Content Marketing Today

Let's hope they didn't pay a lot of money for this disaster.

After waiting 15 seconds on a high-speed connection, this is the meaningless page that stares out at us. If you didn't already know what Universal McCann did, you would still be clueless after staring at this page. And, if you were in a hurry, you would have moved right on by. The good news is that this advertising giant proves once again that big budgets and big egos don't add up to an effective web presence. In fact, you can and should do a lot better even as very small company. Money doesn't generate customer-centric content marketing. Thoughtful concern for your customers and their problems are the key to successful marketing strategies. That concern, expressed creatively as compelling content will achieve measurable results. For that, you may need big ideas, but you don't need a big budget. The net effect of Universal McCann's website is to imply to prospective clients that your messaging should be hard to find, take a long time to display, contain huge segments of unbroken, cliche-ridden text, and be all about the client rather than their customers. In fact, it's so bad, that you almost think it was done as a parody of really, really bad websites. Sadly, we know that's not true. Yikes! Here's where they went very wrong and how you can avoid the same traps. Read More

Here are the most popular posts since the launch of Content Marketing Today in August 2007. See what you may have missed--and what thousands of marketers have learned over the past 5 months. You'll find everything from great newsletters to bad websites... great custom magazines for reluctant buyers... the 7 deadliest content marketing sins... 6 lessons to learn from a shopping mall...using content marketing to speed sales growth curve. Read on for a great refresher course in content marketing. Read More

Blogging has become a critical component in content marketing strategies for companies of all sizes--from solopreneurs to IBM and General Motors. Your blog will give you potential exposure to millions of prospects. Because you're on a very big stage with a very big audience, don't screw up! Be sure to avoid these 5 blogging bloopers so that you and your organization will be read, respected, and referred to. Read More

Google Can't Help You If Your Content is Lousy

You can do all you want with search marketing to get prospects to show up at your site, but it's the quality of your content that will ensure your survival. In fact, you may not want to spend anytime on search marketing according to an online marketing expert from Down Under.

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As you begin to consider rolling out your content marketing strategy, you will make your life a lot easier by avoiding 7 deadly traps. Learn where too many marketers have gone wrong and wound up in the pit of marketing despair-- so you can avoid falling into the same trap: Read More