This presentation covers six essential recipes for bloggers to become more impactful content creators.

1. Mastering the Art
OF BLOGGING
6 Recipes to Help You Become A More Successful Content Creator
Photo Credit: Jamie Oliver
@azeckman

2. WHO AM I?
TopRank Marketing
Full service digital marketing agency
• Content Marketing
• Influencer Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• SEO Ashley Zeckman
Director of Agency
Marketing
@azeckman

3. Photo Credit: Moon Palace
52%
say blogging is critical to
their success.
- CMI & MarketingProfs
80%
of companies blog.
- CMI & MarketingProfs
Only 37%
have a
documented
content strategy.
- CMI & MarketingProfs

4. Recipe index
1. Discovery Donuts
2. Content Mission Canapés
3. Best Answer Biscuits
4. Less is More Lasagna
5. Content Cheeseburger
6. Influencer Ice Cream Sundae
@azeckman

5. Recipe 1: Discovery Donuts
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6. “A blog is only
as interesting as
the interest
shown in others.”
Lee Odden
CEO, TopRank Marketing
@azeckman

7. UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
Today’s consumers are
overwhelmed with information and
have become much more selective
about which companies or brands
they interact with.
Successful digital marketing strategies
identify who consumers are, what they
care about and who influences them.
@azeckman

8. ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
Memes
Long-Form Content
eBooks
Gated Content
Blog Content
Memes
Exploring New
Recipes
Technically
Sound Dishes
Healthy Meals
@azeckman

9. IDENTIFY KEY TRAITS
To better reach prospective
customers, identify key traits of
your current ideal customers.
Then develop profiles or
personas to better target these
identified audience members.
Blog Content
Memes
Healthy Meals
@azeckman

10. @azeckman
BUT HOW?

11. UNCOVERING AUDIENCE NEEDS
Ask Customers Directly: Surveys, Social Polls, Customer Calls
Review Analytics: Content Types, Key Phrases
Keyword Research: Uncover top questions for “best answer” strategy
@azeckman

12. THE CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE
Celebrity
Chef
Investor
Food
Network
Exec
PR
Manager
Investor
Restaurateur
Image
Consultant
Food
Blogger
Sous Chef
@azeckman

13. Recipe 2: Content Mission Canapés

14. “To work, your
[content] mission
statement has to be all
about the pain points
of your readers.”
Joe Pulizzi
Founder, Content Marketing Institute
@azeckman

15. What to include
• Who you are.
• Who you’re trying to reach.
• How you plan to reach them.
• What you want to accomplish.
@azeckman

16. Consider multiple target readers
Memes
Long-Form Content
eBooks
Gated Content
Blog Content
Memes
Exploring New
Recipes
Technically
Sound Dishes
Healthy Meals
@azeckman

17. Recipe 3: best answer biscuits
Photo Credit: Food Network

18. “Create signals of
authority that position
you as the best answer
wherever your customers
are searching.”
Lee Odden
CEO, TopRank Marketing
@azeckman

19. The harsh content reality
@azeckman
50%
of content gets 8
shares or less.
- BuzzSumo & Moz
24,000 GB
of of data is uploaded
every second.
- Internet in Real Time
Photo Credit: littlethings.com

20. PROVIDE CONSISTENCY
Content creation is actually a
multi-channel approach.
Everything from your blog
posts to site content and
social profiles need to create
a consistent experience.
@azeckman

21. HOW WE THINK OF THE BUYER JOURNEY

22. WHAT IT REALLY LOOKS LIKE
Photo Credit: Forrester

23. A CONSISTENT EXPERIENCE

24. POWER PAGES & Posts
Key to a best answer strategy
is creating resource rich
content that ranks well in
search engines.
These pages should essential
be the “best answer” for a
particular topic.
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25. POWER PAGE EXAMPLES

26. Recipe 4: LESS IS MORE LASAGNA
Photo Credit: Food Network

27. “We don’t need
more content, we
need better
content.”
Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs

28. Why more isn’t better
When you try to pump out more
content, the lowered quality can
actually negatively impact the
perception of your blog or brand.
Instead, focus on creating resource rich,
high quality content.
@azeckman

29. Focus on content impact
It’s important to understand
how you can have the
biggest impact with your
blog content.
But how can you determine
where to focus your efforts?
@azeckman

30. Photo Credit: Hana Abaza, Uberflip

31. HOW TO HAVE IMPACT
• Create highly relevant
content
• Use contacts, tools and data
to help determine relevance
• Think about your distribution
strategy
@azeckman

32. Recipe 5: CONTENT CHEESEBURGER
Photo Credit: YouTube

33. “Content repurposing
doesn’t just mean
that you reuse an old
piece of content again
and again.”
Kevan Lee
Director of Marketing, Buffer

34. Evergreen content
Evergreen content can be
slightly modified (or not) and
be used again and again.
Truth is, only a fraction of
your audience saw it the first
time, so why not share again.
@azeckman

35. Top performing posts
By watching your blog
analytics, you can determine
which posts resonate most
with your audience.
Wait awhile, and then do a
revised version that meets
current needs.
@azeckman

36. Start a series
Create a series of posts
about a particular topic to
keep your readers coming
back.
Then you can point back to
the previous posts in the
series to breath new life into
them.
@azeckman

37. Recipe 6: influencer ice cream sundae
Photo Credit: Cooking with Janica

38. “People do not buy
goods and services.
They buy relations,
stories and magic.”
Seth Godin
Best Selling Author & Speaker
Photo Credit: Martha Stewart
@azeckman

39. CURATE INFLUENCER QUOTES
As a first step, you can begin
including influencer
contributions into your blog
content, without event
having to perform outreach.
All it takes is a simple Google
search.
@azeckman

40. QUOTE CURATION EXAMPLES
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41. QUOTE CURATION EXAMPLES
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42. CO-CREATE WITH INFLUENCERS
Influencers
can
facilitate
greater
reach
of
your
content,
improve
quality
and
even
inspire
more
buyer
engagement
to
leads.
Ongoing
influencer
involvement
can
also
lead
to
organic
advocacy
of
your
brand,
products
and
services.
@azeckman

43. CO-CREATION EXAMPLES
@azeckman

44. ENCOURAGE INFLUENCERS TO AMPLIFY
If you curate or co-create,
you can reach out to
influencers and make it easy
for them to share.
Influencers are busy people
so you want to remove as
much friction as possible.
@azeckman

45. AMPLIFICATION EXAMPLES
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46. TOP TAKEAWAYS
Understand Who Your Readers Are
Create Content That Has An Impact
Be the Best Answer For What They Want
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47. Thank you!
TopRankMarketing.com
TopRankBlog.com
@TopRank
@azeckman
azeckman@toprankmarketing.com
Ashley Zeckman
Director of Agency
Marketing
We’re
hiring!