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Resources for Bloggers Who Don’t Know What to Write About

There’s nothing more frustrating than a writer’s block. You stare at your screen and the cursor just taunts at you maniacally. For those times of desperation, content creators are in need of a more forthright solution.

If you are struggling to come up with new articles for your blog and keep your audience engaged, here is a list of some of the most tried and tested resources that you can turn to when word drought sets in.

Yahoo Answers

Yahoo Answers is probably one of the most underrated resources for blog topic generation. This site mostly serves a resource for people who are in search for answers. Creating contents that responds to the challenges that these people are facing will not only boost your credibility, you are also guaranteed that people will return to your site the next time they are looking for an answer.

Google trends

There’s no better way of generating a blog topic idea than using phrases and keywords that are performing well in terms of search volume. Those are the topics that you want to write about, and Google trends can help you bring those topics to light.

The Top Searches option allows users to view the top searches that Google conducted. These searches are sorted into different categories like Sports, Entertainment, Business etc. The Hot Searches option, on the other hand, gives you an opportunity to view the top searches by day.

Blog comments

Content writers fail to realize the importance of blog comments for generating a new entry for their blog. Believe it or not, your next blog entry lies in a small bit of reader feedback. That being said, we suggest going through your old blog posts, especially the most popular ones, and take time to read the comments.

Make a list of all the questions and suggestions that you see and feel free to use it as a resource the next time you find yourself staring at a blinking cursor.

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3 Tips to Build Your “Online Beer Brand”

When your customers love your beer and brewery, they want to help build your brand! They want to be able to share your brewery with their friends and family. In today’s world of Social Media it is VERY simple for them to do that as long as you have the right strategies in place. Remember it is more than just posting onto Facebook and Twitter, it is about getting your hands dirty and letting those that love your brewery get involved in the process!

3 Tips to build your “Online Beer Brand” 

  • Tell Your Story: Behind each great brewery there is a unique story to be told! For example Sam Adam’s founder Jim Koch fondly tells his story on the back of the Boston Lager six pack. He found his grandfather’s lager recipe in his fathers attic, brewed the first batch it in his kitchen, and with a little tweaking, Boston Lager was born. The rest is history, with the creation of Boston Lager Jim Koch began the highly successful Sam Adams Brewery. Through that story they were able to build “trust” amnugst their fans! This is KEY, once you have told your story and built that trust you have a loyal customer for life!

 

  • Create a Clear Identity: Your image embodies your brand. The reason why craft beer is so fascinating is that each has a unique identity. Craft your identity using traits you feel closely align with your personal brand. Remember, once your image has been set out into the world, it can be hard to change or retract it. Your identity should show something about your story!

 

  • Stay the Course: Once you begin the branding process, stay consistent throughout social media, websites, marketing materials etc. You do this so your customers and potential customers will recognize who you are and already have an idea what you are about. Without consistency, your brand will seize to exist.  Along those lines of being consistent you also must be able to make adjustments. You may want to update website images, and social media images as needed, still staying consistent with your brand!  To find out which areas of your branding campaign may need adjustment, talk to your customers and monitor your brand!
Follow these three steps and your brand will continue to remain true and your core values will shine through! Your craft beer brand will thrive!!! There are so many opportunities out there for craft breweries to be able to thrive online and build an amazing online and offline community. We would love to help your brewery with their online marketing strategy! Please call us today for a FREE 1 hour consultation and strategy session (720)338-6996 or email Marketing@TheBIMSTeam.com we look forward to working with you soon!
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Solutions to Common Lead Generation Problems

Generating leads for your business is not an easy task. It requires a lot of work. If it would make you feel better, we’d want to let you know that there is a ton of other marketers who are also struggling with the same troubles.

In this article, we have rounded up some of the most common lead generation problems along with the solutions to help you get things rolling in the right direction. Read on and we’ll tell you more about it.

Low traffic

Your ability to produce a steady stream of traffic is important as it affects your ability to turn visitors into leads and leads into paying customers.

If your traffic is leveling off, then optimization is necessary. That being said, you might want to conduct keyword research. On-page SEO practices like the use of keywords in your title tags, headers, meta-description, links and URL will help you boost your search engine results ranking.

Unqualified leads

Producing tons of leads is great, but it’s the quality of incoming leads that will influence the success of your business.

The best way of addressing unqualified leads can only be summed up in 2 words: buyer personas. In order to capture the right leads, you first have to determine your target audience and capture their attention.

Tight budget

If you think lead generation is challenging, it could be even more challenging if you are working on a tight budget. When the money tree shrivels up, you should have a plan in place in order to sustain lead generation.

If you are focusing on traditional methods or PPC, we’re not surprised why you are sweating profusely. Well, we’re not insinuating that inbound marketing is free, but there are a lot of methods that you can use without sucking up your entire budget.

Lead generation doesn’t always have to be costly. This is especially true if you think smarter, not harder.

 

 

 

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How to Use Video Marketing to Boost Your Business

According to a survey done by comScore Inc.,a global digital marketing service, the average Internet user watches about 185 videos each month. This includes advertising videos, personal videos, entertainment and news clips, etc.

Videos are a great way of engaging your audience in a way images and texts alone cannot. By adding video to your marketing campaign, you can give heart and personality to your business, while demonstrating your authenticity. Additionally, video is capable of providing as much as 50% conversion rate.

If you have no idea what type of video you should create, here are a few tips that will help you produce informative and entertaining clips that will also reveal the human side of your business.

Use customer testimonials

Nothing is more compelling than hearing your clients explain how your products or services helped solve their problems or improved their lives. Use this video to help prospective customers see themselves in the stories of these people.

Demonstrate your products or services

Instead of telling your current and potential customers how your business works, it would be best to show them. In other words, take your how-to guides to the next level and bring it to life. Mind you, educated buyers are more likely to make purchases.

Product reviews

The best products reviews usually come from trusted third-party reviewers. These types of videos can be found from various business portals to YouTube. Feel free to partner with reliable third parties and ask them to create products review for your business.

Corporate overview

These videos are mostly considered as the equivalent of company brochures.  Corporate overviews are usually intended to provide your audience a better idea about your company. These types of videos often include the executives, owners, key products and company history.

Visual stories

Visual stories usually include motion graphics, animations and illustrations with a voice-over. Videos of this kind are intended to explain complex products in a simpler and more compelling manner.

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Ways to Attract New Readers and Keep Them Interested

Increasing traffic is one of the biggest challenges a blog owner face, but there is nothing more challenging than attracting new readers and converting them into regular visitors. Readers are fickle and gets bored easily. There is a whole world of entertainment out there, if your posts do not interest them, they’ll abandon your blog and start looking for something that would feed their curiosity.

Follow a posting schedule

The publish date of your most recent post is one of the first thing most people look at when they visit your blog for the first time. If the last one was posted a few months ago, then readers won’t even bother coming back to check for newer contents. If your schedule is loaded, keep a regular schedule and make sure to come up with at least one blog post a week or twice a month. This will keep your readers coming back for more. Also it’s a great way of showing them that you are committed to your blog.

Respond to comments

Visitors would be happy to know that you are taking note of your readers’ comments and is actually responding to them. Responding to comments is a great way of starting a conversation with your audience and making them feel appreciated.

Keep content relevant

Keeping your content relevant is the key to building credibility in your niche. Your readers will stop coming back if they cannot relate to your contents. While writing about a new topic may drive new readers to your blog, they may not come back once they realize that the post that caught their interest is only a one-time thing.

Start a series

Writing a series is a great way of capturing the attention of new readers and would keep them coming back for at least one more time. Also, first timers may be interested enough to click through your internal links.

Make sure to include a note in the first part of your series stating the schedule of when the second part will be due. Most importantly, don’t forget to link to the previous parts of the serious as your progress. Readers would love to follow the series and be able to click back to catch up on the parts that they have missed.

 

 

 

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Facebook Posts That are Guaranteed to Get More Likes, Shares and Comments

These days, almost everyone seems to want more likes, shares and comments on their Facebook posts, but creating content is not easy. As a matter of fact, a lot of businesses are having a hard time coming up with ideas that sometimes they just give up.

If this sounds like you, then we’re hoping that this post will help you come up with an effective Facebook post that will get you crazy likes, shares and comments.

Post photos

Most Facebook marketers believe that images are the cornerstone of Facebook. People love seeing photos.  These days, people are so overloaded with information that they prefer something that is easier to consume. Plus, photos are fun to share too.

By posting the right images, you are guaranteed to generate more engagement from your fans. But please keep in mind that moderation is the key. These photos may get you some viral sharing but posting an endless stream of random photos could do you more harm than good.

Fill-in-the-blank

If you love getting comments, feel free to use fill-in-the-blank type of posts. People love to offer their inputs. Be creative and have fun creating your own posts. However, be sure not to leave it too open-ended as the engagement may suffer if you require your fans to come up an entire sentence. Keep the post short and ask for a short answer.

Videos

Video is a great marketing tool. If you are willing to appear on those videos, then it would be easier for you to connect and build trust with your audience.

One of the best ways of using video is through education. By creating an educational video, you are showing your audience that you know what you’re talking about and that you are an authority in your business.

Telling stories is another way of using videos. If you have just launched your business, this will be a great way of telling your story and introducing your company to the public.

 

 

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Signs That Your Blog Readers Are Getting Bored

Whether you’re doing it for pleasure or for your business, having a set of loyal readers can be rewarding. But how would you know if they actually liked your recent posts or not? If you fail to capture the attention of your audience, they are more likely to stop visiting your site and move on to the next site.

Here are a few signs that your readers are starting to get bored. Read on and try not to send your readers to dreamland.

Traffic to your blog drops

If the traffic to your blog suddenly drops, this means that some of your regular readers are no longer returning to read your most current blog posts. It may also mean that your website has been penalized after a search engine update took place.

Either way, it is important to make use of your analytical skills in order to determine the real cause of the problem. If the reduction in traffic was a result of a search engine issue, then it would be easy for you to bring back the traffic that your site used to have.

You no longer receive any comments

An interesting blog post will most likely receive a few comments and compliments. In some cases, a discussion may follow. Since you can’t see their reaction, let us assume that the lack of comments mean that they don’t have anything worthwhile to say or they got bored reading the article and decided to move on to another blog.

Write in a conversational tone and feel free to ask for opinions. If you can capture the attention of your readers, get them to air their opinions and participate in discussions, then you have a great chance of keeping them interested.

Interest in contests and giveaways is poor

They may not be interested in the prize. Yes, that may be true. However, if your readers are not showing any interest in joining your contests or giveaways, then this is a clear indication that they are not feeling the excitement that they once felt when visiting your blog.

The prizes do not necessarily have to pricey. Instead, choose something that would be of great value to the people in your niche.

 

 

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How to Bounce Back From A Social Media Disaster

Social media disasters may come in a range of fails and embarrassments. Insensitive statements and inappropriate opinion may reflect poorly on your company. Add this to the fact that social media is very public in nature, one mistake may become potentially disastrous.

If you have accidentally sent out a regrettable status update or tweet, don’t panic. Calm down and see if the situation is salvageable. If you’re not sure what to do next, read on and use these tips to help you bounce back from a social media disaster.

Disaster response

Being on the verge of jeopardizing your company’s reputation, it is important to come up with a thoughtful and well-crafted response. As much as possible, avoid a knee-jerk reaction.

In most cases, businesses are not prepared in handling social media disasters. Responding quickly and inappropriately will only make matters worse. Calm down and take a moment to deliver a carefully-worded and rational response to your fans and followers.

Accept your mistake

Everyone makes mistakes, including the most savvy social media marketers. However, the worst part of committing a mistake is by acting like nothing wrong has happened. Whether you have criticized a customer, made an offensive comment or post, or something else, it would be best to accept your mistake and be accountable for your mistakes.

We understand that damage control is on top of your priority list, but deleting the post or comment and acting as if nothing happened can hurt your reputation.

Rebuild your image

A lot of companies have survived a social media disaster, and so can you. After everything has been done, you now have to rebuild your image. Mind you, this may involve an extensive process and you’ll have to work for it for a long period of time.

The key to stopping a social media disaster is by building an incredible brand image. This can be achieved by serving your customers well. At the end of the day, it’s about being honest to your customers/clients and humanizing your brand.

Taking appropriate action immediately after committing a mistake will not only reduce harm, it can also save your brand’s reputation.

 

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How to Drive Business Using Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites have been used by business owners to build their network, engage with their
customers and bring team members together. If you are a business owner and still hasn’t been
embracing the benefits of using social networking sites, now is the best time to hop onboard.

Social media also has the ability of dividing industries as outdated companies usually fall behind their
competitors. With the advancement of technology, it is also seen as a way of opening up opportunities
for small, medium and large businesses. Having said that, it becomes clear that social media is one of
the most important aspects of doing business today.

Developing a social network strategy
Before you decide to open an account and become an active member, you first have to consider what
each site has to offer and how you can benefit from them. Also, take a look at your current social media
strategies and see which one would best suit your target audience. Without a fully-developed plan, you
may end up meandering through a variety of sites and eventually realize that you have wasted too much
time and resources in the process.

Choosing a site
Choose a social networking site that would best fulfill the goals of your marketing strategy. Though most
of these sites are similar in nature, they are also categorized according to the purposes they serve. If you
have enough people to handle a number of social networking sites, then that would be great. If not, it
would be best to focus on 1 or 2.

Social network marketing
This is not about selling your product; it’s about interacting with your followers. Companies who interact
more with their followers and share contents that are related to their brand are the most successful at
converting followers to paying customers.
Feel free to ask questions on your wall, comment on other user’s post or post links and events related to
your business.
Social network recruiting
This is one of the most effective ways of using your networks in finding the best candidates for your
company. Social networks have truly changed how companies build their team. Plus, it helps business
owners to zone in on the best candidates for free.

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