King published four novels before his secret was exposed, making this one of the greatest publishing tricks in literary history. As a great ghostwriter, Stephen King has a lot of tips for ghostwriters and content creators in general.

Article Writing Tips for Horrifically Effective Content

“Good books don’t give up all their secrets at once.” – Stephen King

Now, there’s nothing wrong about giving up all your secrets, just be sure to space it out effectively. After all, if you want to brand yourself as a thought leader in a particular industry, you have to provide useful content – but you always want to have something to say.

To do this, spread out your knowledge over a series of blogs or articles. The more in-depth you get on a particular topic, the more valuable the information is and the more content you can squeeze out of your knowledge.

“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.” – Stephen King

Really, Mr. King?

While this might seem counterintuitive at first, it makes complete sense. Shouldn’t writers have and develop our own unique voices? The more that we rely on 3rd party sources such as a thesaurus to do the writing for us, the less of our voice remains in the content. Make your content your own – natural and authentic.

“Description begins in the writer’s imagination but should finish in the reader’s.” – Stephen King

Remember, article writing and written online content should be concise and effective. When we include superfluous descriptions, we muck up the idea and sometimes make it difficult to follow the point of the piece. Surprisingly, you can have very clear and descriptive writing in just a few words.

Word economy is everything. Your words are like dots on the page, and it’s the job of the reader to connect them all.

“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” – Stephen King

To unleash your voice and personality in your article writing, write without any inhibitions. Write as though no one will read it. Once you get all of your ideas and thoughts onto the page, then that’s the time to critique it with an editor’s eye, not beforehand.

Article writing in mental privacy allows you to get all your ideas out. While they may not be the “best” ideas, at least you have the opportunity to develop and revise them with your open-door-edit.

The post Tips for Writing Horrifically Effective Content with Stephen King appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Have you ever taken your car to get an oil change, only to decide four hours and forty dollars later that you would have been a lot better off doing it yourself? Well, you can get the same feeling in the pit of your stomach when you hire a copywriter.

If you want to have a smooth sailing experience, below are seven questions I highly recommend you ask your prospective copywriter before signing on the dotted line.

7 Questions to Ask Your Copywriter

Can I call you?

As an online business owner that works with many (online) marketing agencies and SEO firms, I primarily help my customers through email. It’s fast and easy. What’s not to love?

But when there’s a serious problem or an issue that needs to be addressed immediately, that’s what a phone is for. Don’t hire an online copywriter if you can’t get them on the phone pronto.

Do you provide keyword research?

No joke – there are copywriters out there that don’t do keyword research. It’s kind of like a chef opening a restaurant and asking you to bring your own ingredients. If he’s a really, really good chef (or writer), then maybe you’re willing to “bring your own ingredients.” But that’s pretty rare.

Either way, you should know what you’re getting into.

Will you publish for me?

Again, no right or wrong answer here. But, if you aren’t the most tech-savvy cookie in the cookie jar, then you might want to see if your copywriter can upload content to your blog or website.

Most copywriters and agencies will do this for you at a nominal fee. It takes very little time, but is a huge convenience factor for you, the client.

What’s your opinion on character limits?

Your copywriter should be informed and up-to-date on the latest Google character limits. Ninety two character long titles and 204 character long meta descriptions are going to get cut off.

Make sure your copywriter knows what’s up. Remember, they call it search engine optimization for a reason.

Can I see examples of your work?

Hopefully, you already have seen some writing examples. If not, be sure to ask. Some writers may pull the “I-have-NDAs-card” (non-disclosure agreements). Fair enough.

So can they write you some custom content?

Will you write all of my content yourself?

Here’s a dirty little secret about the writing game: A lot of it gets outsourced without the end-client ever finding out, especially the optimization work that is more or less “keyword stuffing.”

If you’re paying Mr. or Ms. Top Writer with this award and that credential, then you want to know that they’re the one actually writing it.

What guarantee do you offer on delivery time?

First, you shouldn’t have to hound your copywriter to get content delivered at a decent time. Second, you should have a guaranteed delivery date. Third, you should have a guarantee about what you’ll receive (discount, free work, etc.) should that delivery date not be met.

Things happen; protect yourself.

Have you hired a copywriter before and, if so, what questions do you wish you had asked?

Copywriting Photo via Shutterstock

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Your high school and collegiate days might be behind you, but that doesn’t mean the English lessons you learned are over as well.

Even in today’s professional business world, I run across endless grammatical errors in my business dealings. While most typos are forgivable, others cause confusion and don’t provide a good impression.

Whether you’re posting content for your brand or simply exchanging a business email, it’s extremely important for anything you write to be error free. After all, you don’t want to make a negative impression with poor grammar. Clean and compelling content influences both B2B and B2C consumers. Follow these 20 grammar rules below.

20 Grammar Rules for Business Owners

Who Versus Whom

“Who” correlates with the pronouns he/she while “whom” correlates with him/her.

Continual Versus Continuous

“Continual” means always occurring whereas “continuous” means never ending. You definitely wouldn’t want to mix these up in a business contract.

Nor Versus Or

This is one of the grammar rules that is a simple one to remember. Just think of the N. Nor follows neither while or follows either.

Complement Versus Compliment

A “complement” enhances or adds to something, such as a pair of earrings complementing an outfit. On the other hand, a “compliment” is something nice that is said such as, “I like your earrings.”

Affect Versus Effect

Affect is a verb, “That song affects my mood.” Effect is a noun, “That movie has such an inspirational effect.”

Bring Versus Take

You “bring” something with you on vacation, but you “take” something away from it.

Me Versus I

If there are other people in the sentence such as, “Mary, Bob, and I” or “Mary, Bob, and me,” then take out the other people and see what makes sense.

There, Their, They’re

“There” refers to a place, “their” refers to someone’s possession of something, and “they’re” is a contraction of they are. Most of us already know this, but it’s easy to exchange these words. Unfortunately, spell check doesn’t catch these mistakes.

Your, You’re, Yore

Similar to there, their, they’re, spell check usually can’t tell the difference between these. “Your” is possessive, “you’re” is a contraction of you are, and “yore” refers to the past.

To, Too, Two

Phew, there are so many triplet words to watch out for. Use “to” when you’re going to a place, “too” to denote also or as well, and “two” to specify the number 2.

Fewer Versus Less

If you can count it use fewer, but if it’s uncountable, then use less.

Principal Versus Principle

Just think of the last 3 letters of each word. PrinciPAL is a person whereas principle is a moral or standard that is upheld.

It’s Versus Its

“It’s” is a contraction for it is, while “its” is a possessive pronoun.

Literally

Do not be sarcastic if you use the word “literally,” especially in the business world. “I am literally starving to death,” means that you’re about to die from dehydration or starvation. Don’t say literally unless you literally mean it.

Capital Versus Capitol

When talking about Washington, D.C., this is especially tricky. “Capital” is a city such as D.C., but “capitol” is the building where lawmakers meet. So the capitol is usually in the capital. By the way, capital can also reference wealth.

Ultimate

It means “the last.” For instance, “The Titanic’s maiden voyage was its ultimate voyage.” Be careful when using this word. Your innocent “ultimate last day at work” might translate to the last day of your life.

Who’s Versus Whose

“Who’s” is a contraction of “who is.” If who is doesn’t make sense, then use whose.

Than Versus Then

When comparing use “than,” and in all other instances use “then.”

Enormity

CAUTION: Do not confuse “enormity” with “enormous.” Enormity means “evil” and does not associate with the size of something. “The enormity of our marketing campaign” doesn’t refer to how enormous the campaign is – it refers to it as evil.

Elicit Versus Illicit

“Elicit” is the process of evoking something. You want to elicit a response from consumers with a marketing campaign. “Illicit” means illegal. Your business wants to avoid illicitly acquiring products.

The post 20 Grammar Rules for Business Owners appeared first on Small Business Trends.

How fitting that the globe’s largest online store is named after the enormous South American river. With over $48 billion in revenues throughout 2012 alone, Amazon is a dynamic powerhouse that every brand should admire.

Now, you’d have to be nuttier than a fruitcake to think that Amazon achieved this mammoth success with ease. It required blood, sweat and tears – or at least two of the three – for Amazon to become the center of online retail that it is today.

Use the “Amazon Strategy” for Your Business

Fortunately, Amazon’s strategy to attain 250,000,000 monthly visitors isn’t exactly a secret. They’re known for “going all in” and aggressively defending their turf while expanding it. Brands hoping for similar Amazon-sized success should study the way the ecommerce site stays ahead of the curve, expands their territory, optimizes content and gives power to the consumer.

Amazon Creates the Trend

Before e-readers and tablets were mainstream, Amazon took a leap of faith and invested itself in this market. The risk clearly succeeded, as tablets are recognized as one of the fastest-growing new technologies. Instead of simply focusing on selling tablets and e-readers, Amazon developed the Kindle, which placed their own stamp in the growing marketplace. Amazon also created a niche for itself by promoting new, unknown authors.

Did you know that Amazon’s top 100 selling Kindle books were mostly self-published authors? E-readers continue to consume a wider range of content – and Amazon delivers. By staying ahead of the curve like they did with the Kindle, Amazon ensures its relevance and staying power as today’s new technologies become the standard.

Amazon Goes to Hollywood

Part of staying ahead of the curve means that Amazon will also travel into new territory. While an online retail site seems completely unrelated to Hollywood, news has broken that Amazon is investing in at least 30 original movies or television programs.

Instead of simply streaming video content, Amazon is experimenting in creating its own content. Amazon is using data from their sales and consumer base to predict what type of content will be a hit. Likewise, brands should continue to take calculated risks. Just as Amazon is investing in creating video content because they understand how it fits their platform, brands should consider their potential avenues as well.

Optimization Prime

Just like any online presence, Amazon focuses on content optimization to ensure that all of their listings appear nicely in SERPs (search engine result pages). They’ve refined their search system to only bring up the content that you’re looking for.

Furthermore, Amazon’s content is powerful because it doesn’t just appear on SERPs, it’s actually sent to you via email and relevant advertising throughout the Internet. Because Amazon tries to recommend products to consumers, they’ve included a “Fix this Recommendation” button in case one of their suggestions is off base. By doing this, Amazon continues to harness personal preferences to fine-tune their marketing efforts. Is your site optimized to use and gather relevant data?

Power to the Public

For the most part, Amazon doesn’t really sell that much. Most of their content and items come from “sellers.” Thus, the strength in Amazon’s brand is that it is based on user-generated content that can quickly adapt to user needs.

While not every brand can rely on user-generated content like Amazon, every business can afford to give more power to the consumer. For instance, consider adding product review options or testimonials.

The post Case Study: How to Use Amazon’s Strategy for Your Business appeared first on Small Business Trends.

If Apple’s brand doesn’t already impress you, consider the fact that Apple’s store in New York City has a valuation of approximately $4,700 per square foot. Jiminy Cricket – that’s worth as much as the White House.

Despite increased competition from Google and Samsung, Apple retains its status as king of the technological marketplace. Forget any rumors of Apple’s demise. All brands experience cyclical business waves, and while Apple may have had recent blips on the radar, their overall trajectory is still impressive by any figure.

Fortunately, you can incorporate a little bit of Apple into your pie by learning from their marketing strategy. Just like the technology it sells, Apple’s marketing strategy focuses on staying relevant and nimble.

Lessons From Apple

Lessons From Apple’s Customer Service Geniuses

One of the reasons Apple has stayed on top is because of their incredible customer service. I mean, has anyone else been flocked by a swarm of blue-shirted employees the instant they step foot into the Apple store?

Apple’s customer service goes far beyond their helpful floor associates. Anytime you have a problem with your device, you can bring it in to be seen and troubleshot by a “Genius.” And these Geniuses actually know how to fix the technological issues you face. Unlike Best Buy’s Geek Squad, which has frustrated many consumers,Geniuses are effective.

Likewise, is your customer service equipped to handle problems?

Apple’s Comprehensive Marketing Strategy

Apple’s content is everywhere, from YouTube to television to Twitter. Regardless of where you look, the tone of their brand and advertising content is consistent. By keeping a focused vision of what you want your marketing to look like, you will be able to enact a consistent marketing strategy.

Also remember that content isn’t limited solely to your advertising. Emails that you exchange as part of customer service become content that you can use to your advantage. For instance, Steve Jobs was known as one of the few CEOs who personally responded to customer service emails. Even though it was impossible for him to respond to everything, of course, his gesture distinguished him as a CEO who truly valued the consumer experience – and that built loyalty.

You’re Only As Strong As Your Weakest Product

What was one of the first things that Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple? He slashed the company’s product offerings from nearly 400 to just 10. Jobs wanted to focus on the quality of Apple’s products, thereby ensuring that consumers understood that anything they bought from Apple would be quality no matter what.

Likewise, when you ensure that your brand only carries and promotes the best products, you’re building consumer trust.

Apple Photo via Shutterstock

The post How You Can Stay on Top Like Apple appeared first on Small Business Trends.

The Huffington Post recently devised a case for why no one should be ignoring Google Plus. It comes down to this:

• Google Plus is the first social network that truly is based on trust. Google Plus users rank Web content by +1-ing blog posts and websites. In turn, sites with multiple +1’s end up getting higher ranking in the Google search engine results.
• Google Plus users enjoy custom-tailored search engine results. When I search “content marketing” for example, I get specific search results that other people in my Google Plus circles have +1-ed.
• Google Plus is integrated with YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs and other great Google products. We can expect that Google will be rewarding Google+ users with more perks.

How Google Plus Rewards Bloggers

Okay, so that’s all well and good, but what about blogging? Well, the Google Plus blogging connection has been inarguably forged. At this point, it’s only a question of how strong it will become.

Google Plus has this little feature known as the rel=“author” tag. This short piece of code can be added to your blog or website, letting Google know that this content belongs to you (and your Google Plus account). When you show up in the Google search results, your relevant Web page will look like this first search result (instead of the non-Google Author results below it):

Not only does that first link look more authoritative and click-worthy, it actually is. According to Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO:

“Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance.”

By the way, when Schmidt says “anonymous,” he isn’t referring to any subjective position about your Internet status. In Google’s mind, if you’re not on Google Plus, then you are anonymous (and will be treated as such).

Avoid Anonymity: Set Up rel=“author”  in Google Plus

Setting up the rel=“author” tag really isn’t that difficult to do. If you know enough to operate your own little business blog, then you’re definitely capable. There are a number of short tutorials out there, but I recommend this one from Search Engine People, which will show you how it’s done from point A to point Z.

While setting up a Google Plus profile and this tag will produce the desired result (a picture next to your search engine results), I highly recommend using Google Plus actively. We’re not sure yet exactly how users’ level of Google Plus activity will affect their results in the search engine, but it’s very likely that more engaged users will be better rewarded.

If you’re a business owner and you’re not blogging, then the time to start is now. You don’t have to take it from me – just ask Google.

The post Why Google Plus Wants Every Business Blogging appeared first on Small Business Trends.

In the past eight months, I’ve had my Yahoo email account hacked four different times. Considering that I’m a pretty savvy internet user who knows about basic security practices, that’s pretty pitiful on Yahoo’s part.

Apparently, I’m not alone. Thousands of Yahoo account users have reported that their accounts have been compromised – even public figures such as Sarah Palin have had issues with their Yahoo accounts. Despite the fact that these matters have persisted for several months, Yahoo has been slow to address and fix them.

Could this be the reason Yahoo currently has 12.2 percent of the market share compared to 66.7 percent for Google? Is this part of the reason Yahoo’s traffic is dropping at an alarming rate?

Customer service is one of the many backbones of any business, and unfortunately Yahoo has failed to deliver theirs. Brands seeking to grow their place in the market would benefit from a lesson on Yahoo’s customer service missteps and, hopefully, Yahoo can recover.

5 Customer Service Lessons From Yahoo’s Missteps

Over Communicate

Yahoo has had a problem with email security since January 2013, so why has it taken them so long to address the issue?

The online world evolves at a breathtaking pace and online consumers similarly expect fast communication. Your online customer service should be quick and effective.

Make it Personal

One of the reasons Marissa Mayer was an exceptional choice as Yahoo’s CEO went beyond her qualifications – it’s her personality. She’s personable, a woman and she took a CEO job while pregnant. Unlike your typical CEO figure, Mayer is expected to breath new personality into Yahoo, and that excited investors.

Likewise, your customer service shouldn’t simply aim to solve and prevent consumer problems. Instead, target their emotions and a personal connection with them.

Broadcast Efficiently

When news broke of widespread email security breaches, why wasn’t Yahoo on the frontline warning users about the issue? Sure, they were probably trying to avoid negative publicity. But couldn’t they have at least warned us that something was going on?

For most of us, we didn’t realize that anything was amiss until our own accounts were compromised.

Ask for Feedback

Utilizing consumer information is a powerful tool and strategy that any brand can incorporate. Yahoo could have asked for customer feedback concerning their response to the hackings or whether or not their account was safe.

Unfortunately, Yahoo seemed pretty uptight about the whole situation and didn’t communicate or offer a solution. Hopefully other users had a different experience.

Focus on the Details

When a customer has an issue, they don’t care about your marketing strategy, apologies or about how great your brand is. They simply want the issue fixed. When you rectify a negative situation, the customer remembers the good experience and will do business with you again.

While Yahoo didn’t fix their email security immediately, they can rely on the power of their name and the history of their brand to retain users. Not all businesses have that luxury, so focusing on a customer’s problems immediately is crucial.

Concerned Emoticon Photo via Shutterstock

The post 5 Customer Service Lessons From Yahoo’s Missteps appeared first on Small Business Trends.

In Kentucky we have a saying that sometimes a person is “too big for their britches,” and I think the same can be said for businesses as well. As one of the oldest clothing brands in the U.S. (over a century), it’s a shame that JC Penney has been experiencing recent hardships.

According to Forbes, JC Penney has seen their sales drop by as much as 20 percent in a single quarter. Even worse is the fact that their rebranding and marketing efforts have done nothing to stem the loss in revenue. Their “Fair and Square” pricing actually turned people away from the store, not into it. Ouch.

Why You Should Pay Attention to JC Penney

It might seem counterintuitive to learn marketing lessons from a company that’s struggling, but that’s exactly what we should do. You see, JC Penney is at a tipping point. What they do today will determine the fate of the brand – if not the company itself. We can learn from their marketing strategies that backfired as well as the strategies that help the company regain its former strength.

Mistakes and Lessons from JC Penney’s Marketing Strategy

A Sale is Only a Sale if it’s a Sale

Consumers love a good sale. This is what drives them into the store throughout the year. JC Penney tried to take advantage of this by enacting a permanent sale called “Fair and Square” pricing. However, since this became a permanent sale, it really wasn’t a sale and people had no reason to come into the store compared to a one-day daily, quarterly or annual sale.

The technique backfired so badly that JC Penney actually reintroduced “normal” sales. The point of a sale is finding a great deal and it’s not a great deal if it’s commonly available.

Know Your Audience

An illuminating survey recently revealed the fact that consumers don’t like JC Penney’s clothes. The situation here should be obvious: No matter how hard JC Penney tries to market their products, if people don’t like them, then the marketing simply won’t work.

Thus, instead of focusing solely on your ideal demographic, spend some energy researching whether your target audience will even like the product at all.

Beware Your B2B Partnerships

Business-to-business relationships are almost always a good thing unless there’s some sort of falling out, and JC Penney had a big one. They signed an exclusive “Martha Stewart Deal” that was expected to save them. JC Penney would have the exclusive right to distribute Stewart’s products. The only problem? Stewart already has a similar contract with Macy’s.

There are two lessons from this scenario:

• First, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. No B2B should be a make-or-break endeavor. Your brand should be able to stand on it’s own and any collaboration is simply a bonus.
• Second, thoroughly vet your endeavors before embarking on them. It’s bad enough that the Stewart deal may fall through, but it’s worse that this has to happen under public scrutiny.

Eliminate Unneeded Weight

When it was announced that JC Penney’s CFO, Ken Hannah, dumped 10 million of the company’s shares, the financial world was in shock. Hannah explained, “It just wasn’t worth the effort.” The company had other things they wanted to focus on during the turnaround process. Likewise, eliminate unneeded distractions during your marketing campaign.

Consider the Marketing Trends

While some marketing strategies are evergreen in nature, others are newer and on the verge of becoming mainstream. Recently, JC Penney began eliminating stereotypes in their advertising.

For instance, a recent Father’s Day ad showed two men (presumably together) with their children in JC Penney clothes. Regardless of what you think about this social issue, JC Penney deserves commendation for their risk to stay relevant.

The post JC Penney’s Marketing Strategy: Mistakes and Lessons appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Consider This Equation When Creating and Marketing Content

Content + Social Media + Moms = Free Advertising.

Okay, maybe not free, since you have to pay for the content production and the time your social media strategist spends on the campaign, but that’s the small print.

There’s a huge network of moms on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter who want to share information about your business. So when marketing content, begin producing content targeted toward them and they’ll begin sharing it.

Why Should You Target Moms When Marketing Content?

Generation Y moms (a.k.a. “Millennials”) make up a huge portion of social network users and bloggers. Three in four moms use Facebook at least monthly, one in two moms use their smartphones to access social networks (compared to 37% for the non-mom population) and one in every three blogs is written by a mom.

That’s all well and good, but that doesn’t reveal anything about real ROI (return on investment) when it comes to targeting moms.

Consider this: Half of those moms make recommendations about a brand or share brand-related content on a daily basis. Over three quarters of them follow at least one brand and over 90% of them say that they’re influenced by other moms’ recommendations (including shared content).

There’s one other little mom statistic that certainly should not be ignored: Women, many of them moms, make upwards of 80% of purchase decisions in the United States.

Where Content Comes In

In order for you to take advantage of that huge ring of moms comparing and talking about different products and services, you need to produce content for them to share. I’m not talking about some cutesy ads with moms and kids being sentimental about family time—I’m talking serious content.

Moms want information when it comes to products. They want things like descriptions of multiple functionalities and features. They want to know how a product can be useful to them, in real life. They want to know how a product will stand up to use, and they want to know if a service is worth the money (hence the many, many blogs dedicated to moms’ reviews of products and services).

Does that sound like content marketing to you? It sure sounds like content marketing to me.

Pulling It All Together

Really reaching the mom demographic requires two things:

• Interesting, relevant and informative content.
• Expert social media strategy.

With these two marketing aspects combined, you can harness the power of moms and gain huge exposure among the group of people who make more purchasing decisions than any other group out there.

Mom Photo via Shutterstock

The post Why You Should Target Moms When Marketing Content appeared first on Small Business Trends.

But it turns out that the trusted “strategy” when marketing to women is actually something akin to “slap a pink bow on it and call it a day.”

Although most efforts when marketing to women fall painfully short of creative (and effective), it turns out that content marketing is actually the perfect strategy for reaching the female demographic.

Marketing to Women: What Women Want

Pink is Ineffective and Sometimes Insulting

At the heart of content marketing is the idea that communicating deeply with potential customers and clients is beneficial to sales, and that well-educated consumers tend to be more loyal.

Well, pink marketing can do the exact opposite of that.

It turns out that something like 90% of women feel like businesses and marketers don’t understand the needs of the female demographic.

Why is that?

Understandably, women, like any other consumers, want information about the products and services that they’re spending their hard-earned cash on. Women don’t particularly care if something is pink. More important factors in women’s purchasing decisions include things like information about multiple functionality, features and pricing, as well as stuff like size and weight.

Enter Content Marketing

If giving potential clients and customers more information sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’re already thinking about content marketing. Women want information, not color schemes.

In fact, Jack Morton, a brand experience agency, put together a guide to marketing towards women last year, seen below, that recommends providing education and information as the number one way to market to women.

Another guide on marketing to women, this one by the Outdoor Foundation, highlights transparency as a big way to get women’s business.

What better way might you supply more insight into the workings of your business than by writing about it (or paying somebody else to write about it for you)?

The Bottom Line

If you want to reach out to a female audience, “pink and frilly” is not the way to go.

But blogs, eBooks and guides?

They’re absolutely perfect for giving women the information that they want when they’re making a purchasing decision.

A Woman Photo via Shutterstock

The post Marketing to Women: Why Content Marketing Is the Best Strategy appeared first on Small Business Trends.