Are you focusing more on your content marketing strategy this year? You aren’t alone.  According to the Content Marketing Institute, 73 percent of B2C marketers expect to produce more original content in 2017. With eCommerce businesses pumping out content at an all-time high, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to make your own content stand out. If […] The post 6 Content Marketing Tips for Ecomm...

Have you ever tried to explain what you do for a living to an older person or someone who works outside your industry? As marketers, we spend so much time surrounded by people who understand the concept of things like SEO, PPC and evergreen content, it’s easy to forget these are relatively unknown terms for […] The post What Is Content Marketing? (So Even Grandma Can Understand) appeared first on ...

  Remember when content marketing was new and only a few forward-thinking businesses had a blog. It was like the wild, wild west, everyone doing their own thing because there weren’t very many rules or ideas about “best practice.” Those were the days, right? Back then, content marketing was fun. Now, keeping up with all […] The post 7 Smart Tips to Make Content Marketing Fun (Again) appeared first...

2017 Update. This post was originally written by Ann Smarty to share 13 tools for creating visual content. It was time for an update and the post was good enough to expand. Now, we share 39 tools and resources for creating incredible visual content. *** For quality content, nothing beats visuals. They increase pageviews. Content […] The post 39 Tools to Create AWESOME Visual Content (and Boost Eng...

Learn Grammarly’s surprising findings about when you ought to be writing content. One of the best things about running a digital business is that you can do everything yourself. But sometimes, that means doing things that aren’t your “specialty,” things you don’t have advanced training in. And now that most businesses are doing content marketing, […] The post Peak Writing (There Really Is a *Best*...

Content marketing may be “king,” but it’s also a stern taskmaster. First, once you commit, it drives your schedule and not the other way around. With all the work it takes, you’d expect quick benefits, but as you’ve probably discovered, creating great content doesn’t automatically draw traffic to your site. And it doesn’t immediately inspire […] The post Are You Doing Content Marketing Right? (Tip...

Stop struggling to find great content ideas. Tap into these 7 sources. Content marketing isn’t what it used to be. You used to be able to publish short posts on random ideas—almost like a journal. And that not only got you a huge following, it got you traffic and customers too. Not today. If your […] The post 7 Easy Ways to Find Unique, Fascinating Content Ideas (Video) appeared first on Kathryn A...

Have you ever been asked what your company does only to find yourself at a loss for words? “Uh, well, you see…” You stumble, feel around, but come up dry. Which is weird, because you do good work, your products are great, and your clients love you. Obviously you deliver value. You just haven’t figured […] The post How to Craft a Value Proposition that Makes People Love You appeared first on Kathry...

Whether you write for your own blog or submit articles as guest posts, formatting your article in advance saves tons of time. Here’s how to do it right. In today’s video, I show you how to format your article in advance, so writing, editing, and uploading it to the blog are quick and easy. Prefer to […] The post How to Format an Article for a Blog (& Make Your Editor Love You) appeared first on Ka...

In this episode, Luke and I talk about self-confidence, how to know whether an idea is worth pursuing or not, and how failure can actually be an investment in yourself. Gotta love that one! [Podcast: coming soon!] If you prefer to watch the video, here it is: What Do You Think? Do your struggle to […] The post Startup & Grow Episode 4: Failure Is an Investment in Yourself [Video Podcast] appeared ...

In this episode, Luke and I talk about ideas. Do you really need a big idea to create a successful business? I ask Luke to share some of his own ideas and why they worked, to support my contention that no, a good idea is good enough. But don’t trust me. Watch the podcast! You’ll […] The post Startup & Grow Episode 3: Big Ideas and Sidebars [Video Podcast] appeared first on Kathryn Aragon Media.

Ahhh, the beginning of the year… That festive time when we set goals (wishes?) we have no real intention of achieving. But not this year! Oh no. We’re going to do it this year (at least for your content marketing). Because I’ve mapped out a 6-step process that’s perfect for content planning. The idea is […] The post Business Calendar Planning: 6 Steps for Your Best Year of Content appeared first o...

In this episode, Luke and I talk about the mindset of “doing the work” to achieve success. But, of course, there’s more to it than that. To “just do it” (as Nike says), you need to deal with your inner voices that tell you you aren’t good enough… fear of failure… what it takes to […] The post Startup & Grow Episode 2: Success, Failure & Doing the Work appeared first on Kathryn Aragon Media.

Welcome to the Startup & Grow Podcast, by me (Kathryn Aragon) and Luke Tillman-Young. In Episode 1, we introduce ourselves and talk about fake news: what it is and how it impacts us as marketers. Prefer to watch? Here’s the video.   What’s your take on fake news? Is it a trend that’s going to […] The post Startup & Grow Episode 1: Fake News and Trust [Video Podcast] appeared first on Kathryn Arago...

In case you prefer to read, here’s the transcript. Hi everyone, Kathryn Aragon here, with a quick tip for getting better results from your content. One of the biggest problems I see with content today is lack of purpose. We all know we’re supposed to create content. So we start cranking out blog posts or […] The post The #1 Thing Keeping Your Content from Delivering Results appeared first on Kathr...

“Quality content” is a moving target. Every year, what we define as quality changes, sometimes in small, barely noticeable ways and sometimes in big, foundational ways. Regardless of the trends, though, for me, quality can best be described by 3 specific criteria: Original ideas and insights Clear, clean writing Accurate reporting and research These additional […] The post 11 Examples of Top-Quali...

You’ve heard of WIIFM, right? It’s the question everyone asks before committing to anything—a new purchase, a new exercise program, or even adoption of a new marketing tactic. It’s “what’s in it for me?” Everyone talks about how great content marketing is. Today, let’s talk about how content marketing can benefit YOU. To be clear, […] The post The Value of Content Marketing: 5 Reasons It’s Right f...

I have a confession to make. Sometimes I find it difficult to tell people I do for a living. And that’s because, as common as “content marketer” is within the marketing and tech industry, it’s not that well known in other circles. As a result, I sometimes resort to telling people that I’m a blogger. […] The post How to Monetize Your Blog: 5 Actionable Strategies appeared first on Kathryn Aragon Me...

One of the best ways to build credibility and name recognition while attracting your best customers is content marketing. Sadly, though, most people think of content as blog posts—nothing more. Don’t limit yourself! There’s much more to content marketing than blogging. Let’s look at the big picture of what content marketing is, then we’ll review some […] The post 24 Powerful Writing Tips for Conte...

As I see it, content marketing and business growth go hand in hand. So when Noah Kagan announced SumoCon, a full weekend of business growth strategies, I was in. Smart decision. After listening to 16 growth experts share their stories and their best advice, I felt both affirmed and challenged. Here are my biggest takeaways. […] The post Business Growth Strategies: My Biggest Takeaways from SumoCon...