You’ve heard that “content is king” and that every business should have a blog and top-of-the-line website content. But how do you compete when you have less manpower, resources, and dollars backing you up?

Fortunately, there are ways to rise and conquer with the heavy hitting competitors in your niche. Here are five tips:

Take Advantage of Your Lack of Barriers

No matter what industry you are in, the case is the same. The bigger the organization, the more approvals are needed – especially in highly regulated industries like healthcare, education, and insurance. It can take up to a month to “route” a blog post, article, or web page in some organizations. Use this to your advantage as a small business “blogger”. Your blog posts can be more frequent and more timely when your lead time is so short.

Whether you are tying your blog post to a current event or are going for a high frequency of posting, the lack of barriers is a huge advantage you have over bigger competitors.

Take a Stance

This January at BlogWorld Conference, travel blogger Gary Arndt said it best in his session titled “How to Compete Against Billion Dollar Media Empires and Win Engagement and Traffic.” He noted:

“If you want to get heard, share your personality.”

People online want to relate to other people, not other brands, so don’t be afraid to hide your voice – humor, personality, opinion – in your small business’ blog posts. Find a way to let your personality show while also highlighting your business expertise.

Falter on the side of controversial, edgy, and direct, and you will lead potential customers through an open funnel conversion.

Engage, Engage, Engage

Comment on blog posts and utilize social media channels to connect directly with potential and current customers, brand evangelists, and industry leaders.

Create a plan for “getting heard” that includes promotion of your content on various social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and LinkedIn.

Ride on Someone Else’s Coat Tails

Guest blogging is an amazing way to project yourself as an expert in your field. Most publications these days offer guest posting opportunities – like Huffington Post and Forbes.

Well known Associate Editor of Copyblogger, Jon Morrow, suggests to use this method to leverage your reach, authority, and visibility.

Get creative

Repurpose FAQs, conduct interviews with happy customers, report on a recent industry news, create a how-to guide, hold a contest, write about a recent company event or create an infographic.

There are a million ways to get ideas for blog posts. Utilize the abundant online marketing and blogging resources on the Internet by doing simple keyword searches on queries like:

“blogging ideas” or “how to generate blog ideas”

You are not alone: There are multiple resources available to you to dominate your content marketing efforts.

Whether you bring on a third party (digital agency, content marketing firm, freelance blogger) or read up on maximizing your content marketing.

The post David And Goliath: Tips to Create Competitive Content appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Some may call you a dreamer or a fool, but one thing is for sure … you are a natural-born entrepreneur and business leader.

You have the natural aptitude for inventive ideas to fill a product or service gap and the adventure and drive to take you there.

Whether you are an aspiring small business owner looking to launch your first venture in the coming year or having been riding the entrepreneurial train for a decade, here are some inspiring quotes to ring in your New Year with success and good fortune.

From innovation and passion to perseverance after failing, the list compiles quotes from successful business leaders, intellectuals, Internet visionaries, and even rappers so you have hope in the hard times and can latch on to words of wisdom for optimal success in your business.

On Innovation

• “The best use of life is to spend it on something that outlasts it.” – William James
• “I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.” – Thomas Edison
• “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

On Passion

• “I daydreamed for motivation. I didn’t lie to myself and talk about my passions and how if I was passionate enough about something I could be successful at it.” – Mark Cuban
• “The clothes are an extension of me. The music is an extension of me. All my businesses are part of the culture, so I have to stay true to whatever I’m feeling at the time, whatever direction I’m heading in. And hopefully, everyone follows.” – Jay Z
• “I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.” – Walter Cronkite

On Failing

• “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
• “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” – Steve Jobs
• “Show me a person who never made a mistake, and I will show you a person who never did anything.” – William Rosenberg
• “If you fail let it be your fault – Don’t let someone else fail for you.” — Joe Griffin (CEO of iAcquire)

On Motivation

• “You can want success all you want, but to get it, you can’t falter. You can’t slip. You can’t sleep. One eye open, for real, and forever.” — Jay-Z
• “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” — Vidal Sassoon
• “If you ain’t making waves, you ain’t kickin’ hard enough.” — Unknown

On Relevance

• “So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.” – Caterina Fake (Co-founder of Flickr)
• “How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.” – Yvon Chouinard (Founder of Patagonia)
• “I think when you move past your fear and you go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free. Know what I’m saying? Move past the fear.” — LL Cool J

On Excellence

• “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” -- Aristotle
• “Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work.” -– Robert Orben
• “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” – Chinese Proverb

Use these quotes for small business owners to go out and have a prosperous year.

The post 20 Quotes for a Prosperous Year as a Small Business Owner appeared first on Small Business Trends.