On March 18, Blue Sky Factory will host a Webinar entitled Content is King: Build Your Brand with Blogging & Email at 1 p.m. EDT. I’m all signed up and ready to attend, having found webinars very informative in the past.

To build a base of knowledge heading into the session, I have simply researched the terms contained in the title. I want to have at least a basic response for the question: How can one actually build a brand through blog and e-mail content?

This is a worthwhile question to answer because nearly every business has access to blog and e-mail, so if excelling relies on content, finding the best content can build your business without having to purchase external advertising.

Components of a blog with King content:

• Take time with titles — Titles are a valuable tool for SEO and grabbing readers’ attention. People talk about the challenge of keeping readers on your blog post by drawing their eyes down the page, but the will never make it to your page in the first place without an intriguing title. Effective titles are typically short, simple and descriptive. It can be useful to jot down 4-5 headline drafts, then choose the one that best describes your post, while enticing readers to click.




• Lists are viral — There is great debate about lists in the blogosphere. While a single well-written post could catch on and launch your readership almost instantly, a mundane list posting can inoculate your readership and cause them to ignore future content. The determining factor here is whether or not the content is relevant. If it is, writing the same content in list form as opposed to essay form will nearly always drive more traffic to your site. Lists are easy to link, so making good decisions about posting frequency and content will increase your online presence.




• Oh so original — People are drawn to those who speak their mind, have something unique to say and will share other people’s work. To avoid the echo chamber that is the internet, expose the content that you find fresh and relevant. This will let others know that you are in the loop and it will give you credibility. Other blogs will likely link you back to return the favor. Complimenting others is a good way to be original, as many people try to gain exposure by trouncing the work of their competitors. Reach above that, be creative and watch your online community grow and interact.

Three more for marketing like e-mail royalty:

• Building familiar previews — No one wants junk mail, so a lot of interactive marketing schemes depend on catchy phrases or trustworthy appearances. People make quick judgments about whether or not something is interesting just by looking at the subject line. In the past, companies have tried to combat the resistance to mass emails by placing names into generic subject like: "Insert Name Here", you have been chosen to participate in this survey. Users are too savvy for that now, so a better practice is to make your brand and sending account more trustworthy.




• Readability makes and breaks — Here's an Email Marketing Fact according to DS Development : "Your carefully crafted multimedia content or images are not going to be readable by most people because about 65% of decision makers are viewing your marketing email on their text-only mobile devices. If you have to include images in your email content, make sure your email text content makes sense for readers, even if the images are not displayed. Never insert email images that are supposed to be downloaded from the web, as they are automatically blocked by most email client software programs. If possible, send your marketing emails as plain text. It will be smaller in size and readable on any email platform. A work-around would be to send the email as plain text and include a link to a HTML, web version of that message."




• Simple subscribing and unsubscribing — If you want to grow your mailing list, then there are 2 things that you absolutely must have: a double opt-in process, and a quick way to unsubscribe. Unsubscribe links should take recipients directly to a page where they are promptly and quickly removed. Don't sweat the loss of a subscriber - the bad P.R. you will receive for continuing to send to them will have a greater negative effect. Also, always use a double opt-in confirmation process. Double opt-in means that after your visitor initially enters their email address to subscribe to your list, you should then send them an email containing a special link back to your email-marketing program.

So join me for this webinar by registering here and take a big step towards becoming an online leader by developing a strategy for having king-worthy content.