It's better not to look for quick marketing fixes, but settle in for the long content game. Here's a story about someone who showed me why. Some years ago, in the blazing heat of a South China summer, I decided to walk up to a temple. It was a good two to three-hour hike. ‘Moderate to Difficult’ is how I think the guidebook described it. All the way up, I was shadowed by a hawker. She wore only flip-flops, a grubby Harry Potter T-shirt and shorts. “I’m Chen,” she said. “It me

With so much competition out there, the content you create needs to stand out. It has to be content your ideal customer is hungry for. So before you start to write, it's a good idea to know who you're writing for, who this ideal customer actually is, what they need to know and how you can help them find out. So, who is your ideal customer? If you haven't done so already, now's the time to get under their skin. And that takes more than dreaming up a make-believe character (lea

You just want to write, right? And so you should. You’ll see the phrase “just write” throughout what I say about actually getting down to writing blog articles. Not much anyone can do without any content. But a bit of planning will save time and go towards making sure that what you write: solves a problem is original (or at least contains original thoughts by you, especially if you are using references from other people) is relevant to what people are searching for is a good

There are basically three types of bloggers out there: hobby bloggers, who want to release their creative writing/ranting/journaling urges commercial bloggers, who make money from affiliate links in their blog business bloggers, who want to promote their products and services. All have a common problem: how to get readers. Whichever category of blog writer you fall into, once you’ve written your masterpiece and published it, your blog will sit there waiting to be discovered.

Blogging is a critical way to attract customers to your website. It's one of the most useful tools businesses have to engage with customers. Why is blogging such an effective marketing tool? People with problems to solve usually turn to Google. The search engine answers their questions by looking for new and relevant content on the subject. Which is why blogs are so powerful: because the fresh content they contain will come way higher up the rankings than a website that’s bee

Focus on the ideal client you want to convert. Your content needs to meet a specific need for a specific person... And be mindful of the purpose of your content. It needs to deliver. With forward planning, rather than shooting your content from the hip, you get control, you can measure progress, and it’s easier to delegate implementation of the plan to others - like designers, copywriters and social media experts. But the thought of creating a content plan can be daunting. So