on what to write about in your corporate Blog that can save you time and money:

1. Answering the FAQ’s of your prospective clients

It is great to have a FAQ page on your site but if you can also use your blog to clear answers with more detail, I can guarantee that in the long run it will be useful for you. It can even save time because instead of writing an explanation you can just point them towards the details on your blog.

For example, we answered the question in our blog regarding what music you can play on a website. Thankfully the post has been viewed by many people and in researching the topic, have come in though Google which can be converted into clients.

2. Client or Customer Accomplishments

In our case, customer accomplishments are very important. So if we can find a way to congratulate our customers it might be a good idea to write a few paragraphs about their accomplishment and how that client is tied to you. If the outcome or accomplishment is directly tied to any of your team’s efforts it makes it even more important for you to include a post regarding your client.

Example: When we launched Food Truck Freak a few months ago for a client they received good press coverage andwe highlighted their accomplishment by writing:

“CIMA goes along for the ride with Food Truck Freak in Chicago”.

3. New Products or Services

If you are launching a new product or adding services it is a good idea for you to let your customers know via your blog. Communicating things via your blog can help you reach your audience directly and also clear any questions that your prospective customers might have at a faster pace than publishing a Press Release or any printed material.

Example: We announced how we started our translation services and also changed our website into a Bilingual One.

4. Previous Comments

Make sure your posts have an area to comment. This is another source for future posts. Based on what your audience is asking via the comments area or conversations that are going on in that area, you can generate future blog posts. If you can answer the question quickly answer it in the comments section. If the answer is complex or detailed, I recommend writing a follow up post so your answer can clear the questions of others.

Example: Based on previous questions we had in our comments when @margieclayman offered to write a guest post for us we  took the opportunity to have her straight to the point post on ” Five Keys to Look For When Searching for a Website Development Partner“

5. Partnerships

If you join up with another organization it is great that you share the great news of the new partnership. This not only shows your new partners that you are excited about the relationship, it also allows your clients and customers to know who you are aligning with to serve them better.

Example: Soon we will share more insight into our partnership with our business partners Chris Brogan, Rob Hatch and the rest of the Human Business Works Team. (News & Press area).

6. Tutorials

Similar to answering questions, you can create a post with a tutorial of a process in order to further educate your customers. Instead of running them through the process in an email, you can create a resources section in your blog that is available for everyone to review and understand.

Example: We love to learn from other blogs so we make sure every once in a while we add a tutorial or answer questions that might be useful to our readers like  “Exchanging your LinkedIn Info via QR Code” and “3 Ways To Make Your Keywords Useful On Twitter“

Do you have any other suggestions on what things you can write about on your blog?

photo credit by Keith Williamson

Attracting Clients via Quality Content

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A question was posed in one of the groups that I participate in on-line; “How do you measure online influence?” to which I replied that tools such as Klout do not influence me. What will influence me to visit a person’s or company’ website is the content that is relevant to me.

We have all heard the adage that “Content is King” and this is relevant as small and large business delve into social platforms or decide to create a website. The content that is published on a website or posted on a social platform has to be captivating for me to read or research. Sometimes the titles of certain posts can be misleading and when I read the content, I feel that I have wasted my time. At this time in my life I am a new mom. Content shared on social platforms about nursing, toy recalls, or parenting tips is going to be of interest to me. This may lead me into forwarding the information to other new parents and I might even leave a comment on the company or person’s site.

When researching content for our clients such as the Puerto Rican Parade of Fairfield County, news, history, events, or facts about Puerto Rico posted in a twitter feed, will pique my curiosity and I will read the content to see how relevant it is for their community to read.

How does one post quality content to capture the attention of a new client and keep the old ones coming back?

Relevancy: It has to be relevant to a group of people that may have vast interests with one goal in mind at the moment you post information on a twitter feed or Facebook page. Food always draws the attention of many folks with a wide variety of tastes. Our client Archipielago has a menu for those who are looking for an entrée that is meat, fish, or vegetarian based.

Resolve an Issue: The content in a website has to also resolve an issue. Our friends at TropicalBloomPR wrote an article about how to keep your pets away from eating plants or digging up a garden. They provided an eco-friendly and harmless solution to persuade your pets to play somewhere else.

Sparks Debate: The ideas you convey in an article are not going to strike a chord with certain people. There are going to be people that agree with what you write and others that will have a totally different opinion. If you can spark a healthy debate without insults, then you know that the content you have written is being talked about. On RaulColon.net, Raul wrote about how Fragile the iPad2 is and the incident that occurred when his fell on the ground and the screen cracked. Some people were sympathetic to what happened, while others who are not Apple fans gave their opinions about his mistake in buying such an expensive item.

Shared with others: Once the person feels that the content has solved their issue and is relevant to them, they will have the urge to share it with others. I wrote a post about going Vegetarian during Lenten Season on VegLatino.com. I knew that the title, content, and suggestions written about was going to be forwarded to those who are Catholic, Vegetarian, and people looking for a solution to the issue of preparing a meatless meal on Fridays. I had quite a few comments on Facebook about the article and it was even shared on another site called The News Taco.

Quality content on your website might be relevant to one person and might not be for someone else. Always keep in mind how you will fulfill your client’s basic needs and how you will attract new ones.

What is your interpretation of quality content?

What factors draw you to comment on a post where the content has been relevant to your specific needs?

photo credit by ragnar1984

Do you have permission to Play Music On Your Site?

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Beware of  the Music you use on your site you just may be breaking the law and copyright infringements. There are laws that you need to learn about if you are posting music on your website, an on-line slideshow, or even YouTube video. These laws protect the rights of music artists ,their work, and how the consumer uses or shares their product.

A question arose from one of our clients trying to find music that was protected under creative commons. A slideshow of one of their events made by a third party contained music that was violating copyright laws.

How could we help the client understand that the music they are using is violating a law and still help them create a slideshow for the website?

I asked for help from Jose “Pepe” Pesante (@joeprog) radio host of  http://frecuenciasalternas.com and editor-in-chief of  http://vorticeonline.com for assistance with finding a site under creative commons related to the music industry. Thanks to his expertise, he was able to provided me two sites; one called SoundCloud and the other Bandcamp. Both offer CC licensing and options for purchase, free download or streaming only.

I would recommend SoundCloud over Bandcamp because it is very obvious that it is for sharing. SoundCloud 101 is a simple guide that has a section for music artists and those looking for music, regarding the terms of their site.  It also provides details of how one shares music under the creative commons license. There are samples you can listen to on the main page.

You can sign up for both sites as an artist or group promoting your music as long as you are complying with U.S. copyright laws and the websites’ Terms of Use.

Here are the links to some of the sites that I found useful that talk about copyright law for music along with links to SoundCloud and BandCamp.

http://mpa.org/copyright_resource_center/copying

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_copyright_law

http://soundcloud.com/

http://bandcamp.com/

photo credit by bwhistler