Friday, August 28, 2015

Beautiful Girls

Beautiful Girls

How to Accelerate the Growth of Your B2B Blog

How to Accelerate the Growth of Your B2B Blog



How to Accelerate the Growth of Your B2B Blog from Uberflip
  1. 1. HOW TO ACCELERATE THE GROWTH OF YOUR B2B BLOG Anum Hussain Growth Marketer, Content, Hubspot @anum Hana Abaza VP Marketing, Uberflip @hanaabaza
  2. 2. @Uberflip#uberwebinar @anum We will send the recording. Questions? We’ve got answers! (At the end of the webinar J)
  3. 3. @Uberflip#uberwebinar @anum We will send the recording. Questions? We’ve got answers! (At the end of the webinar J) Join in on
  4. 4. STICK AROUND FOR A DEMO
  5. 5. HOW TO LAUNCH & GROW A BUSINESS BLOG
  6. 6. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Anum Hussain Growth marketer, @sidekick Co-author, Twitter for @dummies #cookiecakelover
  7. 7. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Once upon a time, content took the throne as king of marketing.
  8. 8. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM And as his highness grew in power,
  9. 9. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM And as his highness grew in power, a playbook for success was dictated.
  10. 10. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM PUBLISH.
  11. 11. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM PUBLISH. ALL THE TIME.
  12. 12. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM BUT NOW THERE ARE OVER 152 MILLION BLOGS ON THE INTERNET. Source: WPVirtuoso
  13. 13. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Which means it’s time to handle things a bit more strategically.
  14. 14. 1. Deeply understand your target audience. 2. Produce posts that attract & scale traffic. 3. Fuel growth of blog subscribers. HERE’S HOW:
  15. 15. 1. Deeply understand your target audience. 2. Produce posts that attract & scale traffic. 3. Fuel growth of blog subscribers.
  16. 16. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Before starting a blog, research your target persona.
  17. 17. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Before starting a blog, research your target persona. Contact at least 10 people in your target audience.
  18. 18. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Before starting a blog, research your target persona. Contact at least 10 people in your target audience. Schedule 1-hour interviews in exchange for free coffee or lunch. If virtual interviews, send a gift card.
  19. 19. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 1.  Find out who they are. 2.  Find out what they do. 3.  Find out what they want. 4.  Find out how they see themselves. 5.  Find out how they spend their day-to-day. Ask them five sets of questions:
  20. 20. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 1. Find out who they are. 2.  Find out what they do. 3.  Find out what they want. 4.  Find out how they see themselves. 5.  Find out how they spend their day-to-day. Ask them five sets of questions: Company name? Age? How long have they been in their current role? How large is their team? Why do they do what they do?
  21. 21. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 1.  Find out who they are. 2. Find out what they do. 3.  Find out what they want. 4.  Find out how they see themselves. 5.  Find out how they spend their day-to-day. Ask them five sets of questions: What motivates them? What is the end game for them? What are their aspirations? Why did they change from company A to company B?
  22. 22. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 1.  Find out who they are. 2.  Find out what they do. 3. Find out what they want. 4.  Find out how they see themselves. 5.  Find out how they spend their day-to-day. Ask them five sets of questions: What are their hopes and dreams? What content are they attracted to or read now? What do they think about all day long?
  23. 23. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 1.  Find out who they are. 2.  Find out what they do. 3.  Find out what they want. 4. Find out how they see themselves. 5.  Find out how they spend their day-to-day. Ask them five sets of questions: How do they compare themselves to co-workers? Do they think there’s more to learn about their profession? Do they hangout with their co- workers outside of work?
  24. 24. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 1.  Find out who they are. 2.  Find out what they do. 3.  Find out what they want. 4.  Find out how they see themselves. 5. Find out how they spend their day-to-day. Ask them five sets of questions: What do they read? What do they share? How do they learn about new stuff? New tools? New articles? What do they hate about their day? What do they love?
  25. 25. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM During the interview, look for ...
  26. 26. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM During the interview, look for ... Vocabulary, puns, references, tone, gestures, etc.
  27. 27. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM During the interview, look for ... Vocabulary, puns, references, tone, gestures, etc. What makes them light up, what they hate discussing.
  28. 28. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM During the interview, look for ... Vocabulary, puns, references, tone, gestures, etc. What makes them light up, what they hate discussing. Their outfits, style, accessories, personality.
  29. 29. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Aggregate your results to build an initial illustration of your target blog audience.
  30. 30. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM We interviewed almost 100 people in different industries and roles – each a member of the audience we were trying to reach. We learned that: x  Their days are too packed to focus attention on reading a lengthy article. x  They want to see more content discussing ideas they can take immediate action on. x  They just want to own at their job – many had a strong desire to control their own destiny. Case Study: SIDEKICK BLOG STRATEGY
  31. 31. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM So we took that qualitative insight and launched a blog with three key focuses: ü  Publish concise content that puts high emphasis on direct tactics over fluffy explanations. ü  Publish content from individual contributors, not managers. ü  Publish the secrets to success from top performers. Case Study: SIDEKICK BLOG STRATEGY
  32. 32. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Use these persona findings when planning your content strategy and structure.
  33. 33. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Content takes time. Dedicate at least one full-time employee to tackle it.
  34. 34. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 13X Marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13x more likely to enjoy positive ROI. Source: State of Inbound
  35. 35. We now have a strategy. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  36. 36. We now have a strategy. But what are our target readers ... reading? @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  37. 37. 1. Deeply understand your target audience. 2. Produce posts that attract & scale traffic. 3. Fuel growth of blog subscribers.
  38. 38. Attract & scale traffic to content with these 20 optimization tips. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  39. 39. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Optimize the URL to speak with search engines. Be sure to separate your target keywords with a dash (-) so search engines can read them.
  40. 40. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But don’t make it so long that it seems keyword- stuffed. Google’s algorithm is smarter than that.
  41. 41. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Start with a clear, catchy headline.
  42. 42. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But don’t write a catchy title if it doesn’t accurately represent the content within the post.
  43. 43. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Captivate with your first sentence / meta text.
  44. 44. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But don’t make your meta description too long. Google only displaces 150 characters on SERPs.
  45. 45. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Let readers scan content with section headers. Header Header
  46. 46. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But avoid keyword-stuffing headers – Google’s algorithm penalizes “repeating the same words or phrases so often it sounds unnatural.”
  47. 47. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Use easy-to-read visuals to enhance experience. This is simply email copy in a compose window to help visually enhance reading experience.
  48. 48. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But don’t forget to include keywords in the image alt-text. Search engines read them to better identify what the post is about.
  49. 49. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Integrate internal links where relevant. Internal link to an earlier blog post on same subject.
  50. 50. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But make the first internal link in the post the most important – that’s what search engines rely on most.
  51. 51. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Generate click-to-tweet links for easy sharing. Clicking this auto-generates a tweet readers can publish right away.
  52. 52. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But don’t forget to include a link back to your post in the tweet copy. You want to benefit from the sharing.
  53. 53. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 20% of all SlideShare views come from Google. Source: Alexa
  54. 54. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM This Google juice helps drive traffic from SERPs. Link to blog post with SlideShare embedded. Link to presentation on SlideShare’s site.
  55. 55. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM SLIDESHARE IS THE HIGHEST CONVERTING SOCIAL CHANNEL FOR HUBSPOT & SIDEKICK.
  56. 56. The following optimization tips hone in on SlideShare specifically. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  57. 57. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Let the title show the post contains a SlideShare.
  58. 58. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Embed the SlideShare into the post.
  59. 59. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Keep visitors on your blog, not on SlideShare. Remove these links to the original SlideShare upload when embedding to keep traffic on your blog site.
  60. 60. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 97% more leads are generated for companies with an active blog. Source: ContentPlus
  61. 61. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM TO GENERATE LEADS FROM YOUR BLOG, YOU NEED OFFERS TO COLLECT THEM.
  62. 62. These final optimization tips focus on offers specifically. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  63. 63. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Include a text-CTA towards the top of the post. The first URL hyperlinked in the post gets the most weight from Google.
  64. 64. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Build a form right into the ending CTA. I love this. There’s no need to drive the reader to a landing page when this article and the value proposition of the CTA clearly explains the value of the offer. So simple, yet so brilliant.” @BobRuffolo
  65. 65. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Or test smart CTAs to show relevant-offers. CTA for general blog visitors to offer. CTA for leads to move further down funnel.
  66. 66. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW WHAT WILL WORK BEST IS TO TEST IT.
  67. 67. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Some web forms require more fields. We found that longer lead generation forms generated roughly 16% fewer leads than simply using a CTA image that navigates readers to a landing page. Case Study: HUBSPOT BLOG STRATEGY
  68. 68. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But that wasn’t the case for our shorter blog subscription forms. These one-field forms converted 4X more subscribers than the CTA image linked to a separate landing page. Case Study: HUBSPOT BLOG STRATEGY
  69. 69. But now we wonder: @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  70. 70. But now we wonder: Do we focus on optimizing for leads or subscribers? @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  71. 71. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM THE GOAL OF A NEW BLOG IS GROWING SUBSCRIBERS FIRST, NOT LEADS.
  72. 72. 1. Deeply understand your target audience. 2. Produce posts that attract & scale traffic. 3. Fuel growth of blog subscribers.
  73. 73. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM 76.9% OF VIEWS ON SIDEKICK BLOG POSTS COME FROM EMAIL. Source: Sidekick by HubSpot
  74. 74. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM A typical new post on the HubSpot Marketing Blog generates ~70% of its initial traffic from email subscribers. Traffic from email. Case Study: HUBSPOT BLOG STRATEGY
  75. 75. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM But over time, that initial traffic leads to views / social sharing that translates into long-term organic search traffic growth. Traffic from organic search. Case Study: HUBSPOT BLOG STRATEGY
  76. 76. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM THAT MEANS YOUR SUBSCRIBERS ARE CRITICAL FOR INITIAL TRAFFIC GROWTH.
  77. 77. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM WITHOUT THEM, YOUR ORGANIC GROWTH WILL PROVE DIFFICULT.
  78. 78. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM When first launching (or re-launching) a blog, invite people to read it.
  79. 79. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM When first launching (or re-launching) a blog, invite people to read it. Before sending out email invitations, ensure you have a crisp message for why your blog is different than others.
  80. 80. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM When first launching (or re-launching) a blog, invite people to read it. Before sending out email invitations, ensure you have a crisp message for why your blog is different than others. ü  Can you describe your blog in one sentence?
  81. 81. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM When first launching (or re-launching) a blog, invite people to read it. Before sending out email invitations, ensure you have a crisp message for why your blog is different than others. ü  Can you describe your blog in one sentence? ü  Would your researched persona read it?
  82. 82. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM We sent email invitations to three cohorts of people: 1.  Content Contacts: Anyone who discovered our other content through forms on landing pages. 2.  Churned Users: People who may no longer care about our product but may still care about our industry / best practices. 3.  Email to Non-Users: Leads who may one day use our product, but haven’t yet. Case Study: SIDEKICK BLOG STRATEGY
  83. 83. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM We sent invitations to our current database. The copy reflected a well-thought out message that our audience research indicated would resonate with who we ultimately want reading our blog. Case Study: SIDEKICK BLOG STRATEGY We shared titles of the types of blog posts they’d find on our blog.
  84. 84. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM And we didn’t send them to a different page or form to subscribe – we already have their email, why ask for it again? Instead, we tracked who clicked on the CTA to subscribe and automatically added them to our subscriber list. Case Study: SIDEKICK BLOG STRATEGY We automatically collected any email that clicked on the CTA.
  85. 85. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM OUR READERS SHOULDN’T HAVE TO DO ANY EXTRA WORK TO DISCOVER OUR CONTENT. WE SHOULD.
  86. 86. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Keep growing your subscriber base with two core methods.
  87. 87. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Keep growing your subscriber base with two core methods. Calls-to-action on the blog’s native real estate.
  88. 88. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Keep growing your subscriber base with two core methods. Calls-to-action on the blog’s native real estate. Calls-to-action on your other content assets.
  89. 89. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Experiment with a prominent CTA at the top of your blog homepage. OKDork’s above-the-fold homepage CTA converts at 8%.
  90. 90. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Test a CTA to subscribe at the end or side of each post. DIYTheme’s subscriber opt-in converts at an impressive 2%.
  91. 91. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Try a slide-in CTA appearing as readers scroll down a post. HubSpot’s slide-in CTAs generate 27% moresubmissions than end-of-the-post CTAs.
  92. 92. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Popups on Dan Zarrella’s blog didn’t reducebounce rates and increased conversion by more than 100%. Try pop-up CTA that hovers over the blog post.
  93. 93. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM This sweeps in free subscribers from peoplealready interested enough to share a comment. Provide an option to subscribe when readers leave comments.
  94. 94. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM HubSpot’s landing page forms increased blogsubscribers by 128%. Allow visitors who shower interest elsewhere on your site to subscribe.
  95. 95. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Surfacing the blog to every new user helped theSidekick blog increase subscribers above 50% M/M. Try sending invitations with your best posts during customer onboarding.
  96. 96. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Sidekick achieved an average 4% CTR onemail invites from people who previously stopped showing interest. Or test a one-time send to re-engage churned users with content, not product.
  97. 97. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM We tested each CTA type and quickly generated nearly 10K blog subscribers within six weeks. Case Study: SIDEKICK BLOG STRATEGY
  98. 98. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM WARNING: Watch your engagement rates. You don’t want to send content to people who don’t want it.
  99. 99. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Eventually we reached 60K subscribers. But only 22K of them were actively reading our content. So we removed the others from our subscriber list. Case Study: SIDEKICK BLOG STRATEGY
  100. 100. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM We sacrificed subscribers for success. We believe having a healthy list of engaged readers is far more important than having a large list of inactive readers. This also ensures our strategy is directed by those who care about us most. Case Study: SIDEKICK BLOG STRATEGY
  101. 101. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM REMEMBER: Our goal isn’t to shove content into inboxes, it’s to provide something worth reading.
  102. 102. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM THE PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT YOUR CONTENT CONVERT. FOCUS ON MARKETING TO THEM.
  103. 103. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM That’s our playbook for growing the Sidekick Blog.
  104. 104. Don’t just start writing. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  105. 105. Don’t just start writing. Start thinking critically about your actual blog strategy. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM
  106. 106. @ANUM | ANUMHUSSAIN.COM Questions? (After this event, feel free to ask more at anumhussain.com/presentations/how-to- launch-blog.)
  107. 107. THANK YOU!
  108. 108. FindouthowBookerdecreasedtheir costperleadby71% withcontent. READCASESTUDY

The Entrepreneur Mindset (by Ty Rhame)

The Entrepreneur Mindset (by Ty Rhame)



The Entrepreneur Mindset (by Ty Rhame) from Ty Rhame
  1. 1. They are all successful entrepreneurs who built a business, from scratch to
  2. 2. A GOOGLE SEARCH ON “the entrepreneur mindset” YIELDS THOUSANDS OF SEARCH RESULTS!

  3. 3. LET’S SEE WHAT CHARACTERISTICS SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS POSSESS. Possess qualities like helping others, relationship building, appreciation of others and caring for people.
  4. 4. LET’S SEE WHAT CHARACTERISTICS SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS POSSESS. Possess a positive outlook with qualities like freedom, optimism and looking for possibilities.
  5. 5. LET’S SEE WHAT CHARACTERISTICS SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS POSSESS. Are inclined towards growth through learning, curiosity, innovation, creation, and taking challenges.
  6. 6. LET’S SEE WHAT CHARACTERISTICS SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS POSSESS. Possess characteristics like self-acceptance, self awareness, confidence, ownership and accountability.
  7. 7. LET’S SEE WHAT CHARACTERISTICS SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS POSSESS. Possess the mindset of getting it done through perseverance, hard work, effort and focus on outcome.
  8. 8. Inside the mind of an Entrepreneur CREATES A VISION TO ACHIEVE THE MISSION This means carefully considering all that you want your company to be before it even exists. It means imparting your vision, your dreams and your principles into the company right off the bat.
  9. 9. Inside the mind of an Entrepreneur KNOWS WHEN TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY As the top boss you have to take responsibility for both the good and bad that happens to the business.
  10. 10. Inside the mind of an Entrepreneur HAS AN ENTREPRENEUR PERSONALITY Becoming a successful entrepreneur is hard work that takes a dedication. Some of the personality and character traits required to become successful in this venture include organizational skills, the ability to handle pressure, a tolerance for risk, a strong mental drive, a competitive nature, a healthy outlook on life, a positive attitude, decisiveness, patience, optimism and pure strength.
  11. 11. Inside the mind of an Entrepreneur IS A TRUE LEARNER As a true learner, you know to focus your energy on what is necessary to succeed in life, which includes success in your business. The successful entrepreneur does what is necessary.
  12. 12. Inside the mind of an Entrepreneur HAS TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS A true entrepreneur is never off the clock, even though they know when to work and when to relax.
  13. 13. Inside the mind of an Entrepreneur CAN BREAK RULES WHEN NECESSARY Entrepreneurs have the mindset of breaking rules and looking for ways to do things differently. This means having a global perspective, always peering over the horizon, or at least towards it, to where the next big thing is waiting.

  14. 14. www.tyrhame.comwww.effectus360.com

Beautiful Girls

Beautiful Girls

How I Hire: Look Past the Pedigree

How I Hire: Look Past the Pedigree



How I Hire: Look Past the Pedigree from Linda Descano
  1. 1. How I Hire: Look Past the Pedigree By Linda Descano, CFA®, President and CEO, Women & Co., and Managing Director and Head of Content and Social, North America Marketing, Citi. BROUGHT TO YOU BY
  2. 2. 1.  Credible: Is this someone with integrity and sound judgment, who is believable and trustworthy, and who will act in good faith, not just to the “letter” of a law/policy, but embrace and respect its spirit and intent?
  3. 3. 2.  Competent: Is this person the “real deal”? Does s/he have the requisite skills, experiences and knowledge to be successful in this role?
  4. 4. 3.  Cultural Fit: Is this someone with the values, outlook and behavior that is congruent with that of our organization and team?
  5. 5. 4.  Can-do Attitude: Does s/he have a positive outlook with a bias to action? Is this someone who is resilient and results-oriented? Will s/he act like an owner and not just bring good ideas to the table, but also execute those ideas as well?
  6. 6. 5.  Charitable: Is s/he singularly focused on his/her own success at the expense of others, or is this someone who uses his/her experience, knowledge and connections to elevate and benefit others?
  7. 7. 6.  Change-oriented: Is this someone who embraces change and sees it as an opportunity for—or obstacle to— progress? Can s/he operate comfortably in a fast-paced, dynamic environment?
  8. 8. 7.  Curious and Connected: Is this someone with a thirst for knowledge, who is willing to learn new ways and unlearn old ways? Is s/he actively engaged in industry conversations and well placed to bring fresh ideas, insights and perspective to the team?
  9. 9. 8.  Communicator with Distinction: Can this person organize his/her ideas, get those ideas across and tailor the message to meet the needs of different audiences? Is s/he an acute listener who truly hears and understands the messages that others are sending?
  10. 10. Join the conversation! Connect:  Professional  Women’s  Network,  Powered  by  Ci:,  is  an  online   community  on  LinkedIn  that  helps  women  achieve  the  careers  they  want   and  discuss  the  issues  relevant  to  their  success.       For  more  great  insights  from  Connect  members,  check  out     the  discussion:  How  I  Hire     Visit  linkedin.com/womenconnect  for     more  informaBon  and  to  join  the  group!